Rambling

Well, November sure did fly by and now here we are two weeks from Christmas!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Had Sarah and her family at our house the first part of the week and then Bill and I spent Thanksgiving at Syd's with their family and headed to Destin Thanksgiving afternoon. This was the first time EVER I have been to Destin and not had my toes in the sand at least once. I spent all of the time either shopping or sleeping, plus it was really cold! Edith, Carolyn and I started shopping Thanksgiving night at 10pm!! I lasted til 6am and had to crash.. they stayed up for over 36 straight hours! It was lots of fun and we did get some great deals.

This week has been the week of Christmas parties at my house. We had the choir party Sunday night after our musical and then the Sunday School department party on Tuesday night. Both went very well... I love having a houseful of people! The musical Sunday afternoon was a wonderful worship experience. I, once again, was feeling that we were not prepared and nowhere near ready to present this program. But man, God showed out and showed up big time!! He really blessed our efforts and it turned out to be one of the best that we have ever done, according to many people who were there. There will be a dvd available at Parkway if any of you would like to see it. This Sunday we will leave after church and go to Mendenhall to be at Sydney's musical. She has a solo and Skyler and Mylie will also be participating. I LOVE that my children are involved at their churches and are serving the Lord! It's the best feeling in the world!!

Sarah called this morning and they had a terrible night. All three of the kids are sick. Wesley was up all night, very congested and coughing. Will woke up at 5am throwing up and hasn't stopped yet. Macy is better today, but threw up yesterday. I know that they love Tupelo and are supposed to be there.. but gosh I hate that they are so far away and I can't help her! She and I were both spoiled the 3 years they lived here and had both sets of grandparents in town to help! She is taking all 3 to the doctor this afternoon.

Today would have been my sweet cousin, Ava Carlisle Roach's 62nd birthday. Ava had breast cancer and died at the young age of 43 in 1992. I can't begin to tell you what a kind, caring, loving, wonderful person she was. Becky and I were blessed to grow up knowing and loving our cousins, aunts and uncles. We got together at my grandparents every chance we had and we were all very close. Ava was 7 years old when I was born and she became "my Ava." She carried me around all the time and made me feel very special! I was devastated when she announced that she was getting married at age 17!! I did not like Corbie at all and it had nothing to do with what kind of guy he was ... he was taking "my Ava" away...or so I thought at 10 years old. Of course, she made it all better when she told me that I was going to be the Junior Bridesmaid in her wedding! Corbie turned out to be a nice guy and he fit right into our family and we all grew to love him. We lost him to cancer also several years after Ava. They left a beautiful legacy in their three daughters! I know both of them are very proud of Shainna, Alainna, and Jessica. I am thankful again, for memories!

Mama's 82nd birthday was last Saturday. I went to see her and love on her although she had no idea it was her birthday, or who I was. It is getting more and more difficult to see her in the condition she is in. She MAY weigh 90 lbs and she is mostly drawn up in a fetal position. She is totally unable to communicate and the only sounds she can make are garbled mumbling. I am praying for God to release her beautiful spirit that I know is still in there and to take her on home to heaven to be with Him and my daddy! I miss daddy everyday but am very thankful he did not suffer long nor go through what my mama has been through and is still enduring. And, yet again... I am thankful for memories!




Bill and I are excited once again that we will have all of our children under our roof on Christmas Day and a few days after that! Sarah, Jeremy and their three will actually be here a week from tomorrow and stay through Christmas, so Santa Claus will visit Will, Macy and Wesley at our house.. what fun!!! Sunny and Bud will arrive a day or two before Christmas and Syd, Tony, Skyler and Mylie will be here Christmas morning! How very blessed we are!!! We are also blessed to have Becky and Kevin and their brood with us on Christmas Day! It will be wild and crazy and wonderful!!

Remember to take the time to thank God for all the blessings that you have and even if you are having problems, trials, sickness, loneliness..thank Him for loving us so very much that He sent His Son to take our place on the cross, to pay the debt for ALL our sin, so that we may have abundant life now and forever...just BELIEVE!!!!

Readers, I am sorry for this very rambling post! My family and I want to wish you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a wonderful 2010!!!

With love,
Martha

November!

Wow.. time does fly doesn't it? Here we are in November, October is done, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just ahead. I do love the Holidays! I love all the hustle and bustle..... shopping, decorating my house, parties... but most of all I love being with my precious family and friends as we celebrate God's goodness to us and the birth of His son!!

It has been a busy Fall. After my "girls trip" to Orange Beach, Bill and I went to Destin with our close friends, John and Edith for a few days the last of October. It was great to get away and of course as far as I am concerned, that is MY beach! I was able to relax on it for several hours while we were there. Then last weekend I met Edith and some of her friends and headed to New Orleans for my first ever experience at "Market." WOW! The convention center was full of booths of retailers selling their wares at wholesale prices(well some of them were wholesale, some seemed expensive to me.) It is quite an adventure! I had a great time with Edith, Helen and Beverly and got some Christmas shopping done. I left New Orleans Sunday at noon and headed north to Brandon. Met Sarah, Will, Macy and Wesley at Sunny's for the night and Monday. Syd decided to drive up with Skyler and Mylie for a little while Sunday evening, so I had all 3 of my girls and all of my babies(Skyler will be 12 in March..guess I should stop calling him a baby..) together for a few hours... I was in heaven! Spent the day with Sarah and the kids Monday having their Christmas picts made and running errands. I got home Monday night around
6:30. Bill and I are headed to Madison Friday night for the Madison Central-Starkville playoff game. Our good friends, Mike and Jeanna Crowder's son Josh is a Senior... wow, again..where did the time go?? We got to watch him play a game earlier this season and are glad it is working out for us to see him again. Saturday morning we will head to Tupelo and be there to celebrate Will's 5th birthday at his party Sunday afternoon. November is a big birthday month for our family... Sunny's was the 10th, Jessie's is the 15th and Will's is the 17th. Bill and I will head home last Sunday afternoon. Then the weekend before Thanksgiving, November 21 and 22 we will have the joy of celebrating a 90th birthday with our sweet friend, Mrs. Gertha Burgess and then celebrating the marriage of her daughter and our dear friend, Debbie Redfield to our dear friend, Glenn Mizell the next day! We will head to Sydney's on Wednesday for Thanksgiving and then back to Destin on Thanksgiving afternoon for a weekend of shopping for me and relaxing for Bill! That will get us through November and then I actually think we will be at home for the entire month of December!!! Which is really good since I am having two Christmas parties at my house and then my entire family for Christmas Day!

Becky and I went last week and ordered daddy's headstone. Actually it's a double one for he and mama. Not a fun thing to do but we are pleased with the way it will look. We miss him everyday and guess we will for the rest of our lives. Today is Veteran's Day, so been thinking about him a lot. Thanking God for my daddy and all the other men and women who have served and continue to serve our country to keep us free!!

Memories

Guess it's about time for a new post. Been thinking a lot lately about memories. Aren't you thankful that God gave our minds the ability to recall things that have already happened? I realize all too well that disease and age can rob us of our memories, but for the most part it is an awesome ability. We can just sit down and remember things that we want to replay in our mind. Most of us would rather remember just the happy, wonderful events in our life but remembering the not so good and even bad things is important as well.. hopefully we learn from them. I spent the past 5 days with some very dear long time(notice I did not say old!!) friends and a good bit of the time we spent together we were remembering! The 5 of us were all members at Parkway when our children were very young, one by one each family, except mine, moved away from Natchez. We have kept up through the years and seen one another at weddings and funerals but until this past week never taken the time to actually get together and enjoy being with each other again. We had a wonderful time and have all agreed to make it an annual event. Back to memories though....it was interesting how some of the memories we discussed were remembered by all of us and then some things only one or two of us would remember but after hearing it described could also at least vaguely remember the event. Then there were things that one or two remembered and the rest have absolutely no memory of that event at all. Interesting....

Memories have always been important to me but with daddy being gone they are now even more precious. I am so very thankful that I have the ability to "hear" his voice and to "feel" his hug. I am thankful to be able to relive in my mind the day of my wedding and those three wonderful days that my girls came into this world. I am thankful to be able to remember my mama's laugh and the delicious food that she cooked. I am thankful to remember just ordinary days that now seem extra-ordinary. Days when one of my children or now my grandchildren do or say something sweet or kind or funny. Like the night Skyler was lying beside me about to go to sleep and he looked up at me and said, "Mimi, I love you so much I could eat you up!" or having kept Will one day and him saying, "it's been a really good day, Mimi!"

Oh my, I have so many wonderful memories that God gives me the ability to recall. And there are the ones that are painful, yet helpful to remember, and some that are just painful. Like hearing my mama say she had not talked to me in 3 days when I had talked to her everyone of those days and knowing now that was the beginning of her Alzheimer's. And hearing a voice on the phone say, "Sydney has been in a wreck." and Sarah say, "Mama, I lost the baby." And most recently, hearing the doctor say, "we are fairly sure your daddy has cancer that has already spread." I thank God that He has given me many more wonderful, happy memories than the sad, painful ones. I know that more of each kind are in my future and the good thing about that is... I know Who holds the future!!!

As far as the past few days with my good friends....Beth, Jean, Kathy, and Melinda...I am so thankful for all our "old" memories and for the new ones we made over then last few days!!! Can't wait to do it again!

Here we are......20 years ago



And here are a few picts of us this past week!

Life without my daddy

Well, I have now lived 3 weeks without my precious daddy....it's very strange.

My last post was on August 20th and daddy died on September 2nd. We found out about the cancer on August 5th and buried him on September 5th. Yes, I said buried... I know in my previous post that I said we would have him cremated but after more thought and remembering other conservations with daddy we changed our minds. We had a beautiful service at Parkway and buried him in McComb where mama will be buried beside him. We have been overwhelmed by the number of people who brought food, sent cards, sent plants or flowers, came to the visitation and/or the service, loved us and prayed for us over the last few weeks. We can never thank you all enough!!

I miss daddy every day... I miss him calling me numerous times a day... I miss him being the first person I called every morning and the last one I called every night. I miss him pulling up in my driveway and blowing the horn so I would come out, pull up a lawn chair and visit with him for awhile. I miss him coming by with his left over supper, usually fried fish, to see if Bill wanted it. I miss him asking me questions about all my girls and their families, wanting to be sure they were okay, safe and happy. I miss knowing that up until the last few months he would be seeing mama and taking her a shake everyday. I know there are going to be many hard times missing him... already thinking about Christmas and how strange it will be to not have him there. Although... he really will be there, won't he? He will be there in the Christmas memories in each of our minds, he will be there in the smiles and laughter as we gather to open gifts, he will be there as we remember how much he loved to eat all the delicious food we will share, most importantly he will be there in the love that we show to one another because he taught us so much about how to love each other and everybody we come in contact with in this ole world. Yep...he will be there!

My Daddy

This post is long overdue but I am not even sure that I will be able to sit here and write it now. Most of you(all 1 or 2 that read) know that my sweet, wonderful daddy has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Wow...where did that come from. Never in all my thoughts of daddy growing older and eventually leaving us did I ever dream that he would have cancer. There just is not hardly any history of cancer in our family. Heart disease..yes, high blood pressure..yes, strokes...yes, diabetes..yes...but not cancer. And stranger still is that when we found out two weeks ago it had already spread to his lungs and brain. We still do not know where the primary source is. So very quickly we have had to deal with the realization that my daddy will not be with us much longer, maybe 1 to 3 months. He is now a resident at Adams County Nursing Center in the same room with my mama. It is very strange to be there with both of them and neither of them realizing who the other is, but somehow it is also very right. Daddy is on pain medicine now that is helping him to rest. When he is awake he recognizes some of the family, but not all and he talks out of his head a lot. This has forced my sister Becky and I to talk about funeral plans. We had discussed this with daddy before and have some notes written down about what he wanted. He has always been very claustrophobic and has said through the years that he does not want to be buried. He asked to be cremated and for us to spread his ashes in the ocean...being the Navy man he is... so that is what we will do. Of course we will have a memorial service first so that all the people who's lives he has touched can pay their respects. By the world's standards my daddy is not a rich man, but by what really counts in this ole world, he is the richest man I know! Daddy is kind, generous, caring, loyal, honest, and a loving man. He would give the shirt off of his back to anyone else in need and has many times! He was a perfect example of a loving husband to my mother and a loving father to me and Becky. His smile and beautiful blue eyes could light up a room and my heart. Being in his lap, even long after I was grown and had children of my own, was the safest place on earth. Not only was he a great example for his family, his influence on young boys that he coached in Little League baseball was one of kindness and understanding. I cannot count the times someone has said to me, "your dad was my little league coach, he is such a nice man!" Daddy worked with lots of people through out his life and many of them have told us what an honest, hardworking, loyal employee and employer he was. Mama and daddy were also close friends to many people. They loved to get together and cook fish, play cards, and just have a good time. Many of these people and their children have been our life long friends and they all love my daddy...because he loved them! I can't even begin to tell you the joy that he has brought to his granddaughters and great grandchildren and the joy they have brought to him. What a blessing that he has been able to have a real relationship with all of them. Daddy never talked much about his relationship with God, but it was very evident in the way he lived his life. He grew up in a Christian family and was saved as a young boy and as I thank God for all that my daddy is, I thank Him for this most of all...because I know that when daddy breathes his last breath on this earth his very next will be in the presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that we will see him again!!!

35 years and counting!

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35 years ago today I walked down the aisle in Parkway Baptist Church on my daddy's arm and married the love of my life. Daddy said to me as we entered the back of the church, "you can still back out if your want to." I can honestly say that there has not once been a time in the last 35 years that I have wished I had said, "okay daddy, let's get out of here!" Yes, there have been ups and downs, yes, there have been fights, yes, there have been disappointments, but through it all God has blessed me beyond measure. Bill and I were very young when we married, I was 19 and he turned 19 two days after our wedding. I was very surprised that my mama and daddy did not try to talk us into waiting a few years, but as I think back I am sure it was because they had been through such heartache when they married. My mother's parents were totally against her marrying and were not even present at the wedding. It did not take them long to discover what a wonderful, kind, loving man my daddy is though. Anyway, back to Bill and I. We met in the fall of 1973 at good ole Copiah Lincoln Jr College in Wesson. It was my sophomore year as a cheerleader and he was a freshman football player. We met in August, but our first date was not until October for the Homecoming dance. Things progressed and the next thing I knew it was May. I had graduated from CoLin and was back at home and Bill was spending the summer working in Brookhaven. He would call me every night. Now by this time, we had discussed getting married, possible the next summer or the one after that. One night on the phone, he tells me that he just cannot wait and we need to go ahead and get married. I guess I said okay but I really do not remember what I said. I do know he instructed me to get my daddy on the phone so he could ask him permission. What on earth was he thinking??? I did put daddy on the phone and then mama and before I blinked my eyes I was engaged and we were planning an August wedding! I tell people all the time that it is a good thing God knew what He was doing because we sure did not! We married on August 3, 1974 after knowing each other almost one year and dating for 10 months!

There are many, many things that I could tell you about my husband. He has the most integrity of any man I know, he is honest, hardworking, loyal, and trustworthy. He is also kind, generous, caring, and loving. He is tremendously funny, although some people never see that side of him. His relationship with God is obvious, he lives his life desiring to be more Christ like each day. And he's not bad looking either! I admire and love all of these things about him! There is one more thing that he is that I have received tremendous joy from and that is the daddy he is. I am SO very thankful that he is the father of my children. Oh my goodness, Bill Salters loves his girls! Can you imagine a man who has hunted, played football and every other sport, and done every other thing that men and boys do, having not one, not two, but three little girls? He has never acted disappointed about not having a boy.. .and now as a grandfather God has given him three boys and two more girls and a ? on the way! He is the best example of a loving father that I know. He loves his girls...No Matter What.. to borrow a phrase from our preacher, Jason Meyer. His love for them and his entire family and friends, for that matter, is unconditional. The girls learned at a very young age that no matter what they did or said their daddy(and their mama!) loves them. They were not only told this over and over, they were shown it by his reaction when they disobeyed and got into trouble. He would certainly discipline them for the action, but it was always done with love and with explanation. Not only does he love them unconditionally, he loved and still loves being with them. When he got home in the afternoons the first thing he did was to love on his girls and play with them a while. He now loves when they come home to visit and still has such a good time with them. Of course, now he also loves that they bring our precious grandchildren when they come home!

Please do not get that idea that Bill is perfect, we all know that none of us are. But, he is exactly what I believe God calls us to be... a Godly example by the way he lives.. to his wife, his children, his grandchildren,all of his family and friends. On our 25th anniversary, we renewed our vows and I had Bro. Bart read a story entitled, "Laughter in the walls." I won't quote it all, but it is the story of a family and the rooms in the house they lived in and what those rooms had been used for. At the end of the story, the children are all grown and gone and the husband and wife are left alone in the empty nest... and so they sit back, enjoy each other's company and listen ... to the laughter in the walls....Bill and I are so blessed to be doing just that and my prayer for any of you reading this is that you will live your life doing what God has called you to and that you can sit back one day and listen to the "laughter in the walls."

We give God the glory and the praise for our 35 years together and ask Him to bless us with many more

Surprise!!!

I can FINALLY post this!!

July 3, 2009 My baby girl and her sweet husband drove to Natchez today just for a few hours. It seems that they had something to tell us that just had to be done it person. Yes, that's right, my baby is having a baby!!!!! Sunny and Bud are expecting their first child next spring. We are beyond thrilled!! She is just 4 weeks along and will not see her doctor for another 2 weeks. They do not want to share the news except with family until she sees Dr. Breland. So, I am blogging about the wonderful news but will not be able to post it for a couple of weeks. At least this way I feel like I am sharing our joy! Going though these next 8 months with Sunny is going to be so much fun. She has probably already called me 5 times since she left here this afternoon to ask me questions. "Mama, is it okay for me to eat a turkey sandwich from Newk's tonight?".... I totally expect to hear from her at least once every day, which is fine with me! She is nervous and anxious but completely trusting God in this new experience. Every time she told another family member her first words after the news were, "Please pray for a safe and healthy pregnancy, delivery, and baby! So, when you happen to think of it, pray for Sunny, Bud and our new blessing!

Changed plans

Well....sometimes things just do not turn out as we plan them, do they? I guess God needs to remind us that He is the one in control and we are not. Last week was to be my week at the beach with my girls and grandbabies and then the guys were to join us at the end of the week for a few days. I went on down to Orange Beach on Saturday to have a couple of days by myself and to prepare for the kids to arrive. I wanted to get all the grocery shopping and some of the cooking done. Monday as the girls were driving down I got a call from Sunny saying that Pawpaw had called her and said that Aunt Becky's house was on fire. I had a feeling that something wasn't right and immediately called to check on things. The house was not on fire, thank God, and I thought well, daddy must have been asleep and was dreaming. Not long after this I received a call from daddy's OnCall Alert service saying he had pushed his button and they had dispatched an ambulance. Becky and Mattie got to his house and he seemed to be okay, but somewhat confused. The EMT's felt like he needed to go to the hospital to be checked out. They took him to Natchez Community Hospital where he had an xray and ct scan. Becky was told that he had had a stroke and had a brain bleed and they were sending him to UMC in Jackson. Bill was there by this time and after talking to him and to Becky it was decided for me to wait and see what the doctor's in Jackson said, especially since it was now after dark and the weather was bad in MS. So I stayed awake all night Monday night, back and forth on the phone with Mattie, Jessie, and Becky. Finally early Tuesday morning they told Becky they thought they culprit for daddy's confusion was a urinary tract infection and they were putting him on i v antibiotics. After hearing this and talking with Bill, Becky and the girls again, I decided to spend at least one day at the beach with the kids. Daddy knew who everybody was and the doctors fully expected him to respond to the antibiotic. I had a good day with the kids Tuesday, we played on the beach and in the water, we swam in the pool, we went out to eat at The Hangout and then Skyler and I hit the tennis ball some. We had planned to go see the Blue Angels practice Wednesday morning early, so Syd, Sunny, Skyler, Will and Mylie did that and it was awesome!! Of course all this time I was back and forth on the phone with Jessie or Becky. Bill had gone up Tuesday afternoon and spent the night with daddy in the hospital so Becky could get some rest. He said daddy was much better Tuesday night than he had been Monday afternoon. Wednesday morning Becky said that the social worker had told her that daddy was probably going to be there awhile and that he could not go back home to his house. Knowing that Becky needed help, I needed to see daddy, and we had decisions to make I had decided to head to Jackson after seeing the Blue Angels Wed. morning. I got to Jackson around 5:30 and daddy was asleep when I got in his room. I sat on the foot of his bed and talked with Becky and when he woke up and saw me his face lit up! He was 100% better and the doctors had told Becky after reading his MRI that he had not had a stroke and that the UTI had caused the confusion and that he would be released on Thursday. We had already been in the process of getting him into the Magnolia House and were able to speed the process up. So we left Jackson with him Thursday afternoon and took him straight to his new "home." He has been doing really good, eating well and saying how good the food is, socializing with people, etc... we are very pleased. Today he has not quite been so good, he is very weak, to the point that they had to feed him his lunch, and very sleepy. He knows us but is saying some things that do not make sense. Becky and I are wondering if he is having mini strokes, but the MRI in Jackson did not show that. Please just keep him and us in your prayers. We so want him to be able to enjoy life until the very end, whenever that may be, and not be down sick and having to be totally dependant on others for his care. Hoping all is well in all of your worlds! Enjoy a few picts from the beach!

It's July!

Wow, today is the first day of July. This year is flying by. Of course the older I get the quicker the years seem to go. I am looking forward to several events this month. The week of July 11th - 18th will be Salters' week at my sister and brother-in-law's condo at Orange Beach. The girls, kids and I will be there most all of the week and will be joined by the guys toward the end of the week. I cannot wait!! Any of you reading this know that I am a "beach" person and I LOVE watching my babies love it too. Macy, at almost 2, will be able to enjoy it more this year. Of course Skyler, Mylie and Will already love it and baby Wes will have to wait another year or so to learn to love it! I also LOVE being with all my girls, and sometimes it's good to just have them without their husbands. Do NOT get me wrong, I love my son-in-laws, all three of them, but I do enjoy just my girls sometimes. By the way, Father's Day weekend was all I was hoping it would be! We had an absolute wonderful weekend together. One of the highlights for me was all of us being in church together, hearing Bill sing Butterfly Kisses and then hearing Jason Meyer preach THE best Father's Day sermon I have ever heard. Back to the month at hand, a week after I get back for the condo with all the kids, I am going back for a long weekend with several of my cousins and my sister. We have gotten together for beach trips and one time a cruise for the last 4 or 5 years and it is wonderful. We have such a great time reminiscing about our childhood and all the fun we had and how blessed we all are to have had the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that we did and do have. I will come home on July 28 and then the first week of August brings celebrations! Bill and I will be married 35 years on August 3rd!! It seems impossible that is has been that long. I know that the young married couples in my life get so tired of hearing me say,"Enjoy every minute", "Enjoy your children!! Do not major on the minors" ,"Pay attention to your relationship with your spouse!" and so many other things that I have learned through the years. I guess I hope that at least some of it will sink in! It really does all go so very fast!! We celebrate Bill's birthday on August 5the and then on the 6th we leave for DESTIN!!! That is our week of vacation with our good friends the Crosby's and the Jackson's. We are so blessed to be able to go and do the things that we get to do with our family and friends. I never want to take any of it for granted! Guess that is about it for now. I am going to post a few pictures from our last family trip to the beach two years ago...Sarah was pg with Macy...hope you enjoy!

Father's Day

I am so excited about the upcoming weekend!! All of my children will arrive at my house at some point TOMORROW! Our empty nest will once again, even if for only a few days, be filled with the sounds of a big, happy family. Sisters will enjoy catching up with each other, cousins will love playing, swimming, and just being together, son-in-laws will figure out ways to aggravate their mother-in-law just for the fun of it, Mimi and Poppa will have full laps, and will sit back and just listen to the joy that will surround them! Of course, there will be the normal one or two fits pitched, tears cried, and maybe a cross word or two, but they won't last long and will soon be forgotten. And in the middle of it all will be a beautiful new blessing, Wesley Nathaniel Loy!!

Saturday we will gather at my sister, Becky's house and celebrate my daddy's 84th birthday and Father's Day together. My niece Jessie and her husband Lance will be home for the celebrations. Niece Mattie is already home for the summer. This will be the first time we have all been together in a while and there will be plenty of good food, birthday cake, and lots of fun and laughter! We will remember past days when daddy was younger and mama was well and be thankful for the memories! And we will thank God that daddy is still here to celebrate with us!

Sunday will be a special day as we all attend church together on Father's Day. Bill will be singing "Butterfly Kisses" with all three of his girls sitting there listening, pray that he makes it through! I will sit there surrounded by those that I love most in this world and praise the ONE from whom ALL blessings flow. How blessed I am to have the two most loving, caring, honest, dedicated, wonderful men as my earthly father and my husband and father to my children! Jim Carlisle and Bill Salters are the most Godly examples of what a "daddy" is supposed to be. They have loved their girls unconditionally and shown them that love not only by what they say, but what they do. They taught them from a very young age to love God and led them to faith in Jesus, not only by telling them about His love for them but by living their lives as an real example of what it means to be a Christian. I do not know why God has chosen to grace me to be one's daughter and the other one's wife. I can never thank Him enough for that privilege!!

Wesley Nathaniel Loy

So, I just realized that I posted the night before Wes was born and then my next post is the one about my crazy week with the dogs....had to come back and catch y'all up on our sweet new baby boy! Wesley was born on May 18 at 2:37pm. Sarah and Jeremy got to the hospital around 7 and they began the induction. Bill and I arrived about 9 and she was in the middle of getting her epidural. She had actually been having some pretty hard contractions which she had never felt before and was ready to stop! I tell these young mothers all the time most of them do NOT know what REAL childbirth is like!! They get epidurals when they are only dilated to like 3. Try being in hard labor for 12 hours or longer with NO epidural!!! I am actually thankful that my girls have not had to experience that! Anyway, back to Wes! Sarah actually progressed fairly quickly and was at 10 and ready to push around 2:10pm... then we had to wait on the doctor. He arrived and before we knew it Wesley Nathaniel Loy had come into the world. He weighed 8lbs and 7 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. I have been so very blessed to actually be in the delivery room for the birth of all 5 of my grandchildren!! How awesome is that? God is so good! I was afraid that Sarah may go into labor and deliver Wes before I could get to Tupelo. God orchestrated everything just perfectly! Sarah and Jeremy brought Wes home on Thursday and I stayed until that Saturday. He turned 3 weeks old yesterday and I am about to die to get my hands on him again. They are coming to Natchez July 1st, but I am trying to work in a weekend trip up there before then. Here are a couple of picts that Sarah sent me yesterday.

What a week!

I am so thankful that today is the beginning of a brand new week and glad to put last week in the past! Keeping two dogs for an entire week when you have not had a pet for several years is not a great idea. Sunny and Bud left a week ago yesterday on a cruise to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary and Bill and I, who by the way have no special plans as of yet to celebrate our 35th anniversary in August(what is wrong with this picture?), kept Callie and Cuddles for them. Actually I should say that I kept them... Bill didn't really do anything with them or for them! Sunny and Bud do not have any children yet, so the dogs are absolutely spoiled rotten, of course they sleep in the bed with them. So, the first couple of nights, Cuddles, Callie and I, slept, I use that word loosely, in one of our extra bedrooms. Callie woke me up every night anywhere around 2,3 or 4 am...I was a walking zombie. On the third night I was awakened by something cold and wet... Callie had wet the bed!!! Needless to say she did not sleep with Cuddles and I the rest of the week! The week rocked along and we got to Friday...last day before we took them back to meet their parents Saturday morning. The weather was so nice that I decided Friday afternoon to finally give the flower beds in my back yard some attention. I was so proud of myself!! I was sitting on a small stool and just working along when I turned around and saw something in Callie's mouth. I quickly realized that my cell phone was missing from the place on the stool beside me where I had laid it. I had taken the phone out with me in case daddy tried to call me. I jumped up and ran over to retrieve the phone hoping that she had just picked it up and that it would not be harmed. No such luck! She took off running several feet before finally dropping my phone. Now, this was not my old razor phone that I have had for several years. Oh no! Just 3 weeks ago I had made the big leap and gotten me a nice Blackberry curve. Thank goodness I did purchase insurance! However, the deductible is $150.00. So, my $450 phone, that I got for $200 since I signed a 2 year contract, is going to end up costing me $350.00! The week did end wonderfully.. we met Sunny and Bud in Brookhaven yesterday morning and gave the dogs back!!! YAY!! And then we drove over to Mendenhall and spent the day with Sydney, Tony, Skyler and Mylie. Mylie had her first dance recital and we were so glad to get to be there. She did great and looked beautiful! So, today we began a new week and I for one am glad it is not last week!!

Thinking about life and death

Tomorrow morning my sweet, wonderful, caring, beautiful daughter Sarah will be induced and give birth to her new baby son, Wesley Nathaniel Loy... what joy! I learned early this morning that my sweet, caring, loving, funny first cousin, Buddy Taylor, had died during the night last night... sad, but also joyful because of his faith in Jesus. I started thinking about some of the major losses in my life and how many of them coincided with major births. Several days after Sarah was born, my "Uncle" passed away, when Sunny was born my Pawpaw Jesse died. When my wonderful cousin Ava lost her battle with breast cancer at age 43 our dear friends, Mike and Jeanna Crowder welcomed Josh to their family. Will was born on November 17 and just a few days later, two days before Thanksgiving, we lost our sweet Uncle Jack. And now we have lost Buddy and Wes will be born tomorrow. I know there are other incidences like these in my life and others lives. Isn't that just like our God? That even while we are sad and mourning the loss of loved ones, He sends a new life, full of promise to remind us that life goes on and that He loves us so very much. So, as I go to sleep tonight anxiously awaiting tomorrow and praying for a healthy baby and safe, normal delivery, I am also thanking God for Buddy's life and that I know he is safe at Home!

Just random thoughts...

Guess it's time for a new post. Not sure what I want to write about or where this post will go. Had a nice weekend...Renae(Jeremy's mom) and I left town around noon on Thursday and headed to Tupelo. We got to go to one of Sarah's baby showers Thursday night and it was wonderful. She and Jeremy have made so many wonderful friends there and it was great to get to meet and visit with some of them. It also really gives me such peace of mind to know God has provided these friends for them since they are so far from family. We spent most of Friday shopping and getting baby Wes's room ready for him. Unfortunately Will's tee ball game was cancelled since the weather was awful, but we had a great couple of days with he and Macy! We came home Saturday afternoon. Had storms here this morning...trees and powerlines down all over town. Have not heard of any injuries, thank the Lord! Got a busy, busy week ahead. If all goes well, Bill and I will leave here Thursday..go to Mendenhall and watch Skyler and Mylie play ball, spend the night with them... go to Sunny's on Friday and spend the night with them.. go to her graduation ceremony at Belhaven and see her receive her Masters in Education Sat. morning and then head to DESTIN!!!! We will be there until Sunday the 17th unless we get THE CALL from Sarah. Part of our time will be vacation and then the last half of the week is the MS Bankers Convention. I am really looking forward to some real relaxing time on "MY" beach!! Please pray that God will allow us this time away with no problems... with my daddy the age and shape he is, we just never know and of course mama too. Bill needs some relaxation time too... Destin is the one place that he actually really relaxes!

Changing the subject... our dear friend John Hicks had a terrible accident a week ago yesterday and has been in ICU on a ventilator since then. They were able to get him off for just a few hours today but had to reintubate him. Please please pray for his recovery and for his sweet wife, Courtney and his children, Erin, John Ashton and Emily and all his family. We love them very much and would appreciate any and all prayers!

It is late and I need to get some sleep. I have no clue who, if anybody reads this..but if anyone does, I hope this finds you and your family well and right in the middle of God's will for your life! It's the best place to be!!

My crazy life!!

Guess it's about time to write a new post. I seem to update about every 2 weeks or so. Let's see my last post was on Sarah's birthday, March 29. I have had a lot going on since then. I have:
Been to a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event in New Orleans
Stayed in N. O. with my sister and saw LIVE, with Regis & Kelly
Had Sarah, Jeremy, Will and Macy here for Easter weekend!
Dyed eggs with Will & Macy!
Celebrated Easter Sunday!!!
Lost my "other" mother, Mary Frances Jones on Easter.
Drove to Laurel for my good friend Sherry's moms funeral
Drove to Hattiesburg from Laurel and picked up Mary Frances sisterve
Drove back to Natchez
Went to Jackson for Doctor's appt.
Drove from Jackson to Mendenhall, watched Skyler & Mylie play ball
Drove home from Mendenhall early Wed morning
Celebrated her life and said goodbye to Mary Frances Wed afternoon
All of that in addition to my normal hectic life of working,helping
daddy,etc...
Whew.. I am tired!! Looking forward to this weekend at home with not much to do!!!
After this weekend things get really wild!! Garden Club meeting next week in McComb, meet Sarah in Jackson Friday, Nathan's wedding in Columbia Sat., back to Jackson until Monday. Go to Tupelo on the 30th for Sarah's baby shower.. stay til Saturday to watch Will play tee ball...leave town Thursday, May 7 going to Syd's to watch kids play ball, to Jackson for Sunny's graduation with her Master's from Belhaven, and then to DESTIN for a week...part vacation, part MS Bankers Convention...UNLESS Sarah goes into labor....whenever that happens I will be headed North!! Please keep us all in your prayers as we do all this traveling and pray for a healthy baby and delivery!

Y'all have a great weekend!! Here are a few picts!

Sarah Rebecca Salters Loy

29 years ago today God brought another precious baby girl into our lives. Sydney was 27 months old and we were ready for another baby. Sarah Rebecca was born after about 12 hours of labor and welcomed into this world by her mama, daddy and our preacher, Bro Charles Harvey. I had been sent home with false labor several days before and my parents had come and taken Sydney back to Natchez with them. Everybody wanted to be sure I was really in labor this time so none of the grandparents made it in time for Sarah's birth. It didn't matter, as soon as they arrived and saw her she captured their hearts forever and she has been capturing hearts ever since! The night before Sarah was born we still had not decided on a name. We had no intention of naming our 2nd child something that started with an S but God did. I was reading my bible the night before I went into labor and read about Sarah and then about Rebecca. I asked Bill how he felt about Sarah Rebecca if this baby was a girl and he loved it. It also fit with our family, since my maternal grandmother's name had been Sarah and my sister is named Rebecca. The name Sarah means "Princess" in Hebrew and Rebecca means "to tie." From the time our "Princess" was old enough to talk, she has been "tieing" people together! God gave Sarah a unique and special love for people. She is not only loving.. but kind, caring, compassionate, sweet, honest, humble, faithful and much more. All through her childhood as people got to know her, they would ask me " Can we take Sarah home with us?" You hear people ask that sometimes and parents answer by saying something like.. "sure, you will bring her back soon!" knowing that you did not really mean it,....I can honestly say I never once answered that with Sarah... my answer was always, "No, you cannot have her!"

It is such a blessing for Bill and I to see her now as a wife and mother. One who is teaching her children the love of God and to serve Him. We are thankful for her husband, who is a fine Christian young man. What joy to see them serving God in His church and living their lives striving to please Him. How thankful to God we are to have Will, Macy and soon another baby boy Loy in our lives. God is SO good!

When Sarah was about 4 or 5 I guess she realized that people loved her.. alot..and one day we were introducing the girls to someone and after we said " this is Sarah, our middle daughter"... she looked up and said ..." I am the special one!" She hates for me to tell that story because she is so humble, but ...Sweetheart, you are indeed "special" and I am so very proud of you and thankful to be your mother! Sarah Rebecca, you are very loved!!

Spring and just rambling...

I am loving this beautiful spring weather! We have had so much rain and cold the last few days that I was about to go crazy. Now the only problem is that I am stuck inside my office today and tomorrow..:(

Have had "kids" at home since last Friday. Sunny came in Friday with two of her friends and my two granddogs. They did some touring Saturday and went to the Pageant that night. We enjoyed having them here! They left Sunday afternoon and about an hour later Sydney came in with Skyler and Mylie! The kids had dentist appointments Monday afternoon, which by the way were great.. no tears and no cavities!! Mylie was in the Little Maypole Monday night and was so precious! Will and Jeremy also got to town Sunday afternoon. Will spent Sunday night with us and had a blast playing with Skyler and Mylie. They are all gone back home now, but all(minus Sunny & Bud) of them will be here the last weekend in March to celebrate Skyler's 11th birthday and Sarah's 29th birthday. Pilgrimage seems to be going better than we thought it might. Lots of people intown and we are very grateful!! My friend John Moody is bring a group from his church in TX today. They will be here from this afternoon until Friday. Looking forward to seeing he and his wife, Beckie. Well.. this is a really random post, but at least I am posting!! Going to post some picts of Mylie in the Little Maypole!

Catching up!

Gosh.. it's been a long time since my last post. Guess I am not doing so well on this blogging thing. I guess it's because I feel like no one out there is even reading it, so it doesn't really matter. I will try to do better though.

My last post was on Sydney's 31st birthday. I still find it very weird that I have a child that old. I keep wondering when I will start "feeling" older. Not my body, cause I sure have aches and pains that tell me I am getting older, but the real me.. inside. In there I still feel like I am a young person. I still enjoy the music I always have, I still like to drive fast, I love to go places and do things, and I still care about how I look. I just wonder when that is supposed to change. Do you reach a certain age and all of a sudden stop all those things and start just being glad to be alive? I mean, I am definitely glad to be alive, but I do not want to JUST be alive... I want to enjoy my life until my last breath. Of course while I am enjoying it the most important thing is to be doing what God wants me to. Been reading a great book by David Jeremiah, "What in the World is Going On?" It answers lots of questions about what is going on in the world today and how it all fits in God's plan before the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. I have never really studied end time prophecy, but I am finding this book fasinating. I truly believe we are living in the last days and that Jesus could come for His church at any moment. I am ready... I hope anybody reading this is too! Get the book and read!

Sydney Carlisle Salters Magee

31 years ago tonight I became a mother. Sydney Carlisle finally arrived a little after 8pm after a LONG hard day of labor. It was worth every second of the pain!! I always knew that God had intended for me to be a mother and I was ready for that little bundle of joy when they placed her in my arms, but I wasn't ready for the instant, unconditional love that consumed me that I knew at that moment would last my entire life time. Sydney was our "only" child for 27 months and we ooowed and aaahhhed over her every move. She was a handful from the very beginning, being my only child to have colic! We had a period of unbelievable crying every night from 9pm until 2am from the time she was 1 week old until she was 3 months old. She then was a perfect sleeper from 3 to 6 months when she decided she did not want to sleep at all! By the time she was a little over one she was sleeping in a big girl bed, but not by herself. Every night from then on I would lay down with her laying on top of me until she went to sleep. Then I would gently slide her down in the bed and I would get up and go to my bed... this went on until she was 6 when she finally decided she was a "big girl." The years went by and our first baby girl grew into a teenager in what seemed like over night! Sydney continue the tradition in our family of being not only the first born, but the one to inherit her mother's, grandmother's and great grandmother's strong will! That made for some interesting times in our household! However, the joy that she brought to our family far outweighed those times! We have seen such evidence of God's hand on our Syd's life. He has used her to safe Sarah's life in the ocean one summer. He saved her life by using the Holy Spirit to literally wake her up and tell her to put her seat belt on minutes before a horrible wreck the week after she graduated from high school. Then on March 30, 1998 my baby became a mother herself and in the process made me a grandmother! The next couple of years were filled with ups and downs, but through it all I watched her strength, her courage, her faith in God and her determination bring her through. With God's help she worked full time, went to school at night, took wonderful care of Skyler and earned her teaching degree. God has blessed her tremendously! He sent a wonderful Christian young man, Tony Magee into her and Skyler's life in the fall of 2000 and he became her husband and Skyler's daddy in December of 2001. In May of 2004 they were blessed with the addition of Mylie Addison Magee. God continues to bless their family day by day as they strive to serve and love Him! I cannot begin to say how very much I love her and how very proud I am of the young woman, wife, mother and teacher that she is! I thank God for the privilege of being her mother. Sydney, you are very loved!!!