Long time - no blog!!

Wow, I have been a terrible blogger this year!! Just posted a post a started in June and never finished.  Oh well...such is life.  We have had a wonderful summer with several great trips to the beach!!  Bill and I went to the MS Bankers Assoc. annual convention in May.  We went early and enjoyed several days of relaxation before the convention started.  It was in Destin so relaxing was easy to do!  Then in June, Bill and I and Kenny and Tamy along with all of our kids and grandchildren spent 5 days at Orange Beach in my sister and brother-in-law's condo's.  It was fantastic!!!  Got some great pics on the beach.  Let's see, in July my sister and I met about 10 of our cousins for our annual Cousins Gone Wild trip, although we are so old now there is really nothing wild about it!  We enjoyed being together but a phone call on Saturday night changed everything.  We were all at dinner and our cousin Donna got a call from her son telling her that her daddy, my sweet Uncle Loody, was unresponsive and the paramedics were there.  Uncle Loody was my daddy's baby brother and like my daddy, was one of the most wonderful men I have ever known.  Uncle Loody had suffered a major heart attack and died a few days later.  We celebrated his life that Saturday and rejoiced that we know where he is and that he is reunited with his brothers and his parents and other loved ones!!

Then just last week we had a wonderful week in Destin with our dear friends... the water was absolutely gorgeous and we had perfect weather!  It was very relaxing and we were very thankful for it!  My girls, and all the kids except Skyler(dove hunting) and I were going down for a last "hurrah" at the beach tomorrow but the tropical system has put a stop to those plans :(
 We are so very blessed to be able to go to the beach and enjoy God's creation, be with our family and friends, and relax so often!! Looking forward to my "girls trip" with dear long time friends in October!

Bill is still doing good, praise the Lord!! He had scans in July and is still in remission - no signs of cancer!!  We are SO very thankful!  He begins his second round of maintenance chemo on Sept. 19th.  Please keep him in your prayers... he has been under a good deal of stress at the bank and doesnt feel like he is in the shape he needs to be in to start the chemo.  It wiped him out in March and he was in better shape then.  We SO appreciate your prayers!! 

Tomorrow it will be 2 years since my sweet, wonderful daddy went to heaven.  Oh how I miss him!!!  I still miss hearing his voice on the other end of the phone, I miss going to his house and climbing in his lap when I just needed him to hold me, I miss seeing him enjoying his great grandchildren - how his face would light up when he saw them, I miss being able to ask him things that I want to know about my childhood or his childhood.....I just miss him!!! Mama is still just lying in the bed in the nursing home, mostly in a fetal position, with no communication....I miss her too!!  So many times things happen and my first thought is, "oh, I need to call mama."  As I have said many, many times before... Alzheimers is a horrible disease. 

As I think of these things, Bills cancer, missing daddy, mama's condition....I am still so very grateful for all the amazing blessings in my life!! Blessings beyond measure... a relationship with Jesus - a happy marriage after 37 years - children and grandchildren who "walk in the truth" and are healthy and happy - God's provision and protection -family and friends that love us and pray for us and so many more!!!  It is impossible to understand the hurt and pain in life... but...it is possible to know and feel God's presence through it all...you just have to trust Him!!  Knowing that He is truly in control and that if we have trusted Jesus that we win in the end... makes it all worth going through!!

Long Overdue Post

Started this post back in June.. never finished.... just going to go ahead and post it now...


Okay... so I have been a horrible blogger. I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I last posted. I really don' t know why other than my laziness! Well, let's see... we had a wonderful Spring Pilgrimage. Mylie was one of the Royal Pages to the Pilgrimage Garden Club's King and Queen. I never dreamed that we would have Pilgrimage Royalty in our family but it was such a great experience. Our reign this year was the first two weeks so it hit Mylie's spring break or she could not have done it. She, Skyler, and Sydney were here for 10 days and Tony came on the weekends. I was a little worried about her being from out of town and not knowing anyone. I thought she might act shy and not talk but she was precious!! She spoke to everyone and was very gracious. I was very proud of her. Skyler enjoyed it too. He loves the pageant and anything anyone asked him to do he did. He was in the Hunt most nights and filled in as an indian one night and flag bearers two other nights. We really enjoyed the entire experience immensely!!

 

Mama

I am sure that anybody reading this blog knows that my mama is in the last stage of Alzheimers.  She has been in the nursing home almost 9 years now.  She cannot communicate at all and is mostly a fetal position.  I saw her today... it is heartbreaking and very hard to see her like this.  I have been praying for awhile now that God would take her on home.  I know that sounds wrong but I do not think it is.  She has absolutely no quality of life.  We are singing a song Sunday morning that we were rehearsing in choir tonight..."Bow the Knee"... it says "when you don't understand, the purpose of His plan, in the presence of the King, bow the knee.  Well, I sure do not understand His purpose in my mama being in the condition she is in but I do trust Him and I know that he loves mama even more than we do. I came home after seeing her and searched for a old video just so I could hear her voice and see her smile. I miss her smile and her laugh so much.

 If you feel like it is something you can do, would you please pray with me that God would take mama to heaven at any minute!  I would be most grateful... also pray for my sister Becky and me as we continue to go visit mama.

I know this isn't my normal type of blog post.. hope you all understand.

Much love,

Martha

A New Year and a look back at the old one

Well, here we are at the beginning of a brand new year - 2011.  Wow, how did that happen!  Time is going by so quickly these days.  It really is true that the older you get the quicker time goes by.  Since I have not updated this blog since September I guess you all know that I didn't too very well blogging last year.  We will see how this year goes - no promises. 

We had a wonderful Christmas with all of my children, grandchildren, and all of my sister's family at my house for Christmas Day.  Of course we missed my daddy.  It seemed harder the second year without him than the first.  I guess last year we were still in a fog having just lost him in September.  We miss mama too.  She is just so pitiful.  It gets harder and harder for Becky and I to see her in the shape she is in. We know that God is in control and that He loves her even more than we do and that there are many things in life that we just do not understand...this is certainly one of them.  We are praying for Him to take her to heaven just as soon as He sees fit.  We also still miss Bill's parents and other loved ones who used to be around our Christmas table but we rejoice knowing they are celebrating with Jesus and that one day we will be with Him and them!  The kids stayed for a few days after Christmas and we loved them being there.  After they left we had one day with an empty nest and then our dear friends Tommy, Carren, Parker and Ryan Quinn came in from GA.  They got there on Thursday, Dec 30 and left on Monday, Jan 3rd.  We also loved having them here.  We did a lot in a few days.  Welcomed the New Year, had Tommy lead in worship at Parkway which was amazing, and then we celebrated Tommy's 40th birthday Sunday night! He was a very young 25 when they came to Parkway in 1996.  We have enjoyed watching how God has grown him and used him over the years.  We just wish God would move them back to south MS!! So, our holidays were rich and full with family and friends and we are very grateful!

Bill is doing great - no sign of cancer at all.  He will have another ct scan the end of January so please pray with us that it will still show he is in complete remission.  He will start his first doses of maintenance chemo in March.  He will have four treatments, one each Monday.  This time last year we had no idea what 2010 had in store for us.  It is amazing to look back now and see how God went before us preparing us.  His provision for us since Bill was diagnosed has been amazing!  We are so very grateful for all of you who have lifted Bill, me and all of our family up in prayer many times.  God answered prayers and we were able to go through the last 9 months with His peace knowing that He is in perfect control no matter what.  Chemo and radiation treatments and all the diagnostic tests are very expensive.  One bag of Bill's chemo is $13,000.00 and he has had 18 of those so far.  I wish I could aptly explain how very much God has provided for us.. through insurance and through Dr. Rodriguez getting Bill in a program because one of his chemo drugs is a newer treatment for lymphoma.  It has been absolutely amazing and we can never thank Him enough! 

Many people make New Years Resolutions this time of year.  I never really have done that.  Oh sure, I always say I am going to eat healthier, lose weight, and exercise but I never have said those are my resolutions..just things to strive for.  And yes, those things are on my list this year too but for 2011 I want to be more mindful of what God wants me to do.  I want to spend more time studying His word.  I want to enjoy His creation - yes.. at the beach.. as often as possible!  I want to get my house decluttered and organized.  I never want my children to have to go through what Becky, Kevin, Bill and I did cleaning out mama and daddy's house.  My mama never threw anything away and while I am thankful for many things she saved there was A LOT she could have gotten rid of!  I want to enjoy every moment I have with my sweet husband and my wonderful children and grandchildren(when I say children that always includes my  son-in-laws - FYI) and the rest of our family.  I want to laugh lots while making more memories with good friends.  What a blessing our friends have been and are to us.. thank you God for answering my long ago prayer to give us good Christian friends!

Here's wishing you and yours a very happy 2011 and may we trust and obey our God like never before!