Salters' Stuff

Long time - no blog!!

2011-09-02T00:29:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

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

2011-02-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

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

2011-01-06T15:23:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-09-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

I am in a hotel room in Washington, DC. Bill is here with the MS Bankers Assoc. Board of Directors and I get to come along and enjoy! We got here Saturday afternoon and we fly out tomorrow at noon. Having a great time and the weather is beautiful! Been eating way too much delicious food but also done tons of walking! Yesterday, Bill and I and two other couples who are banking friends of ours... well we met because of banking but now they are just good friends....went out to Arlington Cemetery which is one of my favorite places here. One of the couples had never been before so we did the tour which Bill and I have been on several times before...we visited the Kennedy's graves, Robert E. Lee's home and saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. That is something that you can see over and over again and still be awe struck everytime. Once we finished the tour, my sweet husband and good friends accompanied me on the real reason I went out there this time, to find and visit the grave of my sweet friend Tammy Summers' husband, Sev. Sev lost his life last August while serving our country on his second tour in Afghanistan. Finding a gravesite at Arlington is not hard, you type the name in a computer and it prints out the section and number of the location, but getting there is a different story. We walked and walked and walked... up and down rows and rows of graves of men and women who loved our country so much that they fought and gave their lives for it! It was worth all that walking to find Sev's grave and honor his memory by visiting there and to take a picture for Tammy. If you come to DC to visit, Arlington would be the #1 place I would suggest you visit.

So, completely changing the subject, tomorrow is my 56th birthday. I know that age is just a number, but that number sure is getting on up there! It is very hard for me to believe that I am only 4 years away from turning 60, if the Lord allows me those years. The thing is, I just do not feel old! My body sometimes feels old...but not all the time...but ALL the time in my mind, I am young! I guess that is a good thing! I am so very blessed to be celebrating another birthday. Life is short and we are not promised our next breath. So, I want to live each day celebrating and enjoying my life... Praising God and thanking Him for all the JOY in my life! It's not always easy to do.. there is much sadness. Just this week my sweet friend Sheryl went to heaven at the age of 59. My dear mama is still in a fetel position in a nursing home unable to communicate. I lost my precious daddy just a little over a year ago and I miss him everyday! There are many around us suffering with cancer... some little children...so it's not easy.. BUT...then ... there ... is JESUS and so there is JOY!!! Joy watching my grandchildren play, joy being with my girls, joy having a wonderful husband who's cancer is in remission!!! Joy having a sister to share memories of my childhood, joy loving two nieces who are like daughters to me, joy having a generous, caring brother in law, joy having lots of loving extended family! Joy having been blessed with amazing, wonderful, fun, kind, friends.... some that are close by and some that live away but are still close at heart! So, dear friends.. I choose to celebrate the JOY and trust God to give me strength and comfort for the pain that must come along with living life!

About time for a new post!

2010-08-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

Guess it's time for a new post. I have not done very well with my blogging lately, not promising I will do much better, but I will try. My last post was the first of July, so I will just catch you all up on what has been happening since then. Sarah and Jeremy got moved to Simpson County and are doing great. Sarah got the job teaching at Simpson Academy High School and starts tomorrow! She will be teaching Chemistry 1 and 2 and A &P. Please pray for her.. she is excited but also nervous. Will will go to Mendenhall Kindergarten so he will ride with Jeremy every day, Macy will go with Sarah to the preschool at SCA, and Wesley will be staying home with his sweet new babysitter, Angie and her 3 year old son!! Here again.. God has provided!!
We spent July 2 - 6 at Orange Beach with all the kids, except for Tony. Had a great time and took some good picts.. will post some here. We are so blessed to have access to a condo on the beach there and also a house in Destin!
Our BIG new of the month we got on July 13 - I am sure most of you have already heard..but BILL'S CANCER IS IN REMISSION!!! We are so very thankful and we are giving God all the glory!! Bill has two more rounds of chemo, 3 days next week and then 3 days the second week of September. He will then have to have 6 weeks of radiation, 5 days a week....not looking forward to that. Once that is done he will have maintenance chemo 4 days a month, every 6 months for 2 years and then we hope and pray this will all be behind us forever!!!! We cannot begin to say how very much we appreciate all of your prayers, love and support. The peace God has given us is amazing and we know it's because of our family and friends praying. Tomorrow is our 36th wedding anniversary and we thank God that we can celebrate knowing that there is NO cancer in Bill's body now!
The last two weeks of July were spent with me directing a wedding, giving a wedding shower and taking a short trip back to the beach with my cousins and sister for our girls trip! And now.. here it is August! And my goodness it is HOT!!! It scares me to death for kids to be practicing football in this heat. Our heat index today was 115!! Why would anybody want to put pads on kids and have them out in that heat? I don't get it.. they could skip a practice or two! The school year really needs to be moved back to start the day after Labor Day!!!
Didn't finsh this post last night.... Just returned from a lovely dinner with my sweet husband, sister and brother in law celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary!!! So hard to believe it's been that long. The years really have flown by. I am so very thankful that my life has been spent with the two most wonderful men I have ever known...I was blessed to be one's daughter and am blessed to be the other ones wife. Bill and I married when I was 19 was I went straight from my daddy's arms into his. Through all the ups and downs and joys and sorrows of life.. it has been and continues to be such a privilege to be his wife!! Praying and asking God for many more healthy years together!!

Here are a few pics from the beach!!

Catching up

2010-07-01T23:05:00.003-05:00

Guess it is way past time for a post.. .so hear goes. Let' see.. my last post was when the virus had attacked while we had Will, Macy and Wesley and Sarah and Jeremy were on a short get away to the beach. I was so sorry that they had to come back a day early but man I was sick! Anyway, what you didn't know at that time was that while they were down south that week Jeremy had an interview at Mendenhall High School! I tried really hard not to get up hopes up, but that really didn't work! I did however pray that God would show them if this was His will for them. Yes, I want them closer! Yes, Mendenhall is where Sydney lives!! But more than anything in my children's lives I want them to be right where God wants them! I am just glad that this particular time He agreed with me!! Jeremy will be the offensive line coach at Mendenhall High School! He will also be the golf coach, which he is quite excited about! Of course once he was offered the job and he and Sarah prayed and discussed it and decided he would accept it, things went into fast motion. God has gone before them every step of the way! They were able to find a house to rent on a month to month basis that they could move into immediately. A good friend of Jeremy's in Tupelo is going to rent their house there for the upcoming school year. Toyota just announced they are going forward with their new plant in Tupelo so by next spring property values should be up and the house should sell with no problem! Many of you know that since Wesley was born 14 months ago Sarah has not worked. She loves being home and doesnt want to go back to hygiene. She went the "alternate route" and got her teaching certificate last year and would really like to teach school so they she and Jeremy and one day the kids have the same vacations. When Jeremy accepted the job he asked about a teaching position for Sarah in the Simpson Cty system. So far that hasn't happened, but she does have an interview at Simpson Academy which is where Sydney is now the elementary principal! Some people would say that things just have a way of working out...wish they knew that it is God who is working His pleasure! So, today they loaded up the truck and tomorrow morning will leave Tupelo and head to Mendenhall. They have mixed emotions! God has blessed them with wonderful friends and a great church that they love in Tupelo. Saying goodbye, even when you know you are on the right path is hard. I know because Bill and I did the exact same thing 27 years ago when we left Shreveport and moved home. We wanted to come back to Natchez and God had worked it out for us to be able to but we left some great friends and an amazing church family. I shared with Sarah and Jeremy that I specifically prayed for God to provide good friends for us in Natchez and of course.. He did! I wish I could say that we have kept up with all our friends in Shreveport all through the years. But things like raising children, working, caring for parents, etc got in the way. I am SO thankful that recently through the miracle of Facebook we are back in contact with some of those dear friends! So, I know that Sarah and Jeremy will find the church He has for them to be involved in and that He will provide good friends for them. And of course, one of her best friends who also happens to be her sister, will be just down the road!!

Okay, you are up to date on Sarah and Jeremy! Let me catch you up on Bill. He is doing amazingly well! Praise the Good Lord!! If he didnt have to go get chemo 3 days a month or blood work twice a month you would really never know that he is sick! He has finished 3 rounds of chemo and has 3 more to go. This week he has repeated the scans that he had just after he was diagnosed. We will get those results week after next and are praying NO cancer will show up!! He does get tired on the chemo days and still has some indigestion but overall he feels good most of the time and we are SO thankful.
Sydney and her family are well. She started her new job June 1st and is getting things in order for school to start. We are so proud of her! Skyler will be in the 7th grade and is playing football which scares me to death!! If you know me at all you know that I LOVE football! But, I had girls.. I never had to worry about one of them getting hurt playing fb! I will be a nervous wreck watching Skyler!! And I worry about the heat probably more than him getting hurt on the field... it is just too hot to play football in August!! Miss Mylie will be in the 1st grade. We were over there last Sunday to see her be baptised.. oh what joy!!! We are excited too that she is going to be a Page during Pilgrimage next Spring! We are honored and looking forward to it so much!
Sunny, Bud and baby Silas are also doing great! Silas is 4 months old already!! Time is just going way too fast these days!! Sunny is going to have a hard time going back to work in August. The good thing is that she gets to take Silas to school with her since they have a daycare for teachers children there!
We are headed to Orange Beach tomorrow afternoon even with the oil situation. It is so very sad and I am not looking forward to seeing it. But I am looking forward to being with Bill and the girls and their families(everybody except Tony who we will miss!!) for several days. We will come back next Wednesday and I will go over and help Sarah unpack and get her house in order.
So, I know this is a long rambling post but I think I have you caught up. I will post some pics from over the last few months! Please continue to pray for Bill. Also we just went through daddy's birthday and Father's day and we are coming up on the time when we found out he was sick last year. We miss him so very much! Mama is just here.. she weighs 90 lbs. I am ready for God to take her to heaven to be with Him, daddy and all her loved ones. Any time now would be fine with me.
love you all and thank you for your love, concern and prayers for us!!

Help!!!

2010-06-04T21:24:00.001-05:00

UPDATE....virus arrived hot and heavy Friday night 11pm... first Macy threw up.. and then around 1am, I started throwing up :( so our weekend has definitely not gone according to plan...Sarah and Jeremy drove back to Natchez from beach yesterday and they all left for Tupelo this morning. We missed Mylie's dance recital :( but had THE most wonderful news from her yesterday.. she prayed to ask Jesus in her heart :) :) :) - what wonderful news to make even a sick Mimi feel wonderful!!! Thanks for all your prayers...seems God thought it would be best for us to go through this... wonder why???

okay.... so Sarah and Jeremy left Wed afternoon for a few days of togetherness and adult conversation and are having a great time! Bless their hearts I don't know any two that needed it more!! Well, NaeNae and I have been sharing babysitting duties with Will, Macy and Wesley and it has worked fine. Except.... I go to Nae's yesterday morning and she tells me that Del has been sick with a stomach virus all night and is still sick... now remember everybody... including Del had been at my house Sunday night for Wesley's bd party....so, I try not to freak out and she says he is staying hold up in his room away from kids. So... then Sunny calls me last night and she is not feeling good at all... stomach isssues....aches all over... typical virus feelings and over the course of today she has gone from bad to worse. I guess I should have said at the beginning that if ANYBODY will catch a virus it is Sunny Salters McGehee and me!!! oh and the Loy kids! Well, this morning when the kids awakened me at 6:15AM....I felt okay, then had a few stomach issues but still felt pretty good. Took the kids to NaeNae while I started packing up to take kids with Bill and I to Mendenhall tomorrow for Mylie's dance recital and then to meet Sarah and Jer on Sunday. So next, I ran to Sonic at lunch... small hamburger and onion rings, diet coke....hmmm not feeling so well after eating....chewed some tums, took some advil and layed down for awhile and felt well enought to deal with kids again... which I have done from 4pm until about 10 minutes ago when they went sleep...however... my stomach is quesy and I have that low back pain I get with a virus... SO.. all of that to ask ALL of you this.. PLEASE pray this virus away... I have got to be able to get to Mendenhall tomorrow, taking these 3 with me and then to Hattiesburg to meet their parents on Sunday morning and then home... I can be sick Sunday night.. but PLEASE pray that I dont get sick until then!!!! Also, pray that Will, Macy and Wesley dont get it at all but especially not until they get home to Tupelo!!! Thank you in advance!!!!

God has a plan!

2010-05-15T20:29:00.001-05:00

Most anybody reading this already knows that a week ago yesterday our lives were forever changed. My sweet, wonderful husband of almost 36 years, Bill, was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Follicular Lymphoma...cancer. He is ONLY 54 years old and is the picture of good health. Bill had an enlarged lymph node in his groin that we had been watching for several months. He saw Dr. Flattman 3 weeks ago and since it had been there a while and not gone down, he thought it needed to come out. So, on Monday, April 5, it was removed. We anxiously waited for the pathology report to come back hoping and praying for those great words, it's benign. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. On Wednesday, April 7 at about 3:00pm the door to my office opened and Bill walked in. Of course I knew immediately that it was bad news. I put my head down on my desk and the tears began. He said, "it's lymphoma" and his next words were exactly what I wanted to hear..BUT it's very treatable, low grade and slow growing! Thank you God!!
And so, our "new normal" began.

Obviously I never did finish and publish the above post. That was written on April 15 and today is May 15. Not sure why but I just have not been able to come back here and finish writing about Bill's cancer. It's been a little over a month now since his diagnoses. He has had a bone marrow biopsy, ct scan, blood work several times. a pet scan, a port put in and his first round of chemo. And .. he stills feels good... like nothing is wrong with him. It is hard to rationalize that you are sick and have to take a strong drug that makes you feel bad(at least for a few days) when you feel SO good! I think probably all of you reading this know that his cancer is Stage 2 for which we are very grateful! The only places that showed up on the pet scan were his groin where the original lymph node was removed and a few, mildly, enlarged lymph nodes in his abdomen. Dr. Rodriguez, Bill's oncologist, is a remarkable man and doctor. He has been so very encouraging from the first visit. He has put Bill on a regimen of chemo with a fairly new drug called Treanda. Bill has the chemo two days in a row and on the third day get a drug called Rituxin which is a an antibody from what I understand. The first round 3 weeks ago only included the chemo they will add the rituxin week after next during his second round. He will have 6 rounds of this regimen, then have radiation, then a maintenance dose of chemo every 4 months for 2 years. And then we are praying he will be done!!! We have been told that his type of cancer is one that often comes back later...but we are praying it will NEVER do that! The first round of chemo did not make Bill very sick and we are SO thankful. He had a little nausea and some indigestion that medicine took care of. The worst thing was 3 days afterward his heart began to skip beats and got quite bad for awhile. Bill had felt his heart doing this about 4 years ago and Dr. Daly had him wear a heart monitor for a few days then. He was having whatever PVC's are and Ed said it was nothing to worry about. He has hardly felt it all over the last 4 years. Anyway, we think the chemo is what triggered the bad episode. So the two doctors are talking about it before his next chemo. The heart thing was bad that Friday night and gradually improved the next few days and for the last 2 weeks he had been feeling wonderful! We Praise God!!

Bill will have blood drawn Monday and see Dr Rodriguez Tuesday around noon and then we are headed to Destin for the Ms Bankers Convention for the rest of the week. We are excited that Bill feels good and we are still able to be there. We always enjoy the convention and of course I find at least a few hours to sit on "my beach!" So we are looking forward to that. Then on Sunday, May 23rd we will head back to reality. His next round of chemo will begin on Monday, May 24th

Things are good with the girls and their families. We celebrated Mother's Day at Sunny's & Bud's church having baby dedication and then going out to eat. Sydney, Tony, Skyler and Mylie came up too, which was wonderful. Sarah and her family had planned to be there as well but Wesley got sick with strep throat and didn't need to be around Silas or Bill. We missed them so much!! Baby dedication was great! Of course out of all those babies, about 13, he was the most precious!!!

We all went to a MS Braves game the night before Mothers Day and had a wonderful time. But we missed Sarah, Jeremy, Will, Macy and Wesley. Skyler was so sweet.. he met a MS State football player and came and told me about his, he said "Mimi, I am going to go get his autograph for Will." and he did!! Skyler turned 12 years old the end of March...how is that possible??? He is playing baseball and I finally got to get over there Thursday night to watch a game and also see Mylie play tee ball. Still hoping it will work out for Poppa to go over to watch them play and for us to get to Tupelo to see Will play some coach pitch, but not sure it will be possible

Well... that is just really a catch you all up and let you know what is going on post. I will write another post soon about my feelings and how I am doing with everything soon. Let's just say I thought I was doing pretty well but my ugly old anxiety disease reared its ugly head Friday morning with a bad panic attack... more on that later.

Michael Silas McGehee

2010-03-28T19:58:00.004-05:00

Silas joined our family 4 weeks ago tonight, on Sunday, February 28 at 6:48pm. He weighed 6lbs and 15 ounces and was 20" long and absolutely perfect!! That Saturday had been an extremely busy and tiring day for me. I had helped give two wedding showers and then worked at daddy's helping Becky continue to clean out and pack up. I did notice on my way in the house for the night that the moon was FULL! After showering, getting on my pajamas and curling up in the bed for what I hoped would be a good nights rest.. my phone rang. As I picked it up, I saw it was Sunny and that it was 10:30pm. "Mama, I think my water broke" were the next words I heard! To be perfectly honest my first thought was, "oh please..not tonight, I am SO tired" but that quickly turned to..."oh how wonderful, we are about to have another beautiful baby!" So, Bill and I threw on clothes, grabbed a suitcase and threw things in it and headed to Jackson, praying for Sunny, Bud and Silas and for a quick and safe trip for us! We arrived at River Oak Baby Suites about 1:00am and were greeted by a very nervous but excited son-in-law who led us up to the labor and delivery suite where our Sunny was all hooked up to the monitors but having very few contractions! The doctor on call decided to let her try to get into active labor on her own over night with the plan to start labor inducing med in the morning if she did not. Bud's mama and daddy had arrived shortly after Bill and I so the four of us along with Bud spent the night in various places and positions in the hospital. Sunny did not begin having regular contractions so early on Sunday morning the potocin was started. It has been amazing for me with all three of the girls to see how differently things are done than when they were born. There were lots of people allowed back to visit her all during the day while things were progressing. We have pictures of her with just about every member of both families, including her nieces and nephews! As the day went along the potocin did it's job and she began having contractions and dilating. Around noon(I think) the anethesiologist came in and gave her an epidural... ah, relief. I agree that epidurals are a marvelous thing but I have seen them slow down the progress of labor many times and that is what happened. Something else I have witnessed, that happens with epidurals, is the mothers are so numb that when it is time to push they cannot feel their muscles to use and it is very hard... this happened with Sunny as well. After turning her potocin up and getting the contractions going strong again, sometime around 4 the doctor said it was time to push. Oh, let me back up and tell you about the doctor. Dr. Donna Breland has been my ob-gyn for about 15 years so naturally when my girls needed to start those visits they all went to Donna. She is in a group of wonderful, Christian doctors there at River Oaks and has been such a blessing in my life. Donna has delivered one of all 3 of my girls babies now! She delivered Mylie for Sydney, Will for Sarah(they were living in Vicksburg) and now Silas for Sunny! We were so thankful that she was able to come in on a Sunday afternoon when she was not on call and deliver Silas! Now, back to pushing. I will not go into all the details but just let me say that it was definitely a group effort getting Silas to enter this world! And it took about 2 1/2 hours. Sunny was amazing!!! I could not have been more proud of her!! And how blessed am I that I have been in the delivery room when all SIX of my grandchildren have been ushered into this world, wonderful and healthy! God absolutely amazes me with His unbelievable love, grace and mercy to us. He amazes me with the blessings that He continually pours into my life! I cannot help but PRAISE HIM!!! Yes, life has it's troubles and things do not always go like we want them too... but OH MY the blessings FAR outweigh the troubles and I am SO thankful!! So, baby Silas decided to be a February baby instead of a March baby and is one month old today! Sunny and Bud are amazing parents already and they as we all are, are totally in love with our youngest blessing. So, now.. there is the story of Silas' birth, which by the way resembles the way his mother was born a whole lot...I went into labor around 11pm one night, there was a full moon and Sunny arrived the next day....and we are trusting God day by day for his future, praying that more than anything this sweet baby boy will grow up knowing how very loved he is, by his family and by His God. And that as soon as he is able to understand, he will ask Jesus into his heart and spend the rest of his life, knowing, loving and serving the One who gave him life!!

Post coming.. I promise!

2010-03-10T15:39:00.000-06:00

I promise a new post all about the arrival of baby Silas is coming! Just have not had time to

sit down and write...but I will soon!

Stuff!

2010-02-22T20:59:00.002-06:00

So, I am SO tired of cold, dreary weather! We were in Tupelo over the weekend and Saturday was actually a beautiful day with the sun shining. Bill, Jeremy and Will went down to Starkville to a baseball game and came back with tanned faces! I guess God gives us a glipse of Spring every once in a while during January and February to remind that winter WILL soon be over. Back to reality though, the forecast is saying we may have MORE snow tomorrow night. I just do not function well in cold weather. I just want to stay inside in my warm bed or by my warm fire and do absolutely nothing! We did enjoy playing in the snow Friday before last once we got to Mendenhall and had Skyler and Mylie to enjoy it with! It's lots more fun when there are children around. We had a good visit with Syd and her family that weekend... watched Skyler play basketball, went out to eat some great catfish and just enjoyed being with them.

Back to being in Tupelo over the weekend... we had a great visit with Sarah, Jeremy and those other 3 precious grandbabies. They are growing up so fast! I got some cute pictures that I will post. Most of them are of Macy and Wesley since Will was at MS State Saturday afternoon. Sarah and I took Macy and Wesley to the Tupelo mall where they have a wonderful playground for kids. There is so much to do in Tupelo and such good shopping.. but gosh I miss them and wish there lived closer to home.

Before we went to Tupelo on Friday we spend Thursday night at Sunny and Bud's. Baby Silas' arrival is probably less than two weeks away!! We worked on finishing touches in his room and I washed and dryed about 5 loads of "baby things." We are so excited and so grateful to God for adding another precious baby to our family. Sunny and Bud are nervous, as I think all first time parents are. Please pray for a safe, normal delivery and a healthy baby! I cannot believe that this will be grandchild number SIX for Bill and I! We are so blessed to be here and be fairly young(as grandparents go) and healthy and able to enjoy them so very much! Our cup runneth over.. thank you Lord!

Okay....time for bed... I imagine my next post will be just before or just after Silas' birth.. so y'all be watching!!

Finally!

2010-02-04T20:41:00.002-06:00

Well, I finally got my blog to look at least half way decent so I guess it's time for a new post. Wow, it's already February in 2010. I never really got in the habit of writing 2009 on my checks.. not sure why..so I thought I would be glad to go to 2010 but now I find myself writing 2009. Guess that's just the way it is. Change is hard for me...even something as insignificant as writing the year on checks. Accepting the fact that I am the mother of grown children, that I am about to have 6 grandbabies, that I am the "matriarch" of our family...well, it's just hard to deal with! Sydney called last Thursday morning in terrible pain with a kidney stone and ended up in the hospital. As soon as I find out they were keeping her I left work, ran home to pack, and was about to hit the road. Bill came in for lunch and even though I had told him the circumstances on the phone, he said "now why do you need to go?" He said "she is in the hospital, Tony is there, I am not sure why you need to go." With tears welling up in my eyes I said, "because I know what it feels like when you want your mama." I know men don't understand that or at least most of them don't. Anyway, on the way to Jackson I was thinking how there are so many times when I just want my mama or my daddy for that matter! And I do not like it that I cannot run to either one of them! It's hard to accept that, after 55 years of being able to get in daddy's lap or talk to mama on the phone and feel like everything was going to be fine.

Becky and I have still been going through mama and daddy's house,it looks like it is going to take us a year to finish. We found some precious letters that daddy wrote to mama in 1947, 48 and up until their wedding in Sept of 49. He wrote to her just about everyday begging her to marry him, declaring his undying love for her and just sharing what was going on in his life. Mother's parents were totally against her marrying my daddy.. I don't think they wanted her to marry anybody. Over the course of the 2 1/2 years that he wrote the letters mama would tell him yes and then change her mind...I think she must of done that several times. It is a miracle they ever married! Of course her family came to know very quickly what a jewel mama had married and they loved my daddy very much. After reading the letters it was very obvious to me why mama and daddy were so quick to agree for Bill and I to marry at age 19. They would never have said no after what they had been through!

I just looked back and my last real post was before Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas with all the kids here, but I will be honest, it was hard for me without my daddy. I knew it was going to be sad but I didn't realize how much it would effect me. I went through a few days of a mini depression. Having the kids here helped tremendously but I missed my daddy. The kids(big and small) had a ball and as always had way too many gifts! Every year I say I am cutting back but this year.. I mean it!! Guess we will have to wait til December and see if I follow through.

Well.. guess that's about it.. except SuperBowl Sunday is just a few days away and the New Orleans Saints are finally there!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!

Help!!

2010-01-13T13:38:00.002-06:00

Okay.. you people who read my blog and have blogs of your own.. I have been trying to learn more about designing my blog..and am very frustrated....HELP!! I want to rearrange the different elements on my blog.. do I HAVE to use one of the templates on here? Post on here, email me or Facebook me and help me out please!!! As soon as I can figure all this out.. I will make a new post!!!

Rambling

2009-12-10T10:04:00.013-06:00

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!

2009-11-05T10:05:00.004-06:00

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

2009-10-13T14:25:00.010-05:00

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

2009-09-24T14:40:00.005-05:00

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

2009-08-20T20:07:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-08-02T22:16:00.011-05:00

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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!!!

2009-07-27T10:44:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-19T15:42:00.007-05:00

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!

2009-07-01T21:00:00.007-05:00

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

2009-06-18T14:20:00.007-05:00

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

2009-06-10T11:48:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-06-07T22:40:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-18T23:34:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-05-03T23:10:00.004-05:00

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!!

2009-04-16T23:09:00.010-05:00

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

2009-03-29T20:06:00.009-05:00

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...

2009-03-18T13:12:00.005-05:00

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!

2009-03-03T15:46:00.003-06:00

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

2009-01-18T22:42:00.005-06:00

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!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-12-31T17:59:00.005-06:00

Wow... I haven't posted in over two weeks, since December 10th. Of course lots has happened since then...including Christmas!! All my kids were here and we had a great time being together. We ate way too much, laughed alot, learned how to play Wii and Guitar Hero and enjoyed our time together. Of course it was a normal household with a 10 year old, two 4 year olds and a 16 month old. It was loud and crazy...and there were some melt downs.. but over all it was great and we survived! And now here we are on the threshold of a brand new year.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! We are so very blessed and I thank God for His amazing love and the blessings we receive everyday! I am very thankful for Jesus, our family, our friends, our health, our church, our jobs and so much more! May He bless you and yours in this new year!

Tornado!

2008-12-10T19:23:00.008-06:00

We had a wild night last night! We had a house full of people for a Sunday school Christmas party and had been having a great time.... eating, laughing and enjoying being together. We all knew that the weather was supposed to get bad but we were not ready for what happened. All of a sudden we heard this huge noise...weren't sure if it was rain or wind...we looked out the door and the wind was unbelievable!!! Then it started raining very hard. We went to our front porch and I heard the "Freight train" sound... had never heard that before. Whoever "they" are, are saying there was no confirmed tornado... I got news for them.. I will be glad to confirm it! Two doors down Glenn Mizell's patio cover was ripped from the house, blew over it and into Jeff Davis Blvd hitting Mike and Louan Peavy's car.. they were at the party at my house. Espero Dr looks like a war zone there are so many trees down.. Robert and Arlene Marler's house suffered extensive damage...the church also has extensive damage. Part of the steeple blew off and part of the Fellowship Hall roof too. I am going to try to add some pictures on here. We are very blessed that as far as we know no one was hurt. That is a miracle!! And now.. "they" say it's going to snow... I will believe that when I see it!!

Christmas is coming!!

2008-12-03T12:55:00.004-06:00

It's the 3rd day of December, we have two Christmas parties at my house next week..one Sunday night and one Tuesday night... and my tree is NOT up and my house is NOT decorated. I guess I keep thinking the decorating elf is going to come get it all done for me. I will be off tomorrow afternoon and do not work on Fridays, so hopefully I will get it all done then.

We had a great time at Sydney's for Thanksgiving and then a wonderful long weekend in Destin. There is just no more relaxing place in the world to me than on "that" beach. I enjoy any beach anytime I can get to one, but the beach in Destin and the house in Destin are like going home to me. I did not have lots of beach time, but the time I had was great! I did have LOTS of shopping time and spent way too much money!

I love Christmas! I love the real meaning of Christmas, that God loves us so much that he sent His son in human flesh, to live and to die and pay the debt for my sins...way beyond my comprehension, but I believe it! I love having my family all together at Christmas... I love shopping for them and seeing their eyes when they open their gifts. I love riding around and seeing Christmas lights and trees in people's houses. I love putting ornaments on the tree and remembering where each one came from and what occasion it marked. I love being with friends and keeping traditions that we have established. I love getting Christmas cards and letters. I love having people over to my house. I love memories of Christmas's past when I was a child and when my girls were little. I love pictures and old home movies that show those Christmas's. Christmas brings me much joy and I am very thankful!

I know that there are many people who have a hard time at Christmas. They may have lost loved ones in the past year, or maybe at this time of year. They may have financial problems and not be able to buy for their family like they want to. There are many other problems that cause grief and stress especially at Christmas. We need to remember to pray for people we know who fit in any of these categories. We also need to do whatever we can to encourage them and lift them up.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful Christmas season and are getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus with your friends and family! Try not to let the stress of decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking etc. spoil the season... remember we are the only one in charge of our attitude!! Let's all have the attitude of gratitude!!

Thanksgiving Week

2008-11-24T10:40:00.005-06:00

Here we are into the week of Thanksgiving with Christmas not far behind! Gosh, this year has just flown by. Years seem to go faster and faster the older you become. Of course this is going to be a busy week, so this will probably be my only blog entry of the week. Jeremy and the kids got to town last night. They are at his parents, but I will get the kids this afternoon..YAY! Sarah had to stay and work through Wednesday, bless her heart. She will drive down after work Wed. Bill and I will miss seeing her because we will head to Jackson Wed morning to help Sunny and Bud move and then go to Sydney's. We will have Thanksgiving dinner at Syd's and then head to DESTIN for a long weekend!! I am praying the weather forecast is wrong.. calling for rain on Friday and Saturday. I need some beach time!! I love to sit on the beach in the fall and winter and just read or sit and listen to the waves and take in the beauty of the world God created.

Christmas has probably always been my favorite holiday, but Thanksgiving would be a close second. When I was a little girl growing up we would go to my grandparents house in Mccomb with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins... and TONS of food. We would usually go on Thanksgiving Day and then get together again the Sunday before Christmas. Wonderful memories! After Bill and I married we usually spent Thanksgiving in Mendenhall with his family. Then at Christmas, his family would come to Natchez and we would all celebrate together at my parents. My girls were blessed to spend every Christmas growing up with both sets of grandparents. We never had to do the "this year is your year, next year will be your year" thing. I'm not sure I ever told my in-laws how much that meant to me, but I think they knew. We lost Bill's mom in 1993 and his dad in 1998, we miss them all the time, but especially at Christmas.

But.. back to Thanksgiving! My life is so very blessed! There are many,many things that I am thankful for. Among them are: Jesus and that thru Him I have eternal salvation, God's love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, provision, protection, His word and so much more, my wonderful husband of 34 years, our 3 beautiful daughters, our 3 wonderful son-in-laws, our 4,with another 1 one the way, amazing grandchildren, our health, my daddy, the wonderful memories of my mama the way she was, my sister and her family, my sister-in-law and her husband, and all of our extended family, all of the wonderful friends that God has brought into our lives who are now both near and far, and that no matter who the President of the USA is, we still live in a free country and God is the one in control!

I hope and pray that each of you have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends! Take some time to say out loud something that you are thankful to God for or do what we will, let each person write a note saying something they are thankful for and then read them all out! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2008-11-17T21:37:00.005-06:00

Been a week since my last update.. a busy week. I went back to Sunny's last Thursday afternoon and helped she and Bud move into the temporary house. Thank God for good friends, they had 3 guys come help and we could have never made it without them. We got the last load unloaded at close to 11pm. During all this moving, Sunny's realtor had learned of a house going on the market that she thought Sunny and Bud would like. So on the day they moved to the temp house... they found their new home!! God does have a sense of humor! Anyway, the house is actually not far from their old house. It's not in a subdivision, it's on a street with large lots and not many houses. Their house is on 1.3 acres. It has woods in back and on one side.. Bud is thrilled. It's a great house for them and the best thing is they will close and get to move next week! Which,since Sunny called yesterday and informed me that the temp house has NO HEAT,is a really good thing. They do have a fireplace, thank the Lord! She said they were moving their bed into the den in front of the fire tonight.

Back to my busy week..Friday morning I got up and went back to the house they moved out of and completely cleaned it. Got done about 11, went back to the temp house, showered and got dressed just in time to meet Sarah, Will and Macy at Backyard Burgers. Tupelo played NW Rankin Friday night. Bill rode up later with Jeremy's parents. Turned out it poured down rain and with Macy's bad ears(she is getting tubes Dec. 1st) we didn't dare take her, so Sarah, Macy and I went to Newk's to eat and then back to the hotel. Poppa, NaeNae and Papaw took Will, but he was ready to leave at halftime so they brought him back to us. Unfortunately, Tupelo got beat and they are done for the year. We got up Saturday morning and headed to MackyDonalds for breakfast. Bill and I headed home and so did Sarah and the kids, Jeremy had to drive the bus back after the game.

Washed clothes and did house stuff Sat. afternoon and then watched Alabama beat MSU and then watched LSU's amazing comeback win on my computer. It was awesome!! GEAUX TIGERS!!

Sunday was a great day of worship at church. We have an amazing interim pastor, Jason Meyer. There is no doubt that God sent him to PBC at the right time! We are also blessed to have a wonderful interim Minister of Music, Lonnie Stewart!

To end the day yesterday on a great note, Skyler called to report he killed his first buck. He had killed a doe last year, but this was the real deal! He said it was an 8 point that weighed 175 lbs! Hopefully I will soon have a picture of it to put on here.

Well, I think that is about all of my news. I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. I have GOT to get my house decorated for Christmas before we leave next Wednesday. We will go to Sydney's Wed night and then Thursday after lunch head to DESTIN for a long weekend!! I have the choir party here on Dec 7th... so house has to be done before I leave next week! I think I need to quit work... again!! Y'all have a great week!

Sunny JoAnn Salters McGehee

2008-11-10T23:13:00.002-06:00

27 years ago today God brought our beautiful third baby girl into the world. We were already blessed with Sydney who was not quite 4 and Sarah who was 19 months old. When Sunny was born we had no idea what her name would be. We really were not considering another "S" name... but then my mother said, " you have to name her something that starts with S or she will have a complex her whole life. So, for about 3 days, baby # 3 had no name. We discussed, Stephanie, Summer(Bill said No, I am not naming a child born in November, Summer) and finally agreed on Sunny. Of course God was in control and orchestrating our choice! Her name fits her perfectly! I cannot begin to tell you the joy and laughter "Sunny" has brought to us. She has had all of us in stitches laughing more times than I can possibly tell you. Her sense of humor was very evident when she was still very young. One night we were sending the girls to bed, Sunny was about 3 or 4, Syd and Sarah had already left the room and Sunny was going very slowly toward the door of our bedroom. Bill said," Sunny, go on to bed." She looked up at him and said "You see my feet walkin, don't ya?" We just about died laughing! There are so many quotes like that I could share!

The years have flown by and now our funny Sunny bunny is a grown married woman. It is such a blessing to see her married to a wonderful Christian man, teaching children at a great school, and being involved in her church. God has given her so many gifts and she uses them to glorify Him. It is a privilege to be her mother and I thank God that He chose me for that honor!!!

Sunny...you are very loved!!!

Tired

2008-11-09T19:16:00.002-06:00

Got home from Sunny's this afternoon. We managed to get her house packed up and actually moved some stuff to the temporary house. Yes, they are going to have to move twice! Since their house sold they have looked at LOTS of houses, but have not found THE right one to fit their needs, budget and wants! Thank the Good Lord, Bud's boss has an empty house they can move into until they find their house. Now, do not get me wrong.... we are very thankful for this house and Bud's bosses generosity...but this is a house that has been sitting empty for over a year. We were supposed to get in Friday afternoon to clean and then start moving things Saturday. Well, the key to the house was lost. So, it was Saturday afternoon before we could get in. Okay.. so we go in knowing that some cleaning will have to be done....but.. just let me say when we got in I looked at Sunny and Bud and said," I think we should find y'all an apartment to move into for a few months!"......that didn't go over well, so we(me, Bill, Bud and Sunny) began the task of getting a least a few rooms livable. Let me remind you this is all happening Saturday afternoon when I had PLANNED to be on my couch watching the LSU -Bama game. I did manage to find a radio in the house to listen to the game on....back to the cleaning. The family who moved out of this house left TONS of their STUFF all over the house...so first we had to move all of their stuff to two of the rooms that won't be used....then Bill started cleaning the kitchen... I began sweeping the cobwebs, spiders, and roaches from the floors and walls. I will spare you the rest of the details, but when we left there about 9 last night we had the kitchen, dining room, living room, den, master bed and bath ready to move into and I was WORN OUT! I had spent Thursday afternoon, night and all day Friday packing up Sunny's house. On top of all that I have acquired a cold and almost lost my voice. I have spent the afternoon in my bed and am now on the couch. Sunny and Bud were very thankful for our help and that make's it all worthwhile!! I thank God that we are able to help our children even now that they are grown..it is nice to be needed.

Mothers

2008-11-05T20:56:00.004-06:00

I am taking off work tomorrow afternoon and going to Sunny's to pack up her kitchen and probably the rest of her house to move. She doesn't seem to think she can do it without me. Didn't help that Sarah told her what a good job I did packing her house up when she moved in July. I also helped Syd move into her new house 4 years ago. I guess it's a mother thing. My mother helped me move every time we moved except the last time. I would give anything if she could help me now. For those that don't know, my mama has been in a nursing home for 6 1/2 years. She has Alzheimer's and does not know anybody anymore. It is an awful, awful disease. Her body is still here but my mama has been gone for a long time. It is hard on all of us, but especially my daddy. He misses her SO much! Another word of advice to you young women...appreciate your parents and tell them how much you love them! Time goes by so fast and before you know you are the age they were when you thought they were old!
I thank God that I am able to help my girls and pray for many more years to do that!!

Day after Election...

2008-11-05T10:49:00.003-06:00

Here is a post from Beth Moore on her blog this morning. I totally agree with her. We must be obedient to God's word!

"A United House

To my beloved Sisters who I esteem so highly and consistently find to be part of the solution to our problems in the Church rather than the cause,

Please join me in praying for our President-elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and his precious daughters, Sasha and Malia. Go with me before the Throne of our sovereign God and ask Him to grant wisdom from above to President-elect Obama and the indwelling presence and power of Jesus Christ. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior..."

Please also join me in the active and deliberate pursuit of unity and purity in the Body of Christ at this historical time in our country. I implore you in Jesus Name to have zero tolerance for prejudice whether it is regarding party-affiliation, color (whether you are Black, White, or Brown), economics or the like. Disagreement is not sin. Prejudice is. Satan has plotted events and planted attitudes that, should he be successful, will result in havoc. We must not stand for his schemes or cooperate in a single way. We would severely displease God and invite untold chastisement upon Christ's Church in our nation. Speak clearly to your children and graciously but emphatically draw a line in your work places and social circles regarding your stand against prejudice of any kind.

"Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.'" (Matthew 12:25) A united house stands. A divided house falls. The devil has much to gain. But he also has much to lose.

We are the Body of Jesus Christ and we have an opportunity to show His character. This is our watch. We stand for what is right not from our feet but from our knees.

I humble myself before you and make these pleas under such bold direction of God that I could not resist it nor disobey it. He made it a fire in my bones.

I love and esteem you so much. Shoulder to shoulder, Dear Siestas. Let's leave not one inch for the enemy to come between us.

"Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder." Zephaniah 3:9 "
Posted by Beth at 6:42 AM

Have a great day! :)

Election Day

2008-11-04T10:55:00.001-06:00

We have an awesome responsibility today as Americans but even more important, as Christians. However, whatever the outcome of the election, we must remember that God is still in control! I read a post from Beth Moore on her blog this morning that I am sharing with everybody. Here it is:

"A few things I'm so thankful for on this election day, regardless of the outcome:

*We live in a democracy where we have the right to a vote and a voice. We have the God-given responsibility to use both wisely and in the way that best reflects what God conveys through Scripture.

*God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" and "according to the plan." Ephesians 1:11

*Not only does God work out everything in conformity with His will, He has promised to work out everything for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

*God sets up kings and deposes them and gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. Daniel 2:21

*We, the beautifully diverse family of God, are never - not at any time - powerless. Nor are we ever victims of a system. Believing prayer takes us through doors we'll never be invited to enter and into judges chambers we'll never grace. Take a look back at Genesis 18 once again with astonishment over the dialogue between God and His servant and friend, Abraham. Rejoice that God is ever mindful of a faithful remnant. The Judge of the Earth will always do right.

*Even if persecution should await believers in Christ or harrowing circumstances hound us, God will use hardship to bring unity and purity to a people who need it desperately. The best of circumstances do not always produce the best in the Bride of Christ.

*The living God is firmly established upon His Throne and there at His holy feet we can always find grace and mercy in our time of need.

*No matter what happens today, we are GOD'S elect. He has elected us to show His heart and to walk in His ways in the culture that surrounds us. We are called to walk in the challenging balance of grace and truth.

May we be filled with Christ's Spirit today and our mouths given to praise and to believing, receiving prayer. God IS faithful and He has us firmly in His hand. We will not fear. We will not doubt. We will not hate.

"Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders." Deuteronomy 33:12

I remain your servant,
Beth"

Have a great day!! :)

Weekend fun

2008-11-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

We have had a great weekend with everybody home. Everybody was here except for Tony who is in Wyoming on a big hunting trip with his dad, brothers and uncles.

Enjoyed watching the kids go trick or treating last night. After seeing some of the scary aspects of Halloween, Will has decided he does not like Halloween! Macy has grown so much in the last two months. She is saying so many more words and knows everything you say to her. She is still having ear infections and will see an E.N.T. next week. Skyler and Mylie had lots to tell everybody about our trip to Disney World. They were Mickey and Minnie last night. We celebrated November birthdays tonight, Sunny's is the 10th, Jessie's is the 15th and Will will be 4 on the 17th. I hit the jackpot with Will's gift... found him a Fisher Price pirate ship, he loves it!

Really looking forward to all of us being at church tomorrow. I love looking out from the choir and seeing all of them sitting there together! Bill is singing a solo tomorrow so it will be extra special. I am sure that I will be sad when they all head home tomorrow. My nest that has been so very full this weekend will go back to being empty. But, that is as it should be. It still just seems like they grew up and left the nest way too quickly! You young mothers and daddys enjoy every minute!!!

2008-10-30T17:39:00.000-05:00

We spent 5 days at Disney World last week with Sydney, Tony, Skyler and Mylie. We had a great time!!

Here I go again...

2008-10-30T15:48:00.000-05:00

So, I am going to attempt to have a blog that I will actually keep updated. We will see how it goes. Right now, I am about to get off of work for the weekend...YAY! All of my girls and grandchildren are coming home and I am very excited. They will be here for Halloween...so much more fun when you have little ones around! I have not seen Sarah, Jeremy, Macy and Will in almost two months and cannot wait for them to get here!! We will celebrate Sunny and Will's birthdays this weekend even though they are in November. We will not all be together again until Thanksgiving or possibly Christmas. So, I am off...... will update later.

Addition: My Goose(Jessie) is coming in for the weekend too...YAY!! Wish Mattie was coming in too!!