Why are my eyes wet again?

Oh, it might be because I was just writing to Judy R. in Winona, responding to her e-mail about the lovely weekend she enjoyed. Saturday she was leader of a women's Bible study, based on "Taste and See That the Lord is Good", which was the theme of the retreat she attended recently in Stillwater. She had the ladies hum the melody to "Go, My Children" while she read some closing passages and said the prayer. Judy reported it was well received, with some of the ladies wiping their eyes at the closing.

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She told me that when she was at DMLC and toured with the choir, they sang "Now the Light Has Gone Away" in German for their closing, and knew they hit a home run if some of the ladies were wiping their eyes. When I wrote back to her, I reminded her about how Pastor Hahm sang that hymn to Mom at his farewell dinner, but said he could not look at her while he sang. He gave her a foretaste, because he has promised to come back and sing it again for her funeral....but she will already be in heaven, singing God's praises full-time! I sent Judy the hymn in German, shared with me by Gretchen, my friend from church.

Pastor Hahm addressing the assembly at his farewell dinner. A dear man, missed by his former members, but appreciated by his new ones!

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Speaking of Gretchen, she met me at my car this a.m. before Bible study and gave me blue gift wrapped present. She finds these treasures in her home when she is going through her things, and today, I got a treasure! It is a wall plaque that looks like a mini-chalk board, with the message: "If God meant for me to cook, He would not have invented restaurants!" We just had to laugh about this, and I told her I was in full agreement, as she knew I would be! She is so thoughtful, doing the things for people that make them feel so special!

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Well, I stood with binoculars at the ready and listened to the radio announce the count down and lift off of the Space shuttle Atlantis.....but, where is it??? Karen, my next door neighbor, was also watching from her patio and neither of us could spot it, which means it must have been either too cloudy that direction or it went in a more northerly direction, over the top of our building and out of our sight. Nuts! I so enjoy the shuttle launches and am disappointed that I could not see this one. Hopefully the rescue shuttle will not have to go up, but I will certainly watch for it, if it does have to be launched.

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The radio is also reporting a double tragedy on the northside of Jacksonville, the kind of tragedy I am familiar with. It seems a set of twin girls, aged 18 months old, were found floating in a retention pond, were air lifted to Shands, and are in critical condition. I hope that God, in His mercy, will take them home if they are badly brain damaged. Justin and I often talk about that, because one of his teachers at St. Johns had a son drown, only to be resuscitated, living the next seven years in a vegetative state in an institution, and then finally dying. Prayers for the family of the twins would be most appreciated, asking for God's will to be done for these girls, and support for their family.

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For the next few days my nest is empty, as Joanne is going to visit her sisters in Atlanta. We think we solved the mystery of the smelly refrigerator and it was not really fish! Even though all the finest noses in northeast Florida sniffed and squeezed, no one, except for perhaps Martie, seemed to find the cause of the fish odor. She had taken out the potatoes and washed them, sniffed them, and put them back in the drawer, dismissing them as the offenders. Well, yesterday, Joanne was in the fridge again, rooting around while making her supper, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. She had me smell the potatoes, and sure enough, there it is! The smell is solved!!! And I owe her an apology, accusing her of "fowling" my fridge with her wretched fish, and instead, it was her wretched potatoes!!!!

Happy Mom's Day all you mothers out there!

The day is winding to a close and darkness is coming. Justin has since left my house and supposedly heading for home. I know he had left some of his belongings at his father's house where he had spent a couple days taking care of Mickey the dog. Whether he is going there tonight or waiting until tomorrow I do not know. I DO know that he starts his summer class, Astronomy 101, I guess, tomorrow evening. He needs a couple science or similar classes to earn his AA degree, so he is working in that direction. Good!

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Justin came to church with me, met me as I was greeting at the door. All were glad to see him, some not seeing him on Easter Sunday. The choir sang a hymn about Christian homes which was quite lovely and then I got to sit with him the rest of the service. The closing hymn was "Go, My Children" which was another funeral hymn, and yes, a perfect message in musical form. At first Justin asked me, when we noticed it in the service folder, if we should step outside while the song was sung, and I said, "Sure, if you want to..." but then he changed his mind. We sat through it, made all the more lovely by Suzanne playing the viola with the MIDI. We shed a tear or two and then regrouped.

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After church, Sarah came over to me as we were being dismissed, and handed me a card, gave us each a hug, and left. Then she came back and told me about signing her name and writing mine on the card, in her own hand! Such a big big girl! And I really loved the card. They (Lawcock's) are just so thoughtful. For the first couple years after Timmy died, Emily would get me a Mother's Day card, to sort of make up for the losses I was experiencing. Justin is really good at Mother's Day, and did good today, too.

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Our plans included going to see "Star Trek" after having lunch at 5 Guys burger joint but the tickets he got were for 1:00 pm and we arrived too late to have lunch first. He insisted I would need some Dramamine for the movie. This took time and two different stores in order to find some. Good ole Publix comes through again! We decided to just snack on our little candy treats, no popcorn, and then have lunch afterward instead. The movie was great, and I am glad that I was not aware of the controversy from die hard "Star Trek" TV show fans, because I was tickled to see and hear so many similarities to the old program enjoyed by my sister, Lori, and me years ago.

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We got our nice lunch, eating inside the restaurant because it was too hot outside in full sun for Justin to enjoy his meal. We shared a small order of fries but still ended up bringing about half of those home with us. Once our clothes were changed, it was down to the pool we went, choosing shade to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. "He is a talker", as our friend, Jackie, used to say about him, making the time pass rather quickly. When we came upstairs, I got my caftan on and we settled in to watch a couple episodes of "Seinfeld", Justin's choice, before he decided to go home. Justin had gotten me a bouquet of flowers and a pretty card, which he admitted was not as perfect as the one he got for me last year. In fact, that card has remained on my buffet all year. He told me it was the first card he picked up and it was exactly right for me....I told him that one would be hard to beat and he said he toyed with putting last year's card in a new envelope, as sort of a joke. That is the problem with perfection, it is soooo hard to beat!

What a marvelous day it has been!

Although I had the opportunity to attend an all-day crop at a new establishment in Orange Park, described as a scrapbooking spa, I opted to pass. I have been cropping three times in recent weeks and must print off more photos before I can do more "work".

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Kathy B. and I met at Grumpy's for a late breakfast/early lunch. I had not been there since yesterday so it was time I went again. In the past I have encountered Gordy and Terri and family at Grumpy's on Saturday mornings, but not so today. Somehow or another a space was open near the front of the building and I pulled right in. As I came across the parking lot, I saw a young lady on the phone. Her dad, I am guessing, came out to tell her that their food had come and he literally leaped over the railing and across the lot. At the very same time a car rather screeched to a halt in the bike lane on Kingsley and a man got out and ran to the sidewalk. Once on the ramp to the door I could see they were helping someone lying on the concrete.

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A couple other men also went over to assist and they eventually got the older man back onto his feet. The car and driver pulled away from the curb, while the other men helped the grandpa to the bench by the building. The waitress got a cup of water for him, and someone told us that he had walked from an assisted living facility a few blocks down. A phone call was made to the facility and supposedly someone was coming to collect him. Before we knew it, here he came tottering in and took a seat at a table, ordering a meal. Okay, I guess he's staying!

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Kathy and I enjoyed a lovely meal together, meatloaf for me, breakfast for her. She very nicely treated me plus gave me a "for no reason" present----a mini-pitcher, beautifully painted, with the passage "Delight in the Lord" printed on the front. It is gorgeous, and much appreciated. When we were about to leave, the old gentleman was finishing his dessert, and I asked the Host if he needed a ride home. He went back to ask "Roy" if he needed a ride, then came back to report he would. Kathy helped load him in my car and off we went down the road, back to his facility. He told me his shoulder hurt, telling me he fell down on the sidewalk, and I pretended I didn't know about the fall, to save him embarrassment. We wished each other the Lord's blessings as he left my car and went inside. Such a sweet man, and I would like to think that people would rally to my mom's or sister's aid, if they needed it.

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Kathy was going to attend her niece's "rock climbing" birthday party today which is one reason why it didn't work for us to go to Joe's. We must try again for another time, when we are not so tightly scheduled. On the way home, I called Judy J. and invited her to come over to swim and sit. Joanne was going to be bringing her dad and Shadie, the dog, over for a visit, too, so I put ribs in the slow cooker with bbq sauce to roast the better part of the day. As it turned out, Clyde refused to venture out and Judy went home to eat so only Jo and I were here for supper. We ate leftover dirty rice with our ribs, plus a dinner roll purchased from Grumpy's . Mmmmmm, fresh baked rolls----made me think of Linda J.!!!! Martie also planned to come over after getting her haircut but the appointment involved more than a cut, making it after 5:00 before she got out. Too late to sit poolside, I had already come upstairs and changed from my suit. I decided to pull a Joanne and get right into my nightie, even though it was still daylight!

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Tonight, while Joanne is taking Shadie back to her house (where Jo used to live, too), I am sitting here in my family room, typing and laughing at the TV. An old movie is on, "Liar, Liar" with Jim Carrey, whose antics are often over the line, just makes me laugh. He plays a divorce attorney who for one day simply cannot tell a lie, and finds himself being unabashedly honest, to the point of being brutal. Parts are really funny, some, not so much. But the part which tickles my funny bone is where the elevator doors open and all the people are fanning their noses, obviously someone was indiscreet, and he turns around, announcing, "It was me!!!!", because he cannot lie!!!

A quiet Friday night, so far

Hey, where are my scrapbookers??? Well, Twila is leaving in the morning for her timeshare with Twila Squared and her kids, so she was too busy getting ready for that to go cropping. Hmmph! No, really, though, it is okay, she is excused. Anna is busy moving, or getting ready to do so, making this not the very best time for cropping. Caroline is having some serious back troubles making it impossible for her to ambulate, much less crop. Kelly is on her way to Sarasota to see her father-in-law for what might very well be the last time, so she, too, is excused. Friday night crops here are generally the church ladies and none were available this time, which makes for the peaceful, quiet evening with the full moon on the river....

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Last night before I went to bed, I checked the e-mail one last time. Sure 'nuff, there was a lovely note from Linda, asking if the moon was beautiful here, too, as Lynn and she witnessed the same moon in WI when leaving Bible study in Mishicot. It warmed my heart to know, to almost be able to hear them, discussing our shared moon. Certainly Winona had the gorgeous moon lighting its sky and thoughts of the river crossed minds there, too.

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Poor Joanne was so tired when our dinner was over that she went right to bed. I made quick work of what was left to clean up in the kitchen, and although Jo said she would finish in the morning, I told her to not worry about it at all. Certainly I can clean up after my gatherings. The ladies are quite good about clearing dishes away and putting leftovers away in the smelly fridge. There was little left behind for us to deal with, as the ladies took their remnants home. Christine took a dish or two of my taco salad home with her, supposedly for Greg, but she told me not to be surprised if he never got any of it! My grumbling tummy tells me now to go get some of my own leftovers to enjoy for supper!

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While we were eating, I got a phone call from an old friend, reporting that a cry had gone out for prayer on behalf of our friend, Cindy and her mom. Mom had taken ill late afternoon and into the evening, requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital for Teresa. She was put on a ventilator and the medical people seemed of the opinion that her systems were going into shut-down mode. She has been ailing as long as I have known her, probably about 7 years now, and Cindy had finally taken her parents into her home to make it easier to care for them. Now, the very nice lady whom I refer to as "Mother Teresa" was lying near death, and Cindy was asking for our prayers. Updates tell us that Teresa has fluid in her lungs, for some reason, and attempts are being made to remove that, plus they are treating some sort of infection as well. It might be the crisis has passed for now, but it is really quite "wait and see" for her.

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Our dinner was quite lovely despite the news about Mother Teresa, but we had a couple empty seats at the table. I hate that because there is nothing better than a full table! The Brendas both had work so couldn't make it, Dee had artists dropping off work to be hung at the library, and Justin made plans to go the gym with Jesse. He assured me they were going to the gym at his student suites, the one I pay for in his rent, rather than the one where Jesse is a member. Justin did express his desire to pay extra for the gym Jesse belongs to, because, of course, the machines are better, the treadmills are better, the maintenance is better, the sky is bluer and the girls are prettier, etc., etc., etc. Everything is better than what he already has, the story of his life....Justin claims it "only" costs about $30 a month, and in his case, there are many many other ways he could spend that money than a duplication in services, but what do I know? I am only the mom.....

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Oh, yes, the dinner....(I just went off about the gym situation, didn't I? This is only one "issue" that I have with him right now, but Monday he starts his summer classes and I pray that he does not, again, at the last moment, decide he blew it and not take those finals! Ugh! No wonder entire days are dedicated to celebrate mothers!)*******Chicken enchilladas, dirty rice, homemade key lime pie, taco salad, and oh, yeah, toquitos! Add cherry pie, a perfect match for the key lime tartness, and we have ourselves a wonderfully filling meal! With my delicious sangria to wash it all down---which reminds me---I have some leftover in the fridge, which, by the way, does not seem to smell like fish any longer.....

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p.s. Late afternoon yesterday, Agnes called and apologized to me for messing up on the time for the luncheon. If only I had waited another couple of minutes, the ladies would have started to arrive. But, no, I left and missed the whole thing! She promises to call me the next time they meet and give me the right information this time....and I will be more patient and wait for them to get there!

A busy day for a Friday

Bright and early this morning I was up, showered, and dressed to meet Jennifer R. for breakfast. All week she has had to drive her daughter to school here in Orange Park because Ricky is traveling for work and not able to drive Memrie. This was the only morning I had this week to meet her for breakfast and since Mem needs to be at school around 7:30, we eat early!

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Grumpy's was our restaurant of choice, and I was tickled to see waffles on the menu now. Ordinarily I have rye toast and bacon at Grumpy's but once I saw waffles, all bets were off. While we were eating, one of the men from church came in, Joe Z., but he opted to sit by himself rather than join us. He told me he has a "nest" in the corner that he likes, where he can watch the room and the traffic on the street while he eats. Jen was amazed when I told her he was over 90 years old, because he is so active and vital yet.

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Once finished with breakfast and Jen set off for her Mom's to help in the childcare center, I went back home for a bit before going to get my hair cut. On the one hand, I look more civilized since my hair is cut, but, on the other hand, my silver is back! Oh, man! I stopped at Great Hang Ups on the way back through to say "hi" to my lady friends. Dee had just hung several pieces from the Watercolor Society and was labeling the art work while we chatted. It was good to catch up with them again, having not been able to sit and visit for a week or so. We are planning a "girls' night out" before I leave on vacation at the end of the month, so the calendars will be compared to find an open night for all of us!

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From Hang Ups I went to pick up Sheila, a prospect member of Good Shepherd, who asked to be put on the cleaning list with me. Awww, shucks! She does not drive so I am her wheel-man for Bible study on Tuesdays as well as today, on cleaning day. We had to gather the vacuum cleaner from the preschool classroom as theirs is on the fritz and have not gotten it repaired or replaced yet. Sheila got busy with the vacuum cleaner while I dusted, getting the job accomplished, the Lord's house ready for worship, in a short time.

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Sheila asked me if I could drop her off someplace, and I said I would. It seems that she and her little three year old granddaughter walk from the west end of Wells Road all the way to the IHOP area on Blanding, and back again, every single day. Now, it was 93 degrees outside today and Sheila had already walked that distance twice today, so, of course, I would take her up there. It takes them 45 minutes one way, and quicker on the way home as Sheila is quicker without the child in tow. I find this unbelievable, in this day and age, that anyone, especially a child, has to walk that far twice a day, for day care! She goes there because the State will pay for most of it. She would like to move away from where she is living now but needs the type of housing the State pays for...

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I sort of talked her into stopping for a bite to eat before I took them home and we enjoyed a late lunch at IHOP. I ordered the roast beef and she had the glazed chicken. Akeila had French fries, since she had a lunch provided again by the State at her daycare. My meal came with a bowl of clam chowder which managed to fill me up. I ate only a portion of the main course and put the rest in a foam box which I sent home with Sheila. It was not as good as at the Cracker Barrel or Perkins, not by a long shot! But she appreciated it, and took part of hers home, too. We risked it by transporting Akeila without a car seat in my car, because we had not planned on picking her up. I got them dropped off safely and am glad to have the help with the church cleaning, plus spending good time with our prospective members!

What happened to my gang?

Well, I was there but no one else was! Hmmm....good thing Agnes told me to write it down or I would have messed up the date and time for our Sprint luncheon---oh, wait! I did write it down. I checked my note where I did write it down, as directed, and sure enough, I was right! It was disappointing to not find them there, with the Host and I walking through to look for familiar faces. He even called the Fleming Island store to see if perhaps I goofed on the location, but there was no group of ladies up there waiting for me. Huh, well, even though I was quite hungry, I opted to simply move on to the grocery store for my ingredients.

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Oh, the store smelled so wonderful with the roasted chicken and fresh baked bread aroma! Remember, I was hungry! Fortunately I got all I needed and little else, then headed for home. In the meantime, Christine called me to report that she was using my kitchen to prepare her chicken enchilladas. So my kitchen was going to smell good, too! She was gone by the time I got back here and yes, it did smell good in here! Except for my fridge: we are having a problem in there with a stench. Yesterday I took everything out of the fridge and wiped it off, threw out that which was questionable, washed the shelves and sniffed everything. Relieved that nothing smelled like fish any longer, I put it all back in, nice 'n neat. Later I came back to get a soda and ta da! Fish smell again!!!! Let the record show that I do not buy or eat fish, so............

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Bible study at Victory was again a delight, today's "tour" taking us through "Unio Mystica", the mystery of being one with our heavenly Father. It is quite wonderful to realize the Word dwells in us richly, we are to be examples of God's new creation. From Ephesians 3: 26-29--You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Pastor Hoyer is going to use this video and it's subject matter as his summer sermon series, tying the morning Bible study into the sermon message. I hope Justin makes sure he gets to church to hear these lessons, and it would be lovely if he arrived in time for Bible study. When it is time for the Sociology tour, about relationships, I would love to be there for that Bible study and sermon. Wow, that was such a powerful message in the class.

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Time to go make the taco salad! I can smell the good aroma eminating from my kitchen now-----hopefully will cover the smell of fish!

Two seconds to write....

.......starting--NOW!

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I am just about to leave for Bible study at Victory, anxious to see/hear what the subject matter will be today. Last time was about the family, society, how God established the family, the pecking order, about relationships, etc. So interesting!

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Immediately after class I must shoot right over to Ruby Tuesday to meet some of my former co-workers from Sprint, where I worked for nearly five years prior to Timmy being born. Judy J. always kicks my butt for leaving only a few months shy of being fully vested in the Sprint retirement fund thingy but my services were required elsewhere. It really would have been close to impossible to handle all that---a new baby, a nine-year-old, plus two jobs. Come on, Judy, give me a break, okay???

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I am looking forward to seeing the ladies again, hoping I remember them once I see the faces. Agnes called me, insisting, "Now, write this down so you don't forget..." because the ladies want me to come. I will probably be the youngest one but I really have no problem with that. After lunch I must stop at the store to get the ingredients for the taco salad and prepare that when I get home. I might have to get some margarita mix or something equally festive to serve with our meal, something in keeping with Cinco de Mayo!