Daddy went to church on Sunday. They had a Veteran's Day celebration honoring all the vets in the community. My nephew pushed his chair down the aisle. When I talked to him on the phone about it, I felt excited and happy for him. After church they went to lunch with his brother and his wife. They all ate at a Mexican restaurant where daddy said he showed great restraint with the chip basket.
When I saw the pictures I was reminded that afterwards, he didn't return home. He went back to the "rehab center". I think daddy summed it up best when he told me "It doesn't matter what the doctors say; I have to do what my wife wants if I want to go home." What his wife wants is for him to be able to walk with a walker and take basic care of himself.
I don't know if that's going to happen.

Finding a fit

After the disappointment L experienced at Point Park, this weekend was a blessing. She liked the head of the jazz department at ECU and she likes the campus. She also said that she was excited about having a real college experience as opposed to the more singular experience of a small conservatory.
She and I attended a football game, ECU vs Marshall. It was homecoming weekend so there was a big crowd. The pirates won in overtime, making for an exciting game. At one point she hugged me and said "We'll be pirates together, mom!"
My grandmother, my daddy's mama, went to school at ECU when it was East Carolina Teacher's college, probably 1917. She stayed in the same dorm that L wants to stay in, Cotton. My step-mother went there and stayed in Cotton. My aunt went there and stayed in Cotton. And last, but not least, I went there.
My daddy is so excited that she wants to go to ECU. It's only about thirty minutes from where he lives and when we visited him at the rehab center she told him that she would come and visit him often. Even though it's four and a half hours away, it doesn't seem so far when it's so close to my girlhood home.

My hubby and I were bizzing through Target when we spied a pair of navy "footie pajamas" with rocket ships on them. S had only just the day before pointed some out to me in a catalog, remarking that they were really cool. The pair hubby and I saw were only $12.99 and were just big enough to fit him. We bought them for him as a little joke.
He's staying in the basement because, after his last exit, I converted his room into a guest room. The cleaning lady comes on Thursday mornings to clean the bathrooms and has had to tiptoe past him in order to clean the basement bathroom. Last night at about 3 am, I heard S come up the stairs and go down the hall to the guest room. He had decided to sleep in there so the cleaning lady wouldn't wake him up.
When I got up this morning I peeked in and saw him curled up on the bed in his footie pajamas, his glasses on the floor and his hair sticking up. He looked like he did when he was three.
For a moment I just stood looking at him, not thinking about all that's behind or ahead. No matter where we go from here, it's good to have him home.

This article is from PowerUp! from Spiritled Woman.
Monday, November 3, 2008


CALLING ALL MOTHERS

By Margaret English


While watching Gov. Sarah Palin speak to voters in Pennsylvania this morning, with her precious children standing behind her, a scripture from Judges 5 stirred in my heart. In it, Israel's judge Deborah said, "I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel."

Judges 5:6 says, "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, and travelers went by roundabout ways." She lived in dangerous times when people couldn't walk outside at night. Evils lurked everywhere.

What was Deborah's response to the evil time in which she lived? This mother in Israel looked around and saw a scene much like what we see today. Did she feel sorry for herself? Did she run around and try to find someone to save her? That is learned helplessness, and much of the church has learned it, especially women. But Deborah didn't shrivel up. She got up—she took action.

Deborah stopped sitting down and letting the enemy run over her and her children. She stopped wringing her hands and living in fear. Judges 5:7 says, "Until I Deborah arose, a mother in Israel." She rose up as a mother, because she understood that God had given her a powerful position in her home, her community and her nation. In fact, what role is more powerful than a mother's role? Many mothers will fight to the death for the safety of their children. A mother learns how to live for the welfare and best interests of others every day of her life.

In ancient times, when times became truly tough and evils lurked everywhere, when enemies increased and people were pressed down, God raised up a woman, Deborah, a mother in Israel. I was inspired as I heard Sarah Palin speak so eloquently about fighting for the needs of a nation in difficult times. Like Deborah, Sarah has risen up as mother in America, to make a difference for those she loves.

Interestingly enough, the great general in Deborah's time said he wouldn't go into battle without her. And today, Senator John McCain has insisted on having Sarah at his side. Together, Deborah and her general defeated the enemy. Deborah was a judge who knew how to call upon the Lord. In battle, God fought for them, and the enemy was destroyed by the hands of yet another woman, Jael (Judges 4:21).

"Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand and went secretly into him and drove it through his head." Interestingly, this enemy's gruesome death reflects a promise spoken of womankind in Genesis. God prophesied that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (see Gen. 3:15). Way back at the beginning of time, God said that women would have a hand in the destruction of Satan.

I'm so proud of Sarah Palin, a modern-day mother in America who has risen up in difficult times to take a stand for what she believes in. But what about you and me? The prophet Isaiah calls to women in the end-times. He says, "Rise up you women who are at ease….Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high" (Isa. 32:9,15).

Is God waiting for us to take a stand? I recall a service in which I had been asked to speak. But as someone's talk droned on, my mind had drifted away into other things. There I was passively daydreaming. When it finally struck me that all eyes were on me, waiting for me to speak, I was stunned.

Perhaps that is where you are today. Your mind is on other things, but heaven's eyes are on you, waiting for you to rise up and take your place, to stand up as a mother in Israel. Perhaps, if you listen carefully, you'll hear the Lord clearing his throat and whispering, "It's your turn to speak up."

PRAYER POWER FOR THE WEEK OF 11/3/2008
This week pray for our nation as never before and ask God to help you make a lasting difference in establishing righteousness in it once again. Ask Him to forgive us where we've not taken a strong enough stand against the things that displease Him. Thank Him that we still have free elections and pray for a safe, peaceful Election Day and a smooth transition period. Continue to bless Israel and pray for its protection, for our military and for those persecuted around the world because of their faith. Pray for President Bush as he completes his term of office. 2 Chron. 7:14

Because He Lives

When I get stressed about the upcoming election, I listen to this.

Presentation

God had a message for me yesterday at the hairdressers. My hairdresser asked me how my kids were doing and I started telling her how S had moved back home. She began telling me about a client she has who discovered that her son had issues because he walked too early.
And I sat there.
Then she told me about a client whose 30 year old son had moved back home, rent free and was traveling and enjoying himself thinking that his mom was okay with it while the mom, also her client, had told her that she was going to have to ask him to pay rent.
And I sat there.
And finally she told me about a client she has that is a fortune teller. She was quite serious as she said "You should see him. Maybe he can help you out."
And still, I sat there.
In the car on the way home I felt so disappointed in myself that I didn't speak up and say "I have confidence that the Lord is working in my son." I wondered what I had said to her that made her think I was soliciting advice and then the Lord showed me that the whole of what I said about my situation with my son implied that I had no confidence in Him whatsoever. I sounded like all the other clients she has: I have a problem and I don't know what to do-even though that isn't what I said. It's how I said what I did say and of course, what I didn't say.
Do everything without grumbling and complaining. It's an instruction that I haven't followed. When people see me they don't see my faith at all because I'm too busy grumbling and complaining along with the rest of world.
How will others see the Lord in my life if my presentation of what is going on in it is the same as those who don't know Him?

Menopause Parking by Chonda Pierce

Chonda says things so well. She's my hero.