Your Regularly Scheduled Programming Has Been Interrupted to Protect You from COVID-19

3/14/20

So today we officially began our #flattenthecurve staycation. We made a short run (my third) to the church to shop the MB consignment sale, followed by a trip to the grocery store. Not surprising, there weren’t a lot of shoppers at the consignment sale, but somewhat surprising, the store was pretty well stocked. We were able to pick up everything we needed and, of course, a few things we didn’t—pretty normal for us.

Now, the reality - There were no grandsons’ ballgames to watch today and worst of all, no sweaty hugs afterward. Every piece of the laundry has been done, two episodes of “The Story of God” (very interesting) have been watched on Netflix, and now we’re prepping dinner. I’m back in my pjs, writing this post, and still feeling a little sorry for myself over the separation from the grands, BUT today I saw more pictures from the devastation in Nashville, and I wanted to slap myself! Last night I had a major pity party because I am unable to see my grandchildren (and severely limited with seeing my children) during this time, but after seeing those pictures, I now realize how selfish I was being. Do I still feel sad at not seeing my loved ones? I do, but at least I have a roof over my head – unlike some of the families who lost everything in the tornadoes of a few short weeks ago, many losing not only their homes but loved ones as well. Go ahead and slap me for my self-pity…oh never mind, I’ll do it myself!

Better yet - read the "Prayer for a Pandemic" above by Cameron Bellm, a Seattle wife and mom; it helps keep it all in perspective!

3/15/20
Church online is a way to worship that we’ve utilized on occasion, but wow, so different when it’s the only way to “go to church”! This morning, David and I sat in our comfy clothes (yes, I was still in my pjs), sipping coffee, and watching/hearing our senior pastor deliver a truly inspiring message of hope, entitled “Choose Faith over Fear”, in these trying times. Find the message here. One of the most resonating things he said was, “Don’t allow the enemy of your soul to rob you of your faith!” Now, that’s advice we can all take to heart. Let’s not let our fears take away gratitude for our blessings, and when we step back and look at the big picture, we ALL have something to be grateful for, even when we don’t fully understand our circumstances.

COVID 19 – A GrandMary’s Perspective and Warning

I am heartbroken and unbelievably proud at the same time! When did our children become so wise? I mean, I know they are all adults building families of their own but today, more than any other day, I feel old. In my heart, I truly don’t believe that I am, but in my head (and according to my driver’s license and birth certificate) I know that I am now in the “senior” or “older adult” category. Seriously? Like when did that happen?

It happened gradually, and yet it happened overnight. One day you’re tucking your four young children into bed, and before you can hardly blink, you’re tucking your five grandchildren in – yep, five! We are so incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of their lives. We get to attend their baseball games, football games, soccer games, gymnastics classes, and art classes, although thankfully not all at the same time! We have sleepovers, we watch the stars together, we go to the beach together, and sometimes we even get to do it all at the same time! Yes, we are blessed beyond measure!

With the recent shut-downs of our lives as we know them, however—no baseball and soccer, no gymnastics, no school, no physical church, no toilet paper (I digress)—and increasing concern for us “older adults”, our lives have taken a turn we never anticipated. In a single day, we became “at risk”. Our children, out of genuine love and concern for us, cancelled the two sleepovers we had planned for this weekend, one tonight with our Clark boys, and one tomorrow night with our Clark girls. (The Popes in Tennessee have already had their plates full with a tornado last week, warnings of another last night, overall devastation in their community and surrounding area, and now THIS? Again, I digress.)

Knowing that our children love us enough to put our health and well-being above their own plans for the weekend fills me with undeniable pride. It also fills me with the realization that they, too, understand our mortality. Ugh! I TOTALLY feel like I’m still in my 40’s…okay 50’s? The reality of life and its imposed limitations have really gotten to me today. So to my children, I say, “You are simply the best, and I love you with all of my being, no matter how old it is!”; to my grandchildren, I say, “No one loves you like your GrandMary and GrandDaddy!”. To the Coronavirus, I say, “Stay out of my way, and let me resume the life I love with my family”!

2 Timothy 1:7 ~ For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Hope and an Amazing Future

Today we are celebrating the fourteenth year since our son, Jon, began his journey back to us after collapsing from a ruptured brain aneurysm. To us, this is an occasion to be remembered and celebrated because of the grace and mercy shown to us by our sovereign God. It is also a day in which we are reminded that life is fragile and we are not promised tomorrow, but we ARE promised that no matter what comes our way, we will not be forsaken and that our God will comfort us in the darkness as well as in the light.

For those who have followed our journey, we celebrate you, too, knowing that without your love, prayers, and support, the outcome of March 12, 2005, could have been far different and instead of celebrating this day, we could easily be mourning. I know there are many who have traveled a similar path with a far different outcome; for those, I mourn with you. I KNOW we are among the fortunate ones because our son was spared when the odds were totally against him.

So today, we are grateful beyond words to the medical team who saved his life, to the rehabilitation team who taught him how to live again, and to the prayer warriors, some friends, some total strangers, who joined the vigil in praying each of us through this unimaginable journey. Today, we look continually toward a bright future for Jon when at several points, we weren't sure what to even begin to expect. He has overcome so many obstacles and achieved far more in his 34 years of life than we were initially afraid to even dream he could do. He met a woman who as he told me, "saw beyond his disabilities" and who loves him unconditionally. She has been the answer to one of our greatest prayers for him, that one day he would meet someone who would love him just as he is and share his future with him. We stand in awe of our God who chose Jon (and now his precious wife, Zuly) as one(s) to live out the promise of Jeremiah 29:11. He has remained true to that promise - to give each of us hope and a future - through Jon and through us.

We live life a bit differently these days, having learned that there are no guarantees in this life, but standing firm in the promise of the next. God's providence has far exceeded any of the prayers we've prayed for Jon; for that, we will never be able to thank Him enough. But every single day, we will try.

Don't Forget to Pack your Tambourine!

Planning a little trip? Remember to take enough clothes, shoes, undergarments, outerwear, toiletries, and of course, money to cover the days you’ll be away. Oh, and one more thing, pack your tambourine!

Say what? Yep, that noise maker defined by Wikipedia as “a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called zils”. Why on God’s green earth would I tell you to pack a tambourine? THAT is exactly why! Huh? Let me elaborate.

In our staff chapel today—oh, what a privilege it is to be part of a church staff—we explored Exodus 14 when Pharoah FINALLY let the Israelites go, only to have serious second thoughts and soon send his army in pursuit of the Israelites to bring them back to Egypt (I mean, what was Pharoah thinking? No laborers?). We reviewed that after escaping Pharoah’s army through the Red Sea, Moses sang praises to the Lord (Exodus 15) as we often do after a trying time. But what did Moses’ sister, Miriam, do? When Moses began singing praises, she followed behind with the other women singing and shaking her tambourine! She brought a tambourine? Seriously? In the rush to get out of Egypt, she actually brought a tambourine? Far be it from me to question her packing list, but I’m thinking that a tambourine probably wouldn’t have made the top five on my list of “must takes”.

What does packing a tambourine even mean? I think it means to KNOW that God is ALWAYS worthy of our praise and that we are to be “on the ready” to share our joys and our rejoicing. A tambourine doesn’t have to be a physical object; it can simply be a desire to share our love for the Lord and all the ways we’ve seen His glory in our lives.

So how often lately have I actually taken out my tambourine in praise of the One who gave it all? When my first two children, Taylor and Blair, were born healthy, I thanked God and praised Him for my beautiful blessings. When my son, Jeff, was born with two holes in his heart and the surgeons repaired both, I praised God and shook my tambourine. When his twin brother, Jon, suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm years later and became a walking miracle, I shook my tambourine until I thought my fingers would break. In fact, each time he reached a new milestone and we witnessed another miracle, my entire family and our friends joined in with their tambourines. When the doctors discovered an aneurysm in my brain and repaired it before it could rupture, I wept, and through my tears, I shook my tambourine. Lately, though, I think my tambourine has been a little silent, and it has nothing to do with Him, but everything to do with me.

I know that I have been blessed far more than I deserve, and I’ve seen more miracles than most people, so I need to daily shake that tambourine and let His love shine through me so that the world will know that I am His and He is mine, and NOTHING can ever change that. Miriam trusted that He would deliver and packed her tambourine; I think it's time for me to blow the dust off mine.

Exodus 15: 2

The Lord is my strength and my defense;

 He has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

(Inspiration for this post from Gaylyn Kelly, our Director of College and Young Adults)

Isn't It Grandparents' Day Every Day?

I received a message yesterday from my precious niece, Beth, saying, "Hope you guys are having a good grandparents day!" Ha! I didn't even know it WAS Grandparents' Day! Every single day I get to spend with any or all of our three grandblessings is indeed GRAND! (And no, I didn't spend yesterday with any of them.)

When I saw this quote on Facebook the other day, however, I just had to share it because it embodies so much of what being a grandparent is like:

Being a GrandMary to our three (soon to be four) is definitely among the greatest blessings God has ever bestowed upon me, and I truly can't imagine not having any of them in my life. I absolutely love having sleepovers, making cookies, doing art projects, planting flowers, going to baseball, soccer, and football games (maybe one day, dance recitals or gymnastics meets) you name it--I love it any time it involves any of them! I'm one of those who truly believes that having them around keeps me young (okay, don't look too closely at the lines around my eyes).

Just take a look at these pics and you'll see why I consider these children of my children some of the best gifts that this life has to offer. 

"Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.”

– Lois Wyse

I owe a HUGE "Thank You" to the mamas of these treasures! We wouldn't have these precious ones without you; never forget how very loved and appreciated you are.

Am I an obnoxious grandmother? I hope not, but when it comes to these precious ones, I certainly don't mind sharing my joy. If that's obnoxious, then I guess I am, but I don't see myself changing any time in the future!

“Grandchildren give us a second chance to do things better because they bring out the best in us.”

– Unknown

Calling All GrandMarys

After watching our oldest grandchild's baseball game last Saturday, I heard a sweet little voice calling, "GrandMary! GrandMary!" Not recognizing the voice, I turned to see one of the players running toward me and thought, "I have no idea who this child is! Why is he calling me GrandMary?" And even more puzzling, "How could I possibly have a grandchild I don't know???" Welp (as my daughter would say), he ran right past me into the arms of HIS GrandMary! Can you believe that? There we were, TWO GrandMarys with grandsons on the same baseball team! What are the odds?

I must say that during my daughter-in-love's pregnancy when I announced that I wanted to be called "GrandMary", I was met with a few "Ahh, that's cool", knowing that what was really being said was, "Seriously? You expect a child to be able to say that mouthful?" A few, including some of my own children (who shall remain nameless) weren't so subtle in their comments, "Mom, they'll never be able to say that! There's no telling what you'll end up being called!" Well, I stood my ground, and GrandMary I am! Admittedly, the first attempts of each of my three little blessings sounded more like "Gwan Maaa", but they kept trying (and I kept encouraging), and here we are! I thought that hearing my own children say "Ma-ma" was positively the sweetest thing I'd ever heard, and I'm sure at the time it was, but hearing the children of my children call me "GrandMary" is the cherry on top of the Mama cake!

To those who are grandmothers: whether your grandblessings call you Memaw, Mamaw (I called one of my grandmothers that), Buvver or Bubba (the first sounds a lot like the second but with a "v", especially when your grandmother is from south Georgia as mine was and yes, that's what we called her), Nana, Grandma, Mimi, Grandmother, Gigi, Deedee, Doogee (yes, I know one of those), Birdie (know one of those, too), Emme or EE (know one of each), Nanoo (my aunt's grandchildren called her that), GDawg (don't know one of those, but you never know), or Hey You, the name doesn't really matter, does it? The fact that the Lord blessed us not only with our own children, but that He blessed us again with grandchildren, is a miracle beyond comprehension. I feel so fortunate to be able to enjoy being a grandmother, even though I'm sure all of us would agree that we aren't NEARLY old enough to be one!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy; we never know what tomorrow will bring, so take the time to send a card, call, Skype, FaceTime, and whenever possible, see your precious blessings. I do, and I cherish each and every opportunity I have to do so. They are indeed "good and perfect gifts from above."


       
^"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." ~James 1:17

Dreams

I had the honor and pleasure of sharing our faith journey last night at our Ladies Night Out event at church, and while I did have several women thank me for my willingness to share, I was the one most blessed by the opportunity! God was faithful to us from day one when we embarked on this experience with Jonathon and has remained faithful throughout the journey.

From the moment I opened our story with "Welcome to Holland", a beautiful piece written by Emily Perl Kingsley when asked what it's like to raise a child with a disability, I felt at ease. As I looked out at the crowd of women who had purchased tickets to attend, I saw nothing but support and encouragement, and yes, a lot of love. I expounded upon the Holland piece with my own story of how we had to create new dreams for our son, but hopefully, left the message that just because dreams change doesn't mean they are not still beautiful dreams.

At the conclusion, I was incredibly surprised to learn that Jonathon was in the back of the room with David, and as he made his way to the front of the room, I lost it. I had tried really hard to not give in to some of the emotions that are always just below the surface with me, but as I watched this beautiful masterpiece of God walking toward the stage, I couldn't help but cry tears of pure joy and gratitude. Jonathon, too, had to create new dreams for himself over the years, but he is forever grateful for the life he is still able to enjoy and lives it each day with a joy-filled heart. I do love that young man so much!

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!