Grit Gravy: July 2005

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Thursday Again....

I imagine that right now, a good 3/4 or more of the people in this country are all fussing about the heat! I would say that this has really been one of the cooler Tennessee summers that I can remember up until this last week or so. Now the temps are pushing into the dangerously high numbers, and it is supposed to hit 100 Sat. and Sunday now. That does not even touch the "feels like" numbers. It will probably feel like about 125 those days! I doubt the kids will even want to get into their Meme's pool this weekend, since they would just cook like little lobsters!

My, my, we have continued to be busy little bees lately. Both big boys successfully completed Driving School and now have only the paperwork to do before they can legally hit the roads. Daniel is off to preacher training up in Ellettsville, IN for two weeks and loving it, apparently. We talk by cell phone as he travels to dinner or between study sessions. He is doing o.k. and happy and well-fed.

Has anyone else felt extremely sore lately? I think it has to be all the rain. I think it has rained here some part of the day every day for about two weeks now. Tim and I are really feeling the aches and pains lately. So is my mother and my "other mother," a long-time family friend. Everyone says that they seem to be aching more than usual, so I am glad that it is not just me.

We also got word today that our friend Sandra, who was given a week to live on the 8th, is not only still living, but actually felt well enough yesterday to get up and go eat with some friends! Tell me that our God is not an awesome God! I talked to Sandra today, and of course, she is delighted that she has beaten the odds once again. Her liver is failing, and she has been told that there is not much more that (men) can do for her. God is a whole 'nother story, though! I pray that not only will she live to see the birth of her next grandchild in October or so, but that she will go on to live a long and full life! Please pray that for her, too!

God has answered a lot of prayers lately. Brother Alvin, the man I told you about with mouth cancer, has made it through his rough treatments and is doing lots better. He has been able to return to most if not all of the church services lately. Sister Tina, with breast cancer, has just breezed right through a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, and now she will be starting radiation soon. She and Bro. Alvin are such inspirations, because they have hardly missed a service unless they were hospitalized or something serious like that. It should make those who miss for a headache feel a little funny....

I have some fairly exciting news to share, but I am going to keep you in suspense for a few more days at least. I will tell you that I am NOT pregnant! In fact, I am going to have to cancel my elective surgery at the end of this month and move it off til September so that I can tend to the details of the other "good news" event. It is not a totally done deal yet, and I don't want to jinx it, so I'll just be quiet for now, and I will let you in on it when it is safe. It may not pan out, but if it does, it will be a really neat thing in my life!

Later, all, and stay cool!

Monday, July 18, 2005

The Dog Days of Summer....

Whew! It is now officially hot in Tennessee! The weatherman said today that we won't see the 80's again until the end of the month! Yuck! Good thing Mom and Dad got a pool. Too bad it is just far enough to be a nuisance to get there!

Well, let's see! I have been a bad little blogger lately. In my defense, I feel I have to be a good little mother first, and a blogger afterwards. There are also a lot of other roles I fill, like wife, Christian, daughter, friend, etc. and all that takes time, as you well know. So if I disappear for days, just know that a friend or family member or brother or sister in the Lord needs me more, and I will return.

We have been quite the busy little beaver family this month. We have been on the road a lot, it seems, but then that seems to be our life anymore. That is not a really great thing when gas is $2.25 a gallon in places where we are. It is probably higher where some of you are. Tim has to drive an hour and a half each way to work daily, so you can imagine what we spend on gas each month. It is ridiculous.

Lately, we have also been able to meet quite a few of our internet friends, many of whom we have been talking with for some time over the internet, but never met in person. For some strange reason, lots of them have decided to visit Tennessee this month, and we drive to wherever we can meet up with them and have little miniature visits. That has been neat to meet some e-buddies like that!

Some have even decided to become residents of Tennessee! That tickles us more than you can know. We will give them time to notify next of kin before we make their announcements public! :) God moves in mysterious ways, and His plan always amazes me when I can see it from the other side.

My boys have both just about finished their Driver Training Schools. We decided it was worth paying for two teens to take the course so that WE would not have to be the ones out driving with them! As soon as we get all the forms in the mail and they take the eye tests, both will have what they went for---Dan a license, and Sam has to hold a permit for 6 months because he is not 18 yet. All these new laws confuse me. I liked it better when kids just got their licenses, no strings attached, at 16. I issued many a license myself when I worked for the state for a few summers and one fall as a D.L. examiner. My kids can hardly believe their old mom was brave enough to get in cars with strangers and give road tests. It was probably not the smartest thing I ever did, but it was a fun job!

Daniel finished his course first, because he had to exit this last weekend for a preacher training school in Indiana for the next two weeks. He arrived Saturday, and he has happily settled in learning a year and a half worth of material in the space of two weeks. They really do an accelerated course there, but I have heard really good things about the program. I don't know if he will end up preaching as a career, but even if he doesn't, it will help him in the church as he teaches classes and fills in preaching and things like that through the years.

Sam does his last behind the wheel thing tomorrow. I hope he passes. He is having trouble with turns, he says. Maybe it will click for him tomorrow. He had to drive in a terrible storm today. That is bad enough for experienced drivers.

Tim can't get a break right now at work for anything. They have been so jammed up all year. Now, there is the threat of a strike looming, and that will just make more work for him. I am praying that we are going to be able to sneak out for a little time in August and go with him on a business trip, where at least the kids and I can have a change of scenery for a bit. I am still waiting on that boredom that I have been craving for months now.

Yes, dear mom and grandmother, I am wishing my life away again, but I cannot wait for the blizzard of 2005---the one that did not get here last season. My little girls need to know what it is like to build a snowman, and Daddy needs some down time, too! Well, snow seems like a nice note to end on, on this muggy night. Hope you are cool wherever you are....

Where I have Been in the last few years....

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

Thanks, to Monkey Mama for the heads up on the meme.

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Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Just Checking in....

Howdy All!

This is one tired mother checking in....We have had a really busy couple of weeks, and the pace is not slowing any. I have found, too, that it is harder to keep up in the hot summer months. My age is really showing now, and I am feeling my age for the first time in my life.

I don't have time for a long update tonight...hopefully later in the week. We had a good 4th of July/Anniversary weekend. I did not get my fill of fireworks, as I had hoped, but the rest was nice. Dad used his new grill to make some luscious burgers. He is just THE BEST griller in the whole wide world, among his other numerous talents. Just look at these babies:

Everyone seemed to enjoy time in Mom and Dad's pool. I have commented on here before that we always wanted a pool so badly when we were growing up, but Highway Patrolmen don't get paid what they are worth, and so we never had one. Now, we are all making up for lost time!

Even though I had a shirt on over my suit, I got burned in the back around my neck! I forgot to lotion up there. I made sure my arms and nose and cheeks were protected, but I forgot that one little spot just under my hair in the back. It is amazing how excruciating one burnt spot can be. It has itched, peeled, blistered, burst, etc. O.k., I know, T.M.I.! Sunday, in church, I thought I would die for itching, and I could not scratch it! I could not have reached it if I tried! Boy, that is fun!

My dad sent me the picture of my grandmother that he found in his inbox. It had been left there until he apparently found it. I cherish it, because we never made many pictures of my grandmother in the nursing home. That is a shame! She looked so pretty on this day, with the Christmas sweater that my dad gave her for her birthday that very day, December 6, 2003. It was to be her last birthday. She died in November, 2004. Like my maternal grandmother, she died at age 82, just about two weeks shy of her 83rd birthday. My maternal grandmother (Nanny) had died on Mammaw's birthday in 1987, just one day shy of her own 83rd birthday. My first son's birthday is December 5th. So, the 5th, 6th, and 7th will always be special days to me--days where life began and life ended--all intertwined.

Enjoy the pictures below of the 4th and all my babies, nieces, nephew, and my grandmother, who is always with us in spirit every time there is a gathering with family, good food, and a lot of memory-making going on!