This is the Day ..............

That the Lord has made......

…..Well it was a better day today and I did not wake up crying. Mom and Dad were doing well this morning and it was good to see them up and around and actually enjoying the morning.

......I have met a lot of new friends here and I will tell you girls it does help.


.... Now let me tell you a funny story...... for in laughter is great healing.... I was taking myself a short break and sitting in my rocking chair looking out the window at the fall colors sometime around 2:00... We live on 10 acres and even though the neighborhood is growing we are still far enough out of town for it to be soooooooooooo peaceful. There is a road that passes the front of my house that is not too busy but there is several cars and trucks that travel this way throughout the day. Anyway, I was sitting musing about the fall colors and how I love this time of year when right before my eyes passed my 88 year old Mother with her new walker (I got them the new fang dangled ones with the wheels and the breaks with the seat in case they get tired) headed south bound right past my house. I had been talking to her about getting out more and getting those knees of her working better. I had no idea that she would choose today to take that hike, but there she was, just as pretty as a picture………… I had to laugh and then quickly grabbed my jacket and headed out the door. Now Mother is a bit hard headed and trying to get her to move closer to the edge of the road was futile, so I kept an eye on the possible traffic and she had her head down and was moving on down the highway…………. Lol…… I am thankful that she is feeling well enough to test out her new wheels………. It was a light moment in the day and one that I do cherish. I did however put a little bug in my Dad’s ear to give me heads up next time…..

….. So ends another day in the life of little Helen and Paul…….. I am thankful that it was a good day and I will keep the memory of little Helen moving on down the road as the days and weeks bring with them their own triumphs and struggles.

Faint Not

……It is hard I must admit and to say otherwise would just be dishonest. I woke up this morning and in about 30 minutes I was in tears…(I think I just needed another cup of coffee) Anyway, I am just tired. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a complainer by nature but there are just days…………Now I can tell you that when reality came knocking at our door and it was nothing like I expected. To make a long story short my mother who will be 88 this December spent the first week of June the third week of June and the 1st week of July in two different hospitals terribly ill. I give all the thanks to my Father God she recovered but due to her lack of strength and the shear fact that they just need help now, Mom and Dad ended up coming into our home.

……. Now don’t get me wrong, I love them with a passion. They are precious to me and I am thankful to my Father God that we are in a place to help. However had it not been for my oldest Brother Paul and his wife Alpha and of course my husband Dennis I would just fold under the pressure. They have been right there from the get go and every step of the way since. After getting her home here with us along with Dad we purchased a gorgeous little modular home and put it about 50 yards from my back door. After about 12 weeks with them living with me and my husband we moved them into their own little house….

…….Although though they live in their own place, there is the cleaning and the medicine and the daily care the just checking on them and overall watching them many times a day just to keep them safe and well. I get tired, me and my husband are very restricted to where we go or when we go… What would I do without my brother…………

Here is the point of my rambling………. My Mom and Dad have 4 children and all 4 of us live near………There is a brother and a sister that also live close… However they choose not to help with the folks... It is sad to me and I do not understand why... When in earlier years after we were all married we would get together at Mom and Dad's for Sunday dinner and have the best times. There would be horseshoes in the back yard and much laughter around the dinner table. I miss those times and I miss my brother Larry and his laughter.

…….I find it hard to watch Mom and Dad grow older before my eyes… I am now having trouble getting Mother to drink enough thus she becomes dehydrated, which brings on a whole new litany of problems. I walk over there every hour or so just to remind her to drink. (She gets mad at Dad if her fusses at her) that works some days but other days she gets angry at me also,,,,,,,, but I still go over there and I still fuss at her…….

.....I am tired, just want to voice that…. My life is not going quite like I thought it would but I think that is why it is called life……..Each night as I lay in bed and talk to the Lord, I thank Him for my health, I thank Him that I have the strength to do what I do and I thank Him for my brother Paul and my sister (in law) Alpha …… I thank Him for my husband that is my soul mate and is my strength when I cry before breakfast… I pray for my sister that stays too far removed from this situation and my brother that seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. I miss him very much.

When I get to the place that I just cannot do it anymore my Father God whispers to me that He has all things in His control.
…. There is one scripture that He gave to me many weeks ago and I etched in my heart……

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Galatians 6:9

I am trying not to faint……………..

Pray for me, pray for my husband ……….Pray for my Mom and Dad……….

Be blessed
Denise

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET !!!!!!!!!!!

I read a very interesting book last spring.. or it might have been late last winter.. It is Max Lucado: Cure For The Common Life ..... I would recommend that every Christian read it...... I have read it several months ago and I must say I was confused as to what my "Sweet Spot " was...... I had a rather uneventful childhood with very few friends and not much going on.... My father was in the Air Force and we were never in one place long..... My elementary schools were many and I cannot remember much of any of them and my Jr High and High School was a mixture of a very very small school in Roff Oklahoma and a very very large High School outside of Travis AFB in California........ I did have a few friend of which I am grateful but nothing every in my life that I thought would point me to my "Cure" A few years ago I had undisputable encounter with the Lord and He only spoke three words….. Write a book…. I can tell you that at that time it was the furthest thing from my mind to put my life story in print……. To make a long story short a couple of years latter He gave me the title “Samaritan Women Among You“.….. having no writing skills I dismissed it as just something from my own mind………

I finally did start the Samaritan Women news letter a few years ago and I now have several hundred women reading my email and my web site….. I have hit and missed at it over the past two years because of my busy life and sad to say because of the confidence that I lack in my self that I am doing any good at all……
Then I read that book and I can tell you that at first I had no idea how to apply it to my life.. I am so hungry to fulfill the will of God in my life that just reading the book gave me hope…… And then it happened…………Just a few months ago I was cleaning out some old boxes and found a notebook full of poetry that I had written in high school…… One of them was even published in the school paper and posted on all bulletin boards around the campus……… I remember writing that poem and it took me about 5 minutes……. It came very natural……. I sat for a while reading through the poems written back in the late 60’s ….. I then found half a box full of church news bulletins in which I wrote a weekly news letter for the singles in our church……….. I must say I had a good laugh as I read through the bulletins and poems……… I threw the bulletins away but stored the poems away for future reading…….. It was not until a few month latter that while going through my book case and came across that book did it all come together…….. The Lord was grooming me to write….. He does have something for me to say and He has given me the ability to do so…… The apostle Paul stated in I Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power…….. There is no need for me to try to write, there is only need for me to speak from my heart where the spirit of the Lord lives and it will touch lives……… I now understand what Max Lucado’s book means, now I know that the Lord has been grooming me for years to write. Now is the time, I am retired but caring for my aged parents but I have time. I have started the book. I have written many a devotional for my web site. I will begin to post them…….. From a very young age the Father put into my makeup the desire to write……… What a wonder is the Father God…… He has a plan for us each and from the earliest of days that plan begins to manifest…… we just have to sit and listen and wonder back into our minds and focus in on the things that brought us joy…….. Find your sweet spot and never look back………….

Old Goat

I am not sure if my grief is because of the loss of such a friend, or if I am so guilt ridden that my heart is breaking....... I lost a friend tonight at 5:00. No warning, nothing, he was just gone..... It is the phone call that takes your heart and squeezes it till all the blood drips out and nothing but pain is left.... Nelson Trobrough was his name and he was a hoot.... We were friends for years and years and there are more good times to remember than I could possibly put to pen...... He and I would have verbal spars over a plate of fried zucchini sticks every Friday night after the Church bowling league... There would be 6 or 8 of us sitting around the table and we would laugh and laugh…….. I don’t know when the nickname old goat came into play but somehow it stuck……He was known from that day till this as the old goat.……. That was back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It is hard for me to understand that he is gone………. He was just 60 something and so full of life………….. I miss him………… Our lives took a turn a few years ago and we did not get to see much of each other in the past 10 years……… His sweet wife Jean and I talk often on the phone but we just did not find time to visit……… How sad it is that we become too busy with life that we fail to take time for our friends……. I cannot even tell you what has kept me away this past year.. I think it has been a year since I talked to Nelson. I think it has been a year, maybe not but it has been too long, and now he is gone………. I have cried and cried and as I write this blog I cry…………I will make a pledge to take more time for my friends, I will talk to the Lord tonight about my failure as a friend and I will ask the Lord to help me do better….. I will go see Jean tomorrow and I will cry…………. I think I need her forgiveness but it is not about me, but I need to be forgiven. How hard it is to lose someone that you love and I loved Nelson….. It will be hard for me to say good bye to him……….. But he has moved into my future and I will see him again………………..

This is dedicated to Nelson Trobrough........ a good friend....... He made me laugh......

Little Old Angels

We are moving my parents out to my property here in a few weeks, and I must say they are so excited. My older brother, his wife, myself and my husband have been working on this for several months now. My husband and I purchased a modular home and then the four of us went and picked out colors for carpet walls and trim. I did so enjoy doing those things for Mom and Dad. I wish we had thought of this before now, but as they say “ better late than never.”

They will be out here on 10 acres with a huge deck, lots and lots of birds and deer and other creeping things. Mother and I have talked about planting her some roses and maybe even a small garden. The operative word there is small. Of course I know that I will be doing the planting and hoeing and taking care of any landscaping and other things that she wishes to put in the ground, but what a joy to be able to do this for them.

Mother does not do well with her medicine, so I can help with that and Dad is a worrier about so many things and we will be able to reassure him everyday that we will look out for him and Mother in all aspects of his life. Dad will be 90 this year and Mother will be 88. They are both ok health wise but very very fragile. Dad uses a walker to walk and even then someone has to be behind him as he has a tendency to fall backwards.Dad does most of the cooking now as Mother is just not able and I will be able to most of that for them. I hate watching them grow so frail and unable to do the normal things of life but I am so thankful that the Lord has put me in a position to do this for them.

After we get them moved in and settled we are putting in an in ground pool behind our house which will be about 50 foot from them. They make what is called a buddy seat in the pools now and it is toooooooooooooooo cute. It will be a cut out in one side of the pool on the shallow end and it looks like a small hot tub seat. Mother (and my sister in law Alpha) will be able to walk right across the shallow end and sit down in this buddy seat and just enjoy………. How fun will that be for Mother!!!!!!!!!! Of course Dad will not come near that pool, but he can sit and watch. I am excited about the summer projects around here but I am already tired of the thought of all there is to do, but I also and looking forward to improving their lives and being the care giver for as long as needed.

My older brother and I are putting into place conditions that will protect them and make sure that they are not ever taken advantage of again. It is a shame what some of our senior citizens have to endure.. sometimes at the hands of those that should be the protectors......we are finding out through our attorneys that there are a lot of laws to protect our little folks....... We will certainly take advantage of the steps that we can take...

I thank God every day for the gift of my husband Dennis almost 8 years now and the gift of my parents that are precious to me. I thank God that he has allowed me to have my own small business right here at the house ……….He knows the road before us and He saw that Mom and Dad would need watching over in these years of their lives. How great is our God………..

I will post some pictures when they are moved in………… Above are some pictures of my little Mom and Dad…………..