This past week was a blur at times. Went to the dentist on Wednesday and during my 3 1/2 hour appt, had three implants and two bone grafts. I discovered I am not as tough as I once was. I woke up Thursday morning looking like someone used my face for a punching bag. My mouth was on fire too:( I am over the shame of it's condition and am hesitant but happy to say I am getting excited. So far, all work has been done on the upper teeth and nothing visible to the eye yet. All an inside job for the teeth that will bring my smile back to me. It truly is a challenge to the dear dentist who is trying to figure things out for me. But I trust him and that is not an easy thing for me to do, trust anyone. God is teaching me some valuable lessons here in my mouth and heart. I am finally friends with my mouth again this morning:) I go back this Wednesday to get stitches out and see how things have been healing. Corky has his appt. Wednesday too and he is going to be sore when it's done too. I am glad we are doing it together so we can encourage eachother.
The guys worked on the school house again this weekend and the rafters are on the roof and the outside walls are sheeted. It is looking so good, snuggled into their yard. I will definitely post pictures when it is complete. Erin and I can hardly wait for the shingles to be on, all the way around the outside and window boxes under the windows:) It is so exciting to share our knowledge of construction with our grandkids. They both will be schooled in this little room for many years to come. Watching Corky and Josh working hard on this makes my heart so proud and Isaac helping out is the icing on the cake:)
I did not get down to see Sue this week but Bob is in the hospital after experiencing too much pain on Saturday. It turned out to be his pancreas that is thrashed from the cancer that has taken over his body. Bob has always been negative and moody for as long as we have known him, 45 years. But now it is ten times worse because of the fear inside him and it's effect on Sue. Her patience has always been thin with him but now it seems to be non existent. They are both so stubborn and proud and time is running out with the sun rapidly setting on their marriage. I have been praying that God opens doors and helps them to restore their love to some extent before it is too late. Sue can also be a hard cookie to get along with unless you know her heart as I do. This is tough all the way around and has Corky and I talking to eachother constantly about our love for eachother, especially now. We have been blessed with trials through our marriage that have made us stronger and closer. It feels like a dress rehearsal for our lives and the future that is before us and it scares me. I never thought I would live to be 63 and still feel like 35 in my heart. I am just so thankful that we know the Lord and He has us in His hands. Bob and Sue have this assurance too. Just praying for both of their hearts to soften towards eachother.
Hannah will be here today and we are going to work in the yard together. The weather has been cooling off and we have had coastal fog lasting half the day for over a week now. I love this time of year and cooler weather. I can't believe October is almost over and Thanksgiving is a month away. This is usually my hybernation time of the year, but not this year. Too much is going on and I need to stay present in body and spirit for many reasons. I still feel young in my mind and just wish I had back the energy to match. Don't we all? Have a wonderful day if you are reading this. I miss you guys but that's what I get for deserting my blog for so long:(
Love and Hugs, Laurie
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
A One Room Schoolhouse, A Fog Horn and A Flood Of Memories...
My grandkids are being home schooled and a little 12'x14' school room is being built in their back yard. Grandpa and Josh are building it and Saturday, all 4 walls were framed up and secured in place. Josh is an accountant now but when he was Isaacs age, he and his brother went to work with Corky over summer break and earned money cleaning up on the jobsites. Over the years they learned how to frame and build things, use the power tools and learn about working for their money. Isaac was so excited to help with keeping the site clean and of course hoarding cut off ends of wood and lots of nails to build the things only his little mind knows. He is an inventor you know. My heart was overflowing with pride to be watching three generations of my guys working together.:)
I was there to play with the kids and give mom the day to clean her house so Hannah and I did manicures and pedicures and had so much fun. Of course she was so happy with hers that she had to change clothes 4 times while I was there because all her clothes "matched" with her fingers and toes. While she was sitting on the patio table with her feet on my knees, her little hands were free to move about. She stroked my hair and checked out my earrings, tickling my face with those little fingers and said "Gramma, I love these earrings you wear, the dolphins are so pretty." I have had them forever, my Sissy, Corky's sister gave them to me for my birthday long ago one March. I am a Pisces and so is she and so is Erin (mom). Hannah loves my jade necklace too. She is so gentle with my jewelry and sees it on me all the time. These are things I will pass on to her when I am gone. A tradition starts as I did not have these special things from my childhood handed down to me. Way too long a story to get into right now. We dressed her dollies and Isaac took a work break to join us and take apart a Kodak Easy Share camera that had broken. The three of us had great conversations at the table while the guys worked on and mom continued cleaning:)
This is not your ordinary school room that is being built. Erin showed me the book she got her inspiration from. It honestly is my dream garden cottage I have always wanted to have in my garden!! It will be shingled all the way around and window boxes with flowers, dutch door, on and on, my perfect garden shed:) Our labor of love we gladly help with for the two most special little people in our lives. This is such a wonderful and rewarding time in our lives together:)
I mentioned the fog horn because it is still dark out this morning and with the window open in my office as I sit here, I hear the fog horn down the hill at the harbor. I love this time of year when we get our seasons with the ocean. You can smell the sea in the air up here and it is magical. I love to watch the fog roll up the street and through the yards, it is moist and wonderful and so full of life. I don't really like driving in it as it makes people crazy on the roads, but I love it.
Sunday we went to Bob and Sues and it was a great day with friends. They have 4 acres about an hour south of us and inland. Sue loves horses and has two of them. She is my horse friend:) She is trying to get more stables built so she can board horses and help meet the mortgage since Bob is dying and no longer bringing in an income. She found some pipe she needed on craigs list so we went in search of the property so she could pay the guy and arrange delivery. Corky stayed with Bob as he cannot be left alone. Another old friend Steve stopped by just in time so Corky had extra company and help. With Google directions we managed to get ourselves lost for over an hour, out in the boonies, street signs faded out from the sun. Memories started flooding in my mind as she apologized for wasting my Sunday afternoon getting lost. Over the past 41 years of our friendship, we have gotten lost too many times to keep count. I can't think of one person I love to get lost with more than her. I told her and the memories started pouring out. I loved the smile on her face that broke the fear on her face of such a sad and unimaginable future unfolding in life right now. We raised our sons together, riding in cars with hardly any brakes, the boys loose in the back seat, no carseats back then and we had to agree that God had his angels surrounding us in those days as always:) HE has always been the glue that binds our friendship through all of the ups and downs we have experienced personally. Our pride has always been the thing that got in the way but not anymore. God has been working on all of us with this and it is a blessing to be obedient to HIS gentle discipline. Such a long time to learn this but HE truly closes the gaps of time that our pride had stolen. And HE does it quick and instant.
Before we left I showed Sue pictures of my grandkids. I am getting better at realizing that she won't be a grandma, so her horses are her babies like my grandkids are to me. I am okay with that but wanted to put precious faces to the precious little people in my life. I think you have to be a grandma to really get it. I get that now. The most important thing right now is that our friendship is back on track and will stay on track. No room for pride anymore. My closest friends husband is dying and I want to be here for her, whatever she needs me to do to help her through. I seem to bring out the tears in her more often these days but she says it's all good, keeping it real as it happens. I want to share her pain and burden, it's the least I can do.
When I count my blessings I lose count so I just keep thanking the Lord for all that HE continues blessing us with because of HIS love for us.
It feels good to get things out here. It has been too long and I feel it is not entertaining to readers like you but if anyone still visits me:), I really miss and appreciate you.
Love and Hugs, Laurie
I was there to play with the kids and give mom the day to clean her house so Hannah and I did manicures and pedicures and had so much fun. Of course she was so happy with hers that she had to change clothes 4 times while I was there because all her clothes "matched" with her fingers and toes. While she was sitting on the patio table with her feet on my knees, her little hands were free to move about. She stroked my hair and checked out my earrings, tickling my face with those little fingers and said "Gramma, I love these earrings you wear, the dolphins are so pretty." I have had them forever, my Sissy, Corky's sister gave them to me for my birthday long ago one March. I am a Pisces and so is she and so is Erin (mom). Hannah loves my jade necklace too. She is so gentle with my jewelry and sees it on me all the time. These are things I will pass on to her when I am gone. A tradition starts as I did not have these special things from my childhood handed down to me. Way too long a story to get into right now. We dressed her dollies and Isaac took a work break to join us and take apart a Kodak Easy Share camera that had broken. The three of us had great conversations at the table while the guys worked on and mom continued cleaning:)
This is not your ordinary school room that is being built. Erin showed me the book she got her inspiration from. It honestly is my dream garden cottage I have always wanted to have in my garden!! It will be shingled all the way around and window boxes with flowers, dutch door, on and on, my perfect garden shed:) Our labor of love we gladly help with for the two most special little people in our lives. This is such a wonderful and rewarding time in our lives together:)
I mentioned the fog horn because it is still dark out this morning and with the window open in my office as I sit here, I hear the fog horn down the hill at the harbor. I love this time of year when we get our seasons with the ocean. You can smell the sea in the air up here and it is magical. I love to watch the fog roll up the street and through the yards, it is moist and wonderful and so full of life. I don't really like driving in it as it makes people crazy on the roads, but I love it.
Sunday we went to Bob and Sues and it was a great day with friends. They have 4 acres about an hour south of us and inland. Sue loves horses and has two of them. She is my horse friend:) She is trying to get more stables built so she can board horses and help meet the mortgage since Bob is dying and no longer bringing in an income. She found some pipe she needed on craigs list so we went in search of the property so she could pay the guy and arrange delivery. Corky stayed with Bob as he cannot be left alone. Another old friend Steve stopped by just in time so Corky had extra company and help. With Google directions we managed to get ourselves lost for over an hour, out in the boonies, street signs faded out from the sun. Memories started flooding in my mind as she apologized for wasting my Sunday afternoon getting lost. Over the past 41 years of our friendship, we have gotten lost too many times to keep count. I can't think of one person I love to get lost with more than her. I told her and the memories started pouring out. I loved the smile on her face that broke the fear on her face of such a sad and unimaginable future unfolding in life right now. We raised our sons together, riding in cars with hardly any brakes, the boys loose in the back seat, no carseats back then and we had to agree that God had his angels surrounding us in those days as always:) HE has always been the glue that binds our friendship through all of the ups and downs we have experienced personally. Our pride has always been the thing that got in the way but not anymore. God has been working on all of us with this and it is a blessing to be obedient to HIS gentle discipline. Such a long time to learn this but HE truly closes the gaps of time that our pride had stolen. And HE does it quick and instant.
Before we left I showed Sue pictures of my grandkids. I am getting better at realizing that she won't be a grandma, so her horses are her babies like my grandkids are to me. I am okay with that but wanted to put precious faces to the precious little people in my life. I think you have to be a grandma to really get it. I get that now. The most important thing right now is that our friendship is back on track and will stay on track. No room for pride anymore. My closest friends husband is dying and I want to be here for her, whatever she needs me to do to help her through. I seem to bring out the tears in her more often these days but she says it's all good, keeping it real as it happens. I want to share her pain and burden, it's the least I can do.
When I count my blessings I lose count so I just keep thanking the Lord for all that HE continues blessing us with because of HIS love for us.
It feels good to get things out here. It has been too long and I feel it is not entertaining to readers like you but if anyone still visits me:), I really miss and appreciate you.
Love and Hugs, Laurie
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
There Is No Restoration Like God's Restoration....
As I had said in my last post that got sent into cyberspace, God has been working on my pride and I am so thankful to be obedient to his small and still voice. Corky and I went to visit Bob and Sue on Saturday and it was such a beautiful sunny day spent with the best of friends. I had told Sue that we were scared to see Bob in such a frail state but God would get there before us. He is frail and hasn't been able to eat in over a month and keep anything down. I baked him his favorite cookies of mine and told him he could just smell them if he wanted. There were many hugs and smiles and tears and God's peace and comfort and unconditional love. The day was perfect and I just listened to Sue's heart, her fears, hopes, needs. God had closed the time in between and it was wonderful.
Sue emailed me to let me know Bob has eaten two cookies each day and kept them down.:) He is also able to eat some small portions of food and keep them down too. I am thanking the Lord for this small step. Yes, the cancer will take Bob but starving to death is just plain not right. I just looked up from my desk and have this scripture written on a post it: Proverbs 16:9, In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
We are going back down this Sunday to watch the Nascar race together and just hang out for the day. I am making a mental list of the things that they need done around their property and what we can do to help get it done. Eric stopped in on them shortly after we had left and offered his help too. They were so excited and surprised to see him. I am proud of him for following his heart that has been buried under so much turmoil since the beginning of this year.
I have so much more I want to write about this but will wait for another post. Isaac and Hannah are doing great and they keep so much joy buzzing in my heart constantly. They are my true treasures and so is Corky.
I am so thankful for God's discipline in my life right now. Obedience is a humbling and necessary step in this walk of life. HIS restoration is so precious.
Love and Hugs, Laurie
Sue emailed me to let me know Bob has eaten two cookies each day and kept them down.:) He is also able to eat some small portions of food and keep them down too. I am thanking the Lord for this small step. Yes, the cancer will take Bob but starving to death is just plain not right. I just looked up from my desk and have this scripture written on a post it: Proverbs 16:9, In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
We are going back down this Sunday to watch the Nascar race together and just hang out for the day. I am making a mental list of the things that they need done around their property and what we can do to help get it done. Eric stopped in on them shortly after we had left and offered his help too. They were so excited and surprised to see him. I am proud of him for following his heart that has been buried under so much turmoil since the beginning of this year.
I have so much more I want to write about this but will wait for another post. Isaac and Hannah are doing great and they keep so much joy buzzing in my heart constantly. They are my true treasures and so is Corky.
I am so thankful for God's discipline in my life right now. Obedience is a humbling and necessary step in this walk of life. HIS restoration is so precious.
Love and Hugs, Laurie
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