Look in the mirror. What do you see?

What a difference from the first time I spent any time with Ella. In October, she was just in her third month, beginning to smile and coo. What fun we had. I remember just before I left, I was playing with her one day, and I held her in front of me. As we looked in the mirror, she saw something that made her laugh. It wasn't a big laugh, but it was a laugh.

Now after she wakes from her nap, we sometimes sit in her room and read some books, and then she loves to sit in front of the mirror and talk to and laugh at the baby in the mirror. What fun! I sit behind her, and she'll look at me in the mirror to make sure I'm not missing anything. We've really bonded during my time here. I think she'll probably remember me the next time that I come. I hope so.

She showed a nice weight gain at the doctor's office when she went the other day. That was good news. The doctor said that they should increase the enzymes a little bit. From reading about adults with CF, adjusting the amount on enzymes one needs seems to be ongoing.

My time is coming to an end. I'm leaving on Sunday to drive back to Florida for some meetings. I'm going house-hunting tomorrow--well house looking.

Followup on a fall

Well, good morning. I'm here to report that I'm alive and well after my tumble on Saturday. When I fell flat on my face, my glasses were between my face and the ground. They got bent up quite a bit, but the very kind optician at W*l Mart got them pretty well aligned for me. They're a little bit scratched, but not too bad. My right wrist was very sore, and I wondered about carrying and handling Ella, but by this morning, the soreness is about gone. My neck is still a little bit stiff, but all in all, I feel fine. I am thankful not to have been hurt badly. I know that one of these days it might not be like that.

It has been a heart-wrenching experience being in Virginia this past week. As I've driven around, I've seen visible signs of support for those grieving at Virginia Tech and throughout the whole state. Yesterday, Sunday, I had planned to meet a lady whom I met in Bradenton who had come back home to Waynesboro. I had planned to go to church with her, but after I fell and was quite sore, I decided to stay home and give my body a chance to recover a bit.

I turned on the TV and found a church service from a church in Richmond. One of the young women whose life was taken had graduated from the church's high school in 2006. The service was, in a way, a memorial service to her. Members of her high school class, of whom there might have been 12 or so, spoke of her faith and her determination to live it out before her classmates at VT. The lieutenant governor of the state was in the service, spoke, and prayed for the whole situation. The choir sang "It is Well." How many times has that song brought comfort to hurting hearts! For the Christian, the loss is great, but we have the sweet and calm assurance that all is well, and one day we shall see Him face to face. Some just get that opportunity sooner than others; some, in our human way of thinking are taken before their time, but as the Lord gently reminded me when my husband was taken in an untimely death, He knows our days. My times are in His hands.

Thank God for fat

Barbara Johnson once said, "I'm a perfect size 10. I just cover it with fat so it won't get scratched."

I was out driving around today looking at houses for sale in Waynesboro when I stopped back by my son's house. He was in the back yard filling in some low spots. I walked over to look at some plants, stepped into a low spot, and promptly went down. I'm thankful for soft grass and the fact that I wasn't on a sidewalk somewhere.

After I got up, with my kids' help, I drove to W*l-Mart to their optical department to get my glasses straightened. Although I'm sore, I don't think I'll be any worse for the wear...hopefully not, anyway.

What a beautiful day here in Waynesboro. It has been picture perfect, cool in the morning, sunny and mild during the day. Spring is erupting. I'm so glad that I get a chance to see the dogwood in bloom. It has always been one of my favorite flowering trees.

"The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your
body and your fat are really good friends" Anonymous

Postscript

Last night I wrote a note from Ella. In it I said that the doctor wants her to gain weight. What I should have said is that she wants to see her maintain a weight gain each month. Some CF patients end up with feeding tubes and the like to help them maintain weight.

Hi, everyone

Hi, everyone,
This is Ella here reporting on my grammy. She got here Monday afternoon after driving all the way from Florida. She stopped in North Carolina and visited a friend at Mount Olive College, and then she had lunch with Kenju. My grammy said that they talked for two hours without stopping. She said it was lots of fun meeting a fellow blogger. My grammy has also met Vicki down in St. Petersburg and her dad, Bud. So that's two down, and several more to go.

She's taking care of me while she's here. My mommy says she likes that because she doesn't have to pack everything up and make sure that she hasn't forgotten anything. The doctor wants me to gain weight, so I eat every three hours. I eat, play, take a little nap, eat, play, take a little nap, and so on.

When I first saw my grammy, I wasn't sure I remembered her, but today we laughed and had lots of fun together. If it's nice tomorrow, we might go for a walk. The weather is a little cooler than what my grammy is used to.

I'm such a happy girl. I'm so easy to love. That's all for now. Oh, can you see my two teeth on top? I now have two on top and two on bottom.

Love,
Ella

David's Birthday Revisited

I think these photos will post. They are not the ones that I had selected for the post on his birthday, but for those of you who didn't see the photos on the post on the 15th, but at least you can see what that cute little boy looked like.

For someone who grew to be 6'8", David started out little. I think I said in the other post that he wore a newborn outfit to church once, and that was the end of that. He was actually three weeks early, so he would have been a big boy if he had gone full-term.
On his wedding day with his lovely bride, Sabrina, April 3, 2004. Ella is now a part of their family, and, of course, you know I'm crazy about her.

Wow! It's windy!

Wow, it's windy. David called me today to warn me about the wind when driving over the mountain from Charlottesville to Waynesboro. I told him I had been feeling the wind all the way up, especially in North Carolina. When I passed Charlottesville, there was a sign up about high winds. When I got near Waynesboro, I understood what they meant. I was very glad to arrive safely.

Ella is beautiful, of course. It took her a few minutes to warm up to me, but we'll have the next two weeks to play and get to know each other again.

I'm sorry about my last post. I thought I had it fixed for photos. I'll work on it tomorrow and maybe get them up.

One of the fun things today was meeting Kenju. We had lunch together at Bob Evans on I-95. I appreciate so much her coming. The weather was windy. She said that while she was driving to the restaurant, her husband called and said that a tree had blown over, and the power had gone off. After talking for two hours, we said good-by. I came on to Virginia, and she was on her way back home.

April 15, 1979

Easter Sunday 1979. We thought we had three weeks before the baby would be born. Because I had had my labor induced with Sarah because of toxemia, I had not experienced going into labor, and so on Saturday when I had a few twinges, I did not recognize the beginning of labor. When I woke up on Sunday morning, everything started in motion. We called the doctor, Don took Sarah to my mother's, and we headed to the hospital.

We arrived there around 7:30, and David arrived at 10:59 Easter Sunday morning. What a gift! My friend, who I knew was working that day at her office because her family had an accounting firm and I called her there later sent me a card that said, "Well, this year he's the Easter bunny. From now on he'll be known as 'Form 1040.'"

I had made Sarah's Easter dress that year, so our Easter celebration came a week later when we all went to church together. David wore a newborn outfit that Sunday, and I believe that it was the only Sunday that he wore that outfit.
My little boy with his set of wheels. After this auto he moved up to the General Lee Big Wheel. His sister was pushing him around the pool one day when he went into the pool. He told his daddy, "I went all the way down to the drain."

Where do the years go? They grow up so quickly. The song "Turn around, turn around" speaks of the little girl who grows up and is so quickly gone. They same is true for the son. Four of my blogging friends who have children who are graduating or getting ready to graduate from high school or college. I love reading their posts about their children and think back to those days. I sometimes go to my kids' high school basketball games and when I watch the parents who are there enjoying their children's games, I encourage them to relish every day because it passes so quickly.

David played baseball in Little League and a year in high school. He also played basketball in high school. His team went to state his senior year, and they were state runner- ups in their division. This year his team gathered together in December for a 10-year reunion. This summer his high school class will have its ten-year reunion.

Penn State was David's school of choice. He had gone to a small Christian high school, and he desired to go to a big university, and he didn't want to stay in Florida. So with the help of my mother's gifts to him, a few loans, and some help from mom and dad, off he went to Penn State. There he got a degree in engineering, became involved in a campus ministry, and after graduation worked for three years as a campus minister at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And, oh yes, during that time, he married Sabrina, whom he met at Penn State while she was there working on her Master's degree.

Now living in Virgina, he is teaching eighth grade math and is the father of Ella, the cute little girl whose picture I keep posting on this blog.

My son has grown from a cute,loving little boy into a young man who has always made his parents proud. He is intelligent, articulate, caring about others. He adores his wife and daughter, but most of all he loves God and seeks to please Him by his life.

Happy birthday to you, David, my wonderful son. I love you so much.

Oh, my, I've been tagged.

SRP, over at Melange, surprised me greatly by nominating me for the Thinking Blogger award. I'm pleased but very surprised. When I read the posts of others, I ooh and aah over their eloquent writing and deep thoughts, and then I look at mine and think to myself that they don't begin to compare. But I love this blogging business. It has helped me chronicle for my children my past and my present and meet so many new friends.

I have the responsibility now of naming five bloggers whom I think fit this category.

1. The Doctor Is In is Dr. Bob's blog. He is a physician who lives in the northwest who writes about religion, medicine, politics, pets, and passion in life. I come away from his posts often thinking about present-day issues, often comforted, and always informed.
2. Passions of the Soul is Vicki's blog. She is an advocate for Compassion, the organization that encourages sponsoring needy children in poorer countries. If you go to her blog, you will truly feel her passion for these children. She has sponsored several girls in the Dominican Republic and has been to visit them several times. She and her husband recently adopted a dog, a beagle whom they renamed Bailey, thus Beagle Bailey. That made me smile.
3. Heavenly Heartburn is written by Gordon Cloud in Cairo, Georgia. A Southern Baptist pastor whose posts sometimes speak of our southern culture. Once he posted about "pot liquor." I asked him if he hadn't misspelled it. I thought it should be "pot likker." He said that he wanted the northern folks to know what he was talking about. His posts make me feel like he is my pastor sometimes. One of these days I'm going to Cairo, Georgia to meet him and his family and worship at his church.
4. Dappled Things is Bet's blog. Bet teaches journalism in Greenville, South Carolina. Having gone to college in Greenville, I enjoy reading her posts. She has had beautiful spring photos this year which have brought back many memories. She has a miniature schnauzer named Barnie, who is just about the cutest dog I've ever seen. She has a sister who lives in Staunton, Virginia who is not too far from my son.
5. Breathing Deeply is a blog I found recently though a cystic fibrosis forum. Those of you who have read my blog know that my granddaughter Ella has cystic fibrosis. Lauren is a young woman in California who has CF. She is a writer, a scientist, and a real support and inspiration to me as she writes about her daily life with CF. She also has a site, Pools of Grace, where she regularly posts devotional thoughts she has written.

The participation rules of the award are simple:
1) If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think
2) Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3) Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

I hope you will visit these blogs. Tell them I sent you.

Nostalgia

I tried to post a few days ago, and for some reason my photos did not appear as I planned, so hopefully they will today. As most of you know, or maybe you don't, I'm a Florida native. Born in the little town of Lacoochee, hence the name of my blog, my parents moved to Bradenton right after World War II was over in 1945. I like to tell people I was a babe in arms, but I was actually four. Bradenton was a little town, a wonderful place to grow up. Some of us get together for lunch and talk about our carefree days as kids, and how we could go anywhere and be safe. So much as changed as we've progressed. I sometimes wonder if it is really progress.

As I get older, I think back and remember my grandparents' homes and how they were. They other day I stopped in at our historical park here. I hadn't been there for a while, and when I stepped onto the grounds, many memories filled my mind. One of the first stops is the Wiggins general store. When I was a little girl, this was indeed a store in east Bradenton, and upstairs were apartments. My mother and daddy had some friends who lived in one of those apartments and would visit them there.

I think Cracker Barrel must have driven by here and gotten the idea for the front porch of the restaurant, although I know this scene is repeated many times over in the south. A general store was a wonderful meeting place, so much to see and do, and to catch up on conversation with friends.

Anything that one needed could be found in one place, and the person who ran the store probably had a story to tell as he served you there. There was no such thing as prepacked goods here. Wrapped in brown paper, tied with some string, you were soon ready to take your purchases and be on your way.

I googled general store and had fun looking at some of the websites for stores around the country. One that caught my eye is in Floyd, Virginia. I might have to take a trip there when I get to Virginia. Another one that might be on my way sometime is in Dillard, Georgia. That is a fun place to visit on the way to the mountains.

Wikepedia made the statement that the convenience stores have sort of taken the place of the general store. I don't think so.

Happy Easter!

A very blessed resurrection day to all! He is risen! Hallelujah!

I've been without my computer for a few days, so I haven't checked in on everybody. Hopefully, I'll have it back, perhaps by this afternoon. I'm at my daughter's house right now, using hers. I look forward to catching up on everyone's doings. Till later.

This week's focus

If you've been by lately, you'll see that I'm having trouble posting photos. SRP gave me her solution, and it didn't work for me when I went in. I'll try again later.

I'm thinking that perhaps my focus should be elsewhere. Last night in choir practice as we were going over our music for Easter Sunday, I was again awed by God's love and His supreme sacrifice for the world and for me. One of the songs we are singing is "I Stand Amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene." We're not singing the melody sung from the hymnal, so I was forced to look at and think about the words on the page. It is a love that we cannot begin to understand, but it is love that I have accepted. It is that love and grace that has sustained me through the hard times that have come my way.

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Frustrated

I've been trying to post with a photo, and all I get is a square with the little red box. I originally posted, the photo was there, and then when I went to my blog again, the photo had disappeared, and the box appeared. Does anyone know what I did wrong? I followed the normal procedure for uploading...also tried it from Picasa. Boo-hoo.

Don't Mess With Me Today

What started out as a beautiful day just went south.

But before I rant, please take time to read this post over at Pondering Penguin. Karen writes so thoughtfully about Elizabeth Edwards and the recent announcement of her recurrence of cancer.

Cancer is such a hideous disease, isn't it. Vicki wrote recently of a young woman just turning 20, who is faced with needing a bone marrow transplant because of leukemia, and undergoing harvesting of eggs for future use because in all probability she would not be able to conceive after all the treatments. That's not what a 20 year old should be facing.

In our church, there is a gentleman who has just turned 70, who is battling cancer, and he's not winning. It started out in his tongue, is now in his throat, practically strangling him, and there isn't much left to be done. He and his wife have a daughter who is developmentally delayed, nearing 50 years of age, and that burden is heavy. Yes, arrangements are made, but the worry is still there.

But then there is Ben, who survived his ordeal this last year, and Anthony, who, so far, is doing well after his bone marrow transplant. While there's breath there's hope, n'est-ce pas.

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Spring training is almost over. I smiled when I read B.C. this morning.

I have a ticket for one more game this week, and then the boys of summer will be headed north to begin the regular season of baseball. The month of spring training is all too short. Along with the boys going north, will be many of the snowbirds who migrate back to their homes in the north. Some of them will be missed; some won't. Our roads will be less crowded, but the restaurants and businesses who depend on tourism will be wishing they were still here.

When my daughter was getting ready for college, we went to North Carolina to finish her registration for fall. We traveled back to Florida on Saturday, April 1. I'm so glad we were coming south. Going north on I-75 was a steady stream of cars, RV's, campers, boats. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it. It was as though the state was being evacuated, and in a way, it was. The kids and I wished them all a good trip. That migration will soon be taking place again.
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Now for my RANT. For those of us who live in Florida, homeowner's insurance is a touchy subject. I remember crying when our premium doubled to $600.00. That was many years ago.
The Allst*te pulled out of our area, saying that we were high risk, and some company took over. They got their increase, pulled out, and so on and so on. Last year I paid $2500, and I complained. My premium this year? With yet another company...$4138.00. I submitted a payment of over $1000. Just one little mistake...I left off the fifty cents after the decimal point. So today I get a notice of cancellation if they don't have their fifty cents before April 4. I'm going to pay whatever postage it takes to send it in pennies. That just makes me SO MAD.

Make New Friends, but Keep the Old

I know that anyone who was ever in Girl Scouts learned that song, along with Kookaburra, and other rounds sung in troop meetings. What a wonderful time that was. The photo above was probably taken around 1950 when we were in fifth or sixth grade. Most of us in that troop had begun scouting together as Brownies. Many of them went on in high school to become Mariner Scouts. The neat thing is that many of us who are in that photo still get together for lunch about once every three months, not just as former Girl Scouts, but as friends who went to school together from kindergarten through high school.

After I graduated from college, I lived in Cincinnati for five years and taught there. I have very fond memories of my years there, but after teaching there, I traveled to Haiti and lived for three and a half years and taught the children of missionaries. Most of those missionaries have retired now, and many of them live here in Bradenton at Bradenton Missionary Village, a community provided by Anthony Rossi, the founder to Tropicana Products. Whenever someone comes to visit, we take that opportunity to get together and visit.

Such was the case last Thursday. One of the missionary ladies who lives in New York came to the Orlando area to visit her son and daughter-in-law who have recently moved here. We met together for a pot-luck lunch, and as usual the stories began to be told by the men. They have the tales to tell.

As I look at these photos, I think of all the years of service that these folks gave. Most of them spent their entire adult lives in ministry to others. Some are now widowed, some are not in good health, but they rejoice in God's goodness in their lives. I have always counted it such a privilege to know them and to have had a part in the education of their children, many of whom are missionaries as well.

These are the "old friends."
I'm so happy for the "new friends" that I've met through the blogging community - SRP, AC, Coll, Karen, Debra, Judy, Tammy, Susie, Vicki, Vickie, Janice, Pastor Gordon, Lauren, Bet,Ron and the list continues to expand. My day is made brighter by visiting your blogs, sometimes lurking, often commenting. Thanks.

Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
New-made friendships, like new wine,
Age will mellow and refine.
Friendships that have stood the test -
Time and change - are surely best;
Brow may wrinkle, hair grow gray,
Friendship never knows decay.
For 'mid old friends, tried and true,
Once more we our youth renew.
But old friends, alas! may die,
New friends must their place supply.
Cherish friendship in your breast-
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold.
Joseph Parry

A Day at the Park

On the first warm (a relatively loose term) day in March, Ella made her first trip to the park with her mommy and daddy. A great time was had by all. The park is not far at all from David and Sabrina's house. In just a few weeks, after our Sweet Adelines competition in Daytona Beach, I'll be driving to Virginia to stay for a while. I look forward to making visits to the park to watch the ducks and whatever else may be there.

Of course, I can hardly wait to see this darling baby again, as you all well know. Don't you love her hat?

A year later

A year ago I posted about Ben, a young man living and working with his wife in Columbia, South Carolina. Their lives were forever changed that day when Ben was taken to the hospital, talking funny. The result was that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which had invaded his body and caused a stroke. This note from his wife:

Well, today is a day of mixed emotions for us. Exactly one year ago today
I received a phone call from Ben's boss at my job telling me that he was talking
funny, so they'd taken him to the emergency room. From there our lives
spun madly out of control and you all know the rest of the story. But
today marks a year that Ben has survived when he was only given a 50% chance, so
praise to God that he's still with us and doing so well.
You all have been an amazing support and we
are looking forward to the start of a much better year--post cancer and dramatic
brain surgery etc. We pray that things will only get better from here!

This also is from Liza:

Ben's going to therapy every day and I think this week they'll be ordering the "Saeboflex" glove for him to use for therapy on his arm. Here's a link to more info about the glove:
http://www.saebo.com/seaboflex.html

Ben feels like his arm is improving, so that's encouraging. His occupational therapist did tell him that he will probably not get back fine motor skills such as typing or writing, so he should continue to work on doing those with his left hand. Please pray that he would be motivated to work on those skills even though it's a disappointment that he won't be able to do them with his right hand as he used to.
Ben received something called "A Ticket to Work" from the Social Security Administration which is supposed to give him free vocational rehab, so hopefully we are going to look into that this week sometime just to see exactly what the program is all about. He probably won't actually start until he's done with therapy since that's our main focus at the moment, and since he's still not really ready to get back into a job yet.

There's much here to be thankful for and much to pray for yet.

Thanks for all your comments

I asked David what he thought might have been going through his mind when that picture was taken. His answer? "I have no idea. It was posed." I remember looking out that kitchen window one day in October after the wind had blown all the leaves from the two big tree in their back yard, and I thought to myself that someone is going to have a lot of work to do. There were leaves on the trees in the morning, but by afternoon they had all come down.

I liked Anna's thought and some of you thought Mommy stuff as well. Anna was thinking that maybe Mommy was getting some time to herself, and David and Ella were watching her leave.

They looked rather serious to me. I know that Ella's CF is on my mind everyday, and I was wondering if David might be looking ahead, wondering what the future holds. One day when Ella's older she'll be asking questions about it all. OK, that's enough heavy stuff.

Thanks again for commenting.

What do they see?

I have several favorite photos of my granddaughter and her parents, and this is definitely one of them. Looking out their kitchen window, what do they see? What are they thinking? I have some thoughts, and I'll share them at a later time, but I'm going to take an idea from Carmi and some other blogs I've read and ask you your thoughts. What do you think might be going through their minds as they look out the window?

Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Part 2

The Pirates play at McKechnie Field in Bradenton. This field and seats were redone a few years ago, and instead of building a fancy, new facility out of town, they decided to stay here near downtown Bradenton. That made us all happy. Today the Pirates played the Tampa Bay Rays. Neither team has a stellar record. In fact, I don't believe either of them had won a game before today's game, and the Pirates beat them 5-2. It's going to be a long season.

I haven't seen too many young families here this week. I guess it isn't spring break up north yet, or else they're still frozen. At Monday's game, they announced the respective scores of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as being 25 and 20. Everyone laughed. Then the temperature of Bradenton was announced as being 70, and that brought cheers from everyone.
It's always fun having a friend along. My friend Peg and I have been friends since we were in elementary school. We lost touch for a few years ago, but we reconnected after she moved back to Bradenton. Monday we ate foot-long hot dogs; today we enjoyed a slice of pizza.

Spring training runs through the end of the month. The Yankees will be here Saturday. The Red Sox will be playing too. I don't have tickets for either of those games. I believe the Braves are coming too. AC, eat your heart out. I believe that game is sold out.

I intended this post to come second, and I tried publishing this one first, so that it would be on bottom, but I didn't succeed. Oh, well.