Mews from Meowmix

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”  Rev. 14:13

Some months back, I did a series of blogs on the good folks in my life.  One of these was a man who used to be an elder in the Corning Church of Christ……….for many years, in fact.  His name is Troy Jackson.  You may remember that I spoke about him.

He was a County Extension Agent (I think that was the title, anyway), and he and his wife, Elgie, ran a country grocery store located in front of their house, smack dab in the middle of the Corning Y where Highways 62 and 135 meet up.  From the time I was around 13, we lived about a mile from there.

Troy and Elgie were great influences in my life.  Sometimes I would ride to church with them, when Mom wasn’t going for some reason.  He taught classes, and she did, too, and he did a lot of preaching around the area.  In fact, he “preached” my mother’s funeral and was one of the two elders who baptized my brother, Denzil, years ago.

Through the years, since  moving away from Corning, when something really troubling arose, especially in relation to church matters, I would call and discuss it with him.  He was always knowledgeable and always willing to share with me.  And he always made me feel (and Elgie did, too) that he believed in me.

Troy was amazing with a passage of Scripture.  He could stand in a pulpit or in front of a class and quote, I think, CHAPTERS verbatim.  He was a kind and good man.  Elgie passed away quite a few years ago, and in recent years, he had lived either with or near his daughters.

One of the other long-time elders from the Corning church has a daughter who is one of my Facebook friends.  Recently, I thought to ask about her dad and also asked if she had any information about how Troy was doing.  She responded, and I saw the reply just today, that Troy has moved on to his heavenly home some two weeks ago.

I am saddened on the one hand but so happy that he was a formative part of my life.  Heaven is a little dearer now that he is there, reunited with his Elgie.  May God give him rest from his labors.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Looking out the window at 6:30 a.m.  My mouth dropped open at the unexpected, beautiful snow outside.
2. Fat Bird is back.
3. Phil is cooking for us again tonight.
4. Saw a car going down the street a while ago with a snowman perched on top of it!
5. Remembering one of Troy’s smiles.  A man used to come in the store and talk about rabbit and/or squirrel hunting.  Troy would laugh at him for saying, “you just have to barely kill him.”

See you tomorrow.  And may God bless.

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Ever since Hailey was born, I’ve called her “Baby Girl.”  Still do.  She melted my heart one day when she told me she’d always be my baby girl no matter how big she got.

You may remember me mentioning a few times that she plays basketball.  Last year, she was on a team that was undefeated.  This year, her team has not won a game.  But they are sure learning a lot and playing really awesome games.  A couple of weeks ago, I told you about her making her first basket and how we all danced on the sidelines.  Saturday, she did it again and, this time, her daddy was there to see it.  Matter of fact, he was helping coach!

They lost again Saturday, but only by 2 points.  Score was 10-8, and 2 of the points were made by Hailey.  Just as the final buzzer sounded!  I think she was surprised, but it sailed right in.  There’s no way to guage whose face had the biggest smile.  There were a lot of them going around.

After the game, everybody waited to hug and congratulate her.  Three of us – her Mamaw, her Aunt Michelle, and I – were standing together.  When she headed toward our cluster, she came straight to me, in the  middle.  Ask me if that pleased me any??    Like I said………my baby girl.

At the game, Emily didn’t feel well.  Had a sore throat.  But she was interested in whether or not our ceiling has been fixed!  And she cajoled her Mamaw out of butterscotch candy that she always has in her pockets.  She’s a mess, that one.  Also my baby girl.

Remember the screaming visiting preacher I spoke about a few weeks ago?  He was back tonight, but I had nursery duty.  Jaiden and Jameel were both in attendance, so Doris stayed to help me.  The speaker was on, but the boys were in a playing, talking, running-around mood, so we didn’t hear much over their little squeals. 

Someone I know rather well is having a birthday this week.  Edging into that sixth decade………..my, my my.  Gotta be somebody else that’s turning that age!  But, as I like to say, it’s much better than the alternative!!!!  After all, I would hate for Greg to have to start measuring me for one of his gurneys.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. The growth and maturity nephew Phil has exhibited in the last 3 months.
2. The cooking abilities of nephew Phil.  He exhibited those last night for us, too.  Quite tasty.
3. Sunshine.
4. Afternoon naps.
5. Learning to stretch a dollar.
6. God’s providence.

See you tomorrow.  And may God bless.

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Holly’s surgery went well today.  Again, thanks be to God.  The surgeon went in expecting to need to put in a stint but ended up only having to put in a coil.  According to him, that’s good.  She will spend the night in ICU and, if all still looks good, she’ll get breakfast in the morning and go home.

The job I interviewed for at the University of Memphis was filled by another person.  That’s okay.  It was for an office assistant, and another position as an office associate is now open, and I’ve applied for it, too.  And it pays more!    Ever since this job hunt began, I’ve tried to bow to God’s will in the matter.  I’ve said whatever and whereabouts He wants me, that’s okay.  And if it’s staying at home and learning to live on what I have in retirement, that’s okay, too.  I’m a work in progress.

Doris’ sister, Grace, has been diagnosed with breast cancer which has spread into the lymph nodes.  At this point, that’s about all we know.  She will consult with her doctor tomorrow morning, and I guess will be given a prognosis and a game plan.  Would appreciate your prayers for her.

I spoke with my cousin, Leroy, this week who is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.  The treatments are really doing a number on him, and he’s weakened from them and sick.  Ditto the above request.

Do you find it hard to face unpleasant and unattractive issues about yourself?  I’m doing just such a thing right now.  And I am reminded of something I read, and I think I passed it along in a blog.  I’m relying on this thought to try and move forward through this thing.  It’s necessary that I move through it because of new circumstances.  The thought is:  Feel what you feel—-but do what God wants you to do.  At this point, I have to go with that.  I can’t seem to even pray my way out of the way I feel, but I can still ACT out of love and compassion and do the things I can do to help.  It is, after all, not about me.  This is kind of camouflaged, I suppose, but I don’t really need to put into print what I’m thinking and feeling about a particular person on my radar screen.  But there are things I will need and want to do in the new circumstance, and will do my best to do those things.  Perhaps in doing them, God’s spirit will work and my heart will change.

We have a cold rain falling once again, and it is a wonderful night to just stay in the house.  Nephew Phil surprised us while we were at the hospital with Holly.  Someone came through the neighborhood from a meat company selling packages of meat.  He bought us a $175 package of meat!  The package contained, among other things, steaks, and he has grilled those for our dinner.  I threw in a salad, rolls, and a baked potato, and we are about to have a feast.  What’s not to like about nephews such as this?

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Chandler.
2. Enjoyed visiting with Holly’s parents while she was in surgery.
3. Johnny.
4. Getting up at 4:45 a.m. and not feeling half-bad by 6:15 p.m.
5. Telephone call from neighbor and sister-in-Christ Barbara.

Will try and be back tomorrow.  May God bless.

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To begin with, I solicit your prayers for Holly, who will undergo more surgery tomorrow due to the aneurysm and blood clot that almost took her life last summer.  This surgery is expected to be an in-the-hospital-overnight event, but we are naturally concerned and praying all will go well.

My parents were married in 1929.  In about 1990, maybe a year earlier, Daddy had to go to live in a nursing home due to his health.  My mother remained in the family home, along with one of my brothers.  On July 3, 1991, Mom went to be with the Lord, and my brother stayed on for a while.  However, he was not living there a year later.  On the anniversary of my mother’s death, the house burned to the ground.  It was eerie, and I grieved over the house.  My mother had loved the place and stayed there much longer than was prudent for her, health-wise, but we found we just had no recourse.  She was of sound mind and just could not be budged.  With the news of the fire, it was like losing her all over again, and I grieved.

Neither of my parents showed a whole lot of emotion except on rare occasions.  Daddy didn’t say a whole lot about the fire.  He hated it, of course, but I don’t remember him saying a whole bunch about it.

In March of 1993, Daddy was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, and he lived one month after the diagnosis.  He lived out his last days in the nursing home.  One day, during that month, my sister-in-law visited with him.  Somehow, somewhere, in the conversation, he talked a little to her about some of his feelings.  He made the statement that, “I don’t even have a home.”  Nancy responded with, “But, Grandpa, just look where you’re going!”

This exchange between him and Nancy broke my heart for his sake, and it made me happy that she could respond with a positive statement.  When we were planning his funeral, I asked that “I’ve Got a Mansion” be sung.  Daddy worked hard all his life and never had it easy.  I thought it very appropriate for him who lost the only home he’d ever owned in a fire, that late in his life, after having lost his wife of nearly 63 years……….affirming that he not only had a home now but a mansion!

We sang the song tonight in our devotional at church.  And my eyes got misty.  I made it almost to the end of the third verse, before my voice started breaking.  If I could talk to Daddy at this moment, I’d say to him, “Rest well in your mansion tonight, Daddy.  And don’t run the lawnmower over Mom’s rose bushes!”

Words to the song follow:

“I’m satisfied with just a cottage below, A little silver and a little gold;
But in that city where the ransomed will shine, I want a gold one that’s silver-lined.

Tho’ often tempted, tormented and tested, and like the prophet, my pillow a stone
And tho’ I find here no permanent dwelling,I know He’ll give me a mansion my own.

Don’t think me poor or deserted or lonely, I’m not discouraged, I’m heaven bound;
I’m just a pilgrim in search of a city, I want a mansion, a robe and a crown.

Chorus:

I’ve got a mansion, just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we’ll never grow old.

And someday yonder, we will never more wander, but walk on streets that are purest gold.”

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. More Barney
2. Finishing the baked spaghetti for supper that I made on Monday!
3. Starting a pot of homemade hamburger soup for supper tomorrow night (to be had with cornbread).
4. Getting closer to Friday, which is an important day for nephew Phil.

See you tomorrow evening.  And may God bless.

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Sometimes, well, a LOT of times, animals just crack me up.  Besides Barney, we are in regular communication with two of the grand-dogs, Harley and Lola aka Lulu.  Today was cleaning day for their house, and we always look forward to seeing them, as well as their bunny siblings.

Harley is a yellow lab-looking girl, and Lulu is kind of a shepherd lass, sort of caramel-colored.   They’re both beautiful, and they love their Mamaw and their Aunt Judy.  They were in the house when we got there, and their daddy said they’d been on a scavenger hunt this morning.  They’d been down the street, where they’re not supposed to be; their invisible fence wasn’t hooked up because it was beeping, so when their daddy left the house, he said THEY had to stay IN the house.   As soon as he left, they started begging.  Sometimes Mamaw will take them outside for a bit.  Not today.

They followed us – mostly her – around the house the whole time.  At one point, she had gotten sick and had to take a break and sat down in a recliner.  Both dogs were up in her lap lickety-split, giving her sugar and loving on her!  When she got up, and every time they looked at me, they begged to go out.  Picture this.  A lab standing contritely in front of you with her head bowed slightly and looking upward with her eyes like, “Do I look pitiful enough, yet?”  (She  may have even had her legs crossed!)    This went on for a couple of hours.  Finally, I called Daddy, and he said he was on his way home!  So all was well.

They sure know how to play us, that’s for sure.

We cleaned yesterday and today, so tonight I feel like I’ve been chopping cotton!  You know, getting old wouldn’t be so bad if it just wasn’t so darned inconvenient!

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Barney jumped three feet, straight up in the air, when Phil startled him.
2. Men and their cars.
3. Singing Happy Birthday to Ginger this morning.  She’s our family groundhog.
4. Watching Michael prepare a roast for supper.
5. Waking up from a bad dream to find out it was only a dream!
6. Snow – and then – melted snow!

See you tomorrow.  May God bless.

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We had them right outside our front door yesterday!  Diamonds in the sky.  I had a most beautimous picture I’ve tried to share, but it won’t upload.  Says the file is too big.   We had some ice and snow Thursday night through Saturday morning.  Folks just north of us got a LOT of snow; we probably got a couple of inches.  Yesterday morning, the sun shone brightly, and the trees against the sky, covered in ice, were more beautiful than I can describe.  I’m disappointed I can’t upload the pictures, but thought I’d tell you about it anyway.

And for another kind of diamond in the sky————that’s one way I like to think about my loved ones who’ve gone on before———–as diamonds in the landscape of heaven.

I have a Facebook friend that, hopefully (and you’ll understand my use of that word a few paragraphs down), will become one of those diamonds soon.  I’ve spoken of him before.  His name is Paul.  He attended Harding University with another friend of mine that I’ve known since babyhood.  Paul found out, sometime last year, that he has ALS.  He was living in Arkansas but now is in Alabama where his family is, and his dad is trying to take care of him.  Recently, he was in ICU but that’s all that was shared on Facebook by his friend who keeps us updated on his condition.  I’m going to insert his “confession,” that he put on Facebook.

I think this may affect you the way it did me.  We all have problems and trials in our lives, and I won’t minimize those.  But this put some perspective in it for me.

Paul’s own words:

this is hard for me to come clean about but i feel i must….

please forgive me….. i learn from my mistakes….. and i love you all…

All I can think to say at this point is, God bless Paul’s sweet heart.  I can’t even begin to imagine what he’s feeling, or the measure of desperation and hopelessness he had to feel to try and end his life.  I’d like to ask you to pray for Paul.  I will be praying for him.  I’m just not sure what to pray for, except relief from this disease…………and for spiritual, emotional and physical comfort and peace.

Now on to some smiles:

1. Phil’s delight in the red car parked in the driveway.
2. Being able to be OUT OF THE HOUSE TODAY, even if it was to clean Mr. C’s house.
3. Good dinner.  Baked spaghetti and fresh asparagus, with a side dish of sauerkraut and smoked sausage.
4. Some more of Hailey’s ruminations on Facebook.
5. I’ve made a concrete decision to give up one of my farms on FB.  I’ve sold off all my property and converted the whole farm to crops.  As soon as I get to one million coins, I’m gonna retire that one.
6. Talking to my cousin, Les, today.  Subject was grim, but he makes me laugh, anyway.
7. Got an order of pictures from Snapfish today.  Some were a little old; there were several of Barney when he was a LITTLE kitten.

See you tomorrow.  And may God bless.

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Phrases of great comfort from Psalm 121:

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

“The Lord watches over you.”

“He will watch over your life.”

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.”

Words to trust in…………………no matter what.  Do bad things happen to good people?  Most assuredly.  Evil exists in the world because of an absence of God in the lives of some.  But He’s there; He knows; He sees.  And if we will but trust in Him Who sees and hears and knows, He’ll be there throughout and at the end of it all.

Sometimes that trust is a tall order.  But trying pays the biggest dividends in this world and in the next.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Charlotte telling her 35-year-old daughter that her daddy said she couldn’t go to Nashville if the weather is bad.
2. Finally emptying all the pictures from our digital camera.
3. Grocery shopping.
4. We’re expecting rain, sleet, snow—–the whole 9 yards.  But the utility bill is paid, we have plenty of food, and Barney has plenty of cat food.  And, as of right now, there’s no place we have to go! 
5. Tennessee Crossroads comes on tonight.
6. Got a new “do” this morning.

See you either tomorrow morning or Sunday night.  And may God richly bless you.

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The prayer in  my daily devotional today read as follows:

Dear God, You are there in the silence, in the pain, in the uncertainty.  You are waiting for just the right time to move in  mighty action.  Give me the patience to be still and know that You are God.   In Jesus Name.  Amen.

This was an appropriate prayer for all three of the people traveling in our car today!

I’ve mentioned my nephew quite a lot in recent months, and the struggles in his life.  He has been working hard toward some goals and is right at the crossroads where some of them should be meeting up!  Since he’s been with us, he’s been living on unemployment, and he desperately needed it to roll over one more time.  He had to go in to the unemployment office in a town in Arkansas, so Doris and I took him over there today.  On the way, he received a phone call from a place he was really hoping to go to work, but received the news that he was not hired.  Deep disappointment, especially with not knowing for sure that his unemployment insurance would continue after today.

Since we were going to be in that part of the country, anyway, he wanted to look at some cars he’d seen on the internet that were cheaper than what he could find in Memphis.  I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full kind of gal, but I just didn’t believe he’d find anything in his price range that he wasn’t going to have to turn around and put a few hundred dollars into.  But we went looking anyway.

I had shared the prayer with him and Doris before he received the phone call about the job.  When I found out they weren’t hiring him, I prayed even more fervently about the unemployment compensation.

When he came out of the unemployment office, I tried to read his face and couldn’t.  He had to stop at the car to light a cigarette outside (I know——–but baby steps, baby steps).  He leaned over and opened the door and stuck his head in and uttered two words, “Good news!”  What a relief and what a great big thanks to God!  He will receive this for another four months, in which time other things will come together, and he’ll be able to find a job.

After a hamburger, we started looking at cars.  This wound us from Walnut Ridge back to Beech Grove back to Paragould and down Kingshighway stopping at several used car lots.  Every stop just reinforced my frame of mind that he wasn’t gonna be able to accomplish what he wanted with the amount of money he wanted to spend.  We probably had stopped at 5 or 6 places when, all of a sudden, he said, “Wait.  Turn around!”  I complied.  He had seen the exact car he’d noticed on the internet that he was interested in but had not written down the name of the establishment!  A 1998 Taurus.  Clean inside and out.  $1700 on the window.  Fairly good-looking tires.  Didn’t look like a wreck.  He drove it, and when he pulled back in the parking lot, I knew that car would go home with us if at all possible.  While he was gone to test-drive it, he’d tossed me his wallet and asked me to count every dime he had.  Total came to $1524.  Remember the window price was $1700.  After several minutes of conference, he came out and did a thumbs-up.  They took $1500 for it!

He’s one class away (taking place on Friday) from getting his driver’s license reinstated, so I drove the car home.  It has a few little things that he can take care of himself.  There’s not a tear on the inside anywhere.  Everything works.  It’s solid, and it purrs.  Handles as well as our 07 Cobalt, if not better.  Just from my decidedly unprofessional judgment, it seems he aced one!  (He just had to prove me wrong!)

Now he knows he has income for four more months, and he has a car in the driveway that will provide transportation for job hunting and getting to and from work when he finds a job.  This is something this man has not had in a very long time.  He’s beginning to feel he can look the world in the face.  And I am so thankful.

And he is, too.  I just passed his bedroom door a few minutes ago, and he was on his knees beside his bed with his head bowed in prayer————-a prayer of incredible and humble thanks, I know.  Other issues have not yet been worked out, but who can doubt that God’s hand will move, just as it did today, for the good of this child of His.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. A beautiful moon outside.
2. My friend, Coleen.
3. The young lady who was our waitress at Moni’s Grill who served our hamburgers.  She’s with child and knows she’ll deliver at least by Saturday because that’s when the full moon is!
4. Beautiful day for a road trip.
5. Coming home.

See you tomorrow evening.  And may God bless.

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Have you ever been so happy and excited about something that you could NOT wipe the smile off your face?  Could NOT stop yelling and clapping?  Could NOT keep from getting on your feet and dancing a jig?  Just such an event took place in my life on Friday night.  I was just one of several spectators, but the memory is forever etched up there in the gray matter!

Picture it.  Singleton Community Center.  Friday night approximately 5:50 p.m.  The Sharks were losing……..I mean, really losing.  They had scored one free throw (I don’t remember that little girl’s name, but it was wonderful!).  Game was nearly over, and the other team had in the neighborhood of 20 points.

It was the Sharks’ ball.  They dribbled and passed a little down the court toward their goal.  HAILEY.  You know Hailey.  She’d had the ball, passed it, and it was passed back to her.  Everybody on our end of the bleachers was yelling, “Shoot! Shoot!”  And she shot————–a good ways away from the goal.  We held our breath.  She’d taken a couple of other shots, as well, and had missed some free throws.  But this ball————————this ball sailed from those 10-year-old hands up in the air and down, straight through the net without touching the rim!!!!!

And the crowd went wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You would have thought she’d won a gold medal in the Olympics!    The ONLY regret is that her daddy was at work and did not get to see it.  (I, incidentally, remember a very similar shot that HE made when just a little older and a little further from the goal.)  On the flip side, her Mamaw missed a lot of games last year due to her health.  THIS year, she has missed very few, and she was there Friday night to witness this BB phenomenon, and I wouldn’t take pretty penny for that.  I would have rather missed it than for her to miss seeing her granddaughter make that two points.

I’m still smiling at the memory.  Hailey got so many hugs as soon as the buzzer sounded that she’s probably still squeezed up into a pencil-shape.  It was fantastic.

More weekend smiles:

1. Jaiden (not quite 2) wanted me to pick him up and hold him and love on him when I stopped by to check on the nursery yesterday.
2. Jared’s smile.
3. Phil crunching candy in church.
4. Home-made chicken pot pie.
5. Heavy rains, and the leak seems to have stopped.
6. Blue skies and sunshine this morning.

See you tomorrow.  And may God bless.

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From Psalm 33:16-22 – “No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior escapes by  his great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength, it cannot save.  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”

We have no attributes of strength, knowledge, wisdom, or anything else that will save or direct us in life if we are not plugged in to where the real Power is.  If we are trusting in anything else besides the mercy, love, and saving power of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to redirect our trust.

Father God, help me remember this.

TODAY’S SMILES:

1. Warmth and sunshine.
2. Heavy rain last night, but no leaking from the den ceiling.  Go figure.  It leaked the night before.
3. Chinese buffet for lunch.
4. Running into Anita and family out in Fayette County.

That’s it for my week.  Have a good weekend, my friends, and may God bless.

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