Celebrating didn't stop THERE...

Good morning, dear one! I'm SO glad you dropped in to visit! If you haven't been here in a while, I'm describing my birthday celebrations this year. The last post was what I did ON my birthday. :D I actually spread it out over three days, so I didn't have to rush from one thing to another. Friday the 13th wasn't a wonderful day for me, but dinner was nice!

I'm getting ahead of myself.... :D

Friday morning, Mom and I headed out to garage sales. We went to an estate sale first, and I felt a little claustrophobic, so I told Mom I was going to pay and go out to the car. Well, it's a good thing I did! As I got to the car, I realized I was REALLY nauseous. Yup, got sick. My dumb medications do that sometimes - and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. :(

We went on to another sale, and Mom met one of her old work friends there, so I paid and went to the car to wait. Yup, got sick AGAIN. Called the doctor's office and made an appointment. Mom came back, and we decided to go home. I got sick yet AGAIN on the way home - I've NEVER been sick THREE times in one morning! Phooey.

So, I came home and laid down for a bit. I slept about 20 minutes - then my phone rang, and it was one of the guys Kenn works for. I gave him the phone, and then went downstairs. Kenn had to work Friday afternoon, so he took off soon afterward.

I needed to go do my grocery shopping for my Saturday celebration, so I took off around 1 in Dad's car. Almost immediately after I left, the heavens opened and it POURED. I made it to the Walmart parking lot, and was trying to avoid cars while peering thru my rain-drenched car. CRUNCH. What a sickening sound! It was Dad's driver's side MIRROR - I think I hit it on a shopping cart corral railing. AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called him right away, and 'fessed up. He was just happy I was OK. Thanks, Dad. I really, REALLY felt badly. :(

I waited until the dowpour let up a bit, then went into Walmart. My sister, Kelli, had sent me a Walmart GC, so I bought a couple of movies - she can take the credit for one of them! :D - and some dishes to put appetizers for Saturday on, and I'm going to use them in our stock photography, too.

Went a couple of other places for groceries, and didn't get everything I needed. So, I went home frustrated.

It's a tradition in our family that Dad takes us out for a birthday dinner. I had a hard time choosing where to go this year, but Kenn saved me. :) He found this place, and the girls had wanted to go there last year for my birthday - but they're closed on Sundays. So, that's where I chose. We met Kenn there, because we needed to hit one of the grocery stores in Lebanon. So, off we went.

Dinner was really nice; we had a waitress who picked on Kenn the whole time. :D The food was yummy; I had a sandwich, because I didn't want a heavy meal after my morning fiasco. :) They also brought me out a chocolate cake - the frosting was slumping, because it was still hot, but it was yummy! :D Mom & Dad gave me my birthday check, and Kenn gave me a bottle of my perfume. :)

We had a nice, relaxing time, and then Mom and Dad headed home - stopping by McD's for an ice cream cone. :) We headed to Publix, to pick up the last two things on my grocery list.

Remember that Friday the 13th thing? Yeah, I took it ALL for my family - unless you count the mirror as Dad's part.

As I was getting out of our car - trying to hurry, because Kenn doesn't like me to take a long time when there might be traffic behind him - my palazzo pants hem got caught on the seat adjusting handle. Yup, I bit the pavement. Hard. If there hadn't been a pillar there for me to catch with my left elbow, my FACE would have caught it. As it was, my knees got chewed up. They're STILL sore!! Everyone coming out of the store came over to make sure I was OK. I picked up all the stuff that had fallen out of my purse, said I was fine, and hobbled into the store. I got the last two things I needed, and hobbled out to the car. Kenn has a hard time admitting he married a clutz, so he asked me if it was my eyes. NO, dear, just my clutziness. AND I was tired, which always means I hurt myself more. :)

So, we came home, and Mom and I took this photo together. :) Isn't she a beautiful woman??? She takes such good care of me. I am so blessed with wonderful parents!

Afterward, I went upstairs and doctored my knees, watched a little TV, and we went to bed.

And that was Friday the 13th, the second day of my celebrating. :D

Have you forgotten??? ENTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget! I'm doing a giveaway for my 100th post, drawing tomorrow! You have to go HERE to read what's going on, and to enter!!!!



It's canning season again!!! Guess what we were making today - that's right, strawberry jam! We made SIX batches of regular, and a batch of no sugar added. It smells like strawberries in here, and sugar, and hot water - the last batch is in the hot water bath right now. Phew!



An update on Mom: She went to her regular doctor today, and is officially off work until Tuesday. Of course, she's hard at work HERE - but I'm being a harpy, so HOPEFULLY she's not working as hard as she would...! THANK YOU SO MUCH for praying for her!



I'm sorry I haven't been around a lot this week; trying to get caught up, teaching a class, and still dealing with church fallout has been REALLY stressful. But I really want you to enter the giveaway!!!! I need the strokes. ROFL!!!!! GO ENTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a balm in - SMYRNA, TN?!?!??!

Yes, it's true!!!!

Sunday morning (You already know Kenn's side of the story, if you've read his blog today. :D) we had decided to go to the Smyrna Assembly of God. Yes, it's the real Assembly. :D Kenn & I had attended one in Florence, Oregon, and really enjoyed our time there. Also, the Smyrna Assembly's mission is to reclaim the arts to God's glory - something that is near and dear to our hearts. We've been there to a couple of great shows, and I have to admit to being quite envious that their church actually did the shows, not tolerated having some acting going on.... :D (Go check out their theater's site - they're REALLY active!!!!!)

So, we'd decided not to go to their early service - it's about 40 minutes or so from our house. We left here just before 10 a.m., and stopped for Kenn to get a couple of shots of horses. We got there early, and said hello to Kenn's contact from work - and I got to meet someone else from the office. Then, we went and found some seats and settled in.

Some very nice people greeted us - but didn't pressure us at all. :) That's important - especially because I'm REALLY shy in person, and have a hard time for the first few times I meet someone. The senior adult coordinator introduced himself to Kenn; he was a VERY nice man!! His wife introduced herself after the service as "his better half". ;)

The worship service was really good; as Kenn wrote in his blog, it wasn't nearly as much a spectator event as it was a "participate as you wish". It was very free, and really wonderful. I don't think we knew any of those songs, but we caught on pretty quickly. It was really great.

Can I just say it's been a LONG time since anything SPOKEN has touched my heart MORE than the music?!?!?!??! Well, not only did it happen ONCE, but TWICE - and neither were in the sermon - which was good, anyway. :D

The first time was during the offering. The young man who spoke was in the praise band; he played sax and trumpet, and maybe the trumbone.... ANYWAY. You've got to understand that the church we WERE attending was very much about tithing to receive God's blessing - and the way it was done HONESTLY made it hard to be a cheerful giver. But not this. From the bottom of his heart, he explained why we tithe. It's not because it's expected of us, or you gotta give to get. It's because we're saying to God, "You have ALREADY blessed me SO MUCH, I don't NEED everything you've given me!!! You're SO GOOD!!!"

Woah. Not out of expectation, but out of THANKSGIVING???? I've NEVER heard it put that way!!!!! But BOY, did it touch my heart!!!!!

He went on to say there are four things to do with your money: tithe, sow (to further the kingdom, feed the poor, etc.), save - if you spend everything you make, you'll NEVER make enough money; you'll just spend everything - and spend. It's OK to spend, and make wise choices with your money.

I was crying by now. I told Kenn, "We can leave now; I've heard the sermon already." :) But WAIT! There's MORE!!!

It was Communion Sunday. Another gentleman came to present it, and what he said - WOW.

I'm going to paraphrase:

I've been suffering through some physical stuff lately, and you know how hard it is to concentrate when you're in pain? You tend to do things that don't demand a lot of concentration - or ANY concentration! - while you're feeling pain. The worse the pain, the harder it is to focus on anything else.

The pain that Jeus went through? We'll probably never be able to understand how excruciating it was - the movie THE PASSION OF CHRIST did a pretty good job, but even so..... Yet through it ALL, Jesus was able to keep in mind what He was doing, what His final goal was. He could have stopped it ALL at any moment. That tearing of His flesh, the beatings, the blood loss - He suffered HORRIBLY. Yet THROUGH IT ALL, He kept us in mind. He kept His purpose - paying for the redemption of man, putting death behind Him and triumphing!!!! - He kept it all in mind in the middle of that torture.

Can you see why it touched me??? It's so easy to get blase' about things we do on a regular basis. He made it FRESH to me again.

Well, this is already a book, so I'm going to stop elaborating. The sermon was great - the preacher can really belt a song!! :D - and it was WONDERFUL to be renewed and exhorted and bathed in His presence. God is SO GOOD, my dear friend. He loves us SO MUCH!!!!

Kenn and I continue to hash through what happened, and it will take us a while. But God is showing His mercy and grace to us, and I think THROUGH us. :) It's been a rough week, but it's been a DEEP week.

Oh, and MOM CAME HOME YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for praying for her!!!!!! She got a steroid shot Saturday evening, and it worked wonders for her. She's been going quite hard today - and I've been a bit of a harpy, trying to get through to her to SLOW DOWN. But that's Mom. :) She's not happy unless the house is SPOTLESS and she's rearranged some furniture. :D

SO. Please leave me a comment!!!!!! :D I'd love to hear from you!! :D

KNOW THAT YOU ARE BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED, ANNOINTED OF GOD!!!!!

Wow, what a weekend!!! This post is SATURDAY....

Ever been so busy, you wonder what you've been doing?? :D That's the way Saturday felt to me. I SO missed having Mom home to do things with - Saturdays, we USUALLY go either thrift shopping or garage saling. I still went to a couple of sales within a mile of the house - believe it or not, anyone who REALLY knows me, I was made up, dressed, class all ready, and at a garage sale by 8:15!!! :D

I found a couple of good deals - a hardcover book for a buck, and a brand-new lavender bath "stuff" kit for a buck. I LOVE lavender, and LOVE bubble baths, and LOVE to read while I'm taking them, so it was a GOOD day. :D LOL!!

Then, I taught a class from 9:30 - 11. Cleaned up a bit, puttered around, and left a little while later to grab some lunch and go to Goodwill - after getting the news Mom was NOT coming home Saturday. She'd had a rough night.

Goodwill had their half-price Saturday, and since I had class to teach, I couldn't get out and going and hit as many as I'd have liked to. :) I did find a few things, including a really pretty blouse for Mom. I hope it fits, and that she'll wear it - she seemed to like it....

So, I called on my way to the hospital, and Mom wanted chocolate. WELL, she definitely knew who to ask! ROFL!! I took her quite a variety, and you should have seen her eyes light up! Dad stayed for a little bit, but left to "let us visit". So we chit-chatted, etc. (After the first time I answered her phone at the hospital, I had to answer, 'Becky's room, Lori speaking' because EVERYONE gets us confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) She received two phone calls while I was there, and I left while she was talking to my sister, Debbi.

I headed home to fix Dad dinner, so he could get back to the hospital. Kenn helped out by making a salad while I got the other components of dinner ready, so Dad ate and left. Kenn & I did our own things for a while, then decided to head to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. :)

While there, we ran into a young lady from our former church, who is one of my favorite people and is doing some babysitting for a bunch of my friends this Saturday to raise money to go on a missions trip to South Africa - be watching for me to link you to her blog while they're there! She hadn't heard about what had happened, but was very supportive and loving. It was great to catch up with her - she's a very BUSY young woman, attending Belmont for her nursing degree.

ANYWAY. We then came home and just spent the last couple of hours of the day together, watching TV and chatting. And THEN I fell into a deep, deep sleep.... :D

Update on Mom

This is the email my dad sent out to explain everything. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PRAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everybody who prayed, visited, called wrote and prayed!

We have a diagnosis:
--pneumonia in the left lung
--This caused inflammation of the pericardial sack where the lung rubbed on the sack, causing the intense pain.
--kidney infection
--The antibiotic they gave last night after the pick line was inserted will be repeated tonight. They believe that will be effective in knocking out the infection.

--They have continued the morphine every 6 hours. This morning's dose did not take the pain away totally, so they added another medication (some level of an ibuprophen) which helped.

--Becky's doctor indicated he expects to release her to come home tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what prescriptions he gives her for the trip home.

Did I remember to thank everybody for praying?

Thanks again!

Please Pray!

My mom just called me; she and Dad are going to the hospital. She's been having trouble breathing this week, and thought it was due to perhaps catching the pneumonia she had earlier this year - thoguht for a while that the z-pac she was taking was helping, but cannot catch her breath today.
Thank you!!!!!!

Happy Monday!

Good morning! How are you today? Did you have a good Mother's Day? Not only was it Mother's Day here, but also my mom's 60th birthday. THANK YOU to those of you who sent cards; I'll be making a slide show of those cards she received later this week, when she's tired of looking at them. :D

Kenn & I were in charge of dinner - Dad financed some of it. :D Kenn grilled veggies and ribeyes; we also had corn on the cob, baked white & sweet potatoes, and asparagus - and then a chocolate fondue with both semisweet & white chocolate sauces, LOTS of strawberries - my mom LOVES them - bananas and angel food cake. It was YUMMY. :)

SO. Lots of weather activities across the world this weekend; I pray you're safe! We were blessed by the severe storm systems Saturday night splitting and going completely around us. Kenn stayed up to keep a watch, but it was evident to him by 12:30 that we were going to be OK. God is good. And GOODNESS! The WIND we had all day yesterday!!!! When we went out to the car to go to Sunday school, the rose petals were scattered for YARDS!!!

These are some of the roses that I cut and arranged for a centerpiece for Mom. :) I used the buttercup-yellow bowl I showed in Show & Tell a while ago to arrange them in; it was low enough that it didn't hide the person on the other side of the table. :D Dad's roses are always beautiful!!

Well, it's Monday. What did you learn at church yesterday? Kenn & I came home after Sunday school; since I'm not a mom, I don't enjoy Mother's Day sermons much. :) Plus, I wanted to honor my mom with having a good lunch prepared!

Sunday school was more about Joseph, and the path to reconciliation. But we had a LOT of prayer requests, and that took a lot of time - lesson was short, which was OK with me. I think, honestly, that a lot of time we equate reconciliation with resumption of the relationship - and it's not the same. I feel it's important to reconcile, but that doesn't mean that the right thing to do is to pick up the relationship where you left off. I have an ex-friend with whom I reconciled, but did not resume the relationship - and even then, she did the SAME THING that caused the problem in the first place. She has no desire for reconciliation, and honestly, that's OK. That's her problem. I'm trusting God - and I have no pain from losing the relationship.

SO. :) What did YOU learn yesterday? What was your Mother's Day like? If your a mom, were you honored in the way(s) in which you'd like to be? Do you feel cherished today?

Talk to me, ladies! :D

Have a WONDERFUL, BLESSED day. Remember you are a child of the King, highly favored. If you're loved by Him, the rest of your world will see His love in you!!!!!!!!!!!! :)