A Thankful, Precious Celebration

As you read this post I am with my parents, celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. It is truly a joyous occasion because they love each other more today than they did on their wedding day 60 years ago. I watch them at times and they are in totally sync. They think alike, they move at the same time to do the same thing, they laugh at the same moment...I'm convinced they read each others minds. I have attempted a few breathless times to imagine one of them without the other and I simply can't. For now, I am celebrating having two wonderful parents who have stayed together through joy and hardship to build a legacy of love for all of us who watch in awe. I include some pictures of Mom and Dad on their wedding day and some more in the present, still sweethearts.

This precious picture is Mom and Dad on their wedding day. Didn't she look beautiful in her lovely satin gown? The dress still rests in tissue paper along with Mother's veil and satin shoes. I am one of three sisters and I have one daughter. Before each of us married mother brought out her precious wedding gown and carefully unwrapped it from it's protective layers. She helped each prospective bride into her gown and buttoned the million satin covered buttons up the back - as far as they would close! As it turns out not one of us could fit into her 20 inch waist! Mother enjoyed that immensely! Both Mom and Dad still remember every detail of their day, right down to the the little tear in the waist of Mothers dress. As they ran from the church among fluttering rice Daddy stepped on the hem. The moment was caught and rests in their wedding photo album, both of them looking at each other, laughing and not caring about anything but their love for one another. I have never known a man to love a woman more than my father loves my mother. And, oh, look at that sweet little cake! The bride and groom atop it in the photograph is in a box in their home today. The reception was held in my grandparents home. I've posted before about my memories of the elegant home with gorgeous furniture, linens, and crystal. I don't know if you can see it clearly enough in the picture or not, but just above the wedding cake and to my mom's right there is mirror hanging over a dining buffet table. That mirror now hangs in my parents home over their dining buffet.

Here Mom and Dad are with my grandchildren, December 2007.

Dad, a nature lover, sitting by one of his beloved mountain streams. I cherish my father for the gentle and kind man of God he is.

Mom and Dad, March 2008. We had such a lovely day with them, walking along some of the beautiful pathways in the Smoky Mountains.

I think I shall close my post now and schedule its delivery before I melt into a heap of tears just thinking about the fairy tale my parents are!

Babies, Friendship, and Simple Joy!

CeeKay, at "Thinkin of Home", and I have known each for about 28 years. We met, together with our husbands, when we were both preparing to adopt baby boys. During the years since we first met as hopeful young women, both of us dreaming of sweet bundles to rock, CeeKay and I have developed a dear friendship based on common faith, long marriages, and love of children. We both adore our own and we both care about and pray for each others. We have both become grandmothers within the last several years. It was a shared joy between friends, between women. Women seem to have a natural ability to feel each others joy and pain. Mother's Day has become a time for CeeKay and I to celebrate for each other - this one just gone by was no exception. It's a day for all women to celebrate the bonds of love whether one is a mother or not. CeeKay and I both had a very difficult time becoming mothers so we celebrate in each others joy even more. During the 28 year friendship CeeKay and I have shared, we have comforted each other during dreadful days - my dear friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 18 months ago and there have been many tearful, desperate phone calls since. But we have also shouted with joy for each other during times of happiness - just as when CeeKay went into remission after a year of debilitating chemo. We have giggled about the just plain silly and we have expressed anger and frustration about things we cannot change. That is what friendship is all about. It's what being a woman is about. I received this short but precious e-mail note from CeeKay Mother's Day week. With her permission, I'd like to share it with you! I sincerely hope all of you were able to share the joys of Mother's Day with other women whether or not any of you are mothers. It's a day to celebrate womanhood and God's greatest gift - innocent new life! It's life's simplest joy!

Kathy,
Just a note to wish you the best mother’s day. I remember so often our many talks while waiting for our little boys. Now our little boys have grown into young men, and our friendship has grown also. I thank the Lord daily for you and your loyal friendship. I love you girlfriend!

Because she has been such a blessing in my life and I am so thankful for her friendship, I am sending this Blessings Award to my dear friend CeeKay! A lesson CeeKay and I have learned throughout years of growing older and both of us experiencing life altering illnesses is to find joy in every moment, forget the things that really are unimportant in the scheme of things, don't waste a minute to anger, and share love with as many people as you can in life. Never forget that life is short, on this earth anyway. Use your God given gifts and make the most of life!

Gems - Literal and Figurative!

This has been a really good week and there are a number of things I am truly thankful for and I'd like to share them with you on this Thankful Thursday...

For one, I am feeling especially well and have worked like an animal this week! I love that great feeling of accomplishment that comes from work well done. Thank you, Lord, for providing me with so much energy.

Secondly, my four year old granddaughter has begun calling me every evening to report on her day. It is usually a pretty hilarious and often times, informative conversation (which I am sure is not always terribly wonderful to my daughter and son-in-law)! What an absolutely delightful way to end the day!! Thanks Sydney Bell, for making my day, each and every day!

Lastly, I am enormously thankful for the presence of my future daughter-in-law in our family. She is a precious, adorable young lady who makes my son a very happy man! The two of them are currently working on a house together to move into after they are married in a year. Kudos to my sweet son for finding a gem for his bride-to-be! Ahh...my work is almost done!

30 Days 30 Photos - Day 17

I recently found these pieces of vintage jewelry while going through some storage boxes. I believe they once belonged to my mother-in-law. I also have some pieces that belonged to my mother. One of these days I'll get around to photographing more pieces to post. I think my mother-in-law must have been quite the styling lady in her day. You should see some of the fabulous 40's heels she wore!

Oh, my goodness, what do I know?!

My daughter sent me a blog address to look at weeks ago. It was one she had been following for quite a long time. She had been deeply touched by the story told by an adoring young husband and my daughter wanted to share it with me. I intended to look at it the very first night.

Really, I did.

But I didn't. I did, however, place the address in my favorites so I could look into it - soon. But I got caught up in the business of life each and every day. But last night I was forced to slow the pace. I had been diagnosed with shingles at a morning doctor visit following an invisible fire ant attack throughout the night! We don't have fire ants in Michigan but no one could have convinced me of that fact around 4:00 AM. Not a particularly severe case of shingles from the doctors point of view, but any case at all of shingles appears to be worth a whine or two - not fun. I was feeling especially sorry for myself last night by 8:00 or 9:00. Actually, I had been feeling a poor pitiful me party coming on for some time and the shingles just pushed me over the edge! Two and one half years ago I was diagnosed with a genetic blood disease which creates a mixed plate of ailments, including a compromised immune system. In order to maintain any sense of normal health I need IV blood treatments every three weeks to give me white blood cells I don't make. The treatments alone are not risk free, nor might I add, fun. My veins are terrible so it sometimes takes 10 or 12 tries before an IV is in. The treatments take about six hours at a hospital chemo center, occasionally over night, and in themselves have their own set of risk factors. In January I had a TIA, or a mini stroke, following a treatment administered incorrectly (for full sympathetic impact perhaps I should add that this incident occurred four days after my husband had a 99% coronary artery blockage and exactly one year following his diagnosis of thyroid cancer). Now, I don't like to consider myself a whiner or a sick person and I definitely don't like anyone else to, but I want you to understand the position I was taking last night and my reasoning for it. I've been forced to give up 20 hour days and decorating 5 rooms at a time! I felt up to my neck fed up with this ridiculous career of being sick. After all, I have grandbabies to jiggle and walls to paint and places to be, things to do! Dog gone it, enough is enough! After getting myself into a full pout, I got online and into my blog about 10:00 and promptly noticed the site my daughter had directed me to weeks ago right there in my favorites. God surely directed me to dive into "Confessions of a CF Husband" because goodness knows, I didn't want to feel sorrier for anyone else than I did for myself.

Oh, my goodness, what do I know about suffering? I was immediately drawn in by the love and warmth the young husband with the sweet face exuded in the real life story he shared about his very sick wife and their tiny baby also in precarious condition. Nate's wife Tricia has cystic fibrosis. She had been waiting for a double lung transplant when they discovered unexpectedly she was pregnant. Against doctors advice the young couple with old faith only considered trusting God to deliver them a healthy child. Gwyneth was born via emergency c section 15+ weeks early. From that day on, the fight to save Tricia and Gwyneth became urgent, the young family placing all their faith once again in God's unwavering grace and power as she was placed back on the transplant waiting list. There have been several close calls...possible lungs for Tricia, but a no go in the end, meanwhile Tricia can no longer breath on her own.

If this incredible story of faith and courage leaves you with a desire to hear the ending - as it has me, you will have to visit Nate's blog, Confessions of a CF husband@ cfhusband.blogspot.com. today.

You see, tonight Tricia was wheeled into the operating room to receive two healthy new lungs!

I don't know whether Tricia will survive the surgery or recover from the most severe effects of CF. Even the most faithful know that sometimes our prayers for healing are not always answered as we want them to be within our limited human vision. Or maybe Tricia will live to tell her grandchildren the story of her survival. I DO know that those sweet kids rest on their faith in Christ and have blessed assurance of His perfect love and will for them - just as we all can.

As for me, what the heck do I know about suffering? God has granted me a treatment for my disease and He has blessed us with the insurance to pay for it. He has gifted me with an enviable husband and family to keep me going and to make me want to keep going! Most importantly, God has freely offered the gift of His salvation and His word to provide comfort and guidance at any given moment. I am not a sick woman who has the right to be guest of honor at her own pity party, I am an incredibly blessed woman, fire ants and all! I am so thankful that God directed me to Nate's and Tricia 's story just when I needed to be reminded!

Look into Nate's blog today to learn more about Tricia's lung transplants. And if you really need a good cry, go to Nate's three part Valentine's Day 2008 posting and slide shows. Drag out the Kleenex.