Michael shot a man, holed up in his home. Our homeroom gawked aghast at the gruesome deed of my dear friend. A gunshot to his face ended everything, for me for him.
Source: Michael
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Ageless
Now that it is officially thirty-nine minutes past my birthday….I feel it is time to reflect on my many years of living…with all my sage wisdom that I have compiled over the last…several….more than I can believe days on this earth. With the time here fleeting…moving in the “Autumn” of my life…looking directly down the barrel of the “Winter” ….(of my discontent: Shakespeare) season, all I really have to say is I have decided I will now be AGELESS.
Not ageless in the way that one may describe a certain vintage Chanel purse or a Frank Lloyd Wright house (though both super cool in their own right), or that may be Timeless, oh well!….but ageless in having NONE. No age. Nope not one….I’m feeling a bit done with the whole age thing. Who cares anyway…let’s be honest. We spend our whole youth wanting to grow up…wanting to not let anyone tell us what to do, then….. we get to our twenty somethings and “grow up”…sorta…. only to realize that thirty is the worst of all birthdays because all our excuses in our head that we are still just a kid have lost all weight. We aren’t kids anymore…and that stinks…or stings, really.
Then when we become “mature” and thirty somethings we bear down and make up for the silliness of our past, get a stiff upper lip and forge ahead to make something of ourselves…that was sure fun! Then the dreaded Forty shows up with all its glib, sarcasm…daunting us…cold cruel world I say, then it arrives and eh..not so bad! Actually good…I can own this one. Just when I think I’m past all the failures of child bearing years only to come face to face with a house full of teen ager years and all the angst to be repeated with my own kids, deja vu all over again…ugh. (thanks YOGI) But hey at least its not me, right! It still spills over, sloshing all around, clean up on all the aisles, STAT!
I know I need to stop there because I am getting painfully close to revealing my real age…but even with that I will divulge that in the…WAIT FOR IT…… fifty somethings…I just don’t care anymore! I am free! I am done with the tick tock of the time clock…who cares, I made it this far I am sure(wink, wink) this will be the best part. Got those “young’uns” out of here, on their own road of pain and suffering (its whatcha get kids for tormenting us…na na naboo boo!) All’s left now is to enjoy life…Do what I want to do….this is MY TIME!!!!
Welp….that was fun while it lasted, I felt a little brave….. thought I would just say it…once!…….But really who wants to be that self serving?(ME!) Maybe so… on some days…but then along comes a little smiling face….(note to self:LOOK OUT!)..they didn’t warn us about grand babies and now I am in the thick of one that I can’t keep my eyes off of and my heart is so full of anticipation for the next funny thing she does…well I am gushing, but she really is the sweetest feisty little girl ever to be born….after her mother that is. Who can be selfish will all that going on?
Smitten once again…ugh…its hard to be ME! SO, I do believe the only thing I can be now is ageless….I am the age I am, the good the bad and the ugly drivers license picture! (yeah, I gave my self a gift of a better picture today, I figured out where the office is in this little “Burg (by the way…NO LINE..as in NOBODY ELSE IN THE BUILDING, Nearly! and CASH ONLY!…ma’am!…ugh who carries CASH!) I can’t tell you how much better I felt after, I may have fudged a bit on the weight question, but really should they ask that, isn’t that against our civil rights or something? I told the truth…I am actually that weight..plus a pound or two more!…don’t judge!)
This one act of kindness to myself will get me through until the year of our Lord 2019, with a decent picture! I can live with that…I mean I could be dead by then! Oh I forgot I am ageless now….oops, I will be here probably but I bet I don’t get another picture! I am sticking with this one….no double chin…its a winner! I say we all should adapt my new mantra….be ageless and just enjoy. Takes all the pressure off and who really cares!
It is now ninety-three minutes past my birthday, October 14, 2015…….I am now slow….and old…without age!
…location, location,location!
At first glance one may presume this post is about real estate…and one would be correct, sorta! I have recently sold a house…a frustrating and futile episode of “…what ya give me for it?” and really, I know I made it harder on myself than it had to be. BUT….the heart wants what the heart wants….and with that being said, I have no excuses or apologies left in me…..It had to be over with, it was hard for me to breathe…enough said. (Feels like a mystery, huh? Not really just a epic “Lucy and Ethel” moment in time…. without the funny parts!) So to further explain my location jabber….we moved! Can I get an AMEN! AMEN, AMEN!!
Not to look back on the last seven years with regret, I knew the Lord sent us back to Middle TN, it was fun and we made many awesome friends who I hope will be friends forever. God always knows what is best for us and I am confident that HE knew what we needed and as usual he did and does. The time spent back from wince I came was very special to me, personally. I was able to go home again…it had changed…but so did I! I did many things that restored my fond memories; I went back to see our old home place in Readyville, my beloved farm, it had changed also, re-connected with my extended family, I have great Aunts and Uncles and my cousins whom I spent many a lazy days with growing up, barefoot and free, I love them all, went to a few of their funerals which was painful.. but glad I was there to honor them, visited with an old friend, one of the first girls I met when we moved to “town” from the farm, Judy Dawes (I thought her Mom was mean and she thought my two sisters were mean) was and will always be the girl who makes me laugh, she is a jewel of a friend and we ruled and reigned the Mitchell-Nielson neighborhood for many years (or so we thought), I felt the inspiration to start this blog, preacherswifeintheknow, which ended up in my hometown newspaper, The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tn and I was honored……..one of my friends Parents had seen me and sent word they were proud of me…totally worth it!
The most precious times were spent with my Mom, I moved back here just at the beginning of her Alzheimers onset. The two years before I moved I had visited more than I ever had, I was needing to be close to her…to talk to my momma, get advice. Being a grown up is big and scary sometimes and going home to see your Momma is the only fix…and I did and I am forever thankful because I had that time, sweet time to say it all, ask it all, get healed from growing up. I don’t mean any disrespect…she did great, good Mom but circumstances were not always choice as in every family and it was good to talk it out…and looking back one of the greatest blessings the Lord has ever given me, time with her alone before she left us. She is still here, but she has left us…..in a Benjamin Button sort of backwardness, like she never was married or had five kids, just a young girl still at home with her parents…but now not even that…just words not making sense and still that big pretty smile. She is a beautiful woman.
I also reconnected with my two sisters, I needed that……we needed each other…funny how we fit back into our birth order even when you are older….makes life less complicated that way I think, I see that in my own brood and I am happy to watch it play out….It is orderly and yet frightening then sometimes we see how one kid may jump in to take the lead even though they are the “down the line kid” which reminds me that we all have certain God given gifts and talents that are there waiting to be made use of….pretty cool.
LOCATION? Its all in your perspective…I do have a new physical location and I love it here, Lawrenceburg, TN, a “island” of sorts almost in Alabama…..yikes! pretty close for us UT VOLS! Small towns make me better…who would have thunk it! I still would love the opportunity to be in New York City, NY some day but for now I am very settled. I am not that far away from home, and my family, for a visit and the quaint kind of community here is what I missed. When I was a kid “going to town” meant something. I find it so much more fun to go to town and not live in town….where ya got to go to?…what is there to look forward to?…I had enough of Nashville traffic to do me for my lifetime. So here I am in my sweet (one story, thank the Lord!) house, in this cute small town (it at least has a Kroger! For which I didn’t have a job when I got here!…grrr…thats another story!) with our sweet church family who appears to adore their new Pastor and ME?(we could not be more blessed) and on the upside here…fresh home grown vegetables(yes, I am that carnal, I can be bought with fresh vegetables!) and there are many more benefits of location and the most important one is that we are where God put us. And to that I say thanks Lord and AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!!
Between a rock and a hard place
Now that the blizzard of 2015 has hit, left its mark, sent the whole world(at least Middle Tennessee) is a tail spin, I have to reflect upon the pros and cons of time off work. Considering I am NOT A LOVER OF WINTER, lets make that perfectly clear, it is with great angst that I have been left in over the past three days. Backstory: The last eight months of my life have been spent working…and I am the better man for it, although I have had the “minimal”complaints as anyone would, that being said…..I have enjoyed nearly every minute. So while the world is in awe over the beautiful snow covered universe, I on the other hand am annoyed. Hence my dilemma! All I wanted was to not work on Saturday…..two in a row was plenty, heck one in a row is plenty for me but this snow blizzard is ridiculous…so my rock/hard place situation was hoping for a little break …..only to get trapped inside. Why do I do this to myself?
There was a time in my everyday life that this would have been an exquisite dilemma, I had four kids in school and we had no reason to leave the house….I didn’t have to worry about them driving out in the mess….we ate junk food, played games and argued about when was it ok for them to play outside…my answer…LATER! The twenty minutes of silence wasn’t worth the cleanup afterwards! Winter for me back then was pretty and dreamy and so sweet because here in Tennessee is was more of a rarity….but now that I am old and old….its just too darn cold!!!
Why must winter come? I know it kills the mosquitos! NOT TRUE…I still get bit every year just as much….I know it keeps the moles out of our yard because not so many gross worms or whatever it is they like for them to eat….NOT TRUE…they still show up like creepy night vision attackers making ridges through my yard….oh yes I know…it kills off all the germs…NOT TRUE…people still get sick…..so when its all said and done there is no reason for it….and it even causes me to entertain thoughts of moving to Arizona (I would have to work through the snake situation) or even anywhere that its not so dang cold….
If this blast of Arctic air and Ice and show and all the yuck that goes with it is my fault…I am sorry world…I just wanted to not work on Saturday any more….so now I am stuck in the house, not able to go anywhere….and repentant of my need to sleep….I promise I will not complain again(fingers crossed, I don’t want to lie) but I really will try…..because this is not fun…..I like working, there I said it and with any luck I will continue to work and be successful and become whomever God wants me to become….its not too late! Who would have thought that working for Kroger would be fun, I have a legacy there, I was a courtesy clerk thirty plus(ugh) years ago and my sister has worked for them for 36 years, she is a great employee and has been a success, my own Mom retired from her last job there….she ruled the joint!
I have found that I enjoy the process, the ups and downs and the figuring things out….it is comforting to be helping and to have a purpose: I have not left behind my other loves…I love to write, as meager as it is….and I love to paint and I will eventually get into a grove and find time to do it all….but until then I will work and live this new chapter of my life.
I do still write in my head and paint in my head and there will be a day I find the time to allow it to come out, I need time to let it….Summer will help, summer always helps, spring even gets me better…fall is beautiful but a bummer, its a glass half empty and you know whats on the way!
I will attempt to stop complaining about the hours and choose to be thankful for the opportunity. Maybe since today is the start of LENT I can give up complaining….hopefully God won’t really take me seriously since I am not of that persuasion that abides by LENT, not that we are against it its just not a tenement of our faith…but it never hurts to step back and consider the objectives and re group and change a bit….maybe it will keep me out of a jam…between a rock and a hard place!
Baby……oh baby!
As if life isn’t goofy enough…….here comes this little surprise…a dividend of sorts, a precocious bundle of perfection, miss ellie rose is her name and breaking my heart will be her game! From the first glimpse of her I was in love…..Baby, oh baby you have stolen my heart.
Back to the beginnings, no baby could hold a candle to my four, my three boys and one girl were the most beautiful children in the world and I will never think otherwise…..but darn it I have been blindsided by a grandbaby. Who knew?…..I had heard the stories but really never believed them. I am not a baby person..ever but, baby, oh baby. This little punk has captured me. AAAAUGH
I tried to stay strong, I kept a pretty good game face, reminded myself I was not going to deal with this, I am not ready for it, I won’t be ready…..blah blah blah. What a royal dummy! I guess I thought if I don’t buy into it all its not really happening…”hello my name is rose and I’m a grandma!” I didn’t even have to go through all twelve steps. Sunk at first sight! I drank the kool-aide…..AAAAAUGH!
I am not sure if it is only my grandbaby that causes my heart to love so fully, I feel confident the blessing is the sight of my own beautiful baby girl, her big smile and her GOD given strength to pull herself back to joy. How could she not, she has been given the best gift, and how could I not, I have my best gift, the strong, precocious daughter I love with my whole heart, joy is inevitable. Full circle and prayers answered.
Life is so fragile, we parents stumble through it trying our best to not mess our kids up beyond repair….now it’s my daughter’s turn to get it right. I know she will out shine her old mom and raise our little ellie rose to be strong and brave just like she is and I will be here to catch them when they fall….me and Jesus.
Thank you daughter for this lovely gift and thank you Lord for the daughter you gave me, lovely hardly even describes her. My cup runneth over.
Workin’ stiffs
Whew…..! I must begin this moment of reflection with a standing round of applause to all you “workin people” that have run this world all these years, I mean it is amazing to have the foresight and now hindsight into the life of worker bees like YOU! With that said…..I must say, again….WHEW!
I started working at seventeen, first job was WENDY’S, the eagerness in me balanced out the constant smell of pickles on my hands! I learned great life lessons during my tenure creating the perfect burger stack as in…mayo, ketchup, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and mustard under the meat on the bottom bun…in that order. Then there was the lovely motto: If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean! Ugh, it’s like the “it’s a small small world song!” That will always be trapped in my head!
Then my nearly two years at Kroger, a courtesy clerk professional thank you very much, at your service. That was back when we actually took the groceries to t h e cars for customers…..rain or shine. It was really fun !!..she says smiling. This would be a foreshadowing, details to follow. After that there were various and sundry waitress jobs, they call them servers these days, less domestic sounding I guess.
I got married then My next big job was becoming a MOM. The days of slinging hash to paying customers was far behind me, I was looking at eighteen years to life of carrying groceries and slinging hash, ironically enough, but I didn’t have to work a “real job” on top of that. I was so blessed. Then after eighteen years, I went back to a job, the day my first baby started University of Tennessee (GO VOLS!) And my last baby started kindergarten……I shed a few tears that day!
But, I was still young, sorta, so I survived it, tired but could juggle it all. So I worked for about seven-ish years then we moved back to middle Tennessee where I found a job which lasted ten months….So for three years I have pretty much got lazy….lazier! Whew! Finding a job had gotten much harder these days and Getting older is not easy! I believe there is a correlation between the two…hmmmm?
To my great joy I now am back to work…..but I gotta say, this old girl has had to get her stamina built up again. The saying “use it or lose it” is so true! This job has been a long time coming. I worked for this company way back in college, thirty ish years ago….hence the previous foreshadowing! Kroger #564, thanks! By the way …the lingo there is calling all the stores by number not street names, ugh, I hate being a newbie, so out of the loop! But thankfully I am not hauling out groceries any more….I get a desk job! And I love it! I am involved with the employees, taking care of the HR duties plus more. It is never boring and I am always busy which I like, bored at work it the worst. I now am a working stiff with the rest of y’all.
This brings me to my question…how have you done this all these years?? Whew…..this is hard!! I realize how fortunate I was to not work when my babies were small, besides the day care issues and cost, the sheer physical demands on the body are huge. I work a nine hour day and some days overtime, it is all I can do to drive home. My husband makes dinner( bless his heart, he has had to evolve so much, but I sure am proud of him) and I know if left to me we would starve. I feel in time I will get my sea legs and be less tired, the learning curve is big but getting easier after two weeks.
I just have to say, it is not hard to go to work happy, be happy at work, I know what a blessing it is to have a good job, I am thankful and humbled for the opportunity, I will never be forgetful of the days of waiting and denial. It’s hard on the mean streets. I know this will help me when I hire the team for the store. Our customers deserve the best and I am the first person these eager newbies meet. I just hope they can see my desire to get them started on the right track and enjoy working there. Highly satisfied customers is our goal and I believe if we have highly satisfied employees our goal will be accomplished. This working girl is ready for the new chapter……working 9 to 5, la la la…..I mean 7 to 4:30+!
I just want to applaud all the men and women who have made it possible to live in a world that keeps turning on the blood sweat and tears of all y’all worker bees. I am glad I can help now, and soon I hope I will be less tired…age is not my friend now. My heart goes out to all the moms who paid the price as well as the dad’s. You all ROCK!
Hi Mom!
Every person has a mother, not every person has a good mother, or a birth mother in their lives, some have adoptive mothers; some people have dad’s as mothers. Without mothers where would we be? On a practical level….not born.
The greatest lesson I ever learned after I became a mother was that mothers are people too! As crazy and simple as that sounds in my head and now even as I write I still remain in awe of the selfless life a mother lives. Any mother knows the sacrifices but, even in our courage and strength that keeps us on track and everyone alive(we hope), our vulnerable selves are still there.
As a kid, the fifth and last one (the baby, precious and sweet full of sunshine and rainbows!) I grew up knowing that my mom loved me. I never one time questioned that fact. I just knew! It wasn’t because she told me everyday or much all, but she showed me. She rarely ever gave me a harsh turn, usually she was kind and seemed happy to answer whatever need I had.
I also had two “moms in training”, my two big sisters…..they were my “spirit guides” so to speak, if I got off track it would be their fault, a lot of pressure for teenagers but they took on the challenge with kindness and great fun. They raised me on great music and laughter, a love of books and playing board games. I had the best of all worlds.
About the time I was nearly out of high school my mom seemed done. It was like a shift in the atmosphere, as if I could go to the exact moment and feel it all over again, a tangible occasion. She uttered words I had never felt before, words that hurt me at the time, words that really weren’t bad…just finite. I had asked her to order graduation “stuff”….nothing like the swag they have now, mind you but, it must have been a particularly tight time for us but she exclaimed…”I will be glad when you graduate!”
Why was she so harsh, remember I am your precious sweet “favorite kid” right? But she recounted and gave in and I got all the silly stuff I wanted, I graduated. My life was good, went on to college…yadda, yadda…..yadda ……..then I married and had my own precious little baskets of sunshine, four of them(I was a wimp) and then one day WHAMMO! It hit me why…why I felt the space time continuum shift….why I felt my own beautiful, kind mom seem DONE! She was DONE!
Whew I get it. It has nothing to do with her love for me or my siblings, she loved us, fought for us, protected us, sacrificed and did without for us. But after a life lived feeding all the little birds you can only haul worms for so long! I finally understood it….there comes a day when a girls gotta be herself again. It’s not a selfish act it is survival! I think we all go through it and some are more graceful than others. As for me….well I have gained some ground towards my better old self.
My mom found her way. She moved on from every waking moment being sucked dry by her pack of kids, she found the secret door but she never stopped caring which was really all we needed then, she did her best, if we didn’t have it yet we were just sunk, but we did because you’re kids just do. That’s how it works, all little birds grow up and fly away. The wise mother birds moved the best (I kid!)
For years…and years….and years..I would call her up and say “hi mom!” And she would immediately say..”you’re pregnant?” UGH REALLY! Did she have to say that every time? I guess three kids in four years kinda lends to that thinking….oh well and then about the time she felt safe to stop (9 years later!) BOOM! It happened again!!
What’s a mother to do? Really I thought who are you to judge? Little did I realize she was probably thinking ..”been there done that plus one more!” And she had earned the right, she knew what I was headed for, silly me.
So now, my kids nearly grown, that last straggler almost….. my own precious Angel little basket of sunshine has one more year left in high school, I have seen the other side and it looks AWESOME! My mom has done her job, now I wish I could tell her how much I appreciate her but, I am able to listen to her talk about her young girls. The Alzheimer’s has taken her “here and now” but she still has her “back then.” She talks of her three girls but in her mind we are young, teenagers and I feel the love and concern. Feelings that were not so tangible back then as her kid, but now sweet gifts that I swallow up like that little bird.
These days I want to pop in to see her and just say …”Hi Mom!” But I can’t because I am now her “friend.” I call her sweetheart and hug her and hold her hand and let her talk about me….it’s not perfect but it is still sweet. It makes the days when my own four pop home and yell for me…..MOM! I secretly revel that they come or call me first when anything happens…..they know I will rejoice with them or cry with them, help them figure it out (yes….my name is Rosemary and I am an enabler!) I will always be there for them as long as I have breath.
I am seeing a glimpse of that magic portal for which all moms find that helps us become ourselves again. I think it is somehow linked to the washing machine, when it stops running so much…hmmm? It’s a great life to be a mom, I have been blessed and continue to be in awe of my mom and the greatest thing we can show our family is that moms are real people, I know I have revealed probably too much to mine. That’s okay….they are strong and smart, they will have their turn at parenting…..I wish them well.
May is the Mothers Day month…..Hi Mom!
COMET..and the day I almost died!
There comes a time when the choice to clean or not to clean becomes a no brainer! Today was the day….and the place to clean was …the dreaded shower! I often skip this chore because…well…I hate to do it! It is HARD and I have to take a shower and clean all at the same time. There is no way around it…I am gonna get soaked!!
Today I couldn’t avoid it any longer…I have run out of excuses and on top of that I have no need for a on going science fair project. Okay, before anyone shrieks…..it wasn’t that bad just a little icky around the edges (don’t ask my preachermans opinions please, just take my word for it!) It is sad actually, in days gone by I was much more on top of the cleaning of the home, Back then this was my JOB…..now it is just my thing I avoid. Some people run around scamming to get their next “high”…not me I work on other ways to hire a full-time maid! Do they call them that anymore? If I am politically IN-Correct please forgive.
If I had my way I would be “Mrs. B” and my right hand man would be HAZEL. This is the bill of goods my generation was sold…marry a nice man and he will get you a great maid. I had visions of strolling around with my cute blonde short hair up-do in my pearls and cute strapy heels while Hazel tended to the house and cooking and keeping that ornery kid in line. Who wouldn’t like that….Hazel was the best! I did marry the good man and have the nice house and had the FOUR ornery kids but, as luck would have it……Women’s Lib hit and POOF all my hopes were dashed! UGH…. what were we thinking?
Back to the point (finally)… on this day as I struggled to get into that awful standup shower situation, for which I hate, who invented those things, what happened to tiled showers….ugh, anyways I began to clean with my trusty COMET (WAIT… I KNOW, its fiberglass and thats a NO NO! but the previous owners apparently worked on cars and even washed them in our showers and tubs and there is no sign of any shiny parts left…aka already ruined!) so the only way to get the crud off is COMET! I shake the COMET on my new sponge called Scotch Brite tub scrubber-–the best thing invented
in my opinion, buy one! and as I shook the COMET I also bent down to clean the lower part and I INHALED A BIG POOF OF COMET!…What’s that emergency number…um cough cough!
I raised up gagging, coughing, nearly blind thinking to myself…”NO one would ever believe this, I died inhaling COMET! …….CLeaning? NOOOOO can’t be true…..”she never cleans anymore” they would say….NOOO impossible!” on top of that I was…um let’s just say, in my cleaning the shower attire! No EMT in the land wants to see all that….I have only lost 17 lbs, not near enough! Finally after what seemed like decades i realized…put your head under the shower spray dummy!…OH OK DUH! That fixed it…I think, I coughed and cried because it was in my eyes and it was kinda scary…ya know!
See, its not that I am afraid to die, I just don’t want to die…UGLY, in an ugly way…neeeccckkked! I have learned a huge lesson. SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR A PROFESSIONAL HOUSE CLEANER SILLY!!! Until then I will try to not suffocate myself with COMET or any other cleaning product…no one would ever believe it anyway!
Daisies
Current paintings!
All the cool kids!
Sometimes in this life we have to give reverence to those that go before us, today again I am confronted with mortality or even more the immortality of our lives. A great man, even more ….a great man of God has given his all…he has fought the good fight and is now realizing that what he knew and shared about ….his entire life… is really true. I see him busting on the scene saying…”I knew it would be like this!”
My sweet friend, actually my Uncle-in-law is receiving his reward for a life lived in Christ. He was a Pastor for several churches in Tennessee, but even more dramatic ……he was a missionary. In the early years in Guyana and later in Kenya, Africa. He had the heart of a missionary, along with his precious wife, Francis…..his help mate, who herself is the force behind his strength. He knew the love of his life was as called as he was, her undeniable faith and vision was the backbone for many years in the “wilds of Africa!”
I have always loved this couple and respect their willingness to sacrifice life and convenience of the States; to leave their three beautiful daughters and grandchildren, parents, siblings and all the rest of us to follow their calling as missionaries….I still am in awe. His stories were as big and exciting as I had hoped….as well as hilarious. My children always loved to listen to him talk of his adventures, especially when their own dad (Charles) went to work with Fred and Francis for a short term. I really don’t know for sure if they actually ministered to anyone but each other…..when they tried to tell the stories it was always with a laugh…crossing rivers waist high, eating with “witch doctors” and driving in traffic fearing for their lives. Old black and white Abbott and Costello movie is what it sounds like to me(the resemblance is scary, lol), but I know they had many moments of pure love and joy while leading people in the knowledge of a Savior, many of who will welcome him “home.”
I don’t know if missionaries get a special sticker or gold star in heaven, if not they should….takes special people to follow that leading, I know that is not why they went, they had a heart to serve, to lead those who may not have heard….that Jesus loves them. That truth is real and true and our sweet Fred Brannen who fought the good fight, is now completely healed and free to dance and sing with those who have gone before him……all the cool kids….. who now know what all the fuss is about…..God is real and He is waiting for us….O HAPPY DAY!
Until then, we keep on working, making them proud, they taught us how to love and live and be missionaries in our own little worlds. We will miss the stories Uncle Fred, but thank you for giving your life to us all. You are a hero in the faith. Sweet peace to you……….you made it!
On a side note: Fred was one person who read my blog….kind sweet Man and always commented and encouraged me…..I know he would enjoy the picture and above reference! No disrespect was meant.
preacherswifeintheknow 