Mazel Tov Nana!

Well, today was Nana's birthday! She turned 74 years old. Not to shabby for someone who had polio as a child and wasn't expected to live. Then about 6 years ago, she got Fornier's Gangrene.(sp?) It involved a gangrenous growth in her intestinal tract that no one knew about for quite some time. We think it grew for years, but aren't real sure. Anyway, she got sicker and sicker, refused to go to the doctor and when we finally got her to go, she was about 12 hours away from having gangrene all over her body!!! She had 5 major surgeries in 4 days while they worked at getting all the gangrene out of her body. She tried to give up on us then....I begged, cried and bullied her into continuing to fight. (My mother knows YHWH but doesn't really follow Him....sigh, deep and heavy sigh!) So this birthday was kinda special. We got to keep her for another year.....

Then we took her to the eye specialist today, and he dropped a new bomb into our lives. Mom is blind, she can still see shapes and colors (sometimes) and really uses her hearing more than her eyes to figure out who's walked into her room....but today the specialist said her blind spots have moved to another area of the eyes. Of course I thought "HUH?" He then said her peripheral vision had improved! (For the first time in about 6 years!!!!) When we asked how that could happen, he dropped the bombshell. He's sending her for some more tests, (of course) but he believes she's had a small stroke. STROKE?!?! Her blood pressure is wonderful, she doesn't get any exercise to speak of (her choice....I've tried to get her to do more walking, but no go), her eating habits are bad on good days and horrible most the time.....but a stroke?!?! Sigh. It would explain some recent odd behavior. But a stroke also means we need to do something about her being home alone so much......the implications of this are mind boggling. So I reckon Little Critter, Dodi and I will do more to lavish her with our love.

For her birthday, we took her a brilliantly red mini rose that I'd gotten from a friend and nursed back to health. (It was kinda sad looking when I got it.....for her birthday it had one incredibly beautiful and fragrant flower with another bud on it! Yea Papa!) Also Little Critter and I made her some pretty cards on our Scrapbook Max program. Little Critter put her favorite colors, some lace (a big deal for a 9 yo boy to do!) and buttons and pictures of sunrise and sunset. Then he made up a rhyming poem for her. OK, the poem went like this:
"Roses are red, Violets are blue. You smell like a zoo, because I love you! Love Little Critter" Needless to say, Nana and I both kinda gulped when he oh so proudly read it to her. And when she started to giggle and tease him about smelling like a zoo, he pointed out it rhymed and he couldn't think of anything else!!!! So I believe I have a bit more work to do on his rhyming skills.....sigh. The card he made for PawPaw for Memorial Day was nicer than that!!!!! Well, at least the pictures and layout was beautiful.....and the attempt was honest and full of love....even if tact was missing. LOL!

So I pray you each realize how precious a gift Papa has given each of you when He gave you the parents you have. Treasure them.....they won't always be here. And I know my life will be sadder (perhaps easier, but much sadder)when Nana leaves for her home with YHWH. It's not just a commandment to honor your parents, it's a blessing! Shalom, Spitfire

Thank you Dear Military

For those not in the US, this post may not mean anything. But for those of us state side....this is an important weekend. This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. This is a weekend for remembering all the men and women who have fought, suffered and many died to preserve our freedoms here in the States. It's a bit doubtful our President will do anything meaningful to observe this weekend. But I felt compelled to voice my thanks. We have 2 foster sons in the military. One is a mechanic and one a medic. Both have served overseas multiple times. Both have been to Iraq more than once. And they both returned changed....not for the better. The horrors they saw and experienced, have hardened them and made them both unpredictable. Now, in all fairness, I don't believe this is the military's fault! One was a new believer in Yeshua and promptly forgot all he'd been taught most of his life. He says he's a believer, but his actions say otherwise. The other son was a strong believer and follower of Yeshua (Jesus) and yet he too lost his way while overseas. I know the fears of the families of our military....I earned some pretty impressive calluses on my knees while the boys have been overseas. I've received middle of the night phone calls because one or the other just needed to talk to "Mom" to allay fears, or loneliness, or to reassure them they're still loved even if they've done horrible things in the name of war. And my heart just bleeds for those parents, wives, husbands and children who've lost their loved ones due to war. War stinks. Pure and simple.

But for those who ARE still fighting overseas or even stateside. I thank you. I thank you for having the courage and chutzpah (I think you all know what that translates in to)to volunteer to protect, defend and fight for the land you love, the country of your families, the freedoms you've enjoyed and that you want your children to enjoy. I thank you for making unbelievable sacrifices, having to make hellish decisions on the spur of the moment, and knowing that some of these decisions will haunt you the rest of your lives. I thank you for your determination to right wrongs, protect the innocents, and guard the dignity of fellow human beings...no matter their race, religion or nationality. I thank you for keeping us safe here at home and taking the fight to the terrorists back yards. I thank you for loving this country as much as I do.

So as we spend the weekend enjoying our freedoms, watching endless sports on the tellie, eating more food than many countries eat in a month and visiting with family members, let us all say prayers to our Father for those brave, daring, and audacious men and women who fight miles from home, light years away from spouses and children, and eons from the same freedoms we're enjoying. To all our military: Thank you from the bottom of my heart and may Papa protect you, guide you and safely bring you home. Shalom, Spitfire

Another Monday at the Zoo '-)

We had a beautiful day here today....a little bit nippy first thing this morning......OK, it was almost cold! But it warmed up nicely, was sunny and warm enough to dry the clothes. What a blessing.

Little Critter and I were trying to catch up on our 'counting the omer' page. For those that don't know about it, counting the omer is the count from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost. It's kinda like Lent in the Catholic church. It's a time of personal reflection, taking stock of your life, your relationships with Papa and others, and making any necessary adjustments of attitude or actions. But since it's 50 days long, it's easy to get lost as to which day you're on. So we had this little chart and each evening as we read the Torah passage for the day, we'd add a little picture of a barley grain to the chart. Well, we've not been doing the sheet for a couple weeks, so tried to get caught up today....Unfortunately, Mommy counted wrong, so now we've glued our barley pictures for the next week down!!!! ARGGGGG! Oh well. I'll just check mark each day as we do them until we get to where we finished gluing and then we can start adding more barley. Guess it was Monday, huh. Sigh.

On the bright side, we got all the laundry washed, hung to dry, folded and put away. Thank you so much!!!!

Oh, and Dodi got a loving letter from me at lunch...went something like "Husband, BANG! You're dead! Love, Wife." When he returned from his retreat this weekend, (during which it rained for 2 of the 3 days) he'd dumped his wet laundry in the washing machine. No problem, less for me to sort. So as I finished the first load of laundry and was putting it in the basket to go hang on the line, I noticed a lump of something in the bottom of the machine. On closer inspection, it was what was left of a bar of soap!!!!! The turkey had dropped his wash rag in the machine with the soap bar wrapped up in it!!!!! So of course, I had to re-rinse all the clothes that were extremely clean at this point. Hence the loving note to him......LOL! I told him, "See, I send you on a three day retreat and you come home to make me wash things twice! Such a deal?!?!" Of course, it really was funny when I finally figured out what that lump was. But I had to give him a hard time......it's in the fine print of my contract. So getting all the laundry done in one day was kinda a big deal since we normally have about 5 loads of laundry....and then you add in the additional rinse. At least the bar of soap is good and clean.....

Then at Cub Scouts when the Game Warden came to talk to the boys, Little Critter asked some really cool questions! I was so proud of him. The other boys were really quiet....not sure what happened there, they're NOT quiet boys!!!! But when it was time, Little Critter asked how electric eels made the electricity to shock other creatures. The poor Game Warden, who is a former student of Dodi, got this shocked look on his face, looked at me and slowly said...."Ya know, I don't have any idea on that! Maybe you need to research that and let me know what you find out." Good save Charlie! He was so sweet to come talk to the boys about conservation and what his job entails, I almost felt sorry for him when Little Critter asked that question. But that now gives Little Critter a cool report to work on....hehehehe
I'm sorry. It's getting late and I'm getting goofy. Must be time for bed.

I hope you each had a great day full of blessings and not so much soap......Be Blessed. Shalom, Spitfire