My Hero

I sure that many of you know, have met or at least heard me talk about my precious Grandmother. That just what she is: precious.

pre·cious 

1. of high price or great value; very valuable or costly: precious metals.

2. highly esteemed for some spiritual, nonmaterial, or moral quality: precious memories.

3. dear; beloved: a precious child.

4. affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice

All of those definitions are just what Grandmother is. But not only is she precious but she is a saint in God's Kingdom. She is always encouraging other believer's by sending them cards, letters, or a phone call. A couple weeks ago this 91 year old beauty took a fall while coming in her back door after pitching out her scraps to the neighbors dog after supper. Thankfully someone was there soon after it happened. She journeyed to the E.R. and didn't get back home until 2 AM. She bruised her face and both legs. Her face and legs look much better now but its her arm that I envy your prayers for. There is a bone in her right arm just below her shoulder that is broken. Being 91 her docter doesn't want to have to do surgery, (which is a good thing) but he said he will take up to 3-6 months to heal. Along with her arm in a sling her legs ache every night.

But do you know what she is still doing? Sending sick people cards, calling people she knows can't get out. Everything she did before she is still doing; with a broken, bruised arm and acheing legs she is still:

reaching out to people,

loving them,

not giving up,

smiling, laughing,

and

being. my. hero.

She is brave and beautiful. Short and full of smiles. Loving and ready for a laugh. Honest and full of hope. content. peaceful. easy-going. a person that embodies Winston Churchill's ever famous qoute

"Never, never, never give up."

She is my Grandmother.

She loves me.

She is my hero.

My Daddy...

If I ever go anywhere and a person doesn't know who I am, I can tell them where I live and my Daddy's name and they know him. They more then likely knew my GrandDaddy too. They know my GrandMother. My Daddy, GrandDaddy and GrandMother are such amazing people. GrandDaddy was born in 1914, the middle child of 11 children. He and his family were Share Croppers. They moved from farm to farm as a form of living. He went to bed hungry, he lost his mother at age 12, his father was a very gruff man, he had to except a new mother when he was 13 or 14. He and his brother's and sister's had to pick cotton for their family in order to survive and then pick other people's cotton and get payed in bales of cotton instead of money so they wouldn't have to move. Bales of cotton was how they were paying for their farm. They worked so hard so they could get out of share cropping. When he was 16 or 17, the age where boys just eat and eat, he only got 2 classes of milk, (one sweet milk and one butter milk) and two pieces of corn bread for supper after working so hard. And when I say "so hard" I HAVE NO IDEA how hard he worked.

At 26, in 1940, he and my grandmother got married. She was 19. They then had four children. Their first son after their first year of marriage, then 2 years later their daughter. Then 13 years later, Daddy came along and 5 1/2 years later came their last son. They raised up all their children with integrity, they taught them to be honest. They still work very hard! Daddy and Uncle Keith, his little brother, have a booming business together. And I think that one reason why they have done so well is because they have honored God in all that they do! And GrandDaddy and GrandMother taught them to do that. They taught them to serve God, to tithe because they COULD. In this recession Daddy's business has grown more then it ever has! They have been able to give two men full time jobs in these hard times!

GrandDaddy taught them these things and he of all people had every reason to be bitter! But he wasn't! He loved his family, served God, was always helping a neighbor! The fellowship at our church was dedicated to him because of how much he did for our church. In 1979 he had a heart attack sitting on his tractor after pulling someone's car out of a ditch. He died helping someone!

I could go on and on writing about my family, where they have came from, what they have done for me and how much they love me but I'l stop here and you will probably hear more later on. I just hope that I will treasure my family and all that they do and have done for me!

Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless you!

Leah-Joy.

It Is Amazing!

Last year at this time I never would of imagined that every night before we "off the light" as Sunshine puts it, would I read a Bible story to her and then pray with her! It amazes me every night! I get share with her about my Lord, listen to her tell Mommy the babies name in the basket, and listen to her tell Hope and Grace* "Jesus said 'Let the little children come to me.'" It is amazing! Just the other night she was saying the words of the story with me as I was reading them and she asked me about the guards in front of the tomb. I got to tell her why they were there, how they went to sleep because God wanted them to and that Jesus came out of the tomb! It was so awesome. Then we learned what Mary said when she saw her Lord! It is amazing to hear our precious ball of a miracle look at Mommy and say, "JESUS IS ALIVE!" All I can say is that it is awesome!

Then I get to pray with her. We pray for Grandmother, Nana and Papa, and Grandpa, and Noel and Darell every night. She always asks to pray for Mommy and Daddy. She loves them so much. It has been wonderful to see her get more and more confident saying things without me saying them. Not only is it teaching her (i hope), but, it has taught me that I need to be more like her. One night in her prayer (i say it, then she says it) we said sorry for not listening to Mommy. That has taught me that I need to apologize more, it made me realize that when I throw an attitude at Mama, not only does it hurt Mama but it hurts Him and that when I mouth off at Daddy, that hurts Him too! I need to be more honest, tell Him more and ask for something even if I think that He may not care when really, HE DOES! They both have been such a blessing. As Grace* said, "They needed us and we needed them."

I can't imagine our life without them and can't think of a time when they weren't here. They fit in so well. We love them and they love us. We have learned how to even each other out, listen to each other, and discipline each other. We remind them to chew with their mouths closed, if they eat all their food they get a cookie and they tell us to answer Mommy when she calls and to not pout (because we remind them not to). We are like little accountability partners for each other. As Mama and Sunshine say, "It is amazing!!" I hope that this has been encouraging. Thank you for taking the time to read it!

God bless and sorry for being absent from blogger world for so long!
Leah-Joy.

Easter...

Hello to one and all! How was your Easter? God ahs blessed me with such an amazing family. Every Easter my daddy's side of the family gets together at his mama's house. We always have such a good time, LOTS OF GOOD FOOD, and anEaster egg hunt. This year little Man was the only one hunting and he really had to hunt. Babby Girl, the wto cousins her age and the new in0law had a great time hiding them. But, next year Little Man will have to share the hunt!! WoW!! To look back on this year and see all that God has done for us and all that He has brought through is amazing!!

Dear Lord,

Please continue to work in our family.

And please continue to let verything go well with the adoption.

Thank you all so much for all of your prayers!

Well, since it is 12:17am I think I better turn in! Please leave a commant and share how your Easter went!

Love,
Joy.

My Granddaddy...

I have no idea where these children are, who they are or how old they are but, I do know one thing. It looks as though, everyday they went through the exact same toil that my granddaddy did.
Up until he was nine years old, he and his family lived in town and then the moved to the country. In one day they all walked at least 20 miles, carrying all their stuff, which was not much. Graddaddy told daddy that that night he cried himself to sleep when he finally did go to sleep. Granddaddy picked cotton, went to school only up to the fourth grade and so many other that would take forever to name that no child should ever have to do. Not only did he have to pick the cotton at their house, but in order to pay for the house, they worked for other people. The three oldedest daughters worked in town, so at the young and tender age of 12, granddaddy's older sister had to take care of the babies and the house. Granddaddy told daddy about many nights when he would go to bed hungry. This is only a little piece of what Granddaddy went through. I never knew him but him and daddy were very close and Daddy talks about him all the time and loves telling us about him. When Granddaddy got married he bought the old homeplace where he had grown up and the land across the road. Graddaddy and Grandmother raised four wonderful children and were themselves faithful children of God's Kingdom. Grandmother still is but Granddaddy is now with the rest of his family and in the presence of Christ. With all that he went through, he of all people, had a right to be bitter, but he wasn't! When I get mad, or want to be bitter towards someone, I need think of him and his attitude.
With all that he went through Granddaddy left Daddy 86 acres, his younger brother 86 acres and then a whole other farm to his oldest two children and a house for Grandmother.But the sad and amazing thing is, is that he died unexptedly and left all this! And Grandmother was always right there with him. I hope and pray that I can be like my Grandmother and Mama and that my brother's can be like my daddy and Granddaddy. They went through so much so that I could be here today.

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for all that you have given to me and my family.

Thank you so much for all that Granddaddy left for daddy and the rest of his children.

Thank you for the lagacy that he left.

Amen.

As I was writing, I was reminded of something else that Granddaddy did. Anywhere we go and older people don't know who we are and we say that we are Ralph's grandchildren, most of the time they know exactly who he was and the conversation turns into what a good person he was. And because of his honesty and godly character people respect Daddy and the rest of his children. He did so much! Thank you granddaddy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My precious daddy's precious mother,
my awesome grandmother!

Hopefully all of us are not afraid to say Merry CHRISTmas to anyone, but most of us don't realize what these words really mean. And first of all I would like to say something that I find quit comical. All the stores can play "The First Noel" but they can't say"Merry Christmas!" Well, "Noel" means, Christmas! So everyone just say "Happy Holidays!" Well, holiday means Holy Day! We can't and won't ever get away from the fact that this date is all about CHRIST! Well, back to merry Christmas (even as I was typing this I forgot to capitalize the C and the computer told me that I spelled it wrong, even the computer knows that He is to praiseed and honored ALWAYS!)! We all (hopefully) will, with no problem, say Merry CHRISTmas to everyone! So here it is,

• Merry: MIGHTY
• Christ: Christ
• Mas: Celebration
  
• MERRY CHRISTMAS!
  

So, when you say Merry Chirstmas, I hope you think of that! I hope that I may tell more people Merry Christmas then I did last year!

And God Bless you and may you have a Mighty Christ Celebration!

Luke 2:11
Today in the Town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord!

Dear Lord,
We cannot thank you enough for giving us your perfect Son! May your Name be forever praised!
Amen.

God Bless,
Joy.