TRUE LOVE??

I don't think the doxie on the right of this meme is all that impressed with this declaration of love, do you??

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em!

TODAY IS OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Yes, Clark and I have been married 44 years today!  It has been quite a ride, and we've had many blessings along the way.  The Lord has been so good to us, carried us through heartache here and there, but He's been right by our side to comfort us.

My husband has so many wonderful qualities;  his integrity and love for his family shine brightly.  I am so thankful we've had these years together, and I hope we have many more!

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF OCTOBER 17

As a college senior

Today happens to be the anniversary of the first time Clark and I met!  Yep--October 17, 1968 is an
important date in history--in our family, anyway :).

I was a senior in college that year, and Clark was a cadet police dispatcher in the Raleigh Police Department (NC) at the time.  Some of my college girlfriends and I headed to Raleigh for the annual State Fair, and on the way we stopped by (now follow closely, because this is intricate) "my girlfriend's boyfriend's house."  Whew.  Couldn't think of a better way to explain it.  Perhaps "the home of my girlfriend's boyfriend"?  That doesn't sound much better, does it?  But I digress . . .



My girlfriend (Sheila) and her boyfriend (Frank--who lived just outside Raleigh, in Garner) were going to the State Fair together, and we girls were gonna tag along.  While at Frank's house, his sister Carol and his brother Joe were also there.  Well, Joe (unbeknown to the rest of us), called his buddy Clark, who lived a few blocks away, to come over to see all those college girls at his house!

Young married couple

Clark did indeed come over a few minutes later and we were all introduced.  If my memory is correct, we ended up not going to the State Fair because it was pouring rain, but stayed at the house and we all ate spaghetti and enjoyed goofing off.  Frank and Sheila did go, anyway, but when they got back, they said they practically swam everywhere--and they were drenched. The next week Clark invited me out on a date.  The rest, as they say, is history!  We'll be celebrating our 44th wedding anniversary in December.



Through the years, we've had a wonderful life together, good times as well as heartaches, as everyone does.  We have two wonderful daughters, two fabulous sons-in-law, three precious grandchildren, and a great extended family.  Above all, we both became Christians after we married, and I would not trade one instant of our lives for anything.  God has been faithful, so good to us, and has blessed us far beyond anything we deserve.

Holly

Bethany

                                                                                                   
Clark is a keeper, for certain.  He is one in a million, and I am so thankful to share my life with him.  We've lived through his one-year deployment to Vietnam during our engagement (we married when he returned), two miscarriages, as well as all the ups and downs of life, such as when he was in college nine years after  high school when the Lord called him to become a teacher.  That is funny, because Clark always hated school as a student!  He retired nearly two years ago from teaching, and is now subbing as much as he wants in our county schools.  Our oldest daughter Holly was born when Clark was in college--I had a miserable pregnancy and had to quit work, so he had a lot of pressure on him at that time.  Then, when she was born, she had terrible colic for three months, so neither of us got much sleep.  Life is always interesting, and its problems always work themselves out.  But prayer and trust in the Lord are the keys.



HAPPY ANNIVERSARY of our first meeting to my best friend, my fabulous husband, the world's best father and grandfather.  May we have many more decades together.

September 2014

BEING A GRANDMA: IT'S NOT ABOUT KNITTING ANYMORE

Here's at least one grandma who no longer knits, crochets, or embroiders!  I actually did those things IN MY TWENTIES . . . but can't muster up enough interest in doing so now.  I've moved on, so to speak.

Oh, there's absolutely nothing wrong with those things . . . if it is something you enjoy.  It's just that I no longer enjoy doing any of them.  I like to read, write, play with my doxie, and spend time with family and friends, especially the grands.  After my next knee replacement surgery (on May 20), and I've completely healed, I'm going to dive in head first and do some serious writing.  My first knee replacement is doing well, but that's not to say that all my stamina is back yet.

We found a baby blanket I had crocheted for our youngest daughter Bethany when she was a baby.  I used the shell stitch and the colors of light blue and yellow.  She no longer needs it, obviously, and neither do we (even more obviously), but I just cannot part with it.  After all, it took me hours to make that blanket, and it means a lot to me--precious memories, for one thing.


 


Being a grandma these days is so much more than sitting in a rocking chair with a shawl around my shoulders, knitting or crocheting away.  It also means spending time with and loving those grandchildren--and I especially enjoy being silly with them.  The time will come all too soon that they might think I just act too silly for them.

I suppose I'll have to grow up then . . . but for now, I'll keep doing silly things that they enjoy:

* "Where's Grandma?" I play this with Asher - I hide my face behind my hands, and when he
opens them, I make a silly face.  He laughs every single time, and I love it.  Who wouldn't?

* Giving a silly running commentary about a commercial on TV, putting my own spin on it.

* Looking at a woman's magazine and making up outrageous stories to go with the pictures of makeup, food, housewares--what have you.

* Dressing up in an outlandish costume and making up a play with the granddaughters as we go along.

* Pretending to be one of Asher's superhero toys - he and I each pretend to be a superhero (Batman, Superman, Captain America, etc,.), and using the toy, we interact with each other.  That boy has quite an imagination for a four year old!

* Playing card games such as "War" or "Uno"  with Annika and Alexa.  I always say I'm going to win, but I often don't, much to their delight.

* Drawing silly pictures for Asher, all the while saying he won't be able to guess what I'm drawing.  Of course he does, and I feign disappointment that he can figure out what I drew.  He loves that!

* "Make up a story" - I'll start out with a sentence:  "Once upon a time, a little girl was playing in her room and heard a loud noise . . ."  Each child in turn adds an outrageous sentence to our story until we all dissolve in giggles.  This game is especially good while riding in the car from their house to ours, which takes about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Some of those outlandish stories still make me smile as I type this!



Well, you get the idea!  Grandchildren just want our TIME and ATTENTION.  I can't romp and play with them for now, of course, but we can be together and I can show them I love them.

That's what being a grandma is all about.

EVER HOPEFUL CHOW HOUNDS . . .

 

 

Our doxie Duke (at right) and doxie granddawg Shadow are watching my hubby Clark intently as he ate dinner this evening.  In pure doxie fashion, they are "ever hopeful" that he might drop a morsel of food their way!

 

 He seldom does, however.  The one who is a soft touch for those pitiful faces would be . . . moi.  Yes, I often cave and give them a bite of something that won't hurt them (chicken, turkey, a little cheese, etc.). 

 

Food equals love, right?  Well, it certainly does in the South!

DOXIE LOVERS: WE "HEART" YOU!

Dogs are the perfect valentine, because they exhibit unconditional love toward us just like God does :).

That's what my late father, Robert "Papa" Duke, said in I AM SARGE:
"A dawg loves you no matter what. You can be ugly, old, even dumb--but a dawg don't care. All he wants is your love and some food now and then. I think dawgs represent the unconditional love God has for us--maybe that's why He created them, to show that to us." 

So--Happy Valentine's Day, doxie lovers.  Be sure to hug your dawg today :).  Even a treat would be appropriate.
 

FAMILY IS MY FAVORITE!

Clark and me with the grandchildren: 

Annika 8, Alexa 7, and Asher will be 3

next month!

Our son-in-law and daughter, Philip and Holly

We had the joy and privilege of spending a few days with them, returning home yesterday.  They live in Georgia, and we live in North Carolina.  Such is life these days!  Our younger daughter Bethany and hubby Kurt live in Arizona, so we don't see them as often.

Everyone was here for Christmas, and then returned the first week in January for my mother's funeral.

I've always believed family is special, but especially since Mom's death, I am even more thankful now for my loved ones.  God is faithful and will sustain us in life's sorrows, but I so enjoy my family, my major joy on this earth.

How about you?

MOM: IN APPRECIATION

My mom and me when I was three

She's been in a nursing home for five years now, and in assisted living for two years prior to that.  But my mother is still my mother, she knows us, loves us, and in spite of her many health issues now, is beloved by God, who watches over her every moment.  In spite of her sometimes-difficult demeanor, the staff at her skilled nursing facility are professional and treat her well.

I've posted several times on her birthdays and on previous Mother's Days, but I want to discuss something different about her this time.  Her mind is not as sharp as it once was (well, whose is, right?), and she sometimes says something out of the blue that is odd.  She might ask about someone that we haven't seen in years, or asks why she is in the nursing home, like she's forgotten.  It is painful to hear that, bringing home the realization that life is definitely time sensitive.

With great-granddaughters

When my father died in 2000, he suffered for a couple of weeks before the Lord saw fit to take him home.  Society has tried to address suffering over the ages, especially when it hasn't been able to come up with an appropriate reason (according to man, anyway) as to why God allows suffering.  Oh, I'm not here to say that I have the ultimate answer, but I have thought about suffering, especially when witnessing loved ones in pain, illness, and heartache.

I know the Lord is preparing our family for eventually being willing to let Mom go to Him.  Sometimes He takes people in an accident, in sleep, etc., with no warning.  At other times, people suffer through the pain of terminal illness, and it can take years.  How do we make sense of it?

My brother Steve, Mom, and me

Sometimes we can't, at least not down here.  As a Christian, I do know that God makes sense.  While I don't always understand why certain things happen, I do know that God loves me and has a reason for everything in my life--and in the lives of all Christians.  It's a matter of trust, actually; do I trust Him enough to accept what He allows to come into my life?  Do I love Him enough to realize that He sees the entire picture down here, while I just see my little corner of it?

With Bethany and Holly,
her granddaughters

My mother has had a full life.  She's in a holding pattern now, certainly.  All we can do for her is love her, visit her, bring her some little trinket that she can still use, and pray for her.  We do that.  Is it difficult?  Of course, and we will visit her later, wish her a wonderful Mother's Day, and try to make her feel special, as she most surely is.  When all is said and done, she was a good mother and grandmother.  So many memories come flooding back as I write this post--how big a part she has played in my life.  Many of you have already lost your mothers, and your memories will no doubt carry you through a Mother's Day without your mother here to see, talk to, or do something for.

I am fortunate to have my mother nearby, even if she is only a shell of the full person she once was.  I am thankful, appreciative, and misty-eyed that I still have the opportunity to tell her that I love her, and I will. 

Mom, Annika, Bethany, Alexa

For now, however, I cherish the moments with her, remind her of old memories that cause her to smile, and tell her about her grandchildren and great grandchildren who live hours away.  We keep her supplied with current photos so she can enjoy them in absentia.

I love you, Mom.  Thank you for everything you've done for me.  It's my turn now to do things for you.

Happy Mother's Day!!