GOODBYE GIA

Losing a family pet is not easy especially when you really love the pet and it is unexpected. Jennifer and her kiddies lost their little Gia due to getting hit by a car earlier this week. 

Gia was a cross between a miniature greyhound and a chihuahua. She was a well tempered house dog that had been Jennifer's pet and now her kiddies for a number of years. 

Pets are not my favorite things, but Gia was a good dog and lots of fun. She would playfully pull at me to scratch her and I always enjoyed her when visiting with Jennifer and the kiddies. 

Her is a picture of her and the kiddies I took at Christmas. Gia was always right in the middle of things enjoying family stuff.

 

Jennifer and her family have had a tough time dealing with her loss. When you lose something special, it hurts.

Does Jesus care about doggies? He must. He cared about sparrows and lilies. He surely cares about doggies.

Goodbye Gia. You were a very good doggy. 

Dear Lord, please comfort Jennifer and her little kiddies in their loss. Thank you for making a bad hurt better. Amen.

WANDA?

We made another trip the Jacksonville Zoo this past Friday and were headed out the gate. Wanda was lagging talking to some strangers as I hurried took the kiddies to the car. I wondered what the reason was for her talking as we had an appointment we were running real close to meeting.

She findly caught up, and said that a lady stopped her and asked her if she was Wanda. "Are you Wanda?"

"Yes," she replied.

"I thought I recognized you in the zoo from some of the blog pictures. I read your husbands blog every day. I don't know how I found it. My husband has cancer and I can't tell you what this blog has meant to me," the lady shared.

I sat next to Wanda amazed at this chance encounter and how that God has taken our brokeness and touched lives far beyond our knowledge.

Kristy shared in her last words spoken in church that God would get glory from all that has happened. God has been faithful to do just that and even more.

God is so good.

Dear Lord, please show this precious family Wanda met at the zoo your love and kindness. Please meet their needs today. Amen.

MORE KIDDIES ARE HERE

Our blended family is enjoying our first summer. Each of the grands have been here for a few days but Jennifer's littles, Claudia and Lorenzo. They were here for our wedding, but we won't get to see them this summer. 

Cole and Paige are here and we're off to the Zoo, beach, and other children friendly places. They sure make their new papa feel great. When we get to see them, they always run to me.  Wanda has been very gracious about all this since they are her son's kiddies, but I have gotten a real kick out of it. My grands just adore Wanda. We blending tighter as time passes. 

Here is a picture we made a few months back. You can tell that they really are into their new papa. We just ridin' the ole trail again. 

Just a bunch a cowboys and cowgirls!

EMPTY YOUR POCKETS

I am so very proud and thankful for Wanda. She is a wonderful blessing in my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren. She worked at Bartow First Assembly very faithfully for 27 years. When she left to marry me, they honored her and dedicated the new fountain at the church to her with a beautiful plaque pictured below.

I just received these pictures and wanted to share them with you. Thank you Pastor Tommy and Bartow First Assembly for honoring a true hero who served behind the scenes and in strategic ways to build the Kingdom.

Isn't the fountain beautiful? Next time I'm there I will empty my pockets into the fountain. 

LOVE WALKS STEP BY STEP

I was sitting in my car in the Publix parking lot waiting on Wanda. We had made a brief stop and she ran in the store for a couple of items. Normally I would have gone in with her, but this was just to get drinks to take to a July 4th party.

That is when I saw them.

Walking side by side they were both holding onto a shopping cart and moving  very slowly. It was almost but not quite a Tim Conway shuffle. It was an older couple hanging on to their cart stepping ever so slowly toward their car with groceries. She was struggling to make it and he wasn't much stronger. They obviously were in the twilight years of life and both were weakened, but they were hanging in there.

Step by step, I watched them and it overcame me for a moment. It was a picture of life. It was a picture of love. It was a picture of marriage. 

Neither could have made it by themselves, but together they were buying groceries and taking them home. They needed each other and together they pushed the cart.

Love lifted their steps. Mutual support was there goal. Their shopping cart had become their walker, and easily so very gently they made their way back home.

I couldn't help but wipe a tear. I saw love at the grocery store on July 4th. 

It was in the gentle, kind action of two old people in love.

I FEEL GREAT!

Tuesday afternoon Wanda and I made several visits to see people in a care center and in the hospital. Reaching out to others always makes you feel better. I get blessed more than I think I am a blessing when seeing those who are in need or hurting. I always leave grateful for God's goodness in my life

But Tuesday, I got an extra blessing!

Each room we went to the ones we visited told Wanda how kind, good, and wonderful a man I am. They wanted her to know that she got a good "catch".  She would always kindly respond that she well knew who she gotten and that made me feel even better.

Everyone needs a little pick-me-up every now and then. Tuesday afternoon was my time. 

Of course, I know I found a great "catch" in Wanda. When I visited her church the day they honored her for 27 years of faithful service and work at Bartow First Assembly, I was touched over and over by how much her church family loved and respected her yet after being there all those years. It made me feel I was truly going to be a blessed man by marrying her. 

I am blessed.

God has brought me through a great storm these last almost two years. I still hurt and grieve at Kristy's loss. My girls hurt and it has been hard, but God has been good. He is faithful.

One day we will understand better, but today I can give thanks.

Those visits made me feel great!

Hey, what can I say? I am a nice guy! At least that is what they all said.

OPTIC-RECITUS?

How do you spell colonoscopy?

I guess I just did, but there is far more to one than just spelling it. I found out for my very first time Monday. Thankfully, there were no problems that necessitated it, but my doctor at my annual checkup said that it was my time. 

It was my time. Ugh! What a bummer!

Just before the doctor began the procedure, I told him that I had a joke for him. 

He was game and paused a few moments for me to tell a joke, actually a true story.

I began:

Years ago I was visiting a parishioner in the hospital sadly known as the town grump. As I stood there with him about to pray, his doctor came him and told him he had bad news. I knew the doctor well and he turned his head away from the member and winked at me.

"You've got a very rare and serious condition, Odel,"  Doc Sands said. "I don't see this very often he continued, but it is very serious."

Odel looked shocked and concerned. "Shoot straight with me Doc. What is it?"

"Optic-recitus," Doc Sands said.

"That sounds bad, Doc. I've never heard of that one. What is it," Odel quizzed?

"It is rare and it isn't good, Odel," the town doc continued. 

I was unsure just where the doctor was going with this, but I knew it was going to be good.

"Yes," Doc told Odel, "You've got optic-recitus, and a very bad case of it."

Odel asked, "What is it? Doesn't sound good to me."

"Well, it is when the optic nerve gets crossed with nerves in the rectum and it gives you a very crappy outlook on life," Doc grinned as he walked out the door.

I was about to burst wide open but couldn't. Yet, I knew the doc was right.

Monday, Dr. Gopal laughed at my joke as I grinned into sleep. And that is the end of this story! 

Pun intended.