Southern Porch Extension

[Verna]

Hello to all my porch friends--lovely inspirational poem, Carol--praying for all needs mentioned--hugs to all.

[BeachGrandma]

Joanney, I don't know of anyone who could bring so much compassion to the field you're considering. Your antennae is always up looking for people who could use your help and now that you've been through so much the last three or four years, you'll find an enormous number of people waiting for you to bless them. I'm glad you took some time off from school to refill your reservoirs. We'll always be in your corner, cheering you on, praying for you and loving you.

Laurie, as you explain more and more about what's going on with your family, your work as a counselor and your own physical limitations, I find myself thanking God for your stability and dependability especially with the way you've helped your mother through this difficult time. I know she treasures you for the kind of daughter you are to her.

I miss our little boys something fierce but I did enjoy a brief visit from my granddaughter Abby (now 15) who came for a few days with her mother (Susan) and one of Abby's friends. We baked cookies for them to take home and I finished an Easter "tree" with 12 of my handpainted little Easter eggs on it. She was so pleased with it. It takes me a long time to paint but at least I can still do some of it and I praise God for that!

Tomorrow is Good Friday and I hope you won't mind if I post the poem I wrote about it and which people are still putting on their websites:

http://www.marianholbrook.com/Wedontwee ... Jesus.html

I wish all of you would post things this weekend that you've written about Easter or that others have written that continues to bless you. I want to post one I wrote about Easter Saturday and then one about "He Is Risen" on Sunday which is the cornerstone of our faith. Perhaps the lyrics of an Easter hymn blesses you and you'd like to share it here. We can fill these pages all weekend with that most glorious event of all time - the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Praise His name forever and ever!

[Green Leaves]

Your poem touched me, Mariane. Thank you for sharing it.

Here's a contribution from my pages of poetry:

Just Because He Loved Me

http://www.faithwriters.com/article-det ... ?id=112637

[Carole L]

I wrote this challenge piece last year. Several of you commented on it then.

Oh, and Bill got me a lamb cake mold while I was in Florida. I will be making two lambs for Sunday, one with and one without coconut.

I Hate Coconut!

I just finished reading a bloggers memories of the lamb Easter cake his mom always made, with a black jelly bean nose and coconut "fur" and green coconut grass. It sounded just like the cake my mom used to make. And the tears won't stop.

Mom had a stroke in 1990 and spent the rest of her life in a nursing home. Her vocabulary was usually limited to one word, "Home."

Home was used to say anything she needed to tell us, ranging from "I'm cold" to "I want to go to bed." Everything was "home home home home." She used different intonations, so you knew whether it was a statement or a question, or if she was telling you off! Between that and lots of pointing and head shaking she got her point across eventually.

Mom spent 15 years in that nursing home. It was a very long 15 years for me, but I think it was very short for her. She no longer had any short term memory, so whenever I came up from Texas to Ohio to visit her, it didn't matter if I stayed an hour or was there for two weeks, every time I walked into the room, it was as if she hadn't seen me in ages.

But yet she was aware that she had greatgrandkids, and when we talked about them, either in person or on the phone, she would coo and carry on over them. That was usually when she was actually able to talk, she would ask questions about them and we would laugh and talk, then she would get all excited and her speech would be gone again. Then we would be back to long sentences of "Home home home" again.

At some point during those 15 years I think I must have done my grieving for the mom I had lost, because I was never really able to accept that this woman in the wheel chair, who couldn't even comb her hair and was forced to wear diapers, was my mother. I had several discussions with God during those years. Angry discussions. Painful discussions. Discussions I don't really want to remember. And then, finally, her health took a strong turn downhill. There had been many episodes during those years of kidney stone attacks and other problems that develop from living under the conditions she was in, but now we realized the end was near.

Mom started having strokes. Most of them were small, and didn't make much of a change, individually, but the accumulative effect was obvious. She could no longer speak at all, and she didn't leave her bed any more.

Hospice became a part of our lives. I flew to Ohio, as we thought the big one had finally happened, but she survived, and I had to return to Texas and my job. A few weeks later she did have the last one. It was finally over, and she was now "Home" where she was free to frolic and sing and talk as much as she wanted.

Her funeral service was more of a memorial service. Several of us shared memories, one comment we all made was about how she was such a great cook. Every time somebody said that, Uncle Bud, mom's brother, would chuckle. When I closed the service, I intentionally repeated the comment of what a good cook was, and then added "she was pretty good in the kitchen, too." Then everybody got the joke. You see, mom's maiden name was Cook!

I wasn't able to cry, and I didn't understand it. I finally convinced myself that I had already cried all the tears I had for her. I had already said goodbye to who she was, this was just a send off for her body, not for her.

It has been seven years since mom died. Occasionally a tear or two comes when something happens that reminds me of her, but nothing like the outbreak I'm struggling through now. Suddenly I'm missing her like I never have before. Suddenly I have the crazy desire to bake a white lamb cake and cover it with coconut. I hate coconut, I never even have it in the house, but I want to bake that lamb cake. With a black jelly bean nose, pink jelly beans for eyes, and that awful green cellophane grass for a bed on the platter.

[Green Leaves]

I remember reading this before, Carole, and found it just as moving on the second read. You were able to capture that profound feeling of loss.

[Carole L]

Joe's surgery was successful, he is resting and breathing on his own.

[Edy]

Where do the days go!? When I don't receive notices from faithwriters, among a full inbox, I don't realize I've missed days' worth of posts. So sorry! I did catch up on the reading, joining my heart in prayer for the needs, and relishing the links, poems and stories. Whew!

Pardon my absence - I have some deadlines ahead that I need to take time to prepare. This seems to be the busiest time of the year, every year, even though I decided after decades as an R.N., not to renew this year, so no need to do the hours-worth of continuing education. Our Deaconess Hospital nursing class has its 50th class reunion luncheon the end of the month. 1962 doesn't seem that long ago! But, come to think of it, in 1962, the class celebrating their 50th reunion, then, graduated in 1912! Now, THAT seemed like a long time ago, even in 1962!

Here's something a missionary nephew-in-law posted on facebook. I find it refreshing - but perhaps everyone might not appreciate it. I think it is too good not to share because of the often overlooked perspective:

Trent Matías Rolfzen

Today's church is obsessed with Christ's second coming but has yet to fully grasp the power of His first coming! Let's knock off the "boy who cried rapture" routine, and instead become the Church who cried resurrection! Enough with the endless theories on the "tribulation", give me a church who's partaken of Christ's Transfiguration! I can't stomach one more attempt at identifying the "anti-Christ", let's rise up and simply manifest the indwelling Christ! The Kingdom is here and it's now!

[ready2go]

I made an amazing discovery yesterday. I found an item that I had not seen, nor even thought about for 20-30 years...maybe much longer. It was found in the back corner of a desk drawer.

It was something my great grandmother, Ida Nelson, gave to me 66 years ago in April of 1946...when I was only 5 1/2 years old. The gift was a "Child's Bible and Prayer Book" about the life of Jesus.

The black, soft cover book is small...measuring only about 2" x 1 1/2" x 1/4" thick, containing 124 pages consisting of 10 chapters of simple child-like story form from Jesus' birth to His ascension. The back pages of the book contain more than a dozen prayers for morning and evening time. Also, there are ten commandments listed for children.

My name and the date are hand-written inside the front cover. My memory of her are faint, and the book was probably given not long before she died at age 96. Do you suppose my great grandmother was trying to share the Name of Jesus during her last remaining days? I believe that was very likely the case.

There must be other copies of that book somewhere, but probably not many.

Don

[Laurie]

Mariane, thanks for your kind words.

I don't feel up to doing much today, but I better keep at it or I'll never get caught up. I have my taxes nearly ready to send in (finally) - just have to make copies and assemble. It isn't worth explaining, but I'll just say my taxes have been a hullabaloo this year.

The Nail

Who am I?
With no special purpose,
traveling upward,
unsure of my destination.

Where am I?
Steep hill appears.
Jeers permeate the air,
abominable stench pervades eerie summit.

Who is that woman?
Why is she so burdened, forlorn?

Who is the One,
beaten, bruised,
bearing a cross,
gasping for breathe,
being mocked, ridiculed,
with thorn-filled crown,
bloodshot eyes exuding compassion,
scarcely able to endure?

What’s happening?
I’m moving toward an open hand!
Strike! Strike! Strike!
Pierce faultless flesh,
crimson spurts forth,
covers me,
drips to the ground -
red pool of redemption.

Who am I?
One who attaches
innocence to a cross,
holds merciful Savior in place
as He fulfills prophesies foretold,
provides pardon for sinful human race.

Who am I?
Scar provider
of blessed Son,
resurrected Prince of Peace,
who resides in celestial paradise
and sits at His Father’s right hand.

By Laurie Glass
© August 20, 2006

[ready2go]

Here's something a missionary nephew-in-law posted on facebook. I find it refreshing - but perhaps everyone might not appreciate it. I think it is too good not to share because of the often overlooked perspective:

Trent Matías Rolfzen

Today's church is obsessed with Christ's second coming but has yet to fully grasp the power of His first coming! Let's knock off the "boy who cried rapture" routine, and instead become the Church who cried resurrection! Enough with the endless theories on the "tribulation", give me a church who's partaken of Christ's Transfiguration! I can't stomach one more attempt at identifying the "anti-Christ", let's rise up and simply manifest the indwelling Christ! The Kingdom is here and it's now!

Christ's resurrection was without a doubt the most important event that ever took place in human history. His resurrection gives those who would believe the hope (rock-solid assurance) that one day all who in this life have their salvation firmly fixed in Him and in Him alone, will also conquer death and the grave to enter into His kingdom.

Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit dwells within each one that has their name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but also Scripture teaches that His kingdom is yet to come, and will be set up when He returns. In fact, Jesus commanded us to pray for His coming kingdom recorded in Matthew 6:10 as follows: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

It's amazing that so many people mindlessly pray that prayer for His coming kingdom, but either believe it is already here, or they don't really want it to come.

Yes, Christ's resurrection gives me the sure hope that I will one day be forever in His kingdom. I am looking forward to that day.

Don

[BeachGrandma]

Some very thoughtful posts on here today! Thanks for contributing. Let's keep them coming!
I love the old hymns with simple lyrics, the Negro spirituals, but so powerful, like this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNP-yBOpWwY

[ready2go]

I saw this today and thought I would share it.

Don


For You...

For You, He created.
For You, He stepped down.
For You, He came.
For You, He was born in a lowly manger.
For You, He was obedient.
For You, He laughed and cried.
For You, He shared.
For You, He taught.
For You, He was tempted.
For You, He did miracles.
For You, He raised the dead.
For You, He became a target.
For You, He prayed.
For You, He was betrayed.
For You, He was arrested.
For You, He was tried.
For You, He was found innocent.
For You, He was beaten.
For You, He was spat upon and mocked.
For You, He took the lashes.
For You, He carried the Cross.
For You, He was pierced with iron nails.
For You, He hung on a cross with thieves.
For You, He took your sin and became your sin.
For You, He endured God’s wrath.
For You, He paid in full.
For You, He died.
And on the third day, He arose. FOR YOU!

Author unknown

[BeachGrandma]

I've had to read the latest posts in bits and pieces because with more company here, there are so many interruptions. Not that I mind but I often can't finish my post on here before someone wants to use the computer.

Carole,I don't remember reading your Challenge article about the coconut cake and your mother when it was first written. I cried all the way through it reading it just now. Fifteen years is a long time in a nursing home, and for you to live so far away was hard on you, too, just as it was for the 16 years my mother lived in a nursing home in Pennsylvania while I lived in North Carolina. I felt such guilt but much of that time we were taking care of my inlaws who were both ill - one with Alzheimers and the other with cancer and dementia. John is an only child so there were no other siblings to help with their care. Thankfully, my 3 sisters lived nearer to Mother and one saw her every day and they understood my situation in not being able to visit Mother as often as I wished.

Your story about the cake moved me greatly today. Several years after my mother's death I decided to find her famous recipe for filled cookies so I could bake some for my family. The recipe was in her handwriting, so clear, so much a part of her, that I cried and cried all over the 4x6 recipe card while I was making the cookies, something I didn't realize until quite some time later when I saw that tear stains had smeared some of her handwriting.

Thank you for posting that again, Carole. It meant so much to me. I'll never look at coconut again without thinking of you. God bless you, dear friend. I love you.

[Carole L]

just posted on FB about Joe

Surgery went well. New Lvad is in. He also has an RVAD for 5 days to help assist organs. They will be able to remove it without surgery when the time is right. He will have a breathing tube for at least 2 days and a feeding tube for rest and nourishment so hell be sleeping for a couple of days....so we all will be too. He won't leave icu until rvad is out.

[ready2go]

A LVAD pump was the thing offered to my Carol last fall as a possible way that she might be able to be a little more active. With her weak heart condition, we were told she might not survive the open heart surgery needed to install it, and if she did survive it, the pump might not be of any help to her.

Considering the possible complications and knowing what she went through with her previous surgery, Carol refused another open heart surgery to have the pump installed. I support her decision.

Don