An introduction...

This blog is so neat! I am horrible about keeping in touch with people. I try and then fail miserably, then feel so bad that I don't contact anyone *sigh*. That is why I like this blog so much, I fell like I can still communicate with everyone without it being an overwhelming failure. Some of you know me well, some maybe not so well so I want to introduce myself. Last weekend being Father's Day I thought I might start there. My dad died a few years back, 2005 I believe. He was born in 1922 and was 83 when he died. Here are a few pics of him

The first one is my dad at work, he worked in the main post office in Manhattan for many years

The next one is my mom and dad when they were dating

This one is of me and my dad, I was 4 years old and it was around Christmas time

My dad was a really interesting guy. I could and did talk to him for hours on end over cups of hot tea. He was an Irishman through and through! He was born in Newfoundland Canada in '22. His parents died when he was pretty young. My dad and his sisters went to live with foster parents where they were not treated very well at all. He was always a hard worker and had many different types of jobs, he retired from the post office, he retired from another job at a mailing company, he worked as a cook, upholsterer, he traveled up and down the east coast showing movies to the GI's coming back from the war. He was one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. One time, when I was in high school we were talking one night about what I was doing in school. I happened to be studying Shakespeare at the time and the man proceeded to start quoting Shakespeare he had learned when he was in school. Whole soliloquies!! He loved computers and instilled that in me, I used to love writing code on his computer and would sit there for hours doing so. I believe I was Daddy's little girl and that still makes me smile. I learned so much from him. As I grew up and got married at a young age (18) I still learned from him and talked to him often.

I was saved on Thanksgiving Day 1990. My husband was in the Persian Gulf for the 1st war there and it was just me and Britt (my recent home school graduate). I was having a grand pity party for myself that day. All alone, no one cared, or so I thought. That night the Lord showed me He cared and I was saved by God's grace. I can't believe that was almost 20 years ago!

I wanted my family to get saved and when we got into church I called our deacon and asked him how to talk to my parents. Well, I talked but neither one cared to listen much. I kept praying for my dad and mom. Praying for a Christian intercessor that my parents would listen to. In many ways I was still just their "kid".

My hubby got stationed overseas and while we were there my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. The military was kind enough to pay my way back home where I could take my dad and my mom to the many doctors appointments they had to go to. My dad had gotten rid of his car years earlier, by giving it to me :-), because he was having strokes. So I went home for a month and took care of both of them as much as I could. That was April of 2005, in October my mom started telling me my dad was slurring his speech, acting a bit crazy, and forgetting things. I told her to take him to the doc, he ended up going to the hospital where he was diagnosed with brain and liver cancer on top of his lung cancer. He was going down hill pretty fast so off I was again courtesy of the military. The thing was before I went I wanted to talk with my dad about salvation, his mind was going pretty quick due to the brain cancer and I wanted him to be in Heaven. I was praying about what to say and when to say it when sitting in church one Sunday morning and man stood to give a testimony. He said that Pastor Nutt, my pastor overseas, called his dad while he was in the hospital and he got saved over the phone! Boy a light bulb went off in my head, I was thinking, he could call my dad!!!! I asked him about it and he was very willing. He called my dad in the hospital and my dad said he couldn't talk right then cause he was going for a test but Pastor could call back. Pastor called and told me, he said he didn't think my dad was brushing him off and would wait a few hours and call him back. This was Monday morning for us. A couple of hours later I get a call from Mrs. Nutt and she said guess what? Your daddy just got saved!! I just started crying! The whole school was having a praise service about it right then and there. I called my dad and asked him if he got everything settled and he said yes, I said so you're going to be in Heaven and he said YES! WOOHOO! It was all gravy after that. I went home to provide my mom with some relief from taking care of my dad, she had been doing it pretty much by herself for 6 months and was exhausted. I went to the hospital every day and talked with my dad or just sat there with him. Towards the end he wasn't much for talking so we just were there together.. I had extended my time with him to 4 weeks as he was getting worse and I just wasn't comfy leaving him. I felt bad that my family was overseas walking on without me but they were well taken care of by friends and church family.

It was pretty funny cause he wouldn't let the nurses do anything for him, he would say no my daughter! He would hold up his arm and make a muscle showing that I had the strength to help him. I was honored to sit with him all day, he had worked so hard for me and our family that this was the least I could do. The really nutty thing was I finally felt like I belonged and not in a way you might imagine. I always have had some CDO tendencies (most people say OCD but folks like us like to put those letters in proper order :-)!) I never knew where I got them from, my mom never showed any signs and neither did my dad so I figured I was the strange one in the bunch. Well as my dad stopped talking so much and did more gesturing I finally saw where I got it from!! When I he would get his meals I would put everything in order on his tray so he could just point to what he wanted. He loved it!! I did it the same way every time and one day I was out getting snack so my mom readied his meal for him and she did it "wrong", I came in and he said "let the kid do it". I started having to teach my mom my OCD so it could cater to his OCD! I could be as weird as I wanted and it was comforting to him! FREEDOM!

Anyhow it was Thanksgiving day 2005, 15 years to the day that I got saved and I had to leave to go back overseas the next morning. My dad didn't know yet because we knew he would take it hard. He wasn't responding too much to us and my mom slipped that I was leaving tomorrow, he jerked right up at that! *sigh* not the way I wanted to tell him but...oh well. That night my mom left the room so I could say good bye to my dad. We both knew this was the last time we would see each other this side of heaven. I leaned down and asked if could pray with him and he said yes!! God is so good to give me such a gift, after all those years of praying the last thing I ever did with my dad was pray with him! It makes me cry just thinking about it and I not a crier :-)! I got home Saturday night at midnight, back overseas, I was able to go to church the next morning and give a praise report. That night at 11:30 PM I received a call from the hospice. He had just passed away! They called my mom first but she was in the rest room and didn't hear the phone so I was the first to get the news. The whole family was on a plan within 2 days for the funeral. Years before my mom had asked me to speak at my dad's funeral and she still wanted me to. I was able to get up in front of my whole family and give a testimony and read straight out of God's word the Roman's Road of salvation to everyone! What an honor! The Catholic priest wasn't too pleased but he will get over it, hehe. My hubby said "I preached pretty good for a girl" which was just the right thing to say to me, trust me.

I will see my Dad in Heaven, I thank my Heavenly Father for that privilege! Hope you know me and my dad a little better now, next post will be some pics of our graduate. I also wanted to leave you with an old pic of me, I was about 2 in this pic and I love it because I still make that same face today LOL!!