A Lost Art…. March 28, 2007

Is clumsiness a sport? If it isn’t, it should be. Josh and Abbie have made an art out of falling down, breaking things, splitting heads open and scraping knees….

Our latest “episode” came via telephone on Monday it went like this:

RING ~RING
click
Me – “hello”
Other person”~ “Ms Godzwa? This is Ms McCracken – the gym teacher at the school.”
Me ~hesitantly ~”yes, hello!”
Ms McCracken ~ “I just wanted to let you know that Abbie fell today”
Me ~ sighing ~ “Is it broken?”
Ms McCracken ~ “She was running the 1/2 mile and lost her footing around the corner of the track and fell onto the gravel….”
Me ~ “Is it broken??”
Ms McCracken ~”I just didn’t want you to be worried…”
Me ~ “IS IT BROKEN???”
Ms McCracken ~as if she didn’t hear me the other times…”Oh, it’s not broken, just scraped up real good…”
Me ~” Well, as long as it’s not broke, she’ll be alright”
Ms McCracken ~ “She has a bad gash on her elbow.. *

At this point I interrupt…

Me ~”Ma’am, does she need stitches? Do I need to come get her?”

I am wondering what the point is of this conversation if she’s not broken and needs no stitches…

Ms McCraken “I just want to let you know so she didn’t come home all banged up”

Isn’t she going to come home all banged up anyway?? Perhaps there is a new machine at the school I wasn’t aware of, one that zaps all wounds away…

Me ~ back into mom mode ~ ” well, as long as it’s not broke, we’ll take care of it when we get home, thank you for calling, I appreciate it!”

We have a few pleasant words and we say goodbye.

So I go to pick Abbie and Josh up after school and she has 2 of the largest band-aids I have ever seen on her arm and side….she basically removed the top 3 layers of skin from her forearm – up by the elbow, and her side… she has been fussing some, pain is obvious, but it also was the same arm she broke last year, so I think she has that in her head and is a tad worried…..not the dreaded pink cast again!!!!

I assume she fell gracefully and with much dignity and had it been at the Olympics she would have received a perfect 10!!!!

PS – I received another call shortly after and when the phone rang, and it was the school, I just knew it was broke!!! BUT they were calling to tell me that Abbie had one a coloring contest at school and won a BRAND NEW BIKE!!!! It made the bumps and bruises all better and her comment was as she came home that night

“Mama, no one has EVER ridden this bike before – except ME! Isn’t that awesome??”

Yes – it is awesome, God made a painful day into a pleasant one….

Homegoing…. March 21, 2007

Today while Tony and I were going out for a quick lunch, we received a phone call from a good friend of ours, at first, we thought it was just a friendly call, but then realized it was much more serious. John called to tell us his wife, Linda, had passed away….tears filled our eyes, and our hearts are sad now, as we think on our friend….

John and Linda were our best friends in college, much like a brother to Tony, he and Johnny went everywhere together, church, school…Earl Dukes BBQ……and his wife Linda and I became fast friends. John’s family adopted Tony, almost literally, he even resembled them physically!!! They became Mama and Daddy Kinsey. Soon it was Thursday’s at Linda’s while the “boys” went to Bible school and we sat at home watching ER! Soon, she and I both became pregnant, she with her 2nd child, and me with Josh. We spent many nights together playing Phase 10 and I remember well John’s booming voice as he rang out “set-a 4 and a run-a 4″. We spent holidays together, visited each other as often as possible even when they moved on to pastor a church, and we left for the mission field.

Linda developed serious medical problems while we were in Peru, she lost her eyesight to diabetes (that she didn’t even know she had) and it progressed into a loss of a foot, and eventually a kidney transplant and dialysis. She was a fighter, and Johnny loved her and cared for her, never complaining. Their two girls, Sarah (now 17) and Rebekah (11) are sweet girls, and jumped right in to help the family. It was sad to say that our conversations became fewer and far between, the distance became a challenge for us. Johnny would call when he could, but it was never like it was in Sumter so many years ago.

Today we say goodbye to our friend…we’ll see you in heaven. I am sad today but my heart is happy knowing that her first glimpse after being blind for so many years, was that of our sweet Lord, and her first step after being in a wheelchair, was onto Heavens shore.

Welcome home dear friend, you will never be forgotten, and we love you.

A picture is worth a thousand words March 20, 2007

I am sorry to say that finally after all these years…it happened….. I don’t really know how to tell you, or how to explain it away….but the picture says it all.

He has finally been sentenced to life………………………………………with me!!! ha ha

cute picture, isn’t it??

Spring is in the air!!!!! March 13, 2007

Spring has almost, sort of, trying to come….it’s a comfy 78 degrees today…..a lovely change from the freezing cold temps we’ve been fighting…and with warmer weather comes flowers, spring plants, the trees beging to bud and then it happens, along comes the sneezes, the running noses, coughs and watering eyes….thanks to pollen and allergies..we suffer through these months, longing for the days of summer….

But for now, we will battle through it, purchase many boxes of kleenex and many bottles of Tylenol sinus and Nyquil…it’s just lovely…..

Abbie started the cycle….snot dripping everywhere and coughing all over us…then it hit me…put me down for 3 days—Tony was rather happy, I couldn’t talk!!! Then Tony began, but was thankfully spared and Josh started last…but seems to have a better immune system than we do…. I think Abbie and I will suffer and watch from inside the house where we sit with the best air purifier in the world is working 24/7 to clean our air, while Josh and Tony do all the hard labor in the yard, plant flowers and mow the grass…

Perhaps it is a blessing instead of a curse??

I guess it depends on who you ask….