Why is Meme so silly?

I am just grandchild crazy. I think after all these years, I just suddenly realized what a nut I am when my grandchildren do the least little neat thing.

I can remember when my kids were growing up that we called my Mom and told her everything they did because we loved to hear her cackle. She was a laugh-er.
O.K., this is all making sense to me now. I am a cackler. It's Mom's fault.

Yesterday, Amy and I talked on the phone and she shared with me that one and half year old Quinn had finally started saying "Meme". I said, "uh-uh!!!" She said, "yes, she does, LISTEN. Oh yeah, she said it. I screamed bloody murder and Bill came running in here to see if I had a cardio-infarction. (tee-hee) She is saying (or at least trying to say everything that everybody tells her to now. She loves getting chuckles. "Little Miss Show-Off!! She even tries to say GAMECOCKS! (cock-cocks) Anyway, I got to thinking how much I have loved the little advancements my grandchildren make and I am going to scream every time. They think I am super silly and I think they like it.

I love that Morgan , my oldest grandchild is excelling at Volleyball. She's tall and beautiful and likes BOYS!! NO, that can't be!










I love that Madyson, is a cheerleader at her school. You Go Madyson! She's a beautiful girl too. She is a blondie with a cute figure.






I love that Ashlyn is such a good singer and is so loving to me. She is my beauty who I often call "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" with her cute freckles. She just recently accepted Christ as her SAVIOR.





I love that McKenna is doing great in her all female class at school. She is gorgeous and is such a helpful girl. She can cook, clean and take care of Quinn.









I love that Bailey always cares about how she looks. She is destined for the fashion world. She is beautiful too, inside and out.










I love that Avery is so mischievous and can do anything she tries to do. She is so funny. I have laughed at her all her life. She is such a cutie with her perky personality. One little side note- McKenna, Bailey and Avery led one of their neighbor girls to the Lord. That made me so happy.








Then lastly, there is Quinn. She is full of life, exploring all around the house.
She is a teaser and really knows how, at one and 1/2 years, to totally wrap you around her finger. That's o.k. I love it. Hey, Have I told you she can say Meme?

What is it about fall?

What is it about fall that even on the warm days that there is still a hint of autumn in the air? You can just feel it. There is nothing better than the colors of autumn and the smells of autumn. It is my favorite season. As hot natured as I am, the coolness of autumn gives me hope that I MAY BE COOL AGAIN.

One of the things I missed when we left in the states in 1985 to go to the mission field was the changing of the leaves. We got to Costa Rica in December of 1985 to study Spanish for a year before we went to our country of service - Venezuela. After completing the intense year of study, we were anxious to go on to Caracas, Venezuela. We were ready to settle down and begin our missions career. Little did we know that suddenly the doors to Venezuela closed to missionaries and it took another year and 3 months to get our visas cleared to go in. Needless to say, it was devastating to us. We had, however, a wonderful ministry while we continued living there to thousands of refugees who had fled Nicaragua because of the war. The time was not lost.

Back to fall and my reason for this post. When our visas weren't granted and we ended up staying so long in CR, I found myself really missing the fall weather that we had in South Carolina. I especially missed the changing of the leaves. Hailing from the upstate of South Carolina, I grew up loving fall with its smells and colors.
My Mom must have sensed that I was homesick or, actually, I probably told her a dozen times. You can imagine my surprise when I went to our post office box one day and pulled out a package from home. In it, my Mom had sent us fall leaves - beautiful reds, yellows, and oranges all neatly between waxed paper and ironed out in a beautiful collage. I cried. It made my day. I kept those leaves for the longest time. A little bit of home and a little bit of fall all in one envelope. What could be better?

Where Does Time Go?

I used to hear my Mom say, "Don't wait to do that. Time passes so fast" She often said that after she turned 50, time seemed to fly by. I can relate to that. Today our middle daughter, Missy, turned 33. I can remember so vividly when she was born. But, let me back up a little. I became pregnant with Missy in 1975. Even though this pregnancy wasn't planned, it had gone great. I had no morning sickness. Actually, I used both my pregnancies as an excuse to eat. (for which I am still paying for until this day.) Remembering back to one particular day of that pregnancy this comes to mind: I had worked at the NC Dept. of Revenue and returned to work for about 3 months after our first daughter, Amy, was born. I had made lots of friends at the Revenue Dept. and one Saturday decided to go up and visit one of my revenue friends for the day. We had a great visit but toward the end of it, I began to cramp so much but only in one side of my stomach. I told my friend that I had better go because I felt like I was going to be sick. It was only about 5 miles back to my house. When I got home and pulled in the carport, I could not even get out of the car. I was in horrific pain. I literally leaned over the horn and blew it to get Bill's attention to come out and get me. Being 3 months pregnant brought so much to mind that the pain could be. I thought about tubal pregnancy. "Was I miscarrying?" I told Bill that I had to go to the hospital. By then, I had begun to vomit and was in such pain that I could not even stand straight. When we got to the hospital, the doctors did blood work and examinations to try to determine the source.
The doctor came in looking pretty somber and said the blood work showed elevated white count but that even still, with my being pregnant, they were not able to determine exactly what the problem was. He told Bill I was going to have to undergo exploratory surgery to determine the exact cause. Well, that scared me to death.
He said they were going to have to cut me longways down the middle of my stomach.
I was living in the "old days" when they hadn't even heard of laparoscopic surgery.
Long story short, when they got in there, they found that everything was fine with the baby, but my appendix were about to rupture and that was the problem all along.
You know, they took those appendix out sewed my tummy back up. The doctor came in and told us that I more than likely would have some bleeding and there was a slim chance that I would lose the baby. BUT I DIDN'T!! She's 33 today. Can you believe they can cut you open so near to your unborn and take something out and your baby never be harmed? God must have really wanted me to have her, right? (Jer. 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.") Jer 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Let's fast forward to September 5, 1975, the DAY Missy was born. I had been in hard labor but had only dilated to a 3 after several hours of being in the hospital. Finally, though, I reached a point that they said they could give me my epidural.
Well, wouldn't you know it? As soon as the epidural started, the CONTRACTIONS STOPPED!!! STOPPED, I SAY!!! The doctor came in and said,(as he rubbed his head lamely) "I guess I will go on home for dinner and be back in a while to check on you."
About that time I wanted to start screaming "don't leave me." I DON'T WANT TO HAVE THIS BABY BY MYSELF. Actually, I wanted to call him some names.....some BBBAAAADDDD names. Next he said, "I believe while I am gone we will just turn the anesthesia to the epidural off and see if your labor will start back. And with that, he walked out the door. It took about as long as it took for him to get to the elevator to go to his car and I started hurting. He didn't even hear me yell. His stomach was growling. Guess what, it took long enough for him to get to his car and "I DILATED TO A 10....10 I say!!! That's a 10 without anesthesia. The nurse sent someone to try and catch the doctor. I was screaming bloody murder with pain. I hadn't had Lamaze. I didn't know how to breathe. In fact, I held my breath. I screamed for the nurse to TURN THAT ANESTHESIA BACK ON. In her nice little "nursey" voice she informed me that she could not do that without a doctor's order. At that point, the beast came out in me...! I grabbed that NURSEY by the nurses uniform and told her in no uncertain terms that I could care less about orders and that I WAS GOING TO KILL HER IF SHE DIDN"T TURN THAT JUICE BACK ON. Bill was there with me and he even had a hard time holding me back. I guess I wasn't really going to kill her. I just felt like I could. This is a Christian who is a preacher's wife shouting "kill,kill!!!
You know, I don't remember much after that. She was born; I didn't have to hurt anybody. Thirty-three years later, she makes me laugh, makes me cry, blesses me in every way. I am so glad I didn't have to go to prison after she was born. It would have been awful for someone else to get to raise her. I love you Melissa Diane Cashion Bryant.