Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

My parents and so many of my hometown friends/family in Alabama were under the gun all day long today with the horrific tornado outbreak of over 130 tornadoes in the southeastern USA. My parents' amazingly beautiful homestead in a forest on a mountain, sustained lots of downed trees.....one in particular that we named Oakie, when I was a child, but their home was spared. Some of our friends were not so lucky as their homes and property sustained major damage. As far as I know tonight, everyone in our town was okay. Meanwhile, dozens of families are in mourning tonight over losing loved ones, and many are still missing. Please pray for these people.

About the time the tornado sirens had calmed at my parents' home, I got "the" call from my dad. My dad's father passed away this evening amidst the raging storms. I has been on the treadmill at the YMCA for a run, and I kept needing to ask God to steer the storms around my grandfather's home. He was there with a sitter, and he had a storm shelter, but due to the declining health because of cancer, there was no way for him to get across the yard to the shelter. I was so afraid he would wake and be afraid, stuck in the middle of his living room, unable to seek shelter as he has since I was quite young and he had the shelter built. My father's best friend is his dad. My heart aches for my dad tonight. And my mom. She loved my dad's parents like they were hers, and they had adopted her as another of their children when my parents married. I have been blessed with so many positive influences in my life, and my dad's parents were two of the strongest ones. So many wonderful, positive memories......traveling cross-country, listening to my grandfather play his fiddle, singing with my grandmother, fishing with them, calling them for advice as I was trying to grow up, listening to their Biblical wisdom (trust and obey!!!) and of course, those letters sent to my college dorm from them....each with a dollar for me to go "buy a grilled cheese." Precious. Priceless. To know I am this loved.....means everything. And to this I say BRING IT!!!!! Heaven is closer than we think. We will pass from this world into someplace meant for us. REALLY MEANT FOR US. We are not earthly beings planning to have a heavenly existence. We are heavenly beings having an earthly experience. THAT'S why this world is so hard for us to understand. We were not created for this world!!! I look forward to seeing my grandparents again.....seeing them youthful and smiling. Going fishing. LEARNING to play the fiddle, finally. Worshipping with them like I did as a child in their hot, muggy, tiny, perfect little church in Alabama. God placed me into love.....deep, real love with no strings, no exceptions, no violence or mistrust....simple, pure love. I am thankful.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Grouchy for another trip away for his job. Yuck. We hate it when he leaves!!! We also meet with Garrett's psychologist in Boise to go over the results and findings of her 5 hour evaluation of Garrett. Probably nothing new will surface, but we should get what we need for info to share with his school regarding his needing a full day program and an aide...one to one. Praying we hold up okay. Since the developmental pediatrics appointment last week, I feel the mentally retarded label will be completely placed into the closet for now as he isn't able to be tested well yet.

Blessings to you and please pray for the families across the southeastern USA who are not able to rest in peace and comfort tonight due to the horrible disaster of the weather there. And to Granddaddy.....I will see you soon. I love you!!!!!

Godspeed,
Clara-Leigh

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