Dear Benny

As we remain in this world, our dear brother, Benny, is right now with the Lord! Amazing thought--absent from the body, present with the Lord!

What a dear man. He leaves behind a family that is crying and trusting. He was such a blessing--quietly working in the background. It was such a joy to be around him. He always made me laugh, too, but was always ready to talk about the goodness of the Lord. He was so hospitable, and I count as some of my best times of fellowship those spent at his home. And he could cook some serious brisket--not corned beef, but serious Texas barbeque brisket. And he loved doing it for us.

His favorite song was "The Love of God," which is one of my favorites. One verse in particular I think is just exquisite:
Could we with in the oceans fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade--
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.
I will always smile at the memory of dear Benny when I sing that, if I can make it through the song without crying.

Thank the Lord for His glorious salvation. He saved Benny, and He saved me. Trophies of grace. What a wonderful memory and legacy and heritage he leaves behind. I loved him.

Welcome Home!

Boy, howdy! I thought I was gonna have to start Blog #3 because I forgot my blogspot password in Georgia. It's good to be home, where I'm already logged in. Good thing.

Georgia! Land of New Baby Grands and Little People and Humidity. AND reasonable temperatures.

I was so sweetly introduced to Naomi Joy, age almost 2 months, shortly after arriving in Georgia. But first I must tell you about the flight! Hold on, little baby--be right back!

THE FLIGHT! Good thing Sarah came along with us and The Papa, as we really needed her! What a sacrifice--riding to D/FW in the back of the Mitsubishi between two car seats! True love. Two rolling suitcases, 2 carseats (one which comes apart extremely inconveniently!), a carry-on bag that leaked water all through the terminal (should've put the water in bottles: hindsight!), and two children: Ian, 4, and little Sarah, 2. The airport was packed (what's new), and I had no clue how to do the etickets. Good thing The Papa had to go to The Potty! He parked, and he and Sarah came in with us. They waited with the chillins while I figured out the etickets (what a convenience! You should've seen the LINES!!), and I called them to bring everything and everybody over (how did we EVER live before cell phones?!). Lovely check-in, and we said goodbye. As in Goodbye, carseats! Joy! (What a pain.)

THEN we had a 3-hour wait. The kids, to their credit, were great. To my credit, I was great, filling the carry-on bag with TREATS and new toys and other cool things. The little darlings played with their wind-up cars in the corner for a good amount of time, ate an amazing number of Nutri-Grain bars, and tried to talk me out of many bags of those fruit-chewy thingies. I thought to myself, if they get airsick, I don't even want to be on the same PLANET! GAK! I myself (how redundant, but makes sense in context) was forearmed with chewable Dramamine (technically, Bonine--not to be confused with all things cow-ish).

I am very grateful that my grandchildren have cast-iron bladders. I pictured my worst nightmare for this trip: "I have to go potty" on the plane! Those bathrooms are SMALL, and I could picture one of them HOWLING while I took the other one and left one behind to torture the neighboring passengers. And they kept asking for drinks the whole time at the airport, AND on the plane--water, Sprite. I prayed a lot. I don't know that they've gone potty yet. Beautiful children. They were great about flying, and we decided the clouds looked like marshmallow fluff, which is the marshmallow stuff in a jar (perfect with peanut butter sandwiches, a concoction which I introduced them to this visit. Try it.).

More on the next blog. I wonder if they fine you for making your entries too long....