AN ANGEL NAMED JOHN

And ~~~~ other items after Mickey's discharge from the hospital on Thursday, January 22nd.   

 Angels come in all different kinds and sizes - and our angel, who came to our aid upon Mickey's discharge after 14 days in the hospital, came in the form of this wonderful, fairly new church friend John.  The fact that John is an RN - well, you can see this was a God connection.  John came over every morning around 8:30 or 9 and changed Mickey's bandage where the drainage tube had been. On a couple of occasions, when the drainage was excessively heavy, he even came back a second time that evening.

I was so nervous about this situation and I literally do not know how Mickey or I could have handled those 6 days without his care, love, attention & help. We can NEVER thank John enough for truly being the hands, feet and heart of Jesus for us.

~~~~~~~

 John, his wife Heidi, and 11 year old daughter Addy-Johe visited Mickey in the hospital on Sunday, the 18th, and brought these adorable little plastic pipes for Mickey to practice and strengthen his lungs and breathing.  Marc & Aric joined us for dinner on Sunday, the 25th, and after dinner we ALL joined Mickey and competed in blowing the pipes and sustaining the little balls in the air.  I did the worst!!!!

On Monday, the 26th, Mickey dressed in REAL clothing like he wears, for the first time, and we ventured out to begin our daily Walking Program by making a short trip to Wal-Mart.  

I need to, and will do a post about the entire medical journey Mickey began on October 13, 2014 at a later date but could not wait to give John Gummel the thanks, praise and recognition he deserves. 

AN ANGEL NAMED CATHIE

Angels come in all types and sizes.

One of ours showed up at our home yesterday!!!

Mickey and I returned home from The King's Kitchen yesterday, which was the first Tuesday in a couple of weeks we were back in the Kitchen due to Mickey's Dr. appointments and tests, to this ~~~~~~~

Neighbor, friend and angel extra-ordinare, Cathie Hogate, decorating our ENTIRE front yard for Christmas.  This is the exact position we found her in, decorating the mail box.  I have to add, this was one of the coldest, nippiest days we've had so far this winter.

This lovely arrangement in one of my flower containers. 

T

Christmas wreath sitting on the front porch.

She wasn't finished yet and added a great big bow!

Have you ever had your tree trunk decorated?  Neither had I---but now I have!!

The wreath in place on the front door - with our Angel, and her sweet, precious smile.  

By now I have to tell you the tears are beginning to flow in my eyes.  I cannot tell you how very touched I was with this act of love and kindness from a dear friend and a breast cancer survivor.  

===============

This is not the first time Angel Cathie has shown up --- Last week, after Mickey had his pet scan David, Cathie's husband, had knocked on our door and came in carrying this adorable little basket filled with rice-krispy treats and chocolate mints, a get well card, and a medical magazine with one article highlighted and marked for Mickey to read. 

This gift basket hanging on the left side of the porch.  The little tag, folded like an envelope, reads Mickey's Mail. 

Cathie, who use to do all the decorations at our church, Coweta Assembly of God and in the beginning of The King's Kitchen, before she began her cancer battle, had been on one of the delivery route teams, 

grew some BIG Angel wings 

and brightened Christmas 2014 greatly for us.

Thank You Cathie and may God bless you greatly in the New Year - 2015.  

Thank you Cathie and David for being God's light and our dear friends. 

ANGELS ALL AROUND ME!!!

Please read this ENTIRE post

Mickey & I made a 2 day trip to Oklahoma City for him to have a heart test procedure done. We left home at 6:30 a.m. and his first appointment was at 9:30. I did all the driving and we were both so proud of me that I had done so well driving to and into this large city.

When I printed out the map showing the route I put in the 900 block of the street NW. It was really 900 block of the street NE!!!! So we drive up to this very small building that turns out to be an office of two attorneys. Mickey calls the hospital and asks the address and we realize the mistake I had made. Since it was only the 900 block it was not a serious one and we drove the 18 blocks to arrive at the correct place.

The VA Hospital is a huge place and when we stopped a young man wearing a badge to ask him how to get to the first appointment, he had 4 separate appointments all at different locations on different floors, he didn't just point and give us directions but said "Come on I'll take you there" and DID!

Here is a shot of Mickey waiting for one of the appointments. For the hospital being so large and the many people who were there for appointments the entire morning and schedule went like clockwork.

We were out before noon and I was able to call Annie and set up for us to meet her for lunch at 12:30 at the Cheesecake Factory. (See separate post here)

We stopped for a cup of coffee before leaving the hospital. Mickey had been fasting since midnight and had not has his usual 3 or 4 cups of coffee!! While we were having our coffee Mickey said to me (jokingly of course) "That's really good, Susan. You bring me to OKC, away from all the kids, and take me to an attorney's office to file papers against me and abandon me!" We had a good laugh over the ironery of that situation!!!

After a 2 hour lunch with Annie we went and checked into the hotel that VA had arranged for us. We had planned to go out that evening to Bricktown for dinner and to ride the gondola down the cannels but we were worn out and decided to grab a quick bite about 7 p.m. and just turn in for the night.

That evening in the hotel room we were talking about feeling like we literally were aware of our Angels all around us the entire day as so MANY people in the hospital had helped us, everyone was so kind and thoughtful, and everything had worked out so smoothly. There had even been an incident as I was nearing the hospital that I changed lanes and didn't see the car coming and was saved from an accident.

Tuesday morning Mickey is scheduled for his procedure at 7:30 a.m. We go out to the car and my key flob will not open the door and I have to open it with my key. We think "battery in the key flob must be bad". I put the key into the ignition and nothing. The car is absolutely DEAD. I cannot even get the key out of the ignition!!!

Here we are in a strange city, with about 20 minutes for him to get to the hospital, and the car dead. Mickey immediately calls the Road Service. You know how that is these days, as you listen through all the directions and punch this and that #. While he is doing this a couple comes out of the motel toward their car......I run over and say "Are you going to the VA hospital" "Yes" they are. "Can my husband hitch a ride with you?" and I explained the situation. I run and get Mickey and say "Get over there they'll take you to the hospital" and I take the phone and continue with the Road Service lady who tells me that a tow truck will be there within an hour.

I am NOT good in these type situations!!!! I get overly excited and upset and Mickey is always the calm, cool, collected one. By the time I get off the phone I am crying and very upset. I think "I've got to call Marc (our youngest son in Tulsa) and tell him he's just going to have to come and help me). I open my phone and dial 1-9 (I am preparing to dial the 918 area code) and the phone rings. It is Marc!!!!!! I begin my frantic, wild, fast talking to tell him what is going on and he says.....in the calmest voice (he is so much like his wonderful Father) "Mother.......calm down a minute". I stop talking and calm down and he says "I am in OKC. I am at the VA hospital but I haven't found dad. Tell me where you are and I'll come right to you." I hang up the phone and I am crying and shouting "Praise God" "Thank you Jesus" "Thank you Angels"!!!!

Marc said "I just "had a feeling" (we know it is the Holy Spirit!!) that I was to come to OKC today. I was not worried about dad at all but just "felt" I needed to be here"!!!

To make a long story short....the tow truck came, Marc & I proceeded to the hospital and actually got there by 9. Mickey was prepped but had not gone into the procedure yet so we were able to see him, let him know that Marc was there and with me, the car was being towed to the Chevy dealership and all was well. It was such a relief to Mickey to be made aware of all this before the procedure.

The test, which was suppose to last about an hour, ended up lasting three hours because they had some complications. Here was my dear son with me!!!!! It would have been so much harder for me to sit there by myself. When the test was done and we got to see Mickey in recovery they said he had to remain there until 3:30. Marc and I left to get the repaired car.......they had to replace the battery!!. We bought this car July 9, 2007 (read all about THIS episode here) and 1 year, 13 days later the battery is no good!!!!! It was all taken care of under the New Car Warranty, both the towing charge and the new battery.

After we got our car, had stopped for lunch and seen Mickey I told Marc to go ahead and come back to Tulsa but he insisted in staying with us until we ALL left OKC for Tulsa in our two separate vehicles.

No one will EVER convince me that I do not serve a God who loves me beyond measure and who is there to meet my every need. Do I get tested......oh yeah, over and over again........Do I grow a little more with the testing.......you bet I do. Do I love my JESUS, my husband & my son.......OH YEAH!!!!!

By the way, we solicit your prayers. Mickey's heart is fine, strong & good BUT they have discovered some heart disease in two arteries and one valve. We are waiting to hear from the VA and a higher group of surgeons about the next step of a possible double by-pass surgery.

ANGELS #7 - FOREVER FRIEND

This is the 7th in my posts about my Angel collection. The above Angels were given to me by my forever friend, Joan. This pretty much depicts us with our wild hair and style and our star declaring "Best Friends"

Joan & I met in the second grade. I was 6 years old and she was 7. Her BD is December 7th and mine is December 25th so I never could catch up with her....not even for a few days!! I hated it when she turned 13 before me, 21 before me. But now, I get to rub it in to her as she turned 50 before me, 65 before me and now 70 before me!!

Here we are with our beloved friend Alonzo, who I wrote about in my 100th Post. You can just see from this picture that we had a great time together. I'm the blond and Joan the brunette.

Here is a picture of us during our teen age years at a playground near my home in Santa Fe, NM where we both grew up and spend our entire childhoods.

Joan and I could have not been more different.

She was one of 6 children and I was being raised almost like an only child since my sister was 12 years older than me and left home when I was 6.

She was being raised by a hard working single mom because the father had abandoned her and his 6 children. I was being raised by a mother & father with a father who doted on me.

Joan and I did almost everything together. I've listed some of our adventures in my 100th post.

We were both good students, making good grades. We had the same friends. We spent a lot of time at each other's houses. She would stay over at my house a lot but I loved going to her house and sharing her twin size bed and taking a bath in the big galvanized wash tub sat in the middle of the kitchen. Even though her mom struggled there was always an extra bowl of beans or whatever for me to eat, too.

Joan eloped when she was 17 with a "flyboy" (air force) from Ohio who was stationed in Albuquerque. I was already married the same year to my high school sweetheart at 16. Joan hosted my baby shower when I was expecting. She was always there for me. Her first child, a son, is just 9 months younger than my oldest daughter and 3 months younger than my second daughter. She had a total of 3 children, 2 boys and her youngest a girl, and I had my 4, 2 older girls and 2 younger boys.

Joan and her husband moved to Ohio for a short time but then returned to Albuquerque. Except for that brief time in Ohio she has lived in Santa Fe and Albuquerque her entire life. I left New Mexico at age 21 and have lived most of my adult life in Tulsa.

From our childhood Joan always wanted to be a nurse. There are many things I admire about this forever friend of mine. One of the main things is she held on to her dream of being a nurse and after her youngest child was in school she enrolled at the University of NM. She not only got her nursing degree but graduated with honors!! Later, in the 1980's, after her husband of almost 30 years left her, she went back to the University and got her MA in counseling.

Joan has overcome many obstacles and come out on top every time. She remarried in the early 1990's and she and Jim (who had never been married) are enjoying a wonderful life together.

Even though we have been separated by many miles, for many years we have managed to keep our friendship vibrant. I made annual trips back to NM to visit both my parents and her for years. Later, after my mother moved to Tulsa my youngest son and I went to Albuquerque on many Spring Breaks and then we would attend the International Balloon Fiesta each October .

Here is a picture, taken at our home in Tulsa, where we are acting our usual silly selves!!

Here are Joan & I in my back yard at Tulsa. This shot was taken 11 years ago in 1996.

This is the last time we were together, in 2004, when they flew out for a few days and then we drove to Branson, MO for a grand few days going to all the shows and taking this boat ride.

None of us know what the future holds.....but one thing I know for sure.....I treasure my friendship of 63 years with my dear and precious forever friend and we will always be Forever Friends!!!

I love you Joan. Thank you for not only being my Forever Friend but my Sister of the Heart.

Paper Angel

I haven't even finished blogging about my angels and God blesses me with a new one!!

Monday night some dear friends, Jack & Mary, invited us over for a delicious dinner of Corn Beef & Cabbage. Mary is a gourmet cook and every meal she prepare is divine and always set on a beautiful table. She has many sets of beautiful dishes and the table setting always blends with what she has prepared. Such a joy and treat always. She even had a home made apple pie. Yummy :o)

Jack and Mary have given me quite a few of my angels and know how I love my angels. So after dinner Mary presents this darling card to me. It is hand made (she got and other delightful designs at a garage sale) out of paper, and then raised fabric, button, yarn etc. Isn't she precious? I love blue and have a lot of blue in my home so she fits right in. Of course, any angel always fits right in. If you go back and look at my post about my 3 fabric angels you can see she almost looks like them!!

In case you're new to my blog page and would like to read about some of my other angels you can do so by going to My Little Angel.

If you're not bored with my angels you can read more here and here. I still have a few others blogs to do about some more angels later.

Thanks for sharing one of my loves and treasurers. I'd love to know about some of your collections and loves.

P.S. I hope these links worked. Remember I'm still learning!!! If not kindly please let me know.
Thanks!

Angels #4

The angels I am going to share with you today are VERY special ones to me.

I have the joy of being born on Christmas Day.

I have always gotten a lot of comments like "It must be awful to have your birthday on Christmas and only get one present that says Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas". My parents were wonderful about that and I never felt that way.

One of the drawbacks of being a Christmas child was that a birthday cake was not on the Christmas menu, along with the pies and other normal Christmas desserts!

I can only remember two times that I had a birthday cake on my birthday.

Once was when I was 16 and my mother had a cake made for me that looked like a present.

It was wrapped in blue (icing) and the name tag read "To Susan". I was so thrilled.

The second time was about 10 years ago when my son-in-love Dave (married to our daughter Suzette and who loves to bake) made ME a birthday cake. When he made it he, of course, had no idea it was only the second time I had ever had one.

Talk about being surprised and happy. I was.

Christmas 2005 was the first time in a number of years that all 4 of our children were together for Christmas. It was such a wonderful and blessed time. Our daughter, Jacque, who had survived hurricane Katrina, had moved here with us. Our son, David, who lives in California had just married Nicole in April and they were here with us.

Just a grand time!

After dinner, and opening presents, Jacque walked out with this birthday cake!!! Now the cake alone would have thrilled me beyond words but as you can see......the cake was topped with four 3" porcelain angels. The angels each have a name and a different colored glass heart stone. Left to right there are: Hope (David) - Faith (Jacque) - Love (Marc) - and Joy (Suzette). I was weeping with joy!!!!

These 4 very little angels have a prominent spot

Not only to remind me of a very special moment and my 3rd birthday cake in 68 years

but to remind me of the 4 special and very unique children My Lord has blessed me with!

Angels #3

Welcome to my 3rd introduction of some of my angels.

This is my largest angel at 2'2""/

She is made of concrete and was given to me as a Christmas gift from my son, Mrc,

soon after we moved into our home in Coweta.

When you come to visit us she is there to greet you as you walk up our drive & walk.

This is a current picture and

yes, those lovely pansy's and buttercups are blooming now.

Sorry to all of you northerners still suffering in the cold!
As you proceed up our walk and onto the porch you will see this sign.

Yes, the blood line has been drawn around our entire family and our home.

We stand on His promise : "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation: there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh they dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over therr, to keep thee in all thy ways" Psalms 91:9-11

Thank you for coming to visit and letting our angels greet you..

Have a wonderful and blessed day.

Angels #2

I

I decided today to show some of my most treasured possessions with some of my angels..

My Bibles.

Not all these books reside on this table all the time. They have been placed here for the picture! What resides on this table are the current ones we are studying out of,

The King James and The Message, plus two devotional books and our prayer journal.

The angel on the back corner lives on this table with our daily devotionals, Bibles and books.

She is holding in front of her the letters L O V E with "my family"

written on the heart that forms the O. I bought her at a garage sale.

Since she is made of fabric I decided to include my two other fabric angels.

The one sitting on the left corner was given to me by our dear friends, Jack & Mary.

The little one sitting on the big Family Bible usually sits on the blue Fostoria bowll

on the lamp table behind. I purchased her but I don't really remember where.

These are the only fabric angels I have.

Sitting in front of my Message Bible is an angel made of tin. I know she is hard to see.

She has a blue robe with red trim on the bottom, sleeves and neck. She is holding a candle.

Her hair is yellow and her wing is dark pink. She is a Christmas ornament

that I bought in New Mexico. She lives in the corner of a picture frame.

The other two, sitting on The New American Standard Bible, are matching napkin ringsmadefor meby our good friends, Don and Barbara.

Now for the other books and Bibles on the table.

In the far left corner is our daily devotional book My Utmost For His Highest

by Oswald Chambers. While visiting my forever friend in Albuquerque

in October, 1997 she had one of these and I really liked it.

For Christmas of 1996 it was part of my Christmas gifts from Mickey.

We began it on 1-1-98 and are now in our 10th year of reading it daily.

To the right of the Large Family Bible is one of my many favorite books.

It is Andrew Murray on PRAYER. I received a gift certificate

for a local Christian Book Store from some girls I worked with,

just before we left on one of our long journeys to the

Eastern United States and Eastern Canada.

When I went to select books before we left this is one I purchased.

We began reading it in July 2000 and have since re-read it 4 other times.

This is a book that changed our lives in the area of prayer.

To the far right is The J.B. Phillips New Testament in Modern English.

I have had this New Testament for many years..

To the far left front is our LARGE Print AMPLIFIED Bible.

Sitting on top of that is my newest addition...it is a

Franklin Electronic KJV Bible.

This was my Christmas gift from my dear husband, Mickey this past year.

I love it!!

To the right of the Electronic Bible is our Prayer Journal..

This journal was a gift from my dauthter-in-love from a business trip she made

to Bangladesh in 2006. It is all handmade paper and very beautiful.

SOME TIMES YOU SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST,

The Bible in the far right corner is my King James Version of the Bible.

It reads Presented to.....

"My Wonderful & Lovely Wife - Susan"

From

"A devoted husband - Mickey"

"on our first anniversary - October 4, 1959"

It is my most treasured possession.

When asked the question, "If you could only save one thing what would it be?".

I never have to wonder or think twice. It would be this BIBLE.

After 17 1/2 yeqars the pages are paper thin,

We had it rebound in May, 1978 because it was falling apart.

I love THE WORD of GOD.

We also have a Living Bible.

The Marked Reference Bible by Vondervan

and a Spanish New Testament.

No Hay Amor Mas Grande

Mickey has a The Scofield Reference Bible. It was given to him by the Pastor when he was saaved on March 27, 1959.

In addition to the various Bibles.

we also value our reference books: W.E. Vine's An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Word; Vine's Complete Expositor Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary On The Whole Bible;

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible.

One of the MANY things I have always been thankful for is being born at a time

in history where we have so much knowledge at our fingertips in books.

Never, did I fathom the knowledge that is now available to us at our fingertips

clicking away on a keyboard and accessing all knowledge known to man.

WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

My Little Angel

Do you believe in angels? I do! Why do you believe in angels you ask? Because the Bible speaks repeatedly of angels. As nearly as I can count, there are 289 references to angels in God's Holy word.

My very favorite verse about angels is "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2. Isn't that an awesome thought....we might have, or possibly will have, the honor of entertaining angels!!!

Another verse I like is "Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" Hebrews 1:5&6

I received this little angel on a Christmas package when I was 8 years old. That makes her 61 years old!!!!! She has hung on my Christmas treeevery year until December, 2005 when I decided not to pack her away but leave her out to join other angels I have around my home. I have 25 angels around my home, plus a sign on my front porch that reads: House Protected By ANGELS and angel border wallpaper in my master bathroom. My angels range in height from 1 1/2" to 2'2". Many of them are very special to me, and I will be sharing more of my angels in other posts in the future, but this little angel is my favorite.

The reason this little angel is my favorite is because she reminds me of me. If you notice closely, her halo is crooked. So is mine!!! She is missing one wind. She's been through a lot. So have I!!! She's a little soiled. So am I!!! The beauty of her face is almost gone. So is mine!!! Her hands are still folded in prayer. So are mine!!! BUT she is still here, and so am I!!!

We had a pastor who use to make fun of "sissy female angels" saying that real angels are huge, masculine, massive and strong. I am sure they are, but I still love my pretty angels and they are a blessing to me. Thank you for letting me introduce you to this little angel. I hope you will enjoy meeting my other ones, too.