WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is a heart and soul connection that only God can make that transcends our human understanding.

Such is a love is my connection with Kathy Wright and her wonderful family from Phoenix, Az.

It all began seven years ago, on April 24, 2007,  in the wonderful land of BLOGS.  I stumbled (no, in hindsight I know it was God's leading me) onto a blog called The Bumbling Genius by Kathy's husband, Danny.  I liked and approved of what I read and became a faithful follower of Danny's blog.

On April 2, 2008 Danny informed me his wife, Kathy, had started a blog called A Field Lilly and invited me to visit it and meet her.  I checked it out immediately and knew this was an instant connection.  

We followed each other faithfully and during the Cancer Battle of our daughter, Suzette, and her trip to Heaven on May 19, 2011 I found GREAT strength and comfort from both Kathy & Danny.

Our first MEETING, in real life, occurred on July 2, 2011 when we finally got to meet the Wrights - Danny, Kathy, Daughter Bethany, Son Daniel.  What a grand time we had celebrating July 4th together and their visit of 3 days, our friendship grew.  

Our second meeting occurred in September, 2012 when Mickey & I, along with help from Danny and their wonderful, dear friend Mary Lee worked hard on arrangement when Mickey & I decided to SURPRISE Kathy with an unannounced visit on September 29, 2012.  What a fabulous 3 days we got to spend with them and the friendship grew.

Fast forward to Sunday, April 12, 2005

Kathy & her lovely daughter Bethany came to Tulsa!!!

I planned a surprise Get-Together of the WOW Woman (Woman of the Word) Bible Study group, of which both Kathy and another DEAR Connection, Retha Naidoo, belong via the private fb group.

There were only 5 of us from the group who were able to make it Sunday afternoon after church for our Luncheon but we had a good time.

(Left to right, Jenny Oswald, Thelma Horton, Kathy, Bethany, Patty Ross, Susan Joyce, Kathy Robinson.)

  

Bethany celebrated her 15th Birthday on the 10th so I surprised her with a cake. 

Bethany blessed Mickey & I by playing a song for us on her violin.

It was beautiful and such a joy and blessing.

The bad part of this 3rd visit was that it lasted only about 5 hours.

Part of this visit was to encourage Mickey who has been fighting the Aorta Heart Valve replacement process for the past 8 month.

Mickey is giving Kathy driving instructions as they are leaving.

Kathy blessed me with this lovely bluebird picture with the verse 

His compassions fail not

They are new every morning

Lamentations 3:22-23

I had the perfect place to hang it, even with a nail already in place!, over the sliding glass doors in our living room.  Right where Mickey can see it as he watches his bluebirds building their nest, sitting on the eggs, and awaiting the new life of baby birds flying away.

Now - Mickey & I are waiting and looking forward to visit #4!!!

Don't know where -

 Don't know when - 

but are confident there will be a 4th. 

And we'll be seeing all 4 Wrights, including Danny & Daniel, next time, too.

How I thank my Father God for placing this wonderful family in our lives and the ability to stay connected, almost on a daily basis, via fb and still share our blogs.

FRIENDSHIP/KINSHIP

Mary Lee Glassburn

God works in marvelous ways in the lives of His own.

Such is the story of our friendship and connection with Mary Lee. In September,2012 our California son was flying Mickey & I to San Francisco for a visit with him.  I asked if we could first fly into Phoenix for a few days to visit a dear couple, Danny & Kathy Wright, and their children, Bethany & Daniel.  Our son David was agreeable and the flights were booked.

I wanted to SURPRISE Kathy with this visit so contacted Danny privately and told him our plans and could we pull it off.  Danny was agreeable and connected us with Mary Lee, who I knew a little bit, via blogland, to work out the details. 

During the following weeks, through e-mails back & forth, Mary Lee took care of locating the motel for us to stay in that was close to The Wright's home.  We had planned to fly in, rent a car and proceed to said motel, but Mary Lee insisted we did not need to rent a car, she would pick us up at the airport!!!

When our plane landed on Saturday here was Mary Lee, not only picking us up but informing us that she had taken off work on Monday and would be our "wheels and chauffeur" the entire weekend and take us to the airport on Monday to fly on to San Francisco. She and Danny had also devised the "cover-up" of Danny suggesting that he and Kathy go garage selling that morning so Mary Lee could get us to their home.  Danny & Kathy entered the house via their garage and the children detained Kathy in the kitchen as Danny joined us for the grand SURPRISE.  

THIS is what Kathy saw, a few minutes later, as she made her way into their living room.

Talk about surprised.  Yes, Kathy was VERY surprised!!  

The 7 of us spent all day Saturday visiting and talking, and TALKING, and visiting some more.  

Mickey & I wanted to treat us all to a nice dinner so they selected a wonderful Italian place that was quiet and the food was delicious.  We had our waiter take this picture of our group.

By now it was almost bedtime, after a full, busy day so Mary Lee took us to our motel, and she went home.  The next morning Mary Lee, Bethany & Daniel picked us up and we joined Kathy & Danny at their church, Covenant Grace, and we had the joy of participating in Worship lead by Kathy with Danny on the drums.

Back to The Wrights lovely home after church and a delightful meal prepared by Kathy.  Another wonderful afternoon with the 7 of us talking, sharing and sharing some more.

Monday morning Mary Lee in her vehicle, and all the Wrights in theirs, are picking us up at the motel.  We check out and all go out to breakfast before saying our goodbyes and Mary Lee driving us to the airport for our departure.

These 3 days with Mary Lee and getting to know her developed a very deep kinship and a place in our hearts for her that was deep.  

When her journey with her illness began we were in constant contact with Kathy, praying daily and holding her in our thoughts and sending Mary Lee a few cards of encouragement.

From our physical distance of many miles and several states away we held Mary Lee close to our hearts and always in our thoughts. Yes, God had cemented a connection between our Spirits and hers. Although we weren't there we are fully aware of the GOOD fight of Faith that Mary Lee fought.

We have shed many tears over the last 4 days after hearing Hospice had been called in and her family was with her.  Mary Lee's fight with the dreaded CANCER (how I hate that word!!) was very similar to that of our beloved Suzette so it hit Mickey & I especially hard.  Yes, they both fought such galant fights of good faith and ready to go HOME where there is no sorrow and no tears. 

---------------------

Sharing a few pictures that I got via Kathy to show the many reasons why we loved her and who she REALLY is.

Putting one over (or trying to)on Kathy.  Instigated by Mary Lee I'm sure!!

 The love and patience she had for Bethany & Daniel. I love this picture because it shows how long she has been an important part of their family.

Her beloved Sunday School class

Always the beloved cut-up.

Mary Lee's Memorial Services

today, June 28, 2014 at 11 a.m.

Covenant Grace Church

Phoenix, Arizona

We are there in Spirit and in our Hearts!!!

Tell our Suzette "hi" and give her a BIG HUG

you're going to get to see and meet her before we do.

We love you, Mary Lee,

         Mickey & Susan 

PRAYER SHAWL #9 - Kathy & Gift Exchange

This 9th Prayer Shawl was prayed over by my Woman of the Word Bible Study that I host every Tuesday evening in my home.  We call ourselves the WOW Woman.

You who follow this blog on a regular basis know that the first prayer shawl I ever made, a solid red, was given to our daughter, Suzette, on September 28, 2010, the very night of the day she was diagnosed with stage IV Lung Cancer.  I had made it earlier, and was making one for each of my 4 children, to be presented to them at Christmas 2010.  I was so very thankful that God knew that Suzette would need it before Christmas.  Another example of the All Knowing - All Caring God we serve. 

I actually began this 9th shawl on Saturday, April 23rd while Suzette was in the hospital.  She was hospitalized for 7 days and each of these days I would sit there in the room with her and talk to her.  Oh my how we did talk.  I could converse with her and still be working on the shawl and when she was sleeping I was able to work on the shawl as I prayed over this latest Golden shawl for a very special person, and the first non-family member.  Suzette was very interested and excited that I was working on the first shawl for someone outside of our family and felt like she "knew" the person because we had talked about her so often. 

After Suzette left the hospital and during those last days of her at home and with hospice I never touched the shawl.  I must be honest and confess that it was very hard for me, several weeks ago, to finally be able to pick it up again and finish it as I wept for our loss and prayed for this dear friend who I would soon have the privilege to meet. 

Monday, July 4th, I had the joy of presenting this shawl to my dear precious blog friend, Kathy, in person!!!!  It was such an honor.

Danny sharing in the moment of the presentation and thank goodness my sweet Mickey had the presence of mind to get these 2 pictures of the event!

This beautiful, delicate 8" bowl was presented to me by Kathy.  It has been given the honor of residing in the very center of my large coffee table.  This way I can be reminded daily of such a wonderful, special friendship of the 2 of us as I observe these two precious birds on this lovely piece.  Thank you, Kathy!!!

A SPIRITUAL CONNECTION

People, who are not bloggers, just have NO idea how we can "meet" someone through the blog (cyberspace) and become so intimate with them that a connection is made that often transcends a close day to day, in person relationship.

Such was my connection with The Wrights.  I first met Danny on April 24, 2007 when he left a comment on a blog I had done on famous quotes.  I immediately checked out his blog, The Bumbling Genius, and have been a faithful follower ever since.  Danny gets me "out of my comfort zone" and makes me think deeper.  I appreciate that greatly.

Then on October 2, 2008 Danny notified me that his wife, Kathy, had begun blogging as A Field Lilly.  I visited her very first post and don't believe I've missed many of her posts since.

My connection with Kathy grew to such an extent, on a Spiritual level, that she is one of the people I leaned on (and I do mean LEANED) as we dealt with our daughter, Suzette's illness, and then death.  We became so close on that spiritual level that I added her to the private fb account of the Bible Study I host every Tuesday evening in our home, Women of the Word, or as we call ourselves WOW Women.  I did this on May 21st just 2 days after losing Suzette.

Way back, last year some time, Kathy told me they were planning an extended trip to GA in 2011 and wondered if we were any where near to their route.  I IMMEDIATELY googled map quest and found out we were about 60 miles, or 1 hour, off their path.  That was too close not to come in my opinion!!!! 

This trip was to commence in May of this year and plans were made for them to stop by and spend a couple of days with us on their way to Georgia.  I put off to the last minute to call them with the sad information that hospice had been called in with Suzette.  If it had been just Danny and Kathy, adults, I would have had them come then.  It would have been such a strength for Mickey and I and I would have loved for Suzette to get to meet them because she had heard me talk so much about them.  But since Bethany and Daniel are just children, and did not know us, we felt it would be hard on them to be thrust into such a situation.   

So, instead they said they would come on their return trip.  That happy, long anticipated day finally arrived on Saturday, July 2nd (which happened to have been my mother's BD!) at about 8:30 p.m.  I had shared with Danny and Kathy that it really turned out better for me because anticipating their coming had given me a "forward" look, instead of looking back so much at our sorrow. 

Daniel, Kathy, Bethany, Danny

One of the joys and excitement for us was their getting to attend our Church service with us at Coweta Assembly of God.  July 3th turned out to be a Patriotic Service which was very good. 

After church Marc, Oksana and Aric joined us for lunch and the remainder of the day and evening.  I fixed my Beef Strogenoff for dinner and Oksana made a German Chocolate Cake with Apples and Nuts.   

That evening we had a Patriotic Festival at CAG beginning at 6 p.m. with hot-dogs, hamburgers, all the trimmings, baseball games. inflatables of jostling and wrestling, and then a big firework display.  After the church firework display Marc and Oksana shot off the fireworks Marc had bought for another little show.  What a fabulous, fun packed, eventful day.  Kathy and Danny were also able to meet a lot of our Church Family.    

Danny - Kathy

I, who usually drive everyone crazy taking pictures, kept forgetting to take pictures and even forgot my camera when we went out so just a few will have to suffice.  On the trip from Memphis to Coweta the A/C on their car had quit running.  And yes, they were dealing with 100+ temps!!  Fortunately, our good friend Mike, the one who does all the vehicle work for us, took time on July 4th to check out the A/C.  It turned out to be a certain part but Danny could not get it that day because all the dealership's parts departments were closed.  

Danny and Kathy took us out to dinner on the evening of July 4th.  We went to Stone Mill for Bar-B-Que and Kathy had catfish.  A delightful dinner and time in an almost empty restaurant.  After eating we took them for a ride across Broken Arrow and the southern part of Tulsa to Jenks and the Arkansas River.  Coming back, after it had gotten dark, fireworks were going off in the various neighborhoods.  We stopped at McD's where we bought ice cream cones for everyone and then parked, in a business parking lot near 131st and Elm in BA,  got out of the car and enjoyed a delightful show of 360 degrees of fireworks going off in all the surrounding neighborhoods.  The Wrights had never see anything like that and it was a thrilling, fun time.  

Danny was over by about 7 on Tuesday morning and called a dealership and located the part.  Mickey and he left about 7:30 to go pick it up.  They drove the car and the part directly to Mike's house where he had it installed within a 1/2 hour.  Talk about God looking out for his own!!!

We had coffee and breakfast out on the patio each of the 3 mornings.  Danny commented that he had seen the patio table and chairs we were seated at several times on my blog covered with a snow from a big storm!!! :o)  This was such a special time, and we would remain there until it got too warm and we had to move into the house.  

We talked, and we talked, and we TALKED all day and into the night and up to midnight.  Even then we didn't want to stop but knew we had to.  We shared and we shared and we shared...anything and everything.  From the silly, to the deepest levels in the Spirit.  

Kathy and I so wanted her to be able to stay for the Tuesday night WOW Women's meeting but that was not to be :o(  Both Kathy and I begged and begged but it did not happen.  

  

Daniel loading up, Bethany switching the bugs she collected to their traveling pouch, Danny loading up.

Bethany and Kathy leaving the USS Oklahoma Submarine - our RV they had stayed in and that Aric, Daniel & Bethany had named it while playing together in it on Sunday.

Away they go --- and yes --- parting is such sweet sorrow.

None of us know for sure what the future holds for the 6 or us...but one thing we know for sure - God has made a connection between Danny, Kathy, Mickey & Susan that will last and extend into Heaven.

I will have another follow-up post of Kathy and I exchange of gifts.