THANKS TO YOU

Ya'll have made this young woman so happy she doesn't know whether she's a-washin' or a-hangin'!  Doesn't she look like she's just won the lottery and then some?  It all began over at Marydon's 'Blushing Rose' when she heard our darlin' Angel Dawn was havin' some problems.  I tell ya that Marydon has a heart that is bigger than Heaven and all of Texas!  This most generous woman posted that she wanted to bless Angel this Easter season and the prayers, boxes, cards and letters came floodin' in faster than the risin' water in the clogged commode.

After the initial shock of a completely loaded table subsided, Miss Angel got busier than a farmer with one hoe and two rattlesnakes tearin' into all the love gifts that were sent from Marydon's wonderfully considerate blogmates.  It was so very overwhelmin' for her,  I had a friend help Miss Angel with all her goodies!

Faster than a knife fight in a phone booth the elated girl began to open the love boxes one by one.  Even with a helper it took a full hour to open all the gifts presented that day.  There were more gifts and days that I had younger kiddos in Kid's Church that would not understand why Angel had presents and they didn't.  Those days the gifts were simply sent home with her.  I've received three more love packages just this week.

I have to tell ya'll that each and every package and card thrilled this thirteen year old's heart.  Items came from all over the United States.  Gifts were shipped from sunny California to the tropics of Florida.  Boxes were sent from New York to Texas and everywhere in-between.  Shoot, there were a couple things from Canada and yesterday a package arrived all the way from England!!! Not only have ya'll touched Angel in a most special way,  if this Ozark Farm Chick was any happier~ I'd be twins!!!!  I know...scarey thought but your outpourin' has truly blessed my heart and moved my very soul.  Ya'll rock!

 

Angel received beautiful hats of all shapes and forms Heaps of art supplies and jewelry kits  that'll keep her busy for days to come.  Beautiful handmade journals and pretty delicate  handmade boxes stuffed with delicious candies.  There were stunnin' handmade quilts, scarves, wraps, jewelry, afghans, pillows and purses.  She opened word searches, notepads, books,CD's, devotionals, stickers, cut out dolls, bears and angels.  Heck, one card even held cash in the form of two dollar bills.  Miss Happy can glee over new clothes, bubble baths, sweet lotions, perfumes and nail treatments.  The list goes on...I have filled four legal pad size pages with the gifts received.  'Blows me away!

Doesn't this smile melt your heart?  Angel has undergone two brain stem surgeries and months of chemotherapy that was completed last September to obviate brain stem cancer . I gotta tell ya I've observed some symptoms in Miss Angel that have truly burdened my heart. They've left a bad feelin' that is hangin' on me like a booger ya can't thump off even though her Mama tells me all Angel's test have come back on a positive note.   Please pray for her.

 

On top of this several weeks before Easter Angel blacked out at school.  When she came to she couldn't tell the responder her name, birthday or where she was.  She was transported to St. Johns Hospital where she's been treated. A blood test was ran and they sent her home.  A couple weeks later, a MRI was ran and Mom was told everything was OK.  Now, if that don't put the pepper in the Gumbo!!!  

 

 Just between you me and the fencepost, Miss Angel has recently complained of headaches. Bless her heart, she began droppin' weight. I see trouble with balance and short term memory on top of some other issues I won't mention.  I pray I'm wrong but my heart is heavy.

 

Last time ya'll blessed Angel I wrote the thank you notes in Angel's words, addressed the envelopes for her and let her sign 'em.  This round I've enclosed a blank thank you notes in each box or package for her to write her own. 

 

If for some reason she doesn't carry through, I want to personally thank ya'll for each prayer, card, letter and package that was sent.  I'm blown away with the response and know this young woman feels the love that has surrounded her through your gifts.  Can't ya tell her heart is meltin' in the picture below?  There are simply not enough 'THANK YOUS!

 

 To top everything off, Mailman Larry handed me yet another box which I assumed was for Angel.  Imagine my surprise when I noticed it was simply addressed to Nezzy.  Yep, I'd won a giveaway over at Miss Marydon's place, Blushing Rose ,that I didn't even realized I'd won.  What a wonderfully amazin' surprise it was too!!!  This beautiful charmin' box contained a vintage doorknob filled with a teeny tiny flower bouquet created by Celestina Marie Design for Marydon's giveaway but wait...that's not all!  Celeste added a beautiful angel topped heart ornament just for bein' me. Can you imagine?  What precious sweethearts these ladies are.  Please pop over and pay 'em a visit, I'd be much obliged!

 

 Tyler Collins is a singer~songwriter who's name ya might not recognize.  She's sang with Prince and played Cinderella on an episode of  "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."   She began singin' as a lead with an R&B group called 'The Boys Next Door". She recorded "Never Alone" (Eeyore's Lullaby) for Winnie the Pooh tribute album.  This talent has sang R&B, pop and adult contemporary music from 1987 to present day. Miss Tyler has also written song for Celine Dion, Shanice and Jeffrey Osborne.

Today I want to present this song to you.  God has used your hearts and your hands to touch a young stranger miles away.  God has overwhelmingly blessed me by touchin' our lives,  for this I want to say "Thanks to You"!!!  Please listen won't ya?

God bless ya'll!!!

PAPER ROSES

This Ozark Farm chick was shakin' like a fifty cent ladder on gutter cleanin' day when I listened to the weather and heard the frost warnins. When I turned in late last night it was thirty seven degrees and droppin'. My heart sank like a mobsters victim. Oh, my beautiful roses had buds, all my lovely perennials had pushed their heads through the earth. I'm a tad high strung and wound tighter that a three day clock but late last night....I would'a made a pressure cooker look calm.

At thirty one degrees the Ponderosa's frost holler is was colder than a tick on a Mississippi coon hound on a Montana morning. The daylilies foliage blackened bowin' their heads to the earth, my spirit plummeted lower than a snake full of buckshot. Checkin' the curly leaves on my roses. my mind was transported to a science project in our Special Ed. classroom. 'Loved those kiddos and I'd fight tigers in the dark with a switch for 'em unlike their classmates, Middle Schoolers are empathy challenged. 'Just sayin'.........

Each year we would help our very special students participate in the Middle School Science Fair. We had many projects over the years. Little Miss Feisty kept eatin' her atom molecules constructed with Skittles. Mr. I Believe I Can Fly grew colorful salt crystals but the one that really touched my heart was a little sweetheart I'll call Lilly Pie.

Lilly Pie was a 'special' student in the fifth grade. She lived with her mother, little sister and her Mom's boyfriend. Lilly lived in a dysfunctional home at best and had been showin' definite signs of sexual abuse. When Social Services confirmed the situation Lilly's mother was told that she could not have the girls in the house if the boyfriend stayed. Miss Pie's mother told this tender~hearted ten year old girl, "well somebody's gotta leave and it's not gonna be 'him'." 'Broke my heart into a thousand pieces. She was moved into her single grandfathers house. Doesn't that just frost your ankles?

Sweeter than a meal of biscuits and chocolate gravy served with southern sweet tea, this little lady approached us with her Science Fair idea. Roses!!! Woohoo, bestow my heart. Lilly Pie wanted to make a presentation on plantin' and growin' roses. She expressed the desire to present her project in book form. She chose plain old pink copy paper for the pages. Lilly then used the computer to find information and pictures that she would use for her book simply titled 'Roses'.

We helped Lilly glue the information on the pages along with the pictures she'd chosen with good old rubber cement. After everything had dried we used a binder to bind her project together. Simple supplies, nothin' special. Just a little copy paper, printer ink and some rubber cement. We left the project in Lilly Pies cubby in the classroom and locked the door behind us.

I've experienced several supernatural unexplainable remarkable acts of God in my lifetime but this one was for Lilly Pie. The next mornin' as we were thumbin' though Miss Pie's project the scent of roses arose from the pages. We passed the book around to our coworkers and the more the book was handled the stronger the scent became. I went back and sniffed the copy paper which smelled like plain old paper. I checked the rubber cement and it reeked of...well...rubber cement. Heck, I even checked the printer ink. The only explanation I could come up with it that God wanted to make Lilly's project as special as her.

Isn't that just like our Heavenly Father? He takes our brokenness and turns it into something whole and special. He raises us up from that bottomless pit just when we think there is no hope into life abundantly. He guides us to the light when lost in darkness. He takes a young girl's simple project and makes it stand out from the others. That rose scent lasted through the Science Fair and was still strong when we sent it home.

In 1993, Olive Marie Osmond sang the popular song written by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre that was originally Anita Bryant's hit in 1960. Marie's version topped the country charts then crossed over to pop and easy listenin'. I know that Miss Lilly Pie or I will never ever forget the science project that was simply made of 'Paper Roses!!!

'Just thinkin' 'bout it makes me happier than a monkey with a peanut machine!



(These pictures are from my rose garden last summer)