About Me

Christian, Wife,  Mother, Grandmother, Friend and Artist

Smile because it really pisses off the Devil.

Smile because it really pisses off the Devil.

I was raised in the scenic mountain area of Candler, North Carolina.  My Grandma and Grandpa had a 25 acre farm.  My early years were spent living on the farm in a house my Grandpa built for my Mother & Father, my baby sister and me.  My Father, a member of the Marine Corps, who had fought in WWII, was assigned in post-war Italy and we looked forward to his letters and rare visits home.   For the most part, it seemed that when my Father wasn’t there,  we just slept at the little house.

Grandma’s BIG kitchen and the sitting room were where we spent lots of time.  Grandma and Moma would be working together, usually canning fresh vegetables and fruits.  If I wasn’t in Grandma’s house, I was out roaming around the farm and woods.  Grandpa built me a playhouse out of one of the shed buildings.  I had my own little place to keep all my treasures.

It was there on that mountain farm,  under my Grandma’s care and love that I learned a lesson that would keep me going when times got rough.  She taught me that God had made me special.  I was the only one of me in the world.   I was God’s treasure.  Looking back now, I have lost count of the tough times that those words were the last string that I had to hold onto and not die.

Fast forwarding to the present, I am blessed to have a loving family.  My husband, Mark, our son,David and his wife, Anitra,  and their three wonderful children, plus our two doggie kids made for a whole lotta of loving around here. Living life has given me a lot of experience in those  “what the”, “how in the”, “oh, God help me” and “okay, just let me think a minute”  times.  As a Christ loving family, God’s Word is the Rock that our home is built upon.  Through all the changes that life throws us, His Word remains true.  My husband and I are living examples of why we know that to be so.

Having made that last statement, let me assure you that if you choose to believe in and love God, you have to believe in Satan.  Satan is real and his hate for all things and people that are Christ followers  is as solid as stone.  He’s bound and determined to steal happiness, destroy your joy in life and just flat out try to kill you dead.  He’s happiest when we are suffering and miserable.

That’s where people like me come in.  We’ve been standing on Faith and giving back as good if not better than we’ve gotten.  There are times that I’ve been so happy I could dance on air.  I have also had times that I have been so broken that my very heart seemed to be splitting into pieces.  Through it all, God, His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have been there for me and my family.

How I spend most of my time

  1. Starting my day off with God, Coffee, Prayer & the News & Observer.
  2. Motivating family members, both two and four legged, to get up and “get it going”.  Food helps.
  3. Painting,  creating, writing and other fun stuff.
  4. Sitting in my favorite recliner, winding down after a busy day, loving on my family and then off to bed.

In 30 plus years,  Mark and I have a shared experience with brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder and  Mark experienced a medical mistake which resulted in his having a near death experience.  Thanks to God’s timing, I was able to give prompt emergency first aid and call 911.  The toxic damage done to his body by being given two medicines which should not have been given to him together, has, among other things, irreversibly damaged his  kidneys.  As a result of that recent injury, Mark is now disabled and I struggle to know how to explain what that change in our lives has been like.   Through it all, God has remained steadfast in keeping His Word.

Mark and I have had and continue to have lots of chances to wonder “where did the old me go”?   Daily we face the challenge of not knowing how that day will turn out.  The one constant fact in our lives is that God is as good as His Word.  His Love and our loving family, a lot of  hard work and somehow finding a chance to laugh at something makes things keep working out.   I don’t have all the answers to why stuff happens, but that’s okay.  The most important goal is to have a happy, productive and worthwhile life.  That’s the focus point for this blog and its articles.  At my life’s end, as I cross the finish line in this great race of life, I want to get a warm hug and hear “Well done, my good and faithful servant, “Well Done!”