My Sweetheart

Glen was born in Indiana.  His dad worked in the steel mills. He had one younger brother and three sisters.  Glen joined the Navy at 17 years of age.  It's hard to believe that when he was in the Navy, I was in grade school.  I'm sure if you had told him that his future wife is eight years old, he would not have believed it.  It's funny how as you grow older your ages become closer together.  Now we both have wrinkles, aches and pains and a pill dispenser full of medication and vitamins.
Glen was saved in  bible school when he was young but he did not live for the Lord.  After we started down the friendship trail, he invited Matt and I to a picnic on a Sunday along with his oldest son Ed, who lived with him. I told Glen if he wanted to see me on Sunday he would have to see me in church.  He asked what time church started and he showed up.  He heard a great message and afterwards I couldn't wait to ask him what he thought.  He loved it!  He said the preacher stepped all over his toes but he had never heard anyone preach from the Bible like that.  He was hooked.  It wasn't long after that, he and Eddie were both baptized.  It was thrilling.
As long as I had know Glen, he played and sang country music.  He was a drummer and was asked to play for various groups in town. He was always asked to sing because he has a beautiful voice and is very talented.  He was known as "The Cowboy" because he always wore a cowboy hat.

After we were married he started his own band.  He had found some very talented young men to back him and thus Country Daze was born.  It concerned me that he was playing in clubs and bars at night but he was always ready to go to church in the morning.  I tried to keep my mouth quiet, which is rare, and let God work in his life.  That is exactly what happened.  First I saw him give up drinking, then he traded his drums for a flattop guitar.  Then finally he was so convicted about entertaining in bars and going to church on Sunday, that he quit Country Music altogether. Praise the Lord.
Now he uses his talent for the Lord singing in church.  He has been a Sunday School teacher, youth leader, speaks to men every Thursday at a camp for men with adictions and has worked in a ministry full time.

We have been married 35 years this summer and he has loved me and my boys for all of them.  He even adopted Matt and Clay. It's been a long time sense that day I found him in the living room talking to dad.  We have had many, many trials and tribulations but our devotion to each other and our family remains strong no matter what.  God has blessed our marriage more then we could ever dream and we love Him and try to serve Him to the best of our abilities.  God is so good.  How do people live without Him to give them eternal salvation, peace and strength, unconditional love, healing and joy only to name a few?  I just can't comprehend it. 

The Pact

Recently our local paper ran an article about my blog.  So let me take this opportunity to say "welcome" to all my new readers.  I pray you receive a blessing because that is what this blog is all about.
So as promised, I will tell you how Glen and I ended up together, believe me it was the farthest thing from our minds.....at first.
During the three years Gerry and I were divorced, I met a great couple by the name of Glen and Becky.  I felt an immediate connection with them and on weekends when Gerry had Matt, I would hang out with them.  Sadly, after Gerry and I remarried, I lost touch with them until one day Becky called and asked me to babysit.  I was pregnant and on bed rest so I told her she would have to bring the baby here.  She never showed up and never called me back.  It wasn't long after that, I saw their divorce in the paper.
Gerry and I were so hoping things would work out for us this time and we were doing pretty good till Firestone went on strike.  When that happened he began to slip back into his old ways.  Mom came and got Matt and I and took us to my Uncles for awhile.  It was then that I called Becky to ask what attorney she had used for her divorce and what it cost these days.  She gave me the information and we talked for awhile to catch up.  When Glen came to pick up their little boy she told him Gerry and I were getting divorced and that he should give me a call.
One day I came home to find Glen in the living room talking to my dad.  I was so surprised to see him.  He was living in a little town about 45 minutes away and he was working for John Deere. He would call me during the week or stop by on the weekend but one thing was for sure, neither one of us ever wanted to get married again and we made a pact to never do so.  We were going to be just friends and if either one of us needed a date for a Christmas party or something special, we would be there for each other.
My divorce was final that summer and so when my birthday came in October, he said he would take me out to dinner after he got off work. So I drove to his town and waited in the lobby of his apartment building for him to come home.  He never showed up, never came home.  So I got back in my car, drove home and ordered a pizza.  Now if any of you know me well, you know how special I think birthdays are.  I don't like for anyone to not have a birthday cake or a gift or something to make the day special.  That night he called and said he forgot and apologized over and over again.  My response, "It's ok, I'm not mad.  But you don't treat friends this way so you need to decide what your priorities are."
He began to spend most weekends with me and my family.  Everyone loved him, although mom was a little harder to win over.  I don't think she bought the whole "friend" thing but we were dead serious about it.  We had a pact after-all.
One night I was sitting at home at my parents and there was a knock at the door.  It was a guy that I had dated my sophomore year in high school.  He came in and visited awhile and we caught up on each other lives and then he went on his merry way. Naturally, I shared this information with Glen when we were talking about each other's week.  I never gave it another thought but apparently it got Glen to thinking, (what if some guy from her past comes in and steals her away and then I would lose my best friend?). I guess he forgot the pact.
A few weeks later he produces an engagement ring.  "I can't marry you, Glen.  We have a pact to be best friends".  He said, "Who better to marry, then your best friend."   Well, I guess he had a good point and the rest is history.  It takes quite a man to marry a paraplegic with two little boys.  And that's what he is..quite a man. I am truly blessed to have him.  

Stress

I was going to write about how I met my Glen today. But it has been such an unusual week, the Lord has laid words on my heart that I must share.
Have you ever thought about how many things have the potential to stress you out in just a day?  (Am I late, what will he say, are the kids ok, is there going to be a bad storm, will I get finished in time) to name a few. Do you allow it or do you trust God to take care of it. In one of my devotionals the writer said "Stress equals responsibility without ability."  I thought that was a great definition.  I know so many people who stress about things they can not control.  They are full of "what if's and what then's"
This week I was at work and a sweet women came in and we got to talking about where we lived on the mountain.  She was all stressed about the new coal mine that is going in on the mountain.  She seemed rather put out with me because I wasn't stressed about it.  I see the coal mine as job opportunities for people who are suffering without employment.  Will the coal trucks traveling up and down the mountain be a nuisance?  Probably, but no more then the log trucks we have now and we are all managing to get where we need to be regardless.  I told her not to stress about it, that it wasn't good for her.  She acted as if this mine was an attack on her and informed me she was not going to be a doormat!  So I prayed for peace for her in my heart as she walked out the door.
I rarely stress, but here is what can send me in a tailspin.  When someone passes on that have touched my life in someway and I question if I had witnessed enough to them.  Did I share enough of what God can do in their life.  I have stressed over this ever sense I lost my friend Gary.  Gary knew me all through the teen years and early twenties when I rode the wrong side of that fence.  Even though I tried to share with him about eternal salvation, the fact we didn't get to see each other or communicate much, it may not have been enough.
This week a young man went out into eternity that I had the pleasure of mentoring for several months three years ago. I was devastated and the first thing in my head was "Did I do or say enough?" or "Did I plant enough of a seed?"  I began to stress.   Then a good friend came to see me.  She knew I was struggling and she asked me two questions. "Did you love them?"  "Yes".  "Did you tell them the truth?" "Yes".  Then you did  what you were meant to do.
My devotional said IF I "WILL" BE GLAD ONE DAY, I "SHOULD" BE GLAD TODAY.  IF I "WILL" REJOICE, I "SHOULD" REJOICE. THE SMALL PICTURE MAY BE BLEAK BUT THE BIG PICTURE IS NOT.  So I am glad that I met him and I rejoice in the opportunity I had to spend time with him and I mourn the loss of him along with his family and the rest of this community.
So this is what I take away from this.  Share God's love and His eternal salvation to everyone you can.  If something tragic happens in their life ask yourself if you loved them and did you tell them the truth.  And worry for nothing.  Walk the walk, how you live is so important.  Remember to be glad, rejoice and let God be in control because He is anyway.  TRUST!!!!   I love you all. 

What a Joy!

I was four months pregnant when I had to leave Gerry for the last and final time.  So once again, we moved in with Mom and Dad.  This pregnancy was very different because I wasn't sick a day of it.  I enjoyed every moment to the fullest.  I still took a tumble in my last month but I fell backwards so the baby and I both came out unharmed in any way.

Clay was born in early December.  I had such an easy time but it was not to be for my little son.  He was so very sick and ended up going in for stomach surgery at six weeks.  He did pretty well after that until he was about 10 months old.  He came down with a stomach virus and there was a lot of diarrhea.  After three days, I called his Doctor.  He called in some medicine but it didn't help.  We called the office again and once again were told not to bring him in but just give him clear liquids.  Well he couldn't keep those down either.  We could see his little ribs and dark circles were forming under his eyes.  We were getting up two or three times a night to change his bed till one night we knew we had better take him to the E.R.
The doctor at the hospital remarked that he was the palest baby he had ever seen but did nothing for him.  We were told to call his doctor in the morning, which we did but still no appointment, that was on a Thursday.  
So I called another pediatric physician in town and asked if I could get my baby in.  She said, "Not till Monday."  I began to cry and told her my baby would not live till Monday.  They let me bring Clay in on Saturday morning.  The Doctor immediately admitted him to the hospital and they began pumping him full of fluid.  I had to run home for a little bit to get some things and when I came back, Clay had swelled up like a balloon. He was unrecognizable.  After a few days he was getting better so they began putting him back on formula and then a few days more, a little cereal.  Just when you thought he was on the mend he would start all over again with the vomiting and diarrhea.  I remember coming in one morning and the nurse stopped me.  "Cyndi, we have had to give Clay a blood transfusion and the only vein he had left was in the soft spot of his head so don't freak out when you see  him."  It seems he had no protein in his blood.
Well once again we thought we had him on the road to recovery only to take another trip all the way back to square one.  The doctor came in and with tears in his eyes he had to explain that he didn't know what was wrong with him or what to do for him.  Clay had been in the hospital for almost two months and his birthday was coming up.  Dr. Lee said to take him home for the day and he was going to over-night all the reports to Carle Clinic in Champaign.  So we had his one year picture made that day and then returned him back to the hospital.  Dr. Lee came in the next day very excited.  "We know what's wrong.  All the digestive cells lining his stomach have been destroyed.  We need to give them time to repair themselves so he needs to drink a predigested formula and nothing else to eat or drink.   It worked!   Four months later we were able to add soda crackers and rice cereal to his diet.  Little by little we added things until he was back to a regular diet for a toddler.
I spent many long hours on my knees for this little baby but it was all in God's plan to pull me further and further away from that fence I loved to ride so much.
Clay makes me laugh.  He is so funny and kind, athletic and smart.  He is my little surfer dude and is a talented photographer and yes, he still keeps me on my knees.
I love my sons so very much.  They are so different.  It boggles my mind how children with the same parents and grandparents can have so many different personality traits, likes and dislikes.  It just shows what a awesome God we have.  Even with the same DNA, He creates us to be one-of-a-kind. I love that.
Next time I will share with you the story of the handsome guy on the far left.  Till then...God bless.

My Little Man

As I said last time, my pregnancy was far from easy.  I was forced to quit my job very early because I spent most of my day going back and forth to the restroom.  If I said I was sick almost every 30 minutes, it would not be a stretch of the imagination at all. I ended up in the hospital from dehydration and a high fever from a kidney infection.  I was so concerned that my baby was not getting enough food because I knew I wasn't at all.  Then on my way to my last Doctor's visit I fell down two steps coming out of my apartment building. Walking on my crutches was all about balance and trust me, with a large watermelon out front, I was absolutely off balance! That baby shifted and down I went.  I threw myself to the side so my stomach wouldn't take a direct hit.  In so doing, I twisted my knee really bad. As soon as I got to the Doctor's office, he checked the heartbeat and everything seemed fine with the baby.  I was so relieved.  God was so good to protect my little package.
Two weeks early on May 27th I delivered a 7lb 11ounce baby boy by C-section.  I think he was definitely ordering food in from somewhere.  Probably explains his love for fast food.  I, however, was a whopping 76lbs after delivery.  I was so weak, they wouldn't even bring my baby to me that first day.
The next morning they brought my little Matthew Shane in for me to hold. We called him "Matty", after my grandfather.  He was so bright-eyed and aware.  Those beautiful eyes looked up to me as if to say, "Don't worry Mommy, I will take care of you."  I knew then and there that we would always be there for each other.
Our journey was a rocky one and we were going to need each other.  He probably wasn't more then 18 months old when he began to open doors for me and he instinctively knew not to run from me.  I can count on one hand the times he ever disobeyed. God certainly gives you what you need and he gave me the perfect little boy for me.  
During the three years Gerry and I were divorced things were tough.  I didn't make much money.  We qualified for food stamps but back then you had to buy your food stamps.  I think I only had enough money to buy them once but my parents fed us often and we never went hungry.
My parents were always there for Matt and I.  We would move in and out of their home several times and we were always welcome.  My little sister was always willing to let us move in and invade her space and actually we had a lot of fun sharing a room.  I pray that I would always be there for my children the way my parents have been for me.  I truly knew the unconditional love of a parent.
Matthew has so many wonderful qualities.  He has Gerry's exuberance and he looks a lot like him.  He has a huge compassion for people both young and old.  As soon as he got his driver's license he started a bus route at our church.  He would spend all day Saturday visiting people in the area, inviting them to church and offering to pick them up.  Sunday morning he would leave early with the bus driver to begin picking them up.
He graduated from college as a Bible and Missions Major.
Now he has his three beautiful daughters and he is a wonderful father.  I am so proud of him and so thankful God put him in my life.
Last night I attended our annual banquet for our local Women's Care Center where our mission is to fight for life.  It saddens me that there are so many people out there who long to have a child and so many who kill theirs.  54,000,000 and counting.   I have two babies in heaven waiting for me but God saw fit to take them from me early.  I will see them in Heaven someday.
Let me say, if you have made a wrong choice concerning a life you would have brought into this world, there is peace for you.  A peace that is beyond your understanding but it only comes through a personal relationship with Christ.  He can heal your heart and you can make a choice to see your baby again.