Teresa's Treasures

I can't remember another Christmas quite like this one. Kelly's parents are celebrating Christmas with David and Kelly at their house and Laura and Clinton are coming home from celebrating Christmas with his parents in Glenco. Needless to say, Phil and I have had a very quiet Christmas at home alone, just the two of us. So glad we love each other. I learned while in the "pit" that silence can be deafening if you don't like yourself. That if it's only you and God you have to listen.....to God..... or be miserable. Likewise with your husband. :) Last night it snowed. My son who's 29 has looked forward to the next white Christmas since he was in Jr. High School. Last night he said he would stay up all night, just sitting by the Christmas tree watching the snow fall at his big picture window. Have you ever heard the snow fall or seen what happens when it does? Silence. Sheer silence. Nothing else sounds quite like it. Job tells us that "God thunders wondr...

We've just returned home from eating supper at David and Kelly's, not Christmas but just a spontaneous supper with our son and his family. On the night just before Santa is to slide down the chimney bringing "all the toys and goodies on his sleigh" Miss Bella, my precious little granddaughter, decides not to take heed to "you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I'm telling you why" but to remind her parents and Mammie and Pappaw she's still a three year old. I felt so sorry for David and Kelly trying to be patient with Bella and her tantrums but to no avail trying to make them stop. Kelly tried, David tried, Bella pushed, Kelly tried, David tried and Bella pushed some more. Bella had no idea how much patience her parents were exhibiting. I was amazed and doubted I could have been anywhere near this patient given the same situation. (I imagine David could tell you exactly how patient I would have been.) Anway, Bella was so bad I ...

It’s 6:45 Wednesday morning, the morning after the night the rescue mission began to rescue the 33 trapped miners in Chile. I’ve been watching the CNN broadcast since I awoke at 6:01. The similarity between the rescue in Chile and our rescue as Christians is astounding. I’ve had to stop watching at 6:45 because were I to recount every word that applies, I would never quit writing; the similarities are countless. * Quotations include words spoken directly from the broadcast but are not "exact quotes" spoken by the reporter or those being interviewed . Number One : Reporter: “Here we have the oldest miner, age 63… They were most concerned about him because he has black lung disease.” “And the spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing.” The word spirit means breath in the Greek. The breath takes care of the black lung. The Spirit enables us to overcome the darkness. Number Two : To reporter: “What is the view like, so up close, witnessing this historical event?” Reporte...

I knew she was watching me as I sat on the couch waiting for Ashley to cut my hair. I didn't know her but it was quite obvious she thought she knew me. After a few more glances she came over and introduced herself as Jamie Butt. She had been giving instructions about the credit card machine she had just installed at Tanglez, the beauty shop I go to, but found the time to come over and introduce herself. She informed me she was one of the women who had just completed the video series I taped in 2005 called Becoming a Woman of Peace, which she had seen at Freida Avery's house. Freida had told me when she came to pick up the series that she had seen a picture of a tree, in her mind, which she recognized when she saw the same tree on the cover of the workbook, that accompanies the videos, for sale at the Christian Book Store. She told me she knew as soon as she saw it she was supposed to buy it, not even knowing who would come if she decided to have a Bible class in her home. She, ...

Today, I received an e-mail notice that I had received a 5 star rating on an article I had written and posted on another site called Article Blogs, a site I had forgotten about, back in March of 09. I'm posting it again, to have a record of it on Treasures Treasures. Yesterday I went home to visit my mom and dad for their fifty-ninth wedding anniversary and to check up on my mom who has been sick with an unknown illness (maybe Parkinson’s) for a long time.What began with a change in her gait five years ago is now obviously a shuffle, which thankfully yesterday was not so bad.Yesterday was an unusually good day for her.She was calm, not anxious; more focused, not scattered; able to walk without her walker; dressed with clothes on instead of pajamas; and was able to walk up steps onto the deck so I could take pictures of both mom and dad and so dad could take pictures of me and moma beside the ginkgo tree which, oddly enough, grows through the middle of the deck. She was even able to...

“Why are you in a hurry, Mammie?” Bella asked, as I reached in to get the ice to cool off my glass of tea. I said “I don’t know, Bella.” which I’ve since wondered why now maybe a hundred times. I’ve envisioned acceptable times of running -- like the doctor who ran to do heart surgery on Larson and me as I’ve run to throw up with a stomach “bug” or Mr. Gregory as he ran to save the child from running into the street. I’ve even thought about times in the Bible where people ran: like the father who ran to greet his son when he returned home from living in the pig pen and Mary and Peter as they ran to find Jesus but instead found the empty tomb. These somehow seem acceptable to me, but not me running in to get ice out of the freezer to cool down my tea. Somehow what I did just seems so unnecessary to me right now. And Bella was sooooooooooo right to ask me why I was in such a hurry. I have since thought as to why I’m usually in a hurry and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s because I’m usual...

My Titus 2 class at http://titus2.ning.com is studying the beatitudes for the next several weeks. I injected this article after the third beatitude just because I thought I needed to before we went on to the next five. You can see the other blog posts regarding the beatitudes at the above address. I want to say up-front that I’m not a scholar on anything, but especially on the Holy Spirit. What I’m getting ready to write is from my own head and nowhere else. This is what I’ve learned. This is what I know. This is what I want to pass on to you before we go any further. None of these beatitudes can be done without the help of the Holy Spirit. It is not within man’s power to have any one of these “attitudes” within him. Not all people are born poor in spirit or mourning (yes, crying, but not mourning) or meek, as you and I well know; but all Christians are expected to be. All of them are; not one is left out. Even the most ill-tempered Christian, through the Holy Spirit can become poor in...

"You are the salt of the earth. BUT IF THE SALT LOSES ITS SALTINESS how can it be made salty again?" Matthew 5:13 Saturday, February 20 was a red-letter day for me. It was a day I knew would come; I just didn’t know when. I had invited David and Kelly over for supper. I was in the mood to cook and they were in the mood to eat. Of course, Bella tagged along… :). I was in the process of making Freezer Potatoes which I found out later I would never make again -- that it had been a mistake. I should have just stuck with the simple old mashed potatoes I’ve made for a hundred years. Anyway, as I was making the potatoes, Bella, who loves to do this, looked at me and said, “Wash dishes, Mammie!” and I knew what was to come. We took her top off, she got the stool and I proceeded to fill the sink with water, squirting lots of Dawn in to make bubbles…big bubbles. Since most of the dishes surrounding the sink were glass measuring cups, I got the plastic containers I have stored in my b...

January 15, 2010 Yesterday, I gave my mother permission to die. Monday, she was admitted to T J Samson Hospital with blood clots in both lungs; the doctor said large blood clots. She was taken by ambulance to the ER last Thursday, with the same symptoms as she had Monday when she was admitted; she should have been admitted, but wasn’t. She cannot roll over without help; she cannot sit up without feeling faint; she has not walked across the floor since Monday. Someone has to bathe her, change her, attach her to fifty cords, place an oxygen sensor on her finger to make sure she’s getting the right amount of oxygen to her brain, reposition the oxygen cord when it falls out of her nose, pull the bed rails up to protect her from falling out and, up until today, feed her. She is on blood thinners which are causing her nose to be dry and bleed. Her right hand shakes for some reason unbeknownst to the doctor, causing her food to shake off the fork or spoon whenever she tries to eat by he...