Monday, August 22, 2011

Do you like surprises? We all like good surprises but aren’t too crazy about circumstances that invade our life and steal our joy. This month has held many surprises for us . We were delightfully surprised to get an overnight visit from our long time friends Connie and Denny Shippy. They were returning from a visit to Ohio and stopped by ETS. I always forget how much I miss them till I get to see them again. Lots of laughter, and lots of “do you remember?” made their stay very enjoyable but over all too soon.

A sad surprise was making a trip to Virginia Beach to tell my mother that her only living sibling had had a massive stroke and would not survive. My aunt Nena Crouch Brown was a godly Christian lady who had endless energy and who was a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ till her final breath . She will be greatly missed but I know where she is and that we will all be together again.

Another surprise we could have done without is having our car damaged while it was in our driveway.We get weekly deliveries of water and the driver backed into our car breaking out the rear window. Charlie shrink wrapped it to keep out weather, bugs and critters till we could get it repaired.It did delay our trip to New York for a day .

A delightful surprise was meeting Russell and Deidra Rice from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We were able to spend the weekend with them and enjoyed going to church with them as well as participating in Andy’s first dinner party. Andy surprised us all with his culinary skills and hosting ability. Great job son, we are so proud of you!

The final surprise was finding out that we could master the subway and trains.We had some anxious moments but I found out my silver hair was a definite advantage in being offer a seat and in seeking information.Through it all we couldn’t help but feel blessed and excited at the opportunities God has brought into our lives.Thank you for your prayers and support as we serve the Lord together.

2 comments:

David Edward said...

Thank you for your service to him. reading all this traveling stuff makes me look like a hermit, stuck up here on my mountain (sugarloaf, ca) but then it is a beautiful place, and God is using these months to work in me. For that I am grateful.
Happy birthday to you!

Unknown said...

Kathy, I came across your blog by chance while doing family tree research. Your Mother and your Aunt Nena are 2nd cousins, 1 time removed. I live in Kent County, Ontario, Canada and have being doing research for about 35 years. I did send a letter off some time ago to one of the Crane relatives but have never received any response as well as tried to contact your Aunt Nena to no avail. I have somewhere in my piles of reseach pics of the Carden family when they visited Ontario as well as a pic of the family home in Harlingen,Texas. Would love to have contact. ((janmceachran@gmail.com))