From my heart ...

From my heart ...

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lindsey

Lindsey & Minnie Mouse
@ Disney World
'Make-A-Wish' Trip
I'd like you to meet Lindsey.

Stick with me here, please.

Her story is like no other.
  • She's 8 years old.
  • She's our first grandchild.  The first one of four.
  • She's always considered every party to be her birthday.
  • She's always loved watching a good soccer game on television with her Daddy - in their matching soccer jerseys.
  • She's a lover of dogs, and has three of her own: Casey, Penny & Elvis, who love her dearly, protect her, and sleep under her bed.  She even has an uncle-dog - Uncle Scrappy - who would always sit with her in her special princess chair while watching movies and cartoons at Gramma and PaPa Joe's house.  She misses Uncle Scrappy, but he visits her in Asheville from time to time.
  • She's got 3 cousins: Audrey, Samuel & Anderson, who think she's pretty and wish with all their hearts they could play together.  Her cousins pray for her.
  • She's 'Princess Lindsey' to her family & friends.
  • She lives in the mountains of North Carolina, which can be seen from the big picture window in her mostly-pink bedroom.
  • She always loved to bring me fresh flowers, picked right from my garden by her precious little hands.  That's my favorite way to get flowers.  I miss those days terribly.
  • She does not like jeans.  You see, real princesses don't wear jeans.
  • She prefers only very soft clothing against her baby soft skin.  Real princesses deserve only the very best.
  • She's got the softest bed around.  Custom-made by her Daddy.
  • She has very soft, long brown hair that her Mommy styles so pretty.
  • She has long, gorgeous black eyelashes - just like her Daddy.
  • She's a natural beauty.
  • She's a fan of the 'Backyardigans' and 'Dora, the Explorer.'
  • She's a close personal friend of Mickey and Minnie, and the entire Disney gang.
  • She always enjoyed a good game of 'hide 'n seek' at Gramma & PaPa Joe's house.
  • She misses her Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ghiata.  They live in Ohio.
  • She's a collector of soft blankets made especially for her by kindhearted souls at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, where she's spent too many days and nights.
  • She loves a good head-rub.
  • She gave a blanket with a big picture of her on it to her Mommy and Daddy to keep them warm at night.
  • She really wishes she could play with the kids in the neighborhood.
  • She wishes she could tell her Mommy and Daddy how much she loves them, and give them lots of hugs and kisses.
  • She has the best and most attentive Mommy and Daddy.
  • She has more determination than anyone I've ever met.
  • She's too familiar w/ hospitals & medical equipment.
  • She has a feeding tube, a trach, and a ventilator.  They're with her day and night.
  • She's one 'tough cookie.'
  • She never gives up.
  • She believes in miracles and Jesus.
  • She has Tay Sachs disease.

Never heard of Tay Sachs?

Neither did I, until Lindsey was diagnosed nearly 5 yrs. ago, when she was just 3 yrs. old.

Just 3.
Lindsey and her Daddy
in matching soccer jerseys

She wishes you'd pray for her.  So do I.

This Grandma loves Lindsey so much.

I wish I could take her place.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Hammock In The Shade

My toes are calling.

They're begging to feel the sands of Carolina's beaches between them.

'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place,
and get some rest.'
Mark 6:31

The rest of my body parts are chiming in, 'We wanna go, too.'

All the while, I'm thinking, 'Y'know, I've got some pretty smart toes.  Quite brilliant, actually.' 

Apparently, they know me better than I know myself.  And right now, they know I long for a break.

Just wish I could find a place on the beach to hang a hammock.  Between two palm trees, perhaps? 

A hammock in the shade ... that's the ticket. 

Twin palm trees, freshly painted pink toenails, a never-ending glass of lemonade (I'm not Southern enough yet to handle sweet tea), a beach bag chock full of good books that have been snoozing on my bookshelf waaaay too long, and me - snug as a bug in my hammock.

Nothing too serious, though.  Book-wise, that is.

I'm thinking more along the lines of mysterious fiction.  Something that will allow for appropriate periods of catching the zzz's that I crave.

That's it!  An effortless reading/dreaming day in a hammock in the shade at the beach.

Just doing as I'm told ...

MARK 6: 31  ...  'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place, and get some rest.'

Don't know when it'll all come to pass ... But, that's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

Outta Control

I'd like to think that I'm far from being a control freak.  I'd like to think that I'm more than willing to allow others to ...