Feb. 5,2008

UP FOR AIR:

Here I sit with a fancy new computer (my old one COMPLETELY crashed)  trying to figure out how to work it, and feeling like I'm coming up for air. It's great to have a computer again and to start "moving forward" after a season of standing still.

MY DAD:

In July of 2006, my husband and I began making arrangements to move my father, John W. Williams, Jr.,  from his home in Keystone Heights, Florida to live with us here in Art, Texas which is the hills outside Mason, Texas!!

First of all, what a gift to me that he trusted me to care for him, as he knew his health was failing and wouldn't be able to care for himself much longer.  Leaving his home was a very difficult decision, but he was willing to take that "leap of faith" and start life anew as a "cowboy!"

He lived in our dining room for 2 months, while we built him a small "bunkhouse" right out our back door.  Once we moved him into his new Casa, which he lovingly named the Lazy W Bunkhouse, I bought baby monitors so I could monitor him 24/7 and proceeded to live the life of a fulltime caregiver. 

Shortly after he arrived, Dad's health began to deteriorate very rapidly, and it became necessary for me to stop taking all singing engagements. This was a difficult & painful decision but clearly what God was calling me to do.  Kind of felt like stopping in the middle of a race.  But that's how it is with the Lord.  Our life is not our own.  Let me say that again... if you're a Christian, you can say with great confidence:  My life is not my own. 

THE BABY:

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  Psalm139:16

A month after my dad moved in with us, our then 2 yr. old granddaughter Mozelle Elizabeth came to live with us permanently.  She's now 3 1/2 and a beautiful blessing in our life. 

 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant....."   Philippians 2:5-7

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:12-14

 HOME IN HEAVEN:

My precious father passed away Oct. 25, 2007 and is now home in Heaven, safe in the arms of Jesus.  He's also reunited with my mother, Frances Louise.  He missed her so.  What a joyous reunion it must have been. 

It was an answer to prayer for God to take him home.  Can't begin to tell you how much he  suffered.  It was such a difficult and sad time, but together he and I trusted the Lord to help us make it through.  Our Savior is faithful....He gave us strength, wrapped up in His mercy & grace.

 

One day, several months before he passed on, my dad asked me to "go get the 2 packages out of the mailbox."  Said one was for him and the other was for Steve.  Then he told me Steve had just walked through the room. 

Steve, my dear sweet loving brother, was killed in a car wreck in 1973. 

  "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great a cloud of witnesses...."  Heb.12:1

 Several days after seeing Steve, he told me he saw his mom and dad in the bunkhouse. It was obvious to me the Lord would be calling him home soon.  The "Welcoming Committee" had begun circling the camp. 

      Thanks for coming to Texas Dad.  You're the best.  I love you.  I miss you.  

 

PIANO ANYONE?

So here I am easing my way back into singing.  mi mi mi ( ..that's the sound of me clearing my throat!)  When we moved my dad from Florida, we brought my mom's piano.  He bought it for her in 1965 when we lived in Okinawa.  I play guitar but as I've gotten older I found myself "longing" to play piano.   

As a caregiver, 99% of the time there's NO time for anything, other than caretaking, cleaning and what my husband referred to as "drudge" work.  Music and reading the Bible became a luxury.  So!!!!   When I could find a minute, feeling like I was dying of thirst, starving spiritually, I'd throw my Bible open.  Hungry for the Word.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God.  Psalm 46: 1 & 2

Our Father, in His great mercy, always gave me just what I needed to make it through.  In March of '07, He began giving me songs to encourage.  Isn't that great?

It happened like this:  Sometimes I would just sit down at the piano, lay my hands on the keys, and here would come a song.  Keep in mind, I don't play piano!!  Or I would hear a song played out in my head, again,  ON THE PIANO.  So I would sit at the piano and begin picking out the song .  Inevitably my dad would call on the phone or I'd hear him in the monitor, and that would be the end of that "session." Fortunately I had a cheap cassette player on the piano and taped these "sessions" which lasted anywhere from 2-3 minutes, or as much as 20 minutes, depending on my dad's needs.

NEW CD:

I recently recorded a short demo of those songs and plan to record a new CD sometime in the next 3-4 months.  These are Scriptures put to music, as well as praise and worship songs.  They were given to me in a time of need, and I look forward to sharing them with you. If you have time, I would appreciate your prayers concerning this project..... that it would all go according to His will and for His purposes and glory.

Oh.  I'm playing piano on this project. My husband says I play like a woodchopper....REALLY hard and like I'm beating the piano. Chopping wood, so to speak.  In fact, he tells people the walls of this old house tremble and shake when I play.  Some folks have a heavy foot and speed when they drive... I have heavy hands I guess. 

 ROMANS 8:28:

Right after my dad moved here, my friends Bill & Marlane Klotz came to visit, bringing a gift that has meant so much to me.  It's  Romans 8:28 in a small wooden frame.  Sitting on my piano where I would look at it each time I sat down to try and play,  these words are so true and mean so much......

And we know that all things work together for those that love God, to those that are the called according to His purpose.

Amen Amen and Amen

May the Lord smile on you.... Numbers 6:25 (NLT)

In Christ's love,