AGING or GROWING OLDER...

Is not for the faint-hearted.

I just got back from an eye doctor's appt. I knew I was having some vision problems but thought it was because I needed a new eye glass perscription. Well, the facts are my eye glass perscription has not changed that much but I was not seeing well in my left eye. So I had further eye examination (which means I got my eyes dilated and had to wear those dark disposable shades after leaving the office).

The findings are I have the beginnings of macular degeneration and a very small cateract on my left eye with my right eye showing some yellowing of the lens (which is a beginning sign of a cateract :(:(:(

The doctor assured me that nothing needs to be done right now and that I need to have yearly eye exams to see how all is progressing. With my glasses I have 25/20 vision.

I knew that macular degeneration runs in our family (my mother has it) so I have been taking the vitamin Lutein for 4 years. My eye doctor told me to add a fish oil vitamin also.

I did order some new glasses...which I'm excited about...they are the frameless kind. I also am getting my first ever perscription sunglasses (using my old frames for these).

The problem with aging is you just can't stop it ...you just wear out in time!

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. but the things we can't see now will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 (The Message)

AMEN and AMEN!

Labor Day Family Fun

The family got together this past Labor Day at the Schubert's Farm. What a great family time. We were all there except Todd & Jenny & gdaughters, Abbie & Savannah. They are in China visiting family. Todd has made it back to the states, but Jenny and the girls are still in China and are scheduled to fly back the end of Oct.

Boy, we sure MISS them, but not more than Todd:) He doesn't like going home to an empty house. We dropped by to see him and as we walked up to their front door the 2 little faces that we are used to seeing...peeping out the side windows by the front door were missing:( Yes, that's an empty feeling for sure.

Our daughter's church has it's big fireworks on Labor Day Sunday with all the festivities that go with this. We also celebrated 2 family birthday parties. I will be posting the birthday celebration in my next post.

Check out my photoshow HERE and enjoy

A Prescription for Contentment

"Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich;

having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

2 Corinthians 6:10

I love for my wedding ring to shine. About once a week, I ask my friend who gets me up to use my toothpaste and toothbrush to scrub my ring. Real gold and diamonds can take a good scrubbing; they're not as delicate as we think. And when they're polished, my, they look lovely!

Malachi 3:16, 17 talks about how the Lord has a Book of Remembrance in which the names of all those who meditate on Him, who think about His name, are written down. He calls these people His jewels. How do we become jewels that gleam and shine in His sight? He says, "I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God'" (Zech. 13:9).

Oh, that's what I want to be: a jewel that shines in His sight, a jewel that doesn't mind a good polishing now and then. I'm not as delicate as some people think, especially when God's grace sustains me.

Maybe you feel as if someone has taken a gigantic toothbrush and is scrubbing your soul raw. It hurts. And you wince at the pain, the disappointment. But take heart, there's a purpose.

Let me remind you: You're not as delicate as you think. You, as a believer, are a jewel, someone very precious to God. You're a diamond, you're silver, and you're gold. He promises that, as His jewel, He's going to shine you up. As silver is refined and as gold is tried, He will polish you bright so that everyone will see you're a jewel.

Lord, help me to bring a willing spirit to You, one prepared to be polished, even when it hurts. I want to be Your jewel.

Taken from More Precious Than Silver. Copyright © 1998 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Amy & Kevin!

Go Mt. Vernon!

Our gson, Tanner, is playing on the 3rd grade

Mt. Vernon football team in Missouri.

We haven't been to any of his games yet,
but when we do I will post a photoshow of it.

Go Tigers!

The Broken Arrow Tigers that is!

Gson, Isaiah is playing on the 3rd grade football team.

Click HERE to see a photoshow of his first game.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Camden!

Free Graphics - MySpace/Xanga/Friendster

The BEST...

~Gifts are handmade by our grandchildren~

Below is a BEAUTIFUL Anniversary card to us
from our gdaughter Mallory.

A little hard to read. It says:
Are roses red...or blue, anyways
Happy Anniversary.
This is made especially for u!
Take good care of it and
I will take care of you!!
Love, Mallory Bledsoe

Thank you, Mallory, for making us feel SO special!

China Bound

Todd, Jenny, & girls left for China on a 6:30 a.m. flight

Saturday, August 29th.

We were all up by 4:00 a.m. to get to the airport on time.

Gdaughter, Abbie, is ready to go!

The girls did very well to be awakened at 4:30

in the morning to get dressed and head to the airport.

I asked Abbie who she was going to see in China.

She said, "Chinese people"!

At the airport
Todd will be staying in China with the fam for 2 weeks
then head back home.
Jenny and the girls will stay another 6 weeks longer
visiting with her parents and family.

NEWS ALERT!
We just talked and saw Todd, Jenny, and the girls on our webcam!
They arrived in China safe and sound.
They said the girls did WONDERFUL
on the long flight(19 hrs from Chicogo)
and are especially thankful for the portable DVD player!
The total flight and lay over time was 29 hours to get to China.
A VERY long day especially for a 4 yr. old and 18 month old!

THANK YOU, Lord for getting them there safe and sound.
We continue to pray for safe travel while in China
and excellent health.

To see more pics of there departure from the USA
click HERE. Enjoy

My Knight

Here is a poem our 12 yr. old grandson wrote. I asked him if this was a school assignment. He told me no it wasn't. It was just something he was thinking about one day and he wrote it.
Way to go, Parker!

My knight
Is not like your knight with shiny armor
He doesn't fight dragons for people to awe him
Or live in a castle with walls

Instead he fights to protect people
To protect his home and its people’s rights
He wears green and brown nothing shiny
My knight is an American soldier

By Parker Bledsoe

LOOK WHO'S 7...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
Kassidy Love Schubert!

Our RV Vacation to Arkansas

See more pics by clicking HERE. Enjoy:)

SLOW DANCE...

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is s hort.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift... .
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Written by a terminally ill young girl

Take a look...

at Abbigail Lily's Birthday Pics:

What a fun day! Click HERE to see more birhday party pics:)

LOOK WHO'S 4...

and SO MUCH MORE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
Abbigail Lily Meyer!

Congratulations...

to our son-in-love, K. Bledsoe:)

He has taken the new position in his company, QT, as Real Estate Project Manager. We are very proud of him. His hard work has paid off:)

This does mean a move for the Bledsoe family. They have lived in Broken Arrow, OK for over 14 years. Kevin is training for this new position and the move will come in about 9 months (April or May). He will be responsible for expanding and developing a QT store in a new location which has not been decided yet. Most of the QT stores are located in the middle of the USA, so it could be anywhere outside of this. QT is headquartered in Tulsa, OK and there is a very small chance that they will remain here.

We know God has a good plan for their lives and they are excited about this opportunity. We too are excited for them to see what God has in store for them. Our comfort and peace come in knowing that Father God's plans are good and that our steps are ordered by Him.

Now let me bare my heart...the hardest part for me is seeing those 6 grandchildren leave. They have been such a part of our lives and to think of not seeing them on a regular basis is, well, extremely difficult for this neenee's heart:) I try as hard as I can to not think about it for when I do my eyes become blurry. I know all the grandmothers out there know exactly what I'm saying and how I feel.

My mother once told me that she never knew how her mother could love her children so much, until she became a grandmother herself and then she knew:) Ahhhhhhhhhh, the heart of a grandmother:)

Don't get me wrong, I am more than thankful for all the good family memories we have and the fact that God has indeed blessed us to be close to our 14 gchildren.

But change is happening...new seasons in our lives are coming...and as a good friend of mine wrote: "Clinging to the ONE Who will walk us through the changes." This I count on for sure!

So these have been the ponderings of my heart of late. I am thankful that Father God is allowing our other 8 gkids to live close by for now...and who knows maybe just maybe the Bledsoe's won't live too far away:)

Natural Falls CampOut...

with the Bledsoe gkids.

Last campout with the Bledsoe gkids before school starts.

Click HERE to see a photoshow of our fun campout!

Crabby Old Man??

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte , Nebraska , it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Missouri .. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses?...........What do you see?
What are you thinking..........when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man..........not very wise,
Uncertain of habit..........with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food...........and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice..........'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice..........the things that you do
And forever is losing..........A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not..........lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding...........The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?.........Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse..........you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am...........as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding..........as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten..........with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters..........who love one another

A young boy of Sixteen.........with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now...........a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty..........my heart gives a leap
Remembering, the vows..........that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now..........I have young of my own
Who need me to guide.........And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty..........My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other..........With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons...........have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me..........to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more.........Babies play ' round my knee,
Again, we know children..........My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me..........My wife is now dead.
I look at the future...........I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing..........young of their own
And I think of the years..........and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man...........and nature is cruel
Tis jest to make old age..........look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles...........grace and vigor, depart
There is now a stone..........where I once had a heart

But inside this old carcass..........a young guy still dwells,
And now and again..........my battered heart swells
I remember the joys..........I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living...........life over again

I think of the years . all too few...........gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact..........that nothing can last
So open your eyes, people..........open and see
Not a crabby old man . Look closer...........see..........ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within..........we will all, one day, be there, too!

PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM

Back to More Consistent Blogging...

Well, the past several days I have not been able to upload family pics to facebook:( So I have decided to get back to a more consistency in my blogging. I am putting FB back in the shadows of my time for now:) I will check back there on occasion to see how fam/friends are doing and view their pics. I have enjoyed keeping up with fam/friends in this way...has kept me informed and given me a way to pray for them too. But for now I will spend more time blogging:)

Abbie Luvs to Tube...

As you can see by the big smile on her face,

she is having a blast!

I must say I was a little surprised that she was not afraid

of the big tube and splashing water.

But with mom & dad at her side

she hung in there for a fairly long, fast tube ride!

Click HERE to see more pics of this fun time:)