Good evening. I have truly been trying to get time to write this blog since Sunday - a day which was awesome! Sunday was a celebration of Mike Warner's 20th year of preaching and he preached about some of the lessons he has learned in his 50 years. He was funny, touching, and tear-jerking! The one thing that I loved was that he said that without a sweet wife that stood beside him, he could not have done it. He said that now one of his greatest joys is in sitting on the porch with Barbara each morning, visiting, praying,studying and enjoying one another! My dream retirement!!
Charles Smith had a great lesson on Sunday night so it was a great day! Then on Monday I had a combined board meeting at the house and fed a simple little snack meal that they seemed to really enjoy. Then on Tuesday night - it was a night for me. I was installed as President of the Pilot Club and the ladies were so precious and were so kind. Marjoree Glover did the installation and gave me a beautiful vase with the most gorgous white roses! Such a wonderful evening and the food Shelly cooked at the Woman's building was an added treat. Thanks to everyone!!
For the meeting on Monday night I made Peanut butter brownies and a Pina Colada Cake. The recipe has been around a long time, but here it is - incase it is one of those you made, enjoyed and forgot:
PINA COLADA CAKE
1 (2 layer) pkg. extra moist white cake mix
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 8.5 oz. can cream of coconut
In large bowl combine cake mix, oil, eggs, sour cream and can of cream of coconut. Beat for about 2 minutes (until well blended. Pour into either 2 greased and floured 8 or 9 inch layer pans or 9 x 13 sheath pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes for round and about 40 to 45 minutes for 9 X 13 - or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pans (if round) and cool completely on rack. Frost with Pina Colada Frosting.
PINA COLADA FROSTING
1 8 OZ. pkg. cream cheese (1/3 fat reduced is fine)
1- 81/4 oz can crushed pineapple, drained well and blotted dry on paper towel
Angel flake coconut, separated
Mix together (saving about 1/2 cup of coconut to use on top) well and frost either layers and top and sides of round cakes or all on top of 9 X 13 pan. Cover and store in refrigerator!
If you would like - to can go to tylerpaper.com and see pictures from the other night's installation. The link is: http://spotted.tylerpaper.com/photos/index.php?id=4743638
Hope you can get it and see our little group of ladies! So precious!!!
Since I can't get my email on laptop, I have something to tell you - so instead of copying and pasteing I will type it - so please excuse typos!
MAGNOLIAS
"I spent the week before my daughters' June weddding running last minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about 40 miles away.
Ad happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle. So many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his sister down the isle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!
To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their lucious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.
At the rehersal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.
The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patst to dress, her fiance Tom walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. when we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all beautiful white flowers were black.
Funeral black. An electric storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system and on that hot summer dy, the flowers had wilted and died.
I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.
Tim turned to me: 'Edma. can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements.'
I mumbled 'Sure," as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.
Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. 'Lord,' I prayed, 'please help me. I don't know anyone in town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers in a hurry!' I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.
As I left the church, I sa magnolia trees in the distance. I approached a house, No dog in sight...knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good..No shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, 'I'd be happy to0!'
He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes later as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, 'Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today.
'No Ma'am' he said. 'You don't understand what's happening here!"
'What?,' I asked. 'You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. on Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday...He paused.I saw tears welling up in his eyes. "on Wednesday I buried her.' He looked away. 'On Thursday most of my out of town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterdat - my children left.'
I nodded.
'This morning,' he continued, 'I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, 'Who needs an eighty-six-year- old worn out man? Nobody! I began to cry louder. 'Nobody needs me!" About that time, you knocked, and said, 'Sir, I need you.'
I stood with my mouth open. He asked, 'Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room....'
I assured him I was no angel.
He smiled. 'Do you know what I was thinking when I handed out those magnolias?'
'No.'
I decided I;m needed. My flowers are needed. why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone. Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They're all over the backyard. I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day HE calls me home!
I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said, 'Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today!'
But God found a way. Through dead flowers!
'Life is not the way its' supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference!'
If you have missed knowing me, you have missed nothing. IF you have missed some of my emails, you may have missed a laugh. But, if you have missed knowing my LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST - you have just missed everything in the world!!!"
May God's Blessings be upon you. Remember - "LET GO, LET GOD!"
No comments:
Post a Comment