.....Out and About Last Week.....

Last Week I didn't do a lot but I did enough!  I mostly was in my abode due to a round of who knows what...Went to the Nurse Practitioner several times,became allergic to the medication, dealt with the symptoms of an allergic reaction and finally on Friday I felt almost human again.  Yeah for the home team...one more strike and I guess I would have been out.

On Memorial Day,early evening my cousin Jeanie and I shared a meal together at a new barbecue' place in Farragut www.archersbbq.com . The food was cooked well and was tasty, the baked potato salad ,ribs and chicken that I had were done right, but the air-conditioning was almost non-existent and we were feeling the heat by the end of our meal.  Jeanie is always good company and a good sport too!  What was somewhat ironic was when I set this date up with her, was these famous last words, "If it is a serve yourself place then I would rather just go somewhere else', it was but we stayed cause we didn't have the energy to move on!  This is my life in a nutshell!

Thursday afternoon I drove over to John Sevier highway to visit Abner's Attic,  www.abnersattic.net, and to eat lunch.  It is only open on Tuesday and Thursday's.  I like going there because, while the food is good light luncheon fare, it is quiet, quaint, and the little lady that is the hostess, her name is Grace, is charming, sweet, easy to talk too and she is always  kind, considerate and has a great sense of humor.  My spirits are usually lifted after I have spent some time with her.  I feel like God directed me to her all those many months ago, and she has been a special acquaintance blessing ever since.  I consider her my lift me up go to person!  After that drive I was tired, but grateful for an opportunity to visit with Grace and to sit on Abner's screened in porch and quietly observe nature, there is an enormous Sycamore tree that has long reaching limbs, white, ex foliating bark and broad, dense leaves.  It offers shade and is home to many of God's creature's.

Studying that tree on my outing, brought back another memory from very long ago.  We were living in England at the time this memory took place.  We hadn't been there very long because my Dad was still trying to find housing for us.  In the mean time he had found us a couple of rooms in a very large estate home that had been turned into 'flats' for 'letting out'. It was a walk up to the fourth floor and there was two living area rooms where we also slept and a small kitchen, with a very small two-eyed stove with an oven. A small fridge, and a bathtub, that had a wood cover that served as our table. We shared a communal toilet down the hall.  I and my brother Butch, of course, thought that this was a grand place,it was a great place for exploring and there was lots of interesting tenants that I can somewhat recall.  Jim was just a toddler and Andy was only a twinkle in my Daddy's eye at that moment. There was a very old, gigantic, shade tree in the large garden area in the back of the house. The grass under this tree,was green and lush like a carpet.  We would play under this tree's canopy for hours on end. Someone that lived there showed me how to make daisy chains, and I made my Mom, Butch, Jim, and myself bracelets, necklace's, and head pieces everyday.  It had been a beautiful old home during it's day.  I wonder if it is still standing?  I really do not recall exactly where it was, but I would give anything to travel back to England and look in on some of my flashes of memories.

My mom had her hands full caring for us, while Dad was settling into RAF Lakenheath Air force Base in Suffolk, www.lakenheath.af.mil.  She was like a pioneer woman, wife and Mother. She made do with what she had, settled in with the little bits of goods that she was able to bring with us, and cared an nurtured us the best that she could.  We hadn't been in England very long when she received a telegram from her sister Melva, passing on the devastating news that her 'Daddy Engle' had passed away.  I can not even imagine how she must have felt, in a foreign land, unable to return home to mourn and grieve with her family, three small children to attend to, no friends, no support.  My mom was very close to her 'Daddy Engle' and she was very special to him too.  There were nine living brother's and sister's and she was smack in the middle of the bunch, she always enjoyed working in the yard, so I think she probably tagged along after her Dad as he went about doing his chores.  I only had the opportunity to see my grandfather Engle a few times, during my six years of life, before he passed away.  I do have one bright memory that stands out in my heart and my mind.  It is the visit where we went to see my mom's family right before we left for England.

My Mom's family lived very far back in the country.  The closest community was Woodbine.  The two lane road snaked and wound a long way before you arrived at the turnoff at Indian Creek Missionary Baptist Church, where my mom's family attended church.  From the church you had to wind your way down a rutted dirt road until you came to Eaton Fork Road.  When you arrived there,then it became a narrow winding valley, with a narrow lane that followed a small creek in between two large mountainous hills totally covered with huge trees and undergrowth. This then eventually became cleared land with small hand hewn wooden log homes where the Engle clan lived and raised their young-ens'.

I recall that we had finally arrived at Eaton Fork Road, to the left was a huge field that was planted in corn. There was a hand hewn little building for storing the corn and just beyond that was a man, solidly built, with white wavy hair, walking behind a plow and a very large dark brown horse.  He turned when he heard the car.  He stopped, said to the horse "whoa 'Old John', hold on now" took off his straw hat, wiped his brow with his bandanna and held out his arms.  My mom jumped out of that car, shoes off, brunette hair a flying and tore across that field hollering 'Daddy Engle' I'm home.  It was a very beautiful sight to behold and I have never forgotten the happiness that exuded from Mom at that moment!   She loved both her parents, but she adored her Daddy.  I am so thankful now that I was there to witness that very special homecoming!

When my Mother lay dying, myself, Andy and Curt were present at her bedside.  She was in her last few minutes of life. Andy was on her left,I was at her head, and Curt was holding her hand on her right.  I was watching her and Curt and I just sensed that they were communicating mentally and through the touch of their hands. Curt would nod and shake his head, like in agreement.  Not long after that the nurse came in and said she had passed over.  We said our last goodbyes and left her earthly body there.  When Curt and I were at a place where we could share with one another I ask him "Could you please tell me what my Mother showed you?" Curt had the ability to understand and see things that other's of us can't see or understand.  He was a very spiritual man.

This is what he shared, but he really didn't feel that it was his to share. My mom showed him extreme joy and happiness.  She was greeted by a man, with white wavy hair, holding a large brown horse, she called him Daddy and she was going home with him.  "What a beautiful homecoming it was for her," Curt said.  

Curt and I talked about this experience and the one he had back in 1995 when he got very close to heaven's door.  He believed that death is like walking through on open door into those most lovely moments that you might have experienced here on earth. There is always someone you know personally waiting for you to welcome you home to Your Father's house. I have been witness to my closest loved ones crossing over.  I feel honored to have shared that last moment of their earthly presence.  I would like to have had Curt's gift to watch them crossover but God has his reason's for not giving me this gift. I can only wonder about my Dad and about Curt, but I know with a certainty that they were met with open arms as they walked through the 'shadow of death' and into the 'Light' of eternal salvation as believers in Jesus Christ.  That is God's promise and I claim it mightily.

Someday it will be my turn and whomever is sitting with me, let me go gladly and without hesitation. Look for peace, and serenity in the knowledge that I joyously will crossover into loving waiting arms.

Once again I did not intend to write about all of the last bit, but it just flowed forth with a will of it's own.  So the rest of the out and about will have to wait for now. That will be a story for another day! Thanks for taking the time to read my words.  I hope you find meaning and hope from my wordy meanderings.  

New summer Bible study begins tomorrow John 3:16.

I never thought almost 52 years ago when I was in  The Girls Auxiliary at Tangelo Park Baptist Church, that all of the many Bible verses that I memorized would still be with me and playing such a valuable part in my life.  Life is amazing about what revelations become available when you are ready to accept the message.  God Bless.  LSJL