Job 1:21

"....The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away....."





After the loss of our 14 year old Lab, Bailey, in February, God gave us a very special gift in March:







And on Sunday, He took part of it away:





As the result of a tragic accident in our backyard, Allie has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge.


Her time with us was WAY too brief.



Our house and hearts are now filled with grief.



She made the most of her short dog life in so many ways.



She lived her life to the fullest each and every day.




Her sister, Sophie, adored her; while the squirrels loathed her.




She was loved deeply and she gave MUCH love.




We will dearly miss those dark brown eyes and her Labrador "smile".




Our hearts are so heavy and our eyes filled with tears.




Time heals all wounds, or so they say......I don't know why God gave and then took away?!

Is this thing on?

I'm sure that's the question all 3 of my followers have been asking.

Most of you know the month of February has been topsy turvy in the GRITS household with my trip to Nashville for Blissdom that was immediately followed by a week's vacation at Disney World. Which was immediately followed by the acute illness and loss of our dear family pet.

I am finally getting back on the blogging trail and already working on a few upcoming posts (can't you feel the excitement....or maybe it's gas?!).

Anyway, for now I am asking you to keep this very special group of people in your prayers as they have answered the call to serve the Lord on a mission trip to Kenya. Pray for them and for their families they leave behind.


You can follow the entire team through pictures, blog posts and videos here:

This trip includes one of my very favorite bloggers, Kristen from We Are THAT Family. Follow her journey here:

Follow the team on Twitter HERE


Thanks and see y'all real soon.

An Angel's Wings

Yesterday was a difficult day in our household, but not as difficult as it was for another family here in our town! My heart is heavy, but theirs is much heavier.

God called Angel Burnett home early yesterday morning after a long fight with cancer. She was only 37 years old and was the mother to three small children whose ages are about 9, 7 and 4.


Look at this beautiful mother:

(http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/angelburnett)

Our local newspaper wrote an article on her story in February of 2008, click HERE to read more about her journey with cancer. Her spirit is completely revealed in this story!


Ever since I heard her story, it has touched me and I'm sure most people. I thought about and said many prayers for her and her family. We have so much in common....yet she had cancer.


I did not personally know Angel, but I have many friends who did. Our children go to the same school and her son is in the Princess' third grade class this year.

Her story is one of inspiration to all who hear it. Her faith in God was unshakable. This quote is from her Caring Bridge journal:

"my faith and trust is in the Almighty God who gives me the strength and perseverance to go on....Our God is good and He will lead us on the correct path. My trust is in Him for HE is bigger than any cancer that is in my body."

I have talked to many of the people who knew Angel and they all said the same things:

• She always had a smile on her face
• She NEVER complained
• Her faith was strong
• She is an inspiration
  
• She was a strong woman
• She was a blessing to all who knew her
  

I had a very difficult job yesterday as I called the Princess into her bedroom to tell her the news. It was hard. We cried. I had to try and explain to an 8 year old why God takes mommies to heaven. I don't know why God takes mommies to heaven. I just don't. And it completely breaks my heart!


I can't help but think of myself and how I would react to such horrid news as cancer. I have a faith in my God, but I'm not sure my faith is even a fraction of what Angel's was.


I'm sure Angel went through all the normal emotions with her initial diagnosis, and she chose to trust in her Almighty Lord and Saviour as she went through each day. Her strength was for her husband, her kids and her family. Her friends said she never felt sorry for herself or complained about the road God chose for her.

She faced the challenge head on and fought the fight.....ultimately she lost, but was truly still the winner! For today she is an Angel in heaven!

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me … Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of
my life" (Psalm 23:4,6a, NIV).

The Daniel Family

 

I want to introduce to you a family that needs our prayers.  I do not know them; however, we have a mutual friend who brought their story to my attention.

 

From their blog:

On March 18, 2009, Brittany was admitted to George Washington University Hospital with pregnancy complications at 24 weeks. By early evening her water had broken. This is the story of their journey through this pregnancy. Please pray with us!

 

Please go read there story HERE and pass it on.  They have a very long road ahead of them.

 

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up . . . pray for each other so that you might be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:14-16

God is SO good

 

First I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who stopped by here and left such kind words of encouragement, for lifting me and my family up in your prayers.  It meant so much to me. 

 

I wanted to let you know that Yaya came through her surgery without any major complications.  She is currently in the ICU and will remain there throughout the weekend so she can be watched carefully.

 

Your prayers were truly felt as I sat in that waiting room.  It’s quite different being on the other side of a patient having heart surgery.  I am used the one being in the operating room, NOT in the waiting room.

 

At one point, we were taken to the conference room to meet with the surgeon when a surgeon’s assistant came to inform us that they had to reopen Yaya’s chest because her blood pressure had dropped.  And we were sent back to the waiting room for what seemed like eternity.

 

Let me tell you, I was StRessEd!  Her explanation made NO sense to me.  This was the point that a little bit of knowledge was a dangerous thing. 

 

And about this time the Greek priest showed up.  I panicked on the inside.  Did God send him here or did he coincidentally show up during this seemingly critical time.

 

We all sat and waited, but not without the wringing of hands and serious fidgetiness.  I know a lot of silent prayers went up from my chair!  A lot.

 

But a little over and hour later, the handsome Greek surgeon with the nice accent came to tell the family the surgery went great, and the unstable incident was short and not serious!  He also spoke to me in MY (nurse) language and I felt good about it all.

 

We saw her in the ICU briefly and, of course, I had to eyeball all the monitors and ask a few pertinent (to me) questions.  I was satisfied with all her numbers and the answers I received from the ICU nurse. 

 

I definitely felt at peace as I left the ICU.

 

I would greatly appreciate your continued prayers as Yaya now enters the recovery phase.  She has always been a very independent and strong woman!  Please pray for good pain control, good healing of her surgical wound, and the return of physical strength.  

Blessings to you all!

Heart of Gold

I’ve not yet dedicated a post to this very special person in my life. But tonight I feel that I must.

I want to introduce to you my Yaya. She is my paternal grandmother and the matriarch of my big fat Greek family.

This past October she celebrated her 93rd birthday. That’s right NINETY-THREE!

She was born in 1915 in New Jersey to Greek immigrants who were in the chocolate manufacturing business. (Oh how I wish that was still the family business!)

She married Papou (my grandfather) in 1938.

She’s the mother of three, the Yaya to 8, and the Great-Yaya to 10.

There is so much more I could tell you about her, but I am choosing to share her in photos:

Summer 2008

The Princess and her name sake

Her kids: Nick (my father), Yaya, Maria, George

My brother’s graduation from the Naval Academy 2000

Yaya with almost all of her grandkids at her 90th birthday

Yaya with all the great-grand kids

Yaya and me on her 90th birthday

And the reason I want you to meet her?? Tomorrow at 7:30am this woman with a heart of gold will be undergoing open heart surgery to replace a bad valve in her heart.

Believe me, I KNOW how crazy it sounds to operate on the heart of a 93 year old woman. I do!

However, surgery is not an option. If the valve is not replaced she would spend the rest of her life in the hospital.

I am asking for everyone here to lift up Yaya in your prayers as she undergoes this surgery and as she recovers.

Please pray for the entire Greek family.

Pray for the doctors, nurses and everyone else who will be caring for her.

My heart is heavy tonight, and I think I can say the same for the rest of the family.

I know God is in control of this situation.

One Bible verse comes to my mind:

1 Peter 5:7,

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

The GRITS family will be leaving early Friday to spend the weekend with my family. Thank you for your prayers and I will keep you posted.

Inauguration Day

 

Today will go down in the history books. 

Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States.  The first African-American US President.

Whether you voted for him or not is now irrelevant. 

The Bible instructs us, as Christians to pray for our leaders:

 

Pray for rulers and for all who have authority so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God.

1 Timothy 2:2

Max Lucado, the author, has organized the website “Pray for President-elect Barack Obama”.   Over 201,000 have committed to pray for Obama and the leaders of our nation.  He has even included a downloadable prayer guide.

 

Please join with me and pray for our new President, his family and those that will be leading our country over the next 4 years!

One Day to Give for Logan

This opportunity of giving is brought to you by sweet Kristen of We Are THAT Family. Please go here to read about what inspired her to sponsor this event of blog blessings!

The basic guidelines are simple:

One Day to Give was born out of a desire to touch someone. It doesn’t have to be monetary. You can give your time, a service, a meal or something you own.

It’s not about the what.

It’s about the why. You might change someone’s day, even their life.

And giving feels so good.

The GRITS family chose to attend a very special event in the name of a great cause! We gave of our time and money.

Meet precious Logan Patrick, the nephew of friends:

Logan celebrated his 2nd birthday on October 11, against all medical odds. Logan has a condition called SMA, Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Basically, Logan’s body does not produce a certain protein that helps with muscle control. Therefore, he uses a bi-PAP machine during sleep to help with his breathing and also receives his nutrition through a feeding tube.

On his 2nd birthday, our city hosted Alabama’s Cure SMA Walk and Roll Across America and our family took part to help raise money for this special cause. I must mention here that Logan’s mom organized the event!

The money raised by this event goes to support SMA families, awareness, and most importantly for research to help find a cure for this disease.

Here is a photo of Logan with his mom and dad, Jason and Jennifer:

Folks, these are godly people with a son who’s outlived his life expectancy. They have such a beautiful spirit and testimony. I stood there amazed as Jennifer spoke. You could truly feel God's presence in that place!

Here is a link to Logan Patrick’s Caring Bridge page, if you would like to read more about his story. Get some Kleenex first.

Praise the Lord, this event involved over 350 people and raised almost $40,000 for SMA! And God IS great, the Patrick family is expecting a healthy baby girl due early next year!!

Meet Team GRITS:

(one of these is not like the others, can you tell which one)

We walked almost 2 miles as part of the event:

We even won three items in the silent auction:

(one of us got carried away, I won’t say who...but he's right, it certainly was for a good cause)

The kids even got to meet a celebrity at the end of the walk:

(well, he’s famous in these parts)

Sure it would have been easy for our family to help out by just sending a check and spending our Saturday doing something else. However, I wanted our kids to be a part of something big and something that was not about them. I wanted them to be a part of giving, not getting. Even if they can't "see" it yet, I wanted them to see God at work.

I wanted them to see that even they can help make a difference. They might still be a bit young for the complete concept, but I think this event certainly helped them understand more about helping others. They certainly saw MANY others giving of their time to be a part of this wonderful event.

Sometimes it is SO easy for us to take for granted our children and their health. Please take the time to thank the Lord for health and say a prayer for Logan Patrick and his family.

For more One Day to Give stories, click here. Go see how God worked through others and prepare to be blessed!

Let’s Roll

Seven years ago today, I was sitting at work in the Trauma/Surgical ICU. I was assigned to beds 3 and 4. A good friend of mine was right next to me at beds 1 and 2. My patient in room 3 had their TV on the Today Show that morning. I remember it so well.

I wasn’t really paying attention to it as I went about my morning routine. I can’t exactly recall how I heard the initial report of the attack. However, I do remember while watching the news of the first plane, I witnessed the second plane slamming into the other building.

I remember the feeling of shock and the thoughts of disbelief. Why? How? What? Is this real? Who would do this?

I watched both buildings fall. I remember the photos, videos and interviews. I cried and I prayed. It is still so vivid.

And today, it all replayed in my mind. I prayed for the grieving families and for our country as well. I heard this song on the way home from work and wanted to share it with you.

Please take a moment to say a prayer for all the families who lost loved ones. Give thanks for those who have and currently serve our country in the armed forces. For without them, we would be nothing.

Let us never forget! I know I won’t. God bless the USA.

Let Us Pray

Today I am taking time to share with my bloggy friends a very special prayer need. I am sure that most of you who frequent this location have noticed the button in my side bar requesting prayer for Noah. You may have even clicked on it and read about sweet little Noah.

Psalm 55:22

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;he will never let the righteous fall.

This family needs our prayers now more than ever!! Little Noah has been in The Children’s Hospital of Alabama for the last two weeks and is currently on the ventilator (breathing machine). His parents are having to make some tough decisions regarding his care and I’m sure they would more than appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

I would like to encourage everyone who reads to share this need with your prayer warriors. And if you have a blog, share this with your readers. Let’s bathe this child and his parents in prayer.

Please click on the photo above to visit Noah's site and let his family know that you are lifting them up in your prayers. Leave them a comment of encouragement or maybe share with them a Bible verse which may uplift their spirits.

I appreciate it and I KNOW they would too.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.