A New Blog to Give My Attention To Grow

I've been very remiss at writing actual posts on Searching for Annette.  However last weekend at a conference called She Speaks, other writers helped me to realize the value of maintaining a blog. I know in my heart that I am a WRITER.  I own it now.  Writing is a gift God meant for me to use fully.  That being said, I've started a new blog to go into greater detail about life after Clay entered.  It can be found at AnnetteMontsFalls.blogspot.com  The name of the new blog is Cradled in Hands of Grace.  While those years were extremely difficult, God cradled us in His Hands all along.  This blog is an attempt to put words to memories and photos of life post Clay's emergency entrance to life outside my womb.  God has had us on the Potter's Wheel nearly thirty years, but a good potter makes certain that the clay he is spinning does not come off the wheel.  It has felt off balance.  It has felt cruel and we have wanted to exit the spinning we have gone through.  Yet I know that God has had his capable and loving hands wrapped around my family the entire time and still He holds us.  Someday perhaps the Potter's Wheel will slowly stop and HE will decide it is time to remove us from the wheel.  When, where and how are questions I still ask of Him.  However, I do not hear the answer.  I must continue to trust His capable hands to cradle us regardless the circumstances that may await.  He has held us through many storms.  I know He has a big purpose and a big plan, so I will wait until He is ready to reveal more of the shape He is giving us.  I'll keep trying to express myself through words to glorify what HE has done for us.  I give thanks to him for loving us and keeping us all together as family.  I wait and hope I will continue to please him and glorify him.  May I do so with the future of my new blog that is Cradled in HIS Hands of Grace.

Clay's Prayers & a Merry Christmas Wish

Whispers, Images, Affirmations

Imagery and Conversation with God Sitting Near Me

Sometimes I ponder if I’ll ever find adequate ways to express sentiments that flood into and from the chambers of my heart.

Thoughts, words, images, intentions, memories, dreams, regrets, hurts, insecurities, and hopes tied with love that binds every bit of it together as blood continually courses in shifting hues of reds and tinges of blues.

Breathe in, hold, breathe out.

Stretch, relax, melt like warm velvety wax.

Float gently across the sky like a white, billowy cloud up high.

Listen to the waving grass and the dancing leaves sprouting life back to trees while riding piggy back on a delightful breeze.

Sparkle like shimmering stars against the vast darkness of night.

Gain insight from the perspective of the man in the moon.

Radiate warm welcomed cheer from an energetic faithful sun.

Quietly melting with fluidity into the babbling brooks towards cascading waterfalls to journey with the sea.

To push through the rocks and the dirt in a dress of bright greens crowned with glorious, colorful, majestic, fragrant flowers of all shapes and sizes.

To skip in reckless abandon upon the whispering wings of a butterfly.

To nestle securely upon birds with downy feathers as they freely fly and sing to God praises on high.

To stand in presence with the promise of rainbows that bring reassurance and hope.

To give love freely and to freely receive it.

To embrace my complexities, share my strengths and accept my weaknesses.

To teach my life, find delights to aging gracefully, but always seek greater lessons.

To evolve into maturity yet maintain my little girl inside of me.

To pick myself up, dust myself off, and always attempt

to stand back up every time I trip, fall down, or jump from pit to pit because I am human just like every other sojourner seeking the true path of life even when detours can force us into frightening territories and terrifying circumstances.

To mourn our many loved ones gone but to smile and laugh from joyful memories that remain forever with us.

To choose focus on the good rather than wallow on the less than moments and the whys and ifs.

To trust my authenticity instead of believing the numerous lies and attacks plotted by evil deceptions and manipulations that are threatened by Holy Hands of power and protection.

To return the innocent heart and wonder of my little girl back into the splendid vision of God’s lovely bride covered in beautiful white forever in His sight.

To sit captivated near the feet of Jesus and know completely that Heaven is our Eternal Home.

Words rambling, visuals dancing, thoughts pondering, comfort found during the birthing hours of this new, February Thursday forming day 24, 2011 <><

May God feel blessed by this humble servant as I try to discern his voice and direction and guidance to become a better disciple of love, compassion, faith, empathy, grace, mercy, trust and hope towards His purpose and plan to give me and you full hope and a future and orchestrate all things to good for those of us who love the LORD and are called according to His will as we prepare and wait upon His Kingdom.

Thank you Lord for your unconditional love and unwavering trust on my life’s ever changing, ongoing journey as I search the path where my footprints stand with yours.

Annette Monts Falls

Reshaping Our Vessel of Clay

How do eight weeks pass, summertime be well into July heat, and we can hardly remember our way home? Sometime today, God willing, we will leave the hospital and not have to be readmitted for a long time! Clay's gastrostomy mickey is now replaced with a Gastrostomy/Jejeunostomy tube.....a lot more obvious and larger than the simple mickey, but if jejeunostomy feeds keep us home, by golly we will happily accommodate larger tubing and learning a new method of feeding him after 24 years!!! His stomach no longer empties as it should because of bands of tissue and anatomy constricting the area that opens into the intestine and also keeps food from back flowing to the stomach......(it's all complicated and at 50, my brain is much foggier than when I was 26, so I'll just say complicated; it all makes sense, just no need to go into grand detail for now).....so the J tube will allow feeds to be absorbed by avoiding the stomach. We will use the G tube port for medication dispersal and water flushes, but for the enteral Nutren 2.0, we now will use a feeding pump and slow feed the majority of the day through the J tube. Overwhelming? YES! Adjusting ~ adapting? YES! Clay has had a gastrostomy since he was a year old....bolus feeds; now to convert back to a jejeunostomy and a feeding pump is a work in progress, but feasible. If this measure keeps him healthy and at home, we definitely will learn and adjust accordingly. It has been a very long eight weeks with only 14 nights cumulative with him at home between readmits. Prayerfully the docs from Internal Medicine have finally pinpointed why we kept needing to return with feeding issues. Thank God, they feel this has been the reason.....all he has been through has been difficult and exhausting. But Clay is still with us and we hope this new feeding regimen will be finishing glaze on his now reformed vessel. There is much more I can explain and possibly post, but for now a smaller post to update our status. Please keep Clay in your prayers. We appreciate all of them as we anticipate going home at some point today and very prayerfully, our lives will begin to get back to normal with some modifications and rest. We are blessed to still have Clay here with us......so many amazing miracles and extreme blessings during this eight week ordeal. I cannot fathom how Mary endured Jesus suffering; I experienced much conflict with emotions in my prayers and groans that words could not express as we watched Clay suffering horribly and painfully as he has. His journey here is not finished yet; he says his angels have been with him and he is to stay here with us. I don't know for how long, but I will treasure my jar of Clay for as long as God ordains our purposes here on Earth. He is sovereign and He deserves much praise for all He has provided. Love remains never ending. To all those reading this post I wish you much love, many hugs, and abundant blessings, Annette

please pray for Clay

Health crisis with Clay since the 17 of May........unresolved as yet and hospitalized. Also my Daddy has been just placed on Hospice Care...........Please keep us all in prayer requests. Thank you all. Love & hugs.........

Finding Strength in Weakness

How is it that other people around us see us at our strongest when we feel most vulnerable and weak? Quite suddenly I feel weak in my knees. The last two plus weeks have been so filled with fatigue. So filled with emotions…. controlled, some not so controlled. I’ve done well until a call from my mother has made me feel extremely vulnerable to her circumstance, Daddy’s circumstance, our own circumstance, other’s circumstance. Life can be harsh so suddenly. Sometimes it hangs by a thread. Sometimes the thread can thicken into a stronger more viable life line. Sometimes the thread completely severs. It is totally unpredictable. It is filled with bittersweet timing. It often is filled with unexpected joys and blessings. Just like the saying when a door closes God opens a window. I suppose I’m learning these last couple of weeks more than ever before that when a sorrow occurs, an unexpected act of kindness, compassion, love and joy comes along to sit with us. I will understand these things as God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s unconditional love. Clay gave Patricia and I some hints today of his experiences of late. He wanted us to acknowledge Michelle’s photo over his bed…….his way of expressing angels with him. We asked him did he remember angels around him and he reassuringly said yes. We asked him if he was scared and he said no……well a little, but the angels kept him safe. He says they told him to stay with his family. Patricia welled up with tears several times today. She lost her favorite sister in law, Vern’s favorite sister to a heart attack a week ago. Clay was her comfort today. She gently and lovingly gave him a thorough bath, slowly cleansing the tape residue from all over his bruised, thinning frame. She coated him with warm, tender hands with body lotion. Brushed his teeth. Combed his long, wavy hair. Dressed him in a new birthday shirt she had brought for his birthday gift…….”I knew this shirt would look great on you Clay! When I saw it, I thought of you.” I’m not sure who poured more love today, Clay or Patricia. Both were the exact ministry the other one so needed. So much love. So much compassion. So much total dedication. There will be more things to put words to with upcoming weeks. I’m not sure what will evolve in the meanwhile. How sweet the confidence so many friends and family members hold in me to be the strong one, the comforter, the nurturer. How overwhelming the sensation of realizing such. I do not know the plans in these things. I can only and have only been following the voice of spirit that lives deep in the chambers of my heart. I love. Two simple words. I love. I need to add a third………deeply. I love deeply. I realize more and more that in return, I am loved deeply. It sweeps over me the grace of it all. It sweeps over me that God has entrusted me with much. It sweeps over me that He also now requires of me much. Not sure what it all involves, but I’ll certainly hope that I can continue to find strength and peace of spirit and heart to follow the whispers. I’ll pray that He fill me with a gentle, kind, compassionate sense of purpose and direction. I’ll ask for His sufficiency to get me from point A to point B. I’ll ask for courage. I’ll ask for strength in weakness. I will sometimes fall, sometimes fail. But I will also stand tall and strong and succeed along the way. For that I am grateful and I deeply realize the love I feel and give away to those who share the path with me. I am grateful. I am blessed. I am deeply loved.

Not Another Regular Saturday

How good it is to have Clay back home after 11 days in the hospital. Last Saturday we were still in Surgical Stepdown Unit after five days in the Surgical/Trauma Intensive Care Unit. He had two nights in a regular room and now he is home. How wonderful the phone call from one of the surgeons on late Thursday that we could bring him home! So, this is not another regular Saturday in our home. It is a Saturday of rejoicing for the progress Clay has made. Rejoicing for the privilege of bringing him home. Rejoicing for 24 years with an angel kept earthbound. Rejoicing with anticipation at what mighty plans God still has in our lives. It has been a long two weeks; a difficult two weeks; a blessed two weeks. We have experienced sorrows and we have experienced great joys and blessings. We have been comforted and we have comforted. We have been lifted and we have lifted. We have cried and we have laughed. We give thanks to God that we will continue to receive His perfect will in our lives. I bought a couple of simple bracelets in the Pink Lady gift shop at the hospital. One has Faith Hope Joy Love and flips to and the greatest of these is LOVE. The other one says HAVE FAITH and flips to EXPECT MIRACLES. I will wear these to remind me of this difficult two weeks and remember the faith, hope, joy and love it has contained. I will continue to HAVE FAITH and I will most definitely continue to EXPECT MIRACLES. Thanks be to God.

Perseverence in Prayer

A lock of Clay's precious, newborn hair with the prayer that hung over his bed the entire time he was in NICU in Denver, Colorado........kept since that time, 23 years and counting, in the book of JOB in my old King James Bible from my confirmation day, given to me by my mom and dad.

a prayer shared with thru the tulips blog moms and others

A Prayer ~ A Hope ~ An Almighty God I suppose moms that this is my coping method tonight to let go of some worries and frustrations of nearly 24 years of constant caregiving.......it is rewarding, it is blessing, it is delightful..........much if not most of the time; however, mama's like making things better and our hearts combined could be the heartbeat of a hurting world growing stronger because of the immense love shared and given. These are some of the times I dig deeper to calm myself, listen to whispers, search for resolutions. I'm very tired. Clay deserves so much more as a young adult male who is highly cognitive yet trapped in a physical body that denies him freedom of coordinated movement and a verbal, understandable ability to converse. He deserves the healing that will bring any movement he desires to undertake on his own ability and freedoms. He deserves dignity and respect. He deserves a life outside of parents' constant care and provisions. He deserves a miracle and I still believe in miracles. I still believe in answered prayers. I greatly believe in an all knowing, all loving, unconditional Papa God......I pray for my sisters and your children and your circumstances and needs......I love you all and you bring me joy and support that other's find difficult to comprehend. For these things I thank God.......may you find quiet moments, peaceful moments, and renewed spirits this Easter. May your precious children be given careful provisions by the Master..................A Prayer ~ A Hope ~ The Answers Are Almighty God Dear Lord, Father of all creation I praise you for the special encouraging moments you bring in our everyday lives. I praise you for stories of good when there is much dismay. I praise you for mercy shown by families, friends, and other Christians through your direction and plan.Lord, what a beautiful time this is. The trees are growing new leaves of green. The flowering shrubs and trees are bursting in color. The bulbs of beautiful, varied flowers are vibrant and strong. The pansies and violas as other spring varieties are spectacular just now and will soon be replaced with other varieties of annual flowers and greenery.The skies are blue and the clouds are billowing white. The birds and other animals are courting as you direct them to do so under your supervision. Deer stand so beautiful in my yard against the woods edge and in open fields in numerous groupings. Cotton tail bunnies are hopping around nibbling sweet clover growing. A number of kittens and puppies are making their appearances. The songbirds are singing beautiful melodies and choosing mates, courting, and building nests. The spectacular cardinal feeds his female tenderly. The mourning doves show up in pairs, so gently cooing, so greatly easing away my tension as I capture the love songs. The chickadees, Carolina Wrens and other small birds are busy as can be and are richly blessing my family with a magnified experience just through the picture glass patio door…….courting, building their nest, settling in, as I was realizing and photographing this morning five delicate brown speckled eggs in the tunneled nest chosen to be placed in my hanging ivy basket just outside the glass……hopefully mama and papa wren will allow me to photo ~ document the process of nest sitting, hatchlings, feedings and the gentle coaxing of the babies to try their wings. I observed this exact event a couple of years ago, from the same window and a hanging plant………..oh the joys of watching your immense feathered creation so intently. Hearing their songs are often the best medicine in rough days ~ weeks. So I thank you for gracing my yard with the songs and the beauty, the courting and the comic relief they often have about them also.As this new season of Spring gets underway I ask that you bless our families, our friends, our neighbors and our country. As we approach Holy Week and Easter morning, may we be greatly reminded of sacrifice and saving grace. May we more fully comprehend each year that your will includes for us, the story of Jesus and the cross. The opportunity to be new again, washed by his blood, sweat and tears for our salvation and forgiveness of sins. May we be reminded that you love us so much you willingly let your own son pay our debts…….all our debts completely, because of your infinite love and desire for us, your children of your design, of your creative hands that we may have deep connection and relationship with you.Father, I would ask that you hear our prayers and petitions and intercessions. So many are hurting and afraid. So many are alone and bitter. So many are facing terrible challenges ~ health ~ financial crisis. Please help our nation return to you and prioritize our relationship with you. Please help us turn from evil, idolizing, cruel, unethical, irresponsible, arrogant excesses. Help open eyes to your love, your will, your presence to give us hope and a future. You are an all knowing God. You are an all loving God. You formed us from your love first so that we could know what love truly is. You watch over us and keep us in your care. You have a plan and a will of action ~ service for our lives. Help us to clearly discern our purposes and have the courage to live fully the challenges and the joys and the in betweens.Father you know well before I ever put words to them the varying concerns in my individual heart……concerns for my sons, for my faithful husband, for my aging parents, for family members, for friends and for communities. The magnitude and intensities grow and we all need words shared with you over concerns for our country, for our planet, for our universe. Over every bit of your creation.Please Father help us understand things that are difficult to understand. Help us with things we simply don’t want to or are afraid to understand.Help us do more good, show more mercy, grace and love and forgiveness to all around us; close and distant proximity. Help us learn greater compassion, greater empathy, greater tolerance of those who are different somehow than we want them ~ expect them to be. Help us see challenged individuals in more positive light of possibility and contribution. Help us provide new avenues of independence, nurture and care in appropriate ways. Help parents continue to find the necessary strength to keep running the race you destined us to endure to the finish line, whatever that line may be and whenever that line becomes visible.Father I ask that you renew this creation in all manner that it bows down to you and hears your voice, be it nature or human form. Help us learn to love more completely, more Christ like with servant hearts. More unconditionally and willingly. More positively and humbly and effectively that love replaces hate, commonalities replace discriminations, poor become wealthy, sick become healed, Christians unite and pray together.These things and all the other things left unexpressed by inadequate words living in my heart, I bring to you on my knees and my face to the Heavens that you will answer lovingly and according to your plan and will as we ask these things in Jesus Christ. We thank you for sending him to save us so that we will have all things new in proper order.AmenAnnette Monts Falls ~ April 1, 2009

A Prayer ~ A Hope ~ An Almighty God

A Prayer ~ A Hope ~ The Answers Are Almighty God Dear Lord, Father of all creation I praise you for the special encouraging moments you bring in our everyday lives. I praise you for stories of good when there is much dismay. I praise you for mercy shown by families, friends, and other Christians through your direction and plan. Lord, what a beautiful time this is. The trees are growing new leaves of green. The flowering shrubs and trees are bursting in color. The bulbs of beautiful, varied flowers are vibrant and strong. The pansies and violas as other spring varieties are spectacular just now and will soon be replaced with other varieties of annual flowers and greenery. The skies are blue and the clouds are billowing white. The birds and other animals are courting as you direct them to do so under your supervision. Deer stand so beautiful in my yard against the woods edge and in open fields in numerous groupings. Cotton tail bunnies are hopping around nibbling sweet clover growing. A number of kittens and puppies are making their appearances. The songbirds are singing beautiful melodies and choosing mates, courting, and building nests. The spectacular cardinal feeds his female tenderly. The mourning doves show up in pairs, so gently cooing, so greatly easing away my tension as I capture the love songs. The chickadees, Carolina Wrens and other small birds are busy as can be and are richly blessing my family with a magnified experience just through the picture glass patio door…….courting, building their nest, settling in, as I was realizing and photographing this morning five delicate brown speckled eggs in the tunneled nest chosen to be placed in my hanging ivy basket just outside the glass……hopefully mama and papa wren will allow me to photo ~ document the process of nest sitting, hatchlings, feedings and the gentle coaxing of the babies to try their wings. I observed this exact event a couple of years ago, from the same window and a hanging plant………..oh the joys of watching your immense feathered creation so intently. Hearing their songs are often the best medicine in rough days ~ weeks. So I thank you for gracing my yard with the songs and the beauty, the courting and the comic relief they often have about them also. As this new season of Spring gets underway I ask that you bless our families, our friends, our neighbors and our country. As we approach Holy Week and Easter morning, may we be greatly reminded of sacrifice and saving grace. May we more fully comprehend each year that your will includes for us, the story of Jesus and the cross. The opportunity to be new again, washed by his blood, sweat and tears for our salvation and forgiveness of sins. May we be reminded that you love us so much you willingly let your own son pay our debts…….all our debts completely, because of your infinite love and desire for us, your children of your design, of your creative hands that we may have deep connection and relationship with you. Father, I would ask that you hear our prayers and petitions and intercessions. So many are hurting and afraid. So many are alone and bitter. So many are facing terrible challenges ~ health ~ financial crisis. Please help our nation return to you and prioritize our relationship with you. Please help us turn from evil, idolizing, cruel, unethical, irresponsible, arrogant excesses. Help open eyes to your love, your will, your presence to give us hope and a future. You are an all knowing God. You are an all loving God. You formed us from your love first so that we could know what love truly is. You watch over us and keep us in your care. You have a plan and a will of action ~ service for our lives. Help us to clearly discern our purposes and have the courage to live fully the challenges and the joys and the in betweens. Father you know well before I ever put words to them the varying concerns in my individual heart……concerns for my sons, for my faithful husband, for my aging parents, for family members, for friends and for communities. The magnitude and intensities grow and we all need words shared with you over concerns for our country, for our planet, for our universe. Over every bit of your creation. Please Father help us understand things that are difficult to understand. Help us with things we simply don’t want to or are afraid to understand. Help us do more good, show more mercy, grace and love and forgiveness to all around us; close and distant proximity. Help us learn greater compassion, greater empathy, greater tolerance of those who are different somehow than we want them ~ expect them to be. Help us see challenged individuals in more positive light of possibility and contribution. Help us provide new avenues of independence, nurture and care in appropriate ways. Help parents continue to find the necessary strength to keep running the race you destined us to endure to the finish line, whatever that line may be and whenever that line becomes visible. Father I ask that you renew this creation in all manner that it bows down to you and hears your voice, be it nature or human form. Help us learn to love more completely, more Christ like with servant hearts. More unconditionally and willingly. More positively and humbly and effectively that love replaces hate, commonalities replace discriminations, poor become wealthy, sick become healed, Christians unite and pray together. These things and all the other things left unexpressed by inadequate words living in my heart, I bring to you on my knees and my face to the Heavens that you will answer lovingly and according to your plan and will as we ask these things in Jesus Christ. We thank you for sending him to save us so that we will have all things new in proper order. Amen Annette Monts Falls ~ April 1, 2009

Amazing Witness

I've much to read at this site, but I can assure you it is an amazing witness involving a dedicated mother, a miracle baby girl and Jesus Christ. www.babyfaithhope.blogspot.com

MAY OUR... on this first day of Spring

May our sunshine be warm, the breeze be kind.

May the songbirds keep nesting, the butterflies winging.

May our skies be filled with all shades of blue.

May our clouds be safely speckled in billowing white.

May our days be long, may our nights be gentle.

May our garden be overflowing with fragrance.

May our vision be brilliantly colored in quietly swaying flowers.

May our thirst always be filled by sweet.

May Creation, in praise and in gratitude, lift eyes and voices;

Always to Our Father for all he has given.

Annette Monts Falls: reflections on this first day of Spring

March 20, 2009

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

I don't know who wrote these words of wisdom, but the descriptive always moves me.....so I'm copying it here as I wish you enough..................... Recently I overheard a mother & daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged & the mother said, 'I love you, & I wish you enough.' The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom.' They kissed & the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted & needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to some one knowing it would be forever?' 'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.. 'I am old, & she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead & the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said. 'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, & she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory. I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive & everlasting. I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye. She then began to cry & walked away. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.

FIND YOUR WINGS

Another day, many blessings, devotions. May this video bless to the Glory of God: http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=60224d3d096f81bfc6bf&mui=d523dad9bdc341c61a9640c3b2554bd6

While I'm Waiting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7TSGptd3Y If this link comes through it is a beautiful video of a wonderful song entitled While I'm Waiting performed by John Waller. The song is heard on the movie FIREPROOF; however, this is a different video to the same exact song. It (the song and this particular video version) ministered to me in many ways as I listened to the lyrics and the music is so beautiful and moving. For my specific needs it reassured me that as we hope and pray for a miracle to pull together for a new type of residential setting for young adults like Clay we are to wait and worship and serve. So I post this more so in a manner of hearing WHILE WE'RE WAITING......not always peacefully and calmly perhaps as we should wait, but that we are to continue to worship and to serve Him while we wait for our answers as we put our trust in Him in all things.

Blessings in Difficult Times

Just a quick note to thank God for blessings during difficult times.........too many to explain at this time of night for a gal short on sleep, but I will try to make it back here soon and be more explanatory. We lost a family member on Sunday evening...my paternal uncle's wife. That means my parents are the only ones still together of the four brothers all still here with us. We are blessed that my dad still has my mom and that we still have them both. So many blessings mixed in with so many sorrows and difficult circumstances. Longevity.........94, just under 92, and quickly following 90 and 88........four amazing Monts boys who fought for our country against evil. Amazing stories. Amazing grace. Amazing sufficiency. Amazing provision. Amazing family. Yes, despite the harsh nature of life for many of us in different ways, there are indeed blessings in difficult times. God bless and keep us in His care.

Chocolates and Valentine's Day

It is Valentine's Day, 2009 PM

This was something written and reshared via emails recently, and on facebook that occured last year just days before Valentine's.....since it was written, Patricia's mom, Ms Elizabeth did pass away...a month or so later and was buried on the Saturday before Psalm Sunday. We attended the services; it was a blessing! Sunrise, Sunset.......and an incredible witness of singing......especially "I'll Fly Away"........the following from last year so close in nature to this year in circumstance and other things....but all that is another story sometime perhaps.....

written last year Feb 11, 2008...........very similar to the same type of week, this week, minus the chocolates.... Feb 2009........very, very strange, but true:

I hope you enjoy.....Here it is nearing 10:30 and I wanted to give an update. Fred is out of town this week. Around an hour ago, I went in to give Clay his last meds and feeding, change him for bed and such. I could not find Clay. Unbeknownst to me, he had managed to open a cellophane wrapped heart shaped box of chocolates and in delightful mischief, covered himself in attempts to eat them. His bed looked like Gracie and Kleckley had decorated with cat poop scratched from the litter box.......tiny ones, big ones, in between ones. Chocolate smeared upon the headboard and sides that surround him. Chocolate all melted and smeared into his sheet, into his clothes, into his hair and all over his person. At least chocolate smells much better than kitty poop.........thank you Lord for little things......of course, he is smiling all over like a Cheshire cat that ate the yellow canary. Oh how I wish I had remembered Clay's camera and gotten proof........Claude (neighbor & friend) is an eyewitness! Clay should have seen what he looked like.Patricia (care attendant, now with us for 2 years) told us this morning that her mother looked really bad yesterday. She was worried about her while she helped with Clay, and Clay did his best to cheer her up and make her laugh. He asked for a church bulletin which she finally found in our van while he was working on the computer. He was taking scripture and combining things into a 'sermon'......to which she just could not help but laugh at his creativity. She left to work her shift at Midland Center. Clay and I decided to call her cell and cheer her with the chocolate story. It cheered her, but her family had all been called to her mother's side.........I am not certain if she said her mother had already passed or was about to. Her voice broke up and I did not want to distract her once I realized what she was relaying. Please include Patricia in prayers as this moment has been anticipated for over a year now. In one of my prior mailings, I detailed more about Patricia and the stresses she is enduring. The passing brings resolution but that does not make it easy. Realizing that Clay would need cleaning up and bedding and clothing switched, I called upon Claude to assist me. When the news was on earlier I had gotten Clay in his lift only for the battery to die..........when the battery dies it will lower but it will not pick up, so he had to remain in his room. He did not get upset with me, but you could see he really wanted to be in his recliner on the computer. I appeased him and hooked up the battery charger to the lift. I promised before learning about her mom, that Patricia and I would get him to his recliner first thing tomorrow morning and set up his computer. He watched TV and then requested I switch over to FM country 92. He had been given the box of chocolates at church yesterday..........it never crossed our thoughts that he could manage to tear the cellophane, open the box and eat the chocolates lying down without my having a clue. He was laughing and 'chatting' from his room, in perfect listening range as I watched TV. I had no reason to expect something like that and was relieved that he wasn't upset and cranky with just mom around. So imagine the shock when I decided it was time for the two of us to quiet down for bed.............never a dull moment.With Claude's kind assistance, we were able to roll him from one area to another and remove / change his sheet. We changed his clothing and of course, he was just delighting in the entire scene. So I finally got his meds and feeding accomplished. I've prayed that he not get diarrhea or throw up sick from particles of cellophane and sugar loaded chocolate that he managed to ingest. I came out here to catch my breath and pray that he and I both sleep peacefully without further comedic or dramatic pursuit. If we are lucky Kleckley will decide not to prowl during the night singing his most romantic songs......he is deaf but he sure can sing. The last several nights have been rehearsal for some Valentine rendezvous he has playing in his cat brain. The subject always an article of my clothing...........never any one else's; mine he manages to pull out of the closet or the bathroom floor. Fred should be back late Thursday...........I'm not very pleased that he is less than two hours away and resting peacefully in a motel room, snoring away with no threats of interruption. I won't pretend to be that cooperative just now. Hopefully you all will understand my reasons. I ask that you lift those prayers for Patricia and her family. I ask that you lift prayers for Clay and I to get through without her assistance. I ask that you remember Fred's job and also Brandon's success in securing one with dependable, regularly paid compensation. I ask any other additional things you may include for progress and perseverance with great 'peace' to follow.I will now get ready for shut eye and change out of my chocolate clothing. I will be thankful that snoring will not be a problem while Fred is away......there are perks........gotta dig deep sometimes, but quiet is a perk. I wish all of you sweet dreams with love and hugs, Annette

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~follow up, next day……………..

these can't come close to the actual event, there was much more scattered about and smeared.......sheet has already been laundered for the next change necessity, but they provide clues..............he is extremely subdued today........hope it is not cellophane stomach......... visualize him on his tummy, face down upon the candy, licking it up like a dog long denied.........the 'poops' untouched as recovered..............

Valentine's Day 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

led to this scripture:

from Galatians 5; 22 & 23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The Blessings of Spring

Who cares about what the groundhog saw? It is coming with blessings...it is just around the bend. The winter is ending and spring will be inventing:

The Blessings of Spring

The familiar scent of rain that comes after the winter snow,

The whistle of the wind that with fury may blow,

The glorious worth of much welcomed sunshine,

The first taste of berries picked fresh from the vine.

Fluffy and white clouds against a brilliant blue sky,

A child's colorful kite that dances way up on high,

The courtship of songbirds getting ready to nest,

Assurance of new life that stretches east and west.

The steady whir of the hummingbird's wings,

The beautiful sound of the dove who sings,

The kaleidoscope of color from the butterfly's flight,

The wonder of lightening bugs that twinkle at night.

The splendor of flowers fresh in the morning hue,

Wet glistening droplets of evening dew,

The crisp, clean smell of just cut grass,

The lake that sparkles like diamonds and glass.

The caress of cool breezes that tickle the skin,

The chirping of crickets that signal day's end,

A melody of whippoorwills calling 'round the bend,

'Tis taste of God's sweetness encouraging me then,

Words of praise and thanksgiving to send.

Thank you LORD for all these things,

Reminders of endless and beautiful gifts you bring,

For sight, and taste, and touch and smell,

and sounds of nature in glory that ring,

We offer this song, in praise we sing,

Great are Thy beautiful blessings of spring!

words given August 8, 2003

Annette Monts Falls

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100