Whispers, The Rest Of The Story....

Good Morning all....

.....Paul, tells us in First Corinthians 10:13 That God is Faithful and HE will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with your testing He will provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it......


Let me back up for just one moment.

Several of you have ask me about the third child......

Tracy is married and she and her husband have two children. They live here in the same town as the rest of my family....
I will tell you that life has not been a simple journey for Tracy....But she has been faithful to do what she felt that God would have her do....Was it easy for her family? NO, it was not...

You see....Tracy and Tammy's brother (Terry) was married and he and his wife had two children ...Two girls.....Not long after Terry died of the massive heart attack, his wife died of ovarian cancer.....Now, we have two girls, age 11 and 12 with no parents, no home, no grandmothers living and they needed a place to live and people to love them...


Our grandson had just been diagnosed with Leukemia and my daughter needed my help, so there was little that I could do at that time to help with the girls........Tracy and her husband took these two nieces into their home and gave them the love that they needed and longed for.  For a young couple with children of their own, this was quite a huge step, but something they did out of love.  I am very proud of them....Without going into a lot of details, I will tell you that the youngest of these two girls now lives with Sam and I. She has lived with us for almost two years and will graduate this May. The oldest girl is now married...


As unbelievable as this story may seem with all it's twist and turns, I will tell you, that we have accepted it as just a part of life.....


When my mom passed away, I knew that someone had to step up and help my dad take care of Tammy. At this time, there were no symptoms of his dementia/Alzheimer's, but, it would be hard for any 75 year old grandfather to meet the needs of a young lady that has special needs. So yes, he would definitely need help.


What I didn't know was that it was going to be a little more difficult than what I could imagine... Even now, there are  days when I say to God: "God, I didn't ask for this" "Why do things have to be this way?" But, the next day I just pick myself up and do what I know must be done...

There are a lot of days, when I try to be the boss and I try to remind God that "Hey, I am only one person here....How can my brain work to take care of me, my family, my niece, my disabled niece, and my dad who has dementia/Alzheimer's?"  But you know what?  God directs my paths and He will not place upon me more than I can handle....

I remember a comment that Brenda Warner made this past Saturday....She said that it was when she realized that God CHOSE her to be the mom of a Special Needs Child, that her heart began to change.....Out of all the people in our world, God cared enough for Zack to choose her to be his mom....

That was a true whisper that sank deep into my heart......I now know that God is in control of this situation and he loves Tammy enough to choose ME and our FAMILY to take care of her....

There have been many, many times that I have witnessed a tear or two streaming down Tammy's precious face because she knows she is not like most normal young women. There is no boyfriend, there are no girl friends to run around with or to go to the movies with, no dates, no marriage, no phone calls, she can't cook, can't drive, and is basically dependant upon us as her family to take care of the things she needs in life..


Brenda Warner read a note to us and she said this would be Zack's words if he were able to speak to us on that Saturday...He basically would say that we need to slow down! He would tell us that he has no worries...even pimples are not a big thing to him....We need to slow down and see (or feel) what someone else needs!

Another whisper to my soul.....I need to slow down and stop thinking that life is all about me....It's not! What if God was too wrapped up in other things to even care if I needed His Mercy and Grace? Wow...do I have a reason to ask "Why do things have to be this way?" No, I need to learn to slow down and realize that there are people who need me and if this is something that God has asked me to do, then I need to do it with a loving heart and do it to the best of my abilities.

What I learned is that those insignificant things that no one really cares about, are big things to those with special needs.....So what if I do get ten calls a day to say that I have a note on my front door...Instead of being irritated because I have to stop and answer my phone ten times a day, I need to realize that there is someone special who loves me and this is her way of feeling like she is taking care of me... This moves me beyond tears!

Will her life change? Will there be friends to come spend time with her, even though they know she is different?  Will any of these simple things that we take for granted happen to her?  I don't think so!


I will tell you that God was definitely speaking to me that day....It was as if I was hearing those gentle whispers that only God can speak, and each and every one of them were going straight to my heart.....I can also tell you that I am so thankful that God chose me to be Tammy's aunt, so that I can love her and take care of her.



My steps were ordered of God this past Saturday...I have been invited to attend this luncheon before, but never made the effort to go..... It was just two days before the luncheon this year, that I received the invitation.  I knew I had to go......

Now tell me......Is our God awesome or what?!!!!


Shug......