This past month of April, Larry and I parked in Cumming, Georgia, and revisited many of our old haunts and friends. He was invited back to preach at the church that we organized and parented for 15 years. It was great to see old friends and see all of the grown up children - many of whom he baptized. The services that morning of April 18th were packed with old and new friends. It was wonderful to be back and very strange. No! "You can't go home again." Many changes have taken place which is what happens as time passes. However, there were some changes that shocked us and made us wonder "How good a job did we do of teaching and mentoring?" It has been a chaotic few years for this church family and they are still searching for strong leadership. We know God will provide in his time and season. Meanwhile, we pray for all of them.
We spent the other Sundays of the month attending services with our new friends at Parkway Presbyterian Church on Bethelview Road in Cumming which was just around the corner from our RV park. We found some of our old friends from COH there also. The pastor Bill Ford and his wife Teresa are full of energy, passion for Jesus and seem like "Happy" people. The church feels like a "Happy" church. Bill has been there about 18 months. We first discovered this church a year ago Easter when we returned to visit my ageing Mom. Besides parenting and leading a bouncing, growing church Bill and Teresa have five children which she homeschools. We look forward to visiting there in the future.
Today we are parked in an RV park in Cleveland, Georgia, just 5 miles south of Helen, Georgia. This retreat to the mountains has given us a chance to re-group and rest. We loved seeing everyone "in town" again but after many, many miles of traveling the backroads (where there is NO traffic) and communing with the cactus, we were wearing out. Actually, after noon and night partying solid for three weeks we were "POOPED" and not entirely coherent anymore.
But, we slept for about 48 hours and then grabbed our flyrods and went traveling up the "HOOCH" (Chatthoochee River) until we found it narrow enough to wade across and running crystal clear mountain water!! Heaven!! Soaking in the mountain laurel and watching the crystal clear mountain stream bubbling over rocks and feeling the deep forest breezes - WE BECAME RENEWED. I caught the first fish! Here's Larry in mid-stream:
How, blessed we are! Life is not all a bowl of cherries. We had hoped to see more of our grandchildren that we helped to raise and who live here. This has not been possible for family choices and reasons. However, we know they will grow into adulthood soon and our paths will meet more often. We will attend our oldest grandaughter Erica's graduation on May 29th and applaud her full four year scholarship to Virginia Tech. God will give her the knowledge that we love her and her brother the same as always when we nurtured them thru the chaos of their younger years. I know that God gave us the church to build and the lives of these precious babies at the same time for love and care. The ties will never be broken no matter how far apart we are. Aaron was the first baby baptized at The Church of the Hills. Larry's last duty here will be to baptize the baby son of Leslie Horne whom he baptized at First Presbyterian in Savannah and married at The Church of the Hills. It will be completing the family circle. He will baptize this baby on Sunday, May 16th at the 9:45 am service.
We look forward to more special times with other old friends here. Larry is going to play some golf in Alabama with one of his two golf buddy groups. We are attending the graduation of another daughter of COH on May 22nd. Her family were strong supporters during the formative years of COH. We will applaud beautiful Jackie Burleson as she moves on into college at Georgia Tech.
Life is good on the RV trail. We move on to Michigan where I have such deep roots and we will bury Mom on July 20th. All or most of the family will be there. Larry will conduct the graveside service.
Then we move WEST to Idaho. Idaho golfing and fishing buddies have been calling. You might say it is "The Call of the Wild"! Westward Ho! The west has become home for us too! And, we will be with "our girls in Idaho!"
God is in control. We pray for all our children daily everywhere. We miss those that are miles away and love being with those who are near. One day, we will all be together forever and there will be no goodbyes! And, I am beginning to believe that Heaven will have a distinctly western flavor! Bring your boots!!
Many, many blessings this Mother's Day!
Helen
Making it on www.jus.net
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