With HOPE....

"We can cry with HOPE, we can say Good-bye with HOPE...we know our Good-bye is NOT the end..." (from Steven Curtis Chapman's song lyrics "With HOPE")

I cannot explain how/ why certain people touch our lives the way they do...but with an affinity to "older/ wiser" ladies, I immediately was drawn and loved Michelle's Grandmas when I first met them & adopted them into my heart and family's lives!!! Grandma Joycee so vibrant and energetic...Here she is holding Maile days after bringing Maile home from Vietnam last spring at Jeremy's first b-day party.

Last 4th of July 2007 - we hung out with "Grandma Sugar Cain" while Michelle & her family went to Colorado. Poor Grandma Cain was diagnosed and battled colon cancer since Jeremy's birth, back in March 2006!!! She was a precious lady, strong in her Faith, wise with many years of life experiences...I enjoyed so many little conversations on the couch with her. We would watch her soap & Crossword Game on TV...I didn't care, really...I just wanted to sit by her and be with her!!!

Here is Michelle (to the left of Maile & Me) with her mom (L) and Grandma "Sugar Cain" as I nicknamed her...this picture was from last Thanksgiving! Little would we realize in DEC 2007 how the New Year would bring such loss and grief ahead. I guess it's sometimes better NOT to see the crystal ball and know like how God knows!?? Living through the last 6+ mos. have been hard enough, day by day...to see loved ones struggle, fight and try to hang on...losing the grip of life is hardest on the ones who love them so much.

Ugh, this photo was taken this past March 2008, just months before losing these precious little ladies. A light went out on Sat. May 31st with losing Grandma Joycee (on L. in pix). Her heart was so strong and yet her body so weak from the ravenous pancreatic cancer that she lingered on and fought as long as she could.

Then Grandma Sugar Cain's light (on Rt. in pix) went out this past Friday AM on July 18th, 2008. It also happens to be the ANNIVERSARY day of Don's dad (my "Poppy") dying!!! Such grief, sadness and loss...oh shoot me now! I can see and feel the heaviness in the hearts and spirits of Michelle and her family...it's present in mine too. I EMPATHIZE with the pain of such loss of someone so close and living with them for years. I cannot bare to see the couch EMPTY at Mama Karen's house...ugh. THIS side of heaven stinks - esp. when we are the ones left behind...until we see them again someday in Heaven!

Lord, please help us to make sense of it all soon...give strength and comfort quickly. I pray for a PEACE beyond all understanding...

"The Lord is my refuge & my strength..." Psalm 46:1

Cave Springs, GA

Now we KNOW the charm & reason for the namesake of "CAVE SPRINGS" Georgia!!! We went to walk through a real cave in downtown Cave Springs (population of 900!!!) and drink straight from FRESH Spring water...Wow, what a magical day, I wish time could have stood still! The breeze was warm and the waters were fresh and crisp. The kids LOVED ducking, kneeling and squeeling in the cave (which was FREEZIN' inside).



The sweet older man (on the left of the 1st pic. - let us in the cave and gave us dixie cups to drink from the stream!) It was a precious moment to see all of us drinking from the "stream of life" - so pure, so fun, so simple... We were ALL kids & couldn't get enough of it...



Here's the Crazy Carlson Krew all together in the cave - snuggled together and enjoying the moments of exploring, hiking, climbing and discovering this hidden treasure in Cave Springs. There was ONE steep hill of steps and we ventured up most the way, only Aunt Heather was brave enough to get to the top called, "The Devil's Chair" - yikes...NOT sure WHY, but I did't want to find out either. I again in FLIP FLOPS, did not want to return to my Vietnam days of hiking slippery steps and end of tumbling down. I had a good track record before and wanted to keep it that way! :)

Something people may not know about me, I do NOT like getting WET - I don't mind swimming for the most part if I can DRY off and be warm again. But feeling WET & COLD - ugh...they do NOT mix with me!! Right outside the cave, the spring waters filters out to a pond where the kids could feed the turtles, fish & ducks...A few feet over is a river that the rest of the crew & Heather & Rocco (but NOT ME) took full opportunity to do...yay for them! :) It was a splice of time to behold & soak up, sun rays beaming down with warm breeze twirling around and if I would have had a COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE drink, it would have been the PERFECT summer day!!!