Buzzy

My Papa

This past Sunday morning my papa passed away after a very short but painful battle with cancer. It was very sad but at the same time a big relief because we knew that he wasn't hurting anymore and he was off to a way better place than this. He was 78 years old and was one of the most strongest Christians that I knew growing up. He was an elder in the church for 27 1/2 years before he had to step down due to the Alzheimer's. He lived his life the way that God would have intended us to live and he passed that on down to his 6 kids, his 20 grandchildren who are passing it on to his 21 great grand kids that he has. He was the youngest of 8 kids and was converted after he was baptized by watching my granny's example that she led. We had the visitation for him which my uncle had set up a slide show of his life (which was great) and then his 12 year old autistic grandson who doesn't talk much went up to the coffin and his mom asked him "Who is that?" and he said "papa" and then kept giving him kisses and rubbing his head and trying to smooth out his wrinkles on his forehead ( that is one of his OCD's that he has) - it was very sweet, sad, and touching to see him act with him. It was very overwhelming at the amount of people that came to the visitation and the funeral- and how many people were literally "breaking down" at the loss of him. That is the kind of man that he was. He had the best sense of humor, but then was very serious and very stern when needed. He has filled my life with so many memories that I can't even begin to start numbering them or even recalling them. I am glad that I was with him in the end. Me and my sisters sat with him the day before he died and looked at old photos and laughed and played cards, even though he wasn't talking or playing we interacted with him as if he was. Our preacher, my father-in-law, wrote in our bulletin a tribute in a way to him and I would love to copy it for you b/c it sums up just the kind of man that he was. So here it is:

BUZZY

Another soldier of the cross has laid his armor down. Sunday, Buzzy finished his battle for his Lord. What a faithful courageous fight! Often we do not look upon things as God does. He told His own people this in (Isaiah 55:8-9). He says, "Blesses are the dead, who die in the Lord" (Rev. 14:13).

I first met this disciple of Christ several years ago when we began the work at Riverside. It was decided I would preach a Gospel Meeting there and Buzzy came about every evening. A few months later, I conducted another meeting at Bayside; again, Buzzy came just about every night. Soon in my encounters with this man, I believed he truly loved the Lord. We had not been at Riverside long until I heard about the Preacher's Meeting in Portland. On one occasion at that meeting, Buzzy was asked about some problems the Portland church had undergone in years past. He said, "I can't remember, was that the first ulcer or the second." A quality of this man that really impressed me was his love for the Lord's church. Why is this such an admirable quality? Jesus loved the church, and gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25). He purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). When someone loves the church as Buzzy did, we ought to be impressed. This man was one of the ones who really impressed me with the Portland congregation before we ever came to work here. For some time, I have thought of him as one who loved God's truth. what an admirable quality (John 8:32).

When I consider all the loving brethren who have really encouraged me to preach the gospel Buzzy comes to my mind. He would often say to me. "I love to hear you preach the truth, may God bless you for it."

The word that reminds me of this Christian gentleman is the word faithfulness: faithful to the Lord and His church, faithful to his family, faithful to the Word of God. Jesus taught about the importance of this quality (Matthew 10:22).

Buzzy was very serious about serious things, yet he possessed a wonderful sense of humor. He learned a lesson many need to learn: the ability to laugh at himself. I loved to hear him laugh- especially when I caught the little fish and he caught the big one. Even during the hard times, Buzzy had humor. One of my biggest temptations is becoming bitter. His example will help me, if I allow it to do so.

This man was also a humble servant. Jesus spoke of the beauty of serving others (Matthew 20:25-28). Buzzy served as an elder for years, he helped a preacher with an old pick-up, he helped serve refreshments at VBS, he helped prepare with annex for the Preacher's Meeting, he helped Mary Ann with her classroom, he was always ready to help someone in need. During his final days, God allowed some of you who were so close to Buzzy to serve him.

How this faithful servant of the Lord will be missed: by his family, by his congregation, by his community. Our community will not be as blessed as before. Yet, hopefully his example will motivate us all to be more dedicated to our Lord, His Word and His precious church. Thank you Buzzy.

Oh how I pray that one day when I am gone that these same words will be written about me. Something to strive for and to live that God would want me to live. I will miss him dearly, but be glad that he led the life that he had to live to get the reward that he deserves.

Back Again

Well tonight starts the 17th Annual Gulf Coasts Lectureships here in Portland and I couldn't be more excited. The topic is "Challenges the Church Must Face" and some of the lessons that will be talked about will be about God's Authority, Apostasy Among Our Youth, Unity, Reaffirmation of Elders, Social Drinking, The Emerging Church Movement, Church Discipline, Immodest Dress, Doctrine of the Baptism of the Spirit, Christian Ladies (a ladies class), Biblical Ignorance Among our Brethren, Denominationalism, Loving the Brethren, Indifference Towards God's Work, Instrumental Music and Hand clapping in Worship, Evangelism, and Producing Sound Gospel Preachers. All of these topics are challenges the the Church is facing today and if anyone is interested in any of these topics just let me know and I will get them a tape and mail it too you. WE have some great speakers from all over coming to speak on these topics and they are Darron Fantroy, Tyler Young, Wayne Jones, Tommy Hicks, Matt Gibson, Bob Patterson, Richard Massey, Johnny Morris, Floyd Johnson, Jerry Moffitt, Linda Simmons, Jason Rollo, Israel Rodriguez, Cody Westbrook, Shawn Paden, Don D'Herde, and Don Walker. So over the next 3 days I will be attending this and hearing some great lessons in which I can't wait.
An update on my Papa, Last Friday he fell and cut his head a little bit but bled alot sine he is on blood thinners, and then the next day he wasn't able to move his arm and leg on one side almost like he had a stroke- so now someone is having to stay with him and my granny around the clock to help move him from his wheelchair to the couch and to the bathroom and back and forth out of bed. So my aunt flew in and is staying with them, my brother, dad, and uncle stay during the day with him for the lifting. It is not looking good right now- his memory is all but about 5 minutes and then its the same questions and comments all over again- He forgets that he fell so he keeps trying to get up and keeps falling so that is where the extra help is coming in to sit right beside him to keep him in his chair. He is getting very agitated b/c he can't remember anything and everyone is telling him what to do to try and help him- and the only thing that seems to bring him joy is his dogs and Reef- so me and the kids have been going over there every morning so that he can light up and be the papa that we all remember and know- and I feel that maybe by me doing that I am helping in some sort of way by making him smile, laugh, whistle again( he was always whistling songs-he is a great whistler), and being silly again. So I want to ask for prayers for my papa that for the little time that he has left to not be in pain or at least be comfortable, and for my granny as she is dealing with this burden right now and to comfort her during this time. She told my mom the other day that she gets mad at her self for becoming impatience with him and has to keep reminding herself that he can't remember anything and that it isn't his fault and told her "What a way to end 57 very happy years together." They also brought in a hospital bed for him to stop him from getting out of bed and falling so The night before last was my grandparents last night to sleep in a bed together- which really makes me sad to think about and I know that it is just tearing my granny apart not to be able to sleep next to him at night. I can't even imagine going through that with Clint. So sorry that I am rambling on probably bored y'all out of your minds but oh well. Just wanted to ask for prayers on their behalf.

Sorry it has been awhile!!!!!

Sorry to say it has been quite awhile since I have last posted. We have been very busy around here. My great uncle passed away about 3 weeks ago- my papa is getting worse every day and probably has only about 2 months left if that so I have been trying to spend time over there- we had easter egg hunt over there at my granny and papa's house and I really think that they and the kids really enjoyed it- they hunted eggs, had a scavenger hunt and I made a bunny cake to eat. It was a great day and now I have been very busy helping my aunt with her bi-annual children's consignment sale that she has- I have been passing out flyers, making tons of phone calls to school to get permission to take flyer's to the schools, getting all of my clothes all checked in and checking in other peoples' clothes who don't have the time to do it themselves- so my house had been filled with clothes, and toys. So tomorrow is the first public day of the sale and I think that it is starting off great since today was with privater sale for workers, con signers, and moms-to-be. It was very busy when I left- and I got alot of neat stuff as well today and can't wait till the 1/2 off day to shop. Also during this time we finally have an appt. on Tuesday to get tubes in Reef's ears. I cannot wait it has been a long time coming. And then at the end of April we are having our annual lectureship which I need to make cookies for and to start getting ready for that. I am very excited about the topics this year and can't wait to hear all of the great speakers- its going to be a good one. So while I have a little down time and the kids are playing I thought that I would catch ya'll up on what has been going on down here. If anyone is heading down here anytime soon or would like a tape of any of the lessons that we have during our lectureship I would invite everyone to come and will try and post a schedule of the times as soon as possible. I might post it on Facebook we'll see. Well have to go there are clothes to fold- dinner to make and kids to bathe. Hope everyone is doing great and will hopefully not be so long in writing my next one- i will also try to get some pics up as well.

Disney World

Well I have been quite busy this past month getting ready for our big trip to Disney World that we just got back from. We left on February 20th which happened to be Chase's 5th birthday- and flew to Florida. We went as a big group of 10. Me, Clint Chase and Kori (Reef stayed behind with the grandparents). My aunt and uncle and their 3 kids( 2 of which are autistic) and my brother, Travis. We stayed in a very nice condo on a lake and stayed there 7 days. Let me say that it was a blast and the kids had so much fun. They got to meet all of their cartoon characters and were just in awe of everything. I think Kori enjoyed it more b/c she had all of the princesses and Tinkerbell. Chase loved all of the roller coasters even the scary ones which I was glad about. We spent 2 very full days at Magic Kingdom, a day and a half at Animal Kingdom, 1 day at Epcot, and 1/2 a day at Hollywood Studios. We got 2 off days Sunday(which we played putt-putt and paddle boated around the lake in between church, and we took off Wednesday so the guys could go golfing and we just relaxed, washed all the clothes, went to the pool and enjoyed the beautiful weather that we had the whole week. I don't think I could complain about one thing- all of the kids did absolutely better than expected. We thought for sure that we would have to get a stroller for Kori and maybe Chase but didn't have to rent one at all so that saved alot of money. We rented a 12 passenger van for all of us to get around which was an adventure in itself. The kids loved all of the shows and I think all of the grownups did too. Expedition Everest took Clint out of the running for about a day and a half. He rode it twice in a row and then was sick from then till the next day. I would recommend to anyone going there at least once in your lifetime- but you have to be prepared with a list of things you want to see or else you would just walk around in a daze and miss alot of stuff. I'm a list maker so I had every single day mapped out- and even had to redo the itinerary a few times along the way so that we did get to see everything that we wanted to. But I am glad that we are back and got to see Reef again. I think he missed us but had fun being with the grandparents and Jamie. Now I have to get ready for Kori's birthday which is tomorrow by making her her horse cake that she wants and to get ready for my aunts children's consignment sale at the end of April- so I will continue to stay busy for awhile. Wish I could put up all of the pictures but I'm sure you would all be bored with the 600 plus pictures that we took.

Pictures and some more updates.

Kori with the chicken

Reef on the tractor

Chase with the goats

Kori with the goats(this one bit her right after I took the photo)

Reef with the pig( very excited)

Reef's 7 months pictures.

Well I thought that I would put up some pictures of the kids from the Livestock Show. Obviously you can tell that they loved every minute of it. Can't wait till next year.

We got more updates on my papa this weekend. It is the mesothelioma cancer that they thought that it was and it is in the advanced stages. They said that they are pretty sure that without treatment that he probably has about 6 months to live. So while we are all saddened by this news we are happy because he was a great christian example and we know that he will be in Heaven when he dies. And that brings us great relief knowing that. We probably won't be doing any treatments for him because with his Alzheimer's his mind isn't getting any better and we aren't going to put him through chemo- and have him ask 500 times while he is sitting there "Why am I here?" We are just going to enjoy the last few months that he has left- and make some lasting great memories with him. He is going to be great since he has no idea what is going on and will keep forgetting that he is even sick- so that is good news on his end. But please pray for my granny and the rest of us as we prepare to let him go, and to not be sadden by this but to be excited that he will be going on to a better place that we all are striving to go to.

Update...

Well its been awhile since my last post but I have some updates on my Papa. He went in yesterday to get a biopsy of his left lower lung and to drain the fluid off again. They were concerned about his heart because his aorta is very narrowed and he has a very high pitch murmur- so they weren't really wanting to do the surgery but they had no other options. Anyways the doctor is pretty sure that the cancer is mesothelioma- which is from him working in the refineries so long ago. They will be 100% sure either today or Monday. He spent the night in ICU last night so hopefully today he will get out and get moved to a room. So please continue to pray for him and our family with some decisions that we will probably be making after we find out the results.

Well we have been very busy this week- we have our county livestock show which the kids love and been spending some time there. We had Chase's first dentist appointment yesterday which he did very well but he has a cavity. Yeah!!! So we will have to get that fixed sometime next week. Reef finally got a clean bill of health yesterday at the doctor's and finally got his 6 month shots a month late. If I haven't mentioned it Reef has had 4 back to back double ear infections during the past 2 months and if has another one then we will be getting tubes put in to his ears. This last time though he had RSV,(which is a respiratory virus in babies and very contagious) so we had to spend several days at home and calling people from Church with little ones and pregnant mothers to let them know they had been exposed. But now he is perfectly healthy which I am so relieved. I hate waiting at Dr.'s offices and was very tired of sick kids. Not fun at all. Other than that everything has been great. So hopefully I will be able to post next week about the results of my papa's tests and the decisions the family has made

Prayers Please

I just wanted to ask everyone if you could to remember my Papa in your prayers please. He has had Alzheimer's for the past 10 years now and is getting worse and worse everyday and forgetting stuff more and more. It is a very sad thing to watch someone go through that who used to care for you and play and talk with your whole life to walk in one day and him not know who you are. I can tell on a day to day basis whether he remembers me or not just by the look in his eyes and whether or not he gives me a hug or not. And luckily I am back home to where I can see him everyday, but I feel really bad for the family that does not live here and come down and he has no idea who they are anymore. He doesn't know who Clint is, or my kids, or anyone who is new ,to the family, within the past 5-10 years . His recent memory is horrible and the long term is slowly fading away. He sometimes doesn't remember why his 2 sons are paralyzed (they have been that way for about 25 years now), and has a couple of times not know who is own wife is. I hate this disease and the effects that it has on the loved ones around them. On a good note is that he is happy b/c he is in his own little world and doesn't know any different (which I guess is good for him) but is horrible especially for my granny who has to keep the car keys with her at all times so that he doesn't go wandering off, and having to repeat things over and over to him on a daily basis of stuff he forgets. The other day he asked about his mom and dad who have been dead for I don't even know how long- before I was even born. And he got sad when we told him that they had died. Its absolutely horrible- well now to add to it he went to the Dr. yesterday and they are pretty sure that he now has lung cancer. He has been sick for a few weeks now and they have thought that it was pneumonia at one time but now the fluid is around the outside of his lungs and the Dr. doesn't thinks that it is pretty bad. He goes in Friday for a PET scan and then for a biopsy of his lung to confirm it. My papa doesn't even remember going to the doctor- so I guess its good- but my granny is very upset about all of it. She told my mom "that this is the part of our lives that we are suppose to enjoy life with each other and look forward to dying and going to Heaven," but she is just worrying so much about him and that if something happens to her (because her health is not good either) that my papa won't know what to do. She takes such great care of him, but now she is having panic attacks, and she feels as though she is going to pass out all the time when she is out in public, b/c she worries about my Papa so much. She feels sick all the time in which now she is going to the Dr on Tuesday to get a scope done on her to see if it is something or just her nerves. So if you wouldn't mind putting her in your prayers as well. I will try to keep updates as I learn of them. But please keep them in your prayers and it will be most appreciated. Thank you.