Dear new baby Gracie!

I am so very sorry not to have been able to attend your birth celebration. We have been waiting these 9 long months for you to be born. It is a delight and a treasure that you were sent at the very time that you were and we are counting it a "grace upon grace" for you to come to be a part of our family. Your mother and father are obviously aware of the grace of you or they would not have named you that name. Isn't God good? AMEN! I write, hanging precariously off the precipice of a great cliff. It is not a danger, really. It just feels like it is and looks like it is, most of the times. You see, I was diving for a volleyball in the second hit of a rally of the game and leapt long and far. I felt myself flying in falling, or falling and flying, whatever the case may be. Anyway, I was somewhere in midair, when an angel caught me in his teeth, by the foot. He continued flying and I am very grateful that the skin on my feet are so tough, or who knows where I would be. I am also grateful that the teeth on the angel were so strong and that he was not fastidious enough to be grossed out to catch me by the foot. We flew together long and far, the angel knowing where he was going and keeping me from tumbling to my physical and spiritual demise and I, flying by the skin of the alligator feet that I have been blessed with, that served me well, especially in this circumstance. When we got to where we were going, the angel tried to dislodge my feet, only to find out that they had become enmeshed together. Now, I really don't know where his teeth begin and my hard skin feet start. My feet are somewhat as tough as teethskin, by the way, so it is not very hard for this to have happened. The angel knows that if he detangles my feet, I will start careening into oblivion again, so he stands at the cliff and guards my soul from falling. I wish that I could be there to see your sweet and delightful baby face, today, but I can't. Wish me well, in my excursions hanging by the foot and I will wish you well in your endeavors in life with my sister as a grandma and dear Netty as your mother. I love you, Aunt Jayne

I didn't expect the whole crew...

I had sensed some interesting spiritual activity going on around the house. Truly, I was praying and sensing some sort of surprise brewing. It is usually, Helen. So, I have come to expect the unexpected here and there. This was certainly of a different sort. Shadows and alerts here and there. My soul seemed a bit more calm, when it should be alarmed. These shadows didn't scare me and I couldn't have guessed what they were up to at all. Things like this are like reflexes. They happen all of a sudden, but they seem to take alot of time in prep and in absorbing. I really think that the elder people who have gone before meet here, before they go to NY for special occasions from Heaven. I know Netty is ripe with child, so I can only imagine that this is why they came to me. It is always special, but I think that they were telling me that fellowship with Heaven is not once in a lifetime, as I assumed, but a perk of communion with God. I said to myself that this is something that will happen and be over with, or maybe it means that I am not long for this earth. Well, in anycase, the night seemed so very long. I was aware of the Valentine theme around the house more than usual. We are all lovydovy around here and the sight of the children making Valentine's for Ezra's class was a beautiful sight. I slept and then awoke a few times. Ben gave me a long discussion that was about this and that. I didn't fall asleep once,{prodded by the convicting sermon that I heard by Pastor Stu}. I think he was even surprised that I didn't fall asleep he talked so long. Then when I slept I dreamed a very pictoral dream about the angels and up and down from heaven. I said that I would remember, but when I opened my eyes it was spiritually decorated all around me. Shadows and lights and darks, like being on the inside of a snowflake. I know Helen and baby Ben were there, Grandma Ruth, Aunt RaRa and Aunt Iva, who else, I don't know, but they were all around the room and it was dark and light at the same time. The angel that wakes me to prayer and praise, seemed nowhere around this morning. I got up and went to prayer and God is always there, who is more special than the most special guests who might come by, every once in a while.