Arrival...Refrigerator?

CONFLICTING EMOTIONS
Contemporary Horse Art Palette Knife Daily Painting by Laurie Justus Pace

Contact me to purchase: Laurie
24 x 36 x 2 inches of stunning color.

Remember the painting that was SUNRISE OVER >>>>>>>>> well, this is it, Sunrise over Ft Collins, CO. Rafer Yocom surprised his wife Christmas Morning. Gay'l had of course been reading my blog and had seen the SUNRISE OVER________ and thought someone was getting something special.... it was her and it was all the wonderful planning of a loving husband and family. Gay'l and I have spoken recently. She is an artist as well and I look forward to seeing some of her work on the blog she plans to start this new year! What a treasure this was. Thank you!

I woke this morning to an email from my daughter Stacey. It brought back immediately flashbacks to 28 years ago. I was on bed rest pregnant with my youngest son, Morgan. Great Granddaddy Haskell was in a nursing home at age 93 and was not doing well over Christmas. In late January on the 26th at 8 in the evening, he died. That was on a Sunday night I think. Great grandaddy Haskell had been a major part of our lives and my first husband was the only grandson and of course he had to go. Our Doctor was a close personal friend and I had him on the phone that evening. He told me NO NO NO, I could not travel to the funeral. We lived in Nacogdoches and great granddaddy lived in Beaumont. I cried all night and put myself in labor. Morgan was born the next day and I like to think great granddaddy was part of all of it. They are much alike.

Well, Stacey's midnight email said Grandaddy Brown died late yesterday. He was in his ninties. The kids were just all in Nacogdoches for their grandmother's funeral in November. I know the other two will travel down for Raymond's funeral, but I pray my daughter realizes a car trip of that length is not the best thing while she is on bedrest. I think it is because of what happened to me and Morgan arriving 6 weeks early. This would be 8 weeks early for Lauren Gracen to arrive. Please keep the Brown family in prayer right now. I know Raymond suffered greatly from dementia the past year and his health has been deteriorating. I know he has joined his wife and their Father in heaven and the angels are singing.

Raymond Brown was a stubborn old "Chief". His wife Fay called him BIG CHIEF UGH. I was 18 when I met them both. He was not a man of many words, but he was true to his word and very loving toward his grandchildren. He was dedicated to caring for Fay until the day she died. They lived together at a nursing home in Nacogdoches. He was one of the classic American families from that generation. He served his country and then he worked in Orange, TX at United States Steel. She was a school teacher and taught second grade for 30 years. Raymond raised the most unbelievable roses and was active in the Beaumont Rose Society. I always like to visit because I came home with buckets of roses! He was raised a Baptist but joined the First Christian Churh when he and Fay married. He was one of five children and one of his brothers is still alive. His mom, Sally Brown lived to be 93. She had never been in the hospital until that last year of life. Oh did I love that woman. Little bitty thing and a spitfire on top of that. She ate shredded wheat for dinner every night. It was a family that came originally from Nashville, TN and settled in Texas back in the 1800's. One member died at the Alamo.

The other thing I remember about Raymond was his love of Baseball. WOW, that man gifted that love onto his oldest grandson, Justin. (my oldest son) He had collected signatures from Nolan Ryan and he loved his Texas Rangers. He was so supportive of my two boys in their sports activities. He took such pride in them, just as he did in his son, Mark.

I had to share this today in memory of my children's grandfather. We know not when our days will end. God's plan is set from the moment of our birth. In fact, strangely enough Mom and I were shopping yesterday and I asked her in the shoe Department at Dilliard's (we were waiting for our shoes to come out to try on) "if you died tonight or tomorrow, are you satisfied with your life right now and what you are doing?"

Who are you waiting for to give you permission to live your life with out guilt, burden, and unhappiness? God has given His permission, but if you are like most of us, you are holding back with what you should be doing. Pray about this over the weekend. Pray over the next few months. There is something you are suppose to be doing, lives you should be reaching, and a joy you should know....are you ready? Give yourself permission to live. Serve Him and He will provide constant abundance and joy to your life.

Death is the great equalizer here on earth. It matter not whether you are poor, rich, foolish, wise, great or simple, all of us die. There are two types of death, the physcial and the spiritual. The physical is to leave your earthly body and life here on this planet. Spiritual death is to miss eternal life with God.

Store your treasures in Heaven....
Laurie

"There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you." John 14:2