Check Joe's blog....

Hey there blogalotta people...............from the highly inconsistent blogger!

Check out our 23 year old son's blog......He is Mr. Deep Thinker, but also a whole lot of fun.......Most importantly, he loves God and people.........We are blessed that God chose us to be his parents, but he is really just "on loan" as God is His heavenly father.

www.joetucker.wordpress.com

Back to school-----three weeks late after knee surgery

I am thanking God for being out of pain........Arthroscopic knee surgery was last week (Sept. 7) and I went back to work on Sept. 14, one week later. It was a teachers-only day, so my first "real" day will be Monday, Sept. 17.............one month after that dreadfully nasty major tear in the medial meniscus of my right knee, along with alot of unstable cartilage.

I thank God for trained orthopedic surgeons who can do this surgery almost effortlessly. I thank God for trained medical persons that are called to heal and help. I thank God that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! I thank God for this present life and for eternity!! I thank God that I can get back to kids and teaching very soon......I thank God for Jesus!!..................Yeah, you guessed it....I am thankful!!

From Go, go, go to Slow, slow, slow

Greetings blog readers,

Aug. 17 ended my go-go-go days at least for a while...... going up the basement steps with a box, thee most excruciating pain I've ever had (even worse than labor) attacked the back side of my right knee and made me scream intensely and fall forward. Daughter Lindsey came running down to see what was wrong. I continued to cry for a long time and was unable to move that leg for a long time.......still can't put full weight on it and have had a stream of dr. appointments, x-rays, and most recently an MRI with Pete, the great hubby, driving me all over. Plus, my parents have been great in the food and help department!!

Mostly I missed not being able to help any of the three Tucker "kids" move into their dorm or the sorority house or another house AND not going back to teach this first week of school. That has caused MAJOR crying out to God in frustration and dependence all in one cry!! If I had a sitting job, I would have gone back to work, but elementary music teaching is rarely a sit-down endeavor in combination with the playground and cafeteria duties, too. Anyway, it's brought me back more often to God......not that I just ignore Him on any given day, but the "Dependence Factor" is in high gear now instead of low gear.................not to mention all the verses about His ways/plans are not what our plans are..........So, I must continue with not teaching since using crutches is not an option for that and praying and crying out alot.

OK, enough of the pity party and onward to knowing that reading and realizing/comprehending the last few verses of Isaiah 40:28-31 is what this is all about........I will have them memorized in about another few days. These verses will take a lifetime to know in full. It's not about me, but Him!

Parenting 101-501---phasing into Consultation 101

Dude!!....................The youngest Tucker (Lindsey--18) will be graduating from high school in about 2 1/2 weeks on June 7, 2007. Where did those past two decades go??????????? I am really excited for this next phase of life as more consultant instead of parent. However, when she goes to senior prom or walks across that stage with her diploma, it will probably hit me like a ton of bricks that these days of parenting are over. I just may sob like a baby. But, I'll get over it!! We have a 22 year old son and 20 year old daughter who have helped us phase into "consultation mode" already.

Most of all, I am eternally grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ for decades of answered prayer....that these three kids would come to know and love Him and have a heart to love Him and others.........Now this is worth tears of great joy!!!.........PS.....I have found that thankfulness and laughter will boost your immune system and energy level like nothing else......well, maybe some chocolate is good, too!!

I weep for Lisa

Last night I attempted to get to fall asleep between midnight and 2:30AM. It didn't happen. Instead, I cried, sobbed, prayed, talked with Pete, tossed about, and blew my nose alot. Earlier on Tuesday(3/27) I had gone into GHS to get my mail as PTA Pres. there. I am on Spring Break from where I teach, so what am I doing?.......going to another school where daughter Lindsey is a senior of course! Anyway, within a few minutes I was approached by two wonderful teachers that I know well who asked me if I had heard what had happened. No I had not. To my shock and dismay and sadness, a father of another senior had committed suicide very recently. His wife's name is Lisa. Although I do not know this family all that well, even though our kids grew up together and are about the same ages, we hung in different circles due to the different things our kids did. Our kids were more into music stuff, scouting, dance classes, etc. and their kids were big into sports. Anyway, I do not know any details of his suicide and I don't want to.
The fact is a 40-something man took his life and left a wife and three kids, ages 23, 20, and 18. For this I weep for them all.

In amongst the midnight-2:30AM time, Pete and I talked. He said he just does not understand suicide as it is the most selfish act any person could do, obviously the most desperate, too. We talked more and I reminded him of my pregnancy 19 years ago with Lindsey......I had "pre-partum" blues, not post. I was indeed clinically depressed when I called an mental health hotline and asked how I could kill myself but not the baby. Well, duh.....that is not a possibility.
Those health line workers had me connected in no time flat with my ob/gyn in Toldeo, OH.
I went there with the other two kids (then ages 3 and 1) and talked at lenghth with my good ob/gyn. I had an adult or teens from my wonderful church with me throughout the week and family there on weekends for about 4-5 months to make sure I did not do anything AND to take care of Joe and Bethany. Pete was there when he could, but he worked 60 hour work weeks then. All those who helped me in my desperate time of need were angels from God as far as I am concerned. With being pregnant and clinically depressed, no meds could be given for possible damage to the baby........the baby who is now 18. I asked Pete,"Do you honestly think that at the moment someone takes their life, they are thinking, "Oh gee, how will this affect my son or daugher or mother or father or friends?" No way, they are somehow lost in an abyss of desperation and depression with no hope in their own minds. Pete knows this, too.

The best book I have ever read regarding suicide is "Goodbye Jeanine, " A Mother's Faith Journey After Her Daughter's Suicide (at age 19) by Joyce Sackett published by NavPress.
I would highly recommend it for anyone to read. In the meantime, I weep for Lisa and family.

As white as snow

Happy Valentines Day to all!! The snow is so high and so bright (I'm even squinting looking outside from the inside window) today with most everything (schools/businesses) cancelled in NE Ohio that this verse comes to my mind:

Isaiah 1:18-----"Come now, let us reason together, " says the Lord.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be AS WHITE AS SNOW.
Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."

Wow!........................Even though it is a pain to drive in, the beauty of all this intense white is everywhere and a vivid and real reminder of Isaiah 1:18!.....Jodi

It's been three months.

Hey blogworld,
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the obvious......I am not a consistent blogger.
Oh well, I am more of a reader than a writer, more of a talker and phone caller than a writer, more of a listener to kids, etc.
Such is life.......My heart and head are joyous over the upcoming celebration of Jesus' birth, yet also heavy with prayer for people I know with brain cancer and a kindergartener named Emma with leukemia, etc..........Sooooooooooooo many needy people in the world----physically, mentally, and definitely spiritually. It is impossible to be all things to all people. I am so "at peace" to know that God is in control and that Romans 11:33-36 is as true today as when these verses were written so long ago by the apostle Paul. I sure am anxious to get more SLEEP over the break from school. These 5 and 1/2 to 6 hours per night are just not cutting it. My Dec. grade 4-5 music program is over and went well. That was ALOT of work with 120 kids involved..............Anxious for time to recoup and think more, read more, listen more, and SLEEP. Did I mention SLEEP?? I think I will go do just that now...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Thank you Lord for each new day!!