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TinCottage
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Name: Robyn
Country: United States
State: Tennessee
Metro: Memphis
Gender: Female
Interests: painting, diverse music, matters of faith and the heart, homeschooling, amateur sociologist, my website www.mytincottage.com
Expertise: helping people find the right book, and homeschool resources, website building, and choosing the best ice cream
Occupation: Consulting
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
1/24/2006
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| A Party, Not a FuneralMy Uncle Ronny died today after at least a 30 year struggle with his heart. He was, I think, 65 years old. God used all that he suffered to forge him into a spiritual giant. He was a MIGHTY man of God and prayer warrior. The rest of us need to double up on our prayer efforts just to make up for the gap this one man has left in this world.
I remember him as the handsome teenage college student who used to bite the feet off the tiny baby dolls I got out of the gum machine. He took me for a ride on his motorcycle when I was 5, and told me he would give it to me when I grew up. I cried my eyes out when he sold it, because he had broken his promise to me and I was crushed. I absolutely adored him!
We lived in Nashville, where both he and my father were attending Trevecca Nazarene College. We lived in the little college trailer park where ministerial students with families lived. Uncle Ronny shared a small guest house with some other male students. I was SO impressed with his living quarters.
When he met a teenage girl named Sharlene, I fell madly in love with her. She was the most beautiful, feminine creature I had ever seen (other than my Mother, who was queen of all). I wanted to dominate her every moment when she was around. I was the flower girl at their wedding, and forgot to drop my rose petals as I went down the aisle. When I realized what I had done, that my new aunt had not had a rose petal path because of me, I cried. They let me spill the petals from the basket, and my aunt stepped into the pile, to stop my tears. I still have that little basket.
After Ronny and Sharlene married, one day Aunt Sharlene called my mother in tears because Uncle Ronnie had thrown away all her stuffed animals that she had kept on their bed. I was angry. How could he treat her that way? But still, I adored them both.
He joined the military and they moved away. Daddy graduated and accepted his first pastorate in Athens, Tennessee when I was half way through first grade. Later, Uncle Ronny and Aunt Sharlene moved to Athens, too, to be near us. My handsome uncle became a police officer. I was SO proud. He sometimes drove into our driveway and called to us on his loud speaker. I got to sit in his police car with him. That was a thrill. I heard Mother and Daddy talking, and they said Uncle Ronny was an atheist. That was sad and confusing to me. Later, he and Aunt Sharlene did come back to God, but they were involved with a religious group my family did not approve of. However, God sure was doing wonderful things in their lives, healing their hearts and setting them free of the bondage of sin in their lives. I withheld judgment.
In his 30's, Uncle Ronny had to resign police force because of his heart. He took a position as the marshal in a beautiful mountain town called Hardy, Arkansas, thinking it would be a slower pace. Like Mayberry, hopefully. He was the only law in that town, and they worked him half to death. If he was at home, instead of on patrol, the people were angry. BUT, if they called the house, and he was not there, they were mad if they couldn't find him. They called him for everything, not just for things that mattered. Behind the scenes, the town government and prominent citizens were were involved in all kinds of deception and illegal activity, and he found them out. So then, they were out to get him! There was a time they would have killed him, I'm sure, if he had not outsmarted them.
He has gone through many surgeries over the years. There were many times we expected to hear that he had died. One time, I think, he died on the operating table. They were shocking him to bring him back. While this was going on he dreamed that he was on a stretcher, being carried into an elevator. They were having trouble getting him in, and the elevator doors kept slamming against the sides of the gurney, jolting him. In his dream he said, "Either get me IN or get me OUT." They backed him out, and in the waking world, the doctors saw him come back to life at that moment.
Aunt Sharlene has suffered much too, from lupus and other illnesses. Through all of their suffering, God has worked mightily in and through them. They have been a tremendous support to us, even though we have live away from them for many years and not seen them often. They have encouraged us to follow God, not man, and their prayers and words have strengthened us when God has led us to walk in paths we could have never foreseen, and which at times has caused others we love to not understand of approve of our choices.
My parents and all of the family now understand that Uncle Ronny was walking in obedience to God when he chose a path they did not understand, and have the highest respect for him, and the incredible man of God he became.
Last week Uncle Ronny fell and somehow damaged his pace maker. He felt sure he would die, but we had doubts. He has come so close to death so many times, only to have his life extended. But he DID finally make it home to be with Jesus earlier today.
In the last few days of his life, he said, "I do not want a funeral. I want a party. I want food, and laughter, and for children to be running around playing." What a man, who knew his God so well, and wants us to celebrate his home going with joy.
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| Where I've been posting my newswww.shoutlife.com/flamingheart
I'll try to do better here, though.
Robyn
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| Crime in da 'Hood!|
Last
week, the outside (official Memphis)garbage can was full, so Teddy sat
a bag of garbage on the back porch. Later, I looked out the window and
said, "Somebody or something has gotten into our garbage." Teddy opened
the door, and said, "And here they are!" It was a half grown kitten and
a red, fluffy chicken, gang banging our garbage together, right there
on our back porch. When we stepped outside, they took off!
It was so funny. The chicken was fluttering hard, trying to get back
over the fence, and the kitten just stopped at the fence and turned
toward us. It sat on it hiney and curled its tail around itself, and
struck the perfect, "cute kitty" pose, as if to say, "Who? Me????" The
chicken was fluttering and squawcking, and the cat was posing. We were
about to die laughing about the two little criminals.
We moved from the "country" to the city, and now, next door, we have a
turkey, some ducks, some chickens, a very proud rooster, and some cats.
On the other side, there is a nice German Shepherd couple named
"Winston" and "Sugar" Ambrose. I supposed their last name is Ambrose,
as their owners are named Joe and Elnora Ambrose. We've just barely met
Mr. Joe Ambrose, but Sugar runs to the fence for loving, and Winston,
who is usually chained due to his aggressive nature, barks and
sometimes whines for attention. Sugar runs over, as if to comfort him,
but is irresistibly drawn back to the fence to make sure we notice her
and come to say "hello"
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| FINALLY!!!!It took a week longer than we planned to get everything from point A to point B, but now it's done and we are EXHAUSTED but happy. Of course, it will take even longer to get everything unpacked and sorted out, but that's ok. We're here now, and loving it.
Thanks for all your prayers and interest. Love, Robyn
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| Helping us move tomorrow- Sat.Anyone who wants to help should be here around 10 a.m. with a truck or a van!
Teddy is getting started earlier, but he'll be
getting somethings out of my parents shed.
So, around 10 a.m. is a good time.
Thanks!
Robyn | | |
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