She's Ready to Fly

"But those who hope in the LORD...will soar on wings like eagles." Isaiah 40:31.


Dear Praying Friends and Family,

What a great afternoon to write. It's gently raining here in Alabama, on this Thursday afternoon, as i sit outside on my back porch in my Cabela's recliner. "Troy" our Malta poo is in my lap, the cats, Cuddles and Peaches are sleeping peacefully (well sort of...they're keeping a wary eye out for Troy) nearby, and Dixie and Midnight, our Golden Retriever and Lab, are sleeping on the back porch off of our bedroom. Thankfully, i have a roof over me so i'm not getting too wet....every once in a while i have to scoot over so the rain doesn't get on my computer. So why am i having trouble getting settled down to write? Maybe cause i wrote most of this last Saturday after my Daddy and i took Hannah Beth to the airport in Nashville and i'm putting off finishing it up. Only the LORD brings these writings together week after week, and if there is anything in them that is a blessing to you, HE gets all the glory and praise for what HE brings forth through HIS "scatterbrained" servant.
Hannah Beth has had a great week out in California visiting with our dear friends the Bakers and the Ferguson's and it's been mighty quiet around our household. Thank you for your prayers for her this week...they have had a great time. They've enjoyed going to the beach two of those days with Ashlie's family...Hannah Beth went from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean beach in a matter of days. For those of you on Facebook, you can check out her pictures, and the video she and Ashlie made of their "homeschooling days..." crazy girls, and fun times. What a blessing! Please remember Hannah Beth as she will be flying in to Nashville tomorrow evening...that's Friday evening. Also, our dear friend Greg Adams will be having surgery on his colon Friday morning. Please remember him and Wanda in your prayers. Tony and Taranda Greene (www.thegreenesgospel.com) are having their surgery this coming Monday. Taranda is donating her kidney to her husband. What an amazing story and you can read about God's faithfulness to lead them through this journey in their lives by clicking on their website. Also, our dear friends, the Carpenter's, are traveling out to California with their seven little ones for Mark to work for 9 weeks and GOD knows the other reasons. We sure will miss them and do appreciate ya'll remembering them as they travel this weekend.



Last Saturday morning, my Daddy got up at 3:30 a.m. to go with Hannah Beth and me to take her to the airport in Nashville, Tn. which is about an hour and a half up straight up Interstate 65. I thought to myself, "Whose crazy idea was this to leave so early in the morning?" Just the day before...GOD had made the way for her to go to California to see our friends, Ashlie and John Baker and their two little guys, Troy and Merrit, and Ashlie's Mom ,Mishel and her brother Zac Ferguson. The Ferguson's have been our friends since Ashlie was 12 and Hannah Beth was 6, and their homeschooling journey, though they lived in California, has paralleled our journey in many ways. We both went through the "blue jean jumper stage," and finally came to our senses and started wearing our shorts and pants again. I'm not putting down "dresses," i admire you who have a conviction. But for me and Mishel...ours was a passing through season of our homeschooling venture. We were both amazed when we got into bluegrass and southern gospel music, totally independent of one another. Zac started playing the violin about the same time i started the mandolin, and Hannah Beth the guitar and wow, has he far surpassed me in his playing!. We do so enjoy them coming "home," and going to the Fiddler's Convention with them here in Athens, the first weekend of each October. GOD has changed our family's and moulded us all along the way. We have shared our great joys with one another, and great sorrows. This year has been one of unthinkable sorrow for their family as their husband and Daddy, and Granddaddy, left their family in December. Yes, difficult things happen like this in the strongest of CHRISTian families..."Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I Peter 5:8. This is why it's so important that we pray for one another and encourage one another because none of us are above giving in to temptation.

Hannah Beth didn't asked to go out to California this summer. Some of you may remember she flew out there last year to help Ashlie with her two little ones, while John served our country in Iraq. Johnny had it on his heart and off and on all summer would bring it up from time to time about Hannah Beth going out to visit Ashlie. Hannah Beth took a Chemistry Class at our local junior college, so she only had a couple of weeks between school starting back and we went to Florida for a few days for our family vacation. After that, she stayed a couple of more days with our dear friends, the Jones, on their farm in Billingsley. In one afternoon, she went from para sailing at the beach, to milking a goat that evening...i'm not kidding! When Johnny brought her going out to see Ashlie again earlier last week, i thought there is no way at this late date that she is going to be able to go to California...well, GOD overruled my lack of faith, and even as i type this she is flying across country(this was last Sat. morning). She got her reservation on Friday morning for a direct flight, and thankfully we had "points" on our credit card to cover the cost of her ticket. Where GOD guides, HE provides. GOD is going to have HIS way, even when we have no faith. How can a man understand his ways..."Man's steps are ordained by the LORD,How then can man understand his way?" Proverbs 20:24

The night before she left Johnny said, "Am i nuts letting her go?"...after i had asked him why he wanted her to go. He shared with me his thoughts, and then later he asked, "Why did i let her go?" I told him because GOD put it in his heart... to accomplish HIS plans and purposes. I know that full well, so many times i stand in awe at the places i find myself, knowing that GOD has directed my steps to get me there and worked at all the details to make it happen.

My Dad, bless his heart, 82 years old, got to our house a little before 5:00 a.m. and we were on our way shortly after that. Nashville is an hour and a half up the road, and we got to the airport without any trouble. We parked the car, after Hannah Beth had offered for us to just drop her off out front. I thought, no way i'm not dropping you off out front, and leaving you. We unloaded the suitcase from car and Daddy pulled it into the airport for Hannah Beth. I thought we might be able to eat breakfast with her before we left...it was about 6:45 a.m. and her plane didn't leave until 8:15 a.m, but she was eager to get her boarding pass and go and wait inside the gate. Because of security we couldn't go with her...so she hurriedly hugged me and my Daddy goodbye. I said, "Wait, you're going to be gone a week, i want a real hug." She hugged me, and poof, she was off, through the security gate, flying by herself for the first time, across the country. Wow...just like that...she was ready to fly.

My Daddy and I had a special time together on our way home...and i sure am glad, it took my mind off of my little girl sitting in the airport by herself, and then flying across the country. Daddy and I both love our big breakfast so we found a Cracker Barrel not too far from the airport and enjoyed our selves very much. He loves his biscuit and gravy, and man did he and Mom make the best biscuits and gravy when we were growing up, yum, yum. He ordered eggs, biscuits and gravy and probably country ham, which he loves. I enjoyed the turkey sausage and whole wheat toast...and eggs and hash brown casserole. Amazing health my Dad has enjoyed all these years, eating those biscuits and gravy and country ham...wish i had got his genes:). My Daddy has always loved the country...and he and i both love the hills of Tennessee. We had a great time together on the way home. We went by the slaughterhouse where we used to get our meat processed before our freezer door was left open twice...now we buy our meat in smaller quantities:). I was checking to see if they had some bones for the dogs. Once when Hannah Beth was smaller, i took her and her friend Natalie up there with me to pick up the meat. Much against Hannah Beth's protest, we went on a tour of the slaughterhouse...i thought it would be educational for the girls to see how we get our meat...aah the joys of homeschooling, everything becomes a classroom! We saw how they hung the carcasses up to cool, and how they drained the blood from the meat...and of course where they cut the meat up. I don't think it had the desired effect i hoped it would, i'm not sure Hannah Beth has eaten beef since that "field trip:)...just kidding. I did manage to sneak a big box of bones in the car for the dogs that day...i kept them well hidden until we got home...i didn't want the girls screaming "bloody murder" over a few cow bones...oh well, maybe there was more than a few.

After Daddy and I left the slaughterhouse, boneless, they don't cut meat on Saturday, we stopped by the little town of Lineville, Tenn. There is a railroad track that runs through the little town, and a train museum at the depot, and an old fashioned "Soda Pop" shop that has the counter you can sit at and order ice cream or hamburgers. It's really neat, like something out of Andy Griffith, or "It's a Wonderful Life." There was also a fine leather shop that sells a lot of it's products to Country Music stars , the City Hall, along with an antique shop, and the bank. There's even a place out front to tie your horses up in front of the "Soda Shop" if you ride up on a horse...straight out of "Bonanza...", one of my Daddy and my favorite shows when i was growing up. It's an interesting little place to stop off if you're ever heading up or down I-65, Exit 27. Daddy bought me some unsweet tea at "The Soda Pop" shop, i was needing a little perking up after getting up at 4:15 a.m.and we headed on after walking and looking at the little shops. We drove on a little piece down Highway 31 and turned into "The Milky Way" farm. The Mars Company, who owns"M and M's," originally owned the land back in the 1930's i believe. In it's heyday, it was a fine place with several horse stables, a racing track, a large inn, and swimming pool out back. You can still see the old concrete swimming pool behind the inn, and imagine what it must have been like back in the 30's and 40's at it's height. This day, we rode through there, the grounds were more grown up than i've ever seen them. Looked like the inn was still in good shape, but the grass had definitely not be cut in a while. My Daddy told me later while we were picking figs together, that the owners had filed for bankruptcy...to the tune of $10 million dollars. I sure was sad to hear that...cause it really is a great place for a "bed and breakfast." After that, we rode just up the road where my cousin lived and i had no idea she lived so close to the Milky Way farm. Lisa Fowler Butler wasn't home, but their house sure is located in a beautiful place in the rolling hills of Tennessee. We continued on our journey, and rode through the little town of Pulaski. Their around the courthouse square there was a "Farmer's Market." I had just been thinking I wish we could get back in time for me to go to the Farmer's Market in Madison where they sell a lot of fresh, organic produce, meats without antibiotics or hormones, whole grain breads, goat cheese, farm eggs, etc. I rode by that Farmer's Market thinking they won't have any organic produce, and something... GOD, made me turn the car around. We went back, and the first thing i saw when we got out of the car was a booth that had a sign hanging out front," Organic produce" "No chemicals" Farm Eggs, Sausage and Beef Grown without Antibiotics or Hormones. Wow...i thought, thank you LORD. The lady who ran the booth appeared to be in her late 60's to early 70's and i was amazed at her energy and that she was an organic farmer. She told me she love to compost, used the manure from her 500 chickens and hogs to fertilize her raised bed gardens and now her front yard she has so much extra. I bought some farm eggs, pork sausage, and ground round from her, along with some green beans, yellow squash and zucchini. I was keeping my eye out for some muscadine jelly that someone special to me had expressed some interest in and i found two jars there at a booth on down the row. It was the only muscadine jelly in the whole market. I purchased that, along with some purple hull peas at another booth, and it was time to head home. Daddy was right there with me, carrying some of my veggies and meat for me. After we got back in the car....Daddy told me a few stories about my Granddaddy Fowler, how he was always telling jokes and could remember joke after jokes to tell. We both said we weren't blessed with that ability to remember jokes and stories like that. He told me about how good my Granddaddy was to the people that worked for him when he was cutting hay or whatever on the farm. I remember one guy, June, who worked for my Granddaddy when i was a little girl. Sometimes his hands lived on my Granddaddy's place, or sometimes he'd go pick them up where they lived. We talked some more, and talked about maybe planning some more trips together. What an unexpected blessing it was to me to get to spend this time with my Daddy...as a result of my little girl flying to California.

When i was a teenager about Hannah Beth's age...i wasn't ready to "fly" just yet. I had a life long dream to play basketball at the junior college just right down the street from where i grew up and GOD gave me that desire of my heart...and i was very interested in the young men during that time:). After two years, GOD provided a scholarship for me at the University of Montevallo, 2 1/2 hours from my parent's and then Johnny and i married at the end of my junior year in college. Wow, just like that I was married and had a family of my own. Hannah Beth dreams have been different than mine were...and she's "always been ready to fly," it seems. Though we home schooled, she loved the idea of going to school, and has always loved being with other people. This year, she was all to eager to start taking dual enrollment classes at our local junior college, and will continue that this fall for her senior year of high school. She has always wanted to go "off" to school...and we always planned for her to go locally. But as GOD would have it...HIS plans override ours sometimes, and this year, HE has gradually been softening our hearts to the idea of her going to the University of Mobile next year, a private Southern Baptist college in our state...six hours away. Just seems like lately, this is where HIS hand has been pointing. HE has already provided her a generous scholarship there for next year, and our friends, the Hembree's have offered for Hannah Beth to live with them her first year down there. We won't hold them to that...if she does indeed end up going there, but we are honored and humbled by their offer. This is something we have desired if we did consider letting her go away to school, a godly family to live with while she was there.

I had no idea how fast time goes from the time you're changing diapers, hauling your young un's around all over the place to soccer, softball, basketball, ballet, karate, fishing, guitar and piano lessons, horseback riding lessons, Teen Pact Survival Camp, kayaking, Bible Drill, and just a few gospel singings:)...to when they turn into a young lady, and start becoming interested in makeup, how they dress, driving, and dreaming about husband's and homes of their own one day. Now, i see that happening in my little girl's heart, who's not so little anymore... she'll be 18 this year in December and all of the sudden it seems, she will be flying away...and Johnny and i will have an "empty nest." Seems like yesterday she was struggling for her life with a growth across her windpipe and we didn't know if she would make it when she was 2 months old. After spending a week at Children's Hospital in Birmingham on two different occasions, the LORD healed her through a wonderful doctor, who removed the growth through laser surgery when Hannah Beth was 5 months old. Even then...Hannah Beth, when she was almost at the point of suffocating to death, would smile, and make you laugh...she has always been the "life of the party..." and when that time does come for her to "fly" we will miss her very much.

When we got back from taking Hannah Beth to the airport, I was talking to Johnny in his office, and I was telling him about Hannah Beth giving me a quick hug at the airport and she was "ready to fly." He said, "We're loosing our little girl." And i just started tearing up...as i'm doing now. I didn't expect the tears to come so easily but they did and i got all choked up.

What a privilege has been ours that GOD would entrust us with both of our children for such a short time, to try to train them up in the nurture and ways of the LORD. Wow, what a humbling job that has been...as our kids have gotten older, they recognize Mom and Dad's sins and weaknesses, and you wonder if they'll ever be able to overcome them. Thankfully, GOD gives us that wonderful promise in II Corinthians 12:9-10, that has become my life verse: "But HE said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that CHRIST's power may rest on me. That is why, for CHRIST's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."...and oh how very weak these two parents have been.

One of Johnny's favorite verses through the years has been Isaiah 40:31. It seems real appropriate for this time in Hannah Beth's life and ours:
"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Baby girl...as you grow outwardly into a beautiful young woman, we are most thankful for the inner work that CHRIST is doing in your heart, to develop "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in GOD's sight." I Peter 3:4 Our prayer for you is that you will always keep your trust and hope in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, as you gave your heart to HIM when you were just a little girl. By doing that you will surely "soar" to heights beyond anything you can ask or imagine to bear much fruit and bring much glory to CHRIST..."Now to HIM who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work within us..." Ephesians 3:20. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD hath prepared for them that love HIM." I Corinthians 2:9.

As i mentioned recently, Hannah Beth and i had the great privilege of traveling up to Marion, North Carolina last year, for the Greene's Jubilee, and for "significant other" reasons as i've mentioned before....to be with a special young man and his dear family. This is just one of the many "girl" trips the LORD has blessed Hannah Beth and me with through the years...you've read about many of them in these emails. While we were at the Jubilee, the Hopper's (www.thehoppers.com) were there singing on Friday night. Kim Greene Hopper, sister to Tony and Tim Greene, married into the Hopper family and she and her husband sang a tear jerker song called "The Woman in My Little Girl's Room." It's not a hymn or even "Christian" song so to speak but, when you have a daughter that is on the brink of "flying" and turning into a beautiful young woman...it sure does put a lump in your throat. Listening to it while my girl was in California this week, sure did make me miss her, and i picked up the phone and called her after listening to it on my Ipod to tell her that. I found the song on "you tube" with Kim and Dean singing it...so hope you'll take time to enjoy it...and you might want to bring along some tissue:). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk635Lf_kjw Kim and Dean have a daughter, Carlye, who is not far behind Hannah Beth, so this song really rings true to them...


This afternoon (Thurs.), Johnny called me to his side to show me a text message he had received from Hannah Beth from out in California...it was a picture of a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Josh, her special young man, had sent her. Those words, "those lips that yelled for Daddy time again, will soon say "I love you," to another man," sure does seem to hit close to home these days, much sooner than we expected:). She is ready to fly...just not sure Mom and Dad are ready to let her go yet:). Thank you all for your sweet prayers for our family...and our loved ones. We love you and thank GOD for you.

With all HIS love,
mitzi


"The Woman in My Little Girl's Room" by Jerry Salley, Aaron Wilburn

Seems like last night, i tucked her in bed and we said our prayers,
I kissed her goodnight while she held on tight to her Teddy Bear,
I stopped for a moment to thank GOD once more,
I turned off the light and i closed the door.

With this morning's coffee and yesterday's news i woke up again,
She caught me off guard, LORD it hit me hard when she walked in,
A beautiful lady that i hardly know was my little girl just a short time ago,

Chorus:
Now there's a woman in my little girl's room
She's putting on makeup and wearing perfume
She seems more concerned about what she's got on these days
Than she used to
I turned my head for a moment
And she grew up too soon
And now she's the woman in my little girls room

Those small tiny fingers, sweet little hands that held on to mine
Soon will be reaching out to a love of another kind
Those lips that yelled for Daddy time again
Will soon say to "I love you," to another man