NO WORDS NEEDED

THE PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
IICorinthians 5:17

I went to lunch today (bar-b-que) with girls I worked with at the Cathedral office and we had a good time. It did me good to get out with someone outside of family and I'm so glad they invited me and I'm so glad I didn't make an excuse not to go!

Whew.......I'm burning up here today as our AC condenser went out during the night and we're already at over 100 degrees. I'm waiting on the repairman to get here but big girl Lori came over and unlocked her motor home which is out on the side of our back yard area and we can go in there tonight to sleep if it does not get fixed today.

Hope you all are having a good day. Try to stay cool.
Love ya all, mollye and punkin

FINDING THE SILVER LINING

I'm sad this morning.

I was fine at first and even went blog hopping and visited several of you and then
swoosh!

something cold entered in and knocked the wind from my sails.......left me sad......melancholy...........weepy........and blue

my boy how I miss him

but I am old........ well I think of myself as old as far as true years go and I am wiser than ever before in my life so I know what I must do because I know what will happen if I stay in this darkness, this sadness, this vortex..............

I gotta do what I gotta do and pull up those big girl bloomers and begin my day all over.

Hope all of you have a wonderful day. Whatever you do though...don't waste it!

Love you!

I'VE NEVER FELT SO LOVED

(This post will continue to be updated and Thanks to all who continue to sign Jake's online book. To do so click on his picture on the left sidebar and you may also post your picture!)



Thank you Sisters for all the beautiful cards you've taken the time to send by snail mail. They have helped lift our spirits and mean so much. They will be preserved in Jake's Memory Book.



From Cathy Minerva




From Mary Freeman




From Toni Curtis



From Linda MacKean




From Deborah Bonner



From Sue McPeak

"Hankie for my tears"



From Suzie Sroka with felted pin


And from Suzie an original "Suzie Sketch"


And for all of you who have clicked on my left sidebar at the top of the page to sign Jake's online Obituary Guest Book. I thank you so much. My son Buddy has paid to keep the guest book online for a full year so many can sign the book and even post photos and then he plans to order it in a hardbound book for me. I will treasure the book and your comments so very much.

Thanks to:
Cathy Minerva
Sheila Magpie
Anitra Cameron
Suzie Sroka
Deborah Bonner
Suzanne Dutcher
Bevie Sams
Peggy Jones
Bernie Wood
Debbi Pucci
Becky Povich
Debbie Hembree

I have received over 350 comments since the death of my son and for me to tell you Thank You would be just such a gross inadequacy and understatement of what they have meant to us. Most of you have not lost a child and for that I am so thankful because I have never known this level of pain in my life but you have cried with me, prayed for us, written sweet words of hope, encouragement and support and you've patiently read my blogs which were probably so depressing to many. Some of you have lost your own child and you have felt my pain as you did your own and you've helped me see what helped heal you.

I've wanted to visit all of you to give you a personal thank you and a virtual hug, but I'm afraid I have lost track of who I've visited and who I haven't as some days I've begun gung ho and have lost all my steam before the day was half over. I want to know each of you and see your bloggy to know what you're up to. Please write me again!!

I see I have made some new friends on my list of followers and I am so delighted and hope you won't give up on me. I have been known to have a decently funny or informative post from time to time and I'm sure I'll get on back to myself before too long.

You see my faith is great. I know Jesus and I know my boy lives with Him so I cannot stay down for too long. I'll be changed and all our lives will be changed but I will be a stronger person and a more loving person because my son Jake taught me that and he would expect nothing less.

I love you all, Mollye

and so does my Punkin Darlin!

HAPPY MAIL DAY FROM HEAVEN

Hi Momma and Mike,

I thought it was time I spoke to you all through your imagination. You know God blesses us each with the ability to imagine things, and our imaginations can be used in so different ways. Sometimes we can use it to help us cope with sadness and heartache. I think God gave you your imagination to do just this at this time in your life.

You know don't you Momma that I am in heaven? Of course you do. I see you and Mike, Dad and Jill. I see Buddy and Lori and Shari. I see Uncle Freddie and Aunt Mary. All my brother and sister in laws and nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. I see my extended family like Amanda and her family and all my church family, my Home Depot family. The wonderful friends I made while working for the City of Bossier and for Cintas. I see the many longtime lawn customers I had who were more than customers. They were my friends. And I see all the friends I ever made along the way; some of whom I didn't even know still cared for me.

And all your blogging friends, Momma. WOW it is unbelievable all the prayers that have been sent up for all my family and for me. Prayers from people from all over the world that I never knew. I will thank you in person one day though. Take the strength Momma. Take it Buddy. Lori, Shari, Mike, Dad and all of you who are hurting take the strength those prayers have sought. It's there for you. Don't let the cries of mercy go in vain. God is answering prayers faster that I can even tell you.

And those of you who helped my family in other ways too, you all know who you are and please know we see it up here and God is smiling and writing it all down!

And some of you are handling my absence easier than others. I know you miss me. I want all of my family to know that I surely knew how much you loved me. I was blessed beyond belief to be your son, and your brother. Your uncle and your nephew. I was amazingly blessed to be your friend.

I can't really say that I am missing YOU though and wait a minute........what I mean is that up here in Heaven the time thing is not the same as you know it to be and you will be reunited with me in a twinkling of the eye by our time here so there is not time for me to be sad. But the main reason I am not sad is because here there is no such thing as sadness. It's true all you ever read about is true and so much more.

Please don't spend any more time thinking of my last breathes on earth because I can tell you that I did not suffer pain. One second I was in my house and the next second I was looking at the face of God. And I was holding the hands of Jesus.

I hope beyond all things that each of you will begin to let God heal your hearts and you will keep me in your heart as well. I am still alive within each of you and am totally alive in heaven. WOW is all I can say about that. You just would not believe how glorious it is.

Remember the good times and the love we shared. Don't even let your mind go to places that are not happy and good. Celebrate my life but not my death, because I did not die. I live forever and you will also live forever with me when you are finished with your jobs there. You see THAT is the reason God called me home.

He told me that he had created me to be born of you, Momma and that I had one specific job on earth to do. When it was my time to either do my job or refuse my job I would be called away from all of you because my time would be over on earth. I never even knew what my job would be, but all of a sudden here I was in heaven and God said to me "Well done my faithful servant. Well done". "You are my child and you listened when I spoke". I had actually done the job I was created for. I came to heaven not because I deserved it but because of the Cross and because I listened.

And you see family, this is what I want for all of you. You won't ever know why you are there until you leave, but please, please be ready. Just live as you know you should and always listen. Open your hearts to listen and to love. Be joyful and you will rise to the challenge when your special heavenly job presents itself. And please let God take the heartache away, because if your heart is filled with sadness, depression and you are having trouble finding your way then you will miss the joy God so desires you to know. Please come out of the darkness and into the light. I'm telling you, it's all about love. I'll help you if you will let me.

I love you all and we will be together soon and it will NEVER end. WOW!

Oh and talk about joy. You probably heard me hooping and hollering when I saw my old faithful pal Bugsy again.

I'm still smiling and I'm smiling at all of you too.

Eternally in your heart and soul, Jake

A NEW DAY FOR JAKE'S FAMILY

Hello Everyone! It truly is a new day, a new way and a new beginning on trying to learn how I will be normal again.

My son Jake was laid to rest in a little country cemetery about 125 miles south of here where my husbands family members are all buried. It is small and it is pretty. It will not be conveniente for us to visit his grave but there will be times I'm sure that we can all come together to freshen up and make pretty his final resting place. We all know Jake is not in that grave but just his earthly pajamas.

Jake had a beautiful homecoming celebration funeral at his church where he had served and loved the Lord for more than 15 years. The church was full of family, his church family, co-workers who wept and shared their love. There was a slide show of Jake's life and a music tribute featuring the songs that Jake loved. You could not be there and did not personally know Jake so I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to him.

Jake was my baby and was born January 3, 1970. He was always a good little boy and never any trouble or in any trouble. He never got scolded in school and was liked and loved by everyone. His disposition was sunny, optimistic and friendly. He was a scout and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout at age 14.

In 1990 when Jake was barely 20 he received a blow to the head and suffered a closed head injury and it was also determined at the time that he had a congenital Dandy Walker cyst at the brain stem. He had to undergo neuro surgery.Chances of survival and a quality life if he did survive were not good. He had shunts for the rest of his life.
However God had other plans for Jake and he did survive and he had to learn to walk, talk, eat and all the other skills all over again. He turned down the option of receiving disability as he wanted to be "abled".

Shortly after his recovery he received Christ as his savior and fell head over heels in love with Jesus Christ and remained until his death last week a champion of all souls. Jake was a soul man. He loved soul food, soul music and most of all he was passionate about every soul he met. Passionate about the condition of their soul. You see he truly wanted all to know his heavenly father and of His love for you.

He never met anyone without sharing his love of the Lord but he did it in such a loving, gentle way that he never offended. Everyone knew the Lord when they knew Jake whether he said anything or not by the way he lived his life.

Jake realized he had a love for flowers, plants and had a natural knack for making plants flourish and a keen eye for design so he studied hard for several years having to re-take the test more than once but achieved his goal of becoming a licensed horticulturist. He began doing landscaping and flower bed work, lawn cutting etc. for friends, neighbors, family, church members and then many others and continued doing this all his life.

In 1998 he was hired to open up our first Home Depot store and of course worked a long time in the garden department, but eventually worked in every department. He stayed with Home Depot for over ten years and wanted to branch out on his own so left to be his "own boss". It was tough and Jake realized it was not time for this dream so he was hired as Horticulturist for the City of Bossier City, LA (across the river from Shreveport) and was as proud as punch as he had "arrived". He loved this job and took such pride in his work but it was short lived. Less than a year into the job the city was facing a huge deficit and there were many lay-offs, among which was Jake who was low on the rung of hires. He was hired back at Home Depot as a part of their Merchandising Team and therefore he got to work at all three of the local stores. He was still at Home Depot at his death. We all kidded him for years that he "bled orange". He was a team player and a true and loyal Home Depot man.

He had been married for eight years and the marriage ended in divorce three years ago. They had no children. Jake wanted more than anything just about to be a father. He had met a young lady a few months ago and fell in love and was planning to ask her to marry him shortly. He was hoping they would be able to have a child.

On Thursday June 17 Jake's dream of becoming a father ended.

I received the phone call that every mother prays she will never get. Jake's girlfriend was with him when the accident occured. Her step-father called me to inform me that my son had been shot and was dead.................We have been told by some that he died instantly. I urgently pray this is true.

My life will never be the same. A piece of me died with Jake. My heart is broken. Jake had a big brother and two sisters. They will never be the same. Jake had a step-father who loved him like a natural son. He will never be the same. Jake left his father and step-mother who will never be the same.

But we will survive his death. We will someday walk and work through his death and be at a place where our hearts will beat regularly rather than so eratic and scarry. Our blood preasure will someday be at a healthy rate and we will be able to sleep and eat and even maybe go an hour without laughing at something one moment only to break down the next.

We have faith. We all believe. I will likely never feel this level of pain again and I strongly pray for those of you who have not experienced losing a child that you never will know this pain.

I also will likely never again be as honored and humbled and blessed any more abundantly than I have been in the past few days as I've felt by your comments, your support, your personal messages, physical cards of condolences, devoting space on your websites to blog about Jake and his family, asking your readers for their prayers for us and your tears I know you've shed. The times you have taken in your busy days to think of me, of Punkin, and the rest of my family. The times you've remembered before closing your eyes at night to ask God to heal us and receive my son in His Kingdom. On and on and on I could write about all the things I know you have done out of love.

Oh and those who do not blog or know about blogging just could not know how women, and even our spouses and some guys too can blog hop and become "friends" with so many different people across our great land, across the sea and with so many various interests. Oh it is amazing at our differences. But our likeness is the thing that is more amazing. Because all of us. ALL of us have the same heart. We love the same. And I leave now with words that are so very inadequate and that is a simple Thank You and I Love You. And please know I will eventually personally "meet each of you" at your bloggy place and we will chat and you will know that you are now and will be eternally my Sisters. God Bless each and every one of your precious hearts.

Mollye, Mike, Lori, Marcus, Shari, Wes, Buddy, Jessica,and the rest of our family!


many sweet pictures of our Jake





Oldest son Lance (Buddy) Mike and Mollye


Oldest daughter Lori and Buddy


baby daughter Shari and her children, Michael, Emily and Joe


Loris daughter Erika and two of our great grandchildren; Ellie and Luke

THANK YOU FROM MOLLYE

Oh I wish to thank each and every one of my sister bloggers for all the love, support and prayers during this tragic time. Our son will be laid to rest on Tuesday and your prayers are certainly giving us the strength. We know he is in the arms of Jesus and that will someday mend our broken hearts. For now we are selfish in just missing him being here with us.

Thank you Peggy for this humbling award and it makes me ever grateful for love of those we might never meet on this earth but share our hearts and love with. Amazing.

I will personally write each and every one of you when Jakes funeral is over and just know how much you mean to all our family. God Bless, Mollye