Good Morning!! Oh mylanta I am so glad to be home and back at "his" grill......Yesterday the pastor said something that really stuck with me, even though I knew it, it was powerful to hear. "our heavenly Father is not surprised this happened and how it happened....he knew her beginning and her end."Happy Beautiful Wednesday yall!! We talk of life's surprises but it is so comforting to know that nothing surprises him, he already knows how our beautiful life will unfold, he already knows the comfort we will need.....the grace we need.
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1:52 pm with Shelby by her side and with absolute peace our Grandmother left her temporary home and was greeted with celebration and love into the beautiful gates reuniting with her daughter and mother. We gathered hands and bowed to pray.... Each of us grieving differently, my daddy's prayers was one of thanksgiving and peace. My heart breaks for Shelby's aunt.... Loosing a mom is tough. Thank y'all for your prayers they have been felt & appreciated. What a beautiful 89 year journey our grandmother had, I feel blessed to have been apart and I feel blessed to have been here.
The line is crazy and the CIG crew is rockin it.... The call came at 12:55 and I was asked to come to the kitchen. What's up? Shelby tells of his phone call...." It is no longer days but now hours." His words broke my heart . Here we are again on a Friday evening twice in the last couple of months trying to get to a loved one...... Not sure how the next few hours will go but I do know the next few days will be tough...... Lord I ask for peace and comfort!!
Good Morning!! When do you choose to let your loved one live out there life not knowing......enjoying what is to remain of this beautiful life. That is the desicion that is happening in my precious Shelby's life. 17 years ago when Shelby's mom was tragically taken from him, his grandmother really became a big part of our life and our kids life. She bought a second home here in Lubbock so she could be apart of our family. Her and I would spend countless hours in the car between Denton and Lubbock....her spending weeks here with us and then heading back to life in Denton, mine and her days were spent shopping, eating and decorating. A few years ago she was diagnoised with cancer and with every fiber of her being she fought and beat it.....but she was different. Her health weak she sold her house here knowng she probably would be unable to travel back and forth. Last week Shelby received a call that would change his course......."She is in the hospital and the cancer is back.....nothing can be done, she has 1 to 6 months until she will eventually just fall asleep and never wake up." Talk about knock the breath out of you. He made the journey this weekend to see his grandmother....he was concerned with the decision of not "letting her know".... and then he recieved a gift of "peace". Happy Beautiful Tuesday yall, Shelby's aunt, grandmothers only remaining child could not bare to tell her mom the prognoses.....her heart broken.....she would know how her mom's life would end. The journey this weekend was important for my precious Shelby.....he was able to sit, with no distraction and visit with this woman he loves so much. He talked of the "rehab" facility that she was in, learning the food wasn't very good but it was very nice and clean and the workers were all right. He came to peace with her not knowing the end was near because her heart was right.....when she leaves this earth she will spend eternity with our heavenly father and her daughter......and really knowing that is all that matters. Over the next days, weeks or months we will cherish the weekends we get to see her and spend time with her.....amazing Shelby has never expereinced the saying goodbye over time......his goodbyes never came because tragic accidents took his loved ones......and so he is receiving a gift, funny how I say a gift when it is about loosing a loved one. If you had minutes, hours or days and those that loved you chose not to let you know......would your heart be ready? God is good all the time.......I ask for prayers for my precious family and especially for Shelby and his 2 brothers.....I pray that their time with grandmother is special in everyway.....
Good Morning!! It is so amazing how a tough, sad, stressful event can bring amazing blessings into your life. I was so giddy to see my big brother in August, it had been years for no reason except time got away and even though I loved him so much we lost a connection somewhere along the way. When September came and my daddy had his surgery, stroke, seizure and coded it changed me and the family that loves him so.... Over the last 2 months I have talked to my brother so much... Since he has never been to the grill I have told him about it, he has gone onto my website and read my blogs and looked at the pictures, that is when he saw the shiny, metal plates of people's memories. Happy Beautiful Tuesday .... I opened up my mail this weekend and there I found these cherished plates , my sister-n-law is from British Colombia, Canada and they wanted the grill to have a special piece of them. A few weeks ago my Daddy wrote about his journey and how he had experienced the abundance of Gods grace and love through all of this, his faith stronger than ever.... It is hard to say but with this heartache I have experienced I received the most amazing gift ... a connection and love. I have also experienced my heavenly fathers grace and love..... It is not about waiting for the rain to pass.... It is learning to dance in the rain... I am truly blessed .... we danced and are better for it. Wow all of this from a shiny little plate hanging proudly with love at the CIG!! As my daddy said... God is good all the time!!
Good Morning!! For every person that walks through the doors at the CIG, I believe there is a purpose, our heavenly Father has brought them here for some reason. A young mother, her face pretty and yet etched with stress & sadness and knowing she has a journey that I can not even imagine....I believe her to be too thin because she is not eating, yes she is a mother focused on her children, one with a disability and she makes sure they eat and then her needs are second. These are God's Children that make an impact on me and the very fiber of the Cast Iron Grill....Yesterday Krissy, Shelby and I were up in the offices and Krissy was sharing this mom's journey....tears streamed from my eyes and she tells of a mom wondering what her kids would eat for dinner and could she take a kids meals of chicken tenders to them when the offer was made. I was taken back to a time when I had an infant and we had chosen for me to become a stay at home mom....money was tight & sacrifices made but never did I have a fear of my precious son not being able to eat....as a mom I have no words for this. Happy Beautiful Wednesday yall..... Krissy found this young moms address and Shelby and I made our way through town to see her....we so were on a mission to make a small difference in her day, maybe in her and her childrens life. As we stood in her driveway, tears rolled down her cheeks as she thanked me for coming and for what was extended from my hand into hers. I received a text last night, one of thankfulness, she made meatloaf for her precious family and they were content as they all fell asleep.....her words have stuck with me.."I will be praying for you, your husband and the Cast Iron Grill. This is what life is about, God is Good All the time and when he uses his children great things happen.......random acts of kindness can be life changing yall.....
That awkward moment when I come out of the ladies room into a dark restaurant lit by a single hallway light & I see my brother -n-law standing in the dark dining room with boxers on and pants around his ankles...... I look at him and say ..... Ummmm "hey Shawn"... We scared each other... I bet he changes clothes at his work next time instead of mine... I will never look at my dining room the same again... <-_->
6 years ago a precious man walked into the grill and stole a place in my heart..... He is my true regular that has very rarely missed his morning cup of coffee at the CIG. Tonight his family and I celebrated his 80th birthday. I was so honored to host such a special occasion and an amazing family. Happy Birthday Junior, I love you with all my heart!
Good Morning!! For by the grace of God .......I have thought about these words so much lately. ......When tragedy hits like a 2x4 and you are a child of God, you know it is by the grace of God that life continues but it takes awhile to get to this phrase. A couple of years ago, my dad calls and tells me news that broke my heart...."Mrs.M's grandson has been shot and killed(early 20's).....please be praying for them." Mrs. M's family was like my family growing up...we were very close. She was best friends with my mom and when she passed away she embraced my MJ (other new mom) just like she did my mom. We have done life with this family for 40 years......hearing the tragic news of a young man helping a friend and his life taken in an instant was heart breaking, my heart broken for his mom, kim. While my dad was in ICU last month Mrs M kept vigil with us around his bed, she full of life in everyway, I ask her how Kim was doing since her horrific loss....she begins a story I will never forget. She talks of her grandson and the decision kim made to donate his organs, not only would this families life be changed forever but strangers life's would also be changed, they would receive apart of this young man..... A while back Kim calls Mrs. M and says..."They keep writing letters and I do not want to know them, to talk to them, to meet them," they would be the organ receipients...they were expressing gratitude and thanksgiving to this grieving mom. One reciepient would not stop writing.....Kim called Mrs M and said..."she will not leave me alone, would you go with me to meet her?". Happy Beautiful Thursday and it is by the grace of God that healing began.......the heartache and loss didnt stop but living returned. This women's life was changed by this tragedy, insteading of being in the land of the "dying" she was able to regain her health and life and live in the land of the "living". She lives in another state and is in ministry at a church....they did not know how she was infected with a disease but they did know without "new" vital organs she would die.....can you imagine her testimony? and so life has been tough lately but not as tough as these 3 ladies...and they all claim, "By the grace of God" they are all still standing, out of tragedy and loss and friendship has been formed where lives were shattered, there was life renewed & that is only by the grace of God!
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AuthorI opened the Cast Iron Grill in October 2007. Lots of changes have happened in the last 5 1/2 years. The CIG started with 55 seats in an office building located at 18th and K. After five years, we were bursting at the seams with now 167 seats, and 24 wonderful co-workers working on top of eachother to make it happen. 2012 the Lord chose a different journey for the CIG. We relocated the CIG and opened our doors on January 2nd, 2013, just four blocks away from the old location! It has changed my world completely! All of these stories are the happenings of the people and the joy and celebration that make the CIG what it is. Archives
May 2014
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