Precious Lord

My friend Mari at http://marislittlecorner.blogspot.com had this posted to her blog and it is an amazing and interesting story. Thought I would share it with all of you too.




One of my favorite old hymns is Precious Lord, take my hand. I got an e-mail recently with the history of the writing of this hymn. Reading this makes the song even more meaningful. It was written by Thomas A. Dorsey, not the famous band leader, but this Tommy Dorsey was known as the father of gospel music. This is what he wrote about composing Precious Lord. Back in 1932, I was a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a little apartment on Chicago's south side. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St. Louis where I was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting.. I didn't want to go. Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child. But a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis I kissed Nettie good-bye, clattered downstairs to our Model A and, in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route 66. However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back.I found Nettie sleeping peacefully. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay. But eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music.The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST DIED.People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was 'Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.'When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart.For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well. But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis. Something kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died.From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially one friend. The following Saturday evening he took me up to Maloney's Poro College, a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows.I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head they just seemed to fall into place: 'precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light, take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home. -TommyDorsey-

Summertime Part One

Trip out to West Virginia for vacation and to see my family.

This is Matt and Aaron with a couple West Virginians at the Friday night races. It rained for a little bit, so they got under the umbrella with Brian and Thomas.
My lovely Sister Regina!
Amanda and Matt in the background.

Mason, Steven (my nephew), Mitch, Shawn.

Having a great time at the races.

Matt and Amanda

Tom, Dad, and Steve (Brother-in-law).

While we were in WV, we also went on a horse ride.

Mitch and Mason.

The first time ever on a horse. They did very well.

Amanda, Kara, Shawn, Mason, Mitch

Just getting on before the ride.

Shawn, Mason, and Mitch

Another adventure was riding quads while we were out there.

Every day that we went it was over a two hour ride. So much fun! Went deep into the woods, over rocks, through creeks and rivers up in the mountains. Most of the time we came back soaked and muddy. Woo-Hoooooo!!!!

My Daughter Amanda and friend of mines child Kara Parrish

This is what it looked like before we left on our trip. All packed up and ready to go in the morning.

Allendale July 4Th parade.

Shawn and Kara roasting marshmallows for their smores! Best Buds!

Amanda

We were at the Parrish family's house and had a nice time on the back porch with a BBQ and a fire. AS you seen Kara and Shawn roasting marshmallows in previous picture.

Ted and Faith Parrish.

Playing Sequence at their house.

Tom and Mason

Again, having fun playing Sequence.

Mitch, Shawn, Mason

While we were getting rid of roosters up in Ravenna, the boys decided they wanted to get bunnies. So, we got four bunny's for each child.

This is only part one of what we did in the summer. More pictures to come.

Amanda's Graduation

Amanda's Graduation May 28th, 2009

Grandpa Lehr, Tom, Amanda, Shelly

Mitch, Shawn, Mason

Aunt Regina, Amanda, Uncle Steve and Steven

What a great looking bunch of family!

FINALLY THE CHICKEN COOP

This is the end result of the chicken coop.


I will post other pics of them while they worked on it later. All we have to do is put a whole and walkway to the fenced pen so the chickens can run around outside.











































EWE, Stinky Chick!



The boys moving the ckickens from the garage area to their new pen. Yes, it is like a mansion for them. LOL

Shawn with one of his Chickens.





















Mitch with one of his Chickens.





















Mason with one of his Chickens.
He wants to raise them like his Great Grandma Vandlen did.


















Shawn and Mason sitting inside the coop with the chickens. The chickens are funny to watch.













There they are! They have gotten pretty big.

Chicken Coop

Hello There!

What a day yesterday with the on and off again rain that we had. Couple drops here and there then hear some thunder and then pouring big drops. So big, they could almost give ya a concussion. LOL

Tom, his Dad and Aaron tried to put up a chicken coop yesterday. They did get the floor and the walls together. They have to do the roof and the sides walls and then finish up. With all the rain, it all got delayed until next Saturday.

I will have to take some snapshots of it and then you can see the progress.

I was taking two boys to baseball practice and a scrimmage at the same time and then forty minutes into the whole thing it all call canceled.

Had a cookout and nice family visits the rest of the day.

Enjoy your days!

Scrapbooking!!!!!

Did I ever tell you that I have sooooooo many pictures?! I tend to take lots of pictures and while I look throughout the years it is amazing to see the changes in the children. The adventures we been on or times just spent together.

Over the years I also get to see the difference in sizes of the pictures and the different types of cameras that I got to use. I really like the cameras that I have had in the last few years.

So hard to decide what pictures to put in the scrapbooks or on the boards for display for the graduation open house. We have two boards done for displaying and I have several pictures to put in scrapbooks.

I do believe that I am missing some pictures and am still on the lookout for some. I think some might be in the picture frame for various years of school time. Just have to find it! It might be on my wall and it might not. LOL

Enjoy your day!

Oklahoma Squirrel Survivor

Thought all of you might enjoy this!

Happy St. Patty's day tomorrow!