TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON...

I thought I might try to post this morning, though truthfully my heart has never been in such a jumble.  My mom passed over into heavens gates early yesterday afternoon.  She went quite peacefully with all of her four of her daughters surrounding her.  I honestly can't believe that it has only been a short week since the stroke, and in others ways it seems as if a lifetime was lived in the last few days.  I know for me personally deep in my soul that my mom is not only in the presence of her Savior, but has been re-united with her beloved husband, sister and parents, and so I am honestly just thrilled for her.  How she longed for ALL of that. And yet for me I am left of course wondering how in the world I will get along without her.  So far I am keeping my mind from even opening the door on the flood of emotions that I know are looming there.  My mom was rarely (if ever) here on a Sunday, so with my house back in order it seems as if nothing is amiss.  But come tomorrow when my husband leaves for work and my regular week begins, I know mom will be just glowingly missing, and things will likely be very different of course. I haven't gone into her room yet, or given just anything more than a fleeting thought.  Eventually I know I will of course, but for now I seem to be in somewhat of a fog.  I have a feeling this is very normal.  My sisters and I are going to meet today for lunch so that we might begin to discuss the how and when of the funeral service, and all the other little things that must be addressed. My mother had 6 children and with so many of us there is MUCH to be juggled and handled in terms of what works best for who ~ soo many lives have been affected.  My daughter Melody had a few issues last week with her pregnancy and has been put on modified bed rest.  Under ordinary circumstances I would have packed up and gone out to her house to remain until her baby is safely delivered.  I do feel that because of where she is living, she needs my help more than most might.  But she is doing a little better and will reach term at 37 weeks on Wed., so that will make my mind rest easier there.  It struck me this morning as I was praying that you go out of life just as you enter it.  Not knowing for certain when that "moment" might be, for it is ordained for every man a time to be born, and a time to die.  God holds our very breath in His hands and set everything in this world in His perfect order.  So even though I mourn now for my precious mom, I do not mourn as one who has no hope, but rather as one who KNOWS eternal life is yet to come.  So many scriptures keep popping into my head, and for that I am so grateful as nothing brings more comfort than His Word.  I have missed all of you and will get around (to read at least) as I get moments here and there.  I thank you for your prayers.  Blessings to you all, Debbie

Ecc. 3:1 -2   To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.  A time to be born, and a time to die....

Psalm 8 3 -4  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him...

Titus 1:2  in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.  

UPDATE...

It is Thursday afternoon, May 16th, and I am sitting in my favorite chair in my living room with my mom beside me as she waits to meet her Savior.  She was sent home with hospice on Tues., and our vigil began.  My sisters are staying here with us, and her grandchildren come and go.  It is all strangely comforting in some ways, and of course terribly disturbing in others.  We take turns sharing stories and memories, shedding tears, and doing our best to keep her comfortable.  I do consider it a blessing for all of us to have this time to say our goodbye's.  I also am soo grateful that she will not have to deal with the devastating effects of her latest stroke.  She looks soo beautiful.  My mother's skin is so soft and unwrinkled, truly she looks no where near her 80 years.  I am sure I will be dealing with the emotions this is bringing about for some time.  I do know I will lean heavily on my God and just do the best I can.

SOME SAD NEWS.....

I wonder how many times in life it is that the unexpected happens when you least think it might...My mother's day was nothing I had pictured in my mind.  As we were driving down to San Diego yesterday for church and to celebrate with my kids and grandkids, I decided to give my own mama a call and wish her a happy day.  I knew she had all of her plans in place as well and was excited for her day right down to a new "springy" outfit to wear.  I found the household in chaos as something was wrong with mom and the paramedics were on the scene.  In an instant we changed our destination and headed for the hospital.  Within an hour we heard that my poor mom had suffered another stroke, and this one was massive.  The specialist was called (the same doctor who had done her neck surgery) and the prognosis was poor.  Not much to be done with the exception of trying a medication that would hopefully shrink some of the swelling in her brain, and maybe absorb some of the blood.  Mom was occasionally opening her eyes, but really not speaking much at all.  They began to talk of the left side of her body being paralyzed, and being blind in one eye.   Truthfully the day was mainly a blur.  Late in the afternoon another CT scan was done to determine if the medication was working, only to discover that not only had it not, but the bleeding was still going on and had now spread to the other side of her brain as well.  There was really nothing more to be done, and so we made her as comfortable as possible and have begun our wait. Soo many of her children and grandchildren gathered in her room that we spent time shifting around sharing chairs and floor space to sit.  Mom has never regained consciousness.  Late last night we all finally left for home leaving my youngest son James to stay the night with her with promises of a call should anything change.  I am not sure how much I may have actually slept last night, but I am already up and almost ready to head back down.  Who knows what this day might hold.  How I wish for just one more conversation with my mom.  My heart is soo heavy right now it is a physical ache in my chest.  I know my mom is in His hands, and that many wait to welcome her at heavens door.  And yet how I will actually bear this is hard to imagine.  Mom has lived here just one short year (in June) and there are traces of her everywhere in this house, and my life recently has been just immersed in hers.  I know my God is gracious, and mighty, and loving, and compassionate, and I will do my best to lean on Him.  Needless to say I covet your prayers on this day and time in my life and lives of my family.  I will post when and if I can.  God's best blessings to you all....Debbie

UNBELIEVABLE....AND HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

At the risk of sounding like a woman who does NOTHING but complain, you honestly would not believe the last couple of days I have had.  I am soo frustrated.  I will try and tell you just the highlights.  First, here is it Thursday afternoon, and I am JUST NOW finally finding out the result of mom's CT scan from last Friday.  And!!  only because I took the time to drive the disk by her primary care doc having completely given up on trying to get the information out of the neurology office.  He is the one who ordered this particular scan so of course I understood the information would go to him.  I have left numerous messages (and some of the last ones were kind of clipped by me) was transferred around, hung up on, (accidently, but still!) and generally blown off.  However, I then remembered today that the scan place had given me a copy of the scan on a CD (which at the time I wondered why ~ but figured if it was broken then I would probably need it for the orthopedic and this would save me a trip) so I decided I would just take it by the primary care docs and ask her to read it.  Bottom line? Mom has several fractures in her pelvis!  Now they are not displaced, so she doesn't think they will require any surgery or anything like that, but meanwhile now we will have to go see an orthopedic. My question is....IF I had not ruthlessly pursued this, would we have EVER found out the result?  My primary care doc called the scan place when she read the disk and they told her that they had called the neurologists office less than a half hour after we had left there and TOLD the doc on call.  Now this doc was not actually the doctor my mother saw, but so what!!  Still shocking that their office KNEW last Friday night that it was fractured in several places and never bothered to call and let us know, even with me calling several times every day trying to find out.....sigh.  THEN!! (on a completely separate issue)  Today I tried to get the new long acting seizure prescription filled (the neurologist had given me samples to try) as it has just been working WONDERFULLY.  We have been sooo thrilled with it.  However, we have found out that not only is there NO generic (which we figured as it is new) but the insurance company refuses to cover it as well.  And the price?  $437.00 a month!!  Soo of course I had to call back the neurologist office and get them to appeal it to the insurance co.  She called me back a half hour later and told me the insurance company refused.  Meanwhile, I called the primary care doc office back and they are going to try appealing the insurance company as she feels they didn't really try very hard.  I have also found a couple of things on-line that might reduce the price by at least a hundred dollars, and maybe a hundred and fifty.  It is all soo frustrating.  The only thing we can do is go back to what we were on (which did seem to allow an occasional seizure) or get him to try something else, which neither mom or I can even begin to bear, or just pay it and move along.  It will be hard, but I guess that is what we are going to do.  Sooo sad to be at the mercy of an insurance company who feels they can decide what's best.  I am reserving some hope that her primary care doctor will have more luck with the insurance company, and trust me I will be doing a lot of praying about it as well.

Sooo, how draining is all of that?  Meanwhile, what I really WANTED to post was very happy Mother's Day wishes to all of you mom's out there.  How grateful I am that I was blessed 4 times over with that role, and now have the added honor of being "grandma" to 9 wonderful grandchildren, with 2 more coming soon.  While I can't say that at times it is a very difficult role, it has brought me more joy, laughter, love and blessings than I could ever begin to elaborate on.  And my relationship with my own dear mom continues to this day to be one I cherish and treasure.  Truly my cup runneth over.  So enjoy your day mom's, grandma's, special aunts, big sisters, and all who have played this very important role.  And if you still have your own mom's, cherish your time with her, and make her day as special as you can!  Blessings to you all, Debbie

There have been 3 such cute pictures recently on Facebook of little Donatella that I just had to share them with you...what a little sweetie she is.  Her little face just tells the story of her adorable little personality....enjoy!

IS SHE JUST DARLING OR WHAT?  SHE'S GOT MANY WRAPPED AROUND HER LITTLE FINGER, THIS GRANDMA INCLUDED...

COULD BE A COPPERTONE BEACH BABY

GUESS WHO GOT HER OWN LIBRARY CARD?

HODGEPODGE WEDNESDAY

It's time for Hodgepodge again...Here are these weeks questions.  You can join the others HERE..

1.  When the children of today grow up, what do you think they'll say about this period in time?  What do you most hope they remember?  I am guessing a lot of them will talk about their electronic games and devices and their phones and what they did etc.  I don't think many of them will remember much of anything that I remembered doing as a kid.  But then I guess it is always that way isn't it?  I hope they remember spending time with family and doing things together, and remember just how loved they were.

2.  National Teacher's Day is celebrated in the US of A on the first Tuesday in May, this year May 7th...share how a particular teacher positively impacted you.  I really hate to say this as I know soo many of you have just wonderful memories of a special teacher, but honestly I just don't.  I can't look back to be particularly fond of any teacher I can think of, and none that made a POSITIVE influence on me.  Isn't that horrible?  Some I have some truly bad memories of, but now that wasn't the question, haha.

3.  What's a dish your mama made, that if set in front of you today would whisk you right back to childhood? She made many ~ several of which I ended up making over the years for my family as well, so many of those memories would now be kind of intermingled.  But there is one that I LOVED and I never made for some reason or another, and I know for fact if it was made and sat in front of me right now I'd be right back at our table where I grew up.  It has no name that I can think of.  It was some kind of German sausage and cabbage and potatoes.  Mom didn't make it often as my siblings were all not quite as fond of it as I was, but I thought it was sooo good.  In fact, now it sounds REALLY good for supper tonight.  Only I wouldn't have the slightest idea how she made it, and she sadly doesn't remember it.  Guess it is truly just a thing of the past.  ; (

4.  Mother May I was a game when I was growing up....no pieces, parts, or plugs required.  What games from childhood do you remember loving that were also pieces, parts, and plug-free?  Oh I loved playing Red Rover, or Hide and Go Seek outside after dark.  We played countless games of "house" and Marco Pollo in the swimming pool.  I could go on, but guess I'll stop with these. 

5.  Besides your own mother, tell us about a woman who influenced you as a child?  There was a wonderful woman who lived across the street from us while growing up that I just loved to death.  She was beautiful both inside and out.  She was a Christian woman who never tired of giving of herself to others.  She was a school teacher (which I admired) and was super talented when it came to sewing and crafting etc.  I patterned myself after her, and truly wanted to be just like her when I grew up.  She really introduced me to my love of sewing.  She made every prom and special occasion dress I wore in high school, but more importantly, she made my wedding dress.  She was (and is to this day) one of my mother's best friends, and I will always feel privileged to have known her.

6.  Mamma Mia!  What's the best play or musical you've ever seen?  The best I have ever seen is hands down Beauty and in the Beast preformed at the Performing Arts center in Los Angeles.  It was just sooo good. It was to be their last performance of it anywhere on that particular play, and received a grand ovation  for several minutes at the end.  I will  never forget them singing "Be our Guest".  I'd love to see it again and bring ALL of my grandkids with me.



7.  What are three smells that make you feel nostalgic?  I think most of the smells that popped right into my head involved Christmas in some way.  The smell of pine and Christmas trees, sugar cookies baking, and pumpkin pie.  However, as I dwelled on it a bit, I thought of the smell of chlorine (random I know) which always brings back summer time and swimming pools.  Then there is coconut oil and suntan lotion which brings back more swimming and days spent at the beach.  The smell of Chili always makes me think of Halloween, and the smell of baked beans in the oven brings to mind family gatherings etc.  I've gone WAY over 3 now, so I guess I'd better stop.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  There is soo much random thoughts floating around in my head right now, you might be sorry this question was asked, haha.  First, I STILL don't know the results of mom's scans.  I can  be soo frustrated with this particular doc office (the neurologist's) as I seem to get recorders, promised call backs etc., that seldom happen, and I spend soo much time just waiting.  I am assuming if it was anything pressing (such as a broken pelvis) they would have called me by now.  Meanwhile, the referral  for the MRI did come through, and that is scheduled for Thursday evening, and the appointment for physical therapy is on Thursday morning.  Mom seems to be the tiniest bit better, so I guess that is good.  THEN!  I went to the dentist yesterday thinking I was just getting my permanant crown put on to find out that only 1/2 of my root canal was actually done.  Sooo they finished that up and then put the crown on, and altogether I was in that chair another two hours!  My mouth is soo sore today that truthfully I am thinking maybe I should have just pulled the offending one out.  But "hopefully" that is the end of that.  I did get my china cabinet all cleaned out and sparkling, so I decided to take a quick pic of that for you.  And!  Sam's quilt I made for him arrived at Melody's today and she just loves it!  She sent me a picture of that so I included that so that you can all see how it looks on the bed.  That's it for now.  (or I'll spare you the rest of those randoms, haha) Hope you all have a wonderful week!

HOW CUTE IS THIS?  NOTICE THE LITTLE MIRROR ABOVE HIS TABLE IN THE SHAPE OF A TRACTOR?  HE LOVES IT!

SAM AND HIS NEW BIG BOY BED.  HE WON'T ACTUALLY SLEEP IN THIS BED UNTIL THE NEW BABY MOVES INTO THE CRIB WHICH PROBABLY WON'T BE FORE ANOTHER 3 MONTHS OR SO AFTER HE IS BORN.   SHE MOVED ALL OF SAM'S CLOTHES AND TOYS TO HIS NEW ROOM AND OUT OF THE NURSERY A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO TO GIVE SAM TIME TO ADJUST TO CHANGES, AND NOT MAKE HIM FEEL LIKE THE NEW BABY ARRIVED AND HE WAS KICKED OUT OF HIS ROOM, HAHA.  I NEVER HAD TWO SOO CLOSE TOGETHER IN AGE, BUT THIS SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME! 

NOTICE THE LITTLE STEP STOOL SAM NEEDS TO GET UP AND GET ON IT...HE IS STILL SOO LITTLE IN THIS GRANDMA'S EYES

SAM'S QUILT ON THE LEFT, AND LUKE'S ON THE RIGHT...LOVE HOW THEY LOOK

WEEK-END WRAP UP....

I am going to start with the CRAZY weather we have been having here in So. California.  Now I am not going to even pretend that it comes close to some of the crazy that lots of you out there have been going through this spring, but Cali does't usually have such swings.  Both Thursday and Friday were just downright hot.  Temps were near 100.  In fact, it felt like more of a total skillet (fam name for unbearably hot) than I can even begin to think of just yet.  And that might have been as our air was on the fritz, and as I have complained mentioned before our new house just is poorly insulated.  But by the end of the week-end it was full on raining, and the temperatures had dropped in the low 60's, and even into the 50's at night.  Soo weird.  But getting back to Friday.  One of those days that quite frankly you were soo glad to see come to it's end, it would be hard to explain.  Let me just tell you the highlights.  It was HOT (have I mentioned that yet?) and I had lots to do.  I was trying to get the laundry done, mom packed up for the week-end, and calling back and forth between the doc office and the ct scan place TRYING to get mom in for the test BEFORE this week.  I really wanted to get her in there on Friday BEFORE she had to leave.  Oh my....I am sure I don't have to tell any of you the frustration of "talking" to machines, trying to get people to really listen to what you are saying before they answer assuming they know know what you want, (when they really don't) and waiting, and waiting, and waiting on hold listening to weird music etc.  I felt like I did that most of the day.  Meanwhile, I was waiting for the air conditioning repair man to show up (who by the way NEVER did! ~ did I tell you how hot I was?) and repeating myself over and over to mom trying to convince her I was doing my best trying to get her scheduled for the test.  FINALLY, at 3:30 in the afternoon I got the go ahead to get mom over ASAP as they would wait for me to give her the test.  Ever try to hurry an 80 year old woman who can barely walk out the door and with all of the things for the week-end?  In case you haven't, let me just tell you, it is NOT easy.  We were finally in the car and headed out only to hit HUGE Friday afternoon traffic on the freeway.  I could feel my blood pressure rising, so I prayed and decided then and there, if we didn't make it in time, then God had a reason why.  But we did!  Now I will leave out the part where it just took forever to get there,  there was NO WHERE to park, and how far I had to walk (uphill) pushing mom in a wheel chair, and how HOT it was, and tell you the part where they were still waiting for us, whisked mom right in, and 20 minutes later we were done and on our way back to the car (much easier going down hill) where we waited then for my brother in law to arrive to get mom.  When she was finally driving away I realized how hungry I was (and still hot!) and that I was near to being out of gas, and could have just lost it, but then my wonderful hubby arrived (he had called and told me he would meet me at the x-ray place and take me to dinner) and all was well.  I don't even know the name of the restaurant we went to, but let me just tell you it was one of the best dinners I ever remember having.  Sooo good.  After dinner he pumped gas into the car, and we drove home and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Hopefully I will hear the results of the test this morning, and we might have an answer or two as to why mom has not been getting any better.  If this test shows nothing, then I guess we will proceed onto an MRI.  But back to the week-end.  Sat. was one of the most gorgeous days ever!  The temps dropped into the mid 70's, the breeze was cool and wonderful, and the air conditioner guy showed up and fixed the air within 30 minutes and for less than two hundred dollars.  I was soo relieved, even though we didn't need it on that day.  We decided to make it a work day, and I am soo glad (this morning anyway) that we did.  We gave the living room and formal dining room (they are kind of combined) a good old fashioned spring cleaning.  We got out our new Kirby and just went to town.  All of the window coverings came down and were washed, dried and put back up.  The blinds were vacuumed with the Kirby and have NEVER been sooo clean.  They were like new!  We vacuumed all the ceilings, (some are quite high) hard to reach corners, baseboards, furniture, AND! thoroughly cleaned and vacuumed out the fireplace.  I drug all of the flower arrangements, and fake trees etc., out to the porch and cleaned and washed all of them, leaving them drying in the sun.  And we finished it all off by hubby giving the carpeting a good, hard shampooing.  Everything fairly glistens.  Such a good feel.  All that is left is the cleaning out of my china cabinet which I intend to do today BEFORE I leave for the dentist to get my crown on.  Next week-end we will tackle the family room and kitchen, leaving then only the bedrooms to do.  I have always been a deep spring cleaner, but honestly this is the most we have had to do in a while.  My new cleaning ladies are good, they are certainly nice, but they are NOT Nina.  For those of you who are new, Nina is the cleaning lady I had for 17 years who was not only worth her weight in gold, but felt like one of the family.  I love her to pieces. There will never be another like her I am afraid though.  She was soo thorough, there was really not much for me to have to get to.  I was pretty spoiled.  But, nevertheless, for me, there is nothing like the feeling of contentment that comes from a long day of cleaning.  Guess that is about all I have for now.  I need to get off of here and begin the china cabinet if I have any hope of getting it done before I must leave.  Hope you all have a GOOD day and week.   Melody's church family gave her a little "sprinkle" shower on Sat.  Wish I could have gone.  She got mainly diapers and wipes and lotions and teethers.  Soo nice.  I stole a couple of her pictures off of Facebook to show you.

RIGHT BEFORE SHE LEFT...LOOK AT THAT TUMMY!

LOOKS FUN

THE TABLE WITH ALL THE YUMMY SNACKS

FRIDAY AGAIN!

Well it's Friday again and we have started May as well....YAY!  Could be baby month for Melody.  Hopefully not till the end of the month though.  She is technically not due till June, but a visit to her doc again yesterday confirmed that she will probably not make it that far.  Personally, I'd love to see her make it all the way to June.  We have NO June birthdays, haha.  And with such a big family, I'd love to spread things out a bit.  But at the end of the day, what will be will be, and all we really want is a healthy baby.  But she is far enough along now, that if she were to go into labor, they will not even try to stop it.  Melody of course is sooo done with this pregnancy, haha.  I remember the feeling well having been there myself 4 times, but I also know you quickly forget all the discomforts once your holding that baby in your arms.  I FINALLY did get her package of things I had made off to her this week, and I am anxious to see the quilt on Sam's big boy bed.  As I have told you all many times before, Melody sends me pics everyday of Sam, and at least one video a week as well.  It helps me feel like I am not missing everything, and helps me feel more connected.  Not as good as a good hug and kiss, but certainly WAY WAY better than nothing.  I have been amazed recently at how well he is starting to talking.  Repeats everything she says.  He is 19 months now.  I will try and post the video I opened this morning....

He is also starting every conversation I have with her with "Hi Grandma" which he says plain as day.  I will confess it melts my heart.  Just wanted to show you a picture of his new book shelves that daddy made for him out of rain gutters.  I thought it was soo cute!  Sam LOVES his books, so I have a feeling this will be a big hit in his new big boy room...

HE IS READING THE VIDEO BOOK THAT GRANDPA AND I MADE HIM FOR CHRISTMAS.  I GUESS HE LOVES IT, BUT MOM AND DAD HAVE HEARD IT ONE TIME TOO MANY, HAHA

Other than that, our visit yesterday with the neurologist went very well.  He has prescribed a new medication HOWEVER!! it is the same medication she has been on, but it comes in a time released form now so he is hoping that the steady stream of it in her bloodstream will keep the seizures away, and yet we will NOT have to go through an actual drug change.  I am soo excited about this.  Guess time will tell, but I am VERY hopeful that this will be the answer to our problems, and SUPER excited over the NO drug change at this time.  Meanwhile poor mom is still struggling with her injuries from the fall (which btw the neurologist said more than likely caused the latest small seizure, not a medication problem ~ also good news!) and her primary care doc has ordered an MRI and we are waiting for authorization.  Meanwhile, the neurologist got through an authorization on a cat scan and so we are hoping to "maybe" get that done today.  But mom can just barely walk, and is quite a bit of pain.  I wheel her around in her wheelchair when we have to be out, and here at home she struggles along with her walker.  Sooo hopefully we will have more answers on that soon.

It was 96 degrees here yesterday and this house just really is not insulated well, so I popped on the air conditioner late in the afternoon, and was horrified when I realized it wasn't working!  So today a repairman is coming around noon, and hopefully it will be nothing expensive to fix, and it won't be when we need to maybe go get the cat scan done.  It is not suppose to be quite as warm today, which I am grateful for.  Not quite ready for BLAZING heat yet.  I know lots of you have had some snow again this week, which is soo hard for the So. California gal to fathom.

I am TRYING to wrap up the bibs and burp cloths this week, but we have been soo busy it hasn't happened yet.  I have a total of 13 bibs for Larissa, which does seem silly, but like I said I am mainly using scraps and trims on hand, and it only takes about 15 minutes or so to do from start to finish, so why not?  Drooling, spitting babies can go through several a day as I recall.  Anyway, here are the "new" ones I did this week.  Some of the ones I made were just repeats of ones I already made for Melody.  Melody only got 7 btw, haha, but she has LOTS left over from Sam.

LOVED THE BEE ONE!  THE BOTTOM HALF AND BACK OF THIS BIB IS DONE IN YELLOW TERRYCLOTH.  SOO CUTE!

THIS ONE HAS THE FLIP SIDE OF BRIGHT AQUA BLUE TERRY CLOTH, YOU CAN KIND OF SEE IT IN THE STRAPS

SWEET LITTLE TURTLES...THIS ONE WILL HAVE A MATCHING BURP CLOTH

LOVED THIS CUTE FABRIC!

Guess that's about it for now.  Looking forward to another hopefully (God willing) relaxing week-end.  OH! and one last post.  My son posted this on Facebook yesterday for National Prayer Day....maybe you can join us in praying for our Nation.  Enjoy your week-end, and God's blessings to you all!

Heavenly Father, You are the Creator of Heaven and earth.  You have been so gracious and merciful to the United States of America over the years.  Yet Lord we know that we are on borrowed time.  We have turned out back on You in many ways.  We have kicked you out of our schools, our courtrooms, and our government.  Our sins against You are many; abortion, murder, sexual immorality, drunkenness  drug abuse, idolatry, greed, lies, and selfishness.  Lord you would be totally right to bring Your judgement upon us, for we are guilty   But we cry out for Your mercy, we cry out for Your grace!  According to Your abundant mercy and loving kindness, please forgive us Lord.  The nations of the world identify Your name with the United States, God glorify Your great name!  Lord Jesus bring revival to Your church, baptize us afresh in Your Holy Spirit!  Add to the church daily such as are being saved, as the gospel is boldly preached.  May we repent with all of our heart and turn back to You personally and nationally.  Oh Lord, forgive!  Oh, Lord save and heal!  Not because of who we are but because of who You are.  But no matter what Lord, we will worship and obey You.  For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, in Jesus name, Amen.