God said, "So I want you to go up!"

        Oh, the Lord never ceases to amaze me. His lovingkindness is never ending toward me and my most precious husband Ron! He is providing a new home for us because He is our beloved and we are His! We'll be moving to a 34 acre property about 5 miles south out of Clarksville, Texas, the County Seat of Red River County, since the early 1800s known as the 'Gateway to Texas! It still gives me chillbumps when I bring that up as we know that we know God led us here and has a divine purpose for us to serve Him here in revival. 
        He even gave me a new song about it. I wish I could link to it, I have it on a file in my computer, but don't know how to attach it. (if any of you can help with that, feel free to e'me at caryl.mcadoo@yahoo.com or call me at 469-867-2624 : ) I can put the lyrics herein though:

               I heard my husband praying.

                   He was praying for God’s Spirit;

              Praying for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                   Said, “Lord, I want to be a part of a great revival.

              I want to share the Good News and teach Your children how to pray.”

                                             Chorus

                            Oh, the way of the Lord isn’t always easy.

                            Sometimes what He asks of you requires sacrifice,

                           But if you’ll trust and follow Him where ever He leads you,

                           You’ll know freedom, peace and joy, and all the blessings of life.

 And the Lord answered     2nd verse

             “There’s some people who’ve been praying.

                    They’ve been praying for My Spirit;

               Praying for My Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    So now I want you to go up into Red River County.

               I’ll shine my light bright to show you the way.”

                                            Chorus then 3rd verse

               So we packed up all our bags

                    And loaded up the livestock.

               Took our sons and grandsons, too, for a brand new start.

                    Our heart’s desire was to obey, do His will, bring Him glory,

               So we headed north to parts unknown on a sunny spring Sunday.  

                                            Chorus then 4th verse

               So here we are now and we’re prayin’

                    We’re praying for God’s Spirit;

               Praying for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    We’re going to lift His name up high, then He’ll draw all men to Him.

               He’ll forgive them all their sins; pay all their debt they could not pay.

                                            Chorus then 5th verse

              Won’t you come and join us prayin’?

                    Come, let’s be praying for God’s Spirit;

              Pray together for God’s Spirit to move in a mighty way.

                    In unity we’ll welcome God’s Holy Spirit

              He’ll teach us how to love, where to go, and what to say.

                                   Chorus         The End

        So in March of 2008, we followed His bright light to Red River County and have lived in Lydia almost 5 years now. The very first week in our little country farmhouse, we had a tornado and it snowed! It's a beautiful place we call the Lydia Branch of our River Bottom Ranch. (RiverBottomRanch.com) It wasn't an easy thing to do - leave our life-long home to go to a place where we knew no one, had no job waiting, and no 'padding' in a savings account to help us get by, but we knew who told us to go and that He alone is our Jehovah Jireh!

We could not love it more here! And while I must admit, I thought REVIVAL would have already come including miracles galore! He said we'd do greater works that He had which to me, means dead raised to life again, cancers healed, blind eyes opened and all the rest! And it hasn't - YET! But the more days that pass without it's beginning excited me all the more because I know that it's one day closer!

Fathers' Day Roller Coaster Ride

          Well, I know I'm doing things all backwards, but such as it is when you're sixty-two and because life is so busy you forgot you had a blog. Once I get through all the important stuff that has happened this year, then I'll be keeping up from now on because I NEED to get going on being dedicated to it! SO:

Treated Daddy to his favorite breakfast at Le Peeps in Bedford.

       
        Ron and I went to his brother Bruce's home in Colleyville (about three hours from our place in Red River County) the weekend of Fathers' Day so I could take Daddy (he's 84 this year) out to breakfast and dote on him a little. I used to see him all the time - like every day before we moved up to Red River County and he really misses me - and I miss him!

(L-R) Bruce, Ron and me, Grami - a.k.a. Caryl - at the Acquire table

         Whenever we get together with Bruce, we ALWAYS play Acquire. It's a game of high finance that we've been playing more than 35 years - and we've got score sheets from that far back : ). I highly recommend it : ) So, after breakfast, we were playing a few games (only takes us about 45 minutes) when Ron jumped up and started pulling his shirt off going, "Whew, my, I'm so hot." He went and hung his head over the commode thinking he might throw up. He cooled down a bit and put his shirts back on going to the living room to sit down. I went to WebMD.com and put his symptoms in while Bruce searched for an aspirin, calling neighbors when he couldn't find one. Feeling how crazy Ron's heart was beating, I told Bruce to, and we decided to get to the hospital.. Bruce (the older brother) insisted, Praise God! 
        When we arrived they took him right back and on finding his heart rate at 232 beats a minute; I heard a nurse say he was in V-tach, but didn't know what that meant. I never was afraid. Ron wasn't hurting and never lost consciousness - which amazed the doctors we later found out. They put the paddles to him and shocked him back into a normal rhythm then admitted him to ICU. The next morning, they did an angiogram, determined there were no blockages, and scheduled him for a defibrillator/pacemaker implant which took place Monday morning before noon. Tuesday, we left the hospital for a week re-cooping at Bruce and Carol's (Isn't that funny? There are two Caryl McAdoos though we spell them differently : ) 
        Ron not being able to 'work' farming or cutting Bois d'arc fence posts was the reason we were able to finish the historical Christian romance VOW UNBROKEN in such a short period of time. BTW, he had his 3 month check-up and all the docs were amazed at how quickly and how much he had improved. All the glory goes to God.
          I know that I know God is not through with my wonderful husband yet! We have had a vision and it has not come to pass yet. We know God brought us to Red River County in March 2008 for His purpose and we both believe it is for us to be here when the revival starts. What do they call Red River County? "The Gateway to Texas!" I know that I know I will have awesome testimonies to share here on Grami's Gabbin'! Stay tuned for all the excitement! God isn't finished yet!

2012  - - - ♥✞♪♫•What a year this has been✫♥* Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ¨♥*•✞What a rare mood I'm in.♪♫.• *♪¨*♥•♫♪ Why, it's almost✞♪♫•*♥ like being ¨♪*•.♪♫in LOVE!✞¸.•*♥♪

I just knew this was going to be a good year! Twelve months ago, Ron and I went to Mt. Pleasant (30 minutes from home) to a NETWO (North East Texas Writers' Organization www.netwo.org) meeting then joined in January 2012. At the end of April, we attended their Spring Conference where we met Mary Sue 'McAdoo' Seymour of New York's 'The Seymour Agency'. Can you even BELIEVE her maiden name! www.theseymouragency.com  God has such a great sense of humor and way of whacking you on the head to get your attention! A divine connection! We volunteered to carry her to the DFW Airport from Mt. Pleasant after the conference ended. We had time to visit and she said historical Christian romances were selling well.

First of May, we started VOW UNBROKEN which we finished in June and sent to her in July. She signed us to a contract for representation in August, and this past week, on 10-11-12, Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, made me an offer on it as only my name is given as author : ) This was okay with Ron since our chacking accout is joint : ) Release date, Spring 2014. I knew this was going to be a great year!

♫♪ And God's been doing even more! ♪♫Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ✞giving me more New Songs all along, some FUN ones this year!•*¨✫♥*•✞•♥stay tuned•♫♪ Happy Days!

 

BUSY is a FOUR LETTER WORD!

Well, hey!

My My My! I forgot I had a BLOG! I was trying to follow another goat friend's blog and they were making me sign in and said my email address already had an account and pretty soon, I found it! I can't blame Alzheimer exactly, but I can legally and truthfully claim Busy. I really do hate BUSY, don't you?

I've been known to say, "I'd rather be busy than bored." And that is true - - because I said it for one thing, but it is logical, too. I don't have a job-job, you know, what most people think of as a job, employment where you get a regular check as payment for working : ). When I fill out forms, I always write 'SELF' in the little 'Employer' box. Then everyone who has a job thinks I don't work, that I sit around all day playing spider solitaire and writing book-long emails : )

But my day starts before the sun comes up most days. I awake, usually to a praise or worship song going on in my head, and first give my awesome Heavenly Father some time because He loves me and I love Him so much. I do make my way to the computer and check emails. I usually pull up spider to deal once or twice while I'm waiting for Yahoo to come up. I can hardly stand to sit and wait, so I play during those times.

The four boys get up at 6:30 and the next 30 minutes are CRAZY. Even though I try to keep them organized, shoes are lost and backpacks have literally disappeared (especially over the weekend if it's a Monday! : ). They never want to walk to the end of the street (maybe two football fields worth, so I put on my Taxi-mom hat and drive them. We wait for the bus and I bless them and pray for their day.



When I get home, it's just O'Pa and me, alone. We love this time of day. We have a cup of coffee over Fox and Friends. I might answer a few more emails and send out lots of resumes for editing jobs. Ron usually plays some spider, too, then I head to the barn to care for my animals and milk the goats. Ron helps me if he doesn't have to take off real early for one reason or another.


So you have to feed the crazy cats first or they will trip you and scratch you and make the morning miserable. Then I fill the horses an donkey's buckets first and let them in from the pasture to eat breakfast, locking them in their stalls.Then I get ready for the milkers - fill the feed tray, open the neck board, get the cookie bucket out and arrange my jars and bowls. When I go to the goat fold gate (off the barn's main aisle), there's almost always a milker waiting. I open it and she runs to the milk stand and starts gobbling. I lock her in by putting the boards together and pinning in place.

I use a washcloth to clean her udder, squeeze the first squirts into a bowl for the kitties who are waiting. You do that in case there's dirt or anything undesirable at the tip of her teet. It takes 300 to 500 squeezes to get all her milk out depending on how much she gives and the size of her orifices (teet holes). She gets 2 animal cookies - all the girls LOVE their cookies and as soon as I stand up, they're stretching their neck and licking their lips : ) I remove the pin and loosen the neck brace and she jumps down and runs to the gate.

I don't put her back into the fold, but let her through the first gate only into the aisle of the barn. Then I get another milker - usually waiting at the gate. Some of them - the last ones - make me come out and look square at them and say, "Come on, Vivian!" before they'll come. But they all make the bee-line to the milk stand and they all expect their after-cookies!

When all the milking's done, feed and water chickens, pigs, buck (penned separate from the girls), weanlings, hedgehog Gus Gus and rabbit. Run the milk to the freezer. Start the dog food. I cook their food - boil bones, wild hog usually, and leftovers, season, sometimes add bullion and when it's a rich broth, I add about three cups of rice. While I'm in the kitchen, I clean it because although I would love to rise to a clean one, mine's usually a MESS because after I cook at the end of the day and feed the boys, and eat, I needs go get off me feet. So I clean it the next morning. Heavy sigh - such as it is.

Whew, then I eat MY breakfast. Two eggs fried over easy, toast, homemade jelly and a tall glass of COLD goat's milk. By now Ron's gone if he could get off sorta mid-morn, well, we eat before I get the whole kitchen clean if he's here. So I go to the computer again and finish catching up emails and getting resumes out. I always have writing or editing to do. I often have CraigsList ads to post (Texarkana area) and I check to see what they have in the farm and garden section for sale.

I work on all that, make our bed, often start laundry, but not every day since boys do their own now - as of this past summer. So far only one load really messed up when Gregory Brahm used the bleach in place of the soap. He had some weird outfits in the summer : ) SO I usually don't think about lunch til one and I heat some leftovers then watch afternoon TV for an hour or two, resting up before the boys get back home! : )

During this time, I write letters to my prison penpals or hull purple hull peas or cut up my vegetables for dinner or fold laundry, or get back on computer to edit or write. Point being, I never hardly ever just sit and watch TV with nothing else going on. But I take a break off my feet. I often use this time to visit with my 30+ year sister-friend Elaine, too, so we can talk about our programs and families : ) She calls me most the time. Everyone should have a dear person in their life like my 'Lanie!

We've just finished a new children's chapter book titled ZacMaster.com that we wrote for a new friend. He was looking for a Christian editor, but on seeing his manuscript, I told him it wasn't ready for an edit, but instead needed to be re-written. He asked if we could, so we did : )

The boys get home around 4, then it's homework, chores, animals are all hungry again, cooking and serving dinner, eating, and falling in bed to cuddle with Benjamen while he falls asleep. That's at 8 p.m. and often, I fall sound asleep then, too. If I don't, I have time to pray before I do : )

Sometimes I have to add going grocery shopping or taking a boy to a sport practice - it's football for Christian now and baseball for Matthew and Gregory. I love to go vist the widow I visit regularly. They've become dear friends. I sell some goats some days or help kids be born. Occasionally the horses get out and I have to chase them. There's ALWAYS something!

See my days? How busy they are? But I wouldn't change one iota of them. I love my boys, their hugs and how much they like my cooking and their silliness. I love all my animals. I love my husband. I love living in the country. I am blessed beyond my due. God is so good and so faithful to us. And since I pray for Him to order my days, I believe I've accomplished what He gave me to do in this day.

And right now, I better get to bed. Benjamen already fell asleep, and tonight, since Ron's watching the Cowboys' game, I got back up and wrote this blog. I pray peace to you all, the peace that only God can give, the kind that far exceeds all human understanding and settles your spirit in His love. Blessing to you. Please do come again! I'll try not to forget and make more regular entries : )

Hey there Family and Friends!
What a beautiful day it is in Lydia, Texas, bright and blue, full of things to do! Such as catch up on laundry and house keeping after a wonderful weekend spent in Princeton, Allen, McKinney, Irving, and Colleyville where I attended the absolutely spirit-filled wedding of my nephew Jedidiah Barnett and his new bride Jessica. So great seeing all the family and hugging necks, laughing and sharing.

Friday afternoon, dropped off Tony Romo - the goat, not the football player - at my new friend's in Princeton. Erica Elizabeth and I met online, and this was the first time we got to meet face to face and get/give hugs!

That evening, celebrated Shabbot at home of Jeff and Dena Morrison complete with spaghetti dinner that included THE best garlic bread I ever ate (and Jeff spilled the recipe! : )

Then to Bobbie D's where Grami, Mammy, and MeMaw had a slumber party - up until after 2 a.m. and had to awake by 6:30 to get to the Roach Juevenile Detention Center in McKinney by 7:45. Silly grandmothers! You might think we'd be a little smarter than that, but oh what giggles, oh, what fun!

Saturday morning with the Faithful Friends ministry, was blessed to visit and share God's Word with 7 young girls incarcerated for various offenses including attempted suicide, drugs, probation violations. Such young lives already in such turmoil. They so need more of God's Word to make it. Time was too short there.
A mad dash to Irving followed lunch and some last minute work/shopping to finish off wedding gifts. Showered and changed at Daddy and MamaC's then rode with to the church. I've never attended a wedding where the presence of the Lord was any thicker. Their vows were beautiful, everything was perfect. The reception was at a Winery and the laughter was loud! What fun! see Bride and groom, Jed & Jessica; 3 of my beautiful granddaughters Caryn, Naomi, Joi ; Sissers Caryl, Gayla, & Cathy, groom's proud mama! see Grandy & MamaC in blue; and my Russell & his Ashley (new girlfriend : )


Sunday morn, slept in til 8:30! Waffles with Daddy then to get son Matthew with last huggins of grandsugars Naomi and Seth. Went to River Bottom Ranch. Later picked up Christian and Benjamen (smallest 2 of my boys - the other 2 were deer hunting with O'Pa back home) from other Grandmother who loaded us down with goodies.

There, had a wonderful parking lot visit and hugs with Cristi and her beau Richard. Haven't seen her in a long while and was so thrilled to get to hold her and hear all the latest. Then headed home. Praise God that Benjamen fell asleep for the 2+ hour trip!

After unpacking, Ron and I visited a new little country church - Life in the Spirit I think it's called. Very sweet presence of God there and they asked me to come up and sing! (Ron told them I ALWAYS had a song! : )

So here I am on a Monday, with much to do, but most important is a quick visit with you! So I took time out : ) May God shower favor on you today and bless you with His very best! Hugs! Peace and joy!