GCR Women

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.  Cool (maybe even cold) weather has finally arrived.  The joy of the holidays is before us.  Family is gathered around us.  Everything is filled with hope and expectation of good things to come. Again this year, Thanksgiving finds me with so much to be thankful for:  family, friends, abundance.  I'm thankful I have a safe and dry home that has not been deluged by fall storms.  I'm thankful for a loving husband whose every action speaks of his devotion to me.  I'm thankful I have a loving family that includes three delightful grandchildren - one of whom is new to the table this year.  I'm thankful for a robust economy that provides more work than we have time to do.  I'm thankful for the close circle of friends I have who are as much like sisters to me as if we had been born to the same parents. I'm thankful for being part of a ministry that allows me to walk beside godly women whose spirituality encourages me to stan

Just a few weeks after school started in September 1961, Hurricane Carla devastated my home town.  My memories of that time are vivid.  You see, we didn't leave town.  We stayed in one of the office buildings at the refinery where my dad worked.  Other families stayed there, too. As a seven year old, it was an adventure.  Rain, winds, rising water, power failures paled in comparison to being out of school, playing with other kids and being pushed around in an office chair.  I didn't have a clear understanding of the danger we were in and the destruction we'd soon face. But in the days after the storm, when we were finally allowed to go back to our home to start the clean-up, I began to see that my world had changed and that I'd forever mark my memories as life before and after the storm. Looking back, I wonder at the strength my parents and other adults in my life had as they began to rebuild.  First, you stand frozen, staring at the absolute mess that is ev