- celebrated our 45th Wedding Anniversary!
- deposited $101 in rolled coins last week.
- we seriously paid for our 3 night honeymoon in CA with rolled coins.
- found the perfect baby doll for Randy @ Goodwill for $2.49.
- a friend replaced the hatch springs on my 18 year old van. bye-bye broom stick!
- I walk while I talk on the phone inside my house.
- I've been doing it since the start of the pandemic.
- sometimes I walk over 10,000 steps during phone calls in one day.
- I talk on the phone a lot.
- I'm fostering my daughter's little dog June.
- they want me to keep her.
- my 8 year old grandson Will told his parents "I worry about Mimi in that big old house all alone."
- so he thinks I need June ~ she really is the best dog.
- Randy's book ~ in its 1st full month on the market.
- trusting God to put this book in the hands of those that need it.
- another record breaking summer ~ so far 96 consecutive days of 100+ degrees.
- paid $10 for a Shark Ultralight Stick vacuum @ Goodwill ~ retails $229 on Amazon!
- why so cheap? It was filthy dirty. Looks as good as new now!
- finally going to make my backyard livable.
- haven't done a thing to it in 14 years, since Randy got sick.
- one big unsightly mass of weeds. I can't wait to transform it.
- I've been going around collecting free bricks off Marketplace.
- I have plans to do some serious hardscaping myself.
- it was the 8th Annual Ride for Ronnie Tribute Ride.
- my brother died of cancer. (multiple myeloma)
- you can read his story HERE
- 70+ cycles participated in the Tribute Ride, raising a lot of money to help families fighting cancer.
- 18 years ago this month I started my blog. You can read my first blog post HERE. So excited to be blogging again!
Saturday, August 31, 2024
August 2024 recap
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Our 45th Wedding Anniversary
He adored our three children, but especially as newborns. I remember nursing them, handing them over to him, crawling back into bed, while he would spend hours rocking them, burping them, patting them, walking them and singing to them. Often times it would be time to nurse again before he had even put them down to sleep.
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The Pandemic & Dementia
I wrote this blog post during the pandemic, but never posted it. So here it is. All these years later.
My Dear Randy,
I miss you so much.
I miss our hugs, our eskimo kisses, walking the halls hand in hand and snuggling in bed.
I am missing your best days, because today is your best day. And tomorrow you will have declined a bit more, and then that will be your best day... till the next day.
That makes me so sad, cuz I don't want to miss a single best day. Each day holds memories I am missing. Will I ever be able to hold your face in my hands... to message your neck, back and head... to look deep into your blue eyes?
I am thankful for our porch visits each week. We sit 6 feet across from each other. You are the only one in the facility that wears a mask the entire visit. You seem to stare deep into my soul. And I know you know me. I know you love me.
Your Sugar
Last week I had our large tree in our front yard trimmed. I hired a reputable company... and it did not go well. The work was done poorly. And I was treated poorly. I felt so vulnerable, so unprotected, so alone. When I visited Randy two days later, I started crying the moment I saw him and cried throughout the visit. Thankfully my mask absorbed the flow of tears. You see Randy did everything for our home. We never hired out. He could do plumbing, electrical, tree trimming, landscaping, shingle our roof, paint our house, remodel, lay tile, you name it. So for me to have total strangers do what Randy always did and to have it go so wrong, was devastating. I miss my partner, my protector, my husband. Another layer of loss to grieve.
This pandemic has been brutal for those of us with loved ones in care facilities. This can't go on indefinitely. Yes, his facility has not had one Covid case yet. I am forever grateful. But this can't be how these residents live out their last days.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Randy's Book Reveal!
Saturday, August 03, 2024
Randy Thompson ~ About The Author Bio
My husband Randy's About The Author bio on Amazon.
A Believer's Journey is available HERE
Randy recorded his first cassette of original songs in 1978 ~ Jesus Touched Me. Recently those 10 songs were uploaded to his YouTube Channel. (Randy Thompson Ministries YouTube Channel)
He married his wife Linda in 1979 and they entered into full-time ministry in 1980, the same year he graduated from Grand Canyon College with Bible & History degrees. They started a family in 1982, raising Shawn, Miranda & Tyler in Tempe, Arizona.
Randy Thompson Ministries was formed in 1990. He started marketing his ministry and traveling around the country doing concerts in big and small churches. He was doing what God created him to do… sharing the love of Jesus in song and powerful teaching.
Seven more cassettes and CDs would follow. God would use his songs mightily, as more and more testimonials would pour in. One particular letter stood out. A young girl was walking along the Carefree Highway after her car had broke down. (No cell phones back then) She saw a cassette on the side of the road with the tape hanging out. She wound it up with a pencil and popped it in her portable cassette player. She was so deeply moved by the songs that she spent months looking for more of Randy’s music. But because the cassette case was scuffed up, she was looking for Randy Thomas. Eventually a Christian Bookstore in Flagstaff showed her Randy’s cassettes. She had found him! She immediately bought his cassettes and eventually his CDs. She was so thrilled to have a way to contact Randy to tell her story, how God used his music to bring her back to God.
After many years in full-time ministry, he took on the position as the pastor of his church. But in 2011 they let him go as he wasn’t himself. Something was wrong. That is when he started writing A Believer’s Journey, because he’s a prophet, an evangelist and a truth teller. He finished the book three years later, six months before he was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia in 2014. The book was finally published in 2024.
Randy is currently in a memory care facility. He is peaceful, calm and easy going and dearly loved by the staff and caregivers who love his music. While he is unable to do concerts, share Jesus, or write songs anymore, the lyrics in his songs and the words in his book will live on long after he sees Jesus face-to-face.
Friday, July 26, 2024
A Believer's Journey by Randy Thompson
He also wrote with a sense of urgency. I remember when Randy finished the book, I was so glad it was done. Our lives had turned upside down. He wasn't working. He needed a job. Something was terribly wrong. So when he was finally diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia in 2014, a year after he finished the book, I remember thinking he couldn't have written another word when the book was done. God had given him a window in time. Randy was obedient. So he wrote. Until he couldn't. And I thank God he did!
Today I will visit Randy at his memory care facility. He will hold the book intently, as I go on and on about how God is using this book in my life... to heal me, inspire me, to equip me for the plans He has for me. Oh how I want to know the depth of Randy's relationship with the Lord. You will too when you spend time with Randy in the pages of this book.
One day Randy will no longer be with us. But thank God he leaves behind the lyrics in his songs, and the words in this book. He always said he wanted his life to matter, to be used of God until his final breath.
So it's only natural that Randy would close A Believer's Journey with these final words ~
"I will forever write songs and sing praises to the One who is like no other. I will tell of His great love and power until my last breath, and then I will see Him face to face, and worship Him. My Savior! My King! My God!"
You can order your copy of A Believer's Journey HERE