Sharman Burson Ramsey's Blog, page 6
August 23, 2021
Gardening Southern-Style 3 August 23
Gardening Southern-Style 3 August 23
The continuing saga of Gardening Southern-style with Sharman. The last thing Joe bought over the internet was a power sprayer attachment to the hose. I have intended to use it on the playhouse for several years. I bought 4 tall slender plants to mask the side of the playhouse and decided it was now or never. It actually works once Cecily Ramsey and I figured out how to operate it. The really intriguing thing was the claim that it would get weeds from between bricks. Guess what? Not my weeds. So, I got my kneeling bench and sat upon it to pull the weeds I had slightly loosened. After 15 minutes fighting with one I decided the only thing to do was to poison those dirty word, dirty word weeds. Now that I have found my yard equipment, including weed killer I am moving forward. The elephant ear closest to the gate is the one that got divided--about 8 I think. The gift that keeps on giving.Butterfly garden check
divided and planted elephant ear bulbs check
began my new career in container gardening with 2 topiaries
Poisoned the bloody weeds! on the brick patio in intense heat, might I add. Picture one is the newly divided elephant ears along the fence. Picture two is the boxwood container garden. It needs something more, I know, but it will have to wait. Something white I think.
August 20, 2021
Gardening Southern-style 2
August 16, 2021
GardeningSouthern-Style: A Downhome Perspective on All Things Southern
Dr. Walter Van FleetStill my favorite rose. But I need a rooting!
I have been watching gardening videos while recuperating from Covid. I was sad that Dothan had nothing for its unique environment. And then I stumbled on to Megan Watson's channel. She has inspired me to start my own. Mine will be much different because I am an old lady looking for beauty with as easy as possible maintenance. Having other gardeners as friends is definitely motivating. Christie and Shelby Thomley helped me with that 2 acre lot on Cherokee that Joe and I once cared for. We met at Rayfield Vester's Master Gardener Class. Our new home has a much smaller lot, but the gardeners here in Grove Park are serious. I have never seen a bigger sunflower than the one grown by Saundra Jordan and Wiley Jordan. Reva Carlise's cottage garden inspires me with the tour of her cottage garden by the street and her own "SHE SHACK" in her back yard. I rode by Michael Bailey and Catherine Griffith Bailey old home later bought by Sue Marie Shealy Coe and Mike Coe (I don't think they live there now, however.) and got inspired by the most beautiful hydrangeas -- White Annabelle or Limelight? (Not in Grove Park) Judy Bailey Wise brought beautiful camellia blooms to a club meeting and that inspired the camellia garden that will happen just as soon as things cool off a bit. I took Molly and Megan to PC's Nursery and hand delivered the list of camellias he will design my camellia garden with. Of course, my mother as usual is the greatest inspiration of all. She loved her yard!!! She particularly loved daylillies and would go to Headland every year to the Daylily nursery there. I don't think it still exists, but I have found one owned by Randy and Sharon Pilcher called "In the Neighborhood Daylilies" http://www.intheneighborhooddaylilies.com. Mother started me off right. She started a little girl garden club, the Daffy Dillies, in the polka dot playhouse she made out of an Airconditioner container. I look forward to going to Ozark to pick up my daylilies, although they do deliver. Saturday my little buddy, Molly, went with me to Dothan Nurseries. The first thing we spotted was a Miss Molly butterfly bush, which we definitely HAD to purchase because Molly even brought her butterfly purse, so of course it was meant to be. I am developing a butterfly garden so that was a must have along with the Yarrow I bought. I always tell John David Boone that coming to Dothan Nurseries is next to heaven for me. I also want to start a rose garden, but I have given my heart to David Austin Roses and sadly they do not deliver to Alabama. (Wonder why?) I do have a granddaughter in Panama City, so she may have to deliver to grandmother. That granddaughter Lily Butterworth, loves succulents. I must admit her affection has rubbed off on me. So one day when I was just cruising the Net I found a spot that made the most beautiful arrangements of succulents. So, of course, I ordered one. Let me share with you something Molly and I found out! Dothan Nurseries now has a shed under which John David's garden fairies will build your container garden for you. And, if you love pretty pots as much as I do, you must go there. They have the broadest variety of pots, old fashioned flowers, etc. you will find. I brought my friends from Panama City there when I took them on a tour of the Botanical Garden. They were suitably impressed. One thing that I had to leave at our old house was the Doctor Walter Van Fleet rose that Marion Hall rooted for me. It is the ancestor of New Dawn, but a bigger bloomer, I think. As you all know, Marion designed the Camellia Garden at the Botanical Garden. Her mother, Eleanor Grant, (also the name of a camellia Marion propagated) propagated many camellias. All kinds of garden jewelry awaits you at Dothan Nurseries as well. I did a little web work for Rhoda Boone at one time there at Dothan Nurseries when the web was brand new and they were kind enough to trust that early endeavor. That was when JoAn McFarland with Dothan Nurseries did a Monet Garden in my front yard. http://www.southern-style.com/a_southern_monet_garden.htm. I ordered Larkspur, zinnia and poppy seed yesterday and plan to make a grand effort in my back yard. I will see how this You Tube stuff works and share with you what I come up with here at the new place God has planted me. I finally got out of the chair and have done a little preparatory digging. Don't forget to subscribe to Megan Watson's gardening show. I look forward to learning from her! Southern Living needs a gardener in this area. Linda Vintner is in Oklahoma, Garden Answers is in Oregon, and Jim ..... is in North Carolina. If they are looking for a volunteer, my hand is waving!
After spending my Covid quarantine watching garden shows on You Tube, I have come out the other side determined to get out in my garden and do a bit of designing. I think every gardener brings some of their gardener parent with them into the garden. I go through a garden and see aspidistra and remember the great host that flourished under my mother's fig tree. I brought a lot of those aspidistra home to Cherokee for a shade garden there. Whenever I see a fig tree I think of Mr. Conti's fig tree in his yard from which he gave us an offshoot. I also think of Mr. Conti when I see red poppies because I planted some in my Monet Garden in the front yard. They grew in a mass and he would come and stand and remember his childhood in Italy where they grew in masses like that. (Bought poppy seeds yesterday. Eden, I think.)
I treated myself yesterday with a trip to Lowe's where I bought more than I could plant this morning. I figure a little bit at the time and perhaps my garden will achieve the Jean Burson design (everything she loved planted wherever she felt like putting it.)
I plan to turn the playhouse into my she shack/potting shed as soon as Tex Rankin can come and add French doors, a deck and pergola to it.
These are pictures of my current yard along with the after I envision
Imagine A gravel path from the driveway pad around the right side of the house through the gate lined with camellias.
As you come in the gate there is now a fence and some very nice evergreens.
Now imagine a hydrangea hedge in front of those evergreens.
That hedge leads to the building formerly known as the playhouse now converted to a She shack with French doors, a deck and a pergola 
Behind the playhouse a nice shady area then becomes the garden staging area with an 8 foot potting bench a table and some comfortable chairs (or a hammock). I want to plant scuppernongs on the pergola. I have a fun picture of my mother, Jean Gillis, with cousins Naomi Kennedy and Joe Jernigan, getting snockered with scuppernong wine. Both my mother and Joe's mother had a scuppernong arbor. Apparently it is a southern lady thing. "The Recipe"
Behind this central bed, I want a shady spot just to hang out with my dogs GIGI and soon to be LOLA (a ShihPoo coming from north Alabama at the end of the month) and Cecily's dogs, Honey and Lacy.
A gravel patio from the She Shack to the Gazebo
Behind this central bed
From here you look back at the house. To the left of the brick patio Gigi has worn a path toward the fence where some neighbor buddies gather. The gravel path will come in the back gate and veer to the left to follow this path to the brick patio.
This would be the newest incarnation of the Monet Garden once in my front yard. I will fill that bed with mushroom compost to make sure it is rich enough for my vision. I have ordered poppy, nasturtium, Larkspur, and zinnia seeds. I will find a way to get the David Austen roses.
This brick patio will be beautiful with tables and container gardens like this one. 
I will plant a Mr. Conti fig tree in the front yard to mask the ugly utilities. 
An olive tree just adds interest, I think. And Citrus trees need to be a part of every garden these days just in case hard times arrive. A garden needs to fill several human needs--a passion for creating beauty, productivity, sociability, and a mental and physical challenge.
This is where I plan to put the "pottager" aka kitchen garden. Right now there is a pittosporum there I considered removing, but those are good for flower arranging. Behind that white chair that was Mother's and needs painting, but I used it to sit upon to pull weeds. Behind there is the butterfly garden. It has a giant Elephant ear that will be removed. I planted a Japanese Magnolia there in the spring and it was beautiful. I love it. Mother and Daddy had one right outside their window and they watched the same birds next there year after year. Drew built me the voting bench at the fence. I LOVE IT!
This is the elevated garden planter 8 ft by 2 feet I plan to put there in font of that white bench. Fruits and vegetables can be grown in containers.
This will be my gravel patio.
Hopefully this will be a beautiful expanse of green grass.
I will probably scallop in front of these statues and plant maybe daylillies there.
The first year Joe and I moved in we planted Magnolias along the back fence. PCs also planted those drift roses in front of the Gazebo and in front of the front fence. We had to take down several river birch because of their intrusive roots endangering the foundation of the house.
We need more trees in the back yard and I am thinking of a flowering cherry, a pink dogwood, and a white dogwood along with a lot of shade loving plants along the back between the Gazebo and the playhouse. We had a Bartlet Pear on Cherokee that was quite productive. I think I will plant one right outside the gate where one of those trees came down.
This is the plan. Step by step. We will see where this will go.
August 1, 2021
IN SUPPORT OF MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEN
In response to Linda Turner, vice chair of the Houston County Democratic Party, Sunday, July 18 The question was asked, “What about Greene Impresses Local GOP?
"As long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only precarious results. As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism. The school should therefore use the means described earlier to combat family attitudes that favor jingoism...We shall presently recognize in nationalism the major obstacle to development of world-mindedness. We are at the beginning of a long process of breaking down the wall of national sovereignty. UNESCO must be the pioneer." UNESCO, 1949
I am a Republican woman who sees current trends favored by the Democrats representing a direct path toward the expressed goal of UNESCO in 1949… and the ultimate demise of our country.
For example:
1. Disrespect for the Flag, our National Anthem, Founding Fathers, Free Speech, Police, Capitalism, National Borders, babies in the womb and newly born, Free Speech and Christianity
2. Support for the misappropriation of language, Critical Race Theory seeing all history as Oppressors and Oppressed, subjugation by a white male patriarchy, Open Borders, Planned Parenthood and the mutilation of children through transgender sex change.
3. Support for the belief that no crisis should be wasted to promote Man Made Climate Change, Electric cars (enriching China because they make the batteries because they control the rare minerals needed) and that the Covid Pandemic is the perfect opportunity to create THE GREAT RESET demanded by the World Economic Forum.
What is THE GREAT RESET? Support for World Government building in a more "resilient, equitable, and sustainable" way—based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics which would incorporate more green public infrastructure projects; the third component is to "harness the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for public good,” undermining capitalism.
4. Acceptance of socialist goals: As socialist Antonio Gramsci said, "Socialism is precisely the religion which must overwhelm Christianity[.] ... In the new order, socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches and the media by transforming the consciousness of society."
5. Use of the Wrap Up SMEAR used against Brett Cavanaugh and Donald Trump. “You demonize and then you…We call it the WRAP UP SMEAR…You want to talk politics…You smear somebody, with falsehoods and all the rest, and then you merchandise it. And then you (THE PRESS) write it and they will say it is reported in the Press saying this, this, this and this and it gives it validation And then you merchandise it. It’s a tactic “ Pelosi, October 13, 2019.
All of these tactics are used against Marjorie Taylor Green in Turner’s attack on the Republican Party. Yet in spite of the slander and lies, Marjorie Taylor Greene courageously stands against the Democrat agenda. She “stands in the gap” supporting all of us regardless of the intimidation and confrontation she receives from the Left.
And so I stand in support of Marjorie Taylor Green.
July 30, 2021
Covid the Delta Variant
As a public service, let me tell you, just because you are vaccinated doesn't mean you can't get COVID the Delta Variant. Sounds like a novel, doesn't it? Like the disaster movies I am now watching on You Tube. This morning at 2:00 I could not sleep and assessed the deep cough and aches and pains (arthritis right?). No fever registering on my new fangled thermometer that scans and you don't have to stick under your tongue. No fever, no infection. Right? Wrong. So why would I decide to leave my comfy bed and go to the Emergency room? Apparently God was not going to let me sleep unless I did. Cecily Ramsey]who is usually with me was in Mobile with Drew. Thank God. With her chronic illness here with me was the last place she should have been. And going anywhere at night is just not my style anymore. But Flowers is close. The nurse who checked me in stuck the long q-tips up my nose and did a thorough smear. Painful, but brief. When they brought me back to the ER I also got an X-Ray. Fortunately it looked good. But I tested positive for Covid the Delta Variant.
Because I thought my vaccination made me immune to Covid, I attended the Marjorie Taylor Green Event, went to UPS to mail medicine to Cecily Ramsey, had sense enough to skip Sunday school, attended the Republican Executive Committee Meeting, Signed papers to sell our home in PC and faxed them to the title company at UPS on Apple Drive, felt bad enough to cancel two appointments on Wednesday, and by this morning at 2 am decided I should go to the Flowers ER and let them check me out. I must admit I was shocked when the nurse came in and said, "You tested POSITIVE for Covid."
I came home and texted my family and friends that I had been with recently to put them on the alert for symptoms. Sister Sylvia (Dr. Rushing who insisted that I get the vaccine) and brother-in-law Tom were packing up to go out of town for a seminar when Tom brought his phone off the charger and told Sylvia, "Sharman has Covid. We're not going anywhere." She called immediately after canceling with the seminar and later went and picked up the Z-Pak (Zythromycin) and the steroid the ER doctor and nurse practitioner prescribed) for me along with every vitamin the herbalist at CVS recommended. She also brought Mucus Extended Relief with (and this is important) Guaifenesin Extended release. Elkanah Burson emphasizes that I need to take two 1200 mg to loosen the mucous in the lungs. You do not want to drown in those fluids! I have been instructed to keep a record of my oxygen levels (she brought me an oxygen checker, temperature, blood pressure, etc. and to write a journal to write THE BOOK). She brings these things to the front door and I pull the shades from the window and she inspects me. I am blessed. So far I pass muster. Between her and Dr. Frank Crocket, I will make it through this.
Sylvia is sooo concerned about people not getting the vaccine. She reminds me that the ones she sees in the hospital on ventilators are mainly not those who have been vaccinated. Tomorrow I will call the places I visited and inform them.
Have any of you read Alexander Solzeneitzyn's novel, The Cancer Ward. It is a story of a ward of cancer victims in the Gulag (a Russian point of horror, incarceration, and cold.) The book builds around the people the hero encounters there in that ward. I must say I was reminded of that book today as I went to have the INFUSION the nurse practitioner recommended and told me to call and get in line for at Flowers. You cannot get this infusion if you are sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. It is Out Patient. But one enters through the Digestive Health Entrance next door. The whole group taking the infusion is called from their cars to meet the nurse at the door who guides you through a labyrinth of corridors back to the corner of the hospital with one examining table and one chair. The infusion machine can handle two lines.
Abby, a beautiful wonderful nurse, skillfully put in the IV, something very important to me because I have a phobia about needles. Something about my Daddy chasing me around the table in the examining room at his office on South Oates with me screaming with every step and the waiting room full of patients waiting to be seen and listening and then giving up only to bring the shots home from then on to pull me out from under the beds with mother helping to give me a shot. I go weak in the knees and the blood drains.... you get the picture. And then once I had a vein burst and the contents of an IV leak out onto the floor and flood the room while swelling up my hand and my arm. Memories...
usan, my roommate who had already claimed the cot, had different symptoms than me. She was throwing up and had diarrhea. She was doing everything she could to hold it in but she needed more covers, a throw up bowl and some ice bits to help settle her stomach. I assured her my sister said her partner, Dr. Gale, told Sylvia that the infusion made him feel better immediately when he had Covid. Unfortunately, the busy nurses were unaware of her needs and I was able to help get her another blanket, a pan o throw up in and some ice and water. It turned out it was a good thing that Susan was truly just a friend I just hadn't met yet and somehow we bonded. I gave her my card because I told her I want her to email me and let me know how she is doing after we part!
I asked her where she thought she got Covid and she told me that a woman in her office got sick and told them she had gotten tested and was negative. She wasn't tested. She did. And everyone in the office got Covid.
I had noticed a lovely blonde woman sitting in the chair Cattycorner across the hall from our room. When they were able to complete the infusions on everyone in our little corner of the hospital, we lined up behind the Pied Piper nurse to leave. The lovely woman I had noticed across the hall looked up at me from her wheel chair to say, "Mrs. Ramsey, you were my eighth grade teacher. I am Caroline Holman." How delightful that was even in the middle of our current weird setting to see my sweet Caroline. I do hope my Headland friends will pray for her and check to make sure she and her family are taken care of.
Joseph in Genesis 45:5 And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this--to preserve the lives of many people.
We do not know why we are where we are. But we had to be where we were to be where we are and God will use it for good.
So today, in spite of having the shock of Covid, God has blessed me in so many ways. Drew Ramsey and Brittany Ballard Ramsey sent me lunch from Longhorn, Brooke Ramsey Evans went to the grocery store for me, and Sylvia and Tom brought me a fish sandwich from the wharf. I still have an appetite. Drew and Brittany in spite of already having had Covid went today and took the vaccine. They have children and the new form of Covid can be much more serious for children according to my sister who sees the consequences in her cardiology practice.
When the nurse taking our history asked me if I had been losing weight I laughed and said, "That will never happen until I have been dead ten days." Susan laughed and said, "Me too." (I told you she and I bonded. Soul sisters. Though with her form of Covid she probably is losing weight. She lost taste and smell Sunday.)
Two guys from directly across the hall greeted us with "Roll Tide!" To which all of us in that hall responded with a "Roll Tide" back. Reminds me of when Joe and I would say our prayers. I would end with "Amen" and Joe would add "Roll Tide!" The Pied Piper nurse led us through a torturous maneuver of halls averting as many people as possible to the door at the Digestive Health some into rho part of the Flowers. I was glad to get home.
As part of the equipment Sylvia brought me I now have my very own oxygen measurer. I am warned if the oxygen measures less than 90 I am to go immediately to the Hospital. I an also chronicling Blood pressure, and temperature. I am well equipped now. You may also want to acquire these health meters.
I am ready to go onto heaven anytime but apparently God has some reason that I need to stay on here for awhile.
Otherwise why did he send me to the hospital?
I'm curious why the papers I was given mention being quarantined even from our pet. Fortunately, Gigi sleeps in the shower and will still comfort me. I sure do miss Joe. All of us from the Infusion Ward appreciate your prayers.
See Also for description of Delta Variant https://www.modernhealthcare.com/clinical/unraveling-mysterious-mutations-make-delta-most-transmissible-covid-virus-yet
As a public service, let me tell you, just because you a...
As a public service, let me tell you, just because you are vaccinated doesn't mean you can't get COVID the Delta Variant. Sounds like a novel, doesn't it? Like the disaster movies I am now watching on You Tube. This morning at 2:00 I could not sleep and assessed the deep cough and aches and pains (arthritis right?). No fever registering on my new fangled thermometer that scans and you don't have to stick under your tongue. No fever, no infection. Right? Wrong. So why would I decide to leave my comfy bed and go to the Emergency room? Apparently God was not going to let me sleep unless I did. Cecily Ramsey]who is usually with me was in Mobile with Drew. Thank God. With her chronic illness here with me was the last place she should have been. And going anywhere at night is just not my style anymore. But Flowers is close. The nurse who checked me in stuck the long q-tips up my nose and did a thorough smear. Painful, but brief. When they brought me back to the ER I also got an X-Ray. Fortunately it looked good. But I tested positive for Covid the Delta Variant. Because I thought my vaccination made me immune to Covid, I attended the Marjorie Taylor Green Event, went to UPS to mail medicine to Cecily Ramsey, had sense enough to skip Sunday school, attended the Republican Executive Committee Meeting, Signed papers to sell our home in PC and faxed them to the title company at UPS on Apple Drive, felt bad enough to cancel two appointments on Wednesday, and by this morning at 2 am decided I should go to the Flowers ER and let them check me out. I must admit I was shocked when the nurse came in and said, "You tested POSITIVE for Covid." I came home and texted my family and friends that I had been with recently to put them on the alert for symptoms. Sister Sylvia (Dr. Rushing who insisted that I get the vaccine) and brother-in-law Tom were packing up to go out of town for a seminar when Tom brought his phone off the charger and told Sylvia, "Sharman has Covid. We're not going anywhere." She called immediately after canceling with the seminar and later went and picked up the Z-Pak (Zythromycin) and the steroid the ER doctor and nurse practitioner prescribed) for me along with every vitamin the herbalist at CVS recommended. She also brought Mucus Extended Relief with (and this is important) Guaifenesin Extended release. Elkanah Burson emphasizes that I need to take two 1200 mg to loosen the mucous in the lungs. You do not want to drown in those fluids! I have been instructed to keep a record of my oxygen levels (she brought me an oxygen checker, temperature, blood pressure, etc. and to write a journal to write THE BOOK). She brings these things to the front door and I pull the shades from the window and she inspects me. I am blessed. So far I pass muster. Between her and Dr. Frank Crocket, I will make it through this. Sylvia is sooo concerned about people not getting the vaccine. She reminds me that the ones she sees in the hospital on ventilators are mainly not those who have been vaccinated. Tomorrow I will call the places I visited and inform them. Have any of you read Alexander Solzeneitzyn's novel, The Cancer Ward. It is a story of a ward of cancer victims in the Gulag (a Russian point of horror, incarceration, and cold.) The book builds around the people the hero encounters there in that ward. I must say I was reminded of that book today as I went to have the INFUSION the nurse practitioner recommended and told me to call and get in line for at Flowers. You cannot get this infusion if you are sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. It is Out Patient. But one enters through the Digestive Health Entrance next door. The whole group taking the infusion is called from their cars to meet the nurse at the door who guides you through a labyrinth of corridors back to the corner of the hospital with one examining table and one chair. The infusion machine can handle two lines. Abby, a beautiful wonderful nurse, skillfully put in the IV, something very important to me because I have a phobia about needles. Something about my Daddy chasing me around the table in the examining room at his office on South Oates with me screaming with every step and the waiting room full of patients waiting to be seen and listening and then giving up only to bring the shots home from then on to pull me out from under the beds with mother helping to give me a shot. I go weak in the knees and the blood drains.... you get the picture. And then once I had a vein burst and the contents of an IV leak out onto the floor and flood the room while swelling up my hand and my arm. Memories... Susan, my roommate who had already claimed the cot, had different symptoms than me. She was throwing up and had diarrhea. She was doing everything she could to hold it in but she needed more covers, a throw up bowl and some ice bits to help settle her stomach. I assured her my sister said her partner, Dr. Gale told Sylvia that the infusion made him feel better immediately when he had Covid. Unfortunately, the busy nurses were unaware of her needs and I was able to help get her another blanket, a pan o throw up in and some ice and water. It turned out it was a good thing that Susan was truly just a friend I just hadn't met yet and somehow we bonded. I gave her my card because I told her I want her to email me and let me know how she is doing after we part! I asked her where she thought she got Covid and she told me that a woman in her office got sick and told them she had gotten tested and was negative. She wasn't tested. She did. And everyone in the office got Covid. I had noticed a lovely blonde woman sitting in the chair Cattycorner across the hall from our room. When they were able to complete the infusions on everyone in our little corner of the hospital, we lined up behind the Pied Piper nurse to leave. The lovely woman I had noticed across the hall looked up at me from her wheel chair to say, "Mrs. Ramsey, you were my eighth grade teacher. I am Caroline Holman." How delightful that was even in the middle of our current weird setting to see my sweet Caroline. I do hope my Headland friends will pray for her and check to make sure she and her family are taken care of. Joseph in Genesis 45:5 And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this--to preserve the lives of many people. We do not know why we are where we are. But we had to be where we were to be where we are and God will use it for good. So today, in spite of having the shock of Covid, God has blessed me in so many ways. Drew Ramsey and Brittany Ballard Ramsey sent me lunch from Longhorn, Brooke Ramsey Evans went to the grocery store for me, and Sylvia and Tom brought me a fish sandwich from the wharf. I still have an appetite. Drew and Brittany in spite of already having had Covid went today and took the vaccine. They have children and the new form of Covid can be much more serious for children according to my sister who sees the consequences in her cardiology practice. When the nurse taking our history asked me if I had been losing weight I laughed and said, "That will never happen until I have been dead ten days." Susan laughed and said, "Me too." (I told you she and I bonded. Soul sisters. Though with her form of Covid she probably is losing weight. She lost taste and smell Sunday.) Two guys from directly across the hall greeted us with "Roll Tide!" To which all of us in that hall responded with a "Roll Tide" back. Reminds me of when Joe and I would say our prayers. I would end with "Amen" and Joe would add "Roll Tide!" The Pied Piper nurse led us through a torturous maneuver of halls averting as many people as possible to the door at the Digestive Health some into rho part of the Flowers. I was glad to get home. As part of the equipment Sylvia brought me I now have my very own oxygen measurer. I am warned if the oxygen measures less than 90 I am to go immediately to the Hospital. I an also chronicling Blood pressure, and temperature. I am well equipped now. You may also want to acquire these health meters. I am ready to go onto heaven anytime but apparently God has some reason that I need to stay on here for awhile. Otherwise why did he send me to the hospital? I'm curious why the papers I was given mention being quarantined even from our pet. Fortunately, Gigi sleeps in the shower and will still comfort me. I sure do miss Joe. All of us from the Infusion Ward appreciate your prayers. See Also for description of Delta Variant https://www.modernhealthcare.com/clinical/unraveling-mysterious-mutations-make-delta-most-transmissible-covid-virus-yet
June 29, 2021
The INTERSECTION OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY, SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING AND THE GREAT RESET
Could it begin with a simple textbook? Why be alarmed?
RAISING REVOLUTIONARIES.
In the 1990s we had a push for education reform under the guise of Goals 2000. Within that push was a total restructuring of education as we know it. I was running for the Chairmanship of the Dothan, Alabama School Board. I asked to see the bylaws of the Board. Apparently that was unexpected and access was reluctantly given. The thing that jumped out most at me that has great influence on what is happening today was the statement THEN was that: All Learning will be SEQUENTIAL.
Little did I know that when David Hornbeck was paid to rewrite the Bylaws to fit Goals 2000 and make all learning THEMATIC that change would wind up with Critical Race Theory. Sequential learning is line upon line, skill upon skill. Phonics builds words. Words build sentences. Sentences build paragraphs. Drill and Repetition reinforce both Reading and Math.
Sequential Learning was replaced by THEMATIC learning (for example: "oppression of the masses" in Critical Race Theory). Phonics and Direct Instruction was replaced by whole word memorization and inferential learning. Break down the whole to the part. Drill and Repetition was then called Drill and Kill. All of this became a part of every subject (a.k.a."Integrated Learning" -in Science, Language, Art, History, etc).
EQUITY AND OUTCOMES BASED are now interchangeable. It is not equality of education; it is equity of outcome.
Recently a new AP World History Textbook was put up for adoption here in Dothan, Alabama. We were not allowed to have access to a physical textbook, but were referred to an online "sampler." This is what I saw in that sampler.
It is important that people realize that Critical Race Theory does not come with a label. It is insidious in its inclusion and the impact on the child's mind and understanding of the world around him/her shifts.
The question here is does the AP World History textbook, Advanced Placement World History – modern 1200 – present published by Perfection Learning push the Woke political agenda rather than teach factual world history and why should we be alarmed?
“Wokeism is fast becoming the new state religion.
Should it overtake our government, in making identity politics paramount, it will unmake any semblance of a unifying American identity.
In so doing, it will serve as the ultimate tool of cynical, radically leftist power-grabbers, who will be dividing and conquering under the guise of a fraudulent virtue, justice and morality.” (Newsweek, June 21, 2020. Ben Weingarten, America is Fast Becoming a Woke Theocracy, FELLOW, CLAREMONT INSTITUTE
Does this AP textbook promote the Woke Agenda and Critical Race Theory?
1. Patriarchy One of the most negative aspects of the patriarchal norms of masculinity is the tendency for men to constantly be in competition with each other . Almost every aspect of many men's lives is shrouded by the need to see themselves as better than other men, or other people in general.
2. Critical Race Theory/WhitePrivilege an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. White privilege privilege white
3. Woke agenda is anti-Israeli independence.
4. Anti Second Amendment–Woke agenda is anti-gun
The core idea of Critical Race Theory is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies. White skin benefits white people in some societies.
5. Woke Agenda is anti-capitalist, pro Socialism/Communist
1. Evidence of promotion of the concept of the Patriarchy Woke definition of patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.
Prologue xli 2. Evidence of Critical Race Theory and white privilege in AP World History by Perfection Learning:
p. 494
“granted self-determination only to white countries in Eastern Europe” What was the purpose of calling those countries “white”? Could it possibly have been be the traditions of literacy and the appreciation and understanding of democratic principles in those countries rather than race that influenced that decision?
Critical Race Theory is a lens through which to view how race has operated in society. It puts people in boxes and divides.
3. Woke agenda is anti-Israeli independence.
From the material available through the textbook online limited inclusion, nothing about the history of the persecution of Jews throughout history was included.
4. Guns are evil.
Gunpowder empires?
What is a right-wing government? In the section about Political Revolutions in Russia and Mexico do they mention the mass murders of Stalin? The drug cartels now operating in Mexico? We do not know because we did not have access to an authentic textbook.
5. Anti Capitalist/pro Socialist/Communist
The following speech by Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Indo-Chinese Communist Party demonstrates pro-communist slant of the textbook. The purpose is to undermine the student’s understanding of socialism and capitalism and to further class war. The negative is emphasized but no mention of the benefits of industrialization or capitalism.
p. 500 "Oppressed colonial people" "exploited working class"
After looking at the online example of the textbook with limited inclusions from the book, the bias of the book is evident. It reflects Karl Marx interpretation of history. Conflict results from economic and social differentiation.
This interpretation asserts that white world leaders have been “oppressors” and capitalism has exploited the working class. The book also promotes The Great Reset meaning World Government through the United Nations. And, of course, the Green Revolution.
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In order to undermine nationalism, believed by those of the Woke agenda to be the cause of World Wars, the United Nations and Global Governance is promoted as the answer.
This textbook hits all of the alarm bells. It advances an explicit anti-capitalist political message that’s rooted in a fundamental misreading of world history. These concepts are integrated into all curriculum though most obviously in the history textbooks. Under the guise of diversity training, Critical Race Theory is promoted through the Leftist hives of political indoctrination called Colleges of Education. 
Our children are being primed for THE GREAT RESET.
Google search on THE GREAT RESET.
You can see it in the contents of this textbook.
And then where does this take us? "Emerging epidemics"? Notice above under topic 9:2
The Great Reset is a new initiative from the World Economic Forum and HRH the Prince of Wales to guide decision-makers on the path to a more resilient, sustainable world beyond coronavirus.The economic fallout from COVID-19 dominates risk perceptions, but there is a unique opportunity to reshape the global economy.Greenpeace International’s Jennifer Morgan, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath and ITUC head Sharan Burrow discuss how they perceive a reset.There won’t be many among the 7.7 billion people on Earth who haven’t been affected in some way by COVID-19.
From sickness and the death of loved ones to work shortages and school closures, the pandemic’s ramifications have touched every part of society – and thrown inequalities into sharp relief.
As lockdowns are starting to ease, governments and organizations across the globe are turning their attention to the recovery process – and the opportunity it provides to rebuild in a different way. One that makes the world better for everyone and addresses the other great crisis of our time: climate change.
The Forum’s Mobility Platform, in collaboration with the Commons Project Foundation, has launched the Common Trust Network – a project aiming to help roll out a “digital passport” that shows whether a person has been tested or vaccinated in compliance with prevailing border-crossing regulations as defined by governments, to help open up international travel.
Along with public and private stakeholders, the Network will empower individuals by providing digital access to their health information, make it easier for people to understand and comply with each destination’s requirements, and ensure that only verifiable lab results and vaccination records from trusted sources are presented for the purposes of cross-border travel and commerce.
Online sampler: https://sampler.perfectionlearning.co...- history-modern-sampler/index.html - p=FC
April 29, 2021
Action Civics and the Critical Race Theory in the Classroom and Your Community
BEWARE ACTION CIVICS
Protect Our Children.
A new push for our children’s minds and hearts is coming through the "education" pipeline. Most everyone has heard of dangers of Common Core but Common Core on steroids will soon be introduced in a form known as “Action Civics”. Local Boards of Education got tangled up in Common Core by requesting federal “Race to the Top Funding.” As a consequence they were required to adopt the Common Core Standards. Billions of federal dollars will soon become available should the Civics Secures Democracy Act, surprisingly co-sponsored by Republican Senators John Cornyn (Texas) and Tom Cole (Oklahoma), become law.
Action Civics is based on President Biden’s backing of Critical Race Theory. What is Critical Race theory? Critical race theory (CRT), is a movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the belief that raceis not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of color. Critical race theorists hold that the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist in so far as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.(Wikipedia)
Should the Civics Secures Democracy Act pass, billions of dollars would be spent to politicize students who would be graded on their political action. Teachers, grounded in the politicization of the colleges of education and through teacher certification, are even now making “project based civics” a requirement for classroom credit and even graduation. Those action based projects are usually associated with Alinsky based organizations. Students skip class and lead protests in the community.
All of this is happening behind parents’ backs. So, what can we do?
1. Attend Local School Board Meetings and let your representative know you DO NOT WANT them applying for those dollars tying curriculum to this policy.
2. Contact Senators Cornyn and Cole to warn them of what they are actually supporting.
3. Demand that our Governor STOP the Alabama State School Board from passing this legislation on the state level.
4. Oppose volunteer requirements and “service learning” as a part of civics education for graduation.
5. Oppose your local or state school board requiring teachers to discuss current political issues.
The New York Times proposes the 1619 Project as the foundation of American History and Civics education and as a vehicle for Critical Race Theory. Robert Woodson, Civil Rights Activist, counters the 1619 Project with 1776 Unites, a movement to draw on the best of America’s past while also maintaining a special focus on stories that celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered. The choice is clear to us. But is it to our elected officials?
This is where the Director of Instruction for the State of Alabama was leading our Education Department.
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/01/dothan-alabama-continues-to-fail-to.html
February 17, 2021
ONLY ONE LIFEI am sure this reflection is caused by the ...
ONLY ONE LIFE
So, after 51 years what was I to do?
Two dear friends involved themselves in my life. Betty Peters and Barbara Moore. Anyone acquainted with them know that they are first and foremost devout, patriotic, Christian women. They are now widows, fearless in their beliefs, devoted to children, and their country. They were not about to let me idle about without purpose for whatever years God has for me.
And so, once again I find myself drawn to the Eagle Forum, an organization that researches issues and lobbies for faith, family and freedom by being aware of what is happening on every level of government, in our schools, and the culture about us. But, I am not alone here in Dothan. Barbara, Betty and I hope those of you who share our concern and love for our children and our country will join us in this endeavor.
Joe encouraged me to be a part of this wonderful organization before he died. He also admired these dedicated women.
Today this poem landed in my brain and would not leave.
Only One LifeC.T. StuddTwo little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way;Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat;Only one life,’ twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And then I recalled a post I made on Facebook a while ago when Joe and I lived in Panama City after his retirement -- before health and a hurricane brought us back home to Dothan. I will relate it to you because there are still those involved in education who have been brainwashed by those who have caused the problems in the first place. This event typifies much of what we are up against They are the experts with the clean shirt and brief case speaking educrat and pretending to have research to back up their curriculum. The research they have usually turns out to be anecdotal rather than empirical. But there must be those who challenge rather than joining in circling the wagons.
----------------------------------------
Had an interesting experience today at a church group meeting. I am a member of that group and I wanted to invite this group of Christian women to the Panhandle Eagle Forum meeting. I said, "I would like to invite you to the Panhandle Eagle Forum meeting a week from Thursday at noon at the Bay County Library. Eunie Smith, President of the Eagle Forum, will be there to speak on the Eagle Forum, Common Core and more. If you don't know about Common Core, please watch the video with Dr. Duke Pesta Common Core --Six Years Later. Common Core is here in our schools." I started telling them about the graphic sex in the American Experience Literature 11th grade specifically the recommendation for Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eyes and how graphic it was. I have a granddaughter in the 9th who may eventually be affected by this. I also expressed my concerns about the Common Core inclusion of teaching Kindergarten children how to know if they were transgender, gay, or lesbian introducing pre-schoolers to age inappropriate sex education being required to be INTEGRATED into the curriculum. (I have grandsons this age.) . Suddenly one of the attendees interrupted saying, "I have LET you speak before."
I couldn't help but say, "Thank you for LETTING me speak."
"But I cannot sit here and listen to this propaganda," she continued.
I persisted, "Christian women ought to be concerned."
She said, "I was a principal." (As if that meant she was an expert on Common Core and what works in education.)
"But, Common Core is new," I responded.
She said, "No, it isn't."
As if that made it better? Really? That was a sad admission. So, now what failed before has been canonized in Common Core?
Then another former music teacher spoke up and said, "You just don't know about what the Black children live in. Toni Morrison's story is just the kind of thing those children experience!"Well, first of all, who gave the former principal the authority to LET me to speak? That is freedom of speech, isn't it? Or is that another example of the Left attempting to silence the Right. Where did the Left ever come up with the idea that they have the RIGHT TO SILENCE others.
Secondly, she was a principal? I wanted to say, "Oh, then, we have you to blame for the continued failure of our schools. Isn't that why Race to the Top and then Common Core got into our schools in the first place? Everyone felt they "had to do SOMETHING" because things were so bad?"But I didn't. I did not persist because that would have been bad manners. So I took a deep breath and the program ended. I left.
JUST CURIOUS--WHY DO WE LISTEN TO THOSE WHO PRODUCED THE PROBLEM TELL US HOW TO FIX IT?
And then to the woman who defended the use of pornography in the classroom, I wanted to say, "Don't those children who might have experienced rape and incest have the right to NOT to be mentally raped again? You really consider that (what I think they justify calling it authentic texts) worthy of 11th grade literature. Couldn't you expose them to tried and true classics? What is the REAL AGENDA FOR THIS?
How dare our schools allow curriculum that will Rape the Minds of those innocents who have NOT experienced incest and rape?
And...isn't assuming that Rape is a Normal part of the Black experience CONDESCENDING? Why don't ALL CHILDREN have the right to an education that will prepare them academically for whatever the world might send them opening windows of opportunity with quality instruction for reading, Math, History, etc. rather than the condescension of assuming we should lower the standards of academics, civility AND COMMON DECENCY in effect giving that pornography the endorsement of the education establishment!
Needless to say, I came home with my tail tucked between my legs. Discouraged. I admit to feeling as if I had been struck by a woman prominent in the organization of the church.
Joe said, "Sharman what did you expect? If you stand up for something you truly believe there are those who will try to silence you or intimidate you into backing down."
I've been there before. I will do it again. It would be easier if God had called me to Uganda to build missions. It is quite difficult when going to "the ends of the earth" happens to be your own town. This was indeed a wake-up call. The LEFT has an agenda. They blame us for challenging that agenda and want to silence us. They promote this agenda under the guise of social justice-- a term that sounds so righteous. And yet, the purpose is not social justice, but the undermining of the values that founded our country and seeks to establish an atheist globalist, one world order--though those individual teachers did realize this!
It is our wonderful culture that has produced the greatest Social Justice the world has ever seen. Their version would create a nation of slaves because the uneducated are gullible and defenseless.
Too many have "drunk the Kool Aid" and simply circle the wagons defending whatever comes down from the central office.
These two ladies are lovely people. But, we have a serious difference of opinion (as Christians, fellow educators, and citizens) on what the purpose is for sending our children to school where we entrust them to those who assume en loco parentis position when we walk them to those school house doors. That is an awesome responsibility and not one teachers or parents should take lightly. Ironically, I spent an hour yesterday with a young mother bemoaning how the new Math was creating a very, very sad and emotionally drained fourth grader. She was herself quite frustrated because she did not have a clue how to help her daughter with it! I could relate. My own granddaughter here in Panama City did the same thing. And that was when I started digging deeper into what once more was happening in my profession.
"As a man thinketh, so is he."
Our God is an awesome God. 2nd Timothy 1:7. For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
December 2, 2020
Joel and Sharman A LOVE STORY AND TALE OF SALVATION SHA...
Joel and Sharman A LOVE STORY AND TALE OF SALVATION
SHARMAN AND JOE, NOVEMBER 8, 1969
TIME PASSES AND CLAIMS US ALL
Serious things going on at our house. Something called life and death. I told you all about Joe's 3 surgeries for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, including a bout with pseudomonas and staph that nearly killed him in 2018. Then came the Hurricane that we dealt with. 2019 brought the necessity of another hip replacement for me. That was when we decided it was time to return to Dothan, my sister, Dr. Sylvia Rushing (cardiologist), our Dothan daughter Brooke, and the hospitals and doctors here. In October we closed on our new home in Grove Park across 84 from Flowers Hospital and just down the highway from my sister. Brooke, husband Mike, and daughters were building a house and sold their old one bringing them to live in our upstairs with 3 bedrooms, a bonus room/living room, and only one bathroom. They have been with us for 8 months.
During that time Joe has experienced a precipitous decline. We first had Home health care. and then, I had to go into the hospital for ischemic colitis for several days triggering an even further decline for Joe. During that time, our children, Cecily, Drew and Brooke were told by the nurses that they recommended Hospice. We are blessed with such wonderful help. After further decline we have decided to "allow the natural process" as my sister calls it, with only palliative care for Joe who seems to already be living in another world.
I called his brothers a couple of months ago when Joe was more lucid and they all came to visit. For a long time, Joe recited "My name is Joel Wardlaw Ramsey, My brothers are Phillip Hart Ramsey, Edward Lawrence Ramsey, and William Allen Ramsey." They told jokes and I took videos of them interacting as they always had. I called again and told them of his precipitous decline in just the 2 month space of time. When Ed, Linda, Bill, Joyce, Elizabeth came this time they were shocked at the difference.
"Where are Dick, Doug and Jan, he asks about his Mosley Cousins with whom he was so close.""Already in Heaven" I answer. "It's time to play ball. Where is my ball and glove? Who will call the Signals?"" It's time for me to go home. My Mother and Daddy will be looking for me." "Where's Tommy?" ((Spann, his best friend in childhood and forever. "Who am I? I ask. He thinks. "Princes Grace". He responded. But most of the time he knows me or asks, "Are you Sharman?"
He wakes up and says "It is time for us to go." Where Joe? "It is time to go home." I know this house is new. I guess sometimes he thinks we are in a motel and need to get up to go home. Or maybe he is thinking of Heaven and those loved ones already there.
I am so grateful that God saw fit to save my Joe on August 2, 2020 when he woke up and said, "I need to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." We were then able to go to Dr. Wayne Hannah's Sunday School class at First Baptist. He stood up and made his profession of faith to all assembled. Soon after, he woke up during the night and told me, "I need to be baptized." Go to sleep, Joe. I'll call the preacher tomorrow." He settled for awhile and then turned over telling me, "I need to be immersed. I need to be baptized." "OK, then get out of bed and go get into the bathtub. He did. I baptized him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Go forth," I told him. "You are forgiven and are now alive in Christ." That will be the epitaph on both his and my stones. "Forgiven and Alive in Christ."
This is a hard time. But that gift of the knowledge of his Salvation was the greatest gift he has ever given me. November 8th was our 51st anniversary. We've been together for a long time. But Heaven's call seems imminent. And we will have Eternity together before the throne of God with all those loved ones who have gone on before us.
Your prayers are appreciated. We both cherish our friends. God is good. We are so blessed. His mercy is everlasting.
WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?
Friday morning was like others since the hospice nurse told us three (or four) days prior that that horrible sound that he was drowning and gasping for breath meant that he was not long for this world. Cecily and Brooke sat vigil (along with Malissa, our sitter) taking turns going upstairs for a brief rest. I remained as close as possible napping on my bed next to his. Earlier he had told me that he wanted to die next to me in bed. That is where I remained either snuggled next to him in the hospital bed or right next to him in my bed pulled tightly to his. Cecily had just gone upstairs. I was awakened suddenly from my sleep --to silence. I leapt up and crawled over to --and caught his last whispered breath. I told him for the 10 millionth time how very much I loved him but to go on to heaven where his mother and daddy waited. Take that beam of light in Jesus' arms to those already in heaven where I would meet him again in the twinkling of an eye.
A couple of weeks earlier he had started singing "I've grown accustomed to your face, you almost make the day begin, I'd been extremely independent and content before we met, surely I could always be that way again and yet, I've grown accustomed to your face, accustomed to your smile, accustomed to your face." When he could not speak I would see his mouth framing those words. I sang to him.
And then it was over. The hospice nurse and I cleaned him and dressed him. Hospice came and took all the supplies they had provided. The hospital bed he hated calling it in lucid moments "the baby bed." "Get me out of here," he would say when lucid. "This is the living dead."
And yes, that is what Alzheimers is.
"I told him, I cannot hold you, my darling, you will fall." After my hospital confinement it was not long before he could not hold himself up on his feet, or maneuvered into the wheel chair, and would have to be in the hospice hospital bed pulled tight up next to mine. For awhile he could roll from that bed onto my bed where I would hold onto him so he would not roll out. But the time came when he could no longer roll onto the bed. And had to stay in that hospital bed. Though he ate very little, one night he asked, "What's for breakfast?" "What do you want?" I asked. "Banana pudding." So at 4 AM the next morning I made banana pudding. The first day he really enjoyed all of it. Days passed and all he could eat was a taste One day all he wanted was apple jelly. Just apple jelly. So, I gave him apple jelly-- with no toast by then though I would have gladly fixed it.
I questioned myself. What more could I have done? I had gotten CAT scans, blood tests, XRAYs and doctors offered no options. Would a facility offer better care? They could lift him out of bed into a wheelchair. But, at Extendicare they only let you see your loved one 15 minutes a day--and that is if they can get into a wheelchair which by then Joe could not. The others were about the same.
I had promised to be with him. I promised I would be beside him in bed when he died, if possible.
When I was in the hospital a month ago with Cecily taking care of me and antibiotics flowing into my veins so I could get well enough to come home, Brooke cared for Joe. Drew and Brittany were there also helping with the immense job. They found him in a fetal position in front of the locked front door where he had tried desperately to get out and go find me. He slipped out the back door to "go walk Gigi" and escaped out the back gate. Brooke and Mike followed him down the street where he walked then but gave out. Mike went and got the car while Brooke held him.
"I can take care of Sharman. Let me go. Why does Cecily get to stay with her." With Covid he could not even come to the hospital. On the few times he could not remember my name he called me "Princess Beautiful." Who couldn't adore a man like that?
When I entered the front door, I didn't think he would ever let go. "Don't ever leave me again. I love you so much!" The decline was precipitous from that moment. I could not get him into the wheelchair he had become dead weight. While I was gone, the Home Health specialists who had been coming recommended Hospice. All of the nurses were a blessing. Alzheimers had been his greatest fear. "I will kill myself first," he used to say. But, praise God, he found Jesus (or Jesus found him) on August 2, when he rolled over from a sound sleep and told me, "I need to make my public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." He was able to make that public profession in our Sunday School class that Sunday. He called it his "road to Damascus" experience.
That salvation was confirmed a day later when he once again rolled over from a deep sleep to say, "I need to be Baptized." "Okay, I'lll call the preacher tomorrow, I said." He went back to sleep and then rolled over again and said, No, I need to be Immersed. I need to be baptized." "Okay, get out of bed and get into the bathtub." And I baptized him. I called the preacher the next day and he confirmed that family members can baptize their loved ones.
His conversion then took the form of apologies to those he might have hurt in someway or the other. Always followed with I love you. A healing occurred that only God in his infinite wisdom foresaw all those years I prayed. God told me in earlier years "It is your job to love him; it is my job to lead him." He took the burden of placing the right book, the right show, etc. away from me. Not my problem. That wasn't my job. My job was to love him.
Friends all over prayed for him without ceasing. God instructed me when I was so angry ,"Let me love him through you." Ever feel like the love isn't there? Well it returned when I followed God's instructions. "What would you do if you loved him?" "Give him a kiss at the door and fix his favorite supper." Then do it," God said.
I don't think a woman could have loved a man any more than I loved my Joe.
And now he is gone. I feel like a zombie walking through the motions, with daughters Brooke and Cecily taking me by the hand and saying, this is what we must do now. Sister Sylvia did perhaps the best thing anyone could do. My cardiologist sister redecorated my bedroom, moving the bed from the position where it was with the hospital bed right next to it. We found a different carpet in the garage still there from our move. She cleaned out the bathroom leaving it sparkling and with a total new look, all the old medicine gone and a fresh, different bedspread on the bed. It is perfectly beautiful and done with her loving hands. (Fortunately my helpers, Jeannie Jacobs and her daughter Jodie were there at the perfect time.)
Friends have delivered food and love. Those far away have called. My church and Sunday school class step in to feed us.
But, yesterday, Sunday, I woke up thinking of how Joe enjoyed going to Sunday School. So I dressed and texted Brooke (who was able to close and move from the 2nd floor upstairs where she had been for 8 months awaiting the completion of the beautiful home she was able to gain possession of on the exact day her daddy died into her beautiful new home) that I was going to Sunday School. And they wrapped me in their love. In my text I told Brooke I was going to church and would sit where Joe's mother and father always sat on the right side of First Baptist sanctuary and if anyone wanted to join me, I would love for them to come. Megan, my ten year old granddaughter met me at 10:15 and sat with me.
The songs of the choir washed over me healing my soul. Megan's precious little body cuddled and warmed the chill from me. She held my hands that felt like ice in her tiny ones. She whispered her love for me over and over. Her precious presence helped more than that dear little one could ever know.
Many friends came to greet me. I was home in my church and that decision to put one foot in front of the other and go to church was very definitely the right one.
I meant to take Megan by herself to Zacks for lunch, but they were full. So we went to the KFC on the circle and got lunch for everyone, taking it back to Brooke's new home. We enjoyed that so much, looks like that may become a new tradition. KFC for Sunday lunch.
Life goes on. Every kindness is a building block toward a new future. God is good. His mercy is everlasting.
My Joe is in Heaven. With my heart. He is no longer wracked with pain or the ignominy of decline that Alzheimers brings.
But he told me, you have to stay and take care of the babies. And so I will until God in his timing calls me home as well. One foot in front of the other, blessed with my wonderful family and dear, dear friends.
https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/3XGYSD5XXP52FDR7
Obituary for Joel Wardlaw RamseyJoel Wardlaw Ramsey, beloved husband of 51 years to Sharman Jean Burson Ramsey, went home to be with the Lord on November 20, 2020., the anniversary of his father’s death. He was at home surrounded by his family. Born on May 3, 1947 to Joseph Robert Ramsey and Hilda Pearl Hawkins Ramsey, he was the fourth of their five sons. He was the grandson of Richard Hawthorne Ramsey and Cora Dowling Ramsey and Walter Jerome Hawkins and Alice Lindsey Hawkins. Joel attended Dothan City Schools graduating from Dothan High School in 1965. He then attended The Citadel and the University of Alabama where he was a member of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, also his father’s fraternity and that of his son, Drew. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Alabama in 1969. In 1972, he earned his law degree at the University of Alabama where he was a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. He served in the United States Army Reserve and returned to Dothan to practice law with his father and Wade Baxley in the firm of Ramsey and Baxley that later became Ramsey, Baxley and McDougle. He retired in 2013 to become “of Counsel” with partners Charles McDougle and Hamp Baxley. He then settled in Panama City, Florida. He served as President of the Houston County Bar Association (1984-85). He was a member of the Alabama State Bar and Alabama Defense Lawyers Association. Her served on the Haven Board of Directors the Girls Club Board of Directors, and as Boy Scout leader, He enjoyed playing tennis at Azalea Swim and Tennis Club. Joel was an avid military historian with the War Between the States being his specialty. He held multiple offices in the William C. Oates (an ancillary relative) Camp of the SCV. He was an avid war-gamer. He returned to Dothan in 2019 where he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Dothan and the Dr. Wayne Hannah Sunday School Class. In Panama City, he enjoyed all the activities at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club where he was the club historian. His coffee group in Panama City, consisting of Gary Harrington, Gerry Clemons, John Robert Middlemas, Jim Moody, Rayford Lloyd, John Mallory and Joe Tannehill gave him great pleasure. He is survived by his loving wife, Sharman Jean Burson Ramsey, his children, Cecily Cathryn Ramsey, Andrew (Drew) Allen Ramsey (Brittany) and Bethany Brooke Ramsey Evans (Mike). He is also survived by his grandchildren, Lily Clare Butterworth, George Montgomery Ramsey, Samuel Robert Ramsey, Megan Lindsey Evans and Molly Katherine Evans; his brothers, Phillip Hart Ramsey, Edward Lawrence (Linda) Ramsey, and William Allen Ramsey (Joyce), close cousin, Catherine Ford Fancher, cousins Richard, Joy Ramsey Daggart and Jon Ramsey; niece, Elizabeth Hawkins Ramsey, and nephew Matthew Edward Ramsey and dear lifelong friends, Charles Thomas Spann (since fifth grade) and Robert Grimes (college roommate) . He is preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Hilda Ramsey, an older brother, Joseph Robert Ramsey, Jr., and his dear cousins, Jimmy, Clark, Dick and Doug Moseley and Jan Moseley Bentley, children of his favorite aunt, Janis Hawkins Moseley; uncle Jerome Hawkins, cousins Linda Hawkins Woodruff and David Hawkins, uncle Richard Heywood Ramsey, cousin Sonny Ramsey, aunts Cassie Ramsey and Frances Ramsey Ford. Reverend Brad Williams, Senior Pastor at The Chapel, Gainesville, Florida, longtime friend of the family, will conduct a service for immediate family only (due to Covid) at Glover Funeral Home at 10 AM on Monday, November 30. The family would like to thank Covenant Hospice, Melissa Cole and Kelly Wilson for their loving care. Joel’s favorite charity was the Salvation Army.Joe's favorite verse:
He has shown you, O man, what is good; and wha does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
