Dogwood

I took this dog wood blooming behind our pole barn. It's so beautiful and is one of the early bloomers.
Lord, I praise You because You are the Creator.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mason Gerald! Grandpa is so proud to have you named after him! This picture is from last summer when you were here with everyone else! We haven't seen you since then and we miss you! Now you're seven years old! I hope you have a really special day today and a great birthday celebration! I sure do love you. Happy, happy birthday.

Lord, thank You for Mason. He's a very special boy and grandson. Please keep Your Hand upon him as he grows up. I love him and You love him even more!

Planting

Pam and Gene came for a short visit and brought day lilies with them. So we all spent the morning planting them. Haleigh helped us too. It was a big job but many hands make work light...er. We planted them along the ditch bank. It's been raining all afternoon so that's good. Yesterday Jerry, Rob, and I moved our rhubarb plants from behind the pole barn to the side yard by the drive way. They weren't doing well behind the pole barn, and they looked better already today!
Lord, thank You for the flowers, for the rain, for family.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Isabella! You are a smiley little girl! You're seven years old today! We had fun last weekend while you were here. You're always so bright and sunshiny. I hope you have a wonderful day today. What treat are you taking to school today? Hmmm, I wonder... You are my Twinkies girl! So maybe Twinkies? Well, whatever you take and whatever you do, I know it'll be a fun day, because you are a fun girl! I love you. I wish for you a happy, happy birthday!

Lord, thank You for Bella. She's a joy. Her middle name suits her well: Isabella Joy. Please keep Your Hand upon her as she grows up. Help her to always live for You. I love her so much and You love her even more!

70 Years!

Meet my good friends, Roger and Reva. 70 years ago today they were married! They love each other very much...it shows! I went to visit them for a few minutes today. They made me feel so good. He loves to recite poetry. And we discovered something! His birthday is April 1st. April Fool's Day. My birthday is October 31st. Halloween Day. We had a good laugh over that.

Lord, thank You for my wonderful friends, Roger and Reva. Bless them with Your Presence. Help them to know and to feel Your Love.

Oh deer!

Last Saturday as Sydney and I drove along I nearly had deer run into my car! I counted six. The first one ran across right in front of us...it was so close I can almost feel my fear even now. Five more crossed right behind us. We were only a short distance from our driveway. Yesterday late afternoon Jerry called me and we watched deer in our front yard - six of them! I have a feeling they were the same six I encountered on Saturday. We love seeing them but it's very nerve wracking to have them almost hit my car.

Heavenly Father, I praise You because You are the Creator. Thank You for the deer. Thank You for our privilege of having them come into our yard so we can watch them. Thank You for keeping us all safe, the deer and Sydney and me, on Saturday.

Syd's New Hat

Yesterday Sydney and I went to a 70th anniversary celebration! Well, it was kind of boring for Sydney. Just two doors away from the resturant where the party was there was a neat store for Sydney to browse through. She came back to the party to tell me about a cute hat she wanted to buy and needed money for. When she went back to the store just a few minutes later...it had closed! She pounded on the door until the lady came and opened it. Sydney explained there was something she wanted to buy. It only took her a minute to make her purchase. She was a happy girl!
Thank You, Lord, for Sydney! And thank You for the folks celebrating 70 years of marriage!

BREAKING NEWS!

This just came over the news: The crime in our neighborhood on April 1 has been solved. The man behind the crime was the woman's own husband! He hired his nephew to kill his wife. Surprise...the son was home from school sick that day! So no one was even injured. There will be more details on the evening news...

Lord, thank You for helping the sheriff's department solve this mystery. Thank You for the son staying home from school that day. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Crocus

This picture of my Crocus doesn't do justice. They are so beautiful in real life. I used different settings even but the color just isn't true. Some are a dark purple, some are purple and white stripped, and some are white. Oh well.

Thank You, Lord, for flowers. Thank You for spring.

Dive Bombers

I call these little bright yellow airplanes dive bombers. They are barely above the tree tops and are so loud. They are dropping little tiny pellets to help out this spring when the mosquitoes come alive. They fly back and forth and back and forth covering the whole county.

Lord, I know You are the Creator but mosquitoes are really a pest. Thank You for the technology to help control pests. I love You, Lord.

Anniversary

The thing that I fear has happened...I forgot an anniversary... Richard and Cookie, I'm so sorry. It was March 26. I didn't mean to forget...I didn't have it written on the current calendar. Please forgive me. I hope you had a good celebration and I wish for you many, many more years together.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Richard and Cookie. Bless their lives and their marriage.

I knew I Liked Regis!

"I believe the audience deserves to have me dress in a tie and suit coat," said Regis Philbin this morning. A woman wrote in and said she'd like to see him dress more casual. This was his response to her. I like to watch the Regis & Kelly Show and when Regis made this statement, I knew why I like him!
This is my argument for dressing up for church! I believe God deserves to have us dress up for worship service on Sunday mornings. It's a matter of respect for God's House. I was pleased to see several men in tie's this last Sunday.

Please, don't take me wrong...it doesn't make us more spiritual. It's simply a matter of respect.

Lord, help me to not judge folks who dress down for worship. Help me to live up to what I believe.

He Lives!

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today; I know that He is living, whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him He's always near.

In all the world around me I see His loving care, and tho' my heart grows weary I never will despair; I know that He is leading, thro' all the stormy blast, The day of His appearing will come at last.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King! The hope of all who seek Him, the Help of all who find, None other is so loving, so good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. by A. H. Ackley

Easter Egg Hunt

This is my new title! #1 egg hider! Haleigh invited a couple of her friends to come over for the annual Easter egg hunt.

The girls worked hard making this card for me! They did a good job! They each wrote on the inside and signed their names. What sweet girls!

Here they are counting their eggs! And checking the candy inside! Haleigh, Christina, & Kinsey.

Kinsey hurry...find another one!

Haleigh looks like she is sneaking up on an egg!

Christina, hurry, hurry, get another one!

Lord, thank You for friends. Thank You for the fun we can have together. Help us to celebrate the real reason for Easter.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Shauna! I chose this picture of you to post today because it shows you in a Malaysian outfit in your exuberant spirit, which is so typical you! We can't wait to visit you in Malaysia next month! Even though your days there are coming to an end, life for you will still be exciting, interesting, fun, and challenging with your move back to Canada, your new job, having a son no longer in high school, and all the rest that makes up your life. Thank you for loving my son and for giving me two beautiful grandchildren. I wish for you a happy, happy birthday.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Shauna. Please be with her now as they end their days in Malaysia. Help her to finish well. Thank You for giving her these last three years in Malaysia. Please keep Your Hand upon her and bless her with Your Presence. I love her as my daughter-in-law and You love her even more.

Jerry's stress test

Well, Jerry had a stress test this morning. He passed but just barely. He's not to do any work, of any kind, until after he sees our family doctor. He is to keep walking. He walks two miles three or four times a week. He is to lose weight (we'll work on that together!). So we're going to be making some major adjustments in the next days and weeks. He's an active man so that's not going to be easy for him. When he sees a job that needs done, he does it. Now he'll have to tell me what to do and I'll do it...

Lord, I praise You because You are our Healer. Thank You for our doctors and for their ways of testing. Please help Jerry as he tries to obey the doctors. Help them to figure out what to do to help him to function better in his daily life.Thank You for Jerry.

Job & Move

These are tough times. Two of our sons are without work right now, the third one will be soon. Both of our sons-in-law are unemployed...however, one was just hired! It means a move...from Atlanta to Columbia, S. Carolina. With five children and two dogs, it's a big move. I wish we were closer so we could help out.
Lord, thank You for Christy and Sean. Thank You for Sean being hired, even though it means a move for them. Please work out details for them. I praise You because You are all knowing and all seeing. Help them to lean upon You for strength.

Crime

The neighbor has her black Cadillac back now. We saw it parked in the driveway yesterday. No other news to report on this crime. If any more comes in, I'll let you know.

Lord, please help this crime to be solved.

No Joke

I just heard more about the break-in. Apparently I'm dead wrong... the mom and son were tied up and duck taped for about 20 minutes. A gun was stolen and the car. The husband in the family works out of town so he wasn't home. It sounds like the person knew too much. The school bus comes about 6:55 am and this happened a few minutes after 7:00. The daughter had gotten on the bus but the son had stayed home sick. Stay tuned for more up-dates...

Lord, please help the police to solve this mystery soon.

My Take on Yesterday's Crime

Okay, here's my take on yesterday's crime! I suspect it was an April Fool's Day prank gone bad...
Here are my thoughts. Seven AM is a strange time for a theft. The school bus comes around seven, the daughter probably got on it. The son was probably supposed to get on but for some reason didn't, maybe sick? The husband was gone. Whoever it was must have been dropped off. No damage was done, no harm came to them, nothing was stolen except the car and it was found about two miles away in the City Forest. The man was wearing a ski mask so he couldn't be recognized. There were no shots from the guns. Whoever dropped him off must have been waiting for him at the City Forest. He probably was dying to yell, April Fool! A prank gone bad...
Well, we'll see how right or wrong I am... What do you think...is my imagination working overtime?

Lord, I praise You because You are All Seeing and All Knowing. Help this to be solved. Thank You that no one was hurt. Help us to be wise in our tricks that we think are funny.

Bad Excitment on Our Road!

This morning as Jerry was walking down our road a sheriff's car went by rather slowly, like he was looking for someone or some thing. When he got down a little farther another sheriff's car was parked in front of a house. People were outside in the driveway, one was a woman with only a shirt and shorts on. Brrrr! A deputy went in and came back out with a sweat suit for her which she put on right where she was in the driveway! That woman and her 14 year old son were the only ones home at the time. Another woman told Jerry there was a break-in this morning. Later we got a report from our niece who got the report from the police radio. Here is what she said was told on the police radio. A man in his 20's broke into the house. He had two guns and had a ski mask on. He raped her and then stole her car, a black Cadillac. Later the car was found about two miles away at our City Forest, where there were tracks from a four-wheeler, so he must had it there and left on that. ATV's aren't allowed in the City Forest, so this seems kind of strange. Now the report just came over the news about it. It's pretty much the same report except they did NOT say she was raped. I'll keep you up to date as I hear more. Meanwhile, our doors are locked!

Heavenly Father, I praise You because You are Sovereign. You are my Protector. Please help this man to be caught. Help our neighbor and her son to be able to recover from the trauma of being invaded and scared half to death. If she was raped please help her as she deals with this trauma. Please keep us safe and Rob & Jessica too, and all our neighbors.