the church at tybee

This is the church that was used in the movie
"The Last Song" which was filmed on Tybee Island. 
I had a picture on my blog about a year ago
showing it being carried down Butler Avenue
on the bed of a flatbed truck.
I cannot believe how beautiful it has turned out.

What a place to get married!

I love Tybee Island for this very reason....
it is unique and stays that way.
cathy

the way to life

People from all over the world look at my blog.
They may read it or just pass it by....I don't know.
I have no brag in me about this, I just present it as fact.

My concern is, if they read, is it worthwhile?

Do I give out the words of life?

Are God and His Son Jesus Christ glorified?

I pray each time I write
that God will use this blog 
to reach a soul with His truth.
All it takes is one verse to change a heart forever. 

"Enter by the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide,
and the way is broad
that leads to destruction,
and many are those who enter by it. 

For the gate is small,
and the way is narrow that leads to life,
and few are those who find it." Matthew 7:13&14 

The wide gate and the broad way lead to death.
That would be coming to God any other way than His way. 

The small gate and the narrow way lead to eternal life.
That would be coming to God through His Son Jesus.

God reveals His way in Scripture.
Here it is...... 
"Jesus said to Him.....
I am the way
and the truth
and the life;
no one comes to God but through Me."
 John 14:6

The narrow way is Jesus...
Which road are you on?

looking for winnie-the-pooh

Quiet please.
There is a precious little girl sleeping down the hall.
If you wake her she will want me to read to her again
and I don't have much voice left.
Plus, I need to blog or all of you will forget about me. 

This afternoon at three the phone rang.
It was the doctor's office reporting on the MRI from last week.
Seems he needs an even closer look.....
so another test is needed at the hospital under the juice again.
Not urgent time-wise which I take as a good sign.

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear."
 Psalm 46:1

I love the Psalms.
They are my daily comfort.
cathy

will you indulge my weather love?

We've been having some ferocious winds here in South Georgia.....
the kind that start wildfires and do a lot of damage.
They blew through this house unexpectedly yesterday
and toppled and broke several of my pictures.

I've always heard that
"March roars in like a lion
and goes out like a lamb."

I don't know about that,

but I like this quote that I found today...

~

"If the months were assigned personalities,

then March would be labeled

emotional & moody.

It is capable of prolonged periods of

warmth and tranquility,

but a fit of weather rage is just as likely."

Paul Yeager

~

That just about says it all about the month of March.

that and this basketball frenzy....

~

Duke~Gone Bubba~Sad

~

He'll get over it and

April will come.

I just hope it brings some rain.

cathy

entubed

First of all let me clarify something...
I have not ever had a MRI before.
The other test that I thought was a MRI was,
in fact, a cat scan.
NOW I know the difference.

Entering the room I was asked this question...
Are you claustrophobic?
"No, not as long as I stay in wide open spaces," I reply.
"Well, I was just asking
because some people freak out
when they go into this tube," said the nice technician.

I start thinking....
"If I go into that tube
I will probably do worse than freak out.
I can't do this....
How can I get out of this gown,
this room,
this place?

After stretching out on the cold, hard slab,
the girl assured me that I would be fine.
She slid me in quickly and immediately I thought....
It's kinda like a tanning bed.
Not that I've been in that many of those,
but the concept is the same.

It wasn't long before the jack-hammering began.
I have never heard such obscene sounds in my life.
At one point I heard a rapid-fire machine gun
and something shouting "die-die-die" over and over again.
It was a good thing she gave me ear-plugs.
but they didn't really help that much.

For an hour I held my breath
for as long as thirty seconds at the time
and then mercifully was told I could breathe again.
I messed up a couple of times
and breathed when I shouldn't have.
(Hope they don't find that out.)

I made it through successfully
and hightailed it
to Panera to get some coffee and an orange scone.

Here's the scoop...
I have an elusive pain
and they are looking for the elusive cause.
I will be waiting to hear from Dr. Mark on this one.

I prayed alot in that tube too....
(there were some quiet moments)
I know that's what got me through.

glad its over,
cathy

just a walk in the park

It was a Lucy+grammy day today.

We went to the bicycle shop and to

The Original Pancake House

to have breakfast for lunch.

~

After eating we found ourselves

in beautiful Forsyth Park.

You can see the famous fountain in the picture above.

I love the halo of azaleas around Lucy's head.

~
Tomorrow morning at 8:00

will be the last test...

the second MRI,

this one closed.

I will be glad when they are over.

~

Thank you for your

concern,

prayers,

calls.

~

always,

cathy

God's children

These little ones belong to God.

He has entrusted them to their parents

for a short period of time to be brought up

in the ways of His word.

~

Listen to this.....

~

"You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all you soul and

with all your might.

And these words that I command you today

shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children,

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way,

and when you lie down,

and when you rise."

Deuteronomy 6:5~7

~

Why?

~

"That you may fear the Lord your God,

You

and your son

and your grandson,

by keeping all His statues and His commandments,

which I command you, all the days of your life,

and that your days may be long."

Deuteronomy 6:2

~

nothing else needs to be said....

cathy

oh sweet spring.....

you have graced us once again.

The splendor of this season
always takes me a little bit by surprise.

Here we go
plodding along,
thinking our days
will always be gray and cold,
and then you see it....
that first blossom on an otherwise dead-looking tree.....
that first hint of warmth from the sun
dazzling us with hope for the future.
And you realize that it is happening.
The earth
is coming back to life from the numbing cold
and it makes us glad
and thankful for a God who planned it all out so perfectly.

Pause with me
to give praise to our God
and His son Jesus Christ
for blessing us with so much
beauty,
variation,
color,
and that gorgeous moon
that He let us see last night.

After trying hard all day
to get an egg to stand by itself on end,
Bubba is sad to report
that it hasn't happened so far
on this the vernal equinox.

My theory for the failure
is that our townhouse is not level.

Bubba thinks that it may be the result
of the earth being thrown off it's axis
last week during the earthquake in Japan.

Beautiful pink dogwood
(one of my favorites)
courtesy of Estelle and Irvin's backyard.

Happy Spring everybody.

it's going to be beautiful tonight

In just a few minutes
the moon will be rising in the east
and I will be sitting in a chair
on the upper deck
to take it all in.

The moon is in perigee...
the point in it's orbit
when it is closest to the earth.
On top of that it is full...
so the sight will be magnificent...
I cannot wait!

This morning at 6:30 I saw it setting
in the western sky out over the marsh.
I saw it rise and I saw it set
and now I am waiting for it to come back again.

God hung it there you know.

"Glory to God in the Highest
who made and sustains
all the wonders of the world!!!
cathy

ps....I think
I just figured out
how to take night pictures
with my camera.
We'll see.

cupcakes anyone?

There is a new cupcake shop in Savannah.....
Gigi's on Abercorn.
I stopped in today and chose these for our guests tonight.
Delicious and expensive.....
but oh what a show they made.

Lots of good cooking has gone on around this house lately...
homemade chicken salad and shrimp creole to name just a few.
There is nothing to compare with
"home-cooked" "made-from scratch" meals.
Bubba and I tag team....
He does the cutting and chopping and peeling...
I put it all together and season.
It all comes out delightful.

A quote from Martyn Lloyd Jones (The New Man)

"There is no more important,
and no more subtle
test of our profession of our Christian faith
than the way we react
to the trials
and the troubles
and the tribulations
of life in this world."

Thank you God for
Your Holy Spirit
to teach us Your ways
and to give us peace
in the midst of the storms of this life.
cathyc

bubba has been busy

playing with the blocks again.

the kind of girl i am

I love white linen curtains
fluttering on the breeze
of an open window
at the beginning of springtime.

I love to write.
This blog gives me an outlet.
You read...
that knowledge is precious to me.
I still want to write a book when I grow up.

I would rather be walking down by the ocean
holding the hand of someone I love
than to travel
to the most exotic place on the face of this earth.

I like things...
simple
quiet
beautiful
orderly
all done to give glory to God....

"I don't know much,
but i know i love you....
that may be all i need to know."
cathy

the joy of walking closely with our God

A friend shared this with me today....
I wanted to share it with you.

"It is impossible that any ill
should happen to the man (or woman)
who is beloved of the Lord.

The most crushing calamities
can only shorten his journey
and hasten him to his reward.

Ill to him is no ill.
but only good in a mysterious form.
Losses enrich him,
sickness is his medicine
reproach is his honor,
death is his gain.

No evil in the strict sense of the word
can happen to him,
for everything is overruled for good.

Happy is he who is such a case.
He is secure when others are in peril,
he lives where others die."

Spurgeon~The Treasury of David

march madness

This is Bubba in his domain.
He is sitting in his leather chair
holding up the bracket sheet
he just printed off of the computer.

Bubba is a huge college basketball fan
and this is the "be all~end all" of college basketball.

From what I can gather,
sixty-eight teams made the cut.
According to him and David,
who call each other constantly during this time,
they are never, ever the teams that should have made it.

After this sheet comes out,
there is a lot of loud talking between the two of them.
The excitement then builds
until there are only four of these sixty-eight teams left.
That is when things really get tense.

Bubba calls his favorite team the "Dukies."
When they go out he gets sad, but he likes Georgia too.

As for me, I steer clear.
But I love that he enjoys this so much.

"Go Dukies!!!!!

God shook the earth....

and no one gave Him the glory.
They say it was mother nature.
Who is that?
A figment of someones imagination.
God is in control of what happens on this planet.

Pictured below is an interesting graph.
It shows the part of Japan
that was affected by yesterday's tremor.
The squares represent the quakes
that have taken place in the last week.

red~last hour
blue~today
yellow~week

These range from the huge 8.9 of yesterday
down to below 2.5.
too much to take in...
this kind of death and destruction.

My heart breaks for all of the suffering and grief and loss.
and no, we do not understand,
but we are not ignorant
that it was allowed by the mighty hand of God
to accomplish His purposes on this earth.

Read about the earthquake
that God sent when Jesus was crucified:

".....and the earth shook and the rocks were split.......
When the centurion and those who were with him,
keeping watch over Jesus,
saw the earthquake and what took place,
they were filled with awe and said,
'Truly, this was the Son of God.' "
Matthew 27: 52~54

(see graph below)

earthquake in japan

and so we say goodbye.....

one more time.
It's been a
really,
really,
really
great week.
I can't wait until I see your faces again.
You make me laugh all over and that is the best of all.

thanks for the memories,
gram

the circus we are

Amanda always laughs and calls us

a traveling circus when we go out together.

You may be able to tell from the pictures you see above.

~

Today we,

Amanda, Erika, Lucy, Harry, Jake, Eli, and myself,

went shopping over at Bluffton, South Carolina.....

which has of late evolved into a bee-hive of activity.

~

I remember when it had no stoplights

and was known as a hyper-vigilant speed trap.

The only restaurant was the "Squat & Gobble,"

which made us laugh out loud everytime we passed it by.

Things have changed a bit over there,

but I am sure traffic violations are still

a huge source of revenue for the city.

~

I liked the old Bluffton better,

before it became a hang-out

for people from "other places."

Our quiet,

peaceful,

lazy-moving Maye River,

gullah speaking

"low-country"

is now filled

with shops and tourists and traffic....

with cookie cutter restaurants and houses

and every outlet and store known to mankind.

~

regrettable, I would say.

cathyc

after.....

the jammies are on
and the last book has been read,
after the kisses have been given
and the prayers have been said...

they sleep.

I hear a gentle rain now,
beating on the window pane.
It is finally still and quiet in this home.
I know it is only 7:41,
but I am going to bed.

There are pictures that I posted earlier
for you to enjoy.
The little girls belong to Kea, Erika's sweet sister....
Cora, Kitty, and baby Beatrix

"A joyful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10
cathy

more pics of eli's birthday

Eli's "Buzz blasting off into outer space" cake.
The dark blue icing was a complete disaster in so many ways.

The "Toy Story" party table setting over at David & Erika's house.
Of course our "Pin the tail on the donkey" game came out.

Cora won the prize for getting her "tail" closest to where it belongs.

The three Diego's ~ Eli, Jake, and Harry.

Slightly unhappy Eli getting ready to open his presents

The proverbial "blowhard" picture.

~

cathyc

happy birthday eli

Our beautiful, blue-eyed grandson turned four today.

It was a magical day filled with
cakes
and candles
and gifts
and cousins galore.

The Toy Story cake
turned eveyone's lips blue,
but no one seemed to mind a bit.

To this bright, imaginative little boy
who melts my heart with his smile
I say,
Always party like you did tonight!

I love you,
grammy

More party pictures tomorrow....
maybe.

me and my sweet ones

I'll tell you all right up front
that getting this picture on
is all I can muster tonight.

Tired, but in a good way.
Tomorrow Eli turns four.
We are all so excited.

"We bear the light of the Son of Man."
(Andrew Peterson~ Dancing in the Minefields.)

Our lives reflect the light of our Savior Jesus Christ
to others. We may be the only bit of Him they ever see!!!!
cathy

a day with my lucy lu

I asked her to go shopping with me today.

We needed to buy presents for Eli's fourth birthday.

He's turning on Monday, you know.

Amanda, Jake, and Eli will arrive in Savannah

tomorrow afternooon for a whole week.

I can hardly wait for them to get here.

Anyway, Lucy and I had a lot to do.

Eli wants a Toy Story party.

Lucy was all over that!

First things first, though.

Me..."Lucy where do you want to eat?"
Lucy..."You know grammy...the peanut place."

What five year old wants to go to a steakhouse for lunch?

Not wasting any time, we headed there immediately.

After ordering and horsing down two large yeast rolls, heavily buttered,

we commenced to play seven games of Tic~Tac~Toe.

She won four, the cat got two, and I won one.

Can't figure this out because I taught her to play.

After eating we went to Toys~R~Us to buy presents

and to the bakery to plan a Toy Story cake.

She was a real help and a delight in all of these endeavors.

In the car I play "kids songs"for her on the cd.

Today I was talking to Estelle on the cell phone

and Lucy was whistling along with the music

at the loudest decible imaginable.

Estelle and I got cracked up

because we could hardly hear ourselves talk.

~

A 5 year old whistler

who loves steakhouses that serve peanuts,

and is riding her two wheeler without the training wheels,

and just got moved into her big queen-sized bed

in her room with the new floor

that we can slide all the way across on.

~

O beautiful,

sweet,

little girl....

i love you,

grammy

"seasoned with salt"

"Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with salt,
so that you know how to answer each person."
Colossians 4:6

The Bible is a very practical book.
It's pages contain everything we need for life and godliness....
even down to the words that we should speak.
Yesterday's post dealt with "gracious" words.
Today we will think about what He means by
"seasoned with salt."

Salt is used to enhance the flavor of our food.
Too much is not good, but just the right amount
makes what we eat taste delicious.

Added to our gracious words (from yesterday),
God wants us to put a little salt......
a little savour into our conversations.
That would be words of "grace" or Scripture.
Including in our communication the "words of life."
The truth from the Holy Bible so as to
nourish and bring life to the hearer.

Speak graciously and add just the right amount of truth.
That is what God tells us to do.
It would change the world!

lovely i think,
cathy

gracious words

Let's look at that verse again because it strikes me as so profound.

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul,
and health to the body."
Proverbs 16:24

Gracious words are kind words.
They are courteous, tactful, and delicate.
They are merciful and compassionate.
They are used to build up rather than tear down.
They are in good taste, and they reveal
a generosity of spirit toward others.

The Bible says that gracious words are like a honeycomb...
sweet and much to be desired.
The soul is nourished by them
and the body is made healthy because of them.

I pray that when I write this blog
and when I speak to others
(especially my husband)
my words will always be gracious,
filled with "a little salt"
as Colossians 4:6 suggests.
For what reason?
"so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."
I love that!
cathy

"you are the dancing queen.....

young and sweet, only seventeen."
Remember that song by Abba?
Who doesn't.

Sometimes I get to thinking......
What is it with me and this blog?
Maybe it's time to retire...
stop writing...
give it a rest...
stop boring you.

And then invariably and immediately
I get an answer.
Just now I was reading my e-mails from today
and a sweet, dear friend
had written about how much the blog means to her......
the funny ones and the ones from Scripture.

I've written 1,137 of these posts.
I guess I'll write a few more then.
I try to bring glory to God
as I share a little of His word
that has touched my heart
and a little of my life that is filled with Him.

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul,
and health to the body."
Proverbs 16:24