magic tuesday

First of all let me say...
We found the perfect time to come to Disney.
The weather is absolutely beautiful....
sunny, warm, no humidity.

Second of all,
why do we clamor to get back here....
what is the draw?
It is the children....
the looks of awe and delight on their little faces.

Thirdly,
I love "Soarin."
This morning I rode with
Jake,
then Lucy,
and then just Bubba and I.

I am on Bub's computer and it won't let me share my pictures....
That's okay.
Just thought I would check in for a few.

God is so good so worthy to be praised.
He has given us families and time to be with them.
I am very thankful for these and all blessings.

Here's to memories to last a lifetime!

letting go....

of all of the stresses of this past week

and there have been

many.

Leaving you with the link to the church website....

http://www.cornerstonesavannah.org/

If you click on "Media"

and then click on "Launch Media Player,"

you can listen to some of

David's sermons

from I Timothy.

We'll be around and about

Cinderella's castle

for a while.

You'll probably hear from me

from there.

more about peeps

My friend June

sent me this picture of a

"peep cake"

on facebook this morning.

Wow!

Chocolate cake and peeps!

Can I say yum!

Had a great

21 hours

with the Hollingsworth family.

They passed by this way

heading down to

Orlando

to do a few days of

 Sea World

 before our Disney adventure begins.

We had a great family get-together

last evening at

Johnny Harris

with Estelle and Irvin....

all thirteen of us around the table.

Amanda and I

managed to get in

a small shopping expedition

 this morning

while Bubba took three of the children on a grand adventure

 before we all met back at the

 Jersey Pizza shop.

Now they are on their way

 and I am at loose ends.

So much to do...and Idon't know where to begin.

Think I will rest and read for a bit

and ask the Lord

to direct the rest of my day.

Praise God for family....

for fun

and fellowship...

for every single blessing that life is.

My prayer....

"Direct my steps by Your word,

and let no sin have dominion over me."

Psalm 119:133

*Someone can hurt you only if you let them!

going to see the girls

In just a few more days

Bubba & I

are taking the whole family to Disney for a week.

We have a great big house

to spread out and enjoy.

Looks like the temps will be mostly in the eighties

with a little rain now and then.

We gambled with going in the winter

and it looks like it will be just fine.

We are taking shorts and flip flops and sunscreen.

In preparation,

today I had my first spring pedicure.

Can I say

essie ~ watermelon.

They look great if I do say so myself.

I finished off the peeps just now

and they were all I could have hoped for. 

I won't buy anymore.

Twelve in two days was a gracious plenty. 

 I enjoyed them immensely!

Amanda and Mark and Jake and Eli come tomorrow!

Hooray!

Let the party begin!!!

Going to bed early to finish my book about Noah and the flood.

It is an amazing read!

Thanks for reading my blog!

cathy

they're back

Today was one of those days!

No rhyme or reason...

it just got off to a bad start and kept getting worse.

From lost keys this morning 

to sitting endlessly this afternoon 

with my Dad at the

doctor's office...

it just never got better.

Trudging through Wal-Mart

for the second time

 to pick up his perscriptions,

I spotted them.

They were sitting on a shelf in all of their glory.

The first Peeps of the season.

I stopped,

 reached for,

 bought,

and in the course of about four hours have eaten six of them.

I don't regret a one.

They provided just the kind of comfort that was needed.

My only hesitation was.

"What color should I buy?"

Why that's easy..

yellow of course!

Peeps are always yellow,

not pink or blue.

I tell you the truth...

those peeps mellowed me out as nothing else could.

I shall go to bed in just a few

happy and content and very thankful.

cathyc

lights of my life.....

I just love this picture!

I shared it on facebook and I'm sharing it on my blog.

Just look at those faces.

Switching gears,

This question comes to mind.....

"What then are we to do about our problems?

We must learn to live with them

 until such a time as

God delivers us from them.

We must pray for grace

to endure them without murmuring.

Problems patiently endured

will work for our spiritual perfection.

They harm us

 only when we resist them

or

endure them unwillingly." 

AW Tozer

"Grace,

 Grace,

God's Grace,

Grace that is Greater

than all our Sin."

listening to....

...."the rhythm of the falling rain."

It's been raining for about twelve hours straight...

rain is a gift from God.

"Nevertheless

He did not leave Himself without witness,

 in that He did good,

gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons,

filling our hearts with food and gladness." 

Acts 14:17

Going to worship with some really wonderful people.

God is blessing Cornerstone Church.

Come join us!

cathy

not my photo

how old are you?

Yesterday

my dad

bought eight racks of delicious ribs

and a beautiful cake

and we had another celebration. 

I tell you my birthday just goes on and on.

Anyway....

I have these wooden numbers

and I always display the age of the person I'm throwing a party for. 

 I decided if I do it for others,

I should at least be honest

and put my own number out there.

My brother Frankie

saw my extremely high number last night and was stunned. 

 He had no idea I was "that old."

Sometimes during the dinner I looked

and my numbers had been

changed.

Bless his heart,

he couldn't stand the fact that I was 64,

so he changed my number to 46.

The party was great!

I think my birthday is over now, sadly.

I thank everyone of you who indulge my love of birthdays!

cathy

persevere in love

"Practice love diligently. 

It is one of those graces,

above all,

which grows by constant exercise. 

 Strive more and more to carry it into every

little detail of daily life.

Watch over your own

tongue and temper

throughout every hour of the day.

Remember the character of the excellent woman... 

"She speaks wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue." 

 Proverbs 31:26

Remember the words of Paul....

"Do everything in love."

I Corinthians 16:14

Love should be seen in little things and in great ones.

Remember,

not least,

the words of Peter....

"Love each other deeply.",

not a love just barely a flame,

but a burning,

shining fire,

which everyone around us can see.

I Peter 4:8

It may cost pains and trouble to keep these things in mind. 

There may be little encouragement from the example of others. 

But persevere.

Love like this brings its own reward."

jc ryle

I struggle with this.

I'm working on it.

The Christian life is a constant battle....

winnable only by the power of His Spirit and His word.

Persevere!

cathy

broken

A little while ago

I gave Lucy a ballerina piggy bank.

It was a prized possession.

When someone gave her money

she would tuck it away.

The two quarters that she gave me for my birthday

came from her bank.

She is always very generous.

Last night she brought it to her mom.

Seems as if some coins

 had gotten stuck

in the feet of the pig and needed to be retrieved.

On the way back to her room

 Lucy tripped over the bricks in the foyer 

and the ballerina pig

went crashing to the floor,

 breaking apart,

never to be put back together again.....

kind of like Humpty Dumpty. 

Her sorrow was great and inconsolable.

Today I brought her the pig in the picture.

The joy it gave was indescribable.

Keep praying for Harry.

This day of testing was very hard,

but he was brave and made it through.

More tests tomorrow and then home on Friday.

God, please have mercy on our precious boy.

ps....the foyer

is made of bricks that are raised up about 5 inches. 

They have always posed a tripping hazard.

true love

"More than a year

 has passed

since you and I parted in tears.

Today at last  

a letter came,

one tiny,

narrow sheet.

Tonight

I've lit my lamp a hundred times

to read

its words of love."

lin i ning

This is from a tiny little book of love poems I bought on our trip last week.

It struck a cord and I thought I would share.

If it seems out of character for me it is.

I love words

and I love what these say.

c

my birthday brunch at the hilton

"the group"

See if you can tell how the first group picture and the last group picture are different.

Please be in prayer for David and Harry.

They travel tomorrow to

Detroit

for Harry's yearly physical

at the Sturge Weber Facility there.

He had a seizure this evening.

We pray that God will keep Harry in His perfect will

as we learn to trust Him more through this.

God is always good in all of our circumstances!!!

today i am the birthday girl

February 12, 1955

I was seven years old.

From the time I can remember

my birthday has always been a very special occasion.

This one is no exception.

I have been celebrating for a while and will continue through next week.

Cornerstone Church this morning....very sweet fellowship

The delicious buffet at the Hilton for lunch

Everyone in the whole restaurant singing Happy Birthday to me

A huge slice of cheesecake brought out with a candle flaming 

A rose

My loved ones all around

Jake and Eli belting out a perfect rendition of Happy Birthday over the phone

Cards tucked away in the mailbox

Over fifty wonderful greetings on facebook

Homemade pink and delicious cup cakes in front of the fire.

Lucy's homemade card and two shining quarters

Gus and Harry's extreme excitement

Lots of hugs and kisses

Enough money to add more new dishes to my collection

A Valentine chandelier

Home...tired.....

with the knowledge of how very blessed I am.

Thank you everyone!

Pictures to come.

I love you all,

cathy

i love her.....

......my daughter Amanda.

She lives far away

so I cherish so much our phone conversations.

Just now she came right out and said,

"Mom, why haven't you blogged? 

We have had to stare at those roses for three days."

She is blunt and to the point!

To tell the absolute truth,

life has been a little difficult lately.

Pain

has come back with a flourish,

(a flair of an ongoing chronic condition)

which makes writing my blog a challenge.

And,

a potentially disastrous financial situation

ended last night

after months of trusting and prayer

with an amazingly happy ending

all attributed to the

 grace and mercy and lovingkindness

of our

all- knowing,

all-powerful God.

So,

this morning,

the physical pain remains,

(pain keeps me dependent on Him and I am thankful for it) 

but the

crushing weight of impending disaster is over.

This morning we are

humbled before our God in thanksgiving.

We

(Bubba and I)

stand amazed in His presence.

God saw

a little tiny grain of faith

in our prayers 

and He blessed with a mighty

outpouring of grace.

I will daily pour out praise to Him

who cares about

His chosen ones

down to the tiny little details of our lives.

"I waited patiently for the Lord;

and He inclined to me,

and heard my cry. 

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

out of the miry clay,

and set my feet upon a rock,

and established my steps."

Psalm 40: 1~3

hi........

I will write tomorrow.

don't give up on me..........

Sometimes I have a type of brain fog.

Glad that doesn't happen very often.

cathy

look at the birds

If you take stale bread down to the beach to feed the seabirds,

and if there is nary a bird in sight......

if you throw a piece up in the air,

a bird will appear out of nowhere to pluck it up.

Before you know it,

there are ten or twenty birds

tussling over each small morsel.

The really fast birds

catch theirs before it even has a chance to hit the ground.

Where do they come from?

How do they know we are on the beach with food?

I do not know,

but it happens every time.

Last weekend,

Lucy and I saved the crusts of our pizza,

which I love the best,

so that we could go down and let the birds have one more frenzy.

There is something innately exciting about being

in the midst of a bird frenzy. 

When the bread is gone,

the birds disappear

back wherever they came from

to wait for the next

humans to come to the beach with

stale bread or pizza crusts.

"Look at the birds of the air,

for they neither

sow

nor reap

 nor gather into barns;

yet your heavenly Father feeds them." 

Matthew 7:26

washed ashore

Somewhere,

once,

 this was a tree

standing tall

 on land near the ocean,

spreading its luxuriant green leaves

to make much needed shade.

What event happened

to pull the roots from the stability of the ground

 and send it off to travel in the ocean? 

How did it make it to Tybee...

How long did it ride the ocean currents

to find its resting place on the beach by our condo?

From where did it originate?

This once proud tree is now lying on it's side,

no longer able to to stand upright,

but it is still so beautiful....

so useful.

It makes a fine place to sit

and watch the waves pound onto the shore.....

its trunk and branches

 worn smooth

by the movement of the water that carried it along.

It may grace someones night

 by providing a warm fire

or it may end up as a piece of art in someones home.

It may be snatched away again

by a high tide

and carried to another place.

It is aptly named...

driftwood.

Thank you God for beauty in all things.

everything new

"Jesus answered and said to him,

(Nicodemas)

Most assuredly I say to you,

unless one is born again,

he cannot see

the kingdom of God." 

John 3:3

"To be born again

is to enter upon a new existence,

to have a new mind,

 a new heart,

new views,

 new principles,

 new tastes,

 new affections,

new likings,

new joys,

new love to things once hated,

new hatred to things once loved,

new thoughts of God,

of ourselves,

to the world,

to the life to come,

and salvation."

jc ryle

Friends,

 this is the most comprehensive list I have ever seen

of a heart changed by Christ. 

The old man (or woman) becomes new

by the power of the Holy Spirit

working within the heart.

Have you been born again?

Will you see the kingdom of God?

Has everything about you been made new?

There is still time as long as you are in the land of the living!

I love you...

I'll be praying.

winter....what winter?

As of today,

February 1, 2012,

we haven't had any winter,

and from the looks of the forecast,

there is none in sight.

The pictures show Lu and I

flying the kite on the beach last week.

I wish I had "smellavision."

Do you Savannah natives remember Burl Womack

describing his morning coffee?

I just made some pumpkin~pecan bread

and it has filled the house with a most wonderful aroma.

That is pea~can to us real southerners

down here in the deep south.

Took down the rest of my winter lights today.

The days are getting longer and

I figure it's time.

Spring is coming...I can feel it in the air.

Looking for the first daffodils

that bloom around the time of my birthday.

Bubba is slowly getting stronger and sleeping less,

although he still has his hard days.

I am so thankful that he is on this side of the radiation treatments.

Thank everyone

who has kept in touch,

 asked about,

prayed for,

and just generally been there for him during this long ordeal.

I found this verse in my morning time.

"The works of the Lord are great,

studied by all who have pleasure in them."

Psalm 111:2

I love to study His great works......

the heavens,

the things that He made,

His beautiful Word to all of us.

The things in the sea and the sky.

So much to study.....so much to take pleasure in!

It's not even possible to be bored.

What an amazing God we serve!