happy halloween everybody.....

from......

Olaf,

Peter Pan.

Hermione,

Cowboy Gus,

and Super Spy Harry

Best Halloween ever!

Spiderman and

Steve from Minecrft too!

leap for joy

Thirty five years ago next month

after undergoing a traumatic, 

stressful,

 life-changing surgery,

I was left with a most unwelcome gift,

When I first experienced depression,

I didn't even know what it was.

Aches and pains, yes,

but deep down inside a sensation of utter

hopelessness and despair.

My life changed, for sure it did.

I could no longer handle the load of teaching school.

I ran the gambit of anything that would or possibly could help.

Nothing did.

Moving out of town,

finding a church that taught the truth,

being often in God's word,

new friends.....

because of all of these,

with the Holy Spirit working in my heart,

slowly,

very slowly,

I began to get better.

I started to feel normal again,

not cured completely,

but better,

and better was so very wonderful 

after all of that suffering.

Last year,

about this time of the year,

and continuing on until this day,

the depression returned.

I deal with it the same....

no medicine or doctors now,

only God's word and His promises,

trusting Him to sustain me until I see Him face to face.

My husband's patient endurance 

 and the numerous and beautiful times

when he

 "washes me with the word."

I saw this quote from Spurgeon today....

I seized it as a message from heaven.

"Oh that my divine Master would now come

 and do what I want to do but cannot, 

namely, make every child of God here leap for joy."

(for all believers surely suffer in some way)

I share my heart with you tonight.

Please know that I am most richly blessed.

This is the trial God has chosen for me to get me ready for heaven.

There,

I will not suffer with depression

and I will be able to

leap for joy,

cathy

(*not my picture)

fall porch

It is fall at #6,

but it sure doesn't feel like the end of 

October.

Anyway, the excitement is rising for

Halloween,

which will be here is a few short hours.

Tomorrow 

we pick up the golf cart.

I have pumpkin lights,

 a light-up ghost,

and lots of orange burlap ribbon to decorate.

On Friday, then,

we will have chili at Lindsey's house,

and then off into the darkness on decorated wheels we'll go

for Trick or Treat.

What fun....

I cannot wait!

Worked outside all yesterday afternoon

cleaning up around the stump.

It has lots of rings...

probably around 75 or 80 years old.

Bubba and I have different opinions about this stump.

I want to have it blasted out now,

he wants it to have a

 long slow death.

He will persevere, so I need to make it as

attractive as possible.

Maybe I will cover it with pine straw,

and put a big plant on top.

#learning to be happy 

with a big, ugly stump in a prominent place 

in the backyard!

my hideaway....

Just got home from the beach.

Found this down there.....

white linen curtains blowing in a gentle, warm breeze,

a blue, blue sky.

low tide,

lots of sandy beach,

and water so calm and blue

I wanted to wade right out and go swimming.

A lovely time to be on

Tybee Island.

Went to church this morning

to stay with some little friends of mine in the nursery.

Sophia & Macy & Ada.

Felicity was sick and couldn't come.

I love nursery duty.

I had gotten almost home

when my trusty van lost all power.

Sadly,

I had run out of gas.

I rarely think about looking at the gas gauge.....

(stupid of me i know.)

Thankfully, 

I was able to walk home.

Regretfully,

Bubba had to deal with gas cans

and all of that to get her going again.

Hopefully,

this will be a lesson for me

 that this will not happen again.

Please keep David and Archie in your prayers tonight

 as they travel to St. Louis.

In the morning very early they will see a doctor

about what procedure will be used

to straighten the little guy's leg and foot.

Thankful tonight for the doctors

that God uses

to be His instruments of healing.

bonfire in the backyard

This is the second annual backyard trash pile burn.

I have been adding to this heap since the spring.

Bubba decided late in the day

that it was time

to let it go.

I think it is magnificent.

Today,

Saturday,

October 25, 2014,

was a beautiful, perfect day.

Not a cloud in the sky,

brilliant sunshine,

cool temperatures ~ no humidity.

To me, this day was what heaven will be like.

The perfect day for a bonfire!

No wind.

It just shot straight up in the air.....

no smoke traveling over to our neighbors.

It burned hot.

We couldn't get very close

Now, 

the fire is simmering.

There is a hose nearby, just in case.

Of course I said to Bubba,

"Shouldn't we wait until the kids are here to have the bonfire?"

He answered with a resounding 

No.

Seems a little bit of a waste to me...

they would have loved it so!

Fire is beautiful and warm and exciting!

our salvation is sure

"God has told us quite plainly that

 He has a great plan and scheme and purpose of salvation.

He formed it,

He planned it before the foundation of the world.

There are steps and stages in it,

and God has told us what they are.

He set His heart upon us in eternity,

and predestined us.

Then He calls us,

 and separates us,

and goes on with His work within us

 through all the steps and stages from justification to final glorification.

Such is God's announced plan and scheme of salvation.

God purposed it in Himself

 before man had ever been created,

leave alone before he had ever sinned.

God has announced it and set it into motion.

It cannot fail

because God is God,

and His purposes are ever sure.

But that is not all,

Here is the most outstanding and astonishing thing of all.....

God,

to bring this to pass,

did not even spare His only begotten Son,

but 'delivered Him up for us all.'

That, dear readers,

is an absolute guarantee that the rest is going to follow.

It is inconceivable that this

immutable,

eternal,

holy,

righteous God,

who has all power,

should even deliver His own Son up unto death

 for us and our salvation,

and then allow anything to stop it or frustrate it.

It is inconceivable!"

Martyn Lloyd Jones

Romans 8

Tonight I thank You God for my salvation.

Set my heart with a burden

 for those who do not know You.

Remind me to pray for them diligently

that You would open their hearts so that they may know

the joy of salvation in Christ Jesus.

forever friends....

....the ones who hold you up

at the most important times of your life.

I had lunch with Beverly and Sandy today.

When I got home I had an extremely wonderful

e-mail from my friend Lou,

on the right side.

On Monday I had lunch with my cousin Trish,

second from the right.

These are my forever friends,

life-long girlfriends

who are forever faithful.

The little girl pulling up my garter is my sister Teri.

Yep, she is thirteen years younger than I.

A lot of stuff has happened since the day

that picture was taken.

We are all grandmothers now,

(except for Teri).

But through it all, we have stayed close.

I thank God tonight for my friends.

We need them.

We share our joys and sorrows as only girls can.

Thank you all for blessing me this week!!!

I love each one of you.

cathy

rest to the soul

"Remember,

it is not your hold of Christ that saves you.....

it is Christ.

It is not even faith in Christ,

though that be the

 instrument....

it is Christ's blood and merits that save you.

Therefore,

look not so much to your hand

 with which you are grasping Christ,

as to Christ;

look not to your hope;

but to Jesus the source of your hope;

look not to your faith,

but to Jesus,

the author and finisher of your faith.

We shall never find happiness by looking at

our prayers,

our doings,

or our feelings;

it is what Jesus is, not what we are,

that gives rest to the soul."

Charles Spurgeon

If I could ever just learn this truth!!!!!!

there'a a little boy from china....

....who doesn't have a clue 

about what in the world we are talking about.

The subject is Halloween,

and he has never experienced Halloween before.

Lucy is going to be Hermione,

and Harry a spy....

Gus hasn't made up his mind yet,

 Jake will be Spiderman,

and Eli is Steve of Minecraft fame.

Archie doesn't understand what we do on October 31,

so it is hard for him to visualize.

He will need some help this year,

but after that....

Halloween will be one of his favorite times of the year.

He called me just now.

This morning he had to be at the hospital very early.

He had an MRI

to determine the success of his surgery back in July.

He got a great report!

But what he called to tell me was,

the doctor said he could swim now.....

now that the days are shorter,

and now that the temps have cooled

and the pool water is cold,

he can swim.

Bubba and I are working on it!

We will find a heated pool,

or maybe we will have another hot day.

Just know this....

the boy from China and his grammy will go swimming soon.

Thanking God tonight for answered prayer 

for this little boy,

his healed spine,,

and that he will be with us to celebrate his

first Halloween.

for my memory book......

.....a few more birthday pictures

of the cutest little four year old around.

We played football ring toss in the front yard.

Archie won.....

He got all 3!

Gus opened lots of presents.

He got a coat to keep him warm when winter comes.

A great time was had by all

as evidenced by Eli's reaction in the background.

(worked up into a frenzy)

out at the soccer field.....

.....this afternoon.

I cannot even begin to say

 how wonderful 

these last three days have been.

Beautiful fall weather,

celebrating Gus's birthday,

Jake, Eli, and Amanda here with us,

time at the beach,

all of these most wonderful blessings 

from the Lord.

Sweet, sweet, fellowship....

it just doesn't get any better than this.

Thank You!

What better day to play tag football on the beach.

The Falcons and the Big Dogs

battled to the end.

The winners?

Everybody won!

happy birthday gus

Our youngest grandson Gus turned four years old today.

We just celebrated with a very fun party.

He was so excited the whole evening....

flashing his megawatt smile in every direction.

We have had Gus for three and one half years.

He has been such a joy and delight.

I have never seen a little boy so filled with passion.

Whatever he does is done with gusto.

He is very loving and thankful.

He loves football,

singing "Let it Go" at the top of his lungs,

and his family.

He is beautiful inside and out.

Happy birthday Gussie B,,,

Love you to the moon and back.

Notice there is a conga line in the background.

Eli summed up the day best of all

when he said this as we were putting him to bed....

"God sure blessed us today."

He sure did little guy!

bubba got an old new van

We found it Sunday evening 

on our way home from the beach.

I suggested that we stop by Grainger Honda.

to start our search.

We had a busy week ahead

and needed to at least begin looking for a replacement

for the van that was totaled in the wreck.

As soon as we got out of the car

he spotted it.

I saw the look in his eye saying....

This is it!!!!

I need not look any more.

This is a 2005,

just like the one he had before.

It has low mileage and looks brand new.

By Monday evening it was sitting in our driveway.

We never got to look at anything else.

Thankful for God's provision...

He worked it out so that we still don't have a car payment!

When do grammies and granddaddys give up their vans?

NEVER!

fall beach

This photo was taken Sunday afternoon

from the walkway down to the beach at our condo

on Tybee Island.

It was such a clear, beautiful, fall day.

Hilton Head was visible,

people were swimming in the pool,

and here it is

 the middle of October.

So many perks to living in the coastal south.

I call it our "endless summer."

Thankful tonight for the rain,

 a day to stay home and clean our home,

a delicious dinner out with Bubba,

and the anticipation of seeing 

Amanda, Jake, and Eli,

who are arriving tomorrow night.

Thank You Lord!

godly repentance

"Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin

 is the work of the Spirit of God.

Repentance

is too choice a flower

to grow in natures garden.

Pearls grow naturally in oysters,

but penitence never shows itself in sinners

except divine grace works it in them.

If you have one particle of real hatred for sin,

God must have given it to you,

for human nature's thorns never produced a single fig.

'That which is born of the flesh is flesh.'

True repentance has a distinct reference to the Savior.

True sorrow for sin is eminently practical.

No man may say he hates sin if he lives in it.

Repentance 

makes us see the evil of sin,

not merely as a theory

but

experimentally ~

as a burnt child dreads fire,

we shall be as much afraid of it,

as a man who has been stopped and robbed is afraid of that 

thief upon the highway;

and we shall shun it ~ shun it in everything~

not in great things only, 

but in little things,

as men shun little vipers and great snakes.

True mourning for sin 

will make us very jealous over our tongue, 

lest it should say a wrong word.

We shall be very watchful over our daily actions,

lest in anything we offend,

and each night

 we shall close the day 

with painful confessions of shortcomings, 

and each morning 

awaken with anxious prayers

 that this day God would hold us up

 so that we would not sin against Him.

Sincere repentance is continual.

Believers repent until their dying day."

Charles Spurgeon

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance."

II Corinthians 7:10

Oh my, how kind is my God to reveal to me that I am a sinner.

barnyard fun

Yesterday at the Pumpkin Patch!

Its the simple things that mean the most.....

The time spent having fun together.

One on one,

listening,

loving what they love,

Just watched Lu heading up an entourage heading down the street.

She was pulling a wagon filled with

Gus & Archie

and a fold up chair.

Harry was on Bubba's four wheel dolly

which was attached to the wagon with a string.

Off they went,

down to watch a house being built.

Very tired tonight.

The last two days have been endlessly busy.

Tomorrow is church and a day of rest.

Looking forward to doing that.

Thankful tonight for our grandchildren

who bring treasures of blessings our way.

What a gift from God they are!

Lu ~ a little over four and a half feet tall.

Gus ~ a tad over three feet tall,

at the pumpkin patch today

We drove 50 miles to go to our favorite 

pumpkin patch this afternoon.

The children just love it.

We go on a hayride

back in the"hundred acre woods"

to pick out our very own perfect pumpkin,

Such fun we had!

I inverted the colors on this picture.

I love how kinda spooky it looks.

My absolute favorite is Gus.

Just look at his face.

Here is a very similar shot of the same scene.

Remember,

Grammies just want to have fun.

hello fall ~ goodbye summer

I was up before five this morning.

By seven I had done all of my morning stuff....

Coffee,

a little catch-up on the news,

breakfast,

check the internet,

Bible reading & prayer,

my mat exercises

and cleaned up the kitchen.

It was seven am.

It was still pitch dark.

This evening ,

darkness will come back way before I am ready.

Not good!

Don't get me wrong, I love the fall season.

I love no humidity,

a "little bit" cooler temps,

changing leaves,

brilliant sunshine & bright blue skies.

I love Halloween,

wearing my sweaters,

my boots,

and

having "good hair days,"

I especially love Thanksgiving,

gathering together,

chili & cornbread

and even football 

because it makes 

Bubba and Gus so happy.

But I don't like darkness and cold weather.

I know, too bad,

It happens every year you say.

I will adjust.

I will hang mini lights at my windows and light candles

to dispel the darkness.

I will enjoy the fireplace

and wrapping up in a soft, warm throw,

 I will survive.

But you better know one thing.....

I'll be counting the days until summer comes again.

autograph trees

These trees line the coast in south Florida.

Most of the time you cannot see the ocean for them.

They serve a purpose, though,

as does everything in God's created world.

They are there to protect the dunes from washing away.

Very thick and profuse,

they do their job extremely well.

Their large, thick, waxy leaves 

cry out to be signed by beachgoers.

The lookout tower in the first picture

 is a part of the 

House of Refuge system along the east coast of Florida

 mentioned in the photo above.

I had no idea these places ever existed.

The keepers of these refuges

provided shelter, food, clothing, and transportation

to survivors of

shipwrecks and storms at sea.

None of these refuges are operational at this time.

It got me to thinking about God.

So often in the Bible God is described as our refuge.

As we live our lives,

many times we are shipwrecked by

the trials and temptations

characteristic of life on this earth.

We find ourselves lost in a sea of sin and despair.

Hopelessness surrounds us like a raging sea.

But as believers, we have a refuge,

a safe place in the midst of the storms of life.

God rescues us and puts us under the shelter of His wings.

We cling to Him as our only hope.

His words of truth 

and the presence of the Holy Spirit

comforts and secures us 

as nothing else in the world can.

I know, I've been there....

In Christ my refuge in the storm!

these two....

.....what can I say?

It has been a wild and crazy week with Lucy and Harry.

Mommy and Daddy will be home tomorrow

and they will have to go home.

We have had so much fun together.

We went down to the beach 

on this beautiful Sunday afternoon

just to frolic around and enjoy.

We ate chicken fingers at Spanky's Beachside.

They were yummy.

Somehow I blinked,

and the summer got away from me.

It was chilly today 

and I am not ready to say goodbye to summer.

More on that in a later post.

As for now,

God has been very gracious to us this week.

We had a bad wreck, but no one was hurt.

Everyone stayed well,

We got all of our work done.

and we made it to church on time this morning.

We thank God tonight for His care and protection,

His grace and His mercy,

and His unconditional love.

some serious soccer

Grammy did some cheering for this boy and his team

today on the soccer field.

The Griffins lost big but it was not from lack of trying.

Me,

I don't know a lot about the game,

but the kids love it and that is what matters.

I asked Harry what his coach said to him and this is what he replied....

"The coach said for me to turn around and face the ball."

I think that about sums up where his skill level is.

Fun to watch these little guys learn to play and work together as a team.

The picture below is "sister power."

Harry's biggest fan besides his grammy. 

lucy

You are so beautiful to me.

Parenting Lucy and Harry this past week 

while David and Erika 

take a little break.

She had just gotten home from school and was eagerly

telling me about her day when 

I snapped this shot.

This afternoon we are going to the cinema to see

Dolphin Tale 2.

Super excitement is in the air.

Harry is upstairs building a fort.

He has had a great week.

We worked really hard on spelling.

I'm hoping he spelled 

"said" correctly.

Tomorrow he has a soccer game

and then we will all

go to the beach.

A little cold snap is coming...

perfect beach weather!

Blessings they are.

I love them so much!

idols

When God gave the ten commandments to Moses

on top of Mount Sinai,

the people waiting below had been warned to stay put

at the foot of the mountain.

Only Moses 

was allowed to ascend to the top where God was,

shrouded in smoke.

It was a holy event, that time when God provided His people

with the ten rules that would govern their lives.

In the course of all of this,

Moses was gone for a very long time.

The people left behind grew impatient.

Their leader was gone.

They didn't really know when or if he would return.

"Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain,

the people assembled about Aaron, and said to him,

'Come, make us a God who will go before us;

as for this Moses,

the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

we do not know what has become of him.' "

"And Aaron said to them,

'Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters,

and bring them to me.' "

"Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears

and brought them to Aaron.

And he took this from their hand,

and fashioned it with a graving tool,

and made it into a molten calf; and they said,

'This is your God, O Israel,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' "

Exodus 32: :1-4

Needless to say, God was not pleased with this scenario.

He was very angry.

He called these people obstinate.

The people of Israel brought much grief upon themselves and their nation

by worshiping the golden idol

instead of the one true, living God.....

the One who had led them out of bondage in Egypt.

I say all of the above to share this.......

I found these verses in Psalm 115.

This is what God thinks of man-made idols.

We, His people, to our shame,

worship

man-made idols every day.

An idol is anything that takes the place of God in our lives.

"Their idols are silver and gold,

the work of man's hands.

They have mouths, but they cannot speak;

They have eyes, but they cannot see.

They have ears, but they cannot hear;

They have noses, but they cannot smell.

They have hands, but they cannot feel;

They have feet, but they cannot walk.

They cannot make a sound with their throat.

Those who make them will become like them;

Everyone who trusts in them."

Psalm 115:4~8

What is your idol?

Who do you worship instead of God?