saturn in the night sky

It came up in the eastern sky about 9:30 last night.

I could see it with my naked eye,but it just looked like a star.

I'm speaking of the planet Saturn.

When I peeped at it through the telescope though,

it looked exactly like the picture above.

I could see the rings as plain as day.

What magnificence!

What joy 

for this old lady 

who taught third graders 

about the planets years ago.

Our neighbors had a planet watching party 

in front of their house last evening.  

We were invited.  

Tina's father has a gigantic telescope

and a wealth of knowledge about astronomy.

What a delight!!!

We also saw Jupiter with four of her moons

and Venus and the 

big old beautiful moon.

We saw the Big Dipper and

a star with a twin sparkling up there to beat the band.

As always,

when I look at the night sky,

I am moved, 

awed and amazed

because God made everything up there 

and it is all good.

The heavens cry out with glory to the Lord.

They magnify Him,

They praise Him.

They cause me to worship Him.

They are going to have another

planet watching party

soon

so that our grandkids

 can see these amazing sights.

Then God said,

 "Let there be light in the expanse of the heavens

 to separate the day from the night,

 and let them be for signs, 

and for seasons,

 and for days and  years;

and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens 

to give light on the earth 

and it was so."

And God made the two great lights,

the greater light to govern the day,

and the lesser light to govern the night.  

He made the stars also.

And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens 

to give light on the earth.

And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:14~18

Thanking God for His handiwork in the sky....

What He made in one day a long time ago

governs everything that we do on this earth.

and to think...

He spoke and it was done!!!

bubba & cathy

at La Parrilla Mexican restaurant 

with David Cleand

after he preached his first sermon at his new church,

Community Bible Church,

 Savannah, Georgia.

Yes, they will have Saturday evening services

 until the new worship center is built.

We both kind of like that,

but have been told not to get used to it.

Once the new building is completed,

no more 

Saturday evening services.

At nine we go over to our neighbor's house.

They are setting up a big telescope,

and I have been told I will be able to see 

the planet Saturn

and all of the other wonders of God 

in the night sky.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

Proverbs 1:7

Thank you David 

for allowing God to use you 

to speak truth

 to all of us that needed to hear His word tonight.

grammy's library

So exciting.....

there was a box sitting on my front porch 

this afternoon.

Bubba brought it in and said,

"It's from Lou."

Lou is my lifelong friend who knows my heart.

In the box were these books

and the note.

Treasure!!!!

I love children's books.

I have a library for my grandkids to use,

and now I will have four new books for them to enjoy

when they get back home here.

Thank you again, dear friend.

You know what makes me happy.

Counting the days!!!!

These gardenias have our whole house scented!

What joy summer brings.

Only God can make a flower and fill it with fragrance.

my most favorites

Amanda came last week.

It is always such a joy.

She is so busy now,

I always count it as a huge blessing 

when she gets to come home.

Along with the usual fun,

pedicures,

shopping,

lunch,

Jake and Eli,

the big birthday party,

and just talking and laughing together,

she got me and her dad

 squared away again on E-Bay.

She is a master at selling.

Since she left,

We have made over $200.00

on just stuff that is laying around the house.

I forgot how much I enjoy it!!

Thank you Amanda...

I love you!!

As per the garden blog from last night....

Now I am thinking of putting the fire pit in that cleared area.

I think it would be so pretty there.

The garden could go farther over and back a little bit.

Bubba is in a working mood right now 

with his new workbench.

I consider that a very good place to be

to get this done.

So far the coyote urine is working.

I have a gerber daisy getting ready to lift its head,

and my new flax plants are still there.

So much going on....

I love these long summer days so much.

i'm thinking about a garden....

I cleared this plot on Saturday.

The garden would be about 9 feet by 12 feet.

I told Bubba and he didn't say no.

We will need some railroad cross ties and

something to keep the deer out.

That stick kinda in the middle is the crepe myrtle

our builder planted for us.

It has never grown even an inch.

It has got to go.

My flax plants came in on Saturday too.

I ordered them from High Country Gardens.

They are planted and doused with coyote urine

in hopes that they will grow and produce

their beautiful blue blooms.

The chances of that happening are slim to none,

But.....

I will not give up yet!!

I had my fourth burn today.

I think the yard is beginning to look amazing.

We have a little bit of forest behind the house,

and I am trying to make it look pretty.

I have burned a ton of twigs and limbs

and nobody has said anything.

I am probably pushing my luck though.

That is where the garden would go in perspective with the rest of the yard.

Seriously,

what do you think?

an afternoon at the beach

The bottom line is this....

when the weather is great and you are with your cousins,

life is just too hilarious for words.

The six...

Tybee Island ~ Tybee beach.

May 2015

The condo steps

Tide too high to step on the beach.

Crazies!!!!

saturday at #6

This morning,

both of us were outside 

before eight o'clock.

Bubba to the garage to work on his bench,

and me to the backyard.

The weather the last couple of days

has been glorious....

it beckons to come out and enjoy.

So, here it is!

Bubba's birthday work bench.

A shelf was put at the very top.

Those are the turkey cookers up there just waiting for 

Thanksgiving.

Then he added the white shelving 

from some scraps off wood that he has saved.

(Our garage is full of scraps of wood)

He is always able to tell me where the wood came from

and what it was used for.

One of the pieces he used today was a slat from our first bed.

Notice the drills...

Christmas presents.

He loves them and uses them both at the same time.

The drawers have posed a problem..

They are a work in progress.

Notice it is mounted on two very large wood blocks.

Those are to add height.

While he was doing that.

I was designing my backyard.

Adding flowers and fresh pine straw.

Still fighting the deer...

my lantana are surviving,

but that box to the left was hit as you can tell.

Some of the grass is dying.....

We need rain!

"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,

and the Lord listened and heard them;

so a book of remembrance was written before Him

for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name."

Malachi 3:16

God knows about the tiny little remnant of people on this earth who fear Him.

The Bible says that God "listened and heard them."

He knows and He cares.

happy birthday bubba

Today was Bubba's birthday.

I cooked dinner and made one of his favorite deserts.

Then we all got together to celebrate and eat.

Seems like there has been a lot of celebrating recently.

The chocolate four layer desert was a hit.

His present was work related.

Two years later,

He finally got his workbench for the garage.

He even got a carrying case for all his nuts and screws.

The evening ended 

with a face time on the phone.

 Jake and Eli called granddaddy to sing

 Happy Birthday!

We're getting old Bub.

We've had a lot of birthdays together.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

for choosing me to grow old with.

I love you more than ever!!!

happy birthday jake

Ten years ago this little boy made me a grandmother.

Never in my wildest dream would I have ever expected this ride.

When you are young(er),

the grandmotherly types seem somehow

 older,

slower,

rounded,

sitting a lot,

not energized.

But then I became one.

Honestly,

grandmotherhood 

has been one of the absolute 

best times of my life.

Far from sedentary or slow,

it is fast-paced,

busy,

Disney, 

the beach,

the pool,

backyard baseball,

pizza,

birthday parties,

and the list becomes too long to name to keep going.

Thank you Jake for giving me this honor.

You are a wonder to me.

I so much enjoy spending time with you.

I like.... 

that you can now put an almost 800 piece

 Lego set together all by yourself.

I like.....

that you still like to snuggle with me

 while I read the Charlie Brown books to you and Eli.

I like.....

that Granddaddy's spaghetti

 is still the best spaghetti in the world to you. 

You are ten years old today!

Double digits forever!

I love you!

Happy Birthday!

Grammy

the front porch

We finally,

just the other day, 

after almost two years,

found the planters for our front porch.

There is a nursery down the street called the

Secret Garden.

I noticed these two every time I passed by.

"Those would be perfect,"

I said to myself.

They match the white-washed brick.

I planted pale pink vinca and the alisym

which will soon 

cascade over the edges.

Beauty!

I am reading

A Soldier of the Great War

by Mark Helprin.

The way he describes things of beauty,

simple things,

 like the moon rising over the city of Rome.

take my breath away.

"For Alessandro Guiliani,

the son of a prosperous Roman lawyer,

trees shimmer in the sun beneath a sky of perfect blue,

and at night the moon is amber as Rome seethes with light.

He races horses across the country to the sea,

climbs in the Alps,

is a student of painting and aesthetics,

and he falls in love, deeply and eternally.

Then the Great War intervenes......"

The author's brilliant words,

the way he describes ordinary, commonplace things 

as objects of immense beauty....

I will be greatly enjoying these 850 pages for sure.

I think God gives us a desire to seek out beauty,

simple things in His creation that are amazingly beautiful.....

an apple,

a rainbow spread across the sky,

an ocean full of diamonds,

 flowers glistening after the rain,

a tree full of new, 

green leaves,

the moon rising over the ocean,

animals, yes.

 even the deer I often see just before the sun sets,

a person's eyes,

which hold all of the love from their heart.

Thank you God 

for creating so much beauty for us to enjoy.

jake's tenth birthday exstravaganza

You only turn ten once in your lifetime...

double digits!!!

Jake came to Savannah to celebrate

this extra special birthday

 with his cousins.

We had an Avenger's party.

Jake and Eli,

who are not interested in eating cake in any fashion,

are closely studying the movable figures

standing among the candles.

Jake and mommy as Thor and the Hulk

First thing out at 4:00 sharp....

a baseball game.

Gus at bat!!

There is a lot of waiting in baseball.

Lucy getting ready to hit the ball.

Jake watching for the ball.

Granddaddy cooking hamburgers, wings, and sausage.

The Avengers ate outside.

Jake waiting patiently (not so) all day

to open his presents.

Cousins all gathered around singing Happy Birthday.

(or getting ready to)

I love this precious birthday boy!

Last but not least, the pinata.

Granddaddy hung it from a tree limb.

It was a big "Hit."

Jake was the one who brought it down.

Picking up the loot!

Great party!

Loved every minute!

Weather was beautiful!

Wore us all out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!!

big birthday bash weekend

Amanda and the boys came to celebrate,

and celebrate we have!

More about that in the next few days.

Just wanted my blog readers to know

that I can still keep up with the best of them

 in our baseball games.

The bat is the blue shading in front of me,

the ball has been hit,

and Amanda is quaking in fear that it will hit her.

My team won,

but we all had the best of time playing!

filling my yard with....

Lantana.

The deer won't touch it.

Some of you know of my journey.

After a very traumatic surgery when I was only thirty,

depression became a part of my life.

If you have experienced depression,

you know what it feels like.

If not,

there is no way.

"The iron bolt....

mysteriously fastens the door of hope 

and holds our spirits in gloomy prison."

Charles Spurgeon

Lectures to my Students

I am reading a book called 

Depression

A Stubborn Darkness

by Ed Welch.

It is the best I have ever read on the subject.

Free for a while and then plunged back into darkness

almost two years ago now,

it has been "a stubborn darkness" indeed.

At times feeling hopeless,

at times dulled,

at best putting on a happy face

working hard,

doing my duties....

I go about life as if everything is normal,

but it has not been.

One thing I do know.....

this I have learned in the abyss of depression,

there is nothing that relieves this distress except

the word of God,

the strength and power of the Holy Spirit,

and a  wise, praying husband 

who catches my tears 

and force feeds me the painful truth.

Depression is suffering,

suffering is very difficult,

but suffering is good news in a spiritual sense.

How is suffering good you may ask....

Suffering causes one to seek God as the only source of help

and to draw near to Him....

to depend on Him as our only lifeline.

If it wasn't for this suffering,

I may not have known God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Not knowing Him in a real and  personal way

IS the most tragic thing in a person's life, 

not depression.

I am slowly getting better....

coming back to life,

feeling hopeful again,

even a little excited.

I texted Bubba today and told him...

"I am feeling really good,  enjoying myself, 

I almost feel normal."

Our life is quieter now, more peaceful,

more purposeful.

I may never be healed completely,

but I'm learning how to cope.

I give all glory to God!

Thanks to all who have prayed for and loved me...

cathy

victory bouquet

I am sitting here at my computer.

The afternoon sun is streaming through my windows

making patterns on the floor,

bathing me in light and warmth.

I am counting my blessings

one by one.

Its hard to feel more loved than on Mother's Day.

I am still basking in its glow.

Just one example...

this card made by Harry....

my little snaggled-toothed seven year old grandson.

I love the things they think of.

I have a little kids book library here at the house.

They love to "borrow" my books

to take home.

The vase of flowers above was on our

Mother's Day table

yesterday.

It is made up of all the flowers in my yard 

that the deer despise

or cannot get to.

I call it my victory bouquet.

I CAN grow some things and that is good.

My rosemary plant has gone wild.

Just want to say that God is good...

life is not always good,

sometimes it is very difficult,

but God is always good.

God loves us with a perfect love

and He is always close by.....

as close as His word.

He knows I love flowers!!

two very special mothers...

....that I love very much!

Amanda,

I love you so much!

I love what a good mother you are to

Jake & Eli.

As daughters go, your are the best.

I have so much fun with you,

and I am so thankful that in the plans of God,

He gave you to me.

You make me laugh out loud!

Erika,

 I love that you are David's wife, 

and mother to

 Lucy, Harry, Archie & Gus.

You have mothered and loved them all so well.

Some of these babies came  from half way around the world.

God chose them for you guys,

but you had to go get them and bring them home.

Thank you for your heart 

for these precious little ones that needed a home.

Thank you for giving us

a whole bunch of different colored grandkids to love.

I love you!

happy mother's day

To be a mother....

to hold a tiny infant in your arms,

the product of a love between two people,

is without a doubt

the greatest experience of a lifetime.

At just the right moment in time,

when the plans of God for a life materialize,

He places that life 

in the womb of a mother.

He nourishes it and protects it,

until the perfect moment when

that life is brought forth into the world

to accomplish the purposes God ordained for it.

God did this with His own Son,

Jesus Christ.

A mother holds in her arms a great gift....

a precious child 

to love and to cherish,

to nurture and to protect,

to teach,

to take care of in every way....

striving toward the day  

when that child becomes able 

to assume those responsibilities for himself.

And just like Mary, Jesus' mother,

to know that one day,

after we have taught them all we can,

that they will be returned to God for His purposes for them

to be fulfilled.

Motherhood....

A short, beautiful time,

A time when these children depend on you for everything.

Not to be taken lightly,

this role that God bestows on us....

motherhood.

Thank you Lord for entrusting me be a mother

to my two wonderful children.

night in the museum

Jake as Abe.... 

Big night at school.

Jake was obsessed to be Abraham Lincoln

in the reenactment of 

"Night in the Museum."

He studied really hard,

wrote a 6 paragraph essay,

and did all of the research.

He is standing proudly in front of his work

dressed from head to toe as Abe,

proudly wearing his converse tennis shoes.

So sad we weren't able to be there.

The 6 hour trip to where my babies are

is sometimes more than we can do,

but, I'm thankful for pictures that come as fast as the speed of light

to this Grammy who is waiting with baited breath.

As we gear up to celebrate Mother's Day,

I am also thankful for the gifts from God these little ones are.

Growing up way too fast,

changing every day,

way smarter than I ever was.

Filled with hope and love and purpose,

ready to face the future with confidence,

being nurtured in the word of God,

I pray for their hearts.

I pray that God will fill them with such a love for Him

that they will want to please Him with whatever they choose to do.

That they will seek Him and His word 

for wisdom and truth 

that they will never learn from the world.

That they will love others

 and not think only of themselves,

and that they will share their love for God with their friends.

I figure, as their Gram,

 I cannot pray too much or too often for these precious ones that God

has placed in my life.

"At all times we ought to pray and not lose heart."

Luke 18:1b

home sweet home

I bought this huge, multi-bloom geranium yesterday.

Isn't it gorgeous.

It sits on our front porch

on top of

my antique Singer sewing machine frame.

Hopefully, the deer will not come up on the porch,

but in case they do I bought this.....

My cousin Steve told me about this last year.

I am hopeful that the deer will leave when they smell this scent.

It was horrible.

I had to leave when I put it out.

(It doesn't hurt them at all.)

We'll see if this keeps them away.

(Its kinda expensive.)

I got a new pillow for the deacon's bench.

With the geranium, it all looks amazing.

A little touch of red for the summer.

These are some of the shells 

that Eli and I collected at the beach back in March.

These ones have a zig-zag design.

Very trendy right now in the fashion world.

I am constantly amazed at the creativity of God's creation.

Every where I go,

every place I look, His handiwork is on display.

In the sky, on the earth, on the beach,.....

the things that He created,

 cause me to praise and worship Him.

Always look for beauty in everything.

Point it out to those you love.

That way you'll be pointing them to our great God,

who made heaven and earth,

and who sustains us in life every day

by making sure we take our next breath.

"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."

Psalm 150:6