lucy & baby jack

Lucy loves babies more than any person I have ever seen

This baby is named Jack and he goes to our church.

He is seven months old.

Every time I see Lucy she is toting Jack around.

This morning I didn't want to get out of bed.

Me and Sally and Liz had spent the last three days getting ready for Lindsey's baby shower.

It was so much fun but,

I'm just not used to working all day without a rest.

I really wanted to pull up the covers and snuggle in...but I didn't.

Church is so important to me.

It lifts me up out of whatever pit I might have gotten myself in.

I couldn't not go.

When I arrived I saw Lucy coming toward me.

She wasn't carrying Jack,

but she was carrying a tiny bouquet of jasmine.

There is a jasmine bush in her backyard and she had picked some just for me.

The smell of jasmine,

even just a little bit, permeates the air.

It is a wonderful spring delight that just sticks around for a little while...

One of God's perfect gifts.

I have it here on my desk while I am writing.

I ❤️ Lucy so much!

Lindsey's shower was lovely.

We had lots of pink roses and crystal and silver.

Lots of love to go all around.

Lindsey & Charlotte Bell.

Easter fun 2019

Last Saturday, the day before Easter, Lucy and I dyed 24 eggs.

We were late this year.

April has been a crazy busy month for all of us.

We think they turned out beautifully.

The are still sitting on my kitchen island in all of their glory.

Our favorite is the pale pink one on the very top.

One of them got broken

(by me).

Lucy looked up how to make colors to dye eggs on my phone and off we went from there.

Easter Sunday Afternoon

We had a delicious late lunch - early supper.

Homemade Chicken Salad,

Broccoli Salad,

Pineapple Bake,

Strawberries with real whipped cream.

I made a lemon pound cake and coffee for dessert.

And then the egg hunt commenced...

I hid seventy-three eggs and two goldens.

There was $22.00 in the small eggs.

Granddaddy's golden egg had $20.00.

Grammy's golden egg had $15.00.

There was also a $5.00 prize for the one who found the most eggs.

And off they went.

Most of these kids have on a semblance of their Easter outfits by the way.

I made some of the eggs super obvious for Walter.

He overlooked all of those and found the hard to find ones.

Lucy got right to work.

She won the $5 for finding the most eggs.

Gus is like his Grammy...

He gets frustrated looking for the eggs.

I would much rather hide them than look for them.

He sadly found the least.

But of the ones he found, two of them were filled with dollar bills.

David, again this year,

 found Granddaddy's golden egg in,

 of all places, 

the trunk of last year's Christmas tree.

Bubba hollowed out a hole in the bottom and put the egg there.

He had cut off all the branches and burned them earlier.

Quite a clever place I think.

In tune with the ongoing sibling rivalry,

David immediately texted his sister Amanda to gloat.

Congratulations David!

Lucy found Grammy's golden egg this year.

It was in that vase of daisies sitting on our patio table. 

As you can see, she was extremely pleased.

Her earnings

 enabled her to have plenty of spending money

 on her class trip to Washington, DC, this past week.

Oh the simple joys of life with grandbabies.

They are all the absolute best.

We sure missed Jake and Eli this year!

(and their parents too)

FYI...

There are still four eggs hidden somewhere in the backyard

if anyone wants to drop by and search.

All four have a dollar bill in them.

💲

a gathering of believers

Hope Bible Church ~ 

Easter Sunday Morning

(I don't know who took this picture but I will find out)

It was taken during our worship time.

I am compelled to share this work from Oswald Chambers.

He put it oh so much better than I ever could.

The cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God's judgement on sin.

There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable

 than what Jesus accomplished on the cross...

He made it possible for the entire human race 

to be brought into a right-standing relationship with God. 

He made redemption the foundation of human life;

 that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.

The cross was not something that happened to Jesus...

He came to die; 

the cross was His purpose in coming.

He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." 

(Revelation 13:8)

The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the cross.

Beware of separating "God was manifested in the flesh..." 

I Timothy 3:16)

from "He made Him to be sin for us..." 

(II Corinthians 5:21.

The purpose of the incarnation was redemption.

Oswald Chambers

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday morning at Wesley Gardens on the river.

Yesterday was one of those rare days.

The sky was cerulean blue.

The sun was brightly shining.

There was a cool crispness in the air.

The wind was gently blowing things about,

speaking softly among the leaves of the trees.

Something about the day made it seem perfect.

Has to be what a day in heaven would feel like.

We Christians celebrate Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday morning.

It is a time of great joy for us.

To gather with other believers who are also celebrating is quite exhilarating.

Thank You God our Father for giving us the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ our Savior.

Thank You for giving us Your word.

Thank You for the fellowship of other believers.

Thank You for all of Your promises.

Thank You for keeping every one of them.

Thank You Jesus for coming and being willing to die in our place.

Thank You that You conquered death when You rose again.

Thank You for eternal life with You forever!

There is no place on earth that I would rather be

 than in this little chapel by the river on Sunday mornings.

Tomorrow or one day soon I will share our egg hunt

and the winners of Grammy & Granddaddy's golden egg.

He is Risen Indeed!

"But on the first day of the week at early dawn,

they came to the tomb,

(remember that's where Jesus was on Friday)

 bringing the spices which they had prepared.

 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb

 but when they entered they did not find the body of the 

Lord Jesus. 

And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, 

behold two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel; 

and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground.

the men said to them, 

'Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. 

Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee

 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,

 and be crucified, 

and the third day rise again.'

 And they remembered His words, 

and returned from the tomb 

and reported all these things to the eleven and to the rest."

Luke 24 :1 ~ 9

Happy Resurrection Day!

Hallelujah!

He is Risen!

He has Risen Indeed!

Jesus died so that we can live

Today is Good Friday.

This is the day that Jesus was crucified.

He died a horrendously excruciating death 

on a cross made from a tree.

Isn't it fitting 

that a terrible storm has darkened our sky today.

On the day that Jesus died the Bible notes this...

"Then the sun was darkened..."

On the top of His cross these words were written in 

Greek, Hebrew, and Latin...

"THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."

Most importantly.

 He died.

He didn't swoon or temporarily become unconscious.

He died right there on the cross.

The Bible tells us...

"He breathed His last."

There were many eyewitnesses.

"All His acquaintances and the women who followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things."

"A man named Joseph took His body down,

wrapped it in linen,

and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.

The ones who had killed Him had this to say...

"Therefore command that the tomb be made secure

 lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, 

and say to the people,

 'He has risen from the dead. 

You have a guard; 

go your way, 

make the tomb as secure as you know how.' 

So they went and made the tomb secure,

 sealing the stone and setting the guard."

And so the day ended with our Lord Jesus dead and sealed inside of a tomb.

Taken from Matthew, Luke, and John

"But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities,

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, 

and by His stripes we were healed.'

Isaiah 53:5

He took our sins upon Himself that day.

He died for us.

He purchased with the blood that he shed our eternal salvation.

God was satisfied with what He did.

Can you see how what happened on that awful Friday long ago was actually very, very good?

This is not the end of the story!!!!

supper with friends

Today is Thursday.

The day before Jesus was crucified...

the day that Jesus had His last meal on earth with His closest friends.

They were celebrating Passover,

a very important celebration on the Jewish calendar.

He was still teaching them, still serving.

This is the night that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own...

Judas Iscariot.

"Behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table."

The Bible calls this meal The Lord's Supper.

Earlier two of His disciples were told by Jesus,

 "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."

Jesus then gave them specific instructions about the place..

Enter the city.

A man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

Follow him into the house which he enters.

Then say to the master of the house...

"Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"

He will show you a large, furnished upper room;

there make ready.

So they went and found it just as Jesus said to them and they prepared the Passover meal.

I love what Jesus said to them...

"With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God."

Then he took the cup and gave thanks, and said,

"Take this cup and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes."

And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying,

"This is my body which is given for you; 

do this in remembrance of Me."

Likewise He also took the cup after supper saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

which is shed for you."

Just after this,

 Judas, one of His twelve disciples

 quickly left the room and went on his mission to betray

 the Son of God.

Taken from John's gospel chapter 22

Friends, this is why we as Christians take communion.

It is an act of remembrance.

When we take it we remember that Jesus suffered and died on the cross 

so that we could be reconciled to God. 

He gave His life so that we could have eternal life.

We remember all of this and we worship the

  Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords

 whose sacrificial death paid the price we could never pay.

Come have communion with us tomorrow night at Hope Bible Church.

And, join us Sunday morning to celebrate our risen Lord.

let the light in

There is a moment in the late afternoon when the sun shines into my kitchen 

in a most extraordinary way. 

You know...it kinda takes my breath away. 

I stop right there, 

soak it in, 

and say a prayer of Thanksgiving to our Lord for light.

Can you even imagine a world without light.

Light was the first thing God created way back when He spoke this world into existence.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

And the earth was formless and void,

and darkness was over the surface of the deep;

and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

"Then God said, 'Let there be light;' and there was light."

"And God saw that the light was good;

 and God separated the light from the darkness. 

And God called the light day,

and the darkness He called night.

And there was evening and there was morning, 

one day."

Genesis 1:1 ~ 5

Yesterday was the beginning of Jesus' passion week.

On Palm Sunday He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in the kingly fashion.

The people were cheering

 "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

They were laying their cloaks on the ground for him to walk on.

They were waving palm branches in the air.

It was a time of great celebration.

Jesus had been sent by God to bear light and truth in this dark world.

By Friday He would be dead hanging on a cross.

The world system wanted to extinguish Jesus' light but they didn't succeed.

Jesus lives!

He is light!

He died so that we could have life...

so that we could live in His light even while we still live in the darkness of this world.

He died for you.

He lives for you.

Hallelujah, Christ is risen!

Thanking Him that Jesus is the light of the world.!

this boy...

This shirt...

THEY SEARCHED THE WORLD FOR ME

They couldn't have found a better boy.

Walter turns four at the end of this month.

He absolutely took my heart away in these last couple of days.

He spent the night for the first time with us since he came home from China.

One of the things that didn't happen when I was recovering from cancer

was my much loved spend the night parties with our grandchildren.

I just wasn't able,

physically or mentally.

Now that I'm so much better I thought we would give it a shot.

Friends, It was just like old times.

I read to him...all of the old favorites.

He was transfixed, as was I.

Last night we watched Paddington II.

He and I sat together in the same chair the whole time.

Archie & Gus were here too.

We took them to Papa's for dinner,

We all chowed down on delicious fried shrimp

Yesterday afternoon we went to the mall to kill some time in Barnes & Nobel.

(One of their favorite places to hang out)

We ended up riding one of those big stuffed animals

all up and down the walkways.

I have always wanted to do that.

He gave me an excuse.

Here we are...

They are in their own home now.

I just took a little nap.

They gave me a bit of a run for my money.

 I'm just thankful I'm still in the race.

Next week I have a date with Lucy.

We will watch 

Return to the Spider Verse

and dye Easter eggs. 

😜

forty nine

"Live life joyfully with the wife whom you love 

all the days of your life which God has given you under the sun."

 Ecclesiastes 9:9

Today is our 49th anniversary...

April 11, 1970 ~ April 11, 2019.

God has blessed us with a long life together.

I chose the picture above because I simply love it.

It speaks volumes about joy.

We were fairly newly wed.

Spring of 1972 I think.

Bubba had just graduated from Armstrong with a degree in Accounting.

I was teaching third grade at Calvary Day School.

We were newly expecting our first baby who would turn out to be David.

I remember this night.

We were deliriously happy.

It shows.

So much life has happened since that picture was taken.

Seasons have come and gone.

We've raised our children.

We are now enjoying our grandchildren.

We have been sick and we have been well.

We have lost loved ones.

We have traveled.

We have done so many things that have brought so much joy.

Everything has came from God,

the One who made us and brought us together.

All of our happiness and joy is rooted and grounded in Him.

In Christ we have assurance of eternal life 

praising Him and serving Him forever.

What a life we have had!

Thank You God!

💑

happy birthday archie

William Archibald Cleland turned eleven yesterday.

Of course we had a big celebration!

Archie came to live with his forever family when he was five years old.

In August we will have had him longer than he lived in China.

If you look closely,

you will see something new about him.

Yes, he is wearing glasses.

I think they lend him a certain air of sophistication.

On a lesser note, he can actually see the white board at school now.

He is very faithful to keep them on his face.

One of his gift requests was for cars...

he loves cars,

fast cars, cool cars.

This Wookie mask was the hit of the night.

We were all laughing out loud over this gift.

Of course everyone had to give it a try!

Arch got a new Cubs baseball hat which his Granddaddy is modeling here.

Actually Bubba is a Braves fan now that they are winning again.

For His dessert Archie requested brownies and ice cream.

My job was to make the brownies and figure out how to help them look like a birthday cake.

I have a whole drawer full of birthday tricks.

I thought this turned out pretty well.

He also desired

chicken wings with dipping sauces,

baked beans,

corn on the cob,

oriental broccoli slaw,

and yeast rolls.

The food was gobbled up and the dinner conversation was lively.

And last but not least

 the beautiful family together

celebrating this boy who is quickly becoming a young man.

We are so blessed to call him "our grandson."

*See you Friday night Arch, you and your brothers, for movie night and whatever else you want to do.

🎂

the rest of the story

This morning dawned Monday,

the day that the pressure washer guy was due since he didn't come on Friday.

For me, Mondays are usually work days.

I change the linens on the bed and do all of the other laundry,

not to mention cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the floors.

I am strange I know, but I love to clean.

Fresh is best!!

Anyway,

The time was set at 8:30 again.

Of course they didn't show up on time.

Now, I am married to a man who stands by the letter of the law on time issues.

(Bubba has never, not one time, ever, been late to anything.)

At 9:00 the pressure wash guy was still not here.

I am using this time to wait for "the wrath of Bubba" to hit.

It did but I dodged it by being on the phone talking to Amanda.

(She called just at the right moment)

Bubba has no conception in his mind why anyone would ever be late.

Luckily, the pressure washer guy did arrive by ten.

I have no idea what Bubba said to the lady on the phone,

but the pressure washer guy bogeyed on out here and saved the day.

Bubba left for the morning and I could finally get to work

Our huge concern was the big pot of plants sitting on the front porch.

Remember I told you that MAMA bird choose that spot to build a nest and lay a bunch of eggs.

Very inconvenient!

The pressure washer guy was so nice.

He graciously offered to move them, planter and all, to a safe spot.

He said that the Clorox used in the cleaning may have serious negative effects on the

 fledgling family of birds and the plants themselves.

(Of course)

Clorox kills everything!

Long story short...

It is 4:30 in the afternoon of this Monday.

The outside house is beautifully clean.

The windows are sparkling.

The walkways and the driveway are white as clouds.

The planter is back on the porch and the MAMA has been back to the nest.

I got all of my housework done in a timely fashion.

So glad this story had a happy ending.

🐤

Funny antidote...

The time thing is so ingrained in me after 49 years of marriage

 that even if I try, I cannot be late.

I think this is a bit of a curse.