our happy day full of thanksgiving

It was the best Thanksgiving ever.

Lots of good food, fellowship, laughter, and fun.

So thankful for these people that make life so much sweeter.

They stick close in the good times and the not quite so good times.

We missed David  and Erika and the cousins though.

We went rustic casual this year.

I offered to get out the Moonspun China,

but Amanda had the final choice...

Burnt orange plates,

Brown place mats and everyday flatwear.

My light up gourd,

the turkey name holders and the turkey tea lights.

Everything was just perfect!

The menu was inspired.

The house had wafting smells of food cooking all morning.

Bubba cooked the turkey.

I helped Amanda make the dressing. 

She is learning how to do Thanksgiving for when I can't do it any more.

Mark made the pumpkin pie.

Delicious!

After dinner we rested and then headed for the beach.

It was an amazingly beautiful day.

We watched the sun go down

 and then headed home to play games and eat a few leftovers.

I have a lot more pictures but no more time this evening.

More later!

The blessings of the Lord are too numerous to recount.

We cannot be too grateful.

We do not have enough words to praise Him for all that He has done.

Jesus is everything.

The best and most treasured gift I have.

happy, happy thanksgiving

To celebrate being thankful is one of life's joys.

We have so much.

Everything we have is from God.

I love this time with our family.

 I love the anticipation of Thanksgiving Day...

of bowing our heads together,

of joining our hearts with food, fellowship, and fun.

"Be thankful to Him and bless His name."

Psalm 100:4

falling here

This is the tree that I watch in our front yard.

It puts on a magnificent show every year about this time.

When we moved in six years ago it was little more than a stick.

Now look at it.

I am very excitedly awaiting the arrival of Amanda and her family on this gorgeous day.

They will be here until the day after Thanksgiving 

minus one night that Mark and Amanda will take a little getaway

 so that we can have Jake and Eli all to ourselves.

Grandparents like that one on one time you know!

David and his crew left today for their annual trip to DC

 and then to Erika's family for Thanksgiving.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with them last night.

Here is a picture of the feast table.

We had a Honey - Baked Ham

and all of these sides made by Grammy...

Red Rice,

Hash Brown Potato Casserole,

Broccoli Salad,

Pineapple Bake,

Yeast Rolls,

and for dessert a Lemon Bundt Cake.

It was all good and lots of food was consumed.

The Hollingsworths get the leftovers tonight.

My kitchen is really humming this week.

Lastly,

the Pumpkin on the back porch...

I love this picture.

You see the pumpkin,

it's shadow,

and it's reflection.

Pretty clever photography if I do say so myself.

I love fall.

I love to cook.

I love to take pictures.

I love to write this blog.

I still do not love to eat but that's okay.

(I get by)

I love our family.

I am so thankful and grateful for all.

Thank you God for all of the blessings that you send our way!

a little over a year ago...

...Hope Bible Church was founded.

I remember so well walking down front after the worship service to sign the charter.

With the stroke of a pin we were officially a church.

After many months of prayer and planning we were on our way.

The setting is absolutely charming.

 It is located on the banks of the Burnside River in Savannah, Georgia.

The church is not the building though.

The church is the gathering together of believers,

those who attest that Jesus is the Son of God who came to this earth to die.

He came so that we could be reconciled to our Father in Heaven.

He came to die so that our sins could be covered by His shed blood.

He came so that we could spend eternity with Him.

It just so happens that David our son is the pastor.

He is an expository preacher.

This means that he preaches straight through a book of the Bible verse by verse.

Last Fall he started with the book of II Corinthians.

Last Sunday he finished the book.

We have learned so much about what ministry looks like through the eyes of the Apostle Paul.

We are blessed to have Matt as our biblical counselor.

Matt sometimes preaches for us as well.

 We are also blessed with several men in our church who are studying to be pastors.

They get a chance to share God's word with us too.

Tyler is our very talented pianist and worship leader along with several other lay musicians.

It is such a joy to worship at Hope Bible Church along with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It will be sad to leave this tiny little chapel.

We are growing.

Others are finding us.

The little four seater pews are getting crowded.

This is a good thing.

Soon we will have to seek a larger facility.

We are most richly blessed.

God is good!

Jesus is everything!

"Finally, brethren,

 rejoice,

 be made complete, 

be comforted, 

be like-minded,

 live in peace; 

and the God of love and peace will be with you." 

II Corinthians 13:11

before thanksgiving?

Yes...

I have this amazing piece of furniture in our living room.

Bubba bought it for me right after we moved into our dream home.

It has space for twelve individual scenes.

I have collected these Christmas treasures for too many years to count.

It is my pleasure each year to make them come to life.

I am a big proponent of no Christmas until after Thanksgiving,

but, in the interest of time,

I allow myself a head start on this task.

This past week I got started.

I have lots of trees as you can see.

They don't all go in the bookcases though.

They also go in other scenes around the house.

The trees are an important part of making the scenes come alive.

This project requires lots of time, lots of thought, and some steady hands.

I finished yesterday morning.

Here is the finished project.

The top shelves are filled with antique items from both of our families.

I could stand and look at these scenes forever.

Each item has special significance and is lovingly displayed every Christmas.

So thankful for these memories.

And the secret?

I close the doors and turn off the lights and just like magic it is Fall again.

.Almost time to celebrate the wonderful holiday called Thanksgiving.

@all for the love of the holidays!

Blessings!

Happy Fall ya'll.

rainy days & tuesdays

It's gonna get really cold tonight.

I can feel it in my bones.

First freeze seems to be arriving early this year.

I picked what is probably my last bouquet from my garden on Saturday.

The backyard flowers have been a joy this year.

Amanda says that she loves that I always have a vase of beautiful flowers on my table.

God's amazing creative powers strengthen my faith.

Only He can make a flower you know.

And to make it even more wonderful, He adds a delightful scent.

I also love our Saturday night suppers with the family.

Such sweet fellowship!

Such a perfect time to use the good china and cook up a lot of delicious food.

A time to gather at the table around flowers and  glowing candles,

a time to tell everybody about the week that just passed,

a time to count our blessings one by one,

a time to be thankful.

Family is one of God's greatest blessings.

Bubba moved the Crown of Thorns and the Geraniums that are in pots up close to the house.

The rest of them will have to fare for themselves out in the cold.

My Gerber Daisy's made it through the winter last year blooming all along.

I have planted my Pansies.

Hopefully they will bloom and add a touch of color to the short days of winter.

This has been on my mind a lot recently.

It seems like years pass like months now and days pass like minutes.

They say that happens when you get older.

Moving quickly to heaven now.

Jesus is there waiting on my arrival.

My ultimate goal is to be with Him...to see His face,

to fall down and worship Him for the greatness of our Salvation.

I praise Him for all of the great things that He has done.

grandparents day ~ 2019

One of my favorite days of the year!

On Grandparent's Day we get to go to school with our grandkids.

Their classroom doors are open wide.

The children eagerly recite and perform for us.

Gus and his classmates recited the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

That is so amazing to me.

It is so much fun to see them in their element.

Gus is in third grade this year.

He is still so excited to see us come in.

Archie is in fourth grade.

He too was excited to see us come through the door.

He showed us all around,

we met his teacher and saw his workspace.

Harry is in sixth grade.

Him...not so excited

 or at least he didn't appear to be excited to see his granparents in front of his peers.

 His class was playing a game.

 It was fun to see him interacting with his friends.

 And, I think secretly he was very proud to see us there.

Walter is in Pre K.

He had worked so hard and was so excited for us to come to his classroom.

Sadly,

He woke up sick and wasn't able to go to school.

We visited his classroom anyway and got all of the goodies he had made for us.

Maybe next year.

We didn't visit Lucy's class.

After sixth grade we don't get to go any more.

Lu is in the eighth grade this year.

We did get to see her and all of the other students perform later in the morning.

Lucy and her logic music class are learning to play the ukulele.

They put on quite a show for us.

Now all of the things they made will reside on our refrigerator for a while.

❤️

Their school, Veritas Academy, is so amazing.

The teaching encompasses a Biblical world view of all subjects.

Latin is taught in each grade.

God and Jesus Christ His Son are honored and exalted in all areas.

The key to education is learning how to think.

Each child is taught logic also.

I am very, very thankful that this school is thriving in downtown Savannah!

I got wet in a rain shower getting from my car to the school,

and when I got back to my car I had a parking ticket. ☹️

It was worth it though.

I wouldn't have missed it from the world.

a new family

How could I not post this picture.

Her name is Summer Ruth.

This precious baby belongs to our niece Lindsey and her new husband Bobby.

She is six months old today.

Such a little doll baby she is.

Last weekend Lindsey and Bobby Saltourides got married.

As Lindsey said, "We are now officially the Saltys."

Wishing you all a whole lifetime of "Happily Ever Afters."

Beautiful couple!

Beautiful family!

❤️

sweet, sweet fellowship

Today at Hope Bible Church we established our Elders,

five men set apart to lead and guide and teach and preach and care for the flock.

What a beautiful service!

Dr. Potter came down from from North Carolina to bring the message from the book of Ephesians about the importance of these men who serve in the church.

After the service we came outside.

The weather was so amazing...a perfect Fall day.

All of us surrounded the new elders while Dr. Potter prayed for them.

Thank you God for these men who are willing to serve.

I pray for You to give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding of Your word...

that You will protect them and guide them and direct their paths,

that their hearts will be filled with love and compassion,

that they will do the work of the church well,

that we would remember to pray for them because their job is weighty,

that all of us will work together to be salt and light in Savannah.

*This picture is not from today.

I like it and want to save it on my blog.

There is always sweet, sweet fellowship in front of this place!

All credit is due to our church photographer.