3 and 3

It has been three years and three months since I finished my cancer treatment.

Today I had to go for a follow-up.

My doctor likes to keep current with my progress.

These check-ups are always stressful.

You know,

Has the cancer returned?

My doctor was way behind schedule today which made it even harder.

Waiting and thinking and working myself up.

At least I remembered to take the book I am presently reading.

(More about that later.)

After a lot of checking and probing around and sticking a small camera down my nostril, 

the doctor proclaimed that I looked great. 

No sign of cancer.

There is an instant release of tension.

Thank you Jesus for this answer to prayer.

I left the office floating with a great big smile on my face.

I am a weather disaster junkie.

This one does not disappoint.

It is a page-turner about the early history of weather forecasting

and the devastating results of not getting it right.

The Blizzard of 1888 is chilling in detail.

A fascinating read!

That's Lucy and me at Jupiter Inlet.

I 💗 her!

 

surprise storm

There is a mini, rouge, hurricane headed straight for this island that I live on.

Could be an interesting afternoon.

(They just named this storm Danny.)

In the meantime, I will post some pictures from our beach day last week.

I don't even know what to say about this picture.

No one looks particularly happy.

Actually, we were having a great time.

There was a nice breeze and the sun was hiding behind some clouds.

Amanda had made some delicious ham sandwiches.

The rest of the boys were either digging in the sand or out in the ocean.

I am up taking pictures which is normal for me.

Taking pictures and blogging is high on my list of fun things to do.

Here are the seven.

Growing!

Five teenagers and a ten and a six.

These kids are my joy.

I love watching them grow and change.

I have no idea of what to expect from this mini hurricane.

Right now we have light rain and lots of clouds.

Glad I planned to stay home today.

⛈

6 PM...

Very dark and scary.

Lots of sharp lightning and loud thunder.

It is raining hard.

Doesn't seem to be much wind though.

Danny has arrived!

⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈

Oh my goodness!

Haven't had a storm like this in forever.

As storms go, it is magnificent!

⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈⛈

 

i will wait for you

We had a wonderful trip down to spend time with the Hollingsworth Family.

We are the twelve!

Always looking for the next adventure.

There was golf and kayaking,

snorkeling and shopping,

and of course a day at the beach.

More about the trip later.

On the way to church this morning I rode by my house in progress.

Looks like they have started on the second story.

Remember,

this is a duplex.

My side is to the right.

I can't even believe this is happening.

I love this song...

We sang it in church this morning.

I Will Wait for You

 

Jesus

I don't write enough about Jesus.

The blessed Son of God is the center of my world.

I love Him.

Everything I have comes from Him.

He is the great giver and sustainer of Life.

My Bubba is with Him now.

He has seen His face.

The following comes from my JC Ryle commentary on the gospel of John.

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Volume Three

Page 56

Gospel means "The good news about Jesus."

The gospel is for everybody.

No one is excluded.

Jesus has done this for all of us.

"John says that 

Jesus takes away the sins of the world.

Christ is a Savior.

He did not come to the earth to be a conqueror, 

or a philosopher, 

or a mere teacher of morality.

He came to saves sinners.

He came to do that which man could never do for himself,

to do that which money and learning can never obtain,

to do that which is essential to man's real happiness,

He came to take away sin.

Jesus is a complete Savior.

He took our sins upon Himself and carried them away.

He allowed them to be laid upon His shoulders.

 He bore them in His own body on the cross.

The sins of everyone who believes on Jesus are made as though they had never been sinned at all.

The Lamb of God has taken them clean away.

He did not suffer for a few persons only,

but for all mankind.

The blood that Jesus shed was precious enough to wash away the sins of all."

Whoever you are.

Whatever you have or have not done,

Jesus died for you.

I cannot even fathom this majestic truth in my finite mind,

but, thankfully, God has given me the gift of faith to believe.

I am bowed down in wonder and thanksgiving.

To God be the glory for what He has done!

❤

 

 

happy birthday amanda

You were born on Father's Day!

What a wonderful day to make your entrance into the world.

We had a big Father's Day feast planned,

but you changed all of that.

I remember how happy your Dad was to welcome you that day.

To have a daughter is one of life's greatest blessings.

You bring joy.

You have been so good to me since Bubba died.

You will never know how many times a call from you got me through a really hard day.

You've made me laugh when I was on the verge of another round of tears.

You know how to love and care for me so well.

Happy, happy birthday Amanda.

As you get older, I get older... but that's okay.

The circle of life goes on and we learn and grow through our tears as well as our joys.

See you in a few days to celebrate big!

I love you, 

Mom

💕

 

puzzles and books

I bought a 1,000 piece puzzle the other day...

Noah's Ark.

The Cleland's love puzzles but cannot have one at their house.

They are obsessed.

If there is a puzzle at their house they can get nothing else done.

So I have one at my house.

I thought I would love to work on it but,

no, it is stressful for me, 

and, I can't see and differentiate the pieces very well.

I like to sort the pieces into like colors.

That's my job in this endeavor.

It gets worked on when they come here.

I just finished reading Schindler's List.

It took me a while.

I knew it would be a slow read for me.

In many places, I had to reread to keep all of the characters straight.

To read Schindler's List is to have a new appreciation of freedom and how quickly we can lose it.

What is happening in our country scares me to death.

Following is a quote from the book which encapsulates the whole story.

I have to admit, the book was nothing like I expected.

Now the movie!

I'm not sure I can watch the horrors portrayed.

"He who saves a single life saves the whole world entire."

 

funny girl

Lucy made this photo of me from an app on her phone.

I had to share because of the prominent under-eye circles that it accentuated.

Ever since I was a little girl I have had dark circles under my eyes

but I never thought they looked like this.

Worth sharing ~ kinda funny!

This is a picture of my house as of Tuesday from the rear.

The photo shows the sunroom which is my favorite room except for the walk-in attic.

My new house will be flooded with light.

They are now working on the other side of the duplex.

Hopefully soon the second story will appear.

I am so thankful for how many death issues I have gotten accomplished.

I would say that I am 95% done.

I have a very important meeting tomorrow afternoon.

In spite of the fear and anxiety, I have made the calls and fought the fights.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff,

they comfort me."

Psalm 23:4

"My cup overflows!"

Psalm  23:5

🠝

Truth for me to remember! 

 

one more day

It's been close to 16 months since Bubba left me.

It still seems surreal.

I've said this before, nothing prepares you for the loss of your spouse.

I think that having one more day with Bubba would be hard.

I would have to go through the grief of losing him all over again.

I've come so far,

but if I could have one more day with him,

I would spend it getting him to tell me all he knows about heaven.

That would be a marvelous day, wouldn't it?

I would love to show him the house I am building.

I want to tell him about the ridiculousness of the police pulling me over.

He would be shocked.

He would tell me how sorry he was for what I had to go through.

Then he would make it all right.

Now I have to fight these kinds of battles by myself.

I want to tell him about Hope Bible Church,

how much it's grown,

how lovely the fellowship is,

the music, 

dear friends,

what's going on in everybody's life.

I want to tell him that David is preaching through the gospel of John,

about how it has blessed me and brought healing to my heart.

I want him to know that I dug out his JC Ryle commentaries on the book of John,

and how I can't wait to get to studying every morning.

I want to tell him about everything God has taught me since he left.

I wish that he could have been at our family dinner last night.

I want to hear him rave about my potato salad and comment that it's the best he's ever tasted.

I want him to see how much our grandkids have grown and changed.

I want him to sit by the pool with us and watch them swim.

He would be shocked to know that our Lu is learning to drive.

I want him to be with us when we go to visit Amanda and Mark and Jake and Eli

because we are just not complete without him.

There is always an empty seat at the table and in the van.

I want him to discuss an article that I read on Lucianne this morning.

I want him to tell me that our country is going to survive this madness.

I want him to know that God and our children and grandchildren are taking such good care of me.

 

can't let this steal my joy

I found this a little while ago.

My house is being framed with all of that wood that was delivered earlier this week.

I was over the moon with excitement.

These are the confines I will be living in soon.

So thankful!

My joy plummeted quickly to anger though. 

I had to run in on an errand.

I always take a little barely-there road in the metropolis of 

Thunderbolt, Georgia... 🗲

hardly ever any traffic.

The speed limit is 25mph, but I don't find that to be a problem.

I love to look at the scenery along the way.

Anyway,

There is a stop sign on a road that really isn't much of a road at all.

So,

I didn't come to a complete stop.

I have no idea where he came from, 

but a policeman put on his lights and made me pull over.

I have a court date in August!

I'll probably just pay the fine.

There are no words!

There are words but I will keep them to myself because I support the police.

We need them and I'm thankful they are watching out for us.

👮

Maybe I'm just mad at myself!

Can't let this steal my joy that my house is being framed today.

Cathy

 

just give it time we'll both be fine

I have lumber!

It is real!

Oh my!

It's really happening!

💕

 

gardening & reading

On my tiny little outdoor porch,

 I have managed to have a garden of delights.

Below is what these geraniums looked like when I brought them here in March.

Above is what they look like today.

For some reason, the one in the light blue pot didn't make it.

The other two are obviously thriving.

These were Bubba's babies.

I will be so glad to take them to my new house.

How did I live this long and never read Schindler's List?

"A stunning novel

 based on the true story of how German war profiteer and factory director Oscar Schindler 

came to save more Jews from the gas chambers

 than any other single person during World War II.

In this milestone of Holocaust literature, 

Thomas Keneally uses the actual testimony of the Schindler's Jews

 to brilliantly portray the courage and cunning of a good man in the midst of unspeakable evil."

The New Yor Review of Books

Schindler's List is a hard read emotionally but well worth the effort.

I also just finished reading for the third time Pompeii, by Robert Harris.

I have always been mesmerized by the true devastation caused when Mount Vesuvius erupted and 

covered the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy with a full day of falling ash, pumice stone, and then the final catastrophe, a cloud of poisonous gas.

Chilling and fast-paced,

Pompeii is for sure unputdownable.

Reading on a summer afternoon.

I 💖it!

 

 

dreaming again

Farmgirl Flowers.

I love them.

I have had them delivered to a friend.

I never thought...

One afternoon last week

I had just returned home and was puttering around my apartment

when I thought I heard a rustling at my front door.

I opened the door,

 and low and behold there on my porch

was a box from Farmgirl Flowers.

My heart could hardly contain my excitement.

Someone had sent me flowers from my favorite place.

They were a late Mother's Day gift from 

David and Erika and Lucy and Harry and Gus and Archie and Walt.

I cried with joy.

So fresh!

And the scent permeates my whole living area.

My dream came true!

Y'all, 

I've started to dream again.

I had not dreamed a dream since Bubba died.

Last week they started again.

Kind of random they are,

mostly of people I knew when we lived in Atlanta.

Nothing recent.

Not of Bubba.

But I'm dreaming again.

Could my traumatized brain be starting to fix itself?

The fear...

now I'm dreaming.

💐

 

a day at hilton head

We spent Memorial Day over at Hilton Head Island.

Had lunch at Skull Creek Boathouse,

 a lovely spot nestled under the trees and right by the river you cross to get onto the island.

The weather was delightful.

I needed a wrap.

After we ate, we went down to the dock to look at the boats.

We decided on a sleek model that would seat all 8 of us comfortably.

After working everybody up into a frenzy that I would even consider such a thing,

 we decided to wait a while, think it through, and see what happens.

I have always wanted a boat.

Savannah has so many neat rivers and creeks to explore.

And I want the kids to learn how to water ski like Bubba and I did when we were young.

My Dad had a boat and we spent much time on the water.

No afternoon would be complete without stopping at Coligny Plaza

and visiting the Ice Cream Shop.

We went to the Christmas Shop and the Rock and Mineral Shop.

Such a nice day we had!

We drove home sleepy and happy.

It is such a blessing to live so near to the ocean.

 

Finally

Standing on the firm foundation of my new home.

Gussie and Walt came with me to be the first standers!

We are standing in the new garage which I plan to keep clean and neat.

We didn't get to leave our handprints in the cement but that's okay.

My handprint made from a puddle left by the recent rain shower.

So thankful for the rain!

🏡

 

this is happening...

...at my house, as I write this post.

The foundation is being poured.

It is wet, and movable right now.

It won't be long, though, before it will be the firm foundation I've been waiting for.

I've never seen a setup like this.

I was looking for a truck with a big, rotating canister on the back that keeps the concrete turning.

I have no idea even where this concrete comes from.

Anyway,

This is a huge milestone.

Now I'll be glad to see the framing go up.

Wow!

It's really happening!

 

i never knew this...

I have been praying that God would show me the source of this crippling fear that has overtaken me.

He tells us in His word to "Be anxious for nothing."

He tells us to "Fear not,"

to "take courage,"

to "trust in Him in all things."

It is interesting to note all of the admonitions in the Bible to "fear not."

This conveys a comforting message to us who fear.

God knew we would be afraid and He told us what to do about it

.

In Philippians 4:6 

He said through the Apostle Paul...

"Be anxious for nothing, 

but in everything by prayers and supplication with thanksgiving

 let your requests be made known to God.

 And the peace of God 

which surpasses all comprehension 

will guard your hearts and your minds in

 Christ Jesus."

What a blessed promise we have in these words of God to us.

I had never thought that this fear could be tied in with my grief.

Losing my husband was so traumatic.

I think I'm getting better but maybe not just yet.

Grief has revealed itself as fear in my mortal body and I didn't recognize it.

I am comforted by this thought, this reason for my fear.

My grief is not over.

It wants to lay hold of me and render me helpless.

In Christ I have hope!

Thank You Jesus for revealing this truth to me this morning.

Thank You for giving me hope.

I worship you where I am.