God bless you

Saturday evening, 

after a trip to eat at Jason's Deli,

we went over to look at all of the work that's been done on Hope Lane.

The kids were amazed to see how it's all coming together.

Everybody was everywhere.

Upstairs, 

in the bathroom,

on the roof, 

at the house next door,

in the attic,

in the garage,

 in the backyard.

 Lucy was even, at one point, driving around the neighborhood in the car by herself.

It was a free-for-all of wild excitement with a hint of what's to come.

We finally corralled everybody to get this pic of us standing in front of the new door.

The building of this house is a joy ride.

Everybody loves it!

Remember when we wrote the Bible verses on the studs on July 4th?

Erika found this one written by one of the workers.

What a blessing!

Someone read the verses that we all wrote and responded.

God's word never returns void.

I can hardly stay away now.

I want to spend all of my time at this house that is filled with blessings.

I have almost decided what I'm going to do about moving out of this apartment.

I will have to let the office know by September 9th.

I will let you know soon.

GOD BLESS YOU

 

the best blessings

At my beach house

I had Walter sitting on the deck taking some pictures for me this morning.

He caught some dolphins at play and a huge container ship.

🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬

You can't see the dolphins, but he got a pretty good shot of the ship.

ZIM

Thank You Lord for this place in the sun, 🌞

for the most incredible views in all of Tybee Island,

for the ocean and all of its glory. 

Thank you Bubba for this gift you gave to me.

I still miss you so much,

my companion and my best friend in the world.

This afternoon I braved the horrendous Friday afternoon traffic in Savannah.

I didn't expect any work to have been done on my house.

To my delight, I have shingles on my roof.

I'm thinking that maybe the permits came in?

Or maybe they could put the shingles on without the permits?

My house is dry now.

It has a roof with shingles and windows and doors.

I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving and praise for what God has done for me.

 

and now i wait

After a week of not looking, 

I stopped by my house this afternoon.

I found it quiet.

Not a soul was anywhere in sight.

It had been swept clean.

All of the electrical work is neatly in place.

Heat and air conditioning ducts are snaking all through the rafters.

Then I remembered.

I got an e-mail from the builders a few weeks ago.

"There will be another series of building permits needed before the work can continue."

So, the house is in limbo...

waiting to be inspected and found in order.

Who knows how long that will take.

In the meantime, it will sit quietly,

 waiting for the government to give it the nod.

Patience, Cathy!

On the bright side,

I found that the bench in my shower had been framed up.

It's the little things like this that make me so excited.

This is upstairs.

Maybe another attic?

The house has all kinds of nooks and crannies.

My tooth

🦷

After a week of excruciating pain,

 I went back to the dentist this morning.

Come to find out, the tooth that was extracted last week developed a dry socket.

I had to be numbed up again and that socket had to be cleaned out.

It was another round of torture.

I'm out of pain now,

 but I have to take a round of antibiotics.

I'm just thankful that is over.

 

God knows what I need

I saw this quote last week.

I keep going back to it.

Why would a Christian want to be out of God's will?

His perfect will may be hard with much pain and sorrow, 

but there is no other place I would want to be.

God knows best what I need.

God is faithful and His word is true.

He loves me with an unfailing love.

His grace is sufficient.

He is God!

"My sins they are many ~ His mercies are more."

 

the dental chair

Thursday morning, quite unexpectedly, I ended up in the dental chair.

After two hours of torture, I was finally set free.

My bridge broke and had to be replaced.

I won't even tell you how much money left my bank account.

I have been in a lot of pain because there was an extraction.

My mouth hurts,

  it bled,

  it caused me not to be able to sleep last night.

I have once again lost the ability to remotely taste anything.

All that to say,

the radiation the cured my cancer destroyed m teeth.

They are slowly crumbling away.

I am probably fighting a losing battle,

but so far I have options to work with the teeth I have left.

I am thankful for doctors and skilled technicians that can work miracles.

My mouth will heal.

My new bridge will be beautiful.

You won't even be able to tell that a few of my teeth are not real.

Being able to chew is not overrated.

Isn't it amazing how God gave our bodies everything we need to live and thrive?

😁

 

front door & a spinning head

I found this front door installed at my new home this morning.

There are multiple layers going on in the picture...

the door itself,

me taking the picture,

and,

the windows in the sunroom at the back of the house.

The workers were busy installing all things electrical.

There were myriads of spools of wiring all over.

Wires were hanging from the ceiling.

Such an amazing array is needed to power a dwelling.

The funniest thing was that there was some really loud Mexican music blaring.

It felt like a party was going on.

🥳

I woke up Sunday morning and I couldn't focus on the clock.

My head was spinning.

I was disoriented.

I quickly got on my back and set my sights on a straight line in front of my bed.

Sunday is my favorite day of the week.

I love to go to church.

Never want to miss...so

I made myself get up,

jumped in the shower, 

and started washing my hair.

That was a mistake.

I barely made it back to the bed before I was in full dizzy mode.

Wet hair and all,

I was down for the count.

Church became a distant dream as I wallowed in misery for a while.

😰

Vertigo.

I had experienced it before.

I recognized the symptoms.

Last time I had to go to the hospital.

This time I was scared.

Alone.

First time since Bubba left me that I'd been sick.

I prayed for mercy.

God heard my prayer.

At some point,

 Amanda texted me some head-turning exercises to do.

The premise is to balance out the inner ear.

They worked.

I started feeling better...

was able to walk to the kitchen and get a bit of food.

I survived!

But I missed church.

🌀

Caught up in a whirlwind!

 

david and harry

Harry, my 13-year-old grandson, was in a wedding last weekend.

He looked so handsome in his navy blue suit.

So grown-up too.

I thought I would share since you don't see young boys in suits very much anymore.

I am so proud of him!

Some of the men in my life.

I love them so much.

I am surely one blessed Mom and Gram.

💙💙

 

i have windows in my new house

I dropped by my house on the way to gather food for myself this morning.

It had been since Monday.

I found that the whole house has windows now.

I just love watching this amazing gift take shape.

The whole house has been wrapped in white paper.

(I'm sure it's not paper)

All it needs is a big red bow.

I'm not at all sure about that cut-out over the garage.

This is the side view facing the street.

My text should read master bathroom instead of master bedroom.

I found these gorgeous doors leaning in the garage.

Windows and doors somehow make it all seem more real.

The guys are working so hard on my home.

I never go by and find no work going on.

I am so thankful that everything is moving right along.

"Unless the Lord build the house,

they labor in vain who build it."

Psalm 127:1

Last year when I memorized this verse,

 I had no idea I'd be watching my house being built this year.

🏡

 

move in info

This is what my house will look like when it is finished.

That is a real gas lantern shining on the front porch.

(another reason I bought the house)

I went today to find out what the timeline will be for moving in.

Looks like it may be anywhere from mid to late December.

That's about 2 months longer than I planned for.

Hopefully, I can convince them to let me extend my lease here at the apartment.

It's hard for me to visualize what Christmas will look like this year.

All I know is that my decorations are at the very back of the storage house.

We will have to get really creative with how we will celebrate this year.

🎄🎅

I do know this...

God is in complete control of me and this house.

I will wait for Him.

He has blessed me with this home.

  I want to honor Him with my whole heart as I wait for His timing.

That is the model home up there in the picture

which explains why there is shrubbery growing in front of the garage doors.

I probably won't have that in front of my garage.

 

what's been done in my house this week

If you come to my new house to stay for a while,

there will be a place for you to bathe.

And if you come to visit me in the winter we can sit by the fire.

The sunroom is literally surrounded by light.

This will be where I sit and read.

My no step-up walk-in shower.

There will be a bench and a niche.

This is that walk-in attic I bought the house for.

It is completely floored with no obstacles.

This is the dog house that you see on the outside of my house.

These walls will be lined with shelves from IKEA.

This attic can be easily transformed into a fourth bedroom for

 whoever lives there after I go to heaven.

Looking from the kid's room down into my bedroom.

This room is also surrounded by windows for maximum light.

🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡

It's taking shape.

I can visualize the rooms now.

I can imagine myself living there.

Every time I drive through the neighborhood I love it more.

On Monday I will meet with the sales rep to see what the projection is for me to move-in.

I've got to start planning for that as I've mentioned before.

The house has come a long way from that flat concrete slab of a foundation.

To God be the glory!

Great things He has done.

 ♡

 

"indeed, may you see your children's children."

This picture was taken back in June.

We were visiting the Loggerhead Turtle Center in Juno Beach, Florida.

 The heights of our kiddos can be measured when they stand before this poster.

Looks like we've got two approaching six feet.

Why in the world are they growing so fast?

These are some of my best blessings from the Lord!

He has allowed me to see and love our grandchildren.

💙💗💙💙

💙💙💙

"Indeed, may you see your children's children."

Psalm 128:6

Hope Bible Church has been proclaiming the Psalms of Ascents this summer.

Psalms 120 ~ 134.

It has been so refreshing to travel with the Psalmists up to Jerusalem in these inspired writings.

Our church is host to Shepherd's Seminary.

We are just before cranking up the Fall semester.

Many of our young men are taking courses and preparing to preach. 

All of them have preached this summer, some more than once.

Of course, I hang on every word.

Last Sunday we heard Psalm 128 proclaimed.

That's where I came across the verse about

"Seeing your children's children."

👀

 

perfect in all of his ways

Of all the cat pictures I have ever taken,

this one is without a doubt my absolute favorite!

In collaboration with Eli, I was able to get this amazing shot of Rocky,

the newest addition to the Hollingworth family.

I'm not sure if he is praying or playing his trombone,

but I have laughed aloud every time I look at this photo.

Rocky was rescued from the median of a busy highway in Jupiter, Florida.

His family has deemed him "Perfect in all of his ways."

I have to agree. 

He brought so much laughter to my time with them.

He is a blonde, tabby, loving, highly personable ball of fur.

I love him and wish he was mine.

Maybe they will bring him for a short stay at my house and leave him with me forever.

🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

 

grandboys and my house

Off to church with Jake and Eli who are, in case you haven't noticed,

taller than me.

How did that happen?

These boys are no longer engaged in childish things.

They have a podcast, they make videos, and one of them has a stellar singing voice.

The best thing about being around them?

They make me laugh out loud.

I love them!

Yesterday I went to check on my house. 

I actually went inside for the first time since it has had ceilings and walls and such.

Here I am standing on my front porch.

It is a shotgun.

I can see straight through to the sunroom and the backyard.

I love the wide and inviting foyer!

This is my bedroom.

I love all of the windows.

These are the stairs to the second floor.

Up there will be the kid's room and...

the largest walk-in attic I've ever seen in a house.

If the truth be known,

it is why I bought the house.

Seeing these stairs make things real.

Can I hope my house will be ready by the middle of November?

I will live on Hope Lane you know.

It's another reason I bought this house.

Who wouldn't want to live on Hope Lane?

And my church that I love is Hope Bible Church.

And my hope is in Jesus Christ.

Hope is very good you know!

♡