a much-anticipated taste

This boardwalk goes down to a little island behind my apartment.

After our Thanksgiving feast in my cozy apartment,

After a short rest time,

Before we went to see my new house,

we went for a walk to explore the beauty out over the marsh.

This was our group selfie.

A new pillow on an old, old sofa that abides in my apartment.

It, the sofa, is probably forty years old.

It may or may not be transported to my new house.

I haven't decided yet.

We had turkey and dressing,

Sweet potato souffle,

Green beans,

Macaroni and cheese,

Corn casserole,

Cranberry congealed salad with fresh orange dressing,

Yeast rolls,

and,

Mark's famous pumpkin pie.

It was all delicious.

We drug it back out yesterday and enjoyed it all over again.

Then, the rest of the leftovers went home with the Hollingsworths.

The Thanksgiving food is a much-anticipated taste.

Tablescape...

Sculpted Daisy.

My wedding dishes.

Fifty-One years later they are still being used and cherished.

The smallest group ever, 

but very sweet fellowship.

I loved every minute of our "cozy" celebration.

It is so healing to be thankful.

I think I love Thanksgiving the best!

 

happy, happy day of thanks

It was one of those beautiful, magical days.

Thank you, Lord!

 

happy thanksgivng everybody

Just be thankful!

Honor God with the joy of a grateful heart.

He has blessed us so abundantly.

Never forget!

Remember,

 God is always good.

 

shades of gray

I waited a month.

My closing date was pushed out into January.

My move-in day was delayed indefinitely...

All of this for them to order, receive AND start to install the WRONG Flooring.

Thankfully Erika found this happening yesterday.

She called me immediately.

I called my go-to person.

It was human error.

Somebody ordered the wrong flooring.

Lots of it.

Enough to do my whole house.

Silverstone Chestnut.

Several different shades of gray.

I would never choose gray flooring.

 This is the flooring I chose...

This is the flooring I got.

Silverstone chestnut.

Thankfully they had only installed it in my bedroom.

So,

It all has to be taken up and taken out of the house.

It will have to be ordered again.

Then I wait for it to come in again.

Then I wait for it to be installed again.

In the meantime, I wait...

Patiently.

Give thanks in EVERY situation; 

this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

God's timing is perfect!!!!

 

new chairs ~ no more pews

This is our church.

We recently got new chairs.

They are so much more comfortable than the pews we had before.

This is the view from the pulpit looking toward the front of the church.

There is plenty of room for you to come.

We would love to see you.

A change of plans...

I was scheduled to spend the week of Thanksgiving down at the Hollingsworth house.

It was to be a return to summer for a few days.

I had written out each day's projected temperature on a slip of paper.

It was to be beautiful weather.

Sandals and linen and no sweaters or coats.

but...

Last Monday I came down with a really bad sinus infection

which rendered me useless for a few days.

I got sick soon after that meeting with my designer on Monday afternoon.

The bug hit me quickly.

I didn't expect it.

It came anyway.

When I was still not well on Thursday, we called the trip off.

The Hollingsworth family is coming to Savannah.

We will have Thanksgiving at my apartment.

That's okay!

I'll travel down there to see them soon.

I need to get well.

I rarely get sick anymore.

This change of plans is clearly God-ordained.

ALL of my Fall and Christmas decorations are packed away in the storage place.

I was supposed to move into my new house in October.

I never even processed last February that I would need any of that stuff before I moved in.

The holiday things were packed first and put in the very back of the huge holding area.

I am making do...

living simply!

It's okay.

God is good all of the time and I am thankful!

 

yesterday's surprise

Garage doors!

Garage doors make me "feel" like my house is ready to move in,

but it's not.

I spent a good amount of time talking to the building supervisor yesterday.

She was very upset about the delay in the flooring.

If not for that, she said, I would be moving in mid-December.

I assured her that I was fine.

Waiting patiently is a good testimony.

She told me that they would brick the driveway this week.

And, they will be bricking the front porch post.

Also, the landscape may be in at the end of the week.

It was so nice to speak with her.

They are continuing to work on everything else as we wait.

At the end of last week, I got an e-mail from my designer.

"Hi Mrs. Cleland, unfortunately, the countertops that you chose have been discontinued."

What?

A sentence beginning with "unfortunately" is never a good sign.

"Not to worry!"

"This won't delay you much at all if you can choose one that is in stock and ready to go."

Erika and I met her yesterday and after much ado, we found one that would work.

A call to the vendor assured us that it was available.

She got out all of my choices and it looks great.

The piece of quartz pictured above is not the one we chose, but it is very similar.

I love how it blends so well with the backsplash.

I can't think of one more thing that can delay things now unless the workers start falling out.

Most of the solid wood stair treads are in.

Below is the landing.

They have not been stained yet.

Everything is so dirty.

I have the blackest dirt I've ever seen in my yard.

It has been tracked into the house.

Will need a thorough cleaning.

🧹

 

"let not your heart be troubled"

I've been mulling over this post for almost a month.

When I write about the things of God I feel inadequate.

Spiritual things are weighty and personal.

I just can't do them justice.

With that said, I will move on.

Bubba's death on so many Saturdays ago was a bellwether time in my life.

It was as if all that happened before was leading me to this era of widowhood.

Now, nothing seems more important than what is happening in my heart.

I am drawn to prayer and the reading and studying of His word as never before.

David has been preaching through the gospel of John for some time now.

We have made it steadily to chapter 14.

The opening sentence speaks...

"Let not your heart be troubled."

That drew me in.

It's one thing to read your Bible.

It's another thing to study it in depth.

The word of God is how Jesus communicates His truth to us through the work of His Spirit.

I'm using the two commentaries above to help me learn the truths contained in this chapter.

Jesus was speaking these words to His disciples on the night before He died.

He was going to the cross but He was comforting and teaching His friends.

Early in the morning before the sun comes up.

Curled up with a cozy, warm throw in front of a fire.

Soaking up the truth and then praying for everybody I know.

It is a glorious time ~ the best part of my day.

I would encourage you to read and study the words of God. 

Start with the Gospel of John.

These two commentaries are worth whatever you have to pay for them.

I will use the word thrilling.

The things I'm learning are thrilling.

I want all of us to be together one day in heaven rejoicing.

All sin will be gone. 

We will be free.

No more tears.

No more separation or estrangement.

I cannot wait for that day!

💗

 

house news clip

 

So much progress on my house is happening.

The finishing touches are moving quickly ahead while waiting for the flooring to arrive.

This is the master bathroom shower.

Love the bench!

 

A little touch of my favorite color in the shower niche.

This will be the accent color throughout the house.

Turquoise beach blue~green.

The fireplace bricking is done.

I really did pick various shades of white for my predominant color.

I absolutely love this fireplace.

Picking out shutters and shades. 

The driveway has been poured.

Everywhere with gaps will be bricked.

Maybe that's when they will do the front doorpost.

I love this beautifully curved sidewalk along the side of my house.

The boys will love riding their scooters here!

Side entry in the garage.

There will be a little enclosure here for my trash container.

I think the air conditioners will sit here as well..

Small back patio.

There will be a fence between me and my neighbors.

I love this area and can't wait to make it beautiful!

This is the door to the kitchen pantry.

It has frosted glass.

It looks lovely with the light on behind it.

What a blessing this journey has turned out to be.

Wish I was sharing this home with Bubba but it wasn't to be.

I am so very thankful for everything God has provided.

I can't wait to move in!

time change and high, high tides

I just wish they would stop messing with our clocks.

Please just decide on a good time and let it alone for perpetuity.

No more springing forward and falling back.

I honestly believe that my body is allergic to this time change thing.

I wake up super early.

I want to eat lunch at 10:30 am and supper at 4:00 pm.

I am not tired at bedtime.

Why does this happen twice in one year?

It's insane!

This is so true!!!

I wrote in my last post about all of the rain we had over the weekend.

It finally stopped yesterday morning after I got to church.

We also had extremely high tides...

might have even broken some records.

The road to Tybee often has to close because the tides cover the road.

Well, 

this morning when I went to get in the tank,

(Bubba's large van),

the river that flows by my apartment was emptying itself into the parking lot.

I hurriedly jumped in.  backed out, and just escaped a catastrophe.

Thankfully tides go back out after they come in.

You just have to wait a while.

Later, when I got back home, the flood had gone back to where it belonged.

So thankful!

More house news coming soon.

 

I love summer! Where did it go?

It's been raining and cold and breezy for two days now.

Yesterday was water aerobics.

It was the hardest of hard to make myself leave my warm apartment and go get in that pool.

I've just gotten started back and I didn't want to miss a session.

It was even harder to get out of the pool and make it back to my car in the freezing rain.

This morning the cold weather made me unpack all of my winter clothes.

Now I don't want to deal with them.

I found my favorite sweatshirt and put it on. That's all I really wanted!

All I want to do is cover up with a cozy throw in front of the fire and read, 

 and watch all five seasons of Downton Abbey including the bloopers.

I guess since I made all of that effort to exercise yesterday I will be okay. 😉

I 💗 Summer!

Where did Summer go?

I'm so not ready for winter.

~~~~~~

I haven't been to my house since early Tuesday morning.

 I needed a short break after the setback.

I'll probably go back tomorrow afternoon to walk around and take pictures when the workers aren't there.

I took these pictures last Sunday.

Master bath tile.

Wood for the stair treads going upstairs.

Brick for the kitchen backsplash and the fireplace.

Literally, everything I chose for my house is some shade of white 

except for the black hardware in the kitchen.

😮

All of the brickwork is done except for the bottom of this post.

I hope they didn't forget!

I still 💗 my all white 🏡!

setback

On Tuesday morning, 

November 2, 2021, 

at 6:05 in the morning,

 I got this message from the go-to person for my house.

Good Morning Cathy,

I wanted to share with you an update. 

We do have a backlog on flooring and your flooring is running behind.

It is expected to be here by the end of this month instead of today.

This will push your closing back to January.

As you can see I am smiling.

My shirt says Thankful.

That's why I took a three-month longer lease on my apartment.

I fully expected that in the end there would be a setback.

This is the first delay I have had.

There is a lot about this that doesn't make sense.

I chose this flooring back in February.

I thought they had ordered it a long time ago.

Oh well, I'm fine.

I have a place to live until February sixth.

I just hope the interest rates don't go up before I get my closing date.

 

Yesterday,

after I kept the "littles" in the nursery during Sunday School,

after I worshipped with my brothers and sisters in Christ,

after we ate Mexican for lunch,

I came home and took a nap.

It felt good!

After all that,

I grabbed my camera and headed out to my house.

I wanted time to myself to just walk around,

look at everything,

study the sunlight and how it shines through the windows,

decide whether I like this white on white on white house I've created.

Do I want to repaint with my favorite colors or leave it like it is?

I haven't decided yet.

The room pictured above is the kid's room.

It is upstairs.

The room has a half wall.

The door leads into the gigantic walk-in attic.

The attic.

The alcove in the attic.

This will be lined with bookshelves full of all of my books.

At the end, under the window, will be a comfy chair.

There will be a lamp and a cozy throw to wrap up in on cold days.

I have named this place my reading nook.

All of this space would have been the fourth bedroom in the house.

I am excited to use it as attic space.

The kids are excited to use it to play hide and seek and such.

Lucy is interested in the reading nook.

I have more pictures and thoughts like these for my next post...

maybe tomorrow.

I 💗 my 🏡