my house one year ago

This was the beginning of my house one year ago.

May 1, 2021.

Archie, Daisy, Walt, and Ruthie are pictured.

I remember my utter joy to ride up and see that dirt plot inside the wooden markers 

for what would one day be my home.

A lot has happened since that day.

Yesterday Walt turned seven.

I still cannot share recent pictures.

I'm still waiting on help from my computer guy.

I will have a lot to share when the issues got repaired.

This morning I rode over to Bluffton, South Carolina, to pick up my vacumes.

That's a long story in itself that I won't get into.

I was scared to death and dreading the trip,

but I made it there and back home safely.

Some of the fears of losing Bubba have not gone away.

Driving is one of them.

The thing is,

I want to keep being independent,

 so I have to push myself to go out of my comfort zone.

Yesterday marked 2 years and 2 months since he left me.

Sometimes I still can't wrap my head around my loss.

Widowhood is not for the fainthearted.

There is still a deep longing in my soul for him to put the garage door up and walk into the house.

I want to be planning a trip with him.

I want him to make me his delicious crab stew.

I need his wisdom.

I want the comfort of knowing that he is nearby watching out for me.

I miss him so much.

 It still hurts.

💙

eli and his gram walking at wormsloe plantation

Still no contact from my computer guy.

He will get to me when he can.

I have almost, notice I say almost,

learned the very fine art of exercising patience.

It is one of the fruits of having the Holy Spirit, you know.

Without Him, I would have no patience at all.

My garage y'all!

I wish I could share a picture.

It is all cleaned out and ready for my van.

But, I refuse to put (the van) in before I get it washed.

It is (the van) covered with pollen and I don't want to bring that inside.

This clean and uncluttered goal should apply to the van as well.

Remember,

I want it to be a "girly garage."

I may even hang some pictures out there.

I highly recommend GotJunk.com for all of your large haul-off trash needs.

I'm loving all this Spring weather.

Thank You, Lord, for the seasons!

Each has something to enjoy.

You, O God, are so very creative!

I worship You and praise You  and thank You that we can know You that way!

 

Got Junk (It'll make sense when you read)

    

I'm having trouble with my computer again.

All of the new photos from the past month are blocked.

So I decided to post an old one from when I and my grandchildren were much younger.

I've contacted my computer guy and am waiting to hear back from him.

In the meantime, I wait.

Moving is such hard work.

I feel like I will never get finished.

I will, I know, but I'm kinda old and slow.

I work at my own pace.

I have an appointment this afternoon with a company called "Got Junk."

They come and haul off the big things...at a ridiculous price,

but, I want to put my car in the garage.

I'm excited about the possibility of that after being here for almost 3 months.

At times like this, I miss Bubba more.

Being without a man in the house who owns a truck is hard.

There are just some things I cannot do!

 

amanda came for a visit

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity...

from getting ready for our Easter celebration,

Amanda's visit,

And everything else in between it's been crazy.

Writing the blog just didn't happen.

Amanda's visits are always short.

She is very busy with her husband, two teenagers, and a home business.

When she does get away, we pack in all the fun things we can think of.

I have Easter pictures to share and some others,

but I wanted to come on quickly to let you know I am still here.

Amanda knows me so well.

I think she even knows what I'm going to say before I say it.

That comes from many years of being mother and daughter.

She is a precious gift of God...

handpicked by Him!

💞

 

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

May all who read this be filled with the knowledge of what Jesus did on the cross.

If you don't know Him, seek Him in God's written Word.

The Bible contains all we need to know in this life.

Pray for understanding.

God looks for those who worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

He will give you wisdom and knowledge if you seek Him with all of your heart.

You will be amazed at what you find in Scripture.

Praise the wonderful, beautiful, precious name of Jesus!

Resurrection Sunday at Hope Bible Church this morning.

The risen Christ is our hope in life and death!

 

good, good friday

 We are so richly blessed!

This is the day that Jesus died on the cross for us!

He paid our sin debt with His own blood!

He reconciled us to a right relationship with God our Father that had been wrecked by sin!

He is right now working in our hearts to prepare us for eternity in heaven!

We will be together for all eternity with Jesus and all who believe by faith in Him!

Hallelujah! 

What a Savior! 

What a future we have in Him!

🕇

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

asphalt ~ bagels ~ comcast

There are some days that it would have probably been better if I'd never gotten out of bed.

Yesterday was one of them!

Asphalt

I didn't know this but, supposedly, a few months back

 a trash truck had a hydraulic fluid leak 

causing the asphalt in my area to have to be replaced.

I saw no signs of this and was taken by surprise.

Yesterday morning an army of trucks and other machinery moved in to begin the repairs.

I had gotten a letter from the HOA and did not mark the date

 so all of this took me completely by surprise. 😕

I cannot drive on the new asphalt 

so I have to park my car way off down the street 

and walk a treacherous path through a construction zone to get to my house.

I needed to go to the grocery store this afternoon 

but decided against

because of having to make numerous trips back and forth lugging the full bags to my house.

Annoying and loud and stinky, but I guess (?) needful.

The new black asphalt does look nice though.

That's my house down on the end.

Bagels

I eat one-half of one cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera Bread every morning.

Have been doing this for several years.

I usually buy a dozen at a time and bring them home to put in the freezer.

More often than not, 

when I manage to get to Panera Bread,

 they have already sold out of cinnamon crunch bagels.

S...o my granddaughter, who is a computer wiz, set me up on their App

and taught me how to preorder early in the morning, pay online, and just stop by and pick them up.

It worked like a charm for my first two tries.

Yesterday I placed my order and paid before 6 am.

When I got there at 9:45am they were sold out.

Nobody had bothered to get my order ready.

So, no bagels for me.

After all of the trouble it took to get to my car because of the asphalt I was quite disappointed.

Meltdown

Not me this time. 😏

When I am alone I usually eat dinner around 5 and by 6 I'm ready to start winding down the day.

The reason for this early wind down is that I usually get up way before the sun appears.

I look forward to some computer time, check my phone, read, watch some HGTV.

Yesterday after dinner I discovered that my whole internet system was down.

TV, computer, the whole setup was gone...black screen.

I did my unplugging and plugging back in routine.

Nothing worked.

So...I called Comcast and spent two hours on the phone with a guy who I could barely understand.

From 6:30 until 8:30 he tried every trick up his sleeve.

He finally got my computer back up and running.

My TV is still dead.

I was so exhausted.

I was just getting ready to tell him I couldn't talk anymore when he ended it.

He lined up a tech guy to come here to my house tomorrow to sort it all out.

I went straight to bed after that.

I was shaking all over. It took me a long time to relax.

You know I don't talk on the phone very much. 

It took everything I had left in me.

Yes! 

Yesterday was one of those days that I should never have gotten out of bed.

Hmmm...I'm going to hide the golden egg for our Easter celebration on Sunday.

I think I have found the perfect place.

😀

 

a very special day

52 years ago, at 4:00 in the afternoon, Bubba and I tied the knot.

We promised before God and friends and family

to commit our lives to each other until death parted us.

April 11 will always be a very special day...

Our wedding day.

I can tell from the beautiful spring weather outside that this was our season.

💞

I'm remembering you today, Bubba.

We almost made it 50 years.

We stayed the course, we finished our marriage well.

Thank you, God, for putting this man in my life.

You brought us together,

You kept us together,

You blessed us in so many ways.

A very special visit

Today Grace and Ivan came to see me.

I consider this trip to be an answer to prayer and a miracle.

They live in California.

More than 5 years ago they were coming to Savannah for Thanksgiving.

They never made it.

Grace had a terrible accident.

She was hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

They hadn't even been married for a year.

The struggle has been real for her and Ivan.

To see her walk in my front door this morning was a gift.

God has done a mighty work of healing.

She has come so far.

She radiates the Love of God along with Ivan.

They are a testimony to the Lord.

Today is a beautiful day of thanksgiving and remembrance.

 

happy birthday archie #14

Saturday night was the first birthday party in my new home.

The first time I cooked all day in my new kitchen.

The first time we played lawn darts in the new backyard.

It was all delightful.

Archie turned 14.

I cannot believe I now have 5 teenage grandchildren.

Time is really moving along at a rapid pace!

I thank the Lord every day that He brought Arch to us all the way from China to be a part of our family.

He is tall and handsome.

He studies hard and gets good grades.

He always remembers his manners.

He loves his people!

He is a no-nonsense guy,

a bit of a perfectionist,

and a very good basketball player.

For his birthday dinner he wanted chicken wings,

Grammy's red rice,

Grammy's potato salad,

Broccoli slaw,

 yeast rolls,

and his great-grandmother Gi's sour cream pound cake which Lucy made for me.

To go with the cake I had fresh strawberries and real whipped cream.

The meal was very much appreciated by the birthday boy.

Happy Birthday, Archie!

I love you!

Gram

💙

 

the rest of the randomness pics ~ seeing hearts

My washing machine was always a lemon.

The repairman who worked on it acknowledged as much.

No matter how many times he came he could not get it fixed.

It literally tore up my linens.

So sad!

I have a new one now.

Laundry-doing day has turned back into the pleasure it always was for me.

One day recently I was folding my towels and I saw a heart...

beautifully formed,

the best random heart I've ever found.

Life is like this heart I think,

literally torn to pieces but still a thing of beauty.

My life is kinda like this heart.

Ragged around the edges.

It reminds me of me.

This is what the Ikea shelves in the attic look like now.

My books up top ~ my pictures on the bottom.

They are becoming the staging area for everything I unpack from a box 

and have no idea what to do with.

I still have never-ending work to do up there!

I finally replaced the filthy piece of carpeting that the builders left at my front door.

It was very uninviting but I never got out there to deal with it.

Now that people are stopping by for a visit,

I decided I needed to step the front entrance up a bit.

I still can't believe that this is my home.

That's all the pictures in my randomness series for now.

😀

 

HOME

I knew Bubba's heart.

I knew the things he loved and the thing that broke his heart.

I know that as his life was ending here on earth he was compelled to share Jesus with his friends.

He loved his children and his grandchildren with a deep passion.

Those kids even now tell stories of conversations they had with him and things they did together.

They remember him so fondly and miss him greatly.

I know more than anything else how much he loved me.

As I contemplate my life two years after his death,

I know that he would be pleased with where I have landed.

He would love my new HOME.

He would be amazed at how strong I have become and what I have accomplished.

He would be so grateful for his children's guidance 

and all of the help they give me.

HOME is where my heart is.

Half of me is in heaven and the other half is here on earth.

Every day I pray that Jesus will, even so, come quickly.

I'd say goodbye to this evil world in a heartbeat to be with Him.

No more sin, satan, and death.

No more tears.

I want to see Bubba again.

I want to tell him about this place God has given me.

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

He would be so proud.

I want to tell him that our Arch is turning 14 this week

 and that there will be a big party here at the new house next Saturday.

Somehow, though, I think Bubba knows these things.

That's what eternal life is all about.

I'll love you forever and I'll see you again!!!!

💙

 

randomness

I'm going to try jumping back into blogging with some random pictures from the last three weeks.

It's taken me a while to get over the effects of "the shot."

I'm left with a propensity to hum constantly which I'm trying hard to overcome.

I also still feel revved up inside.

Definity something weird blindsided me.

The first picture is at Sea World.

Grammy and some of the boys were intently watching the antics of the dolphins.

They are so entertaining.

This is the current state of one of the walk-in attics.

That's where all of the unpacked boxes are...

seasonal decor and regular decor.

At this point, I hardly know the difference.

They can stay up there for as long as it takes because they are hidden away.

(very thankful for these hiding places)

Downstairs looks almost like I'm all moved in.

This is my favorite part of the attic.

All of the IKEA bookcases will be here.

I have made a lot of progress since this picture was taken.

I have unpacked my books,

(one of the very first things I did)

and put them on the shelves.

They are not in alphabetical order by author yet,

but I can at least see them.

Reading is very important to me.

I wrote this yesterday and didn't publish because I thought I would get back to it...

Obviously, I didn't.

The family came for dinner last evening and I got busy.

So here is the start of my random pictures.

More later...

cc

 

prayer