a foretaste of heaven

"The Holy Spirit within us gives us what we as Christians should be enjoying ~ 

a foretaste of heaven!

Our coming together in public worship should be a foretaste of heaven.

As we meet together to consider the great doctrines of the Bible,

and as we study them and discuss them,

we are having a foretaste of heaven.

Public worship should be a sampling of what is to be our lot in heaven.

The chief two blessings in heaven 

will be to see our blessed Lord & Savior,

and to become like Him.

To see our Blessed Lord and Savior face to face,

to see God;

this is beyond our comprehension,

and we cannot grasp it because it is so glorious.

But in heaven we shall see God,

and look into the face of our blessed Savior who died for us.

All we have at present,

even our highest experiences,

are the firstfruits;

they are only the foretaste of bliss.

Now...'we see through a glass darkly.'

But thank God 

that what I do see now is a part of the eternal glory,

it is an installment, 

it is the firstfruits,

it is a foretaste.

It is not only a guarantee,

it is a part of the thing itself.

I am entering into the glory in a measure even now.

It begins here on earth imperfectly

and only in small portions;

Nevertheless it is real,

a part of the glory itself,

as much as I can stand and bear in the flesh."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

An Exposition of Ephesians One

I love this!

This is what the true Christian Church is all about.

This is why I can't wait to get there on Sunday mornings.

Will you join us?

seeing hearts

I was sitting on our balcony at Ponte Vedra Beach the other week.

It was very early in the morning.

I was watching the sun rise and taking pictures back to back...

 searching specifically for hearts in the clouds.

While looking back at the pictures the other day I found this one,

 It took my breath away.

Looking for hearts in ordinary things is something I love to do.

The right side of this one is somewhat distorted

 by the rays of the sun shining brightly through the clouds,

but clearly there is a heart there.

Hey,

God sees our hearts.

Did you know?

"I, the Lord, search the heart,

 I test the mind,

Even to give every man according to his ways,

and according to the fruit of his doings."

Jeremiah 17:10

What does He find in Your heart?

Do you love Him?

Are you desiring Him with all of your being?

He is always waiting for those who are seeking Him.

Those who look for Him diligently will always find Him.

Read God's word.

He's waiting for you there.

💗

summertime fun

This weekend we hosted Archie & Harry at our house.

I'll just say this...

It was the weekend of bike riding.

A couple of weeks ago our neighbor on the corner

 put two bikes out by the street on top of a mattress to be discarded.

I saw them on my way into town that morning.

They were still there when I came home later in the day.

When Bubba got home we walked down and brought them home with us.

We were so excited!

Neither one of them would roll.

We had to carry them.

He took them to our bike shop and had them reconditioned.

The green one went to Harry and the other one will go to Jake.

They are in perfect condition.

Archie inherited Harry's old bike.

Yesterday morning, 

Bubba picked the boys up early and took them out to the Landings to ride.

They came home hot and exhausted but very excited.

After resting

 we took them to Papa's for shrimp.

We then came home 

and I watched the fifth Harry Potter movie with them.

This morning when they finally woke up,

(we wore them out yesterday)

we served them breakfast in front of the television

so that they could watch Scooby Do cartoons.

They loved it!!

Harry and I played two games of checkers.

I am teaching him how to play.

I won both games but he did much better the second time.

Then more bike riding before they left to go home.

I love children!

I like to talk to them, watch them, play with them.

I like to make them happy.

What a blessing they are.!!!

Right before they left Archie said to me,

"Grammy, I have so much fun at your house!"

He made my day!!

Oh by the way,

Harry found a small snake out in the cul de sac.

He was dead, frying on the hot asphalt.

He wanted to have a burial for him

bur Granddaddy said no to that.

He told him to throw him down the storm drain.

🐍

He borrowed his Granddaddy's glove to do the honors.

Life with boys!!

Recently Harry brought a lizard in his hands to my backdoor.

I freaked.

I thought the boy knew better!!!

🦎

first day of summer

Summer 2019 is officially here.

It arrived at 11:54 am on June 21, 2019.

Today is the Summer Solstice...

the longest day of the year.

Enjoy!

😊

this is 13 (and a half)

I have always, always been enamored of this girl.

She is my Lu girl,

Lu Blue,

A huge ray of sunshine in my life.

She has waited patiently for me to get better.

The cancer knocked my socks off.

It rendered me unable to function for quite a while.

This girl hung in there with me.

She would quietly ask...

"You feeling better Gram?"

"Are you able to taste anything yet?"

She would bring me little gifts that she made,

a scented candle,

a small bouquet of flowers,

a bookmark...

she shares my passion for reading.

Her heart of compassion is simply genuine.

Last Friday we had a date.

I picked her up and we headed straight for the beach.

We ate at The Crab Shack which used to be a regular haunt for us.

We had to check on CJ the cat and Gilbert the bird.

We had to get our "half and half" pictured below.

She eats the crab and the corn and I nibbled on a few shrimp.

I'm still not eating much.

She understands completely.

The fun for us is being together and sharing a meal.

Afterwards we fed the alligators and then headed for the condo pool.

Then we came home and watched a movie...

The Greatest Showman.

On Saturday morning we got out the games...

Uno,

Spot It,

Old Maid,

&

Monopoly.

All the old favorites we always played.

We laughed and laughed,

bent double,

tears of joy pouring out.

Before I took her home we had lunch at the Mexican place

and then bought some books at Barnes and Noble.

I had some good coupons.

📚

The old lady and the pretty young girl have a great time together.

She is one of God's gift to me.

Thank You Lord!

"You Set Off A Dream In Me"

Never Enough

The Greatest Showman

happy father's day

The father of our children and the father of our grandchildren.

Lucy opted out of this all male photo shoot.

What a happy day this has been.

Church this morning.

A Bar B Que this afternoon.

Lawn darts.

Gifts from the children to the men in their lives.

A homemade pecan pie.

Smiles galore.

I just feel incredibly blessed in this life that God has given me.

So thankful to be a part of this group.

So joyous for the people God handpicked to be our family.

From all over the world they have come to sit at our table,

to fill up our lives with joy and gladness.

Thank you Lord Jesus!

gorgeous, perfect afternoon

Did you know that Tybee's North End

is the northernmost point on the Georgia coast?

@riverrat_productions

I did not know this!

Such an interesting picture!

That's our condo straight ahead..

the first long row of places you see.

Our space is on the front looking out over the beach and the water.

I'm going to get Lucy and we're going to the beach on this absolutely beautiful June afternoon.

Too gorgeous not to go.

I think we'll eat at the Crab Shack and then 

play in the sand a bit.

🏖

"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

was blind but now I see."

flash floods and geraniums

What do you do when it's raining thundering and lightning?

What do you do when  Accuweather.com

has announced a flash flood warning?

What do you do when it just keeps raining and raining and then it rains some more?

Well,

Bubba goes out to start some new geranium plants a growing.

He calls himself "the plant surgeon."

He makes precise cuts on the stems and plants them very carefully in Miracle Grow soil.

I have to admit that he knows what he is doing.

We have a plethora of beautiful geraniums around our homestead.

He just came in to get a shower...

"soakin" wet from head to toe.

This hobby of his makes me very happy.

Golly,

it has been raining all afternoon.

We may just have a flood after all.

A month of drought and now a week of constant rain.

So, so thankful for the abundance of blessings coming down from the sky

and from the hands of my husband!

new beach hat

The crepe mrytles are gorgeous...

more blooms than they've ever had.

I stopped to smell the flowers before we left for church this morning.

FYI they have no sweet scent.

Somehow it became the perfect time to model my new hat.

BTW I didn't actually wear it to church.

Poor person who sat behind me wouldn't be able to see.

👀

We are making up for all the rain we didn't get in the last month.

How perfectly refreshing!

What a lovely Sunday afternoon nap I just had.

Lots of thunder & lightning.

The grass is soaking it up and trying to grow again in the dead areas.

So...

this morning before church,

 I managed to decimate something very dear to me.

You have seen before on this blog my tall glass container of shells,

a lifetime of shell collecting,

 displayed with love on our coffee table.

Long story short,

that container of beautiful shells of all sizes

fell over and broke into a maze of shattered glass.

The noise of it all brought Bubba running down the stairs.

He thought something had happened to me.

It was totally my fault...

can't blame anyone but myself.

After the shock and the sounds of breaking glass,

I sat down in my chair and cried.

After the cry,

I felt better.

Very sad!

Most of the shells remained intact.

Thankful for Bubba who came quickly to comfort and console and help me clean up the mess.

Thankful to God that no one got hurt.

Thankful for Pottery Barn on line that I was able to find a similar vase.

I will recreate that beauty.

a perfect storm

Yesterday afternoon we had a monster of a thunderstorm.

David and Erika and the kids were here.

We were all sitting around the table eating and talking and laughing

when all of a sudden there was the sound of a very loud and very close explosion.

We looked at each other and asked,

"What was that?"

It was thunder.

We didn't even see the lightning but it had to be nearby.

Afterward came the deluge.

Rain and tons of rain came gushing out of the sky.

We were all ecstatic.

We ran out on the back porch to witness the rare event.

It had been months since we had a good rain.

 Such a marvelous sight!

Thank you Lord for the rain.

 We sure needed it!

Hopefully the grass will live and not die.

🌧

These are my newest Vietre' dinner plates.

Yes, I am obsessed with them.

They are the color of the ocean and the color of the walls in our house.

These are our summer place settings.

New quilted placemats too.

White, just perfect to feed our plethora of boys on. 😉

Dinners are very special here.

A lot of planning and work goes into each meal.

I simply must have the table set perfectly...

sometimes bouquets of flowers,

always lit candles.

🕯️

This is my now famous pie...

Atlantic Beach Pie.

Key lime with made from scratch whipped cream.

Everybody loves it.

I can't taste it any more but I love to make it for others to enjoy.

Hoping for more rain this afternoon.

Nothing like rainy days in Georgia.

we got it all wrong

I refuse to start out this post with a picture of an armadillo.

These are some of the flowers that I planted last week.

I love the blue flower pot.

It looks great in the yard with the green grass and the pine straw.

So...I will start with what we got wrong.

The deer have not returned.

So thankful for that!

Deer don't destroy just one or two plants,

they destroy everything you've got and you can't get rid of them.

They are unrelenting.

Cute in a Bambi sort of way, 

but not as yard guests helping themselves to all of the flowers.

🦌

Our problem is All about Armadillos.

We thought there was just one...

but actually two of the critters had taken up residence in our forest.

The one that Bubba shot at the first evening miraculously survived.

The second evening the armadillo that we thought was 

dead came back well and strong 

and brought a buddy.

Again,

I was out watering my plants.

I heard the rustling and here they came,

proud and jolly as ever doing their happy dance.

I called Bubba and again he appeared with his pellet gun.

This time he made sure that one of them won't be back.

He shot him dead as a doornail.

The other scampered away and we haven't seen him since.

Armadillo means "little armoured one."

The armour refers to the bony plates that cover the back, head, legs, and tail 

of these odd looking creatures.

The are native to Central and South America

 and have migrated up to the southern states of North America.

The Armadillo is the State Animal of Texas.

(They must have been hard up for a state animal.) 

😏 

They are most known for their notorious digging habits.

(They have dug up large portions of our backyard.)

They are known to be carriers of the bacteria that causes leprosy.

That's enough right there for me to want them gone.

Disgusting!

One more thing.

The picture I didn't get...

After Bubba killed the varmit,

he picked him up by the tail to dispose of him.

He was very proud!

So was I.

  

wildlife

So,

I was watering my plants night before last...

just casually in my own world,

thinking about how much I love flowers growing in the yard,

when something caught my eye.

There was an armadillo just steps away writhing in the grass.

The first thing that came to my mind was...

rabies.

You can see him in the picture just right of center.

I scooted him with the hose, but he just kept doing what he was doing.

"Maybe I should get help," I said to myself.

"Help" for me is named Bubba.

He quickly came down the stairs with his rifle.

It really just shoots BB's not bullets.

His first shot was a direct hit and the poor creature went scampering off into the woods

never to be seen again.

Hopefully he put him our of his misery.

While he was back there looking for his kill,

Bubba found an Easter egg.

After our Easter egg hunt back in April we were unable to find 4 of the hidden eggs.

In the process of planting and cleaning the yard we had found two of them. 

This lovely blue one brings us up to three.

There is one more out there.

Probably has money in it. (this one didn't)

Anyway,

haven't seen the presence of any deer in our backyard for well over a year.

The were back last night.

They destroyed three of our hydrangeas that Bub has worked so hard to get growing.

They didn't bother any of my newly planted beauties,

but there's always tonight.

I will be devastated if they are back.

Going to have to go back to drastic measures.

🦌