great mercy

I went to Whole Foods on Friday.

Not to shop, of course!

Way too snobby and overpriced for me.

I had to do an Amazon return.

Whole Foods does have an incredible fresh flower assortment

making the stop so worth it.

I didn't buy any this time.

Just spent a little while examining all of the beauty.

I'm loving my study of the book of 1 John in the Bible.

I am also studying Martyn Lloyd Jones' book

Life in Christ.

He examines the tests of our faith contained in 1 John.

I've read both of these before.

But God in His great mercy, 

is revealing things to me that were previously hidden from my sight.

Sin is a big deal to God.

It's why His Son Jesus had to die on the cross.

He is daily convicting me of things in my life that I still need to repent of.

Thank you, Jesus, for what you did on the cross for us sinners.

💗

 

fullness of joy

Flowers from my Lu!

💛

Training your mind to hold onto joy

 Is one of the most powerful forms of spiritual warfare.

(author unknown)

I'm studying the book of 1 John in the New Testament.

This verse started my quest to find "true joy."

"These things wrote we unto you,

that your joy may be full."

1 John 1:4

 

saturday things

I am cooking for my family today.

There are four pork tenderloins in my mother's vintage Corningware cooker.

I was up early this morning

(I'm always up early)

preparing these to marinate all day.

Tasty morsels with plenty of leftovers.

(Maybe)

This dish has come to be known as Grammy's Red Rice.

Everybody loves it.

It has bacon, sautéed onion, and lots of hot sauce.

They all go crazy when I announce what I'm cooking.

Yes, I have a cheering section and a lot of big eaters who really enjoy their food.

I am also serving fresh green beans, corn on the cob, and yeast rolls.

There will be strawberry shortcake for dessert.

This is my butter station on my kitchen counter.

A cute little whale keeps it for me.

💗

P.S. I have a baby deer in my backyard.

I haven't been able to get his picture yet.

He is so adorable!

I have to work so hard to keep his family away from my rose bushes.

Most of the time, I am just annoyed with them.

But it is always thrilling to see them

 when they stop by with the baby.

🦌

P.S.S. My house is completely infused with the smell of the rosemary that I laid on top of the pork tenderloins.

 

sweet memories ~

A couple of July 4th memories popped up on my computer.

I just had to share. 

It was back when the grandkids were little, and we went all out.

We decorated a rented golf cart, and all piled on for the ride to see the fireworks.

Those were some of the best of times.

Bubba loved to run the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Ga.

He never won, of course, but that wasn't the point.

He ran for the fun of it,

 and we all met him at the finish line with praise and adoration.

Somewhere, I have a box full of the shirts he received after the race was over.

As I get older, I spend a lot of time remembering all the fun times we had together.

Sometimes I long to go back there.

But when I think those thoughts, I have to remember God's Word.

This place is not our home.

It wasn't designed to be forever.

We have been promised eternal life on a new earth with God and all who have believed in

Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We are destined for a better place.

A place with no more sin, Satan, and death.

No more tears, sorrow, or pain.

Praise God for what You have planned for us in eternity,

Oh, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

 

 

Happy Independence Day!

My prayer for our nation this morning...

"Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your Kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Matthew 6: 9&10

In the chaos of this evil world,

In times of doubt and confusion,

fear and darkness,

I can think of no better prayer than that 

God's will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

Even so, Lord Jesus, come.

💗

 

my little baby girl turned 50

This was the big one,

The "Over the hill" birthday,

The one where you realize that you can't hold on to your 40's another day.

When we went to the hospital to deliver her,

I was firmly convinced I was having another boy.

It took me a while after delivery,

because of the drugs in my body,

to believe my dream had come true.

God had sent me the girl that I wanted so badly.

She didn't disappoint!

I clothed her in smocked dresses and taped tiny little bows in her nonexistent hair.

She became a little ballerina, but she played basketball too.

I have loved being Amanda's mom.

Now she watches out for me.

We are so close sometimes I think she can read my mind.

She, Mark, Jake, and Eli spent her big day down in the Florida Keys.

I'm hardly ever with her on her birthday anymore.

They went on a summer stay at a resort with lots of peel-and-eat shrimp.

Such happy faces all around.

I was close, though,

remembering those 50 years and how grateful I am to have her...

The special, loving girl that is my daughter, Amanda.

💗

 

Hope Bible Church ~ VBS ~ 2026

Every summer, we do a thing.

Hope Bible Church puts on an absolutely amazing Bible school for our kids.

It's for nursery-age through fifth grade.

Our older kids are the volunteers along with the adults.

We invite others to come as well.

This year, we had a cowboy theme.

Lots of colorful bandanas, guns and holsters, and cowboy hats.

We all wore the same T-shirt.

Our Bible Study was the Life of Christ.

I'm praying that many seeds were planted and hearts were strengthened.

The glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ went out.

Praise God!

He is Risen!

He is able to save us to the utmost!

💗

 

family council

I found one more picture that I wanted to share from our trip.

 Taken in the living room of our Airbnb.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

I agree.

No more words, just this pic.

 

the last of my Palm Beach pictures ~ 2026

My grandchildren

I count myself very blessed to do life with these people.

They keep me laughing and entertained.

I could talk for hours about how wonderful they are.

My children

They have been holding me up since Bubba went to heaven.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for them.

They are gifts from God.

All of us except for Amanda.

She was taking the picture.

I pray for these people every day,

individually.

We all have very specific needs.

I can see God working in their lives.

He hears and answers our prayers according to His will.

The Bible tells us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

I look forward to spending eternity in heaven with all of my people.

Thank You, Jesus, for shedding Your precious blood on the cross as payment for our sins.

💗

 

Harry Cleland ~ Class of 2026

Congratulations Harry!

You did it!

Your Grammy is so proud of you.

Your Granddaddy in heaven is too!

His family celebration was held on Singer Island in North Palm Beach, Florida.

We all gathered outside by the pool to hear Uncle Mark deliver the keynote speech.

He offered up some humor and some truth from God's Word/

It was all very inspiring.

Everything was very casual...

Beach attire and absolutely no shoes.

For dinner, we had lasagna, salad, and french bread with cheese spread.

And, of course, there was cake for all.

Opening gifts and reading his cards.

Then down to the beach for more pictures.

Best graduation ever!

💕🎓

 

happy days

We are just back from a wonderful trip to South Florida.

The sun shone the whole time until we got ready to load our cars to come home.

That was when God sent a deluge of rain.

It was long and hard and delayed us for quite a while.

This picture is our annual Jupiter Inlet setting,

always taken on the last night of our trip

We have duplicated it every year.

Everyone is in the same place...some wearing the same outfit. (me)

My grandchildren have grown so much...

most of them changing from kids to young adults.

Jake turned 21 and is now legitimately an adult.

Coming home yesterday,

David drove my car, and I rode shotgun.

On the last leg of the journey, we listened to his Spotify playlist.

I felt young again,

gloriously happy,

singing along joyfully.

The best of times!!!

💗

Erika drove their car with 3 kids and Daisy the dog.

We kept up with them all day and had lunch together at Culver's.

More pictures later.

We graduated Harry out by the pool at our Airbnb.

🎓

 

remembering Bubba's birthday

He would have turned 82 today.

I can't even imagine what we would have been like.

We always had a big party.

He loved having his family gathered around him.

Sometimes, when I see other couples living their "old age" together, it makes me sad.

Being alone is hard.

I've outlived him by six years now.

I never thought about being without him.

But this is what God had for us.

He would go ahead to heaven, and I would learn the hard lessons

of what it means to trust God in the wilderness of widowhood.

I have to learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

I am so thankful!

I have learned so much.

I look forward to heaven and seeing him again.

I picture him among the great crowd of witnesses cheering me on.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

💙

 

hearts and ruffles and bows

This is one of the blooms on my Mother's Day Hydrangea.

I went out to water the plant and saw this heart smiling up at me.

I still "see hearts" quite frequently.

God does this!

Through His creative handiwork, He sends a beautiful message.

"I have always loved you, and I always will.

💗

Of course, I cut a few blooms and made an arrangement for my kitchen island.

A  constant reminder!

This is my pink blueberry bush.

It is also blooming.

We picked some of them Saturday night and enjoyed them with our meal.

Another beautiful example of God's creative genius.

This is me on the way to church yesterday morning.

We celebrated with the children out in the courtyard.

We completed another year of Sunday School with a fun cereal party.

The children and teenagers loved it.

In the courtyard, they can run, play, and be messy.

My shirt is all ruffles and bows.

I bought it on one of our cruises at St. John's Island.

 

plastic grocery bags and flying money

 

This originally happened a couple of weeks ago.

It was a cool, rainy, and very windy day.

I shop for most of my groceries at the Hunter Army Airfield Commissary.

It feels like home.

I know where everything is.

It is small and comfortable except for the music, which is tinny and awful.

I do self-check out and bag my purchases myself.

Nothing ever changes.

Except for that windy day,

When I went to check out, I was informed that I would have to pay 5 cents per plastic bag.

I became dumbfounded, discombobulated, and angry all at once.

The checkout process was a disaster.

I confronted the sweet helper who came to my rescue, disgusted.

After checking out,

bagging my groceries.

getting some cash from my debit card purchase,

I stuffed the money in my purse without securing it and headed for my car.

(I did apologize to the girl to whom I vented my displeasure.

It wasn't her fault that the government had decided to charge for the bags.)

As I was putting the bags of groceries in the trunk,

A strong gust of wind lifted the newly acquired cash and blew it through the parking lot.

I took off running after it, but it was much too fast for me.

I thought to myself,

 "It's what I deserve for getting angry about having to pay for the bags."

Happy Ending...

As I was making my futile and slow run to catch the flying money, 

a car stopped in the middle of the road.

A  young and very kind serviceman jumped out in his uniform

 and in just a moment had caught my money.

When he handed it to me, I thanked him profusely.

He even took my grocery cart back for me.

💗

Yesterday...

I went back to the commissary to do my weekly grocery shopping.

They were no longer charging for the bags.💗

A bunch of angry shoppers must have changed the minds of the powers that be.

I was surprised, but not really. 

I knew that wouldn't last very long.

A shout-out to the young service members who fight for our country.

We owe so much to them.

Thank You!

Walter turns 11

Yesterday we had another birthday celebration.

They come quite often around here.

Walt is doubles ones now for a whole year.

By request, I served tenderloin steaks cooked on the grill by David. 

A baked potato bar with all the fixings.

A super yummy mixed green salad.

And yes,

 The birthday person, whoever that may be, is "Always Special."

After a rousing game of "Spoons,"

Walter had twelve gifts to open.

He was richly blessed with lots of small metal cars which he loves.

Oh, by the way,

He won the "Spoons" game and took home the $10.00 prize.

For dessert, I made the ever-popular chocolate surprise.

Always a hit...always!

Happy Birthday, Walt.

One of his gifts was a supersized backpack.

One big enough to hold all of the books that a rising sixth grader will need.

Lucy is coming home on Saturday.

💗

 

 

new life

This is that little tiny rose bush that Lucy gave me for Mother's Day two years ago.

It has taken over the fence just outside the sunroom in my house.

It didn't thrive during this year's deep winter freeze.

I was contemplating cutting it all the way back.

As soon as the days started getting longer and warmer,  it decided to put on a show.

The miracle of Spring.

New Life!

Needless to say, it is thriving.

Sunday evening, I sent a text to Lucy along with this picture.

She loves to hear how our rosebush is doing.

This is what I told her...

"It's like you send me roses every day, sweet girl."

🌹

 

the last of my cruise pictures

Letting the wind dry my hair on a windy day.

It didn't take long!

Warm sun and a strong wind did the job in a flash.

Leaving the port of Nassau.

I always love seeing this little abandoned lighthouse standing guard.

David and Gus sunning on the top of the ship.

Our big, beautiful ship.

God paints pictures in the sky in the morning and at sunset.

Another picture, just before the sun popped up.

Our cabanna on the top of the ship.

When the sun got too hot, it was a lovely place to retreat.

Amanda and I at the front og the ship leaving Port Canaveral.

God never paints the same picture twice!

All praise and glory to our Most High God.

The Giver of all good gifts!

💗

Happy Birthday Archie!

Archie turned 18 years old last week.

We celebrated on Saturday evening.

Lisa, his cousin, was visiting Savannah and joined us for his party.

It was a rip-roaring good time, as are all of our parties.

These were his menu choices ~

Grammy's famous broccoli-chicken casserole, pictured above,

A huge pot of white rice with onions sauteed in butter,

And a new favorite,

Red Lobster garlic cheese biscuits,

and for dessert,

Root Beer Floats!

This meal is well-loved and always requested.

💗

Archie is a junior in High School.

He has become a very proficient driver.

He loves cars and is saving every penny to buy his dream vehicle.

He has a great personality.

He loves to help others in any way he can.

He can fix most anything.

He loves his people.

  Most importantly,

 he loves Jesus.

Happy Birthday, Archie!

I'm a very proud Grammy!

Oh, by the way, he won the Lawn Darts game.

 

 

Easter dinner with friends

We had a huge feast to celebrate our risen Lord Jesus.

We were blessed to share it with friends from Fayetteville.

Justine and David were at seminary together in California,

I made my traditional Easter feast .

It was delicious, according to all who ate.

Honey Baked Ham,

Red Rice,

Green Beans,

Hash Brown Potato Casserole (David made these),

Broccoli Salad,

Pineapple Bake,

Yeast Rolls,

Strawberries and Fresh Whipped Cream,

and

 Lemon ~ Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. (made by Lucy)

Also had a big pot of steaming hot coffee with dessert

Even though it rained, we had our Easter Egg Hunt.

The large Golden Egg was found by Walter,

The small Golden Egg was found by Brook, Justine's wife,

And Gus won a prize for finding the most eggs.

I didn't take a single picture,

But we got the lovely people above, and that was most important.

I'm spending this week reading about what Our Lord did after His resurrection.

All four gospel writers included an account of his steps before He ascended back to heaven.

Fascinating.

We are so blessed to have these eyewitness accounts of how Jesus spent His final days on earth.

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

"And there are also many other things that Jesus did,

which, if they were written one by one,

I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

Amen!

💗

John 21:25