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!