A Wonderful Surprise Visit…

Well, I got to see my youngest son (36) Marc, and his wife Shenyle and my grandsons, Micah and Gavin.  What a nice surprise!!!  They had told us they might come down for a visit and then Friday night late we get this call that they are in Nashville.  Whoohoo!!!!!

Here’s some photos:

 

Micah and Gavin having fun on the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eating chocolate cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Wilson taking a nap on the porch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dressed up for Church Sunday evening.  Aren’t they handsome?!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our family after church Sunday evening.  We had a good time!

 

We just had a good time visiting, didn’t go anywhere special.  The kids went downtown to the Walk Bridge for the Fireworks Saturday night.  We “old folk” just stayed home and got ready for Sunday.  They said there was a huge crowd.  This is downtown Chattanooga and people come from all over and also bring their boats to the downtown dock area and watch from their boats.  Marc said there were a lot of boats there this year.  They almost didn’t find a place to park.  When we lived downtown we could see the fireworks over the tree tops and hear them.  We only lived about 1/2 mile from the Walk Bridge.  Sometimes I miss living downtown.  I had a huge living room and in one of our house services we had almost 30 in our living room.  Those were good times.  We had several Cambodia young people coming, Bud used to see some of them at the hospital where he worked…they worked there also.  But now they’ve grown up and married and have kids!!!  Time goes on … quickly!

The house is once again quiet and the dogs are moping around (almost depressed LOL) because now they don’t have anyone to play with them!  They love the boys!  Scrappy really misses them!   Me too!  Until next time…

Blooms, Ponds, and …

I just love Spring… although we are having HOT weather.  I’ve had to run the a/c and close the house up.  The Humidity has descended upon us.  I know it will get worse as the summer approaches.  I’m not complaining…

Here are some photos of our yard in “bloom”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a wild Iris from the woods that was given to us and we planted in our front yard.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Day Lilies are bursting out all over the place and I love their deep orange/rust color.  We have yellow ones too.  My Irises bloomed early and then a hard rain knocked them down, so no photos of them this year.  I’m hoping to have some wild roses in bloom soon.  We planted some near our mailbox.

 

 

I’m not sure what this hanging plant is.  Bud bought it for me for Mother’s Day.  It’s so pretty.  The blooms close up at night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wreath was given to me by a sweet sister in our church.  She knows I love Chickens/Roosters and this has a neat rooster roosting there.  I have this above my front door.

 

 

Bud looking through the vines (grape arbor and ivy) in our back yard.

 

 

 

 

 

Right:  Photo our our backyard… yes, its wild.  We have deer and other critters that come up and invade our space.  The raccoons try to steal our fish from our ponds.  This is annoying and they make a mess.  But they are the cutest things!   The huge tree that fell is now covered with vines.  Fortunately the hill goes down in our backyard and the tree fell “down” the hill and not on our house.

 

 

Here is the Canoe that Bud is making into a pond.  He hasn’t decided what to put in the planters yet.  The raccoons stole the fish we had in it.  So, we may try to replace them soon.

 

 

 

 

 

This is our other pond.  We just lost two of the biggest fish from there.  Apparently, they must have just jumped ship. ????

 

 

Well, enough of my yard.  I’ve more… but I won’t bore you with more photos for now.

Excuses, Excuses

I’ve been amiss at blogging.  Hopefully, I will get back in the “groove/routine” of blogging.  We have been busy preparing to move our insurance office to another location.  Bud has been building the wall dividers and trim.  Today he did the bathroom which included the plumbing.  Plumbing is not his favorite thing to do. 

We are now moved and my office area is organized and pretty much ready to go.  Corporate came and installed and reconnected our computer system and  my new computer has Microsoft Office 2007.  Boy… is it sure different.  I’m having to relearn Microsoft Word.  Everything is in a different place and there are so many changes.  I’m having to “find” everything all over again.  And the new “ribbons”…. well, if you’ve not had the experience yet… try it, then tell me what you think.  I can see the advantages and all, but everything is in a different place.  I’m open to any tips, tricks, and pointers anyone has to offer. 

I’m tired and off to bed… hopefully it won’t be over a month until I blog next.

Life…Living…Loving

I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged.  It’s been a busy time for our household the last few weeks.

First, Bud was laid-off from his job along with about 35 other men in his department.  Downsizing finally hit the hospital.  Fortunately, he has been there long enough (10-years) that he was offered severance.  This of course helps for the next couple months.  Trusting God for our future.

Second, we left for Wisconsin Wednesday morning of the 15th.  Stopped in Southern Illinois to pick up our middle son, Jason and got into New Berlin, WI around 12 midnight or so.  It was a long trip and we ended up going through Chicago anyway as we somehow missed our direction in Decatur, IL.  But since we were going through there around 10:45 pm… it was breeze!  I grew up driving around Los Angeles… so traffic, etc. doesn’t bother me… I’m just kind of lazy about driving now and didn’t want to go through Chicago.  Oh well, it made me appreciate my “little city” of Chattanooga.  If I want the BIG city, I’m less than 2-hours from Atlanta,GA.

We were heading to Wisconsin for our oldest grandson’s wedding.  Tim(Brian as we call him) and Christina(Tina) became husband and wife on Friday the 17th.  He was handsome and she was a beautiful bride.  Our granddaughter, Kailee was a bridesmaid, and she was gorgeous. Chloe, our great-granddaughter, and Brian and Tina’s daughter was the flower girl.  She was adorable.  I enjoyed my time with her.

They had a beautiful warm sunny day for their wedding.

They took photos at a park not too far from the church, Apostolic Life Tabernacle in Waukesha, WI.  Papa Bud performed the ceremony.  It’s neat, because he performed the marriage ceremony for all three of his sons and now his first-born grandson!  Time sure whizzes by!

 

Mother and daughter before the wedding.  Tina’s youngest brother is standing to the left admiring his sister.  She was beautiful!

Right:  Brian surprised Tina with “something blue” after the rehearsal.

Chloe getting ready to practice her “flower girl”… although, she called it being a “princess”.

Right:  Our beautiful   granddaughter, Kailee.

Awwwww….how sweet!

Right:  Chloe loved her Uncle Jay.  He played with her.  She asked him “where you come from?”  She didn’t remember seeing him before.

She climbed up and patted his cheeks with both hands and then rubbed noses.

One tired little girl.  She finally gave up.

She definitely is her granny’s girl… she loves her coffee!!!!!

Chloe enjoying herself at the reception!

 

 

 

I’ve more photos and have the cd that my daughter, Terri gave me.  I’ll get those posted soon.

Bud had the 7-day flu and was sick the whole time of our visit.  We “doctored” him up for the rehearsal and the wedding ceremony and then he made a brief appearance at the reception and Tim took him back to the apartment so he could go back to bed.  He was in bed the whole time we were there and on the drive up and back home.  He ran a 102.3 fever and was almost delirious.  At one point, I thought I might have to take him to the hospital.  He was miserable and I didn’t get much sleep either.  I drove up and back.  I drove home in one day… thank God for books on tape!  Kept me awake.  We got home around 1:30-2:00 am Monday morning.  I was exhausted.  His fever and illness finally broke early Wednesday morning.  He said he felt like he’d been in a thick fog.  I asked him if he even remembered the ceremony    and he said he did!!!

Well, enough for now… will try to post again soon.

Technorati Tags: wedding,marriage,grandkids,family

Quote for Today…

Those who keep speaking about the sun
while walking under a cloudy sky
are messengers of hope,
the true saints of our day.

 ~Henri Nouwen

Home…2009 TN Ladies Conference

We’re home.  We had perfect travel weather, the road  and detour in Knoxville didn’t slow us .  We even managed miraculously to get a luggage cart at the hotel this year      I was blessed to have my 83 almost 84 year old mother with me for the first time at a Ladies Conference together.  I know she’s tired, but she enjoyed herself.

We were fed spiritually and we fed our flesh!  I ate way more than I’m accustomed to eating.  It was all good.

I went “expecting” and received the “unexpected”.  God always let’s us know whose in control.  I’ve come away from these 3-days with a renewed mind and encouraged.

Enjoyed the fellowship with our ladies, but died for lack of good coffee.  I guess, I should have splurged and hit STARBUCKS, but didn’t feel like fighting the traffic for that.  Was glad to get home to my coffee.  Everything there tasted like water with a dab of coffee!  I didn’t think when we were in WalMart to buy some good coffee for the hotel room.  I bought cream… duh?  for what?  Oh well… I’m now a satisfied coffee addict!

I did come home sick.  I think I was  coming down with it when I left, but ignored it and the lack of sleep while there didn’t help it any.  My first day back at work was horrible.  But I’ll survive!  We women do… we just go on and on and on and on, like the energizer bunny! 

I’ll write more about the conference and possible some photos.  I was engrossed in other things and didn’t take many photos.  I really didn’t get any good ones to post.  Shame on me

Spring is springing out here!  The trees are budding pale baby leaves and my Irises are getting ready to bloom.  The phlox are proudly displaying their lavender blooms.  The Dogwoods are desperately trying to get here by Easter.  I hope they do this year without a killing frost like last year.  I love to look out my window and see them glistening in the morning sunlight. Well, I’ve got to get ready for work.  Thank God for work!

Blessings~

2009 Tennessee Ladies Conference… here we come…

It’s that time again! 

We are ready for a time of refreshing and reviving. 

I think our group needs a “refreshing”.  There are so many stressful spirits trying to destroy the peace that God gives and is trying to hinder the work of God. 

Our ladies need this “away time” of soul searching and feeling the precious LOVE and MERCY of God pouring that soothing oil over their very soul. 

We won’t have as many attending this year and I wish they could all be there!  It’s needed!  This isn’t a time to “give up” or “let down” on what we believe.  The devil is watching and hoping we will “do it our way” and not God’s!  He’s counting on the carnal man winning!  This world is looking at us and hoping we’ll fail or at the very least, look stupid (in their eyes).  The world of un-believers will judge us by our actions and appearance.  They want to tell us, “I told you so”! 

NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP.  Keeping fighting the battle, the war will be won! It’ll depend on YOU and YOU alone whose side you’ll be on at the battles end!

 

Prayers and Blessings

You never know what you’ll find…

Spring is in the air… it’s 72 degrees here today and a beautiful day.

Closet Shopping…

We are still “de-cluttering” and I have been going shopping in my closet.  This has been great for my pocketbook. In digging through all the green plastic bins and the back of my closet, I have found clothes I’d forgotten I had and still are quite fashionable with adding a few accessories. Some of course are WAY too small and I really don’t have a hope of ever getting back into them. But some I’m very close to wearing again and should be able to in a few months. Since I’ve been sticking pretty closely to my ADA diet, I’ve lost a few pounds. I just need to get serious about the walking and the exercise!

Bud carried off 6-HUGE bags of clothes to the thrift store Friday and we still have a lot to sort through. I promised myself if I dropped it in the bag, I couldn’t take it back out! So far so good! Now we need to start on his!

Bud’s next project after he’s through setting up the canoe as a bog garden/fish pond is to clean and reorganize the garage. Although, our garage does not even begin to look like some in our neighborhood. We are in a subdivision that was built in the late 70’s & early 80’s, so most of the kids are off to college or married and the garages are so packed you cannot even walk through them. I know, I’ve seen them with my own eyes. Ours isn’t quite that bad, yet! I hope never. We do have some of our kid’s stuff in the garage and under the stairwell in the basement. But you can (carefully) walk through our garage.

To give you an idea of how we classify as genuine “packrats”… I have a bonnet hair-dryer in A-1 condition from when I was in high school. I kid you not! I still have my Brother Word processor with the black screen and bright yellow font! Again, in A-1 condition. Know anyone who would like to acquire these items? Please let me know! I just might get up enough gumption to part with them (and more). Bud just purchased a book and when he got home realized he had the original 1936 version. I can’t say too much to him as I’ve done the same thing and bought a book twice. We are so bad! They change the book covers on you now and republish the same book with a different cover and supposedly an “updated” version.

I have (kind of) promised our kids that we would sort through all the clutter and OLD PAPERS so they wouldn’t have too when that time comes. I’m afraid they wouldn’t go through all the bins and boxes and would just set a dumpster in the drive and start chucking. Although, I do believe they realize some of the “stuff” has value, monetarily and as family heirlooms/keepsakes.

Well, we will keep plodding along on the de-cluttering process. But it will have to wait until I get through my CE study and exams for my State License renewal. Then I have to take my companies BANK course and exam. All this before our Tennessee District Ladies Conference March 19-21! I’ll be ready for a break and a time of REFRESHING!

I want to be outside digging in the flowerbeds getting my hands dirty and feeling the soil sift through my fingers.

Have a blessed weekend and enjoy…while I go back to my studies!

Technorati Tags: Clutter,Decluttering,family,springtime,stuff,closet shopping,garage,reorganize

A NEW Baby

 

This is our newest “baby” in the church.  I actually got to see him being born!  Nickolas Ray.  He’s the firstborn son of Derik and Sharon and grandson of Ray and Sandy.

He was dedicated last Sunday evening.  I can’t wait until he’s up and running.   

Whew…

Well, I think I’ve got things fixed.  My PC was down for a week and I spent Thursday evening until 1:30 am Friday morning working on it and getting the Internet back up and my PC working right.  Why oh Why have we become so dependent on them? 

We have a wedding today..plan to blog tonight?!