Adult Children

 The job of every parent is to raise their children to be God fearing, independent, hard working, law abiding people.  It is so rewarding to watch them through their adult life as they begin raising their family in the same way.

I remember the times I didn't like one thing or another that mom and dad enforced on us.....having to be home at 11:00 on a date night, for instance!  I used to say, "I'm going to raise my kids differently than the way I'm being raised!"  We think we are smarter than our parents.  But when we finally become adults with children of our own, we discover that mom and dad were a lot smarter than we thought!  And I have to say that I didn't raise my kids much differently than I was raised.

Everyone makes mistakes when they are raising their children.  But with lots of prayer, I believe the LORD can right the wrongs!  I know He has done that for me because I know I made LOTS of mistakes and bad decisions as a young mother.  Thank You, LORD, for Your mercy and grace!

This is my oldest adult grandchild with his mother, my oldest child.  He will be 20 in a little less than 6 months.  When I look at him and think about how old he is, it baffles me when I try to figure out how the time disappeared so quickly!  He visited his mom today and this is what Jessica said, "My adult boy came to visit and eat dinner with us tonight.  Proud of him for doing his own thing but miss him too!  Love you, son!"  And I love you, grandson, and pray only for the LORD's best for you and pray you let Him guide you every step of the way!

And, I, too, miss my children!  I don't see them often enough!  We communicate back and forth by texting or talking on the phone once in a while, but it isn't the same as having them here physically!  I would love for that aspect of life to be like it used to be where the children all stayed around and raised their families near mom and dad and where grandma and grandpa were a part of their everyday life, too.

I did a couple more digital scrapbooking layouts today.

This first one is photo-edited for a challenge at OScraps.  You turn your picture into a stamp (the black and white one) and then you "color" it with the original picture (basically).  The final result is the bigger picture on the left.  I like how it turned out!

Mark took these pictures on Friday evening when he was working down in the woods.

This was to be a busy weekend, but last week (on Tuesday) we found out that our grandson, Ryan, had been exposed to someone with the corona virus.  And since we were with him on the 10th, we decided we needed to cancel the activities we had planned for this weekend.  Friday we were going to have Mark's aunts over for dinner.  They both have health issues so we knew for sure we needed to postpone that get together.  Saturday Liz and family were going to come over and we were going to cook at the pits in the woods.  But rather than possibly expose Mark and I to corona virus (even though Ryan has shown no symptoms) we decided to call it off.  But Mark and I did eat at the pit on Friday and Saturday.

Friday, I fixed chicken stew for a late lunch.  Kenneth, who's family used to own the woods we bought, often comes to take walks through the woods.  He happened to be here when I took the chicken stew to the woods to eat with Mark, so we shared with him.

After I went back to the house, Kenneth left and Mark continued working on things at the pit.  He is working on a better roof for the shelter we ate lunch at.  After he gets more poles up and more cross bars on the roof, he will put tin on it.

Saturday, Mark went to the woods early.  He fixed scrambled eggs.  And I brought down some blue berry sweet rolls that I cut in half and cooked in butter.

Piper likes laying next to this fire pit because it generates a lot of heat out the sides.

The netting that is around this pit was given to us from Brad and Liz.  It works great and holds the heat in quite well, believe it or not!

If Piper is not laying near a heat source, she is laying in the sun to keep warm.

Mark stayed in the woods and I went back to the house after breakfast.

I also fixed supper at the pit.

Mark working on his chainsaw mill while I cook the chicken and veggies.

Waiting for the coals so I can start cooking.

YUM!  I had a hard time stirring the veggies without stirring them out of the skillet, but I only dropped one pepper strip into the fire!

We had a beautiful weekend.  The weather was cool, but beautiful!  Thank You, LORD!  

And, praise to the LORD that Ryan is still well!

Monday through Wednesday Mark and I are going to attend the Shepherd's 360 Bible Conference in Cary, NC.  Tim and I went a couple of years and really enjoyed it!  I hope the ringing in Mark's ears doesn't hinder him from enjoying it!

Praying you all have a wonderful week!

Digital Scrapbooking

 I've been wanting to get back to doing some digital scrapbooking for awhile now.  Finally, this week I did it!

Liz and Brad treated me (us) to a birthday supper at Cracker Barrel.

A shadow shot of Mark and I riding the motorcycle to Reidsville to visit with his aunts.

One of our trips with Bobby and Joy on a Sunday afternoon to eat supper.

Celebrating my birthday with my beautiful girls 3 years ago.

A picture I took on one of our Sunday afternoon bike rides.

It was such a beautiful day this past Wednesday that I grabbed my camera and walked through our woods to get some pictures.  The next 4 scrapbook pages feature some of the pictures I took.

Thanks for looking!

You Are As Young As You Feel.......But Let's Be Real.....

 .......the numbers don't lie!

Am I really 65?  Yes, I am!  1955 - 2020 = 65 (at least it used to be.....using OLD math, that is)!  And, even though I have been so blessed with relatively good health, under the coloring, the gray hair is there; the aches and pains of arthritis in certain joints are there; the forgetter is more at work lately than the rememberer!  And, don't ask me to run in a race!  I will forfeit!  And, I used to be able to do pretty well at arm wrestling.....not so much so now!  My muscles are pretty saggy and jiggly.....flapping in the breeze when given the chance!

When I reflect back over my life, it would be silly for me to say that everything has been perfect!  I don't know a single person who could or would say that!  We are human, after all.....sinful humans who are good at bungling things up on our own!  But, what I CAN say is that the LORD has been the one to give me the perfect life He intended for me to have!  Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to His cross I cling!  He has worked ALL things for my good and His glory!  And I KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt that HE alone has worked ALL things together for good to ALL that love Him and are called according to HIS purpose!  Romans 8:28

Do I always like or understand why He does or has done certain things in my life?  For instance, He has clearly answered this question I've asked Him.....Why couldn't You just take Tim and I to heaven together because I don't want to live without him?  Ask my children and grandchildren how He answered that prayer.....ask Mark.....ask Ilene.....my life, your life, is not about me.....it's not about us.....we are here for HIS purposes!  We need to remember our focus should be on HIS purposes for our lives!  Let's be real.....I pretty much fail in this EVERY DAY to some extent!  How about you?

I don't always start each day by asking Him who He wants me to "touch" for His kingdom during the day.  I'm pretty much at home most of the time.  But when I do go out, I make myself aware of how I interact with those I come in contact with (as much as you can actually come in "contact" with others this year).  My speech, my attitude, my actions towards others will go a long way toward having an influence on someone if the opportunity ever arises for a kingdom conversation!  And I know I am not as forward or as bold as I should be for His sake, but you can't treat your server at the restaurant like dirt, not leave them a decent tip, yet leave a gospel tract and expect it to be read with enthusiasm and joy because of the way you treated them!  Let's be real.....I think you understand how hypocritical that is!  Even I would be offended by those actions, and I'm not offended easily!

The long and the short of this rambling is this.....EVERY DAY.....

Remember your Creator.
Be thankful in ALL things.
Remember there is a divine purpose working in your life.
Live for Him, not yourself.
Be a blessing to someone today!

I've joined the ranks of the Medicarians!  And, I'm ok with that.....so far!  I told my kids yesterday, after sending them this picture.....

.....that I don't feel like I'm 65.  And, I don't!  And, I can only thank the LORD for that!  I actually feel a WHOLE lot younger and better than I did 4 years ago!  That is when my stomach problems kicked in!  I had (not-so-seriously) been wanting to lose weight.....NEEDING to lose weight.....but had no will power to tackle a lifestyle change.  I had asked one of the ladies at church to pray that I would be able to stick to a diet.  That failed, but not on her part!  Her prayer WAS answered, even if not by the route I would have chosen.  When IBS kicked in, I lost the weight because I would (out of necessity due to nausea) go a week at a time not being able to eat!  Now I understand stress to be a big factor in IBS.....and I had a little bit of stress back then (wink, wink), even though I THOUGHT I was handling the stress of Tim's disease just fine and dandy!  Obviously, not so much!  And becoming a widow certainly didn't change the stress situation any.  I had lost 50 lbs. by the time Tim died, but I continued with being sick, losing a total of 76 pounds.....until life change abruptly for me in 2018 when Mark and I got together.  I was still sick every once in a while when we were first married, but not much at all now.  I still have to watch what and how much I eat, but I am 20 pounds heavier now than when we got married!  Here are some "comparison" (and memory) pictures of my not-so-well self compared to my doing-much-better-now self:

11/27/15 Thanksgiving weekend at Jessica's at my heaviest weight.

12/3/16 Eating out with Liz and family.

10/8/17 Birthday celebration with my girls (and guys!).

10/6/17 Last day with Michael, Jessica and Kara.

10/28/17 Hate that gray.......

11/2/17 .....wash it away!

11/5/17 after Jessica dyed my hair.

Compared to a 70's photo.

11/17/17 Getting ready for the Thanksgiving gathering, lol!

12/22/17 Our first Christmas without Tim.  The smiles are deceiving, compared to the emotions going on inside everyone's hearts.

6/9/18 Jeanne and Jennifer (my forever-loved in-laws) came to spend the weekend with Ilene and I.  Here we are at Olive Garden.

6/23/18 And, the next thing I know, Mark and I are texting one another with silly emojis, he invited me out to dinner, and the rest is history!  I started leaving my hair curly instead of straightening it because that is the way Mark likes it!  I always wore it straightened before because that is the way Tim liked it!  The things we do for love!  I was down to my lowest weight by this time.

A month later, this man is a permanent fixture in my life!  And I thank the LORD for giving me another faithful, hard-working man!  He is 25 lbs heavier in this picture than he is now!  And I'm 20 pounds heavier now than I was when we got married, LOL!

10/8/20 Celebrating at our favorite place.....Ruby Tuesday.

After dinner, since the weather was so beautiful, we rode to Troy, NC, which is about 40 miles further out Hwy 109 from Thomasville.  The temperature was still 77 degrees at 5:30.  But, we had to stop and take a potty break and put on our jackets because it cooled off pretty quickly after that!

Earlier in the day, I spent some time with Ilene.  She fixed egg, bacon, cheese and mayo sandwiches for our breakfast.  We began work on a puzzle, picked some cherry tomatoes, and just enjoyed one another's company.

Beautiful color on her trees.

I loved this sight, but she wanted them off her deck, lol!

Puzzle time!

We took a break from the puzzle to enjoy the outdoors weather!

Her cherry tomatoes came up voluntarily from last year and went crazy, spreading over and onto her porch!  And they still have blooms coming on!

After a wonderful day of receiving many birthday wishes from family and friends, this lovely bouquet was sitting on our kitchen table from Mark's daughter, Jenifer, and her kids Kayden and Jaxon.  Such a sweet surprise for a beautiful end to a wonderful day!  Thank You, LORD, for Your continued blessings on my life!  And as I begin my 66th year of life, may I make myself aware of living every day for Thy kingdom come!