Party Boy!

We're off to Kellan's 2nd Birthday party! This was a "practice run" on his actual birthday!
Pumpkin cupcakes subbed for the official birthday cake that will be served today...Thomas the Train, I do believe!
How he loves Thomas!

"Made my day!"

My son-in-law, Lee, just made my day!
He said, "girl, you're getting skinny!"
Woohoo!!!!!

Plans

Isn't it amazing how as soon as November's on the "brink", the November and December weekends are already full of holiday festivities! Our Saturdays are "all planned out" through January 1! Week days are even sporting their "plans-to-be" and I must admit, it's exciting.....exciting to be with family and friends for such special times of the year!
We're hosting quite a few gatherings ourselves...one huge one with over 40 family members and smaller ones with friends, neighbors and church family.
Of course the "decking of the halls" comes into being on Thanksgiving night and the various activities will seem to be on a snowball course into the New Year and then...we'll settle in for a quieter and hopefully "SNOWIER" winter!
AND yes! I AM dreaming of a WHITE CHRISTMAS...always!

Our youngest "grand" is....

two today!
Happy Birthday Kellan!
We love you so much!

See pics on Anna's blog, RSymphony!
Just click on my profile, go to blogs I follow and click on RSymphony.
You will see our precious, lively munchkin!

It's a "make-your-own-sunshine" day!

I love rainy, cloudy days but I know that they seem to leave some feeling a bit depressed.
When I would visit my Nannan on a day like that, I would go and start turning on her lamps all over her house and telling her that she had to make her own "sunshine"!

I do that here on those kind of days. One of the coziest, "warm-fuzzy" feeling times to me ever is being inside with my own "sunshine" looking out into the day where the sun is hiding.
It's so like driving home in the evening and seeing "light" shining out of each dwelling...hmmm,
such a warm, cozy feeling!

Just another of my many favorite things!

Going Home!

Mike's mom is GOING HOME today!
After being in the hospital and rehab for three months, since July 20th, she is going home!
We, of course, are thrilled!

Soon we will be decorating their house for Christmas...Mike and I and April and Makenna... and maybe one of our nephews will be able to help out like he did last year!
Making memories!

This October Morn

This October Morn

Cloudy, slightly breezy
Dark and drizzly-
The neighbor's "leaf smoke" covering the woods in fog-like manner
While glimpses of gold and red peek out here and there.

Here I sit, protected, safe and sheltered-
Only to enjoy the undaunting beauty surrounding.
Such a sense of peace and holiness pervades.

An all too quiet symphony in the making...
The raking of leaves across the way, the insects' low constant hum,
the gentle rustling of leafy trees...
Oh what a glorious October morn!

Check this out!

Excellent encouragement for you younger moms, older moms and "grandmoms" and "moms-to-be"!

"The Real Meaning of Perfection"- check it out at devotions@proverbs31.org
Good advice for us all..."granddads" too.

Delectable Aroma!

Roasting in our oven is a delicious turkey!
The aroma's taking over the house and it sure stirs the sense of smell...and trigggers thoughts of Thanksgiving especially!
As each day appears in new autumnal "frocks" I get more and more excited! I am thoroughly in my element!
And I am so looking forward to our Thanksgiving festivities coming up in November!
... getting prepared for them.

Do you see Him?

"Life is this simple; we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time.
...God shows Himself everywhere, in everything- in people and in things and in nature and in events...we cannot be without Him..."

Thomas Merton, 20th century monk

Like Merton concluded, "We don't see it."
Oh, but that can change...we can change... the more time we spend with God, the more we see Him ...everywhere...shining through!

more "unfolding"

around our home. How I love to see beautiful colors "happening" all around our home!

More and more each day!

It's working!!!!!

Oh my gosh! I bought my first SMALL in decades!
Okay, I do know that the style and brand have a lot to do with sizes as well but ... :)
I have been working on this healthy lifestyle for 3 months...and it's WORKING!
I'm wearing two to three sizes smaller than I was at the beginning of the summer!
The weight is coming off slowly but consistently and the inches too...yippee!
I am still working out on a regular basis and feel the BEST I have felt in years!
Of course I haven't done this alone-the Holy Spirit is my Coach/Personal Trainer/Encourager/
and Helper! He's the absolute best!
Don't know when I will reach my goal but I'm in this for the duration...this IS a lifestyle change and I'm loving it!

Unfolding beauty

Today I captured a bit of beauty unfolding right before our eyes.

As I go about running errands, Christmas shopping, I'm always on the lookout for the rich color of "Autumn" trees. There for awhile I never had my camera but I remembered it this morning and took these at the mall in Pineville, NC.

I spotted this "treasure" and parked right in front of it. After shopping, I took the pictures so I could savor their beauty since I'm not on that side of town too often.

Autumn trees never cease to amaze me!

Thank you God for the seasons!

"Calling Roto-Router"

The "little grey cells" were churning this morning with a fresh blog and wouldn't you know it-
no internet!
We discovered that the router had died.
At least Mike could use his work computer and after work we went and got a wireless router...
a very good one and guess what? Can't get it to work "wireless" ; so for now it's wired!
At least we have internet...but alas...my brilliant blog just fizzled away.
Well, it really wasn't very brilliant...uh, actually it wasn't brilliant at all so nothing was really lost.

Hopefully the "little grey cells" (Poirot's catchy phrase) will get a good night's rest and be all fresh and creative in the morning.
If not, you won't be hearing from me!

More glimpses...

Glimpses of Fall

Autumn Bliss!

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree..."

Emily Bronte

"the place I go...

when I lose my way... and I find myself again."

Last week I was watching an old movie and this line "grabbed" me.

"the place I go when I lose my way...."

I quickly found pen and paper and jotted it down. For days it would surface and I began writing a devotional based on it. Am still working on that but this morning in my quiet time with the Father it came up again. Only this time did I really "get it"!
I was led to two particular scriptures- Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-3. In both of those scriptures we are shown the importance of meditating on the Word of God.
(a lesson on meditating tomorrow)

And I realized that the place I go when I lose my way is... to His Word!
It has never failed me. It nevers fails to put me back on track. It takes me out of the darkness
of being "lost" and into the light of being "found".

When I first pondered this phrase I was thinking of a place where I could be alone with the Lord.
As a young mom sometimes that was the "powder room" or a special chair in the living room when my children napped or the table with various versions of the Bible scattered about as I searched the scriptures for deeper understanding.

But the answer in a "nutshell" is...simply, the Word. The Word is Life! The Word lights the way and when we meditate on it and live it, we will never lose our way. Oh, we may get off the path once in a while but we will never truly be lost. The way will be "opened" to us.

Recognize this?

Some may think it a bit archaic. And it is something I rarely use but probably should more often than not.

It's a wrinkle remover! Actually I usually use my dryer for that but I found this amazing archaic piece of equipment in my laundry room and as I REALLY needed to remove a few wrinkles in Mike's shirts, I pulled it out and set it up.

It worked amazingly well and I actually enjoyed using it!

Just may have to use it more often. Made me feel quite domestic!

My parents on "farm day"!

Such a lovely day!

We visited my sister and her husband's farm in Chesterfield today.

We had such a wonderful visit with a delicious lunch, laughter, good conversation, a wild golf cart ride-well, not too wild and got a little "taste" of farm life and a slight "piggy" smell when we visited the pigs up away from the house. I had to see them and get their pictures so Mike and my brother-in-law walked me up to the pen. It was really to protect me from the deranged "attack" turkey. I did finally see him from a safe distance! Biggest turkey I've ever seen! But no picture to share! I value my life. You should have heard the story about him chasing my sister to her car! She barely escaped unscathed!

Oh What a Night!

Book Club last night was delicious, enjoyable and just plain fun!
We discussed "Letters to Juliet" sitting on the porch munching our yummy goodies and then moved to the den where we piled on sofas, chairs and the floor to watch the movie.
We enjoyed wonderful fellowship and laughter AND a very tasty culinary feast!
How I love our Illustrious Literary Society! That's just ONE special group of ladies!

Shimmering morning reflections

Oh how I wish I could have captured the "glassy" leaves on the trees this morning as I watched the rising sun illuminating them.
I've never noticed this before. The way the sun was filtering through the woods gave the illusion of twinkling glass leaves! Maybe they have been there all along and I never stopped to really notice. Maybe it's this way every Autumn morn.

What a treasure God has given us through His creation! Treasures are all around us. Think about how many we must miss while we are hurrying and scurrying about. And this is the "fallen" world! Makes one dare to imagine how incredibly beautiful Heaven must be...selah....

Flannels and long sleeves!

Don'tcha just love wearing flannels and long sleeves!
Even as a little girl I loved when the air had a hint of chill for out came the long sleeved PJs and shirts. Our kids felt the same way! And here I am @ 58 and still I get giddy over chilly weather and the wearing of flannels and long sleeves!
Oh the joys of simple pleasures!

Messy!

"...untidy, disordered, dirty, etc."

As Claire said in "Letters to Juliet", "life is the messy parts!"

This morning as I sat on the porch all bundled, sipping hot coffee, geese flew over in their organized V formation. I heard them before I saw them. I love hearing them; it is yet another "gift" of Autumn to me!
I thought how beautiful they look flying, how beautiful their sound, how beautiful their coloring and then I thought about all the places I had been, having to step over their messes.
I laughed!

Reminded me of life! Life is beautiful...but there are messy parts. There is beauty in every aspect of life but there are also messes...good times and bad times...easy times and hard.
Marriages, relationships, jobs, etc., just living in general... all have messy parts yet there is such beauty and so many lasting rewards in these.
Sometimes we have to go through the messy parts to discover and appreciate the beauty.

And it is well worth it!

First of the season!

Woke up early this morning and found the house to be a bit chilly. Rather than turn on the heat,
I made a fire. Oh how I love a nice fire on a chilly morning!
Speaking of chilly mornings, all weekend had them! Mike and sat by the "fireplace" heater Saturday morning for a few hours, eating breakfast, reading, and wearing sweatshirts!!!!
( I like wearing sweatshirts!)
We went to a Fall Festival in Wesley Chapel, met with some friends and family and just enjoyed walking around in the gorgeous weather.
Saturday night was spent relaxing on the porch by candlelight and "firelight"! Ahhh....
Sunday morning our church had breakfast outside and it was so nice. The weather was perfect!
We came home and spent the rest of the day on the porch. Ate supper out there too but had to come in for it got too chilly pretty fast after the sun went down.
The wind picked up and a gentle rain began to fall...chilly and damp drove us to the den and under a fluffy warm blanket!
Now I'm just thanking God for such a wonderful weekend and for the great week that is in store!

"Merry Christmas Mike!"

Got this sign for Mike to put on the porch last Tuesday. I had all intentions of wrapping it and giving it to him for Christmas. Thought to myself, "let's just hang it and see what it will look like", and so I did! Now the "bad" thing...I liked it so much that I couldn't take it down.
Oh I could have let it hang for a few days since he was out of town and then put it away but I didn't do that.
SO, last night when he came home I showed him and said "Merry Christmas, Mike". He didn't seem to mind at all! I think he rather likes it!

Oh and another thing...no more early Christmas presents! I'll just stick with the Christmas music for now.
Speaking of Christmas music, my parents came to visit Thursday afternoon (a lovely visit on the porch) and they had Kenny G Christmas playing in their SUV! See, this Christmas music "madness" runs in the family! :)
And what a wonderful family it is!

Christmas every day??????

Well, maybe not every day but Mike says I have about 15 Christmases a year and I really couldn't deny it!

I'm really pretty bad about it and sometimes my sisters and I find things way before Christmas,

buy them and then call our parents to tell them we bought our gifts from them!

They really don't seem to mind! My Mom likes to see the "fruit" of the monetary gift so this just makes it easier, don't you think?

When Mike got the "fireplace" heater, I said "Merry Christmas Debbie!" (That's when he proceeded to tell me about my 15 a year.)

Well, I needed a lamp and was looking for one. I found the coolest antique lamp, base, not the shade, from Maine. I knew that it would "finish" the porch. I also found another lamp, a Colonial tin one and knew it would finish off the living room...so I bought them and then called my Dad and said, "Merry Christmas Debbie"! He laughed and I told him about the lamps. Now he will send me a check for them and they will be an early present from my folks!

Makes perfect sense to me!

(Have one more confession but will share it tomorrow!) Too much deviousness in one blog isn't smart! Plus I have to confess it to Mike first or my "goose" may be cooked! :)

Oh, and for the record...all this happened Tuesday BEFORE I said no more buying for the house!

Like I said in "The time has come" I am through with buying anything else to furnish any more of the house and porch and I do mean it!