Friday Foto Friends

Another Friday already? May is half over and very soon half the year will be, too. Sad there is no Friday Foto Friends today, but I think I'm going to go ahead with my offerings today which are mostly sky pics and trees, both of which I enjoy looking at. 

As I drove home from church Wednesday evening, the most glorious sunset was happening and I was so disappointed that I never could find a good spot to stop and take a pic. Oh well, I know there will be another soon, but until then ... this morning's sunrise was gorgeous.

Last Friday I visited my friend, Cindy, and took the pics below of their house and the greenbelt across the street. Their house is a delight and the view they have from their front window is good. They see some spectacular sunsets, too.

Love all the trees and water.

There weren't any ducks around that day.

Don't these trees look like they are walking?

Happy Friday!!!

A Mother's Day Hodgepodge

1. What are your ingredients for a perfect Saturday?

If not a cozy wintry day to stay inside and read while something delicious is cooking on the stove, then I will take a spring day with temps in the low 70's, flowers blooming, and a trip to the Arboretum with friends. Lunch on the grounds, then later that day, church! Sounds good to me.

2. What skill do you wish more people took the time to learn?

Spelling. And now that I've written that here, I hope all the words here are spelled correctly!!

3. What's something you ate as a child you can't stand now as an adult?

Spam sandwiches!! So very gross!!!! Blech!

4. Something parenting has taught you? If you're not a parent tell us one important lesson you learned from your own parents.

Be careful what you promise and keep your commitments.

5. Share a favorite quote or saying about mothers or motherhood.

There are so very many! Hard to choose. I like this today.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I couldn't have asked for more wonderful and loving bonus children in my life and now, blessed tremendously with the grandchildren. Bonus blessings from God!

"He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the LORD!"

Psalm 113:9

A Challenging Hodgepodge

1. What would you say is your biggest day to day challenge? 

Getting my husband to drink enough water! I constantly have to remind him to drink water.

2. May 16th is National Biographers Day. What's a biography you really enjoyed reading?

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan and We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

Is this a genre you read regularly?

It seems I have read more biographies this year. I am still in the middle of Victoria the Queen and also the memoirs of Barbara Bush. Beneath a Scarlet Sky and We Were the Lucky Ones are both novel types of true stories and both were suspenseful and exciting reads. Beneath a Scarlet Sky is about a young Italian man who, through no choice of his own, is selected to be the driver for a high up SS officer. It is my understanding the Scarlet Sky book will be a movie. We Were the Lucky Ones was an amazing story of a Jewish family all of whom survived the Holocaust! After watching the PBS series of Victoria, I wanted to read more about her, and after seeing the services for Barbara Bush, I purchased her memoirs and am really enjoying it. What a neat lady!

3. How important is keeping a clean house?

I think a clean house is important, but I wouldn't say I'm a fanatic. Our house is full of stuff, but it is neat and straight unless the kids are here pulling things out to play with. The kitchen is clean, I do not leave dirty dishes in the sink and the beds are made.

Do you need to de-clutter your life?

We could stand to get rid of some stuff. (Okay ... a lot of stuff.)

4. You're the 8th dwarf. What's your name?

In light of my answer to the first question about challenges, maybe my name might be "Naggy!"

5. What's surprised you the most about your life or life in general?

That I made it past ... way past ... 25!!! That things didn't turn out quite the way I had imagined. That things are maybe far better than I ever could have imagined.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I shared this on Facebook, however, I'm recording it here because I am so thankful to God for His continual love, mercy and goodness to us.

Sunday night before going upstairs to bed, I felt the need to check the garage. Thanks be to God I did, because the Toyota had done it again. The lights were on and the motor was running. Whoa!! Trust me, my brain was in full throttle thinking of what could have happened. I moved the car out of the garage onto the driveway for the night so I could sleep without worry.

Believing the remote start which had been installed a few years ago was the problem, we went over on Monday to get that sucker disconnected. I hope and pray that is the last incident ever with this crazy and dangerous problem!! Thank You, God for taking care of us!!!!

Birthday Continued and Mother's Day

Lunch with Susan at Jen's Place on Friday. 

Jen's is located at the corner of Alpha and Omega!

I love it! 

I received a lot of nice meaningful birthday cards, but I especially like this one from our daughter, Sara. She picks out the most wonderful cards for me. I think it might be difficult to find cards for a stepmom, but she does a great job.

On Saturday we watched Jack's last soccer game. He made two goals! So proud of him.

Lunch afterwards and then on to the lake for fun in the sun!

It was soooooooo windy! Jack was the only one brave enough to do the kneeboard and he was airborne a couple of times! Rough waters!

Jack spent Saturday night with us and we did the park as always. He had to show me he finally mastered the monkey bars.

We were playing catch in the hot tub and here is Jack going out in the grass to retrieve the ball. He figured out a way to get the ball without getting his feet dirty. What a boy. At least we had time to rest while he went after the ball!

After church on Mother's Day, Amy and Kate came over for Jack and we all had lunch together. We also discovered a new yogurt place for dessert.

I received a text from my nephew, Billy, who shared with me that their youngest, Londyn was dedicated to the Lord on Sunday. What a sweet family they are!

Hunter and Lincoln playing in the water sprinkler!

Annie and me just chilling for the rest of Sunday.

Ladies of Grace Spring Brunch

The semester for our Tuesday morning Bible study ended with a wonderful brunch and sweet fellowship with these lovely ladies.

and one sweet little boy!

After brunch, Marie instructed us on making the "bundle babies" which will be added to our Christmas shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse. Marie is a crafty kind of special lady who is dedicated to making sure these little ones know they are loved by Jesus. 

So cute! A washcloth, pair of socks and a bar of soap!

Busy ladies!

Sweet, huh?

We will be back in September!

Birthday Week Summary 2018

This has been a very full week! On the calendar for Monday was a birthday lunch with my dear friend, Connie. It's always good to get away with this longtime friend and just enjoy the time together. Front porch at Cracker Barrel was quite pleasant that day.

Monday night was Kate's last softball game of the season and it was a good game. It was disappointing to see her strike out when she was up to bat, so later with only five minutes to go in the game, I finally gave in to Jack begging me to take him over to the park. That boy is such a charmer! He had already gotten five dollars from me and now he wanted to go to the park. So I did. And wouldn't you know!

The bases were loaded and Kate was up to bat again. There were two outs. Kate had a full count and the coach pitched one that she hit. It was a hard grounder to third and brought the girl on third home to win the game. Wah!!!! And I missed it!

Also on Monday, my sister called to tell me her daughter had planned a trip to this area. She wanted to see if my schedule would allow her coming to stay with us for a few days and, if so, she would tag along with her daughter. Well, of course! So on Tuesday morning my sister was here to visit Ladies of Grace with me. After that, we went over to McKinney for a little shopping on the square and some lunch. Lunch was a yummy grilled ham/cheese/peach jam sandwich on jalapeño-cheese bread. I brought home a loaf of that! I also bought a cute, comfy tee shirt to wear around the house that said "Hugs are my drugs"!

Standing on the corner on a windy day!

On Wednesday we went to the final Bible Study Fellowship for Share Day and afterward, had lunch with several of the ladies from my group. We studied the Book of Romans from September until this past week and it was a fantastic study. Lunch was a good time of fellowship and all the ladies welcomed my sister who also does BSF in Oklahoma.

DH and I took her to see The Greatest Showman, which she had not yet seen. I absolutely love that musical - it's fast paced, great singing and amazing dancing and trapeze scenes. We ate soooooo much popcorn during the movie that none of us wanted dinner.

On a last minute impulse, since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to drive by and take a look at our old house. As we drove up in front of the house, I noticed a young woman sitting on a bench and decided to get out of the car and go introduce myself. She was so welcoming and friendly and when I told her I had lived there for 30 years, she invited us in to look around and go out back to see the pool. She even knew my name because of all the junk mail that still comes to that address with our names on it. So many memories there. I had such a difficult time missing that house, it truly brought me joy to see that a loving and happy family lives in our old house and has taken good care of it! 

The back yard had changed quite a bit as had the interior of the house, but this is the only picture I took. I really wouldn't want a stranger coming in and taking pictures of my house. When we lived there, we had a humongous sycamore tree where the little tree above is now. She told me the big tree had gotten sick and they had to get rid of it. I remember when they dug the pool in 1992 seeing the roots of the sycamore spread out across the back alley!! Amazing. It was annoying because of the fuzzy balls that fell off the tree, but, as evidenced by this pic below, it certainly provided great shade.

Thursday morning we said good-bye to my sister and now that we know her daughter likes to visit this area, maybe Roberta can come more often.

On Thursday I bought a beautiful peace plant to take over to a close friend who lost her sister to suicide last week. It was an extremely tragic situation which left my friend with a very heavy heart. I just wanted to give her some strong hugs and some in person support. I felt so very sad for her as I had been blessed to be enjoying time with my sister this week.

Looking forward to another birthday lunch today with my old friend Susan. She is a precious lady and there is always lots of laughter when we get together. She is one of those people with a great laugh which comes easy to her and often.

Last, but certainly not least, my cutie pie great-niece is now 7 months old and crawling! She is so cute!! I just love her and wish I could see her more often. Julie reports that she LOVES every food she has tried, eats puffs like crazy, is obsessed with her bouncer, adores her doggies, can sit up on her own, and has started to crawl.

❤️