Monday, October 29, 2012

"I'm Here, Lord,........."

The blessed, hallowed, holy Sabbath!!  How I love it!

I've missed so much lately. On Sunday morning, no, on Saturday, my heart starts to long and yearn for that moment.

Yesterday morning followed a long night.  With the good Lord's help I managed to make it.

When I entered His sanctuary, I felt such a sense of gratitude.  I sat there quietly and was immediately aware of His Presence.  I answered His voice, "I'm here, Lord."  It was enough...  He and I....  Yes, I was well aware of others. They, too, are part of my family, His family, The Family of God. I had missed them so!  Bonds established over years of fellowship and caring.

Just being there was enough. But the whole service was filled with His sweet Presence. The special song, "Jesus, Lover of my soul......."  One felt as though he needed to remain "hushed, humbled, grateful" in His Presence.  Almost as though one needed to take off his shoes, for surely one was on "holy ground."

I was glad when they said unto me, "Let us go into the House of the Lord!"  Thank you, God, for once again blessing me with the opportunity!!!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday.....

Jon Abram's family came in today and we had such a lovely time together!  The critters had lots of fun with their archery....


Our beautiful Granddaughters!!

Miss Melly, 16.
These two are quite the pair!  Lyndy Lou will be 14 in December. She is now taller than me!!!!!!!  I guess they named the right one after me...


Erica is 13 1/2.......  in Nanny's eyes, "They are beautiful!"

The Deck

Thursday and Friday, our nephew, Stephen, came over and treated/sealed our deck. It was a huge job and he did an awesome job.  We appreciate it so much!!!




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Erica's Sweet Sisters...

 Taylor.........
Julia, who we haven't seen yet.  Anxiously waiting for their next visit home.  Poor Little Julia has chicken pox!

Monday, October 15, 2012

What to do on a cool rainy day........

I suppose we could blame this all on our kids.....  ha ha.  Jon Abram's family had begged us to come up Saturday, but we just weren't able to make it.  They made me happy though, by emailing me pictures all through out the day, of them decorating their home.  Ahhhhhhh....modern technology.

Today Amy and Joey came over and helped us. I wanted the leaf in my dining room table for the holidays.  Joey brought in the two extra chairs from the shed for me.  NOW....come on home kids!!! ha ha.
No, we aren't ready to put up our Christmas tree yet!  But.......  Jon so loves his village and putting it up is a huge job!  The village is something that Amy enjoys so much with her Dad, she bought him most of the pieces. So we decided since it is such a big job, to go ahead and put it up and be able to enjoy it. The grandkids love it so much!

While all this was going on, I pulled out Jon's childhood Christmas lp's and played them on our vintage phonograph.

Amy and Joey, under Jon's direction, hauled it all in and put it where Jon could easily reach it.  Clearing out the china cabinet was a huge job in itself. Joey brought me boxes and put them where I could reach them. Then after they were packed he stored them away for me until after the holidays.

Amy fixed a lovely lunch and Joey hauled empty boxes, trunks, etc. back to the shed.  Whew!  We couldn't have done it without them!
I loved just watching Amy and her Dad.  It was truly pleasure shared!
  Our kids are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some Kinda BIG...

This is my tree.  This is my fall tree.  This is my gift....

A couple of months ago, when the family was in we were sitting on the deck and I was relating how God had especially, beautifully, miraculously supplied a need, no, a desire of my heart!

My sweet oldest granddaughter looked at me, smiled and said, "You know, Nanny, I think God must love you SOME KINDA BIG!"  I replied, "Melody, honey, God loves ALL of us "some kinda big."  "I know, Nanny," she replied.  "But God DOES love you "some kinda big!"

Over the last few weeks, I've smiled many times as God has so often assured me of His special love through big and little ways.  But I think I've become convinced that my wise oldest granddaughter IS RIGHT!  God does indeed love me "some kinda big!"

As summer ended, I looked forward with great anticipation to the beautiful fall colors.  So many of the trees around the neighborhood have seemed to just turn into a dry dead look. But early on God did something indeed big for me.  Strangely enough, only the back side of our sugar maple turned a brilliant golden orange.

Last Saturday was our church picnic.  I had bought ready made items to take, hoping we would make it. But Saturday morning when Jon and I arose, we knew it wouldn't happen.  "Never mind, honey," Jon said, "we'll just have our own picnic on our deck."  The weather was gorgeous.  We took our lunch and a game to the deck.  There seemed to be just an unusual array of birds, including the melodious mockingbirds.  As we sat there enjoying each other and the day so much, the fall leaves continually drifted down.  It was a perfect day!!!  It was a "SOME KINDA BIG" day!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Jessica Mae's New Look



The Critters.........

We've been blessed to see family this week.  Margaret and the girls came in for just a brief time on Tuesday.  We were thrilled to see them.

 Lyndy Lou sporting her Great Grandma Sowers' love for hats.
Miss Melly showing off her first job name tag....

Jiff sharing some of her college books with Papa...

Yeah, yeah...I know, Margaret isn't a Critter.  But she's showing off her "big girl" toy...
First thing Jessica Mae(our out doorsman) did was grab the rake and start raking leaves. It was a cloudy day, but this little gal always brings sunshine with her!

Today Amy dropped her three off for a couple of hours.  Nanny fixed them sausage and pancakes. Afterwards, Nanny and JB just had to share Little Black Sambo's story of the mountain high piles of pancakes.


Afterwards, JB played  a Veggie Tale game on the computer.


While Papa, Erica, and Cameron discussed Erica's science project dealing with transformers.

Papa and Little  Buddy headed to the shop for possible supplies, while Erica got to work checking out sites, taking notes, and discussing making a power point with Nanny.

It has been a beautiful day.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Sweet Mom D.


A beautiful picture of a beautiful soul!!!  What a blessing Mom D. continues to be for her family. Telephone conversations with her always leave us so encouraged by her strength and faithfulness!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Time for Tea.....

What could be cozier on a cool, damp, fall day than a tea party with your sweet daughter and a special friend.  Roberta came over this morning and "taught" me the "fine art" of making tea.

It was such a pleasant time.  Amy was here, but she was our "photographer."


Umm.....hot tea, and pumpkin pie!  We shared wonderful memories of loved ones that we miss.


This calls for a "repeat performance," I'm thinking.......


There is nothing on this earth
more to be prized than true friendship.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Carolina Gal...

Erica came in today dressed in Carolina blue from head to toe!

These are "goodies" that she won at the NC Fair yesterday.


Carolina Tarheels........
Fixing Nanny's meds for the next two weeks.


Friday, October 5, 2012

Finished!!! I think...........

Well, today Jon and I put the finishing touches on my coffee nook. We've had so much fun together on this little project, that I think we both sort of hated for it to come to completion.

The coffee curtain was added.  I was so pleased to find these two little baskets used for $.75. Jon took the handles off. The first basket had a liner and one cloth matching napkin  which I lined the  second basket with.  I put packets of Equal in one, and coffee filters in the round one...perfect fit!!


The picture doesn't show the real color very well, but it is blond and white.  One day Jon came in with a blond wooden handle to add to the white pull out shelf. Just set it off and made it much easier to pull out smoothly.

I had found these coffee decor peel off and stick on decals that matched my wall paper border in the kitchen, but the wood on the back of the nook(which Jon still had not painted) was too rough for them to stick.  So I gave up on the idea of ordering them.

A few days ago, I noticed Jon was busy again. He found a nice smooth piece of wood in his shop, painted it white, and replaced the rough wood.  "Now!" he said proudly,"Honey, you order your decals!"  What an absolutely amazing companion!!!

I know, the decals, are crooked, but my shoulders gave me fits. Will try later, ha ha.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

October has Come!




White clouds float in skies of azure
V’s of geese honk high overhead
Trees dance, yellow leaves flutter down
Leaf carpets crunch underfoot
Pumpkins and mums decorate porches
Hot tea and cider bring comfort and warmth
Spicy candles lend aroma
October has come once more
                                                                                                                                    ~R. V. M.
Roberta Miller

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Robin Hood

 Monty came in from Virginia today to pick up Joanne. He brought Little Buddy two bows and several arrows. Needless to say, Cameron was one happy little guy.  After school the rain let up for about ten minutes, long enough for him to at least get in a short "test drive."

He pulled back the bow, grinned really big at me and in a slow Southern drawl said, "Robin Hooooood.......," and TWANG let go of the arrow!

Robin Hood, one of my favorite characters....