Pool Days and Birthdays

 Since so much this summer has been cancelled or postponed we have had a lot of pool days at my house.  Which I love!!  Having my family around me is the biggest blessing and to have them want to come around is even more of a blessing.  It would just break my heart if my kids and grandkids never wanted to come around.  We are just so blessed that they love us and want to hang out with us!  Of course we love on them like crazy but I also want them to desire and want a close relationship with us as grandparents.  It is so important to pour into our children and their children's lives.  I think I have finally got my computer back to working correctly so I can upload photos.  Here are a few summer highlights!

Popsicle break!

Brooks and Piper both swim like fish!

Thad sending Abram sky high!

Piper is a jumping queen!

This girl is an awesome swimmer and she turned 8!!

I cannot believe she is already 8 years old!

What a sweet pea she is to me!!

And this girl turned 10!!  How can that be??!!

I am so glad she still loves dolls and loves to play.  Kids grow up so fast and I love that she still wants to be just a kid!!

Homemade carrot cake is her favorite

Abram loved it too!!!

Little Mr. No teeth Brooks liked the ice cream best!!

And Savannah and Finley just like parties!!

It's Been A While....

Wow!  I have not blogged in several months!  Don't think for one second that I don't have a ton of photos and that I have been staying home locked in my house.....far from that.  But I have been doing things with my kids, grandkids, friends and my husband.  We are all trying to just stay busy.  To say that I am angry about all this ...this...this mess is a ginormous understatement.  I cannot believe that so many people are falling under this spell that is cast.  It is unreal.  Yes I believe there is a virus but not for one second do I believe that is the catastrophic event that the fake news media is portraying.  All anyone has to do is look up the cases of past flu epidemics and see the case numbers and the deaths and you will see this is all a big fat joke.  We never shut one thing down at all either.  I am just in awe of how fearful people are and especially people who I know are believers!  Absolutely petrified.  All I can say is that November cannot come quick enough and there is no doubt that when the election is over this will all go magically away.  

But anyway....this summer Finley has learned to swim with no floaties.  Piper, Savannah and Brooks are diving like olympians.  Abram adores the water!  I have taken a ton of pictures but my desktop where I store them is giving me a fit and this Mac I am typing on makes me break out in hives so needless to say I can't figure out how to load them on this blog site!!!  But the kids are growing and want so badly to go back to school and be with their friends and teachers.  As they should be!  Our church is open and let's just say the first Sunday we went I sobbed.  My heart was just so thankful to be in the House of the Lord I just cried with joy.  It was so good to see people and hug them (yes...we hugged!!)  We start back with our Sunday night service this week and Wednesday night studies and Sunday School are right behind that!  God's Word tells us to not forsake the assembly with fellow believers and that is just what we are doing.  God wants and desires us to gather together!!  There is power in the gathering for sure!  My sweet step daughter, Cara, and her fiance, Jeff, have set a date for November 15th and they are so excited.  She is just bubbling over with excitement.  I am so thrilled she asks me questions and wants my opinion about anything.  She is such a wonderful young lady and I will do whatever I can to help her.  Not much else is going on....there is nothing to do really.  This whole thing has made everything zero fun.  Going anywhere now is just one big pain in the neck.  So for now, I will just stay home with all my littles as much as possible and continue to pray, pray and pray for this nation.  We need it!

What I think...

We are now into the month of May.  Several weeks into this stay at home order, social distancing and quarantine situations.  You know what I think?  It is all stupid.  We are drinking the kool-aid, people.  Just sucking it right down.  This country has never shut down for anything.  More people die from the regular flu....nobody cares.  Smoking cigarettes 100% kills you or disables you and yet....people still smoke.  My county has had 3 deaths from this virus.  All were over 75 and had many other health issues.  While it is sad and hard it is not a substantial reason to bankrupt an entire country.  The government cannot continue to just hand out money either.  I could rant on all of this for days but I won't.  Just be aware that the media blows everything out of proportion and out of control.  The Navy warships, Mercy and Comfort, saw hardly any patients at all.  The make shift hospitals that cost a fortune in Chicago and Seattle?  Saw a combined total of 23 patients.  The beaches of California?  Cannot stir them with a stick they are so crowded.  People are tired of staying home and staying away from jobs, schools and society.  Churches need to open back up!  If the liquor stores, vape shops and tobacco stores are essential???  Then open church back up.  Nothing is more essential.  Nothing.  The American people are smart.  If you are sick.  Stay home.  If you are vulnerable to this virus.  Stay home.  Let others help you out and do for you but for goodness sake....open this country back up!  Stop watching the liberal news.  The fake news.  The blown out of proportion news.  It does more damage than anything to your mind.  Put your glass of kool-aid down and go outside.  Look up to the heavens and declare....This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!! 

Easter 2020

I have no pictures from Easter this year.  I had no Easter egg hunt this year with my grandbabies.  I didn't have a big Easter dinner after church this year with my whole family like I have had for my whole adult life.  Instead we had church in our car.  Just my husband and me.  Watching our pastor from the front seat while he preached on the steps of our family life center.  It was a wonderful sermon.  So meaningful this Easter.  Our church building was empty but so was the tomb.  It was a glorious reminder that we serve a Savior that is alive.  And a tremendous reminder that we are the church.  We.  All of us.  Placed here for such a time as this to serve, witness and be a light to such a dark world.  You see, I love church.  I love the fellowship.  The people.  The projects.  All the joys, problems, issues, events....all of it.  I miss it so much.  I miss the community of believers gathered together under one roof.  Corporately praying, praising in song and worshipping.  I miss my ladies in our weekly Bible study.  I miss all the children running around.  This Easter was like no other.  But one thing remains the same......Jesus.  He never changes.  No pandemic.  No virus.  No mandates.  Nothing will shake Him.  Change Him.  Move Him.  He is everywhere and He is right here.  Oh, I will have my Easter egg hunt.  I will take a gazillion pictures.  And I will cook a huge meal for my whole family.  We are going to celebrate Erica's birthday, Easter and David's birthday in a huge way.  Just not today.  This will be an Easter that I will never forget and will talk about, Lord willing, for many years.  To my great grandchildren if the Lord tarries.  But I pray that it is one that I hold closer than any other.  Because Jesus is alive and He is still on the throne.

What I've Been Doing

With the stay-at-home ordinance in force now for our state I have been staying home for the most part.  I have not been idly going out at all and only going to the grocery store for us, my parents, in-laws and a neighbor.  So this gives me a lot of time.  A lot.  I have been cooking and baking a lot.  So this summer I will be swimming in a sweat shirt and black yogas pants.  Thanks, pandemic.  I have been reading, working outside, planning my flower gardens and containers.  Taking long walks daily through my neighborhood.  What I am not doing is organizing my closets, my house or my office.  I should be but outside calls and I go a runnin out there!!  I have been talking to people I love daily and I have been seeing my grandchildren some during the week.  Not every day but some days.  I hear so many people say they are bored but honestly I really never am.  Oh, sometimes I feel a little bored but I find something to do.  Like...bake a cake!  Who knew my only hobby was eating???  I was looking for something to watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime but no luck there.  Everything on these channels is just....yuck.  I don't like foul language or nudity so that leaves out about ...everything.  So back outside I go!  I have been spending a lot of time with my husband.  Doing projects and helping each other out has been really fun.  He is super easy to be around and is so funny sometimes.  Laughing during this whole ordeal our country is going through right now is just good for the soul.  I'm not making light of this pandemic at all.  People are dying.  People are scared.  People are acting ugly.  But there are those that are shining bright and showing love.  Showing kindness.  Making others laugh.  Those are good things the world needs right now.  So while we are all staying home and sheltering in let's think of ways we can show love and kindness to others.  To be that beacon on a hill.  That light in the darkness.  That's what I will be doing.

The Basics

We are now in my county and state underneath a formal "Stay at Home" order due to this Covid-19 virus pandemic.  Down to just the basics.  We can go to the grocery store, pharmacy, home improvement stores but not much else.  Everything is closed.  Restaurants are take out only.  The local restaurants around us are small Mom and Pop joints and they seem to be booming.  Parking lots full the few times I have been out.  I am going to the stores for my parents, in-laws and my neighbor.  I pick up things for all the kids if I am out but when they go to the stores I keep the children.  People are just....ugly....  over the basics.  As I sit right now, sipping hot coffee, looking out of my warm home to a nicely mowed lawn I just think.  Thank you, God....it could be so much worse.  Staying at home is really no big deal.  I have everything I need.  All the basics.  But I really have so much more.  So much to offer to others.  I have gotten to know my neighbors (6 feet away!).  I have gotten to talk with them about the God I love and how His hand is all through this.  I have been putting an encouraging verse on my Instagram page each day until this is over and am thrilled that a couple of my followers (there are about 25!) like it each day and I know that they need Jesus!  This whole stay at home order is the biggest opportunity to bring Jesus to our world.  I am praying for this whole pandemic to quickly end of course but I am also praying for Revival to come to our lives.  For God to revive the believers.  For the Holy Spirit to move and revive hearts that are dead to the Lord to a life like nothing else!  To be Alive in Jesus!  He is the only "basic" you will ever really need.  When you give your life to Him then you will know a peace that passes all understanding.  Peace in this world right now is so very needed.  So, Christians....I ask you to look beyond your circumstances and show the world you live in the best basic in their life is Jesus. 

A smile goes a long way in the world we live in today

Yesterday I went to the grocery store for my parents and my in-laws.  With the "shelter-in" put in place this week for our area due to this corona virus my husband and I think it is for the best we shop for them.  They were agreeable....miracles do happen!  Both sets are very independent.  But as I went to three different stores to get what they needed I saw so many people with scared looks on their faces.  Some were in masks and gloves.  Some would not even look up and scurried through the stores quickly.  But every chance I got....I smiled at people.  Said, hello.  Most, if not all smiled back or were already smiling at me.  Most spoke back.  A smile.  It says a lot.  It says....we're okay.  I see you.  You are not my enemy.  I am not your enemy.  Smiles.  I did see the occasional person putting as much as they could in their carts.  I saw you "sugar hoarder".  Take ...one not twenty-one.  This hoarding of paper goods, meat, eggs, cereal is ridiculous.  People are scared.  One cashier asked my aunt if she thought all this was because of the aliens.  My aunt was so taken aback she just , "no." and left the store.  I spoke with a woman at the store who agreed with me.  All this.....is a sign of the end times.  Just one of many that are here and are coming.  Is Jesus coming back today?  Tomorrow?  I don't know.  But He is.  He is.  In the mean time.  Smile.  Don't be mean.  Be kind.  Gracious.  Humble.  Sweet.  Forgiving.  One lady last week when things were sort of out of control gave me the last pack of toilet paper.  It was for my parents I told her.  She smiled and said, "take it, I don't really need it".  Was she an angel I was unaware of?  They are all around us.  More so at this time, I think.  Testing our hearts.  Seeing if we will show the kindness of the Savior or our own selfish hearts to this scared world.  During this whole event for the next while is the best opportunity to show the light of Jesus to this dark world.  Check on your neighbor.  Drop off groceries to a shut-in.  Ask that young mama if she needs diapers, formula...a break.  Help out with homeschooling your grandkids if you can.  But mostly .... pray and smile.  God is on the throne and He is in control.