Baby Love

We got to spend time with Benjamin and his parents today.  All of us got to hold him a bunch but you won't know it from these pictures!   This child can sleep through about anything.  The reason is probably a result from spending almost four days in NICU - - where the lights never go out and there is continual noise of some sort.  (In the picture above, notice the size of his hands compared to Bill's.)

I love my tender-hearted husband and his strong love for all of us.  He is precious, precious, precious!!!!!   And so is this sweet new grandchild God has given us!

I think Benjamin is telling his fans that he has had enough of the paparazzi for the day!

Yes, may you see your children's children.  Psalm 128:6a

My Name is Grammy!!!!!

I met our kids at the pediatrician's office today so I could hold Benjamin Thomas for my first time.  Our last visit together was in the NICU when he held my finger.

 

Long story short, the beginning of this week was not exactly what anyone anticipated but he is a "normal, healthy newborn" now!  Face shots of him are being reserved for my daughter to post first.  There are none on her blog yet but you can look for future updates at  http://bearcatfeet.blogspot.com

We are head over heels in love big time with this small bundle.  He is our first grandchild.  (The picture was taken with my cell phone but I am sure I will have a BUNCH more after Sunday.)

 

 You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  Psalm 139

Deja Vu . . . All Over Again

Deja Vu All Over Again . . . Who remembers that quote?  Who remembers the person who said it?  If you guessed Yogi Berra, you are correct.  If you want to remember more of what he said, go to this link.

Thursday night, July 5, we had a repeat storm with the horrible high winds - - but no rain this time.  This tree is on our neighbor's property.  The picture does not do it justice.  The tree's diameter was at least 36 inches.  If you look at the left of the picture - - just past the clear ground and behind the tree in the background, you will see a second tree that was knocked over by the one in the foreground.    Midway on the right you can see a split rail fence.  Our  property is on the other side.

In this pic, our house is perpendicular three houses to the left.  (You can't see it.)  The amazing thing is with all the trees down in our neighborhood, none landed on houses or people.  God is good to protect us!

This tree blocking the road is across town in our daughter's neighborhood.  On the right, it is resting on "lines".  See the lines dangling beside the pole on the left?  Those used to be connected to our daughter's house.

The neighbor's cat - - checking out the new climbing toy.

I was impressed at the strength of the wires running into the house.  They were strong enough not to break - - but rather to pull the meter box and electric pole off the house!  It's funny how dramatic things are to us who are not familiar with them - - - like where does a person begin to repair this?  However, to our electrician, Steve Ownby, it's just a routine job.  Praise God for knowledgeable, skilled persons!

 

Same cat with one of it's offspring!

We were not about to complain about our yard having bunches of limbs down again - - - not with the magnitude others were dealing with.

Our biggest inconvenience on this second storm was loss of power for 22 hours.  We knew if it continued much longer, we would lose everything in our basement freezer.  However, we were able to transfer the contents to an almost empty freezer at church.  But we did lose everything in the refrigerator.  That is not a complaint because life could be worse and is for many, many people.  We are blessed to have our house, electricity, air conditioning, and the means to go buy more groceries.

Our area electric companies are to be commended.  They said the power outages were as great or greater in number than when we had the tornadoes.  The majority of the area had power within 12 hours.  The crews worked through the night and through the high heat on Friday.  We are very appreciative of what they did for all of us.

We still need rain though.  It is forecast for sometime this week.

 He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work  Exodus 35:35a

 

Surprise!

We are blessed beyond words to be included in the family of our daughter's in-laws.  Today we went to a cookout surprise party for the brother of Amanda's mother-in-law.  It was held at the home place of Tommy's wife & her sister.

This is not Tommy in the below picture.  It is my husband, Bill.

We had a GREAT time.  Their family is a lot of fun with great personalities.  We have yet to meet a stranger in their family even on our first meeting with them.

Since Tommy was turning sixty and likes the music of that era, CDs of the popular songs played throughout the day.  Some of us older attendees sang along with the music which I am sure was appreciated by the younger generation.

I like what they did with these chairs.  Each was painted a different primary color with the cushions covered in old blue jean pants.  Pretty clever and they looked great.  This house had a large wrap-around covered porch area.  It's very relaxing and inviting.  As you can see, even the neighbor's adorable pup enjoyed the party.

When we left, my husband had another surprise.  He knows I have been wanting to go to the Fields of the Wood  and since it is in the area, he secretly got the directions from our son-in-law.  He told me when we got in the car.  It's pretty impressive to see the stone tables on the side of a mountain.  Each letter is five feet tall.  RoadSide America has a nice write-up on this, too.

You can climb the stairs to the top of either mountain.    Or you can do as we did, and take your car on the road to the top.  (It was too hot to climb and my left knee has been swelling the last 2-3 weeks.  It's arthritis and overuse.  I will start my physical therapy exercises at home again and pray they help.)

 

Here is a lovely area to relax and enjoy the view.

Pictures from the top.  The words, "Jesus died for our sins." are live-trimmed hedges.

Looking down from the top of the mountain at the Commandments.

 

The view of the mountains is incredible.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  Bill and I discussed that we need to drive back this way when the leaves have their color-show.  As for Fields of the Wood, it is a great place for a picnic or to take a church group.  There is no admission fee but donations are welcomed.

And if anyone is wondering, the storms this past Thursday night were quite intense again.  I will post pictures of the results next time.

 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."  Exodus 24:12

What Goes Up . . . . .Sometimes has to be taken down.

I was almost asleep just before 11 pm on Sunday evening when I heard some strong sudden winds outside the window.  They were worse than anything we have experienced.  There were Straight-Line Winds in our neighborhood.  As a result, a few large limbs blocked a road.  Our neighbor had a tree across her driveway.  We had the top of a tree at the end of our driveway left with dangerous dangling limbs.

To give you an idea of the height of this tree, our house is shown below.  Our driveway is on the right-hand side of the picture.  The tree is out near the road.  

But we had a second tree - - a hickory - - beside the driveway at the garage door that was struck by lightening the same night.  That is a story for another blog.  Our understanding is insurance may cover that so we will file the claim before proceeding further.

So you are able to see in these shots, an idea of the height of our trees.  We aren't tree-climbers and don't have a bucket truck but were told by insurance the limbs had to come down - - - on our nickel.  Since we knew about the danger, we would be liable if anyone or their property (cars) was damaged.

Bill was on the phone a LOT trying to contact tree services.  Ronnie's was the first to give us an early scheduling date and to respond to our messages.  They had done previous work for us many years ago.

Safely buckled.

 

A large branch being lowered by rope.

As we requested, the limbs were lowered to the side of our driveway.  Our neighbors will help us cut them in cooler weather.  Then we will give them to others for firewood or take them elsewhere.

My sweet blogger/tree-hugger friend, Suzy, will be happy to know that we only "topped" the tree.  We were told it would be fine once it was trimmed.  As you will see in the next couple of pictures, we still are surrounded by a forest even with so much taken off of one!

Now that the chain saws have done their work from the bucket truck, Bill uses his brute masculine strength to begin clean-up!

He does help make my blog posts fun!

We are VERY THANKFUL that God once again protected us.  No trees landed on the house and damaged it.  (Actually one limb did do some damage to a gutter but that's no biggie.)  Also when lightening hit the other tree, it did not catch fire which also would have torched our house.  The area was dry as tinder before the rain began falling.

So - - - we had more education and entertainment - - - and 97 pictures of the process today.  Plus we got to visit with a neighbor or two while watching the tree guys work.

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  Psalm 4:8

BUSY & Tired!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit but this is the time of year when work overtakes my personal life.

You can go to the link for our library post so you can see the activity at our church last week.  Since the reading program started, we have not really had a "breather" until this week.  It's a great thing - - - - but last weekend was definitely a time to relax.

And if you don't go to the library link, it's fine but please go to our younger daughter's link and see her newest "pregnancy pic".  I really like it.   Grandson time is almost here!!!

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Psalm 127:3

Wonderful Weekends

Yummy!   Why all the delicious goodies?  Do you see the fabric around the flowers?  See the close-up below?  Looks like little boy toys - - - right?  That is because it was a baby shower for our grandson!  I have the best, best friends who love us and know how to celebrate an event.  I am fairly confident my daughter will blog more about this sometime this week.

 

 

During the Memorial Day Weekend last week, my sister, our brother and his wife, and my sister's granddaughter drove five hours to spend time with us.  They were in the car a LOT on Friday.

On Saturday, they, my husband, and our older daughter went to visit the younger daughter, who had the baby shower and who lives an hour away - - - - in the mountains near North Carolina.  This is a view from her front porch.  Her precious sweet husband cooked a delicious meal for us - - - items off the grill as well as homemade side dishes.   YUM again!

Sunday took us to another edible event.  It was held at a farm owned by one of our church members where we are invited to the annual church Memorial Day Picnic.

I would like to know who made these cupcakes.  They were excellent but the lemon frosting defies description.  It was wonderfully delicious.  I would love the recipe!

This is just the beginning of the food offerings.  There were two loooonnnngggg tables crowded with serving dishes.

This is only a portion of the crowd - - - and the crowd is about finished filling their plates.  What you don't see is the creek under the trees where the children spent 2 1/2 hours playing - - and the rides on the hay wagon - - - the music - - -- and the wonderful fellowship with friends.

Family - - - friends - - - two weekends in a row - - - - could life be much better?!!!

The righteous should choose his friends carefully . . . Proverbs 12:25a