Siblings' Saturday

Ricky, Lynda, Sandie, Kevin

On Saturday, January 5, I drove to the Augusta, GA area to be with my siblings.  Our younger brother was there from NY State to visit our other brother and sister.

  

Here we are in 1955.

Lynda, born 1951;   Ricky, born 1954;   Kevin, born 1955;    Sandie, born 1952

Rick and I have our mom's features.  Sandie and Kev favor our dad.

Mary (Rick's Wife), Rick, Lynn, San, Kev

Mirror Image - - This is a copycat of our grandmother and her sisters in the 1940's.

Fortunately we thought to take a few pictures before the sun had set completely.   Lots of cars because lots of people were there.  I got to see two new babies born this past year as well as my nieces and nephew.  We had some super delicious barbeque for lunch.  My sister was a wonderful hostess and gave up her comfortable beds for some of us.  That was great for us but made me tired for her!

 

 We had a wonderful time together.  We are truly blessed that we all have a good relationship.  As most families, we have weathered many storms - - both together and separately.  It's nice to be able to come out safely on the same shore.

(And I hope to catch up on blogging.  Life has been BUSY!)

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.  Matthew 12:50

Christmas 2012 in Nashville

We did something this year we have never done before.  We left the children at Christmas!  We had been with them on Sunday for dinner and to exchange gifts.  But on Monday, we left for Nashville for a couple of nights.

 

We stayed at the Wyndham Timeshare Resort which is just barely over a mile from the Opryland Hotel.  This was Bill's first visit there.  I had visited it a couple of times before with my sister but never at Christmas.

Many of you know that the hotel has 3 nationally acclaimed indoor gardens.  You do not have to stay at the hotel but can view these for free.  Enter through any lobby door.  You can pay for parking at the hotel - - - but you can also park in the parking lot of the Opry Mills Mall and walk over.  Lots of people do that.  Park in back of the mall.  The walk is shorter.

These pictures barely show the tip of the iceberg of what there is to view.  It's a truly amazing place.  If you eat there, be prepared to spend a bit of money.  Do as we did and research their menus to decide ahead of time what you will do at mealtime.

There were so very, very many lights.  These were outside in front of the hotel.  The internet will tell you when their Christmas decorations are on display but I think they are ready for viewing by Thanksgiving weekend.

I was very impressed that they had this very large Nativity Scene as well as audio of the Christmas Story being read from the Book of Luke in the Holy Bible.

 Indoors transforms in the evening.  It also gets much more crowded because people come to see the decorations.   If you go to visit here, wear comfortable shoes because there is a lot of walking but well worth every step you take.  We enjoyed our trip and the timing worked out well but we decided that we would probably not leave our family again on Christmas Day.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying , I am the light of the world  John 8:12a

2013 - Under Construction

My favorite person is my husband but even he agrees that these men come in second place.  It's our contractor, Mark Beaty, and his assistant, Tyler.  They are the ones who rebuilt our basement wall when it collapsed.  This time they were back on a non-emergency basis.

They did a variety of jobs from replacing a dryer vent hose to installing crown molding in a couple of rooms to giving added foundation support under the part of the house that did not have flooding issues.   However, we had some uneven floors.  The good news is our block walls and wood beams are in great shape but more columns were needed in a few areas.

This was interesting to me - - - - some fascia boards needed replacing.  We thought everything would be done on ladders - - - - but as you can see, measuring and cutting was done on the roof.  One person was on the ladder though when they attached the boards.

It feels wonderful to have these construction projects done.  Speaking of projects, you should see the list I am compiling now that I am retired.  One thing I will work on this week is playing catch-up on reading your blogs.  Life was really, really super busy from mid-November until the Christmas holidays.

Also, I need to blog our holidays even though they have passed.  I want them for my scrapbook. - - - so - - - until next time!!!

Where there is no vision, the people perish . . .  Proverbs 29:18a

Retirement

Last Sunday I was recognized by one of our co-pastors for my fifteen years of service as our church library director.  Also, it was the public announcement of my retirement - - - at the end of this week!!!   I am so excited - - because I will be babysitting our grandson full-time in January while his mom teaches.

Transitioning the leadership at work while continuing to serve the public has kept us very busy.  That means blogging has taking a back seat to the rest of life.  Hopefully I will be able to post more frequently very, very soon!

Our other pastor honored me with this Scripture at our library workers' appreciation dinner last month.   . . . . Well done, thou good and faithful servant  . . . . Matthew 25:21

God has blessed me in an overwhelming way.  All I have done is try to hear HIS voice, work hard to accomplish HIS direction, and treat others the way I would like to be treated.  It has amazed me to see what HE can accomplish through a willing servant.  My praise and thankfulness to HIM overflows.

Winners

Congratulations to

SEAGOS SAGA

BUTTERCUP

A CORGI IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

I will mail your books no later than Tuesday!

There are no pics tonight because it said my photo space is full - - - - so I have been deleting old blogs and old pics on Picasa - - - because I have the pics on my computer and have saved a lot of my blogs on Word - - - and printed them - - - - so why keep the stuff on the internet?!!!  Plus I don't want to pay for storage.

 It said it can take up to 24 hours for them to delete - - - so maybe next time you will have pictures?!!!

Give-Away

Since it is this time of year ALREADY - - - I thought I would like to give a couple of blog friends a gift - - - not decorations though.

It is this book.  I will choose at least two names either Thanksgiving Day or Friday to receive a copy of this book.  If you want your name in the "dish", please let me know in the comments.

Speaking of comments, you might not hear much of any from me until Christmas vacation.  Your blogs are getting read but no comments have been left by me.

I have five more (partial) weeks to work until I am retired.  Plus, we are privileged to have Benjamin here a couple of days a week to babysit!  He is so very precious and good-natured.

 When I get a few free minutes, it is spent typing information for the library manual that will be left for the new director.  She is very smart and God has given her some GREAT ideas - - so she does NOT have to do anything the way I did it in the past.  However, if she has any questions about what I did, she will have access to "my brain on paper"!  It's an exciting time for both of us!

Don't you see that children are God's best gift?  Psalm 127:3

Leaf Me Alone

Remember when you were a kid and did leaf rubbings?  Or you sealed them between sheets of wax paper with crayon shavings?   And you got to jump in piles of leaves and bury yourself underneath them and smell the scent that is Autumn?  I don't even remember it bothering my sinuses when "buried alive".

But then we grew up and the leaves became work.

The roof needs clearing (and this is only one section).  The decks and stairs stay covered.  They have to be cleared before the rain.  (This was last weekend - a week ago.)

Hooray for Super Husband and his trusty sidekick, Windy!  As you can see, Bill does a great job eradicating the roof of tree gifts. I try not to worry about him up there - - - high off the ground.  He is very careful - - has not fallen yet - - - and we both pray he never will.

He has - - what you could call - - - job security cuz there are still more to descend!

However, the pansies are happy with the leaves.  It gives them a nice blanket for the winter temperatures.  Time will tell how they fare this year.  I gave each of them good potting soil when transplanting them.  Don't you love their brilliant pop of color against the leaves?

. . . . As the leaf falls from the vine. . . .   Isaiah 34:4            
Future blog - - - hopefully within a week, I plan a give-away - - - - 

and at some point - - more pictures of Benjamin with the camera.  I have some with my phone - - but they are only okay.   He is sooooo precious and I have enjoyed the half weeks of babysitting immensely!!!!