May 26, 2013

Here are a couple of pictures that should have been posted

on yesterday's entry when we met for lunch last weekend.

My sister's older granddaughter is the pretty blonde girl.

My husband, Bill, is holding our grandson, Benjamin.

 

Benjamin's parents, Amanda (our younger daughter) and Joshua, 

and my cute husband again!

Amanda's blog 

usually has many pictures of the baby - - who is almost a year old already!

Sunday's sight-seeing was a trip to the Tennessee Railroad Museum which is in Chattanooga.  Sandie, Cobii, and I went there after church.

The lobby inside.  There is also a gift shop and snack bar.

Non-operational trains outside the front entrance.  A couple are museum displays inside.

 

My sister, Sandie.  She is sixteen months younger than me.

 

The return trip of the ride scheduled before us.

 

There are various places and times you can travel as well as different durations of rides.  We took the Missionary Ridge train which is about an hour.  At this point we had just come out of the tunnel (you can see our smoke).  You are allowed outside of the last car if you want to ride there on the platform.

Our engine at the turntable.

On the turntable.

 

Cobii getting to look inside the engine and coal car.

We had a great time that day.  It's an activity that has walking - -

but also opportunity to sit and relax!

. . . travel with us, Exodus 34:9b

May 25, 2013

My sister and her granddaughter came to visit us during Memorial Day Weekend.  We decided to meet at the Ocoee Dam Deli and Diner.  She was coming north from Atlanta and was able to exit to 411 and over to 64.  As I have mentioned before, if you are ever in the area, you really would enjoy eating there - - - - excellent food - - - especially the wraps.

After lunch, we "girls" went down to one of the areas that rafters begin a "white water adventure".  I am not promoting this company as it is one of twenty-four.  However, most of them transport the rafts on top of vehicles - - usually school bus types. 

This post will have similar photos that followers of mine have seen in times past.

 

The rafters have "suited up" with life jackets and helmets.  (Why does someone want to do a sport where they could possibly hit their head hard enough to cause brain damage?)    Notice the calmness of the water and also the drop -off under the TVA foot bridge.

Obviously the rafters don't go over the small falls but rather down the ramp on the right.

Notice the different colors of rafts  They belong to different companies.

Notice how calm and clear the water is just before it goes over the edge.

 

Do you see the rafters on the top right?  They evidently take them further upstream there to have them practice paddling and obeying instructions.

Here is a closer view of what they will ride.

The groups are about to embark on their Class IV Rapids Adventure as will over 300,000 others this summer.  It is a dangerous sport but there have only been six fatalities in the last twenty years.  Those generally happen if someone gets lodged or hung up underwater.

So - - if you or friends are looking for this type of fun, our area is a good place to visit!  And no - - I have not done this trip and don't plan to.  For me, 'calm' water is for swimming and rapids are to be avoided!

. . . behold, I stood upon the bank of the river  Genesis 41:17b

One of these things is not like the other . . . .

Do you remember that kids' song that began, "One of these things is not like the other . . . . .?"  It taught "same and different".  Apply that song/concept to these trees.  Obviously the one in the center is without leaves - - - and dead - - - and close to the back of our house.

 

We had made repeated calls to a recommended tree service a couple of weeks earlier than the day this was cut but they did not return our messages.  Then on May 17, this young man, Steve Foust, showed up with his wife, Michelle.  They were making cold calls and handing out business cards.  He gave us an excellent price to drop the tree.

 He is licensed, bonded, and insured - - but since I had never met either of them, we called their insurance company to verify coverage before we authorized his services.

As you can see, he was able to begin work and had the 80 ft tree down quite rapidly.  Steve LOVES this work.  It made me nervous to watch him at times because heights terrify me.

 

He and his wife are very, very sweet and polite.  They did exactly what they wrote in the estimate.

It may be obvious that we have an "old" forest behind our home.

In the future, we will again be calling 

Big Bear's Tree Service .

 

He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron . . .  Isaiah 10:34a

Friends

I have probably mentioned before that the reason I started blogging was to keep in touch with as well as update out-of-town family and friends with our lives.  A definite bonus has been meeting new people through writing - - perhaps a modern day pen-pal type relationship.  Today my "blogging life" elevated one more step when I got to meet

 Terri D.  

 She and her husband, Joe, are on their way back home to Florida and told her blog friends that she would get together with anyone on her route.  I was one of the fortunate ones close to I-75!!!

Can you tell where we were?  Rocking chairs on a porch in front of a brown restaurant - - - hmmmmm.   If you guessed Cracker Barrel, you might eat there a lot - - but you are also correct.

I truly had a wonderful time with the two of them.  They are very sweet people with lots of personality.  If the timing was different, my husband could have been there and would have loved the fellowship, too.  THANK YOU, Terri & Joe for making time to visit with me during your travels!

Terri is tall.  I am not.

The next friend being mentioned is Becky from my church.  She and I have done Bible Studies in previous summers and we are doing this one during June and July.  It is on the Fruit of the Spirit.  I think it's one of the best ones because it works on my sanctification.  The thing Becky and I like is we study at our convenience rather than meet at a specific time each week.  That frees us up to be with family.  She and I do our weekly discussion through emails which has been encouraging and challenging to me because I am a visual learner so would prefer to read comments to get the full impact.

Hopefully I will be able to get updates in at least every other day for a week or so since I have LOTS of pictures from the Memorial Day Weekend when my sister and her granddaughter visited us.

 A friend loves at all times . . . Proverbs 17:17a

Summer Vacation!

These chairs were outside of one of our grocery stores.  They are plastic but the colors were fun and happy!  They are just part of the signs that summer vacation is here.  Elementary and high schools had their last day of classes on Wednesday.

 

That means I am done babysitting for a couple of months.  Mr. Benjamin got to have a bit of a "party schedule" on a couple of days this week.  One afternoon we met his mom after work at Smoothie King.  You can see he is noticing the cup is almost empty.  I have learned to take a big bib even though he is getting neater.

Isn't he looking so big?  Last year at this time, he still had two months "to go" before he was even born!  Time has certainly flown by this year.  We are blessed to live so close by and will probably see him about once weekly when she is in town or we drive to their house.

I was talking with my husband and daughters earlier about this being the first summer I have had a two month vacation from employment - - - in YEARS!!!  It is exciting!  My plans are to work on some projects that I am unable to do when Benjamin is here.  One thing I learned quite some time back is to write things down so you don't have a jumble in your head trying to remember what you need to do.  Being a visual learner, this works very well for me.  As you can see, my projects are listed by rooms/areas with the specific projects on the back of the card.  They are alphabetized in the small notebook.  I am definitely not OCD but have found a bit of organization does make life easier.

 So after this weekend (company coming), yet another transition into a new schedule begins for us!!

"While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

Mother's Day Week

Happy Mothers' Day to me and my baby girl.  We got to celebrate with my son-in-law's family last week.  They are precious Christians and love my child almost as much as I do. Speaking of my son-in-law, he is quite photogenic.  My daughter's life as a mother is much easier because of him - - but we can elaborate more on that on Father's Day.

Although Benjamin is not smiling in this picture, he is smiling in many others.  The important thing is he is NOT crying and he had reason to because he was hungry at this point and had just endured being dressed up.  You can barely see it - - but he is wearing a tie.

My Amanda has done a fantastic job of being a mother.  She has been conscientious of all types of safety for the child - - - from sleep position to proper nutrition.  Of course she has given him lots of love.  We say it a lot - - and not just because he is ours but because we have been around lots of children - - - but he is one of the sweetest babies we have known.  The security he feels with them is a huge part of that.

The bonus of Mother's Day is Amanda and Benjamin spent the week with us while Joshua was out of state at a conference.  We got lots of cuddles and hugs!  (And their presence here is the reason I have not commented on your blogs - - but have read them.)

In addition to the gift of family, let me show you what I received for Mother's Day - - - - a gift I requested.

I love doing yardwork.  The best part is you can see results and no one is going behind you messing and/or cluttering the area.  We have a LOT of wooded area.  My husband can do some of the mowing but his allergies go crazy with weed-eating.  He is sick for over a week after that.  Also - - - at this point - - - I am the only one who has not been affected by poison ivy yet.  I pray it stays that way.  I am smart to wear disposable "rubber gloves", a mask, long pants and boots.

Long story short - - I can't use a gas-powered machine plus I hate the noise and smell.  This Ryobi Hybrid works with a battery or electric cord.  I prefer the battery - - - even if it only goes for about 20 minutes at a time.  That is long enough for my arms to hold it  anyway!  Recharging doesn't take much longer than that.  This machine has been a perfect tool for me.  Plus, the battery is interchangeable with their other tools - - if we owned them.  My son-in-law has some though.

 - - - till next time - - - hopefully later today with pics from a different event at our house.

. . . a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  Proverbs 31:30b

Weather

This is the current - -  and extremely accurate  - - forecast/map.  Even though we have had LOTS of rain today (2 inches thus far), it doesn't bother me because Saturday is my day for chores inside the house.  That means I have not been lured outside by any beautiful weather!

 

However this cat is not happy.  She has gone in and out various doors hoping that a different exit will produce sunshine.

 Kit Kat forgot about the gorgeous day yesterday.  As you can see, Benjamin is ecstatic about it - - - - but more likely he is super happy that he got to see his mom in the middle of the day.

 He also got to meet Pop Pop downtown for lunch.  We were waiting outside of Gardener's Market when "The Boy" got his first glimpse of Pop Pop approaching!

And here he is on Thursday on the playground at Mom's school before she came to her car.  Grammy was happy to be able to hold on him, snap a picture with her phone, and also keep the bouncy-rocking toy moving to produce this smile.

The rain and sunshine have also given us a profusion of color - - from flowers "planted on purpose" to wildflowers.   I love buttercups!  Does anyone else?  Did you used to pick them when you were a kid?  And hold them under your chin to see if they reflected yellow - - which meant you liked butter?   Or did we only do that in NY?

 Yellow is a happy color - - as long as not much pollen is associated with it!!!

But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.  Proverbs 4:18