Tuesday, November 15, 2011

We Don't Understand

As humans, we don't understand the Lords ways and His will.
He sees the big picture, we only see today.
He knows the plans he has for us.
He knows how to grow us.
He gives us strength and courage when we have none for ourselves.
He gives us tears and love for our dear friends.

Praying fervently for the Foy family today.
Little Canaan was born today and had 1 hour with his family before Jesus took him home.

We don't understand.
But we do know ~
God is in control.
Praise the Lord for His Mercies, Love, Strength, and Courage.

Monday, November 14, 2011

St. Louis Marriage Reception

Last Friday night, Bryant's parents hosted a Marriage Reception in St. Louis for Katie & Bryant.  This was a chance for many of their local friends to meet Katie and wish the Newlyweds well.  It happened to be on the weekend we were traveling up there for a visit, so we all got to go.  Here are some pictures of the evening fun.....


my favorite of the 2 girlies!

The Jackson Girls

daughter and Daddy



I LOVE this picture! We sure do miss Katie at home!



the Happy Couple

English Country Line Dancing (kinda like square dancing)



do si do

Will got out there and danced most of them!  We are proud of the boy for trying!


Saturday, November 12, 2011

New Cookbook

I've just spent an awesome day with Greg, Amy, Will, Katie & Bryant in St. Louis.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, went to JoAnn's for fabric (stuff for baby "Olive" too), went to Arch & Westward Expansion Museum and then onto the Anhaueser Busch Brewing Company for a free tour.  Pictures will come later...the camera is in the car right now.

I love cookbooks and the newest one will be really interesting to read...Here is what the cover says....

"Housekeeping Made Easy. Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book, A practical system for Private families, in town and country.  With directions for Carving and arranging the table for dinner, parties, etc. Together with many medical and miscellaneous receipts extremely useful in families"

by Mrs. A.P. Hill widow of Hon. Edward Y. Hill, of GA

Originally published in 1867.

We've already read what to do for Lockjaw ~ pretty much we've decided the cure just hastened your demise.  Or, after "taking the cure", dying would have been easier.  I am looking forward to reading this 416 page Historical Homekeeping Manual!

Thanks Greg!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Thanksgiving Thursday

modern travel
cell phones
computers
internet
gas prices going down
clearance racks
spending money
excitement
blessings from the Lord
abundance
Faith
Love
crafting
friends
hugs
kisses
"I love you's"
walking through crackling leaves
puppy snuggles
ideas
our "own" curriculum
devotions
Prayer
our home
dependable cars
listening ears
uplifting speech
surprises
sweet tea
fresh, homemade bread

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A Special Blessing

Psalm 127: 3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

We found out over the weekend, that the Lord is blessing our family with the birth of our first grandchild.  We knew that Katie & Bryant were going to trust the Lord in the area of children ~ how many and when ~  and He chose to bless them immediately with a little one.

Greg and I are thrilled to celebrate their news and are equally thrilled to change our names to Grandma & Grandpa.  We are praying for a healthy little baby, a safe/healthy pregnancy, and the building of a new family.

We are thankful for the Lord blessing them and us in this special way.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Homeschool Field Trip Fun


Hey Katie, this is a log cabin ~ 2 sides are done in white!

Amy is thinking about recreating this quilt using different colors.

LoraBeth, Emily, Amy, KayteeBeth, LauraLee, Vida Jo

Bradley and Will

KB. Laura Beth & friend

Angela, Me, Nancy ~ it wasn't hard to get in the chair but it was tricky to get out!




beautiful stained glass window in the church

Our little Pocahontas friend

Time for school





Green Acres is the place to be!

Thankful for my Modern washer


Greg & Katie didn't seem to think this was appropriate for little baby Cutler!  This Grandma thought it had a vintage "antique" appeal!




Today we visited our Agricultural Museum with part of our homeschool group.  This week celebrates "Mississippi Heritage Days", so there were lots of things to watch and learn about.  The Blacksmith was working, the cotton was "ginning", huge logs were being cut into 2 x 4's, and the kids took it all in!  As you can see in the pictures above...the Moms got in on a little of the fun too.  There were beautiful quilts displayed in the museum and in the working "town" we took a break to drink a cold "drink" and Will got to play a game of checkers with Bradley.  We prayed for our dear friend Rosana in the church, watched our children fold themselves into the small school desks, ate free biscuits & syrup, and had a great morning.

Did you catch our "tiny miracle" news in one of the picture captions.  If not, read them again!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Weekend

It was an awesome weekend and more blessed than I could ever imagine.  In the mail on Friday was my Check from the State Fair ~ after the house was cleaned, we went to the Dollar Store to buy our last couple of items for our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.  After Greg got home, we went to Penns and ate dinner (Chicken on a stick ~ yummy) and then we to Big Lots and Walmart.  Amy was thrilled beyond words when her Daddy put her much long for, strongly hinted about, sewing machine in the cart.  Thank you State Fair money!  Then we headed back to the house to watch "Despicable Me".  The parts we were able to see were great but the DVD was messed up (not a good experience for our 1st Redbox rental. 

On Sat. morning, Greg called Redbox and they gave us 2 free coupon codes for our "trouble".  And told us that Bluray players can be updated for the new software the co. has come out with...you can burn a disc and put it in the player and it will update.  After we moved the player from the bedroom to the living room ~ it updated over our wireless internet connection.  Who knew?

We headed out for our Sat. morning date.  And ran some errands.  That afternoon, Greg and Will had some pool repairs to make to pipes and they got their job accomplished.  Even though we were on the road some, it was a peaceful day.  Amy had fun "playing" with her new toy and trying out different stitches and sewing machine feet.  I expect some really creative projects to come out of our new sewing room.

Sunday was a great morning at church.  I am very thankful the Lord led us to a church where the Pastor preaches from the word of God and doesn't try to fancy it up or sugar coat it.  The kids stayed with other youth after church to eat pizza and make cards for folks who visited during the revival.  So we had an unexpected Sunday lunch date at Sonny's barbeque.  Then it was a long, lazy afternoon at home ~ Greg was reading The Count of Monte Christo and I was cross stitching.  For dinner we had loaded baked potatoes and watched Amazing Race.

We so enjoyed this low key weekend.

Friday, we are headed to St. Louis.....its been 5 1/2 long weeks since I've gotten a Katie hug and I am long overdue one!  Sat. we are going downtown and being tourists with Katie and Bryant & we are going to the Rest. Depot up there and JoAnn's~

The Lord has blessed me with a new project to sew for ~ so I have to get ready!  I've also got a new quilt or 2 floating around in my brain that I would really like to work on, so I need to figure all that out also.