Wednesday, July 27, 2011

You Know You're a Granny When ...

You start Christmas shopping in July -- you HAVE to get the good sales.

Those "Christmas in July" sales don’t quite make it ‘til July.  You just enjoy those little smiles & squeals too much to wait :)

95% of your Facebook statuses are something about your grands.

It's "strongly hinted" that you need to write about something other than your grands on Facebook. 

Your grands “bring along their parents” when they come to your house.  (In our case, we are blessed to have ours living with us.)

When you go out on a date with your hubby, you keep looking at the time to visualize what your grands would be doing at that exact moment.

You wake up in the mornings with a nursery rhyme song going through your mind.

You enjoy bedtime rituals as your grands stall to go to bed.  (If your kids would have pulled these stunts, they would have been in major trouble.) 

Granddad asks you out on a date, and you say you NEED to be home before your grands bedtime (afterall, you sure don’t want them to forget you if you miss your bedtime ritual with them).

You know every character from Veggie Tales, Hermie, Disney, My Little Pony, Care Bear, Strawberry Shortcake, Angelina Ballerina … you get the picture.

You don’t “spoil” your grands … you just “take very good care of them”  (wink :: wink)

And, of course, your grands are the cutest and bestest in the universe :)
  

Grannyisms ...yes, we are blessed.

Anybody else want to add to the list?

Lucy ... my girl ... Lucy ... talkin' about my girl ... Lucy my girl!


Saturday, July 23, 2011

To Jump is to Miss Out

I may just be the only person who has ever done this.  Matter of fact, not too many would probably even think about doing this one little thing.  Then again, maybe it’s more of a thing that’s done without thinking.  Because if we really thought about it, we more than likely would not want to do this thing.  It can be very costly to not only the person who does it, but to others as well. 

So, what is this “thing” I’m rambling about? 


Jumping to conclusions

I really don’t think I’m the only one who’s ever done this.  It can sure be a costly lesson to learn, can’t it?  (Well, I guess only those who have ever taken the jump can answer that question.)  However, I’m going to direct this post more at the “I” and “me” ... I don’t want to assume that anyone else falls into the “jumper” category.

What really happens when I jump to conclusions …

** I see only what I want to see & not any other piece of the picture.  More than likely I don’t have all the details regarding a situation.  You know, the whole interrupting in a conversation and saying “You really don’t need to say anything else.  I completely understand.”  Even if the other person does need to say more & I really don’t understand everything at all.  I’ve found (through experience) that it’s really better to allow someone to say what they need to say without me interrupting … but, with me listening … and hearing what the person is saying to me. 

** My viewpoint is clouded.  No matter what the circumstance of my jump, I now have a tainted view of it (whether "it" is a person, situation, or anything else).  I haven’t allowed myself to get to know the person or the situation at hand. It’s sad that I could miss out on a friendship, or getting involved in a ministry or cause, or given of myself to be a blessing to others.  So, I’ve missed out all around.  All because of my distorted view. 

Possible repercussions of jumping to conclusions can be …

** Distortion of a person who may not be who I thought.  This was actually directed at me a while back.  I was in a group meeting and was chatting with some others.  Later on someone from our little chat group said to me “You aren’t anything like I thought you would be.”  I had no idea that an inaccurate conclusion was what was between us at that point in time.  And now, years later, I still value her friendship deeply. 

** I don’t allow God to use me for His glory.  I hold back on getting involved in the ministries and blessings that God wants of me.  I refuse to see more of the circumstance and just want to live with my clouded tunnel vision of the truth.  When this happens, God cannot use me for His glory. 

I, for one, have missed out on many great blessings from God by my own jumps.  It’s not anyone's fault but my own.  But, by God’s mercy I can move forward and take a look at things in a way that glorifies my Creator.  I believe that He doesn’t want any of us to take those jumps, but He desires each of us to bring everything to Him … whether we are working through situations … listening to other counsel regarding a certain matter … or just figuring out what we’re supposed to be doing.  He’s never too busy for any of us. 

When we seek Him & His Word, there’s no need to take any jumps.  I’ve jumped too many times and I certainly do not enjoy them at all.  But, it’s through the hard experiences that I’ve learned to allow God to direct me in the path where He needs me.  Whether with friends, circumstances, situations … when we jump to conclusions, we are the ones who miss out.  Sometimes we just need to be still and listen to what God is saying to us instead of listening to distractions.

I really don’t think I’m the only person who has ever taken this jump … afterall I’d be jumping to conclusions if I did.  

 May God be with each of us as we rely on His wisdom and His truth in every matter we face.    

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lucy's Ruler


Yesterday I bought Lucy some school supplies.  Okay, she's not even 3 yet, but Wal-Mart had some good deals on back to school items, so Granny couldn't resist.  Lucy got some new construction paper, safety scissors and a ruler (seen in the picture above).  

Lucy was so excited to get her "school supplies".  She looked at the ruler and yelled out "I know what it says! I know what it says!!"  So Granny asked "What does it say, Lucy?"

With barely a breath, she exclaimed  
"LOVE JESUS and LOVE GOD!!
It says LOVE JESUS and LOVE GOD!!!"

I was speechless ... and Lucy started dancing around exclaiming LOVE JESUS and LOVE GOD!

Here's a picture of the flag Lucy colored in church class on Sunday ... 




These little ones DO pay attention in their church classes (whether nursery, pre-school, junior church, etc)  Sometimes their attention span is very short ... but then again, sometimes MY attention span is very short as well. 
But, 
they are listening ... 
they are paying attention ... 
they are learning.  

Isn't it so awesome how little children accept God's love and give their little hearts to God unconditionally?

a child's faith ... 
a child's love ... 
a child's heart ...


Monday, July 11, 2011

Little Valentine 2012

Easter Sunday 2011 is a day that we will never forget in our household ... it's the day our grandbaby became God's littlest angel.  You can click here for details on our daughter's (Mrs. G I Joe) miscarriage.  We may never understand "why" this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, but we do know that God's plan is always perfect.  And our little grandbaby is in the arms of our Heavenly Father.  We have a special guardian angel watching over us.

As God would have it ... Mrs. Joe is expecting again ...  Yes, Granddad & I are excited!!!  Lucy is excited about being a "big sister" ... and the Joe's are excited to be completing their family.  

There are prayer requests that come along with this exciting news and I want to share a couple of them with my blogging friends:

Prayer for Mommy & Baby to stay healthy during these next 7 months -- still at a critical period since her miscarriage was not too long ago.

Prayer for Lucy as she transitions from an only child to being a big sister.  Lucy will be 3 years old in a couple of months, and is anxious for this little one to "just be here now" :)

So far Little Valentine has a healthy heartbeat & all looks good, so our prayer is that everything will stay healthy.  

God is good all the time ... 
even when we don't understand why life happens the way it does ... 
God is good.  

Thank you, friends, for your prayers.

Being Offline

After a week of being offline, we are finally reconnected!  Last week was the week of storms in our little corner of the world.  Monday July 4th brought torrential downpours and thunderstorms just before fireworks time.  But, we kept our power & our Internet service.  Then, on Wednesday we had another powerful storm that lasted several hours in the afternoon.  We lost power for 3 1/2 hours and our cable Internet went out -- well, it was knocked out.  Lightning struck in our neighborhood ... bounced off our garage door (our son-in-law was in the garage at the time & saw it) ... and knocked out the cable box in our driveway.  Power came back on ... no one affected or hurt ... no Internet --- until today.

I've kept a check on my emails from my Blackberry, but had not set up the mobile blogging ... completed now though.  I've missed "meeting" some new friends in my blogging world, but am looking forward to catching now.  So, thank you friends for your comments and follows ... Granny has just been offline for a little while.  Hopefully we're back up & running again!

More exciting news from Granny & Granddad to come this week!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Our "Fourth" Weekend

I love it when holidays fall close to the weekend.  Granddad normally leaves the office early on the Friday, then we have the whole weekend plus the holiday to enjoy family time.  Our Fourth of July weekend began Friday afternoon when I met him across town for a late lunch, then he came home to the little princess who has captured his heart.  

In this chapter of our lives, our family time is centered around our granddaughter Lucy.  We make no bones about it -- we love our granddaughter (and our daughter & son-in-law too).  Granddad & Lucy had plenty of time to enjoy in our backyard pool over the weekend.  The weather was hot & humid, and the water was refreshing & relaxing (well, as much "relaxing" with a soon-to-be 3 year old as we can).  It was great!  We grilled chicken, burgers & hot dogs, and Lucy even had a special picnic lunch in between pool time and chasing everyone with the water hose!

Lucy lives in a house full of people who love our country and are so thankful to God for allowing us to live in the United States of America.  We do not take for granted what a privilege we have to call this country "home".  And Lucy showed her patriotism on Sunday going to church.  She was decked out in her special outfit, and everyone at church & Arby's loved it!

  



Chanting "USA!  USA!  USA!"



 She loves her "Lucy-size" American flag!




Couldn't resist "one more" pose before church.




Well, maybe we do need to get going now.





We believe in instilling the love for our Savior at an early age.  And to thank Him for the wonderful country in which we live.  And to be grateful for our military -- past & present -- who have fought for our freedom and who continue to protect us.  And to pray for our future military who will continue to defend our country & her people. And we pray for our country's leaders who make daily decisions for our nation and citizens.  It's no easy task for our leaders, but we continue to pray that God will guide them in the direction that He desires for our country.  

May God continue to bless the United States of America.