Day 2...

The girls found a place under the stairs to make a "Club House"...and I can come in! They are giving up the king sized bed to sleep in it tonight!  Every time I go down stairs it gets better and better.  They are cutting pictures they like from magazines and taping them to walls. We now have a whimsical curtain over the entry door.  A bed is to the left, behind the shelves...

Later...much later!

After much ado the girls settled in for a night in the "Club House".

Sweet Dreams

Granddaughters...

 Granddaughters are staying with me for a few days. With all the giggling going on, I don't know how I got such solemn pictures! They are all from different children and love getting together. :)  We have gone to dinner, made cookies, played many games of Rummikub and Clue, gone for a long walk, caught fireflies in a Mason jar, taken showers, watched TV with popcorn and gone to bed...and all that since 4:00 this afternoon!  


Life is simple and sweet!  I'll update tomorrow.

Kate/Simon with us at Northcroft

Our weekend at Northcroft brought...

1.  Rain.

2. The discovery that four or five trees had fallen on Egypt.

3. Simon making Shepard's Pie with lamb.

4. Terr, Kate and Simon went Zip Lining in Blue Ridge, while I took pictures.

5. To assess the damage, Kate and Simon suited up to kill a nest of bees in the tangled mess around Egypt.

Kate and Simon will leave soon to travel throught the South...who knows what tomorrow will bring.

A Celebration of our Fathers

I can't let a Father's Day go by without saying,
"Thank you!"
From my father to my husband and now my sons; this family has been truly blessed.

It's worth repeating...

Happy Father's Day!

Isabelle fights for a cure!

Isabelle, touched by her Grandmother Lockwood having Alzheimer's, wanted to do something to help find a cure for this dreaded affliction.  So she took action to help her cope with the fact that her grandmother was slowly slipping away from her.  She got on line, bought rubber Alzheimer Awareness bracelets and sold them to everyone she met.  That set off a chain reaction at a Lion's Club meeting where her father had his outgoing president's gift of $500.00 allocated to Alzheimer's and he told Issy's story...a member stood up and said let's keep it going and they passed around a hat and got over $500 more in cash increasing the dollar amount to a whopping  $1,000+ donation!

In the photo above, Issy is with the director of the Alzheimer's Assoc. of GA when she presented them with her 
check!


Isabelle made a difference.  I am proud of this granddaughter, for myself and for her grandmother, Marlene, for wanting to help and doing it!


Issy and her Mom will walk for Alzheimer's in the fall.

It all started with love and a bracelet.

Tuscany then Rome...

Tuscany

Rome

What a wonderful adventure Terr and I had, on a recent visit to Italy. These are long videos, and Vimeo had a hard time copying them the way I made them; but I just had to have the memory on Chatterbox.  So, if you ever want to see what we saw...I give you first Tuscany (with siblings and friends), then four fascinating days in Rome with a driver and a guide named, Mayta.  We were treated like royalty, riding in a Mercedes-Benz, our door opened for us by a handsome, polite driver, every time we stopped, cutting long lines and going in back ways. We were taught  years worth of Roman history by a very knowledgeable, no nonsense, guide and after the first night we stayed in an dark, mirrored, exciting suite of rooms that soothed us after a long day of site-seeing. It was a time to remember and revisit from time to time.  Then we topped it off by coming home in the front of the plane, where I watched three movies and ate all the way to Atlanta!

Now, as I relive it through these pictures, I find the trip even more magnificent, now that I have the time to to reflect and take it all in.  All the time we were gone, I had a sense of being very privileged, very blessed and humbled by the life God has given me.  I can only hope and pray I will never take it for granted and will always pay my blessings forward.

A Poem for my Mother

It’s your birthday, lovely lady,

my wish for you is pure.

I wish for you more birthdays,

with only comfort to endure.

I wish bird songs and Ill Divo serenades,

visits from family and friends galore.

I wish good memories of a happy life,

now’s the time to reflect and adore.

I wish you long talks with Jesus,

so He continues to fill your heart.

I wish for more time together,

for I’ve loved you from my start.

I write my poem to please you,

from the heart of the child in me.

For you’ve given me a mother’s love,

and that’s the way that it should be.

by: Merry
For you 84th birthday

.

The Miracle of Children

No, He'll never let go of me...

This morning Kim sent me a text saying I had plenty of time to run over to the Church for closing day ceremony of Vacation Bible School...that is if I wanted a blessing...

 Well, I have been touched this year because Andrew and Emily gave their time to Apostles VBS as volunteers, now that they are too old to be campers.  Joe and Isabelle did the same at their church's VBS.  It is the most remarkable thing to see, the tenderness that these four young people have for younger children.  If God is love then they have God within them for sure.

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

I was indeed blessed and touched to tears.  I wish I had taken a better camera to capture it.  If you have really good eyes you might be able to  pick out the S-C children in the top clip.  If the sweetness of the ceremony wasn't enough for me emotionally; a young man got up to tell us how the children (and the church) had collected many, many huge duffel like bags of school supplies and were (tomorrow morning) leaving to take them to the children of Nicaragua because when asked what they needed this was their request.  Well, I have ties in Nicaragua and I have seen some of the precious children on Little Corn Island...I wanted to help too.

The helpers, teachers, and staff members have made a difference this week in Bible Schools all over this city.  At Apostles they put the word of the Lord in the hearts of 900 children.  I do believe it will bear fruit!

I'm going to write Issy right now and find out about her week. J

My Italian Birthday Party!

T

Beginning with Kimberly, my incredible Atlanta family got together and gave me a night to remember for my birthday.  Kimberly set a lovely table for an Italian feast. 

Kim worked tirelessly making everything delicious and authentic: appertizer of chips with an incredible dip, antipasti, delicate lemon dressed salad (by Mary) pancetta carbonara and fantastically fresh bread.  The fine wine came from Molly and Shannon and Andrew topped it off with his famous pound cake, served with a huge bowl of strawberries!   Listen to me...could not have been any better!
(That's Molly and sous-chief, Tom at the table, on the left.)

It was a GRAND kind of birthday celebration!  Really thoughtful gifts along with many warm wishes.

My Regas babies gave me a special smile and it lit up my world.

Shannon and Mary modeled my and Kim's new, fashion, beach hats.  Look out Grayton, here we come!

Later we watched almost an hour of Mimi's Italy video while Grandad narrated.

Thank you family for being so attentive and interested.



Thank you Kimberly for coming up with and executing such a lovely evening.

 You guys make me so proud to be called Mom/Mimi.

Will you still need me?

(Terrence, I did it for you, now it's your turn.  Thanks for the foot rub. :)

Oh my goodness, VBS begins today!

...if you didn't recognize the Pirate, it's our own Captain Tom playing the part to open Apostle's week of Vacation Bible School.  Looks to be a fun time!  (His reference for the job came from Grayton Beach and Shannon's Pirate night!)