Cardboard Testimony

Several weeks ago our church had an amazing worship service that I have been meaning to blog about. It consisted of 20 minutes of cardboard testimonies (literally) and I was amazed at how God had used so many difficult and tragic circumstances in our congregation to bring Him glory. You have to see it to appreciate it. Our local channel has been playing it over and over but you can go to www.youtube.com , put in "cardboard testimony" under the search area and see one that another church did and that we modeled ours from. It is worth your time in sitting & surfing on the internet! Who knows your own church may want to try it! It brings people together and also gives a bigger perspective of just how mighty God is working in people sitting right next to you on the pews.

Sweet Victory

Sweet Victory!
There is nothing like it! During football season we all relish the sweet victory our team can give. Alabama certainly had a big victory last night and Auburn a little one yesterday afternoon. WAR TIDE as we say in our divided house!

I have shared in some victories over time that bring back some sweet memories to me:
Like this one of my "not so athletic" daughter (takes after her mother) when she played goalie for her soccer team and they went into the city finals and won! She endured under a lot of pressure as goalie and built confidence as a team player.

And then there was my son's senior year when his basketball team won the State Championship and he was selected as MVP. He weathered though many years of practising without a father around to shoot hoops with him and guide him through sports drills.

Last night after watching the football games, I started thinking how those Auburn and Alabama guys must feel after their big wins. It caused me to think about years ago when my children had won their own athletic victories.

Then the song, "Victory In Jesus" came to my mind and I started singing it to myself. Not because I was so excited over the football wins, but because I recalled how much victory Jesus has had in all 3 of our lives. Yes, God uses sports as some avenues to claim victories in each of us. There is a whole lot of good that comes from being part of a team. I am thankful my kids had their winning experiences and also for the times they lost too. Those also built important character into them.

Someone asked me not long ago how does God speak to me? Many times through His word, sometimes through other people, other times through nature, and on and on through experiences. Today I was sitting in our worship service and the title of our sermon was Victorious Christianity! And guess what the last song was that we sang? Hymn #370 "Victory in Jesus"! God spoke to me today through a hymn but it began last night after a football game. It was a sweet victory in my soul. There is nothing like it!

Oh Deer!

Look what I saw looking out our office window in the middle of the afternoon!

I was so afraid to scare them off that I had to take the picture with the blinds down. That is the first time I have ever seen a baby deer nursing its mother and was so suprised to see them stand so still right in the middle of our yard.

And the mother saw me in the window but she did not move until the baby was finished. So dear is a mother's love:)

A Beckett Full Of Love

Here is our little Beckett with his bucket full of balls which = a bucket full of love to him!

Beckett is 21 months old and stayed with Lolli and Pops for 3 days all by himself. All 3 of us enjoyed some time together.

He loved feeding the horses and showed no fear whatsoever!
"The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man" by Winston Churchill



Beckett has a "puppy love" that goes everywhere with him. He really wanted his puppy to fit inside Lolli's puppy house but it just did not measure up. It provided some good car entertainment though.
Beckett with puppy love and Pops love!



"Mr. Happy" had great fun pushing puppy love in the baby doll stroller (girly baby doll strollers are fun for little boys too!)
Beckett loved playing in the park and...
so did Pops!
A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND WITH A BECKETT FULL OF LOVE!

new lollipops?

Did you see the news tonight? They are introducing a new lollipop that prevents tooth decay! Yea! No more parents mad at me! They are being tested in Lansing, Michigan and will soon be released after they study children trying it for a period of time. My first question is do they taste good? Most candy that is good for you does not taste worth a hoot.
I think they should try them out on some grandmothers too, don't you? Maybe even some redheaded ones that live in the south... :)

No pun on words, you say

I would much rather tell you fun things about the grandchildren in my blog but I shall share just a little about our week so far. Yesterday the dreaded stomach bug that is going around in Birmingham arrived in Auburn:(

J & J had it early last week and the little ones showed no signs of getting it so all was safe while we traveled to BHam to keep the girls last Saturday and Sunday. Monday we were expecting roofers first thing in the morning and we hurried home to be able to greet them early Monday. After they postponed us for the last 2 weeks due to hurricane weather and rain on their jobs, we were ready to get it over and behind us.

So just as outdoor workers can be unpredictable, Monday had a little rain and then it came and went and we had a nice quiet day but no roofers. Then Tuesday rolled in with a bang. No pun on my words but Jack fell down to the dreaded stomach bug 1st thing Tuesday morning and then had the chills and fever. On top of that, the roofers showed up at 7am to replace our hail damaged roof making it an all day session. So while Jack battled both ends and tried to lay down as he could, ALL we heard was 13 men on top of our roof and hammer hammer hammer!

There was no escaping for me as originally planned to another quiet happy place in town for fear of being needed by the sick one. The TV gave no entertainment with the pounding over our heads. The only thing that was pleasant at our house on Tuesday was me catching up on my blog and organizing pictures on the computer. We were both glad to call it a day when dark came!

Today the roofers are back and Jack is a thinner man, a little weak but holding his own and I am on top of my house chores since there is nothing else I can do!

Feeding the giraffes and loving a tiger

Every toddler loves to feed a giraffe and wants to love a tiger! Just look at my granddaughter!

Monkeys at the Zoo

This was Pops 1st time to take Annie and Lily Kate to the zoo. Lily Kate slept through some of it and wanted to be held the rest of our time there so I did not get as many pics of her but there will be plenty of time for that in the future. We saw most every animal there on Sunday but we saw the monkeys 4x as much as the other animals! And I have not one picture of the girls with a monkey. I love the zoo but I do wish they would figure out a way to arrange those monkey cages where you can take a child's picture with the monkeys in full view!

4 x as much fun

Pops and I went to keep the girls in BHam so J&J could go to a party in Florence, AL. It was fun as always to be in the Lolli and Pops mode and love on those girls. Our time was only one night and 2 days but we changed outfits 4 times with a few spit ups and accidents, drank 4 times as much liquids playing outdoors, played puzzles and blocks 4 times each and read books 4 times in a row!

I bet I had 4 x as much fun as you had this weekend!

Lolli's Loves at the Luau

My friend Madge gave me a disk of the pictures she took at the Luau and I was able to make these close ups from hers.

War Eagle!

Annie says Warrrrr Eagle---Hey! (picture taken last weekend)

Today, my neighbor, Susan, and I got to go to the Auburn - Southern Miss football game(thanks to my son for the tickets) while Jack went to the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa with my father. It was Susan's 1st ever Auburn football game and I had a blast introducing her to the real Warrrrr Eagle spirit!

check out all the Luau posts!

If you want to get the full day of pictures, scroll back to older posts to see more Luau pictures starting with the whole family under the hut!
Many thanks to friends Susan and Madge for helping me with the family group picture!