He Leadeth Me

When we moved into our new home, we decided not to do a lot of landscaping. The wise reason for that is that the people who owned this home before us were obviously gardeners. Beautiful tulips greeted us when we first moved in. We decided that we would wait a year to see what all would "come up" during the various seasons. It has been so much fun to see each new flowering plant. Today when I looked out the back window after being out of town and occupied with a new school year for two weeks, I saw the beautiful plants below. The "real" reason that we didn't do a lot of landscaping is that we are not very good gardeners. So, if you know what either of these plants are, we would love to know. As I pondered the beauty that has been a gift to us from the previous homeowners, I couldn't help but think of how many of the blessings of this life, living in this country, worshipping in churches with Godly people, enjoying the beauty of this world, are benefits of...

Have you ever forgotten where you parked your car? I must admit that if I had a dollar for every time I have "misplaced" my vehicle, I would be a rich woman. My brilliant son-in-law told me of a solution-- just use your camera phone to take a picture of the parking location. You know you will have your phone with you when you return to the parking spot and you will have a photo ID of the exact parking location. I have been doing this and haven't "misplaced" my car once. Let's just hope I don't ever misplace my phone. And this sign is a little misleading. The No Parking Any Time is only for the driving lane, not the hundreds of parking spaces.

I haven't featured a Fun Photo Friday in a while. The purpose of this feature is to randomly pick several photos for no other reason than I like them. Happy Birthday Sweet Andrew! Andrew was the first grandson of all my siblings. What joy he has brought us all. I can't believe you are in Kindergarten, sweet boy! It's been a year since I retired and I am busier than ever. Everyone said that would be the case. Why didn't I believe them? A London Beefeater. What a cool job! I still get excited when I see Texas license plates in Colorado. Check out the bumper sticker on this car. I think Kelly might have sent me this one. The "fall" wildflowers are beginning to bloom along the roads here. What beautiful reminders of God's love for us that he would create such beauty. It's almost time for the Labor Day Balloon Festival. I can't wait! Happy Friday!

A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews >> If you are looking for a book that will make you think, this is a great read. I read lots of books and this is one of my favorites. It is definitely Historical Fiction at its very best!

If you have a little one who is a bit apprehensive about going off to school (or if you are a little apprehensive about letting them go off to school), please find this book at your local library or bookstore. I promise, you will LOVE it!! Book cover courtesy of Follett.org

I don't know about you, but I LOVE Dollar Tree. I can find the greatest things there. Recently I was traveling to do 4 different presentations in one week. I had to have a way to keep all of the books and supplies for each presentation separated in my suitcase. I thought I would use those BIG Ziplock bags, but before I could purchase them I happened to be in my local Dollar Tree. Low and behold (is that a southern expression or what?) they had some zipper bags that looked like they would be just right. Wala!! All the supplies for Presentation #1 nicely stored away. You can't tell in the photo, but they even have a handle for carrying. Here's what the bags look like. They come in a couple of sizes, are a great weight, and best of all the entire box of 2 or 3 (depending on the size) are only $1. HAPPY SHOPPING!

How lucky we are to have 2 little ones so close in age! You might wonder, how do we manage to give them each the attention they deserve? Just watch as Ducca shows you how. As you can tell, they each think their grandpa has eyes only for them. Just wait until he's wrestling with both of them like their brother/cousin likes to do. I'll be sure to get a photo of 3 little boys holding Ducca down.

I am a TEACHER! Always have been, always will be! You can ask my brothers and sisters who were tortured into playing school with me when I was just a little girl. One of the things I miss most about teaching children is getting to "smell" the school supplies. You read that right--smell them. There is just something that says "School is starting soon" when you walk down the aisles of Target and smell the school supplies. So today I indulged myself. I walked the Target aisles and took a big whiff. And then, I found these 3 delightful binders and bought them. What am I going to do with them you ask? Why recipe files of course! Guess that means I have to COOK! Oh, well, it will be worth it to have cute school supplies in my kitchen year round to look at--or to smell!! Happy Start of the 2010-2011 School Year!

You might remember the Help Please post where I asked readers for their ideas on what my deck should look like. I mentioned that I wanted more of a "back porch" look than a "deck" look. Well, here is what I came up with. Wait a minute, don't panic. This is just step one. I found this old table at Goodwill. It was in pretty bad condition looks wise, but was structurally sound. Since David is seriously considering banning me from all spray painting, I decided to go the paint and brush route. Of course, I had to ask my brother Terry, Mr. Sherwin Williams, for advice. I decided on a beautiful baby blue table with red retro chairs. Notice the bird feeders. We have lots of birds come and visit but they are a little camera shy. The chairs remind me of the ones that my Grandma Aven had on her breezeway. I have always loved this type of chair. If you look carefully in the picture below, you will see another retro chair. It has been banished to the lower deck. Although...

I sure do enjoy my Gibson boys!!!

Mandy has a wonderful tradition of giving her children 1/2 Birthday parties. She says that she always got so excited as a child when she turned 1/2 a year older, that she decided to make a celebration out of the 1/2 birthday. She makes 1/2 a birthday cake and everyone everyone sings Happy 1/2 Birthday to You. Caleb was totally surprised by this exciting event and the line I treasure the most from the night was, "I can't believe it! I just can't believe it!" Click here to see last year's celebration. My daughter-in-law is one smart mama.

One of the things that Nana was most looking forward to was having the two little boys take a bath together. Aaron, who loves baths, went in first. David, as you can see by his expression, was a little less sure of the whole thing. But he warmed up fast.l We could get used to this. Slippery little guys I love you cousin. It takes a village to wash two little ones. Oh, my goodness, they smell good when they get out of the bath. I know I say this a lot, but life is good--very, very good! Photos by Aunt Kelly

"Any man can be a Father, but it takes a special man to be a Dad." author unknown pictures by Kelly