playtime

Last Friday, our grandboy came to visit
for the weekend.
He started PreK-4 the Monday before,
so we were anxious to hear about his week
and to have some serous play time!
Saturday morning, we met our daughter and SIL
at some friends' house to swim in their pool.


He had a great time!

It was a hot day, so back at our house,
we played inside where it was cool.
He loves to watch Curious George
on the portable DVD player and he is never far
from his bucket of cars and trucks!

We played Connect Four...

...and Guess Who. Somehow we missed
pictures of playdough
and later, when it was a tiny bit cooler,
blowing bubbles with me
and a game of whiffle ball with Chief and his uncle.

Sunday morning, it was off to church.
That was his first question
when he walked in the door Friday afternoon...
"Can I go to your church?"
It made a Gran's heart glad! :-)

We love that boy!

where's your security?

Sunday night, about 20 women gathered at our church to begin this study. I enjoy Beth Moore...she is incredibly insightful and completely REAL! It is obvious that God has done some amazing things in her life and has given her a forum to share what she has learned through her experiences.
I look forward to seeing what she has to say, but, more importantly, to what God has to say about finding our security in Him. I believe it will also be a wonderful way to make some new friends (since we are relatively new in the church) and be blessed by the things the other ladies share from their lives.
The first scripture was Jeremiah 17:7-8:

"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like the tree planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit."

That seems like a good place to start!
I'll keep you posted on where we go from there! :-)

movie night

A good friend and I went to the theater last week to see this movie. I had heard much about it and was anxious to see it. There was a little language t0 endure, but there were laugh out loud moments and tear filled moments, too.
It is the story of the difference one person can make when they are willing to stand and do the right thing in the face of great opposition. It is also an illustration of how important it is to have people you can trust when you are in that situation.
The characters have lots of personality and the acting is great! The movie and a Mexican dinner made for a fun night out...in the middle of the week, no less!! :-)

our little leaguers

Our boys made it to the quarter finals. They played well and with character. (That is one of our boys consoling a member of another team.) We are proud of them.
I hope they learned much from this once in a lifetime experience...mostly that "it isn't whether you win or lose, but it is how you play the game!"
Congratulations, boys! You will always be winners in our book!

the new church in town

For the past two years, our sweet girl and her husband have been a part of a fellowship called New City Downtown in a nearby city. For even longer than that, the church has been planning to plant a church here. Sunday night, all their praying and planning came to fruition with their first service. She invited us to come and we more than happy to go! :-)

There were friendly greeters as we entered
which made us feel especially welcome
and they served refreshments.

Our girl and one of her life long friends.

More special friends...we have known him
all his life, his darling wife since she was in
ninth grade with our girl...
they are 24 now!

Our sweet DIL and grandboy came, too!

They sang some original songs that we weren't
familiar with, but the messages were true.
I appreciate their desire to compose and sing
the "new song" that the scripture talks about.

The pastor from Downtown, the pastor from
another plant in another city, and the pastor for
this plant combined to preach one message.
Three different styles, but a common love for God
and the call to make Him known.
The screen displays their mission...
"to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach...".

It was a special night of worship.
So glad we were a part of it!

Welcome to town New City! We are glad you are here!
We pray that God will bless your ministry and
that your passion for Christ will make a difference
in our city!

a japanese visit

I met some friends here for dinner
Saturday night. We have several Japanese Steakhouses in town that I have visited,
but I had never eaten at this one.
We all ordered the same thing...hibachi chicken which is grilled chicken, veggies, and rice.
It also comes with soup and salad. In other words...it was a lot of food! :-) It was tasty, but not as flavorful as I expected. I think I like Chinese better...I'm a sweet and sour gal!
But the company was great and that was the most important thing... it's not what we ate, but who we were with, :-)

Inside, it was pretty basic ...booths and hibachi grills
with benches. But, outside, they have gone all out
with their landscaping. The water wheel was turning
and the sound of the water made the
warm evening seem a little cooler.

Palm trees, flowering shrubs and statuary
filled the space on the other side of the sidewalk
from the water wheel. I like the lamp post, too.
They always look welcoming to me.

And they had their own ship.
The hull is wood, the sails are aluminum.
Pretty cool looking.

It was fun hanging out with the girls this weekend
while the Hubby was on a church men's retreat.
Baseball, food and fellowship...it's an
All American thing
even if the food is Japanese! :-)

take me out to the ball game...

I had a "hot" date with a good friend Friday night!
We went to a baseball game and, even though
the game started at 8 pm....the temp was in the 90's!
Little League has always been a big deal in our city,
but in 2007,our boys baseball team
put us on the map by winning the
Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Not to be out done, our girl's softball team
won their World Series in Oregon in 2009 and 2010.
Two years in a row!
That made history...first time ever that teams
representing the same city had won
their respective Series.

Well, we are going again!
The boy's baseball team won the district
and state titles and, Friday night,
they won the Southeastern Regional game
to advance to the Series!
Two years ago, our city won the bid to have
the regional championship stadium built here.
It is a great facility and it was packed Friday night
for the final game between Georgia (that's us) and Florida.

All those folks are sitting on a grassy embankment
in the outfield!

Games are six innings long, so during the
3rd inning stretch, the umpires danced to the
YMCA song in the outfield!

As you can tell by the score (we were guest),
it was a nail biter!
There is no zero in the bottom of the sixth,
but that's what happen.
And, then, there was lots of cheering!

After the last out and a little celebrating,
the two teams gathered together
in a huddle to pray.
That was nice to see.

Here are the guys with their championship banner.
We will certainly be watching them play
on the TV coverage...
cheering them on!

And here we are....sweaty, but happy!

It was a fun and exciting way to spend a "hot" summer night!