Gathering the Moments | September 2024

September was one birthday (as opposed to August's seven birthdays), and then there is a birthday break for close to six weeks. It may not seem like a long break, but when the breaks between summer birthdays are only a few days long, six weeks feels like a significant breather! 

September was autumn coffees: pumpkin, maple, caramel. (Which would you choose?) 

September was one last summer gathering - a homemade ice cream party with Ron's siblings and their spouses!

September was bunches of limelight hydrangeas, from the front door basket to crocks and pitchers all through the house. I actually like the autumn-blushed blooms as much as the bright summer ones. 

September was noticing each subtle change . . . the slightly cooler evening air, slowly turning foliage, a few falling leaves. We gathered pumpkins and gourds, a few at a time. 

September was a few days away to celebrate our 46 years of marriage. 

September was coordinating many schedules to share an evening with our daughter Kristin's family. We ate supper and pumpkin cake and played games and, despite the subdued faces in the photo I took, we laughed like crazy while we played Cards Christians Like!

September was also the anniversary of my Daddy's passing. Mom, Linda, and I spent the day together. We reminisced and marveled that an entire year has passed. Mom gave each of us a gift: a small canvas of a long-ago photo of us with our Daddy. We visited Daddy's grave and we were so surprised as we drove up and saw that the headstone was in place! We were expecting it to be completed in October, and yet here it was on the anniversary of his death. A gift to us. 


September moments . . . 

He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Gathering the Moments | August 2024

 

August is a big month around here! Do you know that August is the one month without a holiday? Well, I am glad about that because we have enough of our own special days to keep us busy! 

This August was full of memory-making moments. 

My friend Barbara and I spent a lovely, leisurely day together. Antiquing, lunch, and a coffee shop . . . all good! I came home with a couple of treasures: a cloche and a wallpaper box. 

One morning, our Bible study group met on Martha's back porch on the lake. We enjoyed coffee and scones served on dishes that Martha brought home after her many years of serving in Africa. 

The stage lights did not make for a great photo, but it was a delight to see our daughter Kristin and our grands Maddie and Owen perform in a musical review of Broadway tunes!

Ryan and family came for a visit in August! We packed a lot of good times into those days!

I had seen these little apple print dresses in Target 

   and bought one for each of our littlest grand-girls.

 So fall-ish , but not too hot for our typical early fall weather.

Katrina and Joanna look adorable! 😊

Ryan and Sarah's family have been working their way through a list of state-themed burgers. We have eaten South Carolina burgers and Texas burgers at their house. We decided to try making Maryland burgers while they were here, taking inspiration from a local restaurant. How can you go wrong with a hamburger that is topped with crab dip, tomato, lettuce, and American cheese on a brioche bun?  Mmmm . . . 

Somehow we had room for gelato for dessert.

On a walk, Sarah found this leaf and brought it back to me. A little promise of autumn-to-come! 

One night, Kristin and family and Mom joined us for a kind-of-birthday-party. We had a shrimp dinner, opened a few birthday gifts, and finished with homemade peach ice cream. 

(No one lost any weight on this visit.)

That evening, a hornet's nest was spotted in our neighbor's tree. Yikes! You can see one person was reluctant to join the "field trip." (Smart girl, right?)

Meanwhile, Kati sent us some photos of their vacation. Look at these cuties! 

Back to Maryland . . .

Also part of this visit was our annual Grand Summer Sleepover, so Ryan and Sarah and the two little girls went off to spend a night with friends and the sleepover began! Ten grands attended this year! 

Everyone assembled their own naan pizzas for dinner. We had long dinnertime conversations as each person took a turn posing a question and then we went around the table answering each one. This tradition takes a while, but it's so much fun to hear everyone's answers. 

There was ice cream, pajama races, wall-to-wall beds, a movie, and movie candy. (The movie is chosen soon after everyone arrives, and each grand chooses a character from the movie to write on their cup and to "be" as they watch. It can be so funny!)  

s

Before everyone leaves the next day, we take a group photo. 

Here is the first shot.

Then I told everyone to do something silly. Some weren't sure what to do, 

so I told them to do the "Gam pose."

Examples of the "Gam pose" 

and this is what I got! 😄 I love it! 

And then we had a beach night! The weather was perfect, not too hot, not cold. And there was a good-sized tidal pool that the littles could play in. 

Then the tide came in and there was a phenomenon that I have never seen in all of my years of going to the ocean. The ebbing water created a channel as it left the tide pool and there were actual small walls created. I was fascinated! 

Here's a video that I took. (About halfway through, I backed the camera up and you can get a wider view of the water.)  

It was a great night to go to the beach and an exciting way to end our days together as our dear ones left for home the next morning.

Did I say "birthdays?" Those of you who have been with me long know that our August has seven birthdays!

Mom had a special birthday this year as she turned 85! She insisted that she did not want a party, but my sister Linda and I took her out and about for some fun: lunch, a bit of shopping, and birthday ice cream! Bekah was able to join us for lunch. We all had a good time of celebration. 

Recently Mom and I discussed beauty because she thinks that she is no longer beautiful. I reminded her that true beauty is not what we see on the surface. It is much deeper than that. We talked about Proverbs 31:30 and so that is the verse that I wrote in her birthday card.

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised." 

My birthday is just a few days after Mom's. I kind of celebrated all week! Mom had treated us to the ice cream on her special day . . . for me! Barbara and I had celebrated our birthdays (also just a few days apart) by getting fall drinks on the day that Starbucks began serving them for the season. Ron and Bekah took me out to dinner the night before my birthday, and then we went to Mom's for dessert. 

My actual birthday was the kind of day I love best . . . unhurried, lots of time at home, a little reading, a coffee run, puttering around the house. It was made sweeter with Messages, texts, FaceTime, and calls from family and friends. 

As I worked on my Bible study lesson that afternoon, I read this quote and it was the perfect thing to read on my birthday!

"Why should every year not be richer than the last in love, usefulness, and joy; for I am nearer the celestial hills, I have more experience with my Lord, and I should be more like him."

~ Charles Spurgeon 

And the month drew to an end, the light changing almost imperceptibly, the hydrangeas taking on their autumn blush, and the hint of autumn in the air. No, it was not a perfect month (there is none), but our blessings were many, I am "nearer the celestial hills," and I pray to be more like Him in this next year of my life.