Gigi's 87th Birthday Celebration

My beloved grandmother turned 87 a few weeks ago, and we celebrated with a party on Sunday, which also happened to be my cousin Kate's birthday.

The birthday girls with their cakes...




Gigi with her grands and great grands...and 2 of her grands-in-law. :)


And some other pictures from the party...












I can only hope to be as elegant and sweet and fiesty and funny as Gigi is when I turn 87...or at any age, for that matter. She is the perfect role model for southern graciousness and I am so blessed to be her granddaughter!

Exactly What I Needed to Hear

The sermon on Sunday morning at the women's retreat was exactly what I needed to hear. Don't you love it when that happens? I really think the whole reason I was at the conference was to hear that sermon.

Apologies in advance for what is sure to be a deep post. Here goes.

I am a pretty happy person in general, but sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed with all the suffering in the world. And I feel helpless because I can't fix it.

Cancer, and what it is doing to my sweet mother-in-law.

Gangs in schools.

Starving children. Neglected & abused children.

Friends that struggle with infertility.

Teen pregnancy.

Birth defects.

When you couple all this suffering with the disappointment I feel for our country, our society, our world, it can really get you down. Then I start thinking about my children having to grow up in this world...and my grandchildren...goodness, how depressing. I know its not all bad, but I know how much things have changed since I was a child, and it saddens me that my children will have so many additional things to worry about.

So...back to the sermon. The guest pastor was Rev. Brian Habig from Downtown Presbyterian in Greenville. He was really good...and I'm not gonna lie, as much as we love our church and pastor, it kind of made me want to move to Greenville just so I could go to his church.

I'm planning to download the sermon so that I can listen to it whenever I start feeling "the weight of the world on my shoulders."

I'm pretty sure my recap of his sermon won't do it justice, so I'll just stick to his scripture references. The sermon was centered on Romans 8:18, a familiar verse. But for some reason it really resonated on Sunday.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

How encouraging! And the rest of the passage is great as well, so I'll post it below. And since I'm a good Presbyterian, I will continue through the part about predestination. :)

19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

On the subject of horses...

Here is my little cowboy all dressed up for Western day at school last week. He couldn't understand why he couldn't take his holster & cap gun to school.

"Mama, cowboys get in gun fights. And I might need to shoot a deer."

I didn't think the gun would go over too well.

Why is Roper scared of horses?

Doesn't he know his mama was riding horses from a much younger age?





Alice, David & me on Molly the pony...


And one of me in high school...yes I was wearing Wranglers (how embarrassing). No, I didn't wear them to school. Just while riding. :)



Did you know that you can ride your horse on the beach from Nov-Feb in Garden City?

Conquering the Rock Wall

Before I share more about the weekend, let me back up to last Friday, when Mason had his first chance to conquer the rock wall at Riverbanks Zoo.

This zoo trip back in April sparked an obsession with climbing the rock wall. At that point, Mason was still several pounds shy of the 40-pound minimum. So...we did what any parents would do. These words were spoken often over the past six months:

"Eat your {fill in the blank} so you will be 40 pounds and big enough to climb the rock wall."

Ever since his 4-year check-up, when the nurse announced his weight (40.25 pounds), Mason has been asking when he will get to go to the zoo and climb the rock wall.

His perfect opportunity was Friday morning...my mom was in town...he asked her...and, well, she doesn't say "no" to her grandsons very often. In fact, she said she would climb the rock wall with him. And she did. :)

Gearing up...








Roper entertained himself on the playground while Bebe and Mason were rock climbing.



Then on to the train...



And then to the ponies...Roper insisted all the ponies were named Minnie, which is the name of my uncle's pony. He wanted to ride, or at least thought he did, until it was time to saddle up, then he changed his mind. Mason climbed right up!



It was a quick zoo trip, which is one of the perks of living close by and having a membership...you don't feel like you have to stay all day to get your money's worth!

Weekend Recap

We kicked off the weekend with my nephew's 2nd birthday party on Friday night, and then my mom and I took off to Atlanta for a women's retreat. We rolled into Atlanta late Friday night, and on Saturday had a packed day of seminars, shopping, eating out, and even managed to watch a movie! Even though we go to different churches, they are part of the same denomination, and this retreat was for women in the PCA. We didn't realize what a big deal the conference was -- there were over 2,000 women there! I even ran into a good friend that I grew up with!

It was so nice to spend time with my mom, just the two of us. Sometimes it makes me feel old that I'm actually friends with my mom (ha!). Sunday morning we had a worship service, then more shopping, followed by more eating...and then we headed back to Laurens for my grandmother's 87th birthday celebration (and Kate's 20th birthday celebration!).

I can count on one hand the number of times I have left the boys at home with Graem for a weekend. He is a great father, but we all know that sometimes dads can miss details that mothers are particular about. So Sunday morning I asked Graem to send me a picture of the boys dressed for church. Before I left I laid out church clothes for them, but he insisted that he could manage. He sent me this picture...



I have to admit he did pretty good. :) Although I can't tell if it was just windy or if he didn't brush their hair? Anyway, the picture was preceded with this text (keep in mind that Sunday mornings are always hectic & we make a mad dash to get to Sunday School by 9:30):
"I don't know what to do with all this time. Read the paper cover to cover. Both boys dressed, fed & ready to walk out door for church. Don't know how I've done this! Love you!"

Sounds like he's ready to handle 3, don't you agree? :)

Proportionate

Mason had his four-year check-up last week...I put it off for a while because I had heard that the 4-year was a doozy...it was.

He hasn't had any shots since he was a baby (ie before he can remember) so this one was tough. Thankfully, Graem went to the appointment with us because we had to hold Mason down while the nurse gave him the shots. The poor fella cried and kept repeating, "I don't love shots." By the time the appointment was over, it was time for lunch, so I told him we could go out somewhere - his choice. He picked Cold Stone. Typically I wouldn't give in to "ice cream for lunch" but he was still crying and told me that some green ice cream really would make him feel better. How could I resist?

Mason was so tee-tiny when he was born, only 6 lbs, 1 oz, and for the longest time he seemed so little. Then he grew taller but was still skinny. Between age 2 and 3 he really took off in growth. At his last check-up (3 yrs), he was in the 65th percentile for weight and the 76th percentile for height. This year, I could hardly believe it when Dr. D gave me his growth chart print-outs...he is now in the 83rd percentile for weight and the 82nd percentile for height. So much for tall and skinny!