Acts of Kindness

What am I to think when . . .

the meal is done

and my young son

leaves the table

returns with a stool

that he pushes up to the sink.

He then begins to take the dishes

over

and rinse them one by one.

Of course, I grab my camera

to document this moment.

It may never happen again,

an unsolicited act

so sweet and dear

to a mother's heart.

A simple act of kindness. He then proceeds with his usual chore,

feed the dog,

which he had to be reminded of

else the dog go hungry.

It gets even better!
Son earned a gold coin
for his attitude of helpfullness,
which he could use to buy back
a toy that had been taken away
if he so wished.
He instead wanted to buy back
something for sister.
Wow!

Our Extra Large Bird Bath

I have not been able to identify this bird yet, but it comes to our pool every day. At first I thought it was going after insects, then I realized it was skimming the water and then preening and then going back for another pass. In the video it appears that at one point the bird actually pauses on the surface for a moment. I don't think I've ever seen a bird do this before. I thought they preferred shallow water.

One second float

How's that for short? He can go longer. I just haven't gotten it on video yet.
Have a fun Friday.

Pool Action

Josiah is really doing well with his swimming, now. He's so excited! You can see how happy he is. We are also working on his floating. I hope to get a video of that soon, too. He's also great at retrieving diving sticks. He can kick down to the bottom on his own withoout me giving him a hand. I'll post a video of that, too if I can.

Pool Fun

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

More of the Reunion

It seems that I could not get all of the pictures on yesterday's blog that I wanted to share, so I made a video to fit them all into.

Rides and Reunions

On Thursday after getting our van fixed

and dropping off Lady at the Cobb's,

we headed up to Tennessee

where we visited with Theron's parents.

Grandpa took the kids for a wild tractor ride.

No, it wasn't too wild.

I'm just joking.

Saturday, we traveled up to NC for a family reunion.
My family used to go when I was a child.
These are pictures that were taken in 1976.

the barn and corn field

the house and smoke shed


Harlen Dean

My brother Daniel and great aunt Ada

Some 33 years later, the place looks different,

but with alot of old charm.

The porch is still the place to linger.


My dad and my great neice, Allie
enjoying the porch.

Josiah trying to revive the tire swing.


My great neice, Mai, greeting Josiah
with a hug.



We were able to use the fellowship hall of this church,
which is just up the hill from the house,
for our lunch.






Geraldine, Ada's neice and her husband Calvin
now live in the house and he is the
pastor of the church.
Here they are with a daughter
and two grand-daughters.


This rock is located in the foyer
of the church.
Click on the plaque for a close up,
so you can read it.


We all had a great time!

Part 6 - Goodness and Mercy

When Hannah and Josiah were born,

Tov and Kessy welcomed them to our home.

They were quite good with the children

as they were with everyone - just wanting

a throw of the ball or a show of affection.

And of course, the kids loved them

and Hannah refered to them as her dogs.

This picture was taken in May 2006.

You can see the age around Tov's eyes

and muzzle.

They were 14 then and had begun to slow down.

I knew they were old when Kessy lost interest in

her favorite game,

and Tov often stumbled.

With the exception of the pictures taken two years later

in May 2008 that I posted on my Memorial Day blog,

these are the best pictures I have of them in their

final days.

They were two months short of being 16,

when it came time to say a final

"Goodbye"

on June 20, 2008.

To help us with our grief,

we made a small memorial garden

in which we buried their "ashes".

The kids each placed stones around

the site and we even said a prayer

thanking God for the blessing of having

Tov and Kessy for so long.

"Surely the goodness and mercy of God will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Part 5 - Goodness and Mercy

In December 1998,

I married Theron and we became Roses

and moved again.

Looks like I woke the dogs from a nap.

Here they are with me.

And here with a previous neighbor.

Tov looks comfy.

Part 4 - Goodness and Mercy

Remember the 'Blizzard of '93' ?

Tov and Kessy ventured out to see what was going on.

The snow was piled up so high

it looked as if Kessy could have jumped right over the fence.

My brother helped me pour this concrete slab

to cut down on mud at my back door.

Tov and Kessy had a bed inside the garage

and this doghouse, which use to be Amos'.

I had also built a shelter for them to get out of the sun

during the day, since there were no mature trees on my land.

In the summer of 1994, we moved to Marietta.

My dad built new doghouses for "K" and "T"

and they actually went into the right houses!

They loved being there with Madge

and my new job allowed me to be home with them more.

Here you can see what a cuddler Kessy was.

Snow again!

And the chase is on

with Madge's service dog/companion, Murray.

Even though they loved to run,

Tov and Kessy were very obedient, easy to train dogs.

Kessy's favorite sport was "ball"

and Tov tried to keep up with her.

Tov loved a good game of tug-of-war

with Kessy.

Part 3 - Goodness and Mercy

So, who do you think was the leader of this pack?

No, it wasn't Tov.

Kessy was the smartest and the fastest.

In dogdom, that made her the benevolent leader,

caring for her sibling and keeping him in line.

They had a spacious backyard in which to run.

As sheepdogs do, one would crouch low and

give the other "the eye", or stare,

and then take off in a glorious chase.
In the picture above, they were chasing each other

around the bush.

All of my bushes and baby trees.had to have little fences around

them to protect them from being trampled or chewed.

I learned that lesson the hard way.

This was a real action shot!

Part Two - Goodness and Mercy

As a single person living alone,

it was nice to come home from work

and have Tov and Kessy there waiting for me.

I did not watch T.V.

I watched my puppies play,

cuddled with them,

and cared for them.

They were so small at first, I could bathe them both in

the kitchen sink.

But it wasn't long until they outgrew that.

Here they are sleeping on a rug together after a bath.
Don't they look sweet!

The Story of Goodness and Mercy

It all began in the fall of 1992.

I was living in the town of Euharlee (in Cartersville).

My Irish Setter/Lab mix had passed away at the age of 10 or 11.

I told myself I would not get another dog.

Until I saw a picture of some homeless Australian Shepherd mix puppies

in the local newspaper.

I could not get that picture out of my mind.

But when I called the Bartow Animal Shelter, it seemed I was too late.

The puppies were gone they said.

Mournfully, I went to the shelter anyway, at their suggestion

to see if there was another dog I might adopt.

After looking at all the dogs, I knew none of them were for me.

Imagine my joy when on going to the puppy room, I saw in the corner

a litter of six Australian mix pups huddled in a crate.

I was surprised that in spite of what I was told, there they were.

And that had I not gone anyway, I would have missed this.

When they let the little ones out, two stayed in the crate next to each other

just looking at me.

I don't recall when I first started thinking that two dogs would be better than one,

but there at that moment I knew that they were the ones for me.

Back then it was only $35 dollars to adopt a puppy

and that included their first set of shots and a spay/neuter certificate.

I had been reading a book by Philip Keller on Psalm 23.

In it he referred to goodness and mercy as God's watchdogs.

I looked up the Hebrew and found "tov" and "chesed".

I named the dark colored male Tov (goodness).

The lighter colored female, I named Chesed (mercy).

The "ch" being a hard "H" sound made it difficult to say

every time calling a dog, so I gave her the nickname Kessy.

(I will post more of this story over the next week as I remember with fondness these little gifts from God that I enjoyed for almost 16 years.)

Hannah makes muffins

Another yummy recipe from the Kid's cookbook!

This one has bananas, cocoa, and raisins.

Hannah really enjoyed this one.
It did require more help than some of the other ones.

They were chocolatey good!
If you want to see the recipe better, you can click on the picture and it will enlarge.

Wordless Wednesday

Money Plant

Women's Bible Study

I'm real excited about a new Women's Bible Study starting up.

We are going to be going through a Nancy Leigh DeMoss book.

If you're not familiar with her stuff, go to http://www.reviveourhearts.com/ for more info.

Last night was the first meeting and I had to miss it.

I'd been having a feeling that my ear was stopped up for 3 weeks.

Yesterday, I started running a fever and felt rundown.

On top of that my throat was very sore.

Today, after going to the doctor and having them flush my ear to rule out ear wax as the cause,

and do a strep test - negative,

I finally get a diagnosis and antibiotics and ear drops

for a middle ear infection.

While I was at it, I got a steroid for poison ivy.

Yes, I have it again!

I feel much better just knowing that relief will be coming soon.

Although, I may be up late at night due to the steroid.

Extra time for Bible Study!

In the House of the Lord

Worship

fellowship

talking

eating

cleanup

willing hearts

working together

father/son

Chloe's visit

Ocassionally, Little Lady's sister (from another litter) comes to stay with us. Next to her sister, Lady's coat seems to turn brown, even though she usually looks black. Obviously she's not a true black. Chloe is such a petite little princess next to our Little Lady. She seems light as a feather. They get along great and play, once Chloe is over sulking from her owners leaving her. Lady usually has more energy than her older sister and isn't always ready to stop playing when she is. We all enjoy having two dogs for awhile. One or more of us end up sleeping on the couch with the dogs just to make it last longer. They love to curl up next to you when you sleep, or even on top of you!

Flat Sarah - Alaska (1)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Kitchen Club and Janice's visit

Kitchen Club at Kristie's

Josiah and Hannah help prepare a fruit dip.

Then Josiah starts on his counting fruit salad.
1 handful (or pinch) of coconut
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
3 orange segments
4 slices of apple
5 cubes of cheese
6 slices of banana
7 chunks of melon
8 grapes
Stir 9 times
10 - eat!



Doesn't it look delicious!
Josiah liked his with fruit dip.
Other kids made fruit kabobs and dipped them.



Hannah made a smoothie
in this cool blender with a dispenser.

Janice's Visit

Whenever Janice comes by, she always enjoys the children.

Josiah showed off his Cars collection and his collection of Planet Heroes.

And they read a Planet Heroes comic book together.

Lady even warmed up to her.