Fall Favorites....

 My FALL favorites consist of everything with Bursting colors, Warm Fires, Pumpkin Breads, Hay Rides, Apple Crisp, Cozy nights, Carving Pumpkins, Family time,

Friends.........Fall inspired scents..............and a big harvest of Happiness!

{Old} picture of Sam and I.....we had this taken on a Fall Trip with friends to "Silver Dollar City" in Branson a few years ago.    

I absolutely loved everything about this Fall trip.

I've posted these photos in the past....

Since covid, we haven't been able to take any trips together, and I miss these friends terribly.  

We always have SO MUCH FUN!!

~~

Back to Fall.....🍁🍂🍁

I love........
Going to the Farm and seeing all of the persimmon trees ablaze with orange fruit.....This is a Fall !

What are some of your favorite Fall things?

Shug......

 "As the Deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth 

after thee."

Psalm 42:1

Shug ☦

Birthday Guy

 It's going to be a busy morning.....and I have much to do.  Today, we will be celebrating Sam's 68th Birthday!

I'll be in the kitchen this morning.....Baking a Birthday Cake!!  German Chocolate Cake is a favorite around here......

Here is my husband Sam.....holding the newest member of our family (Emersyn Kate). This rocking chair holds two of my wonderful Loves!

This man is the BEST!  He wins several awards!!🏆

Best Husband, Best Dad, Best Father-in-law, Best Grandfather to our six grandchildren, Best Great Grandfather, Best Friend, Best everything!

  

These two girls absolutely adore their 68 year YOUNG dad!

I remember when he was just 15.....I loved him then and love him many times more now.  It's hard to believe that I have been able to celebrate at least 53 of his birthdays with this him!!!

This is how he rolls.   Tea with granddaughters, hunting with grandsons, being ready to do whatever his family wants to do.  Always putting us first.

He's not big on letting us celebrate him, as he prefers to celebrate others.  But today, we are excited to party with him!!   Wings, Pizza, and his favorite.....German Chocolate cake!!

        Happy Birthday Sam.......💛🎂💛

                       Shug....🎈

The year 2020

 No Doubt, the year 2020 has been quite difficult.  It seems like we are all trying so hard to fit a square peg into a round hole.  Would that ever work?  No....of course not.  Not unless we were to trim off the corners of the square peg.  

Source free photos.

How do we trim the corners of 2020?  

Not only have we had this horrible pandemic, but we have a Presidential election in just a few days.  We also have had all kinds of manic behaviors in this Country.  

The waves of manic behaviors have included hoarding toilet paper, entitled personalities, riots, hate, and so many more things that I am totally not understanding.

I wake up each morning declaring that I am not afraid.

I am NOT Afraid of what the future holds, I am NOT afraid of this virus, I am NOT afraid of going to the grocery store, I am NOT  afraid of going to Church.

God does not give us a Spirit of Fear.   satan does this!

So.......how do we go about reclaiming our JOY and not being defeated by the enemy?

We stand firm in our beliefs....   We Trust God to the fullest....

We make some changes, we have the understanding that God is on OUR side.  HE is in front of me, behind me, beside me, and over me.  God is my protector, my provider, He is my STRONG TOWER, He is my Rock, my shield, HE is my everything!!!!

If this virus continues to hold us captive from living a life of "normalcy," then we ask God for strength to press on.

We should never start our day feeling defeated.  I have heard so many people say, "It's 2020....what else can go wrong?"

Negativity brings defeat.  Focus on the good things, look for the  POSITIVE.

I have a choice....We all have choices.  We can search for Joy in the midst of difficult times.   OR...we can allow fear and the year 2020 to cause us grief.  

I am going to search for Joy in all things...

Shug....💓💓

Adding Light to Life

*(Update). For those that may have already read my post.... My mind must have been in a million places this morning...I originally posted a picture of the wrong lantern.  LOL.  😂😂😂😂.  Glad I noticed!!!!

 We all need to add LIGHT into our lives....especially NOW.  What prompted this post, was a picture that I took this past week.  In the below photo, you will see a picture of an old lantern.  This lantern has been around for a very long time.  

Our oldest daughter and her husband, bought some land a few years ago.  They have since, built their home on this property.  They have a beautiful home surrounded by a huge array of different kinds of trees.

In the exact place where their home sits, there once was an OLD Home Place.  Behind the house and further down in the woods, the people who lived there for MANY, MANY years......discarded their old cans, glass containers, and anything else that they wanted to discard.

Through the years, all of this old stuff has been covered up with growing brush and old leaves.  

Our son-in-law has been working for a couple of years to get this stuff all dug up and the back half off the property cleaned up.  He has found so many things and this old lantern just happened to be one of them.  I know that there had to be other OLD lights before this one, so it makes me wonder if there are more out there!

~~~~~~

  As I took the picture, what came to my mind was, HOW MANY NIGHTS DID THIS OLD LANTERN SERVE AS A LIGHT FOR THIS OLD FAMILY? 

It was a light that was greatly needed many years ago.  I'm pretty certain that this one lantern was a great possession during the old days.

To think, that at one time, this old lantern served it's purpose of giving off light and helping people see at night.  

Today, it might not give off light with a burning wicker, but it gives light in just the beauty of knowing what it is and where it has been. 

We all need Light in our lives!!  Adding light to our spiritual lives is more important now than ever before...and we must let our spiritual light shine.

No doubt, this lantern has Blessed me in my thoughts and in my Thankfullness. I am Thankful for what I have now.....Thankful that Jesus Christ is the Light of my life.

Shug,...🔥

A Shark In The Woods

 Last evening, our family found a Shark in the Woods!  It's true....a big Blue Paper Mache Shark was found hanging from a Tree branch behind Ty and Trista's house!!

We were celebrating a MARCH birthday!!

MARCH BIRTHDAY IN OCTOBER......🎁🎈

Our little {California} Great Grandson did not get to celebrate with his Family last March, so he wanted us to be able to Celebrate his upcoming 6th birthday now. 

Can you celebrate without some yummy s'mores?

NO WAY!

Fire Pit First.....

Flaming Fire......

Roasting the Marshmallow

and.....YUM!

Of course.....what Birthday boy doesn't want his very own Piñata??

Mylee Jo had to give him a little help, but he was extremely excited to see all the CANDY falling out of this big ol' Shark.

The Texas weather was awesome For a night like this.  We had Hotdogs and the works, chips and dips, Cookie Cake (I did not get a picture of 😓)... s'mores, a good fire, toys to play with including some fun rockets,.....but most excitingly, we had FAMILY!!

Emersyn was not enjoying all of the outdoor activities, so mom and dad got her just what she was needing.....her BOTTLE.

We celebrated K with a big family Birthday and he was one happy camper.   

I took so many more pictures, but I have had a difficult time loading them....SO MUCH FOR THAT.

.........A persons family is, without a doubt, the greatest wealth that we will ever possess.  Treasure every moment and take the time to ensure that the story you create is one that you will be proud of and look back on with a huge smile!!!    

                                                                                                                 Words of Wisdom

Hope you all have a super great day!

Shug 💛

          🍂  Thank you Lord for this day!  Thank you for my Blessings, and Thank you for Loving me!  🍂 

I love decorating!  The season of Fall is most definitely a time that I love to bring out the bold colors and make our home warm and comfy.

Last week, I decided to get busy and change just a few decorations throughout the house.  

More to do on this wall....NOT sure that I am completely happy with it......and that wheat wreath has got to be centered....  LOL!

I sometimes think simplicity is great too!

Isn't it strange how Christmas trees or not only Christmas trees these days?  You can buy trees almost all year long and decorate them anyway that you want to decorate them.  

I actually have two trees up in my living room with Fall decorations on them.  They are beautiful and the lights add so much to the room.

When it's time for Christmas decorations to go out, I will take the pumpkins, the corn, and the orange off of the tree and replace with Christmas....

~~~~~~

...You don't have to be an expert in everything, and I'm certainly not an expert in Decorating.  BUT...it's something I love to do, so I will keep on doing my thing.  

Shug...🎃

Unique Border.....

 How about this cute little plate border??  I don't think I've ever seen one before, but this one sure caught my eye.  

The Little town of "Edom"  is located about 10 miles from our home, and several people own shops where they make and display their art.

Edom is a neat little town and many people love to visit this area because it is a quaint spot for some weekend fun.

There are a couple of places to eat, and even though the food is not what I consider to be the BEST, it is OK, especially if you just wanting to grab a burger and are looking for a quite Country outing.

These cute little colorful pumpkins were sitting on the porch steps of one of the shops.  I really like the turquoise pumpkin, mixed in with the white and orange....

 "Adorable"

You are Altogether Beautiful my darling, beautiful in every way.

Song of Soloman  4:7

Shug.......🍁

One Fabulous Day

 What a gorgeous day it has been.......What made the day even better, was all of my kiddos hanging around.   Tori is home from College Station, Tyler and his family are here from California, and Trey, Trista & Shanda stopped by after school, & our granddaughter-in-laws mom was here!   Did I mention that the weather was perfect?  It was!  

This little guy/gal stopped by too.   Actually, Keelan found him/her in the pool and decided that he/she needed to become his pet.    

There was a slight breeze out on the porch, and it felt so very nice.  We must have sat out there for a few hours.  All we needed was a bushel basket of peas to shell, and our afternoon would have been just like the good ol' days.  

Sitting around enjoying one another's company, while being productive.  

What a GREAT Day it was!

I'll leave you all with these funny pictures of me........made from snapchat...

Snapchat can be quite fun........  LOL

Shug..........

Investing my Time

 I recently made a very important decision that I would take myself OFF of Facebook for a while.  

I'm not even sure what "A While" is, but what I do know is that I was spending way too much time surfing through FB on my phone.  

This is like an addiction!!!

I really enjoy keeping up with all my friends, and honestly, Facebook is like reading the newspaper.   You can keep up with all of the happenings going on and many times it will be much like Gossip free for all.  I'm not a fan of knowing the Oooey Gooey details of everyone's life.  

I actually feel that Facebook can be good, even great at times, but I knew that I needed to take a break from it because, I realized the amount of time each day that I was spending, reading and sometimes re-reading post.   

I am very tempted at times to take a sneak peek at all the days post, but for now, I must exert my energy into more useful things.   

I think that if a person has to ask themselves if they are giving as much of their time doing things for the Lord.....reading His word, praying, doing for others.....then it is definitely time to adjust your day.  

It has been a couple of weeks now since I took myself off of FB, and I can tell you without a doubt...that I have accomplished great things.  

I have been doing more cooking, cleaning, reading, bookkeeping work, and spending time in my own thoughts!  I'm actually enjoying more time of decorating and loving the warmth and happiness of our home.   

I want to be available for whatever God has in store for me!!

Happy Sunday Friends....

Shug....💕

Good Saturday morning friends.....   I woke up this morning to many sounds going on in our backyard.   Our pool is being finished today, so workers have all kinds of noises going on in the back.   The temps are too cool right now, so there won't be any swimming this year.....Unless I decide to take a polar plunge.   

What I'm seeing out the back door....

 

Needless to say.......we have a whole lot of work to do in the back yard, before Next Spring rolls around.

                            ~~~~

Exciting News:     

Our Air Force kiddos are here for a 10 day visit.  This is the first time that they have been here since the baby was born.   Needless to say....we all are so in love with our new baby girl.  

Sam is a PROUD great grandpa to this sweetie.

And.....our precious great grandson, enjoying a homemade cookie at Shug's.

Emersyn loves her daddy.....

The Best Love comes from Aunt Shanda...

Emersyn with her Great-Great grandmother......(Sam's mom)

We are all so excited to have them home for this visit.  Time passes so fast though, so I plan to enjoy ever single moment with these cuties...

                              ~~~

"Families are like branches on a tree.  We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one."

Shug......

     Wish a thousand Wishes!   

  

How often do you WISH?   I probably wish every single day.   Thankfully, I do not always wish in a selfish manner.   Many times I wish for those I love.  

MOST times, I wish for Good for others.

I love the song by Rascal Flatts, MY WISH!

In the lyrics, the words Wish and Hope are used several times.  

My favorite lines are:

My WISH, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to.     

AND....

I HOPE you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too.

I heard this song this morning as I listened to my music.  My thoughts were:  What great lyrics!

To wish and Hope for good things, not only for ourselves, but for all those we know and love. 

I do wish for you all......happiness, joy, love, and peace.

Shug...... 

 

  

We have a Gorgeous morning here in East Texas!

                                                                 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

The temps are cool and the sun is shining....This is a wonderful Blessing.

I'm beginning to Bring out a few Fall items, to add to the decor of our home.  I found this pumpkin pillow at Kirkland's and now I wish I had purchased two of them.

I love changing things around....and I probably do this way too often, but hey, CHANGE is good sometimes.  

 Found this adorable orange bird at Hobby Lobby and decided that she definitely needed to be in my Fall decor.

This is my clean out pile.   Stuff I'm getting rid of!  I'm pretty certain that my girls will be by sometime this weekend to pick and choose what they want to take home.  I'm in a clean out mood and they love to rummage through the things that mom doesn't want any longer.

"Decorating Golden Rule: Live with what you Love."

I hope you all have a Blessed day and a wonderful weekend..

Shug ~

Our home is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to. be Happy!