A "GRAND" DOCTOR VISIT

I was always an avid record keeper and kept stats on my kids as they were growing up. Well, yesterday I was able to garner some stats on Isabella and Jarrett from their visit to the doctor for their summer physicals. I am happy to report that they are very healthy teenagers. (Jarrett is 15 and Isabella is 13).

Jarrett's height and weight: 65-1/2" tall and 116.2 lbs. I looked up to see how that compares with the national percentile and here's what I learned: At 15 years and 1 month: Jarrett is in the 33rd percentile for weight and in the 30th percentile for height.

Isabella's height and weight: 59-1/2" tall and 92.6 lb.s. At 13 years and 3 months: she is at the 27th percentile for weight and the 3rd percentile for height. (Glory~~ there is not an ounce of fat on that girl but a whole lot of muscle. She is working on her "six pack" and has a nice definition in her arm muscles. HA!)

Both made 20/20 on their eye chart exam and their blood pressures were very good.
I am thankful to the Lord for the good health that Jarrett and Isabella enjoy.

An Unbelievable Month of July....

Where has July gone? I can't believe today is the 31st. Where has summer gone? School will start back in a matter of days. (I can't get over my "old school" roots and the fact that we always started school the day after Labor Day. I still like that scenario and long for the old days. HA!)

I am enjoying Richard's retirement almost as much as he is!! We enjoy being together and doing things together but also respect each other's separate interests. He is an out-doors guy and enjoys working in his shed, working in the yard, working in the garage,. Whereas, especially in this summertime heat, I am an indoors girl and enjoy my housewifely duties and time on the computer. The later I spend far too much time with..... Anyway, we say he is puttering and I am fluttering. Hey, it works for us!!

We wondered if we could stay busy enough in our retirement years and have found that our lives our busy but with a different kind of busy. Here are the highlights of July 2008....


We had a wonderful 4th of July over at Brian's and Amy's with Brian's folks and his 3-year-old niece, an evangelist and his wife and 4 kids, my friend Joyce from church, and another man and his two sons from church.






Then I celebrated my 57th birthday on the 8th and enjoyed the doings with that and thank God for the dawning of another year of life.






We hosted our "D" Family Summer Reunion on the weekend of the 11th-12th. We had a wonderful time with family from out of town in our home all enjoying one another.







The highlight of the 2nd half of the month has been that of having Chip at home this week. We have had some sweet and precious family time with all of us together.






Otherwise this month, we had our dear friends John and Regina and their daughter Astrid over for a meal. Richard and I met John and Regina through Amy as she and Astrid were good friends in college. Astrid taught school in Herndon, VA since her 1997 college graduation but resigned at the end of this past school year as the Lord has led her to go to Saipan to teach in a Christian school there for at least three years. We enjoyed the fellowship with John, Regina, Astrid, Brian, Amy and our grandkids over dinner.


We were supposed to have Chip and his college students from their church in Huntsville over to our house for a cook-out on the 19th, but it turned out that the insurance on their van didn't cover them coming into Florida soooooooooooooo,we took the cookout to them on the beach in Alabama. That was a fun evening!




Amy returned to work (elementary principal) on the 14th so we have our grandson Jarrett (age 15) with us each weekday for 5 weeks until school starts. He and Grandpa have been working on lots of outside projects and have gotten a lot of stuff done which includes putting in two nice patios in our backyard using paving stones (that is the work in the picture.) Today they are starting the project of putting in a new shed. Belle and Josh are attending the Day Camp at the Sports Center (Belle is working there and Josh is a camper) and then Jaden is playing with his friends at the daycare for that age group.


Our very dear former pastor and his wife from back in the 80's dropped in from OK on the 22nd to say "hello." Dr. E and Brenda were so dear to call and come as they were in the area. It was a fun 5 hours spent with them.





We attended a wedding luncheon for a dear couple in our church. That was sweet and we saw the newlyweds at church last night ~~ our first time to see them since the wedding.

I had a health scare this month but it all turned out to be "negative" on the 21st. I thank God for that.


After being off for 6 weeks, we started back having the Bible Study at the retirement center and it has been good to go there for ministry on Fridays. This dear lady is 103 years old and is such a blessing to us each week.




Yep... we seem to find enough to keep us busy and have enjoyed this start to Richard's retirement years. On August 5, it will be three months already since his last day of work. Unbelievable!!! We continually pray and ask God to use us for His glory and thank Him for each and every day that He gives us.

July~~~ you were a good month. We hope to see you again next year!!!

A reader in India???!!!

India New Delhi, Delhi 8,231

I have a "site meter" which lets me see how many visits are made to my blog and from which states they originate. My readers have their privacy because I do not see names of who is reading the blog. Once in a while, I log into the site meter to check and recently saw that someone in New Dehli had clicked on my blog and that the reader was 8,231 miles from me. How cool but perplexing as well.

My "Susan's Stuff" is not a public blog ~~ meaning that it isn't advertised anywhere as a blog to be read. I just "Googled" Susan's Stuff and a lot of STUFF came up but I didn't see my blog listed on the first few pages I checked.

So>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I am curious as to who my reader was in India. I cannot fathom.

Dear Reader in India,
I am glad that you have visited my blog. If you happen to come back for another visit, I would be blessed if you would enter a comment so that I can hear from you and find out how you found my blog.

Blessings,
Susan

My Sister Nonie ~~ The Dulcimer-Girl

I received a nice picture from Nonie of her's and Tom's dulcimer group. For anyone who doesn't know my baby-sister-by-15 months, she and Tom are the couple to the far left. Here's the caption she put with the picture:

Here's a photo of our Waterloo Dulcimer Group which I took down at the Waterloo Senior Center. That's Tom, of course, standing behind me, for those of you who may not know my him. We play with them every Tuesday and every Thursday and then we play at some local nursing homes three times a month. We've sure had a great time with this group of folks :)

Welcome To Our World, Baby Girl..........

I received a phone call from one of my sisters last night and then this email announcement from her today. I'll let her tell you about her new grandbaby who is my new great-niece!!

Announcing the arrival of my newest grand-baby:

KELSEY TATUM

Born at 6:08 pm on Friday, July 25, 2008

Daughter of ETHAN & BRANDIE H.

Weight: 8 lbs 7 oz

Length: 20"

Please share in my joy at the arrival of my 4th grand-baby :)

"Granny" Sonja (Nonie)

"BIG" sister Kayleigh wants to hold her new baby sister Kelsey:

May God bless these little ones is my prayer.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!

Our son Chip is arriving home tomorrow night for a week's visit!! We thank the Lord that he has a week off and will have some time for some R&R. Of course, we are all 8 of us thrilled that he will be headed this way tomorrow evening. Everything is "funner" when Chip is around. He is kind of our "family pastor" and we enjoy all of the spiritual interaction with him during these times.

WE'RE GOING AGAIN

We are planning a nice fall trip to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. To start with, Richard has been invited to sit on the panel of a retirement conference in Nashville in mid September. They will put us up at the Opryland Hotel, etc. This is the springboard of our trip. From there, we want to spend a couple of days in Gatlinburg where we spent our honeymoon in September 1973.

Because we are now veteran Princess cruisers and receive all of the notifications of Princess cruises, one came across our in-boxes that caught our attention. The dating and the pricing were too good to pass up, and we have booked the cruise. So from Gatlinburg, we will make our drive on up to New York ~~ stopping along the way to see the sights. Once we get to New York, we will catch the Princess Ship at the Brooklyn Pier for the following 7-day Cruise:

Sept 28: Board the Caribbean Princess Ship in New York, New York at the Brooklyn Pier
Set Sail at 5:00 p.m.

Sept. 29: Newport, Rhode Island Arrive at 7:00 a.m. and Depart at 4:00 p.m.
This day is our 35th wedding anniversary

Sept. 30: Boston, Mass Arrive at 10:00 a.m. and Depart at 7:00 p.m.
I want to see and meet my dear online friend Chickie during our day in Boston!

Oct. 1: Bar Harbor, Maine Arrive at 7:00 a.m. and Depart at 6:00 p.m.

Oct. 2: St. John, New Brunswick, Canada Arrive at 8:00 a.m. and Depart at 5:00 p.m.

Oct. 3: Halifax, Nova Scotia Arrive at 9:00 a.m. and Depart at 6:00 p.m.

Oct. 4: At Sea

Oct. 5: Arrive back in New York, New York for Disembarkation

The colors should be pretty and the temps cooler which will make for a nice drive up, a lovely cruise, and a nice trip back. We won't rush back home but will see some other sights along the way home ~~ depending upon how long we can bear to be away from our family and friends!

What a Nice Time with Dr. E and Brenda Today!!!

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

There are some folks who touch your life, and you never forget them. Years later, you can see them and pick right up where you left off. Such is the case with the dear people who came by to see us today. Dr. Ron E was our pastor way back in the 1980's when we were young and raising our little kids. It was Dr. English who lead our little 5-year-old Chip to the Lord. It was Dr. English who felt the leading of the Lord to invite my dad to come to CBC and serve as Assistant Pastor. It was dear Dr. English who was our physical rock during my dad's 3-week illness and subsequent death. (God was our spiritual rock, of course.) Brenda was our much-loved Pastor's wife. She did a beautiful job of keeping the home fires burning with 4 active kids and a busy, busy husband. She was always a picture of God's grace and beauty with her quiet and meek spirit. I always admired Brenda and looked up to her (though she is about a foot shorter than me!)

What a joy when we received a Monday night phone call that they were in the area and wanted to get together on this Tuesday morning. We haven't seen them too many times in the 20 years since they left our church to follow God's will for their lives and their ministry and had last seen them in June 2004 when we traveled to GA to attend Dr. E's mother's funeral.

Today was a wonderful and refreshing breeze of God's goodness in giving us precious relationships throughout life. They arrived with their dear friend from Lillian, AL which is about 25 miles from here. We enjoyed meeting "Miss Sue" and feel like we have a new friend in the area. We visited in our home for quite a while. We had planned to have our grandsons Jarrett (15) and Josh (9) here for the day so they got to meet our beloved Pastor and Mrs. English. The boys enjoyed the cute Yorkie dog, Maddie, who came with Dr. E and Brenda. After a sweet time of fellowship in our home, we all went to Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast.

After our time of food and fellowship at Cracker Barrel, we drove Dr. E and Brenda over to the academy and then to the college so that they could see Amy and meet our other two grandchildren: Jaden (3-1/2) and Isabella (13). It was a sweet reunion with them and Amy as they had last seen her as a 13 year old!! (We knew Brian would be very busy at his job in advertising so we didn't bother him.)

After running around seeing folks, we came back to the house and had another nice time of visiting. Kay, we made a special greeting for you. I am working on getting up uploaded so you can see/hear it.

What a fun day to have spent time with these dear, dear friends (and former beloved Pastor) from the '80s. God is good!!! Here are some pics:

Josh and Jarrett both loved their sweet dog, Maddie. Jarrett is 15 and doesn't like to be in pictures ~~ even with a cute dog, but Josh (9) was happy to oblige.



There's Maddie's cute little face


Dr. E and Brenda looked wonderful and it was so good to see them and have them in our home. We last saw them in GA at his mother's funeral in June 2004.


This is their dear friend, Sue, who lives just just 20 miles from us. We now have a new friend!! I'm sorry her pretty blue eyes were closed. I couldn't tell that by looking at the display.


Got a picture of Dr. E and Brenda with Josh (holding Maddie) and Jarrett. I didn't have the camera with me when we went to three different locations so Amy could see them and they could meet Jaden and Isabella.


Back at our house after running around and having another sweet time of fellowship.


I so much enjoyed visiting with Brenda and catching up on all of their family news.


What a fun day with our precious former pastor and pastor's wife.

Company's A-Coming!!

Oh my goodness.... we just got a phone call.... you will never guess who was on the other end.... they are coming over tomorrow morning to see us... what an unexpected thrill... they are going to come at 9:00 and then we are going to go to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Oh, did I fail to mention to whom we were talking? Bro. Ron English! He and Brenda are in Lillian, AL visiting a dear friend. We will get to meet her tomorrow as well. What a treat!

Gotta run.... have a little picking up to do.... special company's a-coming!!

ANSWERED PRAYER!

Everything turned out just fine at my tests this morning. All is well. I praise God for this good report!!!!