Ain't that the truth....

Over the years in my Christian walk, I have had the privilege to hear many sermons and to talk with many people who love the Lord. Every once in awhile, I would hear a phrase or a comment and I would think "Ain't that the truth." I would jot them down to remember. Here are some of my favorite ones: God said it. I believe it. That settles it. When God shows up, He shows out. God never takes sides...He takes control. Stand still and rest in the presence of the Lord. God not only forgives, He forgets. If you have faith; He'll show you mercy and you'll receive grace. Stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. God can work His miracles out of our mistakes. It’s the believing that makes the waiting more endurable. Let go and let God. When you can't do anything, God can do everything.

And my all time favorite.... When faith walks in, fear walks out.

I received this in an email today and thought it was cute...... A man asked an American Indian what was his wife's name. He replied, "She called Five Horses". The man said, "That's an unusual name for your wife. What does it mean?" The Old Indian answered, "It old Indian Name. It mean... NAG, NAG, NAG, NAG, NAG!

Things I'll never understand......

There are things I see or overhear when I'm out and about that I will never understand. Here are just a few that make me scratch my head and go "huh?"(some I'm even guilty of myself). .... Why do people stand in line at fast food places and ponder the menu the entire time they are in line only to get up to the counter and say "Hmm, let me see, uh... I think....I want....uh, no, give me a cheeseburger, fries and a medium Coke. Oh and I want the cheeseburger with no catsup and oh, can you make it a large fries? No, no, I'll just take a medium." After finally deciding what they want, they are told their total. THEN and only then, do they open their purse and start rummaging for their cash or debit card. .... Why do people order the greasiest, fattest, high calorie foods on the menu and then ask for a Diet Coke. I don't think a diet drink will make much of a difference. .... Why do men pay for every single small purchase with a $20 bill, even if they have a ton of ones. Do they like the nice plump look on their wallet if they keep it full of the ones? .... Why do women pay for everything with the exact change? Counting out 86 individual cents just to avoid breaking another dollar bill? .... Also, why, when women get change back, do they drop it in their purse and not in their billfold. Then when they make their next purchase, they dig around in the bottom of their purse for 5 minutes, because they "know they have a nickle in here somewhere." .... Why do old men walk around with their hands in their pockets jingling their lose change and car keys. .... And the one that drives me the craziest is when a cashiers casually says "Hello, how are you today." They don't REALLY want to know. I was in line behind a lady who was asked that question and her response was that she had seen better days and proceeded to tie up the line by telling the cashier her whole woe is me tale about her miserable job, her worthless family and her low life ex who hasn't paid her in months. And the worse part is she could not multi task, each time she said something new, she stopped from putting her items on the counter so she could talk. Arrgghh. I was so ready to get out of there.

I love when God gets possessive

Isaiah 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. Don't you just love it! This verse sums up our whole life. We are His. Don't worry about things. He will take care of us. Don't let anger settle on you. Tell Him who or what is bothering you and let Him handle it. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't get into a tiff or a tantrum. You are HIS. He has called you by His name. When I was growing up, I loved being a Garretson. I was proud. That was my family. It was a name of honor. When I married Allen, I was happy to take on his name. Being a Keefer just enriched my life and added more family for me to love. But no name has every thrilled me more than when I was baptized and became a Child of the King. He called me by His name and I am His. I'm God's Girl and loving every minute of it.

Fall is in the air....

With the temperature so high and the humidity making it difficult to breathe, it's hard to believe that fall is just around the corner, but the signs are everywhere.

School starts in little over a week. Blue jeans and long sleeve shirts are making their appearance in stores. The boys are starting to put on their pads and helmets as that first football game is approaching. Bands are practicing their routines and cheerleaders are working on their pyramids.

Late at night, the oppressive heat disappears and you can feel fall in the air. I can smell the late evening smoke from a campground up river. In another month, the apple orchards will be alive with the busy activity of gathering apples for apple butter.

We make a big batch every year. This is the first year we have ran out before it is time to make it again. I'm counting the days. I love applebutter, but cannot stand the store bought kind. Applebutter tastes better when there is time and love poured into each homemade jar.

We've experimented with many types of apples over the years. Nothing compares to the flavor we get when we use Rome apples. We ended up with Rome's by accident one year and it was our best "vintage" ever. I almost cried when I opened the last jar.

So bring on the fall weather and the applebutter festivities.

What a fun-filled two days...

I have had a wonderful two days, but I am exhausted. I got up Thursday and headed over to pick up my grandchildren, Garret & Alexis (11 & 5). We met up with my niece, her husband and their 2 boys (12 and 9) from West Virginia. We decided to spend the day at Splash Country. Now, I must start off by saying that the 5 year old is itty bitty and weighs about 29 pounds. Whoever named a Lazy River by that name, never had to walk the entire length of it pushing a 5 year old in her float....3 TIMES!! And whoever thought it was a great idea to have all kinds of water falls, slides and water guns in a knee deep pool and let the parents rest in chairs around it, never had to follow a little pony tail all over the pool to keep an eye on her. And I'd like to meet the brain that created a wave pool for fun that has waves the force of a tsunami that can knock an 11 year old right out of his innertube. And most importantly, I'd like to know how, after covering 25 acres of wet, wild family fun, do they expect you to walk all the way back to your car. I think they should install those moving sidewalks like they have in Ripley's aquarium. Or at least run golf carts for you to hitch hike your way to the gate. But I had a blast and so did the kids. We survived. Yes, we survived but only to endure more torture today. We went to Tanger Outlet Mall for the tax free weekend sale to get school shoes and school clothes. To my delight, I have discovered that Alexis shops like me and Garret shops like Papaw. We went to 4 different stores (all on different ends of the complex) to try on no less than 5 outfits at each store only to discover that they had the top in the right size, but not the bottoms or vice versa. We finally ended up with a few new outfits that we liked and we were able to concentrate on Garret. He wanted to go to Nike first. He was very firm about going to Nike. So we walk in. There is a table with T-shirts on sale. He says "I want this one, this one, and this one. Let's look at shorts." We moved to the shorts rack and he says, "These will go with this shirt. I like these with the blue shirt and I want these for the white shirt." Then to my dismay, he says, "Okay I'm done. We can go." Same thing with the shoes. He found a pair, he tried them on, we bought them. For Alexis, we went through about 8 different pairs that she thought she liked, but none "looked right." She ended up falling in love with white Keds. At the end of our two beautiful days together, I took them home. My body is feeling these last two days, but I feel like I held up with great stamina for a grandma. I've went for two straight days like I was 16 again. Go, go, go. As we walk up to the porch, I noticed Garret's suitcase is showing a little wear and tear and I said "I need to get you a new suitcase pretty soon." He wanted to know why and I said that it was getting a little old and he could use a new one. He topped off our time together by sweetly smiling up at me with love in his eyes as he said, "Mamaw, you don't replace something just because it gets old. We haven't got rid of you yet, have we?" Out of the mouth of babes....

Excerpt from my journal .... July 30, 1993 ..... thoughts on a visit to my mother's in WV..........

"Was it yesterday or yesteryear that I walked this same dusty road, stopped to talk to these same familiar faces? Have they grown or have I? Someone once said, "The more things change, the more things stay the same." How true that is. We've grown, we've moved on, started new lives and made families of our own. Yet we can come back day after day and year after year to find the same rusty car in the same ramshackle shack as it's been for generations past and will be for generations to come. I guess this proves that life does go on."