Who's That Girl?

Sometimes I wonder how honest one can be and still be loved and accepted. What did Jack Nicholson say in "A Few Good Men?"...you can't handle the truth! Can we be allowed to boldly be who we are and still be acceptable? Can we say what we think and still be wanted? Can we break through the looking glass and reveal our true inner selves or would everyone just turn away?

Honesty...I guess it can be brutal but it must be a relief to be who you are with full confidence that you will still be loved. Can we ever remove our carefully crafted masks?

Precious Time

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Lexie's Excellent Adventure

Lexie came last week and stayed with us for a week and we were so blessed! She is so sweet and helpful, a ball of energy and full of creativity and imagination.  Thank you Lexie for sharing some sweet summertime with us :) Now the pictures!

She did some shopping in Cool Springs before she came here to start her stay...backpack/lunch box combo

We made homemade body lotion from Vitamin E, coconut oil and a bit of baby lotion for the PINK

Bathing beauty queen, isn't she lovely?

Glow stick at bedtime

Breakfast for supper is ALWAYS good!

At the big pool going down the slide

Picture perfect :)

We had so much fun and thank you Lexie for sharing your summer with Grandmama and Tracy!  In two weeks, all the Jones girls will be in White House.  Watch out, Richter scale!!! 

Last year when we went to Nashville for the Fourth of July fireworks downtown, I dreamed that one day that Miranda and Corey and the girls could come and go with us.  One short year later my dream came true!  It was so good to be able to share that spectacular show with them and because I was busy watching their faces, I did not take any pictures of the show! 

Me and Tracy in Nashville awaiting the fireworks...I love that man :)

I have been so very blessed to live another year and I thank God for every moment of it and for my family that I share my life with.  Thank you all for your love and I send mine to you :)

Part 2 of Tobey's Excellent Adventure (Aaaarrgghh!)

I hate when I am posting and suddenly something goes wrong and I can either start completely over or quit and do Part 2.  I am not sure what happened but here we go again....

Oh my gosh we both loved bathtime!!!

Complete and total joy because pools are soooooo fun!  (I feel the same way LOL)

Tobey and "Tebekah Wuby," Miranda's Cabbage Patch doll (Rebecca Ruby)

Tracy, Tobey, and me with finger sharing :)

Ready for the ride home

Reunited and it feels soooooo good!!!

I want to add something about Tobey in the bonnet.  Before we met Miranda and the girls we stopped by the nursing home to see Tracy's mother.  After we visited with her awhile I took Tobey to the Day Room where the residents were getting ready to play Bingo.  Oh my goodness, that sweet little girl made the day of so many of those people.  One lady even had tears in her eyes saying how thrilled she was to see such a pretty little girl.  It was beautiful :) 

One last pic of my silly cat and his big attitude:

Jagger was certain that such a soft, comfortable bed could have only been prepared for him LOL

Thank you, Tobey for spending some time with us.  We had an awesome visit and you are so precious, just like your sisters.  Looking forward to seeing you when Team Jones comes for a week and Lexie, we can't wait to see you the end of July.  But first there is 4th of July and my birthday...I love JULY!! :)  Yall have fun in Florida and we will see you soon! 

Phase II: Tobey's Excellent Adventure

As promised here are some pics from Tobey's visit last week.  Although she is now on a journey to Florida, I believe she had a good time with us.  We don't have any sandy gulf beaches but she loved the pink swimming pool and we enjoyed her visit so much.

Off to Granmama and Tracy's house

We stopped at Red Top BBQ and she loved the green beans!

Tobey and Jagger have fun :)

Checking out the pool

Greenway stroll and a bag of animal crackers...life is good...unless you are blogging and your app messes up and won't act right and sooooo...see part 2 soon :(

Can You Hear Those Voices? I Can...

Yes, it can only mean one thing...my brain is too full and I need a data dump. So here I am and here I go :)

Where to begin? Well the first two phases of grandbaby summer are completed and we are having the best time. Tobey left last Friday and I will post the pictures from her visit soon. Lexie will be coming in a few weeks and then Team Jones will all be here, so the summer of love continues. The girls have been so sweet and what awesome memories we are making together.

Tracy and I have gone low carb lately and have just about completely given up sugar, breads, rices, pasta, corn, and potatoes. We get carbs from other vegetables and many fruits and eat healthy proteins and fats. Not truly Atkins or paleo, just kinda our own thing. Tracy has lost twelve pounds and I have lost nine pounds. We have been amazed at how good we feel and how easy it's been to turn away from carbs. (especially me, lol, I love bread and pizza crust and potatoes and corn...)

Today I got home from work and took a nap and woke up super hungry. We've been sticking to our low carb food goals for several weeks and decided we'd splurge. We chose our favorite Mexican restaurant and by the time our food arrived I had eaten half the basket of chips! I ate some of my fajitas but Tracy and I both had plenty of leftovers for take home boxes. I felt full and bloated but decided since I was cheating I would cheat in full force and we stopped at Sonic and I ordered a hot fudge sundae. I had inhaled it by the time we got home, except for the huge gob of ice cream at the center, with no hot fudge on it. I gave that to Tracy :)

So we come home and by now I'm near exploding and I lay down and quickly fall into a coma. A high carb, sugar crazed coma. Granted I was sleepy from working nights but this sleep was different. I felt tired and heavy and useless...hmmmmm that tells me a lot about my new food choices. Getting rid of all those carbs is energizing and makes me feel healthy and I want to move and get things done. I'm glad I cheated because I learned something...I don't wanna feel like that again!

More about our food choices in future posts but my work situation is another area I need to dump out here. Aaaaaargggghhh!!! That's all I'll say about that for now but I already feel better. Whew, thank you!

Once I get my head situated and my thoughts organized I'll be back and pour out some more. I bet you can't wait lol. See you soon :) and love.

Harper's Excellent Adventure

We have a special guest with us this weekend and what a perfect little visitor she is! Harper is spending some summer vacation with me and Tracy and we are having a ball.  We met Miranda and Harper and Tobey in Dover on Wednesday and after a short visit we left for White House with Harper in tow.  I have to say I was a bit apprehensive, only because the Jones girls are such a team and I was afraid each one alone would really be lonely and sad.  But so far, so good.  Harper has not cried, not whined, not complained for one second.  Perhaps that is because we have filled every minute with fun times and there is always phone calls and Facetime for visits back in Martin.  Every night at prayer time she has called Mommy and Daddy and then she falls right to sleep.  I sit beside her every time with tears in my eyes and my heart full of love, just thinking of how precious she is and how blessed we are to have her for our granddaughter.  Hats off to Harper!  I hope Tobey and Lexie have as good a time and then the whole gang will be here for a week and I know that will be three times the fun.  So on to pictures because I have taken a bunch!

On the way to Granmama's and Tracy's

I bought her two cameras to take pictures of her vacation

First things first, let's get the pool ready!

Walkin' on the Greenway

 

 

Ready to rest up for another big day tomorrow...

She made her own pizzas!

Chillin' with Jagger

That is just a few of my pictures but a glimpse at the wonderful times we are having.  Unfortunately Granmama has to sleep the next two days and work the next two nights.  So Tracy and Harper will be making their own memories for a few days.  I think they will be just fine.  Here is a picture I took of them today...

Two of my favorite people :) 

 Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer...our summer is gonna be hard to beat, that is for sure! Love, love, love and girl power extreme :)