BY HEART

I have never been much of a scientific person.  Of all my subjects in school, I scored lowest in Science.  I disliked science projects.

In the world today we hear about scientific explanations for various things, both good things and bad things.  We are told the scientific approaches for remedies for various things.  For the most part, we would be pretty sunk without the science of many things such as medical knowledge, everyday inventions that we deem "necessary", and other such items.

For the past few days, though, my mind has been pondering beyond the scientific realm of these things and considering things I simply "know" by heart.  There are many mysteries about the spiritual and emotional beings that we are.  I will go as far to say as many of those mysteries will remain unexplained on this side of heaven.

So as I considered, I considered things "by heart".

By heart, I know that love is one of the greatest medicines in life and on the flip side can be a most painful emotion, too.

By heart, I know that my spirit can be lifted by just a simple word....spoken, heard, or read.

By heart, I know that timing is important.

By heart, I know Jesus!  No, I've never seen him face to face, but one day I will and I will recognize him.  You see, I know HIM by heart!

By heart, I know that behind the clouds, there's a bit of blue sky--physically and figuratively.

By heart, I know that I am comforted by God's word.  When my heart is overwhelmed (and it can be often), that Word leads me to the rock that is higher than I.

By heart, I know that even though I am afraid, I am told to fear not and I try that concept.  No fear, just faith.

By heart, I can feel the bubbling of joy just playing with The Grandbaby.

By heart, I can feel gratitude to my heavenly Father for all his provisions, his promises that are always kept, and the assurance that it will all be fine.

By heart, I know that this trial might just be a mercy in disguise.

By heart, I know that I have a family whom I love, a life which I cherish, and a heavenly Father who is the greatest of all!

Yes, I choose by heart over science any day!

Consider....

PHONE CONFIDENCE

The Grandbaby has grown so much since this pandemic began.  I am now back to having her visit on Mondays while The Girl works in her office.  I stand amazed at how she has grown both in body, word, and deed.

Today I told The Grandbaby we needed to walk to the mailbox before lunch.  After quite a bit of rain, the skies were dry and it was a good time for a short walk.  I opened the storm door and as we stepped out of the house to the porch, The Grandbaby said, "Somepen 'mells bad out 'ere, Neema."  I replied, "I think it's that bush with the flowers over there.  I don't know what it's called but I know you have the same bushes at your house and they have a strong smell."  The Grandbaby replied, "I yooked it up on my phone and I know what they are called--STINK flowers!"   (Insert her chuckle here and my effort to withhold my laughter.)

The Grandbaby's smart phone:  $1 at Dollar Tree
The Grandbaby's imagination:  Priceless!

4

The Grandbaby had a birthday last month.  I can't believe she is now 4 years old!  It seems like yesterday she was a little one.  Then she started walking, talking, and learning all those new baby things.  Potty training was a challenge but she mastered that technique.  FINALLY.  What a happy day that was!

The Grandbaby has developed a love for books.  She loves to hear stories read to her and she now likes to read stories to others.  She has a good imagination for stories.  And she loves painting, coloring, and puzzles.  Plus she has quite a colorful sense of hair fashion.

I'm beginning to teach her about cameras.  Here's her first attempt with my small camera.  Not bad, at least she got her fingers spaced correctly.

The Grandbaby loves to play with her dolls, both baby dolls and Barbies.  And again, her imagination gives her many hours of fun.    She has learned the generational line.  To The Grandbaby, her mama is  "Mommy", I am "Neema" and my mother is "Moe".  Go figure.  The Girl heard The Grandbaby playing with her Barbies the other day and she asked one if she wanted to go to her Neema's house and had the sequence to fit the particular Barbies in the play time.  Then when she would bring her favorite baby doll, Ariel (yes they are princess names), to my house, she would tell Ariel that "we are going to your Moey's"....gotta love it!

She loves going to Auburn and loves the Auburn sports scene, especially the inflatables!

The Grandbaby is learning to like to eat new things--mainly sweet things.  A while back she finally ate some crust from her peanut butter and jelly sandwich here and was excited that "I like the crust!"  She would like a lot of things if she would only try them.  She does tend to lean toward the stubborn in some areas.

I have heard that since the quarantine, she has learned to open doors that have the doorknob covers to keep her from opening doors.  She has graduated to a big bed.  Her crib made a toddler bed from the crib, and now a big bed from the toddler bed.  She loves her big bed!

I have noticed from her pictures that she has grown so tall during this quarantine time.  Look at the difference in these same shorts from August to now.  Now, trust me, you can actually see her knees and upper legs!

The Grandbaby loves dogs and cats and other animals.  Ahh......

There was a quarantined low key birthday celebration with ravioli and cupcakes.  Attending were Barbie friends and a big gift was a big girl bicycle!

The Grandbaby is a huge joy to have in our lives.  She's sweet, spunky, sassy, stubborn, and delightful all rolled into one.

We. Are. Blessed!

JUST REMEMBERING.....

The Husband once heard it said that "a wedding is only for two people, the bride and her mother".  Well, I tend to disagree with that statement.

Today marks the 8th anniversary (I think I'm correct on the date...I HOPE I'm correct on that.)  of The Girl and The Son-In-Law.  I thought it might be fun to see some of the memories of that day, even a few of the ones not seen often.  So, enjoy!

Dr. Roommate performs surgery on The Groom''s shirt by sewing on a problem button....

The beautiful bride stands before one of the aged beautiful stained glass windows that were taken from the original church building to the new building....a bit of the past from a childhood that was spent practically every Sunday in the church that housed those windows.  

The handsome groom smiles as he poses in the woods at that same church building.  He looks pretty dapper.

When the wedding photographs arrived a few weeks later, we were very entertained by the many faces of one of the bridesmaids (note the one wiping her eyes...she did this often.).  Such emotion and spiritual sweetness in the service...the couple's hope of sharing their love of the Lord was evident.

Her face also showed the service's humor also. 

And we loved that the same bridesmaid's little guy was captured by the camera as he shared some humor of his own!

Mr. and Mrs....

...and new extended families who after these years are still grateful to be so.  (On a personal note, it's fine with me if you noticed that I am somewhat skinnier now than I was then.)

There was fashion...

...and food!

War Eagle!

What'll ya have?

Yes, time has flown by since that day.  There has been experiences of joy, sorrow, mercy, grace, and love and the greatest love is of the heavenly Father the family still loves and serves.  It is with gratitude that this blog writer writes today.  Gratitude for blessings too many to begin to count but for at the top of the list would be these three....a family.

I will say that The Grandbaby just turned four last month so you can look for a post tomorrow about her...wanted to get these two posts in order somewhat even though they seem out of order somewhat.....

I. Am. Blessed.