Do I only say that when things go the way I want - or get the answers from Him that suit me? I have been reminded in the last month to be willing to say that, regardless of the way things first look.
We have had a very busy month. It started out with the front porch being refurbished.



Merle and the one we hired to do the porch had a lot of work to be done under what we usually see.



Notice the rocks that hold up the house! The main part of the house is over 100 years old, and when you look under the house, you can see lots of these. The rafters are young trees without the bark!



After a "false start" with the wrong type of flooring, we got this tongue and groove. It would have been so pretty to just seal this, but we have waterproofed it and going to paint it a very pale grey.



This was followed by a trip to Va. Beach to celebrate Princess Anne High 1968 - 40th Reunion. That was a barrel of fun. We had one of the phys ed teachers from our senior year show us around the school. Part of it had been refurbished or replaced after the fire several years ago. There had been talk of tearing the building down, but plans are changing about that now. We met Saturday evening at a local golf clubhouse, only to find there was no electric! It finally came on about 9:30 PM, but we still had a good time visiting. I was so surprised to find how many were looking forward to seeing me, and mentioned how I had affected their life. It again reminded me how people are observing you whether you are aware of it or not. and how long those impressions last.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and found the area full of smoke. The Dismal Swamp was burning, and the smoke would come and go, most of the time like a light fog.



This is the way it looked out our hotel room. The smoke would not stay, and if you went very far, you would drive out of it, just to drive back and find it all gone! You could almost "taste" it at times.




We also went by the school that Merle and I attended in Kempsville as young children. It is now a Korean school, and has had additions to the building, creating a large school. We drove around and took a picture of the "big ditch" where Molly lost her shoe while we were playing next to the "big tree"!  NOTHING seems "big" anymore!

My next goal was to finish the scrapbook for my Dad. Mother had saved a lot of his fire department items and newspaper clippings for all these years. We thought it would be good to have them in a scrapbook, and I had the privilege to put it together. This had to be done before we went to Lori's wedding on July 19!

 

This is the first page, a picture of a plaque hanging in their home, and one of the other pages with Daddy's motto song and a picture Mama took of him years ago in his turnout gear. It became a rather thick book, every two pages had to have a spacer put into it so it would lay flat.

Merle's youngest brother was taken to the hospital and spent over a week trying to adjust all his meds and get him on the mend again. He is home, but is not back to normal. The ones at home are spending a lot of time helping him with the adjustments.

Elizabeth came home on July 14. I took her best friend and Tom with me to get her at the Atlanta airport. We got about half way, and the car QUIT!  I called Merle - he was on the way to the hospital. . The tow truck took us to McDonald's and the car to a shop Merle's boss owns. Merle came to get us and complete the trip to the airport. I drove after Merle arrived, except for about one hour on the way home, then Elizabeth drove. Tom was a complete surprise to Elizabeth! I thought she was going to cry when she saw him, and for the next hour, he talked to her non-stop! (He spent the night with us, and woke Elizabeth running his fingers across her cheek saying - I got you - then went back to sleep!) We arrived home at 1:30 AM - and Merle only had about 3/4 hour sleep before he had to be in the truck on the way for work! 

Elizabeth went to work on Tuesday afternoon and earned $25 toward the $800 she needs for cement. She had other things to do the next two days, then worked cleaning a house and doing a baby-sitting job - earning $200 more!!  Take a look at her site later this week to see her updated story about the cement funds!  It is quite amazing to me, xanga.com/diamond_dust1 is her site.


 
    

Tom and I arrived at the school sale around 8:30 AM. Breakfast items were on the tables, ready for you to choose. Wonderful donuts (bought a whole dozen for Tom's parents), and sausage or gravy biscuits, coffee or your choice of drinks!



There were a lot of baked goods available, but you could see lots of them already being taken out the door. Some people must already know that you must come early to get a good choice. There has been a saying - You snooze - you loose!



The sale always begins with the school children singing a few songs and then prayer. The auctioneer keeps the sale moving fairly fast, and you must get your bid in or it is SOLD!



Tom saw the playhouse next to the tent, and played in it for an hour or more. He came to me, "May I please have a snowcone?" He chose the orange flavor, eating some, go play, and then do it again!



We ate lunch with Merle and some friends before going home to the air conditioner and a nap! It was over 100!

I was ready to return Tom to his parents at 3 PM, when he announced that he wanted to spend the night at our place! He had to ask permission, and stayed with us through Sunday afternoon late.
When we went to Abbeville to meet someone about the scrapbook I am doing, and Merle invited Jacob's to come eat supper with us. Tom thought he had it made when he got to see our grandson. We had a nice time, but we were all ready to get to bed. (Our grandson caught his first fish that evening!)