"Bubbles!"  Is one word that I can say so that everyone can understand.  I really like to blow bubbles and Momma says I'm even better than Britt is at it now.  Sometimes at home Momma would give each of us a wand and sit the big bottle of bubbles in the middle of the floor and we will take turns blowing them out in to the yard.  We are at Grumps and Ahna's house right now.  In fact we get 10 whole days with them and no parents!













We've had lots of fun, last weekend Aunt Rachel, Grandma, and "Emma-Wee" (Emily) came down to see the balloons too.  After that we still had the whole day ahead of us.  So we blew bubbles with Grumps.  After that Momma suggested we get out the pool.  We had lot and lots of fun with that.  Emily showed us how to run and jump in the water.  I even jumped some too!  After awhile Britt asked to go in and take a nap, of course after he got in there he ran around screaming like a banshee, but that meant I got to play in the water some with Emily by myself.  It was great! I even found a baby out there.  See Ahna, doesn't have any baby dolls at her house, but I found one in the pool...

We went to Ah-bama to see Ahna and Grumps.  While we were there we went to see the balloons.  I haven't seen the big balloons since Momma was pregnant with Ruth, so I was very excited to see them again.  I knew just what they were when we saw them.  We got up at 5 am and left to go to the park at 5:30.  We were all tired; but after I got my cup and ate some cheerios on the blanket, I was happy.  A very unusual thing happened, there wasn't enough wind for them to fly.  So they didn't have the hound and hare race, where one balloon flies off, and then everyone else blows up their balloons in a hurry to try to be the first one to catch the hare. (On another note, Ahna was laughing at me, because she says I say "didn't" like a Yankee.  Instead of saying it like "did-unt," I say it like "dent."  I don't get it.)

















They did end up and fly even though they said not to.   Momma said it was something called teethering, not real flying, because they are anchored to the ground or to truck hitches.  All I know is that they did go up and down.  Grumps says the best part about the balloon races in Decatur, is that you get to mingle with the balloons.  You get to walk around under them, and get close and watch them blow up.  You can talk with the balloon people.  Some of them where even giving rides.  He says some places the spectators, don't get to be on the field.  There was so much to see, kids riding in wagons, and people sitting around.  Other people walking around looking at the balloons, and of course all the people blowing up the balloons.  There were all kinds of dogs around to look at.  We even watched one dog catch a frisbee.  He missed a bunch of times, but he caught it some too.  He must have just been learning.  We thought he was really funny.

Sunday afternoon, we were driving to the grocery store, when we saw a bunch of balloons.  Momma asked Grumps if we could chase them, because it had been a long time since they had done that.  It was so exciting.  We went this way and that way, to try to find where they were going to sit down.  We stopped and watch some try to land at the Morgan County Fairgrounds, but their people in vans, must have told them that they couldn't get in, because the fairgrounds were locked up.  So, then they went up again.  We drove around some more and found a few that landed in someone's backyard.  That was exciting!  Grumps told about how one almost landed in their backyard one time.  We found another one landing in a Church parking lot.  Everyone came out of Church to see.  We watched them take that one down.  I know all about how that works now!

My favorite things to do now, is to ride Bullseye.  Granddaddy made him for Momma, but me and Britt have him now.  He's a good horse, and he can go fast!  I like it best when Momma sings "Ride A Little Horsey".  I make crazy, little, fast rocks and then I stop and fall off when she stops singing.  I wouldn't do that for her today, but I was having fun rocking on Bullseye and singing by myself.

"I went to go get a haircut today.  Ruth wants a haircut too."  Britt said as he started to wander off.

"Focus, son, tell me about your haircut."  I said.

"Cousin Heather cut my hair.  She gave me a comb and scissors, and she did a good job.  I wore my cape today.  It had a lion, and a zebra, and an ostrich, and a hippo, and an elephant, and a monkey, and a giraffe.  I had all those animals today.  He got his hair cut, Daddy get a hair cut too.  Daddy get a hair cut.  Daddy get his hair cut too." Britt told me all matter of fact like.

"Yes, Britt I heard you." I reminded him.

"And, and, and, I didn't cry.  Nope.  I do not cry.  I'm ok.  She brushed my neck with baby powder."  He said very proud of himself.

"Did you like getting a haircut?"  I asked.

"No.  Ummm.  Yes."  Britt replied.


I'm not sure how he feels about it, but Gary said he was the best he's ever been.  He shrugged his shoulders up when she trimmed up his neck, but that he was remarkably calm and didn't cry once.  In case you've forgot what he was like, compare the 26 secs of video from seven months ago, to today's video of the same length.  He's gone from a screaming, crying, thrashing, kicking child to a child who sits by himself and even lets you put the cape on him.  It's an amazing transformation.

To my dearest daughter, with the cherub cheeks, Ruth,

Very well thank you!

Our garden has really taken off since I last wrote.  I posted some pictures from the day we planted, the bushes about three weeks along and again about five weeks along.  We were about to be able to pick our first squash and zucchini then.  They garden is now 10 weeks along, and we probably won't be able to get alot more before the heat takes it's toll on the plants.  Even watering at least 30 mins every evening, and sometimes in the morning too, has it looking a little sad.  Gary's been watering a little extra this week hoping to green back up the last of our baby spinach.  The zucchini and squash bushes are looking kinda pitiful, but you wouldn't believe the yields we've gotten.  We've had zucchini for supper every night for almost 2 months now.  The only exceptions were last week while painting the Church we didn't really cook, and the occasional taco night.  We've also frozen 5 or 6 gallon size bags of zucchini, a couple of squash and a couple mixed.  We've also giving away probably another 40 or 50, and we are letting them get big.  The biggest one in the picture below is on the counter top right now waiting for me to cut up and freeze it.


We are also getting pickles (or as I prefer to point out they are the cucumbers that are grown for pickles).  I've got a few out on the counter that I want to try making some sweet pickles out of.  Okra is coming in, we've had it twice this week and I cut some to share with the Kuders.  It's not coming in as fast as I had hoped, and it doesn't seem to grow as much on a bush as I had hoped.  We also are getting tons of green beans.  We have picked them clean four times now, and are hoping that I might be able to get one more picking out of them right after we get back from Alabama in two weeks.  In the last week or two my sunflowers have started blooming.  And speaking of things we hope to pick when we get back from Alabama, we are hoping there might be some watermelon to pick.  Truth be told I'm hoping there will be at least one really good sized one that we can carry up with us for Memorial Day.  The watermelon vines have really taken over the garden.  Some of the earliest melons to show up, those closest to the place we originally planted the seeds are about the width of my hand now.  Those further down the runners aren't much longer or wider than our okra.

This past weekend we headed over to Vero Beach for their annual meeting.  They had invited Bro. Marty Smith.  We knew we weren't going to be able to stay all weekend, there were just too many irons in the fire this weekend.  There was their meeting, there were two blueberry festivals, and there was a get together for a friend's birthday and Cinco de Mayo all rolled into one.  All that of course came after the week of painting.

We thought about just skipping out on the meeting this weekend, after all it is a long way and we did have a crazy week.  However, we've had the oppertunity to hear Bro. Marty several times since the Florida Fellowship Meeting last year at Vero and each time he has been blessed with great liberty, so we decided if we could only make it to one meeting we would go Friday night, so we loaded up all the kids and rode with Granddaddy Garland.  On the way there I was a exhausted.  You know I had that stuff in mind that you are suppose to work on putting out of mind so that you can focus on Church and worshipping the Lord.  The whole run of - I left laundry in the washing machine, it'll be soured by the time we get back home, I meant to move that before we left.  And, did I start the dishwasher, I don't think I did?  If Britt whines one more thing at me I'm going to spank that child, I don't care if we are in the care with the great-grandfather.  Well, it's 5 o'clock on Friday, if Gary was going to get that job I'm sure they would have called by now.  Why in the world can't we get a real job?  Big surprise, every other job has gone this way.  What now.

You get the picture, the internal dialogue that seems to go on most of the time.  Gary has no trouble turning off his brain, but I have a great deal of trouble simply praying and then putting things out of mind.  We got to Church and Britt started running a fever.  He was hot enough by the end of song service that I was sweating holding him. (By the way, it turned out to be a one night thing and done.)  I had a lot on my mind when Bro. Marty opened with Psalm 77.

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

His main focus was on the first three verses, but he made a few comments about the Psalm as a whole after he read it.  His first point is that this is a sad psalm written by Asap, in a time of great trouble and discouragement, and it doesn't end with "and after all this I lived happily ever after."  It ends with a reference to the children of Isreal in the midst of the red sea.  We know that they were lead through it, but it ends with a reference to his leading in the midst of trouble, not his deliverance from trouble.  The point was even though we want the trouble to end and everything be alright again, sometimes it's about growing closer to him during our troubles.  However, there is a hope in the chapter, because he says in the beginning that when he cried out, the Lord heard him.

He went back to the beginning and first took it with a physical application.  This is a man who was so miserable and in such pain that he cried out loud to God.  Bro. Marty told us to think of a sore that just won't heal.  It's so ugly and gaping, you turn on the sheets and it catches and just starts bleeding and oozing again, and you can't get it to stop and you can't get relief.  It's such a hideous mess that others draw away from you.  Nothing you do seems to help.  He said, you obviously need help with that.

He then told us to imagine a sore on our soul.  Sometimes we think on what we were, and things we did, problems in our life, and we can't let it go.  Our pain, our sore runs in the night as we don't succeed in giving it over to the Lord and trusting in Him to deal with it.  Sometimes Satan comes in the still quiet times in the night when we are already troubled and he doesn't show us who we are on the outside, because we clean that part up good.  He doesn't show us who we are at the core, because as one of God's children we have the imparted righteousness of God.  He shows us who we are in between there, and tells us if others knew, they wouldn't care for us.  He tells us that God couldn't really care about us.  It's a sore that runs in the night.

First Bro. Marty told us that Satan was lying to us.  If someone has a sore it's proof that there is physical life there.  If you cut on a corpse it might deteriorate a little faster, but it doesn't form a sore.  If you injure living flesh it sends white blood cells to battle infection and creates puss, there is a scabbing over to prevent new injury and infection.  The nasty mess we see it our body attempting to fight back and heal.  Having these struggles these moments of doubt prove that we have spiritual life, those without spiritual life don't have these things that weigh on their minds.  So, these verses are about getting relief here, not getting spiritual life.

The next point was a real revelation to me.  We can complian to God, and it's ok.  He told us we shouldn't complain to others, because generally it only drags them down, doesn't help us, and they can't fix the problem.  However, God is big enough to bear our complaints and he is the only one who can fix it.  He told us that the children of Isreal often mummered in the wilderness, and that was a sin.  However, he also pointed out that there was a time when Moses went to God and complained and Moses was given more insight and direction as a result.  When Moses first went to Pharoh demanding let my people go.  Pharaoh blew him off and told the Israelites to keep making bricks but to get their own straw.  The leaders of the people were beaten and afflicted when they couldn't keep up, and they complained to Moses.  He pointed out that Moses didn't just throw up his hands and tell the people.  "I did what I was told, and it's just not working out.  This is God's fault and His mess."  No, instead he went privately in prayer to God and complained, I did what you told me to and it's worse.  God then gave him a new insight, telling Him that from now on the people would know him by his name, and that He would now lead them forth with a mighty hand.  The trial they experienced brought them closer to God, and further magnified and glorified Him.

















He then took us back to the physical to explain how we solve it.  He told us that if it wouldn't heal we would find a doctor.  He would lance the sore, then put some salve on it, and then bandage it.  He used the example of the day of Pentecost.   Those there were pricked in their hearts.  There was some direct pressure, some pain of realization there.  These people realized what a terrible thing they had done, and Peter lanced that sore to their soul.  He didn't just leave them there withering with what they had done, he gave them some salve.  He told them that they should repent and be baptized.  Bro. Marty went on to remind us that every time we find ourselves in such a situation of soul that we should repent, we should cling to the saints.  There is a soothing, healing process that comes just from acknowledging our sins and striving to change. Finally to prevent further infection the doctor will bandage you up, and in this situation with "many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." He told us that the gospel sets us free from the bondage of thinking we have to bear all of this, is soothes our soul with the truth and encourages us to repent, and finally it warns us of other problem area to prevent future problems. He told us that sometimes a message does all three, and sometimes it just does one of these, but that we should remember that they all serve a purpose.

It was a good message, one I look forward to studying a little more.

All these pictures are of the "Super Moon" taken at sunset and dusk on Saturday, May 5, 2012.

Monday afternoon Lilli came to play with us.  We played outside on our swing set for a long time.  We climbed and I pushed everyone down the slide.  Then I laughed at them and congradulated myself.  Then we swang on the swings and talked to the cows.  Then we colored on the driveway with chalk and played with our cars.  Then we fed the kittens and the chickens.  We had so much fun, until it just got to hot, then we all came inside and had a cup and watched Lion King.  I love it when "ye-ye" comes over to play with us, even if Momma says we are even crazier when we are all together.

Yesterday morning we went to play with Granddaddy Garland until Lilli and Aunt Joan got Britt to go to the park.  I was really upset after I figured out that they left without me.  Daddy said they went walking and that I couldn't walk that far.  While Momma and Daddy were helping Granddaddy Garland out by painting the back of the barn for him, I said Granddaddy's name for the first time "Gran-day".

I like lazy days, where we just hang out and play.

Next we went over to the second festival. That one had even more places to walk around. Momma saw a hat she liked, and Daddy got us some ice cream, because it was so hot. Ruth liked walking through where there were a bunch of artist set up. Her favorite was the guy who painted all the different birds. The best part of the festival though, was that I got to see Spiderman. He talked to me, and told Momma that he goes to birthday parties. Everyday since then I have asked if it is my birthday yet. I know my birthday is in January, and I know that it is May, but tomorrow might be January, you never know.

"Would you tell me, please,” said Alice, a little timidly, “why you are painting those roses?”

Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began, in a low voice, “Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose tree, and we put a white one in by mistake...”