Monday, July 3, 2023

Celebrating! A New Roof, Kimmy and June, Freedom, and FAMILY!

Friday morning my cell phone rang at 6:15 - the roofers were HERE!!
They were like a well oiled machine and were in gear at 6:30!

I was amazed! Our cats were traumatized!
SO much noise as the house shakes with the scraping off of the old roof and the thumping of the new one being loaded on.

Samantha hunkered down on a chair and was looking up at the ceiling from side to side.
Tabitha had tucked herself under a small stool by the side of the bed and I didn't notice her until I stepped on her tail while I was putting sheets on the bed! She didn't even yelp! Just tucked her tail under the stool and squeezed in tighter!

Jesse came by to update our laptops and as he left, I asked him to take a batch of peanut butter cookies out to them.....
 

and he took this picture!
It was about 12:30.


By 1:30 they were GONE!!!
And they left everything so neat, clean and tidy!
I have found a couple of roofing nails and one small strip of roofing material.
I mean they cleaned it all UP!!!

7 hours from start to finish!
WOW!

We took a spaghetti dinner with salad and garlic bread and pie for Friday night with Kimmy and June and Gretchen...who is part of their household now and she is amazing!


Here is Gretchen helping Louis Dean sort his music.


He played a few songs before dinner and then more afterwards.


Kimmy and Gretchen helped him look up a couple of songs.


Pie was dessert - a lemon chess and a mixed berry - from Walmart.
It was a fun evening and we talked and laughed and sang!


This is their sweet dog Sophie!


And their dear Maggie who has heart problems and has to go to the vet every week to have fluid drained....


I love me some June!!

As we were leaving, Kimmy showed me a picture of Amber that she had printed on computer paper....


We can't remember what year this was but Amber has always been beautiful every single day of her life!

Billy and Brenda picked us up on Saturday at 6:00 for the Freedom Celebration at Fellowship Church at 7:00. We were early and that was a good thing.


Our first set up was here - I sat in that chair on the right and planted my feet right smack in the middle of and ant pile! We were also smack dab in front of a huge speaker and the music was LOUD!
So we moved over a ways.

We left our chairs and stuff in place and went inside for the Freedom concert with Charity Gayle and a message from Pastor Ed Young.


Here's the grown up 11-year-old grands!!


And their beautiful parents!!


Food trucks and dessert and drink kiosks were great!


It was such a fun evening!!!


Billy bought three pizzas and we chowed down!


The night was so much fun and the fireworks were amazing.


They were musically synchronized and wonderful!!


A beautiful blend of fireworks - great bangs and new softer ones that made no noise and was perfect for the music.

The fireworks started at 9:30 and lasted a perfect 30 minutes!
We were home and in bed by 11:00!

Sunday morning we were back at Fellowship for a great service.
We were late (the music is too loud for Louis Dean as he is a heart patient and it's not good for him) so we missed the music but arrived in time for Ed Young interviewing Trey Gowdy.
We are so impressed with his testimony and strength of character.
Ed invited him back to PREACH soon - he is that good!

We all arrived separately but after the service we met up in the lobby with the Bells and Billy and Brenda. I love how we all stand around and visit and catch up with each other!
Brenda and I confirmed our plans for Monday and Amber and Mike invited us to join them and Mike's brother Mark and his wife and son at Cracker Barrel - which is just across the highway from Fellowship Church.

We spied Mark's wife and son as soon as we walked up and we were so excited to spy Brittany and Baby Lane!


I held him and marveled at what a perfect baby his is!!
So happy and easy going and BEAUTIFUL!!!


Lane had held his arms out to Louis Dean to be held and Louis Dean fell in love!
He is still talking about how much he loves Lane and so proud that Lane seems to love HIM!!!
We are hooked!!!


I have loved Mark ever since I met him - back in 2004 or 2005 I think.
I've prayed for him through college and his work and life and am so proud of the man he is today and such a wonderful husband and father.

We came home to take seriously good naps before we divided and conquered -
Louis Dean went out to water and I cleaned and fluffed up the sewing room.

We are gearing up to go to the ranch on Tuesday.
Sherry says we need to do our honey harvest next weekend and I am so excited!
Louis Dean wants to 'get out of Dodge' as soon as he can!
The intense heat has moderated and we will love spending a week in the country!




I thank God for all the friends and family He has put in our lives....including all the dear ones here on the blog.
Love and prayers for all who read my words.






14 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

It's not even July 4th yet, and you are having such a wonderful time! The Quads are almost grown! You got great pics of the fireworks!

Anonymous said...

What another great, joyous post! That picture of Amber is lovely as she is! I enjoyed all the pictures, of cpurse, and your writing to tell us what youall are up to! That baby and LD took the cake!
Love you! Trudy

Sandi said...

"I thank God for all the friends and family He has put in our lives....including all the dear ones here on the blog.
Love and prayers for all who read my words."


🩵


Thank you.

MadSnapper said...

ohnoooo on the ant bed, been there done that and it hurts. but the rest of the night was perfect, adorable baby and I can tell by the smile on LDS face he loved the baby. like Ginny said,you have a really big jump start on your holiday. so glad it cooled enough for you to go to your country home

Arlene G said...

Fun times for sure!! We are at Grimmwood and the temps here have moderated as well. We had a big thunderstorm last night. The minute it was over, the neighbors started shooting off fireworks.:) I hope you get lots of honey from your bees!!

Susie said...

Linda, What a busy and fun time you have been having. This past week a new baby named Layne came into our lives. My grandson and his wife had their son. Babies can steal your hearts instantly....just like LD loving baby Lane . Your grandquads are growing so fast...can we squeeze them small again. LOL Stay cool down there in Texas. I have been staying in mostly. Hate that it's too hot some days to even enjoy summer. Blessings to all, xoxo, love you, Susie

photowannabe said...

Thank you my Dear Linda...I feel like I am part of your family too.
The Lord truly plants us in the perfect place.
Your celebration looks wonderful. I love the church get togethers so much and do miss that aspect at our "new church".
anyway we will get together with our son, Daughter in Law and one granddaughter and her husband for BBQ, tater salad, corn on the cob and whatever else is on their menu. Temps. are slowly going down to a tolerable number.
Have fun at the ranch tomorrow and Happy Bee Day too.
Sue

Pamela M. Steiner said...

Such a beautiful, happy, newsy post, filled with love and fun and so much joy. What a blessing to follow you around and see all the love flowing out everywhere. Thank you for this wonderful blog post. Happy 4th of July to you and your beautiful family!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing precious memories!

BeachGypsy said...

Wow! so many fun pictures! Enjoyed them all. That looks like one big FESTIVE and happy 4th of July celebration, so many people!! Love the picture of you holding baby Lane. Have a happy happy holiday!! God bless America!

Donna said...

Goodness you were busy! Glad you enjoyed your adventures...and nap! lolol
Happy Independence Day!
hugs
Donna

Deanna Rabe said...

I'm so glad you all go to church together! So special!

Baby Lane is beautiful!

Happy Independence Day!

Anonymous said...

Lovely post. I am a fan of Trey Gowdy also. Highly intelligent with strong faith. Wish I could have heard him speak.

Judy said...

It looks like a wonderful event at your church. So nice that you can be there with your beautiful family! How amazing that you had your roof replaced in in 7 hours!

Hope you had a lovely July 4th!