Flags of Summer

I love flags, and I'd like to highlight flags periodically this summer.



Welcome to my home. Soon I'll have pots of flowers around my front porch and back patio. I enjoy hanging flags from my back deck, but it's rained so much this spring I haven't been able to do that yet.

My garden is underway though. We've got our peppers and tomatoes planted. I've already picked a few strawberries and hope to have a good season. My yard isn't huge, but I'm able to plant a few things.

How about you? Do you like to garden? Fruits? Veggies?

Do you enjoy hanging flags?

This Memorial Day weekend is a great time to show our pride in America.



Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

(Thanks to Scott for the pictures from Washington, D.C.)

Life is a Whirlwind

Last weekend we traveled to see both mothers for Mother's Day and we celebrated my niece's graduation from college.






Then on Monday after I got off work, Tim and I jumped in the car and drove to Mobile, Alabama to watch Asbury compete in the NAIA National tournament.



We got up early enough to watch the guys warm up and compete. Unfortunately they lost, but they looked better than they did last year. Plus one of our guys had to stay home when his appendix ruptured and he had it removed. One of our guys was sick with a stomach bug and one had a pulled groin. So it's amazing they played as well as they did.




They played hard and showed grit and determination.

Afterwards we followed the guys back to the hotel, and Scott decided to ride home with us in hopes of starting his summer job soon.

We had to drive straight back so we could work on Wednesday, and Scott was dehydrated. We pumped him up with Powerade and Pedialyte. Twice when we stopped his body cramped up when he stood up. Poor guy.


I know I'm getting older because it took me a few days to bounce back from this trip. But I'd do it all over again.

I love cheering for the guys, and Mobile is a beautiful city. One day I'm going to go back and visit and soak in the scenery.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everybody.

The sun is shining in Wilmore, KY and it looks to be a beautiful day.

Last night my husband and I enjoyed visiting his parents. We took them out to dinner, and Tim spent some time doing little chores around the house for his mom.


Today we are headed to visit my niece, Kelli, who graduated from college last night. She's officially a teacher now.

Congratulations, Kelli!

We'll see my mother at the graduation party.

(This is my brother and I in January with Mom and Dad.)




This year I have two sweet granddaughters to celebrate. Brooke and Allie. Here I am with Brook and Allie celebrating my birthday. Brooke is full of life. We could all learn a lesson from her. Allie is a sweet baby and watches her big sister. It's so much fun being with these two.




I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Is it wrong to like sports?

What do you think?

I've made many friends over the years through sports.

In high school I made friends on the golf team. We'd go play other schools and for eighteen holes, you walk a course with people from a different school. There's time to talk and get to know each other.

Watching my kids play sports, I became friends with other parents. When you watch enough baseball games, soccer matches, tennis matches or whatever sport, you bond with other parents.

This year Asbury University Men's Tennis team is going to the NAIA national tournament for the second year in a row. We're so excited that we've rearranged our work schedules and will drive eleven hours, one way, to watch the team play. An unexpected surgery knocked the #4 player out, so it may be one and done, but they're going.

Tennis gives the guys opportunities to talk and get to know each other between games. You learn a lot about a player when you see how they handle themselves on the court.



There's so much more to sports than playing a game. It's a time to connect with other people and hopefully spread the love of Jesus.

Gardening with Brooke

Brooke is three years old and has loved my garden since she could walk through it. It's pretty big with stepping stones that lead to a gate in the fence.

Daisies and Cosmos have been her favorite flowers. She loves to look at them and loves to cut them to put in vases.

Six days ago her family moved into a new house and for weeks she said she wanted me to help her start a garden.

Today was the big day. I'd started growing some seeds inside a few weeks earlier. I bought Daisies and Black Eyed Susans at Redmond's Nursery. I wanted to make sure at least something would succeed. And Brooke and I planted some seeds.

While we dug holes for the bigger plants, Brooke looked at me and said, "I'm not comfortable."

I held up my little green kneeling mat. "Do you want to use this?"

She nodded. "Yes."

I placed it on the ground for her, and she smiled. "That's much better."

She was wearing her little yellow gardening gloves, and she pulled them off. "I want to feel the dirt with my hands."

This might be a good time to mention, Brooke and I are home alone with no parental supervision. So I said, "Honey, you'll get lots of dirt under your fingernails."

Brooke looked at me with her big, blue eyes. "We can cut my fingernails off."

Really? Who can argue with that.

At last we had everything planted, and it was time to water. Brooke has a precious little yellow watering can. We walked to the house and filled it and her little green bucket with water. Back and forth we went. Sometimes she helped carry the water and sometimes she let me carry it all while she skipped back to the garden.

All in all I think we had a successful day. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures for you, but stay tuned. In a few weeks I hope to have pictures of Brook in her garden of flowers.

Have a great weekend.

Susan Sleeman

A couple of weeks ago I met Susan Sleeman online.

She has a new book, No Way Out, and I offered to read an advance copy for her, and I'm so glad I did.





No Way Out grabbed me on the first page. I was riveted to the story of Alyssa Wells and Cole Justice. Alyssa is a widow with two young children. One night while on a run she overhears her dead husband’s police partner admit to being part of a meth ring and killing her husband. As she hurries away, she slips and the bad guys are after her.

After two tours in Iraq, Cole Justice is back in the states working as a private investigator. He’s out on the beach the night Alyssa runs for her life. He helps her to hide and then begins to protect her and the children while investigating.

I loved the characters in this book. Cole’s family is great at working together and loving each other. Alyssa’s children are adorable and believable. Cole and Alyssa face many obstacles in a short time and learn to rely on each other.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this story. It’s fast pace and emotional, and the characters seem real.


Susan did give me a pre-publication advance copy of her book to review before it was for sale in stores, but I’m under no obligation to review it and say nice things about it.

I liked it so much, I'll be looking forward to Susan's next book.

Beautiful People

Over the past week our country has take some hits from evil people. I've found I couldn't tear myself away from the TV as the authorities searched for the younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. What an amazing story as the cops worked tirelessly to capture him.

Today I wanted to take a look at some good things going on in our world.

When Dzhokhar was captured, the people in the neighborhood lined the streets and clapped for the police as they drove away. How awesome is that?

We can't all be that heroic, but if we open our eyes to the world around us we'll notice good things happening.

Last night we were out walking and Brooke, three years old, wanted to get wet from a sprinkler watering her front yard. The sun was going down, and it grew cool, but the thrill of getting hit by the cold water didn't dampen her enthusiasm.

So of course, she wanted to share the joy. She asked my husband, Sparky, to get wet with her. Before you know it, we'd all gotten wet except the baby. Brooke's joy was contagious.

Today a man left our store and thought he'd written a check for a dollar less than he owed us. He called back to check.

One of the employees at my store left a bag of food she'd paid for at the grocery. One of the grocery store clerk's recognized her and brought it to Drug Mart.



Keep your eyes open for the beautiful people in your world today.