Two Saturdays

 Last Saturday I drove a car full of quilters up to Heath Springs, SC to The White House. A beautiful old house stuffed with fabrics and Jim Shore Collectibles.

                            Over the stove was this neat mosaic made of bits of china.  Very cool, huh?

 Daughter Gabby and fam came yesterday for the weekend.  I looked out to see Caitlin and Connor kibitzing at the little table where they used to play.  So cute and growing up way too fast.

 The cousins came over and Gates and Connor wrestled for at least an hour before chowing down on some of Pop Pop's boiled peanuts.

            Granny made Marty yet another Better Than Sex Cake; it gets it's name honestly around here.

 Hubs challenges Connor that he can do 50 sit ups.  We dial 911 before letting him begin.  He did 20.

       Connor left a sweet note and picture to tell us he's looking forward to spending Spring Break at Lake Wateree with us.

                                                Caity helps out on the family jigsaw puzzle.

                                     As usual we so enjoyed having our "children" home!

Family Reunion

Erica Gates......Michael's wife...baby boy due in October.

 I have two older brothers, Buddy (Herb) Gates and Wayne Gates.  I named my son Wayne after ...guess who.  (My older brother already had a son and now a grandson named after him and he is named after our father.)

Brother Wayne is a bit eccentric and elusive so I have not seen his family ofter throughout the years.  Six years ago his wife, Carmen died and Buddy, Curtis and my son Wayne all went up to Pa for the memorial service.  There I got to see my niece and nephews again and meet their spouses.

We have kept in touch a little through email and Facebook since then.  And my brother remarried and I did see him and one of his children at his stepdaughter's wedding.

We saw on Facebook that all his children were vacationing at Topsail Beach in NC this week and my son said, "Let's go visit them!"  Today we did just that.  I am so proud of them for spending time together......with no mom or dad to organize them just be cause they are family.

 Just for the record....the two on the second row left side are Michael and Erica and in front of them in red shirt is their son Aiden.  To the extreme right, second row is my niece, Stacey Nelson her husband Mike is in the middle of the third row to his right is their son Brian and behind them is Drew their other son.

Second row left is my nephew Paul his girlfriend, Chrissy....beside me is Aislan his daughter and son Jarret  is behind me.  Chrissy's two children are in front of me.  I assume you can identify me, Curtis, my son Wayne, and Gates.

My  parents would be so proud that at least part of our family got together.

The Sky is Falling....or at least blowing away.

Yesterday morning I got a call from my youngest grandchild, Gates.  "Nana, you want to go see the Chicken Little Play with me, then we go to your house and play on Dead Man's Hill.  What do you think I said?  "ABSOLUTELY!"  Here are a few of the characters...Ducky Lucky, the Queen and Chicken Little....who kept insisting he was a Chicken Hawk not a Chicken.  They were all wonderful and I so wanted to be up on stage in one of those great costumes!

I went by my son's office on the way to pick up Gates.  Wayne recently moved into a "new office" in an old building and had this great mural painted on one wall.  It has things of significance to the boys home and his life.  You can easily see Gates in his Carolina football gear and Hannah in her cheerleading outfit.  I just realized she is holding Curious George.....who was Wayne's favorite book character and stuffed animal.



Several years ago I made this wall art for Wayne.  The heart is made up of buttons and ephemera from our family.  The buttons came from my Mom's button box.  The words you can't read are character traits Wayne possesses written in beads.

It was a very windy March Wednesday yesterday and Gates an I stayed out ALL day.  We flew a kite I had stashed away ....... Mental note....go to a big open field next time....no trees around :)



Something to Think About

Yesterday I listened to Chris Fabry Live as he and his listeners and guests discussed Luke 1 and 2....Jesus' conception through birth and the things we do and don't know about what happened when God chose to come to earth in the form of an infant.

Of course, I have read and heard and seen the story many times in my 67 years but Chris and his listeners helped me see a back story I had never thought about.

The prelude begins with the angel Gabriel announcing to Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a son in their old age and they were to name him John.  Six months later Gabriel announces to Mary that she is going to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and bear God's son Jesus.  Gabriel also tells Mary about her relative Elizabeth's pregnancy and Mary goes to visit her right away.  The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps when she sees Mary.

What hit me for the first time, was Jesus and John's relationship.  They were related; I think I knew that; but what all does that imply?  There was six months difference in their ages.  Did their mothers get together and the boys have a first century version of a play date?  Was John along when Jesus and his family took that famous journey to the temple?  Were they close?  The Bible doesn't tell us.

The Bible does tell us they were chosen to be in the same family.  Both conceptions were miraculous.  Their mothers were very close friends and they were related.

What does this have to do with me? with you?

As I pondered these things in my heart, and thought about who was in the family I was adopted into, I thought about my cousin Dottie.  She was the daughter of my Dad's brother.  Our Moms got along better with each other than any one else in Dad's family.  We probably only saw each other a couple of times a year but Dottie found a connection with me.  I was six or seven years younger than she was.  I got some nice hand me downs from her.  (I didn't have any sisters and I wanted hand me downs.)  She asked me to be in her wedding although I was a bratty 14 year old at the time and pretty unattractive.

Dottie's first child, Cathy, was handicapped.  Dottie was an elementary school teacher and she was exposed to rubella (measles) during her pregnancy.  After many doctor consults Dottie decided to take Cathy to the Institute for Brain Damage in Media, PA.  She did a complex program called patterning to stimulate Cathy's brain and regenerate damaged and destroyed brain cells.

Fast forward..... I get married and have twin boys.  The boys are exposed to an infection in the hospital.  The oldest and smallest baby, Todd, becomes infected, has convulsions and is brain damaged.  Eventually, I too make my way to the Institute for Brain Damage and begin the patterning program with him.

Of course, Dottie and I have a bond like no other.  We have a history.  We both become born again Christians.  Our children are pretty close considering we live 500 miles apart.  Was it an accident or a coincidence I was adopted into this family and had a bond with this person?  I don't think so.

I am not sure what all this means to you and to me today.  The Bible says in Psalm 68:6 "God puts the solitary in families."  Family is important to God.... He created Family.  He placed Jesus and John in families.  He placed you in a particular family for a particular reason.   And that is something to think about.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

My Sweet Boy

This is my youngest grandson, Gates. He is wearing his "Spidy man Pjs) and playing house with himself. I love it!

For his 3rd birthday in I MADE HIS CAKE (note drooping frosting) and put the football players I used to put on his Dad and his Uncle Todd's cakes. You can see he is quite pleased. The picture reminds me of when my kids were adolescents and would say "Mama, you want sea food?" and then open their mouths so I could see their half chewed food. (They will deny this but it is so true....I could not, would not make this up!)

For Christmas the Number 1 Carolina player got a drill with protective glasses from Great Grandma shown in background. UNFORTUNATELY it made a VERY LOUD Drilling sound and he almost drove us crazy until they took it home to their house (wicked, evil laugh!)

Great Grandma used to give my children noisy annoying gifts which I made her keep at her house. (I can be quite the assertive daughter-in-law....who knew?) She still has the clucking chicken pull toy and the barking dog pull toy which the grands drag around her house. They seem very mild compared to the DRILLS and CHAINSAWS she gives the great grands.

Your kids or grands have any annoying toys??? Let us hear from you.

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The Prodigals Wander Back "Home"

Yesterday Darling Daughter Human and Fur Children swooped in from the Rocky Hills to leave one fur child with us before leaving on vacation....destination unknown (by the children). Hopefully, the adults do know :)

This is Grandson #2 with new puppy Cooper. It is a Viznew (or some such breed)....it is the breed Clifford the Big Red Dog is purported to be. If you could see his tail, you would be a believer; we are praying this guy does not achieve the height of Clifford for obvious reasons.

His stay with us was very......entertaining and alarming. Alarming for our dog Scout, who already has to put up with Libby the daschund who is staying with us... and has emptied Scouts food bowl twice in 24 hours and then emptied her stomach on my carpet :( (Yes, we try to keep the food up away from Libby, but she is very alert to anything being placed in the bowl and Scout does need to eat sometime. Unlike Libby, Scout is svelte. Libby is taking on the dimensions of our dear departed long haired daschund, Tinie; a misnomer since she came to resemble a watermelon prior to her demise)

This would be #2 Granddaughter who is a......drum roll....cheerleader! Already has 3 weeks of practice under her belt and the football team hasn't even met for practice. She was on her elementary school squad last year BUT THIS YEAR Her Brother, (Pictured Above) will be PLAYING on the FOOTBALL TEAM. This is over an above all his parents objections that is is too thin and too tall and too likely to be killed. He is a scrappy boy and a fast runner and we are betting he will survive; Lord knows he has been wanting to do this since birth; despite the fact he is already an awesome soccer player.

This Granddaughter #1 AND Grandson #3... they came two hours after daughter left to spend the night etc... Gates and Hannah are sports fans as well (Don't blame me) so we had a baseball game and a golf game before 9 am this morning. (along with showers and baths and grits and cheese and books and babies and school and everything else WE played before 10 am)

This is Darling Daughter and her lunch plate after she had had a few mouthfuls. In case you can't tell, those are ten slices of tomatoes piled on top of butter beans, Granny rice, pork chops,

cucumbers and vinegar, cornbread and cantaloupe. She topped this off with fresh homemade peach cobbler with ice cream on top.

Do we kill the fatted calf for our prodigal girl or what?

I tell her to enjoy it; once you are our age Nobody cares what your favorite meal is. You are lucky to have them cook for you. :)

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Beautimus Daughter and Family

Can be seen at www.sweetestpea.blogspot.com

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More Bubba

I forgot to mention one of the things I am most proud of about my Bubba. At the height of his profession (I mean he was driving a Beamer provided for him by his OBGYN practice) he tossed it all and went west to work at the City of Faith in Tulsa Oklahoma. Yep, that was the hospital that Oral Roberts built so that people from all over the world could come and be treated with faith and medicine.

My family and I went to visit one Christmas. I was so impressed. I had been a Christian since 1971. I am not sure when my brother accepted Christ but I had noticed definite signs during the previous five years or so. He began leading the choir at his very evangelistic Presbyterian church in Kempsville, Va. Reading his Bible. You know the signs.

Bubbette was on board with all of that....but selling their house and moving to Tulsa....not so much. (Both our families had been on the East Coast FOREVER; they had three teenagers....hello this is not the time to sell all and follow Jesus to some City of Faith.) I think she drug her feet two or more years before she followed Bubba there. BUT, dear readers, she will tell you now, IT WAS THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO HER!

As you probably know, unless you live under a rock....the City of Faith did not last. Oral overestimated people's willingness to leave their families to go to Tulsa to receive medical care; even if it was Christian Medical Care. I think, (and these are all MY opinions and not those of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association OR my Brother) Oral over estimated Christan's willingness to give money to provide this care for others.

BUT that does not mean that it wasn't a GREAT idea or that my brother wasn't supposed to go there. I remember visiting the pharmacy at the City of Faith and seeing the pharmacist pray over the prescriptions as he gave them to the patients. Well.....DUH....what a great IDEA is that....and why don't we do that over our own medicines????

So Bubba.....my hat is still off to you...you left your fishing net in Virginia Beach and took off for Tulsa in obedience to what you felt the Lord was calling you to do......and that is ALL God asks of any of us! I'm so proud of to call you MY BUBBA!

PS....Now you know why Mom and Dad called my Walter Wenchel....if I know it....I tell it (and not always correctly....no holds barred.



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My Bubba and Bubbette

This is my oldest brother, Herbert Stelwyn Gates, Jr. He was ten years old when our parents adopted me. There were two other brothers between us. Paul Wiltshire and Wayne Robert. Paul died six months before I was born of spinal meningitis. Wayne is five years older than me.

As a child, Herbert S. Gates, Jr., was known as Buddy. As a granddad he is known as Bubba. Which is so funny. He is as un Bubba as you can get. The man went to Duke when he was 18; (he is a genius). He was an OB-GYN, he was a Phi Beta Kappa. He played the piano. Since he retired from medicine he started studying physics because he just never really had the time before. When he was in med school, and I was a child, I remember him sitting in the den studying his medical books and watching tv at the same time. (This method did not work for me while studying anything.)

I was in Bubba and Bubbette's wedding when I was 11. Junior Bridesmaid. Big Deal! It was such fun. Bubbette lived in Bay Ridge where our summer home (aka known as Paradise) was so the wedding was there. All my parents friends from New Jersey and New Hampshire and Washington came and stayed at the beach house and it was quite a party. (As an adult I now wonder how my mother kept from cracking up.....no air conditioning....no dishwasher....a kitchen the size of a small closet)

Of course B & B had the first grandchild....Herbert Stelwyn Gates, II....to be called Bert. I got to come stay with them in their apartment in Arlington, Va. one weekend. While Bubbette took Bubba in to do his residency early Sat. am I was in charge of the sleeping baby. Any one who knows me knows exactly what I did. All together now......"WOKE HIM UP!"

Did I know ANYTHING about babies? NO! I was the youngest of the entire Gates klan. I couldn't even figure out how to get that little disc thing out the the nipple turned around and inverted. It was a long 30 minutes until Bubbette returned and a while before I was allowed to babysit. (Five years I think.)

I did love being Aunt Donna to Bert and his Sister Susan. I was Mary Poppins to them in my mind anyway. We went to the movies. They were in my wedding. I decided I loved kids! (Still do!)

Anyway, Bubba and I were never home much together with the ten year age difference and him leaving for college at age 18. But in the last 20 years we have become closer and closer. He knows a lot about our family that I was to young to know. And I know stuff he missed by being grown and gone. We compare notes. We ask each other....do you remember the so and so's who lived such and such????

Bubba is a lot like my Mom. The strong silent type. Not going to bubble all over you, but he will be there when the chips are down.

Now Bubbette and I are like twins separated at birth. We laugh ourselves silly. We can do some crying. She has been the sister I didn't have. She taught me to swim in the ocean. She has given me tons of good advice. She has had my family to her house in every house they ever lived in even when Bubba was off flying his plane or up talking on his ham radio. She taught me to make long sleeve tshirts for my boys and do needlepoint, oh and water aerobics.

She can mess with those pots and pans as my husband says. (She is a great cook, and hostess, and mom and grandmother.) I will look for a picture of her to post.

Thank you Bubba and Bubbette for being my family.

My Dear Sweetest Pea

Guess what????? Your Dad got my scanner fixed! You are so Busted!

Do you remember making me this collage of pictures of us? I had it in a frame on my vanity for years until the glass broke and I put it in one of my 25 photo albums (arranged by year chronologically if there is any doubt out there about how a librarian would keep her pictures).

Fortunately, it doesn't come through very clear so our outrageous hairdo's and outfits don't show up as much as they could.

It just goes to show you were always a sweet and crafty daughter who knew how to make a gift a mother would treasure....ALWAYS!

I love you, baby girl!


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Home Safe

Home Safe is another great read. It is by Elizabeth Berg. I don't know why it has the picture of a huge ostrich egg on the front with a blue jay standing on top ready to peck into the egg. Not funny. Don't those publishing people know that blue jays eat other bird's eggs?

Back to the book, it is about a woman living in Chicago whose husband has a stroke at the breakfast table one morning and dies. Age 49. The wife, Helen, was a writer but due to the shock of her husband's death she gets writers block and can't write. She also discovers her husband's retirement account had been depleted by $850,000. Read the book to find out the wonderful surprise awaiting her.

Yesterday, Mother's Day was a great day for me. My husband went to church with his mother; his idea, that pleased her very much :)

I taught Sunday School at our church and let the kids paint by blowing paint with a straw. (My teacher's guide suggested it....something related to the Holy Spirit blowing wherever it will. Not sure they got the spiritual connection but they sure did like the activity....and no one got paint on their Sunday Clothes...even though I didn't bring smocks as suggested. (Who has 10 smocks laying around the house?)

When I got home, hubs had vacuumed the whole downstairs....a chore I was planning to do after church. That man knows my love language....."ACTS OF SERVICE"

At five Granny came over, son Wayne, wife Niki, granddaughter Hannah and grandson Gates.
Hubs cooked his world famous Clemson BBQ chicken, yummo.

I love being with my family....any of it.....all of it..... so it was The Perfect Mother's Day especially because I had phone calls from my two other children. Affirmation....that's what it was :)