Abba! Father!

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Galatians 4:6

I always like to read the Bible in the morning while I am eating breakfast. Sometimes it has been a Year Through The Bible plan or some years I just pick various books to read through and digest slowly each morning between bites of cereal. Making it through the Bible in a year does require getting through quite a bit of material each day and it can become a bit pressured, but I really love that The Word stretches throughout my year and I refresh my heart and mind with Old Testament heroes, the people of God and their struggles of faith, God’s many valiant rescues of His people and the way each page of the Old Testament calls ahead and previews the advent and rescuing presence of Jesus.

I have tried two Year Through The Bible plans: one is a daily reading of Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament and the other is a chronological dividing of the Word between 365 readings in the “when it was written” order that Bible scholars believe to be accurate. Both are wonderful!

At the end of this past December I finished the mixed plan and hope to use the chronological study for 2013. This year I want to pick different books or psalms and slowly read a bit each day and have the chance to meditate on the message and savor the words.

A verse from yesterday morning somehow shot through my heart in a new way and I thought that I would share it with the Pamela’s Girls.

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6

I have read this verse many times and have always loved the thought of being able to call out to the Lord of the Universe from my tiny spot here on earth and call Him “Daddy” with the intimacy that “Abba! Father!” conveys. And – believe me – I have called “Abba! Father!” many times in my moments of fear or sadness.

But yesterday it suddenly hit me that what Paul is saying in Verse 6 of Chapter 4 is that God sent the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts and that Jesus is there within us calling “Daddy!”

Jesus is calling from our hearts to His Father! I can barely begin to wrap my head around that!

And I really love what this says! The message to me is that no matter how sad, overwhelmed and weak, lost, afraid or hopeless I may ever feel – that Jesus is within my heart and He is always willing, able and justified to call out to His (and now our) Father!

Amen! How absolutely kind He is!

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom!”

Luke 12:32

With lots of love from Auntie J to the Pamela’s Girls!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve to the Pamela's Girls!

Uncle R and I have had a good day so far - especially considering our poor Titans won today... we had not had our hopes very high since last Sunday's game went sooo badly, but it just goes to show that you never know with those guys! (heh-heh) It was really cold at the game and we were really bundled up with a Titans blanket over us! People were dressed up in Santa hats and various costumes like the Grinch, Elf and the Christmas Story bunny pjs. It was cute.

After a quick supper, we are now hoping to pull our little frozen selves together and head back out to attend our church's Christmas Eve service.

I thought that the Pamela's Girls would like to see our few little Christmas decorations. Somehow I never seem to have time (or energy) to get them all out, but I do like to decorate the mantel and get our much-loved snowman dishes out!

One of the things that decorates our mantel is the little santons that I bought at a Paris flea market. They are little figures that are used in a King's Cake (Gâteau Des Rois) which is made during the Christmas season in France. There is usually one of these small santons hidden in the cake and whoever finds it is "King" for the day. I was so excited to find a little basket full of these little porcelain figures while in Paris and was able to "haggle" the seller down to a euro a piece. He may have come down on his price because he felt sorry for me and my command of the French language... but I guess I'll never know.

We also have a set of angels on the mantel that we gave to Mama S years ago and they always remind us of her sweet self!

So - even though we don't have many decorations, the ones that we have out are all very meaningful to us!

I realize, however, that our greatest treasure is the supreme gift that the Lord Jesus gave when He came to earth to redeem us and make a way for us to be with Him forever! But He also gave us each other and I am very, very thankful for the Pamela's Girls and the Pamela's Boys! You are each lovely and precious to me and I know that I am richly blessed!

Pamela always had a special love for Christmas and was so much fun preparing tasty dishes and surprising her family with the sweet gifts that she shared. Below is a photo that she sent to her sweetheart, Ray, during WWII.

With much love and many hugs and kisses,

Auntie J

Thanksgiving 2011

Hi Shugs!

Wanted to share with all of you the little “surcy” I bought for myself this year. When I was decorating the mantel, I decided to include a decoy, which SS loves, some Thanksgiving pictures and pilgrim figurines, and lastly I pulled out an old , “vintage” plate that I like to use for Thanksgiving - I believe it belonged to Mommas.

I loved the look so much, that when I got a circular from Belks in

the mail showing the Spode Woodland pattern, I imagined how enjoyable it would be to drink coffee out of the little mugs and have a piece of pecan pie on the plates. One of San Fran’s friends once noted that I was very “seasonal,” liking to decorate for each holiday during the year, and she was right. Auntie J started me on some Christmas china one year, and I realized how much I loved pulling out a special set of china to enjoy during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so now I have this to enjoy during the month of November. I told SS I already have all the sets of china I need, but this is just the thing for the two of us to use when we have a sandwich or dessert.

When Mommy M and San Fran were growing up, we made note cards of this passage from the book of Psalms to read around the Thanksgiving table:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.

We are His people and the sheep of His Pasture

.Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name

.For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100

I wish all of my Pamela’s Girls a Happy Thanksgiving. Though we won’t be together in person, we will always remain close in spirit!

I love you ALL!! CiCi

A New Office Space For Auntie J

I am happy to announce to the Pamela's Girls that my office has at long last moved back over into the area of town where I most love to work - Music Row. Most of my professional life has been on and around this close collection of quaint tree-lined sidewalks, one way avenues and criss-crossing side streets and it's where I feel at home.

It was interesting working in the old Cummins Station building and I did enjoy having a great sushi buffet right in the same building where I worked - and - I will miss stopping into the used bookstore or taking a reading break during lunch at the nice coffee shop across the street. But being back in a lovely old house with parking right outside the door, bright shiny hardwood floors and open light-giving windows is a welcome change.

Our head of office here in Nashville did a great job in finding us this amazing space. There are a couple of good writers rooms, working fireplaces in several offices and just a good happy work environment overall.

My fellow copyright administrator (who I have nicknamed "Sunshine" because of her sweet heart and cheerful demeanor) and I have been placed in the same large room for the time being. There are several of us doubled up in offices on a temporary basis and I am thoroughly enjoying sharing office space with Sunshine! She is pictured above on our first visit to our new building.

We are occupying what was the Conference Room and it has a huge bay window looking out onto a small shaded courtyard within a wall with a busy street beyond. There are two sizable side windows beside one of which I have my new desk.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but my previous office at Cummins Station had no windows and was a dark, albeit cozy little cave. So I am am absolutely loving having natural light to work by and seeing waving Fall-colored leaves just outside my window!

The house where we have our new offices was built around 1900 and has burnished parquet floors, large windows, and beautiful woodwork decorating the staircase that stretches between the ground floor and the third floor executive offices. The two landings both have window seats set in a bay window and overlooking our courtyard-like parking area which is graced by a scenic little fountain.

We are all extremely thankful for our "just outside the door" parking after having to walk so far to assigned parking over at Cummins Station.

I hope that I will be able to take my Pamela's Girls on a personal tour of these wonderful new offices when they can come up to visit! (hint! hint!!!)

Love to my sweet Pamelas Girls,

Auntie J

Kingston Plantation Getaway

(Written on October 13, 2011 from the balcony of Embassy Suites at Kingston Plantation)

The Earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness,The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24: 1,2

As I sit here on the 18^th floor balcony, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean on this beautiful October morning, I thank God for the blessing of this two-day respite from our day-to-day activities. I never come to the beach without being reminded of the magnificence of our God who has created such a universe. And I wonder how anyone could ever doubt His almighty hand in its design.

SS has had meetings to attend during the day, but we have had such fun eating out and shopping in the evenings. Last night I “almost” talked SS into letting us sleep with the sliding glass doors in the bedroom wide open, with the breezes blowing over us and the waves crashing on the shore lulling us to sleep. I think he was worried about security as much as anything else, so by the time I was drifting off to sleep, I heard the doors being quietly closed.

Embassy Suites has a very nice, as well as free, breakfast buffet every morning, which I really enjoyed! As I was eating some honeydew melon this morning, SS and I couldn’t help but think about one of our most endearing “Mommas memories.” The last year of her life when she was living along, unable to drive, we would do anything to provide whatever she wanted, which was never very much. But sometimes, she would have a “taste” for something, and when she did we were happy to get whatever she wanted. During the winter, though she called one time and said, “Shug (her term of endearment for us, short for Sugar, I think), I have a taste for honeydew melon.” Now it was very difficult back then to find honeydew melon in the winter, but if Mommas had a taste for it, we wanted to provide it. It really took some searching to come up with one. Since then, we’ve had a little understanding that if one of us said we had a “taste” for something, there was no questioning that we had to get it.

But that whole conversation made me think about how “Shug” was such a part of Mommas’ vocabulary, and how I might ought to try to use it with my grandsons, as well as my daughters and sister, to carry on the tradition. Would it sound unnatural coming from me? I think I may give it a try.

With love to all my Pamela’s girls, Shugs, have a wonderful week with safe travels

Love from Cici

My Sweet Boys and Me

It is hard to believe that less than 2 months ago, I was still carrying around hefty Baby M. Although he cries a good bit and is up several times during the night still, I'm much happier that he is in my arms rather than my tummy. He is such a sweet baby! He's starting to coo, bat, kick and smile. I wondered if I would think all of Baby M's milestones were has cute as Bo's were since I have already experienced them once, but I have to say that Baby M's first smiles melt my heart as much as Bo's did.

Although Bo has been sick a lot since he started school, it hasn't stopped him from learning new things on Daddy L's ipad and learning all sorts of new phrases like "Sorry Ma Ma, tank ewe Ma Ma and Otay Da da." He continues to amaze me more and more every day with the new things he can do and say.

And for the finale to my post, here is an absolutely adorable video of the two brothers. Bo likes for Baby M to bat at his face, so he's trying to make him rub his face. I had to abruptly stop it at the end because I got worried as to what Bo was going to do to Baby M next but I wish I had kept recording because he gave him "baby."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9u-JyIJ1M

I hope Pamela's Girls have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

~Mommy M

My Morning Commute

I love driving my little, sporty, red Honda Accord. But my poor little car's CD player is not working - and - that makes me sad. I really love listening to audio books on CD on my long drive to work and I have missed having the CD player available. So... I took him to the shop today.

Fortunately, since our mechanic is close to the Hermitage station stop of Nashville's ONLY commuter train, The Music City Star. Now, I know that for SanFran S, riding a train to work is no novel idea, but on the few times that I have taken the train in to town, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It makes me feel closer to Paris, to traveling in Europe, to big cities that I long to visit... even if we are trundling along through Nashville's suburban forests, pastures and back yards and rattling over rocky streams.

There are only five train stops before the downtown Riverfront Park station. Then commuters can hop in one of the line of waiting buses to make the rest of their journey to work.

I am including photos from this morning. I wish that my Riverfront station had come out more clear, but the bus window didn't allow for much more.

Love and kisses to my Pamela's Girls!

Auntie J