She's Growing Up On Me!!

Today is our youngest daughter Maddy's birthday!

I made her promise me when she was 4 that she

wouldn't get any bigger...

Well she has!! And I have to say that I am so very
proud of the lovely young woman she is becoming!

I am blessed to be able to be a stay at home Mom,
and have the privilege of homeschooling her.
She fills my days and my heart with delight just
being the beautiful girl God created her to be!!

Maddy has recently started a blog of her own,
which is really neat, and I think it would be great
if you guys popped over to Madcrafts to wish
her a Happy Birthday!!

It would be especially great if you became a
follower of her blog, too!!

I know she'll be thrilled!! Thank you ahead of
time for making her day even more special!
You all are the best!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Love and Hugs,
Becky

JOY For Our Journey~SHOUT IT OUT!!!

HAPPEE MONDAY, SWEETIES!!

It is a gorgeous morning here in sunny Florida!!

And a great day to...

Make a joyful shout 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.

Psalm 100:1-3

We shout for all kinds of reasons, don't we?

We shout to cheer our kids on, we shout to one
end of the house from the other,
we shout to get someone's attention,

but when was the last time you shouted with
JOY to your Lord???

Have you ever shouted with JOY over the Lord??

If not, you really must!!!
I didn't say to, He did!!

Stand up in a room in your house, lift up
your hands and SHOUT ...

I LOVE YOU LORD!!

THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE,

AND FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE!!!

I guarantee you will be flooded with exhilaration,
and more importantly,

YOU WILL BE MAGNIFYING YOUR FATHER
IN HEAVEN, AND HE WILL BE

DELIGHTED!!

May the words of our mouths and the meditations
of our hearts be pleasing to you, oh God.

HAVE A GLORIOUS WEEK, MY FRIENDS!!

HUGS,
BECKY

Move over Partridge Family...

As most of you know, my side of the family has a
week long family reunion every other year.

Well my awesome brother-in-law, Andy, has taken

on the task of loading all of my parents old slides
onto CD's and will be giving a full set to each of us
at reunion.

What a wonderful gift, Andy! Thank you so much
for your love and generosity in bringing these to us!

We also have a family website, and Andy has loaded
some of the pics on there. Here are some early years

photos of me and my sister (Andy's wife) and my

four brothers.

I'm the baby for awhile. The older boys are twins,
and my sis is just a little older than me.

Yeh, it seems that in several family photos I was
the one doing something tacky like sticking out my
tongue!!



Then along came Dougie!!
My brother Craig was the last born but isn't
pictured.






And now...are you ready for this??






Wait for it...






Wait for it...





MOVE OVER PARTTRIDGE FAMILY, BRADY BUNCH
AND ANYONE ELSE WHOSE BIG FAMILY THOUGHT
THEY WERE COOL!!!





MAKE WAY FOR THE ALLEN CLAN!!


Are we cool or what???!!!!




I absolutely loved the bell bottoms I had on.
I bought them with babysitting money, and wore
the tar out of them!! Did you you some fave bells??


Well, fast forward a bit, and here we are at Family
Reunion with Mom and Dad.




This is the last
reunion where my Mom had the presence of
mind to really enjoy herself.

The reunion coming up next month is our 3rd
without our parents who passed away in 2004.

Here is the shirt we wore for the first one we
had without them.

Our family is growing by leaps and bounds...so
many little ones will be there this year.

I know my parents would be so tickled to see
how much we all are anticipating reunion this
year. The painful grieving process has subsided,
and with all the youth, a freshness and
newness of life has been breathed into our
celebration of family!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!

ALL THE TIME!!

GOD IS GOOD!!

Thank you for sharing these fun memories with me!!

Love and Hugs,
Becky

JOY For Our Journey~~Hope

HAPPEE MONDAY, SWEETIES!

HOPE

Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God
has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:5

********************************

What does hope look like to you?

Whenever I look at a flower bud, I see hope...

Hope...the promise that something better will come...

Hope...the essence of great possibilities not yet known...

Sweet friends,
What are you placing your hope in?

If you are placing it in anything in the
temporal, you are certain to be let down...
and maybe let down
HARD.

Hope in Christ does not disappoint.

It can't.

WHY ??

Because God never
fails at
anything!

Praying today that God will fill your
hearts with hope in Christ,
and that your lips will overflow
with praise to Him!

It would be my great delight and privilege to
pray for you, so if you have a prayer request,
please email me at:
holidayinthesun_1@yahoo.com

I will add your request to my prayer journal
and bring it to the Lord regularly!!
(AND only to the Lord!!)

Have a joyful week!!

Love and hugs,

Becky

Cents Savvy Home Decor

When I was at my sister's a week ago, my niece

kept the kids one day so we could enjoy a day of

shopping; something we always do when I visit.

The Goodwill stores in Panama City just always
seem to have a better selection than ours
down here so we make sure we go there in our

search for bargains!!

Ladies, I won't spend even $.50 on something
I don't love, or can't make into something I'll love!

~~~

I did find some things I love!!!

~~~

First up...these charming brass plates!! As soon as

I saw them I knew I had to have them!! Mom had

two larger colonial looking ones that hung in our

home for as long as I can remember, so these
brought back good memories. Also, my three
favorite fruits in home decor are pineapples,

pears, and grapes!! These have all three!!

They are actually 8 1/2 inches across

Oh-Oh...and the best part is they were only

$.99 each!!!

Another thing I love is candlelight and AMBER!!
So imagine my joy when I spotted these two

little amber beauties!!

They are actually juice-sized vintage glasses,
but I knew right away that they would be tealight
holders!!

Look at the starburst they cast on the table!
Gotta love it!! Their new home is on my bar
right behind my sink!! $.59 each!!!

I have some other Goodwill finds that are part
of a makeover I'll show next week!!

~~~

We also went to my favorite destination...

HOB LOB!!! Yep. Hobby Lobby!!

WOO-HOO!!!!

YAY!!!

YIPPEE!!!

~~~

Ladies if you go into this store you better have a
padlock on your purse or incredible self-control!!

There is something for every type of decor and craft.

~~~

I am notorious for walking around with my
cart full of treasures and then...on my walk to

the cash register...I do my
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT ROUTINE!!

I go through the items one by one and

if by chance I find that something has jumped

into my cart that I don't love...
it goes back to the shelf from whence it came.

~~~

My "routine" saves me countless trips to

return items I really don't want, and leaves

me with a clear conscience knowing my Lord
and my hubby will be pleased with my self control!

~~~

Here is my wonderful find from Hob-Lob!!

I bought two of these lovely fleur de lis
wall plaques! They measure 10 x 11 1/2

$5 each!!

LOVE THEM!!!

Now...what on earth am I going to do with
this stuff? It's not fall yet...

In my next post I will show you the new homes
for my treasures, and you'll see
what I did with the things pictured above!!

~~~

Have a Sensational Saturday Sweeties!!

Love and Hugs!!!
Becky

Author, Buddy and BLOGGER!!

HAPPEE THURSDAY!!!

Today I want to introduce you to a special friend

who is a gifted writer, author, teacher, speaker,
and now a BLOGGER, too!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her name is Jessica, and she just started blogging
a few days ago. Please drop by her blog to say

"Hi" and to welcome her to blogland!!

Her blog is Jewels For The Journey and she has

already completed a few posts that are
definitely worth the read!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW, let me tell you about the children's book
she wrote and self-published.

It is titled Grandpa's Magical Accordian, and is
absolutely delightful!! If you have young children or
grandys this would be a wonderful gift or addition

to Grandma's book basket!!

The charming illustrations were done by a local

artist in watercolor, and combined with the
wonderful accordian music CD, played by Jessica's
talented hubby, make this imaginative
story just leap off the pages!!!

The magic happens when the grandchildren
imagine travelling to different countries via
their Grandpa's accordian music. Such fun!


I own this book and highly recommend it!!
If you would like to listen to the music

and order the book, you can
visit her website http://www.3partharmony.org/

I hope you all have a great day!!
You add so much to mine!!


Love and Hugs,
Becky

Summer Splashin'!!

Great news!! My foot I injured in my fall and then
reinjured at my sister's is almost all better!

Life can get back to normal! Limpin' around

just isn't how I roll!!

It is always good to see my sis! We are sisters in
Christ, too, which makes it doubly wonderful!

We stayed busy caring for her son's kids while
he was in California.

My sister is an amazing woman. I was in awe

of how she handled these three youngsters!!
She hardly stopped moving the whole time I
was there!!

Here are some pics I took at her home.

My Maddy in the kiddie pool. Can I just say
also how delighted I was with how loving
and caring she was with the younger children?

She will be an awesome mommy one day!

This is Ishen. He is 16 months old and is
so much fun!! We have 4 girls so I couldn't
get enough of this little hunky guy!!

On the left is Indie, and then Sensi. Indie is
5 and Sensi is 3...Sensi is an absolutely irresistable
little handful!!

This is one of my sis's other grandkids,
Karina...a little beauty and lots of joy!!

Ishen having a blast!!

Indie all ready for church! She is a really
sweet, fun girl!!

Maddy helping Sensi get ready for church

Ishen loved his sissy's birthday cake!!
Look at those amazing blue eyes of his!!

Back home....this is where we are spending our

afternoons...a friend's pool. We have a great time,
and I get my exercise in. Back to the weight loss
thing and doing well!!

Looks so inviting doesn't it??

Maddy and her cousin (BFF) Kristina!!

I also had a great day shopping with my sis
and will share some of my finds on my next
post!!

All kinds of projects going on around here!!
I'll share them soon!!

Have a blessed day, sweeties!!
Love,
Becky

Home Again, and A Surprise From God!!

Happy Friday Morning to You All!!

It is good to be home again, and back
visiting you my bloggy sweeties!! Of course
we had a great time! More on that in a
day or so!!

Isn't this hydrangea just dreamy?

It sure puts joy in my heart to see such
beautiful flowers that our loving
heavenly Father created for
us to enjoy!!

This beauty was in the side yard of my sister's
neighbor. Just had to snap it so I could bring
it home to share with YOU!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This morning as I was ironing hubby's clothes
for work (yes I do this every morning, because
he likes me being up with him and I don't like
doing ironing all at once...ugh!) God just
put it on my heart to pray for the person/people
who assembled his shirt and pants.

HOW COOL IS THAT???

You know, we can't all be missionaries in
foreign countries, but we can certainly do
our part right here, can't we??

A mentor of mine once said that we have
this guarantee...You can fire off prayer
to anywhere in the world and it will ALWAYS
hit it's target!!

So all morning I have been thinking about
whose hands sewed those garments, what
is going on in their lives, and what
God wants to accomplish in them.
What a privilege that He
saw fit to include me in it!!

This wonderful God we serve turned an
everyday chore into a spiritual adventure!!
Ironing will never be the same for me!!

God is so full of surprises!! Has He surprised
you lately? Please share if He has...I would
love to hear your story!!

May your day be filled with JOY!!
HUGS!!
Becky

AND THE WINNER IS....

Sorry Sweeties that I didn't post this
last night...it completely slipped my mind
after I took quite a little spill on my kitchen

floor!! I'm fine and will be leaving for my sister's

house soon!! I'll miss ya!! Back Wednesday!!

AND THE WINNER OF THIS PAUA SHELL

BRACELET CREATED BY YOURS TRULY IS...

HEATHER from FAMILY FOREVER!!

Heather is a real sweetie, and has a beautiful
daughter named Ella who is often the star
of her blog!! Hope you'll pop by to congratulate
her today !! Click here to visit Heather!!

Congratualtions, Heather!!
Just email me your address and your
wrist size measuring just
above the bone and when I get back I will
create your new bracelet!! My email is
holidayinthesun_1@yahoo.com

Blessings and hugs, Sweeties!!
Pray for no severe weather for my drive, OK?

Becky

Exploring The Village on St. Simons Island

Hi Sweeties!! How are my girls??

This post is lengthy and concludes our photos
of our lovely island getaway.

I will be up at my sister's for about 5 days
beginning on Friday. I will miss you all
terribly, but will check in on some of you
while I'm gone!!

The Village on St. Simons is an absolutely charming

place. It is on the south end of the island, and is
is where the fun shopping and yummy restaurants
can be found. It is right on the water and we had

a great time wandering around and checking it out.

Here is a photo of part of the shared
terrace at our hotel.

This is the view of the lighthouse and the
Atlantic ocean beyond it from the terrace.

This is a view from the ocean side of the
light house. It was destroyed and then rebuilt
in 1917 if I remember correctly. Love the
little gazebo. I don't know why it looks crooked!

While they were preparing our room, we began
walking around to see the sights.

I saw these boots from outside and had to come

in and take a peek. #3 daughter would adore them!

They are cloth and machine embroidered, and

made such a fun display!!

A colorful souvenier shop AND fudge!!

I love old weathered wood and want this door!!

This is a neat little book store. They had a good

selection of local cookbooks and books about
the area.

This is the pier which was really
much busier than what I caught in the photo.
The lovely sea breeze makes shopping
in the heat bearable!

We always ask the locals where to eat when
we visit a new place, and everyone said we
had to go to Barbara Jean's...so we did!!

BJ's is well known throughout southeast Georgia

for their crab cakes and She Crab soup.

This is the al fresco dining area. Lovely, but we
ate inside.

This picture of the bar doesn't do it justice.
It's a rich, handsome area that is very
cozy.

We sat in a comfy booth and I just love

having the street view through these wood shutters.

There were also live plants everywhere, and

I love that, too!! Very easy southern dining

just like the sign says!!

The original tin ceiling is still in tact, and
looking as charming as ever!!

I ordered Jambalaya, broccoli soup and squash

casserole. the jambalaya was mouth-watering,

the soup...the best broccoli soup I ever had,
and the squash casserole...mine is better!! HA!

There were actually about 7 shrimp on top but
I shared with hubby before snapping the pic!!

And just so you know, the She Crab soup and

the crab cakes were also the best we have had!!

We got dessert to take back to the hotel. Ran got
peach cobbler, and I got this key lime tart.

The cobbler was the best we've had, and the tart...

AMAZING!!

We woke up Sunday, and I needed my coffee!!
So we found this cute little shop and their coffee

is delish!!

We both LOVED this quaint little place! I would
love to own one like this! How fun would that be??

This is the little alley-way on the side of the

coffee shop. We would have sat right here,
but wanted to explore the north end of

the island before we had to head home.

When hubby was inside checking out, I was

wandering around outside taking it all in.

Then I heard singing coming from across

the street. It was one of my favorite choruses...

This is the day, this is the day that the Lord

has made, that the Lord has made. We will rejoice,

we will rejoice and be glad in it!!!

It continued on

and I had to find out from whence it cometh!!

We drove around and and found it!! It was people

gathered together close to the pier having church

outside!! How utterly delightful!! Worshipping

the Creator amidst His lovely creation!! Aaaahhh!!!

I could go for that!!

It was hard to leave The Village, but

it was time to head to the north part of

the island!!

We got to the country club area and this is
what the drive looks like all through it!!

A feast for my senses!!

Some of the homes in this area are gorgeous.

I snapped a few of our favorites.

I ADORE spanish architecture!!

This one took my breath away! If I could design

a home for us this size, this is what it would

look like!!! WOWZA!! The surrounding property

was also lovely!

We couldn't really see the home inside the gates
but I love this entry!! Don't you??

This is the view from the back of one of these

homes. The peaceful beauty of the marshes.

Well, my friends, as happens with all good things,
our romantic getaway had to come to an end. From
all of this beauty to I-95!! Oh Well!!

We bid farewell to the Golden Isle marshes of

Glynn! We will be back soon!!

Hope you enjoyed the sights!!

Praying that you all have a great week!

May you rejoice in this new day
that God has made and be glad in it!!

Love and Hugs,

Becky