Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone! Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay .

May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with each of you.

Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

My sister Jill sent this today and I had never seen it before. I loved it and wanted to share it with each of you!

I Just Want To Celebrate!

HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY

ROGER AND LORI

(my brother and sister in law)

THIS IS HARRY AS A GROOMSMAN

(IN ROG AND LORI'S WEDDING 30 YEARS AGO.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI

(ROG AND LORI'S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER)

(june 27)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH-ETT

(ONE OF MY BFF'S)

(june 29)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER CARLA ELAINE

(july 1st)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY/PAPA

(july 3)

MY BEST WISHES AND LOVE TO ALL!

Monkey Bars

I took Anna and Shelby to the St. Simon's Isl. pier yesterday. As you can tell from the pictures they have a really nice little playground overlooking the ocean. But for some reason, un known to me, Shelby wanted to play on the bicycle rack, which she called the "monkey bars". Anna and I couldn't help but laugh at the kid. Neither one of us could figure out what she was doing. We guessed she was posing for the camera??? Fun good times.

Someday?

Shelby knows the days of the week in order. They sing a little song about the days of the week in pre-school. Yesterday Shelby said, "today is Friday." I said, "no today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday." I started to sing the song and she joined me in singing it. Then she asked Anna, my 10 year old niece, did she know the days of the week?
Anna said the days and when she got through Shelby said, "don't forget Someday!" I said "WHAT, Someday?, that's not a day of the week!" We all started laughing. I think Shelby thought she told a joke. It was funny, I guess you had to be there.

Okay, I'm getting forgetful. Anna called me out on this little story. It was "One day" instead of "someday." "Anyway," you get the point!

Tagged! :(

I Hate Being Tagged! But seeing it was by my sweet daughter in law Christon, I'll give it a shot.


How to play this game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names....


3 JOYS

Gospel Of Jesus Christ

My Family

My Friends


3 FEARS

Losing any of the above

Cancer

satan


3 GOALS

weight loss

exercise more

drink more water


3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS

Tomatoes

Mixed berries and yogart

Reading


3 RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS

We had a pet farret named "Nacho"

I love "Dancing With The Stars"

I Love Old Black and White Movies


5 People I Tag

JENNIFER

LISA

HALEY

GOODYGANG

CAROLYN

What To Cook?

Shelby Coming Around The Mountian

Shelby and Pop Pop

Christon and Reagan

Aunt Jor Jor and Reagan

Gigi and Pop Pop

These are pictures of us on the train ride that went around Stone Mountain. The Conductor gave us some history of the Mt. and then they played some songs like, "I've Been Working On The Railroad" and "Midnight Train to Georgia" and then surprise of all surprises they played Shelby's song, "She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain." We have a funny story about that song. One day about a year ago we were out driving and listening to a children's music CD. Shelby told me she wanted to hear her song. I'm like "what's your song??" She told me, "you know the song with my name!" I don't have a clue?, "What song are you talking about?" And she says, "you know, 'Shelby Be Coming Around The Mountain'" Now say it fast, can't you see how she could make that mistake? There is no convincing her other wise. That will always be "her" song. She sang it loud and knew every word.

River Boat Ride

"What do you mean,

I got to wear this thing??"

When we went to ride the big river boat

they made Shelby put on a life vest.

From the pictures you can

tell she wasn't thrilled.

I love this picture!

Finally we get a smile!

More Pictures

Christon and Jordan

Shelby's favorite place to be

is on her Pop Pop's lap.

Harrison's favorite store, Bass Pro Shop.

More pictures of our weekend.

Aunt Jor Jor and Shelby

Uncle Travis and Pop Pop

Little Miss Reagan

Take Me "Back" To The Ball Game!

As we were driving home yesterday from Atlanta, Shelby told us she wanted to go back to the ballgame! That excites me, because we love baseball in this house. You have to start little girls out early and they'll love baseball too. Her daddy loves all sports but played baseball for 9 years. By the way she wanted to go back to the hotel too. That girl knows she loves a Holiday Inn Express. (just like her Gigi)

How To Can Tomatoes

Take these.

Do this.

and you'll get this!!

Stone Mountain

Today we're going here

with the children and

grandchildren!

Hot-Lanta

BRAVES!

Tonight! 7:35 P.M.

8th Row, Field Level!!