Savannah and Charleston

Last month, Wes and I had a chance to get away for a few days.  We've always wanted to see Savannah and Charleston, so we decided it was time to go.  A marvelous time was had by both of us!  There is so much American history in those two cities, and the Southern hospitality was incredible.

Savannah

Our first stop was to Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House for lunch.

 A fascinating place where you sit at a table that seats 10.  So, since there were only two of us, we were seated with 8 other folks we didn't know.  When we got to our table, it was already set with all this food.  Our waitress informed us that they had already blessed the food, so just dig in.  Our meal included, fried chicken, pulled pork, beef stew, jambalaya, green beans, cabbage, macaroni and cheese, rice, turnips, cucumbers, black eyed peas and sweet (and I mean SWEET) tea.  For dessert, there was blackberry cobbler and banana pudding.  To say the least, we did not eat for the rest of the day.

Gorgeous homes are everywhere in Savannah.

 St John's Church.  Incredible architecture.

 River Street on the banks of the Savannah River.  In days gone by, this is where the cotton was stored before being shipped to England.  Now it is filled with restaurants and shops.....particularly River Street Treat Shop!

Spanish moss is everywhere.  It is absolutely amazing.  These huge live oaks are all throughout the city.

 John Wesley brought the gospel to Savannah.

Christ Church is where Wesley served for 2 years.

 A trip out to Tybee Island to climb the lighthouse steps to the top.

Charleston

94 live oaks line the drive going up to the Boone Hall Plantation.

 Boone Hall Plantation.

 Wes participating in the story of Brier Rabbit and the Tar Baby.  He was the fox.

A slave house.  Evidently these are nice dwellings as they were made of bricks.  Each house consisted of 1 room for the whole family.

 Fabulous old houses line Battery Park.

We boarded the ferry and headed to Ft. Sumner.

 The first shot of the Civil War was shot at this fort which at the time was occupied by Union Forces.

 At the beginning of the war, these walls were 30 feet tall.  Now they stand about 15 feet.

 A mortar shell from the civil war still embedded in the wall.

 A look at Ft. Sumner from the ferry.

 This is the Angel Tree.  IT IS HUGE!

Yep, that's Wes at the base of this tree.

This is one of its many branches.  Many with circumferences of more than 12 feet. 

The knot in that tree is over 3 feet tall.  This is a beautiful old tree.  They don't really know how old it is.  Some guess it is as young as 400 years.  Others believe it could be up to 1500 years old.  However old it is, it is absolutely amazing.

So, these are a few of the pictures of our trip.  It was so very enjoyable.  We hope to go again sometime because the Southern hospitality of the people in Savannah particularly is just incredible.  It was just a lot of fun.

A Day at the Park

Last week Wes and I had a play day with Ashlynn.  We spent several hours at the park and had a wonderful time.

We first started with a picnic.  Nothing like chicken nuggets and lemonade for a perfect lunch! 

Playing hide and seek with Granddaddy.  Ashlynn was a master of staying one step ahead of Granddaddy. 

 Even tried a bit of fishing.....but they weren't biting.

 A game of tag.  Granddaddy was "It".

Even Follow the Leader is more fun when Granddaddy plays. 

We loved getting to spend the day with our girl.  Can't believe how big she is and how quickly the time is flying by.  What a fun day.

People I want to meet when I get to heaven

There are several people I can't wait to meet when I get to heaven.  Of course, Jesus is the first person I want to see.  I don't think that there's a Christian alive how would not want this.  Of course, I want to see my family who have gone on before me.  Yes, I want to see so many of the people mentioned in the Bible.....I do have questions I would love to hear the answers to.  I want to ask Noah's wife, "Didn't you think Noah was crazy?"  But there are two ladies who most of us don't even recognize that I want to go to and hug their necks and say thank you.  

Those two ladies names are Martha Franks and Olive Lawton.  Martha was a missionary to China in the early 1900's.  Olive was also a missionary to China, best friend to Martha, and as it happens is the first cousin of my daddy-in-law.  These two ladies I will be grateful to for a very long time.

You see, God gave Martha a most unique vision.  She saw that missionaries, preachers, and ministers, who gave their lives to serving through the ministry, would not have a place to go when they got older and needed specific health care.  Because of their very modest salaries, they would not be able to save the money needed or even buy insurance policies that would provide for them in the older age.

Martha took her inherited land in Laurens, SC and started the Martha Franks Retirement Community.  She and Olive worked tirelessly to raise the money needed to get this community up and going.  That is an incredible feat considering that it happened during the time that they started this....it was a very male dominated world.....yet these two ladies had a mission from God and today, there is a wonderful establishment where these precious ministers can live out their final years in peace, love, and dignity they deserve.

Why is this so important to me?  Because Wes' mom and dad moved in to this retirement community back in November.  His dad is in assisted living and his mom is in skilled nursing.....which is in the same building....so they are together every day.  We invited them to come live with us, but Texas is a very long way from South Carolina - where all their family resides.  So we understood why it wasn't very appealing to move our direction.  However, they were just not able to take care of themselves and we knew that they needed to be with someone.  Through miracle after miracle after miracle, we saw God guiding us to Martha Franks.  Not only are Wes' parents well taken care of, but are so happy too.  The staff is unbelievable!  The love they show to each individual is incredible.  As Wes and I were leaving from our last visit, I looked at him and said, "I just can't find anything not to like about this place!"  Yes, it really is that wonderful.

And it all started with one little lady's vision and her friend who told her she wanted to help.  Yep, I'm gonna hug those two ladies when I get to heaven.