Wandering with the Publisher

Grandchildren Are Crowns For Grandparents, And Oh, How Proud The Husband And I Were This Past Weekend!!!

     What is so simple that even a small child can manipulate it?
Why, a grandmother, of course!
     Grandparent’s homes are where grandchildren have a second home, a sort of sevurity blanket they can escape to when the world is unfriendly.
     This is what The Husband and I have tried to do at our home. We want it to be a place the grandchildren want to come, and a place they can feel safe and secure as they are surrounded with love.
     God has blessed us with 11 grandchildren. We told our three children -- Harvey, William, and Emerald -- to have all the children they wanted to, and we would help them with them and love them forever. And, that we have. They took us up on our proposition, and we have been so very blessed with love and kisses for many years now.
     Two of our lovely granddaughters, Cheltsie and Brooke Kinsley, were in the Miss Madison pageant Saturday night and how The Husband and I glowed as we watched them on stage in their various events. It brought back so many memories of the days we watched our daughter Emerald on stage in pageants. Those were wonderful years we spent taking Emerald to various events and watching her walk across the stage in her green evening gown smiling. The Husband had taught Emerald a fantastic magic act that everyone in the room wanted to learn. All Emerald’s friends’ parents asked The Husband to teach the magic act to their girls, but he explained that as long as Emerald did pageants, her talent was unique, but if she ever stopped doing pageants, then he would consider helping them, which he later did for a few girls.
     A big thanks goes to Toni Blanton for continueing the Miss Madison Pageant that Emerald started many years ago, and for helping the young ladies of Madison County learn to dress elegantly and enjoy the fun of “being a lady.” Toni and her helpers put on one of the best organized and effiicent pageants I have ever seen. Congratulations, Toni, for such an enjoyable evening!
     And, congraulations to all the girls for doing such a grand job!! Bye for now...See ‘ya.

Jacob Bembry
Columnist

Jacob's Ladder

Weeds (Not The TV Series Of The Same Name

     Sometimes, I feel like a weed, growing where I am not wanted, choking the life out of other plants around me. Sometimes, I feel as if I’m being choked by weeds.
     What is a weed? According to the dictionary, it is simply a plant that grows where it is not wanted. It’s not a nuisance unless it ends up where it is not wanted. It may be welcomed other places and even embraced in some places but when it grows where it’s not wanted, it stops being a plant and becomes a weed.
     When I realize that others think that I’m becoming a weed, I hope that I decide to move on from where I am hampering others from growing. I hope instead to flourish and give nourishment to others around me.
     God doesn’t have any weeds in His garden. I’m so glad of that because I know that there is one place I will always belong.
     Sometimes, I have a tendency to look at others as weeds. I pray that God grants me the grace and the mercy to look at them as flourishing plants and to help tend and water them so they grow in God and become the people that Jesus wants them to be.

Emerald's Gem Box

Young Is As Young Does

I love holidays! It makes me feel like a kid again.
     In fact, I love anything that makes me feel like a kid again. I love theme parks (ride as many rides as my children do), I love riding in the car listening to loud music, and I love vacations and enjoy seeing the new places as thru a child’s/teenager’s eyes.
     Most holidays are “built” around children. I love the 4th of July, and get more excited over the big pretty fireworks than my own children do; I love celebrating Christmas, and yes, Santa Claus still comes to visit my children; I love buying Valentine’s Day candy and gifts for my children, family members, and friends; I love Halloween, and dress up each year to go treat-or-treating with my children; and Easter is no exception either.
     This past weekend found the Easter holiday upon us, and yes, the Easter Bunny still comes to my house, too. Easter baskets, candy, and new movies were set up for Cheltsie and Brooke. I have taught that Easter Bunny to wipe his feet, however. He used to leave bunny tracks (flour) all through my house. I’ve gotten tired of cleaning up behind him, so for the last few years he has wiped his feet before coming in.
     We attended the Central Baptist Church, in Aucilla, for Easter services and then headed back home to Madison. We broke out the egg dye, and colored eggs, which is still fun for the girls, whether they will admit it in public or not. They had a blast. Gator colored eggs, FSU colored eggs, bright colored eggs, pastel colored eggs, and crayon drawings on the eggs, before dying, filled our afternoon.
     However, when I offered to hide the eggs for them to hunt, they seemed to shy back and said that I didn’t need to do that. So I didn’t, for about an hour, until I realized I wanted to hide the eggs. Hiding and hunting eggs is the most fun part, after all. So, I went outside, unknowing to them, and hid all the eggs and came back in and told them.
     Funny thing was they got their baskets and RAN all around that yard looking for the eggs. It was just like they were five years old again, running, giggling and laughing. They found all but one. Sad thing was I couldn’t find it either. Brings back the old saying of “I could even hide my own Easter eggs.”
Young is, as young does. Old is, as old does. It’s so much more fun acting like a kid than acting like an adult. My children often make fun of me for always wanting to go do things that they feel I should have “outgrown.” But that’s what makes life fun. And that’s what makes memories.
     This year’s Easter celebration was no exception – lots of fun, and lots of memories.
     Go make you a memory!!!
     Until then.....I’ll see you around the town!

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