WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE

My husband is a wonderful man; I just wanted to state that up front for those of you who may not know it because I don't mention it often enough, and he's not one to go around and toot his own horn. For the past few weeks, he's been quietly going about making one of my dreams come true.

I've always dreamed of ivy-covered cottages surrounded by rose-covered picket fences, and somehow the picket fence became my picture of a beautiful, noble, graceful, loving, productive, peaceful, happy home. I've wanted a picket fence of my own for many years, yet only mentioned it occasionally (really! I think...)

So, if you remember from the yard sale posting, I found a wonderful, old, picket fence that a lovely lady sold to me from her treasure pile out back of her shop.

My thinking was that we'd just bolt it together and I'd have enough picket fence to actually surround my little garden plots behind my house, and I'd enjoy a shabby chic picket fence that didn't require any work on my husband's part. At least not much. You see, he prefers to pick his own projects rather than leave that to me.

It seems he also prefers not to have a shabby chic fence.

He has more vision than I do, and he saw in my well-loved, old fence the makings of a beautiful, Williamsburg picket fence to surround my pretty little Williamsburg garden that I have been diligently working on for the last two weeks. All things Williamsburg is another love of mine that he's wisely discerned.

So, without any further ado, he stopped by the big hardware store and purchased a few things to make the dramatic transformation of my fence from "ugly duckling" to "swan." I must say it's the sweetest of fairy tales and it happened in my own back yard.

He rallied the troops last Wednesday night after dinner and they all diligently went to work. Some sanded pickets (which he'd removed from their original, bowed, constraining boards earlier in the week)

and some began painting.

In a flash we had a garden of white pickets popping their little heads up all over the yard in various stages of being prepared for service. I had no idea that things could happen so fast!

By Saturday morning, all parts were prepared and my precious, hard-working men gathered on the patio with nails, shovels, levels, screws, and various other things that I don't know about to assemble this beautiful fence under the direction of their fearless leader.

After just a short while of measuring, nailing, and consorting with one another about posts and picket heights and leveling and various other manly things, before my delighted eyes stood the prettiest picket fence you ever saw!

Miraculously, my men,in one miraculous morning, had produced my white picket fence, straight out of a storybook, or a garden in Williamsburg, or, even better, out of my dreams.

With that picket fence my husband gave me a daily picture of our own beautiful, noble, graceful, loving, productive, peaceful, happy home. So you see, fairy tales are sometimes real, and dreams really do come true. You just have to have a man like mine to make it happen.

Miranda

P.S. Though they didn't make any of the pictures, Benjamin and Molly Elizabeth worked diligently along with the rest.

Part 3 of Our Trip: Tea Leaves and Thyme

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Saturday morning, May 8, the ladies of the family got dolled up for a lovely ladies' luncheon and tea at Tea Leaves and Thyme in Woodstock, GA, where we have had tea in years past. This delicious meal is what was on our menu for Mother's Day Tea.

Chicken Salad

Scones: Almond, Strawberry, and Plain

Fruit: Cantaloupe,Watermelon, and Honeydew

Sandwiches: Pimento Cheese, Ham and Cheese, Cucumber

Dessert: Mint Brownies, Blueberry Cake, Lemon Squares, and Almond Bars

They had hats, gloves,

dresses, and jewelry available so that you could dress up and make a real party of it. It was such fun trying on hats and gloves and different necklaces and each of us chose a hat while Audrey Kate chose to wear it all. This little outing was Audrey Kate's first time to go to tea with all the girls, so we enjoyed watching her make happy memories of tea with her sweet mama, her lovely grandmama, her dear Aunt Randi Jane (I couldn't resist!) and her adored cousins, Susan Liana and Molly Elizabeth. It was also a Mother's Day gift for Grandmama's Mother's Day from the girls. It was really special spending that time together sampling different teas, lovely food, and enjoying being ladies while we talked and laughed and made lots of pictures.What lovely memories!

Aunt Celesta, Grandmama, Molly Elizabeth, Susan Liana, Audrey Kate, and Miranda before the tea was served.

Susan Liana and Molly Elizabeth having fun in the dress-up corner.

Aunt Celesta and Mama...

One of Susan Liana's 61 pictures taken that day (I am serious, we made that many!).

One of Molly Elizabeth's 76 pictures taken that day (!).

Molly Elizabeth and

Susan Liana apparently didn't get the same memo about what pose they would do...

Molly Elizabeth

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Graduation!

Ok, so yard sales weren't the reason (or at least the main reason) that we went to Atlanta. We went to Atlanta for Andrew's graduation from Georgia Tech with his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. Friday afternoon we rushed home from yard saling, scarfed down some pizza with Andrew and Clay who then left to meet Daddy and Benjamin at Tech, took quick showers to wash off our yard sale sweat, and then proceeded to get all dolled up for the big night. Grandmama and Granddaddy rode with Mama, Molly Elizabeth and I to Tech, where we circled the block for about 15 minutes looking for a place to park. It seems there were a LOT of people who wanted to see Andrew graduate. Aunt Celesta, Uncle Steve and the kids were coming separately because they had to make a quick trip to the dentist. Since we were a little bit late (who's surprised?), we didn't get to see Andrew before the ceremony, but we met Daddy, Benjamin, and Clay, who had saved us seats, and proceeded to spend an exciting hour waiting on the ceremony to begin.

Benjamin, Granddaddy, Grandmama, Susan Liana, Clay, Clark, and Miranda waiting for the ceremony to begin. We were very thankful that Grandmama was feeling well enough to come. Doesn't she look pretty?!

Finally, Pomp and Circumstance began to play and we enjoyed watching all of the graduates march in, all 542 of them. It only took 30 minutes. Andrew was very near the end of the line; I guess they saved the best for last!

Andrew marching in.

Aunt Celesta, Uncle Steve, Audrey Kate, and Evan finally made it inside right after the processional. I say" inside" because they had been driving around campus for about 30 minutes looking for a place to park. Again, let me emphasize that there were a LOT of people who were anxious for a sight of Andrew in his cap and gown. The speaker, the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy, gave a pretty good speech. At least, I remember it being good, though, besides telling the graduates that they would be influential in saving the world from global warming, I can't say that I remember what he talked about. Oh, well.

After the speaker, we sat through the Ph.Ds getting their diplomas and then, finally, the moment we had been waiting for, sort of. The Master's were next, but, as I said before, Andrew was near the back of the line, which in this case was about 400 people long, and, so, we waited another 30 minutes for Andrew to walk across the stage. It was worth it though. Andrew crossed the stage amid clapping and cheering from his delighted family. In fact, Aunt Celesta's enthusiasm moved Audrey Kate to tears.

Andrew receives his diploma.

Then there were just a few more things - a short talk from the Alumni Association, the singing of the Alma Mater - and, amidst a shower of balloons, it was all over.

GA Tech does things a little different. Instead of throwing their hats in the air, Tech graduates pop balloons.

As we waded through the crowd trying to find Andrew, we couldn't quite believe that it was all over and Andrew had just graduated with his Master's Degree. Time surely does fly. We are SOOO proud of our graduate!

Front Row L-R: Susan Liana, Audrey Kate, Molly Elizabeth, and Evan

Back Row L-R: Grandmama, Miranda, Granddaddy, Andrew, Uncle Steve, Benjamin, Aunt Celesta, Clark, and Clay

Part 1 of Our Trip: Yard Sales!

Susan Liana and Audrey Kate, the Yard Sale Princess, with her newly purchased (from a yard sale, of course!) tiara.

We just can't stay off the road. Last weekend found our family in Atlanta (again!). We went for Andrew's graduation, but, not being folks to pass up a chance to save (?) money, we took advantage of the opportunity to do some serious yard saling. We headed up to Aunt Celesta's house on Thursday, arriving in time to make a trip to Goodwill before supper. Friday morning was our designated yard sale time. Miranda, Susan Liana, Molly Elizabeth, Aunt Celesta, Audrey Kate, and Evan woke up bright and early and hit the first yard sale about 7:45. As we pulled in, our adrenaline was pumping and Mama had that "I'm going to find a bargain" look in her eye. We all leaped out of the car and descended upon the poor man, who was still trying to set out his stuff, and immediately began bombarding him with questions about prices. Before leaving, we carefully scanned and rescanned everything to make sure we weren't missing anything, proudly loaded our new found treasures into the back of the Suburban, and headed on to find our next conquest. Somewhere along the way, Mama's cousin, Sheryl, joined us, proving herself worthy of the yard sale team and hanging with us 'til the end. The story was pretty much the same at each yard sale; Mama would pull up, her eagle eyes scanning the piles and instantly picking out treasures that were barely visible to the rest of us, hardly able to contain her excitement long enough to put the car in park, then we would all pile out and eagerly race off to find all those treasures we just knew were waiting for us. I have to say, Mama can practically smell a bargain and has better bargaining skills than the rest of us. After carefully sizing up every potential purchase to make sure it was really something we needed, we would load up our car and race off to the next sale. We covered about 15 yard sales before we called it a day and headed home to hurriedly dress for Andrew's graduation that night. (More on that later.) We felt that we had done very well, and, after hitting a few more sales on Saturday, were extremely pleased with our success. On the other hand, all Daddy could think of was how hard it was going to be to pack and WHAT were we going to DO with all of that stuff. Suffice it to say that we had to buy a new car to get it all home! (More on that later, too!)

Mama's antique picket fence that she got to go around her garden. It loaded very nicely on top of the Suburban.

Susan Liana's vintage purchases: antique ribbons, writing desk, sewing pattern, and book of poetry.

Susan Liana's favorite purchase; a whole bag full of ribbons!

Most of our yard sale finds. Some wouldn't fit in the picture!

Happy Yard Saling!

Susan Liana

Youth Choir Trip

This past weekend we went on the Youth Choir trip to Atlanta. It was so much fun, but unfortunately I just found out that we didn't make very many pictures at all! After the fun 5-hour car ride we made it to the Braves' game early. Contrary to most of the girls' expectations we had a lot of fun at the game! The Braves won 10-1. Cici's Pizza was the next stop for dinner even though we weren't really hungry because we'd all eaten so much ice cream at the game.

To wrap up the day we went to the Laser Light Show at Stone Mountain which was really amazing! It's the largest laser light show in the world! Everyone was tired, and it was quite late as we headed back to the hotel for the night.

The night seemed really short as we had to get up early Sunday morning to get ready and out the door by 8:00 a.m. for church. Our choir was singing at Old Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Duluth, GA. We sang in both services and afterwards had a pot-luck lunch at the church. It was delicious...just like an old-fashioned dinner on the grounds.

After another fun 5-hour drive back home, talking and playing group games, we arrived back at IPC, too late for the service, but just in time for Miss Kay's yummy fried fish dinner! Everyone was tired, but it was a wonderful, lightning-quick trip.

Susan Liana and Ashleigh posing at the game.

Clay at the game...

Andrew M. having fun with Anna's sunglasses and Andrew G. giving a sensible smile. They took a couple of hours off of studying for finals at GT to meet us at the game.

Susan Liana and Jennifer enjoying the ride to Atlanta, while Jessica and Wesley were having fun in the background.

Sara Kaitlin, Leah, Breck, and Wesley watching the game...

In a nut shell that concludes everything we did this weekend. We had lots of fun and are so glad we went!