The Land of Dixie: 2008-11-30

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Thanks Scott and Cindy

Again this year, my sister, Cindy and her husband, Scott hosted Thanksgiving. Their hospitality is overwhelming as 30 to 40 people gather there each year to give thanks to the Lord for all the bounty of life and to fellowship with each other. The feast is always a spread of southern dishes, everyone brings their signature dish. My contribution each year is a picnic shoulder ham and my broccoli salad. The salad is a mixture of bacon, broccoli ( raw), red onion, pecans, cheese,and golden raisins. My son, son-in-law and my nephew , Robby will not let me get away with a new dish. Usually, I make a plum cake although this year, I did not. I will save that for Christmas dinner. It was a beautiful day , crisp air and sunshine. We were blessed to have all of our children with us there this year. Bo was home from Florida, Kelly and Tom with the two children came and stayed until they had to move on to the other grandma. Peter and Amy joined us and all of Cindy's kids were there as well. My 83 year old aunt came for the first time in decades to be with us and my mother and her husband were there . Several other friends from church and our extended family, the Vatters were able to join us as their children were all out of town.
We spent the rest of the weekend eating turkey sandwiches and Christmas shopping ...putting our box together for our loved ones in Italy. In the evenings we just hung out together at the house. Now , I will start packing away all the fall decor and replacing it with my treasured Christmas decorations. Hopefully, by the weekend, the house will take on a Christmas flavor. Tonight it smells like gingerbread because I did some early baking for Bo to take back to Florida tomorrow.
The rest of the month will be dotted with Bo's graduation, family gatherings, Sophia's 8th birthday, my brother-in-law Scott turning the big 5-0 and Bo's 28th birthday , an office party, the JOY party here at the house and of course, Christmas Eve buffet and Christmas Day at Cindy's house. We are blessed and though all of the family imperfections are here ...we won't focus on them but rather on the blessings we have through Jesus, the health we enjoy, the liberty we are afforded in our great country and the blessing of living in my beautiful city, Charleston. We will look past all of our failures and celebrate our victories knowing that God is a redeemer and our closest advocate and friend . He will be the focus of our holidays, his birth and his Lordship over our lives. We pray that you and yours will be blessed with His presence and that you will make wonderful memories in the next few weeks for all of your loved ones.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Roberts family.

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Our new cadets, Sutton and Alex

We adopted two freshmen cadets this year. This is a photo from their first visit to our house where they basically ate, slept and did some laundry. Both of them are just wonderful and roommates and are both from Florida. We are looking forward to spending time with them and seeing them succeed at The Citadel. Sutton is on the left, Alex is on the right.Click on the photo to be routed to The Citadel website.UPDATE...The guys became part of our family this year and are about to finish their freshman year ..both with flying colors and wonderful grades. We are so proud of them and love them so much !! What a blessing !..THIS IS FROM FRESHMAN YEAR... NOW THEY ARE SENIORS !!!!!!TIME FLEW BY

UPDATES

Looking over my pages and realize that most of the information in the blogs is old. Here are a few updates.My cadets Alex and Sutton are now seniors. They have been unbelievably successful at The Citadel.Sutton , a business major is a gold star cadet, meaning his grades are 3.8 or higher and he has been given a commission in the Army that will take him into the Army at graduation with an officer rank. Sutton made the Summerall Guards which is an elite group of cadets who perform a silent drill for special occasions. This is not easy to get into...Congratulations Sutton ! Alex has also excelled in academics, deans list as an engineering major is a great accomplishment. Alex also made The President's List which is a list of cadets who are at the top of the game in many categories, personal , academic, military. He also has a Navy contract for a pilot slot at graduation.Both guys have received their rings (october) so they are on the home stretch to graduation now. I am so proud of them in all they have done but I will tell you the best part !!!!!!!!!Both Alex and Sutton have asked Jesus into their lives since coming to The Citadel. They love the Lord and both have been in regular worship and Sutton is involved in campus ministry. What a blessing. Love both of our cadets and will sure miss them when they take off to travel the world.Bo has opened his own law firm. You can view his website at
www.jrobertslawfirm.com If you need a good lawyer, call Bo. He is honest and will work hard for you.The grands are growing. Sophie has been in several plays with The Flowertown Players and excels in her schoolwork.Britton is an avid Scout and is doing well in school. He loves going to horse shows with Peter.Caleb is into karate. He loves to write stories and draw and still loves Superheroes.Olivia is talking up a storm and still loves her Grover. She loves books, babydolls and playing with her cousins.Joshua is a wild man. He is all about running, riding the four wheeler and jumping from the stairs. He is the family comedian.John Grady is cooing up a storm and is such a smiley boy. He is growing so fast and he is sooo cute !Nanny is enjoying her apartment at the Assisted living place. Her short term memory is not good but she remembers things from the past pretty well. She would love a visit from any of you any time.Jim is still teaching in the simulator for the C-17 for L2 communications on the air base. He also does quite a bit of public speaking taking the gospel to men's groups and churches all around the southeast.I am still leading the women's at my church .

Merry Christmas

December sneaked right up on us... What a beautiful fall we had. I was sad to take down all the fall decorations... they are my favorite colors. Thanksgiving was such a blessing as we had all our children here and 3 of our 5 grands. I count my blessings every day and at the top of the list is the fact that all of our children now live within minutes of us !! God knew I did not want to share !
Today is Dec. 1st and I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the task of turning the house into a Christmas backdrop. I always feel that way and it always gets done....so off I go to open the first of many crates and bins ! Merry Christmas Ya'll. Have a blessed one !

Truly an Empty Nest !

With Bo settling into Tampa and Amy moving to the farm and Kelly and her family growing and living a few miles away and now my cadets leaving for summer and my grandson leaving my care to go back to his stay at home mom... I am truly moving into the empty nest stage of life. While I will miss all of them and would bring them all back here if I could.... I do have a million plans for all my free time. I think I am excited about all my projects but I am facing the fact that I cannot use any of my motherhood duties as an excuse for not getting stuff done. Once June hits, I am going to have 24 hours a day to use as I please ...so watch out ... I am going to become painter, writer, interior designer, crafter , traveler , grandmother , extraordinaire... and most of all will have time to dote on a one of a kind husband who has generously and quietly sat on the back burner to all this crazy moving, wedding planning, and full time grandmothering this year.
My summer project begins with a Cadet porch pot that is overdue for a friend who purchased it at an auction a year ago. After that, I am headed to the beach house to start some serious decorating and updating .. hopefully I can use the summer to get the old house rentable. So many friends have asked us if we rent. I hope to get it rentable and get a friends and family rent brochure together by end of summer. While I do not want to rent to strangers, the renting of the house to close friends can help them by allowing a cheaper rent than they could get anywhere else ...thereby sharing our blessing... and can add to my funds to improve the place little by little to make it more enjoyable for everyone.
I do not see an end to that project so while that is going on... I will also be finishing some much needed painting and decor in our Ashebourough house. It is a lot of upkeep but a great place for our family to gather and enjoy life.
This summer, our family will grow as Kelly and Tom welcome Joshua James Reser in August ... I am really looking forward to a newborn. I just love that stage and while it is hard to believe I can love someone as much as I love the others.. I am sure that he will carve out his own little place in this world and be another unique , precious , and wonderful love in my life.
I hope the coming year will give us opportunities to spend time with lots of friends for surely friends and family determine the quality of life that we have... add that to good health and a vital and loving relationship with the Savior and it does not get any better... well maybe if I could lose 50 pounds... that would be the icing on the cake... and since my excuses for "no time to plan meals and exercise" are gone in a few weeks... maybe I will find my way to do just that......