Dear Reader:

You might have noticed a pattern lately with these sayings…they are on cloth material (which is hanging over my kitchen window on the B&B side) so that is why the letters seem a little “off.” I am photo’ing them hanging up.

They brighten the kitchen tremendously with their sunny colors and the sayings speak to me…on so many different levels.

Samantha has them hanging in the window of her shop Simple to Sublime on short Central Avenue. They come as a package deal with the string (already strung) holding them all together.

The saying (May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be) really spoke to me. I remember, as a child, reading stories on different periods of history and imagining that I was living during the Colonial period or Civil War period or whatever time-line the heroine in the story lived.

Haven’t we, as adults, imagined the same thing? If we could travel through time…and pick the time to be born….what time-period and place would we choose? (Or like me and Archibald Rutledge…we were born too far apart to meet in this life…perhaps the next?)

I have to admit, that after Hurricane Hugo, I decided that any time before electricity was invented was a “No No” time period for me to live in. It might sound romantic, living by candlelight or kerosene lanterns, but two weeks of no electricity back in September of 1989 convinced me otherwise…  I am perfectly happy living in the “now.”

God, I believe, puts us right where we are supposed to be…time, place, and situation… along the time-line of creation.

Don’t we all love to talk about how we met someone and became life-long friends or later even spouses because we dropped a package and bumped into him or her along a crowded sidewalk? Or perhaps we were assigned to the same cabin at a summer camp.

We always end our story with something like, “If I had been a minute earlier or later…I never would my bumped into the person I would marry.”

Somehow, I think God, would have figured out another “detour”…because He has a plan for our lives.

One of my grandmother’s favorite sayings was “Timing is everything.”  I do believe there is a lot of truth in that old saying…but as a young adult it bothered me…thinking that I could be blowing exciting opportunities or rendezvouses with special people because my timing was off.

Later….I worried that I wasn’t getting the right “cues” from God or maybe I was misinterpreting them. In other words…I was still “blowing it.”  Maybe I was supposed to be doing something different, somewhere else…and I made myself rather anxious, over a long time period, dwelling on this idea.

Since “little c”… I don’t think that way anymore. I think I am doing exactly what God wants me to do at this stage in my life. Why? Because I know He is gently guiding me along the right path. It all has to do with trust. I believe if we pray and trust in God ….then the signs and directions we seek in life…are given to us.

So until tomorrow…

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. (Because you are!)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Every time I look at this picture of me and the four grandchildren I burst out laughing. I know now that I was supposed to come along when I did, make the same choices, and arrive at this amazing, funny conclusion.

How could I possibly be anybody else but “Boo Boo” to these four adorable grandchildren? How could I ever not have been a presence in their lives? I thank God every single day for this greatest blessing and opportunity to be with them.

Look at all the grand-children’s trees in bloom (below)….Eva Cate’s Japanese Maple’s leaves are just beginning to turn green….while the other three grandchildren’s have all turned red….different types of Japanese maples obviously…but all doing well….healthy and happy! Here they are in this order…Eva Cate, Rutledge, Jakie, and Lachlan.

*(Jakie’s tree looks more like Moses’ “burning bush.”)

Happy Birthday to our beloved Dee Dee! There will never be another Dingle Easter Egg Hunt like the ones she and Poppy gave each year….they grew and grew and grew….and only stopped when the children were all grown! Miss you Dee Dee!