MAY/JUNE 2023

Our "baby girl" turned 38 on May 1st.  So thankful God completed our immediate family with a daughter.  We sure do love you, Rachel Ann! (And so proud of the wife, momma, homeschool mom/teacher, daughter, sister, and friend that you are and your great effort over the last year to lose a ton of weight!!)

In past years, we've only been blessed to attend one other grandchild's graduation (Ellie's Preschool in 2017) so it was fun that we were able to go to Gideon’s Kindergarten Graduation on May 2nd (and later to Avi's high school graduation mentioned later in this post).  The McCrary children are homeschooled by Mom, but do go one day a week to Comm Central, a Christian based school that cooperates with Homeschooling. 

 

After his graduation, we also enjoyed going to the 3 kids' closing program for Comm Central.  Copeland and Eisley achieved some great accomplishments.

Later that week, we kept the kids overnight so that Rachel and Jonathan could attend a birthday party for a gal in their small group. Great Grandma joined us for dinner that night.

Mother's Day 2023.  So very thankful God allowed me to be Mom to Josh, Andy and Rachel.  And I'm so very thankful for my own godly Mom and my Christian heritage.  Also for my two Sisters who are great Mom's and have raised wonderful children that are serving the Lord!

 And last but not least I'm so thankful for these Momma's raising my grandchildren!

Michelle (Avi and Saylor)

Carman (Laine, Ellie, Shep and Mack)

Rachel (Copeland, Eisley, Gideon and Kipling)

This summer, I'm doing the Bible study, "Jesus Followers"....and really enjoying it......it is so very important to pass on our faith to the generations that follow us!!  I so want to leave a legacy for my Lord!

We had two grandsons involved in soccer this Spring...Sadly we didn't get to see either of them play but I'm sure they both did great!

Shep in Texas

Gideon in Arkansas

We hadn't had the opportunity to go to Tennessee since the week before COVID hit (March, 2020).  So a visit there was LONG overdue!  Our oldest granddaughter Avi was graduating High School and we are so glad we were able to go and see the family and support her!

It was also a treat to go with Josh and his family to their church, The Bridge, on Mother's Day.  It was a great service! A picture of Saylor before we headed to church that morning (this cutie goes to Kindergarten in the fall!):

Pictures at their church💖 

(Josh has also lost a ton of weight -- proud of you, Son!)

Avi had to work so wasn't able to join us that day.  Josh was so sweet to his wife and Mom in cooking all weekend for us as part of our Mother's Day treat (fajitas Saturday night and roast for Sunday lunch--all delicious!)

On Monday, I fixed my homemade spaghetti and meatballs for our graduation celebration for Avi (Josh didn't get home from work in time for these pre-dinner pictures below)

We enjoyed having Michelle's mom and grandma with us for the celebration!

Sweet Sisters💕💕

Josh did take off Tuesday (the day of graduation) and took Jeff, I and Saylor to tour downtown Nashville and eat a delicious lunch there....and Say Say got ice cream afterwards😍

Sister all dressed up (her choice) for Avi's Graduation that evening:

Proud Dad at Graduation

So proud of you Avi!!  We love you!💗

Carman celebrated a birthday in May.  So thankful that Carman is a part of our family!  We love you!💓

While I'm here.....posting some pictures of Andy and Carman's kids at the end of their school year (the 3 older ones are also homeschooled but also have a Coop they attend once a week..and Carman helps teach at.  The girls also go to a drama/arts class one day a week).  We are sure needing to make a trip to Texas soon to see this family!💗

Mack goes to Preschool at The Mount (where Andy pastors) and graduated Preschool!  He will be in kindergarten this Fall!  All our babies are growing up!💙

We enjoyed a Sr. Adult overnight trip to Mt. Magazine (highest spot in Arkansas)!  Saw a beautiful sunset and had a relaxing, enjoyable time with these wonderful folks!

My Sister and I 💖

Our oldest grandson, Copeland, turned 10 on May 19th!  We love you, Copeland!💚

His parents decided they wanted to do a "special" one-on-one trip with each of their children on their 10th birthday (such a neat idea!).  So they went to Houston, stayed in an Air B&B and had a great time!  The McCrary grandparents kept the 3 younger siblings.💗

On May 23, I started another diet program.  I had just completely "fallen off the wagon" in 2023 and as a result, my blood sugar numbers are too high and I have added excess pounds 😥😢😧.  I'm using the Noom program along with recipes, tips, etc. I gleaned from New Life Promise.  Also have seriously resumed my daily exercising. As of this writing, I've lost 14 lbs. Still a ways to go!  The older I get, the harder it is to lose it and even more so - to keep it off!!  Lord, give me strength!!

Memorial Day weekend, we enjoyed a picnic with our Antioch church family out at Toad Suck park on Sunday and a delicious steak meal at Kaye and Rob's on Monday (and yes, I ate healthy at both😁).

June 1st marked Jeff's 2nd anniversary as Senior Adult Pastor at Antioch.  It's been an enjoyable 2 years and we so appreciate the love and support of our church family.  So very thankful for Antioch Baptist Church!  Cool picture of our church that one of our church members took during a recent storm!

Eisley not only attends a COOP on Tuesdays, but is blessed to spend Wednesdays at Doxa Arts Academy.  She loves it.  We recently got to attend her Doxa concerts on a Saturday (choir recital in the morning and dance in the evening).  She did a great job and looked beautiful!💖💖

That evening we brought Copeland and Gideon home with us for their birthday outing.  We try to do this one-on-one, but life is so busy for them and for us, it didn't happen this year, so we did a two-on-two and they were perfectly fine with that.  Love these two handsome boys! (Picture taken with timer on my kitchen counter before church Sunday--Papa had already left for church a couple of hours earlier)

Our grandson Mack celebrated his 5th birthday on June 9^th

We sure do love you, Buddy!💙

Father's Day 2023💙

This was my Happy Birthday/Father's Day Facebook post for my Dad:

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Dad!! On earth, you would be 96 but in Heaven, age doesn't count and you are more alive than ever!! "I can only imagine" how wonderful it is!! Thank you, Dad, for raising us in a godly home, making sure we were in church each time the doors were opened and being such a faithful husband, father, grandfather, deacon and man!! Happy Birthday and Father's Day, Dad! I love and miss you!

And I'm so very thankful for these Dads who have the great responsibility of leading their families/homes in the paths of righteousness! Great job, Jeff, Josh, Andy and Jonathan. Love each one of you!💙💙

For several years (5 years total--from 3 grandkids that first year to 9 last year!), I've had grandkids come and spend the week with us for Bible School.  But I'm just getting too old 😥 (the last couple of years, I've gotten pretty sick after they all went home....from exhaustion, gut issues, etc.).  So, much to some of the kids' disappointment, I'm not doing it this year and it does make me sad.  I have always loved the opportunities to allow the cousins time together and to add "Jesus/VBS" in the midst. We will have to get creative in how to do that in the future.  The older (and busier) they get and the older DeDe gets, it's just hard! 😢😢 

 Our Senior Adult group will tour Blanchard Springs Cavern in Mountain View for our June outing (next week).  We also will eat a delicious meal at Jo Jo's Catfish (sister of a good friend of mine, Pam Glover). Will add pictures afterwards.

During the summer, our Jensen Small Group has monthly fellowships.  Tom Goff has graciously offered to host these each month.  Thanks, Tom.  We love our small group!

Josh and Michelle will celebrate their 8th anniversary on June 25th!  Happy Anniversary, kids!  We love you both!!💝💝

Summer has just begun it seems and we still have a lot of fun to come!!  Stay tuned💗💗