After an enjoyable ride on my bike for 13 1/2 miles, I "hit the books" to begin studying and writing for my commitments this fall.  I'm so excited about these upcoming retreats and the opportunity to teach again!  However, it's getting closer to 6:00 and I haven't begun dinner....I just get absorbed in the Word of God, what can I say?

Hope all is going well with my readers and friends.  I'm really looking forward to the temperatures cooling off this weekend.  We're having visitors come up from Virginia and it would be great to have some cooler Fall-like days!  God bless!

The moms of America are off and running this morning.  They are like little birds out of a cage....at least that's the feeling I get in my area.  This morning I took my bike out for a spin since the temperatures are predicted to reach 90 degrees this afternoon.  I usually ride through a small parking area (which really isn't a parking area, but the users of the trail think so) to get onto the trail path, but today I had to walk my bike through a very narrow opening between the cars.  Yes, friends, every mother in the South Hills area was out this morning.  They probably waved goodbye to their kiddos with a big smile on their faces and hit the trail with their fellow mom-friends.

There were groups of women, women walking alone, women walking the dog, multiple women walking dogs, women biking together, women strolling babies together....you name it, they were on the trail in droves this morning.  I can't say I blame them.  This is the first morning in a couple of months they have had a day "off"....so enjoy, ladies, but don't forget those buses will be returning this afternoon with kids anxious to tell mom all about their school day!  Enjoy....these days go by very, very quickly!

I can't believe it's time for the big yellow buses to begin making their frequent stops up and down the highways and hedges to gather children for another educational year.  Amazing how time flies....seems like yesterday Nicholas went off to Kindergarten and then in a blink Kimberly was walking down the sidewalk to begin her Senior year of high school.  Now both my kids are beginning another school year as teachers!!  Yes, indeed, where does the time go?

But tomorrow Gary and I will get up and drink our cup of coffee and watch all the hustle and bustle surrounding our home as this will be the first time Gary doesn't have to rush off to work.  I'm really loving his retirement!  And me?  Well, I'll get back to substitute teaching at some point, but it pains me to think of rising at 5:30 a.m. and Gary still snoozing....

God bless, my friends...have an awesome Sunday and a terrific beginning of the week or school year....whatever you are experiencing, but remember...it all goes fast!

Hi Friends, yesterday turned out to be a very busy day, but we did it!  We held our first ever book signing at The Farmhouse Coffee and Gary and I both felt it was successful.  Of course, we didn't know what to expect, but Barb Chapman, the owner of The Farmhouse Coffee, was a most gracious proprietor and kept the fabulous coffee beverages coming...cold and hot...along with snowcones, ice cream, cookies...you name it!

It was an awesome opportunity to meet with not only friends, but persons that read about the signing through the Almanac and just came to purchase a book and, in one case, to visit The Farmhouse for the first time!  My deepest appreciate goes out to my cheerleader, Jan Mackowiak and her husband, the talented Dave Mackowiak, for his background music and array of instruments that keeps us in awe of his abilities.  You're the best, Dave....and second to none.

I am getting additional interest in the women's retreat this October.  To God be the glory, friends.  It's going to be a terrific weekend full of laughter, girlfriends and friends to be made....along with a quaint setting in the town of Berkeley Springs.  God bless, my friends....may you enjoy an uplifting worship service tomorrow!

Each Wednesday I remember the phrase "Hump Day".  As kids we always referred to the middle of the week as "Hump Day" simply because it symbolized (in our visual minds) we had climbed to the top of the hill and was sliding toward the fun we had planned for the weekend.  Although it might sound crazy I still think of that phrasing each and every week when Wednesday rolls around!

Last evening I got the opportunity to see a lot of my "teacher friends".  Unfortunately it was at the funeral home for the father of one of the teachers.  This same gentleman (great adjectives for this truly "gentle man") was also a member of my church.  It was good to gather and reflect upon memories and see so many of our dear friends.  This was a happier occasion than most since our dear friend had suffered with health problems for many years.  We know he is enjoying the beginning of his eternal dwelling with our Lord.

Hope each one of you have an awesome day and, as school begins for many students and teachers, please remember to pray for our nation and the learning that takes place within those institutions.  Pray for the hearts and minds of the teachers, administrators and students that are being entrusted to them for hours each day.  May God be honored and glorified in each lesson and action.  And may the children come prepared to listen and learn.   God bless, my friends! 

Today I had the opportunity to help my daughter set up her classroom for another year of fourth grade.  It brought back a ton of memories.  My favorite part of the school year when I was teaching full time was the initial setting up of the classroom and decorating all the bulletin boards.  Yep, I'm the artistic  type and I wanted the room to be functional and inviting.  I was able to revisit that love today as I made lots of red apples and wrote the names of all Kimberly's students on each one.  There's even a nice, big tree on her bulletin board where all the apples have been attached.

The temperatures have cooled off here in Cleveland where Kimberly and Luke live and it further enhances the thoughts of a new school year complete with buses.  So we head back to Pittsburgh tomorrow after one more trip to the elementary school to put the finishing touches on a great  looking fourth grade classroom.  Mrs. Adkins is almost ready for yet another year of teaching math!  God bless, my friends!

Sundays are usually days that are restful and worshipful.  Today was worshipful, but afterwards we were unusually busy.  It was good to spend time with some of our friends this afternoon and evening by attending an outdoor concert.  It was a concert of country music and being from the south, it was a taste of "down home" for me.  There is something about guys and girls showing up for a concert riding in trucks and on motorcycles wearing cowboy hats and boots that brings back memories of individuals from my past.

We had a great time and the night was wonderful....cooler temperatures and an opportunity to sit around with friends before and after the concert socializing while the traffic thinned out a bit.  All in all an evening for the memory books!  God bless you all with a wonderful week!

Hey there, friends.  In case anyone is reading today (which being the weekend, and one of the last before school begins might have most of you out and about) nothing much new is happening at The Whites' House.  We are headed to a family reunion and I'm not all that excited to be in the heat all day.  Yep, those dear old flashes of heat will be a main staple as I try to eat, relax and socialize today. 

Need prayers.....have a ton of things on my plate and I need time to get them all completed.  Satan is having a good time trying to distract me from the goal!  God bless all of you with a relaxing and refreshing weekend.

Hi friends...sorry this is posted so late in the day, but it's been a busy one!  First if all, I slept in a bit....the windows were up and the air was cooler this morning.  In fact, I had a sheet pulled up around my neck which doesn't happen often at this stage of my life!  Then I enjoyed three, yes three cups of coffee out on the deck with Gary.  By the time we finished up with coffee and started partaking in our daily allottment of cereal, Kimberly joined us. 

We began the rest of our daily activities and headed to the mall to look for a dress for Kimber to wear to an upcoming wedding in St. Louis next weekend.  By the time we returned it's late in the day and I'm just getting around to posting....hope each one of you have a wonderful weekend.  It's still pretty hot around the Pittsburgh area, but I hear it's going to begin cooling down next week....we'll see!  God bless, my friends!