My friends Marie and Spud have a beautiful yard. They’ve got a nice big pond with a wooden bridge that goes across to a little island Spud made; they have some beautiful trees that give wonderful shade when we sit and visit; and they have some of the most beautiful flowers.

Now neither Marie or Spud would consider themselves ‘gardeners’, I’m sure.  Marie just loves flowers, like her Mama does; and she loves to plant things.  So every time I go to their house, I get to see all these beautiful flowers. And Spud likes to put his own touch on things- he loves to build stuff, including an awesome treehouse that any kid would love. In fact, I would imagine lots of adults would enjoy this treehouse (including me)!

I love to go visit Marie and Spud- they always make visitors feel welcome. Of course, I don’t ever feel like a visitor, I feel like family.

And that’s one reason I like this rose so much- it reminds me of Marie herself.  She’s a beautiful person, especially on the inside, where most folks can’t see.  She’s a sweet loving person who would do anything for you.  She will pray for you and with you when you need it (and even when you don’t think you need it); she’s one of the kindest people I know; she’s compassionate;  and she’s got the most loving heart of anyone I’ve ever seen. I’m so proud to call her my friend.

In south central Alabama, where I live, it’s very unusual to have snow, much less enough to shut down schools, businesses and roads in the area. But that’s exactly what happened on Friday. We got about 4 inches of snow altogether, and it was beautiful!

Three of our granddaughters and their dad made a snowman in the front yard, threw snowballs and tasted snow. I hope they made lots of good memories because they may not ever get another chance to see this much snow. I only remember two other times like this: the last time was in 1993,  and snow piled up in drifts everywhere; some ditches had snow for a week afterwards.

The only other time I remember was in the mid-70s.  Snow was 7 or 8 inches deep on top of cars and everything was covered. My dad’s parents, who always seemed very strait-laced to my brothers and I, actually got out and built a snowman with us – they had never seen snow.

It was fun to act like a kid again- I’m glad I live in a place where commonplace miracles like snow can make such a huge difference in my day.

Today’s my baby girl’s birthday- she’s sixteen years old, and she’s one of my heroes. She stands by her friends, no matter what; she believes in them and encourages them. And she won’t stand for someone putting them down- woe to you if you ‘dog out’ her friends, because she’ll cut you off at the knees.
She goes her own path, and she marches to her own beat. She does things her way and doesn’t care if anyone else likes it or not. She’s not disrespectful, or mean, but she stands by what she believes in, and she’ll go toe to toe with anyone over it.
Jenn, I’m proud to be your Mama, and I’m glad to be able to watch you grow up into a beautiful young woman. I can’t wait to see what God’s got in store for you!

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