" For God himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." Acts 17:25

About Me

About Me

About Me

Welcome...I'm delighted that you chose to visit! I started this blog in March 2010 and I am so happy that I did. It has made me more aware of the many ways that God is blessing my life. I have made some special friends who bless,teach,encourage,and entertain me! My desire is to be an encouragement to you. I hope you will tarry for a while and that you will come back to visit often.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

where's your security?

Sunday night, about 20 women gathered at our church to begin this study. I enjoy Beth Moore...she is incredibly insightful and completely REAL! It is obvious that God has done some amazing things in her life and has given her a forum to share what she has learned through her experiences.
I look forward to seeing what she has to say, but, more importantly, to what God has to say about finding our security in Him. I believe it will also be a wonderful way to make some new friends (since we are relatively new in the church) and be blessed by the things the other ladies share from their lives.
The first scripture was Jeremiah 17:7-8:

"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like the tree planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit."

That seems like a good place to start!
I'll keep you posted on where we go from there! :-)

Saturday, August 27, 2011

movie night

A good friend and I went to the theater last week to see this movie. I had heard much about it and was anxious to see it. There was a little language t0 endure, but there were laugh out loud moments and tear filled moments, too.
It is the story of the difference one person can make when they are willing to stand and do the right thing in the face of great opposition. It is also an illustration of how important it is to have people you can trust when you are in that situation.
The characters have lots of personality and the acting is great! The movie and a Mexican dinner made for a fun night out...in the middle of the week, no less!! :-)

Friday, August 26, 2011

our little leaguers

Our boys made it to the quarter finals. They played well and with character. (That is one of our boys consoling a member of another team.) We are proud of them.
I hope they learned much from this once in a lifetime experience...mostly that "it isn't whether you win or lose, but it is how you play the game!"
Congratulations, boys! You will always be winners in our book!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

the new church in town

For the past two years, our sweet girl and her husband have been a part of a fellowship called New City Downtown in a nearby city. For even longer than that, the church has been planning to plant a church here. Sunday night, all their praying and planning came to fruition with their first service. She invited us to come and we more than happy to go! :-)

There were friendly greeters as we entered
which made us feel especially welcome
and they served refreshments.



Our girl and one of her life long friends.


More special friends...we have known him
all his life, his darling wife since she was in
ninth grade with our girl...
they are 24 now!


Our sweet DIL and grandboy came, too!


They sang some original songs that we weren't
familiar with, but the messages were true.
I appreciate their desire to compose and sing
the "new song" that the scripture talks about.


The pastor from Downtown, the pastor from
another plant in another city, and the pastor for
this plant combined to preach one message.
Three different styles, but a common love for God
and the call to make Him known.
The screen displays their mission...
"to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach...".


It was a special night of worship.
So glad we were a part of it!

Welcome to town New City! We are glad you are here!
We pray that God will bless your ministry and
that your passion for Christ will make a difference
in our city!

Monday, August 15, 2011

a japanese visit

I met some friends here for dinner
Saturday night. We have several Japanese Steakhouses in town that I have visited,
but I had never eaten at this one.
We all ordered the same thing...hibachi chicken which is grilled chicken, veggies, and rice.
It also comes with soup and salad. In other words...it was a lot of food! :-) It was tasty, but not as flavorful as I expected. I think I like Chinese better...I'm a sweet and sour gal!
But the company was great and that was the most important thing... it's not what we ate, but who we were with, :-)

Inside, it was pretty basic ...booths and hibachi grills
with benches. But, outside, they have gone all out
with their landscaping. The water wheel was turning
and the sound of the water made the
warm evening seem a little cooler.


Palm trees, flowering shrubs and statuary
filled the space on the other side of the sidewalk
from the water wheel. I like the lamp post, too.
They always look welcoming to me.


And they had their own ship.
The hull is wood, the sails are aluminum.
Pretty cool looking.



It was fun hanging out with the girls this weekend
while the Hubby was on a church men's retreat.
Baseball, food and fellowship...it's an
All American thing
even if the food is Japanese! :-)


Sunday, August 14, 2011

take me out to the ball game...


I had a "hot" date with a good friend Friday night!
We went to a baseball game and, even though
the game started at 8 pm....the temp was in the 90's!
Little League has always been a big deal in our city,
but in 2007,our boys baseball team
put us on the map by winning the
Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Not to be out done, our girl's softball team
won their World Series in Oregon in 2009 and 2010.
Two years in a row!
That made history...first time ever that teams
representing the same city had won
their respective Series.




Well, we are going again!
The boy's baseball team won the district
and state titles and, Friday night,
they won the Southeastern Regional game
to advance
to the Series!
Two years ago, our city won the bid to have
the regional championship stadium built here.
It is a great facility and it was packed Friday night
for the final game between Georgia (that's us) and Florida.



All those folks are sitting on a grassy embankment
in the outfield!




Games are six innings long, so during the
3rd inning stretch, the umpires danced to the
YMCA song in the outfield!



As you can tell by the score (we were guest),
it was a nail biter!
There is no zero in the bottom of the sixth,
but that's what happen.
And, then, there was lots of cheering!




After the last out and a little celebrating,
the two teams gathered together
in a huddle to pray.
That was nice to see.




Here are the guys with their championship banner.
We will certainly be watching them play
on the TV coverage...
cheering them on!


And here we are....sweaty, but happy!


It was a fun and exciting way to spend a "hot" summer night!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

number five!

If you look at what my sweet DIL is holding in her hand, I think you will recognize it as a sonogram picture. Yes, grand # 5 is on the way! We found out a couple of weeks ago, but I was waiting for her first doctor visit to announce it here. The baby is due April 5th. Our grandson, the big brother, says it is going to be a boy and his name is going to be "Mater'! If you are familiar with the animated "Cars" movies, then you know where that came from! :-) They are very happy and, of course, we are, too. My daughter is especially excited that her baby, due in Oct, will have a cousin close in age to play with.
They came by the office to show us the picture and at that moment, the only place where we could have any privacy was a large storage closet! :-) But, we didn't care...it was actually funny! The main thing was we got to share in this happy day with them, even if only for a few minutes.
God is certainly blessing us. See I told you we needed a bigger house! :-)

Monday, August 8, 2011

"sew" much fun

A couple of Saturdays ago, a dear, sweet, forever friend came over for the afternoon. She was here to help me make the valances I mentioned in an earlier post. Remember I was going to use the canvas drop cloths? Well we had a good time talking and laughing while our two sewing machines hummed. It was wonderful to get twice as much done! I failed to take any pictures of the process, but here is a sample of the finished products.


Made three of these...


...and one of these...




I highly recommend the drop cloths for a simple, casual look for curtains, pillows, cushion covers, etc. It is a great weight, has nice body so it hangs pretty, it is easy to sew....and it is cheap! Perfect for a nice window treatment for showing the house and leaving if the buyer wants them. And I am enjoying them, too! :-)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

do you know what lirope is?

It's a fancy name for border grass. I thought I was going to take the weekend off from working around the house. After spending almost every weekend for the last 3 months either sprucing up, cleaning up, or packing up...I was ready to rest up! :-) But Friday evening, I told the Hubby..."Maybe I'll rake out the flower beds in the front yard. They would look nicer and, after all, that would make a better first impression for prospective buyers." Never should have said that!!
I awoke very early Sat morning....not my favorite thing to do...and started working at 6:30 am. I was trying to beat the heat. That is a joke here these days...there is no beating the heat, it wins every time! Hubby joined me and decided that he was going to take advantage of having a helper. So, the raking turned into trimming, the trimming turned into trimming some more, and the trimming turned into planting lirope...about 20 ft of it...in dry, dusty dirt.
Four hours later, I was scratched and bleeding, dirty from head to toe and I was soaking wet with sweat...not a pretty sight! Oh, and my nose was running because the dust made me sneeze and sneeze and sneeze again! Hubby finally put his whip away (just kidding!) and I crawled in the house, took a cool shower and collapsed on the sofa....never to rise again until time to cook supper.....well, that's not true, but it sounds good! In the evening when I went out to water (again!), I noticed how nice it all looked and was almost grateful for the opportunity to do it! :-)
An interesting thing about lirope....it multiplies. You can thin it out, but it will just multiply again. Reminded me of the Body of Christ. Through the years, much has been done to try to destroy it .....persecution has thinned it out. But, God's Holy Spirit continues to convict of sin and call people to repentance. God's Word never returns void, so His family is always multiplying. I pray that He will give me opportunities to be a part of that by sharing my faith with others.....and for that, I will be grateful!

"...in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you..."
1 Peter 3:15

Thursday, August 4, 2011

for sale

I haven't mentioned this here, but after 35 years, we have decided to sell our house. With our ever growing family, we need a little more room. Although our nest is empty most of the time, they do come home frequently and it would be nice to have a space big enough to accommodate all of us at one time. Also, I have never had a laundry room....that would be nice.
We have spent the last few months fixing up and cleaning up....that's what all the painting has been about! :-) I have scrubbed and polished and dusted and de-cluttered. The hubby has painted and repaired and landscaped. When the realtor came, she said," it is show ready". That was music to our ears!
On Tuesday, a "caravan of realtors" will be coming by....representatives from the companies who are included in the multi-listing service. So, that will be a big day of exposure for our little place.
I have been wanting to move for a long time. Now, that my Hubby agrees, I believe God has a buyer for us and a house for us to buy. So, I have determined to trust in and wait on Him. We are anxious to see what happens, but we have no deadlines...so we don't have to be in a hurry. I would be happy to know that you are praying for us as we embark on this great adventure. I will keep you posted! :-)