" 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.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

He is alive!


google image



Alive
by Natalie Grant


Who but You
Could breathe and leave a trail of galaxies
And dream of me?

What kind of love
Is writing my story till the end
With Mercy's Pen?
Only You.

What kind of King
Would choose to wear a crown
that bleeds and scars
To win my heart.

What kind of Love
Tells me I'm the reason He can't stay
Inside the grave

You.
Is it You?
Standing here before my eyes
Every part of my heart cries.

Alive, Alive
Look what Mercy's overcome
Death has lost and Love has won!

Alive, Alive
Hallelujah, Risen Lord
the only one I fall before

I am His
because He is
Alive.

Who could speak
and send the demons back from where they came
with just one name?

What other heart
would let itself be broken every time
until he healed mine?

You. Only you
could turn my darkness into dawn
running right into your arms

Alive, alive
Look what Mercy's overcome
Death has lost and Love has won!

Alive, alive!
Hallelujah, Risen Lord
the only one I fall before

  I am His
because He is

Emmanuel, the promised king
the baby who made angels sing
son of man who walked with us
healing, breathing in our dust

The author of all history
the answer to all mysteries
the lamb of God who rolled away
the stone in front of every grave.


Alive, alive
Look what Mercy's overcome
Death has lost and Love has won!

Alive

  I am His
because He is
alive

Alive

 
Happy Easter!


Thursday, March 28, 2013

today's gifts







Here are a few of the things I am grateful for today:

171. signs that spring is just around the corner
172. shopping trips with people I love
173. finding just what you are looking for at the FIRST store!
174. getting to watch the grandboy play soccer
175. a handy hubby! :-)
176. fresh pineapple...oh my goodness!
177. Netflix... I really do like having access to so many options
        (and it is a bargain for $8 a month!)
178. the aroma of banana nut bread baking
179. Sleepy Time tea...so comforting!
180. having178 with 179!


With praise and thanks they sang this song to the Lord:
"He is so good"!!
Ez.3:11

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

the birthday girl


 Twenty six years ago on a Friday afternoon,
 our daughter was born. 
By the time she came along, they were doing sonograms 
and telling expectant moms whether they were
 having a boy or girl. But since we had to "wait to see"
 with our two boys, we decided to
be surprised. And SURPRISED we were!
I could hardly believe my ears, when the doctor said,
"You have a little girl!"
My throat choked up, my eyes filled with tears 
and I could not speak for a moment.
When I could, my first words were...
"Praise the Lord!"
I have been praising Him for her ever since!


 She has been a joy and delight.  
She has brought us to tears...
with her humor and with her beautiful singing.


She has made us proud with her accomplishments
and her excellent choices.
 

She works hard, plays with enthusiasm,
serves with a loving heart, gives generously,
loves genuinely and is always up for an adventure!


She loves her Lord, her family, the beach, good coffee,
most anything chocolate (especially M&M's!),
pretty dresses, a good pair of jeans, all kinds of shoes
 (except flip flops!),
fried shrimp, chicken parmigiana, a good steak, and diet coke.
She loves to sing, ride horses, watch movies, bake bread,
 be creative...on the computer or with her hands,
 and to make people laugh!


I am so grateful God chose to bless us with her!
I am also grateful that Jesus lives in her heart
and that she loves Him first...above all else!
We were the first to love her, but now she is loved by many!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl! 
I love you very much!



Monday, March 25, 2013

Re-Do # 4


Our home was built in1954. So, as you probably know,
 that means the closets were small. When the hubby and I
 moved in (1976),... since it was just the two of us...
 that didn't really matter so much
But, then the children came along
 and the closets filled up fast!
So, we bought an old oak wardrobe for Hubby
 to hang his clothes in. (Notice who got the closet!)
After about ten years, we added a master bathroom
 and a walk-in closet. I was debating what to do
 with the wardrobe, when it occurred to me 
 that we could use it as a food pantry
 (to replace the small one I talked about in the re-do #3 post). 
So, Hubby took the centers out of the doors
replaced them with chicken wire, and added shelves.
This is what it looked like:



 It served us well in that capacity for another 15 years. 
Part of our recent remodel was adding a pantry, so once again
this piece of furniture was obsolete. 
I was on the verge of selling it, when I decided it would make 
a nice cabinet to store DVDs, videos, and games.
So, once again, Hubby re-did the doors. This time,
he removed the wire and replaced it with bead board.
I sanded it and used a stain/polyurethane combo
to make it black to match the coffee and sofa tables.
Voila...the finished product!


I won't talk about the pain and suffering that the process
caused me...I'll just say I am pleased with the result! :-)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

an old stand-by







Here's a dish I have been making for years. It's from the cookbook compiled by the ladies in the church we attended for 25 years. Many of my go-to recipes are in that book. As a matter of fact, I use it so much, it is tattered, stained, and falling apart! I really need to transfer my favorites onto recipe cards and put them in my recipe binder. Anyway, I digress.....the recipe! I like it for three reasons...it's easy, it's tasty, and the ingredients are all things I typically have on hand. 

So, here it is...

Five Spice Beef and Rice

1 lb ground beef
1 med onion (or 1/4 cup minced onion)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can (16 oz) can diced or crushed tomatoes
1/8 tsp oregano, parsley, basil, garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste (pepper is the fifth spice!)
1 cup uncooked rice
1 bag (8 oz) grated cheddar cheese

Cook rice according to directions. While rice is cooking, brown ground beef and onion in large skillet. Drain. Return to skillet. Add soup, tomatoes, and spices. Simmer for 20 min. Remove from heat. Add cooked rice and cheese (recipe says to top dish with cheese, but I have started mixing in it and like it better). Pour into 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

I made it this week and it was as good as always. I appreciate a recipe that is reliable! :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!





Thursday, March 21, 2013

food, laughter, and inspiration!


We are blessed to have a wonderful Christian crisis pregnancy center/ adoption agency ministry in our middle Georgia area.
Each spring, for the last eight years, Covenant Care Services sponsors A Ladies Night Out. There's food, door prizes, laughter and inspiration. It is always a good time!

What makes it especially nice for us at our office is that our boss, the Doc, buys our tickets! He does this every year...to support the ministry and to bless and encourage us!

The decorations were cute and the goodies were tasty!



 Momentos from a christening. Don't you know that was a happy day for that adoptive family?



A scrapbook of some of the successful adoptions made possible through Covenant Care.
 

They had great door prizes... donated by businesses in our area. 
 

The speaker was so funny we laughed til we cried!! She was also very gifted musically and shared from a heart of strong faith.


I had friends from church there, too. 
We are all in the same Sunday School class.


Here's our office group. That's my daughter in the middle. 
We are blessed with sweet co-workers!


 Love my girl! So glad we got to do this together!


Proverbs 17:22 says,"A merry heart does good like a medicine." We were certainly merry tonight!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

let's hear it for shutters!


I love shutters. I have always loved shutters. I had short ones in my former living room. I have them in my kitchen window and, until about 3 years ago, I had them in one bathroom. Yep, I love shutters!

In the last few years, I discovered plantation shutters. I have seen them in magazines, catalogs, on HGTV and, more recently, in a home I visited. Wow! Now I was really in love! No need for curtains or curtain rods. The windows look so finished, clean, and neat.

So, when we were shopping for our construction project, I asked the Hubby if we could price them. He thought they were a little pricey...but when I told him I would never have to buy curtains again and he would never have to hang another curtain rod....he reconsidered! :-)

Back in Jan, we ordered them from Lowe's. It took a few weeks for them to arrive and Hubby was still working his seasonal retirement job. But, Friday was his last day there and yesterday was his first day as a "shutter hanger!" Thus, the picture above! (one of eight!) Aren't they lovely? I am so happy!  It is amazing how different the room looks!

It is taking a while, but things are coming together. I am so grateful for the space, the wonderful job our contractor and his workers did, and for a very "handy hubby" who is able to do the finishing touches. He is doing a great job and saving us a bunch of money...getting them installed would have cost us as much as the shutters!

The "reveal" is getting close! I can't wait to share it with all of you!!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

azaleas


Azaleas...
what a happy sight!
They bloom in colors varied
And tell Winter it's time to go!
 
Azaleas...
what a lovely sight!
Their hues are soft and vibrant
And announce that Spring is here!

Azaleas...
what a splendid sight!
They nod their heads in worship
And proclaim that Easter is near!



Sunday, March 17, 2013

today's gifts






These are a few of the things I am thankful for today:

161. the blooms on our dogwood tree
162. the patience of God
163. take-it-easy days (rare but wonderful!)
164. friends I can "vent" to and who can "vent" to me
165. my hope in Christ
166. a hubby who will eat almost anything
167. the arms of a grandchild reaching for me
168. the ability to remember
169. projects that turn out the way they are suppose to
170. and ideas that help to "fix" the ones that don't! :-)


"Thank God! Pray to Him by name!
Tell everyone you meet what He has done"
Psa. 105:1



Saturday, March 16, 2013

birhtdays # 1 and # 66


Today is the Hubby's birthday! One year ago today,
he received the best and sweetest gift ever...
Little L!!
 

She is a sweetheart who has brought much joy to 
our family. We are so grateful that she is healthy and happy!
A party was planned for today, but the birthday girl
 and her family are sick. So, we had to postpone.
After all, a girl should enjoy her very
first birthday party!!
We look forward to celebrating soon!!

Happy Birthday, Hubby and Little L!
I love you both very much!


Friday, March 15, 2013

a spoonful of memories


When I was in high school, I was very close to my pastor and his family. I spent a lot of time with them in their home. I babysat their kids and ate many meals with them. On one of my first visits, I noticed her spoon rack. When I asked her about it, she told me she collected spoons from all the places she and Bro Larry had visited.  I thought that was a very special idea!

So, when the Hubby and I got married, I bought my first spoon on our honeymoon. Soon after, I bought (actually I got one with green stamps. anyone remember those?) a spoon rack. It was small and held about a dozen spoons. After a few years, I needed a bigger one, so on a trip to Helen, Ga, I found the one above. It has been hanging in my dining room for...well, a long time.



When I look at it, it brings back a lot of good memories and it reminds me that I have been more places than I sometimes think I have. Lots of places in Georgia and Florida...




 Puerto Rico, Niagara Falls, Nashville, Hawaii, New Orleans, Washington, D.C....



Jamestown,Yorktown, Philadelphia, the Olympics in Atlanta,
Las Vegas, Cozumel, the Bahamas, Key West....and  some other places.


About a year ago, I filled the last spot! I hope my travels aren't over...I have a long list ofplaces I would love to visit. Don't think I will buy another rack, but it will be hard after 40 years, not to buy a spoon to document the visit!

This week, I decided, since my paint brushes were handy and I seem to be painting everything these days, to paint it and hang it over the updated country cabinet in the kitchen. I like it there! 

Hope your weekend is filled with pleasant moments and good memories!


Thursday, March 14, 2013

Re-Do # 3


When we first looked at our house, I loved the big country kitchen. It wasn't untilwe moved in, that I realized I didn't have that many cabinets. There wasn't a pantry, so I had to use two of the lower cabinets to hold food. It made it hard getting to things and hard to see what I had. So, after a few years, I bought this small "jelly cupboard", or so it was called, to be an additional place to store food.




It worked pretty well until our children got bigger 
and I started buying more groceries!  So, it was replaced (that's another story!) and we moved it into the living room to be a place to display my "country" whatnots! When we were give a piano, it was moved to our master bath to hold, well, you know, bathroom stuff! When we put our house on the market, we moved it to storage to make the bathroom look as big as possible. 

When we finished our addition/remodeling project, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it....I had a pantry now, and I didn't really need it in the bathroom. I was pondering it one day, and the Lord reminded me that I only have two drawers in my kitchen and I've always thought it would be nice to have drawers to put my dish towels/cloths and aprons in. How about a small cabinet instead? So, I sanded and painted and sealed it...and added some medallions to make it look a little less "country" and...here it is.... 

It also holds my cookbooks, so I can remove a "not so lovely" shelf that was in the house when we bought it 37 years ago! So, after all that moving around, it is right back where it started...
making things easier for me in my kitchen!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Re-Do #2


OK, furniture Re-Do #2 is done! 
This was the bottom half of my old china cabinet. 
If you remember, our daughter took the top half,
 turned it upside down and is using it as a TV stand.  
I was really planning to get rid of the bottom,
 but then I had a thought.
 So, I (well, the Hubby helped!) took off the
 doors and the hardware...





 ...I sanded it, put two coats of paint and two coats
of polyurethane on it and Hubby put new knobs
on the drawers and made a shelf.
The result...




Voila!! A sofa table!!


As the guy on Duck Dynasty says...
"Happy, happy, happy!"
Happy that it is DONE!!

Next time, Re-Do #3

Sunday, March 10, 2013

mickey d's house

(flowers on one of the dining tables)


It was our turn to prepare and serve dinner at our nearby Ronald McDonald House Saturday night. Three friends and I have the privilege of doing this four times a year. We had the blessing of meeting several families. One dad told us his little 3 year old daughter was run over by a full size truck. Her internal injuries included two breaks in her pelvis and a lacerated liver. He said she was in a great deal of pain, but, she is expected to make a full recovery. Another dad told us this was their 5th trip since Nov with their 11 year old son. He suffers from severe reflux. They were hoping to go home Tues. A newborn, 14 days old, was there because he caught an infection from his mother through her breast milk. His grandmother said, "He is a fighter!"

Every time we go, the stories are different, but the parents are always worried and tired. Even in the midst of their concern and fatigue, they are always grateful and they express their appreciation over and over. Of course, we are glad that they enjoy the meal and hope that it makes things a bit easier for them. But, I always feel that we should be thanking them... for the privilege of meeting them, hearing their stories, and praying for them. 

I am so glad that Deborah (one of our group) had a heart for this ministry and introduced the rest of us to it. It's just a little thing, but I know little becomes much when God is in it! :)

Friday, March 8, 2013

one page at a time


 A while back, my daughter told me about the
 "book page" wreaths she found on Pinterest.
I liked the look and felt sure, after reading the tutorial,
 that I could probably make one.
A few weeks later, Judy received one for her birthday
 and (on January 23rd) posted pictures of it.

That inspired me to go for it! So, about two weeks ago
I bought the chipboard wreath at Michael's
and a book at the Dollar Tree. I used a box cutter to cut 
the pages out of the book. Then I cut one side of the page with a pair of scrapbooking scissors to get a scalloped edge.
Next, I folded the pages (one at a time) and
 hot glued them on the wreath...
starting on the outside edge and working to the middle.
I worked a little at a time, when I had time,
and this morning....voila!
I finished it!



I like the result! It took a little time but it cost less than $5!
Now, I just have to decide for sure
 where it's going to hang.:-)

Thursday, March 7, 2013

and the winner is...


Debbie at It's All About Purple!! If you don't know Debbie, I would encourage you to visit her. She loves life (and her Hubby!) and purposes to live each day with enthusiasm. She takes beautiful photos and loves her Jersey shore! I have so enjoyed getting to know her! Congratulations, Debbie! I will be in touch.




Since this give away is celebrating my 500th post, I decided to choose 5 of my favorite things:

---a DVD by Louie Giglio, one of my favorite speakers, teachers, and writers. In this presentation, he  explores the "indescribable" wonder of our universe. It is eye-opening and inspiring!
---bath gel in my favorite scent (Warm Vanilla Sugar)  from Bath and Body Works
---my favorite candy..Ferrero Rocher...chocolate and hazelnut...YUM!
---my favorite hot tea...Honey Vanilla Chamomile
---and, last but not least, "Silky Hands" hand cream. We sell this at the doctor's office where I work and it's wonderful!

I hope Debbie enjoys her gifts! Thank you to all of you who left, as always, such kind and encouraging comments. Hope you hang around for the next 500 posts!! :-)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

me and my girls


Whether they be by birth or by marriage...


or the "grand" kind...


the youngest...
 

 the oldest or one of the "middles"...


"A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer."
(author unknown)

So grateful for all my girls!!

(Remember to enter the give-away by leaving a comment.
Drawing is Wed. night!)

Monday, March 4, 2013

she's 6!


 She turned 6 on Saturday and we were there to celebrate with her!


It made me happy that she took the time to read
 the card we gave her...every word!!


A pretty princess cake...just what our "princess" ordered!


The party was at Chuckie Cheese...a favorite with our Tenn girls.
Everyone had fun...Little E loved the rides for the little ones!


Big Sister likes the games for the bigger kids.

The birthday girl liked it all!

Her sweet little cousin on her Mom's side of the family
loves her a lot and just wanted to be where she was!

One gift was too big to take to the party,
 so her aunt gave it to her at home.
Our daughter and her hubby found a pattern for an easel
 on line that was too big for a little girl, so they designed
 and built this one just for our Riley.
It has a chalkboard with a tray to hold her chalk,
 paint (which was homemade, too!), brushes, markers, etc.
In the next picture, you can see the roll of freezer paper
 on the back that can be pulled over the chalkboard
 for painting and such.


She loved it! Little E helped break it in!


She is a sweet girl with lots of personality!
She keeps her Mom and Dad on their toes
and keeps us all laughing with her quick wit and her
funny antics. She loves her big sister and is a sweet play mate 
to her little cousins. 
She is a delightful gift from God to our family! :-)

P.S. Remember to leave a comment by this Wed to be entered
 in the give away celebrating my 500th post!