Golf clubs & Art

Michael has been saving his money & poring over the Memorial Day sale papers & looking at stuff online.....and so today Clay took him to Dick's to get his new set of golf clubs that were on sale.

Look at that face! You'd have thought it was Christmas or something. This boy L.O.V.E.S. golf!

***************
I haven't shared any art journal pages in a while & thought I'd share a few of my most recent ones.

'I will hope continually & will praise you yet more & more.' Psalm 71 :14

A little owl that I drew & then painted with water color crayons. I just used a black flair felt tip pen & wasn't thinking about it bleeding when I added water. Also the same pen bled through from the underside of the page too. Oh well.....live & learn.

Just a quote that I found on Pinterest.

I've been reading Joyce Meyer's book 'Change Your Words Change Your Life'.....& it was talking about the armor of God....so I decided to do a journal page. Found the nifty little clip art to go in the center & then added the different aspects of the armor around the edges. 

These last two pages are just a couple of incomplete pages that I started prepping......smearing a little paint on & blotting with a paper towel.

This one, I smeared on the leftovers of that red paint....spritzed some homemade spray paint through a stencil & lastly I masked on those stars.

Praise of the Week

This past Thursday morning Clay was already at work & Chris headed out to go to work only to call me just a few minutes after he had left. He said he was 'broken down' up here at the Corner Market. Seems his car was loosing oil somehow, the oil pressure was low & his car was smoking. Well, here I am at home with no vehicle because Clay had driven the van to work. So, I told him to call Clay & see what he would say to do. I must admit that my first motherly response was to 'freak out' because I'm stuck here at home with no way to go help my child out......But, I've been reading Joyce Meyer's book about the Power of Simple Prayer & so I reminded myself that my first response should be to PRAY! And don't you know, that as soon as I said a quick prayer & calmed myself down, that I heard Amy Grant singing 'It Is Well With My Soul' on Spotify. It was like God spoke to me just that quickly through a song on the radio. Clay told him that since he was just at the Corner Market, to turn around & come back down to Shipman Auto (just at the end of our road) & let Jack take a look at it & tell him what the problem was & then we'd go from there. Turned out to be just a problem with the oil filter which Jack was able to fix for him right then. The other problem was that they only take checks/cash & Chris only had his bank card with him & he asked (again not thinking) if I could bring a check down there. I hated to ask, but knew they wouldn't mind, if I could just drop a check off to them the next morning as I headed to town grocery shopping since I was stuck at home. Of course they said that was fine. I'm just thanking God for not only helping Chris out in that situation, but also praising him for Joyce & Jack. They are such a blessing to us......always seeming to go out of their way to work with us or help us out & I have told them over & over again how much I appreciate that!

 

***************************

 

Continuing to count beautiful blessings.......

 

my blessings from yesterdy (Sunday 5/26)---

*hearing Tim Lee at church...Awesome! * Greg let me borrow his Duck Dynasty Family book * Took Rocky & kids to the Dairy Isle for an ice cream cone. YUM!

 

What are you praising God  for? Share 5 things in the comments below.



I'm Thankful for.......

 

Sunshine * my new swing * carmex * orange Dawn--love the smell * ice cream for dessert * my washing machine * the smell of freshly cut hay * scented candles * music- listening to Michael W. Smith- Our God is an Awesome God * hearing a red-winged blackbird....just SOUNDS like summertime!



Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's Day we all had. I am so thankful for the  family God has given me......my awesome hubby, 5 terrific kiddos, an amazing mom (& pop) who brought me up 'in the nurture & admonition of the Lord', my crazy baby sister that I prayed so long for & my bestest friend. They all add so much joy to my life & I couldn't imagine doing life without them! Thank you, Jesus, for these special blessings!!

 I wish Chris could've been here for the picture too. Also, Sarah & family missed out on the photo session too.....we took these while we were waiting on them to get there.

Sometimes I love the unposed ones the best.....LOL!

Don't be shy, Ella.....look at the camera!

Ella & her sweet kiddos.

Two beautiful best friends.

What a great bunch of kids.

We had such a fun afternoon. And who knew that putting together a vitamin order could be SO hilarious! Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of laughter!!!

Too much 'Woman' talk going on in the kitchen for David to handle.....so he whipped out his trusty camp cot & took a nap on the carport.

After our fun-filled afternoon, Clay too me out to eat at our favorite place.....Texas Roadhouse. I think we've made a new Mother's Day tradition.....going out to eat at supper time. He did that last year & so we did it again this year too & it's SO nice. No crowds because everyone takes mom out for lunch after church.....supper time is MUCH nicer. He also took me to Lowes to show me what he wanted to get me for Mother's Day. This cool swing/glider.....he just wanted me to choose which style I preferred.

So, here's my new Mother's Day swing. He & the boys  went & got it for me Monday & the boys put it together for me.....Monday evening...IN THE DARK, no less. They were so proud....said they wanted me to be surprised when I got up Tuesday morning & saw it. Aren't they sweet?!

Alli & Rocky hi-jacked my new swing yesterday.

Rocky absolutely LOVED being outside with us & he was really good....staying right there on the swing with Alli. I know this is something I will really enjoy this summer....a very thoughful gift indeed. I feel truly blessed!

Busy Week

Tuesday was Homecoming Day for Ashley. I left home in the midst of an everlovin' DOWNPOUR just praying that God would let it be done by the time I got to town & had to load all her stuff......& don't you know that He did just that. Now, it was still gray & overcast, but not a drop of rain fell while we packed. PTL! Of course, it stormed & even hailed here at home.....but not in Lynchburg.

Ashley really did enjoy her semester of livning on East.

Overlooking the Vines Center

Leaving East Campus....heading home. We got home Tuesday night about supper time. Picked up some Vitos pizzas on our way in to celebrate the end of another school year & Ashley-girl coming home. She was so exhausted that she was in bed by 10pm that night & slept for 13 hours! I knew she needed her rest!! Wednesday was low-key....just hanging out, resting, playing catch-up on the laundry & doing some unpacking.

Thursday was a Girly Day Out. We met Aunt Vada, Linda, Faye, Maw, Sarah, Anna & Daniel (the only boy....poor buddy) for lunch at the Depot Grille in downtown Lynchburg. This seems to have become a tradition of ours whenever Aunt Vada comes to visit.

'The Sistas'---Faye(sister-in-law), Maw, Vada & Linda

Sarah, Faye,Ashley, Maw, Daniel, Anna, Vada, Alli & Linda

My two beautiful girlies.

The girl cousins.....Alli, Anna & Ashley.....all 'A's.

After lunch, we headed over to the Farm Basket for a little shopping........& exploring in the creek. This also seems to be a tradition whenever Aunt Vada comes to visit. And we ended the day with ice cream treats at McDonald's. I love fun days like this & thank God for family to share the fun times with! What a great start to a wonderful summer!

Grounding

I've been reading lots of articles lately about the benefits of going barefooted & then Maw sent me another interesting one last night by Dr. Mercola. You can check it out HERE & learn more about Earthing/Grounding. So after reading that, I just wanted to say, 'Here ya go, Maw.....I took a walk outside today in the WET grass & dirt.'

I must say that it felt really good....

I felt a little bit like Lucy traipsing around outside in the damp sprinkles.

Big, flat, muddy, wet rocks......

I really should do this more often.....no matter the weather. It's just a nice energizing break to get outside & go take a little walk. Now, I think I'm gonna make myself a nice cup of coffee & finish folding up all this clean laundry.

Happy Monday!

O.M.G......aren't these just the happiest, sunniest grannies you have ever seen?!

Makes me want to dig up all shades of yellow & start hooking me some grannies!

And these skulls.....I'm thinking Halloween treats here. If you'd like to see some more yummy hookiness hop on over to Fiddlesticks & have a look around. You can find the pattern for these cute skulls HERE.

Talk about a 'Happy Meal'

It's funny, but after keeping my list of Happy Gratitudes yesterday, I fell asleep last night thinking of even more. Rocky was full of himself at bedtime last night. He usually likes to snuggle in the bed between Clay & I....just for a while.....while we're reading & whatnot, then he hops down & goes to sleep UNDER our bed. But like I said, he was FULL of himself & wanting to play last night. I got to laughing so hard at Clay & Michael trying to play 'Keep Away' with Rocky.....with one of Clay's stinky socks all rolled into a ball. It was so funny & I was making a mental note thanking God for laughter.....for my family....& again, for our Fur Babies that bring us so much joy! And after things settled down......I was thanking God for the smell of fresh clean sheets that had been dried in the sunshine. Oh, the little joys He gives us each day!

 

Another 'Happy' was this past Tuesday we celebrated 'Punch Appreciation Day' at Maw's house. Just a kind of 'End of the school year/happy spring/just because we wanted some of Maw's punch & needed a reason to get together' kind of party. Sometimes kids & grown-ups alike just NEED to get together with their 'sisters' & fellowship. Anyways....that was a 'Happy' in & of itself, for sure. But Alli & I experienced another 'Happy' too when we hit the McDonald's drive-thru for a quick lunch before we got to Maw's house. You know how most McDs these days have the two speakers for more effecient ordering.....well, I was behind another van & placed my order in the second speaker. I guess they just kind of got things screwy inside, but I realized that the total they told me at the speaker was not quite the same as what the girl told me at the window. So, I checked my receipt & realized that I had just paid for an order that wasn't even ours. Granted I had only paid .79 too much, so I wasn't going to quibble over that. I just wanted to make sure we got the right food. So, when I told the guy at the window, he was really nice about it. Gave us OUR food & took my card to correct the mistake & asked me to pull forward while they fixed it. In a minute the girl brought me my credit card & the receipts where they had fixed the mistake. She apologized & wished me a good day & went on back inside. When I looked at the receipt, I realized that they didn't just credit me back .79.........but they refunded the WHOLE price. So, we got our lunch for FREE that day! I just told Alli, 'Thank you, Jesus, for a real 'Happy Meal'!! Don't you just love it when He sends little unexpected blessings like that our way?!

What are you grateful for?

I had reason this morning to start a Gratitude List. So, I kept a scrap of paper handy throughout the day & made a point to jot down things that I was grateful for/made me happy.

 

Here's my list:

*morning coffee*bare feet in the freshly mown grass*being able to hang my clean sheets on the line today*Nickel Creek*art time*

*paint on my hands*my boy sharing the leftover Manwich with me for lunch*

*Banana bread.....warm out of the oven*talking to my college girl*'Amazing Grace'--Chris Tomlin*my fur babies....Charlie & Rocky....they bring so much joy each day*

*Homemade pizzas for supper*comfy jammie pants* a nice cup of hot tea*

*my jar candle glowing in the otherwise dark kitchen.....love the smell too!*

Artsy-ness

Goodness, I need to 'Catch Up' again.....seems to be the story of my life. Oh well. To start off, I thought I'd share a few of my artsy projects. A couple of art journal pages & a card. This first one was done in honor of our dear friend, Darla, who went home to be with Jesus a few weeks ago. She loved butterflies & the 'New Life' they represented.......so that's why I chose to use the butterflies on this page.....in honor of the new life she has now in heaven.

A few weeks ago, Clay & I went to see 'Tarzan' at the LU Tower Theater. Such a fun date night with my hubby. I saved the play bill & cut out the letters for my art journal page & also cut out Tarzan. I copied the jungle trees from the cover of the play.....sketched them & then painted the trees & background. Added my cut-outs & then journaled about our evening.

My cousin is getting married today & this is the wedding card I made for them. They had the most awesome/unusual wedding invites. I really loved all the little details & so I decided to save the invitation & I took the whole bloomin' thing apart & recycled everything into this card.  I used everything from the map of the area (as my background) to the Baker's Twine across the top.