It's the Little Things.......

-Day 182-I came downstairs all sleepy-eyed this morning at 7:30am & this is what I found in the fridge. Most certainly the little things that mean the most!! I absolutely HATE to have to make tea AND coffee in the mornings when I get up, so this little gift from Jon was extra sweet! ;-) I told him he made 'Picture of the Day' today!
-Day 181- Charlie Bug resting in the kitchen window beside Ashley's flower boquet.

More Summer Days

-Day 180-

Fun Girly Day today......the girls & I met Ella, Alley & their kids for lunch today at Wendy's then we all headed over to the Dollar Theater to see the Hannah Montana movie. Maw, Sarah, Anna & Daniel met us there. It was such a cute movie.....one I could definitely watch again!!
My kids didn't want their picture taken afterwards, but Anna did......so I took a pic for them since Sarah didn't have her camera. Daniel was NOT too happy about it though. ;-)



-Day 179-
After church Sunday & getting lunch all cleaned up, I had to get down to business....more beans to can. The girls are such a big help....Alli was washing them all & picking all the little blossomy things & leaves out before we put them in the jars.

New Books

-Day 178- Sarah had told me about this neat new store that had opened up...similar to Big Lots....but she said they really had some awesome deals on books.....especially Karen Kingsbury & Beverly Lewis books. So, Friday while I was in town by myself with some free time to browse around I decided to check it out. I spent $18 & got some great deals!! Here's what I got....

1.Wanda Brunstetter's 'Daughter's of Lancaster County series (3 books in 1)-$3.99

~The Storekeeper's Daughter

~The Quilter's Daughter

~The Bishop's daughter

2. Karen Kingsbury (2 in 1)-$5.99

~Even Now

~Ever After

3. Karen Kingsbury-Between Sundays-$3.99

4. Gilbert Morris-The Spider Catcher-$1.99

5. Gilbert Morris-Jacob's Way-$1.99

14 Qts

-Day 177- As of last night when this pic was taken, we have 14 qts. canned. Another 7 qts. are cooling in the canner now & I'll probably do about 14 more qts. today before we pick again.

Wow!

I've been on the hold list for this book at our library FOREVER it seems. Finally picked it up Tues. evening on our way home from Sarah's BD party. Started it that night & just finished it a little bit ago & all I can say is 'WOW!' You really MUST read this book!! It will blow away all your stereotypical thinking of God/religion/christianity. Definitely gets you to thinking 'outside the box' & I love it! I just HAVE to share a few of my favorite excerpts with you guys....then you can go read it for yourselves. ;-)First of all Mack walks into the kitchen & sees Papa........'flour flying as she swayed to the music of whatever she was listening to. The song obviously came to an end, marked by a couple of last shoulder & hip shakes. Turning to face him, she took off the earphones.......Mack asked, "May I ask what you are listening to?"

"West Coast Juice. Group called Diatribe and an album that isn't even out yet called Heart Trips."

"Doesn't sound very religious."
" Oh, trust me, it's not. More like Eurasian funk & blues with a message, & a great beat." She sidestepped toward Mack as if she were doing a dance move & clapped.
"So God listens to funk?" Mack had never heard 'funk' talked about in any properly righteous terms. "I thought you would be listening to George Beverly Shea or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir----you know, something churchier."
Papa replies that she listens to everything & not just the music, but the hearts behind it.'

"I'm not that great a swimmer & besides, the water looks pretty damn cold," complained Mack. He suddenly realized what he had said & felt his face flush. "Uh, I mean darn, pretty darn cold." He looked up at Jesus with a frozen grimace on his face, but the other man seemed to be actually enjoying Mack's discomfort.

"Mack, the world system is what it is. Institutions, systems, ideologies & all the vain, futile efforts of humanity that go with them are everywhere & interaction with all of it is unavoidable. But I can give you freedom to overcome any system of power in which you find yourself, be it religious, economic, social or political. You will grow in freedom to be inside or outside all kinds of systems & to move freely between & among them. Together, you & I can be in it & not of it."

"The Bible doesn't teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like & even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own. Life & living is IN HIM & in no other.......You will hear & see me in the Bible...just don't look for rules & principles; look for relationship---a way of coming to be with us(the trinity)."

"There are many who think they are made righteous by following the rules. There is no mercy or grace in rules, not even for one mistake. That's why Jesus fulfilled all of it for you- so that it no longer has jurisdiction over you.***Those who are afraid of freedom are those who cannot trust us to live in them. Trying to keep the law is actually a declaration of independance, a way of keeping control. *** Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse."

"My very essence is a verb. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, growing, dancing, singing & on & on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive & full of grace & turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing & alive dies. Unless 'I am,' there are no verbs & verbs are what makes the universe alive. My words are alive & dynamic--full of life & possibility; yours are dead, full of law & fear & judgement. That is why you won't find the word responsibility in the Scriptures."

And it all ends with a quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning~~

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it & pluck blackberries.

Green Beans

-Day 176- Here we go....headlong into canning season! Clay picked our first bucket full of beans today & the girls snapped them while sitting out on the front porch this afternoon. I got 7 qts. out of this first mess. Then he picked more after supper....not real sure how far he got or exactly how many beans yet....Ashley is still in there snapping. But we have 4 pretty good sized rows & Clay thinks we're looking at well over 100 qts. this year.

Knitted Dust Cover

-Day 175-I finished my little swiffer knitted dust cover that I started on the other day. They say it's only supposed to take an hour to make, but it took me just a 'Smidge' longer......LOL. Not that it was hard at all....it's just that knitting is still a tad harder for me than crochet & so it took a bit more concentration. Now that I've made one, I'm gonna try & crochet the next one.....then I just might go out & buy myself a swiffer. I think it would be really neat to be able to just toss the little dust cover into the wash & put a clean one on. I'm also thinking these might make some nifty little Christmas gifts. ;-)

BD party

We celebrated Sarah's BD yesterday at her house. The kids had a blast playing in the sprinkler & with the water guns, etc. We also had yummy Brownie cake that Maw made plus pink cupcakes, popcorn, tea & lemonade. It was a really nice afternoon!

-Day 174- Heaven forbid...I made them stand still & pose for just ONE picture.....

....and then I told them to RUN! Have fun!!

Taylor didn't want to get wet....she just watched from the side lines while enjoying one of those pink cupcakes. Isn't that a doll-face?!

She also thoroughly enjoyed watching Anna & Daniel's fishies....Zippy & Scooby.


-Day 173-

I had hung the quilt over the line to dry the other evening....it was damp from the kids laying on it after getting out of the pool. Anyways....just thought it looked neat hanging there beside my old green chairs.....very 'country' ;-)

Happy Father's Day

Proverbs 17:6- Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their FATHERS.

Yesterday was Father's Day, but since Clay has to work on the weekends, we are celebrating this evening (he gets off a tad earlier on Monday evenings). Of course the kids gave him all their cards/gifts, etc. last night when he got home. Ashley even baked his favorite cookies for him.....oatmeal raisin. Tonight we are grilling steaks & shrimp for supper. Clay picked these up last week when they were on sale at Food Lion & said that was gonna be his Father's Day dinner. ;-)

-Day 172-

Was sitting outside under my Dogwood tree last night knitting & I saw this little guy in the edge of the field...so pretty! -Day 171-

Just a fun picture of our nail polish basket. Fun fact....this was my Easter basket when I was tiny little...like one or two years old. I LOVE this little basket!

-Day 170-
Last year I crocheted Alli, Anna & Cori matching afghans for their beds....in hot pink, green, yellow & purple. Well, Alli has been after me for a year now to crochet her a cover for this old pillow she had....a couch pillow from our old blue couch. She chose the pink & green so it would match her afghan....so FINALLY.....here's the finished product. It was a pain in the butt, but I do like how it turned out!!

-Day 169-

Beautiful Monarch butterfly!


-Day 168-
Ever since Charlie was an itty bitty kitty, Jon would put him up on his shoulders like this & walk around the house with him. I just realized that I didn't have any pictures of him doing this. He's so dang cute & just seems to enjoy hanging out on Jon's shoulders.

Count Your Blessings

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.


Refrain:Count your blessings,
name them one by one,
Count your blessings,
see what God hath done!
Count your blessings,
name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Was thinking about this little song this morning & just decided to start jotting down a little list of my blessings TODAY.....here's my list....why don't you do the same!!

~Spirit FM-Good music!
~Hubby-several reasons why I'm extra thankful that he's still around after 22 years.
~kids/family/sister....Happy Bday, Sarah!
~Home
~Friends-in real life & my online friends (you all know who you are) ;-)
~Food/clothing
~awesome garden this year
~Our swimming pool....Aaaahhhhhh!
~Good jobs (for both Clay & Chris)
~Health
~Hobbies
~USA-One nation under God!
~Country living....aahhhh, the good life.
~burgers & dogs on the grill....can't beat it for a good ole summertime supper ;-)

The Sword in the Stone

As we continue on our summer movie extraveganza, we're going back & picking some of the kid's favorite cartoon/disney movies. If you remember, I mentioned a few weeks back us watching 'A Goofy Movie'......well, last night it was 'The Sword in the Stone'. Jon & Ashley both were excited to watch this one. They kept remembering this & remembering that.....pretty cool!

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you. P.S. And, remember... If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do NOT attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know!

Now, you have a nice day.
God

Cards

-Day 167-Just a few cards that I whipped up yesterday afternoon for the Summer Scrapfest over at Lifetime Moments. I did these for the Color Challenge....to use Red/Black/Yellow. I just dug through my scrap bag & my stash & started pulling out stuff that I thought would work. They were really fun to make...I got some cute cards done....And used up some of my stash/scraps to boot!

Cake, Cloths & Cats

-Day 166-

Ashely & I made this fresh apple cake last night. I had a few apples that were getting squishy & I didn't want them to go to waste. Think I might make some apple cinnamon muffins tomorrow morning for breakfast. -Day 165-

Just a few of my most recent crochet projects. That hexagon one is a new pattern & I need to get some of the kinks worked out....my lines/points aren't exactly straight....but it's ok for a first try. I'll keep this one for myself. Notice how I use up my yarn scraps...by either making the multi-colored dish cloths or the little face scrubbie cloths.

-Day 164-
Bootsie snoozing on the pool ladder AGAIN. I think this is at least the third time I've come down in the morning & found him sleeping on top of the pool ladder. Today he was cuddling there with Nana. ;-)

-Day 163- The sky just looked so pretty & summery when I came out of Michaels on Friday.

-Day 162-

Our chickens.....they've grown a bit since the last pictures I shared on here.

-Day 161-

Spotted this deer right out from our garden the other night.....it was just about dusk & rainy too....but you can still kind of see him there & yes, it was a HE.

Green Beans

Several different kinds of lettuce

And our first head of broccoli





-Day 160-

Some more of Alli's creative art work for her Barbies. She designed these Pizza Hut menus.....along with several different kinds of pizza made from clay & painted....table cloths, napkins, aprons for the servers, etc.

-Day 159-

This is so my life right now this summer.....plenty of wet towels & bathing suits always on the line.

Summer Scrapfest

I'm participating in the Summer Scrapfest at Lifetime Moments...this is the third summer I've participated & it's so much fun plus I get LOTS of scrapping done! Just thought I'd share a few of my most recent creations. Took this picture of Bunny the other evening....laid out on top of Clay's truck....just chillin'....it's a tough life. LOL
This is a pic of some of my summer reading....in the journaling I give the title of each book & tell a little bit about it...whether I liked it or not. And for those who are interested.....see the little white daisy flowers......the girls & I picked some REAL daisies & painted them with white acrylic paint, stamped them on cs & then cut them out. I love how they turned out!

I ran across these pics taken back in 1983....the house & the old pig barn. I'm guessing these were taken with my new Canon AE-1 that I got as a graduation present from HS.

Jon let Charlie lick on this tootsie pop one night & Ashley grabbed her camera & snapped a few pics. When I saw these, I immediately thought of the old Tootsie Pop commercials with the owl.....'How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?'

Ashley took this picture for us on our 22nd anniversary before we went out to eat(at Texas Steakhouse) & piddle around for the afternoon/evening.

Jon's Artwork

Just showing off some of Jon's latest artwork. The top picture, he drew & then scanned into the 'puter & is in the process of coloring it. Below it is the original which he used as his inspiration.
He's not too shabby, is he?! He & Chris have been having a blast together.....Chris is teaching him all kinds of graphic design stuff that's he's learned this past year at school. Who knows where this might lead them.

Rest

I read this quote on a friend's blog last night & LOVED it! Just thought I'd share it here with y'all...


'Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time!' ~J. Lubbock

Enjoying the Morning....

Just sitting here sipping my coffee...listening to the birds outside....and the ceiling fan....aaahhhh! I'm TRYING to get caught up here with my Pictures of the Day......I'm up-to-date with taking them, it's just that I've gotten behind with resizing & uploading them. Our computer is S-O

S-L-O-W!!

-Day 158-

Last week, Chris & Jon had heard the blue jays making a ruckus outside, so Jon went to see if there might be a snake around or something. Sure enough, there was a big ole black snake up in the front tree. He took a shovel & carried it off out into the field. Fine & dandy....but later we heard the jays carrying on again & thought the snake must be back....come to find out that evidentally they were trying to teach their younguns to fly & the cats were pestering them. This little guy was in the bush over beside the garden & I guess they were just keeping a watchful eye on him.
-Day 157-

I came down the other morning to find Bootsie snoozing away up on the pool ladder. Too funny!
Then, I guess he got thirsty & decided he needed a drink. I was just waiting for him to fall in!! Why must they try to drink the pool water when they have their very own bowl of fresh clean kitty water?!

-Day 156-

The girls & I met Danielle & Alley at Cracker Barrel for lunch last Friday. I loved the picture that Ashely took once of all the candy sticks. So, not wanting to copy her, I decided to go for the toy shelves along the back wall. I love Cracker Barrel.

-Day 155-

Just a simple pic of the raindrops dancing in the pool.

Barbies, Books & More

Boy, I've been fighting with resizing pics & getting them uploaded for days now......Grrrrrrr!

-Day 154-

A picture of Alli's Barbie bedroom. I tell ya...this child is SO creative!! First of all, she made the little curtains by inserting a popsicle stick in a slotted space, took scraps of white fabric & stitched a casing for the stick, then tied them back with some yarn. She made the bed too & the little pillows. If you look closely, that's not print fabric, but some of the same white used for the curtains....she just DREW the design on there with sharpie markers & then stitched the pillows & stuffed with fiber fill. I crocheted the bed spread for her. She even designs her own Barbie clothes! I'll have to scan & share some of the designs she's drawn up....it's really something else for a 10 yr. old to be doing....I mean she has details down to the neck & underarm measurements, etc. It's really quite impressive! ;-)-Day 153-

Don't even ask......this picture kept giving me fits & I couldn't figure out why until just a minute ago........I guess it never got resized & so it wasn't uploading to blogger. Anyway....I wasn't going back to resize it now.....you'll just have to live without it. It was just a picture of my latest crochet project that I started this past week.

-Day 152-

This is Alli's *new* hand-me-down camera & it didn't have a wrist strap.....so I crocheted her one. Thought it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. I also crocheted her a camera case too. She picked out the colors....the case is brown & turquoise stripes.



-Day 151-

Just some wild flowers that I picked on our evening walk. Don't you just love that little bottle I have them in? I picked that up for just some change at Good Will.

-Day 150-
Some of my summer reading

Let's see, the first one...The Power of a Woman's Words by Sharon Jaynes....well, y'all should know by now, that I've finished that one & LOVED it & would highly reccomend it!!

Miley Cyrus: Miles To Go...Ashley read this one first & said it was a very quick read....I just started on it yesterday...haven't gotten too far into it yet.

The Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter by Lawana Blackwell...finished this one just this morning...it was the second in the Gresham Chronicles series.....Really good books...I've enjoyed these!

The Courtship by Gilbert Morris....this one is still on my 'To Read' list...it's the third book in the Singing River series....the first two were good, so I'm sure this one will be too.

This Side of Heaven by Karen Kingsbury....this is my first ever Karen Kingsbury book & I'm on ch. 14...a smidge over halfway through....excellent so far....will definitely read more of hers!
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs....Haven't even really started this one yet.....just a few pages in, so I can't really say.....we'll see.

And last of all, Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons.....Well, let's just say that I gave up on this one & took it back. I have too many other GOOD books on my 'To Read' list to waste time on that one.



-Day 149-

Storm clouds on my way home from town....heading north on the 29 by-pass

The Power of a Woman's Words

Affirming words from moms & dads are like light switches. Speak a word of affirmation at the right moment in a child's life, & it's like lighting up a whole roomful of possibilities. ~Gary Smalley & John Trent

That's what we must always remember. No matter how frustrated or angry we become...kids are kids & they will act like kids.

Oh, friend, we should never be stingy when it comes to speaking good words to children, but rather sow them profusely. Scatter compliments! Plant affirmation! Sow courage! Water with kindness! Fertilize with prayer!

Give your hubby your BEST.............BEST stands for Bless, Edify, Share & Touch

Learn to greet your friends with a smile. They carry too many frowns in their own hearts to be bothered with yours.

If we feel that we must use our words to exhort or correct a friend, we should be keenly aware that there are most likely areas in our own lives that need correcting as well.

We have the power in our words to make people thirsty to know Christ. It doesn't necessarily come through preaching. It comes through loving, listening & learning.


Mark 11:24- Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, & it will be yours.

Many ancient shields had brackets attached to the sides. These brackets were a type of latch that soldiers could use to lock during battle. When the shields were locked together, the soldiers moved as one force, forming a barricade against the enemy. Alone, the shield was a small defense. Together, they formed a human wall. Do you see the significance? When we lock arms in prayer with others, we are locking our shields together & forming a powerfully strong fortress of defense.

Lord, make my words gracious & tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them!

Meekness isn't weakness....it's power under control!

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.~Psalm 141:3


**Taken from 'The Power of a Woman's Words' by Sharon Jaynes