They're back!

I watch my son Jordan's church services online. Tonight they had the whole team that had gone to Uganda talk about their experience. They showed a brief video taken at the orphanage that the church has there and there was my son, walking along with all these little kids hanging all over him. :)

Glad he's back safely and that he had the opportunity to have such a life changing experience.

Shalom! :)

Saving Mr. Banks...

I've wanted to watch this movie for the longest time, but was too cheap to rent it through Amazon or go see it at the theater. Imagine my joy when I found it at the local gas station for 99 cents! :)
I enjoyed it so much, and found myself sobbing along with Emma Thompson in various parts. If you haven't seen it, I hope you will!

I babysat Audrey and Hazel for about 6 hours this morning/afternoon. (Mother Micah had a baby doctor appointment. She's hanging in there!) Grandma was getting quite tired after supervising water play in the kitchen sink (for about an hour!) and painting, with acrylics (what was I thinking?). But they are so much fun and come up with the darnedest things to say! We did resort to the TV after a few hours. Sorry...sue me! :) I noticed a couple of knitted potholders in my daughter's house. Sounds like a good next knitting project!

I made a homemade birthday card for Starry when I got home. It's ready to post tomorrow.

And that's why (referring to the babysitting) I felt the need to sit and watch a good movie. Glad I did. ;)

Tomorrow's an early shift for me, so I'll sign off for now. Shalom, my friends, and stay warm!

Finished my swap cards; now off to bed!

I just wanted to "record" my fourth card for the Hand Drawn/Hand Painted Landscapes swap.
Here's a cute photo of little granddaughter, Starry. She'll turn 3 in a few days. :)

Now I'm off to bed. Early babysitting in the morning. Micah goes for her biweekly baby checkup.

Y'all have a great day and shalom! :)

Knitting and painting...

Lots of excitement with Micah frequently visiting the doctor to check on things with baby Adele. She's hanging in there, but this Mama's getting a little worn out, I think!  I did a lot of vegetating today, and it didn't make me feel any perkier. I think I need to get up and move more.

So, the big tuh-dah moment from my last post fizzled a bit. I messed up on that knitting project and decided to just start over and do some simple knitting...minus purling. I've gotta get the hang of that before trying to do both. So, I'm making the classic beginner's scarf from the "oatmeal" yarn I showed before, and this little number will be an ear warmer, I'm thinking. (It's not as wide as it looks here.)

I'm still hoping to finish my latest ATC art for the Landscape swap. Here's #3. I used a photo from Paint My Photo, which is a great source for copyright free photos.

http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/monument-valley-11

I'm feeling a bit blue. I think it has to do with an article that Micah posted earlier today on Facebook about a little girl who died after a car crash. Micah is a certified child car seat safety tech (that's probably not the official title) and she has a passion for raising awareness. But it can be a sad business. It lifted my spirits a bit to work on this piece of art. I think that's one reason that art is so important. It reminds us of the beauty that remains in this broken world. At least, that's the kind of art I like to do.

Time to get ready for bed. Back to work tomorrow.

 Blessings on all of you dear readers and much shalom in your households! :)

Tuh-dah!

This is my knitting project so far. I say "project" because I'm not sure what it will become. Any suggestions?

It took me about 35 minutes to get to this point. I think I would enjoy doing this even if it never became anything particular. It's difficult to keep my racing brain "on task", but maybe that's a good reason to do it. Brain training!

I can see why you knitter/crocheters always mention having so many projects stacking up. I'm already looking forward to the next one! The video below shows something I'm interested in trying. The young lady is rather self-conscious in her presentation, but I give her brownie points for sharing her passion for knitting. (She gives a little tutorial on how to do the basic knit stitch before she shows how to make the cool scarf, or whatever it is.)

It's late, so I'll say goodnight for now and shalom to all. :)

Team Uganda

I just wanted to post this photo of my son Jordan and Team Uganda, so Grandpa down in Texas can see him. Jordan is in the center, back row with the bald head, beard and black rimmed glasses. This photo was taken two days ago. They are an excited bunch!

 I've been watching LOTS of knitting videos this afternoon. I got home at about 3:30, feeling very tired and wondering if maybe I have a bug. Glad I got my flu shot, so maybe that will keep anything from taking a strong hold. But a good excuse to just sit and learn. I think I'm going to try a little k2, p2 on my scarf. I'm making it a little less wide than the sample I showed yesterday. I'll let you know how things develop!

Oh, and is this cute or what? It's a coffee table bunkbed! :) They must be watching TV?

Nathan and Starry

Now for some tea and rest. Prayers appreciated for the intrepid travelers above! :) Shalom!

Knitting, painting and visiting...

Yes, I said knitting! I finally decided to throw caution and perfectionism to the winds and just START to learn. I've been watching this series of videos...



and this gal makes it fairly easy to figure out. Here's what I've done so far.

I will probably unravel this bit and start something a little narrower. In the videos she just does small swatches to teach, but I want to MAKE SOMETHING. :) Impatient me. I think I'll just do a scarf, but I'm going to be very bold and try alternating knitting and purling. I'm enjoying this very much!

I've also done a little drawing and painting. I finished my second ATC for the Landscape swap.

I took my new/old washer for a test run and it seems to work fine. I'm still trying to flush out some dirt that has accumulated in the works from sitting idle. But it actually seems to work pretty well.

I visited at daughter Micah's house for a couple of hours and enjoyed watching Audrey and Hazel. They say and do so many outrageous things. It's good for the soul to be around little ones!

It's time to wind down and get ready for bed. Early morning tomorrow. I do have Thursday and Friday off, so it's like a weekend before my working weekend. We're getting some time shaved off our schedules because it's our slow time of year. I'll take it. It's the closest thing to a vacation I get! :)

I hope you're all getting some warmer weather as we are. Shalom and blessings on all of you!

What's goin' on...

I'm hoping to have a lazy weekend of reading and lounging around. :)

My son, Jordan, is headed to Uganda with a team of 18 people from his church (Open Door Church in Burleson, TX). He was at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport about 2 hours ago. They will land in Kampala and then drive quite a distance to an orphanage that their church supports. There will be children's ministry, and my son will be singing during that. Last time he went he got to help the medical missions team by handing supplies to the nurses and praying for people.

 

They will have a stopover in Dubai on the way. This is quite a spectacular city in the United Arab Emirates.

 

My small-town boy is having quite a few adventures with his church. They do annual trips to India, Africa and Mexico to help orphans that they support. They also do a lot in their hometown with meals for the homeless and a big food bank ministry. They also do their part to try to stop human trafficking. I'm so glad he found this good church to be a part of.

 

Outside the snow is swirling and I'm enjoying watching it from the warmth of my living room chair.

Stay warm! 

Shalom.

Baring our souls...

I was just thinking about how much I appreciate being able to put my dreams out here with no fear of being scoffed at or ridiculed. Many of those dreams may never come to fruition, but it's worth something just to have them, don't you think?

One of my dreams is creating a line of marketable greeting card illustrations. Why do I feel the need to make art to sell instead of just for the joy of making it? Well, I'd like to do both, but I also feel I will need to supplement my income and this would be a pleasant way of doing it. I seem to spend most of my art time writing ideas in notebooks, hoping that I will have time to implement those ideas when I semi-retire. (In maybe two years? Only the Lord knows for sure!)

In the meantime I suppose I should practice! My idea at the moment is to do some acrylics, because they are just plain fun to play with. You can layer them and smear them around and make bright and cheerful designs. I'd like to get away from my usual realistic style and try something more like a combination of the styles of Rosina Wachtmeister (minus the cats) and Van Gogh. Do you see the resemblance between their styles? Child-like, and just plain magical.

So, that's one more idea swirling around in my brain. Meanwhile, here is my latest ATC for the Landscapes swap. I'm not sure I'll get these done by the deadline, but landscape swaps come up frequently, so I can always use them later. I love the little mushrooms which I found in a photo from Paint My Photos, I believe.

I'll be babysitting Audrey and Hazel in a few hours, so I'm off to do some other things that need doing. Hope you all have a wonderful day! It's sunny and bright here and temps are supposed to get up in the 20's and 30's this week!! :)

Thanks for dropping by and shalom to you and your households!

A quote for your day...

 

And now I'm off to work.

 

Have a blessed day!

 

Shalom.

Three new Kindle books...

I really do prefer paper books, but how can I pass up a title for 99 cents on my Kindle, when I would have to pay $3.99 s&h if I bought it in paper? No matter how cheap it was it sure adds up! Plus, I can read my Kindle without a lamp close by in the evening. So, I guess I'm going to take the middle road. Some of each!

Here are the three books I bought yesterday for a grand total of about $3.97!

 

Melissa over at The Book of Common Life had a quote from Through the Looking Glass in her sidebar. It occurred to me that this is a book I want to read "someday". I love the old hardback cover, but the hardback antique version was like $44. I can still enjoy looking at the picture of the cover and read the book for 99 cents. :)

Next...

I have a couple of Tozer's books on my shelves and haven't finished them, but I do like him. I'm a sucker for Amazon's little technique of showing you "other books you might like".

And lastly...

C.S. Lewis edited this book of selections from George MacDonald's writings. I believe it's set up like a devotional with 365 readings. I've read a little of George MacDonald's work. Lewis just loved him, but I don't always love the books that Jack loved. ;) I read Phantastes and thought it sort of "meh". But I'm going to give his works another shot. (I LOVE C.S. Lewis, but find that I have a hard time with his theological writings. I get a headache trying to follow him and give up. I've tried to read "Mere Christianity" several times and haven't gotten very far. But I especially adore his letters to friends and family. And I love his children's books and space trilogy.)

Just finished...

I really liked it. She makes you cry a lot. She said that one lady sent her an email which said, "So much talk. So little said," or something to that effect. I have to say, she is a little wordy. But she spends a lot of time building scaffolding so that when she gets to her main point it has more meaning. I got this one for free back when she had a big free book giveaway. I downloaded 14 of her books! Yikes! Will I ever finish them?

So, I'm sitting home watching a pretty snowfall out the window. Think I'll do some reading and maybe clean a bathroom. You all have a great day!

Shalom to all.

A homegoing in the family...

I just learned from my step-dad, Glenn, that my step-sister, Jill, went home to be with the Lord this past week. We've been sisters since I was 13. She's a little older. After being raised with three brothers I was delighted to have a sister! We had a lot of fun together and she has always been such a kind, non-judgmental and gentle person.

Me, sis-in-law Barb, and Jill

Jill and her son Jason had a wonderful visit with my parents over Christmas; Dec. 20-28. Jill passed away sometime after returning home. She lives alone so the details may never be clear. But I know she wasn't alone really. Jesus was there to take her home. She has loved Him since our teen years when we both came to know Him as our Savior. Prayers are appreciated for my dear dad, Glenn and her son Jason, as well as all of us who love her.

Jill has begun the exciting adventure in heaven. We will see her there in the Lord's good timing!

Shalom, my friends.

Photo album progress...

This is yesterday's sunset behind the evergreens. I liked how the sun was cradled in the trees.

 

I finally got back to working on the kids photo albums yesterday. I had a little pile on top of each album and now they've been put in page protectors and inserted in albums. I've only scratched the surface, but it's a beginning.

A real scrapbooker would gasp in horror at my idea of a photo album. I'm really just trying to get the photos organized and somewhat protected. The kids can do something fancier later if they want to.

 

 I tried to give each of them a sampling of pictures from their youth so they would have pictures of brothers/sister to look at later and show their children.  (This is Micah at her first fair with her pony Frosty. I had a pony named Frosty when I was about 10. Mine was just a little taller.)

 I started off with ancient relatives and photos of Bob and myself as children and teens as well as grandparents.

 Here's a pile of taekwondo related photos I still have to sort through. I'm trying very hard to keep the photo albums down to a manageable size! There will still be a large plastic tote full of loose photos that they can dig through if they want more. Otherwise I will bequeath it to my daughter and she can figure out where to store it! :)

 

 This is my favorite way to enjoy photos of my kids.

 I also have pics of Bob when he was a little boy. That's how I like to remember him. Healthy and happy! I wonder how old we will be in heaven?

 

I hope your evening is a pleasant one!

Shalom!

Just a short post... :)

 

Thanks, Pom Pom, for this little book. I'm finally getting a chance to read it. I think I'll finish it today. It's always nice to be encouraged to use our creative urges for the glory of God.

See the plastic folder under the book? It contains a 14 page history of my life in a nutshell. I wrote it for my younger brother. I'm still adding things to it. We've been out of contact for so many years, I thought it was a good way to get caught up. We visit on the phone, but have problems understanding each other because of static (and old ears?). I wanted to cover a lot of information in a form he can keep, and then we can chat about more recent events on the phone. I'll be sending him updates via snail mail. 

 

Audrey and Hazel made me these sweet little salt dough impressions of their hands for Christmas. Unfortunately, they have dried out so much that they're splitting down the middle. So, I decided to Mod Podge them like crazy and glue them to a cardboard back. I'll trim them after the glue dries.

 I think I've overdone my computer time, as usual, and I'm feeling drowsy. So, I'll make this short and get onto other things.

Have you ever noticed that gnomes never seem to be bothered by the cold? And someone always seems to supply them with a warm bowl of porridge! They must be appreciated for all the good things they do. :)

Artist Kjell Midthun

 I sure do appreciate all of my blogger friends. Thanks for dropping by!

Have a cozy day!

Shalom!

My after-work activities...

It was a slow, relaxed day at the deli. A nice change from the hectic Christmas experience.

After work I bought the ingredients to make my infamous Chicken Mexican hotdish (casserole?).

But before any cooking could take place I must feed the cats.

 

Do you see how many toes this kitten has? At least six that I can count. We have a long history of extra-toed cats around here.

 

 

These tracks were made by our resident crows. They show up to finish off whatever the cats don't eat.

 

And here are two of those six-toed kittens chowing down on leftovers from the deli.

This is the closest I came to a New Year's resolution. I wrote this list a couple of weeks ago. Trying to prioritize...again! You may have to click on the picture to be able to read it.

(Open Door Church is where my son, Jordan, is the worship director. I love watching them live on my laptop!)

Two more resolutions: drink more water and take my multi-vitamins!

 

I've been Googling information on reindeer. Or is it reindeers? They spelled it both ways. I have a fascination with these critters and the people who raise them. This led to a search for images and info on Tomtens/Gnomes. I found a lot of fun images.

I especially loved this artist's frayed rendition of a Tomten.

He was on Pinterest!

 

Artist: Kjell Midthun

 

Hope all is well in your world. I'm off to do some reading.

Shalom! :)