I thoroughly enjoyed my second Sunday at my new church! You guys must be thinking, "What's the big deal?" but I've been missing this kind of fellowship for years. Especially the "small country church" atmosphere. The Lord has been good to me by leading me to this little church. Today a couple sat in front of me, who I know a little. A couple of years ago I told you about a gal who had an art gallery across the street from my little apartment at the time. We had visited about our mutual interest in art. I also knew that she and her husband were Christians. Today she told me they usually only attend this church occasionally because her in-laws go there. But the Lord had been impressing on them that they needed to become part of a local body of believers instead of commuting to one in another town. We had both gotten this same message from the Lord! She also said the Lord had laid it on her heart to minister to local widows. I told her I would love to be part of that! She is an introvert, like me, and said she always tends to overthink things, like a widows ministry, and make them too big and complicated and then she just doesn't have the nerve to do them. Me too! We found we are quite the kindred spirits in many ways, and this week we'll be getting together to brainstorm ideas for this ministry. I'm so excited! I see many new friendships developing. I had told the Lord I would need a push and some direction to get me involved in this church, and He answered my prayers so perfectly and quickly. Hallelujah! I'm sure you'll be hearing more soon. ;)
Well, I had big plans to include some photos that my computer had refused to upload earlier, but it looks like it's still being balky. So, no photos for now!
We've had a crowded weekend at the RV park, but now it's cleared out a bit. It's been hot and humid this week. Thank goodness the AC is working well.
I guess I'll catch up on some reading. Currently, I'm reading Mere Christianity and I got a book from the library on Wales. I'm not sure how I'll like it, but I'll give it a perusal. I've also been trying to organize my art and Bible notes and get all my little note scraps transcribed into notebooks. These are just little composition notebooks in which I add notes at random. Nothing complex or sophisticated, but I know they're in there when I feel like reading through them. I spent a great deal of time a while back creating an "Idea Notebook". It has a special section for each "area of interest" in my life. It's so organized, and so BIG that I never touch it. I much prefer slim little composition notebooks full of notes in no particular order. It's fun to read them later and find little gems I had forgotten about. :) And they're easy to handle instead of hauling out a giant 3-ring binder. Note to self: Quit getting sucked into trying to do things the way someone else does them. Do what works for your own quirky self!
I think I'm going to go slurp down my purple smoothie (banana, blueberry, raspberry, Super Blend (veggies) and almond milk) and do some reading.
Have a great Memorial Day, everyone!
Shalom!
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Finally feeling like summer...
Looks like we'll be in the 80's this week. Hopefully, my landlord will get the cover off of my air conditioner in case I need to use it. I try to do without it. I don't like the noise and that "air conditioner smell" in the air. Also, I like to have the windows open so I can hear outside sounds.
Okay. An experiment. Will Blogger let me post pictures?
Yes! These are cards I made for a Pointillism swap.
Before I forget, Gretchen, I've been trying to post comments on your blog and I keep getting an error message. I just wanted you to know I am reading and enjoying your blog, but I just can't leave comments for some reason. Wah. ;)
As I may have mentioned (more than once?) I haven't been going to church much since Bob passed away 4-1/2 years ago. I just feel awkward and also, I don't like the long drive to the church we were going to. I just feel like I'll never get really involved if I have to drive that far several times a week. I made that commute enough times over the 13 years I worked in the deli. Anyway, this past Sunday I got my courage up and attended the little Church of Christ right here in Nevis. I really liked it! There were maybe 50-60 people and it's a very friendly little church. I think it's about time I get to know some local Christians and find out how I can get involved. Since I homeschooled my kids and then went to work full-time in a neighboring town, I never really got to know people in my own town. I'd like to remedy that and also get involved at the school since my grandkids will all go there. I'm looking forward to it!
Here's an old 1955 photo of the Church of Christ.
And this is what it looks like now. I found these on Google images. Lots of additions! :)
It's a quirky little church building, which kind of matches the congregation. They have Sword Drills where the congregants race to see who can find a scripture first. They keep track of points because someone is going to win a prize! The pastor is an exuberant preacher of the pure gospel, and has a sense of humor. As the offering basket is passed he reminds newcomers to fill out an information card and put it in the basket, "Especially if your name is LISA!" Newcomers also go home with a loaf of homemade bread, provided by the ladies of the church. It's a very casual group. No airs of sophistication here. Music is the pastor's wife on the piano and the singing of a few hymns. Refreshingly simple. Can you tell I like it? My first challenge will be learning names. Not my strong point, so I hope they're patient. :)
Here's a little nuthatch I made for a swap. The other three cards weren't my favorites, so I'll just post this one.
I babysat Sully, Adele and Hazel today for several hours while Micah spent 3 hours with Audrey at school. It was "Field Day" and Audrey got a first place in the 50 yard dash! Tomorrow, Micah has a meeting with her midwife in a town about 45 minutes away. I'll watch Hazel and Micah will take the two youngest with her. That should be easier for me! If she doesn't get back by 3, Hazel and I will go and pick Audrey up from school. Always juggling kids and schedules! :) Micah's having a hard time with morning sickness so I'm getting back in the swing of helping out with housework to relieve her of some of the burden. I really do enjoy creating order out of chaos, lol.
Well, it's getting late and I would be wise to get to bed. I've enjoyed checking out everyone's blogs tonight.
God bless us every one!
Shalom.
Okay. An experiment. Will Blogger let me post pictures?
Yes! These are cards I made for a Pointillism swap.
As I may have mentioned (more than once?) I haven't been going to church much since Bob passed away 4-1/2 years ago. I just feel awkward and also, I don't like the long drive to the church we were going to. I just feel like I'll never get really involved if I have to drive that far several times a week. I made that commute enough times over the 13 years I worked in the deli. Anyway, this past Sunday I got my courage up and attended the little Church of Christ right here in Nevis. I really liked it! There were maybe 50-60 people and it's a very friendly little church. I think it's about time I get to know some local Christians and find out how I can get involved. Since I homeschooled my kids and then went to work full-time in a neighboring town, I never really got to know people in my own town. I'd like to remedy that and also get involved at the school since my grandkids will all go there. I'm looking forward to it!
Here's an old 1955 photo of the Church of Christ.
Here's a little nuthatch I made for a swap. The other three cards weren't my favorites, so I'll just post this one.
I babysat Sully, Adele and Hazel today for several hours while Micah spent 3 hours with Audrey at school. It was "Field Day" and Audrey got a first place in the 50 yard dash! Tomorrow, Micah has a meeting with her midwife in a town about 45 minutes away. I'll watch Hazel and Micah will take the two youngest with her. That should be easier for me! If she doesn't get back by 3, Hazel and I will go and pick Audrey up from school. Always juggling kids and schedules! :) Micah's having a hard time with morning sickness so I'm getting back in the swing of helping out with housework to relieve her of some of the burden. I really do enjoy creating order out of chaos, lol.
Well, it's getting late and I would be wise to get to bed. I've enjoyed checking out everyone's blogs tonight.
God bless us every one!
Shalom.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
A good day was had...
It was a beautiful, sunny, not-too-hot day. It was the first day in a long time that I've actually felt like getting outside and doing something! Yay!
I gathered up my laundry (bedding, thrift store clothing I just bought, and what little I had in the laundry basket) and headed to the laundromat by 9. I read while my laundry was in process. I'm reading Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. More about that later...if I remember. After the laundry was finished I went for a two mile walk. Longer than I had intended, but you know how it goes. You feel good; then you realize you have to walk all the way back! But, no serious side-effects. I've been so sedentary lately that I wanted to be careful about overdoing. After the walk I went home, had a snack, and then planted some annuals in pots for my deck. That's all the gardening I intend to do this summer. They will beautify my outside spot, and who knows how long I'll be here. The flowerbeds didn't do well last year, so I'll just enjoy my petunias, marigolds and violas! I also worked on some ATCs. So, it was an eventful day for me.
It looks like my pictures are still taking forever to load, so this may be a text heavy post!
My step-daughter sent me a little cash gift for Mother's Day, so I decided to do some thrift shopping. I found a pretty rust colored throw with maple leaves on the border, a cute couch pillow, a baby quilt and car seat cover, (We in the north need one of those and Micah is expecting her fifth in December!) and several cute summer tops. And, a couple of vintage puzzles that will be fun to play with. I'll see if I can upload some photos. Come on uploader!
Nope. Sorry. My internet connection makes me want to pull out my hair sometimes, grrr. I can't figure out why I can get from one website to another, but the uploader doesn't want to work. Hopefully, this problem will go away eventually and I'll try to post some pics of thrift items and book sale booty.
One book I really love is a giant coffee table book called "India". It's packed full of gorgeous pictures and information about India. (Ten pounds of book for 50 cents! Can't beat that!) There was also a Boy Scout Handbook from the '70's that's so much fun to peruse. I got a copy of Mere Christianity, though I already have a copy in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. I like to have a stand-alone copy and I can give it away when I finish it.
The May Sarton book was also from the sale. I had heard about it from a homesteading person on YouTube. May Sarton wrote this book, Journal of a Solitude, in the early '70's when she was about the same age I am now. She was an author/poet who lived in Connecticut. Her lifestyle sounds very much like Gladys Taber's, except that she suffered from depression in the extreme. I'm only about 55 pages into it, but I'm admiring her ability to try and find ways to deal with her depression rather than giving into it. I've struggled with this problem most of my life, though maybe not to the degree she did, so it's interesting to look at her life and read about her thoughts and feelings. And she's very good at putting them into words. I'm still unsure of how deep her walk with God was, though she mentions Him now and then. She mentions listening to Vaughan Williams' Mass and says, "There are days when only religious music will do. Under the light of eternity things, the daily trivia, the daily frustrations, fall away. It is all a matter of getting to the center of the beam." I look forward to reading more. (After reading more I find she has some very "open-minded" ideas about "relationships", so my admiration has been tarnished a bit. But I'll probably read further unless things get worse.)
Some other titles I picked up are:
*Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
*Two picture books about France-Provence and Tuscany
*The Pickwick Papers-Dickens (Anyone read it? Is it worthwhile?)
*Chinese Lessons by John Pomfret (five classmates and the story of the new China)
*100 Bible Stories-nice little one page Bible stories with glorious colored illustrations
*Motiba's Tatoos-Mira Kamdar (a history of an American-born girl's family from India)
*Bible Dictionary
*Eerdman's Family Encyclopedia of the Bible
*A Jan Karon novel
*The Journals of Lewis and Clark
*Treasure Island
*A Shortened History of England-Trevellyan
*A few children's books
A picture sure would be worth a thousand words right about now!
I'll let you rest your eyes now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're enjoying the great outdoors. We're supposed to get record rains on Thursday and Friday. I guess we don't want things to get too dry, right? That's never a good idea.
Shalom to all!
I gathered up my laundry (bedding, thrift store clothing I just bought, and what little I had in the laundry basket) and headed to the laundromat by 9. I read while my laundry was in process. I'm reading Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. More about that later...if I remember. After the laundry was finished I went for a two mile walk. Longer than I had intended, but you know how it goes. You feel good; then you realize you have to walk all the way back! But, no serious side-effects. I've been so sedentary lately that I wanted to be careful about overdoing. After the walk I went home, had a snack, and then planted some annuals in pots for my deck. That's all the gardening I intend to do this summer. They will beautify my outside spot, and who knows how long I'll be here. The flowerbeds didn't do well last year, so I'll just enjoy my petunias, marigolds and violas! I also worked on some ATCs. So, it was an eventful day for me.
 |
| The petunias are called Blueberry Muffin! |
My step-daughter sent me a little cash gift for Mother's Day, so I decided to do some thrift shopping. I found a pretty rust colored throw with maple leaves on the border, a cute couch pillow, a baby quilt and car seat cover, (We in the north need one of those and Micah is expecting her fifth in December!) and several cute summer tops. And, a couple of vintage puzzles that will be fun to play with. I'll see if I can upload some photos. Come on uploader!
Nope. Sorry. My internet connection makes me want to pull out my hair sometimes, grrr. I can't figure out why I can get from one website to another, but the uploader doesn't want to work. Hopefully, this problem will go away eventually and I'll try to post some pics of thrift items and book sale booty.
One book I really love is a giant coffee table book called "India". It's packed full of gorgeous pictures and information about India. (Ten pounds of book for 50 cents! Can't beat that!) There was also a Boy Scout Handbook from the '70's that's so much fun to peruse. I got a copy of Mere Christianity, though I already have a copy in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics. I like to have a stand-alone copy and I can give it away when I finish it.
The May Sarton book was also from the sale. I had heard about it from a homesteading person on YouTube. May Sarton wrote this book, Journal of a Solitude, in the early '70's when she was about the same age I am now. She was an author/poet who lived in Connecticut. Her lifestyle sounds very much like Gladys Taber's, except that she suffered from depression in the extreme. I'm only about 55 pages into it, but I'm admiring her ability to try and find ways to deal with her depression rather than giving into it. I've struggled with this problem most of my life, though maybe not to the degree she did, so it's interesting to look at her life and read about her thoughts and feelings. And she's very good at putting them into words. I'm still unsure of how deep her walk with God was, though she mentions Him now and then. She mentions listening to Vaughan Williams' Mass and says, "There are days when only religious music will do. Under the light of eternity things, the daily trivia, the daily frustrations, fall away. It is all a matter of getting to the center of the beam." I look forward to reading more. (After reading more I find she has some very "open-minded" ideas about "relationships", so my admiration has been tarnished a bit. But I'll probably read further unless things get worse.)
Some other titles I picked up are:
*Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
*Two picture books about France-Provence and Tuscany
*The Pickwick Papers-Dickens (Anyone read it? Is it worthwhile?)
*Chinese Lessons by John Pomfret (five classmates and the story of the new China)
*100 Bible Stories-nice little one page Bible stories with glorious colored illustrations
*Motiba's Tatoos-Mira Kamdar (a history of an American-born girl's family from India)
*Bible Dictionary
*Eerdman's Family Encyclopedia of the Bible
*A Jan Karon novel
*The Journals of Lewis and Clark
*Treasure Island
*A Shortened History of England-Trevellyan
*A few children's books
A picture sure would be worth a thousand words right about now!
I'll let you rest your eyes now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're enjoying the great outdoors. We're supposed to get record rains on Thursday and Friday. I guess we don't want things to get too dry, right? That's never a good idea.
Shalom to all!
Sunday, May 13, 2018
A good Mothers Day!
Micah posted this photo of Sully yesterday with the caption, "Getting ready to play some sweet jazz."
Her brother, Josh, replied, "Nothing sweet ever came out of a recorder..." LOL. Bad childhood experiences.
My kiddos (Micah and family) took me out for Chinese for my Mother's Day (and Micah's). It was fun and I found several options that I could eat. Afterwards, we took the kids to play at a park and took a little walk.
I got phone calls from all four of my sons and sent lots of greetings via Facebook. All-in-all, it was a great day.
I also spent some time at the library book sale on Thursday, but my computer is uploading pictures SO SLOWLY tonight, I think I'll try again later. Right now, I'm tired! Think I'll be off to bed. I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!
Tomorrow morning is the monthly get together for my old workmates. Yay!
God bless and shalom to all!
Her brother, Josh, replied, "Nothing sweet ever came out of a recorder..." LOL. Bad childhood experiences.
I also spent some time at the library book sale on Thursday, but my computer is uploading pictures SO SLOWLY tonight, I think I'll try again later. Right now, I'm tired! Think I'll be off to bed. I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!
Tomorrow morning is the monthly get together for my old workmates. Yay!
God bless and shalom to all!
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Still only 3 walks under my belt, lol...
Not getting in a lot of walks, but I hope that will pick up.
Health-wise, I've taken the simple route (to deal with acid reflux, for any newcomers) and am following a diet that avoids high fat foods, fried foods, acidic foods, citrus fruits, chocolate, caffeine, carbonated beverages, spicy foods and anything irritating like that. After several days I feel pretty normal, stomach-wise. So, I'm going to keep going that way. I've also lost some weight! If I unwisely relax my vigilance and eat something on the no-no list I do feel it, and veer right back onto my course. I don't know if I'll have to do this forever, but it's probably not a bad way to eat. I think I've abused my digestive tract with years of pop consumption.
So, after getting that sorted out, the entire family (me and Micah's family) have come down with bad coughs and fever. I think that's just about run its course as well.
I was feeling guilty for not posting for a while, so I just wanted to drive by and wave, at least.
The only swap I've completed since my last post was called "Invitation to Tea". The subject: teapots.
I just finished reading G.K. Chesterton's Autobiography. I won't say I loved every bit of it. But I do love the man and his witticisms. I would need to have a vast knowledge of English history and politics in order to follow him, but there were many chapters dealing with parts of his life I could understand. I found myself chuckling many times as I read. Here is one part I really liked. Introverts will understand. ;) (You might want to click on the images to make them bigger. Don't get eye-strain!)
I spent almost 8 hours with Hazel and Adele today. Micah took Audrey to school and then she and Sully went to the last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting of the year. Adele was still sick and Hazel just didn't want to go. So, we did a lot of loafing. Well, I did do some dishes and laundry just to help out the little mom, but otherwise we loafed. I got in a little reading and the girls utilized their ipads more than is reasonable, but with Adele being sick, it was the only game in town.
Micah took some photos of the kids the other day. I must have nagged her long enough! Hey, I needed new photos for my sidebar!
I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos of Ravi Zacharias. I admire him so much. He seems to have used the gifts God gave him to the fullest. He's still going strong! He is an excellent apologist for the Christian faith, and I'll probably watch a lot more of his material. I've been watching a lot of this sort of thing lately, but I'm especially impressed with his humility and the loving spirit with which he answers questions from college students. Ravi Zacharias Ministries
A couple of campers have moved into the RV park where I live. Summer must be close!
I'm off to read blogs.
God bless everyone!
Shalom!
Health-wise, I've taken the simple route (to deal with acid reflux, for any newcomers) and am following a diet that avoids high fat foods, fried foods, acidic foods, citrus fruits, chocolate, caffeine, carbonated beverages, spicy foods and anything irritating like that. After several days I feel pretty normal, stomach-wise. So, I'm going to keep going that way. I've also lost some weight! If I unwisely relax my vigilance and eat something on the no-no list I do feel it, and veer right back onto my course. I don't know if I'll have to do this forever, but it's probably not a bad way to eat. I think I've abused my digestive tract with years of pop consumption.
So, after getting that sorted out, the entire family (me and Micah's family) have come down with bad coughs and fever. I think that's just about run its course as well.
I was feeling guilty for not posting for a while, so I just wanted to drive by and wave, at least.
The only swap I've completed since my last post was called "Invitation to Tea". The subject: teapots.
Micah took some photos of the kids the other day. I must have nagged her long enough! Hey, I needed new photos for my sidebar!
 |
| Audrey |
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| Hazel |
 |
| Adele |
 |
| Sully aka The Bubba Man |
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| Sully's always checking to be sure his belly button is still there, lol. |
I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos of Ravi Zacharias. I admire him so much. He seems to have used the gifts God gave him to the fullest. He's still going strong! He is an excellent apologist for the Christian faith, and I'll probably watch a lot more of his material. I've been watching a lot of this sort of thing lately, but I'm especially impressed with his humility and the loving spirit with which he answers questions from college students. Ravi Zacharias Ministries
A couple of campers have moved into the RV park where I live. Summer must be close!
I'm off to read blogs.
God bless everyone!
Shalom!
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