Dancing in a white dress...

I don't know why this thought crossed my mind as I read my daily devotional this morning. My dear mama had two sisters. They were two of my favorite people. Aunt Patsy and Aunt Dixie. The three of them were having tea parties together in their 70's and onward. Delightful ladies. 

Patsy, Dixie and Mary Jane
Angleton, TX-early '40's

Aunt Patsy was the first to go on to heaven after walking the long road of dementia. My mom, Mary Jane, followed some years later after walking that same road. Dixie kept a-going for some years; as mentally sharp as they come, right up to the end. At the very end of her life she told my cousin David, who was the preacher of the family, that she would wear a white dress and dance when she got to heaven. I cry just seeing that vision in my mind's eye! 

This thought got me to thinking. It seems like the older I get and the older my kids get, the more I think of them as brothers, sisters and friends rather than my children. They've always belonged to God, not me. I was just blessed to have them as my earthly family. 

That led me to thinking of how wonderful it will be to spend eternity with all of these people I love, enjoying each others' company and Jesus's company above all. To think, we will love everyone in heaven as we love our children and family, only in a much more perfect way. Jesus will finish the work He began in us here. We will be ourselves, but we'll be the perfect version of who God created us to be.

That's a hopeful vision to meditate on as we navigate the ups and downs of life on this fallen planet. I look forward to dancing in a white dress with my mama and aunties! I hope to see you all there, too! (In the Lord's good timing, lol.)

Look who came to visit. I know, my camera takes terrible pictures at a distance. You'll have to take my word for it that this is a red-bellied woodpecker. I've never seen one around here before. Upon checking my bird guide, I see he shouldn't be quite this far north. Fun to see!

Have any of you seen the movie The Big Year? It's kind of fun for those of us who like to watch the birds. Three guys (Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin) vying for the title of the guy who saw the most birds for one year. There's no prize. Just the notoriety of being the best birdwatcher. You wouldn't believe the lengths they go to to beat the other guys. Ha ha. It's based on a true story. I didn't realize that this sort of thing is on the "honor system". They don't have to take photos. They just have to say they saw or even heard the bird! I kind of enjoyed it. :)

A few ATCs...

The Spring Fairy swap. (Looking forward to spring already!)

These were for a Trash to Treasure swap. (Hope I didn't already post these.) The swap host mailed us an envelope full of paper bits (ephemera, as we like to call it) and we had to make cards with at least three pieces of "trash" on each card. We could add our own stuff, too. 

I believe these are for the January Weird Holidays.

These were also for the Trash to Treasure swap. I must have made six cards for that. (My memory card is all out of order.)

I think that catches us up with the cards. Yay!

Today is Chuck's (Thatcher's) birthday! He's three! I'll be going next door for ice cream cake later, and to give him my presents. What a sweet little guy. I wonder if I'll remember to take my camera!

These random tree pictures are my attempt to capture the grandkids' artistic arrangement of ornaments. I couldn't have done it better myself! :)

Love all of you folks out there!

Have a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with shalom and...

Merry Christmas!

 Thanks, you guys, for all of your kind and understanding comments on my last "ranting" post. Ha ha. I did go back and add a P.S. that you may have missed. 

Winter is setting in; gently for the most part. We're just so thankful when it stays above the teens! What a treat! I even went for a walk outside day-before-yesterday, and I may try it again today. I've done one video workout. I'm just starting back on the exercise thing after a long hiatus. I've seen some pounds creeping back on and don't want to let that go too far! :-)

I just put my birdfeeders out after taking them down for the summer. We had some bear activity in the area, so I thought I should remove them. Hopefully it's safe to have them up now. It took a little while, but the birds have discovered them. Even a few pileateds. It's fun to see them back. Our yard is full of chickens and guineas, too. It becomes quite a deal to feed the barn cats and keep the chickens away long enough for them to eat. The cats are hugely plump, though they tell me they're starving.

I've just put up my little tree and a couple of nativities. I think the grandkids will come over today and decorate it. And then they'll RE-decorate each time they come over, ha ha. 

I'm having problems with pictures loading REALLY slowly today. So, if you see a lot of blank spaces...sorry! I think I'll hold off on more photos because I think Blogger needs some time to fix something. Anyone else having problems? My computer also gives me fits and won't let me get to my photos on my memory card/adapter. I'm sure part of it is ignorance on my part, but I can do the same thing and get different results...so.

I'm mostly up to the same old things. Reading. Currently I'm reading The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter. The weird thing is, I'm not sure if I've read it before! I've read so many bios (and an autobio) of C.S. Lewis and so much of what's in The Inklings I've read elsewhere, it's hard to remember if this might be my second reading, ha ha. Next in line is Becoming Who You Are by Dutch Sheets. This one was given to me by my son, Josh. It's about our identity in Christ. Then I've started The Little Way of Ruthie Leming (and put it aside temporarily) by Rod Dreher. This is a book about Rod's sister's battle with cancer which drew him and  his family back to  his hometown in Louisiana where they decided to stay after years living in Philadelphia doing journalism. And then the fourth in my reading stack is a little book I found at the thrift store called Which Old Woman Will You Be? by Debbie Hensleigh. Subtitle: Do's and Don'ts for Living Your ThirdThird on Purpose. Sounds interesting.

Oh, look. I snuck up on my computer while its guard was down and got to my photos!

Here are some recent cards I've made. This first set is for a swap called Calling All Angels. I, personally, prefer mighty archangels  arrayed for battle, but wasn't sure my drawing skills would do them justice. The ladies on the ATC site seem to prefer cute girl angels, so I decided to do mostly that type. One of these is a guy. :-)  

This swap was called Tea Time.

This was a random-do-whatever-you-want-to kind of swap.

Winter Wonderland...

Open Theme swap...

Valentine/Love swap...

December Weird Holidays...

Starter cards for the Continuous Random Round Robin (CRRR)...

A Collection of Animals swap... My favorite was an unkindness of ravens. 

The kids made library cards so they could check out books from my bookshelf... 

Hazel got a new doggie. This is Bella. You may remember that Hazel had to re-home (as they say) her heeler puppy because he was naughty. This little Yorkie is eight years old. Her owner had to move into a nursing home, so she needed a new home. She's pretty good with the kids, though she has some incontinence problems. Nothing is ever perfect, eh? (Micah has ordered some diapers for her.)

More cards! This was for a Postage Stamp ATC Christmas swap.

A Winter Sweater swap... (This is how I make sweaters, lol.)

November Weird Holidays...

The Postage Stamp ATC Children swap. (Required a stamp w/child.)

A bookmark I made for a RAK. (Random act of kindness on the ATC site.)

Starter cards for the CRRR.

A swap called Cats and Something Extra. 

Adam spent last weekend hauling logs for firewood. He'll probably be back at it this next weekend. Actually, he brought a couple more loads after I snapped this picture. You can never have too much wood!

Well, this ended up being a photo-filled post after all. Just have to trick the computer into cooperating!

You all have a merry month of Christmas!

I'll be checking up on you. ;-)

Shalom!