Design Wars Giveaway

Hey ladies check out this giveaway too.  Here is the link;

http://designwarschallenge.com/2013/05/15/dw3-newsletter-issue-4-vote-rhy-prize-pack/comment-page-32/#comment-4237

Unclouded Day

It is an absolutely beautiful day here in the city with the small town charm.  The sun is shining. not a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze is blowing, and the wind chimes are singing in all their glory.  This got me to thinking of that old song Unclouded Day and I started searching the scriptures for a verse that spoke of cloudless days.  Here is the scripture I found in 2 Samuel.

 

 

The God of Israel spoke,

the Rock of Israel said to me:

‘When one rules over people in righteousness,

when he rules in the fear of God,

he is like the light of morning at sunrise

on a cloudless morning,

like the brightness after rain

that brings grass from the earth.’

If my house were not right with God,
surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant,
arranged and secured in every part;
surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation
and grant me my every desire.

2 Samuel 23:3-5

 

 

Unclouded Day

by Rev. J. K. Alwood

 

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

 

O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded sky;
O they tell me of a home,
Where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

 

O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that land far away;
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance thru the unclouded day.

 

 

O they tell me of the King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold,
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,
In the city that is made of gold.

 

 

O they tell me that he smiles on His children there,
And his smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again,
In that lovely land of unclouded day.

 

Yarn Giveaway

Hey ya'll check out the yarn giveaway LOve of Knitting has going on their blog.  You just might be the winner and a person can never have to much yarn.  Good Luck!

http://www.loveofknitting.com/blog/blog/2013/05/31/an-amazing-yarn-giveaway/#comment-7363

Happy Birthday Tami

 

O Happy Birthday to you,

O Happy Birthday to you.

Every day of the year may you find Jesus near.

O Happy Birthday to you

and the best one you've ever had.

 

Sweet niece today as you celebrate your life we wish you a day filled with love, joy, peace, laughter and sunshine as you celebrate you.

 

Love you,

Uncle Gary & Aunt Shirley

My Time

 My sweetie and I have been updating our master bed and bath with a fresh coat of paint, new comforter and curtains, etc.  As you can see in the before picture the window curtains were a dark brown and the cornice box is covered in dark brown with a gold Fleur De Le.  Since we were replacing with Pearl White curtains and I wanted the cornice box in the same white it was going to be a challenge as the gold would show through.  I didn't want to remove the brown since all the padding would have come off when the staples were pulled out.  I had an idea and simply put a layer of quilt batting over the brown and it worked.

Now it had been seven years since I first covered this cornice box and let me tell you it was not as easy as I remembered.  This body is older and has a lot more aches and pains now than it had then.  I spent yesterday morning crawling around the living room floor recovering this cornice box, tugging and pulling to make sure all the wrinkles were out and the covering was fitting snug.  I wanted it to look good!  This morning I felt every ache and pain in places I didn't know I had. 

This got me to thinking.  What if I put this much effort into serving my Lord how different things might be.  What if I made sure that I shared the good news of Jesus with all I came in contact through out the day.  What if I simply gave my time to Jesus and let Him guide me?  Oh how glorious that would be to walk every moment with Jesus by my side letting Him have control of my life, my family, my friends and all I had to do was give Him my time.

My times are in your hands;
deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.
Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.

Psalm 31:15-16

 

My Times Are In Thy Hand

by William F. Lloyd, 1824

 

My times are in Thy hand;

My God, I wish them there;

My life, my friends, my soul I leave

Entirely to Thy care.

 

My times are in Thy hand;

Whatever they may be;

Pleasing or painful, dark or bright,

As best may seem to Thee.

Trying To Get Healthy

My sweetie and I are trying to get healthy so we are trying to eat the really healthy food.  Tonight it was a big green salad with grilled Alaskan Cod.  The salad consisted of lettuce, carrots, radishes, green onions, broccoli, pomegranate craisins, sliced almonds, diced tomatoes and the cod.  It was really yummy!!!

Memorial Day 2013

 Today is Memorial Day and we celebrate the lives of America's Fallen Heroes.  It is a day that we stop and reflect on the lives of those that gave everything they had to give for the freedoms we enjoy today.  It is a day that we say Thank You for your bravery and the sacrifice you made.

 

My Uncle Lindsay was one America's Fallen Heroes. 

I never knew my uncle as he was killed in action at the Battle of the Bulge 1944.  It was men like him that fought during WWII and gave their last full measure of freedom to guarantee ours.

 

Yesterday my sweetie and I went to the cemetery to place flowers for my dad and my brother-in-law as they both served in the U S Navy and to thank them for their service to our country.

 

 

It was a surreal and emotional time as we looked around and took in the beauty of the flag of our great nation flying high and proud,  and all the flags placed for men and women that fought for our freedom and the freedom of other nations.

 

 

”There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:13

 

 

My sweetie and I want to say Thank You to all who have served and are now serving to keep our great nation the Home of the Free because of the Brave.  May God bless each of you and keep you safely wrapped in His loving arms. 

 

Abide With Me

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.  John 15:7

 

All we have to do is ask!

 

Abide With Me

by Henry F. Lyte

 

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, O abide with me

 

 I need Thy presence every passing hour
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be
Through the cloud and sunshine, O abide with me

I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless
I'll have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting?  Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou Abide with me

Be Calm My Soul

 

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.  Colossians 3:23-24

 

My heart goes out to all the men, women, and children that were affected yesterday by the tornadoes in Oklahoma.  Please continue to pray for them and for God's sweet spirit to comfort them as they lean on His strength to get each of them through this time.

 

Be Calm My Soul

by Gloria Roe

 

Be calm my soul, faint not with care

Through burdens deep our hearts would tear;

He is the Lord, all He commands,

He holdeth me Safe in His hands.

 

Be calm my soul, melt not in fear,

Through shadows dark press in so near,

Yet in despair I see His light;

Lead me, O Lord, with wond'rous sight.

 

Be calm my soul, rest in Him sure.

No wave of doubt His words endure;

My longing soul is satisfied,

He now leads forth, my Strength and Guide.

 

 

Love, Mercy & Grace

 

 

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23:6

 

This past weekend was something else.  Saturday morning I headed out to participate in the Exeter Relay for Life and my sweetie stayed home.  We had celebrated his birthday Friday and Saturday morning he was not feeling well.  I think we may have over done it a little Friday as he was still recuperating from the flu.  He called me and told me his temperature had start to spike so I came home and we spent Saturday evening trying to get his temperature down close to normal. I also put out a call for prayer warriors to pray for him on Facebook and his temperature did go down.  Yesterday morning he was feeling worse so we headed out to urgent care in Visalia.  Spent an hour there and then they fast tracked him into Kaweah Delta ER.  During our eight hours there he was on IV drip for hydration and antibiotics, lots of lab work, breathing treatments with the last test being a CT scan.  It was finally determined that he had pneumonia.  We came home with lots of medications and he was able to rest some last night.

 

Our God is awesome!  He had placed us right where he wanted us to be yesterday.  We met another couple who was there with their Mom, 87 years young, who had just found out a couple of weeks ago that she had bone marrow cancer.  While we were waiting we were able to minister to them, pray with them and them with us.  God always puts us in situations and places us exactly where he wants us.  We could have sat there, fretted and stew over what was going on with my sweetie's body, and missed the opportunity God had given us to witness to others.

 

Thank you for Father for your love and mercy.  Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to pray with others and using us as your instrument.

 

 

Lord Make Me An Instrument

by Walt Whitman

 

Lord make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.

O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive-
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

Awesome Day With My Sweetie

Yesterday my sweetie's day started off with a gift basket full of his favorite snacks.  Marianne, Stephen and Awbrey know exactly what he likes!

He was absolutely thrilled with all the goodies!

Since my sweetie was feeling a lot better today we decided to head to Visalia IHOP for his free Root n Tooty, Fresh & Fruity birthday breakfast.

Snap this picture while we were waiting for our breakfast.

 

After breakfast we headed  to the shoe store as my sweetie needed some sketcher walking shoes. 

I like them!!!

 

Tummies are now full, my sweetie has new shoes and we are now off for a day of adventure.  I still haven't told him where we were going and thought I had better do that just to make sure he was okay with the adventure to some of his favorite places on the central coast.  We made it as far as Kettleman City before the first stop of our adventure and that was Starbucks.  We now have our drinks and are back on the road heading for Cambria.  Here are a few pictures my sweetie took along Hwy 46.



Once in Cambria we wandered in and out of several of our favorite shops;Ball & Skein, Wildwood, A Matter of Taste, Heart's Ease, etc.

 

I love going into Heart's Ease with all the smells of the different potpourri and herbs and wandering through their garden taking in all the beautiful flowers and listening to the wind chimes.

It is now time to head down Hwy 1 to Morro Bay for a late lunch/early dinner at my sweetie's favorite restaurant The Dutchman.  Since my sweetie was wearing his new hat we opened the sun roof and enjoyed the fresh sea air. 



 

 Now a visit to Morro Bay would not be complete without a stop at our favorite shop, The Garden Gallery.  We love walking through all the rooms checking out the dishes, candles, place mats, napkins, etc.

 

 We both love walking through the garden area, looking at the beautiful plants and listening to the waterfalls.

 

It is now time for some food as it has been a long time since breakfast and we are both hungry.  So to The Dutchman Restaurant we head for some Fish and Chips.

 

Great view, great food and finished off our meal with a Chocolate-Caramel Ice Cream Sundae.

Tummies are now full again and it is time to head home.  We decided to continue our day of adventure and take Hwy 41 from Morro Bay to Atascadero and then on through the country side as it had been a long time since we had taken that route.  Although the road was narrow and winding it was a beautiful drive. 

 

We spent Friday evening relaxing and reflecting on the day.

 

It was an absolute beautiful and gorgeous day on the central coast and I can't think of a better way to have celebrated my sweetie's birthday.

 

Happy Birthday Gary

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Today my sweetie celebrates his "70th" Birthday and since today belongs to him it is going to be all about him.  I planned several surprises for today but my sweetie has been in bed all week with the flu.  I am really hoping he is feeling much better so he can enjoy everything I have planned as it isn't every day you are "70" years young.  I have been really kidding him this past year and reminding every chance I got that after all he was pushing "70."

So sweetie "Happy Birthday" and may you enjoy today as you celebrate your life!

Love,

Me

Here are a few photos of my sweetie through the years;