Moving along with the "times"...

or some of them, at least!
I have now moved into the new "electronic" era. I have a "Smart phone"!
Not sure how smart that is on my end but I am brave enough just to jump out there and "do it"!
Got it Saturday with Mike's and our son, Bill's supervision. The salesman, Phillip even gave me his e-mail address in case I have questions.
To be honest, I'm not even that far along to know what questions to ask!
Bill called me yesterday to ask how I was doing with it. I had to tell him that I had not even turned the thing on!
Let's just hope I remember how to answer any calls I may receive today while I'm out!

A little taste of Spring!

What a glorious preview of the coming Spring!
Who would have ever thought we could eat outside on the porch, sit and read...
yes!...and take a lovely nap...all, at the end of January?
It was truly a glorious afternoon!

Good advice

"Do what you should do,
when you should do it,
whether you feel like it or not."

Thomas Huxley

"Re-Kindle"

"Re-kindle"...
This was the word the Lord spoke to me the other day.

The word "kindle" means "to set on fire, ignite, to arouse or excite(interest, feelings)
make bright, to catch fire; start burning...."

Re-light that fire..."fan into flame..."

Three scriptures came to mind.
2Timothy1:16..."stir up the gift of God which is in you..." NKJ
"fan into flame the gift of God which is in you..." Message Bible

Romans 13:11..."it is high time to awake out of sleep..." NKJ
In the Message Bible it says..."But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God....Be up and awake to what God is doing!"

Jude 1:3..."contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints..." NKJ
Message..."fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish."

It is so easy to get caught up in our daily routines. We get tired and then don't want to even think about anything. We may turn on the TV to get "lost" in a program or grab a book and do the same.

The day after hearing this word, an article popped up in one of my e-mails..."Self-discipline"!
Wouldn't you know it!
God always meets us where we are and then takes us a step further.
I took His instructions to me as a loving reminder that, yes, indeed I had areas in my life that needed attention.

I need to discipline myself and as I begin being diligent to do this, desire will follow and then delight!

If you've lost your zeal, your passion, your delight, begin to stir yourself up...think about all your blessings, think about all the ways the Lord has blessed you through the years...what has He done for you, etc. Think on these things.
And let the memory of these precious acts of love toward you start to "re-kindle" your heart.

Something to think about!

"The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection
of his own face.
Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it
is a jolly, kind companion;..."

William Thackeray, Vanity Fair, 1847-48

OOPS!

Here are a few other pictures of the various countries ending with the fireworks!

Left out Italy, Germany, and France! It really was a whirlwind "world" tour!

Here are nine pound lemons we saw on the Land Tour. Pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, etc.

growing quite differently than our "plain" gardens!

Another World

Last Friday was our adventure day in the land of Disney, in the "province" of Epcot.

We arrived by shuttle and made our way through small seas of mankind arriving at various countries and yes, even outer space!

We visited Canada, rode in a Viking ship in Norway, nearly tumbling down a huge waterfall. Trolls of all shapes and sizes threatened us but we survived!

We went to Mexico and feasted on a delicious Mexican fare, visited Japan, China, France, Great Britain, and Morocco. We braved rain and wind but only for a short time.

We boarded a space shuttle and went to Mars. Believe it or not I was the Commander but unlike other commanders I flew the mission with my eyes mostly closed! Guess it was a miracle that we made it!

We feasted at the Coral Reef with a huge aquarium that housed sharks and other fish. Beautiful!

We even saw Crush and he talked to us, Dory was there too. Then after his show we went in to see all the other aquariums...beautiful! Such magnificent colors! Wow! God never ceases to amaze me!

The "trip" ended with the most awesome fireworks and then we rushed to find our shuttle and after 11 hours we made it back to our hotel! Whew! What an exciting day!

Epcot Beauty!

More pictures tomorrow!

Florida Fun

Have been in Florida since Thursday with Mike, Bill and Brittany! Spent around 11 hours at Epcot yesterday! Wow!
Great fun inspite of some showers and cooler temps! Awesome fireworks last night and then family time with our family who lives in Florida this afternoon and evening!
Mike's parents were down as well as one of my sisters, her husband and son and daughter-in-law and our brother-in-law's family.
Had a really nice wedding reception for our nephew and his wife and Parker's 1st b'day party!
Has been a great trip and now I'm ready to come home and welcome more SNOW!!!!!
FL pics later!

Something to chew on...

"The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness.
God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as human life trying to be godly."

Oswald Chambers, Utmost For His Highest, June 28

Winter Birds

Aren't they adorable?

Ventured out!

Got out of the house today...barely!
The road in front of our house is still very icy! We don't have the advantage of our other neighbors in building up momentum to make it over the hill.
I found myself sliding toward our neighbors' driveway but just kept talking to "Betsey-Girl",
telling her she could make it and she did!
Made it to the bank, the post office and thought about grabbing Chick-Fil-A but wasn't really ready to go back home so I headed over to Rea Rd and Trader Joe's.
Such a nice outing!
Then I started praying to be able to get back in our driveway and I did!
So good to get out after being in for three days!

"Sparklely"

SUNSHINE!!!!!!!!

Yippee! Sunshine! We have sunshine!
I'm watching the sun shine through the glassy, "sparklely"(yes I know this isn't really a word but that's how the trees REALLY look!) trees and it has such a bejeweling affect! It's simply gorgeous!

I do believe I will be able to get out tomorrow!

Oh and for the record...two feats yesterday...I exercised and got the spare bedroom done!

Why is it that I put off the treadmill , knowing that when I make myself get on it I really feel so alive! It sure drives the " little black clouds" away!

Enjoy the beauty of this gloriously shiny day!

The Snowy Day!

This was yesterday afternoon. It was snowing like crazy! Now everything is just frozen!

It's calm and peaceful outside; still is cloudy and quite cold!

Who knows when we'll get out again! :)

Oh, and for the record....no great or even little feats were accomplished yesterday. I was quite lazy!

Today will be different!

Let it snow...

let it snow, let it snow!

Wow! Our second snow of the winter! Love it!

But why is it that even though I have so much to do inside, all I want to do is sit and watch it?

I go from room to room, window to window and door to door...just to watch it!

Hopefully I will accomplish some great feats today, or at least one small one.

But whatever, I'm going to enjoy the beauty of the Lord and this lovely fluffy gift!

A Wonderful "Grand" Afternoon

Yikes! The gang's all here! What should we do? RUN! :)

This is what a typical "Grand" visit to Papa and Granggie's looks like!

Happy Birthday Elliott

Elliott, one of our five grandsons, turned 9 today! What a precious, unique gift is he!

We love you Elliott!

Book Club

"A wise man will select his books, for he would not wish to class them all under the sacred name of friends. Some can be accepted only as acquaintances. The best books of all kinds are taken to the heart and cherished as his most precious possessions. Others are to be chatted with for a time, to spend a few pleasant hours with, and laid aside, but not forgotten."

John Alfred Langford (1823-1903)

Tonight we will toast, "prohibitionally" the New Year in the Illustrious Literary Society!
We will toast to our friendships and the joy of sharing a love of reading and a love of good books!

The Gift

Have you ever received a gift from someone, someone that you dearly love and it just wasn't quite "you"? The gift, you know, was an act of love and also a sacrifice on the givers' part.

Well this is my gift. Three of my Treasures went in together to purchase it. Two of them along with one's daughter, went out to buy it for me for Christmas.

They were so excited about it on the day I brought them home for a small Christmas party and couldn't wait for me to open it.

I exclaimed it's uniqueness which it is. "Do you like it?" they asked. "I love it I said."

To be honest, I wasn't exactly telling the truth but I made over it and made over them.

We had a lovely party and after a few hours I took them home to their assisted living.

I came back and put the vase in the china cabinet and it would only fit on the shelf below which is totally closed in.

I went about the days, the celebrations of Christmas, practically forgetting the vase. The vase is modern; I'm old-fashioned.

Had taken the vase out when I put away some of the nativity and there it sat on my table. I thought to myself..."where will I ever put this?"

Then yesterday when I went back to visit them, they asked if I had put flowers in it yet. I said that I had not but that I was going to the store after leaving them and would buy flowers for it then.

Yes, I was going to the store but hadn't really planned on buying flowers until they asked about the vase. So, as you can now see, beautiful irises grace this unique vase and now this vase has a place of honor in our home but especially in my heart. I've actually put it in my bathroom that I've been working on for a while. Am making it into a feminine "get-a-way" even though it's very small. Have had my chandelier, my small chandelier for several years now and this winter I'm tackling the awful popcorn ceiling...removing it and am hoping to tile the floor and repaint.

I actually do like the vase that now sits in the corner of my vanity. It makes my bathroom "pop"! But now mostly it reminds me of three very dear friends who I dearly love and who truly love me.
And yes, I will make a point to always have fresh flowers in that special vase.

A winter morning

What a greeting this morning! The sky was so lovely! I "heard" that old saying, "red sky at morn, sailors take warn. Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

Could it be that more SNOW is on the way?????

Sure has felt like it most of the day.

"Not too late"

"Come away with Me. Come away with Me.
It's never too late; it's not too late, it's not too late for you.
I have a plan for you. I have a plan for you.
It's gonna be wild! It's gonna be great; it's gonna be full of Me.
Open up your heart and let Me in.
Open up your heart and let Me in."

This is a song that Jesus Culture does. It's God singing to us...to you.

It was a song I needed to hear today. As I'm unwinding from all the holidays, I've "felt" a bit tired...well maybe more than a bit. Then I began to start feeling a bit "older" and it's not a feeling I want to feel! Then I had thoughts of "hibernating". You know, thoughts that I would just like to curl up with some books, old movies, and stay home. I must say I was beginning to feel a bit dull!
THEN...this song!
Wow! I took it as God singing to me...reminding me that He had a plan for me...that it was going to be wild! great! exciting! and full of Him!
All that yucky dullness just started falling off of me and I am feeling quite alive...again!

This song....perfect timing as God always is right on time...right there with what I need.
And just to fully awaken me...us, our Pastors have called for a church wide time of prayer and fasting for the month.

2011...well, it's gonna be wild! It's gonna be great and it's gonna be full of God!
Don't miss it!

PS... check out the song by Jesus Culture on the web! "Come away with Me"
Just close your eyes and "hear" God singing it to you!
Open up your heart and let Him in.......

New!

"The old year departed, how swiftly it flew
'Tis gone, and with rapture we welcome the new.
We trust a bright morning will dawn on your eyes,
And sunbeams unclouded illumine the skies.
Then wake from your slumbers, our serenade hear,
We wish you a happy, a happy New Year!"

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