Friday, May 17, 2013

Psalm 90:17...



I was a young wife and new mama when I went to my first "grown up" ladies' Bible study.
It was taught by a retired missionary.
She opened the study with this hymn.
I had never heard it before
and I've never forgotten it since.
I saw the beauty of Jesus in her.
I saw the beauty of God's Word through her teaching.
I was in my early twenties, she was in her seventies, but 
I wanted to be like her, because she was like Jesus.

Lyrics: Tom M. Jones
Music: Traditional

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity;
O Thou Spirit divine, May I truly be Thine
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

Let my wonderful Saviour be seen in me,
His amazing compassion and constancy;
His great love is my goal, By His Spirit’s control
Till my wonderful Saviour be seen in me.

Let the fruit of the Spirit be seen in me,
Grant me grace all sufficient that I may be
True and faithful each day, Ev’ry step of the way.
Pointing souls to the Saviour on Calvary.



still following,

Scripture and Snapshot

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Friday's Favs....Home Sweet Home


There's always something needing repaired or updated.


There's always something I'd like to change,
a project I'd like to do,
something new I'd like to buy.


But, sometimes, what I really need is just new eyes to see what I already have.


A simple heart of gratitude...


a spirit of contentment...


that's what really satisfies.




Discontent robs me of the beauty of now.


Contentment helps me to see the beauty of what I already have.


Contentment turns a house into a home.


I'm thankful for my home sweet home.



It's almost Friday, friends!
Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday
and
a BLESSED weekend!


vintage inspiration button              1aaadoveladygfairy006

Shabby Art Boutique
                         
 
TidyMom photo 100_3353aaabbbb144copy_zps0998a8b5.jpgAdorned From Above
                

Seasonal-Sunday-Teapot-copy_thumb3Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Appliance demons and temper fits...


I think I may be a bit of a spoiled, rotten brat.
There, I said it.
I just read that writers need to risk being vulnerable, risk telling the truth about themselves.
The whole ugly truth is, right about now, I'd like to lay on the floor
 and have a fist-pounding, leg-kicking temper fit.
My day was going great,
until the clothes dryer decided to quit.
Again.

There's some kind of car and appliance demon loose in our house the past few weeks attacking anything and everything.
It's a dog-gone money-sucking demon is what it is.
The dryer breaking down for the second time in two weeks is the straw the broke this camel's back.
I admit it,
I am a spoiled, rotten American, and while my beautiful Ghanaian friends are washing their clothes in a bucket and draping them over a scraggly bush to dry, I'm having a hissy fit about my clothes dryer.

And the truth is, I want you to feel sorry for me, too.
I want you to quit thinking about the poor who wash their clothes in a bucket,
and feel sorry that we've had one thing after another go wrong these past few weeks.
Misery loves company, you know.

Taxes.
That's what started it.
We owed so much more than we expected to.
Then our newish car needed a thousand dollars in repairs.
It's under warranty, except for the one thing that was wrong.
Of course.
Oh, and it needed new tires as well.
Can you say ca-ching?
Then both cars needed their tags renewed - bye bye to another three hundred dollars.
Then the dryer broke down.
One hundred and thirty dollars later we were back in business.
(until today)
And that was our April.
I was hoping May would be peaceful and break down free.
Not.

While the repairman was here, a mere nineteen days ago, we had him listen to our dishwasher that suddenly sounds like a jet engine.
Motor. going. out.
Not. worth. fixing.
Needless to say, I'm running the thing, even if we have to wear earplugs, until it dies.

To top it off, the other day my husband set a drippy bottle of after shave on top of my favorite dresser in my home office.
I'm not lying, I couldn't make something like this up, friends...
the after shave ate clear through the polyurethane down to the bare wood.
When I saw that, well, I was irritated to say the least.
I know things aren't as important as people.
But, in the heat of the moment, I temporarily forgot.
I apologized,  then kindly warned him that he might want to consider 
the dangers of putting something on his face that can strip furniture.
(Let's be real, I still want to cry when I see that after shave bottle shaped ring on my beautiful dresser.)

When I was a little girl, Mama would sew me beautiful frilly dresses for church.
I would whine because they were itchy.
Daddy would make her change me.
Just thinking about it makes me want to spank my younger self.

I was a tattle tale, too.
Maybe even given to exaggeration.
I know this because my little brother accidentally poked me in the eye with one of those umbrellas that has the six inch spike on the end.
(Just what is the purpose of those spikes?
Self defense?)
Anyway, the point is that my eye was bleeding.
Bleeding!
No one would believe me at first, 
because I was prone to tattling and exaggerating to get my little brother in trouble.

I guess I was a spoiled brat back then, too.
The truth is, I like life to go my way.
I don't want anything itchy or irritating to upset my apple cart.
And sometimes when it does,  I feel like acting up.

It's a darn good thing that I've learned that what I feel
doesn't have to make me act like a spoiled brat.
I might vent to God,
"and Your purpose in this is ???"
But, usually, I come back to what I know.
God is faithful.
He always provides.
We will make it through this rough patch.
While I am simply frustrated and irritated, others are going through real, life altering tragedy.
Acting spoiled rotten and selfish may relieve my emotions for a brief moment,
but it doesn't actually change my situation at all.

So, the appliance repairman is making another call to our house tomorrow.
Maybe, there's a reason Jesus wants him to come to our house for the second time in three weeks.
Maybe, I need to stop thinking about me for a bit and ponder and pray about that.
And then there's that scripture about in everything give thanks,
and the one about rejoice in the Lord always...
well, maybe I need to ponder and pray about that too.



still following,



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

All white bargains...


 When my blog friend, Adrienne, and I went antiquing and thrifting a couple of weeks ago I bought a few things.
They all just happened to be white.
And cheap!

I bought this very heavy ironstone bowl at Camas Antiques in Camas, Washington for $8.




This little milk glass pedestal candy dish was $3 at Camas Antiques.




I got this heavy, small stoneware crock for $1.99 at Memory Lane Antique Mall in Kalama, Washington.


The fluted ironstone bowl is a Johnson Bros. piece made in England.
It was 99 cents at the Goodwill.

A whole day of shopping for under $15, not bad!

still following,

              

Black and white with focal color...



Sometimes it's fun to post a photo without having to try to come up with a lot of words.
Kim Klaussen's Texture Tuesday photo challenge this week was black and white, 
or black and white with a focal point of color.
So, I chose just a pop of color.
I found it interesting that, since the shelf and walls are already gray and the ironstone white,
editing the photo to black and white didn't really change the original all that much.
I also added one layer of Kim's May texture at soft light mode, 25% opacity.

still following,

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mother's Day thanks...


I think they're adorable.
{But, they are horrified at the matching dresses and the fluffy late 80's hair-dos.}
These are my three beautiful daughters, now, all three, beautiful women of God.
What a privilege and blessing it was and is to be their mama.
How thankful I am to God for allowing me to have them
and for His grace that covered my fumbling, bumbling attempts to parent them well.
How thankful I am to now be Nana to four wonderful grandkids.
{I love being a nana, but you could probably guess that if you've been around my blog much!}
I think this is the highest privilege, the highest calling,
 to shape little lives, to be responsible to disciple eternal souls.
How any mama attempts to do it without God's help, I'll never know.
It was always a serious and fearful thing to me,
that I was responsible to parent one of God's precious children.
Oh, how I prayed to not mess it up too bad!
And when I did mess up, how I prayed for God to cover my mistakes with His grace!
And He did, and He does.
I'm so thankful for His help and His grace.

**************

In 2012 I followed the prompts in Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare in counting my thanks.
In 2013 I'm going back to the way I did it in the beginning,
just noticing and recording the many extraordinary blessings in my ordinary life.
And so I continue to count my thanks
piling up gratitude day by day
in my little black journal.
(and capturing some of them via my camera or iPhone)

#3110-#3132

5-6-13-
-the backyard all abloom

-devotions at the park
-trusting God with some hard things

5-7-13-
-working in the yard
-a picnic supper with the hubs
-belly laughs

5-8-13-
-a healthy body
-a good run
-baby granddaughter better after a high fever
-the three oldest grands over for the evening

5-9-13-
-asking for and receiving forgiveness
-feeling friends praying for me as I study for the Mother's Day message at church
-God's provision-He never fails

5-10-13-
-the finish on my good dresser accidently damaged 
and God using it to remind me that it's just stuff and people/relationships are more important
-Friday date day dinner outdoors by the river


-the Hubs taking care of me when I didn't feel well

5-11-13-
-giving the message I'm preparing for Sunday to God-and Him helping me to know what to say
-getting my least favorite chore done first-cleaning the bathrooms!
-the Hubs vacuuming for me

5-12-13-
-the privilege of sharing God's Word at church today
-my grandson's 9th birthday



-our whole family together for the afternoon
-remembering and thanking God for my mama on this Mother's Day



Gratefully yours,