Just because…a giveaway!

just because you are the best followers/readers…

just because you’ve been nothing but kind and encouraging…

just because you’ve stepped up and prayed when I’ve asked you to…

just because blog friends can be real friends…

just because “you get me”…

just because it’s fun to share…

just because you’re special…

just because you’re you…

just because…

I’m having a giveaway of the above items:

-one cute basket to hang somewhere special

-one cute hanging preserves jar

-two sweet café au lait bowls

-4 vintage English ironstone saucers

-one seashell topped bottle (made by yours truly)

-one homespun tea towel

You can win the whole shebang!

Here’s what you need to do:

-become a follower if you haven’t already

-then just leave a comment telling me one random fact about yourself

Winner will be drawn two weeks from today.

 

I hope YOU win!

Elizabeth

A reason to keep on hoping…

The weather this week has been all over the place,

from typical Oregon gray skies and rain,

to blue skies and sun breaks,

to low temperatures and slushy snow mixed in the rain.

Yesterday, while cleaning and puttering around the house,

I caught a glimpse of yellow out the patio doors.

Isn’t that just like Jesus,

to give us a little reason to keep on hoping,

no matter what the weather,

or our circumstances,

are telling us?

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

I’ve taken the Joy Dare.

I’m counting one thousand thanks in one year.

I hunt for thanksgiving using the prompts Ann gives us each month.

If you are interested in joining in, click the link above or at the bottom of this post.

I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little green journal…

#1676-#1696

a gift at breakfast, lunch, dinner -

-hot coffee

-homemade vegetable soup

-our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters over for dinner

3 gifts white-

-my new travel mug from the Hubs

-a load of white, fluffy towels still warm from the dryer

-white bowl filled with the leftover soup

3 gifts that changed today-

-blue skies peeking out after days of gray and rain

-new buds on the neighbor’s tree outside my kitchen window

-a hurtful, disappointment for youngest daughter

but thankful she feels able to share with us and we can pray together

a gift of tin-

-Mama’s old measuring cups and spoons

a gift of glass-

-the window in the stair landing, my view first thing in the morning

a gift of wood-

-our big dining room table and all the meals we’ve shared there with family and friends

3 gifts before 11 a.m.-

-waking up to blue skies and sun

-a phone call from my daughter

-breakfast made by the Hubs

a gift nearly worn out-

-my almost full gratitude journal

a gift new-

-a new gratitude journal waiting for me to begin

a gift made do-

-this old laptop, repaired but still quirky, yet still working!

3 gifts seen as reflections-

-the Word, which is like a mirror

-seeing my daughter reflected in my granddaughters

-when I see Jesus reflected in the love of His people

 

Gratefully yours,

Elizabeth

My Defense and Refuge…

The enemy is ruthless and relentless.

He tries to wear out the saints.

He wants us to give in and to believe his lies and deception,

to convince us that God is not good,

to convince us that our situation is hopeless,

to convince us that it’s too hard and that we should just give up and quit.

He’s a liar and the father of lies.

Don’t quit my friend.

Run to your Defense and your Refuge,

but don’t you dare quit.

If you don’t quit, you’ll win.

 

Still following,

Elizabeth

 

also linking to My Freshly Brewed Life

     

Friday’s Favs…just a little bit of this and that

Valentine’s Day is over so I put all the little Valentine touches away.

I haven’t made any big changes,

done any big makeovers,

or made any purchases.

I’ve just added a few little hints here and there that spring is on the way,

and taken some other photos of this and that to share with you.

I made a few simple changes on the mantel.

A bird’s nest holding a colored egg is perched under a cloche.

My Mama’s old, colorful, wooden spools of thread fill an apothecary jar.

The vintage trunk that serves as our coffee table holds a couple décor books and some of my favorite magazines.

(I love Where Women Cook!  It’s a wonderful magazine of lovely kitchen décor and yummy recipes.)

A little wooden caddy holds a vintage hymnal and an old children’s Bible story book.

I removed the vintage Valentines from the drying rack photo display

and added some old hymn pages.

An old postcard of Mama’s hometown in Maine is held on the old drying rack with a clothes pin…

…along with photos of my Mama…isn’t she pretty?…

…and a photo of my handsome Daddy with me and my little brother enjoying sledding on Mt. Hood…

…and here’s yours truly!

On the dining table, my white wooden box traded places with my dark wooden tool caddy.

French lemonade bottles are lined up inside.

Lastly, I realized I’ve never showed you the treasures that top the kitchen cabinets…

vintage Franciscan ware…

…aqua colored canning jars mingled with a few apple shaped collectibles,

(the few I kept after I purged the house of most of the apple stuff following the “apple themed kitchen” phase)…

…Watts pottery and Mason Cash mixing bowls.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you today.

It’s almost Friday!

Happy, Happy Friday and Have a Blessed Weekend,

Elizabeth

 

 

What about Lent…

 

Ash Wednesday.

The beginning of Lent.

We don’t really “do” Lent.

I mean, we’re not of the religious tradition that observes Lent.

We’re all about the celebration of Resurrection Sunday,

but not so great at what it means to have to die first.

Dying to self and sin.

Learning to be a real Kingdom person.

A member of the upside down, inside out Kingdom

where you die to live

and you lose to gain.

I’ve been saying we,

but I really mean me.

I’m not so good at it.

Isaiah blows the whistle on people like me in the 58th chapter.

“You are living for yourselves even while you are fasting.”

And then he tells us what the fast that pleases God looks like.

“Free the oppressed.

Treat people fairly.

Share what you have with the hungry.

Don’t hide from relatives who need your help.

Stop spreading accusations and rumors.

Honor the Sabbath and delight in the Lord’s Day.

Honor the Lord in everything you do.

Don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.”

And he fills the chapter with promises for those who fast in this way,

a fast from selfish, self-centered living.

My favorite is at the end of the chapter,

“then the Lord will be your Delight”.

“Delight” is my word for 2012.

I want to live with the Lord as my Delight.

Isaiah is showing me how.

He’s showing me that there are some things I need to fast.

Things that are harder to fast than food.

 

Still following,

Elizabeth

A tea set for our girl, Universal Ballerina China…

I posted quite some time ago about finding a Universal Ballerina Rosette China teapot at the Goodwill

and buying it for my oldest granddaughter.

I hoped to add pieces to the set, and I finally found some additional pieces this past weekend at an antique store.

I bought the creamer and sugar and 4 cups and saucers.

I didn’t get them as inexpensively as the teapot, but paid what I felt was a reasonable price.

The two little dessert bowls I found last summer when we were on vacation in Maine, for only 99 cents!

 

My oldest granddaughter, only grandson, daughter and son-in-law leave for Ghana in four weeks.

It’s comforting to dream of having a tea party with my granddaughter when they come back to the states.

 

Still following,

Elizabeth