Still hoping....

Ok, it's the end of February, and we STILL have not had a significant snow fall here... But, I am still hopeful! March can sometimes be snowy too!
The things I love about snow....

• it makes everything look magical, fresh and clean
• it even makes everything sound different-quieter
• it gives us a reason to stay home and snuggle down together
• gives us an excuse to make hot chocolate!
• it gives us an excuse to go out and PLAY! (I love this--especially if we get to go tubing)

So, I'm still hoping! The kids are too--but not the Papa! He doesn't really like snow too much. :0)

But he puts up with us Snowlovers anyway! Hee hee!

Thoughts on my Devotions

I am currently reading through Deuteronomy and today I read chapter 28. I couldn't help but think of America as I read through this passage concerning the consequences of disobedience.
This nation is thought of us such a blessed nation (which we are!), and such a powerful, "self-sufficient" country. But I believe that we have forgotten why we are blessed, and WHO has blessed us!
I believe we are beginning to see that the Lord may be withdrawing His hand of protection and blessing on us due to our disobedience to Him. We are allowing false gods into our nation and being told to have tolerance. (In fact, everything, and everyone is tolerated, except those that worship the One True God--did you notice that??)
Some thoughts that I had as I read were: in verse 16 b,17 that God will curse the field (food), have you read about wheat and other food lately?
Vs 18 is about the beasts (think of the quality of our meat), vs 20 it talks about these cursings coming because they have forsaken Him.
Hasn't the USA done the same? Then it lists many, many more curses, then says in vs 45 they overtake them because "thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord they God, to keep his commandments and his statues which He commanded thee:" (It's practically illegal here to even display His commandments!) There is much, much more listed there, but I just listed a little bit.

Then I am also reading through Psalms, so I turned to Psalm 67 and read : O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

Pretty simple, disobey-be cursed; Obey, be blessed.

And so you see, we have a choice as a nation, and we're choosing wrongly. God is a just and righteous One, and He cannot bless us if we choose wrongly.

I pray that America wakes up--before it's too late!

Sunsets!

I do declare! For city slickers livin' in the 'burbs, we sure do get our share of gorgeeeooouuusss sunsets!

The top two were taken by my son the night before last. The bottom one may have been my daughter's pic, taken at the end of January. :0)

God is some artist!

Oh, I almost forgot!

I am testing the "ebay waters" by selling some things this week.
If you're interested, you might want to stop by and check out my listings:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsnapzshotz

If that isn't your cup of tea, would you mind saying a few prayers that the Lord would:
A. Show me if this is what He wants me to do
B. If so, that He would bless it

Thanks a bunch!

Bustin' out all over!

Our little paperwhites are doing so well! They're just bustin' out left and right! And their fragrance can be enjoyed even from far away! Aren't they pretty? (Thanks Mrs. E!)

If you look in the background of these flowers, you can see out my kitchen window to the little bit of snow we got last night. (It was mostly sleet, freezing rain-yuck!) Nice to have these springy flowers to look at! :0)
For any of you guys/kids that may be reading (Vic) & that think flowers are oh so boring, look below and you can see the tire tracks my son Brad made in the snow with the lawn tractor. :0)
Cool huh? He had fun!

A Little Early Spring Fever

The lovely paperwhites above were a gift to my daughter and I from a lovely friend of ours. We are really enjoying them! They are very fragrant!
This was a neat project as we have never forced bulbs before.

Below is something I picked up the other day. The primroses will be given away to someone most likely, but I had purchased them, then stopped at Goodwill and saw the basket for .50--and thought "Hmm, I'll bet those pots will just fit in here..." and they did! So, viola! We're enjoying them while they're all still here. (I love primroses and have some in my garden that come up every year).

Happy Thoughts of Spring!

Monday was a holiday around here as my sweet husband had off for President's Day. Our family (including my mom) went to nearby Lancaster, PA (1 hour from here) to visit the Mennonite Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction. As we have all been reading through the Old Testament, we thought it would be a neat trip to take. The hostess who have the tour was very good, and we really enjoyed this life-sized replica complete with the courtyard. Not everything was to exact specifications--but most of it was, and she would point out and give you an idea of what the exact proportions would be. She said that different presenters have different ways of focusing on it, but she focused on the blood sacrifice, and repentance.
It was a neat trip.

Afterwards we went out for lunch, which was a nice treat!

Although it was sunny and in the 60's when we left, it got increasingly colder, and rained the whole day, so I couldn't get pictures--it is a lovely area to visit, and I wanted you to get the flavor of this "Amish country", so here are some pictures I took a few months ago, this was the same area we were in Monday.

The farm pictured above is where I get my milk. :0) And so, we combined pleasure, with necessity! The people are so nice, I always like to stop there--it makes the necessity a pleasure!

If you are reading this post--you've been tagged!
The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
If you don't have a blog that's ok--just answer my comments section below so we can all read it! :0)
I will start things off by posting seven strange things about myself....

1) I love football
2) I like to eat ice cream using pretzels instead of a spoon
3) I don't usually like the food on my plate to touch and mix
4)I don't like spicy food for the most part
5) I hate iced tea and coffee
6) I'm a total night owl
7) I try to avoid malls like the plague :0)

Now it's your turn!

And you can not lurk--you must post--I will KNOW if you skip out! LOL

Patience. The very word makes me squirm a bit. Patience is not one of my virtues! Although I wish I had some. :0)
I want to be complete, wanting nothing:

James 1:4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

But I also know that being the slow learner I am...this means in my language "no pain, no gain".

James 1:3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

I am still a work in progress--I sure am glad that God has patience! :0)

Happy Valentine's Day

The above was in the "Daily Bread" this morning, and I loved it!
If you want to go to the site and read the whole devotional, here's the link:
http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

Unusual Object Lesson...

Today was $2 Tuesday at our local Goodwill (did I mention that I LOVE $2 Tuesday!?) In case you don't know what this is--all winter clothes and coats for adults are $2, and kids are $1 every Tuesday in February.
Anyway, that's what drew me to the Goodwill today.

My mom was shopping with me, and we were going through the domestics section when she spotted brand new pillows that exactly match my living room curtains. Now, I already had 2 pillows, but I have a huge sofa, and needed 2 more--this style is older and they no longer sell them. So, for 2.50 ea. this was a great find!

Pardon me, I digress. :0) Anyway, I brought these lovely matching pillows home, put them on the couch, and was horrified! My previously (until that very moment) lovely pillows-looked awful! They were soiled, and I didn't even realize it! I never realized it until I plopped those brand new clean ones down.
So, off I went to the laundry tub to scrub and clean them. And while I was there, I started thinking...
That's the way that I am. Sometimes I think of myself as looking pretty good spiritually. If you look at "so and so" and her "big sin"--I don't look so bad at all! BUT, if you put me up against the clean and pure one- my Savior, Jesus....I realize that I am pretty dingy and dirty.
I'm glad that He made me clean again. :0)
And thus, my object lesson. It was a great reminder!

Counting my Blessings

The above picture is an oldie! This is my Mom, brother, and myself when I was a child. My mother was a single mom-back in the days when that wasn't heard of too much. She raised my brother and I without any support-financial or otherwise- from my "father". (Who by the way abandoned us, and I never met him, although he lived in a neighboring town-& he died last year)

And so the blessings I'm counting today are that: 1) God watched over my mom, and us kids and provided for us. 2) My mom became a Christian, and took us to church. 3) My mom loved us enough to sacrifice and keep us together. 4) My one and only brother-pictured here- survived a heart attack that he had a couple of years ago, and is still with us! (he celebrated his birthday yesterday in fact!) 5) my children DO have a wonderful godly father that loves and supports them.

Psalm 75:1Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

Today was Saturday, and I spent a good part of my day in the kitchen.
I made two loaves of bread, one to eat now, and one to freeze for a time when I won't have time to bake!
I also tried to get ahead by prepackagin my bread mixes. Here's how, and why, I do it....
I buy my flour (both whole wheat and white) in 25 lb bags from an Amish store in Lancaster, PA called Pleasant Valley. (This is the link to the actual flour I buy: http://www.naturalwaymills.com/products.htm )
So, I take quart sized freezer bags, and fill them with the dry ingredients for my bread recipe. Then, when I am ready to make bread (especially on a busy day!) I only have to put the liquid in the breadmaker, and then the dry ingredients, then add the yeast. Very simple!
I also fill gallon sized ziplock bags with pancake/waffle mix, cornbread mix, and homemade bisquick. It really saves money to do it this way, is healthier, and also saves time.

I also made sloppy joes for lunch, and pizza dough for dinner. The pizza I made was the dough, spread with bbq sauce, then I had cooked and cut up boneless skinless chicken breast and put that on, and then topped w/mozzerella cheese.

It took some time to fill up my bread mix bags today, but it will save me big-time when I have those busy days coming up around the corner!

Fellowship

Yesterday we were graciously invited to the home of our dear friends for a Valentine get-together. My daughter (in red) and her friends had a glorious sunny day to hike the 45 acre property...they played games...chatted...and laughed, oh, and of course-ATE!
We really enjoyed the time of fellowship--mom's and girls alike!



But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another... 1 John 1:7

This Little Piggy....never made it to market

Well folks, this is NOT a post for the faint of heart--nor the weak of stomach! :0)

Somehow, and mind you...I haven't figured out exactly how...but somehow, I wound up having to assist in the latest dissection that my dear daughter and her dear friend had to do for their advanced biology/anatomy class...

Thankfully, most of my job was computer help (for dissection directions), and pictures. Although I did have to do some organ identification. :0( Oh, and seeking out a candle to burn for odor control. LOL

And yes, you guessed it, the subject was a fetal pig. YUCK!

I have refrained from showing the more graphic pictures (and trust me--I have them) but the two girls you see pictured here dissecting are two tough cookies! They have even gained the respect of their younger brothers! :0) Need I say more??

This was my daughter's final dissection for her homeschool career, and I daresay she is saying "Wee wee wee all the way home"!

Today's Verse

Wednesday February 6, 2008
Today's Verse: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Isaiah 40:8 / KJV

I couldn't help but read today's verse and take the opportunity to encourage you to live for God. In this world today, there are many things designed to pull us away from Him.

From doing things that are evil, to just plain ol' serving ourselves.

The things of this world are deceitful and will pass away! But the Word of our God shall stand forever.

Although I am without artistic talent, I am pleased to say that my daughter (17) is not! :0)

She has been given a wonderful gift by God to do art!

Above is a colored pencil drawing she did as a gift for me. :0)

Below is a chalk art drawing that she did. (This was a practice) When you switch on the blacklight, you can see another image...

Below is one from another picture she did. It isn't all that clear though.

This is a way she can use her art for the Lord. There is a message given during the drawing. Actually, about 1 year ago, she went away for two weeks to learn how to do this!

I posted another shot below that I hope is clearer. This is a picture of the choices we each have to make--either Heaven, or Hell. We all have to make it. We will wind up being in one of those two places.
If you aren't sure what exactly I mean by this... Please take the time to go to the bottom of this page, and click on the Way of the Master site to find out that you can know for sure where you're going when you die.

I am thankful to God for my daughter's talent. I pray that she always uses it for Him.
I thought this post went along well with the verse on my blog for the day:
Today's Verse: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3rd John 1:4 / KJV

Rainy Day

I really enjoyed today-it was a rainy day. One of those days where it was much too rainy to go out unless you reaaaalllllyyy needed to.

I am one of those people who enjoy all the seasons. I love winter because of the days you're house-bound because of snow or other bad weather. But this year we haven't had any!

So, I knew I was going to have to settle for rain. I've been waiting for one of those rainy days-I had a list of things to "catch up" on when a rainy day came. It was nice to get them accomplished.

But, don't worry--I'm still hoping for Snow! (It must be 4" or more to qualify!)