Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, The Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wondered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen
Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

Monday, May 31, 2010

Layouts

Well, I'm back! I don't have anything to share, really. So, I decided I would share the pages I did for a few of the challenges at Digitals. To see the credits, please see my gallery at Digitals, HERE.












Saturday, May 22, 2010

A little cucumber oughta do the trick!

I got this from Tim's mom today. Sounds very interesting! Who woulda' thunk? :)

WOW WHAT A LITTLE GEM THE CUCUMBER IS. I WILL LOOK AT IT DIFFERENTLY NOW.


1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5 Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6.. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.


9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.


13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Busy Day

After going to bed at 1:30 (last load of laundry dried), I slept in til 9:30 this morning. I'm still tired. Guess 2 nights with Michael in the same bed did me in! I'll have to try to catch up again tonight!

Went to visit our 97 year old shut-in from church. He isn't too shut-in as he was gone when we got there! Probably took the dog for a haircut.

Worked on my computer room re-organization. Gonna take alot more time!

Worked on putting some new air conditioning duct in as the old was flooded during the burst pipe fiasco! See the pictures below.

Worked some more on my computer room.

Went to Best Buy and bought a 23" flat screen monitor for my computer with my church cleaning money and mother's day money.

Now, it's time to read a bit before bed! Night!

This duct is full of water in the dip shown here.
You can see the water dripping from the duct. When I cut the strap supporting it, the duct broke in half and filled my shoes with water!
Tim cutting a new length of duct.
Voila! No more sagging!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Home Again, Home Again.....

Got home at a decent time this afternoon.....4:20. Left Jessica's at about 8:15 and stopped for gas (THANKS again, Jessica, for the fill-up!) and was headed out of Lancaster by 8:30. It rained HARD most of the way to WV. I arrived at Liz's at about 10:45 to drop off some items she had left at Jessica's. Played with Ryan for a few minutes and then left to each lunch with friends at Amos Plant. Had a great week and weekend with the girls and the grands! Hated to leave, as always! But, it's back to the real world, now!

I had lunch with my very good friend(s), Susie and company, at John Amos Plant. It was nice to see everyone! Susie gets to retire after 8 more working days! I am so excited for her! But, I feel for poor Farrah (who took my place when we moved to NC). Farrah will miss her terribly, too! It was about 12:45 when I hit the road for NC. So the trip home from Charleston is about 3 1/2 hours. Not a bad trip! And it didn't rain too much or too hard, which was a good thing!

Tim was not hungry when I got home, so I started doing some laundry. At 6 we went to Olive Garden to eat. It was nice to not have to cook after being on the road all day! And now I am back to working in the laundry. Tomorrow I want to rearrange my computer room. Wednesday begins our spring revival services, so the rest of the week will be hectic. So if you don't hear from me, you know what I'm doing! :)

Have a blessed week!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Couldn't Wait.......

Liz and I left WV at approx. 2:30 and arrived at Jessica's at around 5, I think. We were starving, so at around 5:30, after getting the car and truck unpacked, we traveled about 1/2 hour north of Lancaster to a Skyline Chili. YUMMY! It was delicious! On the way back we stopped and Jessica and Liz did a little shopping while the kids played in the play area of the mall. Then we went home and I couldn't wait for Jessica to open the blanket that I knitted for her! So, I asked her if she wanted to open it! Of course she did! I took a picture, but the camera is in the bedroom and Liz and Hannah are asleep, so I'll have to post it later with some of the other pictures I take of the shower, etc.

On a negative note, Tim arrived back home tonight to find a pipe in my bathroom had burst and it was water, water everywhere! Actually, with the house being older, the floors are not sealed and so the water basically ran through the bathroom floor and the hall carpet down into the basement. Tim had to borrow Calvin's shop vac to get the water out of the carpet. Positive note...I'm thankful the water drained into the basement instead of flooding the whole house! That would not have been fun! Thank You, LORD, for your watchcare over the smallest of events in our everyday lives!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Pictures of the day

Liz shared the quick details. So, I'll share the pics. I had a couple of movies, but they would not upload for some reason. I'll have to check to see what "version" is accepted for uploading.

This first picture is of Hannah running anxiously to get to school! Liz said, "She always turns around at the door and waves."

Sure enough, she did. I got all teary eyed at the sight. I know that probably one of these days, this will be unacceptable behavior and she will no longer turn to wave because of what her friends might say! I hope and pray that is never the case! And, to see her growing up so fast really got to me!
Isn't this a beautiful picture?!! My beautiful daughter and cutie pie grandson! :)
Ryan did a really good job taking this picture!
He sure loved dipping his pancake into whipped cream! Can you blame him?! :)
We are headed to the thrift stores. What a handsome little guy he is!
Actually, these pics in the car were taken after the shopping, now that I think of it! See how fast things are passing by out Liz's window?! :)
The Kanawha River is really up and muddy from the rain! Wish we would get some of that rain in NC! Our grass is brown and crunchy already!
Ryan would not take a nap, so while mommy was napping a bit on the couch, we played in his room. We are trying to get the hot wheels down the little track and into the plastic drawer you see at the bottom of the picture.
And when we made it, we cheered and gave high fives!
After we picked Hannah up from school, we went home for them to have a snack and then we headed back to the school so they could play. They can teeter totter pretty well because they both weigh about the same. Hannah's legs get the work out, however, since they are quite a bit longer than Ryan's.
Hannah just dropped from the parallel bar.
Ryan enjoys going down the slide with his hands high in the air!
Hannah is proud of her accomplishments on the parallel bars now!
Even mommy can do a few tricks!
Mommy had to help Ryan flip over!
When we went back to the house, Liz started fixing dinner and I watched as Hannah and Ryan played on the slip and slide. It was really hot and humid today! Brad got home from Columbus as we were heading to the playground earlier. These white bubbles didn't stay white for long. With the rain of the last couple of days, the bubbles quickly turned to mud!
Not exactly the way Ryan intended to land!
The kids were in bed by 7:00! The end! :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Dream of Spring and a FREEBIE!

SPRING is quickly fading into SUMMER!!!! At least the calendar tells us it is! Before the memories fade, you need this kit to scrap those memories of the beauty of Spring! This is a HUGE kit, full of all kinds of Springy thingies! There are 30 papers which are all 12x12 @ 300 ppi in JPG format. There are 80 elements which are all @ 300 ppi in PNG format. And there is also an alpha/numeric set @ 300 ppi in PNG format. Some shadows are included on a few of the elements. Click on the preview to go to the product in the store. Keep looking for your freebie!

Preview of the kit:

Preview of the papers only:
Here's what I did with the kit:
And, here is your freebie! I created a template for the layout above and thought I would share it with you! Enjoy! Just click on the preview to download. Leave some love if you enjoy the template and find it helpful! This is a scraplift of a page from the May/June 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Why God Made Moms

I've seen this several times, but I love reading it each time!


Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring..
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball..
2. Mom.. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long..

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

To My Daughters

This includes my daughters-in-law (even tho Cheryl doesn't have any children.......YET! :)

Daughters of My Heart
You turned out even better
Than I often dreamed you’d be;
You’re more than I had hoped for;
You’re a sweet reward to me.
You grew up to be mothers
Full of wisdom, warmth and love,
Good and fine role models,
A blessing from above.
I couldn’t be any prouder
Than I am today of you;
You’re my daughters and my friends,
And wonderful persons, too.
You have my love forever;
I adored you from the start;
It’s a privilege to be your mother,
Dear daughters of my heart.
By Joanna Fuchs

I LOVE you ALL very much and wish we could be together today!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Happy 34th Anniversary, My Love!

A picture is worth 1000 words!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

For There's No Other is now Released! and on SALE!!

Just in time for Mother's Day! For there TRULY is NO OTHER, besides MOTHER! Don't you agree?! Where would any of us be without MOTHER! I sure miss mine! Be sure and tell your MOTHER how much you love her if you are fortunate enough to still have her around! My mother had Alzheimers and did not know her husband and children (or any one else) for the last 8 years of her life, so it was a blessing when the LORD finally took her home to heaven, but I do miss her, and so do her grandchildren. Make the most of the time you have with your MOTHER!

"For There's No Other" is a Build-a-Kit Collab between the designers at A Moment in Scrap. There are 31 "pieces" that you can choose from to build your kit the way you like!

My portions are shown in the previews below. My portions are on SALE today and tomorrow, May 6th and 7th ONLY, for $1 each! The images are clickable to the portions in my store.




Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Being a Mother

Tim's mom sent this e-mail to me. I thought it was so nice that I wanted to post it here.
PS - I love all of you, my daughters, daughters-in-law, sister, sisters-in-law, mother-in-laws and friends and relatives who share the title of "Mother" with me (and those who don't)!


After 17 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, 'I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been alone for 20 years, but the demands of my work and my two boys had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

'What's wrong, aren't you well,' she asked? My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

'I thought it would be pleasant to spend some time with you,' I responded. 'Just the two of us.' She thought about it for a moment, and then said, 'I would like that very much.'

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last birthday on November 19th. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's. 'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,' she said, as she got into that new white van. 'They can't wait to hear about our date'.

We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. 'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,' she said. 'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation- -nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed.

'How was your dinner date ?' asked my wife when I got home. 'Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.

Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two
plates - one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son.'

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: 'I LOVE YOU' and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till 'some other time.'



Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby..... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ... somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring .... somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

Somebody said if you're a'good' mother, your child will 'turn out good'..... somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.... somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.

Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the first .... somebody doesn't have two children.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.... somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten ... or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married....somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home.... somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.... somebody isn't a mother.

Pass this along to all the 'mothers' in your life and to everyone who ever had a mother. This isn't just about being a mother; it's about appreciating the people in your life while you have them....no matter who that person is.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! a few days early!

Sharing some Layouts

Well, on the 29th of April, I took the day off to do some layouts for the challenges at Digitals. I'll share them here with you.

I used Juliana Gordon's freebie for the challenge to create this page.This was my desktop calendar for April that I used Amanda Thorderson's freebie for.
This was part of the "Everyday Adventures" gift for the challenges done in March.
This was done with Beth Rimmer's freebie for the challenge.
And, I am still doing some CT work, which has been slow lately, thankfully, because the designers have had busy lives and haven't done much designing!
I used Maddy Fernandez' Fragrance of Spring to create these 5 pages.



I used Maddy Fernandez' kit, Beautiful Hawaii, to create these 3 pages.