A Few of My Favorite Things

Believe it or not, this is organized compared to what it was a few minutes ago!

I spend a LOT of time at this desk, so I like having my favorite things around me for inspiration. I will list them here and you see if you can "find" all of them (click the picture to get a bigger view of it):

Recent Family Portrait
2 calendars with pictures of grandchildren
1 scripture calendar
1 daily calendar (not yearly)
Bible and devotional
Things to do Today list (rarely looked at) :)
Bills to pay (collecting in a pile)
Patriotic paraphernalia
Misc. pictures of family and friends
Tatted cross (gift from Jeanetta Frost at Buffalo)
Cute little jars and containers for office-type supplies
Star Wand (gift from co-worker who went to Disney)
Caricature drawing of Susie and I from "Leaving" Amos Plant.
Talking Secretary Head (given to me by my supervisor, Richard, at Amos)
Clock (to help me keep track of time to fix Tim's dinner) :)
Other Misc STUFF

I awoke today with one of those headaches that is not giving up easily! Say a prayer for me, please! I'm counting on the quote from my Helen Steiner Rice Daily Calendar, which says:
Always remember
That whatever betide you,
You are never alone
For God is beside you.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Today be thankful for God's companionship.
Right now, I need Him to take the headache away! I think, however, they are my "thorn in the flesh."

Have a blessed day! Love you all!

The Builder of the House

I have been playing around with my newest kit, LORD of the Harvest, today. I'm having so much fun "creating" stuff with it! Here is a poem I found laying around. I don't have any idea where I got it. I don't know the name of the poem, either. I gave it a name I felt as appropriate. The poem speaks volumes!

Then below the poem is my desktop screen saver for October. We send birthday cards to our church attenders/members, so I thought this might be an easy way for me to not forget to send the cards since I am on my computer every day!

Today has been a lazy day for me. I needed to do some cleaning for the evangelist who will be spending the week with us for our revival services next week, but I just couldn't get motivated! So, I played on the computer just about all day! I did get a few things done, like collecting some items to drop off at the Goodwill this Thursday. I did a load of laundry. And I'm getting ready to read (with a snack in hand!).

Tim gave me a "seasonal" quote for the church sign today: "Avoid sin's fruits - stay out of the devil's orchard." Pretty good, huh?!

Let me know what you think of the poem! Have a blessed evening, a restful sleep, and a joyous tomorrow!

It's Fall, Y'all!

I know some of you are not liking the cooler temperatures of the day, and I must admit that a 25 degree drop does have a way of waking you up! But, here in NC, there was not that drastic of a temperature change, even with the rain! As a matter-of-fact, the AC is set on 75 and it has run about all day and I've been hot! But, that could be just me! Walking across the parking lot to church this morning felt wonderful! A very nice breeze and low humidity! How sweet it was! The sun popped out and got hot this afternoon and then the clouds rolled back in by late afternoon and we got some more much needed rain! It was still misting as I walked back across the parking lot for services tonight. That had all but quit by the time the services were over.

I have been in the mood for fall lately! I don't think the ungodly heat had anything to do with it from this summer............LOL! I really LOVE the fall time of the year, anyway! But, it will be even more welcome this year, for sure, after the summer we have had!

I re-worked a kit this week that I had previously given away on my other blog last year. The kit name is "LORD of the Harvest" and is just a wonderful kit, if I do say so myself! Well, I wanted to play around with it a bit and I remembered the pictures of Kara from her Trunk and Treat last year, so I worked one of the pictures over to delete some of the background, added some shoe tops since her feet were cut off in the picture and I came up with the page below. I'm lovin' that little tractor with the wagon! And I really like the almost leafless tree, too!

OK, that's it for me today. And from the health side of me...........every day the headaches are getting less and less. Now, if I could get rid of this tickle/hack! But, that is nothing compared to the headaches I was having! I'll take the hack, thank you very much!

Have a blessed week everyone!

YES! I'm feeling better today!

Hey, Liz! Thanks for sending those prayers heavenward! I have not had to take the excedrine today like I have been! I've had the headache, but it has been very minor! It is getting worse the more tired I get, however! But, progress is being made!!!

On the weather front.....what happened to the cooler temps we had a week or so ago? It has been back up in the 90's again this week! I'm soooooo ready for the cooler weather! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Well, maybe I don't really want it THAT much colder just yet! :) More than cooler temps, we need RAIN! The grass is really brown, crunchy and yucky looking! Even the part that is still somewhat "green" really isn't a nice, bright grassy green!


And, the last treat for today.....PUMPKIN PIE! Yep! Ever since Tim saw pumpkin pie on the menu this weekend at Frischs' Big Boy, he has been in search of it! He wanted to buy a pumpkin pie for the men's meeting on Tuesday, but Walmart did not have any frozen ones! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT????!!!! We looked again yesterday, thinking maybe they were just out of stock before! WRONG!! And, there wasn't even any canned pumpkin to be found in the store!!! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT???!!! That has GOT to be UN-AMERICAN or something!!!

Well, leave it to good ole' Aldi to have the canned pumpkin! I bought 4 cans so I could have it on hand! You know, tis' the season, especially since one has been made it just stands to reason that more will follow! So, FEAST your EYES on THIS . . . . . and I'll be closing now so I can sample the goods! :P

It's a REAL Pain!!!

So, I've had the same headache since last Saturday's loo-loo during the Omnimax/Museum Center visit in Cincinnati! I just keep popping the migraine pills for the temporary relief that it affords (all of about 1/2-1 hour of relief)! Why don't I go to the Dr, you ask? Because we do NOT have health insurance and I do NOT want to pay $80 for him to tell me I have a sinus infection! And that is ALWAYS the outcome when I have a headache like this!

Anyway, I can tolerate lots of pain (just ask me...I delivered 3 of the 4 babies naturally!) And, the nurse at church tells me that it will go away eventually, if I can take the headache! Well, I have (so far) decided that I can handle the headache for $80! If it gets too serious, I lay down. I pray that it will eventually go away!

For now, however, I took some PM meds and they are starting to kick in, so I'm going to be retiring for the night sooner than later!!

Proving MY Remembrance BETTER than the Girls'

I know! This is the 2nd post for the day...........but I just HAD to prove to the girls that I WAS RIGHT!!!!!

The argument:
The girls say, "The house in Addyston was BLUE with BLUE shutter, BLUE porch.....we even had a BLUE van! EVERYTHING was BLUE!"

I say, "NOPE! The house was WHITE with BLUE shutters!"

Now, I think you will agree after reviewing these UNPHOTOSHOPPED pictures that ALMOST EVERYTHING WAS in fact BLUE..............EXCEPT the OUTSIDE of the house!


This picture is for Nat because we were talking about these bookshelves of Tim's.

OK, This is the livingroom.....it was BLUE!
Another wall and window in the livingroom. Once again...........BLUE wall, BLUE curtains.
Diningroom.............BLUE walls, but also some patterned WHITE wall paper.

Michael and Nat's bedroom upstairs. It was mostly YELLOW! However, it was going to be BLUE (you can see that the ceiling in the dormer to the right was BLUE), but we never did finish their room!And, last but not least.................Elisabeth standing on the BLUE porch with BLUE window trim, and...................A WHITE HOUSE!!!

Case dismissed! And EVEN THO you doubted my word............I still LOVE you! :P

More Good Memories.....

We are back from our trip to Cincinnati. We celebrated with the Addyston Baptist Church their 111th anniversary! It was such a great day! We saw LOTS of old friends (some MUCH older than others, too! :) ) Actually, we were surprised to see so many of the older generation still alive and thriving and serving the LORD! What a blessing to see their faithfulness after these 27 years! But, along with the blessing of seeing the faithful was a sort of sadness that lots of the others were departed, either physically by death, or physically by spirit, or physically by fellowship.

All in all, it was a great day! We also enjoyed the company of our daughters and their families in the services. They went away with much the same feeling as I from seeing old friends and getting re-acquainted with others.

After the services in the afternoon, Elisabeth and company went home to WV because of Hannah needing to get in bed (normally by 7) for school. They did not arrive home til around 8:30, but Hannah was in a pretty good mood this morning, even with being shy a few winks!

Jessica and company followed Tim and I to his dad's house and then to his mom's house so they could see the baby, who is growing like a weed! Sawyer turns 3 months tomorrow! WOW! Where did the summer go! But, wherever it went, I'm glad it is going because it was a HOT one!

Anyway, by the time we finished our visits with the great grandparents it was going on 8 p.m. So, it was later than we really had planned on arriving in Buffalo, WV to spend the night with our daughter before heading back to NC today.

Tim took his blind friend, Anthony, to breakfast at Bob Evans. Liz, Ryan and I went to some Goodwills, Dollar Tree and then grabbed some lunch and took it to Krodel park so Ryan could play. It was a beautiful day! We got back to the house at 12:30. Tim had the car loaded and we took off to NC, arriving somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30.

We unloaded the car, put things away and are catching up on e-mail, etc. YEP! It was a great weekend!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend (I made them small b'cuz I thot they would upload quicker - so click on them to see them bigger):


When we arrived at Liz and Brad's on Friday, Nat and Cheryl were there and Brad was helping Nat with a car problem. After they were done, Nat played with the kids.
We traveled to Cincinnati on Saturday and went to the Museum Center to an Omni Max show and the other museums. This is the Cincinnati History museum. The kids (all of us) were fascinated with the miniature display of Cincinnati from the early 1900's.
On the way to church from the hotel, we rode the Anderson Ferry. I have a picture like this one of Hannah and Ryan for Jessica and Michael.
This dear lady is known as Miss Essie. When we were working at Addyston Baptist Church in the 80's, Miss Essie and her husband sat in the balcony because Leon was in charge of the sound system. Miss Essie always had kids sitting by her (our included) and they were treated to hard candy! So, here she is a generation later holding the baby of one of her balcony babies!
This gives you an idea of the size of the ABC auditorium. Tim preached the morning services and here is preaching during the afternoon services after the meal.
We rode the ferry back across the river to go to Tim's dad's house in Hebron, KY.
What a sweet smile Sawyer has!
Sawyer was in the happiest mood all afternoon! Just grinning and chewing on his fists!

After visiting Tim's dad and Reba, we headed back up over the hill to take I-275 to Tim's mom's house in Latonia, KY. Look at that precious, smiling face!
Not too many smiles on this precious face!
A big smile from this happy grandma!
Today, we took our lunch of LJS (for Liz and me) and Wendy's (for Ryan) to Krodel Park.
Ryan threw some french fries to the fish.

The End!

Good Memories Re-visited

We have had a busy day today. Our goal was to leave Buffalo, WV at 9 a.m. We actually beat that schedule by 15 minutes! We traveled north on 62 to Pt. Pleasant, WV and cross the river at Gallipolis, OH and followed Rt. 35 to Rt. 32, which turns West towards Cincinnati. One of the MUST DO activities for us when we are in Ohio is to eat at Skyline Chili. So, guess what we ate for lunch? We arrived in Batavia, OH around 11:30 a.m. and our meal was delicious! From there we headed to The Museum Center in Cincinnati. By the time we got parked, bought our tickets, it was a few minutes after 1 p.m. when we sat down in the OmniMax theater to see the Great Lakes showing. I always enjoy the surround sound theaters, however, I ALWAYS get a headache from the LOUDNESS and the motion, I guess. Today was no exception! And by 4:00 I was about sick! I should not have let it go that long, but I was "hoping" it would just go away! I should know better! So, when we went into the Natural History museum, I sat down on a bench to wait for everyone else. But, I ended up telling them I was going to the car to get some medicine and for them to take their time. They were basically done by this time and just wanted to go into the shops before coming to the car. I popped 3 excedrine migraines and laid my seat back and kicked the air conditioner on. Everyone was back at the car in no time. We then headed to Tim's mom's house in Covington, KY about 20 minutes away, if that far. We talked for a bit and then headed to our other favorite place to eat when we are in Ohio/Kentucky.....Frischs Big Boys!

Since we had not checked into the hotel yet, we dropped Tim's mom off and headed to the hotel. I popped 2 more excedrines and hit the bed. While Liz and family were swimming, I decided to try a hot, steamy shower, hoping it would open something up in my head, lol! Well, it did help a bit, or else the 5 excedrines finally decided to kick in somewhat! But the headache still is not totally gone! Hopefully it will be gone by morning! If not, tomorrow is gonna be a looooooong day! So, please start praying for me now! :)

OK, here is my good memory re-visited from the picture I posted day before yesterday. If you guessed that the picture was of a baby changing table, you were correct! My good memory from this starts with the fact that I had one of these when the kids were babies. I'm sure I still had it through Nathanael! I had gotten it at a yard sale! I don't remember seeing once since them until I saw this one at the Carolina Thrift Store this past Thursday. This one is actually made sturdier than the one I had. For one thing, the top of this one was basically a wooden box on top with padding whereas mine was not enclosed on top. It was just a board with foam and a nylon protective cover and a belt to strap baby on. But, it opened out the same as seen in the picture below. This one's "baskets" below the changing table were also sturdier than the one I had. But, I guess since mine lasted through 4 kids, it was sturdy enough! :)

So, here is the story I have that I will NEVER forget about my changing table.

Tim and I lived in a trailer on his dad's property in Hebron, KY from 1978 to 1983. Jessica was born in January, 1980. There were 2 bedrooms. The "master" bedroom was the biggest one of course, and belonged to Tim and I. So, the other bedroom became the nursery.....a very small nursery, I might add! Not much room for more than the crib, a small dresser of drawers and the changing table. One day when changing Jessica's diaper (cloth, I might add) I had to get something to complete the job (I have no idea what it was). So I strapped her in and I remember running to get whatever it was that I needed because I didn't want to be gone with her on that table for very long. I really wasn't worried about her falling off and the changing table was sandwiched in between the wall and the dresser, so I knew it wasn't going anywhere. Well, in the short time I was gone, Jessica had managed to somehow wiggle herself out of the belt and had slipped down in between the changing table and the dresser! And she was hanging upside down! I just about had a heart attack! Thank the Lord she had not hit the floor! She was not crying or anything! But, it freaked me out! Needless to say I NEVER left her on the changing table again!

And now that I am remembering that, you know what else she used to be able to do? Of course the car seats back then were NOTHING like they are now, nor were the rules and regulations what they are now (thank GOD they have been changed!) and she used to wiggle herself out of the car seat and end up in the seat of the car! That's when I started turning the car seat around to face the back of the seat before it was even made a law to do so! I don't know how Jessica survived! :)

Can't wait to see you tomorrow, Jessica! :) I love you very much!

Almost Heaven.................

We are in WV today.......get it..........John Denver..............."Almost heaven, West Virginia!" Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River."

Anyway...........we are on our way to Addyston, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati, where DH is preaching the homecoming services at the Addyston Baptist Church where we started "our" ministry of service to our LORD 27 years ago this past June.....1983 to be exact. There is no good way to get there from our home in NC, so we decided to break the trip up by driving half way and spending the night with our daughter here in WV. She and her family will be going with us tomorrow. We will all spend the night in a hotel in northern KY tomorrow night and then head to Addyston, OH on Sunday morning (it is right across the Ohio river from where we will be spending the night in Hebron, KY.

Hebron was our home before we started our ministry service. It is also where I "grew up" and attended Jr. high and High school. I'm thinking I started 7th grade at Conner Jr. High. Tim and his family moved down the street from us (as "fate" would have it) when we were in 10th grade. He had come from New Jersey. It is wonderful to think about how the LORD brought us together! Ours was a match made in heaven, for sure! But, that's another story for another day!

I am so thankful for the years we spent at the Addyston Baptist Church. We were there 9 years total. We served there from 1983 - 1988. In 1988, Tim was called to be the pastor in a very small country church in Milan, Indiana. We had just bought a house in Addyston, too! We commuted to Milan from Addyston for the 5 years that we served there. Since we still lived in Addyston, the logical thing for us to do was to begin attending the services at the Addyston Baptist Church again. We attended 4 more years before the LORD took us to Buffalo, WV in 1997. It was harder on Jessica and Michael to leave the youth group and their friends at school than it was for Nathanael and Elisabeth. For one thing, Jessica was going to be a Senior when she started school in WV and Michael was going to be a Junior. Jessica had already bought her class ring for graduating from Landmark Christian School, too! But, the LORD helped them and they never did really seem to mind it. The LORD our God is an AWESOME God, isn't He?!!! And the SS teachers and youth leaders at ABC really had a good influence on our kids. I am so thankful they are serving the LORD today! So, even though lots of the older folks at ABC are long gone, it will be wonderful to see everyone that is still there and have been faithful all these years! And I am so glad that the girls and their families have the opportunity to be there with us!

OK, now to deal with my post from yesterday. However, I do not have the picture to post like I said I would because it is in the house and I am in the camper and I've already made about 3 trips back into the house retrieving stuff I forgot! So, I'll have to post the picture tomorrow! And, I'm going to keep you guessing a bit longer on the 2nd picture from yesterday.

OK, before my battery dies, I'm closing for the evening!

Memories.....some good.....some bad.....

Good Memories - The Best Blessed Couple on Planet Earth

Yes, I am talking about Tim and me being the best blessed couple. The Lord has blessed us over and above everything we could have imagined. To list a few:
1. Salvation
2. Shared faith
3. Shared life
4. Wonderful children
5. Wonderful children-in-law
6. Wonderful grandchildren
7. Wonderful home
8. Wonderful church
9. Wonderful ministry friends
10. Love and Loyalty to and for one another



Good Memories - Do you know what this item is?
Take a guess! Give it your best shot! I'll be back with another picture tomorrow and an explanation and a story.
Bad Memories - Death Camp
It is weird the things that go through your mind at times. Like today at the Carolina Thrift Store in High Point I saw this pile of naked Barbie bodies. And for whatever reason, the scene took me back some 60+ years ago (I wasn't even alive then) to the Nazi death camps. The slaughter of God's chosen people. The torture. The inhumane treatment. The abuse. The afflictions they suffered needlessly at the hands of a mad man! Only to end up dead and thrown onto a pile of dead bodies. How sad! How many of them reached out a hand for help, like the one Barbie doll just left of the center of the pile, only to be ignored and shunned.


Those are my thoughts from today. Thank God for His blessings and watch care over you each and every day!

Happy Birthday to Elisabeth

I'm late getting this posted, but at least I called Liz and wished her a happy birthday earlier today while Tim and I were out and about.

Where do I begin with my birth story for Elisabeth...............Hmmmmmm.........

I guess I'll start with the worries of being pregnant for the 3rd time! I had to go back to work when Michael was 6 weeks old because Tim had been asked to leave his GREAT paying management job with the Kroger company. This was because Tim was not going to be a Kroger manager for the rest of his career. He had been called to preach in 1978 and Kroger was just a good paying job with great medical benefits and paid for his seminary. And the best part of the job was that I was able to stay home with Jessica and Michael. Things were very tight, but we skimped by!

Well, when Tim was asked to leave Kroger since that was not going to be his lifetime career, I had to go back to work to help pay the bills. I don't remember whether Tim was working at Radio Shack or Landmark Christian Schools, but wherever it was, it was about half what he made at Kroger. I had quit working one stock brokerage firm when I had Jessica, so I got back on with another stock brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch. So, between the 2 of us working, we did OK. I was fortunate that mom could watch Jessica and Michael for me every day. But I sure hated the journey each day traveling the half hour to her house and then the 45 minutes to downtown Cincinnati. WHEW! I don't miss those days!

Michael was around 18 months old when I found out I was pregnant with Elisabeth. WOW! We were not prepared for a third baby. I was doing the basal thermometer birth control method, but something had gone wrong! Actually, something had gone right (GOD) and we just hadn't realized it yet! I remember sitting at that dinky little kitchen table in the trailer with Tim one morning and crying because I was sure I was pregnant and how on earth were we going to afford another baby! And at that very moment, I couldn't be happy for this third pregnancy.

But, in no time at all, while I was getting used to the idea of another baby, God was working His plan. And by June, 1983 we were moved to Cleves, Ohio so Tim could be the Assistant to the Pastor at Addyston Baptist Church, just down the road about 5 miles. Our first Sunday was either June 5th or 12th because I remember that Michael turned 2 either right after we started or right before, but what difference does a week make in God's grand scheme! And, an added blessing was that, once again I was going to be able to be a SAHM! Praise the LORD! I continued to work the last 3 months of my pregnancy, I think.

Now, I was getting really excited for our new "baby boy." The Lord had eased my worry of how we would afford another baby! He is such an AWESOME GOD, isn't He?! I guess I was in so much turmoil over being pregnant again that I have really forgotten alot of the details of this pregnancy and delivery, lol! I do not remember that we had a boy's name picked out (it was probably Nathanael Charles) but I believe on the way to the hospital we picked out a girls name, which is what our "baby boy" turned out to be, as the BIRTHDAY GIRL and you all know quite well! :) You would think that the doctor would have learned by now that I have big babies and it didn't hold true that just because they were big that they were boys! Case in point.......Jessica was a pound bigger than Michael!

OK, let's quickly move from June to September. Elisabeth was due September 20th. Well, on Labor Day, September 5th, I was having mild contractions. They were fairly close together, but not regular. Finally they disappeared. Now, for some reason, I'm thinking that maybe I had quit work the end of August for vacation and maternity leave pay, but I'm not sure about this. But, I do remember being at home.

Little did I know that the false labor on Monday was just preparing me for the real labor that came that Friday! I believe Elisabeth woke me up in the middle of the night because I believe she was born around 1 a.m. but I don't have the certificate, so Liz will need to confirm that.

Anyway, I had kept going to my OB since I only had 3 months left when we moved, which meant we would have to drive to Covington, KY to St. Elizabeth South Hospital. I guess we dropped Michael and Jessica off to Virginia Beck's house when we headed out for the hopsital. And, let me tell you what a ride that was! Here we go like a speeding bullet down Rt. 50 (which most of it was 45 mph or less, mind you)! But, knowing how quickly I delivered babies, Tim was more worried about making it to the hospital than getting a ticket..........and so was I, for sure!!! Well, the inevitable happened. We were stopped! But, as soon as the officer heard Tim's explanation, all he had to do was look at me to know he was telling the truth! So, he called for help and one police car lead and one followed as we went zooming down Rt. 50, across the Ohio River and then into Covington, KY. The police left us at the River since KY was out of their jurisdiction, obviously!

I don't remember anything after that except that the next thing I know, we have a beautiful, baby girl! Elisabeth Rose weighed 9 lb. 12 1/2 oz. I don't remember how long she was. But you could tell by looking at her that she was jaundiced. I was able to talk the doctors into bringing her home, however, instead of staying for a week! They said I could as long as I promised to let her sun bathe every day. They gave me special little goggles to put on her eyes and special little diapers. By the time I took her back a week later for her blood work, she was OK.

What a joy and a blessing Elisabeth brought to our house! She was so cute with her big blue eyes! And with us being part of the staff at church, she was a novelty to the ladies! Two ladies in particular loved to get to baby sit so they could play with her and dress her and just spoil her! But, Elisabeth never was spoiled! She was a silly little girl who tickled everyone with her antics. And she wasn't afraid of strangers! I had to keep my eyes on her because she would flirt or talk to anyone as she got older. I seem to remember that she was kind of afraid of the men who would "visit" the nursery on Sundays. They didn't need to be there anyway! But, that is another story!

So, there you have it, dear Elisabeth! To the best of my recollection, LOL, a recount of your birth. I am very proud of the godly woman you have grown to be! I thank the LORD for His guiding hand and direction in your life! I love you very much, more than I could ever express! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kim and I

I took Kim to Reynolda Gardens so we could take pictures of the flowers. It was hot, so we took a break in the shade and took advantage of a photo op. Click on the image to go to the kit at Faith Sisters.


My sister and I enjoying some time at Thom-A-Lex park while she was visiting. Click on the image to go to the kit at Faith Sisters.