Bible Conference Blessings

This was a conference on the theme of Hope.  Hope, as it is used in the Bible, has a different meaning than the way the word is used in today's society.  When you and I say, "I hope so and so happens," it is something we would like to happen but have no assurance that it will.  Hope in the Bible refers to a "confident expectation" in something happening.  And, as Tim brought out in his message, hope is always associated with heaven.  And even more than that, hope is in Jesus; not the place of heaven, but the person of the place, Jesus!  The messages we were able to hear were wonderful!  I hated to have to leave!  And, with the theme of the messages being focused on our eternal hope, I sensed the songs we sang as a congregation were more "spirited."  I know my heart was truly blessed and instead of just singing the songs, as I sang I paid attention to the words and found myself getting very teary-eyed at a lot of the words about our Savior and all the things I have through Him because of His dying on the cross to take away my sins.  And some of the songs I couldn't even sign for the emotion.  Thank You, LORD Jesus!

Here's a few pictures I took while there in the mountains of WV (Talcott, WV).  Don't know what will happen with the conference for next year as Bro. Stalnaker announced this was going to be his last year of hosting the conference, which he has done for I don't even know how many years.

While it was wonderful to be at the conference, there is nothing like a good night's sleep in your own bed!  It was about 12:30 a.m. when we got home.

This first one is a beautiful garden spider that Tim saw as he was picking tomatoes this morning.  Beautiful as long as it doesn't touch me, that is!  :D

 Here's the traditional picture of us standing by the Greenbrier River below the hill of the cabin we stay in when we attend the conference.

 Here's an un-blocked view of the Greenbrier River.  I would love to borrow someone's flat bottom boat or canoe some year to get out on the river while here.  Trouble is, the river is usually pretty low at this time of the year.

 After dinner on Monday, we came back to the cabin to check the air conditioner, which wasn't working very well in our room.  It had rained and the fog was settling in as we drove back the lane to the cabin. 

 After we went back to the church, I had Tim drop me off so I could take some pictures.  This is the Greenbrier as it runs by the church.  Quite a bit deeper in this area.  You can see the fog on the hills in the distance.

 There's the canoe Tim and I need to borrow sometime!

 This row of fence posts with the bird houses is back the street going towards the church, which runs parallel to the Greenbrier River.

 I took several pictures of the flowers around the church, but I like the way this flower looks.  Beautiful combination of colors.  What an artist our God is!

 Tuesday morning, the men came early to the church for a prayer meeting at 7.  After the prayer meeting, Tim came back to the cabin to pick me up so we could go back to the church for breakfast.  The women of the church sure cook up wonderful meals for everyone during the conference!  Breakfast, lunch and dinner AND a snack in the morning and afternoon!  Let's just say you don't want to be on a diet while attending the conference!  :D  Tim was first on the schedule of preachers on Tuesday, beginning at 9:45.  Between him and the next preacher was a snack break.  Felt like we were always eating!

 Lunch is served at 12.  After lunch is free time til dinner at 5.  We came back to the cabin so Tim could take a nap as he did not sleep well last night.  But, he couldn't sleep, so we took another walk over the hill to the river.  Coming back from the river, I got this picture of us with the cabin in the background.  It is a very nice cabin.  It is not rustic on the inside as you would imagine.  The walls are finished.  There are 3 bedrooms and a bath, living room area, kitchen/dining area and laundry nook.  Upstairs there are 2 nice sized bedrooms and a full bath.  We always sleep upstairs in the room with the bath.  Even though the shower is barely big enough for you to turn around in, we like it because it is private.  At least it has been for us so far because, generally, no one else sleeps up stairs.  The air conditioner was not working correctly in our room, however, so we had to leave the door open to the other bedroom and ours so the air from the other room could blow into ours enough to cool it a bit.  But, it was having trouble keeping up with the heat, which is one of the reasons Tim could not sleep this afternoon.  It was just too warm in the room.

 Here's a little closer shot of the cabin.  I could live out here with no problems!  :D

Just Precious!

I just had to share a picture I downloaded from my daughter's facebook page.  Is this not a precious and beautiful child?!  Of course, I'm only SLIGHTLY prejudiced!  But, that's a grandma's prerogative, right?!  :D  If you haven't before, meet our little Miss Abigail, who is 3 months old.  If you ask me, this would be a GERBER BABY winner!  :D  Never mind the fact that she isn't a Gerber Baby yet!  I have to confess that she is only one of my soon-to-be-7 reasons why I regret living where we live!  :(  But, the LORD knows of my sorrow in missing my kids and grandkids and so I try not to dwell on it but think about the other blessings I have from day to day!

Blessings and hugs and kisses to all of you!  Love, Mom/Grandma

How Sweet the Name of Jesus

We sang a song today that I had never heard before.  It was an easy song and the words are beautiful.  I wanted to share it with you.

How Sweet the Name of Jesus
Written by John Newton

1. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
   In a believer's ear!
   It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
   And drives away his fear,
   And drives away his fear.
2. It makes the wounded spirit whole,
   And calms the troubled breast;
   'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
   And to the weary, rest,
   And to the weary, rest.
3. Dear name!  the rock on which I build,
   My shield and hiding place;
   My never failing treasure, filled
   With boundless stores of grace!
   With boundless stores of grace!
4. Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,
   My Prophet, Priest and King,
   My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
   Accept the praise I bring,
   Accept the praise I bring.

 Short and definitely sweet!  I'm so glad He has boundless stores of grace, aren't you?  Grace that is greater than ALL our sin!  Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!  WOW!

Stuff Mom Always Said!

One of the ladies at church gave a copy of this to all the ladies last week.  It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO true!  So true, in fact, that I thought I would share it so you could use them, too!  :D

• A little soap and water never killed anybody.
• Leave your sister (brother) alone!
• How can you be hungry?  You just ate an hour ago!
• There's enough dirt behind those ears to grow potatoes.
• If you're bored, I can always find something for you to do.
• It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't trust everyone else.
• Wipe your feet!
• When you have kids of your own, you'll understand.
• Pick that up before somebody trips on it and breaks their neck!
• Running away?  Don't let the door hit you in the rear.
• I said CLOSE the door, I didn't say SLAM it!
• Look at this room!  It looks like a pigsty!
• So what if Sally's mom let her do it?  If Sally's mom let her jump off the Empire State Building, would you want me to let you do it, too?
• Just wait until your Dad gets home.
• Don't make me come in there!
• I didn't ask who put it there, I said, "Pick it up!"
• You're the oldest....you should know better!
• Don't go out with a wet head, you'll catch cold.
• You can't find it?  Well, if you'd put things where they belonged, you wouldn't have this problem.
• A little "birdy" told me.
• When you have YOUR own house, you can make YOUR own rules!

I guess I probably had all of these directed to me from mom, however, I don't think I repeated many of them to our kids (did I?).  I know for sure one that mom DIDN'T use was the one, "Just wait until your Dad gets home."  Nope!  She ALWAYS took care of the situation herself!  I pretty much did, too!  Dearest mother!  How we all miss you and Dad!  Can't wait to see you in heaven! 

And in case I haven't said it lately, I love you all!

What I've Been Up To........

My last time to post here was Kara's 5th birthday on the 11th.  I actually made the post before going to bed because I knew with getting up early to get ready and head to the beach that I would probably forget to do it in the morning rush!

So, what have I been doing for the last week and a half?  Glad you asked!  :D  I'll show you!  I just happen to have a few pictures!  I'll spread them out amongst the journaling!

So, Monday, July 11th, Tim and I drove to Myrtle Beach to spend the day with Liz, Brad and the kids.  Of course, my main "duty" was to take care of Abigail while the others played!  My kind of "work!"

Isn't she the cutest (as the rest of my grandbabies are!)?  :D  Here she is in her UV protective baby swimming suit.  She also has an adorable floppy hat, too!  Un-be-knownst to me, babies are not supposed to wear sunscreen up to a certain age that Liz told me, but I forget.  I can understand that as anytime Abigail's little mouth touches skin, her tongues goes out to lick or she starts sucking! 

It was very pleasant in the shade!  When the 7 of us came on the pool scene, a lady spied me carrying Abigail.  There was not an empty seat in the "house" so we took our bags to a fence in the shade.  Liz took Abigail into the pool with her and I took pictures.  In a few minutes the lady who spied me earlier came up to me and said, "I saw you carrying the baby when all of you came in and I decided when we were ready to leave that we would give you our 2 recliners so you could sit with the baby."  How sweet of her!  I thanked her profusely and proceeded to gather up our things by the fence and follow her to the chairs!  Before long Liz brought Abigail to me and we both relaxed while Brad and Tim played with Ryan and Hannah.  Here are some pool shots.

 Tim coming down the slide.  Caught him in the air!

There is Hannah just hitting the water with her feet.

Anticipation showing all over Ryan's face!

After playing in the outside pool, we went to an inside pool.  I had so much fun just watching Ryan jumping into the pool!  Between the faces he made and the "tricks" he performed he was certainly entertaining to watch! 

Later on Monday, we went to "downtown" to check out a free carnival.  It turned out to be only 3 of the big blowup bouncy toys and every kid in Myrtle was already there, so we just walked around and went down on the beach to walk.  On the way back to the camp, we stopped at DQ.  Abigail is ready for bed!

Tuesday, July 12.  Tim and I got up early to walk on the beach on Tuesday morning.  We walked for about an hour and a half.  When we got back Brad was getting ready to fix breakfast!  Tim helped him some.

YUMMY!

After breakfast we went to the beach before Tim and I got ready to come home.

Wednesday, July 13.  Made a visit and Tim's cucumber plant is MASS producing!  The green peppers are starting to get big, too!

I made some more Cucumber Salsa and shared it with Brad.  Also made some more pickles and shared with Brad.

Thursday, July 14.  Spent the entire afternoon painting for VBS.

Friday, July 15.  Liz and family left the beach and spent the night.  While outside with Ryan and Hannah, we saw 5 rabbits out behind the church fellowship hall.

Saturday, July 16.  Holding Abigail before she leaves to go home.

Sunday, July 17.  When turning over a jar to drain the contents to the bottom, be sure and twist the lid shut! Otherwise you end up with a nice mess!  More VBS painting and getting crafts ready.

Monday, July 18.  This in light of the Casey Anthony murder trial.  Last week's sign.

Tuesday, July 19.  Just need a few finishing touches after I buy gold and silver paint.

Wall mural.

 Photo op.

 For bean bag toss.  The white circles will be cut out.

Wednesday, July 20.  Worked on crocheting baby items all day.

Thursday, July 21.  Thrift stores.  Bought paint to complete VBS props and finished them.  Also finished up the baby shower gifts - yellow sun suit with matching headband and Mary Jane shoes, blanket and matching winter hat, baby bunting.

Friday, July 22.  That brings me to 2:31 a.m............right now................I will be completing the VBS crafts today.  Right now I'm catching up on the check book entries.  Looks like we are FLAT broke!  :D

Til next time.  Love you all!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Kara!

Papaw and Mamaw wish you the best birthday ever!  We love you very much!  It is hard to believe that you are 5 years old already! 

Teach an Old Dog Continued...............

There were guesses of hawk, swallow, martin, mocking bird, .........and as I knew she would, Tim's mom made 3 guesses.  The first guess was a..............................TADA!!!  a Chimney Swift!  She wins the grand prize!

I don't think I had ever heard of a Chimney Swift before this incident!  Here is one blog link that talks a little bit about them.  They are a little strange looking, up close and personal!  The nest is amazing!  Not very much of a nest, actually!  And if a mother usually lays 3-6 eggs, how do they keep from rolling out?  Not to mention that they must be very small in size!  I've still got some more reading to do!

Here's a better picture of what they looked like as we saw them flittering around.

This is why I thought they were bats.  Totally black from what I could see.  And, I guess there actually are black ones.  And there are white ones.

Anyway, glad I got everyone to thinking!  Even some of you searched the internet to find them!  Were you correct in your search results?

See!  You really can teach an old dog!  :D

Teach an Old Dog................

I know some of you (older) people who read this blog have heard the phrase, "You CAN teach an old dog new tricks."  Well, I didn't learn a new trick, but I did learn something new today! 

The story begins from yesterday.  While outside in the late afternoon, I believe, I noticed 2 or 3 "bats" flying around.  I told Tim about them.  But I kept thinking to myself, "Why are they flying around in the daytime?  I thought they wouldn't come out any earlier than dusk, at least!"  Then I proceeded to forget about them.

Well, today, I was headed back to the house from the church at around 4:00 and saw quite a few of these "bats" flying around again.  I went back to the church and told Tim the bats were back.  So he came out to take a look.  They were flying all around, seemingly catching bugs or something, because they were definitely not flying from here to there, if you know what I mean.  Tim finally said, "Those aren't bats."  I asked him what they were, then.  He didn't know, but I could tell that he knew but the name just wouldn't come.  We discussed them for a bit longer and then I decided to come in and see if I could find them on the internet, which I did.  When I found them, he said that's exactly what they were.

Now, before I tell you what they are, I'm going to see if you know something that I did not know.  I figure Tim's mom will probably know what they are called.  Anyway, look at this picture and make a guess.  I'll be back tomorrow with a post about what they are.  Pretty amazing!

Please notice I got this picture off the internet and give Bruce Di Labio full credit for taking the picture.  They were moving so fast I knew I wouldn't be able to get a good picture, but I'm still gonna try!

The "bat" in this picture actually looks a bit larger than the ones flying around here.  The ones we saw had shorter wings and "tail" area.

Remember Me

Remember Our Soldiers today and every day!  They are fighting for our freedom!  Watch this video.  It is moving!

REMEMBER ME

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to all my family and friends.  Wish we could be together today!  Thanks be to God for blessing the USA as a nation!  A special thanks to all who served/serve this country to protect our freedom!  Especially to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives for Freedom!

What a Mess!

Are you thinking................what has she gotten herself into this time?  :D  The answer is............................GREEN BEANS!  One of the couples at church brought us a MESS of green beans they had picked!  Tonight Tim and I snapped them and I "processed" them for the freezer.  The process is called "blanching."  Very easy to do, too!  Fill a pot 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil.  After the water begins to boil, throw the clean green beans into the water (I had washed them before Tim and I snapped them).  Put the lid on the pot and let them boil for 3 minutes.  In the mean time, fill another pot with cold water and ice.  As soon as the 3 minutes are up, put the beans into the ice cold water to stop the cooking.  Drain and bag up the beans for the freezer.  We now have 5 quart bags of green beans in the freezer!

There were a couple more hands full of green beans that wouldn't fit on top of this bowl.  And we ended up with 5 quarts shown below.  Thank the LORD for His marvelous provision!  I'll have to do some catching up and show you some of the good things I have made from the "fruits" of our veggie garden and herb garden!

SURPRISE!

Guess you probably thot I'd dropped off the face of the earth?!  Not so!  Just been busy, busy, busy!  Lots of things going on with me!  I've got my fingers into all sorts of stuff.  Been crocheting, been working on VBS stuff and been designing a little bit, too!  It is the designing stuff I wanted to show you today.  Digital designing, that is!  Since it is a brand new month, I got a new kit done and I made my new desktop calendar with it.  "Life is Good at the Pool" is the new kit and I had the perfect picture from vacation with Liz and Brad at Myrtle Beach for it.  I love catching the kids in mid air and the pool and the trampoline is a great place to get those kinds of pictures.  Here's one of Fearless Ryan jumping off the side of the pool towards daddy.  Now that I'm looking at this, with the blending I did of the picture into the green background, it looks more like they are in a creek somewhere and not the pool!  I'm thinking I might just change the green paper to a blue paper and I'll show you the difference!