It Occurred to Me Yesterday

How Quickly January Has Gone By.
I think it's an unfortunate mindset to get into, wishing time away.
"Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living" - Jim Elliot
However, I must confess, I was excited thinking about how quickly February would go by - if January did - and March is the official month in which we can get glimpses of spring which will be very forthcoming in April.  sounds like I've just wished away almost 3 months.  Not really - but I am grateful that we only have one more month of true winter.

So let's look at the possibilities March holds - by looking at these 2010 pictures, taken in mid-March.

The next ones are beginning of March 2010

and show not many changes in the trees and grass and climate

but yet not so bitter cold, either.

And haven't we already been blessed this weekend with some unseasonably mild days?

Feeling some hope and gladness  that spring and warmth always do come back to us?

It makes me excited. 

Sunday Night

And How Did Your Weekend Go?

Well, for me, not as I expected - but I believe it's how my Creator, Savior, Sovereign Lord ordained - and I'm glad.  It feels as if we used up every minute of every part of every day of this weekend - but I couldn't nor wouldn't have made that call.  Which is why it's a great thing that He is ordaining my days, down to the minutes.

end of the day - Sunday - 

I have two precious children sleeping upstairs.  Ellie and Luke.  Charlie and I are on the couch with "the remains of the day" - and all of that is a great thing.

Tomorrow is Monday, the last day of January!!!  Who can believe that???

It's the day Ann is celebrating Andrew's second birthday - which is really on Wednesday, February 2.  

Pictures will be forthcoming, but first on Ann's blog.  I don't want to override her telling of her little boy's second birthday.

Can I just say that Ann's birthday is February 1 - on Tuesday.  My first baby is turning 30.  How did 30 years go by like that and I'm still thrilled about her coming into this world and my having a little baby all my own.... and I would still have 3 more.  Amazing.

How Was Your Week?

I Liked Mine.
Monday.
Took Chicken Salad out to my friend's house (Mary) and had lunch and a visit.  Loved that.  Loved the visit and we planned to do it more and in the spring to start walking.  Hope we do it.  Walking with a friend makes for great fellowship.
Also got a few things from Wal-Mart to add to my "do a project" phase I'm in: Gesso, White Acrylic Paint, Muslin for Quilt Square, Seam Ripper to take apart old formals hanging in the closet.
Tuesday.
Morning started good, but became aware of a headache that stayed with me all day.  That's okay.  I was kind to myself and didn't push.  With my new seam ripper I began to take apart some very old bridesmaids dresses which is the beginning of my plan to make a crazy quilt.  I think this was the day Ada broke through her fear issues with the potty.  That was incredible!
Wednesday.
Overslept and began with too much rushing (I HATE rushing) but I did ride with two dear ladies to Bible Study Fellowship in Huntsville - gives me great fellowship just riding in the car - good stories and good laughter and honest talk.  Had afternoon time with Luke and Andrew while we waited on baby news.  It's a girl!
Also - Community Groups started back so that was a treat as well - connecting with folks during these cold cold days - warms the soul.
Thursday.
Loved what I got done today - it's that rearranging of closets which emptied out one space to be filled with another and, well, it spells a lot of organzing which was overdue and I am so very pleased.  It also means some tossing out of things and that's always a good thing.  Simplify, simplify, simplify.  In fact, that's where I'm headed now to complete that task.  Love it.  I don't really enjoy cleaning, but I do enjoy organizing.  I wish someone could come clean for me.  I mean, really, really, deep clean.  Love deep cleaning.
Friday.
Too early to tell, but I've already said I am about to complete that project.


Don't you just hate posts which have no pictures?  But I did do the words in different colors.  That helps a little.  and, it's a short post.

Not Doing Reposts Again

I didn't like the repost idea.

I felt weird all day with that post being up -

and to be fair I looked for my post about Mother, because I was going to repost that.  I have 7 posts with her label, but none are as complete and detailed as the one about Daddy.

Now why is that?  I went into so much detail about Daddy and I certainly loved my mom every bit as much as my Dad.  Mother was the one I probably spent much more time with and had much more conversation with - maybe Mother talked more about Daddy and told me more things about him and his past than Daddy did about Mother.  I don't know.

Anyway - loved loved my parents and my home as a child.  But the reposting idea - I don't want to do that.

Now!  Begin Again and the Title of the Post:
Ann & Steve Are Having a Little Girl!
If you read my post you probably read Ann's also - so you probably already know that she's having a girl.  But I have a picture to show.

Not of her little girl, but of Luke, and his reaction to the news.

I was so surprised!  and this doesn't even reveal just how mad he was at first.

He even snapped at me when I took this picture.

Very emphatically he said, in a very firm voice,

"DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!"

He wanted another brother.

I talked with him about it and he seemed to get calmer.

His face was so cute, his expressions, so I asked if I could please take more pictures.

He told me, 

"Okay, but they're gonna be mad pictures."

I really think his disappointment had more to do with his competition with Ellie.

Luke is very aware of the boy vs. girl issue these days.

So anything to do with boys he's all about.

It seems that he felt he had just lost a contest or a bet or a game or something like that.

Here he is before Andrew's nap,

and being a very good big brother,

sharing his Leapster and showing Andrew how to use it.

He's a very kind big brother and often calls Andrew "Little Buddy" or "Buddy".

He and Ellie are so close in age and Luke really loves Ellie a lot.

He does vie for that spot she has as first born.

It carries with it some superiority which is nearly impossible to usurp.

I told Luke that when I was a little girl I would have loved to have had an older brother like him, looking after me.  Not that I didn't enjoy my older sister (Mary Ann) but in addition it would have been so nice to have brothers, younger and older.  I always imagined that.  I just like a good mix of both genders, as in several siblings.

Fun. Lots of people, lots of laughter, lots of family.

so - it was a fun day learning about our new little girl.

Wonder what she'll be like - her personality - 

I love babies.

Repost

I've decided to go back and repost some older posts.  Much older posts.  Some people read my blog who didn't at first.  I wanted to repost this one because it is about Daddy.  I think about him and Mother in so much of what I do and what I am a part of.  So - this is about Daddy.

I posted this June 28, 2008.

This is my Dad, Frank Godsey Wilkerson

He was born May 2, 1913 and died August 8, 1993

He grew up in Troy, Alabama. He was the youngest of three brothers and lived amongst a large extended family. There were many cousins, aunts, uncles, and I'm not sure if he was born before his grandparents died.

Daddy's parents were artistic, and I know that Grandmother was musical, studying piano at Judson College. Therefore, Daddy got a full dose of every musical gene - It was said about him that he had perfect pitch. I don't know if he did or not, have perfect pitch, but I lived thinking he was the last word on music. He didn't profess that about himself, there was no arrogance to him, except for the amount we all carry around in our flesh - but he didn't take himself too seriously. He just had music "oozing out of his pores" - and rhythm. He clicked and beat and whistled all the time. He had a very clear, smooth tenor voice. Daddy was the soloist for everything, every event. He was the big musical deal in our small town of Evergreen throughout the years of 1946-19-whenever. That's the way it seemed to me.

The above photo of a photo is Daddy one year before he died.

He had Alzheimer's disease. The picture was taken at his birthday celebration, and we are all singing Happy Birthday to him. You don't see his forefinger raised in this photo, like a conductor's baton, but he did that on this day when we began to sing. When friends, during this diseased period of his life, came carolling at Christmas, he again directed the singing with his hands and arms. I wish it hadn't been that way, that he had to have Alzheimer's Disease, but he did, and lots of people have stuff in this world. I wish that he and Mother could have stayed in this world with me, until it was time for me to go, but that just isn't the way it works. Praise God for Heaven, Eternity, the sacrifice of Christ, which makes possible a very very very happy ending. The happy ending, so happy, we can't get our finite brains around it.

This is Daddy's Trumpet.

I never knew, until I was an adult, that this trumpet was a big deal. It's a Bach Trumpet and the best kind of one of these. Again, stuff like that I never knew. I never knew that it was such an "education" he got, graduating from Northwestern University. He did tell me that his voice teacher in Troy had to meet with his parents to convince them to let him go there. I wonder what that was about. Was it too far away, too expensive, too risky if he wasn't going to make a career out of it? I now understand how parents of college students think. He had already been to the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. He also attended Troy State for a while. I suppose he first went to Troy State, then to Birmingham C. of M., and then graduated from Northwestern.

In a car ride to Memphis, Tennessee, when Daddy was my transportation for "job hunting", he told me a lot of stories.

I was left with the impression, from his stories, that in his young adult years he wasn't eager to "settle down". He was the baby of the family and had lived a rather cushy lifestyle. I suppose Northwestern helped to mature him, and, also, his first job out of school, in Holly Springs, MS, and time in the Air Force during WWII. He wasn't involved in combat. He was stationed in Mississippi, working on airplanes. He was 34 by the time he met and married Mother. He was the new band director in Evergreen. She had moved back to Evergreen after living and working in Montgomery. She was 28 when they met and married.
What is it about Daddies and their daughters, or Mothers and daughters? It's two different relationships and they both have their unique characteristics. In my case, and I'm guessing Mary Ann's, it was a kind of hero thing. He ran a very tight ship, with the band, and at home. Yet, all he ever had to do was give me a look - it was in his whole face - and obedience happened. I wasn't scared of him, but there was very respectful fear.

Not the bad fear, but the healthy kind.

He was mostly fun and mostly happy. Very optimistic attitude - like it would all work out. He was not a worrier, not at all. There were some dark days for him, during the "turbulent sixties and early seventies" which impacted his career. Maybe another post on this blog, but not now. That's the only time I saw him really worry or be scared.

He wasn't a perfect person, and as a teenager I had issues with him, but hindsight puts him higher and higher on a pedestal. I've read that that is common with those we have loved, after they die. It began to happen for me before he died. I was getting older, and I knew he was fading away. My aging, and all these different stages, give me a better understanding of Mother and Daddy and all the things they experienced and lived through.

The big deal about Daddy is really the big deal about God.

When I was 15, Mom told me that Daddy had "given his life to Christ", that he'd become a Christian. That is how she put it. I didn't know what she was talking about and she had said the exact same thing to me regarding my aunt and uncle, the year before that. It is unusual for me not to ask questions, but I didn't. I don't know why I didn't because they were all in my head. All I could think was, "I thought they already were Christians - I thought all of us were already Christians". I just looked at her. I guess I thought they had just decided to get even more serious about it. We couldn't have gotten any churchier than we already were. Integrity had always abounded, and no outstanding vices. Daddy already guarded what we watched on television. I distinctly remember the lesson about always telling the truth. And, in a band lesson, when I was running my mouth, Daddy told me not to gossip - and that was in front of my friends. I replied to him, "but it really did happen", and he said, "but that is gossip and you don't need to repeat it". Here's a story about daddy and his reputation: My friends came to me, one Monday morning, during football season, as I'd put my books on my desk in homeroom - actually they rushed up to me - to tell me that Daddy had cussed on the band bus on Friday night. I knew my Daddy and I knew he didn't cuss. They knew it too and that was why they were telling me with much exclamation. We were all in the 7th grade, so cuss words at that age in 1963-64 were shocking. I told them that he most definitely had not and especially not in front of his students. To prove it, I went and asked him. I told them, "I'll just ask him and show you that he did not!" I was very smug about it. So I asked him. And.. with a head somewhat lowered and with a serious straightforward voice he told me that he had. He'd lost his temper when hit by a very large, wet spitball on the back of the neck. He'd had enough of the deafening noise, I suppose, and then to get hit by a spitball. Anyway, he pulled the bus over, stood up and I don't know what angry tirade came out of him, but some young male fool had the nerve to say, "I didn't throw it, Mr. Wilkerson!" And that was when he cussed. In his words he said, "I don't give a damn who threw it!". And then he made everybody sit down and be quiet. I don't remember the rest, but I'm guessing the rest of the ride home was very quiet.

Anyway, all of that before he "became a Christian" and before I did. Before either of us had understood the gospel of grace. The good news of grace.

That year Daddy had understood that our good works are like filthy rags to God and our sins sweep us away. He understood that we are all separated from a Holy God and that Jesus is our Savior, our redeemer. He understood that Christ's righteous life was a substitute for our fallen life. He understood that we get to be born again, brought to life, through faith in Christ and his work on the cross - and his resurrection. That year he said Yes to Christ. He was born again.

But that's not how he told it. Either he or Mom told me later that his response to whomever had shared the gospel with him was to say, "Well, if you mean have I ever prayed that prayer and actually asked Christ to come into my heart, well, no, I haven't."

And so, then, I guess he did.

It was his life and watching him grow, and conversations with him, that I know that the paragraph in italics above explain what he came to understand.

It took another year, and then, by God's grace, I understood, and I said Yes.

We also both understood that to live we had to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. That God didn't just give us saving grace, but enabling grace, to live like Christ.

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20

After that I watched both Mother(who had trusted Christ at an earlier date) and Daddy grow together, and it was a very nice thing, once I understood the gospel, to share all of that with Mom and Dad - We communicated on that eternal level. There was still "stuff" and we had to work through parent/child issues - but still - how blessed I was.

So here we are at the end of my post. And that is my Dad. I have now told about Mom and Dad. I said that I learned a lot from Mom. I learned a lot from both of them. They were really really good parents. It was all so much fun, and so secure.

Ada and John

I don't get a chance to post weekly photos of my grandchildren in McDonough, GA (south of Atlanta)

I'm going to link you up with Laura Beth's post.

There's been a potty crisis since Christmas - as in "FEAR" - and today the walls came tumbling down.

Ada's promised reward all along has been a makeup set which she picked out at some place.

With every "you-know-what" success, she was promised an hour of playing with the makeup.

Today she was able to have the makeup set a whole lot!

take a look:

http://adaupdates2.blogspot.com/2011/01/shouting-hallelujah.html

What Laura Beth didn't tell about in her post (I know because she texted or called with every victory, per my encouragement.  I wanted to hear!) is that at the most successful moment on the potty, her almost 1 year old John came WALKING into the bathroom.  He's taken 5 steps that I know of - perhaps a few more here and there - but Laura Beth said that it was as if he wanted to have a momentous event also - to share the glory and applause.  That is vintage human nature, isn't it???  So in walked John, to the bathroom - and the applause went from Ada's success to John's achievement.  All on the floor of a bathroom.  Isn't that the life of a mother????  A classic moment.

Here's John, but not walking.  It's a blog post following his pediatric checkup:

http://adaupdates2.blogspot.com/2011/01/johns-nine-month-appointment-at-11.html

That's all for this post.  So thrilled for LB (who had the same fears when she was 3 and we prayed the same prayers in 1985 that she's been praying in 2010-11)

A Million Things I Didn't Know

There are at least a million - a zillion and then Ka-trillion 

but, here's what I didn't know about being a mother, and I just realized this one today: 

1.  That on the day of each of my birthdays, at least 1-30, it was more than my birthday.  It was Mother's Birth Day.  She remembered the day as if it was very recent.  I do.

Today is Sarah's birthday and she is 25.  I keep thinking about that day.  I think about the day before and the day before the day before.  I remember the weather.  I remember visitors.  I remember how the anesthesia affected me each time,  and it was different with each of my 4 deliveries.  (4 C-Sections for a gal who planned to go natural as in no pain killers - ugh - thank you Lord for protecting me from that)

Today Sarah is 25 and her birth day is very vivid.  I remember turning 25 and was my birth day that vivid to Mother, as if it had just happened?

Ann will be 30 on February 1.  She's my oldest and I know I'll remember those details.  So - I don't know anything beyond having a 30 year old child/daughter/adult.

Mothers share the birthday of their child in a very unique way.  I'm certain that Fathers do as well - but probably don't voice it like Mothers do.

So, here's to what I remember and to Sarah's birthday.  It was a GREAT day!  Thank you, Lord.

He Leads Me

A hymn came to mind last night and I couldn't quit singing it.  I haven't sung it nor heard in what seems like a long time - I like it.  I used to really enjoy singing it in church - growing up.

But first, I'm going to define some seldom used words which are in it.

Fraught - Filled or Laden (with); Full of
Bower - a leafy shelter or recess; arbor
Repine - to be fretful or low spirited through discontent

This hymn was inspired by Psalm 23 and it was written in March 1862, during the darkest hour of the Civil War.

He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me, O blessed thought!

O words with heav'nly comfort fraught.

Whate're I do where're I be,

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,

By His own hand He leadeth me;

His faithful follower I would be

For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepeth gloom,

Sometimes where Eden's bower's bloom,

By waters still, O'er troubled sea,

Still 'tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in thine,

Nor ever murmur nor repine,

Content whatever lot I see,

Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,

When by thy grace the vict'ry's won,

E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,

Since God through Jordon leadeth me.

Saturday at Home Again

Bye Bye Birmingham and Ross Bridge Golf Resort

Who lives like that?

I mean, people live there, as in homes - not 2 nights with, well,  State Taxpayers' Money.  Which, even our close friends give us a hard time, if we even have a teensy bit of pleasure through Charlie's office - He goes to meetings, they're scheduled at these "places", I go with him and "BOOM" - jokes - comments - we take it in stride and I wonder - but really - we do very little in that arena.

Back to this post -

Ross Bridge Resort  Check it Out.  Rather nice but, um, "Plastic?"  "Artificial?".  Still, Nice and I enjoyed the time there to myself - Charlie was in meetings all day.

So - go home - Bye Bye Ross Bridge.

We need to buy much more "appropriate" luggage for these places.

and I love the clean folded towels.

I love anything "clean".

and sanitized glasses - or so they say - 

I have little trust for hotels.

I prefer home.

and the freebies - which I used to confiscate -

then I got tired of doing that.

This photo is their mouthwash, but I LOVE the hair products.

However, these are Aveda products, and I DID bring them home - I guess they're to encourage buying the Aveda Products in their Spa.

I was going to - but couldn't tear myself away from the "alone" time in my room.  

and the single cup brewed coffee in my room.

 Love it.

but we travelled I-59 home to Scottsboro.

and by the time we'd reached Rainsville and beyond - well - it's so back to reality.

Birmingham fades into the distance

and our heartstrings are tugged and today it's Saturday in Scottsboro.

Wish I could post the sound of 6 little feet running up my back porch.

That's music.  I wish I had the other 4 feet, from McDonough, running up my back porch.

I wish I could convey all the smiles and kisses and giggles which burst into my kitchen.

Wish I could zap Sarah and Kate here to help me scoop up all these little people.

Wish I could already hug and kiss all the little people whom Sarah and Kate will probably add to the mix.

They were here only to eat their Subway Meals and it was back home.

SATURDAY.

A Challenge but I'm Nervous

I'm going to try this challenge from one of my favorite blogs.  I'm drawn to the personality of this girl who reveals her energy and heart through words. And she loves South Africa with a similar longing to mine for  South Alabama.  How can that be?  We long for our true home - our roots - yet it's neither South Africa nor South Alabama - but it feels like it, to each of us.

Her challenge?

"I've been thinking about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words.  And I figured, why not take 5 minutes and see what comes out:  not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing."
"Sit down, think of the most unique person you encountered while you were out and about this week,
and write them into life for us.  In five minutes flat." http://thegypsymama.com/2011/01/five-minute-friday-person-prompt/


Start.


1951.  Our moms sharing their stories - how it feels - pregnancy.  They were carrying each of us and ready to be done with it and having us on the outside instead of the inside. We've heard the story many times and told it ourselves.
2011.  I'm sitting on her couch - her hospitality still running strong - one of the many gifts her Creator blessed her with.
She's Martha.  We lived in different places in our small town, different churches and different grades.  I had been 3 months ahead of her getting into this world.
Our lives have been intertwined, yet we've had experiences which placed us in different places only to find ourselves back in that same familiar place - sharing our stories and our history.
Last night, I was in her home again - and we laughed and almost cried.  We discussed trials and how it feels to suffer - and laughed with our mutual friend - also sharing the same space.  It's a gift - someone like her, in my life.  With her trials - she looks more like her Creator.  He's shaped her and it's beautiful to see.

Stop.


Well, I did it - but it took 6 minutes instead of 5 minutes.

Martha, if you read this - well - you're a treat and I couldn't resist writing about you.  The challenge didn't ask for 2 people, because I wanted to also write about Val - equally unique to me.

I don't even know if I did this link up thing correctly with the post I've told about.  I hope I did.
If anyone does the math I'm almost 60 and this computer stuff has come late to me - so - we'll see.

I'm going back to Scottsboro today.  I've been in Birmingham with my sweet husband for 3 days.

Happy Friday.

Praise, Adoration and Confession

The seas have lifted up, O Lord,

 the seas have lifted up their voice;

the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,

mightier than the breakers of the sea - 

the Lord on high is mighty.

Your statutes stand firm;

holiness adorns Your house for endless days, O Lord.

Again:

Heavenly Father, our sins are too heavy to carry

too real to hide,

and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name and what our hearts can no longer bear.

We come to You now, beginning to name the ailments that plague us.

We can do this only because You promise to forgive our sins

through the death of Your dear Son.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change;

Open to us a future in which we will be changed;

and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image,

through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Mid January

17 days into 2011.

How are you doing so far?

If we break that down into a week - It's like saying that it's almost 8:00 AM on Monday morning and I might ask you, how is your week going so far? (I used my calculator to figure that out)

Well, if you'd been up with a sick child all night, having made great plans for the new week on Sunday night - well - you'd be somewhat discouraged.  You'd want a restart - because maybe Monday wouldn't look like you'd planned.  You might be headed to the pediatrician or having to wash more clothes than you already needed to wash.  Maybe have to cancel plans unexpectedly due to the sick child.  And all of this would be with lack of sleep.

However, if you'd gotten to bed early and gotten a really good night's sleep and woke refreshed, with a pot of coffee ready to plug in - and perhaps already gotten up early and had great prayer time and bible reading - well - you'd be feeling pretty good about your week.  Great start.

I guess a lot of us could say we had an unusual start to the new year, for Alabama and for the South.  All this snow!  Didn't it clog the wheels just a bit?  That's not a complaint, it's just what it is.  We were snowed in, snowed out, slowed down.

And....there are blogs I read - things happen in lives that are so very very very unexpected and heartwrenching.

I have been writing about my projects.  I love them - but I think I'm going to have to turn one of the bedrooms upstairs into a sewing room - I'm not ready to stop - but it's taken over my house - I need my dining room back and a lot of my living room.  I have to clear the decks just for my grandchildren to walk through.  And I definitely have to check for pins and needles.  Wow, couldn't we spiritualize that sentence - or it could be a sermon topic for a "topical" preacher (one who isn't an expository teacher) - "Checking for Pins and Needles in Your Life".  And the sermon could be, "No matter what good things you have going on in your life, you need to clean up all along and check for pins and needles".  And then people could go home and think about it.  :-)  Sorry.  I've gotten silly now.

I think the point is - we plan - but don't we agree -  that there's always the unexpected + daily trash + daily living.  (Ann and Steve's garbage is backed way up because  the city trucks couldn't get into their neighborhood due to the snow and ice - or wouldn't try - again - another sermon topic - "Is your garbage backed up?"  Sorry, silly again)

So I think of Ephesians 5:15 - 21 

 "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.  Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

There's the list for the New Year -

1.  Be very careful, then, how we live.  (the then is telling us to go back and read what  verses 1-14 say and also what chapters 1-4 say.)

2.  Make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. and at the very least,  full of the unexpected - 

3.  Understand what the Lord's will is.  "Anyone would be a fool not to seek His will and His way"

4.  Be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Really be filled with the Holy Spirit - steadily - continuously - controlled by Him - yielded - broken - prostrate - filled with the Holy Spirit. 

5.  Have Praise and Adoration and the Word of God in our heart - so as to speak God's words to others - even in ordinary sentences - the Holy Spirit will encourage others through our ordinary words which actually are extraordinary when He is filling us.

6.  Always give thanks to God for Everything.  in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because we're in Christ, if, indeed, we are in Christ, we can do this - simply because of His work on the cross - we can thank God for everything - the good, the bad, and the ugly.  

7.  Submit to one another.  Submit to one another.  myself, yielded, like the street signs - giving others the "right of way".  How? and Why?  Out of Reverence for Christ.  He yielded to us - He clothed us in His righteousness and Himself in our sin.  Uh, yeah, I think we can yield to others.

It's Monday!  Have a good one!


Wait!  I forgot!  I love this prayer which was posted on Sarah's blog and which she got out of her bulletin yesterday at church in New Orleans, LA!!!!  I love it.   I want it to be my heart - I think I might print it out and tape everywhere in my house - at least in front of my kitchen sink.


Tell me this isn't your prayer - No - tell me it is your prayer!


Heavenly Father, our sins are too heavy to carry
too real to hide,
and too deep to undo.
Forgive what our lips tremble to name and what our hearts can no longer bear.
We come to You now, beginning to name the ailments that plague us.
We can do this only because You promise to forgive our sins
through the death of Your dear Son.
Set us free from a past that we cannot change;
Open to us a future in which we will be changed;
and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image,
through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

I Need to Write Something Different

I don't like stale posts.

Refresh!  Refresh!

I don't like much of anything stale.  Food.  House odors.  House decor. (and mine is very stale at this point).  My brain. (having to knock the cobwebs out)  Clutter is stale.  It makes the house stale.  It collects.


So, I guess there is stale and cluttered.

But my posts.  Last one was about the game on Monday night.

We've all been rather snowed in.  Not totally - but regular stuff has been interrupted.

We had adorable Andrew Sunday night through Wednesday.  We returned him to his parents and to his brother and sister on Wednesday at about 4:00.

He is blessed with the dearest and most pleasing temperament.  He enjoys a little mischief, but is so endearing and funny with it.  Lucky folks who are born with the "everybody-likes-them" personality or the "they-can-get-along-with-anybody" personality.  Andrew seems at this point to have that.

Anybody interested in the progress on my projects?  Well, I've completed 4 stockings and done many more stitches on my Cross Stitch project.  Oh....and I made a big mess.  Last night I semi cleaned it up.  Just enough to make sense of it all.  thread is everywhere - and I plan to vacuum.  I've only gotten one pin stuck in my foot.  Ouch!  always glad it's me instead of one of the grandchildren.  I like all the thread and all the needles everywhere.  Makes me think of two people.  My mother and my grandmother.  Ella, my grandmother had thread all around her chair where she sat in her older years and did handwork.  Needles were all next to her on the table by her chair, under the lamplight.  She had to see and have plenty of light - and if I was doing anything in the room, reading, anything, and didn't have good lighting, she'd say, "Elizabeth, you're not seeing a thing!"  I'd assure her that I could see.  I didn't know how young and good my eyesight was then.  Now I see any of my children doing something in low light and I say, "I know you can't see!"

Of course, I'm sewing with mother's machine and naturally I think of her.  They all pass through my head - those ladies I knew - those moms I knew - who shared that sewing skill and interest with Mother and Ella - Two moms in particular, moms of 2 of my good friends,  who would discuss it all with Mother.

Anyway - while I'm doing my little piddling version of sewing and not being perfectionistic at all about it - because I don't have a total knowledge of sewing and all the things involved - I excuse myself - unlike if I'm working on a drawing or painting or anything involving that kind of art on a surface - I expect so much which turns into a fear of failure so I just don't do it -  (back to the sentence)

While I'm doing my little piddling version of sewing I regret that I didn't learn to sew in high school - I regret that I didn't pursue sewing lessons for my daughters.  It is such a very very very helpful, fun, practical, useful, creative skill to possess.

Enough.  Pictures of my completed stockings, so far.

Ada's Stocking.  The fabric is a very soft corduroy - with thin lines - not the thick.

the white fabric - it reminds me of a matelasse.

I'll show you closeups of the trim and embroidery.

scroll down.

now once again,

Andrew's stocking - but I had forgotten to embellish his with the star buttons I'd bought.

So - here it is completed.

So - it was 2 years ago when I made Ellie and Luke's,

but I had to retrieve them from Ann.

In making Andrew's stocking I realized I had folded the cuffs over too deep.

I needed to correct that, so I have these at my house and was able to take pictures.

Ellie's is a white soft flannel and the cuff and heel have shimmery stars in the pink .

Again, closeups show the detail.

And then Luke's.

scroll for closeups.

The fun part is selecting the fabric and the embellishments.

There are so many cute buttons and trim to sew on.

For girls - really fussy embellishments. Love it.

It's an opportunity to be a bit gawdy.

It's a Christmas Stocking!

Still, I have a hard time being too gawdy.

I lean toward understated.

Now my dishtowel stockings.

First Stocking

Striped Side

Red Side.

and closeup.

Second Stocking

Striped Side

Red side

Third stocking, which I've already shown in previous post,

and it's the only one that's been completed for so many years.

I had 3 more to make.  I still have one to make, for my set of 4 dish towel stockings.

striped side

Red Side.

Now I have John's Stocking to make and one more dish towel Stocking

and I can move on.

Until we find out the gender of Ann's baby.

Then I'll make "her" a stocking.  or "him".

Today I'm working on another project.

It's something for somebody who has a birthday coming up!!

I know she's reading this.

My sister, Mary Ann.

I'm always late getting her gift to her.

Her birthday is Sunday.

I'll complete the project today - get it in the mail tomorrow and she'll (You'll) receive it beginning of next week.

Happy Birthday Early but it'll be late.

Here are some images from her birthdays in the past.

Always January 16.  So soon after Christmas.

Mary Ann turning 5

I guess this was her sixth.

Mrs. Wiggins, our first grade teacher, being Mother Goose.

She told us all a story - or read it to us.

Quite an elaborate theme party for 1955.

And, in the background, the doll cake Mother made.

(I just had the birthday discussion with Laura Beth this morning)

I led her to believe how times used to be much simpler.

I guess moms, then, and now, have the one blowout birthday and decide they need to calm it down.

Maybe this was year # 7?

A dressup party.

It was a small crowd.  3 or 4 girls plus me.

Not sure what age, but this was a cousin only party.

Looks like the party went outside.

That's iffy in cold January weather - but kids, or we did, love to go outside.

That's Mary Ann leaning over to make sure our cousin, Scott, is okay.

Looks like John (with cowboy hat on) had just shot him.

My cousin, Rachel, seems to be admiring his gun.

She loved boy toys.

Let me get back to what I was doing.