Faith as a Child

This week-end we were able to spend a good amount of time with our granddaughter. It was such a joy to watch her enjoy life. She loves my chickens about as much as I do!
Another thing that she loves to do is "jump." She will say jump and run out to the trampoline. It is so cute to watch her run. You put her on the trampoline and she just loves to run around in circles. Not very fast, but she likes how she bounces as she goes. And when she gets back around she will run straight to me and about jump into my arms. She has no doubt that I will catch her. After she was gone, I was thinking about how she has so much faith that I will catch her not matter what. And I realized that this is the kind of faith that the Bible speaks of - the faith of a child.

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Luke 18:17

I also realized that God is there and ready to catch us not matter what as well. What an awesome God we serve!! :O)

Trials

" The trials of life are God's workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace."

"If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will prove a blessing."

both quotes are from Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessings pg 10

Have a wonderful day and remember you are in wonderful hands when you are in the Father's Hands! :O)

In God's Timing

Have you ever prayed about something and prayed about it and nothing happened and you gave up? Me too. See I had assumed that because the prayer had not been answered in my timing that the answer must have been a no.
This week though, I heard something that changed my thinking a bit. It all starts in the book of Mark chapter 5

"21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live." 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him."

The very next section kind seems to change gears a bit but it is still apart of the story. We pick up at verse 25:

"25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?" 31 But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, Who touched Me?' " 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."

Notice here that this lady had suffered for 12 years. After all this woman had been though and it seemed that no one could help her - what Faith it was for her to go to Jesus- to know that just touching Him would heal her.

Ok please stay with me because there is a really important lesson in this story.

"35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" 36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39 When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping." 40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement."

So the woman suffered for 12 years. How old was this little girl? 12 years old. Of course she had not been suffering as long - but God still healed her. When I noticed this a light bulb went off - and I realize that sometimes God chooses to answer our prayers right away and sometimes the answer is wait. Of course, some of the answers to our prayers will be NO and that is when what ever we are praying for is not part of His will for our lives.

In the case of the woman above - had God healed her earlier - the glory would have went to the Dr's or what ever other things she had tried. But in God's perfect timing she was healed and the glory went to Him.

So when we are praying about something that we believe to be God's will - we are to continue to pray and believe that God will answer our prayer and in His timing He will do just that. :o)

Pedestals - For Floral Decorations - Not People

Since I have been talking about the mission field, I really feel the need to add one more thing.  I really think it is important for us to remember that those that do go over seas on missions trips are just as human as we are. And they are just as capable of making mistakes as we are.

I think that sometimes we tend to put people up on pedestals and then when they disappoint us, which they will - if we have put them on a pedestal - we could be devastated.

Truth be said - we are all human and capable of making mistakes. And we need to be willing to extend mercy and grace - just like our Heavenly Father does. This is only possible when we have allowed the Word of God to change us and fill our hearts with God's love and when His love flows out of our hearts - it is much easier for us to extend mercy and grace.

Every Day Things

As I stood in line at the grocery store, I could not help but notice the way the couple in front of me were acting towards the bagger. At one point the bagger put a bag that had the eggs in it onto a bag that had meat in it - and the woman said- "Are you stupid?" to the girl. The look on the girls face was shock - she did not understand why the lady had been so mean.

I can imagine the bagger pushing the basket out to the car and as they approach the car - bumper stickers like "Honk if you love Jesus" are plastered on the back bumper. And I can imagine the girl thinking - if this is what a person acts like when they love Jesus - I don't think I want to get to know that kind of Jesus.

Our mission field include the every day things that we do. How we treat those that serve us. Even road rage or just hateful driving can turn people off from God -especially if they recognize you as a Christian or see Jesus stickers on your car.

As we spend time with our heavenly Father and we allow Him into our hearts- that is when His love will start to fill us and we will realize the importance of loving those around us. Even if it means just accepting actions from others that may not be what we wanted.

How much easier it would have been for the lady above to just say to the girl bagger - oh I will get those eggs and place them where she wanted them?

The Mission Field: Here and Abroad

(a piece of their money that I got at church)

A group of about 30 people from our church went to Zambia Africa for a mission trip. They had about 8 different site set up to present their sermons. Each site had anywhere from 200-500 + people.

While there my friend gave a Bible to a young boy that was about 12 years old- his name was Lucky. He had helped her carried about a 50 pound bag a long ways. When they got to the site he asked for a Bible. She had 5 with her to give away. Well not too long after that the elders came dragging Lucky back to her. I guess they thought that he had stolen the Bible. She let them know that she had given the Bible to him. Then one of the elders said Miss Melinda - you don't understand - alot of the elders don't even have Bibles.

Well that sparked what has happened since then. She decided that when she got back that she would collect Bibles to send over there to the people.

After I went to her house and looked through alot of the photos and heard a lot of really neat stories -I decided that this was something that I wanted to be a part of. I have had 5 Bibles donated and then I stopped by Goodwill today while I was out and about - and I found 4 really nice Bibles - and come to find out the books were on sale - half price - so I only had to pay about $ 1.00 each. I had a very nice extra Bible that I have put into the pile so I am up to 10 Bibles.

I am so thankful to be able to be a part of this. I may not be able to go on a mission trip to some far away country, but I can gather Bibles together to send over there.

Some people are called to go to far away countries to be missionaries. But I am a firm believer that there are many more people who are called to be missionaries right where they are, to those around them. Just sharing about what Jesus has done for us is something that we are all called to do. When we share what God has done for us - we share of God's love for us.

So today what I would like to ask for is prayers that we will be able to raise enough Bibles that are needed at this time. And pray for the people of Zambia. Thanks so much.

Seek Him First

"There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care because they seek to reach the world's standard. The have chosen its service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus their character is marred, and their life made a weariness. In order to gratify ambition and worldly desires, they wound the conscience, and bring upon themselves an additional burden of remorse. The continual worry is wearing out the life forces. Our Lord desire them to lay aside this yoke of bondage. He invites them to accept His yoke; He says, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." He bids them seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and His promise is that all things needful to them for this life shall be added. Worry is blind, and cannot discern the future; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find perplexities vanish, and a plain path before their feet." The Desire of Ages pg. 330

This morning - I was looking in my bookcase to see what books I have of a set and what books I needed to get. As I pulled my "The Desire of Ages" book off of the shelf - I remembered how long ago - when I was about 8 years old - I had won this book at a series of meetings that my family and I had been going to. As I looked at the book - I noticed on the back page- it written, "page 330" So I turned to 330 and next to an underlined section on the page was a pencil drawn star. As I read the section - I was blown away. This was just what I have been learning during this past couple of years.

This is a treasured book in my bookcase and will be read a lot more in the years to come. It is part of a 5 book series called "Conflict of the Ages"

"Patriarchs and Prophets" book 1

"Prophets and Kings" book 2

"The Desire of Ages" book 3

"The Acts of the Apostles" book 4

"The Great Controversy" book 5

If you would like to check out any of these books or others by the same author - Ellen G. White -just click Here
When you get to the page you can find what ever book you want to check out and click on the title of it. It will take you to the table of contents and then you can start reading.

This is the same author who wrote the book - "Steps to Christ" my special treasure in a red box - that I have been reading. I have been so blessed by what I have read so far. It speaks of the indescribable love that God has for us. And as I have read this book - I have felt that love and I have felt closer to Him than ever before. And to me - and if a book does that - it is well worth my time.

As you can probably remember that last year I read through "The Little House on the Prairie" series. Well as much as I enjoyed it - I am sure that reading through this series - "Conflict of the Ages" will profit me SO much more. In this day and age - we need to be doing what ever we can to get to know our Lord and Savior more and more.

Just Shy of 2 Years

Hello everyone~ How was your week end? Mine was actually a quiet one. I was able to spend a good amount of time in my sewing room.

I did not know it was possible but my husband made my sewing room even a better sewing room. He hooked up my laptop(that I did not use very often-cause I did not want to mess it up) to my TV in my sewing room. Now - I can surf the Internet looking at the big screen or I can go to Netflix and watch a movie - while I sew.

This week end I watched a movie that I have heard a lot of people talk about - well enough that I wanted to know what all the talk was about. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" So if there are any fans of this movie out there please explain to me the hype with this movie. It was ok - but not like a favorite and when the movie ended - I did not have the feeling like - this movie improved my life and I don't know why I went so long without seeing it. It was more like - ok. Anyway - anybody want to share about it - feel free to do so.
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Well I am sharing this next photo for a couple of reasons.
#1 This week end I have been working on a project in which these fabrics were used in order to finish out a quilt. I have the last border to sew on, but I will be sharing a post about this quilt later this week.

#2 I wanted ya'll to have some time to imagine what the quilt will look like

#3 Notice the date - December 5th, 2009 - This is the date or really close to when I bought this fabric- The blocks had been finished probably at least a year before this - well all blocks but the last one - which was was lost(I ended up having to make two blocks to finish out this quilt - and with the help of my Mom we were able to pull fabrics together from my stash in order to make up the last two block) Anyway I have some quilter friend who feel bad because they have some BOM blocks - just sitting waiting to be made into quilts. And after I saw how LONG ago I had bought this fabric, I just had to share it. About 6-8 months ago I spent hours and hours cutting out all of the pieces in order to put this quilt together.

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A prayer request - our neighbor, who is 80 years old was outside on about a 12 foot later using a chain saw to cut down large limbs off of one of his Oak trees that had died. It seems that a lot of trees were lost this year. It has been that dry. Anyway he feel - my son just happened to be fixing to leave to go play basket ball and he saw this gentleman fall and told his friend to call 911 - as he ran next door. My husband seeing my son run across our front yard - new something was wrong an he hollered at me - to pause the game he was watching and grab a phone - I asked what happened but did not quite hear him - I though my son or his friend had gotten hurt. Well when I went out the front yard I figured out what he said. Well this man - had a cut in his right ear - so there was blood on the side of his head. It is a good thing that my husband has had EMT training and worked with the fire dept. Cause he went and held c-spin - I think is what they call it - basically just try to keep the man laying down and keep his neck still. Let me tell you this neighbor of ours is always going and doing thing. He is 80 years old but acts so much younger. Anyway an ambulance came and got him and took him to the hospital. Poor guy. He does not like to be down. It will be hard for him. We are praying that he will be ok and not in much pain. Please pray for him~ Mr. G. as well. Thanks

Happy Sabbath

The Importance of Giving..Even on Our Special Days

I learned an important lesson this week courtesy of my Mom. Her birthday was Thursday so after work - I drove to her house to take her birthday gifts to her. After she had graciously received the gifts I gave her - she said is my birthday which mean it is time to give. I am thinking - what? And she took me to where she had been working really hard to get something special finished to give me:

A wonderful quilt! I love it!

The fabric here that has the hearts in it is the fabric that she knew I loved and this is the fabric that inspired the whole quilt.

I thought it was so generous and thoughtful of my Mom to give me such a lovely gift - on her birthday! She said that this is something she likes to do in order to keep herself from being too self centered.

Then I remembered last year she had given a quilt to a lady who has a very ill husband and lives miles away. So this was a great way to show her care - even though she could not drop by for a visit.

She really understands the verse- 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:35b)

What a blessing this quilt is to me. I believe that quilters really understand ALL the work that go into making a quilt so we totally appreciate them - probably more than others can appreciate them. And not to mention that this quilt was quilted with Love. It is a really treasure to me - today and the rest of my life.

This and That - with a Warning for Pet Owners

I had been looking for something cool to keep my CD's in. So when I was at Goodwill yesterday - I was excited when saw this. I thought I was being so smart when I went and found a CD and tried it out.

The only problem is that I did not try every space. So when I got home and tried it - I was a bit disappointed that a couple of the slots were too narrow.
But I am not going to let that stop me. I have a few cd's that are just in sleeves so they will fit in the small slots.

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OK- for those of you that have inside pets - especially cats, because that is what I have - it is very important that before you bring house plants into your home - to research and make sure they are safe.

Cats love greenery and will be chewing on the plants if they can get to them. I had known of the dangers of poinsettia's but did not figure out that there is a long list of plants that are toxic to cats. And of course, I did not figure this out till after I had bought several plants. And of course, most of the plants that I got were not good for my kitties.

I had even bought a Rubber Tree Plant for my living room. But once I had found out that it along with a few other plants were dangerous for my kitties - I decided to return it. And here is a beautiful plant that I got instead!

While I was a Goodwill - I found this awesome platter. It is a Corella. For $2.00!!

By the way, if you would like to check out the discontinued designs that Corelle has - click here. I was able to find out that the design name for this is called: Indian Summer. And also that it came out in 1977. I love it. It will be something great - at least to use during the fall- if not all the time.

As I have looked for when this pattern came out - I have come across alot of really cool patterns that Corelle has had through the years. Really some pretty designs! Here is a link to see what patterns came out when.

The weather here has been heavenly!! 68 degrees right now at 4:15pm. It is great. It will be warming up a little during the days - but it will be where we can leave the AC and Heater off! And that is my favorite time of year!! :O)

Looks Like We Have Some Coolness Headed Our Way!

It is the middle of October and look at our temps. Oh..but I am really looking forward to Tuesday!! We would be able to open up our windows and leave them open for a while - well only closing them if it gets too cool in the house. I love when it is cool enough to open up the windows and keep them open.
I am not sure if I shared that last week a snake was in our chicken pin. Scared me alot. I carry my cell phone in my pocket when I got out there on purpose - just in case something like this happens. Well my husband took care of it. I was so thankful that he was home and able to take care of it.

Then last night I opened my back door to go put the chickens up and what is on the bad door seal- a snake - this one was only about 7-8 inches. But it too scared me, enough that I made a yell or something and slammed the back door. Here I was feeling sorry for the wild life - with there not being much rain. I have done what I can to keep things watered around here. And maybe unintentionally I have been keeping the snakes alive too. Or they love hot dry weather. I don't know but I have seen more snakes lately than I like to be seeing.

I decided that today I will be cleaning the area beside our sunroom, there are a lot of leaves that have piled up there. So I will be pulling the leaves out of that area and taking them to my garden area. And maybe if I clean that up - that will help keep the snakes a little further from the house. I sure hope so. You know I would sure like to sit on my back porch and enjoy this cooler weather and not have snakes scary me to death.

Ok enough complaining for one day. I hope you all have a great week. :O)

Cast Your Burden Upon Jesus

"Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. "The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." James 5:11. His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest. "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Psalm 147:3. The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His beloved Son. " Steps to Christ page 100

Just a little gem that I wanted to share with you all. There are so many of them in this book. I just love books - that draw me closer to God! :o)

Oh I need to add this: The page number is based on the book - and when you go to the link that I posted earlier to day - it is not on the page 100. You would have to go to the chapter titled- "The Privilege of Prayer" to find this quote.

"Steps to Christ"

Since I am sure that some of you would be hesitant to send me your address in order to get a copy of the book "Steps to Christ" - I decided I would look for it on line somewhere. And sure enough, I found it! So here is a link that you can either read it or listen to it. Just click here.

Trust me, it is an excellent book and well worth the time to read or listen to it. Don't take my word for it, read it for yourself.

Have a wonderful day! :o)

Sabbath Praise

Heartburn- a Nuisance or Dangerous?

As many of you know, my husband has been having some health problems lately. He says it feels like an elephant is sitting on his heart. This has been going on for quite some time. He has had 2 hospital stays of 2+ day and a couple of ER visits. The Drs have run SO many tests trying to figure out what is causing the pressure/pain.

At one point the Cardiologist said it is not your heart - it is something else in that region. So my husband has had a lot more test run. One of the test being an upper endoscopy. This ended up being a blessing. They discovered that he had - Barrett's Esophagus. Barrett' Esophagus can only be diagnosed with having an upper endoscopy and biopsy done. Why this was a blessing is that if a person has Barrett's Esophagus and does not keep it under control with the help of medicines like Nexium, it can go into cancer.

They say only about 10- 15% percent of people with chronic symptoms of GERDS develop Barrett's Esophagus. And of those only a small percent will develop cancer.

The Dr had to take 3 biopsies, there was already that much damage done. We are praising the Lord that there was no cancer found at this time. He will have to take Nexium for the rest of his life and he will have to have the upper endoscopy done every year or two - to keep an eye on it.

Although we have not found what is causing the pressure and pain that my husband is experiencing, we are thankful that this was found. It is a real blessing.

The main reason why I wanted to make sure and do a post about this is because my husband has not complained about having heartburn and the rest of the GERDS symptoms. And I felt that this was something serious and the information needed to get out there. I had never heard of Barrett's Esophagus before this. I am hoping that by sharing about our experience that it can help others.

Words...part 2

This whole idea of being careful of how we use our words is not a new idea. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:17:

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Whatever we do, we are to "do it ALL to the glory of God"(emphasis mine) 1 Corinthians 10:31 When you think of it like that, it really does show the importance of what we do and say.

David realized this truth when he said:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your Sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." Psalms 19:14

James tells us to "be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.." (James 1:22)

He understood a very important truth and that is "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away" (Matthew 24:34

The Bible is as relevant today as the day it was written. I am so thankful that we have such a special Book with all the answers that we need. And through the power of Jesus Christ we are able to follow the words and directions in the Bible.

Words...

Our words are powerful. We can use them to encourage or discourage. Our world would be a much better place if we would choose to encourage one another rather than discourage.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the power of words. Earlie this week, I was sharing my heart with a friend and I was totally caught off guard when she said to me, "that really sounds selfish." I even had to ask her what she just said because I just as so surprised. After that I no longer felt like sharing these personal thoughts and feelings. Actually it took a lot to fight back the tears and get through the rest of the conversation. I left our time together - discouraged. I know she did not mean to hurt my feelings.

Later as I was processing the whole ordeal, I realized how very important it is to listen to people. What a lost art listening has become. People need to be heard and have their feelings validated. You don't have to agree with someone to validate their feelings.

And what a blessing you are to those around you when you are willing to listen and show compassion. (I am very blessed to have some friends just like this!)

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I will choose to be an encourager. How will you use your words? Just something to think about.

We've Got Rain!!

We are finally getting rain! Glorious rain... It has been a long time since we have gotten this kind of rain. You know the steady rainfall. It has been wonderful. We even have puddles in our yard.

In this photo you can see part of our dry creek bed. Of course the section just to the left of the tree in the photo is where the dry creek bed that I put water in every day when the temps were in the hundreds.

When I went to let my chickens out and to feed them - I had to wade through some water. I can't complain though at all - we have been desperate for the rain. With good sized cracks in our yard and with a good amount of our grass dead. And my poor oak tree that has probably died. I say probably cause I am hoping for a miracle. It is my favorite tree - the one that I have several bird feeders handing from. You know - it can't die - I need it.

When I went into the chicken pin, I discovered that we made a bit of a mistake on how we did the tarp on the chicken pin. This time we pulled it down and connected it to the dog run- between the dog run and the shed - well we should NOT have done that. It did much better last time when we pulled it back and then the rain would run off of the shed on the sides instead of coming in that crack and getting alot of the little bit of dry ground wet. It was so nice to have it dry - especially going into the shed - so I could gather eggs and all on dry ground. So once this rain stops we will have a job to do - get out there and figure out how to change it. Until then - I will have to go through the muddy mess.

My poor little chickens don't know what to think about that rain. I am glad that we have half of their dog run area with a tarp over it and an igloo - cause it gives them a place to get out of the rain.

Well I hope you all have a good rest of the week-end. :o)

A Link to a Great Poem

A friend of mine posted a great poem the other day. The poem is called "The Spider and the Fly" Just click on the title of the poem and it will take you to the poem. There is a very important lesson for us all in this poem. :O)

Little Red Box

Several weeks ago, I was looking around a local Christian book store. I was having no luck finding what I was looking for. As a last ditch effort, I decided to look through the clearance stuff. As I was looking, I saw a little red box on the bottom shelf. It intrigue me, so I bent down to pick it up. I opened up the box and lo and behold it was another book that I had wanted to get but did not know for sure what I was looking for. The price tag on it said $11.99. I went to see if I could find any more of this book and see what the original price had been. I could not find out. Well I already had quite a bit of books and things that I was buying, so I bought the stuff that I already had.
When I got home - looked up the price on the Internet. Come to find out, the original price was $19.99. Well I decided very quickly that I really wanted that book. So I drove back to the book store and it was still there!! Yay!

"Steps to Christ" I have gotten such a blessing from reading this book.

The reason why I got my copy for such a great deal is because someone was going to buy it and had their name engraved onto the cover and then decided not to buy it. Well that is fine with me.

I would like to make this book available to you. Of course, I can not afford to pay $20.00 a book for all of you that would be interested, but I can send you a paper back edition. If you will just send me an e-mail with your address to - liscarpATyahooDOTcom - Please put Steps to Christ on the Subject line. Thanks so much.

One of God's Blessings

Well we are having our septics pumped this am - so I have been up since super early this morning. It was so nice and cool outside that I opened up all of our windows. Hoping that we can keep them open till late this afternoon or evening. I think the high today will be about 89 degrees. And our house does not have a good enough breezeway in order to really stay cool with it being that warm outside. I have been so grateful for the cooler weather and the ability to open up the house and enjoy fresh air.

One of the benefits to waking up at the crack of dawn is to catch the sunrise. I had just gotten out of the shower and could see beautiful pink colors coming in the small window on our front door. So I had to get my camera:

This last one I changed the angle a bit. Sorry about the wires there - I know it would be a really awesome photo if I did not have those there but this will have to do. What a beautiful sunrise! Just one of the many blessings that God blesses us with!!

Too Cute Not to Share

It's been a while since I have shared a photo of our sweet granddaughter. And really this photo is just way too cute - not to share!! I hope you all are doing well. :o)

No Coincidence

This week while I was running errands, hear a verse that really got my attention; so much so that I quickly wrote down I 26 3. Later when I arrived home, I looked it up and loved the verse. I posted the verse on Facebook so it could bless others as well.

"You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

Isn't that an awesome promise?!

Then during our sermon on Sabbath the preacher referred back to this verse. He is doing a series of sermons on 2 Peter 1. This week he was talking abut self-control. And by the end of the sermon it was very clear that in order for us to have self-control we need to not have our focus on ourselves but on Jesus.

"Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest... Our lives may seem a tangle; but as we commit ourselves to the wise Master Worker. He will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own glory." DA 331

I don't think it was a coincidence that I just happen to hear this verse on the radio and I don't think it was a coincidence that it was used in the sermon. God knew that I needed a reminder of how to have peace -keep my focus on Jesus and trust in Him. Sounds good to me.. How about you? :o)

Blue and Yellow BOM #1

I am going to attempt each month to share my Block of the month. That way those of you that may have the template can have a new quilt block pattern. I may not go into as much detail each month but I wanted to at least start off the year with a more thorough post about it.
This year we are using Marti Michell's templates Set B and D. If you don't already have these - they are a great investment to those of you who quilt. I have had mine and used them for a long time now.

On this first block - these are the templates that are used.

Here are my fabrics. I am sure that there are many ladies out there that have plenty of fabric in their stash to make a block.

It called for 4 of this 25 - so I folded the fabric in half(making sure to fold it the direction that will work) and will cut two of the templates - making it a total of 4 pieces.

Many of the pieces of fabrics are where you can fold the fabric in half and cut out two pieces at time. Some it works better to just cut one piece at a time.

Be careful to pay attention to what pieces you will need from each fabric- sometimes you need several different templates cut out of one piece of fabric.

Here are my pieces all cut out!

Next I will lay the pieces out to make the block:

Many times you can then look and figure out the best way to sew your block together. But it is best to be careful because sometimes they can be very specific of how it needs to be sewn in order to go together the best. That is where the directions come in really handy. So you may want to glance through the directions before you get started.

Here is the finished block. I look forward to seeing the rest of the blocks come together. Next BOM will not be till Nov 11th - so be looking for the #2 BOM sometime shortly after that. Normally BOM for me is the 1st Friday of the month before the 1st Saturday of the month.

Since I have my BOM done for the month - I will now look and see what other projects I can work on. What do you have going on in your sewing room? :o)

Value= by Doing or Being?

Good Morning - I thought I would re post this since it is something important for us to remember in this world that is always pushing so many of its standards on us. The worlds value system is opposite from God's value system is. And I for one, want to keep my eyes on Him and realize that the world's value system is not something that I want to worry about.
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Recently I heard a great program on the radio - I think it was one of the Hope for the Heart programs. By the way, if you have a chance to listen to Christian radio - do so - it is great. If you do not have Christian radio in your area here is a link to our local station KCBI. There is a listen live button and you can also go and check out the programming. Lots of great stuff.
Anyway the one I was listening to was June Hunt talking to someone about their self worth. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. We are bombarded with the message that we have to fit some high standard to be accepted, to be of value and it is just not so.
June Hunt asked the lady if she was human doing or a human being?.... Just think of that for a bit...So many times we are lead to believe if we are good enough or if we measure up to this standard or that standard - doing, doing, doing enough - then we are of value. And this is just not right. Think of the word being for a minute - it is not an action verb. It is not what we do that makes us valuable.

"And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female." Genesis 1:27

We were created in the image of God. And not only did He create us and the world around us; but, He loved us so very much that He came down to this world and lived a sinless life and then died on the cross for our sins. That is how very valuable we are to Him. Now that is value.