# 5 Ever Lasting Gospel.

So last Sabbath it was quite chilly here in Texas - with temps barely going over freezing point. 

This Sabbath our high will be in the low 70's ~ This is just one of the reasons I love living in Texas!  

Hope you are blessed by todays sermon :O) 

A Late Open Christmas Letter to You!

 An open Christmas letter- sorry it is late. 

So I know that many times people write out letters of what all they have done and such. But I would like to do something a little different. I would like to share with you what I learned this year. I hope that it blesses you as it blessed me.

 

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24

 

Just as God’s mercies are new every morning –in a way so is our brain because we get new baby brain cells each day. And it is our choice what we will do with them. When we think negative thoughts it actually damages the brain cells, but when we choose to think positively it is actually helpful to our brain cells and also to our health.

 

When the negative thoughts come into our thoughts – we have a choice right then of what we want to do with them. This verse in Deuteronomy shows us what choices we have:

 

Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

 Deuteronomy 30:19

 

Our choice is between

life and death,

blessings and curses.

 

Ever since I learned this important lesson – I have had many challenges trying to test my resolve. Will I choose life? Will I choose blessings? Sometimes I have found myself saying “I choose life!” or “I choose blessings!”

 

9 years ago when I lost my hair do to chemo – I had a very challenging time when shower time came – I had no hair to wash and it would be a very emotional time for me. But I began to sing a little verse over and over when I would feel the sad emotions welling up.

 

Bless the Lord oh my soul
Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
Oh my soul
I’ll worship Your Holy name

 

I didn’t realize it but I was choosing life! And I truly believe that this mindset is one of the reasons why I was able to get through 6 sessions of 2 powerful chemos without having my blood counts dip too low. I am so thankful that even though I did not realize that dwelling on the negative things would only bring my health down, that God led me to choosing life. That He helped me to turn my focus off of me and onto Him and by doing so I was choosing life.

 

I still sing the above chorus now and then and have added this as well.

 

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

 

The closer we come to the end of time the more and more challenges we will face but God calls us to choose life and to choose blessings.

I hope that you, too, will choose life and blessings.

 

May God bless you in a special way today and draw you closer to Him as you choose life! And I hope you are blessed in the process. :O)

Best Deal

How fitting that today - Christmas day - my best deal would be a beautiful Christmas decoration! 

I found this at my favorite little nearby thrift store. It is only open 3 days a week for only 4 hours a day and so it is a bit of a challenge for me to get there sometimes since I am taking care of our grandson at least one of those days and on another day I end up with appt, running errands, or taking MIL to Dr apt. But thankfully I was there and able to get this great item! 

The older I get the more picky I am getting about my Christmas decorations. Over the last year or 2 I have actually gotten rid of at least half of the things I had- only keeping things I really like a lot! 

This treasure was new in package - sorry I didn't get a photo of that - I was in too big of a hurry to pull it out and put it up. 

I found it on ebay and other places as well - but I took a screen shot of this find:

So what was my deal?

One Dollar! Yep - $1.00! 
What a Deal!! 

Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you! I hope you are blessed this Christmas season. :O) 

 

# 4 Christ our righteousness

A Little Catch Up and Look Forward

 Good evening. I hope you all are doing well. Well I am sorry for being missing in action. Just really busy. You know how it is. I am sure you, too, have extras on your plate right now as well. I have not forgotten that I have a best deal that I promised, something from Ikea. Oh and I also have a "Tupperware" best deal to share with you and one other. I can't wait to share these great things with you. I am hoping that I will get a chance to get on the computer and type up some posts soon. 

We have a cold snap going through Texas right now- it is 8pm and currently it is 13 degrees and feels -6 degrees. Of course this is Fahrenheit- I watch a youtube video that is from London and she has been talking about how cold it is there- It may sound colder for her to say 0 degrees - but when talking Celsius -it is actually 32 degrees Fahrenheit.  I know to them it has been colder than usual - and I can relate - we don't usually get this cold in December. The cold snap will stick around through Sabbath. If we can just hold on - looks like temps will be in the 60's by Wednesday! Yay! I am looking forward to that. 

I also would like to do an update on the book I have shared a few things I have learned from it. And what I decided about it. I might even share my "Christmas Letter" with you all. If I can get to my desk top - I maybe able to share it by Christmas! 

I have one favorite artist - and this week I was lucky enough to find another favorite artist - it will be one of the "Best Deals" coming up. What a blessing it was to find this treasure - no it isn't worth a whole lot of money- but to me it is a treasure. I can't wait to share it. 

Ok - so I better close - tomorrow I have to wake up extra early so I better close so I can get a few things done before bed time. 

I hope you all are doing well and staying warm. :O) 

# 3 God's incredible love

I didn't know, but I chose life

 So 9 years ago I got the devastating news that cancer had been found when I had a hysterectomy. I ended up having 6 rounds of chemo- carbo/Taxol. 14 days after my very first chemo treatment - I started losing my hair. I know I have shared this with you before but I needed to share this part to give a back drop to what I wanted to share today. 

As a woman, losing your hair can be a big deal. So as you can imagine showers were a bit of a hard thing -because I was reminded that I had no hair. It would be a very emotional ordeal. And I began to sing the chorus of the song "10,000 Reasons" :

I probably sang this songs hundreds of times through the 6 months without hair. When I began to feel emotional I would start singing this over and over. 

As I was showering one day this week - I was reminded of this memory and it struck me - how I had faced these emotional times and I choose life. I had no idea that this was what I was doing at the time but as I look back over this time period I believe that by keeping my focus on God and worshiping Him- I was able to keep a more positive outlook. No those 6 months were not roses and sunshine- but when the emotional times can I tried to keep from falling too far into the pit. And I truly believe that by choosing to sing this chorus helped me to choose life and to choose blessings. 

I had no idea that we have that choice to make. And it depend on where we allow our minds to dwell- as to if we are choosing life or death; blessings or death. But God led in this area of my life as well. I had no idea - but I still chose life. I still chose blessings!! 

And Yet You're Sinning Still

 

He Has Your Back Too

 9 years ago a friend shared this verse with me and I shared it on Facebook. Little did I know that in just a few hours I would get some very scary news. But God knew and He was gently reminding me that He was taking care of everything. He was in control. Some of you may be facing scary things- if so read this verse and know God is still in control and He's got your back too

Best Deal

 I actually have a Best Deal to show you this week!! Yay!!! This weeks best deal came from Aldi's. 

I had seen these off and on the last couple of months. I thought they might be neat but I certainly did not think that they were worth spending very much money on. So I passed them up. But last week I saw them in a box with a sign that said $2.29 and I was like - well yes! They are worth that much money! I put them in my basket- I did ask the cashier specifically if they were really $2.29- she said yes. So I got them. 

A friend asked on Facebook - what they were- my husband almost responded that they were salad tongs....lol but sadly I had already responded with they were to use to scoop up leaves and such. 

Anyway so my best deal only cost me $2.29 - what a deal! :o) 

I would love to hear of any good deals you have gotten! :O) 

Be sure to come back next week - because I got another great deal at my favorite little thrift store. :O) 

Two Dimensions Of Salvation #2

Happy Sabbath! :O) 

Continuing On This Journey

 Ever since it was impressed upon me the whole idea of choosing 

 life and blessing 

instead of death and cursing I have had a great deal of experiences in which to test my resolve. 

This past week has been full, it seemed, of situations in which I was brought to the test of which I would choose. Many times this week found me saying, out loud, "I choose Life," But let me warn you, just because you choose life and blessing does not mean that the trial or temptation goes away instantly. Yes! Sometimes it does but this week I experienced a few situations in which I kept having the temptation to run the issues in my mind over and over as if I were on a hamster wheel. And I kept having to step off the wheel and say - "NO- I choose life. I choose blessings. And I have a feeling that I will continue to have issues and temptations that try to get me back on the hamster wheel of negativity. But the more times I choose life and blessing the more I will be reminded of the choice I have. 

As I was dealing with one of the issues this week I looked up Deuteronomy 30:19 and found a beautiful translation of it: 

 Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.

Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make.

Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

Deuteronomy 30:19

Not sure the translation but was first thing when I Google verse

I may be having my resolve tested as to which I will choose- but thankfully I now know that I have this choice to make and I am doing my best to choose life and to choose blessings! Please join me in doing the same! :O)

Crown or Crucify

 I tried to type out this poem -but it was not allowing me to type it as seen - so just going with photos. 

I hope you are able to read it. :O) 

The Biblical Definition of Sin

Today we are starting a new series - I have to be honest - This sermon are a little longer than what I have been sharing. I know not everyone has time to sit down for a whole hour - I don't always have the opportunity to do that, so I watch what I can and then come back later when I get a chance to finish up. Sometimes I have to watch in several different sessions. 

Not all of these sermons will be this long. I just think he has SO much to cover that this sermon had to be a long one. 

- I do hope that they are a blessing to you! :O) 

My Newest Toy

 I am sure I have shared with you all how much I LOVE vintage Fisher Price toys! Well last week end my husband and I went to a local Antique mall- we were not able to make it there till Sunday afternoon. I was worried that all the good stuff would be gone since they were having big sales on Black Friday and on Saturday. But we found an awesome toy!!!

Fisher Price Click and Clatter  

I had never seen a toy like this till the night before when I was scrolling through eBay to see what all toys they had and I had seen a could like this. So imagine my surprise and joy when we saw this on the shelf!! 

I am including this next photo so you can tell how much bigger this yellow guy is than the normal fisher price little people are: 

The car is set up where you can put the guy in it on either side. So it is facing the left in the photo - you could lift car up and over - facing the right and put the person in the hole that way as well. I absolutely love it and I am sure my grandsons will love it as well. Oh and it makes noises when you drive the car around!! And you know how much those little guys love to make noises!!! 

I paid about $10.00 for this set. I thought it was well worth it!!! 

We Have A Choice To Make - Choose Life

 I struggles as if I were in a pit and couldn't get out. I was sad and emotional. I had a list of things that had broke my spirit and I just couldn't get past it all. 

Then God brought a special lady in my Sabbath School class and inspired her to share with me a book that she and her husband were reading and how it was making a huge difference in their lives. 

The author of the book explained how every morning we have new baby brain cells and it was our choice of what to do with them. As my friend and I were discussing this information we both noticed the correlation between how we have new baby brain cells every morning and how God gives us new mercies every morning. How cool is that?! 

 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

The author also used the verse found in Deuteronomy that speaks about us having a choice before life and death, blessings and cursing 

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you

 life and death,

 blessing and cursing; 

therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Deuteronomy 30:19

We have a choice of what we want the new baby brain cells to be: 

life or death 

blessings or cursing's

As my friend shared this information with me, I knew that it was just what I needed to hear. I had been wasting my new baby brain cells on negative thoughts hat were a curse to me- I had not been choosing life or a blessing but death. And I knew that is not what I wanted. And I also knew it was not God's will for my life either. 

The things that had broke my spirit had not changed, but my attitude about my life has changed and I am feeling happy and blessed. 

We each have choices to make. When we choose to dwell on the negative things it makes deep ruts in our brains that make it harder and harder to get out of the habit of thinking negative thoughts. When those negative thoughts pop into our minds we have a choice to make - dwelling on the negativity only pulls us down into a pit. And its no fun in the pit. I have spent too much time in the pit. So I am making my choices for life and for blessings and what a blessing it is to be pulled up out of the pit! 

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I have ordered this book and would like to check it out a bit before I recommend it to you all. I would hate to lead you all astray. 

 

Quick Update

 Hello my friends! I hope you all are doing well. I am so happy that we have finally had a couple of days of sunshine! I needed them. They have refreshed my soul. 

I actually have a post written up that i want to share with you. ill just have to get it typed up. 

I just finished reading a great book and just started a new one and want to share them here as well. And I do not order very many books off line. I like to spend just a dollar or 2 on most my books but something happened this past week end that led me to buy not one but 2 books off of eBay!! What would cause me to do that?! Just wait and I will Share about them as well. And because I found used books I was able to buy 2 books for a lot less than 1 ~ brand new. It's the best way to buy books, 

I will just on again when i have a bit of free time and get that post typed up, Oh and I have a couple of other purchases to share with you as well!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just dropping in for a few minutes to say I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

 A couple weeks ago I thought that we would end up with a big thanksgiving crowd - of about 15 or so- but in reality we will only have 8 and 2 of those will be babies. It will be the first time in MANY years that we will actually have Thanksgiving for our family- on Thanksgiving Day. I have done some prep work today so that tomorrow will be a bit easier since we will also be taking care of our youngest grandson -who is about 10 months old, that should be fun. 

Anyway Happy Thanksgiving!! :O) 

Sabbath Devotional

"The Power of Prayer" 

This IS LOVE

Just had a few minutes to come and do a bit of a check in. My stressful situation last week - ended up lowering my immune system and I so I ended up getting sick Friday and had to stay home from church on Sabbath. Thankfully they broadcast it and so I was able to watch the service. I was happy because they are doing a sermon series. And I know when there is a series - I get a lot more out of the series when I hear them all. This morning I called Dr to get an appointment and so I will be going to see her this afternoon. I need to get well so I will be up to taking care of my grandson - who has not been feeling well either. He has a check up tomorrow and we are hoping they will finally give him some meds to help him feel better. Poor baby has been sick for over a week. I am SO thankful he is a pretty happy baby because he may be more clingy but thankfully he is not a grouch when he gets sick. Wish I could say the same for my husband....lol -if you are married - you probably can relate... 

So today is a stay home and get caught up on a few things around the house till my appointment this afternoon. I am hoping I get some meds that will finally clear up this mess. 

I hope you all are doing well. I wanted to leave you with this encouraging quote. It is found in a wonderful book called "Mount of Blessings" well worth your time to read. You can find it on line- it is written by Ellen G. White. If you would like an actual book to read - just leave a message and I will mail one to you. It is such a great book - I think everyone should have a chance to read it. 

 "Whatever may have been your past experience, however discouraging your present circumstances, if you will come to Jesus just as you are, weak, helpless, and despairing, our compassionate Savior will meet you a great way off, and will throw about you His arms of love and His robe of righteousness." MB8

Sabbath Devotional

Happy Sabbath! I have recently found a really nice youtube channel that has some short devotional videos and I thought I would share some of my favorites with you all each Sabbath. I hope they bless you as they have blessed me. :O) 

"The Case of the Strange Chicken"

Thank You!!

 Doing much better today - A BIG Thank you to those of you who took time to lift me in prayers. It's wonderful to have prayer warriors in my life. When I am struggling I can count on them. And I do my best to lift my friends in prayers as well. Prayer is very important. It is our way to talk to the one who loves us best! 

I pray you all are doing well and that God blesses you in a special way!! :O) 

Asking for Prayers Please

 I have been trying really hard to take care of my self and to live life in a way where I can handle the stresses better- and wouldn't you know it - a double load of stresses falls on me. So I would like to ask for extra prayers. I will try to jump on here and update when I can. Thank you so much. 

Rejoices over you with singing

 "If you base your value on how you compare to others, you essentially deafen yourself to His voice who “rejoices over you with singing.” Don’t look to the right or left. Look at your Dad up there singing your praises like a crazy person."

~Jennifer Jill Schwirzer

Hello~ It has been a long time since I have had a chance to check in. So on this overcast Friday morning, while my grandson sleeps, I thought I would take a few minutes to say Hi! Things continue to be busy here - We are still plugging away at working on our new chicken coop. We did find out this week that it will probably be February 2023 before we get our baby chicks - but at least we will be prepared.

I have been struggling a bit with depression- it has seemed. I have had moments of overwhelming sadness and feeling very emotional. SO I had to get proactive. I prayed about it and asked God to help me and He encouraged me to do a few things -

• Get better sleep ~ This means make more effort to get exercise every day if possible.
• Start doing a "health bounce" every day~ This means getting my mini trampoline and setting a timer(for now) for 5 minutes and bouncing and moving on it. This is very good for your lymphatic system and working my core and so much more. He has brought this instruction around to me several different times over the last few months and so I am planning to do it every evening for 5 minutes for the month of November and will work up to doing 10 minutes a day in December. I have high hopes of what this will do for my health and fitness.
• Getting to bed earlier~ I had let my bedtime slip too much and had to pull it back. The sleep before midnight is 2 times as important to your body than the sleep after midnight. So going to bed earlier will help.
• Trying to eat healthier - getting more fruits, veggies, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains. When we do this our bodies function much better and our overall health improves and so does our mood. We need nutrition and eating a lot of highly processed foods does not give as much nutrition as what the diet that God has provided. Getting a good amount of fiber is very important for our health and eating more fruits, veggies, legumes, and beans each day helps with this!

These are just the basics of what I have put into practice and this week has gone much better- well once I got past Wednesday. As is usual when you try to follow as the Lord leads - you will probably be attacked and sure enough Wednesday morning was rough. I asked for prayers and thankfully was able to get on track and made the changes necessary to make Thursday and Friday more successful.

Anyway I hope you guys are doing well. If you, too, are having a rough time - take some time to ask God to lead you in what you should do. He is faithful to give us the wisdom we need - we just have to ask and listen. Don't forget to listen. :O)

Loving My Clothes Line

Good morning - I had to get on the desktop to place and order with TSC and decided I would pop over here and put up a post. I am thinking I will try to do at least one post a week till I can get back into a more regular posting - of course my more regular posting may only be 2-3 posts a week - I just don't know yet. I have worked on a few ideas and such so my time away has not be a total neglect of my blog. 

My husband and I are still slowly plugging along and building the new chicken coop. We have come to realize that it could be several months before the chickens that we want will be available. So we are in no rush to finish the coop. In doing some research it has helped us problem solve some issues we have had with our current set up - which will not be going anywhere. We continue to get anywhere from 1-3 eggs a day - as we are so thankful! 

 I am loving having my clothes line fixed. 

One of my daughter in laws gave me this awesome bag - it collapses - it is perfect to fill up with what ever goes to the line - hang it up there and pull things out and hang up. It is so much nicer than bending down and pulling things out of a basket. It makes both the hanging things out and gathering the nice dry clothes later. 

It seems to me that the sun does a bit of sanitizing of the things on the line as well. 

Might even whiten then up a bit. 

And I love how things smell coming off the clothes line. 

Hope you all are doing well! :O) 

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A few EXTRA minutes spare today....

 I have a few minutes and thought I would jump on here to say a quick hello! 

So one of the things that we have been working on that is keeping us busier than usual - is building a new chicken coop. We have 9 chickens and have not been getting very many eggs at all- in fact we had not gotten any eggs at all for the past couple of months. Then a couple of days ago I found this: 

An old tin building we made into a chicken coop- years ago. When my husband built a slightly larger coop- we moved this one so they could use it for shelter from weather. As you can see the tornado blew it around and bent it up - but they happily  have started laying there. I moved these eggs- and places a few fake eggs there - chickens love to lay where other chickens lay, so if I had just gotten these lovely eggs and not replaced them - there is a huge chance that chickens would NO longer they there. Well the very next day I found 1 real egg with the fakes and today - I have already seen a chicken sitting there - so we should get at least 1 egg today. It feels great to finally be getting some eggs again. But we are still in process of building a 10x10 coop - and will be ordering 25 chickens from McMurry- after we are prepared for the baby chicks! And in about 6 months we will be giving eggs to family and selling a few to help pay for feed. 

This week I have been able to harvest a few eggplants, okra and some cherry tomatoes- I also have kale and swiss chard growing. I really want to plant some beets, rutabaga, radishes, and carrots- I just haven't had a chance yet. Hoping I can this week end. 

Well that is about all the time I have. I hope you all are doing well. I will get on and up date as I can. :O)

Hmmm....

 Things have been really busy around here and still lots to do so I think it is a good time for me to take a bit of a break from Blogging- I am thinking a week or two. I will just have to see. It is just a big job to do all the things I already do and then taking care of my grandson 3 plus days a week.

It probably did not help that we ordered some peaches and pears from Idaho - a guy drives up there in a refrigerated truck and brings back boxes of these things. Anyway - they stuff got ripe very quickly and had me scrambling to get them processed before they went bad. Thankfully we were able to give some of them away and bless others. But my oh my - a lot extra on my plate this last week or so. 

 Anyway so I will be taking a break. During this time I will be praying and asking God to lead me - if I am to continue to blog- if so He will guide me as to what to share and inspire me. For now - I am going to focus on all the things I need to do around here. I hope you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves! :O) 

Helping our money stretch.

 Last week on my "Better Safe Than Sorry" post - I had a comment that said that some people can not afford to bulk buy so I wanted to address this issue. 

Yes -I can totally understand this - I remember years where my husband and I did not have very much money at all. Most of our meals - were a noodle packet and a can of vegetables. Money was one reason and the other was I didn't know how to cook very many things. Slowly I learned, thankfully. So I can totally understand having a very small amount of money. 

There are several things that I think are important for us all - not matter our food budget - be mindful of where you shop. For example - Albertsons runs some really good sales of a few items here and there - and it is well worth stopping by to get these good deals - but their normal prices are quite high and I can not understand how people can afford to shop there. The same goes for Krogers. So we need to make sure that our money is stretching the most - by choosing stores that have better deals on the things we buy. 

Another way that people sometimes spend more money than they need to - buying bulk. It is a good idea to figure who much it costs per item or ounce or what ever - and then see which is the best deal. Sometimes the bigger packages are a better deal - more times than not - they are not. And also please remember that when you buy in bulk - many times a lot of the product is wasted because it is hard to use all the item up before it goes bad. You have to keep all these things in mind. 

HEB is a great store - and runs really good sales - but you have to take your time as you go through the store to see what has coupons and if it makes it a good deal. Many of their regular prices are higher than Walmart and Aldi's so is also not a store that I would buy all my groceries from. But I really appreciate them running their awesome sales. I wish Walmart would join in and run sales as well- it would make it a more one stop shopping store. 

Dollar Tree- Many people act like Dollar Tree is such a great place to go. I see many older people shopping at it and I wonder if they realize that the $1.25 price tag on a majority of the things - end up costing more than what you can get the same products at other stores - you have to know your prices. There are 2 main things that I like to go there for and that is for their boxed milk and canned tamales- that $1.25 IS cheaper than I can get these things at other stores. I usually kind of walk around and see if there are other deals I can get while I am there. But this is NOT a store to go do all your shopping - or stocking up. 

Be willing to try the off name brand things - most of them are as good as the name brand for less money. When you pay less money for the things you buy you can afford to get an extra one here and there. 

So these are just a few of my thoughts on people having a small budget for food. There are many ways you can stretch your money - you just have to pay attention and make smart choices. Sometimes our money isn't going as far because we are spending more than we need to on the things we get. I hope that this helps someone. 

I will be thinking of other hints and tips to share with you. I just have a few minutes while my grandson slept and thought I would share a few tips on helping our dollars stretch. 

Righteousness by Faith part 20: Jesus

Happy Sabbath! :) 

Don't Be A Piranha

Something happened this week that make me think that I needed to write a blog post about this and use this title. You will see- it is a very appropriate title. 

So Wednesday our 8 1/2 month old grandson had a surgery to get circumcised. My daughter-in-law put a post up on Facebook asking for prayers for their little guy. It was accidently on public status. Well apparently there are quite a few people who sit around and search the word circumcision and not too much time had passed before they had at least 5 plus ugly comments- telling them what they should do. 

Really? I don't get why people have so much hate in their hearts to go around and tell perfect strangers what they should or should not do. It is very nasty and comes from a heart full of hate. This is why I thought of the title. We may have beliefs that are different from other people but that give us NO right to try to make other people have the same beliefs we do. 

Now I understand there are some salvational issues out there - but even then - being hateful and forceful will NEVER win people to Jesus. Plus it is NOT the way that Jesus behaved himself- so why, if we are to reflect the character of Jesus would we think that it would be right to hatefully push our views on other people and force them to do things the way we think they should be done. 

My son and his wife deleted the ugly comments and changed the post to private. It is truly sad to live in a world where ugliness is so rampant. That people would be searching out words- in order to attack those that believe differently than they do. 

So please keep this simple message in mind. Please don't be a piranha. It's just not a nice way to behave. 

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So if you are still reading - I would like to ask if you would keep my husband in your prayers. Today he will have a scope - to check on his Barretts Esophagus. About 7 years ago or so he had precancerous cells and it has been at least 3 years since he has had a scope done to check it out. Please pray he is till cancer free. Thank you so much. If you have any prayer request feel free to leave a comment for me. Thank you! :O) 

Jesus Knows

 "Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. The greater the sinner's guilt, the more he needs the Saviour. His heart of divine love and sympathy is drawn out most of all for the one who is the most hopelessly entangled in the snares of the enemy. With His own blood He has signed the emancipation papers of the race." MH89-90

Just Something to Ponder

 

Righteousness by Faith part 19: Perfection

May you all be blessed :O) 

Better to be safe than sorry

 My best advice for each one of you - is that if you are able and have not already done this- you need to start stocking your pantries a little deeper. This of it as you are creating a store at your home. 2020 taught us that sometimes the supply chain just doesn't work properly. And we have kept seeing issues with this since then as well. And I keep hear rumblings about more issues to come. I try not to dwell on the scare tactics - but it doesn't hurt to be prepared and work towards keeping extras of the things you actually use. Don't go out and buy a lot of things you do not even eat. Buy things you eat and then rotate the food so that you are using the old things up first- and that way you don't get any waste. 

One thing I have learned is to write the best by date - at least month and year - in black marker on the item to make it easier to see- that way when you buy more you can see the dates easier and put them in order of what needs to be used first. 

So if you are able please start stocking your pantries with extras of the things you use. And as you use things - be sure and replace them as you can. 

Just some advice I felt was important to share with you all and hoping that you will follow my advice and start deepening your pantry. I would rather you be safe than sorry. 

Best Deal

 A couple of weeks ago - I had a chance to go to the little thrift store nearby and I found the baby toys - which was awesome but I found this awesome kitchen gadget. It is a Pampered Chef Easy-Read Measuring Colander. 

I tried to look up the new price on Pampered Chefs page - but couldn't find it. I did find one that someone was selling on Poshmark for $23.00! 

So when I got this for $1.50 - I felt I got a great deal!!! 

Just in case you can't see it very well - here is a link to one that has been on Amazon 

It's True!

 The Bible is the inspired Word of God. (2nd Timothy 3:16-17) If the Bible said it happened a certain way, it happened the way the Bible says it happened.

Examples:

●God-created the heavens and earth in 7 literal days.

●A huge fish swallow Jonah and he was in the stomach of the fish 3 days and 3 nights. Then "the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah out on to dry land." (Jonah 2: 10 NET Bible)

If the Bible said it - It's true!

God said it, I believe it, and that's good enough for me.

Rain?!

 Just a quick check in - I am on the computer and have just a couple of extra minutes. So I am so thankful that on Sunday morning I was able to get my front and back yard mowed! And I was able to get 2 of the 4 piles of brush that needed to be burned - a lot of this was from when we had the tornado and some from when the people behind us had the fence redone- when some trees got cut down - they decided to pile the stuff in our back yard. Not the nicest thing to do - but I am SO thankful that the back fence has been replaced that I will put up with the extra work of getting that stuff cut down and burned in our fire pit. It is quite a bit of work to cut it down and move it to the fire pit area and all but it felt so good to get at least half of it done yesterday! I am hoping to get the other half burned up in the next couple of weeks. The sooner, the better. And then I am hoping that since we have this little fire ring - I will be able to keep stuff cut up and burned - so no more pile in our back yard. That will be SO very nice. 

So I had also wanted to get my garden area mowed and weed eated - but after working for 4-5 hours in the yard and it was about 12:30 area - I was hot and sweaty and ready to be done. I was disappointed I had not gotten those jobs done - especially when on Sunday afternoon - we got a wonderful rain shower - 1 inch of rain!!! We have been getting just piddly amounts of rain - other then our 11 - 12 inches of rain we got a couple of week ago - in a 12 hour period. It was wonderful to get that inch of rain - but it means I have to wait a bit before I can get those jobs done. It was WAY too wet this morning to mow. I did work out in my garden for an hour or two doing other jobs I really needed to get caught up on - but used my garden shoes since it was still wet and muddy out there. I have been thrilled with the "cooler" weather. I say "cooler" because our cooler weather has been some peoples summer weather - 88-92 most days - a day here and there a bit higher - but it is so much more conducive to having a fall garden! Never have I been very successful with a fall garden - but I might just have a bit more luck this year! I sure am hoping! 

Well I hope you all are doing well. I will continue to try to get on here when I get a chance. We will talk soon. :O)  

Righteousness by Faith part 18: Victory

Good morning! I hope everyone is doing well. I hope you have a blessed Sabbath! :O) 

My Best Deal!

 I have been so busy lately that I have had hardly any chances to get out and thrift store shop. But thankfully last Tuesday I was able to get to the little thrift store nearby. A couple of the volunteers loved babies were desperate to get rid of things and so when they heard I was looking for baby toys they helped me go through the totes of toys! We founds several great finds - but this was my favorite find. And you should feel the blue fuzzy part- it feels awesome! And it had the ring that I can connect it to a jumper type toy he has! 

I love it and for only $.75 I thought it was an awesome deal!!! 

You will want to come back next week - it is a kitchen item that I found as my best deal!! I have to spread these things out - so I can have at last a couple posts per week, I hope you understand. Hope to see you then. :O) 

Righteousness by Faith part 17: Temptation

Blessings to you today :O) 

My Best Deal ~ 2 for 1

It's a 2 for 1 day - 2 great deal!!  

Today I promised a great deal that is NOT a baby item. It is something that I have wanted ever since I saw my first one. Funny thing is I had no idea what it was when I first saw it just a few years ago. We were at a museum and it was hanging on the way. I thought it was awesome and have seen a couple here and there at antique stores but they always wanted a pretty penny for them, so I passed them up. But this one I couldn't pass up. 

My husband and I were walking through a local antique mall on our anniversary and all of a sudden I saw it! I picked it up and was debating about getting it or not and my husband took it from me and said we are getting it. He knew I had wanted one for quite some time. 

I love these old rug beaters!! Especially the ones with hearts, my favorite!! I thought the price tag said $17.00 but when I got to the front I got it for $12.00!! Yay!! 

And the 2nd best deal - the comforter in the back ground!!! I was at my local thrift store a couple of weeks ago and they had a black bag full of a comforter, sheets, dust ruffle, pillow shams. I loved the set, especially this comforter. I had been looking at getting one and they were pretty expensive - plus when you buy online you can't feel how it feels. So when I found this set I bought it - i knew it was big so I was figuring queen or king. Well when I got home I discovered the set was a king sized set -but the quilt fits on my bed great! I would rather have overhang then too short - so I kept the comforter and I donated the rest back to the thrift store. I only paid $12.00 for the set and I feel that is an awesome deal for a perfect comforter for my bedroom! It has colors I love in it - especially the greens - that is one of my most favorite colors!! 

One day when I was looking at the comforter I realized that it had the green and purple that match some bathroom towels I had bought from same thrift store months before and I just marveled at the fact that God helped bring all this together without any real effort on my part. What a special gift from God!!  

Have you found any great deals lately? I would love to hear about them in the comments! :O) 

Boy Did We Get Rain!!!

 So it seems I have a bit of "free" time this week. One of our grandsons tested positive for Covid so Mom will stay home and watch him and the baby that I usually watch on Wed-Friday. I say "free" because I do still have SO much to do. There always seems to be things to do around here. But since I needed to get on the internet to take care of a few things, I thought I would come over here for a bit for a chat. 

Sunday night through Monday we got 11-12 inches of rain....wow! We were in desperate need of rain- yes! But we needed a slow steady rain - not a gully washer! Our sunroom had some flooding so I had to work on that throughout the day. 

The positive about the rain is that we are off of the burn ban we were on - so my husband should be able to get my clothes line fixed- it needs to be welded back together. Remember when the tornado went through - several fence panels flew through the garden and one of them knocked the top post off of my clothes line. I will be SO happy to have it fixed and to be able to use it again. With electricity being SO expensive - I have put off washing bedspreads and blankets- to save money. It will be nice to get them washed and also be able to dry my towels and such on the line again. 

The worst part is that the people that put our fence up - put the pickets too close together so that when the boards swelled - they started bowing - and popping off the 2x4- by Monday morning - we had 4 pickets down - 2 next to each other because of the bowing and so I had to go see if I could fix it - to keep my chickens in - and the sad thing is that because the boards had swelled - there was only room for 1 of the boards - since then we have had 8-10 boards pop off and more that are bowed...we are SO disappointed in the work done. We have contacted the company and they have promised several times to come out - but I am not holding my breath. To say the least we will NOT be recommending them at all. 

I honestly figure that this company may have quite a few unhappy customers right now. If there workers put the pickets butt up against each other and on the pickets touching the ground - most of the time like they did ours - then there is more than likely the same issues going on for others as well. 

We are praying that this issue is resolved soon. Please keep us in your prayers. And pray that this company will do us right and any others that have been affected. 

So yesterday afternoon our church put on it's monthly food pantry. For the longest time our numbers were about 30 something families helped. Last month we had reached the highest number of people we have helped - 71!! This means 71 households helped. So this month we were prepared for 70 people to come through the line, but boy were we surprised when there were 108!!! That means 2 1/2 hours of people going through line to get food! The lady that runs it has gotten it so organized and it ran so smoothly. I am SO thankful for all those who come and help out with it. 

Anyway - I do have a lot of things to do today so I better get off of here and get busy. I need to catch up on things I have not been able to do because I was busy with the baby. I will be back to being VERY busy next week, I am sure. 

I hope you all are doing well. :O) 

Lesson Learned

 Today I wanted to share a lesson I have learned lately. It was a hard pill to swallow. My expectations cause a great deal of disappointment, but I have slowly come around to realizing it was a truth I needed to learn. 

So since our tornado 4 months ago - we had some major jobs that needed to be done. And so, especially since it has been a hot, hot summer - we decided to pay companies to do the jobs. I had expected them to not only do a great job but also to do a reasonable amount of clean up after themselves.

After our roof was done my husband and I had to take quite a bit of time to pick up a whole lot of nails, trash. 

 This is just a part of what we picked up. And NO - no one in our family drink Pepsi - so certainly not our cans. There were other plastic trash and some more roofing pieces that were picked up and put in another trashcan. Plus a lot more nails. In fact when our 6 year old grandson came to visit use last week - he enjoyed using the magnet to hunt for nails. We wish we had have gotten him involved a lot sooner in the process. 

We also had our soffits and fascia replaced- well we had asked about having them all replaced - but we were told that what was needed was just spots here and there -and a price was given. Sadly - I expected for the price they charged for them to go around the entire house and replace any that needed replacing- but they did the worst and had to come out 2 times and still there are 2 -3 places on our house that I feel they should have replaced. I was so disappointed. 

Then we had the fence put in. My husband and I replaced a section of fencing by our driveway - because most of the metal poles were already there. Plus the amount that we were going to be charged for the south fence - we could NOT afford to have them do the other 2 sections we needed done. To this point we have replaced one of the areas and will wait till it gets cooler to work on the other section that needs to be replaced. Anyway SO we assumed that when we got out bid for the fence that they would be willing to take the old fencing that we had let. But we were told  - that is not included. And I am hoping that once they come to do the walk through to make sure everything is done nicely on the fence that they will pick up the remaining trash that is out there that they have left. 

So what lesson have I learned? Even if you pay a company to come do a job - you can not expect it to be done to your standards and you can't have expectations that they will clean up after themselves. And that it might just be better that my husband and I do the work - like we have in the past - it may not come out perfect- but apparently when you have it done "professionally" it doesn't always come out perfect then either. 

This lesson cost us A LOT of money. I am so glad these jobs are done. And hopefully it is a LONG time before those jobs have to be done again. 

Another lesson we learned was that if you have work done and pay them 1/2 before they do the work - you may want to wait to give them the last payment - after the clean up is done- that might encourage them to do that part of the job. Too bad we found that out too late. :( 

Righteousness by Faith part 16: Witness

Hope you all are doing well. Praying this will bless you today. :O) 

Just a Little Chat :O)

 Had a few minutes while the baby sleeps so I thought I would hop on my computer and have a bit of a chat with you this morning. 

Last week I was watching a youtube video of someone who lives in the UK. She was saying that what they considered a heatwave was 3 consecutive days of 28 Celsius or above . So, of course, I had to look up what temperature that would be in Fahrenheit - 82.4 degrees! Can you believe they would think that 82 degrees was a heatwave? Where they are quite lucky is the fact that at nights the temperatures go down to the 50's and 60's. Some might argue well they don't have AC - that is true -but with the temps going down quite cool - they have the ability to open up windows and let that coolness inside. I wonder how they would deal with our temps here - especially here in Texas - where most of this summer temps have been trip digits during the day and if we get lower than 78 at night we are quite lucky. Sometimes our lows were 82 0 their "Heatwave"....ugh. 

Lucky for us after our high being 103 yesterday we are suppose to only get up to 89 degrees today and might make it down to 70 tonight - that will feel heavenly compared to what we have gone through. I believe that my count of triple digit days this year so far is 47 and it could have possibly been one or two more - but I there were a few days I was not able to check our thermometer alot - and when I did it was 99.? a couple of times - so could have made it higher but because I didn't see it I didn't count it. 

So the weather forecast has been saying that we are suppose to get 1-2 inches of rain - I am certainly not holding my breath - I don't want to be disappointed if we don't get much rain. It's been a few months of hardly any rain at all and it has disappointed me when they talk like we will get rain, but we get just a sprinkling. 

The great news is that over the last 2 -3 weeks we have FINALLY gotten our roof replaces and our fence just was put up the last 2 days! We have to do a bit of tweaks to make that part of the yard more secure for the chickens before we pull down our temporary fencing so they get the rest of their chicken yard back! 

Speaking of our temporary fence - I just have to praise God for taking care of my chickens during the last 4 months since the tornado went through. We put up that temp fence but any animal serious about getting in would have been able to do so. We have heard of coyotes in the area and have seen them across the street. So I just have to say Thank You to Jesus for protecting our chickens! 

It is nice to have the fence back up. It brings back my privacy and ability to work in my back yard and really enjoy it! 

We have a long list of things we want to get done around here and we slowly are working towards marking things off. The last several Sunday mornings have found us outside working and this Sunday will be no different - but maybe we can get the job we are working on done! That would be awesome. It feels so good to be moving forward and getting these things done. 

I hope you all are doing well. Please be praying we get rain - we desperately need it!!! Thank you! 

 

My Best Deal

So this weeks best deal came from the local little thrift store that I enjoy going to when I get a chance. Thankfully I dug down in the tote that had toys because I found this awesome toy for our grandsons to play with. 

Since I take care of one of our grandsons 3 days a week now - I need to have a good selection of toys for him to play with, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. Thankfully this awesome toy that makes a great amount of noise with its bell in the little blue ball inside- the grandson loves it - probably one of his favorites! 

 And for only 75 cents - I think I got and awesome deal!!! 

Be sure to come back next week because I got another great deal - that is NOT a baby toy! It is something I have wanted for quite some time and just could not bring myself to pay the $ most places were charging for it. See you then :O) 

Righteousness by Faith part 15: Abiding

Happy Sabbath! Be blessed :0) 

My Best Deal

 Wow - it has been a really long time since I have had a best deal. That is basically because I have much less time to get to the thrift stores to find the deals. But luckily for me, I have actually found a few good deals lately and I will do my best to get them posted. 

I decided to change my Best Deal posts to Thursdays. Since I am not posting something every day - my posts will be spread out. 

Todays deal came from a local Goodwill store - it was a bit of a gamble but ended up being well worth it. A gamble because it is an item that takes a battery and so I was not able to make sure it would work or what it actually did till I got it home to try it out. But just a couple of AA batteries and it is as good as new and just needed me to wipe it down with disinfectant wipes. 

 And for just $2.99 we have a cute little noise making, light up toy that our grandson loves!! 

I love getting baby toys and such for great deals. They don't use them a long time so it is best to find great things at great deals - and then you can pass them on to other people to use or donate them again. :O) 

Are we willing to be used......

 "It is of little use to ask God to bless others, unless we are willing to be used in conveying the blessing to them, unless we're willing to discommode ourselves for their sake.... It is easy to ask God to bless someone and to conclude that having done this, we have done our duty; for have we not prayed for him? But prayer is more than saying some words. If we are earnest we shall back our prayer with action."

"Prayer, to be effective, must be accompanied by works. Otherwise it abideth alone."

"The Faith of Jesus" by M.L. Andreasen. (pages 158-159)