SHOW & TELL '08 - #12 - Stained Glass - Blue

Well it's Show & Tell Friday again. I must admit it felt a little strange last week not to be doing Show & Tell on Friday. Be sure and select something to show and tell, then go over to Kelli's and list in on Mr. Linky. Then be sure and visit the other's listed and see all the neat things that are shown.

On Show & Tell #10 (here) I showed a piece of Pink stained glass that I have had for about 23 years. Today I am showing a Blue stained glass piece that we purchased in Mexico in 2004. We originally purchased it for the window of the door in our 5th wheel while we were traveling. Blue has always been my favorite colot and I really like this blue Peacock. I did have it hanging in my living room on the patio door but since I got my French Doors I have moved it into the window of our guest bedroom.

Thanks for visiting today and letting me show you another item that we display in our little home.

PAINTING PROJECT

We recently replaced sliding glass patio doors with these lovely French Doors with double pane glass and the sliding mini-blinds between the panes. I absolutely am so pleased with my new doors. They are everything I hoped they would be. With the new doors came the need to repaint the wall they were on.

(all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them)

Here you can see the original white wall of the living room, with white in the dining area with the blue bead board.

Mickey hard at work painting with the light tan color we selected.

Here I am painting the tan in the dining area. One of the hard parts of this project was having to empty the 2 bakers racks on either side of the hutch, and all the china from the hutch and buffet.

Here is the finished living room wall and the painted white new French doors.

Here is the finished dining area with the light tan on the wall and the darker brown tone on the bead board. We really like the way it looks and turned out.

Then, on the spur of the moment, I decided I wanted to take down the wallpaper from the kitchen area and replace it. Oh my, what a mess!!!!!

Here is another view showing the old wall paper.

The back kitchen wall with the matching boarder that still needs to come down. So we are still a work in progress and have been living with a torn up kitchen all week!!!!! Mickey and I have done a lot of painting projects over the years but this project seems to just go on and on!!!!

Part of the reason being I hadn't planned ahead of time to strip the wall paper and do the kitchen area. That meant I spent about 3 days shopping for wall paper. Came home with 4 different choices, immediately ruled out 2 and was debating between those 2. Went out again and found another I liked better so returned the first 4!!!!!

Hopefully I can show you the finished project by next week!!! Needless to say we've been doing a lot of eating out and not very fancy fixed meals when I have prepared them at home. But we are loving the finished project and it will be worth it.

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I am so far behind in my blog reading between our busy Easter Week and this painting project but am trying to get around to everyone. Please be patient with me. I miss reading your blogs and hate getting behind because it's so very hard to play catch-up!!!

A SURPRISE PACKAGE & 5 Questions Meme

Look what arrived in my mail box yesterday from Jennifer at Dust Bunny Hostage. It is an old Salvation Army Song Book that was dedicated in the memory of a Major Percy Holden by his wife on May 27, 1945. It contains the words to 730 songs and they are listed under categories.

It arrived along with this beautiful hand made note card. Thank you Jennifer I was totally surprised and very pleased. The book will be placed on my bookshelf next to the old small books I inherited from my father that I showed recently on Show & Tell.

I was tagged by Brenda, of It's All Good, for the following Meme. I think I did this one before but it's been months so I'll do it again!

Let's see...rules first.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago:

I had just returned to work from a 6 month leave of absence where we took a trip in our RV to Alaska and we had just purchased our current home in Coweta.

Five things on my to-do list today:

1. Have bible study and prayer time with my husband when he gets up.

2. Post this meme and blog

3. Have coffee and a time of sharing with my son, David, around 9:30 when he comes over.

4. Try and select new wallpaper for my kitchen

5. Do ironing.

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Home made bread or rolls

2. Cookies

3. Potato Chips

4. Ice cream floats

5. Yogart

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Get a location for our 24 hour House of Prayer

2. Give to build the facility for Freedom House - a woman's ministry of our church

3. Set up an account for my 4 children and 3 grandchildren where they could use the interest but could not touch the principle and it had to be passed down to their heirs with the same stipulation.

4. Travel to Israel, Switzerland, Holland and all over.

5. Buy another house that had a smaller yard so my husband wouldn't have so much yard work to do........and then hire out the yard work that was necessary there......and get someone to come in once a week and clean house.

Five of my bad habits:
1. Snacking too much.
2. Lack of steady exercise regimen.
3. Back seat driving.

4. Not liking to make telephone calls.

5. Not checking on my neighbors more.

Five places I have lived:
1. Santa Fe, NM --born and raised

2. Albuquerque, NM - first years of our marriage
3. Denver, CO - for just a few years
4. Tulsa, OK and now Coweta, OK - since 1964.

5. In a 5th wheel traveling for 4 years.

Five jobs I've had:
1. Secretary
2. Realtor
3. Bookkeeper

4. Craft store operator
5. Staff Accountant at a CPA firm which I retired from.

Five people I want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!):

I choose not to tag anyone but invited those who wish to participate to do so. Be sure and leave me a comment and let me know so I can read yours.

BUSY EASTER WEEK

I live a very busy life, and am seldom bored, but this week was an exceptionally jam packed week, so here we go........

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

I was going to show my Easter decorations for Show & Tell but since we didn't have it Friday and Easter is now over I am only showing this to show the little girl & boy rabbit egg toppers. This is one of the many items I made and sold in our little Craft Store and I wanted to show them as some of you crafters and mothers might want to make some for next Easter.

This being Easter week our church scheduled Intercessory Prayer every day of the week at various hours. Monday at noon, Tuesday at 7 pm, Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursday at 8 am. Then Friday our Pastor had a Good Friday service at noon. I attended all the scheduled prayer times and Mickey & I both were able to attend the Good Friday service because he did not have to work. Added to this, the Intercessory Prayer group that we belong to met, on the spur of the moment, at 6:30 pm Saturday night at an empty building in a shopping center that we are looking at for A 24 Hour House Of Prayer. I'll be writing more, at a later date, about this exciting thing that God is doing!!!! We were privileged to be asked to join this small group on January 26th and so blessed and excited to be involved.
I can't remember when St. Patrick's Day and Easter were in the same time frame!!! Our good friends, Jack & Mary, had 11 of us over for the traditional Corn Beef and Cabbage dinner on Monday, the 17th, St. Patty's Day. This is a group of Christian friends from their church but we are often included :o) Mary topped it off with her delicious home made apple pies. Thank you Jack & Mary for being such special friends.
On Thursday, after the 8 am prayer time and a 9:30 hair cut appointment, I picked up a large supreme and medium cheese pizza and took it to my dear friend, Kahri, to visit her and her 4 children. Kahri is a very special friend from the church we use to attend and the one who is responsible for me getting a blog. Thank you Kahri!!!!!

Kahri and 3 of the children; Brittany age 12, Emily age 6 and Ethan age 13 months. Kaedra was sleeping when I arrived and will join us later. Kahri is a Home School Mom and a true woman of FAITH. I put that in caps because her faith is BIG!!!!!! Here is the link to Kahri's blog, Our Pecuilar Life.


After eating we moved to the living room and Kaedra joined us: left to right, Kaedra age 3, Brittany, Ethan, Kahri, & Emily. Kaedra is truly our miracle child and if you have not read her story please do so here. "They" said Kaedra would never live and she spent the first 11 months of her life in the Children's ICU of the hospital. I told you Kahri and her husband, Michael, are people of GREAT FAITH.



Kahri & I. One of those precious friendships that transends age. We had a wonderful 2 1/2 hour visit!!!! We had a lot of catching up to do.

We had a WONDERFUL Easter Service. I have begun to go to the Intercessory Prayer room, instead of our Sunday School Class, before our 2nd service. Mickey is still attending the Sunday School Class. Our Pastor's message was ARE YOU LIVING AS AN ATHEIST? Not your typical Easter morning message but a very needed one. I invite you to listen to it via the link at the top of my side bar in the future when it will be added.
After church we went to our oldest daughter, Suzette and Dave's for a wonderful Easter dinner
Here is the table. Smoked spiral ham, mashed potato's, macaroni and cheese, fresh fruit, and not on the table yet, green bean casserole and rolls. I made the cake and got the recipe from Pea's Corner. It is an angel food cake with the top cut out and the core tunneled out and filled with a chocolate pudding mixture. Then you put the top back on and ice with cool whip. The only difference, I topped mine with crumbled Heath Bar instead of colored sprinkles because our family loves chocolate!!!! Thanks for the recipe Pea it was a BIG hit!!!!

I am showing this separate picture of the Macaroni & Cheese because our, just turned 13 year old, granddaughter, Oksana, said she wanted to bring a dish for Easter this year and choose this from scratch recipe. It was delicious and we were so proud of her for 1) offering to do so and 2) having it turn out just perfect. I had given Oksana a cookbook for her birthday last month and she has been doing quite a bit of cooking for their family. We're proud of you, Oksana.

Added to this very busy week is we were, and are, also painting a living room and dining area wall and redoing the wall paper and paint in the kitchen!!!!!! That will be a separate post in a few days. For those of you who were concerned because I was so quiet last week, only 2 posts!!!!, this busy week is why.

HE IS RISEN

HE IS RISEN!!!!!!!

Says is all!

On this rests our entire hope.

Wishing all of you a glorious Easter as we celebrate

The One We Love

The price He paid

The victory He bought for us

HAPPY EASTER

Glory to our God

FATHER

SON

&

HOLY GHOST

THE NEXT 20 YEARS

Now that is quite an interesting thought, THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, coming from this 70 year old wife, mother, grandmother and most importantly Child of God.

Most people reflecting on the next 20 years do so at a much younger age. I have posted about my viewpoint and outlook on aging here on a post entitled In This Skin.

I am proud of my age.....I am proud of my gray hair.....even the Bible says "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31 Mine is found in the way of righteousness, not because of me, but because of My Jesus who is My Lord and purchased that right standing for me. This truth is especially poignant as we celebrate the week between Palm Sunday and Easter.

If you read my "About Me", on my sidebar, you will note that I stated there, when I began this blog 14+ months ago, that I expected to live to be 120 years of age, unless the rapture takes me sooner.

God did not even begin to use Moses until he was 80 years old, and after he had spent 40 years in the wilderness serving his father-in-law and learning what God wanted to teach him.

Caleb at the age of 85 said "And now, behold. the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain," Josuha 14:10-12a

On September 19, 2004 a prophesy was spoken over my husband and I. It began: You're never too old", says the Spirit of God. "You're never too young. I'll never set a novice in an office and you're not novices. You've been in my presence for years and years and you know my voice well. You know my spirit well and you've conversed, one to another, about things of my spirit. You've talked and you've desired a greater walk, and you've desired a greater thing than what you have had in recent days. And you've followed my leading, you've obeyed my spirit and I've brought you to this place. And again, you desired more, and you desired more, and you desired more, and I've been faithful to you" says the Spirit of God "and I've given you more. I've given you more because you're faithful in that which you had, and it's required that a man and a woman be found faithful before they'll receive any more." There was a lot more to this. We began walking this out when this was given 3 1/2 years ago and know that God still has plans and purposes that we are being used for and I see the continuation of that for THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, and beyond.

What I know for sure is that my life, the very next beat of my heart, the very next breath of air in my lungs, is ALL in the hands of My God. I look forward to THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS with hope and faith. I look forward to seeing the day that ALL 4 of my children, and 3 grandchildren, are serving the Lord with more love and determination than I am. I look forward to seeing the Great Harvest that The Word tells us about and that I have heard preached about for the 52 years I have been saved. I look forward to seeing the Bride of Christ (the Church) becoming Pure and Spotless. I look forward to seeing the miraculous with my own eyes. I look forward to hearing the trumpet of the Lord sound and we who are alive being caught up with him, and meeting those from the grave in the air. I look forward to knowing HIM better each coming day, week, month, and year, than I know HIM at this moment.

THE NEXT TWNEY YEARS, and forever more, I will be His child and he will be MY GOD!!!!

This post was written for Scribbits Write-Away Contest with the prompt, The Next 20 years.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Thoughts on the sovereignty of God have been mulling around in my head for days. You know how something will settle in your mind and you just keep thinking and pondering on it and it just keeps popping up again and again.

Sovereign: 1) above all others; chief; supreme. 2) supreme in power, rank, etc. 3) independent of all others.

Now I doubt if there are very many who read my blog who do not believe in God as The supreme, chief, above all other God. Supreme in power and rank and independent of all others. But what does that really mean? What does it mean to my life? How do I fit this Sovereign God, who I believe in, into every aspect of my day.

I'm afraid too many see Him, and believe in Him, as this supreme, powerful personage but what does that mean to them and to their life? Kind of like we believe that The President of the United States is powerful, or the Queen of England, etc. But, it doesn't really have much to do with our everyday life or thinking as we go about our daily business. We do our thing and sort of fit God in on occasion and as needed.

What the sovereignty of God really means is that NOTHING happens to me, or in my life, that takes God by surprise because it all revolves around Him. This sovereign God who has numbered the very hairs on my head (Matt 10:30 & Luke 12:7); who knows my goings (Proverbs 20:24). This sovereign God who "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not, yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isaiah 46:10

I have just shared the following in e-mails to two blog friends who are dealing with situations in their lives. One to do with illness and the other with a job situation. Totally unrelated issues and yet I could tell them each the same thing because it fits anything and EVERY thing we might be facing at any given moment.

I've been thinking a LOT lately about the sovereignty of God. There are things you and I know for sure. 1) God does not bring illness 2) God works ALL things together for good to those who are called according to His purposes 3) God will never leave us or forsake us 4) God is not a God that He should lie.. In times like this we have to lean on and rely on God's promises and what we know to be TRUE in the face of whatever we see or feel.

The greatest gift is salvation, God is bringing us to Himself and He is conforming us into the image of Jesus. What that takes and how that works out in our individual lives is in His sovereign will.

I know you've heard the example of the beautiful tapestry that God is weaving and yet we look at the back side and all we see is a tangled mess of strings going every which way with no beauty or design that WE can see. I cannot tell you how much I have been thinking about all this the past week or so. In fact, Mickey and I had a long talk about it just yesterday morning.

We KNOW in whom we have believed and we are persuaded!!!!!!!!

That really does sum it up for me.....

I KNOW and I am Persuaded that God is sovereign in my life.

How about you?