One Thousand Gifts (650-659)

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A Holy Experience.
650.  Joy  to be alive and  know  beyond  a shadow of a doubt that  I am a child of God
651.  the blessing   that my dear husband  is  to me each and every day.
652.  the Holy Spirit's leading  through  adventures and exploits  that I never imagined  for  Christ

653.  these  sunny  clear,   days of late July  when the temperatures  clamor to reach the 80's   love them so much!
654.  the  free growing Morning Glories  so  daring to  rush in among all the other  living  beings   wrapping their loving tendrils around every other  plant.. perhaps they  show me  how I can  ingratiate myself into  those who are hurting or who need a friend..though I doubt I would ever be quiet so  invasive...

655.  The peace that  results from  restoration of  relationships
656.  The freedom that results from  the cutting  away the entangling  idols  of our time..for me  it was  meaningless games on facebook
657.  The eager anticipation of  actually  sharing  the   our days with our children and granddaughter.... will be here before we know it....oh, that   time  might stand still during those days!

658. The utter peace  and joy of  just a lovely afternoon with no demands  or  appointments  to enjoy the space that  God has giving us.
659.  The afternoon sun light on a  cool  low humidity day...

the interplay of  dreaming light and shadows... enchanting!

Thinking of My Daughter on Her Birthday

Birthdays are  wonderful mileposts,  especially  when 
celebrated  together,   but  when  your daughter  has a birthday  and she lives 12 hours away,   it is  bittersweet.... So many  birthday memories in July....  mine,,,  my dad's and  Amanda's  all in one month...  this was the first birthday  dad celebrated in heaven...  and now  Amanda is  5 states away...
So I created a  small vignette  to commemorate her  not only  as daughter but ,also,  as mother  to our  precious Birdie! 

My color theme is     cool effects of blue and green... but also,  it is inspired by Amanda's  birthday cup...

Pictured here  not only     our   sweet  little Puddin'n Pie 
Birdie,  but  the  July cup from the

Royal Albert Collection of   Months and   flowers....  and I  can surely tell you,   the Forget-Me-Nots  are  very  apropo!

  As  the  basis of the  vignette I started with   a vase of sweet daisies...I  utilized    the celadon vase I found at the consignment shop last month... the one with  birdies  embossed on it.

Here you can readily see   to  whom I am paying  my most heart  felt affections.... 

As I studied the room  after   arranging this   tablescape,  I realized  my  tribute to  the cooling   blues and greens  all around  the  living room...

Blue adornments on the sofa...

 my favorite blue flowers of all  scattered  here and there

As well as,   a living green in a blue and white planter...I must say,  my green thumb  has been     better   of late!

Bluebirds and    nests

nestling on the mantel! 

it all just makes me feel a bit closer to my  sweethearts who live so far away  at times like these.  But praise the Lord,   the countdown is   activated til  we will   give them both
  great  big hugs!

Until then I   have our  weekly facetimes!   AW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Happy  Birthday, Amanda!!!



Also,  it  is my  great honor to be featured  here this week!

Make it Pretty 

A Return to Loveliness

Martha’s Favorites 

Tea Time Tuesday 

 Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Teacup Tuesday 

Friends Sharing Tea 

Share Your Cup Thursday

Happy Homemaker Monday

Visit Sandra here for more HHM!
Today:
I am loving this weather.....we finally got a rainy day... they had been promising it for sometime... and today  it has been quite raining and I am loving it!

Right now I am::: 
reveling in the last hour of facetime with   our  precious daughter and granddaughter

I see toothies!!!!

Thinking and pondering::: 
Tonight is another  prayer meeting  of our   group Christians United to Pray  being held  in our own church....   God is blessing our effort with  many  folks who  are  willing to step out of their   own churches to  pray  with other Christians....  it is a marvelous think to see  God's children come together   in praise and prayer!

On my bedside table:::

the  tv control....  

On my tv tonight:::  if I  get home in time to watch tv  it would be a cooking show... nothing else much worth watching

Listening to:::

the silence.... all I can hear is the sound of my own ears ringing....   sorry to  say

On the menu for this week:::

hamburgers
spaghetti/ tossed salad
chef salad

not too bold in the kitchen, obviously

On my to do list:::
laundry
working on  tonight's final  touches to a  presentation

    Plans for this week:::

meet with  the scrapbook committee to work on the scrapbook for the Garden Club
Healing prayer class

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

nothing  

My simple pleasure:::
reading   and Tea Time magazine

Lessons learned:
the importance and  the principles of self control.....
now if I can  apply them I will  have it made

Looking around the house:::

A yummy  summer  outdoor breakfast tray for 2,

 baked  eggs with  parmesan and  basil with   slices of  sugar cured ham

From the camera

   

Prayer List:::

Our  home, family,    church,  and  nation

        Bible verse, Devotional::: 

One thing about summer is that everything is in full bloom. The trees are full and green. The flowers are in full bloom. Summer is just a beautiful time of year.


"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:11, 12

A Summer Transformation

This  season is flying by....   plus I am  so   involved in so many  things,  when I am  sitting at the computer I  feel like Im just either vegging, pondering,    praying and  just  havent felt  a bit of creativity ,   but  this morning  there was a bit of   the  desire to   push forward and  do something different  in the house...  lately I have been  so   enamored with  posts from Nancy's Daily Dish  that regularly  appear on facebook,   that  I must say   her  gorgeous transfer ware  has inspired me to   make   these changes....And the fact that  last week following my  skin cancer  removal,, ouch!!!  I  felt I owed  myself a stop at my favorite  consignment shop where I found the most  lovely set of 4 salad plates by Bursley, which I  incorporated into my tablescape..

These  lazy days of   mid-summer  put me in the mind of  those long ago  visits to  my grandparent's dairy farm...  The  checkered tablecloths and the  tall  ever vibrant  sunflowers grandma   planted around the  edge of corn rows...these beautiful   plates depict The Old Post House  from  the  English potteries of Bursley  I enjoyed  pairing each place setting with various other   plates from my red transfer ware  collection...

 some  by Spode's  many groupings

others  with  one of a kind plates like this  lovely white filigreed bordered  Abbey in  red.

 I think the  fiery red of the  table  lends itself very well to the  golden  sunflowers   which  are grounded  by the  sturdiness and   earthiness of the  pewter  pitcher!...

To complement the table I have  removed the  springy  blues of  spring  and replaced them with  the transitioning  colors of late summer..
Completing the  farm theme,  I   am  most happy to  highlight  my  roosters and chicken.....   mainly, too,  because of  one of my  favorite  birthday presents  ....
Jim Shore's  Angel with   chicken....

ON the table  are  a myriad of lovely  birds....   a  jaunty rooster   I inherited  from my  mother's  estate when she had to break up housekeeping...  It was a gift I gave her for Mother's day  several years ago  commemorating   her  namesake...   We are of the Cox clan.... and she  collected  chickens...

The red  ceramic hen is an antique that I remember so well in mommie's kitchen  since my first memories of home...  the   beautiful handcrafted wooden rooster  was one my dad  cut from wood and mom painted  during their  crafting days.... and, of course, my  beloved  angel of the  chickens....

I love how the colors of all these items  reflect the country  theme I  have  created  which  enlivens  so many wonderful memories of my life!  

Another  small tribute to my mother is  this simple arrangement of fresh flowers on the  drop leg table grandpa made..mama always loved  the simple things of life,  yet  she could make   the simple things  seem   like treasures of great worth.

So there is  the transformed sun room...   from  springy robin's egg blue to  the  country  fowl and  hues of mid summer!

Make it Pretty 
A Return to Loveliness@ A Delightsome Life

Cottage Style Party@ 
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com

The Charm of Home

Make it Pretty 

Thursday Favorite Things

God Over All

    saluting the

 Red,

 White, and Blue!!!!

First of all,  I am praising the Lord for the most gorgeous day...  from sunup til sundown,   I can't remember a more  spectacular day....  cool,   low humidity,   slight breeze....  Just the kind of day to begin and end the day on the porch!

My previous post  related  about our  day's beginnings....  we  continued our   placid  day in  just being together and  reveling in  the  environs  that God provided!

  By early afternoon  Lynn and I were  getting  a bit hungry again and I was so thankful for  the lovely  sirloin I found at the market this week....to be honest at the price of beef,  we hadnt  actually bought any steak  for  some time....  IN my  attempt at being frugal  we had  enjoyed  stew beef  in  stews and soups only, and  hamburgers,  or  it's  yummy sauces...  But I  have been  very  prudent of the  pricier cuts of   beef....but this week they had prepackaged  thickly sliced  hunks  of  sirloin   just right for    shish-kabobs...

 with  the perfect amount of  marbling  to insure   savory,  juicy,   tender  bites!!

 the   spicy herbed marinade    was  the   perfect  paring with these morsels....

 A show on food network   reminded   me that   when ka-bobbing, it is best to  skewer the veggies  separately from the meat..

cubed potatoes  mixed with  a bit of OO and    dry onion mix  roasted for  about 30 minutes  rounded  out our  holiday meal! 

Just the perfect amount of char!!!

A simple arrangement  of holiday flair....   and my sweetheart by my side! 

  AW, these flavors  were so   wonderful..... 

How very thankful we are  for the opportunity to celebrate   our   national heritage....

at our  peaceful and  happy home! 

We  quickly  put things away and  hurried to  the  regularly scheduled Intercessors for America meeting that just happened to  fall on  this  prestigious  day.  We had so much  for which to  give thanks,  yet so much  for which to repent, and to intercede  for....  There was a glory about last night that  was tangible.

Prayer is so  important  in these days of uncertainty,  and  we especially,  are praying  that God's people will lay aside their differences  long enough to  t  become united  around the  One whom we all exalt!Then the long awaited revival  for America  may  erupt, and  as a nation we will see the positive changes we  all so long for!

  Father, God  gave Lynn  and I  perfect front row seats  at a secret  location  He drew us to  to   enjoy  fireworks for the first time in several years last night...

God Bless America, and GOd Bless  YOU!!