555

Hosted by Susanne!

This week things have calmed down and I am feeling much better about church life.  Yes, our  beloved pastor   is still leaving in two weeks  and we will be going through the long process of  pastor  search, but I have overcome  the other  problems that were plaguing me  about  some of the  ministry issues  I won't go into.  I believe that now that covid  is  sort of behind us and people are coming back to church  things are really looking up!  I pray Lord   the usual  thing of people leaving the church  when I pastor leaves will not effect our body!  I really think I had  been walking by sight there for a while. Now I choose this!

So last week we were working diligently to purge items from our basement storage room.  This week I have been working on the book case in the den.  We have so many books from the 50 years of our marriage and I  have always had a hard time getting rid of  those Ive read or  even the ones I have received as gifts that I know I'll never read.  As long as there was room on the book case I'd just  put it in line with the rest!  Well, who knows   the future  .. Suddenly we may  need to make a home change,  and  then    what an ordeal to  attend to.  So  after a long day of it yesterday I have 5 boxes to  donate.And I've freed up several  shelves..  but I have about  4 other bookcases around the house.  I found a box load of antique books  I am hoping to take to an antique book  store and perhaps get a bit of  money for.  Several of the books a re quite nice...  not  a fortune's worth,  but I just hate to see them end up  in the trash bin at the salvation army.

I even    tossed  all of my high school and college  year books.. But not before we went back and reread all the  fabulous sentiments!  

 I have also purged  my cd's  which has  opened up both space on the book shelves, and  the drawer in the  tv center. I have finally come to the place where I am loosing my grip on  my life's  collections.  I now have 6  large bags of  books  ready to donate..   I dread the day I must  loose  my  grasp on my  dish collection.  So far  I  am able to retain those. I so wish my daughter loved them  like I do.  She probably would if she    were a bit more mature in her home  situation.   She just now is  denying   furniture from  Ikea!  Maybe one day she will appreciate  good  solid wood   traditional  furniture...  One can hope!

Next Sunday will be our pastor's last Sunday and we are planning a lovely  reception for him.  We having finger  foods  catered and I am doing two   fresh flower arrangements for the food tables.  My blue hydrangeas are blooming.  I hope  this continuing rain doesn't beat them down too much.. I also plan to get some roses from Fresh Market and  a couple of batches of fresh flowers from Krogers.  I think it will be lovely. This week  while shopping at  the consignment shop I  was so fortunate to find two  glass vases almost exactly alike for just $1.50 apiece. Thank you, Lord.

I  look forward  to  getting my flowers at the market this next week!

I am so happy,  Lynn     became enthused  over  some new dress shirts  we found on line  from Paul Frederick..  these shirts  usually  run for $ 95.00, because they are so exquisitely  made. But last week they were on sale for   $59.00  so I ordered 5 of them for  Father's Day. He needed  to replace  several shirts.. He was like a boy in a candy store when he opened  them this week.  Now to decide which one to wear on Father's Day! 

Wednesday Hodge Podge

Hosted by Joyce

1. Something you've seen recently that's 'cuter than a June bug'?

  I ran across this photo that Amanda sent me of the girls  at the 2020 Fourth of July celebration on the Charles River in Boston.  I think it is so adorable they were wearing the matching dresses their  paternal grandmother sent  from S. Korea.  When they heard our anthem being played by the Boston Pops they joined  hands and went over by the water to show their respects.  They were  6 and 4.

2. Tell us something about where you were and what you were doing in June of 1988?  we were parents of a 3 year old daughter. and  we were  looking  for a new home closer to the Christian school we wanted to send her to for Preschool.  We had jsut actually seen this house on it's open house day.  We immediatly had fallen in love with it   and decided this was the one.. at that time it was a diamond in the rough...  both inside and outside,  but we loved the bones!                            

This photo was taken ten yers ago,  and things were looking much better.  When we  bought the our home the perimeter of the yard was  a  10 feet thicket. .. tangle of vines and  weeds and  unwanted vegetation.. We had to take up all the carpet and paint, rip out wall paper and repaint everything. We didnt get around to renovating the baths and kitchen until   about  5 years ago. We saw how easy it was to just get used to things the way they were.!  

I love this photo of Lynn making breakfast in our old kitchen!

3. A place in your home or outdoor space where you feel 'snug as a bug in a rug'? 

Anywhere in our home, I think it is  super cosy!

4. June is National Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Month. Do you normally get your 

4-5 servings each day? What's a favorite summer dish you make/serve/like to be 

served-ha! made with one of your favorite summer fruits. 

I love strawberry salad

A favorite summer dish made with a favorite summer veg? 

This with  a bit of mozzarella and crusty bread makes a fine summer supper!

How do you feel about cooking in the summer months?   YUCK/

5. Do you have a summer reading list? If so share a title or two we can add to our

 own.   Not as of yet.

6. Insert your own random thought here.   All this food has made me hungry.    I have a  hunk of  crusty bread  jsut waiting for me.. yum,  waht to  put with it!    Ah, left over  spaghetti sauce made with my new favorite  sauce..  a jar  of sauce from Krogers  thah  I believe it was Private Selection  , but it had olives and  capers in it!  YUM!!!

Tuesday 4

An Evening Out

 Welcome! Annie hosts  Tuesday 4  in remembrance of  our  dear  friend, Toni!

1. Do you enjoy an evening out?  It's been a while for most people. Do you 

have any plans made?We do not usually  plan too many evenings out on our

 own, except for anniversaries when we  do go out  to special restaurants and

  splurge on our  meal.  But  usually  we really enjoy  doing evenings out 

with our best friends  when the company  surpasses the    meal and we 

choose much more simple fare, like pizzas, subs,  sometimes  seafood 

or Asian fare...We try to do the rounds  when we  dine together!

2. What kind of activities do you enjoy? A movie, a concert, dinner, plays, 

walks? Are you in the habit of going out regularly? When hubs and I  are 

on our own,  we have sought out  plays  and   concerts..   A couple of years 

ago  we  planned a weekend away  to Abingdon  to  see a fabulous play at 

the Barter Theater and we stayed 2 nights at the Martha Washington Inn.  

Now that was a royal treat!

  Another time Lynn treated me to a trip to Asheville.  I had a most favorite 

 musician  whom I dearly loved,  Dougie MacLesn  who was Scottish and 

 I had all of his cd's   He is particularly famous for  this one which attracted 

me in the very beginning!

When I found our he was touring the US and would be in  Asheville  Lynn 

said ,"Let's do it, "  So we  spent a wonderful weekend in Asheville, and 

enjoyed  Dougie at the Wortham Theater..  What a dream! 

 While our daughter was living with us,  as she was the first chair violinist

 in the Youth Symphony and through college,  we had  season tickets for  4 

for the local Symphony, as we often  took  our future son in law, too. After 

 the kids married  Lynn and I kept the   season tickets going for several years, 

 but after a time  it seemed that  we wouldn't be able to attend some of the  con-

certs  due to  other social commitments so we eventually  stopped  going to  the

 Symphony.  Hubs  refuses to go to movies so we enjoy  watching good movies 

together here at home over  a  bowl of pop corn!

3. Ever had an unusual  or very interesting evening you would like to tell us

 about or plans that went off the rails?  I cannot think of  one at this time!

4. When you were dating what kinds of activities did you enjoy ?  We loved 

to go to  auto races,,, we went to Martinsville Speedway,  Bristol Speedway,  

  and actually did the Atlanta 500 on our honeymoon!  Otherwise, we enjoyed

 going to movies, or hanging out at the Shoney's drive thru.  We did a lot of 

cruisin  in his  powerful  gorgeous 1968 red Plymouth Satelite with the 4 speed 

 384    engine..  He loved to rumble down Williamson Road, not speed, just 

 rumble!  hahaha. Then,of course, there was  a bit of parking out at the airport! 

 Best place in the world,  up on  a small bluff over the runway,  wonderful view 

of the city,  breezy,  listening to the count down of the top 40, and  singing along 

all evening.. I was a good girl, I was!

Happy Homemaker Monday

  

Hosted  by Sandra!

♥♥The Weather♥♥ 

Monday - thunderstorms, 84

Tuesday -  thunderstorms, 83

Wednesday -thunderstorms, 86

Thursday - thunderstorms, 83

Friday - rain, 82

Saturday - Storms, 84

Sunday -partly cloudy, 81

This rain is very welcome.  It will nice to go into

 summer with this rain!  I wrote about the possibility

 of rain last week and we got none!  Hope we do this

 week!!

♥♥How I am feeling this morning♥♥ 

I  am always excited to get to go to prayer meeting

... and I was hopeful  for  a new person to show up

,,, but we still had our faithful 5.

 ♥♥On the breakfast plate♥♥

Coffee and fruited yogurt  and he boiled  me two eggs

 to  see me off to prayer meeting!

♥♥On my reading pile♥♥ 

Bible- reading  Doing more research in preparation 

for prayer.   One of my spiritual teachers and mentors, 

Marlene Ferreira,  has written  a wonderful book, The 

Great  I am and I .  My journey into and from the Heart

 of God in the Midst of Apartheid/ Segragtion in South

 Africa. I remember so well her retelling her story of 

 pastoring a Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa ..

 very  thrilling  story  as she was fulfilling GOd's pur-

poses there.  Her book is a real page turner!

♥♥On the menu this week♥♥ 

 Monday:  Sweet Pepper Pasta With A Twist

Tuesday-  chicken salad  in  lettuce wraps

Wednesday - out with friends

Thursday-  not sure  

Friday-  not sure

♥♥From the camera♥

      

  Lynn and I went through the seasonal  tubs in the storage 

room in the basement. I purged  a ton of stuff either to the

 trash or the donate box. Then we organized the tubs on the

 shelves.  I pray I can  keep it like this now. It looks so much 

better and we actually  now have  about 3 empty tubs for other

 purposes!    

 ♥♥Looking around the house♥♥

All of my house energy was spent on the basement and  purging

stuff we just do not use anymore. We have seeeral boxes and bags

 of items to take to donate today!

♥♥What am I listening to♥♥

The local news and weather on the radio!

♥♥Something I want to share♥♥ 

Gardening  with Creekside    ..  a wonderful   youtube 

channel about everything  you need to know about 

 gardening.

Her latest offering...
Now  this young lady owns Creekside Nursery so

 she has access to the machinery and  the mulch, 

etc..    but  man, what a garden!

♥♥Devotional, inspirational, prayer list or Bible verse♥♥

I have been going to Intercessors for America now 

for  about 10 years... feeling all the time that America needed

  so much prayer and we  prayed so, for  deliver-

ance for our  nation,  for its culture,   for the decline in so 

many areas,  now  against racism,  criticalrace theory in

 our schools, abortion, just everything. We worship and pray

 every week, but lately the Spirit is leading us  to be more quiet. 

To listen to the small, voice of God.  Oh, how we have been praying

 for discernment to hear correctly, and pray in His will.We are all 

convinced that God has this, even though,

it doesn look  right in our  natural eyes,but He is  mightily at work

 bringing  everything into alignment.  Now here is  the thing.   

It is very likely that what He is bringing into existence will not be 

exactly what we had been praying for the last 10 years.

But  it is  what he is  doing in this time  on His calendar. So 

we are praying for us, His children,  to  eat more of His Word,  

understand His ways more, even though they a re much higher

 than our ways  and prepareour hearts for what  He is  doing..

Soak in the first chapter of James.Build  ourselves up in His  

truth and  be strong in His Word! Pray for the church... to wake 

up and truly desire  more of God. The days of playing 

church are behind us... We are entering into a  spiritual battle

 and a shaking....Christians and those who call themselves 

Christians, but are not  lit by the  Spirit of God  will be  set apart.. 

This could be a final wake up call for those whoare not fully awake...

 Study to show thyself approved 2 Timothy 2:15

Friday's Fave 5

Hosted by Susanne!

Wow!   This week flew by  yet it wasnt  a great week! I fact, I have been in a quandry  all week. 

Last Sunday our  wonderful, beloved pastor announced he  had  accepted a church   3 hours away outside of Richmond..  At  32  years of age and  aftr 11 years  in our church, he  accepted   for his family and   becasue he felt the Lord moving on in his career.  And  I and many  in our church  applaud that,  but  our hearts are breaking!. Now  remember  we have a very small  church,  not in building but in  people!  Already   only had about 40 in regulr attendance   before covid and have  had  like 12 during covid.  even now as the church is fully open,  not everyone came back.  And  now with the annoucement  about 15  have left  or will leave.  After it is all said and done  we will have zero children left. 

We have been members here   for  just over two  years. Our appreciation for the  our  dear pastor and  his    vision for the church rvitalized us to  cpme beside him in ministry and  the mission of the church.  THen covid came and so many  stopped coming,  and  about 3 of us couples masked up,  later got our vaccines, and continued to  come and    we  were  happy to see the fruit of our  labor.  But again even when it was safe to  come  out  those healthy and  strong members failed to come. 

At this time six of the above  people have or will leave soon!

I could stop here and add a few other concerns but I will not. Suffice it to say, at this point Lynn and I   are now realizing we cannot continue  there.   We each have obligations on  church committees to  accomplish,  but  we  are in 

agreement that after that work is done we will be leaving.  and our hearts are broken!   The problem now is   where to  go now?  Viable choices are  rare. 

WE love  good, conservative, tradcitional churches taht preach  the word as  we  believe it..  that is very limiting.   Meaning,  churches in our area   either teach  prederist,  cessationism,  or  they are very liberal in their  teaching. We do not  like    the huge churches  that  attract  the masses.

I guess we are jsut picky and odl in our  viewpoint,  but  at this stage of life, we want what we want from our church!

 We sat in massive, loud churches  for  decades,  and now we are seeking traditional!

Anyway..  Here  are   some photos from the past week.

One opf our outreach adn Missions minded   events was  to serve water to the Keystone  5 K race.   It was  great fun,  ands the church was invited ..Many said they were coming to run,  

Here we are.... all of us who have stayed  true to the church  just as the runners were  rounding the final corner!  No one else  came from our church.

There were plenty of opportunities to share  with the racers!

These three guys  have  been faithful  throughout covid,  in  doing a marvelous renovations on some areas of the church! but  they cannot carry a church, ongoing! 
Here is our beloved pastor who has worked so hard to  build up the church . This young couple  has  two small children.   Their days at the church are numbered.  And you can't blame them.  

I am not trying to speak  ill of our  beloved church,  I am jsut so undone  becasue it all un ravelled in the span a of couple of weeks.  We had been blind to the  flaws  that had been evident during  the season of covid.  But I heard a very  difficult word  this week. The lady who runs the Keystone Center who has contacts in many churches  told us that at this time there are 12 churches  in our  city  which  have not been able to  get a pastor.. either  they refuse to come to our city or they just do not exist.  Now we do  have  a young man, a friend of our pastor, who has preached    in his absence   and he is very well  liked.   He will fill in for a time. But  he  can not stay  longer than   August.  He is a full time professor  at  University!

So these are  such troubling times.  Sleepless nights,    and  sad hearts are  aplenty.

ON a good note.  We three couples met at Gerri's and David's,  one   couple of the three for  a great time of loving fellowship on Memorial Day.  I had  written previously about  making scratch baked beans  and  they turned out pretty good.  I think I over cooked the bacon and  in the crock pot  it  dried out a bit,  but the flavor of my homemade sauce was spot on and  I was pleased with them!

And ta-dah!  my hydrangeas are blooming!!!

OOOH, Laa  Laa!

Happy Homemaker Monday

  

Hosted  by Sandra!

♥♥The Weather♥♥ 

Monday - cloudy , 76

Tuesday -  cloudy, 81

Wednesday -rain, 81

Thursday - storms, 79

Friday - rain, 83

Saturday - Storms, 79

Sunday -  Storms, 81

This rain is very welcome.  It will nice to go into summer with this rain!

♥♥How I am feeling this morning♥♥ 

Excited! Today I begin a new prayer initiative at church.  Because the

 continual demonic onslaught of the demonic forces in  our government, 

culture, ideologies,  which are attacking our children, families, schools/

 universities, businesses, and  the church,  we are beginning a season of 

weekly spiritual warfare..  our battle is not against men, but spiritual 

entities in the heavenlies.  

 ♥♥On the breakfast plate♥♥

Coffee and fruited yogurt.

♥♥On my reading pile♥♥ 

Bible- reading  Doing more research in preparation for prayer. 

♥♥On the menu this week♥♥ 

 Monday:  cook-out with friends

Tuesday-  hot dog and baked beans , slaw

Wednesday - out with friends

Thursday-  breakfast for dinner

Friday-  baked cod, fries and salad

♥♥From the camera♥

              
Saturday was the keystone 5 K   race.  Our church  supports the

 Keystone center that  aids inner city children and famiies.  

Here you see Some guys from church... Richard, David, and

  my Lynn!

       

We were there to offer  battled water  to the runners... Here

 the first  runner just  won the race at 16.3 minutes.  It was 

such a cool, overcast morning,    it was perfect for the run!

                                                                     

 ♥♥Looking around the house♥♥

Since Lynn has vacuumed, mopped, and cleaned the 

bathrooms,  things are looking very good; 

thank you, Lord, for my dear husband!

♥♥What am I listening to♥♥

The local news and weather on the radio!

♥♥Something I want to share♥♥ 

This afternoon we are taking my homemade baked 

beans that are still cooking in the crockpot pot and

 going up on the mountain to celebrate Memorial Day

 with our best friends.  this has been our habit for 

several years and we look so forward to it every year. 

There are several neighbors up there who set off

 really nice fireworks which adds to the celebration!

♥♥Devotional, inspirational, prayer list or Bible verse♥♥

I have been going to Intercessors for America now 

for  about 10 years... feeling all the time that America needed

  so much prayer and we  prayed so, for  deliver-

ance for our  nation,  for its culture,   for the decline in so 

many areas,  now  against racism,  criticalrace theory in

 our schools, abortion, just everything. We worship and pray

 every week, but lately the Spirit is leading us  to be more quiet. 

To listen to the small, voice of God.  Oh, how we have been praying

 for discernment to hear correctly, and pray in His will.We are all 

convinced that God has this, even though,

it doesn look  right in our  natural eyes,but He is  mightily at work

 bringing  everything into alignment.  Now here is  the thing.   

It is very likely that what He is bringing into existence will not be 

exactly what we had been praying for the last 10 years.

But  it is  what he is  doing in this time  on His calendar. So 

we are praying for us, His children,  to  eat more of His Word,  

understand His ways more, even though they a re much higher

 than our ways  and prepareour hearts for what  He is  doing..

Soak in the first chapter of James.Build  ourselves up in His  

truth and  be strong in His Word! Pray for the church... to wake 

up and truly desire  more of God. The days of playing 

church are behind us... We are entering into a  spiritual battle

 and a shaking....Christians and those who call themselves 

Christians, but are not  lit by the  Spirit of God  will be  set apart.. 

This could be a final wake up call for those whoare not fully awake...

 Study to show thyself approved 2 Timothy 2:15

Friday's Fave 5

Hosted by Susanne!

It  has been  wonderful to see  so many return to  in person  church.  Our church is very small,  ony about  50  on roll.  During covid   we  nmbered about 12-15  who were faithfully attending once things began to open .  Finally  in the last week we are seeing  our  numbers  almost back to normal, especially during our  Wednesday night prayer meeting!

We actually had 15  present,  this was  9 more than the usual 6.  We  bless one another in our presence!

I have been  a bit    out of commision around the house  lately with  severe  allergies and  and  concerns  with my    deep dry cough  that  I see the enterologist    about soon...  but hubs has been  such a trouper!! He  has  vaccuumed the whole house, cleaned the bathrooms thoroughly, and  jsut been  awesome.  He blesses me everyday!

Each week the rose garden  just keeps giving..  I must go out and  get  some clioping for the hose today because the rain, (Praise God ) is coming!

I have been  rather consumed with    a new initiative, God  has placed in my heart.  I  am beginning a new prayer meeting at our church  this Monday morning.  I had been doing a book study on Derek Prince's  amazing book, 

Because the state of the nation and the world  has changed  so dramatically,  ....  the call for the church to arise has been resounding and  churches everywhere  need to be  opposing the work of the enemy   that is seeking to rob, steal, and destroy our child, families, the church and our  nation!

 We have been invited  once again up to  Gerri and David's for our Annual  Memorial Day  cook out.  This will be the  7th one  we have  had and  it  is a huge blessing for us all. G and D  live up  on a mountian  and they have the most gorgeous inside / outdoor room  that  is so  pleasant   in the summer.. I am thinking about  making  a baked bean   dish from scratch, using   dry beans   and my own  sauce..  I found a  great recipe   that I   am thinking to use..  If I do I'll share about it next week!