Photo Challenge--Emotions

This week's Brenda's Photo Challenge hosted by the lovely Cindra of Knits & Pics was very challenging for me. My mind mostly came up blank or with thoughts of pictures I could not take. So I've ended up sorting through some old pictures on my computer. I found a bunch that would fit the category. I have decided to post pictures that I did not even take--but they fit the category. These are some of my favorite pics from my son's wedding day a couple years ago. Hope you enjoy them.
The bride and bridesmaids arrived at the church. So much excitement!!

Just after the kiss!She had just smashed the cake in his face!!Saying good-bye to her maid of honor and life long best friend.

Preview

So there are some "emotional" pictures.

My Grand-Dog--Tucker

My oldest son and his wife have a dog. They refer to me as Grandma or Grandmama to Tucker. And I find myself treating him a little special when I see him. Or I'll send a ham bone to him after Thanksgiving meals, etc. So here are a couple of cute pictures of my Grand-dog, Tucker.

Thankful for E's

I've made my way to the letter E for my Thankful Thursday Alphabet post.

So.......

I'm thankful for ELECTRICITY. Oh how glad I am to have all my modern conveniences that use electricity. What would I do without my computer!!!

I'm thankful for EARS and EYES that I can see and hear. God, you are so good.

I'm thankful for EARNINGS! In today's economy, I'm grateful that I have a job and can earn the money needed to provide food, clothing, roof, medical care, etc, etc, etc.

I'm thankful for ENCOURAGEMENT! I am surrounded by lots of great people who encourage me regularly. My husband is a great encourager; so is my boss and co-workers, and then I have all of my wonderful blogging friends. God says in His word that we should encourage one another. So thanks to all of my many encouragers!!

I'm thankful for ELECTIONS. I know everyone is sick and tired of all of the political junk and mud slinging. I am too!!! BUT I'm still thankful for a free country that gets a vote. We may not all get our way and we may not all agree, but it is a wonderful freedom to be living in a country that lets each citizen vote their opinion.

And finally, I'm most thankful for ETERNAL LIFE. Jesus says that He came that we might have eternal life. John 3:16 puts it like this, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him, might have everlasting life." I believe and am eternally grateful for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross on my behalf. I hope that you, my friend, believe in Jesus Christ as the savior too.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and thankful Thursday.

Wednesday Weekly Update

What'sup in my world? Everything and Nothing all at the same time. Day to day is busy, but nothing worth talking about.

I voted last Friday! We have one more week of all the political junk to listen to and get our email boxes flooded with. By this time next week, we'll know who needs our prayers the most.

I've been a bit on edge of late--kinda feeling like a volcano. There's no one thing that's got me out of sorts, but maybe just a bunch of little irritations from different directions. At any rate, I'm seeking God to give me peace inside and out. I'm also trying to recognize that I'm likely to blow a small irritation out of proportion and trying NOT to offend or hurt anyone because I have a lot on my plate. (So sorry if I have)

The Brenda's Photo Challenge is coming up on Saturday with a theme picked by Cindra of EMOTIONS. Sign up and play along with what should be a very interesting challenge.

Okay, enough of my ramblings.

Have a great Wednesday!!

Cooking Weekend

My weekend sure flew by....yours probably did too!

In some ways I'm glad it's Monday, 'cause the routine is nice.

Saturday I worked on school stuff for a while and then went on a cooking spree. I made more salsa, Jalapeno Jelly, chocolate pies, coffee cake (for our SS class), Chicken spaghetti, Tortilla Soup, Chili, Mexican Lasagna, Meat for Taco Salad, and I have a brisket marinating for cooking today.

Cooking a bunch every couple of weekends sure seems to help out with our busy schedules.

I went to my oldest son's house for a couple hours yesterday. They are building a fence for their back yard and I helped paint the metal posts. It was nice being outside and helping them. Their dog calls me "Grandma" most of the time and is real glad to see me. Of course I think he's real glad to see anyone.

I finished the weekend with a little more school work.

D's I'm thankful for

Time for another addition of Thankful Thursday Alphabet. It's "D" day! So let's see what begins with D that I'm thankful for......

Daughter-in-law--I have a very precious daughter-in-law named Kirsten. One of our special annual events that we enjoy doing together is going shopping in the wee hours on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, we shuffle through the ads and plan our attack. We've left as early as 4:30 in the morning. We laugh and talk (mostly about how insane we are) and usually end up with some pretty good bargains. Somewhere along the way, we end up getting some lunch and head home for naps.

Drugs (legal ones)--I'm thankful that God has gifted mankind with the ability to research and find medicines to help our bodies get well or at least ease the discomforts of all kinds of illnesses.

Deadlines--I'm a very deadline driven personality and so I'm thankful that we have deadlines to motivate us to get things done. Otherwise, I'd probably procrastinate forever!! Meeting the deadline also sets us up for a celebration!! It feels so good to work toward a deadline and then meet it.

Dirt--I can remember as a child how much fun it was to play in the dirt and then get cleaned up again. Ever so often now, I find a need to "play in the dirt" by planting something in my garden or flower beds or flower pots. I find that it is peaceful and therapeutic to work with nature. So I'm thankful for dirt!

Well, that's what came to mind.

Have a great Thursday!!

Thanks for prayer

God is continuing to work in this situation. I'd still rather not put a lot of details out there, but one of my sons has made some unhealthy choices and is working through some consequences of them. We've been through some pretty tough situations with him over the last about 3 years. But God has been through them with us and has taught me a lot through it all. I still pray and still have times that I need the prayer support of friends and other Christians. Thanks for being that support today! Things did work out fairly well with today's events. It has been a very long day. So we dealt with some of his "stuff" this morning, I worked a few hours and then went to school. The class was extra long and we had a difficult quiz. So I'm REALLY tired and ready to go to sleep soon.

Thanks again.

Need your prayers today

Hey gals

I can't really go into any details...but I have one of those tough spots to be in today. I'm not in physical danger and I know that God will be with me, but I'm thinking I can use your prayer support today. Maybe sometime I'll tell you more, but for now I really appreciate your prayers.

Thanks a bunch!!

Follow up

Just thought you all should know that we included that picture of Rustina on the power point at his wedding.

When my kids were little....

When my kids were little, our church always had a Fall Harvest Fest as an alternative to going Trick or Treating on Halloween night. Our family always enjoyed this time. I was often involved in helping organize it and thinking up creative "Biblical" names for silly carnival type games. I'd help with decorating and so forth. I would make or borrow or assemble in some form or fashion costumes for at least the kiddos. Many times our whole family would dress up in similar costumes. One time we were the karate family, another time we were all clowns, once we were the California raisins with all my guys in black panty hose and garbage bags and white gloves, and we were all Indians one time. Here are a few of the pictures from way back when.....

Jonathan in the clown costume that I think all 3 wore at one time or another.

Stephen as Peter Pan.

Rusty made his own stilts to be Goliath and Jonathan made a very cute David.

The whole tribe!

And the daughter I never had--Rustina!

We sure had fun!!

Photo Challenge--Old

Sorry I'm late getting my pictures posted. But this challenge was extra fun for me. As soon as the topic was selected, I had several ideas. I ended up deciding to feature several pictures of the same "old" thing. So....here are my pictures of my Grandmother's treadle sewing machine. It was passed to my mother when I was a teenager and then to me in 2002 after my mother died.


There are actually several "old" things in this one picture. Notice the old iron and the lamp was my parents about 60 years ago. The wall pictures are of my mom's parents and my father-in-law's parents. The 2 small pictures are pictures of my mom's family when she was a baby. And finally my mom made the beautiful crocheted doily. This is how the machine looks at my house.





I had not opened the machine up for several years and had great fun opening it and looking at all the beautiful detail work on it. Thanks to Donna from Made in Heaven for hosting this edition of the Brenda's photo challenge. It brought great joy to me to take and share these pictures. I'll be around to look at everyone's pictures later. Have a great day!!

Friendship Award

I was pleasantly surprised last night to find that Donna from Cottage Days and Journey's had awarded me with this very special friendship award. Donna wrote about her unexpected pleasure of making friendships through the blog world and I agree with her 100%. When I posted my first blog post, I rambled a bit about why blog and whether anyone would ever read anything I wrote or if that would be my one and only post. I certainly didn't have any answers to those questions at the time. I just started typing. But now, I can't wait until I have a chance to check in with my new found blog friends. I enjoy your funny stories, your testimonies of faith, the many, many beautiful photos, and sharing in your challenges. I pray for the needs expressed by blog friends. I try your recipes. Sometime I tell your stories or jokes. I look forward to the encouraging comments that so many of you leave for me. So it is with honor that I accept this award and will attempt to allow my Lord to fill my emptiness with these traits of friendship.

This award isn’t just any award. It comes with a questionnaire. (Oh boy, another homework assignment!)

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?
Not really. I have contact info for a couple of them and we run into each other at funerals and make promises to get together sometime. But it is usually the next funeral before we see each other again.

2. What do you value most about your friends?
You know the character traits on the cups are the things that matter most in a friendship--Trust, Kindness, Honesty, and Caring. I also value the camaraderie of shared adventures, joys, and heartaches.

3. Are your friends your sounding boards?
Most definitely! I have a few friends who I can be totally honest with about my feelings. One in particular lets me "vent". I call her and tell her, I need to let off some steam. She listens and validates the feelings and then calms me down so that I do not say or do things that I will later regret. I really am a pretty transparent person with those people who know me.

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends?
Blogging, phone calls, lunch or dinner, a movie, just talking, or shopping.

I am also supposed to give this award to 5 friends. This is the difficult part of awards because everyone who visits my blog deserves it. But I'll do my best. Since I have met most of blog buddies through the photo challenge or the blogs of other blog buddies, I know many of you have already been awarded this award. Oh well, I'm gonna give it a try.

Here goes:
Karen at Faith of a Single Mom is the one who introduced me to the blog world. She is a wonderful photographer and encourager.

Brittany Dian from the Hallman Tribe has great tales and pictures to share from her friends, family, and travels.

Sally from Whispering Hope is such a sweetheart; always there with an encouraging word.

Annie from Annie's blog shares some beautiful pictures and word pictures. You should all visit Annie's blog for inspiration.

Debra from Clothed with Scarlet is a new blog friend who shares deeply from her heart.

So thanks again to Donna for her friendship and this award.

C's I'm Thankful For

Time for Thankful Thursday Alphabet--I'm on the letter C!

I'm thankful for:

Children--they are carefree and full of energy and zest for life. They remind me to live my days to the fullest and to find JOY and Happiness in everything I do.

CAROLYN (my hairdresser)--I have an appointment with her to get my much needed haircut this afternoon. She has a really sweet spirit and I'm always uplifted by being with her AND she does a great job with my hair.

Colors--Wouldn't life by boring without all the wonderful colors that God created!

Cats--After my last couple of Friday Furball Tail posts, you all know I love my kitty cats.

Chocolate--What would life be like without it! It helps us through some tough days.

Cars--It seems I'm always on the go and I really like my Mazda 5. It needs a bath! I'd add that to my chore list for the weekend.

Cross of Christ--I am so very thankful that Jesus was willing to pay my debt for all the sin I ever have and ever will commit with His agonizing death on the cross. I love to wear cross necklaces as a simple reminder to me and others that because of what He did there, I am a child of the King. I'm loved, I'm engraved on His palms, I'm free from the power of sin, I'm HIS because of HIM!

Have a great day, everyone!!

Happy New Year!!

Our office has now completed the 2007 Income tax return filing season. The final, final deadline for all 2007 tax returns was today. Our office typically tries to complete all preparation and review work on the night prior to the deadline so that our fantastic administrative team can copy and get the returns ready for clients to pickup and take to the post office early in the day.

Not so this year.....I signed 3 individual returns and 1 partnership return today. The two other signers each had a similar amount of work for the day. Needless to say, it has been a stressful few days lately.

I kind of feel like my brain has gone to mush.

I got a very early start today, because I knew that partnership return would be fairly difficult. I got up at 4:15, checked email quickly, and got dressed and to work by 5:30 AM.

My son is at church tonight and my hubby is volunteering the next 4 days at Life Enrichment Boot Camps, so he'll be gone and I get the house to myself and don't have to cook a thing!! I do have several school assignments to work on and the house is in need of "female" cleaning.

I'm ready for my weekends off work and a few shorter work days.

Oh, and the reason I said Happy New Year, is because, "This year" finally means 2008 at work. For 9 1/2 months of each year, I mostly work on the prior year's tax returns and think of that as this year. But now this year is really this year. Are you confused yet?

My blog break

Some of you have commented on where I am lately.

Tomorrow is a major tax deadline and I've had several school assignments due in the last few days. So I've been really pushing at work and school. I've been keeping up with most of you and have left a few comments, but haven't had time to be creative enough to post anything worth reading.

Class tonight, deadline tomorrow and then my world changes focus for a little while. I get to catch up on housework and other things that are behind.

See you soon.

Meet Little Bit

Last Friday I introduced you to my Panther. So today I want to tell you about Little Bit. I know that is a strange name for the cutest cat ever. We tried out several names for her but soon realized that we all called her Little Bit more than anything else. Even now sometimes I think about naming her something else. Princess or Miss Priss or something like that would fit her well.We got her as a 6 week old kitten about a week before we got Panther. She was so cute and snuggly. She is shy and hides when there are young children around or in any situation that she is uncomfortable with.She is very photogenic and so I have LOTS of pictures of her. I'll share a few. I'll save some of her pictures and stories for later posts. She is really quite the character. As a matter of fact read this post about her from a while back.

She likes watching Stephen practice drums on his practice pad.

Sometimes she helps him play!

She likes Dr. Pepper.....or is it boxes she likes?Panther liked the computer printer. But the monitor was her computer interest.Here are my kitty cats all snuggled up together.

Thankful for B's

Time for my Thankful Thursday Alphabet post and I'm on the letter B.

Blogs--I'm thankful that I get to blog. The other day someone told me that the reason I like to blog is because no one will listen to me and so I tell the world all my jibber jabber. Perhaps there is some truth to that, but I think it is more of an outlet for creative expression and perhaps like a journal. At any rate I'm glad I found it.

Blog Friends--I'm very grateful for the relationships of my many blog friends. Although I only know most of you by your blog name and perhaps your first name, it's really neat to see what is going on in your world and to get comments from you on my posts.

Bible--I'm thankful God wrote a love letter to us and that we have the freedom to read and meditate on its' meaning. I'm glad it is true and applicable to my daily life.

Books--I enjoy reading other books too.

Boys--I love my boys. I often call myself a "boy mom" because I only had boys and I think raising a family of only boys is a very special challenge. Any other "boy moms" out there? Now I have my order in for at least one granddaughter to spoil beyond degree!!

Well, I guess that's it for this post. I know I'll think of more B's that I'm thankful for later, but that's okay.

This week

Since last Wednesday, I have worked, worked on school stuff, went to see Fireproof the movie, gone to church, minimal stuff around the house.

I got a catch in my back early Monday morning that is driving me crazy. I think it is because I am stressed and spending too much time looking at books and computer screens. I've taken some meds and Garry has been helping to massage and pop it. I'm trying to move and stretch and so forth more. Sure will be glad when it is well.

I have several school projects and tests due in the next week AND Oct 15 is a major deadline.

So posts are going to be short for the next few days.

By the way, Fireproof was great and I highly recommend it. Go if you get a chance.

Imagination Rules

My earliest childhood memories are filled with playing imagination games. We lived out in the country and since I was the youngest child, my older brother and sister were in school and I was home with my mom a lot. She was always busy with cleaning, cooking, sewing, quilting, running errands, helping with the farm animals, etc.

So I filled my days with imaginary friends. I would play with my baby dolls and I would be the mama in the pretend family. I took my dolls to school where I became the teacher, to the doctor where I became the nurse or doctor, to the store where I was the sales clerk or grocery checker, and to church where I became the song leader and then the preacher. I would act out each part and transition from character to character playing all the parts. You know that's not so much different than reality. As adults we have many roles to play. Sometimes I am the mom, sometimes the wife, sometimes the child, sometimes the student, sometimes the teacher, sometimes the health care provider, and the list goes on.

Some days I would use the tinker toys to build a pretend ranch and then play with the farm animal figurines. I would move them from place to place and talk for them. I would fill the hours of the day in my imaginary world where I called all the shots. I was the writer, director, puppeteer, stage crew, and actors in my fairly tale stories. My stories always had happy ending just like on TV.

On the Potter's Wheel

"So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." Jeremiah 18:3-4

So I'm a lump of clay in God's hands. He can choose what He wants to do with me.

His touch is gentle as He shapes me into something beautiful and useful.


Sometimes He has to scrape away some rough edges.


Fashioning me is a messy job.

Please be patient, God is still not finished with me.

Now listen to this simple song.

Photo Challenge--Yellow

It's time for Brenda's photo challenge again. Tabitha at Twinkle, Twinkle selected "Yellow" as our theme this month. Thanks for a fun challenge, Tabitha!! Click here to see who is participating this time. Now for my pictures---

I took one on my recent trip to San Antonio

Here are some yellow things I use at work on a very regular basis!

Here's my little yellow ducky!!

A yellow car in the parking lot at work.

Yellow flowers at Wal-Mart garden center.

Meet my Panther

Panther is my big, black, beautiful cat. He picked us out as his new owners when we went to the local SPCA about 4or 5 years ago. Garry and I went there planning to get a full grown cat because my Fluffy (I'll post about him another time) had died a few months earlier and we were beginning to have some wild critter problems. (Another long story associated with that one. Maybe another post someday.) So we had hardly got inside the cat room before it seemed that this large black cat was very interested in us. I kept looking at the various cats to choose from. They were all very nice. I really wanted a male cat because I have always loved large male cats. But my dad was always superstitious of black cats and I had never been allowed to have a black cat. But this black cat just kept rubbing against us and following us around. Garry pretty much said, "Karen, this is the cat you want." I'm not sure if the black cat somehow spoke through Garry's mouth or what. But it was pretty evident that he wanted to come home with us. So Panther has been the head of the house ever since.

Boundaries? What boundaries? I'll sleep where I want, when I want!!

Want a drink?

This box is for me, right?

He went through this phase where he was totally fascinated by the printer. He could not figure how that paper went through this thing. Oh but he tried. He would stick his paws down inside while the paper was feeding through and get it jammed. He would be in another room of the house and hear the printer start to come on and run, jump on it and try to stop the paper. It was funny but very annoying. He finally lost interest and no longer attacks the printer.

Isn't he gorgeous?!!