Thankful Thursday

Sunday in church we had a great and challenging sermon on “What It Means to Confess Christ.”  In Mark 8 believers are given the cost of discipleship, that of taking up their cross.  Our Pastor pointed out that many things that we think are our crosses~hardships, a difficult person, an illness~ are not our crosses at all.  Rather living a godly life in an ungodly world and enduring difficult things as a result is “the cross.”  I loved the picture he gave, that Christ is tossing the ball to me, it is in my court and I must choose what to do with it~~~ To follow until I die, not knowing how or when?  To follow, forfeiting my rights over my life?  A Christ follower does not say, “I’ll follow you Jesus, but don’t give me any restrictions or responsibility.”  It is doing things for the sake of the gospel and living that way until death, whether martyred or just living out the days God has given. 

I was challenged with the example of “holding the ball.”  So many times I choose my “flesh-woman.”  Our Pastor said this also…”Satan wants me to be convinced that there is no value to dying to self or to being a servant.

I was also encouraged.  I thought of Wally’s Dad.  Saturday was the second anniversary of his life here on earth coming to an end.  There was a death.  But there was great value in that death.  While we are still adjusting to life with out Pop, he has been living in the presence of Jesus.  I also thought that there was great value in the example he left.  He took the ball when it was passed to him.  He lived a life of faithfully serving the Lord until he died, not knowing how long he had nor how he would die.  He took up the cross and followed!  I am thankful for that.  And on this second anniversary, I found it to be comforting to me.

My Mom used to have a plaque over our Kitchen doorway with this poem…it sums up Pop’s life and I hope my own.

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last”

Tea Time!

When Jo visits it means it is time for we sisters to get together for tea…with Mom of course!  This year we invited a special friend along, she is almost  family, Mrs. Loyd!  We returned to Mrs. B’s Tea House in Littleton. 

I think Mrs. Loyd said this was her first Tea.  She and my Mom have had a friendship of over fifty years.  We had a good time reminiscing about those years.  Mrs. Loyd was Robin’s Sunday School teacher in the fifth grade.  Robin said one year Mrs. Loyd asked all the girls if they each had a Barbie doll.  Then for Christmas, she had crocheted them each a doll dress.  Robin remembered baby blankets she had received for her boys as babies and cute things she made at holidays.  I too have received baby blankets and little outfits and dresses she has crocheted.  She always does something special for JoEllen each Christmas.  But the greatest gift Mrs. Loyd has shown is a faithful friendship. When my Mom was in the hospital and rehab for many weeks fall and and again early in 2012, Mrs. Loyd came to visit nearly every day! 

I had to show two pictures to be fair…Mom looks good in one and Mrs. Loyd in the other.  Too bad I could not just splice them together!

It also took three tries to get us sisters looking good…but we do look good!

We had a good time,as usual.  Robin’s four little granddaughters had just visited and she had cute stories and lots of pictures.  Lots, and lots of pictures…she needs to start her own blog and share them!

Jo trying to maneuver the sugar bowl tongs

Lots of laughter!

When we do Tea in Littleton, we have some favorite antique and gift shops to enjoy.  Since Mom is still moving slowly with her cane, we made it a quick browse but still had a good time.  Sister time usually is a good time!

Stamp a Stack

A friend of mine told me about this monthly event called “Stamp a Stack”.  It is a group of ten Stampin’ Up demonstrators that each design a card and provide the materials, then those who attend go from table to table and make their card.  So for $25.00 you can make ten cards…that’s only $2.50 a card.  I thought it was a pretty good deal.  I’ve been wanting to give it a try and so while Jo was visiting me, we went. 

This is the first card we made and I really like it.  I think I can use this idea a lot.

It’s kind of hard to see but Jo is inking the edge of her blue rectangle in this picture.   

She did pretty good on most of the card making steps. Everything was pre cut. She had trouble getting the layers put on the card straight. I am straight challenged myself but we did okay! And she really struggled peeling off the paper from behind some of the adhesives we used. But while she struggled for a few minutes, I was able to put my own card together and then help her again. It worked out pretty good!

Here Jo is painting embossed flowers with watered down ink…

…for this card~

This card had a little ink painting to it also.  The window also had to be cut around the outside and the inside.  The Consultant at this table was really nice to Jo while I was doing the cutting, talking to her and helping her do some of the steps. 

This card is pretty cute.  Everything was done already…all we did was glue it together. 

Then this card was quite involved and only the paper was precut.  You can’t really tell in the picture but the jar is raised up and has clear plastic behind it, so it looks like a real glass jar!

So Stamp a Stack was a success.  We made some cute cards and I have already used three of mine.  I know Jo loved her cards and we had a good time together!

Really, Thirty-One Years?

I came across a loose photo a few weeks back and decided to just leave it out on the table for awhile.  It was taken after Wally asked me to marry him.  I must have said yes because he has a big grin on his face!  And I think he’s holding the roses he gave me.  I left the photo laying out because I knew our anniversary was approaching and I just wanted to be reminded of how young and skinny we once were!

So today is our 31st Anniversary.  Thirty-one years!  Wow, I cannot even begin to express how quickly the years have gone by.  A couple of years ago I blogged about how we met, had long-distance courtship, were married and settled down to raising kids.  You can go back and check out  the story if you are really that interested.  The pictures are probably worth a look.  Anyway,Yesterday I was reading in my “Life Management for Busy Women” book and I read something that does express just what I felt. 

“Falling in love is easy.”  It really is.  Here’s the guy I was smitten with all those years ago.  I have had this photo on my nightstand more years than I have been married!  This is still the guy I see when I look at Wally. 

 

“But growing a Christian marriage and nurturing a life-long friendship and building a permanent relationship takes work-----hard work!  It takes a commitment.  It takes determination.  It takes time and sacrifice.  And it takes daily management.”  That is exactly the way I would have expressed it if I had had the words!  Then I would add, “But it is so worth it!”

I know I am very blessed to have had thirty one years of experiences with one man.  He is my “Charles Ingalls.”  He probably thinks he is “Bond, James Bond.”  But Charles Ingalls proved his love every day when he worked so hard to provide for his family.  There was nothing he would not do to keep his family safe.  No job was too difficult or too dirty.  He could hardly wait to get home to his family each night and he always swept me, I mean Caroline, up in a big embrace!  To all that he had integrity. 

So Happy Anniversary Wally.  You have the looks of Little Joe and the maturity of Charles Ingalls!  And you have blessed me for thirty-one years with your commitment and faithfulness and love and care!  I do love you!

Pinterest

Have you entered the wonderful world of Pinterest?  I get a little lost but there are some great ideas out there.  I have been pinning many cute card ideas.  It seems that the ideas I think are so cute come from the same pinner.  Someday I will need to meet her.  I finally took some of the ideas on my boards and put them into action and thought I’d share the results.

I loved this card when I saw it. It is from a blog called Sylvia’s Stamp Corner.   I could see it as a sympathy card.  And that is what I used it as.  Here was my card…

I really like this card also from Just Judy Designs. 

I used it for another sympathy card…

I also tried a couple of recipes from Pinterest…

Claire Bidwell Smith had a recipe for Windy City Crescent Rolls.  You make a spinach and cheese mix and roll it up inside crescent rolls.  For me, this sounded better than it tasted.  They weren’t bad but I was expecting them to melt in my mouth. 

I loved these Easy Zucchini Parmesan from Spark Recipes.  They did melt in my mouth and they were so-o easy.  I made these every night while Wally was gone on his trip to Yellowstone.  One time I threw in some mushrooms and grape tomatoes.  Yum-Yum!  I think the recipe says it is only 50 calories per recipe. 

Happy Pinning!

Yellowstone

Two weekends ago Wally left Denver late in the afternoon bound for Riverton, WY.  Four hundred miles later, about 9:00 pm, he arrived at a hotel and yanked his friend Mike out of bed.  Time to go get a steak!  I think Mike and Wally have been doing stuff like this for a lot of years.  They are childhood buds!

Mike now lives in Billings,MT.  Wally has been wanting to see Mike’s new place and they have both been wanting a road trip on their bikes.  So they met in Riverton, sort of halfway for both.  From Riverton they rode to Grand Teton National Park. 

Jackson Lake

Then to Yellowstone

After Yellowstone, they rode back to Mike’s house.  They even got in a little Cabella’s shopping.  Three days of riding covering 1,600 miles.   A weekend designed for the guys for sure!  I’ll take the scrapbooking and tea parties!

Thankful Thursday

I have been having some computer woes for a few weeks.  The poor little laptop was doing funny things…running very slow and freezing up a lot.   I could have done the PCmatic commercial!   In an attempt to fix my issues, I somehow pretty much killed the thing.  So Wally took it in for me to get a diagnosis.  They ran their tests. I am pretty sure I was doing a “system resume” but they said I erased the hard drive. Really?  How does one do that?  Anyway, my “stuff” was all gone!  And I really like my “stuff”. 

Yesterday Wally picked up the laptop for me and I am trying to get all the “stuff” put back.  I will now skip the ad for PCMatic and do one for Carbonite.  I am so thankful to have Carbonite which saves all my good “stuff” and keeps it safe.  I am also thankful for Andrea who tells me how to run Carbointe’s Restore program.  She helped me get my pictures back.  That is the big thing.  So yes, I am very thankful this week.

On Tuesday as I was reading my Bible and feeling kind of defeated in a lot of areas if my life, I read a familiar Psalm.  Psalm 23.  The first little phrase of verse three just jumped off the page, “He restoreth my soul;”  Maybe the computer issues had my mind thinking this way already, but I needed a “systems restore” action in my heart.  Maybe I even needed to erase that old hard drive that told me I was defeated and kept me running slow.  Oh my goodness, how encouraged I felt.  Truly my soul was restored!    There’s even a program that allows that action to to keep taking place…just simple time in the Word and in prayer with my Lord.  For that I am really, very thankful!

 

 

 

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