A Little Peek

Yesterday I was Old Salem.  This is a small historical section of Winston-Salem, NC.  This is where the Moravians first settled in NC from Pennsylvania.  It is a fantastic place to visit.  The workers all dress in period clothing and demonstrate the actual lifestyle of the people from this time in the 1700's.  It is a beautiful place to take photos.  The grounds are well maintained and there is so many beautiful trees and little alcoves and pretty cobblestone walls and streets.  While I was there the Old Salem Gardener had his back gate open and had his Autumn Harvest on display and for sale.  He had these great heirloom pumpkins.  these are pumpkins that are from the very first ones ever planted in those gardens.  they keep seeds from each years harvest and save them for the next planting season.  They were so pretty!  This was my first real peek at the Autumn season to come.

These looked so pretty perched up on top on one another on this old green bench.

These were lighter in color but had great form and were for the most part unblemished.

This was a large trailer just filled with pumpkins.  I would love to have this many to make all kinds of Fall displays around my own house!

I just love the simplicity of this shot.  Just pumpkins on an old bench.  Looks like Fall to me!

Four Months Old!!!

Yesterday my little Savannah was four months old.  I cannot believe how big she is getting.  Savannah, you weigh a little over 16 lbs. and are a little over 25 inches long.  You are a very healthy girl!!  You light up with a great big smile when you see your mama.  And you cry great big tears whenever you don't!!  Here are a few photos of you and the ever-faithful...Mr. Frog.

I am kinda nervous Mr. Frog.  Will you hold my hand?

You won't!!  Well, then I will hold my own hand thank you very much!

Oh, Mr. Frog you are so funny.  I didn't know frogs had no real hands.  Did you know that Mimi??

You did!!  Y'all are so funny!  Why did you not tell me?

I just love this little baby girl to pieces.  She is getting sweeter every single day.  She is getting a real personality too!

I love how her little eyes just disappear when she grins really big.

Wonderful Day

Yesterday was just an absolutely a gorgeous and wonderful day.  Church was great.  The afternoon was just perfect.  The weather was so pretty we stayed outside most of the afternoon and the evening.  Piper and Savannah both love to be outside.  Piper did not nap.  Instead she lay in her bed for 90 minutes singing "The B-I-B-L-E" until Megan just went and got her up!!  I cooked supper for Megan's birthday even though her birthday was last Sunday.  Her fiance' (I love that word!!) was on call last weekend so we put it off a week. Now that my girls are grown I ask them over for dinner and I cook whatever they want for supper.  Megan chose fried tenderloin, biscuits, green beans, hashbrown casserole and salad.  My mom made her a "Pig-Pickin Cake.  That is her favorite.  It was a great meal with lots of laughs and fun.  Piper even sang for us!  She knows all the words to "Jesus Loves Me" and she is so precious when she sings it.  The line that says, "Little Ones To Him Belong..."  Piper sings, "Little Ones Leave Him Alone..."  It is just precious!  She is learning so fast and she just loves church.  I am just so glad.  Savannah has stayed in the nursery 2 weeks in a row so she is doing great too!!  Here are some photos from yesterday afternoon.

Hey Mommy, Can I get down and play with Piper?

This is Piper "pretending" to nap!  Ha-ha!!

I could just kiss those sweet cheeks all over.  Piper was showing her a blade of grass.

My sweet, little toddler...not a baby anymore..waaaah!!!

Oh but Mimi, I am a baby.  A great, big, chunky one too!!!!

How I Spent The First Day Of Fall..

From 8:06 this morning until this very moment...6:32 p.m. I have been cleaning my house.  I still need to do my formal dining room and my appliances but I am tired, grouchy, cranky and tired.  Did I say tired??  Well, if I didn't I am saying it now.  I am tired.  I really, truly, honestly hate housework.  For someone who loved being a housewife for many years I so dislike cleaning.  Don't get me wrong, I love a clean house.  I just don't like the act of doing the cleaning.  There is absolutely no reward for it.  Zero.  People just mess it up again.  Spill stuff, bring in dirt and there is this dog I am looking at right now that distributes tiny hairs everywhere!!!!  But I need to stop whining and be glad I have a home.  Now I think I will grab a book and go outside to enjoy the coolness of the sunset and just be thankful for my many, many blessings.  That should cure my crankiness and my grouchy attitude.  But....I am still tired!

Confirmation

I just got home form a local church that held a Beth Moore Living Proof simulcast from Reading, Pennsylvania and all I can say is, "Wow,  What a Mighty God."  This event brought so much confirmation into my life it is just amazing.  A couple of months ago I got up and started to have some devotional time.  As usual my mind was elsewhere, anywhere and nowhere all at the same time.  I do not have the first clue as to why I am suddenly a.d.d. in my late forties???  So I just sat still and prayed for the Lord to calm me and make me be still.  Not just physically still but mindfully, spiritually, completely inside an out.  Then I asked the Lord to please show me something of clarity through His word.  And you know what????  He did.  I don't know why I was surprised because anything we ask in His will we get.  And to have clarity from the word is His will.  The Women's Ministry Team at my own church is planning a one day retreat for our own women to bring personal revival and to spark mentoring.  We really have prayed over this for months and so desire for it to bring our women closer and to glorify the Lord.  But we needed a theme.  I love themes.  No, I adore them!!  I like houses and rooms and parties and everything to have a theme.  So when I opened my devotional...there it was!!!!

Proverbs 27:17  NKJV
"As iron sharpens iron so a (wo)man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

What do believers need??  To sharpen one another.  What do women need?  A friend, a mentor, someone to come along side and sharpen us.  We need to learn to be and do and act more like Christ.  To do that we need to rub elbows with other believers at times.  We are not all called to speak in front of people or to teach a class but we are all called to talk.  I, for one, am fulfilling that calling greatly!!  Jesus to go and tell.  To TELL.  That involves talking, my friend.  I just wept over this whole devotional.  I spoke of Elijah throwing his cloak over Elisha as an act of mentoring.  Of Paul and Timothy and many other examples.  It was just what I asked for all written down.  When we met as a team everyone loved it and we took off with plans and ideas and dishing out different responsibilities.  We were on fire.  But the last couple of days I have allowed the enemy to plant some doubt seeds in my head.  Get that???  I have allowed.  Then today at the simulcast God poured out His can of Holy Round-Up all over those seeds.  The pastor who prayed over the event before it started said in his prayer that today he hoped we would listen and learn that iron sharpens iron.  I looked straight up to God and just said, "  Thank, YOU."  Confirmation number one.  Then when Beth Moore started speaking she spoke out of II Kings chapter 4.  She gave a little background on who and what was going on and she brought up that Elisha was a newly anointed prophet by Elijah.  How Elijah threw his cloak over Elisha and told him he was now the prophet of God to follow after him.  It was just what I needed to confirm that we are doing what God desires for our women.  And that He will bless it!!   Another point she brought up was getting rid of fears in our lives.  Several of the team members have expressed fears about our event.  I can't wait to meet with them Wednesday night and tell them all about how God has confirmed this event over and over for me and just how He can get rid of fears because they are purely satan-driven and never, ever God-driven.  Praise the LORD.

First of Many

This week-end Megan, Erica and I went to our first Bridal Show.  The first of many I hope.  they are really fun and have loads of ideas to make you think.  This one was at a local new wedding/event venue named "Win-Mock".  It is in Bermuda Run at a large community park called Tanglewood.  Park is really way to small of a word because this whole place is huge.  It has stables and riding grounds, pools, ponds, train engines, golf courses, a manor house and tons of stuff.  It also has one of the best Christmas lights tours in the whole southeast.  This is a new addition to the grounds that really is just fantastic.

This is the view from one of the barns out back.  This place is ginormous!!!

Here is the view from the front parking areas.  We entered the barn from the front and they had displays on all floors.  It is a spectacular place.  With a spectacular price tag too!!!

My sweet little bride-to-be.  She is really excited.  Wedding planning can be a bit overwhelming but I think she had a really good time.  I can't wait to take her to a few more!!!

Change???

This afternoon I went to see a movie with my friend Kelley.  It was the news documentary, "2016 - Obama's America".  This was very interesting and eye opening to say the least.  First off, it was not political in any way.  There was no mention of party or of party lines.  This was simply a  film based on the life and influences of Barrack Obama.  Things I had no clue about.  His associates as a young man.  From terrorists to radical Palestinian supporters.  It spoke about deficit patterns and how the national debt is climbing at a rate that is just over the average persons head.  But the things that really jumped out at me were the obvious things I had not really considered.  I know we live in the wealthiest country in the world.  We are all so very blessed in this nation.  Obama has long since run on the campaign slogan "Change".  How he wants the rich to help the poor and to change the tax ratios and have the wealthier people pay more so the poor can have more.  What I have not picked up on is the word "people", not Americans.  People.  The world is full of people.  He lived the majority of his childhood in Indonesia.  A third world country that is full of poverty.  To the rest of the world we Americans are all wealthy.  All of us.  The people that are going to suffer the most to help out the worlds poor is the middle class of Americans.  Me.  You.  My parents.  Your parents.  It does not make any sense to me to make the top 1% of the wealthy pay more taxes.  They are already so rich that does nothing but make them hold onto their own money and to cut the businesses they run to take up the slack.  They are our employers.  I do not run a multi-million dollar company.  Nor could I.  But I am thankful that there are these companies because that is who keeps us a first world country.  This film was packed with all kinds of information and facts that would rattle any ones head.  As a Christian, I am not worried.  I know who holds the future and I know who controls the kings of this earth.  But this movie did make me think a little clearer about things and patterns that our nation is choosing and heading towards.  I will be voting this November and I will be voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket.  I am not a super fan of Mitt Romney but I cannot nor will I support our current President.  I do pray for our President and for our nation.  That it will wake up and turn towards God once again.  This world is on a downward spiral....fast.  I do encourage you to see this film.  Or at the least to go to the website,    http://2016themovie.com/                              Change is not always a good thing.

What's Coming Up...

The highlight of my weekend was scalding the roof of my mouth on hot coffee Saturday morning.  I suppose I set my coffee pot on the "lava" setting.  It still hurts!!  As summer is coming to a close (waaahhh!) I am making fall plans.  I really do love the fall of the year.  This week I am closing my pool.  I hate seeing it all covered...makes me sad.  School is back in session and has started off pretty good.

We are starting a new ladies Bible study this week.  We are doing the new Beth Moore lecture series on the book of Deuteronomy.  It is called "The Law Of Love."  I cannot wait.  I took a sneak peek at a video today and it is really going to good.  Each dvd is pretty long so I was looking for a stopping point.

We have a seminar that is being held at my church this fall instead of our annual hospitality banquet.  I think it is going to be great and I am really looking forward to it.  I like new ideas and I hope we have a big response from our home ladies.  This is geared towards our own women at our church to teach the mentoring process and also how to be mentored too.  We have many women who are just hurting and they have no way of sharing or pouring their hearts out to God...so they think.  God is so interested in our lives and so desires for His daughters to come to him with their needs, concerns and our cares.  We are to cast all our cares upon Him.  ALL.  No matter how tiny or dumb it may seem.  God really does care about the smallest of issues in our lives.

I am starting my Christmas shopping.  I already have two people finished!!  I have set a limit this year and I am sticking to it for sure!!  I have a wedding to plan and save for in the future!!!

Speaking of wedding stuff.  We are signed up to go to some Bridal Shows in our area and I can't wait.  They are so pretty and offer such great ideas.  Megan is so excited and so sweet to watch.

So far my plate looks pretty full.  I am sure I can squeeze a few more things in and I would love to take a short trip sometime over the fall.  Even if it is just for a day!!  I didn't take a vacation this summer due to the fact that Erica had a new baby and I knew she would need me a little more.  So a short trip this fall sounds great!