Voting

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Not My Home, But The Lord's Home

This is my earthly home, I went outside a few minutes ago in the hail to snap a quick picture for this posting.
I love the colors, they are a muted purple and blue and lots of vanilla trim. It helps to break up the bleak and drab colors of winter.

I can take no credit for the front door decor or the window shelf, both were my hubbies ideas and I love th
at he is so good at doing things like this.

But, this is just my earthly home. It isn't a mansion but it is on a hilltop and I feel safe here. It is an old home and requires lots of work and at times I become very depressed because it does require so much work.



And this, is the home across the street that was occupied for over 70 years by our neighbor who recently passed away.

This home has a large yard (ours has none), this home has a large kitchen (mine doesn't), it has a wonderful enclosed front porch (ours also has a wonderful front porch though not enclosed), it has a garage and driveway all its own (ours is shared).

Our beloved neighbor is gone to be with Jesus and his family is selling it and I truly want this home for so many reasons....no more neighbor issues over a driveway they want to share, but refuse to maintain, no more dogs in my yard from my neighbors, more room for the grands, a yard for the grands, real heat and not fire wood. Not as many repairs.

The problem is, we have no down payment and no credit for this home and while I would love to be able to move all my stuff across the street, it would take a miracle to do so. During one recent talk with the Lord regarding how much I really want to move out of our old home, it became apparent that God wants me to first accept where I am.

'Stop being so impatient and take care of what I have given you.' Uh, God, is that you or am I having a nervous breakdown? Wow! That was profound. I have gotten into this funk lately well maybe for quite awhile that I just have no will power to do anything and all I seem to do is exist and yet, my family loves me so much!

So, I have been taking care of my home, I have been cleaning, cooking and planting. God tells us there is a time to sow and a time to reap and more than anything, He tells us that everything in our life is predetermined and must be in sequence with His timing and not ours.

We must be willing to accept where He has us at the moment and be obedient to His word and teachings. We must accept and call home wherever God has chosen to plant us. I have always been a gypsy at heart, always wanting to move from home to home, place to place, never wanting to stay put for very long. I don't know why, but it seems I am always being propelled to move forward...always for a season and always for a reason, but never for a lifetime.

My lifetime home will be with Jesus. Right now, my home on earth is very temporary and I must take care of it to show God I am grateful for the blessings He has given me, show God that I can take care of what I have and be a blessing to others when they enter my home.

Home is not just where our hearts are, home is where God has us at any given moment. We need to accept that in spite of the floor needing cleaned, the laundry needing to get done, the floor needing replaced, the electrical needing replacement. In spite of what you are going through or what you are living in, God put each of us where we are at for a reason.

Thank you Jesus, for not always giving me what I want or what I think is good for me, but what You know is what I need.

30 Day Photo Challenge

Vicki over at Tapestry of Life blog is having the 30 day photo challenge and I joined in.

30 Day Photo Challenge

Here are hopefully what the next 30 days of my blog will be about!
1-A picture of yourself with 10 facts
2-A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
3-A picture of the cast from your favorite show
4-A picture of your favorite night
5-A picture of your favorite memory
6-A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
7-A picture of your most treasured item
8-A picture that makes you laugh
9-A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
10-A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
11-A picture of something you hate 12-A picture of something you love
13-A picture of your favorite band or artist
14-A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
15-A picture of something you want to do before you die
16-A picture of someone who inspires you
17-A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
18-A picture of your biggest insecurity
19-A picture and a letter
20-A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
21-A picture of something you wish you could forget
22-A picture of something you wish you were better at
23-A picture of your favorite book
24-A picture of something you wish you could change
25-A picture of your favorite day
26-A picture of something that means a lot to you
27-A picture of yourself and a family member
28-A picture of something you're afraid of
29-A picture that can always make you smile
30-A picture of someone you miss
Soooooooooooo, with that said, here I am...
Here are 10 things you don't know about me:
1- Growing up I was asked to model for the JC Penny catalog.
2-I am the oldest of 4 children.
3-In the darkest moment of my life, I met satan face to face and survived with just my bible and scriptures I could remember.
4-I hate making my bed
5-I used to be a smoker
6-My natural hair color is/was blonde (I was a toe head as a baby)
7-My great grandmother was Mary Ann Sorden Stuart who is in Delawares history books for bringing women's rights to that state
8-I would love to run for local government
9-I want to live on farm even a small one and raise my own food and where my grandchildren can run and play and ride horses, feed chickens, pigs, cows, etc.
10- No matter what companies say, I really do believe age discrimination still exists!

Feel free to join the fun!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Planting A Garden In The Rain

I love Washington state for so many reasons that most people wouldn't understand...
1- I love the rain
2-I love the fog
3-I love snow

4- I love digging in mud
5- I love Rhododendrons (Rhodies)


Living in Arizona for over 22 years, having a garden wasn't just an act of God, it was difficult, never ending work...the ground was hard as rock , filled with rocks and sand, so we had to pay to bring dirt in.

Gophers took most of the garden unless you lopped their itty bitty wittle heads off or built an above ground garden and trust me, there is nothing more upsetting than planting a beautiful garden, w
eeding it, watering it and standing next to it and hearing this eery crunching noise and literally watching your months of hard work being pulled under the ground!

Yet, through dedicated hard work, I had a beautiful rose garden, hubs had a vegetable garden and we had a lush yard and trees. Of course, all that came with the price of sweat and the high cost of water.


But here where I live on the coast...water is given freely by God, which causes the ground to be moist (okay socking wet)enough to dig up with a small shovel, plant all kinds of plants and the sun (when it comes out) isn't so hot is scorches everything.

A few days ago, my grands and I plan
ted this Rhodie plant and 2 Hostas with lots of natual slug killer, cedar mulch. Today, we planted the primroses and a few pansy plants in the same area. I have a wedge shaped area i want to fill with plants this summer and this is the beginning:

I love this picture that the youngest granddaughter took from the top of our porch looking down. You can barely see the little pansies between the Hostas and Rhodie.

I guess I love Washington so much because my great grandfather did so much for this state. He was instrumental in hand planting trout in the streams and lakes of the Nort
hern Cascade mountains and due to his love for the outdoors, Washington state has trout!

My great grandpa was A.B. 'Brown' Wiseman, he was a councilman for Skagit county, a business o
wner and a high school teacher. My great grandpa was also a humble and loving man and is still very talked about today.

The lakes he planted trout in, were many and included Sauk, Baldy, Monogram, Jordan, Watson, Big Sandy and Thunder lake, Cascade River shed and Whatcom county area. Now I know what I love this state so much, it is part of my families history.

After planting the above garden, I planted a smaller flower garden around my mailbox this morning after church and it includes:
- Snap Dragones
-Dusty Millers
-Alyssum
-Petunias
-Hyacinth

-Hostas

It will be interesting to see what else comes up because in this area each year, different plants have just grown up and always amazed me.

Here it is from a slightly different angle and of course, I love to add garden statues to my flower gardens and since I love turtles, I took this little guy from another area of the yard and placed him at home in this new garden. If these all grow, I will take more pictures as the garden progresses!

If You Haven't Heard From Me....

I just had the most amazing Moda giveaway thanks to Linda over at Abbi Mays and I gained so many wonderful new followers and enjoyed everyone's comments they left.

However, today as I was going through the comments and clicking on links to check out everyone else's blogs and leave some comments, I was so disappointed to see that many of the comments that were left went to dead end blogs.

By dead end blog, I mean many of your blogs were just started and there is absolutely no way I can send you comments. Still, others were already shut down. I was so sad, because I love meeting new and creative people and was hoping to add some new friends.

It is never necessary to be a blog owner to win something from my blog. Posting about one of my giveaways on your blog that you are actively keeping up on is a great plus for me and gives my readers another few entries, but it is never a requirement.

If you have a blog you would like me to check out, please let me know!

No spammers!

Friday, April 1, 2011

WE HAVE A WINNER!!

Drum roll please....the winner of the wonderful Moda Charm pack that was generously donated by Linda over at Abbi Mays ,
Will be going to its new home and that is....................................

Deb in Atlanta!! Congratulations Deb, I have sent you an Email with how to receive your charm pack.

For all of you who made this the most fantastic giveaway ever, I want to thank each and everyone of you for stopping by and for those that left me a blog to check out, I will be stopping by and visiting over the next few weeks!

Thank you all & now, off to decide what follower #250 gets!!