Spiritual Sunday/Love is.../Blue Monday/Aww...Monday

I have been away from Charlotte and the wonderful people who participate in Spiritual Sunday for a long while. I really need to plan my posts better to stay organized because there are so many wonderful people who post daily with other great folks! So I am here and wanting to share some thoughts today:

  Yesterday at church our Pastor Chad talked about how people that have success work on it daily. He showed a film clip from an NFL game this past season. Odell Beckham Jr. who is a wide  receiver for the New York Giants had the absolutely most amazing catch anyone in NFL history has ever seen! We were watching the game and we were blown away that he caught that ball with the three fingers on his right hand and stayed inside the bounds! The pastor said we often ask God why is so and so have great success?  Why can't I be a success? Then he showed film clips of Odell practicing that very catch, over and over, hundreds of times in a single practice! He compared that NFL awesomeness to our own lives and how we should never stop studying the Word of God! I left church with such a good feeling, which I usually do, but yesterday was different. I was noticing the various members of our church band. The young woman who gracefully slices  her fingers across the strings of her violin. The the young men playing various type of guitars. The gentleman on the keyboards! They all had looks on their faces filled with such holiness, such passion for Jesus, it really made me smile and feel God's presence even more.

I am trying to read something from my bible each day and I flipped my bible open to the 119th Psalm. It is quite lengthy and I am stopping at different verses and making notes and filling my soul with God's goodness and nourishment. I hope you stop by Spiritual Sunday and visit with Charlotte and others who offer encouragement, humor and poems and other spiritually filling delights today.

I love domestic bliss but this week I will be on my own for the most part. The hubby has overtime starting tomorrow so I headed out to the grocery store in this wet, dreary weather to stock up so he can pack a nice healthy lunch this week. We usually shop together and I enjoy that but since I have been out of work, I do a lot of this stuff alone. It is just not as much fun! If you visit me frequently, you know I love Love is...I use to share this meme with other ladies but they all started doing different things. Lots of them are at Face Book and I prefer the more intimate setting here. Facebook gets too controversial for me and I leave the big stuff to God! I like to use FB for phamily and friends and I post lots of phamily photo over there too for my friends and phamily to see!

I hope you visit Sally and the Blue Crew today. I hope they notice all the blues I am sharing here including these google images that are beautifully detailed in blue.

Rose belongs to Nick. She is a Chicken Rangler! She will steal your chicken right from under your nose. She has taken entire boxes of chicken dinners, left the sides and demolished the chicken without leaving a trace except for bits of chicken telltale on her breathe as well as her whiskers. This has been going on since she was a kitten and this girl is 10 years old these days! We can not figure out where she is hiding those bones! So in honor of Sandee and all the participates of Aw...Monday here is Rose in all her green eyed glory! She is a real beauty and we love having her here with us.

We try not to indulge in this sinful fried ice cream but once and a while we can not resist. You can see some blue on the table at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. We are suppose to warm up to the 80s by Thursday but this cold, rainy weather is making me want hot tea so I am off to have a cup. Enjoy your day!

Mixing It Up!

I am going to share some favorite pink for Beverly and the Pink gang! Make sure you visit! It is fun to check out what everyone loves!

I need to have my mail delivered here! How about you?

A pink cake for a special occasion! I have one of those milestone birthdays to contend with this December! Will someone please send this cake my way?

Make sure to visit today!

Even I can be this crafty! Such a simple and sweet arrangement of pretty blue hydrangeas set in Ball jars! Simply darling for a baby boy shower or even a bridal shower where the bride loves blue! Come join Sally and all the Blue Crew for a fun Monday filled with your favorite blues!

Isn't this just a cool blue book? I wonder what the title is? That feather is a sweet touch.

We travel to Kansas where Nick attends college. I often give my honey a hand squeeze because he drives us all the way, a whole nine hours! I want to make sure he stays wide awake and with the help of large iced coffee from McDonald's he does a wonderful job! He will squeeze my hand when we travel by plane! I hate watching all the passengers board as I tend to get claustrophobic! Soo he always eases my tension by squeezing my hand! I hope you stop by Marydon's nd share your favorite Love is....

I thought this verse would fit into my share with Charlotte and all the encouraging folks at the wonderful meme of Spiritual Sunday! I like this verse because it reminds me to keep my language pure and in today's world Yikes! Often I will hear young people cursing up a storm! I have always admitted it I struggle with this! It is so easy to get angry and spew inappropriate words! Words that you can never take back! So I pray about this a lot! My parents were excellent role models and never uttered "bad" language! Never, not once in my life can I recall them using curse words! As a young woman I worked for a CPA. He was a grumpy ole cowboy and he could spew bad words like you say Good Morning to someone! I accept my short comings about language but others don't! They think it is just part of life. In today's world it is difficult not to lose ones temper!

The bible is correct to remind us that we need to trust the Lord and not men! I think Mark Twain was right when he said:

It is always hard to live by the Golden Rule. It is difficult to take people as they are. We have to continue to trust the Lord and pray. He will see us through any difficult situation. He is always there for us. I hope you will visit Charlotte and the other folks who share their faith. Have a beautiful week.

Allelujua Chorus

I missed putting up a post for Spritual Sunday. Life has been hectic but my friend Yvonne sent me this video and I tohught it would be great to share! So stop by Spiritual Sunday and thank Charlotte for sharing with us each week.

This video was presented by a small Yupiq  Eskimo Village school in Quinhagak, Alaska. It was a school computer project and they wanted to share it with the rest of their village. Imagine their shock when over half a million people have viewed it on you tube.

Enjoy and remember the true reason for the season: Jesus

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

Christian perspective on Halloween

An Episcopal (e.g. Protestant) Christian's view.

Since the eighth century Christians have celebrated All Saints' Day on November 1 to celebrate the known and unknown Christian Saints. Saints are not just those whom the Church has canonized, but all members of that "cloud of witnesses" who proclaim Jesus as Lord - including you and me!
Almost as old as the celebration of All Saints' Day is the tradition associated with All Hallow's Eve. ("Hallows" mean "saints," both mean "holy ones," as in "Hallowed be thy name." "Eve" means the evening before.) So, Halloween means "the evening before All Holy Ones' Day." Today we call that festival Halloween (Hallow's Eve) and we have many fun secular ways of recognizing it in addition to religious ways. However, it's important to remember that its celebration has a long, positive history in the Church.
What sort of history is that? Like many of the liturgical festivals (Christmas and Easter included), All Saints' Day and All Hallow's Eve have some connection to pagan festivals. People of many races and cultures have remembered their dead and have had superstitions about death itself. Christians remembered death itself on All Hallow's Eve and celebrated Christ's victory over death. During the Middle Ages, Christians would gather in Churches for worship and they would remember the saints' victories over evil. Likewise they would put on little displays showing Jesus' victory of Satan, often using unusual masks and costumes to act out the story.
Thus, the festivities on All Hallow's Eve were the Christian's way of laughing at death and evil, something we can do in certain hope of Christ's victory over the powers of darkness. The Church for centuries, however, has seen All Hallow's Eve not as a glorification of evil, but as a chance to affirm eternal life in the face of the death of our mortal bodies. Just as Easter is a celebration of Jesus' victory over death and evil, so is Halloween!
1995 (with minor corrections and changes over the years)
in response to email castigating Halloween.com for glorifying evil when it was doing anything but that! :-)
For some other perspectives on a Christian Halloween, please see:
• ChristianAnswers.net

I was raised in the Catholic church and we celebrated All Saints Day rather than Halloween at school. Most of our parents did allow us to trick or treat  on Halloween. I think it can be a fun and safe holiday if you keep in mind that kids are kids and they like to follow their peers. It is most difficult in school for children to be set aside because of a religious belief  about Halloween. I have always had a good balance on the subject and my children know the truth! So we do not have a problem with Halloween because we basically handout candy to the neighborhood kids and add a few decorative items throughout our home.
I wanted to share this verse with you today in honor of Charlotte and all the hard work she does to prepare our weekly Spiritual Sunday.
"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." John 8:322
I have seen this verse being misconstrued in movies and people using it in silly talk! The truth of the matter is Christ is the truth and knowing Him will idea set you free!
Enjoy your day and enjoy your friendships here as well.

Here is a tasty autumn soup to share today. The recipe comes from Bethany M Giles who is also the photographer of this delightful soup:

1 acorn squash
2 sweet potatoes
1 medium pumpkin
2 14 oz. cans of coconut milk
14.5 ozs. chicken broth
salt,ground pepper and ginger to taste
1 lime juiced

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Puncture the acorn squash and pumpkin with a knife and wrap the sweet potatoes in foil. Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil.
3. Bake approximately 2 hours until the skin the pumpkin begins to brown and caves in.
4. Remove the sweet potatoes skins and chop. Skin,seed and mash the acorn squash and pumpkin. Stir in the coconut milk, reserving 1/2 cup for garnish. Add chicken broth. Season with salt, pepper and ginger and the lime juice.
5.Cook over medium heat until heated through. Serve with a lime wedge and a drizzle of coconut milk.

This delightful soup was found at www.allrecipes.com and you may subsitute canned pumpkin for this soup. It is festive for this season!

OCTOBER IS DOWN SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH!

I have missed a few Spiritual Sunday's. So I didn't want to miss it this week. I hope you visit Charlotte because she does a wonderful job keeping the meme up each week and filling our hearts with encouragement.
Today I want to talk about Down Syndrome. It is something lots of folks feel uncomfortable with. Unless it touches your life personally I guess a lot of folks don't think about it. I have not been touched by this personally but when I was a single, soon to be unwed mother in 1975 I worked as a volunteer for the local chapter of the Right to Life. I was shocked at the people who cruelly said awful things to us about the unborn and the children born imperfect, in their, shallow opinion. Years later I see our president of the US sitting smugly in the white house with no regard for these beautiful children. I have always been shocked by the Kennedy family  because their daughter  founded the Special Olympics and yet they are politically correct rich people. I never cared for Sylvester Stallone as I read that he and his first wife put their first born son into a mental institution because he was born imperfect and suffered from autism.
I tell you this story because of two woman who I believe had more courage then most of us. My good friend Ann Kihn was in her seventies when I worked with her at the county courthouse in Pueblo. She had three children and her youngest daughter Sharon was born with Down Syndrome. Ann had always felt that her baby was switched at birth and back then unless you had a lot of money nothing would be done about it. Nevertheless she took Sharon home and raised her. People told her to institutionalize Sharon but Ann worked with our boss Mary Shomer who raised her son John during a time when people thought he too, should be put away. Mary encouraged Ann to keep Sharon with her at home and until the day she died Annie took care of that girl. Sharon was a real pistol. She once hide a whole loaf of Wonder bread and consumed the whole thing while left alone while being attended by Ann's husband who hadn't worked in ages! He was, still holding out for that one dream job! Ann and Mary both had many trials with their children but their ultimate love and total sacrifice made them heroes in my book! I know when they met our Lord at Heaven's gate He told them both "Job well done".
When God allows a new life to enter this world He is ultimately in charge of that life. A woman I know who worked in a nursing home said her own grandmother always said children with Downs have pure souls. You can see God's light in them. I personally think they are here masquerading as angels for Our Lord.
"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2
Psalm 139:13-16  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
I have a video to share today. I hope you will participate in the Down Syndrome Awareness projects this month in your area and never forget these wonderful children who have enriched the lives of many.

Something Pink for Love is.../Pink Saturday/Spiritual Sunday

Love is...not getting angry! I thought this sweet little cartoon would be great to tie into Pink Saturday, Love is...and Spiritual Sunday. She is decked out in her pretty pink and white striped dress. She can represent Pink Saturday today.  She can tie into Spiritual Sunday because I have a beautiful verse that I want to share with this post. It is "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." Ephesians 4:26. Then you can visit the Love is...gang and share your favorite Love is...with all of us.

My parents taught this verse to me. I can not be honest if I say I have always followed their biblical advice. But as I get older I really do try harder. As a young bride some days it was tough not getting angry. But I can tell you, in my lifetime, while my folks were alive, I never saw them turn their backs on each other. I never saw terrible anger. Their marriage was a good and solid one based on their faith and their love for each other. I had wonderful parents and I was raised in such a kind and loving atmosphere that it was not difficult to want to model my own marriage after theirs.

Please visit these ladies, Marydon, Charlotte and Beverly and share something with each of them today. A kind word or a special post you wish to share with them because they are the wonderful ladies who make sure these weekly meme's go off. without a hitch. I am a late follower due to phamily. Nick's shingles, still not clearing up, my terrible tummy and just the daily grind.

Maybe this will cheer up your evening, providing you aren't dieting today!

A co worker gave me these cool cake pans but I am not into much decorative baking so I sent them home with my niece Karla and her hubby Aaron. These two are terrific cake decorators. So they made this beautiful pink cake for their daughter Kate's birthday. She shares that special date with her youngest brother Matt but he had to have a blizzard cake from DQ!

Spiritual Sunday And Frienship

I had so many things to write about and then the heat started to rise here. It is hard to work when you are overheated!
I want to share some simple verses today. All about friendship. You all need to know that sometime I can not always answer personally but I love you bunches and appreciate your kind hearts and friendship.

"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise but the companion of fools will suffer harm." Proverbs 13:20

"Do not be deceived: bad company ruins good morals. "  1 Corinthians 15:33

"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."  Luke 6:31

"Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. " Proverbs 27:17

Jesus Himself said this about friendship: " This is my commandment that you love one and other as I have loved you.  Greater has no one then this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you . No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends , for all that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you. "  John 15:12-15

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded." James 4:8

The message is simple. Choose your friends carefully, treat your friends as you would like to be treated and know the importance of friendship. Listen to Jesus and what he said about friendship and trust God as your number one friend.

Search the bible There are many friendships that are detailed there.  Ruth 1:16-17, 1 Samuel 18:1-3, Job 2:11 and 2 Kings 2:2.

Please join Charlotte and Ginger for some encouragement today.

"Friendship is born at the moment  when one person says to another : What! You too! I thought I was the only one!" C.S. Lewis

The lovely image was provided by Amy

The heart of a man

My son Jeremy is at this moment taking his teaching certification test. It is five hours long and he has to be prepared to know his history from 500 B.C. to the present! That is just one section of it. Please pray. This is Jeremy "The Godfather" to cousin Sarah. He was the god parent with my niece Karla for her sister's daughter. The above photo was their league championship basketball win! He is the fifth guy on the back row on your right.

I know he is smart , and he will celebrate 26 years of life this Tuesday August 9th. But he is very much like me and I know he is fearful and worrisome. So I asked the Lord and as always he gave this verse to me today.

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9

It is so simple and yet so beautiful and meaningful. So I decided to ask for prayer for my son and use this to celebrate my participation in Spiritual Sunday. I hope you will stop by and thank Charlotte and Ginger for hosting this weekly encouragement. I feel like we receive so much from Spiritual Sunday. I hope you will join me in thanking them for their wonderful dedication and constant involvement in this joyful meme. Me with my Sweets and Nick, XC State Championship 2009.

Then I want to chat for a moment and talk with my "secret" pen pal. She sent me my very first letter, hand written today. It was postmarked Seattle, Washington! I am already jealous. We have never traveled there and I would love to visit. My Sweets is a long time fan of the late Bruce Lee and  we would love to travel to Seattle and see the museum there dedicated to him. I don't think most people, particularly those who do not like the martial arts, realize what an impact Bruce Lee had in his lifetime. He was instrumental in paving the way for other minorities in the movie industry. He refused to be portrayed as some poor ignorant Asian and therefore sent a standard for others. There are many thing about his life that people rarely know unless you know his bio backward and forward the way we do! He was the Cha Cha champion in Hong Kong. He wrote beautiful poetry to his wife. Many famous people including the late Steve McQueen and Kareem Abdul Jabbar trained with him. He had a unique style and did not follow the traditional martial arts that were around in his lifetime. He was just an amazing person.

So my pen pal wants to see my photo! That is scary! Laugh out Loud! So stop by tomorrow because I will post pictures from the baby shower. I will include myself in one or two, providing I do not break the camera! That is me in the 1970's  with my favorite Aunt Ang at Westcliffe, Colorado.

I suppose I should elaborate a bit on my "secret" pen pal. She and I are participating in a secret pen pal swap at Parsley's. We can not reveal ourselves until we send our December 2011 card, letter or note. In the meantime we are trying to enjoy recreating some of the past. People rarely write actual letters and occasionally send a hand written note or card but we rely so much on the internet and all the high tech we have at our fingertips. To be totally honest with you I truly love receiving a thoughtful card or letter from people. I think it just is a delightful way to show how much you do care. I rarely consider the cost of a stamp. I think it is well worth it.

I was talking with my Sweets about manners and teaching children at an early age to be respectful and know how to act appropriately. I work for a Specialist in Otolaryngology . He sees people of all ages from infants to the geriatric crowd and everyone in between. I am truly appalled how people let their children run wild and destroy private property. Etiquette is lacking in this day and age.

I am dreaming of having tea, a formal tea with my girlfriends which includes many of you. I love the ads I read that state they are "male" friendly! I want to have tea with my Sweets and for a few hours act dignified and cultured. I just think it is such a dying art to know one's place and always be prepared with our best behavior!

I currently drink iced coffee in the summer but I am a Sweet Tea kinda gal too. I love my Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time Tea at bedtime and still drink it although we having been suffering with 90 plus temps!

I love to read and recently finished the book "Unbroken. " The author of Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand wrote a magnificent book with supreme accuracy regarding WWII and a young man and runner named Louie Zamperini. This incredible man still is a motivational speaker today and he is 94 years young! He set a world interscholastic record in 1934 running the mile in 4.21.2! Laura Hillenbrand spent seven years writing this book while fighting chronic fatigue syndrome. It took me three months to read the book. It was so intense at times I had to set it down for long periods of time. But it was a remarkable book and well worth the reading effort.

Why do I love running! Ah....I am not very good at it, not now, at my age, but I was once very good and my youngest son is a runner. He is ok in the short run but he R O C K S in the long run. Today at practice for XC they they did their time trials. He ran the two mile 10:32 being the fastest on the team. He has consistently improved his running ability. He knows where I stand with running and how he should be running his race. Today I will leave you with this Scripture quote.

1 Corinthians 9:24 : "Do you not know that those who run in the race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win." 

He's Got the Whole World!

"In Him all things consist" Colossians 1:17

I have been thinking about the Lord and how he sustains our entire universe! As a young child I learned the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and had it sung to me many times as a youngster.  I sang it to my own children and grandchild when they were small.  In Catholic school, a girl one year younger than me always portrayed the Christ Child during the All Saints Parade (November 1). Her mother made a beautiful costume which consisted of a while velvet cloak trimmed in fur and she wore a gold crown on her head! In her hand she carried a small replica of the world. I thought about it than and I still think about it today, how in the world does He manage it all? He is so amazing.
Think about the stars in the sky. "He counts the number of stars; He gives names to all of them." Psalm 147:4

But aside from keeping the cosmic system in order. He also sustains us. He makes sure were are never alone and is always available for each one of us.  He "gives life and breath to everything, and He satisifes every need." Acts 17:25.

He is an amazing God and He is readily available for anyone willing to turn their heart toward Him.
I hope you will stop by Charlotte and Ginger's . I hope you will join this wonderful encouraging post each week.

I've Been Thinking

"But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." 1 Thessalonians 3:3

Welcome to Spiritual Sunday. I have missed a few weeks and I often think I will prepost and than publish my post in a more timely fashion but I like to live in the moment.

So I was thinking, the Lord is good and faithful. He is always watching our back. He keeps us safe in His loving arms and yet we often try to take care of ourselves and when we do we tend to mess things up!

It is hard to rely on God but is it harder to try to solve life's problems on our own. I thought this verse today really hit the nail on the head!

God is good. He is faithful. He will never leave or forsake us. I remember those words from my first week at kindergarten. That was many years ago and yet they have stuck to me.

I hope you will remember them and keep my close to your heart. You always have a friend for life. One that will never leave you or forsake you.

Please join Charlotte and Ginger and thank them for their faithful service each week preparing for Spiritual Sunday.  If you have a moment please stop by a delightful friend I know here in blog world. Her name is Simone and she has a wonderful story to share.

Thank you for stopping by.

Crying for Me

I am a music fan! Anyone who knows me knows that I love music and although I lack the talent for any musical instrument or voice I enjoy a variety of music. Three years ago I had the privilege to see Dave Koz in concert. I won tickets on a local jazz station and my Sweets and I had a blast! Jazz greats Jill Scott and Wayman Tisdale joined Dave with many other jazz greats and put on a Christmas spectacular! I will always treasure that.  memory because Wayman, with his big old Oklahoma smile succumbed to cancer in 2009. He plaed the bass guitar like nobody else! He wrote most of his music and never ceased from smiling that big old broad smile. He drew you into his music.
Today I think Wayman is jammin with the Lord in heaven!But his close friend c/w artist Toby Keith wrote a song and I am sharing the video here today. This song is wonderful and Dave Koz performs on this beautiful piece. It goes to show you that we can all have different ideas about music and yet we can come together.

NAMES I LIKE TO CALL THE LORD

I have always loved Handel's Messiah! Although it is quite popular at Christmas, I love the words and I know they were found directly in the Holy Bible!  I love all the different names we call God. He is Truth. He is Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God,  so today visit  Charlotte and Ginger and thank them for sharing this beautiful encouraging weekly post with each one of us. I wanted to share some names the Lord has been called and others that I like to call him. Here is a small list of many of the names I found in the Holy Bible.

1. Resting Place           Jeremiah 50:6
2. Everlasting Father   Isaiah 9:6
3. My Strength            Psalm 43:2
4. Hope                        Psalm 71:5
5. Lord of Peace          2 Thessalonians 3:16
6. Bread of Life            John 6:35
7. Shelter                      Joel 3:16
8. Eternal Life              1 John5:20

9. Hiding Place             Psalm 32;7
10. Everlasting Light    Isaiah 60:20

The Lord is so good, so great, so compassionate. He loves us even though none of us deserves His Love. He is an everlasting light. He is a resting place from life's storms. He is our Everlasting Father and Strength for each one of us. He is Hope, my hope, your hope, everyone who believes, He is their hope. He is the Lord of Peace and therefore I can not involved myself in too many ways of the world. He is the bread of life. He is food for our strength, a symbol of our everlasting life. He can be a hiding place from the world's woes and His light will always shine on those of us who choose to follow Him.
I hope today you will visit many of the participates of Spiritual Sunday. I think the encouragement and food for thought here is an amazing combination of many wonderful souls pooling their resources to share a part of themselves with each of us. Enjoy the day.
 
I am going to make this a longer post because I have a recipe to share. Linda is having a party so you should stop by and I promised to post a recipe I want to share with her one day. This is my friend Sharon's trifle. It is a fresh summer dessert and it looks so pretty in my Princess House trifle bowl that is hand cut and has a beautiful optic design. Here is the recipe for Linda and everyone else but you need to know this is not for a low calorie diet! Everything in it is delicious and sweet!

Sharon's Summer Trifle

1 package (3 oz.) instant vanilla pudding
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (Eagle Brand or store band)
1 1/2 cup cold water
Beat these three ingredients until thick.
Clean two quarts of fresh (never use frozen) strawberries or any fruit in season (nectarines. peaches) and slice them in half.
Cube one large Sara Lee pound cake.
Add two cups of heavy whipping cream to the pudding mixture.
Layer some of  the pound cake in a trifle bowl. Add a layer of the pudding mixture. Then the fruit and repeat until all the ingredients are used. This is easy to double or triple for a large party.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

This is just a google image because I have not made this yummy dessert yet this year so you can atleast have an idea of how it looks.
I won a  giveaway from Beautiful Dee's. I am showing you a few of the items that were included:

This was a wonderful giveaway and it arrived on a day I was having a major meltdown at my office! You know those days when everything is wrong, nothing goes right and people are downright mean! I opened this sweet package to find an array of wonderful gifts. The butterfly lights are so cool and I tried to capture them with the lights flickering They will add a fun touch to phamily barbeques this summer. There was a bottle of yummy lotion and some hand soap in beautiful light and airy fragrances. The jar containing the Andes candy is so cute! The pictures do not do it justice. There are tiny dragonflies craved into the outside of the jar! There are wind chimes, one butterflies and one dragonflies and a flitty butterfly that is simply divine! They are sweet and if Summer ever arrives in Colorado we will be set to have some fun patio parties! There was also a cute framed photo with butterflies inside! I am going to put a butterfly shower curtain up in a few weeks and the picture will hang on the wall. Sweet!
Then there was the vintage card and sweet bloggy friend wrote a personal note. We both had agreed it was fun to win giveaways but more importantly making new friends! So a big thank you to Debbie in Utah for making my day so delightful! Stop by for a visit. She is one of those crafty cross stitching people! Have a terrific Sunday!
I will be back tomorrow with more giveaway goodies I won recently. But more than that I enjoy the friendships that I have formed here. I hope you feel the same way too.

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY: STOP THE BULLYING!

I am sending you to view a video, a brand spanking new video by Taylor Swfit. She is such a blessing to the young kids out there. You can't write the stuff she writes unless you have been there and done that! I just viewed her newly debuted video "Mean" and it sends a strong message  showing bullies in action but the consequences for kids who have something to believe in! Yesterday I read that three teens involved in the bullying that ended in the hanging of a beautiful young teen Phoebe Prince in Hadley, Mass. I was outrageous that they were sentenced to probation! I usually don't get too political or too serious here but...we need to stop the bullying. I wish I had a list of every child that ended their life because of this misery. But here I can only hope and pray that many of these teens know the Lord personally and He guided them to Heaven pain free. Perhaps you think I am silly but many years ago a Catholic priest I knew who suffered from mental illness committed suicide after he had made repeated attempts. An elderly priest told me he thought God must have some special plan for these lost souls because he could not help but believe that somehow in those last moments of life, God personally ushered him and many suicide victims into His care for eternity.
My youngest son was bullied all through middle school. As an 8th grader he had enough and punched that boy end in his face! The teacher told us had she not been fired from her job she would have given Nick a standing ovation with the rest of her class! A wheelchair bound girl approached Nick later and thanked him as her hero! That boy had repeatedly tired to overturn her wheelchair and nothing was ever done! I do not condone violence but the school systems need to take a stand. The Columbine killer Eric Harris had written bone chilling details of his plan of attack in a writing class and the teacher claimed she was helpless in doing anything about it. Eric acted out his fantasy in every gruesome detail gunning down 13 innocent people including a teacher who died a hero! His parent claimed the shrink he was seeing told them they had no right to invade his privacy!  I am not condoning Eric's behavior but he was also a victim of bullying his entire life! The Arizona shooter who had instructors so frightened of him that they had an armed guard in the room with them while teaching him at community college! The bully football hero at Notre Dame University, the tormenters of the young gay music prodigy . The list is endless. Let's stop today for a moment and pray for the parents of these lost children. I wish for one moment I could have spoken to each one of them. To let them know how important they really were and how if no one seemed to care the Lord would always love them! But we know God is not allowed the public school system. Broken homes, broken dreams, broken lives. I think we all need to pray. Let's make bullying a top priority to dissolve it. I think the problem starts in the home where a parent or some relative has bullied that child! Let's pray for all of the bullies too and let us watch God work in lives. He is busy and we need to remind Him of what  we think is important. The Taylor Swifts and Bill Gates and Derek Jeters had wonderful support systems to outsmart the bully. I wonder how many children feel hopeless today. It bothers me on this beautiful weekend.
2Timothy 1:7 "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control."
Please stop by Charlotte and Ginger and wish them a wonderful Mother's Day and thank them for offering us encouragement each week with this meme of uplifting, encouraging, beautiful, spiritual posts. I  have watched this grow form a handful of followers to hundreds. I know God is watching and He likes it!

IS SPRING GOING TO COME?

Everywhere I turn today I came struck by this verse. Apparently the Lord wants me to use it for His good.

"The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." 1 Kings 8:11

With Spring wanting to spring forth I am struck by the beauty and simplicity of this verse. I think in all we do we need to use our talents and give all the glory to the Lord.
I was filled with wonder and amazement during the royal wedding but all in all I am very happy to be who I am! I have lived a life of happiness and sadness. I have built a home and a marriage and a beautiful phamily. I am very content  at my age in serving the Lord daily. He seems to come to me with a request each day. So I am learning how to serve Him more properly than I can serve this messy world we live in.

I hope today you have some hope and encouragement from this.

This is my life and I love it! Please stop by Charlotte and Ginger's and join this weekly encouragement. It just might fill your cup!

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

We all love the 1 Corinthian verse about love that is often used at wedding ceremonies and anniversary celebrations. But have you study that chapter further? These verses remind me today of the love of Christ and how He gave Himself for the worlds sins.
"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth . It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres." 1 Cor: 13:6-7
Let us keep a happy heart today knowing Christ shed His innocent blood so we may we live.
I hope your Good Friday will be one of prayer and reflection. May the Love of Christ shine on you today and always.
Please join Spiritual Sunday today for some encouragement and reflection on this Holy Day.

REFLECTIONS: PROVERBS 27:19

"As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man"

I found this lovely reflection on goggle images. It fit perfectly with my verse. I just came across this verse and it struck a chord with me.  I try to steer clear of the news except for the sports and weather updates. But I was listening to the some old stuff with politicians in Washington and I thought perhaps the Lord was thinking of the heart of a politician when this verse was put into place. 
I hope you will join  Charlotte and Ginger and everyone at this weekly encouraging post.
Blogger has been stealing my followers. I am trying to create a blog buddy book so I can have all of you at my fingertips. I hate misisng a birthday or wishing you well . I like to know all the crafty smart and sassy folks over here. I hope you will read my other posts too. I tend to visit and catch up going through several posts for each individual followers. Any ideas how you visit or how I can be better organized? I thought my book would be fun. I accumulate addresses and phone numbers and such if you are willing to share and you can always e mail me privately for that.  It is always great to have everyone close at hand and I don't have a fancy phone like an I phone or anything so I rely on simple binders and lots of great quotes and scrapbooking items to decorate my friends with!