Mmmm... Those Christmas Aromas!

Our tree has been up for a good week now. Yes, it's one of those wal-mart imtreeonators! (Ha, I just made up a word!! )

Well, it looks pretty there decorating that one corner of the room. I like the colored lights, and I also put white lights in it. Maybe oneday in the not too distant future we'll be able to reinstitute a family tradition for going for a picnic to pick out our real Chritsmas tree.
I also like to collect special ornaments that mean something to us, and at least one ornament that has the year on it. I found one at Hallmark that's a little photoframe with the date, but I didn't buy it as my creative brain is thinking..."I could do something like that with a little Fimo!"

Today was the day to get some of H's pent up energy burnt off. I took her to the Mc'D's playground. There were a couple ladies there with some young children but all at least a year or two older than H. She watched them go up and tried herself to pull up on the platform. I took my shoes off and decided to take her all the way up and down the slide one time!! It was fun going down the slide, and it gets a little warm in there. We had fun.



I have Christmas candles burning and today we made some banana and pecan squares and some Christmas mince pies. The apartment smells good!

Here's a photo looking out from our apartment at the snow last week.

Hello!!!!!

Wow, where do I begin??

Well, we're not in Georgia anymore. We have moved lock, stock, and barrel - containing all of H's toys!!!! to the great state of Washington!!! and we love it here!

Some of you may not know, but the Lord begain putting Idaho on hubby's heart concerning starting a church, a while ago but at that time it wasn't a fully lit thought, and then this past summer we met a Pastor and his family from Idaho who has recently started a church and that not-quite-fully-lit thought ignited and turned into a little flame which grew brighter in our hearts with each passing day. The Lord started to 'stirr the nest'. We made a trip out to Moscow, ID for two weeks to check things out and meet people. We put as many miles as we could on that rental car!!

On our return to Georgia, the stirring of those 'twigs in our nest' were starting to gouge!!

Well, we are here now in Liberty Lake which is just inside the Washington border from Post Falls and Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Upon arrival, the Lord blessed us greatly by being invited to stay with a family from the church for a week so we could find an apartment. The Lord also blessed by leading us to this apartment which is pet friendly!! (Not many are here, so beware if any of you have pets and are thinking of coming this way!)It is also asthetically pleasing! ;-)

After another week, Hubby has a good job with a construction crew, but it is hard on the body working in the snow, cold and wet. Please pray for his health and safety.

The people here are so GENUINELY friendly!! We love our church and the Pastor and his family. Our stay here will only be for a season, and we're not sure how long that season will last. We came here to plant and start a church (in Idaho) and we are waiting on the Lord's direction, timing and guidance for this to happen. We are truly grateful and glad to Him that He has led us here. It is amazing to look back and see how everything fell into place so quickly and so precisly.

We didn't get a chance to say good-bye to many people we would have like to in Georgia, nor did we get a chance to tell out of state friends, but you're all about up-to date now :)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanks Giving because we certainly did!
Sa

My camera.....

Unfortunately has succommbed to 'Bloggeritus' as some of your cameras have done recently.
I was trying to carry too many things at once and dropped the camera on the tile floor. It did not bounce. It spread itself out in about 5 different directions!

The telephone people came by yesterday and chopped away at some of the pecan trees to clear them from the wires. *sniff, sniff* But we still have plenty and I'm looking forward to when they drop and we can gather them up!

H played in the back yard with Pudda while I picked the last of the grapes and I made the jam last night.

Pudda's wounds are healing well. They look to have closed up a little, and we haven't seen or heard of the offending cat anymore.

If I had my camera, I would have posted a photo of my pumpkin patch. The leaves are looking healthy and big ;-)

Take a look at the maps down below.

My Beloved Country - by Lola Lingard

Why are my feelings so ardently stirred
Whenever the sound of a drum or a bugle is heard?
And the sight of a flag, unfurled and free
Brings gratitude for my beloved country.

Oh England, my England, what treasures untold
Are found in your castles and cottages old.
Your highways, and byways, and sweet country lanes,
Your theatres and cities and London-bound trains.

A quaint little village, a church with a steeple,
Cobblestone streets and warm friendly people.
Tall stately homes with carved oaken doors,
Crisp virgin snow on windswept moors.

No distance can take you out of my heart,
You've been there instinctively right from the start;
No time can erase you from my mind,
My thoughts to thee are ever inclined.

Traditions are many, and friendships are true,
And pride, love and loyalty just grew and grew.
That's why my feelings are ardently stirred,
Whenever a drum or a bugle is heard.

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams

We're still here!

It's been a while, I know since I've posted, but we praise the Lord that all those walking on two legs all doing fine and in good health - those on four legs are a different story, but we're still praising the Lord!

Mr. Wiggles (orange cat) has now been gone for about two months. We think he has tried to make his way back to his beloved pond on Papa's farm. He has about 30 miles to cover whilst dodging a whole array of other animals, roads and fences. I hope he makes it, and if he does, he will have earned the right to stay there. My M-in-law gave encouragement that our cousin's dog got lost in this town and it took her 3 monthts to get back to Alma. I think it might take Mr. Wiggles a little longer. I do miss him though.

Pudda is healing from wounds on her haunches caused by a trespassing stray cat. They are pretty serious wounds a little larger than a quarter coin. I have been doctoring her with Benodine and Neosporin. She is walking good still and keeping them clean. Needless to say, that offending cat now has a death warrant on his head.

Mr. Pepper decided to take advantage of the chain that had slipped from around the gate last Wednesday morning, and he pushed his way through the gap. Fortunately, Pi was too big to get through. We noticed Pepper running up and down the fence line teasing Pi as we sat down to breakfast. Shaun ran out to try and catch him, but Pepper charged off down the road at a full gallop. We grabbed halters and rope and bundled into the car, but by that time had lost sight of him. A man on his back porch pointed out the way he went which we followed but there was still no sign of him. We crossed over a road and saw a man walking towards us so we stopped and asked if he had seen a little black and white pony. He said "Yes, he charged by me about a minute ago!" and pointed the way.
After driving a mile from the house we saw Pepper in a field behind a fence which held in a burro. Mr. Pepper had gone visiting!!!!! He could have gone down any number of side roads or into the woods, but he had made a bee-line for this burro's pasture. I followed his tracks in the dirt to figure out how he got behind the fence and shook the bucket of feed in my hand to which he came without delay. While I was putting on Pepper's halter I got too close to the fence which was 'live' and the shock went through both myself and Pepper who took off again at a run, but I managed to stop him :) Shaun walked Pepper home and we are so thankful that he was ok and had not caused any vehicle accidents or got hurt/killed. Pi was very glad to see him and I'm sure from his body language, was giving him an ear-full!

H is growing up very fast. She has now gone swimming twice in a friend's outdoor pool and mostly enjoys it. She's still learning that she shouldn't suck the water in! But she relaxes well and is not afraid of the water.

H is also learning to use a spoon for eating.


Her hair is growing long enough now for adorable pig-tails!


She likes to color in her coloring book: (We need to get her a proper kiddies table and chair!)


And she loves to feed her babydoll.


Spending time with Mama and Dadda is fun too...




The weather is starting to cool here. We have had some really good storms lately which has helped my pumpkin patch nicely. The pecan tree outside my study room window is loaded with pecans that will provide a wonderful harvest and hubby's favourite pecan pie!! After I'm done here, I will be going out to the fence in the back yard and pick the last of the bullace grapes. I made grape jam last week and it turned out well. Maybe there will be enough grapes left to make another batch.

Well, I think I'll close for now and try not to leave posting for so long next time. I hope you are all doing well and having a wonderful weekend.

Check out this water melon!

It's a Moon and Stars kind of water melon. Our good neighbor friend allowed us to pick a couple. It tastes really good, even more so with a little salt!
When I picked it up my first thought was that it weighed more than H and she's 22lbs!!

Garden Harvest

First, let me say that the Lord has been working here at Ware Baptist Church and it is very exciting!! Last Sunday we had several visitors in the morning and we had a wonderful time meeting with God. The visitors were encouraged to return for the evening service and a couple did! This young couple came forward during the invitation and asked the Lord to forgive them of their sins and come into their lives to live through them and be their Savior! We are so happy for this young couple! DH and I visited with them for Monday night visitation and we could see how happy they were to know that the Lord has paid their sin debt and they are now God's children! We had a wonderful time with them and explained that now their next step was to obey the Lord in Believer's Baptism. We are praying for the devil to be held at bay from these baby Christians and that they would be able to come this Sunday to get baptized.

The Lord is so good. :-)

It has been raining here for the past few days, normally in the late afternoon. However, we have had rain this morning. We are glad for it as it is helping the grass in the pasture to keep nice a green and to water our garden!

The peas of our garden though, are a dry weather vegetable and I think they are about finished for this year. Our neighbour was very kind and brought over a bushel of peas last weekend. (That's why I have been quiet here. I've been busy with peas!)



It took me three days to shell all these peas. I then washed and sorted through them and blanched them for 3 minutes. Now I have a little less than 6 lbs of peas packed away in my freezer! :-)



We also have corn growning in our vegetable patch. I have seen evidence that we have been having help from the deer in eating our corn. DH picked six ears the other day and we ate them for supper. They were tasty, but perhaps needed to have been left on the stalk for a couple more days. The only way to know if they're good is to try them :) (I'm wondering how my water melons are doing. They're getting big!

The rabbits got my zuchinni plants :-(.

Pudda and Mr. Wiggles are now living here so perhaps the rabbits will become scarse. Pudda doesn't go far from the house. She loves to laze around and sun herself. But Mr. Wiggles is spending a little time in the kennel (we brought him over yesterday. I was calling him for about 5 minutes and then saw him walking through the tall grass towards me.) to learn that this is now his new home and food is here. I gave him a good rubbing and scratch behind the ears this morning and changed out the hay in his kennel so he's happy curled up all nice and dry buring his nose in sweet smelling hay!

I'm thankful to have my critters :) Pudda isn't really a lovey-dovey cat. She's more of a 'give me a little scratch-don't bother picking me up-where's my food?-I'll decide if you're worth talking to!' kind of cat, but Mr. Wiggles more than makes up for her lack of love even if he does like to go on walk-abouts :) Pudda looks after Mr. Wiggles though. When I let him out she came over and licked his head in greeting :)

Here's H with Miss Pudda.

*Rustle, rustle...snip,snip....whirrr....whirrr!*

Yup, that's what it's been sounding like coming from my art/sewing/reading/relaxing room these past four days! :-) I found a really simple dress pattern for H not long ago and bought some cute material that was on sale. For some reason I was thinking that the shoulders would be sewn up but when I looked at the actual pattern paper it showed button holes!!

Shiver me timbers!! LOL

I have always avoided anything with button holes before with my preconceived ideas that they are terribly hard to do!

Was I wrong! I decided it was about time to learn. With my faithful singer machine, we tried out the button hole foot on a scrap piece of fabric.

Wha.. hayyy!!!!! (I was saying to myself) There's a buttonhole and my heart-shaped button actually fits through it :)

As you can probably tell, it's the little things in life that aren't noticed much that get me excited. :) The dress pattern is called NewLook 6576.

Anyways, back to the dress-making. Here are the photos...

Completed pink dragon-fly dress.

Dungaree Dress

Orange Dress





Blue Bug Dress

Well, I have some more material packed away that I'm going to pull out and use up...might even do some of what Beck's doing and have a bit of a sort through and chuck out :-)

Have a great day!
S.

Our own Little bit of England!

Hello Everyone,

H and I had a fun day today. We designed and decorated her very own post box! (Well, I did, she was happily playing with her toys leaving little trails of them all over the house! hehe)

The post box is made out of an empty Luvs Diaper box. If you're interested in making one for your kiddos, here are the instructions:

Supply List:
Empty diaper box
Sellotape
Pencil
Glue Stick
Rule
Stanley Knife
Bright Red Acrylic Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Black Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes
Black/ Gold Pens (for outlining)


1. Cut the shorter flaps off the box (the large flaps are the opening at the back of the post box) and cut out the letter slot.
2. Wrap the box in brown paper using glue stick, including the large flaps so they can still be opened and closed.
3. Paint entire box in bright red acrylic paint.
4. Once paint is dry, lightly draw the square design that runs around the top of the post box, the Time of Pick-up label, crown, and ER symbol.
5. Mix a little gold with the bright red paint and carefully paint the square design, out-line of the letter slot, and the ER symbol.
6. Paint the Time of Pick up label white.
7. Paint the crown gold.
8. Using the rule, draw a 1-2 inch line up from the bottom of the box all around the box. Paint below this line with black paint. (It's the base of the post box).
9. Once all paint is dry, outline the crown and ER symbol and write 'Post Office' at the top.
10. Carefully sellotape all edges including letter slot and any areas you think might suffer extensive 'play abuse' ;-)
11. Enjoy watching your child play and learn about British post boxes! Look them up on the Internet, there are so many different designs, there is even a museum for rare post boxes no longer in use!

sa

Put the reins over the horn!

Each morning I go out to the pasture with some feed for Mr. Pepper who noisly greets me and is sometimes echoed by Pi. I lead Pi to the round pen (rp) and then let Pepper have his breakfast and the roam of the field while Pi and I go to work.

In the rp I walk Pi to get his legs stretched out. He's been pretty stiff due to the surgery wound but it's looking really good under there and healing well. This morning I put on the bosal with the reins attached to the halter and over his neck(we haven't taught him about the bridle/bit yet) and let him have a sniff at the blanket before I put that on him. Instead of leading him at a walk this morning I made him walk out from me as I stood in the middle. A few times around in both directions.

Next I got the saddle, let him sniff it and put it on his back. I did the girth up, but not real tight, and I remembered the tie-down clip! I forgot it yesterday and had to call him back in to do it up! Everything went well. He sniffed the stirrups a little irritated they kept banging him, but all was routine and he's remembering!

Out he goes, walking around at a nice pace. Then his head goes down and I see the danger. I call him in but I can't make my own body work as fast as my mind is going. His inside foot goes through the reins. AGGHHH!!! I had forgotten to put the reigns up over the horn and now he's fighting to get his head up and his leg free!

I try to get the reigns unclipped but there's no slack in them as they are around his neck and leg! "Lord, Please help me. Woe, Pi. Slow boy, it's ok, let me undo the clip. Please help me." I keep my voice calm and low. He is still moving but allows me close to try and help him but there's still no slack. I thought to myself, "I need a knife! Quick! I'll just cut those reins!"(which were brand new, but I didn't care!)

Down he goes. Oh, I didn't want him to go down. Still trying to get his leg free, and now the saddle is in the mix with the stirrups digging into him. I get the clip undone. There's blood. His leg is free. "Oh, where are you hurt, Pi!" I'm praying, Lord please don't let him be hurt! I start looking over him but I can't find the source. I reach for the girth to undo it and see the blood is from a gash in my thumb. I flip the saddle over him and move the stirrups out of the way. He sits there. Then he turns his head and sniffs his hind leg that is under him. I'm praying, Lord please, please don't let his leg be hurt, please!.

I stop myself thinking about the ramifications of a horse having a broken leg. Remembering what the Lord has been teaching me recently about thinking on things that are true. (Philippians 4:8) From what I knew at that moment his leg wasn't broken and I should stop imagining the worst.

I try to encourage him to get up, but he won't move just kept nosing his leg. As I watch I realize that it's not his leg that hurts, but his surgery wound! The wound hasn't opened again, but it was the stress of going down that made him hurt.

I get the lead rope and attach it to his halter. "Get up Pi, Come On! On your feet! You're not dead! Get up Pi!" I put sterness in my voice, pull a little on the halter and he gets up :)!!

Joy! Thank you Lord! :) I walk him around a little, I do not detect a limp in any of his legs. Oh thank you, Lord! I pet him and talk to him quietly. I apologize for causing the trouble. I tell him we're both learning together, that there will probably be more mishaps, but with the Lord helping me, hopefully they will be few. I tell him I'm going to put the saddle back on him as I don't want him frightened of it. He stands there and allows me to put the tack back on him. He is a good boy.

I tell him to walk out and he does. Hubby calls from the house and asks if I had run him. I say no, and tell him what just happened. He comes to the rp and has a look under Pi and says that all looks well. I said I thought I shouldn't try to ride him today, but Hubby said to go ahead. So I did. I got up and Hubby led Pi around and then let go. Pi took a few steps forward on his own and was well praised :) He definately earned his breakfast this morning! :)

As I go about the tasks of my other responsibilities, I pause to watch Pi through the kitchen window as he walks around the rp swishing his tail against the flies and watching Pepper who has come as near to him as being in the pasture will allow.

I'm thankful I was able to call on the Lord for help to get us both out of that situation. I'm thankful that we were both not seriously hurt. I'm thankful for the lesson it has taught me about being diligent to check the tack. I'm thankful that drawing on the Lord's strength helped keep my emotions under control.

I'm sure that by now Pepper has heard the full story and they both hope I remember to put the reins over the horn tomorrow!!

sa.

Fire Works Evening

S, H, myself and some of our church members had a great 4th of July evening. After a convicting Bible message... Lamentations 5:21... pray that God would turn our hearts back to Him before what happened to those people in this chapter, happens to us and our country!

We enjoyed the fireworks. H was really good and didn't get frightened at all! :-)

Fire Works Show

From the 'Y' in the backyard to the Babe in the hospital!

Hi,

Another busy day here, and we did get a lot accomplished. Which is good. Sometimes days can be busy and I see very little accomplished, but those are more not than often :)

DHubby has been working so hard to set up the pasture for Pi. We had someone come this morning to dig a trench for a cold water line and an electric cable line that we need to give some 'umphf!' to the wire fence around the pasture! I helped to fill in the trenches and pack down the dirt as DH put together the water line. He asked me "Are you enjoying yourself?" I actually was, it's not every day I get to stomp around in dirt in a hole nearly up to my knees with the threat of heavy rain overhead :) Whilst DH was at the hardware store the rain came down, but I didn't mind. Being an English lass, I grew up with the rain! and hey, if you're gonna get dirty you may as well get good and wet too :) hehe.

I had to retire from my work before the last third was completed to check on H and get her lunch ready. DH finished up the trench and then came in and installed a new sink faucet, hooked up the ice-maker and the dishwasher! We have non-ice-cube-tray ice!!! This is the first ice-maker we have ever had so it's a novelty :)

Now, about this Honoring Your Husband Challenge. For today, I passed and I failed, but I think the scales lean more towards fail :( I think it will help if I write some goals down as I have seen others do, which I'll post after i've had a little prayerthink about them. With the Lord's grace, I'm going to do better tomorrow.

To end the day we visited a new family member that 'discovered America' today. She is such a sweetie and scrunches her nose up so cute. Congratulations to her new Mom and Dad!

TTFN,

Suzanne, DHubby and Pi.

Too much fun... :-)

Hello,

I'm in my 'color box' mode now... bright colors to liven things up :) I also like the slideshow of Hannah. Can you tell how my spare moments were spent today ;-) hehe.

Where did I get to on the Revival week story?...... oh yes,....

If I remember correctly, due to the visitation efforts, three people accepted the Lord as their Savior and we had visitors each night of the week. We would have had more, but sister churches had events which coincided with ours. In all, it was a good first week of revival for Ware Baptist Church. We have seen some prayers answered and those embers are being rekindled!

As a special treat for the children, we took them to the Okefenokee Swamp park. We all had a good time. We could see some of the damage caused by the wildfires. As we took the train ride the swamp on one side of the track had burned. The firefighters used the track as a firebreak. Our train conductor started telling us about one particular aligator "Rambo" that he was 'friends' with and how he would coax him out of the pond up to the train with marshmellows!! He said he hadn't seen Rambo for a couple week due to the fires. About that time our train ride was approaching the pond and guess who was there! Yup, Rambo!! We got the marshmellow demonstration too :)

The Kokenzies felt led of the Lord to stay on an extra few days before going home to TN. We are glad that they did. We took one day before they left and toured around Jekly Island and St. Simons Island (which has a great lighthouse to tour... lots of info!)

Vision of God Revival

Hello Dear Folks :)

Wow, it's been 21 days since my first post! I'll try to do better about writing, oh, and it has been busy around here ;-)

We had a great time with the Kokenzie and Tyler Families as well as the Crown College Quartet. Yes, I did get everything arranged and sorted out in time for the families to settle in for the week. (about 30 minutes before they arrived...hehe). I'm thankful the Lord helped me keep my mind on track to complete all the different tasks I had to do to get ready.

Saturday the 9th was Shaun's ordination service at the church. We were very happy to see our friends and family that could make it at this time and thankful for all of the encouragement they gave, whether it was by praying for Shaun and myself, helping with the fellowship following the ordination, or simply coming to the service. Our hearts were lifted and touched.

Much good food at the fellowship :)

Sunday 10th began the 'vision of God' revival services. John kokenzie and Jeremy Tyler took turns preaching alternate services. Jeremy led the singing. I enjoyed how everybody joined in the singing :)

During the days the guys went out on door-to-door visitation and us girls got acquainted with each other and the children. For having 12 people in the house, everything worked out VERY smoothly :) Hey, Amanda even showed me how to use the timer on my bread machine!! Something so simple, well, it would have been if I had taken the time to find out how it works, but I never got 'round to it. Now I know!

Monday evening the Crown College Quartet arrived and prepared themselves to sing for the church even though they had just learned that a fellow college mate/friend, was taken home to be with the Lord that same day. These young men conducted themselves very honorably and each gave a clear testimony. Oh, it was good to hear them sing. I have often wanted to pick the members of our church up and place them at Temple Baptist Church so they might hear many things, but singing to the Lord most especially. I know that the Quartet's singing has encouraged the members of our church. Several have asked for their Cd. *hint...* ;-) hehe

..... There is more, but I shall have to leave it for another posting...

ttfn,

Suzanne.

My First Day Here!

Wow! I finally dived into this blogging business! Thanks, Mamabeck! :) It took me a while to figure out how adding the photo works, but I did it! There I am :)

We're extremely busy around these parts at the moment. The revival teams from TN arrive Friday afternoon, and S' ordination is on Saturday. I was busy today finishing up with rolling paint on walls, laundry, caring for H, running errands and being ready for Church this evening. It was a challenging but fun day! A good day. I still have the bedrooms to get organized, but I know the Lord will help me to be ready!

I'm looking forward to this week of revival meetings, and the messages that will be preached. I'm praying the LORD will draw me ever closer to himself and help me learn more from Him. There will also be a singing quartet, a special treat :)

Now, I'm beginning to 'read the backs of my eyelids!'

TTFN,

Suzanne.