Let Your Light Shine

Let your light shine in front of others.
Then they will see the good things you do.
And they will praise your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

 

 

Scripture from New International Reader’s Version

Home Again - Home Again - Jiggity Jig

The trip was just what I needed.  My time away with my dear friend, Jane of Tickleberry Farm, was everything I imagined it would be. And more. We loved the little cottage we rented – it was a little haven for our weary feet bodies at the end of the day.You can read a bit more about Agate cottage here on Jane’s blog and you can find rental information here.  The cottage was in the back corner behind a lovely home.  It had originally been a mother-in-law cottage and now it was a safe, sweet, secure place for two girlfriends to spend time away together.  We could see the owner’s home and lovely, big back yard from our front window.As soon as we stepped into the entryway we knew we had chosen the right place!   The cute, little living room (part of the great room) was the perfect place for lounging in our jammies for long chats when we returned ‘home’ each evening.The kitchen was fully equipped with what we needed and a bit more.A basket of goodies and a sweet welcome note from the owner waited for us on the table when we arrived.The entertainment center on the other end of the great room held magazines and all sorts of brochures that helped us plan our activities in the area.  The open door to the right led to the bedroom and bathroom.We shared the single bedroom.  What a delight to find it was equipped with everything we could possibly need.The bathroom was big and it had a huge shower!  It was filled with soft, thick towels, soaps and lotions and a washer and dryer - things that made us feel right at home.Our time together was precious – and it went by w-a-y too fast!  We shopped and thrifted and dined and walked until our feet complained.  Then we started all over again!  Our chats were long and treasured.  We shared laughter and tears and hopes and dreams.  We have plans to meet again.  We’re not sure where but we are sure this was just the first of many times together.

Leaving–For Awhile

Today I’m packing up my car, driving south for a few hours and ending my journey in a sweet, little place with a very dear friend.  I'm going by myself but I won't be by myself for long!  A treasured friend is driving north from her home and we will spend the next few days together.  We've planned time together for long, cozy chats, excursions out and about, a bit of antiquing and places not seen before.  The world of blog brings people together.  Never in my wildest imagination did I ever realize how precious new friendships could be when hearts connect online.  My dear friend, Jane, of Tickleberry Farm has become such a friend.  Our friendship has grown from words online through our blogs and emails to personal face-to-face meetings and phone calls and hearts shared through thick and thin.  Today she will drive north from her home and I will drive south from mine.  And we will meet – in the middle.

I love how God allows plans to be made and times to be marked off on the calendar long before we know how very much we will need to get away at the time planned.  Our home is still filled with our dear ones.  Life has settled into new routines with our daughter and her four children here.  But the time has come for me to leave – for awhile.  A long-planned, much-needed time away begins today.  Hugs and smiles and laughter – and maybe a few tears – wait at the end of the journey.  Deep thoughts and memories and more smiles will find their way home in our hearts when we return.

Flowers and Sand and Trust

Our weeks have been crazy and this last one topped them all.  It was a week to know the grace and wisdom of God and to sense His ‘ever present help in time of need.’  We learned to trust for every moment and to hold firm to the knowledge that He was with us – would never forsake us – and would be our constant companion.  Psalm 3:3 ran through my thoughts as a constant reminder that He is a shield around me; He’s my glory and the one who holds my head high.

During the events of our days I ‘sneaked’ away for a chance to be alone.  Near the end of our street, in a rural area, is the world’s largest Dahlia farm.  Each year about this time they have two weekends of the most spectacular Dahlia Show.  I took time to drive down, park my car and wander through the fields and the exhibit hall that was filled with gorgeous arrangements.  I took a few minutes to attend a seminar to learn the art of dividing the tubers and how to store them for the winter.  The winters are wet here in our part of the world and it’s a risk to leave Dahlias in the ground.  I decided I would love to make my yard a Dahlia farm – but I don’t want to do all the hard work it would take to fill my corner with every one I wanted.  Soon I will share more of the Dahlia Show with you but, until then, here’s a peek at one of the arrangements on display.

(oops, there’s a yellow peeking through!)

 

This afternoon my sweetheart and I are taking our little cabin-on-wheels and heading to the Oregon Coast for the weekend.  This is a much-needed time away together.  Time for rest and quiet walks on the beach, time to think and talk and refocus for the days ahead.  I may not be online while I’m gone but if I’m not you can be sure I will tell you all about it when I return!

A Gift From Heaven

In the middle of the changes of the last few days God dropped a precious little bundle from Heaven right into our hearts.  Miss Brynlee Claire was born on August twenty-second.  She weighed seven pounds, fourteen ounces and she was twenty and one-fourth inches long.  Our son and sweet daughter-in-law were thrilled to have a little girl join their family and Miss B.’s three older brothers were excited beyond description.  Her oldest brother, Mr. R., will keep an eye on her as she grows.Mr. G., our family philosopher, will explain whatever she needs to know.Mr. H. asked his little sister, ‘Do you know that you were made from God?’ He will be sure she always remembers that she is special.Watching our son with his daughter brings joy to my heart. There’s something special about a dad and his little girl.Mother and daughter have already formed a close bond – it will only get stronger as our dear daughter-in-law teaches her how to be a lady who makes a difference in her world.What a precious gift from the Father above.  Our eighth grandchild.  Our fourth granddaughter.  What fun!  Miss Brynlee and I have already planned a tea party when she’s ready to come visit by herself.  She agrees with me – we will have all kinds of adventures ahead that we can’t begin to imagine.  She’s quite the stylish little lady – don’t you think?

Lost. . . And Found!

I’ve been away for awhile.  Most of the time I’ve been busy dealing with some family needs that have taken my focus and a lot of my time.  Our daughter and her four children have moved in with us for a time.  The activity of young people (including a two-year-old) keeps me moving.  Changes to our home have been necessary to accommodate bunk beds and bikes and five extra people in our small house.  The walls of our little house have had to stretch a bit.  Things have been stored and moved out to help make them feel at home.  But that’s only part of the story!

Some of you are aware that my blog disappeared last week!  Lost.  Gone.  Not to be seen.  My dashboard and all of my posts were there but no one in the outside world could see them.  If you stopped by my blog, all you saw were ads!  I was perplexed and dismayed.  In the middle of all the changes in my life it felt as if I had been lost.  Even though I hadn’t been posting on my blog for awhile, suddenly I realized how much my blog and the ability to share myself means to me.  Working for days (and nights) with Blogger Help – and being given more than one reason for the problem by different people, plus pointing fingers at various places as the reason – I was the one who finally discovered the problem.  The registration for my custom domain had expired!  Now why wouldn’t I know that, you ask?  Why didn’t I renew in a timely fashion?  Circumstances surrounding changes of banking accounts and card information and email addresses caught me in never-never land.  Change of email address made to my blog account wasn’t passed on to the appropriate place for renewal contact.  There was no notice received, no way for the automatic renewal to take place and all of a sudden – I was gone.  Missing in action!  Once I discovered the problem, it wasn’t an easy fix.  Did you know that once you purchase a custom domain from Blogger, they no longer own and manage your domain name?  The Help people let me know right away and told me who to contact.  Calls  to that company and emails and pleas on the Help Forum – and voicing my frustration about needing simple answers instead of computer-eze – and finally someone forwarded my situation to the right people at Google.  Soon after that happened the information needed was sent and I was able to renew my registration.  Information entered – hit ‘submit’ – and viola!  Back again.  There I was again!  Looking at my blog again.  And I just sat here smiling at my computer.  Feeling all was well with the world again.  Feeling that I had been found again!

I have learned a lot over these past days (and nights) of searching for answers.  I learned technical things and I learned a bit more how the cyber world functions but most of all, I learned how very much this blog means to me because of you, my friends.  This is a way to share and deepen friendships.  When my blog was gone, I felt I had lost ME. It felt as if I had been marooned on a deserted island.  Cut off from you.  I’m back again and there will be changes.  Through the last months I’ve thought of changing my blog – changing how it looks and changing the focus a bit.  Over the past few days, as I thought of the possibility of starting over again if my blog couldn’t be restored, I reviewed and evaluated how I would like a new blog to look.  There will be changes in the near future – good changes that will reflect some of those things.  In the meantime – I’m back.  You’re ‘stuck’ with me!  I will be blogging more often.  Some posts will be brief.  Others will be filled with all kinds of things I want to share with you. 

Thank you to those of you who responded to my emails with questions about the details of your blog.  Thank you for the encouragement you gave me to keep going.  Thank you for sharing your stories and for deepening our friendship by opening a bit more of your life to me.  You may not know how much that means – it was as if you were here holding my hand.  That’s what friends are for.  And you, my dear friends, are dear-to-my-heart friends. Friends I treasure.  Friends I don’t want to lose!

New Finds and Old Treasures

Not long ago I spent the day with my dear friend Elizabeth, of Just Following Jesus In My Real Life.  We spent several hours thrifting and took time for a delightful lunch together.  Time with Elizabeth is like a breath of fresh air – a pick-me-up for my soul.  We have such a good time together and I always come home with new finds and some real treasures.  A few days before our thrifting adventure I found a blog I hadn't seen before.  As I browsed and read that blog I was drawn to a plate rack on her wall and I thought I would like to find one for my wall.  Would you believe I found one during my day with Elizabeth?  I was totally enchanted with it – it was just right.  Without hesitation I put it in my basket. It was half price that day! Two dollars and fifty cents.  It didn’t take me long to hang it on my wall when I got home.  Over the next few weeks I played with several possible arrangements of plates I already owned but none of them were quite what I envisioned.  A few days ago I stopped at a favorite Goodwill on my way home from an appointment and there they were.  Plates that were just right for my plate rack and they were half price that day!  Two dollars and fifty cents for four.  Just what I needed, plus one more.  As soon as I put them on the plate rack, I smiled.  They were just right – and they made my heart sing! (There’s no way to get a great photo on this corner of my living room that is filled with shadows – we have too much light coming from all directions.  Not a problem.  I like light!)Back to my day with Elizabeth. . .
At the next stop she found a cup and saucer rack that matched my new plate rack.  Just what I needed.  And the best news?  Half price.  One dollar and fifty cents.  I knew it would be perfect on the only wall in my dining room – above the picture that my sweetheart gave me several years ago.(oops – the picture is tilted a bit!)  Isn’t it perfect there?  You can see here what was above the big picture before I got the cup rack.  They were moved to a little wall in my kitchen.  I tried several different combinations of cups and saucers and I didn’t come up with just the right thing.  I stood on the other side of the room one day and studied it, trying to decide what I wanted to do.  All of a sudden, I knew!  I had the perfect plan.  My dear, little mother’s tea set was what I needed!  She had given it to me some time ago and she was keeping it stored safe and sound until I decided where I wanted to use it.  I knew now it was time to claim her gift!  And she was very pleased!The cups and saucers you see are the Royal Albert ‘Tea Rose’ pattern.  This is a set of six cups and saucers and one luncheon plate.  My father was a minister and for many years he travelled throughout the United States and Canada, preaching in different churches and Bible camps.  My dear mother travelled with him.  Before I was married a dear Canadian friend gave her the first cup and saucer that was the beginning of this set.  She received one or two more as gifts and then purchased the remaining pieces whenever she returned to Canada.  I would love to add more pieces to the set.  I’ll be watching for good deals online and in my thrifting and antiquing trips.   These cups and saucers are part of my history – old treasures that mean much to me.  They won’t always hang on the wall.  From time to time they will come down and be used to serve tea to my friends.  Maybe you could join me for tea one of these days.  I’d love to share it with you and let you enjoy my new finds and old treasures.There is a sad ending to this story:  in the unpacking of the tea set I discovered one carefully wrapped saucer had not survived the storage.  My dear, little mother had carefully wrapped each piece well and placed them in a heavy-duty box that was stored on an out-of-the way shelf that didn’t get much ‘traffic’.  What happened may never be known.  I’m hoping to find a lone saucer to replace it sometime.  In my thrifting stops I often find beautiful, single, orphan saucers that have been separated from their lovely cups.  I’ve seen this one in the past when I didn’t think I needed it – now I’ll wait until I find one again!  In the meantime I’ll enjoy what I have and I'll always treasure the dear ones who shared themselves with me and made this all possible.