Afternoon Tea

Rachel's classmate at Word of Life is staying with us for a week.  She is from Peru, but has spent half her life as a Missionary Kid in Bolivia.  She had never had Afternoon Tea before, so Rachel, myself and my friend Jane, decided we needed to take her.

She loved it and took lots of photos and I think might have been sending them to her mom.  She told me that our house is decorated like her mom decorates.  I loved that.  It's so cool to think women from different cultures could like very similar things for making a home!

 We brought the leftover desserts and sandwiches home.

We had a lovely time, and I love that we have a new tea convert!

This and That

Photo I took last year at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

Here is a link to an interesting article about the difference between Astronomical seasons and Meteorological seasons. {here}

We are enjoying a lovely patch of autumn like weather - warm days, cool nights - and those of us here at Creekside Cottage are loving it.

Our new friend Luisa from Bolivia is loving it and has enjoyed laying in Tim's hammock, and Sarah and Rachel have been outside reading in the chair hanging in the tree.

Today Jane, Rachel, Luisa and I are going to tea.  Luisa has never had Afternoon Tea, so this will be a fun experience for her!

Have a lovely day, Friends!

Out And About: HomeGoods

I haven't done an Out and About in quite a while but last week I stopped in at HomeGoods and enjoyed looking around.

They had lots of fall decor, which is understandable considering autumn officially begins in just over 3 weeks.  And most of the kids in our area are back to school.

Anyway....I thought I'd show you some items that our HomeGoods had for autumn.

They also had these cute Wrendale mugs...

I don't always like the furniture at our HomeGoods but they had several things I did like this time..

Do you shop at HomeGoods, or HomeSense?  

Thankful Tuesdays

This sign is a gift that Rachel bought for my birthday last year.  She purchased it when we went to a sale at Aimee Weaver's home in early October.  Aimee is a talented artist and paints signs on old wood, does custom work, and other special things.  

The thing is that she put it in her closet and then forgot about it.  Sometime during this past year, we were talking on the phone and she said, "I think I bought you something for your birthday or Christmas and forgot to give it to you."  We did a video chat so I could show her the closet etc, but she said she didn't see it.

Sunday, she came to me with a bag and said, "Here's your gift! I found it."

I love it so much.  It's a great color and I love its message!

This morning I feel that all is well with my soul.  My devotional last night went well, and was well received.  

When I speak to women to encourage them, I feel like I'm doing what God put me on earth to do.

Thank you for praying for me.  I was able to pull my random notes, jotted down over the last few weeks, into a cohesive 5 point message.  I'm grateful, and filled up.

I may just start a thing - Thankful Tuesdays.  I'd love to hear what you're thankful for today!

What A Lovely Weekend

 I took this photo on Saturday after running an errand.  My favorite kind of sky, temps in the low 70's.  Everyone is ready for autumn, especially since August was very hot and humid.

This weekend included work around the house and property, tidying things up mostly, but it also was the beginning of a fun week for us.  

Friends of ours live about an hour from us and Sarah, and two of the young adults of the family, Grace and Will, had made plans for Saturday evening.  Get some food and see a movie, and since they have attended our church for many years, and drive down nearly every week, the plan was for them to spend the night.

Rachel and Wes had plans for Sunday, to go see a friend of hers from school preach at his church.  Another friend joined them, but since he lived an hour away from us, he came spent part of Saturday with us and stayed the night at Wes' apartment.  They headed out early Sunday morning and when they came home, another friend from school came home with Rachel.  This was a planned visit.  Luisa is a missionary kid.  Born in Peru, her parents work in Bolivia.  Her parents leave today to go back to Bolivia, and she needed somewhere to stay for a week before she heads back to school after Labor Day.  We are happy to have her with us for this coming week!

Side note: our friends Rick and Jane are coming to visit again on their way back down to Florida after their yearly trip to the Northeast in the summers.  Rick and Jane also were missionaries in Bolivia and as God often does, he's worked it out that they will all be here this week!  They can all speak Spanish and talk about Bolivia and all the places that they love!

Speaking of missionaries - We love this beautiful family and were so happy to get to spend about an hour yesterday with the dad.  He was in our area having flown to the states to bring their oldest son Aidan for college.  The rest of the family is in Ireland, where the dad is from and where they live and work.

We sat outside because it was so beautiful out and just as he was leaving, other friends showed up for a spontaneous visit.

Klaire and Kamryn go to church with us and spend the rest of the day with us every week. Klair had just woken up from a nap and was snuggling with her favorite person.


For the week ahead I have a Mom's Meeting tonight for our co-op which starts up again next month, later in the week a meeting for the performing arts academy that Sarah is going to be participating in this year.  I'm doing a devotional tonight at our co-op meeting, so I'd appreciate your prayers that I would have clear thoughts, and share encouragement.

It's a blessing to be involved with people, even though it can be tiring and sometimes problematic.  The sermon at church yesterday was on the fact that God made each of us unique and with a purpose. When we function in the purpose for which he made us, we are fulfilled.  

I see this in my own life, how about you?  

Have a great day, friends!

Friday Five - Books

Book talk today!


1. A friend shared this meme on Instagram the other day and I found it to be too true!

2. Fortunes Claimed - I'm reading this one for review.  I've missed a lot of reading time, but hope to get into it more.  I'm enjoying it so far.

3. I found this book at our library's used book store for $1.00  The premise seems interesting but reading reviews on Amazon made me wonder about it.  Have any of you read it?  It is worth reading?

4. I'm going to be hosting two book club meetings in March for our co-op moms.  I think this is the book I'm going to use.  I've been slowly reading through and I think it will be encouraging, challenging, and life giving.

5. For those of you with little ones in your life, I highly recommend Sally Lloyd-Jones' The Jesus Storybook Bible.

We've shied away from bibles for our children that were written in storybook form, or had anything like that in its title.  We never want to give the impression that Jesus is a fairy tale!

This book doesn't do that and it is well written and had delightful illustrations!  

I hope you have a delightful weekend.  Our weather is supposed to be phenomenal!  Can't wait!

Sunflowers In The Kitchen

We stopped at a local produce stand yesterday for tomatoes and a cantaloupe.  These bright beauties caught our eyes, especially Rachel who loves sunflowers.

They are bringing beauty and cheer to the heart of our home!

We've Had An Amazing Summer

This summer was one of the best in my memories....

In June Kamryn turned nine

Sarah graduated from high school

Kaidence Elyse was born

 We replaced our kitchen door

 I got my secretary from FB Marketplace

We enjoyed the 4th of July with Fireworks

Then in late July my brother's family came from California for my parents 60th anniversary.  We had lots of fun at the creek

And celebrating with a family party

With August peaches are ready

The grands in Tennessee are having a good summer too!

My brother's oldest son and his family adopted this awesome boy!

And Rachel graduated with high honors from WOLBI.

I'm grateful for such a wonderful summer!