Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Friday, April 30, 2021

Unexpected

 

Yesterday there were lots of plans. I had a doctor's appointment, then I would meet Kayleigh in the town where our co-op meets. She grew up there and was going to take their suburban to get some exhaust work done. I was going to pick her and the kids up, get some lunch, go to co-op. 

After co-op we were going to come back to our house and have a campfire and cook hot dogs over the fire. My parents were going to come over, and all my kids and grands would be there, except Sarah who is finishing up her first year at Bible School.

Also, Nate was working with Tim yesterday, and in preparation for Tim being away this weekend, he planned to mow two of the places he and Kyle mow every week.

Most of this did happen, except there was an early morning call from my mom saying that "I think Dad had a little stroke." He was up before her (unusual) and when she asked him what was going on his speech was garbled, and he knew it. (He later told the doctor that he'd gotten up at 1:30 not feeling right)

I picked them up and drove them to the ER and with Covid rules, I couldn't stay with them. He was back to normal in his speech and he'd never had any mobility issues. So, knowing that they'd be there a good part of the day, and that they'd likely keep my dad overnight, we kept the schedule planned for the day.


We had a work day at my parents house last Saturday.

'Von

Emma with my oldest son Nate and his daughter Kaidence.

Clark helping Grandpa. He dearly loves "work 'achines" and loved learning to take the lug nuts off the tires. He did several all by himself!

Emma holding Nate's youngest daughter Kennedy.

Dad did have a TIA and they did keep him overnight. He will get a full body MRI today, and then we expect for him to come home. Kyle and I will go with my Mom to get my Dad later today.  

It certainly was not the day we had planned, but in the midst of everything God's grace was abundant. We'd also had a stomach bug go through some members of the family this week, too, and God was gracious to have it not be too bad.

Tim leaves today with Emma and the kids. They are headed home, and the road trip will be easier with Grandpa along. He'll fly home on Sunday.

I'm anticipating a quiet weekend, but as I've come to realize over the years, we must hold our plans lightly and trust God to lead us through our days.

Have a wonderful weekend! May is nearly here! Wow!


Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Cottage Garden: Dahlias

 


My parents had an elderly neighbor, when they first moved to Pennsylvania, who grew the most beautiful dahlias.  Sometimes the kids would walk down and say hi to him and his adult daughter who lived with him. Mr. Groff always sent a beautiful dahlia to my mom and my grandma. This was my first introduction to dahlias and I thought they were beautiful, but I'd heard they required a lot of care. At that time I was a novice at growing flowers and I had a lot of children and felt I couldn't give dahlias the care they needed.

This year I've decided to give dahlias a try, at least this one in a pot.  I'm really loving this one and may try a few more.  


I'm also enjoying the lobelia in the pot with it!


Our weather has been delightful, and today is going to be hot for this time of year. Enjoying a few more days with the out of state grands. Lots of good memories.


Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Prayer Request

 



The day after Emma arrived, her youngest had a tummy issue overnight and then a day or so where he just was worn out.  This morning her other son, has started with something similar. 

Would you please pray that this would be short lived for her middle child, and that none of the rest of us would get it?  She heard from a friend back home that several of the kids in their friends group have had issues.

Emma and her kids leave Friday, with Tim, for home. We'd love for the rest of the visit to be happy and not filled with sickness.

Thanks!

Monday, April 26, 2021

Weekend

 We had a surprise on Friday evening!  We gathered for our Friday Family game night, and while we were eating dinner, my daughter from Tennessee showed up with her kids!  She'd been talking about how she thought she could do it (12 hour drive with three small kids) but I guess I assumed we'd know about it! LOL!

So far we've had a lot of fun playing outside, watering plants, playing with cousins, going to church, eating yummy food. They'll be here for a week, and I think Tim is going to drive back down with her, take a few days there, and then fly home on Sunday. The airline we like to use only has flights to and from Nashville on certain days. He works hard, helps others all the time, and he deserves a few days of relaxation.  Plus, he loves to drive!



Emma is an excellent mother and her kids love being with her. Yesterday, we set up the hammock and they all piled in.


I sat outside for a long time yesterday with the kids playing and then Tim joined me. Emma came out. We enjoyed a fun and relaxing Sunday afternoon in the sunshine.  We sat on the concrete pad that I want to make into a patio space.  This video shows you a vantage point you don't often see.



My heart is happy.



It's going to be an excellent week!

Pray for the audit in Arizona. I believe that this audit will show mass fraud and that it will have a rippling effect in the other states that halted counting on election night. The other side doesn't want this audit to happen, and they are fighting hard. Let's fight harder in prayer! Remember, if there was nothing fraudulent about this election, they wouldn't mind an audit. It doesn't hurt anything to do one. I think we've found out that we should likely do an audit of every state after every election! We didn't know before but now we do!

Did you have a good weekend?


Friday, April 23, 2021

Friday Five

 Happy Friday, Friends! 

The first three photos were taken this morning. I'm not completely happy yet with the set up on this fireplace top, but the pothos is thriving there and I love my Aria diffuser from Young Living, and my pretty Tiffany style lamp!










Wednesday evening Tim and I went out to dinner. It was nice to enjoy a small local restaurant that only recently opened up for indoor seating. We love supporting small businesses!  On the way home we caught this beautiful sunset!


The last photo I want to leave you with is this adorable photo of Prince Louis for his third birthday.  It was taken by his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge. He looks happy and outgoing and fun. He was on his way to his first day of nursery school.


I don't think he rode his little bike! (smile) My grandson who is almost three has a similar bike, notice there are no pedals. He can get it going super fast with his feet and it helped him learn balance by not ever having 'training wheels.'  You can add pedals to these bikes if I remember correctly.


Here is a video from a few weeks ago of Clark riding down a grassy hill at my son in laws' uncle and aunts' house.


Can you believe he's not three yet?!  


For the weekend I'd like to leave you with these thoughts - 

Remember that we are in a spiritual battle, and that the enemy of our souls wants us to think and feel that we are defeated. But oh friends, we are not! Jesus already defeated our enemy through his sacrifice and resurrection!

Let's remember that. I, more and more often, have to pace my intake of news (and I do not source my news from the msm!). I have to be in the Word, listen to uplifting things, and pray!

So this weekend, let's commit to getting some fresh air and vitamin D, have some uplifting interactions, listen to good music, and remind ourselves that God is in control.

Happy Weekend!

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Hope Through The Scary Seasons Of Life

                                     What has been is what will be,

                and what has been done is what will be done,

                   and there is nothing new under the sun.

                                   Ecclesiastes 1:9

Solomon, who was very wise, spoke these words many years ago but they are still true today.

The days we live in have become very scary to us. Our eyes have been opened to the evil being done everywhere. For many years I believe that many of us have been blinded to reality. I know that is true for me. While being discerning and aware in many ways, there were many ways that I was not aware. 

The verse from Ecclesiastes is encouraging to me. Funny, isn't it, but it's true. There is nothing that has not be done before that is being done now. Yet it grieves me, too. So much pain in the world.


I try to see the beauty in the world, to find common ground with people, and encourage them to seek God. 



I have hope because the scriptures remind me of where hope is to be found.


Psalm 71:5 says, "For You are my hope;
O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth."

Jeremiah 21:11 says, "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Romans 15:11 says, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Job 11:18 says, "Then you would trust, because there is hope;
And you would look around and rest securely."

Let's not become weary. Keep praying. God knows. What a blessing to be his hands and feet to others, whether it is family or a stranger! God uses us to be light and to be hope givers.


My garden and my plants remind me that there is a season for everything. Growth, pruning, rest. God is with us through it all.

He will never leave us, nor forsake us. Hold tight to him friends.

Thank you all for praying for my SIL's mom. She did not end up having the endoscopy because her blood count was back to normal and so was her blood pressure! The doctor believes the internal bleeding was from the ibuprofen. We are thankful for this answer to our prayers.

Is there anything I can pray for you? If you comment but don't want it posted, just say so at the beginning of the comment, and I won't post it but I will pray!

Look for joy today, and you'll find it.











                                   

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

News Items Of Interest

 


                                                       Photo Credit: Lindsay Musser

This morning I was up early and headed out to a lab appointment for my yearly bloodwork. I've was listening to a daily report that I listen to, and the guy was mentioning some of the things I had read about yesterday. You won't hear about them on the msm, so I thought I would share them with you.

This first thing was this:

from Disclosetv.com

JUST IN - Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered 2 strokes and died of natural causes a day after the unrest at the Capitol on January 6th, the District’s chief medical examiner has ruled.

The autopsy found no evidence of an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, external or internal injuries. Capitol Police officer Sicknick died of natural causes, 2 strokes due to a blood clot.


Around the time they had his ashes laying in the Capitol, his mother said that it seemed as if he had died of a stroke. But the msm and the dems kept up the narrative that crazed DJT supporters had bashed him over the head with a fire extinguisher. Then when the testimony came out in front of congress that there had been no wounds on him, or evidence that he'd been struck with anything, they changed it to two people sprayed bear repellent on him and that caused his death. They arrested two people for this!  But if you read the second paragraph above, DC's chief medical examiner said "No evidence of an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, external or internal injuries."

The poor man had a 2 strokes and died of natural causes! Will the dems and the msm come out and tell us they were wrong?  No. No, they won't.


The second thing was that in Arizona as they are preparing for the audit of Maricopa County to start, they've had to put extreme security in place and let people know. Antif* is threatening to come and interrupt the audit.

They seriously don't want this audit done. Why? I think it's because it will clearly show election fraud, and if there was election fraud there, and it shows DJT really one that state then the dominos begin to fall.


The third thing that is being talked about (which had been discussed after November 3rd but never went anywhere) is that Mark Zuckerberg gave $300 million dollars to towns, and cities, and counties etc, to 'help' with elections. I read that he gave 5 Million + to the Georgia Secretary of State's office.  No wonder the GA SoS has been resisting any real audit of their ballots. 

I have been happy to see that states are shoring up their election laws the right way through their legislatures. My state legislature was bypassed (which is against our state constitution) by our Secretary of State and when they appealed to the state supreme court, the court allowed what the SoS had done (again against our state constitution!) They are a majority dem court. If your own legislatures can be bypassed, then you have a dictatorship.

Which is also true of the federal government. If a president can rule by executive orders, then that president is a dictator. You can read about what Bid*n has said about that in the past {here}.

Anyway, I get to feeling discouraged sometimes, at how quickly things have gone, but I am also encouraged as I see people awakening to what's been going on and seeing that for many years this corruption has gone on. By both parties!  

This is not a R vs D situation. It is corrupt people allowing other nations to infiltrate our nation, for their own gain. Certainly it's not for the good of the American people!

One last thing. There is a new platform for free speech called Frank. (www.frankspeech.com) I've joined because I want to protect my First Amendment Rights!

It's a beautiful day here, and I hope you have an excellent day, too!



Monday, April 19, 2021

Weekend

 

I want to tell you all how much I appreciate your kind and encouraging words in the comments. One of my love languages is words of affirmation, so it really does my heart good to hear it! Thank you.

This weekend was fun, filled with home things and family. Oh, and lilacs! They're in bloom!

On Friday, Tim and I took the mower out to my parents and he mowed, and edged their yard. With the zero turn mower we had it took him only about a half an hour to mow and edge, and blow the grass cuttings back into the grass!

Then we got some take out dinner and played Rummykub (rummy cube) for a few hours!

Saturday we did some home things. We ended up rotating our bed, and gave the underneath a deep cleaning.  With a California King bed you don't just move the bed to vacuum underneath very often, so it was needed! Lots of dust!



Yesterday afternoon, Rachel, Kayleigh and I all attended my niece Jen's bridal shower.  Jen is a sweet heart and has worked as a missionary in several countries in Africa. God brought the love of her life to her on the continent that she has spent most of her life living on! Tim's brother and his wife both grew up in African countries, and have spent most of their adult lives there as well. Jen was a baby when she went to West Africa. She speaks FIVE languages fluently! She's an amazing woman. She'll be getting married in Africa this summer, so it was special to be able to celebrate her upcoming marriage. We also got to watch the video of her engagement, Western and African styles. That was fun.

I hope your weekend was good, too!

I have two prayer requests. The first is for my brother's mother in law. I've known her nearly my whole life. At 90 she's been doing well, a bit underweight, but other wise okay. Yesterday, her blood pressure was low, so her daughter Beth took her to the ER. They found she was anemic and has some internal bleeding. She'd been taking some Ibuprofen for shoulder pain, so that could be a part of the bleeding, but they'll be doing endoscopy today to see if they can find the source of the bleeding.  One light hearted thing is that the only bed they could find for her was on the pediatrics floor! She's the oldest patient on that floor! (grin)  Please pray that they find the source, and that it is not anything that can't be easily dealt with.

The second is I can't find my van key that has the fob on it. I used it Friday. When I pulled the key out of the ignition I would have put it either in my purse, or my jean jacket pocket, but primarily once home it would be in my purse. It's not either place. We've looked, and can't find it. I know its a small thing, but prayers for it to be found would be appreciated!







Friday, April 16, 2021

Friday Five

 On Wednesday Rachel invited me to go along to a local Amish greenhouse. She was looking for plants to pot for her deck, and I am always interested in plants, so I quickly said yes!


I found these beauties and the pots at the greenhouse. I was impressed with the quality of their plants and their prices! I will be going back, soon, as we didn't get a chance to look at the outside portion due to rain.


I've never grown a dahlia before, and I am very excited about this one! I watch a lot of British tv shows (on Britbox and Acorn) and so I tend to say 'day-lia' and not 'dah-lia' as I used to.

I made this dahlia the 'thriller' of this pot with this pretty Lobelia as the 'filler' and the limey imopea (sweet potato vine) and the spiller!



I found a deck rail planter for $8.00 and filled it with these amazing geraniums for the 'thriller', these cute petunias as the filler, and the same sweet potato vine as the 'spiller.'




In real life these geranium have a tad more purple tone in them. They are amazing! I'll keep trying to get a photo of them with their right tone.

Keep praying for our nation. I see that the media is being revealed as a propaganda arm for the left, there is going to be a forensic audit of the ballots from Arizona's largest county this next week. I read this morning that g**gle has blocked the ability for volunteers to sign up.  When will people SEE the interference? G**gle is a search engine but they are using their power (and they've done it for years to block your access to things they don't want you to find out about) to interfere with a state's right to audit their election. You know they want to hide something when many sources are fighting it so hard. If there was no fraud - then be glad for the audit to show it, right? Right.  

Which leads to so many corporations doing the same. Pulling their money out of states etc, by pulling their business or events. I'm loving that many of these states are fighting back and taking away these corporations tax incentives! We must fight back in the ways we can which is by finding alternative sources for products. It's hard and challenging but it's the way we can speak to power - with our wallets!

I'm praying for big things in the lives of the people I love and for the nation I love! I know you are doing the same for your countries! 

Have a wonderful weekend!




Wednesday, April 14, 2021

It's A Beautiful Morning

 


I was up and out of the house, with Kyle, early this morning. It wasn't unusually early for me to be awake and out of bed, but I'm not usually headed out the door at 7:20 am.

We needed to run into town and take Tim's trailer tire to the local tire business we use. The tire had picked up a nail or something, and even though Kyle found the leak yesterday, and Tim usually can plug them, it didn't work this time so off to the tire guy to be repaired.

Tim needs that tire to be on the trailer this afternoon as he has to take about 400 gallons of water to an inspection.  The tire will be ready in a few hours, so we'll have plenty of time to get it, then Kyle will put it back on the trailer, and fill the water totes.

I'm always glad when we can support Tim in anyway, and make his day easier.

I am appreciative of your comments yesterday. Thank you all for being a part of this community of friends online. I'm thankful for each one of you!

I don't know how many of you have Telegram. If you do, Patrick M. Byrne has been sharing some incredible things about the election. If I can figure out how to share some of those things here, I'll do it.

I hope none of you have to go to any major cities right now. I think they are dangerous places with the rioting. Some of the things I'm doing during these days of uncertainty and chaos are 1. Keeping my vehicle filled with fuel and 2. Keeping a semi deep pantry.

Kyle doesn't always understand why I buy extra, but last week the price of butter at our local Aldi was up 97 cents in one week! I'm grateful for beef in the freezer from the side of beef we split with my parents and our daughter and son in law last fall. We are setting money aside for when we will need to buy a side again. I buy extra canned goods of things we eat, and I have an extra ham, and turkey in our freezer as well. I buy chicken at Aldi.

Kyle is taking a homesteading class, and a food science class at co-op this semester. So far in the homesteading class he has learned to make jam and make a sour dough starter among other things. Handy and useful skills to have.

He's been learning to cook and bake over the last year, and I think it's so important to teach our kids and grands so they have these vital skills. Even young kids can help in the home with daily work. Kyle knows how to do laundry, and does the mowing here, too. He's going to be 16 this summer. He can change tires and oil, knows how to pump gas, use the ATM machine at our bank, grocery shop. 

He's being well prepared for adulthood, which has always been our goal with our kids. Tim and I always used to say that we were raising adults not kids. We wanted them to be well functioning adults.  I think we did alright in that department.

If your kids are grown, and you have grands, invite them over to bake with you. They won't mind taking most of the results home with them! If you are still actively raising kids, get them involved with your daily routines. With homeschooling, it helped me to get daily work done without feeling as if I had to do it all! So we could enjoy our homeschool, and our home, and not be swamped! Even little ones can help fold laundry - they are really good with socks and washcloths!

I'm rambling now, so I'll go. Be of good courage friends! You are not alone!

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Let's Chat

 

                              Tim took these photos a few days ago of the sky at sunrise!

Hello friends.

I've recently found myself so burdened for our nation, that I hardly know what to post here. My daily life is a mix of family and trying to stay up to date with what is happening in our nation and world. 

Since the election much has been revealed and I hear people say that our nation has quickly gone towards socialism, but I say that we've been headed that way for a long time, it's just that we can see it now. It's not that one party is bad and the other good, it's that there is a lot of corrupt people on both sides, and the party with the majority is quickly trying to get our nation back to where things were at the end of the O administration. That quickness (powered by EO's and not laws) have helped to awaken people I think. So has the mess at the border.

I've always loved that our nation welcomed people from around the world. America was known as a melting pot. Our nations' motto "E Pluribus Unum" means "Out of many, One." But we have a system in place to allow people to come legally. Where they can be checked to see if they have criminal backgrounds, etc. There is a system for those who need asylum and record numbers applied and were allowed in during the previous administration.

The media has created false stories, spun other stories, and created wrong views of many things. We now are being shown that corporations are trying to control the laws in this country, too. Everything is being revealed.

So, you can see that sometimes I have a hard time coming on the blog to talk about tea or my garden. 

However, those things are a part of my life, and I do love to share hospitality, encouragement, friendship, and beauty here. So I will continue to do that.

I also want to share my hope with you. I do see that there are things happening, states are fixing election laws, my state recently removed 20,000 deceased voters off of our voter rolls, and audits are being done by some states. Truth will prevail.

My main hope is in Jesus. If nothing ever changes here in this land that I love, my life is in his hands. I trust him.

******************************************************


You may remember that a few weeks ago, Tim flew down to be with his mom and siblings, because she was transitioning to be with the Lord. The week after the nurses confirmed it, she was breathing very shallowly and sleeping a lot, even though she had rallied when her kids were there.

Easter weekend Tim's sister and family came to spend spring break with her, and she rallied again, and the nurses said "We're not sure if she is still in transition." (grin) If she keeps this up she might make it to her 100th birthday in late October!

******************************************************
I'd be interested to know how many readers are actively parenting, and how many readers are grandparents. Since I am both, I sometimes am not sure who my main audience is here, though based on my regular commenters it is grandparents.

However, I have a wealth of homeschool knowledge and encouragement that I'd be happy to share if there was an audience for it!

Thank you all for listening to me this morning.


Monday, April 12, 2021

Weekend

 

We had a good weekend.


Friday night we had family night, and played RummyKub (rummy cube), and talked a lot. Saturday Tim had some jobs to do then he and Kyle did lawn mowing at my parents house and at some older friends of ours who have health issues.

I took the opportunity to putter around the house, clean bathrooms, tidy the kitchen. I had the doors open and let the warmth and fresh air in the house.

Spring is showing off this year with the flowering trees and shrubs. My lilacs are getting close to blooming! 






Sunday we went to church, and then came home and got take out Chinese food. Kamryn's friend came home with us for the day, and while we had expected thunderstorms (they arrived in the evening) it was mostly sunshine. The girls played outside all afternoon, in the creek, running around the pasture, riding scooters. It was fun.

I hope your weekend was full of good things.  There is a lot going on in our world, not just the United States, and it is scary and hopeful all at the same time.



Friday, April 9, 2021

Friday Five

 

I finally got my concrete planters planted! 

One of them has this gorgeous Martha Washington geranium.



The other two planters have ranunculus and three different colors of pink diascia. 





At this point I'd say the ranunculus is the thriller, and the diascia is acting as the filler and the spiller.  The garden shop didn't really have another option that I liked at this point. I will likely change out some of these flowers as the summer comes on anyway, and there will be a lot more available at that point.

Now to figure out where to place them in the garden!

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

The Chosen

 Have you watched this excellent show, yet? 

We use a filtering service for movies called VidAngel. Several years ago, I watched a short film at Christmas called The Shepherd. It was beautiful and was about one of the shepherds who the angels appeared to in the fields the night Jesus was born.

Then a year or so later I kept seeing The Chosen being promoted so I watched an episode.  It is the most amazing series about Jesus and his disciples.













It's so well done. Beautifully filmed, and it has real characters, and Jesus is beautifully written.

There is humor, grit, healing, joy, sorrow. 

There is a free app (The Chosen) where you can watch the whole series. They also have a YT channel {here}. Season two just started on Easter. Tim and I watched it last night. It's so good. I know I keep saying that, but I don't know how to explain it.

Just go and WATCH IT!







Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Seasons of Life

 

My house was pretty quiet yesterday. Tim was on a road trip to take Sarah and her roommate back to school, so it was just Kyle and I. I must admit many days it is quiet, anyway. Tim works away from home, and Kyle does homeschool, but is not a big talker generally.

I remember the days when there were lots of little people growing up in our home, and there was chatter, bickering, laughing, and talking going at all times!  It was fun, if not noisy and many days I chased them outside to play!



They grew up here on four acres, with a creek to play in and some woods to 'explore.' 

Some days the house is too quiet. On those days I turn on Audible and listen to a book while I do my puttering around the house. I also love to listen to podcasts.

I also like to use the Marco Polo app to talk to my daughter and grands in Tennessee, and I FaceTime with my mom. 

There are weeks when I am busy and am happy for the quiet days.

We are trying to reach out to people in our church, and invite them to come for lunch on Sundays. That gives me work to do during the week with planning the meal, cleaning, thinking through the table setting.



With the weather getting nice, I am wanting to get my outdoor 'patio' space fixed up. It'll be nice to sit outside for meals and watch kids run around enjoying the creek and the pasture.

Our lives are made up of seasons; our youth, our young adulthood, middle age, old age. We must be able to change and adapt to the different needs, and differing desires of each life season.




I'm not pining for the days with my house full of kids. I LOVED that season, but I love the season I am in, too. I'm able to do different things than I could do in those days. I'm able to walk alongside younger women and encourage them. All good things.

I'm also freer to be a companion and friend to my own parents. When I had a houseful of kids, I wasn't as free to spend time with them and so usually the kids got to go and have one on one time with them. That was good, but it's good to walk alongside my parents and enjoy time with them.

I'm feeling philosophical this morning, I guess, but I do think it's good to evaluate our lives and where we are at in them. One thing I know for certain. God is good in every stage of our lives.




Information Friday

  We saw the beautiful northern lights tonight! It was incredible! So thankful to experience this amazing act of nature! I'm having some...