Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

One More Day

 





Read a message from the Queen of Autumn {here}



I hold to the meteorological seasons, rather than the astronomical seasons. Therefore autumn starts September 1st, not the 21st.

After a tropical summer around here (high temps and humidity) I am looking forward to cooler temperatures. Here in Lancaster County, we can still have quite a bit of heat through September. Our local fair is the last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of September and Friday's are rodeo days. In years past when the kids competed, we either had rainy cold weather or we got sunburned. Either way, we learned to bring umbrellas!

That said, I am looking forward to my favorite season. I love the coziness of cool evenings, and the evenings getting darker earlier. I like wearing cardigans and boots, I love a good scarf.

Mostly though, I think my home comes into its own in the autumn. 

Prepare for lots of autumn posts, friends.

I know that the news out of Afghanistan is hard. I find myself waking in the night and feeling the need to pray. So many unprecedented things that the government is doing that doesn't make sense, and yet does when you understand that they are controlled. They are not making good and wise choices for America.

I want to leave you with a verse that is comforting.

Isaiah 41:10 - ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

I'm a huge believer in prayer, and I'd love to pray for you. Let me know in the comments and also let me know if you have a request that is private.

Be of good courage, friends!




 





Monday, August 30, 2021

Weekend

 We had a quiet weekend. 

Tim, Sarah and Kyle moved Sarah downstairs into her new room. This is a peek into it. We are very happy with the way the whole basement looks, with its fresh paint and trim.


On Saturday, we started cleaning and painting in Sarah's old room, which will be our new room. It's just getting the paint refreshed and new baseboard trim. 

We measured and figured out that we can put our California King bed in the room, our beside tables, our two dressers and a chair.

So we've already moved the couch from our bedroom sitting area to Sarah's new room, and we have a bookcase, my secretary, our rebounder, and lots of photos and artwork to remove from the walls.

My walk in closet is big and years ago Tim added some shelves that I've stored crafting supplies on. I have to find a place for all of that kind of stuff. 

This is the challenging part to me. Some things will go to the thrift store as donations, but some stuff I do want to keep, and I want to have it accessible. 

We plan to move a small bookcase from the living room and put my secretary in that space. That also means moving a mirror, but I think I'm going to put that at the end of the hall way.

My dad will be using the recliner from our living room in his bedroom, and at the moment I'm glad of that. I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic. I think partly its from the unsettled nature of the house while we prepare to move them in two weeks. 

We plan to be moved into our new room by the end of this week, then we have another week before moving them in, so we should have plenty of time to figure out where everything is going to go. 

Sunday, we were invited to lunch at our friends' home. They are from Puerto Rico and Columbia respectively and we had a wonderful meal with them. Then we played Skip-Bo before we came home! I love friends that enjoy life and that we share our common faith together! It was a delightful afternoon.

Then after we came home a friend came over with a few of his kids. They came to borrow our horse trailer. One of their sons shows goats through 4H and they are going to a fair this week in Maryland. The kids hopped in the pool for a bit, and we visited with our friend for a while. We talked C.S. Lewis books, and they drank coffee and we enjoyed conversation.

It was a full day - church, lunch with friends, and then visiting with another friend. I'm thankful for every minute.

My heart is still grieving for the men and women who were killed last week.

When the first body returned home on Friday no one from the Bid*n Administration was there to meet the plane. Saturday they were there, and JB was caught checking his watch. It was very bad optics for them. One thing I admired about DJT is that he would go even in the middle of the night to meet the planes of our fallen service members, even ones that weren't in the news. He would met the families and stand with them to honor their loved ones' sacrifice for our nation.

Then the administration, I won't say Bid*n because I don't believe he is really making the decisions, did a drone strike on a vehicle. We were told is was full of suicide bombers with explosive vests on and that that caused an extra explosion. This is what the media reported. 

Then it came out that they struck a vehicle carrying nine people, six of whom were children! The man had been an interpreter for us! So now, people wonder who decided the strike on this person. 

It's horrific. 

They are all compromised by a foreign nation or they are so incompetent. Either way all of them, not just JB need to go.

I'm learning what it means to pray without ceasing. There is so much to continually bring before the Lord.


Friday, August 27, 2021

Good News Friday


Yesterday was heartbreaking for our nation. I'm praying for the families who have now received a visit telling them that their loved one has died.

Bid*n made me so angry yesterday when he talked about his son. I know that loss was devastating to him, but this isn't about you, Joe, nor is it about Beau who died of cancer.

I'm praying for our nation, who now see how diminished JB is, I think he will not be in office for much longer. Then what we'll get is a president who giggles, and laughs inappropriately. Lucky us.

Despite all of that there is good news happening.

The Supreme Court has set down several good rulings this week.

One is in regard to the Stay In Mexico plan that the T administration had going. People coming to the border had to stay in Mexico until their applications are approved to come in to the US.

Right now they are not only allowing people to cross freely into our country, but they are flying people into our country by the plane full every day, multiple times a day. Mostly military age men, which is interesting.

The SC said that the Bid*n Admin had to reinstate Stay In Mexico. How soon this will happen I don't know.

The second SC ruling this week is that the CDC has not been given powers by the congress to rule that property owners cannot evict renters for not paying their rent.

Think about this for a moment. The people who are supposed to advise on diseases, was being asked by the Bid*n administration to extend a ruling they had made (by what authority I don't know) that during the pandemic people could not be evicted.

This was a direct assault on private property rights. Property owners, who still have to pay taxes and mortgages on those properties were not going to be allowed to evict people who were not paying rent, but they still had to pay their obligations!

On the surface that seems like a no brainer, right? People were out of work, so it's a kindness to not pay rent, right? However, these people were/are drawing unemployment from their states, that has been added to by a generous amount of tax dollars from the federal government. So much so that now that businesses are open, many cannot find employees because people are making more on unemployment! 

And with the child tax credit payments every month, many are doing quite well right now. So why aren't they paying their rent?

Pay your rent people!

People are waking up at a fast pace now. 

They are seeing the destruction of this administration. We know they are only doing the bidding of China.

They are still desperately trying to get businesses to force people to be jabbed in order to work. Why?

Here are some screen shots regarding what they are learning about the jab through Israel. Israel is almost completely jabbed and many have taken a booster jab as well.










 These are the slides that I screen shot. Some don't continue but they each have pertinent information on them.

Here is a link to a very interesting video by Dr. Christina Parks giving testimony before a committee in Michigan regarding the jab. She explains it all very well. {Here}

Basically the jab was created to mitigate symptoms, not keep people from getting c0v*d. People who have been jabbed are having terrible reactions to the virus, thus all the hospitalizations. It's not the unjabbed putting them at risk, either. The jab is giving them c0v*d and they are passing it to others.

Many unjabbed have had c0v*d already and have good, strong natural immunity.

I had read last year that they had not had a successful trial of the jab on animals. All the trials seemed to go well, until the animals came into contact with the virus and then the animals all died.

We currently are in the people phase of the jab trials. They end in 2023. If you have taken the jab, I support you. You have the right to decide what is best for you and your health. Those who do not want to be jabbed should also have that right to decide. The issues I see is why the threats? Why the forcing for a virus that is 99- 97% survivable?

So what is the good news in all of this? Many unions, and individuals are standing up to the mandates being forced on them.

The medical workers are the ones I don't understand. Here you have people who have cared for the sick, this whole 'pandemic' time, and have been called heroes. Now though, they are being forced to get the jab or lose their job. Seriously? They likely have all had it and have good natural immunity. 

The unjabbed are not the spreaders of the delta variant. Don't let people brainwash you into believing this in order to divide us. 

We are strong when we stand together. They want us divided that's why they play the race card, or the special rights card etc. Right now they are trying the jabbed/unjabbed card. Don't fall for it!

If people ask you personal medical questions, don't tell them, just ask for their personal medical questions like "Can you show me whether you are a carrier of any communicable diseases?" "When did you have your last pap smear" or "prostate check?" 

{Here}is another article speaking of natural immunity.

Be bold, without unkindness. People need to wake up, they are sheep that believe what the people on the news tell them. Its lies.

Oh, here is something that gave me great delight when I saw it yesterday!


France instituted passports to eat in restaurants, so people in Paris took picnics and sat outside restaurants that were basically empty! Link to a video {here.}

Do you think those restaurants are happy with the mandates? People are saying, "We don't need to eat at restaurants! Our rights are more imporant!" The owners will soon be pushing back on the government.

This is how we stand against forced mandates. 

Did you know that in December they won't be able to use the PCR tests anymore? There were too many false positives.{Here}is an article and{here} is another both from the FDA website.


Be of good courage friends. Speak the truth in love. Encourage others. Be a light.

Have a good weekend.


Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Planting Pots For Autumn

 I always buy mums in the autumn, and I will, but this year this plant caught my eye and I thought I might enjoy it for late summer/early autumn.


These red Celosia were $3.99 each, and buy one get one free at a local Amish greenhouse. I also bought the Creeping Jenny planted between them in the long planter.

I think I'll put this along the house by the driveway.


Celosia has always reminded me of brain matter! But it's velvety looking flowers have always intrigued me and this color is wonderful!


I bought these two for two of my concrete pots, but the flowers in them are still looking good so I'll keep these alive in their current pots for now.

I've never had Celosia before, have you?

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Building The Addition




 We literally are just weeks away from my parents moving in to our home. If you're new here, we decided to sell my parents home now to take advantage of the hot market, move them in with us and then have the inlaw quarters built.

Tim basically has the basement work finished - both for storage of my parents items that they wont use right away, and for a bedroom space for Sarah.

We are going to move her down this week, paint her room that we'll be moving into then, we'll move in and clear all the extra furniture we have out of our bedroom suite, so it'll be ready to move them in.

Our thoughts are turning to the addition build. I'm following along with my Instagrammers who have moved and are doing remodeling work. I keep seeing contractor after contractor not show up to work, or ghosting them.

We've had this done to us already on our window replacement project. The contractor, who was recommended to us, came out took measurements, and talked with us about what we wanted. He was also going to build the portico over the front door.

Weeks went by without a quote or email with the drawings for the portico. We called, he never called back. Finally we received a short text that he was too busy and wouldn't be able to do our job!

Gee whiz! Just tell us right away if it is too much for you to do! Our son in laws brother told us he couldn't take on our build until June of 2022 because they are so busy! That's fine, we completely understand. Thanks for letting us know right away!

Have you ever had contractor problems like this? 

We have people we know with an excavation business, electrical , plumbing, drywall and painting. So we are confident about these sub areas getting done and done well, but we need a builder/framer who can get us under roof, and get the windows in. We also need an ac/heating guy.

We are hopeful that we wont have to wait a year to get started, but we recognize it may take 6 months or so before we can get started.


 

Monday, August 23, 2021

Weekend

 

It was a fun and productive weekend.

Friday night I made taco salad and fresh peach pie for dinner/family game night. Oh man. Why haven't I done this before? So amazing!





Saturday morning Rachel called and wanted to know if I wanted to go to a great little store near us that is only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Blue Gate Pickens Antiques and Relics. If you have IG or FB you can look them up by their name.

I always find some kind of treasure there. This time I found sterling silver hoop earrings (2 sizes) for $10, a pair of black and white floral earrings for $5, 2 mustard colored small crocks for 50 cents each, and a Royal Albert Nova Scotia tea cup for $4.00.





Then we went to a local Amish greenhouse and I got red celosia plants for my fall planters for $3.99 and they were buy one, get one free! I'll show you soon.

We then swung by and picked up Wes from work, then by an Amish produce place that sells bbq chicken on Saturdays during the summer. Wes bought lunch for everyone, including Tim and Kyle at home, and Sarah who was on her way home from work.  It was delicious and then Wes spent the rest of the afternoon putting another coat of paint on the trim, while Tim and Kyle mowed at my parents house. Then they cut it and started nailing it up.

Tim already had filled holes, and made small repairs in the drywall in the basement, and painting. I has been all red but now is a creamy color on the bottom, and red up top. There will be trim board on the seam where the colors meet.







Here are a few photos of the baseboard trim in place!



Tim has been working on that unfinished 'shop' space in the basement. We are going to try to store as much of my parents things here in the shop, rather than them pay for a storage unit.

Yesterday, was a rainy Sunday, so it was an indoor day. We had hamburgers and fries (cooked here at home) and left over peach pie for lunch. The kids, including Kyle and Sarah, played hide and seek. The funniest part was when Kyle hid under the couch.




We'd appreciate continued prayer for work. It's been very slow this month. It has allowed us to get my parents house ready to sell, and our house ready to have them move in, but a bit more work would be good. 

I hope you had a great weekend.

Friday, August 20, 2021

Good News Friday




 Hi Friends!

This has been a really incredible week hasn't it? 

While Afghanistan fell to the Talib*n, our president stayed on vacation. The WH released a photo of him sitting at a table alone but with video screens of people, including the VP, and assets in Doha clearly shown (against the law to out agents). We were supposed to see that though on vacation the president was working and on top of the situation. However, people noticed in the world time zones on the top of the screen, that the time difference between London and Russia were wrong. Turns out that photo would have been taken in February. Another tell tale sign is that the VP in her office in her home at the Naval Observatory has empty bookshelves in the background. If you remember, renovations were being done on the VP house in January and they didn't move in for several weeks. 

With optics not going well, the president came in to the White House to make a statement, took no questions, and went back to his vacation. When that didn't go well, they sat him down with a 'friendly' legacy media anchor for an interview.  


That didn't go well either.

On top of that, his press secretary was on vacation this week. She came back for a day or so, then yesterday didn't even have a press briefing!

What on EARTH!?

Then the Pentagon chief says they can't help Americans get to the airport. {Here}

Then they were told they'd have to pay $2000 to fly out. When the American people didn't take that well, they scraped that idea. Read about that {here}

Marcus Luttrell, read about him {here}said in a statement to Bid*n, "You need to go get our people." Read {here}

Frankly I was shocked to here that the Brits were going around picking their people up and getting them to the airport and that we had told our people that they were on their own to get to the airport.

Also they were told they wouldn't necessarily get out before Afghanis. Wow.

A good thing is that this has united Americans to see that JB is not a good president. He's not serving the people. China maybe, but not Americans.

So if you're wondering where the good news is there are several areas of good news.

1. The Arizona audit report is being delivered to the AZ senate today.

2. Jovan Pulitzer said on Wednesday that they weren't looking for watermarks on the ballots (or bamboo), it's much better than that. Read about it {here}. He also said that the results of the audit would be "earth shattering."  

3. Michigan and Wisconsin are both going to do forensic audits! Here are the counties in Wisconsin that are going to do them.



4. Pennsylvania had a big audit the vote rally. People are fired up and ready for the audit!

5. Here is a list of employers who are NOT requiring the vax in order to work there.
Reporters asked Jen Psaki how many White House employees had been vaxxed, she refused to give that information.  

Pretty interesting, right?

There is lots more going on but I do need to get started with my day!

Remember that you are not alone, and though things seem scary, and there may be more scary things, I honestly believe that the best is yet to come. God is with us, don't be afraid.

Have a lovely weekend.




Wednesday, August 18, 2021

A New Kitchen

 If everything goes as planned, and I try to hold plans lightly knowing that I don't control circumstances, I will have a new kitchen when we put the addition on the house.

Because we are zoned R1 we can only have one kitchen, so we are putting the kitchen between our space and my parents space. 



Here is a reminder of the basic layout of the addition we are planning. The doorway into the new kitchen comes from our current kitchen/living room space. The kitchen will have a half wall so that the space is somewhat open to the living/dining space once the addition is built.

I have been pinning kitchen ideas for years and I'd love to share some of them with you from my Pinterest Board.

An important thing to know is that the kitchen will not have any windows. It will have a door to the garage, it will have a pocket door to my parents living room, and it will have the doorway opening and half wall into our dining/living room space. The natural light from my parents living room, and from our dining/living room will be the only natural light in the kitchen.

So, if you look at this photo, the sink will be where the half wall is, and will look out into the dining space. As the wall turns right and you see an upper cupboard, we will have our stove and range hood on that wall. Then the door to my parents living room. We will have a lot of natural light from the half wall.


I definitely want a range hood. Isn't this one with a shelf cute? I'm done with having the microwave over the stove. We'll put it in a cupboard.

I really like a country kitchen with a table in it to work at and sit while baking/cooking, and I'd love some cabinets that looked like a nice hutch! I want easy access to the things I use all the time!


I'm really liking the wood countertops, especially in a white kitchen. I would go a bit darker in the stain, but the wood adds warmth to the kitchen and is very functional.

Isn't this kitchen pretty? I like the glass front cupboards, and the drawers under them. Bowls ready to use, but also looking pretty, 

I like this drawer for flatware, but we may have my mom's hutch in the dining area, and I'd want to use it for all of our dishes and flatware, and some glasses, so that setting the table would be easy.


I really love either drawers or shelves that slide out!


And I love the way this undersink space is a drawer not a cupboard!


We'll see how it all comes together but these are my ideas, and I've saved a lot of photos on my board.

What are some of your favorite things in your kitchens, or something you'd love to have in your kitchen?



Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Fun Story

 Well, at least it's fun and special to us!

My parents moved to Pennsylvania 23 years ago, and bought the house they just sold. Later than year, my dad having retired from his aerospace company job at an early age, decided to volunteer for the local fire company.

He wasn't going to fight fires, he was going to be part of the fire police. They are the ones who close roads, or divert traffic when there are accidents or fires. They take special training, and are sworn in by their townships.

He'd had MP training in the Navy so he was really good at directing traffic and his local fire company made him the Captain. He did this actively, as well as had training to drive the trucks, and he served as the President of the fire company for many years. 

One of the things he did was to pick up several Amish men who were firefighters with his company, when a fire call would come in. The Amish are very community minded and their fire company was made up of about 40% Amish.

One of the men, Calvin Fisher, was a farmer and when Dad would swing by to pick him up, blue lights flashing on his suburban, Calvin's kids were always excited! The kids started calling my dad "Blinker Bob" and would always yell out "Blinker Bob is here!" when my dad arrived in their driveway.

The Amish use lots of nicknames to identify each other, because so many of them have the same name. Lot's of Jake's, Sam's, Katie's, and Barbie's. So they might call a man, "Tall Sam," or that kind of thing. To be English and get an Amish nickname is pretty special and unusual and my dad has two either Blinker Bob or Captain Bob.

When the offer on my parents house came in the other day, we could tell by the address it was a neighbor, and it was, but not the neighbor we thought it was.

Turns out one of Calvin Fisher's now grown daughters' and her husband rent a house two doors down the road from my parents house. They've wanted their own house but there hasn't been a lot of houses for sale in their area. (The Amish live in their church communities, and only move out of the area by permission from their bishops) This daughter and her husband are the ones buying my parents house! She is going to live in Blinker Bob's house!

Her mom, Calvin's wife called my parents yesterday and told them. She's eager to see her daughter's new house so she and her daughter are coming over this week to walk through again.

This is so special to us. We are thrilled with how this chapter of my parents life story is being written! We wish Roslyn and Sam many happy years in this home that we have loved so much!

My Dad is no longer an active fire police, but he still serves as chaplain, and as a member.

Monday, August 16, 2021

Weekend

 



Guess what? My parents sold their house! They got a really good offer, and took it! Now the work begins here. Mostly some painting, and moving furniture! They close in 6 weeks. We are thanking God!

This happened on Saturday. We had all gone over because some people were coming to look at some items they are selling, and I wanted to be there to help with furniture placement, if the items sold. Tim and Kyle were doing the mowing and weed wacking, and Tim was going to help my dad with a small project.

One of the people came to look at an item, and one never showed. However, the realtor called with the offer, and we took time to discuss it. It was less than asking price, but the were waiving inspections, and had given a big 'good faith offer' check. They were pre-approved for a mortgage as well.  We decided to counter their offer, they accepted and now they pack, and we prepare. We went to dinner to celebrate!

We take Sarah to school in mid September, and they are going with us since we are going to visit family in Tennessee, too. When we get back they close on their house, so we plan to have them moved in here before we leave.

Big changes, and adjustments, but its all good.

Yesterday, we had lunch at home after church. Wes and Rachel came, Klaire and Kamryn were here (they'd spent the whole weekend with us!), and our friend Grace was here, too. Tim grilled Chicken Patties, we had some seasoned fries and watermelon, too. The grandgirlies swam, Tim had a nap then worked looked at Wes and Rachel's car. Sarah and Grace went for coffee, then came back. Wes and Rachel went home, our friend Denny came over.

In the evening Tim, Sarah, Kyle and I took some time to discuss something Tim read out of the devotional he's reading this year. Then we prayed for Haiti, and for Afghanistan.

Friends, it's going to be ugly in both places. We prayed for physical protection for the children in Haiti, as so many went missing in the last huge earthquake, and we've read about people trafficking kids from there.

For Afghanistan we prayed for the women who will now be under strict laws and lose the chance for education. We prayed for believer's who will be executed for their faith. The church in Afghanistan has been growing so fast, and now many will be martyred for their faith. We know this is not a new thing, but we are so much more aware of it, and by prayer we know we can make a difference, even to strengthen their courage.

We are especially grateful to be moving my parents in with us, in such volatile and uncertain times. We don't want them to be isolated and alone.

The battle is a tough one, the enemy knows he's defeated but he longs to destroy all that God loves and created. Be of good courage! I believe that we will see goodness prevail!

How are you friends? Do you have prayer requests? You can always share them and if you don't want them posted just let me know.

Peace and Grace be yours today, friends.




Friday, August 13, 2021

Good News Friday

 


photo by me then Waterlogued

Well, I spent a lot of the past three days watching the Cyber Symposium and it was eye opening. It made me realize just how much fraud and vote stealing happened. 

Even states that Trump "won" they stole votes from him. This was so they could give Bid*n the 'popular' vote as well.










Obviously this isn't even all the states! 

Good News out of Florida - Governor Ron DeSantis is implementing a plan to open mobile clinics to dispense Regeneron monoclonal antibodies. They are starting in Jacksonville. This treatment is the one that DJT had when he had cov*d. There are proven treatments that work, and keep people from even having to be hospitalized or dying. We need our leaders to USE them and not just push the jab.

I've read several times this week that the jab is not so effective, so instead of pushing it we should be promoting HCQ, Ivermectin, and these other treatments! 

I'm concerned by the new push for pregnant women to get the jab. The statistics are not good on this. High miscarriage rates.

Here is good news from the journal Nature - 


Are you aware of CRT? Critical Race Theory? 

Here is snippet of what it is.

" an ideology that is damaging to our students’ intellectual and emotional growth — an ideology that requires students to see themselves not as individuals, but as representatives of either an oppressor or oppressed group. This theoretical framework pervades every division of Dwight-Englewood as the singular way of seeing the world."

You can read more about it {here.} This kind of movement only seeks to divide people, not unite. It creates segregation rather than eliminate it.

Good things are happening, people are waking up, and we must get involved. One thing we've learned over the last year and a half is that we cannot blindly believe government, we cannot just sit silently while people try to take constitutional rights from us. We must speak out. Call or email your local representatives and senators and your federal representatives and senators. Its not hard to do, and this lets them know that people are paying attention to what they vote for or against and comments they've made etc. I'm seeing one of our senators voting in line with his constituents now. That's good!

Have a great weekend! My parents house is officially on the market and they have a viewing today!







Information Friday

Tim and I had a great time visiting our daughter Emma and her family. This birthday crown has seen a lot of heads this past week, but I had ...