Merry Christmas!!!!!

Good morning y'all!!!!     I hope and pray that as each and every one of us anticipated this mornings arrival, that each and every one of us had on our minds the "Reason for the Season"!     I know I did.    With each and every passing Christmas, the "Reason for the Season" grows sweeter and sweeter!    Just to be reminded that the Savior of the world came in to this world in the same manner that you and I did is such an awesome and awe inspiring thing!

God knew we needed a Savior.    God knew we needed someone who could relate to us in every way.    Jesus came into this world as a helpless little baby.     He needed His diapers changed.    He needed to be fed.     He needed to be watched over.    He needed to be nurtured by His mother's love.    He needed to have a strong earthly father figure in His life.    He needed to be taught certain things by His earthly parents.    Jesus had to cut His baby teeth in the same we cut ours, through a lot of tears.    Jesus had the same scrapes and cuts and dings from playing and being a boy that most other little boys did, and a lot of little girls had those same scrapes and cuts and dings.    Jesus knew how badly it hurt to stump His toe on a rock.    Jesus knew what it felt like to play till He got thirsty and tired and kept right on playing for a while longer.

Jesus also knew what it felt like to not be a part of the "in" crowd.    After His ministry started, there was a lot of people that was looking for and planning and plotting ways to kill Him.    And He knew it.    All of those people were from the religious crowd too.    The religious crowd was so full of religion that there was NO way for them to believe that He was the fulfillment of all the teachings that they had been taught.    They just could not believe that He was the long awaited Messiah.    Yet, He had power to heal the sick, cause the blind to see, make the lame to walk, raise the dead and the power to forgive sin!     The religious people could do none of these things.    The religious people were too afraid to come near anyone that needed help of any kind, because they didn't want to become "unclean".     The religious folk expected every one to have smile on their face and act a certain way.

What about us, how close are we willing to come to someone who needs help?   Are we willing to come close enough to get dirty?     Do we expect people to look a certain way, to wear certain clothes, and to smile all the way through what ever it is that's killing them on the inside?   Are we willing to get close enough to smell the rot and stinch of sin?    Are we willing to get close enough to wrap our arms around them and say "Let me tell you about someone who can help you"?    Just how close to those who need a Savior are we willing to get?

Jesus came for ALL of humanity!     Let us make sure that everyone that is in our sphere of influence has the opportunity to hear and learn about how the King of Kings and Lord of Lords was born a babe, yet grew to be the long awaited Savior of the world.     He is still in the business of changing lives and forgiving sin and restoring the years the locusts have eaten.    He is still in the business of seeking and saving the lost.    He is still in the business of renewing and restoring broken lives.     He is still in the business of giving hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, and life to the walking dead.     Friends, if you have experienced that, you have something to be extremely happy about the birth of Lord and Savior!     If you haven't yet experienced that, let me just say, that it's not to late.    Today is the day Salvation.     He did what He did for those of us who need Him!      We ALL need Him!     I hope that if you decide you need Him, that you won't put it off.     Jesus has never turned anyone down that was looking for a relationship with Him!     You can count on Him.     Celebrate Christmas today with a new reason for celebrating.    Celebrate Christmas as being the day you stepped into new life and a new relationship with the Savior of the world!!!!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS'!!!!!!!

I have a couple of different projects to share with y'all today.    I hope you enjoy seeing both of them.   I have had a lot of fun working on both of them.

The above file came from the Silhouette on-line store.   It is a file by Lori Whitlock.   It is a five layer box card.    I LOVED making these cards.     I made several and everyone that got one really loved them.    This is truly a wonderful card and I will be making more of these.

The above pic and the following pics are of bookmarks I have made recently.    They have been a labor of love for me as I work thru some struggles I have had as of late.    When I can keep my hands busy with a worthwhile project and my mind busy with prayer while working on the project, it helps me to get clarity of mind and to be able to hear from the Lord at the same time.     So, each of these bookmarks and the ones that I did not take pics of have all been prayed over.

The ones above are of my sand dollar stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs and I do love that stamp and then the coordinating sentiments that go with it.    I stamp the design with VersaMark and then use my silver embossing powder and heat tool to emboss it.    I then fussy cut it and use my McGill hand embossing tool and work around the outer edge on the back side to get some cupping going on and then use dimensional adhesive to adhere it to the tag cut from card stock.    A little bit of sheer ribbon taped down under the sand dollar sets it off.

These were some of the tags just run thru embossing folders and then I inked the  embossing on the front of the card.    I really love those too.

Close up of the sand dollar.     I do enjoy these.

A close up of one of the sentiments.   I used a corner rounder on the corners of a scrap piece of cardstock and then used liquid pearls to make little rivets on each side of the sentiment.     

 This is the second pile of bookmarks I made.

The two here with the crosses on them are really "grungied" up and I love them.   I just took my ink pads and literally smeared  them around on the tag.   Then I used some of my spray and just spritzed them on the  tags.    I then glued the crosses in place and last but not least used my "goose bumps" spray on them and I love the looks of these two bookmarks and also the feel of them.   They feel like they have little goose bumps on them.   hehehe

Well, that's what I wanted to share with y'all today.   Just a little bit of what I have been up to here lately and I do have more to share later on and hopefully another video or two in the works.

Ladybug, I hope that you are soon much better and that we can celebrate Christmas with the family soon.   Until then, just know that you are loved and have been prayed for by many!    Sweetpea loves you bunches!

I do hope and pray that all of y'all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!!   Thank y'all very much for stopping by here and spending time with me.    I am so thankful for each and every visit and I do love reading your comments.

Remember, God loves y'all and so do I, hugs, Patty

Cards made at Card Ministry night

Hello one and all, Y'all!!!!!    Sure hope this post finds everyone ready for Christmas, because it is upon us.     Ready or not, Christmas is just about here.   When was your most memorable Christmas?     What is the most important gift or the most special gift you ever got for Christmas?      What is the most fun gift you ever got under the Christmas tree?    Who do you remember most at Christmas?      Who do you miss most at Christmas?      What one person, past or present, would you love to spend Christmas Day with if you could? 

I know you are thinking to yourself, "why all the questions?"       No reason, other than to spark your memory, imagination, and thoughtfulness.      This is just some of the questions that are always swirling around in my old noggin come Christmas.    Hopefully, they will help you think about some of your traditions and some of the things that mean a lot to you at this time of year.     For me, personally, when I think about these questions, I am always reminded of the Christ Child.    Now, granted, it hasn't always been that way.     I could answer all of the questions with the answers that I used to come up with.  

But age and maturity has a way of setting one's priorities in order.     I love family, past and present!!!!!      I love all my friends, dearly!!!!!!      I am so thankful to God for all the material blessings He has heaped upon my husband and me!!!!!!      But, now a days my focus is turned towards all the ways that God blessed me by sending a Savior into this world on my behalf.     I am convinced beyond all measure, that if I was the only person ever in need of a Savior, that Jesus Christ would have still been born over 2000 years ago in a stable, just so I could have a relationship with God thru His shed blood on the cross!

I'll stop right here for just a minute and insert some pics of the cards we made earlier in the month for Card Ministry at church.    The lady that gets these cards together does such a fantastic job and I just can't thank her enough for all of her time, energy and talent in putting these together each month.   She certainly has a calling on her life for this ministry and I'm so thankful to get to take part in it with her.

This one, as you can see, is a stained glass window card.    The card background was embossed in a brick embossing folder.   I think it is beautiful.    Then the window was cut on her big shot.    We traced the window and cut a yellow piece of cardstock just a bit smaller than the window and used diff sponges to sponge on color and then put that behind the window and added the greenery and a bow and I think it is just lovely!    It made me really happy!    Yes, it did!

 Ok, this one is more glitz and glam than the others.   I just wish you could see all the sparkle and shimmer on this card.    It totally rocks in person.    The snowflakes were pre-cut in a pkg that she got somewhere and wow are they sparkly.    Then the background was black and silver sparkly shimmery goodness.    Put the two together and they could light up the night sky with all the lovely shimmery sparkly yumminess.    Then for the icing on the cake, we put on some red crystals.    Talk about the "wow" factor, this card is loaded with it!

This one here is maybe the plainest of the three, but none the less, it is still so beautiful!     I love the layers of it.   And then on the white front layer it was stamped with versamark and red embossing powder and it just looks so beautiful. I love how the embossing feels on it.   If you look real closely, you can see in the middle of it, on some of the snowflakes, we put some flat back crystals.    In hand, the crystals really look beautiful.    It was just the touch this card needed.

I hope and pray that you enjoyed seeing these cards.     They were very elegant and I just loved them.     I hope you love them also and can get some inspiration and ideas from the cards we made.

Ok, now back to what I was saying earlier about Christmas.    That is what Christmas means to me, in a nut shell.      That's it!     So I am so thankful and filled with joy to the brim and overflowing that Jesus was born for ALL of us.     I had asked y'all to read the first 2 chapters of Luke sometime as a challenge.     I hope some of you done that.     I wrote this devotional a couple of years ago and posted it on my blog last year and I wanted to do a re-post of it.    It is such a fitting reminder of the fact that Jesus came into the world for all of us, not just some, but for ALL OF US!!!!!!!!     No person in the life of history is excluded in what Christ done.     Our part in this comes when we have to make the decision to believe it and accept it or deny it.     Our denial of Jesus, makes Him no less real.     So, as you read this, look for you in this account of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

Luke 2

Christ Born of Mary

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “Glory to God in the highest,  And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.


I love Luke's account of the Birth of Jesus Christ.     The Angel of the Lord appeared to who?     Get this, the sheep herders, the lowest of the low.     The people in society who were considered unclean.    Everyone looked down on the shepherds.     Look at verses 9 and 10.     The Angel of the Lord appeared before the shepherds!     The greatest announcement the world would ever hear, God chose to make that announcement to the shepherds!     God didn't make that announcement to the heads of states, or to the people that thought they were of great importance, or even to the "religious" crowd.     The religious crowd was more about keeping the law than they were about showing mercy and extending grace, so they were not the chosen ones by God to make this most important announcement.    God made that announcement to the common, low, uncared for people.    Why?    Because they needed Hope!

If the birth of Jesus Christ would have been announced to the heads of state, Caesar Augustus and others, the common people would never have heard that they, too, had hope.     All too often, the "good stuff" is kept away from or kept hidden from those who can benefit the most from it.    Jesus is the "GOOD STUFF" that we ALL have access to, because He chose the shepherds over the heads of state and over the "religious crowd"!!!!      Praise God!!!!!!      We ALL are included in verse 10!

What did the shepherds do in verse 15?    They went straight way to Bethlehem to see exactly what the Angel of the Lord had spoken of.     They searched out the Babe.     They did not stop till they had seen with their own eyes what the Angel had spoken of and about what the multitude of heavenly hosts was praising God for.     Are we still about the business of searching for Christ and seeking Him is this hectic world we live in?     You know, the shepherds had family that depended on them being at work and doing what they needed to do.    In this moment in time, the shepherds had to go see what the Angel had told them.     Would we get up and walk away from our job to go seek and find what an Angel had told us about?       Further more, would we tell others about it?      Are we making widely known, what Jesus Christ has done for us in our lives on a daily basis?     Do people marvel at the things that we tell them about how Christ is at work in our life?      Most of the time we are more excited about watching paint dry than we are about hearing what Christ has done for someone or about sharing what He has done for us personally.

Get a good grip of what the shepherds had just seen.     The Angel of the Lord appeared to them; the multitude of heavenly hosts had praised God right in front of them; and Christ Jesus in a manger.     We can get a glimpse into the number of the multitude of heavenly hosts.     A heavenly host is a number that is as numerous as the stars in the sky, now multiply that by whatever a multitude is!  Multiples of the numbers of the stars in the sky.     I don't know what your take away is from this scene, but I have come to the conclusion that the shepherds were pretty special for God to allow them this miracle.    Remember too, that Jesus referred to Himself as the "Good Shepherd".     Yes, you get the picture, shepherds were special in the eyes of Jesus!!!!

You know what, God loved the shepherds and He proved it, by announcing to them what His plan and intention was.     God loves us and He proved it, by including us in verse 10.     I hope and pray as you read this account of the Birth of Jesus Christ that you can see yourself in verse 10, "good tidings of great joy which will be to "all" people".     Take a real close look; You, my friend are included in the "ALL"!!(written by:pjg12-24-13, edited 12-20-14)

So, I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and I hope you have inspiration to help you enjoy the real meaning of Christmas.    I hope you realize that you was in God's plan all along.    There is a place and plan for each and every on of us.    We just have to find our place and get with God's plan for our lives.    God Bless You as celebrate Christmas this year, knowing that Christ was born for you!

Hope to see you soon Ladybug!   Sweetpea loves you!

I may or may not be back before Christmas, so if I'm not, I just wish y'all the Peace and Goodwill that the Angel spoke of in Luke.    Remember that God loves y'all and so do I.    Merry Christmas!!!!!      hugs, Patty

Another Video Project

Well Y'all, I guess I AM officially hooked on making videos.     What can I say?  Once I get passed hearing my own voice, the video is somewhat tolerable.     hahahahahaha.     Oh well, it's a good thing, or so "they" say.     I don't think the "they's" have ever seen mine yet.   hahaha

A funny little story for y'all.     Yesterday morning I was in the kitchen getting breakfast made before hubby got up.    I love for it to be fresh and hot for him just as soon as he's ready to eat.    Well.....I got the coffee going, had the sausages out of the freezer and ready to cook, and..............(said with head down looking a little sheepish)........yes, folks, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it!     For the shame of it all, "I USE CANNED BISCUITS", most of the time!     There, I said it, and boy do I feel so much better!!!!!!    hahahahahahahaha     Ok, where was I?      Oh yeah, I was getting my baking sheet ready for the biscuits.     They were not the "grands" kind, but they were the large biscuits like them.      I peeled the outer layer away and was getting ready to squeeze the tube to make it pop open and all of the sudden that thing exploded in my hand and made the awfullest loud bang you ever heard and I found myself ducking trying to dodge biscuit shrapnel!!     Mind you, I was the only person up, I started laughing and then all of the sudden, guess what I did!!!!    Go ahead, you will never guess.     Have you made your guess?      Well, I looked all around to see if anyone seen me duck when my biscuit can exploded.     I did!!!!!!    I looked around!!!!!!      Then I realized it was only God and me that seen it, and I feel pretty sure that not only was I laughing, but I really believe He got a kick out of it too!!!!!     I have laughed over that till my sides are sore.    No joke.     Oh well, at least I'm not telling you about having to pick biscuits out of my hair.     hahahahahaha

Ok, now for the video project.     Yes, I am getting hooked!     I enjoy it so much.     This is my second one now, so still be a lot forgiving when you watch it.     What I wanted to show you is how to use some of your scraps to make little gifts to stick in you purse or pocket on the way out and share with someone who checks you out, maybe who does your hair...........just someone that does something for you, you can let them know you appreciate them with a little gift.   I done the same thing last year and I posted pictures on my blog on Nov. 27th, 2013.      So, find that on the right hand side of my blog posts and see how those turned out then and then see how I modified it to be easier this year.     I hope you enjoy this video and would love for you to leave me a message on my blog or in Google+.    

I hope you enjoyed that video.     I hope to be able to bring more to you in the future.     I hope to learn more about videos and making them as time goes along.    I am so thankful for my husband.      He has been helping me to get set up a little better.   It's not anything you will notice from the videos, but it is what I notice and how I can see what I'm doing, and I can see what y'all are seeing as I do it and it helps me keep it in frame a bit better for y'all.     Anyway, we'll see what the future looks like for me and making videos.     I just hope y'all come along for the ride.

As I leave y'all this evening, I leave y'all with a challenge.     The challenge is to read Luke's account of the birth of Christ.    I will be sharing with y'all in a few days my take on what Luke has to say about it.    I wrote what I will be sharing a couple of years ago.    I've been doing a Bible study on the birth of Christ and reading a book I have called "What the Bible is All About", by Henrietta C. Mears and it is a great book with lots of info at your fingertips.    This book was first written in 1953.   The revised edition that I have is the 1983 edition.     Some stuff never goes out of style and that is the case with this book.    All the info is still applicable, simply because the Bible is still applicable to our lives.    Most of the books we read have no direct application to the way we live our lives.     The Bible is the one and only book that we will ever read that can so affect our lives that it can bring about total restoration if we let the radical Words impact us enough to radically change us.    Why do we need total restoration?     Because we are all totally sinners!      Christ is the radical change that we ALL need!      Christ is the radical change "for" ALL!     Not ALL will accept the radical change that Christ offers, although it has been and is freely offered to every human being; past, present and future.     So, I would love for y'all to read the first two chapters of Luke and then we will look at it closer and maybe we can see ourselves in Luke's account of the Birth of Jesus Christ. 

Ladybug, Sweetpea loves you and hopes you are keeping your toes warm!  

Till we meet right back here again in a few days, stay warm y'all!    Remember that God loves y'all and so do I!!!!   hugs, Patty

A Video on My Quilled Card

Good evening y'all!     I hope y'all are cozy, comfy and warm wherever you are.     The sun decides to shine here in my neck of the woods for about 15 minutes today.      It is now almost 5:00pm and it is almost dark outside, just because there was no sunshine.    I am ready for a little myself.    I just know that if I will be patient, it will.     So.....Lord help me to be patient and wait for the sunshine.     But while I wait, please let the "Son" shine in me!!!!!!!!!

The very first post I ever made to my blog back in August of 2013, I mentioned I would like to do videos one day.    I never actually thought I would, but I also thought, "who knows", I may actually do it some day.     Well, with a little encouragement from some friends, I have started trying to do new things.    I am slowly trying to climb out of the box that I have been in, and when I get tired of trying to climb out by myself, these friends will start pulling and pushing, trying to help me along.     (God bless our pushing and pulling friends!!!)     Sometimes we realize that it's ok to be a spectator, but other times we see we want to participate in the fun activities.     So, I have decided to try to participate!     

When you watch this video, please watch with NON-CRITICAL eyes.     This is the first time I have had an inkling to even want to do something like this, and as crude as it is, I am pretty happy with it, remembering it is my first video to post on my blog.      I do hope and pray that you will enjoy watching it.

                           

This was a fun endeavor for me and I hope you liked watching it.    All of the quilling tools and supplies I used can be purchased from Quilled Creations or Hobby Lobby, but I'm not sure about Joann's and Michaels.     Just Google Quilling supplies and you'll find a lot, I'm sure.     I really hope to be able to make more videos.    I hope to be able to make them more appealing as time goes on.    This is just for fun, and I can say I "almost" had fun.     The sixth recording was just about enough to burst my "fun" bubble y'all.    hahahaha

I am gonna let y'all off easy tonight.    I'm just gonna say that God loves y'all more than you could possibly ever know or realize.    Thank Him today for all He has done for you.     One of the women in Sunday School Class a few weeks back said she seen something one time that said something like this:  ""What if you woke up in the morning, only with the things and people in you lives that you thanked God for yesterday?""    Would your world be larger or smaller than it is right now?    Kinda makes you think, doesn't it.    Well, I am thankful to God for my Jesus, my husband and the job that he has, I'm thankful for the health that we have, my family and their jobs and health, my friends and their jobs and health, my church family their jobs and health, all the material blessings that God has bestowed upon my husband and me.    We have all that we need, everything we want, food, clothing, a house and a roof over our heads and the list goes on.   Make your list and thank God for all that's on it!

Ladybug, I hope you have stayed dry today.   Sweetpea loves you lots!

Goodnight Y'all!    God loves y'all and so do I.     hugs and blessings, Patty 

A Quilled Card and Jesus Through the Bible

Good morning Y'all!     I have learned that where ever I am, and what ever the situation is on the outside, if I wake up and get out of bed when morning comes, "IT IS A GOOD MORNING"!     With that said, it is an awful dreary, wet and cold morning in my neck of the woods today, with more of the same to be expected.     Yuk!!!     On the up side though, it is cozy, warm and dry inside!!!!    How blessed am I to be able to say that?     Thank you Lord!!!!

I got an e-mail yesterday form a friend that is one of our county extension agents and she  said that yesterday was "eat-in" day.     Encouraging us to fix a healthy meal for our families and eat together and enjoy it.     Then to post about it on face book or any of the other social media sites.     Since I do not do face book, I decided I would share it here, on my blog.     Well, even before I got that message from her, I was already making some homemade vegetable beef stew and cornbread sticks.    I thawed a couple of thin small rib eye steaks that I had gotten at the Dollar Tree, yes, you read right, the Dollar tree.    I cut those into bite sized pieces and browned the meat in my electric pressure cooker.    The I started adding all the veggies that we love.    I don't know about you, but I am so thankful that we have access to wonderful frozen veggies year around in the frozen foods aisles at the grocery stores.    I love to keep bags of the mixed veggies on hand for just such quick ideas and all the healthy goodness that comes with the veggies.     A lot of the processed, canned foods, as good as they are, they have tons of sodium and other stuff that we just don't need.     So, with the pressure cooker and frozen veggies, it doesn't take long to whip up a great stew!    We really enjoyed it and will have it for lunch again today.     So, that was our healthy "eat in" meal.

The other day when I made my last post to my blog, after I had written the title of that days posting, I changed my mind about the project that I was sharing.   Then when I posted it to the Google+ groups, it had the wrong title.    I'm telling y'all, some day's I'm just to be pitied.    hahahaha      Oh well, what's a girl to do?  I believe in keeping everyone on their toes.    So, it was actually "planned".     Yeah, right!

Anyway, today I wanted to share a card with y'all that I made.    It is a "quilled" card.     I just love quilling and I finally got to get the "cherished"  quilling comb that I had been wanting for so long.    I just broke down and got it.    It is so fun!     I had always wanted to make a quilled cross with it and I did.    Yay!!   Keep in mind, this card is nothing fancy at all.    It is actually the first one I made.     But, it won't be my last.    

I just really love it!!!!     After I got it made and glued down, I used a gold Wink of Stella pen and brushed over it to give the look I wanted.    You now the look, the bling-y look.    hehehe

I just can't wait to make more.     I know a white on white would be beautiful.    

Do you ever sit down to read the Bible and wish you knew exactly who Jesus is in the particular book of the Bible that you are reading?     Well, I used too also.    A friend of mine sends me a morning devotional every morning.    She has a list of several people that she sends to.     The devotionals are always so spot on with what I need and always about how God is working in my own life at the time.    I was thinking one day that it would be so nice to know up front just how Jesus was represented in each particular book of the Bible.     No sooner than I had that thought, I checked my email and good golly miss molly, guess what was there?   Go ahead, guess.     Yup, you guessed it, Jesus Through The Bible!     I have enjoyed having it and wanted to share it with y'all.    I do NOT know who put this together, so, that is why I put the word "copied" at the end of it.    It is not my writing and I don't want to claim it.    But, I do hope that you enjoy it as much as I have.

Jesus Through the Bible

In GENESIS, Jesus is the Ram at Abraham's altar
In EXODUS, He's the Passover Lamb
In LEVITICUS, He's the High Priest
In NUMBERS, He's the Cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night
In DEUTERONOMY, He's the City of our Refuge
In JOSHUA, He's the Scarlet Thread out by Rahab's Window
In JUDGES, He is our King
In RUTH, He is our Kinsman Redeemer
In 1st and 2nd SAMUEL, He's our Trusted Prophet
In KINGS and CHRONICLES, He's our Reigning King
In EZRA, He is our Faithful Scribe
In NEHEMIAH, He's the Rebuilder of everything that is broken
In ESTHER, He is the Mordecai sitting faithful at the gate
In JOB, He is Our Redeemer that ever liveth
In PSALMS, He is My Shepherd
In PROVERBS and ECCLESIASTES, He is Our Wisdom
In the SONG OF SOLOMON, He's the Beautiful Bridegroom
In ISAIAH, He's the Suffering Servant
In JEREMIAH and LAMENTATIONS, He's the Weeping Prophet
In EZEKIEL, He's the Wonderful Four-Faced Man
In DANIEL, He is the Fourth Man in the midst of a fiery furnace
In HOSEA, He is My Love that is Forever Faithful
In JOEL, He is the Holy Spirit
In AMOS, He's our Burden Bearer
In OBADIAH, He's Our Savior
In JONAH, He is the Great Foreign Missionary
In MICAH, He is the Messenger with Beautiful Feet
In NAHUM, He is the Avenger
In HABAKKUK, He is the Watchman that is ever praying for revival
In ZEPHANIAH, He is the Lord Mighty to Save
In HAGGAI, He is the Restorer of our Lost Heritage
In ZECHARIAH, He is Our Fountain
In MALACHI, He is the Son of Righteousness with Healing in His Wings
In MATTHEW, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God"
In MARK, He's the Miracle Worker
In LUKE, He's the Son of Man
In JOHN, He is the Door by which everyone of us must enter
In ACTS, He is the Shining Light that appears to Saul on the Damascus road
In ROMANS, He is our Justifier
In 1st CORINTHIANS, He is our Resurrection
In 2nd CORINTHIANS, He is our Sin Bearer
In GALATIANS, He is Our Redeemer
In EPHESIANS, He is our Unsearchable Riches
In PHILIPPIANS, He is the Supplier of Our Every Need
In COLOSSIANS, He's the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily
In 1st and 2nd THESSALONIANS, He is our Soon Coming King
In 1st and 2nd TIMOTHY, He is the Mediator between God and man
In TITUS, He is our Blessed Hope
In PHILEMON, He is the Friend that sticks closer than a brother
In HEBREWS, He's the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant
In JAMES, He is the Healer of the Sick
In 1st and 2nd PETER, He is the Chief Shepherd
In 1st, 2nd, and 3rd JOHN, He is the Author of Love
In JUDE, He is the Lord coming with 10,000 Saints
And in REVELATION, He is the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (copied)

I don't know about y'all, but I love each and ever description of who Jesus is in every one of them.    I claim Him "AS" each and every one of these over my own life.     I pray that you will too!

May you allow God to bless you today in the way that He wants to.    Lets take the challenge of keeping God out of the "box" and letting Him be as big as He wants to be in our lives.     My dreams for myself are too small, so I try to let God dream for me.    He dreams big!     Nothing is impossible with God!

Have a wonderful day Ladybug!   Sweetpea loves you!

Be blessed today y'all, in all that you do!     Just know that God loves y'all and so do I.    hugs, Patty

A Wreath and a Re-Post from December 2013

Good evening Y'all!   I hope and pray that where ever y'all are on this great wonderful globe that we live on that y'all are doing great this night.    It feels colder than it actually is here in my neck of the woods and it has been like that all day.   Weather Bug says 39* is to be low tonight, but, we'll just have to wait and see about that.    It feels colder that than already!    brrrrr     hahaha

Over on the Kraafters Kommunity, +Sylvia Tabor showed us how to make wreaths from manilla tags and several of the kraafters over there made some.   I made one also and wanted to share it with y'all.    My colors were somewhat muted, but I really loved it!!!!!    When we went to see my Mom over the weekend,  I took it to her and she really loved it and took down her fall wreath right then and put up this one on her door.    I made a poinsettia with seed beads in the center of it and put that on the center of my wreath.   I took a pic of it in my house before I took it to Mom.     Hope you like it. 

I wanted to write something special for Christmas this year......but, I really wanted to share what I posted last year.     This is a devotional that I wrote in 2010 while going thru a life changing Bible Study.   And this is the pure, raw Joy that I felt at the time.     As Christmas was nearing, God was giving me words and I had to put pen to paper, and this is the results.    Before I put it on my blog last year, I edited my own writing and wanted to remember that, so I did make a notation at the end of it.    This may be my tradition each year, to share this and some other writings that I have written, during the month of December.    We all have so much to be thankful for and when we can let thanksgiving spill over into Christmas and follow the star that shown over Bethlehem, then the celebration of Christ's birth can take on a new meaning.    I hope that this will be a meaningful read for y'all,


Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday Jesus!! This is the time of year that we celebrate Your wonderful birthday!  As I think about the celebration, I think about the changes that Your Birthday has made to the world in which I live.  I think about pain and joy and happiness and sadness and baggage and travel and many more things that I just don't have the proper words describe.

When I think of pain, I think of the pain You must have had, for You to leave the grandeur of heaven and come to earth, to be born a baby in a manger in a stable where the animals got to be a witness to the most wonderful and amazing birth the world has ever witnessed.  But that was just the beginning of the pain for You.  You could have chosen to stay in heaven, but You chose our lives over your own life.  When You was on the cross, we was on your mind.

When I think of joy and happiness, I think of the joy and happiness that only mothers truly understand.  I personally, am not a mother, but, I was born with the heart of a mother.  I can see and sense the joy and happiness that new moms feel when they are holding and snuggling with their new-born bundles of joy, the same joy and happiness that Mary had on the night You were born.

When I think of sadness, I think of the sadness that Mary must have had when she realized that Your life was so much than that of her child.  Your life was so much bigger than Mary could have ever imagined, even when she seen Your life spilling from You at Calvary.  The pouring out of Your life is what enabled Your Light to shine from heavenly places.  Your life was and is the the Light of this world.  The Light that we call Salvation.  The world thought that if they extinguished the light in one life, Your Life, that they could put out the Light of Goodness and Hope.  Not so, all of us who have accepted You as our Lord and Savior are reflections of Your Light.

When I think of baggage, I think of all the baggage that each and every one of us came to You with.  We come to You at different ages and stages of our lives. Some of us were younger, and therefore less baggage.  Some of us were older, with more baggage.  When I look back at the baggage of my own personal life, I can see all the ways that You have cleaned me up.  You have given me a new thought process, You have given me a new word to speak, You have given me a new song in my heart, You have given me a clean heart.  You have taken away shame, bitterness, hatred, anger.  You made a new creature out of me.

When I think of travel, I am reminded that You traveled by foot, by boat, and by donkey.  I am also reminded that when You traveled, where ever You traveled, You were about Your Father's business.  You changed the lives of all who came in contact with You.  You took some men, not loved by many, and touched their lives and changed their lives in ways they could never have imagined.  You, alone, Jesus, had compassion on the women You came in contact with, and changed their lives and enabled them to have a reason to celebrate.  You went into the market places, into the homes of the most common, You went into the synagogues, You cleaned up the temple, You taught people how to live. You showed us that our life is not our own.  It is Yours, bought and paid for with Your blood.  You taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  You gave us Your life, You gave us Your Light, You gave us Your Hope, and You keep giving us renewed strength from day to day to live in this world, and to reach out and offer Hope and Light to those we come in contact with while we travel the hi-ways and byways.

So, in remembering Your Birthday, Jesus, and celebrating the Joy that You have given each of us through Your birth, I say thank You, Jesus, that You chose to be born.  Thank You, that You were born for the most common.  Thank You, that You taught us how to live.  Thank You, that You made the way for us to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father.   Please help us to be about our Father's business till You come again.

So , we celebrate You, Wonderful, Prince of Peace, Bright Morning Star, Gift of God, Lily of the Valley, Son of God, Rock of Ages, Judge, Savior, Prince, Emmanuel, Rose of Sharon, Physician, Fountain, Guide, Bread of Life, Advocate.   Thank You God, that You loved us enough to give us the very Best that You had to offer on Christmas Day!!!(written by: pjg 10-8-2010, edited 12-1-13)

I'm not a "good" writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy trying to express what I feel about my Lord and Savior as well as I possibly can.

Ladybug, I love you and had a great visit with you over the weekend.    Look forward to seeing you again soon.    Sweetpea

I pray that everyone has a great night of restful sleep and that you find something to thank God for before you close your eyes in sleep.    Always remember that God loves y'all, and so do I.    hugs, Patty

Sand Dollar Card and Something X-tra

Happy Saturday after Thanksgiving Y'all!!!!     (for those of us in the United States)      Did Y'all "Gobble till you Wobble"?      I hope the worst that anyone has done this Thanksgiving Holiday is eat too much turkey and dressing!      I have it on good authority, that Thanksgiving calories "DON'T COUNT".        Yay!!!!!       Now, if you believe that one, I'll tell you another "one" before that one gets cold!       hahahahahahaha       Oh well, it doesn't hurt to try, does it?       My "honey" has had vacation this week and it has been a great time!!!      If you will remember back to October when he took another week of vacation time, I got sick on Wednesday of that week, and have just now recovered from that.     So, this has been a wonderful week for both of us.     I told him yesterday that he was gonna have to go back to work just to get some rest!!!!      hahahaha     

On Tuesday one of my brothers came and spent the best part of the day with us.     I was really happy that he got to come for a visit.      We had breakfast at Shoney's, which is always great.   (those calories don't count either, hehehehe)      After breakfast, we went driving around and showing my brother some of the country and terrain where we live.     He really enjoyed it.     We drove to Cheatham County and showed him some of the areas that was under 20 feet or more of water back in May of 2010, when we had the great flood.     It is unreal to think of this area having flooded like that, but it did.  

Then yesterday, we got up early and got ready to go see my mom for a bit up in Ky.      She will be having Thanksgiving on Sunday for those that can be there.     We won't be there, so that's why we ran up for a bit yesterday.     While there, I got to see another one of my brothers; the one that is a part time mail carrier.     I ran out and gave him a big ole' hug and then let him get on with his work, and then he came by mom's apartment to give her her mail and he hollered at us before he left on the rest of his route.      So, we had a great little visit with mom yesterday.      I am hoping to get to go up to moms for at least one long weekend in December.     I have dr appointments and things like that that are making it difficult for me to get up there.   

It has been a great time of reflection for me.      I have SO very much to be thankful for.      I am so thankful for my husband!      God gave me the "Best of the Best" when He chose my husband for me!!!!      And I thank God every day for that wonderful blessing!!!!    

I thank God for my family.      That includes all of my family; parents, brothers, grand parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, sisters-in-laws, nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews,......and even the people that has hung out with our family so much that they just became an adopted part of the family.     ggg   

I thank God for the friends that He has blessed me with!!!!!     I am so blessed and fortunate to have people in my life that I can get together with from time to time and just have fun and fellowship with.     I always look forward to the times that we can get together and just have a great time!      I am thankful for my friends that I can call or text and just say "Pray", and that's what they do.     I am also thankful for my "on-line" friends!!!!      The joy and fun and fellowship that we have on-line is just a gift in itself!!!!     The fact that we can pray for our long-distant friends is amazing.     You know what, we may be long-distant from each other, but God hears our prayers just as if we were all gathered together, around His feet and talking to Him!      We each have the same connection to God and that is "prayer", and when we pray for one another, He hears us!!!!!!!

I am thankful for all the material "stuff" that God has blessed my husband and myself with.     We have a wonderful roof over our heads, food in the cabinets, clothes on our backs, covers to keep us warm, and all kinds of toys and gadgets, and vehicles to drive, gas for the vehicles...............and the list goes on.     I am thankful to God for all that He has blessed us with.

I am thankful to God most for my Salvation!!!!       The fact that Jesus Christ would sacrifice so much for me; a nobody, a down and out, a Gentile, someone that no one else would walk to the other side of the road for, a shepherd, a publican, someone dead, but just hadn't lain down yet.    Can you relate to any of that?      If you are a Pharisee, No, you can't relate to that.     But, if you recognize yourself as a sinner, or a sinner saved by Grace, you know what I am speaking of, and you could probably even add to my list.     Just like Lazarus, when Jesus called my name, I had no choice but to go running to Him, leaving behind the tomb of death, with grave clothes on and all hanging from my body and dragging behind me!      Just like Lazarus, I have been brought back from the company of the dead, into new life and victory every day!       This is not based on anything I have done, mind you.     It is based on what Jesus Christ has done for me!!!     You see, if I'm a Pharisee, I see that I am good, in and of myself and don't need help or don't need being brought back from the tomb of death.     But..........when we recognize ourselves as sinners, in need of something and most of the time we don't even know what we need, we just know we need something, then, when Jesus calls our names, THERE IT IS, that's what we was in need of!!!!!!!!       And we go running to Him, thankful for His call on our lives!      I didn't have to do a thing, but hear and accept Jesus calling my name!!!!!      I couldn't buy it, a friend couldn't give it to me, I didn't have to go on a long journey looking for it, there's no hoops to jump through.......It is the Free Gift of Salvation, bought and paid for, and given freely by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, my Messiah!!!!!!

Friends, if you haven't had the opportunity to have an encounter with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray that you would just call out His name right now, and tell Him you need a radical change in your life and that you believe He is the radical change you need!      Jesus always hears our plea for help!      If you don't know anything else to say, just say "Help me Jesus"!      I guarantee He will hear you and help you.       Then you need to seek out a friend that you know is already walking with Christ and tell them and let them help you find a Bible believing, Bible teaching church and start reading and studying your Bible.      Read two or three verses a day then read more and more and study.     Soon, you will find that you are eager to get into God's Word and find out what He wants to share with you today.      It is an exciting journey!       More than likely, you will have to change some of the friends in your life.      Not to be discouraging, but when we have accepted the call of God on our lives, it is radical, and that calls for radical changes.      Some of the people we hang with has to change, some of the places we used to frequent have to change, some of the activities we used to do have to change, simply because we want to be obedient to God, our Father, who has graciously given to us Mercy and Grace and the ability to have a relationship with Him thru Jesus Christ.        Praises, praises and more praises!!!!

That's some of the things I am thankful for!!!!      I am also thankful for all the crafting toys that God has blessed me with!!!!      I love to make cards and share pics of them with y'all.      I recently made another sand dollar card.      I just love the sand dollar stamps and enjoy using them.      This is what I came up with:

I done the usual, white card base, then a black layer and next a purple layer.     I used purple sheer ribbon under the tag and under the sand dollar.     I love the stuff I get at the Dollar Tree!!!!!

This little tag was cut from a Spellbinder tag and my cuttlebug.

The sand dollar was stamped with versa mark and then I embossed it with silver embossing powder and my heat gun.     Then I fussy cut it with some scissors.     I just love silver embossing powder, it gives my  "bling", and y'all know how much I love some good bling!!!!

This is the inside sentiment.    I stamped it on plain printer paper and used a Martha Stewart punch on two of the edges and kept two of the edges plain.    I stamped the sentiment in Memento London Fog and inked the edges of the insert with a silver gray cat eye ink pad.    Then used some platinum pearl drops in three of the corners and also a few spots on the front of the card also.   At the very top, I used a bit of that ribbon and just tied a knot and glued the little ribbon to the top.    And, there you have it, my latest sand dollar card.

Now, here is the something X-tra!!!!!

"Look Ma, I can fly!!!!!"       "Weeeeeee, I just learned to spread my wings and soar!!!!!!"         In reality, my husband was showing my brother how he has me trained!       hahahahahahahaha       I was cracking up as I typed this, just at how hilarious that last statement was, because my husband does NOT have me trained in any way, form shape or fashion, (I just let him think he does.)       ssshhhh, don't tell anyone, it's our little secret.

Now, for the rest of the story......hubby was showing my brother the camera system we have.     2 or 3 years ago we had 2 attempted break ins, so this is what we done, it won't keep anyone from breaking in, but we would have evidence to show the police to help catch whom ever it was.      So, with that in mind, hubby said,   "Hun, would you go wave at the camera, please?"      I said, "Sure, my goal in life is to wave at the camera!"        So, I did.      But, guess what, I did it my way!!!!!!      I waved as "Super Woman", showing off my flying skills!       And, I had just come in for landing and wanted to show off my ability to land on one foot.       It was a rough landing, but I survived.      hahahahahaha

This one was after I had safely landed and you can see the happiness on my face!     Oh well, it was a tough job, but I was happy to be the guinea pig for this experiment to show my brother.      Truth be known, I've done sillier stuff than that, and I may just have to share some of the silly stuff I've done with y'all sometime, just to prove it to ya'.       Does that sound like a plan or what?

No, I just wanted to share the face behind the words for a change!       She's a lot kookie, a little goofy, but always ready to laugh and have fun.       That's me in a nut shell.       Remember, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, either.       I proudly come from a long line of nuts!!!!!!        Some are hickory nuts, walnuts, cashews, macadamias, almonds, pecans, but mostly just plain ole' "goobers"!!!!      hahahahaha

That's it for today.     Sorry it has been so long.     Just needed to breathe.      I hope and pray that all of y'all have a wonderful weekend.      God bless each and every one of y'all.      God loves y'all and so do I!!!!!!!      hugs, Patty

Special Card

Good evening Y'all!    Just watching a little Dancing with the Stars and thought I would try to get a blog post up, before I call it a night.    Hope everyone is doing well!     There is a lot of coughs and colds going around in my neck of the woods, but I think I'm somewhat better.    Not completely over it, but getting there.    I pray that if any of y'all get it or are sick with it now, that it doesn't last long and that you can get over it quickly.    Take care of yourselves.    I was just looking at the weather app on my cell phone and we are in for some arctic weather this week, with the possibility of a snow mix on this coming Sunday.   brrrrr     I dread it!     When I was younger, I loved cold weather.    But now that I am a little older and and a lot wiser, I would just as soon to have it pass us by!    But, we will have to deal with it as it comes.    So, I guess I have to just buck up and get ready for it.    There will be a rush at the grocery stores on milk and bread for sure.    Just wait and see.    hahaha

I made a special card today and wanted to share it with y'all.    I really did enjoy this card so much.    A friend picked up a stamp at Good Will and asked me if I would make a card for her.   I was more than thrilled to do this.    Especially when someone says, "just do what ever you want to do", those are my favorite words.   hahaha    I hope you enjoy looking at this card.

I had a blast making this card.    I used some Spellbinders dies for most of the cuts.

Oh yeah, got to get my bling on with this one!    Don't cha know that I am one happy camper!!

I love the butterflies and the glittery goodness.   

In this pic, I wanted to show the layers of the two diff ribbons and then the flat back pearls that I used.

This is the stamp that my friend had picked up at Good Will and wanted me to use.    I think it is a lovely sentiment.    It is the main sentiment on the inside.

This is the sentiment on the upper portion of the card.

Ok, so my card was dimensional with the butterflies and I didn't want them to get crushed flat so I had to make an envelope for it.    I used my Silhouette software and designed an envelope.   And then I could not resist putting more blingy goodness on the outside of it.

This is a side view showing the depth of the envelope.

This one shows a bit more depth.    I got my envelope designed and cut out.    Then I used my envelope creator and punched all the corners out and then rounded all the points of the envelope.    I really love my envelope and I think it should be pretty much custom sized for any size card.    I had a couple of scraps left from cutting my envelope and I used those to just fussy cut a couple of easels to tuck inside the envelope to sit the card and envelope on, so they are matchy matchy.

I sure hope you loved seeing this card as much as I loved showing it to you.    It was fun to make this.   I know my friend will be pleased and I can't wait to give it to her, she will be so pleased.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day.    Thank a Veteran tomorrow.     We owe a lot to all of our service men and women; those who have served and those serving now.    They put their lives in harms way for their country, the United States of America.    Thank you so much for your service to your country.    I pray for the stability of the world so that all of our men and women can come home to their families.

As you think about what the Veterans have done for you, think about what Jesus Christ has done for you.    Have you ever been in a pit, been slavery to sin and prisoner to fear?    Of course you have, or maybe that is your present situation.    It does not have to be, because Jesus can remove you from the pit, break the bonds of slavery, and throw open the prison doors.    How do I know that?     He has done that for me!     He can do that for you, too.    Trust Him, Believe Him and let Him!

I pray that everyone has a wonderful night of renewing rest tonight and pleasant and sweet dreams.    I pray that your tomorrow is full of blessing that fill you to overflowing so that those around you are blessed by you.   Share the blessing that Christ has shared with you.

Ladybug, I hope and pray that you have a marvelous night and a wonderful day tomorrow.   Stay warm!    Sweetpea loves you!

Goodnight y'all, be blessed and remember that God loves y'all and so do I!    hugs, Patty

November, a time to give Thanks

Hello Y'all!!!     I pray that each and every one of y'all are finer than frog hair this morning!     If you are, then you're doing pretty fine!    Ever tried to find a frog hair?     Hahahaha     Yeah, I know, just a little smartie this morning, but it's all in good fun.     Just wanted to report that since the last post I made, I am finally getting over what ever it was that I had.     For that, I am so thankful!!!!!    I know a lot of people have been praying for me and I am so very thankful for all the prayers.

Sunday morning in my neck of the woods, it was down to 21*!  Y'all, that's pretty cold for the first of November.     But, like they say, "If you don't like it, wait 15 minutes for the next weather change, it'll be more to your likin'."    And it is, it's a balmy 63* this morning.    The wind blew over the weekend some, not a lot, but just enough to bring the leaves off the trees in the woods behind us up to blanket our back yard and most of the front with a beautiful quilt of fall colored leaves.    It really looks like each one was hand placed, and I guess one could say they were hand placed by God.     God is such a fine decorator and He knows so much about color placement.     After all, the original color pallet is His!     Thank You God, for all the colors of Fall that we love so much!

When November rolls around each year, it always stirs the memories of days gone by.    I don't actually know why it has that effect on me, but it does.    And this November is no different.    I have so much swirling around in my head and some would say that's just muddy water, and most of the time I would agree.    hahaha      But, I thought I would try to get my thoughts down before I forgot them.     It may be God's way of reminding me that I have now and always have had a lot to be thankful for.     God is good like that, in helping us to remember the good stuff.     So, I'm just gonna start with the first thing that came to mind here back.

November is the time of year around here when everyone starts thinking about the Christmas Parades.     Here in my county, there will be no less than four Christmas Parades later on in the month and maybe early in December.    When I think of these Parades, I'm automatically transported back to the days of going to the Parade in my hometown many years ago.    Just the festivities of it, and remembering it now will bring tears to my eyes for more reasons than one.     Just the nostalgia of those days for me was fun.     One of those years, my next to the youngest older brother had been crowned Senior Homecoming King and there was a Queen also of our school.     So, they ushered the Parade in by sitting in a convertible with their crowns on and waving to the crowd.     Now a days, we would say he was a "cutie pie".    And he was a cutie pie then, too.     But he knew better than to bring that "kingly" attitude home and try to "lord" it over the rest of us common folk though.    hahaha

Another thing I vividly remember is that each year Santa Claus came riding in to the Parade on a "coal powered steam engine".    It was a fascinating piece of machinery.    This man in our community owned the steam engine.    He kept it painted candy apple red, polished and shined till the sun shining off it would just about blind you.    Everyone, children and adults alike, loved to see this thing come down the road, chug chug chugging along down main street, with Santa riding in it and waving and doing the "Ho Ho Ho" thing, all the while tossing out hands full of hard candy to the crowd.

This one particular year I was really close to where the steam engine was coming down the road, I had a bulls-eye view of it and was just taking the sight of it in.   Santa was "Ho Ho Ho-ing" and tossing out hands full of candy.     I was oblivious to the candy, just looking at the steam engine.     All of a sudden, my eyes caught sight of a piece of candy coming right at me and I was frozen.  I could not move a muscle and that piece of candy hit me right smack dab between the eyes with the force of being shot out of a canon and knocked me down, and out for a bit!!!!!     Well, needless to say Santa Claus is NOT at the top of my list anymore!!!!!    How come Santa Claus tried to kill me?     That was several years before the days of "Grandma got run over by a Reindeer" too!    I think there just might be a song in this story somewhere.     Now, I was in the 8th grade.     I wore a little makeup, but let me tell you, there wasn't enough makeup in the state of Ky to cover this knot as big as a golf ball and bruise on my forehead, right between the eyes!!!!!!     You know, if I had been that bad that year, he could have just left me some coal in my stocking, he didn't have to bring it down to such a personal level and try to take me out singlehandedly with a piece of candy!!!!!      hahahaha      I'm telling you, no one could have taken aim for me and hit me spot on between the eyes, better than Santa Claus did!!!!     I think I still hold the honor of being the only person ever in my little town, to get hit between the eyes with a piece of HARD candy, thrown by Santa Claus!!!!!     And, needless to say, as much as I love Parades today, that was the last one I ever went too!!!!!!     And if anyone ever talks me into going to another one, I will have a helmet on with a face shield!!!!!!     You just can't trust anyone in a stuffed red suit throwing candy, shouting "HO HO HO!!!!!!     Santa Claus is still on my mud list for that, by the way!!!!    hahaha

Another thing that I remember is my mom baking turkeys!!!     She was and still is one of the best cooks in the world in my book.     She always had the knack of taking a little and making it feed 8 and having leftovers to boot.     There wasn't anything she couldn't cook and there still isn't anything that she can't cook!!!!     But, back then, when they went for the turkey, she always opted for the largest turkey in the store.    She always tried to get between a 25 and 30 pounder.    My dad and brothers always hunted wild game to supplement the groceries.    In the fall, they would bird hunt and with them all getting their quotas each day, there was a lot to go in the freezers.    I remember this one year when mom was cooking the turkey and getting everything ready for the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, and she put a bunch of quail around the turkey as it was cooking and that is what we got to eat for supper on Wednesday night.     They were absolutely delicious!!!!!   I will never forget Mom raising the lid off the turkey cooker and seeing all those little quails placed around the turkey.    It was kinda funny looking.    This massive turkey with all those little birds around it!     There was probably 20 or more of those quail cooked around the turkey.    It was a fun way for mom to cook the quail.    And, remember the brother I mentioned as being the "king" back up earlier?    Well, he loved the whole pulley bones.  

Some of you may not know what a pulley bone is, but it is above the breast, where the neck comes down and is joined to the bird.     (A human beings counterpart to the pulley bone would be our collar bone.)    The way chickens are processed now, you don't ever get a pulley bone.     It you want to have the pulley bone, you have to dress a chicken yourself and then cut that front part of the upper breast off and it will have that bone in it with a really nice piece of white meat on that bone.     Whoever got the pulley bone was "lucky" and got to break the pulley bone with another person.   The person who had the biggest piece of bone after making a wish and pulling it apart, that person's wish was supposed to come true.    The turkey always has a pulley bone, because they are still whole, but most people get rid of it as soon as the bird is cooked and sliced.

Anyway, this brother loved the pulley bones, just for the bones themselves and he collected them all.     If there was any fingernail polish around home, he would steal it (from my mom and me) and paint his pulley bones with it.    (kings can get away with stealing!   hahaha)    And then he would put them in his car.     He would use them to scare his girlfriends so he could put his arms around them and keep them safe!     Yeah, RIGHT!!!!!     (Bunch of ditzy girls!)     hahaha       He would make up some big tale about what they were and where he got them and they would believe him!      (Bunch of ditzy girls!)     hahaha

Another time I remember at Thanksgiving many years ago, my uncle and his son came down from Ohio just to go rabbit hunting with my grandfather and another cousin and my dad and five brothers.     So, the grand total head count of hunters with guns that day was 10 people.     Waaaaayyyyyy too many people in the woods with guns!!!!!!      My dad and grandfather and uncle was really cautioning everyone about being careful and making sure the sight was clear before they fired their gun and all that.     Well, guns was blazing going off here and going off there and they were bagging rabbits going and coming.     The area they were hunting in had a small ravine in between two wooded hill sides.    You could stand on one wooded hill side and see very easily over to the other wooded hill side.     Rabbits being bagged, guns firing and all the sudden, my dad sees a rabbit on the hillside opposite him and took aim and fired.      Just as he fired, my oldest brother stepped up behind the rabbit that dad had shot at.     It happened so quickly that dad seen him in the sights, just AFTER he fired the gun.     Down my brother went.      I reckon dad started yelling for everyone else and started running down the hill he was on and up the other hill my brother was on.     Dad got to him and he was ok!!!      While all this was happening, I had went up to my other grandparents house who lived on the hill just above us and spent the evening with them.    Mom was at home by herself, something that usually NEVER happened.     Dad brought my brother home and got him inside.     My mother had the "small" task of picking buckshot out of my brother.     One went thru one of his ears.     Another buckshot hit the middle of his forehead.     Another one hit his throat.     Could have been serious, but by the grace of God, it wasn't.     Every place on the rest of his body had at least four or five layers of clothing under each buckshot.     So, mom would have to pick out the shot and then all the layers of clothing.      I was still up at my other grandparents house and didn't know anything had happened.      My dad and one of my other brothers came up there.     Remember the "king", it was him.

He had a serious problem when we were all growing up.     If you heard him rolling with laughter, you better go check!     Most of the time someone was seriously hurt!!!!      Mom always knew if she heard him laughing uncontrollably, someone was in trouble.

So, anyway, dad and my brother came up to mamaw and papaw's house that evening.     I just sensed that something wasn't quite right.     Dad started telling what had happened and my brother was sitting on a stool in front of the window and he was just cracking up laughing!!!     I jumped up, grabbed my coat and hit the door running and did not stop till I was inside our house and checking on my other brother and seeing if he was gonna be alright.     Well, he was.     None the worse for wear.      Someone asked why he didn't go to the hospital.     My brother said that he knew his mother wouldn't hurt him and she could do anything the doctor could do.     That was high praises for my mother, and my brother was right.   She had vested interest in her children, where the doctor didn't.    Let me tell you, there was never 10 people in the woods hunting at one time again, ever!     God is good!    That situation had the potential to be really bad, but by His hand of protection, my brother was a-ok through that situation.  

As I was thinking about all of this, something else came to mind.     I had been out town shopping here while back and came in just at sunset.     The street that I live on faces west.     With that in mind, sometimes if I am out at the right time,  I get to see a lovely sunset.    This particular sunset was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen!!!!!     As I was coming down the street, I looked up and was just absolutely stunned by what I seen!!!!     I have never seen as many beautiful colors all swirled together!     I literally stopped in the middle of the street and just set there with my mouth open, staring in awe at what I was fortunate and blessed to be able to see with my own eyes!!!!     I just said, "Thank You God, for allowing me to see such beauty!

I was making a card during this time I have been sick and all I kept seeing was the spectacular colors in this sunset.    So, with that in mind, I tried to emulate the colors in that sunset on the card I was making.     Believe it or not, I did and I wanted to share that with y'all today.  

I love the colors in the sky!     They were swirling around in the sky that evening and it looked just like this.     I had seen a picture here back of a body of water that was almost jade green.    I thought that was so beautiful and that is what I tried to make my body of water look like.

I really love the stamps that I used for this card front.    They are from Our Daily Bread.  Now, the overall size of the life guard chair on the beach is not that large.  I just drew the rest of the bottom of the card front to match the stamp.

I just love how the colors are swirling around, not blended together.    I used an  ink pad to get the background to hold on to the color.    It was an Archival Brilliance Moonlight White stamp pad.    I just daubed it on and then used my colors over that.

This is what I used to achieve my sunset.     Dollar Tree eyeshadow!     Who knew?     And I daubed the colors on with my ranger brush.    I thought a black card base would showcase the card front better than a white card base.    I hope you enjoy seeing this card.

As we go into the holiday season, with Thanksgiving being the next major holiday on the calendar for us in the US, think about some of the memories that you have that you are thankful for.    Whether it's fun, funny, or serious, see if you can see the hand of God in all of it.     I'll bet if you look close enough you can find God there.    Holding you close, helping you, and protecting you  through all the days of your life.    I know that God has been with me all the days of my life, the good days and the not so good days!     I thank God every day for His active presence in my life.     Then and now!     With that in mind, I will share this Scripture with you:  Psalms 69:30  "I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving."

Thank you God for your watch care and protection over me all the days of my life!     You never blink, you never slumber, you never take your eyes off your own!     I will praise you as long as there is breath in my body!    Thank you for providing me a way to have a relationship with You through the blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!

I hope you have had an awesome day Ladybug!   I know you remember all the stuff I just told in this blog post.    I hope it brought back some good memories for you.    Sweetpea loves you!

I hope everyone of y'all have a treasure trove of fond memories that you can dig around in from time to time.    I hope that you enjoyed some of the stuff that I dug up today.    I hope and pray that God allows me to dig up some more good stuff in the days to come.    The good stuff is worth remembering and sharing with those that you love.    Do it, they will appreciate it.

Give God thanks this season and all year through.     Remember, God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty