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

New "Hope" Card

Hi Y'all!    How are y'all doing today?    I hope and pray that everyone is doing well.   It has been a really wet few days!!!    I mean "really" wet, y'all!"    It has been raining for about week now, and we are water logged.    We had tornado warnings in our neck of the woods last night.    It was a pretty scary evening to say the least.    As of the moment, it's misting, just really fine, but there is moisture in the air.    I don't have any idea how long this wet spell will last, but I can tell you that the local farmers need our prayers in hopes of getting their crops out.  Some of the crops may already be washed down the river somewhere.    I also pray for those affected by the tornadoes and strong winds.    We just never know how fortunate we are till we start seeing the news and other people having lost everything in the bad weather.

In the Kraafters Kommunity there is what is called "Word of Inspiration Wednesday", and we have a hashtag for it, #WIOW.     Last Wednesday, the word was "Hope".     Each week there is a word of the week and you create a piece of art; a canvas, a card, a drawing, a scrapbook page or what ever your art it.    I  created a card based on that.    Since it is "Pastor Appreciation" month, this is the card I am sending to my Pastor and his wife for the sacrifice they make every day for the Lord and for our church and for our community.

I used a black card base.     Then a card front that I cut on my Silhouette Cameo. It was a base created by Penny Duncan.   (Thanks Penny!!!!  Love you lots!!!) And then I used a stamp set from Our Daily Bread.    I stamped the anchor image and colored that in and the put the sentiment up in the left hand corner.

On the inside, I put a liner of just plain printer paper cut to size and then punched around the edges with a Martha Stewart punch.    It's not perfectly punched, but I say that adds to the overall character of the card.   I then used a Stampendous stamp that I got from Paper Wishes and stamped that in Momento London Fog.    It is a light gray and when I wrote my personal note inside it, some of the writing went over the stamped area and it looked really good.

I usually do a lot of grungy inking and put lots of bling on stuff, but I left this one somewhat plain.    But overall, I am pretty happy with this card of Hope for my pastor and for the #WIOW.

Being a Pastor is hard work.    Everyone has their own ideas of what their pastor is supposed to do for them.    I do "challenge" every one of us to ask ourselves if we have unrealistic expectations placed on these men and women of God.     We have no idea of the sacrifice they make for their congregations and communities.   It really takes someone having the calling of God on their lives for their families to survive the pressures of being on call 25 hours a day, 8 days a week.    You noticed the exaggeration of the hours and days.    Well, to them, it's not an exaggeration.    The thing about it is this, they will keep being on call!  They will keep being there for their congregations and communities.    They will keep making the phone calls, and making home visits, and coming to hospitals at all hours of the day and night.    That's what the really great pastors do.    That's just what they do.    If you have a really great pastor, thank God!     If you have a really great pastor, thank him, the pastor!    If you have a really great pastor, thank his wife!    If you have a really great pastor, thank his children.    Every call that we make, for our pastors to come to our aide, is taking him away from family time.    The older I get, the more I realize that and think about that.     Now, my pastors children are adults now, but I'm sure if I asked them, that they could tell me of all times that they needed their dad, while he was being someones pastor.

The reason I say this is to encourage everyone to send their pastor a card thanking him for his service to you personally, for your church and for your community.    Just thank your pastor.    They are human, they have feelings, they like to feel appreciated.    Yes, they work for the Lord.    Most of their encouragement comes from the Lord!    Every time one of us thanks our pastor, it encourages him all the more.    Your pastor and mine, needs to know that you are appreciative of him for all that he does.    You know how good it makes you feel when someone notices something you have done, don't you.    Well, they need to feel that every once in a while.     So, this is the month set aside, dedicated for pastor appreciation.    Take the "challenge", thank your Pastor!!!!
  
As I leave you, I leave you with a bit more of Psalm 23.    Today we will look at Psalm 23:5   "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.   You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows".

We are looking at God as a Host.    He has prepared a banquet of plenty.    God is meeting the needs of the flock, although there are enemies around that would destroy the flock.   David knew who his provider was!    David pictured God as being the Host at a very sumptuous banquet, set only for him, in the midst of his enemies.    God provided an abundance to meet all the needs of David.    God is still the Host!!!!     God is still meeting our needs today, in the midst of our enemies.     We may not think we have any enemies.     Don't worry, WE DO!!!   If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have enemies!!!     God is meeting our needs in the presence of our enemies!

Anointing the head with oil was a custom of the day.    A gracious host would anoint a welcomed guest with perfumed olive oil as a sign of being an honored guest.    A prophet would anoint someone that had been called out by God, set apart for the service of the Lord; such as David.    As Christians, we are called out and set aside by God for His service and we need the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit over our lives every day.

My cup overflows.    God not only meets our needs, but He meets our needs with over abundance.    That may seem wasteful for our cups to overflow.    In reality, if our cups are over flowing it means that we can graciously share with those whose cups are almost empty.    Sometimes that may mean sharing material possessions.    But, it may also mean sharing what we know about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ with those who haven't heard about Him or who has never heeded the call of Christ on their lives.     Just know that if your cup runs over, it is simply because God has blessed you!     Tell somebody what God has done for you!!!!

Well, I hope and pray that you seen something here today that you liked , if you did, share it.    Tell someone that God is the Host of a banquet and He is waiting for them too, at the banquet table.    Tell your pastor "thank you" sometime this month.

Ladybug, it was awesome to see you and my cousin on Saturday!  We had a great time together and look forward to another visit, soon!   Sweetpea loves you!

Goodnight Y'all.    I hope and pray y'all enjoy the rest of the evening.    Check back again real soon, you never know what you'll find here.   Remember, God loves y'all and so do I!    Hugs, Patty  

October, ouch!!!

October has just slipped up on me this year, y'all!!!!     That is why I said "Ouch", it just seems to hurt a bit, that this year is 3/4 gone already and it just seems like it was yesterday that I hung up my 2014 calendar.     Time certainly has a way of skipping on by, whether we like it or not.    The only thing I know to do is just skip right on along with it and enjoy the scenery and the changing of seasons.     Just turn the page in our coloring books and crack open that new set of crayons and color and craft away.     How does that sound?      It sounds like a pretty good game plan to me.     Whether we do it or not, time will keep on skipping by, and at least we'll have a coloring book full of gor-juss scenery.

Was it cold in your neck of the woods over the weekend?     It sure was in mine, y'all!!!     Saturday night and Sunday morning it was down to 30*, y'all!!!      I know it was at least that, because I seen it on two different thermometers and that was at 6:15am on Sunday morning.    What I wonder, did it get colder than that, and I just missed seeing it?     I don't know.     The real kicker, y'all, "our heat is NOT working".     Go figure!!!      I got ready and went on to church.     Hubby had to work this weekend, so when he got up, after I left for church, he started the gas fire place and it needed to be vacuumed out before hand, so all the collected dust had to burn out, and it really did stink, y'all!!!!     He turned that off and resorted to the itty bitty heater that we have and he finally got warmed up.     Now, today, we have to call the repair folks and see what the damage to our check book will be. 

It has been a week today since I updated my blog.    Wow, what a difference a week can make.     It has been a sad week for my church family.     One of our Saints went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday morning.     She's walkin' the Streets of Gold today and enjoying the presence of her Savior and Father God!     It truly was a shock for those of us who are still here and maybe questioning why.      But, in reality, God has His plans and we just have to be ready at all times to be in the will of God's plan.     I certainly know that this lady was.     She will be sadly missed because she was loved by all who knew her.     What a grand legacy!      In the midst of the sadness at church yesterday, there was also a boat load of joy and excitement.     Our church membership grew by two yesterday!      So, in the midst of such pain and sadness, God showed up with so much joy and excitement.      God is good all the time!!!!!

While everything was taking place this past week, I crafted a bit, just to keep my mind occupied and in a good place.     What I want to share with y'all today though, is a card I made a week or so ago.     One of my friends on a Google+ community called Kraafters Kommunity had made a card a couple of weeks ago and I really loved it.     It is a fabulous fall card with lots of colors, lots of texture and lots of layers.     What more could anyone want?      (You can find Kraafters Kommunity by going here: http://kraaftshaak.com )  I wanted to make one similar to hers.     And I did.     I used her card, +Angela Conklin, as a starting place for mine, you can find it here:  http://heartedlyhandcrafted.blogspot.com/2014/09/autumn-leaf-greeting-card.html     Now, mine isn't made exactly like hers.    I just used hers as a starting place and then done my own thing.

I used a 12x12 sheet of double sided card stock and cut it in half.   The inside portion of the card had pumpkins on it making it very appropriate for my sentiment.    I scored it on the 3" and 9" marks, that makes a double door closure for the card.    I had a piece of cardstock that looks and feels like the texture of a basketball.     No joke, it really does.     I love the looks of it and had been wanting to use it for a long time, just didn't want to waste it.     So, I used it, and because I didn't want to waste any of it, that's why mine is folded instead of the corners cut off.    I used that card stock as a layer on the front, so what I cut off the bottom layer, fit perfectly on the flap that was folded back.    No waste!    Yay!!     Instead of cutting the corners off, I folded them down and kept them.  I put two eyelets on each side of the folded corners and ran a couple pieces of burlap string thru them and knotted them.

This is what the inside looks like.    I just love all those pumpkins with the oak tree and sentiment.     I took my little Ranger ink daubers and colored the stamped image with three or four colors just daubed on.    The next layer back is just a piece of white Georgia Pacific cut to size and then inked with orange on all the edges about a 1/2" all the way around.     Saves colored cardstock and there's no use in inking any more than necessary.     I then used my Gun Metal embossing folder and Cuttlebug and embossed that layer.    I put down strips of orange sheer poly ribbon, one going east to west with a bit of wrap around and another one going north to south with a bit of wrap around, placing them off center on purpose.     The last layer is a layer of burlap.      Or as I grew up calling it, "grass sack".      Hahaha!!!!      I know some of y'all have heard that term before.      I'm telling y'all, it may be my favorite thing to work into a card now.      I love it, thanks to you, +Angela Conklin.

I then got that layer affixed to the first two layers and wrapped the ribbon around to the back side and used my scrappy tape to put that down on the card base.

I used a couple of the small movers and shapers by Sizzix and cut a couple of leaves and acorns and attached them to the front of the finished card.   I wish I had taken a picture of the envelope I had already made and didn't use.    It was about a 1/4" thick, just perfect for this card.     I have to tell y'all, that cardstock I used on the front of it really helped make this card for me.     I wish I had ton more of it, but I don't, so I will have to be very judicious about how I use it.   ggg

As I leave you today, I want to leave you with the scripture that God has used to deal with "me" as of the last month or so.    James 3:5 "Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."  

James is speaking about that little ole' thing, the tongue, and how hard it is to tame it.    He had compared it to a bit in a horses mouth; such a tiny tool used to control such a large animal as a horse.     Also, he gave the image of a tiny rudder on a large ship and steering that ship in the storms at sea with such a tiny piece of equipment.     Then he starts talking about our tongues.     How dare he do that!      Shame on him!      Well, this is where the rubber meets the road for me, y'all!!!     How many times have I spoken with that big ole' little tongue of mine when I should have remained silent?     James then proceeds to tell us about whole forests being burned down by one little spark!!!    We know how truthful that is.     Every year certain parts of the U.S. deals with massive forest fires, started by one little spark.

Have you ever been caught up in the forest fire of speaking when you should have remained silent?     I have!!!     It's not pleasant at all.    The best you can do is apologize after the fact, ask for forgiveness, and seek restoration with Father God.    I have been in that situation more times than I care to admit.    I hope and pray that I can learn from my own mistakes.     As much power as there is in a single spark, there's that much power or more in the tongue.     There is either life affirming words coming from our mouths or there is destructive words coming from our mouths.    That's it folks, just two choices.      We either teach, bless, build up, encourage, praise, speak truth in love, even if it is painful; or we curse, tear down, discourage, bad mouth, speak hurtful harsh words.     We have the power to speak life or death over someone.     Oh, our words will not actually cause someone to die, but they can kill a dream, or discourage someone to the point of never trying, or cause someone to believe the lies of the enemy that he is always spewing out at us.      Or, we can speak life and excitement over someones dreams, we can cause them to dream even bigger dreams.    We can encourage someone to take steps they may have never taken.     We can help someone to see that the lies of the enemy are just that, lies!  

I just hope and pray that God will help me in the future to watch my tongue a little more closely and to speak only when it is purposeful and will be for the edification, or the building up of the one I'm speaking to.    That is a prayer that God is more than ready to help me with and He will help you too.     I hope that this doesn't land at anyone's doorstep, other than mine, but if it does, just know that there is restoration available by apologizing sincerely, asking for forgiveness, and then seeking restoration with Father God.    Those things are not easy to do, been there done that, and folks, it just ain't easy!!!     But.....it is necessary.     We have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to tame our little ole' big tongues!

I pray that y'all have a wonderful rest of the evening.    I hope you enjoyed what you seen here today; if you did share it with someone.     Someone you know needs to know that they, too, may need to work on controlling their tongue.    God will help them, if they so desire.

Ladybug, I hope you had a great weekend and look forward to seeing you sometime soon.    Sweetpea loves you.

Come back again real soon, y'all.   God loves y'all, so do I!!!   hugs, Patty

Happy Monday and New Card, "Ta-Da"

Happy Monday Y'all!!    I hope and pray that today is and has been a most spectacular day for all of y'all out there across this great globe.   Have you ever thought of just how large it is, the globe,  yet.....in almost real time, people all over the world will have the opportunity to read this blog post!    That just takes the cake as far as I'm concerned.    Wow, Wow, Wow!!!    God is Good!!!    Were it not for God, none of this would be possible!    I have friends all over the world!    To think that a little country girl, not known by many at all, could one day have a blog and reach people all over the world with the Love of God is very exciting and humbling. 

And, I must tell you that I do take this very seriously.    I promised God that I would serve Him right here, as long as He was a part of it and as long as He helped me with it.    And, He is a part of it and He has helped with it!!!!     So, I just thank God today for His watch care and love over me my whole life to bring me to this day, today, to be able to share another post with y'all about something I made and about how God has blessed me and helped me and loves me, in spite of me!    Yes, folks, in spite of us, God still loves us.    You see, it's not because of who we are at all.    It's all because of who He is!!!!!!     God does not love us based on us, flawed people.   God loves us based on who He is, Our Creator, the One who loved us enough to provide a way for us to have a relationship with Him.    And that is through Jesus Christ.    If anyone tells you there is another way to God, the Father, other than Jesus Christ, they are thief.    They have stolen from you.    They are trying to kill you, they are trying to destroy you.    They are serving the enemy of the Cross, and there is no good in them, regardless of the smile they have on their face.

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Do you have an abundant life?    No?     Do you want an abundant life?     It will happen only thru Jesus Christ!     What does abundant mean?     It probably won't mean lots of different houses, lots of different cars, lots of different stuff.   Although it very well could mean those  things.   The word abundant here, to me, means....an abundance of peace, an abundance of love, an abundance of joy, an abundance of understanding, an abundance of long suffering, an abundance of gentleness, an abundance of kindness, an abundance of faithfulness, an abundance of self-control, an abundance of hope.    You get the picture here.    These things can't be gotten anywhere except from God, thru Jesus Christ!    But, these are all meant to be shared with those around us who has need of them, just as we had need of them when someone shared with us.

1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

John is talking to the Christians as little children, because he loves them so much.  And he tells them why he is so proud of them.   Because they have overcome the liars, the thieves, the seducers, those who are in opposition to Christ!   They have overcome those who are in the world.   They have overcome those who serve the enemy of the Cross.    How did they do this?    Not in their own power, not in their own strength!    But in the power and strength of Jesus Christ who has defeated and overthrown the enemy of the cross!     The enemy knows he is defeated, he knows he has already lost, but he is trying to cause as much pain and heartache as possible.   I stand on the Word!!!!!    I stand on the words of  1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."

Remember that Jesus Christ is your Victor!!!!!    If you don't know Him as Lord and Savior of your life, I pray that you will search Him out, He will make Himself known to anyone who is ready for truth!!!!    God loves you!!!!

So, I have been playing and made another card, similar to the one I made last time.    This cross is such a beautiful stamp!    I just love it.   I guess I love what it represents so much, that it makes it even more special to me.    But, while making the card, I took a few pics.   I like to call it, "from this, to that".     hahaha    You'll see in a minute why I call it that. 

Everything but the kitchen sink here!    hahaha   I just piled all the stuff I used to make this card up and I still managed to leave something out of the pic that I used and that was one of my little brown round ink spot that I use to ink the edges of the raised cross and I forgot the pop dots that I used to raise the cross.    Good grief............hehehe

See that gizmo in the lower rt hand corner.   That is a great tool.   Its called "The Perfect Airbrush".     And you know what, it really is!!!

See all those little colorful bursts of ink, I used the Perfect Airbrush to make them.    It is such a fun tool, I almost want to call it a toy, but it isn't.    It's fun, though.

Oh, do you see that little round container setting in the middle on the right hand side?    That is eyeshadow.    I took an artist brush and tapped in the eyeshadow and then brushed it over the cross layer and it gave it a really nice shimmery look, but it didn't show up well in the pics.    But that is how I got my "bling" on!!!    hahahaha    I also used a very small amount of glitter glue atop the cut out of the cross.   Bling two!

Ok, these are the card pieces and layers.

Ta-Da!!!!    I always wanted to do that!!!   Ta-Da!!!!!    Sorry, I couldn't help it, I got carried away with the excitement of using my catch phrase of the moment, Ta-Da!!!!     I must tell you, I really liked this card a lot, and I'm pretty sure I will be using it from time and time.   I put that little pop of green on as my stand out color and I really do enjoy it!     Oh well this is what I have been up to.....

Sure hope y'all have been having a great day too!!!    I hope y'all seen something here that you enjoyed.   If you did, share it with someone.   Tell someone you know that "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."   Tell someone that Jesus Christ is our "Overcomer"!!!   Nothing less than Christ!    Nothing more than Christ!   Nothing else than Christ!

Hi Ladybug!!!   Hope this finds you doing great and enjoying the somewhat cooler weather.    Sweetpea loves you and hopes to see you soon!

Have a wonderful evening and night!    Thanks for stopping by y'all!   God loves y'all and so do I.    Hugs y'all,  Patty

Grungy Card # 3

Well, guess what y'all?    It's August!!!   Oh my!    Where has summer gone?    Technically, it's still summer, but with school starting back today, it seems like it has been a short summer.    I can remember back in the day, when school let out the middle to the end of May and didn't start back up until after Labor Day!    Sure makes me feel old, recalling the "olden days".   hahahaha

I wanted to share my third grungy card.    Back in July when I posted about the first one, I said I had three, so this is the last one.    I am really enjoying learning my Spectrum Noir markers.    I don't know that I'll ever get as good as I hope to get with them, but I have had a good time working with them.

I hope y'all like this card.    I had a good time making it.    It is so amazing at how little it really takes to make a difference.    I hope you can see what I'm talking about in a minute, when you start looking at the pics.

I really had fun with this one.    I love the pink and green combo.   The embossing folder is quickly becoming a fav.    I inked the edge of the green with pink ink.   Then also the edge of the stamped image.    It is stipple cut, to mimic a ragged edge and then I even used my sandpaper on the edge of it too.    I had a very small bit of ivy vine that I had cut and I used a sprig in the upper and lower right hand corners.    I took two short pieces of grosgrain ribbon and just knotted it together and trimmed the ends and fluffed the ends out and I really like that look.    On the left hand corners, I put flat back pink pearls.  

On this one you can see where I used my trusty Sakura gelly roll pen in clear star just for a bit of sheen.    You really don't see it front on, but if you look at an angle, you see it really well.    I enjoy the look.    It's blingy without obvious bling.

I put it on the flower and the foliage of the flower.   

Ok, so this is where I was talking about a very small amount of something making a huge difference.    Do you see what I'm talking about?    I took my liquid pearls and made very tiny dots on some of the squares of the embossed area.   I have to tell you, in hand, it made a tremendous difference.   It was just the icing on the cake, er, card.    ggg

Hope you enjoyed that.   Now, off to something just a little different.    Make that a lot different!!!!

Ok y'all, I don't like snakes.   I want to say that again, "I don't like snakes!!"   Not in the least little bit, no way, no how, not gonna happen in this lifetime.   Nada, zilch, nope, not gonna happen!!!!    So, the week I was preparing to go up to Ky, I was out and about, getting things ready for my absence at home, for a bit.   I was getting ready to make a quick run to the grocery store and out the back door I went and bounded down the steps off the deck and was getting ready to go to the garage and something at the back of the garage caught my eye, just as I breezed by.   I stopped, stepped back a couple of steps and looked over my right shoulder, and I screamed and jumped and ran back up the steps, my hubby thought a "booger" had scared me.   I said "not hardly, I scare "boogers", they don't have a chance."    But what did scare me is what is in the picture below.

After I got over my initial shock, I got my cellphone outta my purse and took a couple of pics of it.   You see the numbers on it.   Ok, while in Ky, I was showing my brothers what I had a pic of.   One of them asked me how long it was.    I measured out with both hands to what the length of about 3 1/2 or 4 feet.   I thought it was from #1 and #2.    He said, look at that thing again, it's longer than that.   Well, I looked at it again and zoomed in on it some and I'm tellin' ya', I almost passed out!!!!!   It was a foot longer than I had originally thought.   In reality, it is between 5 and 6 feet long!    Now, here's what gets me, where there's one, there's always another one!    Now, every time I leave the house, I'm looking for a snake!!!!   Did I happen to mention, "I don't like snakes!!"    One thing Jim Stafford and I have in common is this, "I don't like spiders and snakes!"    (Some of you will know who Jim Stafford is, others will have to google him.   ggg)

This got me to thinking when I was a kid, maybe seven or so.    Our kitchen was at the back of the house, behind the living room and it was bumped out on the end so there was an outside door that was on the front of the house, because it faced the front.    It was a small covered porch and three or four poured concrete steps.   Once on the porch, you could look directly up, and there was the attic entrance that was covered with maybe a piece of plywood that you would just move it to one side if you needed to go to the attic and then move it back over the entrance.    It wasn't used for any kind of storage, so it wasn't used much.    On the wall just under the roof of the porch was an outside light.   Just a single bulb with a kind of clearish, whiteish globe.    I was getting ready to come in the kitchen and looked up just as I stepped up on the porch and there was a huge black snake hanging around that light fixture, just like you would wrap a scarf around your neck to hang evenly, that's how that snake was hanging there!!   I screamed and ran back off the porch and my family came running, anyone that was home came running to see what the commotion was.  All I could do was point and say "there".    It was at least five or six feet long.    It scared the stink plum out of me.    I never went in that back door again without looking closely to see if there was a snake.    I asked how it got up there.   Someone suggested that maybe it was coming from the attic and I said, "you mean we live in that house with snakes in the attic!!!"    My brother said, "If that's where it came from, it came from the attic, and not the house, so it wasn't in the house."    My argument, "Technically, it was in the house, and I was in the house."     Did I happen to mention, I just flat out don't like snakes!!!

Which brings to mind, another reason I don't like snakes.    My grandparents lived in a big, old house out close to the church they went to.    Another house came available on the same road, but it was out closer to the main highway and they decided they wanted to move to that house.    If I remember correctly, the same land owner owned it that owned the one they was already living in.   So, he was gonna let them move in the one closer to the road.    It needed fixing up some, so my mom and dad was helping with cleaning and renovation of the house before they moved.     The two houses was a pretty good ways apart from each other.   Probably a mile or so.    There was a dirt tractor path through the farm area from one house to the other.    When mom and dad was at the house working  and the older boys helping, the younger ones of us could go over to Ma and Pa's and visit with them for a spell.   

The dirt on the path was as fine as powder.   Any barefoot tracks really shown.   If you knew the feet, you could easily pick out who they belonged to, just by seeing the prints in the dirt.    My two youngest brothers and I was walking along going over to see Ma and they were ahead of me by a little bit.   I was just moseying along and for some reason, I happened to look back over my shoulder and here came a "black racer" snake chasing me!!!    He had his head off the ground at least a foot and he was coming after me and I never seen anything like that before.    I screamed, and started running and ran and ran and ran and I didn't stop running till I got to Ma's house and I never made that walk through the dirt path again.  

I was talking about that with some of my brothers and mom and one of my brothers said that if I would have turned around and ran back at it, that I would have scared it as bad or more than it scared me.    I said, "Yeah, right! I still hate snakes!"   Now, I don't know if I could have scared the snake as bad as it scared me or not, but I would not have EVEN tried it back then for sure!    Not so sure I would try it now.    But, then again, I might have to do a stare down with one now, because now I could not "haul self" (run like the dickens)  like I did back then, when I was young.    Oh, to be young again, and be able to run from a snake!!!!    Even through all the years that have passed since these two incidents with snakes, "I STILL HATE SNAKES!!!"    Yup, that's right, still a sissy when it comes to all things slithery!    hahaha   Bet some of y'all are too!    hahaha

As I leave you this afternoon, I leave you with this scripture;  Psalm46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in our trouble."

Today, one of the major fixations is the "super-heroes" in the movies.    Every one loves a good movie with a good hero in the end to save the day or to ride off in the sunset, or to live happily ever after.   We just love it when the "good guy" wins.

Have you ever thought that we have our own hero.   We don't look at God in that light, because it is trivializing to what God has done for us, is doing for us and will do for us.    I never want to trivialize God in that manner.    But, if you just have to have a hero, I challenge you to look at what God does for us.

Since God is the creator of all that is, He is in charge over all.    Do you have fears and worries?    Of course you do, we all do.    We don't mean to, but we do, none the less.    We struggle with that every day, and we confess those sins to God and ask Him to help us.     God is always there, at all times!     Never is He not there.    God is the source of our security and peace.    What do you think of when you think of the word "refuge"?   God being our refuge?    I think about that place of safety, that secret place, that hidden place where only God is, and I am there with Him.    Never to be disturbed by the things that disturb us in this life.    I think about all the problems and situations of life that arise, but God is going ahead of me working it out.    Yes, there is things of this life that will touch each and every one of us and we will have to walk those things out.    But, we don't have to walk it out alone.    Anything in this life that can hurt us or cause us distress is temporary.   This life is temporary.    Our ultimate goal in this life should be "eternal glory"!    Absolutely nothing will happen to any one of us that God doesn't know about.    God knows His own.    If you are not in a right relationship with God, why not get that worked out, now, so that you too, can know the comfort of God as your refuge and strength, and your present help in trouble?    Jesus Christ said that no one comes to Father, except thru Me.   The way to God, the Father is thru Jesus Christ, the Son.   I hope that you will take the opportunity to repent and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and to be Lord of you life and to help you live your life with eternal glory at the fore front of your mind.    When we focus on eternal things, then the temporary problems doesn't seem so big.    I hope and pray that you will let God be your safe place to fall.

Have a wonderful rest of the day, y'all!    I hope you enjoyed your visit here this evening, and if you did, tell someone about your visit.   I hope you will come back soon.

Ladybug, I hope all is well in the village this evening.  Hope to see you soon.   Love you lots, Sweetpea!

Come back soon y'all.   Remember, God loves y'all and so do I.   hugs, Patty