Five Minute Friday --Friends

It's Friday again... which means Five Minute Friday!!


Won’t you join us?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back with Lisa-Jo and invite others to join in.
3. Go a little overboard encouraging the writer who linked up before you.







Here's my Five minutes
On Friends

START

Friends show up on your doorstep when you are stranded at home because you are down to one vehicle for a week and starting to go a little crazy... and your house isn't one that you can just "stop by because you are in the neighborhood" It takes effort to get here! She will also bring a playmate (her daughter) for your 3YO to be occupied while you two chat it up! and she will bring chocolate!! :) Thank you, Cathy!

Friends call you 5 minutes before car line to see if you want to meet at the park with your kids after school. So thankful for Fridays when you don't have to worry about homework and for SUN after days of rain!! Then you sit at the park for over an hour while your kids run around together and play. and you talk about everything and anything and forget your train of thought while you stop to break up fights and tell everyone to get along and be nice. and you share struggles and joys and ask advice and listen and then when you are driving home you think of three more things you meant to talk to her about. Thank you, Amy!!

These are my two In Real Life Friend moments this week!!

STOP

unbelievably, I don't think I have a picture of myself with either of these friends... so it's a pictureless post!

In the Valley

On top of struggling to get back into blogging, I also fell behind on my regular reading of The Valley of Vision. I missed a day or two, and got busy with stuff, and then just didn't know how to get back into the schedule.  Well, last Monday, I read the following Puritan prayer and wanted to share it with you. I should probably read/pray it every day!!

A Disciple's Renewal (p. 184)

O my Saviour, help me.
I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart,
      my prayerless days,
      my poverty of love,
      my sloth in the heavenly race,
      my sullied conscience,
      my wasted hours,
      my unspent opportunities.
I am blink while light shines around me;
   take the scales from my eyes,,
   grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.

Make it my chiefest joy to study thee,
     meditate on thee,
     gaze on thee,
     sit like Mary at they feet,
     lean like John on they breast,
     count like Paul all things dung.

Give me increase and porgress in grace so that there may be
      more decision in my character,
      more vigour in my purposes,
      more elelvation in my life,
      more fervour in my devoiton,
      more constancy in my zeal.

As I have a position in the world,
   keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature
   what can be found only in the creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking thee unitl it vanishes into sight.
Ride forth in me, thou king of kings and lord of lords,
    that I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.

Chicken farmer

There is just something fun and rewardng about going out in your backyard and finding breakfast!! :)

here is a photo of my most recent dozen collected over the last week!  I love the 2 HUGE brown ones... I'm guessing double yokes.  and I love saying I had green eggs. They have a bluish green tint to them... so fun!!

linking up with My 3 Boybarians for Sweet Shot Tuesday!!

Finding Joy

It's Monday... It's been a few weeks since I have joined in with Multitude Monday. The last couple days have been rough for me emotionally. I hate when i get like this. Down in the dumps and I just can't seem to snap out of it.  I know that the best cure for this is counting gifts. I reached 1000+ and thought that for sure the light would come on and I would be miraculously joyful all the time. and when I wasn't, I got discouraged, and then I quit counting and then I just continued in the viscous cycle of "doom, despair, and agony on me..." and to be very truthful there isn't much doom and despair around me. I have been showered with blessings, and when they overwhelm me, I just need to count them again, instead of getting overwhelmed by them.

This year was supposed to be my year of JOY!  I feel like I haven't been doing a great job on this... I know I said it was something God and I were gonna work on together, but apparently I haven't been yielding to His work very well.  After all, Fall is just beginning and I am already feeling like it's dark at 5pm! Today the sun is even shining and it's WARM... warm enough to bring out the stink bugs... they are multiplying! I have been memorizing verses this year with Living Proof Siesta Scripture Memory Team, but it seems like most of my verses concentrated on the tongue, words, my mouth! So for the rest of the year, I am looking for some verses on JOY!!  If you have some to recommend in the comments, please share them with me!

Some verses on giving thanks as I get back into counting gifts!!

Psalm 107:1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.

and I keep on counting, random gifts from September...

#1129 - # 1173
the little things
my five senses
receiving scholarships for school choice

windmills


visiting family
baby smiles


hugs

drag racing

 uncles


making some Fall themed personalized handmade cards

Rain the entire five hour trip home, but Nobody got sick, we didn't run out of gas, there were NO potty accidents, I didn't fall asleep, we had fun singing kids bible songs, we made it home safe...

living on a mountain during lots of rain, and local floodings!
Pascal cupcakes

5YO birthday parties

remembering 9/11

soldiers, servicemen/women, firefighters, police...
freedom
little girls in ballet outfits

more chicken eggs from the backyard!
Starbucks and a full moon... on the same night! 

seeing an eagle in the air
the wings of a hawk
the wings of a butterfly
the wings of a hummingbird
fun new play house for the kids made by Nanny!

Sunday evening prayer time at my church
hearing an older woman pray for me... powerful!
remembering our proposal anniversary

an overnight getaway with my hubby
GREAT Greek food

castles

historic sites
homemade ice cream (nutella, chocolate PB, toasted almond)

the Buffalo Bills starting the season 3-0 (it's the little things)
clean folded laundry
the color of Autumn leaves
an unexpected visit from a friend!

I WILL keep counting, would you like to join in???





PS. don't forget to share some verses on joy with me!!

Thank you notes

Thank you to my friend, Michelle, for the inspiration!! :)  She posted this cute card (it's at the end of the post) earlier this week, and I need to send some thank you notes out, so I decided to copy her!  Then I found this color challenge with Color Throwdown, and decided to combine the two.

This was the result...

I started by punching out a TON of flowery shapes. this was a breeze thanks to my new Creative Memories Blossom Place 'n' Punch ...

you can just put it anywhere on the page, and punch... none of this starting as close to the edge as possible, trimming the excess, wasting a lot of paper, etc.  Just line it up on your paper, use the heavy duty magnet to keep it in place and PUNCH!!

then, I knew I wanted to try some bling on the card, but I just didn't like it... too small in the flower's center.

so I tried a different middle, but too boring for my taste (it might be the vanilla paper)

so then I added the bling to the vanilla centers, and I like it!!

pink and browns are so much fun, so this was an easy color challenge for me!!

Five Minute Friday on Growing

So I'm in a blogging funk... I haven't recovered from my "2 week break"  but it is Friday (even if it is 10:30pm) so I thought I might give #FiveMinuteFriday a try...

START

So, The Gypsy Mama wants us to give her (and you) our best five minutes on "Growing"

Growing, so it seems like I'm not doing much growing lately.  I feel stuck, stagnant, no direction, no vision... not exactly fertile ground for "Growing" but still I want to grow.  I am pessimistic and tend to dwell on the negative and beat myself up when I screw up, but I do know that there has been some growth in the last few years.

Growing is something you think about in the Springtime... ya know when everything is growing new again. Right now it is the beginning of fall, leaves are changing colors (which I love) and the mountains around me are going to be bursting with color... but after that comes winter and I just don't like winter, cold, dark, snowy.

Growing ... something my kids are doing

Growing...

 STOP

not much of a re-entry into blogging, but I will keep trying!!  Be kind in the comments! :)  and go visit more great Five Minutes here...

Orange coasters

So after I posted my festive orange birthday cards for The CSI Project's Orange theme week, I got to thinking all about fall (after all it became frigid cold last night... we had to pull out the space heater this morning) and I started thinking through my stamps to figure out what I could do with FALL and ORANGE!!  and I remembered my "photo" coasters that I have in my living room. I have been stamping little pictures in them to match the season.  Well, they still have patriotic stamps in them from the summer.  So I decided  that they needed a re-do for the fall (with Orange of course!)

So I got busy this morning and had a little too much fun.  Here is the result!!

I made so many fun ones, I am going to have to swap them out every week!  At least they will last me until December! :)

and then I even let go of perfectionism and let my 3YO daughter color a couple.  She had so much fun and it did my heart good to listen to her excitement!! (although she forgot to use the color orange)

So I just want to say "thank you" to The CSI Project for inspiring me to Create Something Inspiring today!!

orange you crafty ...

Well, it's been a while since I've been crafty and I really have the itch to lock myself in my card making area and not come out... but when I tried to earlier this week, my mind just went blank.  I was really trying to create something new for CSI this week... the theme is the color Orange! But I am not a huge Halloween fan and while I know I can create some great fall/Thanksgiving cards with the color orange, like I said... my mind was blank!  So I searched through my stash and discovered that orange makes a great color for birthday cards... Here are two of my favorites!!

this first one is a nice collage of orange and blue ... so cheery!

 and then there is this more recent one... I just loved the way orange and purple created a perfect birthday card... then I sparkled the flames and this card is really one of my favorites!!

So have you created anything orange lately?!??!  If so you have until Friday at noon to link it up with The CSI Project!!

trying to get back into blogging

So, although I said I was only going to take a two week bloggy break, it turned into more than 3 weeks, minus my #FiveMinuteFriday entry and that didn't get a single comment...  I was very good about writing down my gifts during the 2 weeks, so that I could share them with you on the Monday I returned, but I am a week late... so here's my 1000, infinite gifts...

1048. Pajama day
1049. Snuggling with a feverish little girl
1050. reading books to my kids
1051. Nathaniel sharing his cars with his sisters

1052. Fresh bread from the bread maker
1053. Wes helping with the dishes
1054. Watching too much tv on cold and rainy August days.
1055. Folded laundry
1056. Fuzzy blankets
1057. Swinging with my girls

1058. Delicious homemade pizza

1059. A decaf mocha coconut frappaccino from Wesley
1060. My kids telling me their favorite things from the day.
1061. Dew kissed grass

1062. Early morning hummingbird
1063. Coyote?!?!?!
1064. Bagels and over easy eggs
1065. Going to the park to meet friends
1066. Coach J making my kids laugh and laugh
1067. Safety!!!
1068. Car starting after 3 failed attempts
1069. New chicken feeder
1070. Going to bed early
1071. Attempting a board game with the kids
1072. Sun and rain and lightning bolts
1073. A free chocolate bar coupon
1074. Praying on my knees
1075. Starting my morning in the psalms
1076. Thunderstorms!
1077. A better attempt at a board game
1078. "date" afternoon with Nathaniel at the house (game/dessert)
1079. Thick fog
1080. Food coming in for SRM
1081. Listening to my kids read out loud
1082. Serving at the rescue mission with Nathaniel and friends

1083. Worship at church
1084. Baptisms
1085. Our new pastor
1086. God's grace in a bad afternoon
1087. Blowing bubbles
1088. Friendly old men reminding me of my blessings in the grocery store!
1089. Nathaniel climbing a tree

1090. 3YO digging in the dirt

1091. bird's nest in the pear tree

1092. chicken conversations in the yard... :)

1093. Cassia reaching out to a new classmate
1094. Anticipation of a new school year
1095. Letting the girls fingerpaint
1096. Waiting and watching for a hummingbird with my girls
1097. Little boys spending the day up in apple trees
1098. Lunches packed and ready to go
1099. School clothes picked out
1100. Early morning excitement for first day of school

1101. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast
1102. The peacefulness of one child at home
1103. Kids bubbling over with details of first day
1104. The mess of sidewalk chalk
1105. Bedtime
1106. Little preschooler wishing she could go to school every day, not just Mon, Wed, Fri
1107. After school snack of Grasshopper cookies
1108.  making art smocks out of old tshirts

1109. Clean sheets
1110. Bears (although I would like it if they would leave my chicken coop alone)
1111. Coupons
1112. Helping the neighbor
1113. butterflies

1114. Making shredded chicken for my Ohio born hubby
1114. Birthday party fun for the kids
1116. Bubbles
1117. Ziplines
1118. Balance beams

1119. Charged cell phones
1120. Gas stoves during power outages (and even when electricity works)
1121. Two buck in the back field

1122. Candles

1123. Restored power
1124. Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast
1125. My handsome hardworking man with a chainsaw
1126. Laundry on the line
1127. Littlest girl helping daddy clean up branches

1128. Pears from the backyard tree

I am not sure what happened after last Monday... I quit writing down my thankfulness. I am hoping to pick up again... I do have a lot to be thankful for from the last week, and I will try to work on that post next!

for now, I will continue linking up with A Holy Experience.