A PEARL HARBOR TRIBUTE

This is the ship my father-in-law sailed on during WWll,he ran away from home and joined the Navy when he was 16 years old and saw active duty all during the war. Judging by the crooked smile in all his pictures he was happy with his decision. However he has some horrid stories to tell and now Drs believe some of his sleep problems are post dramatic syndrome from his wartime experiences. These guys that go and fight for our freedom need all our prayers then and now! Talked to a mother this morning who has a young marine fighting in Iraq and has to spend Christmas praying for his safety,I'll pray also.I met this lady years ago when her son first joined the service,he was headed to Camp Legume in the hot summer and she ordered a bunch of sin-so-soft for him and his friends that were going in with him,at first they were told they couldn't take the SSS into camp,but they finally got to take it and I never asked how she got that done!
Today was Avon delivery day,I don't like this time of year,nobody seems to have the money to pay for what they've ordered. It may be the giving season but Avon is a business and Avon sure doesn't give these products to me! This happens every year and it never fails to amaze me,why would you order Avon if you don't have the money???? It's not like these products are a must have to survive!!! Okay at least I feel better now getting that out,screaming in type still helps!!
On the way home I found a new little re-sale shop very close to home,(how convenient) I love these stores and this one had some really good deals.Very nice lady just opened up last Wednesday,said the man she rented the building from actually prayed with her that her business would be successful,that's a great way to start off. I got home about 12:30,had lunch,checked out the builders progress and g-son and I took off to Lowes to look for some lights for the new room. They are siding the outside today and I love it. Found a perfect light for the outside but not a ceiling fan.Went to Home Depot,nothing there either.Not that I'm that particular but mahogany,walnut or cherry fan blades are just not gonna go with rough sawed pine ceiling and walls!!! Might have to settle for one in Lowes that's light maple.
Came home and fixed supper of pinto beans,fresh kale from our winter garden,pork barbacue and cornbread for #1 son's family and daughter who was here making cupcakes for a girl in her Bible study class's baby shower tomorrow night.D-in-love helped her decorate them. Any guesses, boy or girl????????? Those girls have a great
time in that class and they lean on each other which is wonderful. After everyone left I watched Carrie Underwood's holiday special on TV.She had my most favorite singer of all time as one of her guest,Dolly Parton, they sang together and it sounded really good. It was a really good show,reminded me of Dolly's holiday show years ago. I like Carrie as a singer because she isn't afraid to put her faith in God out there for everyone to hear.
I'm listening to another rain forecast for tomorrow night and Wednesday,oh boy,every week. Maybe they can get here in the morning and get a little more work done before it starts,sounds like Wednesday will be a complete wash-out.
Thinking how special this season is as I listened to Carrie close her show with Oh Holy Night,she really belted it out and it made my heart swell with my love for Jesus. Good Night.

GOOD NEWS CONVEYED BY THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH

This is our church,as a united congregation in 2004 we decided to build this new sanctuary.It is one of the most beautiful sanctuaries I have ever been in and I have always considered it a duty to keep it looking like new as best as I can.It is significantly bigger than our old sanctuary,which now has been remodeled into added Sunday school classrooms.This is an old picture of the old sanctuary,our church actually began in 1875 and has a long history in this community.This sanctuary was built in 1947 and the educational buildings were added later.The new sanctuary is attached to the right of the old. My family has a strong history in this church in all the early buildings and even my grandfather donated some land for the church. I still have quite a bit of family that belong to this church,I remember once when my kids were younger and a lot of their cousins were all standing up front for a program,one of the older ladies looked at me and said "I can pick out everyone of those little 1/2 Pryor's (which is my maiden name) up there by their eyes". Our church is very fortunate to have the leader we have,our pastor has been with us since 1991 and is like an old friend to most of us,our kids have all grown up together,our 2 families have some great memories together.He and I are the same age.
Today instead of preaching we had the children's Christmas play,g-son came to my house early this morning as his mom and dad went out of town for the day,and I decided to take him to "big church" so he could watch the kids. He absolutely loved it,he was mimicking the arm movements of the kids on stage and loved the singing. It was a very touching play and the kids did so well in conveying the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ. A young lady that sat beside us was very emotional all through the play.Her husband used to be in these plays with my boys when they were the age of those kids on stage.I have videos somewhere and that would be a good thing to watch this Christmas with the family.
Lunch bunch was small today,daughter,#2 son,g-son,hubbie and I. After we ate hubbie and I took g-son and made a much needed trip to Sams and Walmart,I don't like to do this on Sunday but the business of this season has caught up with my household supplies.
It has been a cold day,upper 30's for highs,supposed to be back in the low 20's again tonight,
thanking God for a warm house to sleep in tonight and wishing blessings on those who aren't so blessed.
#1 son and d-in-love made it back and took g-son home after a nice visit with #2 son and hubbie and I,daughter is on a dog sitting job for the next few days.
This has been a very nice Sunday all around and thank God for the blessings of a wonderful church family and for my kids,g-son and hubbie who are the most special people in the world to me and I know how blessed I am to have everyone so close,I thank God everyday for all this and more. Good Night.

SNOWY MARKET DAY

Snowy market day,I looked online before we left to make sure we wouldn't get snow bound out there. It looked like most of the snow has already passed us by so off we went. There were quite a few people out in the weather this morning to my surprise. It started snowing hard about the time the parade started uptown,what fun ,a parade in the snow,a very memorable event. I took a picture in the parking lot of the market when the flakes got pretty large. I remember going to the parade when I was a child,the parade went up 7th avenue back then and there was a drug store with an ice cream counter that we always went to to watch the parade pass,I can remember some cold nights,yes the parade was at night back then, I don't ever remember it snowing during the parade,funny I remember being at the parades and where we were but don't remember any thing about what kind of crowds, or what was in the parade,except of course Santa who always came last in a horse drawn buggy. I remember one year when my kids were young,as we were always involved in so many activities,1 or more of the kids were almost always in the parade,this particular memory was of our cub scout troop,hubbie was cub master and I was an officer of some kind,anyway we had a float in the parade,a flatbed trailer pulled by one of the dad's on a tractor, we took one of our goats,have no memory of why,but I remember making the goat a Christmas costume,this year it was cold,cold and very windy,we all rode most of the way with our heads covered trying to stay warm instead of waving at the crowds of people. I can still feel the warmth of the hot chocolate provided at the end of that ride!!!
I love the festive look and smells of market this time of year with all the greenery for sale.I traded one of the vendors a cake for 2 mulberry soy candles today,I heard on the radio that this scent repels ladybugs and I could sure use some, as every year my house is on the ladybug favorite places to visit list.We have thousands of these little red spotted buggers all over the outside and some on the inside of the south side of our house twice a year. If I can find a scent to keep them outside I would be happy to let them go on their way.
Funny how when you go looking for something you can never find it and when you're not looking or even thinking about somethings how they just fall into you're lap.Well that's kinda what happened to me this afternoon.
After market daughter had plans to go by her dog sitting job,then go to #2 son's house and help him put out Christmas decorations,than go on a date she had,whew!
I said I was going to walk up to the Hospice thrift shop which is close to market,she said she wanted to go also and she also said she had a coupon for 20% off rings at a jewelery store up the street and I needed to check out the wedding rings in there.So away we went as we left the thrift store with several bargains we started up the street to the jewelery store and passed a large sign in front of an interior decorations shop that said moving sale 50%-75% off everything. As a couple shoppers who can't pass up a bargain in we went, there it was,what I've been looking for a huge glass fronted curio cabinet,perfect,and 75% off,wow.Second Saturday in a row hubbie gets a call,come to town to help haul furniture home. The stuff I bought last Saturday is still covered up in the back of his truck,so he brought his car,put everything in the van in his car and daughter's jeep and put the cabinet in the van. When he got there he liked some chairs they had,daughter had already said she thought they would look good in there but the price on them was $299 each with 50% off,I still thought that was too high.However when hubbie started talking about them the guy said, oh there actually on clearance at $149 each,so you'd get 50% off that price making them $75 each,I paid for them and said we'd be back to get them.I also found a lamp that I couldn't live without.I love the different woods in the base. When we went back to get the chairs, which I'll wait to take pics of until they're in place,I also bought another small corner glass front curio at clearance plus 50% off. I feel like I got fantastic deals and I wasn't even looking for furniture today. I had to put this furniture in #2 son's house until my room is finished. I have everything I need now and am happy with the amount of money I spent on it so all is well!!! I even finally made it to the jewelery store and actually found a ring I liked at a price I liked with the 20% off coupon daughter gave me,but they didn't have the band to match and would have to order it and special orders were excluded from the coupon,hey not my fault someone sold just the matching band! So I didn't buy anything,guess a new ring is just not that high on my list right now!These jewelers look at me like I'm crazy anyway when I say I just want something very simple and small. And what I want they have to pull out from under their counters,they don't have them displayed. With my luck with losing diamonds out of my rings there's no way I'd buy a large diamond even if I could afford it which I surely can't.
Hubbie and I picked up Sub-way for us and #2 son who helped unload the first load and is waiting to unload this load into his house. We did outside chores in the dark tonight.It is really cold already 30 degrees,brrrrr. Low 20's expected tonight.
All this excitement wore me out so Bernie ,Dolly and I vegged out on the couch for a while,in fact they are still there while I got up to write this.
Looking forward to church tomorrow,the children are putting on their Christmas play.The message of our Savior is so precious coming from children,maybe it will touch at least 1 lost soul, and the glory will be all Gods. Good Night.

UNEXPECTED TREASURES????

Took a chance and baked cakes this morning! Snow predictions differ with everyone you hear.
Windows and door for my sunroom came this morning and by 1:00 the builders had them all in,wonderful..G-son came late morning and went right to work on his Christmas tree,he was so cute ,I'll bet he took the ornaments on and off that tree 6 times today.I was finishing decorating my kitchen/dining room today,these are some of my dearest decorations.a lot of them are handmade or have special memories also. The old wood stove in my dining room is a perfect place for my village and this tree with all handmade ornaments,most made by a friend who used to have the stand next to mine at market.Several years ago I ran across some ornaments that were perfect for a kitchen/dining room tree lighted with "Frosty the snowman" lights as g-son says. This is the tree that will move to the sunroom if it gets finished in time!
All during the year I am always on the look out for Christmas decorations, when garage sale or thrift store shopping, and last summer I stopped at an apartment complex at a large sale on my way home from market one day. There I found the slim tree that is in front of the french doors above,I remember the lady there kept giving me things to go with it,lights and a bag of red apples that she hung on it. When I got home I just took it all and put it with my other decorations,so today when I put the tree up and got some of the apples out to put on it I noticed some ziplock bags under the apples. One of them contained some old bobbins from old petal sewing machines and a sewing kit. I caught my breath when I took the other one out because it contained heavy coins.I really didn't know how to feel,I remembered the sale was a moving sale,that's why the lady was giving me things,she just wanted rid of the stuff she couldn't move,the location was a commons area of the complex,so it would be next to impossible to track down the owner. And I will admit that Christmas miracle did cross my mind!!!! I spent over a hour on the internet trying to find value of the English coins and discovered to my relief(dismay) that they (at least 3 of them) aren't exceptionally valuable. I could never find info on 1 of them,however the 3 silver ones are very heavy silver and collectors will buy them. I couldn't find the far right one anywhere,even on e-bay so I'll just have to wonder about that one. I learned a lot about Queen Elizabeth ll in my search,also the top one has a picture of Prince Charles and Princess Diana on it. The bottom one is just an English penny worth about as much as an American penny! Anyway these made for an interesting evening for me.As I keep telling the kids,I'm setting them up for a trip to Antiques Roadshow one of these days.
Hubbie and I finished work at church while daughter baked.I feel like I'm forgetting that this is Friday night,I always am baking or icing cakes on Friday night's but everything is already done today.
Had a delightful day,thank you Lord,continue to guide me in my walk of faith with you. Good Night.

DO YOU HAVE CHRISTMAS IN YOUR HEART?

Off to market early today,brrrrrrrr, it's cold out here! I guess its suppose to be cold since it is December! Market was surprisingly okay,I took some orders for Saturday,hopefully it won't snow and we'll be here. Had time today to visit with my neighbors anyway.
I had several errands to run and some Avon stops to make on the way home.I went to the grocery store just to buy groceries for a change.I have the things I need to bake with already at home. These times are what makes my business a challenge,if I bake a lot and it snows and I can't get out or nobody comes to market,that's bad. If I don't bake and it doesn't snow,I don't have anything to sell at market,that's bad.These are the little things that make life interesting and keep us on our toes I guess!!!! I made it home around 5:00 after making a trip by a house several miles up the road,I had forgotten about this place until a neighbor was talking about it today.This man makes Christmas yard ornaments in his wood shop,he makes a new one every year and has for several years,you can drive through his yard at night when they are all lighted.These are just some of the decorations he has,they are all around his house,I am going to take g-son up there one evening after he turns the lights on and drive through. I was proud to see he has several manger scenes.
As late as I got home I didn't put up anymore decorations,I ate catfish ,slaw and steamed rice for supper and snuggled with Bernie and Dolly for a little while before going to work at church.The builders were here today,there is a new pile of lumber in the yard and it looks like they are ready to put up the inside wall boards. We put up some of the decorations in the church and there were needles everywhere. This will be a 3 night church week,to get it all decorated and cleaned.
Saw a sign today that really says it all, it said,"If you don't have Christmas in your heart,you won't find it under the tree",Amen. Good Night.

QUITE RAINY DAY SPENT DECORATING

This is not a scene that is normally seen from my front porch.It is the creek that runs through our pasture,swollen with rain that has been falling all day,very hard at times. I wish I had my rain gauge up somewhere to see just how much rain we got. Right after I took this picture the rain ended so the creek didn't flood but it was as close as it can get!!!!
I spent the morning icing cakes, got all of them done except coconut. G-son came in at lunch time and we started putting up Christmas decorations.As I was climbing on a little ladder to reach high places,I thought how next year G-son can call 911 if I fall!!!
I have a collection of santas and they always decorate the wood stove and mantel in the living room.Most of the cloth Santas in the sleigh are hand made.Bernie and Dolly were transfixed by the lights on the tree. And I did get my decorations on it tonight,that is one of my favorite things to do because each ornament brings memories of past Christmases.
I love this time of year,the world seems to undergo a smiling transition,everyone is friendlier and smiling,it has a peaceful feel in the air.I transform several rooms in my house,replacing routine decorations with Christmas decor.Routine things like this cactus become focal points.This cactus was about a foot tall when I first got it years ago,now it is about 5 feet tall,I keep it inside in winter and it is the perfect place for poinsettia blossoms.That pinecone poodle beside it,I found at the fair this year and just had to have it. I still have a lot of decorations to put up,but got a good start today. I have a big nativity scene that's probably going to be my only outside decoration for a while.I put it out on the hill,so it can be seen from the road and several neighbors have already asked where it is this year.I couldn't put it up in all the rain today. I'm one of the few houses around here that have a nativity scene for decoration and I think that is very sad.I don't get the lighted deer and other stuff because that's just not what Christmas is about to me. I even noticed in the store ads for outside decorations there is no nativity scenes, I think they're afraid to advertise them for fear someone will be offended,excuse me!!!, what do these people think Christmas is all about!!! I wear my "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" button wherever I go and always say Merry Christmas and I hope I offend someone and get to tell them the true meaning of the season.
Quite evening around here,daughter baked and I decorated,hubbie watched a ballgame on TV and helped me put my fall decorations away in the attic which I had piled on his side of the bed,ha,ha,ha. The rain has stopped and the wind has started,hopefully we won't lose our power.
Glory be to God in this wonderful time of celebrating Jesus birth. Good Night.

PATIENCE, NOT ONE OF MY STRONG POINTS!!!

You might have guessed by now that I am trying to make a point to myself!!
I found out today that the windows and door didn't come for the sunroom,they will be here next Monday. I have kept myself busy all day determined to be patient.
However this saying to the left best describes me!! As I have gotten better about this with age,I still have to work at it very hard. I have been reading quotes on the web about patience and there was one that seemed to keep popping up to grab my attention,it says "ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT". Our extended family Christmas gathering that I always host can be postponed and there will be no outside decorations this year to take down and put away!

Today was housework and laundry Tuesday,I also brought all the inside decorations out of storage and put them on the back porch (sunroom),so while it is raining tomorrow I can put them up.
On the bright side of the construction issue,they finished the roof today,so we won't have to worry about leaks!! Plus the builders consist of 2 brothers and 1 of their son's, the son went to school with my #1 son,they played football together,anyway that son was late this morning,I was hoping he wasn't sick,he came in about 10:00. This afternoon I was outside when he came over and showed me a picture on his cell phone,an ultrasound picture of his 1st little boy,good reason to be late for work!!! He was so proud.
As they left today they said we'll be back the next time the weather allows!!!! We are under a flood watch again tomorrow,I shut the gate to keep the cattle in the upper pasture.We might get 3-4 inches of rain. Wonder how much snow that would be??????
Daughter and I did some baking tonight,don't know how market will be this week with this weather. The Christmas parade is Saturday and that usually brings a lot of folks to town,
however the weather prediction for Saturday is snow!!! I'll say it again, this may be an interesting winter.
Forgive my impatience Lord and give me the wisdom and grace to deal with all the delays and difficulties that I face everyday. Good Night.