Wednesday, January 26, 2011

So Very Tired But Seeing Oh So Clearly

Oh I'm so tired, so very tired out...A big fun day in the metro. Things started out with a fun bang. : ) A great day in all. So thankful for my family.

Psalms 91.

Pondering what I spend my time on... Wondering if God is not pulling me into a quiet season, closing the doors on some things...

God is good.

When we came home, I went into my room and lay down and just listened to sweet Christian music on our old fashioned Christian radio station... I just lay down and rested and let the sweet spirit of the music sink in.

My dad had made some wooden crosses a while back to wear with a ribbon as a necklace. After being in the huge city today. I'm thinking I need to wear one. They are large crosses similar to what a nun or Fransiscan would wear. But I'm thinking they need to be worn publicly by people like me, by Christians like me after seeing the spirit that is taking our country over. The country is destroying itself from within...The spirit of something very different than our sweet Jesus is taking over, it's manifesting itself in different ways. It's everywhere I look. It seems people who once were strong are falling so quickly. People, many homeschoolers who were viable. They aren't the same... They just aren't the same. So many false gods... gods of academia, gods of materialism, gods of new age, gods of religions who call us infidels... gods of doctrines, strange doctrines, intellectual doctrine. No one hardly talks about Jesus anymore.

The Bible tells us, it warns us. Brethren do not be deceived. That tells me it is possible to be deceived.

The cross. The Cross. May we keep our eyes on the empty Cross. The power of the Cross. Jesus our Lord. Do not be deceived.

Allow me Lord Jesus to soak in Your Sweet Presence.

For an Audience of One. Our Father. amelia

Monday, January 24, 2011

Plugging Along...Counting Blessings...

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I loved this shot from Robert Stock. It reminds me of some of our Italian relatives...So funny.

My hubby has quite a sense of humor at times.

He was at Home Improvement store last week buying our vanity sinks, pretty ceramic sinks with a beautiful decorative raised border. The young man working there was high on the ladder getting one of the boxes down. Hubs tells me he could hear little tiny pieces clinking around. (Not a good sign) The worker opens the box at Hubs polite request.

The poor little sink was broken in little tiny pieces....Just as Hubs suspected.

Hubs with a straight face to the young clerk:
"Do you think you could give me a discount?" ; )

The poor little worker:
"Oh sir, I don't think you would want this sink"

Hubs laughed, the clerk laughed and all was well and it sure makes for a cute story.

Oh it was so nice going to the country yesterday to see the new house. We had a sweet picnic dinner outside. Hubs has been working alone on the house lately, he loves working with his hands and we want the home to be our very own, I do believe it's like a giant hobby for him. It's going to be a little different and a bit unconventional but "Us". Us. Our family represented in this home.

The wood countertops in the kitchen are wonderful... Hubs may buy one small can of marine varnish to swipe over the already shiny tops of outdoor varnished oak.

The master bath was a wonderful surprise for me...We found black granite squares on clearance for $3 and something a piece. We did the countertop in that, and then lay the two pretty white bordered sinks into that. Hubs had bought two vanity faucets several years ago and wouldn't ya know, the handles are a beautiful white, a very pretty sculpted white that matches beautifully with the white sinks with the raised sculpted borders. We're doing marbled look white tile in the bath and backsplash with tiny black diamond shaped cut-outs every now and then. I love it. It reminds me of the feel I used to get when I was a little girl and would go to downtown for hospital visits to see our great aunts & uncles or perhaps grandparent's doctor's visits... The black marble etc. in the beautiful downtown buildings...The cool young nuns stuffed in a station wagon going by my family; me, my mom & dad on the freeway smiling and waving to me as a little girl as they passed...Such a neat time even in an urban place!

I'm like that. I remember feelings and memories, the look and feel, the atmospheres... and I try to recapture the good ones. I do think mission may be accomplished in that bathroom! For the back of the woodburning fireplace I want a zoo-look. (It's another story of fond memories)...I've always loved the natural look of our city zoo, very artsy, natural stone but perhaps some modern twists as well...I'm not sure but I'll know it when I see it. Yes indeed.

I'm decluttering too. Decluttering is a big deal for a creative mess like me. I'm getting ready for the move. Excitement and expectancy are brewing. I'm looking forward to seeing the new people the Lord will cross our paths with.

Here's some pics to update my memory here from several weeks ago:

Our kitchen, the tops are shinier now, the sink is in. It is looking nice.


Another view, you can see the cabinets on the island. The dishwasher was bought a couple of years back on clearance. Are we not brave? ; )


Our view over the kitchen sink. We put the kitchen on this corner of the house so we could enjoy the old oaks, so fanciful...

Hubs getting ready to experiment with some stain. We finally chose the Gunmetal shade from Cabot.

Our sweet Dd21 enjoying the work in progress! If I know her, she's thinking up some good things to cook in the kitchen!


Tis I...I think I was saying something or thinking something one.... My smile is just not norm here. Oh well, such is life eh?


Just being. Enjoying God's Handiwork.


A neat little photo Dd21 put together. And it says it all...

Bye for now... The Last Child in the Woods... ~Amelia

P.S. You can see the beginnings of this journey for our family here:
"My Journey Begins"

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Roe Vs. Wade, What has Become of Us?

An Article I wrote for a dear friend's magazine:

Roe Vs. Wade, What Has Become of Us?

Please read here on one of my other blogs: VisionForaGodlyHome

Much of my growing up years and the moral climate is described in detail in the above article. The article is not to lift myself up. It is to bring awareness to the roots of evil that have crept into our nation. It is an article to save little innocent baby's lives and raise awareness of how far we have gone. My 28 year old daughter is a counselor at a prolife clinic, I once was a prolife counselor myself before I took my place at home with our four little babies, although I did counsel over phone for a time while living in the city.

Oh what has happened to our nation, oh where is the church for the mostpart? Oh God give us true pastors. I know there is a remnant of true pastors who are willing to cry out and weep over sins of our nation but they are far and few between and it makes things very difficult for our family at times...
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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Peace, Glorious Peace

I feel like this today... Peace.
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So nice, just so nice. Went out to the country to see the latest on the work Hubs has been doing and it is so wonderful. God has done such a work in my heart and I am so looking forward to it all...

I can't tell you how good it felt to walk the earth, to see and hear the huge flock of blackbirds...*happy sigh*...

Our 21 year old daughter and I took our little car and it was so fun, we talked about all kinds of fun subject matter. ; )

Hubs picked up a guest vanity the lumber company was clearing out. It is so perfect! It is a wood furniture quality antique reproduction, cherry with a white china top! Oh yes oh yes! Mr. Felix at the lumberyard guaranteeeeeed we would like it, and Hubs bought it for the great price without even opening the box.

Have I ever shared how much the windows for the house had cost? Hubs had walked into the Home Improvement store and they just happened to be running them on clearance for $10.00 a piece! These are BIG windows! The Lord has so been with us through this adventure...

I wanted to give the Lord the glory for our windows, we only had to buy several for regular price.

I'm waiting on photos from our daughter, they have some newer ones but they are busy bees and I just haven't been able to acquire them yet.

May God be glorified. The Last Child in the Woods.... ~Amelia

P.S. I am trying to find the simple joy of blogging again...Just heartfelt blogging. If I wait on pics and such it's not going to happen, so I'll blog as my heart tells me, and pics will arrive sooner or later.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

I Feel Like This Today...

Sometimes I feel like this:

Free Shipping!

Oh What a Crazy World we are in...So glad that I have the Lord.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Our New Sink, a Blessing in Disguise! Really!

It is so hilarious the sense of humor the Lord has. I've never thought I would ever want a granite sink, for some reason they were strange to me...For one thing I didn't know the positives of them and had no idea they actually are heat & scratch resistant. I also didn't know these poly/granite sinks had real granite particles in them, I couldn't figure out what they were made of, they were just new to me.

Last week Hubs and I were trotting through Lowes and checking out the scratched, dented, clearanced selection and there was this sink on the floor. It was one of those weird granite ones. It was marked up on the edges from being on display undermounted and really... when Hubs asked how about that one for $50 I actually said... "Gong!". And laughed. But the more we looked at it, and the more I envisioned it with our wood countertops the more I thought...Ya know? This isn't so bad...


Never say never folks! Ours is similar to this one but a little lighter and even sides. It's a nice 9 inches deep which I so love! We took the little marked up sink home, (it had been a display and undermounted) I took some moistened baking soda to it, and we have a like-new sink that would have normally been $220.00.

My oh my, the Lord works in mysterious ways... : ) He is a much better decorator than I...

Next is the septic system...Hubs has a great experienced little man who has agreed to do the job for us. Hubs waited over the phone as the sweet man figured up the job over the phone thinking out loud as Hubs listened and prayed! The price was more than a good deal. God is good.

I hope to post photos soon, if not photos perhaps a worded update.

Blessings to all! That's the wrap on the house for now, I'm decluttering like mad, and will start packing too soon. I figure everything I declutter to donate to bless others we won't have to move and find a place for.

Please pray for us as we are making decisions and such.

Blessings! ~Amelia

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Spring is Coming...It Won't be Long...

We'll be there soon... We're so excited and now preparing, decluttering for the big move soon....The Lord has placed such an excitement along with beautiful recollections of when we once lived in the area. Perhaps this time, I'm a bit more mature and wiser and more appreciative of the Lord's Beauty. I see now that the burbs just weren't all that in more ways than one, but ya know... God's ways are much higher than ours and I know things were used for His Glory. Isn't He wonderful? Here's some new photos of what is transpiring in our new home: Here is one of dear hubby, "Dh" and three of our four daughters, even our little poodle gal, Esther...trying ever so hard to get laminate flooring down in Michelle's bedroom. Oh what a trial, a wee one but a trial, maybe more of a nemesis? lol Well maybe more of a downright aggravation...Never the less to the girls...This was worse than me trying to make homemade laundry detergent... Dh is very handy with his hands but the "easy" snap-lock flooring was just not so easy! ; ) That week a young daddy raising by himself... several little children came by our smalltown office looking for work. Hubby asks: Ya do wood floors?
To make a long story short, the youngish man finished the upstairs floors, not so perfectly but at least they are done. Downstairs will be done in stain, we had the slab folks finish it out smoothly so we could try the stain loft-look. Hubs is trying out different mixtures of gardening Coppers etc. to achieve the right tone of a cordovan. Don't I sound fancy? ; ) More pics JLiving Room/Den & a sort of formal large dining area. See the wood burning stove to the right? I hope so. (This blog is not cooperating with my photos, it seems to be posting portions of them) Zuzu sawing off something...  The beginnings of our kitchen! We chose to use the prefab cabinets, the plain jane ones, and Dh has since tweaked them beautifully. We saved loads using the standby cabinets, there really was not that much difference. Check out my island, the way we put two sink bases together. Pretty neat huh? : ) OKAY. Now drumroll please.....
 
Isn't that jazzy? : D I think Dh did a GREAT job! The cabinets are now painted a pretty off-white, very light beige. This reminds me of a sweet dollhouse kitchen. Guess what kind of countertops we will do? We really wanted to incorporate the outdoors into our home, we don't want it looking track-homish if you know what I mean....We are going to do real wood oak countertops with a pretty crown-molding around the edge in a pretty mahogany stain. I am so blessed that Hubs knows how to do this stuff. The upstairs railing is being done with white spindles that Hubs found in a box at the lumberyard on clearance for $10 dollars for the entire box! He is finishing the top hand rail with a pretty mahogany color stained oak as well. That's the wrap for the house. In the meantime I've been studying minimalist writings and blogs trying to get a balance to my depression era clutter bunker mentality. Dh is a self employed real estate broker, the equivalent to a George Bailey in a small town and that's okay with me, the people are wonderful, wouldn't trade it for anything. But it's much like being in farming, some years are good crops while other years are not so good so it tends to put a fear in me as far as what to keep and such in the way of material goods. I'm learning though that clutter keeps me from using what I love. Today I got rid of tons of little keepsakes and decorations that had been given to me...Yesterday I gave away three pair of leather clogs that were just not doing a thing for my back when I would walk around in them. I really love clogs but I have to do what I have to do to help keep pain away. I also released my old favorite black jumper and a seer sucker jumper that the girls just looked at and shook their head sadly.... frumpy-frumpy... I kept one cute sweet jumper, made from a nice soft material with buttoned straps, it fits loosely. I really like that jumper; it's the last of the mohiccans so to speak. But I like it. : ) Remember the book the long lost cousin and writers were tracking me down for, for pics & info? It's out. There is a nice size pic of my grandfather in it. They put the name of my cousin's father as my grandfather's name! (shaking head in amazement) It says something like... "John (wrong name) Jones owner of the famous place in town" I cannot believe they did that, but then again maybe I can. It's all okay, because.... Spring is Coming! *Please pray for my father in law as he suffers from Alzheimers. He is not doing well at all and the family was told to place him in hospice care. *We visited my 80 yr. old father last week and had a wonderful visit...He has macular degeneration. It breaks my heart to see him look in the distance almost through my daughters at times when he is talking with them... My dad tells us over dinner...He obviously has such a wonderful sense of humor! "I ate a piece of cake at a lady's house the other day, I had to chip the icing off with my fork. It was old enough to vote!" ~My Dad Oh my. He still has such great stories and such life within him... Spring is Coming. Til the next time, take care all. ~Amelia I am so looking forward to what God will do. I have an excitement in my heart and a skip in my step.