During my friend, Tina’s birthday party, one of the gifts she recieved was a plate with a portion of scripture on it. My friend, Rhonda, asked if anyone knew the rest of the verse. Several of us chimed in and finished out the rest of the words. Somehow the conversation got around to waaaaaay back when we were in GA’s. For those of you that are not of the Southern Baptist persuasion, GA’s stood for Girl’s Auxillary…later to become Girls in Action. This was a girl’s missions group that met every week. We would learn about missionaries and their work all over the world. At one point way, way back…you could achieve different levels in the group depending on the steps you completed. There was a watchword and several different verses that we repeated every week. That, for me, was at least 45 years ago. 45!!! But, when Rhonda said, “Can you remember the rest of this one?”….I could. And, I have not thought of that verse in …well…45 years! “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6. Those words just poured out of my mouth. And, we went on and repeated the Aim and the Watchword, and the other things we had learned so many years ago. And for the most part…both of us remembered almost all the words. Our pastor and his wife were at the party and they had brought their 2 children…grade school age. Our friend Ron, who teaches children in our church, looked at them and said, “See, you’ll remember the things you are learning now, just like that, when you are old!”

Well, I don’t know about the ‘old’ part…but, I’m here to say this: the things you learn and forget you ever knew, are still locked away in there. There is no telling what will cause you to bring it to the forefront of your memory…but, if you need it … it will be there. I am so happy to know that I still remembered those verses. And, it causes me to think of all the verses my children have memorized over the years. Those things will be with them forever, too.

Parents, be sure the things you put into your children’s memory bank are worthy of recalling 40 or 50 years later. Let them be sweet memories…stories of Jesus…words that will heal and help…verses to remind them of early days spent learning of Him.

Tina and I set off on a day trip to Moultrie with Tina’s daughter, sweet Amy, as our companion and driver. Only on the rural roads in Alabama and Georgia would you be held up by such as this. We must have passed 3 or 4 during our trip. We also saw a deer or 2 run cross our path, and a good ‘ole boy State Trooper who, thank goodness, was not in the mood to give out tickets! Of course, the prayers from the passengers and the driver could have had something to do with it, too!
Here is our P.I.T. crew…Amy, Jolie, and Jayna. J and J are Shirley’s daughters. But, I claim all 3, too! Our mission for the day was a local craft show, some junking, and lunch and shopping downtown. And, we accomplished it all!
On the streets of Moultrie. I do not know what that looks like in my hands…kind of like a green tumbleweed. But, it is 2 strands of garland we bought off the wall from a lady who didn’t own the store, and didn’t know the price and didn’t really know if she should sell it. But, she did…I mean, really now, she didn’t stand a chance up against the likes of the 6 of us. We were not going to leave without the garland…and she really wanted to get back to her beauty shop next door. And, I paid for it in the restaurant. I know it sounds confusing…but, I promise…it was all legal. And the garland looks extremely nice in the Creek House, thank-you very much! FYI: Really…don’t try to figure it out.
Now, would you just look at this sweet rabbit that jumped up in my lap to have her picture made with us! Her name was Lila…and she wanted very much to live in Dothan. So, we obliged!

We had a wonderful day, as we always do when we are together! Went back by Shirl’s house to see the rest of the family. Learned to do the Hippity Hoppity Dance from Little Gabby, and almost got to read a book with her! We headed home…slower…and made it here by dark! Great day! Hope you feel better, Shirl!

Today, we went to church. And afterward went out to eat with Tina, Buddy, Jim and Jan. Since today was Tina’s official birthday, we managed to make her a spectacle in Applebee’s by telling them it was her birthday. Don’t ya just hate it when they start all that clapping and singing? The free desert is nice, though!

Then, this afternoon was a special time for my niece, Lori. Joy’s youngest daughter is getting married in May, and our dear friend, Patty, headed up a shower for her, assisted by the girl’s in their Sunday School class.

Here is beautiful Lori. She is a psychologist here in Dothan.
Lori enjoyed opening her wonderful gifts. Next to her are Joy and Mom. Sorry, Tara, I didn’t get you in the pic. OOPS.
Patty and I being silly around the food table. Lori loves lemons, so there was lemonade, lemon cake, lemon squares, etc. All yummy!
The 2 prettiest girls there…Lori and her Granny!

Whew! I think I need to put my feet up and rest! Good thing next week is spring break!

“LOOK!” The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the sound of the singing of birds
is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.”
Song of Songs 2:11-13a

“The blogs that receive this award are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.”
Thank you, Sharon, for this award. I pray that I am worthy of it. My prayer is that I always shine His light in all I do.

If you are not a reader of “God’s Child”, Sharon’s blog, please know that there you will find God’s word and wonderful inspiration for daily living. She blesses me so often with her writings.

This award is for blogs that show kindness and sweetness in their entries.

A big thanks to Jennifer for passing on this award to me. I so enjoy reading about the adventures of her family in Michigan. She is a dedicated Christian, and shares Christ through her blog.

Since Don hung this Chinese window screen for me, I have been looking for the perfect piece to go underneath it. I have searched the stores here and online, but could not find anything that struck my fancy. Because we were entertaining last weekend, I renewed my search. I had just about given up, when I made a stop at one last place. Walking through the extremely crowded furniture store, it is easy to miss something. So, I went through twice and, on my second pass, I spotted this chest…or rather, I spotted the corner of it. There were 2 chairs and another table in front of it, so it was hard to get a good look at it. It was originally $680…and marked down to $339. Good deal, but, I still wasn’t sure. I had not planned to get anything with a design on it…I wanted just a plain chest. So, I left, and got in my car…then I got right back out and went in and bought it! To my surprise, the clerk told me, that there was a sale going on and it was reduced another $100! I had them wrap it up and put it in my car.

It is very heavy, even though it is small. I was so anxious to see it in the house, to see if I had made a good choice or not. I knew that I was going to have to call Adam or Ian to come and get it out for me. But, when I got home, the son of a dear friend of mine happened to be at my house picking up some box springs to deliver to my niece. Now, he is a strong young man…and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever want to meet. He and Ian grew up together in church. Justin is married and has the cutest little girl. Anyway…I asked him to help, and he carried it in for me. I unwrapped it and I LOVED IT! It looks as if it was just made for this wall.
Things with designs on them puzzle me sometimes, because I do not want there to be too much going on. But, this looks perfect to me! Here is a close-up of the painting on the front.A small portion of the design is repeated on the sides also. I added a portion of my bird collection to the top to coordinate with the design.

Don’t you just love it when you make a purchase and it turns out to be just exactly what you wanted…even if you weren’t sure exactly what it was you wanted?
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I had a painting that I bought to go on this wall that I really loved…and still do. My DH, however, did not share my appreciation of this fine piece of art. I began looking for something else to hang there, and this is a painting that I found. It is by Matthew Mertzer and is a layering process of colors upon colors. I really love it. And it has all the colors we are using in our home.It is hanging above an antique Chinese desk that came from the Mongolian area of China…appr.300 years old.


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I FINALLY got the picture I brought back from Savannah last year hung in the foyer. Remember…it is the one I carried on my head all the way home! Yes, I know you can see my lovely reflection in the full shot, but, I wanted you to see it over the Chinese butcher’s table. You can get a better idea of the colors in the next pic.


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This is a photograph on canvas Don and I purchased on our trip to Maui last October. We had it stretched onto canvas, and Don has it hanging in his office. Aren’t the colors magnificent?

Nothing like a party to get little details finished up!