This old house belongs to one of our local churches, on the outskirts of town. It has been restored, moderately, and is available for use by the community. Today a group of ladies from our church held a bridesmaid’s luncheon for my niece, Lori.
Lori and I clowning around.
A lovely group of girls, wouldn’t you say? Kristy, Stephanie, Lori, Tara, Casey.
A little family photo…niece Tara,myself, niece Lori, sister Joy.
We had a very nice time and it was so neat to be in this old house. My sweet friends, Pamela, Monty, Juliann, Tina, and Patsy outdid themselves.
Then, the girls, the YOUNG girls, came back to my house and had themselves another party…hosted by Tara. They made it clear this was NOT for us more mature girls. They sunned themselves by the pool, snacked on some yummy refreshments, and watched Lori open up some ‘unmentionables’. She has lots of new lingerie to model for that new hubby of hers.
We are all looking forward to next weekend and the wedding. It’s going to be a busy, busy week. My friend, Tina, and I are doing the majority of the decorating for the wedding and the reception. Weddings are such sweet times, and we are all excited.
Things in my life have been a little hard recently, and I have gotten behind on accepting awards and posting about them. Please, my friends, don’t think I am not grateful…I’ve just been a little ‘undone’ lately. Thanks for understanding.
What a sweet surprise to receive this award from my friend,Jennifer! I have enjoyed reading the adventures of her family for several years now…and consider her a sister in Christ. Her blog is Zaankali’s Adventures.
This is a special award that should be given to your best bloggy girlfriends. Those ladies that have become a good dose of encouragement to you and are sisters in Christ. They are real women, living real lives with the courage to be transparent in their walk with the Lord. Stop over and let them know what a blessing they are. Everyone needs a bit of encouragement!
I am happy to pass this award along to Teresa, at Living the Life and Nancy, at Too Wonderful For Me. They are such encouragers and always lift my spirits.
Now this award I received from my friend Angela. It says that we should list 10 ‘UNCUTE’ things about ourselves…only 10, I ask?
1…I need to use a power sander on my heels.
2. I have a terrible addiction…and I don’t even want to get better. Shoes and Purses…..my weakness…(et tu,Kat!)
3. I remove my shoes as soon as I come into the house…and they tend to pile up by the back door…a big pile.
4. The second thing I remove is my bra…definitely not cute…but comfortable. But I do not pile these by the back door.
5. I have finally accepted the fact that I will never have a flat tummy again…in this life, anyway.
6. I can read a book and be totally oblivious to anything or anyone else.
7. I am a big procrastinator…but I always do my best work at the last minute.
8. Dishes in the sink do not bother me.
9. I do not like to drink water.
10. My fingernails always look like I do manual labor…in the dirt!
This is Barbie. Blogger Barbie. She turns 50 years old this year. You’d never know by looking!?! Looks as if she’s finally caught up with the rest of the world. I think she’s probably in menopause, too…don’t you?
I was so excited last week to win the contest Angela had on her blog, Love Being A Nonny. This is the first time I have won anything in Blogland! And this is what I won: Aren’t they wonderful? I got to choose the color, so I went with orange to match the accent color in my kitchen. They are so well done and look wonderful in my kitchen. Thanks so much, Angela! I am delighted! *************************************************** The towels were done by Angela’s daughter. Her business is: Get Personal. You can contact her at gretchentrinidad @gmail.com
I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of so many of you in response to the sadness in our lives the past week. So many of my friends, bloggy and IRL, have spoken kind and healing words that have comforted and strengthened us. Even new friends that I haven’t even met yet, have gone out of their way to send me sweet messages. It means so much to me, that I do not know that I have words to express how I feel.
I know that in the grand scheme of thing, this is a very minor occurrence. It really has no great consequence except to those of us who loved this dog. But, it was a monumental sadness to us.
I even had a beautiful, little 3 year old girl come running up to me this morning. She wrapped me in the biggest hug she could and said, “Mrs. Owens, I’m sorry your doggie died.” Now, this Mom is a reader of my blog, and she had taken the time to teach her daughter a little about feelings. She told her that Mrs. Owens was sad and explained why. Then she encouraged her daughter to tell me. How wonderful! Moms, many times out children do not deliberately show kindness and empathy, because we do not teach it to them. They do not learn how to respond to someone who is hurting or less fortunate because, we don’t SHOW them how. We may TELL them, but , even as young as 3 or 4, they are old enough to DO.
When my boys were younger, they went with me to deliver Meals on Wheels. Now, at first, they were not too happy about doing this, but after a few deliveries, they were beginning to look forward to seeing the people again. And, it was a good opportunity to teach them that if WE did not take food to that person…on that day…they may at eat at all. One of my 3 had a harder time ‘getting it’ than the other 2. So, the next time we went, even though it was lunch time as we were delivering meals, we did not stop and pick up a burger before we picked up our meals to deliver. Then I, conveniently, had several errands to run afterwards and we didn’t get home till nearly time for supper. He was hungry. But, I was not in any hurry to get dinner started. When he complained, loudly, and whining, about how he was ‘starving’ and couldn’t stand it, and would I please get up and start supper. It was then that I reminded him just how Mr. Brown would feel, if someone did not bring him a meal. Better than any lecture or punishment…this showed him just how Mr. Brown would really feel. Never another complaint from him again. Matter of fact, he was very sad when my time was up, and begged for us to do it again.
Moms, teach your children while they are young how to empathize with others…how to put themselves in another’s place. Show them the things to do, and teach them the appropriate words to say. Help them understand that this is what Jesus told us to do. These lessons will serve them well the rest of their lives.
And, again, I thank you for caring about our feelings and expressing that to us.
I love this passage from 2 Corinthians…
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” vs.3 and 4…NIV
I also like it from The Message:
“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus, the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes along side us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He brings us along side someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person…just as God was there for us.”
I am a Christian woman who has survived many years on the planet. God has blessed me with a wonderful family: husband, 3 sons, a dear DIL, and a precious grandson. I also have dear friends to keep me inspired. I am an artist of sorts and am finding my way through the great blessing of retirement. I recently retired after 20 years as a music teacher. Life is good!
My Boys
"All your sons will be taught by the Lord; and great will be their peace." Isaiah 54:13
Read their stories... Adam Alex Ian
Hello, my name is Everly. I am a blogger living in New York. This is my blog, where I post about interior design and decoration. Never miss out on new stuff.
This old house belongs to one of our local churches, on the outskirts of town. It has been restored, moderately, and is available for use by the community. Today a group of ladies from our church held a bridesmaid’s luncheon for my niece, Lori.
Lori and I clowning around.
A lovely group of girls, wouldn’t you say? Kristy, Stephanie, Lori, Tara, Casey.
A little family photo…niece Tara,myself, niece Lori, sister Joy.
Hello, my name is Everly. I am a blogger living in New York. This is my blog, where I post about interior design and decoration. Never miss out on new stuff.