Summer Adventures...

My children are spending their last summer as students in college (or at least Chase's last summer in college) together working. Jeanni's Journeys - Florida's Adventure Guide and Outfitter- St. George Island, has hired both of them to work this summer giving kayak trips and environmental children's camp. My son, Chase, is able to do his internship in Biology by doing all of this! They are in God's protection~ I try not to worry about the gators! But I am a MOM!!

My son has become a very good cook while being in College! Whitney is really lucky that he loves to cook like he does. She is constantly calling and telling me about his wonderful dishes. Whitney spends her free time with the camera~ She is using it as part of her ministry! It is hard to believe that she took this at St. George! So few waves........

Energized....

Finally, I have my studio somewhat organized and I can work at creating again! Thank goodness! It is so amazing how much peace I find in working. I turn my music on, I daydream of what can be and before I know it the phone rings with my hubby telling me he is on his way home! I know this is where I am suppose to be at this point in my life. It's a great feeling~ contentment. Knowing all is well and everything is where it is suppose to be.

Party Casserole...

Make a Smilebox postcard

Moving Day...

I have the seven year itch! Some people handle this in different ways, I seem to handle it by nesting in a new environment (that sounds so much better than picking up and moving)! We have lived in three terrific homes, all being very different in their style and me decorating them in the same way – eclectic!
Well, the seven year itch is here, I look around and decide this move will have to be at a much smaller scale. I love the land we live on~ we live on a lake, with rock croppings, wild azaleas, buckeye shrubs, huge trees, and plenty of wildlife. And what is so amazing, this is in a development! The first time we both have lived in a neighborhood and we kind of like it!
Back to the moving….. So it was decided, the move will be……… drum roll……… my studio! From one end of the house to the other! I never knew what a mess it would be, but I also didn’t realize the supplies I would find! It satisfied my itch! I think at my age, this is totally enough moving every seven years! I know I will enjoy my new surroundings! I love the color red ~ it energizes me and I especially love seeing all my supplies better on the shelves than stacked on the floor. And the bonus, it faces the lake with doors to open out onto God’s Creation! This will be good!

Through All Things I Will SOAR...

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

He knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me,

I will come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith ~ of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire ~ may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Learning from our children...

The one reason I know that my son Chase hates coming home is me picking at his knowledge of Photoshop and the computer. He knows it all~ He is a natural. I know that when he hears the "Chase can you help me with something?" with sweetness all over it, he knows what's coming. It is usually the same questions over and over (short memory from visit to visit) but he amazes me with what he can do with this little monitor and keyboard! (I won't even go into what he can create with music). LOL! Anyways, I am here now trying to create a poster. This is my first attempt. I owe Chase all the credit except for Whitney "allowing" me to take the picture of her on the beach. Thanks Chase, I love you ~ From your pain in the hiney, MOM

Passing down the Art of Collecting....

*Top Picture: A collection of some of the gifts students from my Children's choir gave me, my mothers old grease can, and old game pieces that I could not throw away from the Lake Rabun house when I cleaned it years ago. I use old boxes, coca-cola (Living in Ga. it has to be Coke)crates, cheese crates, etc. to hang on the walls for my shelves.

*Bottom Picture: A few of my medicine tins, toiletry items, a picture I made using sticks, pebbles and a quote from the book I Dare You, my son's GI Joe lunchbox from school, lumber truck from one of our suppliers, pictures of my PAPA, jars with marbles and umbrella's, and you can try and guess what the white thing is used for!!! Hint~ This is in one of my bathrooms and YOU don't have to use this item!

Whitney returned from Auburn University this week with a car loaded down of everything from clothes (mostly dirty) to art supplies. This is truly the first time since she started school two years ago that I think she really was ready to come home for a break! It was late and I was hoping that unloading the car could and would wait until tomorrow. But Whit had some treasures in her car. A couple of boxes of bottles that her boss from "JAVA JO'z" gave her. She could not wait to rip into them. As she did, I sat there and remembered when I was about four years younger than her, my obsession with collecting began and it also was with BOTTLES! As she pulled out each one, she would hold it to the light and you could she her mind racing with all the ideas that she had for this bottle and that bottle.

The art of collecting and discovering hidden treasures is one of my most cherished gifts~ looking at something one person considers trash and seeing it through my eyes as a beautiful piece of art or God's miracles. I see this same trait in her eyes and wonder how can I help her grow in seeing the beauty in ordinary objects. I know for me, God had to show me when I was at my weakest. I started seeing beauty in the ordinary every day task of people, beauty in nature, beauty in things I was throwing away! Maybe that was how the art was passed down to her..... She found beauty in me through Christ when I only had HIM to get me through these days. I'm not sure how she did..... but that's the way FAITH is ..... we accept it .....SMILE....Ask no questions............ And praise God through all things.

The Element of Surprise...

There is nothing in the garden that I enjoy more than the element of surprise. It is amazing to me how some gardeners can use or recycle every day objects into their gardens and it will make the little "niche" go POP. My mom has to be one of those people~ You never know walking her paths, when something will be peeping from the shrubs or she will be using an implement to serve the purpose of not only helping to support a plant but to also add beauty. I hope you enjoy these few pictures of my early spring garden. And yes, the blue ball is an old bowling ball.

My First Attempt at a Paper Bag Scrapbook....

This was probably the hardest but most rewarding project that I have ever attempted! It took me close to two weeks to complete and I still could have added more to it!!! I was amazed at some of the pictures and paper articles I collected to put inside! It was fun and I know my MOM will absolutely love it on Sunday!

The Beach House...

Everyone has that special place, a place they can go, close their eyes and still all five senses can come alive at once! For me that place is the beach~ I can go and leave everything and everyone else behind with the exception of the one that I am with and the Great Creator! There is something about arriving at the beach house, flinging the doors open, jumping on the bed and just closing your eyes to the crushing sounds of the waves. Nothing in the world is more peaceful to me! I love to walk the beach and while others are looking for that perfect seashell, I search out for the ones that have been tumbled, tossed and worn; just like me. I find so much beauty in these shells because like these shells I know that God has to put us through trials, valleys, and the worst of times, so that we may slowly be the beautiful child that He desires. I am so blessed to have found this Island twenty years ago. There are more houses here, but really little has changed. It is my haven, my running place, the place that I know that surely no one can deny God!

A Cheerful Heart...

“”If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!’”
“We smile as we read the wall plaque in the novelty store. But our smile quickly turns to a frown if truly “Mama ain’t happy.” This is because the wife and mother in a family often “sets the tone” in the home. The “tone” God wants her to set is one of joy, optimism, and a delight in the Lord and in her family. If your family were called upon to describe you, what would they say?”
~ by Martha Peace ~

“The Excellent Wife“

As I was searching the blogs today and I came upon this~ How quickly it hit home......... Truly, I am the one that sets the tone for my whole family! When my husband comes home, if I am happy, then he is happy! When my children hear a cheery voice on the phone (they are out of state in college) it makes being away from home so much easier on them. God, please be with me and remind me of how important it is to have that cheerful heart that YOU tell us to have throughout YOUR WORD!