The Hummingbird Vine...

This summer I had a wild hummingbird vine come up from seed in our fire pit that I let grow and grow and grow. I could not bear to cut it. It kept growing all over our deck chairs that surrounded the fire pit and the beautiful red flowers supplied nectar for the hummingbirds outside of my studio window all summer long. With the children away working all summer long, I knew the fire pit would not be used, so I allowed the vine to continue growing. When my daughter returned home, I realized what a beautiful place this would be to take her picture. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

These Things Make Me Happy...

Freshly Cut Grass

Old Buttons Still on their Paper

Listening to the Geese take off in flight

Salt Air

I Love My Old Things That My Family Gave Me With A Story To Them!

Fields of Sunflowers

Antiques, Antiques, Antiques!
Smell of Fabuloloso

Painting

Listening to Chase Play the Guitar, Mandoline, Banjo, etc. and Sing

Listening to Whit Sing

Having the Geese Sing to Me

Boss Oysters
My Red Velour Pullover

Watching the Squirrels Play

A Honest Heart

Watching the Bluebirds

Cutting a Path in the Woods with my Husband

Old Websters Dictionary

Wind Blowing through leaves ready to fall

Looking at Old Pictures of my Children and Family

Looking for Shells with Whit

Waves Crashing Against the Beach

Looking at My Christmas Collection

Lenox Santa Collection my Mother collected for me for years

Fontanini Nativity my children played with when they were younger

My Husband Sitting on the Dock with Me Watching the Beavers

Feeding the Catfish

Kayaking with Chase

Sitting Around with Family at Night Talking Outside on the Porch

Mama's Biscuits and Gravy

Aunt Shirley's Mac and Cheese
Aunt Betty's Lemonade

Grandma Moon's Italian Cream Cheese Cake

Daddy singing You Are My Sunshine

Mama Sewing

Wedding Ring Quilt Grandma made Reid and I for our wedding

Sitting on my steps at the Beach House at Night looking at the Stars

Watching the Shrimp Boats at Night

Lighting Bugs
Breakfast with Santa

The Art of Gift Wrapping...

Purchase good wide ribbon that will make good fluffy bows!

Watch your craft stores for sale on ribbons.

Collect objects during the year to put on your packages

and don't limit yourself to the size.

If you find something that you think the person will like

and the price is good, go for it!

Usually you can tie it any object on with ribbon.

This package used wired small ribbon looped many times

and an brooch purchased from a dollar store.

When you give dish towels as a thank you gift, tie them up pretty with a ribbon. A book with a wide ribbon a brooch attached is always a wonderful gift!

Tulle fabric gathered around a basket and tucked under. A wide silk ribbon pulled around and pulled into a beautiful bow and a silk peony tucked in.
A plastic Rubbermaid container full of kitchen utensils for a bride is covered in tulle and gathered at the top and tucked under to look like a wedding veil. It is finished off with a with a pink flowered brooch.
Pick out Christmas Ornaments that you think the person will like and use that on the package as the tag! I also like to use craft paper as wrapping paper. The edges always make a smoother edge when wrapping.

I truly believe there is an art to gift wrapping, but I believe it can be easily achieved. To achieve it, one only has to take the time to think about the person that will be receiving the gift! What color do they like, what are their hobbies, their interest, basically what do you know about them? It is taking the time to find out about the person that you are gifting and going that extra step of finishing off your gift by making it special in the presentation. Many times they don't care what is inside because of the way that you have presented it! They know that you have taken that extra step to really make their gift special! The next time you have a gift to give, try it. Take a little extra time to make your gift extraordinary!

Running Away...

Have you ever ran away from something and not realized it until something just popped you in the face and said, "Girl, get a grip, Face it! You have being running from this and now it is time to face it! You can do this!"

My story starts this way............. My son and his girlfriend, which he loves dearly and I have yet to meet, are coming home on Oct. the 2nd! I cannot tell you how excited I am! I have fell in love over the internet chatting with her! Already I can tell that she is a perfect fit into this odd puzzle of ours... Anyways, back to my story.... Over the past couple of years to face a empty nest, I picked up painting and altered art. Almost all of my time was spent doing this with friends and their friends asking me for pieces. Now, looking around, I am freaking out noticing that I have let the house go!

The challenge that hit me in the face.... cleaning out the kitchen pantry! Looking at the dates on the food, I knew that I had not cooked in forever, much less cleaned out the pantry. Also looking at the dates, I noticed that the dates corresponded with the date of my daughters highschool graduation date. I sat there for a second and realized.... WOW.... I didn't have that breakdown that everyone thought I was going to have, I didn't cry every day.... you know I didn't cry at all. I rejoiced every single day because my children were in God's hands, doing His work at college. I knew that Reid and I had raised them as well as we could have and I knew they were surrounded with our prayers and prayers of others. God has got me through these two and a half years and he got my pantry through it also!

Now, I don't have to worry about Jacks and Chase coming home to a pantry full of stale food but one empty, ready to be full of anything they want to fill it with!! I love you guys, Hurry Home!

Tuesday Tips.... Just Hold On....

Yesterday was a tough day! What more can I say~ We all know it! So many people are hurting, friends throughout the USA are being hit hard because of hard times and now friends have lost their homes or have damaged homes in Texas due to Ike. The Only Tip I can give you today is to hold on to God's Word..... I could not sleep last night and once again I got up and turned to God for strength. He gave me this verse that I want to share with you today.....

Isaiah 40:28-29

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

I love you dear friends and I am praying for you!

God using an E-mail to answer my question...

I am so amazed how God can use everything and everyone to answer our prayers! Today I had a question answered through an e-mail that my dear friend Jesica sent me! She had no idea that God was using her, as always she was just the willing vessel! The e-mail was about the wonderful story of Beth Moore and the elderly gentleman that God had sent to Beth to brush his hair. If you have not read this e-mail, try to find it and read it. It had two scriptures following it ~ Matthew 6:22 and 1 Corinthians 15:10. Anyway this is how God used this simple e-mail to answer my question ~ Every year we have a great turn out for Halloween (Last year I had about 120 kids) here at the house. Every year I try to use it in some way to reach out to the community as a witness. For some reason God put the theme of Pirates on my heart early in the summer. I opened up my Lifeway magazine this week and saw where the new veggietale movie was a Pirate movie, so I said, "Ok God, I see where we are going with decorating the front of the house, but how am I going to work this into my goodie bags with a verse or message?"
I have read this Beth Moore story over and over but I have not ever taken the time to study the scriptures that went with it. When I looked at Matthew 6 there it was~ Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The verse I will use in my goodie bags! God is good~ All the time! I am so excited! Now I have a start! I know God will use this in a POWERFUL way! He always does!

Tuesday's Tips...Christmas is not far!

My Favorite Tradition (25 years) When My Children Were Younger!

Creating our Family Village!

It has all of our homes, our business, hopes and dreams of our children and their schools!

September is here and for many of us, Christmas is right around the corner! I know for me, I really have no desire to shop in the months of November and December, so all of my shopping has to be done by Halloween! I enjoy using the months of November and December to decorate and spend the time with my family! Buying and making gifts for me has become an important task.... I try so very hard to take into account the person, what they are like, what their year has been like, and what the desires of their heart are. Basically gifts for me are very important. I think there is a "True Art of Giving" and one has to work hard at finding it. But it can be found through God's word. Here are just a couple examples to use~

Acts 20:35 “The Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

And my favorite...

James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

I challenge you today~ take this time to sit down with your children and plan out some special gifts for family! Go ahead and try to make or purchase as many as you can so that November and December can be family time.

Ironing....

I guess I am one of those old fashioned girls or maybe my mother just taught me well, I'm not sure.... but I love to iron!!! Ironing for me is an escape, a time to think! My mind seems to wander and ponder over things! I seem to use my iron as a way to mesmerize my way to a place that allows my mind to go one on one with God to find HIM! We talk about things I am doing, how my daily life is going and if I am treating others well. I sing praise and worship, and sometimes going back to sing my old childhood favorites that I would sing in the pews with my mother and father. My Sunday School teacher's wife reminded us the other Sunday that we should find JOY in doing all things and that included ironing our clothes. She is so right!! My mother use to say when she ironed her sheets that when she ironed out a wrinkle, she ironed our a problem. Maybe that is some of the problem of our younger generation~ they are not slowing down long enough to find the JOY in doing the small things liking ironing! Slow down ~ Find the JOY in ironing your families clothes. It is a gift for you, for your family and a gift to God!

Tuesday's Tip... Dusting with a paint brush

Always keep a paint brush handy when dusting. If you have collectibles or any fragile items that are hard to dust, a paint brush is very useful to brush away dust in hard to get areas. I love this little tool!