Village Blocks....

This week I am cutting out blocks so that I can have a class for children on building their own Christmas village. This has been a wonderful project for my family and I would love to start it up for others. We have hand painted our houses for years. It is so funny to look at some of the ones that my children painted when they were very young. Their dreams of owning a climbing store, of being a teacher and even carrying on our family store are shown through many of them. If you are interested in purchasing some of the blocks, I will be showing them in a few days with the price.

Comment about Comment I received.....

This is a comment that I received yesterday from Anoyomous .....
I need to rant back..........If you are a Christian I am baffled by you !!!Where in the bible does it say it is suppossed to get better??? Where does it say we are meant to even concern ourselves with the WORLD and its understanding??where did Jesus ever concern Himself with the world or its government HE NEVER DID WE ARE ONLY MEANT TO CONCERN OURSELVES WITH ONE THING LOVE GOD AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF IN THIS YOU WILL FULLFILL ALL THE LAW , SO FIRST WE NEED TO TRUST IN OUR LORDS MIND AND SPIRIT IN US WHICH 99 PERCENT OF US DONT EVEN KNOW YET, THEN YOU CAN TRY TO "CORRECT THE WORLD" ..

First of all....
I love the United States of America and the people that live here. But more than that I love the God I serve. I truly believe that as we follow God through scripture by loving ALL people we are to make their lives better and lead them (if they desire) to Jesus Christ. As Christians we can do this in many ways~ clothing, food, shelter and by giving them direction to make there life easier and better. As for myself, when my husband and I were given the gift of children, we decided to raise them in a Christian home and told God they were His to do with as He pleases. We considered it an honor and privilege to have these two wonderful children. Both of my children served in college dedicating their life to helping others have a better life. My daughter will be leaving in July 2010 to serve as a Missionary to help others. So... my venting may have sounded strong, but it is only due to the fact that I want as many people as I can know the peace and love that I have through Jesus Christ and following His word!

The scripture does not say that "it" is suppose to get better. The scripture gives us guidance on how to make the lives of others better and how to lead others to Christ before the return of Christ. For me, Faith is the belief that I do not have to understand what is going on, but if in any way I can make the situation better or easier as a Christian I must do that... bound by God's word.

Through scripture Jesus did concern Himself with the government over and over again....
Examples~
20Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
23He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"
25"Caesar's," they replied. He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
26They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.
As far as me remaining silent as a Christian.....
Matthew 18: 15-19
15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

I cannot thank you enough for your different views. I believe in free choice and freedom of speech. It also gives me the opportunity to become a stronger Christian in my beliefs by hearing opposing views. My desire is to serve God and my country in the best and strongest way that I can without hurting others. Thanks again.....

A Day to Vent.....

I need to VENT today......
*Does our government not realize that if they would concentrate on getting the economy fixed that so many other things would fall into place?
*Why is it that I pay my bills on time, try to make "good common sense" calls and I try to be considerate and fair to all that I am the one that is left out of governments decisions?
*Why do boys think I want to see their underwear or girls think that I want to see their undies?
*Why can't we make "common sense" decisions in our school system? Punish the kids that break dress code and give the ones that dress properly all the time a chance to dress in normal clothes. Why in the world are we punishing an Eagle Scout for having a small knife locked in his work box, locked in his car at school?
*Why can't we have the men and women in our prison system clean up the road sides and perform other county/state/fed jobs as this? Make them work for their meals...... We do!
*Why is Obama on TV so much?
*Why can't my family watch TV without seeing so much trash?
*If he wants kids to go to year round school, why doesn't he start with his own kids and leave them in school when he goes on some of this wonderful trips? I never was able to take my children out anytime I wanted to go somewhere.
*Why don't we have parenting/family or life classes in highschool anymore? Some of the kids really need to learn about doing the RIGHT things in life! Let's try to keep them off the streets!
*During a Church Service when the pastor is preaching, why can't everyone refrain from eating and drinking in Church. We have been visiting new Churches and I have been shocked. Do they not know how distracting it is for those around them when the coke bottle is turned up or the rice krispy treat wrapper is pulled down.... this is adults I am talking about! No problem with toddlers having treats. Can they not give GOD their total attention for one hour???? ADHD at its best!
*I could really vent about Politics ~ Both sides now ~ but I would really get frustrated!
Something to share with you~

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation
THIS MAN SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY! 'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics.. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

Yo-Yo Bug....

When I was younger and dating in Highschool, I usually fell in love with the parents as fast as I fell in love with the guy! One young man in particular that I dated had the most wonderful mother! She was creative, enthusiatic and well... she just enjoyed living life! I remember as long as I dated ............. (said guy) that his mother worked on this beautiful quilt that she called her yo-yo quilt! I loved it! So charming! I always dreamed of making one, but never had the patience to even get started! Well... the other day as I was slowly grazing through the craft store, I found the most wonderful tool... A yo-yo maker! ......... (Said guy's) Mom would be shocked!!! This is the easiest and fastest tool I have ever seen in creating anything! As I sat and watched TV I was able to create three yo-yo's in my first attempt!

I am really excited about the yo-yo's because thanks to my wonderful Aunt Betty I have some of the most wonderful vintage fabric! Ideas popping and fingers working, I hope to have yo-yo creations filling my home!

Isn't it amazing how past memories flood our thoughts and desires with projects!

Christmas Necklaces going to The Vintage Village...

I worked on these little pieces over the weekend! The first of my Christmas goodies for the Vintage Village. I will be selling them for $12.00 each.... so if you would like one, drop me a note!

Have an INCREDIBLY AWESOME day from the wet state of GEORGIA!

We prayed for rain and boy have we received it!

God is Good ~

All the Time and especially in our Trials!

Crafting for the Wedding....

She has her colors!

The colors are blue and brown.....

This is my first idea for the wedding~

Wedding Cones for the Junior Bridesmaids to carry!

What do you think?

Spook City at Our Home.....

We love Halloween!!! We love the fact that children come to our home and get excited about our decorations, our goody bags and well.... I guess you could say the whole atmosphere! Last year we had over a 125 children come to our home! For Reid and I, that is so awesome! It is a chance to visit with the neighbors, see all our friends and just fellowship with each other!

This year with Pirates being so "hot", we choice to be a Pirate house. This was easy seeing that I had collected Pirate "stuff" for our Beach House. Did you know that you can get fish nets really cheap after they get holes in them from the docks? And I found a great place in Apalachicola to get old flags and other Pirate items!

When I was younger, I remember neighbors doing special things for us! Thinking back, I bet they enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them! That's what I want to create for all my visitors, a great and safe memory of Halloween as I had!

Hope you enjoy the video!!!

Just playing around with ART....

Tired of Halloween crafts

and

JUST PLAYING AROUND

This piece is made layering different types of paper onto a canvas board painted red.

You really have to look hard to see the different layers.

Whit's Love Story ..... Part II

PART II

As you could probably tell, I'm engaged now! :) And by engaged, I mean I am officially ecstatic in the fact that the most wonderful man in my life (outside of my dad) has made a commitment with me to continue the next 8 months in full-throttle preparation for sharing our lives together forever. I'm not going to lie, we have everything prepared for the wedding... our venue, DJ, photographer - we've chosen what he and his groomsmen are going to wear and my bridesmaids' attire also... oh yea, and I bought my dress last Friday. We like being untraditional and well, him proposing to me AFTER we have made most of the plans only adds to that characteristic of us both.
---> You're probably thinking - this crazy girl! But when ya know, ya know. He asked my dad about 6 weeks ago if he could marry me (my dad thinks he's awesome!) and well, we've pretty much been planning since then. Most people have 1 to 2 years to plan their weddings... but we wanted to get married in May so that we could make it to my brother's wedding in June and then leave to go overseas on missions work in July. So we had to get the ball rolling... Anyways, with knowing that he was going to propose, you would think I would be expecting it - that it wouldn't be a surprise...
So far from it. He blew me away! ...and my 200 sorority sisters that were there to be a part of the experience.
*Disclaimer: Before I begin into this beautiful fairytale-type love story, I need to explain a few parts of the process of a sorority "candlelight" before I begin the story so.... A candlelight is a special ceremony for a sister that has been engaged. Normally only the president and the girl who is engaged know about the specifics of it - who it is, when the candlelight will be held, etc. We all stand in a circle and sing a ritual song. During the song, we pass around a bouquet with a lit candle in the middle of it that the engaged girl picked out from a florist before the ceremony. The bouquet is passed around the circle 3 times. On the third time, the girl who is engaged blows out the candle and then we all gather around and listen to the story of how her new fiancee proposed.
BUT my candlelight story was quite different. I thought it would be really cool to pull in both of our stories instead of just mine. I will write mine in the next post and then he'll have a post of his own - exclusively from JD - on the next post! It'll be fun! I hope you enjoy our story and our adventures as much as we do!

The Promise of Love...Whit's Love Story Part I

Dear Friends,

With Whit's permission, I wanted to share my daughter's love story with everyone. It is a story of remaining faithful to God and HIS faithfulness to us! When she was in the eighth grade, she had a teacher do a Bible Study on seeking God's desire for her husband. She was given a heart with the word God in the center. Next she was given a little bigger heart. She placed the God heart in the middle and then around that heart she wrote what she desired to be as a wife. (I had taught Whit about the Proverbs 31 Woman for years, so for her this was easy) She was then given a larger heart. She place the two hearts that she had finished in the middle of this heart. On the outside of this heart she wrote what she desired in a husband! She has prayed over this heart for years... At times sobbing asking where the good guys were. Well, as you can tell God was true to HIS promise! He provided her HEART in JD! Here is the first part of her story after meeting JD!

Hello beautiful world of bloggers!
I am dreadfully sorry that I haven't written in the past few months... but I kind of wanted to wait until a special event happened. As you may remember in May, I had a special cooking night with my manager Sarah in preparation for a "date night" with a special guy in my life. The guy that I called five of my closest friends after seeing him for the first time and said, "OMG. I just saw the most attractive guy I've ever seen in my life...." So I hooked him, reeled him in, and four months later, we're engaged.
---> WAIT. STOP THERE! How did this happen so quickly, you ask?
Well, we decided that if we were to date, that would be it. So we prayed intensely about it (I mean, I've been praying nine years for this man) and decided - ok, we'll meet each other's closest friends and family members and if we love them, we're definitely getting married.
---> So what's the hurry? Is it just because you're graduating in May and want to have security?
Oh, my friends... far from it! JD actually wasn't even sure if he wanted to date me in the first place. You see, he had made this commitment to God that he would go to Mobile, Ala., for the summer (2 months) to do inner-city missions work and then dedicate two years after he graduated (also in May) to missions work. He was undecided if it would be overseas or in America. ...And then he met me. :) He told me he wasn't sure if he wanted to date me because he knew he wouldn't be able to dedicate a lot of his time to me (because he would be in Mobile the entire summer), that he desired to pursue my heart with a steadfast fervency, but knew he couldn't over the summer. So we decided, ok - we'll just see how it goes over the summer, we probably won't talk every night but we'll evaluate how things are going in August and take it from there. I wrote him letters of encouragement every week and his pursuit of my heart was still relentless, even if he was in Mobile. Needless to say, he called every night, drove to our 4th of July party to meet my family (about a 10 hr drive altogether so I met him half-way), and we fell in love real quick. It was that weekend that he told me, "Whitney, I'm going overseas for two years when I graduate but I want you to be by my side and go with me." The weekend before his last week in Mobile, he drove down to St. George Island just to spend ONE day with me (also a 5 hr drive on the way there, 5 hrs back... but this one he drove solo). That was the day of our first kiss. It was beautiful and romantic. We pretty much decided that weekend, ok... we're getting married. I wouldn't rather spend the rest of my life with any other person than this man who rocked my world from the moment I saw him, to each 5-hr conversation we had in the coffee house, to every time he makes me laugh and smile - just by thinking about him. I have never had a man in my life that has pursued my heart in such a pure and fervent way. It's more than I could've asked for...

Halloween Bling Domino Necklaces...

Don't you just love these necklaces?

On the back where the dots are, they have pink crystals set in each hole...

"Bling Necklaces"!

Just as pretty on the back as they are on the front! As you can tell I am ready for Halloween !!

Spooky Banners!!!!

So my spooky little blogging friends, are you ready for

the Halloween season yet??

Hop on your broom and find these at Vintage Village in Snellville, Georgia

or
Shoot me an e-mail and let me know if you would like one of

these or the necklaces from yesterday!

New Items at Vintage Village...

My new line at Vintage Village for the Fall....

ChatterInchies!!!

What do you think???

The Proposal on YOU TUBE....

Whit and JD ~ Engaged!!!

Last night, my darling baby girl was swept off her feet!! Her boyfriend surprised her at her ZTA Candlelight Service! At the Candlelight Service a candle is passed around all the girls (200+) two times as they sing their Zeta song. On the third time the girl that just got engaged holds the candle and then blows it out. Tonight was a little different, Whitney did not know that she had been set up to be that girl!!! Her friend Felicity (which also hopefully will be engaged soon) help JD put everything together. She also arranged to have the candle stop at her (she was standing next to Whit) and as soon as it did JD walked into the room and Whitney went crying and running to him!!! He got down on one knee and said she was the perfect example of a Proverbs 31 Woman (after that I started crying and because of the crying could not hear the rest). He then pulled out the ring (blue topaz instead of diamond) and ask her to marry him!!! Felicity took the candle to Whitney and then had her blow it out!! It was so sweet and romantic!!

The greatest JOY~~~~ She is marrying a man called to serve as a MISSIONARY!!! Keep both of them in your prayers as they seek to find where God will have them serve!
Wedding Time!!!