New Spiritual Sundays Blog

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I had been creating a new blog just for spiritual/inspirational posts. This is a joint venture for Ginger at Enchanting Cottage, and me. We are very excited about this, and many of you have already responded in a positive way. 

 

So many times I have gone to one of your blogs and read something that was so inspiring to me. Many of the posts have brought tears to my eyes when you related how God has worked in your lives. These kinds of things would be ideal for this new blog. I am thinking right now of Ruthie and the posts she has done about growing up in China with missionary parents. 

You may want to share a poem that has spiritual meaning for you. You may want to word a prayer to share. You may have a scripture that is very special to you that you would like to elaborate on. The ideas are endless. After you have posted to your blog, you can go over to Spiritual Sundays and add your name to Mr. Linky's list. 

We will be putting Mr. Linky up on the new blog next Saturday, August 2. It should be up by 12 noon Mountain Time.  Click here now to go to Spiritual Sundays for a little preview. Or, you can click on the picture in the sidebar.

Have you seen the commercial about the two little kids that are going to Disneyland the next morning, and they are too excited to sleep the night before? I think that is so cute. I laugh every time I see it. I think I feel a little bit like them right now. I'M SO EXCITED!

Blogger Award

I just visited Beachkat's blog and discovered that she had given me this award. I love the award. Thank you so much Kat for giving it to me. Like Kat, I have such a hard time deciding who to pass it on to that this time I think I'll just give it to all my regular blogging buddies. You know who you are. I appreciate those of you who visit my blog regularly and leave lovely comments. Thank you, thank you, thank you for "sharing the love."

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a preview of the new Spiritual Sundays blog.

Precious Dolls

Since I shared my favorite doll that I made last Friday, I thought I'd share this book I have about dolls. I have several books about dolls.  This is one of my favorites. The dolls in this book are antique dolls. Many of the dolls I made are replicas of antique dolls including the one I shared last week. If you missed my post about my favorite doll last week and if you would like to see it, you can go here to see the post.

This is a Bru doll similar to my doll that I shared last week.

There are lots of other pretty dolls in the book, but I just chose these as a sample to share with you today. 

Early Riser

When my Hubby brought the newspaper in this morning, he remarked about how pretty the sunrise was. I asked him if it was pretty enough to take a picture of. He told me I was the photographer. I'd have to decide. So, I looked out, came back in, grabbed the camera and took a couple of shots. It was good enough for me. I don't usually get up this early. 

I didn't post anything yesterday. I was on the computer most of the day though working on a new blog. Ginger suggested to me a few days ago that she thought it would be nice to do something like Kelli's Show & Tell and other memes for Sundays and have people post inspirational things they would like to share. So I'm making a blog called Spiritual Sundays. It's not quite up and going yet, but is almost there. I have a little more fine tuning to do, mostly with Mr. Linky. Ginger and I will be co-hosting the Spiritual Sundays. We hope you will be looking forward to it and in participating. We actually got the idea because so many of you are posting inspirational things now that we thought needed to be shared more widely.

Please pray for this endeavor. 

Bathroom Stuff

Today's post seems a little frivolous after yesterday's. But sometimes I feel a little frivolous. Guess this is just one of those days. Also, I really didn't have anything important I wanted to post today. So this is it.

This is my new vanity chair we bought at Linens & Things this morning. I've had a little "wirey" one that I've been using for years. A couple of days ago when I sat down on it, it collapsed and I found myself on the floor with my arm banging against the shower door. I've been wanting to get a new one for awhile. I think Hubby is still not sure if I broke the old one on purpose. This one is a lot more sturdy. And, Linens & Things accepted my 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond which helped. 

While I was in the bathroom taking the picture of the chair, I decided to show you how my little ivy plant over the tub is taking over the place. I'm curious how much more area it will cover. It started out just a little 4 inch plant. There is a large mirror behind the tub that reflects the cabinets across from it. It looks like it's on the other side of the tub, but it isn't. 

Here's a closer up look at the ivy.

Irena Sendler

I read about this dear lady yesterday and decided I would relay her story on to you.

In 2007 Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize. The runner-up was a lady named Irena Sendler, who died on May 10, 2008 at the age of 98. Here is her story.

Sendler was a social worker in Warsaw, Poland when the Germans occupied it in 1939 and herded Jewish citizens into the infamous Warsaw Ghetto (they were later transported to concentration camps). She went in and out of the Ghetto several times a day under the guise of providing humanitarian aid, persuading Jewish parents to entrust their children to her. After smuggling the children out, she found Polish families to “adopt” them until the end of the war, or entrusted them to the protection of Catholic convents. She and her underground movement provided new names and identities to the Jewish children and only she knew their whereabouts. She was ingenious in finding ways to smuggle the children out of the Ghetto, using city sewers, underground tunnels and other routes, hiding them in boxes and suitcases. She even trained a dog to bark in the back of the car so it would stifle the cries of a scared child when they passed through a German checkpoint. Ever wary of German spies and surveillance, she wrote the names of the children, their aliases, and their adopting family on cigarette papers, and buried the papers in jars in her garden. Eventually the German Gestapo caught her, severely tortured her, and sentenced her to death. Her humanitarian organization saved her by bribing the guards transporting her to her execution. The guards left her in the woods, unconscious and with broken arms and legs, telling superiors they had shot her. She was listed on public bulletin boards as among those who had been executed, so for the remainder of the war she lived in hiding, daring not even to attend her mother’s funeral. She continued her work for the Jewish children, able to walk only with crutches. After the war, she dug up the jars and attempted to find the children and return them to their parents; most of the parents had died at the Treblinka extermination camp. She was, however, able to return almost all of the children to extended family members.

Sendler’s story circulated after the war. In 1965 she was recognized by Israel’s Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations (Oskar Schindler was also recognized thus). In 2003 she received the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest civilian decoration. In 1999 a high school teacher in Kansas encouraged four of his students to investigate her life; they created a play, "Life in a Jar," that has had over 240 performances in the United States, Canada and Europe. There are plans for a movie.

Do you suppose anyone will remember Al Gore's controversial claim about global warming in 60 years? I know, he doesn't think there should be a controversy, but there certainly is. We just don't hear about all the scientists who don't believe it. It is the politically correct thing to believe this hoax. I remember in the 70's scientists were warning us about global cooling and the coming of another ice age. But what this lady did will be remembered along with Schindler (Remember Schindler's List?)

Father and Son Bonding Marathon

The link to this video was sent to us by a dear friend in California. I watched it this morning and thought it was so good I wanted to share it with my blogging friends. You will need to scroll down to my music and turn it off before viewing the video. 

Out In the Desert

It's kinda cloudy in our desert this morning. Hopefully a monsoon will be coming our way soon. They are predicting it. 

I was just looking through some old photo albums and ran across the following pictures which I took when we first moved here almost 19 years ago. The daughter and my mother were here visiting, and we took them on a journey out to the desert to explore a little. I thought what we found was pretty interesting so decided I'd share it with you today. If you are familiar with this area, I think the pictures were taken somewhere south and east of Phoenix. We haven't been back there and I'm not sure of the locations.

The daughter and the hubby.

My mother

The main reason I took the picture of Mother by the old truck was for my Dad who didn't make the trip here with her. Being a retired trucker and enjoying antique stuff, I knew he would enjoy it.

I hope you you are having a great weekend.

MY FAVORITE DOLL

I haven't written about my dolls in awhile so decided today for Show & Tell I would share my favorite one with you. This is the largest one I made. I named all my dolls when I made them, and for a long time I remembered all their names. Now I can only remember a few of them. Should have written them down, but who knew I would forget an important thing like that. Anyway, since this is my favorite, you would think I would have remembered her name, but I don't. After all, it's been over 20 years since I made them. 

One unique thing about this doll is her body. I made it out of white kid leather and stuffed it with sifted sawdust. If I was a little more ambitious I would go upstairs, undress her and take a picture of her lovely body. But, alas, I am not that ambitious. She also has what is known as paperweight eyes. They're the most expensive kind, so only a few of my dolls have them.

This is a Christmas outfit I made for her one year. 

At the very bottom of my blog is a scrapbook of most of the dolls I made. Thank you for letting me share them with you.

Pink Flamingos

Do pink flamingos like these ever show up in your neighborhood? I have seen them at different times. A few days ago we passed by this house in our neighborhood and there they were. We were on our way to breakfast (that was the week we went out for breakfast almost every morning). So I told Hubby I wanted to stop back by there and take a picture. Yep, I've learned to carry my camera in my purse at all times. You never know when you might run into a bunch (flock?) of flamingos. The sign in the yard said Happy 60th Anniversary. We just had our 50th. I wonder if the flamingos will show up for the 60th. You never know.

Here's a closer view.

Have a great day!

The Little Red Wheelbarrow

Digging for buried treasure!

You probably didn't notice the little wheelbarrow in my header picture. It's propped up in the corner behind the large tree. Why in the world is it there you might wonder. Look at the above picture. That's our son. He said he was digging for buried treasure. He thought he surely would find it. This picture was taken about 40 years ago. We have kept the little wheelbarrow all these years. Are we sentimental or what.

Have a nice day!

Special Award

I was so surprised and pleased to receive this award from A Hint of Home a couple of days ago. This is a beautiful blog and I recommend that you visit there if you have not already done so. This is one of the blogs I visit regularly. Thank you my blogging friend for this lovely award. 

Here are the rules to pass this award on to someone you think is deserving:

1. Display logo and link to who gave it to you.
2. Nominate at least 7 blogs.
3. Add links to those 7 blogs.
4. Leave the nominees a message that they received the award.

I would like to pass this award on to the following:

• Enchanting Cottage
• Just Ruthie
• Justabeachkat
• Susie's Space
• Betty's This and That
• Terrie's Lil' Piece of Serenity
• The Penless Writer

There are so many other bloggers that I would like to pass this award on to, but the rules say 7. Who makes the rules? I don't know. I suppose the originator of the award does.

So many of you make my day every day by the lovely comments you leave on my blog and by the interesting posts on your blogs. 

Sundays in Belgium

I spent one night in Brugge, Belgium in 1999 and fell in love with the place. We got there late in the afternoon. The tour was delayed. We were suppose to arrive early in the day. Anyway, I didn't get to take hardly any pictures there but I did take the one below from the tour bus through the front window as we were leaving and the one below that is a picture of the hotel where we stayed. 

Now - why am I talking about Belgium this morning? When I looked on my computer this morning, the first thing I saw was a comment from a dear lady that lives in Belgium on my blog yesterday. She said she noticed since she's been blogging that people in America go to church on Sundays. She said they don't do that in Belgium. In fact, she said she personally knows no one who goes to church. That is so sad. Since I've been going to church regularly, sometimes several times a week, since I was 10 years old, it is hard for me to imagine. I think Belgium is not that different from the rest of Europe. They have all those gorgeous cathedrals there that are basically just museums now. 

Many churches in America are thriving today. At the church we attend now about 2000 attend the service we go to. There are three other services besides the one we attend. The police direct traffic in and out of the parking lot there. Every Sunday is a wonderful spiritual experience. The music is great and the preaching even better. Our regular preacher was out of town yesterday so Tim Kimmel delivered the message. You may be familiar with Dr. Kimmel as he has written a lot of books. He is a member of our church. What a wonderful sermon he gave. I would love to hear him every Sunday.

Although Christianity seems to be thriving in America today, I am very concerned about the future of this nation. It seems to me the government is doing everything it can to keep God out of everything. They totally overlook the fact that this nation was founded on God's laws. They totally misinterpret the phrase "separation of church and state" and as a result, we are becoming more and more a secular nation. Big mistake!!! I pray that we will wake up before it is too late. We need to pray for Europe, the United States, and the whole world.

I have a picture of some flamingos that I intended to write about today, but that will have to wait. I thought this was more important.

Have a great week!

Sunday Thoughts

We are ready to go to church, but it is not quite time to go. We are always ready early anytime we go anywhere. Maybe it had something to do with Hubby always wanting to arrive at the church early in his preaching days. I have noticed that not all preachers follow this pattern however. Most of the time my preacher Hubby was either the first one there to open the doors or in the case of where someone else was in charge of opening the doors, he was the 2nd or 3rd one there. Anyway, this morning I had a little time on my hands so decided to write a post. 

We enjoyed our week of just "hanging out" and eating out, but guess what? Yep, we gained a little weight, so this week, we're cutting way down. But we're not going to cut down today. After church this morning, we will be coming back by a new BBQ place that has recently opened up and having lunch there - no cutting down today. The daughter will be joining us there as she goes to the same church we do. The son still is loyal to the last church where his Dad preached so we don't get to see him every Sunday anymore. 

God has been so good to us. These 50 years have not always been easy, but God has been in our plans and we feel has led us all the way. Now we're expecting him to continue leading us all the way home, but not quite yet. Maybe in another 50 years. 

Have a great Sunday!

The Horny Toad Restaurant

This is not the "swankiest" place we ate at this week, but it is one of our favorites. It's out in the desert at Cave Creek. They serve a whole fried chicken (broasted actually) with french fries, cole slaw and rolls for only $15.95. It is plenty for two with some chicken left over to take home.

We always like to go early to beat the crowd.

Here's Hubby on the way out reading the sign and holding our box of left over chicken.

Hope you are all having a super weekend.

Golden Orchids

We are enjoying our anniversary week. We were out all morning, and soon after we got back home, these gorgeous orchids were delivered to our front door. They were sent by our long time good friends from Stockton, California. Thank you Paul and Bobbie. 

Swedish Pancakes

Here's my Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce. I guess this is my favorite breakfast menu - with a cup of coffee, of course. We're enjoying our Anniversary week. Going out for breakfast every morning, pretty neat. And then, not just breakfast, but lunch and dinner as well. We may just go ahead and celebrate the rest of the year. Although, we do eat out quite a lot anyway - not just this week. 

Our Wedding - 50 Years Ago

Thought I would share some of our wedding photos with you today. I've already shared our Hawaiian 50th Anniversary celebration back in May. Friday will be our official 50th Wedding Anniversary. We have been celebrating it for months now but the actual date is July 11. We thought about going to San Diego. We thought about going to Carmel. We thought about a lot of things, but decided we would spend this anniversary week doing some special things together closer to home, therefore, I will not be spending as much time this week on the computer.  I told Hubby the first special thing I want to do is go to Butterfield's for breakfast and have some of their delicious Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce. That should be a good starting place. 

Another Anniversary Gift

The kids surprised us with another anniversary gift when they came over on Friday. They had this wonderful book made with pictures of our Hawaii trip. I'll share a few of the pages with you. The daughter made the book cover for it. 

Here is the front of the book with the cover she made on it.

We will continue celebrating our 50th all this week, but the highlight, of course, was our trip to Hawaii, and now this wonderful book. Thanks again, children.

July 4th Trivia

Have you ever played this marble solitaire game? I've tried to many times. The only way I can do it is to follow the instructions, move one marble and then look at the instructions to see which marble to move next, and so on. It's very slow and tedious, but it can be done. Yesterday while our kids were at our house, our son decided he was going to memorize it so that he could do it without looking at the instructions. It took him a little over an hour, but now he can move those marbles very fast, and end up with just one marble in the middle which is the object of the game. 

Thought I'd also show you this plaque we bought at Steinmart. We put it on the wall (fence) behind our pool.  

I was a little reluctant to get in the pool yesterday. It was exactly one year ago that I slipped on the top step getting in and twisted my knee that started my knee problem that now one year later still is a major problem. It is a lot better than it was, but I don't think it will ever be completely pain free again unless I have knee replacement surgery which my doctor says I will need eventually. One thing for sure, I took my flip flops off before I stepped in. That's what caused me to fall last year.

 

A New Pot

Here's the old one. Obviously we didn't replace it any too soon.

Patriotic Stuff

At our last former church, the ladies had a craft night once a quarter. Here is a picture of the leaders of the group working on the current project for the 4th of July of that year.

Here is the one I made hanging under the flag.

This was a project for another year.

And still another year.

These craft nights were a lot of fun. Fellowship was great and it was nice to take a project home to display for whatever occasion was coming up.

I have always liked the 4th of July. When I was young I always enjoyed the fireworks. Now I enjoy the day because we always have our children over for a pool party, grilled burgers and homemade strawberry ice cream.

About Yesterday

Hubby's eye doctor report - EXCELLENT! He can resume doing all activities. He is one ambitious man. He is making plans to clean the carpet in our bedroom and bathroom. (No, Connie, you still can't have him.)

About the ice cream. We were both a little disappointed. First off they didn't have the flavor Hubby wanted (pineapple coconut) so he got Kauai Pie flavor, which is their most popular flavor. I had my heart set on coconut macadamia nut and they didn't have that either, so I settled for date caramel fudge which was good, but not what I wanted. And then - we neither one thought the quality was as good as what we got in Hawaii. The texture wasn't the same. Maybe it's because we were not in Hawaii? No, we thought about that. It definitely just wasn't as good.

Guess we'll have to go back to Hawaii to get the real thing. Maybe for our 75th wedding anniversary. Ha Ha. That is a laugh in so many ways.

Lappert's Ice Cream

Today is ice cream day. Actually it's the day my hubby goes back to his eye doctor who happens to be "downtown". We hardly ever go there so while we're there this morning, we're going to come back by The Pink Spot and get some of that wonderful Hawaiian ice cream known as Lappert's. We discovered this ice cream when we were in Hawaii and were excited to know that we can buy it right here at home. BTW I got the picture from Lappert's website. 

Have a great week!

The Dreamer

For a moment of inspiration, go to http://www.sonnyradio.com/thedreamer.html

It's time to get ready for church so I must go now. Be back soon.

Noah

In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said: Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me.

Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans.

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying: You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark.

Noah! He roared, I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?
Forgive me, Lord, begged Noah, 'but things have changed.'

I needed a building permit.

I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system.

My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.

Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl.

When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space.

I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!

Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood.

I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew.

Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work.

The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience.

To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species.

So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, 'You mean you're not going to destroy the world?'

'No,' said the Lord. 'The government beat me to it.

Award

Thank you Betty for this neat award. She gave the award to several of us who visit her blog and comment on a regular basis. I always enjoy her blog. She also visits my blog and comments regularly. You might want to check out her blog. It's called Betty's This and That. You can do so by clicking on her name.

Gloria

I met a new blogger yesterday. She left a comment on my post and I went to her blog. Her name is Becki.

In Becki's post she was talking about her Aunt Gloria who is dying with cancer. It was such a beautiful tribute to this dear lady and it reminded me of the first porcelain doll I made. I loved the name Gloria so I named this doll Gloria. 

I think I improved greatly on the rest of the dolls I made, but this one is especially precious to me since it's the first one. I've changed her hair and her clothes since I took this picture, but this is how she originally looked. By the way, if you're new to viewing my blog, you might want to scroll down to the very bottom to see a scrapbook of the dolls I've made.

Have a great day!

Girly Wisdom

I received a forwarded e-mail from a friend this morning. Thought I would share it with you since I didn't have anything better to say. I'm getting ready to go out in the back yard and putter around a little - mostly to keep my hubby company as he has some projects to do out there. It's already hot out there - probably close to 90. 

• Women over 50 don't have babies because they would put them down and forget where they left them.
  

• A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills...she has 14 kids but doesn't really care.
  

•  One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.
  

• My mind not only wanders it sometimes leaves completely.
  

• The way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.
  

• The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does.
  

• The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then your body and your fat are really good friends.
  

• I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my pants.
  

• Amazing... You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks 2 sizes.
  

• Skinny people irritate me when they say things like... 'You know sometimes I forget to eat'... Now I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!
  

• The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him.

• I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!
  

Have a great day!