A Closer Look

Picture of Hubby & me at the Pyramids in Egypt, carved figure of Moses and a clay jar replica of Dead Sea Scrolls pot, with miniature scroll inside, from Israel. Also a piece of petrified wood from Arizona I believe. The old bricks used for bookends are from my husband’s great grandfather’s home in Kentucky. We visited there a few years ago, and saw the ruins of what was once a beautiful brick home. (That is an interesting story for another time.) We brought these two pieces of brick home with us.

Camel is from Israel. The black pot is from Ethiopia.

The greenish colored pot is one our son made in grade school. The mug was given to my husband by our missionary in India as was the beautiful ivory letter opener with the carved elephants. The letter opener had belonged to her father, so this was very special. Someone knocked it off of his desk at church and broke some of the little elephants off. He was very upset when this happened because he was so proud of it and had taken good care of it. He was not in his office when it happened. Little wooden vase on the end is from Ephesus. (Looks like it needs to be dusted.)

Wonder what that black spot is below the letter opener? That's a mite. You know, like the Widow's mite in the Bible. It is very tiny - so tiny none of the engraving on it shows in the photo.
Tomorrow: a few more "looks" around the room.

Pictures, Momentos, Books

After the nice comments I had on the header picture yesterday, I decided to show you the area where it is displayed. This is in our home office. We call this my husband's room. He has done all the decorating in here. I think he does a great job. You can see a few of his momentos from travels on the top shelf of this bookcase. I will show them in more detail in the future. There are some interesting items.

The World Did Not Know Him

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. - John 1:9-13

How sad. People now are looking for enlightenment in all kinds of ways. If they could only hear and understand the above scripture.

My daughter brought me home from church this morning and we stopped and had Mexican food for lunch. Then we went by Best Buy and she bought a new digital camera. Where was my dear hubby you may wonder. He stayed after the worship service to teach a class, the first class he has taught in over a year. He still has not gotten home yet. He loves to teach and preach so I'm glad he had this opportunity.

The banner picture for today is a picture given to us by a wonderful Christian man that we met when we were in India. We were in his home. This picture was on his wall. My husband commented on how much he liked the picture. The next time our missionary from there came back to the states, she delivered the picture to us. Ravi had sent it by her. He tried to find one like it but couldn't find another one, so he gave us his. I don't need to tell you how much it means to us.

A Love Letter to Oprah

When we were with James Robison Thursday night, he mentioned this letter that he had sent to Oprah. I wanted to share it with you. You can read in on James' site at http://www.jamesrobison.net/columns08/041808.html

There are also a lot of comments people have made after reading the letter you might be interested in. Just click on Feedback.


Dear Oprah,

I remember when you first launched your daily talk program throughout the country. My wife and I have watched with amazement as it has grown. I know you have been gratified by its broad acceptance and popularity.

My wife Betty and I have been praying for you since Gene Self (my former staff member and close friend of Stedman's) began to tell me about the relationship you had with his friend. On numerous occasions I thought we were going to be able to get together and just talk based on comments Stedman made to my associate. This never occurred, but we have watched your television programs and especially the talk format grow until they have worldwide impact.

Betty and I also host a daily television program, LIFE Today (http://www.lifetoday.org/), which airs around the world. I also founded the ministry of Life Outreach International. With the help of countless supporters, Betty and I have been sharing the life and love of God in word and deed in the U.S. and abroad. We focus heavily on Africa, feeding more than 400,000 children each month and drilling hundreds of fresh water wells.

I am writing out of a sincere love and concern for you. I have heard some comments recently, visited the "New Earth" and witnessed the influence of Eckhart Tolle. Some of your statements concerning your beliefs and the direction you are going actually brought tears to my wife's eyes. She was stunned to hear your views of Jesus Christ, eternity and the Bible.

The letter is rather lengthy so I will not repeat it all. To read the rest of the letter click HERE

A Banquet with James & Betty Robison

I like what my husband wrote on his blog today. I'm going to "cheat" a little and borrow it for my post today.

Last night Charlotte and I had the privilege of attending a banquet at the Desert Ridge Marriott Resort sponsored by James and Betty Robison from Life Outreach International. James preached a powerful sermon and told about the new project they are involved in called The House of Destiny. They are building a place for young girls to take them off the streets in Thailand and rescue them from a life of sex slavery and prostitution. I can understand sin. I struggle to understand how people can treat these children the way they are treated. It breaks my heart. Pray for this great ministry and this outreach to save children. Charlotte and I have helped Life Outreach International feed and provide water for children in other parts of the world. Now we feel blessed to be able to help save some of these children in Thailand. Please pray for this ministry that many may see the heart of God!

As I was leaving I shot a few pictures. Most of them didn't turn out too well, but here are a couple.

We had already left the banquet room and so had just about everyone else. I decided to go back and take a picture. I thought the carpet was soooo pretty. The whole evening was wonderful.

Birthday Remembrance

Today would have been my mother's 95th birthday. Today's post is dedicated to her memory. She always liked the picture above. I think she was beautiful. She was a beautiful woman - outside, but especially inside. She was a real "people" person. She loved people and they loved her. She was always thinking of what she could do for somebody else. I wish I was more like her, but I'm afraid in this way I am more like my Dad. In case you're wondering why the Dolly Parton song is playing first this morning, (Coat of Many Colors) I put it at the top because everytime I hear it, I cry. Silly Charlotte, why would you want to cry? It makes me think of my mother. We were not as poor as Dolly but we never had much money when I was growing up, and I know my mother sacrificed many times so that I could have something nice.

This is one of my earliest photos of my mother and me together. It was taken in one of those little booths where you put the money in and out comes a strip of photos. I can remember when I was a kid everytime I saw one of them I wanted to have pictures taken. I have always liked pictures, and I especially like this one.

I think this picture exemplifies my mother's life. She was a worker. Of course this picture was taken in the years before clothes dryers - or at least before she had one.


This is one of her last birthdays. I like this picture because she looks so happy to be with her grandson - her only grandson - on her birthday.

How I wish she was here today so I could hug her and wish her a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Mom. Actually I didn't call her Mom, I always called her Mommy and later Granny because that was what everyone in the family started calling her even before she had grandchildren. Some of her nieces and a nephew started calling her that because they didn't have a living grandmother and they "adopted" her as their Granny. Incidentally, that nephew is now married to Ginger of Enchanting Cottage.

Blogger Award

I was so thrilled yesterday when Terrie of Terrie’s Lil’ Piece of Serenity gave me this wonderful award. You make my day too, Terrie. You have been a great blogging buddy. Thank you, thank you. I want to pass the award on, but it is always hard to decide who to give it to. I have only been blogging about three months but I have met so many wonderful people. I appreciate each one of you, especially those of you who leave such lovely comments. You ALL MAKE MY DAY! I have decided this time to pass the award on to the following: First I want to give it to Connie of Down on the Farm. Connie is not only a blogging friend, she has been a personal friend for many years. I wouldn't miss reading her blog each day. Karoline Cherished Vintage, Jennifer Dust Bunny Hostage and Brenda It’s All Good are the others I'm passing this award on to. Again, thank you, thank you to each and every one of my new friends. You make my day every day!

A Few Changes Over Time

This is how this area looked several years ago before we painted the hutch white and put away all the many colored plates and replaced them with white. You will also see the little chair collection on the floor. My goodness, I have had a lot of collections through the years. I collected those pretty plates for many years. A lot of them I bought at antique stores. A couple of them I purchased in England. I still have the plates. They are stacked up now in the cabinet. Sometimes I like to set the table with a variety of plates for a change.

We replaced the plates on the wall with this Thomas Kinkade picture which was given to us by a dear family from our last church just before we retired. This is our favorite Kinkade picture of all the ones he has done. We also have two others that I will show in the future.

Oh, and these plaques, pictures, whatever, I bought at Marshall's Home Goods. They are over our cabinets in the kitchen.

Let's Glide Awhile

I think this will be our last day outside for awhile. Tomorrow it's back in the house. Before we go back in, I wanted to show you my favorite thing on the patio. We bought this glider and matching table on sale at the Restoration Hardware several years ago. It's a great place to do a little "gliding."

Our daughter brought this plant over to our house a few months ago. She had it in her living room and it got too big for that location so she asked us if we would like to put it on our patio. I think it looks great there.

My First Sermon

Well, it’s Sunday again. How does a week go by so fast?

Right now about all that is on TV is the Pope in Yankee Stadium. I am not a Catholic, but I like the theme of his visit here. “Christ Our Hope”. I’m not even sure that is the exact wording, but that is the thought. I am not a preacher, have never been a preacher, never wanted to be a preacher. My husband was a preacher for almost 50 years, and I think he was one of the best. Today I am going to do a little “preaching” though.

Last week I posted a link to a video about Oprah’s gospel. I love Oprah. I love to watch her show but I am very disburbed by what she is saying. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the father but by me.” Oprah says, “There couldn’t possibly be only one way.” She doesn’t care what we call God. In other words, we can make up our own God and one god is no greater than another. What she is teaching is that we really are our own God – “my salvation comes from me.” To me this sounds exactly like blasphemy. I suppose if you don’t believe the Bible, it would be pretty easy to go along with this philosophy. The question is are there false prophets? Evidently Oprah doesn’t believe there are. Certainly God has given us a free choice, and we can choose to believe in him or not. We can even choose to believe that we are all gods, but as for me, I believe in the God of the Bible, and I believe in his Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, Oprah, we can all be children of God, but there is only one Christ and it is through him that we become children of God.

If you have not seen the Oprah video, here is the link: http://www.carringtonsteele.citymax.com/page/page/5663569.htm
I hope you will view it yourself if you have not already done so. I believe that Christians everywhere need to pray for Oprah and pray for the millions that she is influencing.

Cement Bench

We brought this cement bench with us when we moved here 18 years ago. There is quite a contrast between where it is now and then. Below is a picture of me about 25 years ago sitting on that bench under the shade of a large walnut tree and pecan tree with ivy on the fence behind.

Back Yard Things

This seagull came here with us from California. We bought him to put out by our hot tub on the deck there. He looked good there, but now he has found a place to perch up on the fence around our pool pump. He's a long way from the sea. Maybe we could call him a desertgull now.

Saw this giant dragonfly at a nursery a couple of weeks ago when we were shopping for plants. I couldn't resist buying it. It has been windy here the last couple of days and when the wind blows the wings flap. Kinda cute I think.

This statue was in a niche in our entry way for many many years. We bought it right after we moved here. A couple of years ago we decided we would rather have her outside by the pool and something else in the niche.

This roadrunner has been out here by the cactus for years. He looks like he's running, but he doesn't get anywhere. He's still in the same spot.

This was my first (and only) feeble attempt at doing mosaics. I may try it again someday. I think I can do better. Below is a closeup of the top of the table.

Here's one of the little rabbits. The other one is out by the bench by the lawn.

Do you recognize this little guy? While looking through old pictures, I ran across this picture that I took when we first brought him home from the yard sale. The picture I posted on March 18th was the way he looks now after being out in the Arizona sun for 18 years. Guess it was just too hot for him. Look how he was dressed. Should have had a bathing suit on.