A Lovely Vase

This vase has special meaning to me because it is one of the few things I have that belonged to my mother. One of her sisters gave it to her back in the early 40s. I remember it in our house when I was just a little kid. I always thought it was pretty. My mother didn’t have a lot of nice things. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, she didn’t have much money, and when she bought something, it was usually for somebody else. When we gave her nice things, she almost always ended up giving them back to us. She always seemed to prefer having something that we had discarded than something new. Almost everything she had in her house was something we had had in our house in the past. She grew up during the depression and learned to do with very little. She didn’t have very many material possessions, but she had a lot of love which she gave away freely.

A Meme and A Little More Reminiscing

Here is a fun meme I accepted from Justabeachkat. If you are you, and you, and you back there hiding, I hope you will play along too.

3 things:

3 places I go all the time: church, grocery store, mall.

3 people who email me: My daughter even though I talk to her on the phone almost every day, My friend in Tennessee, friends in California.

3 favorite places to eat: Red Lobster, Red Devil Pizza, Chompies for fish & chips

3 places I would rather be right now: London, Carmel, Kulpahar, India

3 TV shows I could watch over and over: Everybody Loves Raymond (and I do), Reba, Dancing With the Stars.

3 people who will do this: you, and you, and you back there hiding (Let me know if you do this, so I can see your answers)

A little more reminiscing – Here I am in my first car. It’s a ’52 Ford. I was very proud of that car. This is not a very good picture, but you get the idea.

Praying Hands

I took this picture because my husband wanted to use it for his blog last Thursday which was National Day of Prayer. He has had these praying hands for years. They are on his desk right now. (I moved them to the top of the computer to take the picture). There is an interesting story about the artist who designed the hands on his post for that day. I have seen these hands for years, but did not know the story behind them. If you are interested, you can click HERE to go to his blog.
It is time to get ready to go to church now. Going to worship God is always a wonderful experience. I look forward to Sundays.

Kind Blogger Award & Victoria Magazine

I was surprised and delighted to get this Kind Blogger Award from Ruthie at Just Ruthie. Thank you so much, Ruthie. I feel so honored that you chose me to pass the award on to.

It is so hard for me to decide who to pass the award on to for there have been so many of you who have been leaving such lovely comments on my blog. I think I will chose Ginger though of Enchanting Cottage to give the award to. If not for Ginger, I wouldn't be blogging at all. She's the one that got me started. Thank you, Ginger. If you are one of my regular blogging friends, and you are reading this, please accept this award from me as well. You know who you are.


If you like Victoria magazine like I do, you will enjoy the newest one. Mine arrived a few days ago.

I think this is a great issue especially if you like blue and white and if you are hooked on the Mitford books by Jan Karon.

There is an interesting article about Jan Karon. Here is a quote from her. “More than a decade and a half ago, and at two o’clock in the morning, I got out of bed and literally ran to my writing room, where I sat down in a weathered wicker chair at a hundred-dollar table and began writing the first Mitford novel on a used computer.” Wow! I would say she really got inspired. One reason I love Jan Karon is her devotion to God and the Bible. This is evident in her writings and she has a wonderful testimony. She quotes this scripture in her article in Victoria. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. Keep writing, Jan. I love all your books, as do millions of other people.

From a Bed to a Bench

My son will probably kill me for posting this picture of him that was taken about 40 years ago, but I thought it was necessary to have a picture of the headboard on his bed .

There were two of these beds in his bedroom. Actually in this house there was only one, but when we moved to another city, we bought a matching one.

When he got older, we took the twin beds out, and he bought himself a waterbed. Well, we had both of those headboards in our garage for many many years. We finally decided to donate them to a rummage sale our church was having. One of the members of the church bought them, and turned them into benches. One of them he sold, and the other one he brought to an auction we had at our church. Were we ever surprised to see what he had done. That headboard made a very interesting bench. The lady that bought it at the auction knew the history of the headboard, and so when she decided she didn’t want it in their entry way any longer, she asked us if we would like to have it. She knew how much it would mean to us and that’s probably why she decided to put something else in her entry way - so that she could give it to us. Of course we were thrilled to have it. We really didn’t know where we were going to put it, but it ended up in our dining room. Here is a picture of it there.

Wedding Anniversary

Today would have been my parents’ 76th anniversary. They were both 19 years old when they married. They didn’t have any pictures from their wedding. They were married in a double ceremony with one of my father’s sisters and her husband. It was a private ceremony. This picture was taken about five years later. This is the oldest picture I have of them together.

They celebrated their 50th at a dinner party at our home. Here is a plaque with a picture taken at that party. It’s hard to believe. That was 26 years ago. This year my husband and I will celebrate our 50th.

I believe this is the only professional photograph they ever had made together.




They were together for 66 years. My Dad died in 1998. Mother died exactly one year later.

Our Office aka Hubby's Room

Bird houses my husband made. He made lots lots more. Will feature at a later date. He bought the two flags, India & U.S., for his office at church because of our support for Kulpahar Kids' Home in India. Now that he's retired, it's here in our home office.

Notice the "Duck" theme in the room?

Ceiling fan blade in foreground.

Leah, our missionary in India gave us the silkscreen pictures of the elephants. Water buffalo and elephant are from Kenya.

He found this bookcase at a yard sale.

Is my hubby a fun guy or what?

Miniature bats we got in Louisville.

He found this duck pillow at a yard sale. It fit the theme of the room.

Today is (would have been) my parents wedding anniversary. I wanted to finish up the tour of this room before we leave it. Sometime later in the day, I'll post a tribute to my parents.

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.