whew...finished

Finally! The bookcase still needs a bit of trim work but for now...all the "stuff" has a place and is in it's place! I couldn't find a set of old weathered shutters; but I'm gonna keep looking. Thanks for all the comments...I am sure it will be quite sometime before I attempt something like this again...of course....there is the painting of the kitchen...but that can wait till Spring!

Project Update

Yeah! Jimmy finally got home and got the nail gun working for me...can you tell he is laughing and making fun of me for starting a project like this with out him? And yes, he helped me get the shelves all glued and nailed down...He is such a great guy!!! Trey showed up just about the time we finished putting it together...something about hunting with his boys...smiling here!

Ta....da...here it is! Stained and ready for the trim work. I should have made it about a foot taller. Tomorrow oops, I mean today...I am going over to a local building salvage place and scrounge around for some shutters for that unsightly window that leads into the kitchen.

I'm not so sure this is a two day project afterall!!! Once I get everything finished and get all the books, games, and odds and ends on it...I'll post another photo. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Bob Villa sure did make it look easier!

God bless and good night.

Everything is cut and set together. But...I need an extra hand so I am waiting on Papa.

Granna's Special Project

This is my little officette...It is located in one corner of the living room.

This is the wall to my right. The bookshelves and cabinets in our bedroom are packed to over flowing...so...when Jake left for basic training...I stole one of his shelves from upstairs. He will be home in eight days...and his stuff is still on his bed! Now a mom can't hurt her baby's feelings, right? What would he think if he came home and found out I have raided his room?

So I came up with a plan for a built in shelving unit. I think I can get it done in two days.

I mean...my first project turned out ok. It is a bench on the opposite end of my officette.

I've got all the supplies...and thanks to my trusty lazer level...I have all the lines marked. Now I just have to figure out how to hook up the nail gun to the air compressor! Hummm...where's my wood glue?ISABELLA!!!! Ok...OK...I am calling Trey...he is back from New York and he knows how to do this....stay tuned for more.... cause he will be here soon!

A Day of Eights...Ornaments

I got this idea from Drothy over at Counting My Blessings and decided...I'm game. My tree doesn't really have a theme this year. Last year I did this all green balls and green lights thing. It was the most hideous thing I have ever seen in my life. We finally quit turning the lights on. Big mistake...BIG! It is the last time I tried anything artistic. LOL So here are my 8 ornaments on the 8th day of December.

My favorite...I think my sister gave this to me one year.

The oldest...I bought about two dozen of these the year our house burned.

The funniest...because Jake bought it for me the year I took up golf. I love the game...but the game does not love me!

Most memorable because one year I was deathly ill and it was getting close to Christmas and the tree was still not up...I sent Jimmy to the store to pick up some ornaments and he brought home this angel and some other wooden ornaments. I love them all!

UGLIEST...I think you can all guess why I chose this one!

Reddest

Greenest: One of those balls recycled from last year. It's Army Green and as a tribute to Jake I painted in gold leaf: PVT Kyzer, Jacob - US Army '08 - Delta Dawgs in honor of Delta Company of the 787th Military Police

Christmas topper...it has always been an angel of some kind. We have had this one for about three years, now and when I was taking this picture with my trusty phone I noticed her bulbs are out...Jimmy will have to fix that tonight!

Have a wonderful rest of the week and may God smile down upon you and all you love and care for as we march toward the celebration of His magnificient birth.

A Day of Eights...Award

Thanks, Trish! I received this wonderful award from Trish over at Nana's Living the Dream http://nanaslivingthedream.blogspot.com/ and it made my day. Thanks again, a sister in Christ I am proud to call friend. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, today is a good day to do so.


It amazes me how the blogosphere can span the distance between states and countries and unite people with similar interests, backgrounds, and hobbies. I think that is what makes this award so special. I pray God blesses you all as we travel the highway of the world wide web and walk the road of life.

This is the special "Proximidade" award. This award is a fine one because it focuses not on the glory and fanfare of blogging, but in the PROXIMITY to one another through this on-line world (kind of a Six Degrees of Separation sort of thing).

"Blogs who receive this award are 'exceedingly charming' say its authors.This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Now the passing along to eight...I would have bestowed this upon all of you but Trish beat me to some of you and I did not want to repeat the process. You know who you are...:-D


1) Miranda at A Little Room to Grow http://mirandabrown.blogspot.com/. This college girl has a heart that is on fire for God and I mean ON FIRE! Her posts get me reved up and inspired!


2) Joyful Sister at Encouragement From My Heart http://encouragementfrommyheart.blogspot.com/ All the way over in Hawaii, my favorite duty station of all time! Her poetry and posts do just that...encourage my heart.


3) Dorothy at Counting My Blessings http://mawdot.blogspot.com/. Dot is so creative and a great photographer! I definitely count having her as my bloggy buddy among my blessings.


4.) My grandson, Hunter, http://myhuntingandschoolblog.blogspot.com/ Hunter always read what I posted and wanted to have his own blog. After getting permission from his parents and with a little help from Granna, he now has a place to share his own stories. His site is not too bad for a seven-year-old!

5) Granola Chic at So What CAN He eat? http://granolachicslife.blogspot.com/
Granola is a local gal, mother of two, part-time college student...preparing to run the Little Rock Marathon. Her courage and love for the Lord and her family is definitely present in her writings.

6) I almost left him out! Chaplain Carey of Carey's Corner http://chaplaincarey.blogspot.com He gives me a good daily dose of God's word. He is an ex-firefighter turned chaplain. And...since I did go to firefighting school in Pensacola for the US Navy...and did a bit of firefighting myself...we have a natural bond of brotherhood on two fronts. "Chappy" know we are all praying for a positive outcome for your battery of tests this week!

7) The incomparable Millennium Housewife http://millenniumhousewife.blogspot.com/ All the way from "across the pond." Her wit and wisdom always make me laugh. Her blog is by far one of the funniest I read.

8) And last but definitely not least...my newest friend Indian Lake Papa (and Mama) at Choices R Mine http://choicesrmine.blogspot.com/ Fellow Nazarenes and Sunday School Teacher. Their blog is a wonderful and insigtful read. I look forward to getting to know them better.

I LOVE each of these blogs. Please be sure to stop by thier places in your travels in "Bloggy Land."

So.. n.ow, go forth and spread good cheer to eight others and in the words of Tiny Tim..."God bless us, everyone!"

A Mother's Anguish Collides With Her Faith

Think back to the day you saw your child for the first time. You looked into that tiny face how long? Fifteen minutes, Twenty minutes…half an hour before you counted all the fingers and toes? You tried to figure out who the baby looked most like as you focused on the nose, the ears, the eyes…the hands and feet. O and the virtually indescribable feeling only a mother who just gave birth has…the rush of relief mixed with hope, love and joy tempered with a smidge of fear. Exhaustion overcome by expectation and the excitement of the sheer magnitude of experiencing this miracle of life.

Now imagine a law has just gone into effect that this very baby had to be put to death…thrown into a river and drowned. That at any moment he could be stripped from your arms and there was nothing you could do about it. This is exactly what Moses’ mother was facing.

Exodus 1:22“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.’

My ‘mother’s heart’ leads me to imagine her pacing and praying…while fear, sadness, and worry mesh with the unconditional love a mother has for her child. With tears streaming, bouncing and rocking the baby boy “Look at him! How can we throw him into the Nile? I cannot do it! I won’t do it!” The only conclusion: to keep him, care for him and to hide him for as long as she can.

When hiding him became impossible she mustered all she had, stepped out on faith, and did the only thing she knew would keep him alive a little longer. With hope and trepidation in her heart and a prayer on her lips she began working on the basket that would protect him. And as his big sister kept watch the mother slipped her young son among the reeds along the banks of the great river.

Exodus 2:1-4 "Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds, along the Nile. His sister, stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. "

Exodus 2:5-9 “Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’ “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and nursed him.”

What happens next is clearly the hand of God. The baby is plucked from the waters edge not by your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill Egyptian. It was Pharaoh’s daughter! And who just happened to be there…standing in the shadows…with a suggestion for a nurse but the baby’s own sister. The Bible does not mention protocol or whether this little Hebrew girl was afraid to approach the princess. However, she seized her God-given opportunity and not only provided care for her baby brother but a blessing for the entire family!

Can you imagine the excitement as Miriam ran to find her mother and tell her what happened? “The princess has found the baby and she wants to keep him for her own! She needs someone to take care of him, and she told me to find a nurse! Hurry, Mother, hurry...RUN!”

Now imagine Jocohebed’s reaction. Can you see her clapping her hands, putting down what she was doing, jumping up and down a heart full of praise and worship as she heads out the door to meet the person who has rescued her son? Realization dawning that in just a short time she will once again be with the son she thought she had lost forever.

God used this mother’s courageous act of saving and hiding her baby to begin the plan of rescuing His people. She had no idea at that time what God was doing but He was definitely at work! He really doesn’t need that much from us to accomplish His plan does he?

When faced with a situation that seems humanly impossible to overcome instead of focusing on the predicament we should concentrate on God and His power, trusting Him for the way out. That is all He needs from us.

Revelation 3:7b-8 “What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

Taking a Stand

While raising my sons, if I said it once, I said it a thousand times… “Sometimes you have to do what you don’t want to do solely based on the fact that it is the right thing to do.” Determining what is “right” in this day and age seems to become harder and harder by the minute.

Where once morality was a black and white issue…the lines have been blurred to the point where even people who profess to be Christians live in the gray area: walking the tightrope between selfishness and righteousness. Either being blind to what is actually right according to God’s Word or worried about the consequences of taking a stand. Imagine all the excuses you have either heard or used. “It doesn’t directly affect me or my family. It’s not my business. What difference can one person (or a small group of people) make? I don’t want to get fired, don’t want to lose a good customer...” and on and on and on.

Exodus chapter one shows a clear picture of what God will do when we stand firm and do the right thing according to His Word. The Hebrews in Egypt were fast outnumbering the Egyptians and it worried the king. He then ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all the newborn boys.

Exodus 1:17 “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”

The midwives faith in God gave them the courage to take a stand and do what was right in sparing the lives of the Hebrew babies. God does not expect us to obey the authorities over us when those orders ask us to go against Him or His Word. The Bible is full of examples where people were willing to risk their lives in order to obey God or save others. Whole nations can be caught up in immorality; thus following the majority or the authority is not always right.

Acts 5:29 “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!”

In the Bible right and wrong is still black and white...no middle ground, no gray area. When we take a stand for what is right, solely based on the fact that it is the right thing; God will bless us.

Exodus 1:20-21 “So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous (21) And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.”

We don’t take a stand for the blessing…we take a stand because it is right in the eyes of the Lord. How do we know what is right… by knowing His Word, by living a life of love and devotion to Him; by having that one-on-one intimate relationship with Him.

Most assuredly taking a stand can be a thing fraught with fright. However, when we are submitted totally to Him…His Spirit guides us and we move and act almost without thought.

What’s stopping you from taking a stand? Let your fear of the Lord overpower your fear of your circumstances or consequences…and let courage replace your apathy.

1st Corinthians 16: 13-14 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (14) Do everything in love.”

What Are You Wearing?

I love Mike Waters' cartoons! I use them for the newsletter I put together for our church. Please visit his site at http://www.joyfultoons.com/ you can subscribe and get a new cartoon on a regular basis. Have a great day...and don't forget to wear your praise where eveyone can see!

Children, Bibles, and Spaghetti...O MY!

Ms. Theresa (fresh out of bed) Pastor Greg, Ms. Kristina, Ms. Mary, Pastor Sid, and the children before church camp.

Being the Sunday school superintendent I am known by the children church-wide as Ms. Theresa. I show up before the bus leaves for church camp and pray with them, I am involved with Vacation Bible School, sometimes I teach classes when their teacher’s are sick or on vacation, and I attend as many of their functions as possible.

As stated in previous posts, our church is located just outside the gates of the Air Force base and we are home to many transient congregants. Some of the Air Force personnel simply attend services, some teach…some step into a leadership role; and when orders are cut for the next duty station our church family really feels the loss.

We were in that place last year…the crunch…several of our leadership left for the call of duty…some left because of God’s call…some just left. Never-the-less it was crunch time. Our once burgeoning youth group was graduating and heading to college or taking on their first job. Along with these fresh-out-of-high-schoolers we had many young adults, some with families, some without… all searching for their place within the congregation.

Our church is relatively small and offered three adult Sunday School classes. Most adults attended one of the two 6:00 p.m. classes as the one offered at 9:00 a.m. was just too early. I had long prayed for something for these young adults…a class…a teacher…a program. We needed a young adult pastor! Someone who would step in…keep our young people involved and shepherd them toward a life of committed service. That’s when Greg and Kristina entered our lives.

They lived and attended church several towns over. Greg was full time Air National Guard, studying to become a chaplain, and was attached to our base. One Sunday, a holiday Sunday, I can’t remember which holiday; they visited our church because evening services at theirs was cancelled. Don’t you just love it when God sits an answer right in your lap?

Pastor Greg Armstrong

A short time later, Pastor Greg, his wife Kristina, and their three small children moved into the parsonage next door to the church. I love those Armstrong kids and soon there will be one more. But what I love most is Kristina. I love everything about her! She loves the Lord with all her heart, is outspoken, and has great ideas. She’s a take-charge kind of gal who gets things done…you know the kind…sees a need…fills it! Even better…she has a heart for the children’s ministry and it shows in everything she does.

It had been quite some time since our church had a Bible Quizzing team and that is where Kristina began her service to the children of Jacksonville First Church of the Nazarene. Her small band of quizzers would come to church the Sunday after a meet and gather up on the stage where she would present ribbons, certificates, and other awards. There were even trophies as they made their way through the end-of-the-quizzing-year tournaments which leads me to spaghetti, children and bibles.

This coming Sunday afternoon, after church the Quizzers are having their first annual spaghetti fund-raising lunch. I don’t know about y’all, but we love to eat…especially on Sunday afternoons when it only costs a donation! I had planned on showing up for the dinner, visiting as I always do, dropping a twenty in the bucket, eating…then heading home for one of those good ole Nazarene naps between services. However, that was before Kristina leaned over in my ear and whispered, “I need you to be on the adult quizzing team.”

Ms. Kristina...champion of the children!

The ADULT quizzing team, what do you mean the adult quizzing team? They have quizzing for adults? “No, no, no.” she said smiling. “After we eat lunch the adults are going to challenge the children to a quiz match.”

“Uh, OK, what do I do?”

“Just come prepared” was her response. “We are doing Exodus.”

When I asked her to be more specific…she nonchalantly informed me…the entire book of Exodus. Now, these kids have been studying Exodus for quite some time already… Oh, man…I gotta quit writing and get to studying!!! What will the kids think if they beat me?

Hummmmm... maybe they SHOULD beat me!

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to our children and to their children after them.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (7) Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

This Christmas Brings A Deeper Faith

Thanksgiving has come and gone. The last of the leftovers have been given to Spot, our grandson’s dog who lives in the barn. The tree is up, lights adorn the outside of the house, and in seventeen short days, Jake will be home for two weeks.

The dawning of December this year brings with it more excitement than it has held since the Christmas Hunter turned three. Jake left in mid-August for Army basic training. Freshly out of high school… stuck between the boy he used to be and the man he will one day become.

It was harder on him than some in his group. I don’t know if it was because he had a sheltered life, that he was a homebody, or the fact he had never had anyone in-his-face screaming and cursing when he didn’t do things perfectly. More than likely it was that all these things collided at one time, hundreds of miles from home, with no telephone or computer…his only means of communication left…handwritten letters. And to one born in the instant communication generation…it seemed to take a lifetime.

The first weeks were hardest…he was homesick…thought he had made a mistake…and wanted to come home. Oh, how I remember the days from my own boot camp experience. It is the natural progression of emotion that takes place during basic as the individual is broken and the team built. Just about the time he decided he wanted to stay…he suffered stress fractures in both knees. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions for both the boy transitioning into warrior and the mother who could not go and “fix” things…could not put her arms around her little boy, pat him on the back, and tell him everything was going to be fine.

As I sort through the basket on my desk, stuffed with important bits of his mail and the letters he wrote; I run my fingers across sentences written from his heart… words taken from devotions… and scriptures he clung to in the days when he felt alone… sentiments expressed as he came to grips with exactly what he has signed up for…his commitment becoming a reality.

“I am a man of a forceful nature; but glory and doom walk hand in hand. I can not cast these emotions aside. I am troubled that I am being trained to hunt, kill, suppress, and destroy another. If someone were to ask me what the most stressful, most depressing or most unsatisfying part of my life was; it would be now. The way it is here. Do what you are told. You can not go and you can not stand to stay.”

“Give your cares to God and He will lift your burden.”

“The days drag on yet we still live our lives. We can not feel, notice, or sense the earth’s movement, but we know it moves. God is in the motion. Like the earth, we can not see it, but we know that He is there.”

“My faith has definitely grown stronger in this place.”

It is to this last sentence I cling… it’s what I’ve prayed for night after night, day after day…draw him to You; Lord…put your arms around him when I can not. It is in this place where mother and son come together, two hearts closing the miles… with one prayer…to guide…to protect…to always know God’s presence… not my will, Lord, but Yours be done.

He graduates MP training in January and will be stationed in Missouri…just six hours from home for one year. And on those orders…the word feared by mothers across the United States… deployed. His response when I tried to press for information, “I have three words for you where that’s concerned, Mom…hazardous duty pay!”

So for now we focus on the joy of homecoming, the closeness to home of his first duty station, and the fact that after the first of the year we have the freedom to visit anytime he has a couple of days off. And as always…we trust in God, the giver of life, the divine protector, the guardian of children and soldiers alike.

Yesterday afternoon when he called, laughing and telling animated stories of his training, talking excitedly about what is left in the syllabus; joking with his friends in the background…I realized the boy is indeed a man... and both he and his mother’s faith has definitely grown stronger in this place.

Psalms 139:13 “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (a) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…”

Matthew 10:28-31 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (29) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. (30) And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. (31) So don’t be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows.” ~NIV