It was a sign!

I decided last week to head downtown and visit Abilities Unlimited.  My "go to" place lately has been our new GW store.  It was my lunch hour and I was looking for Christmas items.  I almost missed this jewel.  It was high upon a shelf at the very back.  My breathing increased when I saw it...I was sure it wasn't for sale..why else would it still be there?!!!!  I asked for some assistance and the store clerk found a ladder and got it down for me.  "How much?", I asked.  "Five dollars", he replied.  Can I just tell you that I was a very happy camper to pay 5 bucks for this sign...we seem to be on a $5 pattern around here! I've seen signs alot lately around blog land.  Stencils and waxing and so forth...My hat's off to you talented folks.  I'm glad this one was turn key though.  Now I just have to decide where to put it.  I also purchased a couple of door swags at a really good price and am currently working on those.  I'll post pictures of those later this week.  Right now they are undergoing a transformation.

On another note, I shot some pictures of my mom's tree and thought I would share it with you.

She's down sized her tree the last couple of years.  I brought her "huge" tree to my house two years ago. We haven't decorated it yet.  Blake wants us to wait until he is home.  I think she did a great job decorating for the holidays.

She put on quite the feast for all of us for Thanksgiving.  There were about twenty of us scattered through out the house.

She's a great cook.

AND  a Black Friday shopper.  We got in at 1:00 a.m. Friday night!  As I stood in line for 2 hours (keep in mind I am a person of little no patience) in the pouring rain, I turned to my mom and said "You know I love you right?" She just smiled and and huddled in closer to the stranger who was kind enough to share her umbrella with my mom and I....and her two daughters.  Sweet way to kick of the shopping season...but you can still call me CRAZY.  I won't be offended at all!

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Sacred Sundays

This is my mama's bible.  I think for my first "Sacred Sundays" post it is appropriate to mention that. My mama taught me that Sundays were sacred.  She was the first person to teach me about Jesus.  She taught me that every single answer to anything I might face in life was found in this book.  Through the years it has been my life line.  The most important man in my life, the one that holds my heart, that I fell in love with...he can be found in this book. He rescued me.  In so many, many ways.  He is saving me every day.  From myself, from the enemy and from eternal seperation from him. His love is so unfathomable. 

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

 

Love like his is so different from what we find in the world...."while we were still sinners"

 

I don't know about you but I have some pretty unmemorable moments in my life.  Unmemorable in that when I allow my mind to go there, it can't.  I don't want to remember.  I don't want to relive the shame that accompanies that moment in time.  I don't want to remember my outright rebellion.  My prideful nod at a holy God that "I will do as I please for now...."  I can't stand to see myself in those moments....and I'm sure if you could, you would judge me, find me less than lovable, even boast that you were never that bad.  That's ok.  I have a place I can go to find love.  REAL love.  The kind that looked down from a rugged tree and in his greatest moment of agony whispered three sacred words that set me free forever........"Father forgive them"  He knew my unmemorable moments and yet he loved me.  Not in my white washed robe but rather dressed fully in my filthiest sin stained garment. He looked beyond my sin, beyond my fault.  He saw me, he loved me at my worst and saw me at my best.  He was and is EL ROI-the God who sees me.  Standing before his throne changes me.  I can stand exposed and know that what I will experience is a love that I will never understand but with great humility and a grateful heart I will fully embrace.

 

 

May I take this opportunity to recommend a great work of fiction by Francine Rivers entitled:

 

Redeeming Love

 

Simply follow this link to the authors website to read about it:

 

It's one of my all time favorite reads and I know for certain you will enjoy it.

With Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving less than two days away it's time to stop and reflect.  What am I thankful for?  What do I possess that is so noteworthy?  My family?  My home?  My job?  My health?  Of course all of these things are certainly worth mentioning and I feel as though I live a blessed life.  The Lord has been so good to me.  But what is the ONE thing that I am most thankful for........................................

HOPE

and for me that is synonymous with

JESUS

Because if my family is falling apart, or I lose my home, or my job and my health fails. 

There's hope in Jesus

Whatever life throws our way, if we have Jesus..he is sufficient.

I'm so very thankful for parents that taught me that truth many years ago.

I'm thankful for the people in my life who live it out.

"But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

Jeremiah 17:7

Jesus is the Sovereign authority of the universe and as long as my hope is in him in life and even in death;  I am eternal.

When he stops, the earth shakes. When he looks, the nations tremble. He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills. He is the Eternal One!

Habakkuk 3:6

The $5 Christmas Tree

This is a $5 Christmas tree.  I kid you not.  My son's girlfriend bought it a a community yard sale....finally. Bless her heart, everytime she started toward a tree someone virtually snatched it up before she could put her hands on it.  We loaded it up in our small car and and sat "around it" to get it home with the intention that it would go in my son's bedroom. Umm, that didn't quite work out.  The tree was alot bigger than the box looked. So, being that I'm far from the minimalist, we stuck it in the only corner it could possibly go so that our sweet Carrie could have her tree and would not be disappointed.  She decorated it for halloween.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of that but it was VERY cute.

Unfortunately Carrie is away for school for a few weeks and since the tree was up, we decided we would have two trees this year.  Yep, call me crazy.  My house is not that big.  But a girl's gotta answer the call to create...and so we did.  Mr. Magnificent and I watched a you tube tutorial on decorating with mesh ribbon.  I've had the stuff for two years and never used it but this year we tackled it and it was a no-brainer really.  I wonder now why I left it packed up last year.

The "goodies" for this tree weren't really expensive.  The stars and snowflakes came from dollar tree and I stamped pre-cut cards and hung them with twine.  One pakage of ornaments from Hobby Lobby 1/2 off in bronze did the trick with some left over. I found the feathers for the topper at a flea market and the white fill-in at the GW for $1.  The picture frames were a last minute brain storm and for me, they really make the tree.  I printed off some family photos in sepia and framed them in frames from the dollar tree in silver and gold. 

 It came together nicely and now I can concentrate on some vingettes...........and the OTHER tree. One down, one to go. Stay tuned.

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Santa Claus

I need your help...I bought this Santa this week at my local GW for $2.  He really caught my eye because of his "Old World" appeal.  I actually walked out of the store the first time without him but went back the next day....maybe nobody likes him but me since he hadn't flown off the shelf. Oh well, I'm not scared to stand alone. Ha!  I collect Santas and this one was unique.  This is my dillema....  I don't know if I should paint him, leave him alone or attempt to Mercury glass finish him.  Any suggestions?

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Forty Something Friday Nights

This is how we are spending our Friday night.  Filling in the bubbles. It's for a good cause and he did take me to eat mexican prior to this.  We have John Mellencamp's "Stones in my passway" and Don Henley's greatest hits playing in the back ground; that makes the whole process a little more entertaining.  Our church is signing people up for the Faith Bible Institute class and Ken is getting the paperwork prepared so this is a task that must be completed.  I kinda thought I was done with the whole SRA, fill in the bubble thing way back in the 80's.... but not so.

 

 

Maybe we should be playing Amazing Grace or The Old Rugged Cross while we do this.  I'm kinda feeling guilty about that.  Stones in my passway has this amazing blues sound though and I need the beat to keep up the pace...and the committment.  The Lord created music right?  I think he'd approve of Stones in my passway.  Yeah, I'm pretty confident he would....

 

 

It takes a few "#2" pencils to get this done.  We had to stop by DG to pick one of these sharpeners up.  I even threw in some honey buns in case things got really bad.

 

 

Mr. Magnificent is truly magnificent...I've already inquired why the students couldn't fill out their own bubbles.  It's not rocket science after all.  But he ignores me and keeps on shading.

 

 

I'm doing my part but every now and then I sneak a peek at Pinterest or some amazing blog post about how to clean silver...or make smore brownies.

 

 

And then this happened...............this is not good.  See... Mr. Magnificent can get a magnificent attitude if things get messed up.  He's a perfectionist and all and to make a long story shorter....I'm not.  He likes things "a certain way" and for me, let's just say things can be a little in an upheaval and I just roll with it.  Take our bedroom for instance.  He mentioned tonight that my clothes piled against the wall might be a fire hazard.  His side is immaculate where mine...............just isn't.  He likes his sheet tight at the end....I don't.  In the midst of our Friday night "bubbling" date I was cleaning old bottles with vinegar and my sleeve took a swim.  I look at it as proof I am working...multi-tasking.  Mr. Magnificent looks at it as a glitch in his process.  I didn't tell him.  I just slid it under the others and prayed silently for God to forgive me for the sin of omission.  It'll dry right?  After all, in the words of Mr. Magnificent himself.."I can only be magnificent for so long."  I'd like to keep the laughter we are exchanging over the task at hand to be the resounding theme as the curtain falls on our Friday night date.  Some things are just better left unsaid.  Or that's what I'm telling myself.

 

Dressing the Table

I found some great bargains this week, adding to my white ironstone and lucked out and scored a Country Living tablecloth too!  I wanted to create a fall tablescape using these items so I pulled some things together I had laying around the house.  It's great when you can shop at home! I found this quail at the Goodwill this week for a buck.  He's so fancy with his burnished gold finish.

And don't ya just love the color of egg plant?

 

 

My blue willow works well with this table cloth and this sweet little scalloped dessert plate

 adds yet another layer.

 

 

I love this small pitcher.  It will be great for gravy!

 

 

This white compote bowl is something I already had. I love the scalloped detail of the edge.

It works well with the dessert plates when entertaining.

 

 

And these feathers were purchased to use in my Christmas tree..but for now they work well in this beautiful amber jar.

 

 

 

 

That is my Thanksgiving tablescape and although we won't be having Thanksgiving here but rather spending it at my mom's and Ken's parents, I can enjoy it for a couple of weeks and my family can be surrounded by pumkins...(that are really cute) when we eat supper. I think take-out pizza would look right at home too though come to think of it................

 

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Singing Christmas Tree

The holidays are fast approaching and for our family the Singing Christmas Tree at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN is pretty much a tradition.  The production is AMAZING!  I really don't know how Broadway could top it.

We received our brochures in the mail yesterday and the story line this year is about an orphanage and is set in 1912 in New York.  I cry every year already so the thought of orphaned children is a sure sign to stash the kleenex in my purse.

 

The nativity scene gets me every time.  They go to great lengths to make it as realistic as possible.

 

 

It's absolutely breath taking and for me, it sets the tone of the season.

 

 

I look forward to it every year.

 

 

I have to say..the angels flying over the audience is one of my favorite parts. I guess it's the kid in me.

 

 

Don't miss it..go to their website and purchase your tickets..you'll be glad you did.

Mine are already on their way!

 

 

(All photos above were taken by Bellevue Baptist Church)