Home Projects....

While a lot of home improvement projects that one finds in a new home are things that can be put off and done over a period of time, there are a LOT that must be done fairly immediately. That being said, I'll just add that a new home can make you real tired real fast! We are thoroughly enjoying our home and even enjoying the more mundane projects that must be done. It has been a busy week. In addition to the daily household chores, Mark and I had a blast the other afternoon with a hose, some pretty dirty gutters and a mildewy porch ceiling. I felt like I was 10 years old playing under the hose in the yard! It did make a huge difference in the ceiling, too. We have decided to hold off on the rest of the outside cleaning until we get a pressure washer, and even then we'll probably wait on half of the back until a certain bird's nest is no longer in use.
On Wednesday I managed to get about 8 loads of laundry done before the evening thunderstorms came through. While I was hanging out one of the last loads, I glanced down and found a lovely surprise.


A closer inspection revealed this:


I know he doesn't have the prettiest colors I've ever seen, but I still think he is pretty and I am always fascinated by the long front legs and antennae.

While I had the camera out, I went ahead and took this picture too. Mark does grow the best tomatoes in the world!

Sadly, I have no pictures of the Birmingham Flea Market. Sigh! I had a good time, after I found it (only I could get lost with such clear directions posted on the website). It was great to meet Rhoda, Sandi and Kathi and spend time with them looking at jewelry. There was a rather interesting Gentleman there who had some good finds. I liked his old metal yard furniture; talk about nostalgia! There were several vendors with antique linens, too, and it was fun puzzling out what I could do with them and how I could embroider them for gifts. There were the ubiquitous sock-vendors, and one man with boxes of Ovaltine, soap, soup and lotions for sale (what a curious mix). I did not buy anything this time, but I just might go back and snag some of those linens for a project.
It has been a rather busy week working around the house. Laundry, mildew on the porch, gutters that needed cleaning, floors; the list is endless if you let it be. Sometimes I have to remind myself that some things are urgent and other things can wait a year or two or ten! I'm whipped from the floors, but tomorrow I'll show you an unexpected blessing God sent me while I was doing laundry on Tuesday.

Sunday was a busier day than our family anticipated. We wound up inaugurating our safe room! Storms were headed our way and we were tuned in to the local weather. A little after three the call was made that there was a tornado in our area and we were urged to go to our safe place. We have a big basement with a little room just beside the stairs. That room is on the outside side of the basement rather than the underground side, but the storm gurus all say to use a small enclosed area rather than a large open area (even if it is underground). So we loaded up the cats, the weather radio, and some juice (in case I had an insulin reaction), made sure we were in jeans and had shoes and socks on and headed downstairs. It didn't seem like it was going to be one of those scary EF-5 storms, but we figured it was a good practice run for the new house. Turns out that there was an EF-1 tornado that touched down 4 miles away from us. Fortunately there was a ridge between it and us and it was not a real bad one. No one was killed, no one was injured, so that was a relief. Mark and I drove out today and saw where it had touched down. We were impressed because as many trees as had come down everyone had gotten the trees off the roads and houses and already had them cut into logs by noon today. We did figure out a few things to do differently next time. Like have the safe room swept and clean (I don't know if those jeans will ever come clean again), put the cats in a cat carrier before we take them down (I know, I know; we are some of those pet-people), and have some juice boxes stashed there (juice boxes are a gift to diabetics; just the right size and easy to handle when your hands are shaky). So all we have to do next time is stuff the cats in the carrier, grab the radio, and dash down the stairs. I'm thankful that Mark got me a weather radio that has not only the NOAA weather stations but also has regular radio so we can listen to the local reports. AND it has a battery AND a crank-charge. What more could a girl want?! So we have a plan, our house is intact, and tomorrow it is supposed to be clear so I can hang my laundry out. What a relief!

With all that has been going on in the new house this week I have not updated the memory verse. So let me correct that now. If you are familiar with Handel's Messiah, this is another one that you will be singing instead of saying. This is a song that all the angels sing as they surround the throne of God and the people of God.

Revelation 5:12
In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"


Have a wonderful weekend. I'm off to the Birmingham Flea Market to meet up with Rhoda and some of the other Birmingham bloggers. Pictures Monday!

Wow. I finished that UFO already. Wow! I'm not thrilled with the way the piping looks; I'm definitely better at smocking than the construction of the smocked piece into something else. But I'm pleased that I finished it. Normally I would take apart what I was not pleased with and fix it, but the material that was used for this does not lend itself to that. Plus, it is just a pincushion.
Here are the construction pictures. When Nancy gets back from spending time with her girls and helping them with some projects I think I'm going to need piping lessons (sewing, not Scottish!)



Now since the party is going on for two more weeks, I think I'll work on another UFO. This one will take a little more time....pictures coming!

Seen any UFO's lately? Right now I'm looking at more than an Alabama woman who moved out of the trailer park has any reason to admit to! No flashing lights, weird noises, hovering or probes, just plain ol' ordinary humiliating UFOs. Also known as UnFinished Objects. Sigh. Melissa at the Inspired Room is hostessing a blogger/Mr. Linky party to challenge bloggers to get those projects finished. Sadly, I have more than one UFO and must choose which one to get through. Maybe the party will help me get it done before the two-week period so that I can get an extra one or two completed as well.

Back in January I attended a smocking workshop with Judith Adams from Australia. She taught us how to do vertical smocking and we made a lovely piece to be turned into a pincushion. I have finished the smocking and was quite proud of myself for getting that done.


Then I realized I had to turn a piece of smocked fabric into a pincushion. Gulp! I was so intimidated by the thought of the construction that I stuck the pretty piece into my work bag and took out something else to do. So my work is to get this made into a pincushion. I have no excuses; we are moved and the essential boxes are unpacked. My sewing machine is back from the repair man and in great shape. My iron and ironing board are just waiting on me. So today I will see just how much I can get done.

Off to work!

This is a story for my friends Moses, Makenna, Noah, Tori, Rosie, Charis, Nicholas, Cameron, Jack, Nikki, Numero Uno, and the others whose Moms let them pop in and visit Auntie 'Ginia every so often.

Mr. Mark and I bought a house last week.
The new house has a deck in the back that is very nice to sit on.

Because the deck is on the back of the house, it is pretty high up in the air.

We also have two cats; Baby Boo, who is not quite as bold as she thinks she is,


And Duncan whose temper rarely matches her sweet appearance.


Mr. Mark worked on the back deck over the weekend and put some screen up to keep the bugs out. This meant that the cats could go out on the deck with us and enjoy the fresh air.

There is one spot on the deck that Baby Boo found quite interesting.


She was so interested in it that she would spend almost all her time crouched down beside that little opening trying to look through it. Sometimes she would even lick the deck near the opening! Crazy Cat! Sometimes when it was time to go back in the house she would not come and would have to be chased back in the house or even picked up and carried. I wondered if there might be a lizard under there.


Boo and Duncan do like lizards and I couldn't imagine what else might be making Boo quite so excited.

Yesterday morning I finally got down on the floor of the porch and tried to peek through the opening. I squinted and scrunched and tried to peek this way and that.



















Finally I thought maybe I saw something funny, but it was really hard to see it through the itty-bitty slit in the floor. So I went for a walk around the house to see what I could find.

I walked around the side by the Christmas trees





and past the propane tank














Then I looked up under the deck and found a big surprise!






It was .....


A Mama and Daddy robin who built a nest right up under the porch! I'm sure that soon there will be some babies in the nest. That means that until the babies hatch and grow up and fly away...




I'm going to have a pretty sad Baby Boo!

What do you do when you move to the country and discover that the garbage services in your county do NOT send a truck up your road?


And you have a car, not a truck, so you can't load a big garbage container up and drive it down the steep hill to the highway?

You get creative! You take all your paper products and food scraps (not meat) and compost your tomatoes. You cover the compost with the old leaves that are abundant on a wooded lot.



If you are lucky, you have a magic barrel.

You put stuff in this barrel and it just disappears! I have been informed that the magic does not work during very dry weather for some reason.

You take what is left, marvel at how little there is, put it in a box in the basement and start looking for a recycling center in your area.


Now wasn't that easy? And you don't even have to worry about a sanitation bill coming in every month!

While I have a couple of loads of laundry to do today (even after yesterday's laundry marathon), I was going to skip and work on other things today. Then I remembered what my VERY wise Mama taught me. "If it is not raining today, do laundry and hang it out because tomorrow it might rain". So I'll get a couple of loads done and hung out this morning. The nice thing is that after yesterday (I lost count of how many loads but I'm pretty sure it was at least 10), a couple of loads is no big deal.

Mark and I have been talking about renting a pressure washer to get the outside of the house cleaned up. It has been looking pretty dingy and grungy and really needed to be spruced up some.

It's vinyl siding, so paint is not the answer (and given how much money and time it costs to paint that is a relief). We had decided to put off doing this; pressure washer rentals do cost and we have other things to spend money on right now. Last night Mark had the hose out watering his seven newly planted tomatoes


He decided on a whim to see what the hose would do to the front of the house. Have you ever heard the sound of a hose spraying down vinyl siding? That's the kind of sound that a Mama must investigate! So I stepped out to see what was going on and was asked to fetch the scrub brush. I got the brush, changed into sloppy shorts and t shirt and joined him. It was surprising how much grime came off with just some water and some elbow grease. The chore grew, Dan got called to get off the computer and come join the fun, the cats were in the window watching and trying to keep from getting wet (the windows were shut but cats don't really trust closed windows when there is water on the other side). After an hour, we were finished with the front and the porch decking and pleased at the difference that little bit of time, effort and fun made.


Today's work is the extra un-named room. Office? Sewing room? Craft room? Quiet room? Whichever it is, it needs a lot of organizing and unpacking! Pictures tomorrow.

We are Here! After a marathon week of closing, packing, cleaning, moving and cleaning, we are in our home and completely out of the apartment. We have internet access again AND Mark got me a clothesline up over the weekend. Wow! He even got the screen loosely hung up on the back porch. Unfortunately, we forgot that the ever-so-small gaps in the flooring of the deck means that the mosquitos and bugs can come up through there to bug us. We'll have to work on that before full summer gets here. Or get some citronella candles. Or both.

This weekend was race weekend at Talladega. I have heard about race weekend. I have heard some interesting stories about what life is like in Talladega on race weekend. I have even heard that traffic on I-20 gets a little challenging between Anniston and Birmingham over race weekend. Stories just don't give you a real picture of what race weekend is like. I made the mistake of going to the Pell City WalMart on Tuesday evening. Tuesday. The race was not until Saturday! Pell City is a whole 15 miles from the speedway. That seems to be close enough for the craziness. There were 15-20 RVs parked at WalMart on Tuesday, the beer displays were set up in the store, and people were filling up their carts with multiple 24 packs of their favorite brew. On Wednesday Mark and I went together and he got to experience it. We made the mistake of thinking that the check-out line by the tobacco counter would be the fastest line since there were not many people in it. Dumb move! We saw more tattoos than I have ever seen (and I watched part of an episode of Miami Ink one time). Heard more whoopin' and hollerin' than I have heard in a WalMart before. Mark and I talked about going back with camping chairs on Thursday and just sitting and watching the entertainment. But we figured we had enough going on with getting things done at the house. I might venture back to Pell City by Wednesday; I hear it takes a while for things to settle back down to normal. In the meantime, I've got a few loads of laundry to hang out on my new clothesline.

I'll be signing off for a few days; probably until Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow we pick up the truck and move as much as we can to the new home. Yay!! I've got several pictures already and I'll share more as soon as we have internet service again. Keep us in your prayers.

Welcome to Alabama! Another stormy evening in our part of the world. Mark and I are back at the apartment sitting and watching James Spann on ABC 33/40. It is interesting listening to James Spann because when he is reporting on the storms he relates them to local landmarks. As much as he travels around doing school programs and speaking engagements I guess he has learned the landmarks. It is funny, though, to listen to him describing a storm as just about to pass over the local barbecue joint, school, or church! We have watched (on television) a tornado pass over I-65 about 5 miles south of us and that was pretty exciting. It was odd, because it really didn't look that bad here at the apartment, but there are trees and buildings and hills between us and the shopping center where it was. It is going to be a busy night in this area; in the last hour there have been reports of three tornadoes touching down in the area. The sirens just keep on going off and this is just a little different for this Georgia family.

Today after church we met Dan at our new house and had lunch. Mark got the fan put up on the back deck (the mountain porch) and I got a little more dusting done before I gave out completely. Tomorrow I'll post some before and after pictures of the new fan. Let me just point out to you if you are thinking about mounting a fan on your porch or deck, that you do want to make sure to get a fan that is outdoor rated. And whatever you do, don't get one with wooden blades.

Plans, plans, plans.
Last night when we got to the new home, our plan was to adjust a little, eat supper, and come home. We decided to spend today cleaning the new home. Cleaning is hard to do with no water and we found out while grilling supper that there is at the moment, no water to our new home. Apparently it got shut off a little early. So instead of cleaning, today was spent putting on new locks, putting up smoke, fire and CO2 detectors, mounting fire extinguishers, vacuuming and dusting. Unfortunately someone (ME) forgot that the cleaning rule is dust first, top down, then vacuum. So I'll do one room over again Monday. Oops! Mark and I spent some nice time on our quiet back porch (it feels like being in a tree house, Noah)after all that was finished. I took a few pictures, but I don't want to overwhelm you with too many at a time, so I'll try to space them out.

Here is the front of the house without a ladder standing there. The porch is quite big; one day I want to have a swing at one end, a couple of rockers in the middle, and a wicker rocking chair on the other end. The red in front are some beautiful azaleas that are still blooming for us.


This is the side yard on the left as you face the house. I keep telling Mark that we ARE decorating those trees in December. Right now the bushes are a little more visible than the trees. I think they are camellias. Anyone else?


And finally, these are at the front down by the road on the right hand side of the driveway. I'm hoping to find some violets, too, next spring.


Before I finish, I must apologize. I discovered today that the comments feature has not been working lately. I recently changed it and made it (I thought) a little easier and more user-friendly. Unfortunately, I changed it in the wrong direction and made it more complicated. I'm sorry, Nancy! It should be fixed now, so feel free to leave a note as we are going along.

What a week! Mark and I closed on our very own house today. Tonight after fixing Dan's car we all went over to the new home and had our first meal there (hamburgers and pasta salad on our porch). There is, of course, a good deal of work to be done on the home. I'll be spending a large portion of Saturday through Tuesday cleaning while Mark moves boxes into the basement (we have our own basement!!). The piano man will arrive Wednesday and move the piano for us. Whoo-hoo! Where do we live now, you may ask? According to USPS we live in Pell City, Alabama. According to the people who draw up fire districts we live in Cook Springs. According to the map and Google we live just north of Prescott (very few people live in Prescott; most of us live just outside it in one direction or another). And to get to our home from Birmingham you get off I-20 at the Brompton exit. Confused? Me too! Just tell yourself that the Akins have moved back to the country and it will all make sense. Once Mark gets all the boxes and furniture moved he can get out and till up an area for a garden. I'll be posting lots more pictures as time goes on but here is the first one I took. The porch is even more enormous than it looks in this picture.

Slow blogging week, crazy home week! So much is going on in our family this week and I will post more tomorrow about the BIG news. Last night Mark and Dan and I tried (really we did) to go to the Birmingham TEA party (Taxed Enough Already) with Rick and Bubba and Sean Hannity. It was such a crazy day that we did not leave the apartment until 7. The party started at 6. At 7 pm, traffic going to the park was backed up over 5 miles from the park. We detoured and finally got there at 8 (normally a 10 minute drive max!) but were unable to park closer than 3/4 mile from the gathering. That was a little too far for me to walk, so we had to head back home. We are glad that there are many people who share our concern about the poor stewardship of taxpayer money being exercised by politicians (and I have to say that most of the republicans are as bad about this as democrats).

On another note, I have finished my first Wee Care gown and the first two bonnets I have been given, turned them in (forgetting to take a picture to post, of course) and have two more gowns and another bonnet to be working on. I'll try hard to remember to take pictures of these. I am loving smocking!

Have a great evening and big, big news tomorrow.

I really am going to get back to the sermons/lessons that I have heard Friday and Sunday, but today is Monday, so it's memory verse day. Today I am ready to move along to the 5th chapter of Revelation and there are some great songs here. This week's is a little longer but honestly, the past two have been pretty quick and easy. Get ready to sing!

Revelation 5:9-10

⁹And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

I'm using the NIV this time, because while I prefer the NASB myself, I have been reminded that the language is a bit archaic and difficult for some folks. It's going to be a busy week in the Akin home; I'll update Thursday, but in the meantime, have a blessed week!

I hope you are having a blessed Easter today.
Christ is Risen!

I have a very dear friend who asked me years ago to share with her our family's traditions for Christmas and Easter. We do have a few that are meaningful to me (and hopefully the boys!) and may seem silly to anyone else. I would encourage you to start your own traditions if you have not already done so and to post a comment and share them with me if you would like.

Today is Good Friday, so that means this morning started with Hot Cross Buns. If you have never tried them, they are very easy to make and I'll be happy to share my Mama's recipe if you'll send me an email or post a comment.
On Maundy Thursday or Good Friday I fix lamb and we spend time at dinner thinking about and talking about the cross. We are no longer bound to find a "perfect" lamb to offer at least once a year for the atonement of our sins. The price has been paid once for all time. Any attempt to do something on our own power and strength to offer atonement is like telling God that Jesus' work on the cross was not enough and we have to add to it. Stop and think about that for a moment!
On Easter we celebrate with ham and remember that we are no longer bound by the ceremonial food laws that God gave his people. This year we'll celebrate with our family here in town and enjoy a meal with them.

Have a blessed weekend and above all else, remember that because of Jesus Christ, and through His life and death and resurrection, Death Is Ended! (I Corinthians 15)

I started writing about Sunday's sermons and Mark suggested that I re-work what I was trying to say, so I'll work on that and instead share with you one of my favorite pictures. I took this several years ago at the Boone Hall Plantation on James Island near Charleston.

Five Days. Oh well; I'm trying! Yesterday was a wonderful Palm Sunday for Mark and Dan and I and I want to share some of that with you this week. But today is memory verse day, so here is the song from Revelation for this week. This is the song sung by the twenty-four elders when they fall down and cast their crowns before the throne.

Revelation 4:11
"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed and were created."

I don't really have anything significant or interesting to say today but I am trying to post more regularly, so I thought I would post a Birmingham picture for you to enjoy. These are the Bradford Pear trees at Mark's office; they have finished blooming but weren't they pretty a couple of weeks ago?

The memory verse is almost memorized, so I think I'll go to the next song tomorrow. Until then......

Have you ever been to church or Sunday School when the preacher was doing a series on the book of John's Revelation? It can be a very confusing and muddling book. How much is literal? What parts are figurative? Is it teaching a pre-millennial, an a-millennial or a post-millennial view? How are we to interpret the beasts? Who is the Anti-Christ? How are we to understand the book as a whole and the parts of the book?

A few years ago I figgered it all out and I'm going to tell you what I figgered. There are some very smart intellectual kinds of people (like the Marvelous Mark and Dashing Dan) who can study the book and understand the cognitive, intellectual, theological points. Good for them! But there is something else there. The book is choir practice! Think about it. How many songs are recorded in this one book that we will be singing in heaven? John clearly saw the saints and the angels singing these specific particular praises to God. Many of them are familiar and have been set to music by Georg F. Handel and other more contemporary saints. So over the next few weeks and months, I'm going to be working on learning these songs to get ready. These will be my memory verses....if I can stick with it and follow through. So for this week, here it is if you want to join me. This first one is so easy I feel like I ought to do an extra one, but here it is and if I decide to add an extra one I will post it later in the week.

Revelation 4:8 (NASB)
And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME"

A while back I talked a little bit about stewardship and how it is not just the way we spend our money but affects every area of life. This morning I was thinking about mental energy and where I have been pouring my mental energy lately. I have two major wasters of that; the first is computer solitaire (and how silly is that?!). The second is fretting over mistakes (like spending too much time on computer solitaire). Our son is now almost 20 years old. He is an amazing young man. He understands who he is (a child of God) and to Whom he belongs (our Heavenly Father). Yet I get caught up in little things, like "What did I do wrong to create this or that personality glitch?" "Why didn't I do a better job as a mother teaching him about this or that?" The Mama blame-game can be endless and it is a WASTE OF TIME! If I am really that concerned over something I see or a mistake I think I have made it is a much better use of my time to go to my closet, get on my knees or my face and PRAY.
For years I have battled the "what if" demon and its attempt to control my mind, so once again I am in a season when I will have to recite these two verses (and please forgive me if one of them seems out of context; it is a little bit, but I think the principle applies).

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)emphasis mine
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

II Corinthians 10:5b (NIV)
we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We got home safely from North Carolina without any major weather hassles. What a relief!

Saturday was a big day, the day our Emily married Wyatt. There had been a bit of concern ever since we found out the wedding was going to be late March in Birmingham. Outdoors. Earlier in the week the forecast had been for strong storms and even possible tornadoes. After lots and lots of prayers from lots and lots of people, we had a dry wedding...apart from a few sentimental tears from a few sentimental aunts! Emily was absolutely beautiful. All the bridesmaids were perfect. The flower girl (Wyatt's niece) was more well-behaved than any flower girl I have ever seen. Wyatt was very handsome and the look on his face when he finally saw Emily in her gorgeous gown was unforgettable. Everything was absolutely perfect. Eventually I may get a few pictures posted.

Now we are working and waiting to get everything finished up for closing. Our dates are all a little tentative but we are looking forward to finally being in our own home out in the country. I'm really looking forward to being able to post pictures of the house and our progress as we move in and make it ours.

Last day in Durham! Mark is off taking a test to finish up this week of classes and I have got to finish packing up the room so we can hit the road. Things are looking good for being able to close on our new home on schedule, and we are very excited about that. Tomorrow is a wedding day in our extended family, and that is also very exciting for all of us!
Have you ever woken in the morning with a song or a verse running through your mind? Sometimes I have wished the song were NOT running through my mind. In the old days when Dan was a pre-schooler it was often a Barney song, or a Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop song. This morning I woke up thinking about Psalm 84:11. Think about this today, and remember that while sometimes God defines "good things" a little differently than we do, His gifts are always good.

The Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory. No good thing shall He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

How do they do it? How do these ladies and gentlemen who have blogs and children and a life still manage to post on a blog EVERY SINGLE DAY? I follow several good and fun blogs; Sassy Gal Glamour (a true southern belle and my beauty tip maven), Greenville Daily Photo (a stroll down memory lane of growing up in Greenville), Thrifty Mama and Organizing Junkie, just to mention a few. How do they do it?

Mark and I are on a roller coaster right now, cranking up that big, scary thrill-hill getting ready for the ride of a life time. So that is why I have not posted in a long while. Early this month we went and had an appointment with a real estate agent on a Tuesday. We had a few houses we had looked at on-line that we were interested in walking through, we knew what county we wanted and what part of that county we wanted. Melvin (shout out to the best realtor in the area!) told us about a house that he thought would be a very good one for us. We weren't too impressed by the description, but agreed that when Melvin and I went out to drive around and look at things the following week, it might be one to go see. He gave us the print-out of the house and we left to take Mark back to work. After I dropped Mark off I went out to look at a house that we had seen, but as I was driving back to town I realized that it was much too far for us (45 minutes from Mark's work and we did not know at that time what Dan's work situation was going to be). The house was great, but it just would not work for us. Since it was too early to pick Mark up, I decided to go look at the house Melvin had suggested. Then Mark and I went back to look at the house. On Thursday we went with Melvin to look at the house. On Friday we put an offer on the house. On Saturday it was accepted! Interestingly, Friday was Mark's birthday celebration, so our family joke is that I got Mark a house for his birthday this year. It ain't over til we have all signed on the dotted line at closing, but it looks like we will be closing soon and moving within the next few weeks. Once it really, truly happens, I will post lots of pictures of the house and the decorating process.

This week Mark and I are back in Durham where Mark is in classes until Friday morning. We'll drive back to the 'Ham Friday evening...pray us home because there are strong storms predicted while we are driving home. Saturday our niece Emily will get married. On Sunday Dan will become an official member of Cahaba Park Presbyterian Church. On Monday I start packing!

So stay tuned and I will try and do a better job of updating!

At long last, here are the snow pictures. This past weekend it was up into the 70's, daffodils, forsythia, bradford pears and cherry blossoms are out all over the place, and it was hard to believe there was snow on the ground one week ago!

These are early in the morning before church.





And these are on the way home from church later in the morning.





Can you see the snowball that Dan was throwing?

Last weekend was a typical Birmingham late February/early March weather weekend. I feel as though I am now an official resident after going through it with James Spann (our local weather-man). On Friday we had lightning, strong thunderstorms, and in some areas tornadoes. On Saturday it was clear with flooding. On Sunday we woke up to snow. Even though it had rained so much and been so warm on Friday and Saturday, the snow stuck and we had a couple of inches. I don't have any pictures from Friday but Dan and I went house-hunting Saturday and found our way blocked by flooding.





We turned around and headed back an alternate route and that was flooded as well.


We did finally find the house and discovered that a large portion of the acreage was under water (I was thankful that we looked at it on that particular day.)
I also have quite a few snow pictures. It will take me a couple of days to get everything up, but here are the flood pictures to start with. I'm just thankful that this weekend is supposed to be fair and warm!

CAUTION:
The following post may lead to high blood pressure and a lot of your time. You are warned!

A friend of mine posted this link about the spendulous....er....stimulus bill. I would encourage you to visit the site and read as much of the line-item information as you can. The site allows you to vote on whether or not you consider each project to be critical. While I'm at it, let's just see how Merriam-Webster defines the word "Critical"
"absolutely necessary" Please note; there is a difference between "necessary" and "desired".

Also, yesterday Mark and I caught most of Glen Beck's show on Fox News. I had never heard him before and it was quite interesting. He promised a show today that will depart from his norm a bit and it sounded like it will be a good one. Might want to catch it if you can. Someone record it for me; Mark and I will be on our way home!

OK, here's the link

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/

Have fun!

I sent my dear friend Noah a letter on Saturday and promised that I would put pictures of my Mama and Daddy's home at the lake on the computer for him to see. Here you go, Noah! Auntie 'Ginia misses you a HEAP.

I must learn to label and tag my posts so that when I wonder, "Did I already write about that?", I can figure that out. I'm thinking a lot about stewardship lately and I may have written about it before, but I am going to write about it again!

Stewardship is often viewed as just being about money. We talk about that a lot at church and in our families. We listen to Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial (or both), we try to be mindful of the fact that the money belongs to God and we are simply keepers of it and need to use it in a way that is pleasing to Him. And we try to be careful through all of this process that we are not focusing too much on money and how we use it. Sometimes the budget and the stewardship process can jump in and become the idol that the money used to be!

I think that there is more to stewardship than just money and I am trying to be more careful about that. How am I using my time? Larry Burkett used to say that he could look at someone's checkbook and know what their priorities are. What about the Day-Timer? How much time to I spend on the computer each day? How much time to I spend in the kitchen cooking? (I love to cook but I am realizing the last few weeks that food has become too important to me) How much time is spent watching TV? How much time am I spending reading "fun" books? How much time am I spending with God? It's a little frightening when I start looking at things from that perspective. It is revealing to see where my time is going and be confronted with what my priorities really are (sometimes not what I would say my priorities are). There are things that have to be done each day; cleaning, laundry, cooking, whatever the work is for the day that God has put on your plate. Am I working efficiently to get these things done well, or am I dragging my feet and spending more time on a task than is necessary? I fuss at my son when I ask him to do something and it seems to take too long, but is that what God is thinking when He sees me doing the things He asks me to do? (probably not, because He is God and He is much more patient with His children than I am with mine!) How good of a steward am I really being with my time?

Coming soon....energy stewardship!

Believe it or not, there is a reason I have not posted anything new since January 10th...and it is not just because I am a recovering Presbyterian (the three P's of Presbyterianism are Predestination, Procreation, and Procrastination). I have wanted that link to Jill Austin's article about the Master Potter to stay available.

One year ago this week, William Bronner Burgess, the 2 year old son of Rick and Sherry Burgess, died. If you happen to have missed the story and the follow-up I would suggest you check out rickandbubba.com where there are links to Bronner's story and the message Rick preached at Bronner's funeral.

Rick's message had a huge impact on a lot of people. The unexpected death of such a young child forced a lot of people to realize that we are not immortal. There was a lot of re-examining of priorities and consideration of what really matters in this life. God used this situation to draw many people to Himself. Many others realized that their walk with Jesus was not what it needed to be and recommitted themselves to Him.

I am curious how we are doing? Has this impact continued? Are we closer to Jesus now than we were one year ago? This is something that should be regularly considered by God's people whether walking through troubled and difficult times or not. Am I living life today any differently than I was last week, last month, last year or am I simply floating along marking time? When I pose such questions (whether it is on a blog or through a conversation) I must examine myself first and I must be confessional before I ask anyone else to be honest with me.

This year has been spiritually one of the hardest I have had in a while. I have allowed circumstances to overwhelm me too often and have been more concerned about how these circumstances have affected me than about how these circumstances can be used by God for His glory. I have plenty of people in my life (loving, Godly friends) who are quick to remind me that I am only human and tell me that my expectations of myself are too high. I am only human. I am only able to accomplish so much....in my own strength. But I am not called to rely on MY strength and when I do I am setting myself up for failure. I am called to rely on the Spirit of God for strength that flows from Him. This strength is only acquired through a close walk with God ~ spending time reading the love letter He has given me and conversing with Him. One of my mottoes is that the only way to know God's will is to know God, and the only way to know God is by daily immersing myself in His word.

I have a few goals this year. I want to be a better steward of the money, the time and the energy God has given me. In order to do this I must regularly consider what my priorities are. If my priority of being a better money steward is just so that we can purchase a home this year, I may or may not succeed. If my goal of being a better steward of my time is so that I can feel better about how I am spending my time, I may or may not succeed. But if my goal in these matters is to de-emphasize ME and re-emphasize JESUS in my life and if I am relying on His strength to enable me to do this FOR HIS GLORY, I am on the right track.

Yes, I have been absent for a time. Everything is fine with our family; it just got a little more chaotic than we wanted or anticipated between Thanksgiving and the New Year. We are all doing well.

As a teen, I had the privilege on a couple of occasions to hear Keith Green in concert. Keith's concerts weren't really concerts any more than Charles Spurgeon's sermons and books are nice little homilies. Keith's music was (and continues to be) powerful tools of ministry and it had a profound impact on my life. Keith died many years ago along with two of his children. He left behind a loving, pregnant wife and another child. His wife Melody continued her husband's ministry, Last Days Ministries, and serves the Lord whole-heartedly in every way she can to this day. During his life, Keith was often criticized for his teaching and his unorthodox style of ministry, but He was determined to serve God in the way God asked him to serve. Melody has also received her share of criticism but she, too, continues to serve God in the way the He asks her to serve.
Earlier this week, she sent out an email asking for prayer for Jill Austin. Jill was critically ill and in urgent need of prayer. As I read the email, my nursing back-ground came in to play and my prayer was that God would heal her, even if it meant permanent, ultimate healing. Tonight I received an email that Jill has indeed been permanently and completely healed. Her body is dead. Her soul is safely home with Jesus.
All of this is a precursor to a rather lengthy post. Melody Green has posted on her website an article written by Jill. I would like to strongly urge each of you to follow the posted link and carefully read this article. I believe that this teaching very much needs to be read and understood by Christians in this day. I pray that the power of this message will have an impact on your life as it has on mine. The message from Jill is important. The message from God to His people that He gave through Jill is vital.
http://lastdaysministries.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000008561