Dawn's Cottage Corner

What a Happy, Nice, Beautiful Surprise.....

2012-01-26T10:43:00.002-06:00

So yesterday, Dak text me after he got out of class and said he was coming to Clever

to see some friends, and wanted to know if I'd be home.

I was SO excited!!!

I'd already put chili in the crockpot,

so I didn't have to make supper.

All I had to do was enjoy some time with my boy.

That and wait for him to get here =)

So I was working on some scrapbook goodies,

and I hear the door open.

I came bounded out of my room,

and there he stood,

and as soon as he saw me,

the BIGGEST smile came across his face.

We hugged and hugged.

It was terrific!!!

I know it hasn't been that long since I've seen him,

it's just that,

it seemed so long =)

He hadn't been home since school started.

It was so good to see him.

I love him so!!!!!

*****

Now I have to tell you.

Dak got a new computer.

Well, not a new computer.

In fact, he got a broken computer, last semester from a suite mate.

But since it was a Mac, Dak agreed to pay $20 for it,

and take a chance.

Well, he's been trying to get it fixed,

but hadn't been able to get it figured out,

until.....

he decided to take it to the MSU Bookstore.

They said they'd evaluate for free and then he could decide if he wanted to fix it.

It turns out with his student discount,

he could get it fixed for $230 some dollars =)

And when I say fixed.....

IT NEEDED A NEW HARD DRIVE!!

They put a new hard drive in it and gave him a new battery,

and Microsoft Office 2011.....

all for $230 + dollars!!!

And did I mention it's a

MAC?

This computer is sa--weet!!!

And fast!!

Here is a picture that he took on it's camera.....

I LOVE IT!!!

My boy LOVES mustaches......

except for real ones =)

Cracks.me.up.

I love this sweet man so much!!!

I am so proud of him and SO happy I got to see him last night!!!!!

I wanted to add this picture from last semester of both of the kiddo's.

I LOVE this picture!!

Aren't they just pretty people?!!

*****

Well, I have SO many posts running around in my head and heart to get on here,

it just seems since I got my iPad (which I still LOVE..... =) that I don't get on the regular

computer much to post.

I downloaded a blogger app to my iPad,

but it's not a great app, and then when I try to post from Safari,

it won't let me post pictures,

because it says I don't have the most updated version of Safari,

but I do.

Anybody got any ideas?

But I need to just jump on this computer more and get more posts up.

I hope you all have a beautiful day....

Grace and Verse.....

2012-01-16T10:02:00.000-06:00

I am planning on taking some pictures of my "Grace" 2012 One Little Word album.

I am absolutely LOVING my Word, that God gave me for this year, Grace.

And right now I am in an interesting study on "Common Grace",

and as I have read and meditated on it, my heart has been OVERWHELMED

with the Grace of our God.

Let me define Common Grace as it is defined in this study.....

"Common grace is that benevolence which is poured out upon all men, regardless of their spiritual condition."

Let me give you an example:

Matthew 5:44-45

"But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.'

Writer of this study also says:

"God is gracious in making provision for the salvation of all men, and in commanding its universal proclamation. He is also gracious in delaying judgment, thereby giving men, ample time to repent. (II Peter 3:9). One might also imply that God is gracious in not revealing more than He does to those who reject Him, since greater knowledge brings greater judgment. (Luke 12:47-48)."

I am so thankful that God has patience with His children, even when we are "afar off" and have not accepted Him as Lord and Savior yet. He extends "Common Grace" so we can even live at all during the time before we accept Him, because sin is such an affront to God.

And even after I was saved, I went through a very long season of disobedience and sin in my younger years.

God seriously should have flicked me right off the face of His beautiful planet,

but He didn't.

He was extending Grace, and the writer of this study may call it "Common Grace", but to me,

a recipient of it, it was anything but "Common".

Yes, this part of the study has been very meaningful to me,

a girl who longs to be in the exact center of her Father's will.

And fails, I know, daily.

But I am SO thankful for Grace.

God's unmerited favor, that saw a broken down girl and chose her as His own.

I am eternally grateful!!!

*****

January 15th Verse:

Isaiah 43:18-19

"Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."

God gave me these verses, about a week ago.

I am SO excited!!!

I feel like this is EXACTLY what God is doing in our lives:

A New Thing!!

I feel like we are starting a new season and I am SO exacted for all that God will do in us and through us for His Glory!!

Do you have a verse for the last two weeks of January?

If so, please share, or post it on your blog, let me know and I'll come for a visit.

Have a Super Blessed Day ~~

From Steadfast to Grace.....

2012-01-10T10:45:00.000-06:00

In 2011, I felt the Father give me a Word for the year.

And then I found Ali Edwards class, "One Little Word"

that kept your Word close to your heart through scrapbooking.

I didn't excel in this class by any means, but I was able to build a small scrapbook around my word.

I definitely knew that "steadfast" was my word for 2011.

I found myself being steadfast in many more ways in 2011,

and one of the BIG ways was with

SSMT.

I stayed steadfast, immovable when it came to that,

and WOW has God used it in my life for good!!!

Anytime you memorize Scripture, God moves.

every.single.time.

He uses it in your life to bring help and healing and in stressful situations,

it calms you down.

I have LOVED every moment of it and continuing on in 2012

to the Praise of His Name!!

If you'd like to join me,

on the 1st and 15th of every month I will be adding a new verse to my SSMT for 2012,

and I am committing this year to publishing my memory verse.

I didn't do so great last year at getting it on here,

but this year I will do better at this.

So my first memory verse of the year is:

Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

And God has already laid on my heart my next Scripture for the 15th.

I will post it on the 15th =)

*****

So what about my Word for 2012?

I wasn't sure I would have one, but Father placed it on my heart around October,

and I've been SO excited about it and I'm learning SO much.

It is:

I have already started my scrapbook for 2012 for my One Little Word:

GRACE.

I will be sharing more about how I am documenting and how already, it has changed me,

and we're only on January 10th.

So if you'd like to join me on this journey,

Pray.

Ask God for your Word for 2012,

and then start by looking it up in the dictionary,

do a Google Search,

read about it,

open your heart to what God would say to you concerning it,

and open the Word of God.

He has MUCH TO SAY to us.

I love Him so.

I will be sharing more on

this year,

and find myself in a beautiful study on it.

So what is your verse for 1/1/12 and what is your Word.

I long to hear it!!

I love you so ~~

Christmas Part 2 ~~

2012-01-04T15:21:00.000-06:00

We had Christmas a few days early because of scheduling conflicts.

We had ours on Friday evening ~~ Christmas Eve Eve....

We had Christmas with Leggs earlier in the week, because she spent Christmas in KC.

So it was just Dick and I and Chase, Sir Cuteness and Dak.

Here is Sir Cuteness opening up his Nerf gun.

He LOVED it!!

This is so funny to me, because when I wrapped this poster, Sir Cuteness saw it and said that he got a stick.

He was speaking of that present, so we made a deal.....

Dak could have what was inside the "stick" and Sir Cuteness got the stick.....

Success =)

Dak enjoying some Christmas fun.....

Dak got an iPhone dock and Sir Cuteness was helping him out =)

Sir Cuteness got to help me too =)

Dak got me the sweetest candle holder and candle for Christmas.

It was snowmen.

I LOVE snowmen!!!

So sweet!!

My Mr. Winslow got me the Big Shot scrapbook embosser and die cut machine.

It is SO cool!!!

Look at our little babe.....

Daddy told Sir Cuteness it was time to start picking up.....

so he got right in there and helped.

It was SO sweet.....

So sweet.....

And you can't really tell, but Mr. Winslow is holding his Christmas present from Chase and I.....

A Kindle Fire.

It was terrible.

You couldn't do hardly anything without touching the screen multiple times,

and even then it just was slow and wouldn't work right.

He took it back, and the guy at Best Buy said they'd had a lot of returns on them.

Bummer.

And here is Sir Cuteness all dressed up for Christmas Eve.....

I love this boy so.....

He is getting SO big!!!

Ok.... so there is part 2.

Just one more part to go =)

*****

I love you so!!!

Christmas Part 1 ~~

2012-01-02T22:03:00.001-06:00

Yes I do realize it is now after New Years and I'm just getting my Christmas posts up.

I am slow.

Anyway..... :)

So lets start with a few days before Christmas.

My mom wanted us to come over and bake for her.

It was So fun!!

But before that......

These are the cookies Sir Cuteness and I made together.

Aren't they cute?

Here is Dak at Grandma's.

He had so much fun.

He was making the funniest faces.

I sure do love having my babies home =)

Here is Leggs and Sir Cuteness.

I love this picture.

Me and Sir Cuteness.....

Would you like some Divinity?....

Yummm!!!

I know this is blurry, but for some reason I LOVE this picture!!!

And this girl.....

A mama and her boy.....

A boy and his grandma.....

A girl and her grandma.....

Sir Cuteness got to open a present early.....

I absolutely LOVE a Grandbaby at CHRISTmas!!!

Look at this face.....

It was a fishing pole and here is PaPa showing him how to cast.

Love.

Then he got to open one from Gamma and PaPa.....

Cars slippers!!!!!

They make him EXTRA FAST!!!!!

Or so he tells us =)

Yep it's true.....

Just look at him go!!!

Sir Cuteness and his Gamma.....

I love this boy so!!!!!

So there you have it,

the first installment.

There is so much more to come!!!

Stay tuned.....

New Every Morning.....

2012-01-01T20:06:00.000-06:00

HAPPY Happy new year!!!!

I hope your holidays were lovely and Blessed with the light of our Savior Jesus Christ.

God did something unique for me today, well actually today and Friday. The same special wonderful kind of uniqueness. I love it when God does this.

On Friday, I woke up with a verse on my heart. I knew it was in Proverbs, but wasn't sure where. So a few minutes after I woke up, I turned on my iPad and thought I'd check FB, and there it was, as a verse of the day: Proverbs 4:23, so I decided right then and there that it was to be my first verse in 2012.

Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life."

And then this evening, I was pouring over my notes I took at church this morning and writing in my prayer journal for 2012, and doing a little web surfing. And as I was surfing I went to a blog and she references a verse that our Pastor's son quoted during prayer this morning.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness."

As I meditated on those words of Grace it struck me deep that that is how I am to approach this New Year. Understanding that His mercies are new every single morning. So no matter what I am facing that day, I am doing to with a new dose of mercy, how cool is that?
And then the verse goes on to say that God's faithfulness is GREAT!! So not only do we get new mercies every single day from the LORD, we are also reminded that Great is His faithfulness.

So I don't know what you are facing today, but remember you had a fresh dose of mercy to face it with. And ALWAYS remember that His faithfulness toward you is GREAT!!!!

I love you so and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

With All that We've Been Given.....

2011-12-27T08:44:00.000-06:00

Well hello there!!

How was your CHRISTmas?

Ours was splendid!!

I hope you were able to reflect and think about the true meaning of CHRISTmas

this year,

And Praise God for sending CHRIST.

It is the reason we celebrate.

I LOVED that CHRISTmas was on Sunday this year.

I was SO excited to get to spend CHRISTmas morning surrounded by our church family

and feeling the Spirit move in such a special way as we had Communion.

God is GREAT!!!

And GREATLY TO BE PRAISED!!!!!

We've been given SO much through the birth of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

So.much.

On Sunday at our church we had the President of the Trinity Bible Institute (I think that's right)

do a dramatization.

He was the Innkeeper.

It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

He told "his" side of the story.

In the end of the story, he knew who he'd turned away that night in Bethelehem,

and instead of running away, he ran to the One who could save Him.

It was a beautiful story of grace and love.

And this man did an amazing job of portraying what the Innkeeper might have been like.

Single dramatizations amaze me.

No one to converse with.

No one to help you if you lose your place.

Just you and the audience.

Amazing.

Oh Yes, with all that we've been given.....

LET'S PRAISE HIM.

*****

Well, I don't have all our pictures down loaded yet,

but I do have a few from Baby Girl's CHRISTmas.

We had hers on Monday evening,

because she is at her mom's in Kansas City right now.

Here she is with my sweet Dak.....

It is so nice having my babes home for the holidays.

I love these two so!!!

And speaking of Dak, we've got to spend some much needed quality time together.

I've missed him so!!

They go back to their dorms on January 15th,

and classes resume on the 17th.

I will miss them when they go back, but we have a few more weeks to savor this time.

They are so dear to me.

And here is Baby Girl and I.

I love her so!!

Well there are big changes a foot in the Winslow household.

This being one of them.....

See this coffee cup in my hand,

well no more =(

Apparently it is aiding in all the swelling issues I have,

so it must go.

Bye-bye and good riddens,

sweet hazelnut nectar.....

I shall miss you..... =)

And speaking of changes.....

See our, well my, sad face?

Sir Cuteness doens't even want to talk about it.....

Apparently I am eating ALL wrong for my blood type.

So I am back to the land of omnivores.

I had Salmon last night.

Beautiful, Alaskan Salmon.

Wow it had been awhile =)

Apparanetly if you are type O then meat is your friend.

Who knew?

Oh let me rephrase, Organic grass-fed meat is your friend.

So I am really hoping that this will help my swelling and pain issues.

That would rock our world, right now!! =)

How cute is this little guy?

So sweet.....

Baby Girl.....

We are at Lola's for breakfast!!

We love Lola's!!!

But this girl will not be eating out very much at all now.

I am very committed to really doing this thing right.

I need this swelling to leave my body.

So here we go.....

I love you all so ~~

24

2011-12-18T20:08:00.000-06:00

So last January, I signed up for SSMT 2011

(Seista Scripture Memory Team)

Beth Moore and the girls over at LPM,

invited us to memorize Scripture with them,

at the rate of two a month,

on the 1st and 15th.

So I KNEW that this was for me.

I did this in 2009, but I didn't finish strong at all.

I was not happy about that.

But this year, I knew that God would have me try again.

Anytime you can hide His Word in your heart,

is a good thing.

So I started January 1st,

and here it is December 18th,

and I'm so happy to say,

I now have 24 verses memorized and hidden in my heart.

Memorizing Scripture has changed me.

I say my verses every night after we go to bed and our nestled in for the night.

Generally, I have said my verses listening to my husband

breathe sweetly next to me,

and often our Sir Cuteness has lent his sweet breath to my Scripture memorization as well.

It has been life changing for me.

I have had a tough year.

Not gonna cover it over with smiley faces and fancy words here.

It.has.been.tough.

And as we come to the end of 2011,

and as I keep saying my memory verses every night,

I see God's hand in it all.

And I am so grateful.

SO.GRATEFUL.

He has led me and guided me,

and for all my mistakes and failures,

He has loved me.

And loves me still.

It is truly AMAZING!!!

So what I would like to do is type all 24 verses from memory.

To the Praise and Glory of His Name!!!!!

1st:

Psalm 27:13-14

"I am still confident of this,

I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD,

be strong and take heart,

and wait for the LORD."

2nd:

Psalm 46:10

"Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth."

3rd:

Isaiah 26:3

"Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on Thee,

because He trusteth in Thee."

4th:

II Corinthians 7:10

"Godly sorrow brings repentence that leads to salvation

and leaves no regret,

but wordly sorrow brings death."

5th:

Ephesians 1:4-5

"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world

to be holy and blameless in His sight.

In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ,

in accordance with His pleasure and will."

6th:

Jeremiah 32:17

"Ahh Sovereign LORD,

You made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and out-stretched arm.

Nothing is too hard for You."

7th:

Psalm 112:7

"He will have no fear of bad news,

his heart is steadfast,

trusting in the LORD."

8th:

Jonah 2:8

"Those who cling to worthless idols

forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

9th:

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

10th:

Matthew 5:14

"You are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

11th:

Psalm 57:7

"My heart is steadfast O God,

my heart is steadfast.

I will sing and make melody."

12th:

Ephesians 1:7-8

"In Him, we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins,

in accordance to the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us

with all wisdom and understanding."

13th:

Hebrews 7:25

"Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost

those who draw near to God through Him,

since He always lives to make intercession for them."

14th:

John 6:44

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.

And I will raise him up on the last day."

15th:

Exodus 14:14

"My LORD will fight for you.

You need only to be still."

16th:

Colossians 1:17

"He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

17th:

Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened;

Do not be dismayed.

For the LORD you God is with you wherever you go."

18th:

Psalm 37:5-6

"Commit you way to the LORD.

Trust in Him and He will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn;

the justice of your cause like the noon day sun."

19th:

I Peter 1:3-4

"In this you greatly rejoice,

though now for a little while,

you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come, so that your faith,

of greater worth than gold,

which perishes though refined by fire,

may be proved genuine and may result in praise , glory and honor,

when Jesus Christ is revealed."

20th:

Ephesians 3:16

"I pray that out of His glorious riches,

He may strengthen you with power,

through His Spirit,

in your inner being."

21th:

I Peter 3:3-4

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment,

such as braided hair,

and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

Instead,

it should be that of your inner self,

the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet Spirit,

which is of great worth in God's sight."

22th:

Ephesians 1:17

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Glorious Father,

may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,

so that you may know Him better."

23th:

Philippians 4:4

"Rejoice in the LORD always,

I will say it again Rejoice.

Let your gentleness be evident to all,

the LORD is near."

24th:

I Peter 4:8-9

"Above all, love one another deeply,

because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Offer hospitatilty to everyone without grumbling."

*****

Okay, so there are my 24 verses, and I have to tell you that all of those were from memory EXCEPT for the last one. I am still memorizing this one, so I had to look it up. I didn't quite have it all right.

So what about 2012?

Well, I will be memorizing Scripture, two a month, just like this year.

I can't imagine not doing it now.

It has enhanced and enriched my life so much.

I love y'all so much ~~

This is CHRISTmas ~~ Nativity & Sir Cuteness

2011-12-12T14:31:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was our CHRISTmas program at church.

I LOVE my church!!!

Yesterday, was such a different CHRISTmas program.

Generally it is such a HUGE production.

It's ALWAYS terrific.....

but yesterday it was stripped down and mostly acoustic.

I LOVE acoustic especially when it comes to CHRISTmas music.

It turns my heart toward home.....every.time.

They sang a version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" that was just beautiful.

It was mostly accapella and then for just a few bars in the bridge music came in and then

back to acoustic.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Here is the stage when we got to our seats before it started.

The back ground kept changing.....

Really cool.....

Legg's and I before it started.....

I love this girl so!!!

Spunk and Lovely after church.....lunch at Lola's.

Oh yes!

Legg's and P,B & J.....

(Her Boyfriend =)

It was such a beautiful day !!!

*****

Then today Sir Cuteness and I made a Nativity Scene out of Graham Crackers and Spice Drops.

Have.you.ever.?

Sir Cuteness just LOVES IT!!!

He had SO much fun!!

He keeps moving the wisemen's gifts around.

Cracks.me.up.

Speaking of cuteness.....

How ornery does he look here?

Sweeteness.

I love y'all ~~ have a Super Blessed Day ~~

In All My Life.....

2011-12-09T12:49:00.001-06:00

I have never met anyone like My Mr. Winslow!!!

Y'all I must tell you.....

He is it for me!!

The man that makes my heart go pitter patter.....

And the man who turns 48 today!!!

I wish I could do a post all about the wonderfulness of this man,

but alas, it would be an encyclopedia.....

I truly mean that.

He is so good to me.....

And he loves me like NO OTHER!!!

He leads our family well!!!

He helps me to grow in my walk with Jesus every.single.day.

And when he prays with me, time stands still.

Still.

I am crazy sometimes.....

I hurt a lot.....

Therefore, he hurts a lot,

because that is what you do when you love like this.....

If they hurt, you hurt.....

He has that deep well of love,

not shallow.....

He has the capacity to talk me down from any ledge =)

and love me through every trial.....

He is the best.....

Yep, all that and a bag of chips this man.

So I just thought I'd share a few pics of my man.....

He is SO great!!

Sometimes I just can't believe he is mine.

I'm telling you, he is THAT great!!!

Well, hello there sweet thang!!!

We have been through a lot together and we stand strong, united, and in love.

Always.

He is mine and I am his and we'd have it NO other way!!!

Thank you Mr. Winslow for being the love of my life for all my life.

I've never known anything like you babe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

*****

Have a Beautiful and Blessed Day ~~

Hello December & Merry Swap

2011-12-07T09:39:00.001-06:00

Well hello sweet December ~~

I have not posted in several days and I've really missed it.

So let's get to some fun things that have been happening around our little corner of blog world =)

*****

Sir Cuteness LOVES to lay on his tummy on our bed watching Caillou on the iPad.

Isn't he adorable?

I participated in the CHRISTmas swap over at The Home Spun Heart, again this season.

I LOVE doing this!!

It gives me opportunity to meet someone new and Blessing them with little goodies.....

I LOVE THAT!!!

So here is my goodies from Crystal in WA.....

What a fun and thoughtful Swap Buddy.

This was our second time to be buddied up, and I LOVED getting to do something fun for her again.

She is just so sweet!!

So here are the goodies in my box.....

Look at this beautiful candle wood box.....

It's Cardinals.....

Hello Cardinal Nation.....

Home of the 2011 World Series Champions.....

and they said we couldn't do it....

Love this.....

This is a jingle bell door hanger and Sir Cuteness LOVES it!!!

And this was my favorite part right here.....

Handwritten recipe cards of homemade, delicious recipes from her personal collection.

I.love.that.

And handwritten..... did I mention that? =)

And Sir Cuteness's favorite part.....

Homemade cookies.

They were SO good,

and they are now gone!!!

She also sent me a homemade pack of Friendship Soup.

Can't wait to try this.....

And here is Sir Cuteness holding the pack of pinecones she sent me from WA.

Love that too.

I love pine cones.

Thank you so much Crystal for your thoughtfulness.

My box was just perfect.

*****

I also participated in the Ornament Exchange over at Faith's blog.

And my partner for this was Heather from MS,

and man is she fun!!!

I have SO enjoyed getting to know her and her sweet heart.

She posted pics of the ornaments I sent her on her blog and they are just so sweet on her

CHRISTmas tree, I thought I'd share them with you,

since I didn't take any pictures before I sent them to her.

These ornaments were SO much fun to make.

Sir Cuteness helped me with this one.

We got the idea off of Pinterest.....

Love.Pinterest.

enough said.....

You take a clear CHRISTmas ornament and add epsom salt for snow,

Add a sticker if you'd like and ribbon to the top and.....

Voila!!

And then I picked up a $1 birdhouse at Michaels,

covered it with scrapbook paper, embellishements, added some windows and "snow",

tied a pretty ribbon to the top and evergreen to the base and.....

Voila!!

Thank you Heather for being such a fun swap partner.

It's been a hoot getting to know you!!

*****

So yes, we are having a very busy CHRISTmas season,

but it is so much fun!!!

Having a 3 year olds excitement in the house is just contagious and beautiful!!

There are SO many sweet things I'm documenting with the camera in my heart.

*****

Have a Blessed and Beautiful Day ~~

The Twelve Tags of CHRISTmas ~~ Day 1

2011-12-01T15:28:00.000-06:00

On the first day of CHRISTmas

my true love gave to me......

A NOEL tag for you to see!! =)

*****

So I am participating in Tim Holtz 12 Tags of CHRISTmas over at his blog right.....

here.

I have never participated before.

In fact, didn't even know about it until this year,

so I am happy to be doing it this year.

Although, I can already tell that my tags will not be ANYTHING LIKE his,

because I don't have an embossing/die cut machine.

But that is a great thing about this,

because he wants you to use what you have and can make something

COMPLETELY different from his if you want to,

and a lot of others are doing that too.

So without further ado.....

My tag.....

I am hoping that these next 12 days will offer LOTS of ideas and creativity up in here.

I have A LOT of projects to get done before CHRISTmas!!!

I really like the way it turned out.

Now I will show you T!m's tag.

Yes, I know.....

MUCH BETTER THAN MINE!!

But that is okay.

I m such a work in progress.....

In my creative life and in all my life.

And if you want to view what other's have done with T!m's tag, go check out his site.

There is a linky.

*****

So, how is your CHRISTmas season going so far?

Mine?

Well, pretty good.

Busy.

Really looking forward to getting my tree up.

Someday before CHRISTmas hopefully =)

Oh, and today is SSMT #23!!!

Can you believe it?

I am so looking forward to finishing out strong.

So now I need to pick my verse.

*****

I love you all so!!

Have a SUPER BLESSED DAY!!!

Day 27 Days of Thankfulness

2011-11-27T22:00:00.000-06:00

My word for this year has been.....

When 2011 started, I didn't have a word.

To be honest, didn't even really know about it.

And then I started seeing people on other blogs talking about their word.

So in about March, God really impressed on my heart the word for me for the year,

and it has been steadfast.

I have learned a lot about being steadfast this year.

I have learned what it is to be immovable in the Word and the things of God,

even when difficult things have come up.....

even when others haven't understood.....

even when I've needed time.....

God knew I would need to understand what it is to be steadfast.

Immovable.

In Him.

"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.

I will sing and make melody."

Psalm 57:7

As I started moving through the year with this word being on my heart,

another word started making its way into my heart to go with it.

Grateful.

Being steadfast makes you grateful.

Being steadfast helps you to remember to be grateful for that which God has given you.....

to be grateful for all God is.....

steadfast has been the perfect word for me this year.

And so lately I have been thinking about what my word will be for 2012,

and God has already given it to me as well.

I will be posting about it, much closer to 2012,

but oh the word He has chosen for me.....

I love you so ~~

Day 24 Days of Thankfulness

2011-11-24T07:07:00.000-06:00

Ok, so the ham is in the oven doing it's thang.....

The turkey is hanging out and getting ready to be placed in a roaster pan ever so gently

for it's turn in the oven.....

This girl has some coffee running through her body, (thank you Casey's),

And I'm ready to get it started!!!

I love Thanksgiving!!

I LOVE having my family all around me.....

I LOVE having my kiddo's home.....

I LOVE seeing my Mr. Winslow just doing what he does (he is SO helpful!!!)

Soon my sweet mama will grace our home with her humor and wisdom....

My baby sis will come bounding through with her energy and spunk,

wearing her "Street Meet" 5K shirt that her and her family will be wearing

after their run this morning....

My older sister will come through with her wit and charm (oh and Orange Salad..... LOVE.).....

My sweet Dak will be home soon and I can't wait.

He will be here to eat all of the Pecan Pie and Sweet Potato Casserole his tall drink of water body can handle.

Legg's right now is just feet from me, dreaming happy dreams and getting ready to get her cook on with her mama =)

This girl is just the sweetest.

She leaves me the sweetest wall posts.....

She laughs with me.....

She even cries with me when its needed,

but mostly, she just loves me,

even when I make the wrong Pecan Pie recipe and have to start over.

My Mr. Winslow will soon be up and willing to help me with whatever is needed.

He loves me like no other.

There will be so many more family surrounding the table today.

All with their own beautiful stories.....

I am thankful.

Very thankful.

Sir Cuteness will be here after while too,

and I can't wait to get me some baby lovin' on Thanksgiving!!!

So I hope you all have a Beautiful and Blessed Thanksgiving!!

I LOVE YOU ~~

Day 21 Days of Thankfulness

2011-11-21T13:41:00.000-06:00

THURSDAY IS THANKSGIVING!!!

Y'all know I do love Thanksgiving.

Usually I do several posts on Thanksgiving recipes and decorations and love.

But this year because I have been trying to participate in "The Days of Thankfulness"

I haven't been doing my countdown to Thanksgiving,

but know that I am planning lots of Thanksgiving goodness for my family.

I love my family so and I absolutely love to serve them on Thanksgiving.

*****

So you can call this a "catch-up" Day of Thanks.....

I am planning on doing a give-away tomorrow,

but have not heard back yet,

so be looking for my first ever give away

THIS WEEK!!!

*****

And well, since this is Thanksgiving week,

that means my sweet Dak and precious Leggs will be home from college.....

well, Leggs will be home,

I think Dak is just coming on Thanksgiving day.....

either way, my chicks will be under one roof for a little while.....

Love.that.

*****

So today I wanted to leave you with this song from Jesus Culture.

We sing this in church a lot right now, and I just love it.

If you are cooking Thanksgiving dinner or just want to read some GREAT tips and fun stuff,

head on over to Beth Moore's Blog here.

It is SO fun!!!

Have a Super Blessed day ~~

Day 15 Days of Thankfulness Pain

2011-11-15T14:55:00.000-06:00

Today, I am so thankful for pain.

Weird huh?

But I truly mean that.

Pain has been a blessing in my life.

Especially arthritic pain.

It is constant a lot of days.....

It is generally hard.....

But the lessons it has taught me: priceless.

I know what it is to move through it.....

I know what it is to have pain and smile and no one even know that I am in

excruiating pain.

Seriously, some days you would never know,

unless you are my husband.

He knows me.

Knows me well.

He knows when I hurt.

He feels my pain.

Sometimes I think literally.

He is such a tremendous Blessing to me.

Lately, pain is been pretty constant.

I am back to trying to control it with ibuprofen,

which is pretty much a no-no for me because of my ulcer issue,

but right now, it is knocking the edge off.

I don't tell you this, so you will feel sorry for me,

or even wish it different.

I tell you because I want you to know

GOD IS ABLE!!!

HE IS ALL I NEED!!!!!

HE IS THE SUSTAINER!!!!!!!

HE IS THE HEALER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE IS MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND I AM HIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Through pain, I learn to be steadfast (my word for this year).....

I learn to be constant in my walk with Abba.....

I learn to be content.....

I learn to be peaceful in the storm.....

I learn He is ALWAYS present.....

ALWAYS.

So today, I am thankful.

I am Blessed.

Even in pain.

***********************

Here is a video I did yesterday.

WOW I wish I could control what picture they put up.

I look sick.

I'm not.

But I'm not wearing much make-up here either.

Okay.

Enjoy.

I love you ~~

Have a Super Blessed Day ~~

Day 13 Days of Thankfulness Addicted!!

2011-11-13T19:25:00.002-06:00

On Friday evening our church had the last Ladies Rally of the year,

so I took Leggs, Lovely and Legg's friend, Sweet Pea.

Here is Legg's and I.....

Isn't she just beautiful?....

I love her so!!!

Sweet Pea and Leggs ~~

Gorgeous!!!

Lovely and I.....

This young lady is so beautiful inside and out!!!

She has such a heart for God.....

I LOVE THAT!!

Okay, so Dak didn't go with us,

but brought Leggs home, so she could go with us.....

Legg's was taking pictures.....

look at this.....

Here I am cute-ing it up and look at him.....

Stinker. =)

(Doesn't he look all grown up?)

And here I am at dinner, before church.

We had SUCH a beautiful time.

Well, while we were there I bought an "I (heart) My Church" shirt.

It is pink and girly and just beautiful.

Well, this morning, I ran to my local gas station before church to get a cup of coffee,

and in line in front of me was a lady with a JRA (James River Assembly) shirt on as well,

from Friday evening.

I said, "I like your shirt."

She whirled around and saw my shirt =)

and just bounded right over and hugged my neck.

We talked about how amazing Friday evening was and then she said the most wonderful thing.

She asked if I went to the Wilson's Creek Campus (our satellite church that is closest to our home)

to which I told her no, we go to the home church.

She said that they just LOVE JRA,

and then she said,

"I AM ADDICTED!!"

"YOU JUST FEEL THE SPIRIT SO STRONG!!! I LOVE IT!!"

How awesome is that?!!

If I'm going to be addicted to something

LET IT BE JESUS!!

So I came back and told my husband what happened and he asked me if I knew her.

I told him "Nope." =)

How neat is that?

Drawn together through JESUS!!

So I thought I would just post a few pictures of our dear church.

I love our church so much.

I love it because Jesus is there.

He moves in our midst and speaks to us.

He is saving souls and lighting our hearts on fire for Him.

He is teaching us how to be like Him.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!

So here is our church.

James River Assembly

This is the sanctuary.

And here are our dear Pators:

John and Debbie Lindell

They love Jesus unlike anyone I have ever seen.

They take being like Christ seriously.

Very.seriously.

And they teach us to do the same.
It is truly incredible!!!
They live it out loud!!

We celebrated, today, 20 years of these two beautiful people, John and Debbie Lindell, being the lead Pastors of James River Assembly.

Numbers are NOT everything for sure,

but I wanted to give you just a few statistics that were shared with us through a video tribute to them.

The most beautiful statistic they shared this morning was this one:

26,000+ Salvations!!

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Over $19 Million Dollars giving to missions ~~

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Please hear my heart here, I do not post this on here to say look how great they are.
They would NOT want that.
I just want to acknowledge all that Jesus is doing in our church,
using these two beautiful people to lead us.
You see, it is not about them or us,
it is ALL ABOUT GOD!!
And they were very quick to point that out this morning.

Pastor told the story of how they came to be the Pastors of JRA.
It is truly a beautiful testimony of God's faithfulness.

*****

Today, we also had a special baptism service and there were over 500 people

Baptized today.

Just today.

They brought in 3 swimming pools and put them in the fitness center

and Baptized 3 at a time.

It was simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

I am SO thankful for my church.

I am SO thankful that God lead us to this church so long ago.

We live in exciting times.

I want to be ALL I can be in Christ!!

And my church helps me to do that!!!

I am SO thankful!!!!!

Day 9 Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-10T09:22:00.000-06:00

Uncommon Love & Grateful Submission

*****

So today is my stepson Chase's birthday.

When I first married my husband, I had NO idea how being a stepmom would enrich my life.

I was nervous as to how to relate to his son.

At first, I wanted to love his son, because I loved my Mr. Winslow so much,

but over time I started loving him, because of who he is.

His struggles, his pain, and his heart has drawn me to him over and over again.

I have fought with him, laughed with him, and cried over him,

but most of all,

I have loved him.

Being a stepmom has given me the unique opportunity

to love outside my comfort zone.

It is a rare Blessing when you can love so completely,

which only happens through Christ.

I love Him so!!!

So today I want to give a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

to my sweet stepson Chase.

*****

When I married Mr. Winslow, I had no idea how to be truly submissive.

He has been so extremely patient and kind with me.

I sincerely wanted to love him well.

I sincerely wanted to be submissive to him.

But I had to learn what that meant.

You see, this is what I have learned:

When you are loved like Christ loves the church,

which is how a husband is suppose to love his wife,

and which is EXACTLY the way my Mr. Winslow loves me,

then submitting to his authority is beautiful.

He doesn't lord it over me.

He doesn't demand it.

He just loves me.

I love him so.

Please enjoy

"The Day Before You"

by
Matthew West

So let me encourage you today,

Jesus loves you SO much!!!

He wants only His best for your life,

and that my friends,

is a beautiful thing!!

I love you so ~~ Have a Blessed day ~~

Day 9 Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-09T10:36:00.000-06:00

~~ Super Hero's & Words ~~

Yesterday was a better day for our little Super Hero, Sir Cuteness,

although he still didn't feel great, it was still a better day.

He slept a lot, but didn't throw up one time.

YAY!!!

He has been SO sick, so we were so happy that he got over that hump.

And last night, he was well on his way back to his Super Hero self.....

(not taken yesterday, but several weeks ago =)

But he will be back to leaping off couches in a single bound,

probably as early as tomorrow.....

Just in time for his daddy's birthday =)

And last night was also a very special evening because it was Tuesday,

and if you have been around my blog long enough,

you know I have a rare affection for Tuesdays =)

Well, I have a new reason to LOVE Tuesdays since college has started.

It is the day Dak comes into town for Glee night at a friends,

so I usually get to see him for just a few minutes,

and because Leggs has started coming home with him and spending the ENTIRE evening

with this mama.....

Sheer Girl Time Bliss!!!!!

Well last night Leggs and Lovely were here for a very special dinner.

You see Lovely helps run a farm with her dad and she is an AMAZING cook!!!!!

So she had given me a recipe for homemade Alfredo when we went to dinner Friday night,

so last night was the night to try it.

And it was a HUGE success!!!

It was SO SO good!!

(I have NO idea why I didn't take a picture of it. slacker.)

Well, after dinner, I asked if the girls would like to here my composition of "Mary Did You Know".

Lovely didn't realize I played the piano, so I sat down and played for her and Leggs.

They are just the sweetest girls EVER!!

From there, we started singing.....

Yes singing with my girls..... SHEER AND TOTAL BLISS!!

God has Blessed me so.

We sang "By Your Side" "Jesus Messiah" and many others.

It was a wonderful evening.

I love to sing and play the piano.

I.have.missed.it.

Then afterwards, we moved our party into the kitchen and popped Kettle Corn,

and started talking.

It was such a beautiful conversation.

I went to bed thinking about the impact of our words.

Just how life-giving they can be,

and sometimes how life-taking they can be.....

yes they can suck the life right out of someone if your not careful,

but last night was all life-giving, getting to know a new beautiful girl,

and basking in the glow of how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of people who

love Him and have a desire to grow in the LORD amidst difficult situations.

Beautiful.

Something else that struck me about last night

were the words that weren't said.

Those are just as powerful sometimes.

One of us, is going through a really hard time,

and so few words were said in that regard.

But we knew.

Most importantly, God knew.

And knows.

And loves.

And so do we.

Words unspoken.

Powerful.

Profound.

Beautiful.

*****

I am REALLY enjoying being alerted to things in my everyday to be thankful for.

It is a beautiful thing.

I love you ~~ Have a Beautiful day ~~

Day 8 Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

So I must tell you ~~

I AM OVER THIS KNEE.

OVER.IT.

Ok, so having said that,

I am also

SO THANKFUL FOR IT!!!

The lessons I have learned and keep learning from these knees are priceless.

Priceless.

Let me explain,

At church Sunday, during prayer time, my ligament on the outside of my left knee popped and it hurt so much.

After that, it was NOT a good knee day.

I ended up icing it that night,

and oh.my.stars.

That was SO painful!!

Obviously you are NOT suppose to ice ligaments,

well unless you want intense seasing up and pain.

Not.fun.

So after Mr. Winslow got it warmed back up,

it just went back to pain and annoyance.

Well, yesterday it was better, just really tight.

I told my husband on Sunday,

as I limped in from church.....

I.AM.OVER.THIS.KNEE.

To which he smiled and said,

"I'm sorry sweetie."

It helps because I know he really is.

Well, today as I think about thankfulness,

I'm thankful that I can still walk.

I am thankful for my husband, who traverses the daily pain and issues that knees like mine seem to produce.daily.

He is such a trooper.

So in being thankful for my knees,

I have to remember that this is where I have come from.

When I have difficult days like Sunday,

I try to remember that this is the way it was about a year ago.

This.was.bad.crazy.bad.

Those blisters drove me CRAZY!!!

I show this not to gross you out, but to remind me of how far this knee has come,

especially when I get discouraged.

So as I lift my hands to the LORD today, I will remember from hence I came.

And I was much worse looking than this knee.

Yep, I was a.mess.

And God picked me up out of the muck,

saved my soul,

and set my feet on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ.

I am very changed and very grateful.

I am thankful for Jesus Christ, today and every day.

I love you all so ~~ Have a Blessed day ~~

Day 6 & 7 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-07T09:55:00.000-06:00

So today I'm thankful for Baptism & Baby Cuddles =)

Yesterday at church our Pastor; Pastor John Lindell, preached the best message on Baptism

I've ever heard.

He went through many Scriptures on Baptism and what exactly that word means in the Greek,

and why actual Baptism happens after salvation.

He discussed infant baptism and told his own testimony about being sprinkled as a baby.

He also told his testimony about when he was saved at 17 and then baptized a little while after that.

He really didn't see the need to get baptized, because he'd done that as a child.

But his girlfriend's dad (his now Father-in-law =) took him to lunch and went through all the Scriptures and talked to him about the importance of it.

He knew at that moment that he was at a crossroads.

Was he going to follow God whole-heartedly and completely or was he going to do his own thing?

He chose God.

The night he was baptized, his brother (he is one of six) also got baptized.

His mother was sitting in the service, (she had been saved a long time prior to this but never been baptized), very prim and proper.

Hair all done (she'd been to the beauty shop),

very beautiful and proper clothes,

and when she saw her boys get baptized,

the Holy Spirit moved in her,

and she stood up and went up front and told the Pastor she also wanted to be baptized.

So right there with her up-do and beautiful clothes, she went under for the LORD!!!

I LOVE that!!!

It took many, MANY more years for his dad to get saved.

In fact, he was saved at our church, in the old building, on Easter morning in I think about 1998.

He hadn't been baptized.

So his parents came from Colorado for the first service in the new building

(the building where we are now),

and there were baptisms planned for that night.

Over lunch, Pastor's father asked him how many they expected to baptize that night,

and before he could answer,

Debbie (Pastor's wife ~~ I love her) said, "One more if you get baptized today."

To which he smiled and said to her, "I believe I will."

And then he asked Pastor John if he would baptize him.

How profound and beautiful.

So that night, the heater in the tank wasn't working so the water was FREEZING

and Pastor John's dad was about 80 years old at the time, and Pastor was concerned about it.

So he told his dad he was putting him in waders =)

and so he went into the water in waders =)

and Pastor John baptized his dad in very cold water wearing waders.

I LOVE THAT!!

And then on the way home, My Mr. Winslow and I shared our Baptism stories again.

It was beautiful!!

I LOVE that man so!!!

I am so thankful for the gift of our church, my man and Baptism,

and the testimonies that result from being obedient to the LORD.

LOVE.THAT.

*****

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I was also thankful for baby cuddles.

Well, you know what that means, Sir Cuteness =)

but in this case, I am sorry for the reason I am getting so many,

but still so thankful for the relationship that I have with my sweet G-Babe and that he KNOWS his Gamma loves him FOR REAL!!!

You see, he has the stomach flu.

He has been SO sick.

Poor baby.

Last night he was cuddling with me on the couch,

and said his tummy hurt,

by the time Mr. Winslow got over to scoop him up,

he'd thrown up all over him and me.....

Poor baby.

He was SO sick.

He ran a fever most of the night and didn't sleep very well,

and then this morning, got sick again about 7.

So he has laid on the couch and I've sat next to him and rubbed his head.

I got him to take some Motrin and he kept it down,

and he is starting to feel better.

He has been eating crackers and drinking watered down Pedialyte.

I hope he can keep this down,

and we get back to regular, baby cuddles,

like as he jumps off the couch into my arms =)

or sticky cuddles as he eats marshmallows (one of his favorites),

and, of course, sick cuddles when it is needed,

but I sure hope he is over the hump.

I love this boy so!!

Have a Super Blessed day ~~

Day 5 Days of Thankfulness

2011-11-05T17:27:00.000-05:00

I am so thankful for the young ladies in my life.

Yesterday, I got the unique opportunity to spend the evening with these two lovlies.....

Leggs and Lovely .....

These girls are so beautiful, inside and out.

They are so cute together!!!

I picked them up at Legg's Dorm.....

and then we headed to McAlister's.....

Then we went to Wal-Mart and got Legg's phone on.

She had lost her battery, so we had to order her a new one, and then she had to get it back on.

It has been quite a deal.

She has been without a phone for 2 MONTHS ~~~ I'm over it!!! =)

I'm SO glad that we can randomly text each other again!! =)

Is she not just the most beautiful girl?!!

After Wal-Mart, we went for dessert at FruityLand.....

It was very good, but Leggs and I prefer Orange Leaf.

Me because they have brownie batter and coffee ice cream (be still my heart) ~~

And Leggs loves it because they have cereal to put on her yogrit .....

What can I say, she is a simple girl.....

Cereal on her ice cream = bliss =)

Again, such a beauty!!!

This is her Fruity Land concoction.....

Yes that is gummy worms.....

What can I say.....She is a lover of all things gummy =)

and cereal =)

anyway......

Here I am enjoying my yogrit.....

Yummy!!!!!

Here I am at McAlister's.....

Why does it look like I have a lazy eye?!!

Hmmm..... not sure.....

Although my right eye has always been a problem child =)

My lovely conction.....

Yes that is andes mints in there.....

Be still my heart.....

and Chocolate covered raisins and cherries and cookies.....

and calories.....

anyway.....

These two made for an absolutely beautiful evening!!!

Thank you my sweet girls for making me feel so special.....

and young =)

We are planning on going to church together Friday evening for our Women's Rally.

I am looking SO forward to it!!!

I hope you all are finding LOTS to be thankful for ~~

Have a Blessed weekend ~~

I love you ~~

Day 4 Days of Thanksgiving

2011-11-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

So sometimes in life you have to see the silver lining.....

Sometimes things hurt and it is hard to see the brighter side.....

But I am so thankful for Days of Thanksgiving, because it gives me the opportunity to do just that.

You see, this week, mom had a cardiologist appointment to check out her heart with the new medication they put her on, and also to check her pace maker.

I knew mom hadn't been feeling very well, but I didn't realize how bad she has probably been feeling.

The pace maker showed that she is still having A LOT of A-Fib.

The medicine isn't helping as much as they'd hoped.

The doctor talked over some different options, but at the end of the day, he decided it was best just to keep things the way they are.
Mom is on so many medicines and there is one in particular that keeps her from being able to take some meds that would help this problem.
So we are just keeping things the way they are :(
I just wish there was more we could do.

This is a well loved mom, Grandma and Great Grandma.
We love her so ~~ and am SO thankful for her!!!

So on this Thankful Friday,
I am so thankful for my mom.

I pray for God's best in my mama's life.
She is a beautiful woman, inside and out.

~~

Have a Blessed weekend ~~ I love you ~~

Day 3 Days of Thankfulness

2011-11-03T08:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, so yes this is Day 3 of the Days of Thankfulness, and no I have not posted on days 1 and 2, because well, I am a slacker =)

Actually, I didn't know about this until yesterday when I read RJ's blog post. I LOVE that she is doing this unconventionally. I tell you, we were seperated at birth. There is like, well let's see, NOTHING conventional about me. It's just the way God made me. Made me, broke the mold. But I am completely okay with that, because I know that His plans are best for me, even if they are unconventional =) I'd have it no other way!!

*****

So since, we are doing this unconventional (and if you want to know exactly what that means head on over to girlfriend's blog. She has been thankful that horses are not getting hit by cars and wedding pictures ~~ I LOVE HER!!!)
So.....

Today I am thankful for Orange Leaf and a pretty brunette, lots of Leggs kind of gal.

You see, Dak dropped Leggs off here on Tuesday while he went to a friends house to watch Glee.

So when I got home from taking mom to the doc, pretty girl was here eating Potato Soup and laughing with Mr. Winslow.

I walk in the door and boom ~~ here she comes looking all beautiful in her yellow shirt and skinny jeans (y'all know I love me some yellow), she gave me the tightest hug and biggest smile. Melted my heart.

I love this girl!!!

So we girled in out for about 2 hours and then decided we were hungry (again! =) So we decided to go to Orange Leaf and get us some self-serve frozen yogrit (Sir Cutenesses interpretation of the word =)

It was SO good!!!

I got Brownie Batter and Coffee Yogrit (don't judge =)

Topped with chocolate covered raisins, 1 brownie bite, 3 marchino cherries and love =)

Leggs got vanilla and brownie bite (don't be judging =)

with Fruity Pebbles (yes the cereal)

100 (or like 5 but who's counting) marchino cherries

Hot Fudge and love =)

The ice cream was good, but the company was MAGICAL!!!

We laughed until we cried (ok maybe that was just me ~~ I'm a laugh until I cry kinda girl and maybe even at my own jokes, which Leggs says is ridiculous, but I'm okay with it =)

We had some good 'ol girl time.

It was needed.

I've had a hard week.

I'm over me..... just sayin'

anyway.....

We took pictures with my iPod, but I don't have them uploaded yet,

So I will leave you with two of my favorite Personality Pictures of Leggs.

Oh and Dak cracks me up in these as well.

Looking all innocent.....

Our Big Personality, Baby Girl ~~

We love her so ~~

We are SO THANKFUL FOR HER IN OUR LIVES!!!!!

God knew EXACTLY what He was doing when she entered our world!!!

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

She is all that and a bag of chips!!

So today I am thankful for a little girl time with my Leggs ~~

Fruity Pebbles on Ice Cream (and seriously if you are not a teenager, try at your own risk =)

And so thankful to God for bringing it all together as only He can.

Romans 8:28

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

More Than Conquerors

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Have a SUPER BLESSED DAY ~~ I love ya ~~

We interupt this Halloween post to bring you Hemmed-In Hollow Take 2.....

2011-10-31T13:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to Hemmed-In Hollow for take number 2.

We were gonna go last week, but it didn't work out,

so we headed out this weekend,

and it ended up being just beautiful and the trees were.....

S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G.

Absolutely stunning!!!!!

*****

So we started with going down the Bench Trail.

The one we didn't know was even there and in the dark, we couldn't tell that there were two.

We just didn't look around because we thought there was only one.

While we didn't see a copperhead, we did hear a rattler.

Yeah, I'm over snakes!!! :)

So this is the trail we went down.....

And this is the one we should have went down.

Yes in the light it is completely obvious,

but in the dark, it looks MUCH different.

Now isn't that the truth?!!

We walked down this small trail and decided to check out the cabin that was on it that we didn't get to see that night.

And boy was it worth it.

It is so cute!!!!!

And the sun shining behind it was just beautiful!!

Side view.....

Isn't it gorgeous?!!

This is the loft on the inside and that tree in the middle of the little cabin was the way they made it up to the loft. Isn't that interesting?!!

Here is my gorgeous man standing by the tree.

Beautiful!!

Hey, how's it going? =)

Then we headed back to the trail and this is what you see.

The sign.

Hmmmm.... Do you see the Bench Trail?

Yep, right on that sign, but just past that sign is another sign, and that is the one we saw and read in the dark and it doesn't have the Bench Trail on it.

It was good to go back and see where we made the wrong turn.

Then down the mountain we went.

My Mr. Winslow tried to get a picture of the rocks we had to climb down,

but pictures just don't do it justice.

But we had just climbed backwards down this part of the mountain.

I love this kind of hike.

And then this is where we rested and picnicked.

The company, delicious.

The view, breathtaking.

This is the rock we ate lunch on.

Now I have more stories and more pictures, but blogger is driving me crazy with the whole picture loading process, so I'll stop for now.

We had an absolutely fabulous time.

We met the sweetest people on the BIGGEST horses =)

We found new spots and new spots to discover.

So stay tuned.....

I have more pics to share of Take Two =)

And also lots of Halloween fun!!!!!

Love you ~~ Have a Blessed day ~~

Random Friday ~~ And they grow up!!

2011-10-28T11:50:00.000-05:00

So it is very possible that I am feeling very nostalgic this morning ~~

I have been looking at home movies and remembering.....

I love sweet memories.....

That's probably why I love to Scrapbook so much!!

I love to put those pretty memories, tucked into pretty packages.

Yes, I am a girl.

A.Girly.Girl.

anyway.....

As I was going through pics, I had this huge need to share a few on my blog.

I have so many I need to scan into my computer, so I can share pics when Dak was a little.....

Oh.my.stars.

*****

And speaking of Dak.....

I love him.

*****

And speaking of kids I love.....

Leggs.....I love you.

*****

This is my sweet Sir Cuteness, being well, sweet and cute =)

He is holding the first cucumber of the season in '09.

He loved cucumbers and still does, and LOVES to pick.

He LOVES the garden.

Yes we may have ourselves an outdoor lover on our hands.

YES please!!! =)

OH MY ~~ LOVE ME SOME CURLS!!!!!

Dak and Sir Cuteness on one of MANY trampoline excursions.

Oh how I love these two!!!!!

Oh.my.stars.

Look at those cheeks.

My little football player in the makin' =)

I know.....very random.....

But I am feeling nostalgic and SO tender hearted today.

I LOVE MY FAMILY SO!!!!!

I AM A WELL-BLESSED WOMAN!!!!!

And they dressed up and laughed and giggled and shook their sillies out.....

2011-10-27T13:06:00.000-05:00

And that is EXACTLY what we did yesterday at the Library Halloween Party!!!

Sir Cuteness asked me to be a Princess,

So of course I HAD to oblige =)

Here is me and Sir Cuteness at the Library.

He is THE SWEETEST THING!!!

I LOVE this picture!!!

He was looking at the mirror on the wall up high.....

SO CUTE!!

In addition to laughing, giggling and shaking our sillies out.....

we also did puzzles.

He is getting SO good!!!!!

There were So many cute costumes!!

Look at this wee little lady bug.....

SO cute!!!!!

Sir Cuteness LOVED this tube!!

My cute little bee.....

I had to show you this cute picture.....

I mean seriously,

I just love a mama's pregnant bellie.....

She was SO cute!!!!!

And Miss Adrian was also a bumble bee.

And they had a therapy bull dog there, also dressed up like a bumble bee.....

Sir Cuteness LOVED that!!!!!

Can you see this book?

It was a pop-up book on steroids!!!

I'd never seen anything like it.....

SO GREAT!

She told us some really great stories.....

Then we went to Granny's and surprised her with our costumes.....

Oh.my.stars.

So when Sir Cuteness requested me to be a Princess,

I went to my neighbor, who has the most amazing clothes.....

Very Princess like.....

I knew she could help a sista' out.....

and help she did!!

Isn't this lovely?!!

This dress is ALL lace and the navy blue coat you saw in previous pictures,

was a beautiful cape that she let me borrow.

It was just beautiful and warm =)

If you follow me on FB, then you probably saw that I was REALLY overthinking my Princess hair.

It was a Halloween Party for 5 year olds and under for crying out loud.....

Yep WAY over thought it =)

My tiara came from Leggs and my necklace from my mama.

I thought it topped off my outfit....

I mean seriously, what is a Princess without her jewels =)

We had the BEST time!!!

Our Library really knows how to through a party =)

I kept thinking about our resident blog Princess RJ!!!

I wished you could have Belled it up and went with us ~~ now wouldn't that have been a hoot?!

Have a Super Blessed day ~~

A Year in the Life.....

2011-10-25T08:53:00.000-05:00

Of my knee!!!

Saturday marked the one year anniversary of my left knee replacement.

Yep me and this girl has had quite a year.

It has not been easy, but I do not regret having this surgery.

I know it was the right decision for me, given all my knee arthitic issues through the years.

So I thought I'd show you just a few pics of then and now.....

then.....

This was just about 2 weeks or so after surgery.

Look at that girl.

All the scabs are from the nasty blisters I got from surgery and medicine reactions.

ICKY!!

This was my reality for quite a long time.

Me and my walker.

I was thankful for it and it helped me get stronger and stronger.

And here I am almost a year later.....

Who'd have thought I'd be hiking in one of the toughest hikes in our area and getting lost

and hiking 12 miles in 13 hours up and down moutains, bluffs, through tarantulas and copper heads EEK ~~ and making it pretty well considering :)

I didn't even swell very much the days following that journey.

If I only had one thing to say to sum up this past year it would be:

GOD IS GOOD!!!!!

Please hear that, because NO MATTER WHAT my God knows EXACTLY all we go through on this earth and He understands our pain, because He walked it.

God knows, He understands, and He NEVER left my side this whole year.

I am certainly not done with my recovery.

I still have more work to do.

Sometimes I still get frustrated.

I have gained weight in this last year because of the limited exercise,

but let me just say,

God has really done a work in my life in this regard.

My weight has been an issue for me for practically my whole life, and right now, I just know it is okay.

I'm really okay with it,

And that is such a Blessing!!!

So that is where my knee is right now.

Still not always easy. It still hurts every day, but I'm moving on.

God is so good and He loves me.

This I know.

He sees me.

This I know.

So I press on toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus!!!

Amen? Amen.

I love you all ~~ Have a Super Blessed day ~~

Random Friday ~~

2011-10-21T06:33:00.001-05:00

Well Good Beautiful Friday Morning to Y'all!!!!!

Yep, still here.

I know I haven't posted ALL WEEK,

and I don't even have a really good reason why.....

other than I've been really busy.....

Lots of things going on.....

Anyway.....

All is well and I am back to writing and VLOG-ing =)

So here we go.....

*****

Okay so I feel I MUST start with Sir Cuteness.....

This boy is a one-of-a-kind, kind of Cuteness.

Sir Cuteness has been on fortified iron vitamins for a long time.

I keep hoping they will take the boy off those awful, black liquid, craziness

and give him some tasty gummy chewables or something,

but so far, it's been all black, disgusting liquid.

So I thought I'd get smart this week and sneak them in his morning apple juice with breakfast.

I made sure that I was on the other side of the kitchen, so he couldn't see me,

and I put them in there, shook it up and brought it to him like normal.

He took a drink, and then another, and boy was I in trouble =)

He said, "Gamma, I told you not to put that black stuff in my juice!!"

(insert very mean, very cute, but very mean looking face =)

(Oh and also insert, he didn't tell me, he didn't even know =)

So I laughed and told him I couldn't get anything past him.....

still mean, little ole cute face, now with hands on hips =)

And he said he didn't want it.

I explained to him he was going to have to drink it, either in the juice or just out of the dropper

(with me chasing him down of course, because that is what it had come to!)

So he decided juice was better.....SCORE!!! =)

Then at lunch time he said, "Gamma, I need some juice, but this time NO black stuff!!" =)

Oh how I love this boy!!!!!

*****

So the last three weeks of the month, one day of the week, our library has story time for littles.

So Sir Cuteness and I have started going over and "Shaking Our Sillies" out, among other things =)

Well after we do that, and the "Hokey Pokey" and read a few stories and a craft and play on the flannel board and talk to Miss Adrian, we play in the kid's area in the Library itself.

So we had headed out, and he started playing. There were lots of Littles around because of Story Time, so he was having fun watching them and even interacting a little bit.

Well there was this one little boy about a year or a year and a half younger than Sir Cuteness.

Well Sir Cuteness had a little chunky car he was playing with that came out of the bin, and this little boy came over and picked it up.

Sir Cuteness looked at him and then at me and said, "He has my car."

I assured him it would be okay and he could play with something else,

when Sir Cuteness walked over to the bins, grabbed out a monkey glove (for 5 Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed) and headed over to this little boy.

He went right over to him and very gently and sweetly said,

"Here is your Monkey Glove."

(Ummm.....Okay.)

The little boy lays down the car, grabs the Monkey Glove, looks at his mama and starts playing.

Sir Cuteness grabs the car and comes over to me and starts playing once again like nothing ever happened.

The mama looks at me and said,

"That was brilliant!!"

Insert BIG smile!!!

To which I smiled back and said,

"I'm sorry!"

To which she said,

"No really. That was brilliant. That's the best thing I've seen ALL day!!"

Insert another BIG SMILE!!!

And no children were crying or snatching toys or anything.

Way to figure it out Sir Cuteness.

You and your awesome reasoning skills.

Insert BIG SMILE!!!!! =)

*****

So in other news:

Mr. Winslow and I will be headed back down to Hemmed-In Hollow tomorrow.

*****

And in other news:

I started a new four week Bible study this week through "The Women's Bible Cafe".

It is Beth Moore's "Loving Well".

Oh can I just tell you.....

This is SO good!!!

Let me just give you a quote from the book:

"No one has ever seen God, but when we love beyond our abilities, people will see Him in us."

Amen.

If you are in need of a shorter study to do before Beth Moore's James study comes out in November,

this may be the one for you.

Love.

You download the video's for $4.99 ea from Lifeway and watch one a week

and work in the journal.

It is so personal and relevant.

I am LOVING it so far!!!

*****

In other news:

My washer is broke.

I'm headed back to the laundry mat this morning.

It is costing a FORTUNE to go to the laundry mat.

$1.25 for ONE load to wash.

.25 for 8 MINUTES of drying time.

I had 5 loads and spent $10.50.

I've over it.

Anyway.....

*****

In other news:

I get to see my college babes today.

Dak and I are gonna have coffee at Hebrews.....

(Y'all really need to come to MO just for Hebrews,

and why your here, stop by and see me =)

Anyway.....

And then we're gonna head over to get him some Dorm Snacks.

Boy needs to eat and he's out of snackage.

So I'm gonna help a brother out! =)

I love him so!!!!

My heart is so tender towards him and I can't wait to get a little time with him today.

And then after I take him back (he doesn't have classes on Friday),

I'm gonna pick up Leggs.

And we are going shopping.

Can I get a WOOT-WOOT?!!

She needs a pretty new dress for a wedding she is singing in tomorrow.

So happy to oblige!!

Then she is coming back home with me and we get to hang out this evening.

YAY for College Babe Time!!

*****

In other news:

Yesterday, I did a Vlog for you on a project I started Wednesday evening and completed Thursday afternoon. It was quick and easy and I LOVE the finished project,

well almost finished project.....

Well, I hope y'all have a Blessed and Beautiful weekend!!

I love you so ~~

Ephesians 3:16 "I pray that out of His glorious riches, you will be strengthened in power through His Spirit in your inner being."

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 5 ..... Our Rescue!!!

2011-10-12T09:24:00.001-05:00

Now I'm going to back up for just a minute and tell you something that happened last week. Something that was a game changer for us and something that we didn't know at the time, but something that would help us make it out of this very bad situation.

My husband works in Springfield, MO, but he works for a company out of Springdale, AR. They have a Springfield shop as well, and that is where my Mr. Winslow works. They bought him a cell phone last week, for work and not just any cell phone but an iPhone. And they bought him an AT&T plan, because AT&T gets out better in AR and that is where the Corporate Offices and main plant are, so that is what they went with. They used to be Verizon, but it didn't work as well in AR. AMAZING!!

It was the iPhone that got out for us when we were hidden deep in the woods. Dick called 911, and a very nice lady answered. He told her our predictament and if there was anyway they could put us in touch with a Park Ranger to figure out how to get back to that .8 mile marker. Somehow we knew if we got there that some how we may be able to find our way out of there.

Now you may be wondering about our kids at this point, and if they were wondering where we were. Well, of course, they were. Dak called us about 8:00 PM and said that he had called the house and we weren't home. He wondered where we were. I told him that we were lost in the woods. He asked me what that meant. =). (You see this just isn't something that ever happens to us.....we are experienced hikers..... sigh.). We couldn't stay on the phone and he said later that our connection wasn't good. (My phone.) He couldn't really figure out what was going on. So he came over to our house and told Chase that we were lost. It is funny to me now, but Chase told him that "Dad doesn't get lost. She's messing with you." Well Dak knew that wasn't the case, so he called a mom of one of his friends and told her that we were lost in the woods and he was worried, but she told him that we'd be fine and not to worry. So he went back to his dorm.

Well in the meantime, Chase started trying to get ahold of us. When we set there hidden deep in the woods, Dick called Chase (on the iPhone) to see if he could find a map of Hemmed-In Hollow online to help figure out of where we were. (No we didn't have a map. Another mistake.)

Dick went ahead and just called 911 and the lady got a Park Ranger to call us back. While he was talking to him he put Dick on hold because he had another call. He got back on the phone and told us that Chase was on the other line and had told him "My dad and stepmom are lost in Hemmed-In Hollow.... YOU HAVE TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE!!!" =) Warmed my heart and made me smile =) I love that boy!!!

Well he had another Park Ranger call us that knew the area better than he did. So pretty soon another Ranger called us and thankfully Dick knew where we must have made the wrong turn this time, and so could tell him exactly where we had turned when we got to the .8 mile marker, but it was so dark. Well the Ranger asked him several questions about our location and we really couldn't tell him very much, but he thought he had a pretty good idea where we were. Dick asked him if there was anyway that we could take a turn somewhere and meet back to the trail we needed without going all the way back.

We couldn't.

We had walked 2 HOURS in the wrong direction and now we had to turn around and go back.

The Park Ranger was so nice. When Dick explained our situation and my health challenges, the Park Ranger said he would meet us at the .8 mile marker with water HALLELUJAH!! and he would walk us out.

So now we had a plan. So now we just needed to get back to that .8 mile marker and the promise of water. But that was another 2 HOUR walk. So we started back at 10:30 PM.

Before we headed back, we wrapped up in each other and prayed. It was beautiful. We prayed for courage. We prayed for help. We KNEW that God was with us NO MATTER the outcome. WE LOVE HIM SO!!!

So after we prayed, we took off back up the trail.

We walked, ever so slowly.....
At first our pace was quicker, because we knew that someone who knew the way out of there would be there with water to meet us.

But then..... it didn't take long for our weariness, our thirst, and our pain to catch up with us and I had to stop..... again. I tried to make my stops shorter, but still I had to stop.

Well we are walking....

and walking.....

AND walking.....

When all of the sudden Dick yells: STOP!!!!!
Me: What?!!
Dick: COPPERHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me? A COPPERHEAD?

So I jumped behind my man and stepped several steps backward in case he needed room to jump back.
Dick bent down, ever so gently and picked up a rock, and hit that COPPERHEAD in the head. It didn't kill him, but he did scurry away quickly into the woods.

Now we were REALLY ready to get out of there.

Dick told me then that he had been looking out for them, because they are really on the move this time of year.

What?

I decided, in this case, that ignorance is bliss. =) I'm REALLY glad that he didn't tell me that tid bit of information before we saw the COPPERHEAD!! It is the kind of thing this girl didn't need to know =)

So we kept going
and going......and going.

And then finally we heard something.

Yes it was the rescuer, the Park Ranger and he was equipped with flashlights, sweatshirts, and sweet, sweet WATER!!! We were SO thankful to see him!!

He was so nice. We asked him if they had to do this much and he said all the time. We were so surprised. He said that people get turned around all the time out there. And they have lots of injuries, etc.

Oh and the trail we were on?

It was called the Benchmark trail and it is not very well marked. obviously.
And it is the LONGEST trail in the whole place.

WHAT?!! And it pretty much goes nowhere.

CRAZY!!

Well he got us back out of the deep woods. (Remember COPPERHEADS!!!!!)
And then back to the .8 mile marker where we could sit a while and drink our sweet beautiful water.

I asked our Park Ranger his name and he said it was Billy. I told him that our grandson would love this story and love the fact that we had been rescued by Park Ranger Billy. He loved that =)

When it was time to get going, he warned me that it was only .8 miles out of there, but it was a very rough .8 miles, with LOTS of rock stairs.

So we started out of there.

It was VERY rough. I had to stop some more, and if it hadn't been for the adreline, I just might have had to be carried out of there. It was so tough. But we kept going and .....

Ta -Da!!! We made it!!

Back to our car.

WE WERE NEVER SO HAPPY TO SEE THAT SILVER ALERO IN OUR LIVES!!!!!

The Ranger was SO nice and came over and talked to me to make sure I was okay, before he took our information. Dick tried to pay him, but he said, "No sir. This is my job!" Such a nice guy and very good Ranger.

Well now we were going home.

It was 1:30 AM when we got to our car.

We had been out there for 13 hours and had hiked up some very tough terrain for 12 MILES!!! WOW!!

Well, we were so happy and headed the 2 hour trip home.

*****

So we are now recovering nicely and so thankful that we made it home safely.

As far as injuries go, of course we were very dehydrated, but we are fine with that now. Dick had lots of scrapes and bites, but was fine and his heart is getting back to a good rhythm.

Me? Well I had lots of scrapes and scratches, but the worst part was my big toe on my left foot. The nail is completely BLACK!! It hurts REALLY bad!!! We are not sure I won't end up at the doctor to have the nail taken off, but we'll see. I hit my toe so many times that it pushed the nail back into my foot. EEK!! Yep OUCH!!!!! My hips are still pretty sore, and now my left knee is starting to really hurt (4 days later =) but considering, it did REALLY well!!

Well there you have it. Our Hemmed-In Hollow adventure!!

And yes, we are already planning a trip back. Dick was researching really good back packs last night =). Ones with bladders :)... Built in water bottles. The call them bladders. Hahahaha that cracks me up!!

Thank you all for your concern for us and all the sweet comments over the last several days......

We love you so ~~

Now onto the next adventure =)

*****

Father,
Thank you for seeing us in the dark, when no one else knew for sure where we were, You knew. You were loving us and teaching us every step of the way and we are so very thankful Father. Continue to help us and teach us through this experience. We love you so Abba ~~ Amen.

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 4 ..... More of Our Story.....

2011-10-12T09:22:00.001-05:00

So let's keep going..... =)
Well we climbed up the side of that mountain and got on the right trail, finally.

We hiked for quite a while, up very tough terrain, so thirsty, so tired, my hips hurt SO bad, Dick's heart had started giving him problems (he has problems with arthymia), so we kept having to stop, but we were making progress.

I kept saying my memory verses and Dick kept reminding me Spirit over flesh, Spirit over flesh. I knew the finish line was in sight somehow and we'd be thirsty and tired, but make it out fine.

Well, we finally got to the .8 mile marker at about 8:00 PM. We were so excited. Mr. Winslow told me we'd made it. We were only .8 miles to the car and we could do this. Well, I knew it was a tough .8 miles, but I also knew that by 9:00 PM or so, we'd be to the car and headed to the first station we could find with water!!

So we started down the trail and we went up for a while, through a lot of brush and more thorns and stickers and lots of unevenness with all the rocks. I kept twisting my ankle and stumping my toe. It was SO dark, because we were now back in pretty much total tree cover. We would see the moon when there would be an opening in the trees, but for the most part it was totally dark. We only had our cell phones for lights. Ridiculous on our part. Crazy.

Well, we walked.....

and walked.....

and walked some more.....

Until we started wondering if this was the right trail. But we couldn't be on the wrong trail, again, because there were only two choices. The one that lead back where we had made the wrong turn at the very beginning of the day, and it wasn't that one, and the other one that lead to the Compton Trail Head and our car. It HAD to be that one!!!

So we kept moving..... Ever so slowly.....

We hurt SO BAD!! And I mean we were SO thirsty, I can't even explain how thirsty we were. I will try to put this dehydration thing into a little bit of perspective. I went to the bathroom when we left the house that morning at about 10:00 AM and here it was well after 9:00 PM and I still had not and didn't need to go. We were so very thirsty and thankfully my dear man realized we were in real trouble.

After we had walked and walked down this trail and it appeared that we were not getting to the car, suddenly Dick said, "Honey, right up there. We've made it." I was SO happy!!! And then we got "right up there" and it was just the moon shining on that spot looking like it would open into the parking lot. We walked a little more and then I had to stop again.

So we stopped and Mr. Winslow sat with me and said, "Can we call 911 out here?" I knew when he said that, we were really in trouble. You have to understand, there is no way my man would have even suggested such a thing if we could have gotten out of there by ourselves.

He knew I was NOT doing well and he felt so bad. He kept apologizing to me. Let me make this very clear, it was NOT necessary!! I trust this man explicity. I would follow him anywhere. I know that he loves me like Christ loves the church, and when you are loved this way you gladly and completely commit and submit to your husband. I did not one time get upset with him, nor did he with me. We strode hand in hand knowing that we were in this thing together. NO matter the outcome, we were together and would have it no other way.

Neither one of us were scared at all, but we sure were tired and thirsty and hurting. But there was peace. As we set hidden deep in the woods, I had this beautiful sense of peace and knowing that God could see us. He knew EXACTLY where we were. We were hidden, but we were hidden in Him. No better place to be.

I asked my husband if we could just curl up and go to sleep for the night. He said if we had water, we would have, but we didn't have and he said we couldn't stay there for the night without it. So we were back to the 911 option.

To be cont'd..... =)

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 3 ..... And now it gets very interesting.....

2011-10-11T08:35:00.001-05:00

After we left Granny's we started back on the trail.

Here is another just beautiful spot.

I love the Buffalo River.

It is so beautiful.

So we went by the river for a way and came upon this fishing pole just leaning against this tree.
For some reason I found it funny =)

And then I saw a campsite just a few hundred feet away =)

We had stopped to get sand and dirt out of our shoes and we were off again.

Up the path we went.....

Past some beautiful bluffs and rocks.....

And then across this creek bed.....

Looking around.....

Trying to find the path we were to be on....

We walked and walked and came across some campers and they told us we needed to go back the way we came.....

So back we went.....

Getting nowhere.....

Went across this creek bed.....

Again.....

And then Dick just almost stepped on this bad boy.....

A TARANTULA!!!

As we went back across these rocks again I told Dick this creek bed was of the devil.....

I am telling you, this was some tough walking.....

So we headed up to the falls trail, knowing that there was a trail that went around it up to the top to the .8 mile marker that we knew and out to the car.

So we started to the falls.....

we walked.....

and walked.....

and came across some more campers who said it dead ended by the falls and we'd have to turn around,

but Dick was sure that there was a trail that went around the side of the falls.

Let me reiterate that we had been here before and Dick more times than I.

He knew there was another trail around the side.

So he decided that he would walk on ahead of me, because by this time, I had greatly slowed us down.

So I was just kind of walking at a slow pace and Dick had gone ahead, I was trying to keep him in sight, but I just couldn't walk fast enough. So I just went at my pace and thought he'd find me on the path and wouldn't have to walk so far to catch up with me.

So the trail got smaller and a little non-path like =)

And then I came across a huge tree.....fallen on the path.....

this tree was So big that I couldn't go under it, because I can't crawl on these knees,

and it was so big that I couldn't get over it because if I had I'd had to jump off the tree to get down.

*sigh*

So I figured I better get back to the path I knew was a path and wait for Dick.

I didn't like being seperated and decided that had been a bad idea.

So I sat down on a tree root on the path I knew was a path and prayed.

And then I waited .....

I wasn't scared..... I knew Mr. Winslow would move heaven and earth to find me....

God gave me peace.....

It was about 5:00 and in the woods we knew it would start getting dark soon.....

So I waited for Dick.....

And pretty soon here he came.....

What a beautiful sight!!

I was so happy to see him.....

He said he'd even tried to call me..... but our cell phones had no signal down under the mountain.....

But when he got to me he said, "This is very bad news....."

It was a dead end.

Again.

So we headed back down the falls trail.

A very long way back down the falls trail.....

So when we got back down to the place where the above fishing pole is, we saw some campers building a fire for night fall.....

We asked which way to go and they told us what they thought,

so we headed in another direction and then came across some other campers and talked to them and they told us to go back by the campers we'd just asked and take that path.....

Ok.

So now we just weren't sure......but we knew this for sure.....

we were lost.

And it was going to get dark.

So we went by those campers and on that path for quite a while and then came to a huge tree in the middle of the path. At this point Dick said, "I cannot believe this!"

So we went around the tree and this is where we ended up.

Yes this was not good.....

It was full of stickers and poison ivy, oak and probably any other type of deep wood poison....

Then we looked up the hill and there was the path we were to be on and so to get to it we had to climb out of this place.

no path.

just stickers, thorns, poison, mosiquotos and remember we'd already seen a tarantula.....

EEK!

So here is my Mr. Winslow, climbing out of here. If you look closely you can see the top of this thing where the trail is, it was way up there.....

So when he got up there he hollered down that this is where we needed to be and I was going to have to climb up there.....

Ummm.....okay.....

So I headed through all this craziness to Dick.....

When you got to the top it was like sand and you literally had to crawl your way up,

digging your nails and everything else for that matter into the sand and dirt to get on up to the path.

Dick saw I was in trouble, so he climbed down a little ways and grabbed a tree, and handed me his hand.....

So I took it and held on for dear life and as I grabbed onto a little tree with my other hand,

Dick said THAT'S POISON!!!

terrific.

So yes I put my hand in poison and we had nothing to clean it off with.....

terrific.

Well, Dick pulled me up and then I saw what he was holding onto.

a twig people. a twig.

He corrected me and told me it was a sapling.

It was a twig.

God was holding onto that tree, that Dick was holding onto, and I was holding onto him.

If not, that tree would have given way, and me Dick and the tree would have made our way back down the thorny, poisoning mountainside the hard way!

So now we are on the right path.....

Out of water, but happy we had found this path.....

And then Dick started seeing familiar sights.....

I was SO happy!

And he saw the Falls Path that he knew was there.

He was so frustrated.

If we could have found that, we could have saved ourselves.....

MILES.

anyway.....

About this time I looked up and saw the moon.

It was almost full.

Again I saw God's provision for us.

So we walked.....

and walked.....

And then had to start climbing......

and by this time we are well out of the little water we'd had.

We were thirsty and bone tired.

but happy to be getting out of here,

but let me tell you.....

the climb was CRAZY!!!!!

We found a rythm though.

Mr. Winslow had my hand and everytime we came to a rock stair we had to climb up,

he'd go up first and then pull me up.....

so tiring for him I know, but my legs and hips were just spent and we still had a very long way to go.

We were not at our .8 mile marker yet.....

It was going to be awhile.....

much longer than we knew at the time......

before we would get to the car.....

a very long, adventerous time.....

So yes, I must put you on hold again.....

But let me kind of set the stage for you.....

It is now about 7:30 PM and we had been hiking since 12:30 PM, and we had been out of water for a very long time.

We were so tired and thirsty.

And hurting.

And we were still walking.....

We kept saying to each other:

Spirit over flesh, Spirit over flesh.

We knew God was with us.

He never left us.

And this story is about to take a very hard turn.....

We never left His sight.

To be cont'd.....

Beauty in the HIdden ..... Part 2..... Hiking to Granny Henderson's and then.....

2011-10-10T20:32:00.001-05:00

So the very first time, I went to Hemmed-In Hollow, (many years ago) Mr. Winslow had a secret he was keeping.....

Yes this adorable guy right here was keeping a wonderful secret.....

Now my pics are out of order, so I will have to just tell you the beautiful secret he was keeping was

this little old cabin out in the middle of these beautiful woods.

I have a thing for little cabins.....especially really old ones that are all run down.

I imagine Thanksgiving and CHRISTmas dinners and beautiful family time.

Cards being played around the table, wrapped in blankets in front of the stove in the middle of winter.....

Yes I have a vivid imagine..... =)

Here is where Granny Henderson cooked....

And these stairs.....

Get out of town!!!

And here is sweet Granny Henderson.....

Her and her husband moved into this cabin in 1912 and Granny lived there until 1979.

Her husband died in 1956, so she lived there for 23 years alone.

She had no electricity and no plumbing, but she was happy.

She finally had to move, because the park board moved into the area and pretty much forced her out.

She only lived a few months after she moved out.

So sad.

She was resourceful and beautiful.

We read her story everytime we come.

We love this old cabin.

I alwas feel so nostalgic every time I come here.

It is a hike. I mean a SERIOUS hike to get here, but it is SO worth.

I will never forget the first time my Mr. Winslow brought me here.....

He knew my love of old houses and so he hid my eyes and guided me down the path to Granny's house.

Then he pulled his hands away from my eyes and said: "Ta-Da!!"

It took my breathe away.

And still catches me off guard.

I mean it is seriously in the middle of what some people say is nowhere,

but I say it is right in the middle of somewhere,

somewhere beautiful.

Now here I am just before we got to Granny's.....

My man and I.....

I love him so.....

I trust him completely.....

We are even closer now.....

Things are about to get interesting.....

Here is the side of the Granny's house.....

And this is one of my favorite parts of Granny's house.....

I LOVE the top part of this house.....

This was a really wonderful house and cream of the crop for the day.....

I would say Granny's Mr. Henderson really wanted to make a beautiful, solid house for her.....

Oh let me tell you, he did.

Thank you Grandpa Henderson!

*****

So this is where our journey starts to get really interesting.

Seriously interesting.....

Hold on.....

To be cont'd.....

Beauty in the Hidden ..... The Story of Hemmed-In Hollow Part 1

2011-10-10T10:02:00.001-05:00

I would like to start by saying that Dick and I are fine; recovering, but fine.

We had quite an experience in the woods, but I want to start with telling you our story from the beginning. Many things happened from the start, that aided in the very hard part of the story by the end, and I don't want to forget, so I want to chronicle it here.

Friday evening, Dick and I decided that we would go hiking in Hemmed-In Hollow in AR.

It is a very hard hike, and I was so excited that he thought my knees were to the point

that we could do such a trek. And a trek it is.

It is about a 4 mile round trip, but it is no ordinary 4 miles.

It is filled with deep rock stair cases, deep crevices and bluffs and very uneven walking for a lot of it.

It is not for the faint of heart or ill-prepared.

And we?

Were of the ill-prepared description.

And that is so odd for us.

You see we are NOT novice hikers.

We have been hiking together for years.

We know how to prepare.

We know we bring things "just in case".

Things we have NEVER had to use, and yet we still bring them.

Except for this time.

I guess, we were just thinking a nice day hike. We'll be back with plenty of day light.

No problems. No worries.

We knew better.

We didn't get to Hemmed-In until about 12:30 pm.

That was one of our first big mistakes.

We should have started much sooner.

Our first big mistake was we only brought one bottle of water; one small bottle, for the two of us.

Crazy.

When we got there we started down the right trail.

This is one of many stone stair cases that we went down (and up) that day.

Very long stair cases.....

I really want to focus, in this post, on the goodness of this day.

We found this unusual uprooted tree to take pics in front of.

My Mr. Winslow.....

Be still my heart..... Now and Always!!!

This is one of many trails we took on Saturday.....

So beautiful!

So very beautiful.....

Here is a mushroom ..... a beautiful musroom we found that day.....

So much beauty to be found.....

This is such a beautiful place in God's creation.

I was thanking Him all day.

I was repeating my SSMT Scriptures all day and so enjoyed God's Creation.

Even in the tough circumstances that proceeded,

we chose to give God Glory for it all.

He was with us.....

He loves us.....

We NEVER lost sight of this

and He NEVER lost sight of us.

*****

I will be continuing this post in a little bit.....

I really don't like keeping you hanging, but I really want to give this day and the gift of life, the time it deserves.

I want to remember all the events of this day.

This day changed us.

This day was beautiful.

Hard, but beautiful.

I Peter 1:6-7 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor, when Jesus Christ is revealed."

(The above is my SSMT this time.)

I love Him so!!!!!

To be cont'd.....

Days of Beauty..... Simple Beauty

2011-10-06T12:38:00.001-05:00

So today I wanted to show you a couple of simple things I'm doing to add beauty to our Autumn days around here.

First of all, please visit Monica's blog to see more beautiful ways to put beauty into your every day.

*****

Now onto the easiest way I know to add simple beauty:

a Grandbabe =)

Here is Sir Cuteness all wrapped up in my prayer shawl that RJ made me for CHRISTmas last year.

This prayer shawl is such a Blessing to me and SO warm and cozy.

When I am feeling down, I will go grab it and wrap around my shoulders,

knowing that I am wrapping myself in prayers.

What a precious gift!!!

And a G-babe wrapped in my Prayer Shawl:

Blissful.

I received a comment yesterday on my blog from Abbi.

She is also participating in "Days of Beauty" and she has a beautiful blog.

She posted yesterday a heart wreath she made for their door and I thought, Ya know I need to change mine.

I've had the same thing on my front door for MANY seasons now.

So I decided to change it and start doing seasonal crafts for my front door again.

So a few months ago I went to our local Dollar General and they had this cute little metal sunflower (my favorite flower) calendar. It was so pretty and was on clearance for only $1. So I snatched it up.

When I got it home, I realized the calendar was messed up and you couldn't really use it for a calendar,

so I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but decided I'd figure out something.

So today I repurposed it and now it is a lovely addition to our front door =)

I left the top half alone and....

I added some Tim Holtz craft resist paper with a little Orange Marmalade Distressing Ink to the bottom half, where the messed up calendar part was.

I added some yellow polka dotted ribbon and added "Welcome" in some beautiful K & Company letters.

I glimmer misted a paper doily with yellow glimmer mist and added a beautiful large yellow flower to the top of it and added a little more yellow polka dotted ribbon and orange bow.

I really like the way it turned out ~ ~ really cute.

I also made a couple cards last night while the boys watched "Transformers".

I was not interested so I retreated into my craft room =)

I made this one for a certain hazel eyed, tall drink of water, college boy =)

I made a pocket for the inside to possibly slip maybe a card of some sort in there =)

He might have mentioned his Star Bucks card was empty =)

I may have to remedy this problem today =)

So I know these are just simple things, but they haved added a little simple beauty to our surroundings.

Let me know if you have something lying around that you think might be able to be turned into something crafty for your cozy cottage space and I'll see if I can give you some ideas.

Have a Super Blessed Day ~~

I love you ~~

Days of Beauty....

2011-10-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

So yesterday, I sat in my doctor's office for my yearly exam. I love my doctor and love the atmosphere that is created in her office. It is one of beauty and rest.

Weird. But true. I feel peaceful there. Like all is well. It is the doctor's office.

Weird. Iknow.

Anyway.....

My appt was moved from 9:00 AM to 12:45, because she had to do a C-section. I didn't mind. I never do, because my doctor is worth it. She treats me like I'm her only patient. Seriously. She sits and talks, not just chit chat but talk. I love her.

It is beauty. For a doctor to not just listen, but to hear you, there's beauty in that. And my doctor is beauty personified.

She did my exam all was well, but she did feel a ridge on the left side, up top, ya know what I mean :). But she said nothing to worry about.

Beauty.

So today, I went in for a routine mammogram.

The blanket hanging from the wall: Beautiful.

The smile on the ladies face that greeted me: beautiful.

I fill out paper work, start to read my new Kindle book, "Beautiful in His Eyes" by my dear sister in Christ Lisa Shaw; beauty.

They call my name. I go back to finish paper work. Lady: Beautiful. Conversation: Lovely.

Then..... They wouldn't do the mammogram today, because of the ridge the doctor felt yesterday. There is beauty.

They rescheduled for a diagnostic next week. There is beauty.

God is so faithful. And no matter what this life holds there is beauty in that; always in that.

So I came to the coffee shop to read, think, drink in beauty.

Yes, these are days of beauty; no matter the outcome.

Father,
Thank You for the beauty of a life well-lived day to day in You. There is nothing like it and nothing I would trade for it. You are my All-in-All no matter what this life holds for me. You hold my hand and You hold my heart. I love You so. In Jesus Name, Amen

May you find Beauty in him, no matter your circumstance today.

I love you ~~

Days of Beauty.....

2011-10-03T17:45:00.000-05:00

Well hello there ~~

Monica over at The Homespun Heart, is having a "Making Your Home a Haven" week, part of her "Days of Beauty" month over at her blog.

I so love this idea and wanted to join in.

I don't know if I will be able to post every day this week (I'm even late getting todays up),

but I want to do what I can.

As I thought about "Days of Beauty", my mind went back to the day when I went out of my way to make sure that my house was truly a beautiful haven. Now with the knee surgeries and such over the last three years or so, it has been difficult to have my house the way that I used to, but I have learned so much over these last three years and how to breathe into the season I am and let some things go.

I am very happy to say that my heart has been rekindled with all things home and hearth and I'm so happy that Monica is doing this in this week. Perfect timing.

God's timing.

So in honor of days of beauty, I wanted to share with you outside and beauty and inside beauty that we have been enjoying lately.

Last week Sir Cuteness and I hit the trail, literally.

We went to our local Nature Center and had LOADS of fun!!!

He is the sweetest thing.

We talked about the animals and how God created the trees and the sky and he and I.

It was so wonderful!!

He is so cute!!

Look at these beautiful logs.

Beautiful.

Sir Cuteness LOVED them!!

He looked all day for moose.

Sadly we didn't see any.....

oh wait, we don't have moose in this area.....

oh well, we still looked.....

and he still asked a senior citizen gentleman if they'd seen any moose.....

So funny!!!

I love this kid SO!!!!!

Me and my sweet G-Babe!!

I LOVE the way he is hugging me in this picture.....

He loves his gamma so.....and I'd have it no other way =)

The feeling is OH SO MUTUAL!!!!!

Then on Friday, Papa surprised us and stayed home from work for our anniversary.

So what did we do?

Yep headed back to the Nature Center to find moose.

Sadly, no moose.

But we did see deer this time and Sir Cuteness was OVER THE MOON EXCITED

about that .....

Days of Beauty indeed.....

So I wanted to share with you are table today.

My Mr. Winslow cleaned the kitchen for me this weekend.

He is so wonderful..... SO WONDERFUL!!!

He does this a lot..... He knows I hurt sometimes .....

and even though he works A LOT, he still pitches in and helps me with the house work.

I LOVE HIM SO!!!!!

So I got some apples at our local orchard a couple of weeks ago,

and have so enjoyed displaying them on our table.

And they are handy, so we can choose fruit more readily =)

And there has been some of this going on recently too.....

Yep, Peanut Butter Brownies for my man.

He loves them.....oh and so does Chase and Sir Cuteness and Legs and Dak =)

So good!!!

And just to keep it real.....

this is the desk in my craft room.....

Yep lots of crafty goodness going on in there,

but that also makes a BIG mess!!!!!

Cleaning this mess is on my to-do list this week =)

Does anybody recognize that canvas?

Yep it is coming a long nicely =)

So I hope that you are cultivating Beauty in your surroundings too.

Even if it is a little pumpkin at your desk tied with a little rafia or string.....

Or maybe a ceramic dish with candy corn or M & M's.....

something that is a little extra sparkle to your world this week.

I'd like to leave you with a verse that is on Monica's blog that is speaking volumes to my heart right now.....

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength." ~ Isaiah 30:15

Have a Blessed and Beautiful Day ~~

For wherever thou goest, I will go.....

2011-10-01T13:09:00.003-05:00

13 years ago (yesterday) Dick and I promised before God, the preacher and the preacher's sister :) to love and honor each other.

This is the man I dream with, talk to, laugh with, cry with, and love like no other.

He has held my heart for ever so long now, even when I was anything but loveable.

He saw through my brokeness and loved me unconditionally.

I have never been loved the way this man loves me.

I have never loved anyone the way I love him.

Here we are at our reception that was held for us in November after we were married in September.

I love him so much!!!

Ahhh..... my sweet Dak..... So sweet, then and now =)

Me and my man!!!!!

About 3 years ago, I had professional pics taken to give to Dick for CHRISTmas.

He loved my dress, so I thought I'd take some in my dress to give him.

And I LOVED my dress and LOVE getting pretty for him.

It's one of my favorite things.

I want to always look forward to being pretty for him.

So to my dear man,

Baby, I love you so much. You are the paint on my canvas!! =)

You are so sweet and kind and you love me like no other, and I love you like no other

I am so thankful for you.

Here's to 13 more years.....and 13 more after that.....and 13 more after that!!!

Love your Petrii ~~

Sunflower Mixed Media Canvas.....

2011-09-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon my Blog-pal lovelies.

How are you?

This video took me like four or five takes to get it the way I wanted it and still I would change it, so I decided to just post it =)

I made a mixed media canvas and wanted to share it with you.....

enjoy.

I love you so ~~ have a Beautiful day ~~

A Good Foundation.....

2011-09-26T15:55:00.000-05:00

Dak came to visit last week and saw a multi-media canvas I did for my craft room.

He really liked it and asked if I would make him one for his dorm room.

Okay, let's just stop a minute and smile shall we?

How sweet is it that my college boy likes his mama's art and wants one on his dorm room wall?

Ahhhh.....

Okay, let's move on =)

He told me kind of what he wanted and so my mind got to thinking on it.

I researched some different things and came across a technique very similar to mine, but with a different foundation than mine, so I decided to try it.

I generally do a scrapbook paper, dress pattern type of foundation.

Well this particular artist used newspaper as her foundation and then painted over it for texture.

I loved that idea, so I went out and bought me a paper, and then started thinking.....

I didn't feel good about that foundation.....

Did I really want the depressing world news as a background for artwork that would hang in my son's room? Ummmm..... no.

So I started thinking again about what I could use and it came to me.

We have a big box of books in our garage that we are going to sell or get rid of.

We don't read them anymore and they are collecting dust,

so I decided to go out and recycle =)

I also am needing some hard back book covers for some altered projects I'm working on for CHRISTmas, so I got to work.

I found a book "Wild at Heart" and went to work.

I know that some of you might be cringing thinking that I destroyed this book, but I assure you that it is going to a very good cause: a good foundation.

And I will be using the cover as well. So I am repurposing and reusing a VERY GOOD book!!!

At the heart of this project is a good foundation.

It is important to me.

If you get something from me in the mail, it will have a good, thought out prayed over foundation.

It is important.

Really important.

And then I take this good foundation and add some white acrylic paint.

It makes such an interesting background.

Yes it covers up some of the words, but it lends itself to such texture and character.

The foundation of a project and a person is so very important.

It is what we are built on.

If we have a solid foundation, built on the LORD JESUS CHRIST, we are strong, we are courageous.

This project means so much to me.....

I'll keep you posted =)

And speaking of projects.....

I wanted to show you this little bit of cuteness.....

This is a little card I whipped up to hold my SSMT this time.

LOVE this verse!!!!!

And speaking of love and cuteness.....

Sir Cuteness......

Have.you.ever.?.

He is so sweet!!!!!

Love you ~~ Have a Beautiful Day ~~

All I can't do .....

2011-09-24T21:59:00.002-05:00

PALES IN COMPARISON TO ALL HE CAN DO!!

I'M BELIEVING GOD FOR SOMETHING BIG!!!

HOW ABOUT YOU??

Oh beautiful Tuesday.....

2011-09-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

So what do you do on a beautiful Tuesday with your beautiful Sir Cuteness?

Well have a picnic in front of the garage in the shave (*shade*) of course =)

We thought about the library, but it was so pretty here today we decided to venture outside.

He picked the spot, I packed the lunch and made the sweet tea (be still my heart =) and off we went!!

I make this little apple throw a few years back.

(Don't be too impressed, it was EXTREMELY easy =)

But it is a little cusioney and really soft and made a nice little picnic blanket.....

Oh my stars.....so cute!!!!!

I packed a delicious lunch of bologna sandwich, complete with a little mayo and cheese +

some tostito's of course..... and I had a soy chicken on an english muffin with rice cheese and chipotle mayo.....

We shared silly faces.....

And an apple.....

And hugs.....

And more silly faces =)

Oh and our picnic? Yes completely bare footed.....

We'd have it no other way on this fine day ~~

We drank sweet tea from the carafe and shared pickle jar.....

And rode the picnic basket.....

And showed off our Smurfette tatoo and was just so stinkin' cute I could hardly stand it!!!!!

We hugged the carafe.....

And read a library book.....

Then we jumped on the trampoline, played baseball, played chase the baseball, ran around the house (literally) and then took a walk with our wagon and caught grasshoppers and picked the neighbor's flowers (with permission of course).

Now he is napping and I am resting. WOW!!! Now we have had a FUN, FUN DAY!!!!!

I hope yours has been filled with the love of Jesus and lots of memories too.

*****

I get to see my bestie G this afternoon ~~ YAY!!!

And Dak this evening ~~ YAY YAY!!!!!

WOW ~~ I am a well-Blessed woman!!

Because then tonight I will get to lay down next to the love of my life and have a cute little curly headed three year old tucked safely in between us, saying prayers and asking us how are day was.

Yes, I will tell him.....

I've had a good day.

Love you ~~ Have a Blessed and Beautiful Day ~~

In Him,

Hesed Revisited

2011-09-18T11:09:00.001-05:00

I am finding this study on Hesed fascinating.

The title of one of the sections in my reading on "The Gospel of Ruth", which is by all accounts fascinating and intriguing, is: "The Trouble with Hesed". Now if Hesed is so wonderful then how could there ever be any trouble with it?

That is an interesting question and one I found myself wondering about as I read, because how could there be any trouble with YHWH's Hesed?

The trouble comes in, when you feel, as Naomi did, that the LORD's Hesed had been taken from you, or maybe that you feel like He isn't showing you Hesed on a particular part of this journey through life.

There have been times in my life when I could relate to that. When my sister and husband died within three months of each other back in 1986, those tragedies became part of my story. I didn't feel like God was showing me any kindness, Hesed, during that time. Oh how I was wrong!! I just didn't know enough at the time to recognize it.

Fast forward some 22 years. We (my Mr. Winslow and I) have been on quite a journey with a family member we love so dearly. The choices that have been made have been very hard to understand. The last 2 1/2 years have been quite a journey. A journey both of pain but also of extraordinary Hesed by my Abba. He has held me more than I have walked I assure you. I have been broken and humbled in ways I didn't know I needed to be.

I thought at one point that I would drown in the deep rivers of sorrow that sin produces. Watching it so closely, through the life of this dearly loved person, has given me new insights and understanding into how much the enemy desires to thwart the plan of God in our and our loved ones lives. Oh but God.

He has saw this differently and has worked in incredible ways to help me see it differently as well. I am a changed woman for sure because of this journey of pain and hope; Great Hope.

My hope is in Jesus. That is where I place my heart and existence, firmly in Him. At the beginning of this current season of my life, I could not imagine that God could use me to help anyone again. How could I help and give hope to anyone when inside I was so broken and hurting so badly myself. Oh but God. He just sees things so differently than we do.

I'm so thankful that while I wallowed around in "what do I do now" mode, that He was all the while pointing me, teaching me and loving me so well with Hesed and showing me how to show it to others.

I'm so thankful for this journey of pain. It has brought me and is continuing to bring me so much closer to Him. He is opening up doors that just would not have been open had the last 2 1/2 years not been fraught with pain and seeking. Oh precious seeking. He is moving in us and we are listening and obeying and believing the best is yet to come!!

I want to leave you with a paragraph from this book that has touched me deeply:

"If someone gives you a pair of gloves when the sun is shining and your hands are warm, it doesn't mean that much. If your well-fed and have plenty of food in your cupboard, a sack of grain and a ready- to-eat meal seem ordinary and perhaps a little boring. Prosperity tends to dull our senses to the presence of God's Hesed in our lives. But, when trouble strikes and you're sitting in the darkness with a heart that aches for Him, the slightest sign of His Presence is monumental. A load of grain, a cooked meal, or a pair of gloves sends a signal -- faint though it may be -- that He is here and He has not forgotten. Naomi's experience is a lot like watching a heart monitor gone flat and suddenly seeing the flicker of a pulse. It is an exhilarating moment -- the best possible news for the despairing Naomi, for now she knows God's Hesed is still here and it is meant for her."

God's Hesed is still here child and meant for you.

I love you ~~ In Him,

Hesed

2011-09-16T06:50:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks I have been working on a Bible study from the book of Ruth. It is "The Gospel of Ruth" written by Carolyn Custis James.

It has been a very thought provoking and heart examining book. It has covered such topics as widowhood and infertility, both of which are roads I have journeyed down. They were difficult and sad roads and my heart goes out to anyone who has traversed down these paths. My heart has been tendered by the plights of Ruth, Naomi, Orpah and Boaz. I am learning so much.

I wanted to share with you the rich and beautifully selfless love and care that Boaz showed to our two lovely ladies; Ruth and Naomi. He showed them Hesed. Carolyn describes Hesed:

A little help from Hebrew scholars, we can come a little closer to the meaning of Hesed..... They tell us Hesed is a strong Hebrew word that sums up the ideal lifestyle for God's people. It's the way God intended for human beings to live together from the beginning -- the "love-your-neighbor-as-yourself" brand of living, an active, selfless,sacrificial caring for one another that goes against the grain of our fallen natures."

Wow and does it ever go against our fallen grain doesn't it, but the closer we get to God in our daily lives the closer we are to being able to show Hesed to someone else.

She goes on to say:

"It's actually the kind of love we find most fully expressed in Jesus. In a nutshell, Hesed is the gospel lived out."

I love that. Jesus lived Hesed, kindness, love, pure joy... to it's fullest potential. We are to show that to others. Much like Boaz showed to Ruth and Naomi. In that culture, what Boaz did was truly remarkable. He went far above and beyond what was expected of him. His heart truly went out to the plight of these two women. It moved him to action on their behalf, regardless of what the culture of that time dictated he should do.

I want my love and kindness to exceed what the world that I live in says is enough. No I truly desire to show His kindness and love to the point of Hesed. As a daughter of the King, I must show that kind of kindness to others, because of all He has done for me.

Father,
Thank you for showing me Hesed through Your Son Jesus Christ, who lived Hesed perfectly. He is my example, and I will follow Him to the best of my ability! Thank You for loving me and desiring Your best for my life. I love You so ~~ Amen

Let's try this, shall we?

2011-09-15T08:55:00.000-05:00

So over the weekend I was the recipient of a beautiful gift from my Mr. Winslow. We had talked at my birthday about getting me an iPad but I had spent most of my money on two certain college bound lovelies and so had very little $$ to contribute myself. So this past weekend he was asking me how much money I had saved for the iPad. To which I had not quite half and half was my goal to save for it well at least that much. Well my man pulled out the rest of what I needed to make half and told me to get the rest out of our account and go get it.

WHAT??!!!

So boys and girls this is the voyage run of posting on the iPad. This is an app so we'll see how well it works.

Okay, off to get Sir Cuteness, but I'm working on another post and plan on having it up this afternoon.

Love you so ~~

Random Friday on Monday =) Birthday Edition

2011-09-05T12:46:00.000-05:00

OH MY STARS ~~ It is SO good to be back!!!

I have been having trouble with blogger.again.

But now I'm back.

So in honor of me being back.....

let's Random Friday post on this Labor Day Monday.....

Is it me, or has this weekend gone REALLY FAST?!!

*****

anyway.....

So my birthday was on August 26th, so last Friday, and I had such a wonderful day.

I am a Well Blessed Woman!!!

First, G took me and Sir Cuteness to Lola's for lunch.

Now let me just say, if y'all live in the area and have never been.....shame on you and GO.

And if you don't live in the area, when you come to visit your blog buddy in MO, because I know you want to RJ, Jacquie, Stephanie, Meredith..... =) I will take you to lunch at Lola's and we will bask in the blueberry poppy seed dressing and coconut cake, among other things =)

anyway.....I digress.....

Here is Sir Cuteness, doing what he does best, being cute =)

I'm pretty sure it's his love language.....I KNOW it's mine =)

Oh.my.stars. he is the cutest thing in an "I Love Grandma" t-shirt going.....

Just stayin' ~~

Do my hands look older, or is it just me?

Yep, they are another year older too....

When I told Leggs my hands looked older,

she said they just looked used.

Yep made me feel NO better =)

And here is G and I.....

Ya know hanging out on my birthday.....

Me smiling, her smirking.....

Yep, it's the way we roll =)

By-the-way, she looked so pretty that day and I looked so sloppy,

but in my defense it was Friday which is Bear Wear day (every Friday if you are an MSU'er or have a kiddo at MSU, Friday's are Bear Wear Day, so my birthday was on a Friday, so I donned my Bear Wear), that and it was my birthday after all =)

So thanks for looking so pretty G, and so sorry I was, well dressed down at best =)

Oh I wish I'd taken a picture of Sir Cuteness's food.....

It was a muffin tin and each section had a different food..... like,

one section had turkey, another cheese, another carrots, another a dish of ranch dressing, and so on.....

It was SO cute!!!! And he LOVED it!!!!!

And then for dessert it came with a cookie that he got to pick out.

So he picked out the apple sugar cookie of course and I put whipped cream on it from my Homemade Angel Food Cake. It was SO good!!!!!

And I might have put a little on his nose =)

Bliss.

Sheer. Total. Bliss.

I love this mouth!!!!!

OH my stars ~~ He is THE sweetest thing!!!

And then that afternoon Dak, Legs, K and 2 Suite Mates made their way home.

Dak came running in before everyone else.....

Bounding into the house and hugged me SO TIGHT!!!!!

This was the hug!!!!!

Oh.my.stars.

Bliss.

Do I look short?

Why yes, yes I do =)

K coming in to hug me.....

And Leggs.....

The Group.....

I LOVE these three so!!!!!

Ahhh.....it is good to be loved!!!

The gang....that is E, the girl's suite mate and S, Dak's suite mate.

So glad they came to see me too =)

So cute.....

I'm not the only one who has really missed Dak.....

So sweet.....

I'm trying to show him how to accept his award letter stuff.....

Yeah, does he look like he's paying attention?

No. No he's not.

So there you have it ~~ it was a Beautiful Birthday.

That evening when everyone had gone, Mr. Winslow and I ate pizza and watched Soul Surfer, which is a GREAT movie, by the way, and then on Saturday he took me to town and bought me a tool bag. I have been wanting one for a really long time. I need a central place for my screwdriver's and such and needed some new ones, so he fixed me up and took me to lunch at Zio's. SO YUMMY!!!!!

And then this past Saturday (day before yesterday) Leggs took me to my favorite coffee shop and out to lunch at Zio's again. SO good!!!!! She bought me a mug from my favorite coffee shop and we had THE best time. Then she came back to the house and helped me cook a lovely supper of fried fish, mashed potatoes, corn and cornbread. We thought we were well in the south for a minute instead of just kinda =)

*****

I'm so happy to be back with y'all ~~ hope you are having a beautiful Labor Day ~~

Love you,

What if.....

2011-08-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

.....my greatest disappointments,
or the aching of this life,
is the revealing of a greater thirst
this world can't satisfy.....
and what if trials of this life,
the rain, the storms, the hardest nights,
are Your mercies in disguise.

*****

This is the end of the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. This is my heart right now.....so tender, so raw, knowing that through it all God sees and knows my heart. He sees me..... He knows me....and He is tender toward me and He loves me.

I have been thinking a lot about my relationship with my Heavenly Father and how I want to grow closer to Him with each passing breath. And when I think about this, He reveals in me more and more about what it means to do just that. Time. Precious time, spent with Him. I long for it.....desire it.....need it more than anything in my life right now, and I am SO thankful for the drawing of His Spirit that lives in me, drawing me to go deeper in Him. I am ready. Move in me Father. Teach me. Show me.

.....So what does the song have to do with this? Well, that last part of the song, speaks to me in a deep place everytime. In fact, sometimes, I just play that part over and over. God is speaking. And the part that really gets me?.... "....the aching of this life, is reavealing a greater thirst this world can't satisfy....."

This longing, this thirst, this hunger.....can only be filled by my Abba. No one or nothing else can fill the space that only He can fill. That longing that He gives each of us to Know Him.....really, deeply Know Him. So I am climbing onto His lap, and breathing deeply into the One who loves me the most.

Last night my Mr. Winslow read to me some articles that our Pastor had been Tweeting about and part of that were questions why people don't succeed in the ministry. It made my heart so sad, because I've seen it over and over in other's lives and even in my own. It gave me a deeper desire to succeed in ALL that He calls me to do in this life. Time is precious. So precious. And so limited. So we must make the most of EVERY opportunity. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

So I am embracing all that God has created me to be in Him and I am moving forward.

And in case you haven't heard this song, or would like to hear it again =) .....

I love you so ~~ thank you for reading, commenting and loving us the way you do ~~ have a Blessed day ~~

Dawn's Cottage Corner

What a Happy, Nice, Beautiful Surprise.....

Grace and Verse.....

From Steadfast to Grace.....

Christmas Part 2 ~~

Christmas Part 1 ~~

New Every Morning.....

With All that We've Been Given.....

24

This is CHRISTmas ~~ Nativity & Sir Cuteness

In All My Life.....

~~ Hello December & Merry Swap ~~

The Twelve Tags of CHRISTmas ~~ Day 1

Day 27 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~

Day 24 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~

Day 21 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~

Day 15 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~ Pain

Day 13 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~ Addicted!!

Day 9 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving ~~

Day 9 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving ~~

Day 8 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving ~~

Day 6 & 7 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving

Day 5 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~

Day 4 ~~ Days of Thanksgiving ~~

Day 3 ~~ Days of Thankfulness ~~

We interupt this Halloween post to bring you Hemmed-In Hollow Take 2.....

Random Friday ~~ And they grow up!!

And they dressed up and laughed and giggled and shook their sillies out.....

A Year in the Life.....

Random Friday ~~

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 5 ..... Our Rescue!!!

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 4 ..... More of Our Story.....

Beauty in the Hidden ..... Part 3 ..... And now it gets very interesting.....

Beauty in the HIdden ..... Part 2..... Hiking to Granny Henderson's and then.....

Beauty in the Hidden ..... The Story of Hemmed-In Hollow Part 1

Days of Beauty..... Simple Beauty

Days of Beauty....

Days of Beauty.....

For wherever thou goest, I will go.....

Sunflower Mixed Media Canvas.....

A Good Foundation.....

All I can't do .....

Oh beautiful Tuesday.....

Hesed Revisited

Hesed

Let's try this, shall we?

Random Friday on Monday =) ~~ Birthday Edition ~~

What if.....

Hello December & Merry Swap

Day 27 Days of Thankfulness

Day 24 Days of Thankfulness

Day 21 Days of Thankfulness

Day 15 Days of Thankfulness Pain

Day 13 Days of Thankfulness Addicted!!

Day 9 Days of Thanksgiving

Day 9 Days of Thanksgiving

Day 8 Days of Thanksgiving

Day 5 Days of Thankfulness

Day 4 Days of Thanksgiving

Day 3 Days of Thankfulness

Random Friday on Monday =) Birthday Edition