ABUNDANCE........

This is a glorious time of the year when our thoughts begin to turn to the many blessings in our lives that we are so grateful and thankful for.  Each day has blessings that we can offer up with thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father!  The farmer has harvested his crop from the growing season and the cooler weather, for us, means more time inside to spend with those we love and want to fellowship with!  God blesses in abundance!  The new mother who is seeing her baby for the first time at birth, a son or daughter returning home from war, the good news that  someone's illness has been healed!  Yes Christ, whose glory fills the skies allows our joys to be abundant!   "I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me."  Psalm 13:6   We can also celebrate our common blessings!  Sunshine and water, a blue fall sky, the first smile on a baby's little face, and the joy and happiness of hearing the voice of someone we love walk through our door!

This small basket on the table, which has been prepared for a fall dinner is simple, nothing  is in the basket, because I wanted my guest to fill it with their thoughts of the abundant ways that God has blessed them in this year of 2010.  Each morning, He welcomes you.  His arms are open.  His mercy and love for you are endless.  You can rest in His powerful and safe presence.  You can hide in Him and let Him take your fear away.  He surrounds you as you take refuge in Him.  As your day begins and ends, I pray that you will pause to think of your own life and your home and no matter what you possess or how your home is decorated the God of Glory dwells with you....... if you invite Him in.  What an abundant blessing we have been given~  "Jesus then came and took bread and gave it to them......"  John 21:13  He offered as a visual thanksgiving for the abundant bounty and provision.  Lord, may our homes be as generous toward all who enter!  Blessings to you to dear friend in this new season.

A Pink Room

Today my thoughts have been centered on a new project I am  soon to assist with!  Someone very dear to me will soon be moving from a crib to her own little room!  Little girl's rooms are so sweet because who can think of a little girl without thinking of PINK!  Of course, not all mommies want their daughter's to be invaded by pink but to me, it's such a sweet part of being a girl and adding a tender and soft feminine side to life.  I have some experience with girls since I am a mother to four daughters!  They all loved pink, early on..... and each one shared or enjoyed a pink room sometime during the years they were growing up in our home.   Little girls add a symphony to our lives!  In just a few words, they can express themselves very cheerfully but strong!  They listen,  but  in turn, we should always listen to their advice and especially their dreams! What a wonderful way to live.....dreaming!  Our job is just to love them and to show them the world is a glorious place because they are a part of our world!  I am thinking pink for this little girl~we will have to see what her Mommy says!  That is what counts!  I'll just listen......and then go to work!  The bottom picture I snapped at The Plaza Hotel on a trip to New York last year and the pink room is one from a magazine  that I just couldn't resist!  Sewing for children brings me much pleasure......little angel's wrapped up as gifts from Heaven touching our hearts forever and ever!!!  Yes....."children are a gift of the Lord!"  Psalm 127:3

A Home Defines Your Style

Decorating for Shelly is a collection of antique finds, expressions of her art, her books, and her travels!

Creative in every venue~a true artist~with HEART and SOUL!

Shelly finds creative ways to store any collection!

New York, Savannah, Los Angeles, Belgium, France, England, Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, and .............

numerous other places of interest~this young woman has lived and traveled!  She is the essence of an artist~a beautiful person inside and out and a heart for all things creative and beautiful.  Her kind and gentle spirit flow from her like water flowing from a spring..... naturally.  She has and always will be the life of a party, walking to her own heart felt beat!  She is truly loved and she inspires all who know her.  She earned a degree with highest honors from Savannah College of Art and Design  a few years ago and the story is still unfolding in beautiful ways!  Her home in the photos above definitely defines STYLE with her own signature everywhere!

All  five of our children growing up had their own style and bents.  Each one, I was blessed to mother and enjoyed each and every day that God gave to me when they lived under our tent~so to speak! Be prepared to learn as much as you teach in life!  I would offer six A's that children need to survive and grow (adults need this too)~this was shared with me years ago and it's so true!

1.  Acceptance
2.  Affection
3.  Appreciation
4.  Availability
5.  Accountability
6.  Authority

Children will be different!  Wise and loving parents  will embrace them with encouragement!  I pray you have a day where you are encouraged.  You are valued and you are worthy!  Psalm 139:14 "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well."

Wow!  What an Artist our God is.....He made you and you are wonderfully made!  Enjoy your weekend!!!

God's Garden

God's Garden

The Lord God planted a garden

In the first white days of the world,

And he set there an angel warden

In a garment of light unfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,

That the hawk might nest with the wren,

For there in the cool of the even

God walked with first of men.

And I dream that these garden-closes

With their shade and their sun-flecked sod

And their lilies and bowers of roses,

Were laid by the hand of God.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

For He broke it for us in a garden

Under the olive-trees

Where the angel of strength was the warden

And the soul of the world found ease.

Dorothy Frances Gurney  1858-1932

I was blessed to spend a few days in Savannah, Georgia visiting my daughter, Shelly and her boyfriend, Jeremy.  Kacie, Luke, and Isabel went also with me and we had such a fun and joyous time.  Shelly is such a GIVER!  When we arrived she had her artist touch everywhere in her home!  She was waiting with open arms and shared her home so graciously.  Right up the street from her home,  I spotted this beautiful garden and it became a place I walked to each morning just to look!  I am hoping to recreate something similar in my own garden.  Right now, my garden is still looking like a wilderness!  I found this poem today and the following verse and wanted to share  them with you~ "He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;  Joy and gladness will be found in it.  Thanksgiving and the voice of melody."  Isaiah 51:3  To me, this says.....when our lives are like a wilderness, that is when God is able to create a garden like Eden, providing beauty and everything we need, He will provide for us and take care of us in a magnificent way! We will find joy and gladness!  I hope that your life is full of joy and gladness but if you are waiting for the garden to grow, be patient......look to Him each day in the morning in the garden!  He has something beautiful, noble, and grand waiting for you~

Lovely

This lovely dining room does not say formal.....to me it says, "Come in!  I'm so glad you're here, I have been waiting for you!"  Can you imagine being greeted in that way when you arrive at a friend's home or when your guest arrives at your house?  We should, for truly when the focus is on the other person that person is made to feel very special.  The table is set with fresh flowers, most likely from the garden, the glasses are ready for a festive drink and the colors are cool and relaxing!  This photo is from~you guessed it~House Beautiful!!!  I hope you have times of refreshment because times of true refreshment come from the Lord!  Acts 3:19

Today, I have had that sort of relaxed and special day.  Sort of a day off from the normal things that I would be working on,  but one that has brought a joy and restoration within my soul.  Today is the birthday of my daughter, Kacie Elizabeth!  We enjoyed lunch together, laughing at the enormous amount of Sushi that we ordered for two people and talking about her blessings of family and her special friends and how much they mean to her.  We had as much Sushi to bring home for dinner......but it was fun and enjoyable to be with such a precious person, a privilege for me because when I am with someone I care about, it is a time of refreshment.  We even had a few minutes to browse a couple of antique shops~such fun in a short amount of time.

Our lives are full, for sure, but it takes just a few minutes to make someone feel special and to say, "Come in!  I'm so glad you're here, I have been waiting for you!"  That is the way Kacie made me feel, even on her own birthday!  What a gift she is to all who know and love her!  Happy Birthday sweet Kacie!

Philemon 20 ........."refresh my heart in Christ."

Life With Benefits.......

Imagination can bring a smile to the face.  Hopefully, we all have a few moments each day to imagine something outside the box of an ordinary routine day.  We can learn to appreciate these ideas by putting them on paper, if we are writers. However an artist or a photographer is especially blessed because their imagination can come to life on canvas!

Each person who is born has a specific purpose designed by a loving God, just for them!  When my children were little and sometimes things were not going as I had hoped and planned, I would quote the verse in my heart, found in the Bible in Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will fulfill, his purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever~do not abandon the works of Your hands."  I would substitute the "for me", with the child's name giving the prayer a personal claim to God's involvement in my child's life.  It always helped!  God stands ready to intervene in our lives in miraculous and amazing ways.  He has a timetable and a divine purpose for each precious life.  His desire is to give us a life with benefits.  Benefits are anything that helps our life be better and fulfill our destiny.  We are asked to pursue righteousness and love if we want to find this life  that He so, so, so desires to give us according to Proverbs 21:21.  There are actions we must take as we walk in His ways and The Lord encourages us to write them on the tablet of our heart-WOW!!!  He knew we would need to keep His words deep within our souls.

Now....to my picture of Clay.  On the day of our daughter, Kara's wedding, Clay was one of the Ringbearers.  The photos from the wedding arrived and when I saw this one that the photographer had snapped, I knew immediately that life does indeed come with benefits!!!  This photo is one of those assurances that says, "LIFE IS GOOD!"  ~ especially in the smile and eyes of a precious eight year old boy.  It was a spontaneous moment.  Dear God~give us all, I pray, more spontaneous moments in our days!  Yes, dear friend, life can and does have benefits!!!  Trust God to give you a good and happy life.  Happy Labor Day weekend to you.  I hope you find time to use your imagination and to do something spontaneous........