Thankful Thursday

This morning I am thankful for God's provisions. Not that I'm not thankful all the time, but today I want to share about His most recent provision for us! It tickles my heart, that God knows what we need before we even need it. More than that, I really get touched when God shows His desire for us to have wants, and not just needs. It's amazing how when I focus on the needs, and try to forget about the wants, and put it all in the Lord's hands, where they belong...He shows once again, that He is better at finances than we are! (Why must I constantly forget this, and think that I can do better?!)

Hubby came home with an unexpected $400 on Tuesday. Praise God! That was the day that I was doing so lousy and couldn't even get the strength and energy to cook dinner. So, we went out to dinner. He had to drive, because I couldn't even focus enough to feel safe behind the wheel. We had a wonderful meal, and I was beginning to get some energy back after we ate. (I think my blood pressure was really low amongst other things, so salt picked it back up a bit) Anyhow, then we went to Walmart since I was feeling a bit better, and he picked out a few things he needed for deer season which opens this weekend. I looked around while I was waiting for him, and look what the Lord took me to...

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I had to take it from behind the front door glass to get it all in the picture! These chairs were marked down on clearance, plus you got an extra 25% off at the register. Same thing with the table. I asked hubby if it was okay if I got them, and he said, "YES, absolutely!" So, they were originally $85 for the set and I got them for $42.75! I just knew the Lord brought them to me because they serve a very special purpose. Do you know what that is?

My quiet bible time with the Lord in the morning! Due to my health, I just can't wake up before the kids. We are all night owls, and can't to sleep early. I can't go to bed before hubby and the kids, I've tried. I have to get a good amount of sleep, or it makes my condition worse. So, finding quiet time to read God's Word in the morning, has been such a struggle! And we all know what happens when we don't read daily, it leaves us unprepared for the trials and events of the day. It lets the enemy in to do even more damage in our christian walk and testimony to others. So now, the kids quietly watch cartoons and I go out onto the porch and drink my coffee or juice and meditate on God's Holy, special Word! It is so quiet out there in the morning, and so beautiful! It's been such a blessing these past two days to be out there!

Thank you, God. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making a place for us to meet one on one!

Now if that isn't enough...hubby and I decided to leave the rest in the account for extra groceries, or whatever. We just didn't feel comfortable spending it. Thankfully, we listened to the Holy Spirit's leading, because I found out last night, that somehow, a bill got overlooked, which has NEVER happened to me before, and it was for $98. So, I had the money left over to pay it right away, no damage done! God is so good. He knew. He knew our needs before we even did, and He met them!

So, how did we get the money? It was so unexpected. The Pastor in Wichita that hubby did the install for on our trip, found out that the install didn't cost as much as he was quoted, and he wanted hubby to have the difference! Praise God! Completely unexpected. God used one of His children...a shepherd none-the-less, to bless and answer the unknown need of another child! God is so wonderful, and His ways are truly above our own! May He have all the honor and glory!

This month, Thankful Thursday is being held at Grace Alone. Please take a moment, and link up a post. We have so much to be thankful for. If we don't share, we don't do our part in giving God the glory He deserves!

Bubbles, bubbles, and then there were bubbles!

You are not going to believe what we found at Walmart last night! Well, I'm sure you'll believe what we found, but you won't believe the price!

Every single thing in this picture was bought for $1 each! The kids had been asking for bubbles all summer long, but I wouldn't cave. They are not cheap to buy for 4 kids, and a little girl who spills half the bottle every time. But, we went to Walmart last night for some allergy medicine, and found all this, on clearance. I couldn't believe the price! This is over $40 worth of bubbles and bubble blowers that we got for only $10! Needless to day, the girls are VERY happy and we have been having fun this morning! Praise God for caring about even the little things!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today~ September 7th, 2010

Outside my window~ there is a little ground squirrel reeking havoc in the neighbors tree. He is upsetting all the birds and having a marvelous time doing it! It's so quiet outside in the morning, I love it! It's the only time you can notice little things like this!

On my mind~ the yard. We are still trying to decide which side of the house to park vehicles, and which side to make a sitting/playing area.

I am going~ nowhere today, I hope! I have a lot I want to get accomplished inside the house now!

I am thankful for~ the cooler temperatures we are having. It still hasn't been below 80 during the day, but that's a big improvement. Plus, it's finally cooling off considerably at night, so the mornings are getting better. I LOVE sitting on the porch with my coffee in the crisp, cool morning. I'm so ready to do that again!

I am reading~ Intimate Issues. A book on how God intended married women to be godly and sensuous all at the same time. We are not supposed to be divided in this. I think it's a great book and covers all the questions that we have, which a lot of pastors and older women won't touch.

Right now I'm reading Proverbs in the mornings for daily devotion.

From the kitchen~ I think today I will make Chicken and Cornbread Pie. It just sounds good to me this morning. We got the white chocolate covered pretzels done yesterday, but today we need to the chocolate ones.

Around the house~ Laundry, schoolwork, trash, toilets and tidying up a bit!

From my picture journal~

Some of my mother's beautiful handmade jewlery! Well, that's it for today. Short and sweet. I figured it was better than no daybook post again this week! If you would like to read more or link up one of your own, head over to The Simple Woman's Daybook!

Move It Monday

Well, sorry I'm just now getting a post up. I forgot it was Monday! Holiday's always throw me off. I have been moving it though. We FINALLY are having some reasonable temperatures, so I've been outside for two days doing yard work! So far today, I have:

*Mowed the yard

*Pulled weeds

*Cleaned up stuff laying around the yard

*Moved pavers

*Moved bricks

*Started making a layout for how we want to design the yard

We have too many vehicles for our narrow driveway, so we have been parking in the grass. Well, the grass has turned to mud, and we need to figure out just where we want permanent parking so we can start slowly moving in gravel as we can afford it. I also want to extend the fence next year so that we have the front yard fenced in as well, and not just the back...well, at least part of the front yard. So much that I want to do...we'll see how much I can actually budget in next year. For now, I just want what we have to look kept-up and nice! Happy Labor Day everyone!

Project Organized Home~Shiny Sink

Sorry today's post is so late....oh, let's be honest, we're lucky I'm getting a post up at all! I'm not exactly know for my faithful blogging, especially of Fridays! However, today's post is about a new goal I am setting for myself and my home. If you asked me what the one thing I'm always procrastinating on when it comes to cleaning my home, I'd have to tell you this..."There's two things I'm always procrastinating on, dishes and laundry!" I am perfectly equally bad about both. So, I have already taken baby steps to be better about getting both done. Today I am adding a new step and making a goal for myself. The worst part of my procrastination with dishes, is the sink. I leave it full of stuff that won't go into the dishwasher. I'll rinse all the dishes, and I'll even get everything I can get in the dishwasher washed on some days, but I rinse and leave pots, pans, sippy cups, water bottles, anything that won't go in the dishwasher. I don't have a drain rack, because I don't want anything else in my sink or counter, and I just despise having to wash...quit...dry...wash...quit...dry to get those items cleaned and put away. Sometimes, I'm afraid, it would be a week or more before I washed them and got them out of my sink. So, every night before I went to bed, this is what I would see....

Pretty bad huh? Those plastics on the left side...been there for days. I know, it's horrible! My bedroom just happens to be right off the kitchen. You have to walk through it in fact, to get to my room. There is no other way in or out. So, the last thing I see before I go to bed, and the first thing I see when I get up (other than IN my room) is this sink! So, my new goal is to have a shiny sink every night before I go to bed! That means, all dishes washed! I'm still not breaking down and getting a drain rack, but I will lay out my towel on the counter, and use it for my drain rack. I'll hang it up to dry when I'm done or throw it in the washer first thing in the morning. I've also found a place for storing my soap, rags and scrubbers too, so my sink will be shiny and clear of stuff every night when I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up! I am such a perfectionist, and looking at this mess all the time, really bothers me and puts me in a not-so-hot mood, so this goal should of been set a long time ago, but....baby steps! So, here's my sink now and forever more!!!...

May the Lord give me the strength and discipline to do this every night!

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful for my husband! I know, I post about that a lot...but he gives me so much to be thankful for! He got home late last night from his two day install in Alabama. I know he was tired, and I was getting his dinner heated up for him. He instantly read his girls one of their library books they checked out that day and gave them lots of hugs and kisses! After scarfing down his BBQ chicken sandwich, he was off to the laundry room to try and get my dryer going again. He did it too! It was just like we thought..it wasn't the dryer, it was the outlet. He checked the breaker first, tested the amps in it, but it was fine, so he then tore into the outlet. What he found was that a spiders nest has fried the wires in the outlet. I smelled something burning in the living room the other day, but he said he couldn't smell it. Now, he says it was probably that web in the outlet. He was able to repair it, and I have a working dryer today! Yay! I was about ready to go to a coin laundry, so I am so, so thankful! We have way to many clothes around here to dry them inside, and because of all of our allergies, I can't dry them outside either. I'm once again finding myself so thankful that God gave me a husband who is EXTREMELY handy around the house, garage, car, etc!

This month, Thankful Thursday is being held at Grace Alone. Head over to read more thankful posts, or link up one of your own!

Get Ready...

This is one of the funniest videos I've ever seen in my life! I'm still wiping tears from my eyes! Don't forget to turn off the music on the purple player at the bottom of my blog! Please excuse how big this is, but I don't know how to make it any different!

P.L.A...

Back when I used to watch the tv show Friends, one of my favorite episodes was when Pheobe, Rachel and Monica talked about not having a plan, and Pheobe said, "I don't even have a pla!" I feel like that's where I'm at. I figured up a great schedule for how our day should run, but didn't come up with how I was going to follow through with it! What's a PLAN without follow-through? It's a P.L.A.... So, I will be working on my steps for successful follow through for the next two days! Hubby is out of town doing a two day install in Alabama. I'm going to do some cleaning and organizing while he's gone, and some really good reading since I'll be alone at night after the kids go to bed. I have no schedule for the next two days..we're just going to wing-it and enjoy each other until Daddy comes back home. But, I will in the back of my mind, be coming up with a P.L.A...N! for how we will make our new schedule work when he returns!

Oh, and FYI, please pray for us...the dryer isn't working for some reason. There's only 110 volts going into my 210 outlet, so it's not enough power to run the dryer. I really needed to do laundry today. (sniff, sniff) May the Lord provide the answer and solution we need when hubby returns!

Move It Monday

Here it is Monday again! I have to admit, I had great plans for today, and most of them aren't going to followed through. Hubby couldn't sleep last night, so we stayed up late playing that Frontier game of facebook! How silly! So, I didn't get up on time, and I'm already really behind in the new schedule I layed out. Here's what it was supposed to look like:

7:00am-wake up, start coffee and breakfast
bible reading and prayer time

8:00-8:30-kids breakfast

9:00-Mr. Pure at Heart starts school
Girls watch cartoons
Mr. Know it All starts SOS subjects
Mommy takes shower

11:00-girls start school
Mr. Know it All starts Paces

12:30-lunch

1:00-finish all schoolwork

?-4:00-freetime w/ snack time at 3:00

4:05-cleanup and chores

6:00-dinner

I can't schedule anything after that, because there's no telling what hubby will want to do every night, and I never be able to stick a schedule. That would just frustrate us all, I think! But, since how I didn't wake up until 9:00!(I guess I really needed my sleep) my day is going to have to be adjusted! Plus, hubby just scared my half to death while I was in the middle of this post...he's still home! His work van wouldn't start, so he's at home working on it today. Praise God, he'll get paid for it. But with him home, who knows what my day will really look like?! All I can say is that I will try to keep it moving and have a productive day none-the-less! I wish a wonderful start of the week to you!

Facebook

Okay, so I've never been a fan of facebook. I just feel like they have way too many open doors and am so scared of the lack of privacy. However, I am going to be joining a bible study accountability group, and will need to be on Facebook. So, I am creating my account, and if any of you are already on and want to link up as friends, let me know! It's going to take me a while to figure out how it all works, but I'm hoping it will go smoothly!

Project Organized Home-A Little Help For Autumn

Well, today's post is all about how I'm trying to encourage autumn to make it's way here! Now, I know full well that since we are in the south, we aren't going to enjoy true autumn for a couple more months, but it has been sooooo hot here (and most of the country) this summer. We are ready for a break in these temperatures! I do see some signs of cooler weather on the horizon...

My Kousa Dogwood has beautiful orange fruit now ripening and dropping to the ground! When we came home from our trip, most of my outdoor flowers had died since we weren't there to water them twice a day. They had to be cut down or pulled out completely, so I felt it was time to go ahead and put out the fall flowers!

Every year I put out fake fall flowers in place of where my annuals were. It adds beautiful autumn color that needs no maintenance. They usually last 3-4 years depending upon how much sun they are exposed to. A great investment, really. This year, I'm just putting them out a little early in hopes that I can encourage autumn temperatures to follow!

Every time I take a picture of this area, I realize how badly I need to clean up that brick mailbox! I have done a great job of keeping it weeded though, and it's one of my favorite parts of the yard. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing my color-changing solar lights until we came home and saw them again. They are so beautiful!

This ivy will live through the winter again...it's about 3 years old now. I think next year, I may have to transplant it, instead of just cutting it back. I love it in this pot though. I've had an amber colored solar light in it for a few months, and I just LOVE IT! Now, we have some fall color in it, instead of a spring dogeared begonia!

These sunflowers were left over, so they went at the corner of the ivy bed! It needed some color. One day, I hope to dig up all this ivy and have a nice flower bed here. This is the round brick bed next to the porch. I know it's really going to be a task though to kill all the ivy and keep it from coming back. Well, that was this weeks project for a more beautiful and organized home! Have a great weekend!

Summit Pictures

So, we finally reach the summit of Rocky Mountain National Park and we climb up the tundra trail, and this is what we see!...

The female elk were just sitting there, 20 ft from us at the top of the mountains...just amazing!

It was cold too! I was the only one who was comfortable up there in a short sleeve shirt. Everyone else was freezing or had coats on! I'm thankful that God allowed me to not be cold, and enjoy the experience. I think I got so overheated in Kansas, that nothing was going to make me cold! Plus, I did spend over half my life hiking in these mountains!

It's so cool seeing giant rock formations come out of nowhere at the top of a mountain! They were HUGE too! You know, sometimes when you remember things as a child as being big, when you see them again as an adult, you're a little disappointed, but that sure isn't the case with these rock formations and the mountains as a whole!

There are no trees up this high, just rocks and grass...

This is the closeup picture below...

And here's the one from a distance to give you scale. Can you see the lake in the middle of the picture? Just beautiful to see a little lake just sitting on the side of a mountain! I don't care how beautiful it is, I wouldn't get in it even if you could access it. Do you know how cold that water hast to be? There is still snow on most of these mountains! They just recently opened the road to the summit. It was impassable before.

One last picture for you. People in Southern climates are just amazed that all the snow still isn't melted off in the middle of August up here. The elevation is just so high. This particular mountain was even taller than us, so it stands at least 13,000ft tall! I believe the highest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park is over 14,000ft tall. God's beauty is found everywhere and it's all just spectacular, but I will always be partial to the mountains. My mother and I both, just feel so close to God when we are up here! The beauty of His creation in these mountains is absolutely breathtaking and leaves you speechless for a while...just standing there enjoying it, and trying to take it all in!

I also ended up with three beautiful panoramic pictures that won't load onto here, but they turned out great, and will be on my bedroom wall! I was able to get 5 mountains in one panoramic picture! Thank you for looking and letting me share my homecoming with you!

More Mountain Pics

After the picnic, we drove through Estes Park.

I love seeing all the shops there, and watching the wide range of people there!
This fella was standing outside an Indian shop. I don't know if he's a real Indian, or just trying to make more sales, but it was funny to watch him interact with everyone!

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Then we went on to the Rocky Mountain National Park. These two pictures are from about half way up the mountains. I love the shadows from the clouds!

I really had to zoom in to get the detail on this little river from so high up. I love how curvy it is!

Summit pictures next!

Move It Monday

Well, I'm supposed to me moving it today, but we're a little on the slow side. My back just isn't holding up well to all the hotel beds, and all the time we spent sitting in the van. I accomplished so much yesterday, and I am very thankful for that! Hubby told me to take it easy today though. We don't want to have to pay for a chiropractor visit right now!

I've almost got all our laundry done from the trip, and I've emptied all the suitcases. I just need to put them back in the closets now. All 6 of us tackled the girl's bedroom on Saturday and got it looking great again! They are both finally sleeping back in their own beds now. And of course, with the room looking neat and organized, they are actually playing in there again as well! I thoroughly cleaned the dinning room yesterday but didn't get all the dishes done. I would have, but my darling little 3 year old spilled a whole jug of coffee creamer on the kitchen floor, so I spent that time trying to clean that up...not very fun. So, today I think I'll keep it light and between times of icing my back, I will:

Wash Dishes

Write up boy's school schedule for the week

Schedule Bills

Mop Kitchen Floor Again

Put Away All Clean Clothes

That's all I'm going to try and accomplish. I have some more yard work I want to do. I only got a few weeds pulled yesterday, but that is soooo hard on my lower back. It will have to wait at least a few days. It would be nice to wait for some cooler weather as well! I have a lot of fall landscaping projects that I'd like to do this year. We'll just see if we can get the money for them all! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Mountain Picnic

On Saturday, the whole family got together for a picnic at the base of the mountains. This park is maintained by the city of Loveland and is a great historical park. It used to be a power plant but was ruined by a flood. It now has picnic tables, playground equipment, walking paths over bridges and so much more! They have two spots that you can reserve for things to, but we were just doing the "FREE" casual thing! The picture above is the view up the mountain from the park, and below is the sign placed in front of the old generators.
These are the old generators which they have left here in the park. I think it's cool to look at them and think of what was once here. It's amazing what kind of damage water can do...especially when it's running down the mountains at great speed!

This is a neat little nature building. Inside they have glass covered shelves that show local wildlife, insects, trees and etc. They also teach the differences between the North and South facing slopes. Pretty cool stuff!

And, my favorite part of the park is the Big Thompson River that flows right through it! The sound of the water rushing through is so beautiful! If that was right out my bedroom window, I would sleep like a baby every night! The water is so crystal clear and beautiful! Our picnic table was just above this spot on the river, and it was such a lovely lunch!

I can't tell you how hard it was to leave the park, but we were going up to Estes Park and the Summit of the Rocky Mountain National Park, so I was looking forward to that. Those pictures will come soon!

Rocky Mountain Wildlife

We saw loads and loads of elk while we were in the national park. They love being there, because they can't be hunted within the park. I love it because they will get close enough to you to get some great shots with the camera! These bulls were obviously distracted by something, but we had a whole group of cows (female elk) that were sitting 20 ft from us and were staring right at us! It was great.
My husband obviously missed the sign that says "don't feed the wildlife" but apparently so did a lot of other people since these little critters ate right of his hand! They won't do this on a first time encounter! It was pretty neat though, I must say.

These birds didn't like all the attention the squirrels and chipmunks were getting and they pushed their way in! They were really beautiful though, and to see them up close was great! The kids could of stayed there all day, but the sun wasn't going to stay with us!