Our Fall Mantle

My daughter went online to The Nester's site this afternoon and saw the lovely mantles. She decided that we must put ours on the blog. I confess that I did little to make it so lovely, other than painting the picture, which stays up there year round. She has had all the fun doing the work.

So enjoy our mantle!

Candlelight. Romantic, huh?

We love our cloche! It's so fun to change it out.

Pumpkin pie, anyone?

An interesting backdrop for candlelight

Isn't God good to give us seasons? It is just now cooling off in Arkansas, and we are so very grateful for the change. We have been enjoying our porches and watching the hummingbirds prepare for their long flight south.

Don't forget to thank Him for His wondrous works!


I'm linking today to
The Nester

Pillows, Frugality and the Virtuous Woman

I have always aspired to be the woman praised in Proverbs 31:10-31:

10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Alas, I fall far below the description of the Excellent Wife. But I do give it the old college try! Here are a few things I have done lately to try to be more like the woman in the Proverbs passage.

I made cushions for our banquette seating out of a very inexpensive sale fabric. The covers seemed a bit big for the cushions, so I wrapped them in batting. Perfect!

I was visiting my sister-in-law and she offered me some fabrics that had been given to her. Perfect again! Everything she gave me matched my home. I made these 5 pillows out of fabric that she had given me--except for the blue. It was from chairs that I sold in a garage sale. The lady was going to recover the chairs, so I asked if she would allow me to have the fabric. Voila! Pillows to match the kitchen/breakfast room curtains. I used old pillow forms. New pillows for absolutely nothing! Pretty good, eh?

We needed a longer table to seat our 12 grandkids when they come over for a meal--which is quite often! I kept looking for something just right at a garage sale, and one day a friend called and said that she had found a table on the side of the street and dragged it home. It didn't quite work for us, but we had a large piece of oak left over from a project, and her husband "re-purposed" (my new favorite word) the wood and the table, and here it is. He wouldn't let us pay him for his work. Can you do any better than a free table? Thank you, Bruce. Isn't it lovely?

Notice the bench. We wanted a bench for this side of the table that the younger ones could eat on (to try to preserve the cushions for a few months). I found an old table at a garage sale for $10 with these sturdy legs and casters. My wonderful son-in-law re-purposed it into a bench for the table. I love you, Alex! We are going to paint it the blue in the cushions and curtains. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I made 4 pillows like this for the living room sofas. The others were very tired. I used the pillow forms and fabric that my sister-in-law gave me, and this is what I came up with. I love them, and again--new pillows for free.

Do you think the excellent woman would have been proud of me?
I hope so.

I'm linking to:
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Show off Your Stuff Party
http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2010/09/show-off-your-stuff-43-and-giveaway.html
&
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Transformation Thursdays
http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

The Mad Hatter and Kindness

The table is set for 8 little girls

What does the Mad Hatter tea party have to do with kindness? Have you ever read the account in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? What rude and unkind creatures they were!

A granddaughter made signs for us

They were confusing, too! Alice was the only one who showed any semblance of kindness. We spent our lesson this month discussing that very important part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Little girls can be very unkind to one another, especially if there are three of them. Usually one gets left out.

My heart's desire is that I see my granddaughters showing lovingkindness both to one another and to others.

No tea party is complete without tea pots filled with tea

The virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 showed kindness to her family, her servants, and to those whom her husband associated with. How do we know? The Proverbs stated that "the law of kindness is in her mouth." She spoke kindness to others. Oh, that we all may be virtuous women!

A Mad Hatter Tea Party without Roses? No way!

One of the granddaughters spoke to us about a wonderful role model from the past, a songwriter named Fannie Crosby. Fannie was blind, and she wrote over 8,000 hymns. As a child, she wrote:
“Oh, what a happy child I am, although I cannot see!

I am resolved that in this world, contented I will be!”

Once when questioned about the disadvantage that she had as a blind woman, she said:
"When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior."

(You can go to http://www.1timothy4-13.com/files/hymns/crosby.html and see the multitude of most loved hymns that she wrote.)

Not only is kindness a quality to be desired, but creativity is also an important characteristic of a well-trained young lady. Frugality and creative thinking are qualities that every future husband will love in his bride. I know they are young, but I want to help their parents to train them to be women that will please God and be an asset to those whom He places in their lives--their future husbands and children, and in the meantime the parents who nurture and rear them.

Cute bow, huh?

Actually, the bow was a part of a hat--made from ribbons, cards, flowers, and a plastic bowl and plastic plate tied together with ribbon. Creativity in action!

I made pinafore aprons for each of the girls. The older girls are putting them in their hope chests.

And what beautiful girls, if I do say so myself!

What are some of the ways that you use to teach your children and grandchildren kindness and creativity. Try a tea party! It's a lot of effort, but it works wonders!

(By the way, be sure to go to my granddaughter's blog at http://craftycrafteen.blogspot.com. She is having a fun fall giveaway!)

I am linking to:
A Stroll Thru Life
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/08/28th-table-top-tuesday-fall-living-room.html

Lady Katherine Tea Parlor
Tea Time Tuesday
http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

A Breath of Fresh Air
Tea Pot and Tea Things Tuesday
http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/

The Plumed Pen
Tuesday Tea for Two
Wednesday Tea for Me and Thee
http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

The July Tea Party

I gave you the message from our tea party in the last post. If you haven't read it, please go to the previous post. In essence, that is why I have tea parties.

I must say, the granddaughters love tea parties! They even help me with the themes. We planned to have a red, white and blue party, but for the life of me I couldn't get it to work with my house. So I borrowed my daughter's blue. Everything she has is blue; she has loved it since she was a wee one. I have nothing blue in my entire house, except a little blue mixed with pink and yellow in a nursery room. So instead of red I added yellow to pull in the yellow in the room.

Enough of my decorating scheme. Let's have a party!

You can't have a party without a mess first!

The rain certainly didn't deter some girls from being excited about a tea party. Come to think of it, I think they may have been more excited about the rain!


One can't have a tea party without tea


And food must be mixed in there somewhere


Add a pretty table or two


And some girls in the mix


Voila! A tea party

My goal is to train these young girls to be strong, godly and capable women. The parties have a goal in mind, much more than just to grow pristine primping girls who do nothing but sit around and have parties and go shopping all the time. Someday my prayer for them is that they will be the women of Titus 2:3-4. As an older woman in their lives, I am to train them to "love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."

Do you have tea parties at home? I encourage you to have a theme, a goal in mind, when you go to so much effort. I know it will be worth it in the long haul!

I'm linking to:
Blue Monday
http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/2010/07/blue-monday-blue-candy-review.html
A Stroll Thru Life
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/07/22nd-table-top-tuesday-clock-finials.html

Are You a Good Girl?

Today is the day for my monthly tea party with the granddaughters. One morning as I was walking I felt the tugging of the Lord to share the gospel message with them today. They are 3 to 14 years old, so I knew that it had to be a simple message that they could understand clearly.

The relevance of the gospel message is centered around the fact that we are NOT basically good people who have made a few mistakes. No, in essence we are sinners. Sin has separated us from Holy God and driven us away from Him. We are condemned to an eternity of punishment unless there is intervention in our lives. But how do I help these precious and beautiful little girls to understand that they are not deserving of God's heaven in their own right?

The answer, I believe, lies in the law of God. So today we are going to go to the 10 commandments, found in Exodus 20.

1. Has anything or anyone other than the God of the universe, the Creator, been first in your life? (You shall have no other gods before me)

2. Do you serve the idol of possessions, money, beauty, etc?
[toys, popularity....] (You shall not make for yourself any graven images)

3. Do you ever use God's name as a curse word or use it lightly?
["Oh, _________] (You shall not take God's name in vain)

4. Do you honor God's day? (Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy) [Did you know that now God considers every day as holy?]

5. Is there a time in your life when you did not honor your parents? [disobeyed, showed disrespect, failed to give them credit for being your providers...] (Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long)

6. Have you ever hated anyone? (You shall not murder) [1 John 3:15 says, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."]

7. Have you ever had lustful thoughts? (You shall not commit adultery) [Matthew 5:28 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."]

8. Have you ever stolen anything, even something very small? Your bosses' time? (You shall not steal.)

9. Have you ever told a lie? (You shall not bear false witness) [Even the smallest of lies is a sin against a Perfect God]

10. Do you lustfully desire anything that God has not chosen to provide? (You shall not covet)

Our party is over now, and we went through the commandments. I encouraged them to think about these things, to make sure that they have given their lives to Jesus as their LORD and Savior. Lord means "Boss," the One we are to obey. The gospel message is that Jesus died, was buried and rose again so that all who believe in Him may spend eternity with Him.

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. " Romans 10:9-10

That was our lesson for the month. It would behoove us all to periodically examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Is Jesus "Boss" in your life?

I am linking this post to:
Never Growing Old
http://nevergrowingold.blogspot.com/2010/07/follow-friday-40-and-over_09.html

The Girl Creative
http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com/
New Friend Fridays

The Trendy Treehouse
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
New Friend Fridays

Toddler Awesome
Friendly Friday Follow
http://toddlerawesome.blogspot.com/2010/07/friendly-friday-follow-week-8.html

For a deserving couple

Do you know a couple that just really deserves special recognition? Such a couple attends our local church, and for their 50th wedding anniversary we gave them a special party. I suppose that any couple who stays married in our times for 50 years deserves a celebration, but this one especially does.

Bud and Nancy spent many years working with youth as summer missionaries all over the world. They have had a great influence in my daughter's life as well as mine. Their home is always open to anyone who needs a bed. Our son-in-law lived with them for 6 months. They give themselves continually to the elderly (even though they themselves are no spring chickens!), and still go to Haiti almost yearly to help at an orphanage. Thank you, Bud and Nancy, for your wonderful example. You are two of my role models, and I love you.

I want to be like you when I grow up!

I'm linking to:
A Stroll Through Life
http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2010/07/20th-table-top-tuesday-treasures-from.html

Good, True and Beautiful
http://www.goodtrueandbeautiful.com/category/just-for-the-joy-of-it/

Beauty in creation

Somehow I managed to delete what I had done for my post. These were some pictures I had deleted from the original post, and in my morning "unwakefulness" I managed to post these instead. I'm sorry to lose all the lovely pictures on the post from our cruise, and they were mostly pink and RED!

I am linked to
http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/2010/07/77-outdoor-wednesday-78.html
and
Rednesday Wednesday
http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/2010/07/rednesday-express-yourself.html

We Plow the Fields and Scatter the Seed

We plow the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand; he sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain, the breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

He only is the Maker of all things near and far; he paints the wayside flower, he lights the evening star; the winds and waves obey him, by him the birds are fed; much more to us, his children, he gives our daily bread.

We thank thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good, the seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food; no gifts have we to offer, for all thy love imparts, and, what thou most desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

Refrain:
All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love.

Words: Matthias Claudius, 1782; trans. Jane Montgomery Campbell, 1861