Another Goodie from a Secret Pal

My mysterious Secret Pal at church has struck again!!

Our church ladies are having "a day at the spa" at church and she paid for my time slot!! We're getting a massage, our hair done, make-up, and nails. It's all going to be done at the church with light refreshments and good fellowship.

As I said before, I did not sign up for secret pals this year, but someone decided to take me anyway. Isn't that sweet?? I'm so excited about Saturday and looking forward to that time after bus ministry.

If you're reading my blog, Secret Pal, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and love. I do appreciate it.

Bruce's Woodworking Project

Bruce's father gave him a love for working with his hands. It's evident in the things he makes. I wish I had pictures of some of the rooms he has done for children. Simply amazing!! Transforming a room into a farm or the Wizard of Oz's Munchkinland isn't easy, you know!

But he has done some things for me too.

He threw this together one day just to see if he could do it. There's another chair to this set but in the other corner of the porch.



We wanted to do some things to the bedroom so after we painted, he made some beautiful shutters for the window. They have an old world look to them and I just love them. They're perfect for him while he sleeps during the day too, making the room nice and dark! And when he's off, I like to open them to let in the sunlight.





We had talked about getting new bedroom furniture. But the furniture we had was still in really good shape. Broyhill lasts forever, didn't you know? It was VERY DARK and had a pirate look to it with the brass round rings for handles and everything was trimmed in brass plates. It was nice, but very old. It was my parent's set as I was growing up, passed down to me. It really was in good shape, just needed a face lift. So a face lift it got! Bruce carefully measured each piece and cut wood to fit over the old pieces. He put on new handles and even gave the mirror a pretty curved look at the top where once it was just flat.



He also took my dresser after covering it and built an armoire or an oakley at the top. However, he never got around to making the doors. With his busy work schedule, seven days a week, it was very difficult to find the time.


So I waited......and waited......and waited. Until last week. :) He was off for a few days and able to work on the doors. I was so excited to see what it would look like.

Before beginning any project, Bruce will turn on his radio. Most of the time, of course Bluegrass gospel is on. You know, the Isaacs, Rochesters, and other favorites. But I have come out of the house to the Inspirations singing to the neighborhood too.



He worked....


...and measured....


...and drilled.


Almost finished!!


His last task was putting on the brass latch to match the one he put on the shutters.


The finished product and my personal carpenter. :)


Thank you, Honey! I love it. And I love you too. OoxXXOxo

Mending Again!

Mending again!
Week in, week out, the pile is there
Of clothes that are unfit to wear,
A botton off, a rip or two,
An overall with knee burst through.

Mending again!
Perhaps the same clothes fixed before,
With buttons off and ripped some more.
We sit and mend, and soon we learn,
Like bread on waters, 'twill return.

mending agian!
Day in, day out, the Master mends
The Christian's life, so full of rents,
Some caused by our own carelessness-
A broken hert in deep distress.

Mending again!
How patiently He comes and mends
With threads of love and selfsame rents,
Broken anew, bleeding and sore,
That He has fixed so oft before.

~Clara Fennema

Here Lies Tom

Yesterday we were on our way to church when I saw Hannah's beloved Tom cat on the side of the road. We were able to keep Hannah from seeing him to and from church and when we got home from morning service, Bruce was able to remove him from the road until we were able to bury him today.

We knew it would break her little heart, so we decided to wait. She would not have been able to play in the orchestra, sing in the youth choir or listen to the sermon. So she found out after the evening service at home. She sobbed herself to sleep. Her pretty hazel eyes were all puffy, red, and swollen today.

I know funerals for animals may seem silly, especially to those of you who live on farms, but when your child has a pet they have given their love to and have developed a relationship with, a funeral just seems the right thing to do.

So Bruce picked out a little passage of scripture from Ecclesiastes 7: 1 & 2. "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart." If ever a cat had a good name, it was Tom. He wasn't your typcial cat. You know, moody and snobbish. He was the kind of cat that liked to jump up in your lap for a pet. Follow you around the yard. Meow at the living room window while you're having family time until someone would come out for a little fellowship with him. Or maybe even let him in the house for just a few minutes.


We took turns saying something nice about Tom and when it was Hannah's turn, she started crying again. Bruce of course tried to console her broken little heart.



And then Bruce said something that turned her tears to giggles. Something he's always been good at. He was forever calling Tom Kitty Cat. When Hannah was crying He said, "I was hoping to one day name him Kit E. Cat." She immediately started to giggle. Daddy's can be sweet and funny all at the same time.



So in memory of Tom......





















~

Thomas ~ 2005 - February 25, 2007

A Bloggy Birthday

Courtney was kind to remind me a couple of weeks ago that my Bloggy Birthday was coming up. It did in fact come and I still forgot. February 24th was Thimble Thought's first birthday. Now that I've remembered and in keeping with what most of y'all have done, I'm going to ask my lurkers and anonymous commenters to please leave a comment.

My site meter shows I have visitors from Romania, Germany, China, Venezuela, Canada, and India. As well as stateside visitors from Missouri, California, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Nebraska, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Alabama, Arizona, and my own home state of North Carolina, just to name a few!

I know where you're coming from, but would like to know who you are. You don't have to leave your name....just please tell me hi!!

And let's not forget about those coming from Japan. My dear, sweet, wonderful, precious, Sister Heather, is there and always stops by with a sweet word and bit of love. She's just my all time favorite. I adore HER!!!!!!

(praise the Lord for Edit buttons, aye??)

A Sickening Saturday

I've never been the type of mother to drop everything to take my children to the doctor for mere sniffles. OK, that's not ENTIRELY true. When Justin was a baby, I did in fact have the "new mother" syndrome. But that passed quickly when I realized that they were writing him prescriptions that would make ME feel better.

I came to this realization when Justin was about two. I can still hear the doctor's voice as if it were yesterday, "He has a cold virus and it just needs to run its course. I can write him a prescription if that would make you feel better, but it won't take away the virus." I took him up on his offer and as I drove away from the office I thought to myself, Well now that's just ridiculous, giving him prescription medicine if it won't help him when I have dimetapp at home!

So home I went and Dimetapp has been a familiar name in our household ever since. Of course, Justin got older and no longer uses Dimetapp. Now he takes the Tylenol Sinus. Which he's been taking the better part of the week for fever and congestion. He and Hannah both, actually.


This morning, though, was a sure sign he would need to visit the doctor when he got up coughing blood.

The original plan was for me to go on to bus ministry and Bruce would take him to his doctor's appointment, but after talking to the nurse on the phone, a series of events took place that told me I, the MOTHER, needed to take him. Among such events, there was a new doctor in the office working by herself and the office was messed up saying Justin wasn't in their system. (He's been going to them since he was two, OK? That's twelve years, people!!!) Now, don't get me wrong, Bruce is a very competent father, but with all that was going on, I felt I needed to be the one to take him, so I did. After all, I knew when his fevers were, how high they'd been, what he had been taking, how long he had been coughing...you get the idea. Hannah wasn't feeling well either. Bruce was going to go to bus ministry but we both felt she needed to stay home too. We decided that I would take Justin and he would stay with Hannah and Harrison.

I wanted to panic when Justin told me he was coughing blood, but decided this could be for several reasons. He had coughed so much it could be coming from a sore throat or even his sinus drainage. I was right. It was a sore throat from coughing so much. His coughing has caused some pretty bad damage, but he'll be OK. He has a double ear infection and is on antibiotics. The antibiotics combined with the cough syrup they prescribed will have him feeling better soon. These prescriptions will have us BOTH feeling better soon.


I've always had the traditon of stopping at McDonald's for my children to get an ice cream cone any time they were sick. Today was no different. However, my not so little boy has graduated from a simple ice cream cone to a large M&M McFlurry. It felt good on his throat, I'm sure.

On a happier note, Bruce finished his project and I'll post pictures of it later.

Have a great Sunday!

Sounds Of Faith Radio Program

I've been meaning to tell you this for a while....but if you'll notice in the sidebar, I have the Teens-4-Christ radio. At 8:00 AM and 8:30 PM, Monday through Friday, you can hear my Pastor, J Barry Goodman and the Sounds Of Faith radio program. This is, of course, our church radio program. Tune in and listen sometime!

This is a test. Ignore me, please. :)

This is just a test...thanks for your patience.

Cross Stitch

My friend Lisa tipped me off to this website so I signed Hannah and myself up for it.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner, Intermediate, or expert cross stitcher, I'm sure you'll find something here for you.

Once you have received confirmation of your registration and are able to log in, you'll be able to get in on their lessons plans and register your student. Also, you'll receive a free cross stitch kit for signing up!

Thanks, Lisa, for sharing this with Hannah and me. I'm looking forward to getting started.

A Very Chistoso Day

Chistoso meaning humorous.

Today was the day that daddy decided to take me to lunch for this month. Since Bruce is off, he went too. And also my mother. We had a really good time.

We decided to do Mexican and ended up at Los Arcos. They're a Mexican buffet in the afternoon and it's awesome.

Before entering the restaurant, daddy said that once we entered, we could no longer speak English. Everything we said had to be in Spanish. So naturally, being the only word we all knew in Spanish, I said, "SI!"

Well, mother took him seriously. So upon entering the restaurant, she continually repeated the one word she knew. "Si" this, "Si" that. "Smoking or non-smoking," we were asked. "Si" she replied. "What would you like to drink?" "Si," she said with a smile. The Spanish speaking employees were obviously thinking to themselves as they listened to her, "loca." Meaning she's crazy.

Truth be told, they found her quite charming. It was her accent that really cracked us up. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Spanish is a beautiful language however, when it is pronounced with a North Carolina southern drawl it loses something in the translation. You know?

She did learn some new words today. Agua (water), Gracias (thank you), and Donde esta el bano? (where is the bathroom?) OK, so she didn't learn that last phrase, but she should have. No sooner did we exit the restaurant, we had to stop at McDonald's so she could "go." LOL

We made our way to TCBY where they bought us a White Chocolate Mouse waffle cone. Oh yum. I ate a few bites of mine and gave it to Bruce. I was just too stuffed to eat anything else. But it was really good. Anyway, they took us to this little discount grocery store in town and loaded us up on all kinds of goodies and groceries. That was so sweet of them. We love this little store. It's run by a Christian couple and all along the walls are Bible verses. Their son will graduate from homeschool next year and hopes to attend Ambassador Bible College.

Bruce and I had a wonderful afternoon with my parents. A day we'll never forget, I'm sure!

My Night Life

Yesterday was a ho hum day but my night life was hoppin'!

Bruce left for work before 10:00. Just after 10:00 the kids were in bed and I was searching high and low for my massager. I had a terrible migraine Sunday and it caused a huge knot to pop up in my neck. At least I THINK that's what happened. Anyway, I searched and searched to no avail and decided to take some pain reliever and go to bed.

I laid there and finally went to sleep around 12:00 only to be awakened by my son at 1:00 seeking pharmaceuticals for his throat and congestion.

I dozed back off to sleep after Justin went back to bed only to be awakened again at 2:30. This time, by the sound of someone running down the hall. Now, that can be troubling to me since my husband works third. I jumped up and who should it be? Harrison! He was sleep walking, or in this instance, sleep running. He just stood in the middle of the living room looking at me, only he wasn't really looking at me. "Harrison, what are you doing?" No reply. Just stares. So I guided him back to his bed and crawled back into mine. I listened to see if he would try it again, but thankfully, he did not. So I closed my little eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Only to be awakened again....yes again....at 3:15, by my daughter calling out for me. I jumped up and ran to her. She was burning up with fever. So I gave her some Tylenol and something to drink. She had the chills too and was complaining about her throat....just like Justin. Poor babies.

Again, I got my child settled and nestled down on my feather pillows, under my warm comforter, and drifted back into the land of dreams.

I was asleep about an hour and a half when I heard yet another one of my family members up in the house. It was my dear hubby. He had gotten off work an hour early. After that, we all slept until after 11:00. YES! I know. I did get up to let Tipsy out, but went to back to bed shortly thereafter.

Bruce is off until Sunday and is using his time today to work in his woodshop. I'm not telling what he's making, but I will say I'm very happy.

Ho Hum

Today has been a rather blah day. Has it been that way for you or have you done something exciting that I haven't read or heard about yet?

Justin was supposed to go on a ski trip today, just a few hours up the road. He would have been gone for the day and back this evening, but this morning when I got up, he was sitting on the couch all ready to go having his devotions with flushed cheeks and glassy eyes. I felt his head and he was so hot. I took his temperature and sure 'nuff...a fever! 102.6 to be exact. Bless his heart. He had a sore throat and quite a bit of congestion with the fever. So, being the mother, I had to make the decision of telling him he was going to miss his ski trip even though the first thing out of his mouth was, "I feel fine...really." Yeah right! He slept nearly all day. LOL

That's really the only personal thing I have to share at this time, but I did find something in a book to share. From Under Construction....

The Rearward Look

A pastor, having temporary financial difficulties, said to his wife, "Dear, please cut down on expenditures, especially for clothes, until our finances improve."

Some days later the wife came home regaled in a beautiful new dress! Eyeing it with mingled feelings, he said, "It's surely pretty; but, Honey, I asked you not to buy any clothes for awhile. Remember?"

She replied, "Yes, dear, but when I was in the store I saw this lovely dress, and Satan tempted me!"

"Now, Honey, you know the Bible answer to such a situation. You should have said, 'Get thee behind me, Satan!"

Disarmingly, she replied, "I did that, Dear, but when Satan got behind me, he said that it looks good from the back too!"

Happy is the household when potentially explosive situations are defused and given a humorous turn!

Mr. Right Meme

HELLO, MY FRIEND FROM INDIA! I see you keep coming back to this post. Please click here for recent updates on Thimble Thoughts! :) So glad you're visiting.



Bruce is my best friend, but I'm at my best female friend's house right now. We're having dinner with them tonight. She knows I love pot roast so she fixed that for dinner. YUM! Thanks, Mom! While she puts the finishing touches on a very beautiful cake, I'm updating my blog post for the day.

Mother just had a very traumatic experience. Hannah brought Fudge over to let her Grandparents meet him and while we were in the kitchen talking, Hannah was holding Fudge on her lap. However, mother didn't know that and when she walked into the living room, she saw Fudge's cage door open, his honey stick on the floor and Dolly (mom's dog) standing there licking her lips. Naturally, her thoughts went to the worst and she thought Dolly had guinea piggy for supper. The Lord was called on several times from my Mother at that terrifying moment as tears were rolling from her eyes. What were we doing while all of this was going on? Laughing hysterically. We're still laughing actually. Aren't we terrible?

Mom had Bruce's brother, Bryan, build a shelf for her tea pots. He installed it yesterday. This picture really does not do it justice. She's just thrilled with it. It goes along one wall and she plans on having him go around the rest of the room sometime soon.


I didn't get to see the tulips when Bruce bought them for mom for Valentine's Day, but I got to see them tonight. They opened so pretty.


OK, so I found this Mr. Right Meme on Susan's blog and thought I would do it about my Mr. Right! My Sweet Bruce.

Mr. Right Meme

His age: 37
His name: Bruce Howard
How tall is he: 5' 11"
How long have you been together (married): 16 years
How long did you know each other before you started dating? one month
What physical features attracted you to him first? His smiling eyes and blonde hair
Eye color: hazel
Hair color: WAS blonde
Hair style: Do you remember Kojak?
Normal Outfit: Jeans and T-shirt or polo shirt
How did you meet: We both worked at Harris Teeter grocery stores
How serious is it: Pretty serious - 16 years worth of serious! ;)
Are you “in love”: Yes!
Do your parents like him: They LOVE him
Do his parents like you? Yes, very much
Do you trust him: Yes, with all of my heart.
Would you share a toothbrush with him? Eww, gross. No way. I love him but I wouldn't share a toothbrush with anyone. That's gross. I don't feel bad saying that because I think he would say the same thing. I KNOW he would. We've discussed it. LOL
Would he let you wear his pants? I've never asked. He's the only one that wears the pants in this family.
Do you have a shirt of his that you sleep in? No. But if I wanted to, he wouldn't mind.
Do you like the way he smells?: Oh, yes!! He has a wonderful collection of colognes. But even without them he smells GREAT!
Can you picture having kids with him? I HAVE had kids with him...three beautiful children.
What bothers you the most about him? Nothing...he's purrrrrrrrfect! ;)
Does he have a temper?: No, but like any person, he has his limits. And you KNOW when he's reaching it. LOL
Are you happy to be with him? Most definitely.
Does he embarrass you in public? Nope. We're equally crazy and not much embarasses us.
Does he smoke or do drugs? That depends...is chocolate a drug?
Does he have any piercings? No
Any tattoos?: Nope
Does he have any scars that you know of? He has one from surgery as a baby, one on his wrist and back from surgeries as an adult.
Does he like to party or Stay at home? Perfectly content to stay at home with his family, but does enjoy the occassional party.
Is he Outgoing or Shy?: He's definitely not shy, but he is not a big talker. He's usually quiet until he has something to say.
Does he love his mama?: Yes.
Would he hang out with you and YOUR friends? Hang out? No. Hang out with my friends and their husbands, yes.
Sing? He has a wonderful voice and I love to hear him sing, however, he is more comfortable playing his guitar in front of people. He has sung in church with me a few times.

Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do this theme!

Happy Friday to all!

Most of you know Bruce works third shift. Well, he came home Thursday morning and his brain was working overtime thinking about things that don't even matter and he could not get to sleep. So he ended up staying awake through the day and then went to work again last night.

Usually he'll shower, give me my back rub, and then he'll go eat. But this morning, he showered, gave me a back rub, and stretched out on his pillows moaning, "Ohhhhh, I have a doctor's appointment at 8:00." So I offered to drive him and he was ever so happy to accept the offer.

He had a spot of basel cell carcinoma taken off his back a year ago and had a six month checkup today. There are several places on his back they are watching and everything looked good.

After his appointment, we went to the hospital to see my friend's baby. Her name is Sarahbeth Michelle. She is so pretty. And honestly has the longest fingers I've ever seen on a baby. She was warm and snuggled her blankie and trying ever so hard to pull her arm out to suck her thumb. So cute!

When we got home, Bruce could barely lift his feet from one step to the other going up the front porch steps, but finally made it in the house and shuffled down the hall to the bedroom. He crawled in bed and within seconds was dreaming and snoring and I doubt he'll move all day. LOL

He's off work tonight and we have plans, but I doubt he'll be going. I'll be surprised if he does. If I know my hubby, he'll wake up and come straight to the couch in his jammers and slippers with puffy eyes and a sweet smile, ready to just chill.

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend.

Bruce shows his love....
*He won't let me just be upset at him. When he knows I'm upset, he pesters me with hugs and kisses until I finally give in and forget what I was upset about.

Thursday Friends

Usually, if I'm going to have lunch with a friend, I'll make it for Thursday. That's my "run around" day so it works good that way. Not to mention, it's payday. Woo Hoo!

So today, I met up with a friend from church....Brenda...and we had a very nice lunch. She had suggested Applebees, but I don't like Applebees and come to find out, she really doesn't either, but wanted to suggest a nice lunch spot. I thought that was sweet of her because it told me she wasn't thinking about herself. Come to think of it, I've never known her to think of herself. I like those kind of people, don't you? If the world didn't have people like Brenda, they'd be full of people like me. LOL ANYWAY! I told her to pick another restaurant for us since she was coming on her lunch break. I didn't want to take her too far from work. She suggested Fatz because she knows I like it. And I thought it was great, but she was pretty well bummed. From what we could gather, her food was partially cooked before her chicken was done so when she got her plate, the chicken was piping hot and her fries and shrimp were, well.........not. Mine was great. We did decide that the next time we went to lunch we're doing the Chinese restaurant.

After lunch, I came home to pick up my children. We dropped Justin off at Driver's Ed and the rest of us went to get my hair trimmed at Missy's. I love it when those dead, frizzy ends get cut off.

We went grocery shopping, came home to put them away, and ran right back out to Hannah's piano lesson.

When we arrived back home, Justin told me that Bruce took him to dinner at the Asian place (where I will NOT eat ever again for my own personal reasons) and ran into a man and his sons who told us that the wife had just given birth to their new baby girl, Sarah Beth. She was going to have a C-section Monday, but told the doctors she couldn't wait any longer. Although she has raised several children and still raising two sons, this is her first birth. So I'm really happy for her. I hope to get up to the hospital to see her Friday morning.

Bruce shows his love....
*He likes to sneak a kiss on the cheek in church every once in a while. Shhhh, don't tell!!

My Valentine's Day

I had an accident on a horse...well, OFF a horse, when I was seventeen. This was the result......


Yes, that's my leg. One plate and seven screws is holding it together. See that one screw by itself there at my ankle? Well, it's causing the bone to deteriorate. Which causes a great deal of pain in this cold, damp weather. And the more it deteriorates, the harder it is to walk, press the brake pedal on the car, prop it up on a recliner! Eventually I'll have an ankle replacement. Most likely in the next few years if I can wait that long. In the meantime I am in bed with my ankle propped up against the wall, wrapped in a heating pad and it feels so good! This has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but oh, woe is me.



Bruce's daddy passed away a few years ago, so today he decided to be his mother's Valentine and surprised her at work with a pot of tulips. He said she was so surprised. I wish I could have seen the look on her face. He also bought a pot of tulips for MY mother, which earned him about a thousand points with both me AND mom, and then surprised me with tulips too. I was just telling the children the other day that tulips were my favorite flower. He also bought me some Reese's miniatures.




Aren't they pretty?

After Brother RJ preached to the youth group, they played this funny game. The kids had to pull a piece of paper out of a bowl. On the paper was the name of an animal. Rabbit, pig, goat, etc. When Brother RJ said go, they had to start making the sound of their animal and find their "partner" making the same sound. LOL

After the game, we had a special snack for the kids. All sorts of goodies to be dipped in a chocolate fountain. Cookies, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, etc.


Mrs. Liz getting the cups of ice. She's just about ready to have that little baby.

Here's our chocolate fountain. It was a lot of fun and I would love to get one for myself for parties. It was really easy to operate and the kids enjoyed it....ESPECIALLY CLINT!



Brother RJ

Yum yum, eat up!

It was a really great day. And I did get my poem when Bruce and I exchanged cards this morning.

In this particular poem he was comparing our love to a car. Needless to say, it was a funny one~I loved it.


Bruce shows me his love....
*He rubs my bad ankle when he knows it's hurting.
*He likes to hold my hand anytime, anywhere!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my family and friends. I love y'all!

I'm waiting for Bruce to get up so I can give him my cards. We had our date last night. We were going to go to the Outback, but the wait was well over an hour and Bruce was supposed to go to work. So we ended up at Fatz. Which was wonderful. You know that's my favorite place anyway. We had such a nice time thinking back on some of our favorite memories together and got quite tickled over several of them. When we reminisce, our memories often take us back to Germany. We've made wonderful memories in our sixteen years, but I think we go back to Germany because that was our first home together as a married couple. We appreciated the adventure and what an adventure it was! Our memories are proof of that.

After we ate, we went to Wal Mart to get the children something for Valentine's Day and ran into an old friend. We haven't seen her in ages and it was good to see her.

Bruce decided to take the night off and so it was good to have him home....but thinking about it now, we COULD have gone to Outback!! LOL

When we got home the kids were waiting with smiles on their faces. "Did you have a good date?" They're so sweet. I love my little Valentine's.

Yesterday, after our party and after dropping Justin off at Driver's Ed, I rushed home to check my mail. There it was....a little package just for me. I had been waiting on this promised packaged and it finally arrived. See, some of you may recall getting an email from me about a sock exchange. Well, my friend, Shari, and I bought our socks and gave them to who we were supposed to give them to, but we never received any. *boo hoo.* Therefore, we decided to have our own sock exchange for Valentine's Day. I sent her a pair last week and I got mine yesterday....just in time for my date with Bruce!! YAY! Here's a picture of them. They're red, pink, and white striped with "LOVE" on them. They're so pretty. I just love 'em and enjoyed wearing them on my date. I was hoping they would come for that and they did.

I wish you all a wonderful Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Bruce shows me his love...

*He plays his guitar for me.
*He sings to me.
*He makes up songs about me sometimes. Well, not whole songs, but funny diddies that crack us both up.

Homeschool Valentine Party

Today we had a Valentine Party for the homeschoolers of our church. The children had a good time and here's a little bit of what we did.

Pam and I and my children met yesterday and put up tables and decorated a little bit. Not much, but enough to give a nice Valentine feeling to the room.

Pam had all sorts of things to decorate Valentine bags and some of the other mothers brought some things. So we were able to have a craft time for the children. They were really into that!

This is Laurel. Her parents were the ones that bought Hannah Fudge....the guinea pig.

Here's Harrison and Hannah doing some last minute Valentine cards to pass out to their friends.

This is Nicole with Fudge. Yes, we took Fudge to the party. We took cookies too, but thankfully, only the cookies were eaten. Har har

Since we had all eaten lunch before the party, each family just brought snacks and a drink. This was our snack table.

Naomi....check out them teeth, would ya?

Cheyenne was doing her cards too. That's my fault. I forgot to mention to her mother about the party until this morning. Yes, I know....shame on me. Again, Tammy, I am sooooo sorry.


Here the children are decorating their bags....


Alanna

Shelby

Haili

Benjamin

Abigale...look at those little cheeks. They're so kissable!

Twizzler, well actually his name is Isaac, but we call him Twizzler because when he was a baby he nearly had a heart attack when his mother removed one from his mouth to wipe his sister's face. Brother Bruce (my hubby) nicknamed him Twizzler then.

Malachi...he shines everywhere he goes. HA! Actually, that was the reflection strips on his coat picking up the flash from my camera. Cool, huh?

Naomi was happy as she gave out her valentines. Here she is giving my Justin one.

Malachi eating a cookie

Gathering around the snack table

Naomi in the play tent with Joseph. He had a grip on her shirt. When she finally broke away she said, "He gwabbed my chirt."

Joseph was happy to be in his tent. I just love it.


Bruce shows his love....
*He always puts my happiness before his own. If there's something he wants to do, he'll always ask me what I want to do first and if I don't have anything I want to do, he'll ask if it's all right if we do what he wants to do. Which is really sweet. I really don't care if we do what I want. He just always puts me first.

We LOVE Our Newest Member

Before I introduce you to the newest member of our family, I just have to tell you about these cinnamon bagels. They came from Panera Bread and they are so very good. I told my friend that bought them for me that I dare say, they are better than Krispy Kreme doughnuts! If you have a Panera Bread near you, stop in and get you one. They are divine!

And now for the introduction....

Hannah loves animals and they love her too. So when Brother Randy and Sis Kellie asked if she would keep their guinea pig and fish for them while they were away on T4C business or just out of town, she was ever so happy to oblige.

They knew Hannah had other pets, Peanut the hamster, Tom the cat, and Tipsy the dog, but asked if we would allow them to buy Hannah a guinea pig complete with all the accessories. We told them yes, and last night they surprised Hannah with Fudge......Fudge Royal, that is. She was one happy girl! They got her good too because she was very unsuspecting.
He ran and ran from her until she finally caught him and they've been best friends since.

Brother Randy and Mrs. Kellie, Hannah and Fudge.

Does he not have the cutest little face??

Tipsy found Fudge in Hannah's arms and smelled him all over before giving him a big lick in the face. Here you see her snooping around the cage trying to get a good look at him.

We had just eaten Fudge Royal ice cream before Brother Ross and Mrs. Kellie showed up and since Fudge was white, light brown, and dark brown, it just seemed appropriate for a name. So, that's how he got his name.

To see more pictures of Fudge, go to Hannah's Blog.

I believe it's OK to say that this post is in keeping with "Love Week" here at Thimble Thoughts because we do love Brother Randy and Mrs. Kellie, and we do love Fudge!

Bruce shows his love.......
*If there's something I want him to make me, he makes it in his woodshop. I love it that he doesn't have to have a pattern for anything he has ever made. He used a pattern for our porch furniture, but only because he liked the style. :)
*He writes me poems. Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're romantic. Sometimes they're both. When I get a card from him. I always look for the poem before reading the card. And if I don't get a poem, I'm bummed.

Love Week

All my posts this week will be on love. Since, after all, it is the week of Valentine's Day. Don't you just love all the hearts and reds and pinks and whites and teddy bears, and flowers, and.......Yeah, me too!


We have something special planned for the teens Wednesday night. Can't tell you what, but Lord willing, I'll remember my camera and get some pictures of it.


Someone is treating me special and I don't know who! I did not sign up to be a Secret Pal this year but someone has decided to be mine anyway. A couple of weeks ago, my hairdresser came and told me that my Secret Pal had paid for me to get my hair done and to call when I'm ready. So I talked to her last night and she's going to do my hair this week. Then yesterday I was informed by an anonymous source that my secret pal had a gift for me. "But I don't have a secret pal," I protested. "Are you referring to someone paying for my next beauty shop appointment?" "Nope," came her reply, "You have something from your secret pal." So baffled I made my way downstairs to the auditorium and there it was. Sure enough! A Valentine bag with MY NAME ON IT! How exciting. There were a pair of red earrings, which I wore to church Sunday night, tootsie rolls, and other Valentine goodies. What fun! I did go to Mrs. Janet and tell her that I was getting things from a Secret Pal and maybe we should make sure that someone didn't THINK they had me when they really didn't, but made it perfectly clear that I wasn't giving anything back. *grin*

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." So this week, with each post, I'll give you a couple of ways Bruce shows his love to me.


Bruce shows me his love......

*Every morning when he comes home from work, he gives me a five minute back rub. I always start my day feeling loved and it's way better than waking up to an annoying alarm clock!
*He always offers to fix me one of his terrific breakfast sandwiches of Livermush, egg, and cheese. Don't snarl your nose. Livermush is nothing like liver pudding and Bruce knows exactly how to fry it up right!

Down A Garden Path

I have several friends who are going through some difficult times in their lives right now. Circumstances beyond their control and they are having a hard time seeing God's hand in these times. So I watned to share this and I hope it's a blessing and an encouragement. This excerpt comes from Down a Garden Path To Places of Love and Joy By Karla Dornacher.

A few years ago a forget-me-not, with its tiny blue flowers, appeared amidst my deep pink azalea border. I had not planted this little charmer, but I greeted it as a gift from God - delivered most likely by one of my flying friends.

Every year the forget-me-not has multiplied and even though I never considered planting these two together, the harmony they create today is breathtaking! I delight to confess to all who compliment me on its beauty that this striking combination is God's design, not mine!

God also has a special design for each of our lives. Sometimes He allows "seeds" of circumstance or relationships to take root that we would never have chosen for ourselves. But He knows what is best for us. And though we may not be able to see its beauty or purpose today, we can be confident that whatever God allows in our lives will be for our good, to help us become more like Christ.

Can you trust God's design in your life today?

Today I went to visit Mrs. Church at her rehabilitation center. I highlited Mrs. Church in the last Faith Baptist Senior Moment.

She had her knee replacement last week and has had a very difficult time and in need of a lot of prayer.

When she transferred from the hospital to the rehabilitation center, they were putting her in a wheelchair that didn't have foot rests and her foot (on the leg she had her knee surgery) was dragging under the wheelchair. Her knee was in pain and she couldn't pull her leg up to hold her foot off the floor. It ended up damaging something in the back of her leg and now she can't put her heel down, which has slowed her physical therapy a great deal. This is not good. So please say a prayer for Mrs. Church. She really needs it.

While I was visiting with her, there were two other ladies there from our church and also her daughter. So five of us were in her little room and we laughed and talked and prayed. On my way out, three more ladies from church were coming in to see Mrs. Church. WOW, that's seven people from church today.

I headed to Wal Mart to do a little grocery shopping and guess what....there was my Pastor. He was picking up a few things. We said our hellos on the cookie isle and off he went. Then one of our Senior Saints happened to be coming down that same isle. That's nine people from our church today!

After I checked out I ran into my Sister-in-law who works in the bank there inside of Wal Mart. After saying hello to her and getting a warm hug, I ran into Michelle and her two younger children. They are also from my church. That's twelve people.

I made over their new little one and headed out the store when I ran into Missy....yes, the thirteenth person from our church.

Fortunately I didn't have too many errands today so I was free to chat a little with each person. But have you ever been really busy and it seemed like you ran into everyone you knew? Sometimes when I'm having one of those busy days, I feel like disguising myself before entering the local Wal Mart, seeing that's where I'm going to run into everyone I know. And I've learned never to ask how someone is doing when I'm running late for an appointment. As sure as the world, they will tell me. Every single detail. Clothing racks are great hiding places. Just dive right in there and pretend you're in the closet that will take you to Narnia.

Don't I sound terrible? ok, to be honest, I have never hidden in a clothing rack, but I've often thought about jumping into one and I KNOW it would be a great hiding place.

In all honesty, it's always good to see my friends and family. I love every one of yuns!

Plants and Stuff

Monday and Tuesday with Brother Joe Arthur was wonderful. God moved in both services and hearts were moved and changed. Including mine. The Lord has worked in me MUCH these last few days. He has shown His glory to me and His love for me and I praise Him for that. There are things in my past, which I often feel, stands between me and God, causing Him not to WANT to use me. But it took the messages and some events to realize that I am the one who has let those things hold me back from fully being used of the Lord. And I'm thankful for the man of God that came this week and said what the Lord would have him to say that would help me. To God be the glory.

We had another teenager saved this week. Our associate Pastor's son, Spencer, received Christ Tuesday morning. He had gotten out of the car at his Christian school and took just a few steps before coming back to the car and getting back in. He told Brother Blain Richard, who had taken him to school that day, that he was tired of playing games and needed to get things right with God. And get them right he did! Praise the Lord!

When you pray for revival, wonderful things happen. When you expect revival.....it will come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week or so ago I posted about the plant kits I had found at Wal Mart. The kids have had fun watching them grow. I told them to document the plant's growth and I took some pictures of them.

This one is blury, but you can see the growth of Justin's tomato plant there on the left.


Hannah's sunflower has really taken off and she's just bursting with pride over it.


Harrison is very proud of the growth of his sunflower also.


Here's Hannah taking a picture of her plant as part of her documentation.


For this week's SIGMA games we did a caterpillar game where they were divided in teams and participated in a relay where each one had to get into a sleeping bag and "worm" their way to Brother RJ and back. Hilarious!


The second game we played, we had pink and green confetti strips on the floor. Again, they were divided in teams and each person on the team had five seconds to suck up their team's color with the vacuum hose. Then when everyone had their turn, the containers were emptied and the team that sucked up the most of their color won.


Each week after games have been played and Bible verses has been said, we gather for Brother RJ to preach to the kids. This year our theme is on taking The Old Paths. His sermons have been wonderful each week and the youth is beginning to bear the fruit of the messages. Praise the Lord!

My, My, Monday!

This weekend was busy as usual. We had bus church Saturday and Justin was able to lead one of the bus teens to the Lord. He was excited about that. The young man's name is Brandon Goins. He's been a bus kid since we started the bus ministry. It was a blessing for Justin to be able to show this boy how to accept Christ and it was a blessing to me to see Justin so happy over it.

We had some great services yesterday. There are several people in our church that are going through some real trials. I'm so glad I have a church and church family that reaches out to each other. There's a healing process that takes place when you're in the midst of God's people.

This morning I got busy cleaning out my washroom. Oh dear. What a mess that was! Halfway through I wanted to just throw everything away, but I knew I couldn't do that. I did throw a great deal away though. Do any of you have a place where things get stored for mending or to be fixed? Well, my washroom became that place. The things that needed mending were under the things that needed fixing and when I found them today, I realized my children had already outgrown what was there. Shame on me! My goal was to make new curtains for my backdoor, but I never got around to it because of the washroom. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I gave the boys and Hannah a hair cut today. That was funny. I told Justin I wanted to take off just 1/8". So he sat in the chair and do you know what? I took off down TO 1/8". LOL As soon as I made that first swipe up, it was very obvious what I had done. My initial reaction was a gasp. My second reaction was hysterical giggling. And then of course his dad had to get in on it. Fret not! I was able to fix it and it is actually the best hair cut I've given him in a long time.

After haircuts, making sure the children had their baths, and several loads of laundry, I took Justin to his first day of Driver's Education. Here's a picture I took of him before we left.



When I was growing up, we moved quite a bit and therefore I was in several different schools. I always hated being the "new kid." I outgrew that about the sixth grade and became the magpie I am today. Justin has picked that up and doesn't have trouble getting along with people. He has a very mild mannered nature about him. Very humble. But all the way to the local highschool I was dreading dropping him off and leaving him. The Lord knew I was struggling with it. I didn't say anything to Justin, but the Lord knew how heavy my heart was. But he had already set things up for Justin and we didn't even know it. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Justin said, "Hey, there's Craig and Katie. I know them from Teens-4-Christ!" He had met them several months ago when the Teens-4-Christ met and went to the zoo. They don't attend this local highschool either. They are from Heritage Christian school and their parents had signed them up for Driver's Ed too. When I got him signed in I watched him walk through the doors with these other Christian kids and my heart was blessed. I cried and cried....all the way home. I had to stop at my Mother-in-law's who lives near the highschool to just gather myself. LOL She thought something was wrong but just laughed at me when she found out why I was crying. LOL Anyway, God knows our hearts. And that was a reassurance to me that everything was going to be OK, these next few days.

We went into a two day revival meeting with Brother Joe Arthur tonight. If you've never heard him, you've missed it!! He's such a great preacher. We always enjoy hearing Brother Arthur. He has recently had surgery and had a great deal of his colon removed. He's still under doctor's orders so he couldn't stay all week with us.

This is Hannah getting her Bible signed.

His message tonight was on going back home. He took his text from Ruth where Naomi was going to send her daughter-in-law's back to their people and to their gods. One chose to go back and the other chose to go with Naomi back to Bethlehem. It was such a touching sermon. If it didn't touch the heart personally, it touched your heart and burdened you for someone who needs to get back into the presence of God.

Something he mentioned was that Naomi means beautiful and she wanted everyone to call her Mara, which we all know means bitter. But something I've never paid attention to is that noone ever did call her Mara. One of his points he was drawing from this is that it doesn't matter how we feel about ourselves when sin creeps in our lives, we are still beautiful to God and can come home to His welcoming embrace. It was such a sweet sermon.

We're all looking forward to tomorrow night.

Like A Candle

Our lives are like a candle, ready to be snuffed out at any given moment.

This week at SIGMA, one of the young men in our youth group accepted Christ into his heart. When Ethan was a small child, he and his cousin decided they wanted to get saved together at VBS. So they went forward and according to his testimony Wednesday night, they prayed the sinner's prayer. But he didn't really mean it. He was just doing it to go along with his cousin.

The Lord had been dealing with Ethan about this for several weeks. He had been quite emotional and quiet recently blaming his feelings of discontentment on his job and school. However, the truth was revealed Wednesday when he approached Brother RJ and told him he needed to be saved. Brother RJ dealt with Ethan, they prayed, and Ethan is now a child of God. Praise the Lord for the blessings of salvation!!

Last weekend, four highschool students that should have graduated with my twin nieces this year were driving down a country road too fast, hit another car and only one lived through it. The driver walked away with bruises to his body and his heart. Knowing that he caused the death of three of his classmates and friends. The driver of the other car, an elderly lady, walked away shook up but unharmed.
I don't know the spiritual welfare of these three individuals, but I do know that if they had never accepted Christ as their Saviour, the tragedy does not lie in the fact that their life was snuffed out at an early age. The tragedy lies in their eternity.
I do not know where their souls are at this moment. But I do know that there is a Heaven and there is Hell.
A Heaven for those who have given their heart to a Christ that loved them enough to die on the cross in their place for their sins. And a Hell for those that reject this same Christ.
Time is but a vapor. The lives of these teenagers is testiment that we are not afforded another moment in time.
My prayer is that everyone who reads this post will see themselves as one of two things. A child of God ready to go when God calls them home. Or a sinner, bound for Hell.
If you have never accepted Christ as your Saviour, now is the time and all it takes is a prayer.

Don't let the candle of your life be snuffed out into eternal darkness.

Romans 10:9 & 10

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Are You Afraid Yet?

Hillbillery

New Recipes

I've posted some new recipes at Blogger's Recipes, if you'd like to check those out. Hope you find something you like.

Finally

I've been reading everyone's blogs and seeing your pictures, wishing I could be there to play in your snow. Well, guess what! After two long awaited years, we finally have our OWN snow!!! :)

We heard it was coming, but we've heard that before and it never came. I wouldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.

This morning when I got up to let Tipsy out. There it was! SNOW! Beautiful, white, fluffy snow. Tipsy didn't know what to think. But she soon found out that it was kind of nice and began to enjoy it. Eating it, that is. Her little nose was covered in it.



Yes, not much to it, but it's SNOW!!

The children were so happy that Harrison ran down the hall from his room with his clothes on inside out begging to play in that "...beautiful snow. Can we have a snow day from school?" I did give them a delay in their school work, but not the whole day.

We heard the snow would be gone, probably by tomorrow, so I told them they better get out there and play. And play they did. Building a snowman and killing each other with snowballs.

I had to giggle because they didn't have anything for the snowman's eyes. But Hannah did find some broccoli that worked just fine. I thought it made him look cute. It looks as though he was just as pleasantly surprised as we were to have snow.

Potato Head Game

Last night at SIGMA, each teen was given a potato and some craft supplies. They had to make a Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head and were judged on the best one. I must say that I was very much impressed with their creativity. I wish we had gotten more "finished product" pictures. But you'll get the idea of how they turned out.


Gary


Nathan and Jesse


Jeremy, Leanna, and Jacob


Taylor and Cassie. They had some really cute potato heads when they were finished.


This is Jessi. She's so quiet but always has a smile as though she's having a good time no matter what. Really sweet.


Clayton on the end, Tyler, a visitor that for the life of me I can't remember her name but a very sweet girl, and Elizabeth.


Dustin and Evan concentrating very hard.


Katherine


John O'


Parker and Crystal


That's Spencer looking at the camera


John's finished product


Jeremy and Jacob. Bruce didn't get any pictures of Justin. Oh well.


They seemed to have a lot of fun doing this game. And for a snack we had french fries and tater tots, of course!