All Is Well (Robin Mark) The song I quoted from yesterday

Never heard of that song before? Here you go. Always glad to share a song (if I can figure out how Haha!)
      This is also a favorite of my son's. Wesley has aspergers . There are two things he'll eventually do when he's feeling down and anxious - He'll play this song off of YouTube or watch Ken Davis Fully Alive.
  It gives me such joy that he will turn to the Lord at these times.
On June 19th Wesley will graduate from high school - change -it's scary- but God...
Three days before his graduation his brother, Owen, is scheduled to leave for Army boot camp - change -it's scary- but God ...
   This week my husband's work changed the schedule - down to a 4 day week - change -it's scary - but God...
    God will walk in and beside Wesley down that aisle. God will keep showing Wesley the path for his life. God will never move too fast or too slow (though it might seem so to him) he can trust Him.
God will stay close to Owen, he'll be in the palm of his hand. He'll march, drill, stand in formation and go through every ceremony with him. Even if Owen has to drop and "do 20" , God will be there for that too.
 God will teach us how to use our time and money wisely. Brad's extra day off every week will not go to waste.
           God will work it all out for good.
       

Return from "MIA"

So , I am here
       So much the same
             so much has changed and
                   so much will change.
I take a moment to praise God that He never changes!
   Like a favorite song we sing in church "... All my changes come from Him, He who never changes-
I'm held firm in the grasp of the rock of all the ages - All is Well- With my Soul - He is God - In control- I know not - all His plans -  but I know - I'm in His hands."

I was thinking" what photo in my collection here would fit with these thoughts best."
                                                                What do you think?

My poor neglected blog

Let's try this again...
      Well, as you may be seeing, I am here, despite evidence to the contrary (on this blog anyway).
Praise God for each and every day.

Psalm 118:24

New King James Version (NKJV)

24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

  

  Let me show you some of the "stuff" of my life that has been keeping so distracted ...

First off is the addition of this little girl. She came to us January 11th

from a rescue in N.Carolina www.lovingpups.com . Her name is Avery Arwen and she is a "puggle"(beagle\pug mix). I call her a "buggle" cause she looks more beagle. 

Soon after Avery arrived we had to say goodbye to our dear sweet "Buddy"

He had a reaction to flea drops that resulted in our having to have him put to sleep.

This was truly sad for our family and came so unexpected.

I still miss having a kitty and hope to welcome a new kitty face to the family later this summer.

Next we were buried in snow! With a record breaking storm in February!

Our growing pup.

Fast forward to May 21. Avery had a certain little surgery and had to wear this lovely collar for 10 days. What fun.

Meanwhile I was also kept busy singing with The Southington Festival Chorale. Our spring concert was May 5th and we had a second combined concert with the Cheshire Symphony Orchestra on May 19. I thoroughly enjoyed this. We sang a large portion of "Vivaldi Gloria";"Non Nobis Domine" and portions from "A Portrait of Gershwin". I felt privileged to perform two of the solos from this: "My Man's Gone Now" and "The Man I Love".  I look forward to resuming rehearsals for this year's Christmas concert.

I think this post reflects the mixture that my life has been (aways is).

I hope it doesn't come across too disjointed. 

It's Veteran's Day

Today for the first time that I can remember, most of my children went to school on Veteran's Day.
 I, for one, think it's good thing.
My conscience is stricken realizing that today would have been like any other day off if they had not gone to school.
   Our children need to be taught to honor those who have served our country in the armed forces.
At my daughter's elem. school they have a wall plastered with little posters listing the names of veteran's our children know. Haley's poster lists "Grandpa", James P. Loghry, U.S. Air force ; "Poppa", Dorris Rushing, U.S. Navy; and uncle , Donald E. Loghry, U.S. Coast Guard. These are only a few that we could have named. Maybe next  year our list will be longer.
The school will have other activities to help our children celebrate the veterans. They all went to school wearing red, white and blue. Haley felt proud to wear the colors.

Much more of this kind of thing is needed as our country faces the future.   But most of all may we learn to pray without ceasing.        

It's a dreary day but I feel cheery.

I've done a whole mountain range of laundry this week.  Do you think laundry increases with cold weather?  I know the garments are all bigger.

"And the birdie says"

         I need to be reminded of the family members who wear these clothes, I love them all. I'm so glad they are here to fill them.
    Today 's verse on my flip calendar :  
         (Translation needed due to photo booth reversal)
    "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered (ouch!), it keeps no record of wrongs (dbl ouch! ). Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." 1Corinthians 13:4-5
           Timely? I'd say so.

Balsam jar candle burning in my kitchen. Am I needing to paint? Yep

 

I love the smell of evergreen trees. I would burn this year round if I could always get it.  Ever take a walk in a wood of pine on a warm summer's day. Ahh.

    I've been up to more than laundry naturally. Yesterday I went to AC Moore. Oh boy!   That's where I got the candle but I also got this:

pocket basket

I put it up empty cause it's pretty as is. I will fill it with seasonal flowers.  There is the lavender harvested from my L plant stuffed in it though.

Later I went to Good Will and I found this:

green sheep plate, isn't it pretty?

I really went looking for materials for my girls costumes next week.  They both go to AWANA. If you
are familiar with this they have Trunk -a- Treat as a Halloween christian alternative. This year's costume theme is "sports". The girls have decided to go as figure skaters. So I am getting their costumes together.
 Haley's second grade is also having "Literacy day" next Wednesday. They all get to come up with a costume or other idea to depict\ represent their favorite character from a book they read. Haley read a book of King Arthur stories called "Merlin and the making of the King".   She wants to dress up as "Vivien" The Lady Of the Lake.  A girl after my own heart.   I found some pale green fabric for $1.99 at Savers. That's the start.   I'll post pictures here when I'm all done.
What is AWANA? You can find out at www.awana.org

         Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa Loghry went back to Rhode Island for the cold months.
They have a snug little inlaw apartment with my brother and family.  We'll see them at Thanksgiving - we go there- and Christmas - they spend the day here, and other random times they'll make a day trip to visit. Here is there little summer cottage , it's hibernating.

It will be disturbed in a few weeks as it is handy for squirreling christmas secrets away- under lock and key! Here is another view: That's out cottage in the front - - see the wee bit of green right in the center of the picture? That's G&G Loghry's place.
(Our yard needs some cleaning up.)
It's rather sad and cold without them.
Mom suggested that I put christmas lights in some of the windows to brighten it up for - well Christmas!

I'll close by sharing something more of my little world: This is "Buddy" and just like many other cats out there, he just feels compelled to crowd onto my lap with the laptop.
He's about 10 years old. He's been one of three pets, then 2, now it's just him.

Oh, I should not forget "Shrews-Berry":   See that little creature by the cat's dish? He's about the same color as Buddy but maybe a hundred times smaller.

 Right now there's a bunch of you out there saying eeooww! Well, you may , that is your right.

    I woud like to call him a "vagabond" but that doesn't truly suit. Oh no, he has set up housekeeping somewhere under the kitchen counter.  He thinks the cat food is his personal supply.  Have no fear, he will soon be "shown" the door, evicted. Meanwhile ,I fancy myself a bit of a modern day Beatrix Potter. After all without people like her we would've never had her delightful little children's books.

    I hope you appreciate these two little pictures of "Shrews-Berry". It took 34 takes!  He's just so fast.

Well, and that's all for now. Bye Bye!

 

Now it's my turn to say "Ta Da"

I finished this little wreath today.

I've been collecting these colors to crochet "mums" and other fall  flowers.


     As promised, pics have come to "Heatherish".
Thanks to my eldest son ,Wesley, for showing me how to download from the camera. So simple !

 We got these in just before the camera's batteries ran out.



So here's a peek into our little world.  

These were taken a few weeks ago.  The kitchen window and the window over my desk at the other end of the house.

And this is our living room .

I am employing much guess work to arrange pictures and text. This part's harder.


Last weekend, to kick off my husband's week  from work , we took a trip to New Hampshire. Specifically, Meredith ,Center Harbor and Moultonboro in the Lakes region.
 We lived there for 11 years. All the kids were born there. It holds a special place in our hearts, we will always count is as a blessing that for a season we were privileged to live there. We love the place for it's many charms but even a beautiful place is nothing compared to the people.    
This visit was long overdue. Ya know how life just keeps getting in the way.  Haley, our youngest, was only 4 months old when we moved away. We visited several times in the next few years but as it ended up, the last time was before Haley could remember.
 So, we packed the car and north we went. It was just a little visit, Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon. We it was a wonderful tiring time though. Brad and I have been recuperating all week.

    Here are the highlights:  We arrived at our hostess' home.  The pastor and wife from the church we were members of opened their home to us. We made ourselves comfortable and rested through the evening.  I did take a little jaunt out to one of my favorite places to shop. The Etc. Shoppe in Meredith. It is one of the best consignment shops I've ever been in. I  bought  a pretty plack. It's the one in the center of the last living room  picture. I also picked up a small fleece blanket for Wesley to make a puppet with. (Sometime I'll tell you more about Wesley and his puppets etc.)

                          

 Our hostess' home is one of those places that children love. It is so fun just to look at the way the Mrs B. feathers the nest. My girls had a ball with the stuffed animals every where and the other dolls and toys under the stairs.  
The next day was a big day , Sunday!  We went our former, and much loved church, Calvary Bible in Meredith.





After the service we celebrated our "homecoming" with a family portrait.

We were brought up to date on the changes that have happened .
 We took pictures of some of them.
 A new wing added on making the sanctuary more handicap accessible.
 New bathrooms and a huge classroom on the second floor.    

 It's all just beautiful ,we are so happy for the way God has blessed them.
 The above pic was taken from the front parking lot. It looks down to Meredith Bay on Lake Winnipesauke.
 










  We spent the afternoon with dear friends on Lake Kanasatka in Moultonboro . We had a simple tasty lunch , fellowship, lots of memories,news  and laughs. They accompanied us up to our former home. We lived there for the seven years before we moved. Our then land lord was tickled to see us again. He is called by himself and other friends ," The Old Red Hill Bear". He is - a teddy bear with a big soft heart.   He also loves the Lord.
  We finally left our friends mid evening. We all a agreed it was one of the best times ever.
We were blessed to see them so happy together in their snug basement apartment over looking Lake K.

"The Old Red Hill Bear"

       Unfortunately, some of these pictures leave something to be desired. Perfectionism could prevent me from ever getting around to just doing it.

Our Hostess' Home .They like to call The Inn on Waukewan Ave.
 Add caption

Monday morning came too soon.  Soon it would be time to head south.
  First , while the guys watched a movie we girls went back up to Moultonboro to the Old Country store. This has always been a favorite too.  Sorry, no pic.  We got some souvenires to remember our time:  Me, a little bird figure and a sun catcher. I've always wanted to get one of their sun catchers.
They are simply round, solid handmade glass with a design in relief. I chose a purple one with a celtic knot design.  Gaelan, a toy car for her collection, Haley, a music box that plays Silent Night. For Owen, an eagle that balances on his beak and for Dad and Wesley, pencils made from a raw stick (bark still on it.)  Wesley had previously acquired a fidget toy at Cracker Barrel.  Everyone was pleased.
      With sadness we packed up the car, piled in and headed out.  The whole thing was topped off nicely when we stopped at the Concord Hospital to see two other friends (old Liberty U. friends). Mr. A had been admitted for an infection.  We had such fun visiting there in that hospital room.
   As always we prayed together before leaving ... and that was all.
     Now for the drive home, heavy traffic after a holiday weekend!          

perfectionism

I have a problem with it . That and procrastination. They don't go well together. I don't know that procrastination goes well with anything.
     Someday soon I will get pics posted here.