don't you love how God works?

this is a story about a BOOKCASE.......or two bookcases, to be exact.

and a story about how God works things out.......in small, but mysterious and exciting ways!!

this picture is one of two bookcases that i have somewhat recently inherited from someone who was generously giving them away. they came from a friend of Heidi's who just wanted to find someone who could use 2 bookcases....and Heidi asked me if i would like them......i had been wanting bookcases for a LONG time.......even while living in Iowa i had been wanting a place to attractively put my book collection.....as opposed to the dingy, musty boxes they seemed to end up in........

books can't be used or seen in dirty , dingy boxes! that always bugged me to death! i would forget about them and they didn't get used as a result.......this dilemma went on for "years" for me.......so i excitedly got my bookcases in place, then went to those boxes and unpacked ALL my books! of course i had forgotten about so many of them.......like old friends, i delightfully re-visited some of them as i quickly flipped their pages...... while others i guiltily realized i hadn't even READ!!! i found many copies of old Bibles worn out and ragged, but loved nevertheless.....and old hymnals.....which my grandchildren won't probably even know what a hymnal even IS!

i lovingly got my books into categories:....MARY ENGELBREIT (of course she has her OWN category...duh)........CRAFTS.........MISC........

BIBLE STUDIES.........BIBLES...........DEVOTIONALS.........CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.......and neatly, but attractively mixed them into my shelves along with a few decorative items.......voila! done! how exciting!

ok........so i finally had bookcases and was totally LOVING them........they also were exactly what that big, blank wall had needed all along.....

now part 2 of this story:

i have a wonderful friend, her name is Sharon Hoffman and she was my pastor's wife in DesMoines.......she is an author and Christian speaker and now lives in Tenneesee........she recently wrote a book......well,she was speaking to a group of ladies in the area and we met for dinner and i got a signed copy of her new book! (and by the way, whoever reads this..........GET the book! it is great! and if you need a ladie's speaker......well..let me tell you........she is the best........she is so full of energy and love for God.........i am privileged to be her friend!!) whoo hoo! i was so excited that i had a PLACE to PUT the book!.......BUT i read it FIRST..........well.........it started me on a book reading journey........a GOD-GUIDED.....book reading journey, i might add.....i think the Lord had been trying to tell me i needed to read books that would help me to grow and that would help me to know HIM better, but because of my job i wasn't getting that done......well.....if you know me, or have read my blog from the start.....you know my job changed drastically........and guess what? i now have the TIME to read!!!! wow........and i now have books staring me in the face that i haven't read.........so after reading Sharon's book and being SO blessed by it.........i asked the Lord to direct me to the next book......and HE sent me to my BOOKSHELF and i picked up a book by my sister's pastor in DC........and started reading it.....oh my goodness......it was absolutely unbelievable, everything in that book was EXACTLY what i needed!.....it helped me so much........i have had the book several years, but had NEVER read it.........

so when it was done i asked God again to lead me.......and HE DID! and i read another book, and another........and guess what??? HE is still guiding me thru my BOOKSELVES and right now i am reading a book that PETER, my SON, the PREACHER, gave me many years ago, and i did NOT read it then............by Kay Arthur......"BELOVED".......it is a devotional, but i am reading it as a book..........and i am SO blessed as i read it and guess what again???? it is EXACTLY what i need right now, for this time!!!!! How great is that??????? just because i am in that book now......here is an excerpt:

"Have you realized that you can only understand that which God chooses to reveal to you? Have you accepted the fact that He is God and that you are mere man, and that because He is incomprehensible, there will have to be times when you will need, by faith, to cease trying to figure Him out and simply rest in His character and His sovereignty?

Oh, how good it is to become a child, to snuggle rather than struggle, to see that it is enough just to accept the fact that He is the Father and you are the child. Young children do not try to understand their father; they simply take him at his word.

Have you been struggling? Are you confused because you cannot figure Him out? Do you wrestle with "whys" and "hows"? Snuggle--just snuggle like a child. You are in His arms. When you do, what rest you will find for your tormented soul!"

oh my....i needed that this morning.......thank you Lord.......YOU ARE SOVEREIGN and YOU ARE GOOD.......thank you for my new bookshelves.....thank you for those books that were still waiting for me to read them in the EXACT time plan YOU had for them......and THANK YOU for the other books YOU will put in my path, as i continue to grow and love you more.

.

photo shoots

My Iowa friends! Aren't they cute?

crazy college girls

here you have it........my bff's from Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa!!!.......we were roomies and crazy friends.......and still are! we proved it when we had a "sleepover" when i visited them in Iowa a couple weeks ago!........we laughed as if we had never been apart!...and yes, we DID get some sleep......believe it or not!........we are waaayyy too old to NOT get sleep!!!

my bff, Karen's house!

I am not stealing pictures any more..or will I?

HERE are actual pictures off my ACTUAL camera, downloaded by my ACTUAL thingy that does that kind of stuff...straight to my very own ACTUAL computer and to my BLOG!!!........
i will, however, admit......i really am NOT DONE with the thievery of pictures....my blog would be boring with ONLY my pics.........i MUST continue stealing, just for the creativity and interest of this blog....

these are roses from Larry for...guess what??? he gave them to me on May Day!! remember???

pictures on my wall of the 4 loves of my life
here are my polka dot glasses under a dome on my table.......i put anything under glass......it beautifies anything!

lookie! lookie! i got an award!

okay....i have been presented this blogging award from my daughter, Heidi, whose blog i stalk daily because it is funny, interesting, silly, ridiculous, informative and sometimes serious........and of course it gives me the latest "low down" on her daily life........

so......Heidi........i VERY humbly accept this prestigious award........thank you very much for thinking of me........and i'd like to thank my parents, for whom i would not be here if they didn't.....well.......you know......"have" me.........duh,..........and for my many teachers throughout the years, especially those creative writing teachers who taught me to write creatively, even though i never made above a C.........and for my own children.....(Heidi, of course that means you, too)........who taught me to laugh and who are still teaching me to laugh........and MOSTLY but not LEASTLY.......my grandchildren who teach me creativity and laughter and happiness and silliness and pretendednous and letsdriveyourparentscrazy-edness.......for whom i dedicated my blog to in the first place in those beginning days!!!......i accept your award...thank you

i am, however NOT giving it away........i am keeping it for myself........since it will probably be the ONLY prestigious award i will ever get.........

sleepover with Hope and Addie

this is Addie with her ever present bag "slung" over her shoulder......she has it packed to the hilt......and every 2 minutes added more, to which i , then, had to re-close the zipper for her.........she is always off to some imaginative place with her "popa" dot bag, as she calls it!

Hope dearly loves books and we sure did get our fill of reading in also!!! they love D.W. books........i am not so sure about that DW........she sure has attitude!!!........she wants to sell her baby sister at a Yard Sale for 50 cents!.......Hope LOVED that idea.....hmmmmmmmmm.......think she has someone in mind to do the same.......ahhhhhhhh....Addie , maybe???????? they both loved the idea, i will add in......i think they have something sinister on their minds!....but it is DW's fault!

here are the girls in their "nana" jams", as we call it...,however, Hope's NANA top is still at her house soooooooooooo........she had to wear Pap Pap's Harley Davidson sweatshirt!!!!...






YUP! we had a great time and also hilariously funny time with our little Hopie and Addie last night and this morning! how can anyone NOT have a hilarious time with them??? they are two of the cutest , funniest, children i have ever known! and also the smartest, most brilliant, talented, beautiful, .....well, need i go on? YOU get the point.........of course, never mind the fact they ARE my grand-daughters!.......in this picture they are enjoying our popcorn..slash...movie part of the night......of course it was AFTER McDonalds and the park downtown .....to be followed by a much needed bath, then MORE popcorn and MORE movie!.....which was Cheaper by the Dozen, which we have seen so many times........we know all the good lines.........just ask any one of us!!!

the day we visited a dairy farm

and guess what? they had young chickens on this farm! and guess who was not the least bit intimidated by them??? Carter and Ava!!!

how happy does he look???? i'll tell ya........he has FARMER in his blood!!!
this is a teeter totter that was home made many years ago, the kids loved it!

my dad was a dairy farmer as well, and i used to have to carry milk in pails into the "milkroom" and dump through strainers, which eventually went into a cooling tank......Larry's dad was a dairy farmer also......so it is NOT an unfamiliar scene....BUT.......this was high-tech milking for me!........but guess what hasn't changed???? the SMELL!!!....whoa baby! Heidi couldn't take it.......and i couldn't take it much longer!.......guess who never said a THING about it, tho it would be so foreign to them.......the KIDS! of course!!!.....what doll babies!!!

hey Georgians!!!....notice what color the DIRT is in IOWA!!!....NOT red!!!! yup, you better believe it.........BLACK and BEAUTIFUL!
this is my dad, Marvin, with their beautiful collie dog....

we got to visit a wonderful dairy farm one beautiful afternoon! it was an organic milking process with beautiful Jersey cows! every one of them had a name and their own name tag! it was so cute!...of course the kids had NO fear and just went right up to them....even right up to their backsides, only to be pulled quite quickly away by the farmer!!!

more farm life

Ava learned how fun it was to do the dishes!!! in fact....when Carter realized she had a chore he wasn't involved in, he wanted to do them too! oh if they only knew how UN-FUN dishes REALLY are, day in and day out!!!....nevertheless they fought over the chore, but Ava won out, since Carter had many outside "chores" with his great-grandpa that Ava didn't get to do!!! they both helped to set the table and clear the dishes....they were SO good! oh how i used to HATE that job as well......now, unfortunately....how often do we really SIT down to the table that has been PRE-SET???? Not enough, i know that! don't you sometimes "long" for the old ways????.....thanks Mom and Dad for not losing the important things!!! a little serious four-wheeelin goin on here!!!!!

the following pics are scenes that unfolded on our days at the farm! chores, playing, resting, laughing, driving things, and lots of lovin!


this is Carter on a home made tractor! that's right....i said HOME MADE!! it belongs to Larry , but for obvious reasons we could not move it to Ga. with us........it was built by Larry's dad and uncle on his home farm in Pa. when Larry was in 1st grade.... it was once in working order...but by the looks of it now, it needs a lot of work and TLC, but Larry couldn't wait to see the picture of it!
uh, wait a minute..........thot you were doin chores??? ahem!...looks a little fishy to me???

these pics are taken in Thorpe park on Lake Catherine....it was the most darling, serene scene.....several adult Canadian Geese and two flocks of their young, at different ages......they were in the grass and we slowly walked down towards them and they slowly but progressively slipped into the water and swam away!