To Do List

Early Tuesday morning, Andy and I drove up to C & C's so Andy could do some more work on their addition. He was able to put the closet doors on and get started on installing a storm door to their main entrance. The closet doors took longer than anticipated because he kept running into snags - to be expected when doing any projects on a very old house.

While Andy worked, I played with the kids. Here is Naomi's new tricycle that we gave her for her birthday.
I braided Grace's hair. (I really liked having 3 girls - Sunday morning French braiding 3 little blond heads!)All the kids were riding bikes for a while. Aiden practiced going really, really fast. And Grammy got to push Asher once down the hill and back up (all I could manage).Because of being away all day Tuesday, the rest of the week was spent in doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms and other household maintenance work.

I've always been much more productive when I work off a to do list. What a feeling of accomplishment to be able to check off chores as they are completed. We've been continuing to work at cleaning up the back yard from when all those trees were cut down. Andy hired a teen to help again for an hour this week and got another pile of branches and brush to the street for the township to pick up. (They've already picked up 2 piles.) All that was left to do was rake everything else up into piles and bag it up for trash.

So this morning after I exercised, but before I got my shower, I went out with rake and resolve to not come back into the house until the yard was clean. It took me 2 full hours of non-stop raking to get everything into piles, then another hour to get all those piles into trash bags and containers. It was so humid this morning it was like working in a sauna. Yuck! But I'm very happy to have that job done - cross that off the list. I got 2 trash containers and 4 trash bags full of little sticks, sawdust, and tree dirt.Another stroll around the yard afterward revealed more flowers in bloom. My goal when we moved here 17 years ago was to plant things so that there would always be something in bloom. Mission accomplished! From early spring, throughout the summer, into the fall and even all winter something is blooming. It reminds me of the hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth:

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Refrain

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Spirea & abelia

Up close
LiliesEven the tomato plants are blooming!

So what's next?

This evening, we're going to our nephew's wedding. Andy is officiating.
Tomorrow evening we will be hosting our small group. I need to provide refreshments. First, I need to come up with an idea of what to serve, then make it.

On Monday afternoon, we're hoping to drive up to my Mother's and help her with her gardens. She wants to get some mulch around a number of her trees.

On Tuesday, I'll be cleaning and doing laundry again. Didn't I just do those chores??? If I have time, I hope to plant some lilac bushes that my Mother is giving me. I also plan to bake a cake for a staff birthday party on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Thursday & Friday I'll be at work, but hope to leave work early on Friday to go get Grace so she can spend the weekend with Grammy and PopPop.

No lack of places to go, people to see & things to do.

Birthday Weekend

On Saturday morning, Andy was able to work some more on the brush and branches on the back of our property. What a mess it is. We hired a teen to help him and they were able to get a lot of it done, but there is still a little more to do.

That evening, we went to a 50th birthday party for our sister-in-law, Cindi. She was surprised so that was good! And there was lots of good food there, and that was also good! (Hmmm...Do I know any adjectives besides "good?")
After church on Sunday, Andy and I drove the truck to C & C's with inside doors for their house project. They still need to put the doors on the closet in the hallway and a door on the laundry room. Andy and I are going up again tomorrow to do that work for them. On Sunday, though, we went up to celebrate Naomi's 4th birthday. That was quite fun. Andy and I had bought her a pretty snazzy tricycle. I didn't think of it until now - but I should have taken a picture of it:( There was quite a lot of food and it was fun being with everyone. Naomi got a harmonica from her Great Grandma and no other gift came close to getting the attention that gift did. We kept encouraging her to play it in the other room or outside, but she didn't seem to get the hint. She was very happy with her musical ability.

The Birthday GirlFilling up water balloonsHorse rides after the party

It was a beautiful day and so relaxing to sit in the shade, visit with family and watch the kids play.

Andy & I both worked today. We left a little early and went right to work at mowing the lawn. With both of us working at it, we can get it done in about an hour and a half. It looks so good right now because of all the rain we had last week. I thought it was supposed to rain again this evening, but it held off for us.Does anyone know what kind of bush this is? I bought it years ago as a little stick. It is doing well but I don't remember what it is. To this point, it has never bloomed, which would help a great deal in being able to identify it.
I would appreciate any help anyone can give me.

Finding Your Treasure

The first Wednesday of every other month, we have a Ladies' Night Out at our church. I lead a team of 9 women who do a wonderful job of planning a fun and inspiring evening for our women. June 3 was the latest one, with a theme of Under the Sea, Finding Your Treasure.

A mother-daughter duo decorated the foyer for the evening. They are so gifted and artsy as you can see by the following pictures. (And yes, those are real, live fish in the centerpieces!)

As a mixer to get people talking to each other, we had cards made up with questions to get the conversation going. The questions were good food for thought:

1. Do you like the beach? Why or why not?
2. Have you ever been on a cruise? If so, where did you go/what did you like about it?
3. If you’ve never been on a cruise and had an opportunity to go, where would it be? Why?
4. Do you have a box or container where you keep special things? What are some of the things in the box?
5. Name some things in your life that you treasure.

1. I have mixed feelings about the beach. I like it because water is peaceful to me, I like to sit on the beach and relax. I don't like it because of the sand and suntan lotion.

2. I have never been on a cruise and have no desire to ever go on one (unless Andy wants to go to Alaska, then I would go with him)

3. If I had the opportunity to go, it would be to Alaska.

4. I keep cards and letters that are meaningful to me, not in a box, though, but in a folder in our file cabinet.

5. I treasure my Bible, certain pieces of jewelry that special people have given me, and family pictures.

After the mixer, we had several stations where women could make either a bracelet or a Sea-mail card! I was able to do one of each. Here is what I made:

A braceletand Sea-mail (a card)

The evening closed with Lisa speaking to us about what we treasure. She gave some illustrations of her own treasures, then spoke about how we treasure God because He treasures us. She used verses in Deut. 7:6 where God tells Israel that they are his treasured possession. And I love the image God uses in Zechariah of his people being jewels in a crown who sparkle in his land. How attractive and beautiful they will be! He MUST really love us since He sent His Son to die for us. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Another point she made is that the reason we treasure certain possessions is because they are connected to a relationship. I treasure my red earrings because of the one who gave them to me. If a stranger or someone I just casually knew gave them to me, they would not be that significant to me. So I also treasure my salvation and life in Christ because of the One who loved me and gave Himself for me.

My house needed to be cleaned but I was somewhat lacking in motivation this morning. So I came up with a plan to get myself going: I timed myself doing certain jobs:

1. 4 bathrooms, including cleaning the floors - 1 hour
2. vacuum hallway/foyer & kitchen - 16 minutes
3. dusting furniture & dry mopping wood floors under furniture - 36 minutes
4. vacuuming carpets - 15 minutes

Total time spent in cleaning - a little over 2 hours

I had procrastinated getting started by baking a cake first thing this morning, then doing some online banking, etc., etc. I also was hoping to run over to the Nursery to look at a couple of bushes to purchase. But I forced myself to get my cleaning done before leaving the house.

Mission accomplished! I love a clean house, but getting it that way is sometimes painful.

Andy spent most of the day cleaning, too, but his was outside. He has quite a mess to clean up from all the trees Christian cut down on Saturday. He got a pile out to the street, a neighbor took some,

but there is still a lot to do.

We can put as much brush and branches to the street as we want and the township will send around trucks to pick it up; one of the advantages of our high taxes. (HA)

I took a turn about the yard this afternoon with my camera. I derive such pleasure from the beauty of my gardens.

Sundrops

Coreopsis

Peonies

dwarf salviaabelia

This evening, Andy's dad made pizza and we joined them, along with Jon & Sam for dinner. Andy is marrying Jon (our nephew) & Sam in a week and a half. After dinner we enjoyed the carrot cake I made this morning, then Andy met with Jon & Sam to talk over final details of the wedding.It's a beautiful evening: perfect for sitting out on our new front porch!

God is so Good

First of all, let me bring closure to the blahs of my last post. That was Wednesday, but on Thursday, I wondered what I had been so blah about. I was again "on top of the world" (to borrow a phrase from my Dad). I don't often get down, and when I do, it usually only lasts that one day. God has just wired me that way, for which I am very thankful. What do you have that you have not received? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

So the rest of the week was full and exciting. My garden is doing very well and I have been making lots of salads.

From the garden

to the plate.

Christy & family came down Friday evening and spent the night. Christian cut down trees all day Saturday to prepare for our solar panels. (Yes, we are going green!)He is so good at climbing around in the tops of the trees. It's fun to watch him.

While Christian was doing his tree work, Christy, Dawn, Amy and I went to the church for Dawn's shower. It was something else! Between my family, Tommy's family and church people, there were 70 people who attended. A friend had decorated the tables and made the whole room very inviting and nice.

Me and my girls

With that many gifts to open, I thought it would take forever, but Tommy's sisters had a system. One handed her the gift, she opened it, handed it to the other sister who held it up and announced what it was. A sister-in-law wrote down who it was from. It was quite entertaining and only took an hour.

Joanna enjoyed the shower, too.

After the shower, Christy and Amy came back to our house to relieve Andy from his babysitting! Things were amazingly quiet, though, and he could have continued without us for the rest of the day. He loves those kids and they love their PopPop, too.

The rest of the afternoon and evening everyone enjoyed being together. A couple of neighbors came over and joined in the fun.
Psalm 36:5, 6 & 10
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep...Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

The Blahs

I don't know why, but I've been feeling blah lately. In my mind, there's no reason because it's spring, my favorite time of year. But in reality, there have to be reasons. So I've been thinking, pondering, praying. Here's what I've come up with:

I've got too much on my plate and am feeling overwhelmed. Plain and simple.

So in an effort to renew my spirit and regain my joy in the Lord, I decided to pick up Desiring God by John Piper again. I've read it a number of times, each time it speaks to my soul. So far this time, I've read the preface and the introduction. Here are some tidbits:

The older I get, the more I am persuaded that Nehemiah 8:10 is crucial for living and dying well: "The joy of the LORD is your strength." As we grow older and our bodies weaken, we must learn from the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter (who died in 1691) to redouble our efforts to find strength from spiritual joy, not natural supplies. He prayed, "May the Living God, who is the portion and rest of the saints, make these our carnal minds so spiritual and our earthly hearts so heavenly, that loving him and delighting in him, may be the work of our lives." When delighting in God is the work of our lives, there will be an inner strength for ministries of love to the very end.

The hope of heaven brought him (Richard Baxter) joy and joy brought him strength, and so...like the apostle Paul himself...he was astoundingly enabled to labor on.

God remains gloriously all-satisfying.

Our exceeding joy is HE, the LORD - not the streets of gold, or the reunion with relatives or any blessing of heaven. [Our faith] does not reduce God to a key that unlocks a treasure chest of gold and silver. Rather it seeks to transform the heart so that the Almighty will by your gold and choice silver to you." (Job 22:25)

The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.

The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.
So bottom line: I may be experiencing the blahs, but I can still enjoy God. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.