Gingerbread Cream and Sugar Set

I am thankful for the great group of ladies that I work with. Today we exchanged some small gifts.

Look at what I got! A gingerbread cream and sugar set. I set in front of them the most blessed name I know!

And here is a towel to match.

God With Us

I am thankful for the reminder this time of year that "God is with us" : Emanuel.
Grateful that when He came he brought redemption that "though our sins be as scarlet, He washes whiter than snow." And the reminder from Him that since He can give us such a fresh, new, clean slate start in life, His same power is available for whatever problems mount up in our life.

December Seventh Thoughts

1.  Happy Birthday to Lorah Ann Ropp Zeigler and Phoebe Elizabeth Goff Rice. Two mothers, birthdays on the same day, different years. Phoebe has been gone for about 48 years and Lorah gone for about 1 1/2 years.

2.  North Carolina is very cold this December. I don't think it was this cold in the winter when we first moved here. Our dog is in the shed, shielded from the wind. Our bunnys' cage is covered with plastic. I unfroze Sophie's (the bunny) water bottle and she drank from it while I held it.

3. We visited with some friends down the road this evening. I am beginning to enjoy this stage of my life, getting together with people my own age.

Wow! I haven't posted since August

Wow! I haven't posted since August. Just haven't had the time. But I still love the pictures of our tea in Ohio with Lori and Ericca! I have looked at others blogs briefly from time to time.

I am excited/prayerful about our concert tonight. We're starting out with "I Need Thee".  An old hymn but with an always needed message. Julie will be singing "I Get on My Knees", Lori will be playing a piano solo, we all will be singing 3 favorite Collingsworth Family songs among others. "I Could Never Thank Him Enough" is a good one since the whole world seems to turn their thoughts to thankfulness this month.

I wonder how many people will actually incorporate some thankful activities into their Thanksgiving Day celebrations. Most families don't see much of each other except on this holiday. It is great to catch up on family news and enjoy each others recipes.

Does anybody have any comments on what you do to make a difference in other peoples lives on Thanksgiving. I would like to reach out to other people this year. I won't be going home for Thanksgiving so I would like to invest at least some of my day in someone else that could use it. 

May everyone take some time to lift your hearts to God, even if it is for the first time. He is Wonderful!

Tea Parties

Last week we had the privilege of spending the week in Ohio vacationing with family. We had lots of fun activities and here are some to share for Tea Time Tuesday with Lady Katherine. I'm sure you'll enjoy going to her blog to see the lovely teas that are being shared there.

I had made reservations for a tea room I found on line: Edith Mae's Tea Room in Xenia, Ohio. My grandaughter (one of my sons' daughter), my daughter and I had a wonderful time. It is a lovely Victorian house as you can see below.

Edith Mae's Tea Room, Xenia, Ohio 2010

The front entrance

The gazebo in the side yard

The girls tried on different hats as there were many antique ones from which to choose.

I kept the same one, a beautiful cream colored, velvety material with a long lacy train. Lori's hat here was beaded all over and the owner said it too was very old. The other ladies chose pink lemonade served in a goblet and I chose hot tea. We were served lemon poppy seed bread and cinamon rolls with it.

We had beautiful china plates.

Then we were served a scrumptious lunch of chicken salad on croissants, open cumcumer sandwiches, ham and cheese bisquits, lots of wonderful fresh fruit. There were 3 kinds of desserts on top, an orange cake with whipped cream icing, deep chocolate brownies and mini cherry pastry. We had to have a to go box.

The day before, my baby sister invited us to have dinner at her house. I checked with everybody and we had that night free so I told her we could come. Little did I know it was a surprise birthday dinner for me!! And look at the cake she made me.

A Tea Birthday Cake

I will show you different sides of it so you can read the words.

Isn't the little tea set cute and the icing table cloth? There are little icing napkins. Isn't she talented?

Don't forget to leave me a comment and let me know you were here to visit.

Teapot Arrangement

I'm a little teapot short and stout


Here is my handle, Here is my spout


When I get all steamed up here me shout


Just tip me over and pour me out

Did you ever sing that little song and perform the motions?


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Today I am sharing my teapots with garden arrangements. Would it win a prize at the county fair? Probably not. But I like the looks of it on my table.

This teapot has rosemary. I don't think I have ever smelled a more fragrant herb. There is also some English thyme in the spout and a marigold in with the rosemary.

More thyme in this teapot.

Some friends invited us to pick blueberries last Thursday evening. We picked 2 gallons at the end of the evening after the sun was not so hot.

Join Lady Katherine for Tea Time Tuesday and take a look at what her guests are sharing today.

Now if I can just get everyone in the house out of the habit of piling things on my table and keep it looking like this! It is a full time job!

Something else to share:  we had a good time singing at the cowboy church tonight!  God blessed us with a slightly cooler evening for it was in a horse arena that was under cover but open air.  The crowd was certainly   encouraging, a good gospel message and we were able to share the gospel in song. Looking forward to more blessings this week. Have a great week everyone.

I Am Blessed

  I so enjoyed my weekend. I have been much overwhelmed and experiencing burn out. But God is always faithful to teach me how to be restored.
  The Lord truly is my Shepherd and I shall not want. He leads me through green pastures beside still waters. He restores me and reminds me how to live holy. Even though there are deep, lonely valleys and hard trials, He takes my fears away. His Word is such a strength to me and His Spirit is so soothing. I can just feel His help even though there are enemies in these valleys. As I seek Him with my whole heart to be attached to His Vine every day, His goodness and mercy will follow me even unto the end. Some paraphrasing of my own there while looking at the 23rd Psalm so I did not put it in quotations.

    This is the view Rick and I saw after driving up Mt. Mitchell on Saturday. It is not far from where we live and is the highest point this side of the Mississippi but we had never been there in the 13 years we have lived here. This is just a cell phone camera picture but I think it turned out pretty good.

  As I woke Sunday morning I went to the Greenway early while it was still cool. I rode my bike and meditated with the Lord. We very rarely go on vacations so our trips are usually just day trips. We ended up meeting our daughters and son in law at Todd for an impromtu lunch at the park and a bike ride down by the river. It was a perfect day, threatened to rain, but held off. The road to ride is 10 miles long but we stopped at 3 miles and headed back. It was good timing. By the time we put our bikes in the truck and made it into the general store, the rain just poured for several minutes. It was a good day and I was glad that it worked out for everyone to come along.

  Then last evening Rick and I checked out the cowboy church in a town nearby. It was such a blessing. The Lord provided several different needs to be met for us through the spoken word, singing and much to share. We will be singing there next month and desire to share Christ with others.

These pictures are blurry but give you an idea of what it was like.

  I was impressed with how the gospel was presented to a pretty good crowd. And there are some who have let God turn there lives around who before would never have stepped inside a church.

  The group that sang, Brothers Redeemed are just that. Redeemed brothers, 2 of the 4 men, were brought together after a long time of not ever speaking to each other. God got a hold of the unsaved brothers heart and they are together all the time now. We found that out talking with one of them after it was over. God still moves! Thank you Lord! 

  

Cowboy Tea

I couldn't resist having a cowboy tea just so I could share a couple of items with you. It is not an elegant tea. But what kind of tea would a cowboy have on the trail? And it just so happened that my husband had fixed the perfect items for supper to put with it. OK so it's not your normal tea but it is fun. I have so enjoyed old items that belonged to my mother. Here is one of her vintage aprons. It has Cowboy couples having a doesy doe.

Here is a close up of one of the couples at the barn dance.

I chose the apron to set up a cowboy tea. A cowboy couple always has beans and cornbread by the campfire with their mug of tea.

The boots are ones that were mine as a child. I think they have weathered many a pretend roundups and probably a few county fairs hanging around the horse barns just to see what was going on.

For more tea parties, head on down the trail to Lady Katherine's for the Southern Belles tea party and Teatime Tuesday.. You may need to dress up a bit though. Rough old boots may need to be traded for proper Teatime Tuesday outfits. 

Garden Tea Time

 Lady Katherine has been sharing her lovely rose garden teas on Teatime Tuesday. I am sharing my, I should say our, gardens. Rick started the first rows of broccoli, cabbage and lettuce. Then Lori made a beautiful patch of squash with a few cucumbers.

Then Rick planted beans and tomatoes. The tomatoes are slower but we hope to have a good crop.  We have planted basil between the tomatoes again this year. It helps keep bugs away and basil is my favorite herb. 

Then, I was so excited when a neighbor, Jeff, got us some free wooden boxes from his work. Jeff and Rick double stacked them, put a lid on the bottom level and filled the second level with good dirt. They set up 3 like this side by side. Now I have an herb garden that is almost waist high.I can keep it weeded very easily. Since it is close to the house I can clip some off any time I want to use some in a recipe. I have learned how wonderfully fragrant the rosemary is. I also planted some purple basil which isn't very tall yet. And some thyme and chives. One of the beds grows only asparagus. It will not be picked this year to allow for better growth.

Here is some mint and cilantro. 

Out by the herb beds we have 2 wooden work tables that we got free. Rick painted them and we can use them for working with plants or serving food when we have a barbecue. It was getting late tonight but I hurried and set up a tea to share.

The tablecloth was one my mother made with farm scenes. I have shared some of my veggies from the garden (except the Tommy toes were from the store).The veggies are on a farm scene plate. I have decaf green mint tea in the carafe. I discovered  the carafe is great for keeping tea hot for many hours if it starts out very hot. The flowers are violas I purchased from Cottage Gardens down the road from us. 

Here is my country bowl with packages of seeds.

I was pleased to get in the mail a Mother's Day gift from my son in Ohio. It is a tapestry that was just right for this time of the year.

This pretty flowery cup is one I picked up from Mom's house a few months ago.

This sun bonnet is one my daughter got for me in Amish country. I haven't worn it, yet, but I may in the garden this summer. Maybe I'll get my picture taken with it and a pitchfork in my hand just for fun.

Blog Under Construction

I will take suggestions for setting up. Trying some new things but not much time to work on it and my computer is acting slow. I would like for my new, free background to be condensed some so the borders would show more but not sure how to do it.

One Lost Sheep

I was reading this scripture yesterday in the car: Matthew 18:12-14. "If a man have a hundred sheep and one of the is gone astray, doesn't he leave the ninety nine and go to the mountains to look for the one? And if he finds it, he rejoices more with that sheep than of the the ninety nine. Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven that  even one should perish."

Right to the point of the thought that came to my mind: Pastors can be satisfied with a group of followers and not care about those who are lost. It actually pumps a pastor and makes him feel good and content if he has a group that stands by him. It makes him feel important in the kingdom of God. Meanwhile one soul is lost but so easily forgotten.

Likewise, we lay members can be so satisfied to be with a group of people that accepts us. As humans we feel so good in group that pats us on the back. Sometimes people will do anything to please others just to stay a part of that group. We definitely need to be God pleasers and not people pleasers. Nor do we need to be glory seekers.

Instead we need to seek God's leading for the person out there by themselves that need God. They need our attention, our witness.

Are you willing to lay aside your comfortable position as pastor to seek out one lost person and humble yourself so that they might be saved? Are we willing to leave a group of people that makes us feel good to spend some time with someone who needs us and needs God?

Busy, Busy

I have been keeping some long hours at work. There are so many changes and so much to do. I was so overwhelmed a couple mornings ago and hadn't slept well. When I got up I thought I need something light and encouraging from the Word and that is when I turned to Psalm 44.

"We have heard with our ears, O God,.....what work you have done in the past. How you set aside unbelievers. Your people did not get the land by their own sword nor did their own efforts deliver them, but it was You, Your Hand and just the mere light of your face because you favored Your people.You are my King, O God. Speak the word for me. By You we will push down our enemies and put them beneath us. I will not trust in my bow nor my sword."

The thought that came to me was:  God will help me get done what I need to. I will not trust in my calculator or my computer or my own efforts. Kind of funny but true.

And even though there are other events all around us trying our faith. We may not be delivered from it but God is with us in the midst of it all and we can keep on for Him.

In verse 17:  "All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You."   Psalm 34:19 comes to mind now."Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all."  II Cor 4:8-9 "We are troubled on every side, perplexed and persecuted, cast down, yet not distressed, or in despair, not forsaken, not destroyed."

Dream Tea

If I had my choice of a beautiful sofa on which to invite you to share 

   tea it would be this one. It is the Savannah Sofa in the Carol Bolton line made by E. J. Victor. 

And I would place this Elizabeth Cocktail Table  right in front of the sofa with a tray of tea..

And I would add this Flip Top End Table and this Stairstep Table.

And I would serve you stuffed cucumbers and tea on my very best china.

All furniture is made by E. J. Victor and can be found at  ejvictor.com. You may take a tour of teas at Tea Time Tuesday hosted by Lady Katherine.