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.