Busy day

Woke up early this Saturday morning. It was such a gorgeous fall day all day long. It was pick up day for Angel Food Ministry at church. When that was done I stopped at a gift shop in Lenoir that is one of my discoveries since Julie has moved to Lenoir. They lady that owns it, a couple weeks ago her husband had a heart attack and she had left a sign on her door apologizing for having to close. But today I found out he is doing fine and the shop is open again. It is such a neat shop. It is also a tea room and I have been dying to have lunch or tea with Julie and Lori. On Saturdays, they are open until 2 so when we are done at the church there is not much time and the guys are around. No offense to them, but it is a girl thing. The shop is packed with neat gift items solid from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Then there are small round tables for 2 that are set up very elegantly with cloth napkins and more decor. I finally got to show it to the girls today but we had already eaten lunch so my goal is still to sit down to tea/lunch someday.

I don't know if it will take place or not, but I talked to the lady who runs our showroom (from my job). It is a couple of hours away from here and very elegant. I told her that the girls from the office were going to have a tea there some day when it is not market time and we are not just asking her business questions. She thought it was a wonderful idea and suggested we do it some time closer to Christmas.

I thank God for small things like enjoying a cup of tea. In this day and time when one can't afford vacations or shopping trips it is nice to give myself a treat of a special cup and quiet corner.

Rick and I decided to bring the weight bench in the house where we could get some use out of it. Our old flabby muscles need some help. His pulmonary workout was only covered for the summer. We really need a family room so I can have my living room back but we'll just use what we have and be thankful for what we've got. He got it set up tonight while Lori and I did some crafts and baking. She made a pumpkin pie completely from scratch, the crust and the fresh pumpkin. I made some rigatoni (spelling ?) and grape surprise. Tomorrow is pastor appreciation day and church is having a dinner after the morning service. I also made a new recipe for supper. Stuffed green pepper soup. It is basically the same ingredients you would put in stuffed peppers but in a soup. We all liked it very much and it is low calorie.

Poison Ivy

I have been attached by poison ivy from Saturday's workday. On my legs. I should have had them covered. But thankfully, I got some good advice from the internet and purchased some good stuff at the drug store and am not being bothered by bad itching. I have not had a bad case of poison ivy since Michael was a baby. I had blisters all over my hands, in between my fingers and on my face. I used disposable gloves when I changed his diapers so he wouldn't get anything on him. It still hasn't made me lose my love for working outdoors. I think I could live out there. I like the crisp autumn weather even if I get cold and then come in and drink a hot cup of tea.

Speaking of tea, I recently have been treating myself to having tea in my good china and making it a special time for me. One of my favorite blogs is a girl from Texas and she has a fall tea tray picture on her blog. If you look at her link on my blog you may see it.

I have been enjoying my early morning, before work devotion times. When we think of the direction our country is heading and what might be in store for us as Christians, our relationship with God is something no one can take from us. I do think that we need to fix God's Word in our mind and pray more than ever. We never know when our open worship and Bible's may be taken from us. Also, we need to keep our relationship with God in tune and up to date should Christ's returning be today. My prayer is that God would help my family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. May they feel the strong urging of the Holy Spirit to get their needs met.

Weekend Activities

Saturday was a good workday, workout at home. I love being outside so I did not mind helping my daughter and husband. Lori decided to put an in ground dog fence around the yard, the whole yard. That meant across the driveway, by the woods at the neighbors, behind the dog pens, through the woods and on the backside of the shed. They had rented some digger machine (if you know me, I don't know the names of stuff)which made the job pretty easy, especially since I wasn't operating it. But I did help with clearing out brush, making sure the wire was covered and getting on my knees and clearing out mud from the digger. Not bad for an almost senior citizen. It took all day, then we cleaned up, took the digger back to the city and Lori bought our supper at Red Lobster. What a sweet daughter. Now all she has to do is work with the dogs to get them used to it. I know she'll do it, she is good with them. They are her babies.

Sunday was good. God answered prayer by sending us a Spirit filled morning service. Thankful for God's moving. Lunched at Julie's, enjoyed her yard,took a nice hike with Lori, practised songs and choir. Then evening service. I enjoy the way we have Sunday closing with people coming up front with special prayer requests and people joining them to help carry their burden.

This week will be catch up at work after spending last week costing for market and letting everything else go. I should be doing my tax class homework now.

God bless and don't forget to pray for the election. God will help us no matter which way it goes.

Ebenezer Stone

Well, here it is again, can't get away from it. I Samuel chapter 7 I believe. Samuel lifted up the Ebenezer stone, meaning, Hitherto the Lord has helped us. Julie and I are making progress on making our own Ebenezer stone. We had baptism back in the "holler of the mountains at the creek" Sunday evening. One of Clay's cousins, Pat, owns the property. There were plenty of big rocks by the creek. Julie asked Pat if we could have a couple to take home. She said sure you don't have to ask. So we picked out our favorites. Maybe by the time we are done with it, Julie will have shown me how to put a picture on my post and we'll do a show and tell.

Move on to be an oak tree, Ebeneezer!

I just had to somehow incorporate the spiritual thoughts of the last 2 days in my title! I didn't get to hear yesterday morning's revival message because of helping in the kitchen. But Rick told me about it when I went back to get in line with him to eat. God told Joshua "Moses is dead, move on, cross over Jordan and do the things I tell you." The thought of the message was if there are things in your life that are still troubling you and they are dead, leave them and go forward to do the things that God would have you to do.

Then, the great Ebeneezer message in the evening. Becky Laywell had brought to my attention the story in I Samuel about the Ebeneezer stone and I did a blog on it, ask Julie to make me an Ebeneezer stone and was looking it up again yesterday afternoon. Ebeneezer means the Lord has helped us. The message was remember all the times the Lord has helped you in the past and know that He will help you in the future. The speaker gave us stones at the end of the service.

Today I read a devotion that pointed out that the author was so frustrated after having gone through major disasters in his life that he cried out to God and said "Where are you?" He was sitting on a fallen oak tree and God showed him the huge oak tree standing in front of him. God said that his brokeness was needed in order for him to become like the large oak tree still standing. After many years, God replaced the painful circumstances with inner joy.

So I need to: 1. Move on and leave what's dead behind. 2. Remember how God has helped me in the past (Ebeneezer). 3. Know that the events that have devastated me will help me to become a large oak tree for God.