wedding dress.

I love this picture. I came across it recently while going through our photos. I had forgotten about it. It was a day this past summer when I let Hazel wear my wedding dress. I think it kind of made her day, maybe even her week. 

I like the Country! 

Warm Nights.

We sat on a concrete slab overlooking the harbor,  sun kissed and happy. Joe shucked oysters; we ate fresh shrimp, catfish, and hushpuppies and drank sweet iced tea. We gazed upon the beautiful sky and stars and delighted in the warm evening free of sweaters and scarves. We were star struck to see marine one fly by and found ourselves pointing at the sky. It was the kind of evening that seems to last forever and you are happy because you want it to never end.

Blossoms

The sky

Sometimes the sky looks pretty and it reminds me of heaven.

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.



—Psalm 16:11

What can I do?

"She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy."

Proverbs 31:20

Many times I get caught up. Caught up with my children running around and getting into stuff, cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning. I get caught up with my own issues, my loneliness, my sadness, my etc. Lately I have been finding myself caught up with Jesus...His word, His will, His coming, and His love.  I find myself looking at the world, the war, the hate, the many that do not know of his love...and initially I felt hopeless and overwhelmed. I prayed and asked God what I should do. I am one person, I could not possibly help everyone that I saw. I went to Him and prayed, prayed for him to use me.  Lately I have seen face to face the struggle of a friend to provide for her family...I have seen her empty fridge...and God showed me that even if it's only one small bag of canned goods, or one scarf, or one winter coat that I can reach out and help others.  Here are a few examples of how we can help and reach out to others during this Christmas season....

1.  The Grocery Bag Sew off...I thought this one was good for people that sew and are crafty.  The idea is that you make a grocery bag, fill it with food and deliver it to your local food bank.

2.  My friend Joanne and I were having a conversation about possibly knitting a scarf and donating it either to someone that we knew might need it or even to a shelter. Even if you do not know how to knit, you might have one in your closet that you are not using, or even blankets, jackets, whatever....Even the items that you have that have little significance to you would be received with such joy by someone else.

3.  I found this link on ehow, I thought it was very interesting and the simple advice was profound to me, maybe because it was so simple...I thought it was good advice to bake an extra pie and give it to a soup kitchen  or buy extra vegetables and fruits from your local farmers market and donate it.  I know we all know people that are struggling, even blessing them with these items to help out would be an awesome idea as well.

4. Feed America is a great resource as well.  You can find local food banks in your area.

5.  Lastly, God has put it on our hearts to contact our church and we were told that there where people in the community and even at our own church that were struggling and that they were taking donations. At our local grocery store we noticed that  canned goods, like string beans, corn, carrots, etc were very inexpensive.  We have tons of reusable grocery bags...so why not fill them and donate.  I guess what my point is that it doesn't need to be a lot...it just needs to be from your heart and that God can use us if we are willing to surrender to Him. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

MON

Fun

Yes, Joanne we had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except Hazel kept licking me.

Be still my heart.

Why?

Because you could never have enough pictures of trees.

Because trees and leaves make me happy when I am sad.

Because God's love for me is more than the stars in the sky....

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace"

Sonnet 43

Sonnet 43 - How do I love thee? Let me count the ways by Elizabeth Barrett Browning


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints,—

I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.


As a 15 year old girl, obsessed with poetry, thrift stores, bell-bottoms, and the like. I purchased a framed copy of this poem complete with pressed flowers and fell in love with it. I hung it up on our wall recently (a throw back from my wannabe hippie days), and every time I see it...it makes me smile.