I simply remember my favorite things…Friday favs…I’m lovin’ Windows Live Writer!

I read about Live Writer on Domestically Speaking

I downloaded it…and I’m lovin’ it!

You write your blog on Live Writer. 

This enables you to  change fonts and to change the font sizes and colors.

You can add pictures…

size them, frame them and

watermark them….

here’s another photo option instead of framing.

When you are done just set your publish date and time on the calendar in the bottom right hand corner, click publish, and it “flies” over to your blog!  You can also retrieve your post back to make changes.  The only thing I would change is that it doesn’t autosave.  Once my computer shut down mid-blog and I lost the whole post.  I now save as I go.

Happy Friday everyone!  Let me know if you decide to try Live Writer and tell me what you think!

Elizabeth

It’s my one year blog anniversary giveaway.

Click on this post to enter to win a brand new apron like this!

More beachy mantel changes…

 

Click here to see my beachy mantel before…

And now with my cute little lantern tealight holders

from the dollar section in Target…

Add these…

The vinyl stickers are easily removeable.

A few weeks ago I put some on these as well.

And click here to see even more fun with Dollar Tree vinyl stickers…

Happy Transformation Thursday!

Elizabeth

Today is my one year blog anniversary!

To celebrate I am having a giveaway!  Cute aprons are all over the blogosphere so I bought this cutie to give to the lucky winner.  Now you can be good lookin’ while you’re cookin’!

 How to enter the giveaway…become a follower

and leave a comment on this post.  It’s that simple!

I will announce the winner one week from today

Thursday, May 6th.

Voices…

     It always comes accompanied by feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, feelings of being overwhelmed and inadequate.  It sounds like the voice of my own mind and thoughts, but I recognize that it isn’t.  It’s the voice of the imposter.  His voice drips with self-pity and he wants me to join in as he sings his little tune.  The lyrics are, “I can’t, I can’t do this, I can’t face this, this is too hard, this is too much, I’m not adequate, I’m not enough…”  If I am foolish enough to join in, the lyrics get even more insidious, “God doesn’t care, God’s not there, He’s not adequate, He’s not enough…” The chorus is always something like, “What if you fail? What if He fails?”

     I hate him, the one whose voice speaks such vile lies.  I hate the path of destruction he leaves wherever he goes.  I hate that he accuses the God who never fails, and tries to get me to agree with his accusations.  I hate that he accuses me and the power of God in me which enables me to do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)  I hate that he expects me to just lie down and quit and give up, and I hate that even for a second I am tempted to listen to him.

       But then I hear the voice of the Beloved.  I am His, and I know His voice.(John 10:4)  His voice is mightier than the sound of many waters. (Psalm 93:4) Out of His mouth comes the Sword of Truth and with it He exposes the lies and disarms the liar.  He says to me, “Be strong, courageous and firm.  I will go before you.  I will march with you.  I will not fail you, or let you go or forsake you.  Fear not, neither become broken in spirit, depressed, dismayed or unnerved with alarm.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)  He says, “I will bring my purposes to pass for you and surely complete them.”(Psalm 57:2)  He says, “ I have chosen you and will never throw you away. Do not be afraid for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I have promised to strengthen you and help you and uphold you with My victorious right hand.”(Isaiah 41:9-10) I respond, “Amen, so be it! I choose to believe Your Word, Your voice.”  Confidence and strength return, peace comes into my mind and heart, and that other voice is silenced.

 

Following His Voice,

Elizabeth

God’s love wrapped in pink…

Sometimes I pray sitting right there in bed with my morning cup of coffee, Bible in lap.  Sometimes I pray in my office kneeling by my little prayer bench.  However, when prayer feels mechanical, when it feels like words being spoken without life or passion, when it feels like I am reciting a list, when it feels like ritual instead of relationship, then I know it’s time to put on my walking shoes, grab my IPOD loaded with my favorite worship tunes, head outdoors and walk and talk.  Just as if I was walking with a flesh and blood buddy, the conversation flows naturally between God and I on these walks.  All around me, in the beauty He made for me, I see His love.  Today it was all wrapped up in pink, and I unwrapped His great love, and simply responded, “I love You, too.”

Still following,

Elizabeth

linking today to Tuesday's Unwrapped at chatting at the sky

Like A Mighty Sea…

   It was a small, rather dumpy, little church sanctuary.  But the people there loved my mama and me and my sister and brother back into wholeness after my daddy left our family.  Today church can be as slick as a Broadway production, but back then it was just “Brother Johnson” or  “Sister Smith” waving their arm in time as they led the music while some other brother and/or sister played the piano and/or organ.  The songs were from the old red hymnal called “Melodies of Praise” .  After the “song service” the preacher got up and preached a simple salvation message followed by the altar call.  The lost would go forward to be born again, and “backsliders” would go forward to repent of their wicked ways, and this broken hearted little girl would go forward without really knowing why.  The preacher would lay his big old hand on her head and pray for her, and she would be comforted and strengthened.

   Today, while our church is definitely not “as slick as a Broadway production” we are certainly more cutting edge in our technology and worship style than that church of my childhood memories. Bye, bye organ!  Hello full worship band! Bye, bye red hymnal!  Hello, Power Point!  I love the changes. However, I hope we are just as simple, genuine, and uncomplicated in our loving of people, and  I hope our presentation of the gospel is still as sweet and simple and clear.

    The other day I woke up with a song from that old red hymnal in my mind.  These old melodies from childhood are the songs that bubble up from my subconscious at the oddest moments…

“Like a mighty sea, like a mighty sea,
Comes the love of Jesus sweeping over me;
The waves of glory roll,  the Savior to extol;
Comes the love of Jesus sweeping o’er my soul. “
by Henry J. Zelley

    Gratitude list #365-377

-a special evening with daughter and granddaughter

-provision

-a venti Starbucks Americano

-the street sweeper coming through our neighborhood making everything clean

-youngest daughter home from Missouri for two weeks

-great prayer time at our Bible study

-a trip to the beach with the whole family

-all three grandbabies crawling into my bed the next morning

 

-kid jokes

-a day of mother/daughter shopping and baking

-a great evening walk with my husband

-grandbabies at baseball games

 

Gratefully yours,
Elizabeth

I simply remember my favorite things…Friday favs…Beach cottage lovin’

Youngest daughter,  who now lives in Kansas City,
Missouri, is home for two weeks!   To celebrate, the family is taking a day off together at the beach!  I’m lovin’ having the whole family together.  It makes this mama VERY happy!  
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time,
you know I’m lovin’ the beach!


I’m lovin’ the beach cottages.
Here are some lovely ones…

This one’s my favorite…I’m lovin’ the porch and all the white trim.

I’m lovin’ the blue shutters on this one…

I’m lovin’ the gate on this one…
And here are a couple cottages in need of some lovin’…


But I’d still take one!
Happy Friday everyone!
Elizabeth

Transformed picture frame…

I won this sweet painting in a giveaway from
the Homespun Heart, and I love it!

I wanted to frame it and found the right size frame at Ross for only $7.

The silver toned frame looked better in the store than in my house.  So I mixed some black craft paint with some burgundy wall paint until I had a black/brown color, painted it on the frame, then wiped the excess off with a paper towel.  I repeated the process until it looked the way I liked.



Thanks for stopping by!
Elizabeth

Linking to The Shabby Chic Cottage for
Transformation Thursday!

Cultivating a life God desires-part two…

James 1:21 (Amplified Bible)
So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.

Each morning I get up and open its leather cover and read its words…those words that are more than ink on paper but are supernatural, life-giving, incorruptible seed.  I plant the precious seed in my mind and heart and on glorious spring mornings when soil is tilled, prepared, soft, yielded, I feel the seed sink down, germinate, take root, sprout.

But it is not always spring in the inner me, and the soil of mind and heart is not always so well prepared, but is all too often rocky, stubborn, resistant.  The opening of the Word, the planting of the seed, feels mechanical.  I hear the “plink” of the seed hitting the heart and rolling off into some dark corner, and I feel spiritually infertile, barren.

Days, weeks, months, sometimes years, pass.  Perplexing circumstances arise.  There in the dark recesses of my soul, the seed,  which, (no matter what I feel or think),  is never void or empty, springs forth, germinates, takes root, sprouts up.  Holy Spirit shines His light on it, brings it to my remembrance, and the seed, that I thought was dead, infertile, barren,  sustains,nourishes, fortifies me.

                                                    Still following,

                                                           Elizabeth

Me and Ree…

     With our daughter and her husband being our associate pastors, seems our interaction is too often for work instead of for fun.  But when I told her Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, was coming to Portland for a book signing and asked if she wanted to come with me, we packed up baby granddaughter, grabbed our cameras, and headed across town to Powell’s Books for a fun evening together to see one of our favorite bloggers and cookbook authors.

Look at those eyes!

Beautiful granddaughter and daughter

We arrived an hour early.  My ticket number was 208 for my cookbook to be signed. And of the 207 people in front of us, many had more than one book to have autographed.

The crowd spilled out of the store and into the mall.  They filled the aisles of the bookstore.  Everyone was friendly and chatting with each other and taking turns in the chairs.

      When Ree arrived, she walked right by us.  I could have reached out and touched her.  It happened too fast for me to get out my camera.  Darn!  She greeted everyone and then took questions from the audience.  She did her Ethel Merman imitation.  She was sweet, funny, friendly and down to earth.

When she was done the numbers were called to line up in groups of ten.  Realizing we had a long wait ahead of us, we looked for sustenance. Strawberry frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries…yummmmm.

 

After almost four hours they call for numbers 200-210 to come forward.

  

I love Ree.

I love Ree’s boots.



And look, she loves me too!

Still following,

Elizabeth

linking today to Tuesdays unwrapped at chatting at the sky