Giving Him grateful thanks...

We arrived home from our wonderful vacation early afternoon Friday.

We had a wedding rehearsal for a sweet couple in our church that night,

then the wedding on Saturday as well as chores at home to catch up on 

and dessert and ice cream to make for our church bbq/potluck, (and our annual homemade ice cream contest).

Then today was a wonderful day at church and a great bbq afterwards.

 I invited the two youngest granddaughters to spend the night, 

since we haven't seen them in a couple of weeks due to vacation.

So, it's late Sunday night, and I'm happily worn out.

God is good to us,

like Dave Ramsey says, "better than I deserve".

I'm full to overflowing with grateful thanks,

and so I pour out the overflow on paper, and here in this place.

******************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone) 

#5086-#5114

 

8-25-14-

-a family of five deer on our morning walk

-the Hubs taking me antiquing

-a funny video text from oldest daughter of our five year old granddaughter trying to make a zipline down the basement stairs out of yarn and a hanger, and wearing a bucket on her head for safety

8-26-14-

-a phone call from my big sister

-Hosea-with She Reads Truth

-a sweet vacation day with my husband

-a delicious dinner out at a restaurant by the river

-laughter

8-27-14-

-a text from second born daughter reporting on the growth of the kids 

while they've been gone to the east coast for a few weeks

-a great time with Jesus sitting out on the deck

-a fun afternoon with my husband

-sharing a delicious crabmeat chimichanga

-I got a deer!

-an evening walk with my camera

8-28-14-

-the last day of vacation before heading home tomorrow

-hiking around Suttle Lake together

-a relaxing evening while the hubs enjoys the beginning of college football season

-a fingernail moon right over the mountain

8-29-14-

-a deer leaping across the golf course

-a text from our daughter

-a safe drive home from central Oregon

-puttering and nesting when I got home, because that's what I do!

8-30-14-

-a few quiet hours before a busy afternoon

-a sweet, happy wedding

8-31-14-

- a beautiful and blessed Sunday

-Hope is Here, a book with stories of changed lives in southeast Portland because of Jesus,

(from our son-in-law's church and him coming and presenting it at our church which planted his church)

-more new faces at church, and some loved familiar ones who haven't been at church in a while

-a fun bbq/potluck afterwards

-a fun evening and sleepover with the two youngest granddaughters

gratefully yours,

2 Samuel 22:2...

What would I do without the Lord,

the Rock beneath my feet that is unshakeable, immovable, 

in all situations and circumstances?

My emotions soar when times are good

and plummet when tough times come.

That's why I need to sift past my own emotions,

why I must listen to the voice of God's Spirit and the truth of God's Word

no matter what my emotions may be telling me.

The saying, "follow your heart" is quite popular,

but God's Word says that our heart is wicked and can deceive us.

How many times has my own heart teamed up with my emotions and told me things like,

"you should just give up"?

In times like that God is my solid rock to stand on, 

His Word is a standard by which I can judge what my emotions are telling me against rock solid truth.

How often has He protected me from disaster when I've listened to Him 

instead of following my feelings wherever they my lead?

I'm so grateful for my Rock, my Fortress, my Savior and my Protector!

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely Lisha Epperson.

Friday Faves...Antique Shopping in Redmond, Oregon

This is the last night of our vacation.

What a wonderful time my husband and I had last week at the Oregon Coast,

and this week in the high desert of central Oregon!

Tomorrow we head home from our wonderful time of Rest and Relaxation

and look forward to a weekend with a wedding to officiate and a Sunday full of church activities.

The third R, Responsibilities,  awaits us, 

but the three Rs together in the right measure make life rich, right???

We are staying in a dear friend's vacation home at Eagle Crest, 

which is just outside the town of Redmond, Oregon.

Redmond is an antique lovers paradise!  

I counted five antique stores in just a couple of blocks.

I thought I'd take you along with me antiquing, since the hubs declined to accompany me.

Above you will see my top favorite find of the day.

I just LOVE old wooden totes and this one is very old, which makes it all the more beautiful to me.

The price was $125.

I didn't bring it home with me, but I did send a photo to my handyman son-in-law 

to see if he might be able to make me a knockoff with some reclaimed lumber. 

Sounds like he's up for the challenge!

My second biggest temptation was an antique dough bowl, which I've wished for for a long time.

The one above was my favorite.

$125 must have been the magic number, because that is what this dough bowl was priced as well.

So, I just looked at it longingly and left it there.

What a great old cabinet and another dough bowl!

Love these old shelves and more dough bowls!  

Prices ranged from $95 on up.

Anything transferware always catches my eye.

I like this red pie safe.

What a beautiful old cabinet!

More transferware, but these particular pieces were newer reproductions.

A beautiful old glass doored cabinet full of treasures.

What a great old Hoosier cabinet!

And on that middle shelf is a pair of milk glass salt and pepper shakers I kind of wish I had bought.

Oh, if I only had a large farmhouse kitchen to bring this cabinet home to!

This blue painted cabinet caught my eye, as well as all of the treasures it contained!

I do believe a stove like this was in our kitchen growing up.

Another lovely wooden cabinet.

Another piece that belongs in a farmhouse kitchen.

And here's a farmhouse style table!

You know I love me some milk glass,

but an 8 inch hobnail pitcher that I have been searching for still eludes me.

Do you see the wooden paddles in the photo above?

The are hinged together at the top, it's an old tortilla press!

I was tempted to get this and add it to my bread board gallery wall.

I really liked the red and wood combination on this cabinet,

and there's that magic number again!

And here's another set of lovely old shelves that I wish I had the money and space for!

Well, I managed to enjoy my antiquing adventure and only spent $18 for a piece of Universal China's Woodvine

to add to my collection and a couple of inexpensive, small, old, blue glass bottles.

(Just call me St. Elizabeth for all of that resisting temptation I did! HaHa!)

I hope you enjoyed going antiquing with me and that you have

 a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a BLESSED weekend!

                  

Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday

Step out of your comfort zone and see the beauty...

The air is hot and dry and smells of sage and juniper here in central Oregon 

where we are spending the last days of our vacation.

The trees look like twisted sculpture, the undergrowth is scrubby and sparse.

On my walk I hear the hoot of an owl, the cry of a hawk, 

and the unfamiliar song of a bird that sounds a bit like a baby's cry.

Last week we were at the Oregon coast where the air is cool and smells briny and salty.

The evergreens are tall, the coastal rainforest thick with undergrowth.

The screech of seagulls and crow's cawing accompanies the roar of the waves.

At home in the Willamette Valley, nestled between the Cascade and coastal mountains, 

the air smells fresh and clean, even in Portland, Oregon's largest city.

Evergreens grow abundantly alongside deciduous trees like oak, birch and maple, 

and the forest undergrowth is lush.

Robins and sparrows and finches and jays and crows and hawks sing a familiar symphony,

the sound of home.

Every where I go, every place I've been, has its own unique beauty.

I've seen the coastline from British Columbia to Baja, Mexico,

from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to the Gulf Shores of Alabama and Florida.

I've been to the majority of the states in the U.S.A.

I've smelled the air of Kumasi, Ghana.

It smells of palm oil and spices, of fish and cooking fires and garbage.

There's not been a single place I've been that there hasn't been something beautiful about it.

Sometimes I wonder why we can't see one another in the same way.

We all have our own unique beauty,

every color,

every tribe and tongue and culture,

beautiful.

 God has allowed me to see the unique beauty of many different places

and over the years has helped me to experience the unique beauty of many people.

The first church we pastored was located on a former reservation, 

and the majority of our small congregation were native Americans.

When our girls were small we pastored a church in the middle of orchard country

 and worked to start a ministry to migrant workers from Mexico

 and in our current church we have a vibrant Latino ministry.

When we first moved to Portland there was a large group of Jordanian believers

 that became an integral part of our church.

They even became a part of our worship team 

and it was a beautiful thing to have a Middle Eastern flair to our praise.

It was at a ministers' conference a decade and a half ago that a Ghanian pastor sat next to us,

which began a beautiful relationship as well as an outreach into that country.

Written down here like a list of people it sounds so impersonal,

but these have been real relationships...

its been young native American boys who would play basketball everyday with my husband,

us having their family over for popcorn and iced tea after church,

them having us over for dinner...

it's been eating tamales and Guatemalan food at the church potluck alongside the chicken and potato salad

 and having names and faces in your mind when people talk about immigration struggles...

it's been eating Jordanian mensaf and worshiping with the sound of the tabla drum

 and having brothers and sisters in Christ that speak Arabic...

it's been learning to recognize that someone is from West Africa by their accent,

and knowing the taste of jallof rice and peanut butter soup and fufu,

and having true brothers and sisters in Christ on another continent.

And then, right in our own neighborhood, there are my eastern European neighbors,

and there are my Vietnamese friends.

Wouldn't creation be boring if every place looked exactly the same?

It's richer for the differences.

And we are too,

we are richer for our differences.

Each one of us, beautifully, wonderfully, uniquely made by the Creator.

I'm partial to where I live.

It's home.

I find it beautiful.

But, oh how much I would have missed if I hadn't ventured out of my own little world 

to see the different kinds of beauty in other places.

I may prefer one place over another, but that doesn't make it better or the best.

Let's be honest, we're all most comfortable with what we are most familiar with,

whether we are talking about places or people.

But, life is richer when we venture out of our own little world

and see the different kinds of beauty in other people.

still following,

   

Also joining THOUGHT PROVOKING THURSDAYS 

at 3-D Lessons for Life

and 

Kelli at CHRONICLES OF GRACE