A Hymn For The Lords Day

There are many great hymns of the faith. The old hymns are matchless for their depth of thought and meaning, the noble character expressed by the hymn writers, and the exquisite beauty of the music. These poetical masterpieces were couched within the lines of poetry.
Music has a great impact on our lives. It is so important that we carefully consider what we allow to go through the "ear gate".



Our tastes in "Christian music"reveal our concept of God and is reflected in the music we choose to affix lyrics too. We will choose that which appeals to us. If we are ruled by the sensual and the emotional, we will gravitate toward that which moves us in those ways.

If, on the other hand we are controlled by a desire for holiness, we will choose that which is uplifting. That means, our first response to the music is not emotional, it is spiritual. Our spirits are lifted up; we stand in awe; there are no words to express the sense of reverence and humility when we have a spiritual meeting with The Lord of Lord and King of Kings. The emotion follows, but does not control.



God is Holy. He is not of this earth, He takes no pleasure in the "sacrifices of Cain"who's offering was given without faith as it did not symbolize the sacrifice of blood that Christ would one day offer. It was given for show; for the effect, if you will.
Let's not miss out on true worship of God. Don't be deceived by your feelings.



Be Thou My Vision
by Mary E. Byrne

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart-
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;

Thou my best thought, by day or by night-

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word-
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son-
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise-
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart-

High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,

May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'n's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, what-ever be-fall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

May you have a blessed Lord's Day.

Washing the Feet of a Little Child

I love being a Mama. It is the best thing to me. How I wish I were a better Mama. God has been so good to allow me,
for a very short season, to have precious children under my wings.



Through the years, it has been my delight to bring them in from a hot morning of play, sit them up on the edge of the kitchen sink, and wash their small precious feet. I think of how short my time is with them; how little time I have to teach them the ways of the Saviour. It's during these "foot washing sessions" I remember how He suffered the little ones to come unto Him, for of such is the Kingdom of God. I also remember of how He washed the feet of His beloved ones.



There are such important lessons for them to learn.



This is the is the reason I am a Mama.

Completion of Re-design Project

Remember this blouse? Well now it is . . .




This!



The skirt is Butterick 4092, one of their vintage styles.

It's Those Little Things We Remember

When I see a roll of waxed paper, I always think of my Mother. She passed away almost two years ago, and I think of her often.
She always stayed at home, even though so many women of her generation began going off to the workplace. I think she realized she had enough work to do at home to keep her busy! I am grateful for her faithfulness to our family.
Dad was the breadwinner, and he worked hard. He was a man's man. Being a pipe fitter in the steel industry, he always traveled a great distance every day to work, which meant he had to leave very early in the morning. Mom always was up with him, getting his lunchbox ready, and feeding him breakfast. She really took good care of him.



Now, Mom did not use those new-fangled plastic bags to pack Dad's sandwiches in. She used Cutrite waxed paper. I remember watching her wrap his sandwiches; it was almost like watching an artist. Her capable hands folded and wrapped like she was wrapping a gift.
This simple memory of my Mother's care for her husband (and us-we carried her sandwiches to school) has been one of those little "lights" along the way to help me remember the care that I am to show for my husband and children. Little things do mean a lot!

Preparing Trevor's Lunch:



MMMM! That bacon frying is enough to make your mouth water!



Slice the bread nice and thin!



You just have to have a tomato with bacon!



Now! It's time to think of Mom. Wrap it up carefully. Don't you enjoy the crinkly sound of the paper as you fold it?



There it is. I just made a memory.



Life is good!

The Family Mercantile Catalogue

When I was a child, one of my favorite pastimes was to go through the Sears or J.C. Penney catalog and pick one item from each page. I pretended that someone would go back behind a curtain and quickly bring out the item I had just selected, and it was mine to take home!
Can you guess that I love to shop?
Those old-time catalogs are almost a thing of the past, with the Internet replacing the need for such things. But I will always prefer the printed page: it is tangible, and I can refer back to it quickly. It is REAL!
I wish to introduce you to a new kind of catalog. This is put out by a group of 18 small businesses, all united in the purpose of promoting the Christian family, and in particular, the role of the Home Maker. You may visit the on-line catalog or request a free catalog at The Family Mercantile Catalogue.

End Of Summer

This morning as I saw my dear husband off to work, I stood enjoying the peace of the morning. Somehow, I felt inclined to take a walk down to the pond to check the water level. We haven't had any rain in a long time. Around the tiny pond was evidence of my 11 year-old son's adventures with nature. The canoe was unteathered, and various plastic containers were littering the shore. It looked as if a hobo lived there! But alas! This is Sayre's domain at this point in his life, and I'm so glad he is making giant discoveries and conducting important experiments of this type.
From the pond, I walked to my flower garden. I decided to go ahead and dead-head the zinnias and bachelor's buttons. Ashley and I enjoy harvesting seed for the next season. But dead-heading also promotes new blooms. So that is what I did.
The end of summer. . . an opportunity to thank God for His wonderful goodness and daily care.
An opportunity to look forward to the new season ahead.

Our First Year In The Country!

Exactly one year ago today, we left the city . . .

for our Dream Come True . . . our home in the country!
God is ALWAYS good, no matter what our circumstances. He just IS! When He gives you the desires of your heart, though, it causes your heart to well up inside for gratitude because He granted your desire ~ simply because He delights in delighting us!

See my happy, exausted face! It's so much fun to get the kitchen organized!

Our new place was once the home of Savory Farms, owned and operated by Jim and Jane Wilson. Mr. Wilson also hosted a PBS television show called The Victory Garden here sometime during the 1980's. This is the remains of one of the two greenhouses they had.



The Lord even provided the future home of The Wash Basin!

A country home would not be complete without an out house, of course!

Don't worry- Collin is fine. He just got to messing around . . . HEY! THAT'S MY BIKE!

We'll end on this note! Life IS good!

Creating The Rose Garden of My Dreams

For years, I have dreamed of having a rose garden. Because we always lived under shade trees, most any kind of flower gardening was unproductive. Now I have 21 acres to plant to my hearts content!
This past two weeks, I have been planning and researching roses. Growing roses in the south has some special challenges, such as extreame heat, drought, and hight humidity or dryness. After looking at all the different choices, I finally made my decisions. I would like to share with you the selection I made. They were are ordered from Heirloom Roses.

New Dawn

Majestic

Falstaff

Kathryn Morley

Cecile Brunner

Easy Livin


They are scheduled to arrive the first week of October. OH BOY!!!!