Fabulous Friday Fun

Good Morning Friends, What a gorgeous day it is today! Our weather has been up and down, like much of the country with heat waves and then afternoon showers. Parts of our state had hail so heavy yesterday it looked like snow and cars were getting stuck. The end of July, such things never cease to amaze me.
This week we began prep work to paint our house, yes I said we, as in hubby and I. No outside company here. Finding a color that worked was a bit of a challenge; we knew what colors we wanted-a sand color, white trim and accent color of a steel blue. The first choice called Sand Stone ended up too pink, so back to the store I went. Two colors later and we've got it. I imagine we'll head back to the store today to get quite a bit of paint, then the fun begins.
This weekend is a local Art Fair that I'd like to at least get to and check out; there will be vendors from out of state and our town in making quite a big deal about it. Tomorrow night 4 of our grands are sleeping over, for the first time in a while so we'll have to build an indoor fort in the family room and plan movies as well as lots of good meals. Miss S will be joining her cousins JJ, B and Miss F but our Peanut and Miss D will also join us for dinner. I just can't get enough of these kiddos but I'm sure nana and papa will be tired when they leave. Sunday is church-a new building-and it will be nice to see the new space. In between I'm sure we'll be painting, painting, painting.
Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to smell the roses.
Big hugs to you today.
Noreen

Oh yes, it is that day of the week already; do you make a point to give thanks continually or just when things turn out as you desire?
I am thankful for Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage, who remind us to make this a habit in our lives.
Today I am thankful that nothing catches our Father unaware, nothing is out of His control.
I am thankful that He know my hearts desires, knows me better than anyone, He knows my fears and counts all my tears. I am thankful that He knows the weakness of my personality and the strength He has sown into me. He knows the promises I rely on and count as Truth. I am thankful that He knows that I trust Him and depend on Him when all else around me is spinning wildly.
I am grateful for the fact that He knows my laughter and joy and the things that bring me to this place. He knows all the days of my life and makes my path straight.
I am so thankful that He has blessed me so much, with salvation, with my beloved husband, my daughters and their families, my friends and of course getting to know all of you. For more thankful posts please visit Lynn @ http://unequalmarriage.typepad.com/
Be blessed today and give thanks.
Noreen

On Grief and Loss

When our two daughters were growing up, we were close friends with a family that had two daughters the same age as ours, they homeschooled in the same group we did and we even attended the same church fellowship. This family were wonderful friends and I'm glad that our daughters still consider their daughters some of their best friends. Recently their oldest daughter, Anna, delivered a baby boy-their fourth child and brother to three beautiful girls. Little Mason was born 13 weeks early and lived for 4 days before going Home. Anna's husband is a pastor and recently had a sermon on the time spent with their tiny son. I can tell you that their testimony is amazing and God's grace being poured out on them, moment by moment, is a witness to many.
I so often read of so many people-moms, young and old, wives, daughters, sisters etc. that are going through so many trials. There are many who have lost babies or children and the grief is overwhelming. My heart goes out to each and every one of you. With Anna and Chris's permission, I'm linking his sermon here because I think it would benefit so many to hear their perspective, I am also linking to Anna's blog. To those who listen, may our Lord minister to your heart this day. It certainly ministered to mine. It is my prayer that His strength would be made perfect in their weakness and that their testimony would bring healing to many.

http://www.hscaudio.org/2010/07/4-days-to-eternity/
http://joyineverystep.blogspot.com/

Humbly yours,
Noreen

It's Tuesday and if you could see me now, you would watch me doing the Happy Dance as dear hubby got home yesterday. Yippee!!!!! For the last 25+ years hubby has gone on at least one annual golf trip, if not more. I have always been supportive of this because I realize that he does need guy time(o.k. I hope I've always been supportive), so I am quite used to this by now.

He had a great time and was invited back next year. I find it interesting that I feel safer here than I did in California, even with our best friends right next door. Not quite sure what the reason is but I had a very relaxed time.
I will confess that there was a period of about four years when my next door neighbor-aka best friend-and I traveled to major quilt shows or weekend quilt retreats. We always had a blast and often when starting out felt more like teenagers than middle aged women-which means we turned up the car stereo, sang and talked non-stop. By the time we headed home you could tell we were pretty tired as our chatter had definitely slowed down. I haven't had a girl weekend away since we moved and truth be told, in the last number of years in Ca. each time we had hoped to plan one, one of our daughters was expecting to have her baby thus necessitating my being within close proximity. That is probably one reason why I understand hubby's trips besides the fact that I miss my girl weekends with a certain someone-Hey Barb, are you up for a trip???? LOL.
Do you get a chance to go away for a weekend with just a girlfriend or two? Let's hear about it.
Have a beautiful day.

Blessings, Noreen

Monday Morning Musings

Good morning dear ones, I trust you had a joy filled weekend and that all is well with your souls. As I pondered what to write about today, I reflected on the great time I had at both daughters homes over the weekend. With hubby away both families had me to dinner-such a sweet time spent with our loved ones. The grands always keep me entertained and laughing, each evening was no exception. Last night, after dinner, at our oldest daughter's home we went outside in the lovely evening and played Ladderball. It is a wonderful outdoor game that even a 4 yr old can play; in fact during our camping trip Little Miss D kept trying to play as well and she's only 18 mos.

My daughters families reminds me of one of my favorite Psalms.
Psalm 128:1-4
"How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways.
When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, You will be happy and it will be well with you.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, Within your house, Your children like olive plants
Around your table.
Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord."

The blessings pour down on hubby and I through our daughters, their godly hubby's and their children. What joy it brings to my heart to see our girls raising their children in the Lord.
What brings joy to your heart? What is the desires you have for your children, young and old.
I am especially joyful today because my beloved is coming home from his golf trip.

Noreen

Fabulous Friday

It's the weekend-yippee, yahoo and all that jazz! My dear hubby left this morning very early, to spend the weekend in the heat-I'm talking 108-115 in Vegas, with his buddy and play in an annual golf tournament. His friend has been trying to talk him into this tournament for over three years now and finally hubby gave it. He wasn't too thrilled about the heat and playing in it this afternoon but I know he'll have a good time. Colorado's heat might even look good to him when he gets home. Yesterday we had quite a storm pass through and we weren't sure whether we'd be able to go to the concert last night but the storm let up and we enjoyed a wonderful evening. The sunset was incredible; so brilliant and majestic! So what's a girl to do when hubby is away? Somehow shopping will come into the picture I'm sure, maybe a plant for the yard, maybe a new book and just hanging out-no meals, per say, to fix and I can watch Dog Whisperer and House Hunters all I want.

Have a wonderful, relaxed and fun weekend my friends. Don't forget to give thanks to the One who makes it all possible!

Blessings, Noreen

Greetings to you this day, I hope your week is going well and that you are enjoying life.
On Monday I was able to get to one of my favorite quilt stores in the mountains and also found a store that I hadn't been to yet-yippee! I will say that what I ended up with in the way of fabric was totally different than I had planned but I think that special person will truly enjoy it.
Instead of doing a traditional pattern wall hanging, I purchased a printed panel(don't moan-there are some beautiful ones out there)with the plan to do a type of "attic window"-which makes it look as if you are looking at a scene from a window. The panel is beautiful and looks like our mountains. This design should be fairly quick to do and easy which is nice since our time is getting closer each week, for when I will present it. I will post photos as I work on it; today I will have to go to our local store and get some more batiks for sashing etc.
Plans for today include the quilt store, walking with daughter, looking at exterior paint colors, feeding our neighbors cats and possibly kayaking. Yesterday's weather was cloudy and rain, although still in the 70's and today looks like more of the same.
A dear friend emailed me a poem that I've actually used before in a Memorial/Life Celebration and you may have seen it but I love it so wanted to share it with you.....get your tissues.
Maybe there is a friend who needs to read this or maybe it will touch your heart.

"God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be, so he put his arms around you and whispered "come to me". With tearful eyes I watched you, and saw you pass away, although I loved you dearly, I couldn't make you stay. A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest. God broke my heart to prove to me, he only takes the best."

Blessings, Noreen