01/07/09

I took this shot at Chimney Rock, NC. I love the evergreens in the mountains. These cones were so pretty to me against that blue sky.... and we all know how much I love a blue sky! ha!

We had AWANA tonight and I'm ready to crash. I have some thoughts I wanted to write about tonight, but I just don't have the time or energy at the moment. lol

Thanks for the thoughts on my barn pics and the lock pics from the last couple of days. I, too, LOVE the horizontal red barn picture. I just changed it to black and white just to see what it looked like, but with that red, it was so nice in color. :) I enjoy hearing from you all.

01/06/09

Boy, has it rained ALL day... and it is supposed to do this for the next few days. Can we say "NO RECESS?" Wish it was some snow. lol

This window was one of my favorite points of view at the farm the other day. My most favorite is the middle. I turned it to black and white, too, to see what it would look like. Love this shot. What do you think?

01/05/09

We survived our first day back to school. :) It was nice to see all of the kiddos.

Gotta go work on some supper, homework and grade papers. Thought I'd share these.... same picture just processed differently. I love the old lock and the "new" latch added later. I just love old things....

Original "color"

Sepia

Black and White... I think this is my favorite.

Antique Color.... I think my second favorite.

Would love to hear comments. :)

01/04/09

Here is another picture I took the other day at the farm. This is a pecan tree... and the sun was shining so beautifully behind it.

It is hard to believe my Christmas vacation is already over. It has been a good one and I have enjoyed this past week the most with being able to be at home more. It is also hard for me to believe that two weeks have passed since that magical weekend in Asheville. Time flies so quickly.

I was reading in my devotional today and it basically went along with the message that I heard at church today. The devotional talked about how our days are so precious. Money or things may "run out" but there is usually always a way to get more. Time is different. Time is something we can never get back and we are to "number our days." Our message today was based in Ephesians 2:8-10:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Our pastor spoke about a Samurai Sword (hope I spelled that correctly) and how it is made. This sword was used as an object lesson for us. It begins with charcoal and a sandy mixture with a metal in it. (I am no Geologist so I am doing my best here... lol) The charcoal and sandy mixture by itself is "dead"... not good for anything much. But, when they are put together through heat they are formed into ore. This ore is then manipulated through this heat many times to form a hardened steel that is so strong hardly anything can break it. The Samurai Sword is the strongest ever made, apparently.

We are like the charcoal and sandy mixture before God's grace takes over and we become a child of God. We are dead in our trespasses and sins... we are not good. When God's grace takes over we become like the ore. A hardened piece of "rock" that can then be formed into something usable. The transformation into a strong sword takes time, manipulation... and a lot of heat. The transformation in our life through Christ also takes a lot of time, God's hands of molding our lives... and, sometimes, "heat" from Him. Once we become that "sword for the Lord" we can then fight off the enemy with the resources God has given us in our growing and transforming process. We become a beautiful "workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works."

It is by God's grace that we are able to make use of our time each day. There are days I have looked back on and feel like I have truly wasted time that I can never get back. That is where I have to look and see how God has molded me, shaped me and is teaching me to use my days wisely for Him.

I'll not get it all right until I reach the gates of Heaven and see the Lord Jesus face to face, but I am thankful for all He uses in my life to teach me His grace and to use my days wisely for Him.

I tried to find the words to a hymn we sing at church a lot, but haven't found it in the books I have at home. However, we all know "Amazing Grace" so I thought I'd post those words. I just got the new Il Divo CD for Christmas and they sing it on that CD... it is beautiful. It is a song that is sung quite often, it seems. I often wonder when I hear it sung on TV or at special events if the people who are singing and listening REALLY know what they are hearing. Do they know the One True God? Do they know of that grace He bestows or are they just singing words to a "pretty song?" Take time to reflect on these words:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed.

Thro' many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we first begun.

Here is a nearly forgotten verse John Newton added near the end of the song:

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

01/03/09

This is a picture I took the other day at my best friend's dad's farm. All of this extra "stuff" was neatly stacked underneath their barns. I'll be showing lots of the pics from that day so stay tuned. I have been working on them the last couple of days.


Mikayla successfully made her first meal tonight. I helped her, of course, but she made Mexican Omelets. We had turkey bacon and grits with them and they turned out really well. She was so tickled with herself in the kitchen.

She has a desire to be in the kitchen that I never had. That is actually a bit sad for me to realize I never had that. I must admit that I felt quite inadequate beside her tonight trying to tell her how to do things... me, the person who rarely cooks anymore. It made me stop to wonder whether I was truly being the Mother to my daughter that I should be in that respect.

I will say, however, that being with her in the kitchen like that and working with her was a memory I'll always keep. Unfortunately, I was too busy turning omelets to get a picture and Steve was outside working on the barn so you'll have to imagine what it all looked like. It made me smile to see her so happy and in her element. She's going to be a great cook.

Tonight we watched Prince Caspian since I finished the book last night. It was great and is a wonderful addition to the Narnia series.

01/02/09

Saw this guy at Orton Plantation last fall. He was within walking (or if I chose to wade to him...) distance from me and that was a bit unnerving. LOL



I finished reading Prince Caspian to the kids tonight. I had to read three chapters tonight to finish it, but we just got the movie and I wanted the book done before we watched it. Tomorrow night will be movie night around here. Mikayla is also going to be cooking supper from her new Paula Deen's cookbook she got for Christmas. lol Can't wait. :)

01/01/09

It was weird putting 2009... :)

Here is what I have been doing the last few days! I even cleaned out a few more areas today: laundry room, pantry, under the sink in the kitchen and "medicine area" in our cabinets in the kitchen. That felt SO GOOD to do... been too long in coming. I am glad to have a lot of this accomplished before going back into the rat race of school.

We updated our dining room and bought two "new" antique pieces the other day. Got great deals on them. We moved the antique I had in the dining room into our kitchen/breakfast area and changed some things around in there. I was so tickled to be getting things going that I didn't take any before and after shots! I did manage to remember on part of it and then I scrambled up a couple of shots I had taken in those rooms previously.

Here is my first project of taking what I had and making it into something "new." I knew my budget was not overflowing so I changed things up a bit with some black acrylic paint! I re-did some candle holders and 2 picture frames.

Before:

After.... they turned out beautifully. I wish I had a picture of my mantle before Christmas. You would really see a big change! (I've still got to buy a large cream colored pillar candle for my large candle holder.... it's coming!) lol

All of the frames I used to have on the TV area were all different colors, etc.. I decided they all now have to be black. Notice the ivy looking frames I painted... now look like rod iron! :)

This is our kitchen/breakfast area. The antique piece at the end is what we moved from the dining room. I am thrilled with this piece in the kitchen. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure at first, but Steve convinced me! I bought a new lamp and moved around a plate I had in my dining room previously. I also was finally able to show off my grandmother's bread bowl... it even still has residue of flour/biscuit from her making biscuits all of those years. My kitchen feels even more cozy and I just love it. We had to move our large kitchen trashcan since the antique piece is now in its former area. Steve and Wesley found me one of those "contraptions" that you slide out the trashcan from under your sink by attaching it to your existing cabinet door. I have fallen in love with that thing... wow, it is so nice to have that convenient to the cooking/cleaning area!

This is the photograph I entered into the fair this year. I had to put it some place to show it off without it getting messed up with food and such. It is an "odd" size and didn't fit right on the walls. I got an easel, added my lamp I used to have in my foyer and "voila!" ... beautiful area on my counter.

Here is a picture of our den I took almost a year ago when we did some updating when we got our new couch.

Here is what it looks like now that I have re-arranged pictures and added new ones. That big one behind the couch was 12 years old and that area just needed a fresh look. I moved the barn picture into our hallway just beyond the den opening. It is still in the den...sortof. :) The wall behind the couch is a wall in the making. I will be adding as I get the chance. The picture to the left of the clock is a collage of photographs of Wesley and Mikayla I have taken in B&W. They are some that I have always loved and wanted to display. In the middle I put colored photos of some of my flower pics.

This wall excites me the most. I used to have the barn picture above the mantle. I wanted to show it off differently so I got the help of my best friend and she and I looked through design magazines to figure out what would work.

I bought the iron designs a year or so ago and have just been waiting to use them. When we went antique shopping the other day, I bought five antique skeleton keys, a pair of old glasses, 3 old books dated the early 1900's, and an old glass milk bottle to put on the shelf I bought at Michael's. I also bought that shadow box frame and "hung" the keys with some red/black ribbon and some decorative tacks.

This probably isn't the best quality pic because I took all of these handheld, but you can click on the picture to see the keys larger... and the shelf.

That is my Mom's Bible she got when she was a little girl sitting on the left of the shelf.

This is the only picture I could find of our dining room. Unfortunately, you can't see the piece that is now in our kitchen because the family is blocking it. lol Anyway... gives you a viewpoint you didn't have. This was taken this past August when we celebrated Steve's Mom's birthday.

New antique corner china cabinet. I love this so much. It brings such warmth to the dining room. I used to have this piece of furniture that was made out of pressed board (I think that is what Steve said it was) and it looked alright, but that piece was more for a kitchen area, but it was all we had and it served its purpose.

I bought this antique table that reminded me of one my Mom has in her house. It is oak and really pretty. It is a nice addition to that area. I used to have a ficus tree here... my best friend told me to get rid of that dust catcher. lol Those three pictures used to hang in our bedroom. They are the old prints for the months of the year. The top left is August for Steve, June is beside it for me, and May is underneath signifying the month we were married. :)

This piece is just beautiful and adds SO much to the dining room as well. It has a marble top and drawers. I bought that lamp at one of the antique shops, too. Mom had made that arrangement for me earlier. I think it all looks so nice together.

I really wish I had taken before pics so you could really see, but that is not to be. Just know that I am amazed at the transformation of my home. Wesley and Mikayla love it, too, and have asked me to make sure our dining room stays a dining room and not a storage area. lol I'll work on that.

Thanks for looking. :) It was a great start to a new year for me!