God's Word for Today

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 31: The week where I just thought I took a picture every day but clearly I was delusional….

I think I must have been seriously delusional, because I really did think I had taken a picture every day this week, hormones, teenage book bag crisis, scheduling issue at the doctors office must have take their toll on my mental state because when I downloaded the pictures for the week there were a lot of missing days………..

It was a half and half kind of week, half crazy and half relaxing. Once I got the girl child safely deposited at my sisters I was able to put the life and death crisis of a new book bag behind me, for a little while anyway! The remainder of the week was very peaceful if not down right boring. I think the most strenuous thing I did after wednesday was sort a few piles of yard, dice up a few peppers and catch up on my movies on the DVR. I think we all need those down times every once and a while.

No pictures on Sunday, July 24 or Monday, July 25

Tuesday, July 26

Well I finished up this prayer shawl on Monday evening. I just love the colors, and I love this new stitch. It’s called a cobble stitch. It is wonderfully tactile in it’s texture and you just are compelled to sit and run your hands over it. It’s sort of addicting like bubble wrap but not as annoying.

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I came home from the Tuesday morning prayer shawl meeting with this laundry hamper full to the brim with all the left over bits of yarn. I am going to make a guess and say that when all is said and done there may be enough of the mish mash to make four shawls. I love watching them come together with all the varied colors and patterns that take shape.

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No pictures on Wednesday, July 27, I did drive out to my sisters which is an hour plus away so we had a lot of drive time and no photo op’s

Thursday, July 28

I think the only thing still producing in my garden are the tomatoes, peppers and a few cucumbers. I had a HUGE harvest of jalapenos, banana peppers as well as a few green peppers. Rather than go to waste I made a batch of pepper jelly. I altered the recipe a bit and increased that amount of hot pepper ratio. I have not tried any yet so I am eager to give it a taste, I hope I don’t have it to hot!

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Friday, July 29

Well after staring at my pineapple top for several weeks I finally decided to get it transplanted to a pot on Friday afternoon. You can click here to see it’s humble beginnings. It really has grown quite a bit since I began the rooting process.

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Saturday, July 30

I was the the church bright an early Saturday morning for my facilitator training class. It is a yearly review of all the details involved with facilitation plus an opportunity to meet the new folks coming through as well as an opportunity for fellowship. This year will be a bit of a departure for me as I was assigned the video series “That The World May Know” by Ray Vander Laan.  I have never done this series from start to finish. I have seen piece parts of the series in various Sunday school classes that we have taken. It should be an interesting process to have the experience in the proper order and from start to finish.

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Well here is mish mash prayer shawl #1. I finished it on Friday evening.

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Well that’s my week, not very eventful and even a bit down right boring.  Thank You JESUS! I need a bit of down time!

Y’all head over to Sara’s and link up for more P365 fun!

Blessings

R

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Thankful Thursday

If you read my previous post then you will understand why today I am thankful for the peace and quiet in my house. The hubs is out of town on business and yesterday I drove the DD out to her Aunt’s house to spend a few day with her cousins and her grandmother. I am breathing in the solitude, making pepper jelly and catching up on the movies on the DVR that no one want to watch but me.

My fan is directed right at me so I’m not hot, at least not right now anyway.

Since the hubs and DD are both out of the house don’t have to cook anything, clean anything or wash anything beyond my own hands.

I am thankful for my new favorite vegetable juice, it’s super yummy! If you have not tried the new Motts vegetable juice I highly recommend it!

I am thankful for the small things like yarn and a crochet hook that give me the ability to occupy my thought on to productive things rather than dwell on those thing I can do nothing about!

I am thankful that later tonight I get to meet with the most wonderful group of ladies on the planet. My accountability group meets on Thursday evenings and it is just the highlight of me week. It grounds me, it gives me an outlet. We encourage, strengthen, and hold each other up and we hold each other accountable. I need that.

Thank You for Thursday’s

Thank You for some down time!

Thank You for time away from my precious eye rolling teenage daughter whom I love more than life but was on my last nerve the other day!

I am thankful that I got to see my son and his family last week at campmeeting!

As Scarlet always says…”Tomorrow is another day!” and aren't we glad that if fell on a Thursday!

Blessings

R

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

It was just like being in hell y’all!

So I get up this morning and have my coffee. Now the coffee was good which was odd seeing as just about everything else that happen today was CRAP!

I had a conversation with skoots1mom yesterday about the tedious accounting tasks that needed to be finished. I had multiple bills that we on deck to be paid, a paycheck to be entered into quicken and the monthly bank statement needed reconciling. If I managed to get it all done then I would be at prayer shawl in the morning. Well I managed to get most of it done the night before but my energy level as well as my mental capacity for logical thought left me by about 8:30 so I opted to forgo any further tasks that required columns of numbers and the ability to think clearly until morning.

With a cup of coffee under my belt I began to check off the bank statement tick mark by tick mark. The numbers however were not in a good place. Twice I went over the statement and twice there was a massive error to the tune of several thousands of dollars. This was the first clue that the day was not heading in the right direction.

After about two hours of rechecking I finally found my error. Note to self: It really helps if you actually enter the correct numbers in the quicken fields before you begin to reconcile the statement. First crisis averted.

I head to the church for prayer shawl and then it’s off to get the yearly mammogram.

On the way to the doctors office I get a call from the DD with a critical question about a life or death decision about a new book bag for her upcoming school year.

“I’m a little busy right now, can we talk about this when I get home?”

Well I get to the imagining center and the nurse wants to see my doctors orders. “My insurance company said I did not need any orders of referrals” I explained.

I had specifically called the insurance company to make sure that I had all my ducks in the row before heading to the appointment. They assured me that I did not need a referral from my physician.

“Ma’m, a referral is not the same thing as Doctor’s orders.” I am breathing in and out and trying not to reach over the desk and kindly whack her on the top of her head. Cause you know the machine will still work properly and you know the boobs will still get smashed adequately without a slip of paper, but she just looks at me with her sweet smile.

We have a problem no don’t we!

Sooooooooo I call my doctors office. I almost hang up but they finally answer after about 20 rings. I get transferred to the scheduling department which of course I get their answering machine. I leave a detailed message that I need to have some doctors orders faxed over to the imaging center an hang up. Was I willing to spend the rest of the afternoon on the off hand chance that the doctors office would respond in a timely fashion, that would be a BIG NO!

So I cancel my appointment and head home. Get home make a call and reschedule my appointment. Because I know if I don’t do it right now I will forget and it just won't get done! I remember fondly the days when I had a brain in my head that actually remember things and was organized….

However, there is still the pending disaster of the possibility of starting the school year off with a book bag and I quote “I don’t like that one any more” end quote. Well now I totally understand. She doesn't like it any more. It no longer matters that we paid big bucks for the really expensive book bag with the expressed purpose of longevity in mind. Seems to me I recall having a conversation with her about making sure she really liked it because she was going to be using it for a very long time.

But now, she doesn't LIKE it any more! How sad!

Well given my current mental state I asked as kindly as I could that she refrain from pushing this topic of conversation until I was in a better frame of mind. Funny thing about having a major book bag crisis it seems to take precedence over the really crappy day I was having. I mean I only lost several thousand dollar out of my checking account, a wasted trip to the doctor office, rescheduling my appointment and now I had burned the plate of nacho’s that I was going to have for lunch.

But noooooooo!

After several minutes of attitude, entitlement statements such as  “You never let me do anything!” or my favorite “You always say that!” or the ever popular “You always get what you want and I never get what I want!”

Hmmm, seems all I did this summer was write checks so she could go off and have fun with her friends plus fork over the necessary spending money to accompany the choir tour, Costa Rica trip and campmeeting, but she never gets to do anything she wants….ever!

Why yes she did!

Let’s just say that it is a good thing she stomped off to her room and is now pouting behind closed doors.

Oh and did I mention the the hubs is out of town all week and I am trapped in the house with a teenager all by myself!

So I pick up the cell phone to call a friend and whine only to get the message that the battery is about to go dead and the blue tooth is also not connecting. I look down and there is a voice mail. I listen to the message and it’s from the doctor’s office telling me that the orderes I needed about 45 minute ago are now begin faxed over to the imagining center. Yea for me!

Thank you Jesus for the large bottle of Pinot Grigio in the frig and the huge basket of yard I brought home from prayer shawl.

I’m prescribing some chilled wine for my whining and a dose of distraction from a big basket of yarn.

Y’all HELP ME!

R

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 30: Campmeeting…It was AWESOME Y’all!

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Well my house is almost back in order, the laundry is almost all done and I’m. So. Tired!

I love Campmeeting but I am also EXAUSTED!

The week of 95 plus temps and late nights of fellowship take their toll on my 52 year old constitution. I am thankful for a light week ahead so I can recuperate a bit.

The week was awesome, the nightly worship services were awesome, the fellowship was awesome and the food was awesome. Are you sensing a theme…..AWESOME!

Click here to read an article and see more pictures from the local paper.

If the calculations are accurate this was our 180th year worshiping at the campground. My family started attending campmeeting in 1993/94. My son was a pre-schooler and my daughter was just a twinkle in the Lord's eye. We began spending the week in residence very shortly after that as my energetic little boy loved the non stop outdoor activity and being surrounded by acres of woods, creeks, and dozen’s of ready playmates.

Now after a decade plus it is just a given that on the third week in July you can find me out at the campground. I will share that this year was a bit different. The family that shares the tent with me, her daughter and my daughter have been childhood friends since they were in diapers.

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Now they are both sweet sixteen and off with the youth for the week.

We looked at each other one evening as we were getting ready to turn in for the night and both of us commented on the fact that our babies are all grown up! It was girls night in the Mark tent after 15 years all our children have grown up and were off enjoying themselves in the company of their piers. It was a bit sad but it was also just part of how life is.

I consoled myself with the knowledge that in a few more years Muffinhead will be old enough to come stay the week with Grandma, so I am marking off the days until that time comes!

Sunday, July 17

Each night we have a HUGE covered dish supper! The table is always filled to overflowing with amazing food. The fellowship after the meal is wonderful as well.

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The little ones enjoy playing in the dirt and kicking up the sawdust!

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Playing a game of Frisbee tag or touch football!

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Monday, July 18

Over the course of the last few year the campground committee had done some major improvements. Now that we have a full time caretaker in residence the grass and other landscaping projects have all taken hold.

Just look at the difference…this is 2009.

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2011…..Green grass is a good thing!

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It’s not exactly the same vantage point but this gives you a good idea of what it used to look like!

2009

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2011

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Tuesday, July 19

We discovered very quickly that our front room was going to be home to more that just my cabin-mate! It took momma bird a day to get used to the idea that she had to share her space with us noisy humans but by the end of the week she was flitting about the rafters with bits of food in her mouth totally oblivious to our comings and goings. It was sweet to wake up to the hungry voices of the babies insistently calling for breakfast!

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Wednesday, July 20

My son and his family came on Wednesday. She is always intrigued with my little battery operated fan. Note to self: Muffinhead needs her own fan for next year!

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Each night they have some special fun thing that happens after the worship service. Tuesday was watermelon night, Wednesday was S’mores night. After worship all that wanted to stay gather around the fire ring and make S’mores!

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After a few bites Muffinhead decided that S’mores were just not her cup of tea! It was fun to watch and really really sticky afterwards.

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Thursday, July 21

There is a really neat story behind this picture and I will be planning a full post about it later in the week.

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Friday, July 22

More of the landscaping improvements. These lovely Black-eyed Susan's line the entrance as you drive in. They are just beautiful.

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The new split rail fencing that lines the road out front is just beautiful. I am so happy that got rid of the old unattractive chain link fence. It just gave the who front of the campground an intuitional feel to it. Now it just is so inviting as you drive up the the campground. I just love all the new and wonderful plantings going on!

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This is the view from my rear view mirror. It just make you want to come back don’t ya think?

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Saturday, July 23

This is my sad tale of woe! Looks are defiantly deceiving. It may look like regular corn, however it was awful. It was tough, tasteless and inedible. It went straight from my table to the trash. I was so very disappointed. My second attempt was a miserable failure. It was tough, mushy, pasty and had absolutely no flavor. You can be sure that I will be doing some additional research on how to grow edible corn.

Disappointment is an understatement.

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Well that’s it for me this week. I am off to spend some time resting and recovering. I love campmeeting but I am so tired. I need a good nap and some intentional down time to recover for a bit!

For more P365 y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

Blessings

R

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 29

Well campmeeting start today, so next week will be full of pictures of one of my favorite places in all the world. I missed two days this week. As weeks go it was a bit ho hum. Just another normal week of uneventful Be Still and Know normalness….

Lot’s of crocheting, life’s annoyances and troubles can be avoided so wonderfully when you have a full bag of yarn…..

No pictures on Sunday, July 10     

Monday, July 11

This is my second attempt at a pieced together prayer shawl. I can say that it is a bit more uniform that the last one but still it presented some unique problems when sewing it together.

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The right side is as even as I could get it but the left, well let’ just say that it is a bit lacking, it’s getting there but just not yet! I did like the color combination on this one a lot!

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Lunch time rolled around and I took a break from my avoidance and made an avocado and fresh tomato sandwich.

Summer does not get any better than this!

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No picture on Tuesday, July 12  

Wednesday, July 13

I finished this one up this week as well. I love the monochromatic tones in this one.

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I took a close up for you guys to show you the difference in the a regular worsted yard and a homespun. I love homespun but it has it’s drawbacks.

This is worsted yarn…look at the definition!

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This is homespun with the very same stitch. It looses a bit in the translation I think!

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The day was capped off by this wonderful and colorful display! Go God!

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Thursday, July 14

My Purple Cone Flowers are blooming and the peppers are doing just fine!

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Friday, July 15

I have to share that  am not a HUGE fan of V8! I wish I loved it but I just don’t. I know it’s very good for me and I do drink it from time to time when I am in need of some extra veggie-ness in my diet. I saw the new commercials for this on television the other day so I thought I would give it a go! I am so glad that I did. It is delicious. It has so much more flavor that V8 and it really does taste just like a fresh picked tomato. It does not have as much veggie content at the V8 (three) but two servings of veggie in each glass is not to bad. You can bet I will be having this around a lot!

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Saturday, July 16

There are many things I admire about my husband, one of them is his ability to look at anything and be able to take it apart and then put it back together. It was not long after our Saturday morning got cranked up when he came in and spread this out all over the kitchen table. It is the dashboard to his mustang. He had determine that the odometer was no longer working and he promptly pulled it out to investigate the problem. Several hours later as well as a $40.00 trip to a specialty auto part store and the problem was resolved.

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He amazes me! He just dives right in there with screw driver in hand and makes it work! And please take note of the two tiny white plastic pieces….why yes he paid $40.00 for two small plastic pieces that probably cost about .07 cents to make.

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Well that’s it for me this week. I will catch up with all of you next week. I will probably be a bit out of pocket with campmeeting activities so I will see you all next week.

For more 365 fun y’all head over to Sara’s and link up for more fun!

Blessings

R

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Juxtaposing Definition: Reverse Paraphrasing as a Bible Study Tool!

I can’t remember when I was introduced to this particular tool for bible study but it has become an invaluable one for me. It can be very enlightening and at times a bit uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable if the truth were told. But then God’s word has a way of shinning truth into situations that as adults we tend to want to gloss over or look at with rose colored glasses. I love wearing those rose colored glasses when I am looking at my own behavior. In my humanness I often times switch those spectacles to a magnifying glass when I have it zeroed in one someone else!

In my quiet time yesterday the focus of the devotional I was reading was in 1 and 2 Samuel. I have been reading a wonderful book “Praying the Names of God”, one day my small group may actually return to it and get it finished. But I had picked it up the other day and began reading it again.

A very dear friend, who also happens to be our Minister of Congregational Care at our church has always encouraged us to make sure that when we are reading scripture to make sure we are placing them in the proper context. For as long as I can remember she had always encourages us to make sure we take the time to ready just a bit before and just a bit after. Drinking in the entire passage and making sure we have the full flavor of what the passage means.

2 Samuel 22 is a song of raise that David pen just after begin delivered from his enemy Saul.

He praised God for being his fortress, his deliverer, his ROCK, the horn of his salvation, his stronghold, his refuge…he goes on and on praising how wonderful and thankful he is for God’s protection and for his blessings.

I continued to read on and I came to verses 21.

21 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;

   according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

David had a clear picture of his behavior. He knew when he was being righteous and he could also look clearly on his behavior when it was not the picture of uprightness.

As I read the words “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness” the very fist thought that came to my mind was what happens to the context of the scripture if the meaning is reversed.

Reverse paraphrasing is a unique bible study tool that can drastically put biblical principles in very clear definition. I have used it many times as I facilitated Disciple 1 last year. I also employ this technique during times when I am looking for insight during times of personal or emotional struggle.

When you take a passage of scripture and revise it, reword it in the negative or in the juxtaposing meaning it really can clearly define for you how the world acts in certain situations. It can also give you a very clear picture of places you never want to go. It can help to totally transform what it is you believe.

Example:

“The LORD has dealt with me according to my wickedness;

   according to the filth of my hands he has punished me.

or:

“The evil one has rejoiced over the choices I make;

   according to the actions of my life he has taken pride in the knowledge that he has distracted me.”

When I place the juxtaposing definition in my head it really does crystallize for me the goal. I want to have that Godly vision to see my behavior as David saw his. I want to be able to say “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness” with complete confidence. However the reality of the situation is it leans more to the first example I sited.

But when I take the reverse and place it before me it really gives me a very clear road map of exactly where I do not want to go.

God’s word is so rich and so applicable to every day life.

My prayer for today and in reality it should be every day is to have the clarity of David.

To have the transparency of seeing my behavior as David saw his.

Blessings

R

Click here to read the passage in it’s entirety.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Project 365 ~ Week 28: A trial run on the Empty Nest

With the DD gone all week on a mission trip in Costa Rica the hubs and I found ourselves with just the two of us for company all week long. It was a unique glimpse into what is to come for us in a few years. I will say that it was rather enjoyable to have our evenings to ourselves and no demand to make a run ore emergency hair care products or wardrobe malfunction catastrophes.

Sunday, July 3

I handed this to the hubs on Sunday afternoon and said “I don't know about you but I think this looks like a bunny snack, don’t you?”

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Monday, July 4

We finally got a glimpse of momma bunny. She made her appearance on Monday afternoon, which we both thought was a bit out of the ordinary. She hopped around the back yard for almost two hours. She explored the veggie patch, sniffed at the tomatoes, ran in and out of the corn and generally had a wonderful time romping all over the back yard.

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Tuesday, July 5

I finished another prayer shawl. I used one of the new stitches I leaned last week. I can truthfully say that I do love my homespun, however it does limit what you can do in the intricate stitch department. The character of the yarn just doesn't not lend itself to much definition. It is very soft and the colores are wonderful but this new stitch gets a bit lost in all they fluff. It still turned out nicely though!

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Wednesday, July 6

With the hubs and I being on vacation in May I was not able to present my Disciple 1 class with their completion certificates and pins. After a bit of emailing back and forth we were able to set up a date that worked for almost all of us. We met at the church for a lovely lunch. I brought a huge bowl of salad greens and every one else brought their favorite topping and dressings.

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I’d call this an awesome salad bar, and almost all of it came fresh from all or our collective gardens. It was really nice to reconnect with those lovely ladies.

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Thursday, July 7

I normally try to keep the crochet projects down to one at a time. However sometimes it just works out that I have more than one project going. This time it has gotten a bit out of control and I have three different projects going all at the same time. Two crochet and one knit, I like to keep a knitting project around just so I wound forget how to do it.

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Friday,July 8

Skoots1mom and I got a whole basket of cucumbers out of the garden on Friday afternoon. I intended to send about half of them home with her but being the old woman that I am I forgot and she walked out and left them behind as well. The joys of getting older……and you are…….

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Saturday, July 9

The dinner table was overflowing with bounty from the garden tonight. I pulled up the remaining green beans to make room for a second planting and as per usual I gleaned a huge pile of beans that were hiding underneath all the leaves. It was enough for a big ol mess of beans. I also sliced up several of the freshly picked cucumbers and minced up a red pepper, also from the garden an marinated them in Italian salad dressing all afternoon. The BBQ chicken and fresh pineapple were also wonderful but I will have to say I get a certain sense of accomplishment and a fulfillment when I am able to place something on the table that I have picked from the garden.

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Then I topped off our week alone with a celebratory peach cobbler.

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It was really good!

Well by the time this hits my blog the DD will be safely at home and life around the house will be aback to normal. I anticipate having the usual emergency wal mart run for heat protecting spray, mascara, eye shadow or cute hair bands, and to be perfectly honest we both missed her. It warms a wonderful pace in my heart to see her going off to serve in the mission field but what mother doesn't sleep a bit better when their babies are back safe in their beds?

Well that’s it for me this week, and WOW I just realized I did not miss one day this week. Oh my stars…..

For more 365 fun y’all head over to Sara’s and link up!

Blessings

R

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