The Everyday....

Life is made up of the everyday. There are those shining moments; new births, special events, parties, awesome 'standout' blessings. There are those sad moments; deaths, financial ruin, terrible tragedy. Most of it though is the everyday stuff....dishes, groceries, cleaning, jobs, church, school, things we can count on and sometimes become complacent about.

I am trying lately, to celebrate the everyday. If that is the thing we experience most, by gosh, we had better enjoy it and suck the life out of it! I recently bought some small glass vases at Goodwill. I told the lady shopping near me, "I could build a whole Christmas decor around these!" She chuckled and agreed.

This morning when I came downstairs, I saw the vases on my coffee table, I noticed the sun was shining through the patio door, bouncing off a mirror and reflecting through the glass. Beautiful. I walked into the kitchen and the cupboards had this great smell because I wiped them down with Hawes Lemon Oil last night. Out back, the neighbor's horses were neighing at the fence for apples. Soft breathing told me my family was still all asleep. I made a cup of tea and just sat for a while and appreciated all we are blessed with.

The everyday.....enjoy it.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-2

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Still Alive and Kicking...

Renovating has consumed us these past few months. I love to blog, but I love life outside of the computer more. We are 75% done fixing up our new house. I will post some pictures eventually but not yet. Bathrooms left to go. We are expecting three new grandchildren in the spring to add to the five we already have! Life is good but it marches on at a fantastic pace! Blessings, Anita

Break Time...For the Computer

...not for me. I am taking a blog free month. I will be back mid-September. We are making a move and I am busy, just busy enough that I don't have time to put things down here. I will blog when I return with pictures of our new home, the work we have done, and the whole wonderful story of how it all worked out. I will still pop in to read other's blogs!

Till the Fall! Blessings!

No Longer Littles....

I was going to join Kaitlin at http://www.homemakerdesign.ca/ for her blog challenge. I had ideas and great plans. Even though this is a very busy time for us, I wanted to do this photo challenge. However....

My subjects aren't being cooperative. And I don't have time just now to seek out some who are. My teens both laughed when I begged them. Yesterday's challenge was 'pretend'. "Stand here," I said, "Pretend you enjoy me doing this." They wouldn't!

Aah well. So there you have it Kaitlin. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!" But I will eagerly watch to see beautiful photos of my grandchildren from day to day!

Happy....

Yesterday's photo challenge was 'silly' and I couldn't find any pose that worked for two teens to describe silly. However, today is 'Happy' and that we accomplished!

Happy certainly describes how this boy feels when he is spending time with his hamster. The first furry pet he has ever owned following a large assortment of frogs, snakes, and lizards...uh, geckos. Every evening just after supper Henry the hamster wakes from a day long sleep and is more than ready for some fun!

Probably Crazy!

I am probably crazy to add one more thing to my life this month. With all that is going on in August I still decided to try my hand at Kaitlin's photo challenge which you can find here! http://www.homemakerdesign.ca/2013/07/warm-up-camera.html  Today's challenge is "hands" and I have held a lot of little hands over the years. I no longer have little hands to hold at my house unless the grandkids are visiting, but I do have some long fingered boys here who 'willingly ???' allowed me to take a picture just before they went off to bed tonight.

God made each of us with amazing detail right down to the hands that are able to do so much. There are some pretty amazing muscles and tendons, and a lot of veins that make up these unique apendages! I am excited to think what great changes these 4 hands will make in the world as these young men grow up and meet life's challenges!

Summer at Our House...and our Other House

We sold this house last week! To a lovely couple who will love it like we have. It won't have its walls full of kids anymore, but they will make it lovely and give it a well deserved rest.

We bought this house! It needs some work but it is beautiful, good bones as they say.

We went to look at it last week and my husband came up with an offer he was willing to pay. I was upset! They will never take that! But he had done his 'homework' and decided that that was what he would start with. While he met with the owner, I wandered around the house praying. I prayed while I walked through the back yard and around the house, I prayed through the rooms while they chatted in the kitchen. I was just coming down the stairs when I heard my husband make the offer. The man paused for a long moment and then came back with a counter offer that was only....$1,500 more than my husband had suggested. Hubby's face was deadpan but I could almost see his heart leaping out of his chest. He glanced at me and almost lost it. I tried to look nonchalant but my eyes must have gave me away because the man's expression was one of amusement. Then we all shook hands and I got to say how happy I was. God is amazing. We looked at many houses, but He knew just where we need to be.

It has a lovely back yard and is in an older neighborhood. There are woods near by, ball diamonds, a creek not too far away, and horse stables beyond our back yard fence. And it is in town. I will enjoy being able to walk and bike more and drive our poor old clunker car less. It will be more convenient too when the kids and grandkids are in town! I have a fenced back yard! A lovely maple tree for hanging a swing. There are nice flower beds too and overgrown shrubs calling to be trimmed back! I am excited.

Another good thing is that it is half the size of the house in picture A. Which means cheaper heating costs, taxes, etc.

House B does need some fairly heavy renovations but we are up for that. All this needs to be completed over the next month! We will be busy.

We are losing our internet on Saturday (tomorrow) and it will be a few weeks until it gets wired into the new house so don't look for me for a while! Everyone have a wonderful summer.