Easter

Today our pastor, Mike Snyder, told a story about a father and son.

They were riding down the road in a car, and the son saw a bee buzzing. The boy was deathly allergic to bees and was terrified of it. The bee flew up by the dad, who reached out and caught it in his big hand. He held it in his hand for a few moments and then let it go. Once more the bee flew toward the child who grew upset again.
The father held out his hand, and showed his son the stinger.

Just as he took the sting of death for his child, Jesus took the sting of death for us.

Fear not, for He is risen.

I hope you all were able to celebrate our Lord today.

Happy Easter!

Prayer

Do you have a book that you've underlined page after page?

One of the books I have like this is With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray.

last week our bookshelf began collapsing, and I pulled everything off and came across this much-loved book.

I began to leaf through it and have decided to read the entire thing again.

Murray emphasizes we need to surrender ourselves to God to pray effectively.

"And not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for him to fill full of his Spirit and his love."


Murray takes New Testament teachings about prayer and focuses on them in thirty-one chapters. These chapters help the reader move past ineffective prayer. He leads you into a fuller understanding of the work God has called you to do.

Murray points out that the prophets didn't teach us to pray. Jesus taught us to pray.

I'm excited to dive into With Christ in the School of Prayer again this spring.

Do you have a book that has helped you have a closer relationship with God?





Happy Easter!

Am I a Slob?

My husband left town Saturday and won't be back until Thursday. He rarely takes long business trips, and this is a new experience for me.

No kids at home, just me and the dog. I told him one of my goals while he was gone was to not kill the dog. I think that worried him until I explained that I didn't want to get so absorbed in writing that I'd forget to take Heinz out or feed him. (Trust me, that would never happen.)


But this is what happened. I've not picked up after myself like I do when he's home. I've not made the bed, yet.
I do have an excuse. Ready for this? His plane was delayed because of bad weather, and they finally took off between two systems and were trying to get to Florida before it got bad again.

How's a wife supposed to sleep with that going on? Tim's flight was supposed to take off around 5:00 and arrive around seven. He arrived to his destination at 1:30 a.m. So on Sunday, I overslept. And I had to work.

Once I laughed at my dad when he said he needed to wash all of his dirty dishes before my mother got back home from a DAR convention in Washington, D.C.



But I kinda get it now. If nobody else is around to see, and it's just a little thing, why waste the energy?

So what do you think? Am I a slob?

It'll be better when he gets home, and I'll even have the bed made.



This is a picture of my mom and Tim. Do you think they're discussing Dad and me?

Clouds

Do you have a favorite book? What about an author?

A few years ago my husband gave me a Sisterchicks book by Robin Jones Gunn, and I was hooked. I've read all of the Sisterchicks books more than once, and I've got the CDs and listened to them also.

Robin is one of my favorite authors, and I want to tell you about another one of her books. Clouds.

It's part of the Glenbrooke Series, but you don't need to read the stories leading up to this.

Shelly Graham moves back home when her company cuts her hours. While there she remembers the boy she grew up with and dated. She broke up with him in high school to pursue her dream of becoming a flight attendant. Being home brings back memories of him and the good times they had together. She begins to wonder what happened to Jonathan.

On a trip to Germany, Shelly runs into Jonathan and begins to wonder if they could get back together. Then Jonathan introduces her to his fiancee. Now Shelly must hide her feelings from him, but she admits to herself she never stopped loving him.

I don't want to spoil the end for you, but I don't think you'll be disappointed if you read Clouds.

Spring is here

When you think of seasons, do you think winter, spring, summer and fall?

Or do you think basketball, baseball, and football? Let's don't forget tennis, swimming, and soccer.




In my family we're getting excited about men's tennis. Specifically Asbury University's Men's Tennis.

The first match of the season will be tomorrow, March 20, the first day of spring.

Spring is my favorite season in Kentucky. It's warmth after a long cold winter, trees bud and flowers begin to bloom.

It's new life. It's hope.

I hope tomorrow is the start of a new and wonderful season for you.

Happy Spring!

Beach Blessing...Reveal Part 2

We put our hearts into Our Beach Blessing at Holden Beach.

Every year we've made a few updates. New couches one year and new appliances another year. New mattresses and new bedding. We've often discussed painting the paneling. The locals suggested stay true to the original paneling. It's the way traditional beach homes were decorated.

Coastal Living still showed paneling, so we stayed with it.

Now the we took the plunge, I wonder why we waited so long. I love the new look and hope you do, too.


This is the hall leading to the bedrooms and bathroom.



Here are some shots of the main living area.

That wooden bowl turned out to be a great place to keep our keys and phone chargers.




Thanks for letting me share my pictures with you.

The Reveal Part 1

Here is our new bathroom sink and mirror. Can you see the bead board? We painted it a light shade of green.





Next is the guest room. A few years ago we painted over the wallpaper, and that worked for a while. At last we put bead board over this wall, and painted the entire room blue.





We added a reading area in the guest room. I found this cute wicker shelf in Shalotte.



The last picture for today...we found a cute dresser at Miss Minnie's. Tim painted the mirror frame back home in Wilmore, and we brought it to the beach with us this week.

Hole in the wall

We bought our condo, Beach Blessing, eight years ago in Holden Beach, North Carolina.

It's ocean front and a great place to vacation.

One thing I didn't like about the condo was the wallpaper. Especially the wallpaper in the master bathroom.
Over the years we discussed with others what it'd take to peel it off and paint the walls.

Two different professional painters said they'd be afraid to strip it off. One suggested it'd be better to sheet rock over
the wallpaper.

All I heard was chi ching. Dollar signs floated through my mind. So we waited.

Last fall we arrived to see how our condo survived the 2012 rental season.
In the master bathroom there was a hole in the wall.
The time had come to make a decision.

I talked to Tim, my husband, and Todd, our friend on the island, what they thought about bead board. Todd can do anything, and he has helped us out of many jams. So Todd thought that would work.
So while we were at it, we decided to put new sinks in, a new toilet in the front bathroom, tile in both bathrooms.

And you know what else? We talked with some friends from Myrtle Beach, Willie and Melissa, who encouraged us it was finally time to paint the whole place.

I knew this would lead to trouble. CHI CHING!!!

We picked colors, hired a painter, hired Todd to fix the bathrooms and made many phone calls back and forth from our home in Kentucky to North Carolina.

We arrived early Saturday morning, and it's beautiful. We brought some new furniture and pictures with us.

And the thing I didn't mention was, we decided to save a little money by painting the bathrooms ourselves. The last thing will be for Todd to come over and install the new bathroom lights and mirrors.

Stay tuned. I'll post pictures in a few days.

And a word of warning....Be careful of the hole in the wall. You never know what it'll lead to.