New Orleans, Louisiana

While Rich stayed home to work and Ryan stayed home to attend summer school, the rest of us headed to Missouri to stay the night at my parents house. Monday morning, we awoke at 5:20 am to head to the airport to pick up our rental van.  It was quite disastrous, but 45 minutes later we were on our way to pick up the rest of the crew (not in the passenger van we originally rented but we survived).  What originally started out as a 30+ crew of family, ended up being 10.  Because of the oil spill scare, our numbers dropped over the months as we were planning out our trip.  We took this exact trip 11 years ago and decided it was time for another one.  I'm so glad our family gets along so well!

Our first day of sight seeing was spent in New Orleans.  The temp was in the high 90's with a heat index of 110.  What a scorcher!  We had yet to experience that type of heat back in Oklahoma.  Every time I would walk out of a store, my camera lens would fog up.  It was miserably hot and oh so humid, but everyone enjoyed themselves none the less with not much complaining.

Lil' guy doing a little sightseeing...

We wanted to ride the trolley, but there were so many things we wanted to do and see.  It was hard to fit it all into one day.

So neat how the street names were "set in stone".  Robbie cheesing it up for the camera.

It started to rain and all these artists took off running for cover.  I thought it was interesting that they just left their art in the rain, not even taking a single canvas with them.

We ate lunch at River's Edge.  It was very good.  See the steam on my lens?

I've always thought New Orleans is one of the prettiest cities I've ever been to.  The exception to that being Mardi Gras.  It's amazing how nasty, stinky, yucky, and dirty that city becomes with the trash lined streets (and balconies).

Robbie posing outside of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

No trip to New Orleans is ever complete without a stroll through the French Market.

Jackson Square is home to the St. Louis Cathedral.  Established as a parish in 1720, it is the oldest cathedral in continual use in the US.

One last picture to share...

We had a wonderful time exploring a beautiful city.  I'm grateful that I was able to share this experience with my sisters, my mom, and my kids.

We have a winner!

Well I could ramble on about this forever.... but I won't!  Instead I will just say how much I enjoyed my first giveaway!  Thank you all so much for your kind words and sweet blog love!  I've heard it said over and over again how the one that is giving away says she wishes she could give something to each and every one that entered.  I always think "Yeah right, then share the love."  Haha!  But now I understand!!  I truly wish I could send each of you something.  Since I can't send something to all your mailboxes, I will send you best wishes for my next giveaway!  I've been working on it and I'm really excited about it too!  So be on the lookout in a few weeks for my next color giveaway.  I think you might like it... I hope anyway!

I used http://www.random.org/ to select the winner.  That was quick!  I was hoping to see it fumble through some numbers then slowly come up with the winning number.  Nothing like anticipation, you know what I mean?  But no, it was boring and popped it right up there.  No fun at all.

...And the winner is #45!!  YAH Lara over at Colonial Homestead!!!  Go show Lara some love!  She is a relatively new blogger with only being around since March.  Lara also has a selling blog called Colonial Homestead Creations that she just opened.  Congratulations Lara!

Thanks so much girls!  I appreciate all the new followers I gained!  What fun this is!  I'm so behind on reading my friends' blogs... I'll be over to meet each of you new girls soon.  Thanks and have a delightful weekend!  =]

Lara, on my blog page under the About Me section is "View my complete profile".  Click on it.  On the left side under Contact, click on email.  Send me an email with your address and I'll get this mailed out to you on Monday.  I can't wait for you to get it.  I hope you like it!

Americana decorating

I just wanted to share some of my Americana with you.  I've really enjoyed looking at all of yours!

The people we bought our home from left some things for us to "throw away".  They left this sign, can you believe it?  I haven't moved it yet but will when I paint.

Even my Amish dolls celebrate freedom.

I just love old architectural stars, don't you?

My year round holiday tree dressed in red, white, and blue.

On the hutch...

In the family room on my dad's old rake...

Out off all the decorating I did, this is my husband's favorite.  Really?  So simple, probably because that is his grandmother's old mirror.

Beautiful sign made by Jody over at Star Spangled Pretties.  It is patiently sitting on my pew bench (that came from the church I grew up in) until I paint the living room walls this fall.

Some of the giveaway winnings from Maria over at AMB Primitives along with 2 of the 3 star candleholders that will get some grubby candles, cheesecloth and of course homespun.  The bench is again patiently waiting the living room makeover.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint a flag on top of this bench (also left by our previous owners to throw away.  Yeah, right!).

Just a small display on the mantel.  I'm just a little bothered by the fact that when I light the candles, the blue glass star turns to purple.  Geez!

Lastly, this box became the catch-all for leftovers.  I didn't know what to do with this stuff so I sat it in the box and left it on the counter.  The next morning I was looking at it and actually liked how it was all just thrown in there.  So I added some homespun and a linen towel under it.

One of my favorite pieces is this old Flag Etiquette pamphlet.  I salvaged it from my great-uncle and aunt's home.  I wish I knew how old it is.

Well, that's all I have to share with you today.  Don't forget to sign up for my Mustard and Black giveaway!  Remember you must only sign up on that post.  If you sign up on any other post, you won't be counted.  I'm so excited!  I can't wait to see who wins!  Only two more days!

Yep... more winnings!

Isn't this the cutest wall pocket you've ever seen?  I just love it so much!  I won it from Brenda over at The Rusty Thimble.  It is so much more adorable in person!  I thought one of the tags fell off then I realized she added another tag so I can chose which one I want to use.  How clever!  The sweet annie smells so good!!  It's current home will be on the hall bench until I work in my family room where it will end up.  That's the room that has all the things that remind of us our loving families.  I love the Grandma's Garden tag and it does remind me of the beautiful flowers both of my grandma's grew.  Please go visit Brenda.  She does wonderful work, her hands are always busy and she has lots of neat things she makes.  She's also having another giveaway!  Thank you Brenda!

I told you that I just keep getting blessed with winning!  I won one of BeCca's Folk Art From The Harbor awesome stencils!!  I'm so glad this is my last week of work so I can have time to play around!  Signs and game boards are at the top of my list to make.  I so can't wait!  BeCca creates her own stencils!  Not only does she have a huge variety, but her prices are just right.  Go check out her many designs available, I'm sure you'll find a couple (hundred) you'll like!  =]  She's also having another giveaway!  I tried to take a picture of the stencil but since it's clear... well you know.  I'll show you a finished picture one of these days.  This is the pic she had on her blog.  Isn't it an awesome stencil?  I'm so excited about playing with it!  Thank you BeCca!

Another package I received in the mail came from another talented blogger.  I bought some ditty bags from Beryl over at Southern Blessings.  They are prim wonderful!!  Like Brenda, she is very creative and has her hands making something all the time.  Before I even opened the package I could smell a lovely mixture of vanilla and cinnamon.  Mmm... good!  They go well with my Amish bonnets and dress.  Go visit Beryl and see all her delightful creations.  I just popped on her blog and she's having a giveaway right now.  You don't want to miss it, it's primtastic!  Thank you Beryl!

I'm so excited that I have one more day of work and then I will be a full-time stay at home mom to three busy, fun-loving kids!  Working for Hobby Lobby since October 1991 has been an adventure.  I will truly miss that place and the people, but mostly that discount!  Hee hee!  It has been so much fun to see all the new stuff first hand, get first dibs on the newly marked down items.  I work in the seasonal department so we've been working on getting some fall things out to you all.  Christmas trees were shipped to us in April and went straight to our warehouse thank goodness!  But that Christmas is rolling in like crazy now.  I picked a good time to leave!  Haha!  Christmas picks, ribbon and crafts are getting ready to hit the shelves.  Ah yes, fun times indeed!  I'm glad that I will finally get to focus more on my family and more on my prims and of course, more on my blog (and more giveaways)!  =]

Oh, I almost forgot to mention another package that was waiting for me when I came home from vacation.  My husband stayed home to work and took care of our oldest who had to stay for summer school (hope he is learning his lesson). They went shopping for my birthday while I was gone.  When I walked in the door, sitting there on the table was a good sized box.  I was trying to remember what else I won or bought.  Lol!  Then I looked a little closer and realized it was a laptop!!!  YAH ME!!  So now I blog while doing laundry, blog while doing dishes, blog in-between vacuuming.  It is so awesome!!!!  I can be on the computer and get chores done.  I didn't realize how much sitting at a desktop computer confined you to one area.  I know, I'm behind the times.  Lol!  I'm so excited!

As you can tell, it's been a great week for me.  I'm thankful for all you wonderful prim friends.  I just love you guys!  =]  If you haven't signed up for my Mustard and Black giveaway, you better get over to that post and get it done!  Don't enter on this post.  Sorry, it won't count if you do.

Have a delightful week prims!

One more day to go...

Well, I finally did it.  I turned in my two week's notice before I went on vacation.  Thursday will be my last day of work.  It is so bittersweet for me!  I've been waiting for this day for so long.  Yet when I walked through those doors today, I just wanted to cry!  Throughout the day, I would look around and see things that would make me so sad about finally leaving that place.  Then I would turn the corner and see something that would make me so thankful I'll be gone.  Haha!  It was such a crazy whirlwind of emotions!

I have only had two real jobs in my life.  The first being McDonald's.  I was with them for 5 years before working for Hobby Lobby.  Cheesy, I know.  But that's what I did.  I started working for Hobby Lobby in October 1991 in Springfield, MO.  We were store #32, the first store in Missouri.  At that time, Hobby Lobby was only in three states:  Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.  Since then, we've grown to our current 447 stores in 37 states.  

In an economy where so many are closing their doors, our founder and CEO David Green remains on the Forbes list of wealthiest people for the 5th year in a row.  He is currently #123 on Forbes "400 Richest Americans".  Also, he is currently #316 on Forbes list of "The World's Billionaires".  What makes his story so interesting though is his humble beginnings.  David was the son of a poor preacher who worked at the local 5-and-dime store in high school.  He started making frames in his garage with a $600 loan he took out in 1970.

What is so impressive of David Green is not his rank on a list of wealthy people in this world, but his current work philosophy.  The company has no long-term debt.  David believes the way to good business is to follow biblical principles: "God is the only one who knows the future."  Hobby Lobby plays Christian music in all the stores.  David has delivered over 420 million copies of the Gospel to children in 100 countries through Book of Hope ministry.  I just wanted to share some of his stats with you.

It's not quite 19 years for me because each time I had a child, I took off work for awhile.  When I would go back to work each time, I had to start all over again.  I would lose all my time and seniority.  But that's okay because my kids were worth it.  I just can not even believe I will finally have the title of SAHM!  Right now I have mixed emotions about it because I truly love working for Hobby Lobby yet I truly desire to be available 24/7 to my family.

I'll admit it.  I'm nervous.  I'm anxious.  I'm excited.  I'm starting a new chapter, a new season in my life.  Am I ready for the challenges?  Yep.  I know God will be with me every single step of the way!  I'm grateful for His presence to guide me along this new path.

Thank You!!

Wow!  You girls know how to make a prim gal feel good!!  With this being my first giveaway, I was really afraid no one would want my re-dos.  I assumed people would want real hand mades instead.  Thanks so much for all the sweet comments!  I am overwhelmed at the response so far on my giveaway!  Thanks for all that have entered and thanks for spreading the word!!  I appreciate your support!

Please make sure I can reach you if you win or keep an eye on my blog for the winning post.  There is one or two that I don't know how I will get a hold of you if you win.

I am having such a wonderful time on vacation at the beach!  But I still can't wait to get home and visit all my new friends and get caught up on my regular friends.

Have a wonderful rest of the week~

Mustard and Black giveaway!

It's finally here!  =]

I hope you want to enter my Mustard and Black giveaway!  I have been blessed beyond belief to be the recipient of soooo many giveaways.  Some of you gals wonder how I'm so lucky to win so many times.  I really don't know.  I just know that God loves to bless me even though I don't deserve it!  So in return... I'm finally going to have my first (of many to come) giveaway!

Also this month is a month of celebration for me so that makes it another great reason to have a giveaway.  My last day of work is this month and so is my birthday!  So I'm going to celebrate and party all month long!!  =]

Included in this giveaway is a mustard wooden shelf re-do from the thrift store that stands 17" tall and is 13" across.  The black wire basket is a thrift store re-do that stands 9.5" tall and is 6.5" across.  I added some homespun, tea-dyed muslin and cheesecloth and a rusty star to it.  I threw some mustard and black rag balls in the basket.  The metal scoop is a thrift store re-do with a piece of tea-dyed cheesecloth hanging on the handle.  It is 6.5" across and stands 5" tall.  The mustard wooden cubby is a re-do that I bought many years ago at Hobby Lobby.  It is 8.5" across and stands 4.75" tall.  The small runner is 12" x 18" and was bought at Silver Dollar City this year.  It was the inspiration for the "Mustard and Black" giveaway.  The rusty heart garland is 7.5 feet long with 3/4" hearts on it.  I don't know if you can see it that well in the picture.  I tried to drape it throughout.

Because I have to enforce rules all year long with my children... I am only having ONE rule for this giveaway.  You must enter this giveaway on this post only.  If you try to enter on a different post, it will not be counted!  This giveaway is open to all my prim friends all over the world.  That's it!  I will be drawing a name on Friday, June 25.  Oh, if you want to add it to your blog, that's awesome.  But I want to keep it simple, so there will only be one entry per person.

I'm really excited to be giving back what's been given to me.  I'm REALLY excited to become a stay at home mom so I can spend more time with my family, but also spend lots more time creating!  I'm already working on my next giveaway.  So if you don't like mustard and black, maybe you'll like the next color giveaway.  How fun this is!  =]

Prayers from a Mother’s Heart

I wanted to share a post that I'm borrowing from Linda over at Prairie Flower Farm.  She is one of the most genuine people I've ever come across.  She is a real sweetheart and loves the Lord with all her heart.  I just love going over to her blog and reading about their days on the farm and all the goodness they receive from our Lord!

A book called Prayers from a Mother’s Heart, by Ruth Bell Graham.  This was written by Shirley M. Dobson. Dr. James Dobson’s wife.

Heavenly Father, I praise and thank You for the privilege of coming before You humbly and interceding on behalf of my children and grandchildren.

Keep their hearts tender and sensitive to Your voice. Give them a love for Your Word and willing hearts to obey it. Help them to desire to walk before You in righteousness all the days of their lives. May they grow in the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. Give them a heart of compassion and concern for the lost and the wounded. Lead them to a place of service in

Your kingdom’s work.

Lord, send a guardian angel to watch over their going out and their coming in, and lead them not into temptation, but deliver them from the evil one.

Send enough rain to keep them depended on You, but enough sun to give them hope and encouragement. And, Lord when they’re standing at the crossroads trying to decide which path to take, put a person of faith there to point them in the right direction.

Thank You for Your blessings, Your provision, and Your great love for my family. I ask this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

To pray for our children daily is not only our main responsibility; it is so very rewarding and such a privilege.  What a blessing!  Thanks for a beautiful prayer Linda (and Ruth)!

I'm grateful that God allows us to come before Him and intercede on the behalf of our loved ones.  Once I learned how to pray for my husband and my children...  it seems that "life" just fell into place and that stress that I used to harbor melted away.  God is so faithful.  If you haven't already trusted in Him... give Him a try.  I would love to share Him with you.

Tea dyeing and some good sales happening this week

Can you guess what I'm doing?  I am enjoying my day off!  I SO can't wait until the time comes when I will be a full-time SAHM!!  Hopefully that will happen by the time school starts up again in August.  Sooner than that would be nice.

I am tea dyeing my little 4x6 flags in the 25 cent stock pot I bought at a garage sale!  I had been using one of my good pots so that was at the top of my summer garage sale hunt list.  Now at the top of my list is a double boiler to grubby up some candles.  Even though I've been tea dyeing for many years, I'm always up to try something different.  This past year I started adding cinnamon to my pot.  Thanks to you creative prim blog friends!  I can't believe I've never thought of that before!  Not only does it make your items smell good, but I really like the extra aging that the cinnamon gives.  I did a little experiment with two flags.  I soaked one in water before I put it in the pot.  I thought it might take to the tea mixture quicker and be darker.  Would you believe it actually took it a lot longer to absorb the tea mixture and it wasn't as dark!  So it's still soaking in the pot.

  I also bought a flag bunting that will go in the pot after these littles ones are done.  Some of you know that I will be making my living room into an Americana room this fall so I've been preparing for it now.  =]  I was showing my husband how I wanted to hang the bunting on the wall under some pictures.  He was starring at me with that "I can't believe you would even think of doing something like that..." look.  So I turned my head towards the window with that "I can't believe he doesn't think that's going to look good..." look.  (I love how we can have conversations without saying a word, Haha!).  Then it hit me!  Aha!  A window valance!  I took the flag bunting over to the window and would you believe it is the perfect size!  Big smile!!  He said it was perfect and my kids even really liked it.  Done deal!  Now I have to buy three more.  I'm so excited about this room and how much fun it's going to be.

Jo-Ann's fabrics is having a 50% off one cut of fabric this week!  I picked up 4 coupons last week.  I hope you got some too!  The sale lasts through the 29th so get in there before then.

Also, I just received my Gordman's email.  One of my favorite times to visit them is happening now-- Get an extra 33% off the clearance price!  That will be going on through May 31.

Don't forget to add Hobby Lobby to your list.  Right now we are in the process of marking down ALL garden to 50% off the regular price.  It should run in next week's ad, but stop by there by Saturday to get the first pick.  Also at Hobby Lobby, lots of Home Accents are marked down to 66%.  That happened the week of Mother's Day so it's already been shopped.  My favorite time to walk those aisles is when we mark it 80% off.  It'll be a few weeks before we do that though.  I'll keep you posted.  On a side note... we just got our first shipment of fall fabric in this week.  Can't wait to see it!

Thank you girls for all your comments on my last post about an Etsy/selling blog.  You came up with some wonderful ideas!  That's what I love about this blog community!  I think I will start out with a selling blog.  Once I get going, then I will add Etsy.

Have a most delightful week my sweet friends~

I am ready

Well, I was going to share some pictures of my crazy, busy month.  I went to Picasa and only found two pictures downloaded for the whole month.  Hmm... I guess that post will have to wait.

In the mean time, I would appreciate some prayer please!  Here I am, back to that same question What to do? that I posted back in October.  I think my time has finally come.  I think I am about to be a full-time stay-at-home mom with no more work outside the home.  Rich and I talked briefly (well, texted briefly) today.  I know I am ready.  There is no more wonder... no more doubt... no more anxiousness about making the right decision.  Ironically, I spent the day at work daydreaming about what my new life at home would be like.  Yes, I am ready!

Prayers would still be appreciated!  Rich tried to get me to quit now but I am holding out.  We have three loans that total $5946.20.  My goal is to stay at work until they are gone.  But by the way our summer is filling up; I'm thinking it's going to be a little while longer until those loans are gone.  Rich even said he would pick up overtime here and there to make up for the loss of my pay.  He just wants me to be happy.  What a sweet man!

I truly desire to make the right decision for my family.  I am willing to put my needs and my feelings aside to serve my family.  Please join me in prayer for guidance, for wisdom to know when it's time.

I am so grateful to have a community of sisters that I feel comfortable enough to share what's on my heart.  I truly believe that you will pray for me.  Thank you dear ones!

Etsy? Selling blog?

Okay girls... I need some input please!  Which would you recommend?  An Etsy account or a selling blog?  Do you have any pros and cons you can throw my way for either of these?

What about buying?  Which do you prefer to buy from?  I know how easy it is to buy from a selling blog.  What about Etsy?  Is it easy to buy from?

I'm leaning towards a selling blog because I have more control over it, listing the items I want.  Of course, not having to pay the fees is nice too but you miss out on the Etsy exposure.

So please share with me any experience you deem necessary for me to know.  I would appreciate your help concerning this matter.

Thank you and have a great day!  =]

More winnings and some good deals

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!  Since we have worked in our yard for the past two days, today was deemed a do-nothing day.  Those don't come very often around here so I thought I would celebrate it with a post.  =]

I was SO excited to receive my giveaway in the mail from Maria over at AMB Primitives!  Her stuff is awesome, she is very talented!  I finally have my first ever candle mat!  Yeah, it's crazy I know... but I've not owned one until now!  They are on my project list though.  Also, my first ever game board!  They are on my list too.  =]  I love everything from Maria and it will all fit perfectly in my patriotic living room, especially the striped star with the crow and picture of George Washington.  I have some other presidential pieces to go with it.  I just love it all and it's getting me really excited about my living room!  So here is a picture of what I won.  I can't show you where I put it yet, that will have to wait till the room is done.  Thank you so much Maria!!

Rich and I went garage saling on Friday.  He woke me up when he got home from work at 7:30 (he works the midnight shift).  He even brought breakfast home for me.  We headed out around 8 and made it back home at 3:30.  I was so shocked!  He has only been one other time with me and that was many years ago.  I kept telling him we could head home and he said "No, this is way too much fun!".  So I'm pretty excited that I got him hooked on garage sales.  Haha!  We so enjoyed the day just being together.  That doesn't happen very often with three kids!

I can never, ever resist jars!  Especially when they are only a quarter.  This turquoise one was my biggie at $3.  I love it because it has the bicentennial on it with the years.  Being the patriotic lover that I am, I sure couldn't pass it up.

This is some of the things I bought.  Can you believe the campfire marshmallow tin was only fifty cents?!?  I just love it!  We found a 5-pack of Coke of our great state of Oklahoma centennial for fifty cents.  That was a neat little find for us.  I guess someone was thirsty and needed a coke.  Hehe!  I love kids' books, especially old ones and paid $1 each for those.  The glass divider plate was a steal at $1!  It is extremely heavy and matches a plate that I found in my husband's grandmother's hutch we inherited.  I can't believe they match!  There is always so much joy in my heart at simple little pleasures like that!  I didn't need any more little glass bowls but they were only a nickel each so I can couldn't pass them by.  I can clean them up and put them in the flea market.

But what I had the most fun buying that day was candleholders.  I was finding them for a quarter, the brass set was 75 cents.  The cow bowl was $2, but is nice, long and deep.  I am excited about doing some make overs on all this stuff!  After the third candleholder, Rich told me I could slow down on buying those-- you can only use so many.  I told him how I was going to re-do and re-sell them so then he started to be on the lookout for them.  It was funny.

Okay you pewter girls, help me out please!  I'm thinking this can't be real pewter as I only paid a quarter for each piece.  I've looked online but the only thing I came across is that you can do a lead test by rubbing the pewter on a piece of paper.  If it leaves a pencil-like mark when drawn across the paper, then it is real pewter.  I tried this test and all the pieces left a mark on the paper, but don't know how else to tell.

This is really blurry, but I couldn't get a better close-up.  These are the markings on all three of them.  They all say USA, RWP in a circle.

Well I finally found an article and discovered I have:  "Wilton Company of Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, sellers mistakenly list these items as "pewter" or "antique pewter."  This is incorrect.  These Wilton items are not pewter or antique.  They are made of Armetale, a non-toxic aluminum-based alloy trademarked by the Wilton company and suitable for cooking and dining use.  Many Wilton pieces have an historic look."  The internet is a divine thing... is it not?  Oh well, it was exciting while it lasted to think I found real pewter pieces for a quarter.  Lol!  But that's okay... I still love the historic look they give.

Well I guess that's enough rambling for today.  Even though it's my "day off" my daughter is patiently waiting for me to help her with her solar system project.  Just once it would be nice if daddy's help would suffice.  But I enjoy these times for I know they will disappear before my eyes and she will be gone from our home.

Have a wonderful week my friends!

Four years ago

April 4, 2006

Four years ago I started this blog as a photo blog.  More for sharing my pictures with my family, not really for critique.  I just love taking pictures but I'm not interested in making them photo contest quality.  For you photographers out there... sorry you had to hear that!  I had just bought my Nikon dslr and was having a blast taking pictures with my new digital camera.

Over the years, I thought about using the blog to share my thoughts.  But I thought people would think I am the craziest thing they ever met.  I am not at all eloquent with words.  No one would even read it anyway.  So I just continued using it for pictures... until I got tired of doing that.  In 2008, I only had one post for the whole year.  That's so funny!

Then in September 2009, my good friend Julie put out a challenge on her facebook for people to come join the blog world.  I hadn't even looked at mine since the previous year, although I always thought it would be fun to blog.  Those same old feelings came creeping up again.  But this time, I started checking out other blogs.  Then I realized there are lots of crazy people out there!  I'm not the only one!

So I jumped on board and instantly became addicted to blogging!  Seriously, it was an overnight addiction... I was on it all night and didn't get any sleep at all because I kept blog hopping till the next morning!  I still blame Julie for my blog addiction!  Hehe!  But it's a wonderful addiction!

I now have two blogs.  At this moment, I follow 112 blogs.  I am addicted to blogs and LOVE them so much more than facebook!  My family calls me a blog freak.  (They also call me a clean freak, organize freak, craft freak, paint freak... I think they really just think I am a freak!).  But I love them all anyway.  I told them I need a laptop for Mother's Day/my birthday so I can multi-task blog and that will free up the computer for them.  Hoping that works!

Thank you Julie for introducing me to blogging in a whole new way!  I have met so many incredible, sweet, Godly women these past few months.  Women that became instant friends and friends I believe that will be life-long!  I have so enjoyed encouraging, praying, inspiring, and brightening their days just as they have done the same for me!  I never in my wildest dreams could ever imagine such loving kindness could come from a community of women that I will more than likely never see face-to-face while on this earth. When we make to Heaven girls, I'll get my hug from you then!  =]

I'm very grateful for the precious blog community that I belong to.  I thank God for the new sisters in my life and the sisters that I have known for many, many years.  You ALL are so very precious to me and I love you dearly!  Thank you for joining me in this awesome blog world where we live, we share, we laugh, we cry, and we love.