Tuesday's Teatime - Tea Decor

Welcome to our afternoon teatime! Come into my garden and we'll each have a tall glass of sweet ice tea. Let's sit over here on the triple glider under the apple tree. I'm so excited we're getting our first crop of apples this year! Don't you just love the chimes I hung from one of the branches? It says,

"I'd like to take my troubles

and toss them in the sea

But since I can't I'll smile instead

over a cup of tea!"

The little upside down teacups actually make a pretty sound when the wind blows. I've accumulated a few different tea related items to decorate with outside and this is one of my favorites.

My daughter spotted this at Miss Annabelle's Tea Room.

I thought we'd just enjoy some freshly picked strawberries from the garden with our iced tea. I made some of this cream cheese fruit dip to dip them in - mmm, yummy!

Cream Cheese Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

7 ounces Marshmellow Creme

2 Tablespoons strawberry freezer jam

Blend together. Refrigerate before serving.

It's so hot here today; but, with your sweet company, a tall glass of ice tea, strawberries and dip, and the little breeze blowing - well, life's just sweet!

Thank you for joining me today - see you next week!

P.S. Sorry I was late getting this on. I've been having a terrible time with my Internet connection this week and then I couldn't get on blogger :( !

Thursday Thirteen ~ "K"

It's Thursday again and time for me to re-numerate blessings that start with the letter "K"!

1. Karla - it's been fun to be back in touch with this childhood friend thanks to Blogland!

2. Kiwi - love this yummy green fruit, mmmmm!

3.Kids - So thankful for the three kids God has blessed my life with.

4. Keeper at Home - VERY thankful to be able to be a Keeper at Home.

5. Kent - my cousin. The brave and adventurous one that enjoys galavanting all over the globe!

6. Kitchen - I REALLY enjoy my lovely pink and white kitchen with all its bunny and tea accoutrements.

7. Knead - one of my favorite hobbies is making bread and kneading the dough is the next best part.

The best being eating it hot out of the oven!

8. Knowledge - so thankful for the availablity of knowledge and the priviledge of processing and retaining knowledge.

9. Kapok Tree - a delightful restaurant in Clearwater FL that Dan and I went to one one of our first dates. He'll never forget the day or place because he erringly made the following remark as I was enjoying the architecture and ambience,

"This reminds me of the GBS cafeteria!"

I was astounded that he would dare bring the beloved Kapok Tree down to the level of a college cafeteria ! ;)

10. Kit Kats - one of my favorite candy bars. They always bring back fond childhood memories of afternoons spent reading books from the Ladybrand library and enjoying a Kit Kat from Okay Bazaars.

11. Krogers - If you've never been outside the country, you can't fully appreciate the cleanliness, variety, selection and safety of Krogers!

12. Keylime Pie - such a refreshing and delightful dessert! Yummy!

13. Kentucky and Kansas - two beautiful states I've enjoyed visiting in this great nation of ours.

Enjoy a wonderful evening!

Tuesday's Teatime

Good Afternoon! Well, it's such a lovely afternoon for our Tuesday's Teatime, we can enjoy our tea either iced or hot today! Such a refreshing cool breeze blowing, isn't it? I'm really enjoying it after all the hot humid weather we've been having!

What kind of tea would you like today? There's Blueberry Bang - I like this one iced; but, I imagine it would be good hot as well. Angel's Dream - that one's good hot or cold, though I must say, I prefer it iced since it's a fruity tea. Hawaiian Colada is a nice tropical blend that's refreshing iced too and oh, yes, Strawberry Kiwi- I can't imagine enjoying it any way but iced! Isn't it a such a pretty pink color? There's also Georgia Peach - I personally like that one hot, and La Marche Spice- it's good hot, too! French Blend- very high in caffeine, it's a great pick-me-up with a nice bold flavor too, Rainbow Rooibus- another fruity one and oh, don't forget, Bora Boramango - it is SO good iced! Very refreshing! I also have a green tea - mint- just for Corrie ;) and always there's Constant Comment - my own all time personal favorite! Or, if you like I can fix you a cup of just plain tea. It would have to be Lipton's, you know! I think their's has the best flavor.

Aren't you glad every day can be a special occasion? It's up to us to make it so! Today is the perfect excuse to make it a special occasion with a cuppa or two - just me and you having a nice chat!

All but the green tea and Constant Comment came from Miss Annabelle's Tea Room in Loveland. We'll have to go there for tea sometime. Such a charming tearoom in the heart of historic Loveland. You know it's got to be pretty special located in a town with a name like that!

Well, I better be scooting along. I'm going to try a curtain job like the Nester shows on her blog, http://www.nestingplacenc.blogspot.com/- if it turns out pretty, I'll show you tomorrow!

Have a lovely afternoon!

Of Secret Sisters and Sowing Seed Scriptures

Of Secret Sisters - This is the bulletin board I designed and put together for the Secret Sister area at our church. Please excuse the blurriness of the picture. I had a hard time getting the right lighting as it is in the basement. Anyway, I was so happy with how it all came together since I drew a complete blank when I decided we needed something different for this encouraging outreach. Inside the mini gift bags and tucked into the tissue paper are slips of paper with the different gifts promoted by this outreach. The scripture I chose was "A Gift is as a Precious Stone" Proverbs 17 :8. The gifts we encourage them to give are:

1. The Gift of Commitment- the lady you are assigned to

will be expecting you to uphold her inyour prayers and she should be able to rely on you for encouragement.

2. The Gift of Prayer - Pray daily for your Secret Sister.

Get to know her needs and her family's needs so that you may pray specifically for them.
3. The Gift of Caring - Make an effort to get to know your Secret Sister.

Discover her likes and dislikes. Know her favorites. Find out all about her.

4. The Gift of Encouragement - Be an encouragement to your Secret Sister.

Send her cards or notes of encouragement.

5. The Gift of Thoughtfulness - Remember your Secret Sister on her special occasions.

Don't forget to help her celebrate

her birthday and anniversary or other special landmarks.

Part of my responsibilites in the Junior Church Department include teaching the memory verse. This week I had an especially difficult time coming up with a way to teach what I felt was a long and hard to understand verse. Finally Sunday Morning, God answered my pleas for help and gave me this wonderful inspiration! The verse is " Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord til he come and rain righteousness upon you." Hosea 10:12

This is how we learned our verse:
Tyler - "Sow to yourselves in righteousness." He wore a gardening hat and had a couple packs of seeds.
Klayton -"Reap in mercy" - He had a rake,
Will- "Break up your fallow ground" - He had a hoe,
Caleb- "For it tis time to seek the Lord" - He has a clock behind his words,
Benji -"Till he come and rain righteousness upon you" - He has a watering can,
and last but not least...
the Address! Where is this verse found in the Bible? (That's it's address, right?)
The postman, Mr. Joseph tells us! Hosea 10:12! How do you like his Post Office uniform shirt? Thank you Bobbi for sharing your shirt with us.

So now you see what I'm up to on Sundays - It's such a joy to serve Jesus in these delightful ways.

Thursday Thirteen ~ "J"

Time for a Thursday Thirteen post! Missed a few weeks but we'll pick up where we left off by listing thirteen things in my life that begin with the letter "J". I like to think of them as thirteen blessings~ so here goes:

1. John - the BEST dad in the world's name ~ mine! Isn't it funny how we all think ours is the best? ;) John is also Benji's first name and his paternal great-grandfather's name.

2. Jack - the funniest and most spoiled donkey that ever lived. He was my Papa's pet and they made quite the pair.

3.January - the month of my birth.

4.Jesus - my VERY BEST FRIEND, my Saviour and soon coming King!

5. Joy - "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart! Down in my heart to stay!"

6. Juice - guava is my favorite but I enjoy just about any fruit juice.

7. Jigsaw puzzle - it's such a fun challenge to put them together.

8. Job- my favorite is the one I hold now - wife and mother. I've been a receptionist in an orthodontist office, nanny, governess, teller, department manager, clerk, store owner, and Sunday School teacher but the one with the greatest outcome is mother and I LOVE it!

9. Jam - Strawberry Freezer Jam! Mmmmm! I'm getting quite the crop of strawberries this year from my garden and we're enjoying the best strawberry jam!

10.Johnny Jump-ups, Jonquils and Jasmine- Such lovely flowers God's given us to enjoy!

11.Jazz - I REALLY enjoy some easy jazz music - especially sax. OOOOO!

12. Jet - Now I can really get into flying! I longed to be a stewardess when I was a little girl so I could fly all over, all the time!

13.James - both my husband and my oldest son's middle name. My husband was named for his maternal grandfather, James Albight.

What would I do without all these delightful blessings?

Isn't God good!

He's so graciously poured out so many extras for our enjoyment!

May you enjoy a jubilant and joyous day in Jesus!

Happy Birthday, Elijah Phillip Dickinson!

Little Elijah is four weeks old today! Lorna and I were the privileged ones that got to take him and his mommy home from the hospital. His dear, loving daddy was in Columbia taking care of necessary business and little Elijah thought he'd go ahead and make his entrance into the world while daddy was on the other side of the equator! His mommy was so brave to go through this time without her hubby. I'm sure she's VERY glad to be holding Elijah in her arms instead of carrying him around in her tummy.

"I Remember Laura" Blog-a-Thon Week 1

Another fun Blog-a-Thon to partipate in! This one promises to be as exciting as the last as it centers around one of my very favorite childhood memories - that of reading "The Little House on the Prairie" books. I believe it was Karla's mom , that sent the complete set to our family when we were in Africa. Either way, the set is incredibly dogeared after four girls reading and re-reading and re-reading them over and over again!

Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage is hosting this blog-a-thon with this weeks feature being quilts or quilting.

Laura and her sister, Mary were started in the needle arts at very young ages and were required to work on quilt squares working them into the nine patch pattern. In memory of this, Miss Sandy wants us to share our quilts or quilt related items and share their stories.




This is the only quilt I've ever made and it's made out of the very popular double knit in the Flower Garden pattern. I love this quilt not only because of the bright cheerful colors but of all the memories it preserves. All the fabrics were scraps of clothing items my mom made for either herself or us girls on her Singer Treadle Sewing machine. This beautiful machine still sews a perfect stitch and I believe she plans to use it to make the bridesmaids dresses for her first grand daughters wedding this summer! Pretty incredible when you realize she was given this machine by her pastors wife who sewed all the clothes for her four boys on it before she gave it to my mom!


Back to the quilt - I was only nine years old when I cut out ALL these shapes for this quilt. If you've ever cut double knit , you have a real appreciation for this endeavor. After pinning the pieces together, I worked the treadle while my mom guided the needle on the machine. Having had three nine year olds now, I realize how great the desire must have been to have this quilt for my "Holly Hobby" bedroom! I can't imagine my kids sticking with a task this momentous! Because of all of Mommy's duties as a pastor's wife and mother, there wasn't time to hand quilt it so we took the quilt top to a lady that did machine quilting. She sweetly put a beautiful pink sheet for the backing- because you see, even then I LOVED pink!


My great-grandmother Somerville quilted and Grandma Fair did too. I have a baby quilt that she made using patches that she had had her nine children embroider as children(including the boys)! It's very fragile and is packed away.

Thursday's Thought

"You are as much serving God in looking after your own children and training them up in God's fear, and minding your house and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of Hosts."

- Charles Surgeon