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.