Tonight I share a picture of me from Christmas of 1962.  I was 7 years old!  The age of the children I teach in Sunday School now!  I remember my Sunday School teacher smelled like roses every Sunday.  She was the sweetest woman!!!  Anyway...on to the picture.  Love the tree!  For many years we had a live tree.  Not like the trees most have these days.  Ours had very few branches.  Poor tree! It was ours though and we thought it was pretty! :O)  Love the poodle I got this particular year.  Bet I was begging for a puppy! LOL  Yes, we lived on the wrong side of 11th to the west! :O)  We were poor, but we were happy!

Looks like it was time for Cranny & Bo to arrive and anyone else family that wanted to stop by.

.

.

Today my Fresh Find is this great door mat...personalized, no less!!!

I'm officially in the Christmas spirit now.  The cold weather gave me a little push, but when I listened to The Wonder of Christmas...Celebrate the Joy CD by the worship choir of First Baptist Church . Plainview, I was pushed right into the season.

I had heard the choir on recording night one and was impressed, but you know how church choir recordings go...well, they sound like church choir recordings.

Not this one.  I pushed it into the CD player thinking...okay, now impress me...right!  Well, I AM VERY IMPRESSED. I'm all festive and warm and in the spirit of the season now!!!

.

.

Here is a Thanksgiving picture of our little Miss "A" ! 

.

 
.

My Fresh Find is this cute dice box to store those decks of cards that are sliding around in your drawer.

Today I planned to put the outside Christmas lights up.  My heart just wasn't in it since we still have painters coming in and out and out and in.  So, I didn't put them up.

Instead I decided to make Miss A her first little apron.  I looked in my fabric cabinet and found some pieces of some of my favorite fabrics!

Here it is...

.

.

My Fresh Finds are these lids that fit standard jars.  now you can make those jars more useful!!!

I finally got in this week to get a B12 shot.  I'm sure glad, too.  I needed it today!  The basement is painted and it was time to tackle it.  I guess you could say it is my "collection" room.

I have the hat collection that started with my aunt's, mother's and grandmother's hats and has grown to way over 200.  I have never bought a hat either.  They are gifts from families when they have lost a loved one. 

Then there are all the children's books.  A-Z x about 20 or so per letter.  Add to that the pop-up books and the wonderful Christmas book collection...fun, fun!!!

When the painters decided to take the day off it gave me a little more time to decide exactly what I wanted to get to display the pop-up and Christmas books.  I also wanted a new piece for the TV.  I stopped in at Uniques and Antiques and found the perfect two pieces.

It gets bad though...

Clinton & Aaron had to help get this HUGE piece around a tight corner & into the basement.  Ruh-oh!!!  They were NOT happy with me.  It looks beautiful though.  Thanks guys for helping me!!!

Finished cleaning everything and everything is in its place in the basement.  LOVE IT!!!

.

My Fresh Find is this duel toilet tissue holder with magazine rack.  Nice clean lines!

I'm just plain 'ol thankful tonight.  I've mentioned that the inside of our home is getting a fresh coat of paint.  First time in 16 years.  I touch up scuffs all the time, but it needed a new layer of goo!

It has been pretty painful to have the house in utter chaos!  Like moving only worse I think.  The painting part is going smoothly.  The painters are moving right along. 

I started at 7:30 this morning and it is 11:00 p.m. and I'm at a stopping place.  Since I don't spring clean because I start taking care of the yard in the spring I always do fall deep cleaning.  I had waited until they could paint so that I can clean and put back all at one time.  Whew.  I'm pooped!

The painters have finished 2 dressing areas, two bedrooms, the sun room, reading nook, and the basement.  I have the two dressing areas, two bedrooms and sun room cleaned and back in order.  I will tackle the reading nook and basement tomorrow.  The painters will be back Friday and I'm suppose to empty the master bath and bedroom so they can get them done.  Then we will have the 20 foot ceiling/living area, dining, kitchen, study, laundry room and garage left to do. We are getting close to being halfway there!!!

I have a cold or allergies to paint smell!!! ;o)

No matter I am very thankful for our home and the work it takes to keep it up.  I'm thankful for so many little things, too.  You know like windows to see out of, a ladder, hammer, picture hooks and things like that!

I love how lemon oil refreshes things like vinyl and wood.  That is how Jesus is.  When we are in a relationship with him we soak him in and we are refreshed...even have a little glow about us!!!

Now, I'm really thankful for HIM!!!

.

Wow, I love my Fresh Find today.  great handbag...lovely color choices!

"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn written by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807) and published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption is possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognized songs in the English-speaking world.

So many times we feel like when we sin that we can't possibly ever be forgiven.  This is where the amazing grace comes into play for those who believe in the Word of God as testified in the Bible.  Jesus Christ is our hope!

I am so thankful this Thanksgiving that I asked him into my heart and my life!!!

.

I have mentioned to you the wonderful wacky personality of our AMAZING granddaughter.  This is my all time favorite picture of my Miss A...

.

 
.

My Fresh Find are this really cool magnetic "Polaroid" frames for your pictures.

I woke up today a little overwhelmed.  No, not a little.  I woke up a whole lot overwhelmed.  Our nice peaceful home looks like, well, it looks like a mess.  Everything from the rooms being painted is out of place and in our space.  I feel like I have no where to move.  It is towering over me.  I am one who likes organization and everything has a place soooooo you can imagine how I am feeling right now.

It is what it is and I can't do one thing about it so I prayed for peace.  I had my prayer warriors pray for me, too.  God does hear me.  He hears my friends.  He keeps my mind from overload!

I hope that Wednesday I can start putting things back in the kids rooms and dressing areas.  That will help me so much.  I want our children to have orderly peaceful places to rest their heads, here or in their homes.  Mostly I pray for them to have a wonderful relationship with Jesus.

So, I'm better...not cured because I am a weak person, but I have a great Heavenly Father!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

.

A-Z letter pillows are my Fresh Find today.  Custom just 4 U!!!

.

There was not a dry eye in the house.  No, I was not at a movie.  I was in the house of the Lord!

O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. Psalm 30:2

Do we believe the Bible?  Do we trust in this scripture? Do we have faith?  Do we cry out for healing? Do we believe God can?  Do we believe he will?  Do we believe he does? 

My answers are yes, yes, YES!!!

We had a wonderful healing service.  God is so good!!!

.

Merry Christmas is getting near and my Fresh Find today is dear, dear, dear!

When I read a book I'm always looking for words that God wants me to see.  Today as I was reading I came to this:

"Seems cowardly to me.  Not standin' up for some-thin' or somebody."  It reminds me of Revelation 3:16.  "So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  We, as Christians, are going to have to stand up for some-thin' or somebody and that is Jesus Christ!!!

.

[speaking about a lightning bug] "That light is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away.  That's what God expects us to do.  We're to be lights in the dark, cold days that are in this world.  Ain't much lightin' one of them can do.  Not by himself.  But give him some company!"  In John 8:12 the Bible says, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  I want to be the light...on the dark, cold days that others have, when we join together as believers our little light sure does shine!

.

[speaking of differences in color of skin]  "We all come from just two people.  That's about as close a relation as we can get."  In James 2:8-13 we hear and we need to get it!  "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself", you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.  Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

.

God showed me these three things in just two chapters.  I always find it amazing how when you seek him he shows himself to you...even in a silly fiction book!!!  We have one POWERFUL and AMAZING GOD!!!

.

My Fresh Find is this 6 hour hand sanitizer.  Worth a try.