Loving Life, Loving Jesus

Arvel Bird and me at Long Hunter State Park I had the privilege of going to Long Hunter State Park in Hermitage, TN this Saturday to see and hear Arvel Bird perform his Celtic Fusion music.  His background is Celtic from his Father's side and Paiute from his Mother's Side.  The result is an extremely unique and BEAUTIFUL sound of music like you've never heard before (unless you've heard Arvel in the past!).  I first met and heard Arvel Bird play at a Pow Wow quite a few years ago. It's been so long now that I don't remember which Pow Wow it was!  But when I read that he was appearing at the Long Hunter State Park in Tennessee this weekend, I just had to go!  For several years now, I've been trying to get my family all interested in Pow Wows and enjoy going with me.  My background is that (I believe it was) my Great-Great-Great Grandmother was a Blackfoot Indian. I remember my Grandmother telling me she was the daughter of the Chief, which would have m...

With all the chaos that is happening right now in our nation, our Leaders "grand-standing" and trying to make a name for themselves, rather than giving honor to God, a King came to my mind recently after watching the movie "The Book of Daniel".  I am reminded of King Nebuchadnezzar, a very foolish man that decided his own name and honor and glory should be exalted over that of the Creator of the Universe!  God took His finger and wrote a declaration on the wall: of Nebuchadnezzar's doom for failing to give honor to God, until he came to his senses and humbled himself and gave due glory to GOD. This is what we are seeing in our own nation at this moment. A once grand and glorious and honorable nation that was founded on God's principles is now taking the same path as past nations that have fallen, due to greed and sin and wickedness.  Rome... Babylon... just to name a couple.  We have told God that "We don't WANT YOU around anymore!  We want our ow...

Several years ago, I wrote three children's books, and self-published on the Blurb site.  This didn't work very well as to purchase the books was very costly!  They only print as ordered and the books (hard-bound) ended up being approximately $30 each. Now who is going to pay that much for a small, children's book?  The books are still on the site although they receive no action, naturally (at that price!).  During that time in my life, when I was writing a lot, I got the idea for a novel and started formulating the story line in my mind. I actually got up to about 100 pages before I started getting so busy with our Adult Day Care Center and Home Services company.  We opened the ADC in July of 2010, although the work began months before that.  Getting the business up and running took every minute of my waking hours, so my book writing got shelved until a later time. In January of 2012, I had a very serious car wreck:  my car went off the road and dow...

I marvel at the creativity of GOD. When I look at His Creation all around us, there is more variety and beauty than the human mind can take in. They say there is not one snowflake that is exactly like another; and each person's DNA is different and unique. Can you even begin to understand how that could be possible? In Exodus 15:11, Moses says, "Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"  These were the words of Moses after God had saved His people from Pharoah's pursuit and brought them safely through the Red Sea.  Sometimes God has to allow things to come into our lives in order to fully get our attention.  When the Israelites were cornered right up to the edge of the sea with Pharoah's army in hot pursuit, with nothing on their hearts but total destruction of God's people; they had no where else to turn but to GOD for help. God did not fail them.  He never fails His people w...

Well, today I had to go get a 24-hour blood pressure monitor on so the doctor can see a pattern and if my BP is going up during the night while I'm sleeping.  I can already tell that this thing is going to be a pain in the neck, as it goes off every half-hour during the daytime and every hour at night while I'm (ahem) sleeping.  (Like I'll be able to sleep with that going on!)  Anyway, it will be worth it if they can get to the bottom of what is going on with the blood pressure swings.  Yesterday I wrote about clocks and time...  nothing like a monitor humming away and tightening up on your arm to remind you of how fast 30 minutes can go whizzing by!  :) So I decided I'm going to just play my guitar and work on making cards today.  :)  Those are things that relax me and make me happy. Here is the latest card that I made last night: I copied this from an Email sent out for the 4th of July by Hobby Lobby and thought this would make a great c...

Time has a way of showing us what is really important! I love clocks!  All kinds: mantle clocks, chime clocks, watches, and especially old looking clocks. I love to see the gears inside working and love hearing that tick-tock, tick-tock sound. It seems that the older you get the faster time seems to pass. I know that is illogical, there are still only 24 hours in each day, 60 minutes in each hour, 60 seconds in each minute, no matter what is happening all around you.  But have you noticed that at some times, time seems to just barely move along and at other times, it races at warp speed? I was in Indiana visiting my Sister and we were driving around her neighborhood and she stopped her truck.  (It was trash pick-up day and her neighbors always seem to throw out the best things! Some like brand new!)  She saw a set of shelves that were almost new and thought she could use them in her basement for storage.  So, she stopped the truck and asked if I could he...

My new cabinet for wood stamps                                                 My newly tuned and played guitar My Sister got me started with Stampin' Up and since the first day I sat down and made my own creative project, I have been addicted.  I'm afraid I spend more time just trying to organize all the wonderful stamps and papers and punches and accessories I've purchased than I do actually creating though! In January of 2012, I was in a bad car wreck; my car (I can't remember what happened but I believe someone tried to force his way around me on the right side on the on-ramp getting onto the highway, which forced my car down an embankment and it rolled over several times before stopping in the wrong direction across two lanes of the expressway).  I broke my neck and have severe scalp injuries and was taking to the Trauma Unit at the hospital wh...