Saturday, November 12, 2011

Heart of Redemption

I had the most wonderful day yesterday with my friend, Jan.  I hadn't seen Jan in probably 10 years, and we had so much fun catching up.  It was a time of sweet fellowship, yummy food, and FUN!  Jan is a gifted artist and we made a mosaic stepping stone together.  I've always been drawn to mosaic pieces, and have attempted one or two projects in the past.  I recently have been drawn to them again.  About a month ago I read a book called, "A New Kind of Normal" by Carol Kent.  In her book she quotes the following from Ken Gire: "When suffering shatters the carefully kept vase that is our lives, God stoops to pick up the pieces.  But He doesn't put them back together as a restoration project patterned after our former selves.  Instead, He sifts through the rubble and selects some of the shards as raw material for another project - a mosaic that tells the story of redemption."  I love that!  I'm so thankful that we have a God of redemption, love and grace.  I pray that I can extend that same love and grace to all those I come in contact with.    


For all those with a broken heart, do not lose hope, God has a plan!



May your heart rest in His hands today.

Love,
  
     Carolyn 



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

New Business Venture

Living between two towns can get costly, and since I'm planning on going back and forth as often as I can it's going to be difficult to find a job.  I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine became a designer for Celebrating Home and decided to check into the business opportunity.  I LOVE their products!  And I love that it's a Christian organization whose view of home, family, and faith is the same as mine.  What a great company to join!  I'm praying that I can build my business in both Washington and California.  I have a lot of ideas and I'm ready to go. 


In the center of this photo is one of my favorite pieces.  It's the Gratitude Tree.  You can decorate it any way you'd like, but it's designed to hang "gratitude" cards on it.  You can purchase cards, or design your own, write the things you're thankful for and hang them on your tree.  Isn't that a great idea?!  Here is a link to my Celebrating Home website. 

Please come for a visit!  www.celebratinghome.com/sites/54270920

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Apartment projects

I haven't written for over a week, but I have a good excuse.......PROJECTS!  I guess you could say I've been "nesting", making our house......or should I say apartment.......a home.  Slowly, but surely, I'm adding personal touches to our living space.  It's not about where you live, but the memories you make there.  This past week Jim and I worked on a wall collage of our grandchildren's photo's.  I painted the frames, Jim put the vinyl saying on the wall and hung the photo's.  I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  Now I feel like our grandbabies are here with us!!!!!!!!!  First I taped brown paper, the size of my frames on the wall.  I used blue tape so that I could easily arrange them.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  If you haven't joined Pinterest yet you HAVE to!!!!!!


I painted my frames red, green and black to match my living room furniture.  I went through my photo discs to decide which photos I wanted to enlarge, then I shipped them off to Walmart.  I chose a variety of "organic" shots.  Here is the final result..........


And here are a couple of closeup shots............


What fun I had!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I enjoy looking at their sweet face each and every day!

Okay, time to make dinner for my hard working hubby!!!!!!!!!

Have a blessed evening!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A Season of Thanksgiving

Every November we focus on giving thanks.  I have so much to be thankful for, as we all do.  One thing I am thankful for is my family.  I introduced you to our daughter and grandchildren, and now I'd like to introduce you to one of our brothers.  In January 2000 our family grew larger when Jim found out that he has two brothers, Sheldon and Scott.  This past Sunday we had the blessing of spending time with Scott, and getting to know him a little better.  We're looking forward to making memories together with both Scott and Sheldon.  Lord, thank you for my family!


The latest from MacGyver......

A couple of days ago I wrote about Jim MacGyvering a golf club so that he could clean the living room window.  They say seeing is believing, so here you go...................


Gotta love it!!!!!!!


Saturday, October 29, 2011

My Man MacGyver

My husband is so funny.  He is determined to clean the big white streak off our living room window.  He says it's bird poop.  I think it's runny cleaning solution.  Whatever it is, while he's using a golf club to clean the window....a putter to be exact......I thought I'd put another post on my blog.  Jim just said, "We live on a golf course, why not use a golf club?  LOL 

I want to introduce you to my family.  There's my dear hubby.......will post a picture later of  him cleaning the window.......then there's my daughter, Amber, her hubby, Tom, and their two beautiful children, Molly, 11, and Luke 4.....almost 5.





That's my beautiful family.  No pictures of Tom right now.  I'm still trying to capture a smile from him. 

Off to buy some paint!  Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday!

I'm so looking forward to today!  I can't remember the last time I had a "normal" weekend with my dear hubby.  We've either been packing, moving, or separated by 1400 miles. 
This morning we have some friends from WA coming for a visit.  Our first official out-of-state guests.....yippee!  Hmmm......I think I should make some muffins, or some kind of tasty treat.  This afternoon we'll head to some diy stores to pick up paint for some furniture projects.  Jim will also put together a bookcase........man, does he have a LOT of books!  

Enjoy your day!!!!