Hearts in Service

Psalm 134:1-3 ~ 1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. 3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. I was a substitute teacher for a 4th grade class, so just didn't have time to put this up until now. It's time to look back over the week and reflect on all the wonderful things God has done. This week I'm thankful for..... ♫ Our tax refund check that arrived in time to pay some bills. ♫ Dan & I went to a meeting the other night to see what options are available for us to help care for Nathan as he gets older. Things like Supplemental Security Income, guardianships and trusts were discussed. I was extremely overwhelmed, yet so thankful that we were able to get information. ♫ Nathan, who has never, ever had friends, has been able to make some friendships in his class. He has a friend from class call him almos

The day was gorgeous yesterday and we spent most of the afternoon outside doing yard work. Dan turned over the soil in my garden for me, while I pulled the weeds. Emily helped him a bit. Stephen and Nathan mowed, raked and weed whacked. I was able to put in my cabbage. In the back garden I have lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and onions up and growing. Now I just have to wait another month to put in the rest of the vegetables. Unfortunately, around here there is still a chance of frost until around Memorial Day so even though I'm itching to get everything in, I'm going to have to be patient. It was a nice day and we got a lot accomplished. This morning I woke up to rain so we picked a good day to do it and I don't have to water! :-)

It's Foto Friday time again at Rebecca's blog . The theme this week was RED. This is another of my favorite colors and was fairly easy for me to find. My red kitchen. This bush has bright red blossoms on it and it's beautiful with the setting sun on it. I tried to capture that, but unfortunately the sun is too bright for the red to show up in the photos well. Finally, a bird that sat still enough for me to snap a photo, but it was too far away so the pictures are grainy. I didn't want to get too close though I did inch as close as I could before it flew away. Robin Red-Breast. I love my little, red house. Red and orange sunset. Finally, red rhubarb. Well, that's it for this week. Check out Rebecca's blog for more red photos.

II Samuel 22:47 ~ "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!" I love reflecting back over the week and offering God thanks for the things He has done. It makes me view things through new eyes and instead of seeing the negative, it requires to look for the positive instead. This week I praise Him for... ♫ Beautiful flowers to decorate my home with and to enjoy. ♫ God's hand on everything I see. ♫ A wonderful house to call home and a terrific landlord to go with it! And finally, ♫ His precious word that means so much to me. Do you have any praises this week?

I put together a table runner this past week and I'm pleased at how it turned out. I've been branching out and experimenting with different patterns and it's starting to be fun. I generally stand at the table and experiment turning the triangles and squares this way and that until I come up with something I'm pleased with. It's been a challenge because I'm trying to do it without purchasing any more fabric and using up my stash. Here is the latest creation. And here is a close-up. I enjoy doing these type of projects because they are fairly quick and easy. Emily's birthday is coming up and I'm making her a very nice surprise which I'll share later.

It's Foto Friday at Rebecca's blog . The theme this week was YELLOW. This was one of my favorite Foto Fridays because I love Yellow and I found lots of it this week. Fresh lemons. Bright yellow sun and yes, I was smart enough to not look through the view finder or directly into the sun. I just pointed and clicked while looking away. Yellow sunset Yellow daffodils Yellow dandelions Yellow tulips. These are my favorite flower in my garden. Yellow grain Okay, I love this next picture. I was trying to take a picture of this bumblebee because it was yellow and black, but it wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get the whole view. But when I looked closer I realized that you could see the yellow pollen on his behind and legs. Golden honey. Okay, those are my offerings for the week. Go check out the other entries at Rebecca's blog for more pictures.

Isaiah 35:1-2 ~ The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. My thankful list this week: ♫ Praise God this week for all the blooming things all around me! ♫ I told you all that Stephen got his driver's permit a few weeks ago, while Nathan had failed. Well seeing his younger brother go out driving each day with his father was huge motivation. We were told that if we made an appointment at a small city near here that they would be equipped to give the test orally to people with learning disabilities. Nathan did NOT want to do that. I've never seen him so motivated and he had his nose in the driver's book for a week. He went back to the same place

Thank you for all your well wishes for Emily. She was feeling much better and went off to school today. Nathan, on the other hand, was home because he broke his big toe last night in a freak accident. It's never dull around here, that's for sure! Here are some cards that I worked on today. I need to make some more but wanted to post what I had so far.

Emily is home sick from school today. Her allergies are acting up which is causing a flare-up of asthma. I decided it was a good day to do some baking and stock up my freezer and pantry. I made Lemon Tea Tots. Granola Bars. Finally, I made both blueberry bagels and onion bagels. The house smells wonderful! Emily spent most of the day doing this.

I was outside the other day when I saw this mockingbird up in the tree. There have been so many birds around lately and I love seeing all the different types. As I looked around the yard, I saw a very rare bird. See it? Need a closer look? This is indeed a special bird. It can read! Who knew I had such rare birds around? ;-)