HI.

I have been Facebook hooked and so I am there an awful lot more than I care to admit.

If anyone remembers me, let me know… but would serve me right to have no replies.

Think of many of my Xanga friends fairly often & send prayers up for you if I feel led to do so for some reason.

Not sure when I’ll be back by here, but I’ll try to stop now & then to see how ya’ll are doin’.

My grandmother was known for saying some of the oddest things (at least to us grandkids), but as I have gotten older I find myself using those mammaw-isms myself now & then.

The title is one of them & as a city-raised kid, I wasn’t sure what that meant. I get it now.  It’s how I feel about not having time to keep up with my Xanga friends nor even post a couple times a week. Honestly though, I am feeling pretty fulfilled in many other areas, it just means I have little computing time for other than business.  ‘Seasons change’, is what I am saying to myself.

I have had a number of changes since I was on here regularly & so has Xanga!  When I first opened my site after so long away I wasn’t even sure how to post a new entry!   I also was convinced (after much arm-twisting) to get a MySpace due to so many in my family who have one & live too far away to call or visit often.  Of course, I don’t really have a lot of time for that either.  I have all of 17 ‘friends’ and they are all related to me in the first-person! lol I’m such a party girl!  I made it private and have to accept friends who invite me to be on their lists & have to approve comments before they are allowed to post on my page. I honestly have to open it for a couple minutes a day to say ok to them & give a really fast answer. THAT has taken the few moments I use for fun on here most often lately.

But TODAY I have a comp day from work and so HERE I AM!  I’ll stop & read a few of your thoughts between laundry, baking & closet organization!

OH and by the way, it is my Sweetie’s birthday.  His gift will be the clean house, baked goods and refreshed wifey!  His is the fourth immediate family member birthday already this month!  We have THREE more before the month closes!!

You all have a GREAT and BLESSED day!

a quick update…

Not one person came to the open house & we couldn’t even blame it on a miserable, rain-drenched day!  sigh

Oh well, we’re still praying and believing it will sell in God’s perfect timing.

Hope all is well with friends in Xanga-land.

Boy do I need a facelift… not thinking of a surgical procedure really, just need to do something here… when I get time.

I have missed a lot, it appears, of what my friends have been doing & had happening.  So if time allows, I plan to do a little catch up today… at least a little.

For our household, we are trying to sell the home we are in now and looking for one or for a lot we would want to build on.  There are a plenty of houses for sell out there!  Too many when one has aspirations of selling their own before buying another.  sigh

Well, off I go!  time for some quick ‘reads’ and then the house needs cleaned for the Open House tomorrow.  (I be a prayin’ it goes well)

Easter is a great day!  We had a super weekend and the services were so great.  I have always loved Easter.  As a kid, it was because of seeing so many of the extended family & the egg hunt and good food.  Now it is because of understanding He is Risen and because of seeing so many of the extended family & the egg hunt and good food.

I hope you all had a great day celebrating the victory of Jesus over the grave.

Sowing & reaping are on my mind today.

I am thinking about the principles that govern nature.  And the One who made the ‘laws of nature’ in the first place.

I have been reading and seeing that promises are accompanied by a precept where God’s word is concerned.

In this vein of thought, I hope to hear from anyone with a story about a promise and precept that has played out in their own life.

To you I wish many happy returns… so be take care what you sow, your harvest may just be multiplied!

Summer RocKs!!

We have been VERY busy, with outings, church activities, picnics, visiting The Creation Museum, attending Spirit Song at King’s Island, 6 birthdays this month! and generally being outside and active.    heavy sigh… Also, my surgery went well, had me laying a bit lower than usual for a few weeks, but thankful to say I am feeling much better and I think the surgery helped.

I posted some pics from our trip last July and August that I had started to post months ago and because I had more pics, I never took the posting off of private.  So I did that a couple weeks ago.  In the scheme of things I think it is buried and no one saw them.  Its a couple of posts back if you want to see the beautiful Grotto of the Redemption we toured.  The pics do NOT do the place justice.

OK.  I must get ready for the day.  Blessings to you and yours.

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single father who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with his children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can’t make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

… should be in the next week or so I hope.

Hugs to all.

I began trying to get all the pics in here several months ago.  I decided to go ahead and post what I had done and not even update the time stamp… so you could see how long ago I began this.  lol  I hope if anyone is in the area for a vacation or live within a short drive, that they’ll go see this.  The photos do not do it justice.  Enjoy and link to the Grotto’s site.

When leaving Ruthven, Iowa, we went past Shawn’s Grandfather’s old place.  Then we went on to see The Grotto of the Redemption.  The link will give you more info, but let me just say before the pics I took, it was an awesome display that my shots cannot do justice.  If anyone lives near it and has not gone to see it, or if anyone plans a trip to the area, this is a place to spend a little under an hour.  We stayed about 30 minutes I guess.  It was before opening, so we didn’t go in the gift shop nor take a tour.  We just walked through looking… and thinking, ‘wow’ or ‘this had to take some real patience and determination to complete.’

The first pic is from the parking area, a shot of what you can see at a distance…

There is a lake in the foreground, though after the lake we just left before going here, this seems more like a pond to me.

The next is a close-up of the area you can see in the first pic which announces the place as what it is and thus we begin our trek…

I guess I’ll post the pic of the sign at the parking area that shows the areas and layout of the place…

I know, silly Deb, takes pics of the display signs… oh boy am I goofy.

Oh well… that’s what makes me so loveable… right????   I hope a few of you are nodding… heh

We didn’t follow the flow since we weren’t sure where to begin, so we took the pics in a sequence that might make less sense, but still, you can see the entailed focus and labor of love of the Catholic Father who’s pic will be last.

The first one here is the announcement of the Blessed Baby’s birth and the angel proclaiming it.  The detail is unbelieveable, but doesn’t show in the shot… the seashells, crystal and such materials used is a wonder in itself.

Please read about what was brought to complete this work of art.  It is indescribable! 

LOOK UP!  Yeah, in the circular area of the angelic announcement is a ceiling that has angels and is lovely to see.  This place amazed me in the intricacies and entailed work all the way through it.  I hope to not be overly redundant and repeat this too often, but I was wowed.

OK, the Sermon on the Mount, and ALLLLL the Beatitudes are in this pic.  The lettering was about an inch in height I think, though me and measurements are not close friends… hee hee

Either way, it took lots of planning to get this to be legible… and the more I think of it… durable.  It seems to me that the fact that it still looks so fabulous is a miracle in itself!

A jewelled and stone/crystal/shelled wall surrounds the place.  Here is one of the pics showing it’s height and beauty.

I have a number but this gives the idea pretty nicely. 

Ahead of this pic is the courtyard area that shows the 14 sufferings of Christ.  Not being Catholic, this was an area Shawn was able to shed some light upon for me.