Go on over to Mabel's House

I read a beautiful post on a blog I frequent that made me cry. It said so much...and on the eve of driving 8 hours north to go see my mom...I thought I'd send you on over to Mabel's House to read Liz's awesome writing and insights.

I love you MOM! I can't wait to see you soon!

The Shack- Summer reading

Taking a personal "time out" to do a little reading and soul searching.

Jacob was assigned some "summer reading" for school...and of course, I just had to see what they assigned the senior class to read. One of the books was "The Shack"...and for me, it's turned out to be exactly what the doctor ordered. And who says God doesn't speak to people these days?

...Sadness has a place in every human life...and unfortunately we all experience it from time to time.

The Bible says “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccles. 3: 4). We will all experience sorrow. In Wm. Paul Young’s novel, The Shack, it’s called "The Great Sadness".

Lately I feel deeply saddened by circumstances that are going on right now. I can relate to "The Great Sadness" the author speaks of. I am only half way through the book right now...I am savoring it like a delicious piece of decadent cheesecake. Letting the author's words settle into my spirit and grow; leaving me hungry for more.

What I’ve learned today is that, "Great Sadness is one of God’s greatest gifts; that it has an important place in every life, that it has many faces, many expressions; and that God offers special grace to those who mourn, through us."


“It’s been a while. I’ve missed you. I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. – Papa.”

...so happy for mandatory summer reading...Now if only I could get my kid to read it. Now I'm going to go have a piece of cheesecake.

Goodwill and Garage Sale Hunting

look at the detail of the arms.



{Please excuse the major mess in our garage...it's seen a lot of action the past few months with kids moving in and out}

My good friend, Diane and I went out today in search of pre- 4th of July garage sales. Much to our dismay, there were only a few advertised in our local paper. We only really found two sales...not much of anything but I ended up with a few platters, a unique tin can, and an old ottoman for 2 bucks. I have been looking for a square ottoman for some time now, so I cannot deny I let out a little squeal when I saw how cheap it was.

Since we couldn't find any more garage sales, we ventured out to a few stores, then out to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Goodwill is located in the plaza next door, so we decided to take a look. I found a few edible arrangement tins and a wrought iron thingy. As we were about to leave, I decided to take a quick look at the furniture in the center aisle. Oh.my.gosh. Sitting there under a 1970's desk was this to die for mid-century modern danish lounge chair priced at $8.99!

Can you believe I hesitated? I guess my biggest worry was if Pat would have a few choice words for me after dragging yet ANOTHER "old piece of crap" chair into his cluttered garage.

My friend Diane cheered me on, telling me all the wonderful things I could do to this chair to breathe new life into it. SOLD!

I told the lady at the checkout I needed help with a chair... she went over to tell the young man to bring it over. As he was heading over, carrying the OBVIOUS CHOICE chair, I quickly told him, "Oh, no... I wanted the hideous floral one." He chuckled at my choice of words describing my new purchase. I chuckled inwardly to myself thinking I just SCORED big and they were none the wiser.

Jer 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Yep, I've got plans of my own for these two diamonds in the rough...stay tuned for the hope and future.