Friday Foto.....

A view down one of the roads in my neck of the woods.....

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

HOPE y'all have a Fantastic Friday!!!

Breathing in Grace,

Seven Thankful Things.....

I thought I would share just a few things that I'm so very thankful for.....

1.  Friends who pray!!!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for my back.

It's still a bit stiff and sore, but I think I'm gonna live....LOL!!!

2. And, speaking of friends.

I have an awesome blogging friend named Ms. Aritha.

She has a blog at Kostbaar 

(meaning is "Precious")

I won a give-a-way that she had and she mailed me all the goodies below.....

all the way from the Netherlands!!!

That empty packet.....

it was flavored coffee and it was AWESOME.....

all frothy and caramel and delicious!

So much so, I think I'm gonna have to purchase some more on line!!

Proficiat - meaning Congrats!!!

3.  The Shrine Circus!!!

Remember the pic I showed of us at the circus with the three older kiddos?

The lions were one of my favorite parts.

Our grands are some of our greatest blessings.

If you're a grandparent,

then you know exactly what I mean.

I just can't even begin to explain the love we have for them!!!

And, another blessing is being able to spend so much time with them.

(I think they kinda like me, too.....;-)

4.  Retirement!!!

If you've followed me very long,

you might recall my story of how I quit my full-time job back in 2006.

God kept prompting me to quit and I kept telling Him we just couldn't afford it.  Wasn't that just silly?  A total lack of faith.  When I quit, my salary was more than Pappy's.  We survived. Then, Pappy lost his job and we lived off unemployment (and our savings....and we had some great friends who helped us out along the way).  God is so awesome.....if we'll just have faith in Him.  All the time that I was "arguing" with Him about quitting, He kept bringing to mind the verse of scripture, Jeremiah 29:11.....hence, the name my blog!!!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” 

says the Lord.

“They are plans for good and not for disaster, 

to give you a future and a hope.”

5.  And, speaking of "retirement".....

This past Tuesday morning, I just became overwhelmed of how blessed I am that I don't work outside the home.  Oh, I stay plenty busy with grands and my Mom and my brother.....and I ask God often to send me somebody I can help in some way.  But, what a blessing that I don't have to get up and go to work every morning.  I thought about how difficult it would be to have to call in to my former boss that I couldn't come to work because of my back.  She just would not have understood.  She was very difficult to work for.

6.  And, speaking of my former boss.....

when I walk around our subdivision.....

(which I can do now because my knee is improving.....

and it actually doesn't hurt my back).....

I can see the office where I used to work.

As I walked one morning,

I realized how blessed I am that I don't have to drive up that long drive every morning like I did for almost 17 years.  The day I left, she said to me, 

"well, it's been nice". 

 And, that was it.  

Isn't that sad?

She was very upset that I quit.

But you know what.....

she was the one who lost out.

I'm not saying that to be prideful....

but, her world revolves around money.

And, there are so many things in this world that no amount of money can buy.

7.  The Meltdown Challenge.....

And, speaking of the improvement in my knee.....

I think part of that is because I was able to shed a few pounds.

I totally give God all the glory for that because without HIM it just wouldn't have happened.  My friend, Ms. Diane, invited me to the challenge and the goal was to lose 6% of my body weight.....

I lost 8.75%!!!

To God be all the Glory!!!

This list could go on and on.....

but, these are just a few things that are on my heart that I'm thankful for!

Ain't God good?

Oh, yes He is!!!

HOPE y'all have a Terrific Thursday!!!

Breathing in Grace,

Wednesday's Word - Beauty.....

Breathing in Grace,

A short break.....

I've never had much trouble with back pain.....

until last Friday!

We had our grand-kiddos all weekend and decided to walk to the end of the subdivision with them Friday evening. 

The two littlest ones rode in a wagon that has two seats. 

 Nannie pulled them all the way to the end.....

and all the way back.....

up and down several small hills.  

They usually seem rather small, 

but not so much pulling the wagon with two kiddos inside. 

It didn't really hurt me at the time,

just kinda tired me out.....

but, I woke up sometime in the night in pain.....

and have been hurting since!

I think I'm gonna take a couple days away from the blog to rest up!

Job 30:17

At night my bones are filled with pain,
    which gnaws at me relentlessly.

Breathing in Grace,

Come on get happy.....

I've really enjoyed the daily e-mails we get from the Meltdown Challenge.

This one is just great!

It reminds me of several things I've read recently.....
think God might be trying to tell me something?!?!?

Choose To Be Happy

We are completely in control of our own happiness! We have all known someone who appears to "have it all", yet is perpetually unhappy...nothing is ever good enough! On the other hand, we have probably all known someone who appears to be completely destitute of positive circumstances, yet beams with happiness. We can start by wearing a smile, offering gratitude, focusing on those we love and those who love us, and actively looking for opportunities to display happiness.

Go to MeltdownChallenge.com

•  

•     

HOPE y'all have a HAPPY weekend!!!

Breathing in Grace,

Friday Foto.....

Our crew at the circus last weekend

(minus Jess who was taking the pic)

Love Pappy's heart.....

he was exhausted!

HOPE y'all have a Fantastic Friday!!!

Breathing in Grace,

It's not odd, it's God.....

This week so far has been full of several "it's not odd, it's God" moments!

I decided to go for a short walk Tuesday morning.

I was just going to go out to the end of the longest road and head back home.....

a short little trip of about 20-25 minutes.....

that wound up taking me an hour and 20 minutes.

As I got to the end of the road we live on, 

a neighbor was blowing leaves in his yard and he stopped and chatted with me.....

for about 35 minutes.

I told him that I was keeping him from his work and I headed out to my destination.  Little did I know that God had interrupted my walk because of something that was about to happen on down the road. As I approached a house toward the end of my route,  a little dog came out barking at me. I had seen it before and I'm a bit afraid of dogs.....

especially, those who head right toward me barking.

The young lady who lives there with her hubby and 3 children

(something I found out a bit later)

was mowing the yard and she hollered for the dog to come back.

It did.....so I headed to the end of the road.

As I came back that way, 

the dog came toward me again.

The young lady turned off the mower and hollered for the dog.

I stopped to chat with her and we exchanged names.....

and you just wouldn't believe the conversation that took place.....

entirely about God and the church and she told me that our talk was yet another confirmation to a prayer she had been praying and I approached the mower and we hugged and I came back home with such a happy heart!

I don't work outside the home,

so I often ask God to use me.....

send me somebody I can help!

I love that He does that,

even in the most simplest thing like taking a walk!

But the "funny" thing is.....

I'm the one who winds up getting the most out of it!

Oh, how awesome HE is!

I'm so thankful at how much HE loves us!!

Breathing in Grace,

Wednesday's Words - Jealousy/Envy.....

Breathing in Grace,

God had something better in mind.....

I have a friend at church who has a major health problem.

Oh, you would NEVER know it by looking at her or watching her in action......

or by her sweet, sweet Spirit.

This woman never slows down.

Even when she's in the hospital you wouldn't believe how she ministers!

She takes a dry erase marker and writes and draws scriptures all over the window of her hospital room!  

What a testimony she has!!!

One day last week I thought about asking her what her favorite color is.

I had the idea of making her a scarf.

I even had part of the question typed into an Instagram message,

but then decided against it.

I'm not sure why.....

well, now I am!!!

Sunday morning, 

she posted this picture on Instagram and tagged me......

This is a hat and scarf that I crocheted a few years ago and donated it for an auction to support the Guatemala mission team at our church.  My friend, Ms. Stephanie, said in the Instagram message that she had bid for it against another lady.  The lady had gotten it for her daughter.  The daughter decided to part with it and they gave it to my friend!  This is sooooo much better than I could have thought, or done, because this was totally ordained by the Lord!!!

Ain't God good?

Oh, yes He is!!!

Isaiah 55:8

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

Breathing in Grace,

p.s.  Please pray for my friend, Ms. Stephanie.

She is on the donor transplant list for a new kidney.

This will be her second kidney transplant!

Busy hands.....

 Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatever your hands find to do, 

do with all your strength.....

The past 3 weeks have been busy, busy, busy for me!

Remember my Mom had those 4 trees cut down.....

(one was in the back that you couldn't see in the pics I posted).

We hauled brush and wood and burned and raked.....
then, did it some more!!!

Because of my brother's injury, I spent parts of a Friday and Saturday scraping sheet rock mud off of concrete floors, sweeping and mopping.

 I came to a conclusion.....

our bodies just weren't designed to stand on our heads and bend and move in all those different directions!!!

Even Jess asked me.....

"Momma, do you know how old you are?"

(that totally made me actually LOL....;-)

Last week was spent taking my brother to the surgery center.....

TWICE!!!

The first trip, while waiting for absolutely NOTHING to happen.....

(you can read about that here).....

I got the body of this little hat made for a baby boy who lives across the street from Pappy and me.....

with his parents, of course!

It made my heart so happy to see his  Grandma pushing him in the stroller one day and he was sporting his new hat!

I'm not sure yet what this week has in store.....

but I'm hoping to get a bit of rest.....

because we'll be keeping all 4 of our grands from next Friday till late Sunday!!!

Prayers, please!!!

What about you?

What has been keeping you busy?

Breathing in grace,

SONday Morning Song - Amazing Grace.....

Today is my brother's birthday!

Since I cling to Romans 8:28, remembering that 

"all things work together for good to those who love the Lord".....

I know that the circumstances of his life, 

although not pleasant.....

brought us back together in our "golden years"!!!

This is his favorite hymn.....
and he likes this rendition.

It's the ring tone that I put on my phone for when he calls!

HOPE y'all enjoy it, too!

Happy birthday, baby brother!
I love you so much!
And, that incident many years ago where I shoved your head into the sheet rock.....
it truly was a total accident!
But, bouncing that hickory nut off the back of your head.....
not so much!!!
;-)

Breathing in Grace,

Life is.....

Even with all it's ups and downs.....

trials and tribulations.....

struggles and strife.....

living life as a child of GOD truly is AWESOME.....
simply because we serve an AWESOME God!!!

Psalm 47:2
For the Lord Most High is awesome.
    He is the great King of all the earth.

HOPE you have a Super Saturday, sweet friends!

Breathing in Grace,

Friday Foto.....

 Who knew ragweed was so beautiful?!?

(photo taken in the field behind my Mom's house)

HOPE everybody has a Fantastic Friday!!!

Breathing in Grace,

I knew He could.....

.....but didn't really believe He would!

This is one of those posts about being transparent.

You know what I mean?

Sharing a truth about myself that's not too pretty!

Also, I've gotta forewarn you.....
it's lengthy.

I've told y'all several times about my bum knee.

I fell about 2.5 years ago and my knee has gotten steadily worse since that time.  I didn't go to the doctor because Pappy was out of work and we didn't have any health insurance.  I was personally without insurance for 2 years.  Even with the insurance that I have now, so much of the testing required for surgery is applied to the deductible.....
amounts that we just can't afford.....
so I just continue suffering.  

Now, I know that my knee is nothing compared to somebody with cancer, 
or a really serious illness.  
But, it truly hurt me so badly sometimes that I couldn't sleep......

and could barely walk.  And, you should have seen me trying to take that first step when I got up in the morning.  My PCP told me that if I didn't get it "fixed", that my hip would eventually wear out!

I've prayed MANY times for God to heal my knee.

I totally knew that He could.....

but I doubted that He would.
(that hurts me to admit that)

Why?

Lack of faith?

Didn't trust Him enough?

Really didn't think that He cared about "me" that much?

I don't really know.....

I just knew that my knee wasn't getting any better and I was to the point that  we were going to have to go on a "not so easy payment plan" to get it fixed.
Until.....
I attended a herbal class with Jess.
In the "kit" that we got.....
(Jess blessed me by paying my way).....
there was a sample of the herb comfrey.
I had never heard of comfrey.
It's an herb and I purchased a bag of it from the lady who held the class.
You take a bit of this dried herb and fold it up in cheesecloth.....
then, wet it and place it on the area that is hurting and apply heat.
I've been doing this for about a month.....
and I cannot even begin to tell you how much better my knee feels.
I'm also using the essential oil lemongrass because I read it's good for  tissue repair.  I'm pretty sure that the problem with my knee is a torn meniscus.  I still cannot straighten my knee, but even that is improving.  I actually went down the basement steps one day this week like a normal person!!!

I truly feel God led me to this class and to Ms. Stephanie and her wonderful knowledge of the healing powers of herbs.  And, what better things to use to improve our health but those made by God?!? 

(more about essential oils in a future post)

Ezekiel 47:12
.......The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.

Ain't God good?
Oh, yes He is!!!

Breathing in Grace,

p.s....my knee has improved to the point that I'm able to get out and walk again!  
Praise His Name!!!

Stress Reliever.....

I heard on K-Love one morning this week that coloring is a great stress reliever for adults.

Well, that's nothing I didn't already know!

I ♥ to color.....
and so do our grand-kiddos.

I have a basket in the dining room full of coloring books and crayons!!
And, when they take a notion to color.....
guess what?

They insist that Nannie color with them!!!

Does Nannie mind?
Not one bit!

HOPE everybody has a Wonderful Wednesday!

Breathing in Grace,

Prayer request.....

Update on my brother:

Y'all aren't gonna even believe what happened.
My brother's surgery was scheduled for 2:00 this afternoon,
but he was told to be there at 12:30.
We got there early and they took him back to the "holding area" around 12:30.....
and he kept laying there until his friend asked what the delay was.
The lady who did the scheduling in the office had made a mistake.....
his surgery isn't until this Friday at 2:00!!!
He was finally "released" around 3:00!
He remained calm as a cucumber.....
which was better than his older sister!
I know it happened for a reason.....
'cause everything does!!!
But.....
I'm old and I was freezing cold and it was raining monsoon proportions and I had a headache.....
and we have to go back and do it all over Friday.....
and I'm only human!
I told him the least they could have done was given him a tad of the "happy juice".....LOL!!

Continue to pray for him.....
and maybe say a little one for me, too!!!
;-)





About a week ago, on a Friday afternoon, I got a call from my brother asking me to come to where he's building a house, that he had gotten hurt.  I fully expected to see lots of blood and him laying on the ground when I got there, but that wasn't the case.  He was trying to hang sheet rock.....all by himself.....and felt something "pop" in the bicep of his right arm and was in terrible pain.  He was taken to the ER and found that he pulled a ligament.  After a trip to an orthopedic surgeon last week, he will be having surgery to repair the tear today (I won't even go into detail as to how it will be repaired.....ouch!) The surgery itself will take about 1.5 hours (much more extensive than I would have thought).

Thanks, sweet readers, for your prayers!!!

2 Chronicles 6:19

.....listen to my prayer and my plea,

 O Lord my God. 

Hear the cry and the prayer 

that your servant is making to you.

Breathing in Grace,

True love lasts.....

This sweet couple is in our SONday School class.

They just returned from an African safari to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary!

(totally surprising they're old enough to have been married that long)

They were standing in front of us during the worship service yesterday and it just really touched my heart to see her reach over and take his hand!!!

Matthew 19:6

 So they are no longer two but one flesh. 

What therefore God has joined together,

let not man separate.

Breathing in Grace,