Sunday Blessing

’Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
’Tis the grandest theme that the world e’er sung,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

Refrain:
He is able to deliver thee,
He is able to deliver thee;
Though by sin oppressed, go to Him for rest;
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

’Tis the grandest theme, let the tidings roll,
To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul;
Look to God in faith, He will make thee whole,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.”

From He Is Able to Deliver Thee
by William A. Ogden
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As we sang this song Sunday, I couldn't help but think of all the ways our God is able! He delivers us from sin and the power of sin. He can also deliver us from the effects of living in a sinful world, like sickness or fear, although He may not always choose to do so. But, He will empower us to be strengthened through our trials and give us the strength to bear whatever He allows! Our God is ABLE!

(Yes, a little late for SUNDAY...  but better late than never... we've been busy enjoying the last few days of my Grandmother's visit before she returns to Idaho. The visit is never long enough!!) 

ETA - For those of you who may not have heard this song before - here is a link to a congregation singing it - it's the best one I could find... not a commonly sung hymn anymore! 

Sunday Blessing

I've learned to know a name I highly treasure,
O how it thrills my spirit through and through!
O precious name, beyond degree or measure,
My heart is stirred whene'er I think of You!

Chorus:
My heart is stirred when e'er I think of Jesus-
That blessed name which sets the captive free-
The only name through which I find salvation,
No name on earth has meant so much to me.

That name still lives and will live on forever,
While kings and kingdoms will forgotten be;
Through mist and rain, 'twill be beclouded never,
That name shall shine and shine eternally.


From A Name I Highly Treasure
by Oscar C. Eliason

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The flowers are beautiful here in East Texas!! It seems that spring has happened all at once! Angie snapped this picture for me (I guess I was just too lazy to get out of the car!) :) I thought it turned out really good - especially for a phone! :)

Finished Object Friday

I hope you all have had a great week! Mine has been busy, but good. We had a fun St. Patrick's Day! I hope you didn't forget to wear green! :)

Well, it's time for Finished Object Friday once again... and I seem to be stuck on laundry! Dryer balls seem to be quite the popular item! So I decided to make some:

I had a few reasons for making them - 1. They are fun to make, and easy... as you know, I love felting! 2. I have roving that needs to be used - it has already started to felt, so it's useless to try to spin it. 3. I think dryer balls are a neat idea, and I hope they save money and help things dry faster! Here's the process I went through:

1. The already semi-felted roving.
2.Winding it into a ball.
3. Tied off in hosiery to throw into the machine.
4. First layer felted,  second layer of roving added.

So there is my little finished object! So with all these helpful laundry things I have made, you'd think I'd find something to help me get it all folded! :)

So what have you been up to this week? If you are new to FOF, check out the intro post here. Happy linking!! :)

Aboretum Visit

Last week we "girls" took a trip the a local aboretum. It was an absolutely beautiful day - wonderful for enjoying the outdoors.


On the grounds is this historical dogtrot home/museum. These houses are fascinating to me - imagine having to go outside to get from one room to another.



I did fall in love while I was there... is this not the cutest chair?? with cherries!!? :)


Hmmm... think I could handle a wheel like this?

It's a different method than I'm used to. You can see a "great wheel" demonstrated here. Funny... whoever was playing with that yarn obviously did not know how a wheel works. Actually the yarn does not connect to the bit "wheel" at all - a drive band would connect the big wheel to the part to the left.

The back of the house from the garden.

Not many flowers in bloom yet, although there were quite a few daffodils. But it looks like it will be quite lovely in a month or so. The very back of the house is the kitchen and dining room.


Aren't we glad to no longer need facilities like this?

This one seems a bit breezy... :)

Sunday Blessing

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

Oh, what words I hear Him say!

Happy place! so near, so precious!

May it find me there each day;

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

I would look upon the past;

For His love has been so gracious,

It has won my heart at last.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

Where can mortal be more blest?

There I lay my sins and sorrows,

And, when weary, find sweet rest;

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

There I love to weep and pray;

While I from His fullness gather

Grace and comfort every day.

From Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

Passover for Kids

I teach our Kids Bible club on Wednesday nights at church. This year, I have been telling the stories of Moses and the Exodus. It's so amazing what these kids remember - even when I think they haven't heard a thing I've said all night!

Last night, though, they were all ears (well, mostly.... three out of four isn't bad - especially when there is such an age gap, oldest to youngest!) :)  Tonight was an important night. We learned about the Passover, and how it looked forward to the New Testament. How the lambs died to protect the Israelites from death, and how Jesus died to save us from eternal death.

As part of the lesson, I set up a "Passover table." It wasn't exact, and there could have been much more detail, but these kids are picky eaters! :) Here's my table all set:

(I had a sheet over everything until it was time.)

On the left is haroset. (Talk about yummy!! The grape juice gave everything such a nice flavor!) The bowl on the tray is salt water - representing the tears shed by the Israelites wanting to leave, and the Egyptians at the loss of their sons. The roll in the bag was thrown out - to get rid of the leaven. :)  The little plate on the tray is crackers - our unleavened bread. I didn't serve lamb, so our little stuffed lamb stood in with the "bitter herbs." (Although he wasn't quite spotless... he's had a little too much loving!) :)  And of course we had grape juice. We also had a rock (not pictured) that represented Pharaoh's hard heart, and ours as well, if we choose to not serve God.We ate around the table standing up, and I held my "staff."

Here's a close up of haroset:


After our Passover "meal" was finished, we had "new life cakes" - cupcakes with "eggs" on top to represent to new life we have when we believe in Jesus.

Hopefully it was a lesson they won't soon forget. I know I won't! I think it would be a great tradition to have in my home. Sarah did a lovely Seder meal with her family - Thanks, Sarah for the ideas and the explanations! Maybe you would like to have a Passover (Seder) meal with your family this year? I'd love to hear about it!

The Revolutionary Paul Revere

Have you ever heard of Apollos Rivoire? I hadn't until I read this book. Apollos Rivoire is the father of Paul Revere. In 1715, at the age of 13, Apollos was put on a boat to escape the persecution of the Huguenots in France. After arriving in America and learning English and the silversmith trade, he changed his name to Paul Revere, a name he later passed on to his son. The son is the one who is so famous for his Revolutionary ride. However, this ride wasn't Paul's only effort for the Revolution and for America. In his book, The Revolutionary Paul Revere, Joel J. Miller gives us a good description of the life that Paul lived for his God, his family and his country. That night ride wasn't the only one that Paul took, he made several journeys delivering letters for the cause. Not only did he serve as a delivery man, but he also was one of the lead "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party. He constructed a powder mill to provide gunpowder for the war effort as well as commanded the fortifications at Castle Island. Quite the busy revolutionary! After the revolution, Revere continued to be quite the visionary. He was a success in many different efforts - even supplying copper sheeting to a young inventor named Robert Fulton.

I enjoyed reading about Paul Revere. It was interesting to read more about this time in history. I liked the size of the book - not a huge tome and not too intimidating to read. The book is also a lot more "reader friendly" than many historical books. It was well researched; I was interested to see the notes telling what books the author used for his research. I did, however, find the author's sometimes frequent use of metaphors and similes a little distracting - such as "After repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament was up Debt creek without a farthing." (page 96) and "Like seeds cast down in bloody soil, the dead sprang up as thorny brambles all throughout town." (page 112) ummm. Okay. But all in all, an excellent read. Would I recommend it? Certainly! It has enough depth to interest a more in-depth history "person" - like me! but it is not so academic to intimidate a more casual reader. Thumbs up!


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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sunday Blessing

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace!

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease;

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

From: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

by Charles Wesley

Finished Object Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I'm glad it's Friday, how about you? This is a special Friday for me (and my family) because my Grandma got in from Idaho last night!! We gals have a fun day planned! :) But as for here, let's share some of our projects!

I finished the "object" back in December, but I wanted to give it a while for a "test run" before I shared! :)


Laundry soap!! I've heard of several different recipes for making laundry soap. This recipe appealed to me because it is dry, just stir together and it's ready to use! :)  (Thanks for sharing, Shelley!)

2 bars fels Naptha or Zote

1- 4 lb box Borox

1- 4 lb. box Arm & Hammer wash soda

4 lbs. Baking Soda

grate soap: add all ingredients together,

mix well in large container.

(I added some Oxyclean as well... about a cup.)

use 2-3 tbl. per load

 

Here is the bar soap after I got it grated... fun, huh? :)  

I used Mom's big hand crank grater - it sure helped! :)  

So what's my opinion after using it a couple of months? I really like it! It's cheap - although I didn't keep a tally of the costs - I'll try to do that next time I make it. I did discover, when washing on the cold cycle, that there was a white residue on my clothes before they went in the dryer. I now start the load with hot water to dissolve the powder, and I haven't seen it since. My clothes smell great, and I don't have any complaint about cleanliness. And besides, it's prettier than regular soap! My next thing is to find a pretty jar to store it in my laundry room. I did find a fun scoop as you can see in the top picture. :)

So have you be up to anything "crafty" recently? I can't wait to see all of your projects!

It's starting to feel like spring!!

... or is it just me? :)  Well, if you are in Texas, it certainly is spring!! I'm so glad... this has seemed like a long winter to me! I think all that cold weather was getting to me! But it certainly has been beautiful the past few days! And so many things are starting to bloom! I just love East Texas in the spring!! :)

With all the "springy-ness" going on outside, I wanted to bring some inside! I have been wanting to redo my mantle decor for quite a while, and haven't exactly been sure of what I wanted to do. Well, the past couple of weeks, I finally figured it out!



I am loving it! For reference, this is what my mantle looked like last spring:

I have been tired of the clock/candle combo and I was soo ready for something different!! :)

Here is my "think about it" picture... trying out sized etc...

I liked the size of the mirror, but there wasn't enough contrast. I priced some mirrors and had the sudden revelation that I had the right mirror for free!! I just used some paint I had on hand.

I really like the depth that the layering gives it.

Now to get the rest of my house ready for spring... :) Oh, and to put OUR picture in the small frame! heehee!