Christian Photographers Community

Hi everyone.  It is going to be a very chilly and rainy day here in South Carolina.  It is not suppose to get above 50 degrees and that is fairly early this morning and then into the 40's the rest of the day.  Once again I plan on going to Sunday School but will leave early to come home and get Pat so she can attend church with me.  We will have to get something to eat before we come home and then just have a quiet rest of the day.

There were many cars on our street yesterday as people came to see our neighbor's home on the Tour of Homes.  A couple of the ladies in my Sunday School class were helping with it.  It obviously was a big success.  Downtown yesterday afternoon they had their annual Christmas parade.  I was glad I was at home. 

I hope Janet and Darrel have a very enjoyable trip to Branson today and see some wonderful Christmas shows.

Marilyn, it sounds like you and Freckles had a very busy day yesterday. 

Hi everyone on another overcast morning after a night of rain.  We will only get to 59 degrees today and late tonight and into the early morning hours we have 100% chance of more rain.  The rain is welcome as we are in a drought here in South Carolina.  Pat did go to church with me yesterday and then we ate lunch out.  The housekeeper had the flu last week and missed on Friday but Pat talked with her last evening and she will be here this morning.  I plan on attending my Monday noon meeting and I don't know what else we may do today.  We need to go to COSTCO for some major restocking but not sure it will be this afternoon. 

Of Wolves and Lambs
by Joni Eareckson Tada

"And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child shall lead them."  Isaiah 11:6

Theologians and preachers will debate the timing and meaning of this prophecy.  Is it before or after Christ's rule in the Millennium?  Is it in heaven or is it on earth?  Is it figurative or real?

You can debate it for millennia, if you like, but I can tell you that I've already seen it come to pass.  Really.  You could, too, if you received permission from the Colorado State prison system to go to a small workshop in one of its medium security prisons.  There you'd find an inmate, his tattoo-covered arms carefully restoring an old wheelchair.  He'd tell you he's not doing it for the money.  (He's not.  He only gets $12 a month compared to the standard $600 a month for the other work in prison.)  He'd tell you it's rewarding to him to do something for someone else who's got it worse off than he does.  And he'd tell you he's doing it because he loves to.  That's my wolf.

And the lamb?  Oh, she's a Chinese girl with cerebral palsy who's going to get her first wheelchair because of the wolf's strong arms.  She'll go outside of her house for the first time.  Maybe go to school.  Maybe even watch the Chinese New Year outside, on her own, and not on her father's back this time.  That's something she would never have gotten to do if it had not been for the wolf.

The lamb and the wolf will both have been led by a child -- a child that broke the chains of sin in that inmate's life.  A child that can free the Chinese girl to walk the streets of heaven someday.  A child that was born in lowlier conditions that either will know.  A child who died in more agony than either the wolf or the lamb could ever imagine.  A child who heals both of their broken hearts and promises both of them freedom.

Few would call that man in prison a friend, Lord.  And few would call that girl lovely.  But I join that wolf and that lamb and follow You to Calvary.   

Blessings,

Joni and Friends

What a beautiful analogy by Joni!  Thank you, Pat.   

Hi everyone on a overcast and still lightly rainy morning.  We have had about 2 1/4 inches of rain in the last two days.  It looks like it is about over as the prospects are low for the rest of the day and evening.  I got up this morning and fried up a pound of sausage and mixed up a new batch of sausage muffins for Pat's breakfast over the next few days.  I will try not to drop one of them on the floor as I did last time.  Here is a link to a picture of the batch of muffins I just made: http://photopeach.com/public/upload/data3/farm5/s/s/i/siteman81/2526814c63fa692f59e1fe5a6911d3c8.jpg

There is nothing specific on the calendar for today although we may make a trip to COSTCO later today as long as it is not raining.  Yesterday I did not attend my noon meeting as planned as my heart was letting me know it was there and that I needed to rest.  I didn't want to cook last night so we went to Ruby Tuesdays and had a delicious dinner. 

Pat, I loved that story you shared and also the beautiful graphic of the falls, which also reflects God's awesome work. 

Hi everyone on this Wednesday morning.  So far it is overcast but to get to about 60 this afternoon. While the rain stopped yesterday it was a very dark and damp day outside.  I worked here at home all morning, rested and then went to COSTCO and stocked up on several things. No riding carts were available so I walked the store very slowly.  Fortunately I have now been there often enough to have a general idea where things are located on the shelves and in the freezers and coolers.  There is no dinner at church tonight so we will prepare dinner hear to share with Scott when he comes out late this afternoon.   

Thank you,friends, for great reading this evening. I'm sorry for being absent so long.

I'm recovering well, but slowly. Soon I'll be forced to go out to get supplies. It seems that many are working on the Christmas gift list so roads and stores are crowded.

Y'all have a good evening.

Ruth Ann

Hi everyone.  We have the promise of some sunshine today, which will be very much  welcomed.  Our predicted high is 57 for this afternoon.  Today will be my normal pretty busy Thursday with coffee and the Wisdom group and then a quick trip to Aldi's on my way home as need some fresh vegetables and a few other items.  I hope that will be it for the day.  We plan on a nice salad with some of the rotisserie chicken on it for our evening meal. 

Yesterday I finished up the cookbook project for Pat preparing an index by recipe of the special 174 page cookbook we printed and then adding another 70+ pages of additional recipes she had found over a several year period and making a separate index of these by page number and then alphabetical by recipe name.  Yesterday afternoon I did get her kitchen chair assembled and I think it will serve the purpose well.  The island we have in the kitchen has the top extending out from the base on one side where she can pull the chair under and get close to the working surface.  We will just have to see how it works out.  Scott came over for dinner last evening and then set up Pat's Christmas village and a few other decorations.  We plan on leaving the village up year round as we had done in our other house so we can enjoy it all year long.  It is atop the entertainment center so is not in the way at all. 

Ruth Ann, glad to read you are recovering, even if at a slow pace.  Have you considered placing your grocery order online and then you would just have to go to the store at an agreed upon time and someone would place the items you ordered in your car.  We have done it twice now at Walmart and it worked like a charm and I can see us using this service much more in the future.  Here Kroger's is also doing it I expect some of the other grocery chains will follow suit.  I am hoping before long they will offer delivery as well. 

Hi everyone.  We have a sunny and cold 30 degree morning here with prospects of it only getting into the 40's today.  I do need to get out and get a haircut this morning as beginning to look like the shaggy dog.  Other than that I expect to stay home today and have no big projects to work on but several small things.  Yesterday was a pretty busy day as usual with Pat's monthly chiropractic appointment at 4 pm, which I had forgotten about but she hadn't.  I did watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders last evening and then had a good 8 hours of sleep. 

We're hoooome!    We had a very enjoyable few days in Branson; saw eight different shows, including the spectacular MOSES. Plus having a backstage tour of the wonderful Sight and Sound theater before watching Moses, and driving through the wonderful Branson Christmas lights.  We also had a little time for shopping, and a nice and very informative tour of the College of the Ozarks, also known as "Hard Work U" because it's the only college in the US where students can go for free, just by working a certain number of hours per week  And now they have expanded and have kindergarten through 12th grade on campus, as well.  They have their own dairy, a bakery and jelly kitchen, a lodge with an award-winning restaurant and a hog farm located far enough away they don't have to smell it all over campus  It's a really wonderful set-up, and I'd never heard of it before.

We got home last night and now this ol' girl better get with the program if anything "Christmassy" is going to happen around this household!

Glad to hear that all of you seem to be doing pretty well now!

And I just heard from youngest daughter, and she plans to come tomorrow!!!  YES!!!!

Ooooh! Janet!  Welcome back, you were missed.  It sounds as though you had a wonderful time in Branson. 

The cold has settled in , at least for a while, but so far the snow has been pretty light.  Of course, it's only the very beginning of winter - three months minimum to go.  But at the noon news it looked as though the bitter cold nights around zero over the weekend have been cancelled - unless I didn't see the forecast clearly.

Larry, I hope your day turns out to be as peaceful as you're expecting.   

Jeanne we have friends in Buffalo saw on the news this morning that they  really got a lot of snow.

Hi Janet welcome back you can let me out of your bag now. 

This evening is the Hospice Christmas party. I don't like driving after dark, but the Hospice education center isn't very far from here,.  Tomorrow is the Furry friends Christmas party. I am taking a Pineapple Coconut cake.

Freckles and I visited my  Hospice client today. He is such a sweet old man, Navy man too, we pray together before I leave him. He has dementia and is a fall risk. His wife was his caregiver but she just couldn't do it anymore.

Hi everyone on another bright, sunny and cold Saturday morning.  When I got up this morning it was down to 28 degrees and we will see only the mid-40's today but we have no wind so that shouldn't be uncomfortable.  Yesterday I wore my leather coat for the first time since last winter and it felt great.  The calendar is clear today.  I do think Pat and I will go out to eat later today so she can get out of the house for a little bit. 

Janet, glad you are safely home.  It sounds like you had a very nice and enjoyable trip to Branson.  You did a lot in the few days you were gone.  I hope you have a great visit with your youngest daughter today. 

Jeanne, I do hope you avoid that severe cold.  At least you can stay in where it is warm.  I did have a pretty peaceful day yesterday.  We had left overs for dinner last night so didn't even have to deal with preparing an evening meal.

Marilyn, Buffalo seems to really get hit with the snow most years.  I hope you have and will enjoy the Christmas parties this weekend.  That Pineapple Coconut cake sure sounds good.

My goodness, Marilyn!!  I forgot all about you being in my bag!  You should have been kicking and screaming before now, and I'd have let you out sooner! 

What a wonderful day Kerri and I have enjoyed!  She arrived at 11:00, and Beth and John came out to eat lunch with us.  Then Kerri and I went into the studio and started painting, Beth and John watched for a while until Beth got so tired she was ready to go home.  Kerri wanted to do a watercolor of her dog Pete, a French Bulldog.  It turned out  so neat!!  She started one before, gave up and was going to throw it away, so I asked her if I could play with it, and I did.  I will try to figure out how to get them to Jeanne so she can post them for me.  Then Kerri did another one, of flowers.  She is very talented, but hadn't painted in 15 years or more.  Maybe this will make her want to come home more often!  (I hope!)

After a nice steak supper with Darrel, she and I went out and sat in the hot tub a while to get the kinks out, and now I am ready to go to sleep!

See you all tomorrow!  Sleep well, and sweet dreams!

Hi everyone.  It is chilly here this morning as it was yesterday.  It is predicted we will hit 50 degrees about 3 pm today.  I will attend Sunday School and then come back home and pick up Pat so we can go to church together.  I will call before coming home to be sure she feels up to going to church.  Yesterday was a very laid back and restful day for both of us.  We did go out to Wifesavers for a good chicken dinner.  They have very good meals for a very reasonable price.  I will rest and watch football this afternoon.

Janet, having seen pictures of a couple of your paintings I can understand why your daughter would be talented as a painter.  It sounds like you had a great time together yesterday. 

Yes, Larry, we did!  And this morning we went to church, came home and started cutting mats for the two watercolors, I found frames that looked good with them and also a wood frame for the painting of flowers on canvas.  So she is a lucky girl, to have a Mom with everything she needed to complete her projects!  I did get photos on my phone of all of them; now if someone will tell me how to get those to Jeanne, I will do that!  I know how to post them on Facebook, but not how to get them anywhere else.  Sigh.....I hate either not knowing how or forgetting how to do this techy stuff. 

I am very tired, so this is about to get shut down for today!

Janet, just "attach" the photos to an email to me.   

Hi everyone on an overcast morning.  It appears we may have had a little rain during the night.  We should get to about 65 degrees this afternoon.  I did get to Sunday School and Church but Pat wasn't feeling up to attending.  North Augusta was having it's Christmas Parade yesterday afternoon so I had to find an alternative way to get home as the main road in front of the church was blocked.  Fortunately, I have now lived here long enough to know what to do and had no problem getting home.  I didn't get anything for our lunch yesterday and we just ate what we had at home. 

From Wednesday through Saturday evenings last week our church had an event for the community called "Return to Bethlehem".  We did not attend but yesterday as I got to church I drove through the little village that the church sets up and it was most impressive with about 15 different type houses, businesses, the court of Herod, and the Inn set up. There was a cast of people representing the towns people and tradesmen of the small village, all in costume.  It took several hundred people to build the sets, setup the racks of costumes and all the other particulars necessary to put on a production like this.  They even had a live camel and perhaps some other livestock.  They announced that there was an attendance of 4,456 people who attended.  There was no cost.  Our church has been doing this for a number of years and during this time over 48,000 people have attended. 

The only thing on my schedule today is to attend my noon meeting.  This morning I need to shred some cheese and cut up some green peppers so they are available for Pat's scrambled eggs for breakfast over the next few days. 

Janet, you are right that it is not everyone who has an art studio and the materials on hand to frame paintings.   Let me know if you need help getting the photos off your phone onto your computer so you can upload them here as Jeanne indicated.  I usually just select the photo on the phone and send it via email to my computer.  Then I download it from the email usually to my desktop as that is easy to find. 

Hi, friends,

It was good to see y'all again today.

Fortunately the temps are in the 40s. So, I have a couple of errands to run. My foot is healing. Each time I change the dressings, I'm thankful to see progress.

Y'all have a wonderful day.

Ruth Ann

Hi everyone.  We have had a couple of hours of heavy rain that has now slacked off but a good chance for more today and tomorrow. We got to almost 70 degrees yesterday and 65 is predicted for the high today.  Later this morning I have to pick up an online order of groceries from Walmart and also get a half-dozen items at Aldi's.  That will be the big activities of the day.  Yesterday morning my former coffee group of men friends called me from McDonald's via a video call and I had the opportunity to speak briefly to each of them as we shared season's greetings.

Ruth Ann, nice to read that your foot continues to heal.  Hope you got your errands done yesterday.

Let's start a new week HERE!