MAJOR SLACKER!! PART 1

Okay, so I've been a major blogging slacker. I have no real excuse other than busyness. I'm so far behind on everything, I am going to break this up into two posts...don't want to bore you!! I know I get carried away sometimes! We had our annual Minister's Retreat in Pigeon Forge in September. As usual, we had a great time. For some reason, I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were there. The speaker who was supposed to come was not able to make it because his associate pastor had an accident in the water while vacationing and broke his neck. He did ultimately pass away. He was in his 50's. Although it was such a tragedy, I know that we are all appointed a time to be born and a time to die. If we know the Lord, none of us will leave this earth one second before our appointed time. So, Terry asked J.R. Gould and Eddie Turner, our previous superintendents, to each speak a night, and he also asked Jimmy Lee to speak one night, and they all did fantastic! Thank God, nothing takes Him by surprise, and he always has a Plan B! We had the Tennessee's Got Talent again this year which was a lot of fun.

While we were there, Darlene Miller invited us with their group to go to Peddler's Steak House in Gatlinburg. They have the most wonderful food, and their salad bar is amazing! We had a great time!!

On our way to retreat, we were at Circle Assembly for their Homecoming. It was a fantastic day! Unfortunately, I thought I had downloaded the pictures I took and deleted some of them. They had Motorcycle Day, and many bikers brought their bikes to dedicate to God. Pastor Lawson is a biker, and he was the first to be prayed over. It was awesome to see those tough bikers crying as they dedicated their bikes to God.

I did a little fall decorating. I found on Pinterest a neat idea on how to make fabric pumpkins. I thought they turned out really cute. I made Rachel some, and then some friends came over for a craft day and made them some, too.

Bentley got a haircut. I meant to keep it a little longer since winter is approaching, but he ended up with pretty much a summer cut! He was so cold that I bought him a new sweater from T.J. Maxx. He loves it!!

We got a new grandpuppy, Jake. He is the most adorable thing I have ever seen!! He is pretty much a handful, though! He is just a little over two months old and has already tripled in size!

Rachel has her own blog, and you can visit it HERE:

Terry and I went to Florida for my 40-year class reunion. I was raised in a little town called Cross City in north Florida about an hour from Gainesville. I had not seen many of them in 30 years at our 10-year reunion, and some I had not seen since we graduated. We had a great time! I have known most of them since kindergarten. We moved away for a short period of time when I was in ninth grade but came back when I was in tenth grade, and I lived there until Terry and I married. Some of them I immediately recognized, but some I had no idea who they were! It was great re-connecting with friends from my past!

After we left the reunion, we drove to Destin for a few days. This was to make up for our "vacation gone bad" back in July when Terry hurt his back. We decided to go the scenic route instead of the interstate. Terry saw a sign about some sort of national park and on a whim just turned in. It also said something about a butterfly festival being held the next week.  We ended up staying two hours! It was gorgeous!

There were literally butterflies everywhere!!  We asked around and found out that this was where the butterflies migrated to, and this was the time they were migrating. 

On our way out of the park, I saw an alligator on my side of the car.  It was really large!!

I could go on and on, but I'll stop now and do my slacker Part II in the next few days.  Hope you enjoyed my randomness!!

AUGUST RECAP

August was an extremely busy month, hence the lack of posts.  So, this will be a long post to catch up on things!



Terry had the privilege of participating in the wedding ceremony of David and Jonna Jenkins' daughter, Brittany, to Brooks Till on July 28th.  It was such a beautiful ceremony and very touching.  I love it when the father does the ceremony...it always makes me cry.



The beautiful bride and groom.

I loved the cake being on top of the grand piano!

Terry also performed the wedding for Danny and Cheryl Puckett at Opryland Hotel. Danny grew up at Gateway where we pastored for 22 years. It was so beautiful!!

What a backdrop!!

They are such an adorable couple!!

I went with Terry to Louisville to a General Presbyter's meeting.  He had meetings all day, so I explored Louisville a little bit.  We walked downtown for dinner.

This sign was in the window of the Army Goods store.

We had a ministry enrichment conference at Allgood Trinity Assembly.  I went to the women's ministry sessions. As I listened to our new leaders, Lori Hawkins and Tammy Waycaster, share their hearts, my heart was so full and I did a lot of crying. They have such a vision and passion for women, not only in their churches, but in their communities as well. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through them in the Tennessee district. We are SO blessed to have them as leaders! 

I think I inherited some of my mom's traits.  If she found a blouse or a pair of shoes she liked she bought one in every color.  I don't do that, but I do tend to "go overboard" sometimes if I like something.  If I find a good recipe, then I wear everybody out with it until they don't want it any more.  So, after I shared my mirror with you last time, I started pulling things out to paint with the chalk paint! 

Terry came home and saw all of this on the living room floor.  Our conversation:

Terry:  "So, are we painting everything in the house white?"

Me:  "No, not everything."

End of conversation.

I put empty frames on the walls going up our staircase.

Our conversation about that:

Terry:  "So, what are you going to put in the frames?"

Me:  "Nothing. Do you like them?"

Terry:  "No". 

I just love it that he is so easy like that! He knows me well enough to know that "this too shall pass". I pretty much go from one phase to another rather quickly.

So, I found this little black table for $5.00 at a garage sale.  This is the pathetic shape it was in when I got it:

Note that one of the little wheels is missing. 

Here it is after my makeover:

                                                    I love the little knob I got at Hobby Lobby.

I took one of the wheels off in the back to put in the front, and right now that leg is being held up by a spool of thread.  I plan to order a wheel off E-Bay if I can remember.

I have also painted a "few" more things with the chalk paint, but I'll save those for another day!

Rachel and her friends had a baby shower for one of their friends, Tricia, at my house.  They sure do showers differently than how we did them back in the day.  We would put a tablecloth on the table, run some streamers around the table, fold out a little accordion baby stroller, and it was ready in ten minutes flat.  If we knew what she was going to have, it would be pink for a girl and blue for a boy.  Now, their showers have themes and color schemes.  They order fabric to make tablecloths and straws and pom poms off Etsy.  They have menus.  I love it!!  They came early and did all the decorating.  My house looked great!!

Rachel made this frame and had all the ladies write something on it.  Tricia can put the baby's picture in it and hang it in her room.

Busy in the kitchen!

They served fruit tea in mason jars...so cute!  I helped by tying the bows on the glasses. Rachel ordered the straws off Etsy...coral and white striped.

 

Annie made the pom poms.  Rachel made the "Baby Girl" banner.  Rachel painted an old frame white and made a chalkboard using chalkboard paint, and Annie wrote the saying on it.

It was really a fun day!!

I've been doing a lot of reflecting over the past few weeks.  With all the twists and turns in life, I don't know what I would do if I wasn't completely and totally convinced that God is orchestrating every single detail in our lives.  I read this recently, and it spoke to me so much...

“If God is sovereign, then He is in control of all the details of my life. If He is loving, then He is going to be shaping the details of my life for my good. If He is all-wise, then He’s not going to do everything I want because I don’t know what I need. If He is patient, then He is going to take time to do all this. When we put all these things together—God’s sovereignty, love, wisdom, and patience—we have a divine story." 

I'm learning more every day what it really means to trust God in everything.  I may not understand why things happen the way they do sometimes, but if I trust Him and totally lean on Him, He does work out everything for our good.   I'm so thankful for his love. 

So, I guess that pretty much wraps it up for the month of August.  A full and blessed month!!

MY "NEW" OLD MIRROR

I don't know why, but I love old things.  When I go to a garage sale or thrift store and see an old antique piece, my adrenaline really starts to flow and I get so excited!  I found this old mirror at a garage sale.  I loved the wide border and the beveled edge.  I even like that some of the shiny stuff has come off and it has a few black spots on it.  That's just what gives it more character in my opinion.  But, unlike some people, I usually don't like to leave them in their original condition...I like to make them "my own".

I almost forgot to take a "before" picture, so here it is with all the grimy stuff on it:

In the DIY world, there is this paint called Annie Sloan chalk paint, and it is VERY expensive.  It is the perfect paint to use when you want to distress the wood after you paint it.  It has more of a chalky, flat, matte finish.  So, I searched the Internet and found a DIY version of the paint you can make at a fraction of the cost. 

I painted the entire mirror with two coats of paint, let it dry completely between coats, and then used a medium grit sandpaper pretty much over the entire surface.  There's no special technique...it pretty much distresses itself.

I love the results! 

By the way, I got this little black vanity at a garage sale here in my neighborhood a few years ago.  It was already black, and I just changed out the knobs.  I'm sure it was in a bedroom in its previous state, but it's in my foyer now!  I love that it is on little wheels!

If you want to try your hand at using chalk paint, here is the recipe:

1-1/2 cups of paint

1/2 cup of plaster of paris (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)

1/4 to 1/2 cup hot water

Mix the plaster of paris and water until the plaster of paris is all dissolved and then stir into the paint.  It is supposed to be a little thicker than regular paint. 

I have several more projects I want to share with you.  I just haven't had time to make the pictures.  I'll get them done soon, though!