Weather Tomorrow

We are expecting a winter storm tomorrow morning, so I didn't want to have to travel in the ice and snow to get to work.  So I decided to go in early today; work all day, and meet my deadlines, which I managed to accomplish.  All I have to finish tomorrow is the bulletin for Sunday, and I can do most of that remotely.

Later tomorrow afternoon, my daughter is coming in for a short visit.  I am so excited to see her!  We are going to have a great (although short) weekend together!

Art Show

Well today, after a very busy day at work and a short nap, we went to Chloe's art show.  She won an award for this picture.  I had actually seen this picture a few months ago; and thought it was awesome!  The eyes are so expressive.  In fact, for Christmas I asked her to please draw a picture of my two dogs, Teddy and Toto.  I hope she does that sometime for me!

She won the Leah Westmoreland award.  I wish I could find out more about this award.  Sadly, it's not on the website for the art show.

Technology fail.  I went to a Bible study tonight; and had the books electronically on my iPod touch.  I pulled it out of my purse; and apparently, I had left it on all day, because it had no power left to barely turn on.  Then I tried to help out with Powerpoint at the bible study; and couldn't figure out how to make the darn slides come up.  Oh well, I got 2 of the 3 working; and the last one I got the audio working and no video.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day. 

 

My Ebenezer

Today was a great day.  My pastor taught a great lesson out of John 15 about abiding in Jesus.  After church, we had a taco bar fundraiser for missions; and I don't know why - but the tacos were delicious!

I came home, made some brownies and had two new friends (and their 18 month old son) over for a late lunch/early dinner.  I had made bbq beef for sandwiches, fresh steamed broccoli and tossed salad.  Everything tasted so good; they said they loved the bbq beef.  We had great fellowship and sharing of God's blessings.  My new friend - is from a foreign country - and she is so sweet!  She told us a little about life in her homeland and the challenges she is currently going through to stay in the United States.  Apparently, there is some paperwork that needs to be renewed every so often, and with a hefty fee associated with it.

My husband and I shared a bit about our testimony; and so that's why I have a picture of my house for the pic of the day.  As I was telling them about the amazing ways God has worked in our lives, I thought of our home, and the home we owned in another state.  There's no way we should have gotten either one of those homes, except for God's divine providence in our lives.  I'll have to relate those stories someday, as they are nothing short of miraculous.

But it's late now, I'm tired; and I have to get up early in the morning to pick up my son from work.  He had to go to work tonight after being at drill all day...so we offered to pick him up at 6am because we knew he would be tired.

Double Nickel

 Today is my husband's double nickel birthday!  Where did the time go?  It's downright scary actually when you think about it.  Anyway, we went out to breakfast at Mimi's; and stopped and got cupcakes at Gigi's Cupcakes for later to celebrate!

Our Ministry

My husband and I have a baby quilting ministry at our church.  When a baby is born into our church family, I get together with the mom and find out her preferences as far as colors, or themes (if she has one) for the nursery.  Then another friend (with an amazing eye for color and patterns) and I go shopping for fabric.  We've gotten that part down to a science - in and out in very short order!

I prep the fabric at home by washing and drying it; and cutting it out.  Then, and this is probably my favorite part, usually on the 1st Sunday of the month after our potluck dinner at church, a bunch of us ladies get together and sew the top.  We can usually get the top completed in one session, it kind of depends on how many ladies we have there; and their expertise level.

From there, my husband and I finish it.  We have an embroidery machine, and so we're able to embroider the baby's name and birthday on the border of the quilt.  Then we put the batting between the front and back, and sew it all together.  Oh, another nice part of the quilt is that we ask the pastor's wife to write a prayer (she corroborates with the mom to find out favorite verses, etc).  She writes the prayer and I print it out on fabric.  We attach it to the backing before we sew it all together.

On Sundays, we give the quilt away to the mom and dad in front of the church body.  It's such a great ministry.  Here are pictures of quilts in process for twins...we hope to get these done very soon.  You can probably guess that these quilts are for a boy and for a girl - fraternal twins.

Porkie and Morkie

We have three pets in our house:  a Yorkie, a Morkie and a Porkie.  We call the cat Porkie because he is H.U.G.E.  Here is a picture of the Morkie and the Porkie.

I think Porkie is about twice the size of Morkie. I posted a picture of our Yorkie and Morkie together a few days ago.  I love our pets. 

A Proud Moment!

Today, my son graduated from the academy!  He is starting a career in law enforcement, and I could not be prouder of him.  He graduated from a four year college last May cum laude; moved to our state and city; and now graduated from academy!

I won't talk about next month though - when he deploys to Afghanistan for what will hopefully be his last deployment.  He is due to get out of the National Guard next year and I surely hope he does!

Anyway, here he is, receiving his diploma from the dignitaries at today's graduation.  Isn't he handsome?  I think he is!

Oh.my.goodness!

So, I started a blog over at wordpress.  I wanted to participate in the Project 365 - A Photo A Day in 2011.  Well, even though I thought I was getting organized, for the first few days of 2011, I couldn't find my camera.  Then I found it, and promptly lost it.  The story of my life.

Tonight, I made a concerted effort to find it again.  It only took me a few moments to locate it on the bookshelf.  I tried to upload a picture to my new blog at wordpress - but was unsuccessful.  ARGH.  So, I decided to come back over here, since I am more familiar with the workings of blogspot.

And, unlike my usual MO, I am going to jump in and try to finish this 365 photo challenge.  In years past, if I didn't get into something right away, I would chuck the whole thing.  I am hoping this year will be different.

Tonight, there was a fire at my sons' apartment complex.  The building next to theirs was pretty much destroyed. Neither one of my sons were home when the fire started; but they got quite a surprise upon their arrival.  In Josh's words, "It's not good when you pull into your complex and see fire trucks and news reporters."  I can only imagine.  Thankfully there were no other injuries.

So, totally off subject, here is my photo for today.  These two represent my anchors, holding me down in my chair most any time I am home.  Yes, that it me under that red blanket.