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Welcome and thank you for visiting!
My sunny apple kitchen is a place to sit and enjoy pleasantries.
Friends stop in and share some wisdom, tea and treats. Here's another letter from Donna Faye.
Lucinda shares her View From the Back Porch.
Read Louise DuMont's wisdom over Coffee.
My notebook suggest some tips in "Field Trips With Gramma", below. Enjoy some coffee
and tea links, too.
==============================================================
LETTERS HOME FROM DONNA FAYE
"SHELTERED IN A PLASTIC BAG "
By Donna Faye Caudill
Dear friends,
The rain kept coming and coming that morning. When we opened the
basement door and looked down the steps to see water rising and making
its way up the steps. We knew it could mean disaster. It's possible you
saw the event about Northern OH on CNN. People were being rescued from
their roof tops. Shelby is the one that made the national headlines. We
are several miles from Shelby, but the rain didn't care. Water will go to the
lowest level.
We lost a wall in the basement. It was a supporting wall that gave way when
with the heaviness of the flood waters. In fact, the FEMA inspector looked at
us and said, "The Lord is the one who is holding up this house." We had a great
time talking to him about the goodness of the Lord.
I had a lot of stuff in the basement. Most of it was just stuff, but I had started to
store my quilting stash in bins. Then I remembered I had put the pieces of my Grandmother's
homemade quilt in one of the storage bins. I was heart sick. Even
though it was remnants of the quilt, it was part of a legacy. My Great grandmother
had pieced the pieces together, my grandmother had put the blocks together and made a quilt.
Through the years it had started to show wear and had torn in places.
I decided to do away with the torn places and keep the parts that were good.
Everything in the basement was taken outside. Most of it had to be discarded. As I
was going through the ruined stuff I located the quilt remnants. I had placed them in
a zip lock bag. The outside of the bag was covered with caked mud, but the bag had
protected the quilt. The water had not touched the inside of the bag. I was so tickled.
I pictured the bag floating on top of the flood waters. It was
then I realized that we also have the protection of the Lord. He has us in a ziplock bag.
Even though everything around us is crashing down and flood waters are pouring in, we
are safe. There might be some caked-on mud on the outside, but inside we are fine.
It was then I remembered Psalm 91.
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my god, in who I trust."
If you make the Most High your dwelling - the Lord, who is my refuge--then no
harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
Please know I am praying for you today and I'm praying for you to find the protection in
God's plastic bag.
Love, Donna Faye
©2007 Donna Faye Caudill
Donna F. Caudill is originally from KY,
has lived in OH for 40 years,
and has been writing for 24 years. She has published numerous
articles and stories, and was a correspondent for the Mansfield
News Journal. She is presently working on a collection of her
stories to be called "Tablets of My Heart."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FIELD TRIPS WITH GRAMMA
Here's an entry from my notebook.
"THE VALUE OF ROAD TRIPS"
By April Boyer
Its impossible to make a habit of it now. Gas prices make it difficult.
But whenever the opportunity arises,
I take the chance to drive a country road with my grandchildren. Do you ever
find yourself looking for ways to entertain the grandchildren next? Do you
need to travel a dull 10 or 20 miles? Do you occasionally need to take a longer
trip with the grandchildren in tow? Here are some reasons road trips are
valuable allies.
* children feel more at ease talking about themselves, or what's going on in their
world if they are looking at your back. Your own dear face usually portrays more
emotion or meaning than you would like. Your talks need not be serious ones.
Happy chatter counts for good memories.
*Silly talk and noise-making is certainly annoying to mom and dad. Do you
remember? Yet, this idle pass-time helps ease pent up energy and frees up
tension. Even for Gramma. Try it!!
*Children who are shy about singing will open up in the car. It's a great way
to spend a nice day. We sing a list of favorite camp fire songs, and often
children's praise tunes too.
*Children under the age of 10 or 12, will engage in fantasy journeys as you
burn up a few miles. This helps them occupy time, and occupies their minds
with imagination.
*It's amazing what you will see on a short trip. We always talk about what's
new, what's familiar, and add science or current events into the conversation.
There's always the age old game for smaller children - "I spy". Even the older
school age kids enjoy it now and then.
*Stories about mom and dad, or about grammys good ol days are entertaining.
There's no better way to fill and afternoon than with laughter. "Did they have tv
when you were a kid grammy?"
*Tip- leave the game boys, cell phones, ipods, and other electronic toys behind
on short trips. Allow them on long trips. Encourage books on tape as well.
*Tip- Do pack a small box of small toys, activity books and colored pens
(NOT crayons!). The kids produce some of their best art and writings
when in the back seat of my car!
*Don't forget to talk about God. Your grandchildren will remember it.
© April Boyer Feb 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~Tea Party (and coffee) links.~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.gourmetcoffeexpress.com/ Coffee Gifts
http://coffeeteagifts.com/ Coffee and Tea gifts
http://www.joyofbaking.com/EnglishTeaParty.html Joy of Baking Tea treats recipes
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/teaideas.html Tea Party Traditions
http://charmandgrace.com/index.html Charm and Grace
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A bible verse, prayer prompt and journal topic especially for your writing discipline
and inspiration will be sent every week for a year. You may request the study at any time.
Enter your email address in the "Seeds" form below submit!
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Insert your email address in the form at left.
________________________________________________________
SOME SELECTED WEBSITES:
"Smelly Saints"
By Donna Shepherd
Organizing: http://www.flylady.net organizing tips with homespun
humor, daily musings about life and love, the Sidetracked Home Executives (SHE™) system, and
anything else that is on her mind.
Cooking: http://www.kitchen-friends.com
Decor: http://www.hgtv.com
Spriritual coffee breaks: by Louise Dumont
http://www.louisedumont.com/ author of "Grace by the Cup: A Break From the Daily Grind" and
"Faith-Dipped Chocolate: Rich Encouragement to Sweeten Your Day"
Gramma Faith Visit Gramma Faith
for inspiring words, quotes, funnies and graphics.
Do you have questions or comments? Do you want to share your salvation experience or
your interests? Please email me on the contact page
and let me know what you think of our site.
"Let my
words drop as the rain,my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as
showers on the herbs" Deuteronomy 32:2,3 "I proclaim the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to
our God!"
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