Wow! Has it only been four days since I last posted? It really seems longer than that. It could be due to the fact that I have been hours and hours working on trying to improve my website pages.
I am making progress. I am learning to work with the programs. AND I am finding it to be a test of my patience. But, did I say .. I AM making progress! PTL! (Praise the Lord!)
My website designer, Ray, is such a patient man. He explains things to me and understands that I just don't get it the first time, or maybe even the second time, but I keep at it until it makes sense to me .. or just happens to suddenly fall together and work. LOL! He is deserving of lots of credit as he is trying to help me so that I can do this work myself.
I am enjoying this process, though. My frustration level goes up and down, along with my stress level, but perseverance pays off. Last night is a case in point. Earlier in the day I asked Ray many questions, he gave me appropriate answers and instructions, and I set off last night to make it work. Well! At 2 AM I gave up, wrote him an email saying please help me fix this mess I have made! But I didn't send it. I decided .. this is not going to beat me! Instead I kept trying (and praying to understand) and at just before 3 AM .. click! There it was. The way I wanted it. And the email got deleted, I got a few hours sleep, and here I am again. :) There is so much to do. I tend to be a perfectionist and I want this website to be a nice place for people to spend some time.
This morning I enjoyed being outside for a little while on this lovely Fall day. Between working on my website and probably catching a nap this afternoon, (up till after 3 AM does not work for me very well!), I knew that I would need to get out and appreciate a little of God's world. It inspires and refreshes me .. and we all can use more of that gentle calm in our lives, can't we?
Now, back to business. As for you ... what are you working on that is taking so much of your attention and time?
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day. :)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
it happened ... life IS good
It happened.
Frost. Five nights ago the first frost of the season settled on our property, making the deck slippery for when I went out for my early morning walk. The chill is in the air. Autumn winds blow. Colourful leaves let go and fall to the ground where they are pushed and tossed carelessly in the breeze.
I don't particularly like the cold, but ... life is good.
It happened.
My first online customer! Four days ago an item was ordered. A sale was made.
Still a few things need to be tweaked, but it shouldn't take much longer before everything is working as it should. I consider this to be the testing period, the time to learn what needs further adjusting.
I get frustrated over things that I cannot figure out, but ... life is good.
It happened.
I did not get out to Sunday fellowship today. Things did not go as I had hoped.
But, we had dinner with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson before they all go to Alberta on Tuesday ... son-in-law to stay until coming home for Christmas, his wife and son to come back in ten days. They will visit with the two youngest sisters while out there.
I miss my daughters, but ... life is good.
It is all in how we look at life, the attitude we have, that determines for each of us what life is. I choose to see that ... life is good.
It happened. Again.
Someone on the radio interviewed another someone who says there cannot be an all- powerful and all-loving God. How sad. How deceived. How pathetic.
He had reasons that fit his small view.
So many people fail to see that it is not about us at all, it is all about HIM. We fall short.
HE is Holy. HE never changes. HE is always Good and Loving.
HE is there for us to seek and to find. We are not left alone but we fail to look into His Face.
HE has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
HE cannot be contained, as much as mankind tries to explain Him and limit Him and make excuses for their own sin and failures, judging God by the same narrow determinations.
Don't give up! Don't despair! Underneath all the rubble, all the facade, all the shame and disappointment .. life IS good.
And you ARE loved.
Thanks for reading, and .. Blessings on your day. :)
Frost. Five nights ago the first frost of the season settled on our property, making the deck slippery for when I went out for my early morning walk. The chill is in the air. Autumn winds blow. Colourful leaves let go and fall to the ground where they are pushed and tossed carelessly in the breeze.
I don't particularly like the cold, but ... life is good.
It happened.
My first online customer! Four days ago an item was ordered. A sale was made.
Still a few things need to be tweaked, but it shouldn't take much longer before everything is working as it should. I consider this to be the testing period, the time to learn what needs further adjusting.
I get frustrated over things that I cannot figure out, but ... life is good.
It happened.
I did not get out to Sunday fellowship today. Things did not go as I had hoped.
But, we had dinner with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson before they all go to Alberta on Tuesday ... son-in-law to stay until coming home for Christmas, his wife and son to come back in ten days. They will visit with the two youngest sisters while out there.
I miss my daughters, but ... life is good.
It is all in how we look at life, the attitude we have, that determines for each of us what life is. I choose to see that ... life is good.
It happened. Again.
Someone on the radio interviewed another someone who says there cannot be an all- powerful and all-loving God. How sad. How deceived. How pathetic.
He had reasons that fit his small view.
So many people fail to see that it is not about us at all, it is all about HIM. We fall short.
HE is Holy. HE never changes. HE is always Good and Loving.
HE is there for us to seek and to find. We are not left alone but we fail to look into His Face.
HE has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
HE cannot be contained, as much as mankind tries to explain Him and limit Him and make excuses for their own sin and failures, judging God by the same narrow determinations.
Don't give up! Don't despair! Underneath all the rubble, all the facade, all the shame and disappointment .. life IS good.
And you ARE loved.
Thanks for reading, and .. Blessings on your day. :)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Website open to the public
Just a quick note ...
This is to announce that I am 'officially' opening my website to the public. Even though my site has actually been available for viewing on the 'Net' for months, it has taken me (personally) a long time to get to this place. Now I am in the process of activating the items I have on there, and this is just the tip of the iceberg as I have many more to load on. I also have more things to order in after that, bolts of fabric to be specific, which I plan to do as soon as I can manage it. There is so much to do with just what I have so far! It doesn't help that I am so slow at it, but ... little by little ...
Small beginnings, but I hope you will accept my invitation to at least take a peek at my website, and maybe even let me know what you think. That would be great! Thanks!
so ...
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
This is to announce that I am 'officially' opening my website to the public. Even though my site has actually been available for viewing on the 'Net' for months, it has taken me (personally) a long time to get to this place. Now I am in the process of activating the items I have on there, and this is just the tip of the iceberg as I have many more to load on. I also have more things to order in after that, bolts of fabric to be specific, which I plan to do as soon as I can manage it. There is so much to do with just what I have so far! It doesn't help that I am so slow at it, but ... little by little ...
Small beginnings, but I hope you will accept my invitation to at least take a peek at my website, and maybe even let me know what you think. That would be great! Thanks!
so ...
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
Monday, October 12, 2009
thankfulness, time & anger
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Canada!
Today is Thanksgiving Monday, but yesterday our family got together at Dad's for our annual Thanksgiving feast. Our son-in-law is home from Alberta for a few days, but even so, there were only ten of us this time since two of our daughters could not get home. (I'm really missing them lately.) One of our daughters out there celebrated a birthday last Tuesday. (Happy 26th, Sweetie!)
It is such beautiful weather right now. The leaves have turned colour and are starting to blow around in the nippy Fall wind, but as long as the sun is shining I don't worry too much about the cold yet. So far we have not had a frost here in our location, but that will happen all too soon. It rained earlier - with a quickly passing thunderstorm last night - but now my husband is taking advantage of the good weather to get our wood split and put into the shed for Winter -- hard work. We have an outdoor wood furnace which my husband decided several years ago that we should buy, and it has made such a positive difference for my health. Once we start using the furnace in the heating season, it only has to be filled twice a day - and I don't have to do it! It has eliminated our need to purchase furnace oil, too. Gotta love that!
Last week marked a whole year since I started meeting with the housegroup once a week. Amazing how quickly time passes, isn't it? I really think the world - and the whole universe - is turning and moving faster, all part of the creation's appointment in God's plan. Any thoughts on that?
This past week was productive regarding work on my website. Yaaay!! :) It is coming together better now, but someone visiting it will notice little change since I have not validated many items yet. I have other things to address first, but it is coming along. PTL! Soon there will be lots to see on there.
Last week I posed questions about Twitter. I still have not made a definite decision, but I will mull that over further. I'm still hoping to hear from more people about their experience with it, so please leave comments for me to ponder. How time consuming is it to keep track of postings on your account?
I will leave you with this to consider: On Sunday our pastor talked about Thanksgiving and how we often express what we are thankful for as being those things we have materially, or healthwise or things like that. He pointed out that true thankfulness comes from the heart and mostly within our relationship with God. It is a spiritual thing. He also addressed anger, saying that anger is mostly based in our often deeply rooted anger toward God about things that have happened or that we wanted to happen and didn't, and such. Bottom line .. we blame God. I believe that those two points are really beneficial to consider, and it will make a huge difference in how we view life and live it out.
What do you think? I would love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
Today is Thanksgiving Monday, but yesterday our family got together at Dad's for our annual Thanksgiving feast. Our son-in-law is home from Alberta for a few days, but even so, there were only ten of us this time since two of our daughters could not get home. (I'm really missing them lately.) One of our daughters out there celebrated a birthday last Tuesday. (Happy 26th, Sweetie!)
It is such beautiful weather right now. The leaves have turned colour and are starting to blow around in the nippy Fall wind, but as long as the sun is shining I don't worry too much about the cold yet. So far we have not had a frost here in our location, but that will happen all too soon. It rained earlier - with a quickly passing thunderstorm last night - but now my husband is taking advantage of the good weather to get our wood split and put into the shed for Winter -- hard work. We have an outdoor wood furnace which my husband decided several years ago that we should buy, and it has made such a positive difference for my health. Once we start using the furnace in the heating season, it only has to be filled twice a day - and I don't have to do it! It has eliminated our need to purchase furnace oil, too. Gotta love that!
Last week marked a whole year since I started meeting with the housegroup once a week. Amazing how quickly time passes, isn't it? I really think the world - and the whole universe - is turning and moving faster, all part of the creation's appointment in God's plan. Any thoughts on that?
This past week was productive regarding work on my website. Yaaay!! :) It is coming together better now, but someone visiting it will notice little change since I have not validated many items yet. I have other things to address first, but it is coming along. PTL! Soon there will be lots to see on there.
Last week I posed questions about Twitter. I still have not made a definite decision, but I will mull that over further. I'm still hoping to hear from more people about their experience with it, so please leave comments for me to ponder. How time consuming is it to keep track of postings on your account?
I will leave you with this to consider: On Sunday our pastor talked about Thanksgiving and how we often express what we are thankful for as being those things we have materially, or healthwise or things like that. He pointed out that true thankfulness comes from the heart and mostly within our relationship with God. It is a spiritual thing. He also addressed anger, saying that anger is mostly based in our often deeply rooted anger toward God about things that have happened or that we wanted to happen and didn't, and such. Bottom line .. we blame God. I believe that those two points are really beneficial to consider, and it will make a huge difference in how we view life and live it out.
What do you think? I would love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
to 'tweet' or not to 'tweet'?
October already! .. and with this month comes Canadian Thanksgiving in one week's time. I will celebrate with family by gathering together on Sunday for a 'feast'. More about that in a later post.
Tonight I am thinking about communication. Time was, a few years ago, that it was my regular practice to chat in online chat rooms where I met a lot of people. All sorts of people. I haven't done that for some time and I miss it. I do have a few friends I 'Yahoo' with periodically, and occasionally I use MSN, but I have no chat room to visit. No place to call 'home' on the Internet. It is nice having this blog which has its own dynamic, but it's not a chat room where I can 'hang out' and meet a few people at a time to talk and share, or just listen and enjoy others' company.
So, this week I am thinking about Twitter. What about it? Have you tried it? And what do you think of it -- pros and cons? I know it is not a chat room, but ... what can you tell me of your experience with it?
As I said in an earlier post, I chose to start a blog here rather than to use Facebook. I think they (FB) are working on their privacy issues now, though.
What I would like is to find a safe, friendly, chatty place - but not overly populated. :) Just a semi-quiet and respectful chat room. Any ideas? Or, is that too hard to find these days?
My preference is Christian rooms or even craft rooms, or quilting rooms. Know of any good ones to try?
Please let me know.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day. :)
Tonight I am thinking about communication. Time was, a few years ago, that it was my regular practice to chat in online chat rooms where I met a lot of people. All sorts of people. I haven't done that for some time and I miss it. I do have a few friends I 'Yahoo' with periodically, and occasionally I use MSN, but I have no chat room to visit. No place to call 'home' on the Internet. It is nice having this blog which has its own dynamic, but it's not a chat room where I can 'hang out' and meet a few people at a time to talk and share, or just listen and enjoy others' company.
So, this week I am thinking about Twitter. What about it? Have you tried it? And what do you think of it -- pros and cons? I know it is not a chat room, but ... what can you tell me of your experience with it?
As I said in an earlier post, I chose to start a blog here rather than to use Facebook. I think they (FB) are working on their privacy issues now, though.
What I would like is to find a safe, friendly, chatty place - but not overly populated. :) Just a semi-quiet and respectful chat room. Any ideas? Or, is that too hard to find these days?
My preference is Christian rooms or even craft rooms, or quilting rooms. Know of any good ones to try?
Please let me know.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day. :)
Monday, September 28, 2009
change can be beautiful
I realized today that it has been a whole year since I started blogging, having begun in September 2008!
Already it is the end of the first week into another Autumn, and - after rain this morning - today is warm and beautiful. The leaves have been changing colour, as I was pointing out to my little grandson yesterday to draw his attention to the beauty that God has made. He is so teachable at this age, being all of four years old as of June.
Sammy is four as well, born in September. Last week I took him to a professional groomer for the first time. Sam is a Maltese x miniature wire-haired Dachshund. That means he has a medium long coat, long body, longish ears, and short legs. Cute. His 'mama' (my daughter) kept his coat trimmed to a more manageable length, but with her currently being in AB I decided the grooming part of his care is not for me. The groomer had her problems with him, and it took 3 1/2 hours instead of 3 for his first time. I had her shave his coat right down short and I guess he was not happy about this stranger being so intimate! Oh well, he seems to feel a lot better now ... and he looks much more like a dachshund. And still cute, although the images below do not capture that very well.
<-- Before After -->
Yes, it's the same dog!
(doesn't like the camera flash)
I have added a few titles to my "Other Blogs I'm Following" list, some of the blogs that I decided I am interested in enough to follow. It would be nice to have more followers of my own, but maybe that will increase once I get things going with my website.
If you 'happened upon' my blog I would love it if you would sign up as a follower and/or leave comments. It is nice to know someone is reading what I write. Comments would make it even better. Thanks!
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
Already it is the end of the first week into another Autumn, and - after rain this morning - today is warm and beautiful. The leaves have been changing colour, as I was pointing out to my little grandson yesterday to draw his attention to the beauty that God has made. He is so teachable at this age, being all of four years old as of June.
Sammy is four as well, born in September. Last week I took him to a professional groomer for the first time. Sam is a Maltese x miniature wire-haired Dachshund. That means he has a medium long coat, long body, longish ears, and short legs. Cute. His 'mama' (my daughter) kept his coat trimmed to a more manageable length, but with her currently being in AB I decided the grooming part of his care is not for me. The groomer had her problems with him, and it took 3 1/2 hours instead of 3 for his first time. I had her shave his coat right down short and I guess he was not happy about this stranger being so intimate! Oh well, he seems to feel a lot better now ... and he looks much more like a dachshund. And still cute, although the images below do not capture that very well.
<-- Before After -->
Yes, it's the same dog!
(doesn't like the camera flash)
I have added a few titles to my "Other Blogs I'm Following" list, some of the blogs that I decided I am interested in enough to follow. It would be nice to have more followers of my own, but maybe that will increase once I get things going with my website.
If you 'happened upon' my blog I would love it if you would sign up as a follower and/or leave comments. It is nice to know someone is reading what I write. Comments would make it even better. Thanks!
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
moves, machines & missionaries
If you have been visiting my blog for new postings, then I must apologize for the long delay in updating. This will be an abbreviated one just to catch up.
The month of June was busy, the highlight being a wonderful visit with our daughter home from Alberta. It was so nice knowing she was in her old room for a few weeks. The time passed far too quickly, though, and before we were ready she was on her way back to AB. As for her, she was glad to be home in NS, but missed 'home' in AB. It seems that for now she has found a good fit for her life. Since her return there she has a 'boyfriend' - a nice young man who is a bull rider and also has a steady (less dangerous) job.
At the end of July - four days after her 19th birthday - our youngest daughter took her first airplane flight and is now living with her sister in AB for awhile. This pushed my husband and me right into 'empty nesting'. After over 30 years of having children at home it has been a bit of a shock. I still have the 'feeling' of her going to be coming home from work some days. Hard to get used to. Her move has left her little dog, Sammy, in our care. Each evening for the first two weeks he would sit near the door waiting for her to come in. He now seems to have adopted me.
I was late getting the last issue of Valley Sunshine mailed out to my subscribers. Along with other delays, the final one was that my printing equipment quit working properly. I now have the drum being checked over, and I am hoping that the problem can be corrected. Printing the publication on my printers is too costly. If I need a new drum for my machine I may be in real trouble. What I have been using is a now very outdated Gestetner duplicating machine - a Gemini 5170 copier/printer that uses copy printer ink CPT1 and CPMT1 masters. I had to order comparable supplies from a company in the US and if I need a new drum ... not sure where I will find that. I hope I don't have to start shopping for a new machine!
Speaking of shopping, my husband and I have been looking to purchase a new or kindly used car. My! There are so many new styles to choose from now. Have you seen the new Nissan Cube? I like it, odd as it is.
The last thing I will mention in this posting is a missionary family home on furlough. At housegroup this week Patrick Finnerty joined us and gave a very interesting presentation about their mission work in Rwanda. I would love it if you would check them out at http://www.vineyardrwanda.org . The Vineyard church is mainly their support church, but our housegroup - which includes people (myself included) associated with churches other than the Vineyard - is actively and enthusiastically supporting them and their cause however we can. I hope you will check them out at the above mentioned website as they are sincere and wonderful people with a heart for the Rwandan people, even through much personal sacrifice. The Lord has been working through them for the undertaking of a great work there.
Finally, I am trying again to get my own website/business worked out. If you have been interested in that, please don't give up on me. :) I easily get confused with details but once I have it things should go well.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
The month of June was busy, the highlight being a wonderful visit with our daughter home from Alberta. It was so nice knowing she was in her old room for a few weeks. The time passed far too quickly, though, and before we were ready she was on her way back to AB. As for her, she was glad to be home in NS, but missed 'home' in AB. It seems that for now she has found a good fit for her life. Since her return there she has a 'boyfriend' - a nice young man who is a bull rider and also has a steady (less dangerous) job.
At the end of July - four days after her 19th birthday - our youngest daughter took her first airplane flight and is now living with her sister in AB for awhile. This pushed my husband and me right into 'empty nesting'. After over 30 years of having children at home it has been a bit of a shock. I still have the 'feeling' of her going to be coming home from work some days. Hard to get used to. Her move has left her little dog, Sammy, in our care. Each evening for the first two weeks he would sit near the door waiting for her to come in. He now seems to have adopted me.
I was late getting the last issue of Valley Sunshine mailed out to my subscribers. Along with other delays, the final one was that my printing equipment quit working properly. I now have the drum being checked over, and I am hoping that the problem can be corrected. Printing the publication on my printers is too costly. If I need a new drum for my machine I may be in real trouble. What I have been using is a now very outdated Gestetner duplicating machine - a Gemini 5170 copier/printer that uses copy printer ink CPT1 and CPMT1 masters. I had to order comparable supplies from a company in the US and if I need a new drum ... not sure where I will find that. I hope I don't have to start shopping for a new machine!
Speaking of shopping, my husband and I have been looking to purchase a new or kindly used car. My! There are so many new styles to choose from now. Have you seen the new Nissan Cube? I like it, odd as it is.
The last thing I will mention in this posting is a missionary family home on furlough. At housegroup this week Patrick Finnerty joined us and gave a very interesting presentation about their mission work in Rwanda. I would love it if you would check them out at http://www.vineyardrwanda.org . The Vineyard church is mainly their support church, but our housegroup - which includes people (myself included) associated with churches other than the Vineyard - is actively and enthusiastically supporting them and their cause however we can. I hope you will check them out at the above mentioned website as they are sincere and wonderful people with a heart for the Rwandan people, even through much personal sacrifice. The Lord has been working through them for the undertaking of a great work there.
Finally, I am trying again to get my own website/business worked out. If you have been interested in that, please don't give up on me. :) I easily get confused with details but once I have it things should go well.
Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)
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