My furniture setup

Honey asked if I would post pictures of my furniture setup so here they are.

Here is an upclose picture of my bench that I purchased from Overstock.com

Below is a shot so you can see the picture that I hung above it.

Here is a shot that I took at an angle to you can see how the furniture is arranged. The bench is perpendicular to the couch.
And here is a closeup shot of the couch that I purchased from IKEA

This vase is in the corner where the bench and the sofa meet. I got it from Cato Fashions for $20!

I plan to put a nice area rug in front of the couch and I picked out a chair and ottoman that I will add as soon as I can pay cash for them. :-)

What's the Best Advice You've Been Given?

Anne over at His Grace To Me wrote a post about great advice she had been given. At the end of the post, she asked us about the best advice we have been given.

One of the best pieces of advice I have been given came from someone who said "Find out who you are and love and embrace that person".

If you don't love yourself, it will be hard for others to love you.

Another good piece of advice that I have been given is "When you change, so does everyone around you". I have learned that I cannot change other people, but I can certainly change my behavior which then forces them to change the way that they deal with me. Pretty clever if you ask me. :-)

So what is the best piece of advice that you have been given?

The Swallows

We have Swallows building a nest near our front door. This is the third year that they have come. The first year, one set of swallows built a nest in the right hand corner. The next year, they returned and another family built a nest in the left hand corner. At the end of the second season, after all the babies left the nest, I knocked the next down. It had been a great experience, but I was tired of cleaning up bird poop and fearing being attacked every time I opened my front door; poor UPS man!

This year the birds have come back again and are working heartily on rebuilding the nest in the right hand corner.

Here is a pictureof how much they have accomplished:

And here is a picture of what it looked like before (this is the other corner that I knocked down)

The Latest On Our Garden

Our first effort at gardening didn't go so well, so we are going to try again. I was working on the plan for our garden and here is what I came up with for now. I am going to go and buy some more peat pellets so we can get started on our seeds again. I'm also going to buy a spray bottle to keep them watered this time. :-) We'll see how it goes.

Red Romaine Lettuce	Green Romaine Lettuce	American Spinach	Eggplant
Roma Tomato	Summer Squash	Watermelon	Onion
Sugar Snap Pea	Cucumber	x	x
x	x	x	x

I'm thinking about planting some bulbs in the other empty spaces. Tulilps and Calla Lilies are my favorite.

Works For Me Wednesday

I created an evening routine for myself based on the advise of Flylady. One thing that works well for me is to add plugging up my cell phone every night before I go to bed. That way, by the morning I have a full charge and I am ready to go when I leave the house.

It works for me! For more tips that work, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

He Lives-Happy Easter!!!

I serve a risen Savior
He's in the world today
I know that He is living
Whatever men may say
I see His hand of mercy
I hear His voice of cheer
And just the time I need Him
He's always near

(Chorus)
He lives, He lives
Christ Jesus lives today
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life's narrow way
He lives, He lives
Salvation to impart
You ask me how I know He lives
He lives within my heart!

Eight Qualities of a Wealthy Woman

I passed by the television this evening and saw Suze Orman on PBS. She was making a presentation to an audience of woman and one of things she talked about (I didn't see the whole thing) was eight Qualities of a Wealthy Woman.

It is not my desire to be wealthy in terms of money, but I do want to be wealthy in terms of my self worth. I believe that this is essential to a healthy life.

Here are the 8 Qualities of a Wealthy Woman according to Suze Orman:

1. Harmony
2. Balance
3. Courage
4. Generosity
5. Happiness
6. Cleanliness
7. Beauty
8.Wisdom

Harmony has to do with your thoughts, words and actions all lining up together and Balance has to do with being confident about the things that you feel.

One other thing that she talked about that stuck out to me is "You cannot preach to others in words. You must preach in truths" In other words, practice what you preach or don't preach it.

I pray that you may prosper and be in good health!

Psalm Sunday #14

Psalm 14

1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
2The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
5There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
6Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
7Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

According this Psalm, a fool says in his heart that there is no God. I wonder sometimes what thought process a person must go through to convince themselves that there is no God. Have they never seen a bird build a nest? Have they never noticed that all leaves have different patterns on them? Have they not noticed that they do not have the power to initiate life from nothing?

We cannot possibly face all truth and deny God at the same time. The beauty of nature speaks of His existence. The intricacies of the human body speak to a Master Designer.

This Psalm also says that the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.

Psalm 111:10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

All of these verses suggest that those who understand and seek God also fear and that it is that fear that is the beginning of knowledge and understanding. I guess that is why those that do not fear Him are considered fools.

Violin at the Library

Here is a clip of my daughter Jasmine playing with her violin teacher at the Library. The memory card on my camera was not completely empty so I was not able to get the entire performance.



Here is the other portion I was able to catch after deleting some pictures from my memory card. :-)

Our Gardening Adventures

So, we started our garden and we planted our seeds in the pellets.



Within a few days we had beautiful sprouts growing.

And then...

I don't know how well you can see this picture, but the sprouts are actually wilting. :-( I guess that's what happens when you go for days without watering them.

I believe that one of the best ways to learn spiritual principles is through nature. So we will apply spiritual principles to each phase of our Gardening.

Here is a song that we were able to apply to this phase:

Read your Bible pray every day
Pray every day
Pray every day

Read your Bible every day and you'll grow, grow, grow
And you'll grow, grow, grow
And you'll grow, grow, grow

Read your Bible pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow

Close your Bible forget to pray
Forget to pray
Forget to pray
Close your Bible forget to pray
And you'll shrink, shrink shrink
And you'll shrink, shrink, shrink
And you'll shrink, shrink, shrink
Close your Bible forget to pray and you'll shrink, shrink

Here is the lesson that I taught the children:
Our plants wilted because they did not get enough water. Jesus is the living water and if we do not get enough of Him, we will wilt as well.