This looks like a fun duo.
Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.
I mentioned before that Paula Vaughn is one of my favorite artists. I first became aware of her books maybe 20 or more years ago when I first saw her cross stitch patterns. I bough several, but with beginning a young family I didn’t have time to do them then. However, my sister made a couple for me which I have shown before:
Then somehow I discovered that her cross stitch patterns were based on her water color paintings. When we moved to a new home several years ago, we had a separate family room and living room, which was new to us — we had just had a living room before. So we had a whole new room to furnish. In the course of looking for ways to decorate it, I discovered some Paula Vaughn prints in a local shop, but I felt they were too expensive. But my next birthday my dear husband bought them for me.
Unfortunately, that’s not the greatest picture. Trying to get adequate lighting while not reflecting off the glass was a problem. Here is a close-up of the middle one:
Then over the last few years my family has given me a couple of Paula Vaughn books as gifts. One is The Best of Paula Vaughn. I don’t know if it is in print any more: I didn’t find it on Amazon.
It’s mainly pictures of her cross stitch designs with the patterns and a little background information.
The other, The Romance of Paula Vaughn, has cross stitch projects but also several other kinds of projects. Here are a few samples from the book:
I love her style (obviously!) Though I hope to eventually make a few projects from the book, even if I never do, I love perusing the books when I need a boost of inspiration. There is something about beautiful art and handiwork that just does something for my soul. I used to struggle with that: I used to think maybe I should just be functional. But then I was reminded that God could have made the world just functional, but He also made it beautiful. Beauty and creativity are a part of His character, and it’s ok if we reflect and enjoy those traits within the means and time He has given us at different seasons of life.
I finally did start a Paula Vaughn cross stitch project of my own! I’ve had the pattern for a while, though it is newer than some of the ones I bought when my kids were small. I started it a couple of weeks ago, and the pattern seemed really complicated to me, but it is coming together more quickly and easily than I would have thought. Here is what I have so far:
I hope you have enjoyed looking through Paula’s art as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you! You can find more Show and Tells or join in on the fun at Kelli’s.
Some years ago I heard a dear older missionary read a poem about going back to the field, and it had the recurring line, “I’m going back. Are you?” I’ve tried googling that line and other search possibilities, but I can’t find it. Has anyone else heard of it or know any more about it?
I had enjoyed all of Robin Jones Gunn‘s Sisterchicks series, so when I saw a new release from Robin titled Peculiar Treasures, I picked it up.
If I had realized it was a continuation of the Christy Miller series, aimed, I think, at teens and younger women, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up since I am not in that target audience. But I am glad I did. It was a good story, plus it was a reminder of the kinds of things women that age face.
The story opens with Katie’s maid of honor duties at Christy’s wedding. Katie has just finished her junior year of college, has summer school classes, a part-time job, an “almost boyfriend,” an almost-rival, an offer for a new job and level of responsibility, questions about her major and direction in life, hurts from the lack of involvement and care from her parents an incredibly busy senior year ahead, and adjustments to make as one friend has just gotten married, another friend and her husband are expecting their first child, and another friend is out of the country.
How did any of us ever survive that time of life?
But Katie survives and thrives, growing and learning along the way with grace and humor.
I think this book is not only good for women in this age group but also for any of us who have women in this age group in our lives. It’s a good reminder for those looking back and an encouragement for those looking ahead that God’s grace is sufficient for even the busiest seasons of life.
..or those who want to learn how to be more frugal.
TODAY ONLY you can get an incredible ebook package from MoneySavingMom.com–over $100 worth of money-saving ebooks, homemaking helps, and encouragement for only $5.97. She’s offering a lot of good stuff a great price and I’d highly recommend you run over here and check it out.
What makes this deal so good is that this ebook package includes the ecourse Supermarket Savings 101–this course alone is worth much more than $5.97 and will teach you how to drastically reduce your grocery bill. If high fuel and food costs are discouraging you and leaving you strapped for cash, I’d encourage you to check out this ecourse. You’ll learn how to cut your grocery bill by up to 50% or more.
Go here
to read more about this huge sale! Hurry, though, the price goes up tomorrow.
I had seen the book Mistaken Identity on bookshelves, but hadn’t really looked at it. I thought it was fiction, and I had read other fiction books with a mistaken identity plot line, and, though they were interesting reads, there was still an air of unreality about them. This couldn’t really happen, at least not to this extent where closest family members are mistaken.
But it can. And it did.
I caught an interview with the families on one of the evening news magazine programs, and my heart was knit to theirs as their faith shined through their tragedies. I then went out and bought the book as soon as possible.
Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak were among several university students riding in a van back to school after working at a banquet when they were all involved in a horrific accident. Five people died, and Laura was taken to the hospital with several broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. Only it wasn’t Laura: it was Whitney. She was misidentified based on a nearby purse with Laura’s driver’s license in it. Though at first glance the girls look different enough to tell apart, when you look at individual features, they share an uncanny resemblance. Laura’s family had no reason to believe this girl was not Laura, and all the little inconsistencies could be explained by the accident (calling her sister by four different names, for instance, was consistent with the type of brain injury she had). Whitney’s family had chosen not to see her body; they wanted to remember her as she was.
It was not until five weeks later, when Whitney was able to communicate a little more clearly, that they realized she had been misidentified. The Ceraks were at first unbelieving but then overjoyed to find their daughter alive while the Van Ryns had to come to terms with their daughter’s death, and they all had to deal with unwelcome media attention during these events.
What touched my heart even more than their stories was the way their faith was evident at every turn. The Scriptures shared at various junctures perfectly upheld them, though of course it did not take away from the pain they experienced. Their grace in dealing each each other, the truck driver who caused the accident, and everyone along the way is evidence of God’s grace in their lives.
In Isobel Kuhn’s book, In the Arena, she quotes I Corinthians 4:9 (“For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men”) and explains that Paul probably had in mind the Roman arena where Christians were thrown in to be devoured by wild animals. Our trials great and small can have multiple purposes, but, she says, one of them surely is to reveal God, His power, character, and grace as it is worked out in His people’s lives (not only to people, both believers and unbelievers, but to “principalities and powers in heavenly places“) . I often think of that when I hear news stories that have captivated the nation and then find out that the people involved are Christians.
One of the paragraphs that most grabbed me was a journal entry by Carly, Whitney’s sister, before she knew that Whitney was still alive:
Death is Satan’s greatest way to attack this world. Amazingly, then God takes what Satan uses to attack us and uses it to bring us together and reveal Himself the most. Through Satan’s greatest strength, God’s power still overcomes and is stronger.
I had never thought of death in that way, but it is so true that even at Satan’s strongest point, God overcame not only to resurrect those who have died but to provide immeasurable comfort to those who are left behind.
I highly recommend this book to you.
Comments are now closed. The winner of this giveaway is #41, Nikki at Angels of Heart.
Melanie is once again hosting the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival this week where hundreds of bloggers are giving away some really neat things!
My second giveaway this week is the book Changed Into His Image by Dr. Jim Berg along with the corresponding workbook, Taking Time to Change.
I have read this book at least twice, maybe more, and should probably make it a yearly event. Dr. Berg originally wrote it for his daughters as they neared adulthood, and it developed into a handbook of how to live a godly Christian life. Both the Scriptural instruction and clarifying illustrations are tremendously helpful.
You can download the first chapter here.
If you’d like these resources, just leave a comment on this post. I am happy to ship anywhere. If you don’t have a blog, be sure and leave an e-mail address so I can let you know if you win. I will draw a name Saturday morning.
Sunday the 27th marked my two-year blogging anniversary.
Wow!
According to my blog stats I have had 1,154 posts, 11,125 comments, and 41,421 spam comments.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this medium of communication and hope to continue for a long time to come!
I should do a give-away or something. But the Bloggy Give-away Carnival is this week, and I want to do something for that, though I haven’t decided what yet.
So I’ll take this opportunity to answer the Blogging Questionnaire made up by Kate at A Simple Walk which I originally saw at Elle’s of A Complete Thought.
1. Do you keep a running list of blog post ideas?
I do keep a running list where I jot down ideas that I don’t have time to develop but don’t want to forget in the meantime. A few of those have gone on to become blog posts, but most of them are still waiting there…
2. Do you only blog on certain days and about certain topics?
Usually I blog whenever something comes to mind to blog about, but on the days I participate in regular weekly memes, like Show and Tell, I try not to blog about anything else that day so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
3. Do you limit the number of memes you will participate in? And if so, what qualifications must a meme meet in order for you to join?
I don’t have a numerical limit, but when I see a few interesting ones around the same time, I might either space them out or do them all together so I am not doing one a day. My only qualifications would be that I’d have to be able to write somewhat creative or interesting answer (I’ve bypassed some just because I couldn’t think of any responses), and that it not be off-color in any way or too personal.
4. Do you keep your family anonymous, or do you use real names?
I use all of our real first names, but I don’t use our last name.
5. Do you feel guilty if you don’t post for a few days?
Guilty? No. It’s more like I’m afraid people will forget me if I don’t post regularly. 🙂 But I have let a day or two go by without posting if I am busy or just don’t have anything worthwhile to blog about.
6. Are there any off-limit topics that you will not blog about?
Anything too personal.
7. Do you monitor your blog stats on a regular basis?
Yes, at least the ones on my WordPress dashboard. I am signed up with Sitemeter but don’t get full benefit of it because WP doesn’t allow javascript links, which Sitemeter needs to fully process all the stats they do (Argh!)
8. Do you ever sit and stare at your computer monitor, waiting for inspiration to hit, only to give up and decide to just post tomorrow? (Or, even better, when that inspiration does not hit, do you think “Oooh, I know, I’ll ask everyone else about their blogging habits!”)
🙂 I do stare at the computer sometimes like that. Sometimes I wait, sometimes that’s when I’ll do a meme or share interesting links I’ve found or post something funny.
9. Do you, without fail, refrain from blogging on any certain days of the week?
No, I blog most days, but Sundays it’s often just a poem or hymn or quote, because Sundays are busy for me and seem to be for most of my readers as well.
10. Do you do most of your blogging in one day and then just publish throughout the week?
No, it’s more off-the-cuff with me, though if I am blogging about something very important or delicate, I’ll let it sit and incubate for a day or two or three and then come back to it to make sure I’ve said it the way I really want to.
11. Do you limit the number of posts you will do on any one day?
Not specifically, though the more posts you do in one day the more likely some are to get lost in the shuffle. Some blog visitors will only read the post at the top, so if I have something I feel is really important, I’ll only post that for the day or I’ll make sure it’s at the top for that day.
If you’d like to do this questionnaire, too, be sure to let Kate know.
And thanks to those of you who come by and read these “stray thoughts!” Ultimately I want to blog as unto the Lord, but I do have to admit that personal responses are nice as well. I have met some amazing people through blogging!
(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng.)
My friend Ann at From Sinking Sand is disappointed with the new Taste of Home magazine and explains why on her blog here. If you are a fan, or used to be a fan, I’m sure she’d love to hear your thoughts on the discussion at her place.
Theme: Hanging| Become a Photo Hunter
Though this isn’t the most picturesque view of it, this is Spanish moss which hangs from a lot of trees in the Charleston area.
It’s used a lot if floral arrangements, and at the time we visited it was illegal to just pick it off the trees, because then probably too much would be stripped off.
I thought we had a picture of one place we visited that had a stream and a bridge and full, shady trees just dripping with Spanish moss, which was a really pretty setting — but all I could find was this one.
The Saturday Scavenger Hunt is sponsored by TN Chick.
