Fairbanks Daily News Miner

Here are some pictures of George and Katie that ran in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner when we lived up in Alaska.  I loved taking pictures of them!  They were both so photogenic and did a good job of sitting still for me.  Oh, how I miss them.

Here we are, all together again!

My Katie Sunflower.  I love this picture of her- this is typically Katie- sweet, wonderful, sun flowery!

In addition to this picture being in the newspaper, it ran on the Daily News Miner website for over a month.  It also appeared in a calendar for the local dog park where it received an honorary mention! It was titled, "George, ready to get grilling!"

 This picture ran right before we left Alaska!

Isaiah 65:25 (ESV)

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Cookie Man

Who makes the world's most wonderful snickerdoodles?  Why the cookie man of course!  Shh!  Don't interrupt him- he's concentrating.

1 Corinithians 1: 21 (ESV)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Annie Johnson

I've been volunteering at a no kill shelter walking dogs and cleaning out kennel cages.  Here's a picture of a lovely foxhound mix named Paisely.  I've renamed her Annie Johnson.  If she was my dog, that is what I would call her.  She reminds me a lot of Katie, my dog who passed away.  When she first came in, she was all skin and bones.  You could see her hip bones and her rib cage.  She was very subdued and quiet.  After being at the shelter, she has become such a lively dog.  She's happy, full of energy, and she's gaining weight.  I wish I could adopt her.  I can't so I'm doing the next best thing.  I pray for her, asking the Lord to match her with a good owner.  Here are some pictures of us together!

Isaiah 65:25 (ESV)

The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Who's Afraid of the Dentist?

Well, Chad and I went to the dentist and got some news- I have six cavities and might need a possible root canal, he needs a root canal and five crowns.  Here we are, showing our pearly whites before we go to the dentist.  After our visit, we weren't quite as smiley!

Look at me, I brushed real good!

 

I love to go to the dentist!

Proverbs 17:22a (ESV)

A joyful heart is good medicine

Hand Quilt

Well, I am working on a new project.  I am hand quilting, using the applique method, an heirloom quilt.  The picture on the quilt is based of my children's books.  If you look real close, you might be able to recognize the figures if you are familiar with my books.  It's taking quite a bit of time- but there's still a lot more to sew one.  Once I'm done, I'll try to post a picture of the final quilt.  Everything is done in cotton, even the thread.  I'll even use cotton batting!  I've never quilted before.  I watched a couple of videos on YouTube and away I went.  So far, I'm very pleased with the results

This is a fall time picnic scene.  I still have to add leaves, pumpkins, a fence, some food in the wagon, and a sunflower.

A closeup of the people and pets

A maple tree, which in my opinion, is the quintessential harvest time tree. 

A house that still needs windows and a door.  I'm going to set the window frames among some golden light so it looks like the house is lit up.

A red wagon, which believe it or not, is the hardest part so far, in this quilt.  I'm still working on it.  When it's done, it will also have some wheels- two or four, I'm not sure how many yet.

Have a great day and don't forget to trust in the Lord.  No matter how dark your situation or how bad it seems, Yeshua is always there, to stitch you back together!

Ecclesiastes 3:7a (NASB)

A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

Getting Ready for Shabbat Shalom

Today is Friday and we are getting ready for Shabbat.  I am making a turkey sausage, turkey bacon, potato, onion, kale, and cream soup in the crock pot.  I made some banana bread too but because I used four very ripe bananas instead of three, it came out a little mushy.  It's still good though and I think it will probably get finished off by this evening.  We'll have enough soup for today and tomorrow so I won't have to cook on Shabbat.

Here are some beautiful sunflowers that I got for Shabbat.  I love sunflowers, especially the orange ones.  They're usually very expensive but this whole bunch was bought for $9.99.  A wonderful gift from the Messiah to us to help make our day of rest a delight!

Here is a picture of our dog Katie and some sunflowers

Here is a picture of our dog George in front of our flower garden when we lived in Minnesota

George and Katie have both passed on now.  Even though I still miss them and think about them almost every day, I really believe they are waiting for us in the Messiah's Kingdom!  In fact, I think while they're there, they're keeping Shabbat too, waiting for us to join them so we can all keep Shabbat together!  Isn't the Messiah's Kingdom going to be wonderful?

Chad made this neat little flying machine.  Maybe after the Sabbath, we'll both get on and take a ride under the beautiful night sky!

Here is some cotton fabric that I'm going to use to make a hand sewn quilt.  I have hand washed and dried the fabric.  I still need to iron it.  I just love the way cotton feels and looks!

Here is the drawing of the small quilt I'm going to sew.  It's a Shabbat Shalom quilt.  

Some years ago, I gave away a pig, just like this one to my friend before I moved.  I've felt bad for quite a while because I did that.  I even let the Lord know how I felt.  Guess what?  I was in a large antique shop this week and I found her again.  Her clothes are different, but it's the same pig with the same name- Kaitlin.  I brought her home and she sits next to my knitting needles and helps me to knit!

I went back a few days later and found her brother- Lofton.  He's in need of some clothes and I am thinking about knitting him an outfit!

Here are the rest of my buddies!

Here are some new knitting needles I got.  I have really taken an interest in aluminum ones while at the same time, I really love my bamboo ones.  So many choices!  I think I'll use both!

I hope you have a wonderful Shabbat with the Lord and catch up on your resting!

Isaiah 58: 13-14 (NASB)

“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
¹⁴ Then you will take delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Relaxing Day

On Friday morning,  Chad and I decided to go for a shorter walk (2 miles instead of 5) after we worked at the gym.  Before we did, we went to downtown Springfield to get a cup of coffee.  Here are some pictures to show you our day. 

Off we go after our work out at the gym!

 

Here's Chad is trying to decide what type of coffee he is going to get

Downtown Springfield

A church with New England style architecture

A quaint looking inn

Me, the ducks, and the geese at the park for our walk

An interesting building along the walking path

We cross the small bridge to enter into Galloway Village

I really like this building (I think it might be a yarn shop)

A pottery shop

 

An art studio

A neat little restaurant on the walking trail.  It's currently not open to the public.  I think it is being worked on by the owners because there is a lot of construction debris outside.  I hope they open it up because it's really quite cute.  The pictures below show the mural along the building. 

This is at the back of the restaurant.  It looks like an outdoor seating area

There's also a cemetery up on  a hill across the street.  On the side of the street along the walking path where we walk is this pet cemetery that is an extension of the regular one. 

There's also a place where they bury police service dogs

After our walk and coffee run, we went home to get ready for the Sabbath. We had a really nice and relaxing day.