Dreaming of This....

Yesterday, I took my mom furniture shopping. She has been wanting a new sofa and loveseat for well over a year. She came to visit us yesterday for our community garage sale, so I really had no original intention of going out furniture shopping with her.

Anyway, I've been talking about wanting a new dining room table. Our table is now going on 10 years old, been through 3 infant/toddler/children stages and it shows. I have waited to say to much about wanting a new one because there really was no point when I couldn't trust the kiddos to not gouge the table with their forks. I have no crossed that threshold and am really really wanting a new table. I go back and forth between wanting dark wood or light wood but I think I am settled on how I'm going to redecorate our family room and kitchen. I'm tired of the earth-tone browns. I'm thinking a beach country cottage look with whites and yellows and blues or palms trees with yellows and greens.


Well, I never set out to look at Paula Deen furniture but I fell in love with a dining set at a local furniture store. And here it is, I can dream for awhile anyway....

Wouldn't that be just beautiful in a beach cottage theme??

Now, if I was crafty, I would get the table because it was on a huge discount yesterday - but didn't include the chairs.  I could use my existing chairs and paint them beachy colors to go with the white table.  I did ask my husband about that but he said he isn't good at painting furniture and was afraid we would make a bigger mess in the end....

This would go along so well with it since our family room and kitchen is open to one another:

My house has been neglected for far too long, time to plan some re-painting and save for some new furniture. At least I have a vision now of what I want to do!



 

A Movie and A Post

Before the day gets past me, I have a devotion posted at Laced With Grace. You can read it here.

Second, my favorite blog, Challies.com has an interesting post up about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Revival that happened several years ago.  We live about 45 minutes from Lakeland, so I remember this even quite well.  Several people I knew raved about the revival and went nightly to see Todd Bentley.  Despite pleas and warnings from various sources, many I knew continued to go.

At the bottom of Tim's post, the You Tube video of the documentary movie is posted.  I'm working through watching it now and I can resonate with many of the emotions Tim referred to in his post.  Anger.  Sadness.  Anyway, its worth watching - be aware and be on guard.

You can read that post and see the video here.

Thankful Thursday

After one last vacation, things are returning to normal and homeschooling is in full swing! I am honestly looking forward to cooler breezes and autumn air. Sometimes I stress that time is going by too quickly and while the upcoming school year has some exciting things ahead, it also makes me sad that it will go by quickly and the kids will be another year older and another grade higher in school. So, it is really important for me to focus on being thankful for what we do now, thankful for what is coming up and make the most of the time I have with the kids.

So with that,

• I am thankful for our vacation last week, the runs on the dog beach, the time paddling in my kayak, my paddle with the dolphin and watching Caleb catch fish from the back of our campsite!
• I am thankful to have celebrated my husband's 44th birthday doing what he loves to do best - camp and fish!
• I am thankful to have celebrated Taya's 6th birthday too while gone and for friends who camped with us so we could have a small birthday gathering for her.
• I am thankful for the joy in Taya's face when she got her Pepper Pillow!  All three kiddos were given Pepper Pillows from my Sister-in-law.  See them here (Taya), here (Delena) and here (Caleb).
• I am thankful for our Zechariah Precept study my friend Betsy and I are leading at our church.
• I am thankful for my mom who is keeping the kids for us so we can go to the marriage conference at our church with Kirk Cameron!
• I am thankful for upcoming field trips and clubs and co-op where the kids can have fun with friends.
• I am thankful for new friends at Sunday School who want to plan a camping trip with us!
• I am thankful for our Sunday School leader, he probably doesn't get the appreciation he deserves and I'm grateful that he faithfully serves our class each and every week with a genuine heart.  It really is a blessing to sit under his leading.

We have a lot planned this year!  It will fly by but today I am grateful for today.  School, social time with Paula at Homeschooling in PJs and her little one, karate and spin class (that I haven't been to in three weeks)!

What are you thankful for?  Stop in at By Grace Alone and share the thankfulness!

 

Kayaking with a Dolphin

We just returned for a somewhat "mini" vacation.  I say "mini" because my husband worked for a few days while the kids and I "vacationed."  We camped at one of our favorite spots near the beach and on the water.

It was hot!  It was buggy!  I am assuming the bugs were really bad the first few days from the rain from Isaac.  In fact, the first few days, we were among only 8 campers in the whole place.  The campground had been evacuated earlier in that week and only reopened the day we checked in.  I'm sure that contributed to the low turnout among campers.

Anyway, on to the highlight of the trip!  Because our campsite is located directly on the water, it makes fishing and kayaking really easy.  One of my favorite ways to spend the day is out paddling on the water.  There are so many beautiful and amazing fish all around and when the water is clear, you can see so much.

There is a sort of lagoon area near our campsite, with surrounding sea wall, just a short paddle away.  Starting Wednesday, a dolphin decided to spend the remainder of our trip hanging out in that lagoon.  So I loved to paddle out to the lagoon and just spend time watching him swim all around.  It became a challenge to get his picture or video.  Sometimes, he would love to surprise us and come up right next to the kayak!  Sometimes he would get adventurous and jump high chasing fish.  It really was a neat experience.  There were times I was just awed by this creator God created and how he attempts to interact with humans watching him.  He really was the highlight of the week!

I did get a few pictures and one really great video of him!

Now, I'm honestly glad to be home.  Today we pick up homeschooling in full swing!!