Thankful Thursday/Friday Foto Friends

 
I know, I know, I haven't written a thing this week, and I haven't even been around to visit all of my blogging friends. Please forgive. It just seemed like a busy week, and I couldn't make my brain sit down and settle down and write or read. 

Sometimes you just have to give yourself a break...you know?  I know you all know because many of you have been taking some breaks here and there as well. We need to step away sometimes and give ourselves room to breathe and grow and view things from new perspectives

...or something like that.  Anyway, I am sorry to be so "distant" lately...I hope you are all still out there and haven't gone away...

So, tonight I want to start out by being thankful.  It has been a busy week, but in good ways. We've had some "things" going on, decisions being made about things, steps being taken to begin the process of "downsizing" and cleaning out extra "stuff". 

God has been very gracious...giving us wisdom when we asked for it...patience when we needed it, and hope and reassurance that He is still working on our future plans...His way, not ours.  (That's the BEST way).

(Deer pictures courtesy of my friendly neighborhood deer visiting my yard at noon today)

Let's see, what else has been happening?

Well, last weekend our son and his wife had a yard sale, and we went to help out a little bit...
(and thankfully, the sale was fairly successful...they reached the goal they hoped for and then some...and are going to have another sale THIS weekend as well!)

And one of my friends at church asked if they had a little desk for sale.  I told her no, they didn't, "but I have a little desk that I would be happy to give you".  She was so surprised that I would give it to her and offered to buy it, but I reassured her that I did not want anything for it...just that they would come pick it up.  She was more than happy to do so.  She was thrilled that this desk was exactly what she was hoping for and had actually been praying for.  God answers prayers in mysterious ways sometimes, doesn't He? 

 And then I asked her if they would mind also picking up this sewing machine in a cabinet and take it to the church, for the ladies'  "Sew and Sew" Quilting group.  I've been promising it to them for a while, but didn't have any way to get it there. She was very happy to do so.  Now, I am not telling you this to give myself a pat on the back or from you either...

But I did this for somewhat "selfish" reasons, and some not quite so selfish. 

1.  It felt good to give something away to someone else who truly needed it and appreciated it.
2. It helped me to begin the process of "downsizing" and cleaning out and getting ready for our hoped for and expected upcoming move (sometime in the future!)
3. These were items that I was not really using, and they needed to go where they would be used.
4. The "Sew and Sew" quilt group makes lap quilts for Hospice House, Ronald McDonald House, and the VA Hospital.   They can use this machine to help make the quilts. I have not been able to participate in the group since we still live too far away to make many trips back and forth during the week, but this is one way of doing my part and helping.
5. The lady who wanted the desk has the ministry of sending out get well cards, birthday cards, and sympathy cards, etc., from our church to people in the church and community. This little desk would be a way to help her with her ministry

My thoughts were as I donated these items that maybe this would be like planting a seed that will grow into opening the doors for us to finally be able to sell our house and move to the community where our church is and where we want to be able to help serve better in our church and make new friends in that community.  May God bless and honor this prayer and desire of our hearts...in His time.   

Oh, and actually...we did have an offer on our house this week...however it was an extremely LOW offer, one that we could not consider in good conscience,  so we gave a counter offer, but the person was not able to raise her offer...so we will be patient and wait for the Lord to bring someone else.

Now, after all of that excitement, I also got a little creative this week. (I started taking vitamins again, can you tell? I think it's helping...)  Anyway, in removing that sewing machine cabinet from our laundry/utility room area, it left an empty space where we had been storing our containers of soft drinks and bottled water on top of and under that cabinet.  Now I needed something to hold those items still rather than just stacking them on the floor.  I know, I got rid of something, and now I want to put something back, you are saying?!  Well, this is where I got creative.  I decided to create something out of items that we already had taking up space in our workshop/shed.

This is the iron base for an old sewing machine cabinet that I had for many years. The wooden part of the cabinet was falling apart and finally had to be removed/destroyed.  (No, this isn't the one that I have in my house that belonged to my husband's grandmother...this is another that I've had for years).

It was collecting dust in the shed, waiting to be used for something. The treadle and wheel have been gone for years, so it is basically just the "legs". So I cleaned off the dust and spray painted it with a flat black rustoleum paint.

Also, in the shed was this lovely panel of wood, already stained and varnished, which used to be the top to a bench that the bottom got broken off of, and it needed a new home...It just "happened" to fit perfectly on the top of this iron base:

 And so now here it is, the new "beverage bar" in our house...yes, that is "Fresca"...the original grapefruit flavor. My hubby loves that stuff. The coke is for those who don't love that stuff,  and the bottled water is for those who don't love our sulfur tasting well water here...

This little table will also make a great table to hold my portable sewing machine whenever I do get the urge to sew something again...

So, that was my creative project for this week!  I did this all by myself!!!  I am very thankful for the tools, miscellaneous pieces of odds and ends, and the basic skills to do these things.  I am blessed.


And this picture is of my breakfast this morning...yes, those are eggo waffles with syrup and fresh blueberries (cooked for 30 seconds in the microwave to heat them up), sausage and scrambled eggs.  It was delicious...and yes, I DO rejoice in each new day!!!

I especially enjoyed my breakfast, served on this beautiful tray, made on reclaimed wood by my son, at "Ben's Country Woodshop".  This was my one purchase from his yard sale last weekend, and I have been enjoying serving myself breakfast and lunch on this tray as I carry it into the living room where hubby and I often sit and enjoy watching the news (not really enjoying that) or some other interesting program together.  This tray was originally designed to be a laptop tray...but since I don't use a laptop (gasp! I sit at a desk and write on a desktop computer the old fashioned way! LOL), I enjoy it for my own personal dinner tray.  Doesn't take much to make this girl happy!!

Another thing to be thankful for...Ben's Country Woodshop, our son's home business with his wife Rose, along with their online Etsy shops, BRCoastalRusticDecor and Rustic Forest Studio, are really doing well.  They had some real encouragement this past week, as a result of meeting people at the yard sale, that has led to some new opportunities for sales in the local area as well as the online business!  This is a WONDERFUL blessing and answer to prayer...so I just want to give God the glory and praise for all that He is doing in our lives!!!