Getting My Lamps Trimmed and Ready

I will try to keep touching base with you during the next couple of weeks as I am able.  We are busily packing, packing, packing, preparing for our big move.  Once we actually get moved into our new home I will need to select a new header picture for this blog, "Closed Doors, Open Windows", since the original header will no longer be my view out my kitchen windows...

This will be one of my views at our new home.  I wish this was out my kitchen window, but unfortunately the kitchen is in the front of the house, looking toward the street. And this view is on the back side of the house.  However, I do plan to set up my computer in a special area beside a window looking out to this view...so that is probably what you will be seeing quite often...and we do plan to clear a little of the underbrush out of the way so we have a better view...but first things first...

There are two large oak trees out front that I will be able to see from the kitchen window...Hubby was talking to our realtor (below) while I was busy taking pictures of the scenery.  I did make one unpleasant discovery the other day when we were there...apparently there is a yellow jacket nest in the ground up close to the house.  I unknowingly stepped right into it, and many angry bees came swirling up to chase me away...and one actually zapped me on my ring finger. I had to take off my wedding rings quickly before my finger swelled up too much.  I was not a happy camper!  When we got back to the realtor's office we found a tea bag and wet it and put it on there to draw out the pain from the sting rather quickly.  Good secret to know! Wet chewing tobacco works as well...but no one that we knew was chewing any...LOL.  Anyway...that is one thing on the list to be sure gets taken care of before we move into the house. I don't want anyone else to go through that pain. Some people are very allergic and it could be a bad thing. 

Just so you know, the house we are buying is actually a manufactured home...a double wide. That is what is most affordable and available in this community, and the one we found is newer than most of the others we looked at...and is beside that pond...which made it very desirable property for me.  Yesterday morning hubby and I were having a little bit of a "buyer's/seller's remorse" moment...kind of a panic attack about all the details we are having to deal with, and we needed some reassurance that we are doing the right thing.  First we called one of our friends from our church there and bounced some things off of him, and he gave us some wise advice. Then we called a company that does repairs on manufactured homes and asked some questions that we have about some repairs that need to be made, and he gave us some comforting answers, which relieved our fears and helped us to realize that we are still on the right track and it's going to be okay. 

Then to top it off, our friend that we spoke with earlier and his wife brought some other people from our church down to our current little town and we met them all for supper at a local restaurant in the middle of a major thunderstorm. We had such a marvelous time of fellowship...and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are doing the right thing in making this move. It's not about houses or land or ponds. It's about the people God is leading us to. That's what it is really all about.  God is so good. 

A funny little side note that I don't think our friends noticed (at least I hope not), when we were finished with our meal I got up to go to the restroom. When I came out, our group was already outside waiting for the rain to let up enough to run to their cars.  The restaurant has a front porch where people sit and wait for a table to become available, and it was quite packed.  We said good bye to our friends and then turned to walk across the porch to the parking lot on the other side where our car was parked.  I noticed that all the people sitting on the porch were smiling at me and seemed really friendly, although there wasn't anyone there that I knew.  As I hurried ahead of my hubby to get out of the rain, he called me and caught up with me and said, "You have TP hanging from the back of your clothes..."   Now please don't tell me that that has never happened to you before... and I won't tell you how many times that has happened to me before...but now I know why all those strangers on the porch were smiling so big at me as I paraded by.  All I can say is, my mama taught me to always put TP on the seat in a public restroom...and on a particularly humid evening it might have been wise to take a second look before leaving the room...but I don't plan to go back there again before we move and those people had a good laugh...so all's well that "ends" well! LOL.


Now, on to other more interesting things since you've had your laugh...

Today I decided to prepare our Hurricane Lamps for packing and moving. You may just call yours "oil lamps", but here in Florida we call them Hurricane lamps, because that is usually when we use them the most.  I have several oil lamps, and most of them still had some oil in them, which needed to be emptied. 

 The wicks needed to be trimmed and the burners cleaned and stored safely,

The  chimneys and fuel reservoirs also needed to be carefully washed

I love this dish soap wand for washing glasses and it certainly works well on the chimneys.  Don't ever try to wash the inside of a glass chimney with your bare hand.  It could easily break and cut your hand very badly...

I also have these candle sconces  that needed to be cleaned and packed. 

You may think these are out of style now and why do I still have these old fashioned things on my wall.  Well...turn the wooden sconce over and read what is written and you will understand why these are very special to me.  My Daddy actually made these sconces for me for my birthday many moons ago...

Some things just never go out of style in my book...

Washing and packing these oil lamps made me think about being prepared.  We are certainly getting prepared for our big move from our current home in a couple of weeks.  We are packing carefully because our things will actually have to be stored during the interim time between moves, and then moved again a few weeks later to our  new house.  I am not too excited about that fact and would much prefer to make one big move from here to there, but it just didn't quite work out that way. We are very thankful that our church is allowing us to stay in the empty parsonage during that time, which will be a huge help to us as we will be able to store our things with us there.

But back to the oil lamps and being prepared...I'm sure you've read the story about the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (see Matthew 25:1-13 for the complete story).  There were five wise virgins and five foolish virgins. The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and were prepared and ready when the bridegroom came to call them to the wedding feast.  The foolish took their lamps but didn't take any oil with them. 

In verse 6 it says:

"And at midnight a cry was heard: 

"Behold, the bridegroom is coming; Go out to meet him!"

And as we read the rest of the story, we see that the foolish virgins tried to talk the wise virgins into sharing their oil with them, but they said they could not as there would not be enough for all of them. The wise virgins went on to the wedding, but the foolish went out to try and buy some oil, and they missed their opportunity to go into the wedding. Verse 10 says, "and the door was shut."  When they came and knocked on the door, the bridegroom said "I do not know you." (verse 12).  The moral of the story is in verse 13:

"Watch therefore, for you do not know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."

We must always be prepared for the return of the Lord...we do not know when He is coming...could be today, tomorrow or next week.  Or our lives could be cut short by disease, accident, or disaster. No one knows, so we must be ready to meet the Lord at any time.  Have your lamps trimmed and burning bright...

Luke 12:35 says "Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning." (New International Version)

So we are getting ready...ready for whatever the Lord has ahead for us. Stay tuned for more adventures!!