Happy Halloween!

Thanks to all of you who visited my "Scavenger Hunt" post this past week. Many of you ventured to make a guess as to what the mystery item was in #10.  Some were close, but not quite close enough. If you recall, I gave you a hint that this item could "possibly be related to the title of my blog."  

I thought that was a pretty good clue myself, but perhaps just not quite enough information.

So, in my post yesterday, "What Do You See?",  I gave you another clue, but I am not sure that many of you caught that it was a clue, so here is the picture again:

Does that help?  Any further guesses before I reveal the real answer?

Well, here is another clue...does that make it any easier to guess?

I'm sure some of you are saying "Ah Ha! I see it now!", while others may still be scratching their heads. What does "Closed Doors, Open Windows" have to do with these pictures? Well, what do you use to close a door? 

Eureka! You've figured it out!! Yes! A glass doorknob in the sun on our back porch!

Yes, the mystery object was none other than the sunlight shining through a glass doorknob from my collection of antique doorknobs!

What do you use to "close a door?"  A Doorknob!

 Whew!  I'm glad we finally figured that out! 

Now one more "creepy" picture just for Halloween:

We were standing out on the back porch last night after supper, visiting with our kids, and I just happened to look over at this tree in our yard and noticed something I'd never noticed before:

What do you see?  Is it just me, or is there a scary Halloween face in that tree?

Never saw it before, so I'm thinking it is just for Halloween!

Boo! Did I scare you?

Now, in case you wonder what I do when I'm not taking pictures of glass doorknobs in the sun or creepy faces in trees and other crazy stuff, I do have a real life.

Yesterday, (well, actually the last two days), we decided to go car shopping. After much discussion, praying, and counting the cost and studying our budget, we decided it was time to do something about our 14 year old car with 200,000 miles on it before it decided the issue for us by breaking down. Now mind you, our sweet silver 2006 GMC Envoy has served us well for the past almost 8 years that we've owned it, and we have felt that it was a blessed by God vehicle that rarely ever gave us any trouble. But we have been thinking for a while that it was time to make a trade.  And so we went shopping.  After two days of test driving and haggling over prices and how much they would give us for our trade (not much!), we decided to take the plunge and buy a "new to us" car. We never buy a real "new" car. Looking at the prices of even the used cars gave us sticker shock and about caused us to back out of any deal several times... But finally, after more prayer and discussion we decided to sign on the dotted line and drive home in this:

Yes, another GMC vehicle...we figured the one had been so good why not try another?

This one is a 2017 GMC Terrain. Kind of a sparkly charcoal gray.  There was another beautiful sapphire blue one that I really liked, but it was more money and we couldn't quite make it work, so I compromised on the gray for less money.

And we pray that God will bless this vehicle the way He did the other, and that it will also last us a nice long time.

The family all came over to check it out and make sure we had a good deal. And they even brought us supper!

Our daughter in love and her sister (who is visiting for a while) brought a delicious homemade chicken noodle soup and some wonderful "Red Lobster Cheesy Garlic Biscuits". It was a perfect supper for a chilly fall evening after spending our day in a car dealership haggling...

And then after supper we all played a game of "Scattergories", which was a lot of fun.

It was actually rather brain teasing for this old gal, but that's a good thing. The older we get the more we need to keep "teasing" our brains and keep them functioning.

Back outside, a flock of Canadian Geese flew over the pond and house.

I hope they will decide to land in the pond and entertain us again soon!

A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Happy Halloween!!

Psalm 105:1

 

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

 

Friday Foto Friends: What Do You See?

Hello Friday Foto Friends! Another week has come and gone! Wow! Can you believe this is the last weekend in October? Halloween, End of Daylight Savings time! (Fall back), the last weekend before the election? (Don't worry, not going to talk about that) and a Full Moon!

Right now as I write (Thursday night)

So as I started to put this post together, sorting through the pictures I've taken this past week, I kind of discovered a recurring theme...each picture is kind of like a mystery photo...different shapes, items, shadows, things...so I thought instead of me telling you what the pictures are, I'd let you see whatever you see in the pictures and you can tell me in your comments. I may have some connecting thoughts throughout the page, but I really hope that you will use your imagination and tell me what you see or don't see or think you see. There is no exact answer...I just want us to use our imaginations and tell us what you see.

This first one is pretty obvious...it's kind of a selfie, but actually it was totally by accident. I was trying to take a picture of that old mirror hanging on the wall in the church Thrift store garage when I went to visit again the other day. I never even realized I was taking a picture of myself when I snapped this photo, so this was a surprise to me.  Might have been a surprise to someone else too...I wasn't the only one in the picture. LOL.

This is a picture of a picture in the thrift store. Do you see what I see?

Can you guess why I wanted to take a picture of this picture?

Now, I wonder how many of you will see what I saw in this cloud:

I must tell you the story about it.  My hubby and I went for our usual evening walk. No sooner had we stepped out of our car to begin walking when we started hearing what sounded like gunshots on the other side of the woods. We debated whether or not to keep walking or just get back in the car and leave, but we decided to keep walking. However, the gunshots kept happening, and we walked a little faster and actually held each other's hands as we walked.  Hubby moved to my right, which was between me and the direction from where we could hear the gunshots. My hero!  Now, please understand, this is a wooded area, but not wooded enough for hunters. There are homes not far away, and the shots were actually coming from the direction of where the houses were on the other side of those trees. But it was a pretty good distance away from us, and we decided someone must be doing some target practice and they weren't aiming at us. So we kept walking. But to be honest, I was nervous. Maybe even a little bit scared. By the time we got down to the other end of the road we were discussing what to do if the shots kept firing. I was praying as we walked. And I looked up in the sky and I saw this cloud above . And immediately I felt totally at peace. I knew that God had sent this angel to pray for us and that we needed not fear.

For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:11

And we walked all the way back to our car and never heard another shot.

Thank You, Jesus!

Now this cloud below wasn't so "angelic" as the other one. This was taken on another evening, through the window as we drove along the road again to go for our walk.

What do YOU see in these clouds? (Pardon the spots on the window...not sure if they were raindrops or just dirt...I didn't notice it at the time)

Now, I wonder if you can see what I see in this photo below?

You have a good eye if you can spot the spider web!

Thankfully, my "hero" spotted it before we walked right into it!

He is pointing to where it was stretched across the road,  coming down from a tree limb above us and attached to some weeds on the edge of the road.

This is what we would have walked into had he not been very observant:

Coming toward it from the other direction, which was actually the direction we were walking originally,  can you see it?  Aren't you glad my hero saw it first?

This was the morning sunshine on one of those morning walks:

I guess the pink spots were spots on my camera lens as the very bright sun shone through. Either that, or there were pink balloons being sent up into the sky...what do YOU see?

Now this is one of my favorite pictures of the week: 

Sunrise from my front porch!  Here is what I wrote on my Facebook page that morning:

"Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, 

By His name YAH, and rejoice before Him." 

Psalm 68:4

The interesting thing is, I did not see those figures "riding on the clouds" until after I posted the picture online and also not until after I selected that particular verse to go with it. Now, do you see what I see?

Revelation 3:8 NKJV

 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;

 for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 

My collection of antique doorknobs.

But what do YOU see? 

There may be a clue here for a previous post for those of you who are still trying to figure out the answer to my scavenger hunt.

But you will have to wait until Halloween for the answer.

And speaking of Halloween, which is tomorrow, by the way, 

what do YOU see in this picture below?

All in good fun, of course...

I'll be interested to hear your replies to this and all of the other questions above.

Regardless of what you see or don't see, or whether or not we all agree on things or agree to disagree, here is a passage that is on my mind going into next week:

"I will love You, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;

so shall I be saved from my enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

Amen

Have a wonderful weekend!

Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

Alarms, Sirens, Whistles, Bells, and “Things That Go Bump in the Night” Revisited 10/28/2020 for Wednesday Treasures

I thought I would share this with you this week for my usual "Wednesday Treasures".  I am not showing any particular "treasures" per se', but am sharing something from the "treasure trove" of special memories. I hope you will enjoy reading along...

This is a previous post from my early blogging days, but it comes directly from my journals of the "Saga of the Steiner Family"... and part of what I had hoped someday would be a real "book"...

But alas, I believe I have come to the realization that the only book I am ever going to write is right here on this blog...you are my readers...and you don't even have to purchase anything to read it!  I guess you could say it is a kind of an "E" book...easily accessible on your computer! So I am definitely up with the times...

To give you a brief history...My husband had felt the call to go to Seminary to work on his Master's. We had three very young sons...and very little money!  Making this move took what I have termed "A Giant Leap of Faith". The links below will give you the two previous chapters of this part of our history.  If you wish to go back and read them now, click on the links below, and then come back here for what is essentially "Chapter Three".  Now, make yourself a cup of tea, and sit back and enjoy the adventure!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Original Post June, 2010:

Psalm 91:9-11 “Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”

Our lovely, large, old, interesting house!

The Steiner Family Saga...The Story Continues (Click on these links to get the previous chapters:  Part One: "Trust and Obey",  Part 2: "An Open Door" )

Since my husband was called to serve as the Assistant Pastor of a church out in the country, which was a bit farther out from the Seminary, we felt like it would be wise to live a little closer to the church, or at least halfway between the Seminary and the Church to simplify things. Besides, the two-bedroom apartment we were renting on the Seminary Campus was extremely small, and with three growing boys we were feeling quite cramped. So we found a very interesting large older home to rent in the little community of Nova, Ohio. It was very convenient for us as the school where the boys would attend was literally right in our back yard, so I wouldn’t need a car to get them back and forth while John was at school. It was a crossroads community out in the  middle of farm country, but it had everything we needed within walking distance, including the only phone booth I’ve ever seen where you could make phone calls for 5 cents! Of course, you could only call people right in town for that price, but it was rather quaint and fun.

The Fire Station across the street...and the Halloween Day
parade passing by...I believe one of my boys is waving
at us...that looks like Matthew!

There was also the fire department right across the street from our house. We found out about that the very first night we had moved into our house when the fire alarm started blowing around 2 a.m., and kept blowing until all the volunteers arrived to go to the fire! Talk about a “rude awakening”! You should have seen all five of us jump out of our beds and run to the front windows to see the action going on across the street! Our little boys loved it! We just prayed there wouldn’t be too many fires in that region too often in the middle of the night!

The Fire Station also contained the local tornado siren…I found out about that one evening just as a group of ladies had assembled in my living room for a Women’s Missionary Prayer Meeting, and the tornado siren started blaring! With it right across the street you can imagine how loud that had to have been! But worse yet, what was I going to do with eight or nine women in my house if there was a tornado coming? Our only “basement” was a very small dirt dugout cellar under the house, and it was definitely not a place I wanted to take these women! Not only was it dirty and smelly, but it also appeared to have a small creek running through the middle of it every time it rained! No, we would have to just get blown away in the tornado before I would take them down there! So, we did like any good prayer group should do. We stayed right there in the living room and prayed! There was a great sigh of relief when the siren finally stopped blaring about thirty minutes later. I hollered out the front door to the firemen who had gathered across the street, “Is it safe to come out?” They said that they thought the tornado was a false alarm and we should be ok. Whew! That was a relief! And also an answer to prayer, I might add!

There was also a railroad crossing right in the middle of our little village, and the train whistle could be heard for many a mile as it roared through the countryside. We loved to run out and watch the train fly past as we waved at the conductor and the men in the red caboose! What fun for our boys! (I kind of liked it too).

I guess I never realized how noisy this little town was until I started writing all of this down! There was one more sound that I actually enjoyed, and it gave me a sense of peace and calm each day. It was the sound of church bells ringing everyday at noon, and then hymns would play for half an hour from the little church’s bell tower. I looked forward to that each day! We had truly found a perfect home. Or so we thought…



Psalm 91:5-6 “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.”


One night John woke me up out of a sound sleep to tell me that he could hear something scratching in our walls! I listened carefully but didn’t hear anything right away. Just as I was about to drift back off to sleep, he nudged me again and said, “There it is again! Did you hear it that time?” I very groggily but emphatically said “No!” But I knew there would be no more sleeping for me that night. So I lay awake and waited for the “scratching sound” to come back. I guess I drifted back off to sleep because the next time John was almost pushing me out the bed saying, “Get up! There’s something really big in there! It must be a huge rat! Listen, can’t you hear it?” I jumped up and said, “Well, what do you want me to do about it?” He said, “Here, take this flashlight and go see if you can see anything!” “ME?” I cried, “Why me?? What about YOU?” He said, “Well, your eyes are better than mine!”

Now, remember, this was a very big old house, and it had been empty for a while before we moved in, so there’s no telling what could have been “living” in the walls of this old house. I certainly was not too anxious to go exploring in the dark recesses of the attic storage room that was just on the other side of our closet and over the kitchen below. And why was my 6’3” former State Trooper husband asking ME to go look for this monster in the night? Oh well, I figured I might as well go have a look because it was obvious I wasn’t going to get any more sleep until I did! So, armed with the brightest flashlight we could find, and John tip-toeing behind me carrying his police night stick, we crept through the closet, opened the creaky old door to the attic, stepped down into the very spooky, cold, creepy room and started looking about for our huge monster! I did notice an opening in the wall that separated our room from the attic, so we shone the light in there. We couldn’t see anything but some old newspapers stuffed in the wall for insulation, (circa 1920’s we found out later). I told John I wasn’t putting my hand in there and whatever was in there would have to wait until morning when we could see. However, we did get a mousetrap and set it with some cheese on it and slid it in the little opening in the wall. Then we went back to bed and tried to get some sleep.

Sometime around daylight I heard a loud “SNAP!” and ran to see what “huge monster” we had caught in our trap. There lay the tiniest, most pitiful looking little mouse I’d ever seen in my life! I called to John, “Oh John! Come see your monster!” Rather sheepishly he said, “Well, it sure sounded big in the night!”

However, we knew that where there was one baby mouse there had to be more, so that day we set a couple more traps in that same area and one by one we must’ve gotten five or more mice out of that wall! But finally the scratching in the night stopped and we were able to relax and enjoy sleeping again!

Thank you Lord, for taking care of the “monsters” that terrorize us by night. If only all of our “monsters” could be just tiny mice! But Lord, You are always right there, calming our fears, comforting us, and rocking us back to sleep. Thank you, most loving God.

Happy days baking cookies together in the large country kitchen of this old house
Of course, everyone had to lick the batter!

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter in the lives of the Steiner Family.  It was truly a time of testing and faith, with never a dull moment.  Somehow we survived, and my husband eventually received his Master of Divinity degree and eventually his Doctor of Ministry degree and we moved on to minister for many years in various places....  I can honestly say that the time spent in this big old house gave us many pleasant memories of how God met our needs and set the course of our lives for future "giant leaps of faith" and other interesting moves.  Click HERE for Part Four: First Snow  

Tuesday 4 ~ Reading From My Library

 

Tuesday 4
Reading Part 2







Welcome to Tuesday 4! Thank you for your participation in keeping the meme alive in

remembrance of Toni Taddeo.


Let's continue with Reading this week, shall we?  

Sorry, I didn't do the first week of this series, but thought I would chime in this week since I guess I have more to say on the subject than I thought!

Kindle or hard cover/paper back?  

Definitely real books, hard cover or paperback. I do not use a Kindle. I prefer to feel a real book in my hands and turn the pages and smell it, feel it and thoroughly enjoy it cover to cover.  Kindle/ebooks are not relaxing to me as the lighting is hard on the eyes and it is too much like "work" to be doing something electronic all the time. That's my personal opinion and preference.

Have you read a series like Harry Potter and if so which series and what did you think of the stories? Can you recommend them and why?

Here is a link to a post I wrote about the Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries that I read last spring while recuperating from surgery:  Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries 

After I had read the first one I wanted to read them all, and God blessed me with a gift from an old high school friend who brought me this bag full of the whole series! What a "blessing in disguise" that was for sure!

I just donated all of these books to our local library last week so that others can now enjoy them as well. They were a wonderful series of "cozy mysteries" that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Another series I enjoyed was the Mitford series by Jan Karon. 

This is an internet photo because I have loaned my books out to a friend, but I had all of them. There are more than what is pictured here in the series. I highly recommend them. You will fall in love with the characters and not want to put them down once you start!

Do you have a library or book shelves in your home?

Oh yes, I have many books, but not as many as I used to have. When we moved we donated many books to the local library.  

This bookshelf is in my den, next to my desk.  I have some devotional type books, books about "tea time", cookbooks, and other gift type books that I've received through the years from friends.

This bookshelf is in our living room, and there are many different kinds of religious books, college text books, and other various interesting books. (And lots of family photos).

Over the years I have collected some very old books, primarily from a couple of favorite authors who are long gone and out of print, but they wrote such interesting, old-fashioned, clean but adventuresome, romantic but mysterious thrilling novels. I wrote more about that HERE last winter.

Here's a few of my favorites: This first shelf (below) is primarily from one author, Mary J. Holmes. Most of her books were written before the turn of the 20th century, in the late 1800's.

Below are a couple of the covers of her books. They are so old they are falling apart. Many of these books I found at estate sales and/or bookstores that sell old books. I've had these for at least thirty years! They are that good that I don't want to get rid of them. 

You can't find these in any library today.

I am not sure exactly how I got started on these particular authors.  George Barr McCutcheon was

one of my mother's favorite authors and she shared his books with me, so that explains that...and apparently even her mother, my grandmother, enjoyed reading his books, 

because this one in particular was in my grandmother's collection...

Here is another bookshelf in our living room. There are a few books about the Civil War and WWII and various other items of interest.  More Bibles and Biblical Commentaries, which were a part of my husband's pastoral library. 

Oh, also there is a copy of my hubby's Doctoral Dissertation down there on the bottom shelf

The stories I could tell you about typing this dissertation...before computers!!! Well, that's another story in itself. Thankfully he completed the book and earned his Doctor of Ministry degree and the rest is history...or another story for another time. (and I earned my "PHT"..."putting hubby through").

I also have a collection of historical fiction books here that were very interesting. I may have to go back and re-read these. It's been long enough that I've forgotten most of the stories now...

This will give you a better understanding of who these books were about:

They are each excellent historical fictional accounts of these courageous women's lives, who lived during a very difficult time in our nation's history.

Is there a book you just really disliked ? Why did you dislike it?

I honestly can't think of a book that I really disliked, because if I don't like a book I put it down and don't read it. I can usually tell within the first chapter if I am going to like a book or not. I am pretty choosy about what kinds of books I will read and stay away from the steamier novels or anything too weird. I enjoy historical fiction, but prefer authors who write from a more Christian perspective.   Eugenia Price had a series of books on Savannah, St. Simons Island, Northeast Florida and the Civil War era that I truly enjoyed. I would highly recommend any of her books.

  I no longer buy books or collect them because I don't have room for any more books, unless they happen to be written by one of our friends.  Our blogging friend Martha Jane Orlando from Meditations of my Heart wrote a wonderful series of books, Adventures in the Glade , which could be deemed children's books, but yet they were so good that I believe most adults would truly love them. I sure did. 

I mostly check out books from the library nowadays. I am thankful for our local public library, and am thankful they are open again after the shutdown over the summer months.

Well, that's all folks!  Now gotta go link up with Annie and the others for today's Tuesday 4! See you there.