String Hobby

Just a sample of my favorite hobby....I love to take a string and create a garment....the definition of Crochet and Knit....for me is:  The art of creating fabric and garments from a string!  That is my personal application!

      My most loved hobby is creating garments for children!  I Love doing my own thing! Sometime I start with someone elses pattern , but I invarialby end up doing my own thing with it. 

                       

String Hobby

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Thrift and Fun!

How much fun can you have with sisters?  I think the possibilities of fun times are limitless…Tuesday afternoon three of us got together in Velda’s cozy new home.  

I am always the one with a stash of thread, crochet or knit needles found in my forays to thrift stores.  It is so exciting to say, “Hey, look what I got for only a few dollars!   Do you need any of it for your next project?  I declare it is more fun than a barrel full of monkeys.  We delve into my stack of finds and have ourselves a blast deciding what project needs which thread. 

This week I got three full skeins of Macramé thread, two green and one brown.  They were in the stash but were already declared as my own.  I had been looking for some strong, bulky thread to create a yarn basket; this rough and tough, bulky thread was exactly what I needed!

Soooooo….this afternoon I started my basket.  Using the green thread and the single crochet stitch, I crocheted a flat round piece.  I increased as I went until the piece was about 20 to 24 inches in diameter.  The next row I did not increase at all, which began the sides of my basket.  I then changed to the brown, and crocheting in the back loops only, I continued with the single crochet for two rows.  The next two rows I changed to double crochet and continued to crochet in the back loops.  I love the effect this gives, although if I had been using a regular thread, it would not have been sturdy enough. 

Changing back to green I continued in the same pattern for three rows, and on the fourth row I created handles.  With the left over brown thread, I put a top edging of single crochet on the basket and completed my thrift store project.  It is perfect.

New Kids on the Block

New children in the Kingdom, Jeff and Vicky recieved the Holy Ghost in April of 2013. Coming from a world plagued with drugs, they both received instant deliverance. They have lived for God faithfully for the past 11 months. They have been faithful in church attendance, in giving of both finiance and personal time, and faithful to attend prayer meetings. We are so proud of them. However, due to the lifestyle that they lived before finding their personal salvation, Sis Vicky had some criminal charges hanging over her head, charges that with a conviction would have led to imprisonment. After much prayer and fasting by both Jeff and Vicky and by our church family, yesterday all charges were dismissed against Vicky! She is realizing what living for God with a victorious attude can and will do for the child of God! Glenn and I want to join them in celebration of every miracle that has been wrought in their lives since last April. ‪#‎godisawesome‬

Greyson Andrew Burks

What a glorious event, February 8th!  Mr. Greyson entered this world and created a family of three!  Lauralee and Darwin Burks became proud parents, and we became proud grandparents for the second time.  Never has the word love meant more to us than when we look around at the sweet and wonderful family that God has blessed us with!  Here are some pics of our newest addition.

What Are We Doing?

Sitting in the recliner that has become my resting place at home, I am contemplating family and what it actually means to be family. I looked it up in the dictionary and found that all the people who are descended from a common ancestor, a group of people who are closely related by birth, marriage, or adoption, or a child or set of children born to somebody are considered family. This was not the definition that I was seeking. I needed something that described the unconditional love that I thought existed between my siblings and myself.

All of my life I had thought that being part of a particular family meant caring for one another, and standing up for one another. I felt, that as a sister to my siblings, I would fight hell in order to stand by them and give them my absolute support. Loyalty to my brothers and my sisters was a prerequisite to being a part of my family! I really believed that our clan was a family unit that could not be destroyed by anything, and in a way I was right. There was nothing outside the ranks of our family circle that could have touched the closeness and love that was a constant in our home as we grew up.

However, I never realized that destruction can come from inside the close knit love of family. I was devastated the first time the innermost parts of my family begin to crumble. The damage was so severe that something precious was destroyed and today no longer exists. The bond of love and hope between children can be damaged so severely that something stops existing and can never return to its normal state.

I am sick at heart to realize that this has happened to my family. I want to cry buckets of tears, and I would if I thought it would help some of us open our eyes to the devastation and destruction that we are not only causing among ourselves but also to the chaos that will be passed to future generations. Will our actions cause division that can never be bridged for our offspring? Oh, oh, what will the end of this be!

He is Faithful

God still answers prayer! I am overwhelmed, as I watch his fingers on the keyboard of life. So carefully He hits the notes and creates the sweetest melodies! He changes note after note until they fit into His song of victory. He has, this day answered prayers that I have been praying for a while! This song has the beginning sound of celebration!

I am reminded:

Jesus never fails; Jesus never fails. You might as well get the behind me satan, you cannot prevail because Jesus never fails!!

Christmas! What a lovely time for Family!

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning, 5^th of December, and I was making Oreo Cookie Balls for a Christmas party that night! I began to giggle as my mind traveled back in time about 46 years. This is always an interesting past time, remembering an age of innocence where kids could roam and play without worries!

In this current memory, my brothers and I were down on our knees beside Hwy 1416, encouraging our very own doodle bugs to "move it buster!" The bugs were each rolling their own little ball of 'cow paddy,' and we kids wanted our beetle to win. The cookie balls looked exactly like the doodle bug balls!

Glenn walked into the kitchen and asked, "What's so funny!"

Laughingly I told him where my mind had gone, and we begin to reminisce about those days of innocence!

Behind our home place there was a 'patch' of woods where we were allowed to play for hours. Under the cool shade of tall pines, huge oaks, and around a few squatty bushes we had created a fairy tale play ground! We had houses with wall divisions made of pine-straw, furniture created from fallen branches, and enough kids to people each house with moms, dads, and kids.

We built caves, cooked mud pies, squabbled, had prayer meetings, and played church. At any given moment we could shout, talk in tongues, and sing as good as any saint in our home church. We could do the two-step like Adeline Dougharty, Glenn's Grandmother, or we could mock to a tee, Sis. Bertie Rashall's obeisance dance (I do not know any other way to describe it!). We would kneel down and pray like Sis. Florene Brown (sort of machine-gun style), or stand to testify and break out in song like Sis. Linnie Stivender as she waved her hanky in her left hand!

This was not mockery in a hurtful sense, rather, as children we had learned to worship God from the examples set before us; sometime our play was so real that we would be crying for real. Looking back now, I realize that there were times that we felt God's presence. I can remember Delbert, my brother preaching under the anointing, and at that time we did not even know what anointing meant.

Isn't it amazing how we forget the simple things of life when we get so caught up in everyday living. I am glad for the cookie ball reminders!

Precious Memories, how they linger!

Thankful, I Am

It is Thanksgiving time, and I am ready to give my God all the praise and thanks for blessings too numerous to name. However, I will tell a few of the things that I am thankful for!! First of all my God has been so good to me. He is great and greatly to be praised. Next would be my 'sweet' family…I have a wonderful Husband, and two beautiful children, a great daughter-in-law, and a (hopefully) soon to be son-in-law! This year, however, I have been blessed with my first grandchild!! Beautiful, handsome, full of personality, Carter Malcolm Isom!!! What a joy! There is nothing to compare to this precious sweet lil' man. I wonder, Recon my firstborn might have another little joy bundle to add to our family before long?? I do have room in my heart for another sweet blessing!!! God Will!!

I am thankful for my brothers and sisters and the heritage in God that we share! I also give thanks for my church family! They are a great bunch!

 

Lasting Love

E-Mail, what great subjects are sometimes addressed! This is awesome! I worked as a secretary at a nursing home, and we had an elderly gentleman who did this same thing for his wife! It was a beautiful thing to watch as he expressed his love and care in so many ways, and his wife never knew.

"It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00.
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided since I was not busy with another patient; I would evaluate his wound. On examining it I saw it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors and got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while, and that she is a victim of Alzheimer's disease. As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.
He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. I was surprised and asked him, "Why do you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"
He smiled as he patted my hand and said, 'She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.' I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm and thought, "My friend that is the kind of love I want in my life.""

WOW!!

Mother Memories

Last night as I wrestled with a physical ailment, I picked up an Apostolic Sentinel and read several comments, from various ladies, about their mothers. The topic seemed to be about advice, given by the mothers, that had proven true and steadfast. My mind immediately flew to my mom and how she prayed! She gave advice aplenty like all moms, but the thing that has stuck in my mind with absolute clarity is the way she prayed. My mother was not a 'part-time' prayer person. Her prayer schedule included daily sessions, and most of the time she prayed two or three times a day. We lived in a small community with neighbors on every side, but across the street, at a diagonal angle, lived a little lady named Florene Brown. Aunt Rene was Mother's prayer partner. She owned a small grocery store, and she lived as simply as any person in our rural town. Her home, however, was the neighborhood prayer room, and my mother visited it as often as possible. Many a battle in the spirit world was fought and won by those two ladies on bended knees. While Mother managed to pray at least once a day at home, she always managed to pray with Aunt Rene too. As an adult I have come to realize that the prayers Mother prayed, when everything was going right, were like a huge savings account when things went wrong. There are times when, I am sure, Mother turned her face to the wall like Hezekiah, of the Old Testament, and said, "Oh God, remember my faithfulness and hear my cry." I believe that my mother's voice was so familiar to God that he never had any trouble recognizing her or coming to her rescue. This is the advice that I received from my mom, not from her spoken word but from her living example. "Pray when the sun is shining, and when the storm clouds arise, God will be your sustaining strength!"

Happy 80th Birthday Missionary Perdue

July 26, 2009

Dear Bro. Perdue,
Just this afternoon I sat and began to contemplate about the years of knowing you. My earliest memories centered around the home of my parents, Elward and Eldora Jordan. I am sure it would have been a Sunday afternoon, and there would have been many others present. I can see in my mind the gathering of folks, most on their knees, seeking the face of God. However, you never stayed kneeling long. You would come to your feet and began pacing the floor, worshiping God with your whole heart, as the prayers of the saints were offered up. I am also sure that as a small tot, I was more interested in watching the proceedings than I was in praying! I can imagine my eyes, as big as saucers, as I followed your progress around the room. You never failed to notice us kids, and you would open your rather large hand wide, ruffle our hair, smile down and never miss a beat in your prayer! It was during those Sunday afternoons that I began to see you as a hero.
Later, when I was just below the age of the church youth group, you accepted the leadership of the Bon Wier, U.P.C. youth. I had older brothers and sisters whose age allowed them to participate, but as a child I could only look on in awe and wonder. I remember the hugs you so freely gave us and the words of praise and encouragement as we grew older. It seemed as though you always had time for us kids.
You truly cared about the young people, and gave so freely of you time so that they were all involved in wholesome activities. Volley Ball games that were exciting to play, youth services with scripture matches that mostly ended with George and Roger Dale tied. Powerful services that brought about consecration and dedication of youthful souls were sure to happen with you at the helm. One of the most impressive things I remember seeing was a skit about the widow whose oil and meal never ran out. Thank you for giving and giving and giving again!
Then off to foreign fields you flew to do the will of God! The many things you accomplished in South America will only be known to all when we reach the glory world! I remember getting to see you at General Conference; how excited Glenn and I, as young evangelist would be, getting to visit with you and Sis.Perdue in the display area. We always went looking, searching especially for your booth! What fun, we knew the Missionary in a personal way! It seemed so special to us.
We were delighted when you invited us to South America. We made memories, and got a first-hand view of the churches under your ministry! I cried buckets of tears over the poverty in the cities we visited, yet saw some of the most astounding works of God, both in the churches and in the beautiful scenery. We were overwhelmed by the hunger for God in the hearts of the people in South America. Their seeking and worship of God helped us to understand the deep love and burden that you carry for that beautiful country and those sweet people!
And now, you are back in the States, attending the church where we pastor. What an honor to have your knowledge and wisdom, your understanding of human nature, and someone with your 'walk with God', as a part of our church and community. What did we ever do without you here? You are truly a great example to our church and a compassionate mentor to our family! You gave me some of the best advice I ever had, when I was going through one of the roughest times of my life. Darwin looks at you as though you were his grandfather in the Lord! Your loving guidance in his life has not escaped our attention.
Thank you for your daily support in prayer. We feel the effect of those prayers all the time and need their continual out-pouring. We Love you, and we are indebted to God for placing you in our lives. While I could go on and on, I must close. I am asking God to be close to you and Sis. Perdue and to save your children and grand children!
In His service, Debbie (Jordan) Burks
Glenn too!

Old Barns

I recieved this as an e-mail today. It blessed me, so I thought I would pass it on!

The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. Psalm 145:17

Old Barns, Old People and Old Friends, I love them all!!! A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him right off he was crazy. He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale. I told him he had a funny idea of beauty. Sure, it was a handsome building in its day, but then, there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind. The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's gone, and the wood has turned silver gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful. That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road. He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood. It came to me then. We're a lot like that, you and I. Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too... and lean a bit more than we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He's doing, and as the years pass He's busy using the hard weather of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of beautifying on our souls that nothing else can produce. And to think how often folks 'holler' because they want life easy! They took the old barn down today and hauled it away to beautify a rich man's house. I reckon someday you and I will be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch. I suspect we'll be more beautiful then, for the seasons we've been through here, and just maybe we might even add a bit of beauty to our Father's house. I do sincerely thank God for my wonderful friends and family who care about me even though I show signs of weathering!

Duh….

Wow!! I am learning more all the time about blogging. If I wish to keep a copy of my blog for personal use, I have just realized that I need to type it up in Word and post it to my blog. Now, how come it took me so long to figure that one out?????

Jesus Knocking?

An e-mail I received in the mail this morning has gotten my mind on fast forward………
A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response equal to four-year old David's comment.
Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart. "Listen," she said. Then asked, "What do you suppose that is?"
He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if he was lost in the mystery of the strange tap - tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin as he asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?"

I wonder if we are attuned enough to hear as God knocks continually at our hearts door. Maybe, He just needs to visit, or He could he possibly wish to heal: a broken heart, a wounded soul, a maligned body, or a tortured spirit! Maybe he would like to bring peace to our hearts! Could he have a special job for us to do?
Whatever, He is knocking for I want to hear the knocking!So God, if I need a spiritual stethoscope, my heart is open to Your knocking.
"Where He leads me I will follow.
Where He leads me I will follow.
Where He leads me I will follow.
I'll go with Him, With Him, all the way."

Lonnie

Lonnie and Bertie Faye

Lonnie and Shirley

Ditto

L2R Glenn, Lonnie, Bro Perdue

Lonnie and Crawfish!

I love you my brother!!!

Campmeeting

Campmeeting was wonderful for us this year. The services were so powerful, and the word of God anointed!! Of course the highlight of my week was the night that Britni and Malcolm came and brought Carter! This was Malcolm's first time to be in a Pentecostal service, and he really enjoyed it! He went to the front and prayed!! I want God to fill them both with the Holy Ghost!! I know He wants to, and I believe that their hearts are tendering towards God!

Carter is so precious, and I want him to be raised in Truth!!!

Carter

Carter got to visit at our house for four days! He is eight weeks now and weighs a whole 10lbs. Aunt Sha Sha came and spent the night on Friday....From what she reports, he kept her up all night!!

He was still bright eyes the next day, so I suppose the only one who suffered from the lack of sleep was Auntie!!

Carter and Darwin had some really serious discussion from the looks of this next picture!!
Possibly Carter was hearing his first bible story!!

Awe!!!! So Sweet!

Carter loves Bath Time....even in Grami's dish pan!!

Now this is showing some attitude!!

Sunday Night....Going to church, Gonna hear Popa preach!!

Sunday Morning

This is the first stay by himself at Grami's and Papa's House!! We had so much fun loving and taking care of this sweetest bundle of joy!!

My Child Fishing

What a great kid! Darwin loves to hunt and fish! He caught this 10lb. 26in. fish about 4 days ago. Eat your heart out!! "Lake Sam Rayburn"