Sunday Schoolisms Plus #7: Faith

           "Faith is acting like it is so,
                                           even when it is not so,
                                                                    so that it might be so,
                                                                                         simply because God said so."

                                                                                                                              Dr. Tony Evans

Quick! Hurry!!

Quick!

 Grab your weed eater or rev up the lawn mower!!

 It is time to cut back your monkey grass!!

oldmiss.edu

By now your monkey grass (liriope) is looking pretty ragged. It's probably brown and limp.  It will put up new, fresh blades soon and before it does, you'll want to prune away last year's old growth.

I just use my weed eater, but a lawn mower will do the job too. 

 Hurry!!

Love ya'll,

Sehlli

Rooster In The Hen House

Our hens are laying machines. Due to shorter daylight hours this winter, friends told me not to expect very many eggs from the girls. But, bless their hearts, they have out done themselves!

I've been able to give eggs to neighbors, Sunday School members, and Bible study friends. James and I have enjoyed some delicious egg dishes, too.

Peggy, one of the OBCs, was asking about the girls and their laying.  Upon hearing how well they were doing, she responded, "That's because you don't have a rooster!  They're not stressed out!"

Hmmmm.................

Is there an marriage analogy to be made?

 No rooster in the hen house, so the hens are able to get more done......

I'll let you decide!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

In a time when nothing is more certain than change, the commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced.
 ~Robert Sexton

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then. 
~Katherine Hepburn

It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
 ~Benjamin Disraeli

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. 
~Ruth Bell Graham

Gourds

At a recent Master Gardener meeting, Josie Herbert gave a presentation about growing and decorating gourds. She made it all sound so easy and  her decorated gourds were so beautiful, that by the end of her presentation we were all trying to decide where we could grow gourds in our own gardens! Here's the skinny....

First, you must decide which kinds of gourds you are interested in growing. There are ornamental gourds and hard shell gourds.

Ornamental gourds are the pretty colored, small to medium gourds used for decorations in the fall.

Hard shell gourds are green on the vine, and dry to a light brown color.

Gourds are planted early, after all danger of frost, and grow all summer. The seeds need to be soaked overnight before being planted in a sunny location. They should be planted in hills that are 6 feet apart. Plant 8 seeds per hill, thinning seedlings to 3 plants per hill later. Fertilize around the hill with 10-10-10.

 Now gourds grow really long vines, really long!! Josie recommended pruning your vines at a length of 8 feet. Some growers let their gourds mature on the ground while other growers recommend growing gourds on a trellis. And one of the coolest things Josie told us was that if you grow a hard shell gourd in a box is will adopt the box's square shape! Now who doesn't want to try that!!

Josie says the key to saving your gourds from rotting is to leave them on the vine until the stem turns brown.  Then make the cut so that it leaves a stem length of 2-3 inches. Hard shell gourds should be laid out on a pallet so that they aren't touching, and placed in a shed or garage until they dry. They will most likely mold, but that's OK. Mold can create interesting color and design variations. After the gourd is dry, the mold can be washed off with hot water and a Brillo pad. If you don't like the design revealed beneath the mold, just sand it off with a light grit sand paper.

Hard shell gourds are named for their shape. Josie had a great variety of gourds to share with us.

I am sure you can pick out the apple gourd in the picture and the cave man gourd. The one with a figure eight shape is a bottle gourd. For more shapes and names go to:

http://americangourdsociety.org/FAQ/types/chart.html

But the best part of the whole presentation were Josie's beautifully decorated hard shell gourds!!!

To transfer the leaf design seen above, she used a stencil and shoe polish. She also talked about filling in the design with crayon so that it acts a relief when applying the shoe polish. For more, try this site:

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/9500/how-to-craft-with-gourds/page/all

Hard shell gourds can be finished with paste wax.  If you drill small holes around the top of the gourd opening, long needle pine and raffia can be woven into a decorative finish. Learn more at this site:
http://www.americangourdsociety.org/slideshow/pineneedles/print.html

It was another interesting Master Gardener meeting!! Now let's get out and grow some gourds!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Sunday Schoolisms Plus #6: Difficult To Understand

"...anytime you come across a situation in life that is difficult to understand, run to the shelter of the character and sovereignty of your God and rest quietly in these solid, immutable, eternal truths."

                                                                     Kay Arthur
                                                                     Precept Bible Studies
                                                                     Keeping Your Focus When Your Dreams Are Shattered

Becoming Distinguished

Hey, just a quick update from Turkey Creek Garden! The winter sowing is going well. Poppies, lavender, cosmos, larkspur, and delphinium are up. Am thinking of transplanting the poppies this weekend. The weather is so weird that I really don't know what to do. Is it winter, spring, or summer?

You may have heard that my New Year's resolution was to start getting old. In that vein, I am letting the color on my hair grow out. I would simply say that I am going gray, but when a man goes gray, people say is he is distinguished. So I am going to say that I am becoming distinguished! Ha!

When Carole was here she snapped a shot of  the chickens, but I really think she wanted a picture of the lovely gray stripe down the middle of my head!

Here's a better look. I started in September and probably have six more months to go before I am completely distinguished.  Let me say for the record how great it is to have a husband who loves me, not my hair.

OK, just a couple of quick updates. 

 Hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather.  It will probably snow in a couple of weeks!!

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. 

~Leroy "Satchel" Paige

Valentine Soiree'

My mother's birthday is Valentine's Day and we had a Valentine's soiree' for her this weekend. My sister, Carole, came up on Friday and we sat in front of Pinterest planning our soiree'. Then we shopped, decorated, and cooked.

The soiree' started with Turkey Creek muscadine wine down by the fire pit.

Then back up to the house for dinner.

We started with a sweetheart salad.

Then roasted asparagus with balsamic butter, roasted butternut squash, and Love Birds (chicken in puff pastry). 

During the weekend we also had a little project- violet sugar cookies. A fellow Master Gardener had made these for the garden seminar last weekend and they were just so sweet. She told us how to make them and we were excited to try it.

Sorry!! There weren't many left by the time I took a picture!

We used Carole's basic sugar cookie recipe. We rolled the dough to 1/4 inch, cut out the shapes, and cooked them all but the last 2-3 minutes of the called-for cooking time.

 We pulled them out of the oven and brushed each cookie (one at the time) with an egg wash. Then took a violet and removed the stem and little leaves from beneath the petals. Next we laid the violet onto the egg washed cookie. (Most of the time the petals came apart after cutting off the stem, but don't despair! They are easy to rearrange on the cookie.)

When the flower was in place, we brushed it with egg wash and sprinkle the whole cookie with sugar.  Then returned the cookies to the oven for their final 2-3 minutes of baking.

The cookies were fun. The whole weekend was fun.

Of course, it is easy to have fun when putting on a soiree' for our sweet mother, Honey Pot!! She's just a fun girl! Here she is dressed up as her favorite imaginary girl, Cinderella Suitcase Smith! 

Love you, Honey!

Looking forward to next year's soiree'

Sheen

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. 

~Abraham Lincoln

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. 

~Desmond Tutu

***A special shout out to my amazing husband without who soirees' would never happen! Thank you for tending the fire, emptying the trash and dishwasher, keeping ice and water in everyone's glasses, buying bird food for Dad and a car for Carole; and all of that after being out of town on business for a week. You deserve a medal!!

Sunday Schoolism Plus #5: To Worship God

"To worship God is to bow low (that's what the word means); in other words, to humble yourself in submission to the truth about God and show that you respect what He reveals about Himself, that you will honor His Word and treat it with the integrity it deserves by believing what He says."


                                                                     Kay Arthur
                                                                     Precept Bible Studies
                                                                     Keeping Your Focus When Your Dreams Are Shattered

Pine Cone Zinnias and Seed Starting Boxes

It was really windy here yesterday!! There were 40 mph gusts!! 

The chickens had their feathers ruffled all day, the dogs hunkered down against the garage, and the pine cones fell like rain.  Now that's good news. I plan on getting out with the mower later this week and raking them up so we can enjoy a tidy yard.  This year I will save a few pine cones so I can do this.......

Pine cone zinnias!! Aren't they fun!

Susan and I saw them at the Northeast Louisiana Master Gardeners' seminar last month. They would make a cute wreath and be the perfect project to make with children.

Another interesting thing we saw at the seminar was this contraption.....

It is a seed starting box. 

I would give credit to the Master Gardener who set up this demonstration, but she didn't give her name or include it on her hand out. She did, however, give great instructions.

Materials:
cardboard box
glue
aluminum foil
rigid plastic lid or saucer
sigh socket with cord
light bulb

Directions:
1. To prepare the box, lay it on its long side. Cut ventilation slots in the back and sides near the top. Cut a 1" circle in the middle of the (now) top of the box for the light. If your box has flaps, you can tape them open so your box has more depth.

2. Apply aluminum foil. Using the glue, line the entire inside of the box (including the flaps if your box has them) with aluminum foil, shiny side facing the inside of the box. You are looking for maximum reflection. Remove foil from the ventilation slots and light circle in the top of your box. Make sure foil is well away from the light circle because of electrical hazard.

3. Cut a 1" hole in the rigid plastic and lay it over the hole on the outside top of the box.

4. Holding the light socket outside on top of the box, screw the light bulb in from the inside. Plug the light in. Make sure the cardboard doesn't touch the light bulb.

5. Make a front flap for your box using foil taped to the top front of the box, shiny side inside.

6. Put your plant tray in the box. I use trays with the clear plastic covers on until the plants are up, then remove the cover. I leave the light on all the time. I don't use a heat mat with this arrangement. I keep it inside until the plants are ready to go to the greenhouse or be planted.

She said she got great results and that she started all her seeds using this method. Let me know how it works if you decide to try it!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.

- Gertrude Jekyll

Sunday Schoolism Plus #4: Justification and Sanctification

"Christian theology makes a difference between justification and sanctification.  In the process of justification we receive from God forgiveness from our guilt. God wipes the slate clean. Sanctification names the process by which God, through the Holy Spirit, works in us to enable us to grow and change. "

                                                                                                  Chuck Aaron
                                                                                                  Uniform Series 

Book Week: The Armor of God

Let's end our week of books  with something really special! 

The Armor of God is a seven week Bible study by Priscilla Shirer. It is based on Ephesians 6 in which Paul tells the Ephesians to arm themselves for life by putting on the armor of God.  

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvationand the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

www.lifeway.com says this:

All day, every day, an invisible war rages around you — unseen, unheard, yet felt throughout every aspect of your life. A devoted, devilish enemy seeks to wreak havoc on everything that matters to you: your heart, your mind, your marriage, your children, your relationships, your resilience, your dreams, your destiny. But his battle plan depends on catching you unaware and unarmed. If you're tired of being pushed around and caught with your guard down, this study is for you.

The Enemy always fails miserably when he meets a woman dressed for the occasion. The Armor of God, more than merely a biblical description of the believer's inventory, is an action plan for putting it on and developing a personalized strategy to secure victory. 

Author: Priscilla Shirer is a wife and mom first, but put a Bible in her hand and a message in her heart, and you'll see why thousands meet God in powerful, personal ways at her conferences. With a Master's Degree in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary, Priscilla brings the depths of Scripture to life. Her Bible studies span such topics as Exodus, hearing the voice of God, and biblical characters like Jonah and Gideon. She has also written many books, including the New York Times bestseller The Resolution for Women She and her husband, Jerry, lead Going Beyond Ministries, through which they provide spiritual training, support, and resources to the body of Christ. They count it as their greatest privilege to serve every denomination and culture across the spectrum of the church.

The book comes with a DVD.  Be sure to get both if you are going to do this study on your own rather than with a group. I started this study with my Sunday School teacher and there are about twenty of us in the group.  She already has many more signed up for a repeat study in March.  My sister, Jamie, is doing the same study in Allen, TX. 

Uplifting and empowering, you would really enjoy this clear, concise study. It would be great to do with a group of friends.

Well, thus ends our week of books! I hope you find one to enjoy during the last cold weeks of winter.

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

 ~Anna Quindlen

I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go into the library and read a good book. 

~Groucho Marx

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.

~William Hazlitt

You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. 

~Paul Sweeney

Book Week: The Last Time They Met

The other books we've talked about this week have all gotten great reviews. Today's book however sends people to either end of the spectrum with their reactions.  They either love it or they hate it. I obviously am on the love side.

From goodreads:


From the last time Linda and Thomas meet, at a charmless hotel in a distant city, to the moment, thirty-five years earlier, when a chance encounter on a rocky beach binds them fatefully together, this hypnotically compelling novel unfolds a tale of intense passion, drama, and suspense. The Last Time They Met is a singularly ambitious and accomplished work by one of today's most widely celebrated novelists.

I read The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve years ago and it can still run shivers up my spine. It is truly haunting! But know that I am not a particularly critical reader. The author's style rarely registers on my enjoyment meter. I am all about the story and I love this one!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

If there is a day to act on the Love in your soul it is today, it is this moment. 

~Mike Dolan

When love is not madness, it is not love. 

~Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lover endureth his torments willingly.

 ~Proverb

Book Week: A Long Way From Chicago

Oh my goodness!!! 

As I read this little book, I laughed out loud! 

A Long From Chicago by Richard Peck was recommended recently by a friend.  It is the charming tale of two children from Chicago whose parents force them to spend a week each summer with their grandmother who lives in a tiny little town in rural Illinois. Each chapter is one summer's tale starting in the year 1929.

Wikkipedia says,

A Long Way from Chicago is a "novel in stories" (or short story cycle) by Richard Peck. It was awarded the Newbery Honor in 1999. Peck's sequel to this book, A Year Down Yonder, won the Newbery Medal for children's literature in 2001.

Goodreads says,

Join Joey and his sister Mary Alice as they spend nine unforgettable summers with the worst influence imaginable--their grandmother!

You'll find this special little read in the teen section of your library.  Have fun!!!!!

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you’re just a mother. 

The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. 

~Pam Brown

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.

 ~Ogden Nash

Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day

 and now the day was complete. 

~Marcy DeMaree

The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate,

 is called a grandparent. 

~Sam Levenson