Just A Few Thoughts

Is it the end of June already?  My how time flies!  Too much has been going on to tell it all here.  How about a re-cap of the last week?  This past week I was...

Blessed... with a visit from my mom and sister.  We've lived here for a year now and this is the first time my mom has been able to come out and see our new home and the Dollar Plus store.  I was so excited to have both of them here and thankful that my sister would make the trip only a day after she finished up teaching for the year.  The visit ended all too quickly.

Encouraged... by a quote that I read in my "Praying God's Word Day by Day" devotional.  It read "Walking consistently does not mean walking perfectly.  It means we may stumble, but we will not fall."  When I lose my footing, the Lord is sure to come along and set my feet on solid ground again.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm."  (Psalm 40:1-2)

Frustrated... that my dog keeps digging out of our yard and I now have to keep him on a chain when he is alone.  Remember that story, the Pokey Little Puppy?  That's what my dog reminds me of.  He just has to get out into the wide wide world and see what's out there!

Joyful...  because my kids had so much fun at VBS this week.  They came home singing all kinds of fun songs and telling stories about what they learned.  It was a great experience for them.  They made lots of new friends and learned many good lessons from the Word.

Weary... from a long month of events, travelling, and excitement. I anticipate a busy July, where the fun will continue.  Many parents pack the Summer full with sports, swimming lessons, camping, and other events, but not me.  We plan one major trip (in August) and the rest of the Summer seems to fill itself up without my help.  We have company coming next week for the 4th of July and there are 3 birthdays and a family reunion plus our anniversary in July.  I try to take advantage of every moment of down time!

Reflective... because we have been here for almost exactly a year now.  It has been a good year.  The kids love their school and have made a lot of good friends.  I am so thankful for this house and for the family that lives here.  Over all, we are very blessed.

I guess that brings me full circle to blessed!  I hope that you also feel blessed by the Lord in this journey of life. 

~Melissa

^"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." -Ephesians 1:3

10 Things I've Been Meaning to Write About...

There are some things that have been on my mind but I just haven't had the time to sit down and write about them.  I figured I'd better do a little catching up before I forget what a fun and busy Spring we've had this year!  Rather than put them in 10 separate posts, I've grouped them all together here.

3rd Grade Spelling Bee

1. The Spelling Bee - BC (my third grader) asked if he could compete in the city-wide spelling be this year.  We signed him up and he studied the list of words that they were given, anticipating the big day.  They divided the 3rd grade contestants into two groups, (of about 18 entries each) and the top two contestants from each group then had a "Spell-Off."  I am so proud to say that BC made it into the Spell-Off and then got 3rd place over all.  What an achievement!

Night Glow

2. Balloon Stampede - Every year Walla Walla has a weekend event called Balloon Stampede where several hot air balloons take off in the morning and land at night.  We went to the "Night Glow" portion of the weekend and watched 9 hot air balloons being blown up and then light their fires to show the beautiful colors/pictures on them in the dark.  So much fun!

3. My Happy Mother's Day - This year for Mother's Day all I wanted to do was NOTHING!  I slept in and the kids really stepped up and let me just relax.  I also received several precious gifts that they made for me at school, a giant Mother's Day card from all, and a special Mother's Day balloon.  (Which we sold over 200 of in our store this year.)

CD, Me, and Funny LR

4. Registering my baby for Kindergarten - If anyone knows me or you've read some of my other posts, I am the mother of 5.  Next year, my baby goes into kindergarten.  I have had the joy of having him at home with me during the school hours all to myself for 2 years now.  I sure am going to miss taking him to work and playing with him around the house during the day.  I can't believe he's all grown up and ready for school.  *Tear, Sniff*

5. Explorers - BC was tested and got into a program called "Explorers" next year. In grade school it is Math and Science based and he will be bused to another school twice a week to study some advanced topics.  We went and viewed some of this year's science projects and he is super excited for next year.  I just know he's going to love the program.

JS on Recorder (red shirt, black shorts)

6. Spring Assembly - I went to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Spring concert.  RL had a guitar part with some of her peers in one of the songs.  She practiced so hard and really hard and loves playing the guitar.  We may have to further explore that passion!  JS had a recorder part in the 4th grade song with some of his other friends.  By the time the concert came around, he had that part perfected!  Each grade had a song where they did a little dance.  It was BC's first day back after being home sick with the flu all week, but he was a trooper and put on a good smile for "Lean on Me."  They do some really fun things at our grade school.  I have been impressed this year with the staff and the curriculum.

7. The Break-In - We suffered our first burglary to our store last week.  The crazy part is that it wasn't the first attempt.  No, just three days before someone had tried to break in the back door, but there is a bar on it.  I won't go into details here for obvious reasons but I will say that it could have been worse.  Thankfully, they didn't trash the store.  There were two break-ins in the same night.  The first one broke the window and the second took advantage of it.  It has been a long haul for my husband.  The aftermath is ongoing and he's taking care of it all.  I sure do love that man!

LR & CD Help the Plumber

8. The hole in our back yard - Adventures in home ownership!  Since we bought the house "as-is" we purchased a home warranty to fix any problems we might come across our first year here.  So far we've had a leaky pipe fixed, a toilet re-set, and a shower valve cleaned out.  We found a leak in our main pipe but it is OUTSIDE the house, thus, not covered by our home warranty.  Go figure.  So we took a plumbers advice and started to dig a 4 ft hole in the front yard to find the leak.  My generous husband dug through mostly rock (did I mention how much I love him?) until he thought he found the source.  Then this past weekend the kids came running in yelling "Daddy, Daddy, the hole is filling up with water!"  Yup.  He found it alright!  We ended up turning off the water at the main meter at the street and we went without water for 24 hours until we could get a plumber out to fix it.  What an adventure.  I'm glad we don't live in Pioneer days.  Just sayin'.

Max

9. Max, our quirky dog - So we have this little dog named Max.  For some reason he doesn't like to drink water out of his water bowl inside.  For that reason I keep one outside that I've trained the kids to put fresh water in every day.  Last weekend (before we had to shut the water off) we were running the sprinklers and I was outside on our deck reading.  One of the sprinklers sounded kind of funny so I went to investigate.  Well, to my amusement, Max was standing at the sprinkler, moving his head back and forth, lapping up the water.  I laughed so hard!  What a funny little dog!

Me and My Girl RL

10. My baby girl is going into middle school - RL is turning 11 this Summer.  I will officially have my first middle-schooler in the Fall.  Where has the time gone?  I remember holding her in my arms when she was a baby.  She has grown into such a delightful young lady.  Last night we went and explored Pioneer Middle School together.  (6th-8th grade)  She's excited and nervous all at the same time.  I can hardly believe we've arrived at middle school.

Speaking of school, we're done for the year on Thursday of next week.  We're kicking off our Summer with my Brother-in-Law's wedding.  Then we head into all the Summer activities, including 7 birthdays, our wedding anniversary, and a family reunion.  It's going to be a great Summer! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!
~Melissa

Company Girl Coffee 5.4.12

Today's Small Thing is to come up with "Creature Comfort" for each of the five senses.  Since I was already going to share about our guest room here on my blog today, I decided to take the idea of having company over and run with it. 

Before

After

Sight: Our guest room has a new, fresh coat of paint!  We went with two colors, both in the warm grey family.  I am going to finish one of my Grandmother's old dressers to place in there and my husband is bringing home a painting to bring it all together.  Just in time to have company over this weekend!  Yay!

Smell: Chili in the crockpot for dinner tonight!  I will be making corn bread to go with it.  This meal always fills my kitchen with irresistible aromas!

Taste: Hmm...maybe I should have saved the chili for this one! :)  I'm always up for a good chocolate and I have some Frangos hidden away for a rainy day.  Yum!

Touch: Hugs and more hugs for our friends that are coming to visit!  I haven't seen them since January so they are missed and I am really looking forward to their stay.

Sound: There will be lots of laughter going on this weekend as our children play with their children and the adults visit and play board games. 

I love to play hostess and make our guests feel at home.  We've known them for years and they are like family to us. 

Have a blessed weekend everyone!  Thanks for joining me for coffee today!
~Melissa  

Psalm 103 - Bless the Lord, O My Soul!

This psalm renewed my spirits this morning.  I hope you are encouraged by it too.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

The LORD performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
Bless the LORD, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

The Playroom!

We have this little room above our garage that immediately became the kids' playroom when we moved in last Summer.  Because it is not heated, it got a little neglected over the Winter.  Every time someone would go to put something away, it would just get tossed in there instead of put back in its place.  That's how it ended up like this...

Before

For the past two weekends I have asked the kids to give me an hour a day to work on the mess.  At first, it was really hard to know where to begin.  With some loving direction, they sorted, organized, threw out trash, and finally got it all clean.  Now it looks like this...

You can see the floor!

Games, Craft Supplies and Puzzles

Reading and Drawing Corner

I'm so extremely proud of my kiddos for a job well done!  Just in time to enjoy it with company next weekend!  Way to go!

I could still use one more set of shelves in there for storage, but that'll have to wait.  Garage sale season will soon be upon us and I'll keep my eye out for just what I need.

Full to the Measure

"For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace."   
-John 1:16

I love this verse!

Paul uses this same word "fullness," in Ephesians 3:14-19, when talking about the love of Christ. In both cases, the greek root word is pleroma - definition - fullness, fulfillment, completion (Strongs concordance 4138)

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Emphasis mine.)

Filled to the measure. What does that mean to you? To me, that means never empty. Christ's love never runs out. Out of His fullness we have all received. And there is more where that came from. Grace upon grace. We have eternal access to this power, this love, that strengthens us and fills us up on a daily basis.

That, my friend, is a love worth celebrating!

May you be strengthened out of His glorious riches today,
~Melissa

April Flowers

FFA Wa-High Greenhouse

Last week I went on a field trip with my 1st grade daughter and we walked though this greenhouse.  The minute I stepped in, the sights and smells brought me clear back to my childhood.  When I was a kid, my parents owned a hardware store.  In the Spring, I would always go on trips with my mom to go pick up flats of flowers from very large greenhouses to sell at our store.  We even had a little greenhouse of our own in front of our store for the plants that needed the extra warmth.  I have such wonderful memories of going with my mom on those trips, and then helping her water the flowers when they needed it.  It makes me smile to think about it, and share it here.

Today's Small Thing  over at Home Sanctuary is to celebrate your history by finding an object in (or around) your home that brings a sweet memory to mind. 

The above picture is what came to mind when Rachel Anne talked about sweet memories.  It's been 25 years since we closed the doors to our store, but the memories will remain in my heart forever.  Now I have children of my own, and I love to take them with me to our Dollar Plus store.  They help out in any way they can and we are making memories of our own.  I hope that one day, they will look back and smile on these days with fond memories of us building something together.

Why not join us for Company Girl coffee today and share some sweet memories of your own? 
Blessings,
~Melissa