You Can't Take The Country Out of the Girl

I just came home from driving through the country 
from my sister's house. 
She sent me home with wonderful

fresh goodies from her garden.  

Green beans, corn, 

cabbage, tomatoes and cucumbers! 

Thank you Cindy!

It is a beautiful 75 degrees here and sunny.
I drove through the countryside  singing with

my windows rolled down

It was WONDERFUL!!!  

"You can

take the girl out of the country, 

but you can't take

the country out of the girl." 

That describes me for sure!
I was raised in the country and have
lived in the city for 34 yrs.

Me and my sisters, Melanie and Cindy.

Here is me (the oldest one!) and my siblings back in the day
of the very tight HOME PERMS!!!

(that's my brother Randy in the middle)

Don't you love how we are all dressed alike, 
courtesy of my grandmother's sewing skills?

Any way, I just wanted to leave a quick post 

with a song I love and heard

playing on the radio while I was driving 
through the countryside today. 

It blessed my heart and I hope

it will yours too!

Please scroll down to bottom & pause my music so you 

can hear this video 

Enjoy your weekend and I hope you

 take a drive through the countryside 
with your windows down.

Wave at me as you go by!!!

Smiles,

GETTING DOWN TO THE ROOT OF THINGS

I am here again today to tell you what I have

learned after 3 weeks of reading 

Beth Moore's 

book called So Long Insecurity.

First of all I want to make sure and tell YOU

how much all of your comments

  have meant to me while doing this study.

At first when I started

sharing my vulnerable thoughts on this subject

through art journaling and letting you

all  see, I was reluctant! (for a second or two)

But then I decided if even one other person

is helped by me putting my real self out there,

then....  IT IS WORTH IT ALL.

Thank you my sweet friends!

This was a difficult one to get through because 

it brought up a lot of old baggage that

I dealt with and put behind me years ago.  Who 

wants to relive that depressing stuff? The thing is, 

I think even old stuff we've taken care of

and moved on from

needs revisited or given a quick check-up

now and again

just to make sure our roots haven't 

attached themselves to some old crabgrass that 

has disguised itself as a root of grass.

  

This is a view of my neighbor's shed window.

Everything I am saying here is from Beth's words. I've

just paraphrased them a little.

The fearful lie that no one will

take care of us 
can become rooted in even a child

if they've been the victim of any kind of abuse.

(emotional, mental, physical, verbal, or sexual)

It not only causes immediate effects, it also goes

straight to the core of our belief system and

seems as bad as our worst nightmare.

I'm on my own!  No one will take care of me.

The earlier this lie is confirmed, the louder it speaks.

The sense of being unprotected can destroy 

personal boundaries and mess

up our emotions big-time!  Trying to find another

soul-mate, friend etc.. who will

take care of us and not disappoint

is impossible.  No human 

relationship can handle that much pressure!

On my art journal page above, you will see Jesus 

hands touching the sides of my cheeks. Many times

when I am talking to Him I imagine 

my Heavenly Father warmly taking my 

face in His hands, and saying

I LOVE YOU LEE ANN.

This always brings me to tears as I thank

HIM for the comfort, love, joy, peace and security that

He alone has given me so fully.

My friend, if you struggle with this fear, please

know that no human being can fill 

that void and ache in your soul.  I hope you

will give it up today and let God

fill it as only He can and wants to do for YOU.

I know this post is long, but I want to end with
these quoted words from Beth Moore:

"If you've lived your life
looking for someone to take care of you

but always end up
taking care of everyone else,

your search is OVER. 

GOD has what you need, 

and
you'll  NEVER  wear Him out."

Hugs to you all,

The Time I LOVE

I truly am a

"family time loving kind of girl".

I think TIME is one of my top love languages.

(along with words of affirmation)

Have you read that awesome book -

The Secret of the 5 Love Languages

It's a great concept.

My time spent in Pennsylvania with my

daughter, son-in-law,  granddaughter

and grandson

was

memory-making- wonderful!

A big bear hug from my granddaughter just before

I had to leave to travel back home. 

I wish I could bottle these hugs up and take with me.

This trip was also taken 

so that I could help them while they

packed  up to move to their new home

2 hours further away 

in Pennsylvania.

  My son-in-law has been a Youth Pastor for 

seven or eight years and felt called to take a 

lead Pastor position in a new church.  So although 

we don't like that fact that they live even further away

from us, we are very happy for them and

the new ministry and adventure God has called them to.

Besides, you just can't argue with God about where,

what or why, when He decides to make changes. He

knows best. He understands my occasional

whining to Him about it though.

 My grandson, the cool dude, 

sporting his favorite sunglasses!

I also had a new adventure  while

on the road to seeing their new home.

  I drove through my first mountain tunnel!

(and many more after that) 

I have really been sheltered here in Indiana. I didn't

even stop to think (duh!) that some places in America

have man-made, very long tunnels which can be

  scary for a person like me with a little

bit of claustrophobia!  

I was driving my own car behind my daughter.

I remember seeing the sign that said tunnel and thinking

it was a small tunnel where you could see the light

out of both ends at the same time, so I didn't

give it another thought UNTIL......

....I then began repeating the 23rd Psalm

and deep breathing

and even contemplated whether I should

get out of the car and run back to the opening

on the tiny sidewalk that I saw along side of the road.

 Next thing I knew,

there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Hurray!!

(Yale Cohen photographer of this photo) 

Of course not the view I saw 

at the end, but isn't this one beautiful?

  After that the other tunnels

were a real breeze for me since I knew 

there was an ending and I learned to play my

music CD loud and clear while zooming through

and sang along, smiling. 

Another hurdle overcome! Woo Hoo!

Actually the mountain view is so beautiful to me. 

Pennsylvania has some gorgeous landscape....

and some gorgeous children.... (grin)

The cute box movers!

It was a busy but wonderful time.  I came home tired

but a very good kind of tired. 

Thank you my friends

for allowing me to share my loves with you today.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Do you have a False Positive in your life?

On with what I am learning from Beth Moore's book

So Long Insecurity.

I had to search my heart to answer this question:

What is my "false positive" that I have

chosen to believe in my life?

We all have them at one time or another in our lives

and they can trip us up and keep us from being

all we were created to be.

For me, I think because I started out in life with

very little material wealth and security in 

my home growing up, I would have to admit that

my prominent "false positive" is 

probably the "successful, nicer big home, lots of

money (to give away of course)

kind of thing. Oh and under all of this is the 

need for Approval. OUCH!

I hate to admit that out loud!!

Why for some crazy reason do I think that would

complete me and bring me happiness?

"Security in any
earthly thing simply cannot be sustained."

Beth Moore

The truth is, I have a small home
that is over 100 years old

but it is warm and cozy and God has helped me

over the years to make it cute and welcoming.
We have raised our family here and have
wonderful memories from 

our simple life.

God knows what we all need, and that includes

YOU my friend.

In order to say So Long Insecurity, you, just like 

me, will have to search your 

heart for any false ideals that you think

would make you more secure in all things and then

let them fly away!  Quit believing that lie.

"When we allow God's truth to eclipse every

false positive and let our eyes spring open

to the treasure we have,  there in His 

glorious reflection will also see the treasure we are."

Beth Moore

"And the beauty 

of the Lord our God will be upon us."

Psalm 90:17 (NKJV)

Then you and I can SOAR like these birds!

Let's FLY my friend,

Letting Go!

I had a wonderful time 
while away visiting my daughter and family.

I was helping them pack up to move to their new home

and didn't realize how tired I was physically

until I got back home.

But I'm all rested now and 

ready to get back to my normal routine. 

I'll post some pics soon of my visit.

Today I began reading Beth Moore's book called

"So Long Insecurity"

I think we all probably have some insecurities 
that we deal with from time to time,

but I must be honest with you

when I say that I have a few that have plagued me

for most of my lifetime. I've learned to cover them

well but know that God never intended for us

to live with even one insecurity in our lives.

As I read this book,
I'm going to try and be honest with

you about what God is asking me to change and 

how he shows me to do it.

Since it's late tonight, I am going to let you see my

thoughts through an art journal page that I made

this evening. It's a simple and not too fancy of
a created page but (away with those insecure words!)
it helped me to get my thoughts

out in another way  tonight.

As the old children's song goes: 

"I'm just a kid under construction,
God is not finished with me yet"

How is your construction coming along?

Whistling While I Work

I am busy whistling while I work around

the house today.  I'm whistling because I get to leave

 on a trip tomorrow where I will be visiting with my

Pennsylvania family, who I am missing so much!

(daughter, son-I-L, and grandchildren!)

I cannot wait to hear new stories

from this sweet one....

and hear jabbers and giggles from

this handsome little guy..

.....and of course

lots of hugs and kisses in between!

Why is it that all of the picture taking

seems to be of

these sweet little two and I have very few

of their mommy and daddy??

Hmmm....I'm going to have

to remedy that and make

mommy and daddy

pose for my camera on this visit, 

whether they like it or not!!!

Only sad part is that my "hubby" doesn't

get to go on the trip with me this time. 

Along with working he

he cannot get away because of the 

college classes he must attend.

(he graduates in December 2010--YAY!!)

I'm working around the house to get everything 

ready for him since I will be gone almost 9 days.

I know I haven't posted more than a few times

in the past 2 weeks due to life

being crazy busy. Now I will be gone again

from blogging for another couple of weeks,

but....please know 

I will miss you

and that I will be back to blogging

and catching up with your blogs

again very soon!  

Oh and before I go I wanted to show you

my new summer doo...

Oops, wrong picture!

 I should have probably baked a pie
for my hubby though
oh well...

here you go!

Oh and have a wonderful 4th of July!

Now back to whistling while I try to work.

Hugs and keep whistling ya all!