Hat Rainbows

Brenda Bowman gave permission to use this photo of her children

visiting Epcot in Florida. Just loved the colors.

God knows what He's about!

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man, and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
To build so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Then watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him
Into shapes and forms of clay
Which only God can understand
While man's tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands...
Yet God bends but never breaks
When man's good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him to try His splendor out,
God knows what He's about.

--Joni Erikson Tada

Six years of God's goodness

Yesterday marked 6 years since the fire for us. That Monday around 3:00 I was getting ready to go home and make Jay's birthday supper. Those plans were changed as we lost the shop to a fire. Late that night neighbors brought supper and a birthday cake - minus the candles. January 27, 2003 the colors of our day changed with every second and every emotion. Much was lost that day and much has changed in the following six years. But, much has been gained and we have six years of footprints in the sand. The journey has truly been filled with much color. Our family has grown to include a spouse for each of our children, two grandchildren and two more on the way and 2008 marked some milestones with the business. We give testimony to the goodness of God, HIS church and HIS people. Great is His faithfulness! We can sing the song "Thou hast turned our mourning into dancing."


Happy Birthday, Jay - a day late.
God has gifted you with many gifts and he has blessed me richly and beyond my wildest imaginations to allow me to walk beside you - for better or for worse. I wouldn't trade a moment of our journey together for anything.

What color is your technology?

Today the color of gratefulness for me will need to be white - the color of my 'bottom feeding' washer. I hate, sorry...... strongly dislike my current washer. But I'll be keeping it for now. =)

Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe: This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - with spelling errors and all.

WARSHING CLOTHES
Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water.
Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert.
Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water.
Sort things, make 3 piles1 pile white,1 pile colored,1 pile work britches and rags.
To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.
Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch.
Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.
Hang old rags on fence.
Spread tea towels on grass.Pore wrench water in flower bed.
Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
Turn tubs upside down.
Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs.
Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

Paste this over your washer and dryer Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks. First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer, also your toilet---those two-holers used to get mighty cold!

For you non-southerners - wrench means, rinse ;)

AND WE THOUGHT WE HAVE IT ROUGH

The Color of New

The slaughter floor crew has been fighting a very long time with an old splitting saw.
The color of new for this gang is currently shiny silver.

There's always time for coloring our world with fun.
After the blade is in they promise to be quite serious.

Welcome The Rain

Ominous charcoal clouds roll in from the east.

Blackness envelops the sky.

What begins as a single drop develops

into a steady, rhythmic

pat ..... pat ..... pat ......

Suddenly, the skies open up and a down pour

of rain saturates the thirsty earth.....

A businessman lets out an angry sigh.

Knowing that traffic will be slow he thinks,

Why me? Why today? Just tell me Why!

Outside of town,

a farmer scans the horizon as the storm begins to roll in.

With joy and celebration he calls out,

We are blessed!! At last the drought will end.

Life is what you choose to make of it.

When your rain comes......

Will you choose to be the businessman or the farmer?

Welcome The Rain!

Welcome Adversity -- Erik Weihenmayer has climbed to the highest peaks on each of the seven continents,

runs marathons,

paraglides,

cycles,

............ Erik is blind.

Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles,

they toughen and make strong.

--Norman Vincent Peale

Welcome Challenges -- In 1914, Thomas Edison's laboratory caught on fire. As his life's work went up in flames, instead of being heart broken, he called out, "We'll build bigger and better on the ruins."

Accept the challends so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.

-- General George S. Patton

Welcome Controversary -- On December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat. Her decision led to the end of legal segregation in America.

The greatest power a person possesses is the power to choose.

-- J. Martin Kohe

When you choose to see beyond life's storms,

A new perspective you will gain

Since you will only find your rainbow

After you ....

Welcome The Rain

See this in movie form at www.WalktheTalk.com

Color of One's Heart

by Misty Hawley

Color one one's heart.

Color of one's skin, makes no difference.

Who you are within.

They ridicule knowing the damage they cause.

Word-by-word you put up stones to block those hateful words.

Keep the faith to tear down the fortress of stones.

Wanting white on my deck!

I was really hoping for some winter white on the deck.

Here's some 'deck white' from another season.

I planted a moonflower vine at the corner post. Til the end of summer it had all but covered two sides of the deck. It was a prolific bloomer. Buds appearing everywhere in a corkscrew fashion and as the sun would set the buds would open and bloom during the night. As the morning sun hit them the next day the flower faded. But another one was waiting and ready for that evening.

The blooms were 5-6 inches across. I saved lots of seeds and hope to have more for this summer. But I hope I don't need to wait until summer for a white deck.

Fractals - The Color of Numbers

Maybe everyone already knew about fractals but I was first introduced to them while reading the book "The Shack". Sarayu took Mack out back to her garden and it was "confusing, stunning, and incredibly beautiful". From the book:

"A fractal....something considered simple and orderly that is actually composed of repeated patterns no matter how magnified. A fractal is almost infinitely complex. I love fractals, so I put them everywhere."

--Sarayu

Fractal art is the visual depiction of complex mathematical equations. Amazing - the fun God has with color by playing with numbers. I spent oodles of time finding breathtaking pictures online in a simple google search of fractals. At first glance many of them can look like something of a complete mess ....'out-of-order' to the max. But when you realize that they are precise, totally in order and following a number equation -- well, I love that side of God!

Hangin' with Grandma.

Rachel on the move!

Isaac and Aunt Jess.

When you tell him to smile he squints his eyes.

Trying to get the earbud in to the Ipod.

Grandpa

Grandpa's don't just say "that's nice" -- they reel back and roll their eyes and throw up their hands and smile. You get your money's worth out of grandpa's.
--author unknown