All Lives Matter!

We used to sing a song in church about how Jesus loves the little children - red, and yellow, black and white! He loves all colors of people, not just white, not just black, not just Indian, not just Asian. Not just Jews, not just Gentiles, not just Samaritans. He even loves unborn babies. I believe we will see all races in heaven cause what matters is what's in our heart and whether we believe in Jesus. It is our character that makes a difference in how we live.  Be grateful for the goodness that has come our way because of wise decisions made in the past. 

Yet I understand the need to have a happy home or place decorated with objects that make me happy. I don't like looking at things that remind me of unhappy memories. A friend with a lovely heart told me to give away or pack away objects that do. Perhaps some day I might not think of them in quite the same way and I can restore them to a place in my living space. 

How to Teach Your Child to Give a Genuine Apology By Amanda Morin. With printables to practice "I" statements!

There are a couple of new videos in the Gratitude Tools and Words of Gratitude playlist! 

I've been spring cleaning! Took three bags off of STUFF to the thrift store! We've also been painting and repairing and rearranging. Decided the Farmhouse style of Home Decorating was something I really liked (favorite colors: black, white, & grey with pops of red and turquoise) after watching some YouTube videos of those who like to decorate their homes in that style. I have a couple of pages of Polaroid Zink photos in my positivity journal of completed projects. Check out the video here! 

I have a problem with exercise boredom, but I've been trying to remember that my armchair bike works as a water pill - to get the fluids moving out of my legs, so I've done a little better this month with cycling when watching videos. I should do it 20 to 30 minutes everyday, so I'm gonna keep plugging away at it until I get that habit in place! 

Pastor occasionally hands out reminder postcards and I glued one into my journal. Good reminder for the Golden Rule!

Finished 37 doodles for Marsha Baker's 365 Doodle Challenge! I have 155 more to go! 

SCRIPTURES:

Documented Faith

Psalm 7:10, 17 = "My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. 

Psalm 139:23-24 = Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Ephesians 2:8-9 = For it is by GRACE you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.

QUOTES: 

"Focus on positive emotions and responses as much as possible such as hopefulness and humor, rather than on negative ones such as fear, anger, frustration, blame  and disappointment. At the same time, allow yourself to be where you are in the experience, but push towards the positive as soon as possible. Make the most of the visual world through art, color, nature, or whatever you enjoy looking at. Be kind to yourself." (~ Pete Kellett).

"You are a powerful and strong daughter of Christ." (~ Julie Luca). 

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive." (~ Sir. Walter Scott, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. 1808.)

"Garden Hearts." 

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Kind hearts are the gardens.

Kind thoughts are the roots.

Kind words are the flowers.

Take care of the gardens, and 

Keep them from weeds.

Fill them with flowers, 

Kind Words and kind Deeds.

Anniversaries: Wrote down a list of anniversaries, centennials and bicentennials we have celebrated during our lifetimes.

1. Our birthday and wedding anniversaries

2. Both my grandparents' and in-laws' 50th wedding anniversaries. My grandparents had parties and my in-laws' took at trip to El Paso, TX to see how it has changed in the last 50 years. Our family was invited to go along as my husband was born in the Army Hospital there which we discovered no longer exists. 

3. 1976 = The United States of America's Bicentennial 

4. We attended three church 50th anniversaries - First Church of God, Wyandotte County, KS; Metropolitan Church of the Nazarene, Wyandotte County, KS; and Grandview Church of the Nazarene, Jackson County, MO.

5. I attended the Church of God (Anderson, IN) Centennial with my paternal grandmother in 1981. I drove my grandmother from her home to Wichita, KS where we stayed with my aunt and uncle one night. Then they took us to the airport where we caught an airplane to Bethany, OK. Oh the marvels of air travel - what would have taken us several hours to drive from grandma's home took us only 1/2 hour of travel time via the skies! Once in Oklahoma, we were added to a church group traveling by bus to Anderson, IN. After the conclusion of the Centennial celebration, we caught a train to Detroit, MI to visit my other aunt and uncle and then rode home with me via train where Grandma stopped for the night to visit with us and then rode on home to western Kansas where my cousin picked her up from the train station to drive her home. Wonderful memories!  One of the highlights was visiting the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI with grandma, my aunt, uncle and cousins. 

6. The Nazarene's Centennial was in 2008.  

And I was sent the below prayer in an email. Reminded me of a coloring sheet I created a while back. Here's a link to a freebie coloring sheet. One with Smilin' Sam and Sunbonnet Sue in it. - click here. 

OLD FARMER'S PRAYER

A pastor asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast.

"Lord, I hate buttermilk", the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going.

The farmer loudly proclaimed, "Lord, I hate lard." Now the pastor was growing concerned.

Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw white flour". The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn't the only one to feel uncomfortable.

Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen."

Within that prayer there is great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today. 

Stay strong, my friends, because our LORD is mixing several things that we don't really care for, but something even better is going to come when He is done with it. AMEN!

PROJECT PICTURES! 
I have so many pictures of the projects that we have completed this month that I had to add in another sheet to my journal. 

1. I repainted a bee plant poke, a shelf over my kitchen sink, and a candlestick table.  
2. David repainted a huge metal star that I found at the thrift store and metal soap dish black and hung them up outside for us on the house. 
3. He spray-painted a metal hook bracket black for our kitchen. I want to hang it on the wall next to the stove for some utensils or pots. 
4. And he also spray-painted two metal containers white. One I'm using in the bathroom for cotton balls and swabs and the other is in my bedroom to hold personal products.
5. I began to patch holes outside our shower, repainted the footboard white and my husband screwed the shower ceiling panel back up as the glue was beginning to come loose from gravity, age and moisture. 
6. I found some baskets to organize our personal bathroom products, my nightstand drawer, and a kitchen junk drawer. 

7. I sewed up a dress from 5-t-shirts, stitched an apron, and some tissue cozies for Stephanie Ackerman's bless you project. 
8. How do you like this blog's new look? If you like the new background, please click the like button at the bottom of this blog post! One of my projects this month! 😉

A PERSONAL SUMMER READING PROGRAM = Got one book read so far, but want to fill these two pages by the end of the summer with positive reading books. I own a wealth of books in our home library, some of which I have never read. The book below is the first I've read. 

1. Thank You. Illustrated by Mary Engelbreit. 1993. 

My prayer: I was anointed a couple of Sundays ago for emotional healing. I want to be a happy, beautiful soul. smile!