Springtime again

So glad that the winter weather is mostly behind us! I love the springtime.

but OH NO! the weatherman is predicting freezing rain tonight! I hope our apple tree will not get all the flowers frozen again this year...it is in full bloom right now.

The treehouse is not completely finished yet, but the children are up in it this afternoon...we are planning to go to a Christian School Retreat next week and they are studying the words for the spelling bee up there!

Another new thing around our place, is GOATS! We just bought these Nubians, and a very few days later the little kid was born...

Also...here is the latest update about my artwork. I went to another watercolor workshop in Kentucky the first week of April, and here is my painting of my father-in-law, who passed away suddenly in October.

We were told at the workshop that we needed to practice drawing EVERY DAY...so here is one of the better things I've come up with just this past week...can you tell who this famous person is?!

The reason I am working on drawing faces of famous people, is to be able to demonstrate- for a potential client- my ability to capture a likeness. I do want to paint watercolor portraits someday for commission, but if in my portfolio I only have family members that I have painted, that will not fit this need. I have done some other drawings lately but I still need to hone my skill! Of course I don't really want to post the ones that are not my best :)  Although just for fun, on Facebook I did post one that was not too bad. 

So life goes! Ima be a grandma soon! In May is the big Day! Happy Spring Y'all!

Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

February Art Update

To whom it may interest...Here is where I am on my deer painting...I am working on the right ear! LOL   Also I lifted a lot of the paint from the lower leaves- they just weren't suiting me. I find myself wishing I had not tried to do an autumn scene because green leaves would be much easier. :) But this will make me learn something hopefully...

A Devotional for February - Shared

My husband receives the daily devotional from Joni and Friends...this one was published January 30, 2013 and I liked it so well I wanted to post it here on my blog.

Giving Grace

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:29 (NASB)

Before this day is done, an occasion will arise in your life that today's verse calls "the need of the moment." It will happen this way: God has someone in mind He wants to touch today. He has grace available for this person. At the same time, God is looking for another person to serve as His conduit. What does He do next: He crosses your paths. He puts the two of you together in a grocery check-out line, on a golf course, at choir rehearsal, in Chemistry class, in the parking lot or at the ATM booth.

What happens after that is up to you. You have before you a "need of the moment." You also have God who desires to give divine help. You can choose to side-step the moment and, thus, miss the opportunity, or you can give "such a word as is good for edification...that it may give grace to those who hear."

Every day you and I have a chance- many chances- to nudge people closer to the Lord. To be one more stepping stone in the many it will take to bring that person to Christ. You have a chance to extend the magnificent grace of God through what you say and do. You are a pipeline, an aqueduct through which He keeps meeting needs of the moment in the lives of others.

We can be in partnership with the Lord to reach those He has special designs on. Your encouragement becomes grace that is strengthening, enabling and empowering for others. This is the ministry God will call you to today.

Don't miss it. Sometime, before you lay your head on the pillow, someone will be positioned to directly benefit from your words. When the opportunity arises, don't forget to speak that word of grace.

Put me on alert, Lord. Thank You for using me as a conduit of Your love and care to someone else.

Blessings,

Joni and Friends

www.joniandfriends.org

You can also listen to the radio spot by following this link:

http://www.joniandfriends.org/radio/5-minute/giving-grace/

National Hot Tea Month

How's your January going?

Celebrate National Hot Tea Month with me! My new tea love right now is from the Republic of Tea and is named Cranberry Blood Orange. It tastes great with crunchy cookies...

Hmmm...I did a blogpost about this flavor over a year ago! I really don't like to drink hot tea year-round, just in the cooler months...so I had forgotten I had already raved about this before. 

Speaking of a "blood orange" - just where are these available? I don't think I have ever seen one in the grocery stores in my corner of the world. 

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/in-season-blood-oranges-00400000001197/

So here above is a link with a little info about these hard-to-find oranges...according to this source, some may grow in California but most are grown in Mediterranean countries.

Here is a picture I found...

The link from Cooking Light calls this a "dessert" orange! Interesting...

Another personal note- in wintertime I crave oranges over apples...

Anyway, let's enjoy Hot Tea this month!