Found this old metal chest in Bapa's barn...my mom painted it for me and I love it! I've never bought a Scentsy before, but as you can see the one on top is a pink and green cupcake...I didn't have much choice! :O)

Love my cupcake picture! Thanks to my sweet daughter for making it for me!

I love this wall in my kitchen! The shelf was made by my mom out of ceiling tile from the gift shop she and Mema had for 15 years, The Family Tree.

The canisters I painted and decoupaged after moving them around year after year unfinished. The cabinet is our pantry and I bought it for $10 once at a garage sale and fixed it up! :O)

Recently got my great, great grandmother's dresser. She bought it at a 2nd hand store when she got married. Not sure what year that was, but was sometime in the later 1800's! WOW!

My mom decoupaged this old mirror...I didn't like it at first, but once I hung it on the pretty green walls it seemed to come to life and fit right in. Now I really like it!

Shelf made by Bapa, wall sconces bought by my mom. They had oval plaques with sideways heads on them and we repainted and added the plates! Pretty!

My cross wall and floral couch that was Mimi's

I moved an old farm table that my grandad built for the hired hands who knows how many years ago in and put my bench that my other grandpa made with it. I will be finding old chairs to paint to finish it out.

Singing in the Rain

Our precious daughter Bethany married the man of her dreams, Tyler Bigham, on July 3, 2010. She had the outdoor wedding she always dreamed of on the "wedding hill" behind our house. Her dad, brothers and Tyler worked especially hard to make the wedding hill beautiful, but God gets the glory for all the wonderful creations He has made for us to enjoy.

Despite about 6 inches of rain that weekend, the wedding went on as planned, and just as Brian starting walking Bethany down the isle, the rain stopped and didn't start again until after the ceremony. God is so GOOD! :)

The wedding was the most precious I've ever been to, the weather was perfect and the smiles were contagious! We are still on cloud 9 and wanted to share with you! Blessings!!

Life goes on...

Well I'll have to say that the past year has been a doozy! In February 2009 I lost Mema, Jetuan George...she and I were really close and I have missed her terribly! Then 66 days later, I lost Bapa, Billy Joe George. What a character! If you knew him I'm sure he made you smile or laugh at some point. Last week I lost Mimi, Myrtle Jennings. What a precious lady she was. 99 1/2 years old and evangelized until the very end. I am sad to no longer have living grandparents, but smile to know what a brighter place Heaven is now with them all there. It just reminds me that life goes on and to keep on living while I have the chance. If I get to live long enough to see my grandkids in their 40's I will be old...yet grateful! :)

I really can't put into words how blessed my life is because of these 3 wonderful people. I am who I am because of them all and have always been thankful for them. What a blessing to grow up in the same town as all of your grandparents! I have friends that tell me that they never really knew their grandparents and I can't even imagine that! I also knew my great-grandmothers and one great-grandfather well...That reminds me of how thankful I am that my children got to know their great-grandparents so well. We are blessed beyond words and I thank God daily for the wonderful family He allowed me to be a part of!

And to top that off...I'm His child too!! I can't think of anything any better than that!

Have a blessed day!

Shana

The Engagement

I remember when I was 16 and really started praying for my future. I prayed about my future husband and children. I started praying then for my children's future spouses, that they would grow up and become Christians and date and marry Christians....it doesn't seem that long ago, yet here I am 25 years later announcing my daughter's engagement.
I always knew I was going to have a blonde-haired daughter named Bethany. In fact, when I was pregnant with her, I knew she was going to be a girl so strongly that I almost went ahead and filled out the birth announcements. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. She was instantly bright-eyed. Her pretty blue eyes were so big and she blinked slowly and looked around as if to make sure she wasn't missing out on something.

I'm not sure how time goes by so quickly, that was over 20 years ago and I still can't help but think of her as my little girl. She has always been so independant and she always has known what she wanted and went for it. She rarely ever lets anyone tell her what to do, (except for her parents of course) and doesn't have a problem standing up for what she believes in, even if she's the only one standing.

So now she's engaged and I'm so very humbled at the way God has answered our prayers in this area. My number one prayer for her husband has always been someone that was a Godly man who loves the Lord more than he loves Bethany and that he will lead her spiritually. I am so proud to say that this is just what she got in Tyler...plus so much more! I could cry at the thought of seeing her get married and move away possibly, and I'm sure I will, but what makes me cry today is the realization of just how much God loves us and hears us and cares about our lives. I'm so humbled to know that He has heard my prayers for so long and has answered them in a way that is just like His word says, "more than we could ask or imagine".

It's so nice to meet someone that you've prayed for for so long. I not only prayed for Tyler, but his parents as well....I asked God to bring Bethany a husband that was raised in a Christian home with a strong Christian dad and mom...WOW! It's not that I am just now realizing that God hears my prayers and its not the first time I've seen Him at work in my life, but its just a humbling, sweet time and I'm thankful!

Congratulations, Tyler and Bethany! We love you!! And this only makes me a little giddy inside knowing that God already has a plan for my boys and their future wives. I can't wait to see what else He will do! To Him be the glory today and evermore!!

thoughts

I have just been sad all morning. As I sat down to put on my makeup I was fighting back tears and trying to figure out what was going on and then it hit me...tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of when Mema passed away. I miss her so much. She was and is such a huge part of me. She's the first person that I've lost that I was really close to and I've been amazed throughout the past year at how many times I've wanted to call her or stop by and see her on my way through Plainview. I've had so many things happen that I've wanted to share with her and so many times, she was the first person I'd call. I loved sharing things about my baking business with her. She always encouraged me to keep on doing more and she always made me feel so special. I know she was proud of me and I was proud of her too. She was more than just my grandmother, she was one of my best friends. I'm so happy for her that she's not suffering anymore, but I still miss her so bad it hurts. I look forward to seeing her again one day. I always thought I'd be ready for this...I'm realistic and knew the day would come....I just didn't know how hard it would be. The emotions that I feel still are at times overwhelming, but I look at her picture that is on my bathroom mirror and feel as though she's still here. I think of her all the time and hope that I can someday be as good of a grandmother to my grandchildren as she was to me and all of us. I learned a lot from her and putting it all into words is hard, but anyone who knew her, knows what I am talking about. One thing for sure, she taught me how to grow older gracefully. Her body was in horrible shape, and she had plenty she could've been bitter and grouchy about, but every time one of us would walk into her room, she would light up and perk up and just be full of joy. She knew how to laugh at herself and she often did so...and to hear her laugh was a treasure all in itself! :) I'm proud to have known her and so thankful to have been able to have her in my life for over 40 years! God is so good!

hmmm...

Sometimes I just wish we could see the future, don't you? It seems as though it would make today easier, doesn't it? I've been full of many questions and prayers lately for things in the coming days, weeks, months...if only I could just know now what was going to happen, it would make it so much easier now. So for today, I will cling to the one thing I know for sure about the future...mine is secure in the hands of God for eternity...that's enough for me to know! :)

Things forgotten

I woke up this morning thinking about all the difficult things that we go through on this earth. Sometimes things seem harder than anything we think we can get through, yet our wonderful Heavenly Father has a plan. I know that I've been through things before that at the time, I didn't handle well, I thought it was just far more than I would ever be able to get through and yet I continued to stay faithful to Him and then something strange happens...you wake up one morning and realize you made it through and suddenly, it doesn't seem as big as it once was. Somethings I can't even remember the details of now that were all consuming to my life at one point. God can take things from us when we give them to Him and he really can erase it. It's kind of like a bad dream in the middle of the night that wakes you up....at the time it seems horrible and you can't go back to sleep for a long time, but then in the morning all of a sudden you can't even remember the details and it seems a little silly and not so big.
I'm thankful for every trial I've endured so far because they've make me who I am and they've pushed me to fall deeper and deeper in love with my Lord and Savior! :)
I'm working on getting to a place in my life that the first thing I do in any circumstance, good or bad, is talk to God before I talk to anyone else. Sometimes that is the only talking I need to do. I'm learning more and more that He is enough and He already has everything worked out for my good....after all Romans 8:28 says: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
So won't you join me today in loving Him more deeply and trusting our lives to Him no matter what our circumstances?
It enables me to smile and feel peace and joy today and everyday! I hope that you feel it too!
Blessings!!