creative composition...

{ Create }

Choose well what and who you listen to...

words can be seeds of destiny.

{ Share }
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teihard de Chardin

{ Enjoy }
Sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste are all gifts.

{ Dream }
There is no man living that can not do more
than he thinks he can ~Henry Ford 

 { Inspire }
You have gifts to share.
Discover what they are
and go share them with the world.
 

Have a beautiful week.

xoxo deborah

{ images~flicker, Grange de Charme, and Rachel Ashwell}

sometimes it's good to {just be a kid}

 

I took little Seth for a famous

Eileen's Cookie

and while he ate his

blue frosted huge cookie

I played around with my camera

and caught a few expressive glances.

{I think someone enjoyed the spotlight}

Silly boy...

Manners?

Where's your momma?

Sugar overload...

But a delicious one.

Here comes the crash.

Sometimes it is good to

{just be a kid}.

 

Have a great weekend!

xoxo deborah

so kind

{I Found My Home~photo credits}

I just received

The Stylish Blogger Award

from Beth over at 

My Serendipity!

Thank you Beth!

OK, here are the rules 
for participation: 

*  I am supposed to list 7 things

about myself to help you get to know me better.

*  Then pass this award on to

15 inspiring blogs that I follow...

 

OK here we go...
   

7 Things About Me

1. I have enough books

in our family den to open a library.

I get confused at times: is it a den or a library?

I call it both.

{I often do lend out books to friends}

And the titles in my collection range from

building a great marriage, parenting,

gardening, cooking, interior decor,

and children's books, 

to how to train a dog,

issues on health and fitness,

Monet, Shakespere, and Picasso. 

I don't donate or give away good books...

I love to have them as references.  

2.  I am a licensed cosmetologist.

I save on our budget every month

by doing my families hair, etc.

With four daughters, that's a real benefit.

I even foil my own hair to hi-lite...

{That's pretty entertaining}

 

3.  My childhood home was heated

by a very old wood burning furnace.

That meant cutting wood, loading wood, 

unloading wood, stacking wood,

splitting wood all winter long 
when I was a child. 

Oh, memories...

4.  Our oldest son plays college football,

volunteers leadership with a youth group,

and is a good role model for his siblings,

and makes his parents very proud.

 {Am I supposed to be writing about me?}

5.   I love to grow a garden every year

but I have some serious pests to fight off

so that the vegetables  make it to harvest...

The biggest intruder of my garden

is our 110 pound yellow lab.

He is our oldest son's hunting dog

named Winchester.

He likes red ripe tomatoes...

must get out that dog training book...

{*%@!#%:+=}  :]

  

6. I have been the wife of:

a football player

a pizza dough expert

a lawn service boy

a claims adjuster

an insurance agent

a national software manager

a pharmaceutical rep

a district manager

a national trainer and administrator

a motivational speaker

a college and professional sport chaplain

a firefighter and EMT

and armed security...

All that in 22 years with the same man.

{If someone were to ask, "What do you do"?

I'd should say "Try to keep up with my husband"} 

And we still date every week.

:) 

7.   I avoid most addictions

but I confess I do have one...

I LOVE to paint!

I love to transform walls, 

furniture, etc.

with paint!

Like many of you,

I see beyond the appearance of

  before

to what something would look like

after.

{so fun}

{Maybe that was the appeal to cosmetology and hair design, too}

At least for my own hair...

And now for 15 {or so] of my most favorite blogs:

Grange de Charme  

Shabby Chic 

My Shabby Streamside Studio

The Ardent Sparrow

Little Emma English Home
 A Bowl Full of Lemons 

Glamarella Junk
The Musing Magpie
Sadie Olive
French Farmhouse 425
indobay
I Found My Home
greige
junk garden
Bonjour Romance
inspired design
Dreamy Whites
Fabulously French
Go Beyond The Game
{Hi Honey!}
{It's my husband's sports blog}

My apologies for not linking 
each one of these beautiful
and inspiring blogs to their url's.
To make it easier just 
look for each one on my sidebar...

I'm going to have coffee 
with that busy man now
and then go start my
HOME BINDER
and COMMAND CENTER
reorganization.
{see A Bowl Full of Lemons}

And then paint something!
:) 

xoxo deborah

rest: defined by Noah, Miriam and Friends

{rest}

What comes to mind when you think of the word rest?

Peace,

a tropical vacation,
what you do after a marathon,

sleeping on a great mattress and pillow or maybe

you think being wrapped up

in a thick warm fuzzy blanket

in the evening sitting by a fire.

It is something that we were designed

to need and enjoy

now and then,

and yet most of us have a difficult time 

finding true rest. 

I love my old Webster's Dictionary.

Words can be so... common.

So familiar and still we don't often understand

their full meaning.

Here in my old dictionary I find 

a little bit more input on words

that I have used my whole life. 

rest (rest), n.: 

peace, ease and refreshment as produced by sleep,

refreshing ease or inactivity after work or exertion,

relief from anything distressing, disturbing, 

annoying, tiring, etc.

peace of mind;

mental and emotional calm;

tranquility.

in music, 

an interval of silence between tones.

to be or seem to be supported,

to rely on or upon, depend,

to remain, stay, abide.

{and interestingly}

a support for the end of a lance

{a sword in medieval times}

found on the breastplate

of armor.

Rest as part of a military regimen?

The book I love

{even more than the dictionary}

has so much to say about rest.

And there's no need for me  to argue with

or challenge it

because the Author of this book

is the oldest and certainly the wisest

of all authors in any bookstore or library

that I have ever been in. 

"My soul finds rest in God alone"  Psalms 62:1

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength"  Isiah 30:15

images from the web

   Come to me all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

{it's a promise}

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

{I don't know about you but knowing that makes Him approachable to me}

and you will find rest for your souls.

{another promise}

For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28~30

I think I'll rest on that.

 

{ A nest for a rest...}

{Shabby Chic Couture}

This is what rest can look like at our house...

Don't roll over Caleb!

Maggie is resting, too.

A picture 

of child-like trust

that all is well.

All is well.

Thank you for stopping by

and

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo deborah 

my mini vacations

Just wondering...

Have you gone to France yet?

I go there often

on my personal transportation:

{laptop}

I can take any seat I want.

And I have a full service kitchen

and chef to cook

if I'm hungry for more than peanuts.

{I'm my chef}

I am making the trip again today.

I would love 
for you to come along!
Let me introduce you
to a few favourites.

 

A very lovely place
to spend a day:


{Grange De Charme}
 grangedecharme.canalblog.com

I could live here.

The first time
that I peeked into the rooms
of this beautiful corner 
of the blogosphere
I was stunned at how 

{BREATHTAKING}

each photograph was.

 

You'll even see a little of 
Rachel Ashwell's 
inspiration, too.

The author is also a fan of
Sandy's
{My Shabby Streamside Studio}
An adorable little dreamworld

myshabbystreamsidestudio.blogspot.com 

 Why am I still writing?
I just lost most of you  by posting 
Sandy's link...
What a treat her little studio is.
Come back when you're finished 
with your visit there!



The icing on the cake
for visiting
Grange De Charme
in France
are all the stars
that follow the guests around
as they go on their tour...
so, so extravagant. 


If you've never been there
just take a seat,
grab a drink and a snack
and let me show you around.
It only takes a minute to get there
and you can stay as long as you'd like.

Bon Voyage!

XOXO deborah

grangedecharme.canalblog.com
grangedecharme.canalblog.com

do you have a dusty shelf dream?

devote 

yourself to

an idea.

go make it happen.

work through it.

overcome your fears.

smile.

don't forget

this is

your dream.

When you were a little one

{a long time ago for me}

what was it that you

DrEamed

that you would do

when you grew up?

Did you want to fly?

Be a doctor

and help people?

Or maybe you had

an invention idea?

Or maybe it was to

be a mommy?

When you had play time

what adventures did you go on?

I remember thinking I could 

FLY

if only I could get to 

the tree tops or 

to the top of the roof...

{thank God I never tried it}

{French Charming~photo credits}

One of my dreams

is to write.

It is so small 

{It's still incubating...}

 

 I have a few book ideas

and their chapter titles

floating around in my head...

Sometimes it's hard 

to go for dreams.

Discernment is often required.

Some dreams are simply great ideas,

while others are part of our

destiny.

I am resolving that

FAITH

is also required

to just

start. 

Yes, 

I suppose that's it.

{just start}

And after I've started

keep going until I

{finish.}

   xoxo deborah