Faith Family Friends

Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Wednesday 29 April 2009

We Know Spring is Here When.....

Good afternoon everyone~ We Islanders have been waiting and waiting for the arrival of Spring. Well, over the weekend we had a temperature of 22 degrees celcius on Saturday and 23 degrees yesterday! Even though it is only 7 degrees today, the promise of warm weather has all our hopes up. What a wonderful treat for those of us who are very weary of the cold damp weather!
When I see a robin hopping around, I know Spring has finally sprung.
I also know for certain that Spring has arrived when the Spring Peepers start singing behind our home at night! They are not the cutest little frogs in the world, but they sure know how to sound like a choir in the evening! I just love listening to them.
Do you know these little guys are only about an inch and a half in length? That's about the size of a paper clip! Spring Peepers are to the amphibian world what Robins are to the bird world. As their name implies, they begin emitting their sleigh-bell-like chorus right around the beginning of Spring. Here on the Island, it is more like mid-April before we hear them.Yesterday, after I brought the clothes in off the line, a beautiful male Gold Finch flew to the clothes line. I was thrilled!
Hubby has changed from his uniform pants to shorts on warmer days; this is also the sign that Spring is here! These are truly the signs that Spring has arrived on PEI and I'm one happy gal! Have a wonderful day everyone!
"This is the day the Lord has made; Let us be glad and rejoice in Him"

Monday 27 April 2009

Blue Monday


Good Morning Friends~ Blue Monday is here again and I want to thank my friend Sally for hosting this fun event again this week. Please click on the link http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ or go to the Blue Monday button on my side bar to visit other blues sites.
I would like to share with you some blues from my guest room today. The room is painted in a soft blue and I have a few blue items in the room to dress it up a bit.

This little blue framed print hangs on the wall over the white dresser. On the dresser, you will find a couple of Delft Blue pieces.
A Delft Blue jar.
~ and a windmill.
On the opposite side of the room is a blue rocker. This little girl sits quietly holding her teddy bear and waiting for company. You can't tell from the photo but she is wearing a soft blue dress and matching blue booties on her feet. She has blue eyes and her braids are tied with blue ribbon. She was the first doll Hubby ever gave me.

Well folks, that's it for today. Can't show it all today because I'll run out of blues! Enjoy your day and be sure to visit the other blue sites to see what they are offering.

Saturday 25 April 2009

Spiritual Sundays


I hope you all had a lovely week. Thank you Charlotte & Ginger for once again hosting Spiritual Sundays!

This week I would like to share a poem which my sweet Auntie P sent me. She continues to send me lovely emails even while she is vacationing down in Florida. This is one I received the other day and it is a lovely way to use the alphabet.

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." PSALMS 100: 4-5

Although things are not perfect

Because of trials or pain,

Continue in thanksgiving

Do not begin to blame.

Even when the times are hard

Fierce winds are bound to blow

God is forever able

Hold on to what you know.

Imagine life without His love

Joy would cease to be;

Keep thanking Him for all things

Love imparts to thee.

Move out of "Camp Complaining"

No weapon that is known

On earth can yield the power

Praise can do alone.

Quit looking at the future

Redeem the time at hand

Start everyday with worship

To "thank" is a command.

Until we see Him coming

Victorious in the sky,

We'll run the race with gratitude

Xalting God Most High.

Yes, there'll be good times & yes, there'll be bad, but....

Zion waits in glory...where no one is ever sad!

"I AM too blessed to be stressed!" The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.

Please click on the Spiritual Sundays button on my sidebar to visit other inspirationals and stories. I pray you will all have a blessed weekend and a wonderful & restful Sunday.

Pink Saturday~ My Pink Creation


"Happy Pink Saturday!" I cannot believe it is Saturday again already! Have you ever noticed how fast the weeks fly by?
I have a few pinks to share with you today....
First up is a lovely pink rose. I'm hoping it will dry as well as the last one did. I love dried flowers; you can do so much with them!
Next is my trusty little pink glue gun. This little glue gun has been my friend for a very long time!If you recall, last week I showed you some flowers and teacups and told you I would be creating something with them.
Well, here is my creation; a teacup wreath! I used roses, hydrangeas, cherry blossoms, peonies, tiny berries, and beads along with the teacups.

Only problem is, you can't see the teacups very well unless you're close up. Sorry!

That's my lineup for this week. Now, since it is Pink Saturday, why not indulge yourself in all kinds of pinkness and go visit all the other pinkies out there by clicking on the link http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ or you can click on the Pink Saturday button on my sidebar. Have a wonderful Pink Day everyone!

Thursday 23 April 2009

Vintage Ads

Good afternoon everyone~ Today I would like to show you the vintage ads I won in a Giveaway. A few weeks ago, I entered a Giveaway at Debbie's Glory Feathers, Star Light, and Roses http://gloryfeathers.blogspot.com/ and I won!!

Anyone who likes vintage ads will enjoy seeing these. What I like about them is that they transport you back to a simpler time where ladies wore hats and gloves to church or dress up. Big jars of bright candies sat on the counter at the old country store and made the eyes of children big as saucers to look at them. A bag of penny candy cost only a nickel or a dime and a bottle of pop was something like eight cents. Chocolate bars were almost twice the size they are now and one could buy an O'Henry bar for a nickel.
When you walked into the old country store, you could smell an assortment of scents in the air! Talcum powder and spices, ground oats and fresh meat.
The clerk would grind your meat for you while you asked about the family and you talked about events taking place in the neighborhood. The freshly ground meat would be handed to you wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.
Almost everything came packaged in a tin, a box, or brown paper.
Through the windows, danced the sunbeams and on the walls, you would see the latest advertisements for cough medicine and ice cream.
There was the scent of innocence in the air....Those were the days!
Aren't these ads charming? They are about fifteen and a half inches by eleven inches. One side is an advertisement for warm cotton blankets and the reverse side is for Williams' Talc Powder.


I will hang one side for a time and when I need a change, I'll reverse it to the other side. Thank you Debbie!

Enjoy your day everyone and pleasant dreams of days gone by!

Tuesday 21 April 2009

A Giveaway Arrived

Hello everyone. Today I would like to show you what I won from Yvette's Giveaway at "The Charm House." http://thecharmhouse.blogspot.com/ The parcel arrived the other day and it was just full of goodies!
Everything arrived in a box with Mickey Mouse on it; very cute!
When I opened it up, it was full of pink tissue paper with brown polka dots. Yvette had everything wrapped so beautifully! Thank you Yvette!Two small boxes were tied up with pretty brown ribbon. As you can see from the pictures, there were all sorts of goodies......a Promise Book, a notepad and pen, four vintage clothes pins wrapped with binding, a bag full of spools, and the three hard covered Readers Digests were also tied up with brown ribbon. There was also a personal note from Yvette to me. When I opened the two little boxes, one held some vintage jewelery.

The other held a bird's nest with three eggs in it. Lots of surprises! What's your favourite? Blogging is so much fun!!

Yesterday, another parcel arrived which I will show you later on this week.

I also want to tell you about my friend Katherine at Country Romantic http://countryromantic.blogspot.com/ who is having a giveaway on her blog. She is giving away a beautiful Victorian album.

Please keep Katherine and her family in your prayers as her grandmother passed away the other day. Why not stop by and pay her a visit? I know she would appreciate a visit and a word of encouragement at this sad time! Blessings on you all!

Monday 20 April 2009

Blue Monday


"Happy Blue Monday" everyone~ Thank you Sally for hosting this fun event. You can click on the link http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ or the Blue Monday button on my sidebar to visit other blues today.

One of my favourite confections, although I have several, is brown sugar fudge! Since I can't make my own {I have a hard time beating the candy while it cools; I only have success making chocolate fudge} and my mother can't make it for me any more; I am so happy to have discovered this fudge in the super market. It comes all the way from England and it satisfies my sweet tooth when I get a craving {which is more often than I ought to}. It also comes in a blue bag which is why I'm sharing it with you today.
Take it from me, it's as good as it looks!
Hmmm, what have we here? A little blue velvet box! Wonder what's inside?
Why it's a pair of little sparklies for my ears!
This next item was a birthday present from my son Joel and his wife, Carina. They had gone down to the States to a Michael W. Smith concert at Christmastime and they bought two of these; one for Carina and one for me. When they came home in February, they brought this with them to give to me. I was so surprised and very happy! I would imagine most of you in Christian circles would be familiar with his music. He is one of my favourite singers and I was tickled pink to receive this hoody with Michael's name on the sleeve. It is navy blue with a big heart on the front and Faith, Hope, Love, and Serve on the back.

I am probably the only one on the Island to own one of these! It is unique and a real blessing to have it! Thanks guys!

So, those are my blues for today. I hope you all have a wonderful and bright 'blue' day and please do make your way over to other Blue Monday posts. You never know what you'll see!

Saturday 18 April 2009

Spiritual Sundays ~ Change Your Thinking!


Hello Friends. I received a short story through email this past week and thought I would share it with you. You may have read this before but I think it is worth a second read! It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, and where they had both been on vacation.

Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while the children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every colour and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene. One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days, weeks, and months passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.

"Today is a gift, that is why it is called the Present."

When I read this story, I cannot help but think of the scripture verse from Philippians 4:8 - "Whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy, think on these things."

The scriptures also tell us that there is life and death in the power of the tongue! We have the power to make someone else's life better just by having a good attitude!

Let's have an attitude of gratitude and be a blessing to others!

I pray you were encouraged today and I hope you will go visit Spiritual Sundays for a wonderful array of devotionals and stories. Just click on the Spiritual Sundays button on my sidebar.

The Lord be with you & bless you!

Pink Saturday



"Happy Pink Saturday" my dear bloggy friends.
Showing off pink treasures is so easy for me because there is so much of this romantic blush of colour in my home. However, one does start to run out of pinks after a while. I actually had to go looking for some pink today!

Something that I have never shared before are the following items~
A little votive candle sitting sweetly on a Rose Chintz saucer. This is much like a little Rose Chintz hurricane lamp I saw advertised on the Internet. I just decided to make my own.

These are two wee demi-tasses that I have in the Rose Chintz pattern. See how small they are in comparison to a regular sized teacup?

Lastly, here is a piece of cranberry glass, a gift from Hubby.

Now, I will show you a bunch of flowers and teacups. Can you guess what I'm going to be doing with these?

I will show you my new creation next week!

Hope your day will be wonderful in every way and please go visit Beverly and all the other pinkies participating in today's fun event. Just click on the link or the Pink Saturday button on my sidebar. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/