Dollar Tree, Lowe’s,and Romance

Hello, imaginary friends!

DD#2 went back to school Tuesday, which means I’m right back in with her.

I think a few of my 7th grade hoodlums actually missed me.

*sniff*

Is it Friday yet?

Today I noticed a strange phenomenon at my school desk.

All of my pencils and pens had disappeared.

Every. single. one.

Blue, black, red, broken, with or without erasers.

All. Gone.

So…I went to Dollar Tree and stocked up on pencils,

tacky silk flowers,

and plastic cups.

Each table group now gets five floral pencils,

and nobody leaves the room unless all five are back in the cup at the end of the period.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Here’s the romance part.

(I know you were waiting.)

After my dollar store run, Big Run called and invited me on a date while the girls were at youth group.

We went to Lowes and planned our summer projects.

*Swoon*

Deck stain + new tub drain + my cute man = marital bliss.

Be blessed today!

Ginger

 

Gifts

Daring to experience Joy today…

3 gifts at breakfast, lunch, dinner (supper, if you’re Southern )

--first cup of coffee when I’m the only one up at my house

--talking with school staff member at lunch and realizing that she loves Bible study

--listening to girls giggle at the kitchen table

3 gifts white

--a blank sheet of notebook paper

--a thrifted collection of tiny white pitchers

--clean white towels

3 gifts that changed today

--DD#2 had her NG tube removed!

--She can return to school tomorrow!

--Positive phone call with insurance company over hospital bills

a gift of tin

--Mama’s sugar scoop framed in my kitchen

a gift of glass

--the thirteen windows that fill our kitchen and living room with morning light

a gift of wood

--the kitchen table from my childhood home

3 gifts before 11 a.m.

--coffee with half-and-half

--quiet moments for Bible study

--kind words from co-workers and students as I returned to class

a gift nearly worn out

--my Bible, already recovered once and getting loose in the seams again

a gift new

--a teacher’s website that offered some fresh perspectives for my weary classroom

a gift made do

--my ragged rocking chair

3 gifts that are reflections

--my prayer journal

--the neighborhood pond that makes sunrises times two

--conversations with Big Red

Be blessed today,

Ginger

Linking up here.

--

 

Walmart, You Inspire Me

Dear Walmart,

As you already know,

I’m not a fan.

Wandering your aisles normally makes me want to hide in Dollar General

or go to the dentist

or fly to Mars.

Yet, today, you came through for me.

In your newly-restored fabric department,

I found my inspiration.

Yards of vintagey floral goodness,

perfect for my porch redo.

You inspired me to break out my mother’s sewing machine and try my hand at pillow cases.

I even managed to refill the bobbin!

So, even though spring is still over a month away,

and these won’t go on my porch for a while,

I thank you for having just what I wanted.

Sincerely,

Ginger

PS We are still not BFFs.

Linked at At the Picket Fence and Five Days Five Ways!

A Dare and a List

Based on my blogging, one could conclude that I am never on time.

I join blogging parties late and catch on to blogging trends when they are  so yesterday.

In real life, I’m actually quite punctual, thankyouverymuch, but I’m joining the Joy Dare almost two months and a day “late”.

Though, of course, it’s never too late to give thanks.

3 hard eucharisteos

Watching my daughter’s faith tested by fire

Modern medicine that peers into the mysteries of our bodies

Hospital bills that will answer the question of what we really believe about God’s provision

3 ways you feel the love of God

Soup and cupcakes from a friend

Prayers from the Body of Christ poured over my family

A med-tech who brought us the Word just when the enemy had done his best to knock us down

3 gifts in shadows

Winter trees on the lawn

Blue morning before dawn

Whirling and beeping of the feed pump that nourishes my girl in her sleep (odd, I know)

3 gifts that were Plan B’s

Walking away from a job I loved a few years ago

Two years of substitute teaching

My classroom now

A gift at breakfast, lunch, and supper

Bran muffins and peanut butter

Piddling around town with DD#1

Time around the table with this list

Be blessed today,

Ginger

 

There and Back Again

I disappeared

for awhile.

We are finally home after a 9 day hospital stay with DD#2.

Stomach bug morphs into nightmare.

Thank the Lord for winter break, which will buy her some time for rest and a slow return to normal eating.

There’s a lot I could say about the faithfulness of God after an experience like this.

Eloquence requires sleep, so I’ll say it this way.

Here’s what I KNOW (not what I think, or what I’ve been taught, or what I imagine—it’s what I KNOW)

Jesus is the One and Only Son of God.

He loves you.

He will hold you.

He is faithful.

He is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

He will NOT leave you,

He will do whatever it takes to get your attention and make His presence known in your life.

He wants to forgive you.

He will give you the faith and hope you need, if you ask Him.

He is crazy about you.

He really is enough.

That’s what I know.

Be blessed today,

Ginger

An Old-Fashioned Valentine for My Imaginary Friends

Hello, all!

I’ve noticed a few more of you around lately;

welcome!

Say hi if you will;

it helps me remember that I’m not talking into thin air.

Or just to my computer.

Who usually does not have nice things said to it.

I have a serious post forming in my heart, but today I am home with a sick DD and decided on a quick and happy post first.

The February mantel…

(excuse the lighting—rain,rain go away)

That frame holds my grandmother’s Valentines.

Aren’t they lovely?

They leave Hallmark in the dust…

not to mention the TwilightSpongeBobdinosaurwhateverkid-thingisinthisyear

variety.

Here’s one that says,

‘If you’ll be my Valentine,

we’ll skip along together

We’ll not mind poverty or wealth

the measles or the weather.

That might be a good one for Big Red.

Be blessed today!

Ginger

A Reminder

Just in case

you’re like me,

and

you needed

 

a friendly reminder

of what

sunshine looks like.

You’re welcome.

Be blessed today,

Ginger