Middletown Bible Conference

Graham and I selected the Middletown Bible Conference to attend this year. There were several reasons for our choice. First, we had never been to the state of Connecticut and thought it would be good to see a different part of the country for a change. And more importantly, Graham's mentor from seminary, Dr. Robert Lightner, was one of the three key speakers. When Graham was taking extension courses from DTS we would regularly drive Dr. Lightner from the airport to his hotel and to the classroom and back. We were able to spend many hours with this fine man, in addition to the many classes Graham took from his tutelage. It's been many years since those days and we have seen him only one other time, also at a Bible conference and longed to hear from him again.

Middletown, CT is about 20 miles south of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. We flew into the airport just north of Hartford, rented a car, and then drove down to Middletown. Being Texans, we fully expected to be on the road for hours, but found, quite surprisingly, that it was only a thirty minute drive to our destination. And this lovely New England town proved very easy to move around in. That's not to say we didn't make several wrong turns! But it proved to be pretty easy.

Dr. Lightner opened the conference on Monday night and we were privileged to hear five of his six sessions. He spoke on worship, sanctification, what Jesus said about the Old Testament, the many facets (contextually) of the Kingdom, and the cruciality of the cross in relation to salvation. His topics were familiar and his content was comforting. If you have read any of his books you would feel right at home with his preaching. He was definitely the highlight of the week for us.

I promised Graham I would get a picture of him with Dr. Lightner, who quipped that he never smiled when having his picture taken. Determined to prove him wrong, I snapped an instant of hilarity going on between the two of them - don't ask me who said what! This is a loving, lasting memory we will have of a man dear and near to our hearts.

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!!

One of the other speakers was a gentleman from Friends of Israel ministry named Bruce Scott. He shared that he is of Scottish/Irish descent, but his wife is Jewish (a believer in Christ), and that is how he became immersed in the ministry to the Jews. He has a deep and sincere love for Israel and shared, in the four sessions we heard, sound, biblical messages concerning Israel and the current political scene. He not only shared dozens and dozens of Bible verses, but reams of documented information that, were we not Christians and aware of God's workings in the end times, would surely scare the casual reader. Though disconcerting at times, I came away more sure than ever that God is in control of world events but we are still exhorted to pray for His mercy on our nation.

The third speaker was the pastor of the church, George Parsons. Graham and I were both taken aback by his voice and mannerisms at first, for he reminded us strongly of a man we met on our trip to Ireland! We looked at one another and in unison said, "Jimmy!" Once we got over that and began to listen more closely, we were impressed with the passion, as well as his grasp of the Scriptures, as he wove his way through each message. We're looking forward to getting the recorded messages so we can listen to his sessions again.

Our overall impression of the church and the conference is that this is a congregation of loving, living saints who, more than anything, want to live out the Word of God in their lives. We were treated to wonderful music - much of it a capella - from both individuals and ensemble and really delicious, home-cooked meals between sessions.  We stayed in a lovely hotel in downtown Middletown and became familiar with some of the historical sites and statues on our route to and from the church. This is what I envision a New England small town to be. We did have one opportunity to relax in the dining room and preserved that memory from my delayed timer on my camera!

The only downside to the week was the amount of flying time it took to get there and back home. Juggling plane connections with determination, I just couldn't get there and back without wasting two whole days. We missed a little but definitely came home with a full heart.

BUT WAIT!! WHERE WAS SAVANNAH??

Glad you asked. Savannah went to camp for the week at Camp Nash! I knew she would enjoy herself, being the little social canine that she is. And Karen was sweet to send me some pictures of her activities, which included an introduction to a guinea pig! For a brief time Karen said she would sit and stare at Mr. Guinea. Apparently he just wasn't enough fun and she soon lost interest and set her sights on the dogs. All in all, it was a very good week.

It Must Be Lizard Season!

Now that the weather has warmed up, the lizards are spending more time out in the sun and Savannah has discovered one more activity to keep her busy. I should say "re-discovered" because this was one of her favorite occupations last summer.

When I saw her at the base of this tree I looked all over for the lizard but couldn't find it. I figured it had jumped to another tree for a getaway, but Savannah persistently stayed her ground. And sure enough, a little green face peeked out from some leaves!

Does this face not tell you, "I told you so!"

The Cutest Thing

Isn't this the cutest thing?

A couple weeks ago Meredith came over and asked if she could have some of my scraps from my quilt stash. She wanted to make a new wreath to go on her front door. So I gave her a big box of scraps and sent her on her way. She proceeded to make the cutest rag wreath for her door and, even though it was from a myriad of scraps, she was able to make all the colors and patterns coordinate.

That got my creative juices going, so I discovered on Ebay a pre-cut from the Happy Camper line that I am using for my quilt. It's called a Honey Bun and consists of 42 strips of 1 1/2 inch pieces of coordinating fabric. I bought that and then found a small grape vine wreath at Hobby Lobby and sat down one evening and tied some strips to my wreath. And happiness happened!

This is What I'm Working On...

I began working on the Birds in the Air quilt about a month ago. After a couple practice trials with the "birds", and getting my Happy Camper material from Ebay sellers, I spent nearly a week cutting, and cutting, and more cutting! Whew! It gave me huge appreciation for the pre-cuts that I've been working with lately, and a longing to get back to them. I had about a dozen different fabrics to work with, all from the Happy Camper line from Moda. Besides coordinating colors and patterns, this fabric is so "folksy" and reminds me of the quilt that Graham's grandmother gave me. So this quilt, in a way, is an acknowledgment of her place in Graham's life. 

After all the "birds" were made, the next task was placement. I tried to mix them up so that no two of the same were touching, and also keeping the colors spread out on the quilt. Once that was done, the next step involved sewing the diagonal rows. This was quite different from the usual horizontal/vertical placement. And I tend to lose my place as I move from the bedroom down the hall to the sewing room! I got a lot of exercise in the process.

Now the birds are all sewn into place and the top has been trimmed and blocked. I have begun the process of adding borders. The first one is done and I have at least two to go. This is the part where I decide just how big the quilt is going to be. I'm taking my time since both my quilter and I will be out of town the last week in April. I'm seeing a trip to Kingsland in early May!

Once this one is done I'll turn my attention to another baby quilt. I should know in May whether it's to be "pink" or "blue"! I peeked in a box at my grandmother's quilt the other day and was surprised to see that it's a Dresden pattern. Now I'm anxious to learn how to master that one! Oh goodie!

Surprise Swimmer!

Recently Savannah has discovered a nest of possums living on the other side of our fence.

Every evening she goes right to the fence and listens for the sounds of the possums waking up. One evening, when I heard her barking at the fence, I went out to see a little face peering over the top of the fence. At first I thought it was a rat, but soon realized it was a little baby possum.

(Sorry for the blurry pic; the camera doesn't focus in the dark.)

Apparently the babies are now big enough to go out foraging for food at night. Because this morning, Graham went out to water the plants and found this little guy hanging on to the polaris hose for dear life. There's no telling how long he had been there.

Thank goodness Savannah didn't notice him when she went out earlier. I shudder to think what she would have done to retrieve it. After taking the picture, Graham rescued the little fella with the leaf rake and dropped him back over the fence where his momma was waiting for him!

As Ma Ingalls always said, "All's well that ends well!"

Bath Day

I really don't think it was the bath that wore her out!

Because after the bath we went walking and barked at two doggies and lots of people doing yardwork.

Then we spent an hour or two in the back yard keeping squirrels and other varmints out of the yard.

It's just really hard work being a Westie.

Bluebonnet Time in Fredericksburg

This is what my heart has been longing to embrace, this gorgeous field of bluebonnets. We almost missed it as we were barreling down the highway toward Fredericksburg this morning. Instead of stopping and turning around, we decided to stop on our way home. Which is just what we did.

But I digress...

Our primary destination was the Wildseed Farm, just outside of Fredericksburg. Evidently we hit it on the perfect day, because everything was in glorious bloom today. Before we could even go inside the nursery we had to circle the parking lot and enjoy the "random acts of beauty" that are scattered hither and yon.

Okay, these are all out of order so I'll try to guide you through the area. There are rows and literal fields of flowers at this Farm. Within the fenced area are rows of poppies, verbena, bluebonnets and numerous other plants I can't identify. On the other side of the path is a small field of larkspur.

This field of Red Corn Poppies fronts the highway. It consists of several acres of brilliant red, looking like the "Red" sea as the wind ruffles through it. Absolutely divine.

There are several "islands" throughout the paths that are planted with roses. We fell in love with this coral color and, in fact, purchased one for my rose garden on our way out.

This is a field of pink, white and red poppies at the back side of the parking lot.

And here is one of those random spots of flowers in the parking area. I can almost imagine someone just tossing seed hither and yon.

More poppies. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Just couldn't take enough pictures, but would rather have all of them in my own yard!

The landscapers use a lot of wood and rock to set the scenes for the flowers. This cedar-type fence surrounds all the beds and marks the walking paths.

OK, just one more. This bench is made from two hollowed out rocks (more like boulders!) and a stone ledge set between them. Then the hollows in the rocks are filled with bluebonnets. And it makes the loveliest sitting area, especially with all the other bonnets around it.

Well, that's enough for this blog. I posted 30 of the 160 photos we took today on Facebook. Feel free to look at them there.

The Many Faces of Savannah

My sweet Savannah. She is curiosity wrapped up in white fur! Some time last month she discovered something living in my herb garden, somewhere in the mint or parsley - I never knew exactly what or where. But she knew there was something under there and went about uprooting my plants! When I discovered what she was up to, I rescued the pot of parsley, minus a large handful that made a nice table arrangement in a vase! We tried fencing off the area, but, have you ever tried to fence off a Westie from something she really wants? Ain't gonna happen! We finally had to dismantle the herb garden and rebuild it with less interest to distract our pup. Besides, she has squirrels and possums and soon will have lizards to keep her busy! 

Meanwhile, her curiosity has followed her indoors where she has taken an interest in my quilts. I use my queen size bed to lay out quilt blocks for positioning, and then for measuring the quilt for borders. Finally, the finished quilt is laid out on the bed for pictures. Savannah is getting more involved in the process and finally made her way up to "quilt tester"! Once a quilt passes the Westie test, it goes right into the washing machine to remove all evidence of doggie testing before being sent to a recipient. This is the "mystery" quilt that arrived at the home of my nephew Charles today.

When I am at the computer working on Sunday school curriculum, Savannah often finds a nice spot to take a nap. When I looked over to check on her the other day I had to chuckle at her attempt to occupy not only her chair, but my sewing stool as well! I'm not sure what she was trying to tell me, but I interpret this as a contented Westie, claiming as much of her territory as she can.

I'm looking forward to lots of memorable moments with this funny, sweet dog.