What does humility really mean?

Good question! Our Pastor in our church this past Sunday demonstrated the very act Jesus performed over two thousand years ago with his disciples, he washed the feet of three of our church leaders.  He washed the feet of an older very wise lady, of an African American gentlemen who does so much for our community, and a Hispanic gentleman who spreads the word of God to others like there was no tomorrow.  These three have given their lives to bring others to the Lord and our Pastor humbly washed their feet and prayed for them at the 9:00 service.  Wow this is humility at it's best!

I constantly ask God to humble me especially when I start to feel greed or bad feelings start to stir up in my spirit.  See lately my relationship with two of my sisters has been strained.  I don't understand their animosity towards me because I have always tried my best to show them love and respect and have shown them grace. But for some reason that grace does not find it's way back to me.  They are in my prayers constantly and what the Lord has shown me through this ordeal is humility.  He reminded me of James 4:10 "Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it".…bingo!! So, I got the message Lord, I am trying and with the help of the Holy Spirit I know I can overcome anything that comes my way.  Amen.  So I will love them from afar and will only want the best for them. Thank you Jesus for your word and how it helps me to be lifted when I am feeling sad or hurt.  You are my strength.

Now I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.  It's going to be a great year - a year closer to seeing our Lord and Savior - Blessings to you all.

As Fall arrives so does my "art fabric panels" for all your sewing projects!!

Hello fellow bloggers, it's been a while since I posted on here and feel like I am so behind the eight ball.  Well today I am so excited to announce that some my "art fabric panels" are now available at "In Stitches Quilt Shoppe", in Anacortes, Wa.  As you recall a few posts ago I introduced a photo of a pillow I created using one of my digital oil paintings fabric panels.  Well, after this I did more research and with God's grace and help, I am now selling these to local quilt and sewing shops.  "In Stitches" will carry these exclusively in Anacortes, so be sure to stop in, say hello and check them out!  This is such a friendly shoppe to visit and they have everything you can possibly need to sew any project imaginable.  When you walk into the shoppe you are instantly drawn to all the beautiful sample quilts and projects on display.  My art panels are their "newest" fabrics for sale, so they created a gorgeous art panel displaying them all.  "In Stitches" also now carries six of my Pacific NW Lighthouse fabric panels as well.  So if you need some inspiration for your next sewing project do stop in or shop online, they will truly keep you In Stitches!!!

My art and photo panels on display at "In Stitches Quilt Shoppe"

Get inspired in this fun quilt shoppe!

Pacific NW Lighthouse fabric panels available at "In stitches Quilt Shoppe"

 

 

Happy Fall & Happy Sewing everyone!!!!!!!

There is no hole so deep God cannot pull you out of!

Greetings friends and family! I just have to report that things are going good with me and my husband Larry - Praise be to God.  He is still attending physical therapy at the hospital and his heart and body are getting stronger day by day.  God is also showing us that by trusting in Him that things do get better, but patience is the key.  Larry's diabetes numbers are also at their all time low, because he is eating less and healthier.  The only thing I ask for is prayer for his eye sight.  See Larry has been seeing double - on very short instances and it's been scarey to say the least.  He has not had any headaches or pain, and his Dr. ordered an MRI which came back clean and no strokes thank God. He also had an eye exam the other day and the Dr. concluded that perhaps one of two things is happening, his diabetes is causing this or the muscles in his eyes are weakening and when he is tired he could get the double vision.  Anyway, Larry has a Drs. appointment both with his internal medicine Dr. and his cardiologist next week so we will see what they have to say as well.  So please keep him in your prayers for God's healing to take place and that this is nothing serious and will go away in time and not occur any longer.  Thank you for that.

Now on to my new post.  Today I am going to share a little bit about a famous individual by the name of Glenn Beck.  I used to watch his shows on Fox and then he disappeared out of thin air it seemed.  He ventured out and purchased his own television network, good for him.  He still has his radio shows in the morning and sometimes I do get to catch a little here and there.  But, to tell you the truth Glenn was getting a little to radical for me.  Let me explain, see I believe in some of what Glenn talks about when it comes to government control and other issues and some things about his faith, which happens to be Mormon.  I think he is a great guy but the public and media certainly do not.  I was at Costco a few weeks ago and picked up his book "The Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life". This book gave me such insight into this man's life.  To summarize, Glenn was a lost soul, very mean to his co-workers and was destroying his life one day at a time by drinking and taking drugs.  When I read about his mom, I cried. See his mom committed suicide when he was only 10 years old and he lived with that not forgiving her for a long time.  It was only until he forgave her and he got to the bottom of the deep hole that God pulled him out of it. This book is an eye opener into so many of the things that we struggle with from day to day.  Depression, anxiety, un-forgiveness and just not doing God's will in our lives will lead us to a dark place that we never want to go to.  Glenn was there, and in his book  he explains how God transformed him into the man he is today.  This is a must read for sure.  I highly recommend it, give it to others as a gift if they are struggling with any of these issues.  Glenn and his friend Dr. Keith Ablow lay out a wonderful plan for us to follow on how to let God and our souls heal and become what God had intended us to be all along. If you are interested in this book it's featured on the right hand side of my blog in the Amazon books. 

I am also including a link to one of my hubs called "10 must do's to live a happier and fulfilling life" that has a few things that I have learned in life to do live a happier life.  They are easy and if you make a conscious effort to do them, you will see a change in your life, in the people around you and it will all be for the better.  God Bless and have a great rest of the summer.

God is good all the time - Amen!

Hello everyone - it's so good to be here and feeling good.  I recently had a bad cold and cough and was just miserable until I tried a few home made remedies and started feeling better really quick.  I will add a link to my lens that I wrote where I shared these very easy remedies that really do help when you are feeling ill.  Besides summer is no time to get a cold can I get an Amen.

I also want to share a little more about what God is doing in our lives. He is so good isn't he? Larry's healing is going better than expected and his physical therapy is helping him improve each and every day.  Unfortunately, he also caught the cold so he had to miss a few sessions, but he is well and back at it again.

What I want to share with you in regards to this illness we both experienced is that God shows us ways to help ourselves.  I did not go to the doctor this time because I felt a strong urge to research home remedies and try and get better that way and it worked.  I prayed to our Heavenly Father each day and asked him to direct me to find the things that I needed to be doing to help myself.  He placed in me the memories as I child and what my mom used to have us do when we were sick with a soar throat and cold like the gargling with warm salt water, chicken soup, hot tea. I know you understand what I am saying.  Anyway, through this summer cold I really feel that God showed himself to me in ways that I needed for guidance and support and he strengthened my own belief in Him and myself and what I am capable of.  Isn't that like Him folks, he is so good!

I also want to share a new craft that I am so excited to talk about.  It involves my artwork and fabric.
Here is a pillow I created with one of my digital oil paintings in which I added God's amazing words of wisdom to.  It's truly a masterpiece!

Praise be to God for his faithfulness - Larry is home!

It's been a tough go the last few weeks, but Glory be to God Larry's surgery went well.  He had the valve replacement heart surgery on Tuesday May 13th.  It was funny because it took about 2 hours prep time and he finally went in at 9:00 and was out of surgery about 12:13.  I saw him a couple hours after that.  He asked me when the surgery was going to take place.....I was so glad he didn't remember anything.  He had tubes everywhere and was very groggy and tired.  I only stayed for a bit and just let him rest. 

I was fortunate to have my daughter who lives in Capital Hill in Seattle so I drove over to her place and stayed the night, as I did for the remainder of Larry's stay in the hospital.  I have to say Virginia Mason may be an older hospital but the nursing staff at CCU and his surgeon and everyone else who came into contact with Larry was amazing.  I believe God's hands were all over this one.  He sent the right doctors to do the surgery and take care of him while in the hospital.  God is so good.  It was such a blessing too to be able to spend time with my daughter Michelle, we had some good mom and daughter time.

So fast forward to today, Larry got out of the hospital on Saturday the 17th, he was progressing rapidly and doing his walking and breathing into a tube to open up his lungs.  I guess during this type of open heart surgery they pretty much put everything to sleep and had actually stopped his heart for the duration of the surgery, scary but necessary.  Anyway, he began to feel good within days and no hard pain, just his back because I guess they open up your chest and pull your shoulders back to be able to access your heart, that sounds painful to me. 

We stayed at a local apartment complex very close to the hospital so we could be there for his follow up appointment which would be in a few days.  We live on Whidbey Island so the drive would not have been good for Larry in his condition.  So on Tuesday we were at the hospital once again for his follow up appointment.  We met with the surgical nurse and she was awesome.  Larry of course first had blood drawn and xrays and an ekg to make sure everything was functioning properly and all his stats were good.  She was amazing and gave us some great tips on keeping the incision clean and such.  She gave him a clean bill of health to go home.  So home we went. 

The 2-1/2 hour drive was good and we didn't have much traffic that time of day.  Larry was so glad to be going home.  Today is Friday and we have been home for 4 days now, he is improving every day, getting stronger and resting a lot.  He is doing his walking and breathing and his blood sugar numbers are really good too.  His appetite has improved a bit, because when he got out of the hospital he wasn't hungry at all, the Doctor said it was to be expected. 

So my praise is to you dear God for your faithfulness and grace in all this that has transpired in our lives.  You have brought us closer to you and to each other.  I love Larry with all my heart and I love caring for him, sometimes it can be a challenge, but I know God will give me the grace for whatever comes our way.  Larry is also so very grateful for this second change in life to live out his days with a much healthier heart.  I know he will take better care of himself from here on in.  Besides I will be here to make sure of that.

Thank you Jesus for everything and all of your for your prayers and love!!!

God be with you all.

Stop and think....about your life!

Top of the morning to you all.  I am happy to report that after my last post my husband Larry is still doing well and we have an appointment with the cardio surgeon next week in Seattle.  This is a consult and he will be scheduling my husband for his open heart surgery, so all your prayers are certainly welcome.

Today I wanted to share a very cool video titled "Stop and Think" by Francis Chan.  As you recall Francis Chan also wrote an amazing book called "Crazy Love" which I did a review on hubpages.  The book is excellent and will certainly help you in your walk with God and on how to become closer to Him.  This video which I highly recommend sharing with family and friends, takes on an emotional flair regarding the gospel and why Jesus died on the cross for us.  He explains the love of God with passion. View it and pass it along to someone who possibly does not know the Lord, hopefully this will give them a chance to really stop and think about where they came from and why they are here. They may also understand more of just how much God truly loves them.  

I am also attaching a link to my newest project Re-cycled light bulb snowman ornament, that I am sharing with everyone on Squidoo.  It's the instructions on how to make a very cute snowman from a burnt out light bulb, the kids will love this one and so will you.  

Blessings to you and keep spreading God's word and love!!!!! ya hear!

 

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God shows up in the toughest of times.......

Good morning to you all.  I have not had a chance to write any posts in this blog due to my husband having developed heart issues in the last month or so.  It's been a roller coaster of a ride for him and me.  Starting with him getting very short of breath by just walking a few steps.  He is a strong man and never had any heart issues at all.  He has always been healthy for the most part.  He has type 2 diabetes which is at times hard to control but for the most part has been controlled by medication and a low carb diet.

Well, on Feb. 24th his shortness of breath and overly tired feeling just got the best of him.  I took him to the emergency room at Island Hospital in Anacortes and when we walked into the hospital his vitals were off the charts.  They started to do an EKG, took x-rays and discovered he had pneomonia, of course they admitted him right away and he was in ICU for about a day.  The next day he began to have chest pains and of course they gave him a nitro pill and it took the pain away so that meant more testing for the Drs.  At that time they discovered he also had (AFIB) artifibulation which is an irregular heart rate which was beating way too fast and was possibly the cause of the backed up fluids in the lungs.  So they wanted to do an angiogram which is where they place a tube through your groin area and can check for blockages.  Mind you my poor husband has never been hospitalized in his life, this was not good.  He hated being in the hospital and he hated the food, absolutely no appetite to speak of.

So they transferred him to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mt. Vernon by ambulance. The reason they transferred him was because at Island Hospital they did not do that particular procedure. He was checked into the hospital the evening of the 25th around 6:00 pm.  He had a much nicer and larger room there which was great.  I couldn't stay with him because I had not brought any change of clothes but promised I would the following night.  He didn't like staying there and gave the nurses a bit of a hard time that evening.

The next few days were rough, I stayed with him and didn't get any sleep whatsoever.  He would sleep at half hour intervals so the sleep was not good.  Besides they woke him up every few hours for blood work or vitals.  Whoever said people can get rest in a hospital has never had the pleasure of spending time there themselves.

So they did the procedure and thank goodness his sister and daughter came to be there and a close neighbor friend as well.  The procedure went well and they did not find any blockage but they did find that he as a bad aorta valve which is not pumping blood at the rate it should be.  This is a big problem, the AFIB they can control with medicine but the valve will need to be replaced.

So he was released on Feb. 28th and we rushed out of there because he wanted to get home, he was so sick of being in the hospital.  The nurses did not do a good job at explaining medications or gave me good instructions on how to treat him at home.  This was a big problem because after only 5 days when we went to see his cardiologist the mistake was caught.  They took him off 4 medications because the Dr. stated that Larry was taking double of the lower blood medications and that was the reason his blood pressure was so low.  Thank God he caught this.

On March 9th he was hospitalized once again with low blood pressure and congestive heart failure, so here we go again.  This hospital visit was much better because by now he was used to being in a hospital but that didn't mean he liked it.  His appetite still was not good and his spirits were a bit crushed.  The good thing about this visit was we had a great nurse a couple of days in a row, her name was Devyn.  She was a Christian lady and was a joy to be around.  One morning when Larry and I were having coffee at about 6:00, Larry was sitting on the edge of the bed and he began to sob quietly, he began to feel God's presence. He had never experienced this before and was so over joyed.  He began to say Jesus you are so clever.  He began thanking God and praising him for being with him during this aweful and trying time.  I hugged him and we prayed.  What a wonderful moment that was for Larry experiencing God's presence in his life.  Later on that morning Devyn came in again to take his vitals and then we started talking about Larry's experience.  She looked over to us and with wide eyes she said: "This morning about 6:00 I got in my car and I began to lift Larry up to the Lord in prayer for healing and for comfort".  We all looked at each other and in amazement we Praised God, she hugged us and we all smiled.  We know that God sends his Angels to protect and care for us and this was living proof of his faithfulness.

So fast forward Larry had a procedure to try and get his heart back into rythm called cardioversion.  This is where they shock the heart a couple of times in hopes that the heart will convert to regular rythm and that didn't work unfortunately.  But they had to do a procedure first to see if there were any blood clots and that came back negative on the clots.  So with new medicine the AFIB is controlled and possibly will help the heart revert back to normal rythm, that is what we are praying for.  Then the Drs. plans is to get him stronger to be able to have the heart valve replacement in the near future.  Today we find out the time line for this and go from there.

He was released back to my care on March 13th, this time the nurses went over every single item in great detail thank goodness and the effects of some medications and what to do if, etc.  This was so helpful and I appreciated that so much.  He is doing much better and eating a bit more than before. See one of the medications is a diet water pill which takes away his appetite, but he has to take it so he doesn't retain fluids.  So it's a catch 22, but with the Lord's help I know he can do it.  The other thing that happened after he was released the second time was his arm got infected where they had placed 2 IV's.  It was so red and soar poor guy, so we had to go back to the emergency for that as well. 

God is an amazing God and he has given us strength to get through some of the most difficult times ever.  I needed so much strength myself to do what needed to be done and God showed up for me as well.  Praise be to God and to him be all the Glory.  More to come and thank you for all your prayers for Larry!!!!!!