♥ Happy Birthday Jason ♥

I had to pop in here this morning before church for a  Happy Birthday post for my hubby! Jason is 52 years old young today.

Don't think I've shared this pic before.  It was taken late this summer.  

He’s been working so hard on our staircase every single spare moment (especially after having been out of town on our little vacation to Alabama), and he really deserves a day of rest. Knowing him, he won’t take it though.

We're headed out later this evening for his birthday dinner of BBQ ribs and I’ve made him the ice cream bar dessert that I shared on my blog before. That’s what he requested.  We’re all looking forward to that! :)

I’m so very thankful for God giving me Jason. He’s a good man…..and a great husband and dad.

Happy birthday honey! I love you......MORE. :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Faithful Friday - "Your Time is Valuable"

I can’t believe it’s already Friday! I know I’ve been a bad blogger this week. I couldn’t get internet connection on my computer and had to depend upon the use of someone else’s that wasn’t always available. And time has just flown since we got home mid-week. We’ve been trying to squeeze five days of school into three.



But…..I’m here today, and I’m ready to share a Faithful Friday post with you. What I have to share today came from the other favorite devotion book (of Joy’s) that I read this morning. It’s not one that is set up on a date by date basis, but instead as letters from The King to His Princess. I mentioned it before here on a Faithful Friday. The name of it is His Princess (Love Letters from Your King).

My Princess…..Your Time is Valuable

The time I have given you is of eternal importance. Your life matters, and the most valuable asset you can give to someone or something is time. Remember, My royal one, I want all of your appointments to be in My perfect will. Not all good opportunities are from Me. Keep in mind, My love, that there may be many ways to make more money, but you can never buy back time. So invest your time wisely. Think about what you are doing and how you spend your precious life. Are your days full of the things that matter most to you? Now is the time to take control of your schedule and live a life that matters. If you will sit with Me, I will help you remove the things that are holding you back from doing what’s most needed in this season of your life. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing, so come and experience success with divine direction.

Our people should learn to spend their time doing something useful and worthwhile.

 Titus 3:14

This is always something I struggle with in my daily life. I want my time to be spent wisely, first giving God my time, and then giving time to my family, and then also to serving others and for other things as well. But I’m also the type of person that sometimes has a hard time saying “No”.   Jason has to help me with that sometimes. :)   But I’m learning and it’s a daily struggle, and it is my desire to treat my time as a valuable gift from God and to use it wisely. :)


I hope this devotion spoke to your heart today as it did mine.  Joy had the opportunity to spend the night and day with a friend during her friend's fall break this week and is out of pocket today.  She asked me to add the linky tool to my blog today so folks can link up for Faithful Friday if they'd like.  So if you'd like to join us for Faithful Friday (and we hope you will), you can link up here today on this post.  And thank you, whether you are linking up or just stopping by!  :)

Have a great weekend!   And be blessed!  :) 

Pinned it, Made it! Monday ~ Week 12 ~

I know it's a little early for Pinned it, Made it! Monday, but I'm posting from Alabama and wanted to make sure I had it ready to go while I had a chance so you ladies can link up! 


Thursday evening, Luke, Joy and I had fun making these Peanut Butter Pumpkins.  This is the original pin and recipe from Mimi's Meals and Deals.

Source:  Mimi's Meals and Deals



Peanut Butter Pumpkins

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temp

1 cup peanut butter

1 box of 10x powdered sugar

Red and yellow food coloring

Milk chocolate chips

Mix peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar to make a play dough type mixture.  You can mix by hand, tedious as it is, or if you have a mixer with dough hooks it will do the job with little work from you.  Once well blended together add yellow and red food coloring until you reach a pretty pumpkin orange.  I use dough hooks and find that I still have to mix my color through a little by hand at the end just to get a more even consistent color.  Roll into small balls and top with a chocolate chip.

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From Tammy: 

 When I saw this, I knew it would be fun for Luke, but it turned out being fun for Joy and me too!  It was like playing with play dough.  :) 

Here's ours:

  

They remind me of eating a chocolate peanut balls except without as much chocolate.  They're rich though!  Unfortunately, I was the one that liked them the best and I ate way too many!  :)  When we left for Alabama, I left the rest of them with my mom and dad and my mama loved them like I did!

I hope you'll join me this week!  I really enjoy seeing what you've been pinning and making!  And I invite you to follow Country Girl at Home here on my blog as well as Pinterest.


To participate in Pinned it, Made it! Monday, here are the guidelines:

1) Just do a post about what you’ve pinned and made from Pinterest, then come back over here to Country Girl at Home and link that particular post (not your blog in general) on this post below.

2) I don’t mind if you link up more than one post….multiple entries are fine.

3) You must add my Pinned it, Made it! Monday button on your post or sidebar of your blog linking back to Country Girl at Home. You may get this button code on the page at the top of my blog labeled “Buttons”. Just copy and paste the code into your post.

4) Be supportive and visit blog entries. I do ask that you visit at least one and leave a comment there. And don't forget to leave me one here! :) We all love comments, don’t we? It’s encouraging and uplifting!

5) By linking up and participating, you give me permission to use your entry photo if I decide to feature an entry.
 

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Thank you for stopping by!  Have a great day!  :)

Faithful Friday - "Happiness versus Joy"

Good morning! It’s Friday! Everybody loves Fridays! This particular Friday we’ve been really looking forward to because we’re taking a mini vacation to Richie and Missy’s house (my brother and sister-in-law) and hope to take that Amish tour! 


Friday is also a day my daughter, Joy, and I have set aside for Faithful Fridays. It’s a day to share our Christian faith……well, every day is a day to do that, but we wanted to specifically set aside one day a week to make a point of sharing. Joy started it a few years ago. We invite you to join us!

Yesterday as I waited in the car for Joy, I picked up her devotion book she had brought along with her, “Jesus Calling – 365 Devotions for Kids”.

There’s also an adult version, but the kid version is wonderful, even for adults! I like the simple, down to earth language.  :)  Anyway, yesterday’s devotion really hit home and I wanted to share bits of it with you.

Honor and majesty surround him; strength and joy fill his dwelling.

1 Chronicles 16:27 (NIV)

Happines and joy are not the same thing.

Happiness depends on this world, on what is going on around you. Happiness depends on everything being just right…..like when you’re headed for that long-time anticipated vacation or you’ve just gotten a promotion at work, etc…. Happiness is wonderful, but it lasts only a little while.

But joy – true joy – is something entirely different. Joy doesn’t depend on this world or whether you’re having a good day; it depends on God. Joy is knowing God is in control and that He loves you and will take care of you – even when your family can’t afford that vacation or you don’t get that promotion. God asks us to stay close to Him and he’ll give us His Joy in every situation!

I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want…..joy that comes only from God…..overflowing bubbling joy.

That reminds me of something else. One day (a few years ago) as we walked in Walmart, we noticed that the greeter’s name was Joy. I commented to her that that was my daughter’s name who was standing there beside me. She smiled and put her arm around Joy and bent down to her level and told her they shared a very special name and asked Joy did she know what it stood for?   (I was just as interested in hearing what she was going to say).   And this is what she said:

J. Jesus first.
O. Others second.
Y. Yourself last.

I will never forget it and really that is an excellent definition of joy because if we put Jesus first and get everything in the above order, we will find true joy that comes only from God!

Thank you for joining me today for Faithful Friday. I know (my daughter) Joy would love for you to stop by and visit her too. And if you’d like to participate, you can link up with her here.

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I have to show you what arrived in the mail for me yesterday. It came from JoAnn of Sweet Pepper Rose. This is actually the second time she’s sent something my way. She is a sweet lady, and VERY TALENTED too.

These are made from Paulownia seed pods! Just look at the detail and time that went into that! And she painted them red!  Red.....my favorite!  I can’t wait to hang these on my Christmas tree. Okay, okay, I’m not rushing Christmas here…..I’m still enjoying fall, but really I will be honored to hang these on my tree! Thank you so much, JoAnn!

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And last of all, I want to share another fall photo for Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge:

The above picture was taken by a friend of mine, Kim.  Kim, a homeschooling mom,  is the photographer for our homeschool group.  I just love this photo that was taken last year about this time!  This one definitely says fall.....and love!  :)


♥ Tammy ♥

{Sometimes Willing} Little Model

As I mentioned in the last couple of posts, Joy has been very interested in photography and has taken my camera out on mini photo shoots.

Well Luke has been drawn into her little photo shoots. Most of the time, he’s fairly willing, although not always cooperative. I like that she captured all those things in Luke’s personality though through her little photo shoots.

Joy has already posted these on her blog and she gave me permission to share them here on my blog.

Luke, the monkey:

He never fails to pick flowers for me when he goes outside.  :)

Well you can't wear a monkey suit without acting like one, can you?

Luke, the farmer boy:

Luke, the baseball player:

He obviously dressed himself....his shirt is on backwards!  :)

Luke, the annoyed:

And last of all, here’s yet another photo by Joy I'm including for Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge.  Maybe I’ll take my own photo soon…..but she’s doing such a great job and letting me borrow them…….. :)  And this one has fall written all over it…..it's that time when we get to break out the boots…..and these are Joy’s new ones!

To everyone that stopped by today, thank you very much! Have a great day!  I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for Faithful Friday. And soon I’ll take you on a little field trip to my mom’s house to see all the good stuff my carpenter has made for her home!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Is She Chinese? ♥

“Is she Chinese?” That’s the question one of the girls in Joy’s Chinese dance class asked their teacher the first night Joy walked into class.  Joy got tickled at the question and asked her with a grin, “Do I look Chinese?” They all got a chuckle out of it and the teacher assured them that it didn’t matter if you were Chinese or not…..anyone could take the class.

We laugh about the fact that 2/3 of my children are Asian and the one that’s not is very interested in the Asian culture. This is Joy’s second year of taking Chinese as a second language class. In addition to that class, this year she is also taking the Chinese dance class. She just loves it. This class will perform at the Chinese New Year festival.

Her fan came from China and it just so happens that in this dance, they are dancing with fans…….just the kind she brought back from China.  It really is a beautiful fan that pops out with the neatest sound and just flows with the dance.



Instantly, Joy made friends with several of the girls…….Kaia, Annie, and Ying Jie. Kaia was adopted as an infant. Annie has Chinese parents but was raised here in the states, and Ying Jie has Chinese parents as well.  Ying Jie is a little shy, but Joy has won her over.  :)

From left  to right.....Ying Jie, Annie, Joy & Kaia

I hope I can video the dance when they perform it so you can see it. It is different from American dance, but it is pretty. You may remember Joy dancing with the ladies in the park in Hohhot, China. If you missed that post, you can see it here.  So taking this Chinese dance class is a very exciting thing for her!

So is she Chinese? Yes, a part of her is and always will be now. After traveling to China, it just becomes a part of you.  :)

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For Sandra's 31 days of fall challenge, I have another of Joy's pics to share.  She loves photography and got some wonderful photos that shout fall and she gave me permission to share with you.  The many leaves that collect on our sidewalk going up to The Cedar Loft:

 



Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a wonderful day!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Cozy Autumn Day ♥

What a cozy fall autumn morning it was yesterday and on the first day of October too!

I love Luke's reflection in the window.  He's eating his muffin for breakfast.  :)

I love having lamplight in the mornings, especially on days like this. It’s one of the first things I do in the morning….go around turning on the lamps.

We enjoyed left-over pumpkin muffins for breakfast too. Another wonderful thing for a cozy fall morning!

And to top it off, I had these wonderful fall goodies from Holly (of Holly's Hobbies and Darbee's Days) to decorate with. I was the lucky winner of her fall giveaway and these goodies arrived the end of last week. Aren’t they great?  I just love everything, especially those pumpkins!!  Thank you so much, Holly!  :)

My mama kept admiring the angel and she collects them, so I ended up giving it to her!

Yesterday was just the perfect day to do a little more fall decorating with these wonderful goodies! They added more touches of fall throughout my home……

The wax tarts were added here. 

I love those pumpkins here.

I added the wax bowl fillers from Carol in the little bowl with some of the primitive hay from Holly.

I added some of the hay from Holly in this bowl that is usually the centerpiece on the dining room table.  At this particular time the dining room table has computer equipment on it.  :)

Can you see the rusty star garland?  I added it to the leaf garland on the mantle.

I even used the grassy stuff included with the wax tarts under the pumpkin on the scales. 

In addition to that, I won yet another giveaway....Carol (of Firecracker Kid).  I entered it with the intention of passing along those candle sconces to my mom if I won because I knew she would love them. And I won! So as soon as I took this picture, I took them over to mama. :)  Thank you, Carol!  Since she added a couple extra things, I added those to my fall decor!

The little mouse from Carol landed here. And the fall bowl fillers were added to the little bowl (in one of the pictures above) along with some of the “primitive hay” from Holly.

The little mouse snuck up here on Mr. Scarecrow's lap:

Can you see him?

If it keeps up like this, it will soon be sweater and boot weather!

 Oh, and I forgot…..not sure if I’ll keep up with it every day, but Sandra is doing a 31 days of fall challenge. It’s all about posting a picture that says “fall” every day. Actually everything on my post today says fall, but I’m leaving you with one that Joy actually took yesterday. I loved it and asked her if I could share and she graciously agreed. She is really into photography.

Happy Autumn!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥