Color Commentary

Live Like That

I can not believe May is 1/2 over. I can't believe how far into 2012 I find myself. I also can not believe how living in the quiet and quaint of a small town is such a blessing in my life right now.  I need milk, orange juice, or toothpaste and in less than 10 minutes I can be having cereal or brushing my teeth. The birds sing all day long, and I can hear them. 

On the other hand, driving to Lafayette affords me some Julee time, K-Love, an unbelieveable farmer's market on Wed afternoon, and a plethora of churches ... I found these guys---Sidewalk Prophets--alongside US 231 & State Road 18.  You know what I mean.

Don't get me wrong, I'm achin' for a Max & Lilly fix. I long for a quiet evening laughing with family, talking of nothing in paticular, and everything important. I miss Michigan in the summer. I miss my porch. I miss the big lake. I miss the scent of pine trees and my neighbors. You know what I mean. 

But I have learned am learning, from Paul and Phillipians 4:11 (Sometimes the King James Version is the only way to go)

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

I wanna live like that.

Sew

Let the redeemed of the Lord, say so.  Psalm 107:3  or as the New International Version says; Let the redeemed of the Lord, tell their story ... that's all the prompting I needed.


So in my spare time, I'm going through pictures for a Melissa & Spencer wedding slide show.  


What can I say about this one, except they were pretty excited about these skirts in 2008. Alert: New blog, I'm following ~ Before And Africa 


Also keeping me entertained and living in the past these days, is whether to induldge in paying  a server which will let me one click my iWeb stories to yet another domain name.


Technology.


Do you have defining moments, I did last night. While sitting alone with the window's open and the fireplace going, I tuned into the Grand Ole Opry radio station (online, of couse), to hear Ricky Skaggs celebrate his 30 years as a G.O.O. member.  


Before Ricky and all the guests concluded their 2 hour bluegrassy, old-time country show, he preached.  He preached the gospel. Straight up, no chasers.  Then they (The Getty's, Josh Turner, Ricky Skaggs, and Alison Krause) sang. 


I fell on my knees in worship.

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh

Fulness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath.

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Today I wanted to let the redeemed of the Lord say so. 

RSVP

Originally posted May 15, 2011

According to some, the world, as we know, it is going to end this Saturday.  5.21.11.  

"Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." Genesis 7:4  

The “End Of The Worlder’s” loosely based theory is all about numbers and goes something like this:

#1. God referred to seven days, he meant both seven days and seven thousand years, because "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The flood occurred in 4990 BC. Seven thousand years later is 2011.

#2. looks at the significance of the number of days between the Crucifixion and May 21, 2011.

There are 722,500 days between these dates. 722,500 is a significant number because it is composed of the significant numbers 5x10x17x5x10x17. Five signifies redemption; ten signifies completion; and 17 signifies heaven. The numbers represent the day of redemption (5) and the end of the Christian era (10) and the ascent to heaven (17) -- and these factors are doubled for added significance.

I know, confusing, right?  I’m not real worried about next Saturday, but they are right on one account: the world is gonna end.

In Jewish tradition, when a couple became engaged, the bridegroom’s family would give a gift to the bride’s family signifying the intent to marry.  Then, in essence, the marriage contract was signed at that point in time.

Then the bridegroom would go away for one year.  It gave the bride time to prepare, not only for the big day, but to fix her heart on her bridegroom.  She would concentrate on no one and nothing else, but making sure she was ready when the bridegroom came.  

The groom would work the whole year to build a house for his bride and keep working for his father in preparation for starting his own home.  

No one knew when the wedding would take place except the bridegrooms father.  When he deemed it appropriate he gathered his son and headed out on a wedding march to the bride’s  house, collecting family and friends along the way.  

And here-in lies the analogy. Jesus is the bridegroom. The church (body of believers) is the bride.  Jesus has gone away to prepare a place for us, if it wasn’t true, he would have told us.  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. St. John 14.

The bride should be getting ready.  Not searching out other bridegrooms or wasting her time on other lovers (pursuits), but  preparing for her wedding day. Preparing her heart to meet her bridegroom.  Preparing a feast and inviting everyone to get ready themselves.  Inviting all to come and taste and see that the Lord is good.  It is he who love us.  It is he who made us, and not we ourselves. ~ The Psalms

And guess who knows when this great marriage feast will take place? 

God the (bridegroom’s) Father. 

Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids from St Matthew:

Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’ All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps.  Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’“But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’ “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you! So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.

Accept the invitation for the free gift of salvation ... or give your regrets. It’s your choice. And it IS a choice.  If you’ve already already responded (believed) then what are you doing as far as preparations go? 

 Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Annie, & Jen ... 3 of the best mom's I know!

And also Happy Mother's Day to some awesome "other mothers" in my life:

Joy, Ruth, Ardy, Deanna, Angela, Victoria, Ariel, Megan, Kate, Marti, Martha, Pam, Jodi, and Chelsea ...   I would also like to include here some I may have lost contact with but still think of often, my cousin and aunt moms, Patti, & Hilda,  ...  and I can't stop without mentioning my grandma's and my dear MIL, Frances who surely are celebrating together today. I pray blessings, joy, and happiness over you and your children, not just today but everyday.  I honor you and speak freedom, peace and contentment into your lives.  For with contentment comes great gain.   Even if you read here and you're not a mom, I insert your names as I pray John 10: 9 & 10 over you.

 "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. 

You will come in and go out, and find pasture. 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full."

Love,

Jesus

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace. 

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, Amen.

Be blessed today,

Julee

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

 My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

 He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

 The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 121

Hokey Pete, we miss you guys.


Your parents are awesome at sending us photos and videos, sometimes almost as many as once or twice a day.


I'm not being ungrateful, but it's just not the same as hanging out with you in real time.


I already love your little personalities and how absolutely well-adjusted you are, whether it's out for dinner charming the wait staff or smiling and acting like Grandpa and I are all that and a bag of chips when we skype.


I was working on some wedding stuff for Aunt Melissa and Uncle Spencer the other day, and I became overwhelmed with the blessing of family.  By the way, do you know what you're wearing to the wedding, yet? Me neither.  I can't wait until the next time we're all together and I wanted you also to know I cherish each and every minute I get to hang out with you.


These are two of my favorite pictures of you guys, so far.  I love how  you adjust to being dressed up in clothes just for a photo shoot.  Lilly, I'm sorry grandma tried to grab a picture in my 1st birthday dress exactly at the same moment you would have rather just taken your nap.  Max, you can be thankful you'll never have to wear that itchy, stiff, pink dress.

Lilly, I love Elmo in the background and that your tutu matches the car. 


Max, I love how you went straight for the dirt and pinwheel seconds after the sit still moment.


I love how you both like the outdoors, playing, napping, eating and talking.


I love how you both love life.


So yeah, ring us up. Come over right away... and ask your mom and dad if this summer is too early to start our Grandma & Grandpa Wilke Adventure Camp?

Mother of the Bride dress ... yes, no, maybe so?

Let The Games Begin

I don't do fashion or organization. 


In fact, I'm wearing the sweatshirt I have on in this picture circa early '90's, as I speak.   On an scale of 1-10, I'm probably about a negative 43. OK, let's face, it I'm a mess.


But there's always hope. Just look at my pinterest tab.  Everything labeled and on it's little organized grid board.  And all with catchy titles. I especially like my fashion board title, If I Cared About Style.  My pinterest site suggested I follow my niece Ashley, so I clicked over to her site and laughed out loud when I read her profile statement, "I can't decide if pinterest is annoying or not."

I do care how I look and it totally frustrates me when I can't find a file, fax, or tax paper . I'm working on my organizational and fashionable skills and recently got everything all neatly arranged and behind bars  tabs.  I found a Plato's Closet in Lafayette!  {insert Hallelujah Chorus} Hoping to find my MOB dress there.  My mac desktop comes and goes.  Once in a while, like just now,  I create a folder, title it clean-up 4.11.12 and drop  I-don't-know-how-this-all-got-out-here into said file, and I do clean up nicely when the occasion calls for it.


I found a new trick for logging what I do during the day. I set the timer on my phone and then make myself work on one thing until the timer goes off.  The other day I hit stopwatch instead of timer, started out on a walk, forgot all about stopping the stopwatch.  According to my iPhone, I walked for 68 hours, 7 minutes, and 42 seconds.


Dangle a shiny, new, pretty book in my face and I'm distracted like a "Peanuts" 4th grade school child character.


When the reality TV series "Survivor" first debuted, my son demanded a refund. His commentary; This is not what I expected with a title like Survivor.  I thought they would throw a bunch of people on a deserted island and see who survives. This show has nothing to do with surviving ... it should be called, "Voter".  You shoulda wrote a book, Ben.


I've only read the first book of The Hunger Games, but I'm hooked. The analogy's can go all sorts of ways;  anit-big government, social injustice, sacrificial lambs, but one can't help putting our crazy quest for entertainment as the mother ship of all analogies.


Most likely this was quoted while in her sunday finest slowly walking the red carpet and waving to nameless faces:  Even Jennifer Lawrence, the star of the film, has gotten in on the act. She told Parade magazine recently that she saw "The Hunger Games" primarily as an indictment of our obsession with reality television. "I was watching the Kardashian girl getting divorced, and that's a tragedy for anyone," she said. "But they're using it for entertainment, and we're watching it. The books hold up a terrible kind of mirror: This is what our society could be like if we became desensitized to trauma and to each other's pain."  


This is what our society COULD be like?????   With our flagrant obsessions over fame, fashion, fun, fortune, and the fountain of youth, honey, we're already on the darkside of hunger games.


"How you spend your time is how you spend your life."


But because I'm human and outright fickle, I'll set my timer,  head out to do some yard work, all while downloading  book two; Catching Fire. Let the {hockey} games begin.

And that's all I have to say about that, said in my best Forrest Gump.

The Big 1-0

Every picture tells a story and everyone has a story to tell.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Thank goodness bracketball is over, now I can concentrate on "The Hunger Games" trilogy.
Next up: Articles of Organization and how 'bout them Tigers?

Buggy & Bunny

… he commanded our fathers so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commandments. Psalm 78:6, 7

I'm scurrying to get the birthday party pics together, just as with the engagement party, the birthday parties were celebrations to be remembered a  lifetime.  The babies, the videos, the parents, the families, all huddled together in gratefulness and thanksgiving. Oh my goodness or better said:
God is good...all the time.  If you read here, know you're on my hit prayer list.
Have a life-changing Holy Week.…

All pictures edited and created in the iPastels app on the iPad
All grandbabies created and born 4 days apart in 2011 Happy Birthday Max & Lilly
Linking up today with Still Saturday 

T.G.I.F.

Found these in my small town (pop. 800) antique store which used to be the 5 and dime store.

Another blog post.

Photo by STORIES Photography

Wine glasses are the new cupcakes.

Photo from Style Me Pretty

Linking up today with:

The sister at Savvycityfarmer ~Thriftin' on a Thursday
Common Ground's ~ Vintage Inspiration Friday
My friend Kate ~ Hopefully a HH Skype date!
And you? -----------------------------------------------> Join Grey Barn STORIES

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Like a fool I stayed away too long---from this blog entry---I hope I do it justice after selfishly hoarding and harboring the moments. And technically, it won't be signed and sealed until 9-22-12, but it's a done deal.

When Spencer asked us if he could marry Melissa, of course, we said yes.  A year and 1/2 ago, when he asked us if he could date her, my heart began to wonder if he would be our sixth child. Last summer and into the fall, as I watched Melissa's countenance and saw her heart out on her sleeve, my wondering ceased.

So let's get right to the logistics.  After we drilled him poured out our heart and souls to him, and talked way too much about the do's and don'ts of a happy marriage, I asked him what his proposal plans were. I proceeded to talk, without waiting for him to answer, and sang my silly song of taking a walk to the railroad tracks and looking for smashed pennies. (I guess my railroad tracks proposal is up for grabs ... or will have to go in the novel)

Spencer smiled graciously and listened.  He's like that.

I started to  mention the beach in Muskegon, it's one of Melissa's favorite places, when Mark kicked me under the figurative "let the boy talk table" and did the universal sign for shut the front door.

You could tell he'd been mulling this over for awhile (Spencer, not Mark). And so it went something like this:

The whole family decided to come to the farm for a little bit of "family time" with a Max & Lilly birthday party, as the decoy.

Spencer would beg off with an overwhelmed-at-work excuse, which was totally not a lie.  Then the planning began.

I can't even imagine the scurrying that took place on Spencer's side of the family, but know this, the mother and sister of the groom, may have missed their calling.  They are party planners extraordinaire, and had only Melissa and Spencer in their thoughts as they pulled curtains from their house, glued buttons on mason jars while in their pajamas,  practically furnished the birthday party brunch, packed the car to the gills including the unused awning, and brought crates full of generosity.

The family of the groom arrived  and proceeded on their walk about of the farm where Melissa played as a young girl.  They embraced the wedding tool shed and saw the places they'd only heard about in stories, from their long time family friends; Melissa's Uncle Ron and Aunt Ardy.

The defining moment came while in the barn bay underneath a row of scruffy old wooden ladders.  Even though a look-a-like picture is posted on Melissa's pinterest board as a wedding idea, this would be the spot where her Spencer would propose.

And so with joy and awesome weather, the transformation began.  Load out, load in. Hang and drape. Sweep and sway. Sisters and kittens.  Lofty and lovely. And with only minutes to spare,  as the wind picked and the cold front marched in, the texts came from the brother of the bride ... "We have the package"... "We've stopped for a baby break"... "On the road again"... "30 minutes away"... "10" ... "5" ....

Light the candles, places everyone.
We made Jen the spokesperson for getting Melissa to the barn, "Hey, Melissa, come see what we mocked up for the wedding, down in the barn."
Melissa, "You guys know there's a winter tornado brewing out there, right?"
Me, "Yeah, here's a scarf and some mittens, you gotta see this." (I didn't want her to be cold, Spencer had 30-45 minutes of material)

We braced the wind and escorted her across the empty driveway, opened the barn door, shoved her in, closed the barn door, and peaked through the cracks (only for a minute, c'mon.)

The sign for all of us to head down to the proposal site and melt Melissa into a puddle of tears, for the 2nd time that night, would be when Spencer opened the barn door.

Without spoiling their version, I can't really tell the whole story without a bit of conversation from those 45 minutes while 15 pairs of eyes watched and waited from the two houses.
Melissa, as she turned around to see where Jen and I had gone and noticed Spencer in the corner, "What are you doing here?"
Spencer, while embracing her and waiting for her avalanche of reality to hit, "What do you think I'm doing here?"
They talked, they prayed, they cried, and they had their own little dance party. Melissa was overwhelmed with it all.   Then the wind moved the barn door a tad Spencer opened the door and we shot out like canon circus entertainers. Just beyond their sight, at the threshold, grandpa started "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," we gathered around them to finish the song and show our support,  as we will for the rest of their lives.

Even though she said it felt like she was in a movie, she embraced the moment(s), wrote all 45 of them on her heart and said yes.

As 3 cats and a kitten skitted about and pawed at the decorations while we borrowed their living room, the overjoyed bride-and-groom-to-be, 3 grandparents, 4 parents, 7 siblings, 1 aunt, and 2 babies, joined hands and asked God to bless the marriage and the blending of families. Then we partied in the big house with Pizza King, continuing the celebrattion with a toast to the happy couple. Eat, drink, and be married.

Signed, sealed, delivered ... 

I'm yours.

Overjoyed

Stories to tell ...

And I will tell them, soon.

Happy Birthday today to our first grandaughter ~ Lilly

And on Friday to our first grandson ~ Max

My Top Ten List

In order of appearance: 

#1.  Mark

#2.  Julee

#3.  Ben

#4.  Jennifer

#5.  Melissa

#6.  Annie

#7.  Tony

#8.  Lilly

#9.  Max

And introducing #10: Spencer

  

Romantic and nostalgic story to follow.  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.