Welcome to Thankful Thursday - April 29. 2010

(These went on the dining room table)

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Hello Sweet Peas,

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Hope you have had a good Thursday!!

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It has been a glorious, sunny,  cloudless, 

blue sky, cool, breezy, sit on the porch day here!!

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Could I say more??  Probably yes!!!  Have hubby

and I enjoyed it?? Yes,  to say the least!!

He worked out there all day.

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Around noon hubby and I were enjoying
the lovely day when I got a phone call from a sweet
 and distressed friend who came over and spent most
 of the day with us.  She had just come from court

from getting her final divorce decree!!

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To say it is sad is an understatement,  it is not

at all what she ever wanted but for 3 years we

have watched her suffer thru much distress at

the hands of a man that we feel could care less.

She had biblical grounds but she was not the one

to file for the divorce, she wanted her marriage

to work and was willing to work at it, especially

because she has 3 beautiful children.

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So my

#1

I  thank the Lord of glory for

is how we have seen justice served on this day.

  The Lord took good care of her and  her children.
She will no longer have to wonder if or when this man
 is gonna help her with child support. We have watched
 her be a sweet, godly, patient and good person to this
 man who has just walked all over her basically!!
  She needed to see some of God's justice,
 and truthfully so did we!

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#2

I thank the Lord 

because she has a clear conscience because she

did everything possible to try and save this marriage.

I am so grateful she is left with that in her time of grief,

and I am so thankful that the Lord has given her the

grace to go thru all she has and to be such a graceful

woman of God in spite of it all.

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#3

I am thankful

for our other friends finally found out a diagnosis,

not that it was great, but it was better than it might

have been.  It has not spread to his bone marrow

and I guess it is a stage 2 and 3.  He has gotten 2

chemo treatments and so far has tolerated them

well,  and will get another round in 3 weeks,  and

may go home from the hospital tomorrow,  but

still needs lots of prayer for high blood pressure

and sugar problems.  Scary for his wife!!

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#4

I am thankful

that another longtime friend who is going thru a lot of

physical issues called and told me that the "Lost in the middle"

 book I gave her has really helped get her thinking straightened

 out.  She will be having a heart procedure next Month.

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#5

I am thankful

for the "Lost in the Middle" book, and for Dr. Paul

 David Tripp who wrote the book,  because it has 

helped us, and  so many people that are going thru

 tough and difficult times in their lives.  

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#6

I am thankful

that the Lord knows where we will be needed

and when and arranges life for us. I was suppose

to have my daughter and her boyfriend over for

dinner tonight but she called last night to say he

was still out of town and wouldn't be home till

late tonight.  It could have been a very stressful

day otherwise.

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#7

I am thankful

for my sweet hubby and for the beautiful flowers he 

brought me on Monday,  as you can see throughout

this post. I got 4 arrangements out of one bouquet

I just love that!!

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(These went in the guest bath)

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#8

I am thankful

that the Lord is always faithful to give me

things to be thankful for when sometimes

it seems like so many bad things are happening,

which has been going on in the last 2 weeks.

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#9

I am thankful

that Jennifer over at trading ashes for beauty

got good results back on all her cancer tests.

Now that is something to celebrate for sure!!

Such wonderful news.

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# 10

I am thankful

that although my heart is sad for all these sweet

and precious friends that are going thru such hard

times right now,  I am thankful that God gives us the

capacity to feel their pain and come along side

them whenever possible.

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#11

I am thankful

that I know the Lord of glory,  and that He is in

control of this world we live in,  and that He

 knows how to take care of His children.

Praise His Name!!

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(this lil guy went on my kitchen sink)

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#12

I am thankful

that we had time to watch a Disney movie

last night that made us laugh a lot,  cause we

needed a good laugh.  It was called "Old Dogs"

with John Travolta and Robin Williams.

Some parts were silly but it was a fun and

belly laughs movie at times!!

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(Two of the Sunflowers wouldn't face upward so I took them all

 out and cut their stems very short and floated them in a bowl .
These went on my bathroom vanity)

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Well,  Sweet Folks,

that is my thankful list for today!!

Somedays you have to dig deep

to find those blessings but they

are always there!!

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Please share some of your

 blessings with me......

I could use some encouragement!!

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Have a Beautiful Evening!!

Love, Blessings and Hugs,

Nellie


P.S. Oh yea,  just so you know I did tweak my

chicken casserole recipe on my Heart Tips

Tuesday post this week.

Bye Now!!  

Welcome to White Wednesday

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Good Morning Sweet Friends

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And how are you this fine day????

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I am doing well, we had a nice evening,

eating and reading, and trying to fix

something that went wrong with my

editor all of the sudden. Didn't get it

fixed so had to go back to the old one until

we can figure out what the problem is.

So will see how it goes.

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Our dinner (My lowfat chicken casserole from

yesterday post) turned out pretty well, we

wound up using the low fat sour cream and diced

tomatoes on top, and we liked it quite well,

definitely think I would like it best without the

sage and thyme personally, which is why I left

it out of the recipe (but if you happen to like them,

then you might want to add it). I am gonna go

back over and tweak the recipe a bit today.

Think it could have used a bit more veggies too.

We ate roasted asparagus with it as well.

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Since I am participating in White Wednesday

guess I had better get on with it!!

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Someone has taken over my kitchen

this spring...................

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It is........." Beauregard Coq"

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He insist upon that name................

because he has delusions of grandeur.......

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He says that he was the symbol of France

during the French Revolution and that

He was even on the National Flag!!

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Also Beauregard was the name of a cartoon

Rooster at one time, and it also means handsome

He is a bit arrogant and full of himself too, what

can I say!!

and Coq means Rooster

in French, of course,

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and He even says He is a perfect decorative

piece to have if you want a French Country

look!! Imagine That!!

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Much to his chagrin, I just call him

" Beau Roostair", think that sounds better

and a lil more French, don't you!!

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Well, and if that isn't bad enough He also

brought along his twin country cousins.

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This would be Roo

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and you guessed it, this would be Ster!!

So original, right????

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And we all know that all families have

some colorful characters or relatives,

so Beauregard brought them along too!

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Then he brought this lil runt of the

family along too, guess he has to

try and show off to get attention

since he climbed......

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up on top of a weathervane.

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Here is a better close up of the puny guy.

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His name is "Doodle do"

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He said his greatest desire

is to be on top of a church steeple.

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Talk about delusions of grandeur!!

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I heard Beau talking to them all

the other day saying aren't you glad

we are all Roosters and not hens!!

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And Roo said, Why?? hens get treated
pretty well,
and Beau said, yea, but looooooookkkkk...........
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at the size of that platter!!!!

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Never seen a Rooster on one of those,

but sure have seen some Hens!!

Poor things!!

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Hope you enjoyed my lil Rooster Fun Story.

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Thanks for dropping by.........

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Make sure to go over to Kathleen's at
Fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com
and see all the other fun and unique
White Wednesday Posts.

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Have a Beautiful White Wednesday!!

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Blessings n' Hugs Galore,

Nellie

Welcome to Heart Tips Tuesday - Chicken Casserole recipe & Products

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Hiddy Ho Sweet Friends,

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So how is your week going so far???

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Fine, I hope. Mine is going well, catching up on some

household chores cause I am finally feeling a bit peppier

than the last few weeks. Think it was our air filter and

since it has been cleaned I am feeling considerably better.

Did I tell you about that yesterday??

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I hope not, I did tell someone, but I type so many comments

on blogs and send so many emails at times, I forget who

I told what!!

Anybody else have that problems besides me???

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I was thinking this morning about what to make for din

din tonight, and I got thinking about a casserole that I

used to make that we all loved, It was just called

Chicken Casserole and it was made with stove top

stuffing, but since we can no longer use stove top

stuffing due to those lovely hydrogenated oils or

palm kernel oils, I have only made it once when

I found a walmart brand that had palm kernel oil

and thought yeah, only to find out palm kernel oil

is just a tich better but not much. Heart Assoc.

says stay away from it, so that is what we do!!

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However, I did happen to have this on hand.

Oops, the one I am looking for is not in this bunch,

but it is a Krusteaz mix, but it is called "Fat Free

Honey Cornbread". I only use their fat free

products because they are the only ones that

don't have the bad oils other than the Pecan

bars I think! You just have to read those

dratted labels!! lol

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(Oh and Mickey if you are reading, this is the way I made

the Cranberry Orange bread, I add nuts to mine tho, then I

put orange sherbert on top when I serve it,

and it makes a great fat free dessert.)

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So back to my story, so I decided to whip up the corn

bread and was gonna cook it first then tear it up and

mix it together with the other stuff, but decided why

don't you just put it all in their together and cook it

once, so that is what I did. It just came out of the

oven and it taste pretty good, it is not quite the

consistency of the one I made before it is more

like a moist cake like consistency, and it taste

good but needs something, so think I am gonna

top it with sour cream and some diced tomatoes

when I serve it tonight!

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This is the recipe:

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Nellie's Style heart healthy Chicken Casserole

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Ingredients

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1 box Krusteaz fat free honey cornbread

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1 cup of lowfat buttermilk

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1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

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1 medium onion diced up

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5-6 stalks of celery sliced thin

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3 cloves of garlic minced

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2 carrots chopped fine

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1 tsp. Lawry's seasoned salt

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1 1/2 - cups chicken torn or cut in bite size pieces

(I used leftover rotisserie chicken)

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1 to 1 1/2 cups of 2% shredded cheddar cheese

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Directions

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Put Krusteaz mix in bowl and add buttermilk and

chicken broth, and mix well. Then add onion, celery, garlic,

carrot and seasoned salt, and chicken and mix well

again. Do not add cheese now!!

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Pour mixture into an 8x8x2- inch metal baking pan.

Bake in 400 degree preheated oven for 18 mins.

and check it, I had to cook mine for about 24 mins.

cause the center was giggly, but your oven could be

different so you will need to check it cause it says

on the box 18-22 mins. Once it is cooked put the

cheese on top, and put it back in the oven for just

a couple of minutes till cheese melts. Take it out,

give it a few minutes to set, and serve.

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Serve with lowfat sour cream on top and chopped

juicy tomatoes, I use Compari tomatoes.

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Comments: I had added some thyme and sage to

it, but think I would like it better without so that

is why I didn't include it.

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Here is something good for dessert, not

too much, just something simple to give you

that lil bit of sweet taste you might like after

dinner. We eat a square almost nightly

after dinner, and it is totally heart healthy

because it is dark chocolate and we have

found that one pc. is quite satisfying

because the dark chocolate is so

rich. All of these chocolates are

absolutely delish

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And here is something I found at Target, we

had them once before, but I forgot about them,

but we happened to see them again. They are in

separate lil packages, 7 heart shaped cookies

per pack, and they are only 1 gram of sat. fat.

So they are a great lil snack, and they are

a good source of fiber and have 70% cocoa

and some wine extract, so they looked pretty

healthy from all we read. Tried to go online

and see where they sell them besides Target

but had no luck, also wanted to see what

other products they have. They do have a few

but have no clue where you would find them.

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Well, Sweet Friends, thanks for stopping in

today, and hope you can find something new

to try. Something new is fun!! lol

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Don't try this recipe till be actually eat it

and critique it. I have only tried a tiny

square so far, but think it will be good.

I wanted to go ahead and record it so I

didn't forget what I did!! lol

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But check back tomorrow and I will

give you the scoop!!

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Have a Beautiful evening with your loved ones,

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Blessings and Hugs,

Nellie

Have an Un Angry Sunday!!

Happy Sunday Sweet Friends,

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Hope you are having a good weekend.

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Ours has been good for the most part.

We went to see our friends at the hospital,  and

 they still don't know much more than they did

 before.  They did do a bone marrow

test on Friday, but have not gotten the results yet.

They want to start the chemo but can't because

he has pneumonia, and they are trying to get that

cleared up. Then today there was another problem.

 What a mess!!  But the Lord knows and He is in

 control,  so we have to keep  reminding ourselves

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We also got the yard mowed, and all the rest, and got 

some bushes cut back,  so that looks a bit nicer. 

 Then today we got some more painting done, but, still

 not finished, but a few steps closer.  Got all the primer 

on, and got another door casing painted,  and put another

 coat of paint on the first one,  think 3 coats might just do it, 

 we sure hope so!!

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We also had some intense fellowship which reminded
 me of this scripture in Ephesians 4: 26

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"In your anger do not sin.  Do not let the sun go

 down while you are still angry, and do not give

 the devil a foothold."

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Well, don't think we did too well on the first part,

but we did great on the second part cause we

are fine now,  and have made our apologies

and asked forgiveness.  We forget sometimes

 that when you counsel you get tested on what 

you are teaching!!  Such Fun!! 

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I like what I read on some new blog someone

sent me to, the phrase "with every test comes

a testimony!!"   I like that quote!!  

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So here is my testimony "Get over it before

bedtime or you won't get a very good nights

sleep,  and the enemy will keep you company

all thru the night with angry thoughts."

That is the truth, and nothing but the truth
 because we know from years back but
 we have learned!!!............lol

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Even if you have not settled whatever the
situation is at least make peace and say
you love each other and are committed
to the marriage or relationship and we will
 talk about this issue and work it out
 tomorrow cause it is too late to do it now!!
 That works really well especially if you go back
and work it out the next day when you aren't
so tired and upset!!
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Well, Sweet Folks,

Hope you have an Un Angry Sunday!!

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Love, Blessings and Hugs,

Nellie

Welcome to Thankful Thursday - April 22, 2010

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Greetings Sweet Friends

And

Welcome to Thankful Thursday!

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Hope to find you well and happy this day!

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I have to say I haven't gotten a lot accomplished

so far today,  made a smoothie for breakfast,

straightened up the kitchen, made grill cheese

sandwiches for a late lunch, and put a load of

 clothes in to wash and caught up on reading and 

commenting on blogs. And we did our exercise,

yea!!  so that is out of the way too!!

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Oh Yea, forgot to tell you I didn't start

 my day till 10:15.  Hubby works at home today

and I was sleeping so soundly I didn't even hear

him get up,  and he just let me sleep,  so much

to my shock it was 10:15.  I really hate to sleep

that late,  but I have to say I  must have needed

it cause I feel really good today!!

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No wonder I am shocked it is already 3:45 in

the afternoon.  Well I guess my

#1

 thankful is...............

I am thankful to the Lord 

for a good night and morning sleep!! lol

and feeling so good today!!

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(there were 3 of these beauties but by the time I got

the camera ready 2 had gone.)  Bummer!

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#2

I am thankful

for the birds of the air that I caught on

camera in my backyard this week.  A 

great reminder to us of how the Lord can

take care of us if he takes care of the birds

of the air.  They are so pretty and healthy

looking,  so He is doing a great job!!

and He does a great job of taking care

of us too!!

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(Here is a closeup thanks to zoom lens,

Isn't he so pretty!!)

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#3

I am thankful

that when we lose something the Lord knows

right where it is,  and when we have the presence of

 mind to ask for his help He has found a number

of things we have lost. Sometimes He tells you

right away, sometimes it might be a day, some

times a week or maybe 3 and sometimes

months later, but we do wind up finding it!!

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#4

I am thankful

the Lord found Jimmys car keys that he lost

last Sunday.  Remember I told you Dee had

to come and rescue us at Bed, Bath and 

Beyond.  We ran there right after church to

pick up some more towels that were on sale,

and we went right from the car to the towels,

and then just a quick look at pictures and

to the register.  Right before we got to the

register Jim realized he had lost his keys.

We retraced our steps over and over and 

even the store employees were trying to 

help,  but to no avail.  We had to leave our

name and number hoping they would call.

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Monday morning still no call,  so he was

trying to put together another set of keys,

and the Lord prompted him to look in his

bible cover which has a pocket,  guess 

what was there???  His keys of course!!

He has a habit of putting them in there 

when he goes to church cause he doesn't

like having bulging pockets, so guess

he had a momentary lapse as to where

he was !! lol

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 (Caught this pretty cardinal taking a bath in our

birdbath yesterday.  Isn't he adorable,  I wanted

to say she,  but the males are the colorful 

and prettier birds - more shots to come)

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#5

I am thankful

the Lord found Jim's wedding band,  he lost  about 

3 weeks or so ago,  and we had turned the house upside

 down looking for it,  and praying of course.  Last weekend

 he found it in a very strange place.  See if you can figure it out???

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It was in the bottom of a tupperware container

that we keep the dog treats in....................

How funny is that!!

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Jimmy went to get a cookie for the Rosie when

she was here last Friday,  and he saw it and 

said Nellie look,  and I thought he was trying

to show me the container was empty and I

said yea,  I know we have another box of

treats in the garage,  and he said No, look,

and when I did I just died laughing,  it must

of somehow just slipped off his finger.

Is that not a riot!! lol

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(He was having a splashingly good time, let me tell you! 

 Am surprised you can't see the water splashing,  either 

he stopped splashing everytime I took a shot or it just

isn't showing up on the zoom)

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#6

I am thankful

for those that have prayed for us and the 

couple we are working with........

because the Lord is answering prayers

in a big way!!

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#7

I am thankful

for this couple and what tender hearts they

 have,  they do whatever we ask them

to ...........and it is incredible to have such

great hearts to work with cause trust me

this is a rarity today!!  Sadly!!

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(Ahhh,  this is so refreshing)

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#8

I am thankful

for what the Lord did for Jennifer over at

trading beauty for ashes.  It is a beautiful

answer to her prayers.  Click here to read

about it.

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(All these photos brought to you by the magic

of the zoom lens photography,  such a neat thing!)

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#9

I am thankful

that Noreen was the blessed recipient of

a wonderful blessing from Becky over at

Holiday in the Sun.  Click here to read

about it!!  Becky strikes again!!

Good going Girly!!

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#10

I am thankful

for Becky and what a sweet heart she has,

and for the joy she loves to bring to others

with her lovely, unique and creative surprises!!

and She is a Sweet Heart as well.

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#11

I am thankful 

for Doctors, Nurses and hospitals who can help

our loved ones and friends when we have 

no clue what to do for them.

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Which reminds me of my friends hubby, Al,

again,  he seems to be worse today,  so

she is getting more and more concerned

to say the least!!

 Please Pray if you feel so led.

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#12

I am thankful

that Scott found a state job that he really liked

the sounds of, and applied for it.  Only sad

part is it is in Jacksonville,  but we want the

Lords will for him,  and would love to see

him have a job that he loves and that doesn't 

work him 70-75 hrs. a week. And it is only a

few hours away, Course, he has only applied

 so we have to see what happens.

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Of Course, we would love for him to find

a great job in this area!! lol

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(Ahhhh, the magic of photoshop - the palette 

knife affect,  I really like how it looks)

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Well, Sweet folks,  there you have my Thankful

List for this week.

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Hope you have had a week with lots of neat

 things to be thankful for!

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So Tell Us............

What are you Thankful For!!

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Thanks for coming by...........

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Until next time,

Love, Blessings and Hugs, 

Nellie