Riverbend Ramblings

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~Riverbend Ramblings~
The days are long, but the years are short.
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Happy Monday!

I hope your week is off to a good start. I spent the weekend at home with Lil' Nut, Curly Girl, and Mickey Mouse nursing runny noses and sore throats. Although I was sad to miss our church services Sunday, I did enjoy some extra cuddle time with my coughing, sneezing little angels. I've been pumping them with herbal remedies and washing my hands every time I turn around. I'm praying that sickness in our house is short-lived as we have plans to travel later this week.

One of the blessings of modern technology is being able to listen to good preaching via the internet. On Sunday I listened to the services from our home church in Florida. Although it wasn't exactly the same as being in church, my heart was encouraged by the good gospel music and Bible preaching.

Speaking of sickness and computers, our computer has been infected by a horrible virus. Mr. C brought home the laptop from his office for me to use while he works on de-bugging the desktop. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon.

In closing I want to welcome a few new readers that have been commenting lately. My schedule has been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, but I'll do my best to get around to visiting all of you soon. Have a wonderful week!



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Written at Monday, August 20, 2007 by Paula.
12 comments
Monday, July 02, 2007
Happy Monday!

Here are some pictures of a doe and her fawn that I took this morning through my bedroom window. They're a little blurry because I didn't have time to change the settings on my camera. The momma was very alert, and I knew she would take off if I tried to go outside to get a better picture. The fawn is only a few days old and still a little wobbly on its feet. Country living does have its benefits.

I enjoyed a quiet weekend puttering around the house trying to get things looking tidy again following our vacation. I've got just about all of the laundry caught up, and all of the floors have been mopped. There's something about a clean floor that makes me feel good. However, there's no rest for the weary. Just when things are beginning to get back to normal around here, I'll start packing today for another trip. The kiddos and I are heading to Florida to spend some time with family. I've got quite a bit of ironing today to make sure Mr. C has enough dress shirts to last him until we get back. The fun never ends. ;)

Yesterday at church we had a two visiting families. They had a combined 8 children under the age of six, so our Sunday school classes and nursery were a little bit busier than normal. On Sunday night, one of the families returned with their 5 little girls. I had a fun time with three of them as it was my scheduled week to care for the little ones in the nursery. The young mother seemed so encouraged by our services and said that she'd been praying that the Lord would lead them to a good Independent Baptist church. Today I'll be baking a big batch of brownies for our visitors.

Well, I need to get busy with my long to-do list. I wish you all a wonderful week!

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Written at Monday, July 02, 2007 by Paula.
7 comments
Monday, May 14, 2007
Weekend Review
I am in recovery mode after a very busy weekend! I spent all day Friday decorating for our Mother ~ Daughter luncheon at our church. I had a couple of ladies help me get things set up, but my mind was just spinning with all of the last-minute details. I was worried that I would overlook something important, but thankfully I had written everything down on a very long list that I referred to constantly.

Our luncheon theme was "Vessels Unto Honour" based on 2 Timothy 2:21, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

Our special guest speaker, a pastor's wife, did a wonderful job sharing some practical ideas on how we can be used by God in our everyday lives.

My camera batteries died before I got many pictures taken, but here are a couple from the fellowship hall that I took just before our meal. We used lots of flowers and greenery. The rest of the program took place in the main auditorium. We had a variety of vessels and pottery around the platform, but unfortunately I didn't get pictures. It looked so lovely!

one of the tables
coffee/dessert table

The best part of the day was having my mom with me. She drove 8 1/2 hours to spend the day with me and the girls. Thank you, Mom! I was so busy running around that I didn't get to spend much time with her, but it was still great to have her with us.

Mother's Day was actually more relaxing for me. We had good services at church with quite a few visitors for Mother's Day. Several special moms were recognized with a beautiful rose: the oldest mom present, the mom with the most children present, the mom with the most visitors present, and the mom with the youngest child present.

Mr. C and the kids took me out for lunch after church. I had requested Cracker Barrel, but apparently a couple hundred other moms picked the same place. :( We headed down the road a bit farther and found a nice restaurant with delicious food and a much shorter wait time. :) I even got a catnap before heading back to church for the evening service.

I plan on getting some R & R on Monday. I hope you all have a great week!

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Written at Monday, May 14, 2007 by Paula.
4 comments
Monday, May 07, 2007
Weekend Review
Happy Monday!

I had such a fun time on Saturday! My good friend Mrs. O, (who is also a pastor's wife) invited me to attend her church's Mother ~ Daughter luncheon. Mr. C kept the three younger kids so that Bookworm and I could enjoy a special day together.

The theme for the luncheon was Cherish the Memories. The items on the communion table represent momentos of days gone by. The table centerpieces were simple and elegant. Mrs. O is a very talented lady and a gifted decorator! She had some great helpers, too. Many of the ladies displayed family photos in keeping with the theme.



Mrs. L, one of my best friends from my home church in Florida, was the guest speaker. She shared her testimony of what she's been through the past few years. Her husband (my husband's best friend) was the youth pastor at our home church. He was really on fire for the Lord! In the fall of 2003 at the age of 28, he was diagnosed with cancer. He went home to Heaven just 4 1/2 months later, leaving behind his loving wife and two sweet babies. Mrs. L knows first-hand what it's like to have your hopes and dreams for the future shattered in the blink of an eye. She encouraged all of us ladies to cherish each moment we have with our families and those we love. Needless to say, there wasn't a dry eye in the room when she was through speaking!

After the luncheon was over I had a chance to do some shopping in the area with Mrs. L. We enjoyed having a chance to visit since we only see each other a couple of times a year. After an hour and a half drive back home, Bookworm and I were two tired girls, but we felt very blessed to be able to spend the day with good Christian friends.

We had a first-time visitor in our services on Sunday, so you-know-who will be baking cookies this week. :-) It's always encouraging to meet new folks and have an opportunity to minister to them.

This week will be a busy one for me. Tonight we have our monthly ladies' fellowship at church, and I'll be spending the next few days preparing for our Mother's Day luncheon at church scheduled for Saturday. I still have two more areas that are in need of spring cleaning, and I hope to finish them up by Wednesday.

On the homeschool front, we only have two weeks of lessons left--yeah! We'll be doing some unit studies and review over the summer, but our official school year will end in just a few more days. The kids have already started the countdown.

Even though this is a very busy time of year, it's a good kind of busy. I have two of the world's greatest job titles: pastor's wife and homeschooling mom. I'm humbled by God's goodness to me, and I plan to cherish and treasure the moments God gives me.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!


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Written at Monday, May 07, 2007 by Paula.
4 comments
Monday, April 16, 2007
Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a great start.

Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn to hit some yard sales with a friend from church. A couple of hours and $8 later, here's what I ended up with: 4 Thomas Kinkade puzzles (the larger box has 3 puzzles in it), a vintage Tupperware food carrier, an etched glass plate, a bunny flag, and 2 pairs of BRAND NEW sandals. How often do you find brand new shoes in your size at a yard sale? The sandals were definitely the best buy of the day.
I still had time left after going to the yard sales to do my weekly grocery shopping without any kids with me. I was able zoom down the store aisles in record time. :-) The rest of Saturday was spent playing with the kids and finishing up my Sunday school lesson.

Sunday's services were a blessing. I'm so glad that I attend a church where the Word of God is preached! We had three first-time visitors, so it looks like I'll be busy baking cookies tomorrow.

We experienced a family milestone during the evening service. Lil' Nut promoted from the nursery and joined us in "big church". She was very excited and felt so grown-up! Although she did a really good job staying quiet during the preaching, I only caught snippets of the sermon because I was keeping a close eye on my wiggle worm. I'm always a bit nervous when we begin training our little ones to sit quietly through the service. Daddy doesn't get to help much with the process since he's busy preaching. :-) The folks sitting behind us were so kind and said Lil' Nut didn't bother them a bit. For the first time in 9 years, I no longer have a child in the church nursery. I guess we're now officially a family of big kids.

This week I have several tasks to accomplish on my to-do list. I'm going to try to finish my spring cleaning. The kitchen, children's bedrooms, guest bathroom, and porches still need some attention. I would also like to spend some time working in the garden if the weather cooperates.

I hope you all have a blessed week!

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Written at Monday, April 16, 2007 by Paula.
10 comments
Monday, April 09, 2007
Weekend Review
Happy Monday! We had a busy, but wonderful, Easter weekend. We hosted a spring picnic and egg hunt on Saturday. Sixteen children and 30 adults attended. The children had fun hunting for eggs despite the chilly weather. It's amazing how it takes so much time to fill up those plastic eggs with candy and hide them, yet it takes less than ten minutes for the kids to gather them up!

After the egg hunt Mr. C gave a devotional lesson using Resurrection Eggs. It was a great way to intertwine the Easter story into our activity. The adults enjoyed discovering what was inside the Resurrection Eggs just as much as the children did.

I was up with the birds on Easter morning preparing a feast for the family. Although I thought that I planned everything out, I discovered at the last minute that I did not have a pie crust in the freezer. So, I had to whip up a crust from scratch in the middle of dressing four kids for church. Lots of fun.

We were blessed with quite a crowd for our morning service. Several of our folks had family in town for the day, and we had some local first-time visitors as well. People seem to come out of the woodwork on Easter. I've got a batch of cream cheese cookies in the oven right now for Mr. C to deliver to our visitors. Our choir presented an arrangement of Resurrection songs, and my husband preached a wonderful message.

I took a delightful nap on Sunday afternoon after we enjoyed our lunch and got the kitchen all cleaned up. Pure bliss!

Last night Mr. C preached another great message expounding on the morning's text. We had a couple of visitors in the evening service, too. I think we were the only church in town that had an evening service, which is really sad. I was glad that one of my online friends and her son were able to join us as well. She is in town caring for her ailing mother-in-law. Hopefully we'll be able to grab lunch together one day this week.

This week I plan on finishing up my spring cleaning and boxing up the rest of the kids' winter clothes. I am a real soldier in the clothing war; I have too many boxes of hand-me-downs stored in the attic. I also want to finish up my curriculum list for next school year. I have several items that need to be ordered soon, and I need to take an inventory of our school books and supplies as well.

I'm not sure if I'll be posting much this week, so I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures of some of the springtime decor around our house. Have a wonderful week!
our front door

wreath on the entry closet door

front entry table

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Written at Monday, April 09, 2007 by Paula.
11 comments
Monday, April 02, 2007
Happy Monday! I hope you had a relaxing weekend. We stayed busy, but we enjoyed being able to spend time together as a family.

Saturday morning after tidying up the house I took Curly Girl and Lil' Nut with me grocery shopping while Bookworm and Mickey Mouse went on bus visitation with Mr. C.

On the way to the store I spotted a sign for a yard sale in a very upscale neighborhood that I just couldn't pass up. While I was browsing the tables, a man arrived to pick up some furniture he had purchased earlier in the day. The furniture was under a tarp, so I hadn't seen it yet. When the tarp was removed, my heart skipped a beat. There was a matching sofa and loveseat in brand new condition that would have gone perfectly with the paint colors in our family room! Oh, well! I didn't have the heart to ask the sellers how much they got for the set.

I still found some good deals. Bookworm has been needing some t-shirts now that warmer weather has arrived, and I was able to get her six shirts that looked like new for $1.50 total! My real treasure of the day was an adorable little flower pot fountain. The water makes the most relaxing bubbling sound, and I thought it was just too cute! The spade handle needs to be glued back on to the base, but I still thought $3 was a fair price. I haven't decided if the fountain will have a home on the front porch or the back porch. Today it's on the kitchen counter.Saturday afternoon our family headed here to do some fishing and enjoy a cookout with friends. The weather was perfect, but the fish weren't bitin'. Our host finally snagged a fish, much to the delight of the kids. He was kind enough to throw it back into the water with the hook still intact and let Curly Girl reel it back in. She actually thought that she caught the fish, so she was thrilled.

Our host thought that Lil' Nut would enjoy having a turn, too, but her reaction was a little bit unexpected. When she got the fish reeled in she said, "Hey, that's Mr. John's fish!" She's too smart to be fooled. :-)

As darkness approached, we roasted hot dogs over the campfire and made S'mores. Before we headed home Mr. C decided that Buddy needed a bath in the pond, so he tossed Buddy into the pond (much to the chagrin of a few members of our family). Buddy didn't know what in the world had happened, but he quickly found his way back to the shore. Poor dog!

Our church attendance was pretty good on Sunday despite the rain and some families being gone for spring break. All of my Sunday school kiddos were there, and we had a fun class. A new family that has visited with us several times came forward at the end of the service desiring to become members of our church, so that was a real blessing.

This week I am hoping to get a lot more spring cleaning done. Today I'll be working on the dining room. It's a small room, so it shouldn't take too long to get it spic-n-span. If you are doing some spring cleaning at your house, post a comment so that I can check your progress.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

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Written at Monday, April 02, 2007 by Paula.
11 comments