The Deer

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after Thee

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship Thee
You're my Friend and You are my Brother

Even though You are the King

I love You more than any other
So much more than anything

I want You more than gold or silver

Only You can satisfy


You alone are the real joy-giver

And the apple of my eye

(Chorus) You alone are my strength and shield

To you alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship Thee

This is a beautiful song. It is copyrighted but I don't know the author just now. Will try to post the name later. The pics are some of the many deer at that reside at Berry College in Rome, GA. It is the most beautiful college campus I've ever seen. (I have tried to get this to post right and not so stretched out and I can't seem to get it right.)

To buy a cookbook...

Go to http://www.churchchoirmusic.com/ and go to the music store . On the left you will find a tab for Concord Cookin'. $18. ea. or 2 for $30. + S&H Tell them mother of six sent you.

This is a pic taken at our church camp of the biscuit making crew. They sometimes make 700+ in a day. The recipe for these delicious,mouth-watering ,southern style, country biscuits is in this book. Of course, it is for about 18 biscuits and not 700! ;)

Missin' Momma

Last night at church we were singing ,"In the Sweet By and By" and I was remembering my grandmother playing that song on her harmonica. Someone sang it at her funeral in 1977 and at my mom's funeral in 2008. My mom died of Alzheimer's and I'm going to do a post on that here soon. It is still difficult to write about and to think too deeply on. But last night, a Wednesday prayer meeting, brought to mind a memory. One Wednesday night in late 2007 or early 2008 we were at church and Mom kept wanting to stand up. I'd let her for a while and then persuade her to sit down. We have a country church and everyone knew her condition so it was no distraction to the service. However, this night she got a bit loud in trying to talk to me about who the preacher was. I took her out in her wheelchair into the vestibule and began to talk with her. She actually had known this preacher for over 35 years and had been close friends with his wife. I explained in detail who he was , who his family was, his daughters, how Mom used to work at his house with his wife in a sewing business, etc. Mom was remembering! She knew then who Brother Denver and Sister Vera were. I asked if she understood now and wanted to go back in and hear the service. She looked at me with still a bit of confusion. I said, "You know who I am , don't you?" She said, "You're Denver's daughter?" I had to laugh. Brother Leon was in the vestibule also with his young child and had heard the whole exchange. He just looked at me and smiled. Mom is in the sweet by and by now where she knows "even as she is known."

Maya and Apples

This is my horse, Maya, and her colt which was Jessica's, Apples. Jess was thrilled to finally have a horse of her own, but her joy was short-lived as the colt only lived 3 days. We don't know what was wrong . Apples seemed a little weak from the start and on his third day here he just really went down. He never nursed good from the beginning. We were going to give Maya a rest and breed her again next year but she had other "plans" and broke out of her pen and went to see our neighbor's stud. This stud is also the father of Apples. So , hopefully we'll have another foal next March. We are hoping for a healthy filly this time.

Avonlea's parents holding an iguana!

Now that they have Avonlea they enjoy holding her more than an iguana:)!

Actually if you'll notice , Paige isn't holding the iguana and isn't looking too excited about Juston holding it!

My precious God-given gift~my granddaughter, Avonlea

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is His reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3,5

"Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel." Psalm 128:6

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

And since we know Avonlea is not actually perfect but made of imperfect flesh just like the rest of us my prayer for her is "The Lord bless you and keep you . The Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace and give you peace forever." Numbers

View looking to the right from my back porch

I spent a good bit of time in this chicken house that's now being used as a barn as a child. My parents used to raise approximately 40,000 broilers at a time. There were 3 chicken houses. Two of them they had built but this one was on the farm when they bought it I believe. At any rate it is OLD. I remember spending a lot of time here. It still stands and I can see it from my kitchen window. I know that it has been standing for over 50 years. I was a "tom-boy" when I was younger and I remember once hiding behind the huge feed bin to this #1 chicken house dressed in black jeans and a black hooded jacket. I put the hood on my head and was carrying a little toy rifle. My mom had been working in #2 chicken house just below this one and she thought I was at home. She had no idea anyone was around and when she came up the small hill from #2 back up to #1 I jumped out at her and almost scared her to death. I was probably just about 8 or 10 but what a dumb thing to do! I am crying now even as I type this. I am sure she laughed about it later but her heart gave a jump at the moment. Funny how just a look at an old chicken house can bring back a flood of memories. I had one of the best moms in the world. I wish I could hug her just one more time. But actually, I wouldn't bring her back to this old world if I could. Well, I just meant to put that pic up to show the view from my back porch and kitchen window and the memories and tears just started flowing so I got an unplanned post out of it. Hope you enjoyed it and if you are one of the fortunate ones who knew my mother you are indeed a blessed person and if Mom could speak to us right now she'd say that it was worth every mile and every trial and she'd ask us to be sure to meet her in Heaven. I will meet you in the morning Mom. Miss you and love you. But in the meantime I will do my best to be "stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as [I] know that [my] labour is not in vain in the Lord." I Corinthians 15:58

The view from my back porch

What's Going On With Us

I thought I'd try and tell what's going on with us and stay as private as possible. I know many of my readers and many I don't. Each time I check my blog I am awed and excited to see how many pageviews and the new flags as they pop up. I appreciate that anyone would come here and read what I write and I am very pleasantly surprised that once you come you actually come back. Thanks to all of you. I am new to computers at all so I am not sure just how much info to put on here about my family and I.

My husband is an artist by trade. He has been in the rug and carpet design business for over 30 years. There are rugs he has designed in the White House, homes of Princes and Princesses, homes of country music singers, etc. But recently, with the economy like it is the job he has had for the 30 years laid him off. What we thought would be 2-3 weeks has turned into almost 3 months now. Thank God I have a husband willing to WORK and work he does. He janitors at night, is doing a mural for a little league team, and just now he is in Virginia and will be for several days inventorying convenience stores in the interest of theft management. When the economy gets bad the theft goes up so inventorying is needed more than ever. He doesn't particularly enjoy the job but bills have to be paid. Please help us pray that his old job picks back up or that he will be directed to the new job God would have for him.

Our oldest son and his wife and their new baby that you have read about on here are doing good. They just bought their first house. They are appreciating the room after a 1 bedroom apartment. They had Sunday dinner with us today. We had gorditas. They were pretty good but Ty and I left off the seasoning . The rest however had plenty of seasoning and Ranch. :)

Our oldest daughter is writing to a young man in Pennsylvania. She has waited and stayed pure in mind and deed so we are praying God's will be done. The courtship by mail and email is going good and to God be the glory both of them are very careful in what is said. She met this young man on a youth trip with our pastor and he has been able to come to Georgia to our campmeetings a few times. I am appreciative of them both being sensitive to God in every step they take in getting to know to each other better.

Our 22-year old daughter sang in a trio tonight with her twin sister friends. The youth choir backed them up . They sang ,"Waiting at the River". They did a really good job. God is so good. I was thinking as I sat in church how blessed I am to have all 6 of my children , my daughter-in-law ,and my grandaughter right there in church with me.

Our second son is 19 and right now works at a fast food restaurant while he is going to college studying Criminal Justice. He hopes to be in detective work someday. He is keeping his grades up and we are thankful for him and his diligence. When his dad is gone on these trips he and his sister also keep up the janitoring job. Autumn is assistant director at a daycare and is also lead teacher in the 2-year old room. She does a good job with these children and is even learning sign language to be able to communicate with a new special needs child. She loves her work and puts her heart into it.

Our 15 and 9 year old help Whitney (oldest daughter) in her home business of caring for children in our home. They are enjoying summer off from their homeschool studies and I am excited about school starting back for them in late August.

Well, this is just a little vignette into our lives. Jess and I are planning to go out next week and sell cookbooks to help fund our "free" trip to Pennsylvania next month. I can't wait see Amish country again. The last time I was there I was 15 so that was 33 years ago. We don't travel much...well, Ty does :) but hopefully soon things will be looking up and I just may have some travel stories to tell to you on here! Right now I am just enjoying writing. I love to write. And I love to read. I am reading a great book called "The Velvet Curtain" by Trudy Harvey Tait. It is about a girl who escapes the Iron Curtain to come to America and finds that liberty and popularity have their curtains as well. The addresses for Harvey Christian Publishers are:

British address:

P.O. Box 510, Cheadle

Stoke-on-Trent, ST10 2NQ

email: jjcook@mac.com

or in the U.S.:

3107 Hwy. 321

Hampton, TN. 37658

emailbooks@harveycp.com

http://www.harveycp.com/

Don't forget if you want to order one of our church cookbooks the website is:

www.churchchoirmusic.com

The pic with this post is all my family that is at home. Maybe I'll have one of Juston and family later.

Cookbooks for Sale!!

Our church youth choir is making a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania next month. I am not a youth , but I get to go too! We are selling cookbooks to fund this trip. They are $18.00 each or two for $30.00. These books have over 500 recipes in them including my mom's "famous" Italian Cream Cake! Go to churchchoirmusic.com to order. Add $2.00 S&H for U.S. orders and not sure for foreign orders . If we get any we'll check into how much more shipping and handling. The books are called "Concord Cookin'"and include such delectables as Spicy Beef Enchiladas, Smothered Pork Chops, Easy Peach Cobbler,Upside Down Wheat-free Cheesecake,White Chocolate Buttercream Icing, Mamaw's Fudge, Haystacks, Canned Tomatoes, Easy Canned Pickles, and even some funny ones of Friends of Animals Sandwich, Elephant Stew, Popped Duck, and of course being from the South we had to put one in for 'Possum! I'll try to have a pic of the cookbook up here tonight after I get in from church. I'm late now, gotta go!

Watching the hay balers

Accept all truth and except no truth

Have you decided to accept truth? Do you accept truth? Then you must accept all truth and except no truth. (except-leaving out, keeping out, or even shutting out)

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" But he incorrectly used the word 'what'. Rather, he should have asked, "Who is truth?" For he was standing face to face with TRUTH. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Who is the Way? Jesus is the Way. Who is Truth? Jesus is Truth. Who is Life? Jesus is Life. If we reject the Way, we reject Jesus. If we reject the Truth, we reject Jesus. If we reject the Life, we reject Jesus.

What if we only reject some of the Way? Then we have rejected ALL the Way. What if we reject only a part of the Life? Then we have rejected ALL of the Life. There must be a total surrender to Him as Lord.

Must I accept all Truth? May I not, perhaps , cast aside or ignore some Truth? Perhaps I do not fully understand it or I have a difficult time accepting it as Truth. It hurts me. It would force a change on me. It would cost me a friendship, a pleasure, a place. I cannot accept it. I will not accept it. And so , I except that Truth. And in so doing, I except a part of Christ. I refuse to cling to a Truth for which Christ stands. I will accept some Truth, most Truth- but I have accepted all I will. I want no more Truth.

Will you stop at half Truth? Would you accept Deuteronomy 22:5 and except Psalm 101:3? Will you accept I Corinthians 7:39 and except the Mark chapter 10 statement that remarriage without the death of one's spouse is always adultery? Will you accept John 3:16 and except IITimothy 3:12? If you will do this- accept half the Truth and except half the Truth-you will allow a cancer to enter the church and instead of seeking to cast it out, you will indeed gravitate toward it and feed it and fellowship with it. Will you feed and fellowship with the very thing that will drain away your life? Will you laugh and jest with the very thing that will one day lead your children astray? These Truths you will not accept, your children may one day blatantly reject. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." The psalmist David said, "I hate the work of them that turn aside."

Our churches in ages past sought for Truth, fought for Truth. They did as Proverbs instructs, "Buy the truth and sell it not..." Proverbs 23:23

Of what price is truth to be bought? It is often at the high price of loss of friendship, loss of family ties, loss of wordly pleasure, loss of place. Many have gladly, willingly paid this price and many have paid the much higher price of death.

Will you pet, pamper, feed , and accept this cancer that others have boldly sought to annihilate? They have fought to rid the Christian church of these evils and it has cost them dearly. It has cost them relationships with sons and daughters. It has caused them to sometimes lead lonely lives in order to be obedient to the whole Truth. Will you flaunt before them the very thing that has cost them so?

Will you stand for the Truth or will you help usher into the church the cancer that will seek to bring it down? (Though the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.) Accept Truth. Fight for Truth. Stand for Truth. Live out Truth. Teach Truth. Preach Truth. Die, if need be, for Truth. Is this not what our Lord meant when He spoke this truth to the multitude in Luke 14 - "If any man come to Me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he CANNOT [emphasis mine] be my disciple."?

Is this Truth too much for you? Or is this TOO MUCH TRUTH for you?

In many churches 60 years ago women wore dresses, divorce was frowned upon, remarriage was forbidden, and fornication was grounds for excommunication from the church. Today in many of these same churches the dress code for the members is "come as you are", divorce is sometimes "necessary", remarriage is encouraged, and fornication is normal behavior. Is it any wonder that now these same churches are endorsing second , third, fourth... marriages, women in the pulpit, and " worship team dancers"? At the rate our independent Baptist churches are accepting the very sins we stood against just 20 years ago one has to wonder how soon our churches,too, will go the way of the world. "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." "Thy Word is Truth." Accept His word. Accept all of it.

From Evan Hopkins "Broken Bread"

Let us remember that is never because of anything in us that we are accepted at all. The measure of our acceptance is what Christ is to God; and that remains ever the same. ~ Evan Hopkins

A Tearful Sunday and Thoughts on Lightning Bugs

I don't like goodbyes and often try to avoid them. So this past Sunday at church was both a sad and joyous occasion. We had two missionary families who have been on furlough leaving to go back to Mexico and Australia. These are families with whom we are very close.

Then we had a family who have been here attending Bible College ( or at least the dad has been attending ) getting ready to head back to Texas. Bro. Rick has earned his three year degree and he and his family are eager to serve the Lord out west. This family grew from six to eight while here in Georgia. When they came they had four children and Patty was expecting. That precious baby now abides in Heaven where he/she has never had to experience diaper rash or skinned knees. I know it is a tug on the heart of this family to leave behind the small grave at our church cemetary. God took one to Heaven while they lived here in Georgia. But He Who giveth and taketh away gave them two more- a boy and a girl - born here in Georgia now to be raised as Texans. We will miss this family and I will think of them often, especially when I see the lightning bugs flashing above the little mound they have left behind. I will be sure and put buttercups there each February as they bloom to announce that spring is just around the corner. As I carefully place flowers on this special spot of earth I will think of the mother and father, the sisters and brothers who labor for our Lord on the plains of Texas and look forward to that great reunion day. Perhaps I will be standing nearby when the trump shall sound and the graves of the saved and the "safe" burst open and we shall all meet together in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Another sad goodbye was to another soldier who is leaving for Afghanistan soon. In our church circle we have four young men now serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Two are members of our church and two are from North Carolina. The two from North Carolina are linked to our church by a girlfriend and a wife. Our prayers are with the military - the brave men and women who serve our country well. Our prayers are also with the families and friends who stay behind with a heaviness in their hearts each day. They are also serving our country well and for this I am grateful.

So we had a tearful Sunday with a mixture of sad and joyful tears. Sad because we will miss them and joyful because we have had the pleasure of getting to know them and love them and because we have the awesome privelege and responsibility to pray for them and share in their reward. What helps make these sad partings a little easier is that CHRISTIANS NEVER REALLY SAY GOODBYE. As Bro. Charles ( one who has served in Mexico for over thirty years and is now returning for another term) always cheerfully tells us: "WE'LL SEE YOU HERE, THERE, OR IN THE AIR!!"

More Campmeeting News

You can go to churchchoirmusic.com or concordmissionarybaptistchurch.com and hear some of the messages that were preached last week at camp. Bro. James Jones preached a message on "Thorn in the Flesh". It was a great help. We can make the most of our trials rather than let them break us. Bro. Larry Brown from Iowa preached , "Putting God in the Equation" and "Get in the Driver's Seat". Bro. Don Green, a favorite preacher of mine since I was a young girl, preached a message called ,"A Starting Place with God." His text was Ephesians 3:20. He exhorted us to take our hands off our lives and give in and give over to God. He gave the examples of Hannah in I Samuel, John the Baptist, Jochebed ( the mother of Moses). He asked us to commit to pray just a little more, give a little more, think purer, read our Bible more. Give God a little start and see what He will do with a yielded life. We can sure see that in Bro. Green's life. Dr. Stinnett Ballew preached Thursday on ,"Home Sweet Home". The singing was great with The Marksmen, The Ward Family, and others who are a blessing from the Lord. My family and I made approximately 200 gallons of good ol' Georgia sweet tea. What a wonderful life to live and work for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of all that is!

Little Cowgirl

Lovely Lady Liberty

Emma Lazarus published this after watching refugees coming in from Russia. It was used to raise funds for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. These words are inscribed on the statue's base:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

God Bless America by Irving Berlin1918

God bless America,

Land that I love

Stand beside her and guide her

Through the night with a light from above

From the mountains to the prairies

To the oceans white with foam

God bless America

My home, sweet home.

Little Cowboy

You can listen live to the night services at 7:30 p.m. EST on http://www.wsof.org/. Meeting ends on Friday, July 3 after the night service.

Hummingbirds

It's Old Fashioned Campmeeting Time!

The 40th annual campmeeting is underway at Faith Baptist Camp in Resaca, GA. We started off Saturday night with 2 Spirit-filled messages. Bro. Roger Henson preached on Stephen out of Acts 7. Stephen was looked out for his faith and it affected his conduct(v.3), looked on for his faith and it affected his countenance(vs. 10,15), he looked up for his faith and it affected his crossing(vs. 54-56). Such a good message on Stephen's life. Bro. Ricky Gravely preached from Psalms on turning problems into praise. On Sunday Bro. Henson preached again in the morning. On Sunday night our services moved over to the campground and Bro. Ricky Gravely preached on David out of Psalms 63. David was longing for God and was hungry for God. David was in a dry and thirsty place yet he was still looking for something from God. We had several messages in the day on Monday and then we were convicted and blessed by a message from Dr. David Gibbs (attorney and preacher from the Christian Law Association) on being a "Second Mile Christian". It was one of those messages that you wanted to hear but you didn't want to hear. His points were: Be a second mile Christian in the home, in the workplace, in our relationships, and with our enemies. We as Christians are forbidden to get even. The hope of America is second mile Christians. A wonderful and thought provoking sermon. May it make it from our heads to our hearts and manifest itself in our lives. I have much to work on in these areas of my life. Today we have had messages in the morning and afternoon services. I am down in the dining hall making the tea for our visitors so usually only make it to night services. We set 42 tables at our noon meal today. Each table seats twelve, I believe. That's a lot of sweet tea, believe me! We served meat loaf , beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and corn bread. In the night service Bro. Ronnie Simpson from North Carolina preached another encouraging message on "When you're climbing up the rough side of the mountain, God's coming up the other side to meet you at the top." I've been going through a lot for about 5 years now. Bro. Simpson said , "Many of you sitting here tonight thought this time last year that you could never make it . Yet here you sit and you did make it." I could only weep and thank God for what He has brought me through in the last year and how His grace is sufficient! More on campmeeting later later in the week. God is so good and He will always do right! Hallelujah! And as my momma used to say, "There'll be a pay day someday."