Perpetual Calendar continued.....

On my first perpetual calendar entry my intentions were to show the variety of thoughts that can be used. Rereading my second entry I see I went down memory lane for each page shown. I guess saying goodbye the day before to our family put me into the "Precious Memories tone!"

It amazes and blesses me to see all the different thoughts people had:

Marian is an older friend in my prayer group.....

We work alongside this fun family in our deacon responsibilities....

We had a glorious variety of thoughts throughout these pages to enjoy and treasure each day.

As you've seen in my earlier postings also,  included are Bible verses, songs, humor, poems, thought-provoking writings, memories.....

....this is from Donna our daughter-in-law. She also had the date for our stillborn daughter, Christy  Joy, and had a very meaningful reading for that extra special day.

my neighbor - my thanks go right back to her also!

This makes me smile just reading it. Remember this Susie Zoo sticker as I will mention it later. (from my sister)

From a cousin....deeply meaningful reading to me.

And - a Recipe!

This comes from my first Creative Memories Consultant....a lady who introduced me to the joys of scrapbooking! She is now elderly and has chosen to close that chapter of her life. She tucked a note in with her returned card to Barb and Barb passed it on to me. We loved her apple pie....several asking for her recipe. Because she is a dump and pour cook, she put off writing it down until now! She had to purposely sit down and try to think how to explain how she prepares it!!  How I appreciate her time and kindness!

~sample of a holiday (from our daughter)

It was special to me to see several dates included especially for my dear husband.

It was very hard for me to know when to stop showing you the pages. I tried to choose the different variety I mentioned and different people in our lives, like neighbors, relatives, friendships from long ago, people we don't see often, my prayer group, etc.It would be my privilege to show them all to you

I DO want to tell you what I read this morning when I turned my page to January 28th.

There is a hand coming from the top right - representing God's hand. On it in red is the word, "Burden." To the left is a Susie Zoo character running toward that hand.

Then my sister wrote, "Praise be to the Lord, to God my Savior, who DAILY bears my burdens!"

Psalms 68:19

 For me it is a beautiful word picture that is full of meaning and hope!

I had to show you the kindness of my best friend! I was taking the pictures of these pages and they had a mean glare on each one because of the shine of laminating. (If you do this calendar, this step is SO important. It protects the pages very, very well!)

Nevin came to my rescue Can you tell he's particular??! (It is not raining-nor do we get rain under our porch roof!)

I hope you were blessed to see the various ways to express love.

~Wishing you a lovely weekend, Cordy

Memories and tears were a large part of my morning!

We said goodbye to our Colorado family yesterday after enjoying them for 16 days!

As I said last time, I would continue showing you a few more of our perpetual calendar pages. I decided my first one will be a comforting one!!

We don't see this couple often enough - they live a distance away. Nevin and Darvin met each other about 43 years ago when we were all single. Later Dorothy and I became friends and today we cherish their friendship. They are dependable prayer warriors. He is a pastor at God's Missionary Church and therefore are very busy people. It was a joy to have their picture included on their page!

Another dear friend who lives about an hour away. Her life is a beautiful testimony of God's grace. She is an inspiration. You see how each page brings wonderful blessings as I not only read what they have sent for us but their lives "come alive" right from the page!

Barb did several pages for us - and helped her boys with their pages! She gave them the card that has their birthday.  This one she is complimenting her Daddy!

Don't you just love this recipe for friendship! They are serving the Lord in Grenada.

Oh my, where do I start to describe my respect for Billie! I wish you could hear her testimony! She was a troubled youth searching for God. She tried everything - everything. After hearing her testimony, I was so encouraged never to stop praying for someone's salvation - no matter how far away they are from God. She was not raised in a Christian home and therefore the search was basically alone. How I praise God for His guidance!

I went to my first Creative Memories Fall Workshop by myself. That is not me. But I really wanted to do this, had Nevin's blessing, and off I went - 50 minutes away. I knew my consultant, Susie,  had assigned seats. I prayed that she would put me somewhere I would be comfortable! The lady to my left was very warm and made me feel at home. Billie was to my right and for awhile was quiet. I tend to be that way also. Later we got a conversation going - and that started a sister-in-Christ love for each other until this day.

This happens to be the young father who took my grandchildren to Colorado!!!

I went to our nearby bulk food store today, hoping I wouldn't see anyone I knew. I didn't feel like crying in front of anyone. I saw a lady from church; she gave me a hug. Thank you Janet. I saw another lady who I bump into only at our grandchildrens' school functions. I was surprised to see her here. She reminded me that my tears could have been from sad memories. That made me think! I left there thanking the Lord for precious tears. 

Thank You Lord for our children. The 14 of us spent various times together throughout these 16 days.....celebrating Christmas, having an indoor camping event. We had planned to roast hot dogs outside; Nevin had the wood to do that but the adults chickened out with 20-some degree weather and very strong wind! Therefore we used our coal stove for the occasion!! Smores worked well that way also!

I think I will stop here for today. I have just a few more to show you a bit later.

Blessings on the remainder of your week. ~Cordy

  Wishing you God's Blessings of Joy and Peace in this New Year!

I'm sure I hear an echo when I say,

"How did we get to 2011 soooo quickly?!"

It just FLEW for us!

As I did last year, I would like to review some special occasions that happened in 2010.

By reminiscing I realized I still did not  journal a very special blessing from a year ago and decided to do that right here - at the start of 2011. It was one of those experiences that you store away in your heart ~ and treasure. You will remember we celebrated our 40th anniversary. Barb invited us for dinner/supper to their home. She told us that it would just be the two of us and them. (She's good at surprises~like my 60th birthday party also of last year.) When we arrived, we were escorted to this special little area - arranged just for us.

(There last name is Patches!) She hung some sheets in the basement giving us a private little corner. There was music playing in the background and a lovely appetizer waiting for us to start this special anniversary meal!

The Patches family ate their meal upstairs after we were served. The boys would help bring our meal to this little haven.  Barb told me later they were enjoying this! Darin would often peek in on us!    He is taking his Grandpa's plate back upstairs.

This was so very, very tasty. On the spot, right now, I could enjoy this again! The potatoes are called Twice Baked Potatoes. I only made them once as I feel like they take a lot of time - but I just really like them. Jere was grilling the chicken - a Bar-B-Q recipe we thoroughly enjoy. So it was all extra special to us. I felt so loved! 

Seth is taking his turn to remove some plates!

I don't remember what Barb was explaining here.....maybe how she came into our home and found this picture (when we weren't home!) Matthew was also helping to serve our meal.

Earlier in the week Barb told me we would be eating downstairs. She gave us the choice to have our dessert there also or offered us to join them upstairs! You know what we chose! Barb ordered a white/raspberry swirl cake. (I am making myself so hungry talking about all this yummy food!!) She wanted a picture before it was served.

This is the grilling chef and Nevin discussing their cameras.

I need to explain to you the next picture before I show it to you. Some of you have helped to make perpetual calendars. For those of you who have not I will show you more pictures of the calendar pages at my next journaling. I have helped to make several and didn't realize that I apparently voiced my thoughts about this so much! I would have loved to have a calendar but didn't ever, ever expect to receive one. We make them for various reasons - the elderly, someone who has a long term illness, birthdays, etc. The ones I helped with were usually birthdays - but for older people.  After the dishes were cleared from the table, we went downstairs and visited with the family. When we were about ready to leave,  Barb said, "Just a minute; don't leave yet." She brought a box downstairs and asked me to open it. I just could not, could not believe my eyes!

Barb caught my surprise - this just about brought me to tears! Like I said before, I just never thought I would have this privilege to enjoy our personal calendar!

We sat there and looked throughout the entire calendar....not taking time to read all them but to see each page and who had time to bless us!!

For you who are not familiar with this - this is what it looks like. This page was made by our niece. Barb came to our home while we were away and took our address book. She then mailed an invitation to names she found in that book ~ asking if they would help make a calendar page for us. It's quite a job to organize all this, to laminate each page when they are returned, and to assemble it.

Each morning I turn the page to that day's date, read it, and am blessed by the love of that person. I know how time consuming they are to prepare and I just appreciate each page, each person, so much.

I thought some of you may enjoy seeing what different people put together for us. Some are very inspiring, some filled with fun, others very artistic, encouraging, sharing memories, etc. It was hard for me to choose which ones to show you as I just appreciate each person's page! So I decided to choose variety for you.....

~a neighbor...they have recently moved so this page is extra special to me.

~a sister-in-law...our son and his family were in Morocco. When we visited them it was decided we would have a camel ride. I was a bit apprehensive about this. I must have expressed that to my sister-in-law!

~a school friend.....from grade school to graduation and I appreciate her friendship still today!

I'll show you some of the others next time. ~Blessings to you and your  loved ones.