Yesterday, a lady came by to pick up something we had offered on Freecycle. We stood there talking for a while, and in the course of our conversation, she mentioned that her family was looking for a church.

She named a church in the area that they had visited. I’m familiar with the church and was curious to see what she had to say about it. Unfortunately, the first thing out of her mouth was, “I will never go back.” Why?

She said nobody welcomed her that morning. Nobody walked over to her and said, “We’re glad you’re here.” Not a single acknowledgment that someone was glad she was there. Nothing.

Church, we have a problem. Since when is it acceptable to ignore visitors? I don’t care what the person looks like or what their family life may look like – why do we think it is fine to ignore people??? So what if we don’t know them! Christ loves them and died for them too.

I am so sick of the “Us four and no more” mentality. It bothers me. It bothers me a lot. I think what bothers me more about this particular situation is this church is one that has a good reputation in our community. I was very surprised to hear that nobody welcomed her there.

It’s time we woke up and started noticing the people around us. Maybe there’s a visitor at church Sunday morning who came by herself and just looks unsure about being there. Go over to her and give her a big “Hello” and introduce yourself. It might just be a bright spot in her day. Who knows. You may be the one that gets to ultimately lead that person to Christ.

Don’t get me wrong. It takes a lot of nerve for me to go talk to someone I don’t know. But after having been ignored at churches we’ve visited too. . .I would rather get over myself and go say, “Hi” to visitors. Who knows, they just might become a new friend.

And while I’m on the subject – being friendly doesn’t just apply to visitors. Have you ever looked around the room and just watched people? Is there someone at your church who is shy or might be having a rough day? They just might need a hug or a bright hello too.

Step out of your comfort zone. Because if we don’t, who will?

Samuel got new glasses today. He’s been getting headaches a lot lately after reading and doing schoolwork, so we’re hoping that the glasses will help with that.

Doesn’t he look handsome?

After having revival for ten days at church, this week is pretty much back to our regular routine.

Here’s our menu:

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: chicken artichoke casserole, brown rice

Tuesday: potato soup (may change to a different day if it’s still so warm out)

Wednesday: goulash

Thursday: chicken alfredo, pasta of some sort

Friday: pizza night

Saturday: spaghetti

The meals without veggies listed we’ll just decide then which veggie to eat from the freezer.

Breakfasts are eggs, scones, oatmeal, biscuits, grits, smoothies, and pancakes.

Lunches are sandwiches, wraps, macaroni and cheese, tuna salad, leftovers, etc.

Snacks are cheese, baby carrots, nuts, fresh fruit, smoothies, etc.

You can read more menu plans over at Orgjunkie.com.

The weather has been so warm these past few days that Stephen opened up the beehive today for an inspection.

This hive is a swarm that we caught last year. We’ve lost several hives to Colony Collapse Disorder, so this winter we’ve been extra careful with this hive. It appears to be very healthy and is doing very well.

When Stephen built the swarm lure, he needed to use old comb. The only old comb he had available was on shallow frames. The lure worked and he transferred the bees to a deeper box. It looks funny the way they’ve built the new comb but it is good to see that they’re building it.

The hive had a good bit of honey in the frames. The queen was busy laying and the workers had been bringing in pollen. I’m very curious where they were getting pollen in February – I’m not aware of anything blooming nearby but apparently something is.

You can see the queen here. I’ve often wished I could see the queen during an inspection but I never have. Today Stephen brought the frame over to me so that I could see her. It was so neat to watch her for a moment.

It was very encouraging to see how well this hive is doing. Hopefully we’ll be able to harvest some honey this year!

Photo by dok1

Stephen got me the most expensive Valentine’s Day gift he has ever gotten me today. What was it, you ask?

It was the gift of running water.

Last night our well pump stopped working. Stephen had just put a load of dirty diapers in the washer, and supper was on the table. That was when we noticed the hot water heater was making a strange noise. It turned out that the pump in our well had stopped.

We have had problems with our well ever since we had a company out to fix it last spring. Their customer service was terrible so we just dealt with the problems. Until yesterday. We didn’t have a drop of water in the house. Why is it that you don’t realize how much you use something until it’s gone?

First thing this morning we started making calls, trying to find a good company to come out here. Finally, we found one that worked on our type of well and pump and started asking the fun questions. You know – things like a rough estimate to replace the pump, do they take payments, etc.

Well, they didn’t take payments, but the man said they do accept credit cards. The only problem with that is that we don’t use credit cards any more. We started praying.

I sat down and crunched some numbers in our budget to see exactly how much we’d have to be able to pay in cash today. We budget to the dollar each paycheck so we needed to see if there were any areas that could be temporarily cut back. Stephen made the appointment for the men to come out here, and we loaded the kids up and headed over to Mom’s house where we could have water for the day.

The kids and I arrived back home just as Stephen went inside and turned on the water. Praise the Lord! He handed me the checkbook and I glanced at the amount.

Our bill was $1 lower than the amount we had available to pay. God is so good. Well repair can get expensive (it wiped out our savings last year), but this time God worked it out so that we could pay the bill in full from one paycheck.

I am so glad. It isn’t the most romantic Valentine’s gift we’ve ever had, but I’m SO thankful to have a working well again!

Does anyone else use dish gloves and absolutely just love them?

For the longest time, I thought dish gloves were worthless. Why would anybody bother with them? Every winter, my hands get extremely dry and chapped. They get so dry at times that just making a fist makes my knuckles crack and bleed. Putting lotion on helped a little, but not enough to really stop the problem.

Then I tried dish gloves. What an improvement! I couldn’t believe how much longer it took my hands to get as dry and chapped as they once were. My hands are still dry and I still forget to put lotion on them often enough. My mother-in-law reminds me frequently to keep them moisturized so they’ll look nicer. :O) But just having dry hands vs. having hands so dry they crack and bleed. . . the dish gloves have been wonderful.

Stephen bought me a new pair tonight because the old pair had a hole in it. They didn’t have the large size I asked for, so he bought medium. I’m glad he did; they actually fit better than the larges did (and I thought the larges were the right size). It’s so nice to be able to wash dishes again without worrying how much my hands will hurt when I’m done.

Do you use dish gloves? Do you love them, and use them constantly, use them occasionally, or not at all?

Anna is still sick. The poor girl has been absolutely miserable. When I got home from church tonight, she was still running a fever and just looked like she felt awful. We’ve had revival services all week, and Stephen and I have been trading off who stays home with her.

I was really hoping she’d be well enough so we could go to church as a family, but so far it hasn’t happened. She went all day yesterday with no fever, but today that wasn’t the case. I’m just at a loss what to do for her, other than love on her a whole lot and make sure she gets her meds and plenty of fluids.

Hopefully she’ll be doing better tomorrow. It sure made me smile to hear Samuel pray for her. “Please let Mommy and Daddy not have to get up with Anna tonight and help her feel better tomorrow.” I completely agree.

Anna hasn’t been feeling that well the past couple days. This morning when her temperature was 102* we decided to take her to the doctor.

She has the flu.

The poor girl is so miserable. I’m just hoping she gets over it quickly. I love holding her and getting her snuggles, but don’t like it when she feels poorly.

My little girl is growing up so quickly.

The picture of her laughing isn’t as good of a picture, but it shows a lot more of her personality. She giggles at just about everything. I love having a little girl!

These past few weeks I’ve been busy with jewelry. Until just recently, most of my sales have been from my online shop. And that’s great! Now there is a possibility I’ll be able to put some of my jewelry in a local antique and gift shop as well, and I’m waiting to hear back about it. I’ve also been listing some of the new pieces online until I do hear back from them.

Here are a few of the new designs. You can click on any of the pictures to read more about it in the shop.

Hannah’s Prayer Infertility Bracelet – I love this bracelet. It sparkles so much, and catches light from across the room.

Amethyst and Sterling Silver Nest Ring

I’ve really been on a ring kick lately – they are SO fun to make and go together quickly too. Here’s another one:

Swarovski Pearl and Sterling Silver Ring

But the hand stamping. . .that is what has been the most addictive. There are SO many ideas and so many ways to stamp them that I’m only limited by the supplies in stock here to play around with. I LOVE it.

Simple Love You Brass Heart Locket

So Blessed Sterling Silver and Freshwater Pearl Necklace

I love the So Blessed necklace and would love to keep it, but I didn’t make it for me. It’s in the shop though!

Here’s my own necklace. I started with the Cherish necklace (that’s mine in the picture, which I made quite a while ago) and added a copper and a brass disc with our names on them.

Cherished Family Sterling Silver, Copper, and Brass Necklace

I’ve also been very busy with the business end of things. There is so much to read out there about building a business, and I’ve learned a LOT lately. I’ve made some new goals, redone the website a little bit (rearranged categories, added a LOT of new pictures, etc.), and am hoping to really grow the business this year.

Back in November, I switched credit card processing companies so that I could accept credit cards at craft fairs and home parties. That also made for some changes to my website since I had been using Paypal.

Then I learned that my site has to be PCI compliant – an extra level of testing to ensure that customer data is secure. The Hope of My Heart site has been secure all along, but now I’ll have extra certification to prove it. I’m not excited about the process but am looking forward to holding that certification.

It has been a lot of work. But the jewelry-making part of it has been so much fun!