Sandy

We are safe and we thank God!

We've had lots of rain and wind but we are SAFE!

My heart aches for those who have lost family and home.

Before the storm, I said good-bye to autumn as most of the leaves are down.

- before Sandy passed through -

All is well today!

Praise Page

Today, my heart is filled with praise!

 Not because our circumstances have changed - they haven't.

My heart is filled with praise because of the amazing community of believers.

They care!

They pray!

They bless!

They encourage!

They listen without without giving old, worn out cliches!

Family and friends are a bright, shinning light in the middle of the hard stuff.

Thank you, Martha, for making a meal on chemo day - the chicken noodle soup hit the spot!
Thank you, Julia, for sitting with your father on chemo days - it helps to make a long day go fast!

Thank you, Rachel, for praying for me in church yesterday!

A season, a time, a purpose -

I'm thankful when life doesn't make sense, God is still sovereign!

I rest in that.

It's the work of God that makes my heart beautiful in the midst of pain. 

I'm so grateful Mr D has no pain...

the pain he had this summer left the afternoon of our anointing and has not returned!

James 4:14-16

We're married forty-three years.

Though celebrating fifty years together is uncertain,

I still believe the best is yet to be!

 Facing our future feels uncertain in a new way, but we count and enjoy every gift we have for the moment!

The chemo treatments Mr D is getting are intensive but he doesn't get sick.

He's missed only one day of work since the treatments began the end of August.

Life has slowed down in some ways but in other ways it's become sweeter.

Do you have a praise page?

2012 Summer Roundup

Summer 2012.

It's written in the pages of history.

Good memories of reunions, ballgames, mini golfing with the grands.

Dealing with the hard stuff of a second diagnosis of cancer.

Disappointment. Tears. Fear. Rebellion. Anger.

But in it all, we're again finding our God is bigger than any of this!

Our summer in picture.

My seventh garden tour in eight years.

A private tea for a fundraiser.

My new strawberry bed made by Mr D.

Mr D getting his first chemo treatment.

He has very minimal hair loss so far and has three more treatments to go.

Tea party with the girls.

A basket of beans from a local farmer are now in our freezer - I hadn't done any for some time!

 My experiment in Back to Eden gardening was very successful!

Did you know that unwashed homegrown eggs do not need to be refrigerated? I didn't.

And I've been doing this for six months...

and losing weight for nine months and feel wonderful!

I've fallen for the 'skinny belt' look but refuse to pay ten bucks per belt -
I find mine at thrift shops or do without. :)
(more on this journey in another post)

Blog Facelift

Robin at She Makes Hats has done a beautiful job of tweaking my  blog site. She's easy to work with, VERY reasonable, accomodating and kind with my ineptness with techie stuff. I'm really pleased with the results.

One request I had was to combine Fleur Gardens with Fleur Cottage. All Fleur Garden posts are in the link on top of the page under the header. I enjoyed sharing my gardening posts in a blog but it was time to bring the two blogs together. Thanks to my twentysix faithful followers who joined me on that journey!

I eliminated the Linky Connect as well. It felt like 'clutter' on my page and was too cumbersome to go to that link. Robin gave me face book connection as well as a few others which are located at the bottom of each post. An email link is also an option, located on the side bar along with GFC follow button. I really like the clean, simple results on my blog!

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Mr D is doing his third round of chemo tomorrow and in two weeks he'll be getting another CAT scan in hopes the tumor has shrunk. He's been doing well with the treatments, though he tires quickly. We are very grateful for the community of friends and believers who are lifting us up to our Father's Throne in prayer!I update our journey on Fleur Cottage face book.

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A few projects I'm working on.

New drapes for the dinning room.

 And painting chairs with caned backs I'm collecting - it's a slow process! So far, I have three.

Fleur Cottage on Face Book!

Fleur Cottage has a face book page!

Follow me as I share the daily activities of our lives!

Projects, health, recipes, thrift finds, gardening...

 simple, fun stuff!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fleur-Cottage/428160283895835

Church Attendance

I found this church attendance sign at a yard sale on Saturday.

It's got a split down the center, missing pieces of wood to hold the words/numbers in and is generally a wonky piece. I could buy all of it for $5.00.

I really bought it for these...

Numbers!

Zero to nine!

Eight of each!

I nearly bought the numbers and left the sign there but figured that would be a tad on the stupid? silly? side.

I can think of uses for the numbers that include a hole puncher and raffia, ribbon or lace.

But the board itself?

What would you do with it?

A Lovely Wedding

I was invited to do a preview of an outdoor wedding reception that was held in June.

Oh my, it was bee-you-ti-ful...

dreamy, dreamy stuff!

They had a yogurt bar (homemade yougurt made by the bride's mother!) for the appetizer and an outdoor lounge area to enjoy it.

The couch was a free sidewalk pickup without its feet but that wasn't hard to fix -

 wooden blocks did the job!
The pillows were made by the bride's sister.

Love the lace and chandelier!

The railing was taken down between two posts, framed with some old, lovely wood art and doors hung for the entrance into the reception under a tent.

Blue jars were hung at each fence post.

The bride used embroidery hoops to hang laces above their section of a long bridal table.

So love, love this idea!

Most of the flowers came from friends and the roadside - simple and gorgeous!

I love simple, creamy whites weddings!

Simple Chair Change

Want to do a simple chair change? Well, if pulling out several layers of staples is simple!! I wanted to use this chair in the gazebo for the garden tour but oh my, did it clash with the theme...never mind that I did not like it! I picked up this chair so long ago I forget where it was but I liked its bones.

 I had some spare time the day before the garden tour and decided to rip off the fabric and throw some kind of cover over it. I was delighted to see this buried under that ugliness!

Isn't this a delightful surprise? I love it and for now, it's staying just like it is!

Linking to:
Treasure Hunt Thursday, Transformation Thursday,
Under $100 Linky Party, Time Travel Thursday

Cottonwood House

Vern, at Cottonwood House does a fabulous extravaganza at her house annually and out did herself this year. It was a buffet of amazing stuff with amazing people!

 - Beautiful Vern -

 - Welcome sign -

Me oh my!

I almost, ALMOST bought the chandelier...

oh, I wanted it!

Two Weeks of Catch-up

It's been two weeks since I posted due to prep work for a garden tour on Saturday. Our Memorial week end was a 'stay-cation.' We babysat B, walked across to the park to support a fund raising ball tournament, walked through a flea market/yard sale, set up an arbour (can one have too many?!), celebrated birthdays at a family cook-out and finished mulching the flower beds. It was a wonderfully relaxing week end of a 'stay-cation!'

 B was loving his own water bottle and a step ladder - check out those cute black finger marks that he swiped on his face! The ball tournament players are in the background at the park across the road.

Mr D is prepping a very rusty arbor prior to setting it up. I would have been too impatient to do that and just slapped it together to get it in place quickly. I love how gardening has become a 'we' project instead on a 'me' project! 

Family cookout and celebrating S's birthday.

We celebrated L's fortieth birthday a month late and DIL M served a delicious spread!

A glimpse of Rustic Glamour in the garden tour that was here on Saturday.

Yesterday...

It rained! Enough to fill my three rain barrels and claw foot tub!

We had small group at our house and these two are loving their snack.

Today...

Pink dogwood in the house...

and the wisteria is beginning to bloom outside our front door!

All is well and all is right!