My KitchenAid Remodel Reveal…{and a Giveaway!} | She's Becoming DoughMessTic#comment-49491#comment-49491

My KitchenAid Remodel Reveal…{and a Giveaway!} | She's Becoming DoughMessTic#comment-49491#comment-49491

This is STUNNING! I would love to win this mixer. It would be a wonderful gift.

Life - is so HAPPY and BUSY!

I used to blog daily; and I loved it. I used to stamp or craft weekly; and I loved it. I used to sit and read for hours and I loved it. I used to sit and watch tv for hours and I loved it. My house use to be spotless at all times; with everything just so; and I loved it.

Now we are busy with Carly, or on the go, or involved in an activity for church; or just being a family; and I love it!

Does that mean I don't miss all the things I used to love. NO! emphatically NO. It just means that I continue to grow and change as a person and that I am embracing life every step of the way.

I love having our sweet Beagle pup;  Greenslade's California Girl, Carly the Cutie. What a joy she is in our lives! At six months of age she requires our time and returns it with love and happiness. Each day is a wonder as we enjoy her and love her and play with her. Each day is a triumph as she learns / grasps a skill that we have been working on.

She is a playful, energetic, happy pup who loves to be Carly! She loves to go to Play class with her Paws in Progress canine friends. There she plays with other dogs who are being trained exactly like she is. Same commands; same trainer; same expectations. The dogs get to romp, run, jump, fetch, tumble, growl, bark, chase each other and use their muscles and minds to enjoy an hour of play time in a controlled setting of safety. It is AWESOME! Carly is the smallest in the group (every one else is either a Shepard, Dane, Rotty, Labradoodle, Pit etc.) but she keeps right up with the big dogs in energy and activity.

Amanda and I also take Carly to obedience classes where she is learning to be a wonderfully behaved; social; and well trained canine. By the time we are done with her training; Carly will be able to go everywhere with us and she'll be welcomed because she will be a dog with manners.

Although Carly is Russell's pup; she has chosen Manda as her person. It is super cute. Sissy (Manda) and lil Sissy (Carly) have a cute bond of love and affection.

Carly is looking forward to meeting her cousin, Katie in August. Katie arrives from Pine Forest Kennels on the 10th and Carly can't wait! Having a friend from her first home will be very special!

Evenings at home are spent in quality family time that has been so good for us! Since Manda was 9; she and I have been on the go and out the door at dance and Russ was left behind because of work. Now that Manda is not dancing; we are using the time at home to rebuild those bonds and remember that Love and Respect must be first and foremost in our home for happiness to reign supreme.

Love and Respect! I took a class early this year through COTH Highway at Church of the Harvest. This class reminded me that not only is loving my husband important; but that I need to respect him in order for him to love me even when I am not being respectful and loving.

This class has made a big difference in how I look at my husband and our marriage. We weren't in a troubled relationship and we remain happily in love; but I think this class gave me the opportunity to be a better wife; a better mother and a better friend.

Funny, I started out to just post a quick update and I've already written a small novel.

I hope you are having a blessed day and that you know that you are loved and valued.

Happy Monday! I'll see  you again soon!

Garage Sale to help raise money to move. Roseville CA

My friend Cindy is having a garage sale on Saturday. She needs help raising the last of her deposit so that she and her kids can make a positive change in their life.

Check out their garage sale!

FireWORKS!!! Get YOUR Fireworks! FIREWORKS!!!

I love the 4th of July! It is a wonderful time to gather family; spend time outdoors and enjoy celebrating our Nation's independence.

Happy 4th of July dear family and friends!  Enjoy!

Don't forget; if your celebration includes fireworks; CHURCH of the HARVEST is selling TnT Fireworks at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, CA. We'd appreciate your support and we offer a 20% discount on ALL purchases. We are open from 9AM to 10PM every day (including July 4th) so come see us!

Daniel's Gloves (author Unknown .... or is it?)

WILL WE KNOW THE FACE OF GOD WHEN WE SEE HIM...

I sat with two friends at the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways.

I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. 'Where you headed?'

'St. Louis'

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida .'

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God.

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me but God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see' I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them.... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words:

'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

'I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.'