Anticipating Autumn

We're about to enter the BER months, and I can hardly wait. September to December is undoubtedly the most wonderful time of the year. I adore everything about that stretch of seasonal loveliness from Labor Day to Christmas. I just wish it would feel like fall sooner here in south Texas. Despite the fact that we'll still be running the AC for several more months, it doesn't deter me from dragging out the pumpkins as we put another sweltering August in the history books. 

The husband and I schlepped my boxed holiday lake house decor from storage to the river house. I basically kept the same blue color scheme, and so everything still works. However, with the vaulted ceilings at the river house, it just takes more to make an impact. Next thing I need to do is schedule a thorough chimney cleaning so that we'll be ready when the weather finally does cool off and we can start using the fireplace.

Here at the house in town, I pulled out the green and blue fall pretties. I love this fresh look that doesn't revolve around orange and black. It's all about the autumn harvest for me, not halloween. Though maybe that will change a bit once a grandchild is added to the family mix. 

The end of August is my mother's birthday. She would have turned 76 on Sunday. I really miss her, and yet I'm sure her first celebration in heaven with her creator was amazing beyond my wildest imaginings. I look forward to one day sharing her birthday with her once again after God calls me home.

Bible Study Fellowship 2022-23

This year I'm stepping out in faith, trading in my group member hat for group leader in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). After several years of being asked to prayerfully consider leadership, the Lord showed me His timing was right to give it a go and see where He'd lead me in this newly updated study titled People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided. We'll be revisiting parts of approximately fifteen books in the Old Testament to be reminded of how God's inspired words recounting events from several millennia ago are still relevant in our modern world.

 

 

Stepping into the role of group leader takes me back to my teacher days, the excitement and anxiety that always heralded a new school year. Excitement at the prospect of meeting new people as we embarked on a journey together for the next nine months. Looking forward to fresh content, new personalities and the promise of possibilities. But there was always a bit of anxiety, too. Every year there were struggles to overcome, situations popping up that were unexpected and difficult. Things that made me want to throw in the towel in frustration. As teacher, it was my job to stay on top of people and situations so that progress was made in spite of obstacles in our way.

I imagine BSF leadership will have a lot in common with my years of classroom experiences. As I strive to facilitate meaningful discussions, we'll all be learning from each other. That the devil is in the details, and he does his level best to get us off track... distracted with the many responsibilities we face in our everyday lives. And yet I fall back on how I always felt about teaching. The Lord called me to be a teacher, and His Holy Spirit will provide me with the means to be successful for HIS glory. 

With this new-to-me study, I'm relying on the Great Teacher to lead me where I need to go. To show me things I need to see. And to put me in situations where I step out of my comfort zone to grow into a more faithful Christian. In Jesus's precious name I ask these things, Amen!

If you're unfamiliar with BSF, I encourage you to read more about it on their website using the link below. God sent three people to tell me about their own BSF journeys over the course of a year before I was willing to give it a try. He knows I can be stubborn and need prodding. But the Lord also knew I'd LOVE BSF once I got involved. There's still time to get signed up and allow God's words to speak to you in the most meaningful way as only He can.

Bible Study Fellowship

Baby bird left the nest again

It's that time of summer. The younger daughter packed up her little SUV and drove back to Austin so she can prep for her senior year at UT. She wrapped up her Italian this week and said arrivederci to the language requirement for her BA with twelve hours of As from summer school classes under her belt. Now she's focused on getting her apartment all decorated to her liking before classes kick in on the 22nd. I'm always sad to see her go because I really enjoy her company. But my loneliness will be short-lived since I'm driving to Austin with some of her things (which is actually OUR glassware from the river house) in a couple days, and taking her bar stool shopping to get some seating for her kitchen island.

I've been diligently watering the three pallets of St Augustine grass every couple days so it doesn't wither up in this drought. Thankfully, we've had a bit of rain several days this week to help me out. When I'm watering early in the morning, the sprinklers always seem to beckon local birds. They tweet and twitter, busy flitting around to get a drink and bath. Alas, it also attracts a couple local hawks. I've spied them in our yard previously, and they're not particularly scared of humans. And thus the sprinkler that lures in the cute little birds is basically a dinner bell for critters higher up the food chain. Hopefully the sprinklers don't start attracting any local coyotes or bobcats!

Quick trip to the river house

The husband and I made a quick 24 hour trip to the river house to get a few things done. Now that all of my decor has been placed, I've been rearranging to get things in the *best* possible location. That included a bit of milk glass tweaking in the dining room. 

Then I turned my efforts to the glass fronted kitchen cabinets. I decided to move some of the wet bar decor into the kitchen to free up space for actual drinking items in the wet bar's glass fronted uppers. (The husband has this crazy idea we need lots of glasses for his mixology!) Every time we're at the river house, I view it all with a critical eye to try and achieve a custom curated look that's a fun mix of high and low items to reflect the river and our hill country setting. For example, the print below was done by an artist out of Austin that I found online. I just love the whimsy of this jackalope and horned toad doing a bit of tubing. I bought a rustic frame that was a great fit last week, then I set about finding a good spot to display it.

I'm waiting for my vintage priest vestments to be finished by a local seamstress working on the alterations we specified. Then it goes to the custom framer to get it ready for display. I've purchased quite a few vintage standing crucifixes for the little chapel niche, but it still feels unfinished to me. What do you think? Maybe the addition of the textile art on either side of the niche will help.

 

My prayer kneeler is en route from Louisiana. Maybe when I place it in front of the niche, this will help it feel more complete, too. We'll see when it gets here. I love the evenings when the dusk to dawn night light comes on behind the angel. This is probably my favorite item in the little chapel area right now. 

O Holy Trip

This week I paid my balance for the trip to Israel in a few months. I had put down a deposit in January, but was then waiting to see if we would be able to jump from our second to first choice tour. Thankfully, we were moved from the waitlist to our preferred travel dates. Then I purchased our flights about six weeks ago. Visas aren't required, and so now it's just a matter of figuring out what to pack.

 

 

 

I'm a total history and archaeology nerd. Add my faith on top of that and this is truly a dream trip. Tel Aviv, Caesarea, Tiberias, Acre, Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Masada, Jaffa and Bethlehem are some of the sites we'll tour. We can hardly wait to visit places where the Old and New Testaments will come alive, where Jesus Christ and His disciples walked and taught. Prayed and suffered for their beliefs. Where miracles were wrought, and the greatest one of all played out... that God loved His creation so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16) so that we may have life everlasting. I imagine it will be a truly humbling and emotional journey for both of us. I probably need to jot down travel tissue packets to my trip shopping list!

 

Chapel in progress

The river house is a work in progress as I continue to tweak things, and now I've turned my attentions to finishing the little chapel area. I ordered a handmade kneeler that should be here by the end of the month. I've got quite a few antique crucifixes in the niche. Adjacent to the vintage church pew, I've got a statue of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I have several old hymnals on the pew, in addition to one of those old school fans folks used in church before air conditioning arrived on the scene.

I had a couple old religious paintings we inherited with the house put in less ornate frames that fit more with my aesthetic. Needing a third item to display with the paintings, I purchased an antique water font from France. It's similar to the one below, but has a green backing instead of red. 

Snooping around on eBay and Etsy for ideas, I decided to go with some vintage textiles as art instead of more paintings. That's when I ran across these old priest vestments from Poland. I wish I knew the story behind them. I was drawn to the colors and vintage feel, as well as history and obvious use.

The decorator and I are waiting for part of it to be modified via alterations by a local seamstress before I take it to the framer to be mounted. Once we're able to hang the three pieces created from this and put the kneeler in its place, I feel like the chapel will be complete.