It’s time once again for a Thing Post which includes a variety of topics that
don’t make up a post by themselves but are still worth sharing.
Sorry about missing my usual Monday post; my week got a little off-kilter and I wasn’t able to get a post up. I am so glad to be back on track today with my wonderful Smithellaneous friends.
As a rule, our family is not real good about remembering our dogs’ birthdays. Last Saturday after dinner, Sarah and I were chatting about this and that and I idly inquired, “How old is Summer again?” And Sarah said, “Well, she was born on 7-11-7.”
After a bit of a pause for cipherin’ (math is not our first language), we both said at the same time, “Wait. Today is Summer’s 13th birthday!”
We immediately leaped into action and did what we used to do for Snowy back in the day; we prepared a “cheesecake.”
Sarah had to hold on to Summer while I got a quick photo since she was ready to do some speedy sprinting.
Sarah’s head was unceremoniously chopped off because I wasn’t exactly able to crouch down at her level. But yet, it has kind of a cool, artistic look to it so I’m good.
Happy birthday to our dearest, darling dog. We love you, Summer!
Saturday morning I went out for coffee with a friend to a local place called Charis.
Loveliness abounded.
I loved all the reading material that was available.
And isn’t the wood beautiful?
Apart from the books, the food and drinks, and the beautiful art and wood, the most striking thing about the place was the fact that there were hundreds of prayer requests attached to the walls.
What a great place for people to share what’s going on in their lives and know that other people will pray for them. Such a cool thing to see.
While Steve was gone, I took on a few projects, one of which organizing our office/miscellaneous room.
I took every single thing out of all the plastic drawers and off the shelves and set up three stations: 1. keep in office 2. move to another location in house 3. get rid of (either by throwing away or donating.)
Here is the view after about three hours.
I could not resist taking a photo of this vehicle. If you’ve ever felt like you maybe had one or two too many bumper stickers on your vehicle, this should make you feel a little better.
Remember when I posted about this guy?
He is the son of our Youth/Outreach pastor and was born a year ago needing immediate open-heart surgery.
At eleven months and twenty-eight pounds, this is what he looks like now.
Sarah and I got to babysit him for a few hours yesterday.
On Steve’s day off yesterday, he grabbed his chain saw and turned himself into a veritable Paul Bunyan. There was one tree in the yard that had been bugging him for a while so he cut it down and removed all 1500 pounds of it, chunk by chunk to the “wild area” in our back yard. When he first felled the tree it went halfway across the road so he was making progress.
Nice to have a woodsman on hand.
Our church has been meeting back in person for about five weeks now, wearing masks, practicing social distancing, etc.
On Sunday, three of us got a little dramatic about illustrating soical distancing. (I realize at the moment we weren’t six feet apart, but we didn’t hold the pose long.)
The morning Steve left for Florida, Sarah said her goodbyes to him before she went off to work.
I captured this photo of him praying for her . . . one of the moments that stitches together the days of our lives.
Was there a Thing you particularly liked or related to? Let us know.
And since you can’t make it to Charis Coffee Shop, are there any things you would like someone to pray with you about? Feel free to post them on the virtual wall here at Smithellaneous.
So much going on I am late. Happy Birthday to Somer.
Ann,
You and Jim have definitely been through a lot these past few months; our hearts are prayers are with you.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment in the middle of it all. Love you guys!
Whoops that should have been Summer not Sommer. I hate when I miss an autocorrect.
Linda,
Well, we’ll let it go just this once. 🙂
Dear Becky,
Another thing post. I do so enjoy them! Sorry it took me so long to comment.
1. Happy belated birthday to Sommer. It looks like she can’t take her eyes off that cheese cake or wait to eat and enjoy it.
2. That coffee shop looks like an interesting place to visit. I love the prayer wall and agree that the world needs more prayer. Your photos made me feel like I was right there exploring and enjoying it with you.
3. Your reorganized closet looks terrific. I have done a bit of that myself. It is always such a good feeling to see the results. It is amazing how much “stuff” accumulates that we no !onger use of need.
4. All those bumper stickers made me smile. It would be interesting to read them and imagine all the places the owner has been and seen.
5. It is so good to see your youth minister’s son doing so well. It must have been fun for you and Sarah to babysit him.
6. Paul Bunyan indeed! I’ll bet Steve felt good getting the tree taken care of before hurricane season.
7. Loved the photo of you and your friends “social distancing”. I think one of the things I miss most is bugging friends.
8. Loved the photo of Steve and Sarah in prayer before Steve embark ed on his journey to Florida. Such a serene, peaceful moment.
Stay safe and God bless.
Hugs,
Linda in Pittsburgh
Phyllis,
Comments are never late because they are always appreciated, no matter when they come.
And especially so when commenters take time to comment on everything in a Thing Post! Thank you for doing that and adding your own take on all the items. So much fun to read.
That prayer tag wall is neat! I think our nation as a whole needs prayers. So much division over the handling of the pandemic. Do we wear masks, do we not? Do we start school or not? Kansas is under a mandatory mask rule but many of the counties have opted out of it. My county did not but I still see people without them. Kansas governor also said schools should not start before Labor Day which is about 3 weeks later than scheduled for the school district I live in. They said the KS Board of Education could overrule her and since the governor is one political party and the Board primarily the other party, it is possible they could. My teacher friend said 20% of parents have indicated they would use the virtual learning method to start the year.
Kansas State Fair was canceled earlier in the week and yesterday, Missouri State Fair announced it would only be a youth livestock show. They had already said no concerts this year.
Phyllis,
I totally agree about the need to pray for our country especially now.
I don’t envy at all those who are having to make the hard decisions because no matter what, some will agree and others will strongly disagree. It’s at times like these that I am trying to be especially intentional about being kind and courteous and smiling at strangers or complimenting someone’s outfit or hair. With so much negativity afoot, it’s a wonderful feeling to be an encouragement to people and leave them with a smile.
Ok, that prayer wall is AMAZING! Thanks for sharing that. It about gave me goosebumps.
My thing this week would have been last Saturday, when I went in to work to pack up my desk. At work ,we are in the process of condensing 3 floors in to 2 (yes, in the midst of the pandemic). When we are at 2 floors, we will do what is called hotelling-you don’t have your own desk, you reserve one in advance. We will also be working remote a lot (well, right now, we are all working remote about 99% of the time because of Covid) which is how they will have the space to condense down to 2 floors. We will save the firm a large amount of money by not having to pay rent on the 3rd floor. After having a desk/cubicle for the last 27+ years, it was hard to pack it up and bring the stuff home. It is going to be a new adventure, that is for sure!
Nicole,
Oh my. I don’t think I would enjoy hotelling, even though it sounds like a great cost-saving measure. It’s so nice to arrange your drawers and desks the way you want them and leave them be. But on the bright side, this will force everyone to pack light and work light without a lot of excess stuff to mess around with.
Very creative thinking on the part of your company. Let us know how it goes!
Hey, I live in Paul Bunyan country. We have the big statue of Paul and Babe in our closest big town about 20 miles away. It’s nice to get the dead trees out of the way. Oh, that baby boy is ADORABLE with those big eyes. So happy he is doing so well. I love the prayer wall tags too, what a great way to get extra prayer. I need to do some cleaning out of “stuff” here. Ugh! We have a log cabin at our transfer station that we can put good stuff for other people to take and use, so that is where I take my things now instead of them stacking up here at home. Take care.
Wendy,
Well, tell Paul hello for us! 🙂
I LOVE the idea of leaving stuff for other people to take and use and not even have to pay for it. That would be a wonderful idea to implement everywhere!
And it’s a doubly good feeling when you donate because you don’t have unneeded stuff lying around your house AND you are helping someone. Love it!
Love your Thing posts. Late Happy Birthday to Summer. Love the expression on her face as she eyes that candle. What a wonderful coffee place. It has to be unique! Did see some hearts. PTL. I go in spurts of cleaning, which I did a major cleaning in January, so I’m kind of in a slump now. That truck reminds me of the song “I’ve Been Everywhere Boys . . .” That little guy sure has grown. How wonderful that he is healed. Is that firewood that Steve is cutting for you or for someone else – or it has not been determined yet? You three ladies reminded me of another song “Stop! in the name of Love.” (I promise that is my last song). That picture of Steve praying for Sarah is priceless!
Prayer request – in the last 5 months I have had 2 bro-in-law pass away and another one at this time is in the hospital. He has had many physical ailments through the years. They are not sure if he has had a stroke or heart attack. Does not look good. Not sure if he has a personal relationship with the Lord or not.
Sharyn,
Sadly, we don’t have a fireplace so the wood didn’t go to us. For now, he is just putting it out in the back.
Nice to have a comment full of song references. 🙂
Three brothers-in-law in five months with serious illnesses is a lot of stress and sadness in one family; I am so sorry you all have had to go through this, especially at the same time as COVID-19 which makes everything more difficult. Praying for third b-i-l, that he would pull through this. Hugs.
I love thing posts! I love nothing better than cleaning out a room or closet. After I’m done I like to return to the space and look at my organized results a few times. Haha. And what a beautiful, healthy looking baby boy. His parents must be so overjoyed.
With hurricane season looming, Steve is on top of the tree situation, I’m pretty impressed that he was able to drag that huge tree across your yard, even if it was in pieces.
And finally the prayer request board! I got lost in reading them just in your pictures, I think I would have stood there for an hour reading most of them. Everyone has a story and could use a little support. What a great idea.
Is your town pretty much shut down? Is there much of the virus on the outer banks? Do you see most people wearing masks or are they tiring of it? Just curious how things look in your little spot 🙂
Lesley,
I know exactly what you mean about returning to the area you cleaned just for the purpose of looking at it. It is SUCH a lift!
As far as the virus, around the middle of May, before we shut down to visitors, we had about 22 cases. Now we are over 200. That’s actually not too bad considering we’ve had at least a million visitors over the past two months.
Sarah said at Food Lion that about 95% of the shoppers are wearing masks which is pretty impressive! So no, we are by no means shut down although some people would like to see it all shut down again, regardless of the financial implications. I appreciate our local leaders who have had to make a lot of tough choices over these months.
I so enjoy your Thing posts! Happy Happy Birthday to little Miss Summer! That coffee shop looks so cute – especially a prayer wall…kudos for tackling a reorganization of your office. I need to clean our my youngest daughter’s closet. She moved out in December and left stuff and it has become our “catch-all”, but I haven’t mustered up the courage to tackle it yet…It’s great to see your youth pastor’s son looking so healthy. He is certainly adorable!! Right now, I covet your prayers for wisdom and discernment for those making the decisions about how we will go back to school in just a few short weeks.
Sue Ellen,
Our governor is making an announcement at 3 pm today about school. As you said, they certainly need prayer and wisdom to navigate a situation where there are no easy answers. So thankful not to be in those decision-making shoes. It’s been hard enough being a pastor’s family during this time.
Some cleaning out advice I didn’t mention in the blog is don’t feel like you have to do it in one session. My 3-4 hours was actually spread out over a couple of days. Just jump in–you’ll be so glad you did when it’s all finished!
I love Thing posts- it was worth the wait!
Happy Birthday to Summer. At least you remember on the day!
I LOVE this shop. I feel that even though I don’t drink coffee, I could sit in there for hours. Reading the books, reading the prayer requests, putting up my own prayer request and just looking at all of the “stuff”. How lovely!
I love a good clean out. It’s so satisfying to see the room put back together.
That’s a lot of bumper stickers! I wonder if they’re holding the truck together =)
Wow! That lil fella looks great! So chunky and squishable.
That must be one big tree! It’s good to have a handy man around the home.
I love the pic of the ladies in the masks. I feel that masks will be a way of life for awhile.
I love seeing people praying together. It’s such a blessing to be able to pray anywhere we want.
Praying for a blessed week for you all!
Krista,
So glad the post was worth the wait. I appreciate your encouragement.
I don’t drink coffee either but as you said, just sitting there for the atmosphere is a fun thing. (I actually did order a fruit refresher.) I love places like that–they are havens in a crazy world.
I think you’re right about those bumper stickers; if he ever took them off, that would probably be the end of that truck! That’s a lot of glue. 🙂
Yay, you’re back! 😊
I thought you saying that you went out for coffee was pretty funny since you hate and abhor the stuff! But I realize that was merely a euphemism (hope I spelled that right) for going out with a friend, with no coffee coming near your person.
I appreciated your organizing job. I love it when things are all in their rightful place and lovely orderliness prevails! I still have a good many things in boxes from our move, so organization around here is minimal.
Enjoyed all the things in your Thing Post– always fun to read. And glad Steve made it back safe and sound! His chainsaw work was impressive!
Love to you all!
Deb
Deb,
Yep. I’m back! Such as I am. 🙂
You’re right. I have never once gone out for coffee. But it seems odd to say to someone, “So, do you want to go out and grab a cup of water with lemon it?” Coffee is definitely a catch-all phrase.
Steve definitely loved putting on his oldest clothes and getting as dirty as possible. So glad that’s his job and not mine. I love staying as clean as possible.
It is so great to see the little guy thriving! He is chunky, absolutely adorable and those eyes! Oh my!!
We have been having lots of storms roll through so the tree damage in the area and resulting ‘Paul Bunyan-ing’ seems never ending. We have some really huge trees in our yard. Thankfully, we have only lost some small branches this year…last year was quite a different story! Just when you get the yard cleaned up……. 🙂
Lee Anne,
Yeah, yards are ongoing projects, especially when you have a bunch of storms come through. I am so very thankful that we live in a neighborhood with a lot of trees but they can become too much of a good thing when the wind is blowing.
Speaking of which, on top of everything else, we now have hurricane season rolling in. Should be an interesting few months!