Deidre, here are some pics for you of Angie's party. We had nacho platters, veggie and fruit trays, strawberry shortcake, snacks and for the birthday cakes we had "cupcakes from crave". They were so good. Wish you could have been here.









My baby turns 20 years old today. Where has the time gone? She makes me so proud. She has turned out to be such a wonderful, beautiful girl. I love you, Ang!

NO LIMITS CONFERENCE
Anyone wanting to listen to the no limits conference, click on the link above. It starts at 11AM and 8:00PM Calgary time. Today's message was so good . "The dangerous of down."

More Experiments with my new pans.
This is pure white sugar that I put in the pan on high heat then walked away and left it until I started to smell it . Look closly through the steam and you can see the sugar is black and burnt, but it is still not sticking. I just took a paper towel and mopped it up. There was a little stickiness to this one but it washed right off with no problem. PS I burned my finger when I was soaking the sugar into the paper towel. Ouch!! Below the sugar pictures is a video of melting cheese in the pan. No sticking to the pan, even after being on high for awhile.

Optimism returning to housing market, RBC survey finds
VIRGINIA GALT

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Confidence appears to be seeping back into the housing market, with a majority of Canadians saying it's a good time to buy, according to the Royal Bank of Canada's annual homeownership survey.

Although this optimism is not reflected in the most recent sales statistics – the volume of sales in the Toronto area, for instance, was down 47 per cent year-over-year in January – the Royal Bank predicts that lower prices will lure a growing percentage of Canadians back into the housing market in the next two years.

A survey of 2,026 Canadian consumers, conducted in the second week of January, found that 65 per cent of respondents believe it is a buyers' market now.

Of those surveyed, 9 per cent said it is “very likely” they will purchase a home or condominium in 2009 or 2010, and another 18 per cent rated the prospect of purchasing a new home as “somewhat” likely.

“Additionally, almost half indicate it makes sense to buy a home now versus waiting until next year.”

Young adults and renters are most likely to spark an upsurge in home sales, the Royal Bank said in releasing its survey results.

“In the under-35 group, 48 per cent said they plan to buy, which is up sharply from 36 per cent last year. Renters also appear to be saying they are tired of paying someone else's mortgage payment, with 38 per cent planning to become homeowners in the next two years.”

Toronto real estate agent Geon van der Wyst noted that consumers do not always follow through on their intentions – although it is encouraging that more Canadians appear to be thinking about buying homes.

“Intention is the step prior to making an educated decision… and I'm sure a lot of those people with intentions will move forward with purchases, it's just a matter of finding the right time,” Mr. van der Wyst said.

Karen Leggett, the Royal Bank's head of home equity financing, said low mortgage rates “and favourable housing prices are influencing home purchase intentions this year and may be the reason why more Canadians are poised to purchase over the next two years.”

Ms. Leggett said the poll, conducted for the Royal Bank by Ipsos Reid, found that the vast majority of Canadians believe that the purchase of a home is a good investment. “The current economic environment does not appear to have dampened Canadians' overall confidence in the housing market,” she said.

Mr. van der Wyst said there are good deals to be had, from the buyers' standpoint.

However, he added, many prospective buyers – particularly first-time buyers – are still uncertain about the best time to plunge into the market.

“We tend to hand-hold these first time-buyers, nervous first-time buyers, especially around here where they know the prices are starting to dip – and who knows where they will continue to dip before the recovery starts?”

Mr. van der Wyst said that, especially in the current economic environment, he screens prospective buyers very carefully before taking them to look at properties. He noted that the banks are also “pretty stringent” in qualifying consumers for mortgages.

“Interest rates are at historic lows and borrowing money is very, very affordable. If you have steady employment and you have some financial responsibility along with a good interest rate, now is a really, really good time to purchase a property,” Mr. van der Wyst, an agent with Royal LePage said.

“At this time, employment stability is very important. It would be really unfortunate to see someone lose their job just as they were about to close on a property,” he said.

A number of leading Canadian economists have observed that Canada's rising unemployment rate has eroded consumer confidence, and other recent housing forecasts have been less upbeat than the Royal Bank survey.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. projects that, in spite of falling prices, the volume of existing home sales is expected to drop by 14.6 per cent in 2009, and then rise by 9.3 per cent in 2010.

Average home prices are forecast to fall 5.2 per cent to $287,900 in 2009. Next year, prices are expected to remain flat, according to the federal housing agency's forecast.




© The Globe and Mail

I purchased a set of Titanium exclusive cookware at the home and grden show this past weekend. They are wonderful. You can cook without water or oil. Food will not stick or burn to these pots. They are amazing for easy clean up!! I made oatmeal for breakfast this morning and decided to experiment and see if the oatmeal would burn or stick to the pot. Below are the results of my experiment. These were a great investment!!

Here is the pot sitting on the heat, "burning to the pot"

After letting it sit on the heat for just a few seconds it lifted away from the pot so I could just lift it right out. No burning and sticking!

All that's left are a few crumbs that just wiped right out. So Cool!

I found this on the Grande Prarie church's site. It is a really awesome message using the analogy of the physical storm and relating it to the storms of life.
Go to the site using the link below and then click on the message "It can only go so far"

A message of hope

My family and some of my friends are now on thier way to Israel. I hope and pray they all have a wonderful time, stay safe and well, and have a life changing experience. I know you guys will not see this until you come back, but I love you! Have double fun for me!!

I read the 2 blogs below and thought they had good food for thought and were an encouragment to me today. we don't always know why things work out the way they do, but it is in those times that we must trust in God. It is then that our trust is really put to the test.

royal Insignia
iluv2prshim

Deidre is going away to visit her mom so we decided to babysit so her and Preston could go out. Here is a sample of our evening. I'm sure this will bring back memories for my own kids.

"It is the cure for the disease of self centeredness.The antidote for my own pride"

Here is a reminder of why we do the things we do.
"Be not weary in well doing..."
Click the link "The invisible woman" below and enjoy.

The invisible woman

These are the roses Ken brought home for me on Valentines day. They are still standing strong and opening up beautifully. They are not drooping at all. I don't think I have ever had such perfect roses. They are beautiful!




The egg platter

Happy Valentines to everyone. My valentine came hom ewith these roses. Notice the card. He has always signed my name that way since we were dating. He also ordered me some egg trays. I can't wait to see them!
My love to all of you.

A return to Sunday dinner.
One of the upsides of the downturn in economy is that it seems there is a revival of the Sunday dinner at home. We have been doing this now for several weeks and I am quite enjoying it. It is a lot of work, but well worth the effort. While searching the internet for recipe ideas, I have come across many blogs and websites of ladies who have rediscovered this age old, wonderful, tradition of going to church, then coming home to prepare and share dinner with family and friends. It is so much warmer and closer than eating out, and a whole lot cheaper.
I am thankful today for my family and friends and the provision of God, as I plan and prepare for our dinner tomorrow. Try it, I think you'll like it. Make sure to invite someone over to share it with though, because that's part of the fun.

Say less than you know,
Own more than you show,
Pay as you go,
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

Powerful, sobering words, these are! Search me Oh God. Cleanse me from every sin and make me clean, is my prayer.

Matthew 23
23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Pastor King's message tonight about keeping our priorities right brought back this post written by Sis. Elms. It went deep into my heart. I do not want to have the attitude of a sloucher. Read it here.
Slouching in the pew

This scripture jumped out at me tonight as I read my daily Bible reading. It showed how important respecting authority and God's order of things is to Him. Even though the pharisees were not doing right, Jesus still told the disciples to obey them, because of the office they held. He told them to obey,but not to act like them.

1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

I'd appreciate your prayers as I atart this course. This is not going to be easy for me. I have felt God leading me to do this, but have fought it for over 3 years. I face it with trepidation. Please keep me in your prayers that I can retain the information and actually accomplish the task and it can be a blessing to people who are struggling for one reason or another, both in the church and out.

Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

This scripture woke me up this morning. When our natural body is wounded, the whole body goes to work restoring and healing the wounded part. We do not seperate it and cut it off from the rest of the body, but our whole system goes to work and surrounds and protects the wounded part and the healing process happens.
We are the body of Christ. When we see the our brother or sister is taken in a fault or is wounded in some way, we must do the same. We cannot afford to critize and cut off the member, but we must rally around them with support and resources. We must love them and surround them, never gossipping about them, thus cutting them off from the love and support they so desperately need, but ministering TO them.
I feel this strongly this early mornig.
God has awakened me several times this week with thoughts about our realationship with each other, about true friendship and true love. I have been convicted for myself and heavily burdened for people I dearly love.
We don't want to create a culture of gossip for ourselves and our family and friends.
It causes us to walk the low road where we create shallow relationships. Ones that lack loyalty, trust and support. There can be no trust, no feelings of safety, no love. It binds us with low self esteem and depression and isolates us.
We need to get off of this road and start creating a circle of love and support for each other. We need to become the kind of friend we want others to be to us. We need to show the kind of love that can listen and empathize, but then go on to give sound, Godly advise. We don't want to use our friendships to vent, but to share our struggles, not to find someone to sympathise with us and make us feel better about what we are doing, what we are tempted with, or how we are feeling ( especially when it involves others), but to honestly be looking for sound advice that will help us be overcomers. We want to be the kind of friend that will help our friends overcome instead of helping them wallow in anger, hurt, jelousy, etc. This just leads to gossip fests and a downward spiral. Be the kind of friend that is trustworhty, the kind that people feel confident that thier business stays confidential at all times, the kind of friend that will tell it like it is when your thinking is off course or your emotions are out of control, ( in kindness of course), that will pray and encourage and love. Don't be the kind that will try and pull down to your level. Let's build a strong foundation of love, safety, loyalty and trust for our brothers and sisters. Let's show our girls how to be Godly women not ugly, gossipy, bitter, nasty young girls. This is the will of God and if we obey His word, then our lives will be blessed and enriched. If we become this kind of woman we will attract others of like mindedness. We will grow in grace and Godliness. Let's walk the high road.

PS Just a side note: The more we can get our minds focused outside ourselves and on helping others, the happier we will be. Self absorption is misery. Don't live your life where everything you do is to gratify something in yourself. Sometimes even the good things we do is self gratifying because it makes us feel good about ourselves. That is fine to a degree, but it is best and much more enriching to make pleasing God and loving others our goal and the rest will fall into place. Just a thought.

I know this is kind of a jumble, but it is early and I wanted to get some of my thoughts down before I got up and started the day and forgot about what I was feeling. I hope this can be a blessing and an encouragement to someone.
I have lots of other thing rambling around in this head, but it will have to be another post. I've been thinking to do a series of post about what it means to be a christian. Maybe I will, and this could be the first in the series. (Don't gaossip, be true. Search for truth not a rason to justify your actions and feelings)

Alyssa's baby shower. I would like to thank everyone who came and made Deidre feel special and loved.
It was a riot! Sorry Sara, the picture of you was too good to leave out! I'll take it off if you really want me to though. Mindy went away with just about every prize. Gini, I am glad you finally won one though after all your hard work. LOL Lisa, Thanks for being a good sport and participating in the "poop" tasting contest. It's people like you that really make it funny. All of this and not one good picture of the baby!

Author unknown
If you are ever going to love me; love me now.


While I can know the sweet and tender feelings from which true affections flows.
Love me now while I am living.


Do not wait until I am gone.


To have those sweet words chiseled in marble on ice-cold stone.
If you have tender thoughts of me, please let me know now.


Not when I am not there.

This was a cool sight from my window this afternoon. The snow plows were having a hard time with the corner so the neighbors all went out to help shovel and tell them where they could make piles. This is such a neat neighborhood.

Sis Nona Freman has lived alife full of faith in God. She is an amzing woman. I fyou have not heardof her or read any of her book, you should do so.
Please keep her in your prayers as she recovers. The link below is a video of her preaching. She is in her 90's.
http://pentecostzone.com/videos/id_24/title_the-%E2%80%99power-dimension%E2%80%99-part3-nona-freeman/

The kind of friends you want to attract, is the kind of friend you must be.

Star
This one's for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMGl48ADBk

My kids hate to see me get out my camera. I think they are afraid the might get "posted"! One of my sons thougt he would be funny and get me back. Enjoy the shots he got of me.
PS I used to be able to see without all these aid!
PS#2 I love the magnifying glass that John bought for me!
ps#3 Thanks, son. These are great. They really make me laugh!
ps@4 Lexy loves my magnifying glass too. She calls it Tina's mirror. She likes us to make things bigger with it.



Happy Birthday , John!!

Yesterday we celebrated John's 26th birthday. All the family came over after church and we had a roast beef dinner. Happy birthday, John. I hope you have a wonderful year. I pray the will of God be done in your life this year. I would love to see you singing more if that would be God's will for you. You have such a wonderful voice. Mark preached a very good message last night about doing something this year of eternal value and Pator King and others have said don't waste time trying to do what you're not good at, but find what you do well and do it with all your heart. I know you are passionate about singing, you are good at it, and would love to use it somehow. Don't let it slip away from you. Pray and ask God to open doors for you to use this wonderful gift for the glory of God.
I am very proud of you. You have been faithful to God, your church and your family. We love you very much!!
Back to what Mark preached last night, I want to be involved in something of eternal value this year. I have a few ideas that I am thinking about and am waiting for God to give some direction to me. If you think of it, I'd appreciate it if you said a prayer for me to find my niche in God's kingdom.

Here is a neat site for daily Bible reading online. Follow the plans and you will have read the Bible through in a year.

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/today/

New Year's day was a very nice relaxing time spent with family. We had a sit down dinner ( a first in a while) using the china and all. It was nice in spite of the plastic table and chairs and the crowded kitchen. The price you pay for using the dining room as an office. After dinner the girls did the dishes and then we just visited and played games.Kenny spent the night and went to work with the guys this morning. I had such a nice time with just my family. I love you all very much and love spending time with you all. I hope this year is blessed for you all and that God has His way with everyone of you.

I have just spent some time going over some of my old post, trying to see where I've come from and where I am going. I came across the 2 articles that I have linked below and thought they were worth reading again coming into this new year.

Dealing with critisism
http://holmessellshomes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-05-03T13%3A31%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=1

Leadership
http://holmessellshomes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-09-01T08%3A01%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=1

Happy New Year everyone. I hope that everyone's year was blessed and that 2009 will be even better.
Thank you to all of you bloggers. You have been an encouragement to me so many times through out this year. I apprecdiate the connection with you all that blogging has made possible.
God Bless You All!!
My Goals?
Read the bible through
take a course in counseling
lose some weight
eat better
move more
get involved with sunday school
do some quilting
I'm still working on this list

God is more interested in changing your heart, than he is in changing your circumstances. He has been showing me that in many ways over the past several weeks. It can be very painful, but it is for our good. My prayer today is that God would have "His way" in my spirit and in my heart and in the hearts of my husband and children. It is not easy to see the flaws of character in ones self or to feel the weight of your own imperfections, but it is alot heavier to carry those flaws and it is God's grace that reveals the things in us that need to change and He is faithful to helps us succeed if we humble ourselves before Him and let Him mold us. Some times God draws us aside to a place of aloneness to accomplish such a task. I pray for all that may be in this place today. I pray for complete freedom from anything that binds us and keeps us from the perfect peace God intends us to live in.

On another note, in response to Pastor Kings reading of "A tale of three Kings" last night, my New Years resolution is to not be a "spear thrower." A lofty goal, but I want to conquer any tendencies toward both the character's of Saul and Absalom.
"God give me a pure heart" is my prayer.
Psalm 51
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

I just noticed on the picture of Angie holding up her pj's that had to be soaked in water before she could see them in the slide show below, that the caption said "my turkey" I didn't intend for that to be put on that picture but rather the pic below. LOL I guess she is my lil turkey in a way but I really meant it for my nicely cooked turkey for real!!

Christmas day started with pecan stuffed waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon. After breakfast we opened our gifts. Dad was being silly and wouldn't wait his turn on the stocking stuffers. Kenny spent the night so he would be here for opening gifts in the morning. That was so nice. We really missed David and Jolene, but we have to share with Jolene's parents. We had dinner at 3pm with about 40 people at my house. It was a blast. We played a game of pictionary and just had a good time visiting. I thank God for all my family and friends that made this holiday and this year great.
Merry Christmas to all my family that live far away. I hope your holidays were awesome and I wish you a very wondrful year. I wish you could have all been with me this year. I love you all!!!