Quick Update on Wayne...

We got a call from the Cardiologist's office as we were getting ready to leave that his heart cath was postponed until tomorrow. Apparently there were some emergencies with the doctor this morning. Wayne's still pretty nervous and we both are just ready to get this over with. Thank you for all of your prayers and please continue to pray for peace for him. Hugs ~ Kim

Prayer Request revisited, "Sandy" & Painting...

If you haven't read my other post from today about my prayer request, please read that first. If you don't mind, please leave me a comment on that post so I can let Wayne know how many of you are praying for him. He's really frightened. Thank you all so much!

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The kitty is a girl (according to the vet) so her name is "SANDY"! Donna (Dewberry) didn't sound right for a cat and I think Sandy is THE BEST, so "Sandy" it is! Thanks for the idea, Stepher, but don't think that I hadn't already thought of that and was hoping that is what you would suggest. Great minds think alike! "Sandy" sounded much better than "Yellow Ocre" or "Burnt Umber" or "Chisel" or "Rake" or "More Paint" or ""Blend, shade & highlight"! Although, "Sunflower" and "Midnight" and "Scruffy" were all candidates. All of my One Stroke painting buddies will know EXACTLY what I'm talking about! And to think, just 1 year ago all of these were just words and had no meaning except according the "Webster" and not "Donna". Okay, we all know I'm obsessed and I guess this proves it! Hey, it's MY kitty so her name has to mean something to me!

I have to tell you about my new treasures! Well, I've actually had them since December 2002, but they've been in boxes ever since my Dad brought them to me. These 2 paintings were done, in oils, by my grandmother who passed away many years ago. She was a very talented artist who did lots of oil canvases as well as china painting. I may change out the '70s frames but they are in perfect shape!!

I can remember going to her house and having so much fun staying up half the night working her latest arts and crafts project. Since I've gotten back into painting these mean so much more to me than they did when I received them and I am so grateful that they have been passed to me. They are truly treasures!

Coneflowers and Black-eyed Susans that we painted in class tonight. I enlarged this one to show more detail, though it is a bit distorted as this lower resolution. We had great fun with 6 in class and I was so excited to take the class with 3 other ladies from work. I think we got them "hooked" on painting with Sandy too! Isn't my butterfly cute?

I set the canvas on two different frames that already have paintings in them to see which I liked better. The brown frame really brings out the wooden fence...

...but the white frame really makes the flowers pop! What do you think????

I also wanted to start decorating a bit for fall and painted this 4" tall THICK glass jar that I purchased at Wally-world with some leaves and fall trees. The trees are gorgeous. I painted them with my "fan" brush. Two ladies at work kept taking it and putting it on their desks! Oh, I filled it with Pumpkin Spice Potpourri which is orange, brown and white. It's REALLY pretty! The pictures really don't do it justice.

Side 1

Side 2

Side 3

Side 4

Please rememeber to think of us on Wednesday when Wayne has his heart cath. Thank you for all of your prayers! Hugs ~ Kim

Prayer Request...

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a good week so far. I know many of you personally and others I've met through my blog. Know that I cherish you friendship. I am asking that you please keep my husband in your prayers. He just found out that he has to have a heart cath. done on Wednesday and is pretty upset. I know everything will be fine and if they find something they'll take care of it. But, Wayne is really frightened especially since his brother passed away at age 46 less than 1 year ago of a heart attack. Please pray for peace for him and the skill of the doctors. I also ask that you pray for me to continue to be a calming influence for him. I trust my Lord and know that He will carry us in His arms during this time. However, I still have that "tingley" feeling inside my stomach of not knowing the outcome.

I am clinging to Philippians 4:6 right now.

Thank you and I'll post again after the procedure. Hugs ~ Kim

Okay, okay, our new addition is . . .

She/he is so-o-o-o tiny. We think it's a girl but aren't sure. For now, we are going to assume so until she visits the vet on Monday and he lets us know for sure. Okay, I know what you are saying, "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? YOU ALREADY HAVE 6 DOGS AND A PARROT. WHY DID YOU GET A CAT TOO?"

Well, it's like this. Some coworkers were walking down the road after lunch after the vehicle they rode in broke down. This kitten jumped out of a hole in some thick brush and nearly got run over on the busy road. One of the guys picked her up and brought her back to work to find her a home. Well, as luck would have it, I came around the corner and it was love at first sight! She is so precious! I had a cat for 10 years and lost her in 2002. I can't believe it's been 5 years now and it was time to heal that wound. Jody has been so cute with the kitten, that doesn't have a name yet. She "mothers" her. If the kitten gets out of her sight she gets up and goes looking for her. She whines if she can't find her. Jody is so tolerant of her too...as you can see here.

An exhausted "Mommy" of a new "baby"!

So, what do the other dogs think of her? Well, Jasmine wasn't to play with her but she is WAY too rough! The other 2 little dogs just ignore her and bark at her occasionally. The 2 BIG doggies outside haven't seen her yet. I think they'd probably think she was a snack!

Well, that's our newest bit of news! Oh, THANKS Nonie for your 8 comments so I would post this sooner! ;o) Hugs ~ Kim

Belated b-day gifts and new addition...

Nonie received her package of goodies yesterday so I can finally post pictures of the homemade items I sent to her. Here is a cute little canvas I painted with her initial on it.

This one is with the flash

This one is without.

I also painted a set of 6 cards and envelopes for her then tied them up with a pretty bow.

I tried using my Papier paints that are made for paper but I did NOT like them. They were "chunky" and hard to use and I didn't have the colors I needed. I ended up using regular Folkart Acrylic paint and it worked well.

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Stay tuned for the next post to learn about the new member of our family as of yesterday! I'm trying to encourage more comments so I'll post pics and stats after I get 8 comments, a record for my blog! I have lots of lurkers and wonderful friends that stop by, please leave me a comment to say hi or let me know what you think about my post! I'd love to hear from you!

Hope you have a great weekend! Hugs ~ Kim

Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, 49 years young today! It's hard to comprehend but the years seem to get closer and closer together. Last Thursday I decided to go back closer to my natural hair color, less the gray. However, it came out a LOT darker than anticipated. I've had several days to get used to it but I'm liking it better each day. We'll see if I keep it that way.

I had a GREAT b-day. I had to work but was treated a like a queen with lunch with my friends/co-workers then cake (not looking forward to WW this week) and gifts! I left early to go to the doctor with Wayne and run some errands. Wayne's co-ed softball team had their first game tonight so we all went, except Ashley who had to work, and had a great time. We got an unexpected win 14-13 also! They played GREAT! Then all of the kids came over and they along with Wayne showered me with gifts!

Ok, are you ready for this? Between friends and family I received money or gift certificates to take 12 painting classes and $125.00 in Hobby Lobby gift cards among other great gifts like DVDs, CDs, toiletries, etc. I'm so excited.

Here are some pictures from tonight's celebration.

One of my MANY painting class gift certificates!

Cute Stepher with my cake!

Me and Jody!

Me with our kids and 3 of our doggies!

Not sure what Wayne and Jasmine are doing in this picture but cute anyway!

Thanks to everyone who left me sent me an e-card, left me a voice-mail, snail-mailed a card, sent me an e-mail, called me, sang HB to me, gave me a b-day hug, left a comment on my blog or even thought about me today. I love you all and am so thankful for another year and such a blessed life! Hugs ~ Kim

Inspirational Book & LOTS of Painting

I am NOT a big reader. I love to have some quiet time with no one else around and read but it just doesn't happen too often. I get distracted too easily if there is activity going on, which there usually is, so I just don't read. Well, I'm trying to overcome this and MAKE time, by myself, and read. Thus, as God is in control, I received an automatic shipment from a Christian Book club because I apparently hadn't responded to their every 3-wk mailing. Honestly, I only joined because there were a couple of books I wanted for reference. I took it as a sign from God that He wanted me to read these books. The one I started this week is by Philip Carlson, "You Were Made for Love".

It is about enbracing the life you were meant to live, according to the summary. In the very first chapter the author uses his 2-year-old son in an illustration where they were on an outing and his child wandered in front of him to explore the world around him. The child looks back every 30 seconds or so to get a glimpse of his Dad to be sure he's still there, then wanders again. At one point the child wandered far enough that when he looked back and didn't see his Dad and became distressed and scared. His Dad raised his hands so his child could see him. Once he saw his Dad was close by after all, he went on to play. The truth is, his Dad was there the entire time, never taking his eyes off of him, caring and protecting him. This is often how we are with our walk with God. Though at certain times in our life we stray and can't seem to find God, in reality He is ALWAYS there, always faithful, loving us refusing to give up on us and persistent in his pursuit of us. I will keep you posted on the book but I'm sure it will be yet another blessing from God.

I've been doing a lot of painting so let me share what I've been up to.

I'm not crazy out the way the birdbath is turning out so I haven't finished it yet but I've had serveral people ask about it so here it is so far.

I'm not sure what else I'm going to add to the "saucer" part of the birdbath.

I think the next one I make is going to be taller. This is just too short for my liking. It's been fun to work on though. I guess I'll finish it soon and post the final product.

I also painted 2 seascapes, at the same time. One to replace mine that I gave to my Mom and the other is for Ashley's boyfriend, Brandon, for his birthday. Here is what I did the first night...

Here are the finished canvases (sp?)...

Several of you have heard that our pastor and his wife lost their baby a little over a week ago. It has devastated their family since this is the second baby they've lost in 2 years. I felt inspired to paint this tray for them... My heart just aches for them and they continue to be in my prayers. I had a class last week with Sandy (I was her only student and we had a GREAT time) and painted Tiger Lillies. Isn't it pretty??? A very dear friend, as a matter of fact the very first friend we met when we moved here, retired Thursday, and I wanted to give him something special. I knew he wouldn't appreciate flowers so when I saw this picture I decided to try to paint it on a welcome sign for him. It took me about an hour and a half to do it but I was pretty pleased with the outcome. I also painted this tray for his sweet wife, Deb. I told Jim that he needed to fix her breakfast and take it to her in bed for putting up with him. It was all in good fun and I will miss seeing him everyday. I also painted one other canvas that I can't share with you yet because it is for my dear, sweet, friend, Nonie. She reads my blog faithfully so I don't want to spoil the surprise. I'll mail it to her on Tuesday so once she receives it, I'll post a picture.

I've also been tagged by Sandy. It's called the name game, and here are the rules for those that choose to follow them: Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog. So, here goes... (LYN-yes it only has 1 "n")

L~Loves life which includes God, Family, Friends and Country. Y~Young at heart (not as young as I used to be but enjoying where I am in my journey!) N~Never takes anything for granted! Okay everyone else has been tagged by this so I'm only going to choose one: I'm tagging my sweet daughter, Stephanie I guess this means she'll "finally have to update" for a 3rd time! She hasn't updated since June 24th so go by and leave her a comment and ask her to update!!!! Love you, Stepher!!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful day! Hugs ~ Kim