Elise's Perspective

I don't know about those in other states, but those of us who live in South West Virginia have had some pretty crazy weather recently!  We had a severe thunderstorm today, with heavy rains, and very strong wind. The saturated ground couldn't soak up any more water than it already has, so there was flooding (on a small scale) in some places. I really enjoy storms and rain, and was glad for a little weather excitement. There were tornado warnings as well, but thankfully not for our county. I went outside after the heavy rain has stopped and got some pictures of the water that had formed rivers in our woods and "lakes" on the driveway.  I wondered where all the water from the driveway (which was pouring into the woods to form rivers) was coming from; there had to be a source on higher ground. So I followed all the mini rivers and found our neighbors yard was about 2-3 inches deep water. And since it was higher than our driveway, well- there you go. That was the source:) ...

And look at yourself in the mirror, and say, "it's okay if your list of projects won't get done before you go to bed if; you made a sad heart happy, made your little brother want to be "good", listened to a story that really needed telling, opened up your heart to a sibling who needed to talk, was patient with someone who was working slower than you'd like, gave grace to someone who didn't finish their work and thus has put you behind, or simply because you had too much on list;)"  Sometimes I ask myself, "W hat is really important today, Elise? You getting your work done, or being the big sister God's called you to be? And by the way, that doesn't mean you have to drop your list- you just have to go about it differently."  Sometimes I just have to stop and look at the big picture, rethink my priorities, and put them back where they should be.  Balance. Balance. Balance.  Ha- most people who know me know that I am always saying, ...

That's true! It looks so pretty after it has snowed and even prettier once the ice has settled in. {Though I must say that the problems caused by ice are normally not as pretty.} We had a couple inches of ice on top of our snow last week. Although it was gorgeous to look at, there were quite a few snapped trees, and power outages throughout the county. Thankfully, we did not loose our electricity.  And so our winter wonderland came and was gone in 24 hours. It made for some beautiful scenery while milking though:)  In case you haven't picked up on it, I do my best to find something pretty, beautiful and/or good in all my circumstances. No, it's not always easy, and sometimes it takes me a while to find it, but I'm certain it's always there.  Enjoy your Tuesday everyone!  Until next time,  Elise 

I could not think if an interesting post name, so that's what it's going to be called:). No, I  didn't call it "woody" for nothing;)   I've been working with wood a lot lately.  We built our own house eleven years ago and actually never had time to finish it before we moved in; and over the many years we have lived here, we've never finished it all. There are still door jams to be built, doors to be painted and put up, and trim to be cut and stained and put in.  Dad has been much too busy with our large family; and my brothers, Elijah and Joshua, grew up and never did it either.  So Dad has me doing that these days. It's nice to be able to work from home, but can be a challenge. Each "work place" has its own challenges:)  The pictures below are some "work-in-process" shots:)  Boards, stained and ready for polyurethane to go on! The next step is to cut them:)    No, I didn't leave the cross painted on the door...it just made a ni...

How happy I was to receive an email from my friend Amanda, asking if I would be available to spend a couple hours the next day with her while she was in town. (She lives a ways from our little town and makes a big trip when she comes.)  And with her son Levi spending the day with Grandpa, and little baby Opal with Grandma, we girls had a lovely girls date:)  I was glad to have Sadie take our picture since Amanda is always behind the camera;)  Rocky Mount is a quaint old town with lots of history behind it. We enjoyed looking at the old buildings.  And we stopped by a little shop in town called "The Daily Grind" and got some sandwiches and soup for lunch, Which were quite delicious!  And of course we stopped to get our picture on the unique benches outside the shop:)  And Amanda wanted one of me by myself on the bench:)  We walked around the historic court house too:) interesting fact- in the 11 years I've been living here- I had never walked around the...

Oookay....I got on the laptop today to check out some other options for my blog that I wanted to try, and I spent quite a long time sitting at the table before I realized, I really don't know enough about what I am doing to complete what I had set out to do. *sigh*  How frustrating... Then I thought, "Why not just leave it the way it is now?...good idea, Elise. Just leave it =)" (I chuckle to myself). I suppose contentment saves time...(haha) Anyway... I was thinking about "the old days" recently (I am sure most of you have memories from years ago when your family life was different than it now. That is what I mean when I refer to "the old days".) Back in the old days, school did not take all day, if I was diligent, and my free time was filled with outside activities with my siblings. Our family never did many activities outside our home, such as soccer, AWANA, and those types of things. (laugh if you want, but I really did have a wonderful child ...