EPHEMERA

I know there are alot of you "paper artists" and ephemera collectors out there that might appreciate my post tonight.  While going through some of my in-laws' things I ran across a few dozen postcards, etc., some of which I thought I'd show you all. We're trying to gradually get things cleaned out and organized for an estate sale, since my sweet MIL won't be going back home to live.  We need to either sell the house or rent it out.
I don't know about the Bible cards, but the Postcards date back to the '40's.  Most of them were from family members to Tony's folks.

I found two little sweet Bible story cards. There's a short story about the picture on the back of the card  and a memory verse. The cards are all numbered so I assume there was a whole bunch of em at one time. This first one is Timothy. The second is Jesus. I've never seen these cards before...

Now these next few are just some funny postcards, and then a couple of really vintage-looking cards - pretty cards.

These were cute! That momma pig has got some sharp teeth!

Look at little boy winking!

And how's this for some Texas cow-punchin'????

This 'un's just downright purty.

So is this one! Hope these gals don't slip and fall and get their dresses all wet! 

This final photo has a story behind it.  It was sent to Miss Callie Dee Stringer in Big Sandy, Texas, from one Leebron Malvern Hill, a young gentleman who'd begun courting Miss Callie Dee back in the 1940's.  It seems he was quite sweet on her for awhile and she fell madly in love with him. He promised to marry her, and even gave her a ring (which I have). It's a wide gold band with a swirl of small diamonds across the top created for a small finger. My MIL was given the ring  by her Aunt Callie later in life. The ring was a token of love and affection for the young lady, or possibly even an engagement ring or a gentleman's pinkie finger ring. 

Miss Callie waited and waited upon Mr. Hill to make up his mind when he wanted to marry her. But alas, other interests came calling Mr. Hill to ramble about and he found himself in different parts of the country - last place on his post card to her was from North Carolina.  His love for Miss Callie Dee Stringer waned, and so he gradually fell out of touch.  She was left with a broken heart and a gold ring on her finger.  She never married.  I don't know if she never had another opportunity, or just didn't want to or just pined away after Mr. Leebron Malvern Hill for the rest of her life. Quite a sad little story.

Well, that's all folks - except Good Nite! 

Where There is Faith

Good morning all. Sometimes life brings our way struggles, issues, pain, misunderstanding, illnesses... we all have it, we all experience it. This past week and weekend have been very emotionally gut-wrenching, watching my dear cousin, Debra, deal with the disposal of her parents' house and belongings. She was such a daddy's girl and she talked to her daddy every single day on the phone since they did not live in the same town. Her mother had had quite an ordeal, going slowly downhill with her health in the last couple of years, and Debra's daddy was the caregiver. He was tender, never tiring, taking care of his "sweetheart" for oh so long. They'd been married 50+ years. Debra and her kids gathered up things from the house that meant something to them (photos, mementos, etc) and things that they'd use, sold alot of the rest. I bought my uncle's tiller for my garden and my aunt's canning supplies.

It was a long hot humid weekend. The A/C went out in the house and it was miserable. But it had to be done - the estate sale. What memories we watched going out the door in the hands of the customers that came to the sale! It was hard. In our cleaning, we came across photo albums of newlyweds - her folks - and babies, and friends, and holidays, and all those things that make a family a family. We had no time to sit and grieve and remember. My cousin fought back the tears and did what she had to do. All we could so was scoop up all those treasures and pack them away for her to go through later on. The loss of her parents was just too recent. I don't know how she did it. We prayed together several times, she and I and a couple of her friends that came to help. What will she do now? How is she going to deal with this tremendous grief?

I am reminded of a song by "4 Him" that I've loved for years, that has strengthened me through several rough times, a song that is based on the Bible teachings of faith and God's love. I'm sure alot of you know it. I haven't heard it played on the radio in quite awhile because it is a little older song. But Saturday, twice, once running an errand for Debra and again when I was driving home from the sale, I heard it. I think the Lord was trying to tell me something. I think He was AGAIN sending His peace from the words of this song through the air waves for me to hear, and to know that He IS the God of all comfort, and that all we have to do is have a little faith in Him.

WHERE THERE IS FAITH
I believe in faithfulness
I believe in giving of
myself for someone else
I believe in peace and love
I believe in honesty
and trust but it’s not enough
For all that I believe may never change the way
it is
Unless I believe Jesus lives

CHORUS
Where there is faith
There is a voice
calling, keep walking
You’re not alone in this world
Where there is
faith
There is a peace like a child sleeping
Hope everlasting in He who is
able to
Bear every burden, to heal every hurt in my heart
It is a
wonderful, powerful place
Where there is faith

There’s a man across the sea
Never heard the sound of freedom
ring
Only in his dreams
There’s a lady dressed in black
In a motorcade
of cadillacs
Daddy’s not coming back
Our hearts begin to fall
And our
stability grows weak
But Jesus meets our needs if only we believe

CHORUS.

I wonder if my cousin knows this song??? Think I'll send it to her. Thank you ALL so much for your prayers, your kind words, and your encouragement. I know she'll be sad for a long time to come, and so will I. I'm glad she's a Christian, and she knows where her strength comes from. So I will not post on this topic anymore. God bless you all for your good and kind hearts.

This 'N' That

Just a quick update on E. He's up walking around, eating a little, sitting in chairs, playing on the computer, quizzing the Drs. about his treatment (they aren't used to that as 99% of the patients in PICU are under the age of 2). Yesterday, the Dr. told him they were going to give him a drug to increase his apetite and he asked them why hadn't they done that before? He's a very precocious kid as they are finding out at Medical City, Dallas, PICU. The Drs. also like that he watches sports all the time instead of Sesame Street. Perhaps they spend more time in his room...

Anyway, thanks again for your concern and prayers. E has to stay in the hospital 10-14 more days, then be homebound on IV antibiotics for about 4-6 weeks until they can implant his new pacemaker. If all goes well, Lord willing, he'll be on his way to complete recovery. God is so good! E goes to the private Christian school at our church and I know they'll help him catch up on his schoolwork. He shouldn't have any problems - he's a whiz. It'll be good to see him at church again!

I've been blog hopping the last few days and have been reading some of the farming blogs. I've got a bug in my head to check out raising chickens. I can't have any now because we haven't moved out to the farm permanently yet. I guess it'll be a year or two more before we can actually do that. We're there every weekend and on holidays so I can't really have any chickens yet cuz I'm not there to feed them every day.

I looked at all the different varieties of chickens. There's little 'uns and big 'uns and floozy-lookin' ones and plain ones. I loved the brightly colored ones and the black/white ones. I have a two fold reason for wanting chickens. I want fresh eggs, and I want to be able to paint them. My grandmother always had chickens. She had a huge chicken coop and after the chickens were all gone, I loved to play in there. It was used for storage later on.

I've been thinking about this recession thing. Our home is paid for, our farm is paid for, the farmhouse is paid for... what if things got really bad? I suppose we could move out to the farm, have our garden (altho it would have to increase greatly in size), get us some cows/goats, and have our chickens. Not such a bad idea really. I'd hate for things to get that bad, however, I'm longing to make that move and have my little farm and live my dream.

The stock market dropped over 300 points upon the announcement of the stimulus pkge passing the senate today. This is scarey stuff, people. We've personally lost  money in the stock market & mutual funds just like everybody else. My folks have lost some too. Tony and I (Lord willin') still have plenty of years to recoup that loss, but the older generation doesn't. I don't know if they'll ever get their retirement nest egg back.

I know the Lord will take care of us. He knows our every need. I pray for our President even tho I didn't vote for him. I pray that God will give him wisdom and that Obama will seek God's guidance in his decisions. I pray that we are not headed for socialism. I fear for my kids and grandkids and I know ya'll do, too. What will happen? Only the Lord knows. My only consolation is that everything is in God's hands.

On a lighter note, I think this is my 95th post. Wow. I didn't know it would get this far. Didn't even know if I'd like this blogging thing. But I did and I do. I appreciate all your comments and your concern for me, my life, and my little world. I've surely enjoyed getting to know you all and sharing your world with you.

I am going to have a give-away to celebrate my 100th post. My first. I'll be back to let you know a little more about it in a few days. I've got something I hope you'll like!