Family Gathering Pics Shared

Just stopped in to share a few fun photos from today. Our whole family always gathers at my parents home, all four generations together to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

A wonderful meal was had by all and we enjoyed visiting all day together!

The pictures below are of my daughter and her big brothers lil girl ( my first grand baby) playing ball together! They had a blast!

Too sweet isnt she???

Right after I snapped this one, one of the tennis balls the baby threw hit me right in the chin! LOL

Don't ya just want to squeeze them when they look this adorable!!!

What a blessing!

Hope your day was as grand as ours!

Deb

Blessings and Prayers

Yeah I know this time of the year it just starts getting crazier and crazier sometimes we feel like we are in a frenzy trying to keep up! We have to be here for dinner, we need to go there for dinner, attend this function, spend this holiday with this part of the family, travel here, see this play, make cookies for this, make a cake for that, cook, clean, entertain...whewwww just makes me kind of tired to think about it!!!

But in the middle of all this craziness I try to think of all the people and things I am soooo thankful for in my life! My wonderful family, my supportive Hubs of two years, our three wonderful grown kids; two sons and a daughter, our first grand baby who will be two soon, my parents still with us, my sister (my left arm), nephews and in laws and extended family!

And friends like Lisa, Jeannie, Tina,Tammy, Lu, Kathy, Jake, Joanna and Emily, Jen, Amy, Patty, Jenna, Jessie and her kids, Ellen and her family and soooo many others I cant even begin to put names on them all...

The blessings of the shop and being able to do what I love doing and expressing my faith at the same time!!!! God is soooo good!

I know so many people don't have family around them, or the blessing of any job much less a job they love! Thank you God for all my blessings, I never take them for granted!!! And even though I have cooked all evening this evening and will spend most of the day tomorrow doing the same, it will be so awesome to see all the family faces around the table tomorrow breaking bread together! God is soo good all the time!

Even in the shop the last few days its been busier than usual for this time of the year but people waiting in line seem more patient more kind, or is it the season, are they feeling thankful too???? I sure wish it would last all year long!!!

Shop News-

Dont forget about our Black Friday Sale! 10- 5 Friday!!!!

We received some new consigner items this week from Jerry, out of Cross Lanes and I wanted to share pictures below...

This slender primitive cabinet is beautifully done! The finish is awesome!
This black cabinet with the Americana painted front is a nice sized cabinet. It along with being gorgeous will be a wonderful size for anyone's home! This prim wooden candle box is one of only two that came in. The first one sold before I could even tag it!

Prayer Requests-

I would like to ask that when you say your prayers you add the following to your list:

Mary Shank- My aunt, she is the wife of Charles, (my moms brother) who was severely injured a few months back in a motorcycle accident. Mary is in the hospital with pneumonia and also just had a heart cath today. The doctor reports the damage to her heart is to great to do any surgery to correct and the family knows its only a matter of time! Mary is a christian and her faith is strong, but her children and grandchildren need prayers at this time.

Mike Elliott- Mike is a local lay minister for the Presbyterian church. He and his wife Ann have lived a long time in Eleanor and are both Christians. Mike has been in ICU in Thomas recently as his cancer has come back and is spreading. They are soon to move him to hospice. Please pray for Ann also as she isn't well. Ann and I grew up just a few doors apart and have known each other all of our lives! Their son Michael and his wife have small children and are expecting again and will need all the prayers and hugs we can spare!

Larry Angle- My sister Terry's father in law has been moved from the hospital to a long term care facility where they are doing rehab and physical therapy trying to get as much use of his left side back as possible. The family has really had a time of it and they all need your prayers.

There are several silent prayer requests I would like to ask for also...God knows what they need.

I will close tonight by wishing you and yours a very blessed Thanksgiving! And I hope you too will break bread tomorrow with someone you love!

Debbie

The Toymaker

For those of you with young children or grandchildren that like to help decorate the table for Thanksgiving the link below is awesome! The site is called The Toymaker, and it always has some extraordinary free toys in full color to print out and make...check the link below and enjoy!

You can sign up to receive their free toys by email too!

http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/Thanksgiving/1Thanksgiving.html

May you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving!

100th Post-----Holy Moley

This is my 100th post folks! Can you believe it????

I am gonna get a gift together for a drawing to celebrate this momentous occasion, sigh, but haven't gotten it totally figured out yet!!!! Hey I'm cute but slow ok???

But I will come up with something neat from my shop so respond to this post to enter the drawing!!! I will let hubs pick the winner!

If you have been in the shop make a suggestion on what you think I ought to award, hey I'm not hard to get along with, but make it something easier to mail ok!

I'm slow maybe but not hard to get along with! :)

This is really nice since this momentous post will be pics of my beautiful grand baby Emmy that I took today while I was playing hooky from the shop!! I love my shop but playing with Emmy right now has to be one of Gods greatest gifts!!! Check out the pics below and see if you don't agree that she is a cutie...ohh and the silly novelty print shirt that says "Mini Pooper"she has on???? Yeah I bought it for her...I warned you people I wasn't totally normal a long time ago!!! Even the baby knows I'm a nut!!!

Isn't that the sweetest most mischievous face you have ever seen???

And my sepia touch up looks good on it I think.

Yep that's us on the floor as usual. We have Elmo sitting next to us he is one of her buddies!
They wrestle.



New toy... and it shoots a small bat mobile out so we have to keep putting it back together...over....and over....and over...lol but who could refuse that face????



Ok ok so she is a bucket head...hey her Grammy is a nut so why shouldn't some nuttiness be genetic...hmmmm????



Her daddy is working with her to develop her dunk shot I think, when she is old enough she will most probably be picked up by the Lady Mountaineers in college I am sure...then on to the Pro's!!!!

Doesn't this lil face just getcha right there???

She had just dug out one of her lil dolly's from the bottom of the toy box and was giving it such a squeeze just like she had missed it so much!!!

What a character she is!!!

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! Emmy is the best, would have been great to have had my grand daughter before I had my kids I think...It would have been so much less work and sooo much more fun!!!!

Deb

Treasures Recently Unearthed

For those of you who don't have the pleasure of uncovering treasures in the shop on a regular basis I thought I might share some random images of items sold recently so you can see the variety of items we carry, and also the quality of items handcrafted locally by very talented folks....

Nancy-

This hand crafted quilted top stool was gorgeous...

Tina-
These snowman painted on driftwood picked up on Rodanthe are dwindling quickly...

Tammy-
This fella is gone....


Terry-

This glasshouse centerpiece is gone....

This prim flag print...now gone...

Tammy-

This snowman pillow gone....

Nancy-

This hand crafted quilted top stool left this weekend!

Jerry-

This cabinet sold this weekend!

Jerry-

Yep this one too! Gone!!!!

Barb-

These three snowmen are currently still in the shop...but does anyone else think they look like the three hired hands from the movie "The Wizard of Oz".....??????
....or maybe they could be members of the snowman mafia?????
You mess with them and they could put the freeze on ya........liquidate you....for real...

splish splash....LOL

Hope this helps wet your appetite and makes you wanna just run right in the shop and see what else we have in stock.... we love to see new faces!

Come on in soon!

Deb

Handcrafted in Wonderful West Virginia

This week we accepted two new consigners in the shop. The first one Paula, is a local nurse who used to create items for "The Country Crow" many moons ago. She is currently trying to raise money for a missions trip and I am glad to show her wares to assist her with that goal. Her items are shown below...

Handmade necklaces with clay beads....

More colors...

Here is a handcrafted coat and hat post she created,
with salt box houses depicting the four seasons painted on all sides.

Closeup of the detail....

Below are pictures of items that our own Terry has handcrafted in the shop recently. The vanity has been in the shop for a short while but until today it was mostly buried with other pieces of furniture. It also has one of Nancy's hand made quilt top benches below it..they make a nice set in prim and black and white!

This is a very cute prim tin bucket with lid that Terry added an adorable grungy snowman to! He looks so cute hanging on the prim shelf in the shop!

This centerpiece for a holiday table is a mailbox with a "letter to Santa" included! Terry also made this one!

This Fall table arrangement she just created recently. Would be great on a Thanksgiving table!

This mailbox post with its evergreen and cardinals would be beautiful in anyone's entry way for the holidays! Terry did a beautiful job creating this one also.

This cute lil arrangement has evergreens, berries, pine cones and cardinals featured in a neat tin cup! Terry does good doesn't she????

This wreath was created by Terry and its currently sitting on our "back porch". Behind it sits a lil bear in a prim crate with a tag entitled "Hillbilly Hot Tub". This bear was created by our second new consigner Julia from Red House.

This framed print was also created by Julia and her hubby Darrell. It's made from a tray taken from an old beehive...very unique, wont last long I'm sure...

This tall Americana Snowman was also created by Julia. He sparkles with diamond dust hand applied too! Cute!

This snowman lamp created by Julia is a little cutie. Its also all sparkly from hand applied diamond dust...

This wall plaque depicting a snowman's head was also brought in by Julia....

These are but a few of the newest items in the shop. There have been multiple shipments of holiday items too as well. And several more shipments are due in next week!

We have more tree ornaments, tree skirts, trees themselves, stockings, and sooo much more coming in soon!!!

And dont forget the Friday after Thanksgiving will be our annual "BLACK FRIDAY SALE".....lots of sweet deals on instock items and a few surprises!

Hope you stop in soon!

Deb

Prayer Request for an American Soldier

I would like to ask you to put Seth Hodges on your prayer list and on any you may have access to either at work, on your own blogs, by email or at church.

Seth is the son of a dear friend of Country Gatherings, Debbie Hodges. Deb is feeling like all of us Mama's would be at such a time and she and Seth need our prayers and lots of our hugs!!!

Seth deployed to Afghanistan on November 13, 2008 for a period of seven months. The weather there now is very, very cold, cold, cold!

Please prayer for protection for him, India Company and the entire 3/8 Infantry Battalion.

His address is below if you would like to send him cards, letters or a care package:

LCpl. Seth E. Hodges
3/8 I Co.
Unit 73255
FPO AE 09510-3255

God Bless the USA

Thank you all !

Deb

What A LUCKY/BLESSED Knucklehead I Am

So today while going through my normal morning routine I made a cup of coffee to take along to work with me. This sounds innocent enough so far right? Well along with picking up my purse, the bank deposit bag for the shop, my digital camera and a wire basket for my desk I picked up the coffee cup (which I normally don't pick up) and headed out the door.

After stepping into the garage and locking the door to the house I got in the car with my daughter and off to work I went. After arriving at work and unloading the car and watching her drive away I realized ... I was missing the wire basket with the camera and bank deposit bag in it that I had carried out of the house. I called my daughter and she searched the car...nothing...nadda....no bank bag or digital camera to be found....hmmm....strain my brain, think, think, think...where did I put it last it has my cash deposit in it for the shop ...think...think...think...????

I called my husband to let him know I had misplaced it and maybe... I tell him that maybe I had even left it in the garage or something like maybe... I had sat it on the car hood and it slid off on our sloped driveway.... maybe.....and I proceeded to open my shop and go on with my normal routine all the while straining my brain to remember where I had the camera and bank bag last....with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach over doing something so dumb....

About twenty minutes later a neighbor, one I've never even spoken to face to face walked into my shop...with my dirty scuffed up but intact bank bag in his hand....it seems I must have placed the basket carelessly on the top of the car ...oh my gosh... and proceeded to drive off with it on top of the car this morning...

My wonderfully honest neighbor saw it in the road a little ways from my house (out in the country I might add) and opened it looking for ID and found out it was mine and then drove an extra twenty minutes out of his way to bring it to me.....Wow how many people can say they have neighbors like that???? Thank you BUTCH !!!!!! What a wonderful man!

I thanked him profusely after overcoming my speechlessness for the first few seconds!!!! I told him I also lost my camera at the same time and he told me approximately where on our country road that he had found the bag so we would have an idea where to check for the camera. Thank you God for this blessing!!! This miracle!!!

So I call Hubs and he goes out to the area and takes a quick walk through on his lunch hour....no camera.....he checks again after he gets off from work....no camera...so I resign myself to the fact that the camera is gone.... and go on with my day at work.

After I close the shop for the day my daughter and I ride home together and she slows down as we enter the area Butch says the bag was in and we pull off...my daughter walks the ditch line and the culverts on both sides of the road just to give it one more chance....nothing.....

Just as we started to bring the car back up to speed I glance along the left side of the road up ahead at a string of white mailboxes...HANGING FROM ONE OF THE MAILBOXES...IS ...YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS......MY CAMERA...IN ITS CASE...TOTALLY INTACT.....NOTHING DAMAGED.....NOTHING MISSING......Oh my gosh does it get any better than this???

The mailbox it was attached to was Sheldon and Wendy's, relatives of Butch's even!!! How did it get there? How long had it been there??? Who put it there and when??? Who knows? Who found it? Who knows??? All I know is in my small rural community there are some amazing people who are a real blessing! And even though I growl about slick roads and my longer drive time to get out of the country in the mornings I have to say its sure a blessing to be surrounded by people like the Baileys!!! And I thank them for being such wonderful people.

Now I have to bake a cake or a pie or wash some cars or something wonderful and amazing to thank these wonderful folks!!! Got any suggestions?????

Thank you Lord for turning a sick to my stomach feeling day to another blessing from you!!!

AMEN!!!!

Deb