Short and Sweet

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Midterm Election Voting Tool

This year, WordPress along with The Pew Charitable Trusts has unleashed a great tool to help you find out what you need to know for midterm elections. Just type in your address below and you will be shown your voting location along with voting resources and who will be on your ballot. That’s amazing! For my voting district, it gives me a link to the county Board of Elections website where I can look up any issues that will be on the ballot as well.

Now, that’s all well and good if you’re just looking for the names of candidates, but if you’re doing any research to decide who you will vote for, I would recommend checking out a site I’ve mentioned before:  Project Vote Smart. just type in the name of a candidate and then select the Bio, Votes, Positions, Ratings, Funding, and Speeches tabs at the top for more information. They try to be as comprehensive as possible and biased. The site provides mostly the raw data leaving you to decide what to do with it.

VoteSmart.org

As always, voting is a right under our US Constitution. It’s no good to just complain about things. If you don’t vote, even if you just vote in the Presidential elections, you are not putting your thoughts into action. Educate yourself and then go VOTE!

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He Keeps Me Singing

by Luther B Bridgers

There’s within my heart a melody;
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,”
In all of life’s ebb and flow.

[Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my ev’ry longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.]

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
Discord filled my heart with pain,
Jesus wept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumb’ring chords again.

Feasting on the riches of His grace,
Resting ‘neath His shelt’ring wing,
Always looking on His smiling face,
That is why I shout and sing.

Tho’ sometimes He leads thro’ waters deep,
Trials fall across the way;
Tho’ sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See His footprints all the way.

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest Name I know,
Fills my ev’ry longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.

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Psalm 40:3

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.”

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The Story:

This song is written by Luther B Bridgers, 1884-1948. He met and married his wife, Sarah Vetch, in 1903. They had 3 sons and while he was preaching a revival about 7 years later, she and the boys stayed at her parents’ house. Luther got a call late that night that there was a fire and his wife and sons were all killed.  Out of the grief and tragedy, he wrote the lyrics and melody for this song.

For whatever reason, the song was playing on repeat in my mind tonight. Though our hearts make poor instruments, the Master Musician can make sweet music from the broken strings and even repair them. That healing love is wonderful.

Source: The Gaffney Ledger. http://www.gaffneyledger.com/news/2008-03-28/columns/045.html

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Dreamscapes

I frequently have bizarre dreams. I think they’re fun. They may or may not mean anything (I don’t put much stock in interpreting dreams), but regardless, I like a good story and mine are usually well-developed in dreams. Here you go.
 
Last night, I began my dream looking down at my hands and in the mirror. Yes, I was a 7 yr old black boy, living in the inner city of a non-descript metropolis.  My parents, just trying to make ends meet, we were poor. Somehow, my dad got the bright idea to start an urban garden in the back patio.
 
I can’t remember what I did, but it was the typical 7 yr old boy naughtiness and rather than face my momma, her wagging finger and disappointing look, I ran for it. The city street at night was vivid with lights and long shadows – active, as a city is around 8:30 pm – too late for a kid to be out alone. I passed a window kiosk for some kind of concert tickets. While the man paying looked to the right, I snatched away the money with no one seeing me. I mean, I’m a dark little kid; I blend in, and I’m stealthy.
 
I took off and boarded a city bus, no one the wiser of my crime. I sat by the window watching the building pass by. They moved quicker and quicker, blurring until they changed completely to something like football risers. My attention was caught as I saw angels sitting down, watching my speed by the stands like I was in a race. And then mixed in with the angels were all these people in my own real life – friends and loved ones who have supported me over the years, cheering me on as I go on my way.
 
My little black 7 yr old self became ashamed of what I had done. The money crumpled up in the palm of my hand as I watched people spring up on the stands shouting out my name. The buildings phased back into the picture and I let out a sigh. Standing up I called to be let off and sprinted back to the ticket window.
 
I handed the money back to the lady standing there – it was her concert and she was so happy. I stayed and listened. Her dream was to earn a living playing the violin while dressed in a tight tiger suit and face paint. It didn’t suit myself, but the image of her so happy with whiskers sprouting from her cheeks were enough to spur me to go back home.
 
I made it home to my parents, who were so happy to see me. I confessed everything and then told my dad that he should sell the seeds we get from the garden for $24,000 each. I don’t know where that came from, but it seemed to be part of that vision from God while I was on the bus.
 
And then I woke up, expecting something a little more glorious, especially with seeds being sold for $24,000 a pop. But no, just a half hour later than my alarm clock and rushing through the shower.

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Insta-post: Sunny Day

Today, i got to take an hour break for my lunch. Matt came down to my office and we headed over to the local park to walk around the lake.

I was very proud of myself, because I  had worn dressy heels to work, but remembered to grab a pair of flip flops (yep, I work best in flips) to change into. However, I found that i had, in fact, grabbed the right shoe of both my black pairs of flip flops. I had another pair of shoes in my car, but they did not make my feet very happy. Regardless, we walked around the lake and I snapped a few pictures while we had time.

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Wildflowers sometimes feel like an afterthought, but I think they're God's attention to detail.

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Sunflowers...I just can't help myself!

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Feather? Feather? Who lost a feather?

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sigh

Nothing so sweet as a lunch date in a beautiful place. My feet might be saying otherwise, though.

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Insta-Post: Mathis Fabric and Sunflowers

 

Yesterday was a long day, but I decided to instagram some of the afternoon. I heard from a friend that our favorite fabric place, Mathis Fabric, is going out of business. They’ve been around for years and always have an amazing selection of fabrics available. It’s going to take a few weeks to liquidate their stock, so I will probably need to make another trip up there soon.

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fabric scraps! all for $3!

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yards of fabric. I love the blue one. This pic is too dark to really show you the beautiful color

Our garden out back is so wild and random, when I’m not paying attention, it changes its whole appearance!

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This sunflower should not be alive. There are so many kinks in the stalk and the part at the very top is all but broken through.

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a mammoth sunflower stalk and a teeny tiny marigold

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two blooms sunflower!

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probably the biggest sunflower head we have this year!

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We got this owl to scare away squirrels…I’m surprised we haven’t seen them draw a mustache on it and play other tricks

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our zucchini plants have been really lovely and green – lots of blossoms too – but we’ve only been able to harvest one big zucchini. Not sure what the issue is. Let’s hope this one get big and strong!

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Sweet Williams for a splash of pink in our otherwise very green and yellow garden right now.

 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.  This blog pretty much reflects me, and I am one eclectic person.  I have restaurant reviews, shop reviews, posts about human trafficking, poems (written by me or just appreciated by me), reflections from sermons, events, old mission trip newsletters – and much more. I also just got married, so there’s a whole category of posts on the wedding planning.

If you are lost, don’t feel bad.  I’m still glad you’re here.

You can easily navigate the blog by scrolling down and checking out the topics on the right hand side.  I also have links to some fab other blogs and sites which I love.  I hope you’ll share the love and go see them as well.  You can subscribe here (also on the right-hand side) or just push through.

I hope you find what you’re looking for.

In Him,

Sarah ><>

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Newsletters

Shimonoseki Port

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve decided to post some of the newsletters I wrote while I was in Japan.  I’m doing this for a two-fold reason.  One, I have been asked by several people recently about my experiences in Japan and, frankly, my memory has become rather rose-colored and hazy.  I want to give a true account and what better way than to share what I wrote, often, the very week of things happening.  Two, I’m afraid that I may, at some point, lose those emails in my inbox.  I don’t want to lose that at all, so this will be a great way for me to keep the memories written down.  And, I guess, there’s a third reason:  I’ve been feeling stagnant and ungrateful to God.  I don’t want to feel this way…I need to be energized and sometimes the best way to do that is to go over what God has done in your past.  So, here you go…I’m not sure if they will come over on Facebook/Twitter much, but I will be posting them for the dates when they were sent out an under their own category, I believe I’ll use “Shimonoseki ’08” (since God may send me back at some point.  Always thinking ahead! lol)

I don’t have many who subscribe to this blog to their emails, so hopefully it won’t overwhelm anyone.  Enjoy!

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Catch Up

Hey everyone!  I recently went to three new and yummy restaurants/venues.  So, at some point soon, I will get my blog caught up with a few reviews for y’all. 

Also, I will be on “stay-cation” next week and I’m so looking forward to that.  I’m going to check out some places around town (and a little beyond) that I’ve been longing to get to.  So, yeah, stay tuned!

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Pumpkin Recipes

When I was in Japan, one thing I fell in love with is eating pumpkin.  Not pumpkin pie, not pumpkin cookies, not even pumpkin bread.  While I brought to them the joy of baked pumpkin seeds, they brought a delight of eating pumpkin slices, usually sweetened and steamed.  My mouth-waters just thinking about it.  I think it’s terrible that we don’t regularly eat more of the pumpkin, but gut it, cut holes in it, and shove a candle down the center of it – and this, only once a year.

I didn’t know that the pumpkin was edible until I went half-way around the world.  America…this is not acceptable!

So, I started a blog just for pumpkin recipes.  Yes, I will have dessert recipes on there, but I’m excited to hunt for recipes that are for side-dishes, pasta, and more!  Check it out here:

http://cookinpumpkin.wordpress.com/

I don’t have much on there right now, but don’t worry, more will come!

Also, if you have any recipes, please feel free to shoot them over to me.  Thanks!