We have had such a wonderful new year here in Tennessee, sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is really true. We miss our friends back home but have hopes they will all have an opportunity to visit us sometime in the near future.

Scavenger Hunt Spoons & Mittens!

One of us had to get our picture in a
port-a-potty. Lucky you Bill!

We join a Halloween scavenger hunt with friends of ours that was lots of fun as you can see in the pictures. It was an all-day hunt, then a costume dinner and dancing at the Yacht Club that evening. It was a great time.

Toward the end of October, we went on a long weekend trip to Myrtle Beach to meet up with some near and dear friends and had a great card marathon with them! Jon is there but missing from the picture, and me, of course taking the picture. It was great, although the guys did most of the winning this time around instead of us girls! That's ok, we hope we'll get another chance come Spring of 2019.

We're all Myrtle Beach Bums

And here we are in December. I've been slowed down for a little while to recoup from knee replacement surgery on my right leg on December 3rd. Doing pretty good despite the swelling, and pain. Lots our Euchre friends blessed us with some fantastic meals that kept us nourished over the past two weeks. Thanks to all of you! I finally felt pretty good yesterday and decided I really needed to get out of the house and go for a ride. Tonight, we're going out for pizza then over to visit some friends for a little while. We'll see how long I can tolerate sitting. It may not be too long but at least it will give me a break from home.

A year ago I stood at a crossroad in my life. I couldn't believe I was retiring. Part of me wanted to and the other part not so sure. We put our house of 26 years up for sale and decided that we wanted to move south, never expecting to sell our house in two days UGH! We had just a little over 30 days to pack up and leave Pennsylvania for parts unknown. We searched several options in North Carolina and South Carolina but neither seemed to fit us. So we headed into Tennessee on a recommendation from a friend.

We ended up in Loudon Tennessee, at Tellico Village. What a beautiful place, couldn't have asked for anything better than this; Smokey Mountains and a gorgeous lake all a few minutes from our new home. This has been a fantastic new year and a new life retired. We've made an abundance of new friends, and there's something to do here every day. If you're bored in Tellico Village it's your own fault.

We have been kayaking, swimming, enjoying working out at the Wellness Center and playing cards at the Recreation Center. We are close to Pigeon Forge, Dollywood and several other great places to visit. We absolutely love it here!

It didn't take me long to get my art studio set up in one of our spare bedrooms. Lots of beauty here to paint. I hope you'll join me in our new location as I paint and blog from Tennessee!

We have enjoyed some beautiful weather during the month of February and had a nice taste of Spring, however it is still winter and we were so reminded of that this morning!

I was looking forward to having my morning coffee on the porch, but that is out of the question now :(

Good morning friends!
Don't panic I've just removed some of my latest blog posts, it really hasn't been since September that I've posted. Just cleaning up.
I have finally given my notice of retirement and looking forward to my last day on Friday, May 5th. Just two months away! Now begins the work of downsizing! I've been doing a little of that already but the heavy duty work starts now.
We are planning to move south, how far and where is still a mystery. We're looking around Myrtle Beach, and possibly some areas in Tennessee, maybe even North Carolina. It's a difficult decision. We don't want to make a mistake and have to move again. We're taking our time, checking out all options available.
I will be keeping my studio and possibly opening up a gallery in the area we move to. I want it to be comfortable, a place to come in, enjoy the artwork, paintings and cards, relax with a good magazine and a cup of coffee or tea and visit for awhile. I will also be offering art classes taught by myself as well as other local artists.

Pastor Appreciation Day is October 9th and runs through to October 15th. The reason I am sharing this with you is this; without them it would be near impossible to make it through life. I say near impossible because God is always with us regardless and will hold us up. But the presence of my pastor when tragedy lands on my doorstep is more than comforting, more than mere words can describe. They are there for us whether we want them there or not, which is hard to fathom I know, however, there are people who don't want anything to do with pastors or with God. I feel sorry for them. My husband and I have been attending Community Alliance Church now for four years and there's not one Sunday I've left there empty hearted or empty minded. God has a way of doing that to you, speaking to your heart and affecting how you think and feel, its a job only He can do. And pastors are just one of the vessels He uses in that process.

My pastor is my friend, he is kind, honest and caring. He tells me like it is and doesn't sugar coat it like candy so it tastes good. He's genuine, and used in a mighty way, filled with the Holy Spirit, it shows in his actions and his words. You know he loves the Lord! And he cares about each one of us in his congregation. Pastor Denny Thank you so much, you are appreciated!

I don't know if you know the Lord or not, I hope that you do. I wouldn't want to be without Him. I'm not going to go into detail but I'm sure glad and grateful that I do because He is my everything. He loves me even when I'm not so lovable. That is a love that is priceless, a love that died on a cross so that I wouldn't have to, a love that bought me with His life . . .

Here are a few of entries in my journal and Bible from Pastor Denny's sermons on the Book of Ephesians, entries that have affected me deeply.

Hi Blogging Friends! What a beautiful day it is, sun is shinning and temperature for February is warm today.

This week's Bible art journal is one of my favorite verses, Psalm 37:4.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Well I do delight in the Lord and I know that whatever His desires are for me, those are the desires of my heart as well. For what He has to give is the ultimate, the very best. I want to be so close to Him that I can hear Him breathe! There is nothing that compares with the perfect love Jesus, who laid His life down so that I could have eternal life.

I want to share my latest Bible art journaling project with you. I was inspired by Priscilla Shirer's video series on "The Armor of God" we're doing in our ladies Thursday night Bible study. What a fantastic study. The group of girls at our table are wonderful and we get into some pretty good discussions how the study is relating to each of us.