Dancin' the Night Away

At the reception-Believe it or not no booze was involved in the making of this picture.

Will be posting a few more pictures in the days to come.  Please keep the Avery's in your prayers today--high school friends of mine who lost a son, nephew.  I was with them yesterday and will be attending graveside services today.  Thank you so much to those of you who always pray for me.  I depend on your prayers and love you so much.


Harvest blessings,
  Would you like to share your thoughts or your heart with me? My contact information is listed in the upper right of the sidebar. Please feel free to email me. I love hearing from you and cherish the friendships I have made through blogging.

 © all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Just Checking In

So many activities the last few days--these are my precious daughters-in-law at my granddaughter's bridesmaids' luncheon last Friday--God has truly blessed my husband and me with these three fantastic, Godly women.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Hope to be back soon.  I love you and hope all of you are doing well.  I miss you and making my rounds.

Would you like to share your thoughts or your heart with me? My contact information is listed in the upper right of the sidebar. Please feel free to email me. I love hearing from you and cherish the friendships I have made through blogging.

 © all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Hello to my Chinese Readers!

I had more readers today from China than I did the United States--that is a first for me.  Hello my precious Chinese readers--I love you!  And I am so glad you are visiting my blog.  God bless you, comfort you, encourage and uphold you. Our family has a wedding this week so I will not be around much but I will be back next week with pictures and stories and I hope some Bible studies.  God gave me an incredible chapter to teach from at the Ranch this week and I want to share it with all of you. Have a great week everyone!

Blessings and much love,
Would you like to share your thoughts or your heart with me? My contact information is listed in the upper right of the sidebar. Please feel free to email me. I love hearing from you and cherish the friendships I have made through blogging.

 © all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Gathering Thanks!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend--ours was simply incredible--I will tell you about it as I go through my list of gratitudes.  Today is my birthday and I received the best gift I've ever gotten on a birthday--You will find out what towards the bottom of the post.

3 gifts yellow

the yellow in the spectrum--
light coming in through my front windows cast this beautiful glow on my
lavatory in the powder room

post-it notes

--fondly remembering when my husband used to come home from work and take the Nintendo away from the boys so he could play Pac-Man--remember the little yellow Pac-Man guy?  A couple of years ago, our youngest son found an old "working" Pac-Man" game and gave it to my husband for Christmas.

..................

A gift cool

An itty bitty can of diet Dr. Pepper--

A gift warm

my cozy winter sleep shirt that I actually have worn the past two nights

A gift sun-soaked

my cheeks after standing out in the sun fellowshipping with the guys from the Ranch--

....................

3 gifts autumn

football, even though my Razorback piggies (ranked #8 in the nation before today) lost-

I am a loyal, true blue fan--I would never bad-mouth them or the coaches--

I am wild about those Hogs--

our first day in the 80's in many a moon

rehanging a fall front door Razorback decoration given to me last year
during football season

........................

3 gifts growing

my love for my husband

the knowledge of the guys at the Ranch

my front porch ferns after fighting with the extreme heat for several months

........................

3 gifts given

a canvas I painted for the guys at the Ranch--

Some of the guys from the Ranch holding the canvas I made for them--I will get a picture with all of the guys soon--

the gift of eternal life I witnessed God give to one of our newest guys at the Ranch--I was privileged to be able to pray the sinner's prayer with him--my most awesome ever birthday present!  I am humbled and honored--thank you, Lord--

the gift of our love and time that led us to drive 2.5 hours to Ash Flat, AR to hear one of our guys, Michael Butler, give his testimony--there is a description of that wonderful day right below--on the way there we went through Evening Shade--remember the old Burt Reynolds tv show--?

We just returned from an incredible day at Ash Flat Cross Roads church, this is Michael Butler's home church--
Michael and two of his grandparents were baptized today. 

Paul Bruich, Kyle Shaw, Michael, and James Loy gave their testimony. 
The duet who sang was incredible--
Thanks so much to those who granted permission and made it possible for the men from the county jail to get to come and 

hear the testimonies.

We also had some ladies from another facility and I'm sorry I didn't catch the name of the place they were from but thank you, ladies, for worshiping with us.

The meal the ladies from the church prepared for the whole congregation included ham and chicken, green beans, corn, dressing and gravy, every kind of pasta salad you've ever heard of, slaw, a salad bar and all kinds of desserts--oh my, ladies, you went above and beyond the call of duty--

Thanks to their pastor for his hospitality--thanks to the "singers" who sang after lunch--so much talent--

.......................

A gift made-

Some little signs for my granddaughter's wedding--I have one more to do--It is a "Here Comes the Bride" sign that a little two-year old will carry as he is being pulled in a red wagon.

A gift masked--

A gift masked that became unmasked was the Holy of Holies--I heard the most incredible sermon about it this week when our church worshiped with an African-American congregation from across town.  I will show a small clip from the sermon--The preacher got pretty happy after he described the veil being torn, ripped from top to bottom after Jesus had drawn his last breath.  He started describing our God and well, watch the little clip and you will see that the people got pretty excited also.

A gift marveled-

I marveled at the baptism of the grandparents of one of our residents at the Ranch

3 gifts moving--(except it was doubled and there were 6)

Today when we were coming home from Ash Flat and nearing the outskirts of the Little Rock area, we saw these funny squiggles in the sky--At first my husband said he thought they were clouds and then he said that they might be the contrails from the air show at Little Rock Air Force Base--

Well, they were but they were ALSO the contrails from the Blue Angels--they put on an hour long show and as we drove closer and closer to Little Rock, they became more and more distinct--racing together straight up and then immediately diving coming straight to the earth and at the last second leveling out--wow! the acrobatics they were doing took my breath away and finally we were actually driving right under then--

You see, they all took off to the four corners of the Earth--and we could look out every direction and see a plane and through the sun roof--just incredible--I never dreamed I would get to see the air show today--how good is God!!!!!!

Would you like to share your thoughts or your heart with me? My contact information is listed in the upper right of the sidebar. Please feel free to email me. I love hearing from you and cherish the friendships I have made through blogging. © all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted

Gathering Bouquets of Thanks

Elizabeth's place always inspires me--the writings, the photographs, the heart for Jesus and love for her family, her creativity, especially in decorating her home, her recipes and cooking.........the list goes on....... So for some time now I have been so touched and inspired by her "thanksgivings." I have been wanting to try her method of praise (Ann Voskamp's) and decided finally today to do so. I really enjoyed it because it made me think of things that I would not have thought of otherwise.

3 gifts new
a new version of the Bible on my phone--

a new pair of earrings that I have worn almost every day since I bought them a couple of weeks ago--they have little lockets dangling--they actually open, too.  I have the earrings on in the picture in the header--yea, I know, I look like a huzzy--is that a word?

a new resident at Renewal Ranch--Billy Ray--thank you, Lord, for Billy Ray!


3 gifts long awaited

a new shower in our master bath--we took out the old tub and put the shower where it had been.  The former small shower became lots of new shelving--However, the shelves are not painted or decorated yet--that will be another praise in a few weeks--!

The Messiah was awaited and expected for a long, long time--I love this Christmas hymn, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus--I am so thankful that He came and He lives and He dwells in my heart--there is no greater joy in this life!

I can't think of a third one but my second one makes up for it--smile!


 a gift one
Kendall, our only grandson so far--at least the only one out of the womb--

 a gift two
two granddaughters in Tulsa soon to be three grandchildren, Ashton, Noelle, & James--just pretend my son and his wife (Chris and Dree) are not in this picture since it is supposed to be "a gift two"--however, they are two more precious gifts--thank you, Lord!

a gift three
Michael (our middle son) and Traci's three daughters--Kennedy, Traci, Caroline and Katelyn.

3 gifts very small
faith
hope
love
three little words in the Bible that have meanings to the moon and back


3 miracles
that the dentist was able to repair a bridge on my husband's teeth (thought there was a good chance that he would not be able to do so) that would have cost about $3000 to replace (and we do not have dental insurance)--yes, it is a very extensive bridge--

reading today about the Lord's Supper taken on the moon, shortly after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in 1969--Here is the link.  And let's not forget Michael Collins who was on the back side of the moon with no communication to Earth--I remember praying so hard for this mission.

the mother of one of our residents at Renewal Ranch reported on Facebook today that her grandson (her grandson's father is the resident and has been clean for almost 7 months now) wanted to be baptized just like his father and at the same place--

I took these pictures the night our resident was baptized.  His son was sitting on the front row but got so excited he had to get closer and ended up on the floor right in front of the baptistry.

The look on his face was priceless as he turned to look at his grandmother.


3 gifts summer- 

the summer wedding (next week) of my first granddaughter, Kailey, and her fiance, Josh Wood.

the 100 degree heat we had today will be down to 91 on Friday!  yea!!

fireflies


3 gifts cut-

the double-sided tape I cut and used to put on a brand new pair of backless low heels--they fit perfect when I bought them but after losing a few pounds they would not stay on my feet.  With the sticky tape they are just perfect and do not slide off--so, so comfy--in spite of being a little sticky!  The tape is clear so it is kinda hard to see.

the tags off a pretty new top that I will wear to the bridesmaids' luncheon--was on sale for half-price--it was also mislabeled as a "S" which made it even more fun--ha ha!

my last haircut--I've had lots of compliments and I really, really like it!  I can scrunch it also--

Much love and blessings,

 Would you like to share your thoughts or your heart with me? My contact information is listed in the upper right of the sidebar. Please feel free to email me. I love hearing from you and cherish the friendships I have made through blogging.

 © all photographs and text property of Dianne Hogue unless otherwise noted