Gracious Gifts

 Dear Friends,

How blessed we feel to have met so many kindred spirits through the internet! Lately, we won the giveaway with the funnest drawing ever (link here) from Jeri Landers, of Hopalong Gazette. It was a beautiful print of her "How Bountiful is the Good Earth" painting.

We love the detail present in every corner~

We are going to hang in our reading nook, where it will be enjoyed for many years to come!

We were also surprised by a fun package from England, complete with a book about Jane Austen's Bath, as well as Jane Austen postage stamps (Thank you, Devina!).

A treasured gift, indeed!

 

 The package also included paper dolls for the girls, which were quite enchanting in their forest fashion show!

Then My mother-in-law gifted me with another Marjolein Bastin book; a wonderful reminder to stop and treasure family, friends, and nature~

 

And last, but not least, Mother Nature gifted us with some fun mushrooms in the lawn~

We think they are edible Agaricus subrufescens mushrooms, which are supposed to smell like almonds, but we'll have to be 100% sure before they try them in a stirfry! :)

Thank you, each and every one of you, for being our friends. Your friendship, comments, and love mean so much to us in Blogland!

Love,

Marqueta

Happy Birthday AnnaMarie and Rebecca

Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the births of our "bookend" girls, AnnaMarie (who's turning fourteen) and Rebecca (who's turning one). We are so blessed to have both of them in our family, and are grateful for the sunshine they bring into our lives!

Since Mr. Graham and Grandpa had the day off yesterday, we had a birthday/Memorial Day celebration filled with lots of fun and cake and ice cream. :)

Grandpa ensured that we had a proper flag ceremony~

 

~Followed by war stories and a water-gun reenactment (kind of)~

~The girls received some lovely gifts~

~And made a wish or two over the coconut cream/lavender cake, with real rose petals

~Miss Button Nose, of course, had her own cake to enjoy at her leisure~

 

Thank you so much for coming by today, and celebrating with us!



Love,

Marqueta

Giveaway Winners

Dear Friends,

 A happy day to you! Thank you all for entering our drawing; we wanted everyone to win! We pulled names out of a hat this morning, and our winners are: Evelyn for the ebook, and Debbie for the hen and chicks.  We think it's funny that Debbie's blog name is "No Spring Chicken!" How appropriate! :)

 

We hope you ladies enjoy your gifts! The eBook and print are available for purchase, as well. Here is a link for the eBook, and here is a link for the print.

 And now we'll be off to explore all the wonders of our yard~

 Like lilliputian mushrooms~

Red, red roses~

 

And pea and . . .  

. . .Clover blossoms!~

 

 Love,

Marqueta

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"The Happiness we give to others will return to make our own hearts rejoice."~ Anonymous

A Merry Little Giveaway!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the sweet anniversary wishes! We have been busily drawing chickens and working on our next book (whew!), in addition to our new fun schedule of helping out at our local favorite thrift store three times a week (and being gifted with lots of treasures).

I drew this hen and chickens for my mother's upcoming birthday. She has been asking for years for one of her artistic children to paint her a picture to illustrate the scripture found in Matthew 23:37: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" I made up my mind to do it at last, and was happy to find just the right photo to draw it from on the internet (I could not find the owner of the photo, so if it is yours, thank you! ;) ).

The winner may choose with or without the mat and scripture~

(This is not a very good picture; we will have professional prints made!)

 

 

I would like to give away a print of this drawing to one of you, and also a copy of my eBook "The Young Lady's Guide to Natural Health." There will be two winners, one for each item. Please indicate which one you would like to win in your comment.  Names will be drawn on May 25th, which is my mother's birthday. Good luck to you all!

Love,

Marqueta

Happy Anniversary to My Sweetheart

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your kind comments about our book, and thank you for those of you who have read it and said nice things about it. :) Putting out a book is a little like baring your soul to the world, giving a feeling of "What if they think I'm nuts?" as you announce it to the world!

Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of my marriage to Mr. Graham. He had to work, but we celebrated afterwards with faina pizza and soy/goat ice cream.

Mr. Graham gave me another beautiful bouquet, this time of pink and cream roses~ we agree with the quote "I would rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck!"

Mr. Graham has also been teaching himself to play the guitar, and can play "Love Me Tender" already. Never believe that you are too old to learn a new skill!

The girls put on a funny skit in honor of our anniversary~

  

We are very blessed to have a peony bush and a few irises blooming out back. When we moved in, we weren't sure what kind of yard we would have, and we have been pleasantly surprised by many things~

~Like faery roses in the woods!~

May you be blessed today with many blessings to count, both great and small!

Love,

Marqueta

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"Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the muse;
Nothing refuse.."

- R.Emerson