I love baking, especially in the fall!! I always use lots of apples, pumpkin, cinnamon, and other spices :-)

I also love to bake with pottery and stones (or my iron skillets). My mother in law really introduced me to baking in pottery when she introduced me to Polish Pottery... now one of my favorite kitchen items, but I digress. 

I came across this giveaway a few days ago but didn't sign up immediately and later couldn't remember where I saw it. Then, today, I came across it again while reading Laura's blog. I clicked on it immediately to get what I needed to post about it and sign up for the giveaway. So, take yourself on over now so you don't make the same mistake I did in losing it the first time, and sign yourself up!! The only thing you have to do to get an entry is leave a comment... so simple... but, you'll get extra entries for posting about it :-)


Please visit LaneyPottery.com to see the Pottery Apple Bakers for yourself.

Sallie

We had 5... count them F-I-V-E... boys at our house last night. We were up until 3 when I finally said they had to go to bed because I.needed.some.sleep!

The lack of sleep led to some conversation in our house resembling something like this:

Children: blahblablobityblahgottahavesomefoodglobiditygookywhatever...

Mom: I.need.some.sleep.I.can't.do.this.anymore.I.prefer.to.be.the.damsel.in.distress...

Dad: (with a twinkle of mischief in his eye) You like to be the damsomething....

Mom: (with one eye propped open with a toothpick wickedly looks at him and says) gobiltygookedyblahblahblihblahveryfunny!

So, dad (with foot semi jokingly half stuck in his mouth), along with daughter, left to go  buy some more food because the five aforementioned boys had ate all our cereal throughout the late night movie marathon -- hey, I had plenty of popcorn EARLIER in the week. The Man of the house knows how to get out of hot water in an instant! This is what they brought me back:

The cards not only says "The shortest DISTANCE to happiness is a straight line from wherever I am to you. LOVE YOU -- need I say more? ♥2 -- Mike" but it also plays I Walk The Line by our very favorite Johnny Cash. Boy, is he good or what?!

Now, for breakfast... a king size bit of peanutopolis and a coffee..straight black this morning I think ;-)

Sallie

Not more than a week earlier you would have found me returning from a two week medical mission trip to the Philippines and summiting the proverbial mountain top peak of righteous and perfect Christianity. There was nothing that could bring me down and Satan couldn't touch me.

Or so I thought...

The accusations began to fly. Child Abuse. My husband "beat" our children and I stood by and let him do it. Eventually his name was cleared, partially because the doctor who checked out our daughter had just returned from that same mission trip with me. She knew our family. She knew our stance on discipline and had fellowshipped with us personally. More than once. She actually walked out of the room to look at the number on the door and the chart in her hands. She laughed at the investigative services personnel but continued a thorough interview and physical check of our daughter alone. She asked the questions. She took the photos. She checked the bones. And then told them that there was NO WAY this child had been abused. There wasn't one stitch of evidence.  That was good enough for them as well as his military command.

It didn't really matter though and even though the whole incident lasted less than a day, the declaration of innocence was too little too late. The rumors began to fly. The neighbors who knew us, believed us. The ones who didn't let the rumors fly. What else could bored homebodies in a foreign country do? They needed  to pass the time and I couldn't be angry with them. They weren't Christians. The hurt instead came from our church. The gossiping deacons wife that refused to control her tongue. The pastor who believed she was entitled to her opinion and did nothing to stop her. The people who left the church because they thought they were helping to defend us while we stayed on trying to defend our good names and be a witness for Christ.

Then that day came. That day where I stood in my living room and I cried out to God from the wretched depths of my soul. The words of Christ own voice in Matthew 27:46(NIV) echoed within me. "My God, MY GOD, why hast thou forsaken ME?" 

I couldn't believe after everything I had done for HIM in HIS NAME just weeks earlier that He had left me so vulnerable... so alone. That HE would do that to ME. Hadn't I been the child He had deemed worthy to speak to his other children in their native tongue for that one day as I told them how to take their meds in a language I had never spoken before -- Isa ka tablita tatlo ka beses kada adlaw?! Hadn't I been the child who had been so fearful of speaking in front of others but that He had deemed worthy to visit a small missionary school and to give a testimony from a devotional written years before in my own hand after finding their Bible open to that passage of scripture? Hadn't I been the child who had loved His children in the orphanage and longed to carry each and everyone of them home with me?

I had done ALL that. I had felt ALL that. Yet, it had all been lost within the moments of one mistaken accusation.

In those passing moments I felt instinctively that the tombstones of my husband and I would be carved with the words "Here lies a child abuser, and his wife who did nothing to stop him." It wouldn't matter that the charges were gone... our names cleared. It only mattered that it had entered a few peoples thoughts for a few fleeting moments.  Why, oh why, couldn't He comfort me just now when I needed Him and my heart ached so deeply from the hurt of these people who said they were His children, too?

I stood there in the very center of my living room, burgundy drapes drawn tightly across the full wall of windows, the lights turned out, darkness piercing the room as much as it pierced my soul. So alone. So desperate. And He touched me.

NO, wait, those simple words don't do it justice. Let me try to say it better. 

Jesus wrapped His spiritual arms around me in the most tender, loving embrace I have ever felt!

It was an embrace more tender than I had given my children in their fearful moments of nightmare-woken nights. It was more tender than I had given them when they were sick with fevers or while kissing boo-boo's. It was the tender touch of my Father and His Voice whispering in my ear at the same time saying "I am here. I am holding you up. It's OK to let go and let Me be your strength."

I was so weary. I was so burdened. I needed rest for my soul but I could not find it.

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." NIV

I realized at that very moment that my God had not left me. Instead I had left Him.  I had left him in the wicked thoughts of the people who said they belonged to Him. I had left Him in the hurt feelings I had found in my place of worship. I had left His side and was wandering around in the flesh trying to bear my burden alone... that tough, "Marine wife" way that I had grown accustomed to. My very Spirit had to cry out to my Abba Father when I could not utter the words myself.

Romans 8:26-27 "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." NIV

Love took me out of the wretched depths of rumors, and gossip, and hate and saved me. Honestly, now, looking back, I can't imagine it ending any better way. MY Jesus touched me deeply... and I fell completely in love with Him all over again!

Sallie

The United State Marine Corps birthday is November 10th and nearly every year since his enlistment my husband and I have attended the Corps' Birthday Ball. This is one of my favorite events because I get to get dressed up in a fancy formal outfit, do something fancy schmancy with my hair, and hold on to the arm of a sharp dressed, very handsome Marine all night.

One thing I don't like is the cost of buying a formal dress and I always look for sales, or trade my dresses for new-to-me dresses. I've also given dresses away to younger wives, too, because I remember how hard it was to find a nice formal for little cost when my husband was lower in rank and we weren't making much money either. These giveaways or trade-offs have always worked great in the past! This year we weren't sure we were going because we are also going to DC in November and really need to save money for that BUT this event has really become something special for my husband and I so we decided this week finally to attend. I like the dresses hanging in my closet but sometimes they need tailoring on them from year to year and I wasn't sure if I had enough time to do that or not. I figured I'd just probably tailor and wear one of those if need be but also keep an eye out for a great deal, too. Well, hello, let me tell ya the deal I got and introduce you to my attire for this years Ball :-)

The full length black opera skirt has been hanging in my closet for several years and I love it every time I wear it. It fits great, has a nice fullness to the bottom, and leaves a great silhouette. It was free from a friend like I said years ago so my skirt cost me nothing. The beaded lace blouse was found at a local thrift/consignment store for 99 cents. Yep, you read that right... 99 cents!! The shoes (not pictured) are some silvery strappy low healed shoes of my daughters that she was given 5 or 6 years ago. The most expensive part of this whole outfit is the faux fur wrap. I found it at the same store for $9 and the only reason I got it is because it has a built in mitt to keep my hands and arms warm on these chilly North Carolina nights :-) So, drum roll, please... the whole cost of this years Birthday Ball outfit is $9.99 plus tax. Is that great or what?! I love a great deal AND silvery gray with black is always a classic combination. I personally think you just can't go wrong with it!

Here is a shot I tried to get of the detailing on the blouse. The lace and beading are perfect... not one flaw. Definitely not what you'd expect for a 99 cent find. Don't you love the scalloped edge? The sleeves are detailed with the extra beading and scallops as well. Perfect!!

Do you ever get dressed up and go to fancy balls or dinners? What are some of the best deals you've found on your dresses?

Sallie

This week I received several emails saying I had been DIGG'd, and I know my sweet friend Jacque both twittered and facebooked my giveaway but I use social networks so rarely that I forgot I had accounts in most :-)

I do like social networks, though. If it hadn't been for our yahoo messenger group on 9/11 we wouldn't have known anything was happening because we were in Okinawa and just about to go to bed at 10:00 at night. Mike's high school "social" group was who informed us quickly something was happening!

Anyway, I figured I had got enough emails and notices this week that I should "get with the program" and I dug up my account info for all of them and put "my homepages" in a list under SOCIAL NETWORKS over in my right sidebar. The one we do the most is probably facebook and that is because our daughter has lots of friends on there from her trip this past summer... we have to spy on her, right?! ROFL... Plus, most all our family, including even OPA is on there :-) Occasionally we'll check out the others... I definitely don't do the post a minute thing on twitter.. actually, it doesn't look like I've done one the whole time I've been on twitter...lol. So, anyway, if you want to add me to your followers or anything, feel free to click away on those links...

Sallie