I hope you enjoy watching how to effortlessly liven up your Fall Tablescape with some great ideas by Melanie Grant.

Want to pick up an item or two that you saw Melanie display?  Order from my online catalog today and enjoy your products shipped right to your door!

Happy Decorating!

Bundle a few together with some silk leaves for color…

And I just love it when folks take something fun like this idea and get creative with it!   Here’s this years version of edible acorns using mini Nutter Butters for the caps.  How cute!   Enjoy!!

I couldn’t help but be struck by the beauty and variety of all the colors, and how it reminded me of one of my favorite pieces in our Alfresco line of pottery. This piece is absolutely stunning in its design and rich colors and will take your table from drab to fab in no time! It holds a enough for the family; a generous 12 cups! It is dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe. Nothing like beauty plus ease! The best part?- Until the end of October you can get this $70 server for only $17.48 with a purchase of $39.96!!

Make sure you check out my ongoing Harvest Sale where all of our Alfresco products are currently on sale! You can “gussy up” your fall table with two Alfresco accent plates, an Alfresco pie plate and an Alfresco server for $57.40, and save $79! My Willow House online store .

(Now it may seem like I’m switching gears here, but hang in there, you’ll see how it all comes together!!)

If you know me, or perhaps have read my last post, you know that I love the snow. Every year on the day of the first snowfall, Momma would always call me to ask me if I was enjoying the snow. Most years she’d be at work when she’d call. She never missed a first snowfall of the year to call and love on me. Well, this year when the first snowfall came, the phone was silent. As I watched the snowflakes fall my tears fell in rhythm.

I wandered into my office and through teary eyes tried to do some work at my desk when I noticed a movement outside my window at the bird feeder. When I looked I saw none other than a woodpecker! A red-bellied woodpecker! Never had I seen a woodpecker out here. There are no words to express the overwhelming knowledge of the love of God that I experienced. For Him to send a woodpecker to visit me for the first time on the day of the first snowfall, it made me drop to my knees in tears of joy and gratitude. Oh, how great is His Love! To top it all off, that woodpecker- that precious display of God’s love, stayed feeding and bopping around in the tree until the snow shower was over. Every day this winter I have been blessed by that woodpecker. I have even come to hear his call and know he’s there even before I can see him.

Last Friday as I was cleaning up some paperwork in my office the Spirit nudged me of the temporary nature of a bird. I remember thinking to myself that even the leaves on the tree would be filling out before long and I wouldn’t probably have the line of vision as clearly to watch for the woodpecker. It was a fleeting thought in a busy day and it was soon forgotten.

As we were leaving for church on Sunday my hubby noticed there was a dead bird on the sidewalk by my office. One glance and my heart sunk! I could tell it was lifeless, and I could tell it was a woodpecker. I got out of the car to confirm and was an emotional wreck all the way to church. (shoot, I was emotional all day!!) My hubby and I recalled that we had heard a loud thud on Saturday when, no doubt, the bird must have flown into the window. We live out where stray cats and wild animals abound. How the woodpecker wasn’t carried off through the night, only God knows. What I couldn’t understand was why God wanted me to see this. This woodpecker was such a display of His love, why would it have to die, and why would I need to be witness of it?

My morning time with the Lord on Monday was full of questions. I spent much time asking God to explain all this in a way that I could get my head and my heart wrapped around. A few minutes later I heard a sound that was very familiar to me. It sounded like the sweet sound of the woodpecker and it made my heart flutter. But I actually found myself telling the mockingbird that he better hadn’t be messing with me! I went to my office window with much trepidation to see nothing but an empty feeder. Then I heard his sound again, and almost as if to show me his entrance, the woodpecker flew to the feeder! Oh, He is so beautiful! And so is the bird!

What I had failed to realize was that God hadn’t shown His love for me in the presence of one woodpecker, but two! He was loving on me “abundantly; more than I could imagine.” The bird that I buried on Sunday must have been a female. As I carried it I remember thinking that there wasn’t as much color on its head as I had thought there was. I was too wrapped up in my questions for God to notice His provisions.
Yesterday I noticed that God has loved on Mr. Woodpecker too! He has provided him another mate, for there was a female at the feeder. God is good. So good!

“Hi, Aunt Sis.”

“Hi, Sweetheart, what are you doing today?”

“I’ve been eating my cereal.”

“Oh, Ok.  Was it good?”

“Yes.  Guess what I did today, Aunt Sis?”

“I don’t know, sweetie, tell me.”

“I asked Jesus to come into my heart!”

“You did?  That’s wonderful!”

“Uh, huh, and you know what?”

“What honey?”

“Because I did, I get to go to heaven!”

“That’s right honey, and do you know who you’ll get to see in heaven?”

“Yes, ….  God and Mammy!”

Even though I didn’t get an opportunity to record this special event, God did.   God recorded my nephew’s name in the Lamb’s Book of Life that day!  

Here’s a picture of my nephew with his birthday balloon buddy that his Uncle Roy and Aunt Sis sent him.

Oh, did I mention that he just turned four!?  

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Hymn of Promise
by Natalie Sleeth and Copyright © 1986 Hope Publishing Company

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity.
In our doubt, there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last a victory,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Last Saturday night (well, early Sunday morning) I lay awake in the wee hours of the morning finding myself flooded with thought.  A situation had occurred on Saturday where someone had called me something that was quite unusual.  It wasn’t bad.  It was just not normal.  I know you will appreciate the fact that I will choose not to divulge the details, because I would rather protect the feelings of all involved.  Because of that happening, however, my mind was full.  

I laid there thinking of the things I have been called throughout my life.  Some things sweet, some things endearing, and some things I don’t want to remember!  But the one name that holds such a special place in my heart is the name ‘Peachie’.  Momma called me that.  She started calling me that when I was very young. She said it was because of the “peach fuzz” that I have along the sides of my face and the small of my back.  The name stuck, though, one day when I was about three years old.  I had gone out of the apartment door that we lived in at the time proclaiming, “Bye, see ya!”  I walked to the bottom of the stairs, turned around, went back and knocked on the door.  When Momma answered the door, I asked her if Teri could come out to play.  She said to me, “Well, she’s not here right now…and by the way, who are you?”  I answered proudly, “My name is Peachie”.   Between Momma and me, I’ve been Peachie ever since.  My Dad and my sisters have heard Mom call me that, but its never been something they ever called me.  It was her special name for me. 

Then it hit me.  There was such an overwhelming sense of loss.  Even as I attempt to type this, the emotions are uncontainable. “Peachie.”  How I long to hear the only one who called me that call me that again.  Such a huge part of who I have always been has a big hole in it.  

And then the sweet love of God starting flooding into that hole.  My thoughts began focusing on the names that He calls me.  He calls me “Child”.  He calls me “Beloved”.  He calls me “His”.   Wow.  All of a sudden I was no longer focusing on the loss of one name but was rejoicing to realize that I had other names that I will actually hear my Savior call me someday. 

It was good.  It was comforting.  But something seemed to be missing.  So, I pondered all this past week on this post.  Then yesterday, I had a special day with a sweet friend who knows that I just needed to take a day off to relax and unwind.  She and I spent some precious time together enjoying the Lord and His goodness.  While sharing with each other as we sat in the cool breeze, I came across a couple of paragraphs in a new book that I just purchased.   God led me to that piece of caramel that I had been longing for. 

Revelation 2:17 tells me that God has a SPECIAL name for me. “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it”.  Peachie was my special name that only Momma called me; God has a special name for me known only to Him and myself.  Just like I have felt loved all these years when I heard my name from Mom, there will be a name that only He calls me that helps me know how special I am to Him. 

Now that’s a name I really long to hear!

Technorati tags: Revelation, God, love, beloved, child

Momma and me.  Wow… you gotta love those bangs!

Dad and me.  Can’t you just tell I was going to be his right hand mechanic?

Oh, and you can tell by the era of the pictures, can’t you, that I truly am only 26??  

I hope it inspires you to ask yourself the question,  “How can I be a Johnny today?” 

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