The Portion of my Inheritance

The Year Of Firsts

November 27, 2015 by peggy1martin2

“This is the year of firsts,” she said as she choked back tears. She was broken and my heart and voice turned tender as I asked her. “What do you mean, mom?”

The tears started then, slowly running down her face, and her lips trembled as she spoke the words. “This is the year that everything we do will be the first time without dad.”

His birthday had already come and gone, the first birthday without him, and we were quickly heading into the main holiday season. So I wasn’t too surprised when she called the day before Thanksgiving and told me she couldn’t do it.

Everything was different now, especially for her. After 48 years of birthdays, Thanksgivings and Christmas’, this year she was spending them alone, without him.

“I can’t go through with it!” she cried over the phone.

My heart ached for her as I tried to encourage her, and I stumbled over my words, searching and grappling for the right thing to say, anything that would soothe her hurting heart, even if it was just a little.

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We talk about our Lord, and His love and how He had covered her so completely. And we talked about her family that loves her and has gathered around her, loving on her and supporting her. And she gathered her strength and she held on tight, and she celebrated Thanksgiving this year with her family there . . .

but it was the first without dad.

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The Weaving

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me;
I do not chose the colors, He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper, and I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver’s hand
As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

–Anonymous

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23

Posted in My Heart, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Original Autumn Peasant Outfit

November 26, 2015 by peggy1martin2

This outfit is an original from my children’s clothing line The King’s Daughters.

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The peasant style has always been my favorite style and I like to change it up as I design; adding ruffles, elastic, trims and laces.

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Aniyah is wearing an Autumn Peasant outfit, rich in the vibrant colors of fall that I love so much. This fabric was purchased at Hobby Lobby.

The top is gathered at the neck line with elastic, as well as the bodice, giving it a fitted look. The top of the sleeves are also gathered with elastic. A thin row of ruffles finish off the bottom edge of the top.

The top is tunic length so it can be worn with the pants or it can be worn as a dress. I see it with cabled sweater tights and boots.

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The sleeves are trimmed with a vintage tatted lace. I actually removed this beautiful lace from the bottom of a old tea towel, making it the perfect finishing touch to this outfit.

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The pants have full legs, made with the contrast polka dot fabric that is in the background of the main pattern. I put a reverse polka dot piping trim and added a leg band with the main fabric.

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With Fall upon us with all it’s beauty; filling our senses with it’s brilliant colors, who can resist partaking in the surroundings, joining in with the grand design of Autumn.

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Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness 2 Corinthians 9:10

Posted in Sewing, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Just Judge

October 27, 2015 by peggy1martin2

I love the scriptures that are encouraging and full of sweet promises. The kind that wrap you up tight, like a down filled quilt, warming you from the inside out, hiding you away, safe from the elements. The kind that sprinkle kisses all over your checks, soft and tender, and you just know you are loved deeply, protected and shielded.

These are the scriptures that draw me in, they make my heart smile and I reflect on them often. Reminding myself of these precious promises have helped me through so many struggles. I keep them hidden deep within my heart so that I will have constant access to these awesome treasures. I have them highlighted in my bible, underlined and boxed in. I have sticky tabs with labels and I write them down in various places in my home so that they are always within reach. They are poetic and beautiful with the power to take your breath away, causing a fluttering of your heart. They are the solid rock that I stand on day in and day out, my fortress and my most Beloved is wrapped up within each of them.

But there is a flip side to this life and even when I am lost in the layers of His folds, tucked in tight and safe, there are still these nagging questions and I am just like the Psalmist that wrote “For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth.” (Ps. 73:3-9)

For pain and suffering are our constant companion, there is no escaping it. It is God’s people that I see hurting. The wicked seem to thrive and prosper while the righteous are oppressed, beat down and tied up. The news and social media are plastered with evil and it’s enough to make a person weary beyond all recompose. We live in scary times and the future looks bleak.

But it’s the scriptures that I seem to skim over time and time again that address this problem, if I would but pause for a moment and really see; both for the righteous and the wicked.

Being reminded of His presence and of His promises is a daily gift He gives to us, and I, through the Psalmist learn truth by way of the Lord’s prompting. And when the Psalmist came to the realization of this truth he spoke my heart, “Whom have I in heaven but You?And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:25-26

As for the wicked: “God is a just Judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Ps 7:11) And my gentle Daddy will someday stand up and say, “ENOUGH!” And He will bear His teeth and tear into the evil of this present time. “He will make them as a fiery oven in the time of His anger; He shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their offspring He shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men. (Ps. 21:9-10)

And then . . . .

“He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Rev. 21:4

Someday . . . . .

Posted in My Heart | 2 Comments »

How To Heal A Broken Heart

October 26, 2015 by peggy1martin2

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

Posted in Family | 1 Comment »

Precious In The Sight Of The Lord

October 13, 2015 by peggy1martin2

His peace came today;

fluttering softly like a feather, swaying down, down and finally landing tenderly upon me, soft and fragile. It wrapped itself around me with edges just barely grasping my heart and I clung desperately to it. The pain in my heart was held just within the boarders and I had to make the choice to accept the gift.

After three weeks of confusion and heart ache; crumpled and crushed, stunned and shocked from the blow, shaking heads at disbelief, His peace was welcomed.

Losing someone you love is very . . . very hard.

Peace came on his earth birth day. He didn’t quite make it to 70 years. The usually happy occasion became a sick dread, knotted tight in my gut as it approached, knowing he wasn’t here to celebrate, and I fought the constant urge to call him anyway.

But the Lord gifted us on that day with His peace that most certainly surpassed our understanding.

And He reminded me that my father now had a new birth date . . . . in Heaven.

And there was great celebrating and rejoicing on that day, for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. (Ps. 116:15)

And the bleeding heart, gaping open wide will heal, just as dad is healed, completely and perfectly in his new home, the mansion that his Lord prepared just for him, for “our citizenship is in heaven, and we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).

And in his exceedingly great happiness he now utterly understands what I can not wrap my brain around, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ (1 Cor. 2-9)

What God has prepared for dad,

forever and ever and ever . . .

Tribute to a Lover of God

Les Beebe

Les, our Friend,

Met up with God face to face.

He was a rock of a man, a seeker of God,

Beloved by all,

Save by Grace.

Hallelujah!

Face to face with God, our Savior.

Face to face with Christ, our Brother.

Spirit to Spirit with The Counselor.

Rejoicing and praising like no other.

Hallelujah!

Now Les can SEE.

Now he KNOWS to the full.

Our dear Les, full of kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, mercy,

was completely guided by

God’s golden rule.

Hallelujah!

Les, confident, kind,

incredibly sweet.

At the ready to serve anyone.

In doing so, washing our Savior’s feet.

Hallelujah!

For unto “the least of these”

Les lived and breathed, for it was children he loved the most.

His dear and darling children,

Yet it was in Christ that he boast.

Hallelujah!

Children are a heritage from the Lord,

Sons a reward from Him.

Blessed is the man who lives to see his children’s children.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

Hallelujah!

Giving his life to save 3 others,

His last breath here and his next breath there,

On his knees, hands lifted high, tears streaming,

to gaze upon that face so fair.

Hallelujah!

Life is but a vapor.

Life is but a mist.

We realize that even better now,

by losing our sweet Les.

Hallelujah!

Knowing you has made us better.

Losing you we have set our hearts to praise, prayer and peace.

We will see you again, soon, Les.

For God’s love, through Christ, has set us sinners free.

Hallelujah!

By Andrea Duwe

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

Posted in My Heart | 6 Comments »

Apple Love

August 30, 2015 by peggy1martin2

I am not sure how much more I can take, I can barely hold on. The hot Texas sun wears on me and I am suffocating from it. My heart longs for my beloved fall and I hold on to hope that it is just around the corner. I grasp for it prematurely and create moments to bring me closer to it.

It’s almost here. . . It’s almost here . . .

It’s not quite apple time, but I seize an opportunity when Azure has apples for sale. I can not help myself and I go for it. I hear it everywhere, “It’s not time for apples.”

But I take the plunge anyway and my apples come and I spend the day with my apples.

Ginger Gold are these apples. A little different than what I am used to and everyone reminds me again, “Well, it’s just not time for apples.” But I am determined. The Ginger Gold apples have a soft texture with a tart taste.

I started with one of my favorites, dehydrated apples. After all, my children got me a dehydrator for my birthday last year and I haven’t had the opportunity to use it.

I pull out my handy dandy apple peeler, slicer, and corer. But they were too soft to peel or slice, so I settled for just coring the apples, then I sliced them by hand with a knife.

I soak them in distilled water and citric acid for a few minutes, sprinkled them with organic cinnamon and put them in the dehydrator for about 6 hours. The house smelled amazing!

Let me just say that I love, love, love this dehydrator. Purchased at Amazon here.

The apples however is a bit of a different story. That little tart kick turned into very sour apples. The girls didn’t like it, too sour for them, but their daddy liked them.

My next apple project was to make applesauce. I had little hope of it turning out very edible for the girls. I was sure it was going to be too sour for them, but I could not let my apples go bad.

Another wonderful gift from my kids, the Food Strainer, Sauce Maker, also purchased from Amazon here.

This is the coolest thing ever and I had so much fun using it. It was hard physically for me to put it together, my son-in-law had to do the strong arm stuff, but I did manage to take it apart alone.

I cut the apples in fourths, cutting out the bad parts and bruises, put them in a pot and covered them with distilled water. I cooked them for about 20-30 minutes, then put them in a colander to drain the excess water.

You simply put the apples in the top bowl and crank the handle. Apple sauce comes out one side and all the trash-skin, seeds, core-comes out another side.

Next I put the apple sauce back into the pot and added sugar. For the amount that I had I added 1 cup or organic sugar. I also added 1 heaping teaspoon of organic cinnamon. I cooked it until it was hot and bubbly, making sure everything was mixed together.

l had already prepared my jars and lids by boiling them in water to sterilize them. While they were still hot I spooned the hot apple sauce into the jars filling them up almost to the top. I left about an 1/2 inch at the top.

l boiled them in a water bath for about 30 minutes, then I just sat back and listened to the lids pop. A wonderful sound.

I did sample the applesauce and I was pleasantly surprised! It tasted amazing. It was not too tart after all.

There were a few apples left that were beginning to get some bad spots, so I cut those out and made apple crisp for supper.

Absolute apple love

Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. Psalms 17:8

Posted in Recipes | 4 Comments »

Bird Study

August 25, 2015 by peggy1martin2

Aniyah definitely has the gift of enthusiasm. The smallest things bring her so much joy and excitement, and it is so contagious. Everything holds so much wonder for her.

This summer has been very special. While mommy and Aria go to dance class each week, and gumps works late, mammy and Aniyah get to spend time alone together. For when gumps is home mammy plays second fiddle, but I don’t mind one bit, I love seeing the girls play with their gumps.

I gather things together that I know she will love. Things that delight her little heart and I can always tell it’s true by the laughter and the giggles that burst out of her.

Painting is always at the top of her love list. Many times she will ask me if she can paint just barely through the door.

She loves birds and everything about them, sights, sounds and the the looking to the heavens to catch a glimpse of them. She cups her little hand to her ear and listens with her whole heart for the tweet. tweeting of them.

I cherish my time with my precious girl, for I understand that each moment is a blessing from God, and I want to hold onto these memories. Taking pictures and recording our time is as much for me as it is for her. A chance for us to reach back and take in, a constant remembering through the snap shots and still frames of my journal.

The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God. Psalms 84:3

Posted in Aniyah's Amazing Adventures | 2 Comments »

The Painting Lesson

August 24, 2015 by peggy1martin2

My time with my girls is so precious to me. I want our time together to be memorable for them, moments that fill their hearts with warmth and love. I strive to make each visit special, filling our days with laughter, snuggles, good food and teachable experiences. I want to share my limited knowledge with them, passing along to them my joys and loves, things that bring pleasure to me, and hopefully to them also.

Aria has been showing a great interest in art and does a good job at it. I am in no way an artist, although I do love art and I truly enjoy creating art in many forms, so I thought that art would be something that we could share and learn together.

I saw this picture on Pinerest and thought it would be a good painting for Aria to do. The painting was done in three layers. The first layer was the background. She mixed three colors together and painted the canvas, then went over the paint-while it was still wet-with a butter yellow.

After the first layer was dry she used an old plastic pizza cutter taken from her play-doh box and ran it through brown paint and made the stems. She then used a small brush to make branches.

After the second layer dried she used a sponge dabber to make her flowers.

She had a lot of fun doing this painting. Part of the lesson was for her to know that little mistakes, and clumps of paint are OK.

She gifted her mama with her masterpiece.

“Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.” 1 Timothy 4:14

Posted in Tuesdays with Aria | 4 Comments »

Vintage Pajamas

August 22, 2015 by peggy1martin2

Summer has ended and school has resumed but I made one last ditch effort to sew for my girls. It was literally last minute when I sewed the last stitch, the evening before school started.

I am all about comfort and if I am home for the day you will find me in my Old Navy pajama pants and a T-shirt. In the summer it is the form of cotton with short or under the knee length. In the winter it is flannel or fleece with big fluffy slippers.

But I just can’t seem to get past the cute little pj’s of the 60’s and 70’s. I have always loved pajamas and I have a basket full of pajama patterns, mostly vintage.

So, let the pajama game begin.

I love that this pattern comes in two styles, each perfect and fitting for each of my girls.

For Aria the more slim fitting style. She does not like loose fitting clothes and this set comes with a more tailored button up top and little shorts.

For Aniyah, the baby doll pajama. Even though I used the same pattern, which is a size 6, because of the elastic I was able to make it fit her. I did cut some off the bottom to make it shorter, but did not worry about reducing anything else on the top. I did adjust the bottoms a bit.

I trimmed the sleeves and the panties with a double sided elastic trim. I just folded it in half and stretched it as I sewed.

Aria’s fabric was purchased from JoAnn’s several years ago and I must confess that I actually cut her pajamas out last summer but never got to them.

Aniyah’s fabric was giving to me by a very dear friend. Thank you my beloved Carey!

Both girls loved their new pajamas. I could not have counted how many times Aria thanked me for them. Makes me want to drag everything out and start all over again.

Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you Psalm 116:7

Posted in Vintage Patterns | Leave a Comment »

Another T-Shirt Nightgown

August 15, 2015 by peggy1martin2

You can find the sewing tutorial for this T-Shirt nightgown here.

My girls love to change clothes when they are here, so I try to keep things in their drawer for them to wear. Aniyah’s drawer is slim pickings, so I sewed up this very simple and fast nightgown for her.