My Handy Dandy Valentine

On day Ten of 14 Days of Valentines, I will share with you what a "handy man" I have!  The number 10 is good for today because that's about how many projects we (I) have going around here at at time!

My Valentine has always been frugal.  He does not like to waste money or spend it on something he can do, build, or repair himself.  You will not believe the times he has "fixed" a hair dryer or some other appliance that others would probably just thrown in the trash.  He has always been that way.  He tells about as a little boy his mother would give them 10 cents a week for allowance (yes, you read that right!).  He would save his money to buy something he really wanted.  He l-o-v-e-d honey buns, but says when he was tempted to buy one with his money, he always thought of it as eating a quarter!  I love that about him, and I'm very thankful that he is that way! 

Anyway, here are just some of the DIY projects we  he has done around here.  Most of them, of course, are my idea and something that I want.  He's so good to me!



 I will try to show one or two of him actually working on them and then the finished product.


Welding the rails on the back
porch so the grand kids
won't fall off!

 

There, that's much better!




Island Before (click here to read more)



Island After - this was all Lonnie's idea for me for Christmas.  He
did the bead board and painted it and took the walnut wood to the
wood working shop to have it made.



Night Stand Before (click here to read more)



Yep, he did this one and now is in the process
of redoing the one for the other side.



Upstairs Bath Before



Lonnie cutting the board that goes under the tile



Upstairs Bath After (read more about this here)

These are just a few of the projects that my handy man has done around.  Of course, I don't have before and after pictures of all the projects he has done down through the years.  Before blogging we rarely thought of such a thing as before and after pictures. 

I do have a couple more to show you of things he has done that I don't have the before pics of, but I do have the after:


The white part of the door (for lack of a better way to put it)
he salvaged out of a hundred year old house and put it in here
when the house was built 18 years ago.  There's also a leaded
glass window the same size of this doorway above it that he also
salvaged from the same house.



Lonnie literally took this dresser from trash to treasure and
made it into a side board.



Both of us (I promise I helped!) reupholstered and
painted this chair.  We still have another one to do.



He built this mantle and the one on the other side as well.  I
promise he did.  This is when our son-in-law said that he
(Lonnie) could build anything out of toothpicks!
I guess that pretty much sums it up.  The Lord has enabled him to
do things like this, and it really has saved us tons of money
down through the years.

As I look at all the things my handy man has made and done, it makes me realize how spoiled  blessed I am! 
The Lord has been so good to me and I do not take it for granted, trust me!

I love my "handy man"!

  
 Please click here to read about day eleven of 14 Days of Valentines 



On Day Nine of 14 Days of Valentines, I'm Glad to Say He's M- - -!

Let's see how many can fill in the blanks in the title!

How's that for rhyming?

Speaking of rhymes,  I want to share a few, not all, (wink) of the  rhymes my husband has written me down through the years.

I told you how creative my valentine is and how he has written several songs.  Sometimes he is kidded  and given a hard time because not only can he preach but can sing, and not only can he preach and sing but he can also play the piano and write songs!   I might add, not only can he do all the above, but he can also write poems!  Yes, he is very creative and might I add romantic as well!  Hey, it's Valentines Day, isn't it?!



Two very young Valentines!

Here are some of the poems he has written me, mainly Valentine ones.  I know you won't enjoy them as much as I do, but I hope you do a little!

You Are My Valentine

Y ou are my love, my song in the night.
O ne of a kind that makes life bright
U under the sun never they'll be


A woman so fair, so precious to me
R radiant smile and sweetest of eyes
E ndless my joy, through years gone by.


M oments to days and days to years
Y ears to a lifetime, that's found you dear.


V  iolets, begonias, tulips, and roses.
A  sters,  Petunias, daisies and posies,
L ilies and pansies, azaleas and clover
E ndless of flowers are given by lovers,
N one can express or can endeavor
T o tell the love I'll have forever,
I nside or out, fair weather or foul,
N ever has waned, and never it shall.
E ternal the love that God has made mine
   For You, my sweetheart, are my Valentine!
                                                       L. Moore

To My True Valentine

Roses are red with beauty so fair,
But none in the world with you can compare.


Violets are blue and are lovely 'tis true,
But seldom I notice when I am with you.


For my love for you is truer than blue,
And to describe my love the words are too few.


Though years may pass and the children be grown,
My love will not pass and my live will have grown.
                                                       L.  Moore



From roses Lonnie got me for my birthday a couple of years ago.



You really don't have time to count all those candles!  I just want you to look at the roses!


You Are the Rose of My Life

You are to me,
         The rose of my life,
My pride, my joy,
          My love, my wife.
No thorns that pick
          Or prick my soul
Just sweet fragrance
          A love that's whole
A rose so fair
           Beyond compare
My rose that cares a love so rare.

                                   Happy Valentines Day
                                    With All my love,
                                     Lonnie
                                     2/14/99

So, if you are not nauseous after reading all that (ha ha), did you notice a fragrant theme throughout the three poems?  Yes, Roses and other flowers as well.   Told you he was romantic!

It really makes me feel loved to read all these sweet poems.

I wish I could write poems!  Maybe someday!

These last three pictures were taken in Hawaii when we were blessed to be able to go there a few years back!



For Day 10 of 14 Days of Valentines, click here







Gail

--

Gail

On Day Eight an Athlete! 14 Days of Valentines

On Day Eight of my 14 Days of Valentines, I'm gonna talk about my athlete!

Remember on yesterday's post I told you how there were some areas in which  I wish I could be like my husband?   Well, this area that I'm talking about today  is one of those areas.  Trust me, we are opposites in this area!  He has always been very athletic; I'm not one bit!  He has always loved ballgames of any kind pretty much; I don't!  He loves to hunt and fish; not I!  He is faithful to exercise! Need I say more?  What is it they say, "opposites attract"!  That certainly is true in our case!

I'm glad though that he is that way!  It makes life more interesting, I guess!

He has also run in a couple of 5 mile marathons.  He didn't win, but he ran to the finish and that's what really matters, isn't it!
He loves pretty much any kind of sport that has to do with a ball.  Basketball is his favorite!  He, of course, played while we were in high school, and yes, I remember the days of watching  him "swagger" from the bleachers and across the gym floor with the team as they went to the locker room at halftime of the Jr Varsity game with his "lettered" jacket on!  Those were the days ........that I fell in love, became very attracted to him!

As you can see in the above picture, he never grows tired of basketball.  If he can't play (which he still does and claims he can beat the young ones, ha ha!), then he will just help coach.  He has worked with the basketball team in our school a lot.  When our girls were in school, he also coached the girl's volleyball team
In the spring and Summer it's baseball and in the fall, yes, football.

Even though I don't necessarily like sports that much, I'm glad that he has something that he does for  a little "down time"; something different from the norm of his otherwise very demanding days.  I will admit that I enjoy going to an occasional Kentucky Wildcat's game and any games in which he's  playing where I can cheer him on!

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that my Valentine is a "Good Sport"!  He loves sports and and I love that he loves them!

At a UK game with a buddy of his!  (Oldest grandson, Jackob)

Click here for Day Nine of 14 Days of Valentines.

Gail

--
Gail

Day Seven of the 14 Days of Valentines

On day seven I want to talk about how  perfect my valentine is! I'm just joking  around with  the number 7 ( number of perfection). No, he isn't perfect; none of us are, but he has always been one that I wish I could  be like in many ways.

I wish I could convey to you how dedicated he is to the Lord. He tries to put the Lord first in every area of his life.  His life's Bible verse probably can do a much better job describing his zeal to serve the Lord than I ever could:

Ga 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I know there may be some who would say of preachers or pastors that there's no way they can "live like that" all tue time.  I'm glad to say it is possible!  I live with him 24/7, and I know his  heart, that it is to please the Lord and to make his life count for the Lord,

He asked the Lord to come into his heart and save him at a very young age.  He remembers it so vividly, though, and talks about that time often.   It was the coldest day in record in the state of Kentucky.  His family had gathered around a coal furnace in a small room just to be able to stay warm.  His dad was reading the Bible to them, and. He remembers asking his dad to show him how to know he was going to heaven.  His dad put him off at first because he was so young.  He was persistent though, naming the older siblings by name as well a his mom and dad saying, " they're saved and going to Heaven, and I want to go too!". His dad then showed him, using John 3:16, how he could become a child of God.

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.

So, really, he is perfect; in God's sight that is.  I'm thankful for the wonderful Christian testimony of my husband.  He has been this way since I first met him.  I'm thankful the Lord let me meet and marry such a dedicated Christian!   I love that about him!


This is what you will find him doing every morning.  The only difference is, in winter months it's not on the porch!





Please click here to read about one of my husband's hobbies on day eight of 14 Days of Valentines.

Gail

--
Gail

Day Six of 14 Days of Valentines (Make this a Musical One!)

(For those of you who are keeping up with this (if there is anyone), I realize I skipped two days.   We were out of town and away from my computer and I was unable to do them.  I'm going to try to catch up though.)

One of the things that I love about my husband is his love for  music.  I believe if he were to be asked to name the top 5 interests in his life, one of them would be music.

He has always loved to sing.  He tells about when he  was young and he and his siblings sang together.  In those years he was always  loud and not only loud but off tune!  One day his mom told him that maybe the Lord would call him to preach because his singing was getting the others off!   (his mom was embarrassed for him to tell this story). He didn't tell it to embarrass her, but to make a point.  Because she told him that, it made him more determined to learn to sing (that's the way he rolls!). So, when he went to college he minored in Voice and took 6 years of training!  We were married at the time and believe me some of those Italian songs and certain voice exercises he had to do every day were a bit grating  on the nerves!   It paid off though, because the Lord has blessed all that hard work tremendously by giving Lonnie so many opportunities to use his talents.  His influence in music reaches from our home (training our daughters), to the other side of the world.  He has had the opportunity to sing in places like Israel, Ukraine, Africa, Hawaii, not to mention so many places here in the US.  He is asked to sing in many conferences and special meetings.



The girl's CD



Lonnie singing in Israel





Singing in an open air night service in Kenya, Africa

He enjoys singing as much as people enjoy hearing
him sing.

This verse definitely applies to him.

Pr 22:29 ¶ Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

 Not only has he had the opportunity to sing himself, but he also has been able to teach others .  He works with students in our Christian school and has done several work shops and seminars on music.  He has a wonderful ability to teach and preach on the Biblical philosophy of music.  He is currently working in a video for voice training .  I will let you know when it's finished!

He also loves to play the piano.  He really doesn't claim to be an accomplished pianist, but he certainly does enjoy it!  As a matter of fact, he will try to play pretty much any instrument he comes across!    It's really funny; we can be in an antique store or somewhere where there is a piano, and all of a sudden I will hear music, and yes, you guessed it, my husband has started playing it!

Playing for VBS (Cowboy style)

Singing with the girls and me. (I think I forgor the words here!)

He will even sing with son-in-laws!

  It is also not an uncommon thing for him to break out in song right in the middle of his sermon!


Oh, one other thing, he has made a total of 8 recordings, 5 of them being solos.  He also has written quite a few songs.  You can see more about that here on this blog:  Moore Music




Lonnie singing to me at a Valentines Banquet .... sorry so blurry.



Not so blurry.


I am glad to be married to someone who has such a love for music!  To me it just proves his love for the Lord even more, because as he explains, not only did God create music, but God, Himself  is a musical Being.

So on the 6th day of 14 days of Valentines, I just want to say how much I love my musical husband!

We're half way there, so if you're interested, you can click here for day seven of 14 Days of Valentines.

Gail

--
Gail

Get Aways

Day Three of my series for and about my husband is about the "get aways" that we have the opportunity to have.

My husband does a lot of traveling.  He is asked to preach and to sing in many places through out the year besides all the things he does at the church where he pastors.  I don't get to go with him all the time, but I do some of the times. When I do get to go we try to take an extra day or two and take advantage of whatever special place or attraction may be nearby and visit there before we head home.   We have done this ever since our children were small.  Our girls were able to see a lot of different places and things just because they were traveling with us in some special meeting.   I know this doesn't sound like much of a vacation, but we always enjoyed it and always felt very bless to have the opportunities to to so. 

We were able to "get away" this weekend, not with our kids, and not by ourselves either, but with some couples from the church as well as couples from some other churches.  We went to our annual Couples Retreat in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.

We always have such a wonderful time!

I love this time to just get away with my husband and relax and enjoy a fun time with these other couples.  We do also go away by ourselves at times!  I promise we do!  I will share some of that at another time.

 For this past weekend though, it was with other couples. We had were so enriched by the Bible teaching and preaching we heard on marriage and the home by Dr. and Mrs. Jeff Amsbaugh.  I'm glad that my husband makes this possible for our couples to do, and I get to tag along!




The Amsbaughs, The Ogdens (very good friends of ours), Lonnie and I

  I'm glad that my husband makes this possible for our couples to do, and I get to tag along!



In our cabin at Oak Haven Resort

You can click here to go to day four of 14 Days of Valentines.




You Add to My Life, Valentine!

One this fourth day of 14 Days of Valentines, I want to share with you how much has been added to my life because of my Valentine.  It's like this:

First there was just the two of us:

We lived here:

Well, not in this exact mobile home, but in a
mobile home in this exact same spot.  We re-
visited it a few years back.

Then, it wasn't long until there was three of us.  This little "brown-eyed" darling  girl was given to us:



Rebecca Lynn

Then we moved to a place not too far from there and we were blessed with this little bundle of "joy":

Leah Joy





Then a few months later, we were given this little princess:



Sarah Beth

Then we moved to a different state, KY, and the Lord graced us with this baby girl:


Hannah Lonee' (yes, that's as close as Lonnie
got to his name with his children.....but wait
there's more!

 

Fast forward 20 plus years.....we move again......to Nicholasville, KY, the girls grow up here as their dad pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church.  They go go college one by one, and one by one, they meet a fellow and fall in love and now, add 4 + 4, and what do you have?  Right 8!



Now we have four boys! Kevin Hearn, Dan Black, Tim Morrison, Jason Wheeler.
 Wow!  How things can multiply...
and so quickly!  But wait we're not finished.



First there was 2, then and 4, that equals 6. Then add four more and you have 10!  Then you add 8 more and what does that make?  WOW!  Eighteen people!  When I first started blogging, I actually had a blog called, "Moore and More"!  It was a pretty appropriate name for it considering how our family increased more and more very quickly; and we may not be finished yet! 

  Psalm 115:14 says,  "The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children."  We have

truly seen this happen in our family.  We have increased and we are so thankful and happy for each one.

2 + 4 = 6;  6 + 4 = 10;  10 + 8 =  ........... please read on.....

Jackob Black, Anna Grace, Olivia, Caswell and Lonnie Ray
(Lonnie finally got is namesake) Hearn, Abygail, Eli, and Eden Morrison.

EIGHTEEN!



 Yes, I think that's a good verse for us; we have increase more and more and not only in number but in love and blessings and good times and joy and happiness.  Lonnie and I have been blessed in numerous ways!  We praise the Lord for it!  (In case you're counting, there is actually 21 people in this picture.  Lonnie's dad is also in this picture.)

So, until I have something to add, I think I'm finished with this post.

You can click here to go to day five of 14 Days of Valentines.