Let Your Light Shine ....

Sometimes life is just down right dissappointing ... When we look around at the world we live in and see all the hurt, hate, ugliness, lies, deception, evil, anger, destruction, pain, harm, that goes on constantly around us ... it can be very hard to see hope in it all. This is exactly why the Lord told us not to put our hope in worldy things or goings on. Why he said to keep our eyes on him. To keep our minds in tune with his. To keep our lives focused on the narrow road. To Live our lives daily honoring him ... Because in the end this is not our home.. So if you're feeling overwhelmed and Saddened by this old world we live in .. yes those feelings are 100% real and true Because this world is overwhelming and it's mighty sad to see how all the things I mentioned are abounding ... but God said we... just little old me and little old you are the light ... remember that song "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine" ?... Let your Light Shine .. it just takes a small lit candle to light an entire room ...Instead of focusing on all that ugliness out there ... focus on letting your light Shine !!! He told us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:1-3 and .... “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.Matthew 7:13-14 So get out Your Lights and Lets Make them Shine !!! Until Next Time Sweet Blessings Sara

The Sister Circle ... Do You have a Sister Circle ... ?

It's been a lot of years since I've taken the pleasure of sitting down and just reading a book. It's something I used to on a daily basis. I'd ready myself for bed .. and then crawl in my covers with a new/old book and delve into another world. Sometimes I couldn't put the book down and I would read into the wee hours of the morning of course making it hard to crawl out of bed for work the next day .. some of those stories just get their hooks in you and don't turn loose ...

Well as I said it's been a lot of years since I enjoyed reading in the evening .. life changes and there were a number of reasons I quit one being as I got older I had a much harder time focusing for long periods of time.

Recently Abbey Mom mentioned to me "do you remember that book series you read years ago about some ladies" .. well that was pretty vague and I have read a lot of books over the years. I tried to think of what book series that would be and just kept drawing a blank. She kept at it for several days into a week and another until she said it's something about a circle ... then another few days she was on her laptop searching for inspirational books with the word circle in the title. Finally she said one day was it "Sister Circle" ? .. It sounded familiar ...

She looked up that name and sure enough there was the book series "The Sister Circle" by; Nancy Moser and Vognette Bright. Yep sure enough that was the books I had read and shared with her umpteen years ago .. lets not count ! Interestingly I had only shared with her about the books all those years ago but had never read them with her. But somehow they popped back in her mind and well I have to call that a "God Thing."

I would love to say that I still had the books but not long after I read them way back when I loaned them to a family member and from there well who knows where they ended up.

Abbey researched purchasing them again so we could read them ... and in so doing found a wonderful site called Internet Archive Search where you can borrow books for an hour at a time as long as no one else has it checked out and can renew that hour as long as no one is waiting to check out the book behind you .. I guess you would say it's a virtual library ...

We were both thrilled ... and I started reading aloud the first book in the evenings for about an hour and a half .. Not having read aloud for that long in years my throat got a little sore the first few nights but it soon went away and we are now half way through book 3 of 4 in the series.

Honestly after all the years that had passed since I read the series I couldn't remember a lot about the storyline other than a lady had an old antique house that she turned into a boardinghouse ... And these women along with her created The Sister Circle. That Circle like the circles in the water created by a pebble thrown into a pond reached further out to more women and more lives with back stories, histories, heart ache, anger, frustration, that turns to hope, joy, love and a future none of them could have ever forseen.

There's Evelyn who's just lost her husband and wonders what she's going to do with a big empty house full of rooms and her life... Enter Mae the 50 something Hippie, Tessa The 60 something History buff that's serious and staunch, And Audra Mom to 5 yr old Summer a young twenty something trying to make a life for her and her daughter after making bad choices as a young woman ... The Four women argue, irritate, frustrate, share their secrets, Bond and Love one another and begin the Sister Circle .... only to move out move on and leave Evelyn with empty rooms needing to be filled once again ... It's moving, Touching, right to the heart with lots of wonderful life lessons to be learned and wonderful Joys to celebrate.

The series is just an absolute joy, it makes you think about others, Understand others, and most of all above all things LOVE others with a servants heart.

We'll be starting on book four in the next few days and honestly I'm already dreading that there's an end .. I hate that there's an end .. when you fall in love with the cahracters and the lesssons to be learned and the new lives they are living .. you just don't want there to be an end .. Kind of like a good movie series that you hate to end.

If you're a reader, or like me it's been a long time since you've read, or maybe you want to try your hand at reading .. this is such a great series ... give it a try .. you can check it out at the virtual library HERE ... or you can purchase it online in a variety of places ....

Book #1 is The Sister Circle Book #2 is Round The Corner Book #3 is An Undivided Heart Book #4 is A Place to Belong

If you're looking to have your heart softened, your outlook on the ppl that surround you changed and for God to fill your heart with his overflowing Love will this series certainly fills those desires ....

Until Next Time Sweet Blessings Sara

Sweet Magnolias Farm Spring Open House Part II ... at The Vintage Peddler

Hey Y'all ... well I'm back as promised with more pictures from our Spring Open House this last weekend ... In my last post I shared our Sweet Magnolias Farm Potting Shed Shop with you .. Today I'm sharing our Farm & Cottage Shop Space ... We had a great Spring Open House ... and I guess we packed the shops so full it honestly didn't look like a lot was gone when I went in to the shop to make sure everything was picked up and to fluff after the weekend .. But to my surprise there was a lot of tags in the books so lots more sold than I realized ... Sometimes when I pack the shops so full like I did for this open house it's actually really a nice thing because it keeps everything looking so nice for the week after Open House for shoppers that didn't get to come to the open house. Enjoy the pictures ... OH ...the last photo is of the shop space and the balcony/portico that's built over one section of it .. we change the scene on it seasonally ... so for spring we went with a cute clothesline dressed with vintage aprons ... our Dress Form "Honey" (aptly named after Honey from the Canadian TV series "Wind at my back" for her cute dresses) ... She's dressed in her cute 1930's floral print dress and floral flour sack apron ... and our sweet picket fence has a wonderful antique quilt and straw hat decking it out ... The Portico is one of my favorite features of this shop space .. no we didn't build it .. the owner did when she opened the mall .. but we get the pleasure of having it as part of our space and being able to changed out the scene for each season...

Have a great Week ... Until Next Time Happy Spring and Sweet Blessings Sara

So Spring Open House Happened at The Vintage Peddler this weekend ....

So we spent the week prepping our shop spaces inside The Vintage Peddler for Spring Open House this weekend ... First up is our Potting Shed Shop Space .. and here's a few shots of the outside and inside. I hope you all enjoy ... And if you ever happen to be in the Springfield MO area or you happen to live nearby come on by and visit us ... 1432 E Trafficway Springfield MO ... Well Enjoy and I'll be back in a few days with photos from our Farm Cottage Shop Space ...

Until Next Time .. Happy Spring and Sweet Blessings Sara

From Yard Sales to Flea Markets ... a fun day out in the sun ...

Today we hit the road early... wake up call at 5 a.m. in anticipation of a big once a year City wide yard sale we went to last year and did fairly well finding antique and vintage goods at so we were excited to head out and try our luck once again this year... Being veteran antiquers for well over 30 yrs now .. we always know it's a gamble that the same event will be equally good time after time .. sometimes it's a win win and other times it's a dud ... Sadly today was pretty much a dud ! .. we found a few small things .. but overall for the time, mileage and not to mention that ugly 3 letter word "GAS" ... it wasn't as fruitful a day as far as yard sales go ... However as the photo says "You can find me at the Flea Market" .. when all else fails find the local antique malls and flea markets

So we hit a few of our favorite haunts and although we didn't find anything extremely fabulous or cool .. we found some antique and vintage goods we loved .... some for the shops and well one or two things for ourselves .. Abbey collects old hardware store aprons and she got a super cool one today ... I Love old baskets and I found a neat tall square style one with a leather latch on the front which I love .. some antique linens, hardware, and a few other odds and ends made there way home with us .. The Best part of the day was driving by a house that had a badly broken Antique Chair and Rocker with the best back spindles and cool elements we can destruct and use .. with a big "FREE" sign on them .. well we whipped the van over to the curb and loaded those up ...I know I hear Ya so where's the pictures of all that great stuff .. I'm super bad at taking photos ..so please forgive me .. I'll try to get better with time .. So all in all it was a pretty good day .. and one spent with friends and family is always the best ... I hope you all have a great weekend ... I'm going to enjoy the sunshine and the warmth for the short time we'll see it once again ... as more rainy weather is headed our way early in the week .. Until Next Time Sweet Blessings Sara

I'm Back ... and what better way to begin again than with the Blessings of the Lord ...

Just over 2 years ago, I posted my last post here on Sweet Magnolias Farm Blog. Not intentionally by any means .. I honestly just ran dry on words. My well was empty. And in all honesty my well of words has been empty ever since. Changes in life, from moving long distance cross country, age related changes of body, mind and spirit, and simply working tirelessy to eek out a living are just a few of the things that took me in other directions .. but mainly my word bank was empty. It's been just over 2 years now as I said since my last post ... and there's been a stirring in my heart to return to my roots, where I spent time sharing my heart, my life, my work, and most of all inspiring others to live a life filled with, and overflowing with God's love ... He is starting to feel my mind and my heart with words again and I look forward to sharing what he lays on my heart with all of you once again. This morning I was in search of a link online ... and ended up on Dr, Chales Stanley's website In Touch Ministries .. and I ended up reading a few articles but really loved the excerpt I have included from one below. So take time and read it ... and let it all sink in ... God's always there Blessing us waiting for us to stop being busy, stop being involved in our work, family affairs, phones, social media, shopping,,, for us to simply say "Thank You" Lord for all you do for me. I want to leave you with this thought ... If you have a refrigerator filled with food, Or maybe it's empty right now ..not because you don't have the means to fill it .. maybe you need to grocery shop or maybe you prefer to eat out ... nonetheless ... "You are rich" ... yes I'll say it again "You are Rich" .. Abbey (Mom) says that often when she opens the fridge here at home to myself of my Dad .. "Do you see all that food in there ..."We're Rich"... And she means it with all her heart .. to her a fridge full of food represents a richness because she knows as I do from years ago what it's like to wonder where you're next bit of food will come from. Gods Blessings for us a Full fridge of food .. Thank You Lord for the food you have blessed us with .. thank you Lord we have full tummy's and thank you Lord for providing the Jobs, Work, and finances that provide that food ... Blessings .. their a chain reaction .. One Blessing leads to the next ... So what's your Chain Reaction Blessings ..? Thank God for them today ! Sweet Blessings to you all ... And Happy Spring ... I certainly am ready for Spring to arrive .. we actually had snow flurries here today .. and it's going to be 70 degress on Sunday ... It's confusing my body and the tree's ! Until Next Time May God's Blessings pour out upon you !

LOVE THIS .. IT'S SO TRUE BUT SOMETIMES IT'S JUST NICE TO READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN .. This excerpt from a wonderful article : "Simply Jesus"by: Renee Oglesby from Dr. Charles Stanleys In Touch Ministries site Here: https://www.intouch.org/read/articles/simply-jesus You are probably familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, where God declares His intention to give His people prosperity, a future, and a hope. It’s a really popular verse for memorizing and sharing with others, not to mention printing out and framing for a ready reminder of how God provides for us so abundantly. But notice the verses that follow: “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 29:12-14). Isn’t it interesting that what follows the famed promises about all that God gives are verses about seeking God and finding Him? The order here might seem reversed at first—surely blessings would come after seeking, and not before? But God knows that sometimes we let our many blessings distract us from the One who blesses. And He wants to assure us that when we remember Him and the simple beauty of communion with Him, we will find Him there, waiting.