Old Farmhouse Renovation #122…rip out ancient living room rug, patch/repair floor in weak spots, clean thoroughly, coat with sealant in preparation for brand new rug. Which at this point I’ve forgotten what it looks like. I’m tired of stumbling over furniture stashed in adjoining rooms and truly missing my couch corner where I sit and read each evening. While glancing at the room when it was first stripped free of the old rug and almost all the furniture cleared out, I realized there was NO TURNING BACK. We had to complete the job. No chance of going out to the garage and bringing that old nasty rug back in. Time to move on to new and better things.

Our spiritual walk feels like this sometimes. God strips away the old ugly attitudes and cleans us up all shiny new, filling our hearts with His love and crystal clear goodness. It may be tiring and a bit painful, but well worth it in the end. We need to continually let Jesus wash away all the hurts and ragged parts of our past, things that build up over the years. NO TURNING BACK. And no chance of allowing those ugly old things back into our lives. For He makes all things new. Jesus, complete Your work in us!       

Winners from last week’s post are: Marianne B. and Beth C. Please contact me!

To all those October babies who share my birthday month – a colorful Happy Birthday to you! I left for work one morning this week and as soon as I opened my front door, I caught the scent of fall.

A mix of woodsmoke, changing leaves and crisp air…

We’ve been blessed with a few bright and sunny days, highlighting crimson, yellow and burnt orange trees and bushes, a lovely time of year in upstate New York. Birthdays are a time of memories, being thankful for all the many blessings in our lives. I’m thankful for my amazing husband, my sister and sister-friends, and godly mentors. I’m grateful for my cousins who are becoming nearer and dearer as our families change with losing loved ones. Together we will carry on our traditions and hold true to what our parents taught us.

If you share an October birthday, please do leave a comment highlighting some of your blessings. And if your birthday falls between September and November, leave a comment to enter the book giveaway. One winner will receive: Love Inspired “The Lawman’s Second Chance” by Ruth Logan Herne. Another winner will receive “Healing the Forest Ranger” by Leigh Bale. Happy Autumn Birthday!

according to the IRS. The story began when I received a scary looking envelope in the mail. Never had a problem with taxes before so what could this official letter possibly contain? Simply a statement claiming we owed over $30,000 in back taxes from a couple of years back.

Hmm…deep breath  here. Must be a mistake. Repeat this phrase several times while trying to focus on the legal terms and phrases contained in said letter and not panic. Repeat, not panic.

Since the letter came on a Friday, I immediately called the toll free number and finally connected with a real person to sort out this dilemma so it wouldn’t hang over our heads all weekend. Fortunately the kind employee walked me through the process till we found the problem. Their problem. Not mine. Somewhere, someone on their end had incorrectly entered a $750.00 payment I recorded and changed it to $75,000. Oh what a difference a little decimal point or comma makes! On a tangent here, what a difference one little word can make in our stories or articles!

Anyway, I informed the employee that I would be most happy to pay any back taxes if I had in fact cleared $75,000 for one article. Wow, if only. Breathing a bit easier, I hung up the phone and immediately went to my records to verify what we had discussed. All was reported correctly on our end, including a copy of the right form which had the right figure and which they must have had a copy of.  Okay, we’re all human and we all make mistakes. I made copies of all my writing income from that year (trust me, it really wasn’t that much!) and mailed them all in with the form. After a few more phone calls, and receiving mail that reduced the balance but still didn’t cover all the bases, we finally received the final statement that we owed….0. God is good, all the time.

Moral of the story: Be sure to keep excellent copies of all of your writing records, expenses, income and tax statements. It would have been a hassle if I had to sort through piles of papers to locate the information I needed. I had the requested information readily available and was very thankful I had bothered to keep good records. You never know, this could happen to you!