Quick Update

A quick note, as I have 3 days of chores to do today. (Shame on me for getting behind:( Our son is off to the "river", a very, very popular place for summertime here. A good friend invited him to go along with their family, and he'll be back Saturday. I spent the bigger part of yesterday at our daughter's house. We put together 3 casseroles for freezing to help out after Jessa is born. I got to see the baby's room. They did an awesome job, and it looks great! Today though, work, work, work. (And pleeeeaaaaase, a trip to the library - I am in a snit without something to read.)

A Sunday of Sweet Sorrows

This has been a Sunday full of joy and bittersweet sorrow. This morning, we had a beautiful Pentecost service, with readings from Genesis (Tower of Babel) and the Pentecost story from Acts. The sermon nicely tied together the introduction of different languages at Babel, and the bringing together of all nations at Pentecost. We also had another baptism, which is always so special.






The bittersweet came this afternoon. The second church my husband serves was decommissioned today. He has served this congregation for 7 years. As an aging parish, normal Sunday attendance was down to around 10 (including my husband and myself). The remaining members are all able-bodied, and need and desire to be a part of a larger congregation that they can be involved with activities other than an hour of church on Sundays. They voted in January to decommission the church. Although I have no doubt that this is the proper thing, that these lovely people will spiritually be better off in a more active congregation, it is still hard to say goodbye. Several will come to our congregation. My husband preached on today's Gospel lesson: John 14:23-31. He stressed that the Holy Spirit is with each of them - they take it with them to their new churches. The Holy Spirit isn't tied to a pastor, or to a church building, but to each of them. It was very touching and emotional. We had a lot of former members and family members present, and everyone hung around to eat and visit.

More storms have moved through tonight (another 2" so far.) A long day. Glad it's over.

My First Contest

I'm entering my first blog contest. You can read more about it at Pink and Blues Girls, but please don't enter so I'll have a better chance:) The prize is a Dooney & Burke purse and Victoria Secret perfume. I can't win if I don't enter, right????

Summer Showers

We awoke this morning to thunder and rain. As you can see, we got almost 3 inches by the time all was over. (This was taken after lunch.) We are so thankful for the rain. At this time of year, you always think each rain is the last one until the hurricanes start in August.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3

We went to the movies this afternoon with Jacob and 2 of his friends to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 3." (Last day of school *sigh*) I can barely remember the first movie, and I remember the second movie I thought was terrible - none of it made sense or seemed to even go together. This movie was definitely better than #2. It was long, but I really didn't notice myself thinking it was long. The plot seemed to flow and everything seemed connected, but I still didn't understand it. Why are they fighting the fish people if they're already dead - how do you kill a dead person? I love, love, love Johnny Depp in this role - he is outstanding, but not enough of him this time. Loved Keith Richards! Still don't like the crazy talking lady whom I can't understand a word she says. It's a must-see movie for the summer, I'm glad we went, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Next up: Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3.

Culture Shock

I was thinking back to the time 9 years ago (could it be that long?) that we moved to South Texas. My husband and I and both our kids were all born in Texas and lived here until '95 when we moved to Ft. Wayne, IN. We moved so that my husband could attend the Lutheran Seminary there. Although we had dreaded moving north of the Red River, we found that we LOVED the mid-west. Indiana was an awesome place to live. The people were so friendly, and the city was so clean. We loved the four seasons, especially the winter. But the day came 3 years later that we were called to come back to Texas - South Texas this time. The night before we were to head out, I took our beta fish out to the car to see if the spot I had prepared for its bowl to ride would work. The bowl fit perfectly! For some reason, I was called back into the house, and forgot about the fish bowl in the car. Keep in mind that this is the first Friday in June. When we went out to the car in the morning, I realized that I had left the fish all night - and he was FROZEN. OOps - one less thing to move. So our temps were down to freezing in June. It took us four days to make our way down to Texas. We stopped in Ft. Worth where our family lives the third night. Our car at the time had no air-conditioning (no need of it in IN). We hit the road very, very early that fourth morning so we could get as far as possible before the sun got up and going. My sweet husband in the moving truck never ran his A/C (he told me at the time that the truck was overheating with it on - the big fibber - he said he wasn't going to be cool while I was melting behind him). My 8 yo son rode with me that day. We stopped at one point for bottles of water. He was convinced we had to ration it and only allowed one drink every 15 minutes. He saw the palm trees and wondered when we came to the desert. When we pulled into the driveway that Tuesday afternoon, it was 114 degrees. So in four days, we went from 32 to 114. It's still hot, and I still wonder how we got to the desert :) Oh how I long for crisp, cool days!

First Fruits

Check out the first cherry tomato of the summer! It is from our 'volunteer' Sweet 100 cherry tomato plants. It shall be plucked and sliced into 3 tiny pieces at dinner for all to share :)

Cross

Just finished this last night. Great read. Excellent story. Not real thrilled about the graphic nature of many scenes. This is sometimes a problem for me with the Alex Cross books. In this installment, Alex quits the FBI and opens a private practice. He teams up again with his buddy John to try to catch the killer of his wife. He flashes back to the time of his wifes death and plays that out at the beginning. Really a good story, but I didn't like the amount of graphic violence in it.

Scrap Happy Week 6

This is my week 6 scrap happy entry. See So Much To Say, So Little Time for more creative scrapbook pages (guaranteed to be more crafty than mine!) I am still using the Arc Soft Collage program - I wasted a week doing one on Word that I really liked, but could not paste it in since it wasn't a jpeg image :( This is a simple grouping of all our wonderful pets (after counting, I realized I was one short - I omitted our beloved little Ginny (as in Weasley) - the tortoise shell cat.

Another Hilarious Thing...

OK - think Animal House...we're eating chinese food buffet for dinner, talking about college, Jacob is moaning about why are things in college not like in Animal House (yes, I realize this isn't an appropriate movie...) So later, my beloved, funny hubby goes to get cream puffs and vanilla pudding for dessert. (Please recall from my meme that we laugh a lot in our family) As only my husband can do, he proceeds to eat the cream filling out of the cream puffs leaving the pastry behind. Which my equally hilarious son points out that it's like he's eating a zit. Well then Allan begins on the pudding...at which time Jacob (in the exact voice from the movie) says, " That man is a P-I-G pig." Which totally catches Allan of guard and he proceeds to spurt the pudding out of his mouth onto the table laughing. I then cannot even catch my breath and we are making a small scene. I manage to get the words out , "What is that from, anyway" to which they reply in unison - ANIMAL HOUSE . After both of them repeating the line numerous times, we left for home. I know that much of the humor requires that you were there, but I wanted to at least try to share this.

Must run - 400th Simpsons begins in 3 minutes!

The Shape Shifter

Finally finished "The Shape Shifter" by Tony Hillerman. We always enjoy his books. This one is a good story, and the last third of the book is excellent, with a bit of a shocking ending (at least different from anything he's written before.) It took me a long time to finish it, partly because the chapters in the first half were very, very long (for me anyway.) I generally read at night before bed, and just don't have time for 30-40 page chapters, so I was doing a lot of mid-chapter ending, which caused me to loose the thread of the scene a lot. I rate this book fair.

Super Sweet Shower for Sarah

These wonderful ladies from church gave Sarah a shower this morning. I cannot brag enough about how nice the people at our church are, and how good they are to our family. She got so many nice things. They had yummy in your tummy brunch goodies to eat, and maybe 25 ladies in attendance. The love they constantly show us (and especially Sarah today) continues to warm my heart.

More Pats on the Back

We had another banquet last night (May is a busy month for families with kids in school). This was the banquet honoring the Top Ten students of each class. Jacob remains #7. Although I am definitely bragging on Jacob, I'm also pleased as punch with our kids from church. Of the 20 kids from the freshman and sophomore classes, SEVEN are members of our church. Hannah and David (on either end) from 9th grade; Jacob, Amber, Zach, Abigail, and Sara from 10th. Our kids totally ROCK!

Just a side note, I had all kinds of problems with my new watch. Suddenly, *duh*, I thought to myself - why didn't I take out the metal detector and see if I can find the old one? Eureka! Found it in like 5 minutes. Quick wash in the sink, and my arm feels like itself again. Of course today I got all the way to WalMart and realized I hadn't picked up my bag of returns *double-duh*.

Seven Things I've Learned in My Life

I've been tagged! My first meme, thanks to Juloyes at The Accidental Pastor's Wife. So here it goes, seven things I've learned over time.

1. Choose wisely who you marry. I see so many people in unhappy marriages, or even worse, who have suffered through a divorce. This is a big decision, so think it through. I chose perfectly - I'm married to my best friend! I really would like nothing better than to sit in the room with him 24/7. He is so good to me, makes me laugh (more on that later), takes such good care of me. We are completely devoted to each other. It makes me sad that not everyone has a life like ours.

2. Life is simple. We make it complicated. Society makes us think we need more than we do. How many of us has more house or car than we need? Wouldn't our lives have less stress if we had less financial burdens. Do our children need to be rushed from one activity to another. How about planning time in our days to relax, and enjoy one another? Don't get me wrong - I'm as guilty of this as anyone - but I always at least try to be aware that I could simplify things.

3. Put God first, all the time. Lives are good if we prioritize them correctly. God firmly at the top of the pyramid, then our spouse, then children. By putting our children in front of our spouse, we're cheating him/her. Our children thrive when they aren't the center of the universe. When we do everything for the glory of God, and think always of our spouse before ourselves, and when our spouse does the same, there is no reason to worry about me. Someone is already taking care of us.

4. It's OK to say "No." This is a tough one for me, because I try to please all the people all the time. But the world doesn't come to a crashing halt when I say, "I am so sorry, but I just can't do that this time. Please know what else I could do to help." No one minds, and someone else steps up. We don't have to do everything asked of us.

5. Boys and Girls are NOT the same. They don't learn the same. They don't behave the same. They don't think the same. They are different. Even if they're raised the same, they're DIFFERENT. Recognize it and adapt.

6. Family Night is fun! Even with older kids, it's great to have 'mystery night' and gather together for Monk/Psych; rent a classic and pop popcorn; play dominoes; have a marathon night of Risk. Spending time together relaxing and having fun is awesome.

7. Laughter is the best medicine. I hope you have someone in your life that keeps you laughing. My beloved husband keeps our house in stitches. Always the joker and clown. And the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, because Jacob can hold his own. I'm a very happy woman.

Now I'm tagging you!

Children of God
Dishpan Dribble
Mammy's Musings
Slim Picken's From My Brain
So Much to Say, So Little Time

Mother's Day

I have had a wonderful Mother's Day. We had a really nice service this morning at church. We had a baptism, which is always special. (Our new Godson was also baptised this morning in CA.) Allan preached about Lydia. He stressed how important the women of the Bible were to the spread of Christianity. The youth gave all the mom's flowers after church was over, and the men served cake and punch. After our second church service, we were glad to be home and relax. I opened presents and cards. My son has definitely inherited his father's silver tongue, as he wrote me such a nice note in my card. My husband's cards are always so special. I actually have saved every card and note he's written me all these years. I got a new watch (since I lost my old one in the yard!), and two new cookbooks. I can hardly wait to make out my grocery list tomorrow and have all new things to cook. I talked to my mom on the phone for a good bit, and then my mother-in-law. We're so blessed to have such an awesome family. The funny thing is, is that everyday feels like Mother's day to me, because I'm so well treated all the time. I never feel unappreciated, or put-upon. I truly have a wonderful life.

Friday's Findings

We had a nice Friday. My husband stayed out of the office (which is hard for him to do.) We had our regular Friday breakfast out. My daughter and husband came by to give me my Mother's Day gift. (Free pedicure - nice) Hubby cut the grass, and I took 2 of the herd to the vet's for shots. We got good academic news about Jacob. He is 7th in his class and we have the invite for Tuesday's Top 10 Club Banquet. AND he found out that in all 4 TAKS tests he was commended (that's a good thing). He's been commended before, but never in all 4 tests. Now the waiting continues until we get his SAT scores. He went out to his sister's for the night, so my hubby and I drove to Corpus for dinner. We ate at a place called Aladins. It was fair. We have an awesome place in San Antonio we like to eat, Istanbul Cafe, and I think we would have really liked the place tonight if we hadn't eaten at the better place. We LOVE any kind of ethnic food - wish we had more variety to choose from. Also went to the bookstore and picked up some new books. (I got 2 healthy cooking cookbooks - yes - we're trying to be healthier)

A Beautiful Morning

We awoke to a beautiful sunny and cool morning. A loud crash of thunder woke us at 1:00-ish and rain followed. We brought the coward's inside, and went back to sleep. This morning discovered 1" of rain in the guage, with everything fresh and clean. (We had just gone to purchase new hoses and sprinklers last night. I had planned to water all day - now I can wait til next week:) ahhhhhhh

Motor Mouth

"Motor Mouth" by Janet Evanovich. This is the second 'Barnaby Novel.' Most of the story takes place in Florida. Barney is a spotter for a NASCAR driver. She grew up working in her dad's garage, and has an engineering degree. She knows everything about cars. Hooker is the driver of the car she spots for. They used to be an item. Hooker has a Saint Bernard named Beans. Our main characters try to help a friend out of a jam, and find themselves in deep doo. Dead bodies seem to be following them. This is a great read, especially the last few chapters which are hilarious. Worth the time to read it.

Weekend (Plus some) Update

We have been so busy. Our son took the SAT (my baby!!) Saturday morning. I spent the day Saturday preparing for our Spring Mission Festival at church. I helped the ladies set up tables and get the church ready in the early afternoon. Our guest speaker and his wife arrived around 4:30. We took them out for dinner. It was prom night, and we had been concerned that the restaurant would be packed later in the evening. Just in case we bought 4 nice steaks and some shrimp to grill if they arrived late. Since they arrived early, we went to eat at Chili's. Our son went to eat at Big House Burgers (our other restaurant) with some buddies so they could watch the big fight (PPV). Sunday, we had church, followed by a fellowship meal. Then we were off to church #2. Then we were off to church #3 for the LWML Spring Rally (Lutheran Women's Missionary League). Our plan was to cook our steaks when we got home, but it was 6:00 by then and I ordered pizza. Monday we celebrated our daughters 22nd birthday. She and her hubby, and the in-laws came over and we cooked out hamburgers and hot-dogs. It was really a lot of fun getting everyone together. Today, I finally got a haircut :) and we cooked our steaks - at last. We had a nice lady from church come and share our meal. It was a nice evening. Now the day is coming to an end. I am very tired and hope I sleep well. It seems that I've had trouble going to sleep and then get so sleepy during the day!

Jessa's Shower Gift #3

I finished this onesy (how DO you spell that??) on Sunday in the car traveling from one church to another. I have one more thing planned before the shower on the 19th.

Scrap Happy - Week 4

Today has been crazy. Our daughter, her husband, and his family came over for a cook-out in honor of Sarah's 22nd birthday. Spent the day making preparations. But I made this page earlier in the week from photo's taken when Jacob and I went to visit the family last July. I used the Arc Soft program again (and forgot to change the page color - then didn't know how to go back after I'd already started!) Go visit So Much To Say, So Little Time to see more Scrap Happy pages.

Dallas Mavericks - Part II

Heard about the Mavericks "new" logo this morning, thanks to Slim Pickin's From My Brain. I "borrowed" it from her son-in-laws post. Thought it was really, really funny - at least if it wasn't so sad.

Dallas Mavericks

It's been almost 24 hours. I still cannot get over it. The embarrassment. The dashed hopes. The nerve.

Our family comes from Ft. Worth. We had a three year detour in Indiana. Basketball is to Indiana what football is to Texas. Our son's obsession with basketball as a young boy rubbed off on us. Our University here has an awesome basketball team. The coach is a member of our congregation, and my husband is the unofficial team chaplain. We go to every home game. We yell...we shout...we make a scene. It is honestly the only fun thing to do in this town. They're winners.

We live in Spurs territory, but are huge Mavericks fans - we know about the players, read the stats in the paper, the whole thing. We rarely get to see a game though, because they air Spurs games here. The playoffs - those we get to see. They were the best team in the NBA. Going all the way this year. Basketball to watch until June. And then they choke. I've never seen such bad basketball being played. Now - nothing left but to learn about the Spurs and root for them. ICK - it wasn't supposed to turn out this way.

It's only a game...it's only a game.

A Funny Story

Last night, our son's school held their Spring Sports Banquet. One of his friends needed a ride so the four of us went together. On the ride home, we were asking his friend, David, about his upcoming State UIL competition - which is being held in Austin. David is a very bright young man, and is competing in the Spelling event at the State level. He was telling us about the test: that they have a list of words (think spelling bee), but they also have to watch the news and read magazines and newspapers. Some of the words are random words, taken from these sources. He was telling us one of the random words at the regional meet was ewer. My husband immediately said, "Oh, that's a jug." Davids eyes got big, and he replied, "WOW - pitcher or jug - that's impressive." Our son, replied, "You are such a jerk - why do you know everything." *This said in the spirit of fun after witnessing his father's mental shock and awe moment* David was amazed that my husband knew that word. I don't think anyone has ever asked my husband a question he didn't know the answer to - he's VERY well read. It was a nice ending to the evening, with all of us laughing as we dropped David home.

Granddaughter Gift #2

This is a crocheted afghan that I've just completed (finally) for my soon to arrive granddaughter, Jessa. I got the pattern from Bev's Country Cottage, and it's called 'Bev's 5-Day Newborn Lovie. She said she made it in 5 evenings. Whatever - how about 5 months! It was also supposed to measure 34"x37". I used the right size hook, but maybe my yarn is thicker, or I just don't do it right (very likely!) Mine measures 46"x42" - go figure. But it is complete, and once I wash it, it will be ready for the shower. I still have several things in the works.

Dead Watch

Finished "Dead Watch" by John Sandford yesterday. Sandford is one of my favorite authors. Love the 'Prey' books with Lucas Davenport (just noticed a new one due out mid-May - can't wait!) This book was a bit slow to start, maybe because the characters were all new and required some set-up. The 'hero' of the story is Jake Winters. He considers himself a 'forensic bureaucracy specialist.' Basically, the federal government hires him when something is really messed up - to figure it and and apply pressure to those who can fix it. A former senator has disappeared and his wife suspects the Virginia governor of the kidnapping. Jake is brought in to find the senator and find who is at fault. This book turned out to be a really good read, despite the slow-ish start. Well worth your time. Enjoy:)