Headed Home

(photo of a mountain wildflower by Leah Belle @Sweet Tea, copyrighted
and may not under any circumstances be used without express permission)

I want to take this opportunity to say that I am sorry to all of you who have been watching my blog for photo updates of my vacation. As you have figured out by now, I was unable to post as I had hoped. We are in a hotel in Mitchell, South Dakota tonight. Our camping and sight-seeing are officially over. We will arrive at my parents' home tomorrow evening and back to our home in SE Alabama on Friday evening. I can't wait to tell you all about it although it occurs to me that I might bore you with this high tech way of showing my "vacation slides." :D Anyway, stay tuned. I'll be back soon. I've missed my blog and you!

God's Power to Answer Prayer

I've been reading all my favorite blogs one last time before I pack the computer. I came across this poignant reminder of God's power. I hope you enjoy reading it: Can't Hide Forever

Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out!

We're not cattle and there's no stampede, but tomorrow our family's movin' out!

Out west, that is. The long awaited, much planned trip is here. The vehicle is packed and we are ready to go. We're ready to see all the beauty of the United States of America. Our ultimate destination is Yellowstone National Park, but since we are driving there and back, we will see portions of 10 states. We will see the "amber waves of grain" (Kansas), the purple mountain majesties (the Rockies!) and the spacious skies over it all! We are expecting to fully enjoy this creation of God's. Aren't you glad He gives us the beauty of nature to enjoy? We will be taking our laptop along, so I hope to be able to post pictures every so often of our journey. I'll miss keeping up with your blogs, so try not to let anything too exciting happen while I'm gone! :D

It's My Birthday!

Not really....
You might remember that I've already written about my birthday. It was last month. But my girlfriends and I couldn't seem to all get together to celebrate until this week. Tuesday night they threw a luau for me! We drank virgin strawberry daquiris, ate yummy food, swam in the pool, laughed and carried on. Because of a prank we pulled together a couple of years ago we have come to call ourselves the flipflop bandits. I keep promising to tell you that story, but haven't had a chance yet. So stay tuned...I'll tell it someday. Anyway, at the party there were flipflop decorations everywhere (see the flipflop lights hanging in the window?)


including a cake in the shape of flipflops (the cake was made by a member of our church who has started a cake business on the side. She does a great job!).

My gift was a bag and shoes (perfect gift every time...can't have too many). The shoes were some tevas that I've been wanting for our camping vacation out west. I was thrilled to get them!


Brook, Dianne and Lindsay even wrote and performed a song for me after we got out of the pool! Thanks, friends for a fun evening!

A New Sweet Tea Recipe!

Its blueberry season in our "neck of the woods." A friend called last week saying since she was out of town and the blueberries on her bushes were ready to pick, I could come pick them. I've been twice this week and plan to go at least 1 more time. I have frozen 6 quarts of blueberries for our future enjoyment. My new favorite use for blueberries is Blueberry-Lemon Iced Tea. I found the recipe in this month's Southern Living, and I have used it 3 times so far with plans to make more soon. Click on over to my recipe blog to see how to make it. I hope you enjoy!
(The picture shows the blueberries I picked in just 1 hour!)

Neat Receipts Scanalizer Contest

5 minutes for moms is giving away 10 NeatReceipts Scanalizers. These are neat gadgets that I sure could use. Click on over to check it out. I hope I win!

Search Me, Know Me

Search me, know me
Try me and see
Every worthless affection hidden in me
All I'm asking for is that You'd cleanse me, Lord

Create in me a heart that's clean
Conquer the power of secret shame
Come wash away the guilty stain of all my sin

Clothe me in robes of righteousness
Cover my nakedness with grace
All of my life before You now I humbly bring

------Jonah33
Source: http://www.sing365.com

The Breakfast Club

I have this great friend, Connie, who just knows how to gather lots of friends around her. She does it by being hospitable. A few months ago, she invited several of her random friends to her house for breakfast. We had so much fun that we decided to have the breakfast once a month. The place of the breakfast varies as do the people invited. Its so fun to see who shows up from month to month depending whose off work, who invited someone new and so forth. Everyone brings their favorite breakfast dishes and we have a feast. But the best part is the chatting! We bring along our kiddos, but they are busy playing with each other so we adults get to visit to our heart's content. These pictures were taken at today's breakfast. Can't wait 'til next month!

On this 4th of July, lets remember what the holiday is about: Independence. Our forefathers sacrificed everything for this country's independence. What a blessing it is to be free! I recently came across the following quote which is a great reminder of what has been done for us. It is also a reminder of our own role in the preservation of freedom.

"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."
-John Adams
(in a letter to Mrs. Adams, 1777)

photo by Richard (www.flickr.com)
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en-us

"Thank You God, for Our Country and for the Rain"

Our town held a patriot concert on our town square last night. Local business brought in the Tri-State Community Orchestra which performed several patriotic numbers. It was raining when the event began, but no one seemed to mind. A good number of townspeople came to the concert carrying their lawn chairs and umbrellas. There was no complaining about the rain or staying home because of the 'inconvenience' it caused. You see, we've been experiencing a drought lately, and many people have been praying for rain. So when a local pastor began the festivities with an invocation, the opening line of his prayer was, "Thank you God, for our country and for the rain."

Our Hosts and Friends

I wanted to take a moment to post a picture of our friends who invited us to join them on their vacation last week. Ryan and Nancy live down the road from us and attend our church. We have enjoyed getting to know them and minister side by side with them over the last 4 years and were thrilled when they invited us to the beach with them. They have part ownership in a very nice house (pictured here) and were generous to share one of their weeks with us. It was a fun week of swimming, eating, lounging, movie watching and more. We are grateful for the friendship God has provided us in them! THANKS RYAN AND NANCY. WE LOVE YOU!

Vacation's Over

We are back from our vacation to the beach. We really had a wonderful time! Just wanted to post some random pictures here.