More Pretty Dishes

This week I had a LOT of fun being a part of a mini-series over at the Andrea Howard Blog in which we told the stories behind the fine china we own. If you missed those, you can read about Classic White Nordic, Old Country Roses, and Rosalinde by following the links.

In preparation for the stories, I took a LOT of pictures! There were many that I could not include in my posts, but had to post somewhere. So I am posting them here.

These are of my Grandma's wedding china. I packed them up and took them to a nearby orchard for a photo shoot.

I love the contrast between the delicate porcelain and the rustic barn. And, there was something fun about placing a formal setting on the ground in the middle of a field.

While my friend, Amanda, and I were photographing this beautiful cake plate, we noticed that the handle had an awesome reflection in it.

On closer inspection, it became evident that the handle was reflecting the surrounding field and nearby barn and was reflecting it upside down!

And last, but definitely not least, is this shot. It is my absolute favorite of all the photos I took! I can't stop looking at it. It makes me grin!

My Grandma's Wedding China

I am over at the Andrea Howard Blog today, finishing up our mini-series on fine china. Today's showcase is extra meaningful to me, because it is the china which my Grandma chose upon her wedding in 1932. Head on over to the Goddess for more info and pictures.

Join me back here tomorrow for some more of my favorite pictures from the photo shoots of china. Who knew photographing dishes could be so fun!

With The Lord.....

My Grandmother

(pictured on left holding me at 3 days old)

1923-2011

*As a side note, my Grandma also pictured (on right) lived 1908-2000*

I love this photo and that both Grandparents are wearing pink!

"....Rest Beside the Weary Road..."

My Grandmother has had pneumonia for several weeks now. She was admitted to the hospital two days after I returned home from visiting her in
Arkansas. This is an unexpected turn of events as we have been giving so much attention to Granddaddy's health in recent months.

Word reached me today that Grandmother is declining and that doctors are just trying to make her comfortable.

The third verse of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" has been on my mind all through this holiday season as I have thought about and prayed for my grandparents. I share it here as I think of them.

"And ye, beneath life's crushing load
Whose forms are bending low
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing!"

Grandmother's Kitchen

The kiddos and I made a somewhat spontaneous trip this week to visit my grandparents. My grandfather who will turn 90 in December is in failing health, so I decided to join my sister and her family in visiting. The trip was a 10 hour drive for me and it was the first time I have ever driven that far on my own.

I am staying in my grandparents home while here. Every afternoon we go to visit Granddaddy in the hospital, and we have had some sweet times with him! It is amazing how many memories have surfaced while I have been here. The neat thing is that these sweet memories aren't of grand adventures or lavish parties. These memories are comprised of simple things like Granddaddy's chair, hikes around the farm and Grandmother's kitchen. The picture above captures how I will forever remember Grandmother: diligently working in her kitchen, showing love by serving her family.

The Simple Things

Linked to The Simple Things photo challenge at Rebecca Cooper's blog.

More Entertainment!

Recently, I told you about how our son is always entertaining us.


Tonight was no exception. Here he is in his daddy's snow ski cap...

....pretending to play the guitar.

What a ham!

Such A Boy!

This boy of ours almost always makes us grin.

His imagination and creativity just make our life very UNboring!

Here is a typical moment at our house.


After shooting the chicken a couple of times with the Nerf gun, he decides to add a few more bullets to the poor chicken.


There's no way he could perform this task without the proper attire.

This shirt full of bugs,

and these Star Wars socks

are perfect for the occasion.

And just because he thought it would be a good idea, he put on the toboggan too!


The kicker is that this is what he dressed himself in to wear to bed!

It's an endless grin around here when it comes to this kid!

Blessed With 40 Years Together!

My kiddos and I recently traveled to Kansas City to visit with my parents. I enjoyed one of the advantages of home schooling my children: I can take school with me! We stayed with them for two weeks and had a wonderful time with them.

One of the reasons for the trip was to help my parents celebrate 40 years of marriage. My two siblings and their families (as well as my hubby) joined us for a special dinner in honor of our parents.

My sister-in-law, Penny, decorated the table with my Mom's wedding china and some lovely fall decorations.


We gathered some photos from their wedding and from their married years and made a display.


We asked them to share some of their story with us: how they met, where they dated, about their wedding day and interesting things that have happened since their marriage.

We chose dishes to prepare for the meal that were reminiscent of their marriage...favorite dishes that reminded them of a certain time in their life:

Mandarin Orange Salad reminded them of a church where Daddy pastored in the early 1970's.

Green Chili Auction Special ... a recipe given to them while they lived in Wyoming.

Chips and Salsa to remind them of a friend who made yummy salsa when they served in Illinois.

Lemon Pound Cake..a favorite of the family's during the 1980's.

We enjoyed a fun and meaningful time with my parents. I am so grateful that they are my parents and that God has given them so many years together.

Chore Charts

Our family shares the chores around the house, and there is nothing like a new chore chart to help us stay on task. Every few months, I like to find a new one to hang on the refrigerator. I guess we get tired of looking at the same one after a while.

Yesterday, while browsing the blog world, I found this one. It is really cute and its free! Go check it out!




photo by ModEcoKids

Sunday On Vacation

We are not at home on this Lord's Day. We are on vacation at a Florida beach. As a result, we truly rested today.

We had a family church service here in the house where we are staying. Joel led us in music with his guitar. We then read and discussed a story from the Bible.


Afterward, it was a restful day of naps, leisurely bike rides, and a stroll on the beach at sunset.




At the end of the day, I read a friends blog and listened to this song. What a fitting song for a blessed day!

O Day of Rest and Gladness

O day of rest and gladness, O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful, most bright:
On Thee, the high and lowly, through ages joined in tune,
Sing holy, holy, holy, to the great God Triune.

On Thee, at the creation, the light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious, the Spirit sent from heaven,
And thus on Thee, most glorious, a triple light was given.

Thou art a port, protected from storms that round us rise;
A garden, intersected with streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain in life’s dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain, we view our promised land.

Thou art a holy ladder, where angels go and come;
Each Sunday finds us gladder, nearer to heaven, our home;
A day of sweet refection, thou art a day of love,
A day of resurrection from earth to things above.

Today on weary nations the heavenly manna falls;
To holy convocations the silver trumpet calls,
Where Gospel light is glowing with pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing, with soul refreshing streams.

New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining to spirits of the blessed.
To Holy Ghost be praises, to Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises to Thee, blessed Three in One.

Saturday, Sun, Special People

Last weekend was fun! It was one of our few trips to the lake this summer. We used to go to the lake almost every weekend, but as our family and other responsibilities grew, our time there has become limited.

So when we do get to go, it is with much anticipation and excitement! We invited some other Student Ministers and their families along for this special day, and enjoyed a relaxing and fun time with them. One thing I like about being at the lake is I can actually sit in a chair and do nothing. If I were at home, I would feel the pressure of all the house keeping and other duties hanging over me. While at the lake, I can't do anything about those things. Therefore, I enjoy relaxing without guilt. Add a couple of friends in nearby chairs and my day is made!

Of course, sitting in a chair is not ALL we do.

We swim...

and tube....

and eat...

and kneeboard!

We even got our eight year old daughter on the kneeboard for the first time!

We are so grateful for Saturdays with friends...for time to relax...for time for fun!

If only tomorrow were going to be so fun! The to-do list here is lengthy, and I hope to knock out a big portion of it in one day!

She's Still Growing Up (Wish It Wasn't So Fast!)

Another milestone has passed in our house....our daughter got her ears pierced!

About a year ago, she told me she did NOT want to get her ears pierced, because she'd heard it hurts. That was fine with me. I did not get my own ears pierced until I was eighteen, and I distinctly remember that in spite of what everyone told me, it DID hurt!

Our daughter may not have wanted her ears pierced, but she did want to wear earrings. So she talked me into buying her a couple of pairs of cute clip earrings. She found out that they hurt her ears and that the selection of clip earrings was not as big as the selection for post earrings.

All of this, combined with the fact that her next-door-neighbor-friend got her ears pierced motivated our daughter to change her mind!

So, today was the big day.

We were grateful to find a place that would do both ears at the same time. She was so brave. I was expecting tears and screams that would bring everyone in the mall over to see what was wrong. The sweet girl didn't even flinch or jump. I think I was more afraid than she was. Do you see that my eyes are closed?


She is very excited to have those earrings in her ears. She has told everyone she knows that she had it done!


And there's her little brother taking part in the whole thing. He watched every moment. We love making a family affair out of our little girl's milestone.

Today: First Day of School!

Today...

Today, we had to quit sleeping in.

Today, we got back to a schedule.

Today marks the end of going to the pool and water park whenever we want.

Today, we stopped playing video games and watching tv.

Today, we talked about Galatians 6:10 and our goals to be kind to each other in this school year.

Today marked another year in our journey together in homeschooling.



Today my prayer is that God will give us more love for each other. That we will learn the academics and will excel in the spiritual disciplines. May God give grace.

Our Son Loves To Create

I have enjoyed seeing our son be interested in creating things. Almost every day he is building or drawing something. His latest creation was this helmet.


It all started when he asked my hubby to draw a race car helmet. Joel drew a one dimensional helmet. A little while later, our son asked him to draw another one. Our son then took the two and taped them together to make a helmet he could wear. After that, he kept adding items....paper across the top, cable ties and keenex for a visor.


Pretty creative, if you ask me!

Children's Museum

We recently tagged along with Joel to Atlanta. He had a conference he was attending, and I have been wanting to take the kiddos to the Children's Museum.

It was great to be together as a family without the duties of housework and cooking. The hotel had an indoor pool and the Disney channel. What more could kids ask for?

The highlight of the trip was our day at the Imagine It Children's Museum in downtown Atlanta. Their hours were 10 am to 4 pm, and we were there the entire time!

One section of the museum was a temporary exhibit of medieval times where kids could dress up and do the tasks of a blacksmith, jester, chef, gardener, tailor, carpenter, or even a prince or princess.

(our son as the medieval blacksmith)

Other fun features included water fun,

wall painting,

sand sculpting,

and giant tinkertoys.


One of their favorites was a kid-sized crane they could use to move balls through a giant ball machine.


My favorite part of the day was visiting with Kelley. Kelley is a friend of mine from college days. She brought two of her children with her and spent the day with us. It was good to see her again after so many years.

And here's the whole gang:

(aren't they cuties?)

Hey Y'all!!

It has been a loonnnggg time since i have posted anything. Please don't interpret my absence to mean that I have been doing nothing. In fact, the opposite is true! I have been doing so much that I haven't been able to spend time with you, my bloggy friends.

I feel overwhelmed by the task of relating all the fun things I've been doing. Instead of doing a series of posts in great detail, I will attempt to give you little sound bites in ONE post. So, here goes:

*Small town Christmas parade: always lots of fun and this time very COLD and rainy. Yes, you heard me right it was COLD! I mention that not because I'm complaining, mind you, but because it is very unusual! The rain made it miserable, though. I was grateful that instead of the originally intended float, our daughter rode in the parade in a bus!

*Speaking of our daughter: She made us proud by doing a spectacular job (if I may say so myself) singing a solo in our church's adult Christmas musical. I was part of the choir for this musical and was truly blessed by its missions emphasis!

*Travel, travel, travel! Have you noticed that our family loves to travel? We met my family in New Jersey this year for Christmas. My sister lives there with her hubby and two children. My brother and his family as well as my parents were able to travel to New Jersey as well making this one of the few times we are ALL together!

(My sis Rachel and her hubby Dave; my bro Eddy and his wife Penny; me and my hubby)

We drove from SE Alabama to New Jersey. This was a two day trip, so we made the most of it. On our way up, we stopped in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a quick look at the Liberty Bell.

It was a very cold and rainy day:

On our way back home, we stopped in Washington D.C. We wanted to see the WWII Memorial. We knew we didn't have a lot of time, so we found a parking spot on the street, put two hours on the meter and took off! We managed to see the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and WWII Memorials. We then walked over the the White House where we checked out the National Christmas Tree.

(This picture isn't a very good one: the camera setting was wrong and my family is not paying attention. But I like it, because it sums up what we saw: memorials to those who died for our freedom)

*New York City!!
My brother and family, my family and my parents spent a day sightseeing in NYC while we were in New Jersey. It was a VERY cold day, but we were not about to be stopped from our chance to see the Big Apple.

(Statue of Liberty in background. Can you tell we were coooolllldddd?)

My sister's sister-in-law went in with us as our guide and she did a super job! We had an exciting day! I'm sure there will have to be future posts of pictures I took that day, but there's not room or time here now. One of the highlights of the day for me was ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza!

(Do you see me?)

*Brazillian BBQ: My parents have traveled to Brazil on several occasions and have always raved about the food there. So, while we were all together in New Jersey, my Dad treated us to Brazillian BBQ at a restaurant in Newark.



There were so many new tastes to try! Guarana (a Brazilian soft drink) flowed as well!



Maybe that brings us up to date.....until I get the urge to show you more pictures of New York or D.C. or Christmas....