Things I admire....

I couldn't think of anything to blog about today that sounded interesting. Then I saw these ladies blooming just off of my front porch. Aren't they pretty? I admire them. They are just so cheerful and bright and doing just what they were made to do.

I also admire my husband. He ran the Music City Half Marathon this past Saturday. That's 13.1 miles for you non-runners. (non-runners like me!) He finished in 2 hours 27 seconds. I admire how hard he worked. He hadn't planned on doing this one, but the deli had an opening on their team. I think he only trained for 4 weeks. I admire that drive. Probably because I don't have it. I am more the creative, spontaneous type. Not too driven, though.

So, my goal is to be more cheerful like these Azalea's outside and more driven like my hubby.

So on that note, and while little people nap, I am going to get in a workout and try to smile while I do it!

FBF7: Okinawa, Japan

This Flashback Friday stuff is humbling. And fun. And dangerous. I am not sure if my sister looks at these, but she just might disown me for showing all of our goofy childhood photos here!

Here we are back in 1986. I was 10, my sister 8. Like those cheesy peace signs? For some reason that is the thing to do in Japan when you get your picture taken. At least it was in 1986. And yes, that is a Member's Only jacket I have on. Not sure what club we were members of....

We lived in Okinawa, Japan in the mid-80's as our father was in the USAF. It was a great experience and we were old enough to enjoy it, I think. This photo was taken at Hedo Point. My grandparents had flown out from the US to visit and we were sight-seeing. Okinawa is a tiny island, but beautiful and has a climate similar to Hawaii. I remember Christmas being around 70 degrees every year. I would really love to go back one day and take Aron and Rudy with me. How cool would it be to take them to the beaches where I swam as a kid and go snorkeling with my family... guess I better start saving my pennies!

God's GREEN Earth

This post was inspired by two things: Earth Day, which makes a lot more sense to me than so many other holidays on our calendar, and my friend Rachael's SPT (self portrait Thursday) post.
I hope you'll bear with me through my recycleable soap-boxing, cause this is a passionate subject for me.
Recycling is one of those things that just makes sense to do. You know? NO, it is not always convenient. I should know. We do not have curb-side recycling in my neighborhood. Instead we have this:

AH, my lovely home-made recycling center. She ain't beautiful, but she get's the job done. See, I am even recycling old laundry baskets by using them to recycle! I keep my cans in the big one, plastics in the middle, then the green one is for glass. I also have newspapers, magazine and cardboard boxes inside the house. I take it all down to the recycling center in our little town about 2 miles down the road.
On to my next favorite thing to recycle: those evil plastic shopping bags! Please, please, please do not throw these away! If I find out that you do, our friendship might be at stake. I am only half-kidding. I have started to purchase one or two of the reusable bags every time I go to the store. Then, when I am done un-loading the groceries, I just stick them in the back of the car for next time. Like any good habit, it just takes practice! Here, I'll break it down for you:

Bad Bag vs. Good Bag


How are we doing so far? Anyone still reading this? OK, for the two of you I will keep going.
My next big mission is to get rid of bottled water! Well, not get rid of it, but really reduce in this area. What a bunch of waste for WATER! There are so many reusable containers out there and they come in every shape and size. I no longer buy bottled water unless it is for a camping trip or something similar. If you don't like the way your water tastes, please look into a filtration system. It'll be cheaper in the long run anyway! Here are some examples of what we use:

Now, I don't write all of this to boast and tell you what a difference I make. I do it to encourage. Kinda like a GREEN cheer-leader. (Sniff, I was never a cheer-leader in school...well, you know that from this) Some people think recycling is a waste of time, that the Earth wasn't meant to last forever. To that I say that I am not meant to live forever, but I am still going to take care of my body. What a gift our world is to us. Let us all take good care of it while we are here. So this little guy's kids can have the same thing we had!

Good Times

My Best Friend, Casey, came out to visit us this week and to help me celebrate my birthday! It was her first visit to Tennessee, so we tried to fill it with lots of fun things, but I think the best part was just being together. She is such a beautiful person inside and out, just having her here was good for my heart! Best Friends are like that. Rudy and Aron adore Casey as well and that is priceless for me.

On Thursday we had gorgeous weather, so we took Aron to the Zoo. It was lots and lots of fun. Aron spent the whole day saying, "Casey, you GOTTA come see this!" I almost felt like chopped liver. But it was really cute to see his bond with her hasn't faded even though we live so far apart.

Friday night, we went to the 25th Anniversary Celebration for Mercy Ministries. It was an amazing concert featuring Point of Grace, Barlow Girl, Cece Winans, Mandisa, Natalie Grant and Israel Houghton. WHEW! It was incredible!

Then, on Saturday night, Casey kept Aron for us while Rudy took me out to dinner and another concert (Casting Crowns!!!!) with some friends. It was my "Birthdaypalooza". And I was blessed this week right and left by so many wonderful people. All of the cards and wishes I received reminded me that God has filled my life with so many wonderful people. I just can't express how thankful I am!

Aron with Casey and I on Friday

Aron and Casey at the Zoo. He loves her....AND her hair!

At the Zoo on a gorgeous spring day...and my birthday!

Front Door, Back Door

This is a photography meme. I was tagged by dyln and I just adore her photos.
Anyway, the rules are listed below and I thought it would be a lot of fun to see all of the different views! Hope you will play, whether I tag you or not!

1. Step out of your front door and take a picture.
2. Step out of your back door and take a picture.
3. Put them on your blog, along with the rules.
4. If there are things in the photos that you particuarly like or dislike, you can point them out, or just explain what we are seeing. Maybe changes over the seasons or some junk in your neighbor's yard that drives you nuts.
5. Tag as many or as few people as you like. Preferably at least one.
6. Do it again next month if you like.



Here is the view out my front door. The creek runs in front of our house AND behind. It kind of wraps around us and comes to a Y in the front (about 50 yards to the right, out of view of this shot. I love flying a flag on our porch. Everyone should do it, I think. The trees are budding now and I bet next month we'll barely be able to see the house across the street.
Back door. More budding trees. I think that little red one next to the post might be a Japanese Maple, but don't quote me on that. Isn't our little shed cute? I want to paint it to match the house, though. A paler grey and black trim. The shutters on our house were that red until I got after them with some black paint last summer.

OK, I tag Rachael because I like her faux grass in the desert and want to see her kids in the pool this summer, Kelley because I like her real grass and Angel because I know she will make it fun!

Don't try this...

...at home, or anywhere else for that matter! Flashback Friday has been postponed to bring you Food Safety Friday. How does one get themselves a fashionable bracelet such as this? OK, but I am warning you.....

Well, first you have to make dinner for your family. Next you have to put the knife you used down in your sink so that your child cannot reach up and grab it. Then you should sit at the table and enjoy food and conversation with your loved ones. When dinner is over and your husband takes the offspring upstairs for some rough-housing and then a bath, load what you can into the dishwasher and then begin to wash by hand. IMPORTANT: You have to load everything into the sink and hide the knife from yourself, pump sufficient soap and fill with hot water. When you are almost done, be sure to scrub the whisk you used well. With sufficient pressure, the brush head will detach from your dish wand and your had will go driving down into the soapy water, cutting your finger. OH, and that hollow thud you hear? That'll be the knife knocking against the bone.

Now, you will want to shriek, yell your husband's name and apply pressure. In that order. (At least that is how I did it) Then you will want to have your mate bring you your shoes, grab your purse with ID and insurance card and head to the nearest walk-in clinic. Don't forget the offspring. We got there 5 minutes before they closed. Whew! The Novocaine will sting and the tetanus shot won't be fun, but you really don't feel the 7 stitches.

And that's how it is done. What? You say I could have just bought some gauze at CVS and done it myself? Great. Now I am just embarrassed.

Aron's Prayer

I usually try to get my quiet-time done before Aron is awake. He likes lots of attention when he first wakes up, so it is better for everyone. But, some days are just harder than others to get up before him and today was one of those days. So, after breakfast I sat at the kitchen table and put on some Disney for him. But, he decided that what I was doing looked like a lot more fun.
He asked me if he could read my Bible and I said, "Sure." I told him that the Bible is a book that has lots of smaller books inside. "Cool", he said. I read to him a little from Psalms and told him that David was a king who loved God and wanted to thank him by singing and praying. I asked him, "What do you want to pray and thank God for?" He stood up on the kitchen chair, folded his hands together and looked around. Then he prayed:

Thank you for Easter

and thank you for my flowers that Daddy branged for my Mommy.

Thank you for the house and the plates

and thank you for my Mammaw.

And Amen.

I was truly blessed by a late quiet-time today. My son taught me to thank God for everything and to do it simply and from the heart. And Amen!

This book....

...will open your mind, expand your heart, and encourage your spirit. I can't give too much away, but it really has changed me. It has painted a picture for me that enables me to see things that I have always "known", but couldn't really grasp. Please read it and then tell me what you think about it! Thank you, Kelley, for letting me borrow this book before you even read it!

"Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God.

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

To learn more, visit: http://www.theshackbook.com/

FBF6

So my friend Rachael decided to do FBF Prom style. Well, I couldn't let her do it alone! You should join us! It's scary-fun!

Anywho, here I am in all my 17-year-old-junior-prom-glory. Was I really that thin? And I had no business wearing that dress. I didn't have the body to keep the top up! And where was the self-tanner when you needed it? Did they not have that back in 1993? Somebody should have drug me to the tanning salon. Or at least suggested a different color dress. But, I probably would not have listened.

Junior prom brings back some funny memories. Like the fact that my date picked me up in an RV. Yes, an RV. His uncle was driving it. What were my parents thinking letting me go to prom in an RV?I was the only one with a curfew, though, so I suppose they were smart in that sense. My friend Brandie and I tasted escargot at the restaurant we went to. Then we excused ourselves to the restroom to go and spit it out. Yes, we were so classy!

We were standing on the stairs in the home of a girl named Kelly that I had never met before. She was the date of my date's best friend. But who cared! It was prom and we were excited to be all dressed up and cruising Austin in an RV! No romance between me and Shawn here. He was just a fun guy from my Spanish class and that was it. Good times!

Hope

Can you see them? My Hostas are coming back! I am so ready for the sunshine and for all things green and garden-y. When I first walked by these plants yesterday, I almost didn't notice them budding. I have been looking for them to sprout up for weeks. I wondered if I had done a bad thing by cutting back all of the dead folliage back in November. But, my green-thumbed-blog-buddy dyln assured me I had done the right thing.

So, I had to look twice to make sure I hadn't imagined these little purple and green sprouts along the side of the house. It really spoke to me. Sometimes we go through cold and gloomy seasons in our lives and we try to get rid of the things that are holding us back. Then we pray. Then we wait. Sometimes we wait so long that we almost lose hope. Which really is silly. Doesn't the Spring come every year? Doesn't the Sun rise every morning? The Psalms say, "..be strong, and let your heart take courage; Wait for the Lord!"(27:14) He is faithful. I am the one who doubts and wonders if my prayers will be answered. But He is showing me he hears me. Yes, I think God is speaking to me through my Hostas, as he does through all His creation. He is saying

"I am making everything new." Revelation 21:5 Even my tiny faith. Even my hope.