Most afternoons, and some mornings, you will find me right here. My front porch. I love to travel, see different things and places, but I am always happy to be back here! And I always love sharing it with some of my favorite family and friends! That just makes it extra special!
Lots of things have been figured out on this porch. Lots of funny stories and laughter. Do you have a happy place? We all need one!
Okay, really, The Avengers…I hate to admit it but all the hype is totally wasted on me!!! To be perfectly honest I can tell within the first minute if I am going to love a movie. I am really shallow when it comes to movies. For me to really, really love a movie it needs to include, not in any particular order, a cute house, a girl that has cute hair, or someone who dresses really cute, and great music. How pathetic is that? So the only thing that The Avengers had going for it was Scarlett Johannson’s hair.
Total class! I’ve been having a bit of hair crisis so I was really interested in her haircut. Just telling it like it is y’all!
My idea of a great movie is Something’s Gotta Give. I own that movie and watch it frame by frame, looking at every detail of Diane Keaton’s house on Martha’s Vineyard.
That rug!!! There are no super heroes involved, just cuteness everywhere you look!
Love those bookcases!!
And this kitchen!!
I will say, I did enjoy the company while watching that sic-fi, super-hero, save the world, whatever kind of movie that was, and I am sure I will sit through another one, but I will always be looking for cute hair.
I casually heard a new friend mention a ministry that she was involved in that washed the feet of homeless women and something inside me quickened. I wanted some of that!! A few months later I was able to join Spark Ministry on a trip to Houston. I just returned from my second trip and I absolutely am hooked! You know when you do something and everything about it just clicks…that’s the way these trips are for me…it’s my thang!!!! I am going to try and briefly describe the weekend…it’s not going to be easy…but I’ll try!
Most trips take place in long-term faith-based recovery centers, but this particular trip, the ladies were bussed to a beautiful farm in Lucas, Texas, the 1899 Farmhouse. We did go down to Dallas Life Foundation, on Thursday night for a ice cream sundae party and to kick off the weekend. We decorated the place with lots of color, spread out a beautiful ice cream bar, turned on fun music, then met each lady that walked through the door of the cafeteria with smiles and hugs. Already bonds began to form as we met the beautiful ladies, finding the faces that went with the names that we had worn on the bracelets around our arms for weeks praying! Each woman was given two t-shirts for the weekend, and we were all instructed which one to wear on certain days. The next time we come together we all look the same. We left there to go back to our hotel with such eager anticipation for the weekend ahead!
Spark Ministry is amazing y’all!! Everything is done with excellence! Obviously the heart of the ministry is to bring life and hope to the women being ministered to, but I can tell you the women who are on the other side, the women who come from various churches to form the team of volunteers for the weekend leave FULL!! It is unbelievable to watch 70+ women working together in harmony! Teams are formed and all weekend these teams provide gifts, food, decorations, everything that takes this experience for the women over the top!
We form small groups, a mixture of the women at DLF and Spark ladies, and sweet relationships are formed there. The day is mixture of fun, fun, fun, teaching, fun, fun, eating, fun, fun, teaching, something like that! It is amazing!
A bonfire ended a full day on Saturday, and as a team we are anticipating our last day to spend with these amazing ladies from DLF. We have had a full day of laughter, pampering, sharing, and basking in the goodness of the Lord. An absolutely beautiful day!
As I reflect on the trip, and I try to sort through the emotions, ways my heart was touched and changed, I think the thing that stands out most to me is how much we are all the same. I may not have to shower down the hall, rushing to get to my dorm before “lights out”, I may not stand in line for a food tray in a crowded cafeteria, but I do know that I am in desperate need of a Savior. That my life is meaningless unless He fills it! I will never forget the beautiful women that touched my life so. I may not see them again this side of heaven but I will look for them when I get there! Thank you ladies at DLF for loving me and thank you Spark Ministry for making it all possible!
I was so grateful that all of our children and grandchildren were able to be with us on Saturday as we celebrated Easter a day early. It was a beautiful day, and we spent the majority of it outside!
The kids all had a ball…they dug a hole…yeah…they dug a hole, all day Saturday. I guess you could call it an Easter hole.
Except for this guy and he pretty much endured a million kisses on those fat cheeks!!
We got them out of hole-digging long enough to dye eggs…
We ended the day with a beautiful dinner outside!
And a little photo shoot…
I pray that whatever day you celebrated, it was full of the awareness of the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the cross. Happy Resurrection Day!! What a beautiful day to celebrate!
Shhhh! Don’t tell…now that the kids are married and have lots of places to be on holidays, I act all self-sacrificing, saying things like “it’s OK, we can celebrate anytime!”…and “I wouldn’t want you to miss being with your WHOLE family!!!”. And everybody thinks I am so nice and so generous to celebrate on another day other than THE day. But I’ll tell you a little secret…I like it that way. The truth is THOSE days are so full, and so busy, and there are always some pretty high expectations on the food. But to get everybody together on an off day…that’s what I’m talking about! We can eat whatever we want, matter of fact, because everybody is having holiday food on THE day, they prefer something different! So it is with eager anticipation that I plan our Easter celebration on SATURDAY! I can’t wait! My son and I discussed the menu over coffee the other day and we are excited about the spring menu we came up with. We’ll be grilling, and this is our appetizer…
This recipe is from a beautiful cookbook by Mary Emmerling full of beautiful county images and delicious food! It seems like I’ve had it forever!
Charley Gold’s Grilled Shrimp
2 pounds jumbo shrimp
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 garlic cloves
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup orange juice
4 tablespoons sugar
Peel and clean the shrimp.
Combine all the other ingredients in a small bowl. Place the shrimp in a glass or crockery bowl, pour the marinade over the shrimp, and refrigerate for 1 hour or more.
Meanwhile, soak bamboo skewers in water and prepare the grill. When the coals are white-hot, place the shrimp on the skewers and then onto the grill, reserving the marinade. Grill the shrimp about 2 minutes on each side, just until they curl and turn pink inside, brushing frequently with the marinade.
We have had this many times, it’s always a favorite at the beach! I can’t wait to enjoy it again!
Yay for wandering among piles and piles of junk!
Yay for discovering something that is an instant treasure in a huge pile of junk!
There is nothing that gets my creative juices flowing, gives me energy and makes me think of creating beauty in my home, have beautiful candlelit dinners and planting flowers, cleaning up my beds, than wandering around for a few days in Round Top! If you haven’t heard of Round Top, Texas, it is a little town of a population of 91 residents that swells to 90,000 twice a year, spring and fall, bringing vendors from all over the United States to display their wares!
I realize that to some this may sound like torture…to me…absolutely one of my favorite pastimes! (one of the few that doesn’t involve grandchildren 
)
I love talking to all the vendors, they are always full of interesting stories, typically the weather is beautiful, and just walking around with a dear friend makes for a wonderful get-away! I did come back with a few treasures. I have looked for a frame to showcase my ever-changing chalkboard in my kitchen-dining area and I found exactly what I was looking for!!
We went a week early this year, shopping the “fields” instead some of the more established shows surrounding Round Top. This beauty was being unloaded from the truck when I snapped it up! I don’t think she would have still been there this week! Some of my favorite finds are things that I have no idea what they are but they catch my eye and I figure out how to display them once I get them home. I love this little rusty wire thingy around my little votive!
I usually have a few things in the back of my mind that I am looking for, and this year a jar for our salsa was on my mental list. This totally fit the bill.
Every afternoon would not be complete without a visit to the “the coffee bug”! Oh my! Brad somehow makes absolutely the best iced latte ever out of his little “bug”!!! Thank you Brad!
It’s funny, as you are reading this, you either “get it” or it sounds like a few days that would be the most miserable of your whole life!! I’m curious, do you “get it”? What’s your favorite past-time? I am so grateful that even though Ricky doesn’t really “get it” like he would like to ever do it with me…he “gets it” enough to make it happen for me! Thank you babe! Can’t wait until next time!!
Things are crazy over here!! Two Bible studies that I have been involved in came to a close this week, we celebrated my son’s Leap Year birthday on St. Patrick’s Day because his son was born on Leap Year Day, I’m decorating for a fundraiser for Spark Ministry, ( a beautiful ministry that takes women’s retreats into homeless shelters) and about to go out of town for my beloved Round Top!!! I want to tell you about each one of these things but I am having to take deep breaths to get through the day…it’ll have to wait! In the meantime…
I know that it is totally up to Him, yet I fret and worry if He’s going to show up.
I know that if He doesn’t, it will all be in vain.
This seeking freedom, this escape from the shame,
the guilt, the regret…all those feelings that have followed the abortion survivor for years
and years. I do what I can to prepare. I worship, inviting His presence, baking something to comfort the women facing the grief that will surely come with today’s lesson. And I wait…
They come, bringing the flowers that represent their unborn child. The child that they never knew. The child that they never gave themselves permission to grieve. I know those feelings all too well. But I also know that there is the beautiful wonderful thing called GRACE.
It was a beautiful afternoon…He showed up. There were many tears that streamed down beautiful faces, faces being transformed by the gift of forgiveness. Beautiful letters read from the heart to those longed for lives, hope imparted for a sweet reunion one day.
HE showed up.
I mentioned to Ricky that I loved bricklayer’s tables and would love to have one in our living room but they were soooooo stinkin’ expensive!! I showed him several that I had pinned on Pinterest and he said that it would be a piece of cake to make.
Okay, maybe he didn’t say “piece of cake”, but he said it would be easy.
Source: cotedetexas.blogspot.com via Kaye on Pinterest
Next thing I know this absolutely marvelous bricklayer’s table is sitting in MY living room!! I love it! He’s the smartest and handiest thing to have around!! I realize that not just everybody has a welder laying around…so it is not exactly a true DIY project.
We are still working on the top, I think it needs a little age, and I definitely need to work on what goes on top, but what a fun project!!
Totally unrelated, well I guess it sort of related because we will look at the table, some friends are coming through town and are stopping in for a little overnight! I am so looking forward to a long relaxing evening! Since it turned off all cold and rainy I thought spaghetti and meatballs sounded yummy and I wanted to have something that could be made ahead of time because I don’t want to miss a second of our visit cooking. This is what is for dessert…can’t wait!!
I had pinned (again, Pinterest, what in the world did we do for ideas before that!!) this little breakfast idea and had never tried it.
This morning I gave it a try to see if I would want to serve it in the morning for our guest. It was indeed yummy!
Source: thesimpledelights.com via Kaye on Pinterest
So for the next 18 hours or so we are going to have beverages, eat, sit by the fire, laugh, catch up, probably cry, (seems like that always happens!) and just enjoy the company of dear friends! What a blessing!
Anyway, that’s what has been going on over here between new baby kisses and keeping big brother! It is indeed a full, wonderful season!
Things have been CRAZY the last few days! We did indeed add Granger Kenway Haun to our family!!
After our sweet daughter-in-law labored for many hours, it was decided that a c-section was the best option for our precious grandson’s arrival…bottom line…he’s perfect, Mommy is making a comeback, all is good…more than good!! God is so faithful, and was so evident all day long!! As she labored quietly, so peacefully, the most beautiful compilation of worship songs played softly in the background. It was a wonderful, worshipful, awe-inspiring day and I am so grateful that I was allowed to share it with them.
This song was one that I fell in love with!