Licking the Beaters

Today we went over to James and Loni's house and got to play with Miss B. Any day with Brooklyn is a good day indeed! While Keith and James went outside to do boy stuff in the garage we stayed inside. Loni asked if I would mind if she went ahead and started making the cupcakes she wanted to take to work tomorrow. And you would have thought that the cow had jumped over the moon as excited as Brooklyn got!

I set her up on the bar in the kitchen and she got to watch mama mix up the batter. Once the cupcakes were in the oven it was time to whip up the cream cheese frosting. Loni handed one of the beaters to B and she was so happy. Come to find out, this was the first time she'd gotten to do this.


This is another instance where she is just like her Aunt Lynne'. I always lick the beaters, but Lynne' puts her mouth around them just like Brooklyn is doing.

She very studiously licked the beaters til there was nothing left on them, then calmly handed it out to Loni and said "More". She learned very fast.

Good times.....

Friday's Fave Five

Be sure to stop by Susanne's blog to read more Friday's Fave Faves. And here's a few of my favorite things from the past week:

1. I got my truck back! But the reason I'm mentioning it here isn't because of the obvious, it's because I've learned some huge life lessons in this last week. I'm still figuring it all out in my head so I can do an entire post, but I'm learning through some very dear friends how to live beyond my fear. God is bigger than any creepy boys and the life lessons I've gained through this experience have been huge.

2. Dinner at home - Because of the truck theft and how much money it has cost us we've decided to buckle down again and stop eating out as much. And what we're finding out is that we actually really do prefer eating at home. After dinner each night the three of us get the kitchen cleaned up (many hands make light work), all the while chatting and enjoying the company and togetherness. A beautiful blessing indeed.

3. Bible study options - Tuesday was the last night of my Bible study and while I will miss that study it's exciting to choose what comes next. I've narrowed my choices down to either the Beth Moore Esther study or BSF (if you have an opinion please feel free to share!). I posed this question on Twitter and Facebook (oh how I love social networking!) and have gotten just as many good comments about each of them. Right now I'm leaning more towards BSF as this year's study is John and I'd love to really get into the book and learn more. But no decision yet.

4. Granddaughter Brooklyn! - I know you're all surprised to see that... I talked to Loni last night and B was just crying and crying in the background. Loni asked her if she wanted to talk to mawmaw and thankfully she did. After we 'chatted' Loni got back on the phone and we finished our conversation. Before we hung up I wanted to say good night to Brooklyn. She got on the phone and still had a teary voice, but managed to say 'Night night mawmaw'. About the sweetest thing I've heard in a month of Sundays!

5. Snickers Chocolate Covered Apple - I KNOW! Can you believe how incredible that sounds? And believe it or not, it tastes even better. The sister-in-law of a friend owns a Rocky Mountain franchise and she keeps bringing these apples. I tell you it truly is one of the best things I have ever eaten - who knew? And I love convincing myself it's healthy since there's an apple under there somewhere. ;)

Hello Kitty Car Exhaust

Went out to lunch with friends and on the way out of the restaurant we saw this car. Who wouldn't take a picture of it as it is so stinkin' cute! But really, we've all seen Hello Kitty stickers on car back windows.


A closer look revealed the cutest thing - Hello Kitty exhaust pipes! This car absolutely had to belong to a girly girl for her to have even decorated this little detail.

I can think of two people I know that would go nuts over these. And I have to admit that even though I'm not one of the Hello Kitty obsessed, I do think this is just darling.

Wonder how Keith would feel if I put these on my truck???

Faithful In His Promises

We are back from a great weekend at the lake. It was just the four of us this time - Keith, Lynne', Joe (the golden retriever) and I, but it seems like regardless of how many are there it's always my favorite weekend ever.

Today started especially great. I woke up before the other two, so I slipped on my shoes and went for an early morning walk. It is so quiet up there around the lake and so much beauty and wonder to see when we slow down for just a minute and look. Last night while out 4 wheelin' we saw 3 deer down by the lake, so we pulled over for a few minutes to watch them. I am thoroughly convinced that these are the same three babies that Keith and I saw when we spent a week up there in July. And like any proud mama I was so happy to see them growing up healthy and well.

I ended up at a small cafe to get a cup of coffee to go. I hadn't made any coffee earlier since I didn't want to be the party pooper and wake the other two up, but I sure do appreciate a beautiful cup each morning! The fun part of getting it at the cafe was chit chatting with the others there.

Finally left and went back to the house, where it was still filled with sleep. I got my Bible and Beth Moore study guide and went outside with my coffee and my God and spent some time in the word. So peaceful and so perfect - even to the point of seeing some butterflies nearby. What a fun blessing!


When the sleepyheads finally got up we headed out four wheelin' again and saw these flowers growing wild down by the lake. They were stunningly gorgeous, though all I had was my cell phone camera for pictures. The amazing thing is they remind me of something you'd find growing in Hawaii, not the border between Texas and Oklahoma! Another fun blessing today.


We ended up heading over by the boat ramp because I am here to tell you that a person's true personality seems to come out on boat ramps. It can really go between amusing to shameful to sometimes even scandalous over there. The one thing it never is though is boring. But today we pulled up and saw the above. Seems a big wind storm - they don't think it was a tornado - went through recently and basically wadded up one of the boat docks nearby. They'd pulled the boats out by now and they were all lined up on shore and we were just shocked to see them. One pretty large boat had a pole pushed straight through the hull! Not sure how it happened, but it was sobering to see. I'm just quite thankful that nobody was injured.

In the course of a 24 hour period we saw some amazing examples of God's beauty in nature, and also an example of how we need to respect the weather and nature.

And better still, my Bible study is Living Beyond Yourself - Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit and this week we are studying Faithfulness. The examples above surely point to how faithful He is to us:

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is faithful to all his promises
and loving toward all he has made.
Psalm 145:13 (NIV)

AMEN!

Friday's Fave Five

Be sure to stop by Susanne's blog to read more Friday's Fave Faves. And here's a few of my favorite things from the past week:

1. The police have recovered my truck! Glory be you could've knocked me over with a feather when I received that call. And even more amazing is that all the pieces are still there and it's minimal damage. After the shop is finished with it we plan to get the mega ultimate extreme detailing done so that all traces of the creepy boys that stole it are gone. Then we'll hightail it over to a shop and have a super duper loud security system installed in it. This little joy ride of theirs is going to end up costing us, but in the end it could've been so much worse and for that I am very thankful.

2. Facebook. I dug in my heels and said I did not need another internet site to take up more of my time, but ended up joining a few months ago and have never looked back. I love it that I can keep up with cousins and family that I don't get to see very often. I've reconnected with friends that have moved away and now even have friends from my grade school days on there. And right now one of them is posting quite a few photos of us from wayyyy back and that is so much fun. Even my 'today' friends are all on it and it's so easy to see little thoughts throughout the day.

3. My granddaughter Brooklyn. I didn't see her this week, but I have been messing around with photos and getting some printed out, so it's still good. And her mama is really great about telling us stories about things she's doing. More fun still is that when her mama and I are on the phone I get to talk to Miss B as well. She's just now starting to actually talk while on the phone and she makes me smile so much.

4. Green Peppers. Now that might sound crazy, but there's more to it than just enjoying their taste. Our little green pepper plant has really just kind of sat there all summer up until this week. It has suddenly decided that the time is NOW and has grown so much and has FOUR green peppers growing! Beyond exciting for this city girl to think that soon I'll be able to pick a peck of peppers and maybe pickle them. {groan}

5. JC Penney. Ordinarily I wouldn't add a store to this list, but I finally did some shopping and found some tops marked down to $6! Lest you think they might be 'yucky' I am here to tell you that I've already worn two of them to work and gotten more compliments on them than I have in a long time. I love end of season sales!

CFBA - Kathryn's Fountain

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Kathryn's Fountain by David Claassen - Cladach Publishing (November 8, 2008)

MY REVIEW:
Reading along in this book I was thinking to myself that it was a very delightful read and loved the author's style. Then the 'twist' in the book happened and I found myself drawn in more. As a person ages and starts questioning their worth to society, well one never knows what magic might happen. And it also proves that you're never too old to make a difference rather than just living out your days.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and seek to live my life to please Him and for His glory. I'm walking this journey with my life's partner, Diann. We've been married since 1972 and have two grown children. Our daughter Julie serves as a missionary with her husband Victor in Mexico in a ministry they founded called Fishers of Men. Check their ministry out at www.fishersofmenmexico.org. Our son Dan is married to Teri and he's a detective in a police department in a suburb of Indianapolis.

I have pastored the Mayfair-Plymouth Congregational Church of Toledo, Ohio since 1975, having just celebrated 33 years at the church. You can check out the church at http://www.mayfairplymouth.org/. You can also visit me at my blog, where I add material about every other day or so.

I enjoy photography, that's why I'm treating you with a different photo of mine each week on the web site. Over three hundred of my photos are for sale at www.istockphoto.com.

I'm also a ventriloquist, of sorts, and treat the children of my church with a "visit with Ricky" every third Sunday of the month in the morning worship services.

Raising white homing pigeons is another of my hobbies. I enjoy watching them soar overhead.

That's just a little bit about me. Thanks for visiting. God bless you!


ABOUT THE BOOK

Kathryn is resigned to living out her last days at Victorian Manor, a beautiful old home for senior citizens. Then one day a miraculous experience happens to Kathryn at the garden fountain, and she begins living an adventure beyond her wildest dreams. Love and sacrifice take on new meaning as she involves a social worker and a police detective in carrying out what she believes to be her calling -- to rescue a street child named Jasmine.

Kathryn's Fountain celebrates the gifts that the generations can bring to each other. The conclusion is a resounding affirmation that it's never too late to make a difference.

If you would like to read an excerpt from Kathryn's Fountain, go HERE