March Meals

Daniel is participating in March Meals at our church this month. He is working with the youth group team to serve this delight......spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and CUPCAKES for dessert. Oh my! I love cupcakes. They were delish. We were so very proud of him and the way he helped out. He's such a great kid.

It's almost GORGEOUS weather here in Kansas. It was in the mid-80's today and absolutely beautiful. I love having the windows open and the fans on. I can't wait to get my pots planted and have a little color on my back patio and at the front door. Some of my favorite flowers are peonies, geraniums and roses. I have quite a few rosebushes, about five peonies and I always plant pots of geraniums. I also have a lilac bush that hasn't done to well the last few years so we will see what this summer brings for it. It might be time to yank it out and start over.

The rest of the week I will be doing a little spring cleaning. I just got a NEW supply of Mrs. Meyer's products in the mail (geranium scent) and can't wait to spiff this place up.

A Little More About Nuthin'

After watching the movie, The Jane Austen Book Club, which we absolutely LOVED...I decided I'm missing out be never having read Jane Austen. So, I am starting with Sense and Sensibility and am enjoying it greatly.


I am making this DELIGHT tonight for dessert. I can't wait. I love lemon things and so I'm sure this will be divine! I'll post the recipe later although I'm just taking it off the Food Network website.

I can't WAIT for summer. I love grilling out and sitting in the sun. I love my flower garden when it is in bloom and I'm hoping I can convince Daniel to help me plant a veggie garden this year. I think it would be fun to grow some tomatoes and zucchini at least.

REDEEMED

I've been thinking alot about this word. Redeemed. Do you know what it means to you?
The dictionary defines it the following ways:
re·deem (r-dm)
tr.v. re·deemed, re·deem·ing, re·deems
1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.
2. To pay off
3. To turn in and receive something in exchange.
4. To fulfill
5. To convert
6. To set free; rescue or ransom.
7. To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.
8. To make up for.
9. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation.

Which one (or ones) define your life?
I especially love #6 and #9.
Awesome!

Cleaning Up

This is probably VERY pathetic to admit but one of my favorite days of the month is the day that The Cleaning Authority comes to clean my house. They come every other week and it is just such a blessing that I can barely stand it. It makes me love my husband immensely that he pays for it! Of course, every day there is picking up and maintenance...I still have to clean the toilets a couple times a week, wipe up and vacuum BUT I don't have to scrub the bathrooms and I barely have to dust anything. It's wonderful.

There is just one little problem. I hate being HERE when they come to clean. I feel like I distract them and it always makes me feel guilty and bad about myself. So..I used to just hang out in the laundry room and catch up on laundering and read but NOW..I almost always go and have coffee and a bagel at Panera. It's like my twice a month treat and I really love it so much! I take my Bible, whatever Bible study I'm working on at the time and spread out and spend two hours really paying attention to it. It's wonderful and the longest stretch of time I really have to devote to study.
I always feel like it's my mini-vacation. Sometimes I take a couple cookbooks and do some menu planning for the week. Coming home to a perfectly clean house is a delight that I do not take lightly!

Here I Am

One of my most favorite songs is "Here I Am" by Downhere. The lyrics are so awesome.

Downhere - Here I Am
From the album Ending Is Beginning

Sometimes Your calling, comes in dream
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze
You reach for the deepest hope in me
And call out for the things of eternity

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say

Chorus
Here I am, Lord send me
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands
Are You not the closest when it's hardest to stand
I know that You will finish what You began

And these broken parts You will redeem
Become the song that I can sing

Chorus

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness
And the fear that I'll fail You in the end
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but You can

Chorus

Here I Am, all my life an offering to You, to You
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan
Here I am

That just does me in...somehow MY story is part of HIS plan. My story feels so small and insignificant. It's heartening to think that MY story is not for naught. Even my broken parts He can redeem for good and His glory! That's the best!

Ten Things

I got this idea on the LPM (Living Proof Ministries) blog and decided it was kind of fun. Here's ten things you might not know about me:

1. I have almost ZERO hair on my legs naturally. Freakishly really.I really never have to shave them.
2. I love hot weather, especially humidity.
3. I ADORE reading. I'll even read the back of the toilet cleaner bottle.
4. I'm very random when completing tasks which bugs my Type A hubby.
5. I ADORE animals and always wanted to be a vet.
6. I have been "saved" quite a few times. Once for real and several others "just as a safety net". LOL
7. I adore aprons and anything from the 1940's.
8. I love reading about simplifying but my life is actually quite complicated.
9. Sometimes when I cook, I pretend I'm taping a show for the Food Network so I'm not so bored.
10. I grew up near the ocean and the smell of it always makes me cry. I miss it.

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

This little high jumper is my Maggie! We recently went to Crossroads National Qualifier volleyball tournament in Denver. Maggie's team came in FIRST PLACE in the Silver Select 18's division. We were SO proud and it was an awesome way to end her club volleyball career. She has two more tournaments and then we are through with this season of life which is a little bittersweet. We have had many great trips with volleyball...Omaha, Oklahoma City, Denver, Topeka, Salina, Kansas City and many little towns around Kansas. Good times. How can you not love this face? My Mags is known for her engaging personality and her enthusiasm! Do you get that from the picture below?


This sweet boy is at Training Camp. He was a naughty, wicked fellow and now there is hope. His breeder is training him in obedience and hunting. We have visited him and he is doing so well. It did about break my heart to leave him but it will be worth it to have a well behaved dog. He's just too big and strong to handle if he doesn't obey.

These days, however, seem like a distant memory. Wasn't he the cutest! I think he's so handsome now but what a little honey!


Speaking of dogs...if I had my perfect life I would be enjoying lunch at a sidewalk cafe just like this picture. The only difference would be that my dogs would be tied to the chair. If Shadow comes through his training like I think he will, it would mean that he would be lying next to the table instead of dragging it down the street! Ha!


Enough for now..

Blogging Again!

Yep. I'm back to blogging. I've been so busy lately with my daughter and college and volleyball that I haven't had a moment to think a thought of my own. That is the excuse but I also just haven't felt like saying anything. I have a lot of ambivalent thoughts about my Maggie going away to college. On one hand..it's a new adventure and I want her to experience life to the fullest. On the other hand...I'm scared for her. It's so much easier to feel confident that she's safe when she is under my roof. I love making sure she's comfortable and well fed. How will I do that when she is hundreds of miles away? She's my first born. My baby girl.

Anyway...through the last months we have visited colleges and attended alot of volleyball tournaments. We have been to Topeka for a long weekend and just recently to Denver for a four day tournament. Daniel went to a youth retreat over the weekend so we were in Denver with just Maggie. It was a really special time. We stayed two blocks from the convention center in downtown Denver and walked everywhere. We shopped, ate out at incredible restaurants, rode the tram back and forth and watched ALOT of volleyball. Maggie's team came in FIRST in the Silver Select 18's division. We were so proud of her! She's a machine. Coach Pohlman stayed to watch her and so on Friday following our return to Kansas...we headed to Dodge City to check out Dodge City Community College. We all loved it! It's the perfect place for our Maggie and so this Fall...she will be a D3 Conquistador! She's going to be playing a starting position as a Right Side Hitter and she is very excited. Now we are in the throes of picking out dorm decor and trying to figure out how to get everything she will need to Dodge. Very exciting times!

Daniel has been busy with physical therapy for his knee, church youth group and guitar lessons. He is a guitar playing wizard! He has missed Shadow (his black lab) who has been at training camp so much! Shadow has four more weeks of training before he comes home but we visited him and he is doing so well. It's amazing how much he has changed from a big brat into a well behaved boy.

I feel horribly bad about abandoning my sweet blog but life has been so overwhelming with sick me, sick kids, sick parents, my Uncle Bill's death, etc...isn't life just like that sometimes? My sweet friend, Katie, encouraged me to keep writing and I know that daily writing is the key. So here's my commitment to keeping my blog current. It's a great journal and I'm going to write more regularly.