Family Reunion

Last Sunday was kind of a strange day. It was Mother’s Day but I was not with any of my kids.  It was the Lord’s Day but we left church after Sunday School to drive to Monument.  It was a family reunion but it isn’t even summer! Oh well!

Our family reunion was for my Dad’s side of the family.  My Dad is 85 years old and he is now the oldest living member of his family.  There were eleven children in his family.  His three oldest brothers and twin sister have already passed away.  I had breakfast with my folks this week and I asked about some of my Dad’s growing up times----so many experiences during the Great Depression and war time.  We  are so spoiled in our present culture.  We have so much which we take for granted----material possessions, ease of living, even medical knowledge and care.  The greatest difference in my own experiences growing up and Dad’s as a boy is the the presence of the Lord in our home.  I feel so blessed to have had a Godly father growing up and still to this day!

We took a lot of pictures at this reunion, lots of flashes and talking.  So not everyone is looking the same direction and some of my relatives were so busy talking, they never did get a smile on with everyone else.  It was rather comical.  but here’s the best I got:

Here is Dad with his siblings----
Uncle’s Cutter, Weldon, Dad and Wayne
Aunt’s Beulah, Darlene, and Phyllis

Just the Boys---Wayne and Weldon are twins and the youngest

Just the Girls---

All my aunts and uncles, with their spouses---

All the first cousins that came, 24 of us----

We took a picture of each individual family, but I’ll just share us---

Scott, Aaron, Kyle and Krista and Nathan (Robin’s kids) Wally
Terry and Robin, Dad, Mom and Me

 

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close knit family…

…in another city!

Getting the Garden In

Tuesday evening Wally fertilized the grass because we were supposed to get rain.  He went ahead and watered because he said “I’m not putting much faith in the forecasters.”  But that night it did rain, and it rained a good steady rain all night long.  Wally and Wes left early for AZ with two others from our church.  They were heading to Grand View Camp to do some roofing on the new buildings there.  They drove out of the rain and into 70* dry weather.  Here at home it kind of snowed, kind of pelted and mostly rained all day long…and on into the night and all of Thursday!  Those “forecasters” reported three inches of rain!  I guess that is more than our average for the month of May.

Friday the sun was shining and I finally got the garden planted.  I feel kind of bad because Wally tilled it three weekends ago.  But it was a beautiful day to garden all day long.  With the moist ground to work in, it was easy hoeing and digging.  I feel very accomplished and wore out!

Wally doing his part

Gypsy doing her part

Here’s my part

Every year I plant zinnia seed along the fence…I can remember doing that with my Dad along the edge of his garden when I was little.  These strings are my carrots, radish, lettuce and spinach. This year I’m going to try some thing different.  I only planted half of the row and then in a couple of weeks I’m going to plant the other half.  I think I’m going to try a fall planting too. Something else new for me, I bought one of those grape tomato plants.  I think they are about perfect for a salad!  I also put in three longer rows of green beans at the far end.  Last year I somehow bought pole beans instead of bush…they were awful and I had none to can.  I’m excited about that now, but come picking time, I’m sure my back will wonder what in the world I was thinking!

And to top it off, my lilac bush seems to hanging in there just fine!  They do smell so good!

Thankful Thursday

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth;  the time of singing has come.”  Song of Solomon 2:11-12

I have had a lot of flowers around the house the past week so I thought, what a nice thing to be thankful for!  Wesley is a contract driver for a florist here in Denver.  It has been a good job.  For the Holidays, they are always looking for extra drivers.  In fact Wes got his job because Wally used to work the holidays.  Wally has held a record for the most flowers delivered in the shortest amount of time….until this past Saturday!  Wes has brought in his friends each holiday, who are working their way through college, to make some extra money. Anyway, having a flower delivery person in the house, we often have flowers, especially around the hectic holidays---bad orders, bad addresses, re-deliveries.  The week before Mother’s Day, I had a nice bouquet to enjoy for one of those reasons.  And they just kept coming. Monday after Mother’s Day there were three beautiful bouquets in my house.  I came home from BSF Monday night to a very fragrant house!  It was a little overwhelming to me though.  So on Tuesday it was kind of fun to knock on the door of some of my neighbors and share a vase full of flowers…who doesn’t like to get them?  And I gave one to my Mom.  On Saturday Wes had called me into the room and gave me this…

Aren’t they beautiful?

A five gallon bucket full of roses!!  (Love the vase!!)  These roses are the ones that could not be used to fill orders. They were going to be disposed of.  So Wesley and his two friends gathered them up to take home to “Mom” ! 

Outside the flowers are abundant too!  This past week I noticed the lilacs are all beginning to open.  My bush is finally covered in blossoms and fragrance.  And all of a sudden I have irises opening, and my flax is blooming (I love that little flower)!  My columbines seem to be be loaded with buds also!  It’s so wonderful!  I really do enjoy flowers!  Only trouble is, tonight, we have snow falling and the temps are dropping…and my lilac bush is kind of droopy.  Here’s hoping they can shake it off and pop back in the next day or so! 

“Earth laughs in flowers”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

BSF

Psalm 107:23-22
Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.

Those verses were part of my Bible reading this morning.  Beside them in the margin of my Bible I have written, “BSF-CA, May 12, 2006.  Five years ago I was a group leader in Bible Study Fellowship, and quite content to continue serving in that position until I was and old lady!  Five years ago, as the BSF year was ending, I was asked to pray about being the class administrator in my class.  Scary thought to me.  The Lord used those verses to encourage me to step out in faith and not be afraid of all I was fearing, and to commit. He promised me that I would “see His works” and “His wonders” as I stepped into “deeper waters”.  Now I cannot believe it has been five years ago.  How timely to be reminded of His promises to me again, as Monday we ended our study in the book of Isaiah.  It was our Share Night and many women gave testimony of those works and wonders that the Lord had taught them this year!  It was a great evening!  And God has been so very faithful to His leading and promises to me personally!

It has been a great year!  The Lord has taught me many lessons.  And I have had the privilege of serving with some wonderful women.  Here is our admin team:

Emily, Stephanie, Sherry, April and Gayle

This is our class staff:  Class Administrator, me, Substitute Teaching Leader, Gail, Teaching Leader, Alethea, and Children’s Supervisor, Debbie. 

A great year?  Absolutely!  A welcome rest for the summer?  you bet!

Mother’s Day Cards

Here’s the cards I made for Mother’s Day this year.

This is Andrea’s card

This card was for my Mom in law

My Mom’s card

This one is for Robin

In Sunday School we made these cute little tea pots for the girls to take home for their Moms.  Inside we put a tea bag and a couple of pieces of Dove chocolates.  I think it was Andrea who brought one home to me years ago, with a cookie and a teabag inside.  I traced around her card and repeated it in Sunday School for years.  Then I saw a cute idea using packets of flower seed.  So I used that idea several times.  This year Andrea asked me to send her the pattern for the teapot to use in her Sunday School class.  Well, she thought the pattern was  a little rough and revamped it a bit and sent it back.  So, this is what the girls made!

Happy Mother’s Day…and crafting!

I’ll Make These Again!

That’s what I said the first time I made these enchiladas.  That was just a week ago and sure enough, I made them for dinner again last night.  In fact I was going to skip them since Wally was not going to be home and Wes seemed a little disappointed.  So I went ahead.. they are really easy. 

Have you seen these new Creamy Skillets next to the cream cheese at your grocery store?  They are made by Philadelphia Cream Cheese.  They come in different flavors and are designed to make dinner easy…toss in your own meat or pasta and add the creamy carton and wha-la---dinner is served!  We tried one of the savory garlic flavors that you use over pasta and chicken when Andrea was here visiting.  It was ok.  But the Santa Fe blend with the chicken enchilada recipe is a definite repeat!  Here’s the recipe:

• 1 small onion chopped
• 3 Cups shredded chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts)
• 1 can 14.5 oz. can tomatoes, drained (I used a can of 10 oz. Rotel tomatoes, not drained)
• 1 tub Philadelphia Santa Fe Blend Cooking Crème
• 1/2 Cup Mexican style shredded cheese
• 8- 6” flour tortillas (Both times I made this I got ten out of the recipe)

Cook chicken and shred.  Sauté onions in a little oil or cooking spray.  Stir in chicken, tomatoes, 3/4 Cup of cooking crème and the shredded cheese.  Spoon about 1/3 cup of mixture onto center of tortilla.  Roll and place seam side down in 9x13 dish treated with cooking spray. Top with remaining cooking crème. Cover and bake in 350* oven for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.

Let me tell you, if you have any leftover, they won’t be for long.  Wesley got a little possessive over the four we had left last time I made them and staked his claim on them.  They are that good!

He’s Making a Difference

My brother Scott works for King Soopers.  He has for just over 36 years now.And for nearly all of that 36 years he has been at the same store.  On Easter when we were altogether, sometime during the meal, Scott says, ”So I guess you all never look at your King Soopers ad.”  Honestly, I have hardly looked at any of the grocery ads in several weeks.  I haven't been doing very good shopping lately…just using the go and grab method!  I am pretty good at looking at my Michael’s and Joann’s ads though!  Well, of course we want to know if he was in it!   And he was!  Right there with the avocados on sale!

I happen to know that Scott really does make a difference.  I’ve been in his store when he is at work.  He is friendly and helpful.  When he is working on the U-Scan, he pulls all the bags open so they are ready to use.  I have not seen that at the store where I shop.  He knows his customers…he will introduce you…by name.  Usually he knows something that is going on in their life and is asking about it.  A lot of them are seniors and they really love him.  That King Soopers apron he wears has a big pocket in it.  He has a pad of paper in his pocket and as many of his customers come through with their groceries, they’ll ask him to pray about something.  So he pulls out his prayer list and write it down.  I would love to have grocery checker like that when I go to the store, wouldn’t you?  Keep it up Scott!