Sweet Dreams

All day Wednesday, there was a "buzz" about the huge line of storms coming.  When I arrived home from VBS, I looked out and saw all of the beautiful flowers in my yard, and knew that some of them may end up damaged by the storm.  I decided to make a little bouquet to fill one of my blue Ball jars.


Ultimately, a storm did come.  I vaguely remember several claps of thunder and lots of lightning during the night.  And then, everything went fuzzy again.  Four days of VBS will do that to you.

The next morning, things were already starting to dry up, and the damage around here was minimal as far as I could see.  One of the stalks of the Delphinium had bent over. Everything else seems okay.  Though the rest of my family assures me that the winds were strong, I didn't hear much.  I knew that everyone was tucked in safely at home, and that was enough for me.

I'm thankful for a great week of VBS (one more day today).  For almost 250 kids.  For almost 90 volunteers. For the little girl that came in Thursday morning, and shyly approached the check-in desk to tell us that she had accepted Christ.  This is why we do what we do.

And of course, we're always thankful for a good night's sleep in order to do it at all.  Amen.

My Top Recipes ~ A Heaping Helping of Comfort Food

If you visit here often, you know that I share recipes here on my blog.  Not often, and not regularly.  But, I do share.  Some of the recipes I share are old family favorites.  Some are new recipes that we've found via blogs or Pinterest.  Others are recipes shared by friends.

My Killer Hashbrown Casserole was a recipe originally from my husband's cousin in Minnesota.  I got the recipe via my mother-in-law who makes it for family dinners, and knows I love it.  I posted it not all that long ago, but it already comes in at #3 on my "favorite posts of all time" stats.

The next recipe-post comes in at #4, but the recipe isn't mine at all.  I found it on Pinterest.  This Pumpkin Roll was something my daughter really wanted to try.  We got the recipe from Stilettos and Diapers.  The fun part about my post is that my daughter told how SHE made the Pumpkin Roll.  It turned out NOT to be her favorite thing to eat, but I was more than willing to help her out with that! (sigh)

Another recipe that we found on Pinterest is Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups (#7) from Plain Chicken.  These ooey-gooey pizza-style crescents are a family favorite, and great for an easy dinner!

The recipe for Sweet Pepper Poppers (#8) came from a church-friend.  She made them for a lunch at her house, and I HAD to have the recipe.  They're a bit addicting for me, I confess!  They're a great colorful dish to share for the holidays -- but also a super summer appetizer.  No cooking involved!

The #9 favorite post of all time is a post called "Scavenger Hunt" -- and you might not think you'd find a recipe there, but... you will!  Towards the bottom of the post, you'll find the recipe for Pineapple Angel Dessert.  My mom shared the recipe with me, and it came from a friend of hers.  This is a decadently sweet dessert, and so light and fluffy.  It's a real treat!  You'll have to turn on the oven, but as far as ingredients, the only thing easier is to buy a pre-made cake at the store.  TWO ingredients here!

And coming in at #10 with NO PHOTO is my mom's Holiday Cheese Ball.  It's a real favorite as well, and I never seem to arrive in time to take pictures before it is consumed -- or at least destroyed.  You'll just have to trust me.  It's yummy.

Do you cook/bake a lot during the summer?  We definitely tend to keep things simpler on the cooking side, and don't do anywhere CLOSE to the baking that we do during the colder months.

This has been a crazy VBS week with my sweet hubby working a late shift.  He's at home in the morning, but my daughter and I are at VBS.  We're at home in the evening, but by the time he gets home, we're thinking about bedtime.  Our son is on an ever-changing schedule, so add that to the mix.  No dinners together this week. (sad face)  I'm looking forward to next week and a fresh start!

What have you been cooking up lately?

What are your summer specialties?

The Marble Jars ~ A Great "TIME" Visual!

**For starters, please forgive the pictures.  Most were taken in low lighting, hoping for the best, and trying not to disturb people in The VBS Family Room.  I believe they will still be a great "TIME" visual.

The story of the marble jars did not begin with me.  This was an idea that our church's Kids Ministry workers learned about at a Kids Conference that they attended.  It's a great visual to help us realize the time that we have with our children.  Time to influence them towards all that is good in the world.  Time to influence them for CHRIST.

For the purposes of visual display in The VBS Family Room, 19 jars were used (Birth-age 18).  If you wanted to make jars to represent your child's life, you only need one jar per child.

At the time they are born, fill the jar with 936 marbles.  [Marble SOURCE]  Each marble represents a week in your child's life... up until the age of eighteen.  Look how full the jar is.  Makes you think of all of the wonderful ways that you can influence your child, being a Godly example to them, right?

As each week passes, remove a marble.  Wow, by the age of ten, you "only" have 416 weeks left with your child!  Where has that time gone?  We all hope to raise our children well.  This really shows us how quickly time passes, and makes us realize how valuable FAMILY TIME is.

Keep removing marbles.  One a week.  By age seventeen, only 52 marbles remain.  HOW HAVE WE GOTTEN here?  When your kids are little, and older folks say to cherish the TIME, there's no way we could have possibly understood.  But now... well... are you getting the visual?

By age eighteen, our child is potentially moving off to college, or to a place of their own.  Potentially.  It's possible that our time with them is over -- or at the most, just random.

How will you spend your TIME today?

Yesterday, I read Laura's story about her family's quest for more time together.  (How timely!)  You can find it HERE.  It's truly inspiring!

VBS and Pallet Art

Okay folks, this is just a quick post.  Yesterday, my girl and I had a busy morning at VBS.  We had 260 kiddos, and LOTS of volunteers.  I say that as if I'm the one running the show.  Um, no.  I'm helping out on the social media end of things (big surprise, right?)  I'm keeping the tweets going and adding pictures to Facebook in real time so that parents can see what their kids are up to.  It's a fun job -- right up my alley.

We have a really cool room set up for parents to relax in while their kids are at VBS.  It's called The Family Room, and it is such an awesome concept.  I don't know if the idea came with our VBS curriculum guidelines, or if someone on our own staff came up with it, but it is BRILLIANT.  It's a really amazing space.  Various offices in the church donated couches, occasional chairs, and pillows from their waiting rooms, and it all blends together in a really cool & trendy way.  The room is filled with family photos, framed word graphics that include Bible verses or sayings, pallet art, and... oh what?  I had you at "pallet art?"  Well, I took some pictures for you.  Because of all the family photos scattered around The Family Room, I didn't feel right about sharing many pictures here.  But I can show you the pallet art.

Oh, and about the pallet art?  Our mid-week boys group did the work!  Awesome-sauce, huh?

Yep.  Can you say "start a small business, you are awesome?"  Didn't they do a great job?

Tomorrow, I will tell you the story of the marble jars.  It might just rock your world.

One Ringy-Dingy, and Painting the Roses Red

On Friday, my phone was ringing off the hook (not typical at our house), and I was kind of dreading a call from somebody that I will say "no" to.  So, each time the phone rang, I sucked it up, and put my best face on...

HELLO?  [anybody have the urge to sing: "Is it ME you're lookin' for?" -- Oh Lionel!]

Hi, it's Mom.  [calling to see how something we prayed about went]

Hi, it's Diana.  [calling to share her celebration: She's DONE.  RETIRED!!  OFFICIALLY.]

Hi, it's THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE.  [calling to check in and explain why he didn't pack the stuff in the fridge that I'd gotten for his lunch]

Hi, it's Diana again.  [because now I have more time to talk, and I want to know what's really going on in your life]

Hi, it's Marie.  [and I want to know when your son's graduation party is, so that I can help]

Hi, it's Sasha.  [and I want to tell you about the fabulous new shower curtain I won.  [Okay, Sasha didn't really call me, but we banter back and forth in e-mails SO MUCH, and I've been campaigning for her and her family to move to my neck of the woods, so it was kind of cool to actually hear her voice in a little video she posted.]  And yes, it's a really cute shower curtain!

Every time the phone rang, it was a different happy surprise.

And speaking of surprises...

Several years ago, my hubby took our four visiting nieces to Lowe's and let them each pick out a rose bush for our garden.  As I recall, the colors were red, a pale creamy peach, a darker peach, and pink.  This many years later, we have three of the four rosebushes left, and they are all red.  I was perplexed about the hows and whys of this happening.  This is the answer I found on a yahoo Q&A board:  "it is because the [pink] rose was grafted onto a red rose rootstock.  If you cut the [pink] rose back too far, or the [pink] rose died, it left the rootstock of the red rose which took over."  Actually, I'm not at all surprised to find that this is the case.  Last summer, the roses did TERRIBLY!  We cut them way back in the fall (certain that we had not cut them back far enough the fall prior), and probably ended up cutting off the grafted rose entirely!

Anyway, I'm kind of liking the "all one color" look.  It ends up looking like a more substantial rose garden, when it's really quite tiny.

And one more...

My sweet hubby came home on Friday night and surprised me by asking what he could make for my birthday? Could he make me dinner?  Could he bake something for me?  I hesitated about a half of a second and said, "Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!"

Whose recipe?  Who else's?  The Pioneer Woman's!!!  So, my hubby got the rolls all ready on Friday night, and got up early on Saturday to bake.  What a guy!!!  [What a nice pre-birthday breakfast!]

Sunday was the day, and I got treated to lunch at a [new to us] Mexican restaurant [a surprise], and was gifted with a new cross-body purse [not a surprise... my daughter and I shopped a good sale last week!!]

Was your weekend full of surprises, or just routine?

Speaking of routine, my girl and I will be back to an "almost school routine" this week due to morning Vacation Bible School at our church.  We'll be up & at 'em & out the door early.  I'm not sure how much posting I'll do here, though you know of course, I'll do my best.

Hope you all have a great week!