The Happy List

Take a look!

I did not take this picture last spring!  Nope, I took it yesterday and it is indeed a tomato.  There are actually two more little ones but they're hiding behind leaves.  For some (probably stubborn) reason I babied three tomato plants through the horrendously hot summer and now (even though one bit the dust) I'm seeing the reward.  I don't know why I did it because my soil and the weather didn't cooperate so the plants didn't even produce one piece of fruit when they were new and supposedly fertile.  But baby them I did and so now I may actually be able to feast upon a tomato or two before too long.........that is, if they don't freeze!!! 

Well,  now is probably as good a time as any for me to learn how to make fried green tomatoes!      

If You Build It They Will Come....or something sort of like that!

Last Sunday, the day after the garage sale, Dave, Kelly, Roger, and Bob rebuilt Dad's deck. The day started with Dad taking his three sons out to the truck stop for breakfast and, yes, he was aware of the blessing in that. I asked! : )

Bob and I showed up a little later and they got to work. Roger and Kelly had torn the old deck down the day before so they were able to get going. They didn't completely finish but Kelly and Roger went back a couple of days this week and I think it's finished now. Kelly even bought solar lights to put around the deck. Fancy!! Here are some pictures of the progress. I think Kelly's got some of the finished product so maybe I'll post those later.

Getting started

Still getting started

Making progress

It's looking like a deck

Here's how me and the kitty helped!

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And here's Dad helping!

Garage Sale #5 (I think)

I haven't really kept up with how many garage sales we've had at my dad's house but I think this one was #5.  Anyway, it's become somewhat of a tradition/family reunion now and doing it on the same weekend as Whitesboro's Peanut Festival just adds to the fun!

This one brought a sobering reminder that most of the stuff we were selling this year came from the storage unit that my dad had acquired and was cleaning out in June when he fell and broke his hip. We made lemonade out of a big fat lemon though and wouldn't let a little ol' set back like that take our fun away. Dad's doing great, by the way, and doesn't even walk with a cane now. And did I mention that he's 95? Yep, Kelly calls him a freak of nature and I have to agree......and be very thankful in the process. We don't let Dad do much of the work for the sale but he's a pretty good task master and keeps us in line!

We had several people tell us that coming to our garage sale has become a tradition for them and that just made our day. A couple of ladies from the Assembly of God church shopped and then invited us to come to the Peanut Festival booth the next day to buy some of their delicious peanut brittle. Yummy! Then some hispanic ladies bought about $1 worth of our wares and turned around and sold us $15 of their phenomenal homemade tortillas! We did have money left in the coffers when it was all said and done but it was kind of a surprise!

Not all of my siblings were able to come this year but I guess we made it without the two oldest, David, and Linda.  Dave actually came up Saturday night after we'd all cleaned up and left (convenient, huh?  We thought so too!).  I guess I won't be too hard on him though because he spent his visit building a new deck for Dad.  I'll write about that in my next blog.  Unfortunatley Linda wasn't able to be with us this year but she does live in Idaho, after all. 

I didn't take a lot of pictures but I'll post what I have so you can enjoy the garage sale too! : )

Amy and Erin were great helpers and also hosted their annual cookie sale.  Hey, don't even call me if you're just dying to have those beautiful lamp shades.  You'll just have to look elsewhere and hope to find an equal treasure!! 

Kelly brought all the lumber to build Dad's new deck.  He and Roger spent most of Saturday tearing down the old one.  That's Dad on the left.

This is me and my fun sister Suzi.  She's quite a sport when it comes to garage sale time.  We make pretty good partners selling trash and treasures.  Her grandkids weren't able to come this year so Suzi and I had a little vacay at Dad's B & B! 

Kristie and Tim helped a ton this year and it was so much fun to watch little Jayna play and pretty much just be happy!  They're a sweet family!

Learning Every Day!

I've decided that marriage is a perplexing and ever changing work of art.  God's art!  He created it to be an instrument to show off His glory!  We make it cheap and ugly though, because of our fallen state of selfishness and pride. 

I'm grateful because God taught me last weekend a little about myself and my role in keeping the art priceless and beautiful.  He taught me the very simple but valuable lesson (did I never hear it before or did I choose to ignore it?) that my role is to love God more than I love anything that Bob (or either of my kids, for that matter) does or does not give me or do for me. 

I learned that Adam and Eve were created for the clear and specific purpose of bringing glory to the Author of the universe.  Following that, the privileges that came with it were things like intimacy, affection, companionship, comfort, etc.....  But once Adam and Eve disobeyed and changed everything forever, all of a sudden the purpose and privileges exchanged positions.  Now our purpose is for ourselves.  We want and demand the privileges at all costs, including the sacrifice of the feelings, thoughts, and ideas of our spouse.  And the purpose of gloryfying God is merely an afterthought, something that happens if it's convenient, if all of our needs are met first.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37 that the most important act of obedience is to love God with ALL of our hearts, ALL of our souls, and ALL of our minds, FIRST, and then love our neighbor as ourselves.

So I refuse to allow Satan ANY victories here!  My choices will be God's for me and for the care and preservation of this most beautiful of His craftmanship, my marriage and family!