Lilacs

I have always loved lilacs. They hint of romance with their aromatic fragrance and beautiful flowers and who doesn't love romance!!! I recently received a Garden Gate magazine that had an article about lilacs. I was surprised to learn how many colors there are. I knew of the deep purple, white and lilac, but there are also blue, pink and yellow varieties. There are actually over one thousand varieties! There are also single and double petal varieties. Bushes can grow tall, as much as 30 feet. And, there are dwarf sizes which only grow about three feet high.

When our guest Beth was here, she bought me a lilac bush. I knew my mother had the deep purple and white varieties, so I came up with the idea to make a lilac garden. When we were at my Mother's a couple of weeks ago, we dug up some white and some deep purple and planted in our future lilac garden. Then we went and bought 2 more bushes, dwarf lilac variety, and got some fencing. On Monday, Andy worked at putting up the fence as a backdrop to the lilacs, then mulched and here we are:
I can't wait now for spring to see if they'll bloom this first year!

Another project we worked on was to move the forsythia bush. I had originally planted it in back of the 3 mailboxes at the road, but it grew so much so fast that it was becoming a hazard trying to get out of the driveway. So I got some perennials and planted them in that spot after we moved the forsythia back from the road. Now we can see to get out and don't have to wonder if someone is coming! As you can see from this spring picture, the forsythia is right in the line of vision.
I wish I could do something to hide this ugly pole. Yuck!

My ice plants are very beautiful this year.
All that work tired us out so yesterday afternoon, we drove down to Harrisonville Lake with our lounge chairs and did some serious relaxing. It was a beautiful day so it was easy to enjoy being there.

The News from Jersey

It was good to be home this week. It was busy but not frantically so. I was able to accomplish some things that had been put off for a while, like weeding my flower gardens. I spent almost 4 hours early Tuesday morning outside in the gardens. I got around the whole house, just needing to do one last garden, which I hope to attack tomorrow. Speaking of attacking, the mosquitoes love to attack me, and I have 6 or 7 bites on my arms from Tuesday. I wonder what God had in mind when he made mosquitoes, other than to be food for bats, which I don't like either!

I took a few more pictures of flowers in the yard.

Here is my hydrangea bush that is outdoing itself this year. It has both pink and blue blossoms on the same bush. (Never mind the green gunk on the shed siding - one of these days, we'll get around to cleaning that.)
I didn't realize coneflowers got so tall. I'm impressed!
And here's my butterfly bush. I like the blue flowers against the white house.
In other news, our upstairs tenant turned 21 this week, so I resurrected an oldie, but goodie recipe that I used to make: Chicken & Ham Rollups. It calls for a 1/4 cup of dry white wine, plus some other things, but I thought that would be comical to serve for his birthday. I also made a blueberry cream cheese pound cake. Andy's mom and dad joined us for the party, which was Thursday evening.
I was able to spend an hour or so in the evenings before bed to sew the doll clothes for Grace's doll. The skirt was a cinch to do and went together easily, but the top was a stretchy crushed velvet and kept getting caught in a bunch under the stitchplate of the sewing machine. If it had been for me or one of the kids, I would have thrown it away and started over on a different material, but after it was all done, it didn't look too bad. Plus, after Grace put the outfit on the doll, I later found that same doll in her fancy outfit in a corner on the floor. Well, she did look good sitting there all "dolled up!"
If someone tells you to smile, here is an example of what you should look like.
Yesterday was the 4th of July and we chose to spend the day with C & C because at this point, they are unable to take the whole family out for long excursions. It's still too stressful for Patrick to be with large groups of people. Andy & I desire to be as supportive and encouraging as we can to them in their calling and mission to their family.

I did some preparatory baking and cooking on Friday night and we left fairly early Saturday morning. Christy had asked me to bring rolls. The last time I had bought rolls, I didn't like them. They were hard and on the stale side. So I got the bright idea to see if I could make some. I found this recipe online that looked easy and didn't take long and voila...
I also made a pasta salad and blueberry dessert.
Andy and Christian worked on some finishing touches to the addition/house, then Christian grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for our dinner. It was a good day, enjoying the kids and being together.

I am very thankful for the freedom we still enjoy in our nation, but even more I'm eternally grateful for the freedom I enjoy in Christ. ...He "has freed us from our sins by His blood." (Rev. 1:5) and we are also ..."free from accusation." (Colossians 1:22)

My chains are gone, I've been set FREE,
My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
And like a flood His mercy reigns,
Unending love, amazing grace.
Words by Chris Tomlin & Louis Giglio

To California and back

Andy registered to attend Saddleback Church's worship conference and didn't want to go by himself. I was glad to accompany him. We left Tuesday morning and flew into Burbank by early afternoon. Google directions said it would take less than an hour to get to Lake Forest where the conference was. However, we were in California. Have you ever heard of the traffic jams on California freeways?
I didn't take this picture, but it was really this bad. The trip took an extra hour. We stayed in an extended stay hotel that had a small kitchen - only minutes from the church. After unpacking, we decided to check out the local Wal-Mart and get something to eat. We found a Red Robin restaurant, more common in the west, and ate there. I had a delicious salad which tasted especially good after not eating anything all day except packages of cheese and crackers on the plane.

On Wednesday morning, we registered at the conference and heard the first speaker, Francis Chan. Lunch was provided for. Then there were some workshops we attended in the afternoon. Andy and I both sat in on a panel of women, hosted by Debbie Rettino, which was very helpful. She and her husband wrote the Psalty children's musicals of 20 years ago that my kids enjoyed growing up. She is currently on staff at Saddleback and mentors young worship leaders and people going into the arts. Her panel discussion was very helpful as I am very interested and involved with the women's ministry in our church.

Some of the points I wrote down from this session:

1. It's not about me.
2. Leading is learning. If you're not learning, you're not leading.
3. Then what do you do with that learning? (pass it on)
4. Develop a ministry of encouragement.
5. Jesus was always interruptible.
6. A PERSON is never an interruption.
7. Give people a look, a word, a touch - this communicates their value to me.

After this session, we left and found a park and walked around a while. I was a little nervous when we saw the sign warning of mountain lions in the area. There was a list of things to do if you see one; number 1 is "Don't run!" Well, how about if we just don't hike on this trail???

When it was time to eat dinner, we decided to stop at Chipotle (another of our favorite places to eat - good AND cheap!). The one we stopped at was having a grand opening and everyone who came that day got their meals free! Talk about cheap -- if it's free, it's for me! Yeah! What a pleasant, unexpected surprise.There's no complaint about southern California weather. The nights were cool, the days were sunny and warm, with a cool breeze. There were flowers blooming everywhere, in all colors and shapes. The campus of Saddlebrook Church could be the Garden of Eden - it's that beautiful.On Thursday morning, we heard from Buddy Owens (he is a teaching pastor at Saddleback and his parents are Jimmy & Carol Owens who also wrote children's musicals - Antshillvania) and Dan Cathy, the CEO of Chick Fil-A. Both were very good speakers, but we especially appreciated Dan. It's exciting to hear his story of how God is using his company to minister and exemplify Christian principles in the workplace. And guess what we had for lunch that day? You're right - a chick-fil-a sandwich.

After lunch Andy and I went to one workshop then used the rest of the day to do our own thing. We found a couple of parks and explored them.
We ate dinner at Fuddrucker's. When we got back to the hotel, we noticed a path behind the hotel where people were jogging. That was a nice surprise. The trail meandered along a dry creek bed with beautiful foliage along it. It was probably a 2 mile walk on the Serrano Trail. There was another sign warning of mountain lions, but we decided to take the risk and fortunately, we didn't see any. Whew!

On Friday morning, Rick Warren spoke to us. He was excellent and well worth hearing. My tank is filled up again! Everything he said was good, but here are some of the notes I took:

1. worship is not music, but an attitude of loving God. In a word, worship is surrender.
2. Build your life around humility, generosity and integrity.
3. Satan is not creative in the way he tempts us. He uses the same old methods: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
4. The antidote to the lust of the flesh is to be integrous.
5. Humility is a choice - it's commanded. It is a declaration of dependence on God. "I'm willing to resign and do something harder! I belong to YOU...I am your servant."
6. the antidote to materialism (the lust of the eyes) is generosity. The answer to get, get, get is to give.
7. It's not about me - live for the Audience of One.
8. How to not get criticized: 1. say nothing, 2. do nothing, 3. be nothing

Good stuff - huh?

Well, all good things have to come to an end. After lunch on Friday, we left the conference. Since we were in southern California, we decided to look up my Aunt Becky, whom I hadn't seen in about 50 years (give or take a year or 2). She has lived in the San Diego area for a number of years, but in Colorado and California all her adult life.

We had to travel those California freeways again, but they weren't too bad this time since we were on our way by mid-afternoon. My aunt is married to Jimmy, who is Greek. They recently retired from the restaurant business, but for many years had owned and run restaurants in their area. So you can imagine the feast that was prepared for us: spanakopita, lamb, chicken and potatoes, chips and dip, a zucchini flower stuffed with rice and I'm not sure what else, gravies, baklava. She had made everything and it was outstanding.

Our niece and her family who live in Escondido joined us for dinner and it was good to be able to fellowship with them, too.

We had such a good time getting acquainted with my aunt - what a sweet lady and what a joy to get to know her. They have a beautiful home with lemon, orange, pepper trees in their yard. Her son, my cousin, were also there for dinner. I had never met him before, or his daughter. How fun.

Their back yard!

Aunt Becky and me

My cousin John, his girlfriend, Debbie and John's daughter, Aileen

Josh, Heidi and family with Aunt Becky and me

Becky gave me some lemons, tangerines and an orange to bring home with us. I don't think I've ever seen lemons as big as this.
It was a wonderful week - full of spiritual blessings at the conference and a bonus of getting to see and spend a little time with my aunt and family.

Father's Day and more birthdays

Friday morning when I looked out my kitchen window, there was a bit of drama going on. A chipmunk was in the bird feeder, running up and down, and I thought he was stuck in there. Somehow he got in, but couldn't get out. I went to work and told Andy. He just had to come home and "take care" of that little critter. But he said as soon as he got near the bird feeder, the chipmunk beat a hasty retreat.Last year when Grace turned 7 I told her she could come to our house and do whatever she wanted to do with just her and us. It must have been fun for her because this year she wanted to do it again. So this was the weekend to have her over. I left work early on Friday, quickly did an hour's worth of lawn mowing, then braved the traffic to go get her. And traffic was very bad on Friday. We finally made it home in time to make dinner of beef stroganoff (her request) while she played a computer game with Andy.

She's like me in that she likes to make lists. Here is her list of what she wanted to do this weekend with us:

1. play games

2. read stories

3. go to Jo-Ann Fabrics and get material to make doll clothes

4. go to the park

5. walk to the pond

We were unable to accomplish everything on the list because it rained all day. But we did read lots of stories and played lots of games. We also went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and picked out some very nice material to make a "work-out" outfit with fleece jacket and nylon windbreaker pants and a dressy outfit (skirt and top). I cut out both outfits but didn't want to spend the time at my sewing machine and miss out on playing and reading as much as we could. I will be sure to post pictures of the doll clothes when I finish them. I'm anticipating they'll turn out cute.

Of course, we had to have a treat of ice cream. And on Saturday night, I made pizza (another request). Grace did a couple of errands with Andy on Saturday afternoon and while they were gone, I made 2 salads to take along with us on Sunday for Chase & Joanna's birthday party.

We traveled up to Amy's for the birthday party on Sunday afternoon. That was really a lot of fun. Amy had outdone herself in planning a very nice party for the kids. I don't know how much they appreciated it, but the rest of us sure had a good time. She had one of her friends do face painting for the kids, she had a pinata that the kids whacked, but which did not open up until Amy put her muscle to it! She had done a fine job with making cupcakes and then decorating them with little animals. And she had party hats for all the kids, too. There was lots of food - all of it good. After we ate, the kids played with Chase's toys, held the puppies, played in the sand pit, etc. and the guys played ball in the yard.It was really a fun weekend. It was nice we could all be together on Father's Day. What a blessing family is.

Next adventure ~ California!

Wedding...Weeding

It wasn't supposed to rain on Saturday...at least that was the forecast earlier in the week. But on Saturday, it poured here around noon and when it was finished, there were 1.8 inches in the rain gauge. Andy and I mentioned that we hoped the rain was over and the evening wedding of our nephew would be dry.

The wedding of Jon and Sam(antha) was in a beautiful setting at a country club in southeast PA. Gray clouds loomed overhead, but occasionally a bit of blue sky peeked through. Andy officiated at the wedding which began a few minutes late (do weddings ever start on time?). As the ceremony progressed, the wind picked up a little and more gray clouds came rolling in. The bride and groom kept an eye on those clouds and everyone held their breaths that the rain would hold off just a little longer.

The wedding was over, pictures were being taken, then the heavens opened up and rain started pouring down. Fortunately, the reception was under cover - a canvas awning over the dock where we ate the delicious dinner.

The Country ClubWhere the ceremony took place
I hope it doesn't rain while we're still out here.
Dan's (Andy's brother) 5 sons

Parents of the groom, bride & groom

the wedding partycutting the cake

It was a lovely wedding and we enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Andy did a wonderful job with the wedding ceremony, making it special and meaningful and appropriate to Jon & Sam.

The next day was Sunday. We celebrated the Lord's Supper in the morning service. Pastor Mark preached from the Luke 9 text on denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus. His 3 points were:
1. Determine to say "no" to self
2. Determine to identify with Christ
3. Determine to follow wherever Jesus leads
Even though the Christian life is lived by grace, there is still a responsibility to following Christ.

Sunday evening, we hosted our small group at our house and I made a summer dessert pizza for refreshments. It turned out pretty good - at least it was pretty!Then yesterday after work, Andy and I drove up to my Mother's to help her with her gardening. Andy cut out the grass around 4 of her trees and put mulch in. I helped her weed the front garden in front of her house, then we put some mulch in there, too.
We stopped working a little before it got dark, because we also wanted to pick some strawberries. My brother and his family are on vacation and told us to go to his strawberry patch and pick as much as we wanted. The season is nearly over, but we were able to get enough to go on the shortcake I made this afternoon. Ummm- yum!