Happy Birthday, Noah!!!

Loads of reasons it's great to be 10 --
You can't get any more perfect
than a perfect 10!
(But then ... we already knew you are a perfect 10!) 

We couldn't be more proud of you, Noah!
Here's wishing you a happy birthday celebration!
All our love, 

Papa and Nonnie

Retirement Party for Kay

The great expectations I had for Friday did not disappoint. I attended the retirement party for my dear friend and former co-worker, Kay, who served the ministry of June Hunt of Hope for the Heart for 32 years. Having worked closely with her and June in June's home for ten years I can state truthfully the two of them are the "real deal." Authentic. Genuine. Compassionate. Gracious. 

Kay's son had served in missions in China for two years and Kay visited him there and both have such a love for China. Therefore, the theme was Chinese and what a great job the decorator did with favors and table centerpieces. Japanese lanterns, fans, retire-mints, little Chinese takeout boxes. It was very well planned out.

Retirement: A New Mission

I suspect someday we will see and hear the lovely lady on the left 

as her voice is one of the most beautiful and anointed as I have ever heard.

Me with Kay in center and Jeanne on right

June presenting Kay with a beautiful scrapbook of memories from everyone.

Singing Great is Thy Faithfulness

Having the chance to be a part of the ministry of Hope for the Heart was the highlight of my working days. There were many days I thought I wouldn't make it, but knowing that the work done there continues on in the books and materials published by June and my having been a part of it is now a reward. (And my own little piece of encouragement here is that each time I see June, she never fails to tell me how much she appreciated me and valued the gift I had to her ministry. What an encouragement and privilege to hear that from someone I admire so much.)

I'm saving here my little note to dear Kay. 

We got off to a bit of a glitch when we arranged for my interview at a Starbucks Coffee Shop sometime around January, 2000. Both of us showed up ... just too bad we ended up at different locations. When we finally were able to communicate with each other as to where we needed to meet, all I could think about was that I had blown the whole thing and any chance of getting to work at Edelweiss! 

But no, from the very beginning, Kay was kind and forgiving, and, after interviewing with her and then June, I was accepted! The first couple of weeks were just a little scary as the Kay to work with seemed much different than the Kay I had interviewed with. I have to admit I was a little (maybe a lot) intimidated by her and wondered whether I had made a mistake. 

But, bottom line with Kay, over the years I learned that the "Kay exterior" was far different than the "Kay interior." She rescued me so many times, never gave up on me, and modeled to me in so many different ways servanthood, grace and forgiveness. I wish I had the words to describe my appreciation to you for putting others first. I cherish my friendship with you, Kay and want to congratulate you on your retirement and applaud your faithful service for the 32 years you cared for and ministered to not only June's needs, but others in need of wisdom or assistance in some way. You always made the time for whatever needed to be done or whoever needed a listening ear and words of wisdom. 

This is a day of celebration, not only for all you've accomplished but also for all the possibilities that are unfolding before you. Here's wishing you not only the exciting challenges but also beauty, laughter, and deep contentment. I love you, Connie 

In truth, my working at HFTH was not a mistake, but a gift from God and the way He worked it out for me was truly a great answer to prayer and a step of faith on both my part and my DH.

Friday Foto Friends

Since I haven't been anywhere exciting this week nor is the scenery around here that thrilling (It's soooooo HOT), I'm sharing a few photos from a friend who is traveling all over the western United States and these are from Rocky Brook Falls in Washington. I love waterfalls and forests! 

The last two above are from Mt. Rainier. We were fortunate enough when we were there that the sun was out and we could see the mountain. It is so gorgeous in that part of the country.

It's been a busy and fun week for us from Monday through Friday (which Friday hasn't yet happened as I write, but I have great expectations for the day.) Monday was spent with our Monday night friends and lots of good conversation and laughs! Oh the laughter! Definitely good medicine. Would you believe and did you know one of our little discussions was about the fact that there are male and female watermelons? Now, did anyone know that? I certainly did not!

Tuesday five of us from our Ladies of Grace loaded up in my Sequoia to take sandwiches, tea, cookies and my favorite brownies to serve a group of ladies at a Senior Center. I believe it is kind of an independent, somewhat assisted living complex. Very sweet ladies who greatly appreciated our being there. We served the food, sang many hymns which they requested and prayed with and visited with each of them. A great group!

Tuesday evening we had dinner with our favorite son and family and Kate came home with us.

She was happy to just chill and relax here and sit with Grandpa. We went to the park as she always is wont to do, but even Kate had to admit it was just too darn hot and so we came back home after a short time of play.

This pic took me back a few years ago.

Wednesday morning was fairly lazy and later in the day we met Amy and Jack at the mall for fun at Dave and Busters! The kids had a blast using their gift cards I gave them at Christmas and racked up lots of points. Jack spent his. Kate is saving hers until she can claim a large stuffed animal which she plans to give to a needy child. She's pretty self-disciplined and I have to add here, she won all kinds of awards at school, including the Principal's award for straight A's all year - not a single B. On the Texas state testing, she is a Master, which is the highest score!! Wow! 

Here they are trying to make decisions about the prize to choose.

Jack riding the carousel with one of his prizes!

Now the dog gets to ride alongside.

We left Kate with Amy and brought Jack back with us. We had a great time playing games and then on Wednesday evening our church had a very special fun night which Jack described as "epic!" There was a giant waterslide and a dunk tank. Everybody had their chance to try to dunk their favorite pastor. Jack managed to do so four times! Twice he ran up to hit the target and the other times he threw the ball hard enough to dunk the pastor! He loved it. I was the gatekeeper for the pre-schoolers at our splash pad. They had a super time splashing around. The evening was definitely a success.

Pretty cool waterslide!

Fun in the Splash Pad

Since I was guarding the little ones, I didn't get a video of the actual dunking and I'm not able to save the video the church made! Rats!

Jack is a joy for sure. As we were coming home from church Wednesday evening, he was chattering non-stop talking about what fun he had and then he began asking questions about everybody. We were talking about such things as where everybody in the family was born. He wanted to know if grandpa and me got married. Say what?? He wanted to know if I had kids. I told him yes, we got married and no, I didn't get to have kids of my own, but God had blessed me greatly with DHs children and now the grandkids. I said all of you are a gift from God. His response? His daddy got a gift from God, too. A truck with wifi!!!!! LOL!!!

Thursday we met Amy and Kate for Mexican food and returned Mr. Jack to his mama. He didn't want to leave us and Kate didn't want him to come back home!! Kids. Haha!

Aren't they precious?

And so is Little Miss Tenley!!

Do you think this dog could get any closer????? 

I have never had such a needy dog before.

Friday Foto Friends

Driving over to our son's home, we pass so many beautiful corn fields. Unfortunately, we are driving at high speed, and since I am the chauffeur these days, and DH isn't into taking pics, I do the best I can. I did stop on a little country road to snap a couple of photos of cornfields which I thought were pretty nice. 

A friend of mine who lives in that area took a pic of her husband in the cornfield to show you how tall they are. He is not a midget! I think some of the Midwestern natives have a saying of "knee high by July." 

But, this is TEXAS!!!

Summer Days and Summer Nights

Our neighborhood has flags flying on each block. I enjoy

seeing the flags on my walks and thankful our town is proud to fly them.

Now for Friday Fotos, I am posting some very silly ones. The ministry I retired from eight years ago will be honoring one of my former co-workers who worked/served at the ministry for 32 years and is a most amazing lady. There were four of us who assisted her and the founder and president of the ministry in her home. We worked outside the corporate offices of the ministry and were known as the Edelweiss Team. At the annual Christmas party, we were the Edelweiss Elves who cooked up a program to entertain our boss! We had such fun and we even stooped one year to wearing those crazy Billy Bob teeth.

Judy with the washboard.
Me with the tambourine.
Eric holding the signs I made.
and Kay just joined in the song.
My DH joined us in our rendition of Keep On the Sunny Side
playing an improvised bass with a bucket and mop.

I refuse to show a close up of me with those horrid teeth! 

I made good use of that old green plaid shirt and DH's baggy jeans and big boots!

Oh boy,  did we have fun. We even wrote lyrics for a song to the tune of Hee Haw's 

Where Are You Tonight?

Our fearless leader June absolutely loved it.

The lady with the sling is the one retiring. 

The lower pic is our Jeanne holding the coveted "Dorie" award 

she won for being most like Dorie in Finding Nemo. 

Lol! Do you remember?

Dorie Award? Huh? Refresh my memory!

Sweet memories of days gone by. Was it always fun? No. 

But I could never express how much I learned from these precious ladies. 

So much unconditional love, forgiveness, grace, patience … really all the fruit of the Spirit!

One of my very dear friends is making memories in Israel these days! Love this pic of her and her traveling buddy.

Have a blessed weekend!

Thankful Throwback Thursday

70 years ago! 

They left us way too soon, however the riches they left us cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Thank you, God, for the parents you blessed us with. Our lives are better because of the covenant they made on June 21, 1948. We thank you both for your love and faithfulness to each other and to us.

Fun, Fun Summertime Hodgepodge

1. Summer is upon us this week in the Northern hemisphere. Tell us three things on your summer bucket list.

Summertime actually hit us here in North Texas just when Spring was getting started. I don't really keep a bucket list, however, these are three things that I would like to see happen before September. It didn't happen last year, but I can dream, right?

• To take my DH to his childhood home to see his cousins.
• To make my way to my hometown and my birthplace to see some of my cousins.
• To take some kind of short little trip.

I think this is a doable bucket list and pray this happens. Now what is so hard about those? I'm just not liking to leave the house anymore that much. 

2. Something fun you used to do as a kid in the summertime?

Did you say "something fun"? Summer was all things fun. Oh, summertime as a kid. What bliss! So many wonderful things to do. We played hard and in my memories, I can still feel the fun we had on our street with neighborhood kids ... the way the grass felt under our bare feet, the sweat that poured off us from playing so hard ... standing in front of the swamp cooler to cool off ... catching lightning bugs and horny toads ... washing dirty feet at night before bed. We played ball, we played cars, we played house and grocery store ... games of croquet and sitting on the ice cream maker as someone strong turned the handle for homemade ice cream. We took the garden hose and had a blast blasting each other with it, even putting it down each other's throat playing dentist! Our mother would take us to the public pool to swim ... or jump around in the pool since we didn't really know how to swim. Walking to the school to check out books from the bookmobile once a week and feasting on a stack of books for the week. Having friends spend the night and talking and giggling late at night. Vacation Bible School! And don't forget the ice cream man! Oh joy!

Family vacations were to Arkansas to visit relatives and the memorable times there when Daddy took us fishing along the creek near grandmas house or the family going down to the river to swim ... again, playing in the river, not really swimming! Cooking hot dogs over a fire or eating lunches packed beforehand. Little day trips from Arkansas to Branson, Missouri or Eureka Springs. We never tired of the repeat visits, but one year we actually went to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas. I'll never forget that little trip ... staying in the Jolly Roger motel (since we had no relatives in Texas! 😂)

After one of our little trips!

As an adult, my husband and I took my parents on vacation with us to Colorado and another trip camping. Those trips brought them so much pleasure, I wish we had done it more often. 

At Bear Lake in Colorado.

Just One something fun? I loved, loved vacation Bible School!

3. Rootop or backyard? What? Why?

Not sure I understand this. If I do, I think a backyard is best because that's what I've always known and enjoy the grass, trees and flowers.

4. Do you read food labels? Yes. Place importance on them? Yes. Trying Make an effort to find out/care about where your food comes from? Yes.

5. A song you'll have on repeat this summer?

10,000 Reasons, Matt Redman - I just don't get tired of this song.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This past weekend I discovered a movie on Amazon Prime that was one of the most inspirational movies I have seen in a long time. Although the movie was hard to watch sometimes, and I cried throughout, seeing the end result of one woman's passion for orphans was just so wonderful! I decided I have to buy the book and read about the truly amazing woman who was the heroine of the story. Her name is Christina Noble and you can read about her here. https://www.cncf.org/ The movie Noble can be found on Amazon prime.