Daughters of the King

Amy and I at the Daughters of the King Tea at our church. A memorable time for me ... and I hope for her as well.  Beautifully decorated tables, delicious food, wait staff from the Shift Life Group, and lots of lovely moms, daughters, grandmas, sisters ... daughters of the King.

Summer of 2011

The record has now been topped!! Dallas Morning News says so. The worst thing about this year's drought are the fires that have come - so much loss. So much damage.

Our Fall Vacation in the Smokies

October, 2011

Itinerary for our trip to the Smokey Mountains:

Travel to Atlanta.

Sheraton Hilton with a special welcome reception at famed Trader Vic's! Fully hosted by professional tour manager.

Two-nights in lovely Asheville, North Carolina at the wonderfully located Doubletree Biltmore at the gates of the fabled Biltmore Estate of the Vanderbilt family. We have included a tour of Asheville as well. 

Biltmore Estate visit including lunch at Deerpark Restaurant on the Vanderbilt Estate.

Two-nights at the excellent Park Vista Resort Hotel in Gatlinburg, TN, in the Great Smoky Mountains. All rooms at Park Vista have their own balcony.

OOPS!! Here is where the story goes off schedule. Had a great time until we got here. Will explain in the rest of the story.

Complete tour of the most visited National Parks in America, Great Smoky Mountain National Park as well as a visit to Cades Cove, famed for its blue-misted mountains.

The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad excursion train through Nantahala River Gorge with highlights like Horseshoe Curve, Fontana Lake Trestle and the Tennessee River, fantastic scenery during the height of Fall Colors.

Overnight stay in Nashville, Music City USA with time for Opryland along with a day in Memphis with dinner at the legendary Rendezvous Barbeque Restaurant before we board the Memphis Special.

Travel from Memphis to Chicago by special private train aboard the 'Memphis Special', a short overnight ride over the famed Illinois Central Railroad with all meals and open bar included while aboard. Guests enjoy ultra-comfortable 'Sleeperette' accommodations with roomy reclining leg rest coach seating with blankets, pillows and large windows or may opt to upgrade to a private compartment at modest cost.

Overnight luxury hotel stay in Chicago with Farewell Dinner at Lawry's, the Prime Rib.

Kids

Don't forget the sweetness of these kids. They are precious and I am so blessed to have them in my life. Don't foget the little things: they love to come here, the things they say, like Noah "if God would come down here, I would tell him I love you." walking through the store singing I'm in the Lords army. Kate playing piano and asking me, "nonnie, how bout singing Jesus loves me for me? And she plays while I sing.

I don't want to go home. I want to stay here. Some of my favorite words. I love them.

Summer of 1980

Summer this year has been extremely hot! But it has yet to top out the summer of 1980, which saw 64 days straight of temperatures over 100. And I think it peaked out at 114 or so on a couple of days. Lots of people remember that summer, but my memories are especially poignant to my remembrance of that time.

In the fall of 1979, due to a series of incidents stemming from my late husband's promotion at the company where he worked (good thing), he had to resign the position due to alleged discrimination and jealousy from a co-worker (bad thing). Confident that another position would come available soon, and confident that the Lord would provide in such a way as to be able to give Him praise, we did not worry.

But, after going through Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then into the New Year, it got a little depressing around our house, even though we never missed a house payment or any other payments, for that matter. And although the Lord provided for us in lots of surprising ways, in trying to cut corners, I took the bus each day to my job in downtown Dallas.The drive to the bus stop was about 10 miles away, and then I would take the bus to work. It made for a long day and in the winter, my husband would have hot chocolate waiting for me and when the hot summer came, a cold bath at the end of the day. Bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch each day (ewww).

During that summer, the heat was intense and the city buses were overheating daily, which meant we would have to get off the bus and board another bus, then stand because it was already full. Did I mention that in those days we wore a lot of polyester and panty hose? :-)

One particular day, after having boarded 3 different buses to get home, I was so very tired when I got off the bus. It was blazing hot and I remember saying out loud, "Lord, I am so thirsty." As I walked to my car, I looked down and to my great delight, I saw the familiar face of George Washington on a dollar bill right there on the sidewalk at my feet! I was so excited with this find and immediately went over to the Taco Bueno for a Pepsi to quench my thirst. (These days I would have been much wiser and invested in a cold bottle of water! :-)

Now one dollar might sound very small. But in those times when our need is great, how refreshing and reassuring to know that God hears us when we cry out and satisfies the need. I will never forget it because that one dollar represented the many ways that He provided for us throughout those 9 months. This tangible answer provided for temporary relief, but the comfort and peace that the Lord gave to me when I cried out in my anxieties provided the assurance that He was indeed with me.

I mentioned that we never failed to make a house payment or any other obligations, the most important of which was our tithe! And though I don't consider my tithe as an obligation such as a debt, I do consider it as being what belongs to the Lord. When we give to Him, the returns are great!

An amazing part about all these happenings was that when the right job finally did come along, the benefits provided to my husband would be a great provision for me 5 years later during another hot summer when he died suddenly. God always knows what is going to happen in our future and He will always make a way.

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." Psalm 94:19

Father, I praise You that from the very beginning, You have been there and thank You for taking care of me in spite of myself and never forsaking Your daughter Connie.

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Humility and honor

Humility is like underwear; essential, but indecent if it shows.   Nielsen, Helen

From Proverbs. Humility goes before honor.

Humility: the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.

We humans, in our flesh crave recognition, credit and honor. We want to be recognized for what we do. But God's word and Jesus Christ have put that idea to death. It is in humility that we gain honor. Jesus modeled humility in the fact that He came not to be served, but to serve. And His example when He washed the disciples' feet is for us to follow. Humility is key in being one who walks in the Spirit. Humbling ourselves to submit to God, submit to authority, submit to your spiritual leaders, to one another in love--all of these are not just suggestions--they are what we should be doing if we abide in Christ. That is the way to honor. The honor may not come in this lifetime, but the one who submits in all things as unto Christ will receive honor in due time.

"All of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor." (1 Peter 5:5-6)

Ice cream

Summers when we were in grade school were memorable. So many fun things to do. We knew summer wasn't too far away when, on May 1, it was official that we were allowed to go barefoot. What a great feeling! Fresh green grass under your feet. And when summer came, lots of joys lay ahead including playing softball, showers with the hose, bicycles, walks to the bookmobile for books, slumber parties during the week, VBS, and ... ahhh, the ice cream man on hot summer afternoons. Although there wasn't money for ice cream every day, that didn't keep us from waiting for the ice cream man each day just to check with him and make sure he didn't have a "free sample." The answer was always the same. Sorry, no free samples. That is, until one hot day, my sister and I had walked several blocks to visit a friend. We were headed home and heard the music in the distance. He's somewhere in this area. Decision made: let's see if we can catch up to him and, you guessed it ... let's see if he has a free sample for us. We ran hard and by the time we found our friendly ice cream man,
we were panting and out of breath and, I'm sure we were quite a sweaty sight. He stopped his truck and came around and asked, "what will you have?" "Got any free samples?" we said. What a nice man and God bless him. He didn't hesitate, but opened the door and pulled out a couple of ice creams - one for each of us.

I think we were stunned, but we were so happy as we walked on home that day with our free gifts of cold ice cream. Those free treats cost the man all of ten cents total, but I think I will never forget the kindness showed on that hot day to a couple of young girls, probably 8 and 10.