Fourth of July, 2010

I love the Fourth of July. I love red, white, and blue, and I love them together for what they invoke in my heart and mind.

Freedom. Fantastic freedom. Freedom that isn't free, but purchased by the blood and bravery of men and women who loved America and sacrificed to keep her liberties intact.

Patriotism. Something we see less and less of as time marches on. I saw a piece today written by Ed Morrissey that made me think. It said (in part):

"Pardon me while I indulge one of my pet peeves — and try to determine whether this is a widespread phenomenon, or just a local affliction of amnesia. Every major holiday, I make sure to fly the flag at my house, and every major holiday, almost every one of my neighbors do not. I hate to break out a “I walked sixteen miles to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways” argument, but it’s true that when I was a child, it seemed that every house had a flag out on the Fourth of July, at least, and usually on the other national holidays as well. After 9/11, my neighborhood temporarily recovered from its collective amnesia to start displaying the American flag, but nine years later, we’re back to seeing more Twins and Vikings flags than Old Glory."

He's right. When we drove down the street on the way home from church yesterday (more about THAT in a moment), I counted only three houses on our street with flags flying. Ours was one of them.

It saddens me that our country is so divided and polarized these days. How have we gotten SO far from what the founding fathers intended when they came to the New World seeking, among other things, freedom of religion? Not freedom FROM religion, but freedom OF religion. The "separation of church and state" does NOT mean the government cannot or should not embrace the Judaeo-Christian principles on which our country was built. In reality, that phrase was intended to guarantee that our government would never CONTROL the church as it did and still does in England. It guaranteed our freedom to worship as we see fit and are led by God. Even Thomas Jefferson, surely a polytheist, would be astounded at how far America has drifted from the intentions of our founders.

What better place was there to begin a Fourth of July celebration than in church? Honoring the ideals of brave men and women and the sacrifices of generations of soldiers, sailors and airmen and most importantly, acknowledging God's hand of blessing on our homeland and from Whom true freedom comes.

How did I get SO far from the post I intended to write? There's a lot happening in my little brain, and apparently it needed to come out!

Another of my favorite things is spending time with my family. And when they come to our house, I hope they feel welcome and loved by the little things I enjoy doing to make things festive.

Like this:
I wanted a centerpiece befitting the occasion, but also befitting my budget. This is $1.98 plastic hat turned upside down for use as a planter. Kroger had red carnations, white daisies, and one lone blue hydrangea that cried out to go home with me to grace the dining room table!



The hydrangea had been beaten up a little and had a small hole in the top of the bloom. I filled it with a happy little daisy, and no one knew the difference!


Instead of the usual names-written-in-Sharpie on plastic cups, I decided to try something different. Using plain white name tags from Office Depot, I printed portraits of various presidents from the web site of the White House.
Each person "picked a President" and that was the way we kept up with whose cup was whose.

Because I did the work, I got to choose my cup first. (Hostess' prerogative, doncha know.) I chose Ronald Reagan. It was humorous to see "sweat" running down President Reagan's face as the condensation formed on the cup!
Here's the drink counter, complete with freshly brewed orange tea, a family favorite.
And the beginning of the buffet line:
We had a great time of fellowship and as a family, enjoyed our many freedoms. We feasted on the bounty the Lord has so graciously provided, and we laughed and giggled and enjoyed being together.

Happy birthday, America. May you continue to be the great nation God uses and blesses.

Celebrating Easter

As in years past, Studly Man and I enjoyed hosting the family and our dear friend, Ben, at Casa de Castro for our Easter celebration. And as usual, I had fun planning and preparing and getting everything ready. I absolutely LOVE the colors of Spring and the colors of Easter; they represent a renewing, a return to life, and they bring me joy.

For the centerpiece on the kitchen table (where the snacks were laid out for those youngsters - okay, for all of us - to graze on before the big meal), I wanted something cheerful and bright and fun. I found a beautiful bouquet of 20 tulips in lavender, pink, yellow, and salmon. Gorgeous! Made my heart sing!

I put them in a nesting vase and anchored it with jelly beans. I ran out of jelly beans, and was ready to go get some more to finish my lovely design, but Studly said I couldn't spend more money on more candy that no one would eat. He said no one would notice if the jelly beans filled the vase or only went half way. Ya know what? He was right! No one even noticed the vase had ANY jelly beans in it! So we saved $2.99.

But the tulips were still gorgeous.


I had these cute little egg stands, and I also had an assortment of cute little eggs. I put them together, and voila! Cute little stands with eggs! The stands are in various colors, and they made fun little accents.

I also used the drink charms I made for Thanksgiving to identify each person's glass. My dad (or "Paw" as he is known to the grandkids and now to all of us) had his miniature Bible charm on his glass.

For the place cards, I again wanted something that involved the beautiful colors of Spring but also signified new life, new creation, new beginnings.

Enter: the butterflies!

I was pleased with how they turned out. I was also pleased that Cammie's was blue, Rachel's was orange, and Megan's was purple. Those things matter, ya know!

We had a wonderful day and basked in the blessings of family, faith, and friends. The greatest joy of all was and is the victory that is ours because of Jesus.

...and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Two men in dazzling clothing said, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has RISEN!"

can't... seem... to... blog...

Hello one and all. I trust your Christmas was filled with love and laughter and peace and joy.

We had Christmas in our family, too. Why haven't I written about it?

Well...

a) My brain is so fried every December by the time Christmas rolls around, all I can do is sit, stare, and drool. (December is nuts in my office, what with all the peeps wanting to have surgery whilst they are on vacation from work or school and while deductibles are met, yielding the highest insurance benefits of the year.)

b) My dear husband got this flu bug thing that landed him in bed on Christmas Day.

c) My dear husband shared his flu bug thing with me, and I'm now buying stock in Tylenol Multi-Symptom cold products.

d) my attention has been mostly focused on my new little toy. Oh, I've had it since just before Thanksgiving, but that isn't nearly enough time to learn all about it and explore the various apps one could download.

e) I have developed an addiction to playing Demon Solitaire on my new toy. Or WordWarp. Or Wurdle. Or Pyramid Lite. Or Bejeweled. Or any other mindless yet stimulating game.

Let me know how YOUR holiday was. I promise I'll write about ours soon.

Well, if I can break away from... playing... with... the...

Gloria!

Tonight my family went to see Gloria! at our church. Can I just say... A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

We enjoyed EVERY second of it. We had awesome seats (what a story there!), and couldn't have asked for better ones. I took a few pictures with my iPhone.

Me-Again and her family came.

Dad and Mom came with us, too.

The 500+ voice choir and full orchestra rocked the house.

This year, there was a special guest. We had an up-close-and-personal view of him. We sat, um, pretty close.

Those feet? They belong to Daniel, my nephew who sat next to me. That round black and white thing a few feet away? The satellite stage where The Guest played the piano and sang and entertained.

Yeah. We were close.

And here he is at the piano, literally a few feet away. John Tesh.

He sang "It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without You," a song he wrote for his wife, Connie Selleca, to whom he has been married 17 years.

See that red streamer at the edge of the stage? At the end of the very first choir number, all these shiny streamers in different colors fell from the ceiling into the crowd. One landed right at the edge of the stage.

As soon as he finished the number he was playing, he came around and stood in front of the piano. He leaned down and picked up the streamer and then held it out to me saying, "Oh, a streamer fell. Ma'am, is this yours?" "Why, yes. Yes it is," I answered with cameras rolling all around. (DVD available on the church's web site in about four weeks!) My brush with greatness as David Letterman would say.

Next, John (we're on a first name basis now) called a seven-year-old little girl named Carly from the audience to help introduce his band. So cute!

He read his very own 2008 version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." It was humorous and poignant. So what that his face is all washed out by the bright lights in this picture. HE WAS RIGHT. IN. FRONT. OF. ME.

His three instrumentalists and one vocalist (well, technically one person was an instrumentalist AND a vocalist) did a few numbers right there at our feet.

At the end of his final segment, he challenged the congregation to employ their gifts to help others and recognize our own personal ministries. He was great, and his love for the Lord was evident.

What a night. What a great night. It was...

GLORIOUS!

I'm Thankful

I'm thankful that God loved me SO much He sent His only Son to die in my place. Grace so undeserved.

I'm thankful to live in a country where I'm still free to worship and live my life as a fully devoted follower of Christ, a privilege I don't take for granted and pray will remain.

I'm thankful for godly parents who love the Lord first, then each other, and then their children in ways that have always pointed me toward Jesus. They have sacrificed so often for me and for my sister.

I'm thankful for a loving sister who is an amazing, talented, wonderful Christian woman and friend. I'm thankful for her newfound (found again?) happiness with her husband.I'm thankful for her kids, the two greatest nieces and greatest nephew God ever created. They are joys!

I'm thankful the Lord added to my family by giving me the wonderful gift of my precious Studly Man. He makes my life complete.

I'm thankful for Studly's folks who have embraced me as their own and show love so freely.

I'm thankful for Studly's sister and her precious family who are wonderful examples of sacrificial love. (All four kids are adopted.)

I'm thankful for Studly's brother and his wife who bless us with their kind hearts.

I'm thankful for one very energetic and loyal BigDog and the joy she brings to our home.

I'm thankful for her little brother who makes me smile every day with his sweet cuddles.

I'm thankful the Lord sees fit to use us and that big dog in minstry to bring His love to kids who need to know Him.
I'm thankful for a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church that is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, refuses to compromise the Truth, and reaches out to the world with His love.

I'm thankful for an amazing friend who has known all my secrets for 30 years and loves me any way.

I'm thankful for a wise friend who sees the best in me even when I can't.

I'm thankful for a sisterhood of friends who hold me accountable and encourage me to follow Jesus.

I'm thankful for my job and the privilege of working with some awesome ladies.

(no, of course that's not me... just the only picture I could find of a woman working at her desk.)

I'm thankful for all my bloggy friends and their wonderful encouragement in my life.

My prayer for each of you this Thanksgiving is that your heart and home be filled with love and joy as you count your many blessings from above.

Making Thanksgiving Special

As I mentioned in the previous post, I love making Thanksgiving a special gathering for my family. Any time we have together is precious, but especially so when everyone recognizes and is focused upon just how precious that time is.

I usually employ my printer to make formal invitations and mail them to each household and to family friends who may be joining us for dinner. My family deserves my very best effort, more than any other guests I'll ever host, and I love creating an atmosphere where memories can be made.

Here are some examples of past years' invitations.

This year, I didn't do invitations, but I still wanted to do something special for everyone. Every now and then I surprise myself and actually come up with a craft idea that turns out well (not my strong suit). In doing "something special" this year, I also solved an age-old problem: a way for everyone to keep up with their drinking glass! (I had a side agreement with my dishwasher to try to lighten the workload a little.)

I bought some glass beads and wire loops to make "beverage ID" markers. Then I went on a mission to find a charm that somehow represented each member of the family. Here's what I came up with:

Paw (my dad, the grandkids call him "Paw") - he's been teaching the Word in Sunday School for as long as I can remember, and his wisdom and knowledge have blessed us all.

Meegoo (my mom; Meegoo is what the grandkids call her) - she's the sweet and loving heart of our family, the one whose heart feels our joy, our sorrows, and everything in between.

Leslie (Studly Man) - a) he's lived all over Texas and/or b) he's the man I had to move all the way to Texas from Virginia to find. (I looked for a dog paw charm, but they were sold out.)

Me - I'm the family whale lover. My dream vacation is to go on a whale watching trip.

Joe (my brother-in-law) - he's the band director at a local Christian school and quite a talented saxophone, clarinet and flute player. He's also an excellent arranger and plays in a professional jazz quartet.

Megan (a.k.a. Me-Again, my sister) - she's the choir director at the same Christian school and is also the organist at their church. She's a private voice and piano instructor, and she sings like an angel. She directs the North Central Chapter of the Singing Women of Texas.

Rachel (my eldest niece) - she's our Texas Longhorn. She graduated in May with her bachelor's in biomedical engineering and is currently back at UT in graduate school.

Cammie (my youngest niece) - the child can text message with her eyes closed or while she's explaining the theory of relativity. (She's a music major, following in the footsteps of her talented parents, but there weren't any other music charms!)

Daniel (my nephew) - he's a junior in high school (yes, that same Christian school where his parents teach) and is a talented basketball player. His school colors are green and gold. BTW, he's just recently been thrust into the position of point guard, but he's really an excellent center.

Kei (Rachel's significant other) - he's a scary smart aerospace engineer whose family is from Hong Kong. (Rach, please don't hit me if I got any details wrong!)

Ben (our dear friend and best man in our wedding) - he has the biggest heart for missions I have ever seen. He's a loyal prison ministry dedicate and has recently founded another ministry to feed villagers in Africa and Romania in a most unique way. Check out his web site.

So there you have it. My homemade beverage-ID-charms-with-significance.

Now if I could just get those place cards done... Come back soon to see those.