A Few of Our Favorite Things...

We are getting ready for our trip to NY this coming weekend and I can't stop thinking about all of my favorite foods.

Salt potatoes are an all time favorite in Up-state NY. We make them here out of little red potatoes, but they are never quite the same as the ones we eat this time of year in NY.
This is how they look when they are ready to eat...yum! They come in bags exactly like the one pictured below. You can find them in any local supermarket or corner store for just a couple of bucks and they come fully loaded with a bag of salt. You need only add butter:)

Seafood is another favorite on the east coast. These are things we find hard to come by out here in the Midwest so far away from the ocean.

Steamed clams are a special treat you can get during the Fireman's picknick back home. You can buy them just like this by the dozen and eat to your heart's content. You can also pick them up in the local grocery stoes by the 100s for just a few dollars and make them yourself either by steaming them or cooking them on the grill. We love them!

Crab legs are another thing we miss. Out here in the midwest it is hard to find them fresh and not frozen becasue we are so far from the ocean. Frozen crab legs are simply not as good as the ones you can get on the east coast. They are cheeper there too because they are plentiful.

and...we certainly cannot forget the Hofmann hot dog! These babies are the best all beef hot dogs you will ever tempt your taste buds with. We have already decided that the first stop from the airport will be at a local hotdog place. I can taste them already!

We plan on getting a little of all of these while in our home town and surrounding area. This will be a fun trip and kind of an adventure. We are doing it different this time so Ray and I are excited. We will be landing in Syracuse and renting a car, just the two of us and then it will be one adventure after another as we meet with people we love and share some of the foods we miss. God is good! Wish you could come along:)

It's a cellebration; 29 years married!

Today Ray and I celebrate our 29th year as a married couple. Some of the kids came home to spend a little time with us so we all went out to eat at the Mexican Restaurant. The food in addition to the time with family was a lovely way to recognize how blessed we are.

Here is our daughter Kristen, with baby on the way. We are so happy about that!

Next is it our son Jeremy and his wife Joanna. They always add a bit of spark to life. They are still newlyweds at least until August when they too will celebrate their one year anniversary :)

In this picture the girls look great, but I'm not sure what Jeremy was doing. It is difficult to get a good shot of him by camera due to his silly sense of humor. He is always making faces. We love these guys.

Thank you Lord for blessing our lives, first for loving us then giving us one another to love and then by giving us a wonderful family that will continue into the next generation and then the next and so on, as you have designed. You are a good and loving Father and we recognize your work in our lives this day above all else. Glory and honor to you Lord!

Peanut Butter and Jelly :)

These past couple of weeks I've found myself a bit reminiscent of childhood comforts. One of these is as illustrated in the painting by Abbey Ryan above. I searched and searched for the best picture of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and to me this one depicts the one that most matches my mind's idea of a childhood comfort.

As a child we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost daily. I remember taking them out of a crinkled brown sack at lunch time while in school. I think the apple that was place in the bag with the sandwich was the reason for the bread always being smashed and the grape jelly seeping through. I was always a bit embarrassed by the looks of my smashed sandwich when my friends all seemed to have perfectly constructed, cold cuts with cheese. After many years of eating this for lunch, day after day, I became kind of disgusted with even the thought of peanut butter and jelly.

I'll bet I went years without eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave it little thought. Even when I had children of my own; very seldom did I give them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch unless they asked for it. Even then I would suggest something else. Funny how something can be so deeply ingrained in our minds from childhood and we totally avoid it in adult life.

Something that was perceived as a negative childhood memory has now become a much cherished comfort today. It is only Smucker's grape jelly and Peter Pan peanutbutter that will satisfy this craving. Tonight I had such a craving and decided that I would eat one of these sandwitches for dinner. Wouldn't you know it; we were out of bread. :( We got into the car, Ray and I, and went streight to Kwik Trip and I bought a loaf of white bread. First I made my sandwich and then Ray decided it looked and smelled so good, he wanted on too...

Thank you Lord for bringing comfort in the simplist form tonight. I am blessed.

God is so good!

Kristen and Aaron are our daughter and her husband. They have been together since they were teens. They got married in October 2006. Since that time they have suffered the lose of two very important people in their lives. Aaron's father passed away just one month after they were married and his mother passed away in April of this year. They have had a lot to deal with since their marriage started, which has had both me and Ray concerned for them. Ray and I have shed more than a few tears and said many prayers over these two.

At this time I am happy to share that it seems like Aaron and Kristen are beginning to see the proverbial "silver lining" around the dark cloud that has overshadowed their short marriage.
I am excited to announce that the long awaited pregnancy has finally become a reality.

Text Message I got from Kristen this morning and I quote:
"I'm 7 weeks pregnant today:) the baby is growing its extremities this week and is the size of a blueberry." Kristen has been tracking the progression of the fetus with information she found here.


We are very excited for a new little one in our family and since Kristen lives right in the same town we do we are even more excited to know we will be involved in the child's life on a regular basis. How wonderful is our God? More wonderful than words can express. I have seen no greater miracle than that of new life. God is so good!

Lord you are faithful and I will praise You with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done. Psalm 9:1

HE IS HERE...

Take just a few moments to be touched by this unique and artistic worship experience from spoken word poet, Amena Brown. This inspiring video illustration reminds us that no matter where we are, God is with us.

Psalm 139:5-7
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!

Thanks so much Lisa.

Simply Believe!

"The Lord will offend the mind to reach the heart."

Oh my, this little sentence says so much...can you see it?

To me this means that the things of God that I cannot wrap my brain around are likely the very things he uses to reach my heart. Which in turn tells me I should not think so much about the things of God. Simply believe! It really is that simple isn't it?

Not sure who I am quoting here, but I found it at Manna Word. If you have not yet found this bolg, I encourage you to pop over there and spend a little bit of your time. You will not be disappointed. Iris shares her heart and her experiences with the Lord in terms that fall under biblical truth. I love reading her thoughts and listening as well as viewing her pod casts. This little 5 foot woman is a dynamo when it comes to the richness of her understanding of the Word of God.

John 11:40
Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

God is so much more than good... :)

Iris is the second one in on the left in this photo. I'm pretty sure this is a picture of her family. Blessings my friend, you bless me so much.
I thought of you today Iris. Each day when I walk out of my front door my eyes rest upon these beautiful flowers and I say a little prayer for you. ((((Iris)))) you are loved:)

Living, laughing and loving one another...

In this picture you might note the cute guy standing in the cleft of this rock with me. That is my husband Ray. We have been together for over 30 years. Actually we grew up together, being we met when I was 18 and he was 17 years old. Yes that is correct...I am older.

Ray and I have gone through many things in life while raising our four children and have come to a place where we are truly growing in our understanding of just how much we need one another.
All the kids have grown and gone and now it is only the two of us. We have three dogs and a cat, but as for people, it's just me and Ray.

Learning how to live our life without all the drama and excitement that comes with a house full of kids has not been an easy challenge and figuring out who we are in the process has stretched us more than a little, but I think it would be safe to say we are finding our way out of the empty nest and putting our new wings of freedom to good use.

I just wanted to take a few moments to honor the one the Lord has blessed my life with. Jesus is my rock, but Ray stands beside me in the cleft of that Rock and there is no other place I would rather be. Thank you Jesus.

I Timothy 4:4
For everything created by God is good...