Isn't she lovely?

She was so unexpected.  So beautiful.  More than I had hoped for and much cheaper than I ever expected to find.  She was hidden behind some large pictures at a local flea market just waiting for me to discover her.  I heard angels sing when I saw her.  I had spent many months looking for the perfect antique piece to paint.  Something with drawers to store my china and silver.  A piece that could be used to serve from when we had a dinner party or a gathering for our family or church.  I expected to have to do alot of work sanding, painting, and distressing to achieve the look I thought I wanted.  Imagine my surprise when I moved those pictures to find this gorgeous Chippendale buffet.  No work.  No paint, No sanding.  The bonus was she had glass doors. Not only could I store my beloved blue willow china, I could display it as well!  

I had to wake my husband from his Sunday afternoon nap to measure the space and come pick it up but he's accustomed to my calls and he's very gracious about it.  I had recieved a gift check for my birthday from my boss and at $99 she was a steal.  I didn't change anything about her.  I just oiled her down and cleaned the glass doors.  I'm not opposed to painting furniture but not this piece.  She's a masterpiece just like she is.

I decided at the last minute to mix in some of the ironstone pieces I had been collecting.  I think they blend nicely with my antique china.

I love it when things don't turnout the way you planned but some how they end up even better than you had hoped.

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The Good Wife

Tonight I was the good wife.  This is Mr. Magnificent, and he's a pretty happy camper right now.  Reason being, he's sitting in front of a plate of tacos...his favorite food in the world. I asked him last night before I headed to the grocery store what he wanted for supper tonight and without hesitation he replied "tacos!"

 

 

We don't go for healthy tacos around here.  I mean if you're going to eat tacos, just go all out. After all we may get blown away by a hurricane, wiped out by a tornado,  flooded by torrential rain fall, or maybe even fall through the face of the earth from a major earthquake.  We ARE sitting on the New Madrid fault.....and if life is that unpredictable, I want to go out eating good greasy tacos.  So go out and buy you some of these........

 

and fry them! (gasp)

 

It's really important that you go with this brand in my opinion.  They are the best.  Unless you're Betty Crocker and make your own, which I highly doubt because I'm sure most of you are working like I am.  Pour some oil in a skillet or on a griddle and let it get pretty hot before you throw your tortilla on there. Now, I should insert here "pretty hot" doesn't mean grease is popping all over the stove making a HUGE mess..(like Mr. Magnificent does) sssh!  The reason I like the griddle is because you can cook more than one at a time and I'm not a patient person so that works best for me.  Don't over cook them or they will get too hard!

Prior to the whole tortilla cooking escapade you should brown some ground beef.  Or ground deer if you live in my house...and pay attention, if you don't get anything else from this cooking post, get this.............................................................................................................................................                                                                        

 

YOU MUST BUY THIS SEASONING!

You can buy some other generic taco seasoning if you think you know best, but I'm telling you your tacos are just going to be "okay."  Old El Paso pushes them up to a whole new level...........Trust me.  I'm not getting paid to advertise for them either..  Just buy the stuff and follow the directions.  Basically one envelope per pound of ground (whatever) and 2/3 cup of water...............I think.

 

 

Then dress them babies up with your favorite toppings. 

 

             Guacamole would have made my life complete tonight but I didn't have any (sigh)

 

 

 

 

But this was sufficient to make my man happy!  He doesn't like guacamole anyway....

If you follow these directions to the letter...............and let's face it folks...this isn't rocket science, or some recipe from Bon Appetit.  (This is just simple, good, down home cooking)

 

 

        Then this may possibly happen at your house..........

I'm not making any promises but as easy as it is,what do you have to lose?

 

 

 

 

I always love when I can make him happy.

Autumn Beauty

Kenneth and I spent some time today driving around and playing  with our camera in manual mode.  There are so many beautiful things to see in this area.  The colors are all changing to russett, amber, gold and cinnamon.  I love this time of year.  Cooler temperatures, coffee, quilts and harvest moons.  It's magical.

Every where you look God's hand is at work creating his artwork.  It is a testimony in itself of God's very existence...."For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."  Romans 1:20 NLT

 

 

Isn't it breathtaking?.. And telling of his power..That he can simply speak words and his exquisite pallete comes to life.  "The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born." Psalms 33:6 Do you ever stop to consider how lucky we are?  That God wants to please us so much that he paints our environment with sunlight, color and such painstaking detail?  Do you ever take time to praise him for his effort?

 

Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being. Psalms 148:5

 

 

For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. Psalms 50:10

 

That verse comes to mind every time we drive by this landscape of rolling hills.  Isn't it amazing when God's word comes to life?

 

 

Call me crazy but when I was shooting this cow, I couldn't help but laugh.  She looked like a grumpy old woman who wasn't too happy about me taking her picture.

 

 

This beauty however seemed sad to see us go.  I think he enjoyed us nuzzling his neck.

 

 

Whatever road you find yourself traveling down this season..take a moment to stop and take it all in.

And remember to thank him for it all...even the very breath he is giving you this moment to sustain your life.

 

God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. Isaiah 42:5

 

The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

John 1:4

 

Amen?

 

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The Let's NOT Work; work day

I know you've heard of the "dog days of summer."  Well today has been the dog days of autumn around here.  Kenneth and I took off work today and did absolutely NOTHING. As a matter of fact my better half actually woke up and drug himself out of bed  at.....................

 

Yep, that's 1:00 p.m.  He hasn't done that in a very long time.  The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching...............

re-runs, reading magazines and basically not getting out of our pajamas.

We did decide to......................

grill hamburgers and hot dogs tonight and rent a couple of movies.

 

 

 

So for the rest of the evening you'll find us on the couch eating marshmallows and popcorn.

 

It's been a good day!!

 

I hope you're having a good weekend too.

The Greatest Church on Earth

   Our Pastor (Jay)

Kenneth and I attend the greatest church on earth. It's located in the middle of no where Beech Grove.  Now you may think your church is the greatest..and that's all good.  I'd be dissapointed if you didn't.  But really, from the very first time we came to sit among these people and worship our Savior, it has felt like home.  The people there feel like family.  When I talk about my faith, sometimes people will ask, "What are you?" I'm not really sure what that question really means but I usually assume they are asking...Methodist? Lutheran, Catholic? Pentecostal? Baptist? My "go to" reply is "I'm christian."  Because seriously, does the rest really matter?  Some people would say it does..but you'd have to show me a scripture to support that.  I don't think we will be sectioned off in heaven with signs pointing to the different denominational areas.  I'm not hung up on doctrines and whether you should wear a dress to church or pants, make-up or none, hair in a bun or not, music in the church or not.  I just love Jesus.  I believe he is THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN.  I believe he was born of a virgin, died and rose again and is coming back to receive his bride (The Church).  Now, if you and I can agree on that, the rest is just frills. The reason I love my church is not because it's Baptist but rather the love I feel there and that could easily happen in any church when God's people are "being the church" and not just showing up at the church.  We have ordinary, every day characters that attend our church.

       Our pastor's wife (Kim)

Take Kim for instance.  You could ask Kim if she ever thought in a million years that she would be a pastor's wife and she would tell you NO!  That's the beauty of it though.  God uses the people we least expect...and sometimes that may even end up being us!

Sometimes our deacons wear cowboy hats (not in the sanctuary) but on an off duty kinda outing, it's ok.  Cool looking sunglasses are allowed too.

                     Sometimes we are just kinda laid back and chill.  You know, barefoot and all.

We love beautiful babies

 

 

And really cute kids

...and even if your kids aren't as cute as these..take heart, we would love them too :)

Lol..I'm teasing ya folks!

 

We celebrate great "come backs."  Those success stories that happen because of prayer.  Isn't Josh a handsome young man? We are incredibly proud of him!

 

Julie (Our pianist)

 

We also have the "finest piano player in the county.  Just ask Randy Joiner. He'll vouch for that.

And this is Randy. He's actually the reason we first attended Cornerstone.  We met him at this exact park several years ago when we first moved to this area.  Guess what?  He was standing beside our chairs with a VBS book in his hand and struck up a conversation with us.  He invited us to church the next day and the rest is history.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  We had prayed the night before for God to lead us to the church he wanted us to serve.  Instead, he led Randy to stand beside us in a park by the swimming area and hold a VBS book and invite us to come.  God is smart like that :)

Catherine and Tim

 

We have some great husband and wife teams that serve in our church too.  It makes my heart sing.  I know the Lord is proud when we as couples work and minister to make his name famous.

Lillie and Angie

 

We have a fabulous children's department and alot of people who work really hard to share Jesus with the kids.  Angie is one of those people. 

 

And then we have some very special young people.

 

and Austin falls in to that category.

 

I can't possibly add pictures of all the wonderful people we serve with in one post.  They are seared on my heart though.  They are people I pray with on Friday nights.  They are people who kneel beside me at the altar to pray for me.  They are people who visit me in the hospital after surgery or when my dad is sick.  They bring meals to my home.  They participate in bible study with me.  They listen when I call in the middle of the night.  They are young people who just stop by to see me and offer a hug and say they love me.  They are my church..they are my family.  And if you don't have a church family.......they could be yours as well :) Join us...we'd love to have you.

This is Nanny...aka Ruth Anne.  She's also known as "The Best Cook Around."  She's winking at me in this picture.  (Just to relieve you of any thoughts that she has a lazy eye..you horrible people!) That's a chocolate pie she's whipping up in the back ground there.  Can I just say OMG! They are delicous.  So is her fried chicken.  I've watched her cook fried chicken for years.  I bought the skillet (just like hers).  She tried to teach me to cut the chicken up (just like she does).  I tried to duplicate every aspect of the chicken frying process (just like she does)  but you know what folks?  It NEVER tastes (just like hers)!  I suppose that's because she can't be duplicated.  In many, many ways there is simply noone like her. I could go on and on about her cooking skills and all the fabulous foods she showers us with.  You see, to Mrs.T.. cooking is loving.  She "loves us" through her cooking.  On our birthdays we pick what food we want and she and Mr. T tag team and cook it.  Her gravy??  Amazing!  Her strawberry pie?  Well, that's amazing too..her fried chicken, rice and gravy all at one time?  Well that's just heaven on a plate!  Mrs. T also spoils her grandchildren.  I know you find that hard to believe but if you ask us, we will tell you our kids are rotten and it's all her fault.  She's also an answered prayer.  Many answered prayers from many people who love her as much as I do.  Mrs. T called me today to tell me her path report came back and the result was a "benign cyst"  I love that word "benign"...it means cancer free.  It means no chemo, no radiation, no wigs, no tears, no fear.  It means our God is HUGE and he listens and he answers.  Mrs T. is a two time cancer survivor.  She's a "tough old bird" as my son would say.  I'm sure she could have kicked cancer's butt again but I'm just glad she doesn't have to climb back in the ring for round three. I like having her around.  For her cooking, for her soft heart, for her generosity, for her right words and embraces at just the right time, for her style, for her smile, for her unwavering support, for her love for my child and the fine raising of the man I love and for how she loves me....because she loves me like a daughter and has since I was 15 years old.  She's priceless.  Her value is far above rubies.....and her children, her husband, her granchildren and her daughter-in-laws rise up and call her blessed.