I know...I know. I disappeared. But not really. The past 2 months have been loaded with all sorts of activity. My silence has been mainly due to not being able to blog in real time...and also due to changes (again!) that God is working in my life, requiring some quiet time on my part. Some of y'all inquired about us during the recent Texas flooding, so I thought I'd jump online and spill out tons of photos from the past 2 months in way of catching up here...
Almost all of April can be summed up in one word: DRAMA. I tell you...theater is a big commitment for cast, crew and families. But it was well worth the effort as Miss Jane Bennet and her fellow cast members put on a weekend of excellent shows.
Day trip to Gruene, Texas to spend time with family and old friends... Gotta love Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas (where George Strait, Willie Nelson, etc got their start). You can just FEEL the country here.
T playing a couple of songs for the families at the event...
Trip to Dallas to visit grandparents. Four of the 6 cousins have May birthdays, so we did a joint party for them. They put one candle on the cake for all their combined ages (note: this results in mega wax on the frosting)...
HB's 17th birthday (wait...am I really old enough to have a 17-year-old???)... She chose a hibachi grill for her birthday. This was the first time any child has chosen a restaurant for their birthday meal, so Mama got to rest from cooking. Very fun evening.
Vacation in Colorado... We were invited to attend a wedding of some sweet friends, so we decided to make a 9-day trip out of it, traveling across the mountains visiting different towns and friends along the way...
Ellerslie Mission Society in Windsor was our first stop, and it is everything that HB wants in a training ground after graduation. It's gorgeous and unlike any place on the planet, where everyone is sincere in their faith...and the Holy Spirit is evident on every face...literally. I seriously have never experienced that anywhere else. It's a taste of heaven, and I almost wish I could have stayed!).
Church at Ellerslie was more than we even expected. We've been listening to Eric Ludy for many years now, and actually being in the room where he was teaching was a great experience for us. If you ever want real meat in your spiritual walk, THIS is where to get it. I daresay I've never received spiritually anywhere else what I receive when I tune into Ellerslie. I dare you to take the time to taste a bit of the Ellerslie substance. It's like a full 7-course meal of whole foods...no junk food here. But do be warned...it will challenge you and might push you out of your comfort zone. Go ahead...try it...
One of our children was beyond excited to order dessert via room service!
Lunch in Loveland, CO, with old friends...
Estes Park, CO... Elk roamed all around our cabin.
I met a cup of tea that...maybe, just maybe, might have been my favorite cup of tea ever (don't tell my tea mentors in England, because I will always stay true to how they taught me to make it). But seriously, this one brought out the happy...English Breakfast tea with steamed milk. STEAMED MILK...who knew?!
Pizza with friends in Estes Park, CO...
Very excited to find some male elk on the side of the road. Their antlers were in velvet mode and were amazing to see!
Yes, that is snow. Yes, it was May. Yes, we had to dig our winter clothes out of storage before our trip. It was in the 30's. But breathtakingly beautiful.
Then over the mountains to Grand Junction, the town where we used to live 14 years ago...
Our old house in GJ. That tree used to be teeny tiny when we lived here! Awww...memories...
Wonderful reunion with precious friends in Grand Junction. My favorite part of our trip!
Grace helping to gather eggs...
Education happens up on the National Monument...
View from the National Monument... I love these characters!
Pool time in Grand Junction...
Rockslide...the last restaurant we ate at with friends before moving 14 years ago... It's still there, and nothing much has changed.
And the event we came to CO for...the wedding... Here we are in between wedding ceremony and reception dinner.
Sweet bride and groom. I cannot believe I used to babysit the bride! I'm in denial that I could be that old. :)
Leaving GJ and heading back over the mountains to Denver...
Yes, again...snow in May. Gotta love Colorado!
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Colorado, which may just very well be the prettiest state in the union. And yet getting home is always nice too.
I found organic raspberries on sale for $1.50 per 6-oz container (which are typically $4-6). So, I loaded up and made raspberry jam. Instead of making cooked jam, I opted for the easier route of freezer jam. Fabulous idea, I tell you! Easy peasy...and super yummy! For those of you who came to our home in Georgia to learn how to make cooked jam (and have probably never attempted that feat again)...freezer jam is way easier.
And life fell right into its usual rhythm. As always, there's drama, drama, drama. The latest was a play the children made about a book we read (Moccasin Trail...which I highly recommend). Oh, yes, it's as fun as it looks...
And characters are always showing up to meals at our home. I honestly never know WHO will join us for lunch...sometimes Abraham Lincoln and family, sometimes heroes from Narnia...and this day it happened to be the cast from Moccasin Trail. See the make-up on his chest? Everything they do is a replica of the real thing, and that, my friends, is the evidence of a grizzly bear's claw marks on a white-boy-turned-Crow-Indian. Never a dull moment around here...never, ever.
Upon returning from Colorado, we found our state of Texas in the midst of flooding. Our home is high on a hill, so we have had no damage due to the rain. Our subdivision did have brand new "waterfalls" of consistently running water over the rocks. I've never seen anything like it before. And we have a dry creek at the very bottom or our property that is usually...well, DRY. But when we got back in town, it was running about 3 feet wide and 2-3 feet deep. Crazy amount of rain! Several days of no rain helped to dry things out a lot, but apparently the ground is still quite saturated...because after just 20 minutes of simple rain the other day, this is what our flower bed looked like...
T's birthday arrived, and he awaited his traditional breakfast in bed...
HB and D spent 2 days making his cake. Now, seriously, is this not the most amazing cake you've ever seen?? I have no earthly idea how they did this!
This was his first reaction when he saw the cake...
We have a tradition of Daddy praying over the birthday person...
And how do you spend the first inklings of summer?? Well, they asked to go to the library, chose a stack of kids' cookbooks, and asked to be in charge of cooking an entire meal without me doing a single thing. Yay for me! And then imagine the surprise that they chose a very difficult meal (sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, and egg drop soup!).
Keep in mind that this means a messy kitchen! But it's worth it (and THEY clean it up!).
And I was actually surprised at how they pulled off such a difficult meal. It was delicious too. I'm quite blessed to have these amazing kiddos!
There you have it...photo journal of April and May over here. I won't wait so long to post next time. ;)
