Hurry Up Fall

Okay, so I know it's not quite fall yet, but I have been loving these cool mornings and evenings. 

As fall approaches, perhaps you find yourself anxious for the changing of the leaves, when God uses his paintbrush to create beautiful fall colors turning the green leaves shades of red, orange, yellow and browns. 

Isn't this lane just gorgeous!  I love the vivid fall colors of the orange leaves and the yellow leaves. 

For those fans of the outdoors, this is a good time of year to freshen up your home on the outside, whether it be new bark in flowerbeds, adding or replanting plants to your flowerbeds, staining or sealing a deck, or any other outdoor projects you may need to or been meaning to get around to. 

For those who haven't gotten enough of the lakes or the summer camping season, the fall is also a great time of the year to go camping at many of our area campgrounds as the air begins to turn crisp as you can go fishing when it's cooler also on the lake or when fall gets here, you can enjoy a campfire.   

For those sports enthusiast, it's also the time of year for you to hit the road.  Fall is the start of hunting season.  It is also time for a little football. 

 

If you travel up north and plan to do some early Christmas shopping this fall, you might also like the beautiful fall leaves near Branson.

I just love the beautiful turquoise in this picture and the contrast between

the water and the orange leaves.  So pretty!

I love the cool fall air before it gets cold out but after the warmth of summer. 

I also love the pretty vivid fall leaves that begin to appear with fall. 

So, with that, I will leave you with one last fall image.

School Days

Okay so I'm sure by now many of you have started back to school as this was the first week of school for many schools across the state.  So in the spirit of back to school, I thought I would post a brief post. 

For those who were stuck in traffic or following school buses, have patience and maybe leave a little bit earlier if you need to or find an alternative way of getting to your destination if possible.   

Perhaps you are a teacher who has been working hard in her classroom to make it just perfect or as close as you can to perfect in expectation of the students' arrival to class.  

For the teachers out there, when you find stressful moments in your day, just remember the acronym 

T.E.A.C.H.

which is short for "To Educate All Children Happily"

As the halls that were silent and empty over the summer soon will fill with students. 

Maybe you fall into the category of the nervous parent who saw his or her son or daughter off to school to Kindergarten for the first time by means of your family vehicle or the school bus.

To those who fall into this category, you can relax.  Your child will be well taken care of and learn a lot and come home excited with lots of papers for you to display on the refrigerator I'm sure and probably have lots of stories to tell you about their day at school.

Here are a few vintage lunch boxes for your enjoyment.  What was your first lunch box growing up or one that you remember using a lot?

 

Friends

The above is for my beach loving friends.  I mostly just like the picture.

The above is for my tech savy or 21st century friends. 

The above is for my musical friends, both vocal and instrumental.

How true is this above quote. 

This is for my religious friends and those who have been rainbows in my life. 

This one is very true also. 

The above is for all my friends far away who are always close at heart.

A Birthday is a Special Day

Birthdays are the one special day out of the year that each of us gets to celebrate the day that we were born with our families.  Often times we will get a phone call or a birthday card from family far away and friends wishing us a happy birthday and many more. 

Yesterday was my uncle's birthday, so in honor of his birthday...

I hope that you had a very happy birthday! 

Oh How I Wish It Would Rain

We got a nice and pleasant surprise earlier today with the refreshing rain.
I was at home when the thunder began.  I had just gotten back to work when here came the rain. 

We were so happy to see the rain, one felt like singin' in the rain, but didn't.  I also remembered a few friends who because it had been so dry and hot lately, wanted to do a rain dance.

I guess your rain dance worked ladies.

It was so nice and welcoming and refreshing to see the rain come down from above. 

I don't know about you, but my grass definitely benefited from the rain. 

I just love how green this grass looks. 

For a brief while, the pop up rain shower, became quite heavy.  It was refreshing though to see the rain.  Here's hoping you see a rainbow after the rain.

Relax by Candlelight

Have you ever sat in a dark room with the only light you have coming from a single candle? 

Such a simple concept, a single lit candle. 

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to lock in at my church with the church's youth group and some of their friends. 

We had a great time at the lock-in.  There were lots of games played, with lots of laughs.

No lock in would be complete without a game of sardines and a scavenger hunt. 

Perhaps one of the most spiritual moments is the midnight service.  All the lights in the sanctuary are off.  There are 6 different stations set up.  Each person goes to a station.  There is only one person at each station.  Each station is set up around the perimeter of the sanctuary.  The only light at each station is a single candle.  The lit candle symbolizes the light of God in our lives. 

After a designated amount of time, a low toned bell is rang and everyone walks counterclockwise to the next station until everyone has been through all of the stations.  During the rotation and the time at each station, there is complete silence in the sanctuary.  No speaking, no singing, and no music. 

I just remember thinking how peaceful it was just sitting there on the pew looking at the lit candles in the dark sanctuary with the candles providing the only light. 

After the stations have been completed, we all sat down on the floor of the sanctuary and some of our youth shared their stories with the group.  Big thank you to those who shared your story with the group, you know who you are. 

So next time you find yourself stressed out and feel in need of some relaxation, just lit some candles in a dark room and just let yourself relax. 

Does this look relaxing or what? 

Pie a la Mode

I just finished eating a piece of my grandma's homemade pie.  YUM!  As I sat enjoying my slice of pie, I began to think back. 

The first pie I can remember making was a lemon pie.  The first pie I remember eating was an apple pie.  Some of my family's favorite kinds of pies are shown below.

Pecan pie is one of my dad's favorite kinds of pie.  My mom also enjoys pecan pie. 

Chocolate pie is one of my mom's favorite kinds of pie.  She likes several kinds but this is one of her favorite kinds of pie. 

My sister enjoys pumpkin pie. 

Lemon pie is my favorite kind of pie.  I really love lemon ice box pie. 

I am not a big fan of meringue on pies but I don't let it stop me. 

. 

Lemon ice box pie was one of the first kinds of pies that I learned how to cook

at a very young age. 

I also enjoy key lime pie. 

The best tasting key lime pie I think I've ever tasted was in Key Largo, Florida. 

The first pie I can remember eating was an apple pie. 

You can also make fried apple pies seen in the picture above. 

Memories of Ozark Mission Project

Our church's youth group recently went to Ozark Mission Project in Magnolia.  Sunday, they had a taco salad lunch after the church service and shared some of their many stories adn pictures in a slideshow.   

I find myself thinking back on my own experiences at Ozark Mission Project many years ago.  I remember in the mornings, just after breakfast, myself and other campers would scatter across the camp that we were spending the week at with our bibles and a single sheet of colored paper, that had a brief devotional on it and some verses or passages from the Bible.  Each day's devotional was different from the previous day's.  I enjoyed this time because it was a period of quiet time to read your bible, pray to God and reflect on your day ahead and the jobs you would be doing that day. 

After a set amount of time, upon completing your devotional and bible reading, your day would begin as you would gather with your family group, which was the group of people that you spent a good part of your week with and worked on your jobs and job sites with. 

Family groups, usually, these were individuals from other churches besides your church and often times other cities.  Family groups normally consisted of 5 people, 1 of which was your adult driver. 

Your family group would gather up the tools and other supplies that were needed to complete the job you would be doing that day.  Most jobs were day long jobs and occassionally you'd get a job that might take a couple days. 

You also would get an ice chest.  Inside the ice chest I remember was a jug of water and a jug of red kool aid.  Also a loaf of bread and sandwich making things.  You would arrive at your job site and work the morning through about noon.  Then you would take a break for lunch.  We would make sandwiches on paper plates and pour either water or kool aid into plastic cups and invite the homeowner or family to join us for lunch.  After eating lunch, we then would resume our job which would last until close to 5:00 p.m.  Then we would return to camp and eat dinner with other campers, then have worship and share stories about the day's experiences. 

Here are just a few pictures from this year's OMP in Magnolia:

The group that went to Magnolia for Ozark Mission Project

One of our church's youth doing some construction.

One of our church's youth doing some exterior home painting.  

Some of the jobs that I did when I was in Ozark Mission Project was yard work, lots of painting, both interiors and exteriors of homes.  My family group also had a roofing job one year.  I don't recall having ever built a wheelchair ramp but I do know that's a common task these days at O.M.P.