Feels Like Fall

The last few days there have been sure signs that Fall is just around the corner on our mountain.  Here are the reasons I'm sure of it:

1. I had to get up in the middle of the night to put on a pair of sweats because our summer sheets weren't warm enough. Time to bring out the flannel!

2. I woke up to that fall breeze that makes the clouds race across the sky all day long.  It felt like a Winnie the Pooh kind of "blustery" day.

3. My kids asked for a mug of hot apple cider while completing their school work. (They usually ask for Otter Pops.)

4. The crickets are chirping much slower in the evenings.

6. I sprung out of bed this morning and ground wheat berries to make a loaf of bread so I could warm the kitchen up.  I LOVE the smell of bread baking in the kitchen!

7.  I made baked oatmeal with peaches on the bottom for breakfast.  Cold cereal just didn't sound good to me.

8.  I froze my hind end off at my son's football practice this evening, even though I had on jeans, two layers of shirts, a sweatshirt, and a blanket for my legs.  As soon as the sun goes down, it gets chilly on that field.

9.  I'm  starting to crave a good highschool football game.  There's nothing like bundling up on a Friday night and taking big quilts and a thermos of hot chocolate to a football game.  It's even more perfect when the family shares a big bag of kettle corn.  Man I love that stuff!!!

10. I've got wood cutting on the brain.  I crave the sound of the saw echoing through the trees, and the smell of freshly cut wood.  I love coming home to a batch of posse stew, or chili in the crockpot. 

I'm sure we have a mixture of warm days and cool nights ahead of us for a few more weeks, but I know that Autumn is knocking at our doorstep.  It's my favorite time of the year!

I plan on cramming as many sunflower pics as possible on my blog while they last!

Apple Banana Crumb Muffins

I love to make these muffins when I have just one overripe banana on hand. I also take an apple and core it. Then I shred it with the peel using my cheese grater. Here's the recipe:

Apple Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 overripe banana, mashed (2 will work also.)

1 large apple, cored and grated (peel on.)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Crumb Topping:

2 TBS flour

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1TBS Butter, cold

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, mix together the banana, grated apple, sugar, egg, and melted butter.  Stir the fruit mixture into the flour mixture until moistened.  Spoon batter into muffin cups. (It makes 10-12 muffins.)

For crumb topping, mix together the brown sugar, 2TBS flour, and cinnamon.  Cut in 1 TBS butter with a fork until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Generously sprinkle topping over the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. ( about 15 for high altitude.)

"Relaxing on Grandma's Swing " - Wordless Wednesday

Appalling Speed Dial Discovery

I was innocently looking at my Dad's cell phone, wanting to make a phone call from it, and I made the most shocking, and appalling discovery...I am #8 on my Dad's speed dial.  My brother is #4.....#4!!!!   What does this all mean?  I'll tell you.  He's four numbers above me in importance. Do you want to know what's worse?  My husband is #5. 

The first thing I did was confront my dad.

"Dad, what gives? Why am I #8 on your speed dial?....and more importantly, why is my lil' brother # 4?"

"You never answer your phone...that's why!"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter if I never answer my phone...that's not the issue here.  The issue is that my little brother is more important to you by 4 whole numbers....and my husband is more important by 3 whole numbers.  What does this say about my standing in the family?  What does this say about my standing in the big paper (the will)?  What does this say about our relationship?  I'm your first born, and your only daughter for crying out loud! I've birthed three grandchildren for you from my loins!  I inherited your deformed little toe.....and this is what I get?  #8????  I want to be moved up to #3."

"No. You never answer your phone."

"Switch me to #4, and move my brother to #8.  That's my final offer."

"No. I already have it memorized.  You're 8, your husband's 5, your brother's 4."

I was crushed.  Devastated.  Rejected.  Alone in this world....without a "phone a-friend" to talk to.  So I did what any wounded daughter would do....I went crying to my mother.  Then I checked her phone. It was like a knife to the heart.  I am speed dial #5 on her phone.  My brother....speed dial #4.

"Mom, I was upset when I found out that I was #8 on Dad's speed dial, but this?  I never expected this from you.  You call me EVERY day.  I should be higher up on the speed dial than my brother.  It's all so disappointing to me."

"Nell, wait....I can explain. Your DAD programmed my speed-dial.  Do you actually think I'd know how to do something like that?"

Of course Dad programmed it. I should have known he was behind this. I knew Mom wouldn't do something so cruel and heartless. How could I ever have doubted her?

As for my Dad....well, every time I don't answer my phone he leaves me a message saying that he's going to take me off of speed dial all together!  Can you believe it?  I can't help it if I'm incredibly busy.  I can't hear the phone when I'm mowing the lawn, or vacuuming the house, or starting a load of laundry.  Those 3 activities alone account for 65% of my daily activities.  My dad insists that I put my cell phone in some sort of holster, but it would scratch up my cowhide bling belt.  Then he wants me to keep it in my pocket, but I think it will make me look fat.  Sometimes my cellphone goes missing for hours.  Sometimes I put it on vibrate for church on Sunday, and don't remember to take it off  of vibrate until Tuesday.  Then I say to myself, " No wonder it's been such a quiet week."

If moving up in the speed dial line means having to answer your phone...then I'm doomed.  My Dad says my husband might even move up to #4 because he ALWAYS answers his phone.  He says, "Your husband could be in Mongolia and he'd still be answering his phone.  He's always reachable."  Well, I guess I'll have to settle for #8 then.  You can't have everything.........Eight's a nice round number, right?

A Blog about Nothing.

Lately, my life has been extremely, maliciously, unthinkably, unequivocally, wholeheartedly,strenuously, genuinely,rigorously,appallingly, and insanely busy.

There. I said it.... in a nut shell.

In honor of the craziness at our home, I will blog about the random things in my mind at this very moment.

1.  96.7% of my garden is ripening all at one time.  My daughter picked a bucket of green beans, a strainer of sugar snap peas, 6 Zucchini, 2 yellow squash and 23 tomatoes yesterday, and I wanted to hide behind my shower curtain.  I don't have the time to process all of those vegetables in one day! I would make a very bad Amish Woman.

2. The sunflowers have taken over my garden.  One of them has a head on it the size of a pie plate.  I love them. My husband hates them. Yesterday we got into a highly philosophical debate about the definition of a "weed".  Sunflowers are not weeds. Period. The End.

3. I'm teaching a Medieval times unit study to my co-op class, and I bought 2 songs from the time period off of  iTunes to play on my iPod during class.  My iPod also plays on my alarm clock.  I've been waking up to medieval flute music for 3 days now and haven't had time to change it.  I wake up every morning wanting to eat a roasted turkey leg and wash it down with a pint of watered down beer.  It's like waking up at the Renaissance Festival every day.  I must do something about this.

4. My son, who's life revolves around football practice right now, has had a cathartic moment on the field this week where he transformed from nice homeschooled kid to aggressive wildebeest.  He ran up to the fence during water break to say, "Hey Mom, guess what? I just made some kid cry!"  What does a Christian mom say to this? 

5. I wanted to take a picture of my girls in the sunflowers along our road, but there was a snake meandering through the weeds, and my youngest girl wouldn't go anywhere near the sunflowers.  So I took a picture of my oldest, and some old lady had the nerve to stop me and say, "Why aren't you taking any pictures of your little girl?  Do you like the older one better?"  What?  Really? People need to mind their own business.

6.  My husband doesn't really like it when I tilt the camera like I did here for "artistic" flare.  He thinks it just looks crooked. I like it.

7. Our cat, Miss Kitty, has had this slight problem grooming her back, and she had two horrible spots with matted down fur.  It looked like she had little kitty dreadlocks.  My husband held her in his lap while I performed surgery with the scissors.  Now...to the untrained eye...she looks like she has mange, and I think she is somehow psychologically aware of other people's perceptions of her with bald spots.  I went to take a picture of her, and she rolled over on her back to cover up the hack job.  Her self- esteem has been permanently damaged, I'm certain of it.

A Feed Store Romance

It was a week before my senior year of college started.  I just came back into town from living on a ranch in Colorado, and I decided to get my old job back working for a feed company.  I had a whole lot of livestock to feed, and the feed store worked around my class schedule, so I figured it would be perfect for me.  I sauntered in through the warehouse, and met with my old manager.  Little did I know that my future husband was high above me, on top of a big feed hopper, looking me over.  I had no idea he was there.  He thought I was a "sorority girl" of some type because I had on some stylish shorts and top. (Whatever.)  He turned to another guy on the feed mixer to get the story on me. 

 Fast forward a few weeks.  I was back to work, doing my usual feed billing paper work, and we had an employee meeting.  I saw him.  He saw me.  He was sweaty, wearing wranglers and a feed company T-shirt.  I was wearing Rockies (they were still cool back then), and a feed store polo shirt.  His hair was buzzed off because he couldn't handle the heat.  He introduced himself to me, and we chatted a little. 

 The next day I walked out into the warehouse and  he used the world's worst pick- up line on me, and I was appalled. I was furious.  I was blushing.  I was...confused.  I didn't know whether to kiss him or slap him.  I did neither.  I just rolled my eyes, gave him a look, and marched back to my office.  The nerve of that guy!  The line was so bad, I can't even repeat it on a blog.  The next day we started talking, and the conversation turned to the subject of golf. He was surprised to find out that I knew how to play, so he invited me to shoot a round with him and his buddies the next afternoon. I kicked his little hiney.  It wasn't even a close game, and it wasn't pretty.  Because he was a glutton for punishment, he invited me out to go bowling with him and some of his friends.  I bowled the game of my life, and beat him again.  I think he was starting to learn a little bit about my competitive nature.  :) I was beginning to enjoy spending time with him.  After our next date, he tried to kiss me and I slammed the screen door in his face.  He was undeterred.  In fact, I think he took it as some sort of challenge because he kept asking me to go on dates with him.  After a while, he started to grow on me.

We were pretty fond of one another, and we started to spend lots of time together.  Every afternoon after my classes, I would come to work and process large feed orders.  After typing them up on the computer and taking care of the money end of things, I'd hand the customer a "pink slip" to take out to the warehouse.  There, my "guy" would load the "pink slip" order into the back of the truck or trailer of the customer.  I secretly smiled when they ordered hay because he would walk from the warehouse, past the window of the store, and go to the hay barn.  I thought he was pretty darn cute, and I'd look forward to watching him from the store as he slung big heavy bales of hay from the stack like it was nothing at all.  He was constantly hot, sweaty, and covered with hay....and I loved it.  He was a hard worker, and I loved to watch him hustle.  There's just something attractive about a man hard at work, with short sleeves, leather gloves, and forearms bulging, as he lifted bales by the strings.  In fact, he would often sling several 50# feed sacks on his shoulders at once.  But his muscles weren't the only things I fell in love with.  He was kind, thoughtful, and always kept me laughing.  There was never a dull moment in our courtship.

One Saturday, we both worked all day.  I was busy in the store, and he was busy managing the warehouse.  He saved the "pink slip" from every customer that came in that day, and instead of throwing them away after filling the orders, he wrote little love notes on each and every one of them.  When I went to leave that night, my windshield was packed with 30 little "pink slip" treasures that I have kept to this day.  It was love. 

On the night before my college graduation, he asked me to go for a walk up Sabino Canyon...one of our favorite places to visit.  I threw on my gym shorts, a tank top, and tennis shoes, and put my hair in a ponytail.  We drove through Taco Bell and grabbed some bean burritos.  After walking up the canyon at sunset, we stopped at a picnic table to eat our dinner. We were eating burritos, and talking about nothing when all of the sudden, he got down on one knee, and said something amazing, and proposed marriage to me.  I was SHOCKED!  I was in my gym clothes.  I was eating Taco Bell.  I said YES of course, but I mean to tell you, he really had the element of surprise working for him.  If he would have had me get dressed up, and took me somewhere nice, I would have suspected something was up, but this......who proposes this way? Over Taco Bell?  By this time it was getting so dark that I couldn't even see my shiny new ring.  I could feel it, but I couldn't get a good look at it.  I made him practically sprint a mile out of the canyon, back to the truck, so I could see my ring in the light, and it was beautiful.  We were married 3 months later in a lovely ceremony in the church I grew up in.  We had 150 guests there to witness our covenant with God, and we had a big ole' reception afterwards with dancing, and a BBQ beef dinner, and cake.  Then we flew off to Maui for our honeymoon, compliments of his parents.  We were young, in love, and broke, but we had so much fun together. 

Ten years later, we're still madly in love and deeply devoted to each other.  Our marriage has produced three beautiful children that give us reasons to celebrate every day.  We continue to grow together as we grow closer to our precious Savior, and I couldn't imagine taking this journey with anyone else.  I treasure the fact that God chose me to be the helpmate to this amazing man.  Ten years flew by in the blink of an eye! We dance barefoot in the kitchen every chance we get, and I still feel giddy as a school girl when he twirls me around that hard wood floor.  I love to bring him a cold glass of Iced Tea when he's out working hard so I can steal a glance at his muscles.  I guess some things never change.  I thought I loved him then, but it was just a smidgeon of the love I feel for him today.

The Stuff that Kids Do

Tonight we were having our weekly Bible Study small group, and while the adults were singing and having a serious time of learning about God, our kids were having an adventure of their own.  The sky broke loose and it proceeded to downpour.  After the rain let up a little bit, the kids ran out to discover an infestation of little frogs...it was like a plague of Biblical proportions.  The adults had their noses in their Bibles, and looked up to see a bunch of little guys with giant grins on their faces. Each of the 10 kids came into the house, soaking wet, and holding cups of about 50 little dime sized frogs.  They were so cute!  We let our kids keep a handful and put them in their aquarium, and then made them let the rest go free.  They also caught a horned toad, and a snake too!  Who needs the Wii and TV when there's cool stuff to learn about outside.  Our mountain kids make their own fun!

That's what I love about our kids.  They live in the moment.  They live every day as if they had some concept that time was precious and must be thoroughly packed with great discoveries.  If they are left to their own devices for any period of time, they create an amazing amount of fun with no prompting from us grown-ups.  This week, the girls found old buckets and sticks and made their very own restaurant outside complete with "the soup of the day" and a first class wait- staff.  My son and his buddies had paintball wars for 6 hours in the forest this weekend.  My kids made kites out of Walmart bags and yarn.  They play outside until their cheeks are red and their hair is sweaty.  They focus 100% on making the most of the moment.

Our kids don't waste time doing meaningless stuff.  Every silly little thing they do has a lesson to be learned, or a skill to be perfected, or a memorable moment involved in it.  They aren't like adults.  They don't tread water doing mundane things....just waiting for the excitement that lies around the corner.  They create their own adventures in order to completely avoid the mundane.  Somewhere along the way, we grown-ups forget how to live adventurously.  We settle for mediocre days.  I'm not saying that we need to jump out of airplanes and bungee jump from water falls.  We don't need to travel the world, or spend thousands of dollars on lavish vacations.  We just need to rediscover how to make the most out of the day.  Put sprinkles on our oatmeal, eat dinner with the good china on a Monday, burn the "pretty" candles that we've been keeping as a decoration on the shelf, and play an intense game of Mouse Trap with the kids.  Don't go easy on them just because they're four years old.  Use big words and when the kids don't know what they mean...look them up together.  Read an entire story with a lousy British accent.  Pretend like you have no idea what's going on when your baby asks you to point to the sky so she can tickle you for the tenth time today. 

Just breathe in each moment and savor it.  That's what kids do.  They color pictures with furrowed brows and tongues sticking out as if they were creating a Picasso. They want to get rich selling lemonade in their driveway. They dig holes with the intention to reach China.  Do we make ridiculous and lofty goals like this?  Maybe we should.  What's there to lose?  I think we would all enjoy life a little more if we learned to value each moment like a kid.

The Wedding, Part III- The Big Day

The big wedding day was finally here, and we spent the morning placing the flower arrangements, desserts, and sound system in the gorgeous reception hall.  It looked so elegant in the evening with the candles at each table, and the beautiful chandeliers hanging throughout the room.

Here's an example of one of the tables.  Each guest had an assigned table to sit at.

After we finished setting up, it was time to scrub up and put on our fancy wedding clothes.  This is my boy...the ring bearer.  He cleans up nice, doesn't he?

Here are all three of the kids.  These flower girls were excited!

Here's a cheesy pic of the whole family.

Here was my gorgeous bouquet.  I didn't know there were so many shades and varieties of orange roses until  they had to select them for the wedding.

Here's the bride and groom with the bride's parents. Doesn't my brother look handsome in that tux?  And the bride....well she was stunning, and that dress looked like it was designed especially for her. Beautiful.

Here is the whole family...both the bride's, and the groom's.

At the beginning of the ceremony, when all eyes were on the bride, I was looking at my brother.  When he got teary-eyed with the sheer magnitude of the moment...seeing his bride for the very first time, walking down the aisle, I almost lost it.  The tears came for me, but I kept it together the best I could.  It was a beautiful ceremony.

Here is the bridal party in front of the reception site. Below is my brother dancing with my mom.  They danced to Rascal Flatts "My Wish For You".

Here's my handsome hubby hamming it up on the dance floor with the girls.

Here are my folks looking all classy.

Here's my brother getting ready to take the garter off of his bride.  He did a little dance, and the look on his face was priceless!

The night was magical....

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

The Wedding, part II- The Rehearsal

It was a stifling- hot Friday evening, and we made our way to the church for the wedding rehearsal.  As a bit of an ice breaker, the pastor had us all introduce ourselves and share stories of the first time we met the bride or groom.  Here's my recollection:

The big day had arrived when my brother decided to bring his new girlfriend over to meet the folks.  Anyone who knows my family well, knows that we are HUGE teasers, and I wasn't sure what her first impression of the family would be.  Quite frankly, I was nervous.  Much more nervous than my brother was.  I was sweating for the following reasons:

1.  I was a helpless 230 miles away from my parent's house, and unable to punch my dad in the arm if he said something inappropriate.

2. My brother seemed smitten with this gal, and if she thought we were too weird, it wouldn't be good for my brother's chances at dating her.

3. She was from the east coast and might not be too thrilled with our "Wild West" ways...our guns, the trophy animals mounted on the wall, our music, or our love of eating giant slabs of beef. 

4. I want to be Aunt some day.  My brother is INCREDIBLY picky about women.  If this prospect didn't work out, it could be another decade before he met anyone that met his high standards, which would then throw my dreams of being an Aunt back into the dark and hopeless corner of my mind where it would lay rotting for years to come.

So....I did what any good sister who was 230 miles away would do....I texted my dad on the sly to find out how things were going during the big meeting.  It went something like this:

Me:  Dad, how's it going? Don't screw it up.

NO ANSWER

Me: You didn't answer. that can't be a good sign.

Him: It's not going well.  They're getting into a theological argument.

Me:  Well crap.  I guess you have to expect a few losses in an operation of this size.

(I was heartbroken. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, my dad was reading the texts to my brother and his girlfriend, and they were cracking up and making up stories to text me back with.  The whole thing was a big scam.)

That was my first encounter with the two of them as a couple.

Here are some pics of the rehearsal. Below are the bridesmaids...that's me in the light pink and brown dress.

Here are my two daughters who just happen to be the best flower girls around.  They were so excited for the big event that they could hardly sleep.  My four year old was even practicing the petal toss.  She had a delicate flick of the wrist that looked like a cross between the Pope wave and Miss America.

Here is my son...the ring bearer.  He did a football shuffle down the aisle the first time through the rehearsal.  We had words.  I made threats.  He decided to be serious for the rest of the night.  I was thankful.

Here are more pictures of the rehearsal.

Afterward, all 52 of us went to a Mexican Food restaurant to have dinner.  It was a ball!  My brother's speech made me cry, and the bride gave us the most beautiful strand of pearls to wear the next day.

Here's a picture of my brother and I.

Below is my dad's side of the family.

Here is my mom's side of the family.

Me and Mom.

We had a great night with our family, and there were so many cameras there that it looked like the Paparazzi was in the room.  My cheeks hurt from smiling. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post: "The Big Day"

The Wedding, part I

My brother got hitched on Saturday, and it was the event of the summer.  To quote Seinfeld, we had six days of "festivous for the rest of us."

My dress was finally finished at 7pm on Monday night....two hours after the seamstress "officially" closed.  It was 3 days late, and took three phone calls to get it, but it finally fit me! She felt so bad that she gave me a HUGE discount.

I cashed in my free pedicure and decided to go with the french manicure, despite my husband's protests.  When I got home, he thought it looked like I needed to cut my nails, and my dad didn't like the look either.  But what do they know about high fashion?  After all of that drama, someone ended up stepping on my big toe at the rehearsal dinner and ripped the toenail halfway off anyway.  I ended up having to cut it off.  Then, because that nail was so short, I ended up cutting the rest to match it.  Then I painted them pinkish orange and went with it! 

 On Wednesday, I arrived at my parent's house and was promptly put to work greening centerpieces in my mom's craft room.  My mom is a florist and had a daunting amount of preparations to make for the wedding.  Stepping into her refrigerator-cold shop from the 113 degree backyard was slightly shocking, and required a sweater. 

That evening we attended a barbecue at my brother's house where our whole family met the bride's whole family.  I forgot my camera, therefore, there are no pictures of that night.....but I will say this....there were lots of hugs.  I thought I would never remember every one's names, or how they were related, but by the end of the weekend, I had most of them down.  Her family comes from "the far east" as they call it, and their Jersey accents are AWESOME! 

On Thursday, we went to the airport to pick up my Aunt and cousin from Quebec, Canada.  Here's a picture of part of the welcoming committee waiting for the plane to land.

We did a bunch of shopping on Thursday.  I was on a mission to buy a pair of panties that represented my personality for the bridal shower that evening. It was a lovely little party at a swanky Scottsdale Resort.  I thought cow print would be cute, but I could only find exotic prints like leopard, zebra, giraffe, and cheetah. In the end I decided to go with a pretty little lacy pantie and I added the tiniest silver charm below the bow that had a cowboy boot with a spur attached.  She guessed it right away!

On Friday I was able to spend some time getting rid of my farmer John tan, and my cousin and I picked up cakes, cookies, and more flowers for all of the festivities.  We delivered several loads of decorations to the reception site, and then got  ready for the big wedding rehearsal.   I'll tell you more about that in my next post!

Thoughts on Marriage

I've been reading an excellent book by Voddie Baucham, called "What He Must Be...if He Wants to Marry My Daughter".  In it, Baucham gives insights on how to raise our sons into Godly men, equipped for the role of a biblical husband.  The book also gives a clear vision of what our daughters should be looking for when choosing a spouse.  As I pour over the pages, I can't help but think of my brother, and the role he is about to take on as "Husband" to his soon to be bride.  He's got huge shoes to fill, as he models Christ's perfect love for His bride, the church. 

My brother is a follower of Christ, and is passionate about serving the Lord.  It will be wonderful for him to have a helper to be at his side to join him in his calling.  Whether it's ministering to young people on the college campus, serving at church, feeding the homeless, or constructing orphanages half a world away, it's comforting to know that he will not be alone in his endeavours.

He must learn to lead like Christ.  "Christ's headship over his bride is characterized first and foremost by his love for her.  A man who follows the Lord's example in this will be marked by biblical love." (Baucham 106) Christ's love is selfless, and sacrificial as well.  When my brother says "I do" on Saturday, he must have a plan of action to lead his household with.  Thankfully, the Bible is full of guidelines about how to be a good leader, and my brother is a student of the Word. 

There are many character traits he must exemplify, but one of my favorites is gentleness.  Voddie Baucham describes the great man and martyr, Rowland Taylor, as an example of the holiness and righteousness of Christ.  He goes on to say, "Rowland Taylor not only exhibited Christlike holiness, he was also a gentle man.  This is not to say that he was timid.  On the contrary, biblical gentleness has nothing to do with being timid.  This is not at all what Christ exhibited in his earthly ministry.  Gentleness is not a lack of strength; gentleness is strength under control." (Baucham 144) My brother is a man of large stature.  His fiance' calls him her "Big Tree".  He's physically strong, but he's also a gentle giant.  When I read this I couldn't help but think of my brother. That gentleness will come in handy when caring for a wife and kids.  Lord willing, someday my brother and his wife will have a quiver full of children and they can gently start training up the next generation.  It will take resolve, sacrifice, provision, nurturing, and above all else....prayer.....lots and lots of prayer. 

Being the Head of the household is a responsibility of magnificent proportions.  I'm sure it will often drive my brother to his knees in prayer.  With great excitement, I look forward to witnessing the holy union of my brother and his wife.  Watching him take on the most important role of his life, and knowing that he will have an amazing "help meet" to walk hand- in- hand with,  makes a sister's heart overflow with emotion. 

Works Cited:

Baucham Jr., Voddie. What He Must Be...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter. Illinois: Crossway, 2009.

This Week's Rundown

I know I've been a terrible blogger lately, but our world has been turning at the speed of light, and I haven't had time to hit the keyboard to tell you about it.  My brother is getting married on Saturday, and there is so much to do and so much to look forward to!

I have family coming in from all over! Relatives from Quebec Canada, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and of course, Arizona!  The bride's whole family is from the East Coast. Places like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey...etc. etc. It's going to be a whole lot of fun! Every available house is going to be full to capacity, as well as every hotel in the area.  There are over 200 guests coming!  We'll have barbecues, and lasagna dinners, bridal showers, and bachelorette parties, the rehearsal dinner, and of course, the big wedding day to look forward to.

I have a few small kinks to work out in the plan...

1. I went to pick up my bride's maid dress from the seamstress on Friday, and the place was closed, blinds drawn, dark inside, and no one answered the phone.  I'm trying not to panic about this.  I will go back today.  My dress needed major alterations, and it was too complicated to do myself.  She needed to take it in two inches on each side, and raise the hem.  She said it would be done by Friday. I will not panic, I will not panic, I will not panic.

2.  I'm a slightly conservative gal, and the dress is strapless!!  I have a MAJOR farmer tan going on and we are at the peak of our rainy season in our part of the world.  The sun has not shined in two weeks, and I have not been able to get rid of the tan lines.  Fake tan in a bottle will not fix this train wreck!  I need some real sunshine....please.

3.  I am the only bridesmaid that has given birth to 3 children.  Strapless dresses weren't made for mamas.  They were made for single college chicks....I haven't been a single college chick for 10 years.  What if I want to do the hokey pokey at the reception and my dress falls down!  Worse, what if my husband takes me for a twirl on the dance floor to do a little Texas two step and I have a wardrobe malfunction like Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl!  I think I might need to use duct tape to keep everything where it needs to be.  I'm starting to have nightmares. 

4. I'm going to a lingerie party for the bride.  I have to buy a pair of panties that describes my personality.  I'm a whole hearted, homeschooling, obsessive yard mowing, crafty, cow raising, Jesus lovin', bean burrito eating, big hair lover, addicted to anything with cowhide and rhinestones kind of gal.  Do they make that in a panty???  If they do, I can't find it at the local Walmart. I'm going to have to find a pair in the big city.

5. I'm in decision overload! I've got to get a pedicure, but I'm agonizing over what color to paint the toes.  The dress is brown, the flowers are orange, and the open toed heels are ivory.  Do I go with a subtle orange, pale pink, or french manicure on the toes.  (My husband HATES french manicure.)

6. I hate everything in my closet right now, and I have zero money to go out and buy a new wardrobe to impress my brother's new relatives with. What if he's embarrassed of me?  I'm a stay at home mom.  I wear jeans and a shirt 6 days a week.  I don't have a little black dress, a sun dress, or anything to wear for a night out on the town.  I need a make-over.

Well, that about covers my insecurities and dilemmas for today.  Thanks for listening.