WHAT MATTERS MOST...

is NOT this!  Although I was pretty proud of my $.31 purchase! (Homeland - double coupons plus a $6 off any purchase coupon) Most of the time I save 50-60%, so this was out of the ordinary!

My Friday was pretty awesome because of FAMILY.

I had planned to run a couple of errands and spend time with my GRANDMA.  I took her to KFC and then we shopped at Ross.  (Weird dejavu moment:  While in KFC in west OKC, a construction worker looking guy came in wearing one of our church VBS t-shirts.  I don't think he went to our church, but I could be wrong.  Anyway, it was a green one that said "Jesus" on it from like 10 years ago!  I remember taking a picture of my 3 kiddos all together in that green t-shirt.)  We had a sweet visit!  The weather was beautiful and she loved getting out of the nursing home.

My husband had gone down south to golf with his brother so he wouldn't be back home until 10 p.m. or so...I was kind of bummed with a boring Friday night ahead of me!  I even made a lame facebook post about it, looking for something to do!

About 3 p.m. my DAUGHTER called from Arkansas and said she was thinking about coming home for the weekend.  She needed help with some hand-made shower invitations.  I knew she wouldn't get home until late but it was a nice surprise!  Then guess what?!  My college SON came in to check his camera equipment and ended up eating dinner with me.  So sweet.  Finally, my MOTHER called.  We had been playing phone tag for a day or so, and she had just returned from a vacation to Georgia.  So we got all caught up.  By that time it was nearly 8:30 p.m. and my daughter would be home any minute!

What I thought was going to be a lonely Friday night really ended up special.  I spent the whole day with different FAMILY members in different ways.

 It's WHAT MATTERS MOST.

BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE...

Helping kids with homework has never really been at the top of my list of ways to spend my time, but more and more, it's precious.  And I almost always learn something myself.  Something about my child or maybe just some random fact I hadn't heard before.  My son was needing some help in English with analyzing a paper.  He let his teacher choose one for him, and he ended up with "Washington's First Inaugural Address."

Piece of cake?  Well, let me assure you it was NOT.  George Washington spoke a different language than we do!  Check it out:
"On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years—a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time."  
Huh?  This assignment is going to require a little more effort than he thought!  It was a very eloquent address filled with what I would call "flowery Olde English" language.
But what I LOVED about it was that George Washington mentioned God several times in his address to the nation.  He used beautiful language in describing God.  He refers to him in these ways:

Almighty Being who rules over the Universe 

Great Author

Invisible Hand

smiles of Heaven

Parent of the Human Race

If I were to write an address to anyone, how would I describe God?  What does He mean to me personally?  Just something to think about today...

SNAPDRAGON SURPRISE...

Here's what you get with a warm winter...annuals that never froze out!  Sweet to see this beautiful pop of color on my patio already!

Let all creation praise his name!  Shout Hallelujah!

WHILE I WAS DOWN IN BLUEBONNET LAND...

my college kid stayed home to chill out.  I had given him some cash since the pantry was bare.  What I found out several days later is that he and his cousin spent all the cash on one meal!  (Oh, to be young and carefree again!)  They made a huge lasagna in my 11 x 15 cake pan.  We are still eating on that...and they also made strawberry cream sodas!  There were still ingredients in the fridge, so I had him make me one:

I think he found this on Stumbleupon - mix equal parts Club Soda, Half & half, and Homemade strawberry syrup.

Stir well

Enjoy!  Better than Shasta any day!  He told me it really should have a strawberry sitting on the edge to be legit.  I think he's just honing his skills to impress somebody sometime.

A mother can hope.

HIDDEN TREASURES ON OUR TRIP...

Can you see the bats?  Trust me, they were there.  Very cool in the middle of the city! I was pretty excited since most sources said they'd be back in April.

Okay, well maybe this one's obvious.  Like they say, everything's bigger in Texas.  At the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Can you find Mama Owl in this one?  Click on it and find her!  The volunteer at the Wildflower Center pointed her out to us and said she nested there last year too.

 Where's the trail?  Flooded from the rains the night before!  We had some fun navigating around the Wildflower Center.  And my husband thought it would be boring!

Nothing hidden about Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg!  We took the long way home and stopped here.  I loved it.  Because I just like rocks.  Except it was chilly-thank goodness my husband had his golf gloves in the trunk.  Not too hard of a climb and some great views!

Well, maybe this one is too hard...let's try a flash....

My hubby in the cave at Enchanted Rock - we did venture down but only about 10 feet - pretty damp and dark even with a flashlight!  Thanks to whoever drug some twisty branches down there and almost gave me a heart attack, thinking they were snakes!

Th-th-that's all folks!  Have a great weekend!

I'M NOT SURE WHY...

they say "Austin's weird."  I think it's pretty COOL.  Cool weird.

And DELICIOUS.

We did try to do something educational...

and didn't stay because the movie I had read so much about, "The Spirit of Texas," was closed all day for a private event.  I was in such a mood that I boycotted the whole place and we left and spent time drooling over this....

the incredible desserts in the bakery at their flagship Whole Foods.  I don't know why but the shopping is always better on vacation!  They also had an REI and the neatest Anthropologie I've ever been to across the street.  Not to mention the outlets at San Marcos...I hit that one up at the suggestion of my blog buddy Michelle, while my husband was in meetings.

We did drive by this...the tallest state capitol in the U.S.!  

             
Believe it or not, it was my first trip to Austin.  I accompanied my husband on a business trip and enjoyed the little getaway!  I guess I will join in and say, "Keep Austin Weird!"

LOSING AT CARDS...

is still better than a Saturday night in front of the TV!  Reminds me of some guy who said, "A bad game of golf is better than a good day at work!"  Spring Break is starting off great with my son and nephew staying here this week-we got in some quality game time playing Liverpool Rummy and then dominoes!  I lost in cards big time but I'm not that competitive so it was good.

It was a pretty good Saturday overall in my books - helping hubby tile the shower, visiting and holding THIS precious 5 day old baby girl, dinner with the boys, and some games.

Happy Spring Break to all of you!  Hoping you enjoy some quality time with those you love!

KINGDOM KIDS...

Three sweet boys spent the week with us! They were from Houston and spent their entire Spring Break here in OKC doing inner city work.  They also got to enjoy some of the sights around here like Pop's, Bricktown, a Thunder game, Quail Springs Mall,and the OKC Zoo.  They worked hard and played hard - and had some late night devotionals!  So thankful for youth ministers who plan special works like this.  

   

                                                  MJ, Gabe, and An

I'll sign off with a sweet poem the boys left me this morning.  So thoughtful!

                    

A VALIANT BATTLE...

Today I ask you to take a moment and pray for a family that's been on my heart and prayer list for several years.  They just said goodbye to their sweet daughter Rebecca, 20 years old.  She fought cancer, Ewing's sarcoma, for 3 years.  During this battle she finished high school and started college.  When she wasn't in the hospital, I saw her assisting in Bible classes and serving with the high school girls at women's events.  Seriously, she would be helping in Bible class the day after she got home from a hospital stay!  She was a fighter in the truest sense of the word.

This is one of many memories I have of Rebecca, way back in 1994.  She is in the middle by my son.  Our church has a family encampment every year in Colorado, and it was our first road trip with small children.  When we realized Rebecca's family were leaving the same time we were, we decided to eat a meal together in Kansas, do a kid swap.  We let the older girls ride in one car and the little ones in the other to make the trip pass more quickly for them.  We also stopped outside of Denver at Tiny Town to let the kids have a little fun before reaching our destination.  Sweet memories.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.                     

II Cor. 5:7,8

FRONT ROW SEATS...

to Rick Steves!  So what if we had to turn our necks 180 degrees!  

My college roommate got the tickets and shared with me!  Sweet.  We had a fun visit and commiserated about our teenaged boys...and I'm in awe of her.  She's always been an excellent listener and since college a doctor, mother, and homeschool teacher.  Friends like her are few and far between.  Blessings.

SAFE HAVEN...

My group study of Judges this week took me off on a tangent.  About TOWERS.  I became interested in them after thinking about the role they played in the story and thinking about towers we have today that have fallen, or leaning.  Even today there is a new tower being built that will change the skyline of our capitol city.

We were studying evil king Abimelech.  The son of Gideon (good guy) and a Canaanite woman (bad guys), he murdered 70 of his brothers to rule over Shechem.  He did rule for 3 years but he was repaid for his evil deeds.  God stirred up animosity between him and his people.  He ended up battling his own people and they ran to the TOWER of Shechem for safety.  Unfortunately Abimelech and his followers cut branches and made a bonfire out of the tower.  1000 people died as the tower burned!  Their "safe haven" became a DEATH TRAP.  Kinda reminds me of the "Towering Inferno," the first disaster movie I ever saw as a child.  Scared me and fascinated me at the same time.

Here is a tower we saw a couple of years ago in Cinque Terre.  It's hundreds of years old, and we were told that when pirates approached these coastal towns, the lookout would send word and all the people of the village would go to the TOWER for protection, until the pirates were gone.  It's a logical place of safety.  Unfortunately, the towers we build can't always protect us from danger.  We also resort to other things for protection and comfort from life's stress.  We try to escape with unhealthy results many times, like addictions.

Where is your safe haven, your TOWER?  Is it in manmade things?  I love these scriptures that tell us where our safe haven should be:

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;

The righteous run to it and are safe.  Proverbs 18:10

For you have been my refuge

A strong tower against my foe.  Psalm 61:3

PORTLAND PRIORITIES...

My daughter is on Spring Break this week!  She is exploring Portland with several other students.  Here's what they've done so far:

I think I have actually seen this place on the Food Network.  Their specialty is the Maple Longjohn donut topped with bacon!  YUM

I think I taught her pretty well - top priority on vacations is eating the local fare!  LOL

I'M STILL LAUGHING...

at his incredible performance!  We are exhausted and elated and still enjoying the moment thanks to video technology.  Thanks for all your encouraging words!

BECAUSE I'M A MOM...

Because no one else is as proud as I am of this young man!

(Except maybe all those girls who tweeted they want him to father their child - SCARY)

He's  my STAR!  

Enjoying the moments.

Psalm 127:3  Children are a heritage from the LORD, 

   offspring a reward from him.