BUSY BUT BLESSED WEEKEND...

This morning I was reflecting on what a difference this past weekend was from a week ago.  It was nice to have some really fun, even physically exhausting things to do!  Most of it revolved around the OKC Memorial Marathon.  I don't even have pictures of everything we did.  But I'm just feeling thankful, so thankful this morning!

 We ate at the Team OC pre-race pasta lunch with our new son-in-law's family from Colorado- one of them had a selfie stick so we had fun with it!

 These two just went crazy with the selfie stick and so I ended up with about 50 pictures just like this!!!

 At the pasta party I got to meet my newest great-niece Emersyn!  Got to hold this sweet little 9 day old girl!

 Here's our relay team - our two boys with us and a sweet girlfriend who runs, too!  Our SIL on the end was running the half-marathon with his mother and sister but he caught a ride with us.  He ended up doing 13.1 miles in 1:31!  That guy can really run!

6:25 a.m. - just 5 minutes to go!

The rewards of running the race - we bypassed the free stuff and went to Waffle Champion!

I'll spare you the details of how that breakfast worked out for me...

NUTTER BUTTER BREAKFAST...

Caught your attention, didn't I?  Well who doesn't love Nutter Butters?

Peanut butter is a staple for me and I have a tablespoon of it frequently for breakfast.  My daughter's healthy influence finally prevailed and I have forsaken my beloved Peter Pan brand for real organic fresh ground peanut butter over the past couple of years.

So usually I'm spreading it on half a banana but we were fresh out of bananas the other day and I put it between another favorite of mine, Belvita breakfast cookies.  OH MY!  So good - just almost the same as a Nutter Butter cookie!  Only healthier.  I think.

HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS...

The field of flags is up. They fly for a few hours a year in honor of the 168 Oklahomans who died in the Murrah building bombing 20 years ago.  We had planned to go run the trail this morning, and I had forgotten about them being put up this year, and of course, we ran right through the flags.  It's a little different than driving by.  It's more personal.

That day was pretty amazing.  The fact that the blast shook my house even though I lived in the suburbs was crazy.  I thought a tree had fallen and hit the house.  Then I remembered we didn't have any trees that big.  I called my neighbor and she said to turn the TV on...so sad...I watched a little and told my little ones we should pray.

On top of that remembrance this weekend, add two more deaths on Thursday of people I knew - one, an iconic Bible class teacher at church and another of a boy my boys knew.  A tragic suicide.

Rough week.  But I started thinking about the cross and added that to the list of terrible, terrible things sin has done.

Looking forward to a fresh start to a new week!

OH, POUTINE...

Sorry I couldn't help it!  That title has been rolling around in my head a few days!

The Mule is a cool place with all kinds of fancy grilled cheese sandwiches.  I love grilled cheese, but their Okie Poutine is my favorite menu item!  Poutine, it turns out, is a Canadian dish with fries, cheese curds and brown gravy.  Okie style is with white gravy.  I decided to make some on my own...

Skipped the frozen bags of potatoes and made my own oven baked fries...

 But I'm not so confident with my gravy making skills...I bought a mix.

Layer on the cheese and gravy!  Man, this stuff is good!



I think the kiddie plate was appropriate for this meal.   

SHACK IMPROVEMENTS...

My son bought a  Scooby Shack Snocone business a year ago, and he had a really good time running it over the summer.  Little did I know he had great plans for making improvements this coming season!  He decided he wanted to try opening weekends in April and September and went and negotiated a deal with the landowner.  

Then he decided the deck needed replacing, so he got busy and with his friends and Dad's help they put on a new deck that is twice as large as the old one, plus some more bench seating on the edges of the deck.  He also ordered some shade sails and put posts in the ground to fasten them to - I had no idea he knew how to do all this, but he's learning and it looks really good!  

Looking good!

I helped him out by making some much needed new menu signs.  The old one was creative, but really faded and hard to read.  

 Having kids is so much fun and such a surprise sometimes - You never know what you'll be doing for them!

LAIDBACK EASTER...

This Easter found me a bit sad at the changes happening in our family.  I didn't have the energy to decorate nor did anyone care.  Don't get me wrong, we had plenty happening, in fact we've been really busy lately helping our son make improvements to his Snocone business (which he decided to open this year on weekends in April), doing some updating in our bathroom (which equals a lot of painting) plus our regular commitments.  But the nice thing about Easter this year was that I was able to focus more on the resurrection because I wasn't worried about if everyone's Easter basket was equal with goodies, filling plastic eggs and hiding the money eggs in different parts of the yard so the kids had equal chances on that, and making sure they had some fresh new clothes to wear to church.  Yes, I did all that until the last one graduated high school!  We hadn't been to LTC in a few years, so I guess I'm finally used to not doing that anymore.  I'm wondering now if any of that mattered at all...

As we were singing in church on Easter morning, "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow," it took on new meaning for me.  No longer do I think of it as a funeral song.  It's been sung at many, many funerals that I've been to.  Just the tune of it used to make my lip curl.  But Sunday, I took it to heart and really praised God that because of the resurrection I can face tomorrow!  No matter what changes happen in our family - no matter if death takes away our family members - no matter if our children are near or far to us - no matter if traditions change!

God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives!

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

(Bill Gaither)

Here's some things I appreciated this past week:

 These were planted before we got here - over 15 years ago - and they're still blooming!

 A sight you don't see often - the Redbud tree and Wisteria blooming together!  They both last only a short time in this stage.

 Easter dinner at my Mom's house - with all her pretty tulips!

I did make this fun Rice Krispy cake to take to Easter dinner at my mother's house.  It was so easy and cute!  (I may do this again for some other holidays with different colored M & M's)

LISTEN TO THEIR HEARTS...

Our church is doing a special 24 hours of prayer emphasis soon, and each ministry was asked to provide a display or booth for people to come by and pray for that specific ministry.   For the Women's Ministry, I asked all the different leaders in the group to send me their prayer requests and I made a "prayer tree."  (I used the gold tree and birds that I borrowed from a friend for the wedding)

As I spent time making the leaves and writing the requests on each one, it just made me really think about each woman leader and what she was praying for her part of the women's ministry.  In a way it felt intrusive, I felt like I was hearing their innermost thoughts.  But it also made me appreciate them and their heart for their part of the ministry.  Now I know better what to pray for in that area, too.  It also reminded me of how our heavenly Father loves to hear from us!

Love the ladies I get to serve along-side!