The Season of Lent

Well, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras celebration. Joe and I decided we would enjoy our excess in the form of sour cream enchiladas and an apple fried pie with ice cream. It was good.

But some of you may know, that this time of overindulgence is in preparation for the liturgical season of Lent. As a Baptist growing up, it seems we never really dove into Christian Liturgy too much, but I have enjoyed learning a bit more about this through our church, Irving Bible Church.

Along with the normal teachings, our church has also added a devotional to the season thanks to the writings of Shawn Small (also the guy who married us, I know, cool!)

His book, Via Crucis, follows the journey of not just Christ, but those he met, those who only heard about him, and those who persecuted him. It is a powerful and fresh approach to look at Jesus' journey to the cross. It is a way we can almost see our own selves there some 2,000 years ago. Who would we be? What would we do? Thoughts we can ponder, but with the truly gracious benefit of knowing the hard part is done and our God is great.

If you'd like to walk this "way of the cross" or Via Crucis, during this season of Lent, you can find the book on Amazon, or let me know and I can hook you straight up with the author himself!

I like your style.

So, found this today on the ever-so-fun blog, How About Orange. What is your decorating style?

After taking the test, here, I found my decorating style to be:
56% Arts and Crafts
33% Rustic Revival
11% French Eclectic


Arts & Crafts
You tend to prefer simple to ornate and natural materials over man-made. Warm tones found in wood and brass make you feel comfortable, and good craftsmanship excites you like nothing else. (ha...I guess that's why I have Joe -- good craftsmanship!)

You enjoy patterns that highlight our natural surroundings such as plants and trees. You prefer rectilinear forms and straight lines, however you love to find intricate details (ooooh, stained glass!) where you least expect it.

Sounds good to me! Now, if I could only make it appear in life as I can see it my head.

Take the quiz, find out a bit more about your style and post here if you'd like

He loves me...

So this Valentine's Day, we played it cool.

Joe graciously loaned me out to Lydia for the day for us to have a bit too much fun roaming the streets of Fort Worth taking Random pictures. (See a few below.)




BUT, when I returned, he let me take a nap! AND he made me dinner. He moved our table into the dining room where he made a beautiful table presentation, then proceeded to cook and serve me a greens and apple salad, chicken pasta with broccoli and crustinis, wine, and concluded with a berry medley.



We also had this guy as our waiter. He did not do a good job. We did not tip.

Thanks Joe for a wonderful Valentine' Day treat. I love you!

Life, constant entertainment at it's best.

For those of you who have been on this planet for more than a year or so, you have probably discovered this thing called life can be pretty entertaining.

Entertaining can mean many different things. Just as we see different movies for different entertainment, life can be:
funny
sad
dramatic
romantic
scary
horrific
dull
messy
forgetful
hysterical
...and so on...

With that, here are two things to ponder:

Don't we all wish life held a bit more of this?


And my next question/interlude:

On the latest Top Chef episode, they had the contestants cook some of America's most renowned culinary masters' "Last Meal." There were some things that I, not only didn't know what they were, but would also never ask for them. And others considering...yeah...maybe. But one sad thing is they did NOT have a dessert. With your last meal, how can you not have a dessert???

So, what would YOUR last meal be?

Mine, a no-brainer here:
A cold coke with sonic ice
A strawberry/lime swirl margarhita
Cheese enchiladas, rice and beans from the now-departed El Charro's in Port Arthur
Chip, hot sauce and queso
and a BIG WARM slab of chocolate fudge cake and a glass of cold milk to wash it down.

Oh...I can taste it now. really. and I want it. now.

In Honor of Our National Day of Love

I just might have to do it.

I found this beauty the other day, and I'm thinking I'm just going to have to bake this. I just have to.I am not the world's biggest fan of nuts, but for this, I might even try it! I know...crazy, right!

Well, if I do make said devilishly delicious cake, I will let you know how it goes..and how fast it goes! ;)

Happy Friday the 13th/Valentine's Day -- a great pairing I must say!

You know you love your dog when...

1. You let him take up more of the bed/couch than you.

2. You take him on walks in the freezing cold/rain/fog...

3. You take him to PetsMart and he not only PEEs but also POOPs everywhere! UGH!!!!

4. You give him the freedom of the wind by rolling down the car window.

5. You buy him the premium food so he won't die...or so the lady said in the store.

6. You try to make sure he is well-supervised at all times -- yes, I know he's not a child, but he seems to get into more trouble than a child.

That's all I got right now, but sheesh...having a dog is hard work. But man it sure is worth it.

Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you who took time out of your busy lives to pray and check in on me and my pupster. Joe and I were and are quite the worried parents, but as we always need to do, all we can do is give it to God.

So far, Ryker has been super dooper A-O-K!, and we're hoping it stays that way! Thank you, thank you!

And yes, here's a picture. Because I can!

so very small

Yesterday, I felt so very small.

My puppy had a seizure or something of the sort.

He was sad, he had no control and he was looking to me.

What could I do?

I held him. I cried. I called Joe. I called the vet. I called the school...that I was now late for.

We took Ryker to the vet and they checked him out, unable to find anything obviously wrong. Said they could run tests, but 80% of the time, they will just never know. It could happen again, it could happen again years from now, or it could be a fluke never to return.

As man's best friend, it is our charge by God to protect these little guys (along with everyone else), and I don't know if I don't feel like I did a very good job. I will pray and I will watch him. And I guess that's all we can do, but it still made me so sad.

So, if you think about it, send up a prayer for my buddy Ryker. He looks like this if you forgot!

A Flashback Tag

Karen listed a tag challenge on her site to go back a year or so to the same day as you're blogging to see how things have changed...this is my post from Feb. 4th, 2008:

We'd been in our new house for about 2 weeks at this point, and still PLENTY of boxes to go through. I still do this when looking for Christmas decorations, a shirt or photo that seems to have disappeared. I'm working (ok, wishing) on being more organized in life, but I feel there will always be boxes. And I guess I hope there will always be sweet moments like these...

Boxes.

Isn't it crazy that when moving your life can be gathered up into a few or plenty boxes. It's always a surprise opening these boxes to find what they hold.
A few dishes... followed by wonderful memories of your wedding.
A diary or journal... ugh..what was I thinking, or perhaps, thank you God for leading me out of those troubled days.
Shirts you haven't seen since three moves before...Goodwill, here you go!
Pictures, oh, sweet pictures - fun times, if only we could step through the image and enjoy that view, taste a piece of cake or hug a loved one we can't hug anymore.
Books of every shape and size... did we really learn anything from that class; I love looking at those pictures; do you remember this part?; and, Half Price Books for you baby!
Letters, postcards, cards and notes...wow, what awesome loved ones we have aquired along the way.

Thanks for the memories boxes, and thanks to those who make our lives and our boxes so full!

So, tag, you're it, if you would like!