It has been almost 3 weeks since my brother died . We do believe he is alive in our hearts and alive with Christ but we are missing him here allot ! In some ways it is still sinking in for me . This is my first bit of time not slammed busy . I still have several thankyou cards to make out and send . And my house needs attension desperately ! I did some minor grocery shopping yesterday (since we were out of kitty food) And I think I will bring dinner over to my mom and dads tonight . Mannicotti ! Ummmm.... Publix had Paul Newmans marinara on a B1G1 sale . So I bought 4 ! LOL . If we are in a real press , I just fry up some meat add the sause and pour over cooked noodles . Done ! Of course we perfer homemade meat balls , salad , fresh bread ...but life calls for a quick , thought free meal occasionally !
I started the Beth Moore Ester bible study ! I am very excited about it ! I am going to look around the NET and see if anyone out there is blogging about it ! :-)
Have a great week ~ Lora

In loving memory

My only brother died Thursday . He was in a motel room in TN getting ready for work . One of his co-workers said the last thing he told him was "here's a peach for ya Doc , I'm going to see the sunshine" Wow ! He could not have known how prophetic that would be ! He got to go see the SONShine !

Loy was a believer . We didn't always agree on everything but on the basics that make a difference in where your eternity will be spent we did ...so I have hope that I will get to see him again .

Yesterday was the funeral and it was so hard ! So hard to see my parents heartache . Their only son gone at 49 . He was married but the never had children . Very sad . He loved my kids allot though and we have many pictures . We are seeing again the value of good pictures ! There were 2 boxes of photos to go through at my moms ! It was hard but it allowed us to think of him in good times .

I had allot of people tell me I needed a release and I guess this is one way to do that . It isn't that I didn't cry , I just didn't act like others imagined I should I guess . Loy is gone , we are not and that leaves much to be dealt with . I have my mom and dad to support and watch-out for . My kids , who will miss their uncle greatly . My husband , who worked with him for over 20 years ! Was his friend , sparring partner , and much more . He stayed with Loy while the paramedics did all they could do . He watched his friend and brother in law be pronounced "gone". He has awful heart-ache . He has allot of anxiety about going back to the same job they were on and having to figure out how to work with other guys . Wanting other to care that he wants to go home with all his appendages each night .

Loy's wife will need a miracle to make it thru this . She has never been on her own . She does not even grocery shop by her-self . Thankfully , she is about 14 miles away from us and we can help if she will let us .

There is much to do in the days to come . We have another trip to make to the air-port . And life has to get back to some semblance of normality for every-one . Going back to work . Starting school again . ETC....

So if you are reading this , pray for us ! I know this happens all the time all around us . I will try to pray harder and understand more . I am learning as I go here . But my God grant me a teachable spirit !

random survey

~~~~~~~~~~FOOD-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is your salad dressing of choice? Raspberry vinegarette
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Cracker Barrel
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Buttered noodles with cheese
What are your pizza toppings of choice? extra cheese, , olives
What do you like on your toast? cinnamon and real butter
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate!
~~~~~~~~~~~~TECHNOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
How many televisions are in your house? 1
What color cell phone do you have? PINK
Do you have a laptop? yes
~~~~~~~~~~~~BIOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you right-handed or left-handed? right
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? yes, my wisdom teeth years ago.
What is the last heavy item you lifted? My BWB canner full of water !
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? yes ! Once while pregnant !
~~~~~~~~~~~~DUMBOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? 2
Last person you talked to on the phone? My friend Cindy
Last person you hugged? my son
~~~~~~~~~~~~FAVORITE-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
Season? fall
Holiday? Thanksgiving
Day of the week? Tuesday (I usually get to stay home that day)
Month? Feb.
~~~~~~~~~~~~CURRENT-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
Missing someone? yes
Mood? tired
What are you listening to? my dh and dd conversing
Watching? the blinking cursor
Worrying about? sleep
~~~~~~~~~~~~RANDOM-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
First place you went this morning? down-stairs
What's the last movie you saw? Monsters vs Aliens
Do you smile often? not enough
Do you always answer your phone? nope
If you could change your eye color what would it be? emerald green
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? cherry lime
Do you own a digital camera? yes
Have you ever had a pet fish? many times , many kinds .
Favorite Christmas song(s)? Carol of the Bells,We Three Kings, O Holy Night
What's on your wish list for your birthday? Grain mill
Can you do push-ups? no
Can you do a chin up? nuh-uh
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? excited
Do you have any saved texts? several
Ever been in a car wreck? several
Do you have an accent? sweetly souther
What was the last song to make you cry? standing in the gap

Plans tonight? sleep
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? yes
Have you ever been given roses? lots , my hubby is romantic !
Current hate right now? the powerlessness of the American people opposed to the supposed leaders !
Met someone who changed your life? Jesus ! And my first born !
How did you bring in the new year? Church
.What song represents you? Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Would you go back in time if you were given a chance? absolutely!
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? yep !
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? certainly
What songs do you sing in the shower? What ever God wakes me with
Ever had someone sing to you? yes !

Do you like to cuddle? sometimes
How fast can you run? zero , sad , i know

Have you held hands with anyone today? yes !

Who was the last person you took a picture of? Larry
What kind of music did you sing in elementary school? pop
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? new
Do you like pulpy orange juice? if I made it

What is something your friends make fun of you for? my hiccups
Have you ever ridden a elephant? no
Do you like to play Scrabble? on-line
What are you saving your money up for right now? tires
When is the last time you ate peanut butter & jelly? last week . Grape jelly , creamy pb.
What were you doing at 12am last night? cleaning
What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? turn the alarm off QUICK !

1/2 way thru June

Gee ... I am glad I kow God says He is making the time short for the benefit of the saints ! Because it is alittle disconcerting to watch it whizz on by !
This is the day I have put EVERYTHING else off to stay home and get some MUCH needed cleaning done . I have done terrible lately and i am getting to the point I do not like my home . Not a fun place ! It seems like as soon as we made a plan to get rid of clutter it piled in on me more oppersively then ever !
The princess is gearing up for VBS . The prince is driving me bonkers waiting for a new air-soft gun he ordered . And the ceiling fan in the kitchen DIED this morning . Sigh . My hubby looked at the bright side and said " it lasted a long time" . And it did ! I just want a good deal on a new one . And I spent time browsing on-line today looking at different styles . I think I will go with antique brass (like the cabinet hinges) or white . Not sure . I have to have flush mount and I don't want to spend more than $100 . Hmmm.....
Guess I better run ! Gotta clean the other side of the kitchen now , this concludes my break . :-)

The princess turns 20

Our princess turns 20 on Sunday ! WOW ! It is so hard to believe ! And it is harder to believe that she still doesn't have her license ! I am making her drive once everyday this week . To or from work or church (since we have church stuff all but Monday and Friday this week!) It's interesting . She is scared but I am praying that she will become more comfortable as it gets to be more familiar .
We will do a family dinner Saturday or Sunday . And she has requested that I make this cake . Looks tasty ! And not TOO hard . She wants to make a couple of changes . Omit the coconut , for the princes benefit . And add a layer of raspberry jam to the layer . I bought a Wal-Mart cake for her one year that was white cake and had a thin layer of jam between the layer . It stuck in her mind as her favorite ! LOL
She almost asked for an Oreo cake ...because I make the best one ever ! But her ex-intended made a point to say that was his favorite . So , since she is not completely healed from his abandonment she opted for something else . It has been hard watching her walk thru all that mess . But , on the bright side , there have been so many women that have share a testimony with her about how they were sure that a particular guy was THE one and God said NO in one way or another . But HE brought something better . How HE is faithful and worth waiting for His best for you . It has been very encouraging to witness !

volunteers !

The Prince and I have been working hard in the garden trying to keep ahead of the weeds ! Ugh ! Some days it feels like they are winning ! But it is lovely to see all the veggies coming in . We have one cuke the is big enough to come in but we are letting it get bigger .
Speaking of cukes ....I was showing the prince the deluge of morning glories at the base of the fence between the garden plots . And telling him they could stay as long as we head them up the fence when they start vining . He looks down and says "yea , but what's that ?" I said "morning glory" he said "NO that triangle shaped leaf?!" I looked where he was pointing and lo & behold !! There are about 15 baby cucumber plants all in a bunch ! They must be the off-spring of on that got lost in the weeds at the end of the season last year . You know ...when you can't imagine how you can eat another cucumber , maybe for the rest of your life ?!? LOL .
God is SO kind . He knows just how long it takes to make our mouths water again at the thought of fresh veggies ! We are SO fickle . Manna never seems like enough . Shame on us !

Anyway ...I am going to leave the baby cukes there . I might take one or two and try them in a pot since I have wanted to try that and these guys didn't cost me anything . :-) I am very excited !

I hope to take some pictures tomorrow and get them posted on the garden progress ...so...be back soon !

Monday June 1st

Hmmm....a brand new month started .Saturday I will start on a new year . And i am trying to start a new schedule . Lots of new stuff !
I tried my small pressure cooker for the first time today . I thought it was a bit scary . I did find some great sites on-line to help me out . It has a weighted gauge and it jiggling around kind of freaked me out at first .

I have spent 2 days (in part) blanching corn and cutting it off the cob . Then scrapping the cob and putting it in zipper bags to either freeze or can . My freezer space is a commodity , so I am hoping to can most of it .

I am making dinner for our pastors family tonight . (And we will eat the same) Turkey Breast roast , creamed corn , sliced tomatoes , coffee cake . Now I gotta go make the coffee cake ! I found a great recipe here http://www.tasteofhome.com/SiteSearch/FacetSearchResults.aspx?search=coffee+cake&st=2&vw=1&page=8&rs=10&sort=0 I went with a regular cinnamon type . I saw one that looked great ! But I realized I do not currently own a bundt pan ! :-/

Odd huh ? Better run , if I sit down too long I will be napping ! Ugh !