It is NOT lemon.

You know how some family stories and sayings keep popping back up and make you laugh years after they have happened?! Or when the story can be tweeked to fit a current situation and then we all laugh again. That happened to Kaitlin and me this week.

A few years ago... ok, it was last year, just kidding, it was a few years ago. Kaitlin and I went to Walmart by ourselves. It was a Boy Scout weekend and all our boys had gone camping. As we walked into Walmart, the huge bubble gum machine caught my eye. I wanted some gum. I got out my quarter and got a HUGE piece of yellow gum. Yellow being the key word here. I couldn't get the whole thing in my mouth so I bit off a nice large chunk. It was just what I wanted, sugary sweet- NOT LEMON. As I was enjoying my gum experience, Kaitlin asked if it was lemon. " Nope, I said, just wonderful gum flavor." I offered her some and she declined.

5 seconds if that long later, "Is it lemon?"

" No, it is not"

5 more seconds have passed, "Is it lemon?"

"No, it is not"

3 seconds later" Is it lemon?"

By now I realized that I might be hearing this same question 10,000 times so I took evasive action. I said, "Yes, it does."

Without missing a beat, Kaitlin responded with "I knew it!"

We both laughed and laughed.

From then on, Kaitlin has tried this tactic. Now, when she asks me something, that she knows the answer to, I just respond with "lemon gum" and she mostly stops.

This week Kaitlin had to give a 10 minute talk in her Egyptian History class. She was not the only one to give a talk, there were 9 other 10 minute talks before hers. She knew she wanted her audience to be alert for her talk...what to do...bribe them.

She went to a local bakery and got the most wonderful iced sugar cookies. She handed them out in class. They loved them and her and her talk!

She had one left.

She brought it home and gave it to me.

As I bit into the wonderfulness of the cookie, she said ,with a sneaky smile and twinkling eyes, "Is it lemon?"

It was not.

The DRESSES have arrived!

This box arrived last week!!!!
We had special help with the box.
This was inside the box! You all will have to wait until December 18th to see the rest of Marisa's wedding dress. She put it on and pranced all around the house. She loves it just as much as she did when we bought it. It is stunning.
We also got all the bridesmaid dresses and the flower girl dresses.
Here is some of the detail on a few of the dresses. All the dresses are the same color but different styles to suit the girls.All in all it was a fun week at our house.

Birthday Month

You already saw this picture, but I wanted to put in on again. I just love it. It began my birthday month celebration.
I got these two fun books from my brother, John and sister in law, Elaine. This is eye candy for me.
On my birthday day, there were lots of secrets. Marisa kept telling me to not ask any questions. I like to be 'in the know'. Kaitlin came home from class early and I was instructed to get in the car. She drove. We went to Luby's for lunch! I love Luby's but, alas, no family members do. Marisa doesn't mind eating there but has many other places she would prefer. They took me to Luby's! I had Tilapia and fried okra and mashed potatoes. yum!
Kaitlin had the kitchen crew meet us there. Here are Suzanne and KimT.
Sandy and me.
KimT and Barb
The wonderful peanut butter cookies Sandy made. I look drunk in the picture. I think I am foaming at the mouth thinking about eating these cookies.
Cards and a book from Suzanne.
My friend, Jennifer, joined us too!
In the afternoon, Kaitlin and Marisa appeared again with this box.
Oh, my. These were so good. They brought one for all the kitchen crew. One is already missing.
It is carrot and raisin and it was fantastic.
Barb gave me this hanging basket. It is still beautiful.
I was blest with earrings, stationery, no-bake cookies, books. How much fun have I had?? LOTS!! and I still have another week. I love April.

I am pointing for you

“In small and large ways, when we create beauty–in our environment, relationships, music, cooking, poetry, and celebrations–we push back the effects of the Fall and express our hope for the new heaven and new earth that God promises. When we give artful attention to detail, we point people to a truer and better reality. When we offer beauty, we touch something in the human soul."

The author is Andi Ashworth, from her book "Real Love for Real Life: The Art and Work of Caring"

This was Andrew's status on facebook and it reminded me of my mother.
Once when I was at my mama's house, not too long before she died, I needed some ibuprofen. When I went to the cabinet where she kept her medicine, I was welcomed by a beautiful vase. I pulled out the vase and asked her why she would keep something so beautiful, put away. Mama told me that every morning, she had to take several medicines. In order to made that easier, she put that beautiful vase up in her medicine cabinet so she would be greeted by beauty every morning.
I always try to keep beauty around my house.
Calendars

a darling angel

a beautiful vase
Even the wash cloths under the sink. I like bright colors.Where is the beauty in your home?

What a great day looks like!

You know that feeling when all things align themselves just right. When what you plan, really does happen, just like you planned it. We had that this weekend.

Marisa needed a car. She voiced that she liked Elements. Carl was looking for low miles/ great price. He found that in an Element. Marisa didn't really think he was looking at Elements.

Marisa had to take a 3 hour test on Saturday, in order to continue with her education courses. She wasn't too aware of what we were doing. She was in the 'test zone'. While John took her to take her test, Carl and Robert got the Element.
When they got home with the Element, we hatched our plan. Meet John and Marisa out, so there would be lots of cars in a parking lot. Park the Element next to my van. We told them to meet us, after the test, at a new second hand store. We got there early so they wouldn't see us get out of it.
We told the boys to put all out purchases in my van. Robert's job was to notice that the temporary tag, on the Element, said 'May 17', which is Marisa's birthday. My job was to ask Kaitlin to get her camera and take a picture of Marisa next to the Element, which had her birthday on it. Marisa wasn't too sure about that. John didn't know what was about to happen.
Carl them held out the keys and said "Do you want to drive it home?" Notice the hands in her pockets.
She was stunned. She wouldn't take the keys for the longest time.

As soon as she took the keys she hugged me, pretty much, still speechless.
She is stunned still.
This is about 20 minutes later. She couldn't stop smiling.Before she drove away, she needed to name her car. (all our cars have names- the explorer is Marco, Kaitlin's car is Moto, Andrew's car is AU tricky tricky, they didn't like what I wanted to name my van, so it is just Mom's van, Marisa did drive the Foxvan) Carl suggested Titanium since that is the 22 element. (Marisa will be 22 on her birthday). Marisa like Optimist from the movie Transformers. So we now have Optimist Titanium in the drive way

It made me think of the verse in James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

All in all a very fun day!

Remember what I told you about TOMS

Interesting poem

Science begins in brain;
Philosophy begins in mind;
Poetry begins in ear and mouth;
Religion begins in breath.

For science to say anything about life, it must experiment;
for philosophy to say anything about life, it must exhaust words;
for poetry to say anything about life, it must listen;
for religion to say anything about life, it must fall on its face.

Where science ends, philosophy begins;
where philosophy ends, poetry begins;
where poetry ends, death begins;
where death ends, religion begins.


By Allan Roy Andrews

I found this and I am still pondering it.