Well, as many of you know, we are preparing to leave for Italy on Tuesday and I have heard from many friends that I need to “blog” while there. If I can have some time at a computer, I will be most happy to do so. I have enjoyed writing so very much. I am reading a book by John Eldridge, as I have written about before called, “Walking With God”. John is writing that we need to learn to listen to God during our day and not just set Him on a shelf after spending time with Him in the morning. but asking the Lord what does He have on His agenda for me each day. Well, I am really trying to do that. It has been amazing to see His hand at work and since I am learning to look for the ways that He speaks that sometimes, before I have passed off as just “oh, wasn’t it nice to hear from so and so today.” When in actuality, God brought them to mind or crossed my path so I could be praying for them or to encourage them or to help in some way. That is exactly what happend this morning. I was driving down Parker Rd when I saw a car that reminded me of a special lady who stayed with us a couple of years ago for the summer. I really began to think of her and think of how precious she was and how we were so blessed to have her in our home. Then a couple of hours later, I receive an email from her. It has been several months since hearing from her. And wouldn’t you know it, God had laid me on her heart to contact  about something she was needing. Now I know many of you might be thinking, hum, “that was just a coincidence” but as we come closer to God and learn to hear Him and to invite Him into our daily walk, we haveHis  Spirit that tells us “with God, there are no coinsidences”. Everything is purposed and planned and “He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in his paths.” Isaiah 2:3

Now, go out and be a blessing to someone today! Love to all of you and thank you for checking out my blog! Let me hear from you sometime!

Have I mentioned that I love the rain? It is just so great to be sitting and listening to thunder and watch the lighning. It always makes me want to get in the kitchen and bake something. It was a busy but great week. I was able to cook until my little heart was content. I cooked for 25 ladies on Tues, cooked a meal for Randy’s parents and a family in our Sunday School class and will make dessert for some friends coming over tomorrow night. This week I have had probably 15 people ask me if I have seen the Julia/Julia movie because when they saw it, they thought of me, which I considered a great compliment. Not that I cook like Julie Child, but cooking is such a favorite passion of mine. I think I would be happy if I could stay home 3 or 4 days ever week and do nothing but cook. But life has to go on and right now, there are many things to do, so I cook when I am given the time. The potato recipe that I wrote today was one dish I served to the ladies on Tues and many of them wanted the recipe so thought it would be fun to put it on here. You will find it under appitizers/sides, until I figure out how to add another category to the list,ha.  We are leaving for Italy in a couple of days, so hopefully I will learn several new dishes while we are there. We are meeting friends and will explore places which we have never been. Since I have been painting, it will be fun to see the different type of pictures we will take. Hopefully I have learned a little from my cousin, Marion, on how to take pictures I might want to paint. Enjoy your Labor Day and will write when I get back!

Here it is another week, how quickly they seem to come. Had Bible Study and dinner with friends last night and came home with a most beaautiful chandelier, which our hosts gave to us, since they had bought a new one for the house they have just completed.

So now, the trick will be to see how I can talk Randy into getting up in the attic and wiring this new addition to our family, so we can proudly display another new light. I have to tell you that our house is known in every neighborhood we live as the house that competes with the airport as to who has the most lights. One Christmas, Randy actually ran (I know you cannot believe that he moved that fast, and you are right, he walked fast)into the bedroom, waking me up with these words, “OMGosh, Noel, an airplane just tried to land in our front yard.” Now, that brings me to another story that you will be finding out soon enought. The day after Thanksgiving each year, Randy and I become Frosty and Noel for the Christmas Season. We always have a little Christmas poem on our answering machine and it just seems to help get us in the Christmas spirit and also, drives our children crazy!. It is just another way we find to completely embarrass them, which get’s easier and easier. So back to my day yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon squeezing lemons to make the Eagle Brand Pie (3 of them) which, I can tell you is alot of squeezing. A little over an hour’s worth. But the pies turn out great and I take them to the dinner. We were enjoying them after having dined on lasagna and Susan, one of the ladies there says, “this pie is great, it reminds me of one I grew up on. It had Eagle Brand Milk and it was just so good”. When I asked her if it was just like this one with the egg yolks and lemon juice, she replied that theirs didn’t have any eggs, just frozen lemonade and cool whip. So when I received the recipe from her, I couldn’t believe it. I had spent hours making 3 pies and hers was the same and takes only about 15 mins. So I made 4 more of the pies today using her recipe and it was a breeze. No wrinkled hands from all the lemon juice trying to be extracted from the lemons. So am sharing Susuan’s recipe with you. It is amazing how good and light and yummy it is. In fact, let’s call it, “Yummy Lemon Pie” That says it all! Go under desserts for the recipe.

I LOVE Saturday’s. They are just the best, most fun day of the week. You can sleep in (if you are old like us and don’t have to take kids to a soccer or football game), eat a dutch baby for breakfast, stay in your jammies until 10  and just run errands, stopping at either Sonic for happy hour of diet vanilla coke or Braums for a kid size shake (which is what Randy did today). We are going to some dear friends house to watch 4 hours of Season 5 of 24. Peggy is cooking dinner and this will be a great evening. We will be so wired from watching “Jack” save the world from terriorsts, that we won’t be able to fall asleep until midnight. But….it is worth it. We actually cleaned out a huge closet and took some clothes that we will never fit in again since they are the size we would love to be, but are not, to a young lady who is trying to get her life back together after leaving an abusive relationship. When we have days like today, when there is a little more “cool” in the air and really nothing that has to be done, it is easy to forget sometimes that there are people like this young lady who would love to have this kind of Saturday. It will be quite a while before she has the chance to probably do what we did today. She is a new Christian and is really trying to get her life back on track. It made me stop and count my blessings for all God has given me. First of all, my salvation, and 2nd, a husband who loves me and is so good to me. It is Randy who makes these Saturdays so fun and carefree. I cannot believe sometimes how blessed I am to have a husband who enjoys just going riding to look at new houses, or shopping with me or just pulling into Sonice to get me a coke, because he knew I would be wanting one, even before I ask. No recipes today, just a thankful heart for all God is doing in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. A great health report from Randy’s dr this week for one. We just have to maybe begin to use one less stick of butter each week, not bad for oldies!. Neither one of us are on any medication, and that is a blessing. BUT……after I go cook my Martha Stewarts’ Pecan Pie Bars, we might be running to buy some lipitor…..Have a blessed Sunday, relax and honor Him by worshipping together with other believers.

Hi friends. Have not been able to write for a couple of days because my computer was off-line, but my husband arranged a few wires this morning and poof, I have internet again. This has been a crazy week, but a week of  lessons that needed to be learned, taking time with friends and a day of cooking a couple of new recipes. Also, just found something new for a table decoration. Will share that in a minute.

I woke up to find a package on the front porch and inside were two new cookbooks from a new friend that I have made. Matthew is a business friend of Randy’s and lives in California. He took us to dinner a couple of weeks ago and found out that I loved to cook. Matthew’s uncle owns a pizza stone oven business there in California and has written a wonderful cookbook. He told Randy that he was going to mail me one of those books and he did, plus a cookbook from Julia Child, since we had talked about see the movie, Julia/Julia….then I go to lunch with another friend, Dena and she has a new cookbook for me today. It is all about cupcakes! So now I have 3 new books I can sit, have a glass of iced tea and read all my new books. A gift from God after having a rather interesting day yesterday. I had an experience which I will not share at this time, but it was one in which I felt God was telling me that maybe I was not suppose to just say yes to everything anyone asked of me. I have been reading a book titled, “Walking With God” and in it, John Eldridge says that we get so busy that everything we do becomes just something else to check off a list, even our prayer lives become something else to check off some days. Because I have a very hard time saying no to people, as I’m sure many of you do, I find myself so busy some days that each week is filled with so many responsibilities that by the time I get home, the thought of cooking or spending time with other family members just wears me out. So I am determined to begin to pray and ask God what He is wanting from me. To quit being afraid of appearing “lazy” to others when declining an invitation, when my schedule is already so full. Maybe that comes with our age, we find out that some of the things that we thought important, truly are not that important. That what we should be concerned with is, “is this something that God has purposed for me” and will it be glorifying to Him?… Writing this blog has made me learn to write out my thoughts and think about my time and priorities a little more than I have done in the past. Maybe it is time for all of us to look at our schedules and put a little more time in our conversations with Him. Wonder what He thinks about our busyness..Is it truly pleasing to God?