The fun and fellowship of the weekend

We had an opening ceremonies party Friday night. Tons of fun. Joy and Andrew made decorations the night before and we took some of our 4th of July decorations back out to cheer on Team USA!

And Joy made these adorable Olympic brownies:

 I think we refilled our plates with munchies during every commercial. The boys' friends made fried Oreos...which are the new fave dessert around here and are to die for.

My hubby and his friend hid out in the family room enjoying talking theology instead. That night when hubby and I crawled into bed I told him that the opening ceremonies are WAY more fun than the Super Bowl  to which he said an unconvincing 'If you say so." ; ) Meaning he's totally unconvinced!

The guys were all working in various locations on Saturday. Joy and I went to an outreach that our church was having. It was an awesome event and volunteers gave out backpacks full of school supplies and gave free eye exams, free lunch, snow cones and cotton candy to needy families from the community. I was hoping to man the snow cone machine in the shade, (which is my fave thing) but instead I was assigned to crowd control at a bounce house and was teased by one of our pastors the whole morning. My friend, who is my hero, had the chance to pray with two people at the bounce house she was manning. Is she awsome or what? I was trying to keep my brain from melting and telling little kids to line up and praying with people didn't occur to me. She said that one man was crying because he hadn't known how he would provide for his family...

We compared notes with the boys about our days when we got home. Zac won with the most bizarre story ever. Someone used his Starbucks parking lot as their own personal restroom and then stripped down to nothing at the drive-thru-window and ran down the street. How weird is that?

Then I made eggplant parmigiana, which I used to make a lot in the pre-kid days of married life. I apparently had nothing better to do with my days than fry eggplant before I had children because I forgot that it takes FOREVER! It was enjoyed by all until Zac caught wind that he wasn't eating meat, then he was done. lol

Next I made this beautiful cheesecake recipe beacause I was asked to bring a dessert to a memorial service and well, you can't just bring some cookies when you are remembering the life of someone SO special, right? It turned out to be a near tragedy when it came to the delivery though and I still have to clean blackberry juice off the leather seat in our van, but it was yummy. Note to self: keep cheese cakes in spring form pan until arriving at destination.

Our dear, 90 year old friend, Grandma Rosa went to be with Jesus over the weekend. She had stopped eating and she was more than ready to go. I think love held her back. She has 8 living children, a bunch of grand kids some great grands and some great great grands. (one of which is my name sake!) Grandma Rosa was the matriarch of a very special Peurto Rican family in our lives. And she loved us like one of her own, something many claimed at her memorial. She exuded the love of God to everyone. I can just picture her 5 ft or less, frame, freed from pain, meeting her Savior and dancing and squealing in Spanish. She was a prayer warrior and we were blessed to hear the testimonies of previously spiritually straying children/grand children whose lives have been changed they said, by her prayers, and the power of God. Awesome legacy! We also ate that amazing pork and rice that Puerto-Ricans make that makes you go weak in the knees and fellowship-ed with some sweet brethren who have loved us and our children since they were babies.

Those are all the crazy details! Hope yours was a fun one, too!
~Becky

A blast from the past

We were discussing sharing our faith in my girls' class on Wednesday night. Our lesson had us reading all the places that Jesus ministered to people and we talked about where we could share our faith....
The correct answer being 'everywhere!' : )

This reminded me of an amazing divine appointment
and a beautifully, gracious elderly woman who made it a point to share the gospel when she traveled and why my part in the story made my librarian think I was crazy. I shared it with the girls and if you'd like to read it, you can 
 - Check it out here. : )


Have a great weekend!
~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Someone wonderful is thinking about you! A lot!

"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." ~Jer.29:11

"And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." ~Psalm 40:5
Doesn't that make you smile? : )

~Becky

No words...

Only our Creator "whose eyes see our unformed bodies" and who has "all our days written in His book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16) could KNOW that what would seem to be a "defect," would save this young woman's life on a day like July 20, 2012 in a movie theater in Colorado. 
Psalm 139:13 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."

You can Read it here.


So in AWE of Him!
~Becky

Recent loves

We are big Lord of the Rings fans and we have 3 guys who SOOOO wish these Legos 

 had come out when they were just a wee bit younger. : )

                                                  And we cannot wait to see this movie:

               Love a free ticket to a major league baseball game for reading! Go Andrew!

Love sharing the blessing that Teaching Textbooks has been to me at two home school conventions lately.

New fave sandwich: turkey, swiss, pineapple,cream cheese and chive sandwiches
(weird but delicious combo! Give it a go!)

Love that kiddo #1 is getting all kinds of kudos for his hard work at Starbucks. (he loves his car and is a pro at driving a stick shift now, yay!)

Love that kiddo #2  has an apprenticeship position at an audio/video repair store on Saturdays that he is enjoying and may lead to a paying job when he gets some skills under his belt.

Love teaching a Wednesday night class for high school girls at church and that we have to order more chairs for the second time!

Love having a houseful of kids over.

Sooo love that it is summer.

And that's about it. Not too much going on around here. Hope you are enjoying your summer!
~Becky

A first time for everything

My BFF wants to take us all to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises tonight.
-Can you tell that she is the WAY COOLEST one of us? LOL
(and our combined total of 7 teenagers say "Amen!")  ; ) 
Going to a movie at that time of night would not even occur to me. (yawn) But it should be fun!

~Becky 


Edited to Note: Such fun fellowship with dear friends, AMAZING movie, and now waking up to find out about the deaths of those in CO.. SO VERY SAD! Praying...

Wednesdays in the Word

A whole lot to say about sheep  : )

The sad view of the state of the sheep:  (various verses in Ezekiel 34)

" So they were scattered because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they scattered."

"My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them."

"..the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock."

"The weak you have not strengthened nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered..."


Now, the good stuff:   (still from Ez. 34)

"I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out."

"I will feed my My flock and I will make them lie down (sound familiar?) says the Lord God."

"I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken..."

"You are My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men and I am your God," says the Lord God."

"I will establish one shepherd over them and he shall feed them -My Servant David. He shall feed them and be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God...there will be showers of blessings."


From David the Shepherd:  (various verses in Psalms 23)

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (lack)."

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters."

"He restores My soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness..."

"You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over..."

"And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

From our Glorious Good Shepherd: (various verses in Luke and John and 1 Peter)

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep."

"I know My sheep and am known by My own."

"I lay down My life for the sheep."

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

"For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
Amen!

So glad to be one of His sheep,
~Becky

Weekend of wedding dresses

You know that the male to female ratio in the household has been seriously altered when the show of choice all weekend has been:
 Say Yes to the Dress.
-And I have been informed by certain males that that will never happen again. ; )

It had not even occurred to me until yesterday, that Joy is too tall to wear my wedding dress, which my mother-in-law had preserved and is sitting in a box in the attic.
 (or you could say, I'm too petite to ever loan my dress to any girl over the age of 12.. ha ha!)

I loved how my hubby phrased it.
It cracked me up! -"You know, your freeze dried dress isn't going to fit Joy." 
Freeze dried!!?! : )


I think she's a little glad anyway because she said (after a bunch of episodes) that she wants a ball gown style dress...
Which made me think three things:
#1 We should probably stop watching 'Say Yes to the Dress'
#2 I need to get a job! ; )
#3 I'm glad we only have one daughter!


~Becky

Oh, how I love electricity

We just got a call from the electric company that made me laugh. It said our power would be turned back on LAST NIGHT at 9:30 PM. It was actually, 9:35 PM when it came back on. I know because there was great rejoicing!!!


It was a 5 hour and 18 minute power outage, to be exact! -And you can bet that my 1,000 Gifts
(by Ann Voskamp) entry last night and it looked like this:

#234  ELECTRICITY

and then when it went out again at 3:30 AM and those of us addicted to the sound of 'white noise' woke up when our fans shut off and that made my
 #235 something else about how thankful I am sooo for electricity!
-Especially in Florida, in the summer.

This storm made the hurricane we had 4 or 5 years ago, look whimpy. I was about to take Nathan to band practice, when I noticed it wasn't the usual afternoon rain storm. We saw branches falling and rain going sideways. Then came a 30 minute lightening storm and the power went out 6 times only to finally stay off for hours.
It was fun for the first hour... when I couldn't finish cooking dinner or vacuum. : )
The kids and I all ended up in the family room relaxing and watching the rain while Andrew played his guitar for us. Very relaxing! Then hubby brought home pizza and we tried not to open the fridge or freezer.


Eventually we all got hot and antsy. The kids, whose iPods were about to die, went and found their DS Lites, lest they start twitching from technology withdrawals. (JK!)  ; ) Then we played some Pictionary. 


Joy so sweetly apologized to me for all the times she thought the A/C wasn't turned down low enough, because she found out how hot it is without any. (LOL) Andrew thought he might die, either from boredom or starvation... He's pretty cute.


Then Dad suggested we go for Slurpee's to cool off. We really shouldn't have left the house, because the traffic lights were out. There seemed to be a fallen tree or large branch on every street! (and today, in the daylight, we found out there were probably 20 big oak trees, down within a few blocks of our house) When we got back it was completely dark in the house and we lit all of our candles, which we only have because I'm a candle fanatic and we realized we aren't really all that prepared for hurricane season. Hubby got out a battery powered radio and we were all relaxing in the candle light when the electricity came back on! Yippeee! And three kids cheers and ran to charge their iPods....
~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Titus 2:3-5

I think I've made it to 'older woman' stage of life since I'm in my 40's. -Although, I would be happy to be numbered among the 'young women' for like ever, if that were possible. lol

"the older women likewise... be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things" 


"admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed."


What struck me recently about this passage is,
 that in my life, I need to be a "teacher of good things." 
Does my life teach the women younger than myself  'good things?' Does 'good' describe the things I talk about? And the things I do?

From this passage we also understand that we have a responsibility to help the next generation learn how to love their children, love and obey their husbands, be homemakers, be good and discreet.

And here's the kicker, if the women of God (young or old) don't have these qualities, than the word of God is "blasphemed."
Here are some definitions I came across for blasphemy:
"Insulting or showing lack of reverence for a deity." "Irreverence for something considered sacred."

 -Wow and ouch! Something to think about.

~Becky

You can't watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without chocolate

My cute, creative hubby often comes up with some goofy ideas for having fun with the kids and this was his latest: Watch the Johnny Depp version of the movie while eating large candy bars!
But, this game had rules, and the rules were:
You can only take a bite when someone in the movie says "chocolate"
or when someone in the movie takes a bite of a Wonka bar.

You'd think we would have had those things gobbled up right away, but it actually took awhile before we could take our first bite. (our thanks Augustus Snow for all the bites he provided!) lol
Some of us had normal size candy bars that started to melt during the movie...We should have frozen them first!!!  
Hubby got sick on his and didn't finish it and wasn't sure it was such a great game after all... lol
But
    the
        kids

                LOVED
                               it!!!!


~Becky, who just found out she's had chocolate on her face for the past 30 minutes since the movie ended! -Surely a sign of a good time. ; )

The fun on the 4th

I hope you had a Happy 4th!

Joy and I made these salted caramel chocolate cupcakes and they did not disappoint.

We tried the July 4th Seder, and loved it. 
It had us listening to a recap of our country's founding, asking questions about why America is different from other nations and remembering the ideals she was founded on. 

We drank tea in honor of the Boston Tea Party, 

ate something salty in honor of the tears shed by those whose loved ones died for our country,

 ate things that were red, white, and blue in honor of the flag, 

signed our own copy of the Declaration,

 and sang God Bless America!  Fun!

Then we ATE and we had pulled pork BBQ sandwiches (made in the crock pot! -EASY) with coleslaw,  BBQ beans and corn on the cob. -But I secretly think I could have served my family styrofoam with BBQ sauce on it and they might not have noticed, they were that hungry. ; ) 

Next we watched The Patriot 

(except that we skipped the really SAD parts and I closed my eyes in most of the battles) and felt very proud to be Americans.

                                              We had friends over for dessert,
 and then we all drove to the airport to watch the fireworks from the roof of the 9 story parking garage.
                                               Kind of weird, I know.
Our friend from California laughed at us, but then he realized that we don't have any mountains to go watch them from, so a 'cement mountain' is the best you can do in Florida! And you couldn't beat the VIEW!
We saw about 20 fireworks shows at once going off all over the city, just from the side we were standing on.                       Really amazing, especially when it came time for all those finales!

 -Hubby and I have one issue we've never agreed on in our married life and that is fireworks on the fourth. He doesn't want to go fight the crowds, get stuck in tons of traffic on a bridge coming back from the beach, then get home late when he has to be up at 5:00 AM the next day.... And I always DO want to do those things...
probably because I don't have to get up at 5:00 AM, right? ; )
So, we've decided that the airport is now going to be our happy compromise every year. It was fun, close to our house and there was no traffic. (not to mention free, if you stay for less than one hour)

It was a fun, patriotic day,
~Becky
As always, sorry for the crazy dates on our pictures. 

Wednesdays in the Word

"There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but says Jesus, if it hinders you in following His precepts, cut it off...There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God's sight than to be lovely in man's sight and lame in God's." ~ Oswald Chambers  AMEN!

Happy July 4th, Friends!
~Becky

Yes and Amen

My new vacuum bit the dust, (or wouldn't) ; )

but it was under warranty so the company had me go to a vacuum store to have it repaired for free, (yay!) but they couldn't fix it and called to say that I would be sent a brand new vacuum. (bigger yay!) And just when it seemed like we would surely drown in dog hair, it came!

And it was a newer, larger model! 

Joy said "Wow! Mom, you must be a tither!!!" 

 Love that girl!
~Becky


"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. "Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the LORD of hosts. All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land," says the LORD of hosts." Mal. 3:10-12