Potluck Ponderings

The Recipe: BBQ Beans & Smoked Sausage The Results

Wish I'd gone on to Sanford for our Walmarting---they're remodeling and ours is a mess right now!! I got what I needed though---and will now make a menu based on what's in my pantry & freezer and stopped at SCCC for farmer's market stuff & spent the 10-ish dollars in my wallet for 2 lbs of roma tomatoes to make salsa...green beans...and a watermelon...and some red & orange tomatoes for salads and wraps. I'm gonna make a bean and polish sausage crock pot meal one day this week... Our very first trip to the orthodontist was today. The first opinion is that Emily has impounded teeth (not the right word--impacted teeth) that aren't going to be able to come in if we don't make some room---also has a cross bite in the back which will mean when those molars fall out/if they fall out---those could also be impacted too. Apparently impacted teeth will grow in horizontal or destroy the roots of the teeth next to them---and permanet teeth could be lost or de...

Birthday dinners for family (auntie J celebrating a 40-something birthday) Having great long-time friends over for a great visit and dinner--and kids who let us have meaningful conversation. A visit with my hair chick...long overdue! Camelot park! With friends! Kids who love to run and play...and get real sweaty... A new baby safely delivered into the world...welcome Zachary Savage Wilson! Baby Samuel Harrison Arnold...who is no longer a baby and today we celebrate your five years of life...sharing with us a different perspective on hope, living, and joy. May we continue to learn so much more from your presence in our lives than we could ever hope to teach you. So many opportunities to meet and spend time with our new pastor and his family...worn out from all the activities, but an awesome glimpse of God's glory...and timing...and grace...and mercy... Bible studies...and being real with some neat ladies!

passed in a frenzied blur...did I mention that Emo attended an evening VBS with a neighbor, who also attended our VBS ? This resulted into kids taxied back and forth between the two families, meals eaten quickly...a sleep-over...tired kids...and lots of VBS crafts (what do you do with those??) Add in a Nate- ster who was not feeling well, very clingy and had to be carted to the pediatricians office a few times this week...then as thrilling as it is that our Pastoral search committee is on the home stretch with their work, that results were a harried me (read: not at my best to meet and impress new people...this is all about me, right??) involved in lots of meet-n-greet festivities with our pastoral candidate and his lovely family. Oh, there is all the husband-turned-seminary-student-drama at our house. The result is one "me" with her head screwed on crooked!! I know you're probably getting tired of hearing how busy things are around here, but quite honestly, that ju...

120+ kids and bathroom facilities that went out about mid-morning ;) Check out details here . There's an excitement in the air and even w/the broken potties things are going quite smoothly. I'm working in the kitchen with great funny women...they just make me laugh and I quite enjoy hanging out with them. Nate's a little better...maybe...poor guy has an infection and cruddy lungs on top of the croup. We ate dinner outside tonight...with music from our neighbor and his bluegrass band filling the cooler night air, they finished w/Rocky Top to our delight (okay, maybe just my delight--I clapped and woohoo'd and Joe was worried the police would be showing up). Picked two Roma Tomatoes and 2 cucumbers from my "garden"...made a great salad to go with our grilled chicken tonight!

~I finished up treatments yesterday and had the PICC line removed without any complications !! What a blessing! It's the end of a long and a eventful week. ~Nate had to go to the doctor yesterday for croup...yuck, he still sounds horrible. ~ I finished a lot of paperwork today... ~spent a few hours today just getting started on the house (yes...a few hours...yes started) ~ VBS next week, WOOHOO ! ~Lots of reading for pleasure this week, finished a Beverly Lewis series (makes me want to quilt and can) and started a new one... Yada Yada Prayer Group, looked fun! ~Nate & Emo spent a good bit of the day playing with a big box they turned into a rocket, a remote control for a car (steering for the rocket), and an aluminum foil/duct tape/box space helmet ...complete with sound effects and a great outer space adventure! all for now...

and three more Venofer infusions more to go! All the things I worried about the most - who was going to take care of the kids-- has gone so smooth. I'm so thankful. Today, while I was at the Outpatient Oncology Clinic where I get the infusion, sitting in a comfy recliner...with a warm blanket fresh from the blanket warmer...getting hooked up...I looked around. I remember last time, two years ago, feeling humbled by the circumstances of the lives that surrounded me as most of the patients there are in the midst of battle...not just for more energy or to feel better...but the battle for life. Most of the patients are receiving Chemotherapy. Yesterday, one such couple came in...she armed with notes, bottles of medications, questions about how to get nourishment in him, tricks to try to get rid of GI disturbances...I overheard her tell their nurse, "He's what I do now...". He sat in the chair, cracked jokes and the only time he even grimaced slightly was while getting his...

Well, it's Monday...what a wonderful weekend we had!!! Friday, Sweet Hubby got home from Due West earlier than expected. He finished up his class work, talked to the professor for an hour and then hit the road. He beat us home since we did some late/after nap errands, thinking he wouldn't be home until way after the kids bedtimes! What a great surprise he was home when we got there! I came home from Wally world with new deck furniture that I've been watching like a hawk. The price dropping was occurring as they were beginning to put stuff on summer clearance...and it finally hit my target price! Just in time for a hot dog roast Saturday night. We did spend all our quality time Friday evening, talking theology, pondering what God is doing in our lives (I swear, I think my head is literally spinning), & sharing all the funny things the kids have done this week, while putting in screws and washers...re-reading directions...and fighting with that little hex thing they give...

warning...this post is unfinished, I will be completing and adding the rest of our pictures... Saturday June 13 th : Arrived! After over 12 hrs in travel time, due being delayed by a thunderstorm we finally got there about 7 o'clock. Late check in. Had dinner at the All star Movies cafe and played in the Mighty Ducks pool. When we walked to our room, Nate saw the three story white duck hockey mask and asked if it was cheese (it did look like Swiss cheese)...and proceeded to identify our particular part of the hotel (there were two entrances w/hockey masks) by saying, "is that our cheese?" the rest of the week. Sunday June 14 th : Breakfast at Cinderella Castle at 9:45!!! Arrived by bus from our hotel in plenty of time to see the show and see the characters arrive (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Daisy!!!) via steam engine. Immediately felt like we'd arrive in an alternate universe where everyone was happy and "having a magical ...