<- This is one of the snowflakes I found for the wedding cake! It is two sided and beautiful, the picture does not do it justice! I think I got 4 different designs in all.




Wow! The Bazaar is over! WHEW! Now on to the wedding stuff. Here are some pictures of Mom and Nita and I at our table. It was fun.






















Not very much traffic. So sales were not near as good as they could have bee, but all in all a good day.

Tomorrow will begin the wedding invitation Invitational! I will be assembling 330 wedding invitations and addressing the envelopes that will be hitting the mail next week. I will be very relieved when that happens. After that comes the sewing marathon! I am making 1 flower girls dress and velvet wrap, 1 Bridal fur wrap, 3 fur muffs and a partridge in a pear tree! After that the Floral extravaganza. Terra and Andrew's engagement announcement came out in the Belton Journal this past Thursday. I have yet to actually go buy a paper and see it! But everywhere I go here in town I am having people stop me and comment on it, so I know a lot of people have seen it, and I had someone drop off a gift at the house! YeaH!!!!

Travis has applied to the Air Force Academy, have no idea how that will turn out! He is doing great in Language school. I think from the way it sounds he is loving living in Monterrey. He has found a great church so that really helps.

Tessa came over day before yesterday. She has lost over 20 lbs and looks really good.

Toby, well he is holding his own. He is on the count down to his 16th Birthday and the Drivers license. He is really wanting a job, which I think is awesome. He seems to be having a much better year in school, at least compared to last year.

We had our First successful Life Group on Sunday night. It is a home group bible study for college students. We had originally planned it for Thursday night but that apparently is not a good night for the students. We had 3 weeks in a row with no one showing up. So we moved it to Sunday night and had 11 come. It was great. We are really looking forward to next week!

So all in all, the Days of Lives are going well. Just a little crazy and through it all we are trying to remember to focus our time, energy, money, on things that are eternal not temporal. Very hard to remember sometimes in all the craziness!

My fingers have cramps!

These Mittens are probably my favorite! I have several and if any sell, I will personalize them for the buyer. Below are some grubbie candy canes. They are about 12 inches long and "sugared" with mica flakes and glass glitter.


. Been paintin' up a storm. I am really hoping some of this stuff sells. I am my own worst critic. I am staring at it and I think it looks o.k. and then I take pictures to post and I am looking at everything through the camera lense and yuck! I don't think anything looks good enough! Oh Well! cause I can't change it now and the Bazaar is on Sunday! Here are some pictures of some of the stuff. We shall see what happens!

Is there such a thing as to much glitter?

Babies! Wow!

We are not baby proofed!!! Our adopted college student from UMHB , Kelly is now grown, married, a mom and soon to be mom again! Kelly came to visit with her little boy, Wesleigh! What a cutie! We had such a good time playing with him and just watching him get in to everything! Daisy wasn't to sure about sharing her new bed! Wesleigh loved it!














All night long Wesleigh was eyeing the candy corn! We thought we had it out of his reach but as soon as Kelly and I stepped out of the room he went for it! Wesleigh, Daisy and Roxi were all three lovin that!. Tessa came over to see Kelly and Wesleigh. She was showing off her new piercing, getting in the holiday spirit.


Needless to say. We had a ball playing with the baby and it was great to see Kelly, and of course we didn't get any pictures of Kelly! Isn't that just the way it goes once you become a Mom? Maybe next time!
I love this picture of him! Terra, I am still not ready for grandchildren, even though playing with Wesleigh was fun!

Busy busy busy!!!!

Just a sample of what I am going to have at the bazaar!
I should have these pictures reversed. The one on top is at the end of the day and the one below was at the very beginning. It was a very fun day. Thanks Jennifer for inviting me!

I love this time of year. I have so much going on I have no time to "blog". Here are some pictures of some of the things I have been doing...

I went to CANTON for the first time. Had a great time...bought nothing! It was just so much to take in. I will know what to expect next time and already have a list!


Holiday Bazaar! November 9th (Sunday Afternoon) 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. Harris Community Center, Belton, Texas

I have been painting items for this bazaar. My Mom and I are going to have a table. It is on a Sunday and only for 3 hours so I am not really sure what kind of a response there will be! If you are in the area please stop buy! Oh, that should be by :)

The Salvation Army Rocks!

IKE!

Wow, Last Wednesday when I was buying groceries for Tune Up, I would never have imagined that I would be getting a call to help with a shelter for evacuee's from Hurricane IKE. I guess it was around 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10th when we got our first bus load. When the evacuee's all finally got to First Baptist Church of Belton, Texas we had a total of 86, ranging in ages from 94 to 19 days. It has been interesting. This past weekend the mood in the shelter was one of worry, fear, anxiety as we all watched the destruction of IKE. Then it went to relief and boredom and frustration and fear again as it begin to clear.

It is a very diverse mix of all ages, sizes, colors, cultures. One thing is certain! Kids are Kids are Kids. It is amazing how children adjust and adapt. So far this week we have fixed food for about 90 people 3 times a day which means we have served about 2430 individual meals this week.

I want to let all of you know that the Salvation Army has been responsible for purchasing at least 95% of all the food we have used in our shelter this week. They have been incredibly generous and supportive. Please don't forget to donate when you hear the bells ringing this Christmas!

There are many stories of things that happened this week. Some good some not so good, but one thing that happened to me was exciting!

One of the women came into the kitchen and asked for my contact info. As I was giving it to here she asked me this question, "How can all of you be so nice to all of us all the time?" I got to share with her about why I am there and about God's love for her and myself! It was great and the seemed very receptive! Here are a few pictures of the week!
Yesterday, I was arriving at the church around 10 a.m. just in time to see the first group of evacuee's get to go home. It was strange. We were all glad they were getting to return home and also that our jobs would be easier. But at the same time strange. Because even in the chaos and craziness you still get in a routine and what wasn't normal becomes normal very quickly.

So for right now, the news is that the remaining evacuee's that live in Freeport, Texas will be able to return home on Monday. We will see!

WATCH OUT WORLD!

Tessa got her license!!! Only one more to go!
Remember to pray for Tessa today.

Projects! Projects! Projects!

Megaphone yard signs to finish lettering.

Here is a picture of the pumpkins I painted last year. I have a whole stack of them, that I need to paint for this year. Anybody want some? They are for sale.


Well it's that time of year! I am getting in the mood for fall! Terra started classes yesterday. Toby is on his 4th day of classes. He had to have his schedule all changed around so it feels like only his 2nd day. I think we are off to a good start!Travis is doing well in California. He is supposed to be getting me his address so as soon as I receive it I will pass it along! I took Tessa to get her drivers license on Tuesday. She is supposed to be buying her first car. I haven't heard from her since, so who knows? Remember to pray for her. If anyone needs her cell number, call me and I will be happy to pass that along.

Yesterday was the first Tune Up of the year. I think it went well. When it first started it was a bible study with business people in mind, an outreach opportunity to invite coworkers to bible study/lunch for 1 hour. We still have a few business people that come but the majority of the attendees are retired. They are a great group of people. Last night was our annual S.S. kickoff rally. I think we ended up serving around 90-100 people. It was a good turnout. For Tune Up I cooked Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas with green beans, salad, and brownies for desert. For the rally I made baked spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans, salad and chocolate or vanilla cake. Then after the meeting we had meetings. I was a zombie in our meeting! I am really going to have to pray about my attitude. Last night after dinner I was pretty whipped. I was telling Mike that I am kind of sick of food. Unfortunately cooking for large groups not eating.

Mike and I are going to start helping in the college dept at church. I am really looking forward to it. We are going to have a home group bible study here once a week starting next month. Please pray for us. I am always so afraid no one is going to choose to come to our group! I guess I will just have to make lots of brownies! Just a little bribe!

Well it is four months till the wedding!!! I have got to get busy. I am starting to panic.

I have 10 cheerleader signs, 1 tiger paw mascot sign, 1 eyebrow window cover to paint and finish detailing. I have a stack of pumpkins to paint (pictured above!)and about 300 wedding invitations to make and my Mom asked me if I wanted to have a table at a craft fair her church is having in November. I want to do it, they are only charging $25.00 per table. I am so excited! I saw a picture of the cutest advent calendars, (Christmas count down) made out of cookie sheets, magnets and assorted scrap booking stuff! I have already picked up the cookie sheets at the dollar store! I have so many ideas and so little time!

Gena's Boys

My sister, Gena just had her 4th baby at 40. She is so much braver than me! This is a picture of her 3 youngest children. Her oldest is Caitlin - 20, who is married! So Gena could very soon be a grandmother!!! On the left is Jonathan - 4 , A.J. 1 month, Sylvester - 10. Cute Kids!!!

Nashville or Bust!

We splurged and had lunch at P.F. Chang's. I could eat there everyday!

Mike's dad, T.O. made Terra and Andrew this stained glass lamp for a wedding gift. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It's really pretty at night.

Terra and Andrew at the FAT STRAW. This a interesting place to get a smoothie or some kind of green or black tea. In all of their drinks they have tapioca pearls that they put in the bottom of the cup. The pearls are about the size of large peas and they are black and they are very slippery. Kind of like a wet gummy bear (or snot) sorry, it's the truth!. So when you get your drink it has this very large, wide straw so that as you are drinking your smoothie or whatever, you suck up these pearls. It is quite a unique experience. The pearls really don't have a flavor they just taste like the drink you ordered. I will tell you this, it is all about a texture thang. I am really not sure I was sold on it. I am also surprised Terra likes it as much as she does. She will not eat any kind hamburger meat because of the texture. I think Toby and Andrew liked it because they figured out that the straws were perfect to be used as air guns and well lets just say the pearls were the perfect spit wad. So all in all it was fun!
This is the Nashville Skyline, Andrew's backside and Toby, not sure what he was thinking about!
I just realized that every picture I have of Andrew is of his back!


Mike relaxing on Terra's new furniture. Thanks Nita!! Terra has some good pictures of her new apartment on her blog. Check it out www.terrastune.blogspot.com

This is the front of the house where Terra is living in the basement apartment.

As I was loading pictures of our Nashville trip onto my computer I realized that I didn't take very many and I missed shots of all the good stuff! What was I thinking. We had a good time. I NEVER get to stay as long as I would like. Every time I leave, there are about 10 places that I still want to go and see. I guess that means I will just have to go back and see more another time! I would love to take a Girls Road Trip! All shopping, no ESPN! eating at all the cool little girly places. Getting to stop and look at some Antique stores along the way. I will probably have to wait until everyone I know is retired before this happens! Oh Well! Something to look forward to. Who's IN??????

God is so Good!

Today it is raining! I love the rain. When you live in Texas and you have a day or two of rain in the middle of August it is like a blessing straight from heaven! Thank you Lord for the rain.



These are the things I am thankful for today...Jesus loving me, Mike also loving me, Terra, Travis, Toby, and especially for Tessa today. I have to try and remember that if it weren't for her these days, I wouldn't be seeking God's face quite as much as I have been lately.

Thank you Lord for Jeremiah 29:11-14, Romans 8:28, James 1:2-12!

But most especially, thank you Lord for Hebrews 13:8 -

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

When things seem so hopeless, God is so good to remind me that he is in control, he does have a plan and he will be victorious!


The last two weeks have been so busy, We went to Travis's graduation. The whole family was there, except Tessa. We had a really great time. Thanks everyone for making the effort. Then we went to Nashville and moved Terra into her new apartment. It is going to be such a great place for her, nice and safe. Such a relief for this Mom's heart! Once again, thank you Lord for your provision. Here are some pictures of the trips.

Here are the Pictures of the Ferrell Center in Little River, Texas. This is where Terra is going to have her wedding reception. We are so excited. It is going to be beautiful.


The Front the of the Ferrell Center in Little River, Texas
View from the top of the right side of the balcony.




Upstairs in the banquet room that seats 72.


Seating Area right inside the front door.
Stairs to the right of the front door.
Upstairs Kitchen to the right of the banquet room.
View of the balcony from the top of the stairs.