Project 365 - Week 18

 Week 18.

Most of you know by now that this has been a very tough week in the South for tornadoes and severe storms.  They said on the news the other night that we have seen THREE times more tornadoes in the month of April than EVER recorded before.  As I type this, we have another storm approaching us.  It is not predicted to be as bad.  But I have definitely learned recently, that things can change very quickly. 

I am almost always ready for summer (I am a hot weather girl) but this year, I am VERY ready for summer!!!

Here's my week:

Sunday

 So happy to have my brother and his family here for Easter!!!

 Monday

We were supposed to be having a Dyngus Day party with our staff and elders tonight, but this tornado and severe thunderstorm trumped the party!  ugh!  This was a pretty scary storm that 7 people in AR lost there lives in.  So thankful we are all safe.

Tuesday

My roses took a beating in the storm last night.

Not one petal left on the bushes....so sad.

Wednesday

 Our cable, phone and internet have been out since Monday's storm.  This is where I have to sit to piggy back on my neighbors internet across the street!  I do love my neighbors!  But I do NOT love Comcast and am very frustrated with them right now!!!

Thursday

Soooo happy to see blue skies!!! 

Friday

 My neighbor and good friend moved out today.  This picture made me very sad.....not only is the room empty but I have always loved this chandelier.  She usually had fruit, lemons or limes, in the middle and bright colored beads strung around the outside.  I am really going to miss her and miss sitting on her front porch visiting.

Saturday

I made 3 batches of Puppy Chow today for the concession stand at the Mr. LRCA contest at school.  Of which I will also now be working since my son is in charge and has strep throat.

So how was your week?  I hope everyone is safe if you have been around any of these storms!!!  Link up and share your photos!!

Thankful

It shouldn't take a tornado to make me thankful for what God has blessed me with, but I certainly feel very thankful after this last round of storms.

What hit Arkansas on Monday and then moved east last night is a stark reminder of how life can change in an instant.

And I don't now about you, but today I am not most thankful that my family is safe or that I still have my house or that I didn't lose my electricity this time.....

I am most thankful for my faith in Christ.

That Christ saw fit to come to this earth and endure the cross and the weight of my sins.......just for me....so that if something did happen to take my life, I would simply walk from here and into his loving arms...for eternity.....is simply amazing. What peace and hope that brings.

And while I am truly thankful that my family is safe....I am most thankful that I can face the storms and trials of this life with the knowledge that I don't walk through them alone.  I walk through them with the only One who is greater than them.

You can too, you know.

He died and rose again for you too.

All you have to do is let go of the reins....these storms are strong proof that we are not in control.

Choose to accept the free gift that Christ offers.....salvation.

I can't tell you that I wasn't scared this week, I was.  However, there is a peace and a hope that you can't understand, but is available.....and it comes from God, through Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

ARGH!!!!!

equals

FRUSTRATION!!!!

just sayin'.

loudly.

to any one who will listen.

I am on day 3 of piggy backing off my neighbors internet with no phone and no cable.

Between all of my neighbors, we have had 4 comcast service men out....each of who tell us that it is not a "house" problem but a line problem.

...hmmmm.  yes, I knew that.

It was pretty obvious when the large lightening struck and the cable went out immediately.  In fact, I have told the 10 people (ok that's a slight exageration) I have spoken to at Comcast that EVERY TIME.  Yet, we still get sent workers who can't fix the problem and can only confirm what we already know.

REALLY?!!

Maybe we should quit wasting everyone's time and, I don't know, send the person who CAN fix the problem!!!

Oh, y'all I am sooo frustrated.....can you tell?

Dyngus Day party interrupted...

Well, I had the brats ready, food all out,

and then this happened...

...and my party moved to the basement.

It was a little too close for comfort last night, but we made it through safe.  However, I am praying for  those that lost loved ones in this latest storm.  I am hearing 7 people died in Arkansas last night and many are unaccounted for in Vilonia, where it got hardest hit.  It has been a very tough spring around here and many people could use your prayers as they mourn and rebuild.

Here is just a little of what it sounded like at my house during the worst of the storm...

Lots of people are without power today. We have no phone, cable or internet...I am up at the church using theirs.

...and more is coming this afternoon.

ugh.

Happy Dyngus Day!

If you are like me a few years ago, you have no idea what Dyngus Day is.

WHAT IS DYNGUS DAY?

Historically a Polish-American tradition, Dyngus Day celebrates the end of the often restrictive observance of lent and the joy of Easter. Over the decades, Dyngus Day has become a wonderful holiday to celebrate Polish-American culture, heritage and traditions.

I learned about Dyngus Day when we moved to Indiana from my polish neighbor.  Oh my word, she made THE BEST sausage and sourkraut. I can still taste it in my mind.....ugh, better stop before I drool on my computer!! 

Well, we will be celebrating Dyngus Day at the Bowyer house tonight.

Steve ended his fast yesterday and today we will celebrate the joy of Easter with friends over brats on the grill.  That is if these pesky storms/tornadoes cooperate!  I may be pulling the grill up to the door way and grilling from the house....yep, done that before!

  So, Happy Dyngus Day everyone!!

Go have a brat!

project 365 - Week 17

Week 17.

He is Risen!!!

Hope you all are enjoying celebrating Jesus' resurrection!!  How thankful I am that He didn't stay in that tomb!!

What a fun and crazy busy week I had.  I am so happy to have my brother and his family here for Easter, minus my nephew :(  I am loving spending time with them!  My niece was offered a scholarship for softball at OBU this week!  How fun it will be to have her close to us for college!!! I am praying she says YES!

Here's my week:

Sunday

Sunday was a great day!!

It had the potential of going in the other direction because it started out with the power still being out at the church.  The tornadoes on Thursday night caused this tree to fall on the power lines to our church.

 There are still lots of people without power in LR, so they didn't get to us before Sunday.  But the morning could not have gone better!

I set up the K-5th grades outside on the patio and once they were all there, we took them up to the basketball courts for their lesson.  The day was beautiful and they loved being outside!

And the service was one of the best ever...even without a sound system or lights!!

So wonderful when God shows up like that!

Monday

I am on the Fine Arts council at school and we are having an appreciation lunch for our fine arts teachers Wednesday.  this is our gift to the teachers!  Love these tumblers!  The cross is our Fine Arts logo.

We are also selling them as a fundraisers....so I have 145 of these in my dining room at the moment.

Tuesday

MORE storms tonight!!!

This turned into more tornadoes....ugh!!

I am really getting tired of this.

Wednesday

  found out yesterday afternoon that the location for our Fine Arts luncheon fell through. It need to be a place close to the school (they were coming on their lunch hour), so I agreed to have the lunch at my house.  The food was catered so all I had to do was host 25 teachers and FA council members.  It really turned out nice!!

 Kind of funny seeing a school bus in my driveway!!

Thursday

 My brother came in with his family and we took our kids to see OBU today.  Kayley was offered a position on the softball team for the fall!!!  Despite all the rain, it was a great day!

Friday

 we had a wonderful Good Friday Service tonight.

Our worship pastor had set up different stations to remember what Christ had done for us.

 Here we remembered where Christ said he would take our sins/burdens as far as the deepest ocean.  The rocks represented our burdens and as we prayed we dropped them in the water.

Here we wrote names of friends/family members or areas of little rock that needed to know Christ's redeeming love and place them on this wall of rememberance. 

What a special night.

Saturday

  Jason came home today with his best friend.  I love having a full house...even if they are all asleep!!!

And a full table is even better!!

I love having my brother and his family here!!

I am praying there will be many more times if Kayley comes to OBU!!!!

So how was your week?!!!

Wonderful, Tragic, Mysterious Tree

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flowed
For you and for me and for all

CHORUS:
At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night

On the hillside, you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior's side

CHORUS

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

It's a bullet point kind of day..

* I have been in a season of insomnia lately.  I go through these every once in a while and I blame it on menopause (like every other bad thing happening to my body).  But my mind is in a bit of a fog today.

* We have had way too many tornadoes lately and I am getting tired of the sound of the sirens.  However, I am thankful for the protection my family has had....others here have not been so lucky.

* I hosted 25 teachers from the school yesterday at a last minute luncheon that got moved to my house the day before.  It was AWESOME!  I am very thankful for the ability God gave me to be flexible.  I would miss out on so much otherwise.

* my brother and his family arrived last night from AZ, in between the storms.  I am so excited to have them here over Easter!  

* We are taking our kids to see Ouachita Baptist University today.

* I most likely won't be posting again until P365....me and my brother will be having too much fun together!!!  :)

Congrats Jared!!!

Meet the 2011/2012 LRCA Drum Major!!!!!

Jared spent every day after school last week in DM camp.  Then on Friday, he had to perform in front of 3 directors from other schools and pass the test by over 75%

I am so proud of you, Jared!!!

And now, can't wait for marching season!!!

You really MUST try this

Sunday was a great day!!

It had the potential of going in the other direction because it started out with the power still being out at the church.  The tornadoes on Thursday night caused this tree to fall on the power lines to our church.

There are still lots of people without power in LR, so they didn't get to us before Sunday.  But the morning could not have gone better!

I set up the K-5th grades outside on the patio and once they were all there, we took them up to the basketball courts for their lesson.  The day was beautiful and they loved being outside!

All the baby's/toddler's rooms had windows, so they did fine!

And the service was one of the best ever...even without a sound system or lights!!

So wonderful when God shows up like that!

Tonight, I tried a new soup
(only one more week of lent..I am ready!)

I think it was the BEST one I have tried so far. I don't have a picture unfortunately, but here is the recipe....it really is good and EASY!!

Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil Soup

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1 1/2 pounds bulk hot Italian sausage
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 portobello mushrooms, gills scraped out, chopped
• 1 cup pre-shredded carrots, available in sacks in produce department of the market
• 1 cup lentils
• 1 large starchy potato, peeled and chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (or substitute a mix of 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon sweet paprika and 2 pinches cayenne pepper)
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, in tact on stems
• 1 (14-ounce) can fire roasted chopped tomatoes, such as Muir Glenn or, regular diced tomatoes
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups kale or chard, a small bunch, veins removed and chopped
• Crusty pumpernickel bread, to pass at table
• Butter, for bread

Directions

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, then add sausage to pot and brown and crumble it, then add garlic, onions and mushrooms. Cook a few minutes, then add carrots, lentils, potato, salt and pepper, bay leaf, paprika or substitute mixture and rosemary (leaves will fall from stems as stoup cooks). Add tomatoes and broth and cover pot then raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Uncover pot and place heat back a bit but keep stoup at a good rolling boil. Cook 15 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender. Wilt in greens in small bunches, remove rosemary stems and turn off heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls with bread and butter to mop up stoup. Reheat leftovers thinning it with broth or water.

Enjoy!!

Project 365 - Week 16

 Week 16.

This was a great week for me.  God showed up in my life in several very personal and just awesome ways.  How amazing it is that we have a God that loves us so much and purposes to meet our every need....even ones we don't realize we have.  I love Him!!!

Here's my week:

 Sunday

 This is my friend Bill.  He had our CrossWalk kids completely mesmerized this morning with a monologue he did on Judas.  I don't think they moved an inch!!  He even grew the beard just for this lesson.  He has such a heart for these kids and I am so thankful for him!!!

Monday

 God really showed up today by putting circumstances together so that I could encourage my son who was having a bad day.  I love that my son saw very clearly that God cares for him..even in the little details.  And I saw clearly that God loves my son even more than I do....wow.

Tuesday

 Spring is so pretty in Arkansas!!!

Wednesday

Do you know what this is?

It is one of my favorite candies....caramel apple sucker!!

You can't find them ANY where any more and certainly not in Arkansas. But a dear friend found them in Texas and she shared her treasure with me......I love her!!

Thursday

No picture today.

All I had was frustration on EVERY side.

It even ended with terrible storms, 3 tornadoes and hail.

pretty much just want to skip over today.

Friday 

Went to Beth Moore Live tonight with 30 ladies from my church.  What an incredible conference!!

 Beth was amazing. 

I will be writing a post about it later but, I was blown away by how personal she was and how she moved in and out of the audience through out her talks.

Saturday

I really can't explain to you how wonderful it is to worship in one place with 8,000+ women.  It just took your breath away.  

But here is just a sample of what it was like:

It really doesn't do it justice.

After the conference, most of our group walked over the Arkansas River to the other side and had lunch at the River Market.....what a perfect day!!!

How was your week?  I am hoping Spring has finally made it to most of you!!!!

Guess who I get to see tonight!

Can I just tell you how excited I am?

I have never seen Beth live and I am going with about 25 ladies from my church.  

Let's just hope that the weather that produced 3 tornadoes here last night is gone....not as excited about being in a big arena during a tornado!!!

exciting news that leads to anxiety....

Have you heard of the She Speaks conference?

I first heard about it over a year ago.

My first thought was "that sounds like an amazing conference...but I'm not a writer or a speaker"  

I thought it was mainly for those who had the goal of writing books or becoming public speakers....of which I am neither.  But, I heard stories of friends going and secretly wished I could go.

Then a few months ago, I saw they had a Women in Leadership track.

What?  How did I miss that?

And my mind went on a crazy roller coaster ride of all the reasons I should go and all the reasons I simply couldn't go.  In the end, the couldn't go's won out.

Then the other day, I bounced over to my friend Jamie's blog......and read that she was going to the She Speaks conference.  Literally, my heart stopped as I felt a gentle whisper that I should maybe rethink going.   hmmmm.....ok God, I will check out the website.  As I went through the information, again my mind went on it's roller coaster and finally landed at the fact that I didn't think I could afford it.

So, I had a little chat with God....ever have one of these?

"Ok, God.  I am going to ask my husband about it (knowing the price would cause him to say no we can't afford it) and if he says yes, I will register."

I picked up the phone and called my husband and explained it all to him and ended with "the cost".....he immediately AND enthusiactically said "YES, you need to go to that!!

What?!

He proceeded to tell me we would make it work and he could see how much I would benefit from going!

So back to the website I went.
Only this time, I found out that the hotel the conference is in is FULL.  You can still register for the conference but you have to find your own hotel/accomodations...ugh....maybe I'm not supposed to go.

I decided to talk to Jamie and she said she would email them and see if they could add me in her room!! (Jamie and I have never met.  We know each others hearts through blogging, but agreeing to share her room? pretty wonderful)
Again I went to God....

"Ok God.  If I am really supposed to go, then you are going to have to open up a spot in her room.  I am pretty sure there is a waiting list, so I don't think that is going to happen, but if You do...I will register."

Guess what?!?!

They emailed Jamie right back and told me to register....they would work it out.

I am going to She Speaks in July!!

And as I type that, a little bit of anxiety is coming over me....
...but, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be there.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I am so thankful for you!

I am praying today will be sweet and a great start to the wonderful weekend you have planned.  I just wish I could be part of it!!!

Love you!!!!

Project 365 - Week 15

 Week 15.

This was a great week.  Can I say that I am still giddy that my daughter is coming to Little Rock for graduate school?!!!  Just think, next year I will be able to have all my kids at every holiday!!!!  At least for a year!  That is good for this mama's heart!!!

So how are you all doing with P365?  We seem to have had a few drop off.....about this time it can get a bit overwhelming to keep it up.  But I want to encourage y'all to keep going!!!  You are going to be so glad you did!!  And to those of you that have missed some weeks.....jump back in!!!  We miss you!!!

Here's my week:

Sunday

 This is one spoiled dog.....but we love her!!!  And are glad she is well and back to her sweet self again!!

Monday

 We had some work done in our house.  While I certainly appreciate that the workman tented themselves so as not to get dust/shavings all over my house....they looked pretty funny!!!  This is one of 2 pictures I took on the sly this week!  :)

Tuesday

 My azaleas are gorgeous!!!

Wednesday

 My first rose bud of the season!!!  I can't wait to see it pop out!

Thursday

 This cracked me up. 

My neighbor (who cuts her trees like round balls) apparently mowed for the first time of the season and scalped her lawn.  The funny thing to me is that she left it like this for days before she finished the job.  I couldn't get a better picture of it because I didn't want her to see me taking it!!!  But those round tracks around the round cut tree is just to hilarious!!!

 Friday

Happy Birthday to my husband!!!

 

 I worked registration at the YoungLife Golf tournament this morning. 

It was HOT! But very fun!

Here is my husband teeing off....

.....playing golf on his birthday = perfect for him!!!

Saturday

Wow, today was a busy, busy day!!!
I worked all morning, got to go shopping with my friend Cyber Hermit, cleaned my house and celebrated my husbands birthday....he chose sushi and a movie! 
Great way to end a week!!!

So how was your week?  link up!!!