Our God Is An Awesome God

Every so often, God allows me to see Him in action. I am following the story of a young woman, Katie Bloom, who is proving that God can do so much more than we can imagine.

Last Monday, when I was at the surgery center we learned of a young woman who delivered her third baby at the beginning of July and several weeks later had a severe brain hemorrhage. They operated on her and the prognosis was unknown. Thousands of prayers have been said over Katie Bloom. She is improving daily, she is showing many people what faith is all about.

To read the entire story about Katie use this link Katie's progress. And while you're there, please lift up Katie Bloom to the Throne of Grace.

This Thankful Heart:
1. All the people of faith who believe in a God who can do All Things praying for Katie Bloom.
2. All the butterflies flitting about in my yard.
3. Cool breeze on summer nights.
4. Rachel joining us for Tiramasu Tuesday.
5. My husband who kills my weeds, paints my office and then is mostly ok with repainting it when the color isn't just right. 

What's On My Heart
1. Continued healing for Katie Bloom.
2. Healing for Tate, my dad and Carissa's foot.
3. Paint crew safety.
4. Perfect jobs for Carson, Curtis, Aaron and Mike.

Visitors

These guys came over to our house for dinner last night.




My Grateful Heart
1. Having Carson and Carissa home.
2. Geese in my front yard, deer in my backyard and the hummingbird I saw last night.
3. God's work in the healing of Katie Bloom.
4. Safety for the paint crew.
5. Getting back in touch with Nancy.
6. Tirimasu Tuesday.
7. Rachel's almost-good-as-new wrist.

My Humble Requests:
1. Healing for Tate.
2. Healing for my dad's back.
3. The perfect job for Carson, Curtis, Mike and Aaron.
3. Continued healing for Katie Bloom.
4. Barb's dad.
5. Rocky Mountain High Blessings.

Weeds, Weeds, Weeds, I Am Sick of Weeds

Three years ago, we took a family vaca to Rocky Mountain National Park. Last year, I visited Cody and Elizabeth in San Diego and saw the ocean for the first time in my life (yeah, yeah, it was overdue). We went to Sea World and I was completely enthralled by the whales. Such grace and power in one creature. On our drive home, we stopped at the Grand Canyon and my calendar for this month is a beautiful picture of the Grand Canyon.

I am enthralled with God's creation.

I have a hillside in my backyard where I would like to have my own little piece of this beautiful creation. With some work, okay, probably A LOT of work, I believe this site could be a  profusion of color throughout the spring, summer and into the fall.  

One rather major problem is that it also has an abundance of weeds. I have been working and working, but my attempts have been so feeble. I can spend hours out there pulling and pulling and pulling and, dang, if those weeds aren't back in what seems like minutes.

PLUS .......

There was some sort of bug activity out there that I did not even notice, but it certainly found me and been quite successful at biting me IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES.

I don't know much about plants or how to make a lovely yard, but I do ask questions and every greenhouse I went to, I asked questions. (with the exception of Hy-Vee because I just didn't think a high school kid that they pulled from the register would have many answers). I hit the jackpot the other week at the Woodsmith Store where the lady working there acknowledged she couldn't answer my questions but gave me the name of someone who could. That's all I ask, refer me when you don't know. So I called the Des Moines Forage and Turf and they were a wealth of information. I now know exactly what I have to do and now is the time to do it. Here's a before picture of my weed-side and I will post pictures as I progress until next year when (hopefully) I have a burst of color. I'm hoping to have enough to cut and bring the garden inside.

The Weed Garden (with disrespectful bugs)

I'll keep you posted.

Good Times

We have had a pretty fun couple of weeks. 4th of July was really interesting and fun and I will write more about that later, but last Saturday night Mark, Carson and I went to the Iowa Barnstomers game with Monica and John and their delightful offspring. If you don't know what a "barnstormer" is, here's what I found out:

Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, often in groups as a flying circus. These aerialists — or "barnstormers" as they became known — performed almost any trick or feat with an airplane that people could imagine.

Sounds like fun -- the Iowa Barnstormers in 2008, however, is an arena football team. Arena football is not ordinary football; I think everyone has more fun. I loved the player who led the "hey" cheer before the kickoff after every touchdown with his knock-em-dead dance moves in the middle of the field. At halftime, the Barnstormer mascot rode around the field on a bike-propeller-airplane while people in the crowd threw yellow balls to get them into the basket on the bike with the chance to win a prize; in the end hundreds of little yellow balls were all over the field. It was entertaining to watch college-age guys in tricycle races. There were lame fireworks during the National Anthem, but I'm sure they tried. Oh, and there was football too. Lots of points were scored, I think the Barnstormers had more than 70 points and with that many points, they did win, although they have lost more times than they have won this season. There were nearly 10,000 people there. What fun.

Oh, but I do love Des Moines.

Speaking of football, I do not know what to think about my-all-time-favorite-NFL-team, the Green Bay Packers, and my-all-time-favorite NFL player, Brett Favre. Sounds like a lot of off-the-field games but basically I don't know what to think.

Sometimes ..... I. Just. Don't. Know.

Communication, Communication

The other night, Mark, Carissa and I were watching a TV show and in one scene there were 2 teenage girls sitting at the kitchen table of one of the girls homes and their conversation went something like this:

Girl #1: Did you hear what Ashley told Jon today?
Girl #2: No, I didn't.
Girl #1: Well, I texted it to you.
Girl #2: Oh, I didn't see it; wait, here it is. (And she reads the text on her phone). Really? What did Jon say back to her?
Girl #1: Oh, I'll tell you. (at which point she gets out her phone and texts the Girl #2). Okay, it's transmitting, you should get it soon.

I looked at Carissa and I just laughed because whenever you look at a teenager/20-year-old person, they always have their phones open and texting someone somewhere. There are people who can text while their phone is in a purse. Carissa drives and texts. Although preferably not when I'm in the car. Carissa laughs at how slow I am. But getting better...... really. Honestly, I don't know how I got through so much of my life without a cell phone. Seriously.

There are a gazillion ways of keeping in touch with people without ever leaving home. Here's an obvious one -- a blog. I'm on facebook and would love it if more friends my age would get on that. I think nearly every person under 30 is on facebook and hardly anyone over 40 is. The 30-somethings are still a mixed bag although I really have no idea. We have e-mail. Although an e-mail from me can turn into a novella. I can't help it, once I get rolling, I just can't stop. We have phones. Personally, I don't like telephones. There are these awkward pauses and then you both start talking at the same time. I am just old fashioned enough, but perhaps with just a smidgeon of coolness, to believe it doesn't get much better than a one on one with a friend in a coffeeshop.

So being all about relationships, more options is just fine. In fact, it's more than fine, I think it's wonderful. So start communicating.

Recently Carissa and I went to the home show which is always fun to see the newest and latest trends in homes and decorating. It always gives me the urge to get home and do some updating. Armed with every good intention and ready to get started, here's what I have discovered so far:

1. I have waaaaay too much stuff. I am feeling overwhelmed and I've barely started.
2. I have enough graduation gowns to start a small choir.
3. We could host a charity event and give away water bottles.
4. Cody left several things that he probably no longer wanted. Unfortunately neither do I.
5. I have so many odds and ends of scrapbook supplies, I could start a small store.
6. Pictures, pictures, pictures. So many pictures, so little time although with my own little scrapbook store, there could be a plan for them.
7. Prom dress anyone? I have a small, but nice selection.

I'm sure there will be much more the further I go into this project. It may take 10 years. And then it will be past time to start over. However, tomorrow the painting starts.

So Much Goodness

This summer, so far, has been wonderful. No, I take that back. It has been fabulous. I usually don't care too much about the weather. After all, what can one do about it. But the weather we have had lately is nothing short of incredible. It's cool enough to leave the AC off and as I try to be more and more "green", I appreciate the savings in energy and a slightly smaller electrical bill each month. I'm also a hang-the-clothes-on-the-clothesline kind of gal so, wow, give me that fresh-air scent.

In addition to lovely weather, another way-too-much fun part of this summer has been our quest to find the ultimate tirimasu. For those of you less worldly and sophisticated than me, which I would imagine is probably nobody, tirimasu is a creamy Italian dessert concotion made with lady fingers dipped in coffee and mascarpone cream. I really don't know what any of that stuff is, but that's what it said on google. So it must be true. The name tirimasu means "pick me up" in Italian and "can be translated figuratively as make me less sad/happier." Again, I know this is true because it came from google. And I also know this is true because as I slide my fork through the creamy layers of my tirimasu, I know I am less sad. As I savor the flavor of the tirimasu ... Oh.My.Goodness. I am certain my BFF, Dena G., is absolutely right when she says there is food in heaven. There has to be, this can't be something only found on earth. 

My other favorite part of our quest for the best tirimasu in Des Moines is the social part. Our group is rather fluent, it changes week by week and it's fun to meet new people and be with good friends too. But I'm not going to miss an opportunity for tiramisu so I'm there every week. This was our group this week and it was rather special to have Paige H. and Katie G. there for some opinions from a younger, way cooler group. Here's our group this week.

Front Row:  Carol, Katie, Dena, Amy

Back Row:  Paige, Karrine, Someone Who Never Turns Down Dessert