June 29th

My version of Cazuela. Chicken, onions, carrots, smoked sausage, potatoes and fresh corn on the cob simmered. Yum!

We just ran errands today and relaxed. Unfortunately my van was dead again... The starter and the alternator this time. We also had them do the wires and plugs (I think Lol!). I'm hoping that this is the end of the car problems.

June 28th

Ben has arrived! He was suppose to land at 5:00 but just as I was shutting down my computer at work, Dan called and said that Ben's flight was delayed until 6:00. I got to the airport at about 6:00 and the screen said that the flight was landing at about 6:20. I waited and waited and waited. Finally I went and checked the screen again and now it said 8:20! He ended up getting in at about 8:00.

June 27th

I finished The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I'm not too sure about this book. It is essentially about a 40 something woman name Jessie whose daughter leaves and she has a mid-life crisis of sorts. Her mother has an accident which gives her the excuse to "take a break from her marriage". As the book says, she goes on a journey of self-discovery. Hmmm... I'm not sure that a journey of self-discovery requires you to cheat on your husband with a monk. I do like her style of writing though. She describes things the way I sometimes think of things, if that makes sense. She's also the author of The Secret of Bees which I enjoyed more.

I've had a lot of time to read lately since most of the TV shows I enjoy are in repeats.

June 26th

The sign over our "desks". We noticed it today!

June 25th

The new "accounting" department. I'm the computer on the end with the Duncan Donuts Coffee Coolatta. That's Barry, our IT guy getting us all connected. We still don't have any definite answers as to what will happen.

June 24th

Tonight we went to the Harvest Crusade at the RBC Center. Pastor Greg Laurie preached. We got there 45 minutes early but we were still in the last row of seats. We did get some great shots of the altar call.

In the beginning

People began going down.

And more...

And more...

And more...


Over 2000 people committed their lives to Christ! PTL!

June 23rd

Not much news on work. They did get some of the presses up and running and so they are running double shifts all weekend. I guess we'll take it one day at a time and see what happens. In the meantime, I had tickets to the Toby Keith concert. We went out for cheap Mexican first and off for a night of country music where I didn't have to think for a couple hours. : )

Here's me, Rose and Kris at the concert. No rain this time!

Toby Keith!

For his encore he always sings An American Soldier and Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue which , of course, always brings me to tears. Our seats were right next to the confetti machine. (I'm sure there's a proper name for it. Lol) I had confetti everywhere and brought some of it home in my hat.

June 22nd

I will confess. This is not a picture from today. I took this over the weekend in Myrtle Beach. But I needed a peaceful, quiet picture (as opposed to the noisy ones I usually post ). We still have no power at work. Things basically went from bad to worse. It looks like they might have to redo the entire office and I don't know if that is something that the owners will want to do. It is frightening to think of both of us being out of work. I'm always a plan-ahead kind of person, so my mind is just spinning. I figured out all the math and how long we'll be able to make it without jobs, what about health insurance, etc. I know -where's my faith, right? Sigh... Arthur did go in and they brought most of the signs they could to the UPS store and shipped it. We have failed the electrical inspection twice already and blown more transformers. They are hoping on getting some of the screens up by tomorrow and run all weekend so we can meet our commitments.

On a brighter note - in keeping with the picture. Ben and Daniel are in Florida having a blast. Please keep them in your prayers that they have a safe and fun vacation!

June 21st

Tobacco Fields

We had today off since we had a fire in the transformer at work. We got a lot done. I had a couple things that I needed to return to the mall so it seemed like a good day for that. We also got some deep cleaning done - moved furniture and vacuumed and that sort of thing. I'm not certain why our dog isn't bald. With all the dog hair that I vacuumed up, he couldn't have any left! We are still having electrical problems so I'm going to work at 12:00 tomorrow. Hopefully, it will all be resolved by then! Arthur is going in at 9:00 since part of the warehouse has power. I'm praying that we are up an running soon.

June 20th

Arthur and Daniel went to a Rush concert last night at Alltel Pavilion. It's not exactly my type of music so Arthur took the picture for me.

June 19th

A butterfly (or moth) in my flowers.

June 18

My baby! Safe in RI

June 17th

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

We slept late (very quiet neighbors this time). I woke early and went out on the balcony and read so Arthur could sleep. I'm really into Alas, Babylon right now. Then we grabbed breakfast at the hotel cafe and packed the van.

However, since Myrtle Beach is the golf capital, we felt that our trip was not complete. Here is Arthur playing 18 holes at the infamous Mutiny Bay! I will admit in writing that he won although I think there might have been some fudging on the scores. Hmmm..

We got home before Sierra left for work so Arthur really did get to see all the kids - or the ones that live here anyway. Daniel is preparing Father's Day dinner as I type this.

We had an email from Ben that he had lost all our phone numbers but we haven't heard anything since. I'm presuming he is still en route to Georgia. I'll update when we hear something.

June 16th

We requested a new room and this was the view from the balcony! We couldn't have asked for anything better.

We spent the day relaxing by the pool,


Floating around the lazy river and enjoying the beach. In the evening, we took a ride down Ocean Blvd and browsed at Barefoot Landing. Saturday night, we went to Dixie Stampede which is Medival Times except with the civil war theme (the south won this time) Then we just sat on our balcony and watched the waves coming in with a glass of wine.

June 15th

Myrtle Beach!

Arthur and I went to Myrtle Beach for the weekend. I have never stayed there. Arthur used to spend a lot of time there since he grew up about an hour away. We left work early and headed down. It's about 3 1/2 hrs from Raleigh. It was so beautiful! We stayed at a hotel in North Myrtle Beach which seemed a little less "tacky" than the Grand Strand at Myrtle Beach. It was pretty much how Arthur remembered it although what appeals to an 18 year old guy isn't necessarily what appeals to a 40-something couple! lol! We really wanted to just relax and to be honest we didn't even need to leave our hotel! Friday night we grabbed something to eat and then just walked along the beach. Our room was small but nice with a side view of the ocean. Unfortunately, next door was party central for a bunch of young men!

June 14th

Fat Cat Capsizing

We hung this over the stairs today. It's just one of those posters you get in the frame shop but it makes me laugh!

June 13th

Ben is heading home soon! Tomorrow is the first leg of his journey home for leave. Please keep him in your prayers!

June 12th

Peaches!

We bought some peaches at the Farmer's Market this weekend and these are my last 2. They weren't the best though. I'm not sure if it is too early or it's a bad year for them.

June 11th

Part of our dinner tonight - Vegetable Salad

This was leftover from yesterday. It tasted better the second day! We did have a good weekend. Leaving work early on Friday enabled us to get most of our errands done. Saturday, we both "fell awake" early so we decided to go out for breakfast. The Farmer's Market has a restaurant that we had heard had excellent breakfasts. We got there and it was crowded but it was all big groups. When we told them we were 2 we were immediately seated - Arthur and I both looked at each other and said "Gee, it's good being 2!". I forgot my camera unfortunately because it was a neat place with a lot of country charm. We went over to the farmer's market afterward. It was crazy even though it was 96 degrees! We puttered around at home until Arthur had to go to Praise & Worship rehearsal. I went with him and intended to go shopping for, shall we say "undergarments". I hate shopping for "undergarments" and was not successful in my search. I picked Arthur up from rehearsal and he listened to my usual rant about the lack of customer service in department stores. Then we went to see Ocean 13. We both decided it was better than 12 but not as good as 11. Sunday we went to church and then I went shoe shopping with Sierra and then just relaxed all afternoon. I ended up making Zucchini Pineapple Bread (Yum!) and made meatballs. It's probably been 3 years since I made homemade meatballs! It was just a great relaxing weekend!

June 10th

We had a baby dedication today at church. The Alberghina's dedicated Adriano Martino to the Lord!

June 9th

Our blog challenge is to take a picture of a view out of your window. This is our bedroom window. I liked the reflection of me taking the picture. When we were having the house built, I said "Can you imagine waking up every morning with that view of the woods?". Now I admit most mornings, I fortunate to find the bathroom but it still is really pretty!

June 8th

Arthur and I ended up only working until about 11:00 because our building had no electricity. We ran a bunch of errands and stopped at Barnes & Noble. I picked up some books that have recently have been recommended to me.

June 7th

Fresh green beans. I just love the colors.

June 6th

Dinner!

June 5th

The ladies at church met for coffee and desserts at Mimi's Cafe.

June 4th

A dragonfly on our screen house. Pretty cool!

June 3rd

One of the ladies from church is adopting a little girl from China. Our church had a shower for her today. We all brought chinese food!

For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 1Samuel 1:27

Congratulations Kim and John!

The Book of Esther

A few thoughts on my Bible study on Esther. The study guide I used was Espresso with Esther. I loved the set up - It is small with a comb binding so it is easy to leave open. All of the Bible passages are right in the book so I'm not juggling my Bible and the study guide. Just a minor thing, but it makes it easier if I'm trying to do my study at night in bed or outside on the patio with the wind blowing. It had a good combination of thought questions and straight out of the text questions. God definitely led me to this study.
The first thing I learned from Esther is that God is in control even when He is invisible! In the book of Esther, God is NEVER mentioned. Now I knew that but it hit home with me right now.

The second thing I got out of it was "Often, despite all we know of God, things happen that don't seem to make sense - things that make it look like the world is spinning out of control. Things that break our hearts. We all have such stories, don't we? Our planet groans as if writhing in childbirth as it longs for the day when the Prince on a white horse will arrive and make all things new. But this is not that day. So for now, like Jesus at Lazarus' tomb knowing a happy ending is right around the corner, we still weep. " When it looks like all is lost; it may seem like God is absent; Yet the known facts are not all the facts. The story isn't over yet. That's hard to hold on to when things don't seem to be going the way we think they should. And it is ok to weep.

An important truth that I relearned was about patience and God's timing. In our busy, hectic world, we are so eager for things to happen NOW. Even when I practice patience, I'm thinking months or maybe a year. I never realized that the events of Esther from beginning to end covered approximately 9 years. 9 years! I am a result orientated person - to wait 9 years for God's plan to unfold seems impossible. Yet all things are in God's timing. I might as well let go of my timing because it isn't going to happen my way.

It was brought to my attention that ending well for Esther began when she decided to identify with her people. In Esther 5:1, she dons her royal robes. She is the Queen and identifies with her people regardless of what happens to her. Who do I identify with? I should be identifying with Christ.

Finally, "For such a time as this" Esther 4:14 Only God knows why we are placed where we are in life. We are placed in a particular place for "such a time as this". Why has God placed me here in my life? What opportunities am I missing?

Thank you ,God, for controlling the seen and the unseen events in my life.

June 2nd

Our house - I don't think I've recently posted a picture of our house.

Let's see - what did we do this week...

1. Went to Mayberry (pictures on Monday)

2. Mailed out a box of magazines to Ben to pass out to everyone. They collected them at work- some magazines that I know Ben won't be interested in but he can share.

3. Watered and watered and watered. It's been in the 90's for over 6 days with no rain.

4. Worked a lot

5. Finished my Bible study on Esther. I'll blog more on my thoughts later.

6. Spent $1000 on the air conditioning in my van. Sigh...

7. Cooked Chicken Stir Fry Casserole ( a 5 out of 10), hamburgers, Cheesey Shell Lasagna ( a 9 out of 10), Chicken & Rice and Grilled London Broil.

8. Went shopping at Aldi's. After spending so much on the van out of our RI money, I needed to cut costs as much as possible.

9. Bought a new Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount

10. Watched "So You Think You Can Dance". Love that show!

11. Argued with NC BX about my prescription. My doctor ordered a new prescription because my old one didn 't work. BX refused to pay until June 4th. The girl who answered the phone told me "that was how the system worked". I told her that the "system" isn't it's own entity so who do I talk to to fix it! Now I have to appeal so I didn't pick up my $98 Lunesta prescription.

12. Mowed the lawn, weedwacked, fixed the accent lighting, touched up with paint a few spots that the dogs had hit.

13. Packed up 2 more packages for the soldiers. I'm starting from the top of the list again.

Just a normal week for us.

June 1st

Another visitor from the nearby woods.