July 27th

Yes, I know I have 2 July 27th's! During the day, we were boring - working on the car, grocery shopping and then Arthur went to praise and worship practice. That night we went to a friend's 29th birthday party. Now Sarah really is 29 - not like Arthur who says he is celebrating the 17th anniversary of his 29th birthday. Lol!

Sarah and Me

Sarah and her husband Dan

They had the party at their apartment complex's game room and pool. It was a lot of fun. Arthur decided that I can work at that apartment community so we can live there.

July 26th

This was Arthur's day today for the most part. Dan's car has also been overheating a bit so Arthur changed the thermostat and something else.

This I believe is the something else. I'm not too up on cars. I can put gas in and turn on the radio and sometimes I have difficulty with the last one. I adhere to the belief that in a good marriage, we are like one person. Therefore there is no need for me to learn things that he already knows. I'll save my brain for important things like how to find the missing socks.

July 25th

Last year, Andy visited when the comedian Gallagher happened to be here so Arthur and Andy went to see him. He didn't do the Sledge-O-Matic but he was still hilarious. This year he came back to Charlie Goodnights and he was doing the Sledge-O-Matic. Don't ask me why hitting fruit and condiments with a sledgehammer is funny but somehow it is. One of Arthur's employees works at the club and got us 2 FREE tickets - notice the key word there- Lol! So Daniel got to go see him this year. They brought a plastic sheet with them but Dan, being the gentleman he is, gave it to the cute girls sitting behind them. So Arthur had to invest in ponchos, thoughtfully sold at the club.

Most of the shots came out a bit blurry since it was dark and when you are sledgehammering you tend to move fast but here is a good one of Gallagher.

Daniel got christianed with mayonnaise. One of the blessings of sitting up front at Gallagher's show!

July 22nd

Wierd North Carolina weather. Today was around 100. Suddenly it got very dark; thunder and lightening and then hail. How can it be 100 degrees and then and hour later ice is falling from the sky?

July 21st

I had today off since I worked the weekend. The day didn't start off too good. We went to bring the Saturn home and on the way my van started overheating! I could have cried. We realized that it was low on fluids though and so all is well. Arthur has been working 2nd shift for the past week to train some new guys. He was home until about 2 today. Dan was also off so he suggested we go to the NC Museum of Natural History.

The Museum of History is on the right and the Museum of Natural History is on the left.

This is the round room where the dinosaurs are.

Dan and Rachel with one of the dinosaurs. The museum was really interesting. It's also FREE which is a big deal right now. Lol! The only thing you have to pay for is the special exhibit - The Dead Sea Scrolls. It's suppose to be here until Dec 28th so hopefully we'll get to see it at some point.

After we got home, I made a Yogurt Marmalade Cake. Yes, it is another recipe from Pioneer Woman's website but I did end up changing it slightly. Due to the lack of transportation, I had to make do with what I had. It called for plain yogurt and I only had vanilla. So I added slightly less sugar and vanilla. It also called for canola oil but I only had olive oil. It still came out light and fluffy though!

Yogurt-Marmalade Cake

I had copied the recipe but then realized that I might be breaking copywrite laws so I'll just give the actual website.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/yogurt-marmalade-cake-to-die-for/

July 20th

My camera went on a trip! I loaned it to Dan to take white water rafting. The youth group went to Asheville, NC for a youth retreat. They were suppose to go white water rafting but they weren't able to do that because of the drought. However, they had a fantastic time getting to bond together as a youth group, meeting the other groups, hearing the speakers and worshiping. Dan took 150 pictures but I won't post them all! Lol!

They hiked to Chimney Rock.

Dan and Kevin

Saturday night, Arthur and I met the Vidals for coffee while we waited for the call that the kids were home. It is a little bittersweet - this is probably the last time we were greeting one of our kids coming home for camp.

July 19th

I was feeling so weary and broke : (. Friday night our air conditioner stopped working. This morning we realized it was really down and we called Yellow Dot (the air conditioning people). They were going to charge $147 just to come out. We are trying so hard to get money saved for the Saturn and this is just what we needed. My home school email loop has a devotional on the weekends and while I was at work, I went to check my mail. This is the devotional I found posted by DeEtta, our list owner.


"We have been familiar with "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers for more than a decade. I used to read it annually. Currently, it has a place of honor in our throne room and I read it hit and miss. I don't agree100% with Mr. Oswald's theology, but I've been blessed by his readings again and again. I've been contemplating God's sovereignty lately. On 16 July I picked up "My Utmost" and read this..(emphasis mine)

THE NOTION OF DIVINE CONTROL
"How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?"
Mr. Oswald goes on to admit that there are times, due to our circumstances,when God appears as an unkind father, unkind judge et al. In those times we need to keep firmly focused that He is NOT any of those things.

This once again spoke to something that I've known for years and that God has formed more deeply in me the last couple of years: when we fill our minds and spirit with the Character of God, the Grace and Love of God; storms still arrive, but it becomes more natural to weather them in His arms without as many hours of doubtful wrestling.

You can find daily readings from this book athttp://www.myutmost.org/index.html. In case anyone is worried I do want to say that I'm within fair use laws to share this devotional.
Enjoy your weekend.
De'Etta

All I can say is Wow! That just hit me exactly where I am.

Right after I read this my maintenance supervisor came in to open our pool. I was telling him about the A/C going down. He told me to call Arthur and have him cancel Yellow Dot and he'd come out and check it out. Two hours later the A/C was working again! We gave Baron some money for his time and the parts he needed but it was less than what we would have paid Yellow Dot to walk through the door!

God is amazing, isn't He!

July 9th - 18th

Gosh time flies these days! Not too much has gone on. I'm still riding back and forth to work with Rose (Thanks Rose!) and it hasn't been too much of a big deal. I just have to remember sometimes that I don't have a car so I can't just stop somewhere on my way home or run out for something later. I had the use of Dan's car on Friday since he was white water rafting with the youth group. That was good since it was my day off and I could get to the grocery store and some other errands. I didn't take to many pictures this week but here's a couple shots.

We've had a couple storms come in. Here is one of them!

I made homemade pizza Sunday. I got the idea from Pioneer Woman's website. I used a thin crust pizza shell, topped it with pesto, slices of fresh mozzarella (not shredded!) and sliced fresh North Carolina tomatoes. Wow was it good! I also made a "normal" pizza but everyone preferred this one.

July 8th

Just a quick note - more bad news. We got the news on Arthur's Saturn. It's the engine! Ugh! It is going to run about $3500. We have weighed our options. 1. Buy a new car - not good since we would have a car payment again and then have higher insurance. 2. Buy a used car - also not good since we would spend about that to get a decent new car and not really "know" what we are a getting. Or 3. Do without while we save to have the car repaired. We are going with the last option. I can ride to work with Rose down the street and we'll just have to make do while we get our money together. I have to keep reminding myself, "It's just a car..." Have I ever told you that I hate cars!

My dream car?

July 7th

Ben and Natalie headed to Kansas today. I'm so glad that we got the chance to meet her!
Last night I prepared this dish for dinner. It was delicious! It's one of the Pioneer Woman Cooks recipes so I've attached the link.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/linguine-with-chicken-thighs/

July 6th

Ben and Natalie took us out for lunch at Chili's. Ben got a kick out of her reaction to an American size hamburger. Apparently everything is US is bigger. Lol! She is amazing at the number of large SUV's and trucks on the roads. Then Ben took her to Crabtree Mall yesterday. So I explained to her that we needed the big SUV's to carry all our stuff we bought at the huge mall back to our big houses. Oddly enough there is some truth to that statement.

July 5th

Arthur and I were on our way to the Farmer's Market for tomatoes and peaches. Suddenly our little green Saturn began making weird noises. We stopped on the side of the street and then it wouldn't start back up. Sigh... So now it is at the garage and we are down a car. And no tomatoes or peaches...

July 4th

Happy 4th of July! Ben and his fiance, Natalie, came to visit. Yes, you read that correctly - HIS FIANCE!

Ben and Natalie at the airport. Poor thing - I immediately started taking pictures.

The Ring!

Yes, we now have 2 engagements. Andy & Christine are getting married May 23, 2010. Ben & Natalie haven't set a date yet. She's from France so they are still figuring out the logistics.

We had grilled chicken and shrimp for dinner with pasta salad and red, white, and blue salad for dinner. We considered going to the fireworks at the State Fair grounds but ended up going to see Hancock instead. We are definitly glad we did. We had storms come through and the fireworks were cancelled.

June 30th - July 3rd

Arthur had a week off to make up for all the hours he's had to work. He spent most of the week working on the screen house. We did have Rose and Joe over for dinner on Wednesday. Arthur fixed the entire meal and we got to eat in the screen house. Thursday we went to North Hills to see the band but decided that it was too hot and went to a movie instead.

He did the electric - there is a light out on the 2nd deck to shine on the grill and the back yard and a ceiling fan and light inside the screen house.

He also finished most of the walls with pine planking.

Just a pretty butterfly that liked my flowers.