Catching up...

Just came in from watering our little garden ~~ A sunflower is blooming. Several bees and butterflies flying around. The marigolds smell good ~ along with the cilantro and basil. Mmmm. In the past two days, I was able to pick a zucchini, 2 apple cucumbers, a handful of green beans, and a good amount of arugula. The cilantro and arugula is starting to go to seed. Oh, and praise be to God, the grasshoppers have dissipated. Sigh. :) They did much damage to the foliage of our green beans and corn ... but I think the produce will be okay.


This past weekend some friends from VA came to stay with us: Nathan, Mary, Jeff, Lisa, Don, and Mike. After dinner on Friday, we went to downtown Greenville to preach the gospel. There were lots of people out and about. The guys took turns open air preaching - and several one-to-one conversations took place. After a quick stop for coffee at Krispy Kreme, we made our way back home and enjoyed banana splits with homemade chocolate syrup. Mmmm.




We slept in Saturday morning and had a late breakfast: Potato & Egg skillet with french toast and rolls. We hung out at the house until early evening - resting, reading, playing games - then we went on a treasure hunt at Ollie's. :) We stopped by Krispy Kreme for coffee (sounds familiar, huh?) and Mike ate his first ever hot Krispy Kreme donut. While there, God crossed our path with a guy named Andre who was familiar with the Way of the Master and excited about sharing his faith with others. It was very encouraging to speak with him. :) From there we made our way to Raleigh Downtown Live. And then we finished the night off at Steak n' Shake.

Sunday morning, through the preaching of Daniel 7, we were reminded of our own human depravity, the holiness of the Ancient of Days, and the certainty of ultimate victory ~ how God will vindicate His people. What great truths. We ate lunch at Bojangles with the VA crowd and then departed ways.

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Last night we went over my parents house for dinner: hamburgers (regular and jalapeno) on the grill and grilled peaches for dessert. Mmmm!! We hung out most of the evening talking, walking, and watching a documentary on the founding fathers.
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Here is the family on Father's Day!

And there's one with Tony ... he was taking the picture. ;)

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Last Thursday also marked FOUR great years of marriage! :) I am so very grateful for my sweet husband!! It is neat to see how God continues to knit our hearts together. We of course celebrated in the pretty New England states by touring Boston/Plymouth, visiting with the Appleton's, and family. As another anniversary gift, we decided to remodel the house a little bit - make it more our style. So we've bought some new blinds/curtains, along with some artwork to hang around the house. It's amazing how those little touches completely change the look of a room. My parents gave us some money designated to a nice restaurant, so we'll be taking a date night in the very near future. Woo hoo! :)

Just the two of us

We have had such a busy week. Early mornings. Late nights. Demanding days. Hence, one reason why I'm running a week or two behind on my blog posts. But that is perfectly okay!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

Last Saturday, Tony spent almost all day doing school work, while I stayed busy in the kitchen. We anticipated some company that evening, so I decided to try some new fancy recipes. Homemade Ravioli and Boston Cream Pie. Mmmm. (I should have titled this post "Warning: May Cause Hunger"). Then we got the news - the sweet couple we had invited was not able to make it that night. :( Which left more raviolis for us to enjoy! Ha! They were filled with a sausage, ground beef, mushroom, ricotta cheese, and yummy seasoning mixture. I'm so glad I decided to freeze about half of them, because 3-4 of these raviolis are quite satisfying. ;) The Boston Cream Pie turned out pretty tasty, but we decided that next time there needs to be more filling and less frosting. Live and learn. :) It was a lovely dinner ~ just the two of us!

Two weeks already...

...since this lovely couple said their vows. :) What a sweet time it was!

All the pretty girls ~ 4 our sisters to Kelley.

The updated Appleton family ~
Brian, Uncle Keith, Aunt Bonnie, Kelley,
Scott, Laura, Neil, and baby Josiah

Wonderful friendships!

Little Laura and I

Wedding cake made by Aunt Bonnie

Such fun!!

Another couple that is happily married! ;)

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After the reception, we went to surprise Pepere' and Memere'. Memere' was sitting outside cross stitching and Pepere' was mowing the yard. We all sat outside under the shade trees and talked for about 45 minutes. Aunt Tammy and the girls were also able to come over a little bit. It was a nice visit. :)

We thought it was strange that
Memere's cat is kept on a leash. Haha!

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That evening we went over to the Appleton's house. :) We watched Iron Man, drank sweet tea, and talked a lot. And I got to hold baby Josiah! Hard to believe that he is 3 months old already. We had such a great time visiting ... it would be soooo nice if there weren't so many miles between us ~ there would definitely be lots of dinner and movie nights in order!

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From there we made our way back our nice little haven - about an hour drive. We stopped by a restaurant near our hotel called Ninety Nine. If you ever find yourself in that place, you must order a steakburger. They are amazing!!

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The next morning we woke up fairly early, packed our bags, checked out of Nylo, and made our way to Plymouth. Our first stop was a hard-to-find Dunkin' Donuts; Tom Tom kept leading us to locations that had been closed down. But we were finally able to get some Boston Cream Donuts and Coffee. We carried our little goody bag on over to the Forefathers Monument and enjoyed all that sweetness. :) This is the largest free-standing granite statue in the world - representing the virtues of the Pilgrims. What a rich history!

"Hey Tony, look at this statue." :)

Thus out of small
beginnings, greater things
have been produced by His
hand that made all things
of nothing and gives being
to all things that are:
and as one small candle
may light a thousand, so
the light here kindled
hath shone unto many. Yea
in some sort to our whole
nation; Let the glorious
name of Jehovah have all
the praise.
-Governor William Bradford

Then we attended the New Testament Church where Paul Jehle pastors. We have heard him lecture through some of the resources from Vision Forum Ministries. After the service we went to the Plymouth Colony Winery to see how they grow and make cranberry wine. Very neat!!

Yep, that is a field of cranberrys. Looks just like
weeds - looks just like our yard. Ha! When
it comes time to harvest the berries, they flood
the field which causes them to float to the top.

To be continued...