23 & 25

Last Friday we celebrated Matthew's 23rd birthday!
and Dad & Mom's 25th wedding anniversary! :)
Praise be to God!

The yummy ice cream cake that Mom made.

A cream cheese blueberry pound cake parfait we made for our parents.

Sibling love...

Humbling Hospitality

After Tony got off work on Thursday, he decided to invite our friend Chris over for dinner and a documentary. ;) The time was 5:15pm and our company would be here at 6:30pm. Not much time. Since we were going out of town for several days, the house was a little bare of groceries. So after starting some pizza dough in the bread machine, we took a quick trip to the store to get the ingredients for the tried-n-true Italian Sausage Roll. Yum. Back at home I discover that the bread machine had already beat down the dough a second time ... I usually remove the dough before this point. So I let it sit there while I prepared the filling: ground hot sausage, diced green peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic, cream cheese, mozzarella. Chris was now here and he received a phone call reminding him of a meeting that he was to attend that night. He had to leave in less than two hours. The dough still had not risen. So I just spread it out on my pizza pan and placed all the yummy filling on top. It was a rather strange looking concoction. I was worried. The guys started watching the documentary... I watched from the kitchen. In the oven it went. 20 minutes later the timer went off and so did our fire alarms ... :) The cheese had started to brown on top. So Tony gets a towel and starts fanning our fire alarms. Praise God that they're sensitive! Dinner is served - "flat strombolli" with a salad. We eat and even get seconds. ;) It turned out just fine. I had planned on making a pumpkin pie for dessert, but it wasn't feasible with the time constraint. I was trying to think of a quick alternative. "Oh yeah, Monday night I had made some chocolate chip cookies and put the leftover dough in the freezer." Praise the Lord! In the oven they went and out they came nice and golden, served with some coffee ice cream. Mmmmm! Although the evening did not turn out as I planned, it was still a lot of fun; and our guest was very gracious! :)

Established Steps

Six year old Marshall received his John Deere scarf today after he got out of school. He called me and said with much enthusiasm in his country voice "Thank you so much for that! And it's in a pattern. Yellow, green, yellow, green. It's neat!" "You're very welcome Marshall. I'm glad you like it." "Yeah, I'm going to wear it every day it snows." He was real excited and it brought a big smile to my face. :)

I went to town today to run errands. On my to-buy list was super glue, so I headed toward the office supply isle in Wal-mart. I turned down the isle and a lady approached me and asked if I could help her find the white out. She had looked up and down all the isles and couldn't find it. So I started to walk down the isle - and praise God, there it was. She said she had walked by it a couple times. I told her "I know exactly how you feel!" She thanked me and started to walk off. I reached into my purse and pulled out a gospel tract - "Here you go mam." She took it and paused for a second. I told her it had a gospel message on the back. She got a big smile on her face and was so grateful. She is a Christian too! We chatted for a little while about how God sends you one of your siblings in Christ just when you need them. Our steps are laid out before the Lord! :) She was familiar with Way of the Master and was so encouraged to hear that we put that into practice. She told me that she professed Christ at a young age, but not 'til much later did she really start living for Him. She is now 50 years old and regrets it - but is so grateful that God is raising up a younger generation. She was so sweet!!! And I am grateful to God that He crossed our paths. It is also neat to think back on the event that led up to my need for super glue. A couple weeks ago the strap on one of my much loved Crocs broke. Sad day. So I am going to try and glue it back together. Lord willing that will work.

Tony's Thoughts from Saturday

Saturday morning we approached the killing mill to find a circle of believers out front, on the sidewalk praying, lifting up petitions to the God of all creation, asking Him to change the hearts of those getting abortions. As the morning progressed, George was preaching truth to the blind-those who walk in the path of the woman called folly. George is there along with many others day in and day out, faithfully calling out to the lost.

As the proverb says, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks.” This is exactly what George and others, who faithfully preach the truths of God’s kingdom, are doing. I picture King Solomon writing this proverb as he hears prophets of God warn Israel and sojourners in the markets, streets, and city gates of Jerusalem. What a blessed thing to hear truth proclaimed outside the 4 walls of a church building.


From there we joined four others at the St. Patrick's day parade. Many gospel tracts were passed out to the people along the parade route. May hearts be changed by the preaching of the glorious gospel.

“I’m going to give away $20 to whoever can prove to me that they are a good person. We’re going to use a good standard that most everyone agrees with, the Ten Commandments ….” By this time I had a few takers to the challenge. Just that quick … it’s amazing how money instantly draws a crowd. I chose a participant from the crowd and began to ask 3 simple questions to find out if she was a good person. “Chelsea, the first is question is, have you ever told a lie?” “Yes.” “What does that make you? What would you be called?” “A liar.” “That’s correct. Second question, have you ever stolen anything?” “No.” “Even it its small, something from a brother or sister. Something you’ve taken without asking?” “Yes.” “What does that make you?” “A thief.” “Third question, have you ever disobeyed your parents?” “Yes.” “Chelsea, by your own admission you are a liar, a thief, and a rebellious child at heart. You’re not a good person according to God’s law. Chelsea, if you were to stand before God would you be innocent or guilty of breaking His laws?” “Innocent.” “Why is that?” “Because I believe in God.” “Imagine this Chelsea, you are standing in a courtroom, all the evidence is laid out, you are guilty and in a lot of trouble. And you say to the judge ‘your honor, I believe I’m innocent because I believe in you.’ Do you think he is going to let you go Chelsea?” “No.” “It is the same with God; He can’t just simply let you go. The fine for breaking the law must be paid. Chelsea, would you be innocent or guilty of breaking God’s laws?” “Guilty.” “Do you deserve to be punished in hell or rewarded with heaven?” “Hell.” “Let’s go back to the courtroom a second. You’re guilty and a fine of $100,000 has been placed on you, and you don’t have the money to pay for your crimes. Without the money to pay your fine, you are being led off to jail, just then someone that you do not know rushes in to the court room and pays your fine. You are free to go, not because you earned it, but simply because of pure grace. This is what God has done for His people in Jesus Christ. You broke the Law and Jesus paid the fine. Now, it is evident who are God’s people, because they will bring forth fruit of repentance. You must repent (turn from your sins) and trust in Jesus for forgiveness of your sins. Chelsea, you did not prove to be a good person according to God’s law. No one is good but Jesus. As a demonstration of grace, something that you do not deserve, I’m giving you this $20. In the same way, God gives saving grace through his Son Jesus Christ. Folks, there is no hope in yourself. You must repent of your wickedness and hope only in Jesus Christ. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Repent and trust Jesus . . .”

It was a great day. Tracts were passed out, the gospel was preached, and the fellowship was sweet.

Shades of Green

I started a batch of GREEN apple butter last night.

Our GREEN mint leaves are springing up - along with some weeds.

Tony scythed some of our tall GREEN grass last night. ;)

I made a John Deere scarf for our nephew,
per his request. "GREEN & yellow please."


This past Saturday we proclaimed the gospel at the St. Patrick's
day parade. So you can imagine all the GREEN we saw there.


Oh, and I just ate a GREEN avocado for lunch. :)