50th Birthday May 2024

 Our 34th kiss-aversary was the day before my birthday. (Don't do the math, we were way too young to be kissing.) We like to celebrate every possible way as we remember what God has done in our lives.

 When our young adults arrived at our house, they found a table decorated with lipstick kisses and peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses interspersed with pictures of their parents.

Aaron asked how I wanted to celebrate my 50th birthday. In a strange turn of events, my introvert husband wanted a big weekend for his celebrations, but I just wanted all my kiddos at home.

We played games like Code Names 

and filled a pew on Sunday morning as we made our own little worship choir.

Sarah made her famous cheesecake, my ubiquitous request for birthday cake.

The love between siblings, even when they are grown, makes me laugh. 

I'm so grateful for this crew and their willingness to come spend time with us, despite the distance and the hassle.

Marriage Resources

Aaron and I are always looking for ways to strengthen our marriage. We've been friends for thirty-nine years, and we have a long history together. But we still have room for improvement :)

We found a cute little book: "The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled Marriages". Normally we stay away from resources that make relationships sound easy if you only follow this simple formula. But something about the brain science behind this book, coupled with its faith-based approach, caught my eye. So, we tried it!

The book is organized around four habits that form the acronym PLAN:

Play together

Listen for emotion

Appreciate daily

Nurture rhythm

We found the suggestions and exercises to be a helpful springboard for our marriage and have added this book to our "marriage toolbox".

Sweet Sabbath

"A regular Sabbath means having enough rest often enough that it affects (and infects) the days around it. I'm not just breaking from work; I'm intentionally touching base with God, the Source of my Belovedness, so that I can learn to see and experience that same sense of wholeness in the entirety of my life.

Finding joy and life in my everyday begins with being able to recognize joy and life to begin with. The regularity of a weekly Sabbath trains my eye to see that way right where I am."

~Justin McRoberts, "Sacred Strides: The Journey to Belovedness in Work and Rest"

Several years ago, I bought these lilly bulbs late in the season at a huge discount. They continue to bring me joy and life every summer.

 

Mother's Day and Grandma's Birthday

"We gather to celebrate,

and to give thanks that their life and days

are woven with ours, that we might share

the joys and burdens of life together,

delighting in the ways your glory is reflected

in the unrepeatable gift of their being."

~Douglas McKelvey, "Every Moment Holy"

May provided multiple opportunities to celebrate with Grandma. For Mother's Day, we utilized the bounty of local strawberries and made a strawberry trifle to share.

In May, we also celebrated Grandma's 93rd birthday,

and delighted in the "unrepeatable gift" of her being.

 

Orchestra Banquet

At the end of the school year, the orchestra gives awards and recognizes the seniors at a dessert banquet. This gathering is one of my favorite events of the year.

I know I sound like a broken record, but watching these orch dorks grow over the span of seven years is miraculous. Best part of the job, hands down.

Even though I was only working with the students part time, they still honored me with gifts. A hand made clay mini me

 and socks with pictures of the 2024 seniors. Gonna miss these guys!

Summer Salads

With the farmers market open once again, the meal plan began to fill up with beautiful and delicious salads. I'm so grateful for the local farmers who work so hard to produce beautiful, delicious, and healthy food to share.

Curried Lentil Chickpea Salad with Citrus Dressing made a lovely meal on the porch.

This strawberry spinach salad with some local chicken from Shaky K Farm made good use of strawberries from the Cabot Patch (but no jammy egg for me, thanks!). Instead of the poppy seed dressing we used this strawberry vinaigrette.

Leftover beef roast (thanks, Flying C Ranch!) from Sunday lunch paired perfectly with the roasted sweet potato and brussel sprout salad with cinnamon balsamic dressing.

This southwest chopped chicken salad helped us finish up last year's corn in the freezer.

Most of the leafy greens in these salads came from Twin Creek Farm, and they also provided the beautiful rainbow carrots for the roasted carrot spinach salad with lemon herb dressing. Pork chops from Shaky K Farm filled out the plate nicely.

May Days 2024

 The last Arkansas Symphony Masterworks concert of the season was a special one, so we got all gussied up and made a date. Our cello teacher, Rafael, was performing in his final concert after forty years.

Rafael was a big part of our story, he came to our recipe wedding shower, and we still have the recipe for guacamole that he gave us :) We just wanted him to know that we appreciated the many years he has served Arkansas as a teacher and a musician and that he had impacted and shaped our lives.

May also brought the state championship soccer games. 

For the third year in a row, our alma mater was vying for the title. 

One of the orchestra students was on the team, and so was one of the young men from church, so I went to cheer on the Wampus Cats.

I wasn't the only orch dork in the stands! So many of the musicians showed up to root for the men's soccer team.

And they won!

May brought more walks with my mom and her sweet dog, Roxie, just before we had to say goodbye to our furry friend because of illness.

We participated in the food drive "Stamp Out Hunger" sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers. This is something we have enjoyed doing for many years.

I went to my last chemo treatment with a family photograph. The next treatment would be the last one, and my biggest cheerleaders would be by my side!

April 2024 Concerts

The youth orchestra played their final concerts at the end of April. The first concert was in Little Rock on a Saturday afternoon.

Crazy sister Sarah decided to make a day trip from Dallas since she hadn't heard any of Katherine's performances.

The next day, we attended an early church service, then we drove to Hot Springs Village with Evan riding along with us. The studious young people did homework on the long drive :)

While the orchestra rehearsed, Aaron and I found a new place for our weekly coffee and calendar date. Melinda's Coffee Corner was exactly right for our Sunday afternoon tradition.

The musicians performed beautifully, having four of them from Conway has provided opportunities for carpooling and for making memories together this year.

April 2024 Birthdays

Adding Connor to our family meant adding another April birthday, so we made a drive up to NW Arkansas to visit our college crew. Our new favorite pit stop is The Coffee Parlor.

We enjoyed spending time with my mom, Olivia, Connor, and several of their friends, and of course we hung balloons and ate birthday cake!

Sarah's piano had been living with friends in Siloam, but now it was moving to Texas. So my mom hitched up a trailer, we loaded the piano, Katherine jumped in the vehicle, and they hit the road to Dallas.

Aaron and I took the scenic route home and found some gems. Thanks to Kat Robinson's books, we stopped at the Pig Trail Bypass Country Cafe for lunch. What a good decision...the burgers and onion rings were fabulous!

101 Things to Eat in Arkansas Before You Die and 102 More Things to Eat in Arkansas Before You Die each have regional maps, so finding a hole-in-the-wall place to eat is easy, but choosing just one is a challenge. Since we hardly ever go out to eat, we often pair adventures in hiking with adventures in eating.

After a huge, delicious lunch, we explored beautiful White Rock Mountain and its trails. I have a feeling we will be coming back to rest longer next time. The view is superb, and this small park is the hub for several longer trails.

 Aaron's Dad #2 has a birthday at the end of April, and he chose IHOP for his 86th birthday celebrations. The staff gathered to sing a rousing happy birthday as we ate breakfast together.

Sweet Sabbath

It is notable that the bridegroom's (Jesus') word to the foolish and unprepared was not "I disapprove of you" or "Get your act together" or "I'm hurt and offended by your inaction." 

Instead, he said that he did not know them. They had not taken time to seek or nourish a relationship with him. This foolishness and lack of care revealed their hearts; they were far from him. 

They had no preparations -- no oil for their lamps -- and therefore no illuminating potential for dark times or places. 

~Curt Thompson, "The Deepest Place"

More April 2024

 "May God give you intentionality to shape your weeks with his word, ingenuity to shower your days with his voice, and creativity to punctuate your life and the lives of those around you with fresh routines for regularly availing yourself of his lifegiving words." 

~David Mathis, "Habits of Grace"

With the loss of my job, April brought the opportunity for different, slower rhythms as well as "fresh routines". Several of the orch dorks participated in a musical theater production, so I attended to support their hard work.

Cellotrio observed the Great North American Solar Eclipse, my two favorite aspects were

1) hearing the neighbors all oooohhh and aaaahhh when the ring of fire appeared and the sky went dark

2) the family group chat as each of us in Texas and Arkansas experienced the eclipse and shared our pictures and stories.

Katherine attended her first formal with a bunch of other homeschooled students.

I continued my chemo treatments, rejoicing that I only had two more after this one.

Spring also meant that calves were born, and raw milk was once again available from Richardson Farms in Rose Bud.

The calves were adorable and let me nuzzle them when I picked up my gallons of creamy milk.

This deliciousness is worth the drive!