a great success

after a month of praying, planning and organizing, the Church in the Grass , back to the park relaunch party was a great success. we consumed about 17 pizzas and 2 1/2 cases of water and got the gospel message out to a crowd of around 50. Saving Vegas, a local christian band performed 2 short sets and helped us out by drawing people out to see what all the noise was.

i loved this shot, this little girl saw, i think it was her Grandma, and just flew into the woman's arms.
here we have a couple of brothers who have done so much to help us out, one as our worship leader, the other as the guy we go to when we need banners and such.
and the beautiful Leslie, bringing in the food.

we were also pleased to hear from more than one visitor that they planned to come next wednesday for a regular church service. people, this was very encouraging for those of us who have been faithful for over a year and up until now, our biggest night was 12, including the four of us who volunteer. please pray for us in our efforts to help the lost get found.

and check out the facebook page.

the flowers are out!

many times i have expressed to friends and family how grateful i am that the old lady that lived here before me LOVED perrenials. all around my house there are poppies, irises, roses, lillies and a peony bush!!

since i am not too good at growing things, i will refrain from showing you the sad, lame little plants that i am trying to grow. things were going pretty good until The Boy, seeing candy on the kitchen counter decided to make the climb. and the basil took a dive onto the kitchen floor. theyre still alive but not growing as heartily as before.

and then theres this, that i crafted for Rachel's after prom party. we both agreed that she would be tired of the fancy dress and cute (read: painful) shoes by late evening and would definitely want to change her clothes. we decided this would still convey the festive mood but in a much more comfortable way.

shrimp on the barbie

know why i like grilling? grilling = no dirty pan

hope Ken doesnt mind the encroachment on his manly territory, oh well, a couple dozen shrimp should console him.

and by the way, the asparagus...awesome!

touche', Holly.

yes, the answer is its been a BUSY week on the hilltop. mainly because i have worked extra hours at Heitz Sign Company. so in case you are wondering what the dinosaur has to do with this im going to let you go ahead and wonder, anyone care to wager a guess? i would LOVE it if every reader would take a guess.

food driven: BYO

over the last month or so since my shocking realization that im food driven (what, no not you monica, youre not food driven) i have begun to notice my attitude toward food is alot different than people who are say, not food driven. i find that alot of my conversation take a turn down the food trail. i bond with other people who love good food. i get very cranky when i dont get food at least every 4 hours. looking forward to food is one of my favorite things to dwell on (biscuits and gravy anyone?) (great, now i want biscuits and gravy). i like to try small little helpings of everything on the church pot luck table (except jello with veggies in it) so without further delay:

here are Monicas rules to a happy food driven existance:

#1 make sure theres food wherever you go. if you arent sure if theres food there or you think it may take more than an hour to get around to the food, be on the safe side, take your own.

#2 make sure that if theres going to be food there, that its going to be good food (small sandwiches, veggie platter, cheese, brownies...etc), if youre not sure if its going to be good food, be on the safe side, take your own.(short bread cookies and punch do not constitute food)

#3 if youre going to be gone from the house for more than 3 hours MAX plan in advance where you will obtain food by researching and mapping out possible restaurants. otherwise, just to be on the safe side...take your own

sub category to rules to a happy food driven existance: what food to take.

since i know not everyone is experienced in taking your own food, i have some suggestions.

crackers. if you saw my bag post you saw that i have a half eaten sleeve of crackers, they are whole wheat crackers, because fiber is good. Crackers are cheap, this particular box was 1.29 at Aldi.

apples. just dont bang your bag around too much.

almonds. good tasting and good to share if you have a cranky friend whom you suspect may be hungry but just doesnt know it yet.

teddy grahams. no explaination necessary, also good for bribing kids of all ages.

raisins. not my first choice but can handle ALOT of abuse so they keep in your bag for a LONG time.

also i would reccomend hording dumdums and sonic mints just in case, because you never know.

my bag!

i have been tagged! Tricia wants to know what im carrying around.

and before i show her, i want to see what Holly, Amber and Amanda are carrying around.

my bag reads like an I Spy book.

I spy a head band, an Ipod, some keys.

the Millenium Falcon and striped candies.

want the break down?

my one dollar Good Will wallet containing my check book debit card and drivers licence.

three pens and a pencil

hand sanitizer

my i pod shuffle

a box of raisins, a partially eaten sleeve of crackers, a fortune cookie, a blue raspberry dum-dum, 4 sonic candies and a coupon for a free sundae at mc donalds ( a girl's gotta eat)

a stretchy headband a ponytail holder and 2 bobby pins, im ready for any hair emergency

lip gloss

the Millenium Falcon

a fire truck

benadryl

spare keys to my car and my house

my phone

yeah, thats about it.

who loves coupons!?

ME!!! i love coupons, good coupons that is.

this week i totally scored with the coupons.

3 bucks off diapers for a baby shower gift!! 3 bucks! why didnt they have coupons like that when i bought diapers regularly??

BOGO, coffee, cereal, and kleenexes, my morning is covered.

used my CVS buck, used the 4 bucks off any 20 dollar purchase coupon and left having spent 19.72

recap: 2 cans of coffee

2 boxes of cheerios

2 boxes of kleenex

2 cans of green beans

1 jumbo huggies

1 CVS wipes

------------------------

19.72

i also got a free oral b tooth brush, yay! three cheers for good oral hygeine. but that was at walmart.

dang it! i JUST remembered that i had a 5 dollar walmart card in my wallet, oh well, theres always next week.

just when you thik its safe

youre doing good, "living right" , holding your tongue, not gossipping, serving like you should be, meditating on the word, listening for Gods voice. ahhhh, sweet victory, right?

aaarrrgghhh, theres the enemy, sneaking up, catching you where you werent expecting it...

Devil: are you really a good parent?

Me: of course i am

Devil: dont you think it was a little over indulgent to get Dominic 2 pairs of summer shoes? did he really need the Iron Man flip flops?

Me: wellll, maybe it was......(heres where i start to doubt myself)

Devil: its ok, just make some excuses, say he was really good while you were out, oh, dont forget how well he memorized his scripture for school, you didnt even help him on that, shame on you.

yes, my friends hes trying to use scripture memorization against me, i almost fell for it.

until i realized how crappy i was feeling today without good reason, and the reasons i thought of were all invalid.

Jesus Christ didnt die for my sins so i could listen to the enemy. This is me refusing to live in defeat.

what i should do...

and what i am doing are complete opposites, its 10:30 i should be in bed, fast asleep but insted im up, wanting a snack and considering diving into chapter 3 of Anne of Avonlea which would result in my being awake for AT LEAST another hour or so.

ok, yes thank you so much for talking some sense into me.

i promise you, i will only read for 45 minutes. :)

extra apples? try this

Meg's baked apple pancake. we came into a bounty of apples and oranges yesterday so this morning, in the true spirit of Meg-ness, i was thinking about food before i even got out of bed.

The boy loved the idea of a big apple pancake. my plans were almost dashed in that i couldnt find the recipe on Megan's blog (i was searching apple pancake, apparently i had to search BAKED apple pancake) but never fear Google is here!!!! i googled Meg's apple pancake and, voila!!

it was good, but not as good as Meg's, i think i needed a cast iron skillet to make it as good as hers. never the less, it was yummy and we all enjoyed something a little different for breakfast.

clothes line time!!!!

and on this glorious spring day i shall tell you a story of a promise, blessings and clean laundry.

its where i worship God. my hands are aready raised to the sky and the items that im hanging are, if not literally then a symbol of all the things im thankful for. the little plaid PJs remind me that im so thankful for a warm, safe place for my son to sleep. The Ken work shirts flapping in the breeze say that we are so blessed by his job at The Madison Courier. the little khakis and polos, what a wonderful school the boy goes to where all the teachers know ALL the kids, and ALL their families. the dish towels and table cloths. the sheets. the tee shirts.

a long time ago, when Ken and i started talking about what we wanted when we bought a house, I said a clothes line. to this request God gave me an instant "yes". although it was about another 6 years until we bought a house, i had known all that time that i would have a clothes line.