Our Touch of Monet

Here are a few pictures of the Water Lily Collection. I did take quite a few more pictures, but the battery on the camera died and so I didn't get as many as I wanted. We were blessed when the owner of the collection and several of his crew showed up to work....they told us the best time to visit is 10 a.m. because you'll see BOTH the morning and evening blooms. I can't imagine this place in a month. I plan to take the kids to see them soon (we studied Monet this year) and then go back when the girls get here. Hopefully they'll be in full bloom and not done by then.....

TUESDAY

I honestly cannot even remember all that I did yesterday. I know that the day was full with online responsibilities, friend responsibilities, chapel responsibilities and family responsibilities. Ever have a day like that? {G}

I know how the day ended. PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel – catchy title huh?) went to view the International Water Lilly Collection. This was beautiful. They say that all the lilies will be in full bloom in about a month. We talked about going back in a month. I’ll upload some pictures. After a bit of an adventure involving 3 cars and a caravan we ended up at Cheddars for dessert. It was a great night of getting to know each other, laughing, enjoying nature, good food and each other. I have been fairly strict in adhering to our new eating regime but I had the most decadent dessert I’ve had since Feb. It was a giant chocolate chip cookie baked in a little cast iron skillet. It was topped with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whip cream and a cherry. I COULD make this organic and it would be great…but I’m certain this one was full of processed wheat, sugar and artificial chocolate, flavorings etc….but FREEDOM IN CHRIST is a lovely thing. I WAS hungry and I stopped when I was satisfied. I certainly won’t do this every day or every week…but it was a nice shot in the arm.

I AM thinking of making this with whole ingredients…..I have home-made ice cream, a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies using all natural stuff, a recipe for hot fudge sauce…and I could whip cream…..it could work….who cares about the silly cherry on top. I can think of no way to make red dye filled maraschino cherries fit our plan…but a bing cherry on type might work. LOL My favorite was a brownie covered like this but with a rum sauce……that was served in a restaurant in San Antonio – it’s been 4 years since I had one of those…..

*Thanks to Liz for sending me the words to this song...the song has been going through my head since Sunday and now I can use the right words. LOL This was the calmest song we've sung in a month in the service.....I'd like to do it more. I must find some Charlie Hall CD's.

Give Us Clean Hands
Words and Music by Charlie Hall

We bow our hearts,
we bend our knees
O Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
O Lord we cast down our idols

Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

O God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks your face O God of Jacob
O God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks your face O God of Jacob

Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands, give us pure heartsLet us not lift our souls to another
©1997 Generation Music

TEETHING - Mom's should works well too!

Shake it, Shake it, Stacia!

I see YOU, Mom!

STACIA LEARNS THE POWER OF FLIRTING
Wow it starts early. My little girl, who doesn’t want to leave my hip (literally), discovered last night at Burger King that if she smiles and bats her eye lashes men will come see her. She sat in the highchair and flirted and teased. She attracted first a very young student and then an middle aged man. She didn’t cry when they came over. She smiled, waved and blew kisses when they walked off.

This actually is a really, really fun age. She is beginning to play with everything, explore her environment (can you read pans and Tupperware all over my kitchen), and getting brave enough to communicate and flirt from the safety of her sling. Evidently she had a great time with the guys behind us at the service on Sunday – I was worshipping and had no clue what she was doing in the sling…..other than dancing and clapping. LOL

SUNDAY
Mike and I went in to the Traditional service in the a.m. It was fun to see folks I’ve not seen since we moved to the evening service.

We took the kids out to lunch. They chose Mike’s favorite – Schlotsky’s and then Mike went back to work. The rest of us spent the afternoon playing the new “Lord of the Rings” game from Big Lots. We all went to church in the evening and are still loving the excitement in this service. It’s sort of strange. The service was up to 67 this week (that’s UP believe me)…..and I looked around and realized that it is GROWING and it’s all folks who are 18 – 22….students (except our family and one other). We sang a Charlie Hall song this week that was great and one line keeps running through my mind “Lord let us be a generation that seeks, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob” – well sort of like that….but to hear these young airmen/soldiers/ Intel students belt it out is well awe inspiring….this is OUR CHILDREN’S generation. So often I hear that this generation hates church but this is the exact group that makes up our service and they are serious about being real with God. It’s a good thing! I can’t wait for our daughters to get home and participate in the service. They will be pleasantly surprised…..when we got here this service ran 11 – 20. I think they have a hard time believing the boys and me when we say our “worship band rocks”. LOL

MONDAY
The day began with a trip to the park with Adrienne and her children.

We came home for lunch and to spend a couple of hours getting “things” done. I got a load of apples in the dryer, did a few loads of laundry, went through Stacia’s clothes and sorted them, and checked up on eBay auctions. I won a few auctions. I’m excited. The biggest lot of diapers I got was about $1 per diaper. Then I got another lot that was $3- 4 per diaper. The thing that set my average off is that I bid on some wool diaper covers and won….OF COURSE I checked to see the going price for these things and I got them for far less then ½ price…..BUT they were still expensive and I’m thinking now that I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with wool covers. Adrienne tells me that hippies use them….once again that hippie title is popping up. I wonder? One of the chaplains a few months ago asked me if I reliving my hippie youth….I had Stacia in a new tie dyed sling and was drinking an organic drink…..BUT I DIDN’T HAVE A HIPPIE YOUTH! Maybe I’m creating a hippie youth in my middle years. {G}

At 3:00 we met Adrienne and Kelly and their children at the base bowling ally. We bowled our free game and had fun visiting. Mike planned to work late so we planned it so we could meet him for dinner while on base.

We had just walked in the door when we got a call from Adrienne. We ended the day watching her boys as she ran to the Doc with her 2 yo daughter. Poor little thing has broken her leg. The boys finished off the sinful pizza from Friday night and played “Lord of the Rings” while waited.

That’s the scoop for the past two days.

MIRACLE IN THE FISH TANK

We bought 6 new fish on 3 July. I am SURE that the last 2 dalmatians were floating at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. This was sad...it meant that of the 6 fish we purchased only 1 had made it. I was simply to tired and busy with Stacia to remove them at 4 a.m. Mid-morning I noticed a Dalmatian swimming in the tank. The kids had seen ONE floating and taken it out of the tank....but the other one is swimming around normal now.

It's a miracle in our fish tank.