Day 120: Puppy Dog Eyes

It was much cooler out today, so we again took advantage of the spring weather and grilled and ate outside. I just cant resist her eyes when she looks up at me longingly. It's possible she ended up with a few scraps of chicken...

Day 119: Daddy Bird

This the little baby bird's daddy. He was too far up, so I couldn't get a great picture. He sure is a beautiful cardinal, though.

Day 118: Pretzel

Someone brought these fancy pretzels for us today. They were quite tasty, and bigger than this one looks in the picture. Yum! I love chocolate covered pretzels.

Day 117: Administrative Professionals

Yesterday was administrative professional's day, so the doctors gave us all little gift bags with Bath and Body Works lotion. This smells so good, and is definitely a nice treat!

Day 116: Sweltering

I know that it is almost May and that summer is just around the corner. But it's not here yet. So why, oh why is it 104 degrees out today? It looks like we'll hit triple digits tomorrow as well. I certainly hope this isn't indicative of the temperatures we have to look forward to this upcoming summer. And it makes me want a pool!

Day 115: Babies

We've had some baby birds hatch in our back yard over the past couple of days. You can barely see their little heads in this picture, because the rose bush makes such great cover. One of our dogs already got to one baby, so hopefully the others will make it!

Day 114: Conference

We got this in the mail at work today, and I thought it was very interesting. I didn't realize there were a bunch of aspiring novelists stuck playing doctor and lawyer, but perhaps there are.

Day 113: Fall 2012

I will officially be attending Baylor this fall to get my master's in Museum Studies. I decided earlier this week, so I thought I'd announce it on this blog. I'm so excited to begin my study of, and hopefully career in, museums!

Day 112: New York Rangers?

Baseball season has begun, and with it comes lots of Facebook posts about the games. Facebook informed me that my Texas friends are all posting about the New York Rangers. Hmmm. I don't think those are the right Rangers.

Day 111: Starbucks

I got a new travel mug this week and I used it today for the first time. And I love it! It keeps my coffee super-hot for hours. This was most definitely a good purchase.

Day 110: Sushi

The drug reps brought lunch from Bonzai today, a Japanese steakhouse in town. Along with yummy rice and meat, they brought sushi and California rolls. I must admit, I'm just not a huge fan of the raw fish. I'll always try it, though!

Day 109: Manna Bags

We studied the Great Commission tonight at church and Anna asked the kids who had ever been out of the country. Several hands shot up and one sweet boy asked, "Does Fort Worth count?"

We also made manna bags, which are bags that we fill with water, applesauce, crackers, vienna sausage and a granola bar. The kids decorate a paper and then hand these out to anyone who might need food. One little boy, as quickly as he could, drew pictures of lava boy to place in the bags.

Day 108: Tax Day

I love Happy Hour at Sonic! I almost always get my favourite cherry limeade, and today was not different. However, today was all-day Happy Hour, because it's also tax day. I also got to leave work early, so a nice cherry limeade at one this afternoon was fantastic!

Day 107: Manna and Quail

A dear friend brought our family dinner this evening, saying she would bring us manna and quail. She brought us a lovely Japanese curry, but she also brought this little baby quail. So cute!

Day 106: Highland

This is Highland, the church I have called home for the past 15 years. Today our preacher presented a new vision for the church, a restoration movement, which the leadership has been working on for a while.    It is an exciting new vision for church body to better form and be community. It's strange that in just a few short months I will be looking for a new church.

Day 105: Five

We're a family of five and for many, many years all five of us sat down together for dinner each night. All five of us are rarely together anymore, despite the fact that we're still all in the same town. My sister lives in another house, so it's usually just four of us these days. So, when I was setting the table for dinner tonight and found myself getting out five place settings, I found myself a little sad.

Day 104: Shaved

Java got her hair cut today, and she looks fairly ridiculous. Her fur is all shaved, but her tail is still bushy like a squirrel. She sure is cute, though!

Day 103: 70,000

My car hit 70,000 miles today, which feels like a lot. However, I don't suppose that's actually too much for my little 2000 Toyota Solara.

Day 102: Dirt

At church this evening we studied the resurrection of Jesus. As part of our lesson the kids planted little beans. Luckily we just had five kids, because a bunch of Kindergartners and a bowl of dirt is a lot of fun!

Day 101: Driving

I haven't driven this way to work in many weeks. This road faces East and the sun is just so bright in the mornings that I've found another way, which doesn't involve me being blinded by the sun. But on cloudy days like today, this is my preferred route.

Day 99: Christos Anesti

Christos anesti - He is risen! Today has been a wonderful Easter Sunday, full of reminders of the resurrection to Jesus. We had a lovely service and reception at church this morning, which included the singing of "Arise, My Love," which one man in our church sings every year. It is always so moving.

And today also marks the end of the Lenten season, so I'm back on Facebook and back reading blogs! The past forty days have been for me a much-needed fast from time spent on the computer.

Day 98: Calzone

You can't really tell from the lousy picture, but we had some tasty calzones for dinner tonight. Ordering a pizza is good, but you just can't beat homemade pizza dough.

Day 97: For the Cure

The Abilene fire department sold these shirts last year to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research. As several of my coworkers are married to firefighters, most of us bought shirts. I've worn it before, but today I wore it for a new reason, for my mom. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks ago and today she underwent surgery to remove the tumor. Prognosis and preliminary reports are good, praise God. But wearing this shirt hits a little closer to home today.

Day 96: Seder

"I am the one," says Messiah, "I am the one who destroyed death and triumphed over the enemy and trod down Hades and bound the strong one and carried off humanity to the heights of heaven.

"Come then, all you families of humanity, and get forgiveness of sins. For I am your forgiveness. I am the pascha of your salvation. I am the lamb slain for you.

"I am your ransom, I am your life, I am your light, I am your salvation, I am your resurrection, I am your king."

The Cup of Redemption is poured with these words at our Passover seder. This cup symbolizes Christ's atoning sacrifice for us, the blood of the Passover lamb. These are some of my favourite words from the Haggadah that my dad has put together. Though Passover officially begins tomorrow at sundown, we celebrated tonight.

Day 95: To Seed

You've probably noticed that I really like taking macro pictures. This blog certainly ends up with a lot of them. The cilantro has gone to seed and these are the flowers mean we better eat as much of it as possible before it's gone. I think the hot weather -95 last week-is confusing our plants.

Day 94: Baylor

Mom and I drove to Baylor today to look around the campus and visit with the museum studies department. It was a good trip and I'm excited about this fall, when I will be back in school. I received my acceptance letter from Baylor last week, which I'm incredibly happy about, though I'm still waiting to hear from Texas Tech.

Somehow I forgot to take a single picture of the campus. The wildflowers were absolutely incredible between here and Waco, so we did stop and take a few pics of those.

Day 93: Puppy Love

My sweet baby. Not a lot of exciting photo opportunities today, so I took another one of my sweet doggy, who I love to death.

Day 92: Cilantro Ice Cream

This time of year the cilantro is flourishing. There's far more cilantro in our garden then we can use, but we've been using what we can. Dad made this cilantro ice cream for us today, and it was tasty! The cilantro flavour was very light, though he used over three cups of cilantro in the mix.

Day 91: Heating Up

It's awfully hot here for the end of March. Spring just began, and the temperatures are already soaring into the mid-nineties. I certainly hope this isn't indicative of a hot summer to come!

Day 90: Cajun Cones

I had my first snow cone of the season this evening. Anna and I went and got Cajun Cones and enjoyed them outside. It's hot today, almost ninety, so the shaved ice was a refreshing treat. Frozen treat are one of the best parts about summer.

Day 89: Afghan

I've almost completed my afghan, which I began work on months ago. I just need to finish the edges, and I'll be done. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I never knew I could crochet a plaid blanket!

Day 88: Calm Before the Storm

I took this picture before all of the kids came in tonight for church, thinking of how different and calm the room was while void of children. And it certainly was the calm before the storm! The kids were crazy tonight, and I was thankful for a few minutes ahead of time to relax and prepare.

Day 87: Antibiotics

I rarely visit the doctor, even when I'm sick. I normally just get over things myself. But when you're working in a doctor's office, it's a little easier. I thought my allergies were just horrible, but one of the nurses finally convinced me to put myself on the schedule and see one of the doctors. I'm glad I did, because he thinks I have a sinus infection. So, I got a shot and now have a z-pack and allergy meds. I'm bound to feel better soon!

Day 86: Cactus

We were out at Grandmother and Granddad's for dinner tonight, and I took the opportunity to snap some pics of their flowers. I liked this blossom on the cactus. I just love how the beautiful, delicate flower is surrounded by protective thorns.

Day 85: New Grill

We got a new grill this weekend, just in time for lots of spring grilling. Today we did chicken and lamb kababs with lots of great veggies. It was definitely a tasty lunch.

Day 84: Lettuce

I made some wonderful curried chicken wraps tonight, and made up a salad to go with them. Fresh lettuce from your own garden is so lovely. It certainly doesn't get much fresher than this! And the curried chicken was fantastic. If you're a fan of curry, you should definitely try this recipe out.

Day 83: Rosebud

The colours of spring are so bright and refreshing. You're getting a ton of flower pics, because these beautiful flowers make me so happy. And there's really not a lot else to take pictures of!

Day 82: Pim's

I found these biscuits at Walmart recently, and I've been wanting to try them. They are a whole lot like Jaffa Cakes, a tasty orange and chocolate British biscuit. These brought back some good culinary memories.

Day 81: Waiting

I feed the dogs most nights, and I always give Java her food first. After I give Java her kibble, I take Gladwyn's outside to her. Java watches and waits, and never starts eating until I've come back inside. Isn't she cute, just waiting for me so that she can eat?

Day 80: Love Horses

I got this sign for Christmas this year. I look forward to putting it up someday when I have my own place. For now, I'll just look at it and wish that I were out riding horses. I sure miss those beautiful animals!

Day 79: Fender Bender

My car was hit last night, and I was left with scratches, a dent and a broken headlight cover. My own brother hit me! He just pulled up to our house yesterday and scraped along my parked car. So sad!

Day 78: Thin Mints

Mom got us each a box of thin mints for St. Patrick's Day yesterday. I absolutely love these cookies! And they bring back some good memories of being a scout.

Day 77: Book of Kells

I was excited to see this Celtic-inspired Google doodle today. It was actually based on the Book of Kells, and illuminated manuscript in Dublin, Ireland. Several of my illuminations have been based on pages from that manuscript as well. And I just have a certain fondness for anything related to Celtic Christianity.

Also, JoAnna was in town today, so we had coffee again. It's always a good time. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture again.

Day 76: Cords

Joel and I spent the evening together while Mom and Dad were out. We wanted to watch a show that we could stream on the computer, so we went in search of the correct cords to hook my laptop up to the TV. We did succeed, but it was a bit of an adventure to get both audio and visual working.

Day 75: Fudge

I have to stay here and work while my family is on Spring Break this week. Amara is in Guatemala on a medical mission trip and the rest of the family went to Fredericksburg this past weekend. Thankfully, they brought me back this tasty fudge. Yum, yum!

Day 74: Bluebonnets

Wildflowers are just beginning to pop up alongside Texas roads. This particular bluebonnet isn't actually wild, as it's planted in our neighbors yard. Nevertheless, carpets of bluebonnets on my way to work are a welcome sign of spring.

Day 73: Naughty Dog

Java is not allowed on any of the furniture in our house. She usually sleeps in Joel's room with the door shut, but since Joel is gone I let her roam the house last night. I woke up this morning to find these paintbrushes on floor. Given that they were on the couch when I went to bed and there was a big indention on the cushions, I think Java must have slept up on the couch last night. Tricky dog!

Day 72: Overcast

It was cool and overcast today. We even had some rain in the afternoon, which is a definite blessing. Things should begin to look green around here soon!

Day 71: Sitting

The weather continues to be lovely, and I've enjoyed some time outside. I relaxed in one of these chairs this afternoon and just read and wrote. What a relaxing time!

Day 70: Yellow

These wonderful yellow flowers are trailing up the side of the fence. All of these flowers just make me feel so springy!