The Excitement Continues to Build

Sis. White, Bro. P.J. White and I went to Knott's Berry Farm yesterday for a walk through of the Charles M. Schultz Theatre. Our appointment was at 2:00, but not knowing what traffic would be like we decided to leave Burbank at noon. We got to Buena Park very quickly so we decided to grab lunch. We ate at PoFolks, just down the street from Knott's Berry Farm.


While we were eating, our waitress, Karen, asked Bro. P.J. if he was a Pentecostal or Apostolic preacher. Bro. P.J. said yes. Karen went on to tell us that her father was a Pentecostal preacher at one time. Then with tears in her eyes she said, "Pray for Karen, she needs to come home."

We were so touched by her request. Sis. White invited her to Alive at the Park and we're praying that she will get to come. Three young people received the Holy Ghost at last year's event, so there's no telling what God has in store for this year!

Youth Alive...

Is just around the corner!!


I'm making a trip to Knott's Berry Farm today. Lots to do! This has been a great event for many years and with the addition of Alive at the Park last year it just got better.



Y'all come join us, ya hear!

Friday Foodie

I haven't done a bit of cooking this week! We ate leftovers on Monday night, then ran away to San Diego until yesterday. I'm going to the grocery store this morning but don't plan on cooking anything new.


We did have a funny food experience in San Diego. Wednesday evening we decided to go to the Gaslamp Quarter. As we were making our way down 5th Avenue there was a large variety of dining options. Each restaurant had a hostess right at the sidewalk... "Join us for happy hour..." "Would you like to see our menu?" "Come right in..." "How about some cocktails?"

On and on they went! I have never seen anything like it! I felt like I was in Mexico... "Come in to my shop" "I'll make you a good deal..." "Hello honeymooooners..." (Yes, I've heard the honeymooners call more than once. And NO I did not spend my honeymoon in Tijuana!!)

After many blocks we found an oasis. The Old Spaghetti Factory. A familiar face without a single employee on the sidewalk! We went right in, were seated quickly and enjoyed a wonderful meal. And the place was packed!


Simple lesson - When you've got good stuff, people will come! And you don't have to charge an arm and a leg for a great meal!

The Walk

I picked up a new book by Richard Paul Evans. The Walk "tells the poignant and inspirational tale of an advertising executive who loses everything, and decides to embark on an unforgettable journey that is as life-altering as it is life-affirming."

This is a very quick, but thought provoking, read. Anyone who has lost a dear one will relate to the many stages of grief dealt with in this book. I don't want to give too much away, but there is one quote I want to share:

"You know she's not really gone. She's still a part of you. What part of you is your choice. She can be a spring of gratitude and joy, or she can be a fountain of bitterness and pain. It is entirely up to you."

I think that pretty much sums up how we respond to any of life's trials. It has been said many times,"You can become bitter or you can become better." I want my life to be a spring of joy and gratitude.

Keeping Cool

We have had an extremely mild summer UNTIL this week! That's okay, I know how to keep cool.




What's your favorite way to cool off?

We Are All Runners

I posted this quote a while back:

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.

I realize some of you are thinking, "I don't run anywhere." Well, Pastor White preached from a verse Sunday night that says otherwise. Psalm 119:32 says, "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart."

Yes, we are all runners. We are either running the way of His commandments or running from His commandments. There is no standing still in this race. We're all runners. So lace 'em up and run the way of His commandments!

Healthy Bones

If this is true, I know some people with VERY healthy bones! I had a little swim party on Saturday that involved lots of sun and food. Thanks for coming y'all - let's do it again sometime!

Friday Foodie

Today's post is a little late because I cooked this recipe this morning! I'm having a swim party for the young ladies in our church tomorrow and decided to make pasta salad. This is a recipe I made up and is a hit wherever I take it!


Pasta Salad

12 oz. package tri-colored pasta
1 can whole olives
1/2 container grape or cherry tomatoes
1 bottle fat free Italian salad dressing

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Drain pasta, drain olives, cut tomatoes to bite size pieces.
3. Mix it all together and add about half bottle of dressing until everything is moist.
4. Top with Parmesan cheese
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Toss before serving and add additional dressing as needed.

Of course you can add other veggies, but this is my standard. I've also used pesto sauce instead of salad dressing and it is very good! I was too busy to make any this time.

Nutritional info: 143 calories / 2.8 g fat / 0.5 g fiber / 3 WW points. Makes 12 servings.

Happy Birthday, Les!

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

You are the sunshine of my life
That's why I'll always be around,
You are the apple of my eye,
Forever you'll stay in my heart


I feel like this is the beginning,
Though I've loved you for a million years,
And if I thought our love was ending,
I'd find myself drowning in my own tears


You are the sunshine of my life,
That's why I'll always stay around,
You are the apple of my eye,
Forever you'll stay in my heart


You must have known that I was lonely,
Because you came to my rescue,
And I know that this must be heaven,
How could so much love be inside of you?


You are the sunshine of my life, yeah,
That's why I'll always stay around,
You are the apple of my eye,
Forever you'll stay in my heart

I Love You, Birthday Boy!

21 Years Ago

Twenty one years ago today I met the man of my dreams! It finally happened and I've been glad ever since. You can read all about it here and here. This is an easy date to remember because we met the day before Les' 26th birthday (more on that tomorrow). As I was walking down memory lane, I decided to pull out a couple of photo albums from our dating days. We dated for 20 months before we were married...

Most of you have seen our Senior Camp pictures...


On Les' first visit to Fresno we went to Shaver Lake. He's really not that much taller than me!


On my first visit to Les, we went to Magic Mountain


This began a wonderful time of dating and getting to know each other. From fancy...


To casual ...


At Youth Convention...


Or in the backyard...


Lots of laughter and good times!

"Don't even think about pushing me in..."


Who's really up to mischief???


Running...


'til I caught him!


God's been so good me!

Tuesday Afternoon Rescue

I thought I'd do a little pool maintenance this afternoon. When I took a peek at the pool, here's what I found:


Sitting on the cord of our pool sweeper, the littlest lizard I ever did see!


I stuck out my finger, and he stepped right on...


Safely on to warm concrete...


Those of you who are coming over on Saturday, don't worry! I'll do a thorough critter check before you arrive!

Preparation

I receive a "Quote of the Day" from Runner's World every morning in my email. This morning's was:

"If you want to be a better runner, you've got to run more. It's as simple as that."

So if I want to be a healthier eater, I just need to eat healthier? If I want to have more friends, I need to be friendlier? If I want to be a better musician, I need to practice more? If I want to have a stronger prayer life, I need to pray more? Although I'm not sure if you want to dream bigger that you need to sleep more...

Life takes preparation. Sometimes the preparing is on our part, other times we have to leave the preparing in God's hands...

Our evangelist, Bro. Mena, made an interesting observation on Sunday night. He was talking about Jonah and the fish that swallowed him. We don't know of any fish that is large enough to swallow a man. But Jonah 1:17 says, "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." The Lord prepared a fish - it could have been the only one of its kind ever created. I had never thought of it that way. Of course God is capable of that!


There are other times in the Bible when God did something just one time - we only know of one burning bush that was not consumed, one barrel of meal that did not run out, one time when the sun stood still.

So do everything you can to prepare for today's journey and trust God to prepare the rest!

School Days

It hardly seems possible that kids are going back to school already. I never went back before Labor Day, so I have a hard time thinking summer is over in August!

As I thought about my school career starting over 40 years ago, I was humming an old song, but didn't realize how old! "School Days" was written in 1907 by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards. Its about a man and woman looking back on their lifelong friendship and their days in primary school. Here is the chorus:

School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days'
Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, "I Love You So"
When we were a couple o' kids

I love these old pictures. Here is Rod in Kindergarten, May 1969. He's on the front row, second from the left.



One year later, I'm in the same spot! Our family was never tall enough for any other row...


No matter our age, each day we are all in "school" - may we learn our lessons well!

Sycamore Canyon Adventure

The adventure I was looking for on Wednesday happened yesterday! We loaded up our bikes and drove to Newbury Park. Carol, my Weight Watcher leader, had suggested we ride Sycamore Canyon so we decided to give it a go. Here we are in the parking lot, ready for our adventure!



I'm in my awesome Dressing for His Glory flared skort! It was the perfect riding skort for two reasons: 1) it was extremely comfortable and 2) I never had to think about being modest!

We made our way down "Blacktop Hill" and on to a nicely packed dirt trail. Most of the ride was gently downhill and we kept a steady pace. There were a few dry creek beds that made for a little excitement as we would go down, then have to quickly pedal back up. There was one creek bed that was NOT dry! According to Ventura County Trails, "The only hazards are the stream crossings of which there are about a half dozen near the south end of the trail. Most of the year there is at least a little water in the stream so people can expect to get their feet wet." I not only got my feet wet, but a nice splatter of mud on my legs!

Forty minutes and eight miles later we were at Point Mugu State Park with a view of the Pacific Ocean! I'm a little muddy, but still smiling!


We knew the ride back was going to be tougher, but after a short break and a Hammer Gel, we were on our way. We saw three deer cross the path right in front of us. Then it was back through the stream, which did not go as smoothly for me the second time around! I'm not even sure what happened, but on my way out of this foot deep stream, I couldn't pedal and just about fell over. I got a little muddier, but got back on my bike to pedal on!

With about a mile to go we were at the bottom of "Blacktop Hill." Ventura County Trails describes going down it this way: "After climbing a small rise you will find yourself at the top of the "Blacktop Hill" where you can enjoy the view into the canyon and rest on a park bench (dedicated to the memory of a mountain biker who suffered a heart attack pedaling up the Blacktop Hill)." I could relate! After 15 miles of riding, hitting a 15% incline was not easy! We rode in "granny gear" for almost a mile before it leveled off. I was very happy to see the top!

Back to the car and still smiling!


We had two VERY dirty bikes!



While we were loading up the bikes, Les said, "Is that mud or blood?" After a little examination, I definitely had blood on my right leg. I'm pretty sure this happened during my stream adventure!


The final stats: 16.5 miles with approximately 1300 feet of climbing in 1 hour, 38 minutes. My average heart rate was 137 beats per minute with a max of 169. Average speed 10 mph, max of 19.5. And I burned 881 calories!

It was about 2:00 when we decided it was time for lunch. We stopped at the newest Five Guys Burgers and Fries and I'm sure we consumed more calories than we had just burned!


I don't need Five Guys - Les is the One for me!

Friday Foodie

Did you know it is Cobbler Month? Actually it's not, but it seems to be happening around here! After my successful peach cobbler last week, I decided to make a blackberry cobbler this week. Another Tasty Kitchen delight:

FOR THE BERRIES
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 cups Blackberries, Fresh Or Frozen (I used frozen)
½ cups Sugar
_____
FOR THE BATTER:
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 cup Self-Rising Flour
1 cup Sugar, Plus Extra To Sprinkle On Top
1 cup Milk

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the berries, place the butter on top of the berries in a small bowl. Pour the sugar over the berries and stir. Heat in the microwave for about 1 minute so that sugar and butter begin to melt.

To prepare the cobbler, cut your stick of butter into several squares and place them all in a glass bake dish. I use an 8 x 11.5 x 2 inch clear glass bake dish. Place the bake dish in the oven to melt the butter. Mix together the self-rising flour and sugar until blended. Pour in the milk and mix until blended.

After butter is melted, take the bake dish out of the oven and pour the batter on top of the melted butter. Pour berries on top of batter. Do not stir! Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the cobbler.

Bake for about 55 mintues or until golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Yum!


I "tweaked" this just to see how low I could go on the points. Again I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light" instead of real butter, but I also swapped out all the sugar for Splenda! My one mistake was using All Purpose Flour instead of Self Rising, so it was a little on the flat side, but that did not affect the taste one bit! The result:

"Better than Cracker Barrel!" according to Les. Now you know we're talking high praise!!

Nutritional info: 109 calories / 3.6 g fat / 0.1 g fiber / 2.3 WW points!! Makes 8 servings. I recalculated last week's peach cobbler, it would also be about 2 points lower using Splenda instead of sugar.

Why I Should Run with a Camera

I almost never run with a camera. After so many years of running the same few routes, I just don't think I need one. I've seen it all - deer, raccoons, squirrels, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, owls, hawks, and skunks! Plus it's added weight I don't want. But today, oh today, I wish I had carried my camera!

I did a trail run on Las Llayas Canyon. Now that I've ridden Myka on it a few times, I know it quite well. At about the 4 mile mark I decided I would run to the "Y." The "Y" is where the trail splits - we ride on to the right, to the left is a working cattle ranch with "No Trespassing" signs.

I knew I was getting close as I passed the 4 and half mile mark. I figured the "Y" was around the next curve. To my surprise, this was around the next curve:


Well not actually that cow, because I didn't have my camera, but one just like it! Except there was no fence! He was munching on a tree as I rounded the bend...

"How now, brown cow?" He calmly looked at me. "Well, uh, I'll just turn around here... I didn't really need to run to the "Y" today... have a nice day!" He continued to stare me down until I turned around and was on my way!

My life may be a lot of things, but it is never boring!!