What a great morning to cut grass! Me & the lawn mower makes for me, a happy soul.

As I cut around the house I thought of all the manual labor Harold put into this yard. There was nothing but trees and weeds here before Harold bulldozed it, then lovingly planted the grass, most of it, by hand.

Today the weeds stand on the outside, looking in....but there's still beauty in each of them, it's just a different way you have to look. Harold has cleared small trees to provide more yard. He just wants me to have plenty "quiet" time on the mower I guess :)

As I mowed closer to where there is some dust, the suns rays caught my eye, giving the dust a different effect.

The morning of mowing was thrilling to me, with the birds cheering me on and my dog friend Trinity by my side.....what a wonderful way to start my day :)

You know, as Christians we are the grass. God sent people to stir us up inside, plant seeds and continue to nourish it. Different times in our lives, it's been different folks. We should not overlook the "weeds" that stand outside our so called boundary because they too need the "Son". God wants us ALL, not just the fresh manicured ones, the rough ones too. Just as each of us needed to be nourished, so should we nourish others....how will they ever know what it's like, if no one ever reaches to them? We may be manicured, but we still get "dusty" but HE can still shine HIS "rays" through us.

Do you have people in your life that Cheers you on & walks by your side?

Are you cheering others on and walking by them?

Have you stepped outside your boundary to help others grow?

Just as with a yard, you can "cut" the trees so that the "Son" will shine more, and amongst the "weeds", begin to grow "grass" in turn removing that layer, until it's a beautiful, manicured lawn.

Have a YARD ENLARGING day for Christ!

God bless you....

PS....Just in case you were thinking....No, I don't ride around on a lawnmower just waiting to take pictures...I came inside to get it for pics of Trinity and the other just hit me. I then brought my camera inside then finished the grass :)

Most times when walking by the door in our bedroom, I would think about how I would love to be able to enjoy seeing the roses without having to go in the yard. There was one branch, that no matter what I did to try to control where it went, it still climbed where it wanted. Not thinking about it anymore, I went on. Then looking out the door one morning, there it was!

A rose...a rose I could see from the door!!!

God DOES hear our every word and thought. This rose has been there a couple weeks now and looks as good as it did when it first appeared.

I'm so glad that rose did not let me control it!

God was trying to give me a gift, a gift I had been wanting, and I was trying to control it to do what it was "suppose" to do, which was grow out front like all the others.

How many other times have we tried to "control" our surroundings, getting bent out of shape when we couldn't? All the while it could be God trying to bless us or use the situation to help us grow.

Will you not try to control your surroundings and just let God?

Have a ROSE SEEING day with Christ!

God bless you.

Every Tuesday & Saturday to finish this month & thru October, Madge will be helping coach a little kids soccer team, therefore I will be spending much more time sitting in a pasture, watching.

Yesterday was their first game, after having just one practice, but hey, these little ones don't care they are out for fun...

or are they? They look pretty tough here!

Kristen, Madge's friend that is helping, named the team Firdbird because they have all the redheads on their team, including her. With the coaches and team leader, Jackie, checking out what's going on down field...

the little girl is probably thinking, if this is all there is to coaching then maybe that's what I'll do : )

When several minutes of running back and forth, kicking the ball passed, it was BREAK TIME!

James, the little redhead with beautiful thick hair, has always been Madge's pursuer. She coached this team last year, for his mom. He is quite the "ladies man". James like to stick close by her.

Another friend of Madge, Anna, was helping coach another team next to us. She had the even younger group. They were so funny to watch because they ran together in a wad, both teams together : )

Break is finished, the girls begin to get them together,

which is harder than it looks with some staring into space, others trying to stand on their head. With Madge & Kristen's coaching abilities they gather them back to play.

Some began to lose concentration as the game began to come to a close,

while others continued to stay with the plan at hand. Sam made many goals for the team

in turn, motivating the others to try harder....and they did.

Stephanie, Madge's FHS soccer coach, was looking on as her own "students" were now "teachers". With the smile on her face, I think she was pleased.


We have "coaches" and "team" members in our lives everyday. When we become easily distracted and or times get tough, our "coaches" help redirect us to what's at hand. Going through life being distracted with things that is not of God will have us missing the "goal"....which is bringing others to Christ, living and doing the will of God. Somewhere along the line we are all "teachers", "coaches", and "team" members, depending on where we are in life. If we all work together on these lines, our main "Coach" will look at us with a big smile showing, He is pleased.

Have a TEAM SPIRIT day for Christ!

God bless you and yours....

The below picture is for the girls.

My bestest cousin in the whole wide world and I
were sooo ready to take a trip together. We have NEVER done this before. Our destination...Canton, Texas. Can you believe our husbands planned it for us without our knowledge? We had not even talked about a trip. Oh, when I say us, I do mean us...Harold and Taco came along also.
Taco sets us up on the "race track" and away we went.

I never tire of seeing the Mississippi river bridges because they hold such a history standing over the mighty Mississippi.
After crossing, another state was upon us...


The first rest stop, we did just that...stopped. Taco needed a break from driving, Harold from co-piloting and Cindy & I to stretch our legs! The first thing I see in the parking lot is a truck I've never seen before...

Madge's' favorite candy! Taco tried to get one for her but beings they were so big
he wouldn't be able to get it in the truck. Oh well, he tried.
In walking around the backside of the rest area was a big field of cotton with a Church sitting back from it. It was so hot this day, but it was a picture of "snow" when looking across the way.
Cindy & I got to looking for the guys and there they were

in the area made for them.

After loading up, Cindy found that propping her legs up towards the front was pretty comfortable

so I followed suit.

After awhile, the music began to get to our feet. Taco & Harold laughed, along with us, when we noticed out feet were keeping perfect time with the music... back & forth, up & down in the same fashion. You can't see the nose plugs the guys were wearing :)
Icee's and

blue skies, what more could a gal ask for?

A trip to yet another Bass Pro Shop?! Yeap, that's what more the guys could ask for :)

This is the sole reason for taking it easy & not being in a hurry to get to our hotel.

They did have jeans on sale so I tried, tried and tried on, but they just don't have the FAT jeans I needed. UGH! Everything was made slim in the thighs....there is NOTHING slim about me, so make me some BIG MAMA JEANS PLEASE!

One of the MANY buildings passed, contained a beautiful piece of art work...
How do they do this is beyond me. Paint by numbers is a challenge to this one.

YIPPEE!!

Finally in the state in which the town we were going is located.
You think Cindy might be happy we have gotten to our destination...
With our hotel in our site, these girls legs were full of joy.

First things first. Harold gave instructions to Cindy on the proper stance in opening the fridge. By the way, it was so cold it froze the milk we had purchased for me to take my meds!

Taco couldn't take himself away from a show talking about sinks

after having had watched 30 minutes of them talking about toilets! All the way to Texas for THIS?!

The next morning, Friday, they guys are ready

for their day of shopping. Now remember ladies, these guys WANTED to do this.

Cindy caught me working out to get my muscles ready for the day of carrying bags.

To get good parking at Trading Days in Canton, you have to leave early. We did for that reason and to beat the heat.
I told taco we had to park by a tree so it would be easier to find our vehicle...(something we pick at Barbie about)

He did just that, but for the shade : ) Due to the tropical system it kept a very cool breeze blowing for us and an overcast sky. Very, very nice.
I'm not sure how many acres this place is but there are buildings, walkways, outside booths & just stuff lying around...a big flea market.

Our first day we were there from 8:30 till after 2, constantly walking with the exception of stopping for lunch...still seeing less than half of what there was.

The hotel was calling our name along with the HOT TUB and pool!

Cindy & I quickly put on our suits and to the pool area we go. Hot tub is whirling, windows in area (indoor pool) were raised for the cool breeze to blow through...a nice place to relax. Well, not quite, the HOT TUB WAS A COLD TUB! The heat was not working! I think I actually heard my poor legs crying.

The pool was cold, but I decided to jump in, so did the guys when they got there. I need to back up...Taco didn't jump in, he slowly walked in with grimace on him face. After a lot of laughing, it didn't take us long to know we had to get out of there before we had frost bite. They elected me to get a shower first..I LOVE YOU GUYS!

By 7, this old bunch of folks were in the bed. The day had worn us out, but mainly the thought of so much more to see the next day wore us out even more.

The girls have always said Uncle Taco was different but I don't think they really know HOW different he is.

At night he is transformed into

a VAMPIRE! Wonder who Cindy was texting...ME, in the next bed to her.
The next morning, the view from our window was so pretty. Usually you have other buildings but here there was country.
On the road to Canton once again, early. We stayed in Lindell. Cindy & I looked like bag ladies with buggies we had purchased at the market to haul our load or in my case, Harold's load.


On this day, one of the first things we saw was this.
Do you see something a little odd with one of these "people"?

There were people everywhere as time went on...

There was one large building with Antiques & collectibles...

I enjoyed the little bit of an air conditioner . They had lots of old movies, tapes and also tapes of the old radio shows. Anything you could have been looking for was probably there. I wasn't looking for anything so therefore I didn't find anything :)

All at once we found this beauty of an outfit.

Taco text JoBea to let her know he was buying her some clothes. Of course she knew it had to be something crazy.

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, for the four of us, our group headed to find the truck that was parked "under a tree" to be sure to find it.

So which tree is the question. I mean, get real, there was only about 100 trees and hundreds of cars...
what's so hard about that? :)

There were people parked on the other side of the gate

having to walk in.

Another day, our second, was spent walking for several hours and still not seeing it all.

That evening we settled in for the night early and rested well, or at least 3 of the people in the room did. Everyone but me snored both nights! Cindy brought me ear plugs so that did help. I couldn't help but giggle at the competition going on between them.

Morning came, we packed, checked out and left.

Cindy and I were packed in like sardines for the ride home.

It still amazes me how we used 1 GPS system to get us TO where we were going because we didn't know, but took us 2 GPS systems to get us back home. Is something wrong with this picture? hmm

So long Texas, we had a good time and enjoyed some of your sights

it was just time for us to move along little doggy and get back home.

Again, Thanks Taco & Harold for getting us together...WE LOVE YOU!

Thinking of this huge flea market brought to my mind how one persons junk is anothers treasure. Isn't it the same with God? Think about it a second. Our junk is Gods treasure! The junk we go through in our lives is a Treasure to God because He uses it to help us grow and most of all to GLORIFY HIM by us "sharing" it with another that wants to receive it!

So remember next time, and there will be next times, when "junk" comes into our lives, remember it will be a "treasure" to our God.

May you have a FLEA MARKET kind of day for Christ.

God bless you.