November: Done

* I worked the Rock & Worship Roadshow - and had my first experience with a LOUD concert. :) Had fun though!

* Conducted my first interview on the air - with Tresha from the Cherished Moments Craft Hideaway. I was so nervous but didn't do to terrible job, so I was excited about that!

* Worked the Phillips, Craig and Dean concert - which was not only much fun, but very faith-boosting. The crowd raised $10,000 that night for a military outreach. Had no idea they would come through in SUCH a big way!

* Started doing Beth Moore's Breaking Free book with Olivia. Love being back in a regular study with her!

* Got to be a guest on Mid-Morning for the Author! Author! show again - bringing me full circle with my trip to the show last year!

* Had the chance to go out to eat a few times with my co-workers. They're a great bunch of friends outside of work too - and I count that a gift. They even introduced me to new (to me) restaurants - like Qdoba and Smokey Bones.

*Went to my first ever football game with Phats and Cara - the Purdue/Iowa game. Purdue lost, but I had fun anyway and now feel one step closer to "arriving" now that I've been to a real game.

* Flew to Kansas for Thanksgiving and had all sorts of adventures, including going to a real live soda fountain, walking Cassie's dog, riding a bike for the first time since I was a kid, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, "playing golf," and getting to see Greensburg in a much more rebuilt state than it was last time I was there!

* Had Pancakes with the Princess on the Road with the family while I was in Kansas.

* Worked the David Phelps concert and got to introduce him in my stage debut for the station. (GULP!!!)

* Began the task (sigh) of packing a bag to keep in my car in case I get stuck in Fort Wayne due to bad weather - which did indeed happen just last night! Simultaneously kicked up the prayers for my house to sell.

Stone Altar: End of November

Pancakes with the Princess: November

Well...back before Thanksgiving, I squeezed in November's Pancakes with the Princess....with my sister and her fam!

This marks the first time I've had family at the pancake bash! (Don't THEY feel special??) (Probably not.)

Anyway. We had the fancy pants cinnamon swirl pancakes and sausage links (to cut the sweet).
The cinnamon swirl mixture was MOST uncooperative. Cinnamon overboard!

Cassie wanted chocolate chips in hers, so I added that. Never put chocolate chips in pancakes before! (That truly is shocking. How have I not put chocolate in ANYTHING?)

No idea what this look is about. Kind of scary, actually.

Cassie and her baby girl, Midnight. Midnight was very interested in the pancakes. She's actually MOSTLY interested in leftovers. Lots and lots of leftovers.

Someone wasn't paying attention. We won't name names, Lori.

Pancakes were a success! Jeff added butter to his - which is actually pretty perfect for the cinnamon roll effect. Why didn't I think of that???

Pancakes with the Princess: October

October got away from me!! All of the sudden...we were at the end of the month and I hadn't made any pancakes!

So I invited Faith, Hannah, and Kaylah to come over Sunday after lunch...and they said yes! It was a *tad* bit cold in my house (because I'm too cheap to have yet turned on the heat), so they started their visit by snuggling up to the fire. :)
Lunch was sorta fallish this time. Of course...pancakes. And grapes. And for dessert, pretzels with Hershey Kisses melted into them and candy corn on top. And....

...in honor of Halloween...little mummy sausages. I saw the idea on a blog. They're like pigs in blankets, but you cut up the crescent rolls into strips and wrap the hot dogs (breakfast sausages for us) like mummies! They cleaned them OUT!!!

Kaylah informed me AFTER lunch that she didn't like pancakes. (I know that isn't true but it was true on Sunday!)

Hannah ate every bite of her pancakes but decided she ONLY liked the sausages - not the "buns" as she called them.

Faith and I liked all of it. :)

After lunch, the girls played in the backyard, looking for "special rocks" (wish they would have looked for special leaves and put them in bags while they were at it!!). And then Hannah proceeded to read my Roman numeral clock to me. She was sprawled out on the floor and just started yelling "XII,I,II,III,IIII,V...." and it took us a while to figure out what she was doing. Kinda cracked us up.

Such a fun day! Only two more months of pancakes - and it's a whole year of Pancakes with the Princess DONE!!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday, as you saw, was Pancakes with the Princess...featuring my pastor and his family. I appreciate their friendship so much! I loved having them over and I was very proud of Miss Braeya Jo for making repeated appearances. (Minus the one where she tried to get on the table. Could have done without that.)
* Let's work our way through Monday, shall we? It started with the major texting faux pas...where I sent "Hey it's our song!" (a joke meant for my friend Amy) to the WRONG NUMBER. Woops. Then I came home to mow my yard (which made me cranky in and of itself) and two swipes into the yard, the front wheel fell off.

The yard was RIDICULOUSLY long, so wheel or no wheel, it had to be mowed. The little mower and I persevered through an entire yard (and five trips to the back to empty the bag). I was exhausted at the end of it. So you might imagine why I was so excited to come inside and find this.

* Tuesday evening I had dinner with Jenny - and we (okay I) accidentally picked to eat at Fazoli's on kids' night. WOOPS. So we had to yell a few times to hear each other but it was great to catch up with her!

* Wednesday was one of my funnest (feel free to use that word) days of work yet! As soon as the show was over, Lynne and I packed up and went to her house to do show prep for our cooking show on Friday.

A whole afternoon of cooking and making sure everything was set for the show = FUN!!

* Thursday night I drove home in a nasty rain, which was NOT fun, but when I got home, Rachel came over to hang out, and we made these REAL caramel surprise brownies. Not the fake ones. OH man they were good!!
* Friday was the first Mid-Morning cooking show - and my first on-air disaster. I LOST THE FIRST PAGE OF MY NOTES! I had to admit it out loud because I couldn't remember what I was supposed to be talking about. Good grief, Bekah. We made a joke of it though and the show was SO much fun. We had a blast!

* Saturday I was a busy little beaver! I had an entire day at home, so I did tons of chores. I spent an hour and a half breaking down boxes so I could stack them up and save room in the garage. I decorated for fall, I went out for a five mile walk, and best of all I went for a drive to see the gorgeous leaves.


Books I'm Reading: Jesus Calling was SO perfect this week. Couldn't have been more appropriate. And I have been so challenged by the words in The Faith Dare. Oh man. Tough to take it to heart but it's good stuff.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: God and I had some serious heart to hearts on the way to work this week, and one day, I heard His Voice more clearly than I have in quite a while. It was so comforting to know He's still working on me.

Update on Last Week's Goals: Well, if you put aside the slight mishap on the show Friday, I did well with my part of things. :) And I have learned more from The Faith Dare than I even knew I could.

Goals for the Coming Week: I want to enjoy the daylights out of this week. I've been struggling in the joy department lately and I want to just really love all the good things this coming week will bring!

September: Done

Three months left in this year, people! That's it! Can you believe it? Here's September in a nutshell!

* Busy month of firsts at work! I worked my first sticker stop in Lima, Ohio, which was so much fun, despite the rain! I also got to be on the air a little more...and I think I'm sounding less like a man, which is making me very happy (as you might imagine). I worked my first Friendraiser...getting a taste of reading pledges on the air...answering the phones...and helping to serve lunch. This month also held the Laura Story/David Crowder concert...and my first time to chuck t-shirts into a crowd! (Kind of like softball...right?) We had to cancel a show at the last minute, one day, so I had my first try at reading the intro to an encore show...live on the air. (Yes, I was sweating.) AND - I did my first (and second) ever official co-hosting of a show. Lynne made that a great experience.

* Thoroughly enjoyed my first Labor Day weekend off - ever. Loved the rest and the shopping!!

* In the kitchen, I made a fabulous chicken lasagna, a batch of kettle corn krispie bars for my Mom's birthday, some very yummy pumpkin bread, and tried my hand at Aunt B's caramel surprise brownies. I also spent a day in Lynne's kitchen doing some cooking in prep for one of our shows!

* Made it to the lake at the very last possible minute - and thoroughly enjoyed an entire day on the water - even if the boat ride meant wearing a hoodie, jeans, and tennis shoes!

* Attended a concert that I didn't have to work! Ronda and I went to hear Ernie Haase and Signature Sound - which was one of the best concerts I think I've ever been to. They do a great show.

* Enjoyed season premiere week of my favorite shows. And so begins the life of making sure I'm home when they air...because yes, it's true, I don't have DVR.

* Hosted Pancakes with the Princess with my pastor's family, AND the return of Rachel's Thursday night TV visits.

Stone Altar: End of September

Pancakes with the Princess: September

Another month...another batch of pancakes dished up from the home of yours truly!

I've been intending to invite my pastor and his family over for a meal. Do people do that anymore? Invite their pastors to their home to eat? It was a big thing to do when I was growing up, but I'm not sure people do it anymore.

Anyway, they said yes, so this past Sunday, they came over after church, and we had pancakes! Not only did we have pancakes, but someone else tried to get a helping of them too!!
Braeya NEVER ventures forth when kids are in the house. Some of them are pretty loud and obnoxious, and it scares her. But these two were pretty quiet, so she came out and stayed. (And tried to climb up on the table to snag some lunch. Was she born in a barn??)

Judah LOVED Braeya and played with her so long that she wore completely out later and took a huge nap. (Sweet!)

And this is my friend Elizabeth. She is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. Every week after church, she comes up to talk to me about the important stuff. (Clothes!)
And Jesse and Erin - who have taken me in as a good friend and I love that. (When I have curly hair days, Erin and I are twins, though you can clearly see she got the WAY better curls.)

I loved our lunch (and the free entertainment provided by Judah and Braeya). Pancake success!

August: Done

I think August can be classified as the month of the "last minute." Very little was planned ahead but it was still so full of FUN!!

* In the world of attempting to relocate...I went house hunting with my sister, Lori, and found a house I absolutely fell in love with, which resulted in increased prayers about the entire situation. Lori also helped me by heading up (aka doing every last stitch of work regarding) my yard sale. Very excited about how that turned out - both in $$ made and stuff ditched! I also started the paperwork process of being able to purchase a new home in case mine does sell soon - getting the pre-work out of the way!

* In the land of entertaining...it was fun to have Lori and Jeff here to open up Bekah's B&B (which is now sorely lacking the first B...we sold it in the rummage). I hosted Pancakes with the Princess for my friends, the Hubbards, and had another overnighter party with Julie Crandall when she came for the Anne of Green Gables fest!

* In Mid-Morning news...I made my first appearance as an engineer WHILE talking on the air at the same time. Took multi-tasking to a whole new level. I was also so excited to receive invitations from Lynne to help with the show as a whole...new ideas...brainstorming...all that. Very exciting. Have I mentioned I love my job? And while it wasn't for Mid-Morning, I also recorded my first station promo! Freaks me out every time I hear it on the air. I spent Lynne's vacation week researching like CRAZY - left her a whole stack of show ideas - complete with a table of contents for each one. NERD!

* Had some time to cook...trying out Judy Reynolds' chocolate and caramel crispie bars, plus a peach cobbler (never cooked with peaches before - ever!). I didn't love the cobbler...I'm more of a crisp girl. But I loved the crispie bars! Tried - and loved - the new pepperoni pizza chili recipe. For the Anne of Green Gables party, I made a shortbread cookie recipe (turned out mediocre...but cute!), raspberry cordial (minus the alcohol), and a tortellini caesar salad. AND I made a fantastic cream cheese danish that you're going to love!

* Acquired my neighbor's tree in my backyard...during the great windstorm of 2011. So thankful for Dad and his friends who came over and cleaned it up so my house isn't too horrible looking while it is on the market!

* Worked on a "fresh start" with some new clothes and accessories (I like to do one or two big clothing blitzes each year) for the new job. No more mid-year slump for me! And in that fresh start business...a new day planner and color coded system!

* Also did some new stuff...including going to my first Thirty-One party, eating at Biaggi's for the first time, and going to my first ever Fort Wayne Tin Caps game - which you'll see more about later this week!

Stone Altar: End of August

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday, as you saw, I had Pancakes with the Princess, with my friends, the Hubbards. Loved their fellowship! Then I spent the rest of the day cooking like a fool! I made a strawberry shortcake (to use up the leftover strawberries from lunch) and tried a new shortbread cookie recipe. A whole day in a kitchen is a good day! (I made some of the cookies for Miss Lynne - man I missed her while she was gone!)
* Monday I had a hair disaster. People ask me if my hair is naturally straight or naturally curly (since I wear it both ways). The correct answer is my hair is naturally BIG. It takes much effort to achieve either look. So Monday I decided on straight, dried my hair and when I went to attack the big mop of it with the flat iron...the iron was dead. With no time to start over OR go to the store, I had no choice but to swallow my pride and head to work with that monstrosity sitting atop my head. There will be NO photo of that mess for you to view - but you can look at these pretty flowers Lynne brought me!

* Tuesday night I managed to get out of mowing the yard (thank you, rain!) and with that extra time, I thought...what have I not done FOREVER? The answer? COOK! :) So I went back into the kitchen and whipped up a big batch of chocolate chip cookies.

* Wednesday night I had a treat! Lynne took Amy (from work) and me out to eat at Biaggi's in Ft. Wayne. You should know that in general, if a restaurant doesn't sport a drive thru window and a dollar menu, I don't frequent it. I'm too frugal. :) So this was a super treat for me! It was so great to enjoy their fellowship for the evening. And the food. Oh sweet mercy, the food. Lynne thought it was funny that when the food arrived, she reached for her fork and I reached for my camera. Meet the stromboli:

* Wanna hear my work "funny" from Thursday? We did a show on technology and how it impacts our lives. Twenty minutes before the end of the show, I realized I forgot to turn on the backup recorder. Ironic, huh? Fortunately the main recorder didn't fail. Also on Thursday - I became a "real person" on the station website! Here I am with Miss Lynne and here I am on the staff page!



* Friday night began a fun weekend I've been looking forward to for a while! Julie Crandall came over for an Anne of Green Gables marathon! More on this next week, but she came over after I got home from work, and we made a delicious cheesy tortellini Caesar salad and some heavenly tuxedo bars (at least I think that's what she said they were called) - and then we hunkered down to watch the original movie. (We heart Gilbert...don't tell.) * Saturday (Julie was still there...we made a weekend of it) we slept in until 10. PRAISE. THE. LORD. I'd only had two hours of sleep going into the marathon, so I needed to catch up! We made a fabulous cream cheese danish for breakfast and settled in with movie number two. (Did I mention we heart Gilbert? Did I mention not to tell?) We even made the marathon weekend authentic with homemade raspberry cordial.
Books I'm Reading: I read in Jesus Calling this week - really comforting words. I also continued reading A Woman's Walk in Grace - which challenged me. And I started reading a book that releases in October - called Deepest Thanks, Deeper Apologies, by Stephen Shortridge. Oh my goodness. I am LOVING this book.


Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I had a bit of a heartbreak this week...why do those always come in the middle of the night? And as I lay in bed at 2 in the morning, sobbing and trying to breathe through the half of my nose still working, these words came to mind You give and take away...my heart will choose to say, blessed be the Name of the Lord. So I did. I chose to say it - through the snot, in the middle of the night. Even while my heart screamed "Why do you keep taking things away from me??" I made the choice to say words of praise. And I'm so grateful I did. The hurt is still there, but I'm glad Satan didn't get the best of that moment.


Update on Last Week's Goals: I'm thankful for the time I had this week to sit with the Lord - drive with Him - write to Him. He continues to pull and stretch me in ways that are remarkably uncomfortable, but I"m thankful for the time with Him.


Goals for the Coming Week: As I head into a new week, my goal is to have an open heart. I'm freshly aware of my theme song from Lent - Undone - and I can tell God is still trying to do things in my life. I want my heart to be open to whatever HE has - not stuck on the things I think should be.

Pancakes with the Princess: August

This past Sunday, I had another round of Pancakes with the Princess. If you're new to my blog, Pancakes with the Princess is a new thing I started this year...inspired by my friend Jenna and her husband. He is the pastor of a church, and they have "Pancakes with the Pastor," a time when they invite their congregation over to their house for...as you might have guessed...pancakes!

I'm not a pastor, but Princess was my nickname in college, so I made that slight alteration, and I invite someone over once a month for the festivities. (I missed hosting in July. I tried to invite a family over but our schedules didn't coordinate, and with all the busyness of starting my new job, I just didn't get it done.)

This month I hosted my friends, the Hubbards...party of five. I didn't ask if I could post pictures on the blog, so to be on the safe side, I won't. But I still wanted to tell you about their visit!

Paula is the worship leader at our church, and she has a lot of fun energy. Her husband, Greg, and I went to the same high school. And they have three kids that kept me in stitches on Sunday.

We had Amish breakfast casserole...and pancakes (the regular kind, not the cinnamon swirly kind)...fresh fruit...and orange julius for dessert. The kids were very intrigued by the food prep and informed me early on that they loved pancakes.

Won't lie to you...I'm always nervous to cook for people for the first time, but cooking for kids is an extra nail-biter. They don't have much of a filter, so if they don't like what you made, you're likely to know about it. But these three did not disappoint. One declared she needed a shovel to eat as quickly as she wanted. All three asked for seconds and one asked for thirds. Her parents said no. She tried to barter for dinner leftovers. Must have been a good meal!!

In typical kid fashion, they had a plethora of things to discuss that brought great mortification to their parents. You know...things like poop and pimples and pigs. After turning red several times, their dad said to me, "When you do your scrapbook page of this day, can you say that we were discussing the writings of the Apostle Paul instead of pimples and pigs?" You got it, Greg!

My favorite moment was at the end of the day. I thanked them for coming over, and for this hostess gift they brought me:
Without missing a beat, one of the girls said, "You can thank me by making something for me from that book."

Love. Those. Kids!

Pancakes with the Princess...August Edition = SUCCESS!!!!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday I finally unpacked from vacation and tried to get life and house back in order before returning to work for my last week at Indiana Wesleyan. I also really enjoyed my Bible study time with Marie. I love hanging out with her...no time agenda...just catching up on life and studying about Hannah. Great Sunday.

* Monday I spoke at devotions for the APS building at work. I did that last fall, too, and they invited me back. I sat down feeling I'd done a perfectly terrible job, but I had some emails later in the day thanking me for what I shared - so I guess God can work through potential disasters! I also got to have my last lunch with my friend Ruth. She (like me) started out as a student worker in Financial Aid and now works there full time. Thanks for going with me, Ruth! :)

* Tuesday was crazy...busy...exhausting. One of my work pals, Judy, treated me to lunch at Ivanhoes. Well - the food was from Ivanhoes. They were fresh out of tables, so we took our food to a park and ate there. SO fun!
That night I officially signed the paperwork to list my house with the realtor! It is now ON the market. That was a strange feeling. The other huge highlight of the day was getting to talk to Olivia for a long time on the phone. I just saw her at her showers on Saturday but she had so many people to talk to and not much time to talk. So as she drove back home, we talked on the phone for almost two hours. I may technically be her mentor, but I learn so much more from her than she ever could from me!

* Wednesday I got up early and went in to work to make breakfast for the office. Was I nuts? They liked it though!! Pancakes with the Princess Goes on the Road! I only worked half a day - at which time I drove to Fort Wayne for my first ever house hunting adventure! I saw ten houses in about four hours. Then I had dinner with Jamie, came home, found a For Sale sign planted in my yard, and ran through the place like a mad woman for the rest of the night - trying to get everything ready for the realtor to show to her co-workers so they can, in turn, show my house!

* Thursday I had my exit interview at work...turned in my keys and parking permit and everything! (I kind of feel like I'm not a real person anymore - for a minute.) I received these beautiful flowers at work from my former boss, Lois. LOVE them.
Then I enjoyed a carry-in lunch, compliments of my office. They even gave me a present. Love presents! :) In the afternoon, I received a phone call that someone wanted to see my house the next day, so I had to hurry home and clean again!


* Friday was my last day ever in Financial Aid. My emotions were very mixed - but I did love the party I had that afternoon. Especially the punch.
It is truly a strange feeling to know I'm not going back to 240-F to work - ever. I'm very excited about the future, but this was certainly a day of reflection and a few tears. Oh - and one more time in the old office:
* Saturday was a whole day at home. I sorely wanted to go to the lake because 1) I had an invitation and 2) it was GORGEOUS outside, but I knew I needed to get stuff done here, so I stayed. Mowed the yard (in shifts because it was too hot for the mower to start and stop too many times). Worked out. Paid bills. Went grocery shopping. Sorted through stuff in my house. Packed the entire craft closet. You're jealous, aren't you?

Books I'm Reading: Jesus Calling and Sparkling Gems from the Greek of course, plus another chapter in Entrusting Your Dreams to God, and a little bit in Forever in Love with Jesus. I'm surprised I had time for even that much. Did you see how crazy my week was?


Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: There are two that are almost equal this week, but I'm going to say this one. When I was reading part of Forever in Love with Jesus, there was a section where Kathy Troccoli talked about the process of building a house and how it overwhelmed her as she made decisions alone, but God used that experience to say to her that He is still the I AM. Even in house-building. Though I'm not building, it was such a comfort to me as I work on decisions of selling and buying. Perfectly timed. (I might even blog about it more later.)

Update on Last Week's Goals: I am satisfied with the way I finished work at IWU. The job is really never done, so at some point I had to say, "Bekah, you've done what you can do - and you can't worry about what you're leaving." I really savored the last days with my work friends, too. And I did get some good cleaning and organizing - and even packing done on the house this week!

Goals for the Coming Week: I want to have a strong start to my new job and try to remind myself that it does not all have to be mastered - or probably even learned - in the first week. This may seem a silly goal, but I also want to be diligent in working on a new routine for myself. I now have two extra hours on the road each day, which means I have to get up earlier, which means I need to go to bed earlier...pack a lunch...find a different workout routine. All these things will just require some trial and error - I mean success!

Pancakes with the Princess: June

I don't know if you've noticed...but I've been a little busy this month. You know...quitting my job and getting a new one and putting my house on the market and taking a vacation and house hunting.

Couple that with everyone else's vacations...and it was hard to schedule a Pancakes with the Princess dinner this month!

So...I took the show on the road! As an I'm-going-away party for the office, I decided to treat them to pancakes. My whole office. And the Business Office. Pancakes for thirteen...on the road. What was I thinking??????

I made an egg casserole and baked it the morning of the breakfast. That was the easy part. The night before, I also mixed up all the dry ingredients for the pancakes, made the cinnamon swirl mixture and the icing mixture (because...oh yes...I made the cinnamon swirl version of the pancakes), and packed all the stuff I thought I could need. Before work, I added the liquid ingredients to the pancake batter, packed up the car, and headed to the office.

I had to borrow Judy's griddle because Mom had mine. This is me shortly after the cinnamon swirl mixture bag exploded all over her griddle.
A few minutes later...all better. (And Robyn was laughing at me.)

I had the meal ready by a little after 8. The boys were particularly happy about this. Greg had pancakes at my house last month. Sorry for the repeat, Greg. :) I stored the pancakes in the crock pot until people were ready to eat.

Everyone was all about the breakfast...they came into the break room, sat down, and enjoyed! This is Robyn and Gaytha (my boss) - deep in conversation apparently.

Thomas and Greg got creative with the forks. Those are my initials in case you are unable to decipher.

Angel waving goodbye to me. (Neil stole my camera and took tons of pictures....)

This is Craig. He's our compliance guy. Every week when we have devotions, during prayer/praise time, he says he's thankful for the Lord's help. And that is the thing I appreciate most about Craig. No matter what's happening - he's always thankful.

I took some food over to the Business Office ladies, Sandee and Cindy. Love them!! (They double as waitresses, apparently.)

A successful breakfast was had by all. Thomas, our main boss, even ran out to pick up some milk and juice so we could have drinks. (Don't judge me. Pancakes for thirteen people...something was bound to slip my mind!)

So that's the pancake report for this month. I loved it! Chaos, exploding cinnamon mix, and all!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday was a true day of rest. I so needed that. Marie came over in the afternoon and we kicked back to discuss our first Bible study chapter. I've missed meeting with her and studying with her. I have a feeling God is going to do some serious work in us through this study! I spent the rest of the day in the fat chair, watching TV, reading, journaling, blogging, and playing online.

* Monday I had a surprise visitor at work! My former roommate, Angela, was in town and stopped by to see me. She's about to begin work on her dissertation while battling cancer - all at the age of 34. Her tenacity amazes me. So proud of her.

* Tuesday evening, as you already saw, was Pancakes with the Princess/The Biggest Loser Finale.
The pancakes were a success - they both LOVED the cinnamon swirl recipe - and as I said a couple of days ago, I was thrilled with the outcome of the show. Love the inspiration that Hannah and Olivia provided this season. Can't wait to see what they do with their lives!



* Wednesday was crazy storm day. I feel a little guilty complaining about our storms when there are so many who have been truly devastated by tornadoes this week...and I know full well from the days of the Greensburg tornado just how horrible that is. I am not making light of it. But while I'm thankful for our protection so far, I'm sick of rain every day. Mom took this picture during one of the many storms that hit us Wednesday:
That's just how our skies look now. Ev.ry.Day.

Wednesday evening, I was asked to take pictures at church for the finale of the kids' ministries. The elementary and junior high students banded together to make homemade ice cream. YUM!!
* Thursday we had a farewell lunch for Rachel at work. Four years of serving as our student worker has come to an end. Sadness indeed. We had a carry-in of Mexican food, because that's her favorite. I took dessert because that's my specialty. I tried a new recipe - ice cream lasagna. HUGELY loved by my office. You know what that means! You'll be seeing it on here!



* Friday we had a rare treat: jeans day at work. I adore jeans days. Since we don't get them very often, I had to make sure I got full documentation of it. Even our boss wore them! (She's vehemently opposed to denim in the work place.) She made it almost to 11 a.m. with jeans on before she switched to regular work pants.


* Saturday I went to my friend Jenna's birthday party and ended up playing my first ever game of bocce. My team won. Three times. (More on this later.) But please do note that my opponent Neil...was apparently harboring some not-so-secret aggression toward my mad skills.
Books I'm Reading: Read my daily devos in Sparkling Gems from the Greek and Jesus Calling. Also did some reading in the early part of the week from The Hole in Our Gospel, Writing About Your Life, and How Women Help Men Find God. (It's a book Rachel loaned me a while ago, but I'm just now getting to it.)

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: It's getting harder to pick just one! This week's came during the night one night when I woke up shaking and sick to my stomach - and I knew it was Satan getting at me. I got out of bed, paced the bedroom, prayed and quoted Scripture and felt such peace the whole time. I love it when I can sense the Lord's guidance and His approval when I do something right in my walk.

Update on Last Week's Goals: I should have read more, but I did get some reading in from the writing book. And God has provided PLENTY of direction on the prayer projects. I'm grateful.

Goals for the Coming Week: I want to get my scrapbook caught up (end of May has been busy!), get my birthday thank you's written (dreadfully behind on that) and clean up my bedroom. I'm almost embarrassed to be sleeping in there.

Pancakes with the Princess: May

May went flying by and I realized I was running out of time to host Pancakes with the Princess. Seriously - where did this month GO?

Since the Biggest Loser finale was on the schedule for this week, I asked my friends Greg and Angi if they wanted to come over for pancakes and then stay to watch the finale with me. We all love that show so much. (Greg and I water cooler talk Biggest Loser every week at work.)

They arrived in this massive deluge that hit Marion - but fortunately the power (mostly) stayed on and didn't interrupt our dinner.

Angi helped me with the cinnamon swirlies on the pancakes. (We did that version since there were just three of us.)
It was like a little art form. I was impressed with her swirling skills!

I don't usually have a ceiling cam while I'm cooking. LOL.

This was also the maiden voyage of my new griddle. I am so excited about this purchase! I found it about a month ago - on sale for $30 and I had an additional $10 off coupon. So it was a $50 griddle that I got for twenty bucks. Sure beats the snot out of making three pancakes at a time in my itty bitty skillet!

The official spread - orange juliuses, Amish breakfast casserole, and lots and LOTS of pancakes. Oh - and check out the cute new summer dishes. I mentioned those a while ago. I heart polka dots. Love my dishes!

Greg - making the most of every last drop of that orange julius.

We went ahead and made up the rest of the batter because they do make great leftovers. We were proud of our artwork!

Greg thought it was appropriate to have round two during the Biggest Loser. HA!

It was so much more fun to watch the finale with my friends. I am blown-away-inspired by Olivia and Hannah. Loved seeing them in the final two and LOVED the outcome. Those girls are just the real deal, and I could not have been happier. I didn't even care who won once it was down to the two of them. GREAT season.