Americana

Things that are going on in this country are discouraging and flat out make me mad but I still love the USA and I am thankful to live in this country!  As we get closer to celebrating on the 4th, I decided to share a few pictures of Americana.  One nation under God(no matter what the current administration thinks) .

Enjoy your week and your 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!

A Few of My Favorite Things in the Summer (Re-Post)

Driving to the Smokey Mountains for a picnic. One of my favorite waterfalls in the Smokies. 

Buying fresh produce from the Farmers Market

Peaches and Cream Corn (yum)

Grilling

 Yellow Box Flip Flops

Popsicles

A good thunderstorm

Cherry Limeaide

July 4th Cookouts, Fireworks, Phase 10 Card Games

Sweet Tea

Swimming (I wish this were my pool)

Tennis!!  I love Wimbledon. My favorite tennis tournament.

It has been humid and hot so far but I love it! 

I hope you have the best Summer!!!

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 1 Tim. 6:17

Thunderstorms

This spring the South has been hit with one storm after another.  Too many tornadoes and devastation and when a storm rolls in, I can safely say, we all pay attention a little more than we used to but I love a good thunderstorm without the hail and damaging winds.

Our Saturday has been that kind of day.  Our family decided to go to lunch and eat outside under a little pavilion outside of the restaurant.  As soon as we took the first bite the sky turned black and it looked bad for about a minute and then a good thunderstorm happened.  The cover over the pavilion was a tin roof.  Rain falling on a tin roof,  love that sound!

We quickly finished our lunch and then went to get an ice cream cone for dessert.  It was raining big drops by this time and we sat in the car and ate our ice cream.

By the time we got back home we were still having thunderstorms.   We all decided it was a perfect time for a nap. :)  I popped a movie in and fell asleep for a few hours.

Not all thunderstorms are bad and those kind I can enjoy.  The sun is now out and the temps are cooler and I am enjoying a cup of coffee watching a Cosby Show marathon.

It has been a nice and relaxing day.

I hope you are having a great weekend!

Back Roads

At times it's good to take the back roads or take a drive in the country to enjoy the farms, hills, mountains and you can also come upon out of the place restaurants.

That is what we did yesterday. My brother had told me of an Amish restaurant that his boss told him about and I decided on a whim yesterday to try and find it.  It's about 30 minutes from where we live but I love the drive and didn't mind going on a little adventure. :)

We almost passed the place because sitting in front of it is another restaurant/ice cream shack.

This Amish restaurant has a little bit of everything in it and they make the best sandwiches.  I tried the German bologna w/ cheese and mustard. You can get all kinds of toppings but I decided to keep it simple.  My bread of choice was their homemade sourdough bread. Seriously, the best sourdough bread I have ever eaten.  I look forward in going back and trying a  different sandwich and buying some of their other products.

Afterwards we decided to go over to the restaurant/ice cream shack as I call it but it's proper name is Dairy Dream.  That name just doesn't stick with me and I call it the Dairy Shack.  It's little and it fits. lol

The ice cream was very good and we were excited to find it because in our town, oddly enough, there are not good places to get ice cream.  Our DQ is old and service is bad and Baskin Robbins is too expensive and I don't really care for it.  This was a nice surprise. :)

It pays to take the country roads because you never know what little treasure you will find.

Have a great day!

Remember, it's the Simple Things.

A Night of Fun

Last night was our friend Georgia's birthday. She turned the BIG 31.  We decided to head to Pigeon Forge to celebrate and have some fun for the evening.

We were lazy most of the day before we got ready for the night.

Before going, I prayed over our night and asked God to protect us, keep the storms away, give us great parking(SOOOOO many people in Pigeon Forge this time of year) and that we would have a short wait at Red Lobster.

As we were headed down the interstate the sky looked ugly, and then it rained on us for five minutes but as we turned toward P.F. the sky was beautiful and the sun was out!  We pulled into Red Lobster and the parking lot was full but God blessed us with a parking spot in the front. Our wait to be seated was just 15 minutes!  The food was delicious and our waiter was awesome!  He had a few people come over and sing Happy Birthday to G! She was embarrassed but we had so much fun!

 Birthday girl

Cheddar Biscuits. Yum!

After dinner we played putt putt at Ripley's Old MacDonald's Farm. 

My brother won but my son Jason and myself tied for second and G and my son David were in last place. Each one of them had a hole in one and as were coming up to the last hole, I was the only one who didn't have a hole in one.  Guess who got a hole in one when it counted? Me! lol   I won a free game. :) 

 My son Jason

 My son David

 The course is so cute

When pigs fly. ;)

 Me and my orange golf ball. :)

 G

 Pigs everywhere ;)

Afterwards we headed to the Fun Zone to play arcade games. I have to record this because I raced my son Jason in the Fast and Furious game and my pink car beat his orange mustang! Lol 

Our last stop was Marble Slab but they were out of every flavor of ice cream we wanted and we left and went to Sonic.  I am glad we did because I had the best banana milkshake! Perfect ending to a perfect day. Thank you Jesus!

He blessed us with so many things last night and I love how He provided every single thing we prayed about before we went!!  God loves to delight us!

I hope your Saturday was fun and your Sunday will be a blessed one!

Oh the Joys

In all my years teaching/working VBS, this year and this class was the best.  I was pleased with the small group we had and impressed with their manners and politeness to each other.  They listened and answered questions and laughed and just had fun.

Last night was our last night of VBS. Tonight we have our presentation and hand out their certificates and then we eat and have fun.  Whew!

I thank God for blessing our VBS this year and 4 kids were saved this week!!!!  It's what this is all about!

As tired as we were, after it was over last night, we decided to un-decorate our room and put it all back together.  I think I am going to need a mini vacay after all is said and done. ;)  A few pics:

Does your church have Vacation Bible School?  Our theme this year was Big Apple Adventure in NYC!  One of our greatest tools in witnessing to the children about Jesus!  Thank you God for another great year!

Tomorrow my family is headed to the mountains to celebrate our friend Georgia's birthday!  Red Lobster and some mini-golf for starters. :-)

Y'all have a happy Friday and wonderful weekend!!