Wednesday

Upper Crust Desserts

A couple of weeks ago Tracy and I went to visit
Dorema at her bakery.  Dorema was one of my students 
in my art class in 2003/2004.  She was a great student and
is a very sweet and talented young lady.   We had a really
nice visit and I wish I could have bought more goodies.
Everything was really delicious!
If you get a chance you should visit her bakery at:
 1830 Longwood Lake Mary Road 
#1000, Longwood, FL 32750
(407) 388-2011 
or her website:
http://uppercrustdesserts.com/
1830 Longwood Lake Mary Road #1000, Longwood, FL 32750
(407) 388-2011


yummy treats!


Kariti, her sister, and also one of my talented and
sweet students, makes jewelry and has some at 
the bakery.  You could get a gift and treats at Upper Crust.
You can see more about Kariti here:
https://www.facebook.com/klbarre/info


This is Dorema and her mom Janice

They are both so sweet and seem to really enjoy working together.


I wish I'd gotten a better photo of Tracy's treats.
This really doesn't do them justice.  She let me try
some of what she bought, yum!



Dorema posting the daily specials.

Tracy photographing some sweets up 
close.
They also have "gluten free" Fridays.
I may have to check that out.
If you get a chance visit and try some
of their wonderful baked goods!

Monday

staying home - tropical storm

Sitting here with Corey, playing with Polyvore,
and listening to the tornado warning siren going off.
At least we haven't lost power.  Glad Corey's off today.
Wish Chuck and Jesse were off. 

I like this outfit.  


Untitled #2

Untitled #2 by viclynn featuring a red bag


Chiffon dress
$41 - apricotonline.co.uk


Black leather jacket
$940 - coggles.com



Red bag
dellamoda.com




Sunday

The Birthday Celebration

Three birthdays all in one.  They are all in the same week
in August.
 Jesse's birthday, with her friend Amy on the left
Happy Birthday Jesse!
 Patsy's birthday  Happy Birthday Patsy!

 and Mom's birthday

 Jesse and Jason

 Happy Birthday Mom
 Renny loves Mom and Mini Onion (Minion) loves Corey



 Patsy and Stuart trying our sleep number bed and Frank watching the fun.

Note to self: Get a good photo of Chuck with his Mom -
and Corey and Jesse I want a family photo - a good one.

Thursday

Quick post

Mini Onion digging for treats




T


 T shirts I painted for Dad

Mini Onion loving his mom


Painting I did for Jesse of Dexter and Millie
I've got to get the birthday photos up and 
our bakery trip...slow to get going

Monday

Never too old to learn


I picked up the book I’d been reading, opened it and realized it
was a different book.  Shows how observant I am.  I decided to read it anyway, maybe something I needed to see or hear was in it.  Wow, what a whopper of something I needed to hear!
It’s from Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle.  This by the way is the book I was reading when I named my blog.  Maybe that’s what I should have named my blog “Walking on Water” with a sub-title of “and failing miserably”.  That’s another post.  If you do not understand the meaning of Waterwalker, or walking on water – to me it means to have the faith and courage to follow Christ, to step out of our own safe world (which was the boat for Peter) and step into the stormy sea of life with trust that as long as our eyes are on Jesus we don’t need to fear.  I’m not saying we won’t, Peter did after all start to sink (because of the stormy sea - he took his eyes off of Jesus) and Jesus reached out, took his hand, and led him to safety – back to the boat.  I’m beginning to see another lesson, in that, for me anyway.  Interesting.

But back to what is for this post:
She talks about the play “Our Town”.  After Emily has died in childbirth, Thornton Wilder has her ask the stage manager if she can return home to relive just one day.  Reluctantly he allows her to do so.  And she is torn by the beauty of the ordinary and by our lack of awareness of it.  She cries out to her mother, “Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me…it goes so fast we don’t have time to look at one another.”  And she goes back to the graveyard and the quiet company of the others lying there, and she asks the stage manager, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?”  And he sighs and says, “No.  The saints and poets, maybe.  They do some.”

In this past year of staying home, living with cancer, having time to read more, I’m slowly learning.  I’m sorry that it took so much to get to where I could understand.  I still, even with these conditions, get too busy and forget what is important.  I’m thankful I picked up the wrong book and read what I needed to learn.  I hope I can remember.



my visitor returned

 and he brought a friend


Thursday

Sailing along in life....



This is a really good story that will make you thankful for the life you have.

http://michaelhyatt.com/when-you-realize-youre-living-in-a-bubble.html

I'm reading a book (a second time) called
The Circle Maker
Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears
by Mark Batterson
It is a very inspiring read.
Today what left an imprint is:
Drawing prayer circles starts with identifying your Jericho.  You've got to define the promises God wants you to stake claim to, the miracles God wants you to believe for, and the dreams God wants you to pursue.  Then you need to keep circling until God gives you what He wants and He wills.  That's the goal.  Now here's the problem:
Most of us don't get what we want simply because we don't know what we want.
We've never circled any of God's promises.  We've never written down a list of life goals.  We've never defined success for ourselves.  And our dreams are as nebulous as cumulous clouds.  Instead of drawing circles we draw blanks.

A lot of people struggle with what God wants and God wills.  I know I have - but I think I'm at a place
where He's making sure I take the time to find out.  Another struggle for me is I had goals while my kids were young but I didn't really plan beyond that.  I've kind of fallen into things, driving a school bus, driving a tractor trailer, now not being able to work because of cancer but I think I can still have goals, dreams.  They just need to be lining up with God's will.  So here I am and here I begin......