Lake Tahoe

The first weekend in October we were blessed with a little trip to Lake Tahoe. We enjoyed being with friends and having time as a family. Here are a few pictures from our trip: 

We walked down to Taylor Creek to see the salmon spawning. 

Lane and I on our walk to the creek. 

It is hard to tell but all of the pink in the water are the salmon. 

Then this incredible view happened.
It took me almost three years living here to drive all the way around Lake Tahoe.
I have been missing this view for way too long.
Emerald Bay is one of my new favorite places. 

This is the Vikingsholm Castle built in 1929.
It is at the mouth of Emerald Bay and was unfortunately closed for the winter. 

A Temporary Home

I am a worrier. I can't seem to stop worrying and nothing is off limits, I worry about things I have no control over and things I do. This world has so many things that seem fit to be worried about. I am pretty sure if I could have all of my groceries delivered that I wouldn't leave my house. I worry about my family, friends, terrorist attacks, disease, traffic accidents, when living in the South I worried about the weather a lot, now that I live in California I worry about earthquakes.
I could go on and on, but I really feel like the Lord has been trying to teach me that this earth is not my home, it is temporary and if I live my short time here worried then I will miss so many of His blessings. 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 tells us "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." The verse that I find myself dwelling on is found in the book of Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my Light and my Salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread."
I need to live my life here in surrender to Him, living each day in His mercy and grace. He has shown me His provision, He promises to meet me  in the mess and His word is Truth and is comfort in all of the chaos.
So there it is, a thought about life on earth ~ a temporary home.

Two Wheels Only

My sweet, crazy, knows how to have fun Grant will be turning 4 soon and wants a motorcycle party {there is a motorcycle piñata he has had his eye on for some time now} so it is only fitting that he would learn how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. 

Here is a little video of my dare devil. 

Bar-B-Que

The South is synonymous with bar-b-que, all different styles of sauce, ways of smoking the meat and

plenty of fixins to go along with it.

 My love of bar-b-que began back in high school when my family started going to a local bar-b-que restaurant. 

Davis Bar-B-Que became a family favorite and soon became a second home to me.

I began working at "the restaurant" the month after I turned fifteen and was still working there in some capacity when the Lord brought us to California almost three years ago. I learned a lot over many plates of bar-b-que, I learned what it meant to be "in the weeds" and how good it felt to finally catch back up again. I laughed so much, I cried a little and I loved a lot. I traveled, learned a whole lot about southern cooking (like how to make gravy) and got to know people in the community. I learned what hard work was and the benefit of doing a good job, not only because I needed good tips, but because of wanting to do the best I could for the people I worked with. Jerry, Carole, Leslie, Phil, PJ, Clay, Chip, Ashley, Trip, Barry and Cindy may not be my blood relatives but they are my family and when I am in Jasper "the restaurant" is my home.

If you are ever near Jasper, Georgia I highly recommend making a stop at Davis Bar-B-Que where you can play eye spy for weeks, be greeted with a smile, and eat some delicious food. 

Simply Southern ~ Sweet Tea

This marks the first post in a new section on the blog to host all things southern. 

 Whenever I become homesick I naturally want something that reminds me of home, the other side of that is I have the blessing of sharing my love of all things southern with others .

One of the great things about where we live is that we get to host our summer interns for dinner while they are here serving for three months. Micah and I like to pull out the stops and share some our favorite southern classics like boiled peanuts and bar-b-que. (I guess the south is the only place where bar-b-que means meat slowly smoked to perfection, because here when someone says bar-b-que they usually mean hamburgers and hotdogs.) 

The one thing that the interns and others have loved the most is our sweet tea. We have gone through as much as four gallons of tea in one evening. So many of these young adults have asked for our recipe and we don't really know what to say, so for all of you who want to know how to make our tea 

Here is the recipe: 

Tea bags - some people are very particular when it comes to this ingredient.
Sugar, gallon sized pitcher, spoon and water in a pot. 

Add the sugar to hot water in your pitcher about half full. 

Bring the water to a boil. 

Add your tea bag - this is a gallon size tea bag. 

Turn off the water and let steep. 

For five minutes. 

Discard the tea bag and add the tea to the sugar water in the pitcher. 

Add water until you fill the pitcher. 

Pour over ice and enjoy!

~Sweet Tea~ 

Ingredients: 

Gallon Size Pitcher

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

Tea Bags - 1(if using gallon size tea bags)

             or  4 (if using family size tea bags)

             or  8 (if using regular size tea bags)

1. Add some water to a pot and put in on the stove to boil. 

2. While the water is heating up add your sugar to your pitcher then add hot water and stir until it fills about half of the pitcher. 

3. When the water boils add your tea bags and turn off the water. Let the tea bags steep for five minutes. 

4. Throw away the tea bags and add the tea to the pitcher of sugar water. Stir and place in the refrigerator to cool off or pour over ice and enjoy right away. 

 

Quick Trip

In September we took a weekend trip and went to Ridley. 

We wanted to go somewhere close to home so Ridley was a great option.

On Saturday we went to Turtle Bay Exploratorium. 

We learned about the animals that inhabit northern California, walked through a parakeet habitat, and saw a show including most of the animals in the park. 

There was also a fun Paul Bunion themed playground.

 After visiting the park and seeing the museum we walked across the sun dial bridge. 

The bridge is a working sun dial and is made out of glass. We also walked through the botanical gardens. It was very hot and the boys were pretty worn out by the end of our time there. 

Some pictures of our trip are below.  

Grant seeing how he measures up to the largest bat in California. 

MJ isn't even as big as the bat. 

The log themed slide at the playground.
MJ's feet look huge in this picture. 

Grant at the end of the log slide. 

The boys in the tree house. 

Up in the bird nest. 

The sun dial bridge. 

The family on the bridge.
It was a beautiful day and a great time as a family! 

Tiny Toes

Lane has enjoyed finding her feet. 

She seems to prefer them over her pacifier these days. 

This picture just begs for a funny caption.