Iowa State Fair and The Kitchen!!!

The Iowa State Fair was a blast from all the food, entertainment, and getting to spend some time with my sister and brother-in-law. Enjoy some of the pictures of our time: Mandy and Andrew
Brooke and Patrick

Patrick and Andrew as they begin their journey to consuming as many calories as they can at the fair, and I believe they did a great job. I'm sure they enjoyed every minute too.

The Tractors

Sheep being sheared.

Beautiful horses

Patrick with one of many beautiful horses.

Me with a big horse.

Yummy!!!

Andrew and Patrick waiting on the concert for Sugarland.

Mandy and I doing the same.

A night shot of the fair

The performance

Before shots of the Kitchen:

The hallway had the same wallpaper before. This is an after shot with my wall of fame on it.

After shots of the kitchen:

If you would like to see the full blown experience click on the following link. Boy was this a learning project. We are very thankful to our friends Melonie and Jeff for the help on the Kitchen. Y'all are AWESOME!!!

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

A First

Yesterday I blanched corn for the first time ever in my life, and I must say it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The following web page was helpful: http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingcorn.htm . Now we will see how it tastes when we decide to eat it.

A Reminder

Last night as a lot of life's hopes, dreams, worries, and lack of my own strength were going through my head. This song came to mind:

My life is in You, Lord,

My strength is in You, Lord

My hope is in You, Lord

In You, it's in You (Repeat)

I will praise You with all of my heart.

I will praise You with all of my hope.

With all of my life, and all of my strength.

All of my hope is in You.

~Daniel Gardner

I needed to remember my source and my focus. I also needed to count my blessings to my Father. My Blessings: Love and support of family and friends, good health, a lovely house, new healthy babies from family and friends, and I could go on. Last night I felt lead to share my reminder, and that in this busy life some times we just need to remember where our hope and strength really comes from. I encourage you to count your blessings below, and if you feel comfortable leave prayer requests. I also ask that you pray for your fellow brothers and sisters as Paul encouraged in the New Testament for us to do.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe in him. This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.

And so it begins...

Band Camp officially started today for the whole band. Yes, we have had percussion and freshman in for two days already, but the whole group started today! We are really excited for an awesome band year! Please be in prayer for our students and Patrick (the band director) for the year.