An Evening at Uncle Phil's Diner

Last night was our church's production of Uncle Phil's Diner. This is an interactive dinner theater set in the 1950's. There's never a dull moment. It's an evening of music, dancing, laughter, and fast food.

Here are a few pics of our fun-filled evening!

The "Diner"

The "old" school teacher from "This WAS Your Life" segment.

More characters.

Wally the nerd.

Gertie, Wally's love nerd.

Wally is very skillful with the trays and dishes!

This is Uncle Phil.

Uncle Phil's mother. She was so cute!

Doin' the Hokey Pokey.

The almost birthday party!
Tammy the homecoming queen.
She had been very sad because her date stood her up for the prom.
The gang at the diner crowned her Miss Burger Queen of 1950 in hopes to lift her spirits.


The Cast.
A future Uncle Phil's cast member! :)

There was a bubble gum blowing contest, The Twist, "The Lollipop" song, an "Elvis" rendition of "Love Me Tender" and more. I have some video that I'll post at a late date. The cast and audience had a great time. This is a good, clean and fun way to spend an evening. It is also a good outreach into the community.

Love,

This morning I headed to our local Braum's store.

If you do not have one in your area . . . I am SO SORRY! No one makes a better Cherry Limeade than Braums.

Their headquarters and dairies are in our state so everything is FRESH. Their milk is the best!

Anyway . . . I had to pick up an order for the dessert course for the Uncle Phil's Diner production that takes place tomorrow night. They are SO lucky that I returned home with the order -- because what I picked up was enough supplies for 150 Braums Hot Fudge Sundaes!

Maybe it was just a fluke, but as I drove away from Braums with the hot fudge, ice cream, toasted almonds, whipped cream and cherries in my car, I had a surge of energy. :) For heaven's sake, if just having it in the car did that, can you imagine how pitful I'll be after eating one!

Allison has a few other errands for me today, so I will finish up a couple things in the office and head out to pick up some extra mics, B'day party hats and a little B'day cake.

Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Working on Uncle Phil

I don't really have an Uncle Phil :)

Uncle Phil is a dinner theater production that our church is doing this Friday night. It's set in the 1950's and is so much fun!

Yesterday, I went shopping with Allison, our Music Pastor, for some things that were still needed for Friday's production. The first stop we made was at Lifeway to pick up our summer LPM Siesta Bible Study books. It is "Me, Myself & Lies" by Jennifer Rothchild. Allison is going to be my partner for this study. I had seen this and thought about getting it, so I was excited when I found out this to be our summer study!

We had lunch at Johnny Carino's (I ♥ that place). Italian food is a favorite of mine so I always look forward to going there.After lunch we headed to Sam's Club to buy food for the diner. Hamburgers, French Fries, Coca Cola and Hot Fudge Sundaes will be served. We were supposed to get 4 more round tables but decided we couldn't handle that with all the food, so we made plans to go back.

It rained while we were in and out of stores then when it was time to load up, the sun came out (thankfully it wasn't pouring down rain). It was VERY HOT and so humid. The sun was just beating down on us. I don't mean to sound like a whine-pot -- but it was yuck! I think it seemed worse because of having to load everything into the back of the pickup -- heavy work. We put the frozen food in the back seat in insulated containers, etc. The hamburgers were very heavy! We got so tickled that we almost couldn't get them lifted into the back seat.

We rewarded ourselves by stopping here for an iced cold Mocha Frappuccino.

We stopped at the church and unloaded all the items. We actually had to stuff some of the food in the freezer, but we conquered it!

Today I did not babysit my grandchildren, so this morning Alli and I hopped in the pick-up to go get the tables and some table coverings as well. We had overcast skies which made the temp cooler and the trip much more pleasant. Then a quick stop into Wal-Mart for 30, 2-liter bottles of Coca Cola. Then . . off to the church to UNLOAD again! I think I experienced some productive weight lifting over the last two days.

I've got to head out the door again. Have a nice evening!

Love,

Scripture Memory Challenge

Today we are on verse 11 of our Scripture Memory Challenge! Time is passing so quickly. Continuing with the memorization of the 139th Psalm:

" I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night --"
Psalm 139:11 (NLT)

This chapter reinforces that God is omnipresent and that we are always under His watchful care. I just love that!

Last Tuesday night Valerie and I had dinner together. We are both memorizing this chapter. During the evening she shared a quote/phrase with me that I really like:

"Jesus knows me this I love."

This goes right along with the theme of the chapter that we are memorizing. God does know us . . . and loves us still!

Love,

Jonah, Part 1

When I begin a study, I like to know just where in history the story takes place. It's kind of like knowing which end of the swimming pool you are about jump into: how deep is the water -- how deep into history are we? So, let's begin with some background and little interesting information.

Setting: The story of Jonah is set in approximately 759 B.C. (give or take a few years). It was during the reign of Israel's King Jeroboam II.

Locations: Joppa: A coastal city in Israel approximately 25 miles from the present day Tel Aviv.

Tarshish: Scholars are not completely sure of the exact location of this city, but most think it is in Southern Spain.

Nineveh: At the time of this story, it was in the kingdom of Assyria. Nineveh was off and on the Capitol of Assyria. It is now in present day Iraq. There have been recent excavations that have proven Biblical and historical records. There could have been more uncovered if not for a burial site that has prohibited further progress.

Characters:
Jonah (Dove), son of Amittai (Truth). They were Jews from the Northern tribe of Zebulon (II Kings 14:25)

Tarshish Mariners: These men were pagans and worshiped many gods. They were seasoned sailors.

A great fish: This fish was especially prepared for Jonah.

Assyrians: They were feared enemies of the Israelites. The Assyrians were extremely cruel. The Word Knowledge Commentary quotes Ashur Nasir Pal II (859 B.C.) boasting:

"I stormed the mountain peaks & took them. In the midst of the mighty mountain I slaughtered them with their blood I dyed the mountains red like wool . . . "

"Heads of their warriors I cut off - formed them into a pillar against their city."

"Their young men & their maidens I burned in the fire."

Regarding one captured leader he wrote:

"I flayed [him], his skin I spread upon the wall of the city . . .

He also wrote of mutilating the bodies of live captives and stacking their corpses in piles.

Shalmanese II (859 - 824 B.C.) boasts:

"A Pyramid of heads I raised in front of his city. the youths and their maidens I burned up in the flames."

Also, if anyone opposed him or the government, their lips, head or hands would have been cut off according to their crime.

In Jonah 1:1 we find that the Lord asks Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn them of coming destruction. Asking Jonah to go to Nineveh would have been like asking a Jew in NYC during WWII to go to Germany to deliver a message to Hitler and the people of that country! Thankfully, when God asks something of us, He prepares all circumstances and all persons involved. He never takes us only part way, but completes the journey with us. He's so faithful -- always faithful to us!

The story of Jonah in the most controversial in the Old Testament -- mostly because of the fish and whether or not it was possible for a fish to be large enough to swallow a man. Also, the question has been raised as to whether he could have survived three days and three nights inside a fish.

We don't have to go looking for other incidents as evidence to prove that something like Jonah being swallowed by a fish could be true. We don't have to find another occasion of it again because that's part of what makes it a miracle! The miracle is that only God could do it!

The New American Commentary says:

"Searching for historical incidents when people and large animals were swallowed and later recovered from sea creatures, show a posture of defensiveness, unnecessary, counter productive and violates the nature of the biblical accounts."

Dee Stuarts says: "A miracle is a divine account beyond human replications or explanation."

Jesus himself believed the story to be true (Matthew 12). So if we deny Jonah's experience to be fact, then we are charging Christ either with fraud, deception or ignorance of the truth. The truth is, God can do anything, be anything or use anything He chooses for the furtherance of the Gospel and His purpose!

Do you need a miracle today? God's supply is inexhaustible. He is ready and able to deliver you from, in, or through your circumstance. He knows. He knows you. He knows exactly what you need. Trust Him. Believe Him. He loves you and He cares.

Love,

A Jonah-heart?

Like most of you, I heard the story of Jonah and the whale when I was a small child. Sitting, listening intently with wide eyes, I tried to picture what the inside of a whale might look like. It's one of my grand daughters favorite Bible stories -- probably because her grandfather and I insert sounds and motions that make her giggle.

Recently I felt God leading me to teach on Jonah in my young adult Sunday school class. I ask, "Are you sure? Jonah?" (Why do I question Him?!!!) I began to read and research. I read the little four-chapter book in every version I could get my hands on. After gathering extra information and insight from commentaries and articles I began putting the four lessons together.

To be perfectly honest, I always get much more out of preparing a lesson than the students get out having it presented to them. This little book has made an impact on me. As God would have it and considering the world we live in today, the timing was perfect.

It amazes me how the Word of God is never outdated! The setting for this story is set around 759 BC, yet humans are still dealing with similar issues and God is still trying to get us to do what is right!

I've decided to share with you what I learned through this study. I will break it down in four or five posts. God is continuing to use this series of lessons to help me perfect my heart. So, come back soon and we'll get started on the lessons I've learned from the book of Jonah.

Love,

B's Bakery

Last week I bought B a few little baking pans. She was so excited when I gave them to her Wednesday and wanted to bake something right away. So she decided that she to bake a "birthday" cake for PaPa. Here are the results:

Blue is her favorite color.
Since this was a pretend birthday,
we decided that this would be his 5th birthday :)
Here's the cake.

Our little chef.
(We're still working on relaxing the smile ;)

Little pans + big cake batter = lots of product!

Aren't these the cutest cup cake holders?
B loves them.

Such fun!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Love,

. . . Sigh . . . .

I have had the most incredible three days! I have had my grandchildren since Thursday night and they left around 7:00 p.m. tonight. I do admit that I am tired from keeping up a pace (around the clock) that I'm not used to, but overall it was awesome! They are such good kids -- ages 5 yrs. and 11 months. In fact, adorable!

Their Mommy and Daddy took a few days to get away for my DIL's birthday. They so needed and deserved a break just for themselves. And Grammie and PaPa? They were so thrilled to have them.

My BIL jokingly said that after having his three grandchildren for a few days, that the best part was seeing the taillights as they drove away. NOT TRUE! After my little ones left I missed them! (Note: I keep them every Wednesday and they only live 2 1/2 miles away. I know - - I'm pitiful!)

As my brother once said. "If you don't have grandchildren, you need to get some - they are GRAND! " :)

Love.

Little Slugger

Tuesday night was B's last Tee Ball game . It is so fun to watch these little ones learn the concept of playing the game. B would rather pick flowers in the out field than wait to catch the ball. Dancing is also a favorite past time out there, too.

In the batter's circle.
She's a pretty good hitter.

On first base.
(She made it all the way to home base.)

Here's a short video.



And last, but not least, the Tee Ball hairstyle!

Precious little girl with a sweet heart!
That's Grammie's girl!

Love,

New landscaping?

When we arrived home from Missouri last week, this is what we saw:

er

There is a tree limb in the background - one of several.

While we were in Missouri last week, there were sever thunder storms and straight winds. We received a call from one of the church board members who told us the roof blew off of the parsonage! Actually, it was the southwest corner. Thanks to 7 men in our church, there was no water damage inside from the big rain storm that followed this. Thanks guys!

Love,

Getting Away

This was supposed to be Monday's post. So now it's Thursday and I finally have a little time to myself to blog.

Last week we were in Missouri to attend an Oklahoma minister's retreat. We stayed at Big Cedar in a two bedroom, two bath cabin. Hubs' mother, brother and SIL (from Alabama) joined us there for the week.

Here's a picture of our cabin for the week.
Everything was so pretty and green.

When we arrived, this was the first thing I saw as I walked in the cabin.
My sweetheart had these delivered and waiting!

The next morning I enjoyed a little time out on the deck.
The doors behind me go to the master bedroom.
(I used the camera's timer for this pic.)



Here's a few pics of the interior:

This is the view as you walk in the front door.



The little kitchen.


Looking back at the front door.
All rooms have gabled skylights.
They are stained glass and each one has a different scene.



The stone fireplace.

The master bedroom.



The master bedroom.

I hope you enjoyed the short tour of the cabin. Wouldn't it be nice to own one for a "get-away" place? (These aren't for sale.) Every night a "cookie lady" came by to deliver freshly baked cookies and make sure we had plenty of coffee.

God has been so good to provide get these short times of getting away. I don't know why life is so crazy . . . but it is and this type of thing helps tremendously!

Have a blessed day!

Love,