Friday with Friends – Fall Decorations!

I enjoy decorating for fall!!  The colors are so vibrant.  I’m linked up with Friday with Friends again.  Make sure you check out the other fall decorations.

Welcome!!


Hobby Lobby carved pumpkin :)


Come in!
   

Scarecrow is a must!


Looking forward to having a fire in this!

Pilgrims!


Pilgrims close up :)


Thanks for stopping by!

Friday with Friends – Fall Recipe!

***************************  Revision   ***************************************************
I was reading over this recipe today and saw that the cooking time was wrong, it should be 1 &1/2 hours, NOT 1/2 hours.  Hope this didn't cause any problems for anyone.  Also the recipe says "pour" the batter, it's more like spoon it.  I made it today for the first time this season and it is super thick.

This cake is a favorite of my family and friends.  Hope you will try it and let me know how it turned out :)

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup oil
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 apples, peeled and chopped. (I like a tart apple, like granny smith or gala, both good)
Mix eggs, sugar vanilla & oil in bowl.  Mix flour, soda, cinnamon and salt.  Add apples & nuts to dry ingredients.  Mix all together.  Pour into well greased Bundt pan.  Bake for  1 &1/2 hours at 325.  Cool for 15 minutes.

Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 butter (use real butter)
1/2 cup whipping cream

Bring to boil.  Serve over slices of cake.

When I take this cake to a gathering, I turn it out onto a serving platter, poke it a few times with a butter knife and then pour the sauce over it.  Good stuff.


I'm linked up with Friday with Friends.  Hop on over there for more fall recipes!!

Tipping the Balance…….in my favor.

During the last (almost 3) years, I have discovered that my hard times dealing with missing Peyton come in cycles.  I can feel myself getting stronger and then it gets really hard for awhile.  Satan really pours it on as I am gaining ground.  It is a battle.  It is a battle I am winning.  I am stronger and happier now than I have been in a very long time. 

Tom and I were talking last night and I told him, “I feel good enough to stay this way until we get to Heaven”.  I was saying that I have enough good days and happy moments that I could stay at this level of “grief recovery” and be fine with it.  I think of Peyton constantly and have a balance of smiles and tears.  I smile enough that I don’t feel utter devastation; I cry enough that I don’t feel I am forgetting. 

I know this level is not where God intends me to stop.  He doesn’t want me to be satisfied.  He doesn’t want me to be “fine”.  He created me to be more than a conqueror. 

A couple of boys guys came over with a deer one of them harvested yesterday and stayed for quite awhile to visit.  My friend was also here and she asked me if I was ok.  I said, “We are living the life we were intended to have, but Peyton is supposed to be here.”  No matter how full our life becomes it will never swallow up the hole we have because Peyton is not here.  Knowing that gives me confidence to get better.  Knowing that I will never forget him and how much we love him, strengthens me so I can let go of the grief. 

I have avoided blogging because I didn’t want to NOT write about grief or missing Peyton.  I have other things to say, but didn’t want to let go of my favorite topic, so I wrote nothing.  I don’t know what I will be writing about in the future.  I do have a few more Peyton stories that I will sprinkle in now and then.  I hope you’ll keep reading and commenting.

This Mop is Sweet!!!!!!

This is not a paid endorsement…….as if there are thousands of people reading this and the Shark company is jamming my email with offers.  Sorry for the sarcasm.

For the people who are reading this blog, I had to share my enthusiasm for this mop.  I’ve never been one to use a bucket and mop.  I used the kitchen sink and I rinsed the mop after each pass on the floor.  I couldn’t imagine that dunking a dirty mop into dirty water then smearing it across the floor would result in clean floors.  If I was feeling really industrious, I got down on my hands and knees and wiped down every inch.  While I was down there I was praying to God that He would send His cleaning angels from Heaven to clean the floors.  That didn’t happen.  There probably aren’t any cleaning angels, because Heaven doesn’t get dirty. 

Our home has a lot of tile, hence my search for an easy, effective way to clean hard floors.  I’ve been using the Shark for a month.  The fact that I have actually USED it 3 times in that month is proof positive that it is awesome!!  It’s no big deal to get this baby out and glide it across the floor.  If you choose to watch this video….believe it!!!  Everything it says is TRUE!!!!

I also like the fact that I don’t need cleaner.  There is no chemical smell after I am finished.

I think you need one :)

 

Stuart & Peyton, a.k.a. Stuart

I believe I’ve mentioned before the fact that Peyton was nicknamed Stuart by his rodeo friends.  This was no accident.

Stuart Mazanec went to Heaven April 26, 2006, a year & approximately 8 months before Peyton. 

I think the similarities are striking.  Both long and lean with a love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing with their dads.  (and they love their mommas too)  Their last similarity was rodeo.  Stuart liked the bucking broncs and Peyton liked the bulls.  Stuart was at a bronc riding clinic when he had his fatal accident.  Peyton was bucked off a bull.  I found Stuart’s story on the internet when I “googled” rodeo deaths.  I believe God led me there.  I was compelled to read Stuart’s story because of the nickname. 

I read the article over and over, even looking at his myspace page regularly over a six month period.  Finally, I wrote his family.  His mom and I started emailing each other right away, sometimes several times a day.  Within a few months, Tom & I flew out to meet them.  I had never done anything like that before.  It was totally out of my comfort zone.  I anticipated the visit so much.  I had to keep telling myself over and over that I would not be meeting Stuart when we got there.  Even now, I miss a young man I have never met.

This picture is of the jacket of the guy who named Peyton, Stuart. (the birthdate is wrong, but it doesn’t matter)

Here is a decal that another rodeo friend had made.

I took these pictures with us on our visit, so Stuart’s family would know this whole “Stuart” thing was real and I wasn’t some crazy stalker.  They would have never thought that but I took them anyway. :)

We have a bond with this family unlike any other.  We love them and we love their son. 

I wrote all this to say, God is good.  He gives us promptings and leadings to bless our lives.  God prompted Peyton’s friend to call him Stuart.  I knew God wanted me to write Stuart’s family.  What if I hadn’t?  My life would be less if I did not know them. 

Right now the enemy is whispering in my ear, ‘why didn’t God warn you of Peyton’s accident?’  ‘why didn’t He tell you not to let him ride?’  I don’t know.  It doesn’t matter.  What I do know is that God loves me and cares for me in ways that I cannot fathom.  Satan would like it so much if I were to doubt God.  It’s not going to happen.

Please do not comment that “everything happens for a reason”.  I wrote how I feel about that in this post.

Here’s a few more pictures, just because.

Oh Stuart, I wish we were ALL there.  I know you and Peyton are having a great time.  I can’t wait to meet you.

Summer Re-cap

I read some tips for a successful blog.  One of them was to write………everyday……………I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I haven’t told much about our summer around here.  It was hot.  It was very hot.  It was very hot and humid.  (see how the creative juices are flowing?)

Tom grew a garden.  Not his greatest, but like I said, it was hot.  I found out homegrown broccoli is the best thing ever!!

 

The watermelons were very tasty too.  It was hard to wait

for them to ripen.  I was told no watermelon is going to be ripe before the 4th of July.  So I waited, and it was worth it.

 

 

I pickled some banana peppers. (sorry, no picture of those)  It was my first time to try these and they turned out pretty good.  We also froze some of the broccoli and it is good too.  I have zucchini & yellow squash frozen to put into some soup this fall and winter. 

Burke found a baby raccoon.  It’s mother had been run over, so he took the baby home to raise it.  Jimmy the raccoon is bigger than this now, but these are the most current pictures I have.

 

I took out my contacts one night, turned around to go to the bathroom and saw this in the floor.  It’s a snake, a small snake, but still a SNAKE, IN MY BATHROOM!  Tom came to my rescue and got it outside and put an end to it’s menacing creepiness.  I guess I wasn’t too scared, I did take a picture of it. 

Those are the highlights of our summer.  Anyway, those are the things I have pictures of.  Our summer was quiet and blessed.  Teenagers popping in periodically, cookouts, homemade ice cream, family dinners, good books, great church, baby sitting :) etc. 

I hope your summer was blessed too.  I am ready for fall and all the things it brings, hunting, football, bonfires, potato soup and all things delicious.

I don’t know if writing something everyday is for me.  I like to have something to say when I post, but sometimes you don’t know you have something to say until you get started.

Thanks for reading :)

Mouths of Babes

Yesterday, Tom went to the track to get in his 4 miles.  When he got there, he saw a friend and his 10 yr old son in the parking lot.  The dad was talking on the phone so Tom went to the son’s side of the truck and began talking to him.

Tom:  You going to shoot a crossbow this year?

Boy:  Yes (with big smile on his face)

Boy:  Do you have a boy?

Tom:  Yes

Boy:  Where is he?

Tom:  In heaven.

By this time the dad had finished up his phone call and he told his son, “you know who it is, he was a bull rider.”

Boy:  PEYTON JACKSON?  He’s famous!!

That boy will never know what that did for Tom.  I know Tom’s been having a hard time as hunting season gets closer and closer.  He’s been scouting some and I know he misses his favorite partner so much.

God knew what Tom needed at that moment and he used a 10 yr old boy to provide it.  He loves us more than we can comprehend.