What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's been a while since I linked up with Jamie for "What I'm Loving Wednesday" so I decided to participate today with several things I'm loving.

I'm LOVING that we have a new restaurant in town-Roma's Italian Restaurant!

They have been open nearly three weeks and I think we've been there 5 times so far!  A little much?  I don't think so!
The owners completely transformed the building into a nice, elegant restaurant and it is gorgeous!  The food, service, & atmosphere is just wonderful and I'm so happy that our town is supporting them so much. Happy! Happy! Happy!

I'm LOVING that we finally changed this kitty's name to something that fits our family better than the name he had.

He came to us with the name of "Ken" but it was so hard to call him that since we have several family members with that name.  He didn't respond to "Ken" either when I called him that.  So, Allan got on a cat name site and went through names for orange cats and we chose.........CHEETO!  That fits us perfectly since two of our other cats have food names!  Anyway, now I'm having trouble trying to switch from calling him "Ken" to "Cheeto".

I'm LOVING that my rose bush is blooming!  This pretty bloom was the first one to come out earlier this week  I was so afraid of the chance of frost to damage the rose bush last night but it thankfully didn't get that cold.

 I'm LOVING  that we're getting closer to finishing our new home.  It has been a long, hard job of building since we've done so much ourselves.

I'm LOVING that we (Ladies Bible Class) celebrated the move to a new house with one of our sweet ladies today.  We took her out to eat and gave her a beautiful flower arrangement as a gift.

Lastly, I'm LOVING this little guy and he's not even ours! "Precious" is just that...precious.  Sunday morning, we opened the door to leave for church and there he sat on top of our car.  It looks like he's just laughing at us because he knows we don't like him up there!  Too, too cute!

Eye Of The Tiger

Last Saturday Allan participated in a TaeKwon Do tournament here in town.  They had a great turn out of competitors from around the area.  This was the first time I've been able to go to a tournament that he has been in.  He has done so well in other tournaments and I knew he would in this one too.

There were quite a few black belts there!  This wasn't all of them but only the group I got a picture of.

There was a good group of lower ranks also, kids and adults alike.
Allan competed in patterns first.

He received a bronze medal in this event!  I don't know how he remembers all of this and in the right order, too!

Next, was sparring.  I love to watch sparring but I just cringe when some of those kicks and punches connect!

He actually bloodied the nose of his opponent in his first match.  This is a reason I don't participate in this sport!  I would have cried and never came back to the match.  He ended up winning this match!

 And...he also won his second match which resulted in him winning the gold medal for sparring!

Lastly he competed in breaking. He got a silver medal in this event!

Another reason I don't do this-that has to hurt!

I'm very proud of Allan and all that he has accomplished in TaeKwon Do.  He works really hard and is so dedicated to it.

Pray For America

This week has been a horrible week for our country.  Just one tragedy after another it seems.  My own state of Oklahoma suffered a terrible loss of an Oklahoma City police officer on Monday.  Officer Chad Peery, who was overcoming his own personal health struggle, died as a result of a car accident.  His four children were also involved in the wreck and are slowly recovering from their injuries.

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 Two years ago, as an off duty officer,he jumped to assist in removing three men at a local business that were causing a disturbance.  He was severely beaten and left paralyzed.  He was told he wouldn't walk again, but he worked hard and proved doctors wrong.  Two months ago, he was awarded the Devon Community Hero Award during an OKC Thunder game.  And...he walked! 

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Then we had the bombing at the Boston Marathon.  I just don't understand the mindset of people that even think of doing such things as this.  I don't know how a person can live with themselves, knowing they've caused such devastation and loss of life.  Any loss of life during one of these events is a tragic thing, but when children are involved it just really touches a nerve in me.  We've all heard the story of 8 year old Martin Richard and his family that were there to watch the race. Martin lost his life.  His mother and younger sister were severely injured.

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People need to listen to the wisdom of children.  I don't know how long ago Martin drew this poster but it has a very loud message for everyone.
Last night as we got home from church, we learned about the devastating fire and explosion in West, TX.  That scene is horrible.

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As of right now, all we know is that there are some deaths and a large number of people injured.  I guess it's too early for anything more than that to be released to the public.

One thing that does warm my heart when these tragedies occur, is the IMMEDIATE outpouring of assistance of all kinds.  Americans do pull together in dark times and support each other.  For that I am grateful!

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Last Weekend

Last Saturday, we spent most of the day working at our new house.  Allan assembled this scaffolding to use to reach the high parts.

It's entirely too high for me to climb around on, but it was an easy task for Allan.

We are nearing the end to this sheetrocking...FINALLY!  He saved this high stuff for the last and now we're almost finished.

Mom brought over several red bud trees to plant.  She's constantly pulling them up in her yard in places that she doesn't want them to be.  So, she brings them to us!

If I can just keep them alive, I'll be in good standing with Mom!  My thumb is no where near as green as hers.  I was proud to find several redbuds that she planted last year are now leafing out, so maybe my green thumb gene is slowly emerging.
After watching Allan swing from the rafters and Mom break her back digging and planting, I just had to take a break.

We had a good day and really accomplished quite a lot.

Sunday, we had a good day at church.  My Bible class was adorable as usual. 

Our lesson was about God caring for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.  During class, "J" told about a girl at her school that was not playing with her and was being mean to her.  "B" told her, "You should treat people the way you want them to treat you."  Out of the mouths of babes!  Her G-Ma was proud that she remembered this advice!
After church, we went to Paris to meet a good friend that was visiting from Colorado.  We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, TaMolly's.

This is the best Mexican food in the area!  I had #11 chicken as usual.  We had a good visit with Donnie and hope to see him on his next trip in this direction.

And just because he's cute-

Even though he's sticking his tongue out at the camera, he's still adorable!

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

It's a beautiful chilly day here in SE Oklahoma.  One of these days spring will decide to hang around for longer than a week or so.  Oklahoma weather is crazy!
 A few months ago, we had new neighbors move into the house next door.  They are huge animal lovers and like to rescue animals and give them a good home. 
They have this big guy-Tank.

Tank was stepped on by his mother when he was a puppy.  His hips were separated and very badly damaged.  He wasn't expected to live much less to even walk.  This family took him and he is now 4 years old and runs everywhere!  He has a lot of trouble getting up and down but once he's moving, he's fine.

They also have this precious little thing whose name just happens to be Precious!

Precious practically lives at our house.  He plays here.  He eats here.  He sleeps here.  I just adore him!  He was also a rescue kitty, very near death when they found him during a rain storm.  He is just the cutest thing and so full of personality.

A few evenings ago as I took Sandy out for a walk, the girl next door called me over to 'see what we've got'!  Their newest rescue...um pet.

A baby armadillo!  I know I had a look of shock on my face and my first words were, "Don't they carry LEPROSY???"  I've always heard that but didn't know it for the truth.  So, I didn't touch it and I didn't let Sandy, who was VERY interested in it, touch it either. 

I have to say that it really is one of the cutest little things!  It's shell is not hard yet, but sorta drapes over it's body like soft leather.  It was very friendly, crawling up on the shoulders of the neighbor girls, snuggling up under their chins.   He/she was a rescue too!  The guy found it along side the road after dropping the kids off at school.  It was staggering and barely able to stand up.  By evening, after being fed throughout the day, it was running around all over the yard.   I kinda scared the girl up about the leprosy thing so she was going to check with the vet the next day.    Anyway, it is really cute and unlike any other 'pet' I've ever seen!

On a sad note, we lost one of our sweet cats Sunday morning.   The other outside cat is really missing her this week so I've been giving him extra attention.   She was also Sandy's cat and I'm sure she wonders where she is too.

Have a great Thursday!

Easter Weekend

I hope y'all had a good Easter weekend.  Neither of the kids were able to come home this weekend.  I miss the old days of dying eggs and all the family traditions we did with them as children.  I was SO glad that Jimmy and his family came down Saturday and we got to dye eggs together!  Theresa brought eggs and we tried the shaving cream/food coloring idea to color the eggs this year.

This idea is all over Pinterest and the eggs look so beautiful.

Theresa spread a layer of shaving cream on the cookie sheet, dropped dots of food coloring and then swirled it with a toothpick.  It looked beautiful!

This was pretty messy but still a lot of fun.  I think Jimmy, Theresa and I had more fun than the boys did though...haha  "C" had done this same project at school last week so it was kind of old news to him.  "E" stayed with us a little longer and had a good time.

The eggs didn't turn out quite like the Pinterest ones did, but they were still pretty.  I'm not sure what we did wrong since they didn't come out as marbled as we hoped.  Still fun though!

Saturday evening I gathered all the goodies to make treat bags for my Bible School class. 

I had several extra pairs of 'hands' that would not stay out of things.  Abby batted eggs all over the living room floor!

Hershey preferred the bunny pins with the feathers on them.  He kept gathering them up all around him.

All finished!  They look so pretty and I knew the kids would be excited. 
Sunday morning was a very rainy day.  I was worried that our attendance at church would be down and that there would be no children in class.  You never know on holidays.  It seems I either have extra kids that are in town visiting relatives or I don't have any because my kids are out of town doing the visiting.  Well, these three little ladies did show up!

Our story was about the sinful woman coming to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  "B" told me that Jesus looked like "Jasmine's boy".  She always makes me laugh!

During the last few minutes of class, we made a bunny craft to take home.  I love crafts that use kids handprints!

Cute little bunnies hiding in the grass!

Of course, I had to make one too!

One of my favorite teens at church!  She was willing to put the ears on for a picture in exchange for a treat bag!  I LOVE her!
The sun was out by the time we got home from church.  So, Sandy posed for a few pics.  You can see how happy she is to be wearing bunny ears!

Happy Easter!