A few months ago I invited my grandmother over to eat dinner with us in our tiny love-shack-of-a-kitchen.  Not just the quick and easy kind of dinner either.  It was the full home cooked spread.

Given my previous lack of skills in the kitchen, this moment was truly an amazing feat for me.  I have kitchen stories from the early days of our marriage that we won’t even speak of…there are jello disasters and dish rags full of tears from the trials and “terrors” of my efforts with Mr. Uncle Ben…moments that had prevented me from even opening the cabinets, forcing me to accept my fate as a future drive-thru mom.

However, I am blessed with a heritage of heroic Godly women, and also of great southern cooks.  Dinner is traditionally more than just a meal, it’s a moment.  My mom and grandmother, and their mothers, made sure of that.  We eat at the prepared table, and we eat together, when it’s just ready.  There’s a call to wash up, then the call to “gather round.”

After the rounding, we “gather” hands and pray.  Each one has their own favorite words, “Dear Lord,”  ”Dear Heavenly Father,” “Thank you Jesus.”   But there is one that phrase resounds at the end of every prayer.  You can almost feel it coming, the breathing pause, and then these precious words, “…and bless the hands that prepared it.”

I’ve never really given a second thought to why we prayed this.   Gathering over our meal that night, I hear my grandmother praying the family blessing over my hands.  That moment awakened me to the secret of how, and why my favorite women have been so richly gifted with great cooking hands.  It’s not the special cast iron skillet, its not from her special spoon or pan, or even the particular brand names she favors, but rather from the many gathered hands simply asking God to “bless them.”

Now, the more I cook, the more I hear someone blessing me, helping me move a step further into this rich heritage.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”               — Mother Teresa.

The bible says, “In all things we are more than conquerers…” Rom 8:37

~What things do you need God to help you make great?

Keith and I went to Mobile to spend time with his family this month on the 4th holiday.  This holiday has always been one of my favorites.  I just love everything about this time of year, the beach weekends, the lake days, the warm weather, sand in your toes, flip flops, fireworks, the watermelon, blueberry pickin’, fresh peaches and oh, fresh bacon and tomato sandwiches!

It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. Our nieces and nephews are really growing up, two of them are teenagers now.  Keith’s mom Gloria, made about a dozen pies.  And of course, I had to have a slice of each one. On Sunday morning before church, I got a cup of coffee and pulled out a slice of her famous blueberry pie.  I told her I had to work out the schedule so I can be sure to get a taste of all of them before I leave!

Some of the cousins from Lousiana, with their cute girls, who I have not yet met, came over on Sunday, and it was so nice catching up.

Each summer, when we visit I try to take time with the kids and go out in the yard and have a “photo shoot.”

My oldest niece being the teenager, is now “too old” for this, but I snagged one anyway on Sunday…so beautiful…I can’t believe she’ll be going into high school this year….Oh, the “teen” years…

The younger kids soaked it up, and really got involved in our fun time.  Especially my oldest nephew, he is always up for an adventure with “Aunt Jenn” -

{Bare feet, are one of life’s best things}

Keith’s brother smoked a turkey and a boston butt (yes, a butt! and a big one too!) and Gloria made a ton of veggies, fresh out of their beautiful garden.

Paw-Paw or “Uncle Earl” brought out the watermelon, another southern favorite summer moment…

…this made all the kids super happy!

{my favorite photo of the summer}

After teaching these innocent babies how to have a “watermelon seed spittin’ contest” – I sent them back to their mom to show off their new skill. LOL.

These are truly “Happy” days, worth celebrating.

{Photos via, Hudson July 4th}

So there’s a little tricky Gecko hiding out somewhere in our Master Bedroom, teasing us with his bag o’ tricks.  We tried for an hour to catch him last night but he’s so sneaky!  We tried to sick Millie on him, to go under the bed and attack, but she just thought it was play time. Meanwhile, I had to sleep with one eye open, jumping up every hour thinking this little sticky thing was attacking me.  Then tonight when I came home I spot him scurrying from the bathroom to the night stand, and I start screaming for my hubby to catch him, and again, NO LUCK!  So looks like another one-eye-open-while-I-sleep night.

Ahhh…all this gekko chasing now has me thinking about abour car insurance, LOL! ~

Frankie began visiting mom’s back porch on Sunday, May 16, 2010 the week our friend Courtney’s wedding. Courtney has a black cat exactly the same color named “Frank” so we affectionately named her “Frankie.”

Two weeks later on Sunday evening, May 30th, Frankie brought her six adorable baby kittens to live at their new home!  We estimate they were born sometime around Mothers Day this year.

They are just adorable, and best of all Keith and I adopted our first lil’ baby from this little bunch.

She’s a calico, we named “Mille.”  My Aunt Gloria helped me pick the name for her when she visited early in June.  We talked about how much Karen would love to see all these kittens on their visit in July.  My cousin loved cats, and owned two of them.  I know Karen would have enjoyed hearing about my saga with this kitten, and I miss sharing these kinds of moments with her.  It has been such a joy to share in Karen’s love for cats, and bring Millie to our home as our first pet.

“Millie baby” is very playful, a social butterfly and has acclimated to our home so well.  The first night she was a little bit scared, and cried for a few hours.  As long as I was with her she was ok, but when I left she would start crying.  That was the only night she did that.

Who said cats were clean?  This one is a messy trickster!  I cleaned her box, swept up around, and as soon as I finished, she did this, again -

…three times I swept up, then I watched her the third time, as soon as I put the broom away she came running over to her liter box and did this and ran away, as if she were playing with me. I think she just likes to see me get the broom out!

She seems to be really happy with us and we, (meaning Keith) spoil her too much.  She loves to sit with me and watches me write, and she has to follow me where ever I go.  We just love her already!

My mom still has 4 sweet kittens in Wetumpka, AL, that need a good home, they are just adorable….call me if you are interested: 334.207.2297.

Most of our worlds are remiss from moments that shake or shatter the core of our being.  Most of the time we are protected and sealed off from painful heart ache spurred by tragedy.  We see it on the news, read it in  magazines or books of how it has happened to other people, but we never want to believe it could happen to us?

No. Instead we float.  Like Bubbles.  Our life  seems to glisten and shine floating individually, to the pattern and rhythm of our own beautiful micro-world.  Our safe space. The place where where we imagine nothing can happen to us, as long as we are floating.

Bubbles.

As I washed my dishes Friday afternoon, on my 31st birthday, having just returned from a week away to Virgina for my precious cousins funeral, I found myself pondering those vanishing bubbles in my sink.  Also, mulling over my afternoon spent making phone calls and getting quotes for “grown up stuff” a.k.a. life insurance, better vehicle coverage, medical insurance, etc.  I made a round of calls pursuing things I have avoided and never really gave a second thought to…until now.  Because life, for me, has seemed to exist as a series of moments, floating from one dance to the next.

Just like those bubbles disappearing in my sink, my perfectly pleasant bubble instantly burst on June 12th when I received news that my 33 year old cousin – a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a mother to two little children had tragically died in a climbing accident.  No one wants to believe it will ever happen to them or to their family.

I am guilty as charged for portraying the grotesque role of false empathy.  A pat on the back, a hug, a simple “I’m so sorry,” or “Ohhh, that’s tough.”  A card, an email, maybe even a prayer or two.  But secretly in my shiny bubble world, moving away as quickly as possible as to not interfere or collide into a world of pain or sorrow. Because it’s not my world and it’s not my problem, my heart is sadly relieved that it’s not me wearing their shoes.  And only moments later moving along and floating once again.

For years, I have boycotted the news.  I avoid hearing the tragic stories. My ignorance has been my bliss.  It’s been my safe place.  But I have now awakened to a realization during this season that as a Christian, that ignorance is not truely bliss.  It’s simply one of the nasty offspring’s of fear….denial.   My ignorance is unintentionally denial.  Living in fear, is not from the Lord, neither is living in denial.  I’m realizing this now, and principles from the Word are leaping from my heart as reminders of how I can move forward:

My confidence in this confession only comes from recent conversations of friends who share the bubble life with me.  We say it doesn’t matter that we don’t call each other during life’s trials and celebrations, because we “know” we love each  other.  Every year when I flip over the December calendar, I renew an age old promise that ‘this’ will be the year that I celebrate my friends and loved ones special days…but the calendar rolls on, and I continue to float.

Moving beyond this tragedy, time has been an epic enemy.  It’s like the further time moves beyond the moment of our loss, the more our life exists without our beloved. However, this challenge of passing time has given me a newness for living life beyond the floating bubble.  I’m learning to richly soak in each hug, to notice every tear and to embrace even the smallest of treasures, for they are fleeting and priceless.