Happy First Day of Summer

I started getting in the summer mood a little early by spending lots of time in the pool this weekend! We all got together to celebrate Greg's birthday. I love sunny summer days and good times spent with family and friends.

Summer solstice with the most daylight hours of the year started a little gray but ended in a beautiful sunny afternoon. After my walk in the park I hung out with some of my four legged friends. Coby (the regal one), Rufus (the cuddly one), Zorro (the leaning one), Sunny (the lumbering one), Gracie (the temperamental one) and Machka (the kissing one).

Monsters and Elephants and Lions, Oh my!

It's not everyday you get to create 36 unique "monster" cupcakes for a one year old's birthday party

or paint safari animals cut out of plywood for Adventure week at church but sometimes God surprises me with unique opportunities to use the talents He has given me. This weekend that is just what I did. I worked on baking these a couple evenings ago and then decorated then late Friday and finished them up early on Saturday morning. It was fun coming up with unique designs for each one. Even though the party had to be moved indoors because of the rain we all still had a great time celebrating with Cole.

A month or so ago my friend Laura approached me about painting some animals for the safari themed vacation Bible school this summer. Kim, Tiffany, Hanako and I all worked painting lions, gorillas, and elephants. I can't wait to see how they all will turn out!

I've been learning to listen to the Lord's gentle reminders to use my talents in ways that I never have expected. So whether it is blessing a mom and her little one with decorated cupcakes or the many kids that will attend Adventure Week I'm doing it as unto the Lord!

Circa 1963

Today would have been my parent's 49th wedding anniversary. I don't have a picture from their wedding day but this photo was taken soon after. A friend wrote a fitting description... "In the early 1960s my father (left), a Colombian Émigré, returned to his native country with my mother, a Pennsylvanian farmer's daughter who spoke no Spanish and who was, for the first time, seeing her husband's native country. In this photograph they meet an old family friend (right) on a busy street in Bogota. It was popular at the time for street photographers to take a person's photo and given them a ticket they could later redeem for a developed print - often as a same day affair."

Whirlwind

The last couple of weeks in May have gone by like a whirlwind! Is it really June already? It's been busy but good. The ladies Spring tea at Grace was on the 21st.This was the culmination of several months of planning and preparation. Melanie gave an inspiring talk of the theme of "God's Unfailing Love".

I didn't host a table this year but I enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful tables the ladies decorated. All so different but beautiful in their own way. I am so blessed to be part of such a great group of ladies. They all are an inspiration and encouragement. In the middle of it all I misplaced my camera and didn't get to take any pictures during the tea. Thankfully I found it at the end... Phew! The following day was the art exhibit at church called The HeART of Isaiah. It was sixty-six pieces of art representing each of the chapters from Isaiah. I met up with some of my Grace Group friends and enjoyed seeing every one's creative expressions.

Work was also quite busy. End of May also means the end of a semester and graduation ceremonies. It is one of the busiest times for us at the office. Another record breaking number graduated this year. I stayed away from campus on that day since they were expecting more than 10,000 guests on campus.

Memorial Day weekend has sort of become the "unofficial" beginning of summer. The weather is finally getting warmer and spending time outdoors has been fantastic. I wanted to celebrate by inviting some friends over and making them dinner. It was a fun evening and we all got to take a turn at turning the crank and making homemade ice cream.

Summer also means that the trees are yielding lots of fruit. Apricots are in season now. My neighbor invited me to go pick some and of course I couldn't pass on that opportunity. Today, I made 12 jars of apricots preserves from all the fruit we picked. I love summer!