There will be a 30th anniversary celebrated in our parsonage this month!  It’s truly hard to believe!  When I look back on our wedding  I remember that it was simple, yet beautiful.  I had a very limited budget.  My parents had paid for my schooling; I paid for my wedding.  They did purchase my cake, which helped this young school teacher’s finances!  We just kept things minimal.  We had candles, flowers, and a good photographer.  My twin sister let me wear her wedding gown. 

We were surrounded by our family and friends that we loved and they watched and witnessed as we vowed before God to live together and love each other in good times and bad, for better, for worse.  We’ve experienced both, of course – the good and the bad, but with the Lord’s help we’ve weathered the storms and have come through the hard times closer to the Lord and one another.

The only funny thing that happened at our wedding was when my father-in-law (who performed the ceremony) told me to put Dale’s ring on the third finger of his right hand.  He obediently stuck his right hand out there, so I pushed slipped the ring onto the extended appendage, then during prayer, Dale worked to get it off.  I had visions of it flying across the sanctuary!  However, it would not  budge.  After we walked down the aisle as husband and wife, he slipped into the restroom and, using soap and water, was able to place it on his left hand.  Oh, we also left for our honeymoon without signing our marriage license.  Oops!

That was 30 years ago.  We’ve added some wrinkles and gray hair, but also more love to our relationship than we thought was possible on the day we said “I do.”  Staying together isn’t always easy, but it’s wonderful to be at this stage of our relationship.  We know each other so well.  We are comfortable with one another.  We have become stronger individuals because we draw off of one another’s strengths. 

My advice for any young couple would be:
1.  Decide right now to stay together no matter.  Never use the word divorce.
2.  Don’t stop dating and doing fun things together after marriage.  Carve out time for each other each week.
3.  Don’t focus on things.  You won’t have what your parents have now. Doing without things will only help your relationship because it will make you depend on the Lord.
4.  Pray for your husband and with him every day.
5.  Don’t go to bed angry.  Get it resolved before you go to sleep.

Marriage is a blessing.  How thankful I am for the husband the Lord gave me.  How long have you been married and what funny thing happened at your wedding?  I’d love to hear about it!

With love,

We went to Watauga Lake and sat on a picnic table and this was our view. 

It was quiet. 
It was peaceful.
 It was rest.

Thank you, Lord.

Do you need to stop and rest?  Your body will thank you, and it will quiet your heart.

With love,



Sunday, before dinner picture



Omelets, yogurt with blueberries, and Strawberry Bread (made by Whitney) for Saturday breakfast.

Whitney had requested lots of vegetables, so I tried to make some of her favorites incorporated into a few new recipes.  One dish I made when we grilled steaks on Saturday was Roasted Vegetable Salad.  This is a fabulous recipe!  You could change it by adding whatever vegetables you like or have on hand.  I used red potatoes, red onion, red peppers, fresh corn (I cut it off the cob before roasting, unlike the recipe), and tomatoes.  I also toast the French bread cubes in a pan with the garlic then I add it to the cooked vegetables.  It makes a lot, but don’t look for many leftovers!  This is sooooo good!

You can see the smoke from the oil in the pan when I was browning the roast before church.  Yep, the smoke detector went off..and off…and off…  I told Whitney not to worry, “everything was okay in Mayberry!”  Getting this roast ready for Sunday dinner was easy because you mix the herbs, rub them on the roast, then brown it on all sides and pop it into the oven.  The recipe says to add red potatoes with it, but  mashed potatoes had been requested.  =)

Here’s the end result of the three alarm smoke detector roast…

It made a really rich gravy for the meat and potatoes.  Isn’t that half the delight of a roast – all that good gravy? Mmmmm.

When your squash and zucchini start piling up in your garden this summer, here’s a super good (and easy) dish to make.

Um, hello, delicious!  This dessert is from my Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.  Not only is it decadent, but it’s so easy your 5 year-old could make it!  The cake is 2 ingredients – a cake mix and a can of pumpkin.  The pumpkin takes the place of the eggs and oil!  It also makes it super moist, yet you cannot taste pumpkin – just yummy chocolate!  Over the cake is instant pudding made mixed with reduced fat cream cheese.  After that sits in the fridge a while, you top it with cool whip.  I embellished each piece with a strawberry for color.  This got rave reviews from all my guests!  It made a 9 x 13 inch dish full, so I served it all weekend.  No one complained!  Five grams of fat and 200 calories seem impossible because it’s so good!



Gramma Cunningham joined us for dinner

 This weekend was so full of fun and blessings from the Lord.  I got to visit Charming Charlie’s twice – once with my sis and once with my daughter.  If you haven’t visited their store in the Johnson City Mall and you like jewelry, GO!

 I also got to attend a decorator’s design class in Jonesborough with my daughter and a friend from church.  Gracious Designs offers free classes on selected Saturdays throughout the spring and summer.  What fun we had, and of course we came home ready to re-do our decor! 

Then, of course, there was church on Sunday.  Some of the blessings were pre-service prayer meeting with two sweet friends, Sunday school class with 13 precious children in attendance, the morning worship service with communion added, and visiting missionaries who have a zeal for Brazil.  It was a truly special day.  My cup is running over.  How I thank the Lord for a blessed weekend!

How was your weekend, and what was cooking in your kitchen?

With love,

I love check marks!  A check mark means something’s been accomplished.  On my to do list it means I’ve finished a task.  On my grocery list it means I’ve found what I was looking for. On the calendar it means that day is done.  But there’s one place that a check mark has extra-special significance…it’s on my prayer list!

At prayer meeting this past Wednesday I was able to place three check marks, and they were in three different categories of requests.  My favorite was hearing about a man whose salvation we’d been praying for.  He has trusted Christ as his Savior!  Check #1!

Another answer to prayer was for someone who had been sick.  After much prayer, they were doing great.  Praise the Lord and Check #2!

The last answer was for a Christian man who had wandered away from God.  Not only has he gotten his heart right, but he also is faithfully serving in his church!  Check #3!

As I went to prayer I thought about how encouraging it is to place a check by each of those names!  We’re all praying for someone who needs to be saved, who is sick and who has drifted from the Lord.  Isn’t it an encouragement to see that these very requests are being answered?  If God did it in these lives, He is able to do it in those lives for whom you and I are burdened! 

Don’t quit praying!  Keep your pencil near your prayer list so you can check off that name when the answer comes!

P.S.  I thought you might like to see my herb centerpiece I finished for my patio table.  I purchased the bundt pan at a yard sale, then slipped it over the umbrella, and filled it with dirt and two types of thyme.  The herbs are pretty and accessible for cooking!  

What has been in your hand in the last few days?  I’m talking about something that you do well and that you enjoy doing.  Is it a rolling pin or measuring cup, a pen, a phone, a dust rag, a garden spade, your car keys, your walking shoes, or perhaps your Bible?  Then you might enjoy writing, chatting, cleaning, gardening, running errands, being outdoors or studying the Scriptures.  What are you doing with those things that could be a blessing to others? 

I was recently studying for my Sunday school class about a pretty amazing lady.  Her name is Tabitha, or Dorcas.  Acts 9:36 says,  Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.  If you continue to read the story you find that Dorcas got sick and died.  The widow women washed her and put her body in the upper chamber.  Interesting that they didn’t bury her – they had faith that this dear lady wouldn’t stay dead!  When Peter is summoned, the men didn’t invite him to Dorcas’ funeral; as Matthew Henry says, “they invited him to come to prevent it!” 

When Peter arrived, the widows showed him all the things Dorcas had made for them.  When I read that, my mind went to Proverbs 31:31b – Let her own works praise her in the gates.  That’s what her good works were doing – praising her.  When it says in verse 36 that “she was full of good works and almsdeeds” it doesn’t finish by saying, these were things that she talked about,  or that she started.  No, these were works and deeds that she did!

It’s easy to think about doing things, but never quite get around to doing them.Dorcas didn’t fall into that trap.  She knew how to sew, probably enjoyed sewing, and saw how she could help others by making things for them. 

So I’ve asked myself…what’s in my hand?  Many of the above mentioned items are things I work with, and I’ve asked the Lord to show me how, when and who needs the things I’m holding.  How about you?  Will your works praise you in the gates, or will it just be the empty words of, “You know, I should help…”

Our works don’t save us, but they show the world that we are Christ’s disciples…just like Dorcas was.  I’d like to be named with a woman like her.  What will you do with the things in your hands?

With love,