Dirty Little Secret

A couple of months ago, Hubs and I decided to do a little yard work to pretty up our backyard, so we--and by we, I mean he (I gotta give credit where credit is due)--dug a lot of holes in our yard and planted a bunch of crape myrtles. They do really well here in the extreme Texas heat.

I thought that while we were at the nursery, it would be fun to buy a hanging plant to suspend from our bird feeder. They were gorgeous hot pink petunias that lasted about one week, and then they were completely dead. I wasn't sure if I over or under watered, but they were gone. And rather than heed my Mom's advice and return the plant to the nursery and ask for a new one, I decided to cut all of the shriveled blooms and leaves out of the hanging basket and replace them with some flowers that would never die. That's right, people, I bought fake ones and stuck them right in the same soil as the others!

Aren't they pretty? Even my mom told me they were beautiful, though, as soon as she found out they were fake, she rescinded her compliment. She doesn't do fake flowers. I, on the other hand, love looking at their loveliness when I wash dishes, and I feel smug knowing that it really doesn't matter if I remember to water them or not! It's a win-win.

Well, the other evening, as I was washing dishes and admiring my fake fleurs, I thought, "Wow! Those leaves look SO lifelike! And then this morning (while doing more dishes), I noticed some hot pink buds popping up through the falsies!

Dirty secret EXPOSED! Now what? Do I pull out the fakes and let the real ones live, or should fakery and reality live together in perfect harmony?

Happy Flag Day!

According to this Wikipedia article,

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

One of the things I really like about our neighborhood is that many of the families fly American flags in their front yards on national holidays (even our Canadian neighbors! Go Canada!). When I was in junior high school, I used to LOVE being assigned the duty of raising and lowering the American and Texan flags at the beginning and end of the school day. Today, as I put our flag up, the same feeling of patriotism and American pride washed over me!

Wildflowers

This is the time of year when the highways and country sides are decorated with the brilliant colors of Texas wildflowers.

Their beauty inspires people of all ages.

On Friday, we drove out to Brenham where we met my sister and nephew to take pictures in the bluebonnets. Jilly really needs to work on having fun, don't you think? ;)

The weather was just beautiful, and so was the ranch where we stopped to take these pictures. (Many thanks to the kind owners who let us tromp through their flowers!)

It was a really great day!

Butterflies!

One of Houston's treasures is the Butterfly Center at the Museum of Natural Science. It is a permanent exhibit, and it proved to be a wonderful place to spend part of a rainy afternoon last week.

How many butterflies can you spot on this branch?....

There must be about 50-60 varieties of butterflies on display at the Center, just fluttering and lighting on plants all around you.

This one was my favorite. The underside of the wings (shown here) are brown and moth-like, but the topside of the wings (which are hidden in this picture) are a wonderfully rich cerulean shade of blue!

I highly recommend it!

Messina Hof: A Texas Vineyard and Winery

Who knew that in Bryan, TX there was a thriving winery? That's right, y'all--a little bit of Napa right here in the Lone Star State!

The parents of a good friend arranged a private wine tasting and tour for a group of us their friends. It was fun to see the vineyard, which still managed to be beautiful in its fruitless state.

The tasting was fun, mostly because it was served with some delicious cheeses. You may remember that as much as I want to appreciate and (dare I say it?) like wine, I just always seem to well, not like it. I always hope that a wine tasting will change my mind, or at the very least, introduce me to a wine that I'll fall in love with.

In truth, the list of wines I like is very short:

Lambrusco (My Spanish friends turned me onto this bubbly blush!)

White Zinfandel (My mother tells me that this shouldn't even be considered wine.)

Riesling (A nice, sweet white.)

Not a red wine in the bunch, but at least, if I'm out at a nice restaurant and I'm in the mood to have a glass of wine, I know of three I can order that I'll like. That is, if I don't just go with a Diet Coke. :)

Summer to Fall in an Hour!

When I checked the outdoor thermometer at 9:25 this morning, it was 85 degrees outside. A little while later, the sky started to turn gray and I noticed it had dropped to:

A storm was a-brewin'!

It started to get REALLY windy...

...and then came the rain!

Soon the storm was over, and autumn had officially arrived:

That's just how the weather in Texas rolls!

Summertime!

These little cuties are the kids of some of our new friends here in TX. I couldn't resist the blueberry cobbler smeared all over their son's face!

Nothing says summertime like swinging in the late evening...

...fresh cut grass...

...and blueberry cobbler!

Doves...Like Pigeons, Only Cuter!

Since moving to this part of Texas, I have been so amazed at how many doves are EVERYWHERE! As I was walking down the stairs today, I saw this Mama Dove with her two babies sitting on the ledge of the window.

Just out of curiosity, do any of you know the difference between a pigeon and a dove?  They look very similar to me.  Doves are just smaller and maybe a little cuter.

These Three Abide

Remember when I was working on an art project prototype?  Well, I finally created the actual pieces, and on Monday my sister helped me hang them over my desk in the office.

Here they are individually. I decided to go for a geometric look of three big squares containing lots of smaller squares.  The medium is watercolor and black pen on white poster board.  After I painted each of the three pieces, I cut them into smaller squares and then mounted them with foam mounting tape on black foam board. My sister gave me the suggestion of just using the foam mounting tape to affix the completed artwork to the wall. She said it wouldn't ruin the walls if I ever decide to take them down, and I just chose to believe her!

Here are some broader shots of the room, to give you an idea of how the office is coming together. As I sit at my desk and work on our adoption paperwork, it is encouraging to look up and remember that faith, hope and love are three major forces that keep us motivated through the process!

There are still a few more things I want to do in here, but I'm really liking how it's pulling together. It is by far the most contemporary and COLORFUL room in the house, which is probably why I enjoy spending so much of my time in it!

Happy Birthday, Dad

I'm finally coming back from being knocked down by some kind of a viral respiratory thing.  It definitely felt like the flu with aches, chills, headache and fever, but I tested negative for the flu (which is a good thing!).  Now, I'm just dealing with chest congestion and fatigue. I'm sleeping a lot and napping, too.  Anyway, enough of those boring details!  I would like to say one more time, though, that Brian rocks and has been the most selfless, sweet caretaker I could ask for!

In other news, I thought I'd give a brief update on our settling in process. I'm still feeling really good about our move. Our transition to our new life here has been much easier than I ever expected. God has blessed us with some new friendships at our church, and that's been so great. Our church is really big (2600 members), so to help everyone have a smaller community to really get to know people, there are small groups that meet in homes throughout the week. We joined a small group called "Orphan's Hope".  All of the people in the small group either have an interest in orphans & adoption or they are adoptive or foster families. It has been the most amazing place of support as we have begun our adoption journey. One of the other families in our group is traveling to Ethiopia this summer to adopt a 2 year old girl, and another family in our group is adopting from Kazakhstan. I feel like we've landed right where God wants us! 

In case you're interested in what our adoption process will be like, I have written a post on our adoption blog detailing the process.

To take this in a different direction, today is my Dad's birthday--the first since he passed away. He would have been sixty-nine years old today.  He died ten days after his 68th birthday, so I'm kind of dreading the anniversary grief that I may be experiencing in the coming days. Although, I know it is natural, grieving is never easy.  I do find a lot of comfort, though, in knowing that my Dad is in Heaven, free from suffering and pain.  Happy Birthday, Dad!  I love you!  XOXO

Jill, Dad and Me - October 2005

Dad's arm was in a sling because he dislocated his shoulder roping a calf.  He loved playing cowboy!

A Night in Old San Antonio

The past week was San Antonio's annual Fiesta Week!  I grew up in SA, living there until I was 13 years old, so when I think of my childhood, I think of San Antonio. It has been 18 years since the last time I went to Fiesta there, but thanks to an old friend who invited my mom, Hubs and I for a visit, I got to experience it all over again.  This is my mom (on the left) with her dear friend Pat, who invited us to SA for the weekend.

Fiesta week culminates on Friday night with a big celebration in the streets of downtown called "A Night in Old San Antonio" (NIOSA). Droves of people came out to celebrate (including us)! 

NIOSA celebrates the culture of San Antonio--especially the Mexican culture that is such a big part of the texture of the city. Besides being packed with people, the streets are lined with booths decorated with bright, beautiful colors, selling everything kind of food you can imagine...

...including fajitas, burritos, and (yummmmm) churros!

One of the most fun parts of the fiesta celebration are cascarones!

Cascarones are empty egg shells filled with confetti. If you want to celebrate with someone, you crack one of those babies right on his head! I thought I'd be sneaky and indoctrinate Hubs with a cascaron to the head, but at the same time I was getting him covered with confetti, our friend Pat got me!

It was great fun, as you can see by the way I threw my head back laughing.

Yep, that would be me trying to get the confetti out my mouth that fell squarely in it when I threw my head back laughing.  :)

"Consider yourself indoctrinated!"

Here's another random shot of some girls who got an egg-full of confetti in their hair!

We had a great time. Many thanks to Pat for treating us to such a fun weekend!

Texan Right of Passage

Every spring, Texans are delighted when the grassy areas along our highways become seas of blue.  The bluebonnet is our state flower, and it is basically a right of passage for every Texan child to be plunked down in a patch of bluebonnets for a photo session.

My nephew Sam is no exception, and he is now one step closer to wearing a ten gallon hat! 

We went to a local park on Monday for a little photo shoot of our own!

Well done, cowboy!