"Faith, Family, Friends"

Friday night I felt like I was living in a music video from the Country Music Station...and I loved it!!

I'm not sure how it happened or who started it, but by 2 o'clock in the afternoon I was driving an hour to the store to pick up hamburger buns and "soda pop" (as well as an entire list of goodies) at the grocery store. (I can't believe I just used "soda pop" in a sentance.) Anyway, we were having an outdoor BBQ.

Everyone was in charge of bringing their own list of contributions and it worked beautifully. There were 15 feasters all together. Cheeseburgers, grilled corn, southern-style beans, and HOMEMADE vanilla ice cream. Next time we're going to add grilled squash and watermelon. As we cooked, and talked, and feasted, we looked out over the farm and at the John Deer tractors parked under the hay barns. (I could almost hear a country music song being written on our porch steps.)

There was a beautiful storm over the Chiricahua Mountains to the east, which filled the deep bluish-black sky with fluffy billowing gray and white thunderheads. At one point, winds kicked up that reminded me of something off of the "Wizard of Oz", which sent all the kids and women inside and left the guys outside to hold everything down. I looked out the window and saw bond fire-like flames soaring out of the grills. It didn't last long. Within minutes it was calm and still again. Relieved, I thought to myself, "I'm glad we didn't burn our house down!"

After dinner we sat around until midnight talking, telling stories, laughing, joking, and playing tricks on each other. I realized then that I didn't even miss the TV that's been sitting in the corner, waiting to be hooked up for three months now.

There is a fireplace in our dining room/kitchen area, surrounded by red brick which reaches all the way up to the ceiling. Above the mantle rests a HUGE black sign with big vinyl letters. It was the very FIRST thing I move into the house and the very first piece of decor I hung up. During our friendly chatting and card-playing at the diningroom table, I looked up at the sign and felt blessed as I read the words:

"FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS"