Precious Words of Wisdom

I received a very insightful note from a friend.

...One thing we are learning is that “relationships” are more important than “being right”...but when there is disagreement or misunderstanding, we seek to ask forgiveness for whatever we have done to offend our brother or sister. We seek to place their needs above our own and to humble ourselves before our brothers and sisters.... this leaves no room to establish “footholds”, our Lord is glorified, and we place ourselves in a position of being able to be used by the Lord.

If the world would learn this one thing, there would be great peace on this earth! It is called walking in the Spirit instead of walking in the flesh.

Here's an hilarious example of
not
learning this lesson!!!!

Click the white arrow
in the middle of the picture.

TROUT FISHING WEEKEND

Trout Fishing Weekend

Last weekend we went trout fishing at Backbone State Park. Neither one of us had ever been trout fishing before. We discovered beautiful creeks running with pristine waters, filled with speckled and rainbow and brown trout that danced about the waters like children playing in the park. Even greater blessings came when we met two young men who knew how to catch and prepare trout. They were named Brian and Ryan. Nice guys. One was from Iowa City and the other from Cedar Rapids; friends just hanging out for the day. They were a Godsend to our mini-adventure ad they imparted vast fly fishing and trout fishing knowledge into our lives. We love learning new skills and insights. They were just delightful young men.

As for the trout; You could see them clearly and just watch, as I did, or you could drop in a fly or worm and tempt them. Many just examined and teased. Some sacrificed themselves so we could be fed a luscious trout dinner. I had never eaten trout before so that too was taste sensation. It is so mild and easy to prepare and to eat.

The trout is a fish with skin, not scales. We simply gutted them and removed the heads. Then we placed fresh lemon slices inside the cavity, sprinkled with lemon pepper. After adding a big dab of butter we rolled the beautiful fish in aluminum foil and placed them near the fire. Within 15 minutes we were relishing with the delight the mild, flakes of flavorful fish. The skin slipped back with a slide of the fork. The meat peeled gently from the bones with gentle touch from the tines of our forks and we savored every bite.

The Backbone trout streams are stocked three times a week until October. It was a total delight to spend the day in such a magnificent place and to be with such wonderful. Backbone also has cabins to rent, though we spent the night friday night at the Strawberry Motel in Strawberry Point. It was delightful too, because of the wonderful people running it. Bonnie will take good care of you, but when they say it only has room for 4, believe them! Its literal unless you want to stand up while sleeping! HA! The cabins and the Strawberry Motel both rent starting at $50 a night.

Backbone has a lake, trout streams, paddle boats, canoes, kayaks, row boats and swimming beat. It is all beautiful. It appears there are no large motor boats, though I didn't see any motor boats. There is camping and many picnic areas.

It was a delightful day I would recommend for anyone who has the incling to spend the day with God, friends, and nature.

Tapioca To You!!!!!

Wednesday | September 19, 2007

TAPIOCA TO YOU!!!!!!

Vaughn's favorite is tapioca pudding.

We tend to buy the little pre-packaged cups. I was going to surprise him tonight with a 2 quart pan full of warm, homemade tapioca pudding. Just as I was about to pull the pan out of the microwave the phone rang.

The hard part here is that I actually thought about (in that split second ), not trying to do two things at once.

But brushing away the warning from the Holy Spirit who brings to remembrance what we need to know, I answered the phone as I reached in with my other hand to lift out the bubbly pan full of savored delights.

I could see Vaughn's face, his smile. I could hear his comments, his joy, his hugs and maybe even squeels that I had made something so wonderful just for fun.

Then it happened.

It tumbled from out of my pot holder to the floor.

It was beautiful the way, in that split second, it sprayed like Buckingham Fountain on a windy day. It send tapioca everywhere.

The pan hit the floor. The tapioca went verticle, straight up to the counters, down the side of the stove, all across the cabinet drawers and completely coated not only the floor, but the fire extinguisher, rug shampoo bottle, the new bag of potatoes, the quarts of waiting soda pop, the thermos that awaited the next cup of coffee... all the things neatly tucked away on the floor in the corner, hidden part way by the stove, but still accessable when needed.

Do you realize you can actually tapioca skate?

Its much faster than ice! Its slick as snot.

I put on my swim suit and dove in to the mess, slipping and sliding as I transfered back and forth from sink to corner, sink to wall, sink to stove, repeatedly washing my wet rag out. Its as though it yelled at me, "Where's the kids? They'd love to play with me!"

After getting the various THINGS out of the puddles of goo, I called in the dog!

Its amazing how quickly they can remove a mess.

I am,after an hour, almost ready to mop and wipe it down with windex for the final shine. What a fun thing. Life is good... but sometimes its made better by tapioca. I hope Vaughn brings milk home tonight. I'll try again. (I used it all up on the 1st batch) and still have 2 eggs, so were good to go on round 2.

We'll see. If he didn't read my request for milk, I don't think I'll mention the surprise I had for him.

Have a good one.

Me