rockin' sermon

click above on the post title "rockin sermon" which takes you to our sermon page and click on the audio for june 20.
give yourself 20 minutes to listen to our very gifted preacher preaching God's word!  I LOVE MY CHURCH. it has lifted my spirit and encouraged my relationship with the Lord SO MUCH.

whazzup??

well, i have been BUSY! doing the kids camp was really fun but VERY tiring! one afternoon i sat on the couch to read and found myself three hours later still on the couch with the book on my chest. crunch had just been hanging out and the house was a mess, but no harm done. NO MORE naps without another adult around, i promise. peanut actually had taken her 9 year old self down to a friend's house and hung out with her and i did not even know it. YIKES!!!!!! ok, for real...thank you Lord that you (once again) continue to protect my children as my stupidity plagues me!
the kids are very tired also which makes life around here pretty grumpy. when the kids are grumpy, they fight! this is exasperating to me and i feel like i might just have to be admitted. STOP FIGHTING!!!!! this morning they were going at it and i said OK READING TIME! sent the two instigators into their rooms to read. only one could actually read and you would think i was tearing off her nails one at a time. the other is still learning to read so i thought we should have our little "homework" session. i had to send him back into his room because his adhd med had not kicked in and literally it was like trying to get a jack russell terrier to calm down and do flashcards. a few minuted passed and we tried again. it was hard but we got through 20 minutes of ULTIMATE FUN! now, I feel like someone has ripped my toenails off. does anyone know of a good tutor?? i am just not cut out for it. i can teach them to draw or paint and i am great at reading to them BUT teaching to read....THAT is another story!

my sister came over to start the redecorating re-arranging process in my dining room. since i bought a new table "farmhouse" style. i thought i wanted a "farm" look. she told me "i don't think you want a "farm" look. like roosters and red and white gingham do you? NO, she answers for me.....you need to integrate your eclectic artsy style into a "rustic" look". SO, a farmhouse artsy eclectic room? we shall wait and see how this turns out. i have one assignment, a 64" painting that will cover one wall. i just have to PAINT it and i am extremely anxious about painting something so different and BIG. i will not paint a GINORMOUS OWL i promise. BUT maybe a really unique abstract that might combine elements of my favorite hymns and words of truth! we'll see.
sara is a great decorator and just starting out. check out her cool blog "A WALK THROUGH". she has a great way of decorating on a budget! http://atthewalkerhouse.blogspot.com/ I must add that she is starting a job at an amazing oriental rug shop where i KNOW she will make contacts. Paige Allbright Orientals. beautiful shop and a great way to get started with any room is an amazing rug.......OR a piece of art?

this is the "before" pic of my dining room. stay tuned for the "after"! NO PRESSURE, SARA!!

junk15

peanut decided to brush moss the dog's teeth. not only did he bite the end off of the toothbrush off but there were bubbles coming out of his nose. 10 years...first teeth cleaning. minty freshhhhhh!

LOOK AT THESE HOOTS!!

7th and 8th graders did these!!!! they got to do special ones because they are the oldest group. they used hymnal pages for wings etc. LOVE IT!

sad facebook status.

too sad to even expand on the details. so i am just copying my facebook status.

heart is broken. "cheerio" the dog, bit my friend's child (no blood)but continued to "attack" him until we pulled him off. he attacked my dog more than once. when we saw a dog trainer of 30 years and let her meet him. the advice was, take him back. he has a foster and will go back with her. too upsetting. the trainer said he is scared and it turns to aggression.

feeling depressed and so sad for both of the little guys...Butter and the dog. i am trying not to feel guilty. but, it's really hard not to. taking a break until the "right" puppy shows up. not going looking anytime soon.

art camp for girls!

today was the third day of CREATED FOR A PURPOSE camp! this camp started in my friend's kitchen with about 20 girls and now YEARS later we are at about 140 and a waiting list. the girls get to paint, sew, scrapbook, craft, and cook! but most importantly they are taught that they TOO are "created for a purpose". we have two more days and these are some of the owls that the girls have painted with me. they are so cute! the girls and the owls!

hello!

HELLOOOOO ONTARIO!!!!! how did you find this funky junky???

the story of cheerio~ the dog!

i was told to be patient. i feel like all i have had is patience. 6 weeks of waiting for phoebe. and then the possible adoption of a precious terrier at the humane society. i am emotionally spent!! my sweet friend ali encouraged me to BE PATIENT and wait for the "right dog". so, as a last ditch impatient effort, i went to the saturday adoption at animal adoptions in homewood on crescent ave. people bring their dogs that they are trying to place in forever homes. i arrived 5 minutes early and went in. i looked at a couple of sweet "too big" dogs and felt a little let down. then as i was standing in the main area inside, my OWN VET'S TECHNICIAN walked in with this cute little dog! she said, "Hey Liz! this is 'beagle dog!" of course i was shocked because i did not know that she had this dog!
we sat and talked about this 1 year old pup. he had been thoroughly vaccinated, neutered, and socialized. she had found him four months ago wondering the highway! he had spent the following months in her home and at the vet clinic. he had been socialized with dogs and cats and LOVES children! hey! sounds good.  we talked a few minutes longer and we decided that i would take him. if there were problems to arise, i would simply return him to the vet's office!
i brought him home. he came to life! Butter bonded with him like crazy. he LOVES HIM!! he named him CHEERIO....i don't know why. i will say that i like it because it does have a reference to the "cheerio's" on GLEE!  he is doing great. besides the first day, he has not tried to run away. we give him treats often and feed him so i don't think he will go far if he gets out again. he loves the outside so i can leave him to lay on our outdoor couch on the covered porch.
OH, you might be wondering about Moss the Dog. well, he was fine with Cheerio yesterday. today?.....well, let's just say, i don't think he expected him to be a "long term" visitor. it might take some time. they do play, but Moss is tired and old. So, his patience is slim.
as for butter, i have never seen him so excited. this is huge for him. he needs this.
what started out as a replacement for frannie, has turned out a "happy distraction" to the "dawg daze" of summer! and a friend for my kids.

love at first sight. a frightened little thing!

o.k. now you are chic! no?

you cannot catch me! do not try!

a genuine smiling face tells me we did GOOOOOD!

oh, a boy and his dog! wait, this pup was supposed to be for me!! OK, God, you know better than I!

Cheerio kisses, snuggles, jumps, plays, barks, and pants! she reminds me of "skip" in that great willie morris story. the boy, well, "butter" fits the description as he is followed around by his new "unconditional friend". i do think that they will make great renditions of typical norman rockwell scenes many times daily. as peanut has had moss at her side, now butter with his cheerio! wait, can you put butter on cheerios?  maybe we should have named him "waffles"!

two owls for miller light~~ i am movin' on up!

awake at night!

asleep in the day

ch ch ch chia??

earnestine aint much of a looker but AT LEAST does not have chin hair....yet.

lionel needs a shave.

I LOVE VBS~~~ butter and crunch came home with these wonderful cans with nylon stockings full of seed and faces painted on them with the parable of the sower and the seed from the Bible. I LOVE PRACTICAL APPLICATION!  i "soaked the heads and then filled the cans "as per directions" and they began to FLOURISH, i tell you, FLOURISH! ok, i just threw up in my mouth a little as i looked over at them just then something about the regular chia pets have always grossed me out, but these have turned out to look like baked potato's...THAT ARE GROWING GREEN HAIR! and to make matters more interesting [unlike the chias] they grow hair on their FACES! Y'all, i am SO SORRY, I LOVE your VBS!!!! but these are EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!! but, something about them is fascinating and i wake up each morning to see where a new "sprout" has popped up. i gagged a little when the chin hair started on "lionel". "earnestine has maintained hair just on her head as any lady would hope. I will never forget the parable now. thank you girls for the practical ap! LOVE YOU!!

Mark 4 (New International Version)




Mark 4

The Parable of the Sower

1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."



10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,

" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'[a]"



13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

JUNKIN' JACKPOT!!

ignore the ottoman that does not match! but it holds legs and feet very nicely!

the rug is awesome too! it came from a garage sale. a wife had never liked her husband's taste in rugs!

the over sized couch was cramping my style!

last years "junk jackpot" couch!

HERE'S THE JUNK:
I walked into the Salvation Army Family Store five minutes after they opened yesterday and there they were!!!!!! waiting on me! two matching leather chairs...[to replace our over sized poofy couch that has been taking up most of the room in our family/TV area.] they were eighty bucks each and i GRABBED them!!  they are so similar to the couch that i bought LAST year at another Salvation Army across town. YES, you remember, i FLUNG my body on the couch until a worker came up and asked me if i was ok... i told him i was not moving until he found the ticket for the couch... my friend Co found me there and was laughing so hard at me as she had to take my place on the couch while i investigated the situation about the couch not having a ticket and CAN they sell it without one????? yada yada....well that was a year ago and now i hit freakin' junk jackpot with two chairs for one hundred and sixty dollars! OF COURSE, i do not have them in the same room with my couch because that would be way too much fine leather in one room! this was my thrift find of the year. i will be careful not to get too confident. you have to be at the right place at the right time for this kind of find! the more you go, the better your chances. the more you go, the easier it is to not "get excited" about everything. i put less in my cart now. i tend to browse as a thrifting veteran would....careful not to become a hoarder. i DO NOT want to be on that show. neither does bert. his favorite line is, "you sure do spend a lot of money, saving money."

i just want a lil pound pup and my friend has one that speaks italian.

could not get A THING done today. headed out to a animal shelter that i thought was just about 15 minutes away and it ended up being 30 minutes. i got there at 11:00 and they said i could not see the puppies until noon (because they clean cages all morning). so, since i had to pick up kids from VBS  i had to leave, with my tail between my legs after begging a little...which did not work because they see puppy eyes all the time and it does not phase them. 1 hour round trip and did not see a dog. then a friend called and had met a man with a box of puppies. by the time i got to him he had sold them all for $25. they were shih-tzu pekingese mix. PERFECT. oh well. Lord, you know even the plan of a perfect little furry friend for us. i am just trying to be patient.
SPEAKING of dogs. you can check out my friends' sight where you can watch a live feed of their lagoto from Italy nursing her 6 puppies. they went to Italy to retrieve (ha) this breed and brought her back, and now will have their Italy trip paid for plus! these are fascinating dogs!!  you have never seen a more amazing dog. PERFECT temperament. i offered a "wall sized" painting to them in exchange for a puppy but they are already spoken for (all over the country!)
here it is!! copy and paste to your browser
http://amantedilago.wordpress.com/

all other ground is sinking sand

we brought our friend to church this morning. i did not believe he would come. first of all he is VERY catholic and our church is...well...NOT. this friend and i have had many discussions (friendly ones) about the differences in our beliefs. there have been times where we just laugh and move onto another subject. this week, i invited him to church. i realized that in all of our discussions, i had never ACTUALLY asked him to join us at church.
so, when i asked him, and he said yes...he told me that no one had EVER invited him to come to a protestant church. this would be his first protestant "church service" (besides a wedding or two) that he has ever attended.
Bert did not believe that he would show. but, there he was, at our door at 8:30 to come with us to sunday school and church. "HA! I TOLD YOU HE WAS COMING", i beamed to bert!
He rode in the stinkmobile, in the captain chair behind me. with the kids. and some leftover mcdonalds wrappers. he talked to crunch, about life....
we actually made it to church on time. this time sunday school was about praying through the Psalms. NOW, my friend knows ALL there is to know, in the Bible. BUT, we definately do not believe the same stuff about its meaning, translation, yada yada. so, i was thankful it was Psalms because really, everyone likes this part of the Bible. am i right? things went well and we had to participate in a small group discussion on the meanings and the usage of words in this one chapter of Psalms and how it applies to our lives. and then we were asked to "go around our group and pray out loud using the "wording, in this particular Psalm" to help us to dig and become more intimate with the meaning of what the psalmist was saying...... YIKES. ok, i LOVE to pray aloud, but this poor guy is just visiting and i thought "Lord, we are gonna have him running away screaming". i am under the assumption that Catholics do not usually participate in corporate prayer. the priest intercedes for the congregation. i might be SO wrong, but this is what i understand to be the case. at lease here in bama. and i  just simply have not met many catholics that talk about their prayer life as freely as us "protestants"
so , we sat in a group of about seven and talked about the passage. here it is:

62:1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3 How long will all of you attack a man

to batter him,

like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

They take pleasure in falsehood.

They bless with their mouths,

but inwardly they curse. Selah

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

9 Those of low estate are but a breath;

those of high estate are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

they are together lighter than a breath.

10 Put no trust in extortion;

set no vain hopes on robbery;

if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

11 Once God has spoken;

twice have I heard this:

that power belongs to God,

12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.

For you will render to a man

according to his work.

after a discussion about what we each liked about the chapter. it was kind of a central theme that we want to stand on the ROCK of our salvation and not on sinking sand. then we talked about the "sinking sand" that is portrayed in the verses. such as "riches" and being in "high estate," "extortion," and our hope being in him and not in others.
then we began the prayer time where we were supposed to try to use some of the phrasing in our prayers.
i slid a note to my friend....[you do not have to pray out loud]...he looked at me like [why not? you dork, i can if i wanna]
so it came around to him and in very few words...he prayed a sweet prayer something like: "Lord, help me to see the Rock".
WOW
 i am so glad that he came with us, i have no idea if he will come back. i have no idea why he agreed to come with us today. i don't know who learned more.....he, who put himself in a strange environment because he was open to the invitation. or ME, who assumed that he was gonna learn something BIG about the differences in our beliefs (and they are BIG DIFFERENCES) and then suddenly decide to convert? i do know what God did today. i know i learned that an Italian Catholic man was not afraid to listen.
SO, here is my question:
when was the last time you went out on a limb and asked someone to come to church? when? when? when?
why is it so hard?
i live in a little neighborhood FLANKED by two huge churches. i am surrounded by members of those churches. we have lived here for 10 years. NEVER ONCE, has a person invited me (or us) to attend either of those churches. forgive me "friends" that live in my neighborhood that have never invited me to church. i am not mad. i am just a little worried that we have "lost touch" and gotten SO comfortable in our own "zones" that we forget that someone like my catholic friend might just want to feel special, and INVITED. they might not want to change churches forever or even begin to go to church at all. but an invite is always nice...and guess what.....wait for it.....WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SHARE THE LOVE OF CHRIST, THE GOSPEL, AND THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION.
some that know me might be thinking: "well, liz has never invited me to her church. so who is she to talk?" i am so sorry for that. i wish i could wear a t-shirt with an invite on it but if you talk to me for more than 5 minutes i usually will bring SOMETHING up about God or Church. i am NOT perfect, Jesus is. i am not the savior, He is. i am a sinner with a bunch of yucky things about me. if you give me some time i will tell you all about my depravity ( it's kind of a bad habit) but usually to tell you WHY I NEED JESUS. why i am in need of a savior that i do not have to prove myself worthy of. because HE ALONE is WORTHY. He showed us that on the cross.
 
2 corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
 
one more thing: i do not know enough about the Catholic faith to write a "dissertation" on it. i invited my friend because of our many discussions regarding having a relationship with God ALONE "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit".
my only hope is whether Catholic or Protestant, Atheist, or Agnostic..........You have a relationship with the Lord, acknowledging you are a sinner, believing that God sent his perfect son to die for you! you need ONLY HIM. and without Him, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. there is NO OTHER WAY.
you can read the Bible all different ways. standing on your head, backwards, sideways. you can't twist it around. it is the true WORD OF GOD.
 

it's FREE! it is called GRACE and i am so grateful for it.

our friend!

my friend Tripp has just been diagnosed with colon cancer. he and his wife, julie have two young daughters. julie is a nurse practitioner. tripp is an attorney.
diagnosed this week.
surgery one day later.
chemo to begin soon.
PRAY FOR HIM!

i am choosing to attach this painting to represent the MANY MANY people praying for them!!!

JOIN THEM!

his caring bridge site has a "fishing theme on it" with pics of him holding BIG FISH! which reminded me of the great quote from Dumb and Dumber.....but referring to cancer i say to him......"KICK IT'S ASS, SEABASS!"
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tripphead

i thought i would include their first journal entry:

To all our wonderful friends and family,
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the visits, not​es, cards, emails, facebook posts, gifts and food that you have bestowed on us this week. If you had told us last week that we would be in the hospital facing Mt. Everest, we would have laughed. Yet here we are. We appreciate all the prayers being lifted up for us and can certainly feel God’s grace surrounding us. We are comforted in our faith and know that He will be with us on the difficult journey that we are facing.



We appreciate all the information and research on metastatic colon cancer and its treatment that you have sent to us. This information has been invaluable in assisting us to make some educated and informed decisions regarding treatment. Once we have finalized plans we will certainly update everyone.



Tripp is feeling better with each passing day. He is now tolerating food and this is a huge sign of the healing that is occurring! What a wonderful testament to the power of prayer as he must fully heal from the colon resection before starting the next phase of treatment – chemotherap​y. We expect to be discharged on Monday from the hospital and he will continue to take it easy at home. As many of you know, this will be difficult for him since he likes to be busy.



We will close with our new motto sent to us by a family friend. “Jesus Christ is not my security against the storms of life, but He is my perfect security in the storms. He has never promised me an easy passage, only a safe landing.”



​Much love,



Julie and Tripp

Facebook reaction to my makeover

FACEBOOK reaction to my "make-over in the car...before and after YIKES"post......scroll down on this page to see it

My FACEBOOK POST: (letting friends know i have a new blog post up)
my "balsy-ist" post YET.....get ready. every acne ridden girls nightmare! you are not alone! read my post.

C:    thank you, brave woman! You are beautiful, inside and out!


C:    does the Lancome concealer not clog your pores back up again? What kind of cleanser do you use?

Liz:    neutrogena acne control... i've been to the derm. most of the spots you see are scars, dark places that i have to cover daily!

Liz:   everything is oil free.

C:    I'll try neutrogena, too! Do you use neutrogena moisturizer?

Liz:    i bought the neutrogena that is supposed to be like proactive and it has a moisturizer with sunscreen. and a benzoyl per. cream

A:    Loved that post. Last year my mother chastized me for about an hour about how I'm 35 and I need to get over breakouts because no one else my age has them (because I can totally tell my skin to listen to my mom). Anyway, a complex regimen of St Ive's green tea wash and scrub and putting tea tree oil in my moisturizer finally fixed my problems. I actually recommend both to all my other 30-something friends who still break out regardless of what my mother thinks!

Thank you, A-- I will try the St Ive's green tea and the tea tree oil! --C

Liz:    ooooooooooh

CR:   and proactive is AWESOME- seriously.

S:   Proactive is the best! I'm 38 and I have used it for 8 years. It's the only product that has EVER kept my skin clear!

A:   I'm sure proactive is great, but I'm horribly allergic to benzoyl peroxide and have thus been on a lifetime quest for more natural remedies...so that's what I know.

"facial friend":    Exfoliation is the key

Liz:    "facial friend" is the key. ps i exfoliate every night.

facial friend:    Liz, you are sweet. :)

C:    I like beauticontrol's scrub for exfoliating!

sad for phoebe

after prayer and advice from friends, we have decided to let our ties with feebie the dog, go. she is still sick and can't seem to get better. she will remain at the shelter to get well. if they had let me, i would have taken her to my vet, but this was not the case. we will begin to pray for another dog for our family. i am trying to do what is best for our family and the dog. HOPEFULLY a rescue group will be able to take her and nurse her back to health...if they allow them to. i plan on keeping up with her and how she is doing. i had to call and talk to the adoption dude and he was nice about it, but disappointed. we will be praying for another family to come along right as phoebe gets well, and that it will be a perfect match. i have been assured that they will not put her to sleep. they have spent too much money on medicine and spaying to put her down. i feel somewhat like a piece of poop but i pray that my decision is the right one.

this was the first day i met her. she was much healthier in this picture

love you feebs.
:(

make-over (in the car)...before and after! YIKES!

before...yikes!

concealed

powder by lancome "ageless minerale" fixes the concealer but is sheer

powdered and "fixed"

eyebrow brush (also used for eye liner)

a little mascara and i am almost finished!

people don't usually believe me when i say i do not have great skin. i tell them, i have good concealer and i know how to do my make-up! in fact, i NEVER leave the house without my concealer and blush! YET i am posting this. from years of modeling and trying to be perfect, i think it is a bit liberating to share my "naked" skin to the WORLD...or just my junkies! DISCLAIMER: i was not actually driving  the car. i only did this in the car for the natural lighting purposes!

welcome!!

MOSCOW CITY, MOSCOW!!!
don't tell me that is a town in arkansas!

always healthy and happy at mimi and gb's

bert never gives up! great old pic from the newspaper

i wonder if he blocked that shot

feebs has tummy trouble?

i am SHOCKED! my shelter dog that is still in the shelter has a tummy bug? wait, let me get this straight.....she has been hanging out in the office and the last time i talked to them, she was eating a sausage biscuit! of course she has the runs! when did the "no people food" rule become null and void?? i am getting so frustrated! can you tell?

• 
  
  

Doc told me again why we can't have her until her fever goes down and stays down for three days. if she gives us a sick dog and then something happens to the dog...it will be traumatic. so now i am worried and already traumatized that i fell in love with a sick pup! i really need some guidance here. but then she said, "we are so glad you are not giving up on phoebe". i don't know how long to hold on. my kids are sad, they want a dog. they want phoebe. the vet can't promise me she won't get sicker. what if something traumatic happens? i don't want to give up on her. i also don't want to traumatize the kids. i KNOW that the vet will not put her to sleep (unless she is on her deathbed). it just might take months to get her. i love feebs! does ANYONE have any words of wisdom?? preferably someone who has a shelter dog. you can post as anonymous by the way.

new bloggers?

welcome:
Middletown, NJ
Waterloo, Iowa
Tarentum, Pennsylvania
LA, Cali
Thorsby, Al.
Jackson Heights, NY

stick around and be a junky!

seriously. i love it.

someone found my blog by googling "if you sprinkle when you tinkle be a sweetie and wipe the seatie" they ended up on a post of mine:
http://thisfunkyjunky.blogspot.com/2010/03/facebook-funniness.html
i was like..."when did i write that???"

welcome miami!!!

hot down there??? glad you are visiting!

welcome millersville, maryland!

hope you like the blog. send it on!

painting for GB that hangs in their house in LR

i did this for GB after their trip to south africa (i think) it is a house that he photographed and asked me to render. it looks so good framed in their house!

the house that bert grew up in.

i will call bert "trophy boy"! all of his tennis, basketball, and soccer 1st place, 2nd, most improved, and MOST DETERMINED trophy's are displayed in his childhood room in LR. he was one trophy winnin' boy. butter wanted one of his dad's smaller ones that he had to pass through "mimi" first. she was reluctant at first...but then said, "i don't know why i care if he takes one, they are bert's trophies!" i thought that was very big of her because bert is her only child and she has kept the most special of items from his childhood. the best thing in the house is the huge picture of bert in his all white tennis garb, framed beautifully in gold as you enter the house. his former headmaster "father tribou" used to say,"let's bow to the shrine" as he entered the home.

bert's parents are world travelers but DO NOT junk up the house NEAR ENOUGH with items from abroad (as i would). their house is immaculate, beautiful, very french, and also comfortable. their kitchen (my favorite room) is small, and SO PRECIOUS! they have this awesome fireplace in it that is so quaint in the winter. their round "farm country french" table that seats four comfortably was NEVER expecting the tornado of activity that would come it's way when our wild bunch arrives for a visit. the once, "make sure you have a coaster under your glass" table now houses wet bathing suits and play doe activities.
the home has a wonderfully big rec room to watch tv but we all gather around the small white counter top one that seems to be programmed to show only tennis matches, the weather channel, or cnn. ACTUALLY, now it has seen it's fair share of cartoon network and nickelodeon.
the kids love to go visit, and hate leaving. peanut cried today as we were leaving. the 7 hour commute makes it hard. but, we spend a wonderful amount of QT with them in LR, and when we go skiing, or for a visit to colorado together in the summer, and when they come here to bham. time with them is great and we fit our visits in between their wonderful travels. on to ALASKA they go next!

the trophy collection.

the "great room" with beautiful beams

the french country kitchen

love the beams and wallpapered ceiling in yellow and blue toile!

what "Father Tribou" called "the shrine"

i think bert was 17 or 18 yrs old.