we are fine

Thank you, thank you to all of you who have left comments, e-mailed and called to check on us.

We have not ever had to evacuate and even many of those who have were able to return to their homes last night.  

God has been with us even in the midst of this being the most destructive fire in state history with over 300 homes being lost.

The well over one *thousand* men and women working to contain this fire and keep people safe are doing a phenomenal job under very, very difficult circumstances!  They are heros.

We have prayed for rain and God is sending showers slowly but surely in His perfect timing.  We woke up to 59 degree temps!

Thank you for praying and caring. 

Please continue to pray for the fire fighters and other officials and also for the people who are learning that their homes are gone and are trying to find their way through that devastation.  

Thank you so much!  

Kelly

Colorado Springs wildfire

My heart is heavy and my thoughts are uncertain. 

We were in Mexico City over the weekend for my brother-in-law's wedding.

It was a wonderful trip and celebration.

On Sunday as we were on a layover in Dallas we first heard about the fire raging and consuming forest just west of Colorado Springs.  

The pictures were crazy that we saw online but it seemed so surreal and still so far away.

We arrived home to record temps.  It was 100 on Sunday, 99 yesterday and I think 98 today.  It is hot.  

We don't have air conditioning.  We have a whole house fan which is normally really helpful at cooling things off but it is not really nice when you're pulling a bunch of smoke into your house.

Right now it is 89 on the main floor of our house (cooler downstairs by a bit and warmer upstairs where the bedrooms are) and smells like a campfire.  I don't say this to complain, afterall, we are in our house, we have not been evacuated.  We are alive.  I am thankful.  I only describe it to paint a picture.

The fire is growing and spreading closer and closer to the city.  The highway has been shut down.  Many people have been evacuated.  Where before they were reporting that no structures had burned, only forest, now I have heard that a major tourist attraction as well as homes have burned.

It is so very sad to think about.

One of my friends here and her family have been evacuated.  They were emergently evacuated.  I don't know how long they had to get out but what a very unsettling thing!

I am praying and beginning to pack up a few things like our wedding album and some of David's favorite books just in case.  I don't know if it's what I should be doing or not but it feels like doing something.

My perspective has changed.  

A few short hours ago I was trying to think what I could do tomorrow on my birthday to have fun and stay cool.  I was just thinking of myself.  

Now I'm thinking more of others and things feel a lot different.

Please pray for our city, for my friends, for us.  

Just as the clouds of smoke billow overhead, a cloud of stress seems to have settled over the city.  

Please pray for protection and peace and also for faith and willingness to share it and be unselfish with our time, homes, etc.

Thank you! 

Kelly

perennials

are very generous flowers to come back each year!


This year we had a huge hailstorm at the beginning of June and I am oh so thankful for the flowers that have come back since our veggie/herb garden and all of our flowers got destroyed that night.  


Kelly

rice muffins

Have you ever made rice muffins?  Heard of them?

I hadn't.

One of my mom's friends sweetly gave me an antique cookbook that I believe had been her mom's as a wedding gift.

I finally began cooking out of it this month.  

I made a pie crust recipe with lard for a quiche and these rice muffins.  

Basically you throw some already cooked rice in with flour, milk, butter, etc. and make muffins.  I was curious when I saw the recipe and so decided to try them.  I really liked them.

They had a great texture and consistency and would be a good accompaniment to a dinner meal too I think.  

Kelly

sweet colorer

a few places around The Springs

It has been quite some time since I have done one of my posts of the streets of Colorado Springs through the alphabet.  

This post isn't really one street or alphabetical but it retains some of the same flavor of those posts.  

I had seen signs for the Bargain Bin when we went to Conway's Red Top, a Colorado Springs institution.  We liked Conway's pretty well and were very impressed with the wonderful service especially accommodating us with David's dairy allergy.  

Anyway, that was at night and of course the Bargain Bin wasn't open.  I was intrigued by it though and just had a feeling that it was going to be a great treasure of a thrift shop.   I tried to go a couple of times but it was closed both times.  

I finally made it.  

And unfortunately I was kind of disappointed.  I will say this, it was extremely organized and neat and tidy and even had some neat vintage things and toys but the prices were HIGH!  

The lady was quite nice as we left though and gave David a tissue for his nose that was running.  

My next stop was another place I was wanting to try out after having noticed their sign and balloons one day.  Promises Thrift Store was mostly a used clothing boutique with nicely displayed things but I think I'd have to go without a small boy to really check it out well. 

I also checked out a place I'd spotted on a Sunday morning before church Starbucks run (the one time in forever we were on time enough for a pre-church coffee stop).  The shop is called My Walk In Closet.  Again, I'd probably need to be shopping on my own to really check it out but it seemed on the younger side for my taste.   

However, a recent find that I am really impressed with is the Book Rack.  Being a Half Price Books devotee in Texas for practically forever I was having a hard time finding a used bookstore here that remotely lived up.  

Before our Portland trip I was looking for one specific Robin Jones Gunn book to take along for plane reading and it was checked out of the library and after checking in at another used book store with no luck, I decided to start calling around.  

The gentleman at the Book Rack found it quickly and it was only $6.  Then after reading it I was able to sell it back for half the price I'd paid!  The owner is very nice and helpful and didn't mind David making loud frog noises once he spotted a toy frog there.  :)

It is organized and they have a good system for selling books back for either credit or cash - something I really appreciate in a used bookstore.

So if you're a local, have you been to any of these places?  

What do you think?  

Have any other favorite burger joints, thrift stores or book stores I should check out?  

Kelly

ten on ten - June 2012 (a little late)

ready to get up

diaper change

Bible class

worship

favorite "church toy" that Nana keeps in her purse for him

"ment truck"

trying out a new Mexican food restaurant for lunch

chips and dips

coming home

planning meals

a little shopping for Mama all by herself 

with a birthday month coupon

so colorful - I want a bunch but if you've seen our selection of spices you know I'd be broke at $2 a pop!

it was a glorious weather day (so sorry Texas friends - I really am, I don't say that sarcastically) 

wrapping an early birthday gift for my brother

hanging out with family and looking at trip photos - fun times!

Does anyone else feel self conscious taking photos at church or while shopping?  

Also, my grandma pointed out that my ten on tens don't always contain ten photos.  :)  

What can I say, today I didn't want to narrow down.  

More ten on ten here.

Last year's June ten on ten for me here.

Kelly

my boy likes his sticks

He's still at it.  Remember this and this?

I love it.

Do you know a stick collector?

Kelly

reminder

tomorrow is Ten on Ten if you'd like to participate

Kelly

photo: my mom's collection of little chairs

uh oh

another Apple fan in the making it looks like

Are you a Mac or PC person yourself?

I was PC until Adrian and I got engaged and he "converted" me.  

Kelly

This is my little cutie pie home from VBS with his arms in "chains".  They learned the story of Paul and Silas.  

He has EATEN up going to Bible class every night.  It makes my heart so happy!

I am so thankful for my parents for taking him while we've had company in town and I'm so very thankful for all of the teachers and others who have worked so hard to put it all together.  It is precious hearing him tell me the Bible stories he's learned.  

Speaking of learning Bible stories,  I'm joining in Jess 

Mcclenahan's 30 day challenge to be in the Word.  I know it's 

an important part of my life but one I easily shove off in favor

 of things I can check off my to do list or browsing on the 

computer. 

Hopefully this will be a good month of growth for me.  

Check it out if you want.  

Kelly

my guys

I do love hiking with these two!  

Do you like to hike?

Kelly

It's not green chiles this time.  

Do you know what it is that my sweet husband is putting up now? 

Kelly

coffee date

Last Friday we decided to tag along with Daddy to a coffee shop for a little breakfast date before he started work for the day.  He had a meeting come up to get started on while we were still there hence the headphones.  

We hit up a relatively new coffee shop in town, Kawa.  Kawa (pronounced "Kava") is Polish for coffee.

They had fun crayons and big rolls of paper for kids to color on and David was obviously excited.

His everything bagel was served in a frisbee he got to keep!

The owners were super friendly and even called the bakery that supplies their bagels to find out if they were dairy free for my boy.  

I thought it was a fun touch that the breakfast burrito (this is a half, Adrian and I split) was served in a basket lined with newspaper underneath the food safe paper.  

My nutella latte was SO good!  The coffee part was quite good and the nutella . . . well, nutella is just so all around wonderful in my opinion.

The prices were very reasonable and their menu had a lot of yummy looking food items I'd like to try in the future.  

If you're local, I definitely suggest checking it out.  

Do you have a favorite coffee shop?  

Kelly

a couple of things

Staying at a hotel last weekend was a BIG deal to a small boy!

And, happy, happy birthday to my mom (on the 30th) and my Dad today!!

Kelly