My Aunt Mary Alice invited me and two other friends (who were visiting from out of town) to lunch. Most of the food was from her garden and I can verify that it was delicious. If you are not from the south there are two things on the table you might not be familiar with. One is the tomato sauce on the right that we spooned onto our beans (yum) and the other is yellow squash. Over the years I’ve learned that not everyone prepares squash the way we do (lots of folks fry it). The first time my husband (he’s from Michigan originally) saw it he thought it was mashed up corn. Thanks again Aunt Mary Alice for a wonderful lunch! And thanks to God for the sunshine and rain to grow such wonderful food!

Our dear friend Peggy with our twins, Grant and Russell

Peggy was the main reason we all had lunch together. She was here visiting from Arizona. She and her husband John lived in this area for 23 years and John preached at our church when the twins were toddlers. Peggy couldn’t believe how much the boys had grown and truthfully neither can I.

Giving thanks today too for good friends and healthy children.

And then Sunday we were blessed with a visit from my cousin Martha, her husband, Glenn, and youngest daughter, Brittany.

We visited my brother and his wonderful wife, Kelly, and later that day she surprised us with a big pan of her famous brownies-still warm from the oven.

Cousin Martha eating one of Kelly's famous brownies!

Brittany says, "They are great with milk too! Thanks Aunt Kelly!"

By the way, the brownie pan is now empty so if you were thinking of stopping by for a visit….no brownies!

So now you know why the title of this post is what it is. How about you? What are you thankful for today?

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Annette’s oldest daughter Kelli has been to Peru several times as a volunteer. She goes with a group from Texas and they work in several orphanages down there. I knew when Annette said Peru that she was with Kelli and they were going to do mission work. For two weeks I have followed them on Facebook and today I am giving thanks and gratitude for missionaries like Annette and Kelli, as well as praising God for their safe return. And for other folks who travel near and far to do God’s work.

In a few weeks I will have a post with more details about their trip, but until then I will share a few pictures with you. Hope you have a great Gratituesday. What are you thankful for today?

Annette with a young disabled girl who lives in one of the orphanges they visited.

Annette's daughter Kelli getting a hug!

Craft time.

Isn't she cute?

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Yesterday I received my crown so that makes me a queen, right? Okay, okay. Technically my coronation ceremony was at the dentist office and my crown is on my tooth, but as far as I’m concerned that still counts.

I have to tell you a story about me and a crown that happened a long time ago….

Once Upon a Time I was young….

and several of my girlfriends were in pageants. In the south these are ususally held at county fairs somewhere between the tractor pull and the horse show. If you’ve never been to one I can tell you that they are all pretty much the same; 20 to 30 girls wearing too much makeup and in my day, big, puffy hair. Each young girl hopes that at the end of the night she will be wearing a crown on top of that puffy hair, but of course only one can win so that leaves a whole host of losers (or non-winners sounds better) who go to the next county fair the next weekend and try again.

Anyway, my friends talked me into being in one and I was a nervous wreck. The night was hot and muggy and my straight hair wouldn’t puff up if a tornado got up under it. When it was my turn to walk out I took a deep breath, tried to freeze a smile on my trembling lips and set off. To my knowledge what happened to me has never happened again in the history of county fair pageants. Someone’s dog decided to visit the fairgrounds and evidently liked the lights from the pageant. To this day I don’t know if the dog liked the way I smelled or the way I looked but it definitely liked me. It followed me out on the stage and when I stopped, he stopped. When I walked, he walked. The dog was smitten. It looked up at me like I was a t-bone steak fresh off the grill. There wasn’t a thing I could do. I thought about lifting up my long dress and gently but firmly taking my foot and pushing the dog off the stage but with my luck he would have landed in the judges lap and that probably wouldn’t have scored me any points. By the way, I didn’t win a crown but I was voted Miss Congeniality by all pet owners.

One More Crown Story….

When the kids were all small and I tried to keep their toys picked up, do laundry and all the other stuff mom’s do, I was often a nut case. My daughter loved playing dress up and had her own pretend pageants (we start them young in Kentucky). She had cheap rhinestone crowns she played with and one day I popped one on my head while I continued cleaning. Believe it or not I forgot I had the thing on and went to town for something. At that time we didn’t have a stop light in town (I live in a very small town) but we had a caution light. I slowed down and stopped and when I glanced to my right I saw a friend who was pointing at me and dying laughing. I looked in the car mirror, yanked the crown off and threw it in the back seat. Maybe subconsciously I still wasn’t over the fact that I didn’t win at the county fair.

Back to the dentist…

The crown I received yesterday at the dentist wasn’t my first. In fact, if you took all the money my parents spent on braces and added it to the amount I have spent in the last five years on my teeth I am sure I could cruise around the world once or twice.

My teeth are not the best in the world, but I like having them. They come in handy for eating things with more texture than cheese cake and so I will continue to visit Dr. Amy and her “happy gas” machine.

Thank you Lord for my grinders…and for dentists who help me keep them!

Now I'm in search of a different kind of crown...a crown of righteousness. It isn't an easy quest but one day it will be worth it!

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Once, my mother bought me a pair of shoes to wear to a cousin’s wedding. For some reason I don’t remember now, I didn’t try them on until the day of the wedding. They had been died to match my dress and were a beautiful purple color, but they were too small and so painful that now 25 years later the only thing I can remember about the day my cousin said, “I do!” was how much my feet hurt.

In my grandmother’s day (The Great Depression) folks were lucky if they had one pair of shoes and children went barefooted all summer. Now days feet have their own wardrobe for different events.

Loafers...does that mean you get to loaf if you wear them?

Work boots. My dad wore boots almost every day of his life and I never see work boots that I don't think of him.

My boys wear these with socks. In my day that would have been "not cool" but not anymore!

Little feet are sweet feet no matter what shoes they wear!

While I am not crazy about the way my feet look (and no a pedicure won’t help) I am very thankful I have them. They take me places, allow me to go for walks down my drive way and do a pretty good job of  carrying the rest of me around.

Last week, I was reading my Bible and I came upon a verse that I didn’t remember. Paul quotes the Old Testament when he says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Romans 10:15 NLT). Wow!

I slipped my shoes off and looked at my feet. They definitely didn’t look beautiful to me, but if God thinks they are beautiful … I know they are.

When my brother was a little boy my mother looked at his hands one day and told him he had beautiful hands. “No they’re not,” he argued. “Oh yes they are,” she replied gently. “The things they can do are beautiful.” And that’s the way it is with feet. No matter what they look like, when they help us carry the message that Jesus Christ came to this earth and died for our sins, that He arose victorious from the grave, and that He’s coming back for us one day, then our feet our beautiful indeed.

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