What I did this week (And its actually this week!).

  So this week was not particularly eventful. I...

...enjoyed some great burgers on Memorial day.

Realized just how big the crawfish in our fish tank has gotten. 

Made some pretty good Panera-style mac and cheese.

Started playing classical music again.



 

Made homemade lasagna noodles. 

Then I made lasagna.

I did not do this, but my brothers caught a turtle and put him in the fish tank. 

He was so cute that I had to post a second picture. Sadly, we could not keep him but had to put him back in the canal where he belongs.

 

And that was my week.

more pictures.

  Here are some more pictures from my vacation earlier this month. These are from Santa Elena Canyon and Tuff Canyon.

 

 

This picture was taken from Santa Elena Canyon looking out at the Chihuahuan Desert. The river in the foreground is the Rio Grande. I think I could live in the desert. I also think my brothers considered leaving me there. 

 

 

Here is a picture looking into Santa Elena Canyon. The cliff wall on the left is Mexico and the one on the right is Texas.

 

 

 Another of Santa Elena Canyon.

 

 

Here are my brothers climbing rocks in the canyon.

 

 

The next two pictures are from Tuff Canyon. Tuff, the rock which the Canyon walls are made of, consists of compressed volcanic ash. Whenever it rains, the tuff erodes and the canyon washes out into new shapes.

 

 

This is a picture of Casa Grande viewed through the window from the Chihuahuan Desert. Of all the pictures I took on the trip, this one is my pride and joy.

And that is all for now. 

pictures.

  Here's pictures from vacation. These consist of pictures from the trip to Big Bend, the Lost Mine Trail, and Sotol Vista in the desert. I will try and post more pictures later.

 An old sign for my favorite soft drink that I saw outside of Judge Roy Bean's place.

A desert plant in an interpretive cactus garden. Name: totally forgot it. 

 

 

 So, my Dad took us to this salon from the eighteen hundreds and this sign was on the wall (no, the salon was not in operation). I think I am going to make on of these for the dining room.

 

 

 We stopped for lunch at a gas station and my little brothers got grilled cheese.

This was one of the first pictures I took in Big Bend. This mountain is call Casa Grande.

 

This picture was taken on the Lost Mine Trail.

 

Here is most of my family at the Juniper Canyon Overlook.

Here is Juniper Canyon viewed from the overlook.

 

 

Here is a racer lizard we saw on the trail.

 

 

Here's is another desert plant that I do not remember the name of.

Here in the window viewed from the top of Lost Mine Trail.

Another view from the top of the Lost Mine Trail.

This is the Chihuahuan Desert viewed from the top of the Lost Mine Trail.



 

And the back of Casa Grande

This is the Chihuahuan Desert viewed from Sotol Vista at sunset. That is rain in the background.

 

 

And here is a few more pictures from Sotol Vista.

  Well that's all for now!

Loving the Haters

I John 3:13-14
  "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love out brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death."

  The more I read the Bible, the more I am struck by the fact that the world usually hates believers. Not dislike, not annoyed by, the world is going to hate those who are in Christ. The irony is that Christians are supposed to be known as people who love. We are not just commanded to love our friends, family and fellow believers. We are called to love outcasts, prisoners and the jerks we run into in traffic. We have to love people who are going to hate us.
  It is not humanly possible to love hateful people. When I am trying to love haters on my own, I am typically overwhelmed by the unchristian desire to high five them in the face. I do not have to depend on my broken human heart to love hateful people, though.
  My heart has been made new. Every crack and imperfection has been washed over. I am filled with infinite love for the unlovable. And why? Because I have been loved. Because even though I am wretched and unlovable myself, Christ has loved me. When I could not save myself from the death I deserved, Christ came and died in my place and then rose from the grave and left death conquered. If I, the unlovable wretch I am, have been loved like that, how can I not love others?
  So this world is going to hate those of us who are Christians, and we get to love them back.

What I did last Week, again

  So once again the post summarizing my week is late. Maybe I will just change my "What I did this Week" post to a "What I did last Week" post. That remains to be decided. So here is last week.

 

To start things off I made a couple of pillow cases for a client. 

 

 

I finished the dress from last week and I did a photo-transfer t-shirt with an old doodle I found in my sketch book.

 

 

The only reason I am posting this picture is because I happened to be outside with my camera, there was some phenomenal lighting, and so I took this picture of my toe-nails. All that to say I painted my toe-nails.  

 

 

I ran for the first time this month. See the trail along the fence-line where I ran? No, I cannot either. It has been so long since the last time I ran, the trail where I used to run has grown over.

 

 

Lastly, I thought about this verse a lot last week. More on that later.

 

 

Well, there is my week. I hope all of y'all's was awesome too!

 

 

 

flowers.

  "He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
  "There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoned. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extra, and so I say again that we have much to hope for from the flowers." "

                                               ~ Sherlock Holmes The Naval Treaty Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

What I did last week

  Well, here I am again, typing out my week summary post later them I intended to. To my credit, I did not have the ability to write this post during the weekend because I was out of town.

I watched Frozen finally. I think it is my favorite princess movie, and Olaf was my favorite character. 

 

 

I folded the laundry from the trip to Big Bend

 

I made forty bars of soap.

 

Then I baked about ten dozen Texas Cow Chip cookies. And yes, the cookies pictured are all the cookies that are left from that batch.

 

 I started a dress that I will hopefully be able to finish this week.

 

I drank a Dublin Dr. Pepper. If you have not had one, you simply have not lived.

 

Got some new sunglasses that were not aviators.

 

And here's the best thing. I got to watch my cousin Annmarie graduate. Ams, I'm infinitely proud of you. You are the best twin cousin I could have ever asked for.