A night out...(Photo Proj-Day 16)

Tonight my husband and I had a wonderful time! We got to go to a lovely Christmas party. It was given by the owner of my husband's company, Mr. Joe Turner. Now, we have been to many of these kinds of parties and have even given them ourselves, but I must say this...it was thee most professional and 'Christmas honoring' one I've ever been to. When we arrived (a bit late, due to the fog), Mr. Turner (Joe), Eric, and Dane & Scott graciously introduced themselves to us...and as we stood, trying to decide where to sit, Mr. Turner asked if we'd like to sit with him. We had such a nice evening. Nearly 2 whole hours had passed and I realized I hadn't even called to check on the kids. When I did, they were fine. Did I say how good the food was. I had chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce and Grant had steak and they both came with steamed zucchini, squash, carrots, peppers and creamy garlic mashed potatoes. Yummie! There was also a wonderful chocolate cake w/chocolate sauce and a huge scoop of ice cream too. I couldn't eat half of it. The restaurant is Grill 29, in a neat little area just outside of town. Here's a pic of the outside of it. This fountain is really gorgeous. I'm thankful for a wonderful time with my sweet husband and for the kind people he is now working with. God has his hand on this whole situation. Oh, by the way. The company my husband is with now, is Wendy's. How neat is that!! Blessings to you~Kimi

Ending our 4th week @ the Deli!

Greetings! Well, we are nearing the end of our 4th week here at the deli. We have met some of the most precious people in our community. So many of them are repeat customers and we are beginning to feel a special closeness to them. We want to make them all feel comfortable here. I think we are starting to get the 'hang' of it. I wasn't sure how long it would take for all of us to become accustomed to our new pace, but as the days go by we are working it out together. We are thankful for all the help that we have been given from some very special people. They have come and given of their time and efforts to assist us in daily routines and general running of a growing business. Everyday we are growing more and more and it seems that as we trust in the Lord he continues to show us the way in which we should go. We honestly don't know from one day to the next how it will be, but remember..we didn't start this whole thing out by what WE knew anyway. We can not live by OUR eyesight, can we? We must walk the walk of faith, for that is what faith is...'the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.' We are ever in his PRESENCE and know that so many of our patrons are also. I believe that is what is bonding us together with our community. If you haven't been to see us at the deli, and you live close, we would really like to see you and serve you a great meal and spend a little time with you. Hoping to see you...by faith of course! Kimi

Our Second week here @ the Deli!

This week has just flown by! It's been a whirl-wind of people, conversations and food. We have had a blast as we plan, prepare and serve to our customers! Here are the girls as they helped us in some of the tasks we do. Dish washing hasn't been a favorite task with any of us, so we have been taking turns at it. Sometimes we even take turns at other things like, baking the desserts, preparing the salad bar and portioning the meats. Thanks girls for a job well done! You have been so much help to us and I just know that God will bless you abundantly for your sacrifice of giving. You can not ever 'OUT-GIVE' God. We love you!

Beautiful countertops! Finalizing the menu! Last minute touch-ups!

Today has been a long day. It's mid afternoon and it seems like it is so late already. There has been so much running around and last minute details to attend to. Boy! So much goes into a new business. It's really neat, and we don't want to miss something. We had bread delivered today, menus finalized, decor decisions to make and our beautiful counters brought in and installed!! Yippee!!! We have to brag on someone for a minute...and we know that he wouldn't want us to do it, but he'll just have to get over that :). We are too thankful for what he and his wife have done for us not to let you all know about this... Bro Bo Alexander and his wife Sis Amy have been such a wonderful blessing to our family. Bro Bo has made these countertops himself and has done THEE most beautiful job. I know I said something about them before, but it deserves repeating. Especially now with the counters installed. They look just gorgeous!! I'm so excited and can't wait to fill up the cabinets and place desserts on the right side counter. (about where he's standing now with Garrett) When I told Sis Amy how wonderful they looked and how amazed I was, she commented that he[Bro Bo] is like a whiz when he makes cabinets and I believe it. The workmanship is beautiful. But that's not the most amazing part of this giving that they have shown. In the midst of all that they have done to help us, they have suffered a tremendous loss themselves. Last week, they came home to their home on fire. They have lost everything and are now living in a tiny, rental home. Through this all they have not wavered or faltered in their walk with Jesus or in their giving ways toward others. That's what is so amazing. They have exemplified Jesus Christ in every way. It doesn't seem like 'Thank You' is sufficient to say to them. So we will say...THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU HAVE TOUCHED OUR LIVES IN A VERY SPECIAL WAY. WE LOVE YOU BOTH!! Stephen put up a brace for the kitchen shutter doors to hang on. Savannah and Camille found them at a salvage yard and they dressed them up a bit. They look nice! I'll post photos of them when they're up and finished. He also helped his Dad last week take care of some of the electric stuff on the roof. I wish I would have got a pic. :( Kendra has actually been helping out on a regular basis. She has been with us from the 'git-go'. I'm so proud of her diligence and determination. She has been very willing to do anything we have needed her to do. She has painted, stapled upholstery, pressure washed wall and concrete, sawed, hammered, drilled, stapled, scrubbed, counted and cleaned just about as much as a 16 yr old could do. And has had a cheerful spirit to boot! I just love her!! Thank you Kendra! You are a special young lady. Don't forget that. Kendra and Stephen are painting the trim on a last minute detail. We're almost done! Yea!! Grant and Savannah have been so determined too. Making out the menu and all the ingredient list has taken days...even weeks. I think it's almost finished and I'm typing up the final menu tonight. We're just using the ones we make up for now and then we can have the menus professionally printed up later. We've got to get the doors open for business. How exciting is that?!!! DOESN'T MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND LOOK HAPPY! More shortly.

What's New!!

We have had so much going on and so much happening...it's all been great. I'm so excited about what all GOD has done! Where do I start? Mmmm...let me see. This is the beginning of my tree. A few days ago we went into the woods and cut down some pretty sticks. Well, they were actually large limbs from huge trees behind our house. Sis. Bridget, being the wonderful friend that she is to me, came to help me build my tree. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting herself into. Hee-hee-hee!! (And I didn't know quite how big my tree would turn out.) After we cut these branches, got a bucket, the special foam, and another nice container to put the whole thing in, we put the branches in the bucket. I got the spray foam...it expands at least twice its original size and then hardens. Well, Savannah took over my holding position and Sis Bridget stood there with her...for 45 minutes. We waited and waited and waited for that stuff to harden. Small oversight...it only gets 'TACKY' after that long. Not hardened completely. Ha! We ended up leaning it against the wall for the rest of the day and night and then went on to something else. This is one of my favorite pictures...Doesn't the flag look great? The kids are being very patriotic. Isn't this so sweet? He was so proud to get to use a real power tool. He worked and worked to sand this piece of equipment just right, for his Daddy. I love it! The pic doesn't show it, but it is shaking him terribly and he is holding on tight. It's so cute. He's really a very hard worker and likes to help. Here's the progress of the tree. By the next morning the foam had hardened completely and also overflowed onto the carpet about 2 gallons worth. Oh my!!! Geez, what a mess that was. We cleaned up the sticky stuff and got it up off the floor. I think the kids played football with one of the globs!! Ha ha! After I drilled about 45-50 holes in the branches, my arm was sore. Camille decided to finish the drilling. Thank goodness. Thanks Camille. She had it done in no time at all. Then we started to glue the ficus limbs into the holes. We needed to make one last sweep through the kitchen. Well, I think it's the last sweep. We will probably go over it all right before we open this week. Savannah, Camille and Garrett were taking care of that job. Every cooler, the deep freeze, huge stove and oven, all the stainless steel shelves/racks, and the sandwich prep station was disinfected and sanitized. We are using Cintas for all our supplies like that. They have installed tp, hand towels, disinfectants and sanitizers along with a few other things I can't remember. My husband's got it under control. He's doing a great job!! Anyway, the kids did all that stuff. It smelled better than before, when I thought it smelled better than that...that sounded funny. Isn't this a lovely clock!! This is kindof the look of the deli. Kindof nostalgic. Historical. Old reminisce-ish. If that makes sense. Not the usual, maybe out of the ordinary-ish. Warm and welcoming. I hope that is the feel of it anyway. When you come by, you can let me know if we were successful at attempting. I give God the glory for this whole venture. He is the reason we are even able to accomplish anything...isn't he!! He's a great and wonderful God! We are not done with the decor of the place as of yet. this is the only real decoration we have up on the walls...ha!! Like I said in an earlier post, "Decor is not high on the priority list." I am working on getting wall decor up and it is taking a while. I have met with the Arab Historical Society and got many pics to be copied and I am meeting again in the morning with the Hist. Soc. president and she has given me permission to copy anything I would like to. She said I could take any of their photos at the museum and have them copied. They have been so helpful. Actually, I have enjoyed meeting with these ladies. I know God has given me such favor with them. Ok, my husband wanted to publish this picture of my tree. We ended up drilling about 125 holes in those branches!! After the holes were drilled though, it only took about 1 1/2 hours to finish. I was tired and wanted to take a nap. Not a picture moment for me, but Grant wanted to take it anyway. I have a few more pics from the last few days and will post them soon. I'm tired for now.

Look For Our Sign!!

With the help of some friends we were able to get the new signs up and they look great!! WOW!! With Bro Jody and Bro John and Bro Jordan it didn't take long at all. Here is a gallery of what we did tonight... Thanks guys for all of your help!

window treatments, menu planning, bathroom flooring, local newspaper and awesome cabinets!!!

Since yesterday we have had so much going on! Grant and Savannah have put together a great lineup of "what's for dinner??" It may not sound like a tough thing to accomplish, but when you have to decide on each item and what goes into it or on it, that does take time. And lots of it. We have actually been working on the menu items for the entire time now. We may like something and it might sound good, but after we look at what goes into it, we have to decide whether or not it's a keeper or to just drop it. If it has too many ingredients that are hard to get, we have to let it go. We need items that will be easy to make and that are relatively easy to obtain. So we are in the final stages of making the menu. I can tell you this though...we're going to have BIG sandwiches and fresh salads, including chicken salad on a lovely, fresh bed of lettuce (or on a fluffy, buttery croissant, with no trans fat, of course) and thick, hearty soups...homemade. Mmmmm...yummie!! Last night, Ripley's father Tommy Fowler, came and helped us at the store, yet another time. He's really a talented guy! He came and laid some wood-look flooring down into the bathrooms. The flooring in there was just awful. Old and beaten up terribly. He pulled every bit of that stuff up and then put down some new kind of floating floor. WOW! Does it ever look different. He is a very giving person and his wife, Sueann has been so gracious to help us out. What a blessing they have been and we are so glad to get to know them better with this venture. Thanks Tommy and Sueann!! We love you guys!! You know, when your funds are limited and you don't really want to spend much on "decor", it makes sense to try to be as creative as possible. Well, that's exactly what we've done. I am trying to use as many different things as I can. Window treatments can be very costly and when you are opening up a restaurant, you know that $$$ do not need to go into alot of elaborate decorations. Sooooo, I've taken the left over parts of what we've used in other areas of the store and made use of it. These little panels will keep the light at bay during the afternoon and also add a special touch to the indoor decor. Yea!!! I hope you all like it. If you don't just keep it to yourself..lol...jk!! It kinda goes with the fencing wall we made and I may even use it to decoupage some ole time photos onto later. Today, I went to the local newspaper, The Arab Tribune. They were so helpful as I shared with them our story of what we're doing. They allowed me to look through all the 'archive' books that I wanted and said to take all the time I needed to look. They were great. I am looking for old photos of our town. I want to dress the restaurant up in a way that brings out the history of the town. I'm so excited!! I can't wait to share it with you!! It's going to take a bit of time to gather all the pics and info, but they are so helpful at the Tribune, it should move along quickly. More on that soon. This is the best part!! Bro Bo Alexander has made the most beautiful cabinet and countertops for our store! He brought them last week without the countertops and when I walked in, I just about cried. They were made so well and with such skill. It was amazing to look at his work. I know it must have taken him a very long time to do. You have got to come by just to see them. I love them!! He brought the countertops today and they are just gorgeous. I can't believe it. They are so pretty and go exactly with the decor of the store. If we ever move to another location, I'm taking them with me and using them there!!

Building Some Walls

The room was completely open and basically just one, big space. The only division was the kitchen wall and hallway. We really needed to divide up the room and add some walls. So the first wall we added was at the front entrance. It's just a little divider and the guest table and chairs will sit on the other side, in front of the window. Painted to match the trim and roughed up to look worn-hopefully. The next wall we built was for behind the register and counter area. This is the frame/backing for the wall itself. We're placing fabric of various colors on it. How cool!! The biggest wall we built divided the left side of the room from the right side. The guest tables will sit on the left side of this wall. It's painted to match the trim and then roughed up a bit.

Continued...

cleaning the kitchen...top to bottom...even the walls were scoured. every piece of equipment was thoroughly gone over and disinfected two times. mmmm...it smells so much better now. re-covering all the chair cushions took several days. we had to choose just the right fabric to hold up to many guests and something that would clean easily too. wow! they look and feel great! the color is a burnt red. i love it! after hours of preparing the floor on our hands and knees, we were able to lay carpet. it wasn't just any carpet either...it was just the right color. GOD did that for us in a wonderful way! notice the walls now...they aren't brite white any more~~yaaaaeeee!!! you didn't really notice the sign/frame housing out front, but now you can see it from the overpass @ hwy 69!!! it's bright yellow and the sign we're placing in it going to be gorgeous. look closely at Jordan's shades. did your glasses fall into the paint?

The work in progress

With stark white walls, 3 different types of flooring (2 colors of pink tile and then an aged terra cotta tile-HA! I'm making that sound kinda good...aged, that's being tactful :). ), a ceiling that's slightly falling, teal colored chair cushions just to name a few, we really had our work cut out for us. Not to mention the counter tops and cabinets were some kind of green and dark brown. This was the start of the store and actually these pics make it look pretty good...compared to what we walked into. lol-really. Sometimes if we just look past the surface we can see the potential. I guess we must like a challenge. God brings people, things and situations into our lives to show us there can be potential in anything, anyone, anytime...just like he sees in us. I know it may sound melancholy, but I don't mind. It's still true!! And we've had some great days together while we've worked on this place. Together...isn't that something! I love that. Now, here are 5 of our most industrious laborers...LOL!! I'm not sure they could see the potential~are you? Hee Hee!!

We Are Opening A Restaurant!!

It's true! We have begun the work in the building and are so excited about what God is doing for us and through us. It's going to be fantastic! I don't even know where to start sharing the story. My husband, Grant, has always wanted to have his own business. He has worked in the industry for many, many years. Even longer in retail. (30+ yrs) He has an excellent business operations mind and can deal with numbers so well. I'm so very proud of him for stepping out on faith and completely trusting the Lord in such a beautiful way as he has. He has always had a steady, 'I know where the $ is coming from' income. He has provided for our family so lovingly. Day in and day out. Faithfully. This time it's different. He said, "Good-bye", to his corporate peers and the 'status-quo' that dictates how successful you are...according to the world's view. He stepped out and said, "My value is not measured by the numbers meeting the deadline or the bottom line of this or that. He said, "NO!!" to it all. He stepped out in faith of the almighty God who calls us to another place. A better, higher place. This is a portion of his resignation letter... "...My job does not dictate my decisions in life. I live by a higher law. My job is only the field that I am placed in for specific seasons to effectively change the lives of people God places in my pathway. When I am called to a new field and more lives to touch, I must go. This is not a choice for me. I am called to a new place to effectively change lives for the kingdom. This is the measure of success by which I choose to live my life by. This is the example of success that my wife and children will see in me. I will not allow the world's opinion of success to influence how they feel about themselves. This opinion will never allow them to achieve the level of success that God has called them to..." Every day I am thankful for all that the Lord has done for me and all that HE has blessed me with by way of family, church family, friends, neighbors, my community, just everything, but in writing this today I must admit I feel more admiration for my husband than any other time I can think of. He is standing on the Word of God and it is alive. God is using him in a miraculous way. Oh, I'm not going to lie and tell you I haven't been afraid. I have! And I cast it into outer darkness. By the blood of Jesus. We have just jumped off of the corporate 'band-wagon' so to speak. And completely into the arms of our loving Savior and our dearest, most trusted best friend! He is our Jehovah-Jireh! He is Jehovah-Nissi, our Jehovah-EVERYTHING!! He will show us the way. Now we are going straight to where God is calling us. WITH GOD!! COMPLETELY!! NOT LOOKING BACK AND NOT LOOKING DOWN. We may not ....know... where our feet are being planted either. But we know we are walking on ...SOLID GROUND... Because we're standing on the solid rock. The chief Cornerstone. The Alpha and Omega. We don't have to see...to really see where we are going. Just trust. Trust in, trust on. And we do, we will and we are!! So here we go. OUR RESTAURANT IS CALLED... "THE CORNERSTONE DELI". Bring it on!! And that's just the beginning of sharing the story.