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!

Almost Finished with School!

We have been working so hard on the restaurant that you may think we haven't had much time to get our schooling done. Well, since it is the end of our year we have been working harder than ever to finish up. Every morning the children get up a little earlier than usual and start right to their studies. They are finished with all their academics by 10am. They have had some extra motivation...the slip-n-slide and their pool along with the gorgeous sunny days we have had lately. They don't want to miss a chance to enjoy the time to play outside. What a great motivator that is! This year we have had so much fun learning about the solar system. We have used a fantastic curriculum called Apologia. You can see where we hung the planets from the ceiling in our classroom. There is alot of interacting and notebooking with drawings and experiments to do. Their notebooks can be used for references later on in school and you'd be amazed at what they've learned (and remembered!) We learned why God made the solar system and why he placed humans only on earth. We are going to finish up some things over the summer. Just because it's fun to do. We have been doing a state study too. We have studied many states and learned about the 1st thirteen colonies. I've combined the state study with American History to make learning about history easier later on. Hopefully, it will give them a great foundation. Some of the states we've studied are TX, OK, NM, VA, DE, NJ, ME, FL, SC, NY. During our study the children learn each states' abbreviation, in what year it was admitted, what the state is known for-industry-it's contribution to the US-etc, its' motto & nickname, as well as drawing the state flag, flower, tree, animal, and the state itself. They are also required to give a brief speech telling about the state and what they've learned. We also completed English, Math, Reading, Bible, and a few other subjects that were of interest to us this year. I am doing the evaluations of the children now and hope to have those finished by the end of the week. Here are some photos of their drawings. I know they're my kids, but I think you might appreciate their work too. I think they've done a great job and worked very hard this year! I am so proud of them.

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!!

It's the REAL THING!!

They say that 'Coke is the Real Thing'. Well, that may be true as far a soda's are concerned, but I'm gonna tell ya what...Jesus Christ is the Real Thing of EVERYTHING!! ABSOLUTELY ALL OF IT. That is why we are doing what we are doing, because of Him. He has given us power over all the darkness and over all the works of that dark world. Our pastor, Reverend Greg Wilbanks, just preached an awesome message that brought that into light once again. It was about "The Unchangeable Purpose of God" and the Word declares in Ps 8:1, Oh, Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! v.2 says, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, v.6, says(paraphrased) and we are to have dominion over the works of our hands. God's purpose for man upon the earth is for man to rule the darkness...satan. Since the 'fall' took place, it looked as if God's purpose couldn't be fulfilled. Darkness crept in and took over...so it thought. Was God's plan defeated? No!! God assigned and designed man to rule satan! Not for satan to dominate man. A defeated man is not in God's plan! A dominated man is not in God's plan! A ruling man IS in God's plan. To this day! Right NOW! Since God NEVER changes, how could his plan change. It could not. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He will never change. His plan is unchangeable and that is why he robed himself in flesh to be born of a virgin and take on the sins of the world. Jesus Christ!! The same yesterday, today and forever! He will never change and that is his plan. He is the real thing.