Sweet Promises

"How sweet are Your words to my taste!

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

~Psalm 119:103

You know what can be found in God's Word (the Bible)?  Promises.  He offers us plenty of them. And unlike our family, friends, co-workers, teachers, students, bosses, UPS workers, football teams, choir leaders, used car salesmen, etc.etc.etc., THE LORD KEEPS HIS PROMISES. 

I chose this verse a few months back and saved it for now.  Selfishly, to use in a timely fashion for me...to speak directly to my heart.  But who knows it may speak to yours as well.  You see we have owned Golden Eagle Syrup company for a year this past September.  And in the last 12 months there have been many days I wondered WHAT IN THE WORLD the Lord had in store for me today at the syrup plant and WHY IN THE WORLD the Lord allowed my husband to have this deep hankering within to acquire it to begin with....

But also within the last 12 months I have learned to trust in the Lord's promises.  I have had to, there was no choice.  I did not know the first thing about owning a business, running a syrup plant, or making a batch of syrup.  Many days would come that I thought surely folks would just have to learn how to live without Golden Eagle Syrup....but alas, we trudged forward.  Blindly, half the time.  And so, for the first 3 months I prayed FERVENTLY for the Lord to help me daily with each new task I had to learn.  And then do you know what?  I turned around and it had been a year.  I had survived the whole first year with only a few battle scars. Solely because the Lord KEEPS HIS PROMISES. 

All the days I thought a syrup spill would be the death of me, or a leaky pump, hot boiler, finicky label machine, broken down pallet jack, sticky conveyor belt, and on and on would prove to be more than I could handle....He was right there the whole time.

His promises are sweet to my taste!, they are not bitter, they do not bite back, they do not turn sour, they are not so sugar coated or so salty that you can't stand them to touch your tongue, no, instead they are perfectly pleasing to your palate.  

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! And do you know why?  Because the Lord only knows and only promises HIS perfect will for your life. And for mine.  Which no one could have told me would include Golden Eagle Syrup....other than soppin' it on a biscuit at home. 

I know I'm late posting this month's H3 verse, and it makes me so mad when I have a good verse picked out and then forget to post it on time!!  But I could hardly wait to 'hide His words in my heart' this time. And I pray I keep them there to remind me to trust in the Lord and his promises..... 

Presidential Wit

Ronald Reagan:

"When I was in fifth grade, I'm not sure that I knew what a national debt was.  Of course, when I was in fifth grade, we didn't have one."

Never talk with your mouth full.

Here's Middle Child breaking the huddle running to the line.

When you line up as a receiver on the end there, you have to get the referee's attention and let them know you are "on", meaning you are "on" the line of scrimmage. Don't ask me why they can't see it for themselves, all I know is it's some silly rule....

Anyway, the point is to look closely at Middle Child below....he went to tell the ref he was "on" and his mouthpiece came spewing out....but he managed to catch it in the nick of time....

and still get lined up ready for the play!

She flies through the air with the greatest of ease...

On the vault...

as well as the uneven bars...

with pointed toes

a beautiful straight line body hold

and a high bar release

her level 5 teammates

the three musketeers

her gym BFF

(who's been with her since they were little tots just beginning the gymnastics dream)

my little medal wearing star

Baby Girl has been improving with each and every meet this competition season.  A few weeks ago at the beach meet, she placed 3rd on beam with a 9.125---she rocked beam! And she was actually competing against several older girls in her age group, she had just turned 11 and many of her competitors were 13 & 14 year olds.   She was placed in the same age group again this past weekend at the Battle of the Bay meet in Daphne.  She placed 3rd on vault, 4th on beam, 5th on bars and 4th in All-Around.  I was so proud of her. 

Middle Child...the football captain!!

One of those, thankful to be "that mom" that always brings a camera to the game, moments.....you just never know when you may need it, like, when my boy walked out on the field as a CAPTAIN for the Junior Varsity game.

He was head captain...or the one who does the speaking for the team.

  I'm not sure what he came back from the midfield meeting and said to Coach....

 but apparently it was funny.

 Go figure.

Now if only his body could grow as big as his humor. :)

Sweet Promises

"How sweet are Your words to my taste!

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

~Psalm 119:103

You know what can be found in God's Word (the Bible)? Promises. He offers us plenty of them. And unlike our family, friends, co-workers, teachers, students, bosses, UPS workers, football teams, choir leaders, used car salesmen, etc.etc.etc., THE LORD KEEPS HIS PROMISES.

I chose this verse a few months back and saved it for now. Selfishly, to use in a timely fashion for me...to speak directly to my heart. But who knows it may speak to yours as well. You see we have owned Golden Eagle Syrup company for a year this past September. And in the last 12 months there have been many days I wondered WHAT IN THE WORLD the Lord had in store for me today at the syrup plant and WHY IN THE WORLD the Lord allowed my husband to have this deep hankering within to acquire it to begin with....

But also within the last 12 months I have learned to trust in the Lord's promises. I have had to, there was no choice. I did not know the first thing about owning a business, running a syrup plant, or making a batch of syrup. Many days would come that I thought surely folks would just have to learn how to live without Golden Eagle Syrup....but alas, we trudged forward. Blindly, half the time. And so, for the first 3 months I prayed FERVENTLY for the Lord to help me daily with each new task I had to learn. And then do you know what? I turned around and it had been a year. I had survived the whole first year with only a few battle scars. Solely because the Lord KEEPS HIS PROMISES.

All the days I thought a syrup spill would be the death of me, or a leaky pump, hot boiler, finicky label machine, broken down pallet jack, sticky conveyor belt, and on and on would prove to be more than I could handle....He was right there the whole time.

His promises are sweet to my taste!, they are not bitter, they do not bite back, they do not turn sour, they are not so sugar coated or so salty that you can't stand them to touch your tongue, no, instead they are perfectly pleasing to your palate.

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! And do you know why? Because the Lord only knows and only promises HIS perfect will for your life. And for mine. Which no one could have told me would include Golden Eagle Syrup....other than soppin' it on a biscuit at home.


I know I'm late posting this month's H3 verse, and it makes me so mad when I have a good verse picked out and then forget to post it on time!! But I could hardly wait to 'hide His words in my heart' this time. And I pray I keep them there to remind me to trust in the Lord and his promises.....

The stuff legends are made of....

A man and his grill....

with a secret recipe that tantilizes the tastebuds...

and over 5 decades of mastering this art...

In this neck of the woods, he's famous for his chicken. 

And he's my daddy...so I inherit the secret recipe! :) 

If pictures could talk:

(*I send the football pics each week to my husband so he can put them on facebook for all the players and their family/friends to see them in action, if you are friends with us, then you've probably already seen this posted on facebook, but it's worth a second laugh.)  

Background story:  This guy is like family to us here at House of Bowling.  He's been on a few trips with us (we have a very funny story from one earlier this summer), the boys have played ball with him for years, etc. so we're all pretty close.  He and Baby Girl are always very supportive of each other in their respective sports.  She usually comes to him with a pep talk before a big game, and he encourages her before a big meet.

He calls her a "beast" because she may be tiny but she trains so long and hard every week at her gym and she calls him a "beast" because, well, because that's what just about everybody calls him. On Friday nights at the end of every football game, win or lose, our players return from the midfield post game prayer to our sideline and with helmets off, kneel in a line in front of our band.  The band then plays our Alma Mater.  Every game that Baby Girl attends, she always finds a spot on "the beast's" knee in the line up.  And every week I take their picture.  This particular week I caught this shot, and although I wasn't in range to hear exactly what was said, I imagined it was something like this:

Boy:  "I thought I was a beast, what do you mean I need to step it back up?"

Girl:  "Look, the stats don't lie, you had 336 yards last week and only 236 this week, my math says that is 100 yds less this week than last.  I'm just saying, maybe you should run harder next game."

Teammates....

A couple of Friday nights back, during one of our high school football games, one of our players was injured and had to have surgery, unfortunately he will be out for the remainder of the football season.  But he did return the next Friday night to join his team as one of the captains for the game.  It was just one of those moments where everyone was blessed to see him smiling and healthy and supporting his teammates, even just a day after surgery, from the seat of the gator! 

Lookie, Lookie....that #6 is my boy....who is so grown up he doesn't like to appear much on the whole

blogosphere....but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. :)

Ironically enough, these 3 guys are pretty close friends,

who just so happen to be VERY close numerically as well. :)

Oh my goodness....there he is, my baby boy...look at that sweet face, how precious is he...oh, wait, I mean,

Look at that face, how intimidating it would be to line uip against him on the field. 

Forget it.  He's cute, period.

Girls Beach Getaway

Recently, Baby Girl and I had one last beach weekend to close out summer.  Actually, we were down there for her gymnastics meet, result pictures to come later, but I couldn't help posting these pics too.

She rocks. Totally. And she's strong. Inside and out. 

Which makes her pretty remarkable if you ask me.

Foodie Friday

Hi.  I'm a little under the weather, but after a shot in each hip, a night of very little ear pain, an improved ability to swallow again,  a bowl of my mama's homemade tomato gravy over soft inside pieces of a biscuit,  and beginning a round of antibiotics....I'm feeling much better.  Come to think of it, even with a swollen throat, I could manage to scarf down mama's tomato gravy anytime.  

I actually am posting today because I felt well enough to whip up a quick batch of golden goodness goodies for the weekend.  Obviously, we are constantly making up new recipes and trying to use Golden Eagle in any recipe we find where it can be substituted....so today I give you something so simple, you can basically do it with your eyes closed, one arm tied behind your back, and with a kid hanging on your hip....heck, you can even drop the kid ont he counter and let them mix these goodies up. 

Come on, you know you want too.... Why not? It takes maybe 15 minutes of your time and only 4  ingredients.

Hey, you can never go wrong with this duo: 

Add in a little sugar and a few cups of cornflakes and VOILA:

Yum-O.  Great little protein and grain snack for the kiddos, too. I'm not gonna lie though, I just make them because they are yummy yummy yummy. And quick and easy.  Which is what I need after the last couple of days where it felt like some little troll had climbed in my ear canal and was poking me repeatedly, although at random, with an icepick for kicks. 

Click for the link to the recipe over on House of Bowling Recipe Blog.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go make a batch for your family this weekend and keep the icepick toting trolls at bay!

The Intimidator....

Football season is in full force here at House of Bowling....and Middle Child made his debut last week during the Jr. High game.  Oh, look at that sweet thing run onto the field....

And line up in formation....

And be dwarfed by the size of his defenders....

And again by his coaches....

Oh, look, a cute little pony-tail wearing ballgirl....

who can even make a grumpy ol' referee smile....

back to the action at hand, the intimidator takes the play into the team huddle

...look at that boy's fine form, do you see that calf muscle?

It will be no small wonder if he isn't recruited early by a D-1 team.  :)

Gosh, I love that kid.

Presidential Wit--Reagan

Ronald Reagan:

(speaking of Washington) "the only city where sound travels faster than light."

Presidential Wit

Abraham Lincoln:

"I don't know who my grandfather was, I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be."

Pinterest Success.

Over the weekend, I carved out some time to finally do something with a few of those hundreds of recipes I found on Pinterest. Seriously....that place is an amazing plethora of great ideas, the problem, I pin and pin and pin and then forget and forget and forget or don't have time, time, time. 

At any rate here are the latest Pinterest success stories at the House of Bowling.

Tomato Pie....the link said it was like the one served at Mary Mac's Tea Room in Atlanta.  I don't know if it is or not, I've never eaten there, but I do know it was YUMMY.

And here is a little of what was left our of attempt at the Wendy's frosty ice cream.  Only 3 ingredients and Baby Girl mixed it all up for us.  Turn on the ice cream freezer and wait for the magic.  Y'all...it tastes just like a Frosty.

Middle Child LOVES strawberry cake....plain ol' from the box, strawberry cake.  We usually make cupcakes and just don't ice them, he eats them like crazy.  When I saw this recipe for Strawberry Brownies, I knew he'd fall in love all over again. 

And to kick off AU football, WAR EAGLE (even with a loss, I love my tigers!), we had these nifty Auburn drinks for the game. The kids and even T-5 thought these were too fun!! We will definitely do these again, often!!

Now, on to try out the other 500 pins I've poked onto a cyberboard somewhere.....what have you tried lately?

Getting our MIND SET right.

School has geared back up for us here at House of Bowling.  Everyone is happy with their teachers, enjoying their time with classmates and all the activites related to school.  Sure it's been an adjustment to get back into the routine of things, but we are managing. We have had to get our thinking caps on and trudge forward, ready for another year of higher learning.

The same should be said of us each and every day for our spiritual self as well.  We need to get our thinking caps on and be certain we have them tuned in to the Father.

For the mind set on the flesh is death,

but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. 

~Romans 8:6

The New Century Version says it like this: 
 If people's thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death.
But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. 

You know what happens when we focus more on our self?  Our dirty, ugly, rotten, no good self?
We leave much less room to focus on God, the Prince of Peace.

To gain what our wordly flesh wants requires the seperation between us and God. Our human minds are warped by sin and until we allow the Spirit to dwell in us, our minds will choose to rebel against God.
Our "mind-set" is our individual "way of thinking", and whatever we are thinking usually becomes our actions or our conduct.  If we think in the flesh, we are going to try to do things our on way and in general just cause a big 'ol mess.  We will travel down a road of misery, hate, resentment, bitterness, etc....and ultimate death. 

On the other hand, if we allow our "mind-set" to be dominated by the Spirit, we can enjoy a peace, a peace that only he can give. I know you need peace in your life, we all do.  Whatever circumstance you are in right now, I know you need peace.  Get your thinking cap on, and follow His road to peace....and ultimate life.

We must trust God and his actions for our life.  Whole heartedly.  All the time.  Sure, it's hard. But nothing in life comes easy, at least not if it's worth anything.  And friend, an eternal life with our Lord....that's worth something!

First Day of School -- 2012

I'm still a slacker, but determined to get some things accounted for and on this blog.  So, first day of school arrived bright and early, one fine Monday morning.  Ugh, Mondays, Mornings...blah. But, when the excitement of a new year is upon us and the thrill of being reunited with all your friends and classmates that have been absent during summer is in place....well, it makes for some happy kiddos here at the House of Bowling. Of course, such happiness can only last so long before it turns back into the drudgery of near dragging them from their slumbers each school morning. Apparently there is a magnetic force between their slender frames and the mattress.  

Oh, look!  They are FAR past the age where I would lay out clothes for their first day in hopes of playing all matchy matchy....but look what happened when they choose their attire...and they didn't even notice...and I was certain not to even breathe a word of it once I noticed it during the photo op.  They sort of look all matchy matchy, which makes my heart smile inside. 

Baby Girl will experience the joy of being BIG DOG (if you can call it that when you are the skinniest thing in class)  on campus this year as she embarks on her final year at her school.  The boys should take this time to enjoy their last year of freedom as well....next year, she'll be in high school as my inside informant!! :) 

With the help of some cute pinterest finds, some Golden Eagle treats and the dollar bins at Target, Baby Girl was ready to greet her new teacher. I'm just glad she still enjoys helping out making these and delivering them....I don't know what I will do when she quits on me....

As tolerant as she is, there are those times when I know to just pull back a little...even when it's killing me inside.  So, you will notice the lower part of the child proof window showing as I drove off from car line to document this LAST EVER, FIRST DAY walk into the building. 

I am happy to report everyone had a great first day. And I survived as well.