Swingin’ and Drinkin’ Iced Tea on The Front Porch…

 

Our new friend from Poland, Mark, enjoying the feeling of a good ole Southern front porch…where livin’ just can’t get any better…Mark is a Missionary and was introduced to some good ole’ Southern dishes this weekend, fried catfish, hush puppies, french fries, country ham and he liked the catfish best.

My friend Jackie’s century old home and a few of her lights and a stained glass window…I just love this magnificent porch!!!

Let’s join Mary, over at Dear Little Red House, while we enjoy swinging and drinking iced tea (since the temperature here today is 75 degrees)…

A Guest From Poland

We had a wonderful time tonight at the home of our friends, Jackie and Lou…

I’ve been experimenting with some different settings on my camera so not all of my photos are good…sorry…it’s that learning curve thingy.

The company was a wonderful mix of some truly wonderful people…one of those special times that just happened to work out beautifully…

Our hostess, my best friend Jackie cooked a gourmet meal that we ate every bite of…

A delightful couple who are new friends fit right in perfectly…

Paul, a good sport to take all of the teasing from us, enjoyed Jackie’s meal.

This young man is a missionary from Poland and was a wonderfully personable addition to our little party. We learned so much from him about how God is changing his life as well as those he is ministering to. Funny, articulate and devoted is how I would describe his personality.

After dinner conversation with our host, Lou was stimulating and fun.

This is a shot of the dining room of this beautiful century old home that has been renovated by my friends. This is Jackie’s childhood home.

Look at the chandelier that was above our dining room table…ooohhh…isn’t it beautiful!!!

Michael, has anyone noticed his taste in shirts???

This man is a great representative for the country of Poland.

I’ll be posting more photos of this lovely home in the future because it is such a special home.

Friday the Thirteenth…of November

For Tootsie’s Fertilizer Friday I had to run outside and snap a few photos a few minutes ago, better late than never!!!

Who couldn’t love this lovely strawberry that I’ve been saving for today…

One survivor of a rose…

One fluffy little flower that is needing a bath and a trim, Zoe is a Morkie…

A couple more strawberries…remember this is Northwest Tennessee!!!

Just a few blooms are still surviving…

A few more blooms that I enhanced with Picasa…

A few Mandevilla blooms, I think the Black-eyed Susan vines have helped to protect them…

The surviving Beautyberry berries…

This little Hydrangea is struggling to be pretty…

Not a single leaf left on my Fig tree…

Nandina and Blackeyed Susan entwined…

Nandina Berries…

A Love Story…

 

I guess it’s really a love story…When I decided to write a short post today to thank my husband for being such a brave man who served for twenty-five years in the US Navy, I was sort of stumped. It shouldn’t be hard to pull up a few words for this…but it is so very difficult. The reason it is difficult is because those years of service is such a huge part of why I fell in love with him.

It takes a real man to come into a woman’s life like he did mine. I was widowed and raising two children by myself. I had fought hard to get to where I was in my life at that time ten years ago. I had graduated from college a few months earlier when we met and was working temporary jobs and looking for something full time.  I had decided to buy a retail store located in a state several hundred miles from where I was living. My plans were to relocate my children, myself and my Mother who lived next door to me. Those were some really big plans for someone like me.

He walked into my front door, reached down and picked up a cat and threw it out the door, looked up at me and said “you did want that cat to go out didn’t you?” I was a little stunned but it was ok with me, I’m pretty flexible about things. We spent that day together and finished the day up with picking my son up from school and driving to a nearby lake. The beginning of a whirlwind part of our lives. I often admired him for his crisply pressed shirts, which sounds a little silly. That just showed me he could take care of himself very well and I’m certain a lot of you will understand that to be a great characteristic. I had been caring for way too many lives and a mountain of work by myself. I was ready for someone with some broad shoulders, but I really didn’t know it.

We were both very strong willed individuals and had a lot of work to do before we found some neutral ground to work with. Thus the name of my blog…Thoughtfully Blended Hearts. To make a short story even shorter we brought together two lives, four children, a couple of homes and lots of other things together. We’ve fought each other, defended each other and ultimately found our own path “together”.  By the way, he talked me out of moving and buying a retail business!!!

Today I want to thank this man for being the hero he is to me and to everyone else whose lives he has touched. I want to thank him for his enduring love and patience for me. When I stop in to the place where he works I’m always greeted by people who are grateful for his expertise and empathy. That makes me so proud to be his wife, the wife of a man who dedicated so many years of his life to defending his country and now spends his days caring and respecting the veterans of our area. His heart is truly enveloped in love for his country and the veterans of our country.

 

A veterans post wouldn’t be complete without Mom and Daddy…who were both veterans, you can read about them here.

Help Me Choose, Please…

I want to print one of these photos, will you help me choose which one???

First Set…

Second Set…

…and thanks to Mary at Little Red House for hosting Mosaic Monday!