Shoreline

Shoreline

New Beginnings

The colors of roses have meaning and yellow roses stand for friendship and new beginnings. Thank you to my sweet friend and to a new beginning knowing the path won’t always be straight and sometimes the seas will be rough, but thankful that our faith in God will carry us through whatever comes our way.

Proud Momma Moment!

It’s no big secret that I am a proud momma! I post about my parenting moments often and share publicly my journey as a single mom of one extraordinary son. Tuesday night marked another mile stone for my son and I.

I remember walking my little first grader up to the Cub Scout troop meeting all those years ago by his hand and embarking on the adventure called scouting.

I watched my son earn awards, belt loops for achievements, badges, go to camps, race pinewood derby cars and rain gutter regatta boats (he was pack champion 3 years running!) He loved scouts, the friends he made, the activities and adventures and accomplishments.

The day came when he had made it through all the Cub Scouting ranks and it was time to move on to Boy Scouts and he told me he wanted to be an Eagle Scout. So we moved him into a Boy Scout troop in New Braunfels the summer between 5th and 6th grade and the next chapter of his scouting career began.  He has had a wonderful scouting experience and set a goal to become an Eagle by his sophomore year of high school. He is now a freshman and the photo above was from the Court of Honor promotion ceremony where he was ranked up to Life Scout which means next stop is Eagle Scout. I don’t have to hold his hand anymore like that first night at as a Tiger Cub but I am still involved and helping him achieve his goals. His work on the Eagle Scout project begins next and he has chosen the Canyon Lake Rec Center as his beneficiary.

I am so proud of my son and as a single mom I can say that keeping the faith, staying involved an instilling a heart for service into your kids is a priceless treasure.

Reflection…

I love my morning walks. It makes it really easy to love them because I live at Canyon Lake in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and the scenery is so beautiful and awe inspiring.

I always say that some of God’s best handiwork is right here where I live and I am blessed to be surrounded by it every day. I am a deep thinker and I get some of my best contemplating done on my walks. While I don’t exactly solve all the world’s problems I do dedicate a lot of time pondering the solutions to my own.

As I walked the morning this photo was taken I was thinking a lot about my past decisions…good ones and bad…all of which have led me to this moment in time. I thought about the decisions before me that I will have to make and where those might take me and noticed the smooth-as-glass water on the lake that morning. I stopped and stood there just looking at the lake. So calm. So pure. So clear. So peaceful.

I want to be like that early morning lake. Calm. Pure. Clear. Peaceful.

I continued on my walk and made it to the end of my route and turned to retrace my steps and head back to the house. I arrived at the same clearing where I took the photo a little while before and noticed something. A boat had launched at a nearby ramp and had sped across the lake toward the dam leaving the once placid lake with a large ripple effect moving across it. I stopped again.

Isn’t that how life is for us? We can reach a state of calm, pure, clear and peaceful  and then something rips through our path like the speeding boat on the lake and the ripple effect runs through our life and distorts the perfect reflections of what surrounds us. Suddenly we don’t feel so calm. Our purity gives way to emotions of anger, fear, depression or failure. Things certainly don’t seem so clear anymore and peace is something that we desire but simply eludes us.

The good news is that if we hold on during the waves that crash into our calm and seek to turn capsize our peace, the calm water will once again return to us. I find that my faith is the one constant when those waves come and I thank God for stopping me in my tracks and showing me examples like the lake that morning to clarify his message to me. May you find calm, purity, clarity and peace in your day!

Where I meet Jesus…

I know I talk a lot about how much I love the Texas Hill Country and perhaps I am a little biased, but I happen to think that God did some of his finest handiwork in my backyard!

I love to walk in my neighborhood in the morning and enjoy the amazing sunrises, hear the sounds of nature and commune with God. What a blessing to be able to enjoy the majesty that surrounds me and thank Him for it!

Canyon Lake offers some of the most amazing sunrises and sunsets and I am thrilled to live, work and play in such a wonderful community!

Sammy didn’t like the storm

Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning Central Texas was hit with a barrage of crazy thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rains, flash flooding, hail, high winds, wild lightening, clapping thunder and even a tornado in the San Antonio area. Needless to say there were many people who got very little sleep as this storm went on for hours. Between the flashing and crashing it was enough to steal your slumber, but for those of us with frightened pets and/or children…well sleep was not in the cards for us!

My Sammycat freaked out. He usually sleeps in the sunroom which of course is all glass and he escaped and made his way to my room where he was stuck to me like glue! He is not a fan of the storms!

McAdoos New Braunfels

If you love seafood you have to eat at McAdoo’s! If you love cajun food you have to eat at McAdoo’s! If you like great sangria you have to visit the Treasury at McAdoo’s!

I had the occasion to enjoy a meeting with a colleague at McAdoo’s Seafood Company yesterday and the fried zucchini and shrimp was divine! The atmosphere and ambiance is second to none, the service is great and the food and beverage follow suit! Set in the old New Braunfels post office, the nostalgia and decor do no fail to conjure up native history while you are there. Stop and and try this great local eatery, you’ll be glad you did!

Kitty Friend

Good Morning Kitty Friend!

Meet one of the adorable creatures that hangs out at our home. This is Kitty Friend. We have no idea what his real name is but when we call him “Kitty Friend” he comes running. He has been making almost daily visits to our back deck since he was a little guy and has befriended our tuxedo cat Sammy. The frolic through the glass sliders in our sunroom each morning and it is a fun way to start the day. Kitty Friend is well fed and obviously healthy, so we are pretty sure he has a home, but we like to think of him as one of our adopted ones. He is sweet, cute and very playful and Sammy thinks he’s pretty neat too!

Another trip around the sun.

Happy Birthday

Birthdays, they mean different things to different people. Some dread them. Others embrace them. And still others ignore them. But me, I celebrate them and I celebrate big.

Why all the fanfare over another trip around the sun?

I think it probably has something to do with discovering the important things in life. It isn’t really about money, fame or being number one. It’s about relationships and making memories that leave a legacy. It’s about touching the hearts and minds of others and changing lives. I have reached a point in my life where I have trouble thinking of what to say when people ask me “What do you want for your birthday?” Really, I want to be with the people I care about, just spending time together, talking, laughing and smiling.

Don’t get me wrong, I love “stuff” as much as the next person (I got some really cool gifts this year that I am really thankful for and they were actually quite perfect for me!) but the true gift was a dinner out at a new local eatery in our community with some of my best girlfriends. I felt so blessed at the end of the evening and I haven’t laughed that hard in a while!

<Insert restaurant commercial here> For a charming, delicious and affordable Italian dining experience at Canyon Lake, Texas visit Gennaro’s Trattoria. We had a wonderful evening with great service, awesome food and fabulous ambience!

<Resume original post here> I love my birthday and I make a big deal out of it because I love my life. I am joyful and looking forward to what tomorrow brings. I know that my faith in God fuels my appreciation for my existence and the people that He has brought into my life are precious gifts. I don’t worry so much about getting older because I am pretty confident that I am getting better with age…kind of like a fine wine!

I am looking forward to my next trip around the sun and the adventures and friendships that it will bring my way!

Enjoy the journey…and wear sunscreen!