I'm proud to be an American

I was very fortunate to start my 4th of July off very very early this morning (or late last night, however you look at it...) as a part of a very large group that welcomed home the veterans from the Central Missouri Honor Flight's 19th mission. 

The Central Missouri Honor Flight is an amazing program, whose mission is to transport America’s veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices.  

American flags lined the street, as did hundreds of people.  The mood was festive as we waited for the veterans to return. Volunteers kept us updated "They are 40 miles, out; they are 15 miles out..."  And then we heard them, the more than 900 motorcycles that escorted them into the city.  What a sight!

Then the bus turned the corner!

The two buses honked, and turned on their lights. The crowd was cheering. You could see the veteran's smiling and waving and taking it all in.  It is hard to put into words what I felt at that exact moment, but it was something like pride and gratitude mixed together.

The crowd continued to cheer loudly as each veteran's name was announced as they were escorted off the bus.  

I saw this on the back of a volunteer's shirt.  I believe it says it all.  That is the reason I was there last night, and it is the reason I live in this free country today. 

What an awesome to way to celebrate this country's birth, by honoring the men and women who have served our country, kept us safe and fought for the freedom we have today!

I am so proud to be an American, and I am so grateful to everyone past and present who have served.  I am also so proud to be the granddaughter of two veterans (my Papa Case served in WWII, my Papa Bosch served in the Korean War) who served this country with honor. They have gone on to be with the Lord, but their service lives on.

I hope you stay safe, enjoy your day and I wish you

A VERY HAPPY 4th of JULY!!! 

Star Spangled Door Decor

I love holidays, and if you remember from THIS post, I always decorate my door for the coordinating holiday.  July's door decoration has been in the works for a while.  I gathered the supplies during three different trips to the thrift store.

I picked the wreath up first, with every intention of using it for something else. On the next trip I picked up that little bag of stars, and on the third trip I picked up the star pick and the flag. Once I had everything I had an idea!

And the best part of this project

 A whopping $. 95! Yes, $ .95! Whoo-hoo! :)  I love thrifting!

When I bought the bag of stars I thought I would just hot glue them on the wreath, but when I took them out of the bag I found they all were on little wires. Perfect!

I was also excited to learn that the white stars have a touch of glitter on them, and if you know me, you know I love glitter! :) If you don't know me, now you know I love glitter! :)

So, it wasn't until I was done that I realized I didn't take any pictures of the next part...., and you probably don't need me to explain ( but I will anyway) that I arranged the stars on the wreath the way I wanted them, lopped the stick off the star pick and used the wire hanger at the top to attach it, added the American flag, and hung it on my door!

Now my door is properly patriotic and ready for the 4th!

I hope you have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!
God Bless America!





Linking this post up to: Tatertots & Jello, Iheartnaptime, Sunny Simple Life, Vintage Wanna Bee & Thrifty Decor Chick

Grab Joy

Oh life...
 most of the time it's wonderful, sometimes it's not, but I am always thankful for it!

I've had some changes in my life recently, and while it's not what I planned, it is what God planned. I believe that with my whole heart.
At the beginning of June I started a "Joy Journal."  It's not fancy (yet!), just a cute little polka-dot notebook I picked up. 

I believe that you can find joy in every day. Some days you really have to think and look hard for it, and other days joy is so plentiful and in so many moments that you are awed and overwhelmed by all the joy in your life.  My joy journal is a place to record all that joy, and to help me remember every day how truly blessed I am.

I thought I would show you some things that brought me joy today:

My Nana.

I spent the afternoon with her. (This picture is from a few months ago, it was over a 100 today-no long sleeves for us!) Nana is my last grandparent; she and I have always been close.  I am her oldest granddaughter. I am the mother of her oldest great-granddaughter (we seem to only have girls in our family!) I go to Nana's almost every Sunday after church.  I have for as long as I can remember. Nana and Papa were married for 60 years. Nana is a fighter, she has survived three heart attacks...I told you she was a fighter! :) I love to listen to Nana tell stories about being a child during the Depression, a young military wife, my Mom, and her walk with God.  I know how lucky I am to still have Nana, and spending time with her brings me joy.

These wild flowers/weeds (whatever) that have sprung up at the edge of my patio bring me joy, plain and simple.

Pizza brings me joy. 

Seriously...well at least this one did.  I really didn't want to cook.  It is too hot, I was too hot, and I was tired. My awesome parents brought this over.
Yep, pizza with the parents brought me some joy today.

I have no idea what the deal with this leaf is.  Maybe it's decaying, maybe a bug destroyed it, I don't know.  What I do know is that when I found it on the patio this evening, I was excited.  A leaf that looks like lace, how awesome is that?! Yes, I may be easily impressed, but regardless, this lacey leaf added a bit of joy to my day.

As I said before, there is joy in every day, you just have to find it...then grab it! :)

P.S.  Want to know one more thing that brings me joy?
This Little Light now has a Facebook page! Whoo-hoo! Head on over HERE to join me on Facebook!

Lovely Lime

Are you like me?  Do you spend waaayyyy to much time on Pinterest?  I have boards galore, full of wonderful recipes, crafts and ideas, but I had actually never made anything from Pinterest... until now!!

I found this amazing White Chocolate Key Lime Pie recipe on Pinterest, which led me to Cheri at Kitchen Simplicity.  Her blog is full of so many yummy things, one being this White Chocolate Key Lime Pie!

My finished product!

I knew this sounded delicious but I had no idea how easy it would be to make.  Seriously! It is so easy!  I used THIS recipe from Cheri. The only thing I did different was I used a store bought crust because I already had one and I cheat like that... :) I also didn't garnish it because 1) my lime slices were terrible, they looked like a three year old had cut them, and 2) I wasn't taking this pie anywhere, we were just going to eat it at home and it didn't stay around very long!

This is definitely going to be my "go-to" dessert of the summer! Church dinner?  Check! Barbecue? Check!  Work food day?  Check! Just want to make one because it is so good? Check! Check! :) I do plan on garnishing it when I take it somewhere.  I better start brushing up on my lime cutting skills! :)

I have to say my first Pinterest Project was a success!

Thank you Cheri!

On Some Beach....

Somewhere...yes, I know you're singing now, admit it. :)

I spent most of the week in the sun and sand...my daughter and I took a Caribbean cruise to Jamaica with a stop at a private island in Haiti.  It was amazing! Beautiful and relaxing,which is exactly what I wanted and needed.

The cruise was wonderful, the ship was beautiful, the food was awesome, there were so many things to do that you could never get bored (I even crafted on the cruise-they had craft classes! I told you it was great!), the weather was fabulous and the ocean and beaches were breathtaking.

Even with all of those things to do, this  was one of my favorite places...it was just so peaceful and beautiful!

(Yep, those are cupcakes, yummy, yummy cupcakes)

Puff the Magic dragon...oh wait that's not Honah Lee, it's Haiti, my view from the balcony when I woke up, but I imagine this is a lot what Honah Lee looks like. Singing again?  I thought so... 

Breathtaking...told ya!

 

Ya-Mon! Oh how I loved Jamaica, the people, the music, the colors, just all of it. I had heard such negative things about Jamaica that I had no idea what to expect, but I loved it!

I was so excited about this starfish. I kept telling anyone who would listen to me about this starfish. What can I say, I'm easily impressed.  Hey guys, see the starfish? :)

All in all it was a fabulous vacation that I was very blessed to have the chance to have with my daughter. 

I've been back for a little while now and am starting to get back into the swing of real life.  Once I have real life down, I will get back into the swing of crafting and such. I have a half re-redecorated bedroom that I seriously need to finish, it is looking pretty wonky, and really who wants to sleep in a wonky bedroom?  :)

Top of The Mornin' or Evenin' Or Whatever....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

When it comes to St. Patrick's day I don't do much decorating around the house, ok, I do NO decorating around the house...just on the front door.  I love holidays, I do, I do!

This is just a simple sparkly wreath from the $1.00/$2.50 section at Target paired with felt hanger from the Dollar Tree.  Just enough green and sparkle to make me happy! :)

I haven't felt great this week, some nasty cold/virus junk in my head and chest.  Boooo.  I can't stand being sick when the weather is so beautiful!  I have no plans today, just enjoying a lazy, rainy day, and I probably won't see anyone but my family (who I would like to believe would not pinch me, but I know better!) ....so just in case  I'm sporting my green today....on my shirt and my nails :)

Have I mentioned how much I love sparkly things?

This Irish Blessing is also something I love!

May You Always Be Blessed

With Walls For The Wind

A Roof For The Rain

A Warm Cup Of Tea By The Fire

Laughter To Cheer You

Those You Love Near You

And All That Your

Heart Might Desire

                         -Irish Blessing

Isn't that beautiful? I wish those things for you, as well as the



Happy St. Patrick's Day Friends!



It all started with a button....

This button.....

I found it at the bottom of my washing machine, an AWOL button off my one of my favorite cardigans.

I set out to one of the happiest places on earth (No, not Disney) perhaps I should rephrase that...I set out to one of MY happiest places on earth, Hobby Lobby. 

Armed with my 40% of coupon, I went to buy turquoise thread to fix the missing button.  Really, that was my plan.  Really. Guess what? They were out of turquoise thread! 

And that my friends is when my plan went haywire. I couldn't let my 40% coupon go to waste, so I decided to browse the store.  Great idea...NOT!  So an hour or so later I exited the store with these

Not bad, the pretty Easter eggs were already 40% off, so I used the coupon on one sheet of scrapbook paper.  I am sooo glad I didn't let it go to waste. :)  I should have just walked away then, and gone home.  But, when I have an idea there is no stopping me.

I headed to the Dollar Tree (also one of my favorite places) to get some wooden clothes pins for the scrapbook paper project.  While I was at the Dollar Tree, I found some fun polka dot ribbon in four spring colors and inspiration hit again.  Soooo.....back to Hobby Lobby I went.  This time I got a white canvas bag and some white ribbon, which of course I paid full price for because I had already used the 40% coupon wisely on a piece of  .59 scrapbook paper. 

I headed home with all my loot and three different projects in my head.

I still don't have any turquoise thread.