Bringing a meal, more than just a yummy dish!

Hello there! 

Last night I posted a picture on Instagram and it generated lots of comments, questions, and a few texts. 

So I thought, this would be the perfect blog post with more information! 

What is this picture you ask? 

Ok, here it is! 

please pardon the cell phone picture, I was not planning on this becoming a blog post. 

Our sweet friends have a new addition to their nest so of course a meal was in order. 

Food is one of my love languages, I am convinced of this. 

Having my home full of the people I love, good food and drinks, well I am happy as a bird with a french fry. 

Going to a restaurant with some of my favorite people, well that too just makes my day! 

And the hubby and I are always scouting out the best steakhouses in any city we visit. 

So yes, food, drinks and lingering over conversation and laughter, makes my heart happy.

I also love, just love, making food and taking it to people. 

It has always been something I have really enjoyed....

Naturally because I can't do anything simply, I have to doll it up a bit. 

And since you asked, this is what I did this time. 

The menu was perfect for summer:

Chicken Salad with Grapes on Croissants fresh from the bakery

Summer Fruit Salad

and a Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Each dish was in a foil pan wrapped with foil.

I truly believe when you bring someone a meal, as nice as it is to give in a pretty dish you 

don't want to put them out by asking them to return your dish, unless it's one you're gifting them!

Since this was a busy momma I wanted to make a yummy meal and keep things as simple and did not want her to have to go to the trouble of returning anything!

Next I used rectangle doilies, these are the placemat size.

Doilies are a must in this house, every size and shape.

Use them for entertaining almost every time! 

The doilies were wrapped around the pans and secured with a tulle pink bow.

On top I used my computer to make the monogram tags with the dish listed below the monogram. 

There are also little pink baby carriages that were affixed to the middle of the bow I cut using my 

Die Cut Machine. 

This was super easy and looked so cute! 

It's so fun to brighten up the receivers day and love on friends. 

It is the unexpected that so many times speaks to the heart!

So there you go friends, you asked, I shared!

Now, go on out there and share the love.

Is there anyone in your world who could use a meal? 

It doesn't even have to be fancy.... 

A momma who worked a long day and could use 2 pizzas and some cokes delivered at 5:30? 

Maybe your neighboor who lives alone and may not cook full meals anymore for just one person.

If you look, I promise you will see, and you will be blessed beyond belief!

Friday Faves ~ The Pearl Event

You've heard me say it a million times over, but I must say it again. It was amazing y'all. 

Today Sweet Sibi has a post dedicated to this event... and it brought me right back to this Friday in May.

Sibi is a talented writer and she pours her heart into her latest post about this day... about her Father, our Father and His heart for His women. See, Sibi and I we love women's ministry, we love seeing women come to know true healing in Him. Discovering who they truly are, a daughter of the Most High King.

Please go visit her today, read her post.... you will be so blessed. 

What Courage Looks Like

Happy weekend friends!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!

To all the Daddies out there I wish you a happy and fun filled day with the people you love.

Fathers are truly such a HUGE blessing. 

So grateful for the man God has placed in my own children's lives as their father.

Y'all he is nothing short of amazing.

He is a living, breathing, gift from God to us.

God has used him and his example of what a true father looks like, in action,

to demonstrate for me some of what God does for me as my Heavenly Father.

This day can be terribly painful for so many... I have walked through that too.

As a parent and as a daughter. 

My hearts breaks for you if that is the season you are in... 

Please know you aren't alone. He is there. He has your right hand.

Maybe your daddy isn't on this side of heaven this year,

Maybe your sweet baby was called home,

Maybe your relationship with your own father is less than perfect, or non-existent.

Sweet friend He knows... He has all those tears and all those pieces. 

He wants to mend them. 

Claim the promise from Isaiah 66:9, they aren't just words on a page, they are a promise:

"In the same way I will not cause pain without something new

to be born" says the Lord. "If I cause you the pain 

I will not stop you from giving birth to your new nation"

Y'all just look at that promise. He knows we're going to have pain, 

but He promises to bring forth something great! My God is a God who is faithful to His word. 

I have lived it and seen it too many times to credit it to anything else. 

Today on this Fathers Day I am so grateful for my own heartache that taught me who

my true Father is... it is that heartache that set me on a journey to love. 

If you are just waiting for the calendar to turn another page and leave this painful day in the past

please know you are in my prayers. I've have my own share of difficult Fathers Days...

I can assure you, He has so much for you... and whatever it is He is bigger. His love is stronger.

Maybe, just maybe, like me you want to explore what is means to know Him

not just as your Savior but as your Father. 

simple sentiments

This past week my small group wrapped up with Beth Moore's Believing God study.

It was so radically different from our last but equally good in it's own way. 

On day 4 this week, the verse above was our "treasure"

and it spoke right through me. 

It was like it was there just for me.

Does that ever happen to you? 

This year the word I chose for the year was love. 

Loving others the way He loves. 

At least making an attempt though failing daily. 

Daily I have to ask Him in His strength to help me do this...

Meeting people where they are at and loving them unconditionally. 

It isn't always easy and like I said it's something I fail at daily.

It is something that with some people has been a work in progress for years.

It is so difficult to love difficult people.

In our human powers it is out of our reach, but in Him, with Him, friends the impossible, is possible.

But there is so so much here. 

So much more than that. 

When I made that promise in Jan I also said, God give me your eyes.

Just like that Brandon Heath song I have quoted on here before.

When we see the world through His eyes there is a shift in the way we act.

Those of you who have shared pieces of your story with me know exactly what I am saying here.

The student in your class acting out is suddenly a child who didn't eat last night and slept on a hard floor.

The acting out isn't defiance, its hunger, fear and exhaustion... in the body of someone too young to cope.

The friend who is snippy at car riders, isn't just being a pain, she is momma scared about a test result this week or whose marriage is crumbling... who needs an extra measure of grace and patience from a friend.

You see, there is a shift here, a shift from, it's about me to it's about them, it's about loving them even when it is tough, through Him and His strength. 

I want to love out of the overflow of my heart, out of what He has so graciously and abundantly given to you and to me.... so perfectly and yet we have done nothing to deserve it. 

There is a reason that out of Faith, Hope and Love, the greatest is Love.

Love covers, love carries, love acts.

My prayer is that as women, as daughters of the King, whatever earthly role we may fill

we always love out of the overflow of our hearts. 

For when we do this we can't help but conduct our actions with love for others.

Can you imagine what would happen in your circle of the world, in your work place, your community, your service organization, PTO and yes, even our churches, if we loved out of the overflow of our hearts?

Radical things would transpire... because when we get out of the way, and let Him have room to move, room to inhabit our hearts and out minds, our actions fall right into line with His will and His heart.

We'd be blown away.

Friends, will you join me? Will you love out of the overflow?

Best wishes for an awesome week. Take up the challenge and write me, what happens...