Sixty years...

Hugh and Margaret celebrated sixty years of wedded bliss earlier this week. Q planned a surprise party in honor of this blessed occasion. He got some help with food and asked everyone to keep it a secret until this past Wednesday night.

Everyone shouted, Surprise! as they walked into the fellowship hall. The room was filled with friends and family and the table held some great food for all to enjoy!

Q's sister and her kids were here visiting for a few days, so I had some help putting together the desserts. First, I made this Triple Berry Tart for Margaret. The recipe comes from Taste of Home's 2006 Diabetic Cookbook.

The tart is so easy to put together. My nephews, Gabriel and Ross helped me put the berries on. Here's the recipe....

Triple Berry Tart

1 unbaked refrigerated (9-inch) pie crust

1/4-cup reduced-sugar raspberry fruit spread

1-1/2 cups fat-free whipped topping

3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1-1/2 cups fresh strawberry halves or quarters, stemmed

1/2 cup fresh raspberries

1-1/3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Unroll pie crust on large nonstick baking sheet; prick with fork. Bake 8 minutes or until light brown. Remove to wire rack; cool completely.

3. Place fruit spread in small microwavable bowl; microwave at HIGH 15 seconds or until slightly melted. Remove from microwave. Spread evenly over pie crust, leaving 1/2-inch border.

4. Beat whipped topping with cream cheese in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended and smooth. Spoon tablespoonfuls whipped topping mixture evenly over fruit spread. Using back of spoon, smooth whipped topping layer.

5. Arrange berries in decorative fashion over top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 8 servings.

Three-year-old Ross helped me put the finishing touches on two coconut cream pies. I got the recipe for Old-fashion coconut cream pie from Allrecipes.com. I changed a few things based upon the reviews. I added one extra egg yolk, used cornstarch instead of flour and added in one teaspoon of coconut extract instead of the vanilla extract. It came out so creamy and yummy!

I used my decorator tool to put on the whipped cream. My cooking buddy, Ross, helped come up with the design on the pies. We all thought they looked good and tasted great! Best of all, Hugh loved it, as this is his favorite dessert!

We had a great time of fellowship with Hugh and Margaret. One of their grand daughters put together a picture slideshow for them. It was fun to watch and see these two over the years.

Our get-together was a blessing to this special couple. Marriage is a wonderful thing to celebrate--especially when it's sixty years!

Congratulations, Hugh and Margaret! May God bless you as you continue to serve Him.

Our Garden: harvesting lots of veggies....

We have been harvesting a lot more these days and it's been great! We've been eating lots of salads and sharing some of the rewards of Q's labor.

These peas are crunchy and sweet. It's amazing to me each time I open a pod and see a new number of peas inside! They taste so good raw on our salads.

We just love this lettuce. We go out there every other day and bring some inside to enjoy. This was a funny sight to me with the towering lettuce head!

The green beans have also been a delicious compliment to our meals.

The cucumbers are growing rapidly. They are refreshing to eat...yum!

We're anticipating the harvesting of our pumpkins. We have a few out there that are this size and a bit larger. I can't wait to cook the pumpkin meat and make some yummy desserts this fall.

How's your garden doing lately? I'd love to hear your updates!:)

The Video Bus

Last week we had an awesome Vacation Bible School. We teamed up with Tim Tutton who uses the video bus as a tool to present the Gospel to children. We found a nearby trailer park to host our vbs.

Mr. Tutton serves with Baptist Youth Mission. He brought along two teen boys to canvas the area and help us with the program all week. They even worked at the church doing yard work on one of the days.

When the kids first arrived, we signed them up on registration cards. They held onto these cards all night because if they made a decision for Christ, we would just write that down on the back of the card.

Mr. Tutton ran the program each night. He led in songs, games, gospel magic and a video. At the end, he preached a short Gospel invitation and asked the kids if they wanted to ask Jesus to be their Savior.

Q and I were able to teach the kids a verse from the Roman's Road each night.

The video bus team...Cody, Q, Tim, and Stephen. We praise the Lord for eleven salvation decisions! There were also 41 kids registered during the entire 4-day week. That's a lot of kids.:)

We're also thankful for the way God has opened the door for Q and I to return to the trailer park. The manager there is allowing us to hold after school Bible clubs. We're really excited to start this up. The video bus would be part of this program once a month, too. Pray with us as Q and I prepare and as we continue to reach more boys and girls for Christ.

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Bonding

During our recent vacation a couple of weeks ago, we got to spend time with seven (out of eleven) nieces and nephews. We've had some good times with these little guys and gals. Let's just say that we've been bonding more and more these days....

Us with Abigail and her crew (Brian was attending classes and couldn't join us.)

Me with Ross and Carson at China Rock

Uncle Q and Jaden having a stare down....

Mia, Jaden and Eli in our hotel room in Hollywood, CA

Jaden holding onto Uncle Q's hand in Santa Monica.

We're thankful for the precious times we've had with them and look forward to many more years of bonding with all of our nephews and nieces.

Next up....updates on what's been happening around here!:)

Santa Monica beach

On our last day of our trip, we went to the beach in Santa Monica. It was absolutely gorgeous!

When we first got there, we ate a late lunch at Bubba Gump's. Q and I had never been there before and we were impressed with the food. The "po' boy shrimp sandwich" was delicious.

We began walking along the pier looking at all the little shops and things. They had a small amusement park, so we went in and went on a couple of rides. Eli got to hang out in his stroller as we walked. I love his big brown eyes.

This is my mom and dad. Aren't they cute?:) We had a great time with them on this trip.

This is my sister and her family. Jesse is holding Eli, then there's Mia and Jaden, who I spend a lot of time making things for. They are such great kids.

It was fun spending time with Raquel. I'm thankful for her friendship. Q and I are grateful that we were able to spend quality time with family.

Loads of fun at Universal Studios

Our time at Universal Studios was great! It had been a long time since I'd been there, but this was Q's first time.

The first thing we did was go on the Studio tour. The new King Kong attraction was part of it and it was fantastic. We wore 3D glasses and all the dinosaurs seemed to jump right in front of you.

Everywhere we went there were neat things to see and shops to go to. We went to several shows that featured lots of special effects.

Outside the Terminator show was this motorcycle--the same model that was used in the movie. Most of us got a chance to get on and take pictures. This is my sister, Raquel, with her husband, Jesse.

All morning, Jaden kept asking if he could go to the Adventures of Curious George. By the afternoon, we were there playing together. Part of it is a ball factory, where kids of any age can shoot balls at one another. Huge vacuums also suck the balls up and take them to different parts of the factory. This was a lot of fun!

Here's Eli chillin' after a long day at the park. He had a great time, too. It was a wonderful day hanging out with family.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a popular spot, so we decided to walk up and down the street, looking at all the hand/feet prints and stars.

I enjoy older, classic movies, so it was fun to see some names from long ago. 

Judy Garland is one of my favorites. Her hands and feet were so tiny!

We pointed out Christopher Reeve's star to Jaden because he loves super hero things. He quickly put out his arms like he was Superman flying through the sky.

Quentin found Billy Graham's star and decided to do the hand gestures he would do while preaching.

Since my dad's name is Jose', he got a kick out of Jose' Jose's star. Too funny!

There were a few Johnson's along the way, so we posed to take a shot with our name.:)

During our walk, we talked about what criteria these people had to meet so that they could receive a star. I have no idea how names are nominated, then chosen to receive this honor.

It made me think of how people think they can get to Heaven. They have a list--or "criteria"--on how they can do this. Some believe that by doing good things or going to church that they will get to be with Jesus after they die. But, the Bible doesn't say that. We must simply put our trust in Christ to receive His gift of eternal life. 

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13

We also know that if we have received His gift, then our names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I know that my name is there, and hope yours is as well. I will never have my own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but my name is written in Heaven--a much better place!