Our very good friend Phil happens to be the pastor of our church so we asked him if he and his family would come to dinner this week in the vineyard and do the blessing of the vines for us. Now we are not Roman Catholic or superstitious or even real wine growers for that matter so this may sound kind of hokey and you're probably wondering what is this all about. Well, we have designed our backyard to be a beautiful and inviting place for fellowship and ministry. This is the area we use for gathering over food, books, wine, cigars, discussion and whatever else God may give us to gather over in the future. So Phil did pray a blessing on the vineyard but mostly for the fruit of all that goes on in this special place. It was actually one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard Phil pray and it filled my heart with great joy. And then we had a very nice meal together of garlic flat bread, prime rib, baked potatoes and asparagus, all made in the brick oven. We also shared our very favorite wine (Souverain Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007) with the Kruis family since it was such a special occasion with special friends. May God continue to bless the vineyard and our lives!
I recently started a ladies book club at my church. I've named it "Second Thursdays RMPCA Ladies Classics Book Club" because we meet on the second Thursday of the month to discuss a classic. Last night was our first meeting with eight ladies in attendence between the ages of 29-70. Our first read was the famous classic East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Though I do agree that Steinbeck was a very talented writer I did not care for this book. But most of the group really liked it and the book easily provided a few hours worth of discussion. Of course we enjoyed some treats and wine as well- a few California wines to go with the Salinas Valley theme of the book.
As usual I am way behind on blogging but I have to post a few pictures from this past Christmas when my sister Regan and her family (minus Jax) made a surprise visit to Arizona for the holidays. It was one of the most surprising moments in my life when I came home from work one night around 7, entering through my garage into the house and I heard loud Christmas singing. At first I thought Matt had the TV on really loud and there was a Christmas movie on but when I looked into the living room the TV was off and Matt was not even in there. Then I thought I must have Christmas carolers at my door- how strange because I live out of town a bit. I slowly peeped around the corner to look at the front door and to my GREAT SURPRISE I saw my sister, her husband and their kids with Matt singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" at my front door. I was utterly shocked and confused!! It took me a minute to realize what was going on. They had a great laugh as they came in and we had welcome hugs. Apparently Matt knew the whole time of their plan to come stay with us over Christmas and New Years and never let on a thing about it! It was very nice to have them here and share our Tucson life with them. It was also heart melting to have my two nieces playing together.
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