Patience Waits

Patience is like the petals of a rose unfolding.
It is silent.
It does not complain about its own slowness
nor chide another for his.
It is able to wait,
for it knows that time is as important as speed.
It knows that there is often much speed in the Spirit
while there is slowness in the flesh.
It knows there is a divine clock that has wings
where mans clock has hands.
It is aware of God's perfect timing
even though it cannot tell the hour.
It penetrated the wall of silence
and has faith that God is indeed working
even though it does not hear the chiming of the passing hours.
Yes, Patience is another child of love;
for it is Love that waits,
knowing all is well and all WILL be well,
because God loves and cares.
Patience can wait
because Patience knows that God is Love,
and love is timeless,
and love is loving while patience is waiting.

Taken from the book:
"Make Haste My Beloved" by Frances J. Roberts

The Way Cool Cafe

On the way home from Prescott we decided to take the road that I used to travel every weekend for two years. Partly out of curiosity and partly so I could say, "I told you my way was faster." Hubby and I always engage in friendly little wagers while traveling down the highways of life and
I usually win...ha! ha!

We pulled into a small town and I saw this cute little shop with all the fun signage. Just then hubby exclaims, "did you see that place? Let's turn around and get something to drink." I'm thinking to myself that after 14 1/2 years of marriage hubby is finally figuring out where I like to stop. He pulls into the driveway between this darling shop and an old beat up derelict store, gets out of the truck and heads in the direction of, you guessed it, the derelict store. Can you imagine my horror at the thought of missing out on this little gem of an establishment plopped in the middle of now where? Let me tell you, I was horrified!!! What was even more horrifying is that it was closed.

Doesn't this little red door look inviting? Who wouldn't want to pass through it to see what wonders wait on the other side?

And the enchanting stone wall with all the creeping vines and painted window awning. How I longed to peak into the narrow window and glimpse what lay beyond.

Or to relax in the shade on a hot summer day while sipping iced cappuccino and conversing with the store owners...two unforgettable women!

With the darling signs outside I could only wonder at the signs that were hidden from view.

Except for that dreadful sign that deprived me of this fun little diversion on an otherwise drab stretch of highway...
CLOSED resonated in my ears.

And were it not for the fact that we traveled this highway on the wrong day I could have met these two unforgettable women for myself. Who knows, we may have become life long friends. They did have an Airstream in the backyard...something I've been dreaming about for a few years.
So the next time we head back up to Prescott we'll take this road, but not on a Sunday.
And in case you're wondering if my way was quicker, it was, by about an hour and the little town this cafe was in is called Wendon, which is just beyond Hope. No really! The next town is named Hope Arizona and as you're leaving town there's a sign that reads, "You are now beyond Hope." We thought it was pretty clever and funny all at the same time :).

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Psalm 51:17

When it is the one ruling, never-ceasing desire of our hearts that God may be the beginning and end, the reason and motive, the rule and measure, of our doing or not doing, from morning to night; then everywhere, whether speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly employed, we are equally offered up to the eternal Spirit, have our life in Him and from Him, and are united to Him by that Spirit of Prayer which is the comfort, the support, the strength and security of the soul, traveling, by the help of God, through the vanity of time into riches of eternity. Let us have no thought or care, but how to be wholly His devoted instruments; everywhere and in everything, His adoring, joyful and thankful servants.

WILLIAM LAW (1686-1761)

Taken from the book: "Today, Lord, I Will"

Prescotture

Prescott + Architecture = Prescotture. I just made it up...
I know it's lame, but I couldn't help myself...
sometimes a girl just has to be that way...smile!

The sun rising on Prescott Arizona. Such a pretty sight, don't you think? I took this shot through the hotel room window Saturday morning. I was so excited to greet the day that I hardly slept the night before.

When we drove into town we came upon this huge hill and as we crested the top all you could see was the Arizona flag proudly waving beside the beautiful flag of the United States of America.
Our flag, yours and mine. Another beautiful sight.

Sweet hubby behaving like the goofball that he is. Our first night in Prescott he decided he wanted to eat steak and to be waited on so I let him choose the restaurant. We found ourselves in a bar-b-que joint with funny signs everywhere. One said, "Your mothers not here so clean up after yourself." Another, "We prepare our food fresh everyday! If we say we've run out that means we have no more food, so please come back tomorrow!" And no, we were not waited on but waited on ourselves, picked up our food at the counter, and threw our trash in the trash can, but what GREAT bar-b-que we ate!
See hubby's shirt? He's a proud blood donor and wears this shirt quite often. Every time he puts it on he asks me if he looks dumb and my answer is always the same, "yes Honey, you look very dumb, but your still cute!" Do ya think maybe it's time to go buy new clothes? Yah! ME TOO!

During the evening the sky looked very strange and all the colors disappeared into shadows.

We were told its been a cold spring and all the beautiful trees that line the square haven't even begun to bloom. All was grey but beautiful still.
The town is built with the old court house at the center.

It was so cold in the evenings that we could wear our loady jackets. Here's sweet hubby sitting on the steps of the court house. Such a darling man!

Some of the sweetest little Victorian cottages line the street along Senators Highway...

This one is brightly painted with the same colors as the Arizona flag...
how DARLING IS THAT!!!

This is a church done in the Romanesque style, but I don't remember what type of church. I was making hubby nuts with all my picture taking and he informed me that his life should not be dictated by the whim of my camera shutter...all I had to say to that was, "WELL!" and kept clicking away. He was of course kidding :).

This is the Post Office. Isn't the architecture beautiful? I think it's considered Renaissance Revival or maybe Beau Arts. Don't you love all the half facts I give you and can you image what kind of a tour guide I'd make? Not one with good facts, that's for sure!

That was just a small sampling of the architecture in Prescott, but there is so much more and I'd hate to bore you with it all so I'll just leave you with one last picture of our trip...

The sun setting on Prescott Arizona. There's almost nothing prettier in life than an Arizona sunset. This one was taken through the trees as the sun set over the Palace Saloon. One last pretty sight...sigh.

Hello! I haven't been around much and thought I better check in. Plus two of my sweet bloggy friends gave me awards I think it was this past Monday and I've been so crazy busy that I haven't had time to thank them properly or post my awards, so here it is...
My darling friends Natalie at Just-A-Gal and Allison at A little Shabby always Chic awarded me the "One Lovely Blog Award" and I'm honored that the both of you thought enough of my little blog to give me this lovely award. THANK YOU LADIES YOU ARE TOO SWEET!!!

And JustA (aka Natalie) of Just-A-Gal also passed this one on to me, but I'm not sure what it's name is. A little lemonade stand...I guess when life serves you lemons you make lemonade. JustA, what is the name of this award, do you know? It's supposed to be given to bloggers who express the spirit of gratitude in their blogs, as well as my gratitude to them for all their words of encouragement. I copied that directly from JustA's blog :).

So sweet ladies, I'm very thankful for your words of encouragements and friendship. The both of you make this little kingdom of Bloglandia a much nicer, friendlier place and I cherish your friendships more then you could know.

As we all know, awards come with strings attached...to pass them on to special people, but I've decided to be a complete rule breaker today and pass both awards on to everyone who passes this way. Every persons blog that I visit touches my heart in different ways which makes you all special and dear to me and it's always difficult to just choose a few or feel as if someones being left out. The truth is that each one of you is unique with your own special qualities and personalities and for that I adore you all. So please feel free to claim these awards as your own or to just simply say "how sweet."