Winner, Winner, Pancake Dinner!

Came to the party late last night, thanks to the final tennis match of the season. Everything was well in hand and going fine when I got there about 8:25. It was a nice night to be outside. Tons of folks showed up to help, thanks to people inviting their friends to come and share the opportunity we have to serve on Tuesday nights.
The meal was Pancakes and Sausage, always a good ol' fallback plan.
Here's why:
1. They're cheap and fun to make
2. You can make alot of them quickly
3. They will eat alot of them.
4. It's a comfort food, something that hits us somewhere beyond the "I like the way this tastes" experience.
5. Best of all, you get to use THE BIG METAL PANCAKE MAKER!

Plus, it's fun to teach kids how to cook them. It ain't brain surgery, but there's a couple of tricks to it, so you can come off looking halfway cool if you do it right. The "smiley face" pancake is always a crowd pleaser if you do it right.

I might miss a few helpers this week so I'm asking for forgiveness ahead of time.

John Liverman
Ellen
Jennifer
Chris Armstrong
Leslie
Rebecca
Tom
Gary Wilcox
Bob Lee
Tracy
Trina
Sam
Pruden
Craig
Maggie Arnold
Maggie's Friend (sorry)
Jessica
Eric
Candace
Bryan
Twig
Danielle
Liz
Amy
Morgan

This week's List?

Just realized I had not put one out. My bad.

This is one is literary, so I already have an idea some of you folks that won't be posting.
Here goes:

2 or 3 books that you would like to see made into movies ( or re-made into good movies, if the ones that have been made were not to your liking)

Mine? The Mad Scientists Club - a book I read as a kid about other kids with a neighborhood club having cool adventures. This movie would drink The Goonies milkshake!

Any of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child - Jack Reacher is The Man. Straight up like 12 o'clock. (Killing Floor, Die Trying, Persuader, Bad Luck and Big Trouble and others)

Go, Dog,Go by P.D. Eastman - I love that book

And now for something completely different

Philip Sutton's Birthday
Limited Photoshop skill
+ Time to kill =

WE GOT PICTURES! ..........

......and at some point I'll figure out better ways to lay them out, but for now I just wanted to get them so you could see them.
For those of you who see the list of people who help every week and see the name 'Bryan" and didn't realize it, "Bryan" is a woman. If you look at the picture, it's obvious she's a woman.....she's doing dishes. ( It's a joke, y'all. Just a joke .)

.....amazing how seldom that ever happens.

Didn't rain on us tonight. Nope. They were calling for it and we could see lightning heading our way, but we made it just fine and thank God for it.
I was really glad the wind didn't whip up because we had all kinds of stuff on the table and we'd have been in trouble.
Tonight's menu was ....TACO SALAD! The thing is, I've been wanting to do burritos forever, and we talked about it today and were pretty much ready to say let's do it, but to do burritos, because of the tortilla and wrapping and everything else that comes with making them we would have probably had to make them in the kitchen and then just pass them out. But a taco salad doesn't require a huge degree of precision to make, that would work out great on the serving line and give everybody something to do. So...TACO SALAD it was! Besides, when you get right down to it, a TACO SALAD is just a burrito with no clothes on.
We had
Taco Meat
Nacho chips
Shredded Lettuce
Onions
Cheese
Tomatoes
Jalapenos
Salsa
Sour Cream
Dessert
Water/Tea
Special Treat: Ice Cream Sandwiches and Popsicles

They seemed to like it and we gave out all the meat and most everything else. E.B. and I took a little bit of everything left (meat, cheese sauce, tomatoes, jalapenos, and salsa) and made a dip. It was goood. I just don't know what I'm gonna do with it. "E.B." is Theresa Bland's daughter Elizabeth. She comes and helps when she not off at App State. She's funny.
The wonderful folks bringing the Kingdom to people tonight were:
Theresa
E.B.
Ellen
Jennifer (Ellen's friend)
John
Chris
Josh
J. Boggs
Eric
Candace
Bryan
Twig
Danielle
Liz
Tracy
Trina
me

The "Liz" in the list above is Liz Alexander. Liz's dad, Thomas Alexander passed away a year ago today of ALS. I was aware of this and thought about it off and on throughout the day. I wasn't sure what they might do as a family or how they would spend their day, but I was really really glad to see Liz walk in with Danielle tonight. Of all the things she could've done, she chose to come down and spend time meeting the needs of others. Alot of us would've been looking to our needs on a day like this, but Liz was here with us, and I think it would make Thomas proud to see her cooking and passing out food tonight. As her schedule has allowed, she has been one of the most faithful youth helpers. Keep the Alexanders in your prayers this week.

Tracy continues to put the Word in front of guys every week. He shared that he has been a little bummed with the response to what he has tried. We prayed for strength to continue anyway and remember the power that is in the Word and that it never comes back void.

Summer's coming. Pray for us and the folks we'll see. Pray for resources and for folks to pick up the slack that comes with summer schedules.
Pray for opportunities to impact lives beyond feeding. I believe our consistency in showing up and meeting a physical need every week for the past 4+ years has provided us with a platform of credibility and trust to do more things of a spiritual nature and we pray for God's guidance.

I mentioned earlier it didn't rain on us tonight. I was praying for rain tonight, though, just not where we were. I had a tennis match tonight and told Joe I wouldn't play because I played last week and missed most of the night. So I was praying for them to get rained out and then we could schedule a rematch and I could play in that, and I would get the best of both worlds. It didn't happen. They played and we won.
The best of both worlds. It's .....

The List for this week is ......

Last week's list made me realize again how much I want to go see a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion". I spoke with someone this week ("hoover") who's been to 2! Lucky dog. But I''ve been to over a dozen Springsteen concerts, so I'm all right.

This week's list:
3 songs that you automatically turn up the volume when you hear them on the radio.
Doesn't matter who you're with or where you're going.....what 3 songs do you just have to hear loud?

Me?
Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac (Literally, this song can never be too loud)
Born to Run by The Boss
Mr. Jones by Counting Crows
Honorable Mention - Anything by Van Morrison

You?

Neil Diamond songs will reult in loss of posting privileges and guarantee that I will never ride in a car with you.

...they were just glad to see me and my truck leave.

A lot of what I pass on will be second hand because I left 6:45 to play a tennis match. I don't usually play the Tuesday matches but I did tonight because it was an important match and we really needed to win. Twig had it covered and had lots of help. I came back at 9:30 to help clean up, so I missed all the in-between fun stuff. I might miss somebody when I list the names so forgive me if do.
Tonight there was
LouAnne
Ellen
Henry
London
John
Ryan
J. Boggs
Jon Hill
Twig
Anna
Tracy
Trina
Eric
Candace
Theresa
Amy Long and Morgan Long
Bryan
So, you see, I wasn't missed at all.

God was very good to us this week with the things that He brought our way. It was a week where we didn't buy anything to cook, it was all brought to us, and we had tons of it.
There was: Salad
Chicken Pasta
Chicken Chili
Pizzas (had no idea those were coming!)
Beef-a-roni with meatballs
Dessert

The numbers of folks we saw tonight was lighter than usual, for no reason we could figure out. Sometimes that just the way it is. The fact that God sent more than we could use at one time just underlines how much He loves us and wants to do for us. More than we could ask. More than we can imagine, out of the overflowing abundance that is his to give.

Candace and Theresa have agreed to be photographers each week. This way I can post pictures and you can see who's who and what they do. As I mentioned in a previous blog, you can do both of those things better if you come join us.

The tennis match? Well for starters it was at Landfall, so when I rolled up to the gate in my truck, the security girl looked at me like "Who starts a landscaping job at 7:00 p.m.? Where are your shovels and rakes?"
When I said "I've got a tennis match", you could tell she wasn't expecting that and looked at me like I was trying to scam my way in.

Then when I get there I realize the tennis shirt I brought to play in is collarless and sleeveless (Mike Abernathy calls me "Magnum, P.I." when I wear it. So I wear it every time now). I don't know if there's a dress code, but it is Landfall, so I err on the side of caution and keep on the shirt I wore to school. Good thing I'd worn a short sleeve polo shirt.

Phil Sutton had to play singles so Mike A. and I went out at #1 doubles. I like playing with Mike. He loves nothing more than to take balls at the net and hit them down and over the fence, off the court. He does it alot, too. That's a good thing.
One of the guys we played had the biggest, wildest looking racket bag I'd ever seen. it was a Wilson, but it looked like the gas tank off the biggest Harley-Davidson you can imagine. It looked like he rode it to the match.
Both of our opponents were named Jeff, which takes alot of pressure of us, because we don't have to worry about keeping names straight. "Nice shot, Jeff" regardless of who hit it.

We played on soft courts, which I prefer. You can tee off on the ball a little more. We won our match 6-4,6-4 and our team won 3-2.

We play our home matches at Empie Park, which is like qualifying for free lunch at school. We ain't got nowhere else. We're not racquet club guys. So it feels good to go into a place like Landfall and win the match. I wanted to stop at the gate on the way out and tell the security girl I won my match, but she didn't come out. I think ....

One day left......

...to get in on this week's list. Tomorrow I'll post a new one and you'll be wishing you'd done this weeks. Hop to it! (Where you at, McKnight?)

Kinda Bummed.....

Nothing concrete as far as what we're cooking tomorrow night.

I'll start out cooking but have to leave before we begin serving because I have a tennis match. Because of my standing commitment to helping with this, I usually don't play in the Tuesday matches but will this week because it's late in the season and we need to win out for a chance to go play at the state tournament. I really like both things and it sucks when one keeps me away from the other.

New List

Glad I did last week's list. One response. And from McKnight! Like I don't see or talk to him 5 times a week. Anyway.....

Not to be slowed down by that, here's the list for this week:
3 Things or Events you would like to attend Be as specific or general as you wish
Ex. The Academy Awards or a Presidential Inauguration

Mine? Game 7 of a World Series
Volcanic Eruption
Taping of Saturday Night Live

Yours?
g

...coming out and joining us one Tuesday night.

Menu: Homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni (way good!)
Garlic bread
Desserts
Tea and Water

We made at least 7 gallons of Cheeseburger macaroni tonight and passed out all of it except for enough to fill a small cool whip container. It was good, especially with Texas Pete. We never roll out without the TP, no matter what we're serving.
We had a great time in the kitchen tonight and an even better time outside with our friends. The kitchen was full and hectic with stuff for everybody to do, which is always a good thing, and outside serving was nice and relaxed, especially at the first stop where we had lots of people to serve.

In addition to the meal, we made sandwiches for them to take with them for lunch tomorrow (or whenever they wanted to eat it).
We also had an unexpected blessing when Jerry Worley from the Friendship SS class called and said a friend of his had donated alot of XXL shirts for us to pass out and he brought them by. Logan and John did a great job getting them ready and passing them out. It was nice to see Logan and John. College has kept both of them away on Tuesday nights and there's nothing wrong with that, but they're finished for the semester and were able to come tonight.
Theresa Bland brought relatives with her tonight. Her sister, Janice, her niece Julie, and Julie's son Jordan came and helped tonight and did great.
Plus Katie Norris and Danielle Biongiorno came back, bringing Liz Alexander with them. Jessica Reed came back again, not dressed as nice this week, but still rocking the "Diva" apron!

The full crew:
Twig
Logan
John
Danielle
Katie
Liz
Theresa
Janice
Julie
Jordan
John Liverman
Ellen
Bryan
Ryan
Jessica
Tracy
Trina
me

Tracy spoke to groups at both stops tonight about the Word of God and what it has done in his life and what it could do in theirs. He challenged and encouraged them to come back next with a verse from I Cor. 13 to share. I wouldn't do it justice trying to explain it here, but it was good and excites me about what God might do in the future.
Equally powerful and cool were the prayers offered up at the end of Tracy's message by 2 of our friends. It was awesome. They were heartfelt and moving and amazingly, totally different from each other. I know we should not envy other's gifts, but I wish I could pray like Mr. Willis. He had it going on in a way I can't.
I got people lined up to start taking pictures, so I can post them here and help whoever reads this make a visual connection to what we do and what I'm writing about. Plus it'll help connect names with faces.
But you know what would really help connect names with faces is.......
g