Miracles

How often have you not found that red box of cookies in the pantry

Because

The cookies were right in front of your nose in a green box?

How often have you not found that green box of cookies you thought were in the back of the pantry

Because

The box was right in front of your nose?

How many miracles have you not seen

Because

You’ve been looking in the wrong place,

For the wrong thing,

At the wrong time,

Or not looking at all?

I tell you the truth, you will never see a miracle until you believe that miracles exist.

© Istvan es Carmela, September 2005 (166)

Last blog I wrote about the fireworks and then the rain. Some would say that was just coincidence, but I don’t believe that. Just in case there be about any doubts about the possibility of miracles, let me recount what happened the following week:

We had a big wedding scheduled for Saturday. It was a 100 person outdoor package, complete with food, tent, dancing, and more. Jennifer was coordinating the entire event.

The wedding party had rented the Windsor House for the night before the wedding and the night of the wedding. The wedding party went to a rehearsal dinner at Mercado’s, a well known Mexican restaurant in Tyler, the night before the event and returned to the Windsor House about midnight to sleep. We had retired to our house in the woods earlier, for we had a big day ahead of us.

At about 2 am Jennifer, Bryce, and Johnathan were awakened in our house by much thunder and lightning, and the sound of heavy winds whipping the trees. Jennifer described it as “strobe lights in the window.” Johnathan described it as “a freight train” – although there are no train tracks within miles of Roseland. I slept through it all. I can sleep through anything.

Then, at about 2:30 the power went out. Utter blackness; you couldn’t even see the tip of your nose! When I awoke at 7 the next morning, the power was still off. I recalled hearing some thunder the night before, and didn’t pay much attention to the power outage; it’s not an uncommon experience, and power usually comes on in an hour or two. Well, by 8 am the power still hadn’t come on; we had a full house; and the wedding day activities were about to begin with a big breakfast. Unfortunately the entire house, including the oven, stove, water heater, and air conditioner, run on electricity. The electric company promised to restore service by noon. What to do? What to do?

We quickly called Edom Bakery and Grill who was able to provide an excellent breakfast of eggs, sausage, and biscuits – apparently their power was still on. Then we immediately cornered the portable generator rentals market in Tyler, just in case. By the time we were done, we had 5 portable generators in stock, ready to go.

First Hit

In the meantime, the wedding party was preparing for a 5 pm wedding, setting up the Chapel and ballroom. The bride and bridesmaid wanted to take baths and get ready, but there was no hot water. Clearly it was time to put the generators into operation, which should have been a simple proposition. Not so!

I will not bore you with the technical details, but suffice it to say that I spent most of the day trying to find the proper plugs and connectors. We finally succeeded by about 3 pm, but that was too late for the bridal party, who had to prepare for the wedding without hot water. Although we had been running the main water heater off a dedicated generator since noon – the largest one with plenty of capacity - something was wrong: There was still no hot water.

“This makes no sense,” I thought to myself. “What’s going on?”

It turns out the generator was faulty and would power the water heater for about 5 minutes then trip (without any indicator of failure). After fiddling around with this for about an hour or so I figured out the problem; substituted a smaller generator; and soon we had hot water. Too bad it was already 4 pm!

Second Hit

Noon had come and gone with still no power, so we decided to conduct the entire wedding on generators. While I was messing with the hot water heater, Johnathan strung extension cords everywhere: The Chapel, tent, ball room, video projector, and DJ stand. We actually had to augment our inventory with four new, long, extra heavy duty extension cords. Ultimately everything was set and ready to go, and the wedding proceeded beautifully. Katie, Aaron, and our guests all complimented Jennifer and told us it was the most beautiful wedding they had experienced. A miracle? Perhaps…

Third Hit

By 9 pm the wedding party began to wind down, but there was still no power! The Windsor House was completely dark; we provided flashlights so our guests could find their stuff. So once more we reconfigured the generators and strung extension cords throughout the Windsor House, providing light in every room. Most of our guests chose to go home, but several brave souls stayed overnight.

Next morning, we still had no power so we provided a full breakfast using the portable generators. Our guests finally left Roseland Sunday morning at 11 am. And literally just as they were driving out the front gate, the power came back on. We had experienced a 36 hour outage and not only survived, but succeeded in providing our guests with an outstanding, unforgettable memory for life. But that wasn’t the real miracle.

After the guests left, we surveyed the property and found that the entire power outage was caused by a tornado passing through. The power outage was caused by lots of huge oak trees toppled throughout the area all up and down 64. The real miracle, however, was that the tornado spared Roseland and all who were here:

Last Hit

When it hit, it ripped out and toppled a large, 2 ft diameter oak tree within 200 feet of our house in the woods, hopped over the house where we were sleeping and touched down again about 200 feet on the other side of our house - also about 200 feet from the Chapel. At that point it toppled two pines and another huge oak tree – this one with a trunk about 4 feet in diameter. Then it hopped over Roseland entirely and completely destroyed our neighbor’s equipment shed which is less than 300 feet from the Windsor House. Not one penny of damage was sustained by any building on Roseland property. Now that is truly a miracle! As in many times past – most recently the previous week - God blessed and protected Roseland and all who were there. Thank you, Lord!

The events of the weekend prove that miracles do indeed exist all around us all the time, if you look for them and recognize them. The biggest miracle of all, however, is you and I – that we exist at all and that our Creator loves us so much that He was willing to die on the Cross just so we could spend eternity with Him. Wow! What a miracle!

Johnathan on Forklift Clearing Fallen Tree

Fireworks! - then Rain

A few weeks ago we had a beautiful wedding at Roseland. The Lord always smiles upon Roseland weddings. For example we had one in the eye of Hurricane Ike. It rained before the wedding, stopped raining during the wedding, and rained after the wedding.

The weather forecast for our area on the day of this recent wedding predicted thunder showers all day, but we didn't get a drop of rain all day at Roseland. In fact, it was a beautiful, mostly sunny day. It rained elsewhere, but not at Roseland!

Candy "bar"

The wedding took place outdoors; it was one of our Deluxe packages. There was a wonderful ceremony in front of the Hambrick Chapel, dancing, a horse drawn carriage, lots of food, and fireworks at the end. The small children played horseshoes and ran around the property; the family enjoyed fellowship all day; the young adults danced. The fireworks were spectacular.

There was not a drop of rain all day - until the fireworks ended. It began to rain almost immediately after the wedding celebrations were over. The Lord held back the rain for the sake of the new couple until the fireworks were over, then blessed the union after the celebration with His tears of love.

Romantic ride in a horse drawn carriage

Who says there is no God? Who says He is not watching out for His children? Who says He is far away and doesn't care? We can see His hand even in events that are insignificant on a cosmic scale, such as this wedding, because nothing is insignificant to Him. He is always there with His beloved children - you and me. Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings you have showered and continue to shower on our lives and on Roseland Plantation, which my beloved Debbie and I dedicated to Your glory.

Dear Lord,

May you grant Stephen and Holly a blessed, holy marriage to each other and to Jesus Christ, their Savior, for many, many years to come.

Amen

Collage of Spectacular Fireworks After the Wedding

The Breakfast

The other Friday afternoon I was busy running errands (for example to replace a broken ice maker, get a dance floor for a wedding, and more). When I got home to Roseland, I saw coffee in the pot on the burner, but decided to leave it on until the last minute before retiring from Roseland just in case the guests wanted some.

In the meantime, I started doing some work in the office, then ate dinner, and before long it was time to close up shop. I totally forgot about the coffee, ice, refreshments, and cookies we usually set out for the guests; and taking inventory to ensure that we have all necessary supplies for breakfast. I was tired, went home, and rested in peace.

Butler's Pantry Well Stocked with Snacks for Guests

Next morning the coffee in the pot had burned and formed a solid mass. Donna, our helper, had to clean that up before starting on breakfast, setting us behind in a tight breakfast schedule. In addition, I had to run back to the house to get ice because our ice machine is broken and I didn't bring up the ice the night before. Falling further behind....

Then while preparing breakfast I realized we were out of butter, except for frozen butter which has to be defrosted before it can be sliced. This is a time consuming process, and usually involves one or two sticks of butter being totally melted in the microwave. With this unexpected extra work and waste of butter, we continued falling farther and farther behind the clock.

Fruit cup appetizer

Once the butter problem was resolved, Donna asked me to help with the condiments because she was running behind her schedule, due to having to clean up the coffee pot. That's when I found out we didn't have enough salsa on hand. So I searched and searched the refrigerators several times, as did Donna. We found enough to barely squeeze by, but had wasted yet more time. Tick, tock, tick, tock, went the clock and we continued falling farther and farther behind.

While searching for the salsa, the scrambled eggs had been cooking. At this point they have to be stirred regularly to keep from browning and turning into a scrambled omelet. Well, being distracted by the salsa, I neglected to stir the eggs and they started browning. The problem, thank God, is not fatal; the brown pieces can be removed individually. This is an extremely time consuming operation and normally results in loss of one serving of eggs. Since I normally make enough for an extra serving or two, we can recover. However, the time lost cannot be recovered. Falling still further behind...

While trying to remove the brown from the eggs, I didn't pay enough attention to the items in the oven and nearly burned the biscuits. Fortunately I didn't. The breakfast turned out fine, and was ultimately served almost on time, but with a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

The Main Course:  Eggs, bacon, biscuit, and our special home-made cheesy grits

I don’t tell you these trade secrets to scare you about the delicious food you will receive at Roseland – because it is always delicious. But I do divulge these trade secrets because the event provides a significant life lesson for us all, as follows:

I took my eye off the ball for just one moment the day before the breakfast. I didn't follow up and prepare for the next day's breakfast the way I usually do. I didn't check inventory of supplies, and I didn't check the setup as usual. Nothing big happened to distract me, just the grind of daily minutiae.

The next day this small error snowballed into a whole chain of potential calamities. A small oversight the night before affected not just me, but set Donna behind schedule, which put us both even further behind, and ultimately almost affected our guests as well. But for the Grace of God, the next day we barely escaped a disastrous breakfast.

It's the same with Jesus in your life. If you take you eye off Him, even for one moment, the enemy will sneak up on you and cause havoc in your life and in the life of those around you. Not necessarily immediately, but sooner rather than later. And then you will find bad things snowballing - one bad thing turning into another and then another, affecting both you and all those near and dear to you.

So, never, ever turn aside from His face - even to glance at the scenery on the side. You will inevitably experience a calamity if you do.

That’s why I must be totally focused on Jesus and Roseland to the exclusion of all else - especially earthly distractions. My destiny lies beyond death. I am on a journey to eternity, and my task in this life is to give everything I have - 110% - to my Lord. That includes my time, emotions, love, energy, money, or whatever is required to do the work He has assigned to me - including Roseland which He has placed in my care.

I must do for Jesus exactly what I did for Debbie, my beloved Angel:  Give Him all the love I have with no reservations, conditions, limits, or bounds. Nothing less can do for my Creator and Redeemer. If I don't, I will have committed the greatest sin of all:  Devalued His sacrifice on my behalf. And, as with the breakfast, I can be certain that calamity will overcome me and those around me if I take my eyes off Jesus, even for a moment.

So each day I pray, "Jesus, My Lord, please help me keep my eyes locked onto Your beautiful face and not glance away, not even for a moment, lest I fall and cause those around me to fall, too. Amen"

God bless,

Steve

Simple Elegance

Roseland is a time machine. Our guests all tell us that they enter a different time when they come through the gates. Somehow they get transported back to a time period a century ago, when time was something to be savored – like a fine meal – and not devoured like a fast food snack. Our weddings reflect this phenomenon.

Grace before Bridal Tea

Perhaps a recent 250 guest Roseland wedding best illustrates this wonderful experience. It was a most beautiful wedding in the tradition of the olden days. The family rented the entire Bed and Breakfast for the night before the wedding and the night after the wedding. It was literally a three day affair!

The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are traditionally held the night before the ceremony. The family enjoyed a wonderful catered BBQ dinner at the Plantation under a tent after the rehearsal, which went flawlessly thanks to Jennifer, our certified wedding coordinator. After dinner family members retired to the Bed and Breakfast to socialize until the wee hours, snacking and sipping refreshments. The girls enjoyed pedicures and manicures done in the Library.

Bridal Tea

The entire family started the wedding day with a wonderful country breakfast a la Roseland. After that the ladies enjoyed a sumptuous formal Bridal Tea hosted by the bride’s godmother. Tea was served by our courteous staff in the finest tradition of Roseland, on delicate china, glittering silver, and gleaming linen. All participants thoroughly enjoyed the experience; it was truly a special event for the younger ladies who have never had the opportunity to participate in such an event.

Flower Girl

Everybody pitched in and helped set up for the wedding. People were scurrying to and from carrying decorations while music played. Some family members used this opportunity to spend time with distant relatives and catch up on the latest events in their lives. A wedding, after all, is a life event – a joining not just of two people but of two families – and this is a perfect opportunity to get acquainted or to catch up with the latest developments in the family.

Strings making music

Ready for Bridal Entrance

Some guests who arrived early strolled the paths throughout Roseland’s acres and acres of natural forest. The crepe myrtles in full bloom literally formed walls of glowing lavender from the ground to the top of the trees and drenched the air with their sweet aroma as you walked by.

The Vows

The ceremony was a beautifully moving outdoor event, not gaudy, nor showy. The dogwoods were in full splendor, simply glowing in the sunlight. It was supposed to rain, but not a single drop fell that day. Clearly God had smiled upon this couple!

The touching Christian ceremony started at 5 pm and featured a live rendition of Brandon Heath’s “Love Never Fails” (among other selections), a scripture reading from Ephesians, a sibling candle lighting, and a wonderful string quartet for the processional and recessional. The flowers included spectacular bouquets of roses and Stephanotis flowers with pearl centers.

Mr. and Mrs. Slack

Once the ceremony was complete, the party began in the tent with food and refreshments served in the Plantation Ballroom. The beautifully set buffet included jalapenos wrapped in bacon, stuffed olives, various quiches, fruit, vegetables, rolls, and more. A variety of refreshments rounded out the fare.

Non-stop dancing began almost immediately after the ceremony and continued until late in the night. In fact, there was so much dancing that it actually moved the dance floor about an inch over the evening!

The atmosphere in a tent is always festive. The clear party lights strung throughout the tent shimmered; lighting colored the drapes and pole covers to match the color scheme of the bride and groom; and special light effects made the ceiling look like stars and aurora borealis (northern lights) at night. A large kissing ball above the dance floor provided the added incentive for a bit of public smooching by the bride and groom. A slide show ran continuously on our large projection screen throughout the party which, I’m sure, would have continued all night had the music kept going.

Simply Elegant

The bride and groom retired to the Bed and Breakfast thoroughly exhausted late in the evening, after the bouquet and garter toss. The getaway car was appropriately decorated with flowers, shaving cream, and cans. Everybody threw rose petals at the bride and groom as they “departed.”

Delicious Food

Next morning, refreshed after a good night’s rest, the family enjoyed another sumptuous Plantation breakfast all together before setting off for the trip home….

Dancing in the tent

May God bless the new Slack family and give them many happy years together!

Spring!

They say “It is always darkest and coldest before the dawn.” It is also the coldest and bleakest before spring. After all, everything has been dormant for months and everything has taken a beating from snowstorms, ice storms, and freezing weather. Everything is tired. Well, that was the way it was just a few weeks ago. We had snow. The weather was freezing. The sky was gray. The whistling wind cut through your clothing. I was telling all our guests, “Spring will be here someday.”

It seemed like spring would never come; we had cold spell after cold spell. No buds. The flowers that did poke through the ground froze and died. Everything seemed dreary and nearly hopeless. Then all of a sudden we had a couple of warm days and everything literally sprang to life overnight. All the trees flowered. Roseland was awash in color. First the bradford pears, then the redbuds, forsythia, dogwoods, and so on. Then the azaleas burst forth, and roses and jasmine cast their delightful fragrance. Everything came back to life; everything was resurrected from the dead. All our senses are tingling from the joy of spring.

It’s only fitting that Jesus, our Savior, was crucified in the spring. Before His arrival the whole Earth was groaning from beating after beating by the attacks of the enemy. We were lost in the darkness and wandering without hope. The entire earth was, in fact, dead because of our sins.

Then Jesus came and light entered the world. Dawn had broken. Through His work on the Cross the world was redeemed from death and resurrected.

Thanks to Jesus, spring has sprung on the earth. He poured out His living water, and we all started budding. Those who drank of His water freely blossomed with joy. Those who nourished themselves through His broken body and shed blood sprang back to life, full of energy and peace. Those who believed in Him rejoice at the prospect of the coming days just as we rejoice in the prospect of the coming days of spring and summer.

As I wander through Roseland I see beautiful flowers that warm the heart, make me smile, and bring joy to a world which seemed dead and is now alive. As I wander through Roseland I am reminded of my beautiful Angel, Debbie. I smile with joy in the certain knowledge that although she seemed dead a few months ago, there will be no more winters for her. She is now fully alive in Heaven, enjoying eternal Spring and Summer; and one day so shall I - with her.

The Bible declares that the Heavens and Earth shout the glory of God and praise the Lamb of God. Undeniably, so do the seasons. It is, indeed, fitting that Jesus, our Savior, was crucified in the spring, for only through His crucifixion can we all spring back to life. Let the joy of spring be an annual reminder of our coming joy, thanks to the work of our Redeemer.

Rejoice! Thank God for His grace and mercy.

Time Flies...

Eli in the Maryland Snow

Boy, have the past few months been overwhelming! Time flies! 

As mentioned in my last blog, I visited my aunt, Mamu, in Hungary. Debbie and I had always wanted to visit her, but we could never quite make the trip. I’m very disappointed that they couldn’t meet, but undoubtedly they will do so in Heaven.

Sophia in the Snow

I drove to Maryland, spent time with the grandkids, and flew to Hungary from Philadelphia. Well, I left just as the big storm hit the country and my flight was delayed for a few days.  Eli and Sophia, our grandkids, loved it; I now know why we moved to Texas. You might enjoy the attached pictures…

My aunt, Mamu, is doing quite well. She is 92 years old, but seems to be only 75 in all respects. She is extremely sharp and generally in good health. We had a terrific time just talking for the couple of days. When planning the trip I had feared we’d run out of things to talk about, but that was not the case at all. We could have talked for several more days. The visit reminded me of our guests who visit Roseland as a family and spend nights just talking, playing games, and having a terrific family moment before reentering the “real” world. It was a real joy; I look forward to seeing her again.

Mamu

There was a lot of catching up to do upon my return to the states; business at Roseland has been hopping with lots of B&B guests and several weekends with two weddings per weekend. We also have lawn equipment to repair and prep for the coming season; paperwork and taxes to complete; and so on. It’s simply amazing how much time all that takes and how little time we all have. This is the first real opportunity to sit back, take a breath, and catch up.

Opa and Brayden

As if Roseland weren’t enough, shortly after my return, Baby Brayden was born. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. at 21 inches long. Baby, mommy, and daddy are doing quite well. He is a very good little boy and sleeps most of the time; therefore we haven’t been able to harness him to work yet. Maybe when Christina comes back from maternity leave...

Time sure does fly!

God bless,

Steve

What a Winter!

This is a comparatively slow time of the year, so I decided to take a trip to Hungary to visit my aging Aunt who is 92. I drove to Maryland to see family and flew from there. The day after I arrived in Maryland, we had that big 30” snowfall which paralyzed the East Coast, my birthday party was canceled, and all flights were canceled. We spent my birthday shoveling snow in Maryland.

In the meantime, Roseland had 6” of snow here in Texas, which is very unusual but beautiful. Fortunately it melted quickly and Jennifer and Christina didn’t have to shovel. Our neighbor, Tim, took some pictures and I thought you’d like this one of the Hambrick Chapel.

The Hambrick Chapel at Roseland Plantation

The trip was wonderful, and provided an opportunity to readjust to life without Debbie.  I arrived back to Roseland last week.  Business has been brisk and is picking up; Christina is scheduled to have her baby momentarily, so it looks like things are going to be busy.  We look forward to seeing you soon.
God bless,

Steve