BeautyRevealed | The Blog of Melissa J. Dillon

“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.”

- Benjamin Franklin

“There aren’t enough days in the weekend.”

- Rod Schmidt

We celebrated Mom’s Birthday this weekend as well as Mother’s Day, so that Jamie and Angela could be with us for both. They traveled up from The Cities on Friday night and we had such a nice weekend with them (although, it always goes by so quickly). On Saturday we all helped mom with a few projects for her birthday present… 7 pairs of hands can get a lot done in a few hours! Then we went out for dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant. We played Dictionary late into the evening… I forgot how much I like that game!

On Sunday we all went to Jodie’s house for a Mother’s Day/Birthday celebration. Jodie grilled his famous Lemon Chicken, mom made potato salad and baked beans, Jamie and Angela prepared the salad, and I brought the cake. Team work! It was a delicious meal, and we sat out on Jodie’s deck and enjoyed the warm sunshine. 

The Grill Master at work! 

Jamie and Angela  (sorry guys, the sun was bright looking up at the camera!)

Wedding bells are coming quickly for these two… August 8th will be here before we know it! Seeing the love between these two is such a joy! The Lord is so good.

After our yummy lunch, we moved inside to play some wii before everyone had to head for home. It was a lovely weekend. Happy Mother’s Day and Belated B-day, Mom! 

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us; still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” - Washington Irving

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” 

John 1:29

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.” 

- Robert Frost

I’ve been in spring cleaning mode this last week. Lots of organizing, deep cleaning, redecorating, and baking while listening to “The Best of Billie Holiday” on my ipod. Though the days have been a bit chilly still, the sun is bright and cheery… I love spring. I’ve been scouring old issues of Country Living and Victoria magazines for some inspiration. I’m in a blue faze, I think. It’s so summery and fresh. Today I dyed Easter eggs… I actually boiled a dozen eggs without cracking any (that’s a first for me!) I had to call mom for some tips. 

Easter is at Mom and Dad’s this year. We’re still deciding on the menu as it kind of crept up on us all of the sudden. We do know that we want to watch “The Passion of the Christ” and have a time of worship, though.  I wanted to ask if any of you have any fun or special Easter traditions. It’s always fun to hear how other people celebrate holidays and make them their own. What kind of meal do you usually have? Egg hunts? Sunrise Service? Please share in the comment section. I’m always looking for new ways to make our holidays more special and meaningful. 

I thought I’d share some of my Easter/Spring decorations that I have up around the house. It definitely feels springy around here now. I changed the curtains from red to white which gives the house an airy feeling. Now it just needs to warm up so I can open up the windows and let the fresh air in. My next project is to put screen doors on the front and back doorways to allow light and air to flow through… mmm, I can almost smell the fresh cut grass already… and the lilacs… and the barbeque grills. Can you tell I love summer? This winter has been way too long! 

After this weekend I should have some pictures to share of all the projects we’ve been getting done around here. Lots of power tools, pounding and painting going on in this 90 year old house. It becomes more and more of our dream home everyday. My dad has been coming over every day after work to finish up the baby’s room, and this Easter weekend we start on putting a new oak stairway in. He’s also helping me put some finishing touches on my Creative Closet, so I’ll be able to post some pictures of that soon as well. Thank you so much, Daddy, for all your hard work. (I think I may owe him my soul when all this is said and done! ha!)

I hope you all are having a happy Spring and Easter Season. Spring is a time of new life, growth, and fruitfulness after a long winter. It is a refreshing time for me and I hope it is for you, as well. 

The angel answered, “… I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead…” 

So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy…

~ Matthew 28

“To be married to a man who makes you laugh every day,
ah, now that’s a real treat.”

- Joanne Woodward

I love you, Mark Dillon! Forever and ever!

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person.” – Benjamin Franklin

My parents came for New Year’s this year. We made way more food than we needed… thus, eating more than we should have. We went to see the Fireworks and then watched movies until we rang in the New Year… a little late (we weren’t watching the clock)… so our Celebration happened at about 5 minutes after midnight. We blew our noise-makers to wake up dad (we knew he wouldn’t make it till midnight) and scared the daylights out of the cats. It’s a rare thing for us to be up until midnight anymore… I guess we’re getting old. We had a fun night though… It was such a nice way to ring in the New Year. 

On Friday evening we had the pitter-patter of little feet running through our home. What a wonderful sound! Our friends, Jon and Shannah, came with their adorable little boys for an evening of fellowship and Christmas goodies. Braiden is 4 and Carson is 1½… they made my heart ache for a little boy of our own someday soon.

I have known Shannah for many years and it is such a joy to see her now with such a beautiful family and so many blessings. I love to live in a small town where we bump into each other at the grocery store and the flower shop every now and then. Shannah is one of those women whose spirit just glows with the kindness of the Lord. We are so blessed to have their friendship. They are such a sweet family. 

On Saturday night we had our friends (and neighbors), Jim and Jessa, over for Cocoa and Games. Unfortunately, the guys beat the girls (but not by much!) so we’ll have to have a rematch soon. We played 5 games of Sequence… I think it’s my new favorite game. 

Jim and Jessa live 2 houses away from us, toward the lake. They have an adorable white house with dormers and an incredible view of the lake. When we first came to look at our house to see if we wanted to buy it, I fell in love with their house and told Mark that I wished I could see the inside of it. We soon found out that Jessa actually worked with Mark at his new job! Small world! She also had been praying for a Christian friend to move into our house (it had been empty for almost a year after it was remodeled) and I had been praying for God to reserve this house for us when I discovered it online. God answered both of our prayers and we are so grateful to have such wonderful friends two doors down. Not only did we get the tour of their adorable home, now we have friendship with the couple inside! God is good! 

Jodie also came over Thursday for snacks and a Movie Night, so we had a full week of family, friendship and fun! New Years Resolutions start Monday! I’m so excited for 2009. I have a great anticipation for this year for some reason… I just have a hunch it’s going to be a good one!

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”

Roy L. Smith

I have been very s.l.o.w.l.y decorating for Christmas this year. One night we got the tree… the next night we tackled the lights… a couple of days later we put the decorations on. Yesterday I finally put the wreath on the door. It has been a process this year. But it has been nice. Just laid back and care-free. Mark and I picked out the tree in about 2 minutes… we were really cold and we both just said, “good enough”. I don’t even think we got a proper look at it (It was tall and not too wide, so it fit our requirements). We got it home and we both love it. Mark trimmed a bit off the bottom before he brought it in, and when he stood it up he started to laugh. It was literally a ½ inch from the ceiling. It was perfect… no tree-topper this year, I guess. Simple. I like it. 

The kitties think that we brought in the tree just for them, I think. Pouncer tries to climb it (not very well since he has no claws!) and SweetPea takes her naps on the tree skirt. No ornaments have been broken yet and we’re crossing our fingers. 

Mark’s sister, Rachel, got us these Santa mugs for Christmas a couple of years ago. It is a Dillon household tradition to drink hot chocolate from Santa mugs when decorating the tree. I love this tradition and look forward to passing it on to our children as well. His mom has all kinds of antique Santa mugs and we usually fight over which one we get. 

Maybe next year we’ll have a fireplace on which to “hang our stockings with care”! This year we have a fireplace DVD that we play on the TV… it even crackles! It’s called the “poor man’s fireplace” (as we affectionately call it). But it does cozy up the room, and we just use our imaginations to feel the warmth of the fire. 

This is our little downtown Coleraine a few nights ago. We had just come out of a restaurant and the snow was falling… it was so peaceful. Our house is just a couple of blocks away. 

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments. As much as I try to not focus on Santa Claus, for some reason I tend to gravitate to the Old World Santas. They are just so sweet looking. I do like the story of St. Nicholas, though, and I will tell my children about his giving spirit… instead of focusing on “getting” presents. My parents were always really good about keeping Jesus at the center of the season when I was growing up, and I appreciate those memories so much. We even have cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. Even as a child (amidst the excitement of presents), I realized that the true gift to us was our Saviour born in a manger. I am so grateful to my parents for raising us this way.

Mark’s mom, Deborah, and I got this Santa a few years back at an auction in Missouri. I was too intimidated to raise my paddle so I kept hitting her to bid for me. I was so happy to get him… I think I only paid $5 if I remember right. Deborah came home with a whole car-load of stuff from that auction… we hit the jackpot!

Well, these are the beginnings of my Christmas decorations… there will be more later which I hope to post as well. I’ll get to it one of these days before Christmas (grin). 

Hope your season is special and filled with the warmth of His love.

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold,

everything is softer and more beautiful.”

- Norman Vincent Peale

We had a fabulous weekend visiting Jamie in The Cities this weekend. We did some Christmas shopping (and we almost completed it all), we ate a lot of great food and we went to the Michael W. Smith Christmas Concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. It was such a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

On Saturday before the concert, we tried to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant, Cossetta’s (above), but it was an hour long wait, so we decided to try out “Patrick McGovern’s Pub” just down the block instead. It was a great place with lots of atmosphere. Mom and I had the Irish Stew… it was so good. It warmed us up after walking quite a few blocks in freezing downtown St. Paul… it was c-c-cold, ya’ll!

The Michael W. Smith concert was so wonderful. He had the Minnesota Symphony playing with him which was absolutely gorgeous and he had Melinda Doolittle on tour with him (from American Idol). She has an amazing voice and really added a lot to the concert. Our seats were actually really close (thanks to Jodie), although, you can’t tell by how far away it all looks from our little cameras! We need to invest in some nice lenses so we can zoom in a lot more. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Jamie got us rooms at Bethany which were right outside his apartment door so that worked out really well. We went to Bethany Church on Sunday morning for a wonderful service and then went to Panera Bread for Soup and Sandwiches. Then more Christmas Shopping before heading home to the Northwoods again. It was such a special weekend. It kick-started our Christmas Season perfectly! Thanks everyone for a wonderful time!