Good Morning!! Back in November, when most families were decorating and getting ready for the holidays, there was a family that lost everything due to a fire. I did not personally know this family but as the reports came in my heart broke for this family of 5. Their lives completely had been turned upside down. A few days after the fire the dad posted a status that touched my heart..... and I still think about it. He was spending time with each of them, making them feel secure and safe and telling them the most important blessing was all of them were safe.... he asked the older two, "What is the one thing you miss from your rooms", they each told him and simply enough he knew he could get those two items and then he went to his 5 year old and ask..."If you could have anything you want, what would it be?"...after a moment of silence she declares... "ICE CREAM!!"..... Last friday there was a group of 4 guys that came in and sat in my faith room, a couple of them are regulars, the other ones I did not know. I talked for a few minutes, welcomed them to this crazy new place and moved on. This group wanders back in on Wednesday, things were running a little smoother and I had a chance to really talk to them, they asked how it was going and if I liked it.." Things are better, everyday a little sweeter..... I just did not anticipate ALL my failures, but it is getting better".. they respond with kind words and I move on. A little bit later, as I am crazy busy, I turn to one of them standing by me....."Back in November my family lost our home and all belongings in a fire", I knew instantly who he was....he had shared something in his status that had stuck with me and I told him as much... " I wanted to share with you, my wife and I decided, that everyday we would find a blessing no matter what, instead of dwelling on all we lost, we would focus on all we had and we were full of blessings." When people share from their heart, it is like the whole grill disappears around me.....and it is a gift. " Instead of focusing on ALL the problems....focus on ALL of your blessings." Happy Beautiful Friday!!! We all get so consumed with what is going wrong in our life , we do not see the amazing blessings the Lord is giving us. I am so thankful for this sweet reminder, through this guest heartache & stress he reached out to me, to make a difference in my life!!! This is our heavenly fathers plan for us.....to use our journey to help others. I came to work yesterday morning and shared this with my girls.....we will count every blessing we have, we will not dwell on the other stuff we will just work harder. Today, make yourself accountable to someone.....share a blessing instead of a heartache, it is truly a gift to yourselve and others. As i sit here writing this........I have so many blessings running through my head!!! WOOT WOOT, my heart is full.....I am so thankful, the Lord chose me for him to share his story with.....May your friday be amazing and full of "talked"about blessings:) 

Good Morning!! Yesterday marked a week that the CIG has been opened, and we have made leaps and bounds and as soon as I feel good about operations, I fall flat and take 5 giant steps back. Yesterday morning, Shelby and I are both working at one of the terminals and 1 of our wonderful guest stops by, says some kind words about the new building and then says..."Are yall alright...no fighting or bickering", we look at each other and I say, "Ya know Shelby and I do not really blow up and fight we are good", I actually say it a little too proud.(pride comes before the fall) One of the problems at the CIG is we are understaffed and I am working to fix that problem, I hired a new girl last week and she started training immediately, yesterday she was finally going to be on her own and my service would be better( I felt relief). Alysha, my right hand and left hand came in yesterday morning not feeling very well, actually feeling worse by the minute. I go to her and tell her to leave, go to the doc. and get better. Through her sickness she says there is no way we can do it without her. She was right it would be hard, but we could do it. I make a desicion to close my faith room, which seats 28 people, and to concentrate on the main dining, take care of the people that are seated.....knowing some of my wonderful guest could not wait and would leave. Business was crazy, guest were cranky from waiting, the line was long because of being down Alysha but we had a handle on it.... and then cold food started coming out.....mash potato's, a rueben messed up and a Salmon that was not cooked ALL the way(yuck)yall get the picture.... and I snapped, I proceed to rip the amazing crew in the kitchen apart and Shelby gives it right back to me....we proceed out the back door to the alley, where yelling would not be heard by our guest and staff, my oldest son Taylor follows us out there and we both look at him and say "GO BACK INSIDE!!!!" Happy Beautiful Wednesday!! People can not see what is in your heart, they see your actions and OH MYLANTA my actions did not reflect my heavenly father. Satan loves to pull us apart and have us fall apart and when we have a heart of pride, or chaos or anger, that is when he steps in. I ended my chaotic day by apologizing to my kitchen guys, I promised I would do better and we will figure this out. I have had a lot of moments in the last few days, that I would love to erase....but I find this is when my heavenly father is saying lean on me, you cant get this right without me, you can not argue with Shelby without me, you can not run an understaffed restauarant without me!! I opened up my messages this morning from a friend talking about footprints in the sand....she was writing of me helping her but actually she was reminding me and I know the Lord placed this in front of me!! May yall have a beautiful blessed day.....I have been the poster child for mistakes lately but my FAITH stays strong, this is HIS grill.....

Good Morning!!5 years ago a group of men came to me and ask if they could have their bible study at the CIG every Tuesday morning. They range from 60 to 80 and they have anywhere between 15 to 25 that attend. This group has become a part of the CIG. We have lost some over the years and as I have left work to attend their funerals my heart has broken and many tears have been shed. Everytime one ofthem calls the CIG my heart stops....praying not another one has gone home. When I started the process of finding a new place for the grill, they were in my mind. I needed a private meeting space for them.....and so my brother-n-law built the FAITH room at the new location. Happy Beautiful Tuesday yall!! This morning these amazing retired men will start flowing in and checking out their new room and I am giddy to see them. I have a great connection with these fellas.... I use to be there waitress and now, they are the only ones that order at the breakfast counter with me every Tuesday morning. This morning as I greet them with huge hugs, tell them Happy New Year and how much I have missed them,my heart will be full, this move will be complete for me. I have a stain glass hanging in my entry way, that one of my precious guys made for me.... it is special because he and his precious wife brought it to me, one of the last times I sat in the booth with them was the day they gave me this gift....she is no longer with us but everytime I look at the stain glass I think of my friendship with her and I pray for her amazing sweet husband that has been left behind. No matter the age, the Lord blesses with a great connection. We laugh together, we cry together and we support each other!!! I am giddy to see them this morning. Welcome home fellas, I hope and pray you love the room created just for yall!! I pray today connections are made that are life changing in yall's life. FAITH HOPE and LOVE yall that is what it is about:)

Good Morning!! The CIG has finally come out of the stone ages and gone to computers, a big source of issue's and problems. Shelby has been wanting them for a year now and I have fought him every step of the way. I knew the confusion and chaos they would bring and boy did they. Wednesday was full of major problems but even bigger blessings. We had a lot of work to do after we closed the doors Wednesday, we had to figure out some of our problems with our computer experts. Around 5:00 my front door became a revolving door, all of my precious friends and regulars that had put so much time into this place, started flowing in. Some of these guys did not even get to make it in on opeing day because of the line, but they sent me pictures on my phone of the cars and crowd out front....their hearts were full of the amazing blessing the Lord had given the CIG and all of their work was being appreciated. One of the guys walks in and says.. "Teresa, you need to take your flags down before it gets dark!" I look at him like he has ten heads and say.."I do not have any flags out there!!" the banter back and forth starts until I go look and OH mylanta I had 2 flags.... completely puzzled and now thinking back to the last few days..."Where did those come from... I did not purchase or hang any flags!" The mystery starts....we go out and take down the flags and as we are talking...I remember with a very foggy brain 2 of my regulars, brothers, came in during the craziness and tell me they purchased flags for out front, a gift for opening day! My heart sinks..."I did not even tell them thank you!! Happy Beauitful Monday!!! The Lord has surrounded me with amazing precious people that love the CIG and love the great staff the Lord has given me..... we are a work in progress, in every aspect of this great life..... the person now in charge of these beautiful flags, knows how to put them up right(no more upside down).... I have fielded so many complaints over the last few days cold food, bad service and my choice of decor and signs. I accept all of them and I will change the things I need to change. I am confident in what the CIG is and it is HIS grill. It is amazing.... I was wrong in being confident... "I have got this"... this grill is like all of our lives....we only have a handle on it because our heavenly father is in control, when we put our trust in ourselves that is when we fail. I will trust and obey for there is no other way...when you feel down and out remember these words from this old hymn. May your week be amazing and you feel the presence of our heavenly father in whatever you do!! The grill is open and full of FAITH HOPE & LOVE:) Woot woot ! — at Cast Iron Grill.

Good Morning!!! Whew maybe I have a little bit better grasp on what happened at the CIG this last week.... Oh mylanta doesn't even describe the going on's. I had girls stuck in the restroom because of a faulty lock, I had freezing cold air blowing into my faith room because of a malfunction, I had cold food, computer glitches, 35 min cook times, tables that were not taken care of , waitstaff that was completely overloaded from being understaffed, a kitchen so disoriented, it's like they forgot how to cook, flags I didn't even know I had were flown upside down and people were frowning about it and discussing it, a front door handle that broke and it was hard for people to get it..... And an owner so unprepared for ALL of it. During the craziness one of my precious regulars pulled me aside and said.." I know you are frustrated , but praise The Lord, you are not standing in a deserted restaurant, you are crazy busy, people wanted to come what a blessing, and yes it was a blessing.Happy beautiful Sunday y'all.... I think the one thing that broke my heart, a regular said "it's too stressful , no one is having fun and joking". I will be the first to say, yes it was stressful , what we do everyday is hard and we have learned to make it look easy and have fun doing it, but now we are relearning all of it, with a very large captive audience... My promise is we will get there.... It will take time. My heart is full..., thank you for all yall's support and love this week and always... I have received much criticism, compliments and support, I will take them all and learn and become better. My heart is full may your Sunday remind you, we serve an awesome God and I am remembering he will never fail me, he brought me too it and he will bring me through it!!! Woot woot that makes me GIDDY:)

Good Morning!!! After all my craziness and failures this week... My sweet daddy is finally here to see the new joint and my heart is giddy and at peace. Stories from the grill will come Monday!!! Happy Friday y'all!! Many blessings lots of faith and love :)

Good Morning!! LETS DO THIS!!! Come see us 19th & I-27 The grill is ready and we can't wait to celebrate with y'all . This is the day that the LORD has made let us REJOICE & be glad in it!! I am GIDDY welcome to the CIG Y'ALL :)

Good Morning!!! A while back I wrote of a regular, that is now a dear friend. He had lost his first wife 20 years ago and his wife now was battling cancer. He always took time to ask about my boys, even when his world was crashing. On Christmas Eve I received word that his precious wife had lost her battle, and was made whole and rejoicing with the Angels and celebrating Jesus birthday in heaven. My heart broke for him, many mornings since I received the news, I have stood in the shower and prayed for my sweet friend ( that's my best prayer time) . Yesterday morning I was working upstairs in my office trying to make some rhyme and reason to my chaos and I hear my sweet friends voice...,, I walk down and see him and Shelby hugging and talking. As tears flowed we hugged and he talked of his precious wife. Happy New year y'all...... This grill, that I say is my heavenly fathers grill, had no food to offer my sweet friend.... He did not come to fill his belly, he came to fill his heart ..... My friend now starts a different journey, truly 2013 will be full of changes..... But as he sat with tears flowing and a heart full of anguish and sadness he was claiming the love of our Heavenly Father. My friend is not the only one grieving at the start of this beautiful new year but he knows our Heavenly Father and he knows there is hope. The Lord gave me a gift yesterday ..... It's not about the building or the little rooms..... This grill is about people and love and doing life together , even when life is really hard. No matter what happens in 2013, the CIG will always be a place where tears, laughter, food and stories are shared. This is his grill and all who enter are welcomed and loved. Pray for my sweet friend..... What a tough journey he is on....faith hope and love .... But the greatest of these is love... And this is what the CIG is about!! May your year be full of life's greatest blessings !!!