Melodies of Mercy

Passing by Crazyville!

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

I headed into the Christmas season saying that this year things were going to be different. I wasn't going to get all crazy and busy and hectic and fly right through Christmas. While this was my goal, yesterday I realized that I was headed straight into Crazyville!

I am kinda embarrassed to admit this, but yesterday I actually was sitting in my car thinking that I needed to write a Drive Thru Rule Book. Oh, yes I did!

I had a deadline looming over my head and I was on my way home and stopped to get a quick bite. The restuarant was crazy busy with the drive thru line wrapped around the building. As I sat waiting for my turn to order, I noticed that someone up ahead was causing a delay. And then I started thinking that I needed a rule book to hand them so they would not cause anyone else's blood pressure to sky rocket. Here are a few of my rules:

Always looks straight ahead
Never talk on your phone if its going to distract you from looking straight ahead
Get your money or card out while continuing to look straight ahead
The drive thru line is not the time to clean out your back seat, unless you can do it while LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD!

Were you able to pick up on the theme of the rule book?

Luckily I was able to get back to reality before I set up camp in Crazyville because no one wants to spend Christmas in Crazyville.

Do you know what happens in Crazyville on Christmas?

Well, the mayor of Crazyville gets you busy doing all this stuff that really isn't important only at the time you are doing it all it seems like the welfare of Crazyville hinges on you doing all this stuff. And then you wake up on December 26th and you realize that you missed it. You actually missed Christmas.

Oh sure, you were physically present for the events, but in your heart you totally missed the meaning of the day which is JESUS! And unfortunately, that is the mayor of Crazyville's whole goal. He wants to get you so distracted that you don't focus your heart on Jesus because he knows that life, hope, forgiveness, love, freedom, redemption, peace and joy are found in Jesus!

Oh Jesus, thank you for leaving the glory of Heaven and wrapping yourself in human flesh. Thank you for being born of a virgin to ultimately hang on a cross to pay the price for my sins. Thank you for offering me life and for pursuing me. Help me to focus my heart on You alone! Praise your Holy Name!

Maybe I'll Try Out for the Circus...

2011-12-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

This week has been a juggling act for me. I had gotten really good at it until today and for some reason when that extra ball went into the air, well I just felt like everything was about to come tubbling down!

Do you have days like this?

You know, the kind of day where sitting in the floor crying seems like the most logical thing to do!

Yes, yes that was my day today.

As I was on my way to fulfill my volunteer duties at my children's school, I grabbed my cell phone to call my husband. I reasoned since I felt overwhelmed he should at least know about it. He answered the phone and without me saying a word said "Can I call you right back?" Which is code for "I have a customer in my office and I can't talk right now."

As I hung up the phone, I knew in my heart that God had planned it that way to teach me a valuable lesson. My first response shouldn't be to call my husband, mom, sister, girl friends or anyone else that will listen. No, my first response should be to cry out to the One that can actually help me.

Today I needed to be reminded that while I may feel overwhelmed at times, God NEVER feels overwhelmed.

I love back in Exodus 3 when Moses is talking with God and he says to God "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

And God's response is so awesome! "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.' "

I really am trying to contain myself from shouting because I am so excited! (It's late and everyone in my house is sleeping!)

Do you know what God was saying here to Moses and that He is saying to us today? Basically He is saying that whatever we need, well He's that!

You need healing...I AM the Healer!
You need forgiveness...I AM the Forgiver!
You need peace...I AM Peace!
You need comfort...I AM the Comfortor!
You need love...I AM the Lover of Your Soul!
You need victory...I AM the Victor!
You need freedom...I AM the Freedom Giver!

You need ? ........ I AM!

Rest in knowing that there is not a need, circumstance or situation that can arise in your life that God can not meet. Oh, how He loves us!

A Heart Like His

2011-12-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

Last night we had the opportunity to share with some of our friends about our trip to Africa. We shared our pictures and videos and told some of our favorite moments. Tears were shed because neither one of us can really talk about Africa without crying.

Before we left, my friend said to me that I looked so happy in all the pictures. And I was! I shared with her that none of the pressures that we face here are really prevalent there. I took four outfits and was gone ten days. (Yes, I washed my clothes) I wore the same outfit on the plane ride there and then also on the plane ride home. So I had three skirts to wear the rest of the time. There was no standing in front of the closet stressing over what to wear.

I also went all nat-ur-el with my hair. I have very curly hair that I flat iron every day. I had let my hair grow out preparing for my trip so I could keep it pulled back. I did not have a hair dryer, hair gel, mousse or hair spray. My pony tail plan did not work out because my hair looked all crazy. So, I would go to bed with a wet head and wake up in the morning and just have to go with it. And you know what the kids loved my hair. It was wild and crazy and they loved to touch it and I loved for them to touch it!

I did wear a little makeup because as my childhood pastor used to say "every old barn looks better with a fresh coat of paint." And I'll just be honest and say that I do feel better with a little blush and mascara. What can I say, I am my mother's child!

My happiness, that was evident in the pictures, was not because of what I looked like on the outside but rather what was shinning on the inside. As Beth Moore likes to say, "there is no high like The Most High!" James 1:27 says that pure religion is caring for the widows and orphans and keeping oneself clean from the world. I have never felt closer to the Lord than when I was in Africa because I knew I was doing the will of the Father.

I want to encourage you that are reading this to busy yourself doing the will of the Father. We as the church, the bride of Christ, have the priviledge and responsiblilty to care for the orphans in our world. No matter what you do to care for them, the blessing you receive far out weighs any effort you put into it.

God has sealed Africa in our hearts. Not a day goes by that I don't think about those sweet babies and all the other wonderful people we met. We love it and can't wait to go back. We want to go back next summer and take our children. Please join us in praying that God will provide the funds we need to be able to return. I know nothing is impossible for my God!

Couldn't you just eat this sweet baby with a spoon!

Tiny Dancer

2011-11-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight we enjoyed a lazy evening at home watching videos from Africa. To say we miss it is an understatement. We had several people warn us that once you go, all you think about is going back. We want to go back this summer and take our children. Max is already thinking about which type of ball would be best to take to play with the kids. And Amelia and I have talked about all the fingernails we could paint.

I wanted to share a video with you that will make you smile. We call him the tiny dancer and if possible, he was even more adorable in person.

I just love how he comes out of the circle to be the center of the show again! When he runs off, he is running over to Cliff to see his picture. He would just giggle when he saw himself on the camera. It doesn't matter what continent they are on, children are all the same. They just want to be loved and have some fun!

He'll Move Mountains

2011-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have been in awe of God this weekend!

I was reminded of the lengths He will go to for us, to show His love for us.

This weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at a women's Christmas dinner. The day before I was to speak, God completely changed what I was going to share. I felt that He was leading me to share part of my testimony.

I was hesitant because I was speaking at a Christmas dinner and my testimony really didn't have anything to do with Christmas. And since this was a last minute change, I did not feel as prepared as I like. But I have learned that it is always best to go with God. I hate to admit that I learned that one the hard way.

Still apprehensive about how it would be received, I opened my daily devotional about thirty minutes before I was to leave. The very first line of my devotional for the day was "Leave the outcome to Me."

I paused and said, "Yes Sir!"

After I spoke, I learned why God changed everything. There was a lady at the dinner that's testimony was almost identical to mine. The only difference is that she has not yet experienced freedom from her life of defeat. I did not meet her or get to talk with her but I was amazed at the lengths God went to to speak to her.

I was also amazed that He allowed me to be a part of it all. He loves us more than we can comprehend and He desires a relationship with us. God did not create us to be in bondage to sin. God created us to live a life of freedom in Christ. And if He has to change a speaker's message or rearrange a few things...well that is just what He will do to set someone free.

Colliding Worlds

2011-11-14T06:48:00.001-08:00

You may not be able to see it in this picture, but these two little girls are holding a piece of my heart. I did not get it back when I had to say good-bye. This is my sweet little Brenda and the precious girl in the red dress. We never could understand her name but I know God knows her by name and He knows exactly who I am praying for when I refer to her as the sweet girl in the red dress. I was able to hug her and tell her good-bye. I fought hard to choke back the tears. I did not get to tell Brenda good-bye and I believe that God knew that I would not be able to let her go. And I feel very certain that I have not seen her for the last time. In fact, all I do is think about going back to see her.

I shared that my trip experience and my world here at home had not collided. They are starting to collide and I know that my purpose for going on a trip to Africa was more than me just seeing poverty first hand. And I think my purpose may have something to do with this...

This is Brenda's foot and she did not have any shoes. And unfortunately, she was not the only child without shoes. They do not have lush green grass to walk on. They are walking on rocky, red dirt roads. They also get parasites in their feet called jiggers.

I think I can do something about this...

I think I have to!

Friday in Africa

2011-11-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

This time last week, I woke up to this. Isn't it breathtaking! This is the view from Royal School and Orphanage. The school sits a top a mountain and it had been described to us a piece of heaven.

The ugliness of poverty can not fade the beauty of God's creation. God really showed out when He created Africa. Every where we looked shouted of the greatness of God!

Every morning the students line up for Morning Glory. They sang a little and then the older students were dismissed for worship. The boys wear blue shirts and the girls wear red. Cliff said he sure wished someone had told him that bit of info while he was there. (Ha!)

The boys were great on the drums!

And these girls did an amazing job leading us in worship!

And this is the 2012 choir that will be touring in the U.S. beginning in January. I'm not sure if they are coming to our area this year, but I would encourage you to go check the Pennies for Posho website to get their schedule. They sang several songs for us and they were great. I can't wait for them to get here.

At the bottom of the hill before you get to Royal sits another orphanage called Morning Star. They are really struggling and several of our team members went for a visit. Our team also took them posho and sugar. The bare bottom you see above is a very common site. In fact, it is rare if you see a baby or toddler with underwear. I held many a baby with a naked bottom and was never once wet on. Others on our team were not so lucky. Some mothers had scarves that they wrapped around the baby's bottom when they handed it to you to hold.

This is a picture of the boys dorm. They have at least three children sleeping in each bed. The conditions were pitiful...

...but when these children opened their mouths to praise God, you knew you were in the presense of hearts that knew the meaning of worship. The sound was more than a sweet melody, it was angelic!

A Relaxing Day in Africa

2011-11-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

We started the day by visiting with Katie Davis. She is the author of Kisses from Katie. I would highly recommend this book. She is a 22 year old girl that grew up near Nashville. She left her American life to move to Uganda. She is now the mom to 13 girls and God is using her powerfully in Uganda. We were amazed to learn that she lives just down the street from where we were staying. She was very gracious to allow us come for an early morning visit. (She is the one in the white jacket on the right. )

This sweet little girl and her family was staying at Arise Africa with us. Her family has been there for 6 weeks adopting a little girl. This sweet little one has treated this chicken like a dog carrying it everywhere. Her mom said the chicken slept in their window seal. We think the chicken might realize that its gonna be dinner once she leaves! I even got up the nerve to hold the chicken.

This is a picture of our group on our last morning at Arise Africa. We really had a great group!

We went to "the market" this morning to get a taste of life in Uganda. This was a common sight. They tried to get this mazunga to buy a chicken but I passed.

Anyone care for some goat? Or at least that is what we think it is! Their meat just hangs out with nothing to keep the flies away.

After leaving the market we did a little more shopping in Jinja and then we headed to Bujagali Falls. It was so beautiful! The falls are a part of the Nile River and unfortunately are going away in a few weeks due to the reworking of the dam.

Oh, how precious!

After leaving the falls we drove for a couple hours to get to the Royal School and Orphanage. The school was described to us as a little piece of heaven. It sits atop a mountain and the scenary is absolutely gorgeous! It was lightly raining and the kids were waiting outside for us. They greeted us with singing and dancing. I was very humbled by these sweet children!

They were so cold but kept on smiling and singing! They were so excited to see Pastor Ted (aka Big Daddy).

Pastor Ted got all of us! He brought out a plate of fried grasshoppers and said that the team was going to show how much they loved them by eating grasshoppers. This is a picture of Cliff I snapped as he was enjoying his grasshopper. I ate one, too. I had some little boys watching me to see what I was going to do so I had no choice but to eat it. It wasn't as bad as you might think, but it is definitely not something that I want to eat again. To them, the grasshoppers are a real treat and very delicious.

I'll post more pictures from Royal School tomorrow.

We're Home!

2011-11-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

We arrived back in Atlanta Saturday at around 3:00. When our plane touched down, we all started clapping. Our trip through customs was very uneventful which we were very thankful about. And out of all of our luggage and tubs, our whole team was only missing two things. They were still back in Africa.

After my last post, we were without Internet. It is very common in Africa for the power to go out. Arise Africa, where we were staying, had a generator but if the power was out there was no Internet. In fact, I only remember having one hot shower while I was in Africa. The rest were ice cold due to the power being out. But again, once you've seen the things we had seen, a cold shower was nothing to complain about.

Anyway, I wanted to pick up and take you through the rest of our week. My last post contained pictures from Tuesday, so I want to pick up with Wednesday. On this day, we went to Tal-laga Church and School. This Church and School is sponsored by Tal-lage Baptist Church here in Georgia. The church raised money and built the building on the left in the picture below. The Preacher's wife and another church member from this church were on our team. They brought money from the church to buy a cow for the school.

These girls danced for us and they were wonderful. They were the only school that had skirts like this. You can't really tell in the picture, but they also had some type of animal skin tied around their waist.
This is a typical sight...children taking care of children. We usually saw them tied to their backs.

This is inside the girl's dorm. There were one set of bunk beds. Each bed had at least two children in it and then others would sleep on the floor.

This is where the teachers sleep. There were no mattresses, just mats on the floor with their clothes piled on top. The floor was dirt. Cliff and I walked down this dirt road for 20 minutes to deliver posho and sugar to a family.
This is the woman we delivered the food to. She is a grandmother. Her daughter and grand-daughter live with her. The only thing they have to eat is potatoes. Potatoes for breakfast, potatoes for lunch and potatoes for dinner. She was very thrilled to get the posho and sugar.

While the living conditions for most of the people are horrible, the scenary around them is beautiful. Everything is very green with a backdrop of mountains. Africa is a beautiful country!

I will post more later!

A Day In The Bush

2011-11-01T12:47:00.001-07:00

Today we rode for three hours into the bush to arrive at this school. We can not even explain to you the condition of the rodes here. We travel in a bus which you can see in the picture below. We were on a dirt road for several miles and then Moses, the Pastor that travels with us, tells the driver to turn left. I am not kidding you when I say that it was a path in the woods. Amazingly the bus driver got us to the village. You can see the school in the picture above. It is the structure with the grass roofs.

Here is Cliff playing frisbee with some of the village children. They will repeat everything you say. You can say get in a line and they will repeat it perfectly. We got them to say "bye y'all" today which was hillarious in their heavy accents. It is truly amazing how fast they catch on. They learned to throw the frisbee in no time.
Oh yes, you now need to refer to Cliff as Preacher Cliff. This is him delivering a word to the people with his interpreter Sarah. Pastor Ted as a joke said "and now Cliff Wilson from Newnan would like to share a word with you." The villagers all starting clapping and Cliff got up and spoke. He did great!
These are some of the women in the village. I love to take their picture and then show them. They just laugh!
Sweet, precious children!

This is sweet precious Brenda's hand that I held yesterday. I would have brought her home in a second.

Today we had a great day! We were so deep in the bush and it was gorgeous. Cliff and I keep saying to each other "Can you believe where we are!" Only God, Only God! No matter where we go the children are always amazing and loving. They are amazed at us white people. It is hilarious how they want to touch us and when they do they just giggle. We go to another orphanage tomorrow. It never gets easier to see but the love of Jesus gets us strength to go.

Thank you all for the comments. They are very encouraging to us. Keep praying for us. We love y'all!

M and A - we love and miss you so much!!!

Cliff and Laurie

Another Day in Africa

2011-10-31T11:35:00.000-07:00

This was at a well where we stopped to pump water for people.

My friend in the red dress and my make shift nail salon!

You would not believe the number of children dressed like this or worse. Today we saw lots of children with no clothes.

Pastor Timothy's Church on the island. This is the place that does not have an orphanage.

The truck in the picture is loaded with the posho and sugar. This is the food that Pennies for Posho purchases each quarter to feed the children.

Don't you just love their smiles. Most of the children have never had their picture made or probably seen themselves. They loved when we turned our cameras around and they could see themselves. They all just giggle.

Boys on the island. They dry fish on those nets to boil and add to posho.

We are having a difficult time with the internet here but we wanted to share a couple of pictures. I can not upload pictures from my camera so we are just adding a few that we took with the bloggie camera.

M and A - We talk about you to everyone. We miss you terribly bad. A - I painted fingernails for hours today and I was thinking about you the whole time. I needed you here to help me. M - I met lots of boys your age today and told them about you. I wish you were here to play ball with the boys. We wish you were both here. We love you very much!

Today was my hardest day yet as far as having to tell the children goodbye. I can not even begin to put into words the images we are seeing. Yesterday we took a 20 minute boat ride to get to the island to visit a church. They were the poorest children we have seen. There is no orphanage in this area so these were the children that just have to sleep where ever. Pennies for Posho is making plans to build an orphanage there. No one had on clothes that did not have rips or holes. Most did not have shoes and if they had them they were very worn. The smells were overwhelming. Because they were on the water, it was very fishy smelling and then added to that is body odor. Most have never had a bath. Let that sink in for a minute. I had to take a cold shower this morning and the water went out during it but I would not complain because to the people I have been meeting a cold shower is very much a luxury.

We walked for a long time to make our home visit. Each day we go to an orphanage we also make home visits and give the families 5 pounds of sugar and 5 pounds of posho. We walked mostly uphill through a corn field to get to the homes. When we arrived, their homes were mud huts. No electricity. No running water. No bathrooms. About thirty people lived in this community of mud huts. They brought us out chairs and then they sat on the floor. They were so appreciative of the food. It was very humbling.

Today we rode for close to 3 hours to get to the orphanage and church. We were very close to the Kenya border. The children were singing and clapping as our bus drove up. They are amazed by our white skin and immediately want to touch us. I grabbed hands with one little girl in a red dress. She had a smooth bald head. She told the interpreter that she was 4 years old, but she was tall for her age. She was beautiful. Her smile would melt you in seconds. She stayed with me for most of the time and sat in my lap for a long time. Then another little girl came and sat in my lap. Her name was Brenda and she was 5 years old. She was tiny and did not have any shoes. She stayed with me most of the time. She sat in my lap along with my other friend in the red dress. We never could understand her name. Brenda got so comfortable that she laid back on me and rested her face on my upper arm. She then began to rub the rest of my arm.

I wanted to take her with me. Her face was as black as night and she had big brown eyes. Because of her poor nutrition the whites of her eyes were not really white. I painted her fingernails, along with hundreds of other children's. I cried when I had to leave her. That is what made today so hard for me. I have not had that connection with any other child...just Brenda.

Most of the people where we have been visiting live in mud huts. They draw their water from a community well. They do not have any electricity. You would not believe the conditions. The pictures you see on tv that you have to change the channel because they are too hard to look at, well they are real. And I just have to praise Jesus because when the bus doors open and you greet the people a love that is only Jesus just flows. I can almost feel His strength coming out of me. I think that will be the thing I miss the most about Africa. Jesus had healed my stomach and taken my issues with the smells away.

Today when I was painting fingernails, I was pouring sweat because the children were just pressed in on me. I am sure they smelled but I did not smell them. I just loved on them through a bottle of blue nailpolish. Even the boys got their nails painted they just love the attention. And you would not believe the excitement when we bring out the sweeties (candy). Each child only gets one smartie or one dum dum sucker and they are beyond thrilled. For some it is the first sweetie they have ever tasted. And for most of them it will be the last they get until another mission team comes.

Cliff and I said when we come back, yes I typed WHEN, we will bring a suitcase full of candy and shoes. Keep Praying!

Our First Orphanage Visit

2011-10-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today we went to two orphanages and also made home visits in the nearby village. It was very overwhelming to say the least. The children almost mobbed us as we tried to hand out socks, hats, clothes and toothbrushes. They wanted anything they could get.

We, meaning white people, are very unusual to them. They call us mazoongoo and chant it as we drive in the bus and especially in the villages. For most, we are the first white people they have ever seen. I went with a group to make five home visits. We take them five cups of sugar and five cups of posho. I did not realize when we left that I was the only white person that went. There were others from our team but they were African American. The village children ran out yelling "mazoongoo" "mazoongoo". They were amazed by me. They would run up just to touch my hands. Then when they saw that I wouldn't bite, they grabbed on to every white piece of skin they could. Our translators would tell them to stop but then they would run up just to touch my fingers. I have never experienced anything like it.

I did not feel like a rock star as it may sound. I felt overwhelmed. The sights I was seeing was too much. Children walking around naked with obvious signs of disease. Women probably younger than me weathered and worn by the hard conditions they must live in. Cows, goats and chickens inches away from us. We walked through dirt streets and corn fields to deliver the posho and sugar. We went to the very poor. Their houses were more like caves with no electricity. They cooked on a little fire right outside the doorway. Most did not have doors to keep anything out. To say they appreciated the items is an understatement. We told them that we came in the name of Jesus and they He cared for them. One woman bowed on her knees at our feet. She would not get up off her knees because she was so thankful. That was overwhelming. I fought back the tears because I knew if one trickled out then the flood gate would break and the crying would not stop.

This is only day one. Only by the strength of Jesus will I survive this experience. I am speaking emotionally because we all feel very safe here. Even as we walked through the villages with our translators I never felt scared. (That comment was for our parents :)

I am having trouble loading pictures. I am hoping to use one of our team members computer tomorrow and be able to load some photos. We are taking tons and can't wait to share them with you.

Prayer Request: I want to ask you to pray for me and my stomach. The smells here have gotten to me today. I can't get the smells out of my nose or mind. Even here where we are staying the smell of the food they are preparing for us, which needless to say I can not eat, is making me sick. Please pray specifically that God will strengthen me physically. Thank you so much!

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We're Here!

2011-10-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning in Africa. We had a great flight here. We lost a whole day in travel which was very confusing when trying to keep up with our malaria medicine. The most adventurous part of our trip so far was the two hour bus ride to where we are staying. I was just thankful that I fell asleep for part of it. If you can imagine it was like riding across railroad tracks with an occasional pot whole thrown in there.

We were greeted last night at the airport with children from Royal School and Orphanage. I could not contain my tears. As we embraced one another, it was hard to believe all the months of planning was finally a reality.

Well, they are giving out our instructions for today. We are going to two orphanages and then making home visits. We can't wait. I will hope to post more later. Pray for us!

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Our Bags are Packed!

2011-10-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

We are packed and ready to go. We are only packing in a carry on and a backpack. I was amazed by how much we were able to get in there. I think God stretched our carry on bags.

We are very excited and I can't wait to get my hands on those sweet Ugandan children.

Please pray for us and check back often for updates. We are hoping to post updates and photos so you can follow along with us.

The Count Down Has Begun

2011-10-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

The count down has officially begun for our trip to Africa. In twenty four days, I will be taking off from Atlanta headed to Uganda. I am very excited but as the days get closer I find myself getting a little nervous.

This is my first time out of the country and my first time being on an airplane for so long. We fly from Atlanta to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Uganda. Each leg is about eight hours. I'll be honest and tell you that I really try not to think about that too much.

I know in my heart that all the worries and anxious feelings will melt away the first time I wrap my arms around one of the children. I just hope I can let go!

On Sunday of our trip we will visit an orphanage located on a small island. We will have to take a boat ride to get there. They have told us that this is the poorest of the poor. We were then told that the children have to sleep in the grass.

I know that sentence just needs a minute to sink in.

There are children that have no place to sleep and therefore must sleep outside in the grass, everyday. I am overwhelmed at the reality of this. My heart hurts when I think about these poor children. What can I, a white woman from Georgia, offer these children? How can I help them?

I can do nothing... but I know Hope! I know the One who knows each of those children by name and knows the very hairs on their heads. So I pray that as I hug those sweet babies and maybe paint a few fingernails that they will feel the hope of Jesus coming from within me.

Oh for the Glory of His Renown!

Your Biggest Fan

2011-09-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Grandparents day at my children's school. I am usually not at the school for Grandparents day but because I am on the PTO, I was there to encourage them to spend some of their money.

We are fortunate that both our families are local. So my children always have four grandparents to come and eat with them.

I remember the first year my mother went to the school for Grandparents day. She called me after she left and told me that she didn't know if she was going to be able to continue going to Grandparents day. Of course I asked why, thinking that maybe something horrible happened. You know like my children wrapping themselves around her legs and crying when she left. Thankfully that didn't happen. But she did say that a little boy cried the whole time because he didn't have a grandparent to eat with. She said they asked the little boy to sit with them and that they would be his grandparents for the day. Isn't the love of a Grandparent a universal language!

Yesterday, the grandparents went back to class with the kids. I went to find them before I left and found them in my son's classroom all reading a book together. I stood waiting for them to finish. The teacher interupts and announces that it was time to go to P.E. and that the grandparents could go with them if they wanted. I begin to walk to the door and I over hear my dad talking with my son's teacher.

My son is the only boy on my side of the family, other than the son in laws. Needless to say, my dad is beyond crazy over him. My dad is crazy about all his grandchildren, but he and my son have something special.

As my dad talked with the teacher, it was very obvious that he is one of my son's biggest fans. I almost started laughing because you could just hear the love spilling forth.

I was thinking about that little scene this morning and felt the Lord whispering in my heart..."You know that's how I feel about you! I am your biggest fan!"

God's love for me is hard for me to comprehend. I mean He knows me at my best but He also knows me at my worst. And He still loves me! He loves me not for my doing but in just my being me.

I don't know about you, but today I needed to be reminded that God is crazy about me!

Labor-less Labor Day

2011-09-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this picture. Isn't it the cutest, funniest thing you have ever seen! This is Bella Blu and she showed her support this weekend for the Dawgs. Bella is our blue haired chihuahua that my hubby and daughter brought home when they were supposed to be shopping for a futon. Doesn't she look like a futon ? Anyway, I initially did not want her but I have to admit that I am crazy about her now!

We enjoyed a pretty lazy Labor Day. It was rainy here and I really could have stayed in the bed all day long. Unfortunately my family would not afford me this luxury, for some reason they wanted to eat and did not share the same "lay in the bed" goal.

Hope you have a great week!

Yummy Tasty Dips

2011-08-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

Today I am participating in BooMama's DipTacular '11. I encourage you to visit her blog to get lots of new dip recipes. There is sure to be loads of cream cheese and deliciousness just waiting for you! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Cheese Ring

1 lb sharp cheddar cheese (grated and allowed to soften)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 small onion, grated (if using a strong onion you may want to just use half)
1 cup mayo
1 jar strawberry preserves

Combine all the ingredients except the preserves. It works best if you mix with your hands. The heat from your hands helps to mix everything together. If you have a circular mold, you can put it in it. (Be sure to spray the mold first) I usually just free form a circular ring on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrig. Let it get good and cold. When you are ready to serve place the strawberry preserves in the center of the ring. Serve with your favorite cracker.

When you eat it, be sure that you get the strawberry preserves and the cheese in the same bite. Be ready to do your happy dance because your mouth is going to go crazy! Yummy, Yummy!

Shrimp Dip

1/2 stick butter
1 (8 oz) cream cheese
1 Tbsp Worcestershire
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb boiled shrimp, chopped

Cream butter, cream cheese, mayo, Worcestershire, lemon juice and garlic salt. Add onion and cooked shrimp. Refrigerate before serving. Serve with your favorite cracker. Very tasty!

The Day Mama Lost Her Mind...

2011-08-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

If my kids wrote in a journal, this would probably be the title for today!

I do not know what happened to me, but whatever it was happened in about 2.5 seconds. I had a very busy day. This morning I had to go to the grocery store. I am not an extreme couponer by any means, but I do try to use them and save money. I made my list last night but this morning it took me over an hour to get my coupons together.

It was one of those days when everything you try to get done just doesn't work out. I get to the grocery store and as I gather my groceries my mood starts to shift. Do you know how expensive groceries are now? And then several items that I was going after were gone. I finally get all my stuff and head to check out. My cashier wasn't really enthusiastic about being at work today. When I pulled out my coupons that really did not excite her.

When I get home I look over my receipt and notice that my cashier did not give me credit for one of my coupons which was $3. I was headed to an appointment so I decided to go back by the grocery store. Then I go to another grocery store to get some meats because they were too expensive at the first store. This time my children are with me, which just adds to the fun of going to another grocery store.

We finally got home and then the meltdown started. Like I said, I don't really know what triggered it other than having everyone calling my name and asking me for something all at once. Then my husband walks in the door and his lovely wife greets him with her head spinning! Good Times!

I did have enough sense to go and have a little time out in my room to get myself back together.

Then it hit me. I got up in such a rush with my To Do that I did not start my day with the Lord. The reality is that I didn't really include Him in any part of my day. Oh sure, I listened to Praise and Worship music in the car but my mind was going ninety to nothing focusing on everything but the Lord.

I was so focused on what I needed to accomplish and my circumstances that I did not even think for one second that I have access to the Presence of Almighty God. I don't have to go through my day alone...I don't have to let my busyiness over take me...I just need to keep my eyes focused on Him.

I am very thankful for the newness that tomorrow brings. Thankful that tomorrow can be different.

Preparing for Africa

2011-08-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we met with others going on the trip to Africa. It was great to see who God had brought together for the trip and you just know that a special bond will be formed between us. We did not get to meet everyone going, as some live out of state, but we did meet some of our fellow travelers.

I am a planner and I like (okay I NEED) details. This meeting helped me so much. We are going to be gone for 9 days, returning on the 10th. We are only packing in carry on luggage because our suitcase space will be used to bring over supplies. I will be honest and tell you that when I first heard of this that I struggled a little bit with it. We learned about the packing a few weeks ago. I know that the supplies are desperately needed but it was at first a little hard to wrap my brain around packing for 9 days in a carry on. I get it now and I am excited about the challenge to see how much I can get in my 45 linear inches I am allowed.

The preparations for this trip have been a huge lesson in selflessness. It is not about me and what I'm wearing or what I look like. That is so opposite the message we hear in this country. I have to wear tennis shoes and socks with my skirts or I can opt for hiking boots. That is a style that I never venture out in around these parts. I was also told there is no need for makeup. They said we will get so dirty from the bus rides (red dirt dust blowing in the windows) that we'll need to wipe our faces off when we arrive at the orphanages. They shared a funny story of arriving at an orphanage and one of the children saying "look they are orange people." Their new color was all from the bus ride.

Probably the most uncomforable bit of information that I gleened was that there are no real bathrooms. Just picture more of a hole in the ground. But most of the time you just go in the wild. Ladies let that sink in for a second. I was cautioned to put bug spray everywhere! I'll be honest and tell you that tonight I thanked God for my bathroom. I am so very spoiled.

Then we learned more specifics of where we are going each day and that put everything into perspective. One day we will be traveling by boat to an island and visiting what we were told were the poorest of the poor. The children at the orphanage where we are going do not have their own rooms like my children. They do not have the luxury of sharing a room or even have a bed. These children have to sleep in the grass.

They sleep in the grass where bugs are crawling and animals are roaming...and there they lay.

I just keep asking how I am suppose to see that with my own eyes and survive? How am I suppose to see beautiful little children who must sleep in the grass and then get back on the boat and leave? How can I be concerned with bathrooms and clothes when there are children who have to sleep every night in the grass?

I do not have any answers. I just trust that God will give me the strength to survive such an experience. I know I will never be the same. How could anyone be the same?

Busy Weekend!

2011-08-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

We have had a super busy weekend. We had a yard sale this weekend to try to offset some of our expenses for our trip to Africa.

I spent the end of last week cleaning out and gathering stuff for the yard sale. In the process, I cleaned and organized our bonus room which is the kids playroom. I also had lots to do in my daughter's room. Let's just say that she has a hard time parting with items.

I took my camera to snap a few pictures at the yard sale, but we were so busy I did not get the chance. We opened the garage at 7:00 am and someone was already waiting. We weren't planning on opening up for business until 7:30, but our first customer just couldn't wait. It drove me a little crazy, but they did buy a lot of stuff.

God blessed us tremendously! We had picked an amount that we were hoping to make and God blessed us by far exceeding what we had dreamed up. We are so thankful and give Him all the glory for providing everything we need!

Nothing Like A Little Reality!

2011-08-16T09:15:00.001-07:00

Just in case some of you were wondering, I am still alive and kicking! I have enjoyed a busy summer with family and friends. Lots has happened in my life over the past few months and I look forward to sharing some of the details with you in the coming days. Probably the biggest news item is ...

WE ARE GOING TO AFRICA!

I can hardly believe it myself. In my last post I mentioned that the Ugandan Thunder Choir came to my church and I mentioned my desire to go but I really had no idea that that little desire would become a reality! I will share more details about that soon.

Last night something overtook me in the kitchen. I whipped out my apron and started working away at dinner for my family. This was no usual weekday dinner. I was going Sunday lunch style. I decided on a menu of cubed pork tenderloin, homemade gravy, homemade biscuits, butterbeans, rice and corn. I have never made homemade gravy before. I have watched my mother make it occasionally but all my attempts at it have not turned out so well. But last night I felt optimistic and ready to conquer gravy.

I don't know about you but the apron just does that to me. It makes me feel all kitchen superhero-ish. I think I need to start wearing one more often.

I browned my meat in a skillet and then once that was done I removed it from the pan and started to work on the gravy. I did not have a recipe and every time I watched my mom make it she just threw in a little of this and that. So now was my time to see if I could get "this and that" to work out for me. I browned the flour and ran to get the milk and water. At this point I thought I had burned it but I pressed on and added the liquid. And all of the sudden I heard the hallelujah chorus and this appeared before my eyes....

a pan of delicious homemade gravy!

I was practically dancing around the kitchen. I just knew that my family was going to be all "oohs and ahhs" when I sat their plates down. I sit my daughter's plate down and this was her ooh and ahh, "It looks like someone threw up all over my plate and I'm not eating this!"

I fought the urge to liken my delicious food to their works of art they bring home from school asking them how they would like it if I said it looked like someone threw up all over it and that I wasn't hanging it on the refrig... HA!

Oh the joys of being a mom!

I wouldn't give anything for it even if they don't like my gravy!

What A Week And It's Only Wednesday!

2011-04-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever done something that was going to help someone else and before you even did it, you knew that you were going to be changed by the experience?

That pretty much sums up my week so far!

On Tuesday morning, I went with a group of people to hand out food bags. Different stores donated the food items. We sorted it by category and then made food bags for the families. I will not soon forget the instructions I received while going through the apples. One apple had a bad spot on it. I was ready to toss it but was instructed that the bad spot could be cut out leaving about half the apple to eat. Someone would be glad for that half an apple. I felt convicted. At my home the apple would have went in the trash.

I was a little anxious as we went to hand out the food bags. I wasn't sure what to expect. As we pulled up, a few people came to the truck to receive their bags. Then we went down the list and started delivering the bags. I was blessed to meet lots of people.

We ended up with some extra food bags and so we headed to another neighborhood. We knocked on doors and gave out the bags. As we were getting ready to leave, I found a bag with snack type food in it and I knew exactly who to take it to. I didn't know their name, but I knew the little guy would enjoy the snacks. God grabbed my heart as I stood at their door for a second time. I asked if there was anything I could pray about for them. Janice shared a little of her story with me and tears began to form in my eyes. I began to share with her that she was not forgotten and that God knew her by name. The tears began to spill out of my eyes. Her smile so radiant, her pain so deep. She thanked me for coming and told me what a blessing I was to her. The truth is she was my blessing. I can't get her out of my mind and I can't wait to go back to see her next week.

Tonight I had the privilege of hearing the Ugandan Thunder choir. My heart is so tender toward these children. After they sang they walked through the crowd giving hugs. The youngest choir member, Miriam, headed my way. My arms wanted to wrapped her up. She came over, hugged me and began to rub my hair. She climbed in my lap and I thought I was going to melt into the floor. When she began to rub my face, I really had to fight the urge to stuff her in my purse and take off running. She was just too sweet for words!

I have always wanted to go to Africa, but I honestly never thought that I would get there. At the close of the service, the Pastor traveling with the choir invited anyone to join them on a mission trip to Uganda. My heart skipped a beat. I silently prayed telling my Lord of my desire to go. Who knows, maybe my trip will happen after all!

I have been energized this week. I have been reminded that it truly is better to give than to receive. Praying you generously give the love of Jesus to someone this week!

He Wants Your Ugly!

2011-03-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

For years I hid the ugly part of my life. I hid it from the ones I loved and from my God, or so I thought. Of course, I know that nothing is hidden from the eyes of the One who created me.

I had a secret. It started when I was a little girl. My parents did not know about it. When I married, I managed to keep this one little detail of my life from my husband. My friends did not know. The people at my church did not know. I lived my life wanting to please everyone. I wanted others to see a perfect picture. I wanted everyone to believe that I had it all together and that was the image I portrayed.

It worked well for me until a little over a year ago. I had been on the mountain top with my Lord. His presense was so very real to me. I experienced Him daily. We walked together. And then one day it changed. I felt Him telling me to withdraw from my responsibilities. I stepped down as the Women's Ministry leader at my church. Friendships that I had treasured for years suddenly changed. As I sat in church one Sunday listening to the message, these words came to my mind Victory In Jesus, No Longer Living a Life of Defeat. I scribbled them down on a scratch piece of paper I found tucked in my Bible. What did they mean? Was it the title of a Bible Study or a book I was to write? Was it something I was going to do for God?

As I pondered these words in my spirit, I immediately knew that God was on to my little secret. He wasn't asking me to do something for Him rather He was about to do something huge in me. He was aware of my hiding place. Not only was He aware of my hiding place, but He wanted it. I began to run. It seemed like I ran forever. The distance between me and my Lord was cavernous. I was very lonely. I longed for Him, but the price was too great.

Meanwhile, I maintained the picture perfect facade. I didn't want others to know that the woman that had led them for years was now running from the very One she tried to point them to. What would others think? I had to just keep going through the motions. I attended church, but my heart was not there. I facilitated a Bible Study, but it was all just empty words strung together. How long would this last?

One day, I was laying on my bed doing my Bible study homework. It was very much me just going through the motions. Spiritually speaking, we were at a stalemate. He wanted this one area of my life and I was not giving it up. I knew why He wanted it. His daughter was being held captive. My secret had held me captive for more than twenty years. It had become such a very real part of me that I could not image my life without it. Yet, I hated it. Why couldn't I just let it go?

The secret that I carried with me was that I hid food -- mainly sweet things like Little Debbie cakes and candy bars. I had made food my god. I retreated to my hiding places when I was sad, lonely, depressed, happy, or bored. I used food to fill the void I was feeling at the moment. I hated myself for this. When I looked in the mirror, I hated the women looking back at me. I could not imagine how my husband loved me and wanted me. I was useless, ugly, worthless. My feelings about myself were dependent on the number that looked at me when I stepped on the scale. In my mind I had come up with a tolerable range. When I went over it, I loathed myself. This is the cycle I lived with for more than twenty years. It was not an everyday occurance, but was more frequent that I care to remember. Why would God want this?

Now back to that day where I lay on my bed doing my Bible study homework. I was reading in the book of Psalm. My assignment was chapter 146. When I got to verse 7, the breath literally left my body. Verse 7 reads ..."The Lord sets prisoners free." My sobs were uncontrollable. It was as if my Jesus had been running along side me all along and right at that moment He grabbed me by the shoulders. He began to whisper in my ear, "I can do that for you! I can set you free!" I could not catch my breath, all I could do was cry. Finally, I was able to whisper "Can You really Jesus? Can You really set me free?" In that moment I wanted Him to take it. The pain of hanging on to this area of defeat was too great. I struggled with how to give it to Him. I wanted Him to have it, I really did. I struggled over the next few days. I wanted to be set free but really did not know how to grab hold of the freedom that Jesus was extending to me.

Several days passed. I felt the Lord telling me to share this with my husband. He is a Godly man who loves the Lord more than he loves me. I am very grateful for him. We were on our way home and I told him that I needed to share a secret with him that I had hid from him for years. I know his heart had to skip a few beats wondering what bombshell I was about to drop on him.

The words would not come but the tears flowed. We sat in our car talking for what seemed like hours. We prayed together and then I took him by the hand and showed him my hiding places. I opened cabinets that for years had concealed my secret. I reached in jars that he thought were just for decoration, but which secretly contained evidence of my bondage. He collected it all and we threw it away. I was embarrassed. His strong, confident wife was broken and fragile. But that day I grabbed hold of the freedom that Jesus extended to me and I have not looked back.

I can tell you today, a year later, that Jesus has taken my cravings away. He has freed me from the self hatred that held me captive. Food is no longer my god. I no longer run to it to meet my needs. Jesus set this prisoner free!

Is there an area of your life that you can't let go of but you constantly feel guilty about? If this is true, then you are being held captive. Just as He set this prisoner free, He will do the same for you. All you have to do is lay down your yoke of slavery. Dear one give it to Him and let Him carry it. He wants your ugly!

This post was submitted in a giveaway being offered by Ann at A Holy Experience for a change to win a scholarship to attend the She Speaks Conference. This is a conference by Proverbs 31 Ministries and it is for those that feel God is calling them to speak, write and lead. If you have ever felt God prompting you in any of these areas, I would highly recommend the conference.

The Mirror Does Not Define Me!

2011-03-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had the priviledge of attending the Girls Night Out with Anita Renfroe and Mandisa. It was a wonderful evening full of laughter and even a few tears. You know you have had a great girls night out when you can say that you laughed and cried.

Mandisa had several great t-shirts for sale. One of my favorites was the one that stated "The Mirror Does Not Define Me!" I first saw if while we were waiting in line to enter. A young girl on crutches behind me was wearing it. Her hair was very short and later I learned that she was battling cancer. I don't know about you, but if you have ever struggled with image issues this shirt speaks volumes. I spent many a year looking in the mirror and being unhappy with the image staring back at me. Over the last year, I have really enjoyed my freedom from the mirror and learning that it does not define me.

Yesterday I went in a store and decided to browse through their dresses. I love the new styles that have the ruffles around the collars. Some were even sporting a few flowers in with the ruffles. I decided that I would go for it and try a few of these dresses on. I knew that the lack of structure in the dress would not work well for me, but the ruffles drew me in. To be honest, I should have sold tickets to the fitting room show because it was quite entertaining. I do not have a body that can wear just anything. I have some issues, if you know what I mean, and some of my issues need hiding. There were no hiding places in these dresses. So needless to say I came home empty handed except for the small victory I was carrying in my heart.

It wasn't too long ago that a dressing room episode like the one I had yesterday would have sent me to my hiding places to seek the comfort of food. But yesterday as I looked in the mirror dressed in the ill-fitted garments I said aloud...The Mirror Does Not Define Me! These clothes not fitting me does not define me. And then my mind began to run away with the truth of who I really am...dearly loved, forgiven, the apple of His eye and the list goes on and on. So I want to encourage you today to look at what is defining you. Are you being defined by the truth or are you being fooled by lies.

Something to make you laugh!

2011-03-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have opted not to post because all that has really been on my mind is my watery eyes, hacking cough and headache. And let's be honest...who really wants to hear about that? So last night as I was laying in the bathtub dosing on an off (I laid in there for almost an hour) I remembered a funny story that I wanted to share.

Several years ago, my childhood best friend was moving back to this area after being gone for about two years. Since we had not seen each other for two years, we decided to rent a cabin in the mountains for the weekend. We included our families in the mini reunion.

So the weekend arrives and as we are on our way up the highway, I tell my husband that I am not feeling well. My not feeling well, turned into an emerency stop on the side of the road for me to "hang my head" if you know what I mean. I felt better and decided that maybe I had just gotten car sick. We continue on our way to the cabin. As time passes, I am certain that I didn't get car sick. I had a lovely stomach bug.

The big selling feature of our cabin was the jacuzzi tub. The owners really liked their tub. This was not the selling feature for us, but it was a big bathtub. I think we all could have fit in it because it was huge! Since I was feeling all achy and yucky, I decided I would go for a soak.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it took forever to fill the tub up. I was laid back in the tub just waiting for the water to cover the jets. My arms were resting on the sides of the tub (a.k.a. small swimming pool) The button to turn on the jets is right at the tips of my fingers on my right hand. Finally the water is covering the jets. With my eyes barely open, I reach and tap the button to turn on the jets. The water begins to gush out and I crack my eyes open just enough to see black stuff shotting out. For some reason, in my mind I immediately think of rats and assume that I am now taking a bath with rats. In less than two seconds, I am out of the tub and screaming.

Once I collect myself, I discover that I am not taking a bath with rats just large sheets of black mold!

I look down to see that I am covered in the mold. To say I am grossed out is an understatement! I run over to jump in the shower to get the mold off. When I turn on the water, I discover that the shower head is pointing straight at my face. So now I'm the one that looks like a wet rat.

As a result of that experience, I have decided that I will not longer use other people's jetted tubs. I think it is a really good rule to live by and one you might want to consider adopting.

I was reminded of this story last night as I reached to turn on the jets in my bathtub. Thankfully I was not greeted by rats or black mold, just a giggle or two.

Weekend Recap

2011-03-15T06:05:00.000-07:00

We had a big weekend of celebrations. I can not even begin to comprehend that my baby girl is 8 years old. I am not even kidding when I say that just yesterday she was my chubby cheeked baby and now she is considered a tween. You know she has just entered the stage before teen. I should go ahead and ask you to pray for her daddy!

She had a big celebration with her friends. We enjoyed having seven squeeling little girls for a sleepover. They busted a pinata, played air hockey, sang and danced the night away. There favorite game is one we made up called musical sleeping bags. You play it like musical chairs only there are no chairs only folded sleeping bags on the floor. When the music stops, the girl not sitting on a sleeping bag is out. It was loads of fun!

A couple of years ago I bought a Pure NRG cd for the kids and can I tell you how glad I was to have it this past weekend. This is a Christian singing group which consists of two girls and one boy. They are pre-teen age and have a great sound. I was just thrilled that all the girls were dancing around and starting to sing Christian music.

Here lately, I have been so aware of the war that is raging against our little girls. If you are a mom of a daughter let me assure you that it is a war. It seems that everything in our culture is sexual in nature. Just the other day I saw the commercial for Orkin Pest Control and the roach in their commercial is talking in a deep, sexy voice saying "What if I came back to your place..." I can not believe that even pest control commercials with roaches in them are having a sexual tone. It is a war and it is time for us mamas to gear up for the battle. I will fight, fight, fight for the innocence and purity of my little girl. Eight year olds don't need to be thinking about kissing boys. They don't need to hear about boyfriend and girlfriend feelings in songs. Now if someone will give me their hand, I will step down off my soap box!

Also over the weekend, we were back at the baseball field. I was so excited. My son started playing baseball when he was four years old. And then a couple of years ago he said he didn't want to play anymore. This year out of the blue, he asked if he could sign up and play again. I was so excited because I love watching him play.

He and my hubby are warming up before the game. He played an awesome game. He was two for two and he caught the whole game. He made an awesome play throwing a guys out at second. Their team lost by one run but we all enjoyed a beautiful day at the ballpark.

How Busy Are You?

2011-03-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

I had to go back to the doctor today because these lovely sinuses of mine are DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! I use to never be bothered by the beautiful bloomings of spring, but over the last few years that has all changed. Normally I can handle the symptoms with some over the counter stuff, but this time it decided to settle in my ear. MawMaw here can't handle an ear ache! I went on that rant to say that the nurse asked me if I was tired. She and I both started laughing and confessed that we are never not tired.

I want to share with you what my devotional said this morning. This comes from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (you need this book if you don't have it). Sarah writes as if Jesus is speaking directly to you. Today it said, "I have prepared this day for you with the most tender concern and attention to detail. Instead of approaching the day as a blank page that you need to fill up, try living it in a responsive mode: being on the lookout for all that I am doing. This sounds easy, but it requires a deep level of trust, based on the knowledge that My way is perfect."

This is so contrary to how I live my life. I pack my days full and hope to squeeze God in to what I already have planned. What I have been reminded of over the last few days is that God has a plan and a purpose for everyday of my life. If I busy my days with meaningless stuff then I miss out on what God had planned for me.

How do we know what God has planned for us?

We have to ask Him. We have to be still before Him and listen to His prompting. We have to read His Word. These things don't just happen, we have to be intentional about them.

Can I tell you that one of satan's biggest tricks that he uses on us is to keep up busy. He has been using it for generations and we keep falling for it. It is time that we wise up to his schemes!

I hope you will join me in examining your days and seeing if you are like me and just too busy for God.

On a totally different note...I have to add this for my friend Michelle. My friend is very organized and I am not so much. Well, I was at my friend's house last night and left encouraged to get more organized. So today while I was out, I picked up some containers to organized my medicine, bandaids, etc. I keep all of this stuff in my kitchen and it was in desperate need of help. I get busy working and discover that I have lots of stuff that has expired. I finally get it all organized and back in the cabinet. My sweet daughter was working on her homework and said, "I don't even know whose house this is!" I asked what she was talking about and she just pointed to the shelf and said "we are not that organized!" I love it!

Pray for me...this weekend I'll be entertaining a house full of seven and eight years olds as we celebrate my daughter turning 8! (I can't really discuss it because the thought that she is eight is more than I can handle!)

Exploring the Wild Blue Yonder!

2011-02-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

We had the best day today!

The weather this week has been amazing. Very sunny and warm with bright blue skies. We decided today that we wanted to do something outside so we could enjoy the weather.

We packed a picnic lunch, picked up our friend's four children and headed to the park. This is not your typical park with just a kid's playset. This park has nature trails complete with waterfalls and it has a nature center. We started by eating our lunch and letting the kids play on the playground.

Next we headed to the nature center. It was complete with owls, snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles and did I mention snakes. Oh and I almost forgot there was a small alligator that's enclosure did not have a top on it. I was not completely convinced that he couldn't climb up and bite us. The funniest thing happened when we were looking at the exhibits. Our friend's son was looking a this giant albino iguana in it's plexiglass case and then all of the sudden the iguana jumps at him and hits its face on the glass. Luke jumped back and hollered. We all laughed and to be honest I thought maybe he provoked the poor reptile. So my son and I go and look at the iguana. And then the next thing you know it jumps at us and bangs its face on the glass. I screamed and my son hit the floor. It really was hiliarious!

After I collected myself, I read the sign on his case that said he did not like being inside and to please respect his privacy. I think there needs to be another warning on the glass...Be sure to visit the bathroom first before viewing the albino iguana!

We finished looking around the nature center and then we headed to the trails. We got to the creek and had fun trying to cross it without slipping on the rocks. There are trails on both sides of the creek. We walked for what seemed like forever. The scenary was just beautiful. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful the land is in this area. The kids had fun crossing the creek on nature's balance beam, a tree that had fallen across the creek. My husband had to help a couple of them across it. I decided not to brave the balance beam for fear of ending up in the creek below.

The boys decided that they needed to take a swim. They stripped down to their underwear and splashed around in the creek. I don't know how they stood it, but they squeeled and hollered like they were having the time of their life.

Now would be a great place to insert all the great pictures that I took. The only problem is that I forgot my camera!

I told my husband that we definitely have to go back so I can get some pictures. We had such a fun day enjoying the beauty of God's creation minus the distractions of tv, video games and cell phones. It really was a special day!

Laying In Bed Is Overrated!

2011-02-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

I started feeling a little weird on Friday. I didn't feel sick. I just didn't feel like myself and I just felt like being mean. By Saturday night, I was curled up in my bed with chills, body aches and fever. I have been in my bed ever since.

Today I ventured to the doctor to learn that I have bronchitis. I am not doubting the doctor, but I feel a whole lot worse than bronchitis. I hurt from my hair to my ankles. I didn't know you could feel like this with bronchitis. Luckily I got some medicine and I am hopeful to wake up feeling better tomorrow.

I have watched so much tv that I am sick of it. I actually just watched House Hunters International and had a couple say that spending $500,000 for 10 weeks ownership in a property sounded like a good deal. And they actually bought it. Oh my!

Hope you have a great week!

Measure of Success

2011-02-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

Do you ever measure your success based on the world's terms?

I know when I was still pursuing my career, my success was measured by my accomplishments. I will be honest and admit that it is hard to shake that mentality. I am a "do-er" and so I always feel that I need to be doing something.

Just this week, I have been reminded that God does not measure my success based on my accomplishments. My success is not determined by what I can do. In fact, looking through Scripture we see that God works in the realm of our weaknesses most often. Because it is in our weaknesses that His strength is demonstrated.

I had a conversation with a friend this week and this subject came up. She is a singer and she said she gets asked why she doesn't pursue being on the radio or traveling more often. To most the measure of a singer's success would be being on the radio, being well known and having their lastest CD on the shelves. I mean isn't that success in the world's eyes. But thankfully that is not how God measures success. If it was then she would be a failure because she isn't on the radio and though she does travel some, she does not have a tour bus waiting for her to hop on it. She has peace because she knows she is doing what God has called her to do. And He has provided her many opportunities that she would never have even dreamed about.

She was sharing this with me to encourage me because I have been struggling with this lately. I know what God is asking me to do (write a book about my recent journey with Him) and I will boldly declare that I can't do it and so I struggle with feeling that it will be a flop because I am focused on what I can do and not on what the Holy Spirit can do. I even commented to my friend that it would probably never be seen on the shelves at Lifeway.

And I have to be honest and admit that I was measuring its success and mine based on it being on the shelves of Lifeway.

How silly is that?

How very much like the world is that?

I am sharing this because that it is how the devil works. You see I have not even been able to write because I am trying to control what the outcome of it will be. And the crazy thing is I have no control over that. According to Ephesians 3:20, if God is in it He can do immeasurably more than I can think or imagine.

My friend challenged my thinking by asking, "would you not consider it a success if it changed just one person's life?" Of course when you put it like that the answer is obvious. The problem is I haven't been thinking like that. And then let's take it a little further, what if you never were aware of that one person. Now that gets a little harder doesn't it?

The reality is...it all boils down to being obedient to God and trusting Him.

Ultimately, that is the only measure of success. Did I obey God and did I trust God?

I challenge you today to examine how you are measuring success. Are you measuring it based on the world's standard? Or are you boldly going where few go ... living a lifestyle of obedience and trust!

Hard Working Lady

2011-02-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night, I watched the funniest little girl on television. She was on Toddlers and Tiaras, which airs on TLC. I believe she was around 4 years old. She was a dark haired, big blue eyed little girl with a southern accent that makes me sound like a northerner. I honestly could just sit and listen to her talk. She said things like she was a middle aged woman which made her just hilarious.

She was a talented little girl because she could be headed straight for a meltdown and then just like you flipped a switch, she could turn on the pageant charm. It really was a talent. Well, they took her for her glam shots. They got her all dolled up and then she declares, "Oh Mama I can't. I just can't Mama!" Then mama whispers something to her and the beauty queen charm is displayed.

Well, pageant day arrives and it is full of drama. The mama regretably pinches the little darlin while trying to zip up her dress. You guessed it, full meltdown ensues. The little darlin starts demanding, "I want my Ni Ni! Where's my Ni Ni! I need my Ni Ni!" The Ni Ni is her pacie that her mama has tried taking from her but she is beyond dependent on it. Her mama gives in and gives her the Ni Ni. Then they kinda interview the little girl and I am guessing they asked her if she liked her Ni Ni or pageants more. She begins to explain that she loves her Ni Ni and she loves pageants but she really did like pageants more.

And then that little darlin said these words..."I love my Ni Ni! She's a hard workin lady!"

I laughed and laughed. The fact that she referred to her pacie as a hard workin lady is just too much. Oh I love it!

Speaking of a hard workin lady... I got me a new little carpet cleaner. Now that may not sound exciting to you but I love it! It is the Bissell Little Green. It has a little wand that you use to clean spots. Last night I tried it out and could see how I could easily become addicted. I am cleaning carpet like a hard workin lady!

Hope you have a great day!

Picture Perfect

2011-02-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

I have spent most of my life trying to give others around me a picture perfect glimpse of my life. I really wanted everyone to believe that I had it all together and at times when that wasn't really possible then at least they needed to see that I was in control. It sounds crazy as I type it out now, but I am just hoping that you will be able to relate.

When my son was younger, he had this move he would do that would lay him flat on the ground in mere seconds. This "move" usually occurred when we were in a store and I was telling him no to something. Along with the "move" came huge alligator tears accompanied by loud cries. It was very embarrassing.

Well one day, the four of us were in a department store near our home. My son had decided a few days before that he needed two way radios. He was probably 4 or 5 years old. Of course, we had told him no. So as we walked around in the department store he spotted some two way radios. They were attached to the hanger of a really ugly shirt. Now we all know that the toys attached to hangers that you get "free" for purchasing a shirt are usually not the highest quality toys.

So I did what any good mama would do and I said no. He proceeded to beg and I continued to say no and then the next thing I know he is laid out on the floor. After trying to reason with him and explain that the radios would not really work, my patience were at an all time low and I was upset. My husband walks up and sees his upset wife and crying son. I try to explain what is going on and the next thing I know my husband is escorting my son out of the store with a firm grasp on his shoulder. You can probably guess what my son was screaming but just in case you can't relate I'll tell you. It went something like this, "Mama help me! He's hurting my shoulder! I REALLY WANT THE RADIOS! Mama help!...you get the picture.

I fought the urge to hide in the clothes racks and was just thankful that both of them were outside. I don't even remember now what I was shopping for but thankfully my daughter was happy in her stroller and I continued to shop.

Much to my surprise my two fellas reenter the store. This time I was almost to the register. My husband explained that once they got outside, he was able to talk with our son and things were better. My son was still trying to stop crying, all while mouthing to me so Daddy wouldn't hear, "I want those radios." We proceed to the register and guess what is hanging on display at the register...

Oh Yes Ma'am, a nice collection of two way radios. Only this time they weren't the ones attached to the hanger of an ugly shirt. No these were $100 radios. And guess who spotted them about the same time I did?

It gets better! Of course we say no and then he starts crying. This time the "move" only consisted of going down on his knees. I am trying to get him up and together because I knew Daddy wasn't going to stand for this. And I was right. Daddy gets involved and he is not really concerned with giving off the picture perfect image.

It is my turn with the cashier. I am trying to convince my husband to ignore our son because the scene they were creating was really wrecking my picture perfect image. At that time, I had several speaking engagements in our city and I remember bringing up this fact to my husband because everyone knows your "speaker" has to have her life together. Well, the scene finally ends with my husband dragging my son out of the store while he screams for me to "help him" and he continues to scream for the radios. I am not kidding when I tell you that every eye in that general area of the store was on me. I was sweating and praying for God to open up the floor and swallow me.

I tried to not make eye contact with my cashier. I was just hoping that she was fast. I scramble for my coupon and hand it to her. It was for 15% off my total purchase. I look at the screen to see my total savings. I see that she had given me 30% off in error. Well, my dignity is gone, but I still have my integrity. So I begin to tell her that she gave me too much of a discount. I will never forget her words to me. She said, "Oh honey, you have earned it today. If I could give you more off I would!" I thanked her and then left.

I was so upset with my husband because now people were going to know that I was not the perfect mother married to the perfect husband with perfect children. And on top of that now people wouldn't invite me to speak at their events because of him. It was drama at it's best!

This past year, I have had some intense lessons with the Lord. One is that I don't have to portray this picture perfect image. I am not perfect. I am flawed. I have weaknesses. I have struggles. My best, my righteousness is as filthy rags to Him. When I live in my own strength and my own picture perfectness, I cheap myself and others from seeing the power of God at work in me. And that is what people really need to see!

So I am kicking that picture perfect image to the curb and I am embrassing my weaknesses because I want others to see that Christ is alive and working in me!

P.S. Can you believe that I actually typed "keeping it real" in my last post? She managed to "keep it real" again this morning when she asked if I could quit talking because and I quote, "the Princess needs to eat her breakfast in silence!" Help me!

Weekend Fun!

2011-02-01T05:23:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the weather was just gorgeous here.

On Saturday we had errands to run and we had to get our little four legged baby her last puppy shot. The day my husband and daughter went to the pet store and found her, he called me numerous times trying to get my approval for another dog. He kept saying that people were gathered around them just waiting for them to put the puppy down. My reply was that all those people were paid actors and that he needed to get out of there. We all know how that ended since I am the new owner of a puppy. But on Saturday we had to go back to the pet store for her last shot and people were all around us. One lady came up to us to ask if we were going to get the puppy. I said "she's ours, we already got her." I guess they weren't paid actors afterall.

I think I am slowly becoming "that person"! Last night I took one of her toys that came apart and wrapped it around her. It looked like she was wearing a tutu. I then chased her around on my knees, all while calling her name in crazy voices, just to get a cute picture of her. I think I need help, but look how cute she is!

Oh Miss Bella Blue you have stollen my heart! (see I told you I am becoming that person)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a great morning at church. And then we came home to enjoy a great afternoon in the sunshine. The kids and I decided to take our big hunk of chocolate for a walk. Drake, our chocolate lab, is now weighing in at 95 lbs and thanks to his new choker collar we can now walk him instead of him dragging us. We walked to the back of our neighborhood and on our way back decided we would venture down a trail in the woods. Some of our neighbors cleared out a path and so we wanted to see where it led. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We walked down the trail and came to a creek. We decided to let Drake get in the creek. I really wish I had my video camera because he was so funny. He first walked around getting a drink and then he decided to lay down in the creek. The look in his eyes said it all. It really was funny. It was also great getting to talk with the kids and have such a relaxing afternoon. I was very mindful of what a gift from God that it was!

I am a huge fan of Sarah Young's devotional Jesus Calling. I love how she wrote it as if Jesus were talking to the reader. God has really spoken to me through it. I have felt on numerous days that I was on Sarah's mind when she wrote it. I was very delighted the other week to see that Sarah Young has written Jesus Calling for Kids. I have been praying and really feeling convicted that I need to help my kids start having a quiet time each day. So we started something new yesterday. While they eat their breakfast I read the devotion to them and the scripture verses and then we pray together before they head out to school.

Can I just tell you how that will change your morning for the better!

Well, this morning apparently I got a little carried away while I was praying with them. When I ended, my daughter had her head down and acted like she was snoring. She said "that was one long prayer!" Kids have a way of keeping it real don't they!

Enjoy your day and shine for Jesus!

Degree in Design

2011-01-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my previous post that I found some new curtains for my dining room. I have draped them on the window to make sure that I like them and I really think I do. They seem to go well with the decor I have in the dining room. And by decor I mean the two pictures that are hanging on the wall.

I do have to tell you about my other curtain experience last week. We have lived in our house for almost 11 years and I have never hung curtains in our living room because I didn't know what to hang. We have one window next to the fireplace and then we have a door leading to the deck on the other side of the fireplace. This has always caused me issues because I wasn't sure what to do with the door. So I decided to do nothing.

Well several months ago I found some curtains on clearance at Target and I liked them and they were cheap, so of course I bought them. Do you see the clearance theme here? They sat in my closet up until last week because someone needed to convince someone else to hang a curtain rod. So last Thursday I talked him into it.

He hung the rod for me and then I go to hanging my curtains. I bought three valances and one panel. It was all they had left, so I got them. In my mind I thought that the one panel would be okay because I would sweep it to the side. I hung them up and then my husband informs me that they are the ugliest things he has ever seen. He thought I was joking when I hung them. He said that it looked like half of my curtains were missing. I was laughing and then I said this to him..."What do you know about decorating? Do you know how much HGTV I have watched!"

As soon as I said it I just started laughing. I threw out my tv watching as if it earned me some type of degree. Too funny!

In the end, I agreed with him and thought the one panel looked bad. So now I just have a valance and I'm happy with it.

I think for now I am happy with my curtains.

Enjoy your Friday!

Yes God!

2011-01-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today I have been having myself a little Yes God day!

I found myself wandering around Walmart today and just having myself a little revival in my head and heart. I wanted to shout and it wasn't about the curtains that I found on clearance that are perfect for my dining room. I mean that is exciting, but what really got me going was seeing God at work in the lives of some of my friends.

He has been so mindful of them this week and has revealed Himself to them in some pretty neat ways. And that is exciting!

I mean doesn't it just turns things around for you when you are in the midst of a struggle, trial or just a really hard day and you read something or hear something or somebody says something to you and you know that it is a word to you from God. It really just blows my mind to think that The Great I Am has me, little ole me on His mind. Yes God, You Are Amazing!

May we have eyes to see Him and ears to hear Him in the midst of our everyday life. May we see His miracles amidst the mundane.

Thank You!

2011-01-18T17:59:00.001-08:00

Thank you to those of you who still visit my blog even though I haven't posted anything in weeks. I appreciate you not giving up on my little blog here. I have actually been here everyday and have started numberous posts, but none were right to post.

I would like to introduce you to a new member of my family. Her name is Bella Blue. I will be honest and tell you that I did not initially want her, but now she has stolen my heart. She really is adorable. She is very playful. And so tiny and so cute!

I am also very excited because tomorrow I start a new Bible study with a new group of women, most of whom I do not know. I am excited for the opportunity to study the Word of God with them and also the friendships that will be formed. I mean can you ever really have enough girlfriends?

I believe God has placed some words on my heart for this year. The words are Crave, Self Control and Sacrifice. I am excited to see what God has in store! I know how I think they relate to me, but I want to know what He has to say.

Happy Belated New Year!

2011-01-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well this morning was painful! We have been schedule free for two weeks and having to get up and get going this morning was not very fun. I think the kids did better than I did! I do have a valid excuse...the person sharing my bed with me had a hacking cough all night. I wanted to sigh heavily and flop around in the bed, but it was his birthday so I refrained.

We had a great Christmas. We were very thankful that we were all well. Last Christmas, my daughter was sick and was quite pitiful. You know a child is sick when they don't want to open their presents. But this year everyone was up to opening their presents. My most favorite part of Christmas is Christmas morning. Several years ago we started a new tradition of having our parents come over for breakfast. I don't want to brag, but this year I was actually ahead of the game and I prepared my breakfast goodies in advance. I made the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. These are the best cinnamon rolls in the world! I also made my friend Malissa's sausage and cream cheese pinwheels. And they are equally delicious! We also had pigs in the blanket and some fruit and it was all so yummy! We all ate together and then the kids got to show their grandparents what they got for Christmas. It is just so much fun and this year I took the time to savor it.

We have been super busy because we also have birthdays to celebrate. My son is now in the double digits and this mama can hardly believe it! I can't believe I am the mom of a ten year old. And then yesterday my husband turned the big 40! I can't believe that either because I fell in love with him when I was 13 and it is really hard to believe that much time has passed.

I laughed at him last night because we both kinda moaned when we got in bed because the sheets felt like ice. He said that he was going to buy him an electric blanket. I had to rub in that he is officially old when he's longing for an electric blanket. I like to pick on him because I am a few years behind him.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebrating our Saviour's birth. I also hope your new year is off to a great start. I am in a totally different place than I was last year at this time. I look forward to sharing with you over the next few weeks the journey I had with the Lord last year.

Have a great Wednesday!

Mindful

2010-12-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last night at church, a church member rushed up to me to ask if I got her email. I said no, but that I hadn't checked my emails that afternoon. She said that she sent it on Monday and I told her that I had not received it. She said that she woke up on Monday with me on her mind and felt an urgency to pray for me. She prayed for me all day. I told her that Monday afternoon I got sick with a terrible stomach bug. We both stood almost speechless after discussing my Monday.

I have not been able to get out of my mind that God placed me on her heart. I am very thankful that she was obedient to pray for me. But what has really hit me hard is that I was on God's mind. I know that I am never off of God's mind, but I'll be honest and tell you that I often loose sight of that fact. I know that God loves me and I know that Lamentations tells me that He sings over me. I know these things in my head, but sometimes they don't always make the journey to my heart.

On Monday night I lay in my bed in tears. I was feeling horrible and have never had my stomach hurt that bad before. At times I wondered if I was going to survive. (And I wonder why my daughter is so dramatic!) I was talking myself out of calling my mama because it was so late, but I really just wanted to hear somebody act like they cared that I so sick. My husband did great with the kids, but I didn't feel that he was acting concerned enough with my sickness. His approach is to stay very far away. One time when I had the flu, he brought me a cooler and put it by the bed because he didn't want to have to keep coming in there with me. What he doesn't realize is that along with the beverages, I like to also receive a good measure of sympathy. And on Monday that just wasn't happening.

So I lay there wanting my mama, reminding myself that I am 37 years old and that I needed to not be a baby, but really wanting my mama. Yes, that about sums it up. In the end, sanity won out and I did not end up calling my mama. But I did lay there asking Jesus to help me.

And do you know what I was reminded of yesterday...He was already working on my behalf before I even knew of my need. Before I even knew that I was going to be sick, He had someone praying for me. Now that puts things into perspective!

Who am I that You are mindful of me, Lord? Your love is overwhelming!

May I see things through your eyes today!

The Greatness of God

2010-12-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I was helping my son with his science project. His assignment was to create a brochure to encourage visitors to come to his "out of this world" destination. He picked Jupiter as his destination. Let me just be honest and tell you that I don't really know a whole lot about Jupiter or any of the other planets for that matter. I remember studying about them in school and making a model of the planets out of styrofoam balls, but unfortunately the vast knowledge that I gained from that project has left me.

In his brochure, he needed to include some fun and interesting facts about Jupiter. Did you know that Jupiter is basically a big ball of gas? And did you know that the bright star that you see in the night sky right now is not a star at all but rather it is Jupiter? And here is the fact that I will not soon forget. Did you know that if Jupiter was hollow (which it is not), that you could fit 1,100 Earths inside of it!

That one little interesting fact just about knocked me out of my chair.

WOW, 1,100 Earths could fit inside of something that looks like a tiny star in the night sky. It sure did give me a new perspective of things. Apparently, I am not as big as I think I am some days. But is reminded me that my God is ENORMOUS!

My favorite chapter in the Bible is Isaiah 40. I get really excited when I read this chapter. I usually read it aloud so that I can answer the questions that the prophet raises. My favorite verses in the chapter are verses 12 - 14.

"Who has measured the waters with the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?"

I serve an ENORMOUS God!

Soak up the fact that the same hand that measured the waters, is the same hand that is holding you and me.

Can your mind even begin to wrap around that truth?

And this ENORMOUS God loved us enough to send His only son, Jesus, into this world to save us from our sin and invite us into a relationship with Him.

As we enter the month of Jesus' birth today, let's not miss the magitude of what this season is all about. Emmanuel, God with us, came to save us from our sins.

To God be the Glory!

Fixing My Gaze

2010-11-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with our families. We ate our fair share of turkey and dressing along with quite a few other things. I did not brave the crowds and go shopping. But opted to stay in my pjs and clean out closets. Not a lot of fun, but it feels good to have it done.

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about the season that is upon us. My goal is to not miss it. I know I will be physically present, but I want to be spiritually present also. And I think the key to staying spiritually focused is in where I fix my gaze.

It is easy to think of all that has to be done and get stressed out. It is easy to think of all the gifts that need to be purchased and get stressed out. It is easy to think of the parties you have to host, the food you have to cook, the cards you have to send and get stressed out. I know its easy because I have been there so many times. But this year I want things to be different.

And here is what I have learned...when I set my gaze on Jesus and not on my cirsumstances, boy I have a totally different attitude. My circumstances may not change and nothing may get taken off of my To Do list, but when I am focused on Jesus those things just don't seem that important.

That is my plan going into the Christmas season. My plan is to think about Jesus more. To spend more time with Him. To talk about Him more with my family and those I come in contact with.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you can stay spiritually present during the Christmas season.

These are a few of my favorite things...

2010-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

October is going down in the books as one of my favorite months ever! I love, love, LOVE FALL!

This past month I celebrated 18 wonderful, carefree years with my husband. That is not really the truth, there have been some tough years mixed in there too. But I wouldn't trade one single day because I am more in love with that man today than I was 18 years ago.

This is a picture of Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth at our Sunday School Costume Party! (Help us...what were we thinking?)

I have also really enjoyed being at the football field watching my son play. And my husband also coached this year which was fun. I love football especially when the weather gets cooler. This past Saturday was their last game and we were huddled up in blankets freezing, but I still loved every minute. I was sitting there all wrapped up with my sunglasses on and tears streaming down my face. I wasn't crying. It was just so cold that my eyes wouldn't stop watering. Fun, fun, fun!

We also had a blast with the fall festival at our church and then going trick or treating. We went trick or treating in my in laws neighborhood. It is always so much fun. And my mother in law is the hostess with the mostest. She made soup and cornbread so after we walked our legs off we came back and had a hot bowl of soup. We walked so far that we called for some of the family that stayed to pass out candy to come and pick us up. We met up with friends while trick or treating and just had a blast. So much fun!

Carving of the pumpkins!

This is my favorite picture. I love my daughter's expression...they are just too fun!

I hope you are having a great fall too!

This Is Me

2010-10-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

I am going to warn you that you are about to get a real glimpse of me. It may not be pretty.

I just read a devotion that a friend emailed to me. It's focal verse was one of my favorites, so that is why my friend forwarded it. God really spoke to me through the devotion. The devotion was based on Hebrews 12:1-2 and talked about running "the race". This verse really means alot to me because God used it to break down areas in my heart that needed to be broken down this past year.

Tonight I felt the urge to write. This week my evenings have been kind of free because my online job has not really gotten back into full swing yet. I decided to watch two hours of tv instead. I really felt that I should be studing my Bible and writing but instead I just sat mindlessly watching tv shows that truly I should hate because they incorporate so many things that God hates. But I watched anyway.

On Tuesday, I could not stop snacking. It was like I could not satisfy this craving I was having no matter what I ate. I wasn't hungry but yet I snacked. I remember at one point hearing that still small voice saying to me "you aren't going to satisfy that craving with food. I'm the only one that can satisfy you." But I still kept on snacking, ignoring Him.

Why? Why do I ignore Him?

I think because sometimes it just seems too hard. I have been carrying around this dream of mine for years. Holding on to it and caring for it in hopes of one day it coming true. And this week, although it got off to a great start, I have been reminded that I am still carrying around a dream that isn't coming true.

I know what Ephesians 3:20 says and I do believe it. I know He can do greater things than this dream of mine, I know He can. But what if that is not His will. What if the dream is never going to come true? That is where I have been this week. What if I need to let the dream die?

So, that is why I have been ignoring God these last couple of days because I am afraid He is going to tell me it is time to bury my dream.

But tonight He spoke to me through that devotion and through another blog I read. I knew He was talking to me. I was ready to give up, to stop carrying the dream but He encouraged me through the words of others to continue to dream.

I am typing with tears in my eyes because I can not understand why He is so good to me. He is so unlike me. When I get ignored, I ignore back. But He chose to speak to me tonight even though I have been ignoring Him. He came to where I was, lurking on the computer, since I would not go to His Word. Why? Because He loves me so and He loves you too!

I have been reminded tonight that He is not the crusher of dreams, but rather the giver of bigger dreams, better dreams!

So tonight I will continue to dream on...

Pen to Paper

2010-10-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you in on a little secret...

I started writing this week. I only have about a page, but it is a start. This writting thing is a whole new ballgame to me and it seems a little overwhelming. I made the mistake of trying to get information on getting published. Let's just say it was somewhat of a dream crusher. And might I add that I am a big dreamer.

This is a favorite quote of mine that I have displayed on my desk.

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Mother Teresa

I want God to cross me and dot me as He sees fit. If it includes writing a book, then I know He will provide the words. I just need to focus on submitting to Him. The pencil can't do anything without the hand moving it. So often I loose sight of that.

Have a great day!

Laurie

Draw Near

2010-09-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like God is too far away? Do you ever feel like He has forgotten you?

I have been reminded in the last few days, that God's Presence is all around me all the time. So, even on the days when I don't feel like God is anywhere in sight, He is there. Even on the days when I feel all alone, He is there. Even on the days when everything is going wrong and I can not sense His presence, yep He is there.

The reality is our feelings should not determine our faith. Our feelings are fickle. They change based on our circumstances. One day our feelings are up and then the next thing you know they are down.

So how do we live a life of faith that is not based on our feelings. The answer is really quite simple. We have to know the truth. Jesus is The Truth and we must draw near to Him. One of the promises in God's Word is if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. (James 4:8)

I have been trying to meditate on that one truth today, "Draw near to Him."

My husband just called me from the ball field to say that I needed to come with the extra key to his car. Our son locked the keys in the trunk. I said okay, but then I realized that I saw the extra key in the console of my husbands car. I know, it is a really great place to keep the extra key. I had to call him back and tell him that I did not have the extra key. I could just feel the stress coming on as I flipped through the phonebook looking for a locksmith. With every turn of the page, all I could think of was dollar signs. And then that voice inside said, "Draw near to me." "In the midst of the chaos of this moment, think of Me." And that is just what I did. I did not allow the stress of the situation to take me down a path that I did not want to go.

It was a great reminder to me that my feelings do not dictate my faith. The above situation could have turned our very differently if I had given in to my feelings in a moment of stress.

I encourage you to draw near to Him and trust in His promise that He will draw near to you.

My Day In A Nutshell...

2010-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

This morning my quiet time was on forgiveness. When I read my devotional, I thought that maybe it was just a reminder for me but not really something that I deal with. No one came to mind that I am harboring unforgiveness toward. And then my day started...

I had a three o'clock deadline for my job and my computer decides it is not going to cooperate. I met the deadline, but was almost late picking my kids up from school.

I have been operating on very few hours of sleep for weeks now and today I feel the magnitude of my lack of sleep. My patience are not in abundance today.

Homework is especially long today. I am the meanest mom EVER for making someone write in cursive. And it is all my fault because I have not read the book that the report is on. It is suggested that I read a 182 page book within the hour so I can help! I laugh!

My daughter is to be in the homecoming parade since she attended cheer camp. The note from cheer camp says to have her at the front of the school at 5:30 since the parade starts at 6:00. We are on our way to the school and the police are already blocking off streets. I tell the police that I need to drop her off at the school to be in the parade. He doesn't really care and won't let me through. I end up having to go around the world to get to the school. I am still trying to get to the front of the school only to have every way blocked by the police. We can see the floats lined up down the side street. I end up having to park behind the football field and walk up the side street which is one BIG hill. I am in flip flops that squeek because my feet are sweaty. My daughter takes off running while MawMaw here is pulling up the rear. She gets almost to the top and the floats starts pulling off. It was quite a scene.

My daughter turns around and starts back down to me. I could see it on her face. Before she reached me the reality of the situation hit her and she just started crying. I told her that I would get her in the parade. It was one of those moments that my adrenaline kicked in and I was about to stop a parade. We jogged to the car, well I did not jog the whole way. I wanted to live! I was on a mission and I would not stop until my baby gets in the parade.

I may have been driving like a crazy woman but I figured all the police were busy blocking off streets. I told her to stop crying because she didn't want to look like she had been crying in the parade. She said, "Mama I want to stop but I am just so sad and mad!" How many times have I been there!

Well long story short, I got her in the parade. I walked out to the float and she hopped right on.

She's the one in the cheerleader's lap near the poster.

Since I am recapping my day, let me just add that I had to use a toothpick to stick in my camera to be able to take a picture.

My whole point to this was that I had plenty of opportunties to forgive people today and I needed people to forgive me. Next time I will know if my devotion is on a topic that I don't really think I struggle with, then I better watch out for what's to come.

Oh Yes He Did!

2010-09-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks, God has allowed me to witness His presence in my life. I was at a point where I just collapsed in a heep before Him and declared that I could not do any more. It was where He wanted me all along. I needed to expend all of myself and realize that what God had asked of me was beyond me.

That is a hard lesson for me to learn. I seem to have to relearn it pretty often.

The Real Me Conference was this past weekend and it was great. I was the speaker for the women's portion and I shared testimony of what God has been doing in my life this year. It was very difficult to open up and allow everyone to see the "Real Me." I had prayed up to the conference that God would give me the strength to be able to speak of what He had done and not just stand and cry. I spoke, but it was through tears.

My testimony is one of freedom. This year, the Lord set me free from an area of sin in my life that has defeated me for years. I am going to do some posts soon telling my story. I know based on the comments that women shared with me, that my struggle is a common one. I want to share my story with others and I may be feeling the urge to start writing all of this down. Who knows what will come of it, (well, God knows!) but I still would like to have it all written down.

There is no struggle that is too much for Him. The key is just letting it go and letting Him have it. That is very easy to type and say, but so very hard to do. But as I learned, it is the only way to have true freedom.

On His Mind

2010-09-09T18:12:00.001-07:00

God has been teaching me a very valuable lesson in trusting Him. What I have learned is that I say I trust Him, but when He does not do things in my timing or in the way I think it should be that I start trying to come up with "Plan B".

When God has told you to go with Plan A, trying to come up with Plan B is not trusting Him.

I have been getting a lesson in sitting back and doing nothing but trusting Him. That is very easy to say, but so very hard to do.

I am a doer. I like to do things to make things happen, but at some point I have to stop doing and just start trusting. God has had me at that point for several weeks now.

While I have been struggling with learning this lesson, I started a new devotional book for my quiet time. I absolutely love the devo book. The name of the book is Jesus Calling written by Sarah Young.

The most amazing thought came to me yesterday during my quiet time. I started my time with prayer and I asked the Lord to please speak to me. Ladies, I was desperate to hear from Him. Have you been there?

And then, I read the devotional for the day. Here is what it said...

"Your assignment is to trust Me absolutely, resting in My sovereignty and faithfulness."

I was awestruck before Him. I could not speak only cry. And then this thought came to me. I was on His mind when He inspired Sarah Young to write this devotional. He knew what my September 8th was going to look like and He knew exactly what I needed to hear.

The thought was more than I could comprehend. And then it was as if He whispered to me "you are never off my mind."

I don't know who else needs to hear this, but we are never off His mind. We are never out of His sight. We are never out of reach to Him. He knows what every second of my life is going to look like, after all He ordained them. I hope that brings you comfort. He is El Roi, The God Who Sees. And He sees you right this very moment and His eyes are so full of love as He gazes at you!

The Real Me Conference

2010-09-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Late one night last spring, I decided that I could not go to bed with dishes in my sink. I'll be honest, normally that doesn't bother me. I had no idea what God had in store for me as I stood washing my dishes in the wee hours of the morning.

Christian music was playing in the background and God began to speak to my heart. The conversation was about my need to be real and for other women to be real, for us to know who we are in Christ. That night He set ablaze a passion inside of me that I could only describe to others as a fire. It either had to get out or I was going to combust!

I stood at my sink having a conversation with the Lord. And even though I could not see Him, His presence was overwhelming. And then, He began to give me a vision for what I was to do with my new found passion. Literally I could see with my minds eyes a worship center filled with teens and women all praising the Lord together. I will never forget saying aloud "show me more, please show me more!" Tears were streaming down my face because what I was experiencing was just too much.

As you can imagine, sleep was not to be had that night. I tried going to bed, but my mind was racing. It took every ounce of restraint in me not to call some of my friends at 2:00 in the morning. I have never been so glad to see the sun rise.

After my family was off to work and school, I started making phone calls. The first person I called was my childhood best friend, Heather Richardson. I knew that she was suppose to lead the worship. I was almost breathless as I tried explaining what had happened during the night. I detailed for her the vision God had given me and there on the phone was born The Real Me Conference.

It was very obvious that God was up to something amazing because everyone I told about it was so excited. I remember going to Sunday School and sharing everything with my friend Michelle. She insisted that I come tell her Bible Study group about it because they had been praying for something like that. What I did not know that night in my kitchen was that God was planting the same passion into the hearts of so many women.

I can honestly tell you that last year's conference was almost effortless. It was truly amazing and I thank God for the priviledge of being a part of it. Right before my eyes, I saw lives changed. Not because of anything I or anyone else did, but all because of what God did. It was all for His glory!

And I sit here tonight just a little over a week away from The 2nd Annual Real Me Conference. I did not know in the beginning that it would continue on, but it became very apparent to us that God wanted it to happen again this year.

This year I can say with confidence that God has something very special in store for us again. It would take too long for me to tell you all the ways we have seen God working just in the planning of the conference. I personally have been getting a lesson in trusting God. I have been reminded on numerous occasions that my ways are not His and my timing is not His timing. I would be lying if I said that I have gotten it all down pat. Apparently I am a little hard headed!
But I am trying to learn to just lean on Him. After all, His ways are so much higher than mine.

I hope you will be able to come to the conference next weekend. I am excited about the message God has been growing in my heart to share with the women. And I can not wait to worship Him together with girls of all ages!

Too, Too Funny!

2010-09-02T10:44:00.001-07:00

This week I have been burning the midnight oil. Night before last I was still looking at the clock at 2:00 am. And last night I was still sending out emails at midnight. By 12:15 am, my back was hurting and I thought I was going to have to crawl to bed. As I headed to the bedroom, I remembered that all my daughter's clothes (or atleast the ones she will wear) were wet in the washer. So, I had to deal with that. My eyes were watering because I couldn't quit yawning. After finishing the laundry, I went to get my pjs on and got a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The woman looking back scared me. I had black rings around my eyes from all the watering and yawning and lack of waterproof mascara. But instead of taking off my makeup, I decide to just crawl in the bed. Thankfully Cliff was already asleep because I am certain he would have screamed at the sight of me. I do have to add that while my mascara was a mess, my lipstick was still perfection. I wear the Cover Girl kind that stays on all day and yes it does work. That was just a little side note.

Well, you can just imagine what a sight I was when I woke up. My hair was in desperate need of some shampoo, my eyes were raccoonish, my lips were still looking pretty good even after all the drool and well, my nightgown should really be retired. I was a vision!

As you can guess, due to my lack of sleep, I hit the snooze one or maybe 8 times. All I know is that it was 7:00, my daughter had to have a bath with her hair washed (oh, joy), they both had to have clothes ironed, eat breakfast and be out the door by 7:40. I was running like a crazy woman. By the time we all arrived at the breakfast table, the only choices due to time were cereal or pb&j sandwich. My son doesn't like cereal and my daughter doesn't eat peanut butter. So they finally decided, after a few panicked pleas from me, to have a pb&j sandwich and a jelly only sandwich. When I got them out the door at 7:42 am, I had to hold onto the door knob to keep from colapsing in the floor. I would love to tell you that I was all happy and jolly, but the truth is that my morning look matched my attitude. I was a little gruff with an occational smile, so as not to scare the children.

So, this afternoon when I read BooMama's post I laughed until I cried because I could relate on so many levels. You have to go right now and read this post. I am not trying to be bossy, but stop right now and go read it. You also must watch the video. It is the funniest thing I have ever seen. Then come back and share your reaction with me in the comments. I laughed so hard I was crying and having to use my shirt to catch the tears.

By the way, the Ibex's bangs resemble mine this morning!

I can't wait to hear from you!

He Makes All Things Better!

2010-08-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

I was in the grocery store the other day and on the aisle next to me a little child was not too happy to be riding in the buggy. He kept wanting his mama to carry him but the dad kept telling him no that he had to ride in the buggy. I went over on the next aisle to continue shopping and I quickly realized why mama couldn't carry the little boy. She was about ready to pop. Finally the dad offered to carry the little boy and the little boy took him up on the offer. And then the little boy said the sweetest thing I have ever heard. As the daddy got him situated, the little boy laid his head on his daddy's shoulder and said, "Oh Daddy, you are so comfortable!"

That little boy had the sweetest softed voice and his comment about did me in. "Oh Daddy, you are so comfortable!" I could have easily gotten teary eyed, but I fought it off and continued shopping.

Today, I have had a pretty blah day. If I had to put my finger on it, it would probably stem from a shift in my hormones due to Princesses Must Scream. (I stole that from someone else, but isn't it really fitting and cute.) It was one of those days when I just felt like I could have stayed in bed for the entire day. But like you, I had tons of things calling my name. So I get up and go through my day like a good little girl toting the blah feeling along with me.

I had to go back to the grocery store because I can't get my act together and get everything I need in one trip. Me and lists do not go together. I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl, but that hasn't really been working too well for me here lately. I am too young for senior moments, but apparently they strike me in the grocery store and cause me to forget why I went there in the first place. And then before I know it, I have a cart full of stuff minus the one thing I really needed.

Anyway, on my way home from the grocery store I just couldn't fight the blah feeling any longer and so I just started praying. Then before I knew it I was crying and then next thing I know I am driving past my subdivision because I am in the midst of a full blown ugly cry and can not go home because my family will think I am crazy. Have you ever been there?

But can I just tell you that as I crawled myself up into the lap of my Heavenly Father and sobbed and told Him how hard what He was asking of me was, and how I couldn't do it and how this and that and on and on... His peace came over me. He was not put off by my crys or disguisted by my weakness. But rather He held me and my heart resonated with that little boys statement..."Oh Daddy, You are so comfortable!"

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion

and the God of all comfort." II Corinthians 1:3

I Trust You Jesus

2010-08-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

This past week, I have had my own revival. There wasn't a special Preacher from out of town and no special music, unless you count me singing in my car. We did not meet Monday through Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

No, this wasn't a regularly scheduled revival and no one else was involved. Just me and Jesus.

Over the past few weeks I had let fear and doubt creep in to some areas in my life. And before I knew it they were being louder and more vocal than my faith. Thankfully, Jesus set me straight and reminded me that fear and doubt do not come from Him. I was also reminded that I needed to replace those things with faith.

So, I adopted a new saying...

I TRUST YOU JESUS!

I literally say this out loud when I start to feel fear and / or doubt trying to creep back in. Do you know what has happened as a result of this simple saying?

God has replaced the fear and doubt with His peace. I say it and immediately I feel better. When said, those four words demonstrate what is happening in my heart. Literally, I am trusting Jesus. No matter how uncertain I think things may be and how I would really like a little more confirmation in some areas, in my heart I do trust Jesus. I know that He alone is all powerful and all knowing and I know that He loves me and only wants what is best for me.

How could I not trust Him?

For several weeks, a church sign in my area had the following saying:

Faith is walking to the edge of the unknown and taking one more step.

Think about that for a moment...

That is a really cute saying but it is one of those things that is so hard to live out. A couple of years ago, God called me away from my career. I was making a great salary and loved where I was working. But I knew that if I stayed in my career that I would be missing a great journey with the Lord.

Guess what happened after I left my job...the economy took a nose dive. I had it all planned out that I would get a job at my children's school, that I would have their hours and the blue birds would begin circling my house and singing everyday all while carrying a yellow ribbon in their mouths.

Guess who had a hiring freeze...my kids school. But God provided for me and my family in ways that I never even dreamed of.

I find it easy to trust God when I am calling all the shots. When life is going along easy, peasy and I am comfortable. But that is not really trust at all. Trust involves abandoning my control of things and extending my hand to Him. Sometimes we may not feel His grasp but we still must extend our hand believing that He is there to guide us.

Before going into my boss' office to resign, I shut my office door and had a little talk with the Lord. I told Him that I wanted to be obedient to Him and that I was going to reach my hand out as far as I could. When He felt my fingers, I asked Him if He could just give me a little pull because I was scared to death of the unknown that awaited me.

He has been so faithful to me. He not only gave me a little pull but He held my hand and never let go. He promises us that He will never leave us or forsake us, never!

I pray today that you can rest in this promise. Rest knowing that God knows your name and every little detail about you. Rest knowing that He loves you more than you can imagine. And rest knowing that once you give Him your heart, He will never leave you or forsake you!

"My beloved is mine, and I am his..." Song of Solomon 2:16

The Hands of Time

2010-08-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

The craziest thing has happened to me...

I woke up yesterday morning the mother of a 4th Grader and a 2nd Grader! Where has the time gone? If I stay in that thought process for too long the tears will come because I know day before yesterday I was knee deep in diapers and wondering if I would ever get to go to the bathroom by myself again.

I can't remember if I shared this already, but several months ago I was going through some things in the attic and discovered a box of my sons clothes. They were clothes from his first spring and summer. I started pulling outfits out of the box and the memories started flowing. The next thing I know I am smelling the clothes and in the midst of the "ugly" cry. Oh yes I was! I do not know how, but even after being washed and stored in the attic for years, they still smelled like him.

I remembered holding him in my arms and cuddling with him. My arms had ached for a baby for years and in God's perfect timing He delivered our son to us. He was the perfect fit for those aching arms.

Let me encourage you today by telling you that if you are waiting on God for something, His timing is perfect!

His timing is rarely like mine, but He is always right on time.

Since I was sharing about my son as a baby, do you know that my husband's desire was to become a dad by the time he was thirty.

Guess what day it was when we met and picked up our son?

If you guessed my husband's thirtieth birthday, then you are correct. Our God is a God of details and let me tell you from experience not one gets by Him unnoticed.

Take heart today knowing that He knows all the desires and dreams of your heart and He also know what is best for your heart. And that is exactly what He wants for you!

Praise Him today because He is always good!

He is always on time!

And He loves you more than you could ever imagine!

Let Me Introduce Myself...

2010-07-20T21:06:00.001-07:00

I guess I decided that I would take a little vacation from my blog. It really wasn't something I sat down and put a lot of thought into. We have just been really busy this summer and before I knew it a month had passed since my last post. I am glad to be back.

This summer, we took a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. I have been going to PCB since I was a child, but this summer I experienced Shell Island for the very first time. It was amazing!

It was our last day of vacation and we really wanted to do something fun but didn't feel like staying at the pool or beach. I had read about Shell Island in a brochure we got, so we all decided to go and check it out. As you gathered from the name, it is an island. (Ha!) We set out to take the ferry but first made a quick stop at Chick-fil-A. My family, including myself, can only go a few days without nuggets and sweet tea. I did something I have never done before. I ate at Chick-fil-A in my bathing suit and cover-up with wild curly hair and little make-up. God bless the people at the Panama City Chick-fil-A! They will probably never be the same! Oh, I kid!

Anyway, we leave Chick-fil-A and start driving around in hopes of finding the ferry. Lucky us...we forgot to bring the brochure so we really had no idea where we were going. Our friends, Brent and Malissa and sweet Parker were with us. We get down to the port, if that is even what you call it, and start looking for signs to Shell Island. We all decided that we valued our lives too much to ride on one of their boats, plus they acted like "ferry to Shell Island" was foreign to them. We continue driving around forever.

It was very typical. The men didn't want to pull over for directions and we women kept telling them to stop and get directions. Finally we pull into a hotel and they give us typed out directions to the ferry to Shell Island. Let me just say, we never would have found it!

You get on the ferry at the State Park, only to our great surprise the ferry boats aren't running that day. So, after much debate we decide to rent our own boat and drive to Shell Island. I trust my man and he has boating experience, but there was one point when the boat started taking on water that we were clinging to Jesus and praying for Him to deliver us from our stupidity. The water is very, very, VERY rough where the Gulf and the bay meet. But we finally made it to the island and it was so worth it.

We entered and threw out the anchor on the bay side. It was very beautiful. The island is uninhabited and was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. We got off the boat and headed for shore in search of shells. We found a hermit crab and a clam. Me and the kids decided to go explore the gulf side of the island. When we saw it, it literally took my breath. The water was crystal blue and gorgeous. We started walking and could not believe the shells we were finding. I don't know who was more excited, me or the kids. We were finding shells that you normally have to buy. It was so much fun!

Isn't that just beautiful!

At one point, I walked ahead while my family was busy finding sand dollars. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of what I was seeing. I was overwhelmed by how amazing my God is and by His goodness. I was reminded that every good and perfect gift is from above and knew that God was definitely giving me a gift that day. As I stood with the waves turning at my ankles, all I could say to Him was "You are so good, You are so good!" I literally stood soaking in every minute of it. It will go down in my memory bank as one of the best days ever.

Look who is thrilled that Mom is asking for another picture!

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Schedules and Other Ugly Words

2010-06-03T06:14:00.001-07:00

Several months ago Kelly at Kelly's Korner did a post on Show Us Your Life - Cleaning Tips. If you have visited my blog for any length of time, you know that I hate cleaning. I decided to read several of the links people gave with all their tips. The one common tip that kept coming up was a cleaning schedule. My mother use to clean house once a week. Now, she kept things picked up everyday but as far as vaccumming, dusting and cleaning bathrooms that was a once a week job. So, I took on the same schedule as my mom when I became a big girl and got my own house. Here is the problem...as more people have been added to my house the mess has gotten bigger. In my newlywed days, I could clean the whole house in about an hour because it wasn't very big and we weren't very messy.

Sidenote...After we were married for a year, we moved to Texas for Cliff to go to a Bible college. Our apartment was so tiny that I could vaccum the whole thing from one plug. Too funny!

Anyway, as I was saying now that there are four people in our family with two of them being children I can't clean the house in an hour. It takes me practically all day and then I'll just be honest and tell you that I don't have a really great attitude when it is all done. And don't you even think about messing something up after I have cleaned all day...Do you see the problem?

So from the reading on all the cleaning tips I want to implement a cleaning schedule. Basically you clean something in your house everyday and your house always looks clean. Here is an example, one lady cleans her bathrooms every Monday. She also washes all the bathmats on Monday because they are included in the bathroom. Tuesday might be floor day and vaccums, sweeps and mops on this day. Some included laundry in their schedules but I can't do laundry only once a week. My family would not be happy with me.

I have been trying to implement a schedule for weeks now. Do you know what my problem is? Well I previously cleaned my house on Fridays. So when I want to start my cleaning schedule on Monday, well the bathrooms still look clean. And who wants to clean something you just cleaned. So then I wait and say I will start my schedule next week. Well come the end of the week the whole house is so messy and needs cleaning that I clean everything. And do you see the crazy cycle? Monday rolls around and nothing needs cleaning.

It really wears me out but in the end I think a cleaning schedule will make my life easier. Especially this summer when I don't really feel like doing anything but laying in the pool.

So do you have a cleaning schedule or do you clean once a week? I would love to hear your comments.

So Long May

2010-05-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

May has gotten away from me. It seems like the last couple of weeks were a blur of busyness. I did want to update you on the talent show. At the last minute, my little performer decided that she needed flames on her skirt.

The talent show was on Friday morning and on Thursday night I was enjoying a girls night out. So I enjoyed going to Walmart with my girlfriends at midnight in search of flames. Luckily, I found fabric with flames on it. I am not exaggerating that I was up until 2:30 in the morning cutting out flames and ironing them on to her skirt.

Honestly, it was all worth it when she saw the skirt. She loved it and I think I impressed her with my "flame ability". Here is a picture of my little performer.

She did great lip singing her song, but unfortunately the moves did not come to her. She basically just stood still. I was just so proud of her for getting up in front of her classmates and performing. She already has big plans for next year's show.

When did it happen?

2010-05-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

This Friday my daughter is in the talent show at her school. It really surprised me when she told me that she wanted to try out. She is going to be lip singing to a Kids Bop song called Fire Burning.

Well, she made the cut for the talent show but her music teacher did tell her she needed to get some moves. If you know anything about me, you know that I do not have moves. Oh sure I can move if something is chasing me, but to choreograph a number to the tune of Fire Burning isn't really something I am good at.

Despite my short comings in the dance area, I thought I would give it a try. Today I thought we could just do a run through and get some "moves". I started the cd and gave it a try. My daughter immediately started laughing and telling me how goofy I looked.

Apparently my moves are goofy and something to be laughed at. It kinda hurt my feelings. When did I become goofy and uncool?

Best I can tell, it all happened when I got the name "Mom" a little over 9 years ago.

Then some drama ensued and I had to get a reality check. I got a little to into the talent show and my expectations got a little out of whack. Do you ever do that?

I read a devotion this morning about not letting your tale feathers get ruffled. To step back from the situation and make a choice. Let your head spin around a few time or choose joy or grace or mercy or patience or love.

Today I will be honest and tell you that my head started to spin and then I got a hold of it. I am so proud of my daughter for having the confidence to stand in front of the whole first grade and lip sing to this song. At her age, I would never have dreamed of doing something like that. So I had a real choice to make - ask like a crazy mom or let go of my expectations and let her do it her way. I chose to let her do it her way. She says that the moves will come to her and you know what I bet they will.

Oh Monday, Monday, Monday!

2010-05-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

My Monday morning did not start out at all how I wanted it to. Why is it that on Monday your sheets hold you captive? My bed never feels better than on a Monday morning.

So, I surrendered to my sheets and sleep through the snooze about 4 or 5 times. When I finally mustered the energy to get up, well we had to throw it into high geer to make it to school on time. Of course my daughter did not feel the need to hurry or to like any of her clothes this morning. To say it was a struggle is an understatement.

I finally get us to the kitchen to be reminded that we did not have bread, waffles, muffin mix or basically anything. I did manage to find some pancake mix in the pantry, to which my daughter said she did not really want pancakes but she would eat them.

Well, thank you! (That pretty much sums up my feelings)

While serving my delicious breakfast, I spot some legs on our deck. The four legs look a lot like my dog but how can he be out of his invisible fence?

I had no time to think about the dog because I was busy being a drill sargent; "Get your shoes, brush your teeth, get your bookbag, HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!"

I was tempted to not return home after taking the kids to school because of all the fun that awaited me. My husband was in the bed not feeling well, my dog was muddy and out of his fence and Lucky (formerly know as Snowball) was starving.

I managed to get my dog back in his fence but not before I was muddy from head to toe. I also got Lucky fed. Then I headed to the bath where I wanted to sit for the rest of the day.

I concluded the day by feeding my children box macaroni and cheese but I made it healthy by serving it with apples and grapes. I had to serve this because I still don't have bread or much of anything else.

Oh Monday, Monday, Monday you never disappoint.

Oh The Fun I'm Having...

2010-04-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, this week I have learned more about baby kittens than I ever thought I wanted to know. My new knowledge has given me a great, GREAT respect for the mama cats in this world.

Let me just tell you if you are in the throws of motherhood with a little one, I am going to share something with you that will make you thankful today.

Did you know that little kittens are not born knowing they need to use the bathroom. Now if you are in the midst of having a child in diapers you might think that is a really good thing. Oh but you just wait!

The mother cat plays a huge roll in the little baby kitten realizing it needs to use the bathroom. You will never guess what she has to do...she has to lick its behind!

Oh yes ma'am she does!

You may be asking yourself how I know this. I learned that interesting fact this week and have spent a couple of days having to rub a certain kitty's behind myself. Let me just tell you that I have obviously lost my mind. If you would have told me last week that this week I would be rubbing a kittens behind and feeding it with a bottle, well I would have laughed at you.

We had a huge celebration on Wednesday morning. Snowball finally decided to use the bathroom during the night and I for one was just about giddy. For me it meant no more rubbing of the behind! Hallelujah!

(I can not even believe I am blogging about this.)

Today I spent most of the day cleaning out my son's closet. I did the dreadful "Switching of the Seasons" and used the most wonderful thing today. I finally tried Space Bags and I love them! I was amazed at how much you can fit in a bag. And it is really exciting when you suck all of the air out of it.

Obviously with the week I am having, it doesn't take much to excite me.

I then moved on to my car and decided it was beyond time to clean it out. I discovered that my daughter has a real problem. The girl had six bags/purses full of junk in the car. Honestly it was mostly her stuff in the car. I climbed into the back row of seats and was disgusted. Apparently someone spilled something nasty back there and decided not to tell anyone. I got out the Joy soap and went to town. Now I won't be embarrassed to let people ride with me this weekend.

I can not wait until Saturday! Me and several women from my church are going to see Beth Moore Live in Woodstock. I am so looking forward to the conference and to hearing Travis Cottrell lead worship.

Well, I must go. Snowball needs to be fed one more time before bed and I am really tired. All this cleaning today has worn me out!

Enjoy your weekend!

I Promise I Am Not Making This Up!

2010-04-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

What is that sawing I hear coming from my kitchen? It must be my grand kitchen renovation getting underway, complete with granite and stainless steel! I CAN NOT WAIT!

Oh no, I'm just dreaming! The sawing is a rescue effort that is underway...

I must go back to last night so you will understand what is going on.

Last night at church the kids discovered two very cute kittens. They were tiny little things. If you know anything about me, you know that all my cats have come from the church. So after standing around taking in all their cuteness, I decided I needed to get out of there. Just recently our two cats have gone to discover greener pastures or the neighbors house or whatever. (Our neighbors took our first cat Ariel and renamed her Penelope and decided she was going to be their housecat. What does it say about me that I did not go over to their house and fight for her? Well, I'll just let you decide...)

I do not believe that they have our other two cats, Calli and Savannah. Savannah likes the "bad boy" neighborhood cat and I think she ran off with him. I'm really disappointed in her. Calli does not have the ability to like boys anymore if you know what I mean, so I really don't think she has run off with a bad cat. She just likes to take vacations occasionally and we are hoping that she comes back soon.

Well, my husband was a total softy yesterday and totally gave in to crazy requests. Yes, you guessed it...when Max turned on the waterworks his dad gave into him. (I probably would have done the same thing.) And this was the result...

This morning I got the kitten out to try and feed it. I sat it in the floor of the kitchen and turned to open a can. When I turned back around the kitten was gone.

GONE!

I soon saw the tip of it's tail under my cabinet. There is a small, small opening under my cabinets and that kitten crawled in there. The space is not accessable at all. I quickly pulled out the drawers thinking I could grab it, but nope that cabinet is completely closed off. So I opened the corner cabinet doors and began feeling around, but nope that cabinet is also completely closed off. The kitten is in a small space behind the kick plate on the cabinets.

I knew at that point that the situation was just really not going to turn out well. I began to pray and beg for the kitten to come out.

Cliff came back home to get something and I filled him in on the situation. We quickly determined that it was all his fault for bringing the kitten home in the first place. You know the best thing to do in a situation like this is access the blame up front so there is no confusion. Ha!

For the next two hours...TWO HOURS...we begged and pleaded with the kitten to come out. We both tried our very best mama kitten meow and then I just thought I would change it up with a variety of cat sounds. (I was loosing my mind at that point) Cliff started making some crazy clicking sound and I told him there was not an animal alive that made that sound. Finally the only option we had left was to start sawing a hole so we could get our hand in there to grab it.

Well, all that sawing scared it to death and it went way back in the hole. We couldn't hear it or feel it. I thought maybe we killed it by causing it to have a heartattack. We waited awhile and still no luck. So the only thing left to do it take up the shoe molding and the kick plate.

I was pretty much sick at this point because I knew my kitchen would never be the same. Cliff finally gets the shoe molding off and then we hear a tiny meow. At least we knew it was still alive. Cliff reached his hand up in the hole and was able to grab the kitten and slowly pull it out. I snapped this picture to document the insanity...

This was exactly the way I pictured my week starting. I am afraid of what might be in store for the rest of the week.

Spring Break

2010-04-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well today is bringing Spring Break to a close. It has been such an exciting week that I can hardly catch my breath.

Oh how I kid!

My children did not want to do much of anything. I tried to entice them with a trip to the Zoo, Six Flags or The World of Coke. The Zoo was too boring to them. Six Flags would be too crowded and The World of Coke just did not interest a certain little boy. (Who are these kids!) I guess this mama just did not want to sit at home and look at all the things she should be doing.

We did make it to the movies one day because it rained. We saw Diary of a Wimpy Kids. It was cute.

We also entertained spend the night company and I cleaned and did laundry. I know it was more excitement than I could stand. Just let us know if you want us to plan a very exciting week for you!

Thank You Jesus!

2010-04-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the cross Lord
Thank you for your nail pierced hands

Thank you for paying a debt that I could not pay
Thank you for offering me forgiveness and salvation

Thank you for praying in the Garden, "Not my will but yours"
Thank you for sacrificing yourself for me

Thank you for taking the beatings and suffering so much for me

Thank you for conquering the grave and offering me life
Thank you for saving my soul!

I praise you!
There is none like You!

Step By Step

2010-03-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

"I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:1-2

I was sitting in my Wednesday morning Bible study class. We were studing A Woman's Heart God's Dwelling Place by Beth Moore. This particular morning we were looking at John 15 and studying about The Vine and the Branches. Beth was teaching that sometimes we hold on to last seasons fruit in our lives so much so that we are left with a handful of splinters. We fight the pruning process. God began to speak to me and it became very obvious that I was indeed holding on with all my might to last seasons fruit. I was comfortable with last season's fruit. It was easy for me.

Last seasons fruit in my life was the Women's Ministry that I was leading at the time. I had led the women at my church for ten years. And I loved it!

That Wednesday morning I sat for most of our class with tears in my eyes. God was doing a number on my heart. God reminded me of something that months earlier I had dismissed. I had felt His nudging to write a Bible study but quickly dismissed it because I felt I could not do it. So, I guess I reasoned that since I wasn't comfortable with the idea surely it wasn't from God. I knew better because I have lived my Christian life long enough to know that God's first priority is not my comfort zone. But still I ran from it until that particular Wednesday when He would not allow me to run any more.

As soon as Bible study was over, I went straight in to my Pastor's office and resigned as the Women's Ministry leader. I knew I had to act immediately otherwise I might decide to pick up my running shoes and run some more.

This all happened back in November. I would love to tell you that I have been busy writing and have everything all in order. But the truth is that God has been working on some areas in my heart that He does not want to come on this journey with me. The last several months have been hard. I have really struggled. I have gone from being a "doer" to just letting God still me.

My current passion is to be about the good work that God created in advance for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10) I do not want to miss what God had put me here to do. I feel it is through writing, which is totally a God thing because I never would have dreamed this in my wildest of dreams. But isn't that the beauty of God that He has plans that we could never dream of.

So that it why I am writing this post. Lysa TerKeurst, President of Proverbs 31 Ministries, posted on her blog an opportunity to win a scholarship to the She Speaks conference. This is a conference that Proverbs 31 Ministries hosts for those who feel called to speak, write, work in women's ministry and also for teens who want to lead in their generation. You can find out all about the conference by clicking here. And if you are not familiar with Proverbs 31 Ministries, you should go here to check out their website. They can provide you with tons of encouragement.

I attended the conference several years ago and participated in the Speakers track. To say it was a life changing experience is an understatement. I experienced the presence of God like I never have before. I struggle even today to find the words to describe my weekend. I remember being so intimidated as I walked in the conference room not knowing anyone. But what I quickly realized was that we all had something in common. We were all carrying around our dreams. It was not a competition to see who would emerge as the best speaker or walk away with a book deal. It was a place of refuge where we could all come, with dreams in hand, and peal back the coverings that we had placed to protect our dreams. And as they were laid out in the open for everyone to see, God gave them flight. He breathed life into them, He gave us His confidence and He equipped us through the efforts of the Proverbs 31 team.

Today is the last day to enter for the scholarship. I have prayed if this is God's will for me; if it is meant for me to go back. You see I never want to run ahead of God but I also do not ever want to lag behind. As of this morning, I did not have a clear answer. So I began to pray. I sat down at the computer and just cried out to God. And the words of this song came to my mind and I began to sing it to the Lord in my heart:

O God You are my God and I will ever praise You
O God You are my God and I will ever seek You

I will seek you in the morning
I will turn to walk in Your ways

Step by step You lead me and I will follow You all of my days!

I believe in my heart that writing this post was the next step for me. Only God knows if I will win the scholarship. But I will continue to follow Him all my days as He leads me step by step!

Do we realize what we are allowing?

2010-03-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today I was volunteering at my children's school. I was helping serve ice cream at an Accelerated Reading Party. The table was loaded with everything yummy; sprinkles, nuts, chocolate chips, oreos, M&Ms, chocolate syrup, whip cream and cherries.

It was so cute to see the children's eyes as they saw everything on the table. I really enjoyed getting to help out.

I had my eyes opened today. As I was serving up the scoops of ice cream one little and let me stress little girl said she really shouldn't. To which I replied, " Oh you can't pass up ice cream especially on a rainy Monday." She then proceeded to tell me that she shouldn't because she was dieting because she really looked horrible in a bikini. I looked at her and my heart literally broke. I told her she did not need to be concerned with things like that at her age.

Isn't that the classic "old lady" thing to say. I was at a total loss of words. I told the lady with me that I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I told her it was the saddest thing I had ever heard.

The truth is the little girl who is in the 5th grade is really beautiful. I mean outwardly she is a very beautiful girl and it breaks my heart that at the age of 10 or 11 she can't see that. All she can see is that according to some crazy Hollywood image, she doesn't measure up.

What are we allowing to happen to our daughters?

The enemy is lying to us and we are believing it!

Do you know why this makes me jump up on my soap box? When I was about that little girls age a boy said he wouldn't like me because I was fat. Up to that point, honestly I really didn't know that I was fat. But believe me once he said it, well I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Do you know what happened as a result? I began dieting and I have been dieting ever since.

As long as we look to this world for our worth, we will never measure up. There will always be someone skinner, prettier, smarter, funnier, you name it. But do you know what I have found out...that girl who looks like she has it all together really doesn't. She thinks her thighs are fat too! And I have yet to meet a women who likes the way she looks in a bathing suit.

I so do not want my daughter to go through the image issues I have. I want her to know that her worth and value comes from Jesus Christ ALONE! And He says that she is beautifully and wonderfully made in His image!

Last year our church hosted The Real Me Conference for teen girls and women. We are starting now to plan for this year's conference. Today confirmed for me how great the need is for a conference like this. Please mark on your calendar The Real Me Conference - Friday, September 17th and Saturday, September 18th. I really hope that you will come and bring a teen girl with you.

It's A Comin...

2010-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

I have to tell you what I did today because I am very proud of myself. I went outside and trimmed my rose bushes. My mama is gonna be so proud of me. She told me on Sunday that it was time. When I talked to her on Monday she just casually mentioned that she had trimmed her's that day. I knew she wanted to say "Girl, go trim your rose bushes!" but my mama wouldn't do that. So I can't wait to call her and brag!

I noticed as I was trimming my bushes that I had no idea what I was doing. I really had no idea how much I should trim, so I just started cuttin. I stopped when I thought it looked pretty. I mean isn't that why we go get a haircut. My rose bushes are no different...they want to look pretty. Here's hoping that I didn't stunt their growth! I'll keep you posted...

We had a beautiful weekend with lots of sunshine. I loved every minute of it. And here is something to shout about...my dog is permanently outside. Honestly, I hear the hallelujah chorus in my mind as I type this. We got an invisible fence installed last week and we love it. Except for the fact that our dog really doesn't mind being shocked. They have had to come out twice to "turn up the juice". Today the man came out for a second time and he said we have a stubborn, hard headed dog. All I could say was "well, at least he's cute." Don't you agree?

All this beautiful sunshine has made me so ready for spring! I can not wait to pull out the flip flops and put these socks away! I am busy this week preparing for my daughter's sleep over party this weekend. She is turning 7 on Friday and she is pretty much beside herself. I made big tissue paper flowers today to decorate with. Do you know what I love about having a daughter...she gets so excited over pretty decorative things. I am not trying to generalize genders here, but in my family my husband and son could care less about these things.

The other day I picked up some curtains for my living room. I really invested heavily in them...they each cost $3.74. And they look really good on top of that. I tucked them into my blinds just so I could see if I liked them. My daughter came in from school and the first thing she said was "Oh mama they are beautiful!" I didn't even know what she was talking about until I saw her gazing at the windows in the living room. I just smiled and thought to myself about all the fun we have in store.

I'll post some pictures one I get my decorations complete.

Have a great day!

Hey There...

2010-02-17T04:23:00.001-08:00

Well from the date of my last post, one would think that I was so overwhelmed and might begin to worry about me. I guess I have been a little overwhelmed but with really good things like snowball fights with my family and winter break from school.

It is hard to think and write a really great post when you are the entertainment consultant for a 6 and 9 year old all day. I should probably keep my day job!

I do plan on continuing the topic of being overwhelmed. I think it is something that strikes a lot of us and I have had some real progress on my end that I want to update you on. But it will all have to wait until next week.

Stay Warm!

Overwhelmed...

2010-02-09T19:20:00.001-08:00

I am overwhelmed. It is a place I have become very familiar with over the last several weeks, months or more truthfully, years. My feelings of being overwhelmed are often chased by feelings of failure because I feel so overwhelmed that I become stuck.

I will give you an example. I never feel "caught up" around my house. I can walk in any room in my house and begin to see lots of stuff that needs to be done. It may be something simple like clutter in the kids rooms or something a little more time consuming like organizing a closet. I have such grand and lofty goals for my home that most days they all seem so overwhelming that I don't tackle any of them. (Aside from the easy stuff like picking up dirty clothes) To be honest, I just figured this was a way of life for most people and I am not convinced that it isn't. However, I did have a friend tell me that she has nothing really to do at her house.

That statement is mind blowing to me.

Another area that I feel overwhelmed in is this new assignment I feel I have from the Lord to write a Bible study. Can I just tell you that it is so overwhelming to me that I do not even know where to begin. I had decided that I needed to carve me out a special place that would solely be for writing. I saw visions of cute girly decor in colors of green, pink and black. I said to myself..."Once I have it all organized then I can just sit down and get started."

That was two weeks ago and my upstairs desk is still as cluttered as ever.

Why?

Why am I content to live like this?

Why do I feel so at home in the land of Overwhelmness that I don't just pack up my bags and leave?

Well, I believe that I have stumbled onto some answers but first I want to hear from you.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed?

Girlfriends

2010-01-27T05:27:00.000-08:00

Every month my church has a night out for the ladies called Soup-n-Salad. We eat, talk and are challenged by the Word of God. Last night was our monthly meeting and it was right on time for me.

My day yesterday started out really good but by 5:00 it was tettering on "Mama's gonna loose it!" I had things going on the stove, the kids homework needed to be done and don't forget my four legged baby that constantly has to be watched. Around 5:30 my husband comes home from work and instead of being greeted with a sweet hello, I threw all my frustation at him. I know secretly he was probably wishing he had not opened the door and I felt really guilty.

My family was probably as ready for me to get out of the house as I was to go to Soup-n-Salad. I headed out the door feeling like I was the worst wife, homemaker and mother. But do you know what I quickly learned when I got around all the other women?

I found that I was not alone. As conversations started and progressed I quickly realized that they shared many of my same struggles and that made me feel good. Then, for the few of us that lingered probably way too long (I did not get home until after midnight)...well, let's just say that we might not have solved all the world's problems but we sure did solve a lot of mine.

I left thankful for the girlfriends that I have in my life. Thankful that they are not afraid to speak truth to me. They are not afraid to tell me that I am boarding on Crazyville and need to come on back home.

The reality is that God created us for friendships. You can see this through several passages in the Bible. I immediately think of Mary and Elizabeth. Remember when the angel appeared to Mary and announced that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah. Remember that included in the message was the fact that Elizabeth was also expecting. Why was this included in the message? Why was this important?

It is important because our Creator knows that we need girlfriends. He designed us that way.

So, do you have girlfriends in your life?

Do you have someone who can bring you back from Crazyville?

And do you have those that you help tote back from Crazyville?

I encourage you to invest in the lives of the women around you. Be a friend today. Take a few minutes and pick up the phone. Show your girlfriends just how much you love them today!

Have a great day!

Hello My Name Is...

2010-01-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should reintroduce myself to you. Hi, my name is Laurie and I am a horrible blogger. Even I can not believe that it has been over two months since I have posted. Apparently, my grade school journals are more telling than I knew. I have one journal that spans over five years because I have so few entries in it. I hope to do better this year!

So much has happened in the past couple of months. We added a new four legged member to our family. He is a chocolate lab and I have to say he loves to be kissed on the nose by his mama. His name is Drake and he really is adorable. My son turned nine in December and we celebrated by having 6 boys over at our house for a sleepover. I am happy that I (and all 6 of them) survived!

God has been doing some major changes in my life over the past several months. I have stepped down as the Women's Ministry leader at my church to pursue writing a Bible Study. Which is almost laughable given my commitment to writing on my blog. I am truly relying on God giving me the ability because clearly it is not with in me. I will keep you posted on my progress. I am excited about what God has instore for me this year!

God's Blessings to You

Farewell to the Beat of Eye of the Tiger

2009-11-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight we bid a fond farewell to Sunny. She was gold and had fins and was such a delight. She was not noisy and she minded her own business. She was a delightful little gold fish.

I regretfully had to deliver the news to my daughter who fell out in the floor when I spoke the words "Sunny is no longer with us." It was a very impressive display of grief especially since she had only had Sunny just shy of two weeks. She won Sunny at the Fall Festival at church. Apparently their bond was deeper than I thought.

I suggested that we have a funeral to help ease my daughter's grief. My son escorted my daughter to Sunny's final resting place (a.k.a. the toilet in our hall bathroom) As they walked, he hummed the wedding march. I told him it was a wedding song and not a funeral song, but he just kept on a singin.

I spoke some kinds words on behalf of Sunny and then asked if anyone had anything they would like to say. Mind you we are all gathered around "the sea". My son delivered a very, very moving eulogy. It went something like "So long Sunny, we will miss you even though you weren't very smart. In fact, you were pretty dumb." (He did not understand why she couldn't swim through the treasure chest. She would get right up to the hole in the chest and then swim around it.)

My daughter had very few words. She just say goodbye. At this point her grief had turned to laughter.

I said that we should have a song or something to end the funeral. My son suggested Eye of the Tiger. My daughter loved that suggestion and so we ended the funeral by humming Eye of the Tiger.

My son did the honor of flushing her to the deep blue yonder.

Please let us know if you would like us to handle any of your farewell arrangements. Clearly we know how to do it up right!

Contagious

2009-11-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

With so many things going around these days, when you hear the word contagious you usually want to run. I know it makes me want to reach for the antibacterial hand santizer and take a step or two back. However, I ran into someone tonight that had something that I really wanted to catch. I hugged her and even grabbed her hands in hopes that I would catch it.

Have I lost my mind?

Well maybe, but I don't think so.

She was all a glow because God had been doing some really amazing things in her life. She began to share with me what her days had held and how God had spoken to her. It really was contagious and I was really hoping to catch it.

It really got me thinking about what I exude.

Am I a display of His splendor?

Is He what people see when they look at me or do they see me?

I was reminded of what I need to be doing and that is dying to myself, feasting on His Word and listening for His still small voice. When I get myself out of the way, then He can truly shine through!

May the splendor of the Lord shine through us all today!

Before and After

2009-11-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Finally I have finished the make over of our bedroom. It was quite a sight to see me trying to move a king size mattress by self. But I managed and I really love the way the room looks now. So here is the before picture.

Don't adjust your eyes. Yes, you are in fact seeing a Christmas tree laying under the window. And yes, it has been there since we took it down in December. I think I mentioned before that we were not able to find a box to fit the 9 foot beauty. We are hoping to find something this year.

And I just noticed the sock under the bed. We are classy folks I tell ya!

Another view of the before. Our walls are a light blue green color. I don't really know what the color is called but I love it. It is a very soothing color. Our bathroom which is right off our room is painted taupe and the curtains and towels are this green color. The rugs are chocolate brown.

And here comes the after pictures!

I really love it! The comforter is the same color as the walls. The chocolate on the comforter really makes our furniture look rich. I also really like the curtains. I think my curtain rods need to be higher and the rods also need to be heavier. That will be another project for another day.

And now you get a much better view of the Christmas tree. It really adds alot doesn't it! If you look out the window it looks like someone is standing on the deck. It is not really a person, it is just my husband's hunting clothes hanging from the gazebo. Apparently the gazebo doubles as a hunting closet. Who knew it was so versitile! We make a good redneck joke. Classy I tell ya!

Have a great day!

What Have I Been Doing All This Time?

2009-10-20T05:34:00.000-07:00

I never intended to be gone this long. It was not a decision I sat down and made, rather it just happened. Life has been happening.

During my absence I celebrated my 17th Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated by going to the Cheesecake Factory and a movie. We had a great time together. We also discussed my desire to celebrate 20 years together by having a second honeymoon. For our first honeymoon, we went to Disney World. We had a great time but I really have this strong desire to sit on a quite beach somewhere in the Carribean. My feet really want to dangle in the crystal blue sea. So we will see if it really happens. Hey a girl can dream and if nothing else drop lots of hints! This picture is from our beach trip this summer with my family. From the looks of my knees and legs, you would think we had been wrestling in the sand. Which is sorta how it felt to get 4 children to behave and convince a total stranger to take family pictures for us.

Also during my absence our church hosted The Real Me conference. This was the reality of a vision that God gave me back in May. It is the first time that I have been a part of anything that I can look back on and say that I would not change a thing. I saw God work in ways that I never have before. The theme or purpose of the conference was for women and teen girls to realize who we are in Christ. It really was an amazing weekend!

I have also done some redecorating around my house during my absence. Right now it mainly looks like piles of junk was the decorating theme, but soon it will look good. We sold my son's bunk beds and bought him new furniture. Last night was the first night that he got to sleep in his new bed. I was a little sad when I tucked him into his bed because I realized how fast he is growing up. We bought him a full size bed and he just looked so big in it. This is the fourth bed that my son has had. First was his baby bed. Then we moved him to a toddler bed which can I just say for the record is a total waste of money. Next was the twin bunk beds and lastly the full size bed. I would also like to state for the record that these past 8 1/2 years have gone by entirely too fast. Hopefully this will be the last bed transition.

Last Monday my husband was off from work and our children had school, so me and hubs did some things around the house. My husband goes through periods of wanting to clean and throw things away. Monday was that kind of a day for him. I really wasn't feeling like it but was not given another choice. We attacked our bedroom. We cleaned under the bed, flipped mattresses, inhaled way too much dust and threw aways lots of junk. As we were wrapping our cleaning project up, I heard a sentence that I had been dreaming of "I hate our comforter and bedding." I asked him to repeat himself because I thought the dust may have caused me to momentarily loose my mind. I do not hate our bedding but I am just a little tired of it. We have had it for a little over 9 years now. He repeated himself and encouraged me to go purchase a new set. Let me just say that it does not take much encouraging to get me to go shopping. My friend calls it retail therapy and I love every minute of it. So I went and purchased a new set. Currently it is in a pile in the floor but I do want to get everything switched out this week. I will do a post with before and after pictures soon. I know you will be on the edge of your seats waiting on that!

Have a great week!

Never The Same

2009-09-10T05:28:00.001-07:00

I found a treasure the other night. Since our water heater died several weeks ago, the contents of our attic are in the bonus room. I am waiting for some cooler weather before I put everything back in the attic. Remember I don't really like to sweat and the attic makes me sweat.

Anyway, I was looking through some of my old boxes that I brought with me into my marriage. They were mainly filled with pictures, scrapbooks and several very random things. But I did find a little treasure disguised as a Garfield diary.

The diary was started back when I was in the sixth grade. To this day, I am not much of a journaler (I think I just made up that word) which is apparently the way I have always been. The diary was started in the sixth grade and I continued to write in it on up into high school and I wasn't even half way through the diary. I guess I just reserved it for what I thought were major events.

The diary started off with my feelings for a certain boy in the sixth grade. The entries made me giggle because they were just so innocent and such huge events in the life of a sixth grader. You know who you like and who likes you are life altering events!

I knew it was about to get good when we got to 1986 and the ink color changed. 1986 was a very big year for me. I was 13 years old and I went on my first mission trip that summer. My youth group went to Virginia Beach, Virginia. We did back yard Bible clubs in very poor areas and we also had to stay in the homes of complete strangers. The stranger part was huge to me.

My friend, Heather, and I stayed with this young 20 something woman whose husband was away in the millitary. I just remember she had dogs and she left us alone in her house everyday when she got up and went to work. Here we were just 13 and 11 and a stranger is trusting us in her house. It was a big deal to me.

That was also the summer that Top Gun hit the theaters. We went as a youth group and one of the chaperons (a.k.a. my mother-in-law) got up and walked out of the theater because of the bedroom scene. She then got mad at us because we didn't follow suit.

Today I think back to the movie and the bedroom scene is really nothing, but back in 1986 it was alot to be showing on the big screen.

Well, my life changed at the end of that trip or atleast my heart did. We were on the church bus heading home and this fairly new guy named Cliff was getting all the attention. He and his family were fairly new to our church. I thought he was kinda cute but he was two years older than me and he really didn't seem to notice me. That was until the bus ride home. We were goofing off between our naps and then all the sudden Cliff stops in front of my seat and grabs my hand. He gets down on one knee and begins to sing "Sad Songs". The chorus goes something like this..."They'll be sad songs to make you cry. Love songs often do...They will touch the heart of someone new..." (That last line may or may not be accurate)

Here is what my diary said about this..."It may have meant nothing to him, but MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!"

While reading this the other night, I had to put the diary down because I was laughing so hard. I thought to myself, "Honey, you have no idea!"

One month from today, I will be celebrating my 17th wedding anniversary to that same Cliff that sang Sad Songs to me on the church bus in 1986.

I can tell you that when my little 13 year old heart flip flopped in my chest that day, I knew that one day he would be mine. I honestly knew it. I told my friend Heather as we got off the bus that one day I was going to marry him.

I finished reading the diary and then headed to bed. I curled up next to Cliff and thanked God that he still makes this thirty something heart do flip flops!

Christmas!

2009-09-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

Are you a little shocked by the title? It is just a few months away and I have actually already bought two Christmas presents.

I know someone that has all their Christmas shopping completed by Thanksgiving. I am always amazed by her. Every year I strive to get more accomplished early on instead of having to wait until the last minute. So, this year I'm off to a good start.

The reason for my post is to actually encourage you to visit another blog. Teresa visited my blog on the Diptacular tour and invited me to visit her blog. Her blog is called A Baby Changes Everything.

Can you guess what Baby she is talking about? JESUS!

She is having a giveaway right now and will be giving away $100 worth of Christmas ornaments. Believe me, once you take a look at some of the trees she decorates, you will want them.

I really want you to go to a specific post of her's about the Jesus Tree. I love this idea and I am seriously thinking of doing a tree like it this year. I love Christmas ornaments and I can not think of a better way to teach my children about the real meaning of Christmas.

I hope you will go by and visit her blog. Enjoy her pictures and read about the Jesus Tree.

The Dip That Will Make You Slap Your Mama!

2009-09-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

I love cream cheese and I love BooMama, who by the way also loves cream cheese, so I wanted to post my current favorite dip. I dedicate this to Suzanne, since it is technically her recipe. (BooMama - you and Suzanne would be instant BFF's because she can do amazing things with a block of cream cheese. It really must be one of her spiritual gifts.)

Here comes the recipe! Warn your mama because I promise you will want to slap her.

Cream Cheese and Olive Dip

1 - 8 oz block of cream cheese softened

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup green olives chopped

3 T olive juice

Dash of pepper (no salt)

Mix everything together and serve with crackers. Serves 4 to 6.

I just thought of another dip. So if you are coming here by way of BooMama, then you are going to get a bonus recipe. Consider it my blog welcoming gift to you.

This one doesn't really have a name so I just made one up.

Chili Cheese Deliciousness

1 - 8 oz block cream cheese softened

1 can Hormel chili (we prefer no beans but that is just our preference)

1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Spread cream cheese in the bottom of a backing dish. Pour can of chili over cream cheese. Sprinkle shredded cheese over top. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven until cheese melts and sides bubble. Serve with Frito Scoops. Serves 6 to 8.

You can substitude Paul Newman's Black Bean and Corn Salsa for the chili and it is equally delicious. I prefer the salsa over the chili, but my husband prefers the chili. If you make it with salsa, switch out the Frito Scoops for tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

How Beautiful!

2009-09-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

God, You out did Yourself today!

The sky is the most beautiful blue with a few fluffy white clouds.

There is a coolness in the air that is just exciting.

The gentle breeze is so refreshing.

Thank you for being the most amazing artist!

Hair Balls

2009-08-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday I called my hair stylist and left a message that said "I hate my hair, I can't do anything with it, it is not you because you did what I asked you to do, but I hate it. I am at your mercy...I think I am going to cut it off. Please call me...I am at your mercy..."

She left me a message telling me when I could come in and guess what happened...

My hair took a turn for the better. It actually started looking better and I began to think that I just might like it. So guess who had to call back and leave another message stating that now I like my hair and no I am not crazy.

Long story short, I did not cut my hair off and I am very thankful for that. And I like my hair now. My mom says that once you get your hair cut it goes in shock and you have to give it a few days to recover. I guess she is right and mine just needed a few extra days to work out it's shock!

Well, guess what I brought home last night...a kitten!

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Clearly I wasn't thinking. I blame my recent hair struggle for my lack of brain power last night. I fell prey to it's cuteness. It's cuteness did not win over my husband. He has not had any recent hair struggles so he was thinking alittle more clearly.

So if you are in the market of a cute kitten, I know where you can find one. Did I mention that he/she (who knows) is cute!

Have a great day!

I Have Made A Decision

2009-08-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the decision is in regarding my hair and pretty much I hate it. You see my heart is tender towards the flip. I love it. I have longed for sometime now for my former hairstyle complete with the flip. However, I also enjoy the straight look that I can now achieve thanks to my flat iron. (I have naturally curly hair) So, this new hairstyle I designed combined both of my loves.

Here is the problem...I can't have both. Once I straighten my hair then it does not want to flip. Yes, I have even curled the ends with a curling iron but they won't stay. If I leave my ends more natural and let the curl come through, then my top is not straight. It also grows wider with the Georgia humidity which is not a good thing. According to the style masters, round faces should not have wide hair at the widest part of their face because it makes the face appear rounder.

So right now I am just praying for fast hair growth!

Moving on to another topic...Have you ever felt like you were not going to survive this parenting thing?

Well, that pretty much sums up my week thus far. Eight is a tough age complete with attitude. I am not really a fan of attitude and it has really gotten to me this week. Also, my daughter has decided that she does not want to go to school anymore. We learned that she cried everyday last week. She doesn't really care that we (her parents) would go to jail if she quit school in the first grade. So it has been tough this week.

My own son even questioned my parenting this week when he said this to me, "What kind of mother would send her child into the gas station alone?!?"

I am not even kidding that he said those exact words to me. Yes, I busted out laughing. I had asked him to go into the gas station and pay for the gas. Obviously, he was appalled! (Now, I need to clarify that this was our neighborhood gas station and we were the only ones there. I could see straight into the store.) I do not want anyone fearing for my children's safety.

So, I am a little glad that today is Friday! Have a great weekend!

Undecided Just Might Equal Regret

2009-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have not posted this week because I have been having my own personal hair crisis. I think I have made a bad decision.

Let me take you back to when the madness first began.

It stated a few weeks ago when I was contemplating if I was still in style or not. So, I go to my trusty computer and google Fall 2009 hairstyles. Now, I have no desire to be a trendsetter but I also don't want people to look at me and think back to the good ole days!

I looked at several sights and then I stumbled across a page that is doing before and after photos or more like now and then photos. I scroll down and see my exact hair cut only it was a "then" picture from 2003.

2003...that was 6 years ago!

So my mind starts thinking of what I need to do to get back on this side of the cutting edge.

Monday I had an appointment with my hair stylist and I told her my concerns. I also told her my thoughts on a new hair style. She thought it would look nice and so we proceeded.

I started to regret my decision when I saw 3 inch pieces of hair falling to the floor.

Then she spun me around and handed me the mirror. And I put on my happy face and acted like it was the best thing I had ever seen. Inside I am questioning what I have just done.

I told myself it would be okay and better once I fixed it myself. So, I come home and fix it. And as I stared in the mirror I was undecided. Do I like it or hate it?

On Monday I was leaning more on the side of hating it.

Tuesday was a new day and so I washed it again. I reasoned that a clean slate will help. I styled it a different way and I thought that I just might like it. But still undecided!

So today I am starting over again and will hopefully style it in a way that makes me fall in love with it. I have hope people! I'll keep you posted!

We Need You God!

2009-08-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today I am saddened for women.

Today God opened my eyes to the reality of the world that I live in and it breaks my heart.

We are promoting a conference for teen girls and women that is being hosted at my church the end of September. The conference is called The Real Me Conference. We are armed with flyers and we have painted our car windows advertising the conference. I try to always hand out the flyers when I am out in the community.

Today while at Walmart, I eagerly whipped out my flyer and handed it to the cashier. I explained briefly what it was because there were people behind me and I know everyone is always in a hurry. She asked me "What's it about?" and I gave another brief explanation. She asked me again, "What's it about?" I simply said, "it's about God." She got this frustrated look on her face and tossed the flyer beside her cash register.

I wanted to say "You may not want to know God, but He knows you!"

I also wanted to say that I would be praying for her, but I just turned and walked away.

But I will be praying for her. I am also going to be praying that she will not be able to get the conference or that little flyer off her mind. And I am praying that God will draw her to the conference.

I left there and went to the rec center to sign my son up for football. As I was getting back in my car to leave, a man approached my car.

I rolled down the window (other people were around) and he asked me what this Real Me Conference was about. I began to tell him. He seemed interested and then he began to tell me about his girlfriend. He said she spends way too much time drinking and doing drugs. He is worried about her and proceeded to ask me what he should do to help her.

Silently I was praying or more like pleading with God for some sort of an answer to give me. I shared a few things with him but said that God was the only one that could really change her. He told me all the people he had talked with about his situation. It broke my heart. I handed him a flyer and told him to give it to her. I promised that I would pray for her and pray that God would draw her to the conference.

As I drove away, it hit me like a ton of bricks how desperately we need God in our lives.

There are no substitutes, none! Oh, we try everything to fill the God sized void that we all have in our lives but nothing works.

If only we could see our need and run to the only One who can meet it!

Ms. Kelton Would Be So Proud!

2009-08-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my day yesterday at my kid's school unloading boxes of books. Our school was remodeled this year and so the library had to be packed up and unpacked. I honestly needed to go lay down.

It wore me out!

All those books made me think about my elementary school Librarian, Ms. Kelton. To be honest, she scared me. I kid you not when I tell you that one of my classmates in 4th grade wet her pants, while standing on the library rug, all because she was too scared to ask Ms. Kelton if she could go to the bathroom.

I kid you not!

Isn't it funny the crazy stuff that you remember.

I guess the smell of all those old books just took me down memory lane. I use to love going to the library at school. I felt so big and important being able to check out a book. And even though Ms. Kelton scared me, I remember she would let me use the date stamp and ink pad. Oh, I felt important alright!

On a totally different note but one that is very funny. Sunday night after church a bird pooped on my face!

Yes, you read the last sentence correctly.

I was standing outside painting on the back of my friends car window (we are advertising of an upcoming conference) and all the sudden I felt something like a wet splat on my face. At first I thought the window paint marker had gotten on me until I saw my reflection in the window. My response was "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!"

There it was, bird poop sitting on my cheek. My mother-in-law's response was "thank goodness you didn't have your mouth open!"

Her wisdom did give me something to be thankful for in that moment because let me tell you that if bird poop got in my mouth...well, I can't even imagine what I would have done aside from spitting and gagging!

I was hoping that the bird poop incident was not a sign of what my week was going to be like and so far it has not been.

My incident gives new meaning to bird watching!

P.S. I have no idea what is up with the weird spacing in this blog post. It was not intentional, unless of course you like it!

Randomness - Part 48

2009-08-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

The other night I decided that I might get creative in the kitchen. I read a recipe for sweet and sour chicken. Okay, well it wasn't exactly sweet and sour chicken this is where my creativeness started to kick in. The recipe sounded good as I read it and with a few substitutions, I thought I had everything I needed to make a dish that resembled Chinese take out.

My husband has challenged me to cook more and us eat out less. It had gotten pretty bad. Not my cooking, the eating out part! We were eating out way too much. But can I tell you that since we are not suppose to be eating out much now it is all I want. This is why diets do not work for me because once you tell me I can't have something it is all I think about!

Now back to my supper. I started making the sauce for the chicken and it was smelling good until I made one fatal substitution. In case you were ever wondering...CountryTime lemonade powder is not a good substitute for lemon juice.

I know, I KNOW who would even think that it would be. It was just a moment of weakness in my creativeness. Next time, if there is one, I will atleast make the lemonade and then do the substitution.

I do have to tell you that I was able to salvage my dinner. I poured the sauce down the drain, but I did make delicious fried rice with stir fried chicken. You will never guess what I battered my chicken in...pancake mix.

I can't take the credit for the pancake mix because I got that one from Rachel Ray. She uses it to make chicken nuggets. It really was yummo!

Now on to another topic for your reading pleasure!

I do not know what came over me today. I got into a cleaning mode and even broke out a toothbrush to scrub with. I cleaned out one of the draws in our bathroom that had not been cleaned out in nine years. I have to tell you that it felt really good. Today was only part 1. Unfortunately, I can not clean as fast as I use to. I get so distracted.

Let me just tell you how distracted I get. This morning I started a load of laundry. I like to put the detergent in the water and let it fill up a little. I was washing whites, so I also added my bleach. I come back in about 30 minutes to put that load in the dryer and start another load. Guess what I had forgotten to do?

Yes, I forgot to put the clothes in the washer. And I am ashamed to tell you that it took me a minute to figure out where my clothes went. I knew it was going to be a long day!

Have a great one!

The Mommy Woes!

2009-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one of my friends last night. I was concerned about her because she did not seem like herself. As I listened to her, it quickly occurred to me that she had the mommy woes. This is a condition that most moms of little ones suffer from but a condition we rarely talk about. I don't know if we are ashamed and feel that no one will understand or if we are just overcome with guilt. Our guilt usually stems from our desire to be a mom and stay home with our little ones and once that happens wishing your life was different because it is so stinking hard. Believe me there is nothing quite as heavy as mommy guilt.

You may be asking what the symptoms of this condition are to determine if you have it or not. I have listed a few below:

your big accomplishment of the day is getting dressed
the days of going to the bathroom by yourself are long gone
you mainly speak babytalk
you can't remember the last time you had a night out with your girlfriends
you can distinguish cries and have gotten comfortable ignoring several of them
on more than one occasion you have been frightened because you sound just like your mother
getting dressed up is actually wearing a bra and a t-shirt without stains
your new perfume is spit-up

Well, now that you know what your condition is what do you do. The first thing is to know that even though you feel all alone, you are not. This is a condition that most women suffer from. And the reality is that it will be over all too quickly (even though you think the day will never end) and you will actually look back and miss this time in your life.

I know that sounds crazy and unbelievable but I promise it will happen. I remember having to literally strap my son onto my body just so I could do laundry. There were many days that I thought I was going to loose my mind. Now he is eight and I can't even pick him up anymore. I sure do wish that I could hold him in my lap one more time. I can not even begin to count the number of times that I put my dishes back in the cabinet after my daughter crawled in and pulled everything out. But what I wouldn't give to open the cabinet door and see her chubby little cheeks smiling at me. And don't even get me started on the rocking and singing lullablies. I am going to have to stop this because I am getting teary eyed! I tell you it all passes by way too fast.

Secondly, and the most important thing is to keep pursuing God even though it may be in 1 minute intervals. Read His Word and take it to heart. Apply it to your life. I promise this is your most important life line. It will help you to be a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend.

Lastly, schedule yourself some time with your girlfriends. If you do not have someone that can watch your children then plan a playdate. You will enjoy the fellowship with friends and your children will enjoy playing with someone.

Don't loose heart, this too will pass. You will survive this time in your life despite how you felt when you woke up this morning. You are a great mom! You can do this!

Why Ladies, Why?

2009-07-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

I probably shouldn't even include the female gender in my assumption, but I do have a feeling on this one that I am not alone.

I want to take you back to my last week. Just to give you an up close look into the craziness of who I am. My birthday was this past week and so earlier in the week my husband and I had a conversation that went something like this..."I don't really know what to get you for your birthday this year. And you know what I usually do when I don't know what to get." I replied "Yes, you usually buy me Brighton jewerly or a Vera Bradley purse and I do not need either one." To which he replies, "Yes and I usually spend way too much ." I said, "Well, I don't really know what to tell you because I don't have anything on my mind that I have been wanting. I would rather that you did not get me anything than to spend money on something I don't need." And then we start talking about something else.

Well, Saturday came (my birthday) and I have to say that I was lonely. I woke up in my house all alone. My daughter was at my sister's house and my son was at a friend's house and my husband was at a men's conference. My husband came in after I went to bed and then left before I woke up. I will be honest and tell you that I was hoping to walk into the kitchen to see a big bouquet of flowers and a card sitting on the counter. Instead all I saw were dirty dishes in the sink.

I then headed toward our bathroom because I thought surely he had some acknowledgement of my birthday sitting on the counter or something. No, nothing was there. Mid morning he did call me from the conference and wish me a happy birthday. I did think that was very thoughtful and I was appreciative.

Well, our Saturday progressed and we were both headed in different directions accomplishing our tasks.

Finally around 4:00 we are both home together. We walks over to me and hands me a card and a bag from a store. Inside was a costume necklace and earrings in the same color that he gave me for Valentine's Day. And may I add that I only own one thing that color and it is a shirt that I bought after he gave the first necklace on Valentine's Day.

Now let me just pause for a minute because some of you are probably thinking how ungrateful I am and that you would love for your husbands to pick you out a necklace and blah, blah, blah. I know I have already heard this from my sister because her husband is not the gift giving type.

I was not upset over the necklace. I was upset over the fact that I know he did not purchase the necklace until about 30 minutes before he gave it to me. And did he not know that he had already given me a necklace that looked very similar. Did he not know that I don't really wear that color. Did he not know that I saw him writing in my card two minutes before he handed it to me. I just felt forgotten and I was not happy about it. My family celebrated my birthday, but it was just not the same as my husband.

Well, in good ole fashion, I made him pay. He received the silent treatment and the cold shoulder. Finally that night before going to bed we talked about it but I was not through being mad at him because I felt he was not sorry enough for his actions. (Ha, Ha) You can laugh, but you know what I am talking about. He has not suffered enough for how he made me feel.

He honestly did not understand why I was upset and I honestly did not understand why he did not understand why I was upset!

So, I went to bed mad. Yes, I did!

I know the scripture about not letting the sun go down on your wrath. I know, I KNOW!
I did get up this morning and apologize. I was very thankful that the Lord granted me another morning so I could ask for forgiveness. And then, it all became clear to me.

The main thing my husband heard from our conversation earlier in the week was "Don't get me anything."
He was proud of himself for picking out a necklace and earrings. I mean I told him not to get me anything, so the fact that he got me something was a huge bonus.
I vaguely remember saying the words "don't get me anything" but secretly meant read my mind and buy me something that I don't even know I want.
My feelings about the conversation earlier in the week were you should know me so well and love me so much that you do not even need to ask. Just surprise me! My thoughts were ... I will not tell you this because you should just figure this out...your gift will not be just a gift but an expression of how much you love and adore me.

With my feelings and secret mind language, how could the man win?

He couldn't because my expectations were unrealistic. He has not been given the gift of mind reading. Even after years of being married, we just do not think alike. And here is the kicker, that is the way God designed us.

So, what did I learn from this whole thing?

Well, I learned that communication is key. I should not say things that I do not mean because my husband never received his secret meaning of my words decoder ring. I was also reminded that my anger hurts me alot worse than the other person. It is really not worth hanging on to.

So, I guess you could say that my birthday present this year was a little wisdom!

Things That Make Me Happy!

2009-07-24T19:00:00.001-07:00

Tonight I was treated by my mother and mother-in-law to dinner and window shopping. We had such a great time at dinner. They let me pick the restaurant since my birthday is coming up. I picked Olive Garden since my hubby does not like it and I rarely ever get to go. I tried the new Grilled Chicken Crostata and it was delicious. It was as good as they make it look in the commercial.

We left the restaurant and headed to a nearby shopping center to walk around. We went in this great new store called Charming Charlie. I just love it. It is full of costume jewerly, purses, shoes and basically all things girls love. The best part is that the store is organized by color. All the orange stuff is together and then you move to purple, then black, etc. It is fabulous! I can not believe it, but we left there without buying anything. Oh, I am still thinking about this one necklace set I saw but I am trying to be good.

We then went to Dillards. I am not a huge fan of The Dillards because I just simply can not pay $90 for a shirt. My mother-in-law loves Dillards which was easily confirmed when the sales associate knew her by name. She does not pay $90 for a shirt either but somehow she is able to find things really cheap in Dillards. It really is a gift I am learning.

We walked around looking at clothes and laughing at various crazy things. Then we headed downstairs to leave. Before leaving we headed to look at the pajamas. You are not going to believe what I found in Dillards basically just waiting on me to take them home. Oh yes, I am wearing them right now as I type this. I found a navy capri pajama set regularly priced $70, can you believe someone actually pays that for pajamas. Not me sister because I got them for .........drum role please..........$1.99.

A $1.99!!!!!!

I didn't even know they sold anything for that price. And they are cute. I feel really special sittin here in them. I literally wanted to skip around in the store.

My mother-in-law was checking out and I walked up beyond excited about my bargain. She said "Oh, let me get those for you after all it is your birthday."

The cashier chimmed in "You are such a big spender!" Of course, this cashier also knew my mother-in-law by name and even had her phone number so she could call her when things got marked down again.

We spent the rest of our time giggling and looking for other things marked $1.99. We didn't find anything else but had a great time hunting.

I had such a great time with my mothers. God has truly blessed me beyond measure!

Randomness...

2009-07-22T19:34:00.001-07:00

NO I HAVE NOT SHREDDED!

Just thought I needed to get that out of the way.

I am wishing that I had stayed true to my original plan of shredding that started back on May 1st because surely by now I would look a little slimmer and toner.

I am going to have lunch tomorrow with the ladies I use to work with. I have not seen most of them in a year. This makes me wish I had stayed true to atleast one of the fitness goals/plans I started over the past year. Oh well, tonight I am just trying not to get in my car and head to the gas station to pick up one of my best friends, Little Debbie. She and I have been through a lot together!

I just finished a great book tonight. The book is Same Kind of Different As Me. It is a wonderful, fabulous, moving must read. I stayed up until 2:35am last night reading. I could not put it down. My t-shirt became by tissue as I could have cried a river and did cry a small creek. Oh, it was wonderful. I would highly recommend it to you and it is a true story.

This summer has flown by. I can not believe that my children will be back in school in two weeks. I feel pressure to make some really awesome end of summer memories so they will have something really awesome to share when the teacher asks "What did you do over the summer?" I feel pressure, but that does not always equal great ideas.

I am loving the new worship CD by Travis Cottrell entitled Jesus Saves. Basically, it is all I listen to when I am in the car. I decided to give it to my mom for her birthday since she and I went to the live recording of the CD back in January. I gave it to her and told her what it was. Then a couple of days later she called and told me that she loved it and that it sounded a lot like what we went to that church and heard. I started laughing so hard. Obviously, she was totally ignoring me when I gave it to her. Apparently a mother's ability to tune out her children never goes away!

I could continue with more random thoughts, but I will save those for later!

To Shred or Not to Shred...

2009-07-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Or the title could be To Die or Not to Die. They are both pretty much the same. Just in case you are wondering what this Shred stuff is, let me explain.

Back in April I read a post by Vicki Courtney where she shared about a new workout she was doing. I think I have said in earlier posts that I hate to sweat and I hate to exercise.

I mean let me just get real with you!

Her post sparked my curiosity because many people signed up in the comments to be Shred Heads with her. And the beauty of it is the tape just lasts 20 minutes.

So I reasoned with myself that I could do anything for 2o minutes and I went and bought the DVD. It promises visible results in 3o days if you do it daily. I was going to the beach on May 31st so I decided to start on May 1st.

I just knew that by May 31st I would be mistaken for a bathing suit model, but I was willing! Ha, Ha!

Let me take you back to the morning of May 1st. It is forever etched in my brain because it is the nearest I have come to death in quite some time. I was home alone because my children were still in school and my husband was at work. I can not remember all the steps from memory but I do remember yelling at the TV on more than one occasion.

After completing the workout, I collasped and laid with my head hanging off the ottoman. I laid in the position for several minutes. I then made my way to my room where I collasped on the bed. I mustered up the strength to call my husband and tell him goodbye and that I loved him. I kid you not!

Well, I stayed committed to Shred for I think 5 days. Then Grandmaw's knees began to give her trouble and it was real easy to just stop.

Now I have some friends who are doing this and doing great with it and well, they make me sick. They have gotten me thinking about Shredding again. My downfall is lack of discipline to do something that I hate. So, I thought if maybe I gave a little shred update every so often it might help me to stay committed.

I would also love it if you would like to join me. We could help encourage one another. So leave me a comment if you are interested in trying this. Also, you should know that if you do this and it is easy for you, that I probably won't like you very much. Or atleast for my sake act like it is a near death experience.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Well, Look Who Has Decided to Come Back to Blog World!

2009-07-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

It appears from the dates of my last posts that I decided to take May and June off. It really wasn't planned out. Life just got a little hectic. I have never been one to wish my life away, but I do have to admit that I was really glad to see June go. For some reason we decided to plan two vacations and add VBS in between them. It was fun by exhausting!

So, what have I been doing lately? My first answer is a lot of laundry. But that is not really fun to talk about. So on the fun front, I went to the movies this week. My hubby and I saw The Proposal. It was really funny. We went on Thursday night because our kids happened to be at their grandparents house. We grabbed a quick burger at Five Guys, which was delicious, and then headed to the movies. We were running a couple of minutes late, but I figured it wouldn't really be that crowded.

Well, I was wrong!

Apparently, everyone wanted to go to the movies on Thursday night. The line to buy tickets took forever, Then the theater was full. I walked up the aisle looking for seats, but there were not two together.

Guess where we ended up sitting...in the handicap aisle. You know the one where you have a seat and then a big empty space for a wheel chair and then another seat. Now let me say that I only sat there because the whole row was empty and I would have gotten up if someone in a wheelchair came in.

The hubs had to stop and get popcorn even though we had just finished eating. It is some rule he has that he can't watch a movie without popcorn. Anyway he just started laughing when I waved him down in the dark.

Through out the movie, he would look my way and wave. If we both stretched our arms out, our fingertips would touch. Now isn't that romantic!

Well, I hope you all have a great 4th!

This Is The Life!

2009-06-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

"This is the life" were the words uttered by my son as he floated on the crystal blue sea looking up at the crystal blue sky. And I could not agree with him more! I think I was meant to be a beach bum.

We are at the beach this week and the ocean is as beautiful as I have ever seen it. It is crystal clear for miles. I was told it looked like the Caribbean but I can not tell you that first hand since I have never been to the Caribbean. As I walked along the ocean, I was reminded of the line in one of my favorite praise songs "Waves crash in honor of you." I just kept singing that line over and over. I love the ocean because it reminds me how BIG my God is. You know according to Isaiah, He held it in the hollow of his hand. And you know what else...those big hands are holding you and me today!

Just a side note. I am sitting in Panera Bread because the internet does not work at our beach house. This lady is sitting across from me and she keeps starring at me. She keeps trying to look at my computer screen which makes me want to laugh. I wonder if she thinks I am some sort of secret agent or something? (Can you tell that I have an 8 year old son?)

Anyway, I wanted to tell you something that will make you laugh. I bought some of the tire floats to take with us to the beach. The kids had so much fun floating on the waves and I wanted to float on the waves myself. So, I got one of the floats and slipped it on. It was so much fun. My daughter, my niece and I just giggled and floated on the waves. Well, all was good and well until I needed to slip the float off. If you know me you know that I never will or never have worn a bikini. The general public thanks me for that. Let's just say my love for all things fattening prevents me from looking like a super model. Now,back to the slipping off of the float. I lift my arms and pull the float and suddenly my stomach feels cold. Yes, you guessed it. As I pulled the float up, so came my bathing suit and for a few seconds the only things covering my upper half was the chest lining of the suit.

I snatched my suit down and then starting dying laughing. I couldn't hardly get out of the water for laughing so hard. My husband said he did not see it and he really hated that he didn't. I am hoping the other beach goers were looking away also. We will see if anyone points and laughs today when I go back.

Speaking of going back...the beach is calling my name so I will say goodbye for now. I know it is a hard life, but really someone has to do it!

Enjoy your day!

Breakfast Conversations That Explain It All!

2009-05-21T18:13:00.001-07:00

This morning's breakfast conversation went like this:

Me: Do you want cereal, PB&J sandwich or cinnamon toast?

Max and Amelia: Waffles!

Me: We don't have any syrup for waffles. Do you want cereal, PB&J sandwich or cinnamon toast?

Amelia: Cinnamon Toast.

Max: PB&J Sandwich. No, I'll have cinnamon toast, too.

Me: I did not know you liked cinnamon toast.

Max: Well, today I think I do.

Me: Max, what do you want to drink, tea or milk?

Max: Milk.

Me: Really, I didn't think you liked milk.

(I am thinking to myself, do I even know my son. What is this? Everything he use to not like now he likes.)

So I fix him a glass of milk to go with his cinnamon toast. I go to the oven to watch the toast and he picks up the glass to get a drink.

Max: Why did you give me milk? You know I don't like milk!

Me: I asked you if you wanted milk and you said you did.

Max: No I didn't!

Amelia: Yes you did! She asked you and you said yes!

Me: You make me think I am going crazy!

Max: You are going crazy!

Amelia: Well, she is a woman!

Yes, I am a woman and some days I think the van will pull up at any time to cart me off to Loonyville!

Have a great day!

I'm Back!

2009-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

I am excited to be back to the land of my own computer. We ended up getting a really pretty new laptop. It is this really cool bronze, copper color and in the world of computers color really is all that matters. I mean who understands all that mega stuff and memory stuff anyway. All I know is that I want it to be fast and of course pretty.

Now to more important things. Do you remember back in January when I attended the live taping of Travis Cottrell's new worship CD? Well, it comes out on June 2nd and I hear it is absolutely fabulous. I can not wait to get a copy of it. If you would like to hear a sample of the songs you can go to Travis' website. And BooMama is giving away 20 copies of the CD here. I hope you win one, but if you don't I would highly recommend buying it. I remember thinking several times during the taping that I was going on to Glory Land!

Have a great day!

I'm Alive But ...

2009-04-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I am alive but my computer is not. Last week my home computer's hard drive decided to call it quits. I was very shocked and sad. I will post more when I have a computer again.

Waving Red, White and Blue

2009-04-13T13:14:00.001-07:00

Today I am proud to be a resident of the city that I live in. If you drove through our city this morning you would have probably wondered what was going on. Fire trucks were pulled off on the side of the road with their lights flashing. Police cars were waiting at red lights with their lights flashing. And amid the rain and strong winds there stood men and women, boys and girls holding signs and waving flags.

Today our local Army Reserve Unit left our friendly little town headed to Iraq. They left behind wives expecting babies, loved ones fighting cancer, children and other family members all to protect the freedom that we take for granted.

Our church had the priviledge of hosting the Soldiers and their families for a Christmas dinner. We were also priviledged to have some of the Soldiers join us at one of our worship services. The sight of the Soldiers lined up across the altar with our Veterans standing behind them praying is a sight I will not too soon forget.

Please join me today in praying for our Soldiers that are stationed all over the world protecting our United States of America. Please also pray for their families who are also making a huge sacrifice.

Heavenly Father - I thank you for the men and women who are bravely fighting and protecting our freedom today. I pray that they will feel encouraged today and know that they are not forgotten. Please protect them and bring them home safely. Please be with their families that they left behind. Help us as your church to minister to them. Amen

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

I hope that you have had a wonderful day celebrating Christ's resurrection!

It has been one of those days that I just felt the need to shout. Today I celebrate my freedom! It is unfathomable how God could love me enough to sacrifice His one and only Son, Jesus. And equally hard to understand is how Jesus willingly suffered and laid down His life for me. It is a love that I do not understand but I do willingly accept it. And I am so thankful for this gift!

Oh Spring, Where is Your Warmth?

2009-04-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

My mind has been on all things fun this week and the lack there of in my own house. It is Spring Break time and since it has been in the 40's outside we are kinda limited on our activities. Our plans are to head to Six Flags tomorrow for some thrills roller coaster style. We are all excited and hoping that the weather man is correct in forecasting some warmer temps.

I will post more later but my time is really consumed with trying to entertain kids with a very outdated bag of tricks.

Happy Spring to You!

The End of the Story

2009-04-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I know that you have all been unable to function wondering what happened to my cat. Did she get down from the tree? Is she still alive?

Miss Cali is safe and sound at home. In fact, she is currently curled up by the front door sleeping.

You see I did not only marry a camo shot gun tot'n man, but he can also tote a ladder! Honestly, once again he was in his dress clothes and shoes. He was really going to come in the woods in those clothes and rescue our cat. Now I love our cat, but I also know those clothes and shoes would not have ever been the same after the rescue and well, I care about that too.

So, I delayed the rescue long enough for him to go change clothes.

The noise of the ladder scared her terribly bad and we were afraid she might jump or fall. So my job was to catch her if either of those things happened. There is a reason I don't play sports and it might have something to do with my inability to catch things. It might also have something to do with my lack of athletic ability and my desire to never sweat. Who knows?

Thank goodness she did not jump or fall and my skills were not put to the test!

The rescue went as planned and I carried her back home. She was exhausted and sleep most of the day. My kids were thrilled to see her when they got home.

On a totally different note, tomorrow is the big day! Proverbs 31 Ministries will be announcing the winner of the 2009 She Speaks scholarship. I believe around 140 people blogged for a chance to win. I was number 31. So, we will see.

Have a great day!

Out On A Limb!

2009-03-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

For two days we have been searching for our cat. We have stood outside calling her and shaking her food jar. Usually the shaking of the food jar causes her to sprint toward her food dish. But for the last two days nothing has worked. My husband and I were starting to get worried.

If you know us then you know that we have not had the best luck with pets. We have been through two dogs, a cat and two rabbits. Oh, yes and there were some fish in there but I can't remember how many. Let me clarify that "been through" means they had to go live with other families because they were just not the right fit for us. But then we found Cali and well she was just perfect for us.

She came up to me one Wednesday night at church and she seemed to just be begging for a home. So we brought her home with us. She is an outside cat and is the sweetest thing ever. She sleeps by our front door most days and we just love her.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a fox in our backyard. I was a little alarmed because we live in a subdivision and you usually don't see foxes in your back yard. We do back up to some woods so my husband said he was probably just passing through. Well, the next week our children were outside playing and the fox chases our cat out of the woods into our yard.

You should have seen it. My husband had just gotten in from work and was still in his dress pants and button down shirt. He runs and grabs his shot gun and dashes out into the yard. I started laughing because it is not everyday that you see a man in dress clothes running out tote'n a camo shot gun. The fox got away unharmed.

So when our sweet Cali could not be found for two days we started to wonder if the fox had well, gotten her.

We were sad this morning when we got up for school and turned on the outside lights and Cali was still not there. For some reason, my husband and I had decided that this was the day. Either she would come home or we would have to accept the fact that she was gone.

I get the kids out the door for school and then the phone rings. I figured it was my husband saying one of the kids had forgotten something. It was my husband, but he was telling me to come outside quickly because they had found Cali. She was stuck up in a tree across the street from our house. My son spotted her when they were pulling out of the driveway. My job was to keep an eye on her while my husband took the kids to school. Then he would come back to rescue her.

As I got close to her, I felt so sorry for her. She was shaking and crying and wanting to move but paralyzed with fear. She was stuck out on a tiny little limb alone.

As I stood under the tree looking up at her, God began to speak to my heart. There are so many women out there in a similar situation. They are cold, lonely, scared and paralyzed by fear. We walk past them every day. It may be the woman beside me in the grocery store aisle. Or the woman in front of me in the car pool line. Or the woman behind me in the check out line. Or it may be you.

My prayer is that God will give me eyes today to see them; to hear their cry for help. I know the One that rescues and He stands ready with outstretched arms. May I be His arms and hands today to reach out to those that are crying for help.

Ladies, we all have a kinsman-redeemer and His name is Jesus Christ. He longs to save and rescue you from whatever is holding you captive. I pray that you will pursue Him today. Believe me He will pursue you back!

She Speaks!

2009-03-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at my computer trying to be creative and clever while my heart is racing. And unfortunately, the creative cleverness is just not coming. I thought if I could type a great post then maybe I could be picked and I could win the scholarship to attend She Speaks 2009. However, I quickly realized that it is not about my creative cleverness or lack there of because if God wants me there then it will happen in spite of me.

I know you are probably saying "What? What are you talking about?"

Well, it all started on Thursday when I was going through my daily blog reading. I clicked on Lysa Terkeurst's blog and her post was titled "She Speaks Scholarship Contest for Bloggers". I could not read fast enough, but I did not want to read too fast and miss something. She Speaks is a conference that Proverbs 31 Ministries put together for women who feel called to speak, write, blog, lead in women's ministry or reach the next generation for Christ. The conference is packed with practical information designed to help you fulfill the calling God has placed on your life. You can read more about the conference by clicking on She Speaks in the above sentences.

I attended the She Speaks Conference in 2007 and it was a life changing experience for me. I mean LIFE CHANGING! I went hoping to obviously learn something, but more importantly I wanted to hear from God. I was all by myself. I drove to North Carolina by myself, I roomed by myself and I attended the conference by myself. It was a first for me as I am not usually a lone traveler. But what I quickly learned was that I was not by myself at all. There were 400 other women there who felt just as unsure about God's calling on their lives as I did. And I ended up with a roommate after all - God. I had such a sweet time of fellowship with Him that weekend. I had a revival in my soul and a revival in my calling. God gave me direction. God redefined my purpose. It was more than I ever dreamed of.

Earlier this year, I started thinking a lot about the conference. God has done amazing things in my life over the past 2 years since I attended. I have been obedient to Him in the very things that we talked out that weekend. And He has proven Himself faithful to me over and over. I really want to go back.

I mean I REALLY WANT TO GO BACK! But, there is this little thing called money that is standing in my way. So, I committed to just pray about it because I know money is no obstacle to my God.

Now do you understand my excitement when I read Lysa's blog post?

Could it be me?

Could this be God's way of working it all out?

I don't know. But I do know this...whom ever God picks to receive this scholarship is in for a life changing experience and that gets me excited!

Being Content With What You Have

2009-03-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

"Marriage should be honored by all,

and the marriage bed kept pure,

for God will judge the adulterer

and all the sexually immoral.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and

be content with what you have,

because God has said, "Never will I leave you;

never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:4-5

I was appalled by something I saw on TV this morning. There is a website where married people can go to have an affair.

Can you believe that?

It appeared to me that it was set up similiar to one of the dating service websites. A man working for the "company" that ownes or runs this website seemed to be bragging about the number of people that have joined. It was a staggering number.

It blew my mind that a company exists that is profiting from adultery. Satan truly will stop at nothing to destroy families.

Satan is the father of lies and he wants us to think that the grass is greener on the other side. Can I tell you that it is not greener. Maybe the patch you see looks a little greener but when you get up close and look at it, it is the same color as the grass you have. It is all lies.

I love verse 5 above where we are told to be content with what we have. The verse goes on to say because God said He would never leave us or forsake us. It is as if the verse is asking "what do you have to not be content with? God has told you He will never leave or forsake you."

I need the reminder to be content. Be content in my marriage, be content with my home, be content with my wardrobe, be content with my vehicle...

What about you, are you content?