Looking back at 2013

Can you believe that this is the last day of 2013?

December 31st?  Really?

What about new years resolutions?

Got any?  I'm not really sure if I'm going to participate in resolutions this year.  I think last year I set a few goals that I wanted to accomplish, and I think I got some of them done.
But I don't like to set myself up for failure if you know what I mean so if I do set any
goals this year, they will be simple and hopefully easy to keep.

When I was thinking back on all that's happened this year I was trying to think
about what I learned from everything.

My son and his fiancee set a date to get married so that has been a change for us, but if he's happy, and I like her so I am pretty happy.
That said, I want him to be ready for what awaits him.  
Not a lot I can do at this point except pray for him and his new bride and trust Jesus.

This year, most of my family has maintained their health so that is a great blessing.
After a year or so of some bad health, maintaining is awesome!

My sweet baby girl started college, still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but she's trying to narrow down the field.  

Man, it's hard to be a grown up!

I started helping with our youth group which I never thought I would love as much as
I do!  That has been awesome!

I have felt the last 3 months like time has been flying by, there are days when I feel I don't have 5 minutes to myself, so I would like to try to carve out some ME time.  

Maybe that will be one of my goals.

Although when I try to do something for me, I sometimes feel a little selfish when 
I do that, so maybe I'll just try not to be so selfish.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone 

a

very

Merry

Christmas!!

What day is this?

Okay, I can't believe it's already December 19th, and I haven't done a post since October!!

Honestly, I have a hundred excuses for why I haven't done one, but none of them are
really that great so I won't bore you with them.

I will say that while I have been very busy.  (That's one of my excuses.)  
I have not been unproductive.

I finished my driftwood mirror.  That counts for something doesn't it.

But mostly I have just been living this crazy thing we call life.  Working, taking care 
of my people, and being Thankful.

I guess I got caught up in the daily grind and while I was reading everyone
else's blogs, my little life didn't feel all that interesting.  (Another excuse.)

Then I said to myself, you know what, the fact that I am different from everyone else
is just ONE of the things that we should celebrate.  What fun would it be if we were
all alike?

In conclusion, I will try harder to update more.  And I will see if I can find something interesting to say.

Sunday Scripture

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19

Morals?

Do people ever talk about morals anymore?

I'm not sure, but after some articles that I read, I don't think we talk about them enough for sure.

The first story was about a man on a subway that was shot on a relatively full subway car, but no one saw the shooter because they were too busy on their phones or computers.

Really?

I just thought that was sad.

Then I read an article about telling a "little white lie".  Now this wasn't one of those little white lies about how you look or anything like that.

No this was one of those white lies that you tell to someone to cover something up.

I wonder at what point a "little white lie", becomes a bold face lie.  

Is it when someone does it to you?

What happened to just being honest with people and telling them what you think?  I would much rather someone say something to me that might hurt my feelings than lie to my face.

We seem to be so wrapped up in trying to conform with what's happening in the world, that we don't remember what is right and wrong?  

Are we to the point that nothing is wrong anymore?  Or are we just not bold enough to say anything about it.  

I don't know, but I think it's sad.

Too Funny

I saw this over the weekend and thought it was hysterical!!

Had to share it

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sunday Scripture

I will tell about the Lord's kindness

and praise him for everything he has done.

Isaiah 63:7

Guess what day it is? Guess what day it is?

It's Friday!!!!

Friday!!!

Hope

And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love-how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is.  Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love.  Then you can be filled with the fullness of God.

With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3:18-20

That is hope for everyone!

Cleaning out the memories

Source

One of my favorite things about Fall is getting out my pumpkins and beginning to get decorated for Halloween.

While I am getting my decorations down from the attic, it usually makes me aware of all the stuff that I am holding onto that is taking up space in the attic.

So this year, I have come to the decision that while I am getting my decorations down for fall, I will go through what some may consider to be junk, but I like to call it precious memories and get rid of what I don't need.

Now, it sounds simple when you say it.  Get rid of what you don't need, but then I come across Baby Girl's favorite baby doll when she was little and I just feel like I can't get rid of that.  

Or maybe it's Baby Boy's baseball glove from when he was little, the point is, I kept it because it held a special memory to me, and part of me doesn't want to let that go.

But, what I've come to realize is that I don't need to hold on to those things to feel all warm and fuzzy about my babies.  Our house is full of memories, most good, some not so good, but the memories aren't going anywhere.  Not yet anyway.

And I don't have to keep every single toy they ever had growing up to remember it.

They are as much a part of me as breathing, so I'll just hold onto that.  

Don't get me wrong, I am sure I will keep a few special things but I'm not going to get hung up on keeping every single thing that I just don't need.  

Maybe there is someone else out there who can use it to make new memories.

Loving Fall

I love Fall, it is my favorite season!

It starts to get cooler, and the sky just looks crisper.

It's like you can see everything clearer.

I love it.

I love how the leaves change.

It's Halloween time, and I love giving out candy to the trick or treaters!!!

This is my anniversary month so Mr. Wonderful and I will be going on our annual mini-vacation, all alone.  

So looking forward to that!!  

This month I am going to get to work on some projects around the house that I have been trying to get done.  

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!

What would you wish for?

When we started our new bible study we were all asked what our favorite bible story was.

Now, I have to tell you I have many favorites, but I knew that they were probably the same ones that everyone else had, so I tried to think of one that doesn't get talked about as much.

So when we went around the table telling our stories, I was glad to hear that no one picked mine.

Do you know what it is?

Mine was the story about Solomon being asked by God, if he could have anything he wanted what would he ask for?

First of all can you imagine being able to ask for whatever you wanted?
Seriously?  I just can't even wrap my head around that one.

OK, so Solomon, who loved the Lord, asked him for discernment in governing his country in the way God would have him do it.  He asked for wisdom.  Because he knew he needed God's help to be a good king.

God was so impressed with Solomon's answer that he told him because he didn't ask for anything for himself, he would be given what he asked for and MORE.  He was given wealth, honor, and there was not then, or has ever been, a king as great as Solomon.  

Isn't that an amazing story of obedience, look at what God did for a man who asked for something with a pure heart, and all he wanted was to please God.  

Yes, I know, as time goes on Solomon loses his way, but look at what God did with him when he was trying to please him.  He was the wisest king EVER, and people came from all over the world to hear him speak.

You see even Solomon wasn't perfect, but look at how God blessed him for being obedient, imagine what he can do for you.

Sunday Scripture

Do to others what you want them to do to you.

This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.

Matthew 7:12

Rambling on

Whew, man it has been a long time since I posted.

You know how sometimes you can miss something a few times and be like, Ok, tomorrow I am definitely getting back to that.  Then tomorrow comes and you don't feel like you have anything worth saying.

Yes, that's how it's been for me.

But, I have not been sitting idly by doing nothing.

Mr. Wonderful started painting the kitchen cabinets.  He did the upper and I am doing the bottom a different color.  So more to come on that.

Also, I have started a union jack coffee table.  

But started is as far as I have gotten.  As in I have the tape on, but that's as far as I've gotten but at least that should go pretty quick so keep your fingers crossed.

Also we have started back to our bible study and it has been great.

More on that later.

So I will leave you on this gorgeous Friday afternoon with this.

Somewhere off the Carolina coast.

Sunday Scripture

The Lord says, "I will make my people strong with power from me!  They will go wherever they wish, and wherever they go, they will be under my personal care."

Zechariah 10:12

Night Out!

Last night Mr. Wonderful decided we should go to the movies.

Sounds innocent enough doesn't it, but for him, it's strange.

He's not the kind of guy who likes going to the movies, so naturally when he says
we should go, I jump all over it.

So we head out for a night with Denzel and Mark.

Source

Needless to say it was awesome, and full of action so Mr. Wonderful

was loving it too.

A foodie and a Food truck

This past weekend, Mr. Wonderful and I spent some quality time together at the local
Co-op Farmers Market.

They were having several different food trucks and a band, so we really want to go check it out.

And it turned out, we really enjoyed it.

I think I've mentioned before that Mr. Wonderful loves to cook.

Loves it! (I've mentioned being on Hell's Kitchen, but I think he would mouth off to Mr. Ramsey and get into quite a bit of trouble.)

So anyway, one of the main reasons he wanted to go was to check out the Food trucks.

I think there were 6 or 7 there, can't remember for sure.

We got there about the time it was looking like rain, so there wasn't really a crowd.

Sorry about my finger.

They even had a band,
and though I didn't know who they were, they were good.

We split a sandwich from one of the Food trucks and it was great!

It was all cheesy and toasted, and gooey, and downright tasty!

Of course when we left we were discussing the option of maybe getting a food truck instead of opening a restaurant.

Mr. Wonderful is quite the dreamer.

I like that about him.

What are you afraid of?

If someone were to ask you right now what were you afraid of, what would you say?

Would you say that you were afraid of God?

Did God even pop into your mind, or were you thinking of something else, like sickness,
or spiders, or even being alone?

We have talked about the fear of God in Bible study before, mostly about how you don't really hear people talk about it very much.  I suppose that is just a sign of the times. People don't want to hear about it, so we just don't talk about it.

Does that make it any less real or important?

All throughout the old testament are stories of a loving God, saving his people from slavery, and hardship.   And all through the old testament are more stories of those same people falling away from God, and suffering the consequences for doing so.

They lost their fear, you could say they got a little too comfortable.

Do you feel like you sometimes get too comfortable?

How many times when things are going good for us do we thank God for our blessings, because that is exactly what they are, blessings.  And how many times do we reach out to him when things are hard?  Most likely we pray more when we are hurting than we do when we are happy.  That doesn't apply to everyone of course, but I'm certainly guilty of not praising him enough when things are good.

I wonder if we don't like to talk about fearing God because we only want to think of a loving God, but God is still loving, but he also just and Holy and deserves to be respectfully feared.  He doesn't want us to be afraid of him, he longs for us to know him. 
He is much like the loving parent who loves their children so much that when they do wrong, they are punished.  

I truly believe that he wants to have this same kind of relationship with us, he loves us like a mother loves her children.  He wants so much for us, and like any parent he only wants what is best for us.  And like any child all we are asked is to be obedient.

God is good!

God is loving!

God is Holy!

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

Exodus 20:20

Why is it?

Why is it that when you have to work the time drags on, but when you are on vacation,
the time flies?

Why?

We spent a whole week at the river last week, believe it or not in ten years, it's the first time we stayed a whole week, and after doing it, I don't know why we didn't do it sooner?

So, of course I took lots of pictures.

We had the whole family down for 7 glorious days, and after the rain stopped, it was great.

We took the boat out for a little fishing.

As you can see I literally mean "little fishing."

This year we even took our dog, and he loved it!

He was so spoiled, by the time we got home he stunk!!!

We went tubing,

and admired the scenery.

There is something so relaxing about being on the water.

This little spot is one of my favorites.

Then we hit the closest beach to see what we could find.

As it so happens we came across some driftwood.

Well, it was really a bunch of leftover wood and other stuff from the hurricane a few years ago, but I managed to get Mr. Wonderful to load some up in the boat for me.

He did it but very reluctantly.

I think they are talking about me.

Really?

This summer we have seen more turtles so far than we usually see all summer.

A few weeks ago we saw this turtle.

He was just crossing the dirt road, and though he may not look it he was a pretty big
turtle.  A snapping turtle actually, we just assumed he came from he pond down the road.

Then last week, we saw this turtle.

He was just as big as the snapping turtle but I think he is some kind of box turtle, honestly I'm not sure exactly what kind he is, I was just excited to see him.  Baby boy wanted to take him to the house but when he tried to pick him up, he hissed at him, so we decided to leave him alone.

Living in the country has it's advantages.

Painted and ready!

Finished my dresser that was a freebie from my friend.

Here's how she looks before the makeover.

It's super sturdy, but we just didn't want to leave it all boring and brown.  So, I tried to decide what color I wanted to paint it.

I really wanted to paint it red, but I couldn't find the shade that I wanted, so I decided to go
with a light grey.

I happened to have that already so I just went with that.

Here she is all painted up and finished.

Isn't she pretty?

I used the original hardware but just painted it with spray paint.

Hammered black, to be exact.

Sorry, I took these with my phone, they look a little blurry.

But all in all, I love how it looks, it actually looks white in the picture but in person you
can tell it's a light grey.

I'm pretty happy with it.

Ooooops!

It's amazing how as you get older you start to realize that all that stuff your parents said to you is true.

Like when I was little and thought the days just dragged on, and my mom would say, just wait, you'll see, time goes by so fast.

And she was right, it really does.

Which brings me to how I didn't acknowledge Mr. Wonderful on here for Father's day.

I hope you know how much we love you and what a great dad you are!!

Congratulations Baby Girl!!!

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Kids have so many firsts, so many milestones, and I know that this is just one that we will add to her list of accomplishments.

I am so proud of her.

She is my neat freak, my exercise-fitness buff and more than that she is my sweet baby.

I hope she knows that while we want nothing but the best for her, God wants even more for her.
He wants her to be successful in all that she does and happier than we can ever imagine.

While we love her more than anything imaginable, he loves her even more, because he is her heavenly father, and we are just her parents.

Eighteen years have flown by, I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Congratulations Baby Girl, we love you and couldn't be prouder!!!