LIttle Things I Don't Want to Forget

The look on Jeff's face yesterday when we finished signing our life away for our new home.  PRICE LESS!

The way Jeff always asks "How's our boy doing?" when he comes home from work.  Or "Is my son behaving himself?" That's Jeff's way of asking if Andrew is kicking me to death.

I love it when Jeff puts his hand on my belly and Andrew kicks him.  Again the look on Jeff's face is priceless.

Fun's coming just around the corner and I am enjoying soaking up as many little things as I can these days.

God is good!
God is faithful!
God's timinig is PERFECT!!

A Must Have!

I added this album to my library yesterday and L-O-V-E...LOVE IT!

It is wonderful especially if you are a fan of old hymns like me. Let's just say I have listened to this album 3 times in the last 6 hours. It is that good.

The last song though, I will Carry You, is a tear jerker. If you have lost a newborn or know someone who has, you will not be able to make it through this song. And since I am not one who likes to be the only one crying, I am posting the video for all to see.



Angie, Audrey's mom has a blog titled "Bring the Rain." I started reading her blog many posts in and recently started reading from the very beginning. Their story is an amazing lesson of faith and trusting God in dark days. Click here to read the story from the beginning. And once you know the journey they went through with Audrey, the song is even more powerful.

Trust me when I say this CD is a must to have in your music library, it truly is a good thing.

Nothing Says Happy Easter like a Basket Filled with Sweet Goodness

I have nothing funny, profound or whitty to say these days but I have enjoyed a few little nuggets from others blog that I thought would be fun to pass on to you.

Consider this your blogging easter basket from me to you and each little link is an egg inside your basket. The egg of course if filled with sweet goodness (only the best for my blogging peeps)


1. Beth's recent post

2. a post for every parent who had to help with the child's school project

3. a great idea for old t-shirts that you can't wear anymore

4. and this post is just plain good for my prideful spirit

5. And last but not least-a sweet thought from FLYLADY


I hope you enjoy your basket of sweet goodness.

Happy Easter!

Good Things To Add to the IPOD

I have two new favorite Christian artists that I think they are worth mentioning to you guys.

1) Addison Road

2) Tenth Avenue North


Tenth Avenue North did a song called By Your Side and well, it has ministered to me over the last few days. Good words to have playing in the ears last night as I drifted off to sleep after a long and crappy day.



Happy Thursday Friends! Today is already turning out to be a much better day--it's the start of March Madness y'all.

It's the Simple Things That Make Me Happy

1. A quiet weekend at home
2. Snuggling close to hubs while we watched Fox News Friday night
3. Woke up Saturday morning and chatted with hubs while drinking coffee
4. Cleaning out the closet and throwing things away for the big move
5. Taking two large bags of stuff to a resale shop that helps abused women get back on thier feet
6. Lunch with good friends Sunday afternoon
7. Sunday afternoon naps-a sacred thing at our house
8. deep theological discussions with the small group at church (my head is still spinning)
9. finishing up the weekend sitting next to hubs and reading a good book

Sometimes you just need a list to remember the simple things that make you happy.

Have a great Monday-I am off to make a buck for the furniture company

Girls Night!

Last night my mom, Missy and new friend Amy snuck away for a live taping of Life Today. Kari Jobe was there promoting her new album. I heart Kari!

We received a copy of her CD for attending and when I got home I pulled out my old school Walkman, threw on my comfy pj's, crawled under the covers and listened all the way through. I felt like I was back in high school enjoying my new CD.

The CD will be released on February 10Th and I strongly suggest that you add it to your music library. It is full of worshipful songs that everyone can relate to.

Love That Alli Rogers

Have you heard of Alli Rogers? If not, she is a Christian artist that's music is classified as Folk music in my ITunes. I recently stumbled across this artist while on a search for new music.



It was love at first listen.



Let me share with you the lyrics to the song that touched me most (it sums up my feelings about the journey Jeff and I are on these days quite nicely)



the day of small things
I am afraid of beginning‘cause I don’t know how to end
But you told me that the mountain before us would become a plain in our eyes
So I won’t despise
I won’t despise the day
I won’t despise the day of small things


Even when you tell me…oh, even then I’m shaking
‘Cause I am afraid of believing
The plans that we make seem so big
But you’ve shown me that we’re never alone and your spirit will stay by our side

So I won’t despise
I won’t despise the day
I won’t despise the day of small things


To hear more of her music, click here. Let me know if you become a fan too or already are a fan of Alli Rogers. I know I am!

2008- Our Year In Pictures

Movies

(Edited to add: Click on the picture above and hit play next to the word slideshow to see the video)

This video started out as a simple project and quickly turned into a two day ordeal. The pictures became a bit grainy after I posted it to google albums but it will do. Even though it took longer than I hoped, it was a fun way to look back on 2008.

I think Jack Johnson's words, "It's always better when were together" could be Jeff and my theme song for this year. Even though this year was full of ups and downs, we found great joy in being together. I am thankful that God has brought us to the same page. I know that many of the things we had to go through this past year served to unify us and strengthen our marriage. This past year we had many ministry opportunities together. I will never forget the joy that came the day Jeff and I prayed with Maudie to become a believer. What a joy it was to share in that moment together! I am also thankful for Jeff's words of encouragement when month after month nothing was happening. I had a friend ask me one time how I was able to be joyful in the waiting. I quickly answered, Jeff. Apart from my prayer time with God, Jeff has been my rock and constant encourager. He is a blessing! I am thankful for this past year that has brought us closer together.

I am also thankful for the time I have spent in the Word this past year. I am happy to report that I actually finished the Daily Chronological Bible. I encourage each and everyone of you to do something like this in 2009. What a blessing it has been to realize that no matter where I was in the Bible, God was able to use those scriptures to touch my heart. Even when I was reading Numbers and The Chronicles.


2009 goals to be posted soon, along with my word that I am going to cultivate in my life. But I must hurry on because I have a day off with my husband and want to soak up the downtime with him.

Happy New Year!

Sucker For Chick Flicks

I love a good chick flick. Love, love, love them!

Over the last few years, I have built up a pretty good selection one movie at a time. Good chick flicks are the best accessory to a scrapbook weekend or a chicks only es-cape.

Today I had four of my favorites arrive in the mail.

Trouble With Angels, Pride and Prejudice, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and P.S. I Love You.

Here is one of my favorite scenes from Trouble With Angels.




And yesterday, along with a row of teenage girls, I saw Twilight. I can guarantee you that I will own this movie one day too.

And just in case you missed it the first time, read below.

I've Got Some Words To Use Up

ahem! (that's me clearing my throat!)

(one more time for good measure!) A-HEM!!!


Do you ever have those days where you wake up and know God is about to do something a-mazing? Not just amazing but A-MA-ZING! Well that is how my day went today. A good day, so good in fact that I almost feel guilty mentioning it since sooooo many of my sweet friends are having rough weeks. I am sorry for those of you who have not had as good of day as me. I apologize in advance for sounding boastful.

But I am about to do a bit of Biblical Boasting so forgive me if it sounds like I am trying to toot my own horn, I say all of this so that God will get the glory.

For the past few months, I have been on an emotional roller coaster. I am finally at the part of the ride where all the twists and dips have started to go smooth. I may dip in the future but I guarantee when I dip I am going to laugh because I know that God is going to bring me joy in every dip and turn in my life. He has already.

So why was my day good? I was able to see God's hand working in every facet of my life today. I was able to be a friend to someone who is where I was two years ago. I was able to have a godly woman who I hold in high esteem call me and say she wanted to mentor me. The cool thing is, this woman is older than 50 and never had kids. This woman is someone who has been able to be used by the Lord and has been a blessing to many. This woman is joyful and at peace with where God has lead her. I love this woman. No matter what happens in the next coming week, months or years, I know that I have someone in my corner who truly knows the twists and dips of my life.

To top it all off, I had dinner with three of my favorite ladies tonight. Three women that I look up to and admire. One of the ladies is a Biblical Counselor. She has been a huge blessing in overcoming many areas of my past and helping me set strong foundations for the future. She is the one who has encouraged me to move to the next step of my journey. (The next step of my journey I will share another day) Tonight as the four of us sat, talked and later prayed, I knew what Timothy must have felt like in the presence of Paul and Barnabas. Total awe and excitement that God would choose little ole me to sit with these ladies. I look forward to what the future holds!

Through today I realized that God is doing something bigger than I could even imagine with me, in this present moment. I see God's hand guiding me down this path and I praise Him. Fully praise Him for revealing Himself to me. Friends, I know there are many of you tonight who are wondering where the heck God is in your life? Why hasn't He shown up? Can I encourage you to keep seeking because you will find Him. Read the Bible daily, ask friends to pray for you and hold you up when you are weak. God has a plan for each and everyone of us. It's just sometimes we have to wait in order for all the craziness to subside so we can hear God's voice through it all.

Don't give up peeps! Keep pressing forward and wait because God is about to do something so fantastic with your life!

I love you, sweet friends, who are having a bad week! Call if you need anything!
Maybe an Es-cape!
sorry, inside joke I will explain another day

(FYI: As always please ignore the run-ons, crazy sentence structure and misspellings-I am too lazy to edit tonight.)

Super Yummy!!!

Homemade Lasagna

1 pound ground beef (I sub turkey)
2 large cloves garlic, crushed (I use two huge scoops of minced garlic in jar)
1 28 ounce jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 12 ounce container of cottage cheese (I have been known to use 16 ounces...mmm)
1 and half teaspoon of pepper
8 large noodles, uncooked
1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (squeeze out all the water)
2 cups (8 ounce) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parm cheese

Preheat oven to 350

Crumble beef and garlic in large skillet. Brown and drain.
Add spaghetti sauce.
Combine egg, cottage cheese and pepper
Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce in 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Top with 4 uncooked noodles, cottage cheese mixture, spinach, meat sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, and cover with foil.

Bake for 50 minutes.
Add Parmesan cheese and bake uncovered for 10 minutes.
Let stand for a 15 minutes before serving.

I got this recipe from Easy Weeknight Favorites by Southern Living. If you don't have it, get it, it's chalk full of fast, delicious meals. Men, hook up your honey! Your wife and tummy will thank me!

It Dosen't Get Better Than This

Friday night in my favorite long sleeve tee and pajama pants.

Feasting on hamburgers made on the grill with an extra measure of pepper jack cheese

The place is clean, the candle smells sweet.

I am cuddled on the couch watching a movie with Jeff and laughing at his silly comments.

We are watching Cast Away, he tells me he can feel Tom's pain. It must be a Fed Ex thing.

And to top it off I am eating a gigantic chocolate bar that Jeff brought home for me today

I swear, in this moment, it just doesn't get better than this

Best Buds

Here is a picture of two best buds trick or treating Friday night.

One is 3 the other 38.
One is nicknamed Jazzy Jeff. The other is nicknamed Super Bubbie.

This little friendship has been fun for me to watch take shape.
They defiantly think the world of each other.
And this little cowboy sure does keep us laughing.




And here is a cute picture of the whole gang Trick or Treating.

Kicking It Old School

Last night I went and walked the halls of RHS since they are about to tear down the old portion to fit the new school. I did not go to my high school reunion because I knew that everyone that I really wanted to see graduated a year before or a year after me. When I heard that they were going to do a MEGA reunion to get all the decades together I decided that I would give it a shot.


Here is a picture of one of the halls, I hated this hall because it was the Math hall. And well, we all know my distaste for math.


But it was in Math class my freshman year where I met my best friend in high school. Her name was also Susan and our math teacher, the coach of the football team, nicknamed us Susan2. (that =susan square for those of you mathmatically challenged). She was my first friend and became one of my dearest friends very fast. I still have notes that we passed back and forth at school that were signed Susan2. Many great memories with this chick! And I bet you didn't realize that Elvis is also a fellow alum and good friend. LOL!



And here is my locker! I loved that locker because it was located in the middle of the school and next to a door that led to the side of the school. This helped me beat the crowds and gave me more time to chat with my friends between classes.
> This is David looking at the class pictures. We dated most of my sophmore year and we have remained friends ever since. Last night I teased him and called him a frog. He didn't understand for a minute until I told him I had to kiss a bunch of frogs until I found my prince. My prince being Jeff of course!
The library! I lived here my junior and senior year becasue I was in AP English and we had to write many research papers. My senior thesis was on the topic of change and I quoted the Cranberries song that says, "All my life is changing every day, every possible way!" I scored very high because I was being creative. That's the day that I realized the key to a high grade is a bunch of creative b.s. with good quality sentence structure. Am I right or am I right?

And the basketball court.... (this ones for you Nat Rat!)
Susan wrote for the school newspaper and they had a few old copies of the paper. We found an article she wrote with her picture from the good ole days. Oh how we laughed when we saw that picture. I even remember her talking about writing the article we found. Strange!


Tonight a group of us are meeting at my place and heading to the game. Jeff is being such a good sport with all of this. I have to give him kudos because he told me today that he was looking forward to meeting my friends and hearing some of my crazy stories from back then. But I know that it doesn't mean the same to me. And as many of you already know (and experienced) I am still as crazy as ever.

Or it could be the fact that the portion I am attending is free. You all should know our family motto by now...say it with me..."If it's free, it's for me!"

Happy Friday!

Another Song In My Head

Oh yes, I love a rainy night and I praise God for the rain.

I Don't Want To Forget the Memories...

Last night I spent the night with my grandparents. I was going over to hang out with them after Jeff left for work and hubs suggested I take my toothbrush and pj's so that I didn't feel like I had to rush home.

It was a nice surprise for my grandparents...who didn't kick me out even though Jeff teased that they might.

I knew I should have brought my camera b/c there were lots of funny moments I wished I would have captured.

Oh well I will store them in words here so that I can read them again one day.

1. Watching the Rangers do well then loose horribly to the Yankee's.
2. Hearing Granny call A-Rod's new fling a slut! Yes, she said "Slut." (If you don't know who I am talking about she sang Vogue, Cherish, Holiday)
3. Bonner declaring at 8 p.m that it was watermelon time and fixing us a big ole bowl to eat. I LOVE WATERMELON!
4. Bonner said a cuss word then quickly changed it to the child friendly term. So I told him I was now 30 I have heard those words before. Then Granny said, "We still don't want him to talk that way in front of the children." I guess I will always be a child to her. :)
5. Bonner went and restocked the candy jar when he heard I was coming to visit this week. He had my favorite, Reece's peanut butter cups piled high in that jar and insisted that 9 0'clock was candy time.
6. Going to bed in my "old room". Bonner offered to tuck me in but since I was not near ready for bed at 9:30 p.m, like he was, I told him I would be just fine tucking in myself this one time. He said, "Wake us if you need us, Ding-a-ling."
7. Waking up to the smell of coffee and sausage cooking. And finding that it wasn't Granny cooking but Bonner. Bonner even made biscuits and gravy and it was delicious. Who knew he could cook so well!
8. Bonner telling me, like he did in the old days, that he couldn't sleep last night because I was snoring too loud. And I responded like I did when I was little, "That snoring was not me it was YOU!"

We had so much fun last night that we decided to make this a regular event. There is something about the familiarity of spending the night with your favorite grandparents that makes me feel as if I was a kid again. And thankfully my husband works nights so I am free to spend the night with them as often as I like.

See how sweet life can be when you live in the present moment?

OH PRAISE HIM!

The other day I was sitting in the doctor's office waiting for the nurse to come in to administer another test. I had a few minutes to reflect on my journey and wonder why God chose us to go through this process. I wasn't feeling sorry for myself but I was just wondering why God picked us. And that is when it hit me, God is taking me on this journey because I am willing to share it with others. I am willing to tell people of the ups and downs because I want to show God's faithfulness, provision and leading for us. I also want to praise God for all that He is teaching me.

The morning of the doctor's appointment I woke up feeling very apprehensive. This test was to determine if I would need surgery again. I have had surgery before and I think I was working myself up into a fit because I know how it works and the pain that comes afterwards.

In my quiet time, I did the usual reading of the Daily Chronological Bible, writing out my thoughts in my journal and then I sat for a bit and just enjoyed listening to the birds outside. (I love spring!) And then I read this verse by chance.

"I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Psalms 27: 13-14

Friends, do you understand what this verse is telling me! I am confident that God will answer our prayers for children. God knows the perfect timing for all of this to happen and so I wait for the LORD. But I wait with peace that passes all understanding and a joy that radiates from within.

The good news came that day too, there is nothing wrong with our bodies!!! Everything is working in the baby making department, there is no need for surgery at this time and now we can sit back, relax and wait for the LORD.

I believe God is teaching us to wait. I believe that God is teaching us to wait with joy and not sadness. I believe that one day we will raise the roof with praise but for now, I raise the roof with praise knowing that one day I will be able to raise the roof with a positive pregnancy test in hand.

So I choose joy! I choose praise! I choose to live one day at a time with total confidence in the LORD. And if you don't believe me, well the fact that I can write this, on the day that we start another cycle, without tears, without sadness should be proof to all of you that God is doing a mighty work in me.

God is good, His timing is perfect and He has a plan for me!

Thank you LORD for proving to Jeff and I this past month that there is nothing holding us back from having children physically and that your are alive and active in our lives.

Oh Praise Him!

Good Things

1)Last night I had to tell Jeff to stop talking, he was talking way too much.

When did the roles reverse?



2)Yesterday while singing Awesome God with the children's church the boys started a gun show when we sang "power and might". We have a big screen TV in the room and the boys were all looking in the screen at their muscles. One says, "I've been working out." (He's 6) Later he proceeds to tell me that his shirt is feeling a bit tight today around his arms and starts rubbing his biceps.

Oh brother they start early, don't they?

3)Last night Uncle Jeff was talking to niece Hayley. Usually they will talk for 15-20 minutes about this and that but not tonight. She told Uncle Jeff that she needed to let him go she didn't want to miss McKenizie's phone call. I think it hurt his feelings.

She is growing up so fast!


4)Niece Hayley is selling Girl Scout cookies. She has sold 525 boxes. Her goal is to sell 1000 boxes. Yes, that's right a 1000. If she does, she wins a trip to Galveston for a Girl Scout convention. I told her I would help her with the last 500. She said, "You're going to buy them ALL?" Uh, no I will help you sell them to other people. To which she replies, "Well if comes down to the wire will you buy the rest?" And I told her to go ask her Uncle on that one. His reply, "No. We know you can sell the rest. Aunt Susan will put on her old uniform for a good cause!"

Mom do you know where my sash is? And friends, do you want to buy some cookies?

Score!!!

Yesterday I was doing the weekly grocery run at my local Wally World when over the loud speakers I heard, "All Christmas Items Only 50 Cents per item!"

I thought to myself "All of it!"

And the voice over the speaker says, "That's right, all Christmas is 50 cents each located in the Lawn and Garden area. So thank you for shopping at your local Wal-Mart and go make it a great day!"

Well, you don't have to tell me twice.

A full grocery cart swing and I was on my way...after I apologized to the poor guy I almost plowed over on my hot pursuit, of course.


So I started looking through the crap stuff still waiting for a home and found these stockings. I thought it was Divine Intervention since my colors are gold and red. And since they were just 50 cents a piece I bought 4. Yes 4, why the heck not. I mean we do plan on having 2 kids so how's that for walking by faith?

After I add a little red something something they will be perfect and not look like they are heading out disco dancing.

I mean come on for 50 cents a piece I think I can do something with them. I am thinking of sewing a pretty red and gold tassel to them to cuff. What do you think?


I am open for some creative inspiration if you have any suggestions.