Busting Loose!

There are times when I feel as though I am just going to bust out of my skin if I don’t get to let some creativity escape! Today is one of those days—I have so many things on my mind—from cleaning up/reorganizing my sewing room (which I started last Saturday) to scrapbooking ideas to Bible study ideas to ideas for various craft ideas to working on the budget some more. As you can see, my mind is all scattered and I am getting nothing accomplished because I am unable to channel this creative energy into physical energy! It doesn’t help that I had to work today either. Of course, I need to work on Saturdays more often because I can get so much done there while it is quiet.

This morning’s devotion was about the men that encountered Jesus on the Emmaus Road and how their expressions were downcast. Beth asked—suppose when we get to heaven, Jesus pulls out the scrapbooks and shows you pictures of yourself with Him during various seasons of your life—what would your facial expressions be like? That has gotten me to thinking about our outward appearances and how we can allow the world to think that we are miserable. We should be radiant, allowing the joy of Christ to overflow into our expressions. There are times when I am sure that the joy of Christ is apparent in my facial expressions, but unfortunately it is usually only when I am around fellow Christians. I hope to be able to portray a more Christ-like image to the world. I would like for the peace that comes only from knowing Jesus to be so apparent in my life that any unbeliever would desire to know what is missing in their life. The joy that comes from knowing Him is not based upon circumstances, but on knowing that He is with me whatever the circumstance.

The Lord has been so good to me! I know that I take it for granted a lot of times, but I really should remember the depths from which He rescued me! He has given me the promise of eternal life with Him, a man that loves me, good health, a loving family and friends, and so many more things. I hope that I never forget that He has carried me through a lot of yucky things, but He brought me through them. There are a lot of things that I wish I could forget, but I know that He had a reason for allowing me to go through them. One day, I will know exactly why. I look around me and I see so many that were given so many more opportunities but don’t appreciate them. I hope to one day say that I thank God for every trial that I have gone through—I am not there yet, though.

Leigh Anne has been gone all week house-sitting for a friend .Yesterday she went to Winthrop for Homecoming weekend. I really miss her. It has been real quiet around here this week! I don’t know what I will do when she finally moves out!! She is my sounding board—I run my ideas for crafty things and fashion things and decorating things by her—she is always honest and I never have to wonder if she likes my ideas or not—she will always let me know!! It helps to have the perspective of a 25 year old—it also helps me to keep my ideas from becoming old and out-of date. I may be old but I don’t want to act old!

I can’t believe that today is the first day of March! I am so ready for Spring but then again, I have NOTHING to wear when it gets warmer. I guess I will have to pay a visit to Ross soon! That is where I have been buying most of my clothes as I have been losing weight so that I don’t have to pay as much for nice things. I am not sure I will ever be able to shop at full price department stores again! I love getting a bargain.

This afternoon, I will be working in my sewing room. I may even post a before and after picture (if I get brave enough). I want to have all my scrapbook items in the new cabinet that I got last week. I think that there will be plenty of room for everything but I have to get it all organized. I would like to be able to have more time to spend doing fun things, but cooking, cleaning and washing clothes have to take priority!

Remembering Daddy

I can't believe that it has been 10 years today since my daddy went to be with the Lord. I have so many memories of my daddy--how strong I always thought he was, how I always thought he was so smart (especially with numbers), how he loved my mama, how I was terrified of him (one look from him and I was thoroughly disciplined!), how loyal he was to his friends and family, what a hard worker he was, how bossy he was! In fact when my brother Rick died two years ago, we joked and said that Ronald (my brother that died in 1989) probably told Rick that it was about time he got there, that Daddy had been working him to death! Daddy would sometimes make me clean out the refrigerator and he would inspect it and if it didn't meet his approval, I had to take everything out and start over! That was in the days before we had frost-free refrigerators. I know that before he died from lung cancer, he just about wore my poor old mama out--he would not let anyone do anything for him except her. We had Hospice nurses and a sitter that just sat and put puzzles together with us and talked about the sky falling--we called her Chicken Little--she was a little out there but she kept us laughing.
Some of my greatest memories of my daddy are from when he was sick. See, he was an alcoholic and had never even been to church except for funerals and a couple of weddings. Well, he accepted Christ a couple of months before he died. I remember that day when I went to see him--I walked in the door and I could just feel the peace in the air but I didn't know that he had been saved until mama told me. I remember him laying on the couch and bending down and kissing his cheek and he said, "Oh, you're cold. You need to get mama to get you a blanket." That was just so sweet to me because my daddy had always been real gruff and I was always afraid of him.
It took me a while after he died to forgive him for not becoming a Christian long before he died. I had the attitude that why couldn't I have had the opportunity to know my daddy as a Christian growing up--but the Lord showed me that at least he was with Him and I will get to spend eternity with him. Eternity is a lot better than a few years as a child! I still have regrets, but I guess we all do. I think that is why I am so thankful for Eddie being such a godly daddy for our children.
This is my daddy and me when I was about 3 years old.

Weekend poster?

Well, it seems that I have developed a pattern here--only posting on weekends. I just get more involved in reading other blogs that I neglect my own. Pitiful, huh? And to think that I so look forward to new posts on the regular blogs that I read. Of course, I think I am probably the only person that even reads this! I haven't shared this blog with any of my friends or family just yet. It's not that I am ashamed of anything, just don't know that anyone would even want to go to the trouble to read my innermost thoughts. There I go again with my self-critical thinking.
Well, this has been a good week. Monday, since the bank was closed for President's Day, I asked Mama to come and ride with me to get my mammogram. It was not bad at all--I was a little nervous as to how it would feel, but no different than before my surgery. the technician did show me my film from last time compared to my film now--WOW! What a difference--between losing 100 pounds and having breast reduction surgery!! If I could do anything differently, I would have had the surgery a long time ago. This was when Leigh Anne graduated from college in May 2005. Me, Leigh Anne, and Eddie:

This was taken of Leigh Anne and me a couple of weeks ago.



















Monday night I had my Bible Study with the ladies at church. We are doing a study on how to become a mentor. It is a very good study and I am loving the ladies in my group. It's funny how we see each other at church and know each other by name but we don't truly know one another but that is changing fast! I didn't really know some of the ladies before we started this, so it has been a blessing just to get to know them.
On Thursday, I became a Great-aunt again! This time to a baby girl, Briley, who weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces. Both baby and mama are doing well. I can't wait to see and hold her but they lives 6 hours away from us, so it will be a month or so before we go up to see them. Right now, she has grandparents and aunts loving on her. It's just so hard to believe that my nephew is a daddy! I keep thinking that only yesterday he was a little fellow playing with toys--my how time flies! This is my sister-in-law holding her new granddaughter.
Last night, Eddie and I went to Greenville to the Carolina First Center for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic vendor's expo. We saw lots of fun stuff. Plenty of boats and fishing equipment. It made me want to go fishing (except that it's too cold for me!). Eddie and Keith decided to go to the lake this morning to fish. This was one time that I was glad to stay home! It started out cold and foggy and just real damp but it's turned out to be a beautiful day. It's 55 degrees here right now--still too cold to be on the water:) This picture of me fishing was taken last September.
I bought a file cabinet from the bank yesterday. It was in our vault and was no longer being used because it was a cabinet made to house microfilm and since we no longer use microfilm, it was useless to the bank. It has drawers with dividers that will be perfect for my crafting supplies and scrap book supplies. My plan was to get the sewing room cleaned out and reorganized and put the cabinet in there today but I can't budge the thing! It took 4 people to get it in the truck--it's real heavy! I will have to wait for Eddie and Travis to move it for me. I don't want to ruin my floor so I'm not sure how they will get it in there--maybe if we could put some rollers of some type underneath it??
This is the inside of the drawers. I can't wait to get it set up.

Sunday ramblings

This morning I am overwhelmed by the great love that Jesus has for me. This morning I have been studying the Last Supper. Like Siesta Beth, I so hope that He tells the Passover story when we gather together in Glory! Can you imagine us all sitting at His feet and Him telling us the great stories of the Bible—much like we have done with our children? The story is always better coming from the One who experienced it.

Today will be yet another busy Sunday—we don’t have adult SS class today because of a health fair going on at church. I so look forward to worship service—it is a highlight of my week to gather with fellow believers and sing of His great love and listen to His Word proclaimed. We will come home and have lunch and hopefully a nap before we have FPU at 5 p.m.

Tomorrow is President’s Day, so that means a day off work—yay! I have a mammogram scheduled for 9 a.m. in the morning. It is a little overdue! I haven’t had one since my breast reduction surgery 10/25/06. I am a little apprehensive because I don’t know how it is to have a mammogram with small breasts! Mama is coming down to ride with me. I thought it would give us a chance to spend some time together.

I spent yesterday cleaning up the house—I just love a clean houseJ Then I messed up the sunroom with all my scrapbook stuff! LA has kind of taken over my sewing room with her paint stuff. This is a canvas that she painted for a baby shower gift for a lady at church--isn't it cute?

That room needs to be about triple it’s size—of course Eddie would say that I don’t use it enough now. I am just so appreciative that he built it for me. It is a perfect little room for crafting—but for only one person at a time. It gets a little claustrophobic when both of us are in there trying to work on stuff! When I am working on scrapbook pages, I kind of get stressed before I actually put a page together—it’s like once it’s down, it’s down. I know that it’s supposed to be a creative outlet—but my perfectionism tends to creep in and I want each page to be perfect. I am getting better and not analyzing each page so much. My pages lean toward a very conservative layout—just mats, borders, journals—no buttons, bows, bells or whistles for me. Gosh, I would never complete a page if I started having to worry about all that!!

I have been listening to Chris Tomlin this morning—he is so gifted! I especially like the song, “Glory in the Highest”. It really speaks to me. The whole CD, “See the Morning”, is great! The DVD that came with it was awesome—Louie Giglio speaks a profound message! I wish everyone could hear it.

Hoping to have a day filled with love and laughter—and worshiping the One from whom all things are given.

Coffee and the Lord

Well, it is Saturday morning and I am just finished with my Bible study and it’s not 6 a.m. yet! Oh, how I love these early mornings with the Lord. I have really grown closer to the Lord through this study—90 Days with the One and Only by Beth Moore. I am on Day 75 so just a couple of weeks left. When I started this at the first of December, my prayer was that I would grow to love Jesus more and to truly understand what others meant when they said that they loved Him. I knew that I loved Him because of all He has forgiven me, but I didn’t understand that deep emotional agape love that I saw in others. Now I realize that the reason that I didn’t understand was because I wasn’t spending enough time with Him. I know that I am still not nor will I ever be close enough to Him (this side of Glory), so I will have to keep striving and grow closer and fall more in love with Him every day. Sometimes, I will wake up before the clock goes off at 5:15 in anticipation of spending this time alone with Him! My family and friends can’t understand why I would get up at 5:15 on a Saturday morning. Four months ago I wouldn’t have understood it either!

I have also started another study—this one with a group of ladies from church. I was approached and asked to be a part of this study on becoming a mentor. At first, I was sure that I could never be a mentor but I went to the meeting just to see what it was all about. I was assured that if at the end of the study I didn’t feel the Lord’s call, I would be under no obligation to become a mentor. It is a good study so far.

Eddie and I are into the 2^nd baby step of Financial Peace. One of the main reasons I wanted us to take FPU was so that we would both be on the same page where our money is concerned. When he would ask me about the finances, I would get defensive and think that he thought I was not doing a good job. In our almost 28 years of marriage, most of our disagreements have been about money.

I am so fortunate to have such a Godly husband—the Lord has truly blessed me beyond measure! I hope that LA and Trav will one day have a marriage as happy as ours has been. I pray that the Lord is working in the lies of their future spouses right now—that He is preparing them for each other.

LA has made some canvasses to supplement her (lack of) income while she is in school. She made one for a baby shower gift last week—well Julie took it to work and LA received 3 orders for more! She showed a girl at school a picture and she ordered one—when she took that one, another girl ordered 2 more! She has so much talent—I am so proud of her, I know that she will be a great hairdresser. I let her cut my hair last week for the first time—I think she did a great job (saved me $25 too!!).

Travis has decided that he is going to use his income tax refund to build a computer. Boys and their toysJ I guess they don’t understand my love of decorating and scrap booking either! He is spending most evenings working at Whiteford’s—just like in high school! A girl at work said that she saw him in there the other night and she said that she thought he seemed so much happier working there than he did at the bank. I think he liked what he did at the bank, but they didn’t have enough to keep him busy and he was bored. He may still work at the bank again this summer, I hope that he will go straight through and take summer school so he can hurry and finish with school.

I think that Eddie is getting fishing fever—he has been watching so many programs on TV and surfing the net checking fishing reports. It won’t be long until we can put the boat back in the water. The time that we spend together on the water fishing is so precious. Sometimes I think that we shouldn’t have gone into debt to buy that boat, but it is something that gives us time together and strengthens out marriage. We both have such a love for fishing—now if we could just catch some fish!

Well, I hope to get some scrapping done today. I am working on catching up my Christmas album and then I will go from there. It is so overwhelming to think of how many pictures I have—I wish I had started this when my children were small. Oh well!

Financial Peace

Well, today we start Financial Peace University at church. It is one of those things that I know we need to do and I have been wanting to do, but when it comes down to it, I am scared! It's kind of like a diet---it's fun to talk about and plan but when it come down to actually doing it, it's a different story! Also, another way it's like a diet is that I have been wanting to go splurge while I can before I have to change my ways. In the 27 1/2 years that we've been married, I have always been in control of our finances. I have always paid our bills on time and have never missed one, but when it comes time to talk to Eddie about them, it really bothers me. This is the way I think; he thinks that I don't so a good enough job and we should have plenty saved....and I get defensive. This is honestly the only area of our marriage that we struggle with, so that is why we signed up to take this class. Hopefully, it will open the lines of communication so that we will both be on the same page.

Snow Day?

I just love winter weather! Living in the south, we don't get a lot of snow but when we do, it is so exciting! If you go to the grocery store, you will find everyone buying milk and bread...now I have always wondered why milk & bread? Bread pudding maybe? Milk sandwiches? Even though I don't eat bread and I don't drink milk, it is hard for me not to run to the store and stock up just because everyone else is doing that. Today the forecast is for rain changing to snow with accumulations around 3 inches. Now, that means no driving....southerners can't drive in the snow:) The ladies will have their husbands drive them if they must get out. Don't you just love the chivalry? We have to make sure that our men know that we need them to take care of us! Sometimes I like playing the "damsel in distress" --- it makes me feel special when my man takes care of me. A feminist, I am not! But other times, my independent side kicks in and I want to show him that I am capable of taking care of myself. That little attitude usually backfires on me though....the next time I want him to do something for me, he will remind me that I have done it for myself before. That is what happens when I don't ask God for His help also. When I try to do things on my own, I usually mess them up. I stick my foot in my mouth or tear someone down with my words or my actions. It is hard to remember that the Spirit is living within me and that all I have to do is to call upon Him for strength, wisdom, mercy, or whatever the situation calls for. The thing with God is that, unlike us humans with our weaknesses and sinful nature, He doesn't remind us that we messed up before...He removes our transgressions as far as the east is from the west--Praise God!! His mercy is new every morning!
I am just loving "90 Days with the One and Only" by Beth Moore (my favorite siesta!) Each day is as though it was written just for me. Today was about the disciples inability to cast out demons, how when Jesus, Peter, John, and James were gone to the mountain and the disciples were left alone, they forgot the power that Jesus had given them. (Mark 9:14-18) It was like they had to have reinforcements there to be able to function. That reminded me of how much I ride the coattails of others that I have deemed more spiritual than me. It reminded me that in my weakness, He is strong. I know that I need to rely on Him and not myself, but my little independent side wants to be in control! Imagine that!!
I am going to enjoy this wonderful Saturday staying home and waiting and watching for the snow!