We Interrupt this Random Friday for ....

A Tour of Our Outdoor Home ~~ Our Garden ~~

Now I am quite sure that my pictures are humbly bumbly (Dak's word since childhood when things are mixed-up ~~ don't you love it when kids come up with their own sayings and they stick? ~~ Yep he still says it today, and I know exactly what he's talking about ~~~ I love that!!) anyway...

Okay so I will just take the pics as blogger has chosen to give them, and this first one looks like I have NO idea how to do rows in my garden....oh so not true!! I know how, it's just the garden has a mind of its own.

See all those little plants everywhere? Yes those would be our rogue tomatoes. They are tomatoes we had last year (pics to come) and they had little baby tomatoes and laid them here, 100's of 'em. nice.

Yes these are ALL rogue tomato plants. They are cherry or grape tomatoes for the most part we think. I've had to dig up most of them....yes, sad I know. But I needed the room. So I dug some up to give to my baby sis and still have a couple of mounds left in the garden, with a lot of little rogues here and there, crazy lil things!!! ...
Another look at the little buggers.....

And here are our radishes. Would you look at that? We have already gone through one batch, this is our second. I didn't even know I liked radishes until we grew them last year. Everything taste better when it comes out of your very own garden ~~ God is so amazing!!! I just had to say that. When I see this garden and the changes that happen over night ~~ literally ~~ I am amazed!! God is good!!!

And here is one of my prize possessions in the garden, our Blue Lake beans.

Last year the rabbits ate our beans (see pics below) and we only got a mess or two out of them and that was in the fall. Crazy Rabbits, beans are for people =)

These are our herbs: sage, basil, parsley, rosemary, and chives.

I have purple basil coming up from seed and our garlic is starting to come up as well. YAY!!!

(These pics are about a week old, these plants are way bigger today, but I'm on a time crunch so I didn't go shoot more pics. my bad.....)

Okay, so I told you blogger was crazy, here are the early spring pics of the garden, just after getting our tomatoes in the ground.

Look at that little lettuce, oh yes it is a monster of yummee goodness now. I so wish ya'll could come pick some out of our garden and enjoy it with some homemade ranch dressing at our little kitchen table. How much fun would that be?!!

Here are some close ups of the herbs in their humble beginnings.....

Here is the rosemary my neighbor gives me to grow, and then she takes it back in the fall before frost and keeps working on it for bonsai's. How fun!!! She gets the stalky plant and I get the YUMMEE leaves ~~ yep, win win!!

Here is a wide view, look how cute it starts out!! (Yes those are green onions all nice and tall ~~ I heart fresh garden green onions ~~ who knew?!!)

And here are the humble beginnings of our radishes. Is it not truly amazing?!! I have radishes right now in my sink that I picked this morning and will be eating at lunch with some of that fresh lettuce with homemade ranch ~~ oh be still my garden-lovin' heart!!

Okay, here are our beans from last year, gasp!!

Poor things....silly rabbits!!!

Now I thought I'd show you some shots of our garden last year, just in case you forgot how big it got. These pics were from last June. No jokin' How GREAT is this?!! You are looking at tomatoes and sunflowers!! Two faves in this household!!!

And here is some of those rogue tomatoes I'm sure. This was last fall. The leaves were all dying off and just leaving bare stalks, but look at these lil darlings ~~ oh my stars!!!

Thank you so much for touring our garden.

There will be more tours through the season, just to keep you updated on our progress.

This is only the second year for our garden.

We have changed it up a bit this year, and hope to learn and grow in the area of gardening from year to year!!! Love it!!

So have a STUPENDOUS day in the Lord today, and remember, Jesus loves you so much!!!

Have a Blessed weekend,

P.S. Guess who's coming to visit his GiGi this weekend?!! Oh, go on guess............. =)

A Day in the Life of Scoot...

Ya'll know our very unassuming, cuter than cute, faster than lightening, able to leap tall buildings, g-babe.

You know, the one that likes to pucker-up for his Gigi.....

You know, the one that teaches his papa to crawl .....

"Come on papa, you have to hike your leg like this to get a good run at it" .....
you know the one...

Well, over the weekend, Sir Cuteness himself was here, and ya know, hanging out like babies do. Playing with his uncle while Gigi got some all important blog reading done, ya know....

Well in the middle of a heavy rain shower, while I'm hanging out in the office catching up on ya'll, I hear hubs say, "What?!! A tornado warning?" I come out of the office like a tiger was chasing me and round the corner to see this..... (see photo below =)

Yep the tornado and his accomplice, Uncle Dak.....

Now please note in this pic, there are still a few diapers left in the bag. By the time tornado boy Scoot is done there are NO diapers left in the bag.

And also please note that he has toys all around, has dumped out the toy basket and what does he want? Yes the empty paper towel holder. Mama's make a note.....babies do not need fancy toys, they need empty paper towel holders.

Moving on...

Scoot: "Uncle Dak, give me that empty paper towel holder, come on give it to me!!..."

Scoot: "Okay so are you trying to be cute? Taunting me with that look Uncle Dak. I have the empty paper towel holder now and I WILL USE IT!!!"

Please note: yes that is his fav yellow ribbon in the background as well. Note to mama's: add yellow ribbon to toy box....another fav...

Moving on.....

Dak: "Okay Scoot you hit me with that and I'm going for the toes....yes I know low blow, but the toes WILL be tickled if you hit me with that thing..."

Please note: Scoot's cell phone is just behind him within reach in case he needs to call his Gigi (who is standing right there taking the pics)....anyway..... Note to mama's: he does LOVE his cell phone ..... yep startin' him out young =)

Scoot: "Get me out of here.....I don't like those eyes Uncle Dak..... GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!"

Please note: no note on this one =)

Scoot: "Gigi I'm comin' to you ......"

Dak: "You better run boy, I'm gettin' me some toesies"

The end.

Hope you enjoyed a day in the life of our little man, Sky, A.K.A. Scoot.

He is a joy and delight!!!

Love you all, have a Blessed and Beautiful Wednesday,

Dawn

Over thinking it!!

Okay so do you have this problem? Over thinking?!! I sure do. I over think practically everything!! My husband will look at me sometimes and say, "You're thinking too much!!" Oh boy and is he ever right!!!

I want everything to be perfect. At least as perfect as it can be in this very imperfect world we live in...it is a strange paradox is it not? In my quest for making things as perfect as possible, I tend to over think a ginormous tad bit. That has kind of been where I've been lately in my blogging, among other things.

I'll start to post and think, "That's not interesting" "No one will care about that" blah, blah, blah, and on and on. Instead of just posting what's on my heart and letting God do the rest. Ya know what I mean?

So this over thinker is calming down a bit (at least when it comes blogging =) and I'm just going to blog about what's on my heart in this imperfect corner of the world.

So on that note.....

I hope you all had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. Ours was, for the most part, lovely. We had lil Scoot, but he was sick. He has a double ear infection and was running fever on Sunday, but he is such a happy baby, even when he's sick, he is still a joy.

Dak starts A+ tutoring today during summer school. And then he is going job hunting. Oh yes and then a bit of some excitement in his life as well. On the last day of school, last Friday, they made an announcement, that if anyone was interested in signing up for tennis, they should go to Coach's office and sign up. Well Dak has been talking about this for some time, and he was so excited. So, of course, he got is skinny self right on down to Coach H's office and signed his name on the dotted line. The kids who signed up have been getting together at a local court and practicing on their own. How cute is that?!! I love commitment in our young people, especially when it comes from them!! He has another practice this evening. And they have the new court poured at our school, they don't have the nets up, etc. but it is getting there. I am so pumped for the kids!!! Dak LOVES tennis!!

Well something else VERY exciting happened this weekend ~~ I RODE MY BIKE!!! Okay please let me explain and rephrase I RODE MY BIKE ON THE ROAD AND PARKING LOT LIKE A BIG GIRL!! YAY I am so happy for me, and my husband. He has been riding for a while by himself, because the ol knee has just not been up to it. Well he told me last week that he thought that maybe it was time to give it a whirl, and whirl I did. At first, I will admit, I was scared. I kept thinking about all the "what if's". Ya know, like "what if" I fall off, or "what if" my knee decides it isn't doing this, or "what if" I am not all that on a bike and hit the curb and go head first into the grass and booger myself up (yes, I am an over thinker =) But I did great!!! It was so fun. Rain and all. Can't wait to go again. I layed in bed last night and thought, why didn't I have hubs take a picture for my blog? Okay who seriously wants to see a pic of that?!! Yep turned that thought right on over and went to sleep =)

And on the knee front, it is doing okay. It swelled quite a bit after our ride, but it is somewhat better this morning. The big issue I'm having right now is with my ankle. We're not sure what's going on with it. It is swelling some and hurting. So I wrap it, and move on.

Well, have a Blessed and Beautiful Tuesday and remember don't over think it, just Trust God.
That, I've decided, is the best approach!!

Love ya,

Random Friday with Pics to Prove the Randomness ...

Well I really wanted to post yesterday, but blogger was being crazy and wouldn't let me on. Hopefully this one will post without a hitch.

Wednesday night was "Blue Rooster Junction", remember last month we were invited to sing with Alyssa at the nursing home, and then this month they invited us back. How fun is that? So we sang as a group this time using an accompaniment tape (that makes me laugh ~~ no one uses tapes anymore ~~ so it was a tape I-pod style =) instead of me playing the piano. I get really nervous when I don't have a piano to hide behind =) We sang "So Small". It was a lot of fun and the residents really seemed to enjoy. I was really there for moral support, but they made me get up and sing with them anyway. But I just love teens singing. They did a GREAT job!!

As we finished and was walking down away from the microphones, there was a little lady in a wheel chair and I noticed that she said something to Alyssa.
Background: Alyssa works at this nursing home, so she knows the residents.
Now back to story:
as I looked she was giving her two thumbs up on those little hands of hers and I noticed that she had thumbs and maybe index fingers, but that looked to be all the fingers she had. And she was in what appeared to me to be a child's wheelchair, she was that little. But she had the absolute BIGGEST smile on her face, I mean like grinning from ear to ear genuine smile, so I was compelled, drawn to her really. As I walked by she looked up at me and said "good job". I said, "did you like that?" to which she held her hands out to me for a hug. melt. Seriously, my heart just melted. As she hugged me, I was struck with how teeny but strong she was. This was no frail hug. And to top it off, she was wearing the prettiest pink dress and lovely glasses. She was a gem, I tell ya, a jewel. She made my night.

They've invited Dak and I to come on July 2nd to their big Heritage Show. Alyssa can't make it that day, but Dak and I are going to see if we can. Too fun. If we can, I hope to see the lady in pink =)

Well, yesterday mom had an appointment to get her port flushed, this is an every six week appointment, and we have NEVER had an issue with it. Well yesterday, we went in and they got us right back and the lady got everything ready, and when she stuck the needle in I saw mom wince and knew something was wrong, well her port wouldn't flush. That is a problem. So the nurse takes to moving the needle around and trying to get it to flush, but it wasn't happening, so she had to take the needle out and get another one. She said the needles they are using they've been having trouble with. She said that little metal shavings are coming off the end, WHAT!!??!!!!! Are you kidding me?!!! Why would you even be using that batch of needles?!!!!!
anyway....
Well they got another needle and all was fine, but I felt really bad for mom. Needles for ports are large, and it looks painful. She says its not (most of the time), but I still felt really bad. So what did we do to make her feel better?!! Got Dairy Queen on the way home (another story, another day =) Yummee!!!


Well, today is Dak's last day of his Sophomore year of high school. sniff.sniff. Where has the time gone? I mean seriously, where?

High School gets out at 9:45 AM this morning. Yes you read that right!!! I know, WHAT IS THE POINT TO THAT?!!!!! Nobody knows. But then he's going to a pool party to celebrate, and then this weekend he is going to his aunt's lake house to jet ski and hang out. Ahhhh the life of a teenager. (Don't worry, don't fret, stay calm, he'll be fine. pray child, pray.) In the parenthesis are the things I have to tell myself, now that I have a driving-hanging-out-at-friends-pool-parties-going-to-lake-houses-and-riding-jet-skis-for-the-weekend kind of kid. sigh.

I thought we'd mark this auspicious occasion with a couple pics.

First, do you remember this one? It is from the first day of his Sophomore year?
Seriously, how cute is he in his ridiculously priced Hollister outfit?

And then here he is today, the last day of his Sophomore year.
Seriously, how cute is he in his not ridiculously priced, not Hollister, out-fit?!!
Adorable.

And since this is random Friday, I thought I'd share a couple of other pics with you.

Yesterday mom and I went to the grocery store and I checked out just in front of her, so I could get her groceries up for her etc. Well as we bagged our groceries (Aldi's ~~ love that store ~~ I save me some moola there), she handed me the prettiest roses for my table.
Aren't they lovely?!!! They look so organic in this clay vase.
Love them and you...thanks mom!!! You are the best!!




And then can you guess who will be visiting us this weekend?
OH come on now, take a WILD guess?
Why yes it would be the one that fits into this bib ~~~ AKA Mr. Cuteness himself!!!

YAY!! I love weekends when the kids go out-of-town!!!


So ya'll have a safe, fun and Blessed holiday weekend. And remember our military service men and women that have given their lives for our freedom and for the ones who are currently deployed. I think we all know someone who is or has served in our military. I salute my dad, my step-son Eric, and my cousin's husband Mike (who is currently serving our country and who is deployed). Thank you for your service.

Love you all,

Learning more about commitment, more about life...

So right now is a learning season for me. It is a time where God is teaching me many things, like slowing down is really moving ahead in Him, working hard everyday as a wife and mother let's you sleep well at night, and mostly in my every day....This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is a reflective time for me. Every day is an adventure of sorts. I get up ready to go, remembering that it is another day to serve my Jesus. I'm more aware, more alive.

So what has brought this on you ask? Well, I mentioned that I've been changing the way I do things in my everyday life. I'm making lists and trying to stay with them, but I've found that I'm also giving myself the okay to change it if I need to. That is a HUGE thing for me. I tend to be very focused on what I've set as a goal for that day and feel that I've failed at the end of the day if not EVERY SINGLE, SOLITARY THING ON THAT LIST has not been accomplished!! Flexibility in my daily life is a beautiful thing, as long as it falls under the umbrella of Christ's authority in my life....a beautiful thing!!!

I've been working very hard every day and starting to see many improvements around our home. I feel a great sense of accomplishment as I complete an area and move on to the next. Our house was getting pretty cluttered and hubby and I, neither one, do clutter well. It just clutters our brains as well....know what I mean?

I am learning that making a commitment to something that even seems like a small thing, like house work, makes a big difference in my life.

There is another commitment that I've made. In addition to my daily morning quiet times, at 2:00 pm in the afternoon, I am sitting down in my kitchen with my laptop, and studying. God has asked me to study something specific to my current season in life, no study guide, no book, just Him and I and His Word, so I can better understand my role...you know, as wife and mom and God's girl. It is a sweet time of communion with my Lord. I love it!!! But it has not been easy to set that time aside, but God is Blessing our time together. It is just wonderful!!

I have been a born-again Christian for a long time. I believe as a Christian I need to keep growing, keep working-it-out. I love what Philippians 2:12-13 says: "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but how much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." I love that!!

Please work Father according to Your good purpose in my life. You are my all-in-all. Amen

So let me encourage you to make some deeper commitments in your life to Christ. Take a few extra minutes each day to spend in His Presence. Ask Him what He'd like for you to study at this season in your life. It is a beautiful thing!!!

I love ya so ~~ Have a Blessed and Great day in Him,

Go Ahead and Boast in the Lord!!!

So Friday was the 15th and I am a slacker =) My next memory verse was due to be submitted to LPM on Friday, and me?..well I submitted yesterday. But they are so cool about it, they leave the post open, so if you don't get it posted on the day, you can still post if you are a slacker like me =)


My reason for slacking? Well, I hadn't quite decided on which verse it would be this time. The Lord always leads me in this, and generally it pertains to something I'm going through, or will go through, or something I've been through in the past, or in this instance, on an going something....(did any of that make sense?)

I'm always keeping my Spiritual ears tuned to hear a verse in a sermon or in my studies or even on a site, you just never know what avenue God will use, so in my humble opinion, you just must be listening.

This time this verse came through the study I am currently doing, "Jesus the One and Only" by BMoore (love her ~~ does she rock your study world or what?!!) Well there is a section in there that she talks about boasting, and when boasting is okay. Well, turns out, it is only okay to boast in the Lord (okay so I have known this, but when it hits you right over the proverbial head, you realize that maybe that's not the only time your boasting ~~ ouch and double OUCH!!!)

So let me start by quoting my verse from last time:

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good pleasing and perfect will."

And my verse for this time:

Galatians 6:14 (KJV) "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

Don't you just love the language of the KJV? I generally read and study out of the NIV, and our pastor uses the ESV, but sometimes I just love me some King James Version.

I did a little research on this verse, because if this is the verse God has me to learn in this season, then I want to know exactly what He's trying to teach me. So research was in order.

So as you can guess, glory in the above verse is translated boast. But then the very interesting word in this verse for me is crucified. In the Greek it means: figurative to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness :- crucify. —Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary

I just love it when God brings out Scripture like this to me. I had never really noticed before that the world and all it's passions and selfishness is crucified unto me and I unto the world. That is good news. I know that I am to resist the world and all it's passions, but this put it all in a fresh light. Don't you just love it when God does that for you?

So how could I ever boast of anything else, given the great gift I have received through salvation in Christ? What a wretch I am!!! Thank you Jesus that You have saved my soul and redeemed me from the pit. I am crucified with You my Jesus, and I no longer live, but it is You living in me. Help me to live my every moment in this Truth...always. I love you Lord...Amen


______________________________________

So I wanted to share a few pictures from our weekend with you.

Yes Mr. Cuteness himself was here, and he never disappoints!!!
Here he is just hanging out~~

And how much do I love this picture. Here he is looking up at me and getting ready to crawl up my legs ~~ that means... "pick me up GiGi....what are you thinking? Put that camera down and PICK ME UP!!!" =)

Okay, so who says we need fancy toys...... or two socks, I mean really..... their WAY overrated!!

See, just give him a plastic glass and an old remote control is ideal as well, and put old remote control in said glass.....get out.......... he was tickled!!!

Well I will leave you with this. This is our rose bush right out our front door. Yes she is showing off. I think she looks so beautiful with my birdbath that Dak got me a couple of years ago. Gorgeous!!!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful day, and go on.....do a little (or a lot of) boasting in the Lord...He is Worthy!!

Love you,

Random, Random, SERIOUSLY Random Friday...

Okay so let me start by saying, woops where have I been since Tuesday? Well, I have been really busy. Remember I told you last week that I was starting my housework by list this week and also our menu, well that is what I did except for getting the menu on paper. Hopefully I'll do better with that this coming week. But I have kept, at least to a degree, my cleaning schedule. It has been very helpful to me.



Now I said "to a degree" because I am finding that it is a slower process than it used to be, because of the ol knee, but it is very doable. But the frustrating thing is my house is messier than it was when I started, because how many of you know to clean it up, you have to get it out. Is there a Spiritual connotation to that as well? Yes, I believe there is.

In order to get your house clean you have to get rid of the junk and organize the rest. That is what I've been up to. I'm so happy with the results so far and maybe I'll give you a blog-tour once I'm complete, let's say in the year 2050 ~~ hahahaha ~~ seriously in the coming months weeks, I'll give ya a tour. I'm especially happy with the way the room off of the kitchen is coming. My hubbee does excellent work.

Speaking of Mr. Wonderful, he will be even more wonderful when he gets home this evening (if that were even possible) because he will have 'lil man with him. Yes Sir Cuteness himself is coming to visit us this weekend. I'm ready, bring him on. I need some serious Sky hugs!!!

anyway....

Today is the 15th and time for my new Memory Verse. It is #10 of the year ~~ can you believe it?!! So cool. So what is my verse for this time? Ummmm I don't quite have it yet. I do have one in mind, but I want to do a little research to clarify it before I post. So tomorrow or Sunday I will post my next MV.

Do you ever get to a closed chapter in your life and just feel sadness and joy all at the same time? That is kind of where I'm at today. In our CYC meeting today we decided that Carrie and I would step back and let the students take over next year. Believe me when I say, this is a very good thing. They want to step up and their willing to get others involved. I have so loved all of these students and I just can't wait to see what God does next year. It doesn't mean we won't be involved at all, it just means that I won't teach much and probably even won't attend every week like I do now. So I'm just a little sad, but God is so good and it will be an exciting year of growth for the kids. That is AWESOME!!!

Today I've been wondering where God will lead me next. I love being in ministry and I love student ministry, but I also love women and women ministries, and music, and do a little writing once in a while, and I just so love God!! I am really looking forward to this next chapter. A new chapter holds such promise doesn't it?

Well, we've tried some new recipes this past week like: Taco Cups and Roasted Cauliflower (not in the same meal, wouldn't that be weird...anyway... =) and so I will try to get those and others posted in the coming days.

Well, I know this has been just a whole lot of randomness, but after all it is Random Friday in my cottage corner of the world =0)

Have a Blessed weekend,

~~ Praise You in the Storm ~~

Update: Please remember the Freeman's. I just found out that little Kayleigh went to be with Jesus last night. Please remember her family. I have a button on the side if you'd like to read more about their journey.

________________________________

I was sure by now

God You would have reached down

And wiped our tears away

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again,

I say "Amen",

and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls

I barely hear Your whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

And every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

______________________________________________

This song has much significance in my life. It is one of our favorites. Because no matter what has happened to us in this life, God is worthy of our praise!!!

So guess what happened six months ago yesterday?
Yes that is correct ~~ PFA ~~ Patella Femoral Arthroplasty on the ol knee.
Now this picture was taken 2 months after surgery. Looks pretty good huh?
You should see her now ~~ you go girl~~

As I was thinking about this milestone, because trust me it is definitely a milestone ~~ I was thinking about what was actually happening today, six months ago. The day of surgery went okay. We had a few glitches, but all-in-all everything went well.

The day after things started going wrong. I started reacting to the pain catheter in my leg and so they had to turn it off. Ummmm seriously? Yes, seriously. I knew this was not going to be good, but I really had no idea how bad it was going to be.

It was leading to one of the worst pain seasons of my life to this date (hopefully ever)!!

Over the next several hours the pain would become excruciating....unbearable really.....and it left me like this.

Actually I am sleeping rather peacefully here. This was after God and I had a serious talk and the pain meds had finally kicked in.
And here I am before the pain meds kicked in. Yes it actually hurts worse than this picture depicts. It.was.bad.



I show you these, not because I am a glutton for punishment and want the www to see me at one of my worst times, but because I want to shout from the web tops that MY GOD IS GOOD!!!!!



To bring me from where I was in this picture to where I am today is a miracle. In this picture I could barely even imagine a day like today. Thankfully my husband imagined it for me and reminded me daily that it would get better. And it has.



When I was laying in my hospital bed and my hubbi had had to leave, is when the pain really set in. I remember I couldn't move it in any direction with the searing pain. It got so bad that I wondered if this was it. Was I going to make it through this?





I started thinking about my husband and son, and I started to pray.hard. And I just told God that if He didn't sustain me, I didn't know if I'd make it through this. I needed His help. And as I lay there crying out to God, a peace washed over me and the next thing I know I'd slept a little bit. The pain was still soooooo intense, but somewhere in the midst of that raging storm there was peace and rest.





This time in my life got me to thinking about Luke 8:22-25, when Jesus calmed the storm on the water. When I think about Jesus sleeping in the boat and the disciples about to have a fit because the storm was about to consume them and them waking Jesus up and Him calming the storm, I think about His Words after the storm was calmed, "Where is your faith?" WOW!! Indeed.

That is what I had to start drawing from. My faith. My faith in the risen Savior who is mighty to save. The One who saved my soul from certain death and set my feet on the Solid Rock. I had to draw from the faith He had been building in my heart for years. The faith that says run the race, keep the faith, see it through to the end, run strong. I started to do that. It was still REALLY hard. The trip home was really awful. But the important thing was that we made it, and God saw us through it and not only that, but He was with us EVERY step of the way. And I mean EVERY LITTLE BABY STEP ~~ He was there!!!



So I don't know what you are facing today. It may be surgery or illness. It may be a sick loved one or a financial hardship. Or it may be sin sickness. God loves you my dear child. And He longs for you to know Him in ways right now that don't even seem possible.

What you see in that last picture above is hope. When I didn't have much of it, God made sure someone in my life had it and exuded it. My husband is an amazing man. He cried with me and laid with me, and most of all he has loved me through every hard and wonderful moment of this blessing and journey.

Today I am doing well. I still have pain every day, but it is so manageable. I get frustrated still, but it is really okay. I am still using my turnbuckle brace and have stepped up (literally =) my workouts.

If there is anything I want you to take away from this post it is that God is good!!!

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 27:13-14: "I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

I love these verses ~~ child God is good. Praise Him today!!!

Father, Thank you for bringing me through that time six months ago, to the time I'm at today. You continually amaze me Jesus!!! Thank you for loving me beyond measure, and teach me more about You every single day. Praise You, Amen.

Have a Blessed Tuesday,

Back in the Day..... 80's style!!!

We had a very fun weekend ~~ I love fun weekends!!! Saturday the fun tried to leave, but it came back for Saturday evening and Sunday ~~ YAY!!

Saturday morning we went to the kid's house (Chase and Tonya's) to go look at a house with them that they want to buy. It is so very cute. Right now they live in a trailer and really want a house of their own. They have been looking, and this one seems like a really good fit. We are so very happy for them. They put a bid on it Saturday afternoon, and should hear something today. We are just so excited for them!!!

Well when I woke up on Saturday the allergies were a little crazy, but manageable, until we got to the house. The house is still occupied, so we went in and she had this air freshener thing going because she has a HUGE cat!!! OH no allergy alert ~~ ALLERGY ALERT!! Did I listen to the ALLERGY ALERT going off in my head? OH no of course not I forged ahead. By the time we left I was sick, like REALLY sick and about to throw up.

Okay so I know this is not a normal allergy reaction, but I am not normal!!! What happens is I get a really bad headache that starts to turn into a migraine and my stomach gets oh so sick. So we went and tried to get me something for it, but it was too late. I just set at C & T's with my eyes closed trying not to get sick. I felt so bad, because they felt so bad for me. Chase is very allergic to things as well, so he knows how it is.

So when we got home, I went to bed and slept for about 2 hours or so and woke up feeling much more refreshed and was able to go to mom's. (Which I wrote about yesterday, and was so enjoyable). And then yesterday the guys took me to the movies. We went and saw "Star Trek". It was really good and that is some kind of review coming from a non-movie, non-Trekky kind of gal. I really liked it, except for one really bad word and a few other bad words it was good. I have a thing about movies and language and is a big reason I don't watch many movies. I just can't get past it. They could leave every bad word out and you would never even miss them, really.never.miss.them.it.is.irritating.REALLY.IRRITATING.

Okay I'm back, off the soap box.

Then yesterday evening we worked out and I made Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwiches for the guys (not in that order, I made the sandwiches first and then the workout...anyway... =). It smelled so yummee and bacony in here. Although I don't eat bacon, I do like to smell bacon...anyway....

Speaking of food, if you haven't checked out my recipe blog, oh please head over there and check out the new recipes I've put on there. There's one on there for Spanish Rice and a story....yep food and a story.....seriously how fun is that. So please, head on over there.

So all weekend Dak and Brandon have been preparing for a presentation in English today. They had to pick a decade and do a presentation based on that decade. Well the boys picked the 80's. No seriously, how happy am I that they are giving a shout out to the 80's (me Miss Graduate in 1984 -- do not laugh you crazycat =) anyway....

So Dak wanted help with the whole 80's hairstyle thing, because he is the action part of this duo. Brandon reads and Dak acts it out. So he printed off a couple of pics and we went to work. Now please keep in mind that he doesn't really have the cut for an 80's do, but we made do =)

So here you have it.....


Yes complete with sunglasses, so sad I didn't have RayBans to give him....Do ya'll remember those?

anyway...

Ahh yes and the back, very straight forward, none of that spiking the back out in the 80's ~~ no sir!!!


And then here is the front. This cracks me up, because do ya'll remember the definite point in the hair line and then the bangs.....remember Scott Bao (sp?)?

And now here is his real opinion of the whole 80's do situation....

Too funny Dak!! You crack me up ~~ you are a joy my son!!!

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Please remember Reggie. If you have not heard about this senior, please go to MiMi's blog here to read about it and remember this young man and his family. Thanks so much!!!

Well today starts my menu making and cleaning schedule. So wish me lots of fun with these endeavors!!!

Have a Blessed Monday,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

I wanted to share a special memory made just yesterday with my own mom.

Dak and I went to her place last night to share a little Mother's Day cheer. We brought her a plant and a little something I'd made her. She loved both, but what she really wanted was for us to play her piano and sing to her. So that is what we did. It was a special moment and one I wished could last and last. To see the look on her face, one of love for her daughter and grandson, but most of all for her Lord. As we sang the songs of Zion her face shone with His love. My mom is a gift, a rare and beautiful gift: I love you mom!!!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful day,