It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Last night... so many wonderful things rolled into one evening!

The elves played nice:


The tree went up:




Hot Chocolate was made:


Ornament Cokes were shared:


Memories were made! I heart the Christmas season :)

A Sea of Boxes

this is continuation of my attempt to catch up...

This past Tuesday, myself along with Kevin, Michelle, Kenny, Eric and James traveled up to Canton GA to one of my favorite churches, Watermarke, and helped them with their stage set up for Christmas.

We helped build a 20 foot Christmas out of wrapped gifts. Several rolls of paper with everything from snowmen to ornaments to SpongeBOB. Bags of bows in every color. More tape than I think would cover the entire Watermarke stage. Hundreds of Home Depot boxes. And 12 little Christmas elves wrapping it all up for your enjoyment...that would us!

It was a ton of fun... and a ton of boxes!



Michelle missed a spot :(

I made a fort...Yep we had some down time.

The guys were actually the best wrappers!



Here's the beginning of something really awesome!

I wish I had a finished picture but I wasn't at Watermarke this weekend:(

Still hoping Jason will send me one so I can share it with all of you!

Goal...

Learning what it means to have confidence in yourself!

Sunsets and Turkeys

Why have I not blogged about my life lately?

I've had so many fun things to talk about and yet there is nothing on the blog to reflect that...that's just wrong!

That has to end and today is the day that happens!

Let me fill you in...




I made my first turkey and it was delicious. The best part...I made it in a crock pot! Now if that ain't Suzy Home-maker, I don't know what is.



I saw an amazing sunset on my way home to NC. Imagine seating in the car with your pops talking about life and where dinner should be and you turn around to see that beautiful site. The picture doesn't do it justice!

More to come tomorrow :)

Gotta Live Like We're Dying

Sometime we fall down and can’t get back up
We’re hiding behind skin that’s too tough
How come we don’t say I love you enough
Till it’s too late, it’s not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we’re all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you, what would you wish you would’ve done

Yeah… gotta start
Looking at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin’ it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying

Well if you plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out of our lives
So when we long for absolution, there’ll be no one on the line

Yeah… we gotta start lookin’ at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This all we got and we gotta start thinkin it
Every second count on a clock that’s tickin
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
to turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh…
Like we’re dying
Like we’re dying oh…
Like we’re dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
to turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying

You never know a good thing until it’s gone
you never see a crash until its head on
All these people right when we’re dead wrong,
You never know a good thing till it’s gone

Yeah… we gotta start lookin’ at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
this all we got and we gotta start thinkin it
Every second count on a clock that’s tickin
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
to turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh…
Like we’re dying
Like we’re dying oh…
Like we’re dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
to turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying

Spring Cleaning...in the Winter!

Spring Cleaning would be an understatement. This cleaning would be classified as moving, without switching homes. I have spent the past three days with my parents organizing, purging and giving tons of stuff away.

How much? Well I'm glad you asked.

All together we gave away 54 bags to Goodwill, 32 bags to the local trash dump, 11 bags to a local family and 2 laundry baskets to some great friends of mine. The bags given were full of clothing, shoes, toys, suitcases, coats, etc. Now, the bags given to the local dump were full of trash of course but that's still considered giving, right? :)

What an eye-opening experience this has been. I realized how blessed my family is and how we need to re-think the way we use our money, our storage and our thought process. I mean can you imagine how many people all those bags are going to bless?

A LOT!

I am very proud of my parents for letting me come in to their home, talk them into working over the Thanksgiving break, allowing me to re-organize their house and all the while being good sports, cooperative and encouraging.

Now, we rest! And take some Advil cause all our backs hurt, ha ha!

Give thanks and give to those in need!

It's Turkey Day!

And I'm going to eat!

What shall I eat?

Hmmmm.....

How about Turkey, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, collards, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, succotash and rolls...Wash it down with some sweet tea and finish it off with a piece of lemon pie(made with real lemon juice squeezed by my niece Summer).

Yep, I think that's what I'll eat!

Yum :)

Sounds Like Life to Me

Life continues to bring new challenges... I mean, my parents had always told me that but I just thought that one day everything would run smoothly and challenges, dilemmas and tension would dissolve. That doesn't really happen!

I am reminded daily that life is a constant work in progress. Just when one area seems to be perfect, another presents tension. Maybe I'm just a little too emotional or I worry about things that are beyond my control but I seem to have all these concerns and thoughts swirling around in my head that never go away. Things that I'm trying to juggle but feel as if I'm doing a horrible job at it.

One thing I've always prided myself on is how I keep up with friends. I love to be in the loop and to know where they are, how they are, what's going, etc. This is what I feel creates a strong bond between friends. It's what "Relationship" is all about! Investing in people is how friends are formed and bonds are created. And since I'm two states away from the people I consider to be some of my best friends, phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook comments, etc. are required. The problem is I can't balance my time well enough to use these social media outlets, ugh! My friends call and 4 days later I am still thinking about the fact that I never called them back. What the crap is wrong with me? It's a challenge to keep up! Juggling the job scene, my friends, my boyfriend, my family, my passions, my goals and just the odds and ends of everyday life is a struggle right now.

Emails keep pouring in, time is crunched, the things I WANT to do get pushed back because of the things I HAVE to do, sleep takes a back seat and QT, well sometimes that's not even in the equation. I mean I spend time with people but sadly my mind is most of the time somewhere else...mainly on when do I get to go to bed.

That's just plain sad!

Now, I know it sounds like I'm complaining... but I'm really not. I am blessed! I am blessed to have friends and jobs and such. Chaos and challenges, well that's just life. I guess, I'm just apologizing. Apologizing to my friends who get forgotten about until days later. Apologizing to my bosses for not being able to give 110%. Apologizing to Kevin for always being tired and most of the time whiny. Apologizing to myself for not taking control and spending more time doing what I WANT.

There's a song by Darryl Worley called 'Sounds Like Life to Me' and I need to listen to it cause I'm sure everyone goes through moments where they can't keep up or things seem off track or challenges creep in. There's a part in the song where he's describing everything that's going wrong in his life... Read:

I say hey man, what’s going on
He said I don’t know where to start

Sarah’s old car’s about to fall apart
And the washer quit last week
We had to put momma in the nursing home
And the baby’s cutting teeth
I didn’t get much work this week
And I got bills to pay
I said I know this ain’t what you wanna hear
But it’s what I’m gonna say

(Chorus)
Sounds like life to me it ain’t no fantasy
It’s just a common case of everyday reality
Man I know it’s tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you’re caught up in some tragedy
It sounds like life to me

Sounds like life to me too!

Moral of the post...sorry to all I've neglected. I'll do better but in the process, I'm going to do better at doing what makes me happy :)

LovE, LOve, LoVe

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance...
~ 1 Corinthians 13:7

...And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.
~ 1 Thessalonians 3:12

Make Every Day Count

Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
—Job 14:5

Back in the 1950s and 60s, there was a lot of talk about the future. There seemed to be a utopian dream here in America in which we thought things in the future would be better and that technology would solve our problems.

Well, we have lived long enough to know that this is not going to happen. Technology won’t save us. No manmade solution will deliver the answers we are looking for.

As Christians, we are here on this earth with a task to fulfill and a job to do. So how should we be living in light of that fact? What all of us should desire to be doing is to live our lives well.

If you had one year left to live, how would you live? Would you live your life any differently than you did the year before? This is something we have to come to grips with as believers, because we want to deal with reality. We want to face the facts of the brevity of life on Earth and the reality of life in the future. It isn’t morbid to think about death; it is realistic. It is the Christian who understands the brevity of life and the reality of eternity.

The tragic thing is that many today are living shallow, wasted lives. Daniel said to King Belshazzar, “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). On God’s scale, Belshazzar was a lightweight. And like Belshazzar, there are a lot of people today who simply waste their lives.

Even more tragic than a life that is not lived as long as we would like to see it lived is a life that is largely squandered and wasted. So don’t waste your life. Don’t waste your year. Don’t waste today. Make every day count.

by Greg Laurie

God Lives under the Bed

As story about a boy who has faith figured out!

I envy Mark. My brother, Mark, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night.

He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, 'Are you there, God?' he said. 'Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed...'

I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Mark's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Mark lives in.

He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.

He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.

I remember wondering if Mark realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?

Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.

The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.

He does not seem dissatisfied.

He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.

He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.

And Saturdays - oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Mark to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. 'That one's goin' to Chi-car-go! ' Mark shouts as he claps his hands.

His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.

And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.

He doesn't know what it means to be discontent.

His life is simple.

He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.

His hands are diligent. Mark is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.

He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Mark knows how to relax.

He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.

He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.

Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Mark is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.

Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Mark seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.

In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Mark has in his simple faith.

It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.

It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.

Who knows if Mark comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.

And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.

Mark won't be surprised at all!