in my life

Nineveh Or Bust

2011-09-01T09:30:00.047-05:00

Picture yourself heading out on a trip.
A trip you want no part of.
You are "supposed" to go somewhere for your Father.
Somewhere you REALLY don't want to go.
Your Father says, "Go to Nineveh."
But the directions You printed off of Map Quest to get you there have you heading straight for Tarshish.
A city in the opposite direction.
But you keep going there anyway.

This is the situation Jonah found himself in. Minus Map Quest, of course.

Jonah 1: 1-3
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

Jonah intentionally boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction of where the LORD told him to go.

Have you ever done that? I know I have, even though I know there is no where I can run to that God doesn't follow me.

Jeremiah 23:24
"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

So many times in this life, we run from what we know is right, because it's too hard. We choose instead to head straight to what is wrong, because it seems easier. It's familiar. It's comfortable.

Problem is, that comfortable feeling doesn't last for long.

It's fleeting.

Then one day you wake up and find yourself in a very uncomfortable place having to finally face yourself. Face your mistakes. Face your fears.

Just like Jonah did.

Jonah 1: 4-17

Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Can you imagine? He was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights. Alone. In the dark. Surrounded by what must have been the foulest odor imaginable.

Jonah was definitely uncomfortable.

I've often wondered why God stuck Jonah in the belly of a huge fish to get his attention. As I was talking to my friend the other day about a difficult period in my life, she pointed something out to me that I had never thought of before. During that time, all of my friends seemed to scatter. I was left alone. Or so I thought. It wasn't until years later that I realized God had my friends scatter, so He could get my full attention to help me work through my problems. Maybe that's why God stuck Jonah in the belly of the huge fish as well. There was no escape. There was no one to run to or talk to for comfort. No distractions. It was just Jonah and God.

After his days and nights in the belly of the huge fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD.

Jonah 2: 1-9

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, LORD my God,
brought my life up from the pit.

“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’”

Jonah finally got it. After three days and nights in the belly of the huge fish, he finally got it, so the LORD set him free.

Jonah 2:10
And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah 3: 1-3
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.

The LORD told him a second time to go to Nineveh.

I would imagine the stench of the vomit alone would have kept Jonah on the right track the second time.

Scripture says that Nineveh was a large city that took him three days to get through. Three days. He sat in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights.

I've read before that the number three in Scripture is used of God to signify His Purpose or His Will. That's interesting to me. Every single word of Scripture is significant. As is every seemingly small detail of our lives. We need to see God in the details. We tend to see Him only in the BIG things that happen in our lives, instead, we should see Him in ALL the things that happen in our lives. God is in to details.

If Jonah had listened to and obeyed the LORD the first time he told him to go to Nineveh, he could have made that same trip in a more timely manner without stinking to high heaven.

Thankfully, the LORD loves us and is patient with all of us. He is the God of Second Chances.

The Bible is full of stories of men and women just like you and me that made mistakes in their lives, yet God did not give up on them.

He will NOT give up on you either.

1 Chronicles 16:34
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Are you heading to Tarshish in your life right now, even though you know the LORD has called you to go to Nineveh?

One way or another, you will have to go to (your) Nineveh just like Jonah did. It's up to you if you want to arrive there earlier and smelling nice, or if you want to show up later with the stench of vomit on you.

"Remember, if you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns!" ~Allison Gappa Bottke

♫ Get This Party Started ♫

2011-08-30T08:58:00.003-05:00

With Labor Day Weekend coming up, I decided to share this recipe for cheese dip with all ten of you again. It's a family favorite. And probably the only reason I ever get invited anywhere.

Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular?

Well, today, I am going to show you how to make the ultimate cheese dip....Once you take this dip to your next church potluck or family gathering.......you will be the most poopular person at the party. (Just kidding!)

So join me in my kitchen, and I'll show you how to make the magic happen in yours.

Here's all you will need to help you pop out at parties.

The first step in making this cheesy goodness is to cut the cheese. (Just ignore me; I live with three boys. Sorry.)

You only need one pound of cheese for this recipe.

Now cut the cheese (again, just ignore me) into cubes. Like so.

Now get out a small saucepan and a can opener. (See how rustic we are; that's right, you can't plug that can opener in. It's a manual one....you know, so I can cook while the power is out!)

Now ~~dump~~ pour the rotel into your saucepan.

The next thing you will need to do is to add one-fourth teaspoon of black pepper. Like this.

Now throw in one teaspoon of garlic powder. Trust me; it will be goooooood!

The last spice you will add is ground cumin. Just toss in one teaspoon of that as well. (This is the secret ingredient; but don't tell anybody.)

Grab a spoon, and stir it all together. Like so.

Place your saucepan on the stove and bring the rotel and spices to a boil. Let them boil for about two minutes. Then remove from heat. (Thanks!)

Now you are ready to dump the cheese that you just cut (sorry) into the blender. Like so.

Then ~~dump~~ pour the rotel and spices right over the cheese. (Be careful though; it's hot!)

It should look something like this.

Now for the most important step of this entire recipe.....Make sure the lid to your blender is on good and tight!

Put your blender on the High speed and blend.
(Note to self: Next time remember to clean the blender before showing it to tens of people on the internet.)

When it is all blended together and looks something like this picture, it is ready!

Now it is time to ~~dump~~ pour it all into your serving bowl. Like this. Mmmmmmmmm!

If you ~~stick your finger in it~~ accidentally get some on your finger, feel free to lick it off......I won't tell anybody!

Now for the "official" taste test. Grab a chip and dip it.

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

If you still have some left after the taste test is finished.......quickly leave the house and head to the party.....(Trust me on this; if you don't leave quickly, the cheese dip could possibly disappear before you are able to get out of the house. This has ~~often~~ never happened to me, of course, but I've heard stories.)

When you arrive at the "party" carrying a bowl of this cheese dip and a bag of chips.......

All eyes will be on you, and you will start to hear Pink's voice singing in your ears.

Then you'll dance with your cheese dip and chips all the way across the room.

That's right!

Like this........

♫
I'm coming up so you better get this party started
I'm coming up so you better get this party started

(get this party started)

Making my connection as I enter the room
everybody is chillin'
as I set up the groove
Pumpin up the volume
with this brand new beat
everybody's dancin'
and they're dancin' for me
I'm the operator
you can call anytime
I'll be your connection to
the party line

I'm coming up so you better get this party started
I'm coming up so you better get this party started
I'm coming up so you better get this party started
I'm coming up so you better get this party started
♫

Okay, well maybe I'm exaggerating ~~a lot~~ a little bit, but trust me, if you take this cheese dip to the next social gathering that you are invited to........you'll get invited back!

I'm just saying is all.

Fairy Tales, Storms, & Stuff

2011-08-27T14:03:00.078-05:00

After 20 years of marriage, Shannon and I finally got to do something we have been talking about for several years. We renewed our wedding vows in a ceremony on the beach.

It was a very sweet and private affair. Just Shannon, me, the minister, the ocean and sand, and God.

During the ceremony, the minister said to us, "After 20 years of marriage, I'm sure you two have been through all kinds of stuff." To which we both very romantically gazed into each other's eyes.....and laughed out loud.

We have definitely been through some "stuff." To say the least.

All marriages go through "stuff." That's an absolute given. It's how you handle the "stuff" that life throws at your marriage that makes the difference between the marriage ending or lasting.

A lot of people like to compare "stuff" in marriages. Since we have made it for 20 years, many people assume that our "stuff" wasn't as difficult as their "stuff," so that's why our marriage has lasted this long.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We have had to work through our "stuff" just like every one else. Nothing worth having in this life is easy. Nothing. Even good marriages.

In the Book of Matthew, there is the story about the wise and the foolish builders.

Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

If you look closely, you'll notice in these verses that the storms the two houses faced were exactly the same. The only difference was their foundations.

God doesn't want us to focus on the storms in our marriage; He wants us to focus on our foundations.

If God is the foundation in your marriage, you can weather any storm.

The rain can come down.
The streams can rise.
The winds can blow.
But with God as your foundation, your marriage can still stand.

Shannon and I are living proof of that.

We are by no means a "perfect" couple. There is no such thing this side of Heaven. However, we are a perfectly flawed couple, weathering the storms that life throws at us together with God.

During our vow renewal ceremony, the minister said, "You two are promising to love each other for always."

Always.

The preacher did not know this, but around my neck was a necklace that I purchased to wear for that special day. It was a little silver heart on a chain with the word always inscribed on it.

Always is now our new favorite word.

The verses on our rings are from Solomon 6:3. "I am my beloved's. My beloved is mine."

This post is not to judge anyone that has had a marriage end due to the storms that happened in their life, but to encourage those of you who are or who one day will be in a marriage to not compare the storms you face in your relationship to the storms of any other couple. Focus only on your marriage and the foundation on which your marriage is built. Work on weathering the storms together with God.

Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Later in the evening after our vow renewal, we received the disc of all of our pictures from the ceremony. Imagine our surprise as we were scrolling through all of them and saw this one.

It's our personal favorite.

I once read that what makes a fairy tale so wonderful is not the absence of dragons....but the slaying of them.

Always.

The Shunammite Woman

2011-07-18T14:02:00.001-05:00

The woman I read about this week in my devotional book is "The Shunammite Woman."

Her story has SO many facets that I want to discuss (and I will do another post in the future about her), but there is one in particular today that really touches me. It has to do with her hope in the face of unimaginable pain.

The Shunammite Woman's story is found in 2 Kings 4: 8-37.

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where an important woman lived. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat.9 The woman said to her husband, "I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by our house all the time.10 Let's make a small room on the roof[a] and put a bed in the room for him. We can put a table, a chair, and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there."
11 One day Elisha came to the woman's house. After he went to his room and rested,12 he said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite woman."

When the servant had called her, she stood in front of him.13 Elisha had told his servant, "Now say to her, 'You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?' "

She answered, "I live among my own people."

14 Elisha said to Gehazi, "But what can we do for her?"

He answered, "She has no son, and her husband is old."

15 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, "Call her." When he called her, she stood in the doorway.16 Then Elisha said, "About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms."

The woman said, "No, master, man of God, don't lie to me, your servant!"

17 But the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son at that time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.

18 The boy grew up and one day went out to his father, who was with the grain harvesters.19 The boy said to his father, "My head! My head!"

The father said to his servant, "Take him to his mother!"20 The servant took him to his mother, and he lay on his mother's lap until noon. Then he died.21 So she took him up and laid him on Elisha's bed. Then she shut the door and left.

22 She called to her husband, "Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and return."

23 The husband said, "Why do you want to go to him today? It isn't the New Moon or the Sabbath day."

She said, "It will be all right."

24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Lead on. Don't slow down for me unless I tell you."25 So she went to Elisha, the man of God, at Mount Carmel.

When he saw her coming from far away, he said to his servant Gehazi, "Look, there's the Shunammite woman!26 Run to meet her and ask, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the boy all right?' "

She answered, "Everything is all right."

27 Then she came to Elisha at the hill and grabbed his feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away, but Elisha said to him, "Leave her alone. She's very upset, and the Lord has not told me about it. He has hidden it from me."

28 She said, "Master, did I ask you for a son? Didn't I tell you not to lie to me?"

29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, "Get ready. Take my walking stick in your hand and go quickly. If you meet anyone, don't say hello. If anyone greets you, don't respond. Lay my walking stick on the boy's face."

30 The boy's mother said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I won't leave you!" So Elisha got up and followed her.

31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy did not talk or move. Then Gehazi went back to meet Elisha. "The boy has not awakened," he said.

32 When Elisha came into the house, the boy was lying dead on his bed.33 Elisha entered the room and shut the door, so only he and the boy were in the room. Then he prayed to the Lord.34 He went to the bed and lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on the boy's eyes, and his hands on the boy's hands. He stretched himself out on top of the boy. Soon the boy's skin became warm.35 Elisha turned away and walked around the room. Then he went back and put himself on the boy again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite!" So he did. When she came, Elisha said, "Pick up your son."37 She came in and fell at Elisha's feet, bowing facedown to the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.

A lot takes place in between verses 8 and 37. But what I want to talk about today is what she says at the end of verse 23 when asked by her husband about why she was going to see the man of God now at this time on this day...she simply responded, "It will be all right."

Her son had just died. The son that this man of God had promised her. The son that she wanted so desperately that she couldn't even let herself dream of ever actually having him. This son, was gone. Dead.

Yet she says, "It will be all right."

She was obviously very upset, but she did not run to her husband in panic. She held on to hope and went straight to the man of God that had promised her this son. She went to him. With hope in her heart. With the hope that if God could bring this miraculous baby into her life to begin with.....He could most assuredly bring him back to life in the same miraculous way.

And He did.

It's hard to imagine having that kind of hope.

Just after reading the Shunammite Woman's story, I watched the Diane Sawyer interview with Jaycee Dugard. I'm sure most of you are very familiar with her unbelievable story. If not, click here to read about Jaycee Dugard.

It was a powerful interview to say the very least.

All I could think when listening to Jaycee speak was....Jaycee is a modern day Shunammite Woman.

When Diane asked Jaycee questions about her ordeal and how she managed to survive it, she said so many things that really touched me. Overwhelmed me. Humbled me.

"You just do what you have to do to survive."

"Sometimes you have to hold onto any hope to survive."

"I was still alive. There was still hope."

She suffered and survived through unimaginable horrors. Horrors that precious few could even ever comprehend, let alone survive and thrive. Yet in her heart she held onto the hope, much like the Shunammite woman, that one way or another, "It will be all right."

Here is a picture of Jaycee Dugard today.

You'll notice in the picture that she is wearing a necklace with a pinecone charm hanging from it. (You can purchase one of these necklaces from the JAYC Foundation, INC. The money raised through the sales of these necklaces goes to help families that are recovering from abduction and other traumatic experiences.)

Jaycee said, “Back then (the pinecone) was the last thing I touched. You know, the last grip on me. Now, it’s–it’s a symbol of hope and new beginnings. And that–there is life after something tragic....” Dugard told Sawyer that she now wears a symbol of a pinecone around her neck to remind her of the hope that helped her endure 18 years of captivity and the long-delayed freedom she now enjoys.

Jaycee went on to say, "I am so lucky and blessed for all the wonderful things I do have. Even if it is just one thing or person you have to be thankful for, that is enough."

Like the Shunammite Woman, Jaycee held onto hope. In circumstances that most of us will never have to endure, they both held onto hope. They both believed that one way or another, "It will be all right."

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." ~Hebrews 11:1

I'll never look at a pinecone the same way again. Pinecones have been a nuisance to me in the past, as they fill up our yard and make mowing the grass quite difficult. But now, I will see them differently...no longer nuisances, but symbols of hope.

I'll end with this prayer.

Lord, thank you for sharing with us the story of the Shunammite Woman and for the unbelievable spirit of Jaycee Dugard. Now when I face troubles of any kind...whether relational, physical, financial, or spiritual, regardless of the outcome and no matter how painful the situation may be for me at the time, like Jaycee Dugard and the Shunammite Woman, I know that I, too, can boldly say with You in my life, "It will be all right." In Jesus' Sweet Name, Amen.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." ~Hebrews 10:23

Breakfast Cake

2011-07-15T09:31:00.070-05:00

Today I'm sharing a recipe with all ten of you that Shannon and I really love. It has become one of our staples.

It is called "Breakfast Cake."

Don't judge.

I found the recipe on a website called Heavenly Homemakers. You can click here ->Mom is Great! She Gives Us Breakfast Cake! to see and print the full recipe.

So please join me in my kitchen as I show you how to make "Breakfast Cake." It not only tastes good, but it is also good for you. No really. It is. (Trust me when I say it is definitely good for you. I realize, I'm not a doctor, however, I've watched "House" many times on teevee.)

Here are all of the ingredients I used to make this recipe.

I started out by pouring 2 (heaping) cups of whole rolled oats into a big glass bowl.

Then I poured 2 cups of whole wheat flour in the same glass bowl.

Next I poured 1 cup of melted and cooled light margarine into the mix.

(The recipe calls for butter, but I used light margarine instead to cut out A LOT of calories, and it works beautifully.)

Next I poured in 1 cup of buttermilk.

(Now, I never have buttermilk on hand, so I improvise. I just add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk and stir together. I let it set for just a couple of minutes, then pour it into the glass bowl. The recipe also calls for 3/4 cup of buttermilk, but I've found it works better with 1 full cup of buttermilk. But then again, that's just me. I'm obviously not Paula Deen, but I've seen her on teevee.)

Now it's time to mix all of those ingredients together. Like so.

Then just cover the bowl with a towel, and let the grains soak on the counter overnight or for at least 8 hours.

When you uncover it the next morning (or 8 hours later) it will look something like this.

I know. It looks like cement, right? But don't let that scare you.

Now it's time to add the rest of the ingredients, so this cement like mixture can turn into some very yummy goodness....that is good for you. You're just going to have to trust me on this.

The first ingredient I added was 2 eggs. I poured them in like so.

(Don't be jealous. We can't all have such fancy cookware.)

Next I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Then I added 1 teaspoon of sea salt.

Next up is 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Finally comes the ~~messy~~ fun part....I poured 3/4 cup honey into the mixture.

(It's much easier to add the honey using this Pampered Chef Measure All Cup.)

Now it's time to mix all of those ingredients together.

As I said earlier, it looks like cement, and it is every bit as difficult to stir as ~~dried~~ cement. It will take a lot of arm muscle to stir all of these ingredients together, but it will be worth the effort. I promise.

If you have a sexy man laying out by a $10.00 hard plastic pool from Walmart nearby, you could ask him to come inside to help you stir all of the ingredients together.

That's what I do. But then again, that's just me. ;0)

Once it's all mixed together, it's time to add 1 cup of chocolate chips. Just fold them into the mixture.

(I prefer the dark chocolate kind, but whatever kind you like will be perfect.)

Once everything is all mixed together it's time to pour it into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking pan.

(The recipe calls for 9 x 9 pan, but I used the 9 x 13 size instead.)

Now it's time to place it into the oven which should be preheated to 350 degrees.

I let it bake for 35 minutes in my oven. But depending on your oven and the size pan you use, it could take 30-40 minutes. You'll just have to keep an eye on it the first time to know how long it will take in your oven.

When it's ready, it should look something like this.

You can check to see if it's done by sticking a toothpick in the center, If it comes out clean, then you know it's ready.

I always let mine cool completely in the pan, then cut it up into about 12-15 pieces.

You can eat it warm or cold. We like it cold.

Once it's all done. Help yourself to a piece ~~or seven~~.

It makes a great breakfast, snack, or dessert.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart." ~Erma Bombeck

Just for laughs, I've added the Bill Cosby skit from You Tube..."Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake!" ;0)

If I Want Your Opinion, I'll Give It To You

2011-07-13T11:47:00.025-05:00

I'm not sure what it is about me or my personality, that makes people think they can just say anything that they want to say about me. To me. As if I would greatly value their opinion. Of me.

Don't misunderstand, I love that my friends and family feel close enough to me that they can share their innermost thoughts and feelings without worrying of what I will think of them or their thoughts, or who I will tell. I'm not talking about those people in my life or those relationships. I greatly value all of my close relationships. Period.

Who I'm talking about now are those people in my life that apparently think they and their opinion matter to me. Acquaintance is probably the appropriate word for them. Most of them are nice enough, but we're not friends.

While traveling in the Mediterranean, there was a particular lady, that loved to share her opinion of me with me. One of the nicer things she said to me was this, "You know, you would look so much younger and thinner if you would cut that hair."

As you can imagine, I was so appreciative of her opinion. It was clearly helpful and uplifting.:P

This past week, a man I'll just call "Hank Hill," saw me (after not having seen me for a couple of years) and said, "You still look good. It's a world of difference than how you used to look. A world of difference." He said this as he looked at me and smiled. As if every word out of his mouth would mean so much to me. Like I would be so grateful for his "approval" of me now.

If you are a friend or relative of mine, then you already know, his words did not impress or compliment me. At all.

I realize, that he "thought" he was "complimenting" me. But that is not a compliment to me. Or any woman. The only thing I heard coming out of his mouth were these words, "I approve of you now."

I have family and friends that have "approved" of me for my entire life. They have loved me no matter what my appearance was at the time. Because they love me. Not my outer shell.

I have a husband that has loved me through short hair and long hair. Good highlights and really, really bad highlights. Overweight and less overweight. Without stretch marks and with many stretch marks. He loved me walking normally, and he loved me as I walked around limping for 18 months following my back surgery. He walked with me....and held my hand through all of it.

He has always approved of me. He loves me on the inside. He loves me on the outside. Exactly as I am. I feel the same way about him.

That is how we are supposed to love each other.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” ~1 Samuel 16:7

I don't appreciate anyone that can be friendly to me now, because they finally "approve" of me. Their friendliness means nothing.

However, the friends and family that have been with me and loved me through thick and thin (physically and spiritually) mean everything to me.

I don't mean to imply that I don't appreciate a nice compliment (especially about my hair), because I do. I just like compliments from people that mean the words they say, and from people that I know love me even when there is nothing about me to compliment.

Now, since I'm on the subject of appearance, I feel like I should tell you all that I went to the eye doctor this morning. I have now officially been given a prescription for Bifocal lenses.

I'm thinking they make me look like the Nanny's Grandma Yetta. What do you think?

Seriously, you can give me your opinion. Don't be scared. I won't do a blog post on your response; I promise.;0)

Well, at least my sweet husband loves me no matter ~~how ridiculous I look~~ what I look like. God bless him.

I wonder what "Hank Hill" will say the next time he sees me, and I'm wearing the new glasses. Probably something like, "It's a world of difference than how you used to look. A world of difference." ;0)

"He who laughs.....lasts." ~Erma Bombeck

Who Is This?

2011-07-10T09:31:00.004-05:00

I'm convinced that God always has a great deal of humor at my expense. Every day my life is one embarrassing situation after another. I guess that is why He gave me the ability to laugh at ~~others~~ myself. Repeatedly.

For example, one evening I was eating peanuts (the kind you have to shell) when someone knocked on our door. I answered the door. It was a good friend of my husband's. He needed some help with something and was telling me about it. Shannon was not home at the time, so I told him that I would give Shannon the message. He then asked how I was, and I, of course, told him. I noticed that as I was talking, he was looking at me....strangely.

I tried not to think much of it. After we said our goodbyes, I went inside to wash the peanut dust off of my hands. That's when I saw myself in the mirror. And realized what he was looking strangely at.

I had peanut skins all over my teeth. Every. Single. Tooth. Was. Covered. I looked like a hillbilly, and I was mortified.

That's just a Tuesday for me. But I digress.

This past Friday night, I noticed on my blog's Site Meter that someone had visited my blog after Googling the words "Poison Ivy to Cellulitis." I could not find the post that it led them to, so I figured it must have led them to a picture on my blog. I had written about The Heartbreak of Poison Ivy on here, and, of course, ~~since two people wanted to see them~~ due to overwhelming demand, I had also included pictures.

So, I entered those same words on a Google Image search. I did not see one of my poison ivy pictures, but I did see my good blog friend Mia's sweet face. You can click here to see her picture. (Hopefully, she'll still be there, as these things change daily.)

I got so tickled, because I remembered Mia had commented on my post The Heartbreak of Poison Ivy about how she had also had poison ivy and cellulitis, but not at the same time. So, since she left that comment, she is among the pictures of poison ivy and cellulitis that are now available on Google Images. (We bloggers have no shame.)

I decided to let Mia know she was "famous," so I sent her a link to it on Facebook. I also thought I had her correct cell phone number, so I decided to text her as well.

Here's the text message conversation...

Me: If you can get on fb, I just sent you a funny. :0)

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: I am glad to hear from ya again mami.

(Now, Mia has never called me Mami before, but since it is pretty close to sounding like a funny way to say Amy, I didn't think too much of it. Plus it's Friday night, so she could just be having fun and in a silly mood.)

Me: I'm still laughing at what I sent you. You commented on my poison ivy post about cellulitis, so your pic comes up when you google that. Lol! You're famous!

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Lol great

(So, I'm assuming she knows what I'm talking about.)

Me: I can say I knew you when. :0) It's better than being known for Jennifer Aniston's feet. Lol!

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Hey Jennifer is fine now lol

(This should have been when I realized it wasn't Mia...but I didn't. It was Friday night after all.....)

Me: I bet she doesn't like my feet posing as hers on the world wide web. Especially with that hideous paint job. Lol!

If you don't know what picture I'm referring to, it's this one:

I hope you'll want to continue reading after that. If you do, thank you.

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Lol i cant see what u are talking about i jumped on fb where is it

(Now, seriously, the lack of capital letters and punctuation marks should have really made me question, but again...it's Friday night.)

Me: I posted a link on your wall.
If link doesn't work, enter "poison ivy to cellulitis" on google images & you'll see yourself. Facebook & blogging is entirely too much fun. Lol!

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Speakin of fun nevermind lol

(Now it's getting weird...)

Me: Did you see it?

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Not yet where i am getting pour reception will be home in hour will pull up then so its ya feet on there mami

(It's getting weirder, and by this time...I realize it. But continue on, still not sure.....)

Me: Yes. In my naive blogging ignorance, I thought only 10 people would ever see that pic. I was mistaken. I'm sure J.A. wonders why people think it's her feet.;0)It's no longer the first one....but it's still front page. Lol! So embarrassing.

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Your gonna get sued lol

(The spelling and grammar are still causing me concern, but the joke seemed like something Mia would say, so I responded.)

Me: Lol! Ain't it the truth. I may be forced to sell my pool & box fan to pay my lawyers.

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Hey can ya get her autograph at trial lol tell her to put love ya ben lol

(At this point, I'm thinking -since it's Friday night and all- maybe Mia's confusing Jennifer Aniston with Jennifer Lopez and making a reference to the now infamous "Bennifer" combination, so I respond again.)

Me: Lol! That's a great idea! What would I have to lose? ;0)

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Plus be doing me a favor lol

Me: Well that is the most important thing. ;0)

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: Glad u see it dat way its about time u sexy thing lol

(Now, this is when I realize...something is terribly wrong. I'm thinking there's no way that is Mia. Or if it is, she must have cough due to cold and taken a little too much cough medicine. But just in case, I ended the conversation. Or so I thought.) ;0)

Me: Happy Sabbath, my friend. :0)

(Mia loves the Sabbath day, and she always wishes everyone a Happy Sabbath on Facebook.)

~~Who I think is~~ Mia: U r crazy So u are girly girl to ya say What are u doing

(I realize I am ~~blonder than I pay to be~~ a natural blond, but now, I know for sure it's not Mia.)

So, I don't respond to the last text, and I go to bed. A little confused to say the least.

When I wake up Saturday morning, I see I have another text from what my phone says is Mia.

~~Who I'm thinking again might be~~ Mia: Morning

(So, not wanting to be rude, I respond.)

Me: Morning to you too! Happy Sabbath!!

~~Who I'm thinking again might be~~ Mia: How r u today

(Again with the ~~lack of~~ spelling and punctuation.)

Me: Good. Fixing to fire up the Teenager Taxi & drive it across town & back & back again later. Lol! How are you?

~~Who I'm thinking again might be~~ Mia: I am great had to come to office to finish up some paperwork today blah lol what teenager taxi are ya talkin about

Me: What office are you talking about?

~~Who I'm knowing is not~~ Mia: My district office i am dm fo verizon oversee 9 locations thought we talked about it

Me: Is this Mia?

Stranger: Lol no who is this

Me: Lol! I'm so sorry. I have the wrong number. I thought your responses were strange for Mia. Lol! I'm just a silly blond girl with the wrong number.;0)

Stranger: This is ben u are amber right we were textin and talkin on fb

(Bless his heart.)

Me: No. I'm so sorry. Mass confusion. I thought you were my friend Mia. So sorry.

~~Who I know now is~~ Ben: Its ok i see i am forgot dat quickly lol

(I think he understands that I am not Amber by this point. But he does not. About an hour later, I get this text...)

Ben: So how r ya today sounds like busy

(Bless his heart. He must really like this Amber.)

Me: Like I said...wrong person. I thought you were Mia. I have the wrong number.

(I think this will finally clear up all confusion. It doesn't.)

Ben: Its ok ya are amber right talkin to ya last night about jennifer aniston post u made

(Bless his heart. He must be ~~blonder than he pays to be~~ blond too.)

Me: No, I'm not Amber. I did talk about Jennifer post, but that was to Mia about my blog. Sorry for confusion, but I don't know who Amber is.

Ben: Lol ok enjoyed talkin to ya last nite even though we were both confused

He finally got it. And so did I. Lol!

Just another humiliating moment in my life.

I spent a Friday night texting with a boy (named Ben, who I thought was Mia and who thought I was a girl named Amber) about poison ivy, cellulitis, and my hideously painted feet being mistaken for Jennifer Aniston's on the world wide web.

But bless his heart, even after all that, he STILL wanted to talk to that girl.

You can't make this stuff up.

Amber, if you're reading this, there's boy named Ben who would apparently love you to text him.

And Mia, if you're reading this, please send me your new number, so I don't have to confuse that poor boy anymore...teasing him with all that romantic talk of poison ivy, cellulitis, and Jennifer Aniston's feet. ;0)

Humble Honesty

2011-07-07T16:55:00.006-05:00

The other day, I looked at my blog stats to see what words or phrases were entered on Google that led people to my blog. I do that from time to time, because it is very funny to me. I'm boring like that. (If you'd like to see some of the funny entries from the past, click here, here, and here.)

The newest one that made me laugh was this entry: "her boots shined"

I don't recall ever typing those words together in a post, so being the nosy creature that I am, I had to see what post this particular search led them to.

It led them to a post of mine called "~~Victoria's~~ Amy's Secret." (Click here to take a look at that post.)

Poor misguided things. There is nothing in that ~~humiliating~~ blog post that would help them with information regarding "her boots shining."

In fact, the only thing they will learn from that post is how I humiliated myself in public one day by wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe. At the same time. Having NO idea of my fashion faux pas until after I got home.

The sad thing is, that's not even the worst part. When I wrote that post over two years ago, I left out part of the story. I was too embarrassed at the time to tell all ten of you the "whole" truth.

Now, over 2 1/2 years later, I'm still embarrassed by it, but I feel led to share it with you, because the Lord humbled me that day. BIG time.

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." ~2 Corinthians 11:30

That particular day, as I was in the waiting room waiting (of course) to be called back and fitted for my fashionable new back brace, an old lady walked in for her appointment just a few moments after me.

She was probably in her 80s. When she walked in (using her walker for support), I immediately noticed her shoes. They were the orthopedic kind.

Some people call them "comfortable" shoes. Not me. I've always called them "old lady" shoes. (I don't mean to offend anyone by my comments; it's just that having to wear this type of shoe is something that has always scared me about aging. Like having to sport blue hair. But I digress.) I've even said many times over the years, "Lord, I don't ever want to wear shoes like that. Even if my feet are killing me, I want to avoid that look if at all possible. As well as blue hair. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

She was a very sweet woman. She was with her equally sweet husband, who was very attentive to her as she came into the office and signed in. You could tell they loved each other and had for their entire lives.

As a married woman, I loved seeing that. But those shoes.....Again, I thought to myself, "Bless her sweet heart, those shoes are just pitiful. Please Lord, help me avoid those shoes. And blue hair. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

Well, I got called back and fitted for my back brace. Which was humbling to say the least.

I spent the entire drive home thinking of ways that I could convince Shannon that this hideous thing was all the rage at Victoria's Secret. By the time I got home, I had almost convinced myself that I could totally pull that off.

I also remember thinking, as I walked in my door, "Well, at least I don't have to wear those pitiful 'old lady' shoes....that would really be awful combined with this hideous back brace."

It was at about that same moment that I looked down at my own shoes, only to notice this.....

I was mortified. To say the least.

"Swallow your pride occasionally, it's non-fattening!" ~Author Unknown

I laughed out loud at my ridiculous self and at God's sense of humor. Only moments before, I had been feeling so sorry for that sweet old lady having to wear her "comfortable" shoes......when the whole time she was probably feeling sorry for me not even being able to "match" mine.

I could just hear her saying as I left the waiting room, "Lord, look at that poor girl. She's probably not even 40 years old yet and already having to wear a back brace. Poor thing can't even pick out matching shoes to wear. Please don't ever let me leave the house looking so ridiculous. Or with blue hair. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." ~Proverbs 11:2

Bible Study About Naomi

2011-07-04T21:44:00.002-05:00

The woman that I read about this week in my devotional book is Naomi. The devotional book that I am reading is called Women of the Bible written by Ann Spangler and Jean E. Syswerda. Click here to see the book as listed on Amazon. (If you are interested in learning about any of the other women that I've written about before, click here to see the list of women. I hope to continue adding to that list in the future.)

We are introduced to Naomi in the book of Ruth.

Ruth 1:1-5
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Right as we meet Naomi, we are also met with tragedy. The worst kind of tragedy that any wife or mother could ever experience. In the span of about ten years, Naomi loses her husband....then loses both of her sons. As a wife and a mother to two sons, I cannot imagine the pain that Naomi must have felt.

There are so many lessons to learn from Naomi's story, but what I want to discuss today about her life is this: She was so overcome with grief that she felt she had to change her name.

Ruth 1:19-21

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

In the Bible (and even still today) names have great meaning to the Lord. There are several instances in the Bible where He Himself changed some one's name due to a significant change in their life.

For example:

He changed Levi (meaning "joined") to Matthew (meaning "Gift of God").

He changed Saul (meaning "prayed for") to Paul (meaning "small or humble").

He changed Jacob (meaning "he who grabs the heel") to Israel (meaning "he struggles with God").

He changed Abram (meaning "high father") to Abraham (meaning "father of a multitude of nations").

He changed Sarai (meaning "contentious") to Sarah (meaning "lady or princess").

You'll notice that in each of these examples, when God changed their names after a significant event in their lives, the name that He gave them was representative of what He had done and would continue to do through their lives. You would have to read each of their stories to appreciate the exact significance of each of the names, but each one of them were positive changes that gave glory to God. That's not to say they did not continue to have struggles in their lives, but they were forever changed for the better, because of the changes that the Lord had seen them through.

Naomi's God given name meant "pleasant," but the name she gave herself, Mara, meant "bitter."

Naomi did live to see her life come full circle with the Lord. She witnessed God's goodness and faithfulness even in her old age.

Ruth 4: 13-17

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

In her "bitter" grief, Naomi could not have imagined the "pleasant" blessings that God had in store for her future.

Since we have the benefit of knowing how Naomi's story ends in the Bible, we know that "bitter" is not the name change that God would have chosen for someone He originally named "pleasant."

But Naomi, of course, did not know her future. When she changed her name to mean "bitter," she was trapped in her own pain and despair, and there was nothing "pleasant" about her life to her at that time. Her grief weighed so heavily on her heart, that she could not ever imagine feeling differently. Or even wanting to.

There are many difficult times in all of our lives that make it hard for us to clearly see that the Lord is still with us.

"For we live by believing and not by seeing." ~2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT)

We have to rely on our faith during those times.

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." ~Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

Thankfully we also have His Word to help us through those times.

"Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up." ~Psalm 71:20(NIV)

Naomi's story is a reminder for us all to try our best each day to keep our focus on God...not our circumstances.

During rough times, we have to hold on to His promises.

We all have to remind ourselves to never undo in doubt, what we did in faith.

My parents named me Amy after a Bobby Darin love song by the same name.

If you're not familiar with it, here it is.

My mother just loved the song (as well as Bobby Darin), so she named me Amy.

But what God knew when she chose my name was that it meant "Beloved."

The meaning of my name is something that has encouraged me through my entire life. The older I get, the more it means.

After a particularly difficult time in our marriage (you can read a little more about that here), I gave my husband Shannon a ring with this verse from Song of Solomon 6:3 engraved on it that says, "I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine...."

Since Amy means "Beloved," every time Shannon sees the ring he is reminded of our marriage commitment to each other. "I am Amy's and my Amy is mine...."

When I am struggling with difficult circumstances in my life, I remind myself that Beloved means "one that is dearly loved." And if God dearly loves me, then He will always take care of me. My life may not always play out like I hope or expect it to, but God will always allow things that happen (whether good or bad) to benefit my life...no matter how they may seem as they are happening.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

In the Bible, we are all referred to as God's beloved children.

Ephesians 5:1-2 says: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

I am His Beloved.

You are His Beloved.

We are all His Beloved.

God dearly loves all of His children. He would never want for any of us to walk through this life with the burden of being labeled as "bitter."

Dear Lord,

Thank you for sharing the story of Naomi's life with us. Seeing your faithfulness through the difficult circumstances in her life, encourages us as we go through difficult times in our own. Like Naomi, there are times when we all feel "bitter" facing life's difficult trials, but through Naomi's story, we are all reminded to walk through every trial knowing that regardless of the painful situations we may find ourselves facing, we are all still your "Beloved" children.

In Christ's Sweet Name,
Amen

"Let God's promises shine on your problems." ~Corrie Ten Boom

Sheldon The Cardinal

2011-06-30T17:29:00.004-05:00

For the last two years, we have had an interesting bird take up residence on our property.

It's a gorgeous male cardinal that we have lovingly named "Sheldon."

If you're a fan of the comedy "The Big Bang Theory," then you are very familiar with the character of Sheldon. Sheldon always knocks three times (over & over) on the door of the person (or persons) he is trying to get the attention of. If you've never seen the show, here is a clip of Sheldon "knocking."

We were first made aware of our "Sheldon" when we heard him knocking on our basement windows.

From sun up to sun down, "Sheldon" is knocking.

Every. Single. Day.

We've tried to do things to scare him away.

We've put rubber snakes in the window. They didn't scare him off.

We've put stuffed animals in the window. They didn't scare him off either.

In fact, he looks like he's sitting amongst his friends.

(Every time I see him sitting in the window with all of the stuffed animals, I'm reminded of an old Sesame Street song that has lyrics that go something like this: "Four of these things belong together. Four of these things are kind of the same. Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here?" But I digress.)

Day after day "Sheldon" knocks.

I've been told a few different reasons as to why people think "Sheldon" knocks on our windows all day long. Some say that he more than likely is seeing his own reflection and is trying to protect himself and his nest from this stranger he thinks he is seeing in the window.

I at first thought to myself, "What an idiot! He spends all day long, every single day fighting a battle that doesn't even exist. He's his own worst enemy!"

Then I realized, that sounds very familiar......

"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (NIV) ~Matthew 7:5

I was suddenly humbled.

Very humbled.

How many days have I wasted in my life fighting battles that don't even exist?

How many days have I wasted on worry?

How many days have I wasted on doubt?

How many days have I wasted on all of the "What ifs" that I could possibly think of?

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."(NIV) ~John 14:27

I realized, the only difference between "Sheldon" and me, is that I know better.

I have God's Word to read and be encouraged by each and every day. I have no excuses for wasting my days fighting battles that don't exist. Not one.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (NLT) ~2 Timothy 1:7

I also have to hand it to "Sheldon," because he does have an incredible work ethic. From sun up to sun down, he is working, which is more than I can say for most humans I know.

He works so hard, that now he's even decided to take up a second job. He has started knocking on our kitchen window as well. I guess I should say "crashing into our kitchen window." There is not a ledge for him to sit on at the kitchen window, so he just crashes into it.

Over and over.

Every. Single. Day.

As I sit typing these words, he is crashing into the window. Bless his heart.

Now every time I hear "Sheldon" knocking on or crashing into the windows, or even if I see a cardinal just flying outside, I'm reminded to not borrow trouble and to not create problems, where problems do not exist.

I hope after reading this, that each time you see a red cardinal, that you will also be reminded to not have a spirit of fear and to simply trust the Lord with your life.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" ~Matthew 6:25-27

That being said, if any of the ten of you reading this blog post have windows that would benefit from a bird knocking on them all day long every single day, I know of a cardinal in Crazyville that has lost his current position and is looking for a new place to work. ;)

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." ~John Watson

~ Taming The Tongue ~

2011-06-28T12:19:00.003-05:00

My family and I recently watched the movie "The King's Speech." If you're not familiar with the movie, the IMDb website describes "The King's Speech" this way: "Tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war."

It was a wonderful movie, as truth usually is much better than fiction. I was struck by the relationship that the King had with his speech therapist. As I've shared before, true friends in this life are a very rare blessing.

But that's not what I want to talk about today.

The part of the King's story that stood out the most to me was his ability to say curse words without any hesitance, but regular words took so much more of his concentration and effort. Human nature is so interesting. As a general rule we can quickly accuse someone of a wrong doing with an entire list of inappropriate words, but it's much harder for us when we've wronged someone else to say these two simple words, "I'm sorry."

The King had a stammer that he struggled with for most of his life. He struggled to say the most basic of words and phrases. But when his speech therapist gave him curse words to say.....they would just roll off of his tongue.

Many years ago, Shannon and I stepped in to be substitute teachers for our Sunday school class. The lesson we were given to do was on "Taming the Tongue" from the book of James.

Shannon and I were both very nervous about taking the lesson on, but we agreed to do it anyway. We put our heads together and prayed.

Here are the verses from James that we were going to cover.

James 3:1-12

Taming the Tongue

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

The Saturday evening before the class, we went for a walk together to discuss the lesson for Sunday school, and then we had to stop in at Walmart to pick up a few things. In order to speed up the shopping, Shannon went and picked up a few items around the store, and I decided to pick out all of the produce that we needed.

While trying to sort through some bags of grapes to determine what was seedless and what was not, I heard a young man ask over my shoulder, "Are these grapes seedless?" (Now he had quite a stammer, so it took him a bit to get all of those words out.) I patiently let him finish his question, then answered, "Yes, they are. I was having trouble figuring that out myself." Then I smiled at him.

He looked at me and smiled, then proceeded with so much struggle to try and say something else to me. He was trying so hard, but he could not get the words out. He even started growling like a bear. I wasn't sure what to make of all of that noise. (It made me think of Loretta Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter" saying to Doolittle, "Stop makin' that noise, Doo! You sound like an old bear growling." But I digress.) I did not want to be rude, but Shannon was motioning for me to come on, as he was done with his part of the shopping, so I asked, "Are you trying to say, 'Thank you?'" To which he replied with a huge sigh of relief, "Yes!"

I told him that it was no problem, and I was happy to help. He then starts trying to say something else to me all the while growling like a bear. I realized that most people would probably be taken aback by all of that growling and never give him the time of day, so I wanted to let him say what he was obviously desperate to say.

He said (with still much struggle) that several years earlier he had been in a motorcycle accident that left him with brain damage. He said he struggles being able to speak. He can curse very easily, but normal words and phrases are much more difficult for him to get out.

He went on to tell me that he had been "caned" since his accident. I said, "Excuse me?" So he explained. He said that one day while shopping, he got so frustrated trying to ask for help, that he started spewing curse words....At about that same time an older woman with a cane walked up and hit him with it. She told him that curse words of that kind were uncalled for, and that he should work on saying nicer things.

He said it taught him a lesson, so now he tries very hard to stop cursing so much, especially when other people are around. Instead of cursing, he growls. I laughed with him as I said, "Well, I totally understand. I don't have a brain injury, and sometimes it is a struggle for me too. Oh, who am I kidding? It's a struggle for me a lot of the time. Maybe I should start growling too.";)

As we wrapped up our conversation, he tried again (with much struggle) to thank me for taking the time to listen to him. Shannon walked over to me as the man walked off and asked, "So, who's the new boyfriend? Ya'll sure did talk a long time." ;)

I told him about the conversation, and like me, he was so tickled at how God works. We had just been on a walk together, wondering what on earth we were going to use as examples of "Taming the Tongue" in class Sunday morning, and there, over the mixed up bags of grapes, God placed that example right in our path.

As I was talking to Shannon about the man and his struggle, it still struck me how even with brain damage, it was easier for him to spew curse words than to say the two simple words, "Thank you." But at that same token, even with brain damage, he still made an incredible effort each day to growl instead of curse when he was frustrated. That really humbled me, because I have NO excuse.

Even though curse words come more easily for me than even I care to admit, other hateful words have not always come as easily (until I turned 40 that is, but I'll talk about that in a different post). I know there have been times in my life that I have LONGED to say something to someone that has hurt me. I have thought to myself, "If only I could say this or that to a particular person, I would feel so much better!!" But the truth is, even if that person deserves every hurtful word that I could think of to say to them...it will never make me feel better to hurt them with my words. In fact, the times that I have been able to say the very "ugly" thing I wanted to say, it only made me feel worse.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie "You've Got Mail" tells exactly what I'm trying to say. The scene is an email exchange between Joe and Kathleen.

Here are their words.

Joe: Do you ever feel you become the worst version of yourself? That a Pandora's Box of all the secret hateful parts --your arrogance, your spite, your condescension -- has sprung open. Someone provokes you, and instead of just smiling and moving on, you zing them. Hello, it's Mr. Nasty. I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Kathleen replies: I know what you mean and I'm completely jealous. What happens to me when I'm provoked is that I get tongue-tied. My mind goes blank. Then I spend all night tossing and turning trying to think of what I should have said.

To which Joe responds: Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could pass all my zingers to you and then I would never behave badly and you could behave badly all the time and we'd both be happy? On the other hand, I must warn you that when you finally have the pleasure of saying the thing you mean to say at the moment you mean to say it, remorse inevitably follows.

Remorse inevitably follows...Let those words sink in.

"By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach." ~Winston Churchill

It's interesting to me how we work on our physical bodies to make our muscles stronger, but the muscle in our body that needs the most attention, we let atrophy....which is something for us all to ponder.

"The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body; use yours to lift someone up today." ~Terri Ann Armstrong

If you have not seen "The King's Speech," here is the movie trailer to watch. If you watch the movie, keep your own tongue in mind as you watch the King struggle to tame his. If you're like me, you may see yourself in his struggle.

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it." ~Robert Frost

God Bless,

~ Good Hair Moment ~

2011-06-23T13:49:00.054-05:00

During my extended break from blogging, a lot happened in my life.

Some things good.

Some things bad.

Some things happy.

Some things very, very sad.

Such is life.

Early in 2009, one of my closest friends in life was diagnosed with cancer. It was a shock to all of us. Tricia was only 43 years old & married with 3 young boys. Her doctors decided that her treatment would need to be quick and aggressive, because of how advanced her cancer was.

During the beginning of her 6 week course of radiation & chemotherapy, we lost our beloved dog, Allie. Allie finally lost her battle with heart & kidney issues. Needless to say, we were devastated.

Just a few days after losing Allie, there was a knock on my door. It was a floral delivery person. I was shocked, because we have lived in our home for over 20 years, and have NEVER had flowers delivered before.

It was a beautiful arrangement in a vase with a card attached.

Imagine how touched I was to see that the card was from my sweet friend, Tricia. She sent flowers to comfort us, because she knew how much we loved Allie and how much we were hurting.

That sweet lady was going through the absolute worst time in her precious life, and she took the time to comfort us. Knowing how caring and thoughtful she always was, that did not surprise me, but it touched me all the same.

Only a few short weeks after receiving those flowers, my sweet friend lost her battle with cancer. She didn't even make it through the complete 6 weeks of treatment.

To say we were shocked would be an understatement.

Even now, I don't think I've fully comprehended that I won't get to see her beautiful smile again. Hear her infectious laughter. Or hug her just one more time.

I know that she is with our Lord in Heaven, and that she is 100% at peace. But those of us left behind, well, it's much more difficult to sort all of the feelings out.

Tricia was one of the few people that I've met in my life that I had an instant connection with. When I met her, I loved her. She was so accepting of me exactly how I am...flaws and all. (And bless my heart, I have many.) I, in turn, accepted her the same way. We "got" each other. Completely. I'm old enough to know that in this life...having a friend like that is a very rare blessing.

Life keeps us all so busy, that it's hard to make time for the people you really want to be with, but we managed a few times to carve out some alone time just to talk, share our pasts, and dream about our futures.

One night in particular, Tricia and I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then went to Barnes & Noble to purchase some books for our boys (of course), then we got a Starbucks while we were in the bookstore and sat outside together drinking our coffees while talking and laughing. Always laughing.

That night, we got so tickled as we shared things from our past with each other. We even found out that we had both gone out with the same guy (at different times, obviously) when we were younger, but we did not know each other then. It was so funny. She told me about her first love, and I told her about mine.

I told her that I had dated just a few boys when I was younger, and I wished them all well in their lives. But there was this ONE.....Well, let's just say, I shared with her the fantasy that the little 13 year old girl inside of me had. It's not that I wished horrible things for him, mind you, but I did have a fantasy that I would LOVE to see come true.

I told her how this boy named Bozo (not his real name, of course) had broken my heart as a young girl. He was my first love, and he tortured me all through my teenage years...literally right up until the time I met Shannon.

Tricia and I knew many of the same people, but she had never met Bozo before.

Even after marrying Shannon, one day out of the clear blue, Bozo called my mom at her work to ask about me. He told her that he had had a bad dream about me and just wanted to make sure that I was okay. My mother (in her infinite wisdom) told him that I had the most amazing life, with the most amazing husband, and two amazingly beautiful boys. (God love her for that.) He, of course, said, "Well, that's all I wanted to know. I just had a bad dream and wanted to make sure she was okay."

In case any of you are confused at this point in the story, let me translate what he said to my mother in plain "Bozoese" for you. "I'm calling to see if good ol' Amy is still available and just waiting on my call. See my wife has left me, and I need a date, because Heaven forbid I be alone for one evening." (Foreign languages can be so tricky to translate sometimes, but I'm fluent in Bozoese.)

I told Tricia that the 13 year old girl inside of me longed to run into Bozo one day. I imagined I would be with my family, and they would all look perfect...like they had been carved out of cream cheese or something. I imagined he would be single, alone, bald, and with any luck, extremely overweight with a good amount of hair growing all over his back and out of his ears. (Don't judge. This is my fantasy.)

In my fantasy I saw my family and I running into him at some social gathering, and he would see me from across the room...and eat dirt. He would feel like such an idiot for ever letting me go. (13 year old girls are very dramatic.) I, of course, would look alarmingly beautiful when all of this took place. (It is my fantasy after all.) I told Tricia that I wanted all of these things to happen just as I dreamed them up to be....and most importantly, my hair had to look good. I definitely wanted my hair looking great when he laid eyes on me. (Again, don't judge.)

We laughed out loud for a long time about my silly 13 year old girl fantasy. I said, "Tricia, I REALLY want my good hair moment one day." She laughed out loud (she had the best laugh) and said to me, "Baby, you'll have your good hair moment one day."

That was a couple of years before my sweet friend went home to be with the Lord.

The evening of Tricia's visitation was a very emotional one for every one that knew and loved Tricia. I was no exception. Knowing that I would be saying goodbye to one of my dearest friends was devastating.

So many people came to the funeral home that it was overwhelming and wonderful. Tricia was dearly loved by so many. When it was my turn to finally say goodbye to Tricia, her husband Frank walked with me up to the casket. Tears fill my eyes even now as I sit here typing these words. My precious friend was gone. It hit me like a tidal wave.

I completely lost it.

There were so many people inside the funeral home that it was very hot inside the building. I told Shannon that I desperately needed to get some air, so he walked outside with me. I needed some fresh air, and I needed to compose myself.

Our friends Michel and Bo came outside with us as well. All of us just in shock. Not able to comprehend that we had lost our friend.

As we were standing outside, all of a sudden, Michel looked at me and said, "Amy, your hair looks so good. It's really pretty."

Now if you've ever read this blog before, chances are you know I love nothing better than a good hair compliment, but it felt strange considering the circumstances that we were in. Nevertheless, I was still very appreciative of her kind words, so I said, "Well, thank you."

Not even 5 minutes after Michel said those words to me, I looked up, and saw Bozo walking out of the funeral home and coming my direction. I kid you not. I had not seen him in LITERALLY 20 years. I looked at him. He looked at me. And finally I said, "Bozo? Who are you here to see?"

He said, "I'm here to see my friend Frank, because his wife passed away."

I looked at him in complete shock and asked, "Did you know Tricia?"

He said, "No, I never had the pleasure of meeting her, I'm sorry to say."

I, of course, gathered my composure, and introduced him to my friends and my family. (Who all looked as if they had been carved out of cream cheese, I might add.)

We exchanged the normal awkward words that you do with someone you haven't seen in over 20 years (and that you used to date). Once again though, I just had to ask him, "And you NEVER met Tricia?" To which he replied, "No, I never had the pleasure."

All of a sudden, this feeling of joy and laughter washed over me. I could hear my sweet friend's laughter and feel her presence. After Bozo and I said our goodbyes, Shannon looked at me and said, "Well, God and Tricia gave you your good hair moment." He went on to say, "I can just picture Tricia up in Heaven elbowing God and saying, 'Hurry up!! He's walking outside the building now, make Michel tell her that her hair looks great!!"

Funny thing is, I could picture that too. In that moment, God gave me my friend back. For most of my life, I longed for that fantasy, and when it finally came true, it had nothing to do with Bozo....and everything to do with my sweet friend and God. Don't get me wrong, I loved that my hair looked good, but in all the ways I envisioned that fantasy taking place.....I could have never hoped for something that wonderful.

Only moments before, I was sobbing at the reality of never hearing Tricia's laughter. Never feeling her presence. But in that "Good Hair Moment," God gave her back to me.

It is a moment I will treasure as long as I live.

I'm so happy Tricia was there to share it with me.

I was humbled too, when I really realized how much God does listen to us. In the BIG picture, my 13 year old girl fantasy really did not matter at all.....but God knew it mattered to me. He knew it mattered to Tricia for me. He knew how much our friendship mattered, and He let us have that moment. I will never forget it.

I also realized, that if God cared enough to let the little 13 year old girl inside of me have her "Good Hair Moment," then the really important things in life that I prayed about on a daily basis, He already had covered.

"Be happy with the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." ~Psalm 37:4

There is not one day that goes by that I don't think of Tricia.

So many things have happened in my life over the last 2 years that I want to tell her about. I've even gone to the phone to call her....then I remember.

I really miss my friend, but thanks to the promises of God, I will be with her again one day.

Treasure the ones you love. Tell them that you love them. Because at the end of the day, they are ALL that matters in this crazy world we live in.

"I like her because she smiles at me and means it." ~Anonymous

"What this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." ~ Matthew 26:13

Soaring Gas Prices Lead To Desperation

2011-06-20T20:10:00.006-05:00

(I have had so much going on lately, that I haven't had time to complete a new blog post, however, I've managed to find plenty of time to ~~complain~~ think about how much it costs just to live in today's times. I've especially ~~complained~~ thought about the price of gas.

Last night as I was ~~complaining~~ thinking, I remembered an old post that I did about that very subject. Ironically enough, it is still very true today.

Even though the price of gas is not a funny subject at all, I hope this post will still make you smile.)

I don't know about your family, but the price of gasoline is putting a real strain on my family.

We live about twenty minutes "from town" so to speak, so just driving to the store uses up quite a bit of gas.

We thought about making our own ~~moonshine~~ fuel, but that is an awful lot of trouble. (Not to mention ~~illegal~~ dangerous.)

So instead of risking ~~the law being on our tails~~ being blown to bits, we thought of some different methods of gasoline conservation.

For example, I try to run my errands all at the same time so that I do not have to make unnecessary trips in to town.

We split the driving with other parents when our boys go to various activities at church or to spend the night with friends.

I've even started ordering some things we need over the Internet, because it is cheaper to pay the shipping and handling costs than it is to pay for the gas to drive to the nearest stores.

Shannon bought a car that gets right at thirty-two miles to the gallon to help keep our gas costs down, but we still spend a fortune in gasoline every month.

It's starting to look like Shannon and I are going to have to get our boys to help us get around.

Pretty soon we might have to park the cars and dust off the bicycles and the roller blades.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

(Of course, I am only kidding. Shannon and I would ~~definitely~~ never make our children pull us into town this way. We don't even have any roller blades ~~yet~~.)

Bible Study About Joanna

2011-06-12T18:19:00.018-05:00

This weekend, I opened up my email, only to discover this wonderful message. It was by a woman that had left a comment on my blog post about Joanna that I had written in July of 2008.

"Hi Amy! Your blog post on Joanna is still inspiring others in 2011! I found it searching about Joanna to teach a girls' Bible study in my home in India. The girls are all from Hindu or Sikh background. Later in the week I teach their moms the same lesson but with different applications.Thank you!"

I was so touched by her kind and encouraging words.
I have been feeling like I'm supposed to share more of these devotional posts on here, and that email was truly confirmation for me. So, I will be doing more in the near future. (Click here to see the Women of the Bible that I've shared so far.)

Until then, I wanted to share the post about Joanna again. I hope that it will encourage you in your own walk of faith.

Thank you to all of you that have encouraged me through this blogging journey; you all mean the world to me.

God Bless,
Amy

~

The woman that I read about in my devotional study book this week is Joanna.

This study is the first time that I have ever heard of Joanna. There is not much said about her in Scripture, but God does not have to use very many words to say so much, amen?

We are introduced to Joanna in the book of Luke.

Luke 8:1-3
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Being the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household, would have made Joanna a woman of high rank in Herod's court.

These verses tell us that Jesus healed Joanna, but we don't know "what" she experienced healing from, but her response to Jesus' healing touch was huge and personal. She gave herself to Jesus and His ministry. She, like the other women, followed Jesus wherever He went, and she supported him and his ministry from her own means.

The devotional that I am reading points out that Herod himself may have known about Joanna's personal story of healing at the hands of Jesus.

As with all of the other women that I have learned about in my devotional, there is always a certain part of each story that sticks out in my mind. This story is no exception.

Before I tell you what struck me the most, let me share the verses from God's Word that tells a little more about Joanna and the other faithful women that were with her.

Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

What strikes me so much about the story of Joanna is her faith and the faith of the ladies that she was with.
Think about it for a minute.......These ladies are telling the Eleven and some others what the angels had just told them to be true of Jesus and what had happened to His body, but the men did not believe them.

The Eleven did not believe them.

The Eleven who had been with Jesus all throughout His ministry.

The Eleven that knew Him personally.

The Eleven that loved Him.

Are the same Eleven men that thought that these women spoke words of nonsense.

But these ladies, including Joanna, spoke boldly in faith to the Eleven. They knew what they had seen with their own eyes, and they knew what they had heard with their own ears. They knew the peace that they felt in their hearts.

That is what strikes me the most of the story of Joanna; her complete confidence in Jesus.
Being married to the manager of Herod's household, Joanna was a woman very familiar with power. But she knew that the power she had been surrounded by in her wealthy lifestyle in Herod's court was nothing like the power she had found in Jesus.

It did not matter to her if others thought that she was just an hysterical, grieving woman, because she knew what the truth was. She knew Who the Truth was.

God honored her faithfulness by letting her be one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection.

So many times in our own lives and walk with the Lord, others don't believe us when we tell them something wonderful that God has done in our lives. If you go so far as to tell someone that God has promised you a miracle in any given situation, most times you will be looked at as someone speaking "nonsense."

But thankfully, God has given us the testimony of Joanna and her faithful friends for encouragement in our own walks of faith. What those faithful women told the Eleven about Jesus was one hundred percent true. The disbelief of the Eleven did not change a thing; these women knew the truth.

When God speaks a word into our hearts, we need to walk with that same faith. Others may not believe you, but that's okay, because you know what God spoke to your heart.

I have been confronted by someone in my past who tried to argue with me about this very topic. I shared with her a promise that God had made to me, and she told me very matter of fact that I was completely mistaken. She said that God would not promise me that because of decisions that Shannon and I had made in our past. I looked at her and said, "You can think what you want, and that is okay. The thing is, God told me about this promise, not you." She was quite speechless after that. And I will humbly tell you that was the first time in my life that I did not back down, and I did not let the devil use her negative comments to confuse me or make me question what I knew God had told me.

And several months later, God honored my faithfulness of believing His Word over the negative words of another. That same girl called me and apologized, because God had shown her that what He told me was completely possible, and that it lined up with His Word. She said that she realized just because God wasn't speaking to her in that same way, didn't mean that He wasn't speaking to me.

Our relationship with God is a personal one. So no other person can know (without your sharing) what God says to you. That is between you and God.

God speaks to each and every one of us differently.

Only Moses stood in front of the burning bush.

Only Jonah sat in the belly of a whale.

Only Daniel sat in the lion's den.

Only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood in the fire.

God speaks to us uniquely,and works through us all uniquely, because we are all unique. Not one of us are the same, nor will our walks with Him be the same.

So listen for God's Voice in your own life.

Look for His activity all around you.

Open your Bible and read it to see if what you are seeing and hearing lines up with the Word of God.

He will speak to you. You just need to open your heart, listen, and believe!

The devotional book points out how Joanna and the other women went to the tomb grieving, but left the tomb rejoicing.

Scripture tells us that we will experience that same type of joy. It may not come in "our" timing, but our joy will come in God's timing.

And it is a promise.

His timing is perfect.

Psalm 30:5
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

The devotional ends with a beautiful prayer that I will share with you.

"Lord, you laugh at the rulers and powers of this world who oppose you. Help me to realize that no evil, regardless of how terrible or prolonged it might be, can ever stand against you. Give me a greater sense of your resurrection power and majesty."

~ Make A Difference~

2011-06-09T07:45:00.036-05:00

Since our family rescued Daisy Dooley (you can click here to read that story if you missed it), we have been made keenly aware of the pet population crisis in this country.

We found Daisy when we saw her picture that a friend of ours had posted on Facebook from Pet Pardons.

Pet Pardons is a Facebook App. It is where "you can post a pet who is on death row (or in a no-kill shelter) to try & save them, or go to a pet's profile & click "Advocate" to share the pet on your wall & hopefully find the help they need. The more Advocates a pet has, the better chance they have of being seen by someone who can save them."

I made a Facebook page for Daisy Dooley (click here to see it) and now along with thousands of others, I work advocating for the animals found on the Pet Pardons site located here on Facebook.

Here's a link to a great article about Pet Pardons. Since Chris Hoar and Ashley Owen Hill launched Pet Pardons on December 24, 2010, over 3,000 pets have been saved through Pet Pardons!!!

People taking the time to ADVOCATE using Pet Pardons LITERALLY saved Daisy's life.

All of the sweet babies in shelters across the country deserve to know what it's like to be wanted and loved. They should know what it feels like to be part of a family.

Advocating is easy to do. It takes only minutes of your time. And it saves lives. Lives of boys and girls just like Daisy's.

There are literally MILLIONS of people on Facebook every single day. If each person only shared one animal, imagine how many pets would be seen & saved every single day.

I now work each day with Daisy Dooley's friends to help save more lives.

That's my mission. I can't do everything. But I can do this thing. Sharing their profiles and pictures from Pet Pardons is giving so many of these animals a chance at life and love.

They deserve that chance.

My family and I now hope for nothing more than to inspire others to want to make a difference in the lives of these boys & girls that are in shelters all across our country.

Please watch and share.

God bless.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Her Colors Are "Pink" And "Pink"

2011-06-07T08:41:00.050-05:00

If you've read this blog before, then chances are you have already met my sweet friend Melissa. I shared the story of how Melissa and I met in this post here.

We also went on a trip to the Mediterranean together. If you'd like to see all 87 the posts of that trip, click here. (And if you're interested in the nonsense that happened on that trip, I will have more posts about it coming sometime in the near future.)

Today, I want to tell the ten of you (well really nine of you, because Melissa already knows) that Melissa is getting married this Saturday night. On June 11, 20011, she will be marrying Patrick, the man of her dreams. Here is a picture of the happy couple.

Aren't they darling together?

Patrick "is from a good old Southern family with good old Southern values. You either shoot it, stuff it, or marry it."

They are getting married in the Northwest Passage area of the Memphis Zoo. For those of you that don't live near here, this is a gorgeous area of the Memphis Zoo where the Polar Bears and seals live. Click here to see more about the location.

If you've ever been around Melissa and me in a public setting (bless your hearts), then you've undoubtedly heard us quoting from Steel Magnolias, since it is one of our all time favorite movies to quote (hence the title of this blog post).

With her wedding coming up this weekend, our quoting of Steel Magnolias has been on the rise, much to my family's dismay, I'm sure. "How pretentious is this weddin' gonna get, I ask you?"

Even though "I'm not as sweet as I used to be," I'm really looking forward to the wedding and the reception. "It's going to be a great party." The Northwest Passage will "look like it's been hosed down with Pepto Bismol."

I am so honored to be included in Melissa and Patrick's wedding.

However, I do have ~~50 or so~~ a few concerns.

The first thing that I'm concerned about is the weather. This week in Crazyville we have been experiencing record breaking high temperatures. The kind that make you sweat. Profusely.

Add that to my second concern...I have to walk in heels. "In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight." And in these heels, I will have to walk down stone steps. In front of people. While sweating from the heat (see the above mentioned concern).

Melissa is so thoughtful that way.

Could ya'll pray?

Not that I'm complaining about this, mind you, I'm just concerned is all. "Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!"

As we all know, "There is no such thing as natural beauty." Which is the thing that concerns me the most about being in this wedding.

If you've read my blog before, then you probably already know that when it comes to dressing up, applying make up, and doing my own hair....left to my own devices.....well, let's just say....the result I achieve is not always a desirable one.

"The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."

"Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it is marchin' across your face."

It's going to take a village.

"But the bridesmaids' dresses, they are really beautiful." I just have that fear of people seeing me in my dress and saying, "Looks like two pigs fightin' under a blanket."

Could ya'll pray?

Melissa, "you know I love ya more than my luggage."

(P.S. If you're a true Steel Magnolias "Geek" like Melissa and me, leave a comment with your favorite quote.)

The Heartbreak of Poison Ivy

2011-06-05T09:41:00.028-05:00

Well, as I promised you all in my first post back (click here if you missed it), I am now going to tell all ten of you about the horrible, miserable case of poison ivy that I had to deal with this spring.

Edith Bunker once said (referring to another illness), "Oh, my, I hope it ain't as bad as the heartbreak of psoriasis." I don't know about that, but this case of poison ivy was pretty heartbreaking to me.

As the ten of you probably already know, I'm not one to complain ~~much~~ about things, but this experience caused me to complain ~~every single day for a month~~ a few times on Facebook, much to the dismay of my tens of friends on there, I'm sure.

It also led me to ~~threaten~~ have serious questions regarding my personal health care professionals. I felt like Joanna Stayton/Annie Proffitt in the movie Overboard saying, "Listen to me, medical people. ... I don't know who I am, but I'm sure I have a lawyer."

But I digress.

I'll just share the story and the pictures with you now, so you can ~~feel extremely sorry for me~~ see for yourself.

Shannon and I worked on cleaning up our land one weekend at the beginning of spring, and we both managed to get poison ivy all over us. NOT on purpose obviously, but nevertheless.....

However, as is par for the course in my life, I managed to get a much more serious case than Shannon did. We were both treated for the poison ivy on the same day, but my poison ivy had a mind of its very own.

A dirty, twisted mind.

I had poison ivy all over my body (please don't worry, I'm only going to show you the pictures of my arm), but it was REALLY HORRIBLE on my left arm. I noticed two days into this miserable case of poison ivy that something on my arm was different than the other parts of my body.

It looked like this....

Then the next day it looked like this....

As the days wore on, it continued to get worse.

I took pictures of it each day, so that I could text them to my family and friends. I wanted them to ~~share in my misery~~ know how I was doing.

By now, I'm sure you've all had enough.

I'll share this last one with you.....This was many, many, ~~many~~ days into the poison ivy misery that I experienced.

This is also after 2 Depo Medrol shots, 1 1/2 Medrol Dose Paks, 3 antibiotics (because the first one didn't work, & I had an allergic reaction to the 2nd one...but that is for another post), & 2 different strengths of steroids.

After so long on steroids, I am now in the process of trying to grow a beard, and my voice is deeper.

But I'm not bitter.

The poison ivy that was all over my body was your regular run of the mill misery. The poison ivy that was on my left arm, however, was cellulitis. Which as you have just seen...isn't pretty.

I'm better now. I just have what appears to be a shadow of it left behind on my arm. If you weren't looking for it, chances are, you'd never notice it. That, of course, will never happen, because if I see you, I will show it to you. ;)

Now, you may think I'm telling you all of this just to get your sympathy, but that's ~~very~~ not true. I'm telling you this for YOUR benefit. The next time you're at a party, and you find yourself talking to that person at the party that always has to OUTDO every single story they hear (you know the person I'm talking about), you can now tell them this story. You can tell them about the lady you know that had to suffer through "The Heartbreak of Poison Ivy." And not just any poison ivy, but the WORSE CASE OF POISON IVY EVER RECORDED.

There's no need to thank me. The enjoyment you will get from being able to tell my poison ivy saga to others and always outdo those "competitive" story tellers at parties is thanks enough.

More Google Search Words & Phrases

2011-06-02T06:09:00.039-05:00

Even though I took an over 2 year hiatus from writing on this blog, every day people are still led here from various entries of Google search words & phrases. Several years ago, I did a couple of posts about the different Google search words and phrases that people had typed in only to be led to my blog. (You can click here & here to see those posts.)

The letters in bold are the exact words that the people entered in a Google search. You can click on each of the phrases below to see the exact post of mine that their search words led to. I'm willing to bet that the majority of people that were led here did not find the information that they were looking for. Most of the time. ;)

"why are frogs in my toilet?"

(That really IS a great question for the plumber in my life; isn't it?)

"frog in the toilet"

"how to stop frogs from coming into toilet"

(These are really great questions, and ones I wanted answers to myself at one time in my life.)

"the woman with the issue of blood devotional"

(I'm sensing a theme here, and trying not to take it personally.)

"elephant ear wash"

(Don't even ask. My life is a series of one embarrassing situation after another.)

"jennifer anistons feet" (Not once, but 6 times?)

"aniston feet" (7 times. 7!?)

"jennifer aniston feet" (Are you ready for this? This was entered 78 times!! 78!)

(This is the only picture of feet on my blog. I shared with the ten of you that used to read this blog my personal battle of not being able to paint my toenails without getting the polish all over my toes. I had no idea that 78 strangers would also be staring at my feet.)

What's weird too, is I don't even like feet that are attached to grown ups. At all. Not even the beautiful Jennifer Aniston's feet. I'm sure as you're reading this 45 more people are landing on this blog with their desire to know more about her feet. I could see Googling about her hair, but her feet? Makes you wonder about people. Not judging, mind you, just find it interesting. Very interesting.

"cindy crawford" (And they got led to my blog? Must have been disappointing. Bless their hearts.)

Now last, but certainly not least, my new personal favorite:

"house wife peeing in the bathroom while plumbing"

(Thankfully, I don't have a picture to share with you about this entry. You're welcome.)

If this is the last time you ever want to read my blog, I completely understand.

Daisy Dooley's Rescue Story

2011-06-01T08:34:00.004-05:00

Since I've been away for over 2 years *gulp*, it's hard to figure out where to begin, but I've decided to begin with the most important thing that has happened in my life recently. (It's not the miserable poison ivy that I told you about in my first new post, but don't worry, I will get to that.) ;)
This is the story of how Daisy Dooley came into our lives. I originally wrote this for a lady that is putting together a book on personal stories of animal rescue, but since my story was longer than she could use, I decided to just publish it on Facebook instead. She offered to edit it, but I feel like if I took anything out, it took away too much meaning. So, now I'm going to share it here with you. Please read it & share it with your friends. We hope that our story will inspire others to make a difference in the lives of shelter pets all across this country. Thanks so much. ~Amy

It's funny how God works in our lives. While we see seemingly insignificant little "pieces" of our lives as they happen, He sees the "full picture."

The story of how Daisy Dooley came into our lives is very much like that.

Pieces of our lives that fit together to form a beautiful picture designed by God.

This is our story.

Just to give you a little background (at the risk of putting you to sleep), I love daisies. Always have. They are my favorite flower. I guess because they just seem so happy.

My name is Amy, and I'm married to Shannon. For many years, as a term of endearment, I have called Shannon "Mr. Dooley." The name Mr. Dooley comes from a funny scene in one of my all time favorite movies "Barefoot in the Park." But I digress.

I love to read, and I'm a sucker for alliteration. One day last year, I was browsing through the bookstore and came across a title that made me laugh out loud. The book was called "Daisy Dooley Does Divorce" by Anna Pasternak. Well, after what I've just shared with you, you can understand that I had to purchase the book immediately.

I, of course, didn't read it immediately. I actually didn't open it until many months later. At about the same time that I started to read the book, I told my friend Melissa about it, and the title made her laugh out loud as well. She got so tickled. She said, "Amy, if you ever get another dog, you HAVE to name her Daisy Dooley." I laughed at that thought as well. It would be the perfect name. I told Shannon what she had said, and he thought it was funny...and a perfect name too.

But see, at this time in our lives, getting another dog was not something we had ever even discussed. We were still grieving the loss of our sweet American Staffordshire Terrier named Allie Girl. We lost Allie about a year and a half before. She was our baby. Allie was 7 1/2 years old when she died from heart & kidney failure. The pain of losing her was still so great, that we didn't know if we'd ever be able to love like that again.

But God knew something we didn't. Little did we know that He was already busy putting the "pieces" of a beautiful puzzle into place for us.

I started to read the book that I mentioned to you on a Monday....the following Friday afternoon, I signed into Facebook just like I do 456 times every single day. This day, however, would prove to be quite different. As I logged on that particular day, the first thing I saw in my Facebook feed was a picture of this gorgeous dog.......named Daisy. My friend Judy Jacobs had posted the picture of Daisy from a new Facebook App called Pet Pardons. Pet Pardons is an app designed to promote animals on death row at shelters, or in no-kill shelters all over the country, and to help find them a forever home.

Above Daisy's picture were the words "Please help save Daisy the Dog." See, Daisy was scheduled to be killed Monday, January 24, 2011, but as I'm looking at her picture it is Friday around 4:00pm (closing time for the shelter) January 21, 2011.

I don't know how to explain to you the feeling that I had in the pit of my stomach when I saw Daisy's face. She reminded me SO much of our sweet Allie. And something inside of me said, "Call right now about that dog!" Shannon was not even home from work yet, and calling about getting a dog was not something I would normally ever do without speaking to him first. But again.....something said, "Call right now about that dog!"

So, I did.

A lady by the name of Ashley Owen Hill had posted Daisy on the Pet Pardons site, so she was the person that I had to call. I called and left a message with her just saying that I wanted to ask about Daisy.

I had so many butterflies running around in my stomach. I didn't know what to make of any of it, because I didn't even want another dog. My heart was still so broken over losing our precious Allie. But something inside of me kept saying...."She is yours."

And in my heart, I already knew that.

I already wanted her.

I already loved her.

As I sat waiting for Ashley to return my call and for Shannon to get home from work, I told our youngest son Daniel about the phone call I had just made, then, I showed him Daisy's picture. He took one look at her and said, "Momma, you have to call Ashley back again. Make sure she gets your message."

At about that same time, Shannon arrived home. He brought the mail in with him...there was a package. He set in on the counter, as I approached him. I looked at him and said, "I have to show you something and tell you what I've done." I proceeded to show him Daisy's picture and told him that I had called and left a message with Ashley.

He was just as shocked as me. And a bit overwhelmed.

But something inside him was telling him as well...."She is yours."

And in his heart, he already knew that.

He already wanted her.

He already loved her.

Then Ashley called. Basically, I shared with Ashley everything that I just shared with you. She told me that Daisy was a very sweet and friendly girl that desperately needed help. She was scheduled to be killed on Monday if Ashley could not find a home for her. I didn't find out until later, but Ashley told me that the area of Mississippi that she's in cannot allow any Pit bull or Pit bull Mixes to be adopted. They are always put to sleep, unless they are pulled by a Rescuer. The shelter does that in order to keep the dog from being adopted by Dog Fighters that would use the helpless babies as bait dogs. They figure, and rightly so, it is more humane to put the dogs to sleep, than to risk them being tortured by cruel, violent people.

Ashley and I continued to talk for a while. She ended the conversation by telling us to pray about the decision and to call her back the next day.

Shannon and I were just so overwhelmed with mixed emotions. Both of us "knowing" what we were "supposed" to do, but still so unsure about all of it.

As we were talking about adopting Daisy, I walked over to the counter to open up the package that Shannon had brought in from the mail box. Shannon said, "It's just so weird to agree to adopt a dog that we've never even seen in person." At that moment, I had opened the package. Inside the envelope was a plaque that my sweet friend Valerie had sent me. And on the plaque were these words from Hebrews 11:1...."Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Shannon and I looked at each other and just laughed out loud. What more was there to say. That was our answer.

God has an amazing sense of humor that way. His timing is impeccable.

So, needless to say, the next day we called Ashley and told her that we were definitely adopting Daisy.

Ashley pulled Daisy from the rescue that Monday and took her to the vet to have her checked out and spayed. She found out that Daisy tested "low" positive for heartworms. Although that was devastating to hear, we still knew she was "ours."

We spoke with Ashley several times that week. All of this was so new to us and we had so many questions for her.

One of the times we spoke, I just had to ask this one question that I kept thinking of over and over. I said to Ashley, "If you don't mind me asking, who named Daisy?" She replied, "I did. I can't explain why. I just looked at her and knew her name was Daisy." It was so amazing to me to realize God's hand in all of this. I always thought if we did ever get another dog, we would pick her out and name her Daisy ourselves, but God knew different. He picked our Daisy and named her for us. Maybe just to reassure us that, "Yes, SHE is your girl."

I also told Ashley that I looked forward to our spring daisies blooming in the front yard, so that I could take a picture of our Daisy in them.

We arranged to pick Daisy up the following Saturday. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive to get her, so the entire way there, we were just so excited.

When we finally saw her with our own eyes, we were overjoyed! She was so precious and so very happy to meet us. It was as if she had always been ours. There was not one moment of "adjustment" with her. I don't know how to explain it, but she was "at home" the minute she was with us. It was overwhelming and wonderful.

I sat in the back seat with her all the way home, and I could not take my eyes off of her. I was overcome with emotions. It's so hard to imagine that this precious girl just opened her heart to us with no hesitation. She had no reason to trust us....two complete strangers to her....but she did. With abandon.

We don't know really anything about her past....but based on what we could see and would soon find out...she had obviously been used as a breeder dog. And once she was no longer "useful," to her previous owners, she was dumped. Left alone to fend for herself...with a heart FULL of heartworms.

One week after bringing Daisy home, we almost lost her. She was coughing up blood, so I took her to the vet. He did an Xray of her heart and lungs. He called me in the exam room to look at the films, and even I could see it was very bad news. She had a case of heartworms much worse than the original rescue vet had diagnosed. Her heart was completely deformed from the amount of worms inside her. She had lost 25% of her lung capacity as well. She was very, very sick.

I asked the doctor what could we do. What should we do. He was perplexed, because this happy, sweet, healthy looking baby, that he could see with his own eyes in his office, did not match the Xrays that he was looking at. He said to let him keep her for a week. She would be on complete cage rest, and he would keep a close watch on her.

Having to leave Daisy for that week at the vet was one of the hardest, longest weeks of my life. I prayed for her constantly and could not stop crying. I ached for this precious girl that had never known the love of a family before and now that she had a family to love.....she was so close to losing her life. I clung to the verse on that plaque that my friend Valerie sent me. Hebrews 11:1... . "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I had to trust that God had brought this baby into our lives for a reason, and He was going to let her live and know what it was like to be loved.

And He did.

One week later, she came home. She was still very sick, but so full of love and life. You could tell she was just so happy to finally have a home. I sat by her side constantly for the next two weeks, because she had to have complete rest in order to survive the heartworm treatment. As I would hold her and just cry, she would lick my tears. She, the little girl that had been through such a horrific ordeal, was comforting me. This little girl had never been shown love before in her life.....but she so desperately longed to share love with us.

Loving Daisy has changed us....in ways that we didn't even know we needed to change.

After Daisy was through the worst part of her illness, I was able to take some time to think about what we could do as a family to help other boys and girls just like Daisy.

So, we started a Facebook page for Daisy. Without Ashley Owen Hill and the Pet Pardons Facebook App, we would have never known about Daisy, so now we work every day to spread the word about Pet Pardons. We want to spread awareness about the needs of shelter pets all over the country, and we also wanted to show people that Pit Bulls and Pit Bull Mixes make such loving pets. Society and the media have made them all out to be vicious dogs, and nothing could be further from the truth.

Pet Pardons creators Chris Hoar and Ashley Owen Hill and all of the people who use the Pet Pardons App work tirelessly every single day to save the lives of as many pets as they can. They also promote educating the public about the importance of having pets spayed and neutered, always adopting animals, and information on all kinds of preventive vet care. They have an amazing goal: To End ALL Euthanasia in American Shelters by January 1, 2015. My family and I want to work every day to help them meet that goal. (You can click here to go to Ashley's Lucky Dog Rescue Blog and read all about the work that she is doing.)

That's our rescue story. So many seemingly insignificant little" pieces" of our lives, that once all put together, formed one of the most significant "pictures" that God has ever created for our family.

God made my wish come true for a picture of our special Daisy sitting among the spring daisies too. That was a very special day for me....to see her sweet happy face surrounded by the happiest flowers on earth. I will never forget it.

People say we did a good thing by rescuing Daisy Dooley, because we saved her life.

Truth is, she saved ours.

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T08:53:00.007-05:00

My Grandfather served in World War II.

My Daddy served two tours in Vietnam.

My Uncle Danny R. Ayers followed my Daddy's example & served in Vietnam as well.

He did not make it home.

As we all know, freedom isn't free at all.

I want to say, "Thank you to all the men & women who have served our country & who are still serving to keep our country safe & free."

And to Danny, you are never forgotten. ♥

"And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. 'Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA." ~Lee Greenwood

"Before I speak, I have something important to say." ~Groucho Marx.

2011-05-28T12:40:00.011-05:00

Even though I've decided to start blogging again, I still have no idea what I'm going to write about. I'm touched that my mom & Liz are ~~pressuring me~~ excited for me to be back "in business," but I sit here and think to myself, "I've got nothing to say. What am I going to say to the ten people that will be hanging on to my every word?"

Oh, the pressure.

Okay, probably only two people hanging on to my every word, but still, you get my point.

So, this morning, as I was thinking about this dilemma of mine, I saw the "Verse of the Day" on the right side of my blog.

This is what it said:

Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." The LORD said to him, "...I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Exodus 4:10-12 (NIV)

How cool is that? It's like God knew what I was thinking? He's very clever that way, amen?" ;)

I love what Erma Bombeck (my hero) said about the time she wrote obituaries for the paper, "I was terrible at straight items. When I wrote obituaries, my mother said the only thing I ever got them to do was die in alphabetical order."

Mom & Liz, rest assured, you don't ever have to worry about anything being written in alphabetical order on this blog. ;)

I know eventually, I'll figure it all out. Like Charles Schulz (my other hero) said, "I think I've discovered the secret of life, you just hang around until you get used to it."

So, that's exactly what I'm going to do. One blog post at a time.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

2011-05-28T00:27:00.011-05:00

Are the ten of you that used to read my blog still here?

I'm back.

Of course, I didn't go anywhere (unless you count Walmart -which I never count), but I've been away from Bloggyville for some time. (Over 2 years, if you're counting -which I never count.)

I've been gone so long from this place, I feel like Rose remembering her time on the Titanic. "It's been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint."

Just ignore me.

I've finally decided that it's time to blog again. (My mom & my friend Liz pressuring me every day to start writing again might also have had something to do with it.) But I digress.

A lot has happened in my life, since I wrote my last post. Some good. Some bad. Some wonderful. Some very sad. But in everything that happened, God was with me, and for that, I'm very thankful.

I'll be back occasionally sharing my nonsense with you. (You'll REALLY enjoy hearing all about the case of poison ivy that I recently suffered through for over one long, long miserable month. I even have pictures. I don't want all ten of you to feel like you've missed out on anything.)

I also have many stories of what God has shown me in my life to share with you. He is always SO full of surprises, and He has the BEST sense of humor. Many times at my expense. ;)

It will take me a bit to figure it all out, but I hope all ten of you will join me once again.

I just know you're all excited!

And don't worry. I won't make all ten of you wait too long to hear about the poison ivy drama.

No need to thank me. It's my pleasure. ;)

God Bless,

It's Been A Long Time.......

2009-02-16T07:03:00.022-06:00

Testing. Testing.

One. Two. Three.

Is this thing on?

(Just ignore me.)

It has been a long time since my last post. During my blogging break, I had all intentions of getting loads of housework done, and finally living in Martha Stewart like conditions. But that didn't happen.

Instead of working around the house, I had to deal with more medical issues for myself (I am okay; Thank You, Jesus!), and two kids that have been (and still are) very sick with the flu.

I did, however, manage to spend some time with God. I read a great book by Donna Partow called "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture."

I learned a lot about myself while reading this book. I learned so much about God in my life, but the main thing that I have realized about myself is that I have SO much more to learn. This past year has been a difficult one for me physically, but it has really taken a toll on me emotionally. I have noticed things about myself that I am not proud of. Things about my personality that I simply don't like. I won't bore you with all of the nonsense that goes on in my head on a daily basis, but I will tell you this: I have noticed that instead of just facing people and situations that have hurt me head on....I just run in the opposite direction. I don't know why I do this either. It's almost like I'd rather have my toenails ripped off one by one than to have to deal with conflict of any kind.

I run from situations that make me uncomfortable like a scared rabbit, and I don't know why. I am in the process of spending more time with God and trying to figure this out.

As the tens of you who read this blog probably already know, I am a very visual learner. And in the book "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture," Donna Partow describes a scene from the movie Out of Africa.

I will share with you what Donna says about this particular scene from Out of Africa.

The following words in bold are Donna Partow's exact words.

The movie Out of Africa contains an interesting scene where Karen Blixen has just arrived in Kenya from Denmark and is completely clueless about life on the savannah. She is out walking, unarmed, when a lioness confronts her. As she stands there terror-struck, a wise hunter happens upon her and offers this advice from shouting distance: "Don't run, Baroness, or she'll think you're something good to eat." Baroness Blixen stares the lion right in the eyes, stands her ground, and sure enough, the lion walks away.

Yes, we have an enemy roaming around like a roaring lion, actively seeking someone to devour. But if we simply stand firm in the face of his attacks, he'll go roar somewhere else. We have God's Word on that: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7, italics added). We don't need to become obsessed with him, but neither should we ignore him. We should see him for the roaring lion that he is and respond accordingly: Don't run. Stand firm.

Don't run. Stand firm.

Those words really touched me, because only a week or so earlier.....I was running scared. Shannon and I were shopping in Walmart (where else?), and I saw someone from my past that I absolutely did not want to run into. I barely caught a glimpse of this person, and I grabbed Shannon's arm and immediately went in the opposite direction. I could not get us out of that store quickly enough.

How ridiculous does that sound? I have not done anything to this person to be ashamed of, but I ran anyway. I still don't know the answer to "why" I do that, but I love now having the visual of Meryl Streep staring down that lioness. The next time I find myself in that type of uncomfortable situation, I pray that I don't run. I pray that I stand firm.

1 Peter 2:23
"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."

Anyway, for now, I am spending more time trying to work on seeing myself from God's perspective, so that I don't get devoured, so to speak. And the only way that I can do that is to spend more time with God.

I have missed blogging, but I have needed the break from it to deal with all of my emotional nonsense. Hopefully, I will be back posting regularly soon, but until then, just know that I am a work in ~~very slow~~ progress. And, God willing, I'll be able to post about making progress with my emotional nonsense, amen?;)

Ephesians 6:10-12
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

God Bless,
Amy:)

A Blogging Break

2009-02-02T04:00:00.004-06:00

Starting today, I will be on a blogging break for a while. After all the months of back recovery nonsense that I have been going through, I have a lot of things that I need to finally try to accomplish around my home.

I pray God's blessings for all of you, and I'll see you soon.

In Christ,
Amy:)

1 Corinthians 14:40
"But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way."

Honest Scrap~ Part 2

2009-01-30T04:00:00.009-06:00

Now for Part 2 of Honest Scrap. If you missed Part 1 of this post, you can click *here* to see it.

6. I use the Proactiv System to help with my facial break outs.

I love it.

Before I started using Proactiv, I really struggled with embarrassing break outs. But after only a few weeks of using this system, my skin improved so much.

I personally think that my skin has never looked better. What do you think? ;)

7. I used to have a big mole on my face.

I always hated it. But I lived with it, until I was in the eleventh grade that is.

A ~~jerk~~ guy in my art class at the time drew a caricature portrait of me. It was very good, admittedly, but he made the mole in my portrait ginormous! I was so ~~humidified~~ mortified. I went home crying and begged my mom to take me to the doctor to have it removed. Which she did. Thank you, Mom!

Not long after I had that big thing whacked off of my face, a new girl was making a name for herself in the modeling scene. You may remember her....Cindy Crawford anyone?

And much to my chagrin, she was made famous because of the "beauty mark" on her face.

Sigh.

I was so far ahead of my time.

8. Once I tried to be helpful to a stranger, but it did not work out at all like I had planned.

See, my mom and I were driving by this house in Crazyville, and there were a lot of cows all on the property. And to me, it looked as if one of the cows was on the grass, way too close to the road. I didn't like the thought of someone crashing their car into that BIG animal, so I pulled over and got out of the car. I saw the farmer out near the house, and I went to tell him that one of his cows was loose.

It went something like this....

Me: (As I was walking closer and closer to the man) Excuse me sir, one of your cows is llllll...oooooo.....sssssss...eeeeee.

Farmer: (Said as he chuckled to himself) No it's not! I've got an electric fence all the way around the property.

Me: (Dizzy and numb from having just been shocked as I walked right into the electric fence) Just ignore me....I'm sorry that I bothered you.

*Sigh*

Needless to say, if I say a loose cow now, I just keep on driving.

And please, whatever you do, do not mention that I told you this story to Shannon. He falls over in a heap of laughter every time anyone mentions getting "shocked" or "cows on the loose" around him.

You know the old saying....."No good deed goes unpunished."

And just between you and me, till this very day, every time I see a cow, I swear my leg goes numb. ;)

9. After living in the boonies of Crazyville for almost twenty years, I now talk like a hick. I sometimes feel like a full blown hillbilly if you want to know the truth.

I catch myself saying words like a hillbilly all the time.

For example I will ask Shannon sometimes, "What did ya do that fer?"

Fer? You would think I was raised in a barn.

That being said though, one of my all time favorite movies is Coal Miner's Daughter. I love how Loretta and Doolittle Lynn talk. And much to my family's dismay, I imitate them both. A lot. And if that movie is on, I have to watch it. I cannot help myself.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the movie:

{the Webb children all receive new shoes, Loretta also receives a dress}
Webb child: Hey, how come she gets somethin' extry?
Ted Webb: Cause, your sister's become a young woman.
Webb child: Aww, she ain't no woman, she ain't nothin' but a dadburn kid.

{Loretta is seeing the doctor to see if she is pregnant}
Doctor: How you like married life, Loretta?
Loretta: Fine, 'cept me and Do is separated.

I could keep going, but I don't want the tens of you reading this blog to fall asleep before the end of this post. Just let me say, if you haven't seen this movie yet, run, do not walk, to your nearest Blockbuster store and rent it.

I'm just saying is all.

10. When I was about two years old, the lady that babysat me at the time, one day informed my parents that she believed I was retarded.

She thought I was retarded, because I could not do or say the same things that her kids could do or say. (Obviously, she was a little slow herself, because she didn't take into account that her kids were a couple of years older than me. But I digress.)

I'll give you an example.

My parents and I referred to my "private part" as my Beep-Beep. Well, the baby-sitter thought that was just ridiculous. She believed that all children should use "proper" terminology when referring to anything having to do with the body.

So, she insisted that I refer to my Beep-Beep as a vagina. Which, seeing as how I was apparently retarded, I could not pronounce correctly. So, instead of saying vagina, I would say "cagina."

And as if that wasn't bad enough, if I said that I had to go "Doo-Doo," she would have a fit. She insisted that I say that I needed to make a "Bowel Movement." Which, needless at this point to say, I also, could not pronounce. Instead, I would say, "I need to make a 'Bow Ma Mook.'"

Hence, why she thought I was retarded. Anyway, also needless to say, that was the last day that she ever baby sat me.;)

Well, if you made it all the way to the end of this long post, I applaud you and thank you!
And I would love all of you to take this Honest Scrap prize for your own blog and do a post of 10 honest things about yourself. No pressure though.;)

But, if you do this tag, please let me know, so that I can come to your blog and get my nosy fix on. ;)

Honest Scrap~ Part 1

2009-01-28T04:00:00.015-06:00

I was given this great prize last week from Sondre Lyn.

Sondre Lyn always says the sweetest things to me.

Thank you for thinking of me for this prize, Sondre Lyn.

Sigh.

The rules are as follows:1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

I am having a hard time thinking of ten things about myself that the tens of you reading this blog don't already know, but I'm sure I will come up with something.

Let me see.

Oh, yes, here we go.

1. I loved the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer.

Well, I loved most of them. I was SO excited to start the fourth book in the series. And I loved it up to a certain point, but then it started to just become ridiculous to me.

(Please, no tomato throwing.)

It got so bad that I could not even finish the book. I suffered my way through three fourths of the book, and finally, just gave up and skipped to the last chapter to see how it ended. And if you knew me at all, you would know that I usually have to finish a book if I start it.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Edward and Bella and their love story, but the last book was just too much for me.

I'm just saying is all.

I hope that we can all still be friends.;)

2. I don't like watermelon. At all. I think it is nasty! I know. I know. I am from the south; we are all supposed to love eating watermelon. I just can't do it. Sorry.

*ick*

3. I love to watch this new show called Ruby on the Style Network.

It is a show all about Ruby's journey to lose weight. My son Daniel likes to watch it with me. Ruby is so funny, and she has the best accent, evah. Which, unfortunately for my family, I love to imitate.

I think it is very funny when I talk like Ruby, but my family does not. Especially Daniel. He hates when I do it. Oh well, you can't please every body all the time, amen?;)

I found this clip on You Tube so you can hear her for yourself.

Daniel gets so humidified when I talk like Ruby in front of his friends. LOL!:)

Seriously, you can just ignore me if you want to.

4. I just recently joined ~~and have become addicted to~~ Facebook. This is my current default picture on Facebook.

Okay, that being said, a couple of weeks ago I received a friend request from a guy that I went to high school with. And attached to his friend request was a little personal message.

This is what his message said: "Holy crap, Amy, you look so different! How's everything going? It's been a long time."

Different?

What does that even mean?

I mean I know it's been a long time and all, but I look so different?

Who says that to an insecure woman that's about to turn 40?

Holy crap, I was SO humidified by that statement. ;)

5. Even though I am all grown up, about to turn 40, and haven't lived with my parents in almost 20 years, my mom still blames me for any and all items that she cannot find.

I'll give you an example of a typical "missing item" alert phone call.

The telephone rings.

I answer it.

Me: (Is this the party to whom I am speaking? *snort-snort*) Hello!

Mom: Amy, do you have my Tupperware lettuce keeper? I can't find it.

Me: No, Mom, I don't have it.

Mom: Are you sure? Because I thought you borrowed it once.

Me: No, Mom, I never borrowed it. I have my own Tupperware lettuce keeper.

Mom: Well, I didn't loan you my can opener, did I?

LOL!:)

The only missing thing that she doesn't blame me for taking is her Tupperware hair brush that she had been using for the last 30 years. She blames that on my uncle.;)

So, please, I urge you, if you see either one of these vintage Tupperware items.....

Please call me. ;)

I love you, Mom!

I'll finish up with the last five honest things about myself in my next post.

Until then.......

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 15

2009-01-26T04:00:00.009-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. Have you ever ridden a horse?

Yes, I have ridden on a horse. When I was a little girl my granddaddy had a horse he let me ride on. The horse was named Sugar.

And then there was this one time (I shudder even recalling it) when I was a teenager that I got on a horse. Only, I didn't know that you were supposed to hold on to the reins the whole time that you were riding on the horse. I learned this though as the horse ran us up in between two trees.

Shudder.

2. Have you ever run out of gas?

No. I have not ever run out of gas. I am the type of girl that is always paranoid about running out of gas. I think I'm practically on empty when I am down to only half a tank of gas.

I have a HUGE fear of running out of gas. I have nightmares about it even.

Of course, in my nightmares when I am running out of gas, I look like Jessica Simpson, and there are plenty of paparazzi around that are willing to help me......

....but, it still freaks me out.

3. How many different schools did you attend growing up?

Several.

I went to one school for kindergarten, where all did was sit, sit, and sit. LOL!:) (That's a little family joke, right Mom?)

Then I went to a small private Christian school from the first through eighth grade.

It closed down, so my parents sent me to another private school, which I hated for a solid year and a half. After a year and a half of complete and utter misery, I woke up one morning and informed both of my parents that I was NO longer going to go that *&$! hole anymore!

So, I proceeded to get myself enrolled in an optional program in a public school in the area. In order to go to this school, I would have to be accepted into their art program. I got my art portfolio together, made an appointment for my mom, dad, and I to meet the principal and art teacher, and I even arranged a ride to and from school for myself. (This is a true story.) I finished the last two and half years of high school at that public school, and I loved every minute of it!

And Mom and Dad, I'm sorry that I put you both through all of that stress, but thank God, it worked out well. As Matthew says all the time, "Romans 8:28."

4. Do you have, and use, a library card?

Yes, I have library card. I have used it, but not so much in the last six or seven months. But now that I am done with all of my bed rest nonsense, I will probably be a regular at the Crazyville library.

5. Hand-wash or dishwasher?

I hand washed dishes for the first thirty-five years ~~give or take~~ of my life.

Then one day, I just decided that I had had enough, and I demanded that my sweet husband get me a dishwasher.

And God love him, he did.

It was love at first sight.

Just between you and me, as soon as I laid eyes on that beautiful piece of modern machinery, I started to hear Etta James singing in my ears....

♫
"At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last"
♫

It's a love affair that I hope will last forever.

Sigh.

6. Does your alarm clock beep or play music?

Neither.

My alarm clock shakes me and says in a very sexy voice, "It's time to get up honey!" ;)

7. Do you know how to roller skate?

I used to go roller skating all the time when I was in the fifth and sixth grade; I could roll with the best of them. And I was obsessed with the movie called Roller Boogie. Do you remember it?

It was like Saturday Night Fever on wheels. I loved it; it was SO romantic. You just gotta love the seventies, amen?

Anyway, the last time that I went roller skating was when my boys were little. It had been a looooong time since I had been on roller skates, and I don't know if it was just me, but the skating rink floor seemed really slippery. Like ice or something.

I put on my skates. Stood up. Fell down. Stood up again. Made my way to the ~~ice~~ rink and attempted to skate with my son Daniel.

Unfortunately, the whole experience did not play out like I had planned. After about 2 1/2 seconds on the ~~ice~~ rink, I started to go down. I panicked a bit. I grabbed for my son and took him down with me.

It was SO embarrassing. And dangerous for all involved. I have since retired from the sport.

8. What would you consider one of your biggest accomplishments?

I guess that I would have to say that my biggest accomplishment is homeschooling my boys for all of their school years so far. Matthew is in the eleventh grade, and Daniel is in the eighth.

Some years were so difficult for all of us, but we stuck with it. We didn't give up. And as a family, I feel like this a HUGE accomplishment.

The first years were the most difficult for me personally, because of all of the criticism that I faced from family, friends, and other home school families. I sometimes felt like a pioneer, of sorts.

Looking back on the comments that caused me so much confusion and doubts is very funny to me now, but at the time, it was very difficult. Sometimes home school moms can be quite the judgmental bunch, and I felt the judgment many times. I found this cartoon that I absolutely could have written myself many years ago.

If you are a home school mom (or even if you're not), I hope that this will make you laugh out loud like I did.

Google Search Words And Phrases ~2

2009-01-23T04:00:00.004-06:00

Several months ago, I did a post about the different Google search words and phrases that people had typed in only to be led to my blog. (You can click here to see that post.)

Well, over the last year I have been writing down the different ones that really jumped out at me, and now, I am going to share some of them with you again.

The letters in bold are the exact words that the people entered in a Google search. You can click on some of them to see the exact post of mine that their search words and phrases led to. Some of the words and phrases just led to my blog in general. I'm willing to bet that the majority of people that were led here did not find the information that they were looking for most of the time.

I'm just saying.

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorites......

"my life is a really big mess right now and thank you for being a friend"

I feel your pain.

"there is no such thing as natural beauty"

Amen to that, sister! ;)

"jennifer aniston's feet"

"jennifer aniston's feet being tickled"

Poor things.

"uh baby what you done to me you make me feel so good inside"

I'm glad that I could help. ;)

"cow pie cakes"

Just ignore me.

"Christina Applegate-nude-naked-porn"

"filled her pants"

"my dress really had to pee"

With search words like these, it makes you wonder what kind of blog I have here; doesn't it? You know what, don't answer that. Thanks!

"the griswald's blogspot"

We're not the exactly the Griswald family, but we are definitely related. LOL! :)

I love these two entries that came from people in India:

"I am on life make me woman last day"

"hark to knows the angel see"

Bless their hearts.

"hair and make up for evening wear"

"make and hair trips"

I think they came to the right place for hair and make up trips, amen?;) LOL!

"elephant ear washer"

That is the single most googled phrase that leads people to this blog. I get at least one or two people every single day that are apparently looking for information about the elephant ear washer. You should do a post about it on your blog, and see if you don't get the same response.

Here are some more phrases that I see almost every single day as well, especially from people in Florida.

"how do I keep frogs out of the toilet?"

"nasty frogs in my toilet"

"frogs keep showing up in toilet"

I like to tease Shannon that this blog is not only entertaining, but it is also educational. From our terrible frog in the toilet experience (shiver), we are helping tens of people keep frogs out of their own toilets.

And last, but certainly not least, my personal favorite........

"kid rock's favorite sandwich"

Don't judge.;)

"I'll Watch The Movie"

2009-01-21T04:00:00.008-06:00

For today's post, I am going to share with you something that my son, Matthew, posted on his Facebook page last week. I pray that his words bless you as much as they blessed Shannon and me.

"I'll Watch The Movie"

I was just listening to a Switchfoot song, and I started to really try to understand the lyrics. Here's the important part:

Nothing but a chemical in my head
It's nothing but laziness
Cause I don't wanna read the book
I'll watch the movie
Cause it's not me
I'm just like everybody else my age

I think I'd rather play around
And I think I'd rather watch TV
Cause I don't wanna face my fears
I'll watch the movie
Cause it's not me
I'm just like everybody else
I'm just like everybody else

It's about the tendency of us as teenagers to blame our passiveness, our laziness, our inability to put effort into anything on the fact that we are teenagers, that we're human. We don't want to read the Bible everyday; we'd rather "watch the movie." We'd rather take the easy way out: show up at Church, hear (but not listen to) what the speaker says, give the most sincere sounding answers to direct questions, and move on with our lives Monday through Saturday.

I say this because it's exactly what I have found myself doing many a Sunday. I've also seen something else in me: discontentment. Lack of peace with my life that always accompanies just "watching the movie." Lack of faith in my ability to carry myself through the week. The feeling that no matter what I do, whether it be doing schoolwork, watching TV, listening to music, talking to friends, or just taking a nap, I cannot improve my mood. I cannot boost my confidence. I cannot do anything on my own (or even with the help of others) to make this life livable.

But when I do turn off the movie and pick up the Book, that contentment and peace that I've been missing, that faith in the fact I'm going to survive this week, that feeling that not I but He can do something to give me exactly what I need, returns. Tom just talked about this this Sunday, and he's right. He's dead on. Nothing in this life will ever do you good like finally getting into the Word: nothing. I know that sounds like such a "church" thing to say, but it's the truth. It's as true as it gets. I've never found anything to be so true in my life.

James 1:22
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Matthew also suggested that I share the song with you, so if you're interested, take a listen.
God Bless,
Amy:)

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 14

2009-01-19T04:00:00.004-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. Do you like scary movies?

Very much! Scary, suspenseful type movies though, not gory! I like to be on the edge of my seat, but I do not enjoy blood bath type movies. They make my stomach sick.
Here's a preview of one that I really love. It's creepy......

Shudder.

2. What kind of cell phone do you have?

Compared to all of the new fancy phones that everyone else is carrying these days, my cell phone is very similar to a World War II walkie talkie.

I'm just saying.

3. Do you have a passport?

Yes, I do. I had to get one to go to the Mediterranean with Melissa. And thankfully, it has a much better picture of me than my driver's license does. But that is for another ~~embarrassing~~ post.

4. Has anything sad happened in your life this week?

Not this week. Thank You, Jesus!

5. Have you ever broken any bones?

Although I apparently tried many times throughout my childhood (my parents even nicknamed me "The Emergency Room Kid," because I always seemed to end up there), I never broke any bones.

Okay, well that's not entirely true, but let's just keep this between us, Mmmkay?

I did fall this one time and ~~sort of~~ fractured my tail bone when I was about 10 or so. (I try not to think about it, because even at that young age, it was very humiliating to have an x-ray of my bottom on display for the entire emergency room department to gawk at. But I digress.) I had to sit on a pillow for quite a while after the fall, until my tailbone healed.

It still bothers me even now that I am ~~almost 40~~ older. When the weather changes, it really hurts. I have even been to known to predict the occasional snowfall. Shannon likes to tease me about it. He calls my weather prediction ability: Rectal Radar. LOL!:)

You know what, let's just forget that I even mentioned this, okay? Thanks!

6. Did you do anything this week that you don't normally do?

No. All I did was light house work followed by five to six hours a day of bed rest (with good hair). But I am very pleased to tell you that I only have one more week of bed rest to go, and then, God willing, I will be back to normal! Yay, me!

7. What's the worst thing you ever had in your wardrobe?

As the tens of you who read this blog already know, I have had many fashion and hair related mishaps over the years.

But the only one that I can recall off the top of my head (and that I have photographic evidence of) was my snazzy Hee Haw overalls.

It was apparent from early on in my life that being remotely fashionable was going to be a struggle for me.

8. Did you have braces on your teeth?

Yes, I did have to wear braces on my teeth. I wore them for two and half long, long, long ~~emotionally~~ painful years.

Sigh.

Every time I see that picture of me, it makes me think of Josie Geller.

Bless both of our hearts.

The teenage years were painful.

An Interview By JanJanMom

2009-01-16T04:00:00.016-06:00

I have been asked to answer some questions by JanJanMom at the All in a Day's Work blog. And by asked, I mean that I asked her to ask me.

Don't judge. It's all in the name of blogging fun.

Before I share with you the questions and answers though, you have to read what she said about me first.

She said: Amy-I'm a honey (this is what I thought your blog site meant for an embarrassingly long time).

LOL!:)

Well, even though Shannon thinks that I am a honey (thank goodness), it's really just A-for Amy, followed by Mahoney- my last name. And JanJanMom, don't feel embarrassed at all. My best bloggy buddy, Shelly, thought the same thing about me.;)

Sigh.

Okay, now for the questions and answers. Here we go.

1. What is the most challenging thing about a long recovery?

Aside from not always looking my personal best.......

I would have to say that the hardest thing for me, personally, has been the feeling of uselessness. It is very difficult to need so much help around the house. I am still not used to it. And I feel very badly about all of the added responsibility and pressure that my long recovery has put on Shannon. He has handled it with so much grace and compassion though, that I have been blessed beyond belief to see him shine through this whole experience. So for that reason alone, I would not change one thing that we have been through. God has used this trial to bring us even closer together, and for that, I am truly thankful.

2. What is the best Christmas gift you ever gave?

The best gift that I have ever given anybody would have to be the ring that I gave Shannon for Christmas several years ago. I gave it to him when we were both still healing from some difficult times in our marriage. (I wrote a little about that time here.)
Anyway, the ring has the Bible verse Song of Solomon 6:3 on it. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."
During that time I was still unable to "show" Shannon how I felt all of the time, so I gave him the ring as a "physical" and "visual" reminder of my love for him.
The verse has even a little more special meaning to us personally, because my name, Amy, means "beloved."
Shannon was so moved by the gift, that when he opened it up that Christmas morning, his eyes filled up with tears. It meant (and still means) so much to him.
Last year we found the exact same ring for me, so now we have a matching set.

Please just excuse our winter dry skin. Sigh.

3. What do you say to a grieving family at funeral home visitation?

Not very long ago, I had to go through this very thing with a family that I dearly love. The only thing that I could do was hug each member of the family and tell them how sorry I was for their loss, and that I loved them.

4. Tell about the best way you have found to keep "smart alec backtalk" from your children out of your life.

Just kidding.

5. If a group of 20 people were coming to your house for dinner, what would you make to feed them?

The first thing that I would do is tell Shannon to take his shirt off and fire up the grill. ;)

Seriously, just feel free to completely ignore me.

Shannon and I would probably cook up a bunch of chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs and serve some french fries or chips and dip too. For dessert we would have a lot of chocolate chip cookies and maybe some chocolate pudding pies.

We would most definitely break out our finest paper plates and Solo cups (with a Sharpie to write our names with) too. We are very classy that way. ;)

Well, folks, that is all of my blogging nonsense for today. If you would like to be interviewed by JanJanMom or me, leave a message in my comments section, and JanJanMom or I will come up with some kind of nonsense to ask you about.;)

Chocolate Pudding Pie

2009-01-14T04:00:00.004-06:00

~If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.~

Far be it for me to interfere with the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry, so in the hopes of keeping that garment industry afloat, today I am going to share with you one of Shannon's (and my) favorite chocolate desserts.

Here is everything that you will need to make this deliciously easy dessert.

(I use Stable Milk that we get in our Angel Food Menu; it works so well for cooking, and that way we don't use up all of the boys regular drinking milk. But obviously, you can use regular milk. Click here if you would like to find out more about Angel Food Ministries. I know I say that all the time, but it really is a wonderful program.)

The recipe that I follow is found on the side of the Jello Pudding box.
We like a FULLER pie, so we use two boxes of pudding to make one pie.

(Remember, my bloggy buddies, that all of the people who work in the control top pantyhose section of the garment industry are counting on us to eat plenty of chocolate, so go ahead, and use two boxes of chocolate pudding to make your pie too.)

So, with that lecture, the first step in making this chocolaty lover's goodness is to dump TWO boxes of Jello chocolate pudding mix into a large mixing bowl.

Then I pour 2 3/4 cups of milk into the mixing bowl.

Now it is time to mix both of those ingredients together with a wire whisk for about two minutes.

When it looks like this, I know that I am ready to move on to the next step.

I pour it into the graham cracker crust. Like so.

Once all of the pudding is in the pie crust, I just smooth the pudding out evenly (or as evenly as I can get pudding).

It should look something like this.

Then I ~~very carefully~~ place the plastic lid that comes with the graham cracker crust on top of the pie.

And place it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours (or until it is firmly set).

After the pie is safely in the refrigerator, it is time to ~~stick my finger in~~ clean out the mixing bowl.

I usually like to ~~lick all of the chocolate off of my fingers~~ rinse the bowl out before I stick it into the dishwasher.

After the pie is firmly set, I cut it into eight slices. Then I put a slice on a plate, and just for fun (and for the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry), I also like to add a little dollop of whipped topping to my slice of pie.

Mmmmmmmmmm!

It's easy.

It's delicious.

And remember, when you eat this pie, you are not only enjoying chocolaty goodness, you are keeping the entire control top pantyhose section of the garment industry afloat.
So, you should feel really good about yourself while eating this pie. So good, in fact, that you should probably go ahead and have two slices.

I'm just saying.

~Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can.~

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 13

2009-01-12T04:00:00.016-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. What's your 'dream machine' - as in vehicle? Do you think you'll ever own it?

I am not a "car" kind of person at all, but since you asked, if I could pick any car it would have to be a black Lexus SUV. Like this one.....

And at this point in my financial future, no, I don't think I will ever own one.

Sigh.

2. Can you water ski?

Uhmmmm, no!

3. What kind of milk to you prefer?

We usually all drink fat free milk.

4. Have any of your pet peeves 'gotten your goat' this week?

So far so good in the pet peeves department this week. But come back next week and ask me again, and you might get a completely different answer.

I'm just saying.

5. How do you prepare your taxes? HR Block, Turbo Tax, by hand - or does someone else do it for you?

I have a hottie that I'm totally in love with do my taxes. ;)

And he always uses Turbo Tax.

And all he charges me is one kiss, but I usually give him several. ;)

*Sigh*

6. Did you start a workout program this New Year?

Since I have been down for the better part of six months due to all of my back nonsense.........

I am very excited to be able to workout again. I have always loved riding my recumbent bike and walking to my Leslie Sansone DVDs.

And even though I am still spending several hours ~~okay, six~~ in bed each day, I am finally able to ride my bike again, but due to my bad back, I can no longer do Leslie's DVDs. She does a lot of knee lifts and kicks, that are not safe for me to do anymore. So, my sweet hubby bought me a treadmill for Christmas. I can walk without worrying about hurting my back any further. And I can also watch all of my shows saved on the DVR while I walk on it.

I love it!

Thank you, Shannon.

7. Do you have a certain meal that you cook each and every week?

Earlier in our marriage I made spaghetti every single week, but not so much anymore. And now that we get the majority of our food from Angel Food Ministries, we have a lot more variety in our meals.

But we do have a family favorite that I try to make on a pretty regular basis. It is chicken fajita salad like they make at the Mexican restaurant Panchos.
It looks a little something like this.....

I, of course, usually skip the pink table cloth and flowers, but you get the idea. It is a family favorite, because we can each build our own salad to make it how we like it individually.

And it is very, very yummy!

8. When do you normally write your blog posts?

I don't have a normal writing time, per se. I just write whenever the ideas come to me for a post. There is absolutely no method to my madness.;)

A Lemonade Award

2009-01-10T04:00:00.001-06:00

I received a very special award from my bloggy buddy Much2Ponder at the In Case You Were Wondering blog.

The purpose of this award is to give it to someone who is showing gratitude or a good attitude ("if life hands you lemons, make lemonade") within their life or blog.

Here is what Much2Ponder said to me regarding this award:
"Amy...at In My Life I choose you because of all you have gone through in the short time I have known you. You always have something to laugh about and that not only makes your days go better, but all who come in contact with you that are willing to take the time to pay attention. Thank you."

Thank you so much for those sweet words of encouragement to me.
My cup runneth over.

"Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on." ~Bob Newhart

Frugal Fun Friday~Part Three

2009-01-09T04:00:00.001-06:00

It's that time again! Time for more Frugal Fun Friday homemade cleaner recipes. I know that you are all just so excited, so let's get right to the fun.

Seriously, just ignore me.

The recipe for this cleaner (just like the previous two that I shared with you) came from the cookbook that you see in the picture below.

Today, I am showing you how to make your very own homemade All Purpose Cleaner.
Here is the simple recipe that I followed.

Here is a picture of everything that I used to make this cleaner. And, once again, I did not have a "formal" gallon container for cleaners, so I just used another old tea jug that I had in the kitchen.

The first ingredient that I added was one cup of ammonia.

The second ingredient that I added was 1/2 cup of vinegar.

The third ingredient that I added was 1/2 cup of baking soda. I just measured it and poured it in, like so.

And last, but certainly not least, it was time to add the water. I just filled the rest of the container to the top.

Then I gently shook the container to mix all of the ingredients together. It's always a good idea to make sure the lid is screwed on tight before you start gently shaking the container.

I'm just saying is all.

After everything was all mixed together, it was time to pour the cleaner into the spray bottle. Once again, I used a funnel for this particular maneuver. (Not that I have ever tried doing it without a funnel and made a mess, of course. But I have heard stories.)

As you can see, I clearly labeled my spray bottle with the words "All Purpose Cleaner." That way I won't accidentally use it to re-wet my hair. (Not that that has ever happened to me, of course, but again, I've heard stories.)

They're sure housework won't kill you, but why take the risk? ~Author Unknown

A Romantic Date In Crazyville

2009-01-07T04:00:00.008-06:00

For Christmas, Shannon took Scarlet and me on a romantic date in Crazyville.

It was lovely.

We started out by having lunch at the Olive Garden.

Scarlet was snuggled up by the fireplace while Shannon and I ~~gorged on~~ ate our delicious lunch.

We started our lunch with some of Olive Garden's famous salad.

It was So wonderful.

We ate all of it.

Don't judge.

For the main course I chose Linguine with Marinara Sauce.....

And Shannon chose a dish (which I, of course, cannot remember the name of) that was really delish. It was chicken and steak kabobs, with fried potatoes, and vegetables covered in a basil type paste.

Oh. My. Word.
It was SOOOOOOOOO delish, that I was forced to eat most of Shannon's order.

Don't judge.

I couldn't help myself.

Of course, no date with me is complete until I have spilled something, or until I have gotten food on my clothes.

This date was no exception.

There was marinara sauce all over my top.

*Sigh*

And as if wearing my marinara sauce wasn't embarrassing enough, the waitress walked up right as I was taking the picture of the sauce on my shirt.

*Sigh*

She looked at me as if I were nuts, and then she asked me, "Did you just take a picture of your shirt?"

To which I replied, "Well, of course. Doesn't everybody?"

(She was obviously not a blogger. I'm just saying.)

Luckily for me, Shannon still loves me even though I tend to be quite clumsy and messy.

*Sigh*

After our ~~messy~~ romantic lunch, we headed to the movie theater. I let Shannon pick the movie this time, since the last movie that we went to see, I chose.
Click here if you want to read more about that.;)

Shannon chose the new Brad Pitt movie called The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

It was a lovely movie. We heard many people after the movie saying that they thought it was "weird," but we really loved it. It was full of so much wisdom.

Here is the movie trailer.

The character of Benjamin's mother really touched me so much personally. She was so wise. I loved her outlook and attitude towards life. She was just very accepting of all the events in her life. Good or bad. She always told Benjamin, "You never know what's coming for you."

There was one scene in particular that really moved me. Benjamin was very upset about his "condition," and he was crying as he asked her, "What's wrong with me, Momma?" To which she simply replied, "God hasn't told us that yet." She didn't worry about what was wrong with Benjamin, she just trusted that with God, he would be all right.

I told Shannon that I want that to be my attitude. When difficulties come my way, I fuss, fret, complain, cry, get over myself, then I finally accept God's Will. I want to skip all of those steps and just simply trust God. I am a work in progress. Slow, slow progress...but progress all the same, amen?;)

Anyway, we loved the movie. I realize not every one will love it, but I highly recommend that you see the movie and decide for yourself.

Now, as you know, no trip to the movies would be complete without me visiting the ladies room and finding something interesting.

Here is what I found during my time in the loo.......

Me too, sister! Me too! LOL!:)

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 12

2009-01-05T04:00:00.011-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. If you could have done something different in 2008, what would it be?

While in Sicily, I would have had a second cannoli.

Mmmmmmmmmm.

2. What is something that you know will happen in 2009?

I love what Benjamin Button's mother in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has to say about the future: "You never know what's coming for you."

I'll have a little more about that movie on my Wednesday post.

3. What is something that you hope will happen in 2009?

I have several things that I would like to see happen in my life, but I won't bore you with all of that nonsense. However, once my back is all healed, I hope to finally get my house completely organized and keep it clean all year.

Shannon is all for this hope of mine. ;)

4. Do you already have a vacation planned for this year?

Shannon says that I have done enough traveling for a while.

But I may try to get back to the Mediterranean in another 38 years or so. ;)

5. Are you relieved that the holidays are over?

I am glad for life to get back to "normal," but I have to admit, I will miss listening ~~and singing along~~ to my Christmas music all the time.

6. Did you make a resolution? Will you share it?

I have many things that I want to improve on this year in my life, but it is basically a long, long, long, very boring list. And since I don't want to put the tens of you who read this blog completely to sleep, I won't be sharing that today.

I will, however, share something that I saw on my friend Amy's Facebook page that really spoke to me. It is a quote from Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and it is full of wisdom that I hope to carry with me through 2009.

So without further ado, here it is:

Once we settle the issue of why we’re living, all of life takes on a different perspective. Once we settle the issue that:

It’s not about me.
It’s not about my convenience.
It’s not about my comfort.
It’s not about my happiness.
It’s not about who likes me, who accepts me.
It’s not about, “Am I fulfilled in what I’m doing here in life?”
All that matters is that God is glorified, that He is pleased with my life.
Then we can endure and bear up under circumstances and challenges that we might not otherwise be able to face if we know that, “My sole purpose for living is to bring glory to God.”

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

7. How old will you turn in 2009?

But let's just keep that between us, Mmmkay?

8. What did you do to celebrate the New Year?

I got all dressed up and beautiful......

...and rang in the new year with my sweet hubby at home! ;)

Just a few more things.

There is an awesome giveaway going on at $5 Dinners.com. If you are interested in winning a $25 Kroger gift card, hop on over here and enter the contest.

Nikowa at the Knowledge House Academy blog is also having a book giveaway. If you would like to win a book, click here to enter.

And last, but certainly not least, don't forget to click on the link on my side bar that says: Angela's Birthday Bash. She is giving away a prize every day this week in celebration of her birthday at her blog called Becoming Me.

Good luck to all of you!

♫ Happy Birthday, Dianne! ♫ (And Happy New Year!)

2009-01-01T04:00:00.016-06:00

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday." ~Charles Lamb

Happy New Year, everyone!

It's exciting to start a brand new year. I don't know about you, but I am praying that this year is less eventful for me and my family than last year was, amen?

And today, is not only the beginning of the New Year, it is also the "actual" birthday of my very special blogging friend, Dianne. If you have not already, hop on over to her Deez Dayz blog and wish her a "Happy Birthday!"

So, without further ado, please join me in singing "Happy Birthday" to my sweet friend, Dianne.

♫
"Happy birthday to you;

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, Dianne;

Happy birthday to you."
♫

Happy Birthday, Dianne! I pray for you a day that is as special as you are! (Ag shame, my skattie!)
Much love,
Amy:)

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." ~Lucille Ball

Christmas In Crazyville

2008-12-26T07:19:00.006-06:00

"Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts." ~Janice Maeditere

"Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles." ~Author Unknown

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 11

2008-12-19T05:40:00.021-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. What pain reliever do you swear by?

The kind that they give you in the hospital. ;)

2. Have you gotten up-to-date with a flat screen HDTV?

Yes, we have. All the better to see Tristan with I like to say. ;)

(Psst, Tina, have you watched the movie yet?)

3. Have you honked at anyone lately?

Not really. Mostly people just honk at me.

So, I just yell out the window, while waving wildly, "Go around, go around!"

Seriously, just ignore me.

4. What is your favorite household product?

I love all of my Swiffer products. They are wonderful.

Without the help of these little miracle workers.....

.....My sweet little house might be taken over by dust bunnies.

5. What is the earliest you've gotten up this week and why?

I get up early almost every morning with Shannon. The alarm usually goes off by 4:30am. But we usually stay in bed until 5:00am. Why so early you may ask? Well, watch this clip and you'll find out. (It's only 30 seconds long.)

LOL!:) I'm just teasing, Shannon. You know my world revolves around you.;)
I love you, Baby!

6. Do you travel out of town for Christmas?

No, we just spend Christmas in Crazyville with our family. But when I was a little girl, we used to spend Christmas with my granddaddy at his house.

I loved him.

And he loved me.

*Sigh*

7. Have you been listening to Christmas music? (Favorite?)

Yes. I listen to Christmas music every single day from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I love all Christmas music. Here are just a few of the songs that I love to sing along to. Much to my family's dismay, of course.

8. When do you exchange gifts with family?

We open some gifts on Christmas Eve, but mostly we wait until Christmas Day.
However, the most important gift of all on Christmas, you must simply open your heart for, and you can open it at any time.

Luke 2:11
"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Merry Christmas to all of you!
God Bless,
Amy :)

A Christmas Tag And An Award

2008-12-18T04:00:00.016-06:00

I got tagged for this Christmas MeMe by Much2Ponder at the In Case You Were Wondering blog, and Sondre Lyn at the Sondre Lyn blog.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Neither. But a Starbucks coffee would be just perfect.

Cold......

Or hot.....

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

It depends on the size of the gift. But this year since both of our boys want cash, we might just be passing out envelopes. LOL!;)

3. Colored lights on house/tree or white?

Both.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

You know that I do.

*Sigh*

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Usually right around Thanksgiving. Sometimes before. Sometimes after.

And speaking of decorations, as part of our Advent celebration, this past Sunday, Shannon and I made a gingerbread house with the boys. And since my mom really wanted to see it, I am going to share some pictures of it with you.

We called it the "Gingerbread Shack." ;)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Broccoli Casserole. Here is the recipe in my mom's handwriting.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?

Unlike my own children, I loved when my parents would take me driving around Crazyville to look at all the different houses decorated for Christmas. I would get so excited seeing all of the bright and cheerful Christmas lights and decorations.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I believe that I was in about the fourth grade, and some little snippy girl spilled the beans at school one day. I remember going home and demanding that my mom tell me the truth. And when she did.....I just started bawling. It was a very sad day for my mom and me.

*Sniff*Sniff*

Even now that I am older I still love to hear people say, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

We usually let the boys open one gift ~~or three~~ on Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

I'll let you see for yourself. (And even though you cannot tell it in this picture, our tree is covered in white and multi-colored strands of lights.)

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?

I love to look at snow and watch it falling. But I cannot drive in it. At all. Ever.

12. Can you ice skate?

No. I have never even tried it. But just between you and me, I have had several dreams that I am awesome at it. Like this.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

The first year that Shannon and I were married, I wanted a Christmas tree, but we were living in a mess, as we were building our house (while living in it), so my husband thought it would not make sense to put a tree in a "construction zone."

I was disappointed, but I understood.

Anyway, not too long after our discussion, I arrived home from work one evening, but he wasn't there. Which was unusual, because he got off work much earlier than me.

So I waited and worried, and finally he showed up. He came in the house and asked me, "What is all of this stuff out on the porch?" And I looked at him confused, and replied, "What stuff? Where have you been?"

Then he said, "Help me get all of this stuff cleaned off of the porch."

So, I walked outside with him and he shouted, "Merry Christmas!"

The "stuff" on the porch was a tree, lights, ornaments, tinsel, and an angel topper for me.

*Sigh*

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you?

Amen.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Hands down....pecan pie.

Mmmmmmmmmm!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

I absolutely love listening to Christmas music! I never tire of it. Just ask my family. ;)

17. What tops your Christmas tree?

A Precious Moments angel that my sister in law gave me many years ago. And no, Michelle, you cannot have it. ;)

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

Definitely giving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?

I love SO many Christmas songs, so there is NO way that I could pick just ONE favorite. But just for the sake of answering the question, I will share with you one of my many favorites. Take a listen if you'd like. It's "The Christmas Song" sung by Nat King Cole.

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. However, I do think that they are very pretty.

21. What do you want for Christmas?

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

Seriously, feel free to just completely ignore me.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?

No.

Just kidding. ;)

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's?

Pajamas!

24. Do you own a Santa hat?

We own a Santa hat, and a hat for Santa's elf as well.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?

My sweet and crazy family.

And last, but not least, I received this award from Lynn at the Somewhere in the Middle blog.

Isn't it sweet?

*Sigh*

The requirements for this award are:
"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find, and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."

Thank you so much, Lynn, for thinking of me for this award. I really appreciate you, my bloggy friend!

(Not So ) Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-17T04:00:00.018-06:00

Today I am sharing with you one of my favorite Christmas pictures of my boys together. They are holding Daniel's Teddy in this picture.

My mom made Teddy (dressed in his Santa costume, which she also made) for Daniel one year for Christmas, and it is hands down, the most special gift she ever gave him. Daniel loves Teddy. Daniel did everything with Teddy; he even took Teddy to his first year of summer camp.

And even though Daniel has long outgrown the days of taking Teddy everywhere, if you ask him what his favorite Christmas memory is, he will still tell you it was the Christmas that Mammaw gave him Teddy.

Sigh.

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hillis

Friends And Fun At Shelly's House

2008-12-16T04:00:00.013-06:00

Saturday, I went to see one of my very best blogging buds, Shelly. She and her sweet family just recently moved into a new place, and I was very excited to see it!

Shelly moved to the complete opposite side of Crazyville, so I had NO idea where I was going. And since Map Quest gave me the wrong directions, I took the scenic route to her house.

Did I mention that I was drinking coffee on the way to her house?

A big cup of coffee.

And I was taking the scenic route.

So by the time I finally arrived at her house, I had to go the bathroom.

Really.

Badly.

Once I entered the bathroom, this is what I found waiting for me.

LOL!:) Shelly is SO funny!:)

Shelly loves to tease me about the craziness in my life.
(You can click here to see why we both thought this was so funny.)

After digging through ~~my purse~~ Scarlet to find $.35, it was time to take a little tour of the house.

Shelly's new house is just darling.

Here are a couple of pictures of just a few of Shelly's turtles. She has a huge collection of turtles. (And if you know what is good for you, when you go to her house, you won't touch any of them. I'm just saying.)

Hey, who drew that cute, happy turtle? ;)

I mentioned in my post yesterday that Shelly wanted me to visit her new home before the dust had a chance to settle, so look what I found when I entered her bedroom.

I can't imagine why she would think that I would notice dust on a television. ;)

After my tour of Shelly's new house, some more friends came to join in the fun.

Tina came with her two adorable children and her good friend, Scarlet. Here is a picture of me and my Scarlet with Tina and her Scarlet.

I think Tina's Scarlet and my Scarlet are going to be life long friends......

Like Tina, Shelly, and Me.

While Tina and I were visiting with Shelly, the two Scarlets, and all of the kids, Shelly's sweet husband Shay made us all a delicious lunch.

Bacon wrapped chicken breast pieces and some sort of sausage and cream cheese mixture wrapped up in a crescent roll. He also served us chips and white cheese dip.

Mmmmmmmm! You should have smelled it too. Very, very yummy!

Shelly and Tina's kids had as much fun hanging out as we did. Here is a picture of Spice and Ella being different farm animals.

Aren't they cute?

I didn't get a picture of Sugar, because she was very busy entertaining her own friends that were visiting.

I did manage to get a few pictures of Evan here.

Isn't he delicious?

I tried to get him to ride off into the sunset with me.

But he wouldn't.

Sigh.

I miss having a three year old in the house.

Sometimes. ;)

I had so much fun visiting with Shelly, Tina, the Scarlets, Shay, and all of the kiddos. I feel so blessed to have met these two lovely ladies and their sweet families in this place called Blog Land. And for that, I am truly thankful!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!
Amy:)

(One more thing: I wanted to let those of you that have been praying for me know how my doctor's appointment went yesterday. I had an MRI and a series of x-rays yesterday morning, and then I saw the neurosurgeon right after. Long story short, I have multiple issues going on in my back that I may just have to deal with for the rest of my life. In the meantime, he wants me to continue wearing my sexy back brace and to get as much bed rest as possible for three to four weeks. The combination of bed rest and back brace will hopefully help alleviate the pain and discomfort that I am feeling in my left lower back. Bed rest is way better than surgery, amen? I am supposed to see him again sometime in January to see if there has been any improvement. Thank you all for your prayers for me. I appreciate all of you so much.)

Grilling Goodness With Tina And Friends~ 10

2008-12-15T04:00:00.017-06:00

It's that time again...Time for some more "Grilling Goodness." If you would like to join in all of the fun, just click here. Tina would love to have you all participate!

Now, on to the grilling.....

1. How many Christmas parties have you attended or will you attend?

Hmmmm, let me see. Oh, that's right.

None.

I mean if you don't count hanging out with my family on Christmas as a party.

2. What is your favorite dish to take to a party?

Usually, when we are invited to a party, we are asked to bring my ~~very famous~~ cheese dip and chips. It is a crowd pleaser.

I'm just saying.

If you would like to know how to make this cheesy yummy goodness, click here.

3. When you're at home and your feet are chilled, do you wear socks or house shoes?

Since I have Raynaud's Disease, when it is cold I usually have socks and house shoes on. If I don't wear both, my feet turn purple and black.

I know. It's gross.

When it's really, really cold, I also have to sleep wearing two pair of socks, gloves, a sweat shirt, and a hat.

It's a very sexy look. Just ask Shannon. ;)

4. What are your plans for this weekend?

Since Tina really asked this question last Friday, I will tell you what I did this past weekend on Saturday. I went to see one of my bestest blogging buddies. You all know her as Smiling Shelly from the Smiling Shelly's Stories blog.

I went to see her new house. For some strange reason, Shelly wanted me to see her new house before the dust began to settle. ;)

I had SO much fun at Shelly's house, but I will tell you all about that tomorrow.

5. What is the most expensive Christmas gift you are buying for your children this year?

Since my boys are 16 and 13, they just want cash for Christmas.

You know, for sentimental reasons.

And, since we are a bit low on cash this year, it is quite expensive.

6. Do you have a family portrait made each year?

Yes.

Absolutely.

Whether my family wants to or not.

I make them pose with me at least once a year for a family picture. We have had some professional family portraits made over the years, but my favorites are the candid ones.

Here are several of our family photos from over the years. I like to call these our "Fictional Family Photos." Why you ask? Well, it takes about forty four tries to get one good one, so by the time we get a good one, Shannon and the boys are all fussy. They are all sporting 'fictional' smiles by the last shot.

(And me too, but let's just keep that between us, Mmmkay?)

7. Do you drive your kids around looking for decorated homes?

As a little girl, I loved to drive around with my parents and look at Christmas lights. Something like this would have thrilled me to bits.

My boys, however, not so much.

One year when they were little, we decided to drive them around Crazyville to look at all of the Christmas light displays, and they were less than impressed.

They were critical even.

Daniel grumbled from the back seat, "This is dumb. And besides, we're just wasting gas."

*Sigh*

8. What is your least favorite thing about cold weather?

Refer back to question number 3. ;)

Dinner And Thoughts Of Romance (Sigh)

2008-12-12T04:00:00.002-06:00

That's right....It's that time again; time for dressing up and posing nonsense followed by a delicious dinner. And on this particular night, there was a little romance on the menu.

Sigh.

Here I am in all of my flat ironed glory. Thanks, Melissa!

May I present to you, Miss Melissa. She was looking lovely as always.

Shameless before dinner photo op.;)

For the starter this night, I decided to order something from the "light" selections. I don't remember what it was called, but here is a picture of it.

I know. It looks like some one ate most of it before it ever made it to the table.

For my "main course", I also chose something from the "light" selections.
It was Pasta with Marinara Sauce.

And thankfully, no one ate any of it before it made it to the table. ;)

Now, I should probably make a little confession to the tens of you reading this right now. The reason that I chose my starter and main course from the "light" selections, is that I already knew what I was ordering for dessert. And it was not from the "light" selections.

It was officially called "Chocolate Melting Cake."
And as you can probably see, it was served with a side of vanilla ice cream to cut help cut the sweet taste.;)

But all of the people at our table affectionately called it "Sex in a Cup." ;)

Excuse me while my eyes roll back in my head and I wipe drool off of my chin just thinking about it.

But "Sex in a Cup" was not the romance that I was referring to at the beginning of this post.

No, the romance on the menu that night was between David and Barbara. They were celebrating their 41st wedding anniversary on this cruise.

Sigh.

Just look at how they look at each other with so much love in their eyes. Melissa and I were thrilled to be able to celebrate such a special occasion with them.

David and Barbara are two of the loveliest people that you could ever hope to meet. Each night, seeing them together, made me long to be back at home with my sweet hubby.

Sigh.

After singing "Happy Anniversary" to the romantic couple, Melissa and I posed for some pictures with our sweet servers.

Here we are with Gusti.

And here we are with Ioan.

Gusti and Ioan made each dinner so much fun. Melissa and I looked forward to seeing them every night.

Well, after a fun filled day in France, followed by a romantic dinner with "Sex in a Cup," Melissa and I were ready to finally get some rest.

And guess what kind of towel animal welcomed us back into our cabin on this particular night?

A sting ray, of course. Pretty cool, isn't it? ;)