Happy New Year

2014 is here and I am continually overwhelmed at how incredibly fast the days and years are passing by.  Watching my children grow is a  daily reminder that time does not nor will not stand still.  Like many of you I do reflect about the past year and do hope to do some things better in the year ahead but if I charge ahead with a plan of my own  without praying for the Lord's power to change or better things in my life I know without a doubt I will fail at every resolution I attempt to keep. No matter how many times I attempt to lose weight, become more organized or spend more time in the word they were all ideas I came up with that "I" can check off my list everyday for about a week and then "I" become weak.  I recently heard somewhere that you are never more out of control than when "you" are in charge.  I don't want to be in charge.  I want to lean on my Father for EVERYTHING yet if He asks me to wait for anything I begin to try to take charge again and of course He watches me fail then helps me pick up the pieces and puts me back on track.   Of course there are times that He lets me succeed but at what expense?  Rushing all the time, becoming frustrated with my husband and children so that I can complete whatever it is I am "in charge" of.  So I may have succeeded at my project or task but I am now very tired and weary and my family was put on the back burner.  Is that really success?  If I lean on the Father I know that the victories are much sweeter and the failures are much easier to handle.  Why at my age do I still struggle with some of the basic things in Christianity?  Quite frankly I guess I could say that I am just lazy.  I don't mean the type of lazy that sits around and does nothing because I do plenty but do I do what matters for His kingdom?  Do I do the "hard" things" or do I just do comfortable?  I know the answers to these questions and yet it still staggers me that I have a Father above that still love me, that lives in my heart and has a perfect plan for my life in spite of me.  I pray 2014 will be the year that I finally get it, enough to move past this season and onto a more mature believer.
Blessings,

Oh No!! My phone is about to die!!

I am running errands one day and as I am driving from one place to another I notice my phone battery is on about 8%-- Oh GASP!! Most of us know that feeling of the phone battery being gone.  Not sure why it has become such an issue for me I went at least 30 years of my life without a cell phone and I managed to survive but I feel almost like a piece of me is missing without it.  I looked on the floor board of my car and there it sat..... the charger..... I couldn't drive and reach it so I had to wait.  As I waited I pondered the spiritual application here and it hit me over the head like a brick. WHAM!!  Here I sat with a phone that could connect me to anyone at anytime, it holds my calendar, gives me access to many different things in my life and it was about to die with a charger sitting just inches away.  I had to ask myself-- how many times have I sat just completely depleted of energy because I am  trying to handle everything  in my life and worry so much about what others think that I have no peace and yet my Bible - the love letter from my Lord, the "charger" of  my life,  just sits there inches away from me unopened.  The most convicting part here is often times I put more importance on charging my phone so that I am connected to life than I do "charging" myself spiritually so that I am connected to the creator of life.   I am always amazed when the Lord uses applications, seemingly so small yet so convicting.  I must look so pitiful to Him, yet He loves me.  Some days I still can't quite grasp why He would love my unloving self, yet He does.

Blessings,

The school year has ended which is always bittersweet for me.  I love my students but I love my summers off too.  We have experienced quite a bit since I last wrote.  My dad had open heart surgery in April which he is recovering nicely from.  He is currently continuing the post surgery rehab.  I was able to fly to South Carolina to be with my mom and sisters while we waited for the surgery to be completed.  My nephew, Kendall graduated from high school which I was thankful to be able to attend the graduation party with family a week later. We did miss having Debbie, our youngest sister, with us though.   My sister, Sandy is a very gifted artist and while at her house I attended one of her art classes.  I had a great time and actually painted something that wasn't horrible. Ha!! We then went to Orlando to visit Chandler where he is currently on a 10 week mission type project.  We were thrilled to spend time with him and see his girlfriend Cathleen as well.  Of course you can't visit Orlando without going to a few Disney themed parks, so that we did.  We also went to Universal Studios which was a great time as well. Since then we have been spending hours in the pool with friends to avoid the heat and of course get to hang out and catch up with our friends.
Blessings,

Just to remember

I haven't blogged in so long that I am pretty sure no one is reading this is purely a post for me to document the sweetest thing my hubby did for me.  I was at work one day and received an email from him with the words to a song and a youtube attached. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObG48PZHU2k

 It was one of the sweetest things and it was all just to say He loved me.  There was no special anniversary or birthday just a sweet moment.

Love you honey,

Beautiful Moon tonight

We looked outside and saw this beautiful full moon... How anyone can see this and then deny God's existence is beyond me.. Have a great night!!

Blessings,

Fall is in the air/Birthday fun

Cameron turned 9 yesterday!!! So thankful that God blessed us with this little Camarino.  He brings so much joy and humor(literally) to our family.  He chose to eat at Genghis Grill for his birthday dinner. Fun times for sure.

It is starting to feel like fall around here and I was in the mood to start some fall decorating.. started with the back porch.  The kids roasted marshmallows and now we are enjoying watching some college football.  Alabama vs Ole Miss.

 

 

Existing

Well my word for the New Year was Present. I wanted to be present in the moment, in every moment rather than looking back and saying, Wow! I don't remember the details of that situation or memory.  Well it is September and I have to say I did great for a while but lately I have failed miserably. Rather than being Present I have just Existed. I have had a few blows with the death of my Mother-in-Love and the heart attack and surgery of my Father.  There have also been a few issues in my life but most of which I have brought on or allowed because I completly lost focus for a bit, my focus was on me and how I felt and how I was  going to fix it and how I was treated unfairly( way to many I's in that last sentence and that was a lot of the problem). Trying to be everything to everyone and be everywhere is completely exhausting and overwhelming it was so easy to slip back to just existing from event to event.    Thankfully back on track of trying to be Present with the Lord's help of course!!
Have a blessed Tuesday!!