Have you read this….
…..it’s really that good!
Have you seen this……
I’ve heard some amazing reviews on it. If it’s anything like “Facing the Giants”, i know
i’ll love it.
Have you tried this….
it’s smells so good and of course,
since it’s Bath and Body, if FEELS so good!
The Marchin Cats hit the road this weekend for their first festival competition. You haven’t
lived till you’ve traveled on a bus with close to 30 band kids for 3 1/2 hours! Lots of music
to listen to and lots of crazy stories. It’s kind of fun to just sit on the bus seat and listen.
But when we arrived, it was all business! We were up against some stiff competition from
high schools from Alabama and Georgia. We took the field and the Marchin’ Cats really
showed their stuff!
the kids to invest in this program….but they do. They spend 90 minutes of class time every
day working on their music and an additional 7 hours a week out on the practice field.
It pays off….cause the Cats won superior ratings in both the festival and the competition!
Karlee has a solo in this year’s program. It’s the song “Hero” by Mariah Carey. It just
gives me goosebumps every time she plays it. They have a microphone and speakers out
on the field so that you can hear her flute solo. I think it takes a lot of courage to walk out
there and do a solo, knowing the whole band is depending on you not to goof up.
I told her i was so proud of her. I wonder though. Do kids ever really know how much
we love them? Do they just sort of expect us to say “that was great”? Or can they even
comprehend the joy they give us when they do something to make us proud. Or do they
realize that just because they are our child, they bring us the most amazing joy every day.
My brother, who is single and never married, asked me once what it felt like to be a mom.
I told him i didn’t know how to explain it. In a way it seems like i’ve always been one. But
then i can remember the moment i looked into Karlee’s face and knew i was a mother and
the feeling overwhelmed me and i knew there wasn’t anything i wouldn’t do to protect this
little life that God had given me.
And still almost every day i’m overwhelmed by the responsibility, but so aware that God
didn’t just drop them in my lap to carry alone, but they belong to Him and He is interested
in every moment of their lives just like i am.
Seventeen years ago today my sweet little girl arrived with pink cheeks and blonde hair.
I was sound asleep in bed when my water broke. I wasn’t in heavy labor at the time, so i decided to take a shower and shave my legs cause i was NOT going to deliver a baby and be worried about my prickly legs at the same time.
Ben got the video camera out (after the shower was done of course) and we even
filmed our own little movie. I directed it and Ben played the starring role. I
taped him leaving the house and being so nervous about being a new dad, that he
drives away, leaving me in the driveway.
Karlee arrived just a few short hours after the nurse started my iv drip thing
to get my contractions moving along.
And she was absolutely the most beautiful thing i had ever seen! She was
wonderful in every way. She even had a pleasant cry….at least to this
mother’s ears!
Hard to believe that little baby is a junior in high school!
Every morning when i go into her room to wake her up….i still see that
little baby.
She has become such a lovely young women in every way.
I am so blessed to have her in my life. Happy Birthday Sweetie
Just curious. How often do you do that? How often do you take others’
advice?
Do you listen to the unsolicited as well as the solicited? Is one more
important than the other?
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?
What’s the worst?
Yes, cool weather is on the way…..no, the leaves haven’t quite started falling or even turning colors yet, but i saw this
picture today and just couldn’t resist posting it.
What is it about cooler weather that makes me wake up happy?
What i love about cool weather:
…easier to style my hair (good-bye nasty summer humidity)
…no sweat dripping off my arms when i run at night
…time to make Chili!
…i love turtleneck sweaters and jean jackets
…nothing better than warm fire on a cold night
….listening to logs burn in the fireplace….my favorite sound
….homemade hot chocolate
….big fuzzy, warm, slippers!!!!
Paige put the CD in the CD player this morning on the way to school. What a great
way to start a Monday morning! Everybody needs a little of this in your mornings.
The man can flat sing!!
His album Secret Conversations is Soooooooo….good!
A friend and i went to see him when he sang at
Southland Baptist Church…..he was just amazing. What a wonderful worship leader and
what a powerful voice.
Just listening to him makes me happy. The day was already good cause i had my frosted
flakes and banana…..but add a little Charles and it is superb!
Paige put the CD in the CD player this morning on the way to school. What a great
way to start a Monday morning! Everybody needs a little of this in your mornings.
The man can flat sing!!
His album Secret Conversations is Soooooooo….good!
13 years ago today she came
screaming into this world! Somehow in the middle of a rush delivery,
Ben remembered to grab the camera just after she was born and as
the doctor lifts her up for us to see, Ben snaps a picture and she is crying for all she is worth. It was a big, hearty cry that said,
“I am here. I am what you have been waiting for for 9 months and get ready
cause life is about to change.”
And Paige, life has never been the same and i am so GLAD!!!!
His testimony was riveting. We listened to him share about 26 years of drug addiction.
We listened to him tell of the endless cycle of despair…..in and out of rehabs…..always
returning to the drugs.
We heard testimony from family members who had loved him for so many years; many
said they had all but given up hope for him. They had watched him rise and fall. They
had given him second, and third and fourth chances. They prayed and begged and
pleaded with God to deliver him. They begged and pleaded with him to just let go of
the abusive lifestyle. But Don always did what Don wanted to do……
But February 2007 changed everything. Don said that was when God got tired of
him playing games. So God sent evangelist Russell Coffey to the Church of the Nazarene
in Valdosta, Georgia.
Don had been playing drums for the praise team. He had been faking a clean lifestyle and
no one really knew he was still doing drugs.
Well, not really. Some of us sensed that something was going on. Don had started showing
up late to rehearsals and sometimes didn’t show up at all. He had been losing weight and
his eyes seemed hollow and empty. We feared something might be going on, but kept hoping
and praying that he would be o.k. Some even tried to talk to him about it, but Don continued
to lie and say that everything was fine.
When the first night of revival started with Rev. Coffey, Don didn’t show up to play drums. So
the next day, Pastor and Rev. C went to see Don. He had been doing drugs the night before
but pretended he’d just had a cold and hadn’t felt well. He promised to come that night and
play drums.
Don did show up. He made it through the worship set and then went into a side sunday school
room (the teen room, with lots of couches at the time) and decided to lay down. He was still
hung over from doing drugs and said he felt awful.
The pastor’s wife walked through to take her daughter to the restroom and saw Don. She
encouraged him to go into the sanctuary and hear the evangelist. And for some reason, Don
listened and got up and went and sat on the back pew.
That was all it took. Don said that sitting in that sanctuary, God just broke him. He was
already a broken man…..but God broke his spirit and Don knew that what he needed, in a big
way, was a Big God.
That was the beginning to the end of the hold that drugs had on Don. He prayed that night
and accepted Jesus into his life. He learned that the evangelist worked with Teen Challenge,
a rehab center. A phone call was made that night, money was raised that week and within
days, Don was on a plane to Texas where he would spend the next 16 months going through
rehabilitation.
Don said it wasn’t like any rehab he had been in before. It was more like a 16 month discipleship
program. That was what was missing from the other rehabs….the Jesus factor. Don said it was
dealing with the sin in his life that took away his addictions. He said when you have a real
relationship with Jesus, it changes everything.
After Don shared his testimony last night, that altar was lined. Lives were changed.
Don now works for Teen Challenge. Don is a miracle.
God still does those.
I may be sorry that i discovered this website. I mean i knew the store existed.
I’ve been there before.
But until today, i hadn’t even thought to check them out on the web.
And then i was innocently reading a blog that had a link that took me
there……to purse, jewelry, watch, etc…..heaven!
visit if you dare!!!
http://www.sammoon.com/web3/items.asp?sub=sub1&cat=jewelry&tempcat=Bracelets_StratchCharm&tbl=Bracelets_StratchCharm&img=2008-01-23img_1146&id=2557&se=102242358
