August 9, 1976

Oh goodness..another year older today. *Sigh* Because I am a "Southern Lady" , I will choose not to divulge my age but it has been a great thirty-two years. ;) I am blessed to share this day with one of my bestest friends in the world. Our Dee-deed! She has been apart of my life since our day of conception, our days kicking each other in the womb(oh wait, that was me kicking her..she's the one who came out black and blue and upside down..LOL), our 18 years of sharing a half clean-half messy room(mine was always the clean side), our years of big teeth and awful haircuts, our years of heartache and years full of joy and laughter! She is the only one (besides God) who knows my every thought and feeling and even though we are fraternal we think the same and often times finish each other's sentences. She has been there for me many times more than I have been for her and has even seen one of my babies born. She is truly a gift from God to my life. I am so thankful for her everyday even though I may not say it! Happy Birthday Dee-deed! I love you so much! :)

The Good Crazy Life

Life is crazy! That's about all I can say. Crazy in a good way though. It has been so hot this year that we've had to stay in doors a lot. Granted we have a neighborhood pool that I could utilize but some days have been just too hot even to go to the pool with little ones. One of our "indoor" days was spent like this.

They decided to pretend that they were pregnant. We have some good friends that we had seen recently and they were pretending to be "Mrs. Amy". They have their "babies" stuffed under their shirts and when I asked how the babies would come out they said "We just pull them out." HAHA!! If they only knew....

One of our local "jumpy" places has open free times almost everyday during the summer. I thought the kids might enjoy going and I was right. They had a blast!

Boogs was scared to go up...


but he eventually decided to go down...






Going down together.


They were so hot from all the fun. Meggy's cheeks are soo red!






They were pooped!

A good friend of mine, Cortney, came into town and we decided to get some girl's together and have a girl's night. We only went to dinner but had such a good time catching up with each other's lives. Of course, I didn't get a picture..darn it!!

Another friend of mine, Allison, also came into town and we decided to get together for a quick visit before she had to leave. I wish all of my "away" friends lived closer. :( I love this saying.."Good friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you always know they're there." :)


Allison and two of her four adorable children, Stephanie(my best friend from high school), me, Allison(Dee-deed) and Meggy. (See Allison, I told you it would end up on the blog...HAHAHAHAHAHA!)


Boogs and me.

The last two weeks have been so busy and I feel as though it's not going to slow down either. I am in the process of getting ready to start homeschooling Meggy. She "officially" doesn't start until the day after Labor Day but we will probably start sooner than that. I am excited about it and I really believe she is too. I know it will be a big adjustment but I am trusting in the Lord that He will help me do what I believe He has called me to do. So, please keep us in your prayers.

Rest

I haven't blogged much the last couple of days because I have been sooo busy! We have decided to put our house up for sale (yes we know it's the end of the 'season' and yes we realize the market isn't that great, but..) I have been quite the little bee getting things 'ready'. I have felt overwhelmed but liberated at the same time. There is nothing like cleaning out closets, drawers and anything else that needs to be sorted through. I have a pile of things to donate to our local women and children's charity but still feel as though I have tons of more stuff that I can't seem to 'let go' of for one reason or another. I look around and think, how come I just went through that and it looks as if there is even more stuff??

I have had this sense of needing to just get rid of stuff that I/we don't use, wear, play with, watch or whatever. I heard a preacher say one time (and I'm summing it up to what I took it in as) that if you have to have storage units filled with things that won't even fit in your house then that's being materialistic. Now we have plenty of storage in our house that has things like Christmas, Easter and fall decorations, extra kitchen table chairs, boxes of pictures etc. and to me those things are important but we don't have an extra storage unit somewhere filled to the brim with excess miscellaneous things. Before you start cussing me out, I'm not calling anybody materialistic if you happen to have one, but for me personally, I just don't see the need to hold onto stuff if I don't need it or haven't used/worn it (etc.) in at least 6 months. I think, why not let someone else use it?

Today as I was meticulously cleaning every nook and cranny, ok so not every nook and cranny, I was thinking about how I was wearing myself out. And it was almost as if God said, "Amanda, if it's MY will for your house to sell then the people buying your house won't care about every nook and cranny. They will love the house no matter what." I mean WOW!! Here I was thinking how what I was doing was what was best, but maybe God was telling me to rest some. I'm not kidding...I was up at 6:45a this morning due to an urgent phone call about one of my precious grandmothers , and I had been going non stop. Our realtor was coming over tonight to fill out the paperwork, take pictures and put a sign in the yard and if you know anything about me, then you know how I get when people come over. Everything has to be perfect. I guess that's the OCD coming out in me. Not such a great trait to have all the time.

Anyway, thank you Lord for reminding me to rest. I'm about to go plop down in my bed and hopefully pass out of mere exhaustion only to wake up refreshed,renewed and raring to start all over tomorrow. Maybe not the meticulous part of it.

Please be in prayer that if it's the Lord's will, which I know all things are possible through Him, then our house would sell.

~In case you are wondering, my grandmother was rushed to the hospital this morning but was doing well enough this afternoon that they let her go home. She is 94 years old and one of the most precious people I have ever had the chance to know. She is gentle and quiet and has such a humorous side to her that you just giggle when you listen to her talk or get teary eyed when you see her smile. I don't get to see her very much because of where she lives, but both of my grandmother's hold a special place in my heart. I love you ma-mas!!

Excited

I just wanted to say Congratulations to my cousin Rachel and her new fiance', Jace. They took a day trip down to the beach where he proposed. Awwww, how sweet!!

Don't they make a cute couple?



Love you guys and we wish you all the happiness in the world!

In the process of learning

I've had a lot of different things going on in my life recently and God is gently showing me some things about myself that are hard to take in.

I KNOW that God clearly told me last night that I have a control issue. And that I am extremely selfish. I honestly believe that I feel like I have to have control over all situations that come up in my life. It's my defense mode. It's what I do to keep from getting hurt. But in turn, I tend to always get hurt and hurt those in the situation with me.

Today when I sat down to have my devotions I asked God to teach me something that He wanted me to know about Him or about myself or just whatever He wanted me to learn. The scripture for the devotional was Exodus 2:11-15 and Exodus 3:7-12. I am quoting what the devotional said because the story is better explained that way. "It was the story of Moses and how he thought he could use his royal power to bring about deliverance for God's people from slavery. He has misused his power by killing an Egyptian, which only dissipated his power because he lost the respect of his own people. God had to teach him meekness. The meek prosper because they are the ones who have power under control. Our Lord said, 'Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt. 5:5). You may be trying to live in this world by your own power. Let God teach you meekness so that you can live in and depend on His strength."

After I read my devotion I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to read in the Bible so I opened it up to this verse Isaiah 55:8&9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I cried when I read that because I KNOW that God told me last night that I had a control issue. How perfect this devotion and scripture was for me today! How incredibly convicting and humbling this was. When I asked Him to teach me something today He clearly answered my prayer. I have been trying to live my life being the one in control. Always saying "Your will Lord" but in reality I didn't really mean that because some way or another I would take control. He clearly tells us that His thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways and that we should just simply trust Him.

So I am trying to completely give it all to Him. This is a new concept for me and of course I know I will falter but I'm so thankful to God for gently reminding me that He is in total control.

May Contain ADULT Content

CUTE BLONDE POLE DANCER!!!!!



Sorry, I know.....

Signs of the Times

As some of you know I have a myspace and facebook page. Some would argue that those tools on the Internet are immature and "high schoolish" and in some aspects I would totally agree, BUT those two tools have allowed me to get back in contact with old friends from high school and even a best friend that I had growing up when I was little. It has been neat to see pictures of their families and read, sometimes through notes or blogs, what has been going on in their lives.

I was supposed to meet with an old friend from high school today that I had recently reconnected with on one of these websites but for one reason or another, and I don't know why, she didn't show up. I wasn't mad that she didn't show but more disappointed because I really felt like she needed someone to talk to. Just based on communication with her I feel like she's struggling a little bit and she had told me that she felt like I was in a place in my life to help her. I don't know what happened to her, but I hope she's ok. J, if you are reading this, then please know that I'm here if and when you need to talk.

While I was waiting for my friend, the kids were in the soundproof play area for which I am so thankful for because my kids are the ones who seem to be the loudest. Anyway, I noticed a gentlemen walk in with a black bag. He walked around and around the eating establishment and then finally decided on his spot. He proceeded to take out his laptop and hook up this bulky something to an outlet that was up high on the wall. When he walked away , I snapped a picture. Why? It just showed me the signs of the times. Of course a lot of places now a days have WIFI but I usually don't go into those types of places or don't normally see people on their laptops out in public. I couldn't help but think what was sooo important that he felt the need to bring his laptop, with his big black bulky attachment thingy, in a Chic-fil-a. What could he possibly be doing? How long was he gonna sit there? Just seems like an awful lot to have to lug around when you are only getting a quick bite to eat. I mean you are at a fast food restaurant for goodness sakes. I don't think you are supposed to set up shop in a fast food place whose goal seems to be "get 'em in, get 'em out". Don't get me wrong, I'm not against people taking their laptops around everywhere but I just wondered what was so important. I know, it's none of my business...just curiosity getting the best of me. So here it is..



Notice the plug way up high on the wall? HAHA..whatever works. "To each his own" applies here I guess!

Another sign of the times..when a gas station gets digital signs because of the gas prices changing so quickly. **sigh**