Happy New Year!

I'm sitting here quietly alone on New Year's Eve and enjoying it for the most part. The fire is going, there is distant thunder rumbling outside, my dog is nearby - and Dick Clark is STILL on the Rockin' New Year's Eve... ;-) Jack and the girls are at the lock-in at church having lots of fun, I'm sure...

Here's a picture I wanted to share from the holidays... a snowy Christmas! I was so excited - really. I couldn't believe it when I woke up and looked outside and the ground was covered and snow was falling. It made for a perfect morning. :) I felt like a little kid again - ha. So most of us went out and played in the snow for a while and the result was the "Bunny Snowman." :)

I'm excited to say that I completed a New Year's resolution for 2010 today. I read through the whole NIV Chronological Bible this year and it's been fantastic! :) I have had many, many years where I started this, but didn't finish - and to finally finish this year gives me such a sense of accomplishment AND gives me hope for success in next year's resolutions. In 2011, I want to scale back and do a reading plan that will take me just through the New Testament so that I can spend a little more time and thought on what I'm reading. I also want to read several books on prayer (starting with Praying God's Word by Beth Moore) and develop a better 'habit' of prayer each day that I hope will lead to a greater dependence on God.

2010 has been a good year. As I look to 2011, there are some big things ahead. Mackenzie will graduate high school and start college. Anna will move on from middle school and start high school. I will more than likely be finding at least a part time job - a BIG change for me. Jack's work situation is about to go thru some changes - most likely he'll be doing the same job, but working for a different employer... SO - a year of new things ahead. I sit here right now and know that I'm really not ready for it all - but it's coming so it's time to get ready! That's what new years are for, right? ;-)

Anyways, going back for just a minute to reading thru the Bible, this was unexpected, but I was totally engrossed in Hebrews when I read thru it - like I was reading it for the first time or something. So I thought I'd share a verse from there to end out this year and usher in the next:

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Heb 10:19-23

Just wanted to share a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. Here are some from Thanksgiving. We had a nice quiet dinner here at our house with Mom and Dad... it's been longer than I can even remember since the last time I cooked a turkey, but thanks to some great tips from FB friends, it came out really yummy! :) And Anna was a big help with all the casseroles and pies... it was fun cooking together.

The next weekend we gathered with spiritual family for a little mini-retreat that we called "midStream." The families gathered there are ones that we have traveled up to Franklin, TN in the past with to attend the "Stream Franklin" worship weekend at the Fourth Avenue Church. The idea came up that we should to our own day of worship and fellowship (with the theme, "Overflow") together that would be like what we experienced there, so we gave it a try and the result was an awesome day together... I hope we get to do it again! :)

This past weekend has been busy with kids Christmas parties - at church we had the Sr. High Christmas party, the Jr. High Cookie Day AND the Club Xtreme Service and Christmas party... and we enjoyed going to see Jenna Burgess in her play, The Christmas Dilemma... so I think at this point, we are officially in the Christmas spirit! :)

And now as I'm trying to get the last of our Christmas presents bought and Christmas cards sent and plans made, I woke up horribly sick this morning... so I haven't had a very productive day today!! :( The good news? I figure I should be able to get over this before all the family gets in town next week and maybe I'll get to be well for Christmas... yay. :)

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -- Romans 15:13

Weekend Update

This past weekend was a busy one... here are some highlights and pictures from the weekend...

Anna had her first gymnastics meet of this 2010-11 season at the VBC here in Huntsville. She is competing at Level 8 this year and the skills and competition just keep getting tougher. But she had a good, consistent-scoring meet and was happy with it in the end. She came in 9th place overall in her age group and had a 7th place finish on her bar routine. We're excited about our next meet that will be at Disney World in January! :)

So the gymnastics meet was late Saturday afternoon and we had to leave that a little early to run over to Randolph Academy to watch Mackenzie perform with the UAHuntsville Honor Wind Ensemble. She was chosen again this year to be in this band composed of the best high school players from around Madison County. She was very happy to make 3rd chair out of the 7 flutes and get to play piccolo! She even had a couple of solos and played beautifully. The concert was fantastic! It's amazing what these kids can do with 1 and 1/2 days of practice to put together a whole concert - wow. :) I don't have a recording (yet) of any of that, but here are a couple of pictures from the night:

And I guess this will end my 'break' from housecleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I've been vacuuming and mopping floors this morning and had to sit down for a little while! :) Our Thanksgiving is going to be a little quiet this year - dinner here at our house with mom and dad... but I'm looking forward to that and it's a little less pressure if my turkey doesn't come out good... mom and dad will always forgive me. haha And I'm thinking about how thankful I am that I have them here to celebrate thanksgiving with and am trying to make things special since this is Mackenzie's "last" Thanksgiving living at home! Thanksgiving just seems full of happy and sad things all wrapped up together...

Here's Anna's floor routine from the meet. (And now after viewing it on my blog, I realize the quality of it is pretty terrible. Not my camera's fault - blogger just won't download a file with a bigger resolution! Gotta try and figure out a way around that... Oh, and special thanks to Natalie and her mom, Jenny, for filming this for me and for the fun commentary. ;-)

Outside my window...

Stealing (once again) from my friend Lisa's blog, I've been wanting to try this for a while, so here goes...

Outside my window... it’s a cold, gray, rainy, windy morning. The last of the fall leaves are being blown off the trees.

I am thinking... about friends who are going through hard things and wishing I could do more to help.

I am wondering... what this time a year from now is going to look like.

I am thankful for... a warm fire, my dog’s company, and many good things that I know I don’t deserve.

In the learning rooms... I’m finding out all I can about financing a college education. :)

In the kitchen... are dishes I just finished washing from yesterday’s cooking – beef stew for dinner and chicken salad for lunches.

I am wearing... comfy t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants, fuzzy socks and sporting a bad case of bed head.

I am creating... a plan, or at least gathering thoughts, for a “mini-retreat” coming up soon.

I am going... to put the wash in the dryer and put clean dishes away.

I am reading... “Birthright”, by David Needham – it’s challenging me to think deeper about many things.

I am hoping... that my problems with Comcast are going to get fixed today. ha

I am hearing... the “wrinkle guard” feature on my dryer reminding me that I need to get my clothes out.

Around the house... baskets of laundry (do you see a theme here?), lazy, sleeping dog, piles in corners that need to be put away…

I am praying... for wisdom.

One of my favorite things... is seeing how excited Mackenzie is right now about college plans and her future

A picture to share... Mackenzie got her acceptance letter from Lipscomb yesterday! :)

My Lucky Number

I like numbers, even though I'm really not a huge fan of math. But I'm good at memorizing numbers... before the age of speed dial, contact lists, and voice-activated calling, I used to be a walking telephone book. :)

Anyways, I was thinking about my 47th birthday tomorrow and 'cacthing up' to my now already 47 year old husband. Then I remembered that when he turned 47 a few months ago, we realized that his mom was turning 74 this year and thought that was kind-of neat.



I also had this thought that I got married when MY mom was 47, and that was a little freaky to think about. Obviously, back then, she seemed so OLD to me - 47 doesn't seem so old now! ;-)

And while that came to mind, it occurred to me that Mackenzie turned 17 this year... lots of 7's in this list.

OK, I googled "47" in images just to see what visual aid might pop up and this came up. Seriously. "47" on the state of Alabama. So I had to put it in here because it made me laugh! :)

Back to getting married, in a couple of months, Jack and I will celebrate our 23rd anniversary... If you go way, way back, our 'first date' anniversary was on Aug. 23rd... and then Anna turned 13 this year. So that throws a few 3's into the list.

Hmmm... 7's and 3's - generally good numbers from a biblical standpoint. ha "Lucky numbers" - if you want to call them that. Guess I'm hoping that as I hit my 47th birthday tomorrow, that it will be the start of a good year ahead - a little 'good luck' can't hurt! :)

Feeling Nostalgic Today...

So I've been working most of the past couple of days getting my house in order and ready for company this weekend. Jack's mom is coming to town to be here for Mackenzie's "Senior Night" football game tomorrow night, Huntsville vs. Grissom. Funny that she's going to have her senior night playing against my old alma mater. :) I'm looking forward to the night because it will be special for her and for us when we get to 'present' her out on the field at halftime. But I'm also having those moments today of wondering where the years went and thinking back to fun football games and marching competitions that will soon be a thing of the past. And it's kinda sad this year - HHS had an earlier marching competition that got rained out and too many scheduling conflicts with one that would have been this Saturday, so Mackenzie will miss out on getting to do that her senior year. Well, maybe she's not so sad about it, but I've always enjoyed them! Good memories... SO, I'm posting some pictures that I've taken this season - and a couple that were taken by this awesome parent who is a great photographer (you'll probably know which ones are which - ha).

Mackenzie and her fellow flute players.

Makenzie and her best buddy Sarah, who will be taking over Mackenzie's job as section leader next year!

On the field...

In the stands...

Dancing to 'Basket Case' and just having fun. :)

Band buddies: Christine, Renee, Leigh, Mackenzie

I'm really glad that Mackenzie has loved being in the band all these years. It was 'my thing' to do when I was in high school and I have so many good memories from my years in band. I hope that she will always have that, too. And she's so much more talented and accomplished than I ever was! I'm defintely going to miss all this. Just for fun, I thought I'd throw in a geeky band picture of myself, so that Mackenzie isn't alone in sporting the lovely band uniform attire (although, I think she looks beautiful in her uniform!)

Liz Hurley Ribbon Run

This past Saturday was the annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run for Breast Cancer. This is the first time I have run this race and it was such a treat. It's one thing to go and run a race for yourself, to see how fast you can go - to have some moment where you fantasize that you might actually finish well - at least in your age group. ;-) But the joy in this race was running for friends who have battled with breast cancer - and especially to be out there running with Teri and see her finish strong! :) So here are some Pre and Post-Race pictures

to capture the moment.

Finding each other at the Fleet Feet Tent. (still looking for Kim!)

Now we have Kim! ...and we are laughing at the irony of having our picture made in front of the Purity Ice Cream Truck. :)

After the finish - we all made it and finished within a couple of minutes of each other. I think we make a pretty good team!

Now, where was that ice cream truck...

"I love you, You love me..."

Well, I haven't done as well as I thought I'd do with the "Picture of the Day" idea - too many late nights and children stealing my lap top. ;-) But here's a quick pic from today that I really liked. We spent the day at Universal Studios and at one point came to the kid's area of the park and found a Barney store. Yeah, you know, the big purple dinosaur. :) He was Mackenzie and Anna's favorite when they were little, so I got this picture of them - and well, it just made me happy. :)



Everyone else in the room is trying to go to sleep, so I have to stop typing for now. Going home tomorrow - it's been a great week!

Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt....

One of the nice surprises that we discovered upon arrival here at the Hard Rock Hotel in at Universal Orlando, is that since our room is pretty close to the pool, we are able to access the free wi-fi that's supposed to be only available in common areas IN OUR ROOM! Yay! So that makes my idea of posting a 'picture of the day' much easier. :)

We arrived in Orlando this afternoon around 4:00, after taking a couple of days to drive down here. This hotel is absolutely beautiful and so far the experience here has been fantastic. As we were walking through the "CityWalk" area tonight and taking in all of the sights, I had this thought that the old saying "Larger than life" has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I feel like a little kid. :)

So today's picture (actually picture"s" - because one is better of Mackenzie and one is better of Anna and I didn't want to cause trouble for myself by picking one over the other - ha) is from our dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. What a fun place! We went in and were seated and immediately noticed these two guys walking around on HUGE stilts and doing all sorts of funny things - mostly making ballon animals and hats for people and just being generally silly. Well, we had hardly gotten seated when one of them spotted Mackenzie and Anna and made them come and 'help' him sing the Margaritaville song. It was hilarious. Really. I took a video, but it was really too dark for it to come out - but here are a couple of pictures. Most of the time they were holding the 'salt shakers' over their heads and dancing - and at one point they had to follow him around the restaurant... too funny -- and so embarassing. It was great. ;-)

Cheering for the Lord

Perhaps it's because it is "College Gameday," I don't know, but this is what came to me as I read Nehemiah 12 today. It is talking here about the celebration that happened at the dedication of the wall around Jerusalem after it had been rebuilt.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God... At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. The singers also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem... I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks.

One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right... [along with] some priests with trumpets... with musical instruments, prescribed by David the man of God.

The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction.

The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God... The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah, [standing opposite one another] to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God...

And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

After reading that and picturing the scene, this is what I wrote in the margin of my Bible:

"We love Jesus, yes we do... We love Jesus, how 'bout you?!"

OK, like I said, I may be influenced by the 'game day' mentality, (ha) but that's what I saw... and I'm not trying to be irreverant at all. It's actually a pretty neat scene in my mind - people who love God, standing on opposite towers of an immense wall, singing, playing instruments and shouting joyfully to one another their praise of God. I would have enjoyed being there. :)

And then it brought to mind a moment from Impact a couple of summers ago. Our junior high kids standing together on a brick wall at Lipscomb singing together and shouting out to the crowd that had gathered, waiting to go in for the next session --- "If you love Jesus, clap your hands... "


So, as we gather around our televisions today, or perhaps in a stadium somewhere, and cheer on our favorite football teams, maybe this scene from long ago will come to mind and we can take a moment to offer up a cheer for the One who deserves it the most!

A Heart Like His

I started a Beth Moore bible study called "A Heart Like His" last week. It's a study on the life of King David that I've wanted to do for some time and I am really looking forward to the journey through this study - and I've learned that when you do a Beth Moore study, it's definitely a journey! :)

I was working on the homework from the first week this morning and came across a "one-liner" kind of thought that spoke to my heart and will be with me in thought for a while, I'm sure. So I thought I'd share it here. The text for today was out of I Samuel 15 and the 'theme verse' was v.22, "...To obey is better than to sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams." Beth was contrasting the hearts of the prophet Samuel and King Saul in this story of the destruction of the Amalekites. It's best if you just go and read the whole story in I Samuel 15 and then consider Beth's closing thoughts on this chapter:

"The chapter concludes with a harrowing scene. Samuel hacked King Agag to pieces. Samuel's actions were not in haste, nor did he approach Saul with displaced piety and say 'I told you so.' Samuel acted in grieved obedience.

Perhaps Samuel's heart was the reason God used him as He did. Samuel's heart never grew cold and condemning. God allowed Samuel to be emotionally involved but enabled him to maintain objectivity so that he could 'speak the truth in love.' (Eph 4:15)

Saul learned that obedience was better than sacrifice. Samuel learned that sometimes obedience is the sacrifice."

You know, I want to think that obedience is always best for me, so therefore it ought to seem like the easy and obvious choice in all circumstances. Yes, I want to think that... but honestly, many times obedience is just hard and yeah, it means obedience becomes a sacrifice of what *I* want or what *I* think is the best way. I think what struck me today was seeing that thought put so well into words and seeing this story, objectively, from the outside looking in - it's obvious why God so often asks us just to 'trust and obey.' Our ways around obedience, even sometimes in the name of trying to do something for God (as Saul claimed), will always get us into trouble. I need to learn to trust God, even when my obedience is the sacrifice and it seems really hard...

Getting Ready...

It's so nice to get emails from people who love to take pictures with really nice cameras and then share them with the rest of us. ;-) One of the moms at the gym took these pictures of Anna and passed them along.

So the competition season for Anna kicks off here in Huntsville at our home meet at the VBC the weekend before Thanksgiving. Anna hopes to be competing at Level 8 this year - and that should be very exciting to watch! The big 'travel meet' this year is supposed to be in Orlando, so we're looking forward to that... it will be a little warmer there in January than it was in Chicago last year!! ;-)

When I was looking at this last picture, I noticed the white board in the background and got curious about what it said. I looked at another picture and here is what it says:

"WINNERS have formed a habit of doing what LOSERS don't want to do."

And well, that about says it all, huh? ;-)

Deer Hunter

Today was the first of what I hope will be many nice walks up on Green Mountain this fall. I haven't been up there all summer because it's just too hot and buggy - but this morning was so beautiful, and the sky was so blue, and my melancholy mood needed a boost, so I just had to go. Mandy was pretty excited about it, too - so off we went. :)

Everything was pretty uneventful until we were almost at the end of the trail. I didn't have Mandy on her leash at that point and all of a sudden she got startled and started to run off the trail. NO, thank goodness it wasn't a snake!! I couldn't figure out what she was seeing until I looked through the trees and about 20 feet away from me was a deer, staring right at me. The deer didn't move - I didn't move. And Mandy ran back over to me, thankfully. In that moment, I even managed to take a picture, which I am including here to help you understand why I didn't see the deer at first. Somewhere right in the middle of this picture, there is a deer - I promise. You just really can't see it. ha

I thought the deer would run off, but she just stood there and was stamping her foot at me - really. Like, pawing the ground as if she was trying to say, "Back off lady, you're on my turf!" I then quickly tried to get Mandy back on her leash so that she wouldn't chase after the deer. At the same time, I was wondering if the deer was going to come charging at me or something. I know it sounds silly, but you think silly things in these kinds of situations. :) Then something rustled in the brush closer to me and Mandy took off after it - it was the cutest little baby deer! NOW I understood why the Mama deer was stamping her foot at me. She was protecting her baby! Of course, now Mandy was chasing it! I had gotten the leash back on her, only to have her pull so hard that she snapped her collar off... goodness. So, here I am, running after my dog and yelling at her, while she's chasing the baby deer who is being chased by its Mama... Well, something made Mandy stop (me screaming at her maybe? ha) and come back to me and the deer got away. I guess there was never any real danger of Mandy catching up to them, but I didn't want to be wandering the woods looking for my dog!

So that's my animal story for this trip up to Green Mountain - I seem to always have some sort of interesting encounter with animals up there. :) I usually find some sort of spiritual lesson from these encounters and what went through my mind today is how protective that Mama deer was of her baby - to the point that she was ready to take me and my dog on and let us know that she wasn't backing down. Of course, then the baby ran off from her and she had to go and chase it down... it didn't realize that the best place for it to be was right next to its Mama. I think God is so protective of us in the same way. He urges us to stay close to Him and He will fight our battles.

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.... The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." Ex 14:13-14

The problem is that we run, trusting in ourselves to find a way out of the predicament that we are in, only to find that God is there, chasing us down and taking care of us once again. I'm glad He's so willing to do that... :)

So that was my day on the mountain. Well, there was one more thing that happened. I was winding down the mountain - slowly, because it's steep and pretty scary - and I came upon a policeman in the road. Then I realized that there was a pretty bad accident right around the corner... it looked like a garbage truck had rolled over on one of the curves. It was bad enough to block the road, so I had to turn around and go down the OTHER way over the mountain to go home... so I said a prayer for whoever was involved and made my way home, thankful again for God's protection over me.

OK, so this is somewhat totally off the subject, but can I make one complaint about my dog? You know how most dogs like to 'mark their territory' by peeing on every bush and leaf in sight? Well, MY dog seems to have decided that it's not enough to pee on everything, she has to poop everywhere... I had to pick up after her four times in my little loop around the pond today. It's just wrong to have to clean up that much after your dog... and this is getting to be a regular occurance on walks with her. So I'm trying to figure out how to change that!! ha... (sorry if that was TMI!)

Everything Falls

In my daily bible reading, I’ve been reading for a while now about the destruction of Judah and of the temple at Jerusalem. The prophecies leading up to it, the siege, the battles, the exile and aftermath… it’s all pretty terrible and frightening stuff. And it’s amazing how much Old Testament writing is devoted to it… So the lesson I’m seeing? I think God wanted us to understand the toll that idolatry will take on our lives. Then I came to this passage today in Lamentations 3 and was grateful to be reminded, once again, that there is always hope for us because God is always compassionate and faithful. (and was honestly surprised to find such an encouraging passage in Lamentations, of all things. ha)

I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
So I say, "My splendor is gone
...and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
...the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
...and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind
...and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
...for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
...great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
...therefore I will wait for him."

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
...to the one who seeks him;
It is good to wait quietly
...for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
...while he is young.
Let him sit alone in silence,
...for the LORD has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust—
...there may yet be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
...and let him be filled with disgrace.
For men are not cast off
...by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
...so great is his unfailing love.

Then as I was driving to church this morning, this song, Everything Falls, by Fee came on the radio – the lyrics made me think, once again, about this passage that I read this morning:

Everything Falls

You said
you'd never leave or forsake me
when you said,
this life is gonna shake me
you said
this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
this I know

when everything falls apart
your arms hold me together
when everything falls apart
you're the only hope for this heart
when everything falls apart
and my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
you keep holding on
you keep holding on

when I see
darkness all around me
when I see
that tragedy has found me
I still believe
your faithful arms will never let me go
and still I know

Sorrow will last for the night
but hope is rising with the sun
(it’s rising with the sun)
there will be storms in this life
but I know you will overcome
but I know you will overcome

I was searching for the music video of this on YouTube and found the lead singer talking about a great story that goes with this song – watch it here:




So I guess no matter what happens, the best thing that we can do is to keep our eyes on God and continue to wait on Him and worship Him...

Strange Poetry

This is for all my poetry loving friends. Mackenzie came home with an assignment in her AP English class to write a response to the following poem:

The Red Wheelbarrow
by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

So we were at my dad's house last night and my brother is still in town and we ALL got involved in the interpretation of this poem. It was pretty comical. :) But it did make for some pretty lively dinner conversation last night. ha (And if you find this one interesting, you should go look at some of his other poems!!)

A Day in Nashville

On Saturday, we took a last-minute trip up to Nashville for the day. We have been wanting to check out Belmont University and see "Music Row." What we found out is that Belmont, Vanderbilt and Lipscomb are all within about 5 miles of each other - we got to drive around all of them. :) But we got out at Belmont and wandered around the VERY deserted campus. It's quite beautiful. And who know that Minnie Pearl went to school there? ;-) Mackenzie is thinking about a possible major in Public Relations if she doesn't decide to major in Youth Ministry... ahhhh... let the college applications (and wrangling for scholarships!!) begin! :) So I've posted some pictures below of our walk through the campus.

After we left there, we drove down Music Row - pretty neat to see all the recording studies (and spas and hair salons! haha). We ended up in downtown Nashville and Courtney had suggested we try out dinner at the Wild Horse Saloon. That was a neat place and we even got to watch some country line dancing. (funny!) By the time we got there, the girls were tired of me taking their pictures so the only way I could get them to take a picture with the horse was to agree to have my picture made with it. ;-)

It was a good day with the family and a nice way to end our summer... still can't believe that Mackenzie starts her Senior Year tomorrow and Anna will start 8th grade... wow.