Happy Turkey Day everyone!

There are so many things to be thankful for this year.  My family is safe.  My husband is wonderful.  We have company coming in.

I uploaded this from my phone.  It’s my favorite rose.  I’m giving it to you guys for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for being my friends, followers, and loyal readers.  Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and a blessed day no matter where you are or what you are doing.  We’re in sunny Jacksonville but many are in snowy, chilly places!  Be warm.  Check out Camp Wander if you want some good reading over the Holidays.  Eat, sleep, be merry!  Have a blessed day!


Exposed

Some of you know of my strange but loving obsession with farm fresh eggs.  I love the ones that are multicolored.  Each one is unique, yet the same.  This morning I was cooking eggs and something struck me about there being three left in the carton.  An odd number, three.

A divine number.

So as I cooked I looked over at the cracked eggs and thought how much like the eggs my life is.

It’s all broken, slimy, crooked.  Oh, it often looks neat from the outside but when you look inside?  Hmmmm…..makes a girl want to run and hide.  Or does it?  Maybe it’s in this broken slimy place that I feel God’s radiant love shining into my life.  He doesn’t expect me to be perfect, knows I can never be even when I strive for perfection.  I really believe when I stop pretending I feel Him the most.  I take off all the masks and allow His light to fill me.  The slime seems less slimy, the edges less rough and the crookedness a uniqueness given only by Him.

What about you?  Are you hiding?  Can you feel the freedom of letting “perfection” go?


Visits from friends and other ramblings….

We have always enjoyed company.  We view our house as God’s house so people flow in and out of our doors on a regular basis.  Since moving we’ve not had quite the flow we had before.  I often find when I’m down company helps me take my mind off myself and remember to focus on others, on God.  Our former pastor and his wife visited yesterday and today.  It was wonderful to see someone from “back home”.  We have a deep connection with them because we’ve gone through the tough places in life together.  We sat around the kitchen table last night and ate spaghetti, then Key Lime pie and just talked and talked.

It reminded me of home……..of our 10 years in SC, of sitting around the kitchen table with friends, talking, crying, sharing.

I wish I could take all my friends with me when we move.  They would just travel around with us….our own comfort net.  Yet, I know God calls us out us int0 the wilderness at times to draw us closer to him and to one another as a family.  Then slowly the friendships come again.  And once in a while we get the privilege of communion with long time friends.

It’s been a hard week for me.  There have been feelings which have come as a surprise…..a change of heart about something that’s been very dear to me.  I feel as if God has cut the umbilical cord in an area of my life and it’s been hard to swallow, hard to understand.  I know when God changes my heart about something it’s sometimes a drastic 180.  Other times it happens slowly.

So in this 180 I wait.  I wait to follow God’s next move.  The waiting place is difficult.  I haven’t necessarily wrestled with Him, just the unbelievable change of heart that has happened in a snap.  It’s a wait and see place for me now.

I know He has my best interests at heart so I know whatever is there is for my good.  Trust in my Jesus….someone bigger than me, is a wonderful thing.  He leads my life way better than I do.

So I sit, a little confused, but trying to rest in the Waiting Place.


Lemon Cherry Blogs

Katie at Lemon Cherry Blogs is the one who designed by blog.

Didn’t she do a great job???  She is so helpful and a wonderful person to work with.  Are you looking for a new look for your blog for 2012?  Give Katie at buzz.  Here are the ways you can contact her:

Katie Lane   email:  dreamupsstudios@gmail.com     or      web:  http://dreamupstudios.com         or        blog:  dreamupstudios.com/blog

Let me know if you end up working with her and love her as much as I do!!!!!

WORD!


The Mammoth Turtle

Since moving to Florida we have seen all sorts of wildlife we didn’t see in SC.  Yesterday this prehistoric looking giant meandered across our yard on the way to the pond across the street.  He was huge.

In SC we are used to the Eastern Box Turtle which is a sweet hand sized little fellow but this guy??

The size of a frisbee and probably 6 inches off the ground.

He wasn’t scared of much as he stared me down a couple times and then went on his was….crossing the street like he owned it.

Even our dog wouldn’t get near him.  The turtle probably out weighed our dog by 20 lbs!!!

Later Dude!!!!!  PS….after looking him up we decided this is a Florida Chicken Turtle, named after the taste of their meat.

Not that we know or anything!


Day 20 – Reality

My boy is 10 today!  (sniff, sniff)

I only have one left in single digits instead of double.  And one is 13 on Christmas Day.  Hey, does that mean I’m getting older???

Yikes, I think it does.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!!!


Day 13 – Real Life

In my dreams of bloggy land I was determined to blog for 31 days but I’m doing something more important the next 3 days.  Remember the rest we spoke about earlier?

I’m driving to SC to see friends and to spend a weekend with my hubbie , go to a high school football game, see my favorite chiropractor, and get farm fresh eggs.  Not in that order, of course but close.

Our house in SC is waiting for a new loving family.  I pray God will bless the neighborhood and the family who lives there.

So…..even thought I MIGHT blog over the next three days, I just might not.  So if you don’t hear a peep out of me we’re having fun and I’ll see you on Monday.

Have a great weekend.  Go vacuum your garage!!


31 Days of Openness (Day 3)

Coaching is hard.  Parenting is hard.

We try to teach our kids in the best way we know how to love Jesus, serve Him and be overall wonderful citizens.  But it’s a tough job we can not do alone.  God leads us through the valleys and mountaintops of parenting as if we were the children.  And in fact, we are.  Older children leading younger children.

I am so thankful for his guidance and covering over our family and our lives.  KLOVE, our local Christian radio station, had an entire day of praise today.  People from all over called in with stories of deliverance, healing, thankfulness, and gratitude for what my Jesus has done in their lives.  It’s been a wonderful day just listening to all He does for those who love him.


31 Days of Life – Day 2

When I’m too lazy to unload the dishwasher or fuss with the kids about doing it I hand wash dishes and allow them to dry here.

It’s old.  It’s worn out (see the edges), but it works for me.

Check one off for lazy.  I HATE unloading the dishwasher.


31 Days of Reality

Scooper is trying to help us keep it real over in her bloggy land!

Here’s my contribution for today…

I dress in PJs and a cup of coffee to take my kid to school.


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