Wednesday Things

I loved this image from Lifeway Women's All Access blog that I read this morning.  I thought I would share some random things from the week we've had so far.

(Also, I'm in a blogging rut again.  If you can think of ideas for blog posts you'd like to read about, please comment and help a girl out.)

Before I start with that, I have to say that I have been glued to the tv screen all week.  The devastation in Houston is heartbreaking.  I've also been watching some of it through social media, and through friends I have that are either in Houston, or near Houston.  I've been praying and praying some more, every time I see new footage.  Even on K-Love this morning, they had an announcement for those in or near Houston, advising on the weather.  I cannot even imagine what they're going through.

This past weekend, we had an at home choir retreat, of sorts.  This was our second one in a year, and I loved this one even more than the first one.  We met at church, for dinner, at five thirty on Friday, ate, and then listened to a speaker from a church in Dallas.  Our worship pastor had him come in specifically for this retreat, and he was wonderful.  On Friday night, it was more of an introduction of himself, and the church he comes from.  After he spoke, we went upstairs to start practicing new music.

It was the same on Saturday.  We met early for breakfast, then listened to Dr. Bugg (His name is Doran Bugg, and he is the worship pastor for Dallas First Baptist Church), then we had sectional practice.  We joined back up to go over a couple more songs, then Dr. Bugg spoke one more time, and answered our questions.  It was so encouraging!  I love things like that, and I love being in a choir.

These were my verses to write out on Monday.  I love them both and refer back to them often, when I'm needing to have some peace in my life.

Have you ever checked out the Lifeway Women's All Access blog?  If not, you should consider going and looking around.  They post wonderful articles almost every single day.  Here's a link to the blog.

I love our school days.  I don't know if the boys do as much, but I love how peaceful and quiet they are.  Noah was doing Spanish lessons online, and I was watching/listening to him practice.

Also, I was reading this.

My sister in law gave me this book to read while we were visiting them in Nashville last week, and I read it a little last week, making it into about chapter ten.  On Monday, I picked it back up and read all the day long.  I did the same yesterday, and by four thirty yesterday, I had finished the book.  It's over five hundred pages, so if that is daunting to you, you might want to keep scrolling.  If not, then go buy it and read it!  I think this would be a GREAT book club book.

There's a great discussion guide in the back, even.  It was amazing.  It's based on World War II.

Speaking of book clubs....I have been in one for the past several months.  I think we started in late May and last night, we finished our book!  I love these ladies so much!  We started as five but ended with four.  We met each week, with the author of the book we were reading, and I have to say about this whole thing, that I feel so much smarter and more knowledgeable on what we learned.  I am ordering our new books today for us to start with in two weeks, because we decided we must keep going.

I love being in a book club!  I've only been waiting on this my whole life.

Also, I borrowed this image above, too, from my best friend.  Thanks, Missy!

Lastly, it's almost September, and you know what that means!  It's time for a new Scripture writing plan for the month.  For the printable version, check out Shannon's blog, swtblessings.com.

Thanks for reading, friends.  Don't forget to comment on some blog post suggestions to help me out.  After more than ten years of doing this, and thousands of posts, the well is running a little dry.

Love to all!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Andrea over at Momfessionals, for this post.

It's been a really fast week.  There's nothing like a little mini road trip to make the week fly, and that's basically what happened to us this week   We traveled to Nashville for the eclipse, and stayed with Todd's brother, Tim, and his wife Tracy and their kiddos.  It was a fun twenty four hours, and I feel like it was jam packed full of activity.  I love spending time with the Nashville branch of our family, and this trip was no exception.

Please excuse the gray, but I had a great time catching up with this one.  We don't see each other all that often, so it was great to be together for no reason and to not be busy.  She's my favorite sister in love.

Seeing the eclipse was my favorite part of our whole week.  It was amazing, and beautiful, and mind blowing.  The magnificence of God blows my mind, and that definitely happened on Monday, when at one thirty, it became as dark as late dusk.

Happy mail is my favorite thing!  I LOVE getting little treasures like this in the mailbox.  Lately I've gotten books, too, which is just as fun.

This is always my favorite part of the day.  I love spending any time I can in the word of God, and in studying it.

Our quiet days of homeschooling are my favorites, too.  This was Jonah last week, finishing up his work.

This building we stopped by to see is one of my favorite pictures on my phone this week.  This is an abandoned mental health hospital.  We stopped by to show the kids on the way home.

This is, quite possibly, my new favorite song.

And yesterday, this was my favorite thing I'd seen online all week.  Go to yesterday's post to read more.

It's been a great week!  I have to run, though, I don't have much time to linger today.  Thanks for stopping by to read!  Love to all.

on God using you

Yesterday, I had the privilege of eating lunch with a sweet friend who is still considered "new" to our area.  As we sat and caught up, I was reminded over and over, how thankful I am for the friends God has placed in my life.  This sweet lady is such an encourager in my life.  She reached out to me, very randomly a couple of Sundays ago, about how she could pray for me.  She felt like God had put me on her heart, and she was checking on me.

Before I go any further, how often have I thought of someone all of a sudden, and prayed for them, but then NOT reached out to them?  I couldn't help but wonder.  Her act of kindness in reaching out to me made another impression on my heart, and makes me want to reach out way more often to those I know and love and pray for.  (I literally just stopped and texted one of my best friends to tell her I had prayed for her and her husband today, who are under the weather.)

We all need friends like my friend I ate with yesterday.  We all need to BE those kinds of friends, too.  This spoke to my heart so much over the last twenty four hours, that I wanted to encourage anyone of you who might need to hear this as well.

There are two places I'm thinking of in the bible that address this.  One is in Hebrews 3:12-13.

"Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.  But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception."

My friend sensed something off in me when she texted me two weeks ago, and she outright asked me about whether or not everything was okay.  (Something WAS off in me, and that was the Holy Spirit leading her and guiding her.  She was obedient to His still, small voice.)  And though things are getting better for me now, I had been going through a time of discouragement.

We are to encourage each other DAILY.  If you have friends that God has given you, encourage them.  Ask them how you can pray for them.  Or, ask them to pray for you, if you need that.  We do this so that our hearts stay aligned with God's, for those of us who are believers and followers of Jesus.

The other scripture I'm thinking of is also out of the book of Hebrews.  This is from chapter ten, verses twenty four and twenty five.

"And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near."  

She did this for me yesterday.  I have done that for other people over the years.  We are to do that with those we know and love!  I'm speaking to believers here, friends.  I thank God for those like this dear one He has given me, and I pray that I will be that for my friends in return.

Thinking along these lines, just this morning, I prayed that God would use me and allow me to share His gospel and love with those around me today.  I pray this almost every single day, and usually, He gives me people to share with.  I came across this video this morning, from an account I follow on Instagram, Ever Thine Home.  That is an account on Instagram, a blog, and a website you can shop form.  In the blog, she shared this video.  This is my prayer, and an example of a dear older woman who prays the same way in the Czech republic.



May the Lord be ever so kind to use me, to use our home that He has provided for us, and our lives, to point others to Himself.  Let it be, Lord Jesus.

Thanks for reading.  Love to all.

Wednesday Random

It's Wednesday, and a weird week because we were out of town for a night, so I thought I'd go with a random post.  Also, I love the font on the word Wednesday.

One thing I've started doing lately is making a list for my husband of ideas for me at Christmas.  Every single year, he asks me for a list, and I am always scrambling at the last minute.  I know this seems so presumptuous of me, but he really likes a list, and he loves it even more if it's long and detailed.  Nothing on my list is big, but it's things that I would love and use all the time, but that I don't want to buy for myself.  I am making this grand list on Amazon, because we do almost ALL of our shopping on there.  One thing I just put on the list is this tea towel.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0H34GU?psc=1&smid=A1I0LXAM3HKR70

I love to use tea towels in the kitchen, and I can't have enough.  I also like to hang them on my oven just because they're cute.

I'm so impressed with my thinking ahead abilities.  He will be, too.

Now if I can get my kids to do this!

Moving on, now.

I got a really sweet card on Saturday, from a friend who is equally as sweet and so very thoughtful.  I love snail mail, and in my humble opinion, nothing can beat something in the mail box that brings a smile.

I really wish I thought of this kind of thing more often.  I do occasionally, but we never have stamps.  And I always forget to buy them.  (Hence the stack of thank you notes from my son that have yet to be mailed.)

In case anyone needs to be motivated in their quiet times, I was in the book of James, but I finished it this morning.  I love this book of the bible and am about to start a personal bible study on it.  I actually just looked at this picture, and this was from my scripture writing that I wrote out from Matthew this weekend.  Oh well.  You get my point.

I am reading through Philippians with our community group girls, as well, one chapter per week, so I just read the chapter a bunch.  I also started listening to a podcast recently, by Nancy Wolgemuth, that is teaching on Revelation, so I read a few verses in chapter one of that book this morning as well.  It's a lot, but I have all the time in the world, so what better way to spend it?

This is what homeschool looks like for us.  Nothing grand or fancy, and certainly not Pinterest worthy.  Just some clutter as they spread out for Algebra, some books I need to sell (the pile starting with Pre-Algebra), and a quiet morning as they start working.

 I know.  I posted this image yesterday.  Someone told me to read articles on this place (West Tennessee Mental Health Facility) and that was what I did last night.  Holy cow, perhaps before going to bed wasn't the greatest time to do that.  The images from inside this abandoned building are even more creepy than this actual building.

Drew has a friend who loves this kind of thing, so I sent him some links in a text.  He does that for me as well.  We're nerds, we know.  We love abandoned buildings and documentaries of all kinds.

My father in love had his first knee replacement surgery yesterday, and I went up to the hospital to be with my mom in love while she waited.  Turns out, her best friends were there, as well, a sweet couple they attend church with.  Anyway, at the hospital, there are these little jars everywhere with bible verses on them.  This was mine that she selected for me, and I think that is the greatest thing!  Also, while we were there, the chaplain came over the speaker and gave a short devotion, then prayed.

I love that so much.  It's a great hospital and it's beautiful.

Also, my father in love is doing great and going home today.  They kept him overnight, just as a precaution.  We went to see them last night, and took them both dinner.  I made dinner for us, we ate early, then we took them some in to go containers.

Well, I need to get a move on this day!  Thanks for reading.  Love to all!

the eclipse, and a quick little road trip

After church on Sunday, we went our separate ways for lunch, then all met back here at home to pack and head to Spring Hill, Tennessee, where Todd's brother Tim, his wife Tracy, and their three boys live.  There were seven of us going, my six, plus one.  And I have to say, our little Madame Blueberry (my car, and Chevy Traverse) handled us all quite nicely.  I was pleasantly surprised.

We made it there without stopping.  It's only about three hours from here, and I was so thankful that we didn't have to travel with heavy traffic.  I had been dreading that part.  When we got there, we unloaded our things and got settled a bit and took a tour of their new house.  Well, new to me...I hadn't been there before.

We ended up eating dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant (my FAVORITE!) then went back to their house and hung out.  We had birthday cake for Rachel, since that day was her eighteenth birthday, and some of them went outside, and then Tracy and I had a chance to sit and talk.  We really don't see each other often enough, and when they're in town, it's for a reason, like a graduation or Christmas, so we never get alone time.

I had a couple of favorite rooms in their house.  The lighting is weird, but this is their dining room.  The colors are gray and turquoise.  That is my favorite color combination.  (Also, is anyone else like me and love to look at people's houses?  Just me?  Okay.)

I also LOVE their bedroom.  I love a statement wall like this one.

(Ignore their bed that is on the floor and awaiting its new set.)  I love navy in a bedroom, and particularly THIS navy, because it has hints of royal blue.

Anyway, on Monday, we got up and had breakfast and piddled around their house until we left to drive to Lebanon for the eclipse.

Tracy and me, all dressed and caffeinated.

We got lunch on the way and pulled into a state park to use their restrooms and ended up staying there because it was shady and we could see really well.

We call these three the triplets.  Jonah and Noah were born on March 10 of 2003, and Nathan was born a short few weeks after them.  My in-love's went from two grandsons to five in about four weeks.

Love these two.

Apparently, I had no pictures of Drew and Todd.  Typical.

Required picture.  It's not good, but oh my goodness gracious!  I was so skeptical that we would be able to even see the eclipse and wasn't super excited about it, but it was AMAZING.  The temperatures dropped, the lighting outside began to change, and all the nighttime bugs came out.

This was at one thirty something.  Look how dark it was!  I might have cried a little.  The magnificence of God just blows my mind, and that He could make this happen and that we would see it is just a beautiful thing.  Tracy and I were both about to lose our minds over it all.  She teared up as well, and there was screaming involved.

This was while we were waiting, and they had no idea I was behind them.

And here's the whole group of us.  We had a great time, and I am so glad we went and were able to witness the totality of the eclipse.  We were missing one of our nephews, who opted for going to school that day.

We said our goodbyes right after this, and began the long trek home.  Lebanon is past Nashville, so we had lots of heavy traffic coming back and a couple of wrecks, so we drove most of the way home on back country roads.  Three and a half hours turned into about six.  Maybe five, but we stopped a lot, too.

Like at this place, in Bolivar, TN.  This particular building is abandoned now, but some of the newer buildings on the property are still in use.  This is a mental health facility, and I grew up hearing horror stories about this place.  I wanted a lot more pictures, but since we were technically trespassing, Todd wouldn't linger too long for me.  How creepy does this place look?!  There are buildings to the left of this one that are also abandoned and look straight out of a horror movie.  There's ivy growing up the walls and they have barred windows, and well...you can imagine for yourself.

We ordered pizza on the way home and then brought it home to eat.  We finally made it back by about seven fifteen.  We ate, I made coffee for Todd and me, I read a little, then took a shower and crashed.
It was a really fun day and a half.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals (and friends) for this post.

This time last week, I was waking up in the country.

A dear and sweet teenager invited Missy and I to spend the night at her house, while her parents and sister were out of town.  We chose Thursday night and had a blast.  We ate dinner together, then went back to her house to watch Father of the Bride and to talk.  We finally fell asleep sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, but for Rachel and I, it was close to two a.m.  Poor Missy was up and couldn't sleep, looking at the clock for one last time and three something.

It was a long day, and later on that day when we were alone in the living room watching television for noise, basically, we both took naps.   I am NOT a night owl at all, and usually go to bed before ten and am up sometime in the six o'clock hour.

Also?  Those views in the country are one of my favorite things.

In light of all the sadness taking place in our country and this world right now, this has been one of my favorite verses to cling to.  I mentioned to several people this week, and on this blog, how thankful I am for the hope I have in Jesus Christ.  Things are pretty bleak without Him, and I don't know what people do who don't know Him.  Well, actually, I do know what they do~they walk around pretty fearful and miserable.  If you want to know more about this, please reach out to me in the comments, and I will send you my email address and we can talk more privately.

Reading has been a favorite past time for me this week.  I finished one book, and I'm reading three other ones right now.  I know this is a huge problem for some people, but honestly for me, it's not, at least at this moment.  The books are all VASTLY different, and I am easily able to switch back and forth.  Two of the books are so deep and good that I like to go slow with them and then give myself a break with something lighter.  I am loving this fictional book by Beth Moore, The Undoing of Saint Silvanus.  I started back in the spring and never finished it.  I'm almost halfway through it.

Another favorite thing of mine is what's in my cup.  We made a Costco run last week and bought some more K cups for our Keurig.  I've missed having them!  I love our Keurig and will often make a cup midday just because I love coffee so much.

My favorite babies in all the world turned seven months old this week!  Kinsley and Kylie are getting so big and are going to start crawling any day now.  I love them so much!  I just look at this picture and smile so big.  I am so glad they are coming home for Thanksgiving this year, and cannot wait for my family to meet them.

I mean, that smile on Kylie's face.  I can't stop staring.

(These are my great nieces.)

One of my favorite things is starting a new journal.  I was out of my current journal and went to Target yesterday to buy a new one.  I stood in the aisle for THIRTY MINUTES looking at them, before I finally picked this one.  I disliked it the least out of all the others I looked at.  I take into consideration the paper and how thick or thin it is (I prefer thick paper), how wide or narrow each line is (I prefer college ruled), and whether or not the pages are perforated (I prefer for them not to be).  I will make it work and will finish using it, but the next time I'm either going to Lifeway or to Barnes and Noble.

Best and favorite picture ever.  I look at this and wonder where in the world all the years went.  I posted this to Instagram last night after two of them were arguing over why a certain picture frame in the hall fell.  That was going on, and the other one was sliding down the stairs on his stomach because he drank coffee at night and it made him hyper.

Oh, they're fun.  I do love them so.  I would love to go back to this spot and recreate this picture.

Well, laundry and house cleaning are calling my name, so I need to run.  Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading my blog!  Love to all.

Church of the Small Things, by Melanie Shankle

Several weeks ago, I was picked to be on the launch team for Melanie Shankle's newest book, Church of the Small Things.  I have been a reader of the Big Mama Blog (her blog) for years now, and when she started writing books, I was thrilled.  Nobody makes me laugh like Melanie Shankle.


Her first three books were, The Antelope in the Living Room, Sparkly Green Earrings, Nobody's Cuter Than You, and this one that has yet to release.  This latest one releases on October 3, but you can pre-order it now for some great deals and coupon codes.  To read more about that, go here.

This is my blog tour day (actually, I don't know if it is or not, I cannot remember the day I signed up for) and I thought I'd share a few quotes I loved from the book.

This was a theme throughout the book.  Something I loved reading in this book was the encouragement to look for the opportunities that God has for us in the everyday, ordinary life moments.  For instance, I have always kinda been envious of people that have obvious ministries in their life.  That's not something I really felt like I had until I read this book.  Sure I know that being a wife and mom can be that, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more.

While I was reading this book, the Lord was so sweet to show me a huge ministry that I have in my life, and it's so ordinary, that I have overlooked it for a long time.  That is that people come into my home all the time.  It can be teenagers who are either friends of my kids, or who I help lead and disciple.  My boys love having people over, and I love to welcome them in.  This means that I usually have a stocked pantry and refrigerator.  I want them to come in and to feel totally welcome here.  Sometimes they all go upstairs right away, or sometimes they hang out here with me.  I also have friends who come over pretty often, and who know they're always welcome.

This quote is probably one of my favorites from the entire book.  I love this because of where God has me right now: as a homemaker, homeschooling mom.  I know that God uses me in these everyday, mundane moments, and for that, I am thankful.

This was a book that made me laugh out loud, made me cry, and made me utter a prayer for the Lord to open my eyes to what or who is around me.

I loved every single page, and want to encourage you to read it for yourself.  You can go to the website that I gave a link to above, or you can pre-order on any of your favorite book selling websites.

Love to all.

some music I love right now

These times we are living in right now are not for the faint of heart.  My heart aches over the fact of how broken we are as a country, and for how far we have strayed from God.  How His heart must grieve. 

When going through times like these, I am so thankful that Jesus is my hope.  I cannot imagine what people who don't know Him do without His presence in their lives.  I literally could not get through even one day without Him.  One thing I know: God is sovereign.  He is in control.  We can trust Him.  And someday, He will return for His bride (that's us believers, and His church).  

Until then, I cling to His word.  I pray.  I praise.   Music helps.  

That being said, here are some songs I love right now.

I love mashups of songs, and this one is currently in the number one spot.  This is Caleb and Kelsey Grimm.  Caleb is one of the members of Anthem Lights.  

What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus.

Next up is this song by Tauren Wells, Hills and Valleys.  I cannot listen to this without my eyes welling up with tears.  

I love the line, "On the mountains, I will bow my life to the One Who set me there."  I always pray and ask that the Lord would help me to walk in submission to His authority in my life.  This song is another reminder that the Lord is good, when He gives good things to us, and even when He takes away from us.  He is sovereign.  I keep mentioning that, but it's a truth that resounds in my heart right now.

I love this version of the song Holy Spirit by one of my favorite singers of all, Travis Cottrell.

This song moves me every single time I hear it, and I have witnessed the presence of the Holy Spirit deal with someone as they listened to the lyrics.  He is powerful and His presence can often times be felt.  

These are just a few of my favorites right now.  I always have music playing, whether on the radio, on a CD, or on Spotify.  I can't think of anything better I'd rather be listening to than some music that will lead me into the presence of the Lord.  

How desperately we need You, Lord Jesus.  

Amen.  

a time of refreshing

My friend Missy and I went to a nearby church last night to hear Jim Cymbala speak.  I don't know what I was expecting, but what last night ended up being wasn't what I thought it'd be.  I had kinda gotten out of the mood of going to the service, even though I knew it'd be good, but life happens, and I ended up feeling frustrated and kinda tired/defeated by the time rolled around that Missy said she'd come and get me.

It was a bit of the same for her.  She had someone come to her house, and they ended up sitting there talking the whole time, and when she came to get me, she had run out of time and hadn't eaten dinner.   Plus, her son and his wife were coming over.  We even joked about just going back to one of our houses to watch it via the live stream that Bellevue said would be available.  But we kept going, realizing that if both of us were feeling like we didn't want to go, that we should go, because that meant the enemy didn't want us there.

I'm so glad she's so stubborn.  ;)

Also, the whole way there, we talked, I cried a little, and by the time we arrived at Bellevue thirty minutes later, I was already feeling lighter.  Sometimes I just need to be reassured that my kids aren't the only ones who sometimes make me feel crazy.  (More about that in a different blog post.)

We were a few minutes late, because we went to a wrong building at our first attempt to go in, and by the time we parked and hiked to the church (it is HUGE), the music had started.  This was so refreshing for me to sit and be a part of.  Usually I'm one of the ones helping lead in worship, either in the choir, or on a praise team down front.  I love doing both of those, by the way, and am honored to be able to serve in that way, but sometimes it's so nice to just participate.

The time of praise and worship was wonderful.  The presence of the Lord was already so evident, but it just kept getting better as the night went on.  When Jim came up to speak, he spoke on prayer, which is one thing he is passionate about.  The Brooklyn Tabernacle is known not just for their choir and his wife who leads them, but for their Tuesday night prayer meeting.  He spoke for a little while, and then we just started praying.

In looking on YouTube this morning for a testimony of a man he shared about, I came across this.  This is so close to what he said last night, and if you have the time, listen to it.  It's only about five minutes long.

 

The reason I'm even going on and on about this is because I have been struggling with having a consistent quiet time lately.  I've been reading in my bible most days, but I've been neglecting the prayer portion.  I wrote about my notebook a week or so ago, mentioning this, but things never really got any better after that post.  Part of the issue has just been me.  I've been up too late, not sleeping enough, and I've been waking up already tired.  Partly it's laziness I'm experiencing.  Some days it literally feels like I am in a rut, and I can't get out.  It could be because I've taken on some of the burden one of my kids has been carrying.

I went in last night having no idea that he would be speaking on prayer, and not even really knowing how much I needed to hear (and then experience) about that topic.  It is no coincidence, though, I will tell you that much.  God knew, and of course the whole night was exactly what I needed to hear.  He is so very faithful, though, and He knows our hearts, and He listens when we pour out our hearts to Him.  I guess I write this to encourage someone.  If you're feeling discouraged or let down, or frustrated at all, then I want to encourage you to pour it out to God.  He already knows, but the confessing it to Him is what makes the difference.  It's like He takes all that is weighing down our hearts and puts it onto Himself.  He truly does lift every burden.

If you are a part of my family, then know that I prayed for you last night.  God hears the cries of our hearts.  I trust Him with all that I prayed for, and I believe that He will answer accordingly.   I believe a time of refreshing is coming your way, so keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Love to all.

things I'm looking forward to

I'll start with tonight.  I found out last week that the preacher of the Brooklyn Tabernacle church in New York City will be at Bellevue tonight preaching for their Awesome August that they have every year.  I am so excited!  I love this man, and even more than his preaching, I love his heart for the Lord and for others.  I am going with my bestie and am also looking forward to a whole hour of driving (30 minutes there and back) and catching up.

Just for fun, here is The Brooklyn Tabernacle church in Brooklyn, NYC.  I will never forget being there, or that trip that we took last October.  We had to get up so early to be there, and were concerned about our timing, but before we left that morning, I asked the Lord to work out all the details and the timing for us to make it in time.  We took the train into the city, switched over to the subway once in the city, and then got off at the Brooklyn stop.  We were walking up the church, and were about to get in the long line of people waiting to get in, when one of the security men stopped us and started motioning us inside.  We skipped the whole waiting in line portion!  How cool of God to do that for us, while we were there?!

That is just ONE teeny little God thing that has happened to me over the years.

Anyway, I'm really excited about going to church to hear Jim Cymbala preach again.

I can't wait to (hopefully) be able to see the eclipse!

We are traveling to go see this, and I really hope it all works out and that we're able to see the eclipse.  We are going to (near) Nashville to spend a night with Todd's brother, his wife, and their family for this, and then we'll drive somewhere to watch the next day.

(Thank you, Google, for your images.)

I'm really excited about a week in September that my family will be vacationing.  We are going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and I am SO looking forward to a week of relaxing and eating fresh seafood.  Also, in almost twenty one years, I can count on one hand how many times we have vacationed at the beach.  I think it's about two times.  Honestly, the majority of us prefer mountains and lakes to beaches, but every once in a while, I think it's fun.  I have also always wanted to go to South Carolina, so I'm excited about that, too.

And speaking of mountains and lakes...

We go camping every fall, usually in October sometime, and I am looking forward to this as well.  We may change things up a little this year, and do something different for our annual camping trip this time around.  I know that camping isn't for everyone, but it's been one of the greatest things we started doing as a family about seven years ago.  There is something so sweet about being in the outdoors when it's cool outside, and when cooking over a campfire is involved.  I can hardly wait for our trip this year.

Aside from these things, I am looking forward to many other things that are just everyday little things like being back in choir practice on Sunday's, studying the bible with a group of teenage girls, fall weather and cool nights, church events coming up soon for the cooler temps, the upcoming holidays.  I try to enjoy every phase of life that we're in, but I can't help but look forward at what is to come.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

Also, Happy Anniversary to my precious in-love's, Phyllis and Wiley.  Today is their FORTY-EIGHTH wedding anniversary!  That is so awesome and inspiring.

Family photo from the early 80's, and one more recent that perfectly depicts them and their personalities.  We spend the majority of our time together laughing over the most ridiculous of things!  They're so much fun to be with.

Simply Tuesday

I love the thought of that title, and it's a wonderful book written by Emily Freeman, but I still haven't finished it.  And may I just talk of books for a few minutes?  I haven't finished that one I just mentioned, and I haven't yet finished the one I'm on a launch team for, Church of the Small Things by Melanie Shankle.  I only have one or two more chapters, though, and I still love it.

Funny story (not really, but it's true): last night I was so grumpy.  It happens periodically.  ;)  It dawned on me last night, that I had never gotten around to having my quiet time yesterday morning.  The grocery store trip I was planning took precedence over my normal morning routine, and it just never happened.  I finally realized that last night, and I got up to have my quiet time after eight o'clock.  Life just happens that way, sometimes, and when it does, I try to not beat myself up over an abnormal daily routine.

So, this was me, at night, finally spending time in my bible.  Better later than never, right?  I wrote out two days worth of scripture writing (I usually miss every Sunday), and then I spent time reading Psalm 51, and writing out a page worth of praises to God from that Psalm.  It's one of my favorite books in the entire bible, and I visit it often, especially when I'm confessing things to Him in prayer.  As soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going to go do more of this.  I did pray this morning, first thing, but then I started making breakfast in shifts for people in my house.  (First for Drew, then for Todd and Graham.  Jonah and Noah are still asleep.)

I have three other books waiting on me to read them.  I need to put my phone down more and pick up my book instead.  Maybe then I'll finish.  I'm not reading anything fiction as of right now, and it is driving me a little crazy.  I know that probably makes some of you cringe, but it's true~if I read a nonfiction book, I like to have a fiction one going at the same time.  I need mindless in the afternoons, when the caffeine lull hits.  I keep failing at the whole library thing, and picking duds.

We are currently trying a new kind of coffee, and it is delicious.  We are coffee snobs, and always buy whole beans, and then grind them at the store after we make our purchase.  (At Costco.)  We are not making a Costco run this week, though, and I was needing to buy coffee at the grocery store yesterday, though, so I decided to give this one a try when I stumbled across it at Kroger.

I love coffee.  We all do, actually, the six of us.

I have been looking forward to this day for a week.  Sometime after lunch, we will go see my in-love's and spend the remainder of our day there.  (Along with the dogs, of course.)  Most likely we will swim when I get there, then we'll eat dinner, and we might go back to the pool afterward.  It's been forever, it seems, since we've seen them, and we missed our weekly visits, because Phyllis was sick.  I'm glad she's finally better, because I've missed her!

I love taking the dogs with us to places, and more than I love it, they do.  When we start packing up their things like their food and the leashes, they realize what's about to happen and start panting and jumping up and down.  It's precious.  Who would have thought I'd love dogs this much?  Not me.  I hate their hair that dirties my floor, but even all the hair is worth the joy they bring.  (Remind me of this the next time Crash does something bad.)

Speaking of him doing something bad, yesterday morning when Todd came downstairs, I found him looking intently at the dining room table.  I asked him what he was looking at, then he had me come in there to see for myself.  We were looking at dog paw prints, y'all.  I am not even kidding.  Not the cat, but the dog.  Which one, you wonder?  Crash.  I promise you, Crash's name is literally all over the table, just about.  Probably what happened, we are guessing, is that he jumped on the table to have a better view out the dining room windows, where the bushes are.

He hasn't confessed to it yet, but I think he's guilty.

I have seriously thought of writing a children's book based upon his bad behavior.

I'm not sure how I stretched three things to talk about into an entire blog post, but I am officially out of things to say, and I need to get started on this day.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.