Gas Prices

All I have to say is that it cost me $40.13 to fill up my gas tank. Grrrrr....

Thought for the day

"Some people are thermometers. They merely register what is around them. If the situation is tight and pressurized, they register tension and irritability. If it's stormy, they register worry and fear. If it's calm, quiet, and comfortable, they register relaxation and peacefulness. Others, however, are thermostats. They regulate the atmosphere. They are the mature change-agents who never let the situation dictate to them. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Phil. 4:11"

I can't take credit for this thought...I'm just passing it along. I pray that God will be the center of our lives, and that you and I will continue to allow the Holy Spirit to daily control us!

Oh the pain...

Have you ever had so much physical pain that you just wanted to die? Have you ever physically exerted yourself so much that you thought you were going to die? Have you ever been in the middle of something and started praying that you would be able to quit, lose, get hurt, etc. just so you would be able to stop what you were doing? After this past weekend...I can now say that I HAVE BEEN THERE! Saturday started out harmless...Woke up, got dressed, and drove about 30 miles away to play in an ultimate frisbee tourny(just for fun) maybe for a few hours. Little did my roomie and I know that there is a whole world of ULTIMATE frisbee players out there that no one knows about. We should have known that it was serious business when it cost us $25 to register for "a couple of games". And mind you...I have never actually played a real game of ultimate frisbee...I only played one time just for fun. But I basically understand you have a team and if the frisbee is thrown to you...you catch it(duh!)! So, I am put on a team with a bunch of players who have played for about 20 years! yeah...insane...okay it's not that insane b/c I've been playing vball for about 20 years, too. So, anyway, my team played 5 games approx. an hour long each. And then we played 2 more in the finals b/c we just kept winning! 7 hours give or take of ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!! You can imagine, #1--how I smelled(it wasn't a sweet smell), #2--you can imagine how I looked(it wasn't pretty), #3--you can imagine how my legs felt, #4--you can imagine the thoughts going through my head along the lines of I want to die! :) HA! So, anyway, my team ended up getting second place. And they voted me MVP b/c it was my first tournament. It really was a fun day and I would do it again(not this weekend for sure.) Sorry no pictures to post...I pretty much collapsed as soon as I got home. And I actually had to wash the clothes that I wore 2x, b/c they smelled so bad! We were actually at the field for about 11 hours!
Anyway, I have spent the last 2 days walking like I am about 80 years old, wreaking of "Icy-Hot", and icing my legs anytime I get the chance! Have a wonderful day, and go out and play some ULTIMATE!

For My Friends

When I was little, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend, and then I started to become a woman. And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up, God would show you the best in many friends. One friend is needed when you're going through things with your man. Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom. Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be. One friend will say, "Let's cry together," another, "Let's fight together," another, "Let's walk away together." One friend will meet your spiritual need, another your shoe fetish, another your love for movies, another will be with you in your season of confusion, another will be your clarifier, another the wind beneath your wings. But whatever their assignment in your life, on whatever the occasion, on whatever the day, or wherever you need them to meet you with their gym shoes on and hair pulled back, or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself...those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman, but for many, it's wrapped up in several...one from 7th grade, one from HS, several from the college years, a couple from old jobs, on some days your mother, on some days your neighbor, on others, your sisters, and on some days, your daughters.

So whether they've been there for 20 minutes or 20 years, God has placed them in your life to make a difference.

My niece, Katelynn Grace 

The Miracle of Birth

Yesterday I had the BEST experience of my life to this date! My sister delivered her second baby and I was there to see the birth! It was the most AMAZING, INCREDIBLE experience I have ever been a part of and seen...EVER! I was speechless the whole day(well, actually night) b/c I knew that I would start balling and then my sister would start balling...
Anyway, Katelynn Grace was 8 lbs 13 oz and 21.5 inches long.

Day by Day

Have you ever had one of these moments...
This morning at church the congregation was singing the hymn "Day by Day." The last verse was sung accapella. The whole church was filled with the sound of worship toward God. As I was singing I had the thought that maybe this is one preview of Heaven! Everyone singing to God, worshipping wholeheartedly...it was one of those moments for me that I was extremely excited about being in Heaven. Not that there are days when I don't look forward to being in Heaven, but today just hearing people's voices was amazing. I'm looking forward to spending eternity worshipping my Heavenly Father!!!!

Hmmmm?

So, it's almost been 3 months since I had oral surgery to take out all 4 wisdom teeth! In the process of all of it, one of the nerves in my lower jaw was damaged. So, after have many many many follow ups and being poked and prodded...yesterday I had an appointment with a neurologist. The whole visit was funny! I walked into the office, looked around and realized that I was THE ONLY person under the age of 75, and the ONLY person who could walk on my own. And what's really wrong with me...um...I can't feel the left side of my bottom lip! HA! So, I met with the doctor and he poked and prodded and made sure that all of my other nerves were working fine. His final diagnosis...nerves grow back, take a multi-vitamin and stay healthy! Anyway, it was just all amusing to me. So, for the time being I will just keep walking around with food on my lip and drool going down my chin...until some kind person tells me that I'm drooling or that food is on my lip! :) You think that wouldn't happen...mark my words...it happens every day! If nothing else, I laugh at myself!
Ps 40:16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, "The Lord be exalted!"

Lacking Nothing

Psalm 34:8-10 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Last night I was sitting in a Bible study geared toward career people in their 20s. The topic was being introduced to Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian you have already been introduced to Him, but how many of us really take the time to get to know Him in a personal, intimate way? We spend time with Him when it is convenient for us...but how many times do we pass up an opportunity that we could be experiencing Him in a deeper capacity? I was reminded last night that God is interested in the details of everything and that His attributes are inexhaustible!!! Spend time today to experience God in your life!!

Focus

Today I caught myself holding onto the fact that spring break is in 15 days! Another teacher and I were "trying to encourage" one another to keep on keeping on for 15 more days... As excited as I am to take a mini-vacation, spend time with friends, lay out, do absolutely nothing, spend time with my family, and not have to deal with students...I was reminded that what God sets forth today has meaning and purpose, and I need to focus on today and what God would have me to accomplish for Him...not for my selfish purposes! I have been searching for what people really look for life...fulfillment, purpose, acceptance...and the only way to find them is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fills you everyday with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ directs you each day where to go and leads you in what to do. You find acceptance in Jesus Christ in His promise, "I will never leave you nor forsake you!"
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 states, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
I hope that you are encouraged today to focus on what God's purposes for your life are today. You might be sad, lonely, tired, happy, or you maybe going through the worst time in your life and you don't think that you will ever make it to a sunny day...rest in God, let the Holy Spirit fill you, ask God to guide and direct you, know that He will take care of you!

A Favorite Quote of Mine

Lloyd John Ogilvie
"With Christ we have everything, without Him, nothing we do however spectacular has meaning. Therefore I must rediscover again everyday: Christ must be ALL or He is nothing at all."

I was reading this morning in Ps. 29. Over and over again the verses say, "The voice of the Lord..." He controls everything, builds everything, destroys, breaks down, strikes lightning...
Verses 10-11 are incredible after reading the previous verses. Vs. 10-11 - The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

It's a double rainbow! Just one more beautiful picture that I saw this past summer. This was on the other side of the mountains in Idaho 

Gysum mountain, one of the mountains in the Wind River Mountain Range in Wyoming. This a picture of the mountain at sunset. 

This is me and my niece at her first birthday party 

My very first post

Recently I have been living through each day with the hope that tomorrow is a new day. The pain, hardship, and stressful situations of today are gone, and hope has kept me going. Some days we experience trials and hard times personally or through friends and family, and you are at a place where nothing is a comfort and you have no where to turn. If I was not a Christian, I do not know how I would ever cope with death, broken relationships, or even something as small as a rude parent. Without God in my life directing where to go and what to do...I would be a complete mess. A couple in my church had a baby about 3 months ago and at the beginning of February it died suddenly. It has been hard for me to understand God's plan, but I know that He has one. A plan that my little finite, tunnel-vision eyes can't see right now. But I have experienced a hope for the future that I have never known before. We are not here to do nothing...we each have a plan that is orchestrated by God. I have a renewed hope that God will do what He has set out to do. I Corinthians 13 -- "...love hopes all things...love never fails."

HOPE

Another day has come and gone

Once again I'm left alone

Alone to dwell on doubts and fears

With nothing but Hope to suppress the tears.

What can heal a broken heart

When life seems to have fallen apart

Why can't I find my way through

When you have said, "This is the path chosen for you."

I don't know what to do or where to go

Your hand is leading to a place I don't know

I turn to find my heart in a familiar place

Where Hope is renewed and I can rest in your grace.