another email i opened today, i felt the need to share.
With LESS THAN one month before Christmas REMEMBER:
Jesus is Better than Santa
Santa lives at the North Pole.
JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year
JESUS is an ever present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies
JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"
JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly
JESUS has a heart full of love.
All Santa can offer is HO HO HO
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry"
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.
Santa's little helpers make toys
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put Christ back in Christmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season.
May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas 2008
And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the New Year.
God bless you all ...AMEN, AND AMEN.
Friday, December 12, 2008
random thoughts
I received this in an email today, and thought it was wonderful. Some of the statements I have heard before, some i have not.
(i am adding my thoughts at the end of each one...that wasnt part of the email...ha!)
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is
the ultimate anti-depressant.
(i have heard that walking is good medicine, both for the heart and the mind. i have not heard the smile while you walk part. sounds good to me. now, the hard part comes in getting out and actually doing it. i have friends that walk, run, and/or jog every morning before teaching school all day. wow. it sounds wonderful. it sounds cold, too.)
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about
what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.
i love this! i would need that lock, though, for sure. i pray whenever i can. walking down the halls at school, while taking a shower in the mornings (hey...a few alone minutes, dont get too many of those!), while driving down the road, when i lay down at night. way back about 8 or 9 years ago, i had a blank journal book. i kept it by my bed, and would write my prayers in it every night. i wrote them more like a letter to God. it helped me so very much, because i am so scatterbrained and life keeps us so easily distracted that when my mind would wander off into the "to-do list" of tommorrow, i could easily look down at what i had written so far, get back on track, and continue in my prayer.)
3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My
purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'(i really like this too. i'll fill it in for today. my purpose is to glorify God today. i am thankful for jesus, for my family and friends and all my blessings. really, shouldnt that be our motto everyday? to glorify God in all we do, and to remember to always be thankful! i think i should print that out all nice and pretty, and hang it in our bathrooms on the mirrors, in our vehicles, and on our refridgerators.)
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that
is manufactured in plants.
(ok, so we love bananas in our house. they grow on trees. and they are cheap, i guess. we love fruit. fresh fruit is usually expensive. we stock up on canned fruit when kroger has the kroger brands at 10 cans for $10. cant beat that.)
5, Drink green tea and plenty of water.. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan
salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts. (umm, blueberries..no thanks. yuck. salmon, yes, we love it. and broccoli, too. mark wont eat it unless its smothered in cheese, but thats ok too. green tea? we like the diet lipton green tea. the non diet version has a "wang" to it. at home we drink good ole southern sweet tea. yummy. water? i wish i drank more of it. hey, i do! tea is simply flavored water, right?)
(6. Try to make at least three people smile each day. (i agree with this. i think i accomplish this one most of the time. the days that i sub, i know i do. i try to brighten the teachers i work with day by smiling or telling some corny joke. the kids i sub for? yeah, they smile when the realize they have me as their sub. because i am awesome? sounds nice, but no. i doubt that is it. in reality its because i am generally a fun, easy going, laid back sub. i give them a chance before i "crack the whip" on them. most days, this pays off for both me and the students.)
7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues
of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive present moment. (i like this one too. its not as easy done as it is said, but its a great goal to strive for.)
8. Eat breakfast like a king,lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card. (i think i live this one, just in reverse order. no, we dont always eat dinner (or any other meal) like a king. hardly ever. but breakfast? thats always the maxed out college kid meal. lunch? for most days, its at school. depending on what school you're at or what day it is...it can be great, or it can be good. dinner? no, that supper around here. some nights it is way nicer than others. but, yano, the more i think about it, the more i should say, it is like a kings meal. we do eat every meal, or at least have the ability to eat if we choose to. some nights are bigger and fancier than others, some nights are cereal, some are whatever, but we have them. there are many who dont. so even fruit loops are fit for a king!)
9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. (this is true. its hard, but true)
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. (i think this gets easier as we get older and more mature. we can hate the choices people make, the things they do, the things they say. but the bible tells us we cant hate anyone. whats the point in it anyway? if they have done something so bad to us to cause us to want to hate them, do they even care how we feel about them? nope, i seriously doubt it!)
11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
(ha! this is funny! true, i guess. yet i hope my kids and my hubby take me seriously. they better, anyway! i take them seriously!)
12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument.
Agree to disagree.
(again, i think the ability to do this comes with maturity. age? not so much, for i know adults way past the age of understanding that still dont get this.)
13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
(this is a hard one. i believe it to be a great concept, and something to strive for. i do find it to be a hard one. i cant say that i have made peace with my past, but i can say that i have chosen to do all that i can to make the most of it, to use it to help others, and hopefully glorify God in the process)
14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their
journey is all about. (this is so very true. what looks perfect from the outside hardly ever is. and the opposite can be very true as well. our clothes may not be much, our budget is not much, our home and cars are not fancy. but we are happier as a family right now than we have ever been.)
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
(this is a hard one too, but so very important. to choose to be happy regardless of the world crumbling down around you. yet, if you can do this, to put it all in perspective...it is so worth every ounce of effort it takes)
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years,
will this matter?' (i have been doing this one for years now, and i can truly say it works. it is such a simple tool for prioritizing. i love it!)
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
(mom and i were just talking about this the other day. she said, "things will never be the same as they were 10 years ago. i cannot forgive and forget." i told her, the bible doesnt call us to forgive and forget. i does call us to forgive. to let go. to move on. we are not asked to forget. remembering is very useful. we remember the mistakes of our past so as to (hopefully) not repeat them. yet we forgive ourselves and others so we can move on, to let it go, and focus on doing better.)
18. What other people think of you is none of your business. (a slap in the face here. i must admit this one is very hard. i want to know what people think of me. i want to know why they think it. and if its not good, i want to change it. is that so wrong? probably not. but what most likely is wrong, is to let that curiosity control me. if i go around each day trying to please others, to do what i think will make them think highly of me...then who am i serving? not God. not myself. not my family.)
19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.
(AMEN)
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. (thats so very true. i want to show this to all the skinny people. i was once a "skinny girl". thought i would never wear a one-peice, never have fat on my back, etc. yet here i am. bigger than i have ever been, but more loved and more in love than i have ever been. closer to God than i have ever been.)
21. Your job won't take care of you when you are in need. Your friends
will. Stay in touch!!! (this is so very true too. i tell people all the time, its your family and friends that will be there, not your job.)
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
(well, yes envy is a waste of time. i agree. and all you need? food, clothing, love, shelter, and God. then you've got it covered.)
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
(i like this too. i will try to do this tonight)
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
(this is true, but it seems so cliche now. you see it on signs, on bumper stickers, etc. its not that i dont agree with it, but to me, it almost makes me feel like if i am stressed then i am not blessed. i am blessed. i am also an easily stressed person. maybe this one steps on my toes? i dont know. i want one that says, i am stressed, but i am blessed enough to know that i will make it through this stress and the next one and the next one and the next one.....)
25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.
You'll be smiling before you know it.
(amen!)
(i am adding my thoughts at the end of each one...that wasnt part of the email...ha!)
1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is
the ultimate anti-depressant.
(i have heard that walking is good medicine, both for the heart and the mind. i have not heard the smile while you walk part. sounds good to me. now, the hard part comes in getting out and actually doing it. i have friends that walk, run, and/or jog every morning before teaching school all day. wow. it sounds wonderful. it sounds cold, too.)
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about
what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.
i love this! i would need that lock, though, for sure. i pray whenever i can. walking down the halls at school, while taking a shower in the mornings (hey...a few alone minutes, dont get too many of those!), while driving down the road, when i lay down at night. way back about 8 or 9 years ago, i had a blank journal book. i kept it by my bed, and would write my prayers in it every night. i wrote them more like a letter to God. it helped me so very much, because i am so scatterbrained and life keeps us so easily distracted that when my mind would wander off into the "to-do list" of tommorrow, i could easily look down at what i had written so far, get back on track, and continue in my prayer.)
3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My
purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'(i really like this too. i'll fill it in for today. my purpose is to glorify God today. i am thankful for jesus, for my family and friends and all my blessings. really, shouldnt that be our motto everyday? to glorify God in all we do, and to remember to always be thankful! i think i should print that out all nice and pretty, and hang it in our bathrooms on the mirrors, in our vehicles, and on our refridgerators.)
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that
is manufactured in plants.
(ok, so we love bananas in our house. they grow on trees. and they are cheap, i guess. we love fruit. fresh fruit is usually expensive. we stock up on canned fruit when kroger has the kroger brands at 10 cans for $10. cant beat that.)
5, Drink green tea and plenty of water.. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan
salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts. (umm, blueberries..no thanks. yuck. salmon, yes, we love it. and broccoli, too. mark wont eat it unless its smothered in cheese, but thats ok too. green tea? we like the diet lipton green tea. the non diet version has a "wang" to it. at home we drink good ole southern sweet tea. yummy. water? i wish i drank more of it. hey, i do! tea is simply flavored water, right?)
(6. Try to make at least three people smile each day. (i agree with this. i think i accomplish this one most of the time. the days that i sub, i know i do. i try to brighten the teachers i work with day by smiling or telling some corny joke. the kids i sub for? yeah, they smile when the realize they have me as their sub. because i am awesome? sounds nice, but no. i doubt that is it. in reality its because i am generally a fun, easy going, laid back sub. i give them a chance before i "crack the whip" on them. most days, this pays off for both me and the students.)
7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues
of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive present moment. (i like this one too. its not as easy done as it is said, but its a great goal to strive for.)
8. Eat breakfast like a king,lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card. (i think i live this one, just in reverse order. no, we dont always eat dinner (or any other meal) like a king. hardly ever. but breakfast? thats always the maxed out college kid meal. lunch? for most days, its at school. depending on what school you're at or what day it is...it can be great, or it can be good. dinner? no, that supper around here. some nights it is way nicer than others. but, yano, the more i think about it, the more i should say, it is like a kings meal. we do eat every meal, or at least have the ability to eat if we choose to. some nights are bigger and fancier than others, some nights are cereal, some are whatever, but we have them. there are many who dont. so even fruit loops are fit for a king!)
9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. (this is true. its hard, but true)
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. (i think this gets easier as we get older and more mature. we can hate the choices people make, the things they do, the things they say. but the bible tells us we cant hate anyone. whats the point in it anyway? if they have done something so bad to us to cause us to want to hate them, do they even care how we feel about them? nope, i seriously doubt it!)
11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
(ha! this is funny! true, i guess. yet i hope my kids and my hubby take me seriously. they better, anyway! i take them seriously!)
12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument.
Agree to disagree.
(again, i think the ability to do this comes with maturity. age? not so much, for i know adults way past the age of understanding that still dont get this.)
13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
(this is a hard one. i believe it to be a great concept, and something to strive for. i do find it to be a hard one. i cant say that i have made peace with my past, but i can say that i have chosen to do all that i can to make the most of it, to use it to help others, and hopefully glorify God in the process)
14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their
journey is all about. (this is so very true. what looks perfect from the outside hardly ever is. and the opposite can be very true as well. our clothes may not be much, our budget is not much, our home and cars are not fancy. but we are happier as a family right now than we have ever been.)
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
(this is a hard one too, but so very important. to choose to be happy regardless of the world crumbling down around you. yet, if you can do this, to put it all in perspective...it is so worth every ounce of effort it takes)
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years,
will this matter?' (i have been doing this one for years now, and i can truly say it works. it is such a simple tool for prioritizing. i love it!)
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
(mom and i were just talking about this the other day. she said, "things will never be the same as they were 10 years ago. i cannot forgive and forget." i told her, the bible doesnt call us to forgive and forget. i does call us to forgive. to let go. to move on. we are not asked to forget. remembering is very useful. we remember the mistakes of our past so as to (hopefully) not repeat them. yet we forgive ourselves and others so we can move on, to let it go, and focus on doing better.)
18. What other people think of you is none of your business. (a slap in the face here. i must admit this one is very hard. i want to know what people think of me. i want to know why they think it. and if its not good, i want to change it. is that so wrong? probably not. but what most likely is wrong, is to let that curiosity control me. if i go around each day trying to please others, to do what i think will make them think highly of me...then who am i serving? not God. not myself. not my family.)
19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.
(AMEN)
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. (thats so very true. i want to show this to all the skinny people. i was once a "skinny girl". thought i would never wear a one-peice, never have fat on my back, etc. yet here i am. bigger than i have ever been, but more loved and more in love than i have ever been. closer to God than i have ever been.)
21. Your job won't take care of you when you are in need. Your friends
will. Stay in touch!!! (this is so very true too. i tell people all the time, its your family and friends that will be there, not your job.)
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
(well, yes envy is a waste of time. i agree. and all you need? food, clothing, love, shelter, and God. then you've got it covered.)
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
(i like this too. i will try to do this tonight)
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
(this is true, but it seems so cliche now. you see it on signs, on bumper stickers, etc. its not that i dont agree with it, but to me, it almost makes me feel like if i am stressed then i am not blessed. i am blessed. i am also an easily stressed person. maybe this one steps on my toes? i dont know. i want one that says, i am stressed, but i am blessed enough to know that i will make it through this stress and the next one and the next one and the next one.....)
25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.
You'll be smiling before you know it.
(amen!)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
i was tagged!!!
my dear friend amanda s. tagged me in her blog.
i am to find the 4th picture folder in my computer. then find the 4th picture in that folder. and tell 4 facts about that picture. then i am to tag 4 people to do the same. so here goes --
1. this picture was taken a little over a year ago, at our house in pyburn.
2. tommy was a little over 2 months old, mark anthony was 2 yrs and 5 months.
3. they were in the bathtub, i was holding tommy. this was probably one of their first baths together.
4. it was right after christmas. mark anthony had gotten bathtub crayons for christmas, and he had chosen to color all over tommy with them! it was really cute. the crayons tickled tommys feet.
now, i am to tag 4 people.
sandi, amanda b., kelly, and michelle. have fun girls!!! =)
Monday, October 27, 2008
tommy is 1
it still doesnt seem possible. my youngest child is 1. craziness. tommy turned 1 on oct 2. we had his party the saturday before. he had a great time at his party.
at each of my childrens party for their first birthday, i have each guest make a square and then i have those squares quilted for the child. it turns out to be a favorite blanket and a wonderful keepsake. it seems like just yesterday we learned tommy was on the way, nevermind the crazy pregnancy i had with him and then finally holding him for the first time. his being 1 yr old is almost insane to me.
tupelo buffalo park
on sat sept 20, kasey and i decided to take our boys to tupelo buffelo park and zoo.
so 3 boys and 2 moms headed out. of course, it was the longest trip down there, with at least 3 or 4 pit stops, snack breaks, etc. we finally made it, and we had a great time. after that we ate lunch (olive garden i think) then a little shopping. we made it back home around 9pm. it was a nice day. a busy day, but fun. the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we did too.
birthday slumber party
so as is normal with girls, lacee wanted a sleepover for her 10th birthday. and being the super cool go with the flow make your childhood special awesome mom i am, i said sure. as it ended up we had way over 10 girls here after school. 2 eight graders came, as well as another friend of the family (megan) to help make shirts. we made tank top shirts, had the hallway of pizza, and then headed out to the home football game. the girls looked so cute in their matching shirts. and it sure made it easy for me to keep an eye on them! after the game, it was across the road to 5th qtr. dodgeball. we watched. we may have attempted to play. but we lived thru it. dodgeball at sav coc 5th qtr is no joke. its some serious, be sure you have health and life insurance on your kids dodgeball. and the kids love it. anyway, after that, we came on back home. it was a little after midnight. and while i like to pretend i am young and full of spunk, i know better. so i got the girls to change into pj's, gave them the rules, and headed to bed. i was done. most stayed up till 4am. some said they made it till 6am. ha. i woke them up at about 9am for bfast, bday cake, and presents cuz we ran out of time for all that the night before. then moms started coming and girls started leaving. i must admit that even though it was a busy slumber party, it was the easiest one i have done. i am sure part of it is the age...10yr olds dont want as much mommy involvement as 5yr olds. i am sure too that part of it was the taking advantage of the local happenings rather than cooping them up at home the whole time. i was especially thankful for the new house that night too. our bedroom being farther from the living room certainly helped me sleep and avoiding any aftermidnight wakings of the boys.
the event wasnt without drama, however. the next couple weeks after the party led to more and more details coming forward about the little things that happened that i was very disturbed over. seems that little girls can be mean, even to the birthday girl in her own home. lacee ended up hiding in her closet. one of her bff's took her phone from her and texted to and broke up with her boyfriend pretending to be lacee. (lacee and sam worked this all out by monday). lacee and i have had several talks (more intense talks) about standing up for yourself, not being a doormat, how you should treat people and how you deserve to be treated, and removing yourself from a situation when needed. its been a hard lesson. lots of tears were shed those couple of weeks. i am proud of myself for taming the mama bear in me, and letting lacee handle things on her own. every child needs that self confidence and ability. yet it is hard for mamas to stay back and let them.
long time, no blog
wow. i really cannot believe it has been almost 2 months since i have blogged. i am glad to say that it is not because anything has been wrong. its because life has just been so very busy. a good busy. a we are blessed with activities and functions and too much to do kind of busy. thats the kind of busy i like. but, i do need to do better about blogging. not because i think the cyber world is on the edge of their seats waiting on my next keystroke, (although the ones that have asked me about it have made me happy), but because this is my super easy convienient online scrapbook so to speak. my online diary. my historical record of where we have been. i hope that it is here forever, for my children to come back to as they get older. to remember things and see things and maybe know why i did some of the crazy things i do. haha.
so, here i am. and i will try to catch up.
so, here i am. and i will try to catch up.
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