Never forget....

If you never knew my Grandmother "Nannie" then you missed knowing an exceptional woman.  From the time I can remember my Nannie was always dressed, makeup done, hair and nails done.  In the last few years when her health declined some she wasn't able to get up and get ready the way she used to but on several occasions I dropped by and her hair would be in rollers.  I remember the last Saturday I spent with her at her house I wanted to take a pic with her but she refused because of curlers in her hair.  Part of me wishes I would have just taken the pic but I knew she would get me.  :)   Even the day she died she was concerned with how her nails and toes looked.  I can imagine her thinking "if today I am going to meet Jesus I want to have my nails and toes filed and looking good". 

I also remember my Nannie being very independent and a little stubborn.  Sometimes Allen says he knows where I get my stubbornness from.  I think she passed that trait to several in our family.  She was also a bit feisty and up until the last few years you could bet there was a pistol in her purse everywhere she went.  I used to talk about that to several people and laugh thinking about my grandmother walking around the mall, getting her hair done or going to the doctor packing.  I don't know of a time that she ever had to actually use it but I don't doubt that if faced with a time she would definitely have known what to do. 

I always admired my grandmother for many reasons but mostly for her faith in God.  I can remember from the time I was a little girl through my adult life several times I went to my Nannie worried or upset about something.  She would always remind me of who was in control and taking care of things.  I am sure in her own private time she may have had times where she might have worried but I don't recall ever seeing a time that she expressed it or let her faith be waivered.  She knew where the source of her help came from.

In the last week since her passing I have reminded myself of several memories I shared with her.  When I was younger my mom, brother and myself lived with my grandparents on a few occasions.  I remember laying in her bed at night watching baseball and coloring.  We laughed about silly things and I felt like I could talk to her about anything. I remember when my grandfather was sick and at home on hospice care she dedicated her time and strength to helping take care of him.  They had a love for each other that I admired so much.

Unfortunately as years passed and I got married and had kids of my own I wasn't able to visit my grandmother as much.  Most know that working full time and balancing kids and after school activities doesn't leave a lot of free time.  But in the last several months I was able to spend some Saturdays with her watching TV and she would talk about my kids and how she couldn't believe how much they had grown. 

My uncle had given her a book about 16 years ago for her to fill out about her life.  It was several pages with different questions for her to answer.  She answered each one of them and on the day she passed away we read through them and I realized my grandmother may have had a lot of hard times in her life but she didn't let it define who she was.  She pressed on knowing that God was taking care of her. One of her requests in the book was that her children and grandchildren learn to depend on God for everything for that is our only hope for success or survival.  I plan to remind myself of that daily.

I'm so blessed to have had 35 years with such a precious and special lady.  She touched so many lives and made a huge impact on my own.  I hope to be able to carry on her legacy and remember things she taught me growing up.  I love her so much and even though it has only been a week I miss her so much.  But I am reminded that one day I will see her again. 

Running

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)

The story is about a father giving his two sons his inheritance before he dies. The younger son leaves on a long journey and ends up wasting his fortune and goes hungry during a famine.  The son decides to return home to his father and ask him to forgive him and have mercy. He was even willing to be a slave to his father. The father sees him and ran to him with open arms and embraced his son. He is overjoyed by the return of his long lost son.  He turns to his servants and asks them to prepare a giant feast in celebration and bring him his best robe, a ring for his hand and sandals for his feet. For the celebration the fatted calf is killed.

As you can imagine the older son was not happy when he discovers a party going on to celebrate his brother's return. He had been obedient to his father all of these years and his father had never even given him a young goat so he could celebrate with his friends.  But the father tells him that he had always been with him and everything he has belongs to him. But they have to celebrate and be glad because his brother that once was dead is alive again, he was lost and is now found.

I think about how overjoyed the father must have been to see his son walking down that road. For a while he had waited and watched everyday waiting for his return and it was finally happening - the happiness and joy he must have felt. I imagine he probably blinked a few times and wiped his eyes to make sure he wasn't just imagining it.   And then there is the son who had no idea how his father would react to his return and I am sure he was ashamed of what he had done. But I wonder how he felt when he looked and saw his dad running to him.  The relief he felt knowing that his dad still loved him and welcomed him back as if nothing had ever happened.

Just like that parable the same is true for God and His love for His children.  Even though we may choose to stray and do things our own way we can never get too far from His love.  The song Phillips, Craig and Dean sings "When God Ran" is so true.  Some of the lyrics are:

The day I left Home,
I knew I'd broken His heart
I wondered if
Things would ever be the same,

Then one night,
I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see
It was the only time,
The only time I ever saw Him run

Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"

It caught me by surprise, It dropped me to my knees
When God ran

 

God's love and mercy for us is so great that it doesn't matter what we do - God is still waiting for us to come back home.  And when He sees His children returning home He runs to meet them with arms wide open.  Imagine the celebration in Heaven each time a child of God returns home! 

 

God is always there in the same spot we left Him - each day He waits and watches for His children's return. I am so thankful for God's grace and mercy and that His love is never changing. 

Love Spring!!

I love this time of year!!  Flowers are blooming and everything is turning green. The temperature is perfect with a nice cool breeze.  

This week I took a few days off to be with the kids for Spring break.  My dad surprised us by coming from Florida to visit.  I always look forward to him coming this time of year because we work in the yard and plant new flowers.  

The part I dread is pulling weeds and everything that is dead from the winter. But once all that is done my favorite part begins - planting all of the new stuff. 

This is my little garden in the front yard. When we first moved into our house this area was covered with huge bushes.  I thought flowers would look prettier so we had the bushes dug up and each year I plant new flowers. I'm excited to see a few of my gerber daisies are coming back. 

I also planted flowers in a couple of pots by the front door.  I love flower pots full of colorful flowers!

Something new this year is a rose bush by our mailbox.  According to the label the roses should be yellow when they bloom which I can't wait for!

Also, something new is a tree.  Well right now it's hard to tell its a tree because it's small but give it a few years and it will be bigger.  Eventually it will be a nice shade tree.

Whe we were busy planting things Ginger was on a leash in the yard.  I caught her digging a hole!  Im thinking another bath for her even though she got one last night.

I really enjoyed working outside today and making things look so pretty!!  Brayden did a good job of helping and watering everything when we were done!

3 days...that's all

So this week is Easter week.  This morning I was thinking about the week leading up to Jesus' crucifixion.  As a mother I thought about Mary and how she must have felt.  To see her son beaten, mocked and hung on a cross. How many times did she want to intervene and beg them to stop? How many tears did she cry?  I can't imagine the pain she must have felt. I can see her kneeling at the foot of the cross crying and remembering herself in the manger holding Jesus as a tiny baby.  I think in that moment she was probably wishing for that manger again when she could protect Jesus from all the hurt and danger. Through all the hurt and pain she knew in her heart that what was happening had to be done.  That her son, Jesus was saving the world.  

I thought about Jesus and the sacrifice he made so that we could have eternal life.  As he walked that journey to the place he would be crucified he didn't complain or call for help.  Instead he took every one of those stripes and beating for us.  

I wonder on that 3rd day what those guards thought when that tomb was rolled away and Jesus stepped out alive. I'm sure their were in shock and disbelief because they thought evil had won.  Little did they know that victory was on its way.  

I'm so thankful that God loved us so much that He sent His son to die in our place and that our sins are washed away and we can have eternal life.  And that by each stripe upon Jesus' back we can have healing.  

Doomed to be clumsy

So anyone that has known me a while knows I'm not the most coordinated person out there.  All I need is a floor and some air and I will trip.  

In January I decided it was time to start exercising and get healthier.  So we joined the gym at our civic center.  I'm not one that loves to exercise.  I've been to one step class and one spin class in my life.  At the step class it was all I could do to not trip over my step and take out a row of skinny girls.  Of course at the spin class there isn't too much I could mess up - just felt like I was getting closer to Heaven with each spin (the pain was real).  

Anyway so my first day in the room with all the equipment was scary.  How do I decide the perfect machine to pick? I didn't even know the names of them.  I decided on one and started pushing buttons - nothing happened.  To avoid completed humiliation I asked another girl how to make the machine cut on.  Apparently you get on the machine and start moving and it cuts on. So I got in my groove and before I knew it I was a pro on the machine within a week. The track is my favorite place - good music in the ears and a good pace.  Sometimes if the song is good I will do a little dance combo in my walking. Well I did before I realized they had cameras above watching (sorry to everyone who saw my mad dance skills).  The only problem with the track is I trip - a lot and I do t have a clue why.  At first I was embarrassed but I've learned how to recover from it.  If I trip I just start jogging to make people think I was going into jog mode.  

So here we are in March and I'm still exercising.  Last month I got the sinus crud and a bad cough. I wasn't able to do the machines because they made me cough more so I just stuck to walking.  That is until this week when I went to the room with the machines.  The normal people were in there and they were glad to see me back.  I put my fitbit on my shoelace, music in my ears and got on the machine. Everything was going great until my shoe came untied and my fitbit came off.  I got off the machine and was about to pick up my Fitbit when the pedal of the elliptical hit me in the ankle (OUCH).  I moved and tried to pick up my Fitbit again when it hit me again on the other side of my ankle. At this point I was angry at this machine so I got it to stop and once again I bent over to pick up my Fitbit.  I was about to get it when I reached too far and my headphones stretched and my phone fell and hit the floor.  After picking all my stuff up and regaining composure the lady next to me smiled and said "see what happens when you don't come and get out of training".  Thankfully I was able to laugh it off and just keep going.  And I'm sure that yall are all laughing at the mental image in your head! 

Moral of the story - no matter how silly you feel or look don't give up on something because success is right around the corner.  I may be uncoordinated but I'm at 11 lbs gone and I'm having fun!  

Proverbs 17:22

A joyful heart is good medicine,
But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

How much do you know?

As a mom I have come to realize that my kids are not going to tell me everything.  But that doesn't mean I don't ask lots of questions. How was school? - Fine.  What did yall do today? - Nothing. Who is that your texting? - my friends. What are you doing in your room? - Nothing.  It can be frustrating to want to know so much about your kids and get very short answers back.  I look at them and think - so what you're telling me is you sat at school all day and did nothing but that was fine and then you come home only to go in your room and still do nothing?   With that much free time on your hands how could you possibly be so tired when asked to help clean up around the house?  :)   Who are we kidding??  A lot of things go on with our children but it is up to us to get more info out of them.  They may be small but they have so much going on in their lives and I want to be apart of that.  I want to know how they are feeling, what happened throughout their day and the friends they are hanging out with.

In our house the rule is if we pay the cell phone bill we get full rights to what's on it.  This means we will always know the password and sometimes we might just pick it up and go through it. That is not a very popular rule with our teenage daughter but one that she knows to obey or we get to keep the phone and she gets a nice flip phone that she can call her friends on and the worst part - no selfies with a cute duck face!! 

As a Christian parent I firmly believe in keeping up with what my kids are doing. Whether it be who they hang out with, the music they listen to, what they watch on TV, etc. Right now they are at very impressionable ages and they are being molded each day and what they are allowed to put in their lives will be apart of that molding.  One thing we love in our house is music!  We love to dance around and act silly whether it be at home or in the car (yes even while I am driving). There are all types of music out there to listen to.  I love Christian music but I also like to listen to 80's and some pop.  But what I have taught my kids is be careful of music you listen to because while it might have a good beat sometimes the lyrics are not something that you need going into your ears because it makes a huge impact. 

I love my kids so much and I thank God for both of them.  They are not perfect at all but I want them to know how important it is to live a life for God.  And I believe that while we are raising our children we are held accountable for what we allow in their lives and what we allow them to do.

In Proverbs 22:6 it says to train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.

In Deuteronomy 6:6-9 it says These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I am not a professional blogger and may not have a whole lot of stuff to blog about but sometimes I do have a lot of thoughts that I want to express and I thought this would be the best place to do it.