Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mom.

There will never be a song sung or a poem written that could convey the love Mom has for us. She is the epitome of Motherhood. Caring, giving, loving, nurturing. She is always there for us whenever we need her.

I would love to wax eloquently on all the wonderful things that make my Mom the best mom in the world, but there are just not enough words to describe all the wonderful things she has done for us and taught us over the years. I am blessed to have such a great mom. I know I speak for all four of her children when I say, WE LOVE YOU MOM. YOU ARE THE BEST!



Faith Update

As many of you saw last week, I had plans to do my blog every Friday on Faith. I was going to share stories of people who have shown amazing faith in facing the obstacles they have had to overcome in their lives.

I did not do the Faith Filled Friday yesterday. One of my faithful followers pointed out that she had expected a faith blog since it was Friday. So I thought I should give you an update.

I found out several things in doing my research for this topic. A lot of people like to believe they have faith; but when it comes down to it, they are reluctant to actually call it that. They will talk about overcoming adversity. They will say they had faith that God would pull them through, but then they like to list the reasons they were able to fight their battle and win and leave out any glory to God.

I worked for a publishing company that interviewed 100's of successful business people over the years for a ten-volume book series they were doing. The last question of every interview was "Does faith play an important part in your life?"

The answers amazed me. Every single person interviewed gave a beautiful, eloquent answer on how important faith was to them. Yet, only one lady was ever brave enough to talk about her faith in God. All the others, even ones who were Christians, discussed faith in themselves, the faith their parents placed in them, faith in hard work, faith in success. But they were all too afraid of offending their readers to actually have it put in print that they were a success because of their faith in God.

Have we become a nation so ashamed of our God that we cannot give Him the glory for what we are? Why is it so easy to talk among other Christians and share our testimony of our deep-rooted belief and faith in God, yet be leery of discussing it with the secular world for fear we may not be politically correct.

It saddens me to think that we feel like we cannot shout it to the roof tops that faith works miracles. In my blog yesterday I said that I squeeze every possible minute of happiness that I can out of life. The first and foremost reason I am able to do this is faith. If I was asked what my number one strength is, it would be faith. I cannot stress it enough. If you place your trust in God and leave your worries and cares in His hands, you would have so much more joy in your life. Does that mean I never worry? No, it doesn't. It just means that I'm allowed to keep it in perspective. Faith provides us with a positive mental attitude to face the challenges we face and still keep sane.

I saw a quote the other day that I really like:

"A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul. - Author Unknown

This is so true. There is nothing in the world that can compare to the peace, contentment, happiness and joy that will come into your life when you exhibit pure faith in the Lord. Thanks be to God that we can believe He will handle our problems, we have hope that a brighter day is ahead. But if we do NOT have a firm foundation of faith behind that belief and behind that hope, it is simply wishful thinking.

A week in the life....

I'm following Jeremiah 29:11.

I'm going to take my lead from Ms. Debbie and post an update on my week.

Sunday was a blessing as I was able to have all five of my grandchildren at church with me for the first time since the baby got here. It was a true delight to show them all off...even if it was a little exhausting. After delivering them all back home, I crashed on the couch the rest of the day.

Monday was a beautiful day and that evening I spent a pleasurable time at the ball field watching Garret and Alexis's ballgames.

Tuesday I cleaned and re-organized my office and took Flat Stanley to visit the Northview Elementary. You can see him standing on my grandson's head in the back row. Then Hubby grilled chopped sirloin, fixed baked potatoes and corn on the cob while I took a bubble bath and finished my Nora Roberts book.

Wednesday was church night. We have been studying some of the minor prophets and it has been very interesting.

Thursday night I kept two of the grandkids while my daughter and her husband went to the Zac Brown Concert. She is a HUGE fan. She was so excited because Mr. Brown was shopping where she works yesterday and she got to shake his hand, talk to him and get his autograph. She was a like a teenager bouncing off the walls with excitement instead of a married mother of two.

Anyway, the kids stayed with me and played hard all night right up until bedtime when they crashed. Once they were gone....they were gone.

Then this morning, my hubby surprised me by taking me shopping at Turkey Creek in Knoxville, which I LOVE to go to and then took me to Applebees for my Mother's Day Dinner. I always like to go out for Mother's Day BEFORE the actual day since the restaurants are so crowed on Mother's Day. He bought me two new pairs of flip flops and a new tea kettle. Don't laugh, it is what I asked for when he asked what I wanted. The flip flops were buy one get one 1/2 off so you know I love a bargain.

I guess you can see I've had a busy week. The thing is, this is about normal for me. We seem to always have something going on. I squeeze every possible minute of happiness that I can out of life. I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Hope everyone else has one as well and Happy Mother's Day to all my blogging friends.

We whine....

We whine when we don't like what's for supper....when just down the street a homeless person digs through trash to find a morsel to make into a meal.

 We whine when gas is $3.73 a gallon....and a guy down the street is losing his car because he can't make the payments?

We whine when the pollen is bad and our allergies act up....yet, someone with emphysema is fighting for every breath they take.

 We whine because we are tired and our legs and back ache....yet someone paralyzed would trade anything to be able to feel their legs.

We whine when things don't go our way at work....when the family next door is about to lose the only income they have.

 We whine because of the drama others put us through....yet the elderly and shut-ins go days at a time with no one in their life, lonely and all alone.

 We whine because we don't have enough time in our day....yet the single lady down the road counts the minutes until bedtime because she is depressed and lonely, with nothing to do and no one to talk to.

 We whine because our kids get too rowdy and noisy....yet the deaf parent yearns for just one chance to hear those sweet words "I love you" from their precious child.

 We whine because the sun's too bright or it's too gloomy outside....yet the blind mother would give anything to watch her daughter walk down the aisle.

 We whine over every single little thing in our life....yet there are many out there who would trade everything just to have one moment, one little fraction of the things God has blessed us with.

That is why I try so hard to maintain my Pollyanna attitude; to see the blessings I have and to thank God daily. How many times in your life have you seen or heard of hardships and thought "There but for the grace of God, go I." It is time to put aside our petty grievances, our whining and complaining and start being thankful for the little things that "get to us". Be glad that you are in the position you are in where you have a life that is filled with the "little things". It's time to put on our big girl panties and get over ourselves. Deal with what you can and leave the rest to God. There are so many that are so much worse than us. Paul said it best in Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

One thing leads to another.....

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Yesterday, I picked a few of my tea roses and put them in my little 25 cent yard sale pitcher. I placed them on my desk so I could enjoy them all day. 

I was happy.

Until I noticed the desk needed dusting so I cleaned everything off and gave it a good coat of Pledge.

That made me notice that I was tired of the way the desk was organized so I rearranged everything and dusted down the file trays and pencil holder.

But that made me notice that the dry erase boards beside the desk were a little too disorganized so I went through and erased what had been completed.

Then that made me notice that the bulletin board was a little crowded so I pulled down any old notes. I like the results. I am happy again.

I stood back and looked at my nice clean work area and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that I had some books laying around the book shelf and had not put the pack and play or the kids toy box back in the closet. So I rearranged things to get them back in the closet.

That made me see some things on the shelf in the closet that we don't use any more.

That reminded me that I'm participating in a yard sale in two weeks and haven't gathered my items to sale yet.

That made me think "Why in the world did I pick those three little roses this morning?"

Apparently, we have to pay a price for happiness.

Have a great day today!

I won't let go....

My blog today is dedicated to ..... 

Those parents fighting an illness of their child

Those children dealing with the aging of a beloved parent

Those caring for the ones whose bodies are full of disease

Those who are dealing with a family member with Alzheimers

Those who are suffering depression and anxiety
Those who are sick
Those who are trying to find their way back home
Those who are protecting our country
Those who have more on their shoulders than they feel they can handle

Those who are facing job situations and financial challenges
Those whose lives are torn apart from tragedy and grief
Those who simply are looking for a shoulder to lean on
Those who feel they have nowhere to turn

My prayer for you is that you have someone who will stand by you and won't let go.

Never forget there is ONE who is  willing to shoulder your trials and ease your burden. ONE who is always there for you and will always care. ONE who can heal the sick. ONE who will stand by you and won't let go. May God bless and keep you in His infinite care no matter what life throws your way. Listen to the words of this song and imagine Jesus saying these words to us

Busy about the business of being....

Do you ever have those times when life is just so good that you realize you are very content and happy with your lot in life? Those times when despite the bills, the worries, the stress, you are just happy to be alive?

I was reading a book today and one of the sentences said "She was just glad to get busy about the business of being." I loved that remark. That is how my weekend has been. Just a wonderful time to enjoy the little things in life. A couple of days out of the hustle and bustle. Spending time just simply "being".....

.....Tryng to get a good picture of five grandchildren.....

.....an inquisitive zebra who was fascinated with getting his picture made..... 

....telling the grandkids to get together so I could get their picture....and having the goat "kids" doing it instead....(this one cracked me up, they are all watching and posing)

 .....realizing your tea roses are blooming and you haven't even worked on them this year.....

 .....having a plant that died last year just burst back to life unexpectedly.....

 .....the sunsetting over the tree tops in majestic splendor Sunday night.....

.....the laughter and excitement of playing with our baby grandson.....

Life is too short not to enjoy the precious moments that come our way. Too short to waste on worrying about what others think. Too short to waste energy on deciphering what others mean. Too short to stress about situations where we have no control. Too short to spend so much time planning life that we let it pass us by. Do something fun and frivolous today. Take 10 extra minutes to toss a ball with a dog, roll out some yarn for the cat, call a friend just to chat or call a loved one just to let them know you are thinking about them. Life matters. Be sure and live yours while you can.