Desperate Prayer Request!

Steve's aunt called today and I want to pass along a tragic story and ask you to pray for the family. A young lady that grew up close to this aunt was traveling with her young family to attend church with her mom this morning. It was herself, her husband and their two children ages 6 and 9. Apparently, a gas drilling rig's crane fell on their passing car and crushed the car. Her two children were killed and her husband was Med flighted to a major trauma center while she remains in the local hospital. Her name is Elizabeth (that's all I know).

I can not imagine her sorrow. Please pray for her and her husband and their families. I'll update on whatever news filters my way.

Where is Christ?

Okay,I usually try to post happier more pleasant thoughts, but today I just need to vent and rant a little! You see it all started a couple of weeks ago. I need to help the church decorate some tables for a ladies Christmas party. A lot of our things are still in storage, so I had to use what I could find around the house. I decided I might need a collection of angels and needed a couple of extra to round out what I had scavenged. So off to Wal-Mart I went. I looked very hastily and did not find any angels except tree toppers. So I thought in my hurry I overlooked them.

Well, last night I was not in a hurry and I needed several more Christmas items. So I am back at Wal-Mart looking in their Christmas display area. I find Santa, snowmen, reindeer, snowflakes, etc, etc, etc, but no Jesus! What? How could this be? I even found breast cancer awareness wrapping paper, but no Jesus! Now I understand that some people don't celebrate our Lord's birthday and just pay homage to a fat jolly fellow but some of us still think it is a religious celebration! Don't we deserve the right to be able to buy items that remind US and our loved ones that we are celebrating a royal birthday!? Fine have Santa every 2 inches, but give us a choice! I might want wrapping paper with a dove or some other Christian symbol on it! I might want an angel to place around the house. I might want a Christian Christmas!!!!!! I know I support breast cancer awareness, but I can buy that in October during BCA MONTH! I have one day to celebrate my Savior's birth and I want to celebrate with things that remind me of Him, not to check my breasts! AGHHHHHH! So have the employees say Happy Holidays! I will respond with Merry Christmas, because I as a Christian have a right too!!!!! (I used to roll my eyes at mom when she would get on these rants so I hope she is getting a laugh out of this because I am indignant!) By the way I am closing this post to write Wal-Mart! Oh yeah and Target is no better! I left Wal-Mart to check out Target and found about the same craziness!

An Awesome Day!

 
Well this is what our Saturday looked like. We held the free garage sale and had beautiful weather. We started setting up around 8:30 and it was a little chaotic. We were just in this empty lot and dependent on the neighbors for electricity. Well they came through for us after a panicky few minutes and we got the moonwalk up and running. We had hot apple cider and LOADS of cookies. We had lots of wrapping paper and ribbon. We wrapped the things people picked out as gifts for others. We highly encouraged this type of shopping. At noon we were able to grill hotdogs and serve water. The traffic was slow at first but picked up around noon. I can not tell you what an awesome experience this was. People just thought it was a garage sale when they first came up. Then we would either approach them and explain it or they would ask a price on something. The looks on their faces were priceless. We had to tell most people several times that it was free before they would believe us. We heard so many stories about families in hard times. So many said they didn't think they were going to be able to have Christmas before this! There were many tears and most of these people wanted to donate money. We just kept telling them no, that this is just purely a blessing! We had people ask us to pray for them and were able to share God's love with so many.

One of the most amazing things we experienced was the people's integrity. They were so careful to make sure they took only what they felt they needed. They would be sure the clothes would fit the kids before just taking the stuff. They were often hesitant to take extra things and we had to encourage them often! I really thought someone would just pull up and load everything into their car. But this never happened! Amazingly, we had one man that came right back with stuff of his own! He had looked around and found out what we were doing. He got in his car and we just shrugged thinking he must not have really believed us or something. Then next thing we knew, he was back and his car was full of things! They were nice things too! He wanted to give, even in his need!

I know I said it earlier, but I can not tell you what an awesome experience this was for us. I believe it may have blessed us more than those we served. Tonight our group talked about how to make this an annual event. We talked about how to make it bigger and better. We also talked about leaving it the same as not to lose the heart of the whole project. So who knows what next year will look like, but I can't wait.

I would encourage and maybe even challenge you to try the same thing. Most of us have too much stuff as it is. It is crowded our closets, cabinets, and toy chests. We are going to give and get more stuff this season to place in these crowded storage spaces. Please think about cleaning out and just offering it to those in need. You don't need to have many people involved to make a difference to someone. I started out planning on doing this in my front yard by myself. I know there are lots of charities that will take things, but standing there talking with people and offering it for free is a priceless experience. You can take the leftovers to the charities! We did!

Blessing others.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We missed mom terribly, but were able to have a nice diner with everyone there and a very good meal. Anna (aka superwoman) hosted it at her house. They have done a great job remodeling and updating the house. We ate on mom's table, with Anna's china and decorations and our food. Of course the food was not as good as mom's, but I don't think you can ever measure up to "mom's" cooking!

The week before Thanksgiving, my family headed out for vacation. It is the first real vacation we have had since mom got sick. We went to the cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN (see link to Smokies View Cabin for a picture!)We shopped, rode horses, hiked, fished and slept in a little. It was so nice. Then we drove to Atlanta and went to the "world's largest" aquarium. It was fun. The kids love aquariums. They saw beluga whales, 2 whale sharks, and Hogan was even brave enough to pet a shark! They had a great day. Then we drove to see Steve's granny in Mississippi. Sarah spent the night with her cousin Tori and Hogan had a night with just mommy and daddy and Josiah. I got some more shopping in too! Then we drove home for dinner with my sibs.

This weekend we are helping to host a "Free Garage Sale". I read on the Internet about people who have decluttered and then just given the stuff away in a garage sale. I thought about the community we live in and how much need there is here. We feel God has lead us here for a reason (yes, other than just a horse). So we are going to start by blessing others this Christmas. Our small group from church is joining us and we are going to turn it into a block party with inflatable jumpers, cookies, apple cider, coffee and fun. We will wrap things people want to give as gifts for Christmas. We are all very excited about it and hope we are able to minister those who come as well.

My friend from high school, Melanie, who had breast cancer is scheduled for her next round of chemo today. Please pray for her. She had a really rough time after the last dose. Her sister also went in for a routine mammo after Melanie found her cancer. Well, she too had a lump that was cancerous. It was very deep and would not have been found until much too late. But hers is more aggressive than Melanie's. She will have to have a double mastectomy then chemo and radiation. Her name is Kim (for you prayers!) Please consider giving yourself a mammogram for Christmas if you are over 35 and not done so yet! (Am I harping yet?)

I did it!! It came!!! It happened!!!

I did it! I actually went back to the gym! Twice! I so dreaded this day. I was working out 2-3 times a week when mom got sick and that came to a sudden halt. I would take her and walk with her around the basketball courts but that was about it. Then we were trying to move and then had a baby. So now all my excuses are gone. It really wasn't that bad. The worst part of all are the walls of mirrors! They have way too many of these and I think they are totally unnecessary. I can tell if I do an exercise incorrectly by pain it will induce, I do not need to see anything! As it is everywhere you turn, there you are! Anyway, I am back and hope to continue. Now if I can just drive past McDonald's!

It came!! The backpack blower came! It is already dirty, smelly and a little worse for the wear. I have not tried to start it yet. That will happen soon I hope. The great thing about the wear is that I will look like I am a pro! I could blow leaves straight up in the air and an onlooker would think, she looks like a professional so that must be what she means to do! Image is everything! And sometimes that requires a little dirt and grime!!!

It happened!!! Our youngest got sick. Last night he was a little gaggy with the passy and did not eat well. Then this morning he had a fever. I got up early and got my shower since Steve was not feeling well. I was checking on the baby when I heard and say his little tummy rumble. I was frantically trying to get the towel off my head and in front of him when the volcano erupted! Needless to say I had to go back in the shower! Poor little guy had a rough day. He is sleeping well right now and the fever is gone, at least for the moment and the sheets are once again clean. Hopefully tomorrow he will be himself again! I am very grateful he is past the 3 month mark or we would be typing this from the hospital! We've been there before and I don't do well!

Check out Beautiful Mess (blog listed to the right of this post) for a wonderful reminder!

(Becky, I don't have your email address!!!)

New Toy....Hmph!!

Ok Angie is going on and on about this leaf blower, but a leaf blower seems about as much work as a rake. So I am thinking we need one of THESE!!!!!



What do you guys think?

New Toy!

Okay, I just need to write something happy! For those of you who follow my mom's blog I just added a new post. But now I need to focus on something lighter.

I am anxiously awaiting a long desired object. This object is supposed to make my life easier, but I think it will be fun as well. It is big, it is noisy (I'll have to use ear plugs!), it is heavy (I'll have to wear most of it on my back!), it is powerful (Steve says too powerful for me!) it will vibrate me to death. Do you give up yet? It is a commercial backpack leaf blower!!!! I got a great deal on eBay and I couldn't be more excited. I think I ask Steve everyday if it has been shipped. I have always enjoyed coming out to grandma's and helping her rake her leaves. We would take more coke breaks than I think were warranted. But the key here was helping her. She spent a good part of almost every day of her life raking leaves. She somehow kept all these leaves at bay with a single rake and about a gazillion matches. Side note here: Steve said one day he drove up and there were at least three large fires going. He could see smoke long before he got to the house. The road was barely visible because of all the smoke. When he got to where grandma was, there was not one water hose out! He said her reply to his offer of help was that she looked up, smiled and said "Aahhh, your just in time for a coke break!" Well that was grandma! But now I am here and I don't have a good part of every day to spend raking! About a month ago the leaves began to fall. Sarah and Hogan would say "Why is it raining leaves?" Guess what! The trees are still FULL of leaves and I have millions on the ground! So can you see why I am excited?

But not just for that reason. I have a secret desire. I watch trucks go down the road with these big trailers on the back. In the trailers are all sorts of fun! There are these really cool new large lawn mowers that you sit on and steers with funny looking sticks at your side. (I hear you can almost sling yourself off if you go fast enough!) They have nice big weed eaters and edgers, rakes, shovels, loppers, shears, and of course the famous commercial backpack blowers! I think this love comes from my genes and the experience of mowing my grandma's field as a young girl. I had mown our lawn for some time with a push mower. I even mowed the neighbor's yard. Then I was finally old enough to mow with the riding lawn mower. I felt freedom. I was in charge of this machine. I could go where I wanted (in the field). I had time where no one interrupted me. I had time to think, to pray, to sing... to be free for just an hour or more. (I am a terrible singer so the singing thing was fun to me until years later grandma told me they could hear me all the way to the house and would just laugh and laugh! Needless to say I don't sing loudly when I mow anymore!) Any way I think this loosed some sort of yard freak in me! I love to be out in the yard taking care of it. We will see what I think in the next few years to come!

Cuties