God's Chisel - The Skit Guys

106.9 posted this video to their Facebook page. It's nine minutes, but it's awesome. It's just what this girl needed to hear today, and I had to share it.

Parallel Parking

I kid you not.....this is exactly like me trying to parallel park our big mamajama van in a parallel parking spot. Thank goodness I did not have to do that to pass my driving test!! ;)

I Wanna Be Like Hannah

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going back to my home church and going to Sunday School there.  I haven't been able to go for a while, so it was such a fun time to be with old friends...and several new ones!!  This particular Sunday's lesson was on Hannah, her struggle with having a child, and her vow to the Lord.  This lesson is one that's near to my heart, because I have several friends who grieve just like Hannah did over not being able to bear a child (yet).  And I have friends who....Praise the Lord.....God has answered their prayers and they are now expecting a child, even after being told it was not likely or even possible.  I cannot say that I have been there.  I cannot say "I know how you feel".  Because I don't.  And I won't even pretend to because I simply cannot even fathom the pain these women, these couples, feel in their disappointment month-to-month.  But I am so thankful that God, in His divine providence and as He has done for so many situations that we face in today's world, provided someone they CAN identify with.  Sweet Hannah.  

In this lesson, though, God spoke to my heart about a different matter.  One that seems to affect my life daily.  Worry.  I think I have mentioned before that I am just one big worrywart.  And I have also mentioned pretty much every post that I am stressed about us selling our house.  We are tired and just want to feel settled.  We're not just wanting to sell our house, we have to sell our house because of the hubby's job change.  So, here I go again, worrying.  But, God showed me something in this lesson that I had never really seen before...or maybe I had and He just knew I needed a big reminder! :) 

You know Hannah was weeping and praying at the tabernacle.  So much so that Eli though she was drunk.  Haven't we all been there at some point?  When we are so burdened about something we just want to cry out to the Lord...and we do.....cry, wail, scream whatever.  I have.  Well, Hannah wept in anguish and "bitterness of soul" as she prayed to the Lord, and then she made her vow to Him, that if He would grant her a male child, she would give the child back to Him (and she did!!).  She just laid it all out, told the Lord everything she was feeling.  Samuel Chapter One ends like this (NKJV):

Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your

petition which you have asked of Him."  And she said, "Let your maidservant 

find favor in your sight."  So, the woman went her way and ate, and her face

was no longer sad.

For some reason, that had never hit home with me before.  But y'all, her face was no longer sad.  That day at the tabernacle, she poured her heart out and totally turned the situation over to God.  Even though her situation had not changed at that point, she still had turned it over completely to God and was burdened no more.  Oh, how I desire to do that.  So today, I'm going to be like Hannah.  I'm turning this whole house deal over to God.  He knows what will happen.  I'm letting it go.  And I know that old worrywart is gonna rear it's ugly head again (no pun intended...ha!) and when it does, I'm going to turn right back to 1st Samuel and remind myself of Hannah's faithfulness one more time.  

God is so good, isn't He?  I am still singing that song.........

blog update in progress

Just wanted to pop on here and say this is not the finished look! :)  I'm trying to redo my blog because I love a little change and wanted something that looked a little more fun, a little less serious.  I'm still tweaking things, so bear with me.  

Have a rootin tootin day!!

Little Old Me and Big Old Him

Well, I have been holding back on posting this one for a few weeks now because I am feeling so unworthy, but the cat's slowly climbing out of the bag, so I'm going ahead.  This is a hard post for me.  I simply don't know how to write it.  But I'm going to try......

A while back, my friend Nicki told me she needed to talk to me about something that she felt like the Lord was leading her to.   I had no idea what that would be and it was a few days before we had the opportunity to talk by ourselves.  Then she sprang it on me like a jackrabbit!!! :) 

As a lot of you know, Nicki is a great speaker and Bible study teacher.  She has a strong walk with the Lord and I really respect her so much.  She is attending Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks conference this year.  Welllllll, she told me that for some reason when she prayed about that, God just kept laying me on her heart, and she asked me if I had ever felt called to speak (and by 'speak', she meant Christian comedy).  I was almost so in shock that I didn't know what to say!  But, I told her I would pray about it.

Now, I LOVE to talk......around people I know, that is.  But you put me in a room full of strangers and I'm as quiet as a mouse.  'Cause I'm shy like that.  However, for whatever reason, it does seem that the Lord allows funny and random things to happen to me.  And He has given me the awesome gift of a thick Southern accent, which adds a "special" touch to almost any story. :)  Still, I didn't know if the Lord was leading me in that direction or not.  So pray I did.....and pray.....and pray.....and pray.  Nicki said she was praying for the Lord to put a turtle in the road so I would have clear direction in what to do.  And I knew that's what it would take.....because I'm a "thinker".  I rationalize everything to the point it's ridiculous (which I know isn't good).  I had kind of given myself the deadline of May 1st to make a decision, because I knew She Speaks would be full soon after that.  So, on April 30th I still had not received any direction from the Lord.  I had told John that I wasn't going to go because the Lord had not given me a "yes" on it.  I guess part of my hesistance was money-related.  Y'all know we're trying the sell our house and every single penny counts at this stage in the game.  I had made my mind up that because I had no clear 'yes' and we didn't have the extra money, then I was not going.   Because it's a pricey little conference (worth it, though).....$550 to be exact.  Well, let me tell you, I woke up on that Friday morning and had planned on paying bills that day so I checked our bank account.  It was John's payday.  When I logged in, I immediately got cold chills.  His paycheck for that period was $556 more than usual.  And because he's on salary, his check is the same each pay period, so I couldn't really explain it.  I yelled upstairs and said, "honey, do you know why your check would be more this month?"  He said he should have some travel expenses on there but not that much.  So, I think that was my turtle!!!  Still, right after that happened, I said, "Lord, could you give me another sign?"  My name might as well be Thomas.

So this ol' country bumpkin is heading to She Speaks in July and I'm just nervous, excited, and humbled all at the same time.  I love the Lord and love to tell others about Him, but y'all, I just don't know if I have the life, the knowledge, the ability to do this.  But I do have Him.  And that's all I need, isn't it?

Right now, the Lord isn't leading me to do anything except be a mama and go to this conference, and the fun little thingie I'm about to mention.  I'm just going to attempt to do what He leads me to do, one day at a time, as I've been doing.  He has led me to help with an upcoming retreat, which I am SO EXCITED about!!  Nicki and Sarah have already been hard at work planning the Live, Laugh, Love Women's Retreat at Fort Caswell and guess what....I'm the "Laugh" part of that!!  Woot woot!  I know it is going to be such an awesome time of fun and fellowship between women from all walks of life.  I can hardly wait!!!  For all eight of you that read this blog (hardy har har)....check it out and come and join us!

And I want to end this by just asking you to pray for me.  I am so burdened about this, not because I feel like I made the wrong decision, but because (as my friend Deidre says) I just want to get my miserable self out of the way and let Him shine through.  

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, 

For You are the God of my salvation; 

On You I wait all the day.

Psalm 25:5

Goodness Gracious!

This past week has been one that has been spent in constant study and prayer, pretty much. I have had to make some decisions that I wanted to be sure God was giving me the go ahead for. For some reason, I have had this song in my head all week!! No matter how small or how big my decisions have been, I have constantly been reminded of His goodness!!

So, I thought I would post it to my blog, thinking I would find a cute kiddo singing it. But I stumbled upon this and fell in love with it! I can't wait for you to listen!! It just makes me think how sweet it will be when every tribe, tongue, and nation - all who dwell on the earth - will worship Him! And if that don't make ya wanna do the Hallelujah Hoedown, I don't know what will!! :)

Randomness!

What do you get when you haven't posted in two months and have lots of things to share with the bloggy friends?  RANDOMNESS.  

Warning:  This post will be about things that are bringing me happiness in this present moment of my life, but none of it really correlates.......so, if you're looking for organization, you might want to stop here. :)

Exhibit A:

Here you see a picture of the best coffee creamer known to man.  It has brought me so much happiness in the last six months.  John and I LOVE coffee, and drink it every morning, so we've pretty much tried every creamer there is out there.  This won our hearts over a while back, and apparently it's won everyone else's over too.  It's sold out about 50% of the time when I go to the grocery store. Head straight for the Italian Sweet Creme.  Except at Christmas time, when Peppermint Mocha creamer is available. :)

Exhibit B:
Look what I got!!  I'm so excited!  I have only had three cell phones my entire life (and one of those includes the infamous 'bag phone'....remember those? :)) because I'm not a big phone kinda person.  I always get the free one and use it til it dies.  Well, mine was on it's way to the Pearly Gates.  Doing crazy things!  So, John had gotten a new BB (which he has to have for work) a couple of weeks ago, then I happened to see the BOGO promotion at Verizon, so Mulchy Mama got this sweet phone for FREE!  Once again!  And this time it's actually a nice one!  I really had my heart set on an iPhone, but the price comparison ruled that one out.  I also was afraid of getting one because I didn't want it to turn into a 'crackberry'.  And so far, I've controlled that addiction pretty well! :) 

Exhibit C: 

I don't think I  have discussed on here how much I love etsy!  Now, pretty much everyone that knows me knows that I love ebay, but lately I've been getting into more one-of-a-kind, homemade stuff.  And etsy is just the place for that.  I purchased this necklace for both grandmas and one for myself for Mother's Day (John told me to go ahead and get me one....woohoo!).  I can't wait to get it!  Once it comes, I'll be sure and take pics and post on here.

Exhibit D:

I love monogrammed stuff!  My good friend Faith is monogramming some cute K*lly's K*ds dresses I got for a steal at a consignment sale for the girls!  She does such awesome work and I can't wait to see my little stinkers all dolled up!  Pictures to come of this too!!

And, I'll end on a more serious note.  

Will you please pray with us that God will lead us to a decision on what to do about our house? Ideally, we would love for it to sell before the next school year starts.  But, if not, we are trying to decide whether to just stay until it does or rent it out and rent a house where we're moving to.  We really don't know what to do and just want what God wants.  As I said in my earlier post, we know that God's hand is on this and it will happen in His time....we just want to be obedient to what He wants.  John and I both are growing tired though.....him from the driving, me from the cleaning. :)  As Tom Petty once said (in a very nasal voice), 'the waiting is the hardest part'. :)

Dandelions, Sweet Dandelions

Well, y'all, I'm going to try to get back into this old blogging world.  I have been hijacked by the Facebook, trying-to-keep-our-house-clean-24/7-because-it's-on-the-market world.  I wish I could tell you that our house had sold, but it hasn't. :(  I'll have to admit, it is extremely frustrating to try to keep it clean all the time (with three miniature wrecking crews) but it will be worth it in the end, I know.  We know that God has had His hand on this move from the beginning, so we are trusting in His timing. 

Sometimes (well, a lot of times) it's hard to be a stay-at-home mom.  I absolutely LOVE it, but because I'm here all the time, I am so mundane to the kiddos.  They never really get excited to see me, but THEIR DADDY...oh, their daddy.  They squeal for delight when he walks in the door!  And I love that they do that.  I can imagine that would be such a thrill after a hard day!  But they are all the time making him special things to put in his office - drawings, crafts, etc.  And, yes, sometimes I feel a little left out (shall I get out my violin?).  

So yesterday little Sweet Pea comes in from the backyard carrying four dandelions.  She said, "These are for Daddy".  I said, "Well, didn't you pick any for mommy?".  Then, she said, "Well, one's for you and three are for Daddy."  So, of course in my mind I was thinking "yeah, yeah, just like usual."  THEN, to my surprise she said, "Daddy gets three because he's so much fatter than you."  Ha!  And I said, "Well, honey, in that case, you just give Daddy all the flowers you want to!".  

Disclamer:  Let it be known that this was not meant to put down on my hubby at all.  We both are, in fact, chubby. :)

Senior Adult Choir Hip Hop (Short Version)

This video just cracks me up!! You gotta love Senior Adult choirs...yo!!!!

I Get Lost......In Your Eyes

Okay, first of all I have no idea why one of these shoes is huge and the other one is tiny, but that's beside the point.  Can you believe that these things are coming back into style?  I can PROMISE you this.....this girl will not be buying any!!  I got a Foot Locker catalog in the mail yesterday, and these ugly things dominated the women's section.  They have a plethora of colors - some to match every outfit.  If I DID end up buying these, I could just dig out my Debbie Gibson tape, a bottle of Love's Baby Soft perfume, and my jeans with the bows and zippers on the back hem of the legs and I would be ready for a time warp back to the 80's!!!!!  And I forgot....I'd also need to cut and tease my bangs.  I never was good at that, by the way.  My childhood friend Tashena was soooo good at pretty, high bangs, but I just couldn't do it.  She was so good, in fact, that I had her spend the night with me before my 8th grade graduation, just so I could have pretty bangs for that special day in my life. 

I have to save the tale of the brass thingie (see last post) for another day, because I think blogger is going crazy or something.....it won't let me put the picture in this post.  And you really need to look at the picture as you're reading to get the full effect.  So, until then, brace yourselves.

I'm Back.......

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I have posted. So many things have happened in the *almost month* since I last posted.
A good family friend died and we spent about three days at home for that. He and his wife were like grandparents to me - they read Scripture in our wedding and he was just one of the finest Christian men I've ever known. He passed away suddenly while he and his wife were at the beach, and their family and the whole community was just devastated. And so was I. He's the type of man that won souls to Christ no matter what he was doing, in both word and deed. He was a man of great humility and I already miss him so much. But, he couldn't even talk about heaven without the tears rolling down his cheeks. For several years he has said, "I'm ready to go home. I told the Lord when He wants to take me, I'm ready." And that he was.
We also had an Open House at our house this weekend. I was a busy little bee trying to get everything ready for that. I prayed for at least one person to come, and God answered that two-fold. :) There were two families that came and our realtor said they both really liked our house, but weren't planning on buying until summer, so we'll just see what happens. We have totally placed this in God's hands and would like to sell as soon as we can, but we're not anxious about it. Two years from now, if it's still on the market, it might be a different story!!
And the other thing that's kept me away from blogging is that I finally caved and joined the wonder that is Facebook. I have had an absolute blast getting back in touch with childhood, high school, and college friends.....and playing PathWords!! I pretty much have to almost set a timer to pull myself away from it.
Anyhoo, I'm going to get back to posting, hopefully at least weekly because it is fun for me! Now, I'll leave you with a taste of what my next post will be about:
Hmmm, any guesses?

Has anyone seen Joe Dirt?

Because I think (s)he's at my house!

It's a "doggone" good meme!

Calie tagged Snuffy for a fun little game. Snuffy has never participated in anything in the internet world, so you'll have to forgive him if he's a little shy at first.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Hello everyone, this is Snuffy....I've hijacked the computer and my mom doesn't know I'm in here. It's pretty hard to type on this keyboard with my paws, but I'll muddle through. I thought you might want to know a little more about me...snort....lick.

1. My parents don't know how old I am. The vet thinks I'm probably six or seven, but I'll never tell! I was rescued by my family...thank goodness! Before that, I was owned by construction workers that were gone during the week and home on the weekends and each week I was passed off to different people. Because of that, it's hard for me to show affection....I didn't know much affection or stability for the first couple of years of my life.

2. Like my other blogging canine friends, I also love blankets. If there is a blanket around, I WILL be under it. I will scratch and nudge to work my way under. I rotate between the kids' beds each night and snore my little heart out under someone's covers. I will also lick their feet until they go to sleep....my mama will not let me lick her feet, but the rest of my family enjoys it.

3. I love my kids and I will look out for them no matter what. Even when my daddy is pretend- wrestling with my brother, I will jump at him and try to bite him. They always have to put me outside when they wrestle or play football because I just can't handle it. I don't know what I would do without these kids -- my mom and dad are okay, but I really love the kids, and I know they love me too.

4. When my food bowl is empty, I lick it around all over the floor (it's metal, so it's loud) until someone comes and gives me some more food. I have them wrapped around my little paw! Here's a picture of where I started moving it across the kitchen floor.

5. I have been visited by Animal Control once. In the past, when my parents weren't home, they would put me in the garage. That's because they couldn't leave me in the house since I chew on everything and they couldn't leave me in the backyard because I eat waaaayyyyyy too much grass (trust me, I spent three days in the doggie ICU getting cleaned out after they left me out a whole day!). Anyhow, my brothers and sisters had friends over to play that day, so my mom had to put me in the garage. I didn't like it and made lots of weird noises trying to get her to let me out, and someone who must've been walking in our neighborhood called Animal Control on my parents and told them they had locked me in the garage. Our neighbors all know me and my eccentricities, so I know it wasn't them that ratted on me. :) Anyhow, later that afternoon, the police pulled in the driveway and it was Animal Control. My mom was really stressed out when she saw a policeman at the door! They got a kick out of it, really. They petted me and told me, it was not, in fact, a crime to put a dog in a garage! The officer said he even did that in the winter! So, I may have a slight record.

6. And last but certainly not least, I'd like to share with you the fact that I have some serious intestinal issues.....mad gas, in fact. I can clear a room in a matter of seconds. Sometimes my family has to hold their nose. It's a fact that they do not particularly embrace, but I am extremely proud of it. I give the words "silent and violent" new meaning. Oh, my mom's going to kill me for saying that on here!

On that sweet note, I'd better go. I don't know of any more canine bloggers that haven't already participated, but if you're reading and you'd like to, go right ahead. And be sure and let my mom know...she loves reading how smart everyone's pets are!

If ya wanna come and take a ride wit me....

That little Nelly song just popped in my head as I envisioned posting this. I was going to have it playing along as you read this, but the lyrics aren't something I condone. :) However, the chorus fits perfectly, so feel free to hum it to yourself as you read.......

The kiddos spent the night with my in-laws last night. They don't have enough room for all the car seats in their car, so we let them borrow our van. That leaves me driving this:



It's not quite a car you'd imagine truck drivers owning, is it? :) And it's definitely not a car I can picture myself driving.....at least until I'm like 70 or something.

If you see me rollin down the road, jammin with my windows down, send a shout out my way. Until then, I'll just be a cackalackin!

Merry Christmas!!

C'mon, Hop On the Christmas Card Carousel!

Sweet girl Faith is hosting a Christmas card carousel and I'm jumping at the chance to show off my puuurrrrrddddyyyy Christmas card, designed in whole by Heather of Sprouts by Heather. She's just the greatest! Take a look:
Now, I know it doesn't match my current bloggy color scheme, but isn't it unique? We wore brown & pink for our session with her last month and she figured out a way to make it look festive and Christmas-y. And guess what I love as much as the front of this card? The back!!!



The back of it is almost like a postcard and you write messages on it. Isn't that neat?? If I would've had my head on straight, I would've written you a little message on the back before I scanned it. But since it's taken me almost 45 minutes to get this far, if I tried to do it again the girls might not get picked up from preschool 'cause mama was bloggin'. Anyhow, I can't take any credit for how great this turned out (except for the cute kiddos, which me, John, and the Lord worked together on.......well, actually it was ALL God!) but I'm gonna have to say this is my favorite of all of our Christmas cards.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours! I pray that you are happy & blessed as you celebrate the birth of the Savior! He's the Reason!

Little Buddy

I think I've expressed on here just how much I heart Will Ferrell. He just cracks me up (although I don't watch ALL of his stuff due to questionable content)!
Here's my one of my favorite clips from Elf, just to get you in the Christmas spirit!
Happy Thursday!

Run, Don't Walk

over to Ann Taylor Loft's website today and pickup this coat. I just bought it this morning!! I was looking online for Christmas gifts for their Cyber Monday deals and stumbled upon it.
It's wool, and was originally $149.00, but today with the extra 30% off and free shipping (enter code GIFTS at checkout), I got it for $22.44 including shipping!! Remember, this deal's only good for today though. Sure, yellow's not exactly my first choice, but hey, it's only an accent color. I'm not sure, but I think it's only available in Petites....but go on and check even if you aren't because honestly I didn't look that well. And no, I'm not really Petite....I'm the oxymoron size.....Extra Large Petite.....aka short and chubby. :)
Have a great day!
UPDATE: These are now officially sold out on the website.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Melissa tagged me on this one, and it was so much fun!!

I just love Christmas!! We're going up to the mountains to choose and cut our tree today with some friends and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!! We're also going to have lunch at the Dan'l Boone Inn which is doubly exciting. They have some of the best country cookin around! They catered our wedding rehearsal, and I haven't eaten there since, so my tummy is ready for some fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and fried apples!

But, on to more informative things. :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I LOVE to wrap and try to do most gifts that way, but I usually use gifts bags for gift cards, etc.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. I love real trees. One of my best childhood memories is our tree. We were really poor growing up and couldn't afford to buy a tree, so daddy always went out in the woods and cut down a scrawny little cedar tree and we had the big bulb lights, which really weighed it down. I remember thinking, "I can't wait to have one of those pretty trees." But now that I get those "pretty trees," I'd just love to have my little old cedar back!


3. When do you put up the tree? The Saturday following Thanksgiving.


4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the 26th or 27th of Dec. Since it's real and I put it up at Thanksgiving, it's pretty well dried out by then. Wouldn't want to burn the house down!


5. Do you like eggnog? Used to, but now, not so much.


6. Favorite gift received as a child? A green plastic ride-on pedal tractor. Mama & Daddy still have it and my kids love it too!!



7. Hardest person to buy for? My Daddy. He never wants a thing, except this year he wants a Harley (ha!) and we might get him a helmet and have "Paw" airbrushed on it! I'm not thrilled about him riding a bike, but since he NEVER wants anything, it would be a special treat for him to get something for himself. :)

8. Easiest person to buy for? My friend Heather. We pretty much have the same taste in everything (I guess that comes from spending the first 18 years of your life joined at the hip....love you Heath!).

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, several different kinds. My favorite is one I got in Mexico, and it's inside a clay pot and everything's 'rough-hewn' out of clay. It just looks so humble.


10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail


11. WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT U EVER RECEIVED? Hmmm, are there bad Christmas gifts? :)


12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf (I love Will Ferrell) with The Polar Express coming in a close second.


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually after Thanksgiving.

14 . Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Hmmmm, I don't think that I have.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My Nanny's fried apple pies (she only fixes them at Christmas and they're absolutely, hands down, the best I've ever had).

16. Lights on the tree? I personally like clear lights, but the kids love color (and blinking) so that's what we've had for the last three years. We ARE the National Lampoons!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Beautiful Star of Bethlehem


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. ugh. We spend lots of time in the van at Christmas!


19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer'? Yes, but I have to sing the song.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People fighting over parking spaces at the mall (saw it happen yesterday).

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We don't really have a theme....we have lots of Hallmark ornaments that people have given the kiddos and some ornaments they've made, so our tree is just a hodge-podge of ornaments. :)


25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For those who might be out of work to still be able to have Christmas....there are so many people out of work this year who may not be able to afford a special Christmas dinner or gifts for their kids and it just breaks my heart. We have much more than we deserve at our house, so we're really cutting back this year.

Thanks so much for the tag Melissa...loved it! Now I tag whoever would play to play along in this fun little game......and I'm off to pick out a Christmas tree!

An Award and A Happy Thanksgiving

Well, gals, let me first say I am totally not deserving of this award, but special thanks to Rebecca Jo for bestowing it upon me! I have enjoyed reading her blog so much over the past couple of months. It's easy to see what a great job she does leading a group of girls at her church. Thanks for being an inspiration to me, Rebecca Jo!! I'm so thankful to have 'met' you!!

The rules of this award:

1. I must first post the Award on my blog
2. Link to the person who gave it to me (see above).
3. Link to the originating Post to describe what this award means.
4. Pass the award on to 5 people - so let's get to it!

I'd like to pass this on to my real life friends. Since I've never received an award, and don't get to tell you often what I appreciate about you, I thought I'd start with you. :)

1. I pass this on to Amy G. She is our "Preschool Minister" at our church and does a great job! ANDDDDD.....she's getting married in a week and a half and anyone who's going through the stress that she is right now deserves an award. :)

2. Next, I'll pass it along to Melissa. Melissa helps teach our Sunday School class and also helped develop a Special Needs ministry at our church. She does such a great job with that, and is so transparent about the happenings at her house with her "sweet Caroline." You are a help to so many!

3. Thirdly, I'd like to give a shout out to my friend Faith. Faith also helps teach our Sunday School class and she and her husband Chad are just a barrel of laughs!! They are going through struggles with infertility, and as her mom said, God named her appropriately. I am amazed at the faith she exemplifies as they're going through this. She is just an inspiration to me, and now to so many others she's met in the blawg world!

4. Fourth, I pass the award on to Jennifer. Jennifer is also in our Sunday School class (class President, I believe....heehee) and is such a great wife and mom. She and her husband have become really involved in foreign mission trips, and I just wouldn't be surprised if God doesn't call them into full time ministry at some point in their lives!! She's dealing with the struggles of raising a three year old little fella and is looking for tips, so if you have any go visit her. (Sorry I haven't commented on that by the way - I can't think of anything to help. Prayer's what got me through it...now I'm getting ready to head into it again. :)).

5. Lastly, I'll give this one to my friend Nicki. She has an AWESOME testimony and attended She Speaks this past year and I am so excited to see how God is working in her life. She's busy teaching "Music & Move It" at our church preschool AND being a mom to three girlies of her own!! :) And she's just as cute as she is sweet!

I love all you girls! You are true Proverbs 31 women and you'll never know what an impact you've had on MY life! So glad I had the chance to tell you so!! (There are also many other gals that I know that fit this mold, but you don't blog so I can't give you an award. :( So, start blogging!! :))

Also, girls, no pressure to pass this on from me....it's a busy time....I just wanted to pass it along to you! :)

For some reason, I can't get all of my links to show up in the right color...maybe it's just on my computer. But all the links are there, even if they're not in red. :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!

Always and Forever

You know you're a nerd when you can't sleep and you're up watching Napoleon Dynamite clips on YouTube.

This song brought a tear to my eye....

Kip + LaFawnda = True Love Fo-eva

(If you've never seen Napoleon Dynamite, you won't get any of this. But you really should watch it. It's the funniest, oddest movie you'll ever watch. You're guaranteed to either love it or hate it.)