Amazing Grace

no words can add anything to this one....see post below for another precious video.

Get your hanky ready.........

If you've already read the blogs of the gals that attended this weekend's Going Beyond conference with Priscilla Shirer, you know that it was an AWESOME time of worship, and one of the great things was that it was so diverse. There were people there of every color, praising the Lord together....just as it will be in heaven. I saw this on Shalee's Diner and was so moved by it that I wanted to share it on my blog too. I am reminded of Revelation 14: 6-7 - "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people---saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

I've been tagged!!!!!!!

This is my first time being tagged too, so I'm excited! Thanks to Jennifer for tagging me! It actually gives me something to write about without having to think too hard!

Here are the rules:1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven Random Things, here goes:

1. I have a hair 'phobia.' I do not like to see random hairs anywhere -- in the bathtub, on the floor, etc. Once in college, my African-American friend Shamiika chased me down the hall, scaring me with a bag of "weave."

2. I actually like doing things by myself -- I like doing things with friends too, but it doesn't bother me a bit to be by myself and sometimes I actually enjoy it!

3. My brother has his PhD in Biochemistry -- he's WAYYYY smarter than his sis!

4. I like for the toilet paper to roll from the top - and I'm actually obsessive about this. If it doesn't, I'll take it off and change it.

5. I love ethnic spicy food -- yesterday at Trader Joe's (love that store, by the way) I bought a package of Indian Naan curried bread (yum!) and some Tzatziki sauce (it's greek, i know, but it's really good on the naan) to spread on it and now our whole house smells like New Delhi!

6. I play the flute and was drum major my junior year of high school (picture that one!).

7. I used to play #3 seed on my high school tennis team and actually won the tourney in my Intermediate Tennis class at Carolina! Now, if I tried to play even one set of tennis, this poor out of shape body would be gasping for breath!!

Thanks again Jen for the tag! Since almost all of my blogger buddies have already been tagged, I'll only tag Monica on this one. Enjoy!

It's a God thing........

Here's a picture of my Daddy last year, all decked out in the Richard Petty Racing Experience suit. It's a great little program - daddy got to drive a race car for several laps around Lowe's Motor Speedway. He loves racing and is so hard to buy for, so this was the perfect gift for him a couple of Christmases ago! So, here's a little story about my daddy............

The past two weeks have been really rough ones. I've had a lot going on with life in general, but my dad's health has really been through the ringer the past little while. I'll start with a little about my daddy. For those of you in Sunday School with me, you know from my prayer request email that I'm a daddy's girl. But not in a normal "daddy's girl" sense. My daddy is a very quiet, mild mannered, hard working man. He's one of those people that believes if you don't have something meaningful to say, then you just shouldn't say anything. I've never heard him speak unkindly of anyone, and rarely have I ever heard him complain -- so when he does I know that something's really wrong. I know some of you might not understand this - but as far as I can remember, my daddy's only told me he loved me a couple of times and the only time I remember him giving me a kiss in my 'grown-up' life is the day I got married. But I have never doubted for a minute that he loves me. He had a hard life growing up, and I believe as a result of that, it's hard for him to show affection. But daddy has always provided for me and been the most wonderful Christian example a daddy could be. His humility amazes me. I just love and respect him so much.

Well, he started feeling bad a couple of months ago and went to his doctor. She discovered he had a hot little gallbladder (that's not a compliment!). So, he had it removed about a month and a half ago. About two weeks after that, his calf started swelling and hurting really bad and he pretty much knew what it was. He'd had a DVT (blood clot) before. So, he had a DVT around his knee area and started meds to thin his blood. About two weeks after that, he began having thigh pain and was having trouble breathing. Well, come to find out, he had several small clots that had moved to his lungs and the clot that was in his knee had moved up his thigh and grown significantly. His doctor did nothing more about his treatment. This little nurse was not happy! So, it just so happens that the hubby's in grad school with a cardiologist whose business partner specializes in vascular/endovascular medicine. He said daddy needed to be seen right away. So, Dr. Navarro (who I highly recommend) saw daddy last week and immediately suggested that daddy have a filter put in to keep further blood clots from reaching his heart and lungs. He had that done yesterday and is doing GREAT! Believe me, this story is really condensed -- so much happened last week that it really seems like a blur.

Now, I tell that story to give all the examples of how God's hand was upon Daddy and our family during all that time.

1. Daddy has raised cattle ever since he's been alive almost. In January, he had someone offer to buy them (he had over 100!) and he decided to take them up on it. If he had the cattle during all this, there would've been no way I could've taken care of them. The fellow that bought them picked up the last of them a week before Daddy's surgery!

2. The kiddos were on Spring Break last week. Had they been in school, there would've been no way I could've taken care of things for Mama and Daddy last week.

3. Who would've ever thunk :) that a cardiologist would be getting his MBA? God knew this would happen when J got in grad school and he knew just who to let him be friends with. The other God thing about the situation is that they usually have a long wait to get into their clinic - but J's friend got Daddy in within two days.

4. Mama was also on break (she teaches for the community college) last week when all this happened with Daddy.

I am also so thankful to many of my church friends, who offered so much support, encouragement, and prayers on daddy's behalf. Thank you, y'all. I know to the outsider looking in , these definitely don't seem like big things. But, to me, it is amazing to see how God worked during all of that, and how He gave me such comfort during what seemed like a nightmare almost. He provides a peace that is unexplainable......He is Amazing God!

I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred

Clearly, I have failed as a mother.

Little man came home from school yesterday and told me, "Mom, I think I want to start liking Duke." "Michaela likes Duke."

Thank goodness it's Spring Break (and the NCAA tourney - which Duke is SO not in!), so I have a week to get all of that brainwashing nonsense out of his head. I'm going to make him wear his Carolina shirt all week. :)

'Cause..........................
I'm a Tar Heel born,
I'm a Tar Heel bred,
and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead,
so Rah! Rah! Carolina, 'lina
Rah! Rah! Carolina, 'lina
Rah! Rah! Carolina, 'lina
Rah! Rah! Rah!

GO HEELS, GO!

The Church of Oprah Exposed

I don't want to bombard the blog with YouTube videos, but a friend sent this to me this week and I just haven't been able to get it out of my head. Let me first say, I know nothing about the book that's promoted at the end of the video and I'm not endorsing it in any way. But this video is so disturbing I wanted to share it with the few that read my blog. I haven't watched Oprah in YEARS, simply because I know she tends to embrace every belief that comes on her show. But, girls, this is some scary stuff!! She has such a massive following and to think she is now promoting her own 'religion'. The thing that really gets me in this is that Eckhart says he doesn't give any thought to what will happen after he dies. How can you believe in God and Jesus (which they claim to do, in a very warped way) and not think about heaven? For a Christian, heaven is one of our most precious thoughts -- after all, Jesus said, "for I go to prepare a place for you." Now, I'm not trying to judge her, but I am just so convicted by this. How many people cling onto every little word Oprah says? How many people will miss the joys of heaven because of her teachings?Sorry to take such a serious tone on this post, but this is some serious stuff, y'all, serious stuff.

My First Time

Well, I just had the best girls night out last night!! Some gals from GEMs (God Embracing Mothers) at our church had a chick night and went to Vogue Nail and Spa and had pedicures and manicures (and some had some facial waxing done, but as I've told you my eyebrows are now in tip-top shape thanks to the wonders of some home waxing products from Ulta). I must confess that I've never, yes I said never, had either one of these done. And if you saw my hands and feet that probably wouldn't be a really hard assumption for you to make. My poor feet -- if you know me, you know that I ripped my big toenail out last summer. A word of advice, my friends - don't ever try to move a large rock with flip-flops on. I'm just sayin. So, anyhow, it has FINALLY grown back in at full length, though it doesn't quite look the same. I've always been a little afraid of having my nails done, since my background is in Communicable Disease/Public Health and many studies have been published on the fungal infection rate from nail shops (yawn, yawn). However, I must say, I was really impressed. This little place was so clean (and had gorgeous chandeliers) and each person had their own little "nail kit" box and I saw the gal putting the instruments in the sterilizer machine after I got finished. I still couldn't bring myself to let her use the clippers on me though. I think I just know a little too much about Hepatitis. Maybe one day when I'm feeling particularly reckless, I'll go back and let her cut my toenails.

So below you see a picture of my pedicured feet, along with little EG's. When she and Brookie found out I had my nails done, they wanted to have a little nail party today, so that's what we've done this morning (this also included lots of pretend makeup and glitter and some crazy hairdos).
Here again, if you know me you probably also know that I suffer from a severe case of nail biter syndrome (only fingers, not toes). Wish I didn't do it and have tried to stop and just haven't had much success in that area - so pray for me! :) But I thought, it's a girls night out and I'm just gonna go for it and have a manicure too. So, here you see the nubs of things that I call fingernails in a shade of OPI's Cosmo-Not-Tonight-Honey (they have the funniest names for their polishes!!). I'm really liking it and I'm thinking the polish might help keep me from biting them. But really, they look pitiful, don't they?

So after we had our nails done, we kicked back at Jackson's Java and had some great coffee and conversation. All the while our husbands were at home with the kids. Ahhhhh, life was good.