Introducing My Snowman Collection

I have finally taken a picture of my snowmen today. Mom is taking down the tree tomorrow so I thought I would take a picture of them along with their friend, Teddy Bear, under the tree. I offically stand at 14 snowmen.
Hey if I can't have the snow I can still have the snowmen. I also have several snowflakes, but they aren't in the picture. Most of them are in my room and one is on the tree, but you can't see it in the picture.
I have Three of them that light up. One of them is not on because it was blocking the look of the snowman. 7 are Tree ornaments. One is a tea candle holder. Two are Salt and pepper shakers. Two are shelf sitters and one is of course a stuffed snowman. My teddy bear also lights up.

Dashing through the . . .Mud?

I'm dreaming of white Christmas, but when I step outside I see only mud. I am sure if Denver could, they would share. Of course they are saying the storm is headed our way and will be here by day after Christmas.
In a way I am glad it is not going to snow on Christmas day. The last time we had a bad Christmas storm my family got stuck at my Grandparents house with the clothes on our backs and whatever we were given for Christmas. Lesson: if you hear that it might snow and you are on your way to your Grandparents house, remember to take deodorant, a toothbrush and toothpaste. And if you can fit in an extra pair of undies that would make your life a whole lot better.
Did something different last night. My church went Christmas Caroling in the rain with umbrellas rather than with scarves, mittens and hats. Wet, but fun. We sang for the older people in our church as well as a few extras and they really appreciated it.
I am looking forward to tomorrow in some ways. On Sunday morning I will be singing in the choir, then in the afternoon we will be going to the nursing home for a service. Then on to our annual Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. It's always unique with a splash of tradition. AKA singing Silent Night while lighting candles all around the church. I love that part, it always give me cold chills.
Well Merry Christmas Eve, Eve, my Friends.

One Week to go!

Are you ready for Christmas?
I hope so because it is one week away. :)
I feel like a child when it comes to Christmas. I love everything about Christmas except maybe wraping my dad's presents for him. (I ask him every year what he is going to do when I am gone and he is going to have to wrap his own presents to my mom. He always tells me that he is going to get me to come home just before Christmas and wrap then all or take them to me. HAa!)
Happily I have finished my Christmas shopping for the year. That is very rare for me.
Now to get them wrapped.
I must confess that I had added to my snowman collection. I now have 13. Now for a White Christmas.
The pictures that you see on the last post were taken a week ago and as you can see there is snow on the ground. Now if you look outside all you will see is brown and green. It may end up being a warm Christmas rather then a snowy one. But if this summer tells us anything as to how it is going to be this winter we may be in for more snow than we really want. I guess if you live in the North you are going to be hit with snow. It's just a fact of life.

Creative Fingers

I have had a really strange thing happen to me this week. I have been overly creative. I have always been able to do Crafty things when someone show me how to do it, but this week I have had one of those cravings to Create and decorate.
I started out by decorating my front porch. I put Garland and Red bows around the rails like I did last year, but I wanted something a little more so I bought flowers and took some old ribbons from flower arrangements and made my own arrangements and put them on the rails too.
Then I took Purple and Silver Pointsetta's and put them with a big Purple bow and ceder branches from out back on the door.
Then to top it off I today I decorated the inside stairs with more green garland, flowers, bows and Lights. And you want to know the amazing part? It all looks really good. I think I shocked myself.
I spent the afternoon at the big mall today.
There were people EVERYWhere
There were some places that I wanted to go, but the stores were so small and there were so many people that it was crazy.
I Felt like Cattle being herded along. It almost felt like being back at school. It was fun because I spent it with the family.
If I can ever figure out how to get these pictures off my card I'll share them on here. That is if I can figure that one out too.
Until then You will just have to imagine what I decorated. I am kind of excited about that as you can tell. Maybe there is a little hope of an artist in me yet.

One of my Favorite things

I love Dog Shows.
Okay so that is an understatement. Whenever I find out that there is a dog show coming I let my family know that We Are going to watch the dog show and no we are not going to watch anything else. If I am at the house when the dog show comes on we are going to watch it.
I have been watching dogs shows now for about 6 years, give or take. In that time I have seen dogs that I can't stand (no offense to anyone, but I can't stand Pekinese and I can't stand poodles) and dogs that bring tears to my eyes and dogs that I just fall in love with.
This year was no different then any other. No matter what we watched the dog shows.
I am pretty good at pick out the ones that I like to see win and usually, but not always I am right. Usually I like the Terrier group (unless its the Kerry Blue. There is just something about them that make them so arrogant.)
This year I have been watching a specific dog that just thrills me every time I see him. His name just fits him to a tee. He is regal and down right beautiful. Everytime we watched a show there he was and he always seemed to get best in group. And he got best in show once too. That made me happy.
This weekend was the Eukanuba National Championship and guess who was there. That's right my favorite dog. Of course it was really hard tonight because there were some down right gorgious dogs struting their stuff.
It all came down to 7 dogs: The Mini Poodle (why in the world would anyone call those rats beautiful), The Sealyum Terrier (One of my picks of course), The PBGB (Don't ask me to give you the full name, I can hardly right in english), The Portegese Water dog (Looks too much like a poodle for me to like them), The Non sporting group dog that I can't remember (He didn't win), The German Shephard (Stung female that took my breath away), and The English Springer Spaniel (Another one of my favorites to win).
Okay So have been very careful with which one won Except for the one I couldn't remember (sorry)
Well anyway. Now that I have spent so much time talking about it I guess I should tell you that my favorite won tonight. James the English Springer Spaniel won tonight and I am a very happy person.
Now that I have told you all about it I just realized How tired I was and so now I am going to bed. Goodnight.

The Five Senses of the Seasons Part II

AH December!
I love December. For obvious reasons. Christmas, New Years, Gift Giving, family events such as birthdays, Anniversaries, my brithday. It's a good month. I think I will always cherish my birthday just simply because it was my gradparents anniversary. They would have been married 62 years this year.
I was just thinking the about winter. I know winter isn't offically until the 21st, but it came yesterday in a loud thunderous wind. IT shook the house and it sounded like it's teeth were rattling. That is if a house were to have teeth.
It's time for the 5 senses of winter.
I have been trying to figure out some of the senses and it has been hard finding something in particular for everyone, but I think I have them all.
Winter has to be a combination between sight and touch.
Touch: The feeling of the cold wind on your face. The warmth of a big thick blanket wrapped around you early in the morning or while you sit on the couch. The snow bouncing off your nose and sometimes snowballs going down your neck. :) Smoke in your eyes causing them to burn.
Sight: The Sparkling newly lain snowflakes that glitter like dimonds. The white world that seems to be endless. Bare trees, fat little birds at the bird feeder trying to stay warm right in the middle of the bird feeder. Smoke curling lazily out of the chimnies. Grey clouds, and the wind bending the bare trees head over heals. Ice glazing over the rivers, ponds and lakes and the occational mud puddle. The short days and long nights.
Hearing: Late geese flying south, the wind in the trees, the quiet sound of early morning as the snow melts leaving little pitter patters of sounds. The crunching of the snow under your feet. Crackling of a cozy fire.
Smell: The cold crisp air as it blows in a noreastern. Smoke, Evergreen trees, the wet smell of snow. Cookies in the oven that your Mom said she was baking to "warm up the house."
Taste: Snow on your tongue, the tangy taste of wood smoke. Ice cold water from the faucet. The cookies that "Warmed up the house". The sharpness of the wind as you suck in your breath.
It's amazing the way all the senses are used in winter. And maybe it is the glumist time of the year, but here is an interesting thought about it and a parallel with Christmas.
The world was in it's darkest days. Sin was everywhere. It seemed that there was no end to the hopeless dispare of the human race. Then Christmas came. At it's darkest hour a Messiah shown through it all and gave the world the brightness it needed to get out of the gloom. Although some people don't believe that Christ was born in December (and I am not so sure he was either), I think it is a very fitting time for us to be celebrating the Light of the World.

Beautiful Weather

It really doesn't feel like November out right now. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 60's and may hit a record high. Then by the end of the week it is supposed to do the s word.
I know I know. You can blame it all on me. It's a tradition. It's always supposed to snow for my brithday. Didn't you know that God and I worked that one out way back when I was 13. HEE HEE HEE
Not really, but I really love it when there is snow on the Ground for my brithday. It makes me think of dimonds the first time that it snows. The snow sparkles as the sun shines down on it and the trees are all white and pretty with then icicles hanging from the bare trees.
Of course Friday is the first day of December which is the day the weather is going to make it drastic change from upper 50's to lower 30's within the space of a rain storm.
At least I don't live in SC where people can drive. Sorry, no offense, but seeing as I lived down there during two "major" snow storms and got campused because of 2 inches of snow, I think I am qualified to pick in that way.
Today was my day off and I did a lot of fun things such as 1. Finished reading a book 2. took a nice walk with my mom and then turned around and took a walk to the post office with my dad 3. made the best fudge I ever made (with Nestles Chocolate chips), 4. Glued a puzzled to the back of a board so that I can hang it up on my wall and 5. Decorated the front porch with Garland and Red Bows. Oh and I took a nice long nap, always a good thing on my day off. Oh and I plugged in my fiberoptic TeddyBear my grandmother gave me last year for Christmas for the first time. It was a busy day for me don't you think?

Thanksgiving Part II

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I really am looking forward to tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly the year speeds by and before you know it the Christmas time of year is almost on you.
I am really looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to be with family. It's going to be fun because we exchange gag gifts with each other. That's because for many years my grandparents went to Florida and we had Christmas on Thanksgiving so that my grandmother wouldn't be so homesick.
This year it seems that almost everyone will be there. And although the saying from Zazu in Lion King Everyone has at least one bad apple in the family Two in mine actually applies to mine but make that three. We can get along at least for one day.
There are so many things to be thankful for this year. And though I don't always understand what the Lord has in store for me, it is always comforting to know that he is totally in control of every situation no matter how big or how small that situation is.
I am most thankful for you my friends who put up with me and my jabbering.
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to count all your blessings including the ones you don't think are blessings at all.

Thanksgiving Part I

I love Thanksgiving. I guess in some ways it is my favorite holiday. Even more so sometimes then Christmas. I guess maybe the reason is becuase my family has been celebrating Thanksgiving together for as many years as I can remember and when my grandparents went to Florida every year we not only celebrated Thanksgiving, but also Christmas. I think maybe for me it was the fact that my entire family seemed to squash together in my grandparents little trailer and just enjoy each others company. This year is going to be even more special because it looks like everyone is going to be there. The sad part is I haven't seen most of them since my grandfathers funeral and my grandmother is not as healthy as she once was so we are all going to be there for her.
We had a little scare this week. My grandmother thought she might have had colon cancer (that is what my grandfather had), but praise the Lord she only has something similar to what I have. Inflamed Colitis.
Which puts me to thinking about couting my blessings.
I could go on and on what the Lord as done for me this past year, but I think I am going to break it up some and put what I am thankful for on different days.
I think first and formost I am thankful for my health. Although I am not perfectly healthy I am thankful for the little red pills called Asacol that I have to take every day. During my four years in college I was so sick all the time that I sometimes wondered if I was going to live. The pains that racked through my intestines were enough to bend me over double. But God put into the minds of a briliant man the formula for a little pill that has helped me get my life back on track. I know that sounds strange, but the Lord had a lesson for me to learn and purhaps there is still much I need to learn. I am also thankful for the fact that I get them free.
I am thankful for my family. I don't know what I would do without any of them. They are always there for me and I don't know what I would do without the support of my family.
Being thankful is very easy to do when it comes to good things, but I was reminded on Sunday about the fact that we have so much trouble Thanking God for the bad things. The Bible doesn't say in everything give thanks for nothing. Everything that comes our way always has a reason and we should always be willing to look to find out how we can thank God for it.

Vetern's Day

I know Veterns day was this past weekend, but I just felt the need to honor all those from my family who were or are in the military.
My family has been part of the military for as long as history records them. They started out as personal knights of the King of England and continue to serve their homeland today. Since coming to the US we have been all the major wars, French and Indian, Revolution, Civil, WWI AND II, Korean, Vitenam, Gulf War, and todays Iraqi War.
I think for me I am the most proud of my grandfather who served as a fireman for the Coast Guard during WWII. Although he was not in the middle of the fight he helped to watch over the Eastern Coast line in case of intruders.
I am also proud of my two cousins Chad and Logan for their willingness to fight in the Iraqi War. Logan is already there and Chad will be following his little brother soon.
Although some may not feel that this war is right we should still have a desire to pray for and encourage all of the men and women who are putting thier lives at risk for the lives of others in another country.
Remember to pray for them everyday. They need all the prayers they can get.

Encouragement

I received this from a friend it thought it was an encouraging little poem.
I met God in the morning,
when day was at its best,
And his presence came like sunrise with glory in my breast;
All day long His presence lingered
All day long He stayed with me
And we sailed with perfect calmness on every troubled sea,
Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed
But the wind that seemed to drive them,
brought to me both peace and rest.
So I think I know the secret learned
From many a stormy way
You must meet Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day.

Voting

Did you vote today?
I hope you did. It is our God given right as Americans and Christians to vote. I fear that too few Christians find any importance in voting. I refuse to listen to a person who complains about what the government is doing and yet they didn't exercise their rights and freedoms to try to vote the person they wanted into office.
"Did you vote today?" You ask me. Those of you who know me know that I hate to get up any earlier than I have to, but I got up early today and was the 76 voter from my town to vote at 8:30 in the morning before I went work at 9 because I knew I had to. I wanted to make sure I was able to vote today because I worked a 12 hour shift. I have voted in Every election since I turned 18 and voted absentee for 4 years while I was in School. I even gave my freshman persuasive speech on why we as Christians need to vote.
I have yet to hear of the results, but I do know that it may not be what I want to see, and I know that I did my best by flipping those little tabs down on the people I wanted to see elected.
Only God knows what the Future holds but I do know he is still in control.

I am doing something dreadful. At least according to my co-workers. I'm listening to Christmas music.
The last few weeks have been filled with unpacking, pricing and putting up Christmas stuff at the store. People have been coming and complaining that it is too soon for Christmas. I say they are totally right, but that doesn't mean that it is our fault. It is a shame that the real meaning of Christmas has been totally lost to commercialization. Now every store has to see who is going to get thier Christmas stuff out first. Much to the irritation of customers and employees.
I will admit that I capitalized yesterday on the fact that we have been putting stuff out. I love to collect snowmen. I started last year when I opened a Chistmas club account and got a snowman snow glob. That followed by ice cube snowmen, a tealight snowman holder and some other snow men and snowflakes. This year I have two snowmen who have cute sparkly blue hats and scarves and another one who changes colors. I love them. I get all excited about them and my family just rolls thier eyes. I also have my eyes set on some beautiful snowflakes that would go very well along with my snow theme. Now I just have to wait for my own Christmas tree.
I know I am rushing the whole snow thing, but that's okay. It's snowing on the hills right now around my house.
But back to my story. I am listening to Chirstmas music. The other day I was pricing some little music boxes that play Christmas music and I was enjoying listening to it, but no one else seemed to be. We also got these singing Creatures that sing Silver Bells, Walking in a Winterwonderland. I'm dreaming of a White Christmas and stuff like that. They are so funny. One's a dog, anothers penguin, and another is a snowman along with Santas, Elves and other Christmas creatures. Yesterday I would walk by and push them to start them.:) I am so evil.
So today I decided that I was going to listen to some New England Christmas music. But who says Chirstmas can only be in December. If Christmas where still understood to be the birthday of Christ everyone in this world would understand that Christmas music should play all year long. The Christmas season is by no means long enough to play Christmas music. That's why my mom usually starts playing it around the end of September beginning of October. It's been rather strange this year to have no Christmas music in the house until today. Mom usually listens to the radio so she doesn't put on music CD's.
Ah and on a note other than Christmas music, Heather Lynn is coming today. She is brave soul riding train out here. We have a week with her this time. Last time she was only here for a few days. Of course we probably won't see her or Clifford much. Especially on Thursday when they are going to go out on the town all day. It will be fun to see her. I calculated the other day that there is only 7 and a half more months until the wedding. Not to scare anyone or anything.

Autumn and Indian Summer

I can't believe the leaves on the trees are almost gone. We hardly had a good full color at all this year. Just when it started getting bright we had rain. I think the leaves this year are different then most years. Usually the leaves are pretty as a whole, but when you put them together they just don't seem that pretty. This year the individual leaves are a lot prettier for some reason.
I picked up a leaf the other day and it had red, orange, yellow and green slattered all over it. It looked like one of those artists that take a paint brush and let the paint drip off onto the canvas.

I love to read. It is one of my passions. Some of my favorite books are ones written by Janette Oke. But there is just one thing in almost EVERY one of her books that drives me crazy. Close to every year her heroines have Indian summer. What I want to know is why don't we have Indian summer. We had three Vabulous days of warm weather inwhich I took the opportunity to read outside for three hours, but I wouldn't call that Indian summer. Just some nice warm days.
I still want to know what indian summer is. Right anyway.
I love how the weather changes here so fast. One minute we have nice warm, 70 degree weather and the next minute the word snow rips through the forcast. EEEKKKKK!
Mom put up the birdfeeder two days ago and already more than half of the seed has been eaten. That usually means that we are going to have a good spell coming. I could feel and smell it in the air tonight while walking home from church. The wind has been blowing pretty hard calling on the trees to bend to it's will. Tonight would have been the perfect night to go for a hay ride with warm coats and maybe a mug of hot cocoa in hand. UMM! Makes my hungry. Of course it is time for me to hit the sack. Sleep didn't come easy for me last night. I was reading an awesome pirate book and had to stop right when their was an explostion and a fire. Should have read the next chapter. At least I finished the book tonight, but the problem is it was a part one book and the book was just published this year. I now may have to wait until next year to find out what happened to the polliwogs Jolly and Munk.
Rats! I need to stop reading books that I can't get them next book to. Someday I am going to write a wonderful story and then leave everyone hanging until the next book. It would serve all those writes right if they read my book and had to wait a year or two for the conclusion. HEE HEE HEE!

Tornados in the House!

The storm started on Monday. Papers, Books, and everything that might be caught by a whirlewind of fingers and teeth were tacked down or hidden away. Tuesday came in a rush. Everything was cleaned and ready for the tornado to blow in. First game the attack of the toys. They showed up EVERYWHERE. The big car, the toy box, the basket, the balls. The invation had begun.
My tiny room was attacked by a large matteress in the middle of the floor with only inches to walk around in it.
When the storm finally blow in there were two sets of tiny foot falls Running around in the house.
It was a double Whammy that it hard, toys were thrown underfoot and clothes of every color where scattered from room to room.
It was the attack of the sister tornados. :)
In other words. My nieces and their parents are here for a few days.

The Five Senses of the Seasons Part I

Okay Close your eyes for a moment. What season is it?
Sounds like a strange question doesn't it?
I was walking down the sidewalk the other day and realized that it is Autumn. And it wasn't because I could see that it was Autumn. Then I got to thinking about how God uses every sense to tell you what the season is.
To prove what I mean I am going to tell you what I have been thinking about.
Because it is Fall I'll start with that.
Fall happens to be one of my favorite season and has become even more so since I don't have to worry about going back to school.
When we think of Fall we normally think of sight. The look of the leaves as they change from green to billiant reds and orange and yellows and purples. It's like God dipped His fingers in the paint and had fun.
We also think of Feeling. The feel of the weather as it begins to cool down, the feel of the wind as it blows briskly into your bundled up face.
Not only can we feel the wind and see the leaves changing, but we can hear the wind in the trees has it russles the leaves. The sound of a leaf as it floats down from the top of a tree. Or the crunch of the leaves as you walk through them.
Go outside and take a big wiff. Smell that? There is no other smell like it. It's a mix of cooling air, drying leaves and chimney smoke. Maybe the word is pungnant.
I had to think about taste for awhile, but even that is easy. The taste of fresh Vegetables or even that sweet taste of just ripened apples. There's nothing like crunching into a juicy apple right off the branch or the first taste of Apple cider.

Bob Smiley

Had an interesting weekend. A nationally known comedian named Bob Smiley came to our little town. He is a very down to earth kind of man without actually being down to earth. If that even makes any sense.
Maybe I should put it to you this way. He is human and so you can relate to everything that he talks about, but he doesn't know how to sit still for a second. Ya he was very hyper, but he was Awesome. It was pretty neat to see how he wove his funny stories in with the Bible. It's amazing. check out his website http://www.bobsmiley.com/
Just getting to talk with him and getting to know him on a personal bases was pretty neat. Most people left right away, but my family and two other families stood around for a while and talked and asked questions.
I guess that is all for now. My mind has gone blank.

Pettiness

I just realized something tonight. I can be very petty. I can get mad about the stupidest things and never think twice about it. I got mad this week about something I should never have gotten mad at because I am somehow holding a grudge against someone who offended me three years ago. It's amazing to discover just how much of us can get stuck on things that we should really wipe off like a snowflake or a fly.
It kind of reminds me of the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was so worried about having everything just right that she got upset about a little petty thing, Mary wasn't helping. Although I can't fault Martha for wanting to set a nice table, she was wrong because listening to what the Lord Jesus said was much more important at that time. She could have eaten or even had a dinner party at any time, but at that very moment the Master was at her house and she needed to be attentive to him.
It also draws me back to the story about David and Saul. One of the most exciting stories about them while David is running was the story about when David and his men hid in a cave and Saul and his men camped in the same cave for the night. In the morning Saul discovered a piece of his robe missing and is spear stuck in the ground right next to him. (and another time David stole something for Saul) Both times David realized just how petty he was to taunt the King. David knew that even though he had been choosen by God to be the next King, Saul at the time was still king and not only should David respect the king, but he also knew that he shouldn't rush God's timing.
We Christians get mad over so many petty things and it amazes me just how much we don't see. We get mad because someone said or did something that offended us or mad us upset. I think many times it is because we see weaknesses in our lives and we don't want to meet our faults looking us straight in our faces.
Maybe if I am willing to face me weaknesses I will be able to love others the way God wants me to and look past the faults of others and be willing to correct my mistakes.

Vacation and a Becoming a Crazy Christian for Christ

I just got back yesterday from a nice weekend off. I went to Katiann's birthday party on Saturday and stayed at my Grandmother's house until Monday. I haven't slept in my grandmother's house in several years and I always wondered why it was. Now I know. During the entire time I was there Grandma did nothing but complain about what I ate. Of course yesterday she couldn't complain because we had corn on the cob and you know how much I like to eat that. And the house was so cold I am suprised that my figers didn't fall off.
But even so I guess I have to admit that I was glad I got to stay. Grandma will be 92 on her next birthday and you would never really know that she was that old just by taking a quick glance at her. She is so energetic and independent that sometimes she can leave you in the dust wondering what just happened.
Of course by now you all know that Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter was killed. I was personally sad about that because I thought he was a very interesting man. I was watching a documentary on him from way back in 2000 last night and one thing I realized about him was the fact that he had such a passion for wildlife conservation. Yes I know he did a lot of crazy things, but he was always aware of what he was doing. He wasn't stupid and he wasn't cocky like most people thought he was. He just wanted people to know.
I was amazed at the passion he had and thought "What if Christian's had the same kind of passion for Christ as Steve had for Wildlife?"
I mean really. Think about it. Would we be willing to be called crazy just because of the things that we said or did for Christ? I know I would be totally out of my comfort zone that's for sure. Would we be willing to throw ourselves to "the Crocodiles" just to show Christ to others? I highly doubt it. I know when I am at work I try to stay as quiet about everything as I can, but maybe I should be getting into the water with some of them and tried to pull them out.
Again I am doing my normal rambling and you are seeing just a little bit of what goes on it that crazy head of mine. But it sure is worth a thought.

Scrambled Eggs

I have been thinking for several days on what I wanted to write about in my blog, but nothing really seemed fitting. I thought about talking about the up coming wedding, but that really is still in the planning stages and my brother hasn't reveal completely everything on that yet. I even thought about talking about the war, but I have to many thoughts about that one that could make people angery So I will stay away from that one. I even thought about comparing Washington and President Bush. I still might someday. I even thought about writing what I had heard about Mummification and that fact that Egyptians would actually raise and kill cats to sell as mummies. But the mummification process is Way to gross.
Then I said to myself, "Well today is the anniversary of Katrina and I could say something about that", but what could I say that has not already been said except they are not the only ones hit by hurricanes and they got on with thier lives without complaining so get on with life.
But everything I thought about writing just didn't sound that interesting.
But today I had an interesting conversation with someone about my brother and his upcoming marriage and how he found Heather on Eharmony. And I told the person that people have been pushing me to find "the one". He told me something that I really already knew about, but sometimes need to be reminded. He told me to not hurry things. It is better to take your time and be sure that "the one" is whom God wants for you life. And I was reminded of something very special. Now I don't know how special this is going to sound to some of you, but for me it has always meant a lot. Ever since I can remember, when my parents prayed, either as a family or during bedtime devotions while I was growing up, they prayed for me. Now Lots of parents pray for their children "God bless our children and may they grow up to serve you, Amen." My parents weren't like that. My parents prayed that I would serve God yes, but they also prayed for someone whom they had never met, My Husband. Here I am five, six years and they are praying for my Husband. It always and still does amaze me that my parents would pray for me in that way and not only that, but that God is even now answering those prayers that my parents prayed Even 20 years ago.
I have to remind myself so often that God knows who I am going to marry. When I was born God looked down on me and said, "Ah, Alicia is one of mine and she is going to someday marry . . . , but first her parents will spend many hours in prayer for them and she is going to worry, and cry and have to deal with people pushing her, but when the time comes I will bring them together."
And then and only then will it be a match made in Heaven.

Secret Revealed

Okay I have been given permission to reveal the long awaited news. My brother has asked his girlfriend to marry him and she said YES!
YAAAAAAAAAA!
I am so excited about the whole thing to the point where I was gnawing at the bit to blog it. I am very happy for Clifford and Heather. The Wedding is going to be in Boston on May 12. Poor Cliff was going through names of people that he is going to ask and is pretty sure will come. He personally had almost 80 just on his list and that wasn't including Heather's guests.
I have always wanted to go to Boston and now I have the opportunity to go. How cool is that! I am hoping that maybe, just maybe there will be time to do a little site seeing before the wedding. That would be so much fun. I would really like to go to the place where the Mass Bay Colony was so that I could connect with my family heritage.
Anyway. I just had to tell all tonight because my fingers were itching and I did promise that I would tell all as soon as I was allowed to. Secrets really are fun, but not when it can be some of the best news ever.

Monarch Butterflies and Japanese Bettle Traps

I discovered something rather unusual the other day. A Monarch in the Japanese Bettle Trap outside our house. Monarch butterflies have always held a special place in my heart. One of those reasons is because when my brother and I were younger we used to search high and low for the tiny caterpillars on the Milkweed across the street from us. We would take them home, and take care of them until they became butterflies. We had hundreds and many of them we named becaus they were special. One butterfly in particular was Zaccheus. By the name I am sure you are getting the fact that he was tiny. When he emerged as a butterfly he somehow or another got stuck in the crystalis causing him to only be half the size a normal butterfly should be. We knew he would never make it south and he didn't. He died after only a few days of living on our flowers outside our house. We kept him until he accidently got broken.
So back to the butterfly in the trap. He was flapping all around going crazy. His wings were getting damaged and many of his scales had been wipped off. I tried everything to get him out because I didn't want him to die in with all those nasty bettles. YUCK! First I tried a stick and then a flower, but he refused to even land on either of them. He almost acted even more frightened then he had when he was stuck. Finally I started to close the bottom half of the trap from the butterfly as he flew closer to the top. Some how he slipped back several times until finally He got stuck and I was able to carefully get him out of the trap where he flew away as fast as his wings could take him.
For the last couple of days I have been trying to find something in that story. There is so many thoughts you could get out of something like that.
The trap is sin and the butterfly is a Christian. Christians sometimes have a way of finding themselves in strange places where they get trapped by sin unable to get out. They flap around in panic only to cause damage to themselves. After awhile someone finds the Christian stuck and tries to give them aid, but the Chrisitian is so set on getting themselves out that they refuse all help. Finally weakening the Christian starts to fall in with the crowd, but as soon as he does the feeling of the others causes him to take flight again in hopes of escaping and all of a sudden he is cut of from the crowd and slowly lifted away from the problem and set free by a Savior.
Maybe it is a bit far fetched, but my expierence left me thinking. I am thankful there is a Savior who can Lift me up when I fall into sin.

Secrets

Have you ever had a secret that you wished you could tell, but if you did the punishment could be "death"? Well I have one of those secrets. Of course once I am given the go ahead It will be plastered all over this blog.
Did you ever have secrets when you were a kid? I had lots of them. Secrets such as my secret hiding spot. There was a place that I loved to go with my flash light and just sit there and no one could find me. It was in a little cubby hole in the downstairs closet under the stairs. It was one of the best hiding place I could find. No one ever suspected me of being there.
Or the secret dream world I would be in while doing my school work. I was the daughter of a shierf. I did all my school work at the jail house and helped put criminals away including the man who had murdered my mother. I wore cowboy boats, I loved to ride horses, I even had my own horse and cat (later it changed to a Jack Russel Terrier), and I also had an annoying brother. When I got into highschool I fell in love with the cutest boy in town. Just wished that dream world was true there.
I even had secret money hidden away. Do you know how fun it is to put 5 maybe 10 dollars in a special place only to find it again five years later still there?
Everyone has secret thoughts that they don't want anyone else to know about. Some people may have secret thoughts where they only let their best friends know. Secrets are so hard to keep secret that if you aren't careful you could be telling the secret that you were told was a secret. That's when that crazy situation gets even crazier.
Sometimes, though, Secrets aren't meant to be kept silent. Watched a movie on Sunday called Speak. It was about a girl that had a very dark secret that she kept to herself for a year. They thought maybe she was on drugs or something. They weren't really sure. She hardly ever talked and kept closed in. Finally through her art teacher and drawing, the girl was able to face her secret and reveal to her friends and family that she had been raped. It was an amazing thought to think that people around us that act "wierd" may have secrets like that. Secrets that need to be told and not doing so.
Even with that said I am very thankful for secrets. As a matter of fact I am very thankful for my secret. The secret that will be revealed in time because it makes me a very happy person.

Corn on the Cob and Living By Faith

I had my third meal of corn on the cob today. Most of you probably don't really care, but I thought it was good. You may not know that the only vegetable that I like to really eat is corn on the cob. (Of course that is not to say I won't eat tomato sauce on my pizza.)
This year I plan on savoring every bite because I may not get much this year. So many crops in this area were damaged to the point of no return and corn is a big crop around this area. I was talking to the lady where I bought the corn from today and she said they were blessed that mosst the floods and nasty rain missed us completely. Even with the several days of major heat and humidity didn't affect the crops. The peaches looked and smelled good and the lady said that even they were really good.
I thought of the fact that so many people no longer have an income this year because everything was wiped out by floods not to mention they may not even have homes. But no matter what they will continue on and those who trust God will see awesome things happen.
I have been reading about Elijah and Elisha lately and both of them found widows that had nothing at all and when the prophets asked the women to give everything they had they did it. Of course the women thought they would die or in the case of one her sons would be taken away, they were blessed because they trusted God to take care of them no matter what.
I wish I had as much faith as those women did. Most often I complain or worry about getting enough hours at work so that I can pay my school bills. But I have yet to be in want of the money to pay. Amazing!
Maybe corn on the cob is better than even I thought.

Conserving Cool Air

It is rather dark in the house today and it is not because we are having a storm. All the windows are closed and it is not because it is cold. Mom covered all the windows to keep the cool air in and the hot air out. They are predicting very hot weather with a heat index of 110 degrees F.
It is only 9:30am and the last I looked it was about 85 and it felt like 93.
We are all trying to keep the lights off, one to keep it cool and two to help give other people who have air conditioners more electricity.
I am about to step outside because I have to go print the bulletin for church. I am stalling because I really don't want to go out even though I need to.
Today I am thankful for fans because without them we would be dying of heat.

Writer's Conference

I returned from writer's conference today just a few hours ago. It was a Very exhausting week, but it was so refreshing and So inspiring. I met Shirley Brinkerhoff, my favorite Writer, was taught by Ethel Herr, a Historical fiction writer who really practices what she teaches. I got to fool around and have fun with Sarah M. and Hannah G. I made many friends this week. I even helped to bring the child back into a couple of older women. They were So much fun:)
I have so many things squashed in my head right not I don't even know what everything is right at this moment.
I do know one thing for sure. My goal this year is going to be getting a story published.
Once I figure out how to put picture on here I am going to put some of the pictures that I have on here. Until then. Bear with me. :)

Family

Today I am thankful for family. What would I do without them. Of course not all of my family brings me cheer, but that doesn't matter, it is the fact that we are all connected by one fact, we are family.
Why am I talking about family? Because tomorrow I am going to see all of my onions I mean I am going to a family reunion. Most of these people that are going to be there I only see once a year and sometimes they don't show up for years on end. For instants my cousin Brain lives in California. I was just a little girl the last time I saw him and then Last year he showed up. Good thing I knew who he was cause he couldn't figure out who I was.
Heather, Tim and the Girls will be there. I haven't seen them since Caylin's birthday party in April.
On Sunday I am going to do something that I have always wanted and that makes me happy. I know you have already read about it, but I am still very excited about the whole thing.
That means that I will not be writing again unless I come across an internet station and I don't really think that it going to happen.
Today as you look out at the clouds or look at the rain drops that may be falling remember that no matter what God loves you and He is totally in control.

The Beauty of Sunset I see

I was driving home from my Mary Kay meeting last night around nine o'clock when I saw something beautiful through the trees and over the mountains. A beautiful sunset of deep purples and reds. Because of where I live sometimes it can be very hard to see the sunset, so yesterday was a special treat for me. It reminds me of how wonderful God really is. He is the best artist and inventor ever and even in my peanut mind I can't imagine thinking of something like a sunset to end the day. Did you realize that the sunset shows more of God's creation. The colors that are seen in a sunset show the other gases that are in the air. Now that it what I call awesome.
Even though I didn't go to VBS last night I heard that it went VERY well. We met our prayer mark of 30 kids with several more than that now we are praying for 40 kids . I can see it happening because God can work in wonderful ways. I am personally excited to see what the Lord has for the last three days of VBS. You never know what the Lord might have instore for all those kids.
Only a few more days until the Writers Conference. I am excited to meet one of the authors that inspired me to want to write. Shirley Brinkerhoff wrote about a girl and the emotions she went through as a teenager mother to be. The emtions were right on. I have heard about her and I have even written letters to her, but now I get to meet her in person. In college I had teacher who would give out getting to know you papers at the beginning of a semester. On those papers many times were, If you had three wishes what would they be. One of my wishes was always to meet Shirley Brinkerhoff. Now I know that I have a wish come true.

Unusual Blessings

Call me strange, but I have had some interesting blessings today. One was really last night, but I count it as today. Writer's Conference is next week and for the last two months I have had a story literally invading my dreams. Last night I could stand it no longer and I finally finished the story. My first long book like story I have ever written. I have plenty to work on, but the fact that I finished a story is awesome. I have three other stories that I have started and just never finished. Still hang out somewhere on one or two of my computer disks.
My second blessing of the day is air conditioning. That's right. That wonderful invention that makes us freeze in the spring time because they turn it on way to early and way too low is a wonderful, grand invention that came in handy today with the 90 degree weather we had. Yes work was most enjoyable today because I was inside in the cool airconditioning and not dying of heat outside.
My third blessing came tonight. I can't really say that it is my personal blessing either. More like an answer to pray. We are having VBS this week. We have been working on VBS also since Easter time as a matter of fact. We have been praying for children. Last year we had a grand total of 15 and not all on one day. We prayed to have 30 children throughout the course of the week. Tonight we had 29 with more children promised for tomorrow night. If we can make a difference in the life of just one child this week of hot sticky weather with moody children will be worth it.
And lastly I am thankful for my soft bed. Because that is where I am headed right now.

A beginning of something new

I decided I wanted to try something new. Maybe a little more grown up even. I've been on a website that really doesn't get much response although it has been fun.
Awriter has gone pro!
Anyway you are probably looking at the end where it has my signature on it. Probably wondering about Polly Anna. Ya we know that she is a little girl who likes to play the happy game and after winning a doll she falls off her roof never it seems to walk again. I am not that girl. It is my nickname. Strange one don't you think? At work someone asked me what my middle names was because their was already and Allisia at work and she was getting my name confused with Allisia's name. I told her that my middle name was Holly. For some reason she thought I said Polly. The name stuck and here I am Polly Anna or Polly Pockets because I am all of 5'2" My real hope is that it will be more than just a nickname. Maybe it will be a way of showing my happiness in Jesus Christ. I think I will try to thank the Lord for all that He has done for me even when it doesn't seem possible.
So I will start off with the fact that I can be happy for the Job that I have. I could be like some who don't have one at all. And even though I am upset about not getting many hours this week I can still be thankful that I have yet to have to skip paying my school bills. The Lord really has blessed me.