Alicia's Scribbles

Time's Fun!

2009-03-25T21:31:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that a month from today I will be walking down the aisle of the church in Moravia. Yikes! I feel like it has only been a few months since I announced that I was engaged. I am thankful to say that most everything that we needed to do for the wedding is completed. We have only a few things to get such as my shoes and a gift for Katiann.

We also have to get some other things.

We have hit a few snags such as Laura's dress doesn't fit her right and we had to take the dress that my mom was making for me and send the pieces to Laura.

Our house pretty close to being finshed. Pretty much just the water and a few other things have to be hooked up and then Reagan can take up residency. Yah!

Last Saturday church had a beautiful Shower for Reagan and I. We got a bunch of really nice stuff and I can't wait to use them. I am so excited!

The weather here in East Texas has been crazy. One minute it is freezing cold, the next minute it is record breaking temperatures. The trees are out. Several weeks ago we watched from the window at work as the trees near by bloomed a beautiful pink color. Then a week later we had a freeze. I wonder if the weather might be crazier then NY or even SC! Go figure!

Three weeks from Friday Reagan and I will be headed for NY. I was talking to a Lady from Moravia yesterday who goes to Austin every winter to stay with her daughter and she was saying how she loved to see spring in Texas and then go home again and see spring in New York. I do believe I might just see spring in New York just in time for the wedding.
Please God! I don't really want snow for my wedding. I really want flowering trees.

As the Frog said that sat for a long time on my grandmothers Kitchen window, "Time's fun when you're having flies!"

2 Months to go!?????

2009-02-26T21:10:00.001-05:00

As crazy as it seems I have been here in Texas for the few short months of 6. Yes I have been indoctrinated into Texas life now for the last 6 months. I have two more months to go before I can no longer pull out. Okay so I have already decided that I am going to stay right here. I have put too much time and effort into the wedding and to living here as well as other things.
Our House is almost complete. It sounds as if by next week we will be moving our furniture into our new house which looks like nothing of what it was before we bought it.
I Have a nice light blue kitchen and I am hoping for sunflowers to accent it.
Reagan and I picked out a Chocolate colored table for our dinning room. It is small, but then our dinning room is small too.
We have a very comfy couch that is a tan colored with dark brown leather like cloth on the bottom. Reagan has a blue Lazy Boy recliner and I have a chair almost the same color as the tan couch that is also a recliner. (It has a perfect little hide away on the right arm for putting my writing and books in when I am not using them.) We are also receiving an entertainment center from his parents.
We also have a beautiful queen size bed frame and a dresser (dresser also given to us) for our bedroom.
Our extra bedroom will be converted into an office for Reagan's up and coming business. He has some desks just perfect for the room. Evetually we want a day bed in there so that we can have guests. For now we will wait.
Almost everything for the wedding is prepared. Only the little bits of odds and ends and loose ends needing to be tied up are left. This week was buy plane tickets to NY week. We just have to buy our favors, and other odds and ends of stuff. We will also be printing our invitations this weekend. Roumer has it that tomorrow, Friday the 27th, the invitations will be printed. Maybe we will have them sent out next week. Yay!
As crazy as it seems we have only 2 more months to go. We thought it would never get here, but let me tell you, I am glad it took so long. If it hadn't I wouldn't have had time to do everything I needed to do. I would still be looking for bridesmaids dresses and wondering what we were going to do for the reception.
Here is where I want you all to know that if it weren't for my mom on the other side of the world, I mean country, Half of the stuff I have had to do would never have happened in the first place. She must be super mom or something :) Thanks Mom!
I am actually hoping to get some pictures of our house up here sometime so that you can see what it looks like. I really should give you before and after pictures, It's amazing the difference it makes when you put on a coat or two of paint and in new flooring.
Oh and one extra gloat before I go to all of you fans in the Northeast. How about upper 80's and 90 in February? Pretty nice weather if you ask me after the nasty below freezing weather we have had.

Never Let Go

2009-01-31T11:58:00.004-05:00

Learning the ways of a blind man has been very enlightening for me. There are so many things that I have to do or can't do so that I can make Reagan as comfortable as possible. Once in a while I will do something and Reagan will not like it because he can't see what I am doing and it make him very uncomfortable. But there is one lesson that I have learned and even though I have a tendency of lapsing into forgetfulness once in awhile, I refuse to forget.

Never let go!

If I let go of him, he would soon be lost and disoriented, not really knowing where he was, unless he was in familiar surroundings. He would hold out his hand looking for mine so that I can lead him to where he needs to go.

I never thought of this as an important part of marriage until now. I am seeing too many friends letting go of their partners. One day they and their spouse are loving and caring, and the next day they have been blinded by anger and hate and they do the one thing they should never do, they let go. After they have let go they start wandering around blindly not knowing where they are going and they become even more blinded because they are angry their partner has let go of them. They are lost, disoriented, and hurt and don't realize their partner has been standing next to them the whole time holding out their hand once more, waiting. They never let go in the first place.

"To have and to hold"

That is one of my favorite parts in a traditional wedding ceremony. To have and to hold from this day forward as long as you both shall live. It's a pledge to never again let go. To take gently the hand of your new spouse and to say before God and all your friends that for as long as there is breath in you, you refuse to let anything come between you and cause you to let go.

I have always loved the fact that a marriage is just like Christ and his bride, the church. It says in the Bible that once you have been saved, Christ will take you into his arms and never let you go. As you give your life over to Christ you are saying to him "to have and to hold". Holding on to Christ hand is the most wonderful experience you will ever have. He can lead you to place you can only dream about, and His eyes will never be blinded by fear.

I will always have to hold on to my partners hand. Holding on to his hand makes it easier for me to heal from my hurt. It keeps me from being blinded by my pettiness. I have asked him to do something for me and I really hope my friends will follow my lead. I asked him to never let go. If I try to back away I want him to pull me all the closer to him.

In just a few months I will be saying my vows and in those vows I am going to say the words "to have and to hold" to my husband to be.

Have you let go? If so reach out your hand to were your spouse was when you let go. He's still there. If you both wandered away from each other, ask a friend to guide you back to each other, and when you have taken his hand once more, Never Let Go.

Recapping 2008. Looking to 2009

2008-12-30T20:08:00.002-05:00

Wow!
I don't know about any of you, but I think 2008 was a definate crazy year. Really and for reals.
A year ago at this time I never thought that I would have done the things I have down or even gone to the place I have gone. I never expected to be where I am right at this very moment. It never in a million years entered my mind that I would be engaged and living in Texas.
A year ago I was just thinking about Reagan. A year ago I was thinking mostly of the Bahamian cruise I was going to go on in the spring.
I can't say that I loved every minute of this year. It was very hard for me to decide whether or not I was supposed to go to Texas or stay in New York. It was over month before I realized it was what I was supposed to do.
Saying goodbye was even harder to do. Saying hello to more family that would one day be a part of me was very special. Not being able to see my nieces grow or even see my niece Emily Grace after she was born in October has been even harder.
All the days when poor Reagan has had to just hold me in his arms and let me cry . . .
Then there are all the good things about this year.
Isabelle Mae being born in March, going to the Bahamas in May, meeting Reagan and getting engaged in June, seeing strange new lands west of New York state and learning to live in Texas in August, Emily Grace being born in October.
All of these things in between the hard days helped to soften the blow of the hard things.
God has really blessed this year. Not every blessing that I see what a fun blessing either. Some blessings don't show up when you are having a good day. Some show up when you least expected or when you are having a bad day. The Lord has given me many.

Looking to 2009!
Wow! Tomorrow is the very last day of 2008. On Thursday we will be trying to remember to put a 9 at the end of the year instead of an 8.
I'm looking forward to and dreading what the year 2009 is going to bring.
On April 25 I am looking forward to becoming a wife. Also looking forward to seeing my family again after 8 months.
I am also looking forward to what God has for Reagan and I in the future.
At this moment we are not really sure what He has planned for our lives. For all we know we may not be in Texas by the end of 2009. If that be the case, we will be going where God wants us to go.
I look forward to it, but I also dread it.
There is sure to be loses of good friends and introductions of new ones. There is sure to be good times and bad times. There will be times when confusion is all there is and times of understanding.
What ever the case may be I do one thing that is never failing and will always be. It is that God is incontrol and He will always be with me no matter what.
A song that I used to love as a child went something like this.
"Don' be afraid. Jesus is watching you in the dark night. He is protecting you. Talk to the Lord. Ask him to make you brave. Jesus will hear when you pray.
Jesus is caring for you. Jesus is helping you too. Jesus is always there keeping you, for he Loves you. Jesus is caring for you Jesus is helping you too. Jesus is with you whatever you do.
You're not alone. Jesus is there with you. He can't be seen, but he is there it's true. He is your friend. He'll keep you in his care, he goes with you everywhere."
Ah! A good song to remember during the year ahead.
Happy 2009 Everyone!

My Crazy life between Thanksgiving and now!

2008-12-22T18:36:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all of my friends that are reading this.
My life has been crazy since the last time I wrote. Of course that is nothing really new because my life has always been crazy.
I have a lot to be thankful for this year, but nothing more so then the night before Thanksgiving when Reagan and I were smashed from behind by a truck. Those of you who know me know that I have never been in an accident when I was driving the car so this was a very tramatic time for me. Neither of us were hurt although my car had a smashed in trunk and rear bumper along with a few small dents from the front where I smashed into the car ahead of me.
Right now my life is pretty much going to work every day. Although this past week offically kicked off the beginning of our house renevations. Reagan's Papa Kenneth has come to help Reagan's dad put in our new kitchen and our doors. In the mean time Reagan's mom has been busy scraping the wall paper off the walls. (Steamers are wonderful things for getting tough wall paper off the wall.)
Reagan and I took advantage of the Christmas sales and spent money on the wedding.
Wait how many of you with a show of hands can believe that we have only 4 more months to go!
I am so not ready!
We have our invitations. Yah! Now to the gruling task of picking out who we can invite to the wedding, who we have to invite to the wedding and who would come and murder us in our sleep if we didn't invite them to the wedding. It's really hard when you have enough room in the church for about 150 people.
Reagan and I have a lot of dicissions to make in the next few weeks. Around the beginning of November Reagan lost his job. He has been looking every day for something, but it hasn't been easy. Not only that, but because he has brodened his search from just here in the city we live in he has spread it across the country. There could be a very big possibility that moving is in the forcast. (And we just bought the house too)
We keep having to be reminded that God is in control no matter what is going to happen to us.
Keep us continually in your prayers. We need all the prayers we can get right now.

It's that Time of year again

2008-11-17T23:32:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but I think this year has gone by really fast. Last year at this time I was trying to figure out how to tell my family about Reagan. As crazy as it sounds, I wasn't even sure what I was going to tell them. I didn't know if they were going to believe me or not.
But even so, we have once again come around to my favorite time of year. This year however it is going to be totally different.
This year I am going to Earth, Texas that is, instead of celebrating it with the Westcott side of the fam.
It going to be very strange, but I can tell you that I am really looking forward to celebrating it with my new family. It is just as big and just as crazy as my other half of the family.
I really love Thanksgiving. I don't really know why. It might have something to do with celebrating it with family althroughout my growing up years. I can't say that I can remember a Thanksgiving I didn't love to go to.
But most of all as I have said in the past, I really love Thanksgiving, because the retailers haven't picked up on to how they can commercialize it. Sure they can sell their turkey's and food for the dinner table, they can even think of nothing else but football, but let me tell you, Thanksgiving doesn't have the same tone that so many other holiday's (Christmas most especially) seem to have developed over the years.
Christmas isn't Christmas anymore, it's Greedmas or Xmas (YUCK!!!!!). Easter isn't Easter anymore it's Bunny day. People find any way they can to make people want to buy buy buy and forget what the real meaning of the season is.
Of course I am not going to stop here with out mentioning my biggest pet peeve of Thanksgiving. Turkey Day! No WAYY! Thanksgiving never had anything to do with Turkey's in the first place. As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly they didn't even have Turkey on the first Thanksgiving it should really be called Seafood day or Deer day, because that it was they ate. How about this one happy Berry day!
See, none of those kinds of sayings work, so why in the world would Turkey Day work.
It's more of a case that a punch of Turkey's got together one day and thought that someone ought to celebrate them so they stole the real meaning of Thanksgiving and twisted it to celebrate themselves. Pooh on them. Theirs a reason the Bald Eagle was made the National bird and not the Turkey like a lot of people wanted.
So to all of you out there who love Thanksgiving as much as I do, Happy Thanksgiving.
For all of you out there who call it Turkey day, Happy Thanksgiving. I don't plan on mincing any words just to make you happy. It was Thanksgiving, it is Thanksgiving, and it always will be Thanksgiving.
Let's all thank God this Thanksgiving that He has helped us through another year. I am sure it wasn't easy for anyone. I know it sure wasn't an easy year for me, but as I told Reagan. "I don't want my life to be easy. If my life was easy I would look back ten years from now and not see myself change. With the Challenges that I know God has put before me this year I know without a doubt that next year at this time I can look back and say I have changed. With the many challenges and hardships I know God will send my way this coming year and can look back at my life a year from now and now that God has changed me and that I have changed for the better."
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Word of Hello

2008-11-11T09:53:00.002-05:00

I am exited that I have a day off today. Reagan and I are on our way to check out flooring and other fun stuff for the house. We start our remodeling on Saturday. It is both a very exciting time and very scary all at the same time. I am not really sure what is going to happen through all the remodeling. I do know that I am going to have a whole new kitchen and the walls are going to be painted throughout the house. I also know that doors have to be replaced. It now comes down to what we are going to do about furniture and stuff like that. We have a few things including a washer and dryer, but that is about it. Reagan is going to be living as a minimalist by the end of the year. AKA he is going to have a bed to sleep on in the house.
As the wedding gets closer and closer the more we are both realizing that we need every prayer we can get. We are realizing there is some much more happening to us then just getting married. We need your prayers as we make life changing decisions and attempt to let go of our singleness. It is so easy to sink back into being single instead of doing things as a couple. We know God has His hands in everything we are doing and will lead us where ever it is that He want to take us. It isn't fun to have no control of circumstances. I know because I am a perfectionist and I like things to go my say, but I am learning that I have to let God be in control and to sometimes let Reagan do it his way.

Dusty winds and tumble weed.

2008-11-05T23:41:00.002-05:00

Yes there really is such thing has tumble weeds and we are talking those things that are made up in the movies. Okay so maybe they are something taken out of the movies, but let me tell you one thing, they hit it dead on when it came to the wind.
I came home from being at Reagan's house tonight and the wind was whipping something up that I wasn't so sure about. It looked like either dust, fog, or maybe even rain that wasn't acutally hitting the ground. Whatever it was, it is a sign that we are in for colder weather. I guess I am going to have to start wearing my jacket again. It was cold for a while, but I finally came to the conclusion that I didn't need it so I stopped wearing it to work. Now I am think I might.
For those of you who were wondering, I am doing well learning my job at the bank. It's by no means as easy as the Tellers make you think. You have to continually aware of everything as it comes in. Fake checks are the hardest thing to find, but we found one!
Friday is the big day! Reagan is going to be signing papers and closing on the house Friday and the house will finally be ours. I think Nana Joyce is happy about that. I am too!
Now we can have fun.
Of couse now that I have a job, I am able to buy things again for the wedding. I had the opportunity today to do some searching and I find some good deals. I think I am going to go with them because I don't think I could get a unity candle with the two candles for 29.99 in too many places. Maybe I'm wrong.
They tell me I should look in Hobby Lobby so maybe I will wait until the sales come, but I am iching to get more stuff for the wedding. Especially the invitations.

Keep me in your prayers. Because I have started working after two months of no work, my body has gotten out of the grove and I have been very tired lately. I get home from work and my brain shuts down and I have to close my eyes and "reboot".

Oh I didn't tell you! I'm an auntie again. Emily Grace was born on October 27 to my sister and brother-in-law. From what it sounds like her two big sisters are very proud of her.
Unfortunately this little sister hasn't seen pictures yet and she is wondering where they are. I really should get my sister to send me some.

The news you've all been waiting for!

2008-10-20T20:05:00.002-04:00

I finally have a job!
Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me to find a job. I got the call I have been waiting for and that is the job that says "We have a job for you. Would you like it?" Yes YES, a thousand times YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be a teller at a bank. I am really looking forward to doing something diffent then retail. Anything, but retail!
It will be nice knowing I don't have sit reading or writing all day. Now I have something to do while Reagan is working.
I will also be able to sleep at night now, too! That will be a wonderful thing.
That was just one blessing that happened to me today. We also got the email we have been waiting for. It is the one that says that our house is going to be offically ours probably by this weekend. That means we get to start tearing out rugs, pulling of wall paper, paint over walls and going to the store and picking out what we want for the house. I am so excited!
I don't know about anyone else, but I can tell you that I am very excited to be able to offically go into the house and say "This is Our House" (in the middle of the street. . .)
The Lord has truely blessed us today.

Okay Okay! I'm writing in my blog!

2008-10-04T11:13:00.003-04:00

I really still am here. I haven't gone anywhere. I am still alive and kicking in the wonderful wide open space of Texas.
As a matter of fact the President is supposed to be going past the house at any time now. We just saw a helicopter flying the route and we are waiting to see if Air force 1 has landed yet or not.
Hey that's what I get for living in the home town of the President. What can I say!?
The reason I haven't written in my blog in a while is because I haven't really had much to say. Life has been pretty normal.
Every day I drive Reagan to work and stay their the entire day and read, write, and look for a job. No job yet. I am able to drive around a lot better than I did when I first got my car. Road are looking familiar to me now.
I am an official Texan now. I received my driver's licence in the mail yesterday. That was pretty exciting.
I have been to a Symphony since I have been here. That was pretty neat. I met the man who taught Reagan how to play the trumpet. Cool!
I have been to several Football games. Okay I understand football a lot better now. Doesn't mean that I enjoy watching it, but at least I know what is going on when I have to watch it.
I have learned where the best Milkshake in town is and I have also found out where the best place to eat is. Yeah Cracker Barrel!
Last week the ladies of the family went to a craft show and then ate out. It was a girls day out! Then Reagan and I had our pictures taken around the city in which the mosquitoes found me and ate me alive. I have never had so much problem with mosquitoes. I guess they like my hand lotion. We came to that conclusion when we went for a walk last night and I was wearing the lotion and got eaten alive again.
As to the wedding plans in case anyone was interested. We are working on Registries, musicians, and photographers. There is still a lot to be done so your prayers are much appreciated. We are also still trying to get our house. We have the house, we are just having problems getting the loan. Prayer there is wonderful, too.
Okay because you are all forcing me to write in my blog and am going to gloat. While all of you in the East are preparing for winter and watching the mercury fall in the thermometers, I enjoyed a nice cool day of about 90 degrees yesterday. Okay so the mornings are cool and I have to wear my Orange Texas Longhorns hoodie, but by the afternoon I am sweating and in need of air conditioning.
Next week we will be celebrating Reagan's birthday. He has is birthday off so we may be going on a road trip, it all depends on houses and whether Alicia thinks she can drive 5 hours in one day and still feel awake enough to celebrate when she get back. We see.
Come see me sometime. I would love you to see this amazing state where you can sit in a field and see stars you didn't know were even in the sky or stand on a small hill and see 30 miles away. Or for that matter drive toward the city at night and see the beautiful twinkling of the city lights. I have to say that although I miss my mountains, the sights I see in Texas are amazing!

Have I really been here almost a month?

2008-09-16T20:55:00.002-04:00

Yikes! I can't believe that I am coming up on almost a month here.
So much has happened in the last four weeks. I have done everything from go to the doctors, pick out rings, set up marriage counseling, Celebrated labor day and a birthday, and gone to not one but to football games.
Let's just say that I actually understand a little better the game of football. Doesn't mean that I like the game, but I can say I am willing to watch it now and I understand what a first and down and a deep snapper are.
Not only that, but I have experienced flooding, a huge full moon, and several amazing sunrises and sunsets.
Did I mention I had to drive through my first flood?
I have been spending my days going with Reagan to work every day. I even found time yesterday to just sit down and really write. It's been a while since I have done that.
Now if I could just start walking so that I could fit into my wedding dress we would be doing well.

Welcome To Texas! Have a sinus infection!

2008-09-05T15:11:00.003-04:00

I knew it was going to happen. Every time I go somewhere I always get sick. Here in Texas it was no different. I even predicted to Reagan that I would probably get sick with in the first few weeks of being here. And I am. It started on Wednesday. I woke up with a horrible pain in my ear. I looked at my throat and it was pretty red. I took Tylenol and that seemed to help. Yesterday my throat was very sore and I told Reagan I thought I was coming down with something. By last night I knew I had a cold or something.
I didn't set my alarm this morning so Reagan had to wake me up around 9. Yes Alicia is getting lazy. He gave me some DayQuil and told me to just rest. I laid down while he did some accounting for me on the computer, and I promptly feel asleep for two straight hours. My nose is still clogged and I am fighting off another desire to sleep, but I feel a lot better than I did this morning.
Tonight I am going to try some NyQuil and see what happens. We have nothing planned until the evening. Maybe by then I can bring the rest of my stuff over to Nana Wanda's house.

A Full Week in Texas

2008-09-02T19:39:00.003-04:00

Wow!
Has it really been a week? I can't believe that just a week and I was coming to the realization that my parents were about ready to leave the next day. Today was completely different.
A lot has happened in the last week. First off Mom and Dad left on Wednesday and I was very much amazed at how well I did. I have been kept so busy that I haven't had the time to even think about what it is that I should be thinking about. Or what people think I should be thinking about.
On Wednesday we spent most of the afternoon at Nana Joyce's house, Aka, the house that Reagan and I are buying, while we waited for the moving van who happened to be two hours late.
That night we went out looking for a car for me. We found a really nice car, but we couldn't do anything about it until the next day because the car lot was closed for the night.
The next day we went back after Reagan and I spent the morning at Reagan's Job interview and then in the afternoon we went to a Jewlers where we picked out our wedding bands. I can't wait until I see what the jewler thought up. They are going to be beautiful!
On Thursday we spent from 3:30 until sometime after 6 getting the car and that night I drove off with a gold Honda Accord.
It has a lot of bells and whistles like a 6 CD changer, auto air, seat heaters and a sun roof. I can also change the channels on the steering wheel.
It's a pretty awesome car.
Then the fun part began. After I got my insurance I started to drive around the city. Let me tell you that it is not easy driving in this city. Of course one of the biggest problems is you have to loop around just so that you can go the opposite side of highway. Ah but maps are wonderful things! Someone left a map in my new car and after I had looked at it for a while everything clicked and started to make a whole lot more sense then what I had that it was in the first place.
On Friday Reagan and I took Brittney and Brianna to Chick fil A and had milkshakes and watched the girls play in the play place.
Saturday We spent the entire afternoon doing our Registry. We now have to go on and fix my mistakes. I am so marrying a child. You should have seen Reagan as I attempted to show and explain to him what certain things were. He was so cute!
Sunday was spent enjoying a very long and much needed nap. I think my body has now gotten used to Central time.
Monday was spent with family, celebrating Labor Day. I had a lot of fun with the girls. By the time we left, I was once again very tired.
Today was a crazy day!
Reagan excepted a job in a near by city so now I am in the process of getting a job in the area because I will have to drive him to work every day. I really hate online applications. They drive me to distraction.
At least we did something fun today. Reagan took me to the mall and we walked around for several hours. At one point I looked out the door and realized that it had been pouring rain. I asked if it was unusual to have rain this time of year and I was told that this was actually the beginning of the rainy season. It's been pouring rain since the afternoon.
Now it is time to finish for the night. I have been writing this in between applications and I'm tired.
Let's hope that tomorrow goes a lot better.

Finally Here!

2008-08-25T10:43:00.002-04:00

Well I am finally here. I think the shock of all the traveling and all the other things that have been happening in the last few days has started to wear off.
It's been a really long week and now that it is over sometimes I am still trying to figure whether I am in a dream or if I am actually here.
Traveling through Texas was completely different then what we had actually expected. We were expecting flat and dry. Instead we saw rolling hills and green. Of course the green was because they had rain just a week ago so everything is green from the rain.
You know how in the movies they talk about the big Texas sky. Well, I am here to tell you that it is a real thing. There are parts of the state that as you drive, all of a sudden you look out over the land and all you see is miles and miles and miles of sky and flat land. It's beautiful!
I fell in love with that big open sky quickly.
Okay for all of you who are wondering about the bugs and the heat and all the other nasty little things that are in Texas, I haven't seen any bugs and was told I probably wouldn't because West Texas is too dry. The weather has actually been really cold. It's only been in the 90's this week.
We got lost trying to find the house. It was a little confusing, but I can tell you that I think I can find my way here if I get on the loop.
Yesterday was very busy! First we went to church and I met a whole lot of people. I have a few people that I will remember names, but I can tell you now it is going to take me awhile to remember every ones names.
Then we went to an engagement party for us and I met a whole bunch of other people that I hope I can remember there names too. I also got to meet four of Reagan's little cousins. I was very excited when they actually warmed up to me fast.
Last night I was so tired that I slept all night and when the alarm went off this morning I was amazed that it was time to get up.
Today we are going to go see the house that I am going to be living in for the next 8 months and the house that Reagan and I are buying.

One day closer

2008-08-22T23:15:00.003-04:00

I have to say that traveling almost 800 miles in one day can be very exhausting.
The day started out in Ohio where we got up at 6 am, had breakfast and left the hotel just after 7.
When we got to Cincinnati, I had the privilege of taking some awesome pictures of the amazing buildings we passed.
After crossing over the boarder of Kentucky, I promptly curled up in the back of my well backed back seat and fell fast asleep. Not far after that I took my turn driving, but didn't last for long because by the time we stopped for gas and lunch, my contacts where bothering me. On Right one got lost in my eye earlier in the morning so I was having problems with my eyes rejecting them both all day long.
We stopped in Cave City, Kentucky and sent Reagan a text message to let him know where we were in our travels and I realized that some time while I was driving the time changed to Central time.
Although Mom and I talked in Central time, Dad continued in Eastern time.
We had a lot of fun going through places like Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN and Memphis, TN. I got some pictures, but when you are going 70 miles and hour past those points of references, it doesn't always come out well.
Around Six Central time we crossed the Great Mississippi River. It looked rather dry.
We crossed over into Arkansas and I knew that we were very close to Texas.
I am hoping that soon I will be able to put pictures on the blog so that you can see some of what I saw today. We had a lot of fun trying to pronounce the names and we even laughed at some of them. One of the best names was Mouse Tail Landing. Who would have thought of naming a town like that.
Well now we are somewhere outside of Little Rock.
We didn't do so bad in our travels. We only got lost twice. That's pretty good for my family. Thanks To Reagan's dad we have really awesome instructions and it was the readers error and the map makers errors.
Tomorrow we will be in Texas. I hear it is very flat. Whatever the case, I don't care. Tomorrow is leading me to Reagan and that's good enough for me.

The beginnings of a journey

2008-08-21T21:53:00.002-04:00

I was actually rather amazed at how much of a good sleep I had last night. I slept pretty much through the entire night without waking up. I really figured I would be up wondering what time it was, but as it was when I woke up around 6:30 this morning I couldn't believe I had slept through the entire night.
This morning was pretty much used to make sure I had everything in the car. I had to wait until mom had the rest of her stuff packed so that I could be sure where I was going to put everything.
Around 10 Mom and I took a walk to the post office and Kinney’s so that I could drop off something at the post office and get my pay stub.
Then at 11 Dad and I went back down to the post office where I said good bye to one of those crazy friends I have made in the last year.
We had our last meal of Spaghetti before Dad took a quick nap and Mom and I made sure we had everything.
I’m telling you, I don’t really think there is anymore room anywhere in this car. Yes I am actually typing this in the car somewhere near Cleveland, Ohio. I love laptops!
Reality kind of hit me while I was holding Isabelle, realizing that the next time I would be seeing her, she would not only be crawling, but she very well might be trying to pull her self up and standing. She will have changed so much when I see her again.
We left just before one after Cliff came home early from work to say goodbye. I tried very hard not to cry.
I squashed into the back of the car and I mean squashed because of all the stuff I have next to me. I feel like I am going to college all over again, except for the fact that we used a van and not a car.
Mom started us off driving, but she only got about 2 hours in when she needed to stop change. Dad wanted to know I would like to drive through Buffalo, but I was afraid we would hit high traffic by then so I went back to my little corner of the car.
Good call. It was way to heavy in the way of traffic for me.
We stopped for supper around 5. It’s a good thing we brought food. We were already making really bad timing and I was feeling suspicious shaking by the car. So when the car light came on and it said low tire pressure I knew it had to be on my side of the car.
We stopped at a gas station where we found the front right tire was a little too flat for comfort. Of course that didn’t make any sense because we just got new tires a couple of days ago. Unfortunately the gas station didn’t have an air pump that was working so we went the other way looking for another gas station and wouldn’t you know we found a service station instead. Dad stopped and asked if he had air and the guy filled up the tire and then discovered the valve on the tire was really lose and letting out a lot of air. If the gas station had had air we might be wondering why our tire was losing air so often. That service station was a blessing.
We aren’t making the grandest of time right now. We are still over a 100 miles from our first stop and it is already 7:30. We had planned on being there around 8. Don’t think that is going to happen. Hopefully we will make better time tomorrow.
The sky was beautiful today. There were wispy clouds floating in the sky. They looked a little like horses tails flying out behind them as they ran.
The sun was a beautiful orangey pink color as it disappeared behind gray blue clouds. I tried to take pictures and put them on the computer, but for some reason the computer doesn’t register the card.
Oh well maybe I can figure your it out tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be taking my turn driving. Happy times!

Saying Goodbye

2008-08-21T12:10:00.003-04:00

Probably the hardest thing to do in life is to say goodbye. I'm pretty sure if I could I would never say goodbye because I hate crying. It's not fun.
I am just taking a quick second out of my final minutes here to let all of my friends know that I am on my way.
I am about ready to embark on a grad new adventure that God is sending my way. I've had a lot of friends I have had to say goodbye to this week. Some I have been fine about, other I have not.
But a Good bye should never be for forever only a word which means "May God bless you as we are apart and until we met again".
So until we met again I say goodbye for now, knowing I will see you all again.

Of Last Days and Dust

2008-08-18T18:26:00.001-04:00

The last few days have not gone the way I expected them to go.
Friday was my 3rd anniversary at work. That was interesting just simply because the store had inventory and the day flew by so fast I couldn’t believe how fast it went. It was over so fast I was trying to shake off the fact that I now only had one more day of work to go before I was finished. I sat down that night and wrote a long blog about my three years at the store and all the experiences I had had during that time.
I remembered all the people I had come into contact with and even remembered all the places I had gone without ever once leaving the store. I even talked about some of the pictures that I had seen that will forever be ingrained in my mind. Some good, some bad. And then the inevitable happened. I lost everything I had written. An entire hours worth of blogging gone. GRR!!
Saturday started my last day of work. My coworkers threw me a pizza party and gave me snacks for the trip to Texas. Yummy! I had a lot of people coming into the store asking me when I was leaving and I surprised them by telling them that it was my last day. I kind of surprised myself every time I told them. I seriously don’t think reality ever actually set in. I didn’t spend much time at all in the photo department, instead I got to do one of my favorite pass times, outdates. Don’t ask me why, but I have always loved to look for outdates.
I was really expecting to have tears in my eyes as I left the store and I was actually very surprised when I walked out the door and I had no tears at all. I personally preferred it that way. I really didn’t want to cry.
I expected Sunday to be another hard day. Saying goodbye to all the friends I have at church was something I wasn’t really looking forward to. I did very well, surprisingly, only once choking up when an older lady got tears in her eyes. Once again I don’t really think reality struck. It was just another Sunday.
Today was just plain strange. My brain kept telling me that I needed to be at work because Monday’s are always days that I work and so not to go to work today just felt weird.
I cracked down and forced myself to pack. Wow! I have so much stuff! I finally did the one thing that I have been dreading to do. I cleaned under my bed. Of course I haven’t cleaned under my bed because I haven’t been able to reach underneath. So after looking under my bed for a few minutes, I decided that if I can get my legs under the bed I could push all the stuff I needed to with my feet. I’m actually glad I did it that way, because there was too much dust under my bed. If I had gone under the bed face first I am sure I would still be sneezing.
So I come to now. I do believe that tomorrow I will be able to finish up my packing and do any last minute stuff necessary before my move on Thursday. Ready or not Texas, here I come!

Another day in the life of packing

2008-08-14T21:26:00.002-04:00

It was a rather eventful day for me today. It started out with mom and I going to get a hard drive case for my computer which ended up being the wrong thing so Now I have to take it back. Grr! Mom and I kind of got lost because we are never sure which way we were going.
At noon the UPS man came and brought my wedding dress. That was very exciting! But when I put it on, I couldn't get it completely zipped up. It may have just been because I ate before I tried it on, but whatever the case, it looks like I am going to bringing it with me when I go to Texas.
This afternoon I finally decided that I really had to sit down and do some more packing so I forced myself to pack. I still don't feel like I got very far, but that doesn't mean that I haven't. I am once again leaving the garbage men a present. I got rid of a bunch more papers and other things that I really don't need. Was it two or was it three more boxes I have packed. I also filled up my cupboard today with those boxes. No I hadn't planned on taking them with me. I also did my laundry. Now I can set out my close for the week and pack everything else.
Tomorrow is my next to last day of work. It is also my 3 year anniversary of working at my drug store. We will be celebrating with a smash by having inventory.
I am really looking forward to change. I don't know what it is going to be, but I do know that I am ready.
More packing tomorrow night I am sure.
In the mean time I am watching the Olympics in between working, packing, and talking to Reagan on the phone.
Go Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson!

Won't the garbage men be surprised!

2008-08-13T21:41:00.003-04:00

Mom pulled out all the stops today. She opened the computer room closet and started pulling out box after box after box until finally she had brought out everything that had to do with me. Then she and I sat in the living room and disposed of a lot of stuff. And we aren't just talking about the little stuff, we're talking about at least a ream of paper going on there when we were finished.
I had so much paper leaving this world that the shredder had to be emptied four times. Crazy as it seems I am still going through my stuff and finding more stuff to throw away.
Mom and I think that the garbage men are going to wonder what tornado struck the house when they collect the garbage tomorrow. It's amazing the mess we made. There were strips of paper everywhere on the ground. I have yet another box completely packed and ready to go.
This box has some pretty interesting stuff in them. I have special things in them such as stories and other writings from Elementary school as well as Artistic endeavors from first grade and on. Hey I was an artist and writer way back them. Why didn't I see that?
Anyway Tomorrow I have to go to Circuit City and buy a casing for my computer hard drive before coming back and trying to clean my room and pack some more.

It's more than just moving

2008-08-13T00:37:00.004-04:00

Reagan reminded me that I haven't been on my blog in almost a month. Everything has been crazy in my life in the last few weeks that writing on my blog has been the last thing on my mind. Not only that, but I did start a blog entry when I was at the writers conference a few weeks ago and got distracted and never finished it. But the time has come that I must write again, because as soon as Reagan reminded me that I hadn't written in my blog I realized I really need to write in my blog. My dad just bought a new laptop computer to once again I can sit in my bed with a computer on my lap and type to my hearts content. It has been an amazing summer. I can't say that I have had a stranger one than this. As a matter of fact I have to say that I have had one of the strangest years of my life. I year ago I would never have imagined that I would have a ring on my finger, would be planning a wedding, and my leaving my job to move to a totally new state. This Saturday I will be saying good bye to the place I have called my work place for 3 years this Friday. I have been working as a photo lab person for 3 very hard long years. I can't so that I have enjoyed every minute of it, but I have to say that I wouldn't have traded all the experiences for anything. I loved working for the people of my home town. I made friends with many of them. I know a lot of people by name. I have celebrated all the good times with them and have cried during the hard times. I have been around the world without actually ever leaving my work place in front of the photo computer. I have learned a lot of things about people that I would never have begun to learn had I not taken this job 3 years ago. I also discovered my love for photography just by looking at other peoples photos and saying "Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could do pictures like that?" I guess I honestly have to admit that I didn't realize how many friends I have made by the people I take care of on a weekly bases until I started telling them that I would be leaving at the end of August. Whenever I tell them that I will be leaving, some of the first things that come out of their mouths is "Why?" I tell them it is because Reagan lives out in Texas and I want to be closer to him. But in reality there is a lot more to it then what meets the eye. Reagan is not the only reason I am going to Texas. For me it is a time for change. I feel that my ministry here is finished and that it is time to start a new one. My life needs to turn into a completely different direction. In a lot of ways I feel that God is calling me to leave my comfort zone and begin something different outside of my bubble. It won't be easy. I know that I will be giving up a lot in order to leave. I am giving up to the ability to see my family often. I am giving up my ability to see my new niece, Emily Grace, when she is born in October. I am also leaving my friends behind. But am I really giving those things up? I really don't think that I am. People may see my leaving as giving up seeing my family often, but I still have family. Reagan is my family and so is his family. They are close to me and will have a lot of interaction with them. Yes I will have to give up my ability to see my new niece, but that doesn't mean that I can not still be an important part of her life. I can't say that I am giving up on my friend. Yes I do have friends here, but not friends that I cam going to miss and those that I will miss I will still have contact with them. Moving for me is not about moving. It's about a new way of life. On Thursday, August 21 I will be embarking on a new chapter in my life. I will be traveling from my long time home of NY to the foreign country of Texas. It will be hard, but it will also be an adventure. Someone told just recently, "Where you go is what you make it out to be." If you go believing that you were meant to be there, that God is calling you to go, you will have a happy experience, but if you grumble and refuse to except the fact that you are here and not there, you will never find true happiness. Something that I have told my good friends is "If We are in the center of God's will, we can never be unhappy. If for some reason we are unhappy with our circumstances we need to be sure that we are in God's will. On Saturday as I walk out the door to work for the last time, I am more than sure that I will have tears in my eyes if not tears coming done my cheeks. I will miss the friends I have made, but I am about ready to embark on adventure that will take me to place I have never been before. I am going to take you with me. For the next few weeks I am going to attempt a nightly writing in my blog. Starting with packing and other preparations. I will then be letting you ride along as I discover places I have never seen before. I hope you will join me.

Packing it up!

2008-07-10T19:29:00.004-04:00

I have come to discover that my mom is right. Packing gets harder the older you get. I have come to the conclusion that I really need to throw away a lot of stuff, which if you have see what I have been doing in the last few months you will know that I have probably thrown away 30 pounds of paper (Yes I did recycle) and proabably equally that much collectable garbage.
But throwing away memories hurts me more than it does my attic. As a matter of fact, if you go to the back of my attic where all of my stuff is, you can actually lie down and take a nap. Wouldn't suggest it though. A box might fall and hit you.
Right now I am going through my boxes and totes and saying, "Need now, need later, need when I have kids, probably need to just plain throw away!"
I have gotten rid of many boxes that way.
I've actually almost forgotten what it was like to pack up my boxes and move. Nine years is a long time to stay in one place and traveling back and forth to school doesn't offically count. I have to admit though I am feeling just a little bit like I am packing for school. In this case I have to pack as if I am going to school. Take only what you need without the school books. Thank you Lord!
Things that you own become your friends over the years. They are familiar to you and when you have to give them up it can be like you are in morning for the death of a dear friend. Sometimes it is all I can do to let that item slip out of my hands into the garbage can or even into the pile for the garage sale. I put it into a I'll think about it pile and then when I am not thinking I will just throw it away and not realize I did it. That works with me!
Isn't it funny? One minute you see something you had forgotten even exsisted anymore and the next moment you think you have to keep for some odd reason because you think you might need it again. I do that all the time, but who knows why!? Seriously am I really going to use it someday or is it going to continue to clutter up my room and attic?
So I suppose I should really stop writing on my blog and go do some packing. Maybe say good bye to a few good "friends".
I have to admit I am really looking forward to this move. Going all the way across to the other side of the country, a part of the country I have never actually been to before. To be like the pioneers of old who said "Go West, Young Man, Go West!" Okay so in this case it is "Go West, Young Woman, Go West!" I'm going, I'm going!
Well back to debating with the boxes.
Watch out Texas, here I come!

Come Check out the Website!

2008-07-10T19:25:00.002-04:00

Reagan and I are very pleased to announce that you can now go to www.reaganandalicia.com and check out our wedding website.
It will answer any questions you might have and more.
Have fun, enjoy and leave us a note in our guest book.

Reagan- My Love Story

2008-07-07T21:43:00.003-04:00

I love to read romance novels! I have to admit that I am a sucker for a well written, well beloved romance writer. If you give me a good one to read, I more than likely will have it read in less than a day if not in an afternoon.
Since my first real romance novel, The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke, I have dreamed of what my love story would consist of. Of course tall, dark and handsome are kind of the normal when you first get started. Hey you have to start somewhere, right?
I dreamed of the million different ways I was going to meet him. On the street, at a party, while in college, even at church when his family walked in for the first time and introduced themselves.
Yes, I even dreamed of the dashing young prince coming along on his large white horse, sweeping me off my feet and carrying me into his castle where we were wed and lived happily ever after. Okay, so I knew that dream wouldn't come true, but it was a fun dream. And if you are a girl, you've had similar dreams. Don't go denying it either.
I had days when I would look at someone and think to myself "Could he be the one?" Scratch that. I seemed to have this criteria for what it was I was looking for and at my every look, it went splat like a water balloon, spilling out all over the sidewalk as he walked by. Definitely not the one!
And then my brother did a strange thing. He found a wife on Eharmony! Go figure! My brother find a girl, and get married!!!!!????? It sounded crazy, but it really happened.
I figured if my brother could find someone like that so could I! So I tried.
You don't know how many matches I had. As a matter of fact I don't know how many matches I had. But one right after another came up and one right after the other got scratched off the list. No way!
Around July I was getting rather discouraged over the whole thing. I almost gave up, but I decided to give myself three more months. Maybe, Just maybe something would come up.
Then it happened!
In September I got yet another list of names and started going through them closing down yet more that I really had no interest in or that had no interest in me. Then I came across this one match. It was
everything I hadn't planned on. Worst of all he was far away, like Texas far away. Right away I had my pointer on the close button. Then I stopped. I went back up to the top of the page and read his profile. It intrigued me. I decided to wait to hit the close button. Maybe later I would, but today from some reason I wasn't ready to do it.
Then a few days later I got a communication from him. I was stunned. I seriously did not expect anything to come out of me not closing him down. But I was so intrigued by this that I had to answer him. That was extremely dangerous!
We asked and answered many questions before we started talking about our families, likes, dislikes and everything else under the sun.
Then we told our families! That was fun! I don't know about his parents, but when I told my family that I had met someone named Reagan and he was from Texas they were all in a little bit of shock.
I let the name Reagan sink in for awhile, but kept back a very important characteristic about him that I had told only one person.
At Christmas I finally revealed the one thing that I had held back from my parents, Reagan was blind.
It surprised my parents, but for me it was never an issue. Since the day he told me, I was very fascinated. To me it was adventure.
Slowly and over time I would reveal this fact to more and more people, but I still didn't tell everyone.
Valentine's day was the beginning of a change for Reagan and I. He sent me flowers. It was like a light had turned on and a door had opened that had been just beyond our sight. We started talking literally every night. It was easier during that time because Reagan was in Arlington, VA and in the same time zone as I was. I knew there was something somewhere along the line that had changed between us so I went into my dad's office and pulled off a book from his shelf that I knew I needed to read, The Five Love Languages. I told Reagan about the book and discovered that he had actually bought the book and was about to read it. So over Easter while he was flying back from Easter brake, but he read the book.
That night we knew God had put us together and that we were meant for each other.
We started making plans in earnest. We already knew Reagan was coming in June, but we both realized after many long discussions that he wasn't just coming to meet me, he was coming to propose to me.
In April I got sick and the next day discovered a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting for me at the front door.
Then one night I called Reagan on the phone, and knew instantly something was wrong. He had fallen down the stairs and for the next two or three hours I kept him saine as he battled the utter pain that he was in. I would have gone instantly to him if I could have. I was even more positive about my decision to marry him.
30 days before he was to come, I recieved two dozon roses at work making my coworkers jealous.
On June 19, as I watched the plane touch that Reagan was in my heart began to race. I asked myself what in the word I was doing. My heart was smashing out of my chest so hard I was sure everyone could see it.
As I got my first glimpse of Reagan coming out of the gate every emotion was running through me. But as soon as we had hugged and then started away from the gate walking with him was as natural as if I had been doing it all my life.
June 20 found us on our first date. In my mind I thought it was a disaster just simply because it was pouring rain and I couldn't find my way to where we were going. On the way home it was a rather quiet ride. I knew in the back of my mind that Reagan was going to ask me to marry him that night. Call it woman's intuition, I just knew.
We got home and I was very disappointed because it was freezing cold and Reagan thought it best we didn't go for a walk.
Reagan went up stairs and I followed him a few minutes later. He pulled me into his arms and began to quote something beautiful to me. At the time all I could think about was the beauty of the promise he had told me.
And then in the dark in the middle of the room, Reagan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. All the words I was going to tell him when he asked me disappeared. To this day I can't remember what I was going to say. All I could say was Yes!
That night everything seemed to go wrong, and yet in the end I wouldn't have changed anything. It was so amazing as he slipped the sliver heart shaped ring with a gold cross onto my finger. I knew I had made the right choice.
And so on April 25, 2009 Reagan Lynch and I will be getting married and starting our own love story that is even better than any romance book anyone could ever write.

Jump!

2008-07-06T12:10:00.003-04:00

A young boy went with his father to a swimming pool. The little boy was not a very good swimmer and so his father very lovingly and carefully fastened a life jacket around the boy so that he would feel safe.
The father then got into the water and started swimming around. After a while he looked up and noticed that his son still stood at the edge of the pool looking in. Being the loving father that he was, the father swam over to the boy and held out his arms.
"Jump to me. I won't let you drown!"
The little boy stood there for some time listening as his father continued to tell him to jump and that he wouldn't let his son drown. Then the boy made a decision. Instead of trusting his father and jumping, the little boy turned around and bolted from the side of the pool, got as far away as he could, and refused go in.
How do you think that father felt? That Father felt like a failure because his son didn't trust him enough to know that if he jumped, dad would catch him.
The little boy had an irrational fear that his father wouldn't catch him because he was blinded by the fear of the water. Nothing his father said to him would change his mind about the water. He refused to trust.
How are we with trusting God?
So often we try to figure things out for ourselves. We go from day to day worrying about where the money is coming from and going. We worry about things on the news. We are natural worriers. It's in our blood. We pass it down from generation to generation without giving it another thought. But let me ask again. How are we with Trusting God?
I have recently been challenged by this true story that I have just told you about the little boy and his father, and trusting God.
I heard on the radio this morning an interesting statement. Most everyone believes in God. It is very easy to believe in God. It is much much hard to believe God.
God, our Father, stands in the pool of life His arms out wide calling to us to jump because He will catch us and won't let us drown. We, on the other hand, stand at the edge of the pool with our life jackets on and shake our heads before turning around and high tailing it out of there.
We refuse to believe that God will catch us if we jump, but instead that He will watch us jump and then get out of the way so that we will go splat right into the water and drown. We have lost our trust in God.
Are we willing to put our faith back in a loving Father who would never under any circumstances let us drown? Are we willing to jump into His arms and let Him do the rest?
May we all be instead like the small child who stands on the stairs and sees his father walking by and shouts "Daddy, catch me!" before jumping into the waiting arms of a father he knew would catch him and wouldn't let him get hurt.

4th of July Inspiration

2008-07-03T10:09:00.003-04:00

I got a little patriotic today. Sat down at the piano and started playing. I haven't really sat down and played the piano like that in a while and I was in the mood to play so I did for about an hour or so. After awhile I decided to prepare for the 4th of July tomorrow by playing "Battle Hymn of the Republic", "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", and "American, the Beautiful".
I learned to play all of those songs as a girl taking piano lessons, and I loved every minute of playing them. Milking them for all they were worth every year in church. But there is one song that eludes my fingers. Time and again I have tried to play the song only to stop because I can't get those four flat to come out of the keys. Maybe some day the National Anthem will be a breeze for me to play, but for now I will have to attempt to sing it, high notes and all.
So I stopped trying to play the song, because once again I thought maybe I could try, and sang it.
We are all familiar with the first verse. It's song at all the popular sports games, and the high school games. We get tears in our eyes every time we hear the song, while men, women and children alike screech out that very high E that no real mortal can hit.

"O Say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

But did you know there is a second verse to it?
I guess I knew, but I never really paid attention to it. For that matter I couldn't quote you the words like I can the first verse, but I found it interesting that we leave that part of the song completely out of the mix.
Maybe it is because the words are kind of hard to fit with the tune so we think "No big deal, it's the first part that matters." But once you have read them, you may think differently.

"O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

How timeless that verse is! You can't tell me that it is not. We need to be screaming this song from the roof tops and yet here we are totally forgetting everything that this verse is saying.
You've probably seen the saying that I have seen recently. It says "Real Freedom isn't Free". How true can that statement be?
Everyday our freedom is being fought for and despite that our cause is a just cause and so we must conquer, we hear nothing but complaining about the fact that there is a war. When has there not been a war somewhere?
In order for our star spangled banner to wave triumphantly over the free and the brave we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for the freedom of others.
So the next time someone complains about our wars remind them that with out our wars, we would not be free. Also remind them that despite the fact that we try to take God out of the picture these days, we should "Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation" because without Him our flag and all our freedoms would have been a distant memory, if a memory at all.
May God Bless America Today and always and may we never forget that our Freedom, whether it is political, physical, or spiritual, is never free. Someone has to pay the price.

A Week of Cruising- Saturday

2008-06-13T18:12:00.005-04:00

May 31, 2008

Disembarking

Friday night into Saturday morning was a very long night. Because of where we were situated on the 4th floor we could hear crew members working all night long for when we got into port. Things were rolling and thumping and pretty much just too loud.

To make matters worse people were coming down the hall at all hours of the night, laughing and talking loudly. Stumbling along as they head off to bed to get rid of their hangovers. This went on well into the morning and I think I heard the last one sometime around 2 am.

Saturday morning started bright and early. Laura was determined to see the sunrise so we got up at 5:45 am because the captain said the sunrise would be around 6:15. By the time we got up to the top deck the sun had already been in the air for awhile. I still got some pretty pictures before we went back to our room and fell back to sleep.

We would have stayed in bed had it not been for the noise that once again started up. Not only that, but for some reason the Steward thought we were out of the room so he started to come in.

I don't think I have actually mentioned our Steward. His name was Joel. He and his partner were amazing. They kept our room so clean and neat. Laura and I would go off to breakfast or something and we would come back to find our beds made and everything neat. Ever time we walked out the door and he was there, Joel would say hello and ask us how our days were going. He even remembered our names. We were pretty impressed simply because he remembered our names despite the however many hundreds of people he talked to every day. He made us feel like queens.

I finally knew that sleep was not going to happen for me so I got up. We had our last meal on the deck while watching New York City come into view. I got more pictures of Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building.

We also watched the tug boat The Cape Cod pull us into port and the seagulls flying behind us before heading down stairs to gather our stuff and prepare for Express Disembarking.

We seriously expected Disembarking to take well over and hour, but from the time Laura and I hit the line to the time we walked to the Taxi it was all of 45 minutes.

Our taxi driver this time around was a Much better driver and this time we really got a New York City driver. He weaved in and out of traffic so fast and he got us to where we were supposed to go in less time then the first guy. Laura and I tried not to pay attention or we might have had a heart attach just watching him drive.

We checked into our respective airways and while Laura was checking in, I was entertained by a pigeon who had gotten stuck inside. No one really seemed concerned. They just pointed and laughed and went on their way. Poor thing! Not sure he knew which side was up at that point.

We had about half an hour before I needed to go through me line and get to my gate. We stopped at Subway and had subs. It was rather a subdued conversation. Finally around noon we said good bye and I made my way through the line.

All morning we had been watching the weather. The sky was very cloudy when we got into port and it was progressively getting darker as we went along. By the time I sat down and was writing in my journal, I knew that we were in for a nasty storm and not twenty minutes before We were supposed to board our flight we had a nasty Lightening storm. The sky was very black and the rain came down in sheets. I called dad and warned him that I may be delayed, but by the time we were to board, the storm had stopped and the sun was out again.

What a fascinating ride that was: )

If you ever want to learn about the steward or stewardess on the plane, sit in the bulk head or the very first seat. I struck up an interesting conversation with the stewardess the entire way home. That was fun.

This time around I actually got to sit by the window and that was just amazing! I took a bunch of pictures out the window. Mostly of the clouds. Do you know how many dreams I have had of being above the clouds? Not only that, but we were going into big Fluffy clouds. We had a bit of a bumpy ride as we had a draft while going through the clouds. That was really neat because all I could see was white out the window.

I was so grateful to touch down. As the wheels came down on the runway I was grateful that my journey was finally over. I loved the trip and I loved the adventure, but it was so good to know that I was almost home.

Mom and Dad met me and together we got my suitcase before heading for the car. It was heavy. When I left on Sunday my suitcase weighed somewhere around 35 pounds. When I got home it weighed somewhere around 42. Where did I get all that stuff? :)

When I got home we had show and tell before I headed off to have my water cameras developed.

I also made a phone call at that time.

Saturday was the end of my journey, but it took me several days before my body realized that I was no longer on the ship. Every once in a while I would have to grab hold of something just so that I could balance myself. I felt like I was drunk or something : ) Sometime around Tuesday or Wednesday my body became used to the swaying of the ship to the point where my body was compensating for it. Now I know why Pirates really swaggered. It wasn't because they had too much rum, but because they were at sea for so long their bodies had started to compensate.

If any of you are thinking about taking a cruise, Do it! If you don't have the money, start saving up a little at a time. It is so worth every minute of it. I can't wait to do it again.

A Week of Cruising- Friday

2008-06-12T18:54:00.004-04:00

May 30, 2008

Heading home

"8:20 PM

'Oh Lord, my God, when I in Awesome wonder

Consider all the world Thy Hands have made.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy Pow'r thro'out the universe displayed.

Then Sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;

How great thou art, How Great thou art!'

There are no better words to describe what I have seen today.

You don't know the meaning of "as Smooth as glass" until you have seen it for yourself on the ocean. Tonight the water was so smooth it looked literally like glass. The sunset was spectacular with the sunlight shimmering off the water. Laura and I spent from just after supper until just after the sunset out on the deck. It was warm at first, but by the time the sun was gone, we were freezing.

We started the day a little late. Laura was going to see the sunrise, but set the alarm wrong. By the time I woke up and looked at the time, it was quarter after 8.

We went out to the Promenade this morning after breakfast before going to the meeting for disembarking. I got to be the time keeper because Darin said he wanted everything to go quickly. He said no more than 20 minutes and was done in 10.

We went final day shopping before lunch, then I sat out and got a suntan. . . er. . . um. . . burn. Oops!

Then we watched ping pong, ate ice cream, and talked.

We even saw a large sting ray swimming near the surface of the water. Really Cool!

Today we honestly did nothing but sit around and read. I can't tell you how relaxing it is to do nothing, but sit in the sun, read and watch the water while listening to the waves hitting the sides of the ship. We did walk around the ship.

I have pretty much everything packed now. Just a few odds and ends of stuff still sitting on the nightstand. I am so ready to go home.

Laura says she could live on the water. Now me, I love the cruising, but I know I couldn't live on a ship in the middle of the ocean for a long period of time. I'd miss too much of the world."

It was the last day on the ocean. It was rather bitter sweet. Laura and I both knew that in the morning we would be saying goodbye and going our separate ways. The week had gone by really slowly, but for some reason on that last day it felt like we had just gotten on the ship. I have to admit that at certain times of the day I had to catch the tears from forming. Laura and I had had such a wonderful week of feeling like queens and not having to work.

Sometimes there are no words to describe things. I was so thankful I had my camera because without it there are certain things that I have talked about in my blog that wouldn't have made any seance at all. Sometimes even the pictures don't do it justice. Sometimes you have to experience the winds blowing your hair, the smell of the ocean, the sounds of the ship, and the little things that make the ocean, the ocean to understand everything there is on here.

So close your eyes and smell the water, run your hand against the railings and feel the salt build up, face towards the wind and a little over the rail and feel the salt spray on your face and feel the wind. Taste the salt as it slips onto your lips. Listen as the waves slap slowly and methodically on the sides of the ship. Go to the back of the ship and watch as the ship makes waves and turns the water into a green foamy color and listen to the noise of the motor. Look out and see the strange creatures such as flying fish and stingrays as they swim beside the ship.

There is nothing like it. I was so blessed with the opportunity to celebrate God's creation out on the ocean. God must have used a very special paint brush when He created the ocean because He made sure you could see the curve of the horizon so that you know the world is round. He played around with every color of blues and greens and swirled them together to make the water. And every night He takes that delicate paint brush up in His hands and splash the beautiful colors of orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, grey, and white and makes an ocean sunset. How much more beautiful can creation be then that!

A Week of Cruising- Thursday

2008-06-11T18:34:00.007-04:00

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

6 AM is officially too early to get up in the morning!

But a beautiful sunrise is worth getting up for.

We got up and threw on clothes before heading up stairs to see the sunrise. We stayed for about 15 minutes or so on deck 13 watching as the ship pulled into port and the sun began to rise behind the many machines loading a large barge possibly heading for the US.

Sometimes pictures are the only way to describe something.

We ate breakfast before getting ready for the day.

We were going snorkeling!

Neither one of us had ever been snorkeling before and we were both very excited about the prospect of taking pictures under water.

By 8 Laura and I were ready to go. It didn't take as long to gather everyone for a morning of snorkeling and we were off. Of course we found out later that we left two behind and they came with another bus.

After showing us how to put our gear on and the types of fish we might see in the reef we were headed out. It's so much fun trying to figure those stupid masks out. A bunch of us struggled with getting the snorkel to go on right and the mask to not leak. Whatever you do! Don't swallow sea water. It tastes nasty and gives you a big upset stomach. Yuck!

Besides the fact that I swallowed a lot of water before the knowledgeable guy fixed the mask for me, I really enjoyed seeing all the fish. Laura and I both had two cameras a piece and we took lots of pictures of the reef.

We were only out for about half an hour or so before we ran out of Film and became very tired of swimming.

We got to sit on the front of the boat where they unfurled the sail and we floated lazily back to shore while listening to Bahamian music. I have never been on a sail boat which has always been something I have wanted to do and so I was very excited. Laura and I closed our eyes because of the salt we had swallowed. I listened to the people as they talked. I heard some rather fascinating stories.

Just going up and down on the waves was relaxing. The sky had a few clouds in it and the water was once again every shade of blue and green imaginable.

It's amazing how the weather can change within a matter of a few minutes. We had gotten back onto the ship and were eating lunch when it decided to rain. It was big fat rain drops that came down and then were gone. It just made the humidity worse.

That afternoon the almost no sleep on Sunday and continuous activities of the week hit me. I was so tired, I took a nap before Laura and I went up stairs to the Spa. She had a massage while I had a manicure.

That night we sat outside and watched the sun go down as usual. Then we went inside and started making the room neater so that the next day when we packed we wouldn't have as much to do. We had every intention of going to the Chocolate night at 11, but I was so tired I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my eyes opened so we didn't go. I am sure that the little piece of Heaven would have been there if we had gone. Oh well. Maybe someday.

Here is just a cute little observation that I saw while on the ship. There were many families on board and a lot of little children. Every night Laura and I were entertained by different babies. They were so cute. The Fathers really seemed to enjoy the fact that they had time with their kids. One such father made me smile. He was at the kids pool with his two daughters who were around the ages of 1 and 3. They had just gotten out of the pool and there was a girl on either side of him. They were running along when he just stopped. Then he asked the girls if they could hop, so he started to hop and they followed. He did this several times asking them if they could walk a certain way. The little girls would look down at his feet and figure out what he was doing. It was so cute.

We were now officially head north once more. We said goodbye to the Southern waters realizing that when we got back it was going to be a whole lot colder.

A Week of Cruising- Wednesday

2008-06-10T19:28:00.008-04:00

Nassau, Bahamas

The day started out the usual way of Laura and I enjoying breakfast outside.

After lunch we watched as the ship pulled into the Port of Nassau. Another ship was already there and there were people coming in and out of the ship. We decided that our ship was without a doubt much prettier because it had colorful pictures on the sides and the other ship only had words. I should mention here that When we got off the ship we were both sweating bullets within just a few minutes because of the humidity.

We noticed once again that the water literally changed colors drastically. We could see the tour guides lining up to take us to our distinations. We even saw a pirate or two or three. (not real ones mind you. Here is an interesting tidbit of information if you ever go on a cruise. They will take pictures with dressed up people just to try to get you to buy the pictures.)

Our tour that day consisted of a city tour with stops out Fort Fincastle, Fort Charlotte, and the Queens Staircase.

It ended with a tour of the Pirate museum. A must see if you are ever there.

Our Tour guides name was Carvin. He told us that if we forgot what his name was to remember it's what you do with your turkey.... He was a big black man of about 250 to 300 pounds and he had the most awesome Bahamian Accent which he called broken English. It was very quick and many of his words ran in together.

I learned some very interesting facts about Nassau such as the fact that if you see a pink building, it is going to be a government building.

Carvin said they based the color off of their National Bird, the Flamingo. I also learned that the Baptist church is the offical State church in the Bahamas.

I also learned that the Bahamas consist of a large collection of islands and if you are rich and interested and want to retire somewhere in the Warm south, you can buy your very own island.

Nassau has many hills and everyone of them has some sort of fort on top. When you go to the top you can see for miles around.

The government will not stand for law breakers. If you break the law you will either pay with your money (and not cheaply), your time (more years in prison than we Americans could ever imagine), or your life (if you kill, you be killed. Captial punishment is awesome.)

It was rather odd riding around in the van because the drivers side was on the left hand side, they drove on the opposite side of the road then we do, and there aren't any stop signs or red lights except for something like 150 of them. Road rage does not exist there. Who ever is sitting at the cross roads first, gets to go first.

One of our interesting tour stops was the Queen's Staircase. It used to be called I believe the 64 Steps for the 64 steps that were carved out of the mountain side. We were told that it was carved by hand out of the stone face by hundreds of slaves that were forced to work long hours on it after they finished their work for their masters. They work on it for 10 years and never knew that sometime during those 10 years they were freed and could have stopped. But no one ever told them, so they continued for many more years. It is not a staircase for the weak and weary. It goes pretty much straight down.

During our time at Fort Charlotte, I helped the economy by buying two necklaces and a bathing suit wrap.

At last we ended our tour at the Pirate Museum where we entered a replica of a pirate ship and took a tour of the lives of different pirates. We even entered into a battle with Black Beard himself. Of course we were on the winning side and he was killed in the end and we survived.

After that we learned that many stores in the Bahamas close down much earlier then here in the US. Many were closed by 5 :(

We had grad plans of going into certain stores and buying them out :) But of course they ended up closing before we got there. At least I can go to the website. (Anyone interested in products that turn color in the sun go to www.delsol.com There's some really cool stuff in that store!)

We were able to stop in Diamonds International and get our free charm bracelets. And after taking a tour of down town, we stopped at a few shops that all the other tourists were visiting and bought some more stuff. That was so much fun.

We also stopped at a little plaza before heading back to the ship and bought some intereting jewlery. Did you know that you can make pins and earrings out of fish scales? Those were really cool. Laura bought one for her sister, but decided not to tell her that they were fish scales.

We got back on the ship in time for supper and I have to say that once again it was wonderful to sit down.

They had a little bit of heaven for supper that night. A chocolate mousse cake. I am convinced it is going to be in Heaven. It was SO GOOD! Of course I had to make sure it was good with a second piece.

Laura and I finished the day by watching two movies. The first one was August Rush with one of my favorite child actors, and the ever Favorite Movie of mine Enchanted. By the time the movie ended around midnight, Laura and I both were almost completely asleep.

Laura had plans of seeing the sunrise so we set our clock for early because not only were we going to see a sunrise, but Snorkeling was at 8 in the morning.

A Week of Cruising- Tuesday

2008-06-09T19:53:00.009-04:00

May 27, 2008

Port Canaveral

8AM

" Psalm 8:1,3

'O Lord our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens... When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?'

9:40 AM

DO you know how dangerous it is to do your Bible reading on deck? I was reading my Bible and writing in my journal when a man came over and started talking to me about God and our purpose in life. I had told him I was reading about how God created everything we see and how beautiful it is. He wouldn't believe me and he wouldn't listen so while he was telling me that there is no God, but hat we are all god I just nodded and listened realizing I wouldn't be able to change his mind.

Of course he really though he had changed my mind and now I don't believe the Bible. As he doesn't know me, he doesn't know that I have to believe in God because without Him there is nothing to live for."

It was most definitely and interesting morning for me. Even before breakfast. This Russian Guy named Alex came over and had this very interesting conversation with me. I had decided almost right away that 8 in the morning was too early for him to have a glass of wine which he sat drinking the entire time he talked to me. By the time I finished talking to him, I was bound and determined to pray for him. He was totally messed up and really sounded as if he had nothing at all to live for and yet he refused to believe that there was a God at all. He informed me that everything we see, we make up ourselves. (How we do that I really don't know. . . ) I informed him that I would pray for him. When Laura came up for breakfast she sat at the table with him while I got my breakfast. He pointed at my Bible that was sitting on table and informed Laura that "She (meaning me) does not believe that book anymore."

Laura looked at him strangely and said "Pretty sure that's not the friend I know!"

If you think of him, pray for him. He told me he has about 2 years left to live. He has cancer. I am praying that he realizes that there really is a God that loves and cares deeply for him.

Despite the strange start to the day, it was a wonderful day. We were headed for Disney's Epcot Center for a fun filled afternoon of a whole lot of walking.

We docked a few hours ahead of time and Laura and I decided to check out Deck 7. Did we every get a show!

From where we were we could see NASA several miles away.

Laura and I were enjoying looking at the colors of the water like we usually did. Sea gulls and a Pelican flew around the water dipping in and out of the water.

Then up out of the water, what should we see but a dolphin!

We were so excited. I was really hoping to see one up close like that, and there he was showing off for everyone on the ship who wanted to watch. But the real surprise came when out from underneath the ship came three very large Manatees. Beautiful creatures! I have never even seen one in captivity so to see one in the wild was pretty amazing.

We spent the afternoon in Epcot doing a "World Tour" I wish we had had more time because we really only got to highlight all the different countries.

First we took a ride in Spaceship Earth. If you go to Epcot, make sure you go on that. It is really neat.

We ate lunch in Morocco, which later left Laura and I not feeling the greatest.

Any time we saw a crushed penny machine, Laura had to stop and make a handful of them. I would just roll my eyes and hold the ones she did.

I ended up buying Chopsticks in Japan, a Shirt in Mexico, Ice cream in France, and Popcorn in Canada.

We also had a training mission to Mars. We also went in search of Nemo and ended up in a large Aquarium filled with everything from Dolphins, to Sharks, to Stingrays, to Tuna.

We ended the day with a trip to Mouse Gears where I bought Christmas Presents for the girls and Mouse Ears. In the processes I promptly lost my sunglasses. I think the heat was getting to me or something because all day I had problems remembering what I did with stuff or just being afraid I miss placed it I guess.

By the time 7 o'clock came around We were both very tired. I ended up with a blister on my foot which was actually gone by the next day. Around six-thirty I made a special phone call to a very Special person and talked to him while we headed for a place to eat supper and the tram to take us back to the bus.

It was so good to sit down.

We didn't get to see the sunset on the ship, but we did get to see it as we were on the bus headed back to the ship.

It was a tiring, but good day.

A Week of Cruising- Monday

2008-06-08T21:28:00.006-04:00

Monday was a pretty slow day. We didn't do a whole lot other than get to know the ship and try to balance ourselves out with the rocking of the ship.

After a good nights sleep, Laura and I had a good Breakfast. I had French Toast with Blueberries and Bacon. Yummy!

Raffles Court Quickly became Our favorite place to sit and watch the water go by. In the distance we could see ships and freights and once in a while a little glimpse of land. Because it was Memorial Day everyone was out enjoying the beautiful weather. It was clear and sunny with only a few wisps of clouds in the sky.

Around 10 we went to the Starlight Theater where we learned about Shop when we went on Land Excursions. Free stuff is so much fun!

After that we went out to the side of the ship and spent several hours just enjoying looking at the water. It's amazing the things you see when you are in the middle of the ocean! One of our really fun games that we played was exclaiming over the beautiful color of the water. Depending on where you were depended on what color the water was. It went from a dark blue all the way to a light green color. The water that was pushed away from the side of the ship as it cut through the water was a sea foam color. It was green and yet it was white.

Deck 7 had a walk way on it that went all the way around the deck. Many times you would see people taking a morning, afternoon, and evening stroll. It was the perfect place for it, too.
Our first big surprise for the day consisted of Flying fish. Honestly there really are flying fish in this picture, but you might have to find a way to make the picture bigger to see them.

They were everywhere! Most of the time we would see them jump in groups of two or three, but once in a while we would see a huge school of them. Some jumped several feet. I don't know what the real name of them are, but they were still cool.

We also saw strange yellow stuff floating on the water. I came to the conclusion that it was either sea weed or sea grass. The closer we got to warmer weather, the more we saw this stuff.

We even saw way off in the distance what we believe to be a Dolphin pod of about 20 or so Dolphins.

After lunch we found some deck chairs and made ourselves comfortable.

On the ship we could do anything we wanted at any time. That night we dressed up, went to the Blue Lagoon, which was the only other time we went somewhere else to eat other than Raffles. Every night a professional photographer took pictures for anyone who wanted them. Laura and I had ours done to the back drop of the bow of the ship with a sunset. That was fun!

That night we had a traditional addiction that we continued every night there after. Watching the Sun set.

Of all the pictures I took half of them were of sunsets. Every night they were different then the night before and everyone just as beautiful.

At 10 PM we decided to have a movie night, so we headed off to deck 7 once again where they were showing National Treasure, Book of Secrets. That was a lot of fun! There was a couple already in the room when we got there and we had about 10 minutes before the movie started. We proceeded to joke around about needing stools to put our feet on, slaves to massage our feet and popcorn. We didn't get any of it of course, but it was still fun pretending. We had a great time.

By midnight when the movie was over Laura and I were ready to fall into bed. And Let me side note here to say that I so wanted to take the pillows on my bed home with me. They were so comfortable.

I also realized why so many people who came over to America on the bottom of the ships were so seasick. The rocking of the ship was amazingly strong and it took me a while to get to sleep because me head was spinning.
But the great thing was a fell asleep and stayed asleep all night.

A Week of Cruising- Sunday

2008-06-07T19:38:00.017-04:00

Wow! I can't believe that a week ago I had been home for only a few hours. I realized the other day I hadn't written my promised blog because I was A. Busy, and B. Profoundly tired. I decided I had better write so that everyone would know that I did make it through the week with only a nasty sun burn and a pair of lost sunglasses.

I Think what I am going to do it take some of what I wrote in my journal and let you know my thoughts of the day and then I will put in things that I remember that I didn't write down. I will also sprinkle pictures in and out of the prose. It would take way too long to put all the pictures on my blog that I took. As it was 24 hours to download almost 500 pictures last week was ridiculous.

And what better way of starting out my tales, but with a picture of my packed suitcase.

On May 24 I couldn't have been more nervous. Those of you who know me, know that when I doing something by myself for the first time I have a tendency to get a little nervous. Okay a lot nervous. If you don't believe me, just ask Reagan. He endured my nervousness that night as I talked to him on the phone.

Sleep didn't come so easily for me Saturday night. Although my nerves had been calmed, I was still afraid I had forgotten to put my alarm on or that I had put it on incorrectly. You know how that happens. Every once in a while I would look at the time wondering if it was time yet.

Dad and I headed out just before 6:30 to pick up Pete who was our guide to the airport. I sat in the back seat of the car writing in my journal. It was a whole 37 degrees F outside. It was cold!

"Travelers Log May 25, 2008

6:30 AM

After many hours of Packing and talking on the phone, I am now on my way to the airport.

I was more nervous last night then I am now. I was awake at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep. 5:20 couldn't come soon enough."

It was a quiet drive. Not very many people where out and about on a Sunday morning. The sky was clear and blue.

I was the first one at the line for my flight. The airport people hadn't even gotten to work yet. Good for them. I had no Idea what I was doing, but a nice woman and her daughter helped while my dad stood beside me. I had already signed in the night before on the computer so all I really needed to do was get a tag for my luggage and say good bye to my suitcase as it faced the scrutiny of TSA.

It wasn't hard to find my way around. Signs and arrows pointed the way. At my first check point, security checked to make sure I had everything in order accordingly. Oops forgot to sign my passport. You have to do that?

Next I had to take my backpack, my shoes, purse and jacket and send them all through the x-ray terrors. They didn't find anything wrong with anything so all the research on what to put in my carry on must have paid off. Sometime while I was doing that Dad and Pete left. I had gotten through security and I checked out so I was on my way to the gate.

The terminal was about as quiet as the roads when I sat down. I got my choice of seats because I was the first to get there and I chose a window seat.

"8:15 am

I am now sitting in the airport looking at the planes. I am pretty sure the plane I see out the window is the one I will be flying. My goodness! Even I didn't realize how small planes can be! They look so huge in the air or at least they look like they could be big. Airports are actually very beautiful. At least this one is. I wonder what it looks like in the fall. There are some beautiful maple trees not far from here.

It's rather quiet right now. I am listening to the news. Right now they are talking abut Memorial Day. This is without a doubt a Memorial Day I won't forget.

From here I can see United Airlines. There's a mother playing with her one year old while her husband buys food with another 3 or 4 year old girl. She's cute with her little pink bows in her hair.

It smells like coffee. At least what I can smell. It doesn't help when you have allergies.

I should say before stopping for now that everyone has been very kind and I haven't had any problems figuring out where I am going or doing."

My flight was on time. And everything went very smoothly for my first flight. The man sitting next to me was very kind and we talked the entire 40 minutes or so we were in flight. I took pictures from the window and asked him questions and he did the same. Pretty sure he sounded like he could have been a photographer himself. He was with out a doubt an artist.

As soon as I was out of the gate, I called Laura and let her know I was there. We met at baggage claim and started our phone calls.

We finally decided to find our way to the port. Not fun when you are not sure where you are supposed to go. Right. Let's just say that when you are in a strange city and you are in a taxi for the first time, don't get an idiot driver who really doesn't know how to drive. We finally convinced him to drop us off next to the ship that said Norwegian Spirit. Laura and I were horrible tippers. I wanted to say when he asked for a tip "Ya, Don't stand in front of a Mack Truck while it's moving."

Our first glimpse of the ship was awesome. We stood looking at it through the window. Didn't know I wasn't supposed to take pictures in the terminal. I did anyway.

We checked in and headed for the ship. Every where we were welcomed. Already we felt like queens. We found a spot on the deck and had lunch. Good food. Turkey Subs are always good.

At 2 we were allowed to go to our room. It was small with two single beds, a bunk bed and when you looked under my bed there was even a slide out bed. How you would have put 4 people in that room was beyond me. We had a desk, a bedside table, a chair, a TV, and a closet. We also had a small bathroom with a shower. Don't think I could have lived there for months on end, but a week was fine.

"2:40 PM

I personally can't believe I am finally here. Yikes! It's crazy.

My flight was short It only took 40 minutes and it really only seemed like it was 10. I sat and talked to the guy sitting next to me. He has definitely flown before and I would ask him questions about landscapes and he would tell me what we were looking at.

I saw the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. Way cool! They looked so small!

It was rather easy finding Laura when I landed. She looked tired. 5 Hours on a plane is hard!"

"8:40 PM

I was interrupted earlier by a call for an emergency drill. That was fun! It's required by law for one thing. (Side note: much better than the ones we went through at school after we were all in bed.)Then we pushed off and Laura and I sat for close to an hour and a half watching New York City disappear. I got plenty of pictures including the two I wanted the most, Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.

The ship has a crazy rocking motion going on right now. Being on deck 4, which is the lowest you can go, is the best way to feel the movement of the ship.

After watching the City of New York disappear behind us, we decided to check out the upper deck. Wow! We're talking gale force winds. My hair was so tangled, I have decided to always keep my hair up. No more yanking knots out of my hair!

After awhile we came back to our room, unpacked our luggage, and went back up for food before we decided to explore the entire ship.

We are going for a Spa Treatment Friday. We may even catch a movie tomorrow.

There is so much to talk about, but I am so tired I can't think. Laura was so tired she is asleep already and it is only 9:30. I think I'll join her.

Well I guess I will sign off for now. Tomorrow is another day."

Head 'em up and move 'em out!

2008-05-24T18:31:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow I will be heading out for an entire week of admiring God's creation South of the Boarder.

I can't believe that my cruise is Finally here. It seems not too long ago my friend Laura was asking me to go with her. Now here I am looking it full in the face.

I am overwhelmed with the reality that I will be traveling the same ocean that my ancestors did over 350 years ago. Not only that, but I will also see place that my great grandparents saw as they sailed into the NY harbor. Miss Liberty standing tall and proud. Ellis Island where they went through Imigration.

Last year I placed my feet into the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my known memory.

Now I will be traveling on it. If for no other reason, I want to go on this Cruise to see the beauty of God's creation. Everything is exciting and everything is as nerve racking as groom on a wedding day. And yet I can't wait. I have so many firsts, but that's okay. I have people praying for me, I have parents who are supporting me and yes, I even have a boyfriend who has been helping me hash out the airport jitters.

12 hours from now I am heading out. I will be exhausted because I probably will be too nervous to sleep tonight. Check it out. I have to be a lucky girl to have a friend like Laura who was willing to ask Me to go with her. Blessed to have an opportunity of a life time like this that some people have only dreamed of doing.

SO tomorrow as you go to church and throughout the week while you are about your work and play, think of me and pray for me as I will be doing something totally new and out of my comfort zone.

Then Come back on Saturday for posts and pictures. I may not have everything complied until Sunday, but I will at least have a few words to say and high lights from my journal I will be keeping while on my trip.

Pictures

2008-05-22T18:34:00.003-04:00

So a friend of mine saw my blog and told me that I needed to put more pictures on it. So in my attempt to do so I am going to leave you with a post with pictures on it. Everything from family to random pictures I have taken this spring.

Keep a look out for a major blog next Saturday at the earliest. I'm heading out on my cruise this Sunday and will have plenty of words and pictures to show off.

Seeing through new eyes.

2008-05-06T19:31:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I am going to do something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. I am about to change my looks.
Since I was a young teen I have been wearing a piece of wire and glass around my face that we call glasses. Seeing as I am nearsighted, glasses have been a very important part of my life. Whenever I would break my glasses I was unable to do much of anything at all. I can't see much of anything without it being very fuzzy.
But the time has come for me to put down those glasses and try for some new eyes. At last I am about to get contacts.
As you know I have a tendency to take something that I am doing and apply a Biblical truth to it. I have been thinking about it and I think I have come up with an interesting one.
Many people go through life without ever going to the eye doctors. Some because they don't like doctors, but many because they either don't have one in their area or they just don't have the money. They go throughout their lives without ever knowing that if they could just get glasses they would be able to see their world around them much clearer and sharper then ever before.
Again some chose to do this and others don't have the ability.
Then there are those who have glasses and they think they can see the world sharply and can see fine until one day they go to the eye doctor's and discover their eyes and glasses are no longer compatable. As soon as their new pair of glasses are sitting on their noses they realize all the little things that they had been missing because their eyes had changed.
The unsaved are like those without glasses. There are those people who know about the Spiritual Eye doctor, but they are too afraid or don't want to be bothered and so they go on in life never letting the spiritual eye doctor treat them for their eye diseases or with a pair of glasses that will help them see clearly. Then there are those people who have never heard of the Spiritual eye doctor or they may have heard of him in passing, but have no opportunity to find out more because there is no one there to tell them.
When these people finally come in contact with the Eye Doctor, their eyes are opened to the world and their focus is so much clearer and sharper then they ever imagined.
But that is not all. Christians can be represented as the ones with glasses. When they first got their glasses they could see clearly. Their lives were changed because they realized what they had been missing without them. But as all of us who where glasses knows, your eyes change. For Christians, their eyes change not because they are getting worse, but because their focus in life has changed. The more a Christian matures, the more they will need to look beyond were they are standing or living and see that there is more to life then their own box. Allowing the Great Eye Doctor to change the perscription for your glasses is the key to doing His will. Sometimes too our glasses become clouded and that is when we need to take them off and clean them. Sometimes they get broken and have to be repaired. Sometimes they just become bent and start to slip off of our faces. That is when we take them to the Dr. and he fixes them.
Tomorrow I go to the eye doctors for a new set of "eyes". And although my eyes have gotten better and not worse, I knew that I am soon going to be able to see more clearly around me. And even more so my eyes won't be hindered by the wire rims that frame my face.
I hope too that as I go daily to my Spritual Eye Doctor's for my eye exam (daily devotions), I will constantly have my spiritual eyes focused on the world around me and their need for the Great Eye Doctor.

With eyes I see
Through Glasses dim,
While the world around me wanders.

I do not see
What's so near to me,
For my eyes are darkly covered.

My friends in need
Hearts sadly breaking,
There appears no way to recover.

At last it seems
When all is lost,
My eyes are then uncovered.

Now I see,
What I missed before.
So clearly everything hovers that

Before this I never saw.
I'm here, I'll help.
Please tell me where to start.

Lord, give me sight,
So I can see,
Looking through my new eyes.

Copyright Alicia Westcott 2008

Exciting News!

2008-04-16T18:52:00.003-04:00

It has just come to my ears that some very special friends of my family's is coming to see us on Friday. I am very excited because I haven't seen them in several years. The girls are like little sisters to me and I look very much forward to seeing them after all of this time.
Of course I have to work on that day, but that is okay. Purhaps if I do it right I will be able to get out of work early. OF course then it would mess up my time for the week so maybe not, but as long as they come see me at work I will be very happy to see them.
I can't wait to see you, Erbs!

Signs of Spring

2008-04-07T16:10:00.003-04:00

I was taking pictures of Spring and I thought I would share them. I now have a favorite picture for every season.

Reminders on Clay

2008-04-07T10:19:00.003-04:00

I was reminded last night about one of my favorite verses in the Bible, Isaiah 64:8 "But Now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the caly and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."
I can relate to this verse. While in school my Senior year I took ceramics and learned just what it was like to mmold clay. It's not as easy as it looks.
Maybe that it why Isaiah used this illustration not once, not twice, but three times in his book. Jeremiah also used the illustration of the potter in his book after the Lord sent into the Potter's house.
We are like clay. First of all we were made from the dust of the ground. We were nothing until God found us. He shoveled us out of our dirty living and placed in a special container and took us back to his shop where he started his perfect way with us.
Of course we complained right from the very beginning. As soon as he put us into the mixer and started to add the ingredience to make us better for working with we complained. And yet all he was doing was getting us wet so that we could be molded and worked to the way he wanted us.
Of course after we got out of the mixer we were feeling pretty good with ourselves. We had made it through the watering system and now we were big and stronger then ever and ready to take on the world until God took us and what was he doing! He started to Knead us squishing out all the excess water and making us just right. But that hurts!
Ah But soon we forget the discomfort as the trials of being shaped come our way. We cry out to God telling him that we don't want to go through these trials. We become bitter. We struggle with the Potters hands as he tries to shape us. We become the marred vessel of Jeremiah 18 and once again we have to be kneaded once again to bring us back to where we are supposed to be.
Over and over we do this and the patient potter continues to work with us. Some of us struggle so hard that the Potter can do nothing more than put us back into the mixer or throw us away, but some of us begin to recognize that the pain we go through helps to shape our lives for our good and his glory.
Ah as Jeremiah says "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand."
We are shaped to the way God wants us to be shaped. Some of us are large vessels and pots standing out among the crowd and serving God in a big way. Others of us are small, being used for the simple things of life. But all of that doesn't really matter. It's when we have been willing to let go and be clay and not try to be the potter that God's perfect work is done in us.

Feeling pretty special

2008-04-01T16:05:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling rather special today.
Yesterday I was really sick. I was in bed most of the day with the 24 hour bug or something and all I ate all day was jello, crackers, ginger ale and water. Not my favorite meal and if I could have I would have eaten something much better. But my stomach wouldn't allow it.
I pretty much had to fend for myself because Mom and Dad left for the day and wouldn't be home until today.
It was also the first day I had to call in sick to work. Not too fun seeing as I don't like to call in sick because too many people at my work use it too often when they are not sick. But I had to do that anyway.
Today was my real day off and I was feeling much better. Food never tastes as good as when you have been sick and you could have any. Um yummy Food!
SO to the special part and why I am feeling so special today. Today I got flowers.
Reagan sent me some beautiful yellow, pink, and purple flowers just to let me know that he was thinking about me.
Wasn't that sweet of him?

One week old

2008-03-15T10:20:00.003-04:00

Can you believe that Isabelle is already a week old?!
I can't believe it myself. She had her very first doctor checkup the other day and they said that she had gained a whole 2 oz! WOW!
Okay so she's tinnie tiny and it is going to be a while before she starts gaining, but I think once she does she will grow quickly.
We are all convinced that Isabelle is a very intellegent child. She rolled over yesterday by herself. Whether or not it was completely be accident or not babies aren't normally supposed to do that.
She went on her very first outting yesterday to visit me at work. Mom and Heather walked down with the stroller.
I am actually at C and H's apartment right now and Isabelle is making cute little squeaky noises. Her cries sounds just like a little squeaky toy. It's so adorable.
Well I didn't come over her to write in my blog. I actually came over to organize.
I am getting really good at cleaning and organizing.
I talk on the phone pretty much every night now and I clean and organize while I do it.

And Baby makes 10!

2008-03-08T13:56:00.006-05:00

Isabelle Mae
Born March 8, 2008 at 12:26 am
5 lb 4 oz 19 inches long
She is very beautiful!
Dark hair and a lot of it.
Her eyes are deep blue and we think they will probably turn brown just like Mommy and Daddy's are. They are almond shaped and were wide open almost the entire time we were there.
She looks just like mommy.
Mommy and Daddy are doing well although neither one have had a whole lot of sleep.
I think Cliff finally went home to get fresh clothes, a shower, a shave and check up on everything that has happened in the last two days since he was there last.
Isabelle is an early Birthday Present for Mommy. Tomorrow is Heather Lynne's birthday!

The Waiting Game

2008-03-07T18:01:00.003-05:00

Right now we are waiting. And Waiting, and waiting!
What for you might ask?
Easy. The birth of Family member #10. HL and C went in yesterday so that HL could be induced and now we wait for the call. Last we knew she was in the last stages of Labor and we just have to wait.
Boy is it hard not knowing. I can't wait to find out if it is a boy or a girl. My blog will probably be filled with many pictures and little things that the baby is doing.
But for now we continue to wait. Jumping every time the phone rings. Nope that wasn't the call either. Oh Well!
We won't be able to go visit until tomorrow. We are having a strange wet snow storm. The flakes are huge!
Well Stay tuned to the newest news as it comes in.
Reporting to you Live!
Auntie Alicia

A Moon Eclipse

2008-02-20T22:49:00.003-05:00

Tonight was a Moon Eclipse. If you missed seeing it you really missed something beautiful. Next to my lightening picture this has to be on of my favorite pictures. If you were to zoom in on this you could see the crater on the moon. It's so cool!

This is one of those opps pictures that was a keeper. It's heart shaped! And it also looks like a mouse took a bite out of the left side of it.

This is the moon on steroids. Okay it was me trying a different setting on my camera and shivering in the very cold temperatures. But don't both of these pictures look like a whole bunch of moons? The last one almost looks like a bunch of grapes.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T23:10:00.007-05:00

Valentine's Day has a whole new meaning for me this year.
Every year I find the day rather depressing. Even so much that I would celebrate Singles Awareness day while in college. And you know the women who buy flowers, candy and other things for themselves on Valentine's Day. Guilty as Charged. (Although I never thought about buying my own flowers.)
Well this year is just a little different for me. This year I didn't have to go out and buy my own chocolate. This year someone special gave me flowers.
What do you think?
I've been watching them open up all evening. They are so beautiful.

Anticipation

2008-02-01T23:50:00.000-05:00

I realized that after all this time there is one topic of discussion that I have not even mentioned on this blog. Actually to tell you the truth there are two. Anyway, I really should mention the one because in another month you will be wondering why I never mentioned it before.
In March sometime we are expecting a 10th memeber of the family. At this point we don't know the name or anything more about this member except for the fact that the name is Peanut.
We have come to calling this family member a she for lack of a better way of discribing.
WE are all looking very much forward to spoiling especailly because her mom and dad live just down the road from us and we will see them very often. Now if they could just get a house they would be doing very well.
That other thing that will be happening to me (after I go on my cruise on May 25) is I will have a visitor coming from the DC Area who actually hails from Texas.
It should be a very interesting summer for me.
May Cruise and the Bahamas
June Friend coming to visit
July Writers Conference
Who know what else is going to happen!

God's purposes

2008-01-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

It's pretty amazing to me how many times I try to tell God how I want my life to go. One of my favorite sayings is "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him Your plans."
Maybe it's just me, but learning that God has a different plan for my life then what I thought orginially makes me wonder why I even thought about my plans in the first place.
I sometimes wonder what God has planned for me. I see all of my friends growing up around me. I even see friends who were little or just born when I was a little girl growing up, graduating and yes some have even gotten married. I used to be discontent because everyone else around me had a life and knew exactly where they were headed. Me on the other hand has one of those callings where I never know what is going to happen. And yet Now that I have been able to step back and see that God has a special plan for my life that I haven't even begun to figure and can be happy for my friends.
I now realize that sometimes we have to do something totally different then what we want to or at least be willing to do that. God might just suprise you and give you what you were looking for in the first place.
A promise that I hold on to is that if you ask God for something He will give you the desires of your heart. Amazingly that doesn't me the same thing to me that it did a year ago. I thought that it meant that if you want something God will give it to you. But I think Wanting something and desiring something might mean something different. I also think that the desires of our hearts don't always show forth like the wants of our heads. Deep down inside there are things that our soul cries out for that even we sometimes don't realize and Our all knowing God can hear those cries and grants those requests. He knows that your soul is crying out for the things that you need.
Of course we could argue that we haven't yet gotten the expience house and the huge pay raise that we want, but do we really need it? Would it not be better to be dependent on God for all of our needs instead of depending on our pay checks.

Someone said something today in church that got me thinking. He told us that he has a friend who has a problem that is life threatening. He said he wondered why it was that God would send this problem to this friend who was a good Christian and one who isn't easily humbled. I thought to myself, "Why is it that he is questioning God about this situation? Instead the question should be, Why Not him?"
SO why do we ask God why me or why that good person? Shouldn't we be saying "Why Not?" When we became Christians we didn't begin our Christian lives so that we will never again have heard times and never again be in want. If you believe that you need to go back into God's Word and read again. Even after Paul became a Christian and became a missionary for the Gospel he had to live on very little, and he was not stranger to hardtimes, he was beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned and had to run for his life more than once before finally being beheaded. Why then if all these things happened to a wonderful Christian who spread the Gospel should we be thinking we are above them?
God's purposes are not our own and although we may have an idea about what we want, we need to realize that God has a much better plan, reason, and purpose that we may not understand until we get to heaven.

Letting God be God

2008-01-15T00:25:00.000-05:00

I have come to the conclution that it is in our nature to try to act like God. Whenever something happens in our lives we try to fix it when in reality we are too weak and really don't have the ability to do it.
I have to say that I am one of those people that have to come to grips with the fact that God is in control of all of the circumstance of life.
I have a friend who is more like a sister to me then a friend. Several months ago I had a real urge to pray for her. I didn't really know what it was all about, but I determined that if ever I had someone pop into my head even if it was someone I hadn't heard about in years, I was going to pray right then and there. So I prayed for my friend. She came to my mind often and I made sure that I prayed for her even though I hadn't heard from her in a while.
Then I got an email from her brother who is in Iraq. He told me that my friend was in trouble and I knew right then and there why it was I had been praying for her all that time.
I continued to pray and tried to write to her, but she never answered. I started to call myself all kinds of a fool because I hadn't realized what was going on way back from the last time she had called me on the phone. I felt that if I had been there or called her, I could have helped the situation. I felt totally helpless and I will admit to you I wept very hard for her.
I contined to pray for her still wishing I could help her ln someway. But it was all out of my hands.
Then I got an email saying she was doing better. I was thankful my prayers had been answered.
My relief however was completely shattered when I got an email saying that she was in trouble all over again. I wanted to scream at myself. I wanted to do something about it. I wanted to be there for her, but had no way of doing it.
Her brother wrote to me again telling me how he wished that he could do something and that because he was so many thousands of miles away he was starting to stress out about not being there. I started to write to him that God was in control and that we shouldn't worry about it. It was then that I realized that I had been doing exactly what I had just told him not to do. I was trying to be God and trying to figure a way to fix things. It hit me that although I can't see what is going on right now other than all the bad and the heartache, I can be completely assured that My Big God, the one who made everything, the one who has been around from the very beginning and always will be has a Much big line of sight. He sees the whole picture. He has known that this would happen long before we were even born and he knew that everything would work out. In His wonderful master plan He has something so wonderous instore for my friend and her family that I nor anyone else can see. It is going to be so amazing when it happens it will be like a light bulb clinking on.
That kind of reminds me of the light bulbs my dad just recently put in the computer room. They are the energy saving light bulbs and if you have them you know that when you flip on the light switch they are actually very low in brightness, but within just a few minutes the lights get brighter and brighter until finally you can see perfectly fine.
I think that is the way things happen in our lives. We switch on a light that shines on a situation with our lives and at first it is very dark and get annoyed because you eyes aren't adjusting very quickly to the lights. Then all of a sudden it starts to get brighter and brighter until at last you can finally see the whole picture.
God knew right from the start that we would worry, that's why He told us so many times that He is completely in control of everything that is happening and that we don't need to worry.
"For everything there is a time and a purpose for everything under the Heavens."
"And all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
So let us learn to let God be God. He has a fabulous plan awaiting us that we can't see yet until the light has come to it's full strength.

Of Books, Movies and other such Writings

2008-01-09T23:06:00.000-05:00

I watched a really good movie last night. It's called The Last Sin Eater. I read the book written by Francine Rivers several years ago so I know what the story line was about and I sincerely believe that it went very well with the book. Michael Landon Jr. Did a very good job directing it. And if you ask me he does a whole lot better at it then his father would ever dream of doing. I am sure if it had been his father The Kie would have been killed by an angry mob at the end (even though it wasn't in the book)
Not every movie that comes from a book is like that however. And I think non writers of Movies don't really understand the reasons why. As a writer who has been through all of the courses from Script Writing to Novel Writing I have a pretty good reason why movies many times don't go with the book.
First of all let's get something straight. When a Movie is written there is a disclaimer with it. It's in the little words "Based On". These two little words mean that although they have taken the story from a certain book there is still that artistic Writers licence that allows the movie writer to write the movie so that it is in "Ahem" Movie form. If a movie were written just as the book was written everyone would be looking for a new movie within about 10 to 15 minutes of the movie.
It's just the nature of a story.
A movie has to be much more compact then a book. Descriptions that are written in a book and thoughts that are inside a persons head can't be expressed in words during a movie. So a script has to be written to fit a certain format causing the story from the book to sometimes get lost in the two hours it has for viewing.
I know there are some writers who could care less about how a movie is based off of a book. They end up using the name only saying it is "Based off" of the book when in reality the name is all it is based off of.
In the past few years the trend to keep a movie as close to a book as possible has really come around, but there is still the problem of not being able to fit every single detail into the movie.
So the next time you see a movie that is based on a book, Read the book then enjoy the movie and realize that each one is different in their own way. Don't compare them by saying "Oh how could the writer approve of having their book ruined like that?" It's not ruined, It's just different.

First Post for the Year

2008-01-05T23:26:00.000-05:00

The last two weeks I have been running on high gear. I am sure you have to. Christmas isn't the easiest time of year to sit down and relax. But now It's all over. I am sure most of you have taken down the Christmas tree, my mom did. You may have left some decorations to remember the season, but most of them have been put away in the dusty attic for another year. The Apple has dropped in New York City and that to has been put away for another year to collect dust. The Floats for the Rose Parade are being taken down. What ever happens to all those flowers?
And so here we are. 2008. What's next?
I am going to admit to you right now that I don't like New Years Resolutions. People make them to break them anyway. They try to do too much and get over whelmed. I am trying a totally different approach this year. I am taking little step and making small goals and reaching them before I go on to the next one. It's not a "This year I am going to do such and such" and hope I get it done sometime this year. It's more of "For this many days I am going to do this and when I am finished I am going to go on to the next thing". Smaller steps lead to more things getting accomplished. It works a lot better.
That's not to say I don't have some things I would like to get accomplished this year. I have some resolves and not resolutions.
One resolve is to finish my book. And we aren't talking about sometime this year. First I am going to start by editing and rewriting. Then editing again. Then let some people look it over and tell me what they think. I have a set goal to be finished and if I get it done I will reward myself. I think that if I tell myself there is a reward for getting it done, I will be more likely to get it done.
I have to hurry up. I already have a crazy new Idea popping up in my head and I need to get it out before I forget that too.
I have a few more goals I would like to see accomplished, and I will be working on them, but it may take more than just one year to work them out. Long term goals that didn't start on January 1 and will end on December 31. More of Opportunities I guess you might say.
You never know what might happen. I will let you know once I have them worked out in my own mind.
SO I guess what I am coming to is this, Why is it that so many people think that on January 1 they have to tie themselves down with a New Years resolution they know they are going to end up breaking them anyway? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Okay so now I have given you my view on the matter and I feel better about it :)
It's nice to know that I can write things here and know that everyone else has their own opinions on matters, but they will read my blog anyway.

A Silent Night Tale

2007-12-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

Sunday is Christmas Eve Eve. It's the Eve of the Eve of Christmas day. I learned that one from Silent Night a Mouse Tale. It was the story about a mouse who fell into a pump organ and the only way to get him out was for his family to knaw a whole throught the pump to get him out. Because of the ruined Organ, the choir director, of the church where the organ belonged, didn't know how he was going to be able to lead his choir for the Christmas Eve service. With no musical instrament there would be no real music.
That day the choir directors friend went to see a new born baby. He was so inspired by the birth of this child that he wrote a poem about it. He showed the poem to the Choir director and the director took it and put words to it. On Christmas Eve with only a guitar for a musical instrament a little town in Germany heard the words to one of the most beloved Christmas Carols of all times.
"Silent night, Holy Night,
Alll is calm, All is bright
Round yon Virgin mother and child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Now I don't really think about the part with the mouse falling into the organ is a true story, but I do know that that day when the mice ate through the organ it was a gift from God to do so so that we could be given a wonderful and very beautiful song.

"Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia;
Chirst the Savior is born!
Chirst the Saviour is born!

How well do you know the Christmas story?
So often People have forgotten the fact that Christmas is so much more than finding people Christmas gifts. As I work at my story, I see people coming in daily going crazy because they have this that and the other thing going on and they have completely lost sight of the fact that 2000 years ago a young woman was promised to be the mother of the Messiah and that Her soon to be husband took on himself the burden of proclaiming himself the father of this child even though he knew he was the Messiah. This Child was God Himself.

Silent night, Holy night
SOn of GOd, Loves' pure light
Radiant beams from they holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth

Presents don't really matter. Turkey dinners, Christmas Parades, cleaning house for all the family that is coming over shouldn't take the place of the most important part of Christmas.
It's the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. It's the reason we have presents and Stars or angels on the tops of our trees. It's the reason why at Christmas time there is just something special about sitting back and enjoying the day and remembering the story of Shephards and angels and Wisemen and stables with a smelly manger. It's because we have a God who loved us so much that when we turned our back on Him, the only way we would actually look His way was to send himself as a tiny, fragile, very independant baby to be born in a smelly barn with smelly animals to be visited by smelly shephards so that one day he could die on the cross to take away our sins.
Silent night, Holy night,
Wonderous star, Lend thy light,
With the angels let us sing,
Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Saviour is born,
Christ the Saviour is born.

Can you say as the last verse of Silent Night says this night Christ the Savior is Born Christ the Savior is Born in you life?
May you receive the most wonderful gift of all tonight. The one that was given first so that we could Celebrate Christmas today.
"For God so Loved the World, that He gave is only begotten Son,
That whosoever believeth in Him Should not Parish,
But have Everlasting Life."
"And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Searching for a special Christmas Present

2007-12-18T23:17:00.000-05:00

I have decided to give myself a Christmas Present this year.
Now before you go laughing at me or telling me that I am crazy or something like that let me tell you a little about what I am about to do.
First of all I am going to tell you a story.
About Fifteen years ago (man that makes me feel old) give or take a year or so I became best friends with a girl who was very much like me. We thought a like in a lot of different ways. We loved everything for playing Murder Mystery (our own made up game) to Tigers. Silly thing is we both decided on a career in writing.
One day my friend and I decided to become sisters. My brother wanted to be in on the action so the three of us put our bare feet in a puddle of water and proclaimed each other siblings. Mud Siblings for Life!
My friend and I even promised each other that no matter what happened in our lives and we grew apart we would find each other and be in each others weddings. What did we really know we were 12, 13 years old?
Then it happened! As is the call of many pastors and their families they were called to another church. What devistated me was the fact that she moved to a totally different state leaving me behind. Then when she moved to Florida it was even worse. We had both become teenagers and were really bad at writing letters. Then I moved. And we lost contact with each other.
I never forgot her. She was always on my mind. I would tell people about my Best Friend from way back and say how much fun we had together. I even went so far as to ask people who had been near wear she lived if they had ever heard of her or her family before, one person thought the name sounds familiar, but nothing positive.
Then the other night I was really inspired when I discovered that you can pretty much find anyone on the web. So I tried and wouldn't you believe I hit the jackpot. There was a face of a woman that looked so much like the 14 year old girl I had a picture of. She was doing something so similar to what I was doing I couldn't believe it. It was amazing to me. I made for sure that she was my long lost mud sister. I had no doubts about it when I was done.
Now I am about to send a very special letter to her. And pray that it will be a really neat Christmas present for her and for me.
Odd isn't it. When you're little you don't really think a whole lot about what is going to happen to you or your friends when you grow up. You know what you are going to be when you grow up and you assume everyone is going to grow up with you and you will never lose contact with them. You never realize the people you miss until you really start naming them off. I still think about a lot of different friends I had and wonder what has happened to them. All the way back to Kindergarten I had friends that I think about and pray that they are alright. Maybe it is just my nature. I don't really know. I don't really think that I am the only in this world that does that either. I hope not because then I would feel weird.
But one thing is for sure I hope this is the year I gain back a friend I never wanted to lose in the first place.

Excitement in the air!

2007-12-12T23:23:00.000-05:00

I did it!
I really never thought I would do it, but I have successfully written my story. Okay so it's only the rough draft and there is a lot that I have to do to make it readable, but still the fact that I finished this story after almost three years of trying to write it. It's just amazing.
I normally put things off and never finish them, but this summer when my friends from my Writers conference encouraged me to finish writing the story I knew I had to try. So I made the goal of December 31. Now I will just put it way for a few weeks, actually until after the New Year, before I will read it on paper, find mistakes, put discriptions in there places, clean up the conversations. I am really bad with conversations for some reason. They sometimes feel forced.
So anyway. Here I am finished with a story and let me tell you I feel great about it. You should try this sometime. You might be suprised at how awesome it feels to set a goal and get it done.
I'll keep you posted as to how to comes along. My next big goal is to have it completed by July and the Writers Conference. I will probably make myself littler goals in between now and then.

Snowmen introductions

2007-12-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

I have several new snowmen this year. As a matter of fact I am expecting some new ones to be coming in very soon. I did well this year, I only had to buy three. The rest of them were either given to me or in the case of my very first one of the season I bought some Christmas Presents and got a snowman free.
The three that I bought are a family of snowmen with rhinestones on them. A small tag along I got for my birthday looks just like them except it is smaller. My very first one I got this year is a Hallmark Ornament. A very cute one that I got free because I bought my nieces Christmas Presents at Hallmark. I got a snowman head that sings Jingle Bells and lights up. The rest are on their way. They just haven't made it off the kitchen table of the person who is supposed to give them to me yet and into the car. Once I have all of them I will take a picture of my entire collection.
I have 19 now. 20 if you call the salt and pepper shakers seperate snowmen. My only real concern is were I am going to find room to put them at the end of the Winter season, because yes I don't think snowmen are just a Christmas decoration. I keep them up until Easter. My Hope chest is offically full with room to stuff only the smallest of things in it. I have had to resort to my barrel from school I brought home with me.
SO I know talking about my snowmen collection is deveating me from my recent inspirations, but that's ok. Snowmen still remind me of snow and winter and Christmas.
As a matter of fact as I am sitting here thinking, I have started to ponder on snow. I know a lot of people don't really like snow because it's cold and it means that you can't go outdoors as much, but Think about snow for a moment.
Isn't it a beautiful thing? I am sure I have mentioned snow before and the beauty I see in it. The sparkle from the sun after a fresh layer has fallen. The clean whitness of it. The clean smell it leaves in the air.
Snow really is an amazing thing. All it is is frozen shavings of water. Really. It isn't really frozen water because frozen water is ice. No it is shavings. Every one of these little shavings has a different size and shape then the next one. It can come in all kinds of forms. Big, Small, Clumped together, tiny little ball like things that look like styrofoam. It can come down just as soft as you please or it can come down so hard you can't see more than your hands in front of you and sometimes not even that. And yet inspite of it's smallness you can make things out of it. Snowmen for one, snowballs, snow forts, igloos, Amazing sculptures. It also has the amazing properties of insolation. It keeps plants covered from the winter frost and can save a persons life by keeping him warm if he buries himself in it (and it's wet and cold too). It has nutrients in it that for some reason regular rain doesn't have that helps the plants grow in the spring. It can make the ugliest landscape sparkle with little diamonds and it provides water where there isn't any. You can go skiing, sleding, boarding, sliding on snow and not care if you get wet.
And to top it all off snow is just a reminder of what God can do for a person who has excepted Christ as His Savior. He can wash away all of their sins and make his heart as white as freshly fallen snow.
Now isn't snow beautiful?

Tag Your it.

2007-12-09T19:59:00.001-05:00

1) Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper although when I want to be lazy I use bags.
2) Real tree or artificial? Artificial..I would prefer a real tree. But then money doesn't grow on trees.
3) When do you put up your tree? Usually the weekend after my birthday, this year it was the day after.
4) When do you take the tree down? The week after Christmas, just as long as it is down before the New Years Eve Party.
5) Do you like eggnog? Don't even thing about putting that stuff near me.
6) Favorite gift received as a child? I have no idea
7) Do you have a Nativity scene? My mom as several, but I am looking for my own family heirloom.
8) The hardest person to buy for? My Dad
9) The easiest person to buy for? Caylin and Katiann
10) The worst Christmas gift you ever received? Cheap O toys that are worth a dollar.
11) Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail. Even though I love emails, Christmas cards are so much more personable.
12) Favorite Christmas movie? The Miracle at Bourex
13) When do you start shopping for Christmas? End of October, Beginning of November
14) Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think I have other than from the White Elephant Christmas Party.
15) Favorite things to eat at Christmas? Ginger Cream Cookies and Homemade Fudge.
16) Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.
17) Favorite Christmas song? I Wonder as I Wander and What Child is This
18) Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually end up at my Grandmother's house.
19) Can you name all Santa's reindeer? Sure Can and I don't have to sing the song to do it.
20) Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21) Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas day
22) Most annoying thing about this time of year? When people say Happy Holidays and write Merry xmas. Grrr!
23) What is the "corniest" family tradition you do or miss doing?We through Wrapping Paper at each other.
24) Ugliest Christmas decorations ever invented? Totally the Blowup Lawn Decorations hands down.
25) Which looks the best...theme trees or homey trees? Homey
26) What does Christmas mean to you? A God who was willing to come down to earth as a baby and grow up knowing that he would one day die for the sins of the whole world.
Who ever reads this has been tagged and most either write the answer in their own blogs or send an answer on this blog.

One Little Candle

2007-12-06T23:22:00.000-05:00

"You are the light of the world, A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick: and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify you Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

Candles are a very special part of Christmas. If you notice they are everywhere right now. Most are the battery opearated ones that sit in the windows of houses. My own church has them in the windows of the Sunday School building. It's amazing the difference those little lights can make. I remember the year we didn't have those lights because the lady who provides them every year was called into active duty. It was dark and almost sad to even look at it.
But how important is one candle compared to a whole lot of them?
My sister-in-law remarked the other day about something that got me thinking. Every year she went to camp as a girl. One year they did an expierement by turn off all the lights and them lighting one candle right in the middle of the room.
Now you would expect that the candle would make enough light to shine in the middle of the room, but the amazing thing is dispite the fact that it was a small candle in a large room, everyone in the room could see no matter where they were.
As Christians are we shinning our light in the middle of the room?
DO we think that because we are the only light of Christ in our work place or home or even class room we can't help others around us see in the dark room?
Just as that little candle in the middle of the cabin that summer night shone brightly casting light on all four walls, we as God's Lights to the world should shine our lights so that everyone can see. And the most amazing thing about letting your light shine is that while you are willing to shine your light, others will see that same light and start to shine their own lights that they have hidden.
If you have ever done an expierment with fire, you know that if you put a fire in a glass jar, it will quickly poof out because it has not Oxygen. The same with our lights. If we cover our lights so that no one can see them, they will sufficate and disappear.
I love the illustration my father gives every year on Christmas Eve about on light shinning in the world. As we sing "Silent Night" at the end of the Candle light service, we all stand in a circle around the church and light our candles. Then we turn out the lights and sing while our candles are burning. Then while the lights are still out we blow out the candles leaving the original candle that helped light all the rest of the candles still going. Then we are remind about the Light of the World and how before Christ came into the world there was now hope, but when he was born in the stable and laid in a manger and visited by both the poor and the rich, he brought with him hope by being the Light of the World.
And as he trained his disciples and they in turn introduced others to Christ, the used the Light of Christ to bring light and hope to the rest of the world.
This Christmas let's be a candle shining in the middle of the room introducing everyone else to the Light of the World so that they can light their own candles spread the Light of Christ.

You can blame it on me!

2007-12-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

I Love Snow.
Mostly I love the first real snow storm with lots of beautiful white, sparkling snow.
I really love it when the snow storm comes around the week of my birthday.
Every year I wish for it and most years I am disappointed with just mud and brown grass.
This year I got my birthday wish. Snow and lots of it.
It's beautiful! I just love it because it gets me into the mood for Christmas. Okay so I have been in the mood for Christmas since Thanksgiving, but really If you know me you know that I love to sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" It's just a natural thing in December. Of course everyone thinks that Snow shouldn't come until the day before Christmas. Pooh on them! Any time after December 1 and before December 5 is good by me.
So with that said. If you don't like the snow we are having (and any of you who are reading this and aren't from the Northeast will not understand) you can blame it completely on me because I wished for it. As for anyone who might be in the Northwest. Don't blame me for your weather. I didn't wish for that. Someone else who is having a birthday wished for that one.
And for those who are in the Southeast and Southwest who aren't worrying too much about this weather, just which short sleeve shirt you are going to wear tomorrow, I hope that maybe some time before Christmas you will be blessed with a snow storm like ours.

Why the Shephards And the Wisemen?

2007-11-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

I could never figure out why God sent an angel to lowly shephards and a star to Wisemen.
There is such a contrast between two groups of people that it is very strange that they should both get a moment as strange as meeting the Messiah of the world.
And yet it fits so beautifully with the rest of the story that the meaning of the whole thing is lost to the cute little shephards and the ornately decorated wisemen.
So let us examin the two of them and see what we come up with.
First of all we have the shephards. They were amazing Jewish men living most of the time by themselves never really having much to do with the outside world other than the other shephards in the area and the temple servants that would come to find the perfect lambs for sacrifice. They lived a little stone caves and had to keep an eye out for preditors and other creatures human and animal that might take the sheep. Not only that, but they knew every last one of their sheep and had names for every last one of them. They were a special people and yet they were lowly people also. I am sure they didn't smell the greatest and I am sure their social manner was that of street people today.
So why is it that God sent such a beautiful sign to these dirty, smelly, lowly men who took care of stupid sheep every day? Why did he proclaim the birth of His Son the Messiah when he could have announced it to more important people?

And then there are the wisemen. They weren't even Jewish and Jesus was prophesied as the Jewish Messiah so why in the world God direct these men to the star? These men were scholars and observers of the heavens. They had study the Jewish Scriptures and seemed to know that when that star came it ment that something spectacular had just occured.
But why is it that God choose them rather then Priests or Scribes of the Jewish faith who study the Scripture and knew it as well as the Wisemen did?

Personally I would think those are good questions to ask when investigating the strange stories of the shephard and the angel or the wiseman and a star.
It think it all wraps up into a very simple and beautiful explination. The Shephards were a symbol of three kinds of people. One they were Jewish and Jesus had been promised for the Jews. Secondly they were poor symbolizing that Christ not only was born for the rich, but for the poorest of poor. Thirdly Christ as for even those who had not training of any kind and were very simple minded in the ideas.
Then we have the wisemen and they are also symbolized as three different kinds of people. First of all they were considered Gentiles and although Christ was prophesied for the Jews, Christ came to save even those who were not Jews, but Gentiles. They were rich which meant that God didn't just send his son to die for the poor or the middle class, but also for those who had all the world goods they wanted. Thirdly they were scholars. They could read, write and study the stars and know of things that those of us with simpler minds could never even think about. They could be compared to Bill Gates who is both a very intellegent man and very rich. But dispite it all God still loved them enough to come to earth as a baby and to die for their sins.

And now we understand why God choose these men. Because He wanted us to realize that Jesus had come to earth for all man kind and not just for a specific group of people.
The more and more I think of the Nativity story the more amazing it becomes to me. There is so much depth in the story that no one thinks about that we should recognize as a beautiful expression of God to mankind. What an awesome God we have!

Thinking about Joseph

2007-11-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

When we think of the Christmas story we think of Mary, the Shephards, the Angels, the Wisemen and even Jesus himself, there is a very important person that we miss when we name off everyon. I mean we don't miss him, he's there, but I don't think I have ever heard his story before.
If you were Joseph what would you think of all the things that went on?
Here Joseph was preparing a home for his betrothed Mary. As a carpenter he loved to work with his hands. He probably worked night and day making things for their little house to be. Then he hears that Mary is home from visiting her cousins. He runs to see her and realizes she is pregnant. How could she do this to him? Thinking she had been with another man, he has the right to divorce her and even stone her.
All of his friends are calling on him to stone her, but dispite it all he desides that maybe he should do everything quietly. He loved Mary and inspite of the fact that she had done this to him, he still loved her.
I wonder how many nights Joseph was wake in his carptenry shop working at this project or that trying to work through his feelings. How many days people would come to him and tell him he needed to deal with Mary.
How about when the angel came to him in his dream? What did he think or feel? He must have been horribly afraid and maybe even a little confused. Why was it that God had picked his Mary for this task. For that matter why had God picked him For this task? I wonder if he got up after the angel left him and started to carve or plain something. I wonder if he paced up and down in his shop wondering if the dream was real or not.
When he finally went to see Mary and tell her that he had an angel speak to him in a dream relief to know that Mary really had been unfaithful to him must have shown on his face.
It couldn't have been easy for Joseph any more than it was not easy for Mary. People probably stared and talked behind both of their backs. Joseph must have wanted to protect Mary all he could, but when the call came to be taxed in the city of their family, Joseph must have had a hard time debating on whether he could get away with not taking Mary.
When he finally realized he couldn't leave Mary behind, he must have made sure they had everything they would need incase something should happen on the way.
Or what about his stuggle to find a place for Mary to have her baby? In desperation he went from inn to inn to house to house looking for anything. And when all he could find was a animal shelter I wonder if he was thinking about how he wished had something better, or if he was just relieved that Mary could finally have the baby.
Whatever the case with Joseph's story and the fact that the last time we hear about him is when Jesus was 12, I can just imagian as Mary gave birth to Jesus and Joseph held that baby in his arms for the first time he must have felt joy, pride, praise, exilhiration, fear, reverance, shear panic as he held his Messiah in his arms and realized that God had choosen him to be the earthly father of the Savior of the World. As a new parent fears to let anything happen to their tiny child, it must have been doubly true for Joesph becuase he knew that he had a task before him to bring this child up ready to do whatever it was God, His (Jesus) Father wanted him to do.
Wow that really brings Joseph unto a whole new light.

Thinking about Mary

2007-11-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

One month from now is Christmas. And this happens to be the time of year I start thinking hard about Christmas. We aren't talking about Presents and all that stuff. I'm talking about Christmas it's self and all the symbolizim and just the story about it.
There is one person I usually start thinking about because no matter what, she was probably the most effected by Christmas.
If you are thinking Mary you are right. I was watching the movie The Nativity Story last night and I was really suprised at what I discovered. They showed Mary just the way I have always thought her to be.
And as this is what I think about it, I will just say that you are entitled to think differently because no one really knows.
Mary lived a hard life. How could she not? Israel at that time was not an easy place to live because of the Romans. Ceaser, along with Herod were coniving men. They murdered themselves right to the top leaving anything and everything desolate. Mary's family was no exception. They lived on the land. Purhaps her father was a merchant, but more than likely he was a farmer or even a shephard. Nazareth very well could have been a small out of sight little village that no one really cared about other than to collect money no one really had.
I expect that when Mary was betrothed to Joseph she either had known him all her life, or her father had decided that a carpenter would be a fine husband for his daughter and arranged the marriage. (As I have seen what they did in Fiddler on the Roof I would suppose that an arranged marriage was not unlikely.)
I don't believe Joseph was an old man. I think he was a man purhaps around 30 years old because that according to custom of the time was the age that a man was established and considered a man.
Mary really could have been any age. I think her age was between 16 and 21 years old probably more younger than older, but that part really doesn't matter.
The thing that I really like about the movie I watched last night was the fact that Mary was not perfect like so many people think her to be. Almost as if she were God himself. But that is not true. She was a regular, every day, ordinary person working to help feed her family. And as Jewish women hoped that purhaps God would pick her to be the Messiah's mother. Because even back when Eve gave birth to Cain she had the hope of being the mother of the Deliverer.
What must Mary have been thinking when she was visited by an angel? I know what I would have done. I would have fallen to me knees in fright and yet Mary actually started asking the angel questions.
Then the angel said some of the most wonderful words "But with God all things are possible". I think that must have been the kicker that made Mary agree with such a frightful concept.
What could she have been thinking as she walked away from the conversation knowing that she was about to carry a very beautiful gift for the next nine months with the likelyhood of being ostrosized and purhaps even stoned to death.
And yet the girl had faith that God would protect her dispite everything that people would say. And Joseph.
God purposly told Mary about Elizabeth. I think he knew that she would need to get away to really think about what was happening to her and to learn from her cousin just who it was that she was now carrying.
How many sleepless nights did Mary have while she was at Elizabeth's house? How many people starred at her? And to be the cousin of a priest. Shame Shame!
And when she went back home very likely by that point showing around the middle, what did her family and friends think of her?
They shunned her. So shocked because dispite the fact that she was a normal human being, she was always known for her purity. And now for her to come home pregnant.
It must have broken Joseph's heart knowing he would have to throw the first stone at his beloved Mary.
Was Mary scared with the prospect of being stone, forgetting the promise of the Messiah who was growing inside her womb?
Even after Mary gave birth and then came back many years later with a young son to her hometown, I am sure those who knew Mary looked down on her as a sinner. Unclean.
It must have been very hard to continue on, but dispite all of that she had Joseph who believed in God's promises and she had the promise of her Jesus as being the Messiah.
What faith this woman must have! This must have been the real reason why God had choosen her above the thousands of other women God could have picked.
Oh to have Faith like Mary.

Happy Turkey Day!

2007-11-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

Nothing irritates me more than when someone says that to me. Just like when someone tells me Happy Holidays or Merry Xmas. It sticks under my craw like a pebble in a shoe.
People are so set on changing things from what they should be that they take the emphasis off what is important and put it on something that is petty.
And today I am going to dedicate this one to all the petty people who wished me Happy Turkey Day.
Thanksgiving over the years has really changed. Because it is one of the only uncommercilized holidays it happens to be my favorite Holidays. It also has nothing to do with Turkey's. As a matter of fact I would be sure that Venison was probably the main meat and not turkey so why is it not really called Deer day or Venison day. Easy Turkey just tastes better.
Unfortunately people have forgotten what Thanksgiving is all about just as they have forgotten what Christmas is all about.
So I am going to tell you a secret that is no longer in public school history books because of being politically correct.
Thanksgiving wasn't about football and parades when it first happened. No as a matter of fact football didn't exist and the only parade they probably saw were the Natives and the Pilgrim Men coming back with food from the hunt. Sorry no balloons there!
The Seperatists (they weren't puritins at the time) felt that they need to leave England and the church because they did not believe the same as the church of England. The church had started to rule them, telling them what they could and could not do. So they left. First going to Holland, but soon percecution followed them. At last they decided that it was time for the new world. Of course many adventurers wanted to go along as well so after a lot of trouble and several false starts and going from two ships to one ( a ship that was too small for the amount of people) they headed for a new world and Jamestown. Only a wind blew them completely off course and they ended up near what is not Massachusettes. By that time sickness had hit, killing many on board. They landed and a search party was sent out, but the land was found to be inhospitable. That wasn't all. It was getting cold and because of all the false starts they had summer was over and fall had set in. Little did they know that they were also being watched as they stole corn from burial grounds to feed the starving people.
When they finally landed on the ground that they felt sutable they all gathered together and gave thanks to God.
But that is not the end of the story for you see that winter because it was cold, and people were sick, and they were also starving only a small handful of them were left over. And yet that Spring when the ship left they continued on, making friends with the Indians there and learning their ways. More families came over and together with the Indians they were able to plant food and hunt game and fish.
And five years after they had landed, they did not sit around a big table with the Indians to thank each other for all that had taken place. Indeed not.
Instead they gathered around probably on many tables and even on the ground with family and friends and yes play games and have compition afterward, to thank the One they knew to be their Salvation. The one they knew had helped them through those long tough days of starvation, disease and death. God himself.
And yet all we can think about today is turkey and football. How foolish we have all become for getting our Creator and protector for everything he has done for us.
And so I want to wish to you a very Happy Thanksgiving and remember to wish everyone what they should rightfully be wished.
A Very Happy Thanksgiving.

What are you Thankful for?

2007-11-18T22:57:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but so often I go through my days and totally forget to be thankful. When I was in college I would get up every morning when the bell rang and at the time we all had to be up with our feet on the floor by 7, and I would have nothing positive to say.
I am not a morning person by any means and having to get up so early in the morning every day just made things worse. I would go to the breakfast table every day and complain. Finally a friend of mine couldn't stand it any longer. She looked at me and said "Don't you do anything, but complain in the morning?"
Ouch! That hit me hard.
Then she suggested that when I get up in the morning that before my feet even touched the ground I should think of something to praise God about, even if it was just being able to open my eyes in the morning. She said that it would actually help me in the morning and throughout the day.
So I tried it. And you know what? It really works. I was shocked. So I started to do it every day and the days I forgot I could see the difference. One thing is for sure, I never had to worry about my friend yelling at me for being so negative at the breakfast table again.
But I pose the question. What are you thankful for?
Okay so it's Thanksgiving on Thursday and right now everyone is trying to think of things that they can say they are thankful for. Right off the bat you have family, friends, job, roof, food. You know the normally stuff people say when they are asked to say what they are thankful for in church.
But what are things that you should be thankful for that you don't notice. What about green grass because if it wasn't green, but brown all the time, it wouldn't be pretty. The sunset and the beautiful work of art God makes in the sky every night. How about the bees and the wasps? Did you know that with out those nasty little creatures we wouldn't have the beautiful flowers or the delicious fruits and vegetables that grow in our gardens. How about medicine? How about our comfortable furniture. What about the rain and floods or even the fire that wipes out half a state? For that matter hurricanes?
Everything that we see here on earth is for a purpose. Amazing isn't it just how much you can be thankful for. It's no wonder Paul told us to be Thankful for everything. It's because you can be thankful for everything even if it seems like a bad thing.
Being thankful is not really hard to do. It really should be a daily routine like brushing your teeth. SO when you get up in the morning tomorrow, before your feet even touch the ground on your way to the bathroom thank the Lord for that Noisy truck outside collecting garbage or the annoying squirrel chattering on a branch right out side your bedroom window. Or maybe even for the warm blankets that you used last night. Or the warm shower you know you will have.
Then throughout the day when you start to get a negative attitude because your boss once again didn't trust you to do something, thank God you can be there as a testimony to your boss and that even though your boss doesn't trust you, you can still go on in life knowing that you have never done anything untrustworthy.
Try it! It's addicting and you will want to start doing it every day.

Good news

2007-11-14T23:51:00.000-05:00

I have a goal to finish my story by December 31. Good news. I just went over the 100 page and the 30,000 words mark.
I have hit the major turning point and it seems that there is more working under the surface then what meets the eye. For that matter even more than what I had expected.
A lot is going to happen in the next few months. I'll be going on my cruise to the Bahamas (that's up in the air as to the date now), a new family member is in the works and maybe more. Thanksgiving is next week. My birthday in two. Christmas in a little more than a month not to mention New Years. Easter will be coming up in March also which I will probably be singing in the chior.
All in all it looks like a very bright and busy year ahead.
Oh and did I mention the fact that I will be offically signing off on one of my school bills by the summer. Very exciting if you ask me.
Okay so if I seem a little hyper it is because I am on a writing high tonight. I just wrote somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty pages in my story and because it is at a high point in the story, it has me bouncing off the walls.
Those pumkin seeds are rattling, but I haven't turned into a pumkin yet.
I really need to go to bed now. I think I might sleep just from exhaust.

She's a real Gem

2007-10-22T22:48:00.000-04:00

She's beautiful isn't she?

I never thought would be able to expierence going on one of these

ships or for that matter a cruise of any kind in my entire life, but as it is shaping up to be, I am going to be on her in April.

That's right. I have been invited to go with a friend to the Bahamas. I am really excited about it. I get to do several things I never have done before. One fly, two go to New York City, three sail on a ship, four go on a cruise, five go outside of the country, six go that far away from home with out family. Oh did I mention I have to get a passport. I've been taking passport pictures for a year now and it is now time for me to get my own picture done. Wow!

I am really exicted about being able to take pictures of God's beautiful creation. I have only seen pictures on sea life and Islands, now I get to see them for myself. I am really hoping to go snorkeling at least once. Something I have always wanted to do, but I have to convince my friend to go with me. I think I might have to get another memory card just so that I can get all the pictures that I want to get. I am also looking forward to spending time with Laura. We haven't seen each other since I graduated and because we live on opposite worlds email and telephone are the only real ways of communication. It is nice to see the whites of a persons eyes once in a while.

I told her there was too much going on in March so we decided to try for April. April is good, very good. Just as long as it doesn't snow.

Failure and Airpockets

2007-10-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

I have been talking to a friend tonight about failure. And while I was talking about it some interesting things dawned on me that really struck me hard.
Do you realize that we are so afraid of failing in front of our friends and family that we don't give ourselves the chance to grow or for them to help us? Every day I fail, but I am too embarressed to tell anyone that I do fail. I just try to flub it over and pretend it didn't happen. I am so worried about what everyone else is thinking that I have forgotten the One who is really important and really the only one that I need to be worrying about seeing my failures. But even then I don't need to worry because when I fall Christ is Always going to be there to pick me up and help me stand on my two feet again.
Little children haven't a care in the world when it comes to failing. When is it that we change from not caring that we fall flat on our noses as a baby in front of a crowd of on lookers to being too afraid to go out of the house without first making sure our blemishes are covered with make up. A little child doesn't care if he falls down on his bottom while he is learning to walk, sometimes it may hurt a little, but how often have you seen a baby stop trying to walk because he or she fell down. It's a funny concept because I am more than positive you have never seen that before and never will.
When we are willing to give over to God all of our potential failures, aka all of our bumps and blemishes that is when he can turn around and use those failures for His glory. Amazing.
It's no wonder we are always likened to clay in the Bible.
While in college I learned pottery. I learned just how hard it is to balance the clay on the wheel, pushing down, pulling up, waiting for the clay to balance just right. I also learned that if there is an air pocket in the clay when you make the pot, it will explode in the kiln. Imperfection of anykind causes the entire pot to be ruined.
That's where we come in. We have lots of air bubbles and imperfections in our "clay" and we try to hide it by putting more clay on it hoping the potter won't notice, but our Potter is a professional and right away he can see that you are going lopsided because the hair bubble is starting to colapse. So he has to push you flat once more before he starts to bulid you up and make the beautiful vase He had planned for you in the first place.
Be willing to give up your airpockets to the Potter so that when the fire gets tough you won't explode from the heat.

September

2007-08-31T22:32:00.000-04:00

I am going to start a new series. Last year I did a series on the four seasons. This time I am going to attempt months.
First of all I have to say that September reminds me of Birthdays. My Dad (25) My sister (30) my youngest niece (3).
It reminds me of school and apples. It reminds me of fall and the fact that by the end of the month most of the trees will be exploding in color.
It's kite weather time. And curl up with hot chocolate time. You sleep with a blanket once again. And if you are not strange like me who uses her fan all year long, you will think about putting away the fan and air conditioning for the year.
Swimsuits and shorts are packed up once again in your attic and long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts are brought out again. Don't forget the jackets!
The end of the veggies in the garden are picked. The last corn of the season is eaten. The BBQ is fired up one last time before the gas runs out.
Mums start to grow, grass doesn't grow as fast.
Labor Day comes just in time for one last weekend at the campgrounds.
Apple Picking, Apple Pies, Apples Cider and Hayrides are on peoples to do lists.
Indian Corn and Indian summer. Bondfires and marshmallow roasting are not far from peoples thoughts.
What can you think of in the month of September?
It really is a beautiful time of year don't you think?

School And Lightening Storms.

2007-08-29T22:16:00.000-04:00

I don't know about anyone else, but I can't believe that School has either already started or is about to start next week.
I just doesn't seem possible. What happened to August? What happened to 2007?
Someone told me the other day that as soon as the State Fair was announced Everyone knew summer was almost over. How right he was!
Clifford, Heahter, and I went to the Fair on Saturday. It ended up being one of the Hottest days of the year. It was well over 90 and the three of us drank a lot of water.
The animals all looked so hot and some of the smart horses were standing ass close as they could get to the fans in the stalls. I took around 250 pictures of the fair.
Speaking of pictures, I got the coolest picture the other day. I have always wanted to get a picture of lightening and on Friday when Cliff and I went to get My sister-in-law at the trains station we headed home in a Nasty lightening storm that had lightening every 5 or 10 seconds.
Talk about opportunity. I had taken my camera with me because I was going to see if I could take pictures of the trains (that didn't really work too well) so I took pictures out of the window and Got an amazing picture of lightening.
Once I down load the pictures I will put the picture on my blog. All the rest of my pictures of the fair I am planning on putting them on my snapfish account. If you want to see the pictures let me know and I will send you a link to my picutres.
I have offically taken around 1400 pictures from my camera since I got it. Pretty cool don't you think.
Don't worry I haven't printed all of them off, but I have ended up with almost a full album plus half of another.

A Crazy Thought for the Day.

2007-08-02T23:50:00.000-04:00

Did you know that Americans on average eat about 100 acres of pizza every day?

That's a lot of cheese and tomatoes if you ask me.

Nature's Fireworks

2007-07-04T23:36:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July!
Although today was not hot like most people think it should be on the 4th of July, it still did not turn out too horribly bad.
I pretty much worked all day which I am not glad about because I am sure I would have been board watching the rain drip. More than likely a few fireworks displays were put off because of the rain, but that is all well and good.
Mom and Dad went to see my grandmothers this week so I have this whole big house to myself with all it's creaking boards and imaginary humans walking around. I was very glad that Cliff and Heather came over and we watched Yankee Doddle Dandy, Sky High, and the Boston Pops fireworks.
But I think that what set the whole nice mood was last night when I came home late from work. It was just after 9 and there was still a little bit of light coming from behind the mountain. I was on my way into my house when I saw Natures first flash of fireworks I have seen this year.
No I am not talking about lightening although that is a nice grad finale sometimes. No this was a little flash of fireworks. One that I had to stop and turn around and watch to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. I did. A Lightening bug. Although it is a tiny creature, it is still a beautiful sight to see and one that I rarely get to see around here because special bugs don't really show themselves around here. That little flash of firefly and then another until a whole chorus of them started to show off. It was the perfect beginning of Independence Day.

A New Life

2007-06-26T22:38:00.000-04:00

This is a post to welcome a new little life into the world. Lillian Gayland Miller was born June 24 around 12:40 am. She was 7 lb. + 4 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long with Dark brown hair.

It looks to me like her two big brothers are pretty proud of her. It's kind of scary to think that eight and a half years ago Matthew (right) was a new born that my family came to visit right here in this town before we moved here. And Christian (left) is already almost 6.

Okay so you are asking me who these people are. Danny is my cousin and Matthew, Christian and Lillian :) are my Second Cousins. M and C are my two favorite little boys. I baby sat them when they were little, and got down on the floor and played with them which they always thought was cool and Even though Matthew is 8, anytime he sees me he still throws his arms around me and gives me a hug while Christian follows suit.

Welcome to the world Little One!

What Kati did!

2007-06-10T23:03:00.000-04:00

This is the closest I can get to showing you what Katiann was doing during the wedding.

You had to be there to really get what she was doing, but it is one of my favorite memories and I will always cherish it because very few even saw it happen.

Notice all the petals on the floor?

I know, I know, It's been a month since the wedding, but it just doesn't seem like all that much time. When you get more pictures you just go through all the memories all over again.

It's my half birthday!

2007-06-05T23:41:00.000-04:00

In Alice in Wonderland, Alice meets up with some very strange characters. The Mad Hatter, the March Hair, and the Dormouse are all having a tea party to celebrate their unbirthdays. It is quite the exciting thought until Alice realizes that indeed all three of them have gone Completely mad. But wouldn't it be fun to celebrate your unbirthdays as well as your birthdays. It's would be crazy and Hallmark would continually run out of unbirthday cards because everyone would always be celebrating each others unbirthdays. SO in reality that would a bad idea and something that would get very tiring.
SO where is this going?
When I was a little girl I loved to celebrate in my heart my half birthday. It made me feel like my birthday wasn't So far away. I mean having a birthday the last month of the year take longer to get there then any other month right? Okay so in my little child mind that is what I always thought, But that's okay I was little then.
So those of you who know me also know that once in a while I like to revert back to childhood for just a few minutes and enjoy the amazing wonder of a little child. Today is one of those days.
So Today is my half birthday. And although my birthday doesn't mean quite as much as it used to, it is still fun to know that 6 months ago I had a birthday and 6 months from now I will have another birthday.
Yet another thought provoking post to let people know that although it is almost midnight right now I am still using what little of my brain that hasn't turned into pumkin yet.
You mean you didn't know that at midnight I turn into a pumkin? :)

The Five Senses of the Seasons Part IV

2007-05-29T23:35:00.000-04:00

Summer.
It has to be everyones favorite time of the year just simply because the windows are opened, the fresh breeze is blowing in, and the water is warm for swimming. Oh and I forgot the most important part, kids get to be out of school. So I don't get to have summer vacation like the good ole school days, (wouldn't wish it back upon me), but I can still enjoy summer with all the senses.
In most of the Seasons I can pinpoint on sense that is more than the rest of them. I struggle with summer. But maybe feeling should be the one.
You can feel the warm air. You can feel the fans blowing trying to keep the warm air to a minimum. You can feel the warm soil between you feet as you walk barefooted (There's nothing like walking around without your shoes on in the garden just as long as the stones are at a minimum.) Cool water that you are about to dive into to cool off.
Hearing is pretty easy. The wonderful sound of thunder and the rain drops betting on the window. You did close that window right? The sound of motorcycles and screaming kids playing and riding thier bikes. And it wouldn't be summer without the sound of lawn mowers. Did I mention if you listen very closely you might hear the sound of baby birds in that tall maple tree not far away? Fans and air conditionings running all night long.
Sight. The warm sunshine high in the sky. Greeen grass, flowers, the garden full of vegetables, the movement of leaves as the rain drops gentlely on them, lightening that flashes in the night sky, or was that a few fireworks for a celebrations I see?
Smell. Freshly mowed grass, Smell of fresh fruit at the lunch table. Mouthwatering. The fresh air after a rain or the smell of rain to come. Smoke from the grill. I can taste the chicken now.
Taste BBQed chicken, nothing like my mom's recipe, fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly squizzed lemonade, strawberry shortcake. Your first ear of corn on the cob. I so can't wait for July and corn season.
I love summer, but then didn't I say that about the other season too.
Purhaps it is because God made all of the season to show us His power and His amazingly artistry. What better way to bring glory to himself, but through all four seasons.

Up on the roof top, Alicia Sits.

2007-05-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

I really should take a picture some day just to prove to people that during the summer one of my favorite places to sit is on the roof of my house.
Yes that's right. The roof.! Okay so it is only the roof of our porch that I have access to through my bedroom window, but still I shock people when they see me on the top of the world. Err I mean the top of the porch.
When the weather hits mid 80's, sitting on the roof is a little hot, but if you know just when to sit you will end up with shade and a nice place for reading or just watching people go by. Which is what I did today after work.
This evening I was invited to a softball game. Although the team I was cheering for didn't win, it was still fun. It was still really warm at 8 when I got back from the game.
This weekend my store is having a really awesome fund raiser for Children's Miracle Network. It is called "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (BTW that is the name of a book and a poem in the book for kids.) so far my store has raised the most money in the region. We are all pretty excited and we even won a ball that has the signature of a very famous college basketball player for the area which we are going to auction off that Saturday along with other rather valuable items. We will also have a garage sale, games, and hotdogs with all the money going to CMN. And that's not all. We have a wishing well for people who want to watch money plop into the water And we have about 20 jars with baby pictures that customers and vote on to say who they think is the cutest. Almost all of them are pictures of the employee's when they were babies. Some say they were too old to have pictures taken when they were a baby so they gave their school picture instead. Maybe they shouldn't have even bothered with their pictures.
Well midnight is actually upon me and I need to put the sheets on my bed. Although I am not so sure I will be inclinded to use them tonight. Ya for fans!

More Highlights from the Wedding and an Urgent prayer request

2007-05-21T10:05:00.000-04:00

I decided it was time to put more pictures of the wedding on my blog. I just loaded over 450 pictures onto a CD for Heather's mom. Don't worry I'm not going to put that many on here, just the highlights.
Also My brother-in-law Tim called last night and said that my niece Caylin is asking all kinds of questions about Heaven and Salvation. We have been praying a long time for her Salvation and we feel that it is very close, but we also know that Satan may try to hinder her. At 6 years old many children are ready. Let's pray that this is her time.

The Bride and Groom

2007-05-16T23:43:00.000-04:00

This is my Favorite picture of the Bride and Groom.

More pictures are to follow, but only when it is not late at night and when I have more time.

Here Goes!

2007-05-09T22:48:00.000-04:00

I feel like I should be skipping down a yellow brick road. "Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow the yellow brick road!"
Okay Dispite all of that I really am rather excited. It's just that I have been at a meeting that was two hours long and very boring as well as the fact that I have been packing. I get going on packing and I remember I need to take this and it might be a good Idea to take that because I might need it and I always have extra of everything so that I have a choice of what I want to wear. Can't blame a girl for that.
I can't forget to take the most important things, Dress, Heather's going away dress, shoes. I could say the makeup is important too, but I don't want to sound like those girls who think they will die if they are ever seen out in public without makeup on. They weren't born with makeup on.
Well I guess I can't think of anything more to say.
C and I leave tomorrow. Hopefully early. With my brother you don't know how long it will take. All I know is that Sleep is going to call my name after having to get up at 6 in the morning.
Now I think it is time to go to bed. Sleep may never come for me tonight. Maybe a bit more than Heather and Clifford will. :)
Next time I write it will be with wedding pictures.

Two Amazing Friendships

2007-05-08T15:43:00.000-04:00

I was watching one of my favorite movies the other day (ahem) Lord of the Rings and I had an interesting thought.
I think Frodo and Sam have to be one of the most amazing best friends in literacy. You could say they were modeled off David and Jonathan in many ways.
Here Frodo is about ready to embark on the hardest job of his entire life when his nosie gardener informs him that he is going with him. Not matter what Frodo does Sam won't let him out of his eye sight. Despite the fact that Frodo almost kills Sam more than once and is on a mission that may very well end in death, Sam sticks close to him like super glue.
At one point at the end of the second book Frodo and Sam are walking along getting ever close to their doom when Sam pipes up trying to cheer poor Frodo.
(paraphrasing) "I wonder if we will ever be put into stories. I can just amagine the children saying to their grandfathers, "Tell me again the story about Frodo and the Ring. That's my favorite story."
Frodo smiles, "Ah, but you have forgotten a very important character in the story Samwise the Brave. I want to hear more about him."
"Ah Mr. Frodo, I was bein' serious."
"And so was I. If it hadn't been for Sam the Brave, Frodo would never have made it."

The story of David and Jonathan are very much the same. David was given a mission by God and Jonathan knew that his end would be death because God had chosen David to be the next king. And yet he kept close to David and almost losing his own life to his father and ultimately dying while fighting for his life.
David could have done anything he wanted to. He could have figured a way to get rid of Jonathan any time he wanted to and yet because of everything that happened their friendship grew stronger. David wept when they told him Jonathan had been killed.

I wonder do I have a friendship like that. A friendship that no matter what happens even if I knew It could end in death I would stick to that friend like glue.
It always amazes me the lessons you can learn from stories such as Frodo and Sam the Brave and David and Jonathan. I hope that I can be a friend just like them.

One Week and Counting!?

2007-05-05T18:56:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that this time next week my brother will be married? I can't believe it myself. It is kind of a scary thought. I don't really think it will all sink in until the pastor says I would like to introduce you too. (Shivers)

It has been a beautiful week. It's warming up quickly and soon it will be summer. The Town is starting to look alive again after all the cold weather we have been having. The flowers are coming out and I know that it has to be spring because dandilions and violets are popping up everywhere.
I went to my first dance recital last night. Have you ever watched 3 and 4 year olds trying to "dance" to "I'm a Little Tea Pot?" Too cute. I will have to post some pictures to show you.
I went on a four mile bike ride yesterday. I really thought I wasn't going to make it home. I needed water. I should have stopped at my cousins and gotten a drink, but I didn't. I went a couple of weeks ago and I was in a lot of pain after that. Not so bad this time. I hope eventually I can go often, I am just not going to push myself and then be in too much pain. Especially seeing as tomorrow is church. It would be way too painful to sit with a little baby on your lap. Although it would be better then having to actually sit on a pew. On painful days or days when I am really tired it is good to end up in the nursery. And this weeks my week.
I have to laugh. This is a story that is too funny to keep out. My dad went for a test yesterday morning and he was put under. When he woke up around 4PM he couldn't remember leaving the hospital, eating the food mom had for him in the car, turning on his cell phone, eating toast, or much of anything else. It was the best sleep he has gotten in ages and he doesn't remember a thing.
It's no wonder doctor's won't allow you to leave without someone there to drive you home. You wouldn't remember getting into the car much less running a stop light.

Crazy Life!

2007-04-24T23:04:00.000-04:00

It seriously has been a crazy life in the last few weeks. Everything from snow storms last week(have pictures) to 80 degree weather this week. Heather Lynn came to visit us last week and brought a 10 foot truck with a lot of her stuff. We also had a couples shower for them.(have pictures) Clifford also found an apartment to live in. It's small, but at least it is a place to live.(have pictures) He got me to come on Sunday and clean his bathroom. It was nasty too. I guess my bathroom cleaning skills paid off because it looked a lot better when I was done. Tonight he moved all the rest of his very important stuff over, got the furniture that he bought and is now offically Not a member of this house anymore. (although he still has a lot of stuff).
Besides all of that we had our Easter Contata at the beginning of the month, finished brides maid dresses for the wedding(have pictures), went to Caylin's 6th birthday party(have pictures), having new doors installed in all three doors ways(have pictures).
I started bike riding on Sunday. I haven't been riding in probably 3 years. My knees are screaming bloody murder on me right now. I have to do it more often so that I can get used to it.
I think it is about time for me to go to bed. Tomorrow Mom and I plan to look for white sandles for the wedding. I am really hoping to find something. All that I have found so far have been really high or really thin heals and I am not spending the day in shoes I don't feel comfortable in.

My New Plaything

2007-04-04T15:01:00.000-04:00

Ok, First off I have a good excuse for getting this new play thing. Hello I need it when I take picutres at my brother's wedding.
I have been thinking about getting a new camera for sometime, but I just wasn't sure what one I wanted and when I would have the money to buy it. Well Cliff pulled my arm the other day and I ended up going on Kodak and buying a new camera. It's so much better then my old one. I even got it on sale and with free shipping. It was sent out Tuesday morning and I had it by afternoon. Now tell me that isn't fast! I am now the brand new owner of a Kodak Easy Share C875 with 5x optical zoom with 21 different picture scene settings, and PASM. I can now see my pictures when I take them and if I like them I keep them, if I don't I can delete it right away and try again.
I have been playing with it ever since I got it yesterday and I can't seem to put it down. Now I can take more pictures and put them on my blog for everyone to see and when I get those fabulous wedding pictures I can put them on here and now that I actually got a picture that it is going to come out.
With that all told we are preparing for an April Blizzard. I can't believe that winter is coming back with a vengence to bite us after we have been walking around for days in lighter jackets and some have even thought it was shorts weather. A little too crazy there for me.
I guess everyone ones spring like Easter attire is going to be covered by wool and fleece. Hey and I have a camera setting to take pictures in the bright snow. How cool is that!
Whatever the case may be as long as it doesn't snow on May 12 that is all I care about.

Taxes

2007-03-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

I know I really shouldn't be complaining about Taxes and everything, but I just have to vent. I hate taxes. I know, I get money back every year, but that's not the point. First you fill out this line and then this line then you add the two lines then you fill in the next 6 lines before subtracting from the third line and the fourth line in that one needs this forum and by the time you are all finished you have no real clue who or what taxes are all about.
Okay so I did my taxes today how could you tell? Last year it was pretty easy. I just filled out the EZ form and I was done with it. Right, this year I did the long form. I can't really complain. I have more money coming back to me because I used the long form instead of the short. I was able to calculate me school bill interest this time around and that gave me more money back.
I just hope that I did it right because I literally was at it all day stopping only for a walk to the PO and lunch and no nap. I finished around 3:30 I hope I sleep tonight because now my mind doesn't have to think about the fact that I still have to do my taxes.
Now I just have to worry about my car.
Hey I learned something new though threw all of this. I learned that if you are looking for a tax form just go the irs website and you can get any form you can't find at the post office. And trust me, if they can tax you on it they will have a form for it. EEEKK!
I was very happy to find them there and not have to look in a million places for it.
And I am so happy that it totally over for the year. I hope whoever I marry likes to do taxes because I will do them kicking and screaming for the rest of my life.

The Five Senses of the Seasons Part III

2007-03-20T09:55:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again!
Time to put our five senses together once again to see if the next season has come.
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, but if you were to look outside my window right now you would think it was still January.
I think Spring is the season you use all five of your senses the most. Of course I have all ready proven that we use all of them in every season.
People describe Spring as magical. And I suppose it came seem that way. I think it was really cool that Christ died in Spring because Spring represents His resurrection and newness in life in Christ. Hey God new what He was doing when He made the four seasons.
Hearing is usually the first sense that I use when it come to Spring. I hear the birds. Robins and Red wing Blackbirds have always been the birds that I hear that make me think of Spring.
Smell- Just like the Fall Spring has that smell to it. Almost like the air is warming up, but not only that but you also have the smell of fresh rain and flowers and green growing things. It's this sense that is very dangerous to me. Once I smell just a hint of Spring in the air I get Spring Fever so bad it isn't even funny.
Sight -Last week the snow pretty much melted away showing us the green grass that was hiding underneath all that snow and in some places crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils and other flowers pop up every where. I think this is everyones favorite sense during the Spring because it's amazing to watch these teeny tiny little green things popping up out of the ground and the little leaves that start to grow on the trees. It means that summer will be in full swing in about three months.
Touch- The warmer air. Even if it is snowing sometimes that feeling shows you that it really is Spring and the snow is just a pain that will go way quickly. How about the dirt in your hands as you turn it and plant those seed you bought in January when the store started to sell them. I know some people all too well. It was amazing to see people buy seeds just after the new year in preparation for Spring.
Tasting- Some people might laugh when I tell them that I can taste Spring in the air, but I can't describe to you what it is. So we will say that Tasting most of the time is one of the last things we use because of the fruits and veggies that grow at the end of the season.
Once again we have put our senses together and touched, tasted, smelled, felt and heard spring. Maybe I am crazy, but if God gave us five senses why shouldn't we be using them in every aspect of our lives even if it does give you Spring Fever :)

Flower girls

2007-03-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

This picture is just cute all the way around. The dresses look so adorable on the girls and I can just imagine what they will look like walking down the aisle on May 12. Now if we can just keep them angelic we will be doing good.

Drum Roll Please!

2007-03-10T23:18:00.000-05:00

In honor of my future sister in law's birthday, I present to you what I like to call "The Princess Dresses." Sorry the picture didn't come out clearer, but I hear from a reliable source that pictures of the two little princesses with fallen crowns who will be wearing these dresses in May may be on display soon. (That is if I can get the reliable source to actually send them to me.)

I also took a picture of all the netting and skirts underneath.

I should also put in that Mom and I both agree that the color and the pattern match perfectly with each other. In other words Heather Lynn you (and whoever helped you pick it all out) have awesome taste. I can't wait to see it on the girls.

Spring Fever

2007-03-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

My fingers haven't stopped iching from Christmas. I still have the crazy desire to decorate. So I did. Take a look at my newest creations. I thought we needed a little bit of color considering how cold it has been here lately.
I was actually looking for the grapevine wreaths for sometime and my mom had to go to Joanne Fabrics last Friday and there they were two for $5. So I bought them.

I even used lace and Easter grass to give it character.

In tribute to an old friend.

2007-03-05T08:39:00.000-05:00

I got a sad suprise today. I found out that an old Sunday School teacher of mine had past away. I guess I always figured she would live to be 100, but even 92 is a long time. I think the thing that really shocked me with the impact it had on me. I haven't seen Aunt Laura about six years or so, so I haven't really had contact with her.
When I felt that catch in my heart and tears in my eyes, I realized just how much of an impact she made when I was a little girl. She was everyones Aunt Laura. She was an unmarried woman who took every child and treated them like they were hers. She walked around with a four footed cane for many years because of the effects of pollio when she was a child. (we called it her lion tamer.)
She always taught Sunday School for as along as I can remember and she was in her late 70's early 80's then. Not only did she teach Sunday School, but she also taught Junior Church and the 3's and 4's during VBS.
Her classes were always the same. We start out with the pledges to the American Flag, the Christian Flag and the Bible. We all faught to see who would get to hold what. We also sang about 5 or more of our favorite songs, listened to stories, and colored.
When our church fell when I was 8, it was Aunt Laura who took all the kids out to Junior Church and told us the story of Winkie the Bear.
It's kind of funny, but every time we kids played Sunday School we always mimicked Aunt Laura. She was a godly woman that was always doing for others. If it had something to do with kids Aunt Laura was in it and all the kids respected her.
I don't think we will know until we get to heaven just how much of an impact She has been on people. There is a Song called "Thank you for giving to the Lord" It talks about a person getting to heaven and people coming up to him and thanking him for everything that he had done for them. Everything from being a Sunday School teacher to handing out tracks to giving money to a missionary. The chorus goes like the "Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am so glad you gave." I hope when Aunt Laura got to Heaven someone sang that song to Aunt Laura because it would be perfect for her.
Aunt Laura Gifford Died March 1, 2007. Thank you for giving to the Lord.

The Valentine's Day Snowfall Part III

2007-02-15T23:46:00.000-05:00

I should take a picture to show you what it looks like outside now. The snow is so piled up that when you walk out the door you feel like you are in a castle or maybe even a fort. People were out and about today, but not for very long and not walking too far. Dad and I drove the car down to get the mail today because it was too cold and windy to even think about walk. 5 minutes was too long to be outside today.

The Valentine's Day Snowfall Part II

2007-02-15T23:40:00.000-05:00

These are random pictures of my next door neighbor using his snow blower. It was funny to watch the snow shoot up in the air. Also some of the local kids were having fun on the plowed snow banks across the street.

They finally decided to come in after the wind picked up.

If you look at this last picture you can see the wind just whipping the snow around. This was around 4 in the afternoon. I was out for no more than 10 minutes and I came in feeling like I had been out side in the cold for hours. Thank the Lord for Blankets.

The Valentine's Day Snowfall

2007-02-15T23:32:00.000-05:00

They say a picture says a thousand words, well I have 12 pictures which means I have 12,000 words for you . Let's see If I can write them all down. This may take more than one post to do it.

These are pictures of my family and neighbors at around 8:30 in the morning.

Wove, Twue Wove!

2007-02-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of the flowers my brother sent Heather. Aren't they pretty? He has pretty good taste if you ask me. At least she got them in time for Valentines day. The news had a flower shop that said they had about 100 deliveries on Wednesday and they didn't know what they would do. If I had been them I would have delivered them a day early that way they would be there by Valentines day like my smart brother did.

Well It's offical. It is snowing like . . . Well I don't know what it is snowing like, but it looks like we are in for the long haul. With the possibility of 3 feet of snow I am thinking it is a good thing I am not working tomorrow. Watch this I'll be called in to work anyway.

Hey the Wooly Worm Did say that it would be a middle winter followed by a nasty February and March. Well here it is! Looking back I remember someone saying that it would be February when we got all the snow. I do believe they were right all a long.

AH Snow!

2007-02-11T22:49:00.000-05:00

Yes well Okay you can blame me for wanting snow. Of course I don't have the snow like North East of here. Talk about a lot of snow. Some Places have over 100 inches of snow and still coming down. Wednesday there is a call for two feet of snow here from the Arctic Blast that is coming this way. I may not be going to Tburg on Wednesday. I refuse to drive 74 miles in the snow by myself. Not happening.
But I can look on the bright side. I live snow. As I said in a much earlier post there is something about the freshly fallen snow that really makes me sit back and look. Unwalked through snow can be some of the most beautiful snow. Sparkling in the sun light like little diamonds. There you go. Valentines day is on Wednesday and there is snow in the forecast and the snow looks like diamonds. If you are a guy and you want to give your girl diamonds, but you don't have a lot of money, you may want to opt for a walk in the "diamonds".

Speaking of diamonds. Mom was looking for a dress yesterday for Cliff's Wedding. I can't believe that we have 3 months until the wedding.
Mom and I are starting to do our own planning for the special reception. Something Cliff and Heather thought up for all the people who can't come to the wedding. A very simple affair that I think people will enjoy.

Surprise!

2007-02-02T11:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a rather busy couple of weeks. I have been traveling 74 miles a day on Tuesday and Wednesday to help set up a new store. It did it last week, this week and I am doing it again next week. Phew! At least I get $.35 a mile.
Last week I was tired. (Just like I am this week). I worked on Friday at my store and it seemed that nothing was going right for me. My machines were not doing what they were supposed to be doing and I was getting a build up of people wanted everything done right now. So I was in the middle of helping someone when I got a call to come to the office at my convenience. Of course it wasn't at that point so I continued with my customer.
A few minutes after that someone came in for a Western Union. Now I can do Western Unions, but I was so busy at that point, I called someone else up to do it. The next thing I know All three of the Managers that were in the store where coming up to the front.
I noticed them and commented on the fact that there only needed to be one person to do Western Unions.
They all came walking up to me with big grins on their faces. They were hiding something and told me they wanted to present me with something. Out came a frame with a certificate naming me employee of the quarters. Then they asked if I knew because there is a little spot on my pay stub that tells me that I have the award and was just playing dumb and I said I didn't know even though I had seen the spot and it didn't connect.
SO after that bad day, I ended up with something I have always thought would be cool to have and made my day just a little brighter. Now I get a day off with full pay. Now that is what I would call a good surprise.

God's Snow Globe

2007-01-16T23:20:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to a wonderful site. Beautiful blue-white snow falling softly to the earth. It was soft and fluffy and not heavy and wet. Much better for making snowangels rather than snowballs.
When I got to work I heard someone say that the world looked like a snow globe that someone shook. And throughout the day I realized that it really did look like a snow globe outside. We would have heavy snowfall for several hours followed by the snow stopping and the sun coming out for about ten to fifteen minutes before it would start snowing again.
It really did look like God was shaking up the world and then watching the beautiful snowflakes fall to the earth before shaking it up again.
We were blessed by the beautiful snow here. In other places not far away people have no electricity and a half inch of ice on their trees and wires. We have a little ice put not much.
No matter what people say or think about the snow I still love the first real snow storm. We have been blessed this year with less snowfall then normal, but it is still good to have the snow. People are already complaining about not wanting the snow, but I really don't think they understand what it would be like here in the winter without the snow. Maybe it's just me I don't know, but I am ever so thankful for those tiny blue white dimonds in God's snow globe that is glistening outside my window.

Long Live ICE!

2007-01-14T22:59:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed just how beautiful ice is while it is hang down off of the trees and wires?
I learned something very interesting today about Ice. Did you know that just a thin layer of ice on a tree branch is equal to 300 pounds? Now if that Isn't amazing I don't know what is.
Also saw something very interesting today. After church a bunch of us were standing around talking when all off a sudden we saw what looked like a piece of plastic fall from the sky. Someone went out to investigate and discovered that it was a very thin sheet of ice that had fallen from the roof of the church. It was so thin that when it fell it floated in the air just like a feather or a leaf.
I keep wondering if I am going to be going to work tomorrow. Everyone that is a manager lives half an hour away or they live on a hill that would be too dangerous to come down. As a matter of fact the only way to get to our store is by going down a hill. The weather man is predicting ice and snow for the next few days and we may be getting a Denver right here in the NorthEast.

Ping Pong and White Elephants

2007-01-13T23:06:00.000-05:00

My Dad likes to have a White Elephant Christmas party every year. This year is was just a little small. 11 people came to it verses sometimes we have 40.
So we did something really fun afterwards. We played Ping Pong.
Now I will tell you right now that I am really bad at Ping Pong it's self. I play because It's fun not because I will win. After a few games of regular ping pong we played Polish Ping Pong which is much better then regular any day. You can have as many people as you want to and it can bounce as many times as it wants on the table, but only once on the floor. You have two paddles and every one gets a turn at hitting the ball as they go from one side of the table to the next. If it either doesn't bounce on the table or the floor you are out. The less people you have the faster you have to run. We tried it with teams and it was hard then too. It was a good work out and a whole lot of fun.
It's been a long time since I played ping pong and it was good to play it again. I am really hoping to be able to play it again soon. I even suggested to my family that we go over to church pull out the table and have a slamming good time at ping pong.

Long Lost... License?

2007-01-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

So it all started about a year ago when I went to help another store set up for its grand opening at the end of January. It was a cold snowy week and at one point I really thought I would get stuck in the snow. But of course that did not happen and I happily made it home in one piece.
It happened not too long after that that I discovered I had lost my drivers license. I couldn't find it anywhere. I looked everywhere in my house and at my own store finally giving up hope of ever seeing it again. Ireally knew deep down someone may have stollen it from me. I finally broken down and got a new license. I was personally tired of walking or hitching a ride to work.
I spent about $20 on a new license resigned to the fact that I would never see my old license again and promptly forgot about it.
Until Yesterday . . ..
I came in to work yesterday and I was talking to my manager when she said "Oh, remember when you lost your license last year?"
First off she wasn't my manager at that time so what she said startled me. Second of all it has been almost a year since it happened and I had all but forgotten about it other than a few fleeting moments the day before when my license looked as if it would fall out of my wallet. (Strange)
"Ya, that was like a year ago though." I replied.
"Well they have had it at ...(The place where I helped set up the store) all this time and John P. (the quality control manager) had told them to send it to you, but just found out they never had and is sending it to you in the mail."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Nope!"
What a blessing that was!
All this time I figured someone else had it and I might have had Personal ID theft and my credit rating would never be the same all my life and it was in a nice safe place where God was protecting it from harmful theives.
Isn't it amazing how God works when we least expect it?

The New Chair

2007-01-04T23:31:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to announce the Arrival of the new Chair. It

has beautiful fake black leather. And it has arms. Unlike our old one that had no arms and looked as if it was going to fall apart when you leaned back into it. I have been trying to remember when we got the old chair. If any one knows what year Jamesway went out of business then I would be able to tell you when we got that one. My family bought it for me for school that year and when we got it home we discovered a part broken on it. When we went back the next day we were told we couldn't exchange it because they had declared bankrupcy the day before. The guy snuck us a part from another chair so that we would have the part.

For those of you who are interested and I know of at least one, we got the new Chair at Staples. :)

Introducing My Snowman Collection

2006-12-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-12-23T22:43:00.000-05:00

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.