The Joy Challenge: Day 1~ Waking up in God’s Glory

I am in the midst of struggling with anger so I decided to take this challenge of deliberately finding Joy…so for the next 40 days I am in search of finding Joy…..

For the first time in a while I woke up with a joyful heart and was actually excited about what the day had in store….

While reading Heart To Heart With Holley, http://blog.dayspring.com/, I came across her last day of the 40 day challenge of finding Joy and my Lord knew exactly what I needed to see last night while looking through my favorite blogs.

It has been such a challenge for me to find that joy that I so desperately long for in the midst of all that is going on in my life.

God still reigns on the throne and He still is in charge of every detail of my life but I need to let Him be in charge and take over the reins….

For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

    Psalm 30:5

My Joy did come in the morning just as this scripture says and my faithful Father knew what I needed!

Nap anyone

today , after much anticipation of this day, I sent my honey on his way back to work...

"to the army" as Sweet Pea says

Sweet Pea and Dragonfly did so good and gave kisses and hugs and watched as daddy got on the plan. Not for long though, not for long....

With the excitement and all the things we did over the last two weeks

spent time with family

lunch date with honey and a movie

New Orleans Audubon Zoo

New Orleans Aquarium

a few days at the "fish camp"

got an offer on our house

wrote an offer for a fellow army wife

played, played, played,

I am exhausted....

so today we took a 3 hour nap and it felt great!

We didn't go down until 4:15 and woke up at 7;15, that would be p.m., and I think I could have just slept through the night. Now it is time to slip into dream land again....until tomorrow!

cleansing waters

What a joy it is to be able to get up and actually have quiet time first thing in the morning. As I sit here in the stillness of the first part of my day I am reminded of the wonders of my God. Many of us don't get the chance to get up before anyone else to have that quiet time before something interrupts our thoughts. But today I had just a few minutes to enjoy what God had created.



The waters were still and I am reminded of several things.

First, the power that water has on the creation of the world in which we live. "And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day. "(Genesis 1: 6-8)

When you are on the Gulf Coast, you are still reminded of the power that Hurricane Katrina had on the land. It is still hard to imagine the power of water. When we look at a glass of water it is something simple and something that we drink but when it is joined with millions of gallons the power that it takes on and the damage that it can do to things in its path.

Second, water nourishes our body.

Our bodies are made up of 55-75% water depending on our ages and sexes. We must drink water to keep our bodies hydrated, just like we need to spend time with God to nourish our souls.

And lastly, water cleanses our bodies.

Have you ever gone more than a day before you were able to take a bath (you know you have)? When you are so dirty and you are able to take a bath, oh how good it feels to become clean again. In this same way Jesus is the water that truly cleanses our bodies. When will you allow time with Jesus so that he may be the cleansing water in your life?

AmAzInG GrAcE

God is amazing! What a whirlwind the past month has been but God still proves to be amazing! In the midst of my daily trials and struggles, I can still find comfort in knowing that my Jesus loves me and cares what I am going through.

On Friday, I couldn't seem to get moving and get my booty in the car to travel to Mobile, Al for my uncle's funeral. This was very hard for me for a number of reasons: 1)to be honest, I was mad that I was doing this by myself and really wanted Josh to be with me, 2)tired and didn't want to travel again, 3)was just not ready to say my last goodbye to my uncle, 4) not sure how the next 24 hours was going to go....

We had a good trip and the monkeys were really good for me. We got their about 6:30 pm and went straight to the funeral home for the wake. This was hard but my uncle looked great and I know that he is not in any more pain. What a time of celebration and a time of showing others the comfort we can find in our Savior! Well off to dinner we went and then to bed. Long night with a potentially broken rib or just a really bruised rib!! That is another story....

The next morning we get ready to head to the church and it is here that I love the child like faith....As a mother I hesitated to let my children see their great-uncle lying in the casket, but death is a part of life. I explained to them that he was asleep and now with Jesus and that they were having a big party in heaven. Sydney then says "with pink balloons". I said "yes with pink balloons, Uncle Johnnie would love that". How sweet to see life through the eyes of a child. During the service, Sydney asked me "what is his name up there?" I said "you mean uncle Johnnie", she said "yes". She asked me again "what is his name up there in the bed?" How sweet is that.

I had the honor to sing "Amazing Grace" and what a chance to be a witness for God to a church full of people. This is not a time of sorrow but of rejoicing and singing for GOD! It has been 5 years since I have sung in front of a church so this is normally a very nerve racking thing for me but I could feel God's presence. I was not nervous at all and the notes came out right. As I look over to my family and see the tears in their eyes and I can rejoice in the fact that I will see my uncle again one day and will see all my family and friends again one day as long as they believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior!


Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found,Was blind, but now, I see.
T'was Grace that taught...my heart to fear.And Grace, my fears relieved.How precious did that Grace appear...the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares...we have already come.T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...and Grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me...His word my hope secures.He will my shield and portion be...as long as life endures.
When we've been here ten thousand years...bright shining as the sun.We've no less days to sing God's praise...then when we've first begun.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found,Was blind, but now, I see.

Heavy heart

The past month has been so long and full of so many changes, illness, events, and just daily living. I have not been up to par for what seems like this entire deployment. Josh and I laughed about all the "silly" things that I have done:

• fell and hit my head and hurt my thumb in the wee our of the night and had to take the monkeys with me to the ER;
• traveled to visit family for Easter;
• slipped on some pine straw after their preschool program so off to the doctor I went to have my foot/toe seen about which by the way still hurts and this was back in May!!!!;
• needed my first round of antibiotics for a sinus infection and looking back now I probably needed the drugs way before May;
• my best friend from high school got married (I was one of her bridesmaids and made the wedding cake in my dad's apartment and another friends home in Macon, GA) (side note: if you ever try to bake anything away from home just image having to bring all your cake decorating tools and then bake with 2 year old twins at your feet)
• visited family so the monkeys could go on Mimi and Pop's boat =)
• waiting for preschool , patiently waiting for preschool=)
• received another round of antibiotics while in MS, still feeling pretty rough!
• a long time friend of our family started declining (he has been battling MS for over 15 years)
• still feeling like a truck hit me and an elephant was sitting on my face~! went back to the doctor for yet another round of antibiotics (this time with predisone and a nasal spray=( )
• CT scan of my sinus passages to see how much fluid is still in there and if I have any polyps. uuuugggghhhh
• now today, my uncle has passed away....I know death is part of this life but it is still hard and the human in me struggles with it but the FAITH aspect prevails! My uncle wants me to sing Amazing Grace at his funeral! I have not sung in such a long time and the last time he heard me sing was at my mom's funeral October 1999.

My heart is so heavy and I so want/need my honey at times like these but at times like these I do know that I have my Jesus to lean on to find that comfort.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

what a fun night!

Well life is good, feel terrible but life is good. My dad came this morning at 9:45 am and will be here until Tuesday so nap time can begin without interruption.....hahaha

About 10:30 am I took a much needed shower to shave my legs, wash my hair and then get into a nice HOT bath with bath oil, a magazine and peace & quiet! Wow how great you feel when you are clean! Yes if you are a mom you realize there are some days that you don't get a shower much less when you feel like crap. I put some deep conditioner in my hair while getting in the tub, so yes I had to get in the shower again. To say the least I am squeaky clean! I then proceeded to color my hair and wow I feel great! Just want to give a shout out to GOD for letting me be born in this day and age of hot showers, razors and hair color! The simply things in life.

We took the kids down to the Thursday Art Walk downtown. Went to my new favorite store Ingredients and ordered Sydney a bracelet. They had two artist in their Sharla Adams with Designs By Sharla. Check out her website: www.designsbysharla.net I am excited to see what she will make for my spunky little girl! Will post pics when I get the bracelet. The other vendor was a women after my own heart: Tammy Hyatt with Hyatt's Custom Cake and Confections. Check out her website : www.hyattscustomcakes.com . I did not get a chance to talk to her because she had several waiting to talk but she had some great samples. Sydney loved her truffles!

We made our way around the corner and Sydney said she wanted some pizza for dinner. I told here we were going somewhere that she would be able to get pizza..."I love some pizza. Pizza, pizza, I love pizza" all while doing a dance. My girl loves food! We enjoyed a great dinner at The Blackhorse Pub and Brewery: www.theblackhorsepub.com ....YUMMY! Beer Cheese Dip is the best!

ON our way back to the car we got a little dance show from you guessed it Sydney! The car was at the red light playin some booty dancing music and we know whose child she is, uuuummm yeah she started doing the booty dance and they just loved it. the car behind them rolled down their window and played some more booty music and she just loved it and danced with her mama even more. It was precious and priceless!

My dad is a big fan of "doo waap" music as he calls it and Sydney is becoming one too. she tried so hard to learn the words and sing along with "papa". He loved every minute of it. Tonight was such a good night. We all needed it after the long week we have had around this house!

26 days left till R&R!~

I did it~ running

I did go and get those running shoes yesterday and am hoping to try them out today if it does not rain on me. I have 4 weeks till Josh gets home so time to put it in overdrive to get this body healthy....well after about 5 handfuls of chocolate chips last night is not a very good start to that goal. Today I woke up in a good mood and then I don't know what happened but my anxiety level went crazy. I don't know what my problem was but I thought it would be a good idea to take a run. I did pretty good, not sure how far I ran but will clock it later today and let you know. Off to a good start as far as the running goes. So now I need to figure out how to put on my blog my daily running log. It felt really good to run and would be even better if I coul do it without a stroller and earlier in the morning. A little at a time.

Now today I need to hang those new curtains and return some to Target. I will post before and after pictures.

Running....

I was reading a friends blog and then found my way to the R3 site and looked over the times for the 4th annual R3 run. I so long to have that desire to run again and actually enjoy it and not think the whole time- how much longer. Running is challenging, a total body workout, a great stress relief, time to think, have that "me" time, and so many other things but , yes a but, but why can't I seem to get excited about it. I see people running and think "I can do that", "I want to do that", "what great shape I would be in if I would do that...", uuuggghhh! Then as I looked down the page of the running results to look at each category, I see people in their 50's, 60's an 70's running and with awesome times! Yes a man who is 71 ran the 5K in 30:33! Wow!!!! I can only hope to be in that great of shape to be exercising much less running at the age of 71. Okay I only have 34 years to train to that point! hahaha, okay my goal this week is to head to the R3 store and get some new running shoes (ones that the Velcro will not keep coming off)(my old running shoes are about 3 years old so it is time! Check back and see if I actually accomplished this or not and see where these running shoes will take me.....

It has been a while...I know

Wow, I can not believe that is has been over a month since I have written anything. Well what can I say, life has been crazy. What has happened in the last ummm 50 days give or take a few days......
life,
taking care of very independent two year olds,
missing my husband,
cutting grass,
my best friends (high school) wedding- which I was in,
my best friends wedding cake- which I made,
missing my husband,
had in-laws come visit,
had my dad come visit a couple times,
trimming tress,
carpet replaced in the house,
painted my bathroom,
bought a new comforter for our bed,
touch up paint in whole house,
packed up more things,
had mirror in master bath framed and outlet moved,
missing my husband,
going crazy chasing after independent two year olds,
got sick,
cutting mile high grass,
exercising,
forgetting to pay the water bill, uh oh big time!,
working with a few clients,
missing my husband,
trying to explain to a 2 year old that their daddy is coming home soon,
trying to get motivated to cook for me a 2 two year olds,
traveled to Mississippi for a week,
watching my children light up when they are with their grandparents,
watching my little girl gain the confidence to put her head under water and swim with floaties,
cutting even more grass,
catching up with friends,
missing friends,
meeting new friends,
appreciating life and all God's blessings,
cleaning house or should I say trying to keep this house clean,
missing my husband,
wondering what God is going to bring into our lives next,
dreaming of that bakery,
thinking how proud I am of my husband & how much he is growing w/ his relationship w/ God,
watching my little ones fall asleep next to me and thanking God for his many blessings!

GOD is amazing! Good night all, sleep tight.....

Happy 4th

Wow what a day! We had a great time with friends cooking out and playing in the pool. Lots of laughs, food and fun. Did you see my facebook comment earlier today....well Sweet Pea came outside and told me she went poo poo in her room....GREAT! Well what great friends I have they helped get together supplies but of course I had to clean it up! haha, as Sharon said "she loves my kids but will not clean up their poop off the floor" haha, what you don't want to clean up runny poop! These great friends also got together and cleaned up the kitchen! Thank you!

We then took a nice long nap~ what a sweet way to wake up to 2 little ones climbing in bed with you! even better when they go back to sleep with you! About a hour later Sweet Pea told it was time to get up...nothing like a bossy one!

Off to post to watch the fireworks and enjoy time with friends. The kids enjoyed getting to ride a ride, yes only one ride because they the sirens went off telling up a tornado warning was in effect. GREAT what fun! We all headed back to the blankets and packed up to head home which was an adventure all in itself. We got to the car and I got a call from my nerdy friend to seek cover so we stopped at the shopette. Nothing like taking 6 kids in the shopette waiting for a tornado to service, well it did not thank God so we headed home and are now tucked in our beds safe and sound.

Thank you to all the military families and the sacrifice that they go through for us to be able to celebrate this day in freedom! GOD BLESS YOU!