Can't Wait Until 4 pm Saturday....

Why would I say I can't wait until 4 pm on Saturday? Well, I have to sing in a wedding that starts at 2 pm Saturday. I have never sang in a wedding. I have had to sing in funerals before, but never weddings. At funerals, the guest of honor doesn't really care if you are on key or not. At a wedding, people will notice! To make it worse, it is a duet. I don't do so well with duets. I like to "go out on my own" when I am singing and with a duet, you can't do that. The timing has to be perfect. But- the guy who is singing with me came over last night and we finally practiced it and it sounded pretty good. But, I still can't wait until 4 pm tommorrow- I figure if the wedding starts at 2, it will be well over by 4 and I will be back at home in shorts and a tank top by then. The first time I sang on stage was when I was 8 years old- but I still get so nervous I could vomit every time I have to sing a solo. It doesn't make any sense, but I can't help it. Oh- we decided not to go for the neighborhood with the perfect location. It just didn't feel right. So- the search continues. I wish I could see the future sometimes, but I don't worry because I know who holds it!

I Feel Good!

So- many of you know the trouble we have had at church and it goes a lot deeper than I have let on with this blog, but you get the gist. Anyway- there was a person at church who really did some awful things to me and they tried their best to destroy me emotionally and mentally. ( I mean, this guy went to great lengths....) Well , I just want to announce that I gave him forgiveness a few days ago and I haven't felt this good in a long time. I realized that being angry with him was only hurting me. It was making me bitter and it was consuming my thoughts. So I forgave him more for my own good and I just let go of the whole thing. I gave it to God to deal with. I don't wish him harm and in fact I pray for the man and I hope that he will change. I don't hate him - I love him, but only through Christ am I able to love someone who has hurt me like he did. If I expect God to forgive me of all the things I do then I better be dishing it out to others. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I am working on "refueling" my spiritual tank and it is going well. I look forward to see what the next few months hold for us.

New Family Member

Well, we have a new addition to our family. His name is Henry and he eats crickets. He is a baby bearded dragon. Annelise has been wanting one for a while, so we finally gave in and got her one. He is actually quite cute and very tame. He will live about 8-10 years, so I am glad that we like him. He went to sleep in my hand yesterday and I am almost getting attached to him. Never thought I would be lovin' on a reptile! The cats haven't noticed him yet, but they can't get into his cage, anyway. VBS starts this week at my parents church, so the girls are going. They had the kick-off last night and it was great. The pastor of that church wanted me to e-mail the music minister that we didn't get at our church and get him to send a video in. So, I e-mailed him last night and asked him to. I haven't heard back from him, yet, but I think that would be so great if he could end up there. I am just going to sit back and see what God does. I want His will more than anything and it is always amazing to see what He works out. Please pray for the VBS programs going on everywhere. That may be some of these kids' only time in church and it is important that they get reached out to and be shown the love of Jesus. God is good all the time!

Its Girls Night In Time!

Tonight will be the first night this Summer for our Bible study group for teen girls called Girls Night In. My friend M and I started this group last year and we do it during the Summer every other Tuesday night to help the teen girls that we know see what the Bible has to say about the issues they face. M and I alternate turns and tonight is my turn. I always get a lot out of doing these because it forces me to spend a lot of time in the Bible and I usually gain a lot more than I give. I decided to talk about prayer- how to , why you should, the purpose of prayer, etc.. It is a very deep topic and I had to stop myself before it got too long. I just thought I would share a little tidbit of what I realized during this study. Sometimes we pray for things and they don't happen or at least don't happen like we want them to. There could be many reasons for this, but one of the biggest ones is that God's will is different from our will. What we think we want may not be what is best for us. God can see our whole future- He can see the big picture, so He always knows what is the best choice. Think of a baby that wants to put that shiny quarter in it's mouth. The parent takes the quarter away because it is dangerous to the baby. The baby cries and screams because it really wanted that quarter and can't understand that the parent took it away for the baby's own good. That is how God works sometimes. He doesn't give us what we think we want sometimes because He knows it is not what is best for us- even though we cannot understand that. We are His children and He wants to protect us. I just thought that was something to think about for this Bible study. Oh, well- I hope we have a good turn-out, even though 3 of my regular girls are out of town. Oh- it looks like we are going to be able to build in the neighborhood we wanted to build in. Now it just comes down to deciding if that is really it for us and what lots we are interested in-- that is where the prayer comes in!!

Does Life Ever Slow Down?

Let me start by saying that I hope all the dads out there had a great Father's day. I don't give my husband enough credit sometimes for all that he does. I am pretty lucky. Although, I did go to his father's house for about an hour with him yesterday and that is more than anyone could ask from any human being. It was part of my gift to him. If you knew his step-mother, you would understand. The girls gave him some of his favorite candy, a new movie, and a tool set with its own storage case. I gave him a new birdfeeder- and of course, the visit to his dad's. All in all, I was glad to hit the bed last night. We did have a great visit to my parent's church and the kids really enjoyed that. It was good for all of us. I am waiting to hear from the neighborhood in P'ville to see if they will allow our builder to build and also if they will allow us to buy 2 lots. That will determine our next step. We also expect to soon hear from the lady who looked at our house last week. She was very interested according to her agent and would be talking more about it this week. She has been on the website for it multiple times every day since. The doctor that was supposed to start in September is not going to be able to start until January, now. That was a little depressing, but if that is the worst thing that happens this week I will take it. Brian has decided that we are definately going to sell this house and property. The profit potential is just too much to argue with. It would be like getting a free lake house. Plus, it will free up a lot of our time not having to take care of this yard! We want to find a neighborhood with a pool and lots that are at least an acre. That is going to be difficult without getting into the boonies. The neighborhood in P'ville would be perfect, but we will see what their answers to my questions are. I am about ready to just move into a double-wide and call it quits.........

Just An Update

Just wanted to update on some current issues... First- my husband decided on 2 doctors to hire for his practice- one is a full-time male who can start in September (praise the Lord!) and the other is a part-time female who will start next February or March. I am so excited for him and he is so relieved. He interviewed 2 other part-time females, but they decided it just wasn't what they were looking for. So- that is done. Our house that we need to sell has been shown quite a bit lately, and that is great, but it doesn't matter unless they show us a contract! We still have the contingency contract on it and we are certainly grateful for that. My husband is mad at me right now because I decided I want to move back into a subdivision. (In Powdersville.) He won't even talk about it! After I spent almost 30 minutes picking up beercans and used lottery tickets off the side of our yard for the umpteenth time I thought about how nice it would be to live in a subdivision again- with a pool and other kids! It took him almost a whole day just to cut the grass surrounding our house this week. That doesn't count the time it will take to bush-hog 2 pastures (which he still needs to do.). I don't know- I go back and forth about it. Not to mention that we stand to make a small fortune off of this property if we sold it. Oh, well. We are famous for our moving. Who knows what we will do? I am excited about this Sunday- we are going to the church I went to before I got married. It will be nice to see everyone, plus they have a great children's program that my girls love. It will be nice to go to church and just worship without any other worries or issues. I guess that is it for now! Until next time......

Ready To Move!!

We got back from Folly Beach at about 11 pm last night. We had such a great time. It was not one of those vacations that you felt like you needed another vacation afterwards. For those who don't know me well- I love Charleston. Something about that city just calls to me. When I am there I just feel good. I love everything about it- the harbors, the old buildings, the cobblestone, the Market, the ghost stories, the plantations, the history, and I don't even mind the smell of the marshes. We went and stayed on Folly with some friends and their 2 boys. It was so much fun and now my 5 year-old is ready to move there. I agree with her, but my husband would need more convincing. It was just nice to get away and forget about all the "stuff" that goes on here at home. The kids played on the beach almost every day, all day. I watched them and tried to burn the images of them into my brain- so young and having so much fun, without a care in the world. My husband and his friend caught a hammerhead shark that was about the size of my 3 year-old. All the people in our vicinity of the beach and their kids had to come pet it before we threw it back. We got good pictures, but my video camera tape got tangled and messed up- so no video. At least it was a new tape with no other footage on it. Oh- and we took 2 babysitters to the beach with us- that was one of the best decisions we have ever made! We had fun with them and the kids loved having them there. Now we are back home- back to reality, but at least refreshed for a while. I hear my girls screaming at each other at this very moment, so, until next time.......