A Year in the Life

I don't make resolutions.  I used to, but wisely I quit.  I figured when I kept breaking them after a few weeks or months that something had to change, and it had to start with my thoughts and actions.  Here are a few of my failed resolutions: Don't failures look so much prettier when they look like that?  Still, they are places where I fell short, and that is where the most learning takes place.  What I really learned is that I needed to be a person of action instead of talk.  Talk is cheap.  It's easy to say I'm going to do something, but the follow-through is another issue.  I can say I'll love my fam, but unless I actually do it the words are meaningless.  I figured what was the use in making resolutions if it was all talk and no action.  I had to make lifestyle changes.  Instead of just wanting to read my bible, workout & lose weight, I made changes to make sure I did.  I started by putting things on my ca...

And Loving... I recently started a new job.  Yes, at my age it can be a little scary, but it's been great.  Before I go forward, a little back story first... ...For the last 4 1/2 years I have been a sub in my children's school system.  (if you are a mom, love kids, and need a great way to make a little spending money, I highly recommend it.)  I loved being a sub!  I was able to be like everyone's favorite aunt.  You know the one I'm talking about.  She the one who comes in and loves you for you.  She helps you get through the have to's so you can have a little fun while your mom's not around. The way a sub enters a classroom is SO important.  You have to be confident, because it's true the children can smell fear, but you also have to be available to the kids:  available to offer an ear, extra help, smiles, a few hugs, and maybe even a little discipline in a life-giving way. We would play 4 corners if everyone finished with thei...

There are so many who make these vows, and then quickly forget them when the difficulties of life hit the proverbial fan.  It's easy to love when the going is easy.  It's another when your slogging your way through life, marriage, and children.  I have been blessed to witness so many whose vows were a way of life.  They weren't words; they were actions. Today I went in to get my crazy hair cut and highlighted.  I'm sitting there with my hair pulled through a cap (I look like a lionfish), bleach smothered on my hair and cap, and a clear shower cap on top.  Yeah, it's a rockin' look.  We're all talking and I look over to see an older lady shuffling towards a chair get her hair washed. This is a common sight because there are women of all ages who come into the beauty shop.  It's what happened afterward that had me in tears.   As she is walking, I noticed she had a belt on and her husband, a younger woman along with the hairdresser hel...

All I have ever wanted for my children is for them to be kind and generous to someone in need without wanting anything in return.  I'm willing to bet if I polled 100 people, at least 99 of you want the same for your children as well.  It's something we all want, but how many times do we not see little ways we can help others.  There is no act of service that is small because it may be big for someone else.  As parents, grandparents, and mentors we have to lead by example. What I've learned is children are not innately kind and generous.  Ever had a two year old tell you "mine!" or not willing to share toys?  Ask me how many times I broke up my kiddos arguing over who would share what toy & who hit whom.  Ever tried to ask a child/teenager to help do anything that they didn't really want to do?  (cut the grass, unload the dishwasher, fold clothes, pick up toys...does anyone out there feel me?)  Like I said, children are not innately ki...

My view every morning at Grace Farm. 1 week ago Saturday I left to go on a mission trip to Honduras.  The months before I left and the entire way down I kept asking myself what in the world I was doing.  I'm about as white and as southern as you can get.  As I've looked back on my 44 years, I can't remember a time when I was hungry because I didn't have enough to eat.  I've never been without heat when it's cold or cool air when it's hot.  I was never abused by my parents.  I have always had plenty of clothes in my closet to wear.  So again, I asked myself, what am I doing here. Plane window view As we flew into the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, I couldn't help but notice how urban it was.  It looked like a normal American city.  And it is.  They have malls and movie theaters.  (they actually have the movies inside the mall, brilliant!)  They have McDonald's, Popeye's chicken, and many other restaurants.  Th...

A letter: Dear sweet high school girl trying out for __________,  (insert your team name here) I wanted to let you know that God really doesn't care if you make said team.  Yes, He gave you the ability to throw a layout full; pull a firebird right after you've done 8 turns in second; have the largest range in the choir; be able to debate the questions until your blue in the face; kick and catch any ball,  but that's not what He cares about.  He doesn't love you more because you've made those teams.  He loves you. Period.  Every little flaw you think you have, He created, and in reality it's not a flaw, only you just think it is.  He thinks you're beautiful and wonderful and His. Have you ever noticed when people make or do something great they always praise God's name and quote scripture?  Have you ever heard anyone praise Him when they didn't get something they've trained years for?  When you've been rejected and told you're no...

I've had some really heartwarming mommy moments this last week.  One in particular I have to share. Now, I will admit that there are some songs we sing in church that I like better than others.  I like them all, but some just move my spirit.  I was in church with Elizabeth on my left & Henry on my right, and this song started to play.  It's one of my favorites!  My heart was so full, and then I looked out of my peripheral vision. My most fervent prayer is that my children would have encounters with the Living God.  I pray that He would touch them and they would know without a shadow of a doubt that He loves them and wants a relationship with them.  I pray that they will choose to follow Him all the days of their lives.  I know He is faithful, and has already given me answers to more prayers than I can count.   I look and my children are singing and worshiping and smiling.  How could my heart not be full?  How could my h...

Dear Facebook, I wanted to let you know how much I really hate you right now.  You have turned my country, state, and city upside down.  You have made enemies out of friends and ripped us in half, and left us bleeding out.  You have lawmakers removing historical monuments because someone screamed 'those are racist'.  The 'R' word scares the holy h.e.double hockey sticks out of people, and sometimes makes them think that by just removing a symbol we can take away the pain of the past.  Wrong.  A symbol is just a symbol & an individual is the only one that can give it any power.  Hate lives within a person not a thing. To the leaders of our country, state & city:  FYI, this is a southern state.  FYI, we were part of the confederacy.  Does that mean we still believe in slavery?  No.  Does it mean that we believe in the segregation and exclusion that some people assign to this state?  No.  Does it mean we can l...

This is going to be short & sweet b/c it's April, and it's lacrosse season, and I have about a million and one things that have to be done tonight.  Know I have lots of postings rolling around in my head, but not enough hours in the day to sit down and spit them out. :)  With all that & a graduating senior that is just the way it is. Here are a few big things: 1st ~ So proud of my alma mater & my kids' high school!  They raised over $250K for Relay for Life.  That's over a quarter of a million dollars y'all!  Since both of my parents died from different forms of cancer, I'm super excited about how this money will be used for research.  Speaking of research, if you haven't seen the new immuno- treatment breakthroughs for certain kinds of brain tumors & skin cancer, google them.  Exciting things for sure.    2nd ~ I met an amazing young mom of three that has tested positive for the Alzheimer's Dominantly Inherited Gene...

My dad, close to the same age as Hopson is in the picture below. The day my dad passed away he was 44 years, 1 month & 15 days old.  It's amazing how time offers perspective.  A 20 year old sees their 40+ parents as a little aged.  Yeah, they have their moments when you can see them as they were 20 years ago, but they are still old.  Time has made that 44 years seem younger and younger.  I'm sure my kiddos think Hopson & I are older than dirt.  Hopson & I don't make a habit of acting like we did in our 20's in front of our children.  So, I guess in some ways were are old  mature.  :)  I've been thinking about all the different aspects of this for the last few weeks.  I was so distracted by it one day that I may or may not have accidentally run a red light.   February 15th Hopson will be 44 years, 1 month & 15 days old.  The exact age as my dad was May 7, 1992.  The day of his death.  Hop i...

As all moms know, December is CrAzY!  Not only is there the regular schedule to keep up with, but you have added in the seasonal schedule: decorating, cooking, Christmas cards, gift buying & wrapping ~ to just name a few.  Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but instead it turns into the most dreaded & miserable time of the year. Ask me how many people I've heard complain about their extended families & having to spend time with them.  Ask me how I felt last night at the Galleria.  You know what, I felt sad.  I saw unhappy people trying to find gifts for people they don't really like with money they probably don't have.  The whole season gets kicked off with Black Friday which has turned into something ugly & selfish.  I don't want to be that way at Christmas.  I want to feel the love of my family.  I want to laugh and make happy memories.  I want to lavish in the simplicity of the king wh...

How do you measure a year in the life?  Yesterday was 9/11.  Do you remember?  Do you remember where you were that Tuesday 13 years ago?  I do.  It took 102 minutes from start to finish.  102 minutes that have changed everything for the United States of America.  I still can't talk about it without crying.  I'm not from New York and I didn't have a family member killed that day, but my heart hurts just the same.  I so wish I could forget, but our country can never go back.  I imagine this is how my grandparents felt about December 7th.   I watched a special last night on TLC about the 102 minutes.  It was foreboding knowing what was going to happen.  I was heartbroken knowing that the firemen I saw on the screen probably did not make it out of the buildings alive.  I could feel the panic among all the people filming & watching the first tower & then the pandemonium that erupted when the second plane flew int...

Photo creds to andrewcorbett.net AMEN!  Well, something happened today that I never thought would.  But before I tell you what child #1 did, let me preface it with the next paragraph.  Don't skip it, especially if your a momma. You know all the years you spend training your children.  Say yes'mam and no'mam; say please and thank you; put your napkin in your lap; chew with your mouth closed; hold the door open for ladies to enter before you do; hold the door open for the people coming behind you; look people in the eye when speaking to them; speak clearly; give a good firm handshake because no one likes a dead fish grip; excellence in everything...and the list goes on, and on and on.  I'm wondering if the reminders never end, because even when they become young adults (and maybe sometimes middle aged adults) a momma never stops wanting her children to have good manners and act like a normal human being. I witnessed a miracle today!  Hop actually said...

That should be the new motto of my state & city.  I stand in utter amazement this morning as I read about all the acts of kindness.  Is there anything more humbling than being served by someone? There have been pleas on FaceBook to rescue elderly grandparents, children, stranded motorists.  Churches opened their doors; neighbors opened their doors; businesses packed people in.  There were friends who abandoned their cars to start walking home last night, and stopped to rest at restaurants that were slammed with customers.  You know what they did?  They became servers!  How great is that?  (Kim & Jason)  Have hands, will serve. This morning an alert went out that there was a good Samaritan that didn't make it home last night & he was not responding to calls or texts.  He is also diabetic.  Oh yeah, and it dropped down to 17 degrees last night.  SCARY!  You know what a group of people did?  They formed a...

Merry    Happy    Blessed These are all things we wish each other during the Christmas/New Year season.  But sometimes the season is not merry, happy or blessed.  Sometimes it feels quite the opposite.  How well I have felt the opposite. This year I have said goodbye to two men very close to me.  We were not related, but for all intents and purposes we should be.  I have friends who have parents and spouses in the hospital right now hanging on for dear life.  Where is their merry, happy and blessed? From thefeministintellect.com I know where it is.  I know exactly where to look.  I know that despite any circumstances this world throws at us; the merry, happy and blessed happen.  Emmanuel.  God with us.  God with me.  God with Ashley.  God with you too.  He didn't leave us alone to suffer through our hardships.  He came to be with us, always.  The King of Glory shed his ma...

free·dom ˈfrēdəm noun 1 . the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. AMENDMENT I to the US Constitution Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. I love being an American.  I appreciate the opportunities we have in this country.  I appreciate the work our founding fathers put into starting our country and forming our laws.  They were intentional when considering what laws would be included, and what order they would be in our governing documents.  I respect that.  I love that they relied on their Judeo-Christian beliefs to guide them.  Even those who were not Christians, but deists, agnostics, and atheists, recognized the importance of Christian values in our politi...

Can I tell you how afraid I am?  No, I take that back, I'm not afraid...I.AM.TERRIFIED.  I'm terrified for this generation of young adults and teenagers.  I truly believe that social media has made most of them stupid and self-centered.  Yes children, I used the word stupid.  This is calling a spade a spade. Do young people realize that when they post something on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (WOW, y'all & your instagram pics), SnapChat, or any other social media site for that matter, that we can all see what you're posting?  Do you realize that some of your accounts are tied together, so when you post on one, it might cross-post on another?  I really hate SnapChat by the way!  It's shady at best. Do you realize that when you friend me, or I start following you because your account is not private, I will go in and look at stuff you've posted in the past?  To steal a line from one of my favorite radio shows:  "Hey buddy, you're br...

If you haven't heard about the hullabaloo concerning Miley Cyrus, I'm going to assume that you live under a rock. Many have said that it's just sad that we are focused on her than on the other major problems going on in our society right now.  I have spent many hours thinking about the whole sordid affair & this is what I realized. What Miley did was to show us the underlying problem with Hollywood, the music industry & progressives.  (Yes, I'm bringing politics into it.)  You know what the problem is?  Moral relativism.  What MC did was nothing new.  The same thing happened in the ancient societies of Greece & Rome.  Although I doubt the ancient Greeks or Romans had flashing lights, pink plush dancing bears and foam fingers, but they did  have problems with: drugs, abortion, political corruption and many other social problems. Miley showed us the hedonistic, anything goes, just do what feels good to you philosophy propagated by th...

A few nights ago Elizabeth was working on some history homework.  She is in 8th grade & studying ancient history.  She was working very hard on her project & wanted to show it to me.  Yes, wonderful, I love to see your homework and how excited your nerdy self gets.  (that is a compliment by the way, we love nerds in our house.)  As I looked over it & made her correct her spelling errors, I realized that God is in the details. It was a really cool moment for me.  You know the ones where He kinda takes your breath away as He reveals Himself to you.  If you've never had a God moment like that, you need one.  Talk about awesomesauce, well that is it. What God revealed was one particular time on her sheet...the fall of the Babylonian Empire to the Persians in 539 BC.  Yes, that is a pretty innocuous date to us, but do you remember who was living through it & what was going on?  I heard God whisper to me...Daniel.  O.M...

If you want to purchase this book, go here to find it. Just a heads up, this is going to be a rant.  I'm going to be discussing things that are not for children.  I'm disturbed, and since this is the place I come to get things off my chest, here we go. A few years ago Hop took AP Psych as an 11th grader.  Harry will take it this year.  It's a great class, and a great intro in psychology.  I love psych, it's what my degree is in.  (I really loved abnormal psychology.  Partly it was my professor and second it was just plain interesting.)  Hop suggested that I read a book that he read for the class called:   First Person Plural, My Life as a Multiple.   I'm thinking to myself, that sounds like a really interesting book.  I knew people created multiple personalities when something very traumatic happens to them when they are young, but I was not ready for this.  It was interesting, but at the same time very disturbing....