Junior Auxiliary Sweet Charity Ball

I know these pics don't really tell a great story....   BUT.... We have been so preoccupied with so many things.... Which include but are not limited to, the possibility of moving into a new (to us) house. Or building. What a stressful life dilemma! 

Asking for a lil' help from my friends.....

Okay, guys. If you know me, you know my heart is involved 110% in missions. Our church provides us with many opportunities to go and fulfill the Great Commission. I have the opportunity and privilege to go on 2 different mission trips-- IF I can raise the funds. The first is a similar trip as to what we did last summer-- take our families and reach out to the needy here in our beloved United States. We went to Kentucky last year, and this year we will be going to Kentucky again, in a different area. I also have the opportunity to go to Nicaragua. Many of you know that I've been twice, and both times I have left a piece of my heart behind. This trip is not cheap. It costs $2,000 out of pocket. I haven't been since 2010 and I desperately miss walking on soil that is poverty stricken-- both physically and spiritually. I desire to be a disciple and go forth and spread the name of Jesus just as He commanded. Many of you are not physically able to go on mission trips, but perhaps you have the desire to still help. In order to raise funds, I'm selling these shirts for $22. It may seem steep, but it's a small price to pay. You can be a disciple of Christ and fulfill his command to "go forth" just by giving and helping those of us hoping to go to foreign soil, where the love of Christ desperately needs to be shown. 

If you are interested in ordering, please let me know. Like Girl Scout cookies, I have to know what to order, and you pay me once they arrive. 

Thank you so much!!!

Comment or email me, please!

Throwback Thursday

Today I'm throwing it back to 2007. This picture is after I finished the Chicago Marathon. It was a disastrous turn of events that year, as there was a heat wave in October in Chicago, and the event organizers were poorly prepared and ran out of water. Cops were yelling at runners to stop and not finish the marathon. But dangit. I did a lot of emotional healing that year. I had worked hard and sweated in places I didn't even know existed on my body. Nobody was going to stop me from crossing that finish line. They could arrest me if they wanted...... AFTER I crossed the finish line. This picture represents a thousand  silent things. My life had hit rock bottom the year before and I was in a dark, DARK place that I wouldn't wish on anyone. The day I earned this medal was the day I set a lot of demons free. I proved to myself that life was still worth living.... and even though I still struggle with a few inner demons that remain to this day, I will NEVER be the person in this picture. Life has been good to me. I've been blessed with so much more than I ever deserve. 

So proud of this fellow. He loves the Scouts and has dedicated himself to earning badges and preparing himself to enter the next phase of Boy Scouts! 

Spring....

Every year I look forward to the closing of Christmas season like I would look forward to a funeral march. Not only is it such a big deal in my family, the way we celebrate Christmas and spend time making memories with our kids, it also always marks the end of a page. Another year is waiting around the bend and January and it's lack of seasonal festivities looms over us. Suddenly the lights go out, the wrapping paper is miles away in the landfill, and no one wants to look at turkey again for quite some time. It's back to the dieting and the resolutions. Back to everyone complaining about winter and the cold and the wet. 

I am one of those few who actually enjoy the winter months. After Christmas it actually does me good to curl up with a good book on a cold, damp day and drink a cup of coffee to go with it. I do not like the summer months.  The sweat, the Mosquitos, the humidity, the AGONY of a typical southern summer. No, thank you!!!! 

However, spring and fall are 2 seasons that I think we can all agree to LOVE. In fall you have the dropping temps to relieve us of the smothering dog days of summer, the rush you get passing through a small town on a Friday night and seeing the high school football stadium lit up like the middle of the day. The leaves changing all sorts of indescribable reds and oranges and yellows. It's just a beautiful time of year with a cooler crispness in the air and the holidays approaching. 

Spring is almost polar opposite from the fall (and there is no pun there because I wasn't referring to temps). The warmth in the air is there to revive the many souls who loathe the coldness, wetness, and unpredictably of the winter season. Colors emerge that are a sight for sore eyes. Pinks, greens, white, corals. Pollen coats our cars in yellow dust as things awaken from their winter slumber. Everything in the air just feels...... Different. Even different from the beauty of fall. Birds chirp louder, neighborhood dogs bark more enthusiastically, and there's no denying the smell of a freshly mowed lawn. The air around spring feels alive. If it could talk you'd hear a lot of gentle whispering. The sun even comes alive with a warmth that is unforgiving just a couple of months down the road. But the sun on a typical spring day is hypnotizing. It's capable of even putting one in a trance. The kind of trance that finds you in a hammock in the backyard with a cold beverage of choice and a good book. Or maybe just the sounds of your own thoughts as you listen to nature come back to life slowly. 

No. I'm not looking forward to summer. Big hair, boob sweat, leather upholstery in a hot car, Mosquitos, sweating in crevices of your body you didn't know could even sweat..... No thank you. It's not for me. Summer brings me 2 pleasurable things: flip-flops and tomatoes--- homegrown tomatoes. (Nothing like a tomato sandwich on white bread and loaded with Blue Pate mayo! A southern delicacy.)

But for now, I'll enjoy the beauty of spring. (Although, here in the south, Mr. Winter is surely not through with us yet, as he's very unpredictable like that around here!) I'll enjoy seeing my curtains flapping in the breeze of the open windows, hearing the neighbor crank up his zero-turn and taking it for a spin. And unlike fall and football, I'll enjoy the soccer being played, and the smell of the freshness in the air and enjoying the warmth of the sunshine before she becomes unforgiving and unlovable.