A Word for Wednesday

"Fame is a pearl many dive for and only a few bring up. 

Even when they do, it is not perfect, and they sigh for more, 

and lose better things in struggling for them."

~from Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott~

Casual Fridays

Another Friday, another casual post. And how about making this one a Photo-Prompted Post since it's been a couple weeks and lots of stuff has been going on, ok? Good. 

First up: the Major. I feel like I haven't put up as many pictures of him as I have of the Colonel because he always just looks like a big black shadow whenever I try to snap a photo. But he's just the sweetest most lovable puppy in the world. He's every bit as big as Colonel now, and I think he's still got some growing left to do yet. He'd eat everything (including my ChapStick--remember when Colonel did that? what is it with puppies and ChapStick?!) and then keep going if we'd let him. He's the best. You should meet him.

This was back from St. Patrick's Day a.k.a (and more importantly) Danette's birthday! We surprised her with a little party at Manny's, and y'all, you've never seen true joy if you haven't seen this chick being surprised by her two nieces coming all the way from Tallahassee a day early and showing up at her school. I only saw a video of it myself, but it was too. good. Think green mullet and two cute blondes. Anyway, I love these ladies and I love this picture. iPhones for the win, amiright?!

Thought you were going to make it out of here without a photo collage or two? Think again. Collages are a game changer for our Photo-Prompted Posts in a fabulous way. Instead of posting 11 individual pictures for a specific event: voila! Collage it and now maybe you'll actually make it to the end of this post without quitting or hating me. Anyway, this is Gatorland! We took our Guard girls there on March 19th, and yes, those are real gators, you guys. And they were everywhere. This was actually my very first visit to Gatorland, and I can't believe I've never been before. Even though we got rained on, the girls had a fabulous time, and I have to admit, I want to go back and try out their (apparently) world-famous zipline. Cody thinks I'm totally crazy 'cause ain't no way brother's gonna' be suspended by a string over a multitude of hungry gators. But I'm down to try it. As long as I'm not suspended over any snakes which, as you can see if you look to the bottom right of our collage, ain't got nothin' on Miss Mary. Those same guys tried to put two gigantic, hairy, disgusting tarantulas on me (and no, I'm not kidding), but they picked the wrong girl for that trick. I was back to my seat in about 6 seconds flat and they got some willing sucker to hold those nasty things. #notthiswhitegirl  #notever

Y'all. Apparently, Colonel is just as big of an Austen fan as I am. I had been lying (laying?) on the floor reading with Colonel nearby (like he always is), and I got up to get a tissue because allergies, and when I turn around, this is what I see. I can't even. How sweet is he?!

Speaking of allergies, it rained a whole bunch last week, and I haven't been suffering very much at all anymore. All the praise hands! And the weather this week has been perfect. Cool in the mornings and evenings and sunny with a breeze during the day. It's what I like to call Be Out In It Weather and believe me, I have. I've pretty much just been coming in to sleep. #floridagirlforeverrrr

Umm...the most recent bag of carrots I bought has been a little funky. As in: every handful I've grabbed has included 2 or 3 of these mutant, siamese carrots. Should I be concerned? 

So I've instituted a monthly Girls Movie Night at my house, and I can always count on these two to stay till they have to wake me up and tell me they're leaving. It's been so fun, and I hope we can keep it up because every girl needs girl time, and really, how am I ever supposed to break in to the twenty-first century without girlfriends to teach me how to snapchat?

Am I doing it right?

This past weekend was Living Proof Live in Miami. I've been looking forward to this since they posted the schedule for this year, and I bought my early-bird ticket about as soon as they went on sale. Up till just a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd be going all by my lonesome, but I finally convinced this girl that she needed to come with me, and I'm so glad she did. I can honestly echo the same words I used last year when I told you about Living Proof Live in Tampa: it was a powerful, Spirit-filled weekend of edification and worship. This time around, Ms. Beth brought us some lessons from the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 and challenged us to pray for GIANT DEFIANT faith. I'm so thankful for special pockets of focused time geared specifically toward worshipping our Mighty God, and I'm also thankful for sweet sisters in Christ, especially Amy. The recap video for this particular event can be found here, and did you notice our little secret Siesta photo? There were only 6 of us this year! We each got to hug Ms. Beth's sweet neck and chat with her for a couple minutes. How fun! #becausecheese #insidejoke #1samuel17:18

Because can you get enough of my dogs? I can't. This is a new favorite picture of them. Since our new house is almost completely carpeted, they love to lie (lay?) on the little square of tiles at the front door or in one of the bathrooms to keep cool while we're all just relaxing inside, but I caught them like this on the linoleum in the kitchen the other night. I think this picture might give me diabetes it's just so stinkin' sweet. 

Have you had just about enough yet? We're almost done, I promise.

Speaking of precious sisters in Christ, one of mine just handed my husband and me an envelope on Sunday completely out of the blue, and inside was my new favorite thing. An American flag ChapStick keychain. Which I can only assume she made. And it even had a brand new tube of lip balm in it. Y'all. Remember how excited I was when I found this one? It doesn't even compare to this new one, mostly because it wasn't made especially for me by such a thoughtful, praying lady. Thank you, Miss Rhonda! I absolutely love it!

I started a new Bible study this week, and I'm really excited about the study and the group of women I'll be studying alongside of. This is the first Bible study I've ever done by Jennifer Rothschild, and she is just as sweet as sugar. I can tell I'm going to love it. The very first day of homework already had me crying some tender tears. What a blessing to have God's Word in my own two hands and to see His unfailing love for His own on every page! Hallelujah!

Alright. Last one. Just me and my boys soaking up that gorgeous Florida sunshine this week. Lookin' a hot mess per usual. If you made it all the way down to this, I congratulate you. Tell me what's going on with you! And if you can figure out how to leave your own photo in the comments, all the better. Have a fantastic weekend!

Because of This

We live in a broken world. 

It's hard to have hope when every news story we read brings another report of horrifying terrorism and our best presidential candidates are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. 

It's hard to believe in any good thing when human life holds no value and marriage is talked about and treated like a big joke.

It's hard to live in peace when people are so hateful to each other and spew ugly, angry words without a single thought to the pain they're inflicting on another living, breathing person and the undoable damage they've just done.

It's hard to love through all of that. Hard to be content. Hard to find joy.

But then I read these precious, life-altering, mind-shattering, love-inducing words:

"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 

But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 

Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 

And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 

'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! 

Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, "The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."' 

And they remembered His words."

Luke 24:1-8 (NKJV)

Jesus is alive! He is not, has not, and will never be limited by this broken world. And someday, He's coming back to make everything right. 

Because of this, I have hope (1 Peter 1:3). 

Because of this, I have good news (1 Corinthians 15). 

Because of this I have peace (Philippians 4:6-7). 

I can love through it all (1 John 4:7-11), be content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13), possess joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:7-9).

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Casual Fridays

Well hello there! I realize I haven't been the most faithful with the posts lately. So today I've decided to dedicate our Casual Friday to telling you all the reasons I haven't been around. Sound good?

Excuses For Being Totes M.I.A. From Blog-Land Lately

1) Did you catch the very end of this post where I casually mentioned that we bought a house? It's true. We're homeowners now, and this is definitely the biggest reason I haven't been keeping up with blogging. I've been unpacking, unpacking, unpacking, and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Cody and I have moved 4 times in less than 4 years of marriage together, and I'm optimistically expecting this to be the last time (at least for a very, very long time). I absolutely love my little house o' dreams, and I hope we never leave it. Happily, I think all my boys have completely assimilated to our new home and want to stay, too.

2) Because of this gigantic life change, I haven't exactly been tearing through my book list. I think there was a week or two where I didn't even read at all. I haven't touched The Good Girl's Guide or In Their Own Voices since I mentioned them in this post, but I did decide that it was time for something friendly and familiar so I'm about halfway through Sense and Sensibility. Which I have to say is a lovely break from all the craziness that is moving. Why is this an excuse? Because this blog is supposed to be about what I'm reading, and I haven't been reading.

3) My husband let me buy a piano! We finally have room for one, so I got on craigslist and contacted several different people, saw and played a few, and finally found one that has been loved and taken care of that I thought was perfect. So all the spare minutes (and some of the not-so-spare ones) find me sitting at the keys, fumbling my way through all my old music. #bliss

4) I've been helping out a friend with one of her sweet little munchkins quite a bit these last couple of weeks and who wants to blog when you can play with a baby? Not me. 

5) Naps. Because priorities, amiright? Most days over the past month, when I finally get a second to sit down and take a breath, I think to myself, "I guess I could try and crank out a blog post." And then two hours later...I wake up. To make matters worse, enter Daylight Savings Time. I'm a night owl by nature, so losing an hour has screwed with me in an ugly way. I'm getting to bed later (in fact, it's 1:52 AM at the time I'm writing this post), but I still have to actually get up in the morning. What a cruel trick. #napsforthewin #nappingisbetterthanblogging

So there you have it. Excuses for my blog-silence. These could also be dubbed "Excuses For Not Cooking Dinner" or "Excuses For Running Out of Milk". I hope you'll forgive me. Thankfully, my husband sure has. What have you been up to lately?

P.S. By the way, apparently, several of you shared this post and (except for my giveaway) it quickly became my most-viewed post of all time. So thanks for sharing and thank you to everyone who approached me with kind things to say about it. I truly appreciate all the prayers and love!

Casual Fridays

Well, my brother and husband just made me watch A Walk to Remember with them, and I've cried out all the fluids in my body. I need to hydrate. I have such a love-hate relationship with that film. It's so good. But it gives me so many feelings. Let's talk about some happy things. 

First of all, how about a collage of our latest Busch Gardens adventure? Yay! for friends with passes!

01/30/16

We went last Saturday with Jon and Sydney, and as it turns out, Busch Gardens is even more fun when you go with friends. Especially for my husband because he finally had someone to ride Sheikra with. Because no matter how much he tries to talk me into it, I just can't. The more I watch that rollercoaster, the more terrifying it looks. In that picture of Sheikra on the right side of the collage, Cody and Jon are in the front row, enjoying their death-defying drop to the fullest. More power to you, guys. Sydney and I will stick with Kumba which all of us rode three times, by the way. What a fun day! Thanks for letting us tag along, you two! 

And now I just have to talk about yesterday because I had the greatest day. My husband let me skip off to the beach for the day all by myself. No dogs, no housework, no responsibilities. I've mentioned before that the beach is my happy place, so yesterday was really the best gift ever. 

02/04/16

This day was just perfect. It involved several of my "happy" things, and can I just say that never have I been more #happy to live in a state where the first week of February is beach weather?! #Floridagirlforlife

There was one dark spot in my day though. I don't know if I've ever told y'all this, but I hate birds. In 9th grade, I was made to watch the movie Birds (the Alfred Hitchcock HORROR FILM--why I was made to watch this in school is beyond me...then again, I was also made to watch Sybil...public school, amiright?!). Anyway, ever since I saw that movie, I've had a healthy apprehension around most winged creatures. Yesterday, as I was sitting in my most favorite place on earth, eating my most favorite beach snack (celery & peanut butter), an overly-bold seagull swooped down from behind me and snatched a piece of celery, already smothered in peanut butter, right out of my hand with his beak just before I popped it in my mouth. You guys. I didn't even see him coming. It was awful. I was so stunned, I didn't even move. I think my heart actually stopped. But you know what? The joke's on him because he got his beak covered in peanut butter, and he couldn't even eat it. I got immense satisfaction watching him struggle to get that peanut butter off his beak. So there.

If you'll also direct your attention to the bottom left corner of the Beach Day collage, you'll notice I'm reading The Last of the Mohicans. Which, consequently, is the reason I haven't been blogging. I can't stop reading this book, y'all. It's so good. Hopefully I can finish it this weekend and get back to normal life because I can't put it down and my dogs and house are ready for me to get back into the swing of things around here. 

Speaking of my house, I came home from my already-perfect day at the beach yesterday to a sparkling clean kitchen (which is really a big deal considering the absolute wreck it was before I left) and a vase full of the most gorgeous roses I've ever seen. #ohyeshedid

Oh and my husband called me his "bae". We're such grownups. But seriously though. Aren't those the prettiest roses you've ever seen? They're like, a coral color. So, so beautiful. All you husbands out there, here's a free tip: spoil your wife the week before Valentine's Day. She will not expect it, and you will get major brownie points. And if you think you lucked out because you have a wife who doesn't care about Valentine's Day, you're wrong. She does. I'm right about this, trust me. And read this, because it's so true and makes my point better than I can. 

Well, that's all I've got for today. Okay fine, I just want to go back to reading The Last of the Mohicans. Sue me. I hope your February is off to a fabulous start!

What movies always make you cry no matter what? (I have an entire list, believe me.) Do you have a secret animal phobia? What's the greatest thing about your home state (or town...or country...or wherever you live)?

Remember Your Happy

A couple of Mondays ago, Ashley over at Little Miss Momma (another one of those blogs I compulsively follow) posted a list of 25 things "guaranteed to bring her joy". She challenged anyone reading her list to make one of their own before the grind of the week set in. Remember your happy, she called it.

Doesn't that seem right? Before the busy gets you, pausing, smiling, and thanking God for the little things? 

Seems right to me, so that's what I'm doing this Monday morning. Here's my list of happy.

- one -

kisses on the shoulder

- two -

flowers growing along the side of a highway

- three -

my parents still so in love after 30 years of marriage

- four -

a comfortable old pair of jeans

- five -

carving pumpkins in October

- six -

taking back roads

- seven -

sliding into freshly laundered sheets after a long day

- eight -

spontaneous date nights

- nine -

the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at my church

- ten -

being in the same place at the same time with all three of my siblings

- eleven -

when the air smells like orange blossoms

- twelve -

watching a favorite movie snuggled under a blanket on a rainy day

- thirteen -

getting letters from our Compassion girls

- fourteen -

running barefoot through the sprinklers on a hot summer day

- fifteen -

reading an old verse with fresh eyes

- sixteen -

dancing in the kitchen

- seventeen -

reading a book that's an old friend for the umpteenth time

- eighteen -

candles that burn down to the very bottom

- nineteen -

making and keeping family traditions

- twenty -

cold, crunchy celery and peanut butter at the beach

- twenty-one -

when a smile reaches all the way up to someone's eyes

- twenty-two -

Colonel laying on my feet while I do the dishes

- twenty-three -

cranking my favorite playlist and driving with the windows down on Highway 60

- twenty-four -

coming home

- twenty-five -

making Cody genuinely laugh

What's your happy?

Feeling Seussy

We're pretty big into Dr. Seuss around here, so don't be surprised if every now and then, you stumble onto a Seussy post. 

One of our more recent acquisitions is Bartholomew and the Oobleck. This was one of my Christmas presents from Cody. (How many times do I gotta say it? The man gets me.) One of my all time favorite Dr. Seuss books is The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Bartholomew and the Oobleck is about the same little boy in the same Kingdom of Didd with the same crazy King Derwin.

In this adventure, King Derwin nearly ruins his kingdom because he gets bored with the same four things that always come down from the sky (rain, sunshine, fog, and snow), and he orders his royal magicians to make something new come down (against the better judgment and advice of Bartholomew Cubbins). 

This is a fantastic story about contentment and the magic of saying the simple words "I'm sorry." I would highly recommend it.

My favorite line from the book is, "'You may be a mighty king,' he said. 'But you're sitting in oobleck up to your chin. And so is everyone else in your land. And if you won't even say you're sorry, you're no sort of a king at all!'" 

We all have times when something is all our fault and we need to apologize. Instead of trying to think up some elaborate, elegant excuse or exquisitely worded explanation, sometimes a simple "I'm sorry" is the best thing we can say. Besides, if you won't even say you're sorry, you're no sort of a person at all.

Do you have a favorite Dr. Seuss book?