A few of my favorite things...

My Thanksgiving without the Gobble Gobble..No Turkey!

My Thanksgiving holiday was a different sort of holiday than normal. My brother had to be on call from 5 pm to 5 am on Thanksgiving day, so we headed to Nashville to make sure he wasn't left out of the celebrating. We spent most of the morning traveling. On the trip over I indulged on Sarah Palin's new book "Going Rogue." I fascinated by this amazing woman who had a very ordinary life yet took what God gave her and created a very successful political career. She didn't let anything or anyone get in her way. She used her common sense to get things done and did a lot to help the people around her. So inspiring. I was totally motivated to shake things up a little in my own life. I even stuck with it during the political sections that I know very little about.. all things Sarah.. that's what I"m all about. We arrived in Nashville around noon and went to the restaurant we had planned on.. only to find there was a 2 HOUR WAIT!! We were all shocked over the gobs of people who were eating out on Thanksgiving. Kinda sad actually. Anyway.. we settled on Cracker Barrell.. even though that too, was an hour long wait. It was a fun memory.. something different. I had a homestyly sampler with ham, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings and three kinds of veggies.. including turnip greens of course. =) After the traditional stuffing of our bellies.. we headed over to the Opryland hotel where we had reservations for that night. ONce we checked in and figured out the labrynth of halls and dead ends.. we settled into our room briefly then trecked to find a parking spot on the opposite side of the hotel. We spent the evening walking around the beautifully decorated hotel. It's a wonder at Christmas.. One of the prettier parts was the life-sized manger scene outside. The figures looked like they were carved out of marble. It was good to see the birth of Christ honored despite the society around us continually getting further and further away from christianity. Jonathan got a call to go into work and dad went along with him, so mom and I settled into the room and watched a tear jerker of a movie. The next morning we set on our 7 hour journey to Chicago. Most of the trip was through the heartland of Kentucky and Indiana. I always love to people watch in those tiny little towns on the route.. It is truely a cultural experience to experience all the mulletts and poorly put together outfits. I even encountered a camo-clad gentleman staggering down the sidewalk drunk. I didn't know whether to help him or run away. ( it was around 1:00 pm- sad) After reading more about Sarah P. and a laptop movie or two later.. we arrived at Grandpa's. He just broke all of our hearts this trip. He keeps getting smaller and smaller and his quality of life is so poor. He even got confused several times, forgetting that we were visiting. He woke up one night thinging we were burglers. He really needs to be in a home, but his stubborn nature keeps him in the state he's in. I just hope he doesn't hurt himself.

Friday we celebrated Christmas early after a heart-attack causing brunch. My uncle Mark and dad did a lot of the prepping in the kitchen. It was cute! The two men of the family making breakfast for all. After our bellies were bloated from Mark's special "hash cookies", sausage and eggs made in ziploc bags (that's right- a little creepy) we sat around Grandpa's tiny living room and shared what we are thankful for then bridged the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas by sharing our favorite Christmas memory. This was a wonderful new tradition started by none other than my mother. Grandpa.. bless his heart.. just didn't get the gist of it and started sharing a word from the Lord. We were, of course, blessed by it, but when we asked him for his favorite memory.. he just went right back into preacher mode. While it was typical Grandpa, it was also sad that he didn't understand what we were asking him to do.

After laying around lazily, I just had to move.. mom and I went to the mall for a few Christmas gifts. It was good to get out. After church with grandpa and our traditional Pepe's for lunch, we packed our too small for 4 adult Toyota camry and headed back to Memphis. The normally 7.5 hour trip to Nashville turned into about 12 because people in Kentucky and Indiana seem not to know how to drive on slick roads. We got stopped by several wrecks. I tried to finish Sarah's book, but was cut short by and early darkness. I totally forgot my book light. So I settled for watching "The Holiday" and then one of my favorites: "Madea Goes to Jail" I just can't get enough Madea. A great trip. We got home around 2:30 am and I was more than happy to slide into my own larger and cleaner bed. Thank goodness for cleanliness. (Grandpa's house just isn't the standard of clean we are used to). I am thankful for my family with our many differences.. we are still close to them and always enjoy getting together. I am truely blessed.

Baahaahahahahahaha!!

This cheered up my dreary Monday.. I hope it does yours too!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Little Happys (is that how you spell it?)

Interesting observation for the day.. for some reason, today, as well as about this time last week.. I have been very easily amused.. almost giddy. There are no blatent reasons for me to be in such a happy mood. Nothing has really changed.. I'm still waiting and praying through some of the same things, but I just have to say it's gotta be the joy of the Lord. I think a lack of sleep would help too.. but the better theory is the Joy of the Lord. It's what I pray for and I hope it exudes from me. I love a good serious convo.. but I can also be very very silly. Although this week has been a little slow and uneventful.. I"ve had some happy moments.. Monday .. yeah.. can't even remember.. Tuesday was my Beth Moore bible study.. always a happy time.. Wednesday I had lunch at one of my fav. Greek restaurants with my dear friend Raegan who I hadn't seen in a while. That night was my very first rehearsal for show choir. We are doing a very large, Broadway style Christmas musical this year and I am a part of the singin' and dancin' group. The singin' I can handle, but the dancin' is a whole different story! I didn't have too much of a hard time with the half of the song we learned last night. However, the steps she was teaching us toward the end made my head spin! If God can part the red sea, he can help me get down some footwork! ha! Today has been an extremely slow day and so everything has entertained and amused me. My friend Jessie sent me this AMAZING U Tube video. It's a commercial for a flea market and it's this big black dude rappin'.. but it's more of an 80's white boy rap and it was the funniest thing I've ever seen!! I'm sure he totally made it up himself. I was laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face and my abs were hurting. Later on I would picture my friends that I e-mailed it to watching it and I started a fit of laughing all over. Then Diane and I would sing the lyrics and would laugh all over! I love it when I receive the gift of an amazingly awesome U Tube! I posted it to FACEBOOk and wished all my friends a better day. This will surely make everyone's day better! I had lunch with my friend Amy and her 3 week old baby girl Adelyn looking on (literally she was sleeping on the table). Tomorrow is another normal work day , an RFKC fundraiser with Gospel Singin' to boot and then I'll head off on part 1 of my two part trip to Knoxville to visit my new niece Lizzie Sagraves and her mom Kerri. I can't wait!! So for now.. my day is happy because of the sheer joy of the Lord, lunchtime with dear sweet friends and a cheesy rap commercial.. Life is good!!

The old is gone...

A wonderful friend of mine sent this devo to me and this pretty much sums up the prayer of my heart these days. I want exactly this. It's not about God's blessings.. just him. Putting aside our fleshly desires and allowing him to do a new thing in us. I keep hearing him whisper that to me.. "behold, I do a new thing…" Wow! If only I could get to this point! Be challenged today friends.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is not a bit of the old order left, the old solemnity goes, the old attitude to things goes, and "all things are of God." How are we going to get the life that has no lust, no self-interest, no sensitiveness to pokes, the love that is not provoked, that thinketh no evil, that is always kind? The only way is by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God's blessings, but only want Himself. Have we come to the place where God can withdraw His blessings and it does not affect our trust in Him? When once we see God at work, we will never bother our heads about things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in Heaven Whom the world cannot see.

"Puppy Size" - It's real!

I have gotten this same adorable e-mail several times about a little girl who visits an animal shelter time and time again to find just the right puppy. Over and over she visits, but has no luck in choosing the one for her. She makes the comment several times that she is looking for the "puppy size" Her mother and the shelter workers believe that she is taking about the actual size of the puppy. One day she finally picks up her last puppy and says:

"'Mom, that's it! I found the right puppy! He's the one!
I know it!' She screamed with joy. 'It's the puppy size!' 'But it's the same size as all the other puppies you
held over the last few weeks,' Mom said. 'No not size. The sighs. When I held him in my arms,
he sighed,' she said. 'Don't you remember? When I
asked you one day what love is, you told me love
depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you
love, the bigger the sigh!'"

I am a huge sap and this story always touches my heart. I decided that I would check out this "puppy size" theory on my own precious
dog Asher. I went home at lunch and was sitting on the chair doing my Esther bible study. Asher jumped right up and found the crook in my legs to snuggle. That prescious dog sighed like 5 or six times.. he loves so much! I knew it when I picked him.. when I went to get him I had the choice between him and his brother. Asher (then Fanta) was the first one I picked up. We immediately bonded. When I set him back in the pen to hold the other dog (who was sniffing something in the corner) prescious little Asher put his front paws up on the side of the pen and looked up at me. It was like he was saying "pick me! – I love you the most already" And I did. He picked me too! So now that I have maxed out my sap for the day.. I will go on to think of snuggling and hugs and have a wonderful day!

The Expert

I was watching fox news last night and they had a body language expert on. When I flipped thorough she was analyzing Nancy Pelosi and her interview about the 3 republican wins in recent elections. She was saying it was all good, when actually, according to the body language expert, she was not. The expert was zoning in on every move, every tone and every way that she darted her eyes, moved her head and stiffened her neck. It was fascinating. Maybe I should become a body language expert.. my life may be a little easier. Knowing how to read people could be a huge blessing and save me a lot of time and heartache with people..however.. It may be the biggest curse ever!! I may read too much. Think about it.. what would the world be like if everyone was a body language expert?! Yikes!! I wonder if Obama would have gotten into office.. I wonder if we would be embracing Islam or admiring and worshipping so many celebrities. I wonder if we would get hurt as much or be as scarred. I guess the Lord didn't give us this natural ability for a very specific reason. Or.. If I could turn it off and on for certain people and certain occasions.. that would be great! Just let your imagine run now.. and have a great day!