Safely Through Another Year!

There is an old church hymn that says.....Safely through another week, God has brought us on our way. Well, we are almost (just a few more hours)through another year. This has been the year of change here with the most changes coming to the house. We replaced the hot water heaters, the two air conditioners, almost all the flooring in the entire house and remodeled a bathroom. We still need to have the house painted but it is looking much better.

I pray that 2010 will be another year of change for us, as we strive to become better Christians, better parents, better friends and better co-workers. May the Lord bless us all with the ability to change for the better.

Want to win a computer?

Mckmama is giving away a touch screen computer, quick go enter!

Serenity Prayer

I am not sure I had ever seen this poem in its entirety before but ran across it today and thought I would share:

The Serenity Prayer
Path

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Twelve years ago, I woke early in the morning....took a picture of my big swollen belly and headed to the hospital for a C-section. A few hours later she was here....a beautiful little girl, the answer to many prayers.

She had a pumpkin head, perfectly round (it measured in the 95%) and a red mark between her eyes (we have always said that is where the angel kissed her goodbye). From the very beginning she captured her Mama and Daddy's heart and especially the hearts of her grandparents. As the days progressed she really did become our little pumpkin as she suffered from jaundice but soon she was back to a more pinkish coloring.

It is hard to believe it has been 12 years since she came into our lives in some ways it seems the blink of an eye and in other ways it seems she has always been with us.

I hope she knows how much her Mama and Daddy love her. I hope she knows that we will always be there for her no matter what. I hope she knows that God loves her more and that He will always be there for her too! I hope she understands that tough times never last but tough people do. I hope she knows that being tough isn't being mean. I hope she loves and laughs hard.

She is a beautiful girl with an equally beautiful heart and in case you don't know:


WE LOVE HER A LOT!

Football Season Continues

Looks like the Cowboys are trying to get out of the vacuum business....Good for them but the Aggies are trying for a Vacuum Superstore or something! Come on Ags!!!

Boo Hoo

Come on Guys! You are breaking a Texas Aggie's heart here!

Rejoice!

If you follow me on FB, you have already heard this but for those of you that are not on FB. Today as I was engaging in some retail therapy to help celebrate that Sept. is my birthday month, I lost one of my favorite earrings. It was a silver dangle with a purple stone. My husband and I had purchased them in Hawaii and gave them to my Mom. When Mom passed away, I started wearing the earrings...every time I wore anything purple. Both my Mom and I loved the color purple, so it makes me really happy to wear these earrings....even though I don't usually wear silver. Anyway, while trying on clothes I realized I had lost one of them. We looked all over the store and when we did not discover the earring, I left my name and phone number in case it turned up.

I was really pretty depressed because I was not 100% sure I had lost it in that particular store and knew it was gone forever if I had lost it in the Mall that I had visited just before going to this store. The family went out to the hardware store to pick up some paint tonight and when I got home there was a message on the answering machine saying they had found my earring.

So...Rejoice with me, for that which was lost has been found!

Just Monkeying Around!

Thought a change was in order. We are all crazier than a barrel of monkeys so thought the blog should reflect that! Hope to get my last two rooms of carpet completed tomorrow afternoon, so we can finally get everything put back where it belongs. School begins here on Monday. Daughter is not happy but Mama is very happy! Daughter is high maintenance and Mama is rather laid back.....it has been a long summer!

Tomorrow AM we take a tour of the Middle school and learn all the ends and outs of having a 6th grader.

All the other Monkeys have gone to bed so it's my turn now. C U L8R!

Just Monkeying

Oldie but Goodie!

We have two ends with a common link,
with one we sit, with one we think.
Success depends on which we use,
Heads we win, tails we lose!

Life Goes On.....Even When It's 100+ Outside

I don't know how it is where you are but here it is HOT, HOT, HOT! Did I meantion that is is HOT here?

It has been a busy few weeks housewise here. We have had ceramic tile placed in our laundry room, garage entry way, guest bath and upstairs bath. I can now say there is no vinyl in my house. We had the dry wall guy come out and patch several holes in the wall. We found a huge on behind the cabinet in the guest bath when we removed it to have the tile installed, since the new sink vanity sits up on legs we needed to have the wall fixed and we finally had the hole from the dryer vent problem repaired. Lastly we had new carpet installed all the house. Except that they measured wrong and did not have enough carpet to finish the job, so we are waiting on ordered carpet so they can finish up.

We still have a lot of work to do to put the house back together and finish the renovations to the guest bath but things are looking much better around here. It makes me SMILE!

Praying for Stellan!

Poor little Stellan is back in the hospital again and not doing well, please pray for him and his family!

In Case You Were Wondering.....

Those of you who follow me on Facebook, already know that last week my totally well behaved and trained dog, Maggie chewed up my $6000 Cochlear Implant Processor! Fortunately when I got the implant they gave me two different processors....a dark brown one to match my hair (at the time at least) and a lighter colored one that was closer to my skin color. The first picture is my remaining processor, so you can see what it looks like when it is in one piece.


The next two pictures are what we found on the floor.







GRRRRRRRRR!

Jon and Kate plus 8

It all just makes me so sad!

Praying For Stellan

Baby Stellan is back in the hospital with SVT, they are trying a new combination of drugs to stop it. MckMama could sure use your prayers right now, as I know this is super hard on her. So please pray for Stellan and his family!

Is it really too much to ask?

I don't think anyone even reads my blog anymore so I am going to take this opportunity to RANT! Is it really too much to ask that service people treat you honestly and fairly? We recently replaced both our A/C units in our house with top of the line equipment. We spent a LOT of money on these units. Think 5 figures, nice new car-- now you are in the ballpark with me on how much money we spent!

We did not have to buy these units, we could have had the old one fixed (only one was having a problem) for about 1/10th of what the new ones cost us. But we liked the A/C company, we felt the guy was treating us fairly and we decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and replace both units.

Part of the reason we bought the more expensive units is because of the rebates being offered by the A/C company. They offered us enough back to make it worth it to wade off into this and buy the upgraded equipment! Yep, you guessed it.... now they don't want to pay and the guy is saying he never promised us the money. Even though we have it in writing. They want to give us substantially less than they promised us.

We have been fair with this company, always pay our bills. We have paid them a service fee every month for the last 3 or 4 years to have a service contract with them on our A/C units. They already have payment in full for these A/C units and are now lying to keep from giving us the rebates they promised us (in writing)

I feel like everytime I have a service person into my home I must be holding up a big sign that says....."Please take advantage of me, please overcharge me, please do a shody job, please call me a liar when I expect you to honor your agreements"
Even the companies that advertise they are "Christians" have done this to us!

We need to have our carpet replaced and some tile work done but I am so afraid of being taken advantage of that I don't want to have it done!

Dirty Dog

Whenever we board our dog, she reverts to a wild dog. She channels her canine heritage back to a time when dogs roamed the land freely and gave themselves over to their natural passions for rolling in the dirt and other canine pursuits. Within seconds of arriving at the boarding kennel, our little princess goes from being white to: These pictures came out kind of dark but she is almost the color of the sofa which is a cocoa color, or a mocha (a deep tan color) She has a great time at the kennel, running with the other dogs rolling in the dirt but once she comes home, Mama insists that she revert back to the city dog that we know and love.



Several baths and a trip to the groomer and we have the white princess back:

Swine Flu?

(pig courtesy of freeclipartisland.com)

I am not trying to make light of a serious subject but I read that Swine flu is actually a combination of a Bird flu and a Swine flu. As my hubby pointed out....I guess that means that Pigs really can Fly!

Today is a gift....

Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift....that is why it is called the present!

There is some arguements as to who actually wrote this and I think Joan Rivers did a version of it but it dates way back. You can read more about it here

Facebook Addiction!

You know you might have a Facebook Addiction when the error message that "your account is unavailable, try again in a few hours" sends you into a panic. Suddenly you start to breath a little faster, and your heart begins to pound and your imagination runs away from you! What if little Miss Jane Doe does something cute and I am not there to see the pictures during the first 30 seconds after they are posted? What if the youth minister posts one of his corny jokes that I never laugh at anyway? What if one of the teens posts "I am soooooo bored" for the 1000X this month and I miss it!

Facebook is a great tool for staying in touch with your friends but sometimes I need to remind myself that it is a tool. I control the tool, it does not control me. So I think I will use this time to get some stuff done around the house, the laundry is piling up, the floors need to be vacuummed. Yes, I will put this time to good use!

BUT FIRST LET ME CHECK FACEBOOK JUST ONE MORE TIME!!!!!!!

God Provides!

I don't know why I doubt and worry because He always provides! Not always in the way I would prefer or expect but he always provides. I sat down to pay the bills yesterday and I was pondering what was the least amount I could take out of our savings and still pay all the bills. We are finally at a point where the only debt we have is our car and house note and we want to keep it that way and keep our savings growing too.

The first thing I do when I pay the bill is check out our bank statement on line, make sure there have been no surprises in our direct deposit. Well, yesterday I got a good surprise, the IRS refund had been deposited the day before. I had plenty of money to pay our unexpected replacement of two water heaters and the other unexpected bills we had received. I was even able to put some extra into the savings! It had only been a few weeks since we sent in the taxes and usually it takes about 6 weeks to get the money back.

So once again GOD delivered just what I needed just when I needed it!

One of those weeks!

I wrote a post for yesterday entitled "One of those days" but it soon became apparent that it is going to be one of those weeks.

It seems to be that way for almost everyone I know. Everyone is struggling with health problems, financial problems, relationship problems. It seems like we are all being picked on.

I am trying to keep it all in perspective. We are facing a lot of house repairs right now as our hot water heaters went out. There was some water damage that will have to be repaired. We have already been hit with several other unexpected bills this year but.....it is only money!

Hubby is blessed with a good job and we have been able to save some money for situations just like this. It hurts to take money out of our savings but that is exactly what it is there for.

I remind myself that all these things are temporary. Poor health, financial hardships, problems......they are all temporary. There is a great Day coming and all of this will seem as nothing!

So today, I say a special blessing for all my friends and my own family as we struggle through these things. I am thankful for all the Lord has given us and give him all the Praise and Glory!

Rain, Rain

Rain, Rain come today
We can not wait another day!
If the flowers are to play,
We really need some rain today!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Finally!

"Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com"

Baby girl is feeling much better and was able to get out today! So we only lost one day of Spring Break! We have some catching up to do, so ta-ta for now! See you next week!

Pneumonia!

Poor baby girl has pneumonia! We took her to the doctor again last night and she ordered x-ray and lab work for today. Before I even got home from having the test done, they had called my husband and said she has pneumonia.

Good news is we can treat it at home, although she says she wants to go to the hospital. They took about a gallon of blood from her this morning. We will see if anything come up from that.

Please pray that the antibiotics will work quickly, she has been sick a long time and we are all ready for her to be well again!

FLU!

We are on day 4 of the Flu with my daughter being the star player. Every night about 3 am she comes downstairs and throws up for an hour. We thought maybe she was getting over it today, as she had no fever in the morning but by afternoon she was back up there to 102, so I guess we are not done yet. Now she has developed a cough and a huge fever blister, so she is a very unhappy camper.

Pray for us!

UPDAIE- We are now on day 6 of the flu! 6 days of vomiting, fever and crankiness! We are taking her back to the doctor this evening, this has gone on too long!

One Year

It went by quickly and yet it seems so long ago. One year ago today, I lost my Mama. I still dream of her, I still wonder if we did the right things, I still miss her daily and yet I know we did the best we could, I know she knew how much we loved her and I know she is in a much better place!

Hello, My name is.....

Aggiema and I am addicted to the Internet! I have just spent two miserable days without my internet service and I have realized just how addicted I am to the internet. I was able to see my Facebook using my PDA phone but could only get part of it and could not access my email at all. I felt so lost and alone. I could not read any of my blogs.

What have I learned from all this....I seriously need to get a LIFE!

Common Sense

Updated: One of my friends left a comment that Lori Borgman was the author of the following piece. http://loriborgman.blogspot.com/2005/07/death-of-common-sense.html
Her blog has the original article as the the one below has been changed a little bit. I apologize to Ms. Borgman for not giving her credit originally, I should have research it better before using it.


Obituary for Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend by the name of Common Sense who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn't always fair.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).
His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit on her lap, and was awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by two stepbrothers, My Rights and Ima Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still know him pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

- Author Unknown

The Rest of the Story......

Back in Nov. I wrote about a little girl who was the subject of an Amber alert. This little 7 year old girl, lived with her grandmother in a remote area of town. Her drug addict Mom beat the grandmother leaving her for dead and kidnapped the little girl.

They found the little girl a few days later in a drug house in Austin and the grandmother was in critical condition in the hospital. It made the national news so many of you probably heard about it when it happened (right before Thanksgiving!)

Today I had the opportunity to talk to the grandmother for the first time since all these things happened and I want to share a little of what she told me. I am not asking that you believe everything she said just that you keep an open mind.

First of all, she looks good, she is an older lady in her 60's but she was walking well and talking well to me. I stopped her after first services and told her how happy I was to see her and that I had been praying for her and her little granddaughter.

She said "you know I died" I told her that I did not know that but knew she had been hurt really badly. She said she had a fractured skull, broken nose and bones in her face, she had a heart attack and pneumonia twice. The doctors told her family that she would not survive and yet she did. The doctors underestimated the power of prayer and the power of God!

She said that she remembers nothing from the time her daughter beat her until she was in the hospital except that a woman dressed all in white, came to her and told her "you must get up, you must get up right now!" She does not remember walking to the neighbors house 1/4 of a mile away, she doesn't remember the children being afraid of her because she was covered in blood and unrecognizable.

She said that people all over the country were praying for her and even friends in different countries heard about the situation and were praying for her. This sweet little lady (she is probably less than 5 feet tall) is a walking, breathing testament to the power of prayer and the almighty hand of God.

The little girl is back with her grandmother and they are thriving together. That is the rest of the story......don't you just love a happy ending!

This is so Maggie!

Picture courtesy of http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/marvin.asp

Need A Laugh?

My Monday is off to a pretty bad start: My Dad is in ICU with pneumonia (300 miles away) He is responding to treatment thought! And I am sick, waiting to go to the doctor at 2:30 (earliest appt I could get even though I called 2 minutes after the office opened this morning!)

I needed a good laugh today! Don't know the author of this but it's been making its rounds through email. Enjoy!


A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for a homework assignment.

Why parents should always check their children’s homework before they hand it in:




After it was graded and the child brought it home, she returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,
I want to be very clear on my child’s illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This photo is of me selling a shovel.
Mrs. Harrington

Kudos to Rick Warren

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I don't believe in putting Ministers up on pedestals. For one thing, they almost always fall off and then nobody is happy.

I know who Rick Warren is, I know that he wrote The Purpose Driven Life, I know he is/was involved with the Saddleback Church (which I think is the fastest growing church in the US) I know that a lot of people think he hung the moon (but both he and I know that God did that!)

I only caught a small portion of the swearing in ceremony this morning as I was getting ready for an appointment but I did hear Mr. Warren's prayer. I thought he did a wonderful job. He prayed for "civility when differing", he mentioned MLK and our gratitude for living in America. He spoke of being united regardless of our race, religion or blood.

At the end of his prayer, He asked for these things in name of Jesus who taught us to pray. He then recited the Lord's Prayer.

So today, while I don't think Rick Warren is worthy of being held up as the ultimate example of how to live a Christian Life (I think Jesus already did a good job of that!) I am proud of him and his refusal to bend to the pressure of those who asked him not to pray in "Jesus"'s name. For a Christian is there truly any other way to pray?

Why Me Lord?

(www.clipartguide.com)



Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong: she's failing algebra ; her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely, Mom, I love your cake.'

'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck,' says her daughter.

'How about a couple raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!'

'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?'

'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!


Is not this the message of Romans 8:28? And do we not read of such in such Bible characters as Joseph, the son of Jacob, Job and the apostle Paul?

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here let's walk by faith, walk with the Lord and prepare for a far better one to come.

...I hope your Day is a piece of Cake!



Just so there is no confusion, I DID NOT write this, someone sent it to me and I thought it was worth sharing. I should have made this clear earlier. I am not sure who the author is but thought they did a good job!

Ain't that the truth!

Stolen Post

Because I am still sick with this nasty old cedar fever, or whatever it is, I am not feeling too original today. I am going to steal this post from my friend Dee over at Finding Direction They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I hope she won't mind.

Ten Commandments according to Bubba!

Some people have trouble with all those 'shall's' and 'shall not's' in the Ten commandments. Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms.. So, in middle Tennessee they translated the 'King James' into ' Jackson County ' language..... No joke, (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , TN )



(1) Just one God

(2) Put nothin' before God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

6) No killin'

(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal

(8) Don't take what ain't yers

(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff


Now that's plain an' simple. Y'all have a nice day, ya hear.

Have a great day, God loves you!

4 Things

4 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

-Laundry
-Facebooked (is that a word? if not it should be) about my rotten dog
-Out to dinner at John the Greek (yummy!)
-went to church

4 THINGS ON MY WISHLIST FOR THIS YEAR

-Some time alone with my hubby (cruise, trip, etc...)
-Good health for my family
-A lot of progress on our new church building
-some much needed home repairs (carpet, paint, a little remodeling)

4 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

-Tiago's (Mexican-SA-at the Rim)
-Paesanos (Italian-SA-1604N)
-Amoricita's (Mexican-SA-1604 between Bitters and Heubener)
-Either Logan's or Texas Roadhouse (they are practically the same--yummy steaks and rolls at both places, peanuts on the floor--don't go here if you have peanut allergy)

4 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

-CSI
-How it's Made
-Mythbusters
-Heroes

4 FRIENDS TO TAG

-YOU
-HER
-THEM
-HIM

Back to "real life"

We had a really nice Winter break. Sure, we were all sick for part of it. Sure, half the family couldn't show up for Christmas this year! Sure, we had two more deaths in the family (great aunt and SIL's father, both were expected) Sure, the house could have been decorated more and nicer. Sure, we could have done without the delay on I-35 coming home from Dallas. I could go on and on but what I would rather focus on is:

We got to spend time with people we love. We had a comfortable house with some nice Christmas decorations. We were able to celebrate Christmas with our church family in a really nice song service. We were able to attend multiple Christmas concerts showcasing our daughters singing talents. We had plenty of food and gifts for everyone. No major arguments or flare ups.

Now, we are back to real life. Hubby is at work, Daughter is at school. Mom has her quiet house back. Our batteries are all recharged and we are ready for 2009.

I pray that each of you who reads this blog (I know there is at least one person who does!) has a wonderful year filled with God's blessings. I pray that you each take a moment to realize some of those blessings and thank Him for ALL He has given you. If for some reason you had a bad Christmas, realize that it is over now and 2009 lies ahead full of hope and promise for all of us.

Blessings My Friends!

Change is good!

Don't mind me I am just having a little fun changing my background. I will find one that suits me soon and it will be back to the boring old background everyday. Go check out the backgrounds for yourself if you feel the need for a change. They are free! Address is in the upper left corner!