His Princess

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-09T15:46:00.002-06:00

I saw a link to this post on a blog I read and it is too funny not to share.

I don't know who this guy is, but he can write some funny stuff.

Even if you're not single, it's still funny to read. Of course what makes most of these things funny is that there is an element of (sad) truth to them all.

Enjoy.

:)

The first holes

2012-01-29T10:16:00.003-06:00

Please look past the clutter, but I am proud of myself for hanging my new curtains by myself. This pic is from my phone so it's a bit grainy. The colors are blue, rust and dark chocolate brown. I only made one extra hole and that was because the first one there was something like steel preventing the drill/screw going all the way in - so not my fault! It took my a long time...lots of measuring and I am very happy with the results. Now as I have had time to stare at them more I see a section that is higher than the others, but I am NOT taking them down to do anything about it!!!

Next comes more cleaning (I've moved back into the kitchen and found the cleaning products I need for the floors) and then hopefully next week beginning to think about pictures on the walls. I was disappointed that when I ran into the wall by mistake with a (I shouldn't have been trying to lift it by myself 'cuz it was too heavy) box, the smooth finish scraped off! So I'll have to figure out what I need to do to fix it-was hoping the walls would be a bit more resilient to wear and tear by not so much. :(

But at least I'm not staring at painters' paper that says "please do not remove paper from windows" hung up by Scotch blue tape anymore!!

A Work in Progress - Day 9 Pic

2012-01-20T15:23:00.002-06:00

Houston, we have white cabinets! And blue walls! No more faux-finished-with-orange-and-black-paint-cabinets and dirty yellow walls! Hooray! :)

A Work in Progress - Day 7 pics

2012-01-17T18:58:00.005-06:00

[I cannot for the life of me get blogger to put spaces between the paragraphs. Sorry.]

So when I first saw the "wet paint" sign, I figured, "eh, I'll just be careful" - I didn't want to 1) walk all the way up the alley and then all the way back down the street to get to the front of the house or 2) get back in the car and drive around to the front. However, as you can see, they partitioned off the kitchen with the plastic and gave me no choice. OK, so I guess I could have waded through the most toxic smell known to mankind and wet paint just to park in the carport and go through the back door but...yeah, I didn't.

I just keep reminding myself just how ugly those kitchen cabinets were and how much I've depised them ever since I saw them in July 2011. Faux finished/antiqued - look like someone took orange and black paint to make wood-like. WHY?!? It will be (and is from what I can see) sooooo much better white to match appliances.

So since I didn't know before I got home that I had no access to my kitchen, my gourmet meal of cereal was eaten without milk. I know you're jealous. Breakfast tomorrow will be surprisely similar since I can't get to the bread in the frig to make the typical PB&J toast.

On the plus side, the rest of the house that they painted I like and except for a few places they need to touch up, it looks pretty good. They made scratches in one of the tubs that irks me a bit, but what are you going to do. I hope I can scrub them away.

It will be a week tomorrow that they've been here. I don't know how people do major remodels. I am so ready to have my house back! :)

A Work in Progress: Day 3 Pics

2012-01-14T16:55:00.003-06:00

I'm sorry I can't figure out how to turn these pics. You can't tell, but the walls are now perfectly smooth. Paint is "practical beige" as I selected for everywhere but kitchen, where it will be "bluebell". They are painting the kitchen cabinets white but only primed one or two. I guess they were waiting for me to empty them because they'll be painting the inside of them as well, but no one told me so I hadn't emptied them! My painter's ESP must be malfunctioning! :)

The first pic is the guest (bigger) bath where they stashed all their stuff for the weekend. I told them no working this weekend as I wanted the house to myself. They finished the living room/dining room and as you can see, unwrapped the furniture and put it (roughly) back in place. There are some imperfections that I can see that I will need to point out to the head guy, but the good news is that I am happy with the color and I have my sofa and comfy chair back to enjoy for the weekend.

I am currently sitting here with all the doors propped open to air out the paint fumes. I'm glad it's not in the 90's or 100's, good call on my part doing this in January instead of July. What a mess everything is - thick layer of dust (in addition to normal dust that was there before the project) - on top of everything. No sense of cleaning now since they're not done. It will be worth it though to have smooth, freshly repaired and painted walls in my color, not the multi faceted ones of the former owner. It will really feel like home when I can hang pictures on the walls - which I will be able to do soon! :)

A Work in Progress: Day 1 and 2 Pics

2012-01-14T16:48:00.004-06:00

Here are some pics of the progress (and mess!) the painters made on day 1. What my cell phone couldn't capture was the eye-stinging, throat-burning fumes of the wall re-finishing stuff. This house was built around 1970 and at the time textured (crow's foot is the term) walls were the "in" thing. Not so much any more. So I'm having them smoothed out. I had no idea what that entailed other than it would help resale value somewhere down the road.

Wednesday and Thursday nights I camped out in my bedroom with the patio door open to breathe some fresh air (my bedroom was not being refinished/painted because my Dad had already painted it). This is what the house looked like both Wed & Thurs nights when I got home from work.

And so it begins...

2012-01-11T16:04:00.002-06:00

...this morning Raul, the painter, and his brothers and other various male relatives, arrived to begin refinishing the walls and painting my house. I left a key with him, instructions, paint numbers, and my trust.

I have to admit I'm anxious to get through the next hour to get home and see what they've been up to. I can't say I like the idea of people being in my home when I'm not there, but I can't take time off work and they come highly recommended, so I need to trust them and trust the Lord to take care of me.

Progress pictures as they are available...

A Tale of Two Beiges...

2012-01-09T11:48:00.004-06:00

So, now that I have my tax situation figured out for 2011, it's time that I can finally think about having the house painted. My plan is to have this done once, right, and so that when I get ready to sell this place in ten years, the paint will still look good. So except for my bedroom which is BRAVE PURPLE (Sherwin Williams' color name), the rest of the house is going to be a neutral color.

I simply cannot do white because I've lived in apartments the past 10 years and can't stand looking at white walls any more. My brother & sister in law in OH have a dark beige all throughout their house and I really like it. It's neutral yet not boring and with white trim, it looks very classy. So after picking up several paint swatches last week of beiges, I narrowed it down to two shades - "familiar beige" and "practical beige". What boring names! What does it say about me that I'm about to paint my house practical beige!? At least I have brave purple in one room to redeem me! :)

Friday night I went throughout all the rooms that will be painted the beige in question and painted a spot of each color. As you can see, they are nearly indistinguishable. You can't get a good sense from the walls/hall (top) picture due to the current wall (yuck) colors. But the one taken in the bathroom with the pale greyish blue walls you get the best sense of the new paint candidates. And while you can hardly tell them apart, I'm going with the bottom one, which is the practical beige.

Now, probably tomorrow, I'll call the painter and hopefully soon the fun will be started! He and his crew will be refinishing the walls, too (they have an outdated crow's foot texture on them and the painter told me for resale, flat smooth walls would be better), which will be nice. I'm sure it will increase the residue/dust to be cleaned afterwards, but it will be worth it.

Then I'll finally be able to hang things up on the wall and really start to settle in and feel even more at home. It has, after all, been more than 4 months, so I probably should finish unpacking at some point! :)

Reflection on 2011

2012-01-04T09:14:00.004-06:00

So we're 4 days into 2012 and I figure I better post my reflection thoughts before half the year gets away from me. The LPM Blog challenged us to think of 3 words that summed up 2011 for us and these are my 3.

1) Provision. The Lord has always been a great Provider but this year was one of extremely lavish provision. Due to a generous bonus at my job, I was able to travel overseas for the first time ever to Ukraine to visit my dear friends, the Yellow Hats. It was the adventure of a lifetime and so much fun. In addition to that, the Lord provided the funds for me to purchase my first home. I moved into my house Labor Day weekend. I'm still not 100% settled, but I'm making progress. Stayed tuned for a painting colors choice post! :)

2) Faithfulness. While I have struggled with anxiety/depression for many years, thankfully it has been well controlled and in general does not impact my daily life. This past summer, though, a very troubling and all-consuming anxiety issue arose and I found myself clinging to the Lord like never before (not a bad place to be actually). He showed Himself faithful in His Word to calm my soul when I had no words of my own, and provided professionals to help me with the clinical and biological issues that needed to be dealt with. While this issue is not 100% gone, by the Lord's gracious faithfulness, I am on the other side now. I have learned a lot about the power of His Word this year, and about the importance of continuing to memorize it so that even when I feel like I'm losing my mind the Truth is still somewhere inside me - and as He says in John 10 - no one can snatch us out of His hand. He is a faithful God in so many ways and I learned a few of those ways that were new to me this year.

3) New life. On November 28 at 1:09 a.m., my second niece was born. She and her Mommy are now perfectly healthy and we praise the Lord for that - for the miracle of new life. Getting to hold that sweet warm bundle over Christmas weekend was such a delight. Since I've always wanted a baby of my own, holding any baby is therapeutic to me - but when I'm holding my nieces, it's on a whole other level. Kaelynn Mae is a joy and this coming year is going to be so fun watching her change and grow!

I'm not much into New Year's resolutions but I will say that this year above anything else I want to be more intentional about deepening my walk with the Lord - not going through the motions but looking for tools (books, etc.) that will help me in the fresh study of His Word and that specifically I will be obedient in one very difficult area for me.

Happy 2012 everyone!

My tiny little red-headed Christmas present

2011-12-27T12:18:00.005-06:00

Here, in her Christmas finery, is my tiny, red-headed Christmas present, Kaelynn Mae Moseley, my newborn niece that I had the unspeakable pleasure of spending the past weekend with.

Since she is exclusively nursing and my SIL is feeding on demand and co-sleeping, there wasn't a lot of time for others to hold Kaelynn, but I did get to hold her a couple times and yesterday got to hold her while she slept for more than an hour. The faces she made in her sleep made me wonder what that pretty little head was dreaming about. Sometimes she almost smiled, sometimes it looked like she was almost going to cry.

Kaelynn's lungs are strong. She detests her diaper being changed and is not a fan of being in her car seat. It broke my heart to be in the back seat of the car with her on the way to church, having her cry her eyes out and not being able to soothe her. It gave me a fraction of what a parent must feel when they are unable to soothe their child's pain. I would have done anything in those moments to make her tears go away.

My bro and SIL are doing great as first time sleep-deprived parents and even hosted Christmas dinner for the extended family. I enjoyed seeing my brother be a baby-wearing Daddy yesterday as we walked to Starbucks with Kaelynn strapped to his chest.

Most of the pictures are on my Mom's camera, that's why there are only 2 here, but you can see what a beauty she is, and hopefully you can get a sense of how perfectly happy I was holding her in the second picture.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas - I did. For beyond a newborn niece, the ultimate Christmas gift was a newborn King of Kings that came in human form to be Emmanuel, God With Us, to one day grow up to die in our place in order to take our sins away. All praise to Him!

What I can't wait to do...

2011-12-22T13:41:00.001-06:00

...is to hold this precious one. Granny texted me this pic of Daddy holding K this morning. Love that her little cheeks are getting chubby just like they should be!

Countdown to Kaelynn

2011-12-21T12:16:00.003-06:00

Excel has calculated I have 2.99 days remaining until I can see (in person) and hold my newborn niece Kaelynn. I admit I am jealous of Granny and Granddad (aka my Mom & Dad) - they are on their way right now and I don't leave until Saturday morning...but I'm thankful for the time I do get.

I can't wait to feel the lightweightedness of her little warm body and gaze into her eyes, or, since she'll probably be sleeping, gaze at her tiny eyelids and likely (since they're light-colored) invisible eyelashes. I can't wait to feel her tiny fingers and hold her hands in mine. I can't wait to kiss her super soft head. I can't wait to stare at her over and over, memorizing her little features.

Most of all, I can't wait to tell her how much I love her!

Kaelynn

2011-12-01T11:47:00.003-06:00

Baby girl's cultures were negative for bacteria yesterday (praise the Lord and thanks for your prayers) so her Daddy (my brother) thought they would be able to go home. My SIL had a headache still from the epidural so they were to talk to the anesthesiologist about that, but her fever was gone and she was feeling better overall.

Kaelynn has beautiful red hair. Since I'm not sure how private they want to be with pictures, I need to ask them before I post any of her--but believe me when I tell you it's a pretty shade of red, just like Mommy's. Granny, aka Kaelynn's paternal grandmother (aka my Mom) has always wanted a red-headed baby and now she has one. She had red hair before hers turned white. Kaelynn's other grandma had red hair before hers went gray/white. Daddy's beard even grows a little red sometimes too, though his hair on his head and arms, etc. is dark brown. So the "odds" were favorable she would have red hair and we're thrilled she does.

Obviously far more important than red hair is that even after such a long delivery process and the risk of severe infection or worse, she is healthy and so is Mommy and we're praising the Lord for that. Kaelynn's Daddy isn't exactly the world's best communicator (I say that in love) so I don't know for sure, but we think they are home from the hospital now. I can't wait to see them in 23 days! :)

Brand new prayer request

2011-11-28T17:00:00.002-06:00

It is with great Auntie pride and much thankfulness to God that I announce the arrival of my niece, Kaelynn Mae Moseley, born earlier today in San Jose, CA.

Because Kaelynn's Mommy's (Marni) water broke at midnight Saturday/Sunday, there was risk of infection from labor lasting this long and indeed Marni has a reasonably high fever. They were starting baby Kaelynn on antibiotics as a precaution when my brother called my Mom to tell her the news.

Please praise the Lord with me for the arrival of this new life and join with us in praying that Mommy and baby will recover from the trauma of the delivery and get some rest (along with Daddy) and that tomorrow everyone will be feeling much better.

Thank you! Oh, and here are her stats! 7 pounds, 9 ounces; 20.5 inches long and RED HAIR!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T16:55:00.002-06:00

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." --Psalm 100:4-5 NIV

This Thanksgiving (like all) I have much to be thankful for. Just yesterday the Lord answered a long-term prayer request in a way I never would have dreamed, in such a creative manner like only He could. Sometime in the next week (I should think!) my second niece should arrive - she's at 41 weeks+ gestation right now and I'm certain my SIL especially would like to see her make her debut! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Stationery card

2011-11-19T12:20:00.001-06:00

Blessings Of Christ Religious Christmas Card

Shutterfly Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

They Deserve More Than One Day Anyway

2011-11-10T10:28:00.003-06:00

I know tomorrow is the actual day, but they deserve more than one day anyway. I try to be thankful for our veterans everyday!

Not only those who HAVE served but those who ARE serving, especially my dear sweet friends the Yellow Hats! Thank you for your daily sacrifice for us and our country!!

While there is plenty wrong and dysfunctional about the USA (Lord, help us!) this is still - by far - the best nation in the world, and that did not come - nor does it not continue to be - without the daily sacrifices of those that wear the uniform and those that love them.

We are forever in your debt and will never be able to thank you enough.

You deserve much more than one day anyway!

Better than 1000 Pictures

2011-11-01T11:35:00.003-05:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my brother and sister-in-law and nearly 4 year old niece A in OH this past weekend. We see them for about 2.5 days twice a year due to schedules so these visits are super precious and very eagerly anticipated. Typically I take a TON of pics since they have to last me another 6 months.

Well, A now has plenty of personality and definitely will tell you (or show you) whether she is willing to be photographed or not. Generally she leaned towards not this past weekend. But that's OK, because being with her is better than a picture. Playing with her and sharing her world, hearing her giggle, seeing that smile and the light in her eyes, is better than 100 pictures.

And best of all? While Mommy & Daddy were at the football game and Granny & Granddad had run out to pick up some dinner, it was just Aunt Sarah and Anna at home batting around a balloon. Completely out of the blue, without me brining up the subject at the moment (we had talked about it the day before I think) - she said "I was hoping to see you today, Aunt Sawa. I weally wuv you." "I wuv you very much." "I wuv you and Gwanny and Gwanddad and Mommy and Daddy and Dina and Papa" [her other grandparents].

That, my friends, is better than 1000 pictures, because I will hold those words in my heart forever.

Komen Race 2011

2011-10-17T12:06:00.004-05:00

[Forgive my lack of ability to get Blogger to allow me to re-arrange my photos in order....ARGH.]

On Saturday, I and around 29,999 other folks participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Dallas. It's one of the larger Komen Races in the country. I was finally able to organize a team at work this year and I think that the group enjoyed themselves and were moved by the amount of people joining together for such a great cause.

You see some many creative shirts and costumes at the Race. One of my favorites was a little girl dressed up like a fairy with a ballerina skirt and wings and a shirt that said "we need to find a cure before I get boobs" (she looked to be about 6). There are always the somber "in memory of" ones and the pink-shirted survivors, some still in chemo or not far-removed that have little or no hair under their pink caps. Komen has advanced the fight against this awful disease and we have made great strides - but we must continue until we find the cure!

Last year I was unable to participate due to migraines and I missed another year due to bronchitis, so I was thankful to be able to participate this year. I'm "paying for it" in a manner of speaking, but it's something that it important to me and I'm thankful the Lord provided me the strength to do it.

Just as I am

2011-10-10T11:27:00.006-05:00

For awhile now, each week, we sing "Just as I am" as our invitation song at church. I love that hymn. But what's made it come even more alive to me is the new additional phrases/bridge we sing - I know now that these lyrics (and the occupying music)were written by Travis Cottrell:

I come broken to be mended
I come wounded to be healed
I come desperate to be rescued
I come empty to be filled
I come guilty to be pardoned
By the blood of the Christ the Lamb
And I'm welcomed with open arms -Praise God!
Just as I am.

I grew up in church and have sung "Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me..." more times that I can count...but these new lyrics from Travis mixed in with the timeless ones I grew up with just have brought the powerful truth of this hymn to life for me.

Through Christ's blood, God welcomes me just as I am.

I can come wounded, desperate, broken, empty, guilty and in every other way that I am deficient, and the God of the universe welcomes me.

In a world that screams to us you have to be skinny and pretty and powerful and rich and successful to be worthwhile, it's nice to know that when I'm none of those things, God not only LETS me come, He WELCOMES me with open arms.

That, my friends, is definitely praiseworthy.

He is praiseworthy.

He loves me (and you) just as I am.

Fair-Feathered Shoppers

2011-09-30T14:40:00.002-05:00

Last night after work, I went by my CVS to pick up a couple RX's when outside the door, I saw these guys (or girls, I didn't check!). They got even closer to the door but never went in. They are not at all skittish of people - the first picture is not zoomed!

After a rather "downer" day at work, it was just a funny sight and several other customers and I had a good laugh at these feathered-fellows' expense. I swear (except I don't) that one of them was wagging its tail feathers while we were talking to it!!

To befriend or beware....???

2011-09-26T09:07:00.003-05:00

So on Friday, when I opened the mailbox (which is so pleasantly attached to my house and not a walk away as it's been these previous 10 years of apartment-dwelling)...there was a letter handwritten in pencil on white notebook paper that read:

PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR THE SQUIRRELS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Which immediately got me to wondering...was I to watch out in the sense of be careful not to run over them with my car? Or was I to watch out in the sense that they not break into my house and attack me at night?

I'm generally not a fan of squirrels. They are too rodent-looking to me. I have nothing especially against them and will not intentially harm them, but, well, just not my favorite out of all the creatures God made.

It just struck me as a very odd message. Maybe it will give you a chuckle like it did me.

Think Pink

2011-09-21T10:10:00.002-05:00

If you or someone you know likes yogurt, please consider eating Yoplait for the next couple months. Once again this year, they have their "Save Lids to Save Lives" Pink Lids campaign. For every lid collected, or for the first time this year, entered online, they donate 10 cents to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.

I think most of us know someone (or knows someone who knows someone) whose life has been touched by this awful disease. I love being able to help donate a tiny bit to the race to the cure by doing something I do everyday anyway - eating yogurt! :)

And, if you can, be sure to participate in your local Race for the Cure - it's a wonderful experience...and very moving, especially to see all the pink shirts (survivors) - but even more to see the "I'm walking in memory of...my Mom" (and the girl is a teenager who's wearing the card/shirt).

Moving...

2011-09-06T08:04:00.003-05:00

...is not for the weak!

I have NO IDEA how my miliary friends do this so often. I haven't moved in 5 years and I only have my stuff, not a houseful with 3 children and yet it wears me out!

PRAISE THE LORD, though, it is done. I am out of my apartment. I am in my new home. My bedroom, thanks to my Dad, is my favorite shade of my favorite color (Sherwin Williams calls it "brave purple"). There are a TON of boxes to unpack, but they aren't going anywhere, so I will get to them as my body allows. Thankfully there is a spare room and large spare closet to hide them from sight so they don't stress me out!

Now if I could just get AT&T to install the internet they were supposed to last week...

It's Mine (or will be in 30 years...)

2011-09-01T06:21:00.002-05:00

Me = homeowner!!!

(though not in Canada; keychain came from owners)

Praise the Lord! :)

There are at least 2 honest people...

2011-08-23T13:34:00.002-05:00

...left in this world. Remember this? Well, last night I received my computer bag WITH SEEMINGLY UNTOUCHED COMPUTER INSIDE back from the people that rescued it!!!!!

Yes, you read that right! They were moving in 2 doors done and thought they better take it before someone stole it. They reported it to the office and waited. I didn't report the theft to the office because 1) didn't see the need; my apartment complex is not the kind where people turn stuff in, ya know? and 2) I haven't had the best of experiences with the management of office over past 5 years.

Well, somehow (only God), the guy found my work e-mail address in the bag and e-mailed me Sunday. I e-mailed him back and called his number and yesterday picked up the bag. I never even expected the computer would still be there but the bag itself is worth $65-75 so it was worth walking 2 doors over in 105* heat. But I could tell when they handed me the bag from the weight...and indeed when I got home and opened it...computer was there. Turned it on, worked beautifully.

Praise the Lord, and thank you to the 2 honest people (at least 2) that are left in this world. Never guessed they would live in my apartment complex, let me tell you that! :)

Stupid act of the century...

2011-08-18T12:27:00.002-05:00

...is leaving your work laptop rolling bag out in clear daylight for anyone and everyone to see and steal...and not realizing it until 12 hours later...

OH YES I DID.

I blame the migraine pills that make me seriously foggy-headed.

But praise the Lord I still have a job and while I had to close my checking account due to having copies of checks (new house docs) in the same bag, I don't think I lost anything else.

Except maybe my sanity...but that was certainty in question before this.

Hope you are smiling because it is stupid and worth a chuckle, even to me. Really?! No matter how brain-dead you are, no matter how full your hands are, no matter how many trips you have to make inside, no matter how trashed and de-arranged the apartment is due to moving (so you don't notice it's not in its usual spot until 12 hours later)...you don't do this...except...

OH YES I DID.

Celebrating the "second to the last..."

2011-08-13T12:50:00.003-05:00

...time to do laundry going in and outside in the heat! Setting timers so people won't steal my stuff, worrying about whether I'll be able to find machines not being used to get my laundry done when I want to or rearrange my plans to do it later, etc. are only things I'll have to worry about 1 more time after this weekend. Because one of the best things about owning my own home is that it comes with 2 wonderful appliances - a washer and a dryer. Laundry will no longer be such an event--hooray!

Getting more real...

2011-08-11T12:05:00.002-05:00

So...Shutterfly does more than just pictures...who knew??? Got these fun moving announcements just now for good price! Get $10 off for showing you them, too! :) I made a book from my Ukraine trip on Shutterfly and was soooo happy with how it turned out - was very easy and sooooo much quicker than making a scrapbook by hand! I have also ordered lots of prints from them over the years and have been very happy! Highly recommend them!

A Clear "Yes"

2011-08-05T10:55:00.002-05:00

So the house...well, after the first appraisal came back for x, my realtor filed a rebuttal showing why it should come back for x+$2500 (sales price). Earlier this week, we got revised appraisal for just that - great news! BUT, underwriting at lender had to agree...more waiting...won't know till this next week...except...I just got a call...

Revised appraisal approved for sales price = Sarah shells out less of her savings for this house = a clear "yes" from the Lord = answers to many prayers!

How gracious the Father is!

So, barring anything else sprouting up, the closing is set for August 30. I'm allowing myself to be officially excited now...praise the Lord!

House Update

2011-08-02T06:22:00.004-05:00

The appraisal came back yesterday. If it came back at x or x+2500, then I knew it was going to be the one the Lord wanted for me. It can back for x...which is not the best news since it means I have to take the other $2500 out of savings to pay the difference between sales price and appraisal...but it's also not the worst news. It could have appraised for x-2500 or something. My realtor disagrees with some of the adjustments the appraiser made and I guess there is a rebuttal process. She was also going to go back to the sellers because clearly we don't want the sellers to know that I am still planning on buying the house even though it didn't quite appraise for the selling price.

So, it would be great if the sellers would lower their price some more, but based on the fact that they wouldn't even give me $200 credit for A/C maintenance, I'm not holding my breath! Speaking of A/C, I'm secretly hoping maybe it will poop out this week that it's supposed to be 105+ everyday (including some days 109) and then they would HAVE to replace it for me...we'll see. The Lord is in control and not surprised by any of these details.

I'm continuing to have daily migraines and am just trying to make it through the days at work until hopefully the preventative meds we've started get to a therapeutic level in my system and kick in...the Lord is faithful. :)

Update on Dad

2011-07-29T15:35:00.003-05:00

Dad does NOT have cancer! The sarcoidosis is benign, praise the Lord! He has to find a doctor to treat him - I guess it will be a rheumatologist or a pulmonologist because it's around his trachea...hopefully he can finally get some treatment for his pain. We're just so relieved it's not cancer. Thank you to anyone who prayed!

Update on House

2011-07-28T06:13:00.003-05:00

Even though there were several little things from the inspection Monday that I could have asked the sellers for credit for, I only asked for $200 for an A/C service call because it is not working well (and for any of you reading this that aren't in Dallas, it's 100+ here for the past month with no foreseeable break in sight). They wouldn't agree to it! Basically, they say they can't afford anything else. They have come down $10K from their original asking price, but it's because they put more money and owe more $$ on the house than what it's worth. So now the big issue is the the appraisal, which has been officially ordered and will come back next week. If it comes back favorably, then I think this will be my house. If it doen't come back favorably, I'll know this isn't the one for me. If it is my house, then be assured the A/C is going to be fixed or replaced soon!

The sellers do have a home warranty and supposedly they had it serviced, even though the inspector said it hasn't been - so my realtor is personally paying for the warranty call for them to come out and see about the "you say you serviced it and it's working fine, we have an independent inspection to prove otherwise" discrepancy - we're not horribly hopeful because typically the warranty companies wiggle their way out of responsibility but it's worth a shot. I'm praying that if this is the Lord's house for me He'll make it abundantly clear with how the appraisal comes back - either at or close to the sales price so I can afford it or way under so I can't...so I'll know for sure whether He wants me to have this house or not.

In other news, Dad is doing OK, recovering from the biopsy, and has an appt. with the doctor on Friday to learn pathology results. He will need to figure out what kind of doctor to see for the sarcoidoisis.

House Update

2011-07-26T06:17:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the house inspection. I wasn't too overly worried about it because the inspector had, at his suggestion, done a "drive-by" to check the major issues like roof and foundation prior to me entering into a contract. He told me this house is a castle compared to the other 2 I've had contracts on. The only major issue is the A/C. It's old and hasn't been serviced so it's not cooling efficiently and that means, in our 100*+ heat, is running non-stop. So I'm going to ask for $200 credit from sellers for a service call on it. I know they cannot afford to credit me $5000 for new A/C and I'm hoping the cleaning will help me get through September and October and then I can buy new A/C next year.

There are some minor plumbing issues but mostly just old fixtures that have been there from the beginning (70's) which I would want to replace, so I will probably just get a handy-man out there and have him replace them for me at some point.

It was nice to get a good report but the biggest relief of the day was Dad's biopsy going well and getting the likely prognosis of no cancer.

The next steps on the house were getting the closing costs amounts from the lender and then moving forward with ordering the appraisal, which I just did. That's where things could get tricky. There are no comparables in the immediate neighborhood other than foreclosures and you can't use foreclosures to base appraisals off of. We had a spot appraisal done and the counter offer from the sellers came in Friday at $2500 over that so my realtor felt that was close enough to go for it. I'm hoping the real appraisal will come in at purchase price. If it doesn't, I have the opportunity to pay the other $2500 without penalty. I'll just have to see how all the numbers work out.

I like the house and would really like this to be the one and be done with this process on so many levels and move Labor Day weekend and be done, but I want to be sensitive to the Lord's voice and not just plow ahead because I'm impatient and ready to be done! Another reason I have for wanting to have this be all finalized is that dear friends are going to the mission field and I need to pledge my montly support to them in the next couple weeks. I can do that much more accurately if this house is "the one"...but God is in control and He is not surprised by any of this...or that I continue to have daily migraines...I praise Him for providing the grace to get through the days and for the medication to make some better than others. He is good!

Update on Dad

2011-07-25T12:10:00.002-05:00

Thanks for praying. Dad's biopsy went well. The doctor called it sarcoidoisis and said it is usually not melignant. It generally responds well to steriods. They should have the pathology results later this week or the beginning of next. He said Dad should be able to go home today, which was also good news.

Please pray for my Dad

2011-07-24T10:16:00.005-05:00

My Dad has suffered from undiagnosed throat and head pain for the past 18 months. He has seen 11 different specialists and no one has been able to diagnosis his condition or give him relief. He recently has been having asthma issues and as a part of that had some breathing tests which led to a PET scan of inflammation around his trachea. There is a possibility that he has lymphoma as the lymph nodes around the trachea are imflamed. The biopsy is 11:30 a.m. CST this morning. We are thankful the biospy was able to be scheduled so soon. They might have an initial idea but ultimately results will take 5-7 days. The good news is that the doctors does think this is causing Dad's throat and head pain. We are thrilled at the idea of having an answer to his constant pain after all this time but of course would prefer the answer not be lymphoma. He will probably be in the hospital overnight as there is a risk of bleeding due to where the "snipping" has to be done. Thanks for your prayers for him and my Mom. I wish I could go down there to be with them but can't miss any work right now.

Under contract...again

2011-07-22T15:29:00.003-05:00

...this time on house #3....and hopefully, since we've done a lot of the leg work ahead of time, this one will be "it"...if so, I'll be moving Labor Day weekend! Set to close August 30 because the people are still living there, but essentially it should be a "done deal" after the financing comes through in 3 weeks or so...thanks for praying and keep it up - just that the Lord's will be done and I be patient!

House update

2011-07-20T18:07:00.004-05:00

This house business is such a roller coaster (I know I keep saying that but I can't think of a better description). So when it looked like a definite "no" yesterday, we got word late in the day that the sellers are going to order their own appraisal of their property. This is good news because it will help everyone establish the appropriate sales price. The issue for me has not been the price they're asking but rather whether my lender would loan me all the money for the property as it's likely not worth the asking price...so more waiting, but it's a positve turn...I'll take it! :)

House #3

2011-07-17T08:12:00.006-05:00

***updated 7/20/11 11:30 a.m. CST*** It seems that the house is not going to appraise for what the sellers want/need for the house. So the sellers either have to take $6000 less than what they said their lowest possible offer was, or I have to move on...will update again when I find out more, but at this point, I'm thinking #3 is not going to be the 1. And yesterday, it was the opposite. What a roller coaster, and what a blessing that none of this takes the Lord by surprise and He NEVER changes! :)

This is house #3 that I've placed an offer on. I liked it the day we saw house #2, but house #2 was being sold at a much better value (I now know why!) so I went with that one at the time. Since #2 was a no-go, I put an offer in on #3 on Friday.

The issue with this house is that it is listed at around $82/sq ft compared to the others in the neigborhood that have sold for $70-75/sq ft - a couple by the same listing agent as this one. So my agent suggested I go in at that price (which amounts, in this case, to $14,900 under list!) and ask the sellers to provide substantiation of value of a higher counter offer.

I'm glad my realtor is thinking ahead because she told me that this issue is the appraisal. If the house doesn't appraise for the price we agree on, even if it is under list, then the lending company wouldn't be able to give me the money. So before we go through with a full inspection and everything, we are trying to cover all our bases first.

The nicest inspector in the world offered last week at house inspection #2 to do a "drive-by" the next time I found one I liked. He said he could tell in 15-20 minutes from the outside whether a house was worth pursuing. I was thrilled when he came back and said that house #3 was the best of the 3 so far, becaue house #1 was in great shape. That was very encouraging.

So the next step was that my realtor asked the listing agent for some proof that the house was worth what they were asking for it. She did that Thursday and we heard nothing back until this morning. The couple that owned this house is only able to go down $3000 from list but there is no appraisal anywhere that justifies that price. They admitted they may have to take it off the market. So not sure whether this will work out or not. I can't move forward, even if I am willing to pay the higher price, unless there is an appraisal somewhere to justify the amount I need to borrow.

This house is in the same neighborhood as house #2 so I was pleasantly surprised that the foundation nightmares of that house weren't an issue this time. It is still close to work and in a safe neighborhood. It has things that need updating, like hideously faux-finished kitchen cabinets and shower doors on the tubs, but that's something I can do over time.

I would love if this was the one, but I know the Lord has a plan. I really would like to have this be the one so I know just how much I can pledge to my friends that are going to be missionaries and are raising their support. Without knowing my monthly housing expenses, it's hard to know what to tell them. If you're reading this, please pray that I will have wisdom. If house #3 falls through, I may wait awhile to look further. I don't HAVE to move. I can go month-to-month on my apartment for awhile. The most important thing to me is that I will do what the Lord wants me to...to listen to His voice and not the voice of my selfish desires of wanting a place of my own and wanting this house-hunting to be over with.

Thank you.

Aunt Sarah is on her way...

2011-07-12T06:28:00.003-05:00

Super excited that I just booked my tickets to go to San Jose for the baby shower of my new niece in September...now to find the perfect cross-stitch pattern that will fit the nursery theme of a meadow with butterflies and flowers...

The Weekend

2011-07-11T18:50:00.007-05:00

It was great to have my Mom here this past weekend.

We went to the Dallas Dog Show and saw some of these, among others:

I'm so glad God made dogs. Just what I needed to make me happy (well that and my Mom and her brownies...!) after bad news on the house... so glad she could drive up for a visit.

House Roller-Coaster

2011-07-10T15:53:00.004-05:00

So, the results of the inspection Friday were not good, to make the understatement of the century. You name it and it was wrong with the house - roof, foundation, wiring, water damage/leaks, bad A/C, bad furnace, bad windows. I'm thankful for a good inspector and that I could walk away before it was too late.

I was also disappointed to learn that the other houses on the same street/cul-de-sac that were possibilities for me are likely in similiar situations as far as foundations that are so bad they let water in as well.

What an emotional roller coaster house-hunting is! I'm thankful my Mom was in town over the weekend to help me take my mind off things by going to the Dallas Dog Show. Nothing like some wagging tails to help a saddened heart!

I know the Lord has a house for me. I plan on looking at a few more this coming Saturday.

Make that 39...

2011-07-07T19:49:00.003-05:00

I received a call at 5:00 pm last night that FNMA accepted my offer on the house! They are even offering closing costs I didn't ask for! And, and, the inspection can be this afternoon when Mom is here so she and I can measure for blinds/curtains, etc. I think it's safe to say this was a birthday I'll never forget. :)

38 things to thank the Lord for...

2011-07-06T18:57:00.013-05:00

1) the gift of eternal life
2) growing up in a Christian home
3) 2 godly and generous parents
4) 2 great brothers
5) 2 great sisters-n-law
6) 2 precious nieces (can't wait to meet the 2nd one in November!)
7) 2 other sweet girls that call me Aunt Sarah
8) wonderful job working with great people
9) the physicial ability to work full-time to support myself that some folks with Fibro don't have
10) dependable car without a car payment
11) decent apartment that's safe and a mile away from work
12) great church with friends and a Pastor that preaches the Word
13) friends, near and far, that keep me grounded, encourage me, pray for me and just let me be me
14) that He loves me no matter what I look like
15) that He knows what He's doing even when I don't have a clue
16) that His plan for me is good, no matter how different it is from my plan
17) His constant presence so I'm never alone
18) His tender mercies new with each day
19) His grace, greater than all my sin
20) His inerrant, Holy Word
21) several really wonderful doctors
22) technology of modern medicine that allows me to live a better quality of life
23) that I am an American
24) that there are and have been men and women serving our country to keep us free
25) that I got to go to Ukraine in May
26) the gift of music
27) the ability to play the oboe and one of my own to play
28) the ability to cross-stitch
29) colors, especially purple
30) dogs
31) the ability to read and the teachers and parents that taught me to
32) heating pads
33) air conditioning
34) DVR
35) cell phone
36) Skype
37) digital photography
38) the gift of physical life...38 years ago.

Most years on my birthday, especially within the past decade, I am tempted to be down because I feel like saying to the Lord - "you know the dream of always wanting to be a wife & mother thing? Well, we're running out of time!" (as if I can direct the God of the universe's timetable)...or I get down about how I look or a miriad of other things. But this year, the Lord prompted me to innumerate 38 reasons to praise Him, and it wasn't hard to come up with this list! And somehow, when I focus on Him and all He's given me and done for me, those "downer" thoughts seem to fade away. :)

Unbelievable FNMA response time...

2011-07-05T18:57:00.005-05:00

...FNMA (Fannie Mae) actually responded today--woo-hoo! :)

There is more than 1 offer, so the procedure is for me to (did last night) submit my "final and best" offer and then the seller (Fannie) will consider and counter/accept the best offer. It's really a "crapshoot" because I have no idea what the other offer(s) is/are...but my realtor has been doing this awhile and gave me a good suggestion so I'm going with it...and I now have peace about it, which is another answer to prayer.

Don't know what to expect as far as response time but I'm so thankful I heard yesterday and didn't have to wait a week or more like we thought I might! :)

Hopefully I'll have an update tonight or tomorrow...if not, I'll keep asking Him for patience! :)

House-hunting

2011-07-05T14:33:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning my realtor and I headed out to house-hunt and found this cute one above. I put an offer in on it and am very excited. The problem is that it's owned by the government (Fannie Mae), so they take their sweet time getting back to you...could be a week or two or more before I hear back...and there could be multiple offers. I'm not a patient person and waiting 24 hours for the seller of the other house to get back with me was hard - waiting a week+ is definitely not going to be easy! I know if it's the Lord's house for me, then it will happen, but in the meantime, I need patience and I need it NOW!

...you can hang up now.

2011-06-29T12:09:00.001-05:00

The contract on the house is terminated. In the end, it was a difference of $4000 between the seller's lowest and my highest. Not a lot of money to some, but it is for me. I have perfect peace (thank you Lord) and am going out Saturday to look at more places.

Hold the phones...

2011-06-27T16:39:00.001-05:00

...the house contract has not been terminated. Apparently the seller really wants to sell and so my realtor told her realtor what it would take...and if the seller agrees, then I get this home and am not stretched financially. It would be a miracle (because it includes brokers reducing their commissions in order to make it work!) but God can still work miracles...

However, I have perspective that THIS IS JUST A HOUSE. A girl at work's stepson (19) died over the weekend suddenly; a guy at work's son (12) is going through cancer treatments and is horriby sick - this is NOTHING in comparison to those things of eternal significance.

But, I won't complain if the Lord should choose to give this house to me! :) I'll keep you posted...

Not the house for me

2011-06-27T13:16:00.004-05:00

Lots of number-crunching, realtor & lender bartering and thinking outside all the boxes in the world, I have determined this "perfect" house is not for me. As my SS teacher said yesterday, it's not the perfect house if it's not God's house for me. It's just out of my price range/budget...period.

Thank you if you prayed. I am obviously disappointed but know at some point, God has a house for me. He has a plan, and His timing is perfect!

Location, location, location...

2011-06-25T13:42:00.008-05:00

I realized I never published this. This will make more sense if you read this one before the next post I'll put up!

So since I returned from Kyiv, I have been busy looking at condos/townhomes to buy. I am ready to stop pouring my money down a hole each month by renting. Through the Lord's lavish provision, owning a home, a "pipe dream", has become a real possibility. My current lease is up 7/31, so I planned on moving 8/1.

I found a realtor based on the recommendation of a good friend and Annamari has been fabulous. We looked at 5 places last Saturday. I thought about what I had seen and decided I had fallen in love with my dream home. It was in a neighborhood literally across the street from my apartment that I have been driving by twice or more a day for the past 5 years...and thought each time, "ah...I so wish I could afford to live there..." The neighborhood is established with large trees and nice homes built in the 70's. It's on the edge of a very desirable area of Dallas and (not that this matters but it's a fun fact!) former President GWB lives on the other side of the neighborhood!

The townhome I fell in love with is one-story and is detached on the left side, so I would only ever have neighbors on my right. This is key for my physical issues - with Fibro I can't do 2nd floor place, but if you're on 1st floor almost always you have someone living on top of you - and of course you're at the mercy of whether this person is a "heavy walker" or not! That would not be an issue in this townhome as it's one story. It has a little patio with my own tree and flowers that my future Pugs, Petunia & Violet, will be able to enjoy since there's ground to potty on when needed.

This townhome has been on the market for a year and the owner has already moved out of state. The price we settled and executed a contract on Thursday is about $50,000 less than the price of the homes in the neighborhood - so once I fix it up and over the years, I could build a lot of equity in it. The major issue is that the owner was a very heavy smoker and so I will need to rip up and reinstall the floors, use special paint through the entire 1200 sq ft. of the house and have the vents and ducts cleaned (and replace the blinds as they're also stained with nicotine).

Last Friday, the day before Annamari took me looking at condos/townhomes for the first time, I had my lender Meghan run some numbers for me to see what the monthly payments would be. I'm not good with money so converting the sales price to a monthly mortgage payment is not something I can do. The numbers she ran, based on my down payment, were surprisingly very doable for this dreamhouse of mine.

So while it needed a lot of work, this past Monday I decided to put an offer on it. We countered a couple times and executed the contract on Thursday morning. I had the lender run the "real numbers" and what she came back with was MUCH higher than the original numbers that led me to the conclusion maybe I couldn't afford this place after all. I called the lender and had some questions and then a bomb dropped yesterday morning- she had assumed a different down payment than what I had. Several very stressful hours later, she did some more figuring and determined what the "final number" would be. That number is a LOT more per month than what I pay in rent now.

Last night I had a feeling (as did my very godly prayer-warrior mother) that this house was no longer in my reach. I cried and cried and cried. I knew I needed to call the realtor Monday morning and break the contract I had 10 days to get out of without penalty. I texted the realtor and let her know as much. Then I drowned my sorrows in a bowl of cereal (how's that for honesty?!?) and watched TV and went to bed early because I just wanted to sleep and forget how I was going to have to give up this dream house.

I got up today (notice I didn't say "this morning", ahem...) and had a voicemail from the realtor, saying she got my text and had some ideas about maybe making things work. I also had a text from my Mom that they were so sorry about the house and God had another one for me (true to her ever encouraging nature).

Now I'm conflicted. While the monthly mortgage payment for this house is much more than my rent payment now, I also am taking home more $$ this year in my paycheck (thank you Lord!) So hypothetically, it would be doable. Through no one's fault but my own, I have never lived on a budget, but have lived paycheck to paycheck. I'm not proud of that at all. So the idea that not only will I have to start living on a very strict budget, there is NO wiggle room at all. And if any unexpected house, car, medical expenses come up, it would be a problem.

Unfortunately, I have fallen in love with this house and so now the big decision as to continue in the buying process or terminate the contract is a VERY emotional one for me.

So if anyone happens to read this this weekend, please pray that I will hear the Lord's will clearly and separate my emotions and think logically about this biggest (financially anyway) decision in my 30-something years.

Because more than I want this house, I do want to know what God wants for me.

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 13 (the end)

2011-06-07T16:52:00.004-05:00

This is the last of my re-cap posts of my wonderful Kyiv, Ukraine adventure to visit my dear, sweet friend Tara and her family.

As I mentioned in prior posts, I am losing the battle with Blogger about where my pictures are placed. So you may want to read this post from the bottom up since I put "the end" at the beginning...

Tara is truly the ultimate hostess: gracious, thoughtful, classy and just makes her home a relaxing and inviting place.

Here is a perfect example. She went out and got (not nearly as easy as that phrase would indicate) fresh, purple-on-purpose flowers to put next to my bed.

The Lord has been so gracious to provide Tara to me as a friend. We met in college an undisclosed number of years ago, and were friends then, though not super close. After several years of falling out of touch, thanks to the technology of e-mail, we reconnected many years ago. Now I consider her and thank God that she is one of my very closest friends. I cannot tell you what a blessing this godly woman is to me. She is a wonderful encourager and true friend - one that speaks truth in love, listens endlessly and accepts me for who I am. I pray that the Lord will bless her and her sweet family abundantly. Thank you, Tara, for the adventure of a lifetime!

This was the last gate screen in my Ukrainian adventure - in the Atlanta airport before the last of 3 sections of my trip back to Dallas.

While it would have been lovely to have a long enough layover in Paris to sight-see, it makes me happy that I passed through there and got some authentic French chocolate! I was glad to arrive in Paris as the flight from Kyiv had felt much longer than the flight from Dallas to Amsterdam 10 days prior, even though they were about the same length of time...I guess you can chalk that up to the anticipation of seeing a long-time friend in a new country vs. coming back "home" with no one to greet me at the gate (not feeling sorry for myself there, just statement of truth).

Here is the sign in the Kyiv airport for the 1st of my 3 legs back to TX:

Here is the gate from which my flight left Kyiv. Alas, my Ukrainian adventure had come to an end and it was time to head back to Dallas. I'm so thankful to have had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

I hope you have enjoyed my little re-caps. It's so hard to capture in words what those eleven days of my life were like. I've been back a full week already, and yet I feel like I haven't totally digested it all. Adjectives like wonderful, eye-opening, life-changing, refreshing, relaxing yet exciting don't come close to an accurate description of this adventure. It was the first time I'd been out of the US, it was the longest time I'd ever been off work, it was a long, long ways away...but worth every blister, headache and cent to see wonderful friends in a foreign land! It was certainly a blessing I will NEVER forget!

THE END (of my re-caps, but not the memories!)

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 12

2011-06-07T16:38:00.004-05:00

On the first Sunday I was in Kyiv, I was recovering from the plane ride over and slept through church. On the second Sunday (day before I left), I was able to join the Yellow Hat family at their church for worship.

It is an informal, casual, relaxed atmosphere where they have beverages and goodies before the service that you can take to your seat with you. Here are Big Girl and Baby Girl and their friends in the row ahead of Tara, The Boy, Mr Yellow Hat & I:

Picture of stage below. The music was pretty good and very contemporary. I didn't know any of the songs, not because they were in Ukrainian (this is an all-English-speaking church), but because they were just new to me. Even though my personal preference is more traditional worship style with hymns, choir & orchestra (like my church now), I liked the theology behind the songs at the international church. The Pastor spoke about God being the Lord over our thought life, and it was an especially timely message for me, as I was struggling with that very issue at the time. Isn't it amazing how God, in His sovereignty, arranges things like that? I assure you it was not a coincidence that the only Sunday I was (or likely ever will be) at this church, the Pastor spoke on a topic that spoke to the point of my need. The Lord's timing never ceases to amaze me.

I think I've about re-capped most of the trip. There will be one more wrap-up post and I guess that will make a very odd-numbered (I don't believe in lucky or unlucky) 13 posts about my Ukrainian adventure!

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 11

2011-06-07T16:05:00.008-05:00

On Thursday during my Kyiv trip, Tara and I visited the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavre. It was beautiful as you can see. What I can't give you an idea of is the scope. I don't know how many buildings there were, but they just seemed to keep coming, one as pretty as the next.

Here is a view heading back up the hill:

There was a sculpture made of Ukrainian Pysanky eggs - the eggs were so beautiful and varied in colors and patterns, as you can see:

Here is the sculpture:

Your head had to be covered to go inside. Tara rocked the scarf look much better than I:

Some of the buildings of the Lavre:

Much like St. Sofia's, you can see where they built new (white) over old (brick) above.

Baptism of Christ:

The Lavre is an active monestary, but we were not able to observe prayers or a service. I do believe we saw a couple monks pass by, but they walked so quickly and quietly that they were basically gone before you realized whom you were looking at. Yes, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavre is definitely another beautiful part of Kyiv and I'm very thankful I was able to see it in person.

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 10

2011-06-07T15:28:00.006-05:00

These are pictures from Thursday, the 2nd day of the week that Tara and I were able to get out and spend some 1 on 1 time.

This first pic is horrible quality but I want you to focus on the little dog in the center of the pic on the steps. Tara says that dogs run wild around the city and that in some cases poison is being put out for them (since Kyiv does not have shelters for the strays). This makes me sad as a dog-lover, but what infuriates me as a lover of children is that the Ukrainians have been known to put the poison intended for the dogs in parks where children would be playing! As if parents don't have enough to worry about with their children in a public area. YIKES!

I digress. Back to our little furry subject.

See him between the two people going up the steps? I think he was a terrier/Chihuahua mix. Very cute fellow, but quick! I tried to get his pic up close but by the time I fumbled with getting my camera out of my bag and turning it on, the little guy (or gal, I didn't check!) had run away.

After lunch we went to a very nice mall. I saw some familiar signs:

Tara and I ate our lunch in Independence Square, in which is a statue of St. Michael, the patron saint of Kyiv:

Here is a view from where we ate our lunch in the square:

St. Michael from afar

And where did we eat lunch that day, you ask? Again Blogger is working against me with the placement of my pics, so I'll say about the next one, some things are best said in English, no matter where you are!

Yes, we were at Mickey D's! They had traditional McD food there as well as some regional fare. Tara and I had yummy cheese lavashes, which I think are middle-eastern. It was kinda of like a cheese quesadilla with a thicker bread...very good! We also had McFlurries. :)

Building that held the McD's from afar. I will say at this point this was a very welcome view for me, not because I was hungry (I was), but because my feet were killing me and I wanted to get to our destination to rest. I packed one good pair of walking shoes, which I THOUGHT I had broken in before my trip. I was wrong. I lost count of the number of blisters I had and even with band-aids (of which Tara's stash I nearly exhausted during my visit!) it hurt to walk. Next time I think I'll bring 2 pairs of walking shoes. It became quite the entertainment for the little Yellow Hats to watch me doctor my blisters every morning. I'm not sure why, but I guess they weren't nearly as grossed out by my uglier-than-usual-feet as I was! They called me the Blister Doctor at one point--gotta love kids' imaginations!

It was wonderful for Tara and I to have some time just the 2 of us on Monday and Thursday the week I was there, when the housekeeper/babysitter came. I enjoyed being around her family but sometimes it's nice to have adult time, and girlfriend time at that! We even watched a couple "chick flicks" when the kids were resting...one of which was very bizarre (Ladies in Lavender) and another which was good (Falling for Grace)...gotta love Netflix!

Stay tuned for what we did that Thursday morning before our McD's lunch!

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 9

2011-06-07T15:02:00.006-05:00

This post is about statues and historical figures/buildings. There is a lot of research I want to do on these, but for now, we'll go with what my Kyiv expert, Tara, tells me (because I know she's 100% correct!):

This lady with her sword and shield is a WWII museum.

These are "the Holy Ancestors"

This is the Lenin statue. However, according to Baby Girl (3 yrs old), it's the "lemon statue", and one time she even called it the "plum statue"!

Fellow on the horse there is Bohgdan Khelmenitsky, a hetman from the Cossack days who led an uprising against the Polish.

This was a very cool cloud formation behind the replica of the Golden Gates building:

The building below is a replica of the Golden Gates, which now houses a museum. Golden Gates was the entrance to the ancient city when Yaroslav the Wise was around.

Yaroslav himself.

Another view of the building

As I think I mentioned in a prior post, the primary purpose of my Kyiv trip was not sight-seeing, but Tara saw to it that we visited many important places in the city while I was there, and I'm grateful for that. My trip was a great balance of visiting with the Yellow Hats and seeing Kyiv, and I'm very thankful for that.

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 8

2011-06-07T10:58:00.005-05:00

Before Bunco night (see part 7), I went with the Yellow Hats to a wedding of one of their friends/babysitters. It was held at the Expo Center in a heavily treed area. It was a pretty setting and we were glad for shade because it was a hot day.

One of the things they did was pass out rose petals for us to though before (not on) the bride & groom came down the aisle. Big Girl and Baby Girl were excited to do this as you can see.

Venue for wedding:

This was an interesting tree that family and friends decorated. Not sure of the significance. Since this was the first Ukrainian wedding the Yellow Hats had been to, they don't know if it's a cultural thing or not. It's possible it could have related to the message the minister preached about the Garden of Eden?

We arrived at the Expo Center at 1:40 because the wedding was to start at 2:00. If you look closely at Tara's watch below, you'll see that before 3:00, things were finally starting to get underway!

For the last 20 minutes while we waited, we had a saxophonist playing. He was quite good. One of the songs he played was "I Just Called to Say I Love You" and those of us in the audience that knew the song sang along!

At the end of our long wait, when the minister finally stood up, he said something about them not really being late because it was their special day...

The bright pink was a night color contrasting the green surroundings.

At long last, the bride FINALLY arrived in a Porsche SUV. Since I don't know the wedding couple or party, I'm not including pictures of them. Though I don't speak or understand Ukrainian, this much I know - in any language, love is universal. I could tell how much in love this young couple were.

All in all it was another interesting experience on my Ukrainian adventure!

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 7

2011-06-07T10:44:00.004-05:00

On my second Saturday in Ukraine, I went with Tara to Bunco Night with the military wives. It was great fun. My first experience with Bunco was with Tara when I went to visit her in CA in 2009 and it was great fun then as well. Whenever you got Bunco, you got to wear the fancy pink boa...lots of laughs that night with lots of wonderful ladies.

After that evening, I now have a newfound appreciation for military wives...I knew what Tara had experienced as one but it was enlightening to also hear the stories of the other wives. I think one of the things that amazed me the most is just the amount of times they have to move and all the uncertainty with that since they don't usually know the next appointment that much in advance. Moving from one apartment in the same city is stressful enough for me, I can't imagine the cross-country and cross-the-world moves these families do, time after time!

So THANK YOU MILITARY WIVES FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY. You serve us as much as your husband and are heros to me just like them.

Back to Bunco. Our hostess that night had a fab apartment with a spectacular roof terrace with a view. We got an unexpected fireworks display in the middle of the evening that was a treat. I think there was a local celebration (Kyiv Days, maybe?) that was the reason, but Tara says the Ukrainians like to let off fireworks in general. At any rate, it added to the fun and the girls joked that the bar had been set very high for the next hostess for Bunco (they rotate and there's a different hostess every time).

Even though I was out way past my normal bedtime that night, I was honored to have shared a fun girls' night with such neat ladies. They are all friendly and welcoming and though they'll likely never read this, I wish them and their families all the best. Our country owes you a debt of gratitude as we do your husbands.

Stay tuned for the other event I went to that Saturday!

Kyiv trip re-cap part 6

2011-06-06T12:37:00.005-05:00

Once again, these re-cap posts are not flowing as I'd like them to. I can't get Blogger to let me load a picture, comment, load another picture, comment, etc. It just stacks all the pictures on top of each other. So here are explanations of the pictures:

1) Darling Baby Girl's 3rd birthday was the next to the last day I was in Kyiv. For more (and better) pics, please go to Tara's (Mama) blog and see them here. Tara is an expert on parties - all the decorations and games and treat bags and EVERYTHING matches the theme. She makes and decorates the cakes herself and they are UNBELIEVABLE. Be sure to click on the link to her post to see everything. Not only are the parties wonderful, but what is most important, the kids have a ton of fun and I'm certain they will remember with fondness their birthday parties as they grow up.

2) Tara's 3 kids (The Boy, Big Girl and Baby Girl) with me. My trip to Kyiv was not a sight-seeing/tourist trip. The main purpose of the trip was to visit Tara & her husband and her beautiful kids. It was great to hang out and play legos, Woody & Buzz, horses and read, draw and do puzzles together. Tara and her husband are GREAT parents, and as a result, the children are sweet, kind, well-behaved and thoughtful.

3) Wednesday Tara and the kids and I went to the Kyiv Botanical Gardens. At the top of the hill, after you wind through lots of gorgeous lilacs, you can see this church. It is really an amazing view.

4) and 5) The lilacs and trees and rest of the Gardens were very pretty. Despite the heat and my lack of being in shape climbing all the little hills, it was a delight and pleasure to see God's handiwork. Lilac is my favorite scent and, in case you couldn't tell from the blog color scheme, purple is my favorite color...so seeing the lilacs in bloom was a special treat for me.

6) Before we looked at the gardens, the kids played on very nice, newish-looking playground equipment. We did this first because it was all-metal and the day was soon going to be hot enough so the playground equipment would burn their little legs.

Stay-tuned: more re-caps to follow.

Kyiv trip re-cap part 5

2011-06-06T11:44:00.016-05:00

OK, so I'm having a great deal of difficulty getting Blogger to load my pictures in the correct order not to mention allowing me to maneuver them once they're on the screen. I'm sure it's the "nut behind the wheel", but nevertheless. It looks like the remaining posts will have to be grouped by theme and not necessarily chronologically as I had started.

This post is about public transportation for the most part. Not only are Ukrainians terrible and crazy drivers, but they park ANYWHERE. Here is an example of them parking on a sidewalk.

But they also are known to park and take up a lane of traffic! The suspensions on their cars have to be shot. I was in general surprised by the kind and number of cars I saw. They are status symbols and for the most part, from what I understand, reserved for the rich. I think the average Ukrainian does not have a car and uses public transportation.

I didn't get pictures of the metro (train) because you have to be in such a huge hurry to get on and off so the doors won't close on you. In addition to this, Tara says that the automated voice is essentially scolding you for not moving quickly enough! Here, though is a machine from which to get metro tokens.

Another mode of transportation we took was the funicular. It was like a tram. The building as well as the view was very nice.

Here are some other methods of public transportation. This is a trolley bus:

This is a hysterical sign on a (smaller yellow) marshrytka bus you can see in the picture below this one. The sign says basically that there is enough room in the bus for 21 people sitting, but in general 45. Let me assure you that the Ukrainians don't necessarily limit themselves to 45. And you do remember my mentioning the lack of deordorant used and the lack of personal space?!?

This smaller yellow bus to the left in the picture above is a marshrytka, one of which had the great sign above. One of the lovely parts about riding on a marshrytka is that most of the time, the windows are not open. Ukrainians have a thing about feeling a draft (air directly on them). They also don't use ice for a related reason. So again, remember: 1) lack of use of deordorant, 2) extremely close proximity to your fellow passengers and 3) no fresh air...though a couple times we were fortunate enough to have ones with a window open. It was pretty warm while I was there and I can't even imagine what it's like in the hottest part of the summer. I might have had to have a handkerchief or clothes pin for my nose!

Monday, after visiting St. Sofia's, Tara took me to an authetic Ukrainian restuarant where I had borsch soup. I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since it had sour cream in it and I'm not a fan of sour cream. But, it was good! We had to order our water with "no gas" (carbination), which just made me laugh. Tara ordered pizza and after waiting forever for it, we finally realized that the waiter was waiting for me to finish my soup since that was the first course and then he would bring out the pizza! Oops! Finally after "eyeing" our waiter each time he came out, he eventually brought Tara her pizza. I did have a bit of it and while it had much more than the pepperoni she ordered, it too was yummy. Earlier in the day, while visiting the beautiful St. Sofia's, I had my first experience with these "squatty potties". I can't remember if we had to pay there to use them there, but I know later in the week when we were at the mall we did. In any event, LOVELY. You furnish your own TP (which goes in the trash can). THANKFULLY squatty potty bathrooms (at least all the ones I used) had soap and water to wash your hands with!

Close-up, because one pic doesn't do them justice:

Since I'm having problems with getting pictures in here, I will save you the proof, but you can take my word for it. You had to go down several steps to get to the WC (toilet). On the door there was a sign indicating the WC was handi-cap accessible. So after you push your wheelchair-bound friend down all the steps then it's accessible? And the stall (no pics but you can take Tara's word for it, who scoped it out) was no wider than the others and had no bars for assistance. I guess this is an example of Ukraine TRYING to get more modernized.

Stay tuned for the next installment of my re-cap!

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 4

2011-06-06T08:40:00.009-05:00

Monday, my second full day in Ukraine, Tara and I took off sans kids while the housekeeper/babysitter stayed with them. I had really wanted to see St. Sofia's church because I remembered Tara talking about that when she first was in Ukraine several years ago. You can see from the picture where they have built the new (white) around the original old (brick).

St. Sofia's, especially the inside, is probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my 30-something years. I once saw the insides of a Byzantine Catholic church in OH and it now reminds me of what I saw inside St. Sofia's. There were mosaics and icons everywhere. I need to do some research on who all the people were in the mosaics. Some were Christ and the apostles, and some were of the royal family of Ukraine hundreds of years ago.

There was a beautiful mosaic composed of Pysanky eggs of St. Sofia herself. We encountered a group of school children and they were posing for a picture there. The children were very rude when we went to leave. Even though I couldn't understand what he said to Tara, I could understand his tone. I guess that's typical for Ukrainian children. I would have never even considered speaking in such a disrespectful way to an adult when I was growing up.

I had to use the restroom while we were at St. Sofia's and there is where I got my first experience with "squatty potties". Because it seems extremely sacreligious to post a picture of them in the same post as St. Sofia's, I will include the squatties in another post. I believe that most Ukrainains have what we Americans would consider "normal" toilets in their homes, but squatty potties are what you use when you're out and about. Sometimes you have to pay to use them, othertimes not. You need to furnish your own TP as well.

I'll re-cap the remainder of Monday in another post. Stay tuned for the squatty potties! :)

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 3

2011-06-06T08:31:00.005-05:00

After my first metro ride, we went to see St. Michael's church. It was the most beautiful shade of blue. Tara says that this blue embodies Ukraine for her. It was amazing, especially against the beautiful blue sky in Kyiv that day.

Besides visiting my friends, the only thing I really wanted to see in Kyiv was the beautiful churches, and you'll soon see that I saw many. Could not take pictures inside for the most part, but take my word for it that the insides were as or more beautiful than the outsides.

This is the square with St. Michael's - I just couldn't get enough of its beauty.

After a very full afternoon of shopping and sight-seeing, we went home. After the kids went to bed, Tara and her husband and I had a good time talking. I had no idea I had kept them up so late until we went to bed and I saw the time on my phone! It was great catching up with them.

What we did Monday will be in the next post.

Kyiv Trip re-cap part 2

2011-06-06T07:28:00.008-05:00

Sunday, my first full day in Kyiv, I slept in while my friends went to church. After lunch, Tara and I went by taxi to the Uzviz on St. Andrievski Descent. (second picture is of me standing in the street with St. Andrew's behind me).

The cab ride was interesting, to say the least. Tara suggested I not pay attention to the driving and focus on looking at what I could see on the roads as we went by...and that was fine with me! Tara instructed me that a cultural thing in Ukraine is not to speak in public transportation, so I didn't. She spoke to the cab driver and he had a Bible on the dashboard. We learned he was seventh-day adventist and she and he discussed theology until we got to the Uzviv. It was Tara's idea to go Sunday because she thought the next day would be busy...as many people as were there Sunday I can't imagine what "busy" would look like! Also, she had the wonderful idea that this way I could get most of my souvenier shopping done the first day.

My first impression of the Uzviz was just the massive amount of people. I quickly learned what Tara meant when she told me that the Ukrainians have no sense of personal space whatsoever. They crowd you and run into you and keep on going and that's just the way it is. They also have different ideas of modesty. At a "booth" where embroidered Ukrainian shirts were being sold, one lady flipped off her shirt and tried the one for sale on right there! I guess we should be thankful she had an undergarment on!

I was fascinated by all the things for sale. I'm so glad Tara knew what was good quality and what to ask the merchants. I knew going into my trip that I wanted to get the nesting dolls (Metrushka) for my 3 year old niece, and we found a nice set of those. We saw so many different kinds of Metrushka dolls. One set, as you can see in the third picture below, was of the US presidents! :)

We found some beautiful hand-painted little boxes (no special name and I can't type the Ukrainian name for them because I don't think I have cyrillic as a font on my computer). :) I picked out several of these for my sisters-in-law, friends, and Mom. I found a beautiful piece of artwork of St. Sofia's for myself and a small one for my Mom. Got picture books for my brothers and Dad.

Here is me in the metro (train) station....more about that below. (Can't get Blogger to keep my pics in the right order!)

Here's the set of US Presidents Metrushka dolls!

This is a bandurist; the instrument is native Ukrainian, I believe.If you look closely you can see the embroidered clothing booth were the lady ripped off her top to try another one on!

Historical pieces for sale

We rode the metro (train) back to the house after our shopping. Due to not being able to get Blogger to put my pics in the right order, the first picture above is me standing waiting for the metro. The metro was CRAZY crowded, again with the no sense of personal space thing. And they do not, on average, believe in deodorant. Some of Tara's Ukrainian friends talked about discovering deordorant and they were in a quandry as to whether to put it on before they smelled or after, and they chose after! Needless to say, my sweaty self and I fit right in!

I will post about the rest of Sunday, seeing St. Michael's, in the next post.

Kyiv trip re-cap part 1

2011-06-04T13:40:00.007-05:00

After looking forward to my trip to Kyiv, Ukraine for nearly 6 months, on Friday, May 20, it was time! Above are pictures of the official beginning of the adventure. I had the pleasure of talking with a mom who, along with her beautiful girls and husband, was heading back to Germany to live after being in TX for 15 years. It was fascinating to talk to this experienced traveler.

One of the things I had had a bit of anxiety about beforehand was the seat neighbor I would have on this long 9 hour flight from Dallas to Amsterdam. Well, the Lord took care of that of course. She was a lovely, kind and friendly nursing professor and veteran traveler. She didn't mind when I had to climb over her to go to the bathroom several times, and she and I enjoyed talking through the first couple hours of the long trip. I had thought that the 9 hour flight would be eternally long...since prior to this the longest flight I had ever been on was 3.5 hours from Dallas to San Jose, CA a year and a half ago.

I was pleasantly surprised about how quickly the 9 hour flight went. My seat neighbor and I talked until our dinner was served, and I watched a movie on my individual screen (YAY!) afterwards. Then I took the pills I take at bedtime, put in my earplugs and the eyemask, inflated my pillow and relaxed. I don't know if I slept or not, but it seemed to fly by. I didn't read or listen to my audiobook or do my puzzle book. Soon it was time for breakfast before we landed in Amsterdam at 8:00 a.m. local time (which felt like 1:00 a.m. to me).

I had a 4-hour layover in Amsterdam and after hitting the store to get a few little things to remember my "visit" to Holland, I settled down and sat in the gate area for the flight from Amsterdam to Kyiv. Again, the time went by quicker than I thought it would. I'm sure that the excitement and anticipation of the trip and seeing my friends made the time pass quickly.

And then, just like that, we landed in Kyiv. The next step from the plane was the shuttle bus to the Kyiv airport. Then I stood in the line waiting for passport control to look at my brand-new passport. I was a bit nervous about this, knowing that they had the option of looking through my bags, but they didn't at all. I went to baggage claim to get my suitcase, and then the door to the "outside" opened and my friend immediately called my name. There she was with her husband and 3 beautiful children. I was there finally! After hugs all around, we went outside and I was immediately overwhelmed by how HOT it was. I had hoped for the typical-for-that-time-of-year cooler weather, but it was in the 80's with bright sun. The weather of course wasn't important, but I will say, in the next 10 days, I did sweat a lot. I'm hoping it was the first step in kick-starting my weight-loss. :)

Once we reached their vehicle in the parking lot, my friend graciously climbed in the way back of their minivan so that I could sit in the passenger seat for a better look of the "scenery" on the ride from the airport to their apartment.

I was firstly impressed by all the signs in Ukrainian. I know that sounds ridiculous because obviously the signs in UKRAINE SHOULD BE IN Ukrainian, but remember, I had never been in another country. I saw the river and the two halves of the city on either side. There were apartment buildings with satellite dishes, which surprised me a bit. I saw how crazy the roads were, how the drivers observed no traffic rules at all, and appreciated why my friend doesn't drive there. Her husband does and even that is nerve-racking, not because he's not a good driver (he is), but because the Ukrainians are scary drivers!!

It wasn't long before the short trip to their apartment was over and we were inside what would be my home for the next 10 days. I was not surprised at all at the loveliness of their home, because my friend had posted pictures on her blog (and I knew from experience she is the ultimate homemaker/keeper). I wasn't surprised, just touched, at the fresh (purple on purpose) flowers she had by my bed. I wasn't surprised, just impressed, at how well-behaved her 3 children, ages nearly 3 to 8, were. I had visited them a year and a half ago but it was a short visit and the children had obviously grown in that time.

After a lovely dinner and much needed shower, I went to bed after the kids did around 8:00 local time, completely delighted to be there in Kyiv and so very thankful for a safe and smooth trip. The first step of my adventure was over and now the real fun, visiting with my dear friends and seeing a bit of the city, had begun. Stay tuned for part 2!

Back in the USA

2011-06-02T06:08:00.003-05:00

I had a wonderful trip on my trip to Kyiv, Ukraine. I have spent the past 2 days uploading pics to my computer and various websites and trying to get enough rest that I can handle today and tomorrow at work.

I promise I will post a re-cap and pics soon of my trip, but since I was traveling and unable to say this on Monday, THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MILITARY AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR THEIR SERVICE of our great country! We cannot appreciate you or thank you enough!

On my way...

2011-05-20T09:00:00.003-05:00

Praise the Lord, the day has come! 7 hours till I board for my Kyiv-bound international adventure! So thankful for the opportunity to go on this once-in-a-liftetime adventure! :)

Happy Mother's Day: My Heritage of Faith

2011-05-08T10:28:00.008-05:00

HERITAGE OF FAITH

In Memory of Dorotha Viola Smith Houston 1917-2002

In Memory of Doris Ruthelle Gartman Moseley Bock 1919-2007

In Honor of Donna Mae Houston Moseley b. 1944

How blessed I am

What a heritage of faith

Women who pray fervently

Consistently portraying a life of grace

Always encouraging, affirming, interceding, uplifting

Full of gentle strength and always believing

Beside their men and yet women of independent fervor

Raising their children to rely on their Savior

How blessed I am to know them, dear Father

And even more so, to be loved by and to love them

Grandma, Gram, Mom, oh how I praise You!

To me they're precious, and to You, priceless gems.

May I continue in their pathway

May I be a woman of honor, of prayer and of grace

May I pass on to this next generation

This amazing heritage of faith.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her...Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."--Proverbs 31:26-30, NIV

Thank you to our military, today and always!

2011-05-02T11:50:00.000-05:00

He is Risen!!!

2011-04-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

"Up from the grave He arose/with a mighty power o'er His foes/He arose the Victor from the dark domain/and He lives forever with His saints to reign/He arose, He arose, HALLELUJAH, CHRIST AROSE!!"

This is one of the hymns I grew up singing around the time we celebrate our Savior's resurrection. It still rings in my head, as does the last line of one of the Puritan Prayers I read this morning..."...pardon my inquity, for it is great."

As we solemnly remember His sacrifice for our sins, might we be forever grateful and rejoice, today, on Resurrection Day for such love. Thank you, sweet Jesus for your everlasting sacrifice!

What Good Friday Is All About

2011-04-22T11:11:00.008-05:00

"Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'

"They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

"As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.

"And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, 'THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.'

"At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, 'Your who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from that cross.'

"In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 'He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'

"The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice say, 'ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?', that is 'MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?'

"And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, 'This man is calling for Elijah.' Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. But the rest of them said, 'Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.'

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

"And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

"Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and they said,

'TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD!'""

--Matthew 27:27-44 NASB

My Reading List

2011-04-15T12:07:00.007-05:00

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today - Show Us Your Life - What is Your Reading List???.

I read about a book a week of good Christian fiction. I love anything (and have read everything) written by Karen Kingsbury. I am reading (off and on, it's a long story) Made To Crave. Since I've read all KK's books, I've started at the beginning of the alphabet in my church's library fiction section. I have liked books by James Scott Bell (have only read this one so far, not so much into the suspense/mystery for bedtime reading!), Lynne Austin (you can find a list of Lynne's books here, I haven't read them all yet, but I did LOVE this series!)

I read a lot as a kid/teenager and then got away from the habit in college (had lots of other reading to do!!!) and as a young adult. I used to just watch TV right before I went to bed, but I found that I was having a hard time going to sleep. I changed the shows I watched so that I watch only "wholesome" shows with happy endings. I have even been known to avoid watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie if I think it will be sad!

Non-fiction books that I love are anything by Beth Moore, Sandi Patty's books and [some] political biographies/autobiographies of people that I agree with (perhaps narrow-minded, but again with the point of reading being relaxing!). HAPPY READING!!!

**disclaimer**any link to purchase any of these products is just me trying to point you to what I've read. I am not affiliated with any of the stores/sites and do not benefit from you buying anything, though I doubt you'd be sorry if you did. :)

Update on Carol

2011-04-12T14:07:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Mindy for reminding me to give an update on Carol. She had a setback last week and had to be hospitalized. As many might know, the anti-rejection drugs suppress (or kill) your immune system. She got a serious sinus infection and had surgery to provide relief and is back home now. I would ask you continue to pray that her recovery from the transplant will go well, that her body will be strong enough to fight infections and that most importantly, it won't reject the liver. Thank you!

Aunt Sarah in action

2011-04-10T08:14:00.006-05:00

It's a sign of the times, I guess, that it is very difficult to find gender-neutral baby clothes!!!

I remember growing up in church and all the baby showers were green/orange/yellow. Now, it's just a few things that way. Even stores are divided between baby boy and girl.

Aunt Sarah was compelled yesterday to buy niece/nephew #2 a few things. I love these onesies...zippers are the best, I hear -- that snapping up suits in the middle of the night doesn't sound fun! :) My niece A wore these in the pink/purple versions and I think they're just too cute with the animals on the feet. AND I LOVE Kohl's where nearly everything is on sale all the time! :)

Great news!

2011-04-09T14:07:00.003-05:00

I found out last night I'm going to be an aunt again in November. My niece A will have a cousin with her last name - my youngest brother's wife M is pregnant! woo-hoo! :)

Update on Carol

2011-04-06T12:28:00.002-05:00

Carol still needs lots of prayer. I got word yesterday that she was back in the hospital with an infection. As some may know, anti-rejection drugs that you have to take after transplant surgery make you more susceptable to anything in the air...including sinus infections, I guess! They were to do a procedure today to help relieve her sinus pain, etc. and then hopefully send her home tomorrow. Thank you for praying!

Why I Love my Church

2011-04-02T10:47:00.015-05:00

Hi. I'm linking to Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" theme today - my church.

Since moving to Dallas 9.5 years ago, I've been going to First Baptist Dallas. It was the 2nd church I visited here when I arrived in Dallas in July 2001, and I've never looked back. At the time, my two priorities were an active Singles' department and an orchestra in which I could play my oboe. Though now I'm not a part of either ministry, they both blessed me at that particular place in my life. In the past, I've also been a member of our amazing choir, but am taking a break right now due to low energy levels & Fibro.

Being a member of a large "mega-church" is never what I thought I'd do. Yet, due to my involvement in Sunday School (i.e., Bible Study class) and the music ministry, my church has never felt too big. I must admit that at first when I was no longer on the platform either in the choir loft or in the orchestra, it took me a while to get used to be a member of the congregation. But friendly fellow congregation members made me feel welcome and I settled into my new role, for this season of my life.

For several years now, by far my favorite ministry to be a part of is the Preschool Ministry. At first I worked in the 1.5 year old room, but after a little while they were getting too heavy for me, so I went to the baby baby room, the newborns. Depending on when the parents feel comfortable leaving them for a couple hours, the babies are anywhere from a few weeks to a few months when they first come to our room. It's amazing to see them grow and develop and it fills a major void in my life, a baby to love.

Enough about my involvement in my church - I need to share also the other ministries we have. There are too many to mention, but some of my favorites are the Downtown Pregnancy Center, the Dallas Life Foundation (for homeless), our missions' forcus, our Celebrate Recovery classes, the Womens' ministry, evangelism training, and our music ministry from 3 year olds on up. It's so amazing to see the "young people" lead us in worship on Sunday evenings.

But I've left out the most important part of a church - the preaching and sharing of the Word of God. Our Pastor, Robert Jeffress, unashamedly proclaims the Truth each week. He's been at our church for several years now. He's not only an eloquent speaker, but he has the ability to help us apply the inerrant Word of God to our personal lives. And if there is no application of Biblical truth in your life, then the best preaching in the world has failed.

While my church has been around for 150 years, God is still working at First Dallas! We are in the midst of a huge building program that will transform our facilities, but more important, have an even more extensive ministry to those in our community.

If you are in the Dallas area and are looking for a church, I hope you will consider mine. Please visit our website for newcomers, http://www.explorefirst.org/ or our main website, http://www.firstdallas.org/. Thanks for reading this!

God is still in the miracle business

2011-03-27T08:17:00.003-05:00

I had the wonderful privilege of going to a baby shower of a seminary friend whom I haven't seen in 6.5 years! She and her husband have been through a horrible 2 years (see her blog here.) and were told that they would likely not have any more children.

I'm so thrilled to share that God is still in the miracle business - their little miracle is Micah David, due to arrive a few weeks over 2 years since his big sister went to Heaven. Beyond the joy of seeing my friend and celebrating Micah's life (and I admit, loving to see baby clothes and things!),

I was reminded again that God is able. Able to walk us through what we never imagined we'd face. Able to walk us through daily trials that may not be as hard as some others', but matter to our Heavenly Father just the same. Able to do far beyond what we could imagine. Able to do miracles.

Driving home from the baby shower yesterday, I was thinking about the 6.5 years that have gone by since my friend and I last saw each other at seminary. How much has happened in each of our lives - how faithful the Lord has been to us. She and I were in a small accountability group together in seminary and I know just a little of her past and what the Lord has seen her through.

I know what the Lord has seen me through in these past years of my life. I marveled again at what a good, faithful, compassionate and mighty Heavenly Father we have. One that is still in the business of miracles.

My review of a modest tank top!

2011-03-22T19:36:00.007-05:00

I wanted to share this with you. I have not been asked by Chadwick's to do this nor will I receive anything (other than satisfaction) if you order one (or 10) of these shirts. I just feel like I can't be the only person on earth that's had this problem. This is about their "Real Comfort Soft Ribbed Tank".

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.

Pros: Modest, Great price, Wash dry well, Not low cut, Comfy

Cons: Not offered in ivory, Otherwise PERFECT

Best Uses: Under low cut shirts

I have a problem with lots of shirts being too low cut for me. I wear tanks under them, but before finding this one, the tanks weren't very modest, either. This tank is perfect - high cut so it takes care of the modesty issue. I order the tall ones so they are longer. The only negative I can think of is that there is no ivory color offered. I have 8 of these right now and am ordering 2 more. :)

(legalese)

Getting ready...

2011-03-22T06:23:00.004-05:00

Starting to accumulate things for my trip...2 months from today, I'll be there! Very excited! :)

CAROL IS GOING HOME!

2011-03-21T16:48:00.002-05:00

Praise the Lord - less than a week after her liver transplant, Carol is going home today! You can get sick in the hospital from the germs there so the doctors thought it best for her to do the rest of her recovery at home. Her soldier son is on leave for another few days. Please continue to pray that Carol's body will not reject the liver and that she will continue to progress towards complete healing - thanks!

Carol Update

2011-03-19T10:28:00.002-05:00

I'm pleased to report that Carol is doing better - she is much less puffy and there has been no mention of the infection so it must not be an issue. She is enjoying many precious friends and family coming to visit. The docs say all looks good with the liver, praise the Lord! Please pray that things continue to go this smoothly and she won't have any major setbacks. Most of all, pray for wisdom for the doctors and peace and rest for Carol, her husband Jerry and her sons Brandon & Eric. Thank you! Carol says she is a living miracle and will praise the Lord the rest of her days - and to that, I say amen! :)

Update on Carol

2011-03-18T06:27:00.002-05:00

Carol got up and sat in a chair yesterday and walked down the hall a bit. Her soldier son was flown home by the Red Cross and her other son came to visit as well. These are all huge praises.

Some requests - she has a bacterial infection so please pray this will go away and not compromise her healing from the trauma of the transplant. She is in a lot of pain which is normal for 48 hours post-op, but please pray that she will get the rest she needs and continue to heal and give the Lord the glory for it all as she has done thus far!

Thanks for praying! No update yet on my friends A&B that need a permanent physical and church home - it's been a long week of waiting. I'm so praying they hear something today.

Have a great weekend! :)

Update on Carol

2011-03-17T07:36:00.001-05:00

Praise the Lord - Carol is doing GREAT! She only spent less than 24 hours in ICU. The liver is working and while she's in a lot of pain right now, she is doing better than expected, for which she and her family and friends give the glory to the Lord. Please continue to pray for her and that especially the Red Cross will get her soldier son home so he can be with his Mama as she continues to fight through the hard healing transplant process. Thanks!

Carol is getting a new liver today!

2011-03-15T05:52:00.003-05:00

******UPDATED 6:20 PM CST**Carol made it through the surgery and the liver is working. She is headed to ICU. Praise the Lord. She's certainly not out of the woods, but these are answers to the first two items below. Thanks for continuing to pray.******

Here is an update on this prayer request. Carol got a call last night at 8 p.m. that a liver had been found and is being prepped for surgery as I type this.

Please pray:

1) Nothing will come up either with the liver or with Carol herself that would prevent the transplant from happening.

2) The transplant itself will go well and that there will be no complications of any sort and that the surgery (that could last up to 9 hours) would be smooth and the doctors and medical staff will be sharp, focused and skilled in their work.

3) The military can get her oldest son (a soldier) home.

4) For the family of the liver donor, a 21-year-old woman, who are grieving the loss of their daughter.

5) Above all, the Lord would be glorified in all of this. Carol has a sweet, deep faith and this whole process for her family has been bathed in prayer from the beginning. This has been a long and difficult road, and I pray she is finally crossing the threshhold of the "after" part of this story.

Thank you!

Filling up my tank

2011-03-14T11:51:00.010-05:00

Friday I had the unexpected pleasure of having lunch with one of my closest friends B and her 2 little girls that call me Aunt Sarah. While they only live on the other side of the metroplex, during the week it's too far for me to go and she's working on the weekends. So I actually hadn't seen her since E's 1st birthday in December.

I know how fast children grow up so each time with them is precious. Seems like just last month the nearly-4-year-old in the pink boots was the size of her baby sister. Each time I see what I call my "nieces of the heart", I try to soak the love in like a sponge, much as I do with my biological niece A. I heard someone once describe that as filling up your love tank. I get so much joy out of B (nearly 4 yrs old) and E (just 1 yr old), and the fact that they know and love me sends me over the moon...and slightly makes up for the fact that my niece A does not know me well yet, since she doesn't see me often. I adore B&E and saw them both in the hospital when they were born and have loved watching them grow and develop.

And, how fun is it to buy matching sister dresses?!!?!? I can't resist. You can only dress them in matching things for so long and then they get an opinion about what they want to wear and the matching sister dreses thing is all over! I'll enjoy every bit of it while it lasts! :)

Calvary's Anthem

2011-03-04T06:31:00.004-06:00

"Heavenly Father, thou has led me singing to the cross, where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish, when my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain; where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist; and are more in number than the grains of fine sand;

For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou hast given me a hill-side spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hinderance in its crystal streams.

At the cross there is free forgivenmess for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last for ever; the blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fullness as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O Lord, forever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mount of blood; in the midst of a world of sin it is a subject for priase in every place; a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end.

I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem.

May I always know that a clean heart full of goodness is more beautiful than the lily, that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day, that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary."

from The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

I love this prayer and this book that a friend gave to me in seminary. I think this one is my favorite, though it's hard to choose (I'll post some of my other faves in future posts).

May your heart sing Calvary's anthem today and everyday! Blessed be our God who washes our sins away!

Straining to hear Him

2011-02-20T08:20:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago I got a precious gift when my 3 year old niece left me my first ever voicemail from her. I had to strain to hear her little voice, especially when she whispered. Of course she whispered, Mommy & Daddy were (to prompt her!) :) I have played the messge over and over so I don't miss a sound and can just hear her little voice over and over.

Yesterday I had my SS class prayer meeting. It ended up being just the teacher and me, but it was a sweet time. I played her the voicemail from A because I'm just so proud of it. When we were praying, she made the analogy that just like we were straining to hear every sound of the voicemail from A, we should strain to hear every Word Almighty God says.

I'm not one that believes (in most cases) that the Lord speaks today in an audible voice. I believe He left us the Word and that, along with the Holy Spirit within us as believers, that's how He speaks to us. I was so convicted about how I allow myself to be so distracted by the trivial (TV, internet, reading, etc.) that I don't take the awesome opportunity to spend more time with the God of the universe, my Heavenly Father.

A passage that I am memorizing right now has always been precious to me. I grew up knowing it in the KJV/NIV/NASB versions of the Bible. But this time I'm memorizing from Eugene Peterson's paraphased version, The Message. It says:

"I know what I'm doing - I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen. When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me. Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disapointed."--Jeremiah 29:11-13, The Message

What a promise - Almighty God promises that He will listen to little old insignificant me. That when I seek him whole-heartedly, He won't hide - He will allow me to find Him. It just struck me what an amazing promise He makes to us.

I hope that today, no matter where you are in life that you will strain to hear your Heavenly Father's voice. Look to Him--He will listen. He knows, He cares, He listens, you'll find Him. WOW.

He's the Best Valentine Ever!

2011-02-14T06:09:00.002-06:00

"The Word of God uses the phrase 'unfailing love' thirty-two times, and not once is it attributed to humans. Every single use of the phrase refers to God and God alone. Although the love of others can be rich and meaningful, only God's love is unfailing.

"He is not only the answer to a thousand needs but a thousand wants. He is our chief desire in all of life. Oh, God, awaken our souls to see-You are what we want, not just what we need. Yes, our life's protection, but also our heart's affections. Yes, our soul's salvation, but also our heart's exhilaration. Unfailing love-a love that will not let us go!"

--Beth Moore, Breaking Fee Day by Day

Update on Prayer Request

2011-02-09T17:10:00.002-06:00

Carol's blood results were good enough to send her home but that means she has to wait a while longer for a liver. By following her doctor's instructions to the letter, her numbers are better...but that means she's down on the list a little further now. Friends that work for transplant doctors as well as those who have siblings who have received transplants confirm that this emotional roller coaster is par for the course. I can't imagine the stress on the family--must be sick enough to qualify for liver but well enough (no fever, etc.) to withstand the transplant. Certainly a delicate balance, but nothing outside of our mighty Great Physician's realm of power. Carol's soldier son is on leave until February 15. Please pray that if the Lord wills she will get her liver before he has to go back to the war--and that in the meantime, the family will have peace and rest. Thank you.

Prayer Request

2011-02-07T18:03:00.001-06:00

Please pray for a sweet friend named Carol who is now #1 in the US for a liver transplant. Her MELD score (has to do with blood levels) has to be exactly right in order for her to qualify. She is a very godly, sweet , selfless, not-complaining lady and she has suffered so long for this. Her soldier son has been flown home and has a leave until February 15. Please pray for God's timing and peace and wisdom for all involved - including the family of the liver doner-to-be. Thanks.

White As Snow

2011-02-05T11:26:00.002-06:00

"Come now and let us reason together", says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow."--Isaiah 1:18

Gotta love Fridays!

2011-01-28T06:28:00.002-06:00

Firstly, I want to say if my last post was a downer, I'm sorry...didn't mean it to be at all. It was my idea of sharing how encouraging it was to me that the Lord showed me all the different, personal ways He was bringing to pass Isaiah 41:10 in my life right now.

I love Friday mornings ALMOST as much as I love Saturday mornings. This morning I have hope that the week will indeed end and that ahead are two days of less-structured busyness with the potential opportunity to relax a little. Filled with thankfulness the Lord has provided to make it through an exhausting week and relishing the idea of getting perhaps a little more sleep tonight.

O Friday, how I love thee! :) Have a great weekend, everyone!

Strength for Today

2011-01-26T12:07:00.004-06:00

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand"--Isaiah 41:10, NIV

So do not fear when you feel overwhelmed with all there is to do
So do not fear that you'll run out of migraine meds before the insurance will pay for any more

Do not be dismayed that things at The Company are more hectic than usual
Do not be dismayed when your apartment is messy because you have no strength to clean it
Do not be dismayed with interpersonal drama because I know your heart

I will strengthen you when it's 2:00 p.m. and you're sure you can't make it 3 more hours
I will strengthen you when a migraine starts and you have to stay at work anyway
I will strengthen you to make it through the week, giving you enough energy to do what you need to

I will uphold you when you feel like collapsing into tears
I will uphold you when you're so frustrated with your body you can't see straight
I will uphold you when you feel alone because you have no energy to maintain contact with friends
I will help you focus on your blessings and how I've faithfully provided for you in the past
I will help you work more than someone with your health issues should

With my righteous right hand I will guide you to abide in Me
With my righteous right hand, I'll cradle you in your health-imposed loneliness
With my righteous right hand, I'll carry you through.

THANK YOU, LORD!!!

Hi, my name is Sarah...

2011-01-20T18:57:00.012-06:00

Hi. My name is Sarah. I am linking up to Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life. This feels a little like "tooting my own horn", and it's not like me to focus on my strengths as if I'm marketing myself.

But, after knowing in my heart all my life that the Lord created me to be a wife and mother, and since I've never been either, I believe He can use any avenue to bring me my prince!

I work as an investment analyst for a actuarial and investment consulting firm in Dallas. My undergraduate degrees are in music (oboe) from Cedarville University in Ohio. Since graduating in the mid-90's, I've learned that music is to be my hobby and form of worship instead of my vocation.

I love babies and children. Besides my biological niece, my friends' two little girls call me Aunt Sarah, and I'm Miss Sarah to the babies I keep in the nursery at my church (First Baptist Dallas) every other week.

I LOVE college football and am very sad it will be nearly 8 long months before it's back--BUT my (Ohio State) Buckeyes did win the Sugar Bowl earlier this month! :)

I still play the oboe occasionally at my or my friends' churches and enjoy reading, knitting and cross-stitching. I love keeping up with friends with e-mail and texting, Facebook and blogging/writing.

I have two brothers, both of whom are married and one who is the Daddy to my precious 3-year-old niece A. A and her parents live in OH, which (as she says) is far, far away from Texas. I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like, but she is my joy. My parents live about 4 hours away in Houston and I enjoy having them fairly close--much closer than the 1000+ miles away in Ohio. That's where I grew up and my Dad taught at Ohio State for 35 years. Mom and Dad retired a few years ago and moved down here to be near Dad's side of the family.

Other things you need to know about me are that I LOVE dogs (especially Pugs) and plan to have 1 or 2 someday. I do NOT like cats, but am able to co-habitate with them, as I have done when pet-sitting in the past. I am a big fan of the color purple, Diet Mountain Dew & chocolate. My favorite Bible verse/passage (if I had to pick one) is on the top right sidebar, Ephesians 3:16-21. As to my character, I like to think that I am a dependable, loyal friend. I'm a hard worker and a bit of a perfectionist. Jesus is my first love. I love encouraging people with notes or cards and gifts. If you'd like to contact me, my e-mail address is sarahmoseley@sbcglobal.net. Thanks for reading this!

Update on Prayer Request

2011-01-16T18:47:00.002-06:00

Thank you for praying. I just got word that my friend Becky is home now from the hospital. She is still sick, but there are no heart issues. All the tests came back negative in regards to the irregular heartbeat. Praise the Lord!

Prayer Request

2011-01-16T08:05:00.003-06:00

I just learned that Becky, one of my closest friends, was taken to the ER last night because she passed out. After several tests, they don't think she hit her head when she fell, but she does have the flu. She also has an irregular heartbeat. Please be praying that she will recover quickly and that there will be nothing seriously wrong...the doctor thought the irregular heartbeat was related to passing out and that it would be gone this morning. I am definitely praying that is the case.

To give you some background on how dear Becky is to me, she was my first friend in seminary when I moved to Dallas 9 years ago. Becky and her husband have two precious girls that call me Aunt Sarah and I was MOH in Becky & Aaron's wedding. These friends are such a blessing to me. They have been going through a major period of trials in the past year and this is just another one along the way. Their faith is exceptionally strong and I'm fairly confident that Becky will be OK. It is, however extremely scary! If I had to guess about why she passed out, if it was indeed "just the flu", Becky was probably up and taking care of everyone else even though she was sick.

Thank you for praying with me! I'll update after church this afternoon on the latest.

Not Forgotten!

2011-01-15T12:34:00.006-06:00

"God's love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic, His purpose titantic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness, nothing gets lost. Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. How exquisite Your love, O God! How eager we are to run under Your wings...You're a fountain of cascading light, and You open our eyes to light."--Psalm 36:5-7,9 The Message

I'm a part of the Siesta Scripture Memory Team via Beth Moore's The LPM Blog. This was a very big blessing in 2009 when the LPM blog community did it last. I have been lax in my adult years in memorizing Scripture and this has realy helped keep me accountable.

The verse I've chosen to memorize for the next 2 weeks is really encouraging to me. Such an awesome, mighty, omnipotent God--and He cares about me, a small tiny speck in the context of the universe. A dear friend of mind reminded me also of this fantastic promise in her gift to me this past Christmas. She gave me a beautiful teacup and teaset that had a forget me not pattern on it...so, she said, I would always remember that the Lord will never forget me. I cannot tell you how much this encouraged and inspired me.

You can see from my "about me" statement that my dreams are far-fetched from a human perspective (I'm in my late thirties and [very] single!)--but the verses above remind me that God doesn't forget me. He sees me, He loves me, and He has a plan. What a wonderfully encouraging truth this is.

Whoever and wherever you are, whatever you've done, God cares. He sees, He loves and He remembers you. Never lose sight of that!

GO BUCKS!!!!

2011-01-05T16:33:00.004-06:00

You non-football types can take a 2 minute nap or grab something from the frig or visit another blog, but I have to mention my Buckeyes.

You will notice this is the 2nd post today, which indicates the significance and priority that my upcoming trip has!

While it wasn't a pretty win, it is a "W" and we will take it! We have not won against an SEC team in many many years and every other team in our conference (Big Ten) did horribly last week/end.

Victory is SWEET! :)

I've got the golden ticket!

2011-01-05T12:17:00.003-06:00

Isn't that what the kid said in Willy Wonka or something?

Anyway, SOOOO excited to announce that I just purchased my ticket to visit these dear friends overseas!!! I've never been outside the US of A before, so in addition to the excitement of seeing my friends, I'm going to see a whole new (to me) part of God's earth.

This would have been completely out of my reach financially had it not been for God's lavish provision as well as my friends' gracious hospitality. I'm so very thankful (and did I mention I was excited?!?!?!)

Another great song from church Sunday

2011-01-04T05:59:00.002-06:00

"Honored, glorified exalted on Your throne
Holy Lamb of God, we bow to You alone
King of all Kings, our joy for endless days
Jesus You alone are worthy of all praise"
--Randy Vader

This is an exceprt of a beautiful song that our choir and orchestra sang/played in church on Sunday. It struck me as a great way to start the New Year--or each ordinary day, for that matter: praising the Lord. So often I get into the "please do this", "please heal them" type of prayers without remembering to praise the Lord and thank Him for all He's done. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with asking the Lord for these--in fact, Scripture tells us too--but it also reminds us to honor the Lord and ascribe to Him the glory due His name.

Indeed, Jesus alone is worthy of all praise!

Happy New Year

2010-12-29T13:27:00.003-06:00

This is my prayer for 2011.

What a faithful God we have! As another year draws to a close, I remember all He's done for me this year. I look forward to this new year for a fresh start, but eternally grateful that each day I get a new start with the Lord (His mercies are new each morning, great is His faithfulness [Lamentations 3:22-24]!)