What a day...

I dont intend on blogging everyday, but there was just so much excitement today.... that I had to tell everyone! Today we woke up this morning and I made breakfast.  Eggs, grits, and bacon!  My eggs were runny, mixed in with my grits (which were cheese grits...(homemade)) and Nates were scrambeld.  It was a very tasty breakfast I must say, but very fatening probably.  I really havent ate a lot this weekend, but I feel like I've gained 9408234092 lbs! If it werent for the ice we would straight be going to the gym in the morning, but I am worried the roads will be too bad at 4:45 AM.  Since our date was canceled today at Nates granny's church, and no churches were having service around here, we went to church online!  We listened to a message online at a church we have visited a couple times called The Salt Mine. It was an awesome message, and it got our day started off right! I really wanted to go out and play in the snow yesterday, but I didnt want to get snowballs shoved down my throat.  Nate has been threatening me ever since they said we MIGHT get snow this weekend.  So, I made him promise today, no snowballs.  We put on about 5 layers of clothes and ventured out.  We didnt have any sleds, we dont have four wheelers, and the snow was too fluffy to make a snow man, so we made a half igloo!  We pretended we were on survivor man, well not really, but we did feel a little like Les.  We love watching survivor man!  We got our igloo half built and decided we'd had enough for the day so we go back to the house only to find.... WE LOCKED OURSELVES OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!! OMG!!!!!  I've locked myself out before, but I've always had a spare key hidden somewhere.  Even in my car, my dad always made me keep a spare key in a little box that attached underneath my car!  Not today however... only mere inches from the LOCKED door were both sets of keys! Oh, btw.... we had no phone either!  So, we thought about just busting a window pane out of the door, but it is all one big window with wood frames on either side, then we tried to get a hammer to pry it open, that didnt work so we tried a garden trowel, that didnt work, so then we tried a metal towel hook thingy Nate had on his golf towel...that didnt work, paper clip....that didnt work.  So.... we had to make the walk of shame to the neighbors house to use the phone!  Luckily we know a couple who lives down the street.  So we went down and used their phone.  Im so thankful to have nice neighbors!  It wasnt long, probably about 20 minutes or so till the locksmith came. He had the door open in about 2 minutes.  Its really amazing how they do that.  It kind of makes me feel a little unsafe!  That was too easy for him to open our door!  Oh well.  So $55.00 later, in case your wondering...that is the going fee for breaking in your house, we got back in and warmed up.  We played 3 games of wii bowling and one 9 hole of golf.  I kicked Nates tail on that one!  I had a -1 he had +11!  I have no clue about golf, but I kept getting "birdies" and evidently thats a good thing!  Then we watched The Sandlot!  We had won the movie at a Christmas party this year and Nate had NEVER seen it before!  That is a GREAT movie!  I forgot how good it was.  By the time the movie was over, I was going stir crazy so we went to Aldi for a few groceries we needed.  For all you bargain shoppers out there, Aldi ROCKS!  We got a TON of stuff today for about $30.00.  I love yogurt covered raisins and they had them for way less than normal grocery stores do.  Anywho, now we are back at home, watching The Matrix marathon on AMC. Nate nor I have ever seen these movies.  Thats all for today, just thought you guys would like to know about my interesting day!  :)  I've never been so glad to get to go to work on Monday!  lol

Snow Day!!!

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!! I LOVE SNOW!!! :) Snow days are some of my favorite days in the whole world. You know how hearing a song can bring back memories? Or a certain smell of cologne or perfume or a candle can take you back to a time? Well, that is what snow days do for me. You see when I was a little girl, we went all out on snow days! I remember when they would call for snow I could barley sleep at night. I would go to sleep just to wake up an hour or two later to jump up and look out the window to see if it had started yet! We lived beside an old mill building and the road beside my house used to be rail road tracks, so there was an old loading dock attached to the old mill building. I would go out there when it was mostly ice and run and slide down the ramp on my knees and "skate" around on it! That was for the wussy snows.. the BIG snows however we would go all out! My cousins who lived up the road from us would break out the four wheelers and we would hook up water tubes to the back of them and go down to the park and do doughnuts in the ball field! One time I was riding it and did a face plan in the snow... it broke my sun glasses! One day when we were out having fun with the four wheeler an old neighbor across the street called the cops on us. My cousin hid the four wheeler and then went out to talk to the cops to tell them that they went "that way!" lol we had so much fun! Another time we tied together maybe 5 or 6 sleds all in a row and pulled them down the road on the four wheeler. I was too scared to sled so I rode on the back and made sure no one fell off! My other set of cousins lived waaay up on big hill. Their driveway was gravel and they would go out the night after it snowed and pack the driveway down with snow as much as they could so it would freeze over night. The next morning we would walk up to their house and spend all day sledding down their hill! It was SO FUN! Then we would go in for breaks and eat doritoes and make our own cheese dip to dip the doritoes in! I'll even give you the recipe...sliced cheese and milk.... lol microwave it to melt the cheese, stir it up and dip the doritoes... YUM! Just one of the reasons I've been overweight my whole life! haha Then there was the tradition after my sister Kim got married that we would go over to her house while it was snowing and stay up half the night playing monopoly or putting a puzzle together! Then she would make chocolate chip pancakes in the morning and the outside festivities would begin! All those are wonderful memories that snow days bring to me, but perhaps my most fond memory is that of my sweet neighbor Jenny Finger. See Jenny was more than my neighbor, she was my best friend. I went over to her house every day that I could, not just snow days. But snow days were extra special at her house. When the cousins were not playing with the four wheeler and we were not sledding, I would go out and play by myself. I would make snow angels, build snow men,climb trees, go on adventures in the snow. (I was a tom boy when I was young... and still am a little!) Anyway, I would go to Jenny's house to warm up during my play times. She would make the BEST snow cream in the WORLD! Somtimes she would make chocolate, sometimes vanilla. Jenny wouldnt make snow cream out of just any old snow though. It had to be the best! The kind we got yesterday, that fine powdery snow. If it had any sleet or ice in it, she really didnt want to even bother, but trust me it was worth it! I would go out and scrap off the top layer of snow off her car. You see you cant scrape too deep or you will get ice in it or dirt off the car, but the snow on top is perfect! Then we would sit around and just talk. Jenny and I talked about everything. Sometimes we would watch tv too. Her husband Rob always sat on the couch and watched TV. I miss them so much. Yesterday I had a little breakdown because my memories of Jenny are so strong on snow days. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who understands.. so he just let me cry a little. Jenny passed away about 5 years ago I think. I try not to remember her dying, only her living. She was such a great woman. She would give the shirt off her back. She loved the Lord, her husband, her family, and her neighbhors. I thank God for her. She taught me a lot about life, about growing old, about being young, about loving your husband. She loved Rob with all her heart. I spent the nigth with her every night for a long time after he died. She would always make me sleep in her bed and she would sleep on the couch where Rob slept. He couldnt get in and out of the bed well so he always slept on the couch. I would fall asleep every night to the sounds of her quietly praying and crying. I remember sometimes crying with her as I would listen. I always hoped that I would find someone to love like she loved Rob. Im so glad I did! So snow days have a special place in my heart. I know Im not the only one who has these memories, whats some of yours?

Wild At Heart

I just finished reading the book Wild At Heart by John Eldredge.  This book took me a while because I read between moving into our new house and just being busy.  Nathan and I sometimes like to read before we go to sleep.  He is reading Captivating my John and Stasi Eldredge.  Im sure he will share with you when he is finished. 

Nathan and I have been married going on two years June 14^th!  God has really grown us during this time.  We came to a point about a year into our marriage, where, Ill just be honest… we needed to understand each other better as a man, and as a woman.  We needed to understand why we are the way we are!  I had heard rave reviews about this book in the past and one night while we were in a Christian bookstore in Concord Mills, we stumbled across these books.  We initially didn’t buy them, for whatever reason, but the next week Nathan went back and got them.  Let me just say THIS BOOK HELPED!!!!  Wives if you don’t understand some things about your hubby…READ THIS BOOK… And hopefully your hubby will also read it for himself.  Nathan and I are going to switch books when he is finished reading. 

The book said a lot of powerful things, but  for me, the thing that really struck home was near the end.  The author poses the thought, “ When doe s God ever do the same thing twice in the bible?”  Sure, he heals the blind multiple times, but when does he ever use the same methods to do so?  When does he part the red sea twice?  When does he turn the water into wine again?  Correct me if Im wrong, and I may be…but I don’t recall him EVER doing the same thing the same way twice!  That’s because he is a CREATIVE being!  He is THE CREATOR!  With that being said, the author then states that Christians and Christianity has been given this “formula” mind set.  “Well, we’ve done it this way for years.”  “That band recorded Heart of Worship, so I’ll record Heart of Worship again, it worked for them!”  “This church grew by such and such.”  And so on and so on.  You get the picture?  WE ARE PUTTING GOD…THE CREATOR… IN A BOX!!!  Im so guilty!  I feel like if I don’t write songs that sound like the popular songs on the radio then they will not be accepted or effective, but that’s not what its about.   Whether your song reaches thousands or one, its purpose has been fulfilled.  The Bible says in Isaiah 55:
 ⁸For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
    ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
    ¹⁰For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,^{(D)
    11}So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

This is the promises of God!  How awesome that his ways ARE higher than our ways.  This is just more proof that he is CREATIVE!  We too can be creative if we simply let the Holy Spirit speak through us and throw out the formulas!  Let GOD BE GOD!  The following verses are continued from Isaiah 55:
    ¹²For you shall go out [from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil into the homeland] with joy and be led forth [by your Leader, the Lord Himself, and His word] with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
    ¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name of renown, for an everlasting sign [of jubilant exaltation] and memorial [to His praise], which shall not be cut off.
These are the rewards for being creative and letting the Lord work through us!  Because when its HIS idea, there is success instead of failure.  There is life instead of death.  Something that is not bearing fruit or CREATING LIFE is DEAD!  A stagnate pond cannot sustain life, just like a dead tree cannot produce fruit.  
This book challenged me to be the creative person God ment for me to be.  What is God wanting you to create?  Take time today to look at yourself, pray, and ask the Lord if you are using formulas and putting him in a box.  Where are the areas of your life you can be creative?

Buy Wild at Heart here on Amazon (My most fav place to shop):