232. Forgetting my phone at home.

231. Finding the fabric I need in a bundle on clearance!

230. Funny stories about the boys reenacted by J.

229. Homemade corndogs.

228. Dinner with Bubba & Zanne

227. Almost figuring out the sewing machine.

226. Working on items for Bo's baby shower!

225. J getting us donuts.

224.  Sleeping in on a cloudy morning.

223.A battle for someones keys because I didn't think they were ok to drive.

222. Stopping and praying for a friends relative that is in the hospital.

221. John & Grace all dressed up.  :)

220. Another party, just for fun.

219. Mary Kay get together.

218. Homemade shirt & headband for a 4 year old.

217. Tutu & tie birthday party for Haley.

216. Keeping Conner & Logan.

215. Pizza & movie night.

214. This Friday going by fast!

213.  Planning to not have credit card debt by the end of the year!!!!!!  :)

212. Getting to take Gav to a basketball game.

211. Free tickets to the Mavs basketball game & parking pass.  Sec. 120, Row W, seats 12-15.

210. Walking/jogging with my mom in the evenings and Gav riding his bike.

209. My mom calling this morning to tell me she loves me! 
208. Justin's job.  I believe he has found where he belongs.

207.  Justin's work giving him a raise.

206. Justin getting more hours at work!

205. The smell of the stargazer lilies sitting on someones desk.

204. Making a budget that I understand fully.

203. A friend staying over for a couple of days.

202. Making dinner plans with an old friend.

201. Gav trying to explain his in class project to me.  I don't remember how many times he used "like" but it was cute and he's growing up.

200. Early to bed, early to rise.

199.  Seeing the shape of the sun and being able to look at it hidden behind the clouds.

198. Driving to work and seeing the sun out the right window and the moon out my left window.

197.  Having my baby back home!

196. Gavin thinking the song "black & yellow" is really saying "rock 'N' yellow"

195. The arms of the trees waving praise to their creator.

194. The whiff of my candles from inside the house.

193. Hearing all the sounds of the night. 

192. Rocking on my front porch.

191. A nice breeze.

190. No power.

189. Justin getting to play softball.

188. Trying to get into shape besides the round one I'm currently in!

187. My mom and I going walking/running last night.

186. The time change!  I love it when it stays daylight longer.

185. A precious baby born this morning Helen Kendall Danielle Wright!

184. Memories of a Grandpa that passed away 3 years ago today.

183. The joy I feel when I think about making baby gifts!

182. Gavin's step-mom.  Such a blessing knowing my baby is in good hands.

181. Gavin having a great dad, step-mom & sister to spend his spring break with.

180. Missing my Gav.

179. Going home.

178. Visiting my old children's pastor and his beautiful family (it's been about 13 years)!

177. Free breakfast.

176. Praying that if it's the Lord's will my dad with get THAT job.

175. Mark talking about a possible job back home.

174. Being at the venue where Cross Canadian Ragweed got their start.

173. Passing the gifts on to others.

172. Spending the weekend with my husband, mom & dad in Oklahoma.

171. Looking around and constantly seeing the shirts my grandpa used to wear.

170. My sweet daddy bringing me coffee in bed.

169. A relaxing weekend for my dad not having to drive home.

168. Laughs and memories with Mark & Theresa Jones.

167. The moon shining down.

166. The Oklahoma mountains.

165. A marriage being worked out.

164. God's divine plan that is beyond our comprehension.

163. My amazing church that makes an old tradition (to some) a refreshing eye opening journey.

162. The "Bright Sadness".
http://www.irvingbible.org/stories/note-from-pastor-andy/note-from-pastor-andy-3911/

161. The ashes coming from the burned palm leaves from last palm Sunday.

160. Ash Wednesday.

159. This quote from Ann Voskamp's blog.  "She who knows her sins much, loves much, and the road to heaven is paved with the realization that I deserve hell.  His rising will be all my joy, because I know it: He is ALL my hope."

158. My amazing husband building lamps from a front porch post.

157. Ideas turned into reality.

156. Plans to look forward to.

155. Medicine making me feel better.

154. A praying G-Mama.

153. The view from my bedroom window.

152. The warm sun shining in the cold house. 

151. J & Gav making shadow puppets.

You were always on my mind

3 years ago today my Grandpa passed suddenly from a heart attack.  He was plowing in one of his fields doing what he loved to do.  He was the support beams of our family.  It is rough and I replay that day in my mind over and over.  I know that I will see him again soon though.



Next thing on my mind is I'm dying to make stuff!  I have friends and family that are having babies and I want to make blankets, bibs & burp cloths!  I'm not a sewer so it's kind of hard for me to get started but I'm going to start!  I have a little cousin that has a birthday this month and I'm going to use my cricut to cut fabric and make a cute shirt....I'm going to do it! 


And onto the next thing.  My mom and I went walking/jogging last night and are planning on making it a habit.  I used to jog 4 or 5 days a week when I was in high school and I would love to get back to that.  Not to mention we have a friends wedding to attend in May and I don't want to be self concious around all those beautiful skinny people!  So guess what my work is doing today?  Celebrating St. Patty's Day with ice cream and cookies and you know what?  I'm not going to eat any of it.  I'm going to make my self a cup of hot tea and I'm going to look away!

Ash Wednesday & Lent

I grew up in a church that didn't recognize the Lenten season.  It was a few years ago when I started going to my current church (Irving Bible Church) that I was able to experience this journey. 

I have a friend that wrote in his blog, "There is no "season" to repentance. We are to live a life of repentance and repent every day, our whole life long. This whole idea of a season of repentance is wrong headed in my opinion. We die to sin and self and serve the Lord everyday throughout our entire life."  I agree with what he says.  But can't this season be about more than gorging ourselves on Fat Tuesday and then giving up chocolate for 40 days just to say that we did it?  It is kind of like a time to reflect, I mean really it can mean several different things to several different people.  The "Bright Sadness" as my pastor calls it because "it's a time of both mourning and celebration".  "During this season, we imitate Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days. We focus on Christ’s battle with Satan that he waged in order to win our salvation."  And for that matter, is it wrong for us to take 40 days out of our lives to do away with distractions and go through our own desert (Matthew 4:1) and focus on Christ and at the end of that 40 days celebrate Him?  It's a time to walk through the desert and that mourning of Christ dying for our sins but then celebrating the brightness because he rose from the grave!  Ann Voskamp wrote a blog about lent, she says, "Lent. It’s the preparing the heart for Easter. Like going with Jesus into the wilderness for forty days, that we might come face to ugly face with our enemy. Our sacrificing that we might become more like Christ in His sacrifice.” She goes on to say,"Lent isn’t about forfeiting as much as it’s about formation. We renounce to be reborn; we let go to become ‘little Christs’. It’s about this: We break away to become.”  “Don’t think of lent as about working your way to salvation. Think of it as working out your salvation.”  (you can read more of her amazing blog here, http://www.aholyexperience.com/2011/03/why-do-lent-why-a-failing-lent-actually-succeeds-a-booklist/ )  Our pastor made a good analogy last night.  He was talking about baseball teams being in spring training.  He asked us if they were at spring training to become baseball players?  No, because they are already baseball players.  They are there to practice and work on their weaknesses to become better ball players...

This journey seems so powerful to me and I'm so grateful that I can celebrate this "Bright Sadness".  The Ash Wednesday service last night at my church was so powerful.  We go in and sing a couple of songs, it's an intimate spirit, lights low, candles lit all around.  You can smell the ash in the air, the ash that came from the burned palm leaves from Palm Sunday.  The black cloth laying out so you can go write your "sin" in black marker, the same black cloth that will be draped over the cross, the same black cloth that will become a white cloth on Easter Sunday.  The paper, glue & clay that are set out on tables so kids can do a craft to interpret what lent means to them.  The stone that we carry with us "as a reminder to identify with Jesus in his willing submission to God’s will, letting “the stones remain stones” and trusting the Heavenly Father in significant new ways".

"She who knows her sins much, loves much, and the road to heaven is paved with the realization that I deserve hell. His rising will be all my joy, because I know it my bowels: He is all my hope." Ann Voskamp

To learn more about lent you can visit my church website: http://www.irvingbible.org/stories/worship/lent-worship-stories/lent-at-ibc-2/

 

 

My amazing husband

Justin is one of my many blessings.  He is amazing and talented and I'm so thankful for him.  We have redone our living room but it's not complete yet.  There are still a few things here and there that we need to do and changing our our contemporary lamps was one of them.  I sent him a random picture of a lamp shade that was made from an old burlap feed sack.  Similar to the picture below.


And he goes many steps further and makes some amazing lamps.  He took an old post from a front porch and cut it down, drilled holes down the center and added the lamp mechanics.  Then we got some lamp shades from Joann's and some burlap material and covered the lamp shades in the burlap.  The Justin got a stamp and stamped the burlap to look like an old feed sack.  The pictures I'm about to post are of our lamps.  We are not done with them yet because the ends still need to be glued and a few other things but here is the magic.

The stamped words hold so much meaning to me.  I love these lamps and I love my husband!

Gavin's grocery list!

Here is a picture of Gavin's grocery list that I said I would post a picture of. 

Ice cream, gatorade & tortillas, what more could a kid want!?

trying to get this number thing down (long post, it's been a while)

150. Justin helping friends out repairing furniture.

149. Gavin riding his bike for the first time without training wheels!

148. The opportunity to get caught up on my list.

147. Jury Duty- remind me Lord that I am blessed to live in a country where we have the right to a trial by jury.

146. Innocent until proven guilty. 

145. 30 extra minutes of sleep this morning!  30 minutes is 30 minutes!

144. Downloading music for Gavin's ipod.

143. getting everything done at work and staying busy all day!

142. looking for new A/C window units.

141. Smelling the sweet fragrance of everything blooming and preparing for spring!

140. Bubba & Justin fixing the water line.

139. lunch with Gav, Mommy, Daddy, Cherilyn & Lori.

138. people wanting to change.

137. Daddy preaching at the Cowboy church.

136. Dance party in the garage with Mommy & Daddy. 

135. Birthday parties!

134. Gav saying "sepetariat" when he saw some horses (he really meant Secretariat, the movie about the horse)!

133. My mom offering to go to the store for me since Gav was sick.

132. A day to myself to get groceries and do nothing!

131. Gavin's grocery list for J!  (I will have to post pics later)

130. The lady in front of me @ the store needing a price check (and it taking for-e- ver) but it gave me a minute to stop and breath!

129. The lady in front of me @ the store thanking me for my patience.

128. Phillip, Lisa & Mason in town and getting to visit.  We stayed up late telling stories and having a great time.

127. J working in the yard.

126. watching J and Gav in the tractor moving tree branches.

125. seeing the hair on Gav's arms and realizing he's growing up.

124. Knowing I have what I want & need and being happy.

123. Navigation systems!

122. Date night!

121. Food spilling in my car, me getting upset & J telling me it's ok and reminding me of the 1000 gifts.  He said we have a great dinner so everything is good!

120. My new Toms shoes!


119. Gav trying to tickle my neck. (makes me laugh even if it doesn't tickle)

118. tickling Gav.

117. Take out for dinner.

116. learning a new job @ work.

115. Auntie Anne's pretzel for dinner.

114. knowing the right thing to do in a situation.

113. coupons!

112. finding a cute dress!


111. shopping with my mommy.

110. Blogs (I learn so much and it gives me ideas)

109. J going to help my G-Mama with something.

108. A nice little walk @ work to get the mail.

107. Texting rap lyrics back and forth with my bestie!

106. what to wear to a b-day party...oh the dilemma!

105. Afternoon coffee breaks.

104. finishing each others sentences.

103. J & I thinking alike.

102. J & I sending an email to each other at the same time about the same thing.

101. The breeze blowing the plants outside my work window.

100. Gavin's cute comments, "mommy, I have two questions.  I like my hair like this & can you open this?"

99. watching Gavin ride his bike (with training wheels).

98. beautiful weather for a walk.

97. new perfume.



96. knowing how much my husband loves me regardless if it's Valentine's Day or not.

95. Valentine dinner.

94. being with the loves of my life.

93. flowers.

92. Valentine's Day.

91. having my Gav back home.

90. spending time with J.

89. looking for things to use for baby Justus' Narnia themed room.

88. looking at old him things.

87. The Old Home Supply Store in Ft. Worth.


86. Breakfast @ Ol' South.



85. Making fun of movies with Bubba.

84. helping Bonita pick out baby names.

83. looking after a friend for a while.

82. getting taxes done.

81. the sweet old man sitting next to us at breakfast.  He was by himself so I finally told him he could sit with us but I don't think he heard me so we just starred at each other smiling.

80. Breakfast with J and my parents.

79. Baby Justus!

78. Cadence International and their ministry to the military.

77. The military and the men and women who sacrifice and serve.

76. going to Adam & Bo's house.

75. Chick-Fil-A.

74. Trying to smile and find joy when Gavin is whining about a toy.

73. Target!


72. Memories, they help keep things alive.