Flury Pole

Yesterday I was talking with a friend and he was typing on his iPhone and it was trying to auto-finish his text message and I found it extremely funny. Here is what the text was supposed to say: "I would give you $5 for a drive thru diet coke." Here's what the iPhone wanted to say: "I would give you $5 for a drive thru flury pole."

How would an auto-text get flury pole from diet coke? There's an extra letter in flury! Anyway, I am still physically laughing even as I type this, a day later.

On another note, I found out that I am going to be able to go see my parents for Easter and I will get to stay down there until I get back from my trip to Kansas City. I am very excited, it will be a great break! I think I'll call it my Spring Break - even though I'm too old for Spring Breaks. This next week and a half has some very good things in store for me. I will be spending some much needed time by the pool or at the beach and with my parents. Then I will get to go see my sister and take in all that is her life these days - ie. go to visit her school and meet her kids, stay in her apartment, live the semi-city life for a couple days. And we will run our 1st 1/2 marathon together! 2 years ago I never would have dreamed I could run that much....I didn't think I could run a mile. :) So this is quite a big step for me and it will be a great accomplishment! I am looking so forward to all these things.

For those of you following that would like to know (as a side note), Dave got to his destination safely and I heard from him via email today - so all is well. I hope that you all will join me in prayer for the safety of him and others like him that work to protect our country and for their families.


Thanks for reading.

Here we go again....

Well, it is days like these where I struggle to find beauty. Instead of finding things to be thankful for, my tendency is that of all-around negativity. Thanks to this blog, however, I am forcing myself to come up with something of which to report thankfulness.

Although I took my amazing husband and best friend to the airport today for a 42 day long trip, I am thankful that he is so willing to look after me. He sacrifices his safety and comfort in order to provide for me and that is amazing.

I am thankful for my family members for calling me and for the outpouring of love I have received from them. I am thankful for my sweet puppy who doesn't care if I cry or mope around the house for the rest of the day, but who willingly snuggles with me and gives me sweet puppy kisses like no other puppy kisses I've ever had. I am thankful that this coming weekend we will celebrate a most joyous holiday! I am so thankful for Easter because ultimately when this life is over I know I will spend eternity in heaven as a result of the sacrifice that Christ made for my sinful life that will never be good enough to enter heaven without His intercession. I am thankful knowing I will spend this eternity with my family and many many dear friends.

I could keep going on, so at the end of this day that I thought had no reason for thankfulness, I reveal to my wounded soul that it has reason to rejoice! So, rejoice, be glad and sing. There are many things for which to be thankful.

Cupcakes Are for All Occasions

This cupcake was so magnificent that I had to eat it on my china with a fancy table cloth! I even had to light a candle while eating it because it was so fancy! It came from Luli's Cupcakes downtown. I think I will be stopping there much more frequently than before. Just thought I'd share. :)

Bittersweet Days

Well, Dave has the next couple days off which is great! I am excited to get to spend some good quality time with him - maybe go to the beach, sleep in, run around together. I love these days, but I always hate these days. He is leaving for 45ish days and that makes me sad to think about. His trips are always a time for great introspection on my part and I hope that during this trip I will be able to overcome my "automatic thoughts" and instead focus on all the things I can accomplish for him to be proud of when he returns.

We have spent the past two evenings with sweet friends - just enjoying time together, laughing and fellowshipping.

On another note - lots of people are pregnant. I really wish I was at the place in life where we were ready to start having babies. I'm just putting it out there. If I wasn't in school and Dave traveling 6 months out of the year I would SERIOUSLY be on that baby train!

Thanks for reading.

Seedlings

Projects, projects, everywhere! I am still in the middle of re-finishing the dresser. I had a slight hold up in finishing the sanding of it due to an inadequate amount of sanding materials and unfortunately haven't been able to get some more. Also, since I have school this weekend, I won't probably get to work on it more until next week. Meanwhile, my innate need for an on-going project surfaced and I decided to start nurturing some seedlings. I hope to grow lavender, zinnias and impatiens. I am not very experienced in keeping plants alive until this past winter when I cut back my chrysanthemum (which happens to be in the background), brought it inside, re-potted it and now it is flourishing! All of my other plants outside are trying to come back as well, including mums, a camellia and a hydrangea!

In other news, some of you may already be aware of the fact that my sweet Aunt Kim, Uncle Dale and their 3 children are raising funds to adopt "Hope" from Ethiopia. I know I don't have a ton of followers yet, but I hope that maybe we can spread the word about their efforts in any way possible. You can follow their adoption process and hopefully DONATE through their blog:
http://embracingtheleastofthese.blogspot.com

Thanks (as always) for reading.

Welcome Spring!

This morning when I woke up and took Beesley outside, it actually felt warm-ish! What an amazing feeling! Supposedly it has been a harsh and long winter for the entire country, but when you live in Florida and are used to saying, "Why is it still hot?" the extra-long chilly weather can really hit you hard.

We went to Stuart this weekend to see my parents. It is always a nice and relaxing time when we are there. We drove down to Jupiter Island and drove through one of the ritzy neighborhoods. Then when we were driving back to town we stopped at an overpass over the river and saw some manatees. It was such a lovely day!

For those who do not know, I am training for a 1/2 marathon. I am going to Kansas City, MO to visit my lovely sister and we are running the race together on April 10th. So far the longest distance I've run is 9 1/2 miles! This is huge! The most I had run before starting this training was 9 miles. So I've officially started going beyond what I know I can do. I am praying through this training as well because I know that I am weak and without strength given to me by God, I would quit. I hope you all will pray with me - especially as we get closer to the race - that we (Laura and I) will stay injury free and hydrated and motivated.

http://www.active.com/running/olathe-ks/olathe-marathon-2010

I am very excited about running this race - especially since I am running it with my sister (who I consider my motivator and coach)!

Thanks for reading.

Beauty

Today I am beautiful! (For those of you who do not know me, this statement might lead you to believe that I am vain - for those of you who do know me, you know this is a huge statement.)

Today I am beautiful because God has made me who I am and He made me with love. There is no way that His love could be ugly. He has given me life and that is beautiful in itself. But, I believe that I am beautiful because I must trust in Him alone to help me be the person He made me. I am imperfect in so many ways - I don't always keep my house clean, I sometimes shop too much, I may not hold my tongue and I don't always think of others before myself. But I am a woman, I am longing to help others, I love the beauty God has made and I am dedicated to my family. And most importantly, I am trying to accept myself - exactly as I am right now - without changing anything fundamental to myself.

I still haven't finished my dresser, but when I do it will be just as I want it - probably with some little imperfection somewhere that will become my favorite part of it.