wedding weekend, Long Beach, MS

Remember when I thought I'd post about the weekend on Monday?  Yeah.  This blog was about the furthest thing ever from my mind.  I was crazy busy all day Monday and Tuesday, and am writing this on Wednesday night.  I skipped church to stay home and recover.  My feet may never be the same! 

Anyway, last Friday we left for Long Beach, Ms.  Our friend Marissa got married on Saturday night, and our family is so close to her.  Also helping was the fact that she doesn't live too far away.  We tried to leave at nine, but got away around nine thirty.  I was happy with that.  We made it all the way to Jackson before we stopped for a restroom break and lunch.  We ate at Moe's and then got back on the road.  We got there around four fifteen, and I promptly went and looked around.

We were right on the beach.  It was so, so cold when I took this.  I got some coffee and went upstairs to change, then we left for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. 

We were SO COLD!  Turns out that ocean wind is strong, even thirty minutes from the beach.  The wedding was taking place outside, so they'd been out in that, and I had gotten cold and couldn't warm back up.

We didn't stay very late and then left for the hotel. 

I was asleep really fast, if you can believe that.  The next morning we ate breakfast, and then I went to drive around and look at cute beach houses.  Nobody wanted to go with me!

I went back to the hotel and we went to lunch at a seafood place.

They all ate po'boy sandwiches, but I had this huge bowl of gumbo.  I ate every last drop, it was so good!

This was right near the restaurant, and had it not been too warm, I would have gotten some coffee here, but I was hot.

We went to the hotel to change for the wedding, and then left again.  The venue was 40 minutes away, so we spent a lot of time going back and forth.  Graham was an usher in the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful!  Todd watched the Alabama game through most of it, and went to the car after the ceremony to finish watching, then he came back in and ate dinner.  We ran into some friends at the wedding!  And we ate and laughed, and had a grand time, despite the score of the game.

We gave them a fake send off for pictures, then their photographer offered to take my family's picture.

A Christmas miracle occurred, and in the first picture she took, we all managed to look like we had it together.  I love this picture of us!

We said our goodbyes right after this, and left.

Why stop with just one?  I couldn't resist a picture with just me and the boys.

We left around ten thirty the next morning, went to Marissa's parent's house for lunch, then started the drive back home.  Todd had a terrible headache and I drove for an hour, then Graham drove us the rest of the way home.  It is always so good to be home!  It was a great weekend, and I had really high expectations of how I thought it would all turn out.  My expectations were met.  I am so glad we went for Marissa, and that the six of us could all be together for a whole weekend.  These moments are rare and very few and far between these days. 

I'll take any amount of time I can get with them. 

Love to all. 

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  On...you guessed it!  It's Thursday night and I'm writing this.  By the time this publishes tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be on the road with my family.  More about that in a minute, though...

I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends Erika and Narci, for this blog post.

I'll start from last Friday, and then make my way forward.  My dad came over, per usual, and we ate a yummy lunch, because it was cold outside, and I knew he would be freezing.  I'd made chicken tortilla soup that week, and we enjoyed the leftovers.  We talked, and also as usual, solved all the world's problems.  Our Fridays fly by, and I always love our talks.  I drove him home, and came home for about thirty minutes, then went to my church for a concert that was taking place that night.  I was volunteering for it, and was there by 4:30.  I was with them while they were eating dinner, the guests we had, and was around to answer any questions.

Also, David Phelps may or may not have accidentally put gravy on his salad, thinking it was balsamic vinaigrette.  I was laughing and texting my best friend the whole time.

Saturday, my best friend picked me up, and we went to the funeral of a friend's daughter together at my church.  My family was there as well, but we had already made plans to ride together, and we both like to be early.  It was a hard service, but also beautiful at the same.  I know that seems strange to say, but the student pastor did an incredible job.

I was pretty much spent after that, so I came home and put on comfy clothes, and watched Hallmark Christmas movies the rest of the day.  My people were all gone that night, so I went to Mom's and Bill's for dinner.

Church was the next day, and I didn't feel great, so after the morning service, I stayed home the rest of the day.  I felt a little scandalous because I missed choir, but my stomach wasn't up to sitting and singing for two and a half hours.  It was kind of nice because Todd and Graham got home around four, and it was good to spend time with my man since he worked all weekend.

I felt much better by Monday, and went out with my mom.  We always enjoy our time together, and the time flew by!  I had a hair appointment at two to get my hair trimmed and colored.  Hair day is the BEST day, and always a favorite of mine.

Look at all these cute Christmas things!  This was at Michael's.  I didn't buy a thing, believe it or not, though I was tempted.

Well, I did buy one thing.

But I had planned on buying one already, so it wasn't an impulse buy.  I was on the hunt for a new journal just for the months of November and December, and this one is perfect.  New journals are my favorite, for real, and this one is from Hobby Lobby.

Fresh hair!  This was also a fun mail day, because I got a new book I ordered for a study on Advent in these weeks leading up to Christmas, and I finally got the new Christmas ornaments I had ordered from Amazon.  I also bought some of that lip balm made by O'Keefe's, and it's my new favorite lip balm.  Mine are always so dry or chapped.

We had pizza for dinner, because I was beat by that point and never made it to Kroger.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my favorite days of the week, because I stayed home both days.  It was glorious.  I spent a long time with the Lord on both days, and in prayer, and  I am always so grateful for days of Sabbath.  To me, it doesn't matter which day I consider a day of this type of rest, as long as I get a day.  The Jewish people observe this from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday night, and Christians observe it on Sunday, but Sunday is about as far from a Sabbath as I can get.  It's a day of run, run, run, and it takes a toll.  That's why these days are so important to me, and I'm very careful in keeping them.  It's rare for me to get two days back to back, but I gladly accepted them as a gift from the Lord.

I read for a long time in the bible, and wrote in my journal all that I observed in where I was reading, and I prayed, and then I sat and read a book for most of the day.  I sat right here all day long and enjoyed the leaves falling and the squirrels rustling in the leaves outside.  I had these three kitchen windows open all day long.

Last night we had a guest speaker at our church, Dr. Erwin Lutzer, and he was phenomenal.  I was able to somewhat keep up and I took notes, paying attention to being careful, because I promised a friend I'd share them with her.

I worked at the church for a little while today, finalizing some things for our big event taking place next week, and then I went to Kroger.  In the rain.  Not the best thing I've ever done, but I got it out of the way and changed into something warm and cozy after I put all the groceries away.

We are leaving for town this morning, around nine, for the weekend, and I am so excited.

Like, this excited.  It's been a year and a half since just the six of us traveled alone, and I can't wait to get away and enjoy my family all weekend long.  Our dear friend, and honorary family member Marissa, is getting married on Saturday night, and we're going since it's not far away from us.  Well, it's about six hours away, but that's not too far.  Hopefully we'll get away by nine and arrive there around three, around check in time.  We have the rehearsal and dinner that night, and some free time the next day before the wedding.

Traveling with the people under the same roof as me is my favorite thing in all of the world.

I will write about it on Monday, most likely, before my busy week starts.

Today, an article I wrote for Tirzah Magazine was published, and I thought I would share it with you.  Click HERE to read it, and I pray you're encouraged and challenged.  I'm a staff writer for them now, which just means I'll be contributing several times each month, but I've been writing for them for a few months now, submitting anything the Lord gives to me.  It's funny how He keeps giving me ideas to write on...all of a sudden, it's like a floodgate that opened up, and the words are flowing. 

Thanks for reading my blog!  I hope you all have a great weekend.  Love to all!

a few random things

I know you probably don't care, but I've been ahead of the game all week with blogging.  I don't like to let too many days go by without writing something, and all week, I've been writing ahead of time and scheduling the posts to publish the next day.  This never happens, so I thought I'd document it to remember.  ;)

I have a list of random things from this week so far, that I thought I'd share about. 

First, I have to say how glorious this week has been.  It's NOT been busy at all, and I am enjoying my second full day at home.  And in pajamas, no less.  I've been reading, writing, and not going anywhere.  As I write this, it's two o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, and my second Hallmark Christmas movie of the day is playing.  About that, I just watched Christmas Wonderland, and it was delightful.  It had Emily Osment in it, and I've loved her ever since the days of Hannah Montana.  You read that right.

On with the rest of this post.

Can we talk about this for a minute, and where I got it from?  My best friend tagged me in this on FB.  I don't know how we're even friends, much less BEST FRIENDS.  We are so much alike in almost everything, but in a few things, we are POLAR opposite.  Christmas is one such example.  I am the jingle bell, and she is Scrooge.  (She isn't really like this, just on certain days.)  It's okay that we're opposite on some things, we will always love each other.  Even when we're traveling and I wake up all happy and cheerful and she does not.  We're confident in our friendship though, so these little things won't get in between us.

And she loves me, no matter how much I love Christmas.

I love how excited we get about church, and hearing a guest speaker like the one we heard Wednesday night, who I am anticipating will be great, because we're both reading his book.  I love that our favorite subject to talk about is Jesus, and that we never ever run out of things to say. 

We're dreaming about a quick December trip with the two of us.  We'll see how it goes.

I love these verses I read yesterday in my quiet time.  I ended up writing an article for Tirzah Magazine on them pertaining to the topic of modesty/purity, and hopefully it'll be published soon.  When it does, I'll share it with you. 

LOOK HOW ADORABLE THIS IS.  Sorry for yelling.  I went to Hobby Lobby on Monday, and I was looking for a journal just for November/December, and this one is perfect.  I love that it's a Christmas wreath!  It was the last one they had, but you could probably find it at another store.  The page edges look like candy cane stripes. 

I die.

I'm such a sucker for this type of thing.  Also, I've given my husband a warning message on our letter board about all the Christmas things, and we'll see what he says about it when he reads it.  If he reads it, bless him, he's not always the most observant.

I have to brag on him for a few minutes, because that's always a good thing to do.  I had wanted to work on cleaning off our dining room table Tuesday, but I ended up reading a book all day and didn't accomplish much else.  The table had papers on it that he needed to go through and shred or just throw away.  When he got home from work that day, he started doing this and didn't stop until it was all done.  I'm so thankful!  It was something we were both dreading, but he just did it and got it all out of the way.  To top that off, he also cleaned the kitchen after dinner.  He is my favorite.  I thank God for him, and for all those little, loving things he does for me.  I am certainly not perfect, or even good at this, but I really try to not gripe about all the little things he doesn't do and play up all the things he DOES do. 

I learned this lesson the hard way, and speak from experience.  The Lord keeps me humble through our marriage and in being a mom, but I'm glad for that sanctifying work He does in my life.

It was such a pretty day yesterday!  This is where I like to sit for quiet time, and I opened these windows and could hear the wind and leaves rustling and squirrels playing, and it was glorious.  I'm still loving our new windows!  I am so thankful to have such nice windows now, and we love opening them during the day or at night when we go to bed.  We've never had windows so nice.

Anyone else ready to decorate for Christmas?  Just me?  Okay. 

I love all the cute Christmas things I keep seeing.  Instagram is something I have to be careful with, because I love seeing everyone's cute homes all dressed up for the holidays.  I don't want to covet anyone anything.

Well, those are a few of the things rolling around in my brain.  I'm working at the church for a little while this morning, and then I'm making a trip to Kroger (maybe) and coming home to clean and pack for our weekend away.  I'm so excited!  It's been ages since we've all been together for a concentrated amount of time. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

Wednesday Women in the Word

Do you read the word daily?  Or, almost daily?  It's okay if you miss a day here and there, but do you depend on the word of God to get you through life and to speak into your heart, like the love letter to us His book is?  If you want to hear "a word" from God, then go to His word and read it!  It's like He is speaking directly into your heart.  And, I love this, as we read the word of God, the word of God reads us.  Check out what Hebrews 4:12 says:

"For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.  It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

That is what that little phrase means, is that not absolutely incredible?  This is also why a certain verse will jump out at you on a page you've read a thousand times before, it's why a verse will pop into your heart at any given moment.

If your answer is no to any of those questions I asked, then I would encourage you to pray and examine your heart, and ask God to examine your heart and to show you.  For years, I went along in my life not knowing the importance of reading God's word.  I was a believer, I just didn't read the bible much.  If I'm being completely honest, I would say that I honestly thought it was kind of irrelevant to my life in that day and time.  That alone proves to you how little time I spent in the word, except for on Sunday in church, when my pastor would spoon feed me.  (Not literally, figuratively.) 

And then the Lord just got a hold of me as a very young mom, and He drew me back to Him.  It's like I was starving, but not for food.  I was starving to death for the word of God.  I would get up and read, I would read in the day as my little boys played, I would listen to sermons, I participated in my very first bible study ever (good old Daniel, by Beth Moore), I would read it before I went to bed, and very first thing every morning as I got out of my bed.  I slept with my bible by my head on the nightstand, and sometimes, I would even put it under my pillow. 

Since then, I've been passionate in sharing with anyone and everyone I can how crucial it is to read the word of God.  Another topic I'm passionate about is the topic of prayer and how often we, as a whole, are so guilty of prayerlessness.  We should be all be passionate about this, if we profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I can talk more about that on another post, though, or you could use that little search bar on the top of this blog and type in "prayer".  A plethora of posts will appear, I assure you.

What stood out to me yesterday as I was reading James 5 in my quiet time was this portion in that chapter that speaks of effective prayer.  That's James 5:13-20.  Listen to him exhorting those who were reading his letter in that time.  "Is anyone suffering?  Pray!  Is anyone cheerful?  Sing praises!  Is anyone sick?  He should call for the elders of the church so they can pray over him."  (Please know these are not the actual verses, but my paraphrase on them.)  He goes on to say that the prayer of faith will save the sick person, his sins will be forgiven, and the Lord will raise him up.  (Again, those are my paraphrase.) 

I love verse 16, though. 

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect."

Something struck me today as I read that verse, and that is our prayer is effective because we know the Lord hears us.  He hears our cries, and Jesus Himself intercedes on our behalf to God the Father!  We know He hears our prayers, though, that is why James says that the prayer of faith will save the sick person.  It doesn't necessarily mean that the sick person will experience a miracle here on earth, but in one way or another, that person will be healed, either here on earth by a miracle, through medicine and a doctor's wisdom that was given to him by God, or they will be healed in heaven.

I didn't read that anywhere or in some commentary, it's just a thought I had, but isn't it a beautiful thought?  Also, my top spiritual gift of faith could be coming into play here. 

In the rest of that chapter, James mentions Elijah, who prayed it wouldn't rain for three years, and it didn't.  Then he prayed again for rain, and the rain came.  The last couple of verses talk about if anyone strays from the truth and someone turns him back, to let that person who turned him back know what he did to save that person from an eternal death. 

My closing thoughts as I read this chapter were on people I know and love who are as lost as lost can be.  I need to be in constant prayer for them, that the Lord would draw them to Himself, so they can be saved from an eternity of hell.  It's a real place.  Do you know where you're going?  You'll go somewhere when you die, either heaven or hell.  If you feel the Lord drawing you to pray and to read His word, don't resist Him.  Let today be the day of your salvation.  He is calling you to Himself as only He can do, the bible tells us we can't even call on His name unless the Father draws us.  (John 6:44)

We're not promised tomorrow. 

Consider, and pray.  Love to all. 

simply Tuesday

I have to start with my Monday.  I ran around with my mom for most of the day, and it was so good for my soul.  The one thing we'd planned to do, we didn't do, but it's okay.  There's always tomorrow.  We looked at Christmas things at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Home Goods, and I think that is my fastest Home Goods trip to date.  She literally ran through the store really fast, and the next time I looked up from all the glitter, she had disappeared. 

I wish you could be a fly on the wall on these days we spend together.  Looking ahead in years to come, this is the one reason why I would have loved to have a daughter.  Hopefully my future daughters-in-love will want to do this kind of thing with me, and if they don't ask me, I will ask them.  For someone who hates to shop like I do, I sure do love to "window shop".  I can resist all the live long day, but even my resistance today was tested. 

I just read in James 4 this morning, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."  That's immediately what I thought of when I saw all these cute things!  Also, I blame the Hallmark channel.  I won't decorate before Thanksgiving, but it's hard not to cave.  If I had it all my way, I'd put it up tomorrow. 

Today, I have grand plans of getting some groceries and doing laundry.  I really would like to paint, but I am a terrible at procrastinating.  So is my husband, which means together we suck.  I'm rolling my eyes.  I may go to the library at some point, as well, to take back some books and stock up on some for this weekend.  We're going to Gulf Port, Mississippi this weekend, to see our honorary Goodwin tie the knot.  I'm so excited for her! 

Well, I need to skedaddle.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

weekending/Hello Monday

Happy Monday, friends!  I am linking up with Tanya, from The Other Side of the Road, for this blog post. 

I attended a concert at our church on Friday night, and it was really good.  I was a volunteer and helped out by being in their "green room" while they ate dinner and wandered about.  I was basically just there if they had questions, which a few of them did.  This was David Phelps, and Cana's Voice.  It lasted really late, and all my boys came to the church after to help tear it down, because less than twelve hours after the concert, there was a funeral taking place in the sanctuary the next day.  They were there until around one, but I know their help was much appreciated. 

I went to the funeral on Saturday, and my heart still feels so heavy for my friends who lost their daughter.  This was the most heartbreaking funeral I've been to yet, but our student pastor did a phenomenal job of preaching.  I went with my friend to this, and we rode together for moral support.  I came home and ate lunch and then put on comfy clothes and invited myself to my mom's for dinner that night, since everyone was busy.  And because sometimes I just want my mom. 

Yesterday I was at church in the morning, but then I missed the rest of the day.  My stomach bothered me on and off all day and I hadn't hardly laid eyes on my husband all weekend, so I enjoyed just being here with him and watching the shows with him that he loves.  (I love them too.)  I was in bed at nine, though.  I didn't feel great, and I just wanted to lay down. 

I woke up feeling a lot better today, and am spending part of the day with my mom, and then I'm getting my hair colored and trimmed.  Praise!  I love hair day.  Like, I love, love, love it.  It's an easy week this week, and I'll be home most days, and getting ready to leave for an out of town wedding on Friday morning.  I'm looking forward to both the wedding, and a weekend away with my people.  I'm stocking up on library books today to take with me. 

Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends, for this blog post. 

It's been a week.  And a whirlwind of one, at that.  I'll back all the way up to last week, when my dad came over.  That day was kinda crazy, too, because we were in and out, it was raining, and I was busy making several things at once while Dad was here.  He kept me company in the kitchen while I worked.  I took him home, delivered dinner to my friend, then was back home afterward in pajamas and in my comfy chair watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

Some of my favorite people on earth live behind this door.  This was my friend that I took dinner to on Friday.  I saw them again on Monday, and got to cuddle a sweet baby boy.  #babiesdontkeep

This was me over the weekend.  I'll take all the Hallmark Christmas movies I can, please!

Saturday I stayed home all day, and did things around the house.  One of which included cleaning out a huge closet.

Sunday we had church activities all day, and after choir practice, I went to my mom's to eat and hang out with them to see my sister Debi.  She was leaving for home the next day, so I wanted to spend a little more time with her before she left. 

I worked for a little while on Monday, and I spent the day with Mom on Tuesday.  She showed up, and we realized we were twins!

Leopard is my new favorite print to wear.  And she is my favorite.  We always have so much fun when we're together and usually laugh ourselves silly over something.  We got our nails done on this day, and I switched my nail color from white to black.  It's my favorite. 

I've been working on this event on the days I go to the church to work, and have lost count over all the hours I've spent with my friend Gretchen doing this.  I feel like we're the new kind of friends, we've spent so much time together.  She saw me cry today, which is never something I plan, but I ran into someone I wasn't expecting to see, and I kinda lost it for a few minutes.  I cried with another friend, too.  One of the families we attend church with experienced a very tragic death in their family, and I ran into the family when I first walked in this morning.  It just took me by surprise, and I had to walk away to regain some composure.

There have been so many deaths this year, in the lives of people I know and love.  I cannot believe how many there have been, and this will be the second funeral at our church I've attended in about a three month time span.  Maybe less than even that.  I cannot get this one family off of my mind, either, and have had some restless nights this week praying for them.  Oddly enough, when we go through something like this in our church family, as terrible as it is, it's a beautiful sight to behold how the body comes together in love and in support of those who are grieving.  That is what the body of Christ is for, and it always touches my heart to see it in action.

On a much lighter note, some of the reading from the week in the new testament has been so good, and some of the verses are a couple of my favorites.

That second one reminded me of my pastor as I read it yesterday.  I've been playing catch up this week, and have been behind a day all week long.

Anyone who knows me knows this weather is my favorite.  It thrills my heart to actually have to wear sweaters and coats because I need one.  Except for the ten minutes at church this morning when I thought I was going to melt it was so hot in there.  That feeling went away. 

Well, thanks for reading, friends.  I hope your weekend is wonderful.  Love to all.