Hello Monday (the beach edition)

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm squeaking in late in the day on Monday to link up with Holly and Sarah for this weekly blog post. Since my life stopped here early Thursday morning last week, I'll pick up there with that day and the rest of the weekend. 

Most of you know that I'm on a writing team by now. We co-write Bible studies for the women in our church and in other churches and are in the process of writing our fourth study that will publish this summer and will be taken in the fall of this year. We are a group of friends in all stages of life who have grown extremely close in the years we've met and have been working together. God put us all together and we are so grateful for the bond we've formed since we met. That being said, we love to go on "writers retreats" together and this is our third trip. It's the first time we've all been able to be together and we had the best time. We left early last Thursday morning and got home today at one. We spent three full days together at the beach in Destin, Florida.

We all arrived by Thursday afternoon and the minute we unloaded, we headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a little later and we arrived at different times. Dedee and I rode together and we skipped out on lunch that day, so we were STARVING by five. Lynn, Barbee and Amy got there after five. After dinner, we went back to the condo and sat and talked until we went to bed. (We did a lot of that this weekend.)

The next day we woke up, ate breakfast, talked and then finally made our way to the beach. 

It looks beautiful and it was, but man was it windy! It was also cold. We stayed there for a couple of hours before leaving for the warmer waters of the hot tub. We didn't actually get in, but we all put our feet in and it warmed us up. We headed back to the house and snacked for lunch, then we all got cleaned up for dinner that night. 

(In the picture above, left to right are Lynn, Barbee, me, Dedee and Amy.) I can't remember the name of the place we ate, but it had stunning views as you can see above and the seafood was AMAZING. I had some sort of crusted red fish on a bed of sautéed veggies. We had fun taking all of these pictures and then we went to Target for a few necessities, where someone was cold and borrowed a jacket for the duration of the time we were inside the store.

Amy looked really cute in the jacket! 🤣 After our Target run, we went back to the house and sat and laughed our heads off. Someone crossed the line a little over into delirium and had her giggle box turned over!

Barbee gets so funny after nine! I don't even know what she was saying, I was just cracking up listening to her laugh so hard. 

We tried to go to the beach the next day, but it was even windier than the day before. Amy and Barbee walked on the beach for a bit, but Lynn and I stayed in the house and worked on a few things. That night we went to dinner at The Back Porch.

We ate more delicious seafood, we shopped for souvenirs, then we went back to the house and were talked into walking onto the beach, in our clothes and in the wind, for some pictures of our last night. We were reluctant to do this, but I'm glad we did because of the memories we made and the laughs that we had. 

If you could have heard us laughing, you would be laughing right along with us. My personal favorite is the one where I look like Cousin It.

We had so much fun! 

Lynn, Barbee and Amy left Sunday morning, but Dedee and I stayed for one more beach day, which was the most beautiful and perfect day I've ever had at the beach.

It was in the mid seventies and a slight breeze was blowing the whole time. We stayed out there for three hours, then we went back to eat lunch and get dressed. That night for dinner we ate at another great restaurant with gorgeous harbor views. We went back to the house to change and pack, then we watched the movie Emma before going to bed. We were up at five and on the road at six the next morning, and she dropped me off at one. 

We had the best time. One of us got a little work done while we were there (not me) and we talked about what will come after the fall semester of this year and our next writing project. We talked about our recent women's retreat and suggestions some of us have heard from the people who went and we spent time praying about it all. I'm so glad we had this time away together and I will hold this time away with these wonderful friends very close in my heart. 

Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I'm joining Rebecca Jo for today's blog post. I hope you join us! Here are some things straight from the pages of my journal that I am thankful for this week.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record that repeats nonstop, I am so thankful for Bible study! More than the small group and fellowship, I am thankful for the actual study. This week of homework was enlightening and so good. I was convicted about several things in my life that popped up as I was reading the Bible and studying different passages. That's the best kind of study, when it's more applicable and life-changing.

I'm thankful all of us had a night of dinner together this week. The meal wasn't fancy, but the six of us enjoyed sitting at the table as we ate pizza and celebrated Drew turning 22. 

I am thankful for the gift of prayer! It's a gift I neglect all too often, but I've been trying to be more intentional about that this week and careful in how I've spent my early morning time. I had been reading early each day, but I've been using that time to pray instead and it has been so sweet. 

(This picture is related to being thankful for the gift of prayer as I used this chapter of Psalm to pray over a friend.)

I'm always thankful for a good dose of healthy perspective. Sometimes I have to step back and look at the whole picture for a fresh mindset and it works wonders.

I'm thankful that my husband is not only a wonderful husband, but the best dad. He goes above and beyond to do anything he can to help our sons out. They're needy and wear him out! This can range from taxes to online banking to work benefits to vehicle problems to getting out the headliner in one's truck so he can install stars in the roof. He deserves the dad of lifetime award.

Jonah may kill me if he sees this.

I'm always so thankful for an opportunity to help lead in worship!

I am thankful to be able to live in such a beautiful town! This picture was shared this week on our town's Facebook page. The tulips in our little town are magnificent right now! 

I don't take these types of things for granted. I'm also grateful to be able to say that I've lived in my town my entire life! What a blessing to be born and raised in the same town, then to turn around and raise our sons here. 

It's your turn! What is something you're thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

P.s. I'm taking tomorrow and Monday "off" from blogging, so I'll see you back here Tuesday. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

currently, April edition

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm joining in with Anne for today's blog post. This month we're talking about what and where we're currently getting, going, planning, posting and thinking. I'll jump right in!

Getting:

I've been getting a few new shirts/cardigans/shrugs to wear recently. I really need to clean out my closet, because I have so many things that I don't wear. In noticing this recently, I thought it was time to fill in some gaps with a few newer things. I like to shop at places like Marshalls and my favorite boutique (The Paisley Rooster). I try to buy neutral things so that they'll last longer. I wear a lot of gray, black and tan, so I've been picking out things that are pink lately. I now have three pink tops in my closet and I love them all. 

Funny side note: I used to hate pink. Seriously, since I was pretty young, I've never liked that color. All of a sudden in the past two years, I love pink, but only the pale/neutral version of it. I sent this to my mom-in-love on Saturday, because I had so much pink going on that day.

My cardigan, nails, Kindle cover, (a hint of it in my) shoes and phone case were all pale pink. I don't even know who I am anymore. My mom-in-love's favorite color is pink, so when I sent her this she basically told me I was perfect. ;)

Going:

Weather permitting, I'm leaving for the beach on Wednesday for a few days with my writing team friends! It's predicted to be a little stormy on Wednesday, which is why we're not sure if we'll leave then after Bible study or early Thursday morning. It's the first time the five of us have traveled together, so I'm excited! Four of us have traveled together and three of us were together here over the summer last year, but this time it's the five of us. 

Here are some pictures from our trip last summer. 

The top two were taken as we were driving or walking my friend's dog. It was so beautiful! The weather may be cooler, but we don't care. We know we'll have fun regardless of the weather or how warm it is. 

Planning:

Well because of the fact that I'm going out of town, I'm planning my packing list and getting things done around the house before I leave. I've got a very detailed list of what I want to do before Wednesday gets here. I'm catching up on things like laundry, grocery shopping, making sure there's food for people to eat while I'm gone they can make on their own, Bible study homework and small group discussion at Bible study on Wednesday and leaving the house somewhat clean. Do you travel like this? 

I've always been a list maker and this list is from when we used to travel for one week and would make lots of meals at the condo. These days I have relegated it all to one page in my journal usually and a list on my phone. 

Posting:

Not much these days, honestly. I'm kind of tired of social media. I do still post some, just nowhere near as much. I also try not to be on there a lot. When I do post, I share quiet time things that stood out, Bible verses, cute pictures of times from long ago or birthday pictures. I shared about Drew on Sunday, because it was his birthday.

I love a good now and then comparison. 

Or I share about my nails, but I like to share stories now more than pictures. I am always posting things on my Instagram stories. 

Thinking:

I've been thinking a lot on the traits of a godly woman that are listed in Titus 2, thanks to the Bible study I'm doing. (True Woman 201.) So far we've looked at the traits of discernment, honor, affection and discipline. I love that passage of Scripture. 

I'm so grateful for the freedom we have to attend church and Bible study. I never want to take that for granted. I love going because it brings about accountability and godly fellowship. I am honored to be able to lead a small group each week, but I'm not there to teach or to talk nonstop. We truly learn from each other as we share our life experiences that we've had along the way. All I do is facilitate the conversation and keep us on course. I love the ladies in my small group! Most of them weren't there last week, so I missed them and look forward to seeing them this morning. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends! I'll be out of town tomorrow, but I have my Thankful Thursday post scheduled to post. I hope you check back! I also hope you check back often. I blog everyday, so I'm always around. Love to all! 

Prime Purchases

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Tanya for this blog post. So, I made some purchases on Amazon last month for replacement things like the vitamins I take and car parts for my sons. I won't bore you with those things, so instead I thought I'd share some of my favorite Amazon purchases from the last year. 

First up is this mascara!

I've been using solely this brand for a year now and I still love it. You can't beat the price and the quality. I use the blackest black. 

I bought these oils several months back because of the issues I was having with my sense of smell. Ever since I had covid the first time in November of 2020, certain smells have been easily burned into my nose. I say "burned into my nose", because when I smell certain things, that smell stays with me for weeks. There was a time when it was so bad, it made me sick at night, so I bought these oils to put on my pillow.

These are the exact scents I bought and I love them all. 

I still love this Kindle cover. 

I love the color.

I love the pale, pale pink. I love the stand most, because I always prop it on the arm of my chair when I read. 

I love, love, love this cuticle oil!

It's the same kind that the salons use and it was so cheap! This stuff moisturizes for days and helped my dry cuticles all winter long. I like to use it before I go to bed at night. I'm pretty sure my friend Tanya told me about this stuff! I am influenced so easily for stuff like this. 

I love my water bottle handle and just got the best compliment about it at church on Sunday from the sweetest little girl. 

 

I have the Thermoflask water bottle that came from Costco, and this strap fits any wide mouth water bottle. I know my bottle has a handle, but it hurts my fingers to carry it that way, so I love this handle. 

I love to give this devotional book as a present. I love Sally Clarkson and have given it countless times to younger moms.

I'll end with one last item that's a repeat purchase when I run out. It's this brand of lipstick. The color is Dainty Daze, but they have some other great colors! You know I love a good lipstick.

I'd love to hear from you! What have you purchased recently that you love? Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. 

Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah today for this weekly blog post. This weekend went by so fast! We always get it kicked off with Dad coming over on Fridays and this week I made him one of his favorite meals—turnip greens/collard greens and cornbread. It was delicious!

I took him home and sautéed some veggies to add to my fajita chicken for dinner. I spent the night watching Downton Abbey, because Todd was working. Noah was out of town all weekend and Jonah and Graham were in and out for dinner. 

On Saturday I went out with my mom and sister. It's been ages since we've done that, so I was glad to be with them. We each had a couple of things we wanted to do, but I bought two shirts from my favorite boutique and I replaced some makeup from Ulta that I was out of. We had a delicious lunch, then I was back home around one. I read, I took a nap, I baked a cake, then that night, Todd and I went to our friends' house with a couple of the other tech team guys from church. We had a yummy dinner and enjoyed catching up, even when the night ended on a sad note. 

I was up early Sunday morning, then we were at church by eight fifteen. We came home and went our separate ways for the rest of the day—Todd went to Costco, I went to choir practice. I came home and had leftovers of our Friday lunch from when I was with Dad, then worked on blog things and watched a couple of episodes of Friends. 

Also on Sunday, it was Drew's 22nd birthday. 💙 He worked that night, so I didn't get to see him and I didn't even talk to him until close to three, because I never know what his sleep schedule is because of his overnight working hours. I had texted him early that morning and late the night before, but I'm pretty sure I woke him up both times. I shared some pictures of him on the Instagram.

Isn't he handsome? Drew has always been the funny boy in our house and keeps us all in laughter. And also, he makes us cringe an equal amount of time. That makes me smile, because sometimes he embarrasses me so bad, like when we went out for my birthday back in December. He had pulled his shorts up ridiculously high as we were leaving and everyone was staring at him. His favorite things consist of kids, good food, music and having fun with his friends. He also loves basketball and plays on a rec team at our church. I love all of these things about him and it was weird for me when he moved out of our house last summer. I keep saying this, but each milestone we hit with him living on his own just about knocks me over! It was strange not seeing him yesterday, but I know it wasn't anything anyone could do to change the circumstances. We'll see him tonight for dinner, so better late than never, right? 

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all.  

Friday Favorites, April Fool's day edition

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Erika and Andrea for this weekly blog post. How has your week been? I don't know if it's because I've been tired and needed to catch up on sleep from Saturday- Monday or what, but for me it has flown by. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I know it'll be the same next week, because I'm leaving town for a few days. 

That being said, here are some favorites from my week.

My first favorite was this beautiful retreat center that I was at last weekend with friends from church. 

I can't get over how nice this place was. It really felt like you were at a very luxurious hotel, or even a boutique hotel. The beds were the best I've ever slept in while away from home, along with the sheets. I am telling you, it was a little slice of heaven. I slept so good each night, for the few hours of sleep I actually got. My roomie and I had so much fun being together and were up until the wee hours of the morning talking about anything and everything.

Monday night was a favorite night.

It was nice enough to sit outside and read, even if I did have to go back in for a blanket. Our sons were out there as well, so I alternated between talking to them and reading my book. I love this time of year when it's mild enough to be on the deck, before the humidity sets in and the bugs come out.

Celebrating Dad was a favorite this week as well. His 91st birthday was Tuesday! 

All of us met at his house for dinner and a party for him. It was a fun night! Doesn't he look great? I have said here before what good genes are in my family. He is in excellent health! He is legally blind, because his pinpoint vision is gone, so that prohibits him from driving, but you can bet that he sure does still drive his riding mower and the bigger tractor. He does hire others to do the yardwork for him now, but my sister Trish and I were talking about how living on his ten acres has kept him so young. Even though he doesn't do the work, he is always thinking about it and making plans for what to do next and he loves it. I'm glad he has that to do. He also has minor aches and pains and walks with a cane, but that's all for his age. Isn't that incredible? 

It was a fun night to celebrate him. 

You all know that getting my nails done is one of my favorite things. 

Mom and I went and did that together yesterday, along with having lunch and running an errand for her. It was a spontaneous and fun day AND bonus, we ate lunch at our favorite local Mexican place. She had their tortilla soup and I had the lunch chicken fajitas.

I'll end with this one, but my quiet time lately has been my favorite.

Just yesterday morning, I read one of my favorite and most sad passages in the Bible from Judges. It's right after Joshua died, and the passage said that after that generation died, another one rose that did not know the Lord or the things He had done for them. It's so sad, because the Lord had delivered them from one thing after another—slavery, the angry Egyptians, hunger, thirst—and the ones who'd survived that did not pass it down to their children, so it stopped with them. I posted about this yesterday on Instagram and said that it reminds me of why church attendance is so important. Attending won't gain you salvation, but it helps supplement and fill in the gaps of what the parents teach at home. And it's not the responsibility of the church to teach the kids, it's the job of the parents. That's what is lacking so vastly in today's society. Church is unimportant in the eyes of most people and it's replaced with sports, weekends at the lake, fill in the blank. Not that those things are bad, they're just not supposed to take over your life, or the lives of your kids. 

We have such a small window of time with our kids, when they actually want to go to church. It's important to take them, because for lots of them, they will keep on going even after moving out. The culture we live in is so blatantly different from the ways of God. It's important to know the truth and it's important to have godly fellowship! I don't know what I'd do without that in my life. 

Well, I'll wrap this post up with that last thought. I hope you've had a great week and that your weekend is the same. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. 

thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday, my friends. I'm joining in with Rebecca Jo and Leslie our weekly thankful Thursday post. We'd love for you to join us! Add your blog to the link-up and link back to us. 

I thought I'd share a little differently today than in the other weeks and just concentrate on one thing. Out of all the things I have to be grateful for, and there are far too many to even count, the thing I'm most grateful to God for is that He saved me and gave me new life in Him. I was saved at a young age, but I spent several years living life on my own, with little to no regard for Him. I lived so differently back then and I marvel at all He has done in me in the years that He drew me back to Him. Ever since then, He took away the desire for certain habits I had, He changed my countenance, He changed my perspective on life. 

So many people believe they're not good enough to be saved by an Almighty and holy God, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He wants us like we are and then He changes us from the inside out. It's often a visible change, or at least it should be, so that He will get the glory for what He's done in our lives. None of this means that I have it all together or that life isn't sometimes hard. It is. But knowing that God is with me, I can face anything. I was talking to someone recently about this, about our perception of what life for a Christian looks like, versus what it actually is. I thought I'd expound on that a little.

First, it does not mean that I don't have any struggles in life. That isn't true at all. I have been known to struggle with debilitating anxiety, to the point of having to take something to help me before a major surgery. I know plenty of friends who take something for depression and/or anxiety and there is no shame in that whatsoever! Sometimes God truly heals someone from something like that, other times He heals through doctors and medication. I absolutely hate the stigma that needing this type of medicine has and how we've turned it into something shameful. So many people want to keep it secret for whatever reason, but what if we actually shared our journeys in this area from time to time? How many people would we find that knew what it was like, from their own personal experiences? I think the numbers would be shocking, as in far more people take something for things like this, than people who do not.

This doesn't mean that I am the best wife and mom. Someone younger than me recently said that, about how they thought I was the best mom when my boys were little. I assure you, I was not, and they'll tell you that as well, if you were to ask them. I did the very best I was able to do and I relied on God for everything. I yelled too much, I didn't pay enough attention at all times, sometimes I paid too much attention to them and not enough to my husband. Life was hard back then! I just muddled through as best I could, like I said, and God did the rest. 

This doesn't mean that I'm in the best of moods one hundred percent of the time. It doesn't mean that I don't struggle with not being motivated or feeling burned out. It doesn't mean that I get worked up over trivial and meaningless things, like just now when one of my sons had too much stuff on the counter in the kitchen for me to start cooking. It doesn't mean that I am always in the mood to find something good in the middle of a field of things that aren't. All of those are conscience choices that I have to make everyday of my life.

That's a great segue into what life for a Christian does look like. It looks like someone who is imperfect and messes up very frequently, who then is convicted when that happens and goes back to make the necessary apologies. I can't tell you how many times I've had to say I'm sorry. I had to do that just the other day when I snapped at one of my sons, as a retaliation of someone who had snapped at me. We all sin every day in some kind of a way, but thankfully His grace covers our sin. 

It means that even though life is hard and ugly and mean, I make the choice not to dwell in that. Part of that is just my personality as an eternal optimist, but it's also a choice. If I have a headache when I wake up and am not feeling particularly cheerful, I don't take it out anyone. It's not their fault when I don't feel good and lashing out at someone never helped any situation. It means that especially when I'm the driver of the struggle bus, I pour it out to the Lord.

I have a general rule of thumb that I exercise often about this and that is before I complain to someone, I take it to God. I pour out my heart to Him because He loves me as my Father and because He wants us to have that kind of relationship with Him. There are books you can read on prayer and all sorts of articles and blog posts about how to go about this gift of prayer that we have, but honestly, the best thing is to just start. Imagine He is sitting right beside you and start talking. There's not a right or wrong way to pray and He isn't legalistic about it, we are the ones who are that way and make it into too much of an ordeal. 

One last thing I like to do has a great impact and is the reason why I'm writing this today. I like to practice the art of gratitude. Way before I started writing these weekly posts, I've practiced doing this. One way that I can tell that I've not been doing this is when I hear myself complaining a lot, or worrying about something. When I catch myself being that way, I try to go and start writing a list of things to be thankful for, or I start praying wherever I am. This means that I've sat in my car for extended lengths of time and it means that I've been known to carry around a journal. These days I keep a note on my phone to quickly jot down something as it comes to mind, but there are a million ways you can go about that. I tried to teach our sons this and often had them do that on their own as a part of every school day. I love what Paul says in Colossians 2:6-7.

So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. 

(If I've never told you, that's where the name of my blog came from. Years ago I memorized those verses in the NLT translation, which say "overflow with thankfulness".) 

I'll wrap this up with one last passage, one I heard read yesterday at Bible study, It's Psalm 92:12-15.

The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, to declare, "The LORD is just; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."

I hope this encourages you. I hope it gives you a tiny glimpse into the life I lead and why I so often ask whether or not you know Jesus. It's my desire (and His!) that everyone would know Him as their Lord and Savior. As always, if you'd like to chat more about this, don't hesitate to reach out. My email address is allboys@gmail.com. I'm grateful for you who read this and who so often encourage me. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all.