... I never thought I'd have a favorite one of these...
but how cute!!
They even have a white cat too
Favorite Cleaning gadget
I had no idea there was such a CUTE way to clean the microwave.
Yeahhh - you can just use a boil of water, but would that bring a smile to my face?
I didnt think so
... plus, they have ones with different colored hair.
There's even one that reminds me of Belle with a yellow dress & brown hair!!!
Favorite Chip clips
ahhhh... furry babies!!
Favorite Hair Barrettes
I NEED - NEEEEEED - those bows in my hair!
Favorite Baby Gift
So its a nightlight & sound machine (Y'all know I love me a sound machine) & then just the magical kid experience of fire flies in a jar.... ahhh... forget the baby! I want this!
Favorite pens
give me all the alpacas and/or sheep products
#alpacayarn #thebest
Favorite Halloween Shirt
Favorite Headband
I love a soft headband to take my make up off at night
... who thinks of these cute things???
Favorite Funnies
.... when I have the perfect comeback to reply
... when I get my Target total when I just wanted to run in for some toothpaste
... me walking by the meat section of a store & the butcher is in front of the counter
... when I watch Ernie all day long on our home security cameras
Physicians Assistant
SOOO... I had to go back to my colorectal surgeon this past week - STILL having pain... (cue the tears & me throwing a 2 yr old tantrum on the floor). But I am so thankful for the PA. I love my surgeon too - she's wonderful - but this PA - she is just the kindest soul. ALWAYS has a smile on her face. Comforts me when I cry - which we all know, is EVERY TIME I have to go in this office. I'm just so thankful I have gotten in with a good team for these issues. If you gotta have a pain in the butt, I'm glad I have good people I trust.
Walgreens
I love they carry my face wipes that I can ONLY find there (Neutrogena Natural face wipes - only kind that dont break my face out)... but I'm love Walgreens to pick up fast stuff to take on my out of town trip. Give me ALL the snacks.
Pharmacy push up my order
OK... I could complain because I went to drop off my prescription from my surgeon & they had to make it - a compound prescription. I get that. No problem. So I come back 24 hours later & was told, its still not ready - it would be ANOTHER 24 hours. GEEZ - come on man! I was leaving to go out of town for the weekend & then they're closed on Sunday so it would be 5 days till I got it? Not cool at all. So I told the tech that I was leaving for out of the town the next day & was there anything they could do? ... they told me to come back in 2 hours, WHICH I wasn't too thrilled about -I had to drive all the way home & back again... BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got it. Man. Its hard sometimes to find the joy in some situations - & I was grumbling the whole car ride back down... but I am thankful I got it on Friday instead of waiting another few days to get it on Monday.
New Roof
We were nervous picking out a new color for our roof. Ricky is very particular on how roofs looks - me? I've never paid attention to them before - but when I realized that this was going to be what our home would look like for the rest of our lives - THE PRESSURE!!!! ... but it turned out really great & the contrast of the new texture of it is just so pretty. We love it!!!!
My Sisters in Christ
Loved getting to spend some time with my framily on our trip up to Indianapolis - just laughing & conversation & worshiping - this was just on the drive up. Not the actual conference. I love my sisters.
Women of Joy
This was just one of the best conferences for me. I know a lot can depends on the topics or situations you are going through - but man, I just enjoyed EVERY single speaker & just loved the whole thing. I didnt even think I'd enjoy Mercy Me as much as I did. It was just a soul filling experience.
The beautiful ladies I got to go with... I'm actually in the very back row with one other that you can't see & a quarter of a face you can see :) LOL Greenville has some pretty special ladies at it
Worship
I will say it every time - there's something special & heart tugging to worship in an environment of thousands of others doing the same thing. Just a SMIDGEN of what Heaven will be like - & I can't imagine that experience. What a day of rejoicing that will be.
Touches from Heaven
I talked about it on Monday - but I loved the touches of Heaven that God gave me on these 2 days from my daddy & my friend. & Just felt the goodness & mercy of God the entire weekend.
Hubby text
Ricky had called me Friday night when we were in the middle of the concert & I just picked up the phone & not being able to hear him, yelled, IF SOMETHING IS WRONG- TEXT ME!!!! .... & then my phone buzzed with a text. Uh-oh - I thought something was wrong. But it was so cute - he text me that he missed me & loved me. Brought a big ole smile to my face.
My own bed
There really is nothing like your own bed to sleep in
Basically me Sunday morning
Sister leaders
We started HSM 3 weeks ago but I hadn't seen my sister leaders yet - they both were out of town the first week & then I didnt go the 2nd week with Julie & William visiting... so it was so good to see them for the first time in awhile since summer break. Love Rachel & Bekah so much - so glad to hear their wisdom they share with the girls too.
Mildliners
I am so excited to have found these babies at Michaels... with a 40% off coupon. I only needed 5 markers to get all the ones they make... & BAM! I now am the owner of all the Mildliner colors... makes me happy!
Joining in with the lovely Terri for her Wednesday Melody
1. Tell us about the first airplane ride you took and do you like to fly?
My aunt loves this story... because I rode with her (one of my mom's sisters) for my very first plane ride. I was 19 years old too! My own parents were never big fliers & never had a big reason to fly. I dont think my mom actually has ever been on a plane now that I think about it. But I took my first venture with one of my aunts to go visit my other aunt in Texas. Those were the days where you could walk with people all the way back to the gates in an airport so my mom went with us & we look out to see our plane..... & it was some little prop, commuter plane. LORD HELP ME. The kind that is so small that we had to walk out on the runway to walk up a dinky little ladder to get inside of it. I have never been more terrified in my life. We had a lay over & switched planes, I think in Atlanta? (so long ago) & rode the big plane the rest of the way to Texas. Nah - my aunt wasn't embarrassed at all when I experienced turbulence for the first time & screamed in total fear. Seriously - she wasn't ... she was too busy laughing to be embarrassed.
Do I like to fly now? NOPE - never have liked it. I just dont like being out of control like that. Especially that many miles up from the earth's surface. Not my thing.
2. Have you ever gone hang gliding and was it on the beach with boat power, or from a mountain with only the wind and your body?
Nope. & again... we're talking about being miles up from the earth.
Though I will say - I think I could do this if I was harnessed in good enough & I felt like I could coast that baby down to the ground on my own.
I see videos of people doing these sorts of things & I just cant imagine doing that first running leap off a mountain side to just jump into air... I dont have enough courage for that sort of stuff.
3. Have you ever gone kite flying and with whom?
One fun fact - I'm married to a kite addict. Ricky LOVES kites. & any day that the wind is slightly up a little, its a guarantee for him to say, "I wish I had a kite right now".
We used to buy little cheap ones to keep one handy for any such day....
I remember flying a kite myself when I was younger... but now, Ricky would insist on taking the reins string.
4. Experimental aircraft is quite popular as a hobby where Terri lives. Have you or anyone you know ever constructed a flying machine and did you ride in it?
The only aircraft I've ever created is a paper air plane... & even those crash & burn every time I throw one.
We do see a lot of those little self constructed planes living in the country & people flying them pretty low.
That can't be legal - right?
5. Another big hobby around Lakeland is Radio Controlled Airplanes. Have you ever seen them flying or tried your hand at it?
My dad was obsessed with these things. I think he may have flown a few little cheap ones - those things can get PRICEY - & no one in our family is ready (or able) to fork out a lot of money that can literally dive straight into the ground.
I think Ricky would love doing it too because he's always had a love of remote control cars...
me handling one of those things? It'd be trash in 3...2...1....
6. Please tell us something about your week.
Wish me luck today.... I may be trapped at work. Literally trapped.
President Trump is just a block over from my building today. Like I can see the building he's in - I can walk up one block & be there. So needless to say, everything is blocked & on shut down for most of the day. They've shut down the streets super early & roads will be blocked till after 5:30pm. UGH.
I wish we could have gotten out of work early today. But a big NOPE on that one.
Maybe I'll try & get a glimpse of anything presidential - the car, a secret service guy, a riot scene? Lord, let's hope not! I just want to be able to drive right on by & head home on time.
It's basically going to be a NIGHTMAREEEEEEE to get out of work today.
Dont expect any cooking from me night... it's gonna be a take-out kinda night.
Not only did I get to skip a weekend of iron infusions... I got to spent it worshiping our Savior with about 6,000 of my Sisters in Christ.
How do you not call that a wonderful weekend?
... & you know what happens with wonderful weekends - this is gonna be a long post #sorrynotsorry
but if you make it through, there's lots of good stuff from the weekend so hope you stick with me here.
Friday, I took off work & tried to sleep in some because I knew it was going to be a long day & a late night. Ernie says forget that & still wakes me up around 7 - because he's a good boy & looks out for his momma - or he's a spoiled little boy who just wants attention all the moments of the day. ... it's more that 2nd one.
But I needed to get up anyways because I hadnt even begun to pack or get anything together. I got up & made Ricky & I some breakfast - yeah, he was off work too because we had our house roof re-shingled & our garage was getting done on Friday. Ricky wanted to make sure the dogs were OK & not freaking out all day by themselves so he took off work. Plus, he had a doctor's appointment on Friday - so it just worked out well. Plus, I was glad to spend that time with him in the morning.
Chasity came & picked me up at noon & we were off.
First stop was a brunch at First Watch....
Breakfast burriitos with mushrooms, spinach & eggs.
DELICIOUS!
& a load up of "fuel" for the road from Starbucks.
& we were off.
Indianapolis always sounds like its so far, but its always a fast trip when you're in the car with girlfriends. The conversation was non stop & before we knew it, even with traffic & construction on the way, it felt like no time & we were at our hotel.
We unpacked & got the baby all fed up & cleaned up with a new outfit & we were ready to head to the Stadium. - Yeah, Chasity brought her new little man - he's not even 3 months old so he needed to be with momma - & really, why WOULDNT you bring a baby to an arena full of women? It's more of a "fight 'em off" thing in this instance. Who doesnt want to hold & rock & love on a smiley, happy baby?
We made our way to downtown Indy & man, I forgot how big Indy feels - especially compared to Downtown Louisville - which looks like a matchbox car next to a semi. Parking alone is a little bit of a crazy thing. After riding around blocks for awhile & seeing parking at $20.00 a pop, we found a MASSIVE mall that had parking cheaper - & it actually worked out great because one of the young ladies in our group, Jordan - her shoe had broken off the bottom somewhere from the walk to the car to the hotel room. So we ran off to find her a new pair of shoes in the mall.
... I think someone could get lost in this mall man - It's HUUUUGGGEEEE!!!!! It would be fun to go back & do a girl's shopping weekend there. I think its like 3 stories tall. I could be imaging things - we were in some many 'wards' of the mall & so many turns & twists & escalators & came out of so many different streets through doors of it - CRAZY... but we got shoes - mission accomplished.
We finally got in the arena & we were actually the first ones in our group to make it there so we got a good area that was near the bathrooms & gave Chasity room to walk with the baby.
I had actually gone with my "heart church" - the one that we went to for so many years. It was so super nice to see so many familiar faces & to meet so many new people that go to Greenville.
You can see we took 3 rows up with this group! How cool is that - 28 women I believe went.
The first speaker was Margaret Feinberg... who I actually have heard before & really enjoy her. She's so quirky & cute. She apparently has a book out called Taste & See & I really am intrigued by it now because she took time with her husband & traveled & researched some of the foods that were mentioned in the Bible & found out more about them - how they're handled - what they do -& see how it ties in to how that food is used in Scripture.
She told us about the Olive (which was fascinating with Jesus time in the Garden of Gesthesame) & also talked about Salt (which was so cool to see a REAL salt block & to learn that the word SALVATION is also from the same Latin word that is used for Salt) - but the illustration that hit me the most was when she talked about grapes.
I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me & I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.
-John 15:5
She talked how we usually focus on the "Attached" part of the vine - that's usually where everyone goes. But she talked about the way the vines are nutured, taken cared of, pruned, the long process it really takes for the best production of grapes... I can't even do it justice how she taught it....
But the part that stood out to me - she talked about the soil of the grapes. We think anything that grows from the ground needs to be lush & rich in soil. But the grape's & their vines? They need rocky soil. They NEED rocks & stones to FORCE their vines to go deep. To get ROOTED. It's the weight & roughness of the rocks that makes the vines stronger. .... whew - that just hit me in the heart something crazy!!!
We got a little bit of a break & then next up - MERCY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my gosh y'all. SO GOOD. I have always liked Mercy Me - but since I've seen their movie I Can Only Imagine, I just have more of a love of them. & seeing them in person? EVEN BETTER. That voice .... it was just so effortless with so much power behind it.
Plus, their song "Even if" - it has basically been my life theme song for the past year & a half. Not even joking. This song just is my heart song... STILL.... I have YET to get through this song without tears falling down my face. I mean, big ugly tears. The day I can sing it & NOT cry, I may have to find a new heart song.
We ended up getting out of the stadium & then it took us about 15 minutes to FIND our car :) - at least it was beautiful night for downtown walking.
& then we all remembered we had not eaten dinner & was pretty hungry. After a little bit of a GPS search, the only thing open around midnight was good ole Taco Bell. I felt like a teenager out ordering in a Taco Bell drive thru this late.... plus, we were all giddy laughing at this point.
We got back to the hotel & ate in our bed & I think everyone knocked out really fast.
Everyone but me... I just tossed & turned & had the worst night sleep of my life. MAYBE 2.5 hours. If that... I just couldnt get comfortable. I was so hot, I kept feeling like Ernie was jumping on the bed which shook me up & I am just one of those people who try to sleep & instead, every problem & worry of the world decides then to go through my mind. YAWN....
5:30 am came really early....
At least I got to start off my morning so wonderfully because Chasity, Jordan & Sha ran down to get some breakfast in the hotel & fix me a plate - BECAUSE WE MUST AVOID THE C WORD... & my sweet friends know this about me - so they brought me up something to eat - & I volunteered to keep the baby while they went down to load up plates.
if someone MUST sacrifice, I'll do it LOL
Saturday, we had more of our bearings to us & it wasn't so "Downtown" crazy at 7:30 AM so we got in & got a parking spot & was back at the arena bright & early.... ready for day 2.
We started off with Jeanie Allen who was just precious - I hadn't seen her before - & then it was time for Karen Kingsbury. She's a popular author if you're not familiar. Her talk was on "Making your life a Best Seller"...
& before I jump into her message - I have to rewind to the night before.
Chasity & I were sitting there at one of the breaks & we were just talking about how crazy life moves on. She just came really feeling the presence of her mother in law, Stephanie - who was my best friend - who had passed away 12 years ago this past May. Chasity was saying that she just really feels like Women of Faith makes her miss Steph even more & she has memories of me & Steph at all the events.
I told Chasity that I can specifically remember the Women of Faith that we went to about 14 years ago ... It was right after Stephanie had been diagnosed with liver cancer... & Patsy Clairmont was on stage & she was talking about finding joy & said, "Did you know that laughter is good for the liver?" ... in that moment, Stephanie grabbed me & hugged me & said, "That's why God made you my friend!! You always make me laugh - God knew I needed you".... we both laughed & cried together at that. It's a memory that is so VIVID in my mind - even now....
This is from that conference
It was so funny too because Chasity was sitting behind us - just a Senior in high school & Steph had even talked then about that young lady marrying her son one day.... isn't that funny?
This is the picture I was telling Chasity about... that's her .. a baby
Here's Chasity on that weekend at dinner in the blue
& here we were all the years later - me sitting next to Steph's daughter in law - with Steph's grandson... it was just a heart felt conversation between us.
All that was the night before....
Now the two of us all these years later... after we had that discussion
& then Karen Kingsbury came up & was talking about her father - a beautiful story that is just so amaizng & incredible in itself - but he had passed away & she talked about all the ways that she felt his presense after he left this world.... & then in her message she was talking about, she got to talking about how we need to Laugh Often - & she said, "Did you know that laughter is good for the liver?"
WHAT? WHAT???? ... as soon as she said it, me & Chasity just jerked our head so fast to one another & just was dumb founded. WHAT???? Then we both just started crying. Because we knew Steph was near us. Just HAD to be. Chasity said, "You know Stephanie is laughing right now at that" - to which I said, "& we totally know her liver is totally healed too"... & we both cried more.
BUT WHAT ARE THOSE ODDS!!!!!
We finished up the conference with one of my favorite speakers / teachers of all time - Angela Thomas Parr... her & her southern accent just makes me laugh & teaches my soul. She can bring the Scripture to life - the power of it... she really touched on how we need to dig those roots into the TRUTH of God's Word - nothing else maters. She sent us home with such an inspired & motivating message.
... & then it was over. Just like that.
... but it's NOT really over... because we're walking out to the car to pack up & meet up with everyone for lunch & head home.
We get out to Chasity's car & pop the trunk to put things in the back & I look over & just had to laugh... truly... I said, 'Um, can someone come look at this?'....
Sha came over & just stared at it & was like, "WHATTTT????" & Chasity was putting the baby in the car & asked what was happening & Sha said, "You just have to come look"....
& right there... my dad's name.
Tom Wood.
We just came out of this feeling of having a touch of heaven from Steph... & then see this. I could do nothing else but laugh.
Apparently there's a Tom Wood who is a car salesman in Indiana.... but HELLO - what are these odds that coming out of this message & feeling the emotions of the weekend, THIS is the car next to us?
Thank you God - I needed these little touches of knowing Heaven is near....
SO yeah, to say it was a good Women of Joy is an understatement.
Of course, the ride home was even more full of discussion about the weekend & it was like BLINK -
we were home.... back to life. Back to laundry & cleaning & dog feeding & horse poop sweeping ... but also back to dog hugs & hubby love & home sweet home. It's always so good to get those breaks away to get that soul refreshed. I really have come home with a new passion & craving to get my own roots planted deeper - to keep all the other things that dont matter & the things that distract me from my relationship with God - to only focus on the MAIN THING THAT MATTERS.
It was really nice to take that FIRE & go worship with my HSM gang on Sunday ...but after that, man, its hit me. I'm tired.
I had picked up some lunch for Ricky & I & then headed home to just relax a bit ... still got a lot to do around the house & go take care of the horses & just all the fun adult stuff that comes with life... but I'm still on that spirit high right now....
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