Tulip Girl

I found myself driving down an old country road yesterday. Miranda Lambert's House That Built Me playing on the radio, the gentle rain playing in the background, Miss Wiggles trying to fall asleep behind me. As I drove car behind me, car in front of me as far as my eyes could see, head lights on in the afternoon. I looked to my right at the deep Southern Georgia waters amid the trees covered in kudzu , a random body of water there in the country along an old country road. To my left were churches, traditional churches, white with steeples, cars parked in the grass. Our cars proceeded on. Hubby was up the way leading, the other men by his side, they either looked forward, silent waiting or heads down, shoulders shaking. Watching a grown man's shoulder's shake seems like walking in on something sacred, private, something I felt like an intruder watching. Never in all my life did I think I would be driving down an old country road in a funeral procession with my husband ...

Mother Theresa once said that God only gives as much as we can handle, she just wished He didn't trust her so much. I like that. I'm feeling that. I'm so not liking it. That isn't always true. He wants us to depend on Him, His strength, not just ours so sometimes its a little more than we can handle...alone. I thought I would say I'm gonna whine. I'm not. I need to share. My heart is heavy. Hubby's Papa passed away last night. Miss Wiggles woke with a fever (again, the second in two weeks) so when he called his parents, his dad let him know that last night Papa passed away. We were going to go there anyway tomorrow. Lately every time I wake up drenched from a night sweat (which is a spiked fever in deep sleep but goes away by the time you wake up), Miss Wiggles has a fever as well. The only difference is they don't go away like mine do. So here we are, I'm not even thinking about Disney World next week. Right now all I know is my brain has been ...

God showed up with a hard hat, sledge hammer and Toby Mac on His IPOD. I should have known what was coming next. I need an "Under Construction" sign on my heart and a "Warning" sign on my mouth. Call me slow but it has taken me 6 years to figure out some truths about married life. I'm loving it but when a lie is tossed out, there can be a ripple effect, especially when Satan realizes He's losing ground and especially when ideas are decided on based on those lies. Its a ripple effect or a domino trail. Anyway, my pride and rebellious spirit meant, well, some words were said. Like the saying goes, the tooth paste is out of the tube and it isn't gonna go back in. I'm not ready to talk about it but I did just want to tell you, when God shows up with a hard hat, sledge hammer and Toby Mac on His IPOD...

I am so super excited! We are going to Disney World! I have never been and am super excited to go. What is particularely nice is that Miss Wiggles will be with Grandmama and Papa Stone. I'm telling you this is a much needed vacation. So how about all ya'll who have been to Disney World tell me about it?

I came across some verses on cards I had intended to memorize. I never did. Its a shame. I put them on my bed side. Maybe eventually I'll get around to it.... Yeah, how often do we say that? Well, this last week I was blessed to hear Sharon of Established Footsteps speak . While I looked at her website I came across a 12 week devotion series on Romans 12 . Part of this devotion is to memorize all of Romans 12. All of it! Have you read Romans 12 lately? There isn't a single verse there not worth memorizing. What a power packed chapter. I want to take up the challenge and let Romans 12 be written on my heart. As Matt Redmen sings, let us get back to the heart of worship. Love ya, Katie

Update: For the record, just want you to know Gaila's name isn't spelled that way. It is Gala. Yes she has heard all the one liners I'm sure she can handle (umh, mostly from me). Having been at a gala last night, I'm sure every person there made the comparison. She's so sweet though, I'm sure she didn't mind. She's just cool that way. Last night Hubby and I attended the 18th Annual Salute to ACC, Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base (ACC is at Langley, not the event) :) Last night was a great evening mostly for me because it was a time to socialize in an adult setting with no children around. I had a great time talking with Hubby's colleagues as well as talking up several military member's spouses. Well, enough chit chat, here are pictures to tell a better story than me. The above picture is one of a series of historical pictures taken of soldiers and pilots serving over the last 90 years at Langley Air Force Base. Hubby and I cut qui...

I seriously do not know why God has blessed me like He has, but I feel like sharing it with you. I do this not to brag about me, but I like to brag on God and if He is going to go and do something awesome, well, I want everyone to know how great He is. I have a home I enjoy. I have friends and family I love all over the place whether back home Arizona or family in Oregon , Texas, Nebraska, Georgia, Washington, South Carolina. I have blog friends I adore. I have so many wonderful SAHM friends that I could be busy every day of the week with play dates which I usually am. They are all different too. I love the different people God has brought into my life. They shape me and challenge me and grow me. Its awesome! I mean first of all their is the beautiful little person that I adore even if her main mode of communication right now is no regardless of the context. These two people are incredible. I have been studying Song of Solomon and everything Shulamith says about Solomon, I truly f...

To Love Your Husband Tuesday My picture thing isn't working so I can't put the logo up but I do encourage you to go check out Lauren at Living by Faith, just click above on the title there in the post. What a week! Well, Hubby and I had a great talk about where things are in our marriage right now. My cold turned bronchitis that was followed up by a flare up of intensely terrible hormones driven insanity in me then with Miss Wiggles getting a bad fever and teething two molars and a front tooth meant the last few weeks have been a four wheel drive in our marriage we were ready to be done with. We had stopped focusing on each other and meeting each other's needs. It is our big commitment in our marriage to look out for each other. It works out better than always looking our for ourselves. So we sat and had a talk about what are some things we would like the other to do. Hubby wants to see that I worked at eliminating some of the chaos of the day before he gets home like ...

How easy it is when seeking after a pure relationship with God to make it work, to add it to our never ending to do list. I love to study scripture but when I do it with the intent to share my new knowledge in Sunday School, write a dynamic blog post or count it against my insecurity that I am not smart enough, the I've left the intimacy of my relationship with Jesus and once again taken up the mantel of works. It happens to the best of us. If it were easy to keep things on the right path then I suppose we would all be super saints. I recently read to following excerpt from the article, Building God's Temple Within from Kyria.com . The anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, a classic medieval work on contemplative prayer, tells us: You only need a naked intent for God. When you long for him, that's enough. If you want to gather this focus into one word, making it easier to grasp, select a little word of one syllable, not two. The shorter the word, the more it helps the...

The answer is no. It only matters that together, we get back on track. What I am talking about is my marriage over the last month or so. Hubby and I have a rule in our marriage we work hard to live by (well, accept the last couple of months anyway). We make each other our number one priority as in we make it the others responsibility to make sure each other is ok , needs are met, help is given, pampering takes place, stress levels alleviated etc. I take care of Hubby make sure he is good to go so that he doesn't have to worry about de-s tressing himself so that he can devote his energy to making sure I'm ok . Well some how one of us blinked and we started getting self focused. It hasn't made for a pretty time that is for sure. We had a great talk today and agree to get back to that. I am sure thankful we had this realization because being self focused is stressful. It is a lot more fun when Hubby is taking care of me and I can take care of him. Much more rewarding. Speaking...

Tonight I finish painting my bedroom the prettiest of pale fresh like cut cucumber green and the trim a crisp bright white. The next step will be to buy new linens and things for the bed. I am going all white. ALL WHITE! I'm so excited because the walls were white and the bed linens green. Now the walls are green and bed linens white. Cool. To inspire me, I Binged white linens and here are some inspirational pics I found. Apartment Therapy Alenska Flower Press at Etsy Cottage Chic French Dressing There you have it. I love the crisp clean look of white linens but love color so this is really going to work for me. I will be changing the art above my bed and my curtains and my rug. All of that is free because I'm trading with other areas in my house. Now that is awesome! So far I'm loving the more modern look of French Dressing over the Cottage Chic. I love the modern look of clean lines. 90 degree angles give me a sense of stability. I am also a major fan of C...

Spring seems to be melting away and summer is taking her position as sentry around here. These past few days have been a cool breezy farewell as our linen closet door swells to indicate summer is quickly taking center stage. This lovely buxom white iris stands alone near our old tree stump. While about eight iris bulbs produced greenery reaching for the blue above only one dared produce the silken white adornment of the delicate white iris flower. Maybe next year the rest will join the party. Speaking of parties, Miss Wiggles and I had our own planting party. Umh ...well... she poked sticks into the mums on our front stoop and I happily clicked away on the old digital. Yes, that is dirt in her mouth in case you were wondering. Eventually this diversity of pots will produce flowers that will then produce welcoming fragrances to welcome us home and greet our guests with their pleasing aroma. The seeds and silver pots are from Target's dollar section. My home away from home away from ...

This is one of my favorite blog parties, To Love Their Husbands Tuesday. I have nothing to share about loving my Hubs this week. Hormones, ' nuff said. I am confessing this in a post though because I need it written down here in this public forum to hold me accountable to being much more successful this coming week so that when I link up next week I can hold my head higher. You see my husband really is worthy of any lovin ' that I send his way. He is quite insightful and I don't think I appreciate that enough. So, I will go find my Power of a Praying Wife that lays neglected under my bed and pray through it this week and then I will work on making his dinner and lunch with a more joyful heart. I do it, but not with a joyful heart for sure these days. I'm thankful he loves me anyway. I complain and he still rubs my back when I have a headache. I love this man. Click HERE to get to the party!

I suppose the answer is yes. I am thirty years old after all. There isn't a lot I am not old enough for accept retirement, medicaid and a senior discount. What I am talking about is the Black Tie Gala Hubby and I are attending next week. He needs a tux and I need a formal gown. I have one black formal gown but it won't work. 'Cause its my Junior prom dress and my rear is a bit bigger now than it was when I was 18. Yah, I need to go shopping. Now that is something I am never to old or too young for. Am I the only one though that feels like they are just not old enough to be on this earth as long as our numerical age indicates?

Standing in my closet once again on a Sunday morning, my heart is not geared towards the coming fellowship or sermon. How many Sundays, Tuesday morning Bible Studies or MOPS must I stand in my closet and my only preoccupation is with my clothes? I stand in a spiritual quake known as an Identity Crisis. Who I am in Christ is replaced by my desire to be accepted by my fellow Christians. Disclaimer: I only WISH that were my closet. ;) For the record the amazing women God has put in my life these last few months that I desire so much to please couldn't care less about my attire. It is plain and simple Satan and my sin nature working together to distract me from the purpose of my every move; to know God and make God known. In high school , I remember wishing for uniforms. In my professional life, I remember envying my husband's old military uniform. The great thing is that God has given us some great guide posts in His Word that we can rest in when our flesh nature rears its ugly ...

As followers of Christ Jesus, most assuredly when we decide to challenge the norm, dig deeper in the word and incline the listenings of our heart toward the Holy Spirit and all He has to teach us, Satan will not like it. That is actually an understatement. I know that in the times when God is revealing "deep and hidden things" as Daniel put it, the circumstances around me grow less pleasant. Wiggles will get irritable, miscommunications become less fixable with Hubby, my own health declines, I get moody (which happens more than I care to admit), temptations arise, you get the the point. I have to very seriously put ink to prayer journal at times like these, shed some tears and press on. So press on I will do. :) Recently a friend introduced me to an awesome website, Blue Letter Bible . I am really loving the verse by verse commentary plus the more over arching commentary as well as the Greek and Hebrew words. There is a lot more than that but I am pretty new to this s...

A comment I heard recently really stuck with me. Mostly it stuck with me because it was like a flash light into myself into areas I had shrouded in darkness behind closed doors that I hope no one would notice. It lead me to ask questions about myself. Do I allow circumstances and the world around me to determine how I interpret the Bible or does the Bible determine how I interpret my circumstances and the world around me? This question isn't even necessarily apart of the comment I heard but it is what I got from it and this question has stuck with me for quite some time. There is a lot about God I don't understand (no duh right?) and there are things I have purposefully avoided because my interpretation of the world around me in those areas would be changed and I don't think I wanted them to change. There are so many sticky subjects in the Bible that I am tempted to gloss over or explain away. Even now I hesitate to get specific because I avoid the fire storm of contrev...

Today I went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and had myself a grand ole time. After being down and out for the last week and a half, it was super duper nice to get out and let me tell you, my MOPS moms are all awesome! This morning we had a guest speaker, Sarah, who shared with us some great tips and sites to help us become pro Couponers (her word which we officially decided today is a word so poo on spell check ;). You can find the coupon and money saver links to the left if you are interested which I highly recommend you do. I've tried being a Couponer but was never successful . Maybe in my youth I never took it that seriously, I had no purpose in it. Well, now as we save up to for a down payment for a house, wait for our current house to sell and live in a rental, I am motivated. That and college tuition scares me and I know in 18 years I want to be ready for those bills. Oh, and retirement. Gotta save for retirement. So you see, there are a lot of good reasons to save. I mi...

#1-11 Click HERE I'm a little late this week due to bronchitis. Bronchitis or not, I still choose to be thankful. When I take the time to look, I find so many things to be thankful for. I am so thankful that yesterday God finally spoke against Satan's attempt to distract God's good work here with this blog. Click HERE to read that. I am thankful for the awesome color yellow that seems to inspire happy. That is HERE . Those aren't a part of the list though. The following are my no brainer additions to the list. 12. Food, good food and many resources to get it 13. books to read 14. Freedom to learn how to read and to read what I want 15. my cat Leo because he really has been my constant companion through a great many things 16. awesome friends 17. the ability to walk 18. to hear 19. to see 20. to smell ('cause that means I can taste food too) 21. to feel 22. my family 23. the diversity of human kind which reminds me of THIS video 24. blogging 25. Internet The ...

I have a confession to make. For the last six or so months I have struggled with whether to keep my blog. I have on several occasions been on the verge of quitting all together. At one point I dropped the followers part of my blog due to a little online spat I had with a grandma blogger (would I really argue with a grandma face to face, then again would a grandma actually say what she said when face to face? No grandma I know would.) I've struggled with my own narcisism fighting with my insecurity fighting with what ever humility I have fighting with my sin nature fighting with my desire to make God known fighting with my desire to be known. Ugh! Is that confusing? I thought so! Then a pastor's wife I knew years ago before we both moved away to other cities posted this post on her blog regarding a recent article speculating on the health of our relationships and friendships in relation to Facebook. This quote hit one serious cord in me: "Do we all realize, for example, wh...

Anthropology has a great new catalog that is super inspiring for both your wardrobe and your home. Casa Sugar did a great job of capturing some of the inspiring ideas. If I could afford it, I would shop there. Then again, it is a lot of fun trying to copy the looks for as little mullah as possible. I have this thing I do. When I hear myself make a blanket statement I try and challenge my presupposition about my own likes and dislikes. I once made a blanket statement that I didn't like working with the elderly. Well, there is a thought structure when it comes to what we know and I apply it to what I know of myself; what I know I know, what I don't know I know, what I know I don't know and what I don't know I don't know. Follow me on this. So after that blanket statement I spent a summer volunteering at a convalescent home. I learned a lot about those wonderful people and I learned A LOT about myself. I may continue to make bold presuppositions about myself but when ...

A couple hours ago the electricity went out and I was so excited. Hubby and I were wrapping up dinner and I dreaded the kitchen clean up. I can't breath so great so I am rather tired (going to Doctor tomorrow). The silence was divine! I mean that in the sense that I liked it and in the sense that I really actually believe God purposefully allowed it to give me the chance to rest. So as utter silence enveloped our house I curled up on the couch with my new HomeLife magazine and my Bible. Here are a few Bible Verses and quotes that drew me during my forced quiet time. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ~Daniel 9:6 Mid all the traffic of the way, Turmoil without, within, Make of my heart a quiet place, And come and dwell therein. ~Unknown Restore from Women's NIV Study Bible A time of quiet reflection, so necessary to spiritual and mental health, is not eas...