Tulip Girl

I'll rip the band aide of fast. I've tried just minimising my blog time, working it into my ever changing schedule, what not, but it isn't working. I have slowly realized over the last year that I've just got to take a break. I am thankful to those of you who have supported me and encouraged me as I've struggled with this. You don't know what that means to me. I thought about just doing it occasionally or writing every once in a while but I feel this is the only way. Gosh, I've formulated this post a lot. If there were a trash can with the scrapped versions, it would be overflowing with balled up scraps of posts. I've got to step away for a while. Thank you for being a part of my real world because as I see it, you are all apart of my real life. I never liked when I heard bloggers refer to their real life as if we are all somehow imaginary. That is why I will continue commenting and visiting, I just can't be posting right now. Of course some of you, ...

Ever wondered if you there were slaves living in your neighborhood? Probably not. But there could be. There are after all, thousands upon thousands living in the United States. Yesterday I went to a luncheon with John and Kimberly Quinley, founders of Step Ahead a not for profit working to combat human trafficking in Thailand and Janell Rardon , International Speaker and Author of Rock Solid Families. I was surprised to find that today there are more slaves than at the height of the African slave trade. There is an estimated 100,000 in the United States. There are no laws to protect children in slavery, particularly girls enslaved in the sex slave trade forced into prostitution here in the state of Virginia. Have we really learned nothing from our nation's history? So what if a girl is found to be taken from her home in another country? Send her back to her family is the logical response...accept that is where she was taken in the first place, most likely sold by her own family. St...

In order to make a house a home, Momma Bear needs to make sure is right or else no matter how pretty the curtains are or the food is, well, things just are not gonna go good. So I've been working on memorizing Romans 12. It isn't like I'm doing it all at once. Its one verse a week. Easy right? Well, memorizing is easy if you don't apply it to scripture which pisses Satan off not to mention changes how you see things. When how you see things changes, how you do things based on how you see things changes. How people are responding to how you do things based on how you see things is disrupted. So basically, scripture memorization is like going to the physical therapist. It can be pretty uncomfortable in the beginning but eventually you start seeing the rewards. No pain no gain. If its worth having, its worth working for and you get what you pay for. So if I want a joy filled spirit, a peace filled home, what not and so on, then well, I push up my sleeves and dig in. Speaki...

Ok. I love my new blog look and don't plan on making any changes. I thought I might. I'm not. Those two birds are just super cute. Update on the Romans Project: "We are given gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesy, let him do so in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve, if it is teaching let him teach. If it is encouragement, let him encourage. If a persons gift is giving then let him do so generously and if a person's gift is leadership than let him govern diligently. If his gift is mercy then let him do so cheerfully." I sort of mixed translations but that hopefully is accurate. So I'm 8 verses down, and 13 to go. Next week, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." I have been spending a few weeks comment free to sort of help me with my Romans 12 Project, you know to keep my focus in the right place. I am thankful to say I am now returning normal comment activity back to ac...

Hospitality is not just how you welcome somebody once they make it past your front door. Today I spent one of the most relaxing few hours of my summer with a mom friend and her triplet seven year old boys and rambunctious labradoodle . I wondered, as I felt the tension ease between my shoulder blades, what was it that made this so. I had a friend in high school whose home was a mish mash of garage sale finds; rugs to cover worn carpet, blankets to cover a taddy sofa, books upon piles of books on every available surface. Still another friend who cooks the most tantalizing meals while another friend is the master decorater . Each of these homes, are so welcoming and loving. Yet, it isn't the food, it isn't the decorations. It must be the people. Which is why I believe hospitality is something you can take on the road with you. Welcoming another into anything is hospitality. Its like when you hear the phrase, "An inhospitable environment." So if someone joins ...

Phew! That was a difficult night. At one point my head pounded and my stomach did summer saults . My pillow turned out not to be an asset so once I switched things started getting a little better. I slept most of the night on the couch. Hey, if the migraine was going to keep me awake, I might as will let Hubby sleep. Miss Wiggles slept in yesterday and today so that is a huge blessing. Teething does it every time...that and a later bedtime. So what happens when a Sanguine parents? Yesterday, I looked out the back door and thought the hanging plant could use some water so Miss Wiggles and I went outside to water it (in our pj's no less, don't worry mine was out door appropriate). Well, the weather was so nice we decided to water the vegetable garden as well, then I saw a patch of grass that looked dry so we watered the back yard. We played on a tree stump, then we sat on the porch drinking juice. Then I figured the plants out front needed water so off we went. Basically two hou...

I have a migraine. It started two hours before bedtime which means excedrine two hours before bedtime. It didn't take away my migraine but I do find myself wide wide wide awake at two hours after my normal bedtime. Awesome and not in a good way. So I'm going to give you a random post because well, you read the last paragraph right? I joke about living at Wal-Mart. I got at least twice a week around lunch time. I'm seriously glad I went yesterday and not today because had I gone today I would have been there during the hostage situation. I guy went wielding his knife all over the store before he took his ex-girlfriend hostage at the Vision Center. I have no commentary on it but to say thank you Jesus I wasn't there and thank you Jesus again that the girl is going to be ok. On a lighter note, the weather was awesome today we were outside for quite a while this morning. I'll tell you more about that later. For now, I need to get off the computer as my stomach is start...