Good Friday Morning

Slept in an hour. LB slept in an hour and a half. Enjoyed my ENTIRE cup of coffee. 8am and LB is already back down for a nap. Need I really say more. Good Friday Morning!!

I love Weddings

I absolutely love weddings. I love all the planning, the engagement parties, showers, flowers, gowns - everything. I smile every time we receive an invitation for one or when I get an excited phone call from a friend saying she's engaged. It all reminds me of my own.

Everyone gave us advice while we were engaged - mostly good, encouraging advice that we listened to willingly. Probably the one piece of advice that I remember intentionally following was to make a point of looking around. I don't remember who told me, but she said that her wedding was a blur. If it weren't for her pictures she would have missed her wedding. So getting ready to walk down the aisle I looked around and soaked it all in. Getting to the front I looked at every bridesmaid and every groomsman, then I locked eyes with Grant.

Probably my favorite moment in our wedding was the Bride and Groom prayer. Just months before we got married I attended a wedding where they did this and it was so moving. After that Grant and I added it to our own program. It was wonderful. One of my favorite pictures from the wedding is of us holding hands, heads bowed, sun setting in the background while we whispered our prayers to one another. Nothing tops that solitary moment.

Right now we have only one wedding on the calendar for next spring. It will be a small intimate wedding set on a beautiful plantation in Thomasville, GA. I'm really looking forward to this one. Its a tennis friend from my teenage years that is getting married. She has asked me to read scripture. I am so honored and touched that she has asked me to be a part of such a special day. I know it will be perfect for her like mine was for me. I'm smiling just thinking about it all.

BamaJam Side Effects

We had our first BamaJam experience this year. I must say that we both were beyond pleasantly surprised. We really enjoyed it. Friday night was the only time we went, but we probably would have gone more if we had lined up more babysitters. However, now that it's Sunday evening I'm glad that we only have to recover from one night's lack of sleep.

Several years ago we would have slept the morning away, but now we have a cute little alarm clock that likes to get up with the sun. With only a few hours under our belt we bought an hour of laying around by putting LB in the bed with us. But she is so busy that she doesn't lay around at all. She crawled back and forth between the two of us with her little pointer finger ready to touch everything. Finding my cup on the beside table, LB managed to tip it over. Fortunately, there wasn't much water in it.

But that is where it all started. We forgot and left our fresh veggies in the car for 24 hours that we bought at the Farmers Market Saturday morning. Veggies that I continue to refer to as fruit for some reason. And at some point I referred to LB's fruit as veggies.

We forgot to put up our leftovers from dinner Saturday night. Only realizing it Sunday morning when it was too late. In the trash they went.

After going to bed at 8:15 Saturday night and getting 10 hours of sleep, we still forgot to turn off the coffee pot this morning. We remembered on our way to church. Thankfully, we have one that turns itself off after a while.

We have laughed and laughed at the fact that we can't hang like we once could. Alas...we're getting older. We need our sleep.

A Weekend at Compass Lake

http://www.thepostsearchlight.com/news/2010/jun/01/stumps-and-twigs/

Dad's article this week about Memorial Weekend at Compass Lake

If You Knew Me...

I had a great quiet time this morning.

First off, I have struggled to even have a daily quiet time. I know how extremely important it is. And its not that I don't have the time to squeeze in 30 minutes for me and God to hang out; its just that life is busy. Before I know it, Laura is down for the night, Grant and I are hanging out, I'm tired, and the day is over. So I decided over the weekend that I should do it first thing in the morning! Before work starts, before LB gets up, give God my firsts. Well, wouldn't you know that my alarm went off at 5am, I turned it off and slept for another 25 minutes. WOW - the devil IS in the details.

Anyway, I finally get up, have my vanilla filled coffee, sit down and I'm ready to go. And God was ready too.

I'm going through a Beth Moore book - Believing God. The section I started this morning is called, I am who God says I am. The biggest statement I took away this morning - Beth Moore talking about herself says, "I have a little hang-up with believing "I am who God says I am." I tend to want to rewrite it as, "I strive to be who God says I am." WOW. I completely agree.

I guess I don't always feel like I measure up to God's standards. And I hate it when I feel like I'm falling short. But think about Moses - he doubted himself. The Bible tells us that because I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior that I am already who God says I am. And I was made in his image. WOW. What I see in my own actions are from my viewpoint, which is different from God's point of view.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

I am Blessed, Chosen, Adopted, Favored, Redeemed and Forgiven.

I am who God says I am.

"You shine like stars in the universe." Philippians 2:15

Getting Out of Debt

Grant and I are fired up about getting out of debt! We went through Dave Ramsey's class last fall. And after many months on a budget we are starting to really chip away at our debt.

Personally I love the big balloon payments that are made at the end of the month. I get so excited that I check the loan website multiple times a day to see the check clear and how much is left. Perhaps a little overkill I know, but I really love seeing that balance dwindle down. It fires me up to try and pay off even more the next month.

Getting ready to finalize the June budget I decided to take the budget to a new level - cash envelopes. Dave says to get rid of all your credit cards. Well, we haven't done that. But we do keep a zero balance on our AMX and basically use our debit card for everything else. But its too easy to just swipe it. I know that there is money in the account to pay for my next purchase without consulting the budget and the month's plan - and its money that's already allotted for something else. So, I'm going to start using cash for my grocery shopping. I thought I would start with just one category and see how it goes first. Sometimes its better to ease into things.

I'll have a certain amount in my purse and that's it. I'll need to take a calculator in the store with me, but its so worth it to be that nerd in the grocery aisle tabulating your total! Because this nerd is going to get out of debt.

Can you imagine the freedom??

"Live like no one else, so later on you can live like no one else."

Love Dave Ramsey.

Laura Loves Compass Lake

Laura loves Compass Lake! She did not cry one bit in the water. She didn't mind being splashed by cousin Henry. She even crawled straight to the water on the second day when I put her down in the sand. Laura is going to love growing up going to the lake just like I did.
Laura and her Grandaddy Dan - first time in the lake.