A little late - this didn't post?

I wrote this a while back and thought it posted, but nope, it didn't.  I don't even know if it's finished, I'm not reading back over it, I'm just going to post it.  

In life, we all have our ups and downs.  There will be times we feel on top of the world and times we wonder why all this is happening to me.  And during both times, the highs and the lows, we can always find someone doing better than us and someone doing worse.  We can compare ourselves to the person doing better and be bitter and jealous.  We can compare ourselves to the person doing worse and have fake thankfulness.

Or, we could quit comparing ourselves and our situations to either and do what God tells us to do - be thankful in all things.

Yup.  It's hard.  Very hard.  And I'm not saying I do it well because I reallllllllly don't.  Ya'll have heard me discussing some of what my family and friends are going through right now.  I haven't been thanking God for the trials.  For the blessings I strive to see - yes.  But for the suffering, no.  But He clearly tells us to be thankful in all things.

Always be joyful and never stop praying.  Whatever happens keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ.  This is what God wants you to do.  - 1 Thes 5:17

Always use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything.  Eph 5:20

My family has seen six surgeries within the past 13 months.  Three in the past month.  My sister and her husband were four of them.  We are tired.  Drained.  Exhausted.  Our resources are tapped out.  Add to that I have some new medical stuff to check into next week and my very close friend in Alabama - her husband is in critical condition from a wreck. Let's not discuss the mounds of doctor bills I have - some for more than a year now that I'm paying on, but can't seem to really accomplish much headway.

But just like the card I sent my friend in Alabama, the Lord never promised Easy Street, but that He would be with us every step of the way.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we are in.  Heb 12:1

Be strong! Take courage! Don't be intimidated.  Don't give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you.  He's right there with you.  He won't let you down, He won't leave you. Deau 31:6

Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

The Lord will never call us to do something we cannot do through His power.  We have to take the step forward.  Isaiah 6:8

Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and song and he has become my salvation.  Isaiah 12:2

I find comfort in these scriptures.  It's like a calm comes over me and I can have peace.

Look at Me!

My family has been on one wild ride. I don't always cover all the details of life on here, but wow, we've been on a wild ride.  And this coaster has barely pulled away from the dock - we got a ways to go.

But, as I crawled in bed last night with my heart heavy and sad, I opened up this Bible verse journal that my penpal friend in Louisiana sent to me ages ago.  It is a smallish 4 x 6 journal, burgundy and black, with Rejoice on the front.  For a long time, I added Bible verses and quotes that touched me and I carried it in my purse.  As my purse become more and more heavy, I cleaned out, including taking my little journal out.

Just this week I ran across it and thought - I really need to keep that handy.  But of course, I kept going on and didn't actually pick it up and put it somewhere more accessible.

Last night, as my heart hurt and I just needed some encouragement, I thought about my little journal with all those Bible verses inside.  I got it and crawled back in bed.  I opened it up and this is what I found:

But the Lord stood with me 

and gave me strength. 

                          2 Timothy 4:17

So always trust the Lord

because He is forever 

our mighty rock. 

                      Isaiah 26: 4

It was like he smacked me in the head and said - BETH.  Listen to Me.  Look at Me.  I'm patiently waiting for you to simply ask Me for what you need. I am your ROCK and I'll give you the strength to get through this, you just need to ask. 

It reminded me of last Sunday when I went to pick up Macy from Children's Church.  She was out of the classroom (why, I don't know, but that's another issue) and was walking in the crowded hallway.  Being so short, all she could see were legs, legs, and legs.  I see her clearly and am just about to touch her when she stops in the hall and starts crying because she can't find her MawMaw.  I touched her and called her name, but she was too lost in her own fears at that moment and couldn't look up to see her Aunt Beth.  I called her and talked to her, and finally put my hands on both sides of her cheeks and crouched down to her level saying, "LOOK AT ME!"  And it was then that she finally saw me.  I still wasn't MawMaw, but that's another story, too (haha). 

That little book shows up so many times when I need it.  It's God's way of crouching down and grabbing me by the face and saying, "Look at Me!!"  :)

Meep.

It's FRIDAY! I want to spin around in an amazingly green field like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music! But I want a better dress.

Ya'll I can't tell you how happppy I am that today is FRIDAY.  I'm not sure why, but yes, I'm so very happy about it.  My weekend is looking a little corn-y as the corn at Mom and Dad's house has come in.  We are doing an assembly line of shucking, silking, blanching, cutting and stuffing into bags.  Dad worked hard in this drought to keep the water on this crop, so I'm glad he's seeing a reward.

We celebrated my brother's 44th birthday last week.  All the family on our hill pitched in and got him a charcoal grill, which he was very excited about.  I give him mucho credit - he is an awesome chef. Seriously.  

Katie and I took Macy to Lunar Golf - basically putt putt under black lights - because when it's 99 degrees outside, you just can't do much in the way of playing outdoors and this kid has ENERGY.  Our concerns of her being afraid of the dark room proved to be needless as she ran allllll over the place, enjoying all the glowing things.  And enjoying running in general. So glad there weren't many people there.  

There's our two space aliens.  Macy did NOT want to be the green alien at all.  That crazy yellow hair kinda looks like her bedhead in the morning. HAHAHA

When I was invited to come play - and enjoy homemade tacos - I couldn't possible resist the drive to Gaffney! :)  Especially since Donna had just gotten home from her vacation in Washington State and Canada.  Looked so beautiful!  I'm envious. Ellie is a sweetheart and Daisy had to smile for us, too!

 And now, enjoy some random photos I haven't posted for ya'll yet.  Macy after church - just thought these bright colors were so cute on her. :)

 The new puppy at my sister's house.  Macy named it Sparkles but somehow it was changed to Daisy.  So yes, another Daisy pup in my life.

 The sweet nieces enjoying Dunkin' Donuts I surprised everyone with this week. I had a doctor's appointment and knew everyone had be working on corn.  I figured they needed a break and a happy snack.  It worked - they were very happy.

Yes, I have become the Crazy Cat Lady in the neighborhood.  In addition to the stray mama cat that I took in and she immediately became pregnant (and may be again?) - three of her four kittens are still with me.  Now this dude just shows up like he owns the place.  Add another huge orange cat that I see slinking around from time to time.  Like I said, the Crazy Cat Lady.

So someone asked how the doctor's appointment went.  Welll..... Not that you want THIS much detail, but I have been diagnosed with IBS. This isn't new, but I hadn't had a flare up since this time last year.  Over the fourth of July I had a rough go of it, didn't eat for two days, felt so nauseous, was just sick with pains moving all over my abdomen.  It wasn't a lot of fun.  I called my gastro doc to see if I could see him but he was on call at the hospital. And no, they wouldn't let me see another doctor.  If I wanted to see him, I would have to go to the ER.  I did that and still didn't get to see him. But I did have a CT scan and blood work that showed nothing was wrong. That's the deal with IBS.  You hurt for no reason, really. So, I had prayed they would find out what is wrong with me and I suppose they did! There is no "cure" just endurance when you get a flare up. SUCKS.

What else is happening in my world? I do need some prayers for my family.  My brother-in-law had a huge back surgery fusion in Dec 2014.  They told him last week is has to be completely undone and redone - major pain.  MAJOR pain. It was such a long surgery before and so incredibly painful. I hate feeling helpless and we all felt so helpless to make a difference for him.  We are all so upset it has to be repeated, so please pray for the doctors, for him and that he will heal properly this time.

My Dad will be having a stress test next week leading up to his knee surgery.  Once he passes the stress test, we'll be on go for the knee surgery, which he really needs.  He is also in a good bit of pain and it's been tough on him to not be able to go go go.  So please pray his stress test goes well, too!

I know, it seems like all this bad news! But we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. I try to remember this - ya'll help me remember. Keep telling me, ok?

Ok, thanks for joining in my read-a-long here. :) It's a joy to have ya'll visit. Hope you have a great weekend! *hugs* friends!

Good Morning, Sunshines!

I've written several posts - never posted them.  I'm not sure why I'm losing interest in blogging because I do really enjoy it.  Whatever the reason, I'll try to do better but know better than to make any promises. :)

I did start a blog post about Charleston. Being a Sandlapper (native SC gal) and loving this city so very much... my heart was broken and hurting so bad over the shooting in the church.  So many levels it just ripped me up.  So thankful for the love these families showed to the world.  So much to learn from their forgiveness.  Like I said, I wanted to write but honestly didn't have the words to say. Just please pray for these families and for our country in general.

So I shared the beach pics and Macy's Hello Kitty pics in my last post.  She did have an actual party that we had to move last minute due to the incredible heat wave that hit the South.  It just wasn't possible to have these kids sweltering outside in the heat, so we called a local church and moved it indoors.  So thankful, it would have been miserable otherwise.

Rainbow theme!  So glad we had streamers to make it more festive. 

We found Pin the Tail on the Donkey! The kids did surprisingly well!

She didn't know what to do with all the attention on her while we sang Happy Birthday to her! 

Macy and her cousin, Chloe, playing with party blowers. 

Presents! We are so proud of how she shared and let others play with her gifts.
She's grown so much from last year where no one could touch her stuff. Thank goodness!

Anything else interesting I can share with you? Hm... let's see. Let's go to my photos and see what else we've been up to lately... Fourth of July! I don't have a lot of pics but a few.

Cousins Meghan, Rylan, Emmett and Wade with Macy

Macy was so happy to have a playmate!

Cousin Hugs!

Watermelon.  This child loves watermelon!

Fireworks. The only halfway decent pic I got. Macy fell in love with fireworks and sparklers. 

Ok, so there are the pics I can share with you.  Otherwise, I have a favor to ask.  I'm getting back into the same boat I was in this time last year with abdominal pains for no apparent reason.  It's pretty much a constant ache with more intense aches at night.  Lots of fun, let me tell you.  I've tried to get in to see my doctor earlier, but no dice.  So can you say a prayer that God would direct the doctors to the problem and provide them with a solution? I do appreciate it.

This is a verse that hit me yesterday:

Be cheerful no matter what; thank God no matter what happens.  This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.  1 Thes 16-18

So... that is what I'm trying to do.  Be thankful even in the discomfort because for some reason, this is God's plan for me.  I don't know what the reason is right now, but I'm trying my best to put it in His hands and have faith.

So there is my life in a nutshell.   :)  And maybe I'll do better at this blog thing. :)

Back to Reality

My family and I enjoyed a week at Edisto last week - this past Monday was my return to reality (and work, of course).  As much as I was looking forward to this beach trip, I think I must have forgotten how much I don't really enjoy being hot, sticky and covered in sand. I was definitely ready to come home. Once I uploaded all my pics, I realized we spent a lot of time in the beach house and not so much time on the beach.  The kids were down there more than anyone, but too often a camera wasn't on the beach with them. So you get very few beach photos. :)

It doesn't look real, does it? This is why I love Edisto.  It isn't so crowded you can't move - no, we had the majority of the space to ourselves until mid-morning. It was so nice, so beautiful. 

That speck is my older sweet niece - AH. 

All of us are pretty pasty white, so burning like a crispy critter is always a concern.  Even with tons of spf 50 sun screen, we seem to sizzle up nicely.  So we considered it a success that only two of seven ended up with burn.  The rest was much needed... but I'm used to having only one person in the house with me... so having seven made it a bit tough sometimes.

We came home on Saturday and celebrated Macy's third birthday with just the family on Sunday.  Her larger party will be tomorrow. Just brace yourself for a lot of photos, ok? Because here goes nothing. :)

Macy really wanted a Hello Kitty birthday party, but we are all set for a rainbow party... so I ran to the dollar store and created a quick Hello Kitty theme for her actual birthday (this past Sunday).  Even exhausted (why is it that vacation exhausts you??) we all enjoyed celebrating with her.

 Poster board Hello Kitty heads decorated everything - thankfully she's pretty easy to draw. 

Mom and her HK hat

 The birthday girl and her HK hat. 

 Blowing out the three candles - she got them all first try!

 Even PawPaw got into the festivities! :)

 Macy's daddy and his HK hat!

 Macy's mommy (my sister) and her HK hat

 And me with my sweet niece and HK hat that got chopped off in the pic. haha!

 Macy's gift from her parents was a play house and she is LOVING IT. 

LOVE LOVE LOVEs the house just for her. Is totally fascinated with the mailbox. 

I am going to make little notes that will fit in it for her to find. 

 She does have to duck down to go inside, but that's ok. 

She's yelling at Pawpaw to get out of the truck and come see her.  

Unfortunately, Dad is having some knee issues that are really giving him a fit, so he wasn't walking across the uneven ground. He drove up under a tree and watched from the truck. 

So there are a few pics for you.  You know there will be more once this party tomorrow is wrapped up.  With the south being smothered in extremely high heat temps, we have moved the party from outside to a local church in order to protect the kids.  This heat is nothing to play around with, that's for sure! Hopefully it will break next week.  Sheesh. 

Ya'll have a great weekend.  More pics will come soon! :)

REST

So last post life was a Merry-go-round and there was no getting off. Then what does my devotion bring to me? Rest in God is a powerful tool to prepare you for the ways He will use you in His work. Rest. Not just sleeping in, but spending quiet reflective time in His word. I hope I've been doing that this week. I've filled up my journal with prayers and reflections  this week and spend leisurely time just soaking God into my heart. It's good.

Right this second I'm listening to birds outside my window and I have baby sweet niece hogging a king sized bed. How someone so little can push me over to the very edge is just baffling. Earlier she karate chopped my throat then gave me an uppercut punch! It was time to shove her over. ;) 

The girls are enjoying summer like they should - by devouring deliciously grilled corn on the cob. Both those girls can put a hurtin' on some corn, let me tell you. 

Did I show you this pic already? She was learning about sun and shade, so we stopped for a rest in the shade as we walked back to her house from Mom's. So cute. So so so cute!

We had one more heck of a storm here last night. Lightning was a little in the strong side - flicked the power a few good times. Just enough to send the clocks flashing all through the house. 

I hope y'all are having a beautiful week and enjoying the summer weather before the heat really cranks up. :)

Friday *whew*

For whatever reason, life has felt like a out-of-control merry-go-round. Not necessarily in a bad way, just a busy way!  But it's good, at least I'm not bored hahaha :)

I had a very brief but interesting conversation with an  aquaintence at work this week. He was speaking of why he left the church and doesn't follow Christianity any longer (he's looking at other religions, which means he feels a loss that needs to be filled).  His issue was the church he was in - served in a leadership position - didn't handle the finances as he would have preferred. It caused issues and he left with a disheartening view of the religion of Christianity. 

Honestly, I think we've all heard similar stories from someone in our life. The preacher had an affair with the secretary, the Sunday school teacher had child porn on his computer, the choir director was a secret alcoholic. In my personal life: I've had a Sunday School teacher leave his wife after an affair and he became a wild man and another left his wife and went through a crazy mid-life crisis. Yep. It does happen. Another flat out lied to my face - an adult to adult here - and it really disappointed me. Very much so. 

But here's the deal (and what I told him):  all churches and all religions are filled with imperfect people, with sinners who are going to make mistakes and disappoint. But that's not the religion of Christianity. Christianity is built on the almighty and perfect God, the Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. On the understanding that the Lord sent His only Son here, to us, to live a perfect life and die an unjust death, and doing so fulfilled God's promise to give us a way to come to Him. To be with Him for all eternity. 

Don't let the imperfections of people pull you away from the only thing that can save you. I'm not telling you your life will become instantly easy - it doesn't work like that. But you will have God with you through every step of your life (and beyond!) and a new hope. 

Ok so there is my soap box for today. 

One of the bits of recent excitement: my friend, Donna, turned 40!  Very exciting! We enjoyed a trip to Asheville, NC, to BILTMORE! It was beautiful. 

A drive by shot - but seriously, this house is crazy. I enjoyed the booklet that walked you through the house. It really helped you see the details. 

Of course the views were amazing! So beautiful. Can't imagine living in that environment, waking up and see this out of your window. Wowzers. 

School is out! And sweet nieces are happy! Teen niece is happy to be out of school and baby niece is happy to have teen niece home :) so sweet. So so so sweet! 

Ok enough of this. I took today off to clean house and wash clothes. I suppose I should turn off Let's Make a Deal and get to it. Y'all have a great weekend!