I am Thankful for My Anniversary

On November 21, 1980 Eddie and I got married. Today is our 27th wedding anniversary and for that, I am very thankful! There have been good times and difficult times but God has been with us every step of the way. We committed our lives to Him and to each other and it's only with the Lord's strength that we've been able to make it this far. I love my sweet and precious husband!
Here are a couple of pictures from our wedding day, for you to get a good laugh. Just keep in mind, it was 1980!

The wedding party included my three sisters, Eddie's dad and two of his brothers.

The preacher was our own pastor. This is an intersting fact about the pastor -- his daughter became a good friend of mine and still is to this day -- we ate lunch together after church this past Sunday. Her oldest son was best friends with my son and they roomed together in college. Now her second son is about to get married and he has asked me to play the piano in his wedding.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

I Am Thankful for THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving seems to get pushed aside a little more each year in America. I refuse to forget this great and important holiday -- it is one of my two favorite holidays of the year. I don't even start thinking about Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving; I would like to say that it's because I put so much emphasis on Thanksgiving, but that wouldn't be completely true. It's mainly because I'm a procrastinator and shopping is not my favorite thing in the world. But I do like to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and with much thankfulness to God who gives us all things.

Yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work, I was listening to Christian radio, Focus on the Family. They were talking about the origins of Thanksgiving. They mentioned that in public schools today, children are being taught that the Pilgrims came to this new land and after surviving the harsh conditions of a brutal winter, the Indians came and befriended them and helped them; because of this they had Thanksgiving as a way of thanking the Indians. The truth is, they had this feast of Thanksgiving to thank God, not the Indians, for that first harvest in 1621. A Captain Christopher Jones decided he wanted to leave the new land and go back home. He offered for any of the Pilgrims to go with him but they wouldn't leave because they felt called by God to stay in the new land where they would have religious freedom. They said they would rather die here and remain true to what God called them to do than to turn their backs on God. Despite all the hardships they suffered, the Pilgrims had the feast of Thanksgiving to give thanks to God Almighty.

In 1789, our first president, George Washington, signed a proclamation of General Thanksgiving. It is amazing to read this proclamation today, knowing how much our government has changed since then. It starts out like this..."WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour..." Isn't that great? This proclamation was signed by the President of the United States! Read the original document, or the full text version.

I hope that every person who reads this blog will take some time this week to think about the blessings that have been given to you by God, and thank Him for them. I hope that you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!

I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

I'm Thankful for Yesterday

Thanksgiving will be here soon and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and relatives, and eating the best meal of the year. But there is one down side this year, and it's that my son won't get to be home. The band will be in Arkansas so they will spend the holiday with Blake's (guitar player) family. But yesterday the band was playing in a town just outside Atlanta so we decided to drive over and see them. My husband invited three of his former students who love A Plea for Purging's music to go with us. I had so much fun hanging out with young people. I have progressed so much with this band being in my life that I've gone from not even realizing this kind of music existed to absolutely enjoying it. It's true -- I love watching and listening to Aaron's band play. The live concerts are the best, and very entertaining. I think these teenage boys we took with us had a great time and felt really special getting to hang out with a band. I know when I was 15 years old, that would have been so much fun. Here are some pictures from last night.

Aaron playing during the concert

These are the boys we took with us.

This was right after we got there and met up with Aaron. He's so silly -- always having to make faces in pictures.

This was during the concert when they were doing one of the favorite songs.

This is Lyle, one of the guitar players.



In the next two pictures, the three boys got to pose with the whole band, and their favorite teacher, my husband!





Here, they got to pose with some of the girlfriends of the band members. Don't you know they can't wait to show this off to their friends!


Here I am hanging out with the young people at the merch table.

Now, to end this, here are a couple of videos I took during the concert. See the cute drummer? That's my boy!

I've Got a Friend in You

My sweet friends, Amel and Sindi, have both honored me today with this special award. Thank you both for being such great friends in my blog world.

I would like to share this award with some people I've met through blogging who have become like real friends to me.

Strawberry

Frasypoo

Nina

Turn Negatives into Positives

I have been really busy lately, at work and outside of work, so I haven't had a lot of time to visit and comment on blogs, or to write much in my own. But I woke up really early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. While I was trying to get back to sleep I had this blog post rolling around in my head so I finally just gave in and got up so I could start writing it. I'm definitely a morning person so that's when my mind works the best.

When I got up and went to the bathroom, I noticed the toilet seat had been left up by my husband, so I had to put it down. When I did that I started thinking about how I'm always hearing women complain about men who leave the toilet seat up. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is about it. All you have to do is put it down. It doesn't take a lot of effort or strength. Is it really worth spending your time and energy to complain about it? It's really not worth complaining about to me. If that is something that annoys you or makes you complain, why not turn it into something positive. Every time you come to a toilet seat that your husband or son has left up, why not thank God that you HAVE a husband or son. Wouldn't it be a lot worse to always have the toilet seat exactly the way you want it, but not have that husband who loves you and takes care of you and your family? I would imagine there are some mothers whose sons are in Iraq who would love to find a toilet seat left up by that son.

After this, when I was trying to get back to sleep, I was trying to think of other negative things that can be turned into positives. Here are some that I thought of....

When you are at your job and your work seems to be piling up, instead of complaining about it, thank God that you have a job and that He is providing for your needs through this job. Look at all the extra work as job security.

When co-workers start to get on your nerves, thank God that you have co-workers and you don't have to do it all by yourself.

When you encounter a rude person out in public, in stores or on the road driving, rather than letting them get your temper flared up, thank God for showing you what it looks like to be rude and ask Him to help you to be the opposite.

If you go to brush your teeth and find the toothpaste cap was left off, or someone squeezed the tube in the middle, thank God that you have teeth to brush (and then go buy your own tube and hide it.)

How about your email inbox being full of spam? Complaining won't change this. Just be thankful that you have the internet at your fingertips and think about all the good things that the internet provides.

So, your challenge for today is to turn something negative into a positive. If you are able to do it, let me know what the negative was and how you turned it into a positive. My own personal challenge came as I was leaving for work. I went to the fence to tell the dogs good-bye and to give them a pat on the head, and Emperor jumped up and put her dirty paws on my white sweater. I didn't have time to go in and change, so today I am wearing Empy's paw print. Hmmm....how can I turn that into a positive thought?

**Note to readers** My interest in having a positive attitude has come about from being around people who are very negative. It made me more aware of negative attitudes and has made me not want to be that way. I do my share of complaining, but it is something I try not to do if I can help it. However, I want to make sure anyone who reads my blog knows where my heart is. I do like positive thinking and I believe that our attitude affects every aspect of our lives, but for me it goes so much deeper than just positive thinking. For me, a positive attitude comes as a result of my relationship with Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yes, I do believe that I still have a choice about what kind of attitude I will have each day, but when my ability to be positive is at its weak points, I have a supernatural power to draw from and that is the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Having the knowledge and believing in my heart that God is ultimately in control and that He doesn't make mistakes gives me the strength to handle difficult situations that come about as a part of life. I have never read a self-help book or anything by Norman Vincent Peale. I'm sure those books have great advice and I might read one some day. But for now, I want to saturate my mind with the Word of God, the greatest self-help book on the market for all time.

Love is in the Air

Today I have heard from both of my children, one by email and one by phone. I do talk to my daughter every day which is great. I'm not sure if that is because she's my baby or if it's because she's a girl -- I think it's a girl thing. But the main topic of her conversations these days is her current love interest. She thinks she's in love, and I'm happy to see her so happy. We have met the nice young man and my husband sure gave him the "this is my daughter and you better treat her right" talk, but I think he did it in a very nice way. I guess if that doesn't turn the guy away, he must really care for my daughter.

Communication with my son is a different story. He doesn't call very often and he doesn't email unless I do it first or unless he needs something. But when we do talk, he's very open and tells me everything that's going on. He sent me an email today with his Christmas plans and apparently, he's also in love. He had already told me that he and this girl were dating, though I don't know how they can date when she lives in one place and he is in a different city every day. He's going to have some time off around Christmas so he's going to fly out and spend time with her then come home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then she's going to fly here to spend some time with us. This should be interesting. Guess I better get ready for some possible big changes in our family in the next year or two.

Time will tell whether or not these relationships are made of true love.

Break the Mold

The Bible amazes me. My whole life, I have been exposed to church, Sunday school and Bible teachings. Yet, the older I get and the more I read it, the more amazing it becomes. I can read something I've read a hundred times, and it will be like brand new and the Holy Spirit will reveal new truths that I've never seen before. I love reading the Psalms -- they are so uplifting and help me to praise and worship. Proverbs teach about wisdom and give so much practical advice for every day life. Other Old Testament books have all the great stories, and the Epistles in the New Testament teach us how to live the Christian life. As much as I love all those parts of the Bible, lately I've had a desire to read more about Jesus and his life. I have started to see him in new ways that I haven't thought about before. Almost everything about Jesus is so different from the "mold" that we as Christians seem to think we are supposed to fit into.

1. Jesus was born to an unwed mother, or maybe I should say he was conceived by an unwed woman. We (Christians) sometimes look down upon a teenage girl who gets pregnant before being married. We know that Mary was a virgin, but I wonder what all her neighbors thought about her and how they treated her. They probably didn't understand the circumstances and maybe just saw her the way we see an unwed, pregnant teenager.

2. Jesus was born in a stable. This blows my mind -- our Savior, Messiah and King, God who created the universe humbled himself so much as to be born in a place meant for animals. Can you imagine your own baby being born outside, in a barn, with animals around?

3. Jesus was homeless. I mean, I guess he was homeless. The Bible says he had "no place to lay his head." I think we as Christians sometimes look down on homeless people. Sometimes we are very judgemental toward them. We try to avoid them because they might not smell so good or they might ask us for money.

4. Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman. In that day, the Jewish people hated the Samaritans and would avoid them at all cost, even taking a longer journey to keep from passing through Samaria. Jesus not only went through Samaria, but stopped and asked a woman for water -- a woman who'd been married five times and was then living with a man who was not her husband. This woman who was even shunned by the other women because of her lifestyle, was the first person to whom Jesus revealed himself as the Messiah.

These are just a few examples of how Jesus broke the mold of our way of thinking. While I love the traditions of the church, there are times we need to break the mold of what our traditions have taught us that Christianity is. Christianity is so much more than just going to church on Sunday. The best examples we have of breaking out of the "Christian mold" are the examples from our own Lord.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Luke 5:32