Her children arise and call her blessed

I have a really bad long term memory. So, when this photo was sent to me a few months ago I was thrilled, thrilled to have one more reminder of what a peaceful and happy childhood I had.

1975.
My parents had been appointed missionaries in 1967ish to go serve the Lord in Chile. I was born there in Concepcion. Two years after I was born the people of Chile elected a Socialist President. The political situation was very difficult and began to get quite dangerous, therefore my parents, along with many other missionaries, left the country believing they would never return again. By the time they left I was 3 (or close to it) and spoke mostly Spanish. We moved to Memphis, TN. my mother's home town. I attended Kindergarten there and all I remember is dressing up as an Indian and my milk spilling all over the floor because my Thermos lid was not on correctly. Oh yea, and getting stung by a bee.

As the Lord would have it, things changed drastically in Chile (military Coup, bla, bla, bla) and my parents were then re-appointed to Chile, only this time we would be living in the fabulous city of Vina del Mar (Vineyard of the Sea) You can check it out HERE. It would have had to have been late 1974 or early 1975. At any rate, I was 5, and in March of 1975 I would be starting 1st Grade. Because missionaries leave the country of service every 3-4 years to come to the States on furlough for 7-12 months (we always came every 3 years for 6-7 months) they thought that somewhere along the way I may have to be held back, so they put me in 1st Grade as a 5 year old.




So here I am, a "Chilena" that doesn't remember a lick of Spanish after being in the States for a year and a half and headed to a brand new school, hasn't met a soul and doesn't know what she is getting into. This photo was taken, however, that first day of school.
Tell me, what foreign little 5 year old looks like THAT on the first day of school? The lady holding my hand is Ms. Margaret, the Headmaster of Saint Paul's School. The beautiful lady on the right of the photo is my mother. I give all the credit to her. This is a woman full of confidence, joy and reassurance that her precious daughter is in the hands of God and in the hands of these loving committed teachers. As I look onto this picture I just can't help but smile and rejoice at the wonderful life and the wonderful parents that he gave me.
If you never had a chance to, I wish you could have met my mother. Anyone who has met her can tell you that she was the most beautiful, person, inside and out. Here are a few quotes from friends and coligues:

"I'm not the only one who loved her cooking and remembered her beautiful kindness" (S.D.A)

"She was such a strong core of that loving family." (B.P.M)

"Every time I would see you mom she reminded me of Grace Kelly. She was so pretty, her voice was so soft, and she always smelt like roses." (G.B)

"I remember spending the night at your house and waking up early so she could take us somewhere special and she would turn on the bathroom heater for us so we wouldn't get cold." (K.R.T)

"It's impossible to forget her beautiful and permanent smile, her kindness, her calmness and her soft voice. (P.P)

"In her eyes all you could see was love and tenderness." (A.H)

As you can tell, not only her children, but ALL arise and call her blessed.

Pottery Barn just made my day!

One of my favorite past times lately is to surf blogs to get ideas on decorating, painting and the such. As I stated in my previous blog, I am so hooked on this crazy stuff. It takes me several days of pondering and convincing to try something. Several weeks ago on a whim I purchaced this at Central Services:





A few days later I saw on a blog that someone had painted a silver tray with chalk paint (which I'm all about!)> I thought, that would be the perfect thing to do to my plate! So off I go to Lowe's to get the chalk paint (not cheep, but I WILL be using again so it is a well spent investment, trust me).
This is how it turned out, and it looks way better than the garlic swag.






Well, today I was motivated to surf and ended up at one of my favorite places. Pottery Barn. I love to see what they do to rooms and what could I do like that too. And WOW, CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew I had it in me!

I am a convert

A newbie, but a convert. As of right now this is costing me more than it is saving me money. Paint is expensive, so once I have my stash I think it will become more of a good deal. But, I must say, this is fun. But ADICTIVE! As with most things we get excited about, we must keep it in perspective because it can so easily take hold of our lives, our time and our money!

Last week I went to Doodwill and got a hidious lamp fpr $4.00. But since I'm new at this, I forgot to take a before picture :( But here is what I did with it:




Spray painted it black. (it had a golden base and the rest had been painted white. Whoever tried that did a very poor job, hince it was at Goodwill!)
I need to find a shade now. Got one today, but it was the wrong kind. Bummer! I'm sure it isn't the first mistake I make!

This weekend we went to Knoxville for my son's indoor soccer game and we stoped at the Exit 407 Flea Market and was thrilled to death! Here is what I bought:




$8 for both frames







We just got 3 chairs @ $10 a piece, the forth one was broken, so it wasn't worth getting, no biggy since I plan on having a mix match of chairs anyway.


A couple of weeks ago I was on my way from work and saw this:






on the side of the road. So I did something I've never DREAMED I would do. I took it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but some day I will do something and I will be sure to post it.

The chairs I'm going to paint black and I have already picked some awesome material to re- cover them that will go perfect with my kitchen.
I'm so excited!!! Can't wait for the day I post all this stuff looking very diferent than what they look like today!

Singing to the enemy

We tend to drift in and out of frienships. Our marriages have their ups and downs, and with the Lord we tend to do the same (drift in and out, have ups and downs). I have been on a "down", "do myself" attitude lately. But as I begin approaching the bottom of the pit, I tend to turn my eyes back on him, and realize how good I had it when I let him take care of me. So as I prayed yesterday one request I had was that he would show himself to me again somehow. He always does, and as I have mentioned before, when I ask and look for him he appears! Well, in true God faithfulness he showed up in a realy weird way again. Although not so weird to me since he has spoken to me on the radio before.

Isaac, my 11 year old teenager, and I were having our typical morning radio wars. Somethimes I'm in a very bad mood and music is the last thing I want. I must admit that I'm not very musical,I have very little music appreciation, and most of the time it is just noise to me. I love quiet. Silence is peace to me. Isaac, on the other hand, is the type that always want's and "needs" noise. He does his homework with music on, he watches TV with music on, he works on the computer with music on. AHHHH! It drives me crazy!!! But I try so hard to not be a fuddy duddy and give him some reasonable freedom. So, if there is actual singing going on (not talking to the beat of some horrible rythm) and I can take it, then I will listen and even try to enjoy. So, me in my very good mood this morning, I had had plenty of sleep, 3 cups of green tea, and ready for a normal day at work, decided that music was OK, even my least favorite radio station.

And there she was. Some unknown chick singing some song I had never heard before, but the lyrics caught my attention. God said, listen and sing!!!



(yea, soory it get's chopped off. I dont't know how to fix that. If you want to see it on youtube go HERE.


By the way, the part that says "he can't get me out of his head", I heard: "he can't get me out of his hand", so it ment more to me that way.

You, sing along with me to the ENEMY! and speak truth!

SNOW Days?

We are now on day three of being out because of the snow. With just way to much time on my hands and going a little stir crazy I decided to do a little something each day, you know, productive.

Thursday we got out early, I think I slept some. Friday I made a "matress" made with towels for my dog's kennel:



Monday, made some bling, here is a small sample:



Today, I turned my kitchen door into a chalkboard! I have been wanting to do some chalkboard thing for a while, and just never knew where to do it. My walls were taken and my house is small. Then it hit me!!!
Before:



First I picked my color, took the necesary trips to Lowes, sanded the door.
Then began mixing: Paint and unsanded grout (whatever that is):




Then we all got to work:



This was the first step, and it looked like this:



But then you sand, and rub chalk all over, and then you are free to write!

The $200 breakfast

Today, we have yet another snow day. No school. Doesn't seem quite right. Although we can get out fine even though our driveway looks like this:




I feel like we are being naughty or something. I an not liking it much. The only part I enjoy is sleeping in, the rest of the day always seemes to drag on and my boys get restless and bored, and fight too much.
But as I said, the whole sleeping thing is great, I love to sleep. Isaac, my 11 year old, decides to fix breakfast, which I love, but today things went a little south. I woke up hearing and smelling him cook. Fried turkey slices, scrambled eggs and their favorite, fried cheese. Basically, they just put the sliced cheese on the non-stick pan and cook it till it gets crispy, not burnt. Evedently, Isaac decided that the non-stick skillet "smelled bad" and decided to use my super special birthday gift, my All-Clad $200 skillet. Mike and I call it The Golden Pan. We are still debating if it was really worth the money, but in the meantime, it's mine, it's valuable, it works well, so I treat it nicely! Elijah comes running to my room and sais: "Will you fix me breakfast, Isaac ruined your nice pan." Well, as you can imagine, my precious sleep was over and I darted to the kitchen to find this:



OH! Lordy!

I'm really hoping that by the end of the day I will have a new post with a picture of a clean sparkling pan.
I may be cooking some tomato sauce in it. Last time I made spaghetti sauce in it, I left it sitting for a while (to lazy to clean up right away) and when I did get to cleaning it, it was cleaner than ever. It must be the acidity. Lets hope so!

THE NEW YEAR!

I have been pondering about the past year and looking forward to the new. Counting my losses and delighted where I have found freedom, and like all, pondered: What can I do different in the coming year? What can I do to make a difference? What can I do to improve my life and the life of those around me?


2008, yes, I know, I'm cheating, 2008 as far as I can remember was a great year for me. I managed to loose 35 lbs. train for several races, run a 1/2 Marathon, I looked and felt better than I had in years. My husband got a new job mid year, one that we had been searching and praying for for 2-3 years (me, more like 4-6 years).
In the summer
We went on Vacation to Destin with my family. I LOVE the beach!!!



And then, we ended the year and began the new on a fabulous cruise with the entire Harms
family.



Here I am with Isaac in Cozumel.



and with my honey on the ship.


Well, as soon as 2009 hit, I was hit in the head or something. For some reason I felt like my world was falling apart. Really, nothing happened, I just went crazy, and stopped running. (That is, after my attempt to train for a second Marathon and burnt out.) Gained 30 lbs. back, and almost had a nervous breakdown by the end of the school year. I quit my job, started taking anti depressants, began counseling,sent the boys to public school and wept OUT LOUD the entire way home with this cloud of guilt hanging over me even though I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this is what I and my family needed at the time. The Lord's blessing was still upon me and I moved forward.

But here are some highlights. (note that they only begin after school was out, the previous months are a blurr)
I climed Mt. LeConte in May with my friend Keith, who wanted to check it off of her bucket list.






Went to Texas for 10 days on Vacation to be with the Harms clan.




Managed to go to a Rangers Baseball Game.



A FC Dallas Soccer game.



The stockyards.



And eat all kinds of wonderful yummies at real restaurants!



I turned 40!



I thought 40 was the new 30, but I feel like I was falling apart ever since. I have gotten sick time after time. I had not been sick in years!

Got a new puppy.


(I need to take a picture of her. She has grown so much!)

And spent the day after Christmas with my Clan. The Geigers.





Not having a job was a HUGE load off of me, a tremendous blessing and a special gift from God himself. My house was clean, counseling was going great and God was beginning to heal me. Then out of the blue, like God just decided to wave his magic wand at me and said, OK, I think you are ready. Here is the job I have for you. By the way, I had other job opportunities come, jobs that would pay well, and well enough to send my boys back to Cornerstone Academy (the school I had worked at), but the peace had not been there. He just said, wait, sit, be with me. As "fate" would have it, a position miraculously became available at the Cornerstone Academy, a part time teacher's aide position. My ears perked up so high. What? A Part time position? One where I can just show up, work, and go home, no burden, no grading, no planning, I'm done when I'm done? PICK ME, PICK ME!!! Of course they picked me, God had reserved that place for me!


First day back at Cornerstone Academy



So as I close off this seemingly bad year, I have a GREAT job that I love, my boys are back at Cornerstone, and I have been rescued from the PIT I was in. Antidepressants are almost gone and I can now look ahead and decide. THIS will be a GREAT year!

MY list, you ask? Oh yes. I'm inspired to move on and bring the world along with me to Celebrate.

1. Build an altar.
As I crossed the desert, and arrived on the other side of the Jordan, I feel this need to build a mound of stones. One that will always remind me of how sucky 2009 was and how slowly but surely in His so predictable faithfulness has helped me reach his love, his beauty, his creativity, his promises. I don't have any idea what this will look like, but it needs to happen, I need my children to see it and ask, I need to tell my story, never forget it.

2. Blog at least once a week.

3. Learn to be a better writer.

4. Continue to tap into God's creative being, and be a reflection of him.

5. Continue to tap into God's beauty and be a reflection of him.

6. Learn how to paint furniture, cabinets and the such and begin by painting the boy's furniture.

7. Loose those 30 lbs!

8. Begin to run again, and run at least one race this year.

9. Learn to minister and serve my husband better.

10. Learn to minister, serve and teach my children better. Pray for them more often.

11. I will be a more giving person.