Find out Who Your Friends Are....

For the most part, I listen to Contemporary Christian Music. However, I do like some good Country Music, too. Not the trashy stuff like Toby Keith or Gretchen Wilson, but the good stuff like Rascal Flatts or Tim McGraw. My latest download on my iPod was a Tracy Lawrence song. Not usually a Tracy Lawrence fan as he's a bit "twangy" for my taste, but one of his latest songs Find Out Who Your Friends Are is a keeper. Partly due to Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney lending their vocal chords to it also. Tim McGraw, did I mention I like him? Anyway, this song is about true friends. The chorus goes something like this:

"You find out who your friends are

Somebody's gonna drop everything

Run out and crank up their car

Hit the gas, get there fast

Never stop to think what's in it for me

Or it's way to far

They just show on up

With their big ol' heart"

I've looked several times to see if it is a Ringtone to no avail. I'd very much like it to be the Ringtone for these two ladies:

Lisa (and me)

Heather (and me....I think we were having way too much fun here :))

Lisa...always encouraging me to have the character and wisdom of Esther (in the Bible), will tell me what I need to hear (not just what I want to hear), will pretty much drop whatever she's doing if I call crying, has driven way way out of her way while pulling horse trailer to rescue me when "life" happens (as in locking your keys in a running car), she loves deeply

Heather...also tells me what I need to hear (and not what I want), will pretty much drop whatever she's doing if I call crying, still remembers Beth while the world has forgotten and is the only person outside of The Bob and I who has seen Beth's picture...she asked to see it, because she, too, loves deeply

One of my church staff members recently said, "Friends make you better. If they aren't making you better they are your ministry."

I think I may be Heather's and Lisa's ministry ;)

Milestones...

All the reasons The Bob gave me that she should not do it and that it was too soon. These are the reasons The Bob gave that made Fep have to wait 4 to 5 years before permission from Daddy...

*Just because her friends did it doesn't mean we are letting her do it....
*She is too little....
*Then what's next?...
*You do this then it's makeup....

He finally gave in. A bit against his will. What could possibly cause such a commotion in his emotions? Just this...

Do you see it? At the beginning of this month, Fep got her ears pierced. Just another milestone that goes right up there with her first tooth and her first step. This a little more painful in that we see our Little Fep isn't so little anymore...she's becoming a young lady. A beautiful young lady. So much wrapped up in her growing up. I see her growing in the Lord. I mean really growing in the Lord. She is more spiritually discerning than a lot of teenagers I know, and she's eleven. For that...Thank You Jesus. But then....there's the pull, ever so slight, from Mom and Dad. She's starting to form her own opinions. I'm not near as "cool" as I used to be. Yes, I have been known to embarrass her on occassion lately. She's eleven and soon we enter the preteen years. Then we enter the teen years. So much to unwrap in her growing up.

The many faces of homeschooling...

This is a typical day.....

"I have to finish this worksheet before break."

"I just read this. What is the answer?"

"Aaaaugh! The pressure! Can't. think. of. answer."


"Oh yes. I have it now. Break time here I come!"

And we go through this almost daily....

The Heart that Forgives....

Goodness I love that picture of my Daddy. He was quite a looker, don't you think? Years ago, I may not have had quite the same sentiment. His undeniable good looks would have been clouded in my eyes by anger...and even worse, bitterness. Bitterness. My Daddy was an alcoholic. He drank from the time I was born until the time he was put in a nursing home for the last few years of his life. He drank for over 30 years. He caused a lot of hurt, a lot of tears, and a lot of pain.

When The Bob and I married, I would hardly speak of my Daddy. I could barely stand to think about him. The Bob and I were having a conversation in which he was trying to figure it out. The Bob came from an extremely stable home, so he just didn't get it. And it was during that conversation that I exploded. Almost literally. Every bit of pain and hurt surfaced, and I unleashed it all on my husband. It needed to happen though, because I had been in complete denial about my anger which was taking root to bitterness. So that was the starting point, and over the next several months, the LORD began to soften me and work forgiveness into my heart. Freeing. Absolute freedom.

So while Kat with the bitter heart would have not seen the man with twinkling eyes so adoringly, the heart that has forgiven sees a man who she misses very much. The heart that forgives remembers his sober times....his charm...his jokes and laughter...his good common sense...his hard work ethic...his love for cornbread and buttermilk...Yes, the heart that has forgiven misses him a lot.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

Forgiveness is so worth unwrapping...