Saturday in TR

Hey, y'all! Been a lot going on....sorry I haven't been around Bloggyland! Last week, my Mama came up and spent several days--as I mentioned in my last post. On Saturday, we went up to a cute little town called Travelers Rest. Two sisters have transformed an old hardware store into a cafe! It was precious and delicious! Part of the store is that--a store. Cute items that Runner Mom could use in her house. Note the polka dot bowls! The other is the restaurant. They have added a screened porch on the back for"fine dining" ! It was a little cool, so we opted to eat inside.

I have a senior photo shoot in the morning. I'm really excited about this! The guy is darling! He used to play baseball with child#1 when they were in 1st and 2nd grade! His picture was in the local paper yesterday saying that he has a scholarship to paly baseball at a nearby university! I'm so proud! He 's picking up his tux tonight--his prom is Saturday, and Child #1's is next Saturday. Anyway, he's going to wear his tux for some of the shots. I'll let y'all know how it turns out! Just pray that God will bless me with His eyes as I look for the best shots.

I loved hearing about where y'all would go on your dream vacation! How fun! Thanks for sharing. One of the places that was mentioned was the Holy Lands. I am not going anytime soon, but I have an opportunity on Saturday morning to help send a group of youth from a local church there! They are raising money to go! How awesome is that? So, Runner Mom will lace up her running shoes and participate in their 5K. That's not my favorite distance, but it's for a great cause! I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Sweet Blessings!

Friday Fun!

Hey, y'all! I have thrilled beyond words this morning! For the past few days, I have been unable to access my blog to post these exciting, wonderful words that you flock to each day! My words of wisdom are simply jewels!!! Ha!!!!! No, I really am happy to have figured out ON MY OWN what was wrong with my computer.

It's been a great week. My sweet Mama is here for a few days visiting while my darlin' sister and her family are on a cruise for Spring Break! For Friday Fun, please share with us where you would like to go for a vacation! Let's dream...dream BIG! Anywhere in the world is up for grabs! And, who would go with you? Can't wait to hear your dreams!

I have several destiantions, but right now I would love for my family to go to out west to Wyoming and see the mountains and the wildlife and just be closer to God. Of course, I'd take a gazillion pictures, and they would be really sought after and would sell quickly and that would cover the cost of sending both kiddos to college and getting braces and paying off the house! Oh, and mulch for the yard! Gotta have the yard looking good! So, Wyoming is my dream vacation at this moment in time. Tomorrow it might be Hawaii or the Holy Lands. But, at this moment....Wyoming.

Sweet Blessings!

Resurrection Sunday

I love the gorgeous stained glass windows in our church. Each tells a portion of the life of Christ. As we celebrate Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, this was the story that resonated in my heart this morning.

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had bee rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple , the one whom Jesus loved. She said," they have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him!"

Peter and the other disciple started our for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went in.

I have to stop here and smile. Hmmm....a woman is the first to get to the tomb. Then, Peter and John run ahead of her to the tomb to see what she is trying to tell them. Since John is the author of the book, he makes sure to let us know that he beat Peter while running to the tomb! But, notice that he doesn't go in....he only looks into the cave. Peter, on the other hand, goes on in. This truly fits their personalities! After Peter went in, John followed suit.

Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed--for until then they still had not understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. then they went home.

But.....Mary was STILL there. She had know where Jesus was! She didn't leave. She waited.

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting a the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. "Dear woman, why are you crying? "the angels asked her.

Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don't know where they have put him."

Then she turned and saw another man standing there. She assumed it was the gardener. He too asked why she was crying. She told him and again asked where they had put His body.

"Mary!" Jesus said.

She turned to Him and cried out,"Rabboni!" (Which is Hebrew for Teacher).

Her eyes were opened. She waited patiently on the Lord, and He revealed Himself to her. This is a lesson for us all.

Easter Blessings!

Mountains of Laundry--Spring Break Style

Morning, y'all! We just got back in town after a 4 day whirlwind tour of the southeast! Seriously!I have 4 days worth of dirty laundry times 4 people times stinky running clothes on my agenda today! Oh, and of course, we are out of food!

We pulled out Saturday morning for Tennessee to visit my in-laws. Since I-40 west is STILL closed due to rock slides back in the early fall, we meandered through a cute little town in NC--Hot Springs!

Hubby and Child #1 and myself (I'm taking the pictures so I am not in a single shot here!) found this cute little red bridge that was built back in the turn of the century(Actually, we simply turned down a random street to eat a picnic lunch and found it! It was too cold to eat outside, so we inhaled PBJ's in the van. Child #2 was not in a good mood, so he stayed in the van and pouted! Gotta love that age!)

Driving on a bit, we saw a river and got out to stretch. Child #2 is a tree climber, so he was in a better frame of mind at this point. I am just thankful that he didn't fall into the icy river below! Mercy!

We finally made it to Tenn. and had a wonderful meal waiting on us. Palm Sunday was windy and cold in Knoxville, but we felt the warmth of the church through the pastor's message. My friend asked me what nugget I got from it, and I replied that the pastor said on Christmas, many think of Santa. On Easter, the Easter bunny comes to mind. But on Palm Sunday, Jesus riding into the city is on our hearts.

It WAS a little hard to concentrate during service....just a few distractions for this ADD mama. Hmm....let's start with the children marching in at the beginning waving their palm branches. All was good until the little boy who was sitting in front of us began to hit the boys in front of him in the back of their heads with the branches! A few other adventurous little people followed suit, and you could hear the giggles. When "said" little boy returned to his seat, he refused to be still and stop kicking the pew in front of him, so Grandma took him out! Then, during confirmation, a bee escaped into the church because the beautiful stained glass window were opened. Mr. Bee was buzzing around the 6 confirmands, and they were just waving and swatting him away! When it was finally time for the offering, the ushers had walked forward and were at the alter waiting the plates. Mr. Bee came back into play and landed on the face of an usher who started waving wildly to shoo it away. The usher to his right started laughing and couldn't stop! Then, the choir--who were directly in front of the ushers watching this from up close started laughing! Bless the pastor's heart! She went right into thanking God for this gift of laughter! What else could she have done?? Needless to say, it was not a typical service!

On Monday, we loaded up the van again, and were only on the interstate less than an hour before we hit the back roads for Boone, NC. If you remember from an earlier post, we were going to take Child #1 for his first college visit to Appalachian State. Y'all, I saw more mountains in the past few days to last me a lifetime!
Remember the Mitford series from the '90's by Jan Karon? The main character was Father Tim. Well, this is the Episcopal church that it was based on! It was a beautiful church in Blowing Rock, NC! Sorry that the picture is washed out--it was sunny and in the middle of the day! And I stretched it out to make it bigger!

Here is the football stadium at App. State--of course we had to check it out! The campus was very nice, and the tour that we took on Tuesday was great! The really cool thing about App State is that the books you use each semester are included in your semester fee! Amazing! They are only one of three schools in the nation that offer that! We spent several hours touring and meeting folks and asking lots of questions. AND...while we were doing most of this outside, the 38 degree temps and the wind gusts of 20 mph or more,were doing a number on my hair!!!! Y'all, it was awful! I didn't warm up until hours later! And, no, there are no pictures of Mama's wild hair!
Finally, I just had to share this unique picture with y'all. Do you see the farmer riding a regular tractor? Nope! I couldn't believe it when I saw this. Maybe some of you are used to seeing this in your parts, but being a small town girl, this was a first! I made Hubby turn around on a mountainous road--which is not easy to do!- so I could go back and take this picture of the darlin' farmer! The boys were just rollin' their eyes! Bless their hearts!

Sweet Blessings!

Anniversary of Fear to Faith

Happy 2nd (I think!) day of Spring! Except it feels like winter here again! Brr....it's cold outside! This weekend's Anne Graham Lotz revival was awesome! Just like a shot of the Holy Spirit! Thank you for your prayers! So many women went to the Cross and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior for the first time. It was a beautiful time in the BiLo Center!

As I was reading my devotional yesterday, I noticed a comment that I had written. A year ago yesterday, I encountered not only an attack on my body, but an attack of my faith. You can go here to read about it. Bonnie, sweet friend and neighbor, I didn't tell you about this, but....go ahead and read! I'll talk to you in the yard later on!! :)

The devotional from JESUS CALLING by Sarah Young is amazing! This is the reading that March 21 began with...."Trust me and don't be afraid, for I am your Strength and Song. Think about what it means to have Me as your strength. I spoke the universe into existence; My Power is absolutely unlimited! Human weakness, consecrated to Me, is like a magnet, drawing My Power into your neediness. However, fear can block the flow of My Strength into you....When you relate to Me in confident trust, there is no limit to how much I can strengthen you."

Fear did block my communication with God that morning. I was in panic mode, and although I tried to focus on Him, I couldn't for that moment. This fear turned into aggravation--not anger--with Him. The next morning, after processing the entire incident, I talked to Him while getting ready for church. I asked Him WHERE was He when I needed His protection on that mountain? He replied to my spirit that He was there. He protected all of us from something far worse. He kept the coyote from attacking over and over again. He placed the right people in our paths ASAP. Just last week, our local tv news reported that a family pet had been attacked and killed by a coyote in its yard. This is a subdivision not far from where my attack occurred. My mama was here watching the news with me, and it just broke her heart to hear about this dog. I'm sitting on the couch with her thinking, "Mama, if you only knew!" We still have not told our families or many others. I did share it in a talk that I gave at She Speaks last summer.

I have the scars that bear the attack. They have faded just a bit. But they are a daily reminder to TRUST in a God that is BIG...much bigger than our fears. I also have a stronger faith that stems from this episode. Sometimes you have to go through valleys (even though I was literally on a mountain top!!) in order to come out stronger and more sure of your relationship with Christ. Just an FYI, Wendy Blight has an amazing book that deals with fear. It's called Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner. I gleaned so many truths from this book. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, it's going to be a choice for our women's ministry's Beach Blanket Bible Studies this summer.

I leave you with this thought....concentrate on trusting the One who loves you more than anyone else!

Sweet Blessings,

Thank Goodness it's Friday!

Ok..after many requests with "pretty pleases" added, I will show you the new hair color--which I might add is slowly turning medium ash brown...Praise the Lord! (It truly was the color of Morticia Addams from the Addams Family!!) On Tuesday, after I posted the last blog entry, we had a track meet. Y'all, half a dozen people--including some of the kids--stopped me and asked what had I done differently to my hair! I am really tired of telling the story!

This picture is from Wednesday night. Hubby and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! We went to a"fru fru" restaurant here in Greenville--not McDonalds!! I was so excited! It was great just having a couple of hours to talk and not be interrupted by the phone or tv or computers! Loved it! We enjoyed delicious steaks at Stax Peppermill...but it was our waiter that was so great! When he took our drink order, I asked for sweet tea. This is a staple here in the south. To my dismay, he said that they only had unsweetened tea, and I'd have to add Splenda. Well....I simply told him that I'd drink water. He started to walk away, and quickly returned with a grin on his face. He said that he actually had made some sweet tea in the back for himself, and that he'd be glad to share it with me! How precious is that? A total stranger sharing his sweet tea! Gotta love it!

Ok, just want to throw out a quick question to y'all. What are you doing this weekend? And, can you feel spring on its way? It's gorgeous outside today. Sunny and warm out on my deck. Just the place to eat a "gourmet" pbj sandwich and goldfish crackers for lunch! With a coca-cola of course!

Are you all going anywhere? Working in the yard? I would love to hear your plans! I am going to the BiLo Center in Greenville tonight and tomorrow to hear the daughter of Billy Graham! Anne Graham Lotz is going to have her "Just Give Me Jesus" revival going on! I am so excited! Would appreciate all prayers for those attending....especially for those ladies who have never heard the "Good News" about Jesus! We've been praying for this revival for over a year now! And...it's finally here!

Y'all, enjoy this day!!

Sweet Blessings!

Following Directions

As a teacher, I always encouraged my children to follow the directions....whether written or oral. This is vital for tests, fire drills, etc. And who do you think make the worst "following directions people"?

Teachers!

We NEVER take the time to read the directions ourselves! We pretty much know what is expected and simply do the task at hand.

That's fine and dandy in some cases....not in others! Take last Wednesday for example. It was way past time to touch up the gray roots in my hair! More gray than medium ash brown was being seen in the mirror. So, I grabbed my bottle of hair color by L'Oreal--because I'm worth it!--and proceeded to get rid of the gray like I've done so many times before. It's so simple to color your hair at home. You can multi-task while waiting--laundry, dishes, Bible Study, etc. I knew the exact amount of time I needed to wait...25 minutes. Well, I did this and that and piddled and finally walked by the mirror in the bathroom. People!!!!!!!! My hair was BLACK! The color had only been on for 16 minutes! Something was terribly wrong!

I grabbed the box and read the directions. In BOLD letters and numbers, 10 Minutes to beautiful hair popped out at me! 10 minutes???? I flung open the shower and turned on the water. Praying that I wouldn't have jet black hair for a month, I jumped in the shower. Then I proceeded to yell!

If you own an older home, and the heat pump is located on the other side of the house from your shower, you know why I was yelling! Mercy! The water was icy cold, and I was blinded by the dye coming from my hair. I was plain 'ol miserable! By the time all of the color was rinsed out, the lovely hot water had finally kicked in! I was totally aggravated by then!

But, wait...it gets better! After I dry and style it, it's not too bad...at least I don't think so. Then, we went to church for Wednesday night supper. I love this! A delicious meal, fun, and fellowship, and I don't have to cook! I did volunteer to help clean up afterwards.

So, I'm standing in line for the chicken pot pie--just chatting away, and a darling little 6th grade friend comes up and asks, "Mrs. Susan, what HAPPENED to your hair? It's black!" Don't you just love the honesty that comes with childhood? So, I explained my predicament, and she was satisfied with the answer. In the meantime, my friend standing beside me was trying not to laugh and trying also to convince me that my hair looked good, and that very dark hair was quite stylish right now. Mercy! I didn't believe her one little bit.

And, I am not including a picture for y'all to snicker at and make interesting comments on my blog! So, I'll leave it at that, and I'll be back to visit in a few days! Hopefully, my hair will be on the way to recovery by the end of this week. Prayers would be appreciated!


Sweet Blessings,