Easter and the Cajun Experience

My dad recently retired from the railroad after 41 years. He worked very hard and I am so proud of what an awesome man God allowed me to call Daddy. My entire life all I can remember is that he always seemed to be at work. Since his retirement I really worried about what he would do with himself and if my mother might murder him. She too is accustom to him always being gone to work. It turns out that retirement suits him and he has really started to kick up his heels (or at least by his account). He and my mother have practically beaten a path from their home north of Birmingham to our home in Ellisville, MS. I am not complaining or anything. I have certainly loved having them but sometimes it because a chore finding new and exciting ways to entertain them. I mean after all, Mississippi isn't exactly a bubbling metropolis oozing with fun things to do. This last visit was just a couple of weeks ago and we decided that we would take them down to New Orleans. Jeff and I have been several times and are accustom to the "eccentricities" one might see there. My mom and dad, however, had led a relatively sheltered existence. My mother cried every time she spotted a drunk on the street and wanted to give them money. My daddy said every few minutes "something stinks!" Mother just about died when we spotted a voodoo gift shop. She felt as though Satan himself was behind the counter. We ate bignets at Du Monde and had lunch at Mother's. About half way through our journey it began to rain-really hard! Self, I thought, this is the end of this trip! I waited with baited breath for the "I can't take this anymore, let's go home!" But, to my amazement, it never came. My parents marched along like two of the most dedicated soldiers on maneuvers. I was so delighted at their dedication. We had a blast. They must have had fun because they came back last weekend for Easter. We just hung around our house and had lunch. After we ate, we headed down to the lake and fished. What blessings!!!!!! Thanks be to God for a wonderful family and a most perfect Risen Savior!

New Journey

Tomorrow I will be embarking on a new journey. One that I have really been dreading. I am going to the doctor for lab work and to sit down with a nutrition person. I am not quite sure but I feel for certain that I will be thrashed thoroughly and told that I am headed to the grave. I do not look forward to a new way of eating and an exercise regimine. These are foreign concepts to me. I have discovered that my biggest problem is no self discipline. You see, I love me! I tend to give me, everything me wants! Me, likes me and thinks I am just great and like to make me happy! Me doesn't mind that I have become as big as a whale! Me tends to overlook all of the bad and just sees the good. I seek your prayers with my struggle with old "ME". She really is a good girl who means well. She just has some difficult lessons in front of her that I know she cant handle. This is where God comes in! Me can handle it if she will get out and let God in! Please Lord, prepare me for what awaits!

A GOLDEN Oldie!!!!

Some people really identify with the finer things in life. I use to think I was one of those. I grew up relatively poor in a VERY middle class family. I didn't exactly know that I was poor though because of all of the fun I had at home, school and church. My parents worked very hard to give us all of the necessities and some of our wants. As I grew into a teenager I decided that some day I was going to break out and make it big somehow. I likened "greatness" with a high rise apartment in downtown Birmingham with breathtaking views of the night sky, only the finest china on my mahogany table and of course the most expensive car money could buy. Let's see, in those days, a Jaguar, was my choice. Funny how different my life has turned out. I live in a modest home with Noritake china that took me at least 3 years to complete my service for ten, and I drive a Chevrolet Venture van that I bought used over 10 years ago. About 2 years ago I must confess that my eyes strayed from "Goldie" (that's my name for my van) I was wooed by another. A foreigner, actually. A lovely slate gray 2011 Nissan Murano. I got absolutely enamoured by his looks and his sweeping promise of all the bells and whistles a new car can give. Poor Goldie! She isn't looking so hot these days. She has been beaten and bewildered. Her paint job is mucho lack luster!!!! She has a big gash in her back bumper thanks to me backing out of our church parking lot a year ago and into our church van's trailer hitch. Many people have nailed her with their car doors and shopping carts. She has a "check engine" light that shines brightly with no explanation given from the computer at the dealership. Her brakes squeal with either delight or grief when I slam them very hard. I have no antennae and do not know what happened to it. I pity the poor person riding along minding their own business behind me on the interstate when it came whipping back towards them. Will somehow broke my driver's side mirror (though he maintains his innocence) and now it is held in place with a miniature bungee cord. I spilled lime green paint between the front seats, there is an unidentifiable brown stain on the head liner and sometimes when the weather is kinda damp she lets off a stench that comes from years of soured sippy cups left in the floor to explode from the pressure of the hot Summer sun. All in all, I guess poor old Goldie doesn't have it going on. She is not pretty, she doesn't give me good gas mileage and she even stinks at times, but, one thing she does is take me and my family safely anywhere and everywhere I have ever needed her to. She is one of the few things in life that I own outright and therefore, I think I will keep her. She and I have quite a bond. I praise God for a good dependable vehicle and that I have not made a car note in years. It has been wonderful. I'm sure that the Murano will come eventually, but until then, let's go Goldie, I feel a trip coming on!

Happy Valentines Day!

I am having a wonderful day. I am off work. I turned the tv off for the day and have been enjoying a worship cd that I recently got from ebay. (Yes, I still LOVE ebay) My house is almost clean and I have a dinner of ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, salad, garlic parmesan monkey bread and pineapple upside down cake for dessert. I hope my two Valentines like it! I sent Jeff a super surprise to the church. I hope to have pics later to post but I cant spoil it just yet in case he reads this. Hope and pray that you all spend the day telling the ones you love just how much they mean to you. Hey, here is an idea, dont just do it today! Do it every chance you get! Praise God for being a God of LOVE!!!!!

Be sure to pause my music list on your right and listen to this beautiful music!

The Life of flowers (Жизнь цветов) from VOROBYOFF PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

December 2011 come and gone!

This past month Jeff and I thought and prayed about how to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Typically we, as most of the world, buy gifts for everyone and spread ourselves very thin. We attend every work, school, neighborhood and church function to eat sausage balls and spinach dip and play dirty santa with $5 gifts that no one in their right mind would even want. We usually spend way more money than we even have by way of the satanic credit card and for what? Is this really how Jesus would want us to Glorify Him? This year we would have been considered the Grinch family I guess. We attended very few parties and only bought what we could afford and only bought for a few people. It has taken us 15 years together of finally discovering that, yes, you can still have a nice holiday without all of the hooplah the world throws at you. We had a really nice time reflecting on how Jesus must have entered into this world and what a wonderful gift He is to our family. Our new year was pretty much the same with little money spent. We were invited to the home of the Gatlins and had the best time ever. I will guarantee we had just as much fun, if not more, than the richest person in Time Square watching the ball drop. We only had about $25 worth of bottle rockets and roman candles and ate soup and sat out in a field in middle Mississippi. I guess this past year, God taught me much but I will come into 2012 learning that the really important stuff doesn't cost a dime.