Hum....What am I thankful for....

I am going to be a grandma...Joey is going to be a grandpa tooo.....

Now, I know

Between a Rock and a Hard Place is the name of the new book I am reading. Tony Evans has written a very thought provoking book. I am only in the 2 chapter and I have already highlighted a number of pages. He talks about the time Abraham took Isaac up to be the sacrifice on the alter to the Lord. The Angel of the Lord stopped him and said "now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me." That now is something I have never paid attention to until Mr. Evans brought it to my attention. God knows everything he is omniscient, yet he says to Abraham "Now, I know" He is experiencing with Abraham his choice at that moment. I always thought God knows everything, but there is one thing he does not know, What it feels like to choose to sin, He knows about sin, he has seen it, he took it on himself on the cross, but to actually sin, he never has chosen sin. He says in the book, God is a God of information and knowledge, but God is also a God of experience. That is why he is so relational, he wants to spend time with us, up close and personal.

Ephesians 1:18

My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God's people.
This is a verse I have up at my desk, I haven't read it in a few weeks, but I looked at it this morning and my hope is that I will have an open heart to light... to the truth of God. That I will see his glorius blessings that we all have. That as I get older that I won't settle, that I will strive to be more like him, and I won't think I can't be taught new things by him. I do want to see his new blessings each and every day.

End of Season

This next week is the end of the Fall Season, Its like after Thanksgiving
we think it is the Winter Season, even though it doesn't officially begin until Dec. 21. I love the fall season, the cool mornings the beautiful afternoons. The sky seems to be crisp and clear at night, you see so many more stars.

I am thankful for many things, last night at the ladies banquet I attended, I realized what an easy life I have. Sure we all have our times of hardship, but this lady endured 17 years of physical, emotional, and spiritual torture in dealing with a son who fell from a bunk bed and developed a blood clot the size of a baseball, that in turn led to brain surgery that left him violent and unproductive. We need to hear these stories to remind us that life is not as bad as we think sometimes. Helps us to put on our big girl panties and face the world. So thank you God for the life you have given me at this time.

Joey - Happy Birthday

Today he is 53 years old. He looks pretty good for a old man!HA!!

I wanted to tell you a little about him, he is a man's man to the bone. He doesn't like anything that would reflect him as soft or sweet. However, he is very sweet and sensitive. When we were first married, I couldn't get him to wear anything that had pink or light green or yellow in them, these were not manly colors. He has so matured in his old age, he even asked for a purple shirt the other day.

I decided for his birthday to write him a letter and tell him all the wonderful things about who he is.

That after many years he still surprises me and makes me laugh.

Audrey and I caught him singing the the back seat of the car, (he likes for us to drive him around) and he is not a singer and we laughed till we cried.

He loves to hunt, and he dreams of winning millions of dollars so he can have a hunting ministry for children and people who love to hunt but can't afford it.
He loves the winter,the more snow the better, hates the summer. Wear cowboy boots has much as possible, hates sandals or crocs on men. Pretty much wears jeans year round. Loves to run with Audrey. Loves to hunt with Josh. Is a Jeff Gordon fan from the very beginning. Hates to shop, grocery or mall. Has become a great Dad, he said he felt intimidated by them at first, didn't know what to do, but who does?? He is a not one who shows physical attention in public, he is not really a hugger, but he is a what I call a patter. He pats your arm or your back when he talks to you. He loves sweets, pies, cakes, & homemade ice cream.

Has become such a man of God, he pays attention to the needs in the church, loves being an elder, even though he fought becoming one for years. He is great one on one with people. These are just some of his attributes and character flaws. But God created a wonderful man 53 years ago and I am very happy to be enjoying the seasons of life with him.

Heartaattack

I love the time change, my body is set up for winter time. I sleep better, my sleep schedule is the go to bed at the 10:30 time now and wake up on my own about 5:00-6:00. In the summer my body stays confused with when is it time to shut down and go to sleep. In the winter I don't have to make myself try and go to sleep at a decent hour. Last night was a little different, I went to church to clean out one of our nasty storage spaces to get ready for when we move in February, so I was geared up till about 11:00. My eyes finally closed about 11:15, within 5 minutes of me falling alseep, I heard"I think I am having a heart attack." Now, I probably should have been worried, but I know Joey. He does not listen to anything I say, I know where my daughter gets her hard head from. I have been trying to explain to him these last few months that he should not eat or drink anything after about 8:30 at night. He is getting older and food and chocolate milk is just not good for you late at night. Does he listen....NOOOOO!!!
He just had to have a sweet and salty nut bar after his meeting last night. That was his heart attack. However, at the time when your in a deep sleep and you don't hear movement in the other room after someone leaves the bed after announcing a heart attack you do wonder if they are all right. I didn't want to leave my warm bed and check, but I thought I would feel bad if something happened and I just laid there staying warm. I went to the den and there he was walking around the blanket over his head and around his shoulders , he didn't hear or see me come in, he jumped and said you about gave me a heart attack......HA!!!!!

FFH - "What If Your Best"

Joey wanted me to send this out to you, you know who you are....He thought this was a great song for you...Love Joey

Did you see the sky last night.

This picture was taken about a week ago. The fall has such beautiful sunsets......

Did you see the sky last night? There were layers of clouds they looked like they were stacked on each other with purples, grays, & blues then the sun gave a touch of yellow along the edges. Then within 10 minutes it completely changed to different shades of orange. It was a beautiful night to look up. I didn't have my camera so I missed out on the picture

What are your fears?

Last night at Ladies Bible study, we watched the Beth Moore series Esther, and this week was the week on fear. So I know that this next week we will be looking into it more deeply. So I asked the ladies last night what are your fears. Throughout the video, I was thinking what are my fears. When the kids were younger, I feared alot for Audrey's safety, I worried she would be abducted. I finally had to let it go, there are still days it creeps back up, like when she is driving to Columbia alone. I have to pray and say to myself. God loves her more than I do. Something Beth said last night really stuck with me. Is fear hindering my next step forward in living the abundant life. I feel like I am a risk taker, I think that I live pretty out there on the edge, but I got to wondering if maybe there is something more that I am suppose to do. If my fear of leaving my children, because I always wanted to have a close family, to enjoy each others company as we all grow older, is stopping me from this abundant life that Beth talked about last night. Do I really want to step out and leave my friends and church family, is there a fear there of leaving everything behind. I tell myself no, I can do whatever God wants me to do, but can I really let go and trust that whatever it is that he tells me to do I will do and do it joyfully without looking back. I am not sure, I can't wait to get into my study to see if there is fear there that I haven't even realized.

What a great day

Last night after cleaning up from our church gathering, ( I talk about that in a minute) One of the men (Brian) from the church said" Tracy today was a great day". I casually agreed and he said again it was a perfect day, then he went on in detail, how yesterday our elementary and young children were in charge of the worship, they first sang a song with this choir, then they led the congregation in singing, they took up the offering, Pastor had a great message from Isaiah. Then the weather yesterday was just too beautiful, Brian went an ran a 11 mile run in the beautiful weather and then we had our chicken stew gathering. I thought I was prepared,(NOT!!!!), I forgot the port-a-jon, thank goodness the owners of the barn had installed one small bathroom. I thought the barn had lights on the outside (as my husband says a $500,000 barn should have outside lights) and it gets dark earlier now, so the band played in the dark. And to top it off I had mentally prepared for 200 people, wrong we had closer to 300 people, I went and told the stew guy, pray over this stuff so if will go further. There were people everywhere and I didn't know a third of them, which is great but next year we have to think bigger. We had a costume contest and it went great, Joey was a judge and he said he hated to do it because he is a softly and he is one of those people who hates for children to lose he thinks they all should win something, but Josh told him this is America somebody has to lose. I think everyone had a good time and we will try again next year.