TN2VA2WV2MD

Things that occurred on our trip:

Prayed with Mike in the driveway at 5:15am

Saw a beautiful sunrise

Had praise and worship sevice in the car

Heard a country preacher say "Dadgum" in his sermon on the radio

Listened to the obituaries being read on the radio (gotta love rural Tennessee)

Finished an Abraham Lincoln biography audiobook~the girls and I now know a lot about Mr. Lincoln(he did not like to be called Abe)

Listened to the Daytona 500~I'm sure people looking at me while driving by thought I was crazy because I was beating on the steering wheel & yelling "COME ON, BOY!!! YOU GOT THIS!!!!" for the last two laps:)

Started & finished the first book of Series of Unfortuante Events: A Bad Beginning (audio book)

Half way through the second book The Reptile Room (audio book)

Stopped 6 times in all for: potty breaks, breakfast, lunch, and gas

Did not stop at 1 rest area

The girls did not fight once (YAYYYY)

Only two "Are we almost there"'s were uttered

I only had to make two u-turns

When we got here it started snowing and Abby sighed and said, "I don't want it to snow on my birthday." (March 4th)

Thanked the Lord for answering that early morning prayer

I miss Mike already:(

MY VALENTINE

I have been thinking about writing this post for a week or two.

Since it is this close to Valentine's Day, I am going to dive right it.

This post comes from over 20 years of "love experience". That just made me giggle.

I have been in love with this man of mine for over half my life. It is a privilege and an honor to love someone this long.

Through out this post make sure you think of the word love as a verb.

I still get goosebumps when Mike looks at me a certain way, I still get a flutter in my stomach when he brushes my hand or hugs me, I have a playlist on my iPod entitled "Mike's List" (I have it playing in my ears right this second) and it's not all sappy love songs. Some of them are songs we listened to over and over while riding around in his '66 Mustang convertible:)

I have our song as his ring tone on my phone so anytime you are around me and "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge starts playing you'll know that it's Mike.

I know that sometimes those "feelings" are not there. The days when you and your spouse are just trying to keep your head above water. The days when you don't even like yourself let alone someone else. The days where you JUST. CAN'T. TAKE. ONE. MORE. THING.

Those days are the days that you need to make sure you connect with your husband more than ever. It doesn't have to be much. When you're sitting on the couch just reach over and touch his hand or bring him a snack or make sure he knows in some way that you are still there for him.

Ladies, we are just as responsible for the way our relationship is going as he is. You can sit there and stew about him doing or not doing something all day, every day and that is not going to help things at all.

Oh, and here's a little lie that the world would like us to believe.....are you ready?

.....IT'S NOT OUR "JOB" TO CHANGE OUR HUSBANDS.

What???? Really?

You heard that right.

Guess what? You're not perfect and everything you do is not the best way of doing things.

Shocker, I know. I am speaking from that experience I was talking about up there in the beginning of this post.

When your husband does something for you, don't go behind him and redo it. Don't say~"I'll just do it myself." and please, please don't talk about him to your children.

That will just make them lose respect for him and they won't ever look at him the same way again.

My girls think their Daddy hung the moon and I never ever want to be the reason they don't look at him that way anymore.

When we watch TV at night they are stuck to him like glue and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is, after all, their first male relationship.

Okay, back to the changing thing, your husband will never look at everything like you do and vice versa because we're different~males and females.

That's the way God designed it. And I for one DO NOT want my husband to act, think, or be like me. Oh my! That would just be disastrous.

Sometimes I need him to bring me back to earth when I am spun up about something stupid or when I am so emotional I can't even remember my own name.

This Valentine's Day don't sit around and expect your husband to give you the moon one day out of the year when you give him grief and disrespect the rest of the year.

Pray that this will be the year that every day there's a way to show him just how much you appreciate, love, and adore the man God gave you.

It's a process, this love thing, and it can only work if you are willing to be changed instead of always trying to change him.

OH SNAP!!!

Well, I'm back!

Did you miss me?

We had some technical difficulties that prevented me from posting on this here blog.

We have successfully took care of the problem by purchasing a little red netbook.

There is so much I need to share but I will have to catch up on here later.

I just wanted to check in and say "Hi" and I missed blogging these last couple of weeks.

CONFESSION TIME

I am a screamer.

There I said it.

I yell when I get frustrated.

I was frustrated last night and I yelled~

at those sweet faces up there in the picture~

and I made them both cry~

and then I cried and asked for forgiveness~

and they gave it and then we prayed~

and I am begging God to help me have self control

over the yelling~

because I hate to make my girls cry.

I am a sinner and thankful for God's grace.

Humble pie is a dish I need to eat more often.

MEETING THE GOVERNOR

We went to the Governor's Mansion on Sunday afternoon. He and his wife had an open house and it was pretty neat. There were a lot of people and we were able to walk through Conservation Hall. (Nashvillians will remember this as the "bunker" that the previous Governor's wife had built.)

We were able to tour the first floor of the mansion. I use "tour" very loosely because there were so many people.

I wanted to take a picture of a man that was standing in line with us but Mike wouldn't let me. He was dress in 1920s fashion. Not in a creepy way but a cool, fun way. I tried to find a picture on the internet to link to so that you would know what I was talking about.

He had the newsboy cap, the glasses, the suit, and the overcoat. I couldn't see his shoes but I am sure they were part of the ensemble. I loved the whole look. I tried to get his picture when he got off the bus~I didn't get a good one.

I'm glad he didn't see me~he might have thought I was a stalker or a weirdo or private eye or something.

WHAT'S GOING DOWN...

The last few days have been pretty low key. We got snow on Thursday so we just stayed in until this afternoon.

We did school, read aloud (still Anne of Avonlea), played Wii, cleaned, baked brownies, exercised (because we ate brownies:), cleaned, and played.

Today we slept til 10~well, Mike didn't...umm he slept from 7 til 10. See, he got off work, came home, put on his pjs, and slipped into bed. It was nice to just have a lazy morning with nothing to do and no where to go.

Tomorrow should be pretty interesting~we have the nursery. We love working in the nursery. Really. I'm not being sarcastic. We love it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, worshipful Sunday.

Let the redeemed of the LORD say this--those he redeemed from the
hand of the foe~Psalm 107:2

THOUGHTS ON TUESDAY

Here we go again~

In no particular order~these are some of the things rolling around in my brain:

I'm so glad my dishes are washed tonight.

Playing Shenanigans today at music school with the Lomax family was FUN!

Will I be able to meet my Bible reading goal by April 3rd?

Man, I miss my brother and his family.

I wonder if it will rain all day tomorrow.

The dinner I made tonight~Honey Chicken, Risotto, and seasoned green beans~ is a "make again".

I am glad Mike moved the girl's beds back into the same room yesterday but when I got up this morning they were still in the same twin bed. I love that they get in bed with each other~every night.

Where did all this dust come from?

Tomorrow is trash day~and I don't have to roll the garbage cans down. I never do:)

Man, my skin is dry. Must be winter. Where's my lotion?

I really miss my Book Study Buddies. I am so glad we start back next week.

That reminds me~I need to send them all a reminder e-mail.

Why does Mike's alarm have to go off every night at 9:30? Oh yeah, it reminds him to go to work~BOOO!!

I really don't want to go get the load of laundry out of the dryer. The garage is too cold and I am nice and toasty but we need towels so I better go get it:(

I hope everyone has had a Terrific Tuesday!