Lion recognizes Owners! CUTE!

Facebook (A Fickle Friend)

I have been on Facebook almost daily for quite a spell now. There's just something about feeling closer to people you know and care about even if they're far away or not someone you would normally talk to each day. I know it sounds funny, but I really love my Facebook friends. It doesn't hurt that most of them are my actual friends and family. I love when my little "Friend Request" lights up and I get to see someone's face that I haven't for a while. I like to hear about the mundane or exciting or thoughtful things people I care about have going on. I have been enamored by Facebook for a while and yesterday I got to see its true colors. A little over a month ago, I had the greatest Facebook week in history. I found one of my best friends from my college days. He was friends with a small handful of great guy friends that we used to hang out with DAILY. I was so excited to get in touch with them all and see how they were all doing. They're lives ran the gamut. They were all married, some with kids, some without, some eastcoast, some westcoast, some doing what they always thought/hoped they would be, some right where they belonged all along without realizing it. One of the guys was just getting out of the hospital from having a tumor removed. This is where Facebook got ugly. We chatted about his return home and the time he could now spend with his wife and young son. We wished each other well. Yesterday morning I checked my Facebook home page to check up on everyone and share my hopes for a clean house only to find that my friend had passed away in the night while sleeping with his family. I almost gave up Facebook completely. Why would I want to reconnect with people only to lose them just as quickly? The problem with that thinking is that I wouldn't be given the opportunity to reconnect at all. This small group of guys was my first set of college friends. They were the ones who challenged me to go to class everyday (not that I accepted the challenge very often). I'm in a weird spot. Do I go to his service which is 4 hours away (nothing in the grand scheme of things) or do I remain a Facebook sympathizer? Do I leave uplifting and precious remarks on his page, his family's pages, our friends pages and cry in front of my computer screen, or do I solidify my commitment to his "Friend Request" and step out as a friend would to physically be there as a support to his widow, his son, and his family despite having never had met them? My heart is opting for option number two. Whether they recognize that I'm there or remember that I came doesn't matter. I am thankful for prayer and a God who loves me. I will be checking to see when the service is and God-willing, I will be on my way to NY in the next day or two. Jeremy, may God watch over your family and friends during this time of grieving and bless you with a special room in Heaven.

Spring is Here!!!

Well, technically speaking, Spring is not here yet. But Spring cleaning is in full bloom at my house. Hubby's been home with a bad back. Bummer in the financial department, but blessing for our house, our kids, and our marriage. We have been rearranging our house literally as well as figuratively. My husband and I physically work well together. Since Sug is laid up, he's been talking and walking me through his Spring cleaning routine like burning up the unusable brush and residue in our wood pit, reorganizing the basement, and tomorrow I'll be hooking up a hot and cold outside faucet!!! Sug has been home to see all that goes into my Spring cleaning. I've switched up a size in cool weather clothes for Bean and Bunny. I know I'll have to do the Summer thing soon, but they both have grown so much, nothing was fitting them. I have rearranged rooms so that Bunny will soon have her own and have been CLEANING and PURGING for days now, so much so that Sug even purged a bunch of his old junk!!! I hope we can keep the momentum going. I feels good to get rid of some of this stuff. We've also been working well together and we get to talk a lot more than usual. I'm trying to enjoy this time while we have it, before he gets well and heads back to work. We are blessed even in the midst of what appears to be a horrible situation.

Meme

My friend posted this meme blog and offered it up to anyone who wanted to blurb a little about themselves. Here it goes.

The perfect outfit: Long flowing cotton skirt and a tank top; flip-flops
The perfect drink: Ice cold all natural lemonade (not too sweet, not too tart)
The perfect meal: almost anything someone else makes
The perfect hangover cure: (it's been a long time) a McDonald's cheeseburger and an ice cold fountain soda (diet coke)
The perfect road trip: all that do not include screaming of any nature. I love road trips!!!
The perfect facial feature: big blue eyes (we've got a few around these parts!)
The perfect afternoon: Hanging with hubby & friends while the kids run amok in my yard
The perfect vacation: any without the in laws (we take a few too many of them)
The perfect type of wedding: Someone else's (mine was too stressful)
The perfect album: Harvest Moon
The perfect accent: Irish
The perfect weather: 80 and sunny with a slight breeze
The perfect song: Box of Rain
The perfect sign of affection: a kiss on the eyelids
The perfect party: Close friends, summer night. grilling, kids covered in dirt, running through the yard with sparklers, lots of laughing
The perfect sport: hmmmmm spending time with the hubby *wink, wink*
The perfect thing to say: "You won!!!" or "You saved______!" (I love going to the supermarket, they started telling you how much you saved every time!!!
The perfect date: The one when my husband actually listens and converses instead of talking all about himself and his job.

We Are Family...

Why is the family dynamic so difficult sometimes? Why is it that we hold the rest of the world to certain social standards, but because it's our sister we're talking about, the rules change? Is it because we think WE are so special that anyone related to us should be given a free pass? Is it because we feel more compassion for them than we would the average person? And why are we more apt to take from our own parents more so than a generous stranger or friend? Is it because our parents are supposed to take care of us and we feel it's our right? Is it because they didn't take as good of care of us as we had liked and we feel like they owe us? Is it because our parents make us feel guilty if we don't? Or, why can you have a great relationship with someone and as soon as they become your in-law, it seems like the line has been drawn? Why does it feel like we compare our marriages, children, parenting styles, and resources against theirs? Why do we even consider the amount of time they are spending with other members of the family? In the Bible, we are told to leave our birth families and cleave to the family that God has provided for us. I know from experience why it is necessary and called for. I also think of shows like Raymond, According to Jim, King of Queens, Roseanne... All of which the characters are still quite entangled in their extended family's lives. I then think of shows like Brady Bunch, Cosby Show, Seventh Heaven... that only focus on the specific family. I know it's only TV, but look how much more messy it is with the extendeds!!! Part of me is joking and being silly, but a small part of me wonders, wishes, and thinks about what it would be like to pour all the time and energy spent in these relationships elsewhere.......hmmmm....... Don't get me wrong, I love my family and my in-laws, I just don't get why it has to be so complicated sometimes.

How?

I don't know how people do this without Jesus! Life is just too hard without having a soft place to crash. I know that before Jesus, it was drugs, alcohol, and men. The problem with those is all the drama, pain and confusion that resulted. When I am tired and weary the only thing that re-energizes me and sets my paths straight is sitting with Jesus, either in His Word or in prayer. I am continually encouraged and challenged, comforted and loved, filled up and filled in. Right now, I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, under appreciated, run ragged and uncomfortable in my own skin, but my hope and my life is in Jesus and I couldn't be happier. I have been blessed, I am blessed, and I will continue to be blessed. I am just so grateful for this relationship with the Son of God, the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Nothing beats it!!!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

So, I've basically taken a small Sabatical from my bi-weekly prayer group. Between all the illness running around here, the trips to New Jersey to help clean out my Grandparent's house, the lack of sleep because Bunny is teething again, and the growing and refining God's got going on, I'm just flat out and because there are some nights we storm the throne room doors until 10:30-11, I've been opting out for almost a month and a half. I have to confess that I am exhausted and it may well be because I've given up a crucial time between me and the Lord. Coming together with this particular group of women is always a blessing and our prayers are heard and answered. Not only is it encouraging as a woman, wife, and mother, but is re-energizes me for the Kingdom of Heaven and all that we can do while we are "trapped" here. We're meeting tomorrow, and I can't wait. I'm so tired, I can barely see, but I'm going. I know Friday will be a whole different day if I don't. Thank you God for blessing me with this group of amazing women who make it a priority to be with you on a regular basis and have been for almost 6 YEARS now!!!!!!