Friends turned Family

I just had a little thought. It is amazing to me how some things work. You have your family, then you have your friends. I was thinking about people in my life, and to me I have a family and friends who have turned into my family. Forget the "best" friend thing, some of my friends are my family. I don't like to do "shout outs" to certain friends and people because chances are you are going to leave someone out! Some friends that are in my life I really consider my family and I want to mention them!! And I'll add in some family members...

I'm not big on sappy stuff, I am not very good at it, but maybe just a little for right now!! These of course are in no particular order!!

• Jeremy - duh you know I am madly in love with you. It goes without saying! It's a little weird for me to think of you as my family and my husband. I mean when you stop and think about it, you are my relative...my parents call you their son. So in essence you are my love, my husband, my family, my relative, and my friend. Who else can I say that about? It's hard to wrap your mind around how huge that is. We are one person, not two different people living together, but one person. Yea...you are awesome and I love you so very much!
• Katja - we have been through a lot! :-) You are such a great friend and person. I have learned so much from you, and grown so much because of you. To call you a friend or even best friend is an understatement. You are my family, my sister, and I would do anything for you! Loves you!!!!!
• Amanda - I have known you longer than everyone except my own parents! We have been through TONS of stuff!! You know you are my family and I will always be there for you whenever you need it, and you would do the same for me. There are few greater miracles than seeing a baby be born. I loved being there when Felicity was born. It was the most amazing thing, and I am so glad I was there to witness that! I love you!! BFFEAATDDEUP! :-)
• Phillip - I know we call each other brother and sister, you really are that to me. No matter when we talk, what we are doing, or where we are, you are my brother. :-) I joke that I only sometimes "claim" you, but I claim you all the time (even if you do like Alabama & Tennessee). To be an only child and still have a big brother is pretty awesome!
• My whole church family - It's like I have been birthed into a whole new family. New people, new place, new relationship's. I love where I am right now, and I look forward to making new long lasting relationship's. It's also amazing to me how church people almost automatically (at this church) can turn into my new family. I love it. It's a little bit awesome!
• Mom & Dad - Again it goes without saying. You are both so amazing parents and I could not have anyone as better role models. I am truly blessed! I think we are such a wonderful family!!
• My In-Law's - It's pretty amazing how much "Jeremy's family" is my family now. I love his family. I love hanging out with them. I really feel at home and like it's my own family. It's hard to list everyone by name, but I think it's clear who you are. :-)

I feel so blessed to call all of these people my family . Love you all!!

My weekend!!

This weekend was very full and fun. Here's a little rundown!

• We went kayaking - SO much fun...and I didn't run into any snakes this time.
• Jeremy only threw my in the freezing water once, less than I expected.
• I flipped Jeremy over in his kayak...pretty proud of myself for that one (I've told almost everyone I know!)
• Had a really great time hanging out with my brother-in-law the whole weekend. So sad he is leaving to join the army...but he'll do good I'm sure!
• A little piece of me died when UGA lost...31-0 at half time...you have GOT to be kidding me...they did play better the second half, ending the game at 41-30.
• And I JUST found out that UGA is now ranked 11th - which makes me really mad, Florida lost to a nobody (actually one of the WORST nobody team) and they are 12th, UGA lost the a top 10 ranked team and we get 11th? STUPID!
• Church was really really really good on Sunday. The illustration at the end was amazing. I have heard the message taught different ways, but this way will always stay in my mind. It gave me chills...truly eye opening.
• We are leaving for our cruise to the Bahama's on October 9th!! I can't believe it's so soon, there is still so much to do! I don't even have a "good" bathing suit or a dress for "formal" night! So much shopping, so little $$$!! (well we have more than enough to go on a cruise so we do have $$$...) :-)
• I spent some time with my friend Amanda and her daughter Felicity - Spending time with great friends and babies always cheers me up. We had a great time!
• Looks like I will start going to band practice with Jeremy. Little nervous about this, I love playing the bass guitar, but I have SO SO SO much more to learn!! I just hope they don't think I will be better than I really am!! I guess now is as good a time as any to get better though-right??

Well - that's my little updates from the weekend!!

my funny hubby...

Jeremy and I were talking about my blog yesterday. I found out he doesn't read mine. Which is fine, he isn't the type of person who blogs I guess. But then he said he reads some of my friends blogs and likes them...I laughed and said, well why do you like their blog and not mine? And he said-They are short, to the point, and I don't get bored. I laughed again, no problem...so here is a blog just for my hubby...(who more than likely won't read this.) :-)

• I like wearing black and white, it's my favorite
• I can't wait for UGA to beat Alabama this weekend

And that's all for today....

I love you Jeremy!!

Why should we go to church...

This is something that was on my mind a lot lately. A little background on this for me personally. For about 2 years Jeremy (my husband) and I felt like we didn't have a church home. Nothing was "wrong" per-say with a church we had went to for a long time, it was wasn't fitting. I don't know why, maybe it was just the devil feeding us lies, who knows. We have recently found a new church, Journey Church of Acworth. I love it, Jeremy loves it, it is exactly where we both feel like we belong. It is wonderful. So I was thinking back on when we didn't go to church weekly. I was still of course saved, still prayed, still loved God, it's just that things seemed much harder. I was unhappy and I couldn't figure out why. Now that I go weekly to church that feeling is gone. The only thing I have changed is I found a church home. Then I started thinking, wow what makes going to church on Sundays so necessary. I then remember two scriptures.

Matt. 18:20:
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Hebrews 13:5:
I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

So God is always with me, all the time. But God also makes a point to say: where 2 or more are together, I am there. I wonder why he makes a point to say both of these. He makes a direct statement that he is there with one, and he is there with 2 or more. Possibly this point is made to explain the significance of meeting weekly at church. Praising God with other believers. Maybe he made this point, so that we would understand that meeting with Christians is needed in our spiritual life.

Now, I didn't go to bible school, I am still learning everyday about scripture and God. But I think this is one of the reasons God made both of these statements. There is something different about going to church, and staying at home alone praising God. Both are good and needed, but I think we all need both of these in our spiritual life. To me I think I am finding that going to church somewhat completes what I need in my life.

And this church is awesome!! We meet Sunday's @ 10:00 in Russom Elementary School on Dallas Acworth Hwy. Come visit!

Cont' weird/new information....

I was still thinking about the different things about me, mostly from the list I posted a few days ago...well I am adding some to it....some weird, some just my views, and some random facts (weird or not)

• I am scared of snakes crawling up out of the toilet, so even in the middle of the night I turn the light on and check to make sure there are no snakes.
• I always, always, have to check behind the shower curtain when I walk into a bathroom.
• I don't really agree with abortion, I can see some of the arguments, but I think aborting anything with a heartbeat is murder.
• I think pulling the troops out of Iraq is a bad idea. And I think that people who say the war is pointless and stupid, are insulting the men and women defending our country. (I sincerely do NOT want my friends, cousin, brother-in-law, going over there, but if they did, they are doing it for a good reason.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8
• I randomly have dreams about awesome fashion designs that I think I'll create one day...I just need to learn to sew...and draw...
• My favorite "alone" time is when I am folding clothes.
• I love singing in front of hundreds of strangers, but freak out in front of 5 people I know.
• I sing all the time, I almost never stop.
• I have only rode a horse once, and I have been to scared to ever try again.
• One of my "goals" is to eat oysters before I die.
• I have "list" of things I want to achieve in my lifetime, and if I ever get bored, I pull it out, and start on the next item on the list.
• Flashback's in movies creep me out, they make me cry.
• Laser Tag scares me.
• I could eat Swedish fish everyday of my life.
• Until I was a teenager I didn't know who/what Alf was.

Yea - that's it for real this time...I just had to add a few things to the list... :-)

Christmas Music

Have you ever tried listening to Christmas music NOT durning Christmas time? I am listening to it right now. For me Christmas music puts me in the best mood. Such happy, uplifting, cheerful, songs! Try it next time you pick music to listen to. It really is a nice touch every now and then!

Things you didn't know about me...

I defiantly stole this idea!
But here are some things that make me who I am, might be weird, normal, or just random information you just have to know about me!

• I hate hearing people eat. Any noise of any kind involving food makes my skin crawl.
• I don't like hitting the reflectors on the road, I try to avoid them at all times.
• I use hand sanitizer at least 20 times a day. When I visited New York I went through one bottle in 3 days.
• You can do no greater wrong to me than touching my belly button. I want to throw up just thinking about it. Lets move on...
• 2 years ago I scratched my toenail the wrong way on a metal bleacher and it made an awful "fingernail on chalkboard" sound...now it only stops hurting if I press my toenail down the correct way.
• I hate having my eyebrows rubbed the wrong way, it gives me a head ache. Same with rubbing my cats fur the wrong way. If I see this happen I have to immediately fix it many times by rubbing it the correct way. The eyebrow thing also applies to others, if I see some else do this to themselves, I have to fix my own.
• When I open a door to walk into a office I have to touch the keyhole at least twice. (But only in offices, in residential homes I don't have to do this.)
• The sound of scratching ice together is the worst sound in the world to me.
• I can't go to sleep unless one foot is out from under the covers, a TV is on but muted, and I can hear the noise of a fan.
• I am absolutely terrified of the dark.
• The first time I ever saw my husband Jeremy, God told me I would marry him. Of course I had to date all the wrong guys before I believed it. Would have been so much easier if I would have listened!
• I believe in spirits, angels, and demons. And I believe one room in my house was "haunted" by demons at one time. I also believe that God protects me.
• I love my cat like she is my own baby.

Well I know there are more crazy and "weird' things about me, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

So tell me: What makes you weird or unique?

Freedom

This morning's church service was great. One thing that Pastor Doug said was that most people go to church expecting to "experience" something, whatever it may be. So I stared thinking about this in service. He had some people call out what they wanted to get out of the service. And of course as my family and friends know I would never call anything out in public in front of all those people! :-) BUT I did have my reason in mind. I think, other than wanting to experience God, my reasons for going to church change from week to week, but lately I am going because I want to experience freedom. Freedom from everything. From debt, sickness, physical pain, emotional hurt, sadness, negative people, sin, and freedom from my little comfort zone. Some of those things I'm not about to talk about, but I know my freedom is coming, it's already here, I just have to receive it. Now I have a few issues that I think about all the time with one certain thing. Now I have a pretty awesome life, and grew up with awesome parents, so I'm sure this hurt is nothing to some people, but it's hurtful to me. I always try to walk in love, smile, say nice things. At what point does this stop. At any point is there a "throw in the towel", "God help you cause I've had enough". I know I've thrown in the towel for this one situation. I wish so much that I could just open up, speak my mind, and shake some sense into some people. I have a FANTASTIC friend that always speaks her mind, tells the truth, is honest, and she does it in a way that people still love her, weather what she is saying is good or bad. I wish I could do that, I'm just not that brave I guess or I don't know how to express those things. It's not my comfort zone. Well, I've decided that over time I can only take so many let downs, hurts, and just plain meanness. But I also know that I'm always available for the person in this situation if they ever need any help, or any information on God and how to get their life together. They just have to come to me. I think this is my best conclusion to walking in love in this case. It's the only way I can get freedom from it. I'm going to step back, let it go, move on, and just forget about it. I want to be free from this. I want to surround myself with positive, godly people. I want freedom from the negative.

SO Maybe 2 people in the world might know what I'm talking about here. But it's off my chest now that I talked (typed) it out!

ABS

Bad Day - Good Mood

So my day started off a little aggravating. I have mucho curly hair, I blew it dry, now at this point I straighten it. Before straightening my hair I look pretty much like carrot top with a bigger Afro. Well, my straightener broke. I threw my Afro in a ponytail, of course my bangs are standing straight up and HUGE, ran to walmart in the rain, of course saw someone I knew, bought a new straightener (that heats up to 400 degrees!), went to work and fixed my hair in my office. So I was trying to get in a better mood. I thought "I'm so blessed I have a job where I can come in a little late and fix my hair in my private office." Then I read the warnings on this new straightener and one warning read, no lie:

"Never use while sleeping"

And I realized, whoever straightens their hair in their sleep must be having a FAR worse day than I ever have had. It cheered me right up!

McCain / Obama

I am not a very "political" person. I never watch news coverage on elections. I am one that thinks we need to go by the facts, and not what the news media provides, which I find is often bias. So in searching for that today I went to both Presidential Candidates websites. I looked through the "Issues" section. The other sections are: News, Media, About, Events, and so on. I personally think it is a wise choice to vote for the issues at hand, rather than the person himself. So, I read through McCain's view's and plans, and did the same with Obama. After reading both; I have come to a decision. McCain knows where he stands, he gives straight answers. Yes and No. Obama on the other hand I had to read the issues 2 and 3 times to try to comprehend what his views were. After reading many times, I just simply do not agree with Obama's views. Now I am not a complicated person, my main issues that I am concerned with are: war, abortion, and marriage. And I hands down agree with McCain on all of these issues. Personally I am so tired of hearing "gossip" surrounding the election. Presidential & Vice presidential candidates DO NOT belong in the tabloids. End of story. Go with the views and main issues at hand, and then decide on your 2008 pick.

http://www.johnmccain.com/

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Walmart receipt checker clarification

OK - my last visit to Walmart I saw the same receipt checker lady I talked about in my blog a few days ago. I had nothing to be checked, but the guy ahead of me did. It was an XBox 360, he didn't stop for her when she asked, and then when he walked through the doors the alarm went off. She asked him a couple times to stop, when he finally did he was almost outside. She asked him to come back inside, he responded with "I'm right here."

I felt so sorry for that lady and how rude that person was being to her, and how much she must have to put up with everyday from rude people. So I just wanted to point out, while I do think the receipt checking at Walmart is not necessary, I also see absolutely no reason to be mean to the person that has that job.

Driving age?

I am very busy today so this is just a quick "something to think about" moment.

"People" say far to many car accidents on the road are caused to inexperienced drivers. Now the first thing I think about when I hear this is young high school students driving, and causing accidents because they are new drivers. There is talk of raising the driving age to 17 or 18. Would a new driver at 18 be more experienced than a new driver at 16? Not more experienced, just older. Experience makes a good driver. Now I personally think the age should be raised, but for many other reasons. And I do not think raising the age will solve the accidents inexperienced drivers cause. Just something to think about!

Walmart receipt checker

OK - I shop at Walmart a lot and I have many aggervations about the store. This one tops it for me though...

When walking out of the store if anything is not in a shopping bag the door person asks to see your receipt. Usually this creates a line when trying to exit and mass confusion. Now why in the world check these items? The things to "big" to fit in a bag. The size of the item has NOTHING to do with the cost. Toilet Paper $5.00 they check, GPS $300.oo they could care less about. Things that are big "stealing" items actually fit in bags. THAT'S WHY PEOPLE STEAL THEM...because they are small, they can hide them, put them in bags without scanning them at self checkout. Not one person is going to try to steal a basketball goal and expect to walk out the door, they know good and well someone will notice, exit receipt checker or not. DVDs, all video games, CD's, not one person at walmart is checking for these things. Today they checked for $3.00 bird seed I bought, but not the more expensive item in my bag, of course after I waited my turn as I was THIRD in line to exit.

My point in all of this is simple... Do not check receipts at the exit door.
It wastes time, energy, and lacks purpose.

Out of sight - Out of mind...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."- Margaret Mead


There are many awful things that happen all over the world, everyday, and very little of these things how the ability to physically affect us. Lets get out of the way first the war in Iraq and so on. These affect me, but it's not what I am talking about right now. (But that in itself is a great example of "Out of sight, out of mind.") For example: Puppy Mills, world hunger, child abuse, foster care, animal abuse, animal testing, and yes Global Warming...Now I am not big into politics, anything with the news, or in general negative stuff. I mean what can I do to help these issues, it's not my problem to solve. Right?? Well... a few weeks ago I found a kitten, in searching for a home for him I found many sites about strays and animal abuse, and all kinds of horrible things that happen to animals. And it was very depressing. So I wanted to do something about it. I just could not say "out of sight, out of mind." And in thinking "what can I do to help", I found many, FREE, things to do, in many different problem areas. And if every person on the Internet did a little, imagine how much that really would be. So when you see a problem, even if it doesn't affect you, think about what you could do to help. Just like the quote above says, it only takes a few to change the world. Here are some pretty awesome websites I visit everyday.

http://www.bhookh.com/ - Click once a day and a cup of food is given to a hungry Indian
http://www.freerice.com/ - Answer simple trivia questions and for each correct answer 20 grains of rice is donated to the UN World Hunger Program
http://stopglobalwarming.care2.com/ - Click to reduce one pound of carbon and a donation is made to help save the Amazonian Rainforest.
http://children.care2.com/ - One click helps a child in need.
http://pets.care2.com/ - One click generates a donation to pets in need.
www.blackle.com - This is like Google.com, except it uses a black background vs. a white background, this generates less power and all in all saves watts of energy.


OK so that's my latest rant on how to "save the world". It's a click, no money, no time, and it helps. It's a small way I feel I am keeping these issues in my mind.

ABS