February in Georgia

You're killing me, Georgia.

Killing me.

Do you even remember a little thing called Winter?

What's supposed to come before Spring?

The thing that gets me through the rest of your sweltering year?

I would enjoy these beautfiul days more if they weren't in February... and didn't make me dread what must lie ahead in the upcoming months.

Ah, well. Enjoying this cooler rainy Saturday.

78 though?.... Really??

Ugh.

Sweet Surprises Bring Sweet Reminders

I received the sweetest surprise this morning.

My friend / former manager stopped by to hand deliver a pot of tulips and to tell me that she loves me. 

And as I looked at them throughout the day, I kept thinking. Back to my years at Blue Willow and how He had blessed me there. And where I am now and how He blesses me still. 

Regardless of my marital status, I am loved. Not only by my friend of over 13 years, but by the One who knitted me together and who continues to knit my life together.

Thank You, Lord. 

Mekdelawit

This is Mekdelawit.

She lives in Ethiopia.

She is a precious student of a brand new school in the Shiro Meda area of Addis Ababa.

I began sponsoring her last August and so love getting updates on her! Don't you just love that smile? So sweet.

A friend of mine (Jen, from a couple of posts ago) learned of an Atlanta couple, Tymm and Laura Hoffman, several years ago, who had founded a charity called 'Brighton Their World'. 

Wonderful couple. 

In 2008, they were expectantly preparing to receive their first adopted baby from Ethiopia. His name was Brighton. Sadly, Brighton passed away from malnutrition before Tymm and Laura could get him. So, they turned their pain into purpose and now use their charity to raise both awareness and supplies for the children of that area.

Their main mission has been to get formula (and diapers) into those sweet babies' hands.

But, recently, they've been able to expand their mission! They now have a school there and are heading up a program that will ensure both nutrition as well as schooling for the children! So awesome! 

I love being a part of such an amazing effort!

And who knows... maybe, one day, I'll join Jen and Missy and go meet sweet Mekdelawit for myself.  :)

Check out Brigthon Their World at:  www.brightontheirworld.org .

To sponsor a student at Brighton Academy, the cost is $28 / month. This includes the schooling, meals at school and clean water for their family.

To be a nutritional sponsor, all it takes is $12 / month to provide them with meals and clean water.

If nothing else, add them to your prayer list. No telling what other ways God wants to use their willing hearts!

Back To Life

This guy's music ministers to my soul like no other these days.

So grateful for him! He literally gets me through each and every day at work.

And I am so glad that he just released his new album 'Back to Life' this past Friday!

I cannot get enough of "See You Again". Powerful anthem that invokes such hope and resolve. Love it! Check it out!  https://youtu.be/fChUxSW9-bk  (I dare you to listen to that and not come away charged up for the Lord and what He can do!)  :)

Home is Where the Trestle Is

An old friend of mine (we went all through elementary school together) does photography. 

I've admired her work for some time now, thanks to Facebook.

So, I finally asked her one day if she would mind doing me a favor.

I remember my Mom saying years ago that she wished she'd had a good picture of the train trestle that ran by our house in Illinois. And I had kind of wished we'd had one, too. 

So, my friend Becki obliged and took this beautiful shot of 'home'.

So many great memories. Our property jutted out into the water just there to the right. At one time, Dad even had a picnic bench set out down there for all the canoeing folks. It's where we would look for branches shaped like a 'Y' because those made the best pole rests.  :)

And I loved the trains that would travel those tracks. I remember whenever I'd hear them coming, I would run over to the tracks and anxiously wait for them to pass by so I could wave to the engineer. To this day, it warms my heart to hear a train whistle in the distance or watch one chug past a crossing. 

Thank you for this gift, Becki. 

I love it.

Jes' Because...

So, apparently, there's kind of a big game this weekend.

But, it's football. So, I really couldn't care less. (An average of 17 min's actual playing time over the course of 4 hours game time? How am I the only one bored by this?)

So, when all your co-workers are losing their minds and 'rising up'... and you just happen to have the opposing team's apparel... you just gotta...  ;)

 

In all honesty, I probably would want the home team to win, just because they're due. 

But, by this point, it was fun just to ruffle some Falcons' feathers.

And that shirt is super soft. 

And blue is just prettier than red.

Oh. And Boston is pretty wicked awesome.

January

I can't believe we've crossed off a whole month in the new year already. Like... January, 2017...gone. Crazy.

So, in an effort to capture some highlights... this month in pictures...

Of course, January was when we had our hopes for any sizable snow dashed.

Emery texted me throughout the morning, imploring me to come to their house to be good and ready for when it fell. My gut was telling me that we would end up with a good layer of ice instead, so I finished out the work day and hunkered down at home. Thankfully, my gut was wrong about the ice, but was sorry to be right about not much snow. We didn't get anything more than a cold rain in Covington (I even got up in the wee hours to check). They got a dusting at my sister's house. Sorry, Em. Maybe next time. 

I've attended about 4 women's events now at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. It's a wonderful host church; always warm and inviting. And they have awesome speakers / musical guests. This year, Angie Smith spoke and her husband Todd, along with the rest of the Selah group sang. Selah had performed before and they are - a~mazing live. So, it was good to hear them once again. And though I'd read several books of Angie's, I had never heard her speak. She was phenomenal. We laughed. And we cried. For 2 days straight. Thanks to my sieve-like brain these days, I couldn't begin to recount what was spoken, but suffice it to say... it was a nourishing weekend. (Although I went with my friend, Sally, we happened to cross paths with my friend, Jen and her old roommate as well. That's Jen with Angie in the pic above.)  :)

And Casino Night didn't bring any tears (thankfully) but did bring plenty of laughs. 

This was our third annual Casino Night through our company and I was glad to be able to go this year. (I went 2 years ago and had a great time until my cohort puked his guts out in my car the entire ride home. And last year I was too sick to feel comfortable going.) Kristie and I tagged along with Kevin W and his lovely wife Julie (my first time really meeting her) and one of our new developers rode with us as well. Though Kevin was the only one from our group to win any raffle items, a good time was had by all. (What I wouldn't have given to have had one of those 'Donuts Went Down to Georgia'. Yum.)

In the Lane, Snow is Glistenin’

... Memory Lane, that is!

  Jodi and me on our sleds 12/78

With the recent 'threat' of a snow storm in Georgia this weekend (which gravely disappointed), I've been taken back to our snow days as kids, once again. Such sweet memories. Big flat flakes falling from a wide open sky. Catching them on the tongue. Snow angels, sledding, snowmen, more sledding... hot chocolate breaks while drying off beside a wood burning stove. It never got old to me.

  Me taking Fluffy for a ride-along 1/1/85

In Illinois, snow wasn’t received quite the same way it is in Georgia. It took a whole lot more of the white stuff to shut us down and get an actual snow day out of it, but when we did... oh, man. It was as exciting as Christmas morning!

Jodi would come running in to wake me up and get me going, we’d get all bundled up (not quite to the extreme of the little boy in “Christmas Story”, though it did feel like it) and we would go – all – day! 

  Me with my prize-worthy snowman 12/80

Could not get enough of the stuff! And, I guess still can’t! 

But, we had a ball. 

We were fortunate enough to have the best plot of land in Illinois for sledding. For those of you who’ve been to (or more likely through) Illinois, you know it is flat. As a pancake. From end to end. 

But, we actually lived on a nice little hill that had the BEST driveway for sledding!! Not only was it just the right slope, it had just enough twists and turns... and trees, to keep it exciting. It was awesome.

  Jodi and me going out into the great land of snow 12/78

And, when we got snow… we – got – snow!

So much fun… and so many great memories from those beautiful wintry days.

  Jodi sledding down the drive successfully, as I wipe out 1/79

  and me doing much better 1/79!

If you don't enjoy the snow... then, you're not doing it right.  ;)

Developing Through the Detours

I'm so excited. Dr. Tony Evans released a new book. And has been just as good as I anticipated. And, as God would have it - right on time.

It's called 'Detours' and in it, Dr. Evans reminds us that "We, as God's masterpieces, bear our Master's name and image. He wants to make sure that image reflects Him well. When we fulfill our God-ordained destinies, God wants others to see the beauty of Him through us, and that takes refinement in us."

Hence, the detours.

"We can either cooperate with these detours by asking God to reveal to us the lessons He wants us to learn, or the skills He wants us to develop - and so on, or we can complain, kick, scream, fight and remain on the detour much longer than we ever needed to."

It even inspired me to go back to journaling in my Bible.  :)

He also gives another most excellent illustration to drive his point home. (I so love Dr. Evans and his illustrations!)

"When you iron a shirt that is wrinkled, you have to add steam and heat in order to get the wrinkles out. And why do we iron shirts, pants and dresses? Because we want to look good when we wear them. In the same way, God has to put us through the fires of refinement to smooth out the rough places and correct our flaws.

Now imagine if that shirt you were ironing wouldn't sit still. Imagine if it kept hopping up off the ironing board. Or what if it would bundle itself up into a tight ball each time you attempted to iron it. How long would that ironing session take, then, if the shirt simply allowed you to press it to perfection?

The same holds true for us on our detours. Far too often, we are the cause of our own delays. The cause of our own additional detours."

So good. And so true. 

Okay, I'm off to read more 'Detours'. If you'd like your own copy (and can't wait for a hard copy like me), you can get it on Kindle and start reading right now!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7IMLYK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Or, if your patience has already been refined, it is now also available at a Christian bookstore near you.  :) 

Knowing is Half the Battle

One of our tech guys at work has started sending us daily quotes, all with a quick thought and random fact. One of the first ones he shared was this:

He related it to the workplace, but it struck me as something that should be applied more in the Christian walk as well.

'Knowing is not enough.' We are to apply what we have learned.

Having a willing and faith-filled heart is great... but not enough. We are to do.

  What does it profit, my brethren,if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them 'Depart in peace, be warmed and be filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  (James 2:14-17)

Do you believe?

 Great. How is this faith reflected in your life?

Do you know Christ?

 Great. How is HE being reflected in your life?

And I would add... our faith should be reflected just as much in what we refrain from as much as what we do. I see far too many fellow Christians (and I'm guilty as well, at times) who declare their faith and then think nothing of cussing a blue streak or gossiping or slandering or sharing something inappropriate on Facebook.... and on and on and on. 

We should be set apart. Not reflecting the world around us. But, reflecting what we know of Christ.

Knowing is only half the battle. 

Follow-through is everything. 

Go, Joe!