GREATNESS

A site that is greatness ... and I mean it!!

www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Anytime you need a break and a good laugh head here ... just make sure you're not eating. I've choked several times.

Things I've learned about Sadie ...

1. She comes running, eager and expectant, anytime you say her name. She's just waiting to be called.
2. She is content with little and savors much.
3. She barks to let you know she's there. Otherwise, no barking.
4. She has a grandma spirit that i think sees a lot.
5. When she stares straight at the SAME corner in our living room I really wonder if she is looking at an angel. She is transfixed, and it is always in the same place that she is looking (she's doing it right now, and then looking at me, and then looking back ... hmmm.... )
6. She likes to go outside to see what's happenin' and then wants to come back in to be with us - the ones she loves most.
7. She gets scared and hides under whatever she can find.
8. She wants to be good but sometimes she's just not.
9. She loves babies and kids and feels proud when she's sweet to them.
10. She loves to play and will be completely ridiculous until you join her in the game. Even though we don't always join, she still tries with the same amount of zeal and hope.
11. She is not one to turn away affection, and actually encourages for as much as she can get. And most of the time, gets extra.

Our Dades ... we love her (crizap and all.)

Also, we are finding she is very much like us ... just fully in the open about it.

Coming to a close ...

Facebook Fast over in 5 days! WOOOOOOOOO!

Facebook Fast ... and furious

Okay, not furious, but I've been fasting from Facebook for a good three weeks now and tonight is the HARDEST it's been not to get on there... Could it be that I'm just relaxing at home, Labor Day is over, and it would be fun to peruse pictures and comments and such? Could it also be that something monumental is happening on there?! I do wonder, but I SHAN'T go.

I thought maybe blogging about really wanting to get on there would help. We'll see if it does.

Happy Labor Day to all! :O)

Open wide my heart!

It's pretty amazing when we actually live the way that our heart responds... beautiful, actually!

I am so thankful for my job, for the opportunities God is giving me to be me and I find myself coming alive again ... deeply alive. Singing in the morning, laughing alone in the kitchen while I pour my coffee *GASP!!* I'm falling in love with God, again!!

Oh my gosh, I hadn't realized that until JUST now, but in sharing how I'm feeling I remember that two/three weeks ago I told Him that I wanted to fall in love with Him again and He is doing it!! How is He doing it?? By me starting to live in the way I was created to live, my soul is responding and singing!! LOVE IT!

Case in point of me feeling very 'me' ... Tuesday I was in the office and I rounded the corner and pointed at my cube-mate, very broadway like, singing, "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, " ... and when I went to the second line I was going to add the big ol' broadway kick - not the chorus line kick but the sassy knee first then toe slap, "Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care!" And on the 'care' I did the slap kick and my shoe flew OFF my foot like a stinking missile, SHOOTING across the office and slamming into the opposite wall! Narrowly, like inches, missing cube-mate's face by the way. I stopped, *scream!* and then we just laughed and laughed!!!

I'm pretty confident I heard God laughing too :O)

love to you all ... I pray you are living in who you were created to be. We are His workmanship, made on purpose - every piece. As we grow/remain committed to being who we are, we will find that life inside of Him.

Thank you, Lord!

A desert on the mend

You know what, I am truly deeply in love with the Lord ... and it is nothing of my own doing. That's for dang sure.

I was just in the kitchen fixing myself a couple little hors' dourves (if I spelled that right I should give MYSELF 10 dollars) and as I was putting the finishing touches on, I was thinking of the conversation I had had with the Lord earlier ... really, the begging.

"GOD!! Why is it so easy to feel you and to talk to you and to hear from you when I am in community or with other people, but when it's just been you and me lately I feel so dry! Like you aren't there!! I hate that Lord and I don't want that type of relationship with You!! Please help me! Please show me what scripture to read .. i really want to hear You and I ask that Your Word would come alive to me. PLEASE speak to me as you desire" And John 7 came to mind, so I went on faith and I was reading about Jesus, which really does my heart good to read about my best friend and the life He lived. It goes to about the middle of the chapter where it talks about him being the spring of life. Specifically verse 37 and 38 say, "Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." This afternoon I just started crying because I haven't been feeling that way. When I am with OTHERS talking about God or even to Him I have, but what about just me and You, Lord?

This evening, as I was wrapping up making my crackers, turkey, swiss and dill relish (my hors' douvres ;) ), I was thinking back to that, "Father, I really don't feel the streams of living water and that's what I long for. I want to live in that place. I know You promise it, but I haven't been feeling it when it's just me and You" And as I was walking from the kitchen back to the office, He did it. All of the sudden gratefulness flooded my heart such that I forgot I had JUST uttered that prayer ... I was just walking through my house, and was suddenly so thankful for His provision of a sweet dog, a wonderful home, food to eat, an evening to relax and then I heard them, no FELT them, trinkling through my soul. Living Water.

The Lord just reminded me of something else that He's been talking to me about this week: He inhabits the praise of His people so it makes COMPLETE sense that I would feel Him as I praised and thanked Him!! GEEZ!!! You are SOO good! You CAUSED my thankful heart and then you INHABITED it!! You are so wild, Father! (you can read about this in Psalm 22, I'm heading there in just a sec)

Just now when I went to grab the verses above in John 7 I saw again the ones that follow: "By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive." I BELIEVE!! And He is HERE!!! Hallelujah! Or, Praise the Lord!!!

I am SO thankful the Spirit is inside of me, guiding me to praise and as a result, the Lord is here with me!!! Does He set us up to win or what??!?!

You truly blow my mind, Lord. You are more than ANYTHING I can understand, but I accept you SO thankfully, so thankfully.


ADDENDUM: I just went and looked at Psalm 22 and the word 'enthroned' is commonly used. Which in the original writing means: to dwell, remain, sit, abide
(Qal)
to sit, sit down
to be set
to remain, stay
to dwell, have one's abode
(Niphal) to be inhabited
(Piel) to set, place
(Hiphil)
to cause to sit
to cause to abide, set
to cause to dwell
to cause (cities) to be inhabited
to marry (give an dwelling to)
(Hophal)
to be inhabited
to make to dwell

Christmas in September? Sounds GREAT to me!

I know it's been a while, but here I am again.

I am REALLY feeling a desire for fall and the Christmas season. So much so that I jokingly told a friend last week that I want to decorate for Christmas in September, have our Christmas Party in October and then just enjoy November and December of other people's events and parties all while sitting in twinkling lights and candles at home.

At first I thought I was just kidding, but now I don't know that I am! Even sitting here now I'm longing for hot chocolate and fleece pajamas, holiday scented candles and twinkling lights. I don't have any plans this weekend, other than continuing to prepare for my garden, so I may just find myself stringing up the lights :O)

Realistically I'll wait til September, but ONLY just maybe. Especially since a lot of the post Christmas extreme clearance decor I purchased is fall colors.

Who am I kidding ... I don't think I can wait.

Have a twinkly day!