You to got tuh GO there tuh KNOW there

“Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they go tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.”

-Janie
Their Eyes Were Watching God

bask

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for…
and the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof.  Right now I’m living in that hope, running down its hallway, and touching the walls on both sides.”

~Barbara Kingsolver

The imagery of that made me smile. I know it has been a while, but I thought I’d share :) I am currently on my plan period, so that is all for now.
Have a happy blessed day as you run down the hall of godly love and hope grazing both sizes. :)   Don’t worry, He’ll take care of the fingerprints ;)

You are not alone in your suffering

Sunday morning at church Hannah did an interpretive dance to Cry out to Jesus by Third Day, and it was amazing. Not only is she so beautiful but she did a great job, (I am so proud of her:) and the song and dance together was powerful; it had me in tears by the end of the first stanza. I fought them back the whole time as my ribs shook and my throat burned. It’s hard enough to think about my own pain, let alone all the people around me that are suffering too. I know often I get caught up in my own hurt and forget about the other, possibly bigger things people close to me may be going through. Although we all hurt in very different ways, there is one common thread that can heal and bring us together. He’ll meet you where ever you are.

When your lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
He’ll meet you wherever you are

“Cry Out To Jesus”

To everyone who’s lost someone they love
Long before it was their time
You feel like the days you had were not enough
when you said goodbye

And to all of the people with burdens and pains
Keeping you back from your life
You believe that there’s nothing and there is no one
Who can make it right

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He’ll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

For the marriage that’s struggling just to hang on
They lost all of their faith in love
They’ve done all they can to make it right again
Still it’s not enough

For the ones who can’t break the addictions and chains
You try to give up but you come back again
Just remember that you’re not alone in your shame
And your suffering

When your lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

To the widow who suffers from being alone
Wiping the tears from her eyes
For the children around the world without a home
Say a prayer tonight

First vacation of summer 2009

Unarguably some of my favorite pictures from the cruise:

Flower right off the boat in Key West

My view. all. week. long.

Sunset from my balcony

In Jamaica headed to Dunn River Falls on a Sail Boat, our ship in the background

Our sail

our wake

Jamaica from the sail boat

The beach at Dunn River Falls

finished!

I’m done!!!  woOOoHooOOoo!!!

I am done with my student teaching!! I also passed my exit interview and finished my portfolio this week. I am exhausted! So many of my students gave me cards, gift cards and letters today. Too sweet. I was so surprised. AND I got flowers! What a day. I might have teared up reading some of their letters too, who’d a thunk it.
Well, it’s over now and I am taking a nap.

it’s the climb

This song is not as good as the last song I posted, “Gran Torino,” so if you haven’t listened to that, do that first, but I gotta show some love to Miley Cyrus. I like this song because it talks about how we always have to keep our faith and keep fighting. Life is never going to be easy and there will always be some thing new to battle.
In a way, that is what makes life so great; we always have the opportunity to grow stronger and rise above the things that come up against us. It is the things we fight and beat (and the way we beat them) that make us who we are. 

The Lyrics

I hate watching her sing, so I picked the one without a video:

battle scars and worn out beds

I really like this song and have had it on repeat in my car the last couple of days. It just talks about the life we have and the way we live it… everything is up to us. “The world is nothing more than the tiny things you leave behind, Your story is Nothing more Than what you see Or What you’ve done Or will become.”

The song from the movie “Gran Torino.” I remember it playing as I walked out of the theatre thinking, I need to look that up… Well I finally did. And it is REALLY good. I love the lyrics and Jamie’s voice is amazing. Take a listen:

• the lyrics
• the youtube video
• the movie

Bad company corrupts good character.

“You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn’t reserve a plot for weeds.”
-Dag Hammarskjsld

My family over Easter and mom’s birthday

This is my awesome uncle, Tim.

He is my mom’s brother (as if you can’t tell). He and his beautiful wife Cheri came to visit for mom for her birthday over Easter weekend, it was the best surprise ever!

This is my wonderful family as we strike a lovely, yet generic, pose on the back porch for the camera.

This is where Tim gets a hold of the camera…
He decides he likes it and we should have more fun with this…

So, here is my family more accurately depicted in several still frames…

I love who we are.

sweet misery

Very very excited! :)

I never got around to blogging about my eyes because I was enjoying them too much! I had LASIK 2 months ago and am so impressed! For local readers, my surgery was done at the Tennessee Eye institute by Dr. Froula. He was a great considerate doctor and I have no complaints. I mean, it hurt a little, but I think that’s normal.

This is a picture of my eyes when I woke up from my nap, even before I went back that night for my follow up consultation. You can see the red spots that are either busted vessels or where they cut my eye open (sorry, not for those with weak stomachs).

It was totally worth it. It was definitely more uncomfortable that I expected though, everyone I knew said the surgery was nothing…but mine was definitely something, not so much painful, but awful! I think they just sent me in there before my valium had enough time to kick in so I was super nervous. I am (err was) legally blind, one I was -10 and the other was -12 WITH an astigmatism. The doctor said since my eyes were so bad the surgery was going to take longer. 6x longer! The actual LASIK procedure normally takes 10 seconds per eye, but took 60 per eye for me. SOoOoo I had to stare (scared to death I was going to mess up) at this tiny little light I could hardly even make out in the first place!  for what seemed like eternity! Ahhhh the agony!!

I think I was more stressed out than anything.

But, I have never been happier about a decision in my life. Well I mean, besides the whole giving my life to Jesus thing.

I went into surgery at almost 11:00 a.m. I sat up to look at (and see!) the clock at 11:15!!! — I immediately started crying.

These are the beautiful glasses I wore to bed every night for 5 days. I am not sure how useful they were seeing how I caught my self sliding them up to my forehead in the middle of the night to rub my eye balls. (Very bad of me!) I was alseeeeeeep!!!

SoooOOOoo HAPPY!

Every morning when I wake up and all I have to do it open my eyes, I smile. Literally two month later and I am just as happy as the moment I walked out of there. Happier actually.

And every night when I am ready for bed, I sigh a sigh of relief when I remember I do not have to take my contacts out.

No regrets.

(but don’t watch the videos online…)