Love Me Challenge #25

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Our boys make me laugh all the time. They are so fun and funny. They really keep my on my toes! 😊

Comedians make me laugh sometimes, too, but it definitely depends on their humor and the condition of their words. Honestly, if they’re gonna cuss every other word or be crude and perverted, I just don’t see the humor in that. However, Tim Hawkins, Jeff Foxworthy or Jeff Allen can crack me up anytime! 😂 I even like some vintage humor like The Carol Burnett Show with Tim Conway and I Love Lucy!

Hope you get a good laugh from these! 
**Note: I do not own or possess any of these linked sites/videos. Simple google and link search to YouTube videos. If this has violated any copyrights or trademarks, please let me know, and I will gladly remove.**
 

Love Me Challenge #24

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This might seem like a little of a repeat from #19, but there’s really no way I can answer differently. My God, my husband and our boys make me happier than anything in this world! My God has become my Refuge, my Strength, my Peace, my Friend and so, so much more! My husband has become my best friend, my love, my confidante, and the list could go on and on. Our boys just bring so much joy, adventure and laughter in to our lives, I couldn’t imagine life without them!! …any of them!!

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I will have to say, another thing that makes me happy is great friends, especially lifelong or what I like to call “covenant” friends, because lifelong/covenant friends are hard to find. Covenant friendships don’t come into your life by chance nor are they birthed only from easy, fun-filled times together. Covenant friendships are birthed by choice and, often, through moments when you join arms and hearts and walk through the fires of life together. Life long friendships withstand the frivolous, the petty and even the physical miles that may grow over time. When you find one of these, hold onto them, cherish them and never let them go. Over the years, no matter the distance between you, you will be glad you did! 😉

Friday’s Friends #4

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Today is Friday, and that means I have something special to share: A New Friday’s Friend! I do hope you are enjoying these each week, and I hope you are finding some new “friends” here within the blogosphere. 🙂

I’d like to share with you a blogger who has touched my heart with the story she shares. BeautyBeyondBones has an incredible testimony of how she has lived in the depths of despair and came out shining on the other side with hope. Her story inspires me and encourages me to look beyond the smile that someone has and really look into their eyes to see if their soul is truly full of hope.

I do hope you will go and visit her, and I hope you will find her story as encouraging as I have. I love that her latest decision has been to completely live by faith, to live it radically and for a greater cause than herself…this is truly beautiful!

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Love Me Challenge #23

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Some might say my best feature is my smile. My friends might say it’s my eyes. I’ve heard others say it might be my hair or my tall physique. My husband would say…well, he just left the room when I asked him; so, I guess, I won’t be getting his answer for this post. If you ask me, my first response would be, “I don’t know.” This is really a difficult one for me, because I don’t like looking at myself and trying to figure out these kinds of answers. I’d rather talk about you and brag on your best feature(s). That is much more fun!

Yet, if I could say what I’d like my best feature to be is not something you will see at first glance, and it might not even be something you’ll notice at our first meeting of one another. However, once you get to know me, you’ll see I have a quiet, gentle way about me, and I have a knack for noticing small details. Sometimes, this trait will make me excruciatingly slow and meticulous, but when I’m “on it,” it allows me to see things others might miss. It causes me to see a pain in someone’s eyes when all the room sees their smile. It creates within me an ability to connect with the quiet, the lonely and the fearful. It allows me to see past the facade and smokescreen that someone may be giving in order to see the inner need to just belong and be loved.

I may not always see those little details, and I may very well “miss it” from time to time; however, when I’m listening closely to His voice and being in tune with His direction, this small ability becomes a great big asset in the Father’s hands, to be used for His glory, not because I’m ‘all that’ but because HE is.

Breathe Again

Life can feel like a heavy blanket resting on your chest, soaking up the rain, getting heavier and heavier. You can choose to get lost under the weight, dwindling down to nothing, expelling all the air from your lungs. You can close your eyes and simply allow the pain to wash you away in the storm. 

Heartache and grief is bound to come to each one. If it hasn’t visited you, just hold on, your hour will come when reality slams through the door like a hurricane, and you wonder if the sun will ever shine again. Those days, the air can become so suffocating, as if your house is on fire, and you’re caught within the fumes and the smoke, grasping for one more chance to breathe again. 

In that moment, in that lapse of time, you have to choose to breathe again, even when it is a struggle. Those are the minutes you will have to fight to survive. If it takes clawing your way out of that pit, then claw you must, but never give up. 

Never lie down and give up the fight so easily. Never roll out the red carpet for death to seize your mind and your soul. Never let the reaper consume you with hopelessness and despair. He will try, and he will scream horrors upon horrors to make you see him. Don’t let him win. 

There is Hope. There is a better way. Hope will bring light into the darkest night. Hope will return the song to the wind. Hope will chase away the clouds in due time, and Hope will help you to breathe again. 

Just take one tiny breath. Take one tiny step forward, and whisper His name, “Jesus.” He will answer. He will give you breath to breathe…


Love Me Challenge #22

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The quality that makes me unique the most is probably my quirkiness. LOL. I wrote a little about it here, and I have often found myself feeling annoyed, frustrated or just plain embarrassed by this quirkiness; however, as I grow older, I have come to accept it as a part of me. Now, I work harder to allow Christ to reveal Himself through all of that, and I have realized when I rely more on Him than myself, His uniqueness is all I need! 😉

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Tears Flow Like Rain

Sometimes, you just have to let the tears flow. Let them flow like rain. I’m not talking about manipulative water works here, those kind of tears found springing forth when a person is trying to work their own way in a situation they do not belong, or the kind of show that is selfish, ambitious, full of jealousy and greed.

No, I’m talking about drops of rain that rush forth from a broken and contrite soul. Tears which flow from a heart that is humbled before a righteous God.Tears can purify our thoughts as we allow His Spirit to wash over our soul. Tears can cleanse a wound and bring healing to the mind. Tears that are mingled with the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit can bring repentance, forgiveness, clarity and wholeness to the heart.

Personally,  I have always been the kind of person who can “cry at the drop of a hat,” not because I make myself, but rather because it seems I don’t know where the shut of valve is. 😂 Honestly,  there are times when that can get really annoying! Haha!😂 There was a time in my life when I hated crying, because I thought it made me appear weak, without strength or stamina; then, there were a few times I’d relish in those droplets that flowed, because I noticed the compassion that often followed. Over the years, I think I’ve just accepted them as my way of allowing God’s Spirit to cleanse mine.

I have concluded, it’s just a part of who I am. Tears are a part of my human make-up, and unless, I become hardened, bitter and mean, tears simply come with the territory of me. I suppose, I’d much rather be tender, sensitive and quick to shed a tear than rigid, barbed and hateful. At least this way, I can still fight the enemy with tears streaming down my face, and remain steadfast until the end, rather than becoming a robot, simply going through too much pain to even process and further damaging those within my sphere by my lack of empathy and love…

Love Me Challenge #21

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I am so proud of my God!! He is something else! If you haven’t met Him, you should, because He will change your life!! ❤

and I’m so proud of my husband and our boys! They are so incredibly awesome, and I truly don’t deserve them; however, I am so thankful God brought them all into my life!! ❤

(this, of course, is a younger pic of them, but they are growing into such fine young men!)

Tuesday’s Treats #56

Caprese NY Pizza and Pasta

Location: Dacula, Ga

 

This little Italian place is good for a quick lunch or early dinner. I wouldn’t say it’s really a “date night” place, but that is to each one’s opinion. The place is small, but they have a lunch buffet during the weekdays that is pretty good. I’d have to rate this place with a solid “B+.” The food is definitely good. It’s not the best Italian I’ve ever had, yet, definitely not the worst either.

The meal was filling and tasty. My son and I ordered the personal pizza (10′), garlic rolls and a salad (for me). We still had one piece of pizza left over and a roll. We got a half pepperoni and half “the works.” The Greek salad I got was really good, and the Italian dressing had a strong oil and herb base, but it was delicious. Like I said, the pizza was tasty, but I wasn’t crazy about the Italian sausage on it. It just wasn’t as flavorful as I like Italian sausage to be; so, I did take that off. The rolls were just kind of average, but the garlic butter they were swimming in was delicious. I dipped my pizza crust in it! I do apologize for not getting a pic of the pizza. I had put away my camera by the time it came, and I completely forgot! 🙄

The restaurant is very clean, and the staff is very friendly. For a Saturday afternoon around 2:00pm, they had a decent crowd coming and going, too. So, if you’re in the area, you might give them a try. Here’s the website to find the location and menu items.

Love Me Challenge #20

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I wrote a post a long time ago about what I love to wear…

WARM CLOTHES  and   BOOTS!

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I am one of those “odd people” who would rather wear boots than anything else. I pull out my boots at the very first sign of cooler weather, and I am probably one of the very last who put them away for the season. So, here in Georgia, I wear them about 6-7 months out of the year, depending on how the weather works out that year. haha!

I love all kinds of boots, but this is one of my favorite pairs, because my love gave them to me as a birthday present. They were the first pair of real cowboy boots I’ve ever owned (or as an adult, at least)…

SWEET!