live, love, laugh

So I heard the other day that NASA is spending close to 80 million dollars to basically bomb the moon in search of water….my question is who is the guy that approved that budget? “I’m sorry we can’t afford to cloth the homeless, or fix our schools, or research a cure for cancer, or provide a clean water supply for an African city, because we have to bomb the moon!” Good grief!

Well Danny and I are still living with Rachel...no changes there! I can't speak for Danny, but I don't feel quite as suffocated in this small bedroom as I did. I guess I am just getting used to it and, since our situation doesn't look to change anytime soon, I am determined to be content. We have been through quite a lot financially this year, but it has only strengthened our faith in God through all of this and our trust in him grows with every decision we have had to make. And I think he will use our story to help others who may be facing the same things. I have been blessed to share part of our story on local television shows twice already, and God gets all the glory for that.

Speaking of television, our church, Faith Assembly, now has their own tv station, WLCN HD. We went live on June 12th. Dad has been working at the station and he absolutely loves it! Mom does some of the camera work on Sundays and she helps with scheduling the volunteers. WLCN has local news shows, classic television shows, and other original local programming like Ask A Pastor and Faith and Finance. I volunteer on Tuesday nights to run the teleprompter for the evening local news show, Port City Live. WLCN is currently only available on knology and Home cable channels, but anyone can watch WLCN streaming live on http://www.wlcntv.com/

Danny and I celebrated our 3-year wedding anniversary on September 23rd. We enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant called Farringdon's in Summerville. I absolutely love being married and I love my husband so much!


Can I just take a moment to say how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband! But, honestly it’s not luck. We work hard at our marriage and we make a choice everyday to love each other no matter what. That’s right, I said we choose. Some people are under the illusion that love is this fantastic feeling that gives you butterflies in your stomach and hearts in your eyes, and when that feeling fades you are no longer in love and it’s time to move on. They couldn’t be more wrong. While it is true that loving someone can make you feel fantastic and can be a wonderful high, Love itself is not the feeling….love is the choice. I find it so frustrating to hear of people who choose to throw away their marriage vows because they aren’t “in love” anymore. The true fact is they stopped choosing each other, but instead became selfish and chose themselves.

Last Friday night Rachel, mom, dad, and I all volunteered at the Sanctus Real/Addison Road concert that was held at the Collision Concert Center at our church. It was so much fun! Granted I think the music was a little loud...the sound was almost distorted because it was so loud, but it was a great experience to be able to volunteer my time, because we wouldn't have been able to host this concert or others to come without many volunteers.

On a finally note, here is a hilarious picture Danny took at the zoo last month.

My Pink Blanket

So it's been quite a year! After being unemployed for almost a year, Danny finally has a job that he loves and that is perfect for him....He is a professional photographer and a local studio that handles the Senior pictures for many area high schools. They also do under classmen and yearbook portraits. His dream is to have his own photography business someday and this is the perfect launch pad for him! I'm so happy for him!

I had a scare back in May when I was temporarily laid off from my transcription job due to the economy, but God miraculously gave me my job back sooner than expect and on the day that I was about to sign with another company. I absolutely love my job and the company that I work for, and I'm so thankful that I get to work from home everyday!

We are still living with my sister, Rachel. It has been 8 months now and we ahve no idea how much longer it will be. I get discouraged when it seems nearly impossible to put any money aside for a place of our own....there always seems to be some unplanned medical/vet bill, or something else that pops up. We are continually thankful for having a place to live that still allows me to work from home and allows our pets to live with us, but sometimes the walls of our bedroom seem smaller and smaller and the desire for a place of our own is so very real. But we serve a great big God and I know that no matter how the numbers on paper do not add up for us, he can provide the perfect house for us when the time is right. So I'll just keep praying for my pink blanket! (this is in reference to a testimony of how God answers prayer that I recently read in Jim Bob and Michell Duggar's book 20 and Counting. I won't share the whole story here, but you can read about it here http://books.google.com/books?id=GWSeYWSIBdQC&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=pink+blanket+duggar&source=bl&ots=zXQvzMuNeR&sig=0UwXGTNSeWBp4PlMXJEwDUhcBZA&hl=en&ei=HM1wSpiBK5-MtgfCkbSnDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 )

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer! We have enjoyed a pretty mild July for SC, actually. Some days are still insanely hot, but we had a day this month where I was able to work from the front porch all day and the weather was spectacular. Danny and I have done several fun things like visiting the Old Santee Canal State Park, going to the new Mt. Pleasant Waterfront Park and the Charleston Waterfront Park, all of which Danny had a wonderful time take pictures (but unfortunately I don't have any to share here because they are all on my external drive in the other room!) We also enjoyed going to a church league softball game. I wish we had been able to go to more, but they are usually too late. Hopefully, Danny can join the league next year....he so loves to play!

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you all since you haven't heard from me in months. As I always say, I'll try not to stay away so long.

randomness....

more random things....

1. I love shoes but I would almost rather go barefoot all the time.
2. I, however, can't stand other people's feet.
3. I don't believe that there is good in everyone....some people are just plain evil....like child molesters and serial killers....they get pure joy out of the evil they do and no matter what made them that way...screwed up childhood or abusive parents or social class or whatever....I don't believe they can be saved or rehabilitated from twisted lives they lead, therefore....
4. I do believe in the death penalty...I do not think we should over crowd jails and waste taxpayers money on people that are so evil they shouldn't be using our oxygen.... (of course #3 and #4 are my own opinion and they are why I'm not God)
5. I love driving through the country, seeing old barns and rolled hay....
6. I plan to go on a wonderful vacation or mini-vacation with Danny every year. I love getting away somewhere with him and exploring new places.
7. I hate having to go in the office and crawl under the desk 5 times a day to reset the router that constantly goes offline....(I just had to go do this again!)
8. I am very passionate about the sanctity of marriage....It is a covenant, it is a commitment....and it really upsets me when people don't honor the commitment they made.
9. I miss having my mammaw here to pray for me....I know she is praying for me in heaven and I know one person's prayers aren't necessarily better than anothers...but she was so close to God...and the Bible says "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
10. I hate it when parents dress their twins (or multiples) exactly alike. (Thanks mom for not doing that to us!) We may have had the same clothes at times, but at least they were different colors. Twins are not the same person...dressing exactly alike treats them like they are (to me anyways).
11. I am addicted to Breathe Right strips....I have to sleep with one on every night or I will wake up not being able to breathe.
12. I hate subdivisions. I plan to live in a big house someday....hopefully a victorian....and have at least a few acres.
13. I have a horrible habit of not turning the lights off. It drives Danny crazy.
14. It totally makes my day when I walk into my sister's house and I hear my 2 neices and my nephew yell "Aunt Beka" as they run to give me hugs.
15. I love, more than anything else, spending time with my cousins, playing games, talking about growing up years, eating brownies, and just enjoying time together.
16. I wish I was wealthy....I'm not greedy, I just hate having to leave beneath my means....plus I would be able to share so much of it with family and my church

The end of 2008

Let me try to sum up the last 2 months of 2008. We started off November with a wonderful vacation to Tennessee in the Gatlinburrg/Pigeon Forge area. This is a great time to go! Not too crowded because it is in between the fall and winter seasons. The colors are wonderful, just slighly past peak. The weather was perfect! It made me never want to leave. Check out the video I made of our vacation.

I've been working all the holidays for some extra pay, but it hasn't really affected my time to spend with my family. I worked Thanksgiving day then we went to Danny's parent's house for dinner. Then on Black Friday we had our family dinner at Kristi's house. I made my yummy pumpkin ice cream pies!

I also got to help Jacquelyn and Nicole write their letters to Santa! So cute!

Danny and I moved in with Rachel in early December. We are still trying to get things organized and some stuff unpacked....it's so hard having a houseful of stuff and having to decide what can stay in a box indefinitely and what few things can go in our one room. I've pretty overwhelmed and feeling like a fish out of water this month trying to get used to the transition. I have never handled change well. In the middle of all this I have had to find time to finish a cross stitch of Nicole that I was making for Kristi for Christmas and also find time to study for my CMT test. I took the test on Dec 22 and I passed! So I now carry the CMT credentials behind my name (which means that I am a certified medical transcriptionist....only about 3000 in the country!)

I went with Rachel to a Christmas party downtown at the Mills House that the Spine doctors throw every year. It was pretty nice....at least we got to dress up!

Mack loved to nap underneath the Christmas Tree on my homemade tree skirt. Our Christmas was pretty normal. We went to my aunts house on Christmas Eve Eve for the reading of the christmas story and singing carols by candlelight. We also watched videos of different family members' vacations.

Christmas Eve was spent at mom and dad's. Dad made chili for dinner then we opened stockings and gifts. Here is a picture of Kristi holding the shadow box and cross stitch of Nicole that I made for her .

I worked on Christmas Day, but then Danny and I went to his parent's house for dinner and presents and to hang out. They got a Wii, so we had a ball playing on that.



We rang in the new year at our friends Kim and Josh's house. I've never really been to a New Year's party with friends....usually just hang out at home or with family....so that was fun. I wasn't in the best of moods but I tried to make the best of it and I did have a good time. We played cornhole and warmed up by the fire pit, we watched Josh set the lawn on fire with faulty fireworks, and we all toasted strawberry wine at the stroke of midnight. It was a great little party!

Contentment

I was reading Phillipians 4 this morning....Paul starts off by saying "Rejoice in the Lord always." I can speak from experience, as can most people, it's not that easy to rejoice ALL the time. should I be rejoicing that Danny has been out of work for 4 months, and that we have to sell our house and move into a small bedroom at my sister's house....but the verse doesn't say to rejoice only when you are in a great mood or if you've just won the lottery....it says ALWAYS. So i'm doing whatever I can to not let anything steal my joy. Paul goes on to say, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Now I can't say that I've mastered the "don't be anxious" part, but I'm trying with the help of God and some medication. But, in all honest, who of us can say that we don't worry about things. I do know that with every major decision Danny and I have had to make this summer, I have felt complete peace about it. And when those anxious thoughts do come up in my mind, I just have to go back to and do what Paul says in Phillipians 8-9..."Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." He goes on to say "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

SO no matter what is going on in my life, I am content because I know the strength of God will help me through this. SO how do I stay content? It's all in how you look at things. Sure, Danny has been out of work for 4 months, but I have gotten to enjoy having him home with me everyday. Sure, we have to sell our house, but now I get to live with my 2 best friends. Sure we have basic bills and medical bills coming out the yang, and only have 1 income now, but through God's faithfulness in taking care of us, not one bill has gone late. So I keep telling myself, my God is bigger than this....He has a plan.

Do I think it will be easy living in a small room in my sister's house? No, I'm sure it will be trying at times and we'll all get on each other's nerves eventually, but I thank God for her everyday....without her, where would we go? So, she gets a live-in cook and yard boy and we get a roof over our heads....not a bad deal!

So, though I haven't blogged in months, that's what has been going on with us. Now I'll share some recent pictures with you.

This first one is Danny and I at his best friend Josh's wedding to our good friend Kim Perry.



Here is a cool picture Danny took at the zoo of Rachel and I chatting on a bench in the Gardens.

Here is the most adorable, sleepy, grizzly bear I have ever seen!

And here is my adorable dog, Sabrina (we call her Brina). She's so spoiled because when she looks at me like that, she can get anything she wants!

I'll try not to stay away so long....

Our loss is Heaven's gain....

Ever since hearing of the tragic death of our Pastor's wife, Tania Burgbacher, this past Tuesday in an automobile accident, I have been trying to make sense of it in my mind. Not that it has to make any sense to me. God is in control. He has a purpose and it's not always for us to understand. But here is how my mind works....

When I think of angels, they are very tangible beings...I credit that to the wonderful way that angels are depicted in 2 of my favorite books by Frank Peretti, "This Present Darkness" and Peircing the Darkness." I think that prepartions in Heaven for Tania's homecoming were at their height on Tuesday morning. Angels were readying her mansion for her arrival, the crowning ceremony was scheduled, and her bejeweled crown was polished to a brilliant shine. It may have started out as an excited undertone, but as the day wore on and the hour got closer, all of the Heaven was buzzing with anticipation. "Tania is coming today!" the angels exclaimed to each other. I believe we all have our own personal guardian angels...and I'm sure Tania's angels were in awe as they were debriefed that morning of their duties for the day....what an honor, to be able to escort their faithful servant to the Throne Room of the Most High.

Yes, those of us that were left behind, to follow her at some other appointed time, are grieving our loss. I can't even begin to imagine how her family is hurting right now. But when I think of her reception as she entered the gates of Heaven, I can't help but smile and think how lucky she is.

Golf Week!

So this past week there was an LPGA Golf tournament at a local golf course, Rivertowne, in Mt. Pleasant. It was the Ginn Tribute hosted by Annika Sorenstam. The hospital that Rachel works for were sponsors of the event and they also provided the First Aid/Medical tent. (Rachel worked the tent on Saturday). When I heard that Rachel was gonna volunteer, I started getting excited about the possibility of getting free tickets! I'm not a huge LPGA fan, but I do really like Lorena Ochoa....and Danny is a big fan of Natalie Gulbis. Plus, I was really excited about doing something I've never done before....actually, with the exception of one Braves' baseball game, I've never been to any major sporting event.


Rachel was able to score us some weekly passes, so on Wednesday, Rachel and I went to the ProAm game. On that day, we were allowed to take a camera. We couldn't take one any other day of the tournament. I was very disappointed to find out that Lorena Ochoa had to back out of the tournament due to a death in the family....I was so looking forward to meeting her. Hopefully, I'll get the opportunity next year. Also, by the time we got there and figured out where things were, we had already missed seeing Natlie Gulbis or get any pics or autographs from her.

I did get my visor autographed by Paula Creamer.

I also got an autograph from Annika Sorenstam, the host of the tournament. This is her last year of competitive golf; she announced her retirement a few months ago.

We had a lot of fun that day! Due to work, we weren't able to go to the tournament on Thursday or Friday, but Danny and I went on Saturday. We got there in time to see Paula Creamer at the 10th Hole, then as we were headed to the info booth to get the free booklets they had with player bios, we walked right by Natalie Gulbis....I grabbed Danny so he would notice too! We turned around and followed her to get her autograph on our hats. Danny was completely awestruck....that totally made his day to be able to talk to her....He watched her practice putting and driving, then we followed her around her first 9 holes. The heat was pretty bad this weekend, and it was all I could do to make it around 9 holes. I cooled off in the medical tent with Rachel while he watched some more golf....but we left after being there around 4 hours.

We went back on Sunday, and despite getting a flat tire on the way there, we made it just in time to see Natalie tee off again. Danny followed her almost the entire round, just taking a break for lunch and cooling off for a bit. Rachel and I caught a few holes here and there, but mostly tried to keep cool in the shade. The heat index was about 95 degrees. As each player finished their rounds, they made a stop at the scoring tent, then would offer autographs. We got more autographs from Paula and Natalie in our bio books so Danny can frame his and I can put mine in my scrapbook.

It was such a fun weekend, but I do not like being in the heat at all and it completely wiped me out. We did stay well hydrated and had plenty of sunscreen on, and I think after getting a lot of sleep last night and resting today, I am finally feeling back to normal.

I do look forward to going back again next year (I hope Rachel can score some more free tickets!) I hope to meet Lorena then!