Thursday, May 31, 2007

Top 10 selfish things I would do if I won the lottery....

1. Have a spa in my house...with estheticians (sp?), hair dressers, masseuses and nail people on call 24 hours a day.
*I read an article once that Donna Karan had one in her house and the only fabrics she used in the spa was cashmere and linen. Um Yeah, I will want that too.
2. House cleaner. Enough said.
3. Someone to iron our clothes.
4. A cook (preferably someone whose speciality is Italian food...or maybe Paula Deen) available if I wanted them and when I didn't want them to cook, they would still make the menu and do my grocery shopping. They would also be a wonderful pastry chef that could whip up sweet delicacies when I craved them at night.
*I actually love to cook...however there are nights I really hate it thus the second part of my cook's job.
5. A personal trainer. Did you see the above post?
6. Okay, I know this doesn't exist any more and I promise you, if I employed someone like this, I would treat them like royalty. Not the way they treated them in the old days (just like my favorite literary character of all times, Haddasah of the Mark of the Lion series). But you know when you read about them in books...I think they are called handmaidens or something? They were there to pick out clothes, do your hair and makeup, help you get undressed and dressed, draw you a bath, brush your hair, etc...yeah, I want one of those.
7. A personal shopper (for clothes and such). But I get to go too.
8. An endless supply of ridiculously expensive sheets with, like, 5000 thread count and a closet full of beautiful bedding that I could change out when I got bored with one set.
9. A library full of every book published.
10. Someone to manage my money. I mean come on ya'll. The lottery winnings will go pretty fast with all this stuff. I don't want to have to go through all the bankruptcy stuff that all the other yahoo lottery winners experience.
So that's that.

Friday, May 18, 2007

"Delight comes by the way of scars..."

The quote in the title of this post is by one of my favorite authors, Sue Monk Kidd. It has always seemed darkly poignant to me. It is written on my chalkboard beside my list of prayer requests. It serves as a gentle reminder that God never promised my life would be easy, but He did promise to work things together for my good....and He promised I would never walk alone.
Oh how homesick I am for Heaven right now. For those of you that do not know, Bobby and I suffered a miscarriage this week. As I have written to many of you, it has been harder than I thought. Painful, sad, lingering....however, God is sweetly supplying His famous peace. And I am swimming in it. Many will argue when life truly begins....this is not a post to argue that. But believing life begins at conception, I have been able to picture our sweet baby sheltered in the shadow of His wings...being gently rocked and lovingly held. My heart nearly burst at the thought of meeting my Jesus face to face. I cannot wait. And I now anxiously await meeting this sweet child someday. Perfect and whole and well. Unscathed by the sins of this world. Though I do not understand God's ways, I rest knowing my pain is never wasted. I know He is already working it together for my good. I am seeing His love in action, yet once again.
I know many ask the question of why bad things happen. We walk around in grief, fumbling as if in darkness and often cry "WHY?" I asked B today if he ever felt like he was playing games with God. Like not praying for specific things like increased wisdom, depth of insight, faith, etc...for fear of what He might do to get us there. I do. However, I know His character. I know that is not like Him. He LOVES me. And I will say, though my life has been SO blessed, there have been hard things. And it has been those hard things that have taught me of who He really is. Not who the world says He is, not even who believers say He is, but who He knows Himself to be.
I was looking back in my journal at another hard thing I was forced to walk through years ago...and God led me to a verse, it states...
"Thou hast showed Thy people hard things: Thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment." Psalm 60:3
I get it now. Each time I walk through the fire, though I ache with the burns, I am always astonished at the state of my heart. Comfort, peace and overwhelming faith. HE supplies.
"The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!" Job 1:21-22

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Our New Haven





Bobby bought me a new conversation set (4 chairs and a firepit table) for our patio for Mothers Day. My parents bought us a porch swing (in honor of you Heather!) and some new cushions and umbrella for our old patio furniture for Mothers and Fathers Day and B put on a fresh coat of paint to our old stuff and it looks amazing. We stained our concrete about a month back. I have LOVED having it! We sat outside for hours last night, even braving the mosquitos and enjoyed. I love sitting out there in the mornings having my quiet times. It really is my dream porch. More to post later....just wanted to share!