Randomness on a Monday Night

What I'm drinking: 

Turkey Hill Diet Blackberry Sweet Tea

 {it is SO yummy!}

What I'm eating: 

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

{yummy!}

What I'm reading: 

Crazy Love by Francis Chan 

{so good}

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

{great series about gifted kids}

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

{book club book for November}

What I'm listening to:

Adele 21

Come to the Well by Casting Crowns

What about you?

What are you drinking, eating, reading, and listening to?

It is True

I'm reading Francis Chan's amazing book 
Crazy Love 

and it is truly fabulous!

He truly challenges me with every chapter and 
although sometimes it is hard to read, I love absolutely it. 

This is one of the quotes that keeps repeating itself 
over and over and over again in my head- 
such great food for thought. 

God Has Called You

Storing Up Memories

My sweet friend Dory came for a long weekend visit 

this past weekend and it was FABULOUS!

We stayed at my sweet friend Betty's lakehouse and had a weekend full of:

• LOTS and LOTS of talking
• driving to another town to watch Madison dance at halftime & almost not finding the stadium in time
• eating {best pie ever here- they even have pie happy hour!}
• lots of antique shopping
• movie watching {3 in the theater-Utopia, Dolphin Tale, The Big Year- 2 on DVD}
•  driving around in the golf cart {SO SO SO SO fun!}
•  TONS of laughing {like when I walked into the men's restroom at the movies- oops!}
• GIANT metal chicken picture taking
• 2.5 hours spent in the McDonald's parking lot while a precious young man {along with his wife, 16 month old, and cousin} changed the starter in my car {they were truly a blessing!}
• coffee and Diet Coke drinking {which meant many trips to Sonic & McDonald's}
• Rummikub playing
• picture taking {GIANT spur, antler tree, beautiful lake sunrise}

It was a super relaxing weekend and I loved every single minute of it! 

We always have such a great time together and because we live so far apart, 

I try to treasure and store up every single memory in my heart for 

all those days in between our visits. 

I absolutely HATED to put her back on the plane to go home. 

I HATE that we live so far apart.

But I am so thankful for the time that we get to spend together

and for text messaging and email and phones

and so thankful God blessed me with such a precious friend. 

I love her much!

Installing Fonts

I've had some emails lately asking how to install fonts once 

they are downloaded so I made a quick video to show you how! 

Move

This is my current favorite song. I get to school pretty early each day {around 6:45} and I usually play this song 4 or 5 times before school starts.  I just love the lyrics! Such a great reminder that if we keep our focus where it should be- on Him- there will be brighter days.  That because of our relationship with Him, we are to move to the beat of a different drummer.  

I'm not about to give up
Because I heard you say
There's gonna be brighter days
There's gonna be brighter days
I wont stop, I'll keep my head up
No, I'm not here to stay
There's gonna be brighter days
There's gonna be brighter days

I just might bend but wont break
As long as I can see your face

When life wont play along
And right keeps going wrong
And I can't seem to find my way
I know where I am found
So I wont let it drag me down
Oh, I'll keep dancing anyway

I'm gonna move (move)
I'm gonna move (move)
I'm gonna move [gonna move]

Ive got to hold it steady
Keep my head in the game
Everything is about to change
Everything is about to change
This burdens getting heavy
But I'm not about to cave
Everything's about to change
There's gonna be brighter days

No matter what may come
Gotta move to a different drum
No matter what life brings
Gotta move gotta move to a different beat
Gotta move gotta move to a different beat

Worry and Stress

Worry and Stress

You Can't Take it With You

My uncle passed away this week after a valiant battle with leukemia. He was an amazing & godly husband to his wife Linda (my aunt passed away 9 years ago- he was an amazing husband to her as well) and father to 3 great sons.  My Daddy and I traveled to Little Rock for the funeral. We were gone for a total of 27 hours- 17 of which were spent in the car. It was great to see so much of my mom's family but it made me sad to realize how long it's been since I saw most of them- and how much I miss my Mommy. 


I have three cousins and they all spoke at my uncle's funeral.  They did an amazing job of sharing great things about their dad- specifically his strong faith in God and his belief in Jesus Christ. We all left the funeral feeling like we truly celebrated my uncle's life!


My middle cousin Greg shared a story that was absolutely hysterical and had us all laughing through our tears!


He first shared that when he married his wife years ago he was changing out of his tuxedo at the end of the reception he realized that although he had a jacket and slacks, he had no shirt. So his sweet Daddy literally gave him "the shirt off of his back"- which wasn't surprising at all given his nature.


Greg then shared that this past Wednesday night while staying at his Dad and step-mother's house he opened the closet door of the room he was staying in to get out his outfit for the viewing the following day.  When he opened the closet door he found that his suit was not there. As he stared into the closet he had a sinking feeling.  He quickly turned to his older brother and said...."Which closet did Linda get dad's suit out of?" To which his brother replied "This one!"


Greg grabbed the phone and immediately called the funeral home. Since it was 1:30am he reached their answering service and left a message.  He eventually received a return call from someone at the funeral home who told him "I am so sorry but YOUR suit.....is on your dad. And you know....we alter those suits." 


And so although they say "You can't take it with you!" - my uncle definitely did! He was buried wearing his son's suit! 


(One of my favorite parts of this story is that Linda (my uncle's wife) did not know this had happened until my cousin told the story at the funeral! He told her "I know you wanted my dad to be buried in the suit you were married in, but he wasn't". So funny!)

How to Get Women to Exercise

Font Questions

I've had several people email recently 

to ask what fonts I used in my 

See You Later Alligator poster and 

 my Class Rules poster 

so I thought there were probably others who wondered too

 so........I figured I'd post them here. 

I love fonts! 

What are you favorite fonts right now? 

Instant Focus

I don't know about you but I often get so caught up in the insanity of life and the long list of all that I have to do.  So focused on my to-do list that I forget what is truly important.  This past week something happened that instantly and completely changed my focus- and although it was scary- I am thankful for God's reminder.


It was Monday afternoon.  I picked up Madison from school and then we ran by Hobby Lobby to pick up something I needed for a project I was working on for a friend.  As we got in the car to go home I asked Madison if she wanted to drive. She's been rather hesitant to drive and as she said "no" I considered forcing her to- but thankfully didn't. 


We headed home on the highway.  Right before the exit we take to our house, the main road through our town merges with the highway from the right. So we were right before the merging takes places, in the right lane when a large truck pulled ahead of us in the left lane.  It was an 18 wheeler that was carrying some sort of heavy equipment {maybe a crane?} and was throwing rocks behind it! Not small pebbles, but big ROCKS! Like the size of a golf ball! 


I immediately started slowing down- saying something about how ridiculous and dangerous it was that they were throwing these huge rocks! The brand new car directly in front of me started to swerve- in order to miss some of the rocks- and started to lose control of their car.  As they started to swerve I said "OH no!" but assumed they would correct and get back in the lane.  


Instead of that happening, the driver completely lost control- careening across the merging lane, the shoulder, and driving into the large ditch next to a large concrete divider wall at about 70mph. I started yelling "OH my goodness NO!" when the car slammed into the concrete wall, bounced off of it and flipped around and came to a stop facing the wrong direction in the ditch. 


I immediately pulled over - as quickly as I could- yelled at Madison to "STAY IN THE CAR and call 911!" and started running towards the car.   As I started running towards the car- I saw that it was smoking and I noticed no one was getting out of it- which scared me.  I ran back to my car, grabbed my phone and took off running again.  


The ditch I was running through had tall dead grass that went up to about my knees.  As I ran I prayed for the people in the car- not sure what I would encounter when I arrived there.  I got to the smoking car and was shocked to see an older man and woman sitting in the front seat- alert and conscious.  


I tried to open the drivers door but it was locked.  Tried the driver side back door which was also locked.  I ran around to the other side to find the passenger side completely demolished from slamming into the wall- the window broken but both doors also unable to open.  As smoke rose from the car- I called 911- worrying that the car would catch on fire with the couple inside.  


As I was on the phone, the man in the car was also on his cell phone with 911- as was Madison who I could see sticking her head out of the car looking back at the wreck- but following my directions not to get out of the car. {The 911 operator also told her not to get out of the car!}  Thankfully it wasn't too long before a policeman showed up and together we were able to get the couple out of the car.  Many other emergency vehicles soon followed- a firetruck and ambulance included. 


Thankfully, other than being shaken up the couple was in pretty good shape- although the wife had some cuts from the glass and some bruising from the seat belt and air bag. The paramedics checked their blood pressure to make sure they were okay and asked to transport the wife to check her out at the hospital.  I filled out a witness report for the police describing what happened.  The sweet couple kept thanking me for stopping- and the gentleman hugged me before I left which I thought was so very sweet of him.  I walked back to my car and to Madison and thanked God for protecting that sweet couple.  


In the time that it took for the accident to occur, my focus went from the 100's of things I needed to accomplish that night to what really mattered- people.  It was such a huge reminder that all the junk we add to our schedule is just junk- and people are what truly matter. I know that in my heart but sometimes think I get so focused on the tasks I need to accomplish and checking them of my to-do list, that I forget to focus on the people in my lives and those strangers God places around me. 


My prayer every day since then has been for God to open my eyes to the people around me that He wants and needs me to see.  So thankful for His reminder. He is so good!!

There is ALWAYS a choice....

Thanks to Leslie for this great quote! 

Such a great reminder to kids AND adults!

I LOVE it!

There is Always a Choice

WhatTheFont app

I just came across the COOLEST app ever! 

WhatTheFont is a FREE app that allows you 

to identify the font used in a photo or graphic. 

How neat is that? 

Courageous

My sweet hubby and I went to see the new movie Courageous yesterday. 

It's the new movie by the creators of "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof"- 
both of which were fabulous Christian movies.  


My favorite thing about the movies produced by Sherwood Baptist Church is that they very clearly 
share the gospel of Christ- no beating around the bush. 

We figured that we would love Courageous and we so did! 

The theater was packed and several shows were sold out- which makes me so happy!

You definitely NEED to go see it! Seriously. 

But be warned- you will need Kleenex- LOTs of Kleenex!