Keepin' it Real

This is a different kind of post. It's not uplifting or inspiring (or maybe it will be). I'm just "keepin' it real" (meaning being honest) and sharing what I'm feeling. The words to this post have been running through my head all morning, so here goes.
I'm disappointed - not in my kids or my husband, but in myself. I consider myself an upbeat, positive person. Well, not so the past few days. Why you may ask? Quite simply, I took my eyes off the prize. No, not the new car we were looking at buying, but Jesus!!! I have been consumed (for lack of a better word) with looking at cars. I have wasted hours on the computer checking out gas mileage and price options. I have wasted hours sitting in car dealerships listening to the "truth" as it has been told to me by dealers. (Notice "truth" in quotes, I wish just ONE dealer would give the truth). I chose not to attend a funeral visitation and missed church Wednesday night all because my focus was somewhere else. God has used this to show me how easily my focus can be diverted. How no matter how unconcerned I am about material things, they can affect me. I didn't think my personality could change so fast. I have seen that the timing is not right now for us to buy a car. If it were - this experience wouldn't be so hard. God opens the doors that need to be opened and He closes the doors that need to be closed. So even though the phone is ringing off the hook (2 dealers have already called this morning; one has called twice), I will patiently wait on the Lord. Some of you may think that sounds silly, but the Word of God tells us "for in Him we live and move and have our being". I will not move until He moves me. I will not try to go through a door that He has closed. I will not try to open it in my own strength. I am also not going to wallow in self pity - YUK! I will embrace the lesson I have learned and move forward. As David List (church friend that has moved to Florida) said Sunday at church, "You can't drive forward looking in the rear view mirror."

Who knows in driving my car that doesn't have air conditioning I might lose that 15 lbs. I want to lose.
Be blessed!!!

Busy, busy weekend

Boy, were we busy last week and (week)end.

• Wednesday, before the fishing trip, we went out to church to help set up tables for a luncheon for Sunday.


• Thursday, Anna Gracen and I went to church to help Ms. Carla decorate the tables. Then we went to MeMa's to swim with cousins, Jacob and Eli. They are both such cuties! (However, Jacob probably wouldn't appreciate being called a cutie.) Eli seemed to like my Carolina Hurricanes hat. I'm not sure if he kept looking at it because it was red or because he was wondering why I wasn't wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers' hat like his daddy.


• Friday, I headed to Greenville for a much needed hair cut. I love Edward at Bella Salon!! Afterwards the kids and I went shopping at the mall. What an adventure with three kids all wanting to shop for themselves. They were very patient which made the trip fun. We were successful in finding some shorts & shirts for Wooten. I wish I had taken a picture of Christian's "crappy" shoes (as he called them) before we threw them away. They were great play shoes, but he had started wearing them in public which, quite frankly, was embarrassing. We desperately (desperate because he was wearing those very shoes that day) looked at the mall for an inexpensive replacement pair, but didn't find any. He is so cute maybe no one looked at his feet.


• We celebrated Aunt Lillian's birthday on Saturday and enjoyed some fun in the sun and pool.


• Sunday was packed with lots of food and fellowship. Our church family celebrated the 28th anniversary of the church. We also celebrated our Pastor's 50 years in the ministry. Which meant lots of food preparation Saturday night. We had to be at church at 9:30 am for me to practice a dance with the dance team. The service was a great time of worship and unity. There were guests that came to honor Pastor Eric and share their memories. There was a dance that we did to "Worthy is the Lamb". The congregation sang along with the video "I Then Shall Live". We had a pot luck feast. Boy, do we have some awesome cooks at our church!! I think the same can be said of any church.


• The kids and I left straight from church to head to Clayton for Carson's 1st birthday. (Tom was on the midnight shift & was thus sleeping). Carson LOVED his birthday cake. When his piece was placed in front of him, he kept looking at his Mommy and Daddy like he was wondering "Are you really going to let me eat this by myself?" Too cute!! Sydney had fun (for awhile) opening Carson's presents. He was occupied playing with toys. Sydney stopped and decided she was going to try out Carson's new golf set. That girl can swing! Watch out, Tiger Woods. Once she makes contact with the ball, she'll give you a run for your money.


• We headed back to Wilson. I had time to drop the kids off with Tom, freshen up and then I was off again. This time to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner with some ladies from church. Carolyn H., a friend from church, did a great job of organizing a "girls' night out". Our friend, Cecile, who is now living in Florida, was in town for the church celebration. It was so much fun visiting with one another. Anna Gracen said it must have been fun because I was there for 4 hours. You know how girls are when they get together and get talking. It was more than a dinner, it was a time of encouraging each other in the Lord, a time of sisterhood. What a time of blessing!!!

After a busy weekend, we are taking it easy today. Relaxing with s bike ride and doing some laundry. All too quickly another weekend will be here...I need to rest up!

P.S. I had a delay in posting this because I ran Wooten over to visit with friends. Then we went out looking (just looking for now) at cars and then I was off to prayer. I may end up busy before the weekend even gets here.

So many movies, so little time...

Okay, I'm going to approach this a little different. I'll list the movie, number of stars I rate it (5 being excellent 1 terrible and my thoughts about it. Don't worry I won't reveal any specific plot twists. I love plot twists. I'm always trying to figure out what's going to happen. You know if everyone is happy and the movie still has an hour left that something is going to go wrong. I like to figure out what that something is. Have I mentioned that I LOVE MOVIES!!

Here goes:

1. ***** "Waterhorse" - great family movie about the Loch Ness Monster and friendship.

2. ***** "The Illusionist" (Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel) - wonderful must see movie. Paul Giamatti is fantastic; great love story but not a chick flick.

3. ***** "The Other Boleyn Girl" (Natalie Portman [from "Star Wars"], Scarlett Johansson [she was the little girl in "The Horse Whisper"]) - story about King Henry the 8th, Anne Boleyn and her sister, Mary. Make sure you watch the bonus material on the DVD, very interesting history.

4. ***** "Next" (Nicholas Cage, Jessica Biel, Julianne Moore) - a different kind of movie but I love it. Good plot twist movie.

5. ***** "Ghost Rider" (again Nicholas Cage, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Eva Mendes) - very sci-fi. Tom didn't like it that much, but I loved it. (He also didn't care for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films but I loved them, also). Spiritual content - good triumphs over evil.

6. ***** "Enchanted" (Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey [McDreamy from "Grey's Anatomy"]) - great fairy tale movie. Anna Gracen & I saw it at the movies and then rented it when it came out. Must admit the guys didn't enjoy it much (pre adolescent chick flick)

7. ***** "Alvin and the Chipmuks" - (Jason Lee, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, duh) - great family movie. Christian liked Theodore the best. They are all so cute!

8. ****1/2 "Evan Almighty" (Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham no relation to Laura Graham) - good family movie. I had my kids tell me the similarities and differences between Evan and the story of Noah.

9. ****1/2 "Cleaner" (Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Ed Harris) - great plot twist movie. Warning lots of blood (the main character cleans up crime scenes).

10. ****1/2 "Michael Clayton" (George Clooney, enough said in my opinion) - strong language, but awesome movie. Great twists.

11. **** "Underdog" (Jason Lee is the voice for Underdog; James Belushi) - another good family movie. We enjoyed it.

12. **** "National Treasure" & "National Treasure II: Book of Secrets" (Nicholas Cage, Jon Voight) - good mystery, lots of twists, full of adventure.

13. **** "Charlie Wilson's War" (Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts) - good movie; based on true story. Tom Hanks is great at every role.

14. **** "Jumper" (Hayden Christensen [young Darth Vadar], Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane) - sci-fi-ish, Tom and I both liked it. Action packed (I had to cover my eyes several times).

15. **** "Gone, Baby Gone" (Casey Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris) - WARNING: extrememly strong language. Dark content. Lots of plot twists and turns. I like this movie because it kept me guessing what was going to happen next.

16. ***1/2 "Walk the Line" (Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon) - about Johnny and June Carter Cash. Joaquin and Reese did their own singing - they sounded just like Johnny & June. Gives some insight into Johnny's life and the battles he battled.

17. ***1/2 "Vantage Point" (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver) - something happens and you get to see what each character saw from their vantage point. Then the pieces are put together. Great twists.

18. *** "Chaos" (Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe, Wesley Snipes) - good cop movie; which cops are good which aren't? What are the bad guys up to? If you figure it all out you are better than me. I tried and got a few things right.

19. *** "The Bucket List" (Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes) - funny at times, sad at times. Made me want to make a bucket list. Some surprises. Great chemistry between Freeman & Nicholson.

20. *** "August Rush" (Keri Russell, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams) - nice love story - love between a boy and a girl; love of music and love of family.

** Movies: "Georgia Rule" - dark content; strong language; "Juno" - somewhat slow; "Untraceable" - graphic violence; "The Waitress" - okay movie.

* Movie: "Perfect Stranger" (Halle Berry, Bruce Willis) - strong adult situations; "Bella" - I found this to be a slow movie; "Air I Breathe" - dark content - not a feel good, happy movie; "Into the Wild" - based on a true story, interesting, but sad and disheartening; ""The Kite Runner" - very dark content - the best part was watching how the kids run kites; "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck) - I didn't think Brad Pitt was a very convincing Jesse James. Interesting background on Jesse James and how he died. I didn't know the story about Robert Ford.

Gone Fishin' Answer

Wooten's big "catch" was a bunch of pond weeds. He did catch several fish just not with this pole.Anna Gracen had the big catch of the day - this bass - pretty good size.
We also tried our hand at kite flying. Didn't get any pics - hard to fly a kite AND take pictures. Tom was busy with line duty (you know making sure everyone had a worm - taking the fish off the hook, etc.). We were visited by a flock of Canadian geese and we saw several sets of deer tracks. Obviously we're not the only ones who like to visit Aunt Mozelle's pond.

Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes

I received this story in an e-mail. It is a great story - just had to share.

Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, "God is great, God is good, thank You for the food, and I would even thank You more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert and liberty and justice for all! Amen!" Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!" Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?" As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer." "Really?"my son asked. "Cross my heart," the man replied. Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes." Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already." The End.

Gone fishin'

We wanted to go fishin' yesterday, but an afternoon thunderstorm caused us to wait until today. We went to Aunt Mozelle's pond. At one point the kids were catching fish as fast as they could throw their lines in. That makes fishin' fun. I'm not much for sitting quietly and waiting.
Wooten had the idea of posting this picture and you guessing what was on the other end of his fishing line. Was it: a.) a turtle b.) a big bass c.) weeds or d.) a shoe Answer to be posted later.

Anna Gracen wanted to post the following with this pic: "Anna Gracen may be wearing pink, but she's no girlie-girlie." She baits her own hook - thata girl!

I'm not sure what Christian enjoyed more catching the fish or getting the worms out. He kept a smile on his face.

Weekend fun with friends

The kids LOVE sleepovers. Saturday night Wooten spent the night with Chandler. Anna Gracen had Lindsey sleep over (well they didn't sleep much). We had some fun with sparklers that packed a bang. They didn't just burn, they popped which caused us to squeal (me more so than the girls).
Christian spent the night with Charlie. After church on Sunday, we traded off again. Anna Gracen headed home with Lindsey and Charlie came home with Christian. Wooten enjoyed the day with Chandler.

Christian and Charlie had a blast! Check out the huge bubble Charlie blew. Luckily the bubble didn't pop.

Friends are such blessings!!