A New President: Finding True Victory

Today our country has come a long way since the civil rights movement. I'm sure that many people never would have thought that a black man would become President in their lifetime. Today it has happened. Congratulations, President Obama.

Although today is a proud day for many, I am nervous about what the future of our country holds. "Change" is about to take a place. Still I cannot get out of my head the issues that mean the most to me....sanctity of HUMAN life and sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.

I pray that the Lord would save President Obama. I pray today and every day that President Obama will find his true victory in Jesus Christ.

For the Christians that are reading this, if support President Obama or not....pray for his salvation. Don't be as concerned with the promises he has made to "change" things, than you are his salvation. President Obama needs the Lord....as we all do.

I Feel Old: My time to vent

Next month I will celebrate my 24th birthday. I know, I'm still a babe. However, I certainly don't feel young, I feel old, very old. I don't know exactly what it is. I just know that something needs to change.

All of my life I couldn't even mention "exercise" or "eating right" without someone piping up, "You're skinny enough, you don't need to exercise" or "You need to put some meat on those bones!"

Sigh. Did you know that it's hard being "skinny" sometimes? Please let me speak honestly here, I let you....now please let me.

I get tired of people looking at my plate and saying, "Is that all you're going to eat?" I like to get a little now and return later if I still feel hungry and get more. I don't look at other people's plates and say, "Oh my word, are you going to eat ALL of that?!?!"

I get tired of people (especially women) assuming I don't need to exercise because I am "skinny". Or that I don't need to eat right because I'm "thin" and can "eat whatever I want and not gain an ounce."

It's hard being "skinny" because others think that your life is just easier. I'm sure that overweight people get made fun of and are talked about much more. But please be aware, I've had my share of being talked about and poked at, especially in the ribs (which hurts).

I think the most common misconception is that people who are "skinny", men and women alike, are healthy. Did you know that even "skinny" people can drop dead of a heart attack?

The reason why I am writing all of this is to say that I'm going to change my unhealthy lifestyle, today.

I am tired of waking up feeling like I've been hit by a truck. I hate (strong word, but I think I can use it here) that I can't stretch without pulling something. Seriously, I have pulled muscles several times just by reaching in the back seat of my car, washing my back in the shower, or stretching my legs when I wake up in the morning. I have a constant pain in my rotator cuff that just won't go away......and I have.no.energy. Everyday I feel like I have run a marathon.

This is about to change. Onto the fun stuff!

Every Tuesday, I've going to have "Think Healthy Tuesday." A lot of people are jumping into "Think Thin Thursdays," I need my own version of this since I can hear it now.......

So anyways, every Tuesday I'm going to report back to you how I'm improved towards a healthy lifestyle.

My first plans are to:

Go to bed by 10, so I can get up easily at 7 (I'd eventually like to join the 6 o'clock club)
Eat breakfast every morning (a healthy one)
Drink water all day, limit to one "sweet" drink a day. I can drink milk anytime (Fat free).
Exercise three days a week for at least ten minutes each (I'm starting small so I'll stay with it).

Thank you for letting me vent. I need to tell my friends how I feel, I know you will understand AND help keep me accountable. I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings. E-mail me if I did, and we'll work it out :D I just really need some support right now :D

Let me know if you're interesting in joining in with me every Tuesday!

Honeymoon pictures Part 2!

Husband and Wife!
(By the way, I was determined that all throughout our honeymoon, we would take our own pictures of us together. Thank you, Camera Timer!)

The back of the beautiful historic hotel where we stayed our first night together!

Enjoying the hotel grounds before we left for Daytona.

What we woke up to every morning.

The condo consisted of three walls made up of windows. Beautiful!

Jonathan brought up my flowers from the car like this. The one of the left was my wedding bouquet. The one of the right was waiting on me at our honeymoon suite.

We thought we would spend a great deal of money here. We actually didn't :(
Our first day there was Election Day. I had knots in my stomach all day, especially when I saw signs like this. There are so many random/interesting things about this photo. I wasn't able to get the McCain campaigner in the picture. He and the Obama campaigner had been chatting. Isn't that sweet?
In 2005, when Jonathan and I met, we went to the mall and I took a crazy picture of him wearing a funny hat....it was customary that we do it again. :D
Being the "submissive" wife I am, :D, I had to have my crazy picture taken too :D
I expected this in Kentucky....but I guess anywhere in the South is fair game.
What I longed for in Daytona....time with my new husband and SLURPEES
(only available at 711's)!

More honeymoon photos to come!

Honeymoon pictures Part 1!

The beautiful trees at Fort Mantanza, St. Augustine. I loved these trees. This picture really does not capture the true beauty of these trees.

Me with the trees. (By the way, this is Jonathan's favorite shirt...he gave it to me, so I just had to wear it during our honeymoon :D)

Fort Mantanza....BEAUTIFUL!

The St. Augustine Lighthouse, in all her glory!


The VERY high spiral staircase. Look closely and you can follow it near the top!


The lighthouse "home". This is where the families who managed the lighthouse lived.

View from the top.
The beautiful bay from the top of the lighthouse. Notice the shadow of the lighthouse in the trees.

I wasn't so sure about being up there......

kinda frightened me....

....a little.

I discovered this gem in the museum....I loved it!

Like a Mutt....

Across from my office lives a dog. I don't know the dog's name, I just know he's a Mutt dog. You know, the kind of dog that has funny looking fur (the kind of dog that reminds you that brown and black STILL don't go good together)...and black all the way up his nose?

The dog lives at the feed and seed store across the street. I often wonder if he was dropped off and the store owners took him in, or if he belonged to them from the start.

I like to think that he "found" them, and they saw he could benefit them as a security dog. So, he wears a collar and runs up to greet customers. He stops sometimes and sniffs the chickens, and often makes sure the ponies are where they are suppose to be.

Often, VERY often, I look out my office window across the street to find Mutt dog, and see what he's into. This morning he did something that really made me think.

This morning, Mutt dog took off running towards the nearby gas station's garbage dumpster. He sniffed around the dumpster very happily, stuck his nose in some boxes.

It made me think, that dog probably lives a very happy life. He is good with people. He probably gets food when he wants it, and he gets a place to live at night. Why would he return to the garbage...maybe where he once got his meals.

But we are like Mutt dog. Mutt dog was saved from starvation and possibly death. So were we, as Christians.

Just like Mutt dog, we sometimes return to our past. If we are not careful, we find ourselves wanting, desiring, our past.

We are like the dog, we have security now....hope....food (God's word)...yet, we go back to that old sin....that garbage........

Why?

"As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly" Proverbs 26:11

5 Things I REALLY Enjoy!

Jennifer, from Her Southern Charm, tagged me....isn't that sweet?

Here are five of my "addictions" (or shall I say, things I REALLY enjoy):

1)Hot tea in the morning and at night
2)Checking my blog and Facebook for comments :D
3)Won Ton soup (hold the "won ton") from New China in town
4)Reading on the couch curled up in my favorite throw
5)Making jewelry

Yesterday was my birthday....I'm 9!

Actually, nine years ago yesterday, my life was set up for eternity with Jesus Christ...Hallelujah!

It was New Years 1999, I was ringing in the New Year in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the year of the Y2K fear. I was there with my friend's youth group for Youthlink 2000. A big New Years Conference featuring Christian bands, comedians and speakers. To me it was really the perfect way to ring in the New Year...celebrating with thousands of other youth my age.

Two days into the three day conference my friend, who had bought me along, confessed that she didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I...was...shocked. I thought for sure she was a Christian. After all, she and I were both very involved in our youth groups, and we were really good little teenagers. I even went forward in church when I was nine.
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I remember my Sunday School teacher had prayed for me, and I thought she had made me "saved". So when I went forward the pastor of the church said aloud, "Who saved you?"

I started, "My Sunday...."

"That's right," he said, "Jesus saved you!"

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Walking through the parking lot of the hotel on the way to the nightly meeting in Atlanta everyone was embracing my friend and acting all giddy, but I held back...just taking it all in. She and I were the same....good girls....I thought.

I had arrived back in Kentucky (praise the Lord Y2K was hoax(?)) and had gotten to work cleaning my closet (my favorite pastime...no...really). It was a quite New Years evening and from inside my closet I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me. The Holy Spirit dealt with my heart and showed me that I had never committed my life to Christ...I was just being "good". I needed Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I stopped what I was doing and stood in silence, I knew what I had to do, I had to answer His call.

I prayed to the Lord and confessed that I needed Him and that I was so lost without Him and that I had just been going through the motions. I begged God on my knees to forgive me and to change my life. I fell to the floor as a lost soul bound for Hell, and I stood to my feet as a new Creation....I was HIS! Praise the Lord, He saved me!
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In Summer 2005, I went to Daytona Beach with Campus Outreach and the Lord really dealt with my heart there. I was in my second year of college and had just broken up with my boyfriend back in Kentucky (praise the Lord for that, it was a bad relationship to be in). Although I was a Christian, I had really gotten away from the Lord. Once at Beach Project in Daytona, the Lord really started working on humbling me on how much I needed to depend on Him every day. He showed me that part of being a Christian was living my life to honor Him in all things, relationships, school, work....EVERYTHING. He showed me discernment and what the world around me was really like.

Once I got back from there, things took off. My pastor's wife and I became great friends and she began to mentor me. She showed me what a godly homemaker looked like. The Lord really used her to teach me many things, including things about myself, as we are so much alike.

Since 2000, God really has done amazing things in my life. I am so blessed, far more than I deserve, because HE saved me. I didn't save myself, I was lost, beaten and tormented by sin. But He choose me and gave me Life. Praise God.

Have you been living your life, calling yourself a Christian, but having never really made that commitment to Him? Do you think back on the days when you went "forward" at the church, but don't remember why? Maybe you remember someone tugging you, are urging you to go forward...it happens a lot. Do you REALLY know if you were to die right now, where you would spend eternity? Please know, you've done nothing on your own to get to Heaven. Going to church everyday of your life is not getting you there. If you're thinking, "I haven't drank, done drugs, or had sex....I'm good" is going to get you to Heaven...you need to confess to the Lord.

You must admit that you need Jesus Christ in your life. You need to believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son and that He died on the cross for you. Many people "love" God, but do you love His Son? You need to confess that you are a sinner and that only through Christ can you find, peace, joy, and forgiveness.

Please know, you may have it all, family, friends, money....but until you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior...you will not truly feel a purpose, ultimate security, or fulfillment in your life. I know that I really didn't. When I look back.....even though I was a "good" girl...there was no purpose, but making others happy, while I was left feeling empty.

I am so thankful that the Lord saved me. I don't deserve it. My heart is ugly at times. My attitude is nasty. But Christ gives me hope. I am new every morning because of Him.

Many times when I think upon my salvation through Christ Jesus, I think as Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am FREE at last!" Thank you Lord, for saving a wretch like me!