A good day....

First day warm enough for Capri pants and sandals!!! Yay!!! That makes me a happy girl! These are my new jean Capri's... They fit great in the store. Today I put them on and I'm like um... what is this big gap in the back at the waist? Why do they fit different then they did in the store? Then I remembered.. they came with a belt and I had the belt on in the store. Ok, so I get the belt and problem solved at least for today. Gee what a new concept... wearing a belt. Have not done that in a lot of years and pounds so that was cool! I am guessing I need a few darts/tucks in the back at the waist. My Mom & sister assure me this will solve my problem so hopefully on Sunday they are going to help me fix them. That would be a good thing since I am sewing challenged.... Ha!

It was so warm today! LOVING the spring weather and really it seems quite early for such nice warm spring weather. It is supposed to be near 80 degrees the next two days! wow!! The forecast for Carry The Cross is amazing! 77 and sunny! Loving that! Sounds like a perfect day to survive a 12 mile walk huh?















Now... I am thinking any day where you receive flowers twice... is definitely a good day. When Darrel got home from work tonight he remembered that he forgot to get ice so he headed back out to do that. When he returned home 10 minutes later.. he returned with a bunch of roses which he handed to me, with a big grin on his face and said "Happy Easter." Now is he the sweetest or what? Oh and he even managed to remember the ice too. ;)





















This morning when I got to work, I walked in and saw thru the reception window that there was a basket of flowers on my desk. My first thought was that they were for Sunday. People have been bringing in flowers all week to decorate the church on Sunday and things are often left on my desk. When I got in my office and saw there was a chocolate bunny in the basket too I thought Darrel must have been there and left it for me.. Well imagine my surprise when I saw the note! My co-worker Bob left this for me. There is the pink basket, a plant which is very cool, some flower seeds and a chocolate bunny. He said he just felt like God told him to do that today. Now I love the fact that he picked out a pink basket and flowers and.. when he went to write the note... pink crayon. I love it when someone does something like that for you and goes out of their way to even make sure its things you like.. Very sweet. Tomorrow starts April which is when Admin. Professionals day is... this little gift and kind note felt very much like a Secretary's Day so I thought that was very cool. As you regular blog readers know I am such a gift loving kind of girl and usually people don't celebrate Secretary's day much so again... another reason why this was way fun and made me smile today.

We just finished the push ups for the start of week 3. There was a progress test after week 2 and we both got to move up a category. I did 21 in a row for the progress test and um 2 weeks ago when we started this I was struggling with 2 or 3! Awesome huh? Darrel is doing so awesome too. I love seeing his strength.

NOT getting very far this week. Things are so busy with jumping right back into things after being gone for 4 days. I have not even unpacked and the bedroom is a disaster. Need to take care of those things first and get some laundry done and see what I have time for from there. I am needing to work tomorrow due to the walk on Friday but hoping I can make it a part day and then head home to walk and then tackle the house. That will be a full Thursday for which reason I am heading to bed! Friday is Carry the Cross and in the evening we have an African Children's Choir, Kuyasa Kids coming. Saturday is home but um.. .soooo ready for a day off and I need to bake something for Easter. Sunday is Resurrection Sunday and we have an awesome celebration planned at church. I am singing a solo and would like to work on that a bit more on Saturday as well. For Easter we have Sunrise Service at 6:30, breakfast at 7:00, choir rehearsal at 9:15 and Morning Service at 10AM. If you live in the area and don't have a home church we'd love to have you join us at Monroe City First Church of God!! Sunday afternoon we will be having dinner with my family at my brothers house. Sunday night we will be crashing at home and hoping for a calmer and quieter week coming up! Ha!!! Sunday is also the end of the Chocolate Fast.... I am SO ready. Really been craving it these last few days here but so glad I have stayed committed to this. I really think God has been working on me thru this and that He has helped me make a few break throughs too!

Hope your week is going well! Blessings!

Ten on Tuesday

1) I got an Easter basket in the mail yesterday! How CUTE is this basket? This is from my friend Laurie at The Scrapping Spot. There is a group of ladies on the message board and we have been friends for years now and visit with each other just about daily via the message board. We have done a Christmas and Valentines Swap and now this one was for Easter.















Look at all the cool goodies! A fabulous Martha punch, yummy Ghirardelli, Bath & Body in my favorite scents and um are you seeing the pink? Look at that little pink container of pink buttons! Love that Plus sparkly pink alpha stickers. Love, love, love it!
















2) Here is my current reading list. As you can see these are not Kindle Books... I love free books... but am missing my Kindle. I need to read the top book first. It is for the next Blog Tour which is coming up early April. The other four are for the Readers Choice Awards. I am a judge and have until May 15th to read and judge the books. For my efforts I get to keep the books which are each signed by the author. I think the Yesterday's Embers is looking most intriguing to me right now so I am thinking that will be 2nd.

3) While walking yesterday I was thinking... Yes, I can think and walk all at the same time...... Good huh? Why do they not make mouse flavored cat food? I am thinking my cats would be huge fans... perhaps this idea came to me when we arrived home Sunday night to find Carly sitting on the garage porch eating a mouse. Why would this not be a good thing for all? They round up all the mice which I HATE and therefore make all us non mouse loving people happy while at the same time pleasing all the felines. They would just need to leave out that one mouse part that my cats always seem to leave behind.... YUCK... I have no clue what mouse organ it is.. but it should definitely be excluded.

4) Yesterday at one point our cat Carly still appeared to be expecting. By the time Darrel got home, she no longer appeared to be expecting. She is not big and round like she was and you can no longer feel kittens in her tummy. I have not done the math but I was thinking it was too early for the kittens to come. We can't find them anywhere and she does not seem to be going to them...if she had them. She is hanging around the house like normal. The whole thing is perplexing... Did she deliver early? Did she deliver and some other animal got them? Did she have them and is just not taking care of them? I don't think she would do that from how Gracie was when she had her babies. I wish we knew what happened... its been bothering both of us. We've searched the yard and watched Carly and aren't sure what else to do.

5) Apparently I have seen way too many Dateline and 20/20 news reports on hotel rooms. I am immediately aware of this as soon as we check in to a hotel. I mean first... I can't sit or lay on the bedspread because they never wash or change those right? Then you can't drink out of the glass glasses because the maids don't wash those.. the story I saw said they just squirt a little glass cleaner in them or rinse them out... OK.. don't drink out of the glasses. Good to know. Then... you can't stand comfortably in front of the mirror because hotels have these access halls between rooms and walls for maintenance and there was the whole report about people watching the hotel guests thru them and from behind mirrors.... Great.. .never be undressed or in front of a mirror while in a hotel room. Right.... Then Darrel has to tell me about the report he saw about how the criminals can come along with this hook thing that slides between the door and the door frame and will unlatch your door so they can break in... Great... more stuff that is good to know... Perhaps all of these things would be the reason I was having some pretty strong anxiety when we first checked into our room... ya think?

6) On our trip I think Darrel was going out of his way to annoy the GPS voice lady.. We were trying to get to the hotel, but were wanting to take a more "scenic" route to get there to see how things had changed in the towns surrounding where we used to live in IL. He ignored her so many times he had her practically telling us to go in circles and u-turns and I was just sure the next thing she was going to say was "why did you even bother to turn this thing on... recalculating..." Bwa ha ha ha ha
















7) The first day of our trip I wore my black old navy yoga pants, a bright almost fuchsia pink cami and a black old navy shirt. Oh.. and my pink old navy butterfly scarf and ugg boots. I wanted to be comfy in the car but we of course also need to be cute right? Well my sweet husband seems very appreciative of how I was looking (which yes I LOVE) and when we got to the hotel he told me he realized he was really liking me in pink and black. He said he remembered when we were dating, while he was still in college, I had this pink and black jumpsuit.. and yes.. that was fashionable in the 80's people... and how much he liked it and I was reminding him of that in the outfit I had on. OK... I don't care what I was wearing... if I was in any way reminding my husband of how I looked in my early 20's... well then I am a happy girl. ;) And yes.. I am showing you a picture of the aforementioned outfit... from my 20's.... not now... just in case you were confused... Right! Ha! Not liking the white shoes... Is it possible to ever be that thin again? AND isn't it a sad thing that I felt like people were on me about my weight even then?

8)Have you seen the new Vera summer colors? I am in love with make me blush. Not only does it have pink... it has a vintage feel to it. They should have just named it Deanna. Ha! I am also loving this new hobo style. How cute is that? Yes... I am already saving my spending money for this baby..















9) So let's start covering the trip in a bit more detail. This is Darrel at our first stop. As we got into the area where we used to live we first went to Morris IL which is where Darrel grew up. When we were first married we lived in Minooka IL which is about 15 min. away from Morris. Every other Thursday we had grocery night and we'd head to Morris. We would first eat at this restaurant called Dave's Dawgs. They have the BEST Italian Beef and Beef/Sausage Combo Sandwiches. This... my Indiana friends is what a Chicago Italian Beef Combo sandwich looks like....















Oh my goodness this was good.... I MISS Italian Beef. It doesn't seem to exist in Southern Indiana. Why is this? Perhaps I need to open a restaurant? Actually this is only 1/2 of a sandwich. I tried very hard to stay with my weight watchers stuff on our trip so we split a sandwich and fries ..... and yes I was very proud of myself about that because this was YUMMY stuff that I just can't have every day you know?

10) The Carry the Cross is this Friday! I am looking forward to it and apprehensive all at the same time. It was an awesome experience last year. I sooo want to do it again. However I also remember how incredibly difficult it was to finish last year. 12 miles is a LONG way. Do I want to go thru that again? No. Am I going to? Yes! So worth it. I feel like I am going to remember and participate in what Christ went thru on Good Friday. Therefore it should not be easy and whatever I have to go thru will still be so much less than what He went thru. So... I intend to do this. I have been praying about it for the last month or two and trying to prepare my head and heart as well as my body. I am walking further during my regular walks than I was last year. I weigh at least 20 lbs less then I did last year. It should be a bit easier. I hope. I am also praying my heel and knee that give me trouble will not be a problem. Darrel is worried about this and does not want me to over do it.. I told him however that short of him throwing me over his shoulder and making me stop... I DO NOT INTEND TO QUIT.... God will take care of all the rest right?

Tune in tomorrow. I will try to have some time to share some more pics and details from our trip! Blessings!

An Absence So Great

This week is the Blog Tour for An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick.

Here is a summary from the publisher:
While growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele’s personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she’s put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as “water under the bridge,” she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning.

Jessie gains footing in her dream to one day operate her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can’t keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.

I liked this book for different reasons then the average reader might. I am an avid scrapbooker and that has made me become increasingly interested and intrigued by photography. I see photos in a different way then I used to. I love how they freeze a moment, a memory in time. I love looking at the details, the background, the expressions, in a photo and wondering about what someone was thinking, or remembering what a room used to look like or noticing something I didn't notice before. That is why the main character in this book, Jessie, spoke to me. She is a photographer and I enjoyed hearing how she thought of a photo. It was interesting how she chose to pose someone or props or costumes she used and why. It told a great story hearing about the background of those she photographed. It was also unique to this book that different sections of the novel started with some of the actual photographs she mentions. From what I gathered in the author's notes in the back of the book, a great deal of the story and some of the photos were real and based on facts from her own family. Very cool.

I did find the "forbidden love" part of the story a bit sad. I always feel a burden on my heart for hurting marriages and families and also believe in and hope for the power of God's healing for relationships. Part of me hoped to see more of that in the story, however, especially since this was based on a true story I think the author used the things that did happen to still show God's healing power, grace, mercy and forgiveness. Both God's forgiveness of us and the way His power can be shown when we show grace and mercy to each other.

So would you like to read this book? The publisher has graciously given me an extra copy to give away to a blog reader! Cool huh? Since I am responsible for the shipping I need to limit this to U.S. only please. If you would like to be in the running for the book, please leave a comment on this post. I'll leave it open until 6PM(Eastern) Easter Sunday (4/4) and do my best to post and announce the winner that evening.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

We Interrupt this Program for a Special Report...

Ok... a quick note just to let you know I have not fallen off of the face of the earth. We got home soooo late Sunday night and then it was right to bed and then right up and out to work and home and out to walk and then it was already late... can I take a breath? Let's not even mention how incredibly busy this week is at church since it is Holy Week. I have TONS to share with you. I want to tell you more about the conference, the Vera outlet, stopping for some yummy Chicago hotdogs on the way home, a new book tour to post, a fabulous mail day today... I got free books and an awesome Easter Basket.. Yet.. I am sorry to report it is currently 1 AM and I need to go to bed so yes.. I can yet again go to work! Funny how that works isn't it! Oh...we also have a cat who may or may not have had kittens.. we aren't sure... So, if you can bear with me until tomorrow I will have 10 on Tuesday for you and hopefully can at least begin to cover some of those other things. I will also have a book give away this week! Hope your week has started out well! Stay tuned till tomorrow. Blessings!

New Favorite Photo

OK... this is now officially my new favorite photo of us. LOOK at my husband in the fuchsia shirt. I told him he is pretty smart. You put on a shirt that is your wife's favorite color... she likes that color so much she like gravitates towards it... so therefore she gravitates toward you.. See... pretty smart. Not to mention he looks pretty amazing in it don't you think? I do not think that is based on my whole pink affliction. :)





















We are having an awesome 2nd day at the conference. SUCH good material. This morning we had sessions on God's purpose for oneness which translates into His purposes for marriage which are to mirror God's image, to mutually complete one another and to multiply a Godly legacy. The second session today was on God's plan for oneness which is leaving, cleaving and becoming one flesh..Or another way that they put it that I really liked was Leaving, Cleaving and Weaving. That is good stuff right there. They talked about how God can use our differences and our weaknesses to shape us and for our growth as a person and spiritually. A light bulb moment for me was when I realized when/if I am trying to change Darrel then I am not accepting him as God made him to be.




















After that session we had a break for an individual project where we head back to the room and answer some questions and discuss things from the morning session and anything that spoke to us. This project also included writing a "love letter" to each other. I remember how this letter impacted us at the very first conference. Wow... Not only do they ask you to write it.. they then tell you to read it to your spouse. OK there is something way powerful in the reading of the words you wrote to your mate.. Almost 23 years into our marriage and the letter writing project certainly did not disappoint. You close that time with prayer together. Next we headed back for the next session which was God's power for oneness. That power for oneness is our individual relationship with God and they had a very good presentation of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Currently we are finishing up lunch before we head back for "We Fight Too" which is a conflict survival guide... If memory serves the resolving conflict session is always really good. There will be another project or two this afternoon and then a session on Marital Intimacy... and yes.. that means what you think and is probably one of the best sessions usually. After that it's date night! We are going to Morton's and oh my gosh I am SO happy about that. This is like the ultimate place and they have the best steaks ever! They do not hand you a menu. A server wheels a cart to your table and holds up steaks and potatoes, etc. and tells you what they are and how they will be prepared. There are people that clear your table between courses with little scraper things to get the crumbs off. If you order hot tea they bring you this wooden chest full of teas to chose from and they have valet parking. The atmosphere is PERFECT and romantic especially if you get a booth. The host pulls out the table to seat the lady... I guess that would be me! Ha! It is pricey and like a once in 10 years kind of place for us. Actually this would be I think the 3rd time we've been there in 20 years so you do the math. Ha. Ha. I know its been more 9-10 years since we've been because we moved to Indiana around 9 years ago and this is the 1st conference in that time.

Well 10 minutes till the next session so gotta run. Hope you are having an awesome weekend! Blessings.

Love Like You Mean It

That is the theme of the marriage conference... Love Like You Mean It. Trust me... with this guy... I totally mean it. We took this picture of us today at the Woodfield Mall. Darrel said he read online while putting Woodfield into the Garmin that it is the 2nd largest mall in the US. Hadn't heard that before but not hard to believe. It is big! We love Woodfield and had a great time. This photo was taken during an all important pretzel break.... I had jalapeno with spicy cheese sauce. Darrel had cinnamon sugar. He got a little camera happy and took a few others...





















I kind of like this one and can see the hint of "what are you doing and why are you taking my picture again..." in my face! ha! Today's outfit was a new orange sweater with a blue tank and white cami. See the ribbon trim under the buttons? It is orange/white so I didn't like it with just the navy... thought I needed some white too. Look how well I matched my Vera purse!

Love that purse! While riding to dinner today... it occurred to me that we are VERY near a Vera Bradley Outlet store... Now it would just be a shame to come all the way home without visiting there wouldn't it? Found a fabulous shirt at the mall for $11! It is so cute. It has ruffles, it wraps and it has a tie... I had to be very diligent just to figure out how the heck to put it on... but once I did I loved it! It is black with red and pink and green floral on it. OK and um ruffles.. must be a fashion thing this year because like every shirt I saw had ruffles... oh and look there... so does my purse! Darrel got me a Pandora charm for my bracelet to remember our weekend by! It is a fuchsia dangle heart. LOVE it.















I'll have to share some pics and more details later because once again its late and we need to get to bed. Conference starts at 8:30 AM ! This was this evenings first session. It was very good and we were good little conference students and promptly did our first project assignment as well. We plan to keep that up because we want to get all we can out of the weekend! Tomorrow we have a full day of conference stuff and then as part of the conference we are "assigned" to have date night tomorrow! Yay! We are currently trying to determine if we are going out or doing room service. We are leaning towards out and possibly at Mortons which is a fabulous fancy place and I am SO excited that we might go there! I have lots of yummy food details to share just from these first 2 days! Stay tuned for more details! May not be able to post again till Sun. PM or Monday. Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

OK... it's totally late and I need to get in bed... see we are currently on Central time. We drove out of our Eastern time today which means although the clock says its 12:30AM.. my body says um no... it's 1:30 AM... AND it's been a LONG day in the car. However... had to take a few minutes for a quick Thankful Thursday post! Let's just say this week's gratitude focus is a no brainer... cause um YEP I am so thankful for this time away with my husband at this wonderful conference in a beautiful hotel! I am also SO thankful for feeling God taking care of us and how he has gently been showing me all day today and yesterday that he is protecting us and with us. I was struggling with the anxiety thing last night and this morning. Did pretty good all day after reading some verses in Psalms and then struggled with anxiety a bit again when we got to the room. We said a prayer though and prayed over our room and I've been doing much better yet again. I woke up this morning thinking I was supposed to read psalm 31. Wow.. when I read that, it speaks again and again about God's protection and how he cares for the Godly. This part is especially good: So be strong and take courage, all you who put your hope in the Lord! Psalm 31:24 NLT

The drive here took about 5 hours and we had an awesome perfect trip. When we got here, we ran around the towns we lived in before moving to Indiana and stopped by the houses where each of us grew up. I have pictures to share and other details about the day that I promise to get too... maybe tomorrow. The hotel is gorgeous! LOVE nice hotels. I have pics of our room to share too. The awesome desk clerk lady got us a King Bed which we were thinking we were not getting, and gave us a corner room which she said was a little bigger AND it has an awesome view. I was looking out the windows when Darrel was unloading the car and thinking how pretty the golf course was when suddenly I realize... you can see the Chicago skyline from here! LOOK! Can you see it in the picture?















I wish I had our better camera with the better zoom. You can see the whole skyline, Hancock building, Sears Tower.. the whole bit. PLUS are you remembering Chicago is special for us because we got engaged there? I wanted to go back and give the desk clerk a big hug. We took the top pic. trying to get us and the skyline but that didn't work so good. Still like the picture though.

Remind me tomorrow to tell you about Darrel's argument with the GPS.... some of the yummy food we ate today.... and um seeing too many TV shows regarding hotel rooms....

Before I go though... let's recap things I've been thankful for this week. They include:

• Safe travel on our trip!
• Gracie coming home last night so I didn't have to worry about her for 4 days...
• Not freaking out about meds I needed that we thought weren't getting filled that did get filled quickly and easily after all...
• Italian Beef Sandwiches from our favorite place
• Enjoying our favorite Pizza together.
• An awesome day together with my husband
• My pretty pink butterfly scarf (did you see it in the picture?) and the fact that my husband told me he realized he likes me in pink and black and remembered that today because of the outfit I had on and how it reminded him of one I had when we were dating. How sweet is that?
• 89 lbs gone!
• My new Vera purse which is SO cute
• My vintage train case. LOVE it.
• Reading in the car. I would go nuts if I just had to sit there for 5 hours... sooooo happy I can read in the car.
• Our fabulous hotel room.
• All the good memories we have from previous conferences, Chicago, our first home, etc. and the fun of talking about those today.
• Buying a smaller size pants this week!
• Being able to help a friend thru a difficult time.
• My awesome husband. Did I mention him yet?
• Going shopping at Woodfield Mall tomorrow and going out for our favorite poor boys for dinner!
• The fact that I was happy with 1/2 a sandwich and 1/2 an order of fries at lunch today AND that we are on a little mini vacation here and yet we just did push ups together, I brought my pedal exerciser with me AND we are right next to the stairs and plan on climbing them this weekend!

Time for bed... Darrel is starting to snore beside me.... I'll try to share more details tomorrow evening if time permits. Blessings!

Have Train Case... Will Travel...

OK perfect timing or what? LOOK what arrived today! The vintage train case I bought from Ebay! I LOVE it!!! I am wondering if something is wrong with me that I am sooooo happy with and excited about an old suitcase? Don't answer that... Vintage Train Case sounds so much nicer than old suitcase doesn't it? It is in excellent condition for something that must easily be 50-60 years old. When would this be from? 50's? 60's? I keep thinking of Faye in That Thing You Do. I remember she had one in that movie and she had all kinds of little pictures and post cards and things tucked around the mirror... and I must admit this gives me an urge to do the same. I know... I'm goofy... Don't disturb me here in my happy place.. Here is a look inside. How cool is the tray?















I was worried if this case would hold as much as my previous one and um let's just say I need not have worried. The only thing I would change is that my Paul Mitchell hairspray will not stand upright. As long as it doesn't leak...we are in good shape. I was also worried it might smell musty or stink inside. I am happy to report however it smells good! Like powder... or ladies make up.. hmmm imagine that..















The inside is not stained or anything and it has a nice tone on tone pattern in the lining. Love, love, love it! Sooo happy I thought to do this. We were a little worried at first when Darrel took it out of the box because although the key was taped on top, we could NOT get it unlocked. After messing with it for a bit I got it open and am now wondering if it was ever locked in the first place or if we were just pressing the buttons wrong. We thought you squeezed in on the two outside buttons. Instead you push the button from left to right. Good to know.

So now... the spring clothes are packed.. the winter clothes are packed. The Kindle is charged, the pop is ready for the cooler, the new purse is filled and ready to go, and I have freshly manicured fingers and toes... ready for whatever season's shoes I get to wear! Ha!! I am missing one toe ring I need to go find! You will be seeing a a picture of spring feet as soon as I get to wear my new brown sandals.. trust me on that one. I plan to take my laptop so you may hear from us from the road... or we may be having too much fun on our alone time... guess you will have to tune in to find out! Say a prayer for us please. I struggle with anxiety about traveling sometimes but God has been reminding me today that He is taking care of us. We prayed about going on this trip and I believe God told us we could go and I believe He provided the funds to go so I know He is going with us and watching over us and I believe he will bless this time away together. So for now I will leave you with this verse: Psalm 18:2 (New Living Translation) 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Here Burns My Candle

Yes it is time for the Blog Book Tour for Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs. Here is a summary of the book from the publisher:

A mother who cannot face her future.A daughter who cannot escape her past. Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her. Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips. His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her. One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown. A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.

I enjoyed this book! Like the last review, I again found this one to be like an epic movie. I am a fast reader and initially I had a little trouble reading at my normal speed as I was getting used to the language or maybe better described as Scottish terms. (there is a glossary in the back of the book to help you with this) Once I got into it a bit I did get past that and liked the story. The publisher has described this book as a "retelling" of the story of Ruth and Naomi from the Bible. I would agree that is a good description. Although it starts out drawing you into this story of an entire family consisting of a mother, her sons, and their wives it really does narrow down to the relationship between the mother and one of the wives and it shows their growth as individuals as well. I also found it interesting to see one come to a new relationship with Christ while this seemed to help the other find a relationship with Christ that she had previously wandered away from. My favorite character was definitely Lady Elisabeth Kerr. She was strong, kind, forgiving, caring... really liked her and admired her strength and character. You find yourself rejoicing with her, grieving with her, feeling angry for her... it's all in there.

There is a book trailer on youtube here. You can also find more information on the author at her web site here. I think you will especially enjoy the book trailer. It was cool for me to see as it kind of brought the story to life! Check out this book! I think you will enjoy it.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Ten On Tuesday

1) I should be working. I am not working... I am blogging. Blogging about pink Easter bunnies seemed much more appealing at the moment then working.. Besides... I'll probably get it all done tomorrow without working like 12 hours right?

2) Darrel has been leaving me little Easter gifts... I am loving the pink metal M&M which is full of real M&M's... I am in LOVE with the little pink bunny who is currently making his home inside a clear pink egg... He cracks me up! The pink egg has dove chocolate eggs in it. Although I am currently fasting from chocolate I told him he could give me Easter chocolate (because I would be sad to miss out on all of it) and I would save it for later.... I would really love to sample those M&M's... I'm not doing that of course......

3) Pebbles came to visit me/us again twice today. I am loving little Pebbles. She is very sweet. She just wants attention and to give you a kiss.... I wonder if they'd want to trade her for Tanner? Nope.. just kidding. He drives me nuts sometimes but I love him. Maybe they'd trade her for 3 cats... one being pregnant.... Now that sounds like a fair trade huh? Perhaps I should just kidnap her...

4) Perhaps you are wondering why I might need to work 12 hours.... well... it's a short week because of the Marriage Conference! Yay! However, it is also Newsletter week... It's end of the month, It's Holy Week time..... are you getting the picture?

5) Today was day 1, week 2 of the 100 push ups challenge. Darrel is doing awesome! You do 5 sets of different numbers of push ups. If you total up all his sets... he did 51! How fabulous is that?! I swear I feel and see a difference in his arms already.... ;) Now he says I am doing much better. My total between all sets today was 25! Most of them were improved.... some of them stunk.... like I could tell one of them I looked like a snake.... and um Darrel agreed... but I do think I am doing better.

6) I cannot figure out how to pack for the conference. Spring clothes? Winter clothes? Can I wear sandals (assuming I get time in for a pedicure...) or will my feet freeze? I don't seem to have an abundance of in between weather clothes so not even sure what that would be. I am very much in the mood for Capri's and new sandals. I have a new lightweight, 3/4 sleeve sweater or two... maybe that will be a good choice? I mean I am standing in the middle here and one side is jeans, sweater, boots... other side... Capri's... sandals... spring top. Was just checking the temps there.... and it is mid 40's to mid 50's. The sweaters and boots are sounding better and better cause um I cannot concentrate at a conference if I am freezing. OK... now just need to figure out which coat... winter.. spring... have you heard this somewhere?

7) Here is proof I am a changed person. Was walking today and thinking about being at the conference for 4 days and that I probably won't get time to walk. This freaks me out.. I do not like missing 4 days. A few days ago it occurred to me that I could take my pedal exerciser with me! I could do that in the room when I have a spare few minutes. I have already checked this out with my husband and he assures me it is not completely nuts. It then occurs to me that often at these conferences there is a huge wait for the elevators in between conferences. So now I am thinking.. we can take the stairs! I am actually happy about this prospect. See... changed..because at past conferences... I would have avoided the stairs like the plague and been quite content to wait an hour if that is what it took to get the elevator. Now watch... we'll be on the 2nd floor or something...

8) I got all happy when I found out there is a Cheesecake Factory 2.8 miles from our hotel. UNTIL I remembered I am not eating chocolate. OK there is no way I am going to Cheesecake Factory and not having Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake... I am currently researching (in my own head...) if I could perhaps bring a piece home in the cooler... I mean surely it would keep for a week in my fridge right? Chocolate cake.. .ganache.. mousse... that would keep and YUM it would sure be an awesome way to break my chocolate fast... :)

9) Earlier today Darrel e-mailed me a link for the proper procedure in loading the pez into one's dispenser.... Isn't he just too funny. I think he was making a point that he had been catching up on his blog reading...

10) Why when I go on a trip is it important to have ALL the laundry done? I am only packing for 4 days. I will not need everything that is in the hamper... However it must allllll be done so that while packing absolutely all my choices are open and available to me... this is not like a mental illness is it?

I promise to be back tomorrow with the book tour for this week for Here Burns My Candle! I am currently reading the book for next week's blog tour and for that one I will have a give away copy too! So don't forget to stay tuned! Blessings!

And now we bring you the date night report

But first... look what came in the mail yesterday. My Vera Bradley Cha Cha purse! Wow..that's a mouth full huh? Now how pretty is that? I LOVE it. It's so girly! My friend Heather has one and she told me her husband said this purse looks like a dress! Ha! He is right and that just makes me love it all the more because its so girly! Oh.. I think I said that...The only draw back for me is that it is on the small side... I will have to give up a few items I normally carry with me... but I am thinking it will be worth it. This is definitely going with me to the conference next week! Love, love, love it!














So... back to date night. We decided to head for the big city again. It had been a toss up until I went to put on my jean Capri's for work and discovered they now fit like clown pants.... and YES I was very happy to discover I had that problem. I just about live in denim Capri's in the warmer months AND I was hoping to be able to wear them at the conference next week... depending on if the weather is thinking its still winter or now spring.. so I was really hoping I could find a couple of pairs at the mall. First order of business was dinner.... Now.. here is a slice of real life for you. You all know how much I love my husband. I gush about him quite often. We are pretty in love with each other in case you hadn't noticed. However... this does not mean that life is all "happily ever after" and they never had one fight and are always perfectly behaved towards each other. Now wouldn't that be nice if we were perfect people. Well OK, Darrel is perfect... I am so NOT. Trust me. So yes, occasionally we have words with one another... and yes... we had words with one another right smack in the middle of date night. *gasp* Are you shocked? Yes... it happened. Isn't that just the perfect fairy tale picture? Annoyed with one another on date night... so sad... So.. dinner was not so fabulous. We ate at Logan's and I don't think I enjoyed one bite. Well... maybe one or two. We had thought about going back to Midwest Ribeye & Ribs... so wish we had done that. Their salad alone would have been soooo much better. However with conference expenses this coming week... Logan's was the better choice. Dinner was pretty quiet and then we left and headed for the mall. We sat in the car and talked things out for a short bit and yes.. then all was right with the world and they lived happily ever after at least for the rest of the evening... And while you are sitting there wondering, I did ask Darrel if he minded me sharing date night warts and all with the blog world and he had no problem with that.

We got in the mall and hand holding ensued and date night got much less quiet. :) I headed to Dillard's first to look for pants. I figured since they had dress pants at Christmas that were "short" length, maybe they'd have that in Capri's.. um no such luck. A couple of places had petites but the petite seemed to stop at 14.. I am not at a 14 again folks and I know I am not alone. Do they think people stop being short if they wear a larger size than 14? Could we like at least go up to 18? Is that asking too much? Well I found a pair I liked at Dillards and another pair I liked at JC Penney. Now... why can sizes not be the same? I ended up needing 1 size bigger in the pants at JC Penney and the new pants from Dillards? One size SMALLER than what I have been wearing. And YES I am shouting cause any size smaller makes me HAPPY! Really like both pairs of pants and cannot wait to wear them.

I had a yummy peanut butter cookie from Great American Cookie. I need to remember to get sugar cookie next time because they are like 2 points less!! We stopped at Trade secret also and I got 2 bottles of OPI that were on clearance 1/2 price! LOVE 1/2 price OPI! I got Jewel of India and a dark purple color I can't remember the name of at the moment.














After the mall we decided to see if we could hit Bed Bath & Beyond really quick.. cause they were closing in like 10 minutes and pick up a couple of the Tervis Tumblers. A friend on facebook had told me they carried them which they did! We each got one to try.. they didn't have anything pink I liked so I got a red D... guess which one is Darrel's? Ha! I have been using mine today and I like it! It's not so big and clunky like the insulated cups we got from walmart. Another friend had pointed out these have a lifetime warranty and they had replaced some of hers with no problem! Good to know. I like the clear design and I like all the cool things you can get on them to make them personal. LOVE personalized stuff... did you know? I mean I like that if there were 10 Kindle's laying on the table, I would know exactly which one is mine. :) I'm like that with glasses... laptops... purses.. you name it. ;)














Next we had to stop at Kohl's. I had an email earlier in the day that said clothes were 50% off AND they sent out a shopping pass for an additional 15% off everything! LOVED that. I picked up these 2 shirts. One was $14 something and one was $11 with the discounts. OK and um the one in front, the gray and red? I admit it... I undressed a mannequin to get that one. It was the only 1x which is the size I need right now.. so I calmly undressed her... and then put the 2x back on her.. .at least I didn't leave her with her parts hanging out right? :) Really like that shirt and it looks cute with my new pants!

In today's excitement... we slept in, Darrel made me an awesome omelet for breakfast and tried to kill me I think... I like ham, onions, green peppers and jalapenos... Um he remembered the jalapenos.. My eyes were watering and my nose was running and I had heart burn 1/2 the day... but it was yummy. Ha! After that I went for my walk and ended up walking 5.2 miles! Yay me!! Came home and got to feeling tired and nauseous and found out my blood pressure was low again so I kind of hung out in my chair the rest of the day. Pebbles came back over to visit and ran in circles around us in the yard.. She is so cute. We had left over sloppy joes for dinner which were yummy. Now.. we are going to do the push ups and watch a movie before bed. OH! AND I LOST ANOTHER POUND. I am at 89 lbs gone and I am SO excited to reach 90!!!!!!! It is soooo close... Pray for me. I am so wanting to get there this month!

Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

How pretty are the spring flowers. I think it is so cool that at the beginning of the long, cold, brown winter God gives us the gorgeous fall colors. At the end of the winter He sends us the awesome colors of spring. It's like the light at the beginning and end of the valley that gets us thru somehow. I mean who but God makes a purple this beautiful? This week I am focusing on being grateful for Spring! I love the new life as we see the shoots of green as the Spring flowers begin to poke up out of the ground. Seeing the trees budding, and the bushes and trees as they begin to flower just makes me smile. I love how God times things so that the different varieties of trees and bushes take their turn to bloom so we have color all thru the spring! I love that Resurrection Sunday... otherwise known as Easter... is part of the Spring. I love how the newness of Spring reminds us of the new life in Christ with His Resurrection. It is cool to me to see how we all head outdoors as those first few beautiful warm days come. It's always like we've all been hiding out in our homes surviving the long cold winter and now everyone starts peeking their head out again. I love that first day where it occurs to me... hmmm can I wear Capri pants today? Maybe even sandals? Or is today that first day where I don't need a coat? I love, love getting back outside to walk and have had 2 days in a row here lately where I got to go in t-shirt and shorts! Love feeling the sun again on my arms and face. Love needing my sunglasses.. Love it all! So thankful for the beautiful Spring that for me all comes back around to God giving renewal and new life...the best thing of all.

Other things I have been thankful for this week include:

• the sweet little puppy from next door that has been coming to visit me... more on that in a moment.
• someone at church Sunday who told me I was "just gorgeous" Still smiling about that!
• losing 2 lbs this week! YAY!!!!
• seeing my Mom and Dad today
• my sweet husband who is willing to do the push up training thingy with me
• a good nights sleep last night
• lower blood pressure as a result of diet and exercise!
• walking outside at the park again!
• getting to add an extra day to our Marriage conference weekend!
• wearing Capri pants to work yesterday
• reading 2 books for blogging for books this week
• answered prayers
• singing & enjoying working on a song for Resurrection Sunday
• getting a purse I really wanted from ebay
• having a husband who doesn't mind if I take a day off when I should really be cleaning...
• having a husband who didn't get upset that I took advantage of 2 Vera sales in the last 2 days... I mean they had the hipster for $15.77 and the small duffel for $24.... how does a girl pass that up when those are both approx. $60 bags? (If you are not a fan of Vera on facebook sign up now! That is where they post these deals!)
• the pink pez bunny my husband left me for an Easter gift since I can't have chocolate. Yesterday he gave me some Easter scrapbooking stickers. I love that he thought outside of the box since I am fasting from chocolate right now and he knows that is what I would normally want.
• our home. I love living here. :)

Here is the puppy I was talking about. I learned today that this little girl's name is Pebbles. She is about the size of a pebble so I would say good name choice. Remember the 3 ring circus a week or so ago when I was trying to leave for work and feed the cats and I said the neighbor's 3 dogs came over? This is the little one. She is adorable and loves, loves, loves attention and affection. She came running over today and she is just a live wire... constant movement. She is either running or jumping.. unless you pet her.. Then she sits or stands really still. So cute. She is usually only here for a few minutes and heads back home. Today she came charging over here running laps around me and after I petted her for a few minutes she followed me back up to the porch. Look at this...














She spent the next 2 hours or so sitting on my back porch occasionally whimpering at me to come back out and pet her. Once or twice she'd wander away and if she would catch me peeking out the door to see if she went back home.... she'd come charging back up to the porch to see me. She was still here when Darrel got home which meant he finally got to see her. I was beginning to think he was thinking I made her up since he never got a glimpse of her! Ha!! He took her home like 3 times and she just kept following him back over here. I was worried her owners were worrying about her but they didn't seem to miss her until a little later when we heard them calling for her after they heard her barking. Darrel carried her back over there then and I think they took her inside. She is very cute... Hope she comes to visit again. Bam came over again too and leaned on my leg so I would pet him. He cracks me up. We also learned that the 3rd dog, the gray one is called Baha... Now I would say Bwa ha ha ha to that ..but um that seems redundant! Ha!!!

















This my friends is a stuffed pink Pez bunny.... Darrel left it out for me to find this morning... how cute is that? Um its been a long while since I have filled or operated a pez dispenser... perhaps I will need online instructions or classes to do it properly....














These are chocolate roses from my Dad. He works in Detroit part of the time and he brought these home for the girls for Valentine's day. I hadn't seen him though until today and that is when they gave them to me. Aren't they pretty? There are even pink ones! Cool! I am sure they will still taste good in 2 weeks right? In the meantime they will look pretty!

I finally... finally... finally have reached a lower weight than what I was at Christmas. Over the holidays I went up 6-7 lbs. Not a huge amount right? Yet I've been kicking myself since then because I only tend to lose 1/2 lb or so a week on a good week so it has been a HUGE struggle to get back to where I was and now here we are, mid March and I am just now breaking new ground. BUT lets forget about what is in the past and move forward right? PLUS I actually had 2 lbs go away since last Thursday and it has been a LONG time since I lost 2 in a week so I am HAPPY about that! This puts me at 88 lbs gone and I am going to do everything I can to try and hit that 90 mark still this month! You will be well aware when that happens because you will probably be able to hear me shouting about it from here! Pray for me to get there and to do my best!!

We did our push ups tonight. I am amazed at how good Darrel can do. As pitiful as my push ups are I actually did 5 in a row.... they weren't pretty... but I did them. I am going to keep trying even if I have to repeat weeks to actually do them right and well. Proud of myself for getting this far. Darrel says I am doing them correctly. He has been my helper... or what do you call it spotter? And helps me stay in the correct position to do them otherwise I am still wanting to bend at the waist.

Hope you have a great Friday! Weather is supposed to be beautiful. I was just wondering if I could wear Capri pants again... maybe! Last time I saw the weather it said sunny and 67! We haven't decided on date night plans but I think we are going out. Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday

1) OK is something wrong with me that I actually look forward to "10 on Tuesday" and think of things all day long that I want to include only to sit down to write and not be able to remember a one of them?

2) Saw my first daffodils on my walk on Saturday. Excuse the non fabulous picture... I am thinking that is pretty good for my cell phone camera and the fact that I was operating it at the end of a 5 mile walk... I am usually likely to be staggering at that point! Especially since the spot where the picture was taken is 1/2 way up the last huge hill I have to tackle. Here is a close up. Love seeing that first bright spot of yellow after the dull dreary brown of winter!

3) Today was day 1 of the push ups.... Darrel did fabulous and was totally cute and handsome while doing said push ups perfectly. Me on the other hand... I was neither cute or um handsome... ha ha... and my push ups were not done perfectly. How on earth is one supposed to know if you are bending or flat and using the right technique for your push up without aid of a mirror? It is QUITE difficult for me to do even a girl push up correctly. I did the best I could with my husband's help. He was my mirror since apparently because of the effort of raising and lowering myself I tend to bend in the middle. I know I am not getting low enough, but I did the best I could and am hoping I will improve over time. I am determined to give this my best shot remembering that at the beginning I was so not good at walking either! Think I'll ever end up with arms like Angela Bassett? I could live with that. ;)

4) Remember the Vera B. Cha Cha purse in the Loves Me Fabric? I was stalking it on ebay last night. I saw it on ebay on the previous Friday but had only put it on my watch list. It retails $58 in the store and on Friday the price was already in the $40 range so I was sure it wasn't going to end up being any big bargain. So yesterday it pops up on my e-mail that the auction is ending and it was still in the $40 range. It had 3-4 hours to go at that point. In the last 15 minutes I put in a bid of $49 which was the lowest allowed. I was sure the other bidders would out do me quickly but to my surprise... no more bids and I won! Yay!! It is supposed to be new with tag and that saved me some money even with shipping which was only $3 and which also evens out since I don't have to pay tax. Cannot wait till it gets here. I would totally love to carry it to the Marriage Conference next week!

5) Walking was awesome today! I was quite tired and struggling at the beginning (which I will explain in number 6...) but midway my energy kicked in and I walked the entire prides creek. I don't think I missed one road. Walked for 65 minutes, and at least 4 miles. Got to wear my shorts and t-shirt... no jacket.. .no gloves... no long underwear... It was sunny and perfect! Loved it! Love the feeling of getting back out after the long winter. Loved it that as I was walking up into one section of the campground, this guy (nice, older man) rolled down his window and said to me "you still walking? You were out here last year walking!" Cracked me up! Totally made it sound like he saw me last year and I had just been going round and round like the energizer bunny since then.... bwa ha ha ha ...

6) Have not been feeling great this week. Some issues are women issues... enough said... Others however have to do with my blood pressure. I have...or perhaps should say HAD high blood pressure. I've taken medication for it for years. My grandpa had high BP, My Mom has high BP so yes, a family thing. Well late last fall, I started having nausea, light headedness and fatigue. Started taking my BP readings and found they were quite low. It seemed with my exercise and weight loss my BP had dropped on its own and when you added in the dose of meds I was taking, it was now too low. So the DR cut my meds in 1/2. I quickly felt much better! So now I've been taken 1/2 dose since then. These past few weeks I've been tired, and had some dizziness... and no that is not a normal state... and the nausea again. Took my pressure Sat. AM BEFORE taking my meds and it was 99/61... Today it was 109/65 before my meds and my heart rate? Get this.. it was 43. Um no wonder I was tired. Normal heart rate should be between 70-100 according to the mayo clinic web site. My heart rate never got above 52 all day today. Called the DR, explained my symptoms, told him my bp readings and guess what? We are cutting meds in 1/2 again and when I see him in a few weeks, he may take me off it all together! OK this is WAY cool to a girl who used to get winded walking from a parking lot into a store. Now 87 lbs later... I have a heart rate in the 50's? wow... Never would have believed it to be possible. Now... I realized while walking today what an affect this was having on me. Like I said I felt yucky at the beginning and was tired and struggling to keep going. However... 15-20 minutes in, I started to feel good! Started to feel much better than I have in 2 days! Why? Got my bp and heart rate up and pumping with the exercise and suddenly.. gee I felt better. So... thinking in a day or two here I will be feeling much better.

7) I have discovered that Gummi Bears are not a substitute for chocolate. I want chocolate. I am not eating chocolate right now and have a few weeks to go.. yet... I want chocolate. Yesterday and today I had "hidden" an Easter egg for Darrel with yes... Easter chocolate in it. He wanted to give me a gift in return so he brought me a bag of Gummi Bears tonight. OK, they are way cute, I do enjoy the orange ones... but um so not chocolate. I realize in my head.. if someones says "do you want some candy?" I think that translates to chocolate. Easter Sunday will be here soon right?

8) This morning for breakfast I made a new healthy creation. I had 1/2 cup of low fat granola, 1 tbsp of Jif peanut butter... has to be Jif... and a chopped up apple. It was yummy! I decided it was like a granola bar in a bowl....

9) We have 4 cats... Gracie and 3 of her babies. We have 3 of her babies because we couldn't find homes for them and short of dropping them off in the woods somewhere... we haven't known what else to do with them. 2 of the kittens are boys. 1 is a girl.. Um the girl is looking rather round today... and we were pretty sure she was in heat a month or so ago.... I am thinking this is not good...................

10) OK this time of year it gets totally hard to know how to dress.. Am I going to be hot? Am I going to be cold? Add to that the not feeling good the past 2 days and this is not a good combination. Both of the past two mornings I have changed outfits at least twice and then still went to work not liking how I looked... Not happy with the outfit..not happy with the hair... Hoping the attitude, outfits and hair will improve as the week progresses.. I mean how come when you are a girl a bad hair, or outfit day can totally predict your mood and um heaven help those around you if you have a bad hair/outfit combo kind of day...

Sunday Stuff

So who can believe that Pastor Mark celebrated 30 years of ministry at our church today? Isn't that awesome? Pastor Mark is an awesome guy and I have the privilege and pleasure of working for him and with him as the Administrator in the church office. He has an amazing servants heart and he LOVES Jesus and people so much. He has been there for Darrel and I many a time. He has been there for a lot of people. This morning was our special morning worship service to celebrate 30 years. Mark's brother Nate was our guest speaker. At one point in the service he listed off a bunch of things like if Mark has prayed with you, married you, baptized you, been with you at the hospital, helped you with a difficult time... etc... and then said if you could answer yes to any of those questions to please stand. The whole sanctuary stood up. So cool. There was an awesome article and picture in the local paper. Wish I could share it here! I love the picture! We drove all over our little town today looking for a Sunday paper and none could be found. I found the article online but you had to pay $1 for a days subscription to read it so that is what I did. Pretty cool way to read the paper actually!

We could not figure out what we wanted to do for a gift for him. That was the debate on date night of whether or not to go shopping. I had wondered about a pocket knife or leatherman micra thing like Darrel has and loves and even thought of getting it engraved with the scripture about the Word of God being sharper than a double edged sword. We weren't sure we could afford all that and then thought of an engraved cross pen... then I thought PEN! Maybe Darrel would want to make him a pen... which of course he did... Didn't it turn out pretty?! He did the whole thing on Saturday. The wood is cherry. It is so cool to see this flat, plank, board turned into these awesome pens that he makes. Plus.. you can be pretty sure your gift is unique!

Have you heard of the 100 push ups training program? I hadn't either until tonight. My sister posted a link to it on facebook and asked who would like to join her in the challenge.... Well of course I couldn't pass that up... so guess who volunteered to join her? Um yep... me... And um seriously... I can barely do 2 "girl" push ups at the moment. However I was thinking when I first started walking, I was barely making it .4 of a mile in 15 minutes. Now I blow past that point in around 5 minutes and go on to walk 4 miles or more. So... can I train myself to do 100 push ups? Perhaps I can! I am going to give it my best shot. I have been wanting to do some strength training anyway and I am SO not happy with the way my upper arms look. I did just a few to see how many I could accomplish so I know where I start in the program and um already feeling it in my arms, chest and even abs tonight! Darrel has also decided to join the challenge as well as a few other facebook friends! cool huh! It likes gets me all motivated to do a challenge with friends!

I just won a vintage train case on ebay! Yay!! Well we say "won" but we all know we still have to pay for it so won doesn't quite describe it.... Anyway... I love it.. I hope it looks as good in person. I liked the color, love the tray and this one had a working key too! Most of the listings did not have a key. I bid on a second one also. I am loving the idea for storage in my bedroom and there was another style I really liked! Hope I win that too!

So now the weekend is over and I have no scrapping to show for it. I WILL get my Shimelle class stuff done and caught up and I WILL work on my Dec. Daily Album! I am also toying with another idea regarding scrapping for this year. It was something I've thought of and mentioned once before but am now having some other ideas after seeing the Julie & Julia movie.... once I get my mind made up and figured out... I promise to share.

Marriage conference is coming up quick! End of this month actually! Yay!! PLUS.. a new development.. we get to go and stay in the very nice hotel for an extra day! yay!!!! When I booked the room it accidentally booked for 3 nights rather than the 2 needed for the conference. We kept intending to call and cancel the extra night...until the other day when we started to wonder... hmmmm maybe we could just go enjoy the city and the nice hotel for that extra day? Darrel asked if it would be OK at work and even though he is on another big deadline, they said OK! Yay!! I am sure that is because they know how hard he works and that he always does what it takes to get the job done on time. Cannot wait!!!

In case I forget on thankful Thursday... lets start the week with something I definitely want on this week's list. Church this morning was quite busy. With the big celebration, I got there at 7:30 (it was dark when we went to church... pitch dark.... um something is wrong when I am up and going to church in the dark....) and pretty much worked for the next 4 hours. I was happy to do it for Pastor Mark! However this involved me being back and forth up front to the platform and then back to the sound booth several times. Well after church a lady from our congregation came up to me and was telling me that "wow, you look like a different person" "you are just gorgeous." Me... someone besides my husband whom wasn't like paid a fee or something came up to me to tell me they thought I am gorgeous. I mean she wasn't saying "gee your outfit looks gorgeous"... She said I was gorgeous. I mean for me... that is a huge word. Wow.... I think I am still smiling. I have struggled with self esteem and weight issues my whole life. Both things I am still in the thick of the battle with... so I cannot tell you how much that blessed me and touched my heart. Very, very hard for me to accept that about myself and feel it and trust it as truth and enjoy it. I am praying God will keep working on my heart as I learn to accept myself and feel "gorgeous" the way He made me.

Have an awesome week! Blessings!