Nostalgia

I had to search for a picture of my cousin for a birthday party and got to take a sweet stroll down memory lane. Good times, good times.

Livin the Dream

While I occassionally feel I am not comfortable in my own skin, today was not one of those days. I made my 6 year old feel especially beautiful, my 4 year old allowed her 8 year old sister help her get dressed and after doing my mom a favor-a long favor-my girls and I hung out at the pool for a while.

My pool has always been one of those places where I can totally see how good my life is. As a child I wanted 2 things. I mean consistantly and passionatly. I wanted to be a mother and I wanted an inground pool. I so very much love to lay in the warm sun and watch and listen to my children play in the pool and I reconize the luxery of it all.

My mom is in a vulnerable place right now so it is easy for me to show her love and not be in that constant state of bracing myself for the next blow. I thought to myself while lounging at my pool today that my mom never got to enjoy a day like I had today. Whatever the reason, even self inflicted; financial strain, too busy, too stressed, to emotionally spent, too burdened, too over committed, she quite possible never had a day like mine. Comfortable in her skin and appreciative of her situation in life. I was a little sad for her. I am often too stressed, too spread thin, too ungrateful to reconize God's Fingerprints all over my life, but when I find myself slathered in sunscreen lying under the Sun my God created hearing the music of childhood while floating in the best $30,000 ever spent, I can appreciate the story of my life.

I have often thought my life may make for entertaining material. Be it pride or conceit or whatever, I felt my story was worth telling. Today I got a picture of my Story and it was the Red Letter edition. What I saw was more red letters than not.

I did not spend hours in prayer today. I have not even read my bible yet and on top of that I fit in a good 40 minutes with Dr. Phil. I was not religious or spiritual and I even wore a 2 peice to swim in but my day was still all about God and His goodness to me and mine. I have no veils or strongholds blocking my view of the truth. Today I was free. I was livin the dream. That's what I'm talkin' bout baby.

The Donuts did it

My husband recently did something to hurt me and I was pretty mad. He talked to a friend of his about it and the friend actually sided with me and suggested flowers. Now I have to give it to my husband, he is hit and miss a lot of the times when it comes to knowing me and what I want and need. I tell myself it is the thought that counts. A lot.

Well, I guess Kenneth thought about flowers but he had tried a couple other things that did not work. Actually, one worked ok the other made things worse. He likes to play the baby card. He found an exceptionally cute picture of one of our girls (so not hard to do) as a fat baby and emailed it to me. It made me smile while I was mad but I still find that a lame way to say 'I am sorry'. Honestly I have often wondered to myself why those words were so hard to say when it makes things so much better. I think for myself I rationalize that it is counterproductive because it just let's people off the hook with no solution to the problem. If I thought taking the blame for a situation, my fault or not, would make things better, maybe it would be easier to do. I just think saying sorry for peace's sake is not productive in a situation where resolution is scarse.

For example, if I say I am sorry for never doing laundry and leaving people with no clean clothes to wear but do not actually start doing laundry, how can that be right? Take it up a notch or 8 and say I am so sorry I had that affair. I am so very sorry and I want to make our marriage work. Even if the affair stopped, if the offender continued to be unavailable and not make an effort to earn back trust what is the point? Both of those examples were just that. Examples. I do laundry every day and Kenneth helps with the laundry often. Also, neither of us have ever had an affair so that is not from our lives. Just saying that saying 'Im sorry' for Im sorry's sake is lame.

So in lieu of flowers, I got donuts! That's what Im talkin bout BABY!
OH! But that did not get him off the hook. I still need clean clothes to wear. Ya gotta start somewhere though.

Movies I want to see

I enjoy movies. I love to read but make more time for movies these days. Not that I am getting a mushy brain in my yogert eating old age but I tend to get so absorbed in a book I neglect the rest of my life. So we got this new cable channel that is nothing but movie previews. Wow.

Often the previews are the best parts and a lot of times the movie is a big let down after an incredible preview but I still love watching them. Ken and I actually found ourselves glued to this new channel for over an hour the other day and here is the list of movies I want to see after watching the previews:

Wanted starring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. WOW! This looks bad ass. Angelina did not cover any of her tats for this one. YEAH BAby!

The Happening starring Marky Mark. Normally I would not want to see this type of movie but I will see anything with Marky Mark in it. He is yummy and oh so talented in my opinion. In your face NKOTB!

Prince Caspian I read the book, I read the series, and I heard it was great plus I try and support Christian based movies.

Adam Sandler's movie called something like Dont Mess with Zohan. What can I say. I am a fan. I make no apologies.

Lakeview Terrace with Samual L! Love him too! Not as much as Danzel but I gotta see this because a black cop (Sammy) tries to run off his new neighbors which are a mixed couple. Gotta support interracial marriages. It is a requirement or something.

Snatch. Dont remember a thing about it but I wanted to see it enough to write it in one of my notebooks. Mushy yogert brain!

Surfwise. Now this looks so awesome! This old dude had a bunch of kids, like 8 or 9 and they lived in a mobile home and traveled and surfed and he was a bastard but in the good way so now his kids are wanting to give their kids the same experience. It is either a documentery or like one.

What Happens in Vegas I like Ashton mainly because Bruce does and if you are alright with Bruce you are alright with me. I am NOT a fan of Diez however and the movie may or may not be funny but I am sure one day I will need a mindless watch and it will fill a need.

So, there it is. The List. Hopefully one of these will be a winner. Like when I saw the Village I had to tell everyone to see it. And Man on Fire. And She's the Man. That's what Im talkin bout!!!!!111

Communication aka the breakdown of Pink vs. Blue

I read this fab book on marriage and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I am guilty of hearing a message or word or whatever and thinking 'MAN! My husband needs to get this!' when just as often I need something too. I just can not tell what that something is because of the stoopid plank in my eye. Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs rocks for lots of reasons. The main one was it showed me what an ass I was being to my husband and how great he had been; I just did not reconize it. Eggerichs used a concept that was so brilliant to me. He broke it down to this; men speak and hear blue and women speak and hear pink.

If your marriage is jacked up, read this book. If your marriage is good, read this book. If your marriage is perfect, read this book and share what you learned with your married friends. I love communication and it is an area my marriage needs work in. My husband will often say he told me something and I remind him if he does not say it out loud and to me that does not count. He feels he communicated something to me but when it is too blue I miss it. Now my Love is one who will think to himself he should tell me something and not remember that he never said it out loud but most times I think it boils down to pink vs. blue.

Our latest communication misshap occured when I went to him and asked how he felt about me getting another tattoo. I had been inked 7 times already but all before our daughters and I felt it was a big decission that I did not want to make alone. He gave me one of his standard answers of 'I dont care'. I knew what I wanted but wanted his imput of where and, well, just his imput. All I could get out of him was 'I dont care. Do what you want. I dont care.'

So the day I was to get said tat he seems annoyed and even teases me about being too old for a tattoo. We had some major life stressors occuring at the same time and I was having trouble reading him so I kept asking him if he was ok with what I was doing. 'I dont care'.

Can you imagine my shock when I get back and he freaks on me?!? DUDE! What the hell? He freaks about it being on my back and the size. He says to me, 'I thought you would get something small and tasteful on your ankle or (he said some other location-I heard BLUE BLUE BLUE, BLUE BLUE!). I was like, 'well Simple, what's done is done. I can not take it back.' With the location it is in I need help taking care of it and I hated having to ask him but what could I do. Last night we were lying in bed and he says 'it really is a beautiful tattoo'. I said 'that you wish I did not have?' He said 'yeah'. Blue bastard.

I have a ring I call my family ring and that is what the tat is of. Jesus is the center of our family. The 2 hearts are Kenneth and I joined as one. The colored jewles on the tips of the cross are the birthstones for each of our daughters. Our firstborn, Rya, is green (peridot). Next is Avery in October. Then Emery and last Adrian, both in March. Joshua 24:15 As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord! That's what I'm talkin bout BABY!

Twitter

I found this new site that I thought was cool. Well, I did until I started using it. The site has issues. I like the concept still. And I guess I should say maybe it is not the site but the user but whatever. Be not afraid of greatness/she's the man quote.

Speaking of She's The Man, I have to say, it is one of my favorite movies. Granted, it is not of the same caliber as Man on Fire but really, who can compair to Danzel? Let's be fair, now. I have few words to use up today that are not She's The Man quotes so until I can get someone to take a picture of what my next entry will be about, I am going watch the rest of She's The Man. Thats what Im talkin bout.

Bon Qui Qui and Offence

I love to tell my friends 'you get what you get, and don't throw a fit'. I am who I am and I do not like walking around egg shells with people who are supposed to accept me. It just gets old when I feel like it is best to not be myself all the time. If you want to see something funny, click the title of this post and feel free to laugh. It is ok! I will not be offended; Bon Qui Qui will not be offended; my black husband will not be offended. It is what it is. My husband and I often say 'it's funny cuz it's true'. Bon Qui Qui is funny cuz it's true.

I had a Bon Qui Qui email incident with my friends and I think maybe God allowed that to happen to allow me to see that I am not The Norm. I do not want to 'fit the mold' and I do not. I want to rock the boat and I do. I TOTALLY understand that what I find funny and entertaining is NOT what others enjoy and I accept that. That is not my problem. I do not get offended easily. I was offended to have my friends think I would be offended. Ha! No, actually I was just surprized that as transparent as I am, some of my friends do not get me at all. I will be ok with that though because I have to think Jesus must be able to relate. He did not go with the flow; He offended others all the time, He was transparent but misunderstood and He came to give me fullness of joy (Ps 16:11). Now, that's what I'm talkin bout baby.

Pirates & Ponies

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. It will probably be nice but today kinda rocked. I mean, it had it's rocky parts but all in all, in included a lot of my favorite things. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens does not make my list on most days. Today (and tomorrow) I did not talk to my mother. I was with my husband and kids AND my sister and her husband. I got to go for a boat ride. My horse loving daughter got to pet AND ride bareback on a beautiful creature named Playgirl. She was petting the horse while in her Uncle's arms and said to him, "I can not just pet it, I have to ride it. I just have to!" How can you say no to that?

After visiting horses (and rabbits-not exactly on my list but whatever), we went to Lake Charles Contraband Days pirate festivle. I still have eyeliner caked on my face. It was a cool event but the best part was dressing up in our pirate tee shirts, hats, eye patches and putting pirate tattoos all over us and branding plastic swords and a sleeping beauty doll going out in public as a family. Speaking of family, my sister and I have noticed an abundance of interracial couples in the Lake Charles area. That is on my list. Interracial couples with biracial kids, even better! I did see a pregnant girl smoking today and had to leave because I was afraid I would ruin my Christian witness by saying something nasty to her. You would be surprized how difficult it is to not ruin your Christian witness while trying to be a pirate, savvy.

At the pirate festivle I tried some carnival food that may just make my favorite thing list. We had deep fried oreos and chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick. The oreos tasted like a donut with an oreo in the middle and the cheesecake was covered in chocolate and on a stick!

I got to watch SNL and actually laugh. I got some great email affirmation from my friends. They think I am funny. Especially when I make fun of Catholics and have content warnings on my blog. That's what I'm talkin bout baby.

Christians may like me

This title links to a disturbing blog I recently found. Sidenote, I am learning to use some of the options on my blog!! This other blog is called Stuff Christians Like. I SO fit the flippin mold!! Man, that pisses me off! Here I am, stumbling through my life feeling like I do not fit anywhere, not in the world, not in church, not in my life and come to find out, IT"S ALL A LIE!!!!

I am being dramaticly scartastic. If you did not realize. I actually enjoyed this other blog very much and Todd Bentley is actually mentioned on this other blog (mentioned in my last post). And how funny is this? I have an appointment to get a tattoo and planned to get a scripture inked on my back, but after reading this blog, I am thinking I may not just so I will not be liked as much. Ref. # 23.

I have read or at least skimmed almost every post this dude made and I must say one I totally plan to use to the fullest advantage is post # 37 which is on Abstinence. Here is what it says:

I'm a huge fan of abstinence, especially now that I'm married and don't have to follow it. But I almost left it off this list because I think despite how much we like the idea of abstinence, we've done a really poor job explaining the benefits.

Here's what usually happens for 13-year old Christian boys. Their parents or their youth leader says, "Look, you should stay pure and not have sex so that you keep your marriage holy." That's their first option. Then the world says to them, "Look at me! Sex is wild and fun and neon and loud and whoa Spring Break!" And as a 13-year old that was an easy decision for me to make. (And if you believe that the pursuit of holiness alone will inspire your 13-year old son first let me say that's adorable, and second I honestly hope he does not come in contact with one of the 25% of teenage girls in this country that has an STD.)

Here's what we should be saying about abstinence. The best reason not to have sex until you're married is that it makes your sex life so much better after you're married. When you don't bring baggage into a sexual marriage relationship things get wild a lot faster. You get to have crazy, awesome, Prince type sex. There's no memories of other people, no hang ups to work through. It's just you and your wife getting ridiculous and enjoying the hot sexy good time that holiness makes possible. This is what it sounds like, when doves cry.

Abstinence. That's what I'm talkin bout BABY!

Not another Prophet in an Armoni Suit

I have been hungry for God. It has been easier to choose Him over the world. I have been reading Rick Joyner's Final Quest series. I am on book 2, The Call and while still in the 1st chapter I have like 3 pages of notes. I have also been watching Todd Bentley as often as I can but not often enough. I mean to get stuff done but I just want to sit and watch or pray or worship. Title of this blog will link you to Todd's site.

I feel spread as thin as always and I am getting frustrated I can not give more time to God. I need more time with Him. Reading about visions and prophecy and watching revival and healings I need to know the Holy Spirit better so I can know what to do. I have always been one of those people that believes things are not going to get better, but worse. Maybe begining my bible studies with Revelation or maybe just my realistic, cynical outlook will not let me 'hope for a better future'/hearts and squiggles. I believe things will continue to get worse until Jesus comes back. I want that to be soon but seeing all these signs of the times that show the end is near has me nervous.

I am back to loving my new breast and I would love a tummy tuck and a little lipo and I want to be in shape and lose weight but FOR WHAT?!? To either die or be raptured?!? Something I got from reading the Call was looking at myself and all my faults is PRIDE and will keep me from God. I have been asking for more judgement and conviction *yikes* and I found that looking at myself will bring confussion and make it harder to hear the Holy Spirit. I can not abide in His presence and be self-conscious or self-absorbed. It makes sense, how can we hear from God when looking at our own inadequacies and unworthiness? We will never be worthy or adequate. That is why we need Him! We can never make ourselves into what we should be and it is Pride to try and focus there. ALl I can do is trust God to use me despite myself. The Call puts it quite simpily. Our call is to abide in the Holy Spirit and let God use us. In His Presence is where we will see Glory.

I can see in my limited understanding why Romans 8:1 is in the bible. When we are in condemnation for our sins and focus our our unworthiness, we are not looking to Jesus. I tend to struggle with not being repentant enough for my sins and chalk it up to being human then go into condemnation for NOT being in condemnation and just a bunch of stupid crap that is not SEEKING HIS FACE. Eph. 4:3 NLT says Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit and bind yourselves together with peace. That's what Im talkin bout Jesus!

Growing Up

I recently found myself in an emotional situation where I initially responded in my usual way of anger, violence, and agression. I scared the crap outta my girls but I pulled myself together right quick and in no time I actually began handeling the situation like a Christian, an adult Christian no less! You do not hear pride in my words but shock and awe!

I have been in the Word more this year than ever in my Christian walk and it has made such a difference. I really believe in the POWER of the Word; help my unbelief! I actually acted on Eph. 6:12 and realized my battle was not against flesh and blood but against the evil powers that rule the world I live in. I not only feel I may be moving up a level in my relationship with God but I feel as a family we are moving.

Speaking of Joshua 24:15 As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord, I have an apt. to get a tattoo that has that meaning and possibly the scripture ref. too.

I have felt some fear lately, serious fear and while I know I have not been given a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and a sound mind, I was surprized how much fear I felt. What does it mean? Being in God's will = stronger attacks? Feeling fear = need to cover areas in prayer and the blood? Fear = NOT being in God's will? I dunno. I do know that no matter what I face, I have not turned away from my God, but to Him. See? I am growing up finally! That's what I'm talkin bout, savvy?