Date Night With My Super Hero

Tonight was date night. We went out to eat supper then dessert at Swooger's (a local ice cream shop), hung out at Books-a-Million, and walked around the new Target in Gastonia.
We found these awesome masks in their dollar isle. We didn't buy 'em, we just wanted to play with 'em for a little bit. lol
Bruce has always read comic books. Spider man was always his favorite. This is the closest he's come to being Spider Man. But he's the sweetest Super Hero I know.

While we were at Books-a-Million, I was finished looking around, so I sat down with a couple of ladies and was reading some things on my Kindle Fire. The other two ladies were talking and then I joined in. We were having a fun chat until another woman snipped, "Have y'all exhausted all subjects yet? I'm trying to read." She was so serious. But it was one of those moments where my brain was telling me to just be quiet and act normal, yet I suddenly heard myself burst into laughter. She, on the other hand, was not cracking a smile, which made my giggles grow a little larger.

Other than that little kerfuffle, which was still a high light of the evening, we had a great time together. I love date nights with my super hero. You just never know how they're going to turn out.

<3

Local Field Trip Day

Hannah has spent the week in Tennessee with my mom, visiting my Aunt Janice. They've had a really good time. They were able to visit Brother Tony Hutson's church, Middle Tennessee Baptist, Wednesday night. My Aunt loved it and is looking forward to visiting again on Sunday with mom and Hannah. They've decided to stay a couple of extra days and won't be home until sometime Monday evening. I'll be glad to see my baby girl again.

Harrison and I decided to take a field trip today to our local museum. We didn't know what the exhibit was until we got there. It was the Girl Scouts from the year they started to present date. It was interesting to see how the badges and uniforms have changed over the years. They had a table set up where you could make a paper pocket knife so we did that. I told Harrison it gave a whole new meaning to a paper cut.

Next we stopped at the Library. For some reason, both Harrison and I were not in the system and we ended up having to get new library cards. Which was fine. Harrison finally checked out two books he's been dying to get for months. Everytime we go, the entire series is checked out. So he was glad there were two there and has enjoyed reading them today.

After the library we met Bruce at Love's Fish Box for lunch. Love's is the BEST fish camp in our area, in our opinion. We had a great lunch together and then home for a little rest before Bruce had to leave for work.

A friend came over for a visit this afternoon and it was so nice to sit and chat for a while. I enjoyed it very much!

Now we're just waiting on Justin to get back from practicing with one of the groups at church. I know he'll be exhausted when he gets here. He's been up a long time today and I'm sure he'll be ready to hit the sack when he gets home.

I'm outta here. Y'all have a good night/morning/evening.... whatever. :D

Happy Valentine's Day II

Bruce's mom had gone to lunch with good friends on Valentine's Day, so Bruce ended up missing her. But he did go see her when he got off work that night.
But later in the afternoon, the kids and I went to see her to take her a card and some candy and visit a while.

My great niece was there. She is so beautiful and gives the sweetest little hugs. And obviously she enjoys her McDonald's ice cream sundaes.

My brother in law was dropping her off for my mother in law to sit for a few hours while he went back to work and his wife was busy at the florist shop. Valentine's Day is their busiest day, you know!

We had a good visit and before we left, my sister in law and her two sons showed up. It was good to see them too.

When we left my mother in law's house, we picked up some pizzas and went to mom's to deliver her card and candy. We watched some love stories from back in the prairie days while we ate our pizza and had a great time with her.

It was nice being able to spend some time with our moms and letting them know that we consider them to be our valentines.

Love you, Mom! Love you, Marie!

A Happy Valentine's Day!

When the children went to bed last night I put a pink table cloth on the table with a vase of flowers in the candy heart vase I found a few weeks ago, and put the kid's cards and chocolates on the table. I also left Bruce's gift bag and he left my gift box.


This morning I had a house to clean before meeting Bruce at the gym. We came home and while he got ready for work, I finished cooking lunch.


For dessert, I gave everyone someone a friend of mine posted about. Heart-shaped Little Debbie cakes with strawberry swirl ice cream, topped with chocolate drizzles.

Obviously, they liked it.

After dessert we opened our gifts and this is what I got. Of course, we already knew what we were getting because when we went out Friday night, we each picked out our own gifts.
We had a very good day and there was more to it, but I'll share about that later. Right now it's late and this wife and mama is tuckered out.

Swinging With My Sweetie

The theme for our Valentine's Banquet was inspired by a greeting card. It was really cute and we had a great time in our new banquet room for our first Valentine Banquet there.
Here's a pic of me and my sweetie pie. This was the entrance to the banquet room.


This year's skits were so hilariously funny. Brother Johnny was a former boxer being interviewed by "Hambone." It was great.


He was also a former inventor. He showed us many of his inventions. The one below is a nice hat to wear in church when you need a tissue from crying or have a runny nose.

My Pastor and his wife also did a VERY FUNNY skit. I don't think I have ever seen them be so funny. It was great.

And here they are without his hat/hair. Aren't they sweet?

We had a good time. Several people worked hours on the meal. We had our choice of steak or chicken, salad, baked potatoes, drink, and dessert. It was all fabulous!!

And of course I had a great time with my sweetheart.

I love him. <3

A Little Better

I spent another day in bed, with the exception of putting a roast in the oven for lunch. I do feel better and hope that tomorrow I will feel even better than I did today.

When I heard on the news that the sickness going around is due highly in part to an early spring and unusually high levels of pollen in the air, I decided to try some allergy medication instead of taking the usual head cold meds. I started on a 24 hr allergy pill. I take it in the morning and a few hours later I start taking Musinex every four hours with a Vitamin C every four hours also. I think it's really helped. Tomorrow we'll know for sure.

Since I've been in bed the last few days I decided to update my picture blog and organize the sidebar. If you want to view the pics, just click here and choose which album you want from the sidebar. I still have a lot of albums to add but I'll have to get to those when I have more time.

So far, no one in my family has gotten sick from me. Keeping a close eye on that though. Looking forward to this weekend and hoping I get to go to the Valentine Banquet with my sweetheart.

Hope y'all have a great weekend too. :)

A Turn for the Worse

So my cold has taken a turn for the worse. I've been in bed since just after 2:00 yesterday. Bruce went to the gym by himself this morning and is bringing me back some orange juice and Cepacol. Nothing says *lunch* like medicine, right?

I had Harrison bring me some disinfectant wipes so I could wipe down my computer keys. As I was sitting here doing that my nose started running. No tissues, no toilet paper (nearby, anyway), so why not use a disinfectant wipe? As I told friends, the lemon scent is nice and my nose has never felt so clean. ha!

I've been doing my blog reading and that's been nice to pass time. OH! Have y'all discovered pinterest yet? I LOVE it! There are so many great ideas on that site. I don't know that I'm as addicted as some of my other friends, but I do like Pinterest. Sometimes I forget to pin things I find on the Internet and then later I think, "MAN! Should have pinned that!!" If you haven't checked it out, you should. It's a great way to find recipes, crafts, etc.

Our Valentine's Banquet is this weekend. This year we decided to do two nights of the banquet. So the Young Adults class, Newly Married class, and Still Married class will be Friday night. And Saturday will be for those that couldn't make it Friday and Brother Johnny's Sunday School class. We're in the Still Married class, but we'll be going Saturday because Bruce has to work Friday night. I've been able to help some on the decorations for the banquet. It is so cute! Mrs. Amy Leonard and Mrs. Ava have had some awesome ideas, all inspired by a greeting card. I'll have pictures to share, Lord willing, next week. I hope I'm feeling much better by then and we get to go.

I think I'll go back to reading some blogs now.

Here's something to look at for a minute. :)

Pork Alfredo and A Fun Family Shoot

I really don't know what to call this recipe, if you can call it a recipe, that is. LOL A friend of mine taught me how to do this a few years ago and as I was telling another friend about it, I thought maybe my blog readers would like to try it also.

Grab a pencil, because this recipe is quite long. Here's what you need:

Pork chops, boneless or bone-in, doesn't matter.
One jar of Alfredo sauce.

Ok, so you don't need a pencil. It really is that simple. Easy, easy!! Place your pork chops in a pan, cover with Alfredo sauce, and cook at 350 degrees until pork is done.
I like to serve mine with Angel Hair pasta and some kind of green. I prefer steamed broccoli. But I'm out of that today so we'll probably have a side salad. If you try it, let me know how you like it.
~~~~~
This weekend, I had the privilege of shooting the Vaughan family. They were such a fun group of people to be around. Mom and dad Vaughan were obviously use to the shenanigans of their daughters, because they pretty well let their playful ways roll right on without batting an eye. It was hilarious. Each daughter has such a different personality and they all just fold right into each other. I never had a sister, but if I did, I'd sure want that kind of relationship with them. It was very emotional for me at then end. We did a daddy/daughters shot with them and they were so playful with their dad that it was fun, but after all was said and done and I found myself missing my dad so much I couldn't fight back the tears.
They were a sweet family to shoot and I'll never forget this one!

~~~~~
After the shoot I had a date with my main squeeze. :) We decided to go to Don's Italian in Shelby. Bruce loves their turkey subs. They have awesome burgers so I had the bacon cheeseburgers with their homemade chips and ranch dip. I could make a meal just off the chips and dip. lol Anyway, I started not feeling well and by the time I got up Sunday morning I was REALLY feeling bad.
My eyes were swollen and with each blink the water would just flow from them like the Hoover Dam busted. As a matter of fact. I was oozing from every hole in my head. Gross, I know. Sorry. So I stayed home from church. We were having a family get together at my mother-in-law's after morning service. I met my family there after church and by the afternoon I was feeling some better and knew I could make it to church. Come to find out, we had over a hundred people out with this crud. They said the choir was puny Sunday morning and I believe it, because it was puny Sunday night. LOL But it was still good. And the service was excellent. Better than ANY Super Bowl. The Holy Spirit was in our midst and the alters were full. Three people were saved and seven were baptized. I was so glad I made it!
~~~~~
As for the Super Bowl, we made it home as New England was leading the second half. We were pulling for the Giants. It was a crazy game but in the end, the Giants won. And there you have it! YAY.
~~~~~
Other than being sick, I had a really terrific weekend and hope you did too.

Do I Care?

While we were working out at the gym today, I noticed someone's t-shirt that read

I used to care. But now I take a pill for that.

On a t-shirt or a bumper sticker that little saying makes us smile. After all, I did make a silent chuckle when I read it. Obviously there is not really a pill that keeps us from caring. But what does keep us from caring?

As I was treading away on the treadmill and thinking about what I read, the thought did occur to me that many of us.... Christians, that is.... have stopped caring.

We've stopped caring about what Bible we carry.
We've stopped caring about how we dress.
We've stopped caring about the language we use.
We've stopped caring about what we put in front of our eyes.
We've stopped caring about the music we listen to.
We've stopped caring about whether or not our children are involved in their youth activities.
We've stopped caring about whether or not our families are in Sunday school and church services.
We've stopped caring about whether or not the alters are full.
We've stopped caring about souls being saved.
We've. stopped. caring.

Sometimes I think we become oblivious to our carelessness. But we need to be aware of it because it damages the cause of Christ.
It chokes the Word of God, gluts the soul, obstructs the Gospel, hinders the work of Christ, and manifests unbelief.

I have been guilty of carelessness in my Christian walk. And as I pondered these things, I was overwhelmed with guilt at the thought of causing others to fall because of it.

Referring to the "pill" mentioned on the t-shirt, I guess you could say that spiritually, the pill of carelessness is a poison. But there is an antidote for that poison, if we are sure to care about the things of God.

First of all, we have God's protection. Psalm 37: 4-11 tells us to delight ourselves in Him, commit our ways, trust in Him, rest in Him, and when we do these things, He will bring to pass the promises of those things He only gives his children. Such as the desires of our hearts, righteousness and judgment, inheritance of the earth, and peace.

Secondly, we have God's provision. Matthew 6:25-34, we hear it straight from the LORD, that He will take care of our needs. We don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from or whether or not we'll be clothed. We are compared to "...the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. ARE YE NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THEY?" Again, we are compared to the lilies, "...how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." And in verse 33 we are told, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." When we stop caring about His kingdom and His righteousness, we begin to forfeit the gifts He has in store for us.

And thirdly, when we care about the things of God, we have God's promises. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Everything we do should be entered into with earnest prayer. Christians that do not care do not have much of a prayer life, if any at all. Much less an earnest one. Christians that care, pray. When we are earnest in prayer life, we'll be earnest in our daily life. And when we are earnest in those things, we are Christians, caring for the things of God, resting in the assurance of His promises.

I don't want to stand before the Lord, guilty of not caring. So I have to ask myself...

"Do I Care?"

Our First Love

As I was waiting for Bruce to come out of the men's locker room today, I glanced up at the many tvs hanging from the ceiling. One of them was showing the Jerry Springer show, which was just coming on. Why anyone in their right mind would watch that absolute garbage and filth is beyond me. Although I could not hear without headphones, the title of the episode popped up on the screen and my first thoughts when I saw it were of being thankful. My next thought was of this verse:
Revelation 2:4 "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."

When I think of this verse, I immediately think of my relationship with Jesus Christ. The flesh of the Saint is prone to leave our First Love. We deny Him the thing He desires most from us and that is our praise, our worship, and our loyalty. He never betrays us, but we betray Him often. Daily.

It is easy to betray Him when we become so down and tired in our Christian walk. When things don't go our way, or when we feel everything around us is falling apart. Maybe you've become burned out in your service or weary in your well doing. Maybe you're discouraged from someone's gossip. Or you feel you have been working in your ministry all alone, for far too long.

James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."

There are many things that tempt us into betraying our First Love. Being tired, weary, and discouraged can be a temptation to laying everything down and walking away. But hang in there! Your First Love will be your strength, He will lift you up, and He will encourage you in His Word. And at the end of your journey, you will receive that crown of life!

And what girl doesn't desire her own crown?