What I am Loving Wednesday!!

Sorry I have been such a horrible blogger this past few days! Being sickish, working, and car stuff took over my life! As always.. I welcome this positive spot!

Here is what I am LOVING on this Wednesday!!

I'm Loving... My iPhone still. Sorry, but I am :)

I'm loving.... taking walks with this beautiful girl.

I'm loving.... every time I see my U2 tickets.... just makes my day! Won't be long before Travis H. and I are basking in the wonderfulness that is Bono's voice! ha ha.

I'm loving.... hat days!! Nothing like them... mostly because I do not have to wash my hair :) Come in... do not pretend you don't have those days!

I'm loving ....Pinkberry! yummy yummy goodness!!

I'm loving... friends who don't treat me like a charity case because I am single (Jenna and Lora I am looking at you! ) I promise I still have a blog post coming shortly!

I'm loving.... the fact that I finally let myself heal enough to go to my favorite place in the world. Well in Nashville... Radnor Lake. I used to spend pretty much everyday there, but up until this week I had not been there since last October. Funny how an event in your life drags you down enough to stop doing what you love. And even though it still hurts, I am letting myself heal.

I'm loving.... Parenthood. I guess it goes along with me loving Brothers & Sisters. Temporarily fills my void for wanting my own big family and not growing up with one :)

I'm loving .....that God has blessed me with a high threshold for pain. Not being able (and not wanting to hurt my body) to take pain meds would be MISERABLE if I did not.

I'm loving... stupid things that make me laugh

I'm loving... this quote. How true is it? and how true in my own life!

I'm loving... as always... Hummus! and Greek Yogurt! YUMMY!

I'm STILL loving.... Johnny Depp. I just. can't. help. myself.

I'm loving.... this fun hair style and color. I know... you guessed it. I have the bug, and I want to do something fun with my hair...:)

I'm loving... this cute, springy outfit... and of course it is from Banana Republic. Do I shop anywhere else?

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FINALLY, I'm loving... that even though my heart was not into this today... (been a rough few weeks!) that I still get to read what everyone loves, and I am reminded of positive things and things are just plain fun!! :) Happy Wednesday everyone! Love!

What I'm Lovin' Wednesday!!

It's that time again, and I must say... I am needing this weekly dose of positivity!! This is a struggle, but God is going to give it to me.. I just know it! SO, I am going to breathe deeply and go for it...

I'm loving....... The AMAZING 72 degree weather we have been given today! Thank you Lord! It is perfection. My perfect Radnor lake day.

I'm loving....... Being blessed with Amy and Sara in my life! (as well as their awesome parents). They are such a joy to be around, and have provoked MUCH needed laughter in my life. I can't wait to see them again and sit on the "bottom" ... Bon Jovi!! :) These girls are dedicating their whole lives to serving God in Greece soon... and I could not admire them more.

I'm loving...... Fun girl weekends with my best friend! Which include pedicures, window shopping, Whole/Foods and Trader Joe's, Gilmore Girls, and yummy Indian food.

I'm loving...... Apple products :) And yes... I took this picture with my iPhone....

I'm loving...... making a really bad lunch with Lora last Wednesday... Trust me. You don't want this recipe. It was so horrible, we did not even want to give it to the DOG!!!

I'm loving...... my monthly dinners with the Rachel's and Jen. Love them. I am also loving that Jen and I are so close after knowing each other... well... FOREVER :)

I'm loving...... that even after everything happened yesterday and I cried and cried... God still blessed me with silliness in myself. I am also LOVING that I was not in my car when it got smashed into!

I'm loving ..... The promise of a day without pain, sorrow, and tears. Oh Lord how I can not wait for that day. But until than... I will wait for you to come in my life, and speak to me.

I'm loving ..... The blessing of reading others blogs and what they are loving on Wednesdays. Such a pick me up!

What are you loving? That was not so hard... and I already feel a tad better :)

Hey.. it's OKAY Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I think I am going to like Tuesdays now as well, because whatever I say that is okay... just has to be okay! :) So here I go again with this lovely idea from Lora !

HEY! It's okay....

..... to be frustrated with good friends who constantly make plans with you or others, promise to help you with something, or talks about being there for people and others, but when it comes down to the matter they are not there. it is also okay to not want to be "friends" with those who are only there for you when times are good.

..... to want to throw a glass of water in someones face that acts like you have a disease because you are 25 and still single (don't worry... blog post later)

..... to love and cherish the individual girlfriends you have, but to miss having that group of girls who you could always count on all together that knew and loved each other as well as you. I miss college and my old community group for that very reason!

..... to sometimes fail. God still loves and cherishes me! We are still his royal heirs and so precious to Him no matter what.

..... to have been happy that one of the girls was voted off Idol last week. Sorry, beautiful voice, but she was not doing it for me! I did not shed one tear. I will save those for Paul's time. :)

..... To be a tropical girl at heart ( as Jen so wonderfully pointed out as I was eating my island chicken today at lunch)

..... To get excited about going to Super Target :)

..... to be alone and to crave alone time.

..... to be a little cranky as long as you snap out of it sooner rather than later.

..... to not be positive 100% of the time, but to still be joyful and filled with joy 100% of the time. those who are ALWAYS 100% positive ALL the time are probably going to explode in a few years anyways with all the things they are hiding inside of them.

..... to smile and get excited inside every time you see your new IPhone.

..... to miss someone.

..... to separate yourself from someone that is crossing boundaries in your life. even if it is a family member.

It is just okay!!

Change is Hard

Just some random thoughts going through my head right now. I will tag my WARNING: HORRIBLE BLOGGER ALERT to this one too. Although, I must add that this post shamelessly reflects my eagerness of devouring the Graham Cook CDs I received in the mail today from my dear from Em today. If you are reading this Emily THANK YOU!!

Sometimes I want to skip the change process in me. I want to go straight from A right to Z. Skip all the hard stuff in between. Am I the only one? At times I even think.. I rather not even change. I rather just sit here, be the same, be disobedient, and really just be stupid than to go through the sweat, blood, and tears that the change process sometimes provokes. Why do we resist change? Why are we just so used to be miserable or so absorbed in our baggage? In reality how brilliant can it be to be involved in a change process? There can be joy and pleasure, and even LAUGHTER in this journey. To leave something behind that you don't like about yourself. Where wonder and glory can open up to you! The lavish gifts God has waiting for you in your change. The process is what makes our lives so rich. Without the process, would we really be the same people? Would we appreciate the change and works done inside us? Is it easy? Nope. Let's just be honest for a bit. It would be SO much better if it was right? Probably not... but the alive self me thinks it would be. Because, every time we say yes to Jesus we have to say no to something else. Hard. Plain and simple, but if we can see how much we gain at the end (and we can!), and how we are so beautiful to Him... maybe we would be more willing to go through the change process. To shed our baggage and leave it all behind. After all, "Perfect love casts out ALL fear".

"We need to be present- future in our relationship with God not present past. We need to learn how to walk with God now with an eye on who we are becoming. God is developing us all the time. Everything God does is relational. He uses all situations all people to teach us how to become like Jesus. God has already dealt with my past beautifully and wonderfully "(Graham Cook)

Is God changing anything in you right now? Have you ever not wanted to let Him change you because of how hard and painful it can be? Trust me I have. I can also tell you that it is SO freeing and lovely to break from that, but it is something I struggle with ALL the time. All goes along with my inkling of disobedience.

Thursday's Ten: the one on FORGIVENESS

If you have read my blog at all or if you know anything that is going on with me.. you would know that I am in a season of so many things and times in my life. One being a season of forgiveness and healing. So why not do a Thursday's Ten on random facts, thoughts, quotes, and musings of forgiveness? Warning: this is a VERY simple post on forgiveness due to my lack of time, and very jumbled... so forgive me? Not my best work.. oh well :)

1. If you do not forgive you are really only hurting yourself. They are not hurting, heck they have probably moved on and have possibly even forgotten about you or whatever has happened between you. SO forgiveness is so key to healing on all levels. You can not heal, nor grow, nor move on without it.

2. Forgiveness (even for those of us blessed with the gift of Mercy, and blessed ABUNDANTLY with it) is sometimes just plain, sticking hard! I personally could have never even started on this journey of forgiveness and healing with out God... He carries me when I just want to lay on the floor and cry, or when I just want to be a witch to people. It is amazing what happens in my life when I allow the Spirit (or when He just comes in anyway) to move and work in my life.

3. Forgiveness is not about forgetting. The whole forgive and forget thing... would be nice, but that is not really what forgiveness is about. We are after all somewhat human. It is about releasing someone from what they have done to you, and releasing someone from the chains that YOU have allowed them to have on you. (After note... I wrote MOST of this awhile ago and this week saw something on a friend's status about this.. love how the Holy Spirit works in all things)

4. "Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part" -Philip Yancey. This is so true. God's grace does flow to all of us, and especially the lowest... so why can I not practice even a fraction of this?

5. Forgiveness is NOT about letting people walk all over you, and if you think it is... you missed the point. You can have a balance, which is something I am really trying to let God change in me. I often confused the 2. You will still live in the chains people have put around you if you do. You do not even have to speak to the person you forgive again. That person may not even be alive.

6. "To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and discover that prisoner was you" Lewis B. Smedes

7."Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule." ~Lewis B. Smedes

8."Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation"~Roberto Assagioli which goes along with one of my favorite songs of all time by Coldplay (surprised?). Death and All His Friends:

"No I don't wanna battle from beginning to end;
I don't wanna cycle, recycle revenge;
I don't wanna follow death and all his friends".

9. Learn to forgive yourself. If you can not even learn this.. it makes it much harder to forgive others. I am learning to do this daily. Learning to accept God's mercy, God's grace, God's love, and God's beautiful forgiveness in my own life. Something that does NOT come easily for me. I often have an inkling to think that I am being "punished" for my past mistakes. In reality my Father does not act that way, because that is an inertly human behavior that we have created for ourselves in our sin and guilt that has arisen.

10. a little less serious.. I know I posted this song yesterday, but it really came to me at the perfect time!

I've been trying to live without you now
But I miss you, baby
The more I know, the less I understand
And all the things I thought I figured out, I have to learn again
I've been tryin' to get down to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my heart is so shattered
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

All the people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
Better put it all behind you; cause life goes on
You keep carrin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside

What I'm Lovin' Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am very sleepy today, but I will muster up some strength to work, post this, and do some Zumba :)

I'm lovin'..... That it is going to be 71 degrees here today and 75 tomorrow!! YAY sunshine.

I'm lovin'..... Being reminded of how blessed I am to have my mom YET AGAIN this week! Thanks for yesterday again!!!!

I'm lovin'..... The Avett Brothers and getting to see them this past weekend in the big party town of Searcy, AR!

I'm STILL lovin'..... my job and this sweet little face

I'm lovin'..... being blessed to see all of these wonderful and glorious faces this past weekend that included playing in a tree house!!

I'm lovin'.... being blessed with these 2 people in my life! They have blessed SO many over the years and God has really used them in so many ways in so many people's lives.

I'm lovin'..... anything that provokes this much fun and laughter. Thanks Liv.

I'm lovin'..... the journey God is bringing me on and the story of forgiveness being written in my life. I was reminded of this song yesterday and I am lovin' it!!

I'm lovin'..... the promise that "there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning because Your love NEVER fails!!"

I'm lovin'.... that today is Wednesday which means weekly lunch with Lora! Dinner with Nate tonight, dinner with Jen and the Rachel's tomorrow night, and who knows what the rest of this week will bring.

hey, it's okay tuesday!!

Yes, again "stealing" from Lora's blog again today! My goal for this week is to get the 2 or 3 blogs I have originally written done and to actually post them sometime this week. I must say though these weekly topics are fun! :) So here goes a new one...

hey, it's okay...

.... to feel like a "supernanny" when getting a very hard headed and stubborn child ready for school in the morning and be done in time for her to watch a whole episode of "Imagination Movers" and 10 min. of America's Funniest Videos.

.... to be 25 years old and freak out a little after a ridiculous morning of the car not starting (and all that entitled including getting Kate to school a little late) and more to your mom (which may or may not include bursting into tears in your mothers arms)

.... to accidentally eat half the tub of hummus for lunch one day.

.... to jump for joy and sing and praise God for all He does in your life only min. later to cry and cry out to Him for the pains that also share your night and days.

.... to stand up for yourself to those who are treating you with disrespect. Which also entails not letting people walk all over you. Even if they are family or close friends.

.... to let someone win all your levels of all 3 angry bird games so you can play whatever level you want at anytime.

.... to sob (and yes, i mean literally) during a t.v. show. i will leave it to you to guess which one.

.... to pretend to be texting someone or talking on the phone (or call someone just to be on the phone) just to avoid contact with others and people (don't act like you have never done that before).

.... to listen to the same song on repeat all day long. literally.

.... to miss someone so much it hurts at times.

.... to begin to think about lunch at 9:45 am

Really.. it's okay! :)