Three must read books

The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper
The future is clearly mapped out for New York socialite Eugenia “Gennie” Cooper, but she secretly longs to slip into the boots of her favorite dime-novel heroine and experience just one adventure before settling down. When the opportunity arises, Gennie jumps at the chance to experience the Wild West, but her plans go awry when she is drawn into the lives of silver baron Daniel Beck and his daughter and finds herself caring for them more than is prudent–especially as she’s supposed to go back to New York and marry another man.

As Gennie adapts to the rough-and-tumble world of 1880s Colorado, she must decide whether her future lies with the enigmatic Daniel Beck or back home with the life planned for her since birth. The question is whether Daniel’s past–and disgruntled miners bent on revenge–will take that choice away from her.

Author Bio:

Kathleen Y’Barbo is the best-selling, award-winning author of more than thirty novels, novellas, and young adult books, with more than a half-million in print. A graduate of Texas A&M University, she is currently a publicist with Books & Such literary agency.


The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love

Once a month, the six women of the Sweetgum Knit Lit Society gather to discuss books and share their knitting projects. Inspired by her recently-wedded bliss, group leader Eugenie chooses “Great Love Stories in Literature” as the theme for the year’s reading list–a risky selection for a group whose members span the spectrum of age and relationship status.
As the Knit Lit ladies read and discus classic romances like Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice, each member is confronted with her own perception about love. Camille’s unexpected reunion with an old crush forces her to confront conflicting desires. Newly widowed Esther finds her role in Sweetgum changing and is surprised by two unlikely friends. Hannah isn’t sure she’s ready for the trials of first love. Newcomer Maria finds her life turned upside-down by increasing family obligations and a handsome, arrogant lawyer, and Eugenie and Merry are both asked to make sacrifices for their husbands that challenge their principles.
Even in a sleepy, southern town like Sweetgum, Tennessee, love isn’t easy. The Knit Lit ladies learn they can find strength and guidance in the novels they read, the love of their family, their community–and especially in each other.

Author Bio:

RITA Award-winning Beth Patillo combines her love of knitting and books in her engaging Sweetgum series. Pattillo served churches in Missouri and Tennessee before founding Faith Leader, a spiritual leadership development program.


Rose House

A vivid story of a private grief, a secret painting, and one woman’s search for hope.
Still mourning the loss of her family in a tragic accident, Lillian Diamon finds herself drawn back to the Rose House, a quiet cottage where four years earlier she had poured out her anguish among its fragrant blossoms.
She returns to the rolling hills and lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley in search of something she can’t quite name. But then Lillian stumbles onto an unexpected discovery: displayed in the La Rosaleda Gallery is a painting that captures every detail of her most private moment of misery, from the sorrow etched across her face to the sandals on her feet.
What kind of artist would dare to intrude on such a personal scene, and how did he happen to witness Lillian’s pain? As the mystery surrounding the portrait becomes entangled with the accident that claimed the lives of her husband and children, Lillian is forced to rethink her assumptions about what really happened that day.
A captivating novel rich with detail, Rose House explores how the brushstrokes of pain can illuminate the true beauty of life.


Author Bio:

Tina Ann Forkner is the author of Ruby Among Us. Originally from Oklahoma, she now lives with her husband and three children in Wyoming, where she serves on the Laramie County Library Foundation’s board of directors.

"The Hope of Refuge" Book Review

This was the first book I have ever read by the author Cindy Woodsmall and I have to tell you it was an amazing book. When I got it in the mail I was very excited and then I started reading it and I could not put it down. I think I read it in one day. I love the story and the author just made you feel like you were there. I could see the hills and the Amish homes and fields. It was wonderful. I want to read all her books. This one though is definetly a must read by anyone who likes a romance and yet a little mystery.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400073962



Summary:

Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?

Friends we Keep Book Review

Summary for The Friends We Keep

During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.

The Friends We Keep is Sarah’s thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:

• Why do we long so for women friends?
• Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?
• What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?
• Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?
• How do I foster friendship?
• When is it time to let a friend go, and how do I do so?

With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith, and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous.



Summary for 40 Minute Bible Studies

The 40 Minute Bible Study series from beloved Bible teacher Kay Arthur and the teaching staff of Precept Ministries tackles important issues in brief, easy-to-grasp lessons you can use personally or for small-group discussion. Each book in the series includes six 40-minute studies designed to draw you into God’s Word through basic inductive Bible study. There are 16 titles in the series, with topics ranging from fasting and forgiveness to prayer and worship. With no homework required, everyone in the group can work through the lesson together at the same time. Let these respected Bible teachers lead you in a study that will transform your thinking—and your life.



Titles Include:

•The Essentials of Effective Prayer •Being a Disciple: Counting the Cost

•Building a Marriage That Really Works •Discovering What the Future Holds

•Forgiveness: Breaking the Power of the Past •Having a Real Relationship with God

•How Do You Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk? •Living a Life of Real Worship

•How to Make Choices You Won’t Regret •Living Victoriously in Difficult Times

•Money & Possessions: The Quest for Contentment •Rising to the Call of Leadership

•How Do You Know God’s Your Father? •Key Principles of Biblical Fasting

•A Man’s Strategy for Conquering Temptation •What Does the Bible Say About Sex?





Cover art:







Author Bios:

Sarah Zacharias Davis is a senior advancement officer at Pepperdine University, having joined the university after working as vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of the critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent: Getting Honest About Who We are and Who We Want to Be. She graduated from Covenant College with a degree in education and lives in Los Angeles, California.



Kay Arthur, executive vice president and cofounder of Precept Ministries International has worked with her teaching staff to create the powerful 40-Minute Bible Studies series. Kay is known around the world as a Bible teacher, author, conference speaker, and host of national radio and television programs.

Is it just me

I know I already did a post today but I just need t vent a little and maybe get some points of view from other people at the same time.

Lately there has been a lot of things going on around me that I have been watching and I wonder when did it become ok for people to live like this. I know some of what I am venting about is happening because I or other people have allowed it to happen in there life. But it still makes me wonder.

First off it seems that there has been a lot of public and private people having affairs. I don't understand this. This is one thing that probably confuses me the most. I mean I am pretty sure that when people get married they promise to be faithful to the person they are marrying forever no matter what. So when did we as a society begin to accept this as ok to do. Then when it does happen we say the person in the marriage that it happened to is stupid for wanting there marriage to work. Well when did wanting to stay married become a stupid thing to do? I mean that is the other part of wedding vows for better or worse.

Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that someone needs to endure a spouse that is not going to be faithful ever. I think that if that is the case then go ahead and leave them. But I think that a couple should do all they can to save there marriage before they write it off as a loss and go there seperate ways. I think our country has made divorce to easy and that to many people get married with the idea that oh well if this doesn't work or if I am unhappy I can just walk away and no harm done.

I beg to differ with that. I am a divorced women and I will say that it was the right thing for me to do but it was a very hard decision for me. I stuck it out for many years and even when I did finally leave I was hoping to work it out but that did not happen.

Now all I hear from people is do whatever makes you happy. Um well hello people who say that. What makes you happy might be the very thing that crushes someone else and makes them extremely unhappy. hat happened to the rule "do unto other as you would have them do unto you".

I think people really need to stop and think before they act or speak. Maybe if we all stopped and thought how would this make me feel if it were happening to me then maybe just maybe people would start to be nicer to each other

I know I am really venting but I have personal experience on both ends of this topic and I not only have I been hurt by people being selfish and only thinking of themselves I know I have hurt people because I was being selfish and only thinking of me.

To those people that I have hurt I really truly am sorry. I am trying hard to be a better person and to those who have hurt me no worries I am over it.

Well thanks for listening to me vent.

Mile Marker Day

This morning on my way to work my car mileage rolled over to 200,000 miles. I was so excited to be able to see that. I know that is not something people would be excited about but I have had the car for 7 years now and it is the first and only new car I have ever owned. I love that car. It still gets almost 30 miles to the gallon and runs great. I have had to have work done to it but it is still a great car.
The joke with my family and friends is that it has to last me four more years. That is when my youngest son will graduate then maybe I will be able to get another car. Anyway I was just excited to see that it is over the 200,000 mile mark and wanted to share that.

I got it!!!!! I got it!!!!

I recently had won a contest that I entered on the blog A Psych Mommy. I was sooooo excited because what I won was a Zoobie. I love those little animals and the best part was I got to pick what one I wanted. That was so exciting for me becaue I picked the Lady Bug.

Now anyone who knows me, knows I love lady bugs. So when the UPS driver brought it this week I was so excited. It is absolutely adorable. It is bigger then I thought it would be but that is ok that makes it even better.

When I get my phone back I will take a picture of it sittin on my bed between the other two lady bugs I have and post it.

Thank you "A Psych Mommy" and Zoobies. I love my lady bug.

Little miracles

I am really late on posting this because this happened almost a month ago now but it is really cool and I want to get it out there.

My youngest son Dillion has had ear problems his entire life. Since he was about four he has had tubes put in his ears. I think that has been done a total of 4 times plus he has had his tonsils and adenoids removed. All in the hopes that his ear infections would go away. But all it seemed to do was damage his ears even more. I will admit I was young and stupid and just believed what the doctors told me. I mean really they were the doctors who am I to argue. Looking back at it I would have gotten a few more opinions before starting to do all these surgeries on him.

The funny thing though when he would get his ear infections he would not complain at all about them it would just be coincidence that we would find out about them. At least until he started getting tubes in. Once that started the way we would know he had infection his ears would start to bleed. OUCH!!!

Every time that would happen I would get so scared I mean it can't be good to have your ears bleeding can it? Anyway it has been at least three years since Dillion has had an ear infection and it has been great until about a month ago.

I was sleeping in my room and I heard a knock on my door, it was Dillion. This kind of startled me because he never knocks on my door then the next words out of his mouth just shocked me because I had never heard him say it before. He said his ear hurt. I told him to take a couple ibuprofen and then if he wanted he could come and lay in my bed with me for the night. (Mommies just know how to make you better). So he went and took the medicine and then came to back to my room and layed down. He was in there tossing and turning and whimpering so I knew it had to hurt. I was just waiting to see blood. But he got up and left my room for a couple minutes and I could here him in the living room just saying ow,ow,ow over and over. Then he came back into my room and layed down beside me, he was still wiggling a lot and whimpering from the pain so I rolled over and put my hands on him and started praying to God to heal him or at least take the pain away. I was praying for about ten seconds and all of a sudden Dillion was asleep!!!! Now this was only about 3 minutes after he had taken the ibuprofen so I know it wasn't the pills. But this is not even the best part the next day I went to work and I called him at home to see how he was feeling. He said to me he was fine. I said how is your ear, He said it feels a little funny but it does not hurt. So I just let it go for the day. I continued to ask him for a few more days and every day I got the same response it doesn't hurt.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!! I mean I know God answers prayer and it is awesome but I honestly think this is the first time I have seen an answer that fast. He literally healed Dillion in the first five seconds of my praying. He is the most Awesome God we could have.

I have always been a believer in prayer but after that it just strengthened my belief. Sorry it took me so long to tell you that story but at least I got it out there now.

What do you say to this?

OK so about a month ago I was at a funeral of a family friend. Me and my parents used to go camping with this couple in the summer time and the wife is who passed away. There girls are doing very good in there life and it was nice to see them. I don't think I had seen either of them since high school and we used to have fun when we were little girls. But this really is not what my blog is about. After the small prayer service my parents and I were going to give our condolences to the husband and this is what he said to me.

G; I am proud of you
ME: Your proud of me??? Why??
G: Because your a grandma aren't you
ME: Yes but why does that make you proud of me?
G: Because you are the hottest grandma in our town
Me: Just laughed and thanked him.

Now I know he was just trying to compliment me but that I thought was just the funniest thing to have the husband who just lost his wife say. He is a really nice guy and kind of like a father figure but I just thought it was funny.

Wordless Wednesday Deanna Then and Deanna Now Wow Time Flies

Deanna's first baby picture





Deanna Now She sure is Beautiful

Girls just wanna have fun

Wisconsin

So this past weekend I went with my mom and grandson to Wisconsin to go see my aunt (my mom's sister). The weekend was great. Good visiting and amazing food. The best part though was today before we left. See on Sundays my aunt and uncles two daughters come over for Sunday dinner after church and they both have two boys. My one cousin "T" her youngest boy "B" who I think is about 4 or 5 after lunch came out of the bathroom and walked up to his mom and shoved his hands in her face and smell mom. Now my cousin flew back in her chair about five feet she did not want to smell her sons hands she had no clue what was on them. It was hilarious. He just wanted her to smell the hand sanitizer he had put on his hands but she didn't know that. We all had a great laugh about it. It was fun. Then the same cousin her older boy "J" came in from outside and asked her where her sunburn was as he touched her arm (that was sunburned) then when he realized it he pulled something from behind his back and started putting it on her arm she jumped at first until she realized it was a leaf off of her mom's aloe vera plant. That I just thought was sweet.

The only other thing that made me laugh, to myself of course, was while these two events were happening all I could think of was I am going to go home and blog about this so here I am telling he story. It really was fun.

Amish Love

What’s all the hubbub about Amish fiction? Major media outlets like Time and ABC Nightline are covering it, and authors like Cindy Woodsmall are making the New York Times bestseller list regularly. What makes these books so interesting?



Check out the recent ABC Nightline piece here (http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=7676659&page=1) about Cindy and her titles When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and When the Soul Mends. It’s an intriguing look at Amish culture and the time Cindy has spent with Amish friends.



And don’t forget that Cindy’s new book The Hope of Refuge hits store shelves August 11, and is available for preorder now.

Little bit of this a little bit of that

I know it has been a while since I wrote anything and that is in part because I just have not felt like it. But I am actually home alone tonight and it is so nice. I can write and not be bothered or have someone looking over my shoulder. I love the quiet.

I am on week three of back to work and I am really liking it. It is so nice to get back to somewhat of a normal routine. I forget how busy it can be sometimes especially when you have to help other departments. But I really do like my job and my boss is amazing. She is a christian women and you can really see it in her. But I think she has some stress going on and just is not able to talk about it. But hey don't we all.

I was just sitting here today thinking about how fast time goes. Summer is almost here and school it almost over for the year. Graduations are coming up and quick. I am just glad I do not have to do that this year. But next year my third child graduates and then I only have one left. But not only does she graduate but I have one niece and one nephew who graduates the same year so not only will I have to plan the grad party but I will have to make sure it is not on the same weekend as the other two. Fun. But at least I have a few months before I need to worry about that. So I am not going to worry about it now.

The other day I took my kids Dillion, Ashlee, Ashlee's boyfriend Brad, Scott, Jennifer, my niece Tami Jo and of course my adorable grandson baby Scott to Chuck E Cheese for Brads birthday. Yes Brad was turning 17 but he had never been there before so we thought it would be fun. Come to find out Jennifer, my daughter-in-law, also had never been there. So it made for a really fun time for all of them.



This is all of us except my niece Tami Jo, she was the one to take the picture. But is was a really fun day. It is always nice when I get to see my kids all get along and have fun together. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been if my daughter Deanna and my son-in-law Joe could have been there. But they live on the west coast and Joe is currently out to sea for the Navy so that would have been kind of tricky to do.



Here is the happy couple on there wedding day. I love them and sure do miss them. I am excited for my daughter Ashlee though she is going to spend the summer with her sister. It will be good for both of them to get some sister time and get to be together for a little while.

Well I guess I have babbled enough just had little bit of this and a little bit of that to chat about. Will be back again when I can think of something to talk about.

Shore of Lake Superior

Back to Work

OK so shortly after I ironically titled my blog "movingforwardandhappily" I became extremely depressed. I am not sure why I had this attack happen to me all I know is that is was bad. It was so bad that my therapist made me take a leave from work. That happened back at the beginning of March and I have bee home every since.

When it first started I loved being home all I had to do was sleep all day and nothing else and it felt great. But I had really great friends and they would not let me just lay around my house in self pity. Especially since I really had no reason to be so down. Some of my friends gathered around me and prayed for me and that seemed to help tremendously. I also quit taking some medication that I was on that ironically was for depression and as the medicine left my body the better I began to feel. So of after awhile you can only sit home so much and like the time off for so long. Especially when you are a single parent.

I did have some really good times while I was off. I had an amazing women's retreat with my church and we had an awesome speaker. Then myself and four of my friends went to Duluth for the weekend and just enjoyed each others company. Then shortly after that I got to go to Texas with my brother to pick up my parents. While the drive was stressful at times I absolutely loved getting away. Oh yeah and before that my daughter who lives in Washington came home for a short visit. Then after Texas I went with some other friends to a cabin for a night. But all good times must end and I had to get back to reality. Plus not getting full wages is really hard to maintain a household so I knew I needed to go back.

So today was my first day back. It was so nice to be there. A lot of things have changed and a lot of things are the same. The amazing part was it felt like I had never left. I fell right back into my work routine and knew exactly what I needed to do. I am glad I am back.

Now all that is left is making sure whatever the reason I was attacked before I have learned from it and will not let that happen again. I can really feel that I am on the up swing in life and I am excited to see where the rest of this year takes me and where I am headed.

I do know one thing though I could not have gotten through these last few months if it were not for my God and my friends. Thank you to all my friends who helped me through these past couple months. I really appreciated. I am going to miss spending time with you during the day but know that I did enjoy the time we did have it definitely helped me to get to know you all better and for that I am thankful.

Wordless Wednesday

Texas and home again

Ok so this past Sunday I flew to Texas with one of my brothers (I have six), to go get my parents and drive them home. They are what is called snow birds. They go to Texas every winter and come home in the early spring for the summer. My brother and I flew down there because this past winter my dad has not been feeling that well and he was not able to tear down there fifth wheel camper and drive home by himeself so my brother was going to do that and I was just going to be moral support. Little did I know that this trip was going to turn out to be the trip of many first's for both myself and my brother and even my parents.

The first new adventure was for me I had not flown in over 20 years and so definetly had not flown since 9/11 so the whole security thing was very new for me. My brother came over the day before to see what I was packing and to make sure that I was only bringing a carry on bag which worked out perfect for me and that is all I brought. Then he told me the rules and said to make sure I wore shoes that slipped on and off. I could not believe we actually had to take our shoes off I thought that was a joke but it isn't you really do have to take your shoes off. Then the morning of the flight I of course woke up to my brother pounding on my door because I over slept. Thank fully I was completely ready to go and all I had to do was get dressed and leave. The night before I bassically emptied my purse of all no essentials so I would not have to worry about it so I figured security would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong they ran my purse through the scanner three times at least and then took me to a special corner and searched through it. I had to many coins so it was messing up the machine. No one told me to thin out my change. Once that was fixed it was smooth getting through the airport.

Then while waiting to board the plain I went to use the restroom and on my way out I heard a littl girl. she was 4 at the oldest, say to one of the adults with her "remember that time when the guys head got sucked into the jet" in response to that one adult said to the other adult. "I have never heard a little kid say so many things that could go wrong with a plane just before we are about to board one."
I just laughed to myself and thought gee I wonder at what age does fear start in our lives because she obviously was not afraid. The flight was amazing I absolutely loved it and would do it again in a heart beat. Take off and landing I am still getting used to but I would fly either way because the view is indescribable.

Then once we got to Texas I foung out this was the first time my brother had ever been there. This surprised me because he used to drive truck over the road so I thought he had been everywhere. It was very hot and humid down there, I did not like it as much as I did the one other time I was there in the middle of winter.

Finally we got on the road heading home from Texas to Minnesota and we are driving along. It took us a day and a half to get through Texas. Once we got to the south side of Kansas just before we go through the toll for the turnpike we notice emegency light and what looks like water on the road and sure enough the Arkansas river was flowing over the interstate. We could no believe it. the one side was completely flooded and the side we were driving on had the overflow running on it into the ditch on the other side. I tell you I was never happier that my brother was driving if it had been me I probably would have cried. We think they shut the interstate in that section down shortly after that because we did not have any trafic behind us the rest of our drive that night and it was still early only 7 or 8 at night so there should have been trafic.

I loved the trip and the time with my brother who I have not been able to do in quite a while but I tell you the next trip I take I am hoping I will get to fly both directions and none of this driving stuff and if I do drive I want to be able to stop and sight see once in a while.

How fast time goes

So my oldest daughter Deanna came home from Washington this past week for quick visit and so celebrate her dads fourtieth birthday with him and our other three children. I got the wonderful priviledge to pick her up from the airport and the whole ride home listening to her talk made me wonder what happened to all the time I thought I was going to have with her. She has grown into such an amazing young women and to listen to her just makes my heart proud. But of course the whole time she is talking all I can see is my little girl sitting on my lap having me read her a story or her and I watching "The Little Mermaid" it was her favorite when she was tiny.

I remember when her biggest problem was if a scratch or bruise she has would ever go away and her grandma (her dads mom) would say "don't worry honey it will be gone by the time you get married" and you know that always made her all better. Her grandma and I may not have had the greatest relationship but I know she loved Deanna. I just could not believe how I had wished I could go back to having my little girl with her little girl problems that were easy to fix. Now I have my grown young women daughter with grown up problems that I can not fix for her she has to do for herself but I can listen to her and maybe through listening she will come up with a solution.

Then the other day as I was babysitting my grandson I looked at him and wondered what ever happened to the time I had with my little boy, my grandsons daddy, and where all that time went also. He too is married now and dealing with big boy problems instead of little boy problems and again I can't just pull him on my lap and read to him "Green Eggs and Ham" or watch Aladdin with him like I used to. Now all I can do is hope he will talk to me and listen. But I love him and he too is groing to be an amazing young man.

Now I still have two at home but they are growing up also my next daughter Ashlee who is a junior this year has just grown up so fast I think I blinked one to many times and now she is a young lady instead of a little girl. She is beautiful and loving and caring but also very strongwilled and opionated. I just love that about her sometimes and other times wish she wasn't so much.

Last but not least is my son Dillion he will be in the high school in the fall when the new school year starts. So see I really don't have little kids any more and some days I love that and others I love seeing the adults they are turning into. Dillion is a very caring person and he has an extremely tender heart. His emotions are always right on the surface and so he gets hurt pretty easy but I love him for that.

I guess I just wanted to talk a little about my kids all I know is that I am going to try and do all I can to make as many memories as possible with the youngest two as much as possible.

How long do you have to wait

Ok so I know that a couple weekends ago God spoke to me and I know that He has an amazing man out there for me. But sometimes I just wonder how long do I have to wait. I have been single for over three years and I have not even tried to pursue a relationship because I know I want someone who is Christian and loves God and where I live there are not such men that are single any way.

I know that he will come along and it will happen in God's time ans not mine but I just have my days that I really miss the human touch of a man and would love to just have some kind of sign from God on about how much longer I will need to wait before the man He has for me will come into my life. I know that I need to be patient and that it will happen in His time and not mine but really it can be a lonely world when you don't have someone to hug you and hold you when all you want to do is cry.

And today is one of those days I would love to have that person. I really do not know why I want to cry so bad or why I want someone to hold me but I am extremely emotional today and I could just use a person to hug me and hold me. I know this feeling will past and I will not have the same feeling probably even tomorrow.

But every since I God told me He has a man prepared for me and I will meet him when God feels the time is right all I can do is wonder when that time will be and how far into the future it will be.

Well anyway I think this is enough of that. I don't want to sound like I am unhappy in my life because really I am not because God has been amazing to me. He has put wonderful Christian friends into my life and I am so grateful for them and He has brought me closer to some of my family members and He has shown me that I can totally be alone and it will be ok because He will provide me my needs. He has also taught me to be faithful to Him and as long as I am faithful then I will see the difference between my needs and wants.

I truly do serve an awesome God and I am glad that He has chosen to love me also.
Thank you God for being an awsome God.

LNO(Ladies Night Out)

I am so excited tonight is LNO at my church and it has got to be one of the greatest events our church has for the women of the church. I started attending my church about three years ago when I was going through my divorce and my pastor had recommended it to me.

Now if you know me at all it is not my style to go somewhere alone where I do not even know one person but I did it and I do not regret that decision at all. Because I can honestly say that this is the funnest thing I do. Also I have made some amazing friends out of this. They are my five friends that I know I can go to with anything and they will pray with me and help me through it. I hope they know the same is true with me.

I can for the first time in my life say I have true christian friends and the great thing is they are all married and I am the single one but we still have fun. I would never know I am the single one in the group they include me in everything. I love them all. They are my true sisters in Christ and tonight we get to hang out again!!!!

I can not wait. We don't go anywhere we just hang out at the church but it is so fun. We laugh, eat, play games and even cry sometimes but it is the best. Can't wait to go.

Good times with my niece

Ok so I have been thinking for a couple days on what I want to blog about and I came up with wanting to talk about the good times I have had with my niece Tami Jo. She is a few years younger then me and when she was little we really did not talk much or even be much of each others lives. But then when I got my divorce and she started selling candles that was the begining of something neither one of us realized. We have had so many good times I do not even know where to start.

One time we had fun was when we went for our annual family reunion and both of us were using tents. It started to storm and she was sitting in my tent. It was her, Ashlee (my daughter) and myself and we were just chatting when all of a sudden my tennt start to collapse on us. It was pouring rain outside but we all crawled out of the tent thinking we could save it from falling. That alone was hilarious. But as we are standing there I realize I forgot my phone in there so I had to go back in to get it. We were laughing so hard and screaming at the same time it was great. Then my uncle be the gentlemen he is, or so we thought came and helped us lay the tent down. Tami went to her parents camper for the night and Ashlee and I drove to my aunts house. That was stupid of me because I seriously could not see the hood of my car. We were so wet I felt like I was sitting in a tub with the shower running in flannel pajama's and still soaked. I did not know someone could get that wet. But it was great. Then the next morning when we went back to the campground I thanked my wonderful uncle for coming to our rescue and he said had I known the tent was empty I would not have helped. Thanks uncle.

Then when I moved to the house I am at now Tami helped me move and we were in my room trying to put the drawers in my dresser. Now this should not be hard right well wrong. The dresser has six drawers and it took us almost a full hour to figure it out. We kept passing the drawers back and forth and then finally we realized we were not putting them on the tracks right. It was great we laughed so hard I thought we were going to pee our pants.

She also comes with me to some of my church events and once a month my church has karoke and she comes with it is great her and I will go up and sing and she will go by herself. She is much braver then I am.


This is her and I. I am the serious one she is the cute fun loving one. She just makes me laugh.

Then just recently she and I spent valentines day together shopping and she had been telling me how she was going to get a tattoo when she got her tax refund and she had told me what place she was going to but she had not picked out the tattoo yet and on our way home we had passed the tattoo shop that she was going to and as we passed I asked where she was going to get the tattoo and with the most serious face ever she looked at me and pointed to the building and said right there. I just cracked up laughing I knew what shop she was going to I meant where on her body and as soon as I started to laugh she realized what I meant. It was great I think her and I laughed about it for a good 15 minutes.

Then just yesterday the two of us spent the day shopping again. But before we could go we had to stop and see her brand new niece and my great niece. This was fun but then while we were there we were discussing our plans for the day and we were finishing each other sentences. My other niece just looked at us and said wow spend much time together and we just looked at each other and laughed. See Tami and my daughter Ashlee are huge superman fans and so Tami had told me about Easter baskets at a certain store that she was told were superman so we had to go get them so we had to figure out our day. When we got to the store we went back to the Easter isle and she was standing in front of the premade baskets all of a sudden I saw the superman basket and it was the last one so I ran up to her and pushed her out of the way and took the basket. She laughed so hard because she had done this to me one other time for a deck of cards that was superman so it was just another thing to add to the list of fun times her and I have.

I am so glad to have this fun with her. Sometimes I wish I would have started doing stuff with her sooner but it really has been good times. I am so excited to see what she and I with do on our next adventure. Tami I love ya hun and I really am having fun doing stuff with you. Don't ever quit smiling because it is beautiful.

Wordless Wednesday

Ok I think it is oficial I think I am addicted

I think it is time to admit I have an addiction. No not drugs or alcohol but the computer. It started small you know email. I remember when a friend of mine and I thought we were the coolest people ever because we would go to the library and email each other. Yes we were sitting right next to each other but hey we could email how cool. Then we found instant messaging and that started a whole new thing for us.

Then one day out of no where my kids got me interested in a thing call my space and I would go there once in awhile but it faded fast for me.

Then the real problem started my "church lady" friends (that is what my kids call them) got me hooked on face book. The funny thing is we have a once a month ladies night out and one of the gals there that night would not quit talking about face book and I was getting so tired of it that I asked them not to say the face bookword the rest of the night. Then one day out of the blue I looked on my face book account and became addicted. I check the thing every day and sometimes can not walk away.

But it did not end there. Some of my church lady friends blog and kept trying to convince me to blog and I kept saying no. They have small children and families all over the state so they use it to keep family aware of what is going on in there life, but then they started doing cool things like reviews and giveaways and that looked fun so I thought why not try the blogging thing. As you can see I love to blog. It is very fun. But the funny thing is I just spent the last two hours entering giveaways and contests. I never thought I would be one of those people.

Of course I am kidding I do not really have an addiction but I do have fun with this. The great thing is I was talking to another one of my non church lady friends and she is now becoming interested in what I am doing so I think she might check it out.

Now to my church lady friends, thank you very much for getting me addicted. Really it is fun.

I Found It!!!!!!!!

OK so every since I got home from Oklahoma to see my son graduate from basic training I have not been able to find the charger for my camera and have had to do things the old fashion way.

Normally that would not bother me except that I have had a lot of things happening. Like Scott gets married to Jennifer

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And when you have to wait on pictures from other people sometimes you just never get them.

Then after they get married about three months later I become grandma for the first time.

To the cutest baby boy ever. He is so lovey and cuddly I just love him.

But now I have the battery and I am charging it as I type. I can not wait. I can take pictures and have them right away. Look out blog world I am going to go picture crazy I am sure.

Question for the week

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?

Know this is bloggable

My friends who have been blogging for a while now used to say that all the time about things that were said or done and I just did not understand that. But since I have started blogging I am slowly starting to understand what they mean.

I went shopping with two of my close friends last night because the three of us plus two more of my close friends are going away for the weekend and so the one needed to get pajamas.

Now I am glad she felt she needed them but it was funny because she said all I wear to bed is a shirt and my workout pants. I didn't bother to tell her that is what I wear to bed too. Apparently that is not appropriate bed wear. The funny thing is though after she tells us that she also tells us that someone said to her you can't wear work out pants to bed you don't work out. Now she may not work out in the common sense but I tell you she is one very busy person. She has 7 children and is a sahm and a good friend to people. So just because she doesn't run a mile a day or something she does work out. Plus I think wearing work out pants to bed is a good idea they are comfortable.

When we went shopping last night my friend with the 7 kids brought 4 of them with her and then my other friend with the 4 kids brought 3 of them with her. We had 4 kids under the age of 5 with us. That was interesting to me because my youngest is 14 so the whole carseat for four kids and then making sure they stay in sight and keeping them entertained was fun to watch. Yes I said watch I don't what to do with little kids anymore so I just watched. Although there kids are very well behaved and I loved watching my friends with them. No matter if the kids were getting loud or doing some little thing the moms didn't want them to do I never heard either one of my friends raise there voice to there kids and the kids listened. They both really do have very well behaved children and they are soooo cute. I love how they would say my name and talk with me. They were just adorable.

The best part of the whole trip was when we were looking at pajama's for my one friend oursevenqtpies my other friend sassyfrazz was looking at clearance items "my favorite part of the store" and of course back by the pajamas is also the bras and underwear and sassyfrazz's little boy pulled out a bra and said here mommy you should get this and she looked at him and said mommy doesn't need that bra and then under her breath she said at least not a padded one. Those little ears of his heard that and he said mommy you have your own padding. We all just laughed it was so cute. Then he found some underwear you know the boy short ones for girls and he held them up and said mommy I want these for Christmas. It was so cute. He did not realize they were not for boys they probably look to him like the ones he get now.

I loved going shopping with them last night and can not wait to spend the weekend with them and our two other friends it is going to be great.

Happy Birthday Ashlee

Ashlee then Ashlee now

Wow I can not believe it but my baby girl is 17 today. Time goes by so fast. I just can not believe that my little girl was born 17 years ago today. So to celebrate her birthday this year her and my niece Tami and myself went to MOA to meet my sister in law Nancy and my other niece Nikki.

We got there earlier then Nancy and Nikki so we took Ashlee to Hooters for deep fried pickles. Those are sooooo good. I could not believe how good they are.

When we told them it was Ashlee's birthday they made her stand on a stool in while they sang happy birthday to her. It was great she was so embarrassed.

From there we went walking around for a little while until it was time to meet up with Nancy and Nikki. When we were at Hooters they gave her a balloon and so just before we met Nancy and Nikki we went to the bathroom and there was a mom in there with her child and we gave the child the balloon with the mothers permission of course.

Finally it was time to meet up with Nancy and Nikki and they had a gift for Ashlee.

Ashlee opening her gift
Of course we made her wear her gift all day at the mall. She is putting on clip earrings in this picture and complaining that they hurt. But she was a good sport and did it.

Ashlee and her cousin Nikki getting ready for Ashlee to get her ears pierced. She is squeezing Nikki's hand.

Then we did some more shopping and then for supper we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and of course had them sing her happy birthday to her also.

Ashlee trying on Forest's shoes outside Bubba Gump Shrimp.

Me and Ash with our cool light up glasses. She had a strawberry smoothie and I had a mango lemonade or something like that.

See how cool they are when they are lit up. We just had to get them.

Here is the five of us at the restaurant. We had so much fun. They are so great to spend time with the day flew by.

I don't know but I've been told. Ashlee sure is getting old. At least that is what they are saying. It was cute

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They gave her a dessert and it looked good but she was so full from the great food there that she couldn't eat it all.

The cousins at the end of our day at the mall. We had so much fun that we have decided that we are getting together and doing this again in September only that time we are going to do the fun things at MOA like rides, massages and whatever else we find there that looks fun to us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

What an amazing couple days

Ok so for those who do know this past Friday and Saturday was the womens retreat at my church. It was amazing. I was a little nervous because I am on the women's ministry board at my church and I found the speaker. It was scarier to be the one to have found the speaker then planning any other part of the event. See I had not actually heard her speak before but she works where I work and she has spoken at a few meetings there before and I heard how great she was. So when I knew the theme of our retreat I thought she would be perfect. So we asked her and she said yes. She was amazing. I think people really enjoyed her and she was very funny. Our theme for the retreat was survivor.

I have got to say that I did not realize that the women of our church were so competitive. It was great we had some rather risky games I thought. Our ice breaker game was litterally an ice breaker, they had to pick up marbles with there toes from a tub filled with ice and water!!!! They did great and there was a lot of laughs for it. The best part was they knew that the losing team was getting kitchen duty and the team that ended up with it did a great job and were good sports about it.

Then as the speaker ended the real scary part of the retreat came up for me. I was giving my testimony on how I survived divorce. See like I said the theme was survivor and so I wanted to let every one know how I had survived my divorce with God by my side all the way. I feared doing this for weeks and procrastinated writing anything until like the Wednesday before the retreat. I finally finished typing something on the day of the retreat by the time I was done I has six typed pages can you believe it and then when I got up there I did not look at the papers even once. The best part was after a lot of people came up and told me how much they loved my testimony. I was so thankful and I know it was only because God was there and their hearts were open to hear me.

Anyway the retreat was great and I am so glad we did it. We even had one of the church members say that it was the best retreat they had ever been at in our church. Thank you God for the wonderful retreat.

Can you believe it

Ok so this weekend is a very big weekend for me. I am on our women's ministry board and we are having our big retreat this weekend and yesterday I started to feel a scratch in my throat and of course as the night went on I started to get a sore throat. I am getting sick!!!!!!!

Of course it would have to happen this week of all weeks. I have been around my friends off and on all winter and they have all been sick it seems when I have been around them and I did not get sick once. But now that all of them seem to be in the recovery stage I am starting to feel it. But isn't that how it always happens. I mean really. At least for me it seems like that is when it happens and of course when I have things planned that I can not and will not back out of. It can't happen at a time when I really do not want to do anything it has to happen when I am finally looking forward to doing something.

But I am not going to let this virus when, oh no!!!!!!!!! I went to the store got myself some juice, tea, soup, medicine, cough drops and of course the most important thing of all chocolate ice cream. I will not go down without a fight I will beat this. I am determined.

I just thought it was a little ironic and funny and wanted to share it with you.

What a weekend

Hi Everyone,
I know it has been a while since I have wrote anything. I have been very busy with my new grandson. He has been over almost every day which has been great. He is so adorable and I could just love him up. He is three weeks old today.

On Friday I got him for the day so some friends of mine and I could take him shopping. That was very fun but funny also. See we range in age from mid-forties to 30 and none of us have had a little one for at least six years so here we are climbing in and out of the van. First my friend Cari would forget to open the van side door to let me and Kassie out with baby then when she finally would open the door it was a challenge to remember how to move the seat up so we could get out then finally get that figured out and one would take the diaper bag one would take baby in his car seat and I would get the fun job of my purse.

It was a great day though and my friends gave me a bassinet to use at my house when baby was there. It is so cute it is blue with snoopy on it. I just love it and so does baby. He sleeps in it very well. He is such a good baby.

Then the next day was a baby shower for baby and Jennifer (Mommy) at my sisters house. I do not have a place big enough. So I load up my niece Tami Jo's car( I don't have a running vehicle right now but that is for another day) and we head to my sisters to decorate and get ready.

The shower whent great I think there was just the right amount of people and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. She got a lot of cute clothes and my other niece Cara made her a diaper cake. If you have never seen one of those they are adorable. I love them. I wish I was talented enough to do that.

Then after the shower when I got home my son and his wife brought baby over and I got to babysit him. I love baby sitting him he is just so cute. I took him with me to do some more shopping with a friend of mine and that was hilarious again because my friend has this little GeoMetro and try and get an infant car seat in the back seat of one of those. That is a chore. Then the seat was behind me and so my seat would not go all the way up so I had to sit at an angle with baby in the back. After we got home from our shopping trip my son and his wife brought over more water and diapers and I got to keep baby over night.

When they first asked me to do that I was thinking of course how hard can it be I have had four children and survived all of them so I was excited to do it. Now baby was great he only woke up twice all night and I changed him and fed him and he went right back to sleep. I on the other hand hardly slept at all. I was so afraid I would not hear him I heard everything he did. Then the next morning I woke up got him ready for church and took him with there. I think that was the first time in a long time that I could have fallen asleep if it would not have been such a good church service. It was youth Sunday and that is when all the youth take over the service. They do the singing and our youth pastor does the service. It was great.

Then after all of that on Sunday night I went to a concert "Big Daddy Weave" it was amazing but by the time I got home I was definitely ready for sleep.

So that was my busy weekend. I would do the babysitting all over again though if asked. I loved babysitting him he is just so wonderful.

WOW only in Minnesota

OK I know people say it all the time how only in Minnesota can you have a snow storm one day and 50's the next. But really that is true. I mean come on we had blizzard warnings just three days ago and now today is gorgeous outside and the snow is melting.

Another one of my favorite things I like to hear people say is only in Minnesota would you see someone wearing a sweatshirt with shorts. Now that one I am not sure of because I think that happens more often than not all over the place. But one thing that I do think would only happen in Minnesota is seeing someone wearing short outside on a day that is only 20 degree's. The other thing I like and I think is a Minnesota thing is when people will think 30 degrees is warm. All of you know I am right on that one. In about mid-January when we finally get a day above zero and it hits the mid 20's to low 30's you hear all over the place it sure is warm out today and you see people without coats and wearing shorts. Then when Autumn comes around we get the opposite the first day that goes below 70 degrees we are pulling out the winter coats and complaining about how cold it is. Be honest now how many of you does this describe. I mean really how many of you today are wearing shorts and have your house windows open? I know it is great and this is why those of us who live in Minnesota love it. OK well I just felt like talking about something kind of random and this is what came to my mind. Enjoy reading.

Day two

Ok so this is day two of my blog and I was thinking this morning on my way to work if I were someone checking a new blog for the first time what would I want to know about the person writing the blog. Some of the things I thought of is how did they come up with the name and why do they want to write blogs. So I am going to try and answer these questions.

I named by blog moving forward and happily because I was married for over 17 years and then seperated and divorced my husband. This was not a decision I made lightly. With being a christian I had a really hard time divorcing because I know that is against God's will and I felt I had already disappointed him enough in my life that getting a divorce would just be another disappointment. I know that sounds silly because none of us are perfect but at the same time I really did not like the person I was and so I could not imaging how God could like me say nothing about love me. But over the past couple years with the help of my friends from church and the church I found I realize that God has always loved me and will always love me. So I have been able to move forward and at first it was not so happily but lately it has been. I love getting closer to God and see what he shows me everyday. I have found some amazing christian friends who I enjoy spending time with very much. I just wish sometimes we could do more things together but either way I am thankful to God for putting them in my life.
Now as to what I will blog about well that will probably vary depending on my mood or what is going on in my life. I am a mom of four kids two who are married so I am also a mother-in-law to two people and I have recently been blessed with being a grandma. Now being a mom is hard but I think being a mother-in-law is even harder only because you do not know what kind of life they had before they came into your life and so then you don't know if you are saying or doing things that might offend them. So I am trying to take the approach of treat them how I would want to be treated. I know that sounds very cliche but it seems to work.
Well that is about it for me today I will write again if I think of some things. I hope you will enjoy my blog and come back often