Thank you

 Y'all are amazing. 

Thank you for all the support and love that you send us in each way that you send it. The texts, the posts, the calls, the hugs- we are so blessed to have each of you in our tribe. If everyone had a tribe like you guys, the world would be pretty darn near perfect!

I have good news that you all have earned with your love and intercession for me:

One, I have the MRIs scheduled back to back week after next so two, it'll be only one stick (provided veins cooperate, so keep praying about that, haha) and three, one single appointment and four, they've already called in a sedative for me. Can you FEEL that weight fall off my shoulders? Could you hear it as it hit the ground and crumbled? I almost cried. I was so relieved when she told me she had a spot for back to back MRIs that it looked like I was doing Snoopy's suppertime dance. Thank you, Jesus, and everybody who is covering me! 

You guys are amazing. Don't just pray for me- turn your attention and power to Gaza, Ukraine, the Caribbean islands destroyed by Beryl, a local shelter; pick a crisis and send some of your love that way as well. There's never a shortage of need and I think we all underestimate our power to affect change. For starters, you could be praying for safety over kids this summer as they head off to camps or that they have enough to eat without two meals at school, summer boating safety, Fourth of July activities as they generally involve explosives and alcohol, and so on. Adopt a cause and go be a champion. You won't be alone and we are so much stronger together. 

The next step is the surgical consult next week. I'll keep you posted, but I am very much looking forward to upcoming posts about people other than me! 

Thank you for everything! Be safe celebrating July 4th!

All things new

Happy New Year!

Yes, I realize it is already January 4th and that I haven't posted for weeks. Christmas Crazy tends to take over at our house just like it probably does at yours. 

The kids finished up their first semester of school, Carrie got her orthodontic expanders out, Grandma Barb and Pap came for actual Christmas, and Grandmama and PaPa visited for New Year's. Dada and I made it to the movies twice (first times since "Maleficent") to see the last of "the Hobbit" and "Mockingjay". We rang in the New Year with friends from college, made it home intact, and then Dada got rear ended into our driveway Friday night before the freezing rain hit.

Life is... odd.

Tomorrow the big kids will go back to school and Dada will take my vehicle to work. Tomorrow night we'll pick up his new-to-us Honda Accord, which we haven't named yet. Damon will go back to preschool on Tuesday. My Girlfriends and I will meet up again on Fridays to cover our kids and their school in prayer through the 2015 school year. Moms' Bible study will start up next week, and life will settle into status quo...

Except. 

It's a New Year. Our pastor, Lee Powell, spoke today about how only 60% of people even make resolutions for the new year and that only 10% of those people keep them. He talked about how women succeed in achieving their goals more consistently if they work with others- the accountability factor, I suspect- and how men succeed if they write down goals. We heard about self-discipline and how you need a plan to be truly successful. Naturally the tie ins to football were made, as was the adage about "if you don't have a plan to succeed, you have a plan to fail."

What are your resolutions?  Are you among the 60% who make them? Have you statistically been among the 10% of those who succeed at your goal? Have you lost weight, quit smoking, served others, started a positive habit or quit a bad one? What do you want from 2015? What's your plan to go get it? 

Britt Nicole sings a song called Breakthrough that kind of pumps you up into thinking about new beginnings. Lee mentioned a quote stating that a breakthrough comes after a breakdown. I don't know about you, but I've had plenty of breakdown moments in 2014. It's easy to kick off a new year of new beginnings with optimism and momentum and drive and focus... as anyone who's tried to accomplish hard goals like the aforementioned quitting smoking or weight loss knows, it's easy to become discouraged when the battle turns into a war without end. Doesn't matter what you're facing: a less-than-desirable diagnosis, parenting, bad habits, getting out of a rut, getting out of debt, cutting out draining relationships, etc. Any of them, and especially more than one of them, can be exhausting when you realize that yes, you made it through today but tomorrow will arrive and the day after that and the day after that, and you're going to have to keep choosing and choosing and choosing. 

Don't let guilt and/or shame about a step or a slide backwards make you quit. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:11:

     ...Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with
     faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the
     good fight...

Lee pointed out that fighting the good fight is action and it's moving forward. It's not passive. Only you can change yourself. If not now, when? Are you waiting for a crisis to force you to change your diet, into exercising, to quit? 

I'm the first to admit that I was standing behind the door when they were handing out self-discipline. It is no strength of mine, but I am determined to make 2015 a breakthrough year. I'd love to hear what all y'all want to achieve this year as well. Carpe diem!