Kate...one Super Chick!

My nieces at Christmas...Grace and Kate

My oldest niece, Kate, has an ipod and had me listen to two songs she had downloaded the other day. I must say that, even at 12 years old, she is very compassionate and has a good head on her shoulders about relationships and things that are most important in life, but I was really taken with this song she had me listen to the other night when I was at their house. For so long when she was little, I would never leave without telling her that I love her and giving her a good dose of emphasizing how special she was. I still never leave without doing that, but about a year and a half or so ago, I was leaving and she was heading off to take a bath...I was about to tell her 'bye' and that I'd see her later, then those sweet words came out of her mouth before I could say them. 'Bye Aunt Dianne...I love you.' Well, that was the first time she had REALLY beat me to saying that before I left, so needless to say, I was beyond touched that she had uttered those words first and I immediately turned around and went to get one last hug. I am so grateful that God has given me Kate as a niece and that we share the relationship that we do. She's growing up much too quickly, but even as I watch her turn into a young woman, I know the compassion and heart for others that she has now will last her whole life through. I also know that these sweet traits are what led her to love this song and I could not be more proud. The song is by a group called Superchick and I think Kate has earned a new nickname...because she IS a super chick!

We Live

There's a cross on the side of the road
Where a mother lost a son
How could she know that the morning he left
Would be the last time she'd trade with him for a little more time?
So she could say she loved him one last time
And hold him tight
But with life we never know
When we're coming up to the end of the road
So what do we do then
With tragedy around the bend?

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

There's a man who waits for the tests
To see if the cancer has spread yet
And now he asks, "So why did I wait to live till it was time to die?"
If I could have the time back how I'd live
Life is such a gift
So how does the story end?
Well this is your story and it all depends
So don't let it become true
Get out and do what we were meant to do

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway?
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cause it ain't gone yet
And tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders
And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up
Moving forward with all the hands up cause life is worth living

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love

We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cause the days we are given are gifts from above
And today we remember to live and to love.

Were it not for Kate, I would have never heard this song. God is good, there is no doubt!

Like never before, my prayer is that we will all live, love and treasure what we've been given in the new year.

To quote a song...

About pictures

Don't you hate when friends post pictures on their website that are better of them than they are of you? Good thing I have a sense of humor....MAN! How funny! This was from my visit this past weekend to see Tracey and Gary in Montgomery. SHE is the one that had all the good pics taken of her....this one is better of me than the one she chose for her blog....fewer chins! I couldn't let her get away with that other one! And about the laughing that Tracey mentioned on her blog...this is evidence. I LOVE when she laughs as hard as in the picture below. We were cracking up! It makes me laugh to look at it, even now. She said she'd kill me if I posted it though. Hmmm...we'll see.

Thanks for a great visit Tracey...I'LL BE BACK!

A bad sign!

Timeless truths

I was looking for some blank notecards tonight and came across this. This was the Christmas card I sent out about 3 or 4 years ago. I first read it on a sweatshirt in one of those millions of catalogs you get this time of year and just fell in love with the words. I was determined I wasn't going to stop until I found it on a card to send the next year. I lucked out and it remains one of my all-time favorites. When getting older serves to 'fine tune' the things that are most important in life, I have no complaints. Timeless truths never go out of style!

Awwww.....

Grace

Just an update on my niece, Grace...She's lost all four teeth across the front and one of her two front teeth is growing in right in the middle of that big ol' gap! :-) I know I am partial, but it is an absolutely PRECIOUS look! I can't help but to giggle when she smiles real big though. She went to see Santa on Thursday night and even he got a kick out of how many teeth she is missing and how that one tooth is growing in right in the middle of all that gum space! I got her to let me take her picture yesterday. Once those others start coming in, I know I'll be glad I have this one.

Cute, huh?

Appreciation for Christmas and Mrs Ball

I love Christmas. I love everything that it means from a spiritual perspective, from a personal, reflective perspective and I love hearing from (and getting pictures from) people that I don’t always stay in touch with through the year. I love that Jesus and His birth and life are the focus, I love the way it touches my heart with appreciation for so many people who have been a treasured part of my life for so long. I love the way God brings people into my life every year…people who I just know are part of His plan for my life because of their influence. Sometimes these are new friends He places in my path, sometimes they are people I already know who God chooses to bring to the forefront, but every year, there are a few relationships that really stand out because they have personally ministered to me in one way or another through the year and this year has certainly been no different in that regard. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the season, my mind and heart are so appreciative to have yet another chance to experience the miracle of what Christmas truly means. How I pray that I never lose that feeling.





I got a Christmas card in the mail yesterday from my third grade teacher, Mrs Ball. There is a huge story behind this, but I’ll make it as short as possible. – When I was in elementary school, there was this one third grade teacher that everyone said was so mean and so hard. Her name was Mrs Ball. The night before I was to start third grade, I was in bed bawling my eyes out because I just knew I was going to get Mrs Ball and I was scared to death. My mom heard me and came into my room to ask why I was crying so hard. I explained to her that I didn’t want to get Mrs Ball for my teacher and told her I was scared. In true motherly fashion, I remember her telling me to just go to sleep, that there was more than one third grade teacher and that I may not even get her. At any rate, we would find out in the morning. Well…the next morning came, and guess what…MRS BALL! I was terrified! I couldn’t quit crying! My mom went in and got me all signed in and taken care of however it used to be done back then (WAY back then!), then came to the desk where I was sitting…still crying. I was trying to hide my face by putting stuff in my desk, etc, so the other kids wouldn’t know I was crying, but my mom just told me it was going to be okay and I’m sure patted on me a little bit. I don’t remember anything of that day after the shock of that morning. Well, needless to say, Mrs Ball wound up being a fantastic teacher who I absolutely adored. She was (and remains to be) one of the true highlights of my life and I cried just has hard when I had to leave her as I did when I had found out she was going to be my teacher. She had nicknames for everyone and she wound up being pretty dog-gone fun, but I do think she had a special place in her heart for me. She had this way of dismissing us from the lunch table and a certain smirk that I knew was just for me. She cared about her students, she read to us from the Bible before lunch every day, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance without fail. Whatever she did, she taught us right from wrong. She was the teacher God chose to give me the year my grandmother died, my mom's mom. I remember that experience and realize that it was probably her influence that truly made me begin to think of death from a spiritual perspective even at such a young age. She fed me morally, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. As I’ve become an adult and watched my own nieces grow up, I’ve come to realize what she poured into that class of children and I have no doubt that we were all a part of her prayers. I went back every once in a while the remainder of my years in elementary school and was always the recipient of a warm hug, warm smile and sometimes silly, but always encouraging, words.

About 4 or 5 years ago, I was talking to a friend at church whose mom was my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs Tanksley. (I absolutely adored her too, but that’s another story). This friend told me that she believed Mrs Ball was still around and still in the area, so I can’t remember exactly how I did it, but I managed to find out where she was living and got her address. By this time, my oldest niece (who is now 12) was in third grade herself, so I could see the age I was when I’d had Mrs Ball and just how young and impressionable I had been when God put her in my path. I sent her a Christmas card that year and a long letter thanking her for her influence and what she had meant to me. I went through the whole story that I just shared above and told her that I’d only had 4 teachers who had really impacted my life like she had. One was my Kindergarten teacher, one was Mrs Ball, one was a teacher in high school and the last, a teacher that I had in college. I got a Christmas card back from her that year with a sweet note thanking me for my letter, even giving me her phone number, but I’ve never called. I don’t know why though because I really would like to look her in the eyes, hug her and thank her again for the influence she has been on me, even to this day. Every year since then, hers is one of the first cards I receive, always with some sweet sentiment…this year she said, “It’s always a joy to hear from you! Hope your year has been a blessed one!”

Well, guess what Mrs Ball, my LIFE has been blessed because of people like you that care and pour their lives into mine.

A word from Max

CHRIST IN ME - - - - -
by Max Lucado

Like Mary, you and I are indwelt by Christ.

Find that hard to believe? How much more did Mary? No one was more surprised by this miracle than she was. And no one more passive than she was. God did everything. Mary didn’t volunteer to help. What did she have to offer? She offered no assistance.

And she offered no resistance. Instead she said, "Behold, the bond-slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Unlike Mary, we tend to assist God, assuming our part is as important as his. Or we resist, thinking we are too bad or too busy. Yet when we assist or resist, we miss God’s great grace. We miss out on the reason we were placed on earth-to be so pregnant with heaven’s child that he lives through us. To be so full of him that we could say with Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." (Gal. 2:20)

What would that be like? To have a child within is a miracle, but to have Christ within?

To have my voice, but him speaking.
My steps, but Christ leading.
My heart, but his love beating
in me, through me, with me.
What’s it like to have Christ on the inside?

To tap his strength when mine expires
or feel the force of heaven’s fires
raging, purging wrong desires.
Could Christ become my self entire?

So much him, so little me
That in my eyes it’s him they see.
What’s it like to a Mary be?
No longer I, but Christ in me.
____________________________________
From Next Door Savior
Copyright 2003, Max Lucado

The best friend...

This was on my calendar for last Friday:

"A friend listens with her eyes

and her heart....and understands what

you can't put into words."

I love this! Where in the world would we be without these types of friends in our lives?

When I read things like this, it humbles me in a huge way and makes me realize that I am not the only one who has ever been blessed to have friends who are able to know my heart and thoughts with only a look – when I have either been unable to speak because of a big lump in my throat and tears in my eyes or when no words have been necessary. I know it happens with everyday silly things too, but it seems to mean the most in those critical turning point moments where we just need someone to stand, understand and be with us in the storms of life. I have been blessed enough to have a precious few people who immediately come to mind and for those of you who have been ‘that friend’ to me, you know who you are and I could never be more grateful. You are loved and appreciated more than you know.

Congratulations are in order!

Just a word of congratulations to my friend, Beth, who got an AWESOME new job on Friday! She will be working for Chick-Fil-A in their corporate office starting at the beginning of the new year! Compared to others' stories, it has been a very quick process for her and a total answer to prayer. It has been so cool to see how GOD HIMSELF has orchestrated every single area of this happening. I don't remember when I have been happier for a friend than I am for her right now......I am just absolutely elated!

Such an awesome company to work for, such cool, cool person for them to hire!

I couldn't be any happier or any more proud!

Congratuations, Beth! I can't wait to come have lunch with you and check out your 'new digs'!!