Thank You!

This past weekend I got to be an adult. Not Mommy the grown up but Beth the adult. I have not felt very good about Beth the adult lately. I let Mommy the grown up to take over at times and forget to be just Beth once in a while. But this past weekend, I reconnected with Beth and Shelly.  Friday night we had dinner with friends, a couple that are older than we. Saturday we went to a basketball game. Now, I am not a big basketball fan. Football, Baseball, yeas, Basketball, not really. But I am a pirate fan and I am a Shelly fan and went willingly and with an open mind and found I had a really good time. We went with another couple, more our age. After the game, we went grocery shopping for New Years eve and day dinners, a mundane chore but together it was rather enjoyable. We had dinner with the same couple we went to the ballgame with and spent New Years Eve with them.

Both Shelly and I commented to each other how we enjoyed being together and how neither of us felt the need to get a laugh with our friends at the other's expense. A caring and repsectful trait I appreciate in him.

Sunday we went to church together, not because we had to take McKenna and be the "good parent" but because we wanted to as a couple. It was nice. We went to lunch together, spent time in the afternoon and while I went to get McKenna from her dad, Shelly was at my house cleaning up from Christmas and getting ready for my mom to come eat d
inner with us and the girls. When I got back the house looked WONDERFUL! The kitchen, living room, table set and loads of laundry going. I can not tell you how great that felt to have the help.

Thank you Shelly. My weekend with you has helped me come back to work with a good attitude and today, I had a good day as Ms. Webb the teacher.

Welcome 2012

Philippians 3:13-14
New International Version (NIV)


13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

New Year Roman Mythology

Who Is Janus?

Janus is an ancient Roman, composite, obscure god who is associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. A usually two-faced god he looks to the future and the past. The concepts of January and janitor are both based on aspects of Janus.

The guest pastor at church today told the story of the Roman god Janus. It made me think how interesting, we tend to look back instead of looking forward. Yes, where we come from, our experiences have brought us to where we are, but they do not define who we can be and where we can go.

It reinforced my mantra "Believe in the promise of tomorrow" and as well look at a new year full of only tomorrows, I will recommit to my beliefs and welcome 2012.

Definition of Insanity

It is said the the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. I must be insane. I am looking at the new year thinking that oh this year I will lose weight (did that in years past, and I weigh more now than I did then), that I will get organized (did that in years past), will work on the house (did that in years past and the house now needs repair not just sprucing up), I am still debating going back to school (and have lost the opportunity to finish a degree in 6 classes - new state licensure requires the complete masters not just an add on to the masters I have), things do not look like they will get any better with the coordinator of the program I teach in and how he interacts with me, and I continue to beat myself up for wasting the days away watching TV and yet the remote buttons have about lost their numbering from my channel surfing. I know I am the only one who can change it. I know it starts with me. I know I will feel better if I get back to the gym, learn to eat right, lose weight, take care of my house, get active and yet I continue to allow depression to swallow me.

Insanity!

One Year Past, Another to Come

2010 is closing. 2011 will come with the turning of the clock just as each day comes and I believe in the promise of tomorrow. At midnight the promise of a new day, a new year, a new decade will come. What will you do with it? (I ask myself)

What will you do with the time that's left?
Will you live it all with no regret?
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time that's left?

And what will you with the time that's past?
Oh and all the pain that seems to last?
Can you give it to Jesus and not look back?
What will you do with the time that's past?

And what will He say when your time has come?
And He takes you into His arms of love
With tears in His your eyes will He say "well done"?
What will you say when your time has come?

Kutless - What Faith Can Do

Hit the video play, if you are looking at the actual blog and not just the email notice, to hear while reading... a positive few minutes in your day!

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
http://www.elyricsworld.com/what_faith_can_do_lyrics_kutless.html
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

What If...

We could all play the "What if" game forever and never exhaust the possibilities. We do the "what if" when a situation has not occured in a way we had hoped for and consider the better possibilities.
Today I had many "what ifs" flow through my head and an so blessed that none of them came true.
McKenna and I had gone to paint pottery with friends today when the person at the pottery place asked if there was someone by the name of Beth or Bess who knew a Melissa. Well I am Beth and I know an Alyssa so she handed me the phone. It was my mother saying Alyssa had been in a car accident and the ambulance was heading to the ER and I needed to get there.
Alyssa had been turning left out of our neighborhood and looked left to a clear road, then right to see a car coming but enough distance away she could go, when she did, a car going too fast was rounding the curve to her left. She hit the gas to move out of the way but the car TBoned her on the driver's side fortunately directly behind the driver in the rear quarter panel of her car. She was not wearing her seat belt.
What if the car had hit 6 inches ahead of where it had hit?
What if Alyssa had not pressed the gas to try to get out of the way?
What if the car had hit directly on the driver's door?
What if?
Instead, I am blessed that God hears my prayers each day to protect my children and keep them in His healing hands.
Instead I was able to bring my child home, banged up and bruised with a broken rib and a missing tooth but ok.
I can replace a car. We can replace the tooth. The rib will heal and the bruises and scraps will too. I can not even imagine the what ifs that would be any different, worse that what blessing I had today.
God, continue to protect my children and keep us all from those "what ifs"

Powerful story!

Easter Opening from Covenant Church on Vimeo.