Lasley Family Christmas

There is nothing like a Lasley Family Christmas. There is the pot luck lunch, which consists of all the food one would expect to see at a southern baptist homecoming. Then there is the dirty Santa where the hot gifts (well, the ones that are stolen) are usually Green and Yellow, or Chocolate Covered. Next there is the "ya'll come back at supper for leftovers" meal at night. It's amazing. There is no other gathering like it. It is one to experience.
But it hit me today. The IT being next Christmas will be different from this one. For starters there will be an addition to the family, my niece of nephew and of course all of ya'll know about August 14th, and then there is the fact that maybe, just maybe, there could be a loss. I'm just saying. Most years my cousin's and I go see a movie on Christmas night. Not this year. This year was different. Honestly, I didn't want to go see a movie. I don't know why but I wanted to go back over to my Maw Maw and Paw Paws house for leftovers. I know... it's a lot of food. But all I wanted was to make extra memories and spend as much time with Maw Maw as possible. So... we laughed at her, we listened to her, and we watched her. She is the funniest person I know. Tonight I was watching her and I could see her age, I could see she was not in the best of health, and I could see how it is very much a possibility she may not be there next year. With all this cranking in my mind I went for a ride on my four wheeler, parked in the middle of what was a soy bean field, turned off the lights and stared at the stars (ya'll know I like stars). Trying to think about the year, trying to think about this time in my life, and asking God questions and wondering why God is being silent. Silent on issues on every aspect of my life from boys-living-work-and future plans. SO I wait. I really want to know who it is, and I really want to know when it will happen. Silence. Then I start praising Him. Praising Him for my family, praising him for this additional year with everyone around, praising him for the clear night with stars, and praising him for his just blessing me. Its amazing how much things clear up when you start to just praise God and not question God. No joke, I promise before I drove back to the house, there appeared to be more stars in the sky. Amazing!

Just Read a Book!

Yesterday, no joke, it seemed as though every vehicle I stopped behind at a stop light had a DVD playing for whom ever was in the backseat. Seriously, I saw Nemo, Sponge Bob, Dora, Home Alone, and several other screens with shows or movies I can't remember. IT WAS CRAZY. My question: Is there anything wrong with looking out the window? Can kids not look out the window? Are parents not wanting to talk to their kids? What is the deal? Roald Dahl said along time ago in his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that the TV was going to turn kid's brain's to mush. If you don't believe me go read it. Its in the part where Mike Teevee has shrunk and the umpla lumpas sing about it. Read a book. Kids are having trouble in school because they don't know how to think, because their entire life (including trips to town) are in front of a screen. READ. That is the key. Reading. Whether it be comic books, cereal boxes, war and peace, or the signs on the side of the road. Just Read.

thank you renn... NOT

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Paper

2. Real tree or Artificial?
fake

3. When do you put up the tree?
after tday before christmas day.. you never know

4. When do you take the tree down?
before MLK day or the MLK day

5. Do you like eggnog?
no

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
BIKE

7. Hardest person to buy for?
paw paw

8. Easiest person to buy for?
me

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
yes.  

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
neither.. 

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
???? 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
a boyfriend for christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
the day after.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
yes i have

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
mildred chocolate cake

16. Lights on the tree?
yes... all colors

17. Favorite Christmas song?
christmas cannon

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
i have to travel to go home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?\
Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comit and Cupid and Donder andBlitzen, Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
MORNING

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
crowds, traffic

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
my picture on the ash tray.

24. Favorite Christmas dinner?

Maw Maw and Paw Paws lunch spread.  It's a pop luck.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Toyota Truck

Ok---All of you blog stalkers...I'm tagging...
1. Nate

Something about the Stars

Go look at the stars.  I dare you.  Find a place where you can see them.  Living near a big city that task was hard to accomplish but somehow I found a spot.  Its at the Race Track.  If you've never noticed there isn't any light in the middle of the giant parking lot/ fields.  You can go there, look up and see the stars and the moon.  I love it.  For me looking at the stars is a way of going home. I forget where I am, the issues in my life, and problems I am facing.  When I look up I think about home, I think about Costa Rica, I think about night sledding, I think about the last evening with a friend, I reflect on life, I get lost into a wave of memories.  It doesn't matter where I am at the moment I gaze into the night sky, I am overwhelmed by the calming consistency of the way it looks.  The familiarity of it looking the same is comforting.  SO tonight is special.  Tonight the moon is to appear larger than it has all year long.  It's not that the moon has increased in size, its the fact the earth is closer to the moon.  So the moon is going to shine a little more light on the earth.  I got to thinking.  When we are resting in God and abiding in him He seems bigger.  He seems to be shining more light on issues in our life.  He seems to reveal himself more to us than before.  God hasn't gotten larger, we have just gotten closer.  You'll be surprised where you are taken when you stop and look at something as simple as the stars.     

OH...to be 8 again

2nd grade.  Mrs. Hicks School Bus ride home.  Off course being the last one off the bus gave you advantages over the other kids. 

1. You saw where everybody lived

2. Learned many different streets and directions

3. Given more freedom to roam the bus when everybody got off (meaning move seats to talk to friends)

4. Sing songs/play hand games across the aisle of the bus, which is how I met my best friend.

Casey and I both knew the song "Should have Been a Cowboy" by Toby Keith.  This was how we met.

Casey lived 3 miles up the road, which is great because she was the only friend I had at school close enough to come over and play.  SO, all the days of going to her house, or she coming to my house can not be counted, but they are remembered.  The days of not having a care and the biggest concern was mastering the front handspring, or racing each other across the yard.  Just playing.  Just running.  Just having Fun.  Oh the joys of a best friend.  So, where is she?  As time has passed we don't go to each other's houses anymore.  We haven't seen each other in forever. And honestly I haven't talked to her in quite a while.  But I still consider her one of my best friends.  Because a best friend is someone that I can not speak with for years, call them up, and it seem like it was yesterday when we last spoke.  A best friend is someone who will listen to you, cry with you, and be there for you no matter what.  

Now, I have several friends that fit this discripiton, but only one lifelong.

Oh to be eight again and singing on the bus! 

Confused

So for the past week I have been in this state of confusion, loneliness, and just emptiness. I didn't know why. I mean, I have been at complete rest with God putting me in the place, putting me in this job, and just having me at this point in my life... but still confusion. And yesterday at Church Clayton King (amazing pastor FYI) was guest speaker and it was as though God gave him these words to tell me... Clayton said, "He is still Lord, in your confusion, loneliness, desperation, He is still Lord." I know... I know... Heather you know this, but it kind of resonated with me yesterday. Again, I was reminded I have no control over anything, He is Lord, and my plans really don't matter because it is God's plans that I desire. Granted I don't understand what they are but I play inning by inning. It seems I have to keep being reminded because often I want to slip back into trying to plan things out, trying to make My plans work. It says in the Bible ask and it shall be given, well, true but only if what you are asking for is in the desires of what God has for you. So really I have to keep asking God and resting in God to make my desires come from Him, so when I do ask I will receive. Sometimes it’s hard because sometimes what I desire isn’t a desire from God. “Lord I ask for your desires to become my desires.”

Commitment

So, I love coming home. Number one there truly is no place like home, especially with my family. Number 2 I love seeing my Maw Maw and Paw Paw. Every Thanksgiving night my cousins and I go to the movies. Last night we went and saw Four Christmases and during the entire movie I was just really disturbed. It bothers me America has become a culture that accepts divorce and broken commitments. So... let me tell you about my Paw Paw. He takes commitment seriously. My Maw Maw is in a wheel chair, really can't do anything on her own, and depends on him for everything like: putting clothes on in the morning, fixing all their meals, finances, getting up in the morning, going to bed at night, rolling her over at night. Everything! Most men I do believe would have placed her in a rest home by this point. But not my Paw Paw. Even though he is on dialysis, has a hurt hip, and back, doesn't feel that great himself, never complains, will not accept help from his family, and refuses to see his wife as anything less than when they were first married. I told him one time, "Paw Paw you’re a good man, taking care of Maw Maw the way you do." He said, "She is my wife, it's horrible not to be able to roll over at night and be stuck, or needing something to drink and not being able to get it. She's my Wife."

That has stuck. "MY WIFE" 50+ years ago the commitment he made to her, made to her father, and made to God that he would love her for richer and poor, in sickness and in health he is going to take to the grave. Granted he will never come out and say "I LOVE YOU," to anyone, you can't tell me that isn't love.

SO for all you boys out there, you have some big shoes to fill because I know what commitment looks like, I know what I want, and I know the qualities my future husband will have. They'll be like one of the best men I know...My Paw Paw.

12.5 hours of sleep

SO yesterday was definitely the day from down under. I started getting sick Sunday night... which resulted in two hours of sleep. I KNOW!!! 2 hours of sleep. CRAZY.. so I head off to school on MONDAY.. and progressively get worse through the day. I mean fever, sneezing, running nose, stuffy nose, and watery eyes. NO JOKE, the kids were extra great because I believe they thought I had been crying (that was a good thing.. i guess). But here is where the best part of my day came in... I got home from school around 5, sat on my floor(remember no furniture) and just stared at the wall in front of me. Then I went to bed!!!.. 5:30 in the afternoon I was in the bed!!!... and it was perfect sleeping weather.. RAIN!!! so this morning I had my alarm set for 6:30... and 6:30 is when I got up!!>. take out the 30 min text convo I had with Wesley last night around 11:15 and I have a total of 12.5 hours of sleep!!>. I KNOW>. and do you know what? Today is amazing. Granted I believe everything is moving to my chest.. but still... I can breathe, no more sneezing, and I feel GREAT!!>. I'm gonna go run at some point.. MAN what a great day!!.. a Tuesday at that!.. which is kind of like a Friday for this week. Man..

A Bobber in the Water

So I was at my friend's parent's house fishing in their pond, but mostly taking pictures, and i took a surreal picture of the bobber in the water. When I showed the picture to my friend he looked at it, tilted his head he said, "humm...just a bobber in the water." And that statement stayed with me. The more I thought about it, the more God revealed to me about being "just a bobber in the water."

A bobber in the water, a fisherman's friend. When it goes down, something has taken the bait and its up to the fisherman to pull it up, reel it in, and to save the bobber from drowning forever. The bobber has no control, just floating on the water. Its future is determined by the fisherman.

Sometimes, well all the time, I’m that bobber. I’m that piece floating in the water, the water called life. Attached to a sting, a hook with bait, and just luring a fish. I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll but, in my life I fell as though I bait my hook with sin. Whether the sin being thoughts, or actions, but regardless it is baited and Satan (the fish) bites and drags me down. He pulls me under the water. BUT>>>> on the other end is the fisherman, my savior. I am attached to his rod and reel. And he may let me go down for a while but he is there to reel me in. He is there to deliver me from drowning. He reels me in, pulls me out of the water and rescues me. He removes the fish. But here is the difference. I bait my own hook. The fisherman isn’t putting the bait on the other end, so in all reason he’s not fishing at all, but saving. Saving me! Keeping me on the water. Yeah I might go under for a while, but I am still attached. What a wonder Savior!