14 years ago I'm not sure if y'all remember North Carolina had a big ole snow. One that blanketed the state. That very same year Hurricane Fran hit... but that's a different story. Anyway, we were all buried in snow, the best snow to fall in 8 years and the first big snow I really remember not being afraid I would die from sledding. My brother and I shared a red plastic sled. One that looked new due to lack of use from living in a southern state. SO, the snow started to fall that January night and we looked out the window in all kinds of anticipation for school to be cancelled and fun to begin. The next morning when we woke up we found the best sledding snow we had ever known. It had a thin layer of sleet on top making it slicker than a bald tire semi on a wet road. My daddy took to the mountain behind the house with the tractor and began to pack down a nice slope on the field for us to go down. All my cousins walked across the field and we walked up the mountain to sled. Due to the fact a rudder sled was useless on this kind of snow, Kevin and I were the only ones to have a sled that seemed to slide right. Here we were six kids ranging from ages 16-3, a dog, 3 adults, one red plastic sled, a huge hill (seriously it's like a mtn!), and a day to slide! We all took turns on the sled. Going down and walking up. Of course Abbie and Matt were young so they went down with one of us older ones, or sometimes we would go down in pairs, but the fun way to go down was solo on your belly. Just you, the sled, the snow, the speed, and the cold. It was great. Except for the 5-7 minute walk back up the mountain, the wait for your turn, and the cold hitting your bones. After about an hour we see the tractor waiting at the bottom of the mountain with the front end loader intact and Paw Paw in the heated cab. He became our own personal ski lift. We would sled down, get in the front of the loader, and he would haul us back up the mountain to drop the sled off for the next person.
14 years later. I'm away. Not on the farm. Not playing with my cousins playing in the snow. I so badly want to go home, but even home is changing. We are all getting older. We are all having our ever changing lives. Can you have roots and wings? I don't know. Today brought back a good memory yet at the same time brought me to tears... again. I miss Paw Paw.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Women
I have copied some wisdom I recently read. I'm not quite sure who wrote it but I thought I would share. Comment and let me know what you think!... I know what is written below is true but I'm not quite sure about the rest of ya'll i need the reminder every once and a while!
Women have to be perfect. To be loved and noticed is the desire of every woman. To actually feel loved, noticed and desired is a feeling that eludes every woman i know. We can never be "good enough" or we are "too much." We must submit to men, yet we need to be strong in order to survive. Survival of the fittest- and in the world of a woman if you are not literally the fittest, most beautiful, or talented, then you should probably just give up and settle for the best that's offered. Why is this? Why does it seem impossible for women to find that "balance" of perfection? What is the definition of perfection? As the world has taught me, I would define the perfect woman as strikingly beautiful. From head to toe this woman turns the heads of both genders. She has flawless skin, soft, sexy hair, a subtle tan, bright, captivating eyes, muscle tone, but not manly, slim and tall, but short enough to rock a pair of heels. The irony is that every woman finds flaw in their unique perfection. The world has somehow created this image that resembles no REAL woman and inspired real women to strive to change themselves to fit the image. Even when we have flawless skin, or a gorgeous body, there is always a freckle in the wrong place, we're too 'cubby' or our boobs are too small, or.... there's a million things women come up with. But WHY? I once sat in a room full of girls my age as we were instructed to close our eyes and repeat to ourselves, "I am the most beautiful woman in the world," over and over in our heads. As we still imagined and repeated this to ourselves, the instructor told us to open our eyes and look at the girls around us while still telling ourselves, "I am the most beautiful woman in the world." The confidence, beauty, and radiance i saw on the face of every woman was unlike anything i've seen before. There was not a lady in the room who was not smiling. We each, individually, for a small moment, were perfect. Loved. Wanted. Powerful. That, I believe, may be the key to the perfect woman. Individuality. EVERY woman is perfect. Each created differently, so uniquely, that there is no other woman in the world who is like them. No one woman can fit the mold of another. THANK YOU OH MY GOD that i never have to compare myself to any other woman but myself. Because I am ME. There is no other woman that can be me, and there is no other woman whose mold i can fit. Therefor, God, THANK YOU that I am PERFECTLY ME. "I AM the most beautiful woman in the world." Try constantly thinking this while surrounded by other women and insecurities disappear as we embrace, BECOME, and LOVE exactly who we were made to be.
Women have to be perfect. To be loved and noticed is the desire of every woman. To actually feel loved, noticed and desired is a feeling that eludes every woman i know. We can never be "good enough" or we are "too much." We must submit to men, yet we need to be strong in order to survive. Survival of the fittest- and in the world of a woman if you are not literally the fittest, most beautiful, or talented, then you should probably just give up and settle for the best that's offered. Why is this? Why does it seem impossible for women to find that "balance" of perfection? What is the definition of perfection? As the world has taught me, I would define the perfect woman as strikingly beautiful. From head to toe this woman turns the heads of both genders. She has flawless skin, soft, sexy hair, a subtle tan, bright, captivating eyes, muscle tone, but not manly, slim and tall, but short enough to rock a pair of heels. The irony is that every woman finds flaw in their unique perfection. The world has somehow created this image that resembles no REAL woman and inspired real women to strive to change themselves to fit the image. Even when we have flawless skin, or a gorgeous body, there is always a freckle in the wrong place, we're too 'cubby' or our boobs are too small, or.... there's a million things women come up with. But WHY? I once sat in a room full of girls my age as we were instructed to close our eyes and repeat to ourselves, "I am the most beautiful woman in the world," over and over in our heads. As we still imagined and repeated this to ourselves, the instructor told us to open our eyes and look at the girls around us while still telling ourselves, "I am the most beautiful woman in the world." The confidence, beauty, and radiance i saw on the face of every woman was unlike anything i've seen before. There was not a lady in the room who was not smiling. We each, individually, for a small moment, were perfect. Loved. Wanted. Powerful. That, I believe, may be the key to the perfect woman. Individuality. EVERY woman is perfect. Each created differently, so uniquely, that there is no other woman in the world who is like them. No one woman can fit the mold of another. THANK YOU OH MY GOD that i never have to compare myself to any other woman but myself. Because I am ME. There is no other woman that can be me, and there is no other woman whose mold i can fit. Therefor, God, THANK YOU that I am PERFECTLY ME. "I AM the most beautiful woman in the world." Try constantly thinking this while surrounded by other women and insecurities disappear as we embrace, BECOME, and LOVE exactly who we were made to be.
Monday, January 25, 2010
It's been a while... sorry
It's been crazy. Life that is. Crazy. I started on this journey of reading through the new testament in 30 days. Can I say.... I love it! I have never done a straight read through before. My entire bible reading experiences have always been focused on a study. Reading a passage, meditating (marinating :) in it, and really studying it. Well, for the past 2 weeks i have just been reading. I have missed so much of the message. I know this sounds crazy, but it's true. I have missed the entire BIG picture of each of the books. I am not studying different passages but reading. I love it! Honest I do. I think my favorite book thus far has been Acts. Acts is such a boy book. In the one book you have prison, prison breaks, shipwrecks, snake bites, trials, killings, crazy languages, etc... all of this was taken in (by me) with in a 2 day period. So good... so good. The main thing from acts was ACTION!!! get it? The book of acts has action but deeper than that; the book also has the underlying message that being a believer is action. Faith without deeds is dead. One has to act. It's not the book of prayers, ideas, or situations, but the book of ACTS.
I have really been looking at the current situations in my life. I'm on the pause button. Waiting again. Not sure what to do or where to go. God has revealed to me that the more read his word, the more i know his word, the more I know his will for my life. I have to KNOW THE BOOK to know him and know his will for my life.
Here is a link to http://newthru30.com to get you a reading plan and join it! New Testament... 30 days!
I have really been looking at the current situations in my life. I'm on the pause button. Waiting again. Not sure what to do or where to go. God has revealed to me that the more read his word, the more i know his word, the more I know his will for my life. I have to KNOW THE BOOK to know him and know his will for my life.
Here is a link to http://newthru30.com to get you a reading plan and join it! New Testament... 30 days!
Monday, January 11, 2010
opportunity
Sometimes your greatest failure, fear, struggle, etc... is God's way of showing you how great he is! The greatest opportunity we all have is the one that is right in front of us. SO, maximize that one until God brings you the next. It all goes back to perspective. Knowing Who God is... Knowing How God sees YOU (as his kid and his son's bride). I remind myself of this concept and reality consistantly. I often times forget . He's got it.
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