On Death

I have been dealing with a lot of death lately.  Early this year, on old church friend suddenly died.  Last week, a member of Anthony's family passed away.  And yesterday I had to talk to my 4th graders about the death of a member of their class.  God is certainly preparing and fine-tuning my thoughts on death.

At Bible Study Fellowship (love) last night, our speaker reminders us as believers, we do not need to fear death.  I will go over her notes more, but I wanted to share a poem that she read.  It is beautiful, and I def want it read at my funeral.

Gone From My Sight by Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore.  A ship
at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving
breeze and starts
for the blue ocean.  She is an object of
beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length,
she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky
come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side say, "There
she is gone."

Gone where?

And, just at the moment when someone
says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her
coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here
she comes!"

And that is dying...




Be encouraged as you mourn,

The time I almost got attacked by a shark

Sometimes people can be so insensitive.  Seriously.  I don't usually talk about my specific fear even with people that I am really close to because they make light of it.  It is something that started toward the end of high school and has gotten worse ever since.  I get responses such as, "If everyone else can go through it, so can you." or they then go into graphic detail about my fear.  I mean honestly, if I am going to share something with you, don't go and make fun of me about it.  I know it is irrational, but if realizing that it was irrational was the key to solving this fear, I would be over it by now.

I bring this topic up because I wish to not only implore you to extend tact to those who let you in on their fear, but also to remind you, that even when your friends make fun of you, the Lord is the one you should be going these concerns to.

I have consciously been trying to take my specific fear to the Lord for over a year now.  The Lord has been so faithful and good!  My Bible Study Fellowship leader has told us to find a verse and to cling to that verse when we feel like the fear is surrounding us.  I wanted to share it with you.  Most of us usually have fear, and Satan is so good about making me fall into that pit.

"Do not fear for I am with you;
Do not look anxiously about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

What is your fear?  Have you been taking it captive to the Lord?  What verse do you cling to in times of weakness?

xoxo,




P.S. Always welcoming guest bloggers and free button swaps:)

Dead Man's stuff for sale

What could possibly be better than Garage sales?  Estate sales.

I can hardly going garage saling anymore because I arrive and am like, "This is it?!?"

Estate sales are awesome because literally everything in the house is for sale.  I usually go the second day, and most everything is marked 50% off.

Once you get over the fact that you are rifling through some dead person's stuff, you are good to go.

Now that we have a house, I am sure that we will be bringing home a lot more goodies.

Search your area for estate sales, and go try a few.  Even if you don't buy anything they are fun to go to.


xoxo,

The day someone was in my car

I talk to myself.  In the car.  All the time.  I have always thought it would be totally embarrassed if anyone heard me. Well, the other day, it happened.

I was on my way home from school after a particularly stressful day of dealing with child who have been given permission to act anyone way they choose without having consequences.  I was ranting in the car pretending to talk to this child's mother about her lack of parenting and how she should not be blaming me for the way her child is behaving.  I was expressing my frustration with my administration and lack thereof when all of a sudden I hear,

"Who is this?"

I look down in my lap to see that I have accidentally dialed a friend from school, which is embarrassing enough, but a friend who knows my frustrations.  Whew!

"Lisa?" I say after I see which contact I have been complaining to for the last five minutes.

"No, this is Grannie."

Gulp!  Not my Grannie even, this is Lisa's mom...who I have never met.  She has no idea who I am.  I had saved her number a long time ago in case I needed it.

Whoops.  Rant ended.

*Of course all of the details about students, parents, and administration are completely made up because I work in Utopia ISD, and those type of people do not exist.  People not doing their job--I have never encountered those people before.  

You never know who is listening...




P.S.  Any guest bloggers out there?  Free Button Swappers??

Flirting with a Short One

I got a new dress the other day from Eshakti, and I wanted to show it off.  Eshaki is a great online woman's clothing company that allows its shoppers to customize their outfits to fit their needs and size.  I am still playing around with the customizing.  Even though I have submitted my actually measurements, the dresses aren't fitting exactly right.  Their customer service is phenomenal and are more than willing to assist if something doesn't work out. 

I added straps to this dress because I didn't want to always be pulling it up.  The color matching with the floral print and striped sash is one of the reasons I was sold on this dress.   

It is a little short for me on a normal basis, but perfect for my trip to Cancun that is coming up!  I opted to have the shorter length because when I tried the above the knee option is was below my knee.

The are always featuring $25 off for first time buyers.  You should definitely go check them out.


PS  I would love to host some guest bloggers on a more regular basis.  Let me know if you are interested, and as always, I am more than happy to swap buttons for free:)))

What are these things growing out of my head?!?

I had to take a day off.  I just had to!  The kids were driving me insane.  I could not handle it, so I took the Friday off before my birthday.  My birthday always lands the day before state testing.  How lame is that?  It is like the most stressful and irritating time for teachers.  Even though a sub did not pick up the job, I couldn't care less.  I spent all day pampering myself.

I got bang bangs!  Look out!  I like them in this picture, but when they are on my face sometimes I get annoyed.  I needed a new look though without cutting off the length.  

I also went and got my nails done...finally!  I opted to get the GEL NAILPOLISH for my manicure.  I am so glad I did!  It is a little bit more expensive, but so worth it.  I have a chip or two on my nails, and I got this done like 14 days ago.  There is nothing more frustrating than spending money on a manicure to have it look ugly like 2 days later.  I highly recommend shelling out the extra cash.

Oh and by the way, we bought a house!  We move in in two weeks!  We have quite a few projects lined up, and I will try to  keep you up to date on how that goes.  I can finally put all my Pinterest boards to good use.  Hopefully we won't have too many fails!

P.S. Always looking to host guest bloggers and swap buttons for free!  Let me know:)