Sunday Morning

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I hope your Sunday is extra special, worshiping the King of Kings, singing praises to His name.

If you don't have a church home, consider visiting  Grace Baptist Church.  Our Bible Fellowship Classes meet at 9:00am and our Worship Service is at 10:00am. We would love to have you!

Until we meet again, Fifi

Adding Color to the Kitchen

We painted the kitchen a little over a year ago.  I thought I would go with the trendy gray walls and white cabinets. I won't lie. It has taken some getting used to. At first it felt "institutional." However, it has grown on me.  It has become a kind of neutral if you like.  In the beginning, all of my accents were red. Red is always my go to color. Red is warm and definitely a comfort color for me.  Recently though I've been leaning toward the blues and thought this was a good time to add some blue to the kitchen. Blue is cool and soothing. One of the problems in our kitchen is that it is sequestered from the living and dining room. If I'm cooking and everyone else is in the living room, then I'm left out of the conversation....so, I brought a park bench into the kitchen so the family could hang out with me. SURPRISE!  It worked!  They come in, sit down and we have some of our best conversations in the kitchen.  Well, when they aren't on the phone anyway.  Here is a picture of the bench. (I forgot to take a before picture of the bench in the kitchen so I'm using a previous picture that I already had.) You can see the gray walls, the red bench and my sweet hubby.

I went with Valspar Paint + Primer in One, Gloss Exotic Sea.  You can buy Valspar products at  Lowe's Home Improvement.

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I love that it has the primer included. Once I had cleaned the bench, I started spraying. I'm pretty excited about how it turned out.  (I have a couple of unintentional photo bombers in the picture.) As you can see we have more than one project going on at the same time.

I do think I will add a pillow. I would like to find one with the colors similar to the plate in the window. What do you think?  Do you think it brightened up the kitchen? Won't you come and have a cup of coffee with me?

It's a very different color for me but I love it.  It's so bright and cheery and makes me smile when I walk in the kitchen.  Now if I could just figure out how to get it to clean up after I cook.

Until we meet again,  Fifi

John 14:27  “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” 

"Life's About Changing"

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We got together  All of us. My dad and mom, the four daughters and the daughters families. It was kind of a big deal.  It hadn't happened in 13 years. All of us in the same place at the same time.  We are spread out now. We live in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Romania. Yes, Romania. Now you know why it's hard to get together.  My sister Melissa, her husband Brad and son, Luke live in Romania. They are home for a few months for their son Matthew's graduation from Liberty University and his upcoming wedding in July.

It was just like the old days but different. We laughed about things that had happened in the past. I teared up too many times to count. Some things never change.

I looked around and committed to memory the smile on my mom's face. There is no smile like a mom's smile when her nest is full and all of her babies are home. She cooked and prepped all day long just so everything would be just right. And it was. Just right. Just like home.

My dad's laugh is contagious. When my dad, my husband and my brother in law, Brad get together there is sure to be a laugh fest going on.  Dad's laugh never changes. It's always the same. He tells stories and jokes and keeps people in stitches. It's what he does.  I commit his laugh to my memory.

There are changes in our family. We have grown up, we've married, had children, moved from one place to another. Our children are growing and marrying and moving away. We are older. Our hair is graying. (Well everyone's but mine anyway, LOL!) We are the same but different. We've had ups and downs like every other family, we don't do everything the right way, but we've stayed the course. We came together in love and unity and it was like we had never left. 

I've committed to memory the smiles and laughter. These are the things that we will cling to when life changes. When we are not together and mountains and oceans separate us. We will need to remember this past weekend and  the good times of the past.  The memories that have held us together all of these years.

These are the people that I hold very dear to my heart.  Family...and until we meet again...Fifi.

2014

Courage to Move Forward

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I’ve been asked many times since I went sky diving, “were you afraid”, "were you scared to death” “how did you have the courage”?  Just let me tell you, I was afraid and nervous and a lot of the “what ifs” ran through my mind.  However, I have lived my entire life on the “safe side” and I, just for once needed to just “live.” Maybe it was crazy but I just needed to do this. It was my 50th birthday and it was the most freeing thing I’ve ever done in my life.  Yes, it took courage, a lot of it, but I decided to move forward in spite of the fear. I’m now able to live with a little different outlook on life.  I know now, that I can face fear. I've done it!  No matter what we face in life, sickness, death of a family member, a move to an unknown place or other changes that come about, we must have the courage to move forward in spite of the fear.  We need to trust God for provision. Trust Him for his help. Call on His name in times when we need that ounce of courage to move forward. Don’t let fear paralyze you and hold you back from moving forward.  With God ALL things are possible.  

With love and until we meet again, Fifi

"Fixed on God"

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Yes!  We CAN always fix our minds on God. I’m so glad of that.  “He is ALWAYS there. Hearing every prayer. Faithful and true. Always by our side. In His love we hide. All the day through.”*  Sometimes our circumstances seem so overwhelming but if we can just for a moment, refocus, and set our gaze on our Savior, that old thing that has us in a stir, can look so much easier and not nearly as heartbreaking. 

He wants us to fix our minds on Him, to look to Him for answers to our questions and problems. He created us to call on Him.  He desires that fellowship with us.   Let’s strive to “fix” our eyes on minds on Him, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2

With love and until we meet again, Fifi

 *Song Lyrics from "Reach Out to Jesus" by Ralph Carmichael as 

Quote from the book "Unglued" by Lysa Terkeurst 

"In God's Timing"

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I read this quote this past week on Pinterest and thought of you and well, I actually thought of myself as well.  How many of us think that everything has to happen right now?  I know I do.  I missed an entire week of work because of the flu and strep throat last week. I did not have time to miss work. Seriously, I've missed so much work since the beginning of the year, beginning with shoulder surgery, then illness struck, then another virus, and it just keeps coming.  I've used nearly all of my leave time in the first quarter of the year. I don't know about you but I like to ration out my vacation days and take a few here and there. Save some up for the holidays, etc.  I just don't have time to be sick.  I have new duties at work that need my attention and I need to work. I need to be well now. 

It's just like everything else.  We need the car battery to be charged when we get in and start the car. We need the appliances to work. We need the bank to open on time. The doctor's office to answer the phone right at 8:00am on the dot. Well that's what the automated voice mail system says. Not 8:03am. We need the light to turn green. We need it to not snow. Not to rain. We need the children to not be sick, and heaven forbid a traffic jam on the interstate as we are headed to that amazing concert. And on and on and on. All of these things that we need to happen right now causes stress. It happens to me and it happens to you.  "Stress make us believe that everything HAS to happen right now. Faith reassures us that everything will happen in GOD'S timing." Oh how I wish I could just relax and have enough faith that everything happens in God's timing and not my timing.  That is doesn't really matter how hard I try to manipulate life, it's still in God's time not mine. Life would be so much easier.  

It all goes back to my one word for this year, "still."  I've had a LOT of time to be "still." since January. I've done a lot of reading and reflecting.  I've been learning a lot about myself.  I'm learning that I'm not as uptight as I used to be. I'm also learning that I'm not where I need to be.  Faith is reassuring me that everything does happen in God's timing.  I'm getting "solo" vacations. Not exactly as I planned. But very restful, quiet, at home vacations.  It might not be sitting by the shore, or a babbling brook in the mountains but I'm learning to be "still" right here, right where I am. I don't need to pack or rush to meet a deadline to get somewhere.  I've slept in and slept often and in a weird sort of way, it's been good. 

Take heart my friends. Everything doesn't have to happen right now. Have faith and be reassured that everything happens in God's time.

With love and until we meet again,

Fifi