Waiting For You...

I thought it would be nice to share with you one of my stories in celebration of Autumn! I hope you enjoy!

Thankfulness

I think today is a good day to learn a little something on being Thankful. What better way then to watch "VeggieTales: Madame Blueberry!"

Pull up a chair or a mic (sing-a-long!) and enjoy the show!

Click Here to watch from Hulu.com

Autumn's In the Air

Fall is here and I couldn't he happier! Time changed last Sunday and the cool winds are coming in quick. Already it's hitting those amazing 40's and 30's. Putting on jacket's and scarfs like little Piglet!

I went to my cousin's high school last night to see her play in the band! It was my first time going to a football game! Though I'm not a real big fan of the sport (mostly cause I can't follow what's happening. LOL) but it was so much fun just being there with everyone and seeing my step grandfather get so into it had to be one of the highlights of the night for me! But I am here to tell you...it...was...COLD!


When we first arrived we thought it would be nice to sit at the very top of the stadium (good view it was indeed) but none of us realized just how much it was going to take to walk all the way up there. By the time we reached the top everyone was winded and ready to take their seats, or so we thought. Till our bottoms rested on the cold steal seats and the chill reached deep into our bones then we began to wonder why we hadn't thought to bring a blanket or something to sit on! Ha ha!
Then after reaching the top everyone decided they might be thirsty before the game starts. Climbing all the way down and back up again...the thought didn't appeal to me in the least! Except that I would get some exercise in that I've been neglecting this week; that positive thought crept in the back of my mind! Ha ha! However, we moved closer to the bottom and sat with the rest of the crew. I was fine for say the first twenty-minutes, but shortly after sitting with the temperature slowly declining from 46 to 43 and then finally settling at 39 degrees. I was FREEZING. I pulled my wrap over my head, borrowed one of my aunts blankets (thank the Lord for my aunt for bringing lots of blankets!) and wrapped up like a bug in a rug! Everyone in my family knows I love the cold (summer gets way too hot) and when they looked over at me, seeing me all bundled up like some Eskimo they all about died laughing. Asking

"Are you cold over there?"

 Even I couldn't help laughing at myself. Ha ha!
It was worth it though. I had so much fun. Sitting with everyone, cheering when the team made a touch down or stopped the apposing team from advancing and then getting to see my cousin play the xylophone in the band! The whole marching band play was amazing! Even the other teams marching band was fun to watch, especially when they did Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance moves. Ha ha.
It was so cool to see so many people in the band and to do so well. Here's a picture (only capturing 1/3 of the band. Yes there was a lot of people in the band/brigade!)

God bless and I hope all of your weekends starting out as good as mine!

Figgy Friday's Spotlight #3

The curtains are rising! Today's Figgy Spotlight is...

"Lying in the Road"

by

K. Leah Lotus (Kim)

This is a beautiful poem/song with a wonderful flow of emotion. Showing that love can wait, no need to rush. In God's timing and in patience it will find you. I was truly awed after reading this. What a wonderful piece of writing. I hope Kim keeps writing more like this in the future.

Check back for the next Figgy Friday Spotlight!
November 22nd

Living Attitude of Gratitude!

I hope y'all are ready for a November! I know I am! Good food, family and friends getting ready for the holidays, crisp air and falling leaves! I'm getting excited just talking about it!

Hopefully you will enjoy this next post, maybe even get a little kick out of it. 

Friday night about two weeks ago, I walked into the bedroom getting ready to watch the new episode of Legend of Korra don't know you! But when my sister and I turned on the TV Spongebob Squarepants theme song begins to play.

OH NO!

Korra would have to wait 30 more minutes. Sad.

Wait, don't go anywhere yet, there's more! Thank you. Comfy? Good.

As we we're waiting Squidward appears at his window (he is a really nosey neighbor!) to find spongebob cleaning and singing! Of course, Squidward being his neighborly self asks:

"Spongebob, whhyyy are you doing such a thing?"

And Spongebob replies (I love this):

"I’m just displaying for all to see, an attitude of gratitude."

"You've been wallowing in filth all morning, what could you possibly be grateful for?"

(cue song!)

"Oh, I've got a whole new attitude, a lifetime subscription to do gratitude, friend you've got to change your platitude, living attitude of gratitude!
I’m grateful for the life I am living who knows how long I'll have it, I’m thankful for all I've been given, we make appreciation a habit
there’s no time like the present day to have a present come your way
so now I think that you will see there’s nothing more you need."

I don't think he could have sang it any better than that! I truly loved what he said about displaying for all to see. It reminded me of how we're supposed to be examples to the eyes and ears around us. Part of me wants to just shout it out. "I'm going to show an attitude of gratitude for all to see!"

Not to be boastful, but just show to that you can be happy by just being thankful.

God wants us to be joyful all the time (1 Thes 5: 16) , but how can we when our hearts are crowded with complaints. Now, I'm no saint. I have my bad days and then I get easily annoyed by even the smallest of things. Left feeling discontent, I complain. It happens to us all, right? Bad day at work, a dispute with a friend or family, or just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

God's been changing my heart though. Recently, I've discovered complaining makes me sick now! No, literally, it twists my insides in all kinds of knots. Even listening to people around me complaining I start thinking to myself "Can't you do anything else?" Oops, that was a complaint too, huh? That wasn't even a verbal complaint so who cares... right?

Actually, God heard it as did my heart, which is for Him.

Each time I complain I'm not being thankful for all that He has done for me. Who would've thought.

I used to think--sometimes I still fight with this thought, especially when I'm in a mood--

"Why do I have to be thankful for everything when I'm having this problem right now?"

or

"I am thankful, why do I have to keep saying it?"

But that's not right. As Christians, we're called to live in peace  and ALWAYS be thankful. (Col 3:15-18) Even when we're praising and worshiping Him, we're to sing with thankful hearts.

Like Spongebob said there's no day like today to have the gift of peace come your way by having the attitude of gratitude and letting that light shine on the rest of the world! Cause there is nothing better than the peace of the Almighty in our hearts and sharing that with the people around you.

One Month!

I can't believe it's been an entire month since I started this blog. I'm so excited and happy about it. I hope you all have been doing well and are having a good time. 

In the future I hope to post more encouraging pieces, but I want to let you know the posts I share with you are mostly me just sharing what's in my head or what God has put on my heart and hopefully reflect in my actions. Alas, I am not perfect and I don't want to try coming off as though I am either. If you ever you find yourself questioning, talk to the Lord! I have friends who have slightly different ways of believing, some very different, but the best way to know the right way is to turn to him and ask for direction. That's all my posts will be about, encouraging each other in our walk with the Almighty. 

Let's start the day off with three awesome new songs from Icon For Hire's new album!

Forever Friday by Timothy Lewis

There’s so much I could say about “Forever Friday”, I’d almost tell you the entire story but then what’s the fun if you can’t read and enjoy it for yourself, right? Right! 

If you’d like you can view the Book Trailer and then read my review. Though I tend to enjoy the trailer myself after I’ve read a review. I get more hyped up about it. But that’s one persons glass of lemonade! Shall we begin?

This book begins with Adam Colby. As he’s cleaning out a house for an estate sale he discovers an album filled with postcards signed by a Gabe Alexanders. Each with a love poem and stamp posted every Friday for sixty years. As he reads, he becomes more and more intrigued by the story between each postcard and poem with its gleaming passion and devotion. 

“Two tiny  seashells, together side by side

Wandering to and fro about the morning tide. 

Two tiny seashells, now picked up by man

Who sets them out ot dry upon the glistning sand.

Two tiny shells, how delicate, how proud

To be created by the One whose throne’s above the clouds.

And these two tiny shells are sent to you by me

Because I know you understand God’s wonders by the sea

Forever, Gabe”

Who was this Gabe Alexander? What did he know about love that Adam seemed to lack in his own lost marriage? Stung by the divorce from his wife of twelve years, Adam has been discouraged and is ready to give up on the hope of ever finding love again. Mystified by the Alexanders he begins his journey in trying to find the key to that “Forever.” 

The beginning poem captivated me immediately, it was so lovely and touching. I couldn’t wait to read more of them. In the first few or so chapters when the time periods jump and point of views change, first to Mrs. Alexander in a nursing home then to a Yevette and then quickly back to where it all started. It took a couple jumps for me to get the swing of the in between time jumps and point of views but once you get a it, it actually enriches the overall story. 

March 1926, that’s where the real story begins. Huck Huckabee has her first encounter with Gabe Alexander. From the moment she walks into the shop he knows there is something truly beautiful inside, like a pearl in an oyster shell. Now he can’t get her off his mind; Huck leaves and a month later his sea sky eyes still follow in her thoughts. I have to say, Gabe and Huck’s first chapter together over oysters was one of the most heart fluttering, charming, favorite moments for me. Instantly the characters came to life. Usually it takes a while to get used to characters but Huck and Gabe, it was like you’d known them your whole life! Yet there so much you still wanted to learn about them. I loved that about this book. 

In a fleeting moment, Huck falls in love with Gabe as he does with her. Touching each others heart and soul. Upon their marriage Gabe begins with a promise to write and send Huck a postcard which she receives in the mail every Friday. Even though they live together and never spend more a working day apart, Huck waits excitedly for each one. What devotion. As the years continue there’s trying times, near death experiences, but the highlight of this story and what continued to bring tears to my eyes till the very end: Hope. 

When Huck was ten years old she encountered stranger, possibly even a convict. But Huck believed him to be her guardian angel (as do I). And with each occurrence and unexplainable event just proved him to be real. 

“Grab hope and never let it go.” 

Through that hope, two people found each other; through hope their love not only last for six decades but grew and blossomed, maturing from that foundation and joining together as one. And though parted by death, their love still remained in each others hearts.

“Tonight.

Sweet mystery we explore. ...

A timeless understanding. 

Of how The Love Division’s foiled by more

Than tender touch along love’s way, 

But two hearts commanding 

Devotion. ...

On our first

Forever Friday”

Addicting as any Nicholas Sparks book; I personally believe this one succeeded NS’s! It’s now going into my timeless collection. I strongly recommend this book, even if your not a reader and say you have a friend or relative who is, I’d get it for them. It’s a phenomenal book. I hope Timothy Lewis writes more in the future. I’m definitely following this rising author. 

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided this book to me for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review as part of their Blogging for Books program.

Please rate my review! And feel free to leave a comment!