Your it!!!!

I was leisurely reading Angie and Scott's blog. She had been tagged with a list and I was thinking...hmmmm....how would I answer these questions? I got to the end and to my surprise realized that I had been tagged. Now, I'm it...until someone else gets you.

The Five Tag
10 years ago I:
1. had my second child
2. worked part time for the first time
3. attended a church that changed my life (you figure it out).
4. changed two children's diapers several times a day
5. bought my first minivan(first in a long list)

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1. laundry ALWAYS!!!
2. Daniel study and prayer
3. sanitize my home of the strep virus!!!!
4. go to bed
5. sleep

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. guacamole and chips
2. Sweet & Salty snack bars
3. kettle corn
4. Anything that's dark chocolate
5. Starbucks Milk Chocolate Covered Coffee beans (ohmigosh...I had these for the first time the other day and they are YUMMY!!!!

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. pay off our houses and vehicles
2. buy my brother and his family a house
3. take my kids(with my husband of course) somewhere fun and exciting that would be an adventure for us
4. Quit my job, so that I can be more accessible to my family.
5. give generously!( I liked that one, Angie...me, tooo!!!)

5 places I have lived:
1. 2244 Dawnville Beaverdale Rd.
2. 259 Upper Varnell Rd.
3. Jackson, TN
4. 969 Dawnville Rd
5.1855 Collins Rd.

5 jobs I have had:
1. Winn Dixie
2. 2 Different Hallmark Stores
3.Precision Sample Company (my uncle owned it and mom and dad pushed this one on me....yuck!)
4. Babies Can't Wait/ Service Coordinator for Special Needs birth to age 3
5. Whitfield Co. School System/Speech Language Pathologist

I am tagging: Cyndi R., Shana F., Meleia B., Angela F., and Jenny G.!

I'll try to comment everyone and tell them they're "IT!"

*******UPDATE*******
I forgot to attach the rules: Here they are.

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Scrapbook page!!!

Okay, I'm really becoming addicted to digital scrapbooking. This is what I did with the pictures from Bryn's game. I figured out how to do two page spreads at once. That was something I had to research. I've learned how to use a premade template, how to cut letters from background paper, how to make your own textured paper, how to recolor elements to match your photos(everything on this page was red and white when I downloaded it), and so much more. It has so been worth my time.

Just thought I'd share for you "hanging on the fence" people that are thinking of trying it. It is so much nicer to close the laptop and have no clean up. PLUS-in the end I will have a professionally bound leather album to keep. Woohooo!!!

Also, if you click on the picture it will get bigger so you can see the detail.
hugs,
Terri

Fall Frenzy...is it officially fall, yet?

Well, I have neglected to get my sweet family's pictures and happenings up here lately...so here we go!

Bryn's first football game(as a cheerleader) was last Saturday. We've had another since then, but it poured down rain so I made no pictures at the second one. Football = Fall, right?

These two below are two of her bestest buddies. I think they are some of my favorites from her group of buddies.

Bryn was messing around with the digital and made some incredibly funny pictures of her sister and brother....swim goggles=fall....NOT. Go figure.

Only being allowed to play video games on the weekend=FALL!

I rarely catch Will on film. He's my loner child and seems to be in his room, or reading, or just being alone while the rest of us are going crazy. Ken says it's because he's hit that preteen goofy stage...who knows?

Okay, back to the title of the blog. Is it fall yet? Well, UT played ball Saturday and won. We didn't get to see it thanks to our local network. THe screen was black for most of the game....not happy. My thoughts are college football=FALL!!! Yes, it's Fall, and I'm loving it.

Hugs to you all!!!

Monkeying around...

Well, today I am at home with one sick child, sent one partially sick child to school and have one faker(Jayden). He's so funny. He keeps coming up to me saying things like: I'm sick, My froat hurts, I've fever. Now mind you, he is running all the while, not acting sick at all. He's heard his brother and sisters complaining and is just simply being a monkey copying them.

Funny how little kids do that, but they do. I remember my mom and other youth leaders telling me when I was in high school that the younger kids were watching us. I don't think I ever believed them, but I do see it happening now. I'm sure it was happening then, but it seemed kind of crazy at the time.

I tell the girls in the youth group that Bryn is watching them. I don't know if they believe me, but she is. I see her try to copy their outfits, the way they fix their hair, and the jewelry that they wear. She even begins to talk like them and copy their gestures. Does this strike fear in my heart? Of course it does. I have no control over what these girls say and do around my young impressionable daughter. Sigh...I suppose I will turn her over to Jesus again like the many times before and the many times yet to be had.

All of that to say, am I copying my hero? Do people look at me and see a carbon copy of my maker? Don't answer that. I know the answer. I will continue on my journey one day at a time and try to grow more like him everyday. Just remember, I'm not done yet. Hopefully, one day people will look at me and see undeniably who I belong to and to whom I am loyal. I am thankful he loves me where I am and loves me to much to leave me there(and thank you Pastor Keith for this reminder).

Forgiveness!!!

I'm having some trouble right now. I've spoken forgiveness. I've verbally handed it over to God, but I'm stuck. I know that I'm still struggling with this and I can't seem to let it go. I think that I have and then it consumes me again.

The problem is that this person has no idea that I'm harboring unforgiveness to towards them. In fact, they have no idea that I know what they did. In some ways, confronting them would only make it worse. I'm not sure that them saying they were sorry would help at all, because the simple fact that they did what they did makes me feel differently towards them. AND....that statement just proves to me right now that I really haven't forgiven at all. Does forgiveness mean I really have to love this person? Can't I say that I forgive them without loving them? Honestly, loving this person is just not on my "to do" list today. Vengefully, I want to let this person know that I know, but not to offer forgiveness...more to offer embarassment to them. If I went and said something to them right now, it would simply be to put them in their place. I'm not sure if that's my job.

How does Jesus forgive us? It's even more amazing to me that he has forgiven me, because currently in my weak earthly self-I'm finding the power to forgive impossible. The FACT that he's forgiven me in my sinful state when I constantly cheat on Him with other Gods is just basically unbelievable at times. I KNOW in my head that he has and I recognize that just because I can't(or won't)forgive makes it seem like Him doing it for me is not possible. In my hurt, I recognize that I often hurt HIM just like I have been hurt. Yet, he still loves me AND he forgives me.

Father, I don't know what to say or do to bring this forgiveness into my heart. I guess that in some ways this is good(although that's very hard to see right now), because it's made me recognize the immense gift that you have given me. In spite of the many, many times that I've hurt your feelings, you still love me and you still forgive me. You hurt more for the fact that I'm missing out on so many wonderful things you have for me, rather than what I've done to you. Help me to find a way to forgive this person as you have forgiven me.

*******Update*********
I accidentally ran across this...yeah, right? Thanks God for putting this in my path as was aimlessly wandering blogland.

Thoughts from CS Lewis
"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

I think that pretty much sums it up, right?

Terri