Growing up...........

Katie went to her 8th grade prom last Saturday.  Indulge me.

5 More Days...............

In five more days I will be joining my sisters for NG9! To say that I am excited is the mother of all understatements. This is our annual sister trip.........number 9, as the name suggests. For those of you new to my world, NG stands for Nettie's Girls. Nettie was our dear mother whom we lost in 2005.

This year we are travelling to Branson for a five day, four night stay in a beautiful resort home. Everyone keeps asking me what all we have planned. I can only say for sure that there will be pajamas, food, coffee-lots of coffee, tears, laughter, gifts, prayer, walks (ugh, those health-minded sisters of mine) and a little shopping. If we never left the house to do anything we would still have a great time. I wish I could wrap up what my sisters and I have in one another and give it to everyone. They are my best friends, my link to my childhood, my anchor and my connection to our parents. We are truly blessed.

Last year we went to San Antonio and spent a lot of time seeing the sites and walking and shopping and walking and eating and, did I mention walking? It was so much fun.

I find myself chattering like crazy at work because I am getting so excited. Someone asked me today if I had a lot of coffee. They said they knew that coffee sometimes made me chatty! Hmmmm......maybe a couple of cups but really it is just the giddiness setting in.

I will have a full report when I return. There is no way to convey how much fun we have and to relay all the hilarious things that happen. They just don't translate very well to people who aren't part of our special connection.

I say this to people all the time.......if you have siblings, start a tradition like this. We wish we had started 30 years ago. Do it. You will be so glad you did.

5 More Days...............

In five more days I will be joining my sisters for NG9! To say that I am excited is the mother of all understatements. This is our annual sister trip.........number 9, as the name suggests. For those of you new to my world, NG stands for Nettie's Girls. Nettie was our dear mother whom we lost in 2005.

This year we are travelling to Branson for a five day, four night stay in a beautiful resort home. Everyone keeps asking me what all we have planned. I can only say for sure that there will be pajamas, food, coffee-lots of coffee, tears, laughter, gifts, prayer, walks (ugh, those health-minded sisters of mine) and a little shopping. If we never left the house to do anything we would still have a great time. I wish I could wrap up what my sisters and I have in one another and give it to everyone. They are my best friends, my link to my childhood, my anchor and my connection to our parents. We are truly blessed.

Last year we went to San Antonio and spent a lot of time seeing the sites and walking and shopping and walking and eating and, did I mention walking? It was so much fun.

I find myself chattering like crazy at work because I am getting so excited. Someone asked me today if I had a lot of coffee. They said they knew that coffee sometimes made me chatty! Hmmmm......maybe a couple of cups but really it is just the giddiness setting in.

I will have a full report when I return. There is no way to convey how much fun we have and to relay all the hilarious things that happen. They just don't translate very well to people who aren't part of our special connection.

I say this to people all the time.......if you have siblings, start a tradition like this. We wish we had started 30 years ago. Do it. You will be so glad you did.

The Saving One

My new favorite song. The words are really speaking to me during this season of Lent.

What mercy was revealed
What selflessness and peace
My fate was surely sealed
Until He rescued me
His pardon for my sin
His bounty for my need
From slavery and shame
I am redeemed

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One

No fear can hold me down
Nor darkness steal my joy
For blood has been poured out
The enemy destroyed
Death could not hold Him down
The cross was not enough
To steal away His throne
For He is God

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One

Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved
Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One [x2]

Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved
Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved

"They were astonished"

If you are a Facebook friend you are aware that Dennis was in the hospital from Wednesday until yesterday afternoon. Long story short: I took him to the ER in Pryor on Wednesday morning. He was having chest pains, dizziness, headache and just a general bad feeling. They ran tests there-EKG (normal), chest xray (normal), CT of the head (normal) and blood work (elevated heart enzymes which evidently can indicate heart attack/damage). They called for transport to a Tulsa hospital-St. John. Once there they admitted him to the cardiac floor. They started another round of blood work and scheduled a cardiac stress test for Thursday morning. Three blood draws indicated no elevated heart enzymes. However, the stress test showed some abnormalities. So began the long wait and see process while the cardiologists decided what to do next. On Thursday evening it was decided that they would do a CT angio scan instead of jumping right to the heart cath. That was scheduled for Friday morning. That was done and the cardiologist (he saw four cardiologists in total) reviewed it and explained the results to Dennis. There was no evidence of heart attack, no blockage, no tumor, no irregularities of any kind. His explanation was a false positive on the stress test.....it happens.

I have thought about this a lot as people have asked "well, why did he have the pain and this episode if everything is normal? What do they say about it?". I have offered the answer we were given - "false positive" but have decided that just isn't adequate.

As soon as people knew Dennis was in the hospital they began to pray. Technology is such now that people all across the country were praying for him within hours. What a comfort. We pray for God to intervene and to heal and to restore.....then keep asking why and what and how when He does. It reminded me of the story from Acts 12.

Peter was in prison. Herod had him arrested because of his faith. The church was gathered and praying for him. The Lord sent an angel to bust him out of prison. He walked right past the guards without detection. HE recognized how his escape happened: "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

He went to the house of Mary where people were assembled praying for him. He knocked on the door. A young servant girl came to the door. She recognized his voice without opening the door and ran back to tell the others. They told her she was crazy. When she insisted they said it must be his angel. But, Peter kept on knocking and when they opened it they were astonished.

Isn't that just like us? We pray for God to heal and restore and when He does we try to explain it away or we are astonished. Weren't they praying for that very thing?

So, my new answer to what and why and how in the matter of Dennis' hospitalization is answered prayer. Pure and simple.

Our God is an awesome God.

Giveaway time with Whitney!

****Contest Over*****

Go to this site and enter to win something really cute!!!!! Do it.

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

The new year prompts most of us to make promises and resolutions and pronouncements of better eating, more exercise, etc. I have been sucked into that machine more times than I care to number. Good intentions are just that....good. But, they do not always stick. Guilty.

So, this year, knowing that I desperately need to make major changes in order to enjoy more new years, I have decided to take a different approach. Sure, I would like to lose weight and move more and look better and feel healthy. So, I could announce that I am going to go on a diet and that I am going to train for a 5K. You would encourage me and I would try very hard. I might succeed and I might not. It's happened enough times over the years.

My new approach isn't going to be a revelation to anyone but me. Are you ready for it? I am going to convince myself that Food is Fuel. I have been thinking about it for several days and realize that I see food as so much more than that. All of my life food has been joy, happiness, good times, sadness, comfort, a stress reliever............you name it. If the emotion has a name, I have a food for it!

I am the person who knows her "fuel gage" is sitting closer to full than empty but pulls up to the pump anyway.

I don't do that with my car. I fill it up and run it out. I don't keep going back to the station just to top it off. I wait until I NEED to fuel up. Wow! What a concept. I told you it wasn't profound....well, maybe it is for me. It has taken me 55 years to believe that food is a tool not a crutch.

I am going to work on changing the way I look at food and what it does for me. Today I repeated my new mantra a few (dozen) times whenever I thought about grabbing a snack or a soda. "Food is fuel"- do I need fuel right now or just a walk around the office because I am bored and tired? I know it's just one day, but for today it WORKED for me.

So, I am going to try to only pull up to the

when I really do need FUEL. It's okay with me if you ask me about this.