10 Day YOU Challenge: 8 fears



This one is gonna be tough. There's not much that I fear.......

1. I fear June bugs. That's really the only thing I truly fear. I actually saw a June bug fly into my mother's ear when I was a kid and it pierced her eardrum. She was screaming and running around like a madman. Scared the snot out of me......

2. I guess I fear big dogs that are acting threatening. But not a whole lot.

3. I kinda sorta fear people turning on me and becoming my enemy.

4. I got scared when I saw my baby wobbling at the top of the stairs (without a baby gate!!). I don't think I've ever moved so fast in my whole life!!

5. okay, I fear the Lord. That's another thing I truly fear. I fear what will happen to me if I deliberately disobey Him. He'll withdraw His protection and then I'd be at Satan's mercy. And we all know that he doesn't have any!!!

6. I fear getting into a car wreck (this is why I keep a tight rein on my lead foot).

7. I fear that my family (my mother and brothers) will go to hell when they die. None of them have accepted the Lord. I really don't want them to be at Satan's mercy.

8. I fear for the future of my children (especially if Obama gets re-elected!!! hahaha). This world is getting worse. It was bad enough when I was a kid. My kids are gonna face so much worse. Unless Jesus comes back within the next year. Then that fear goes away for good. :)

10 Day YOU Challenge: 9 Loves



Nine loves? okay, here goes:

1. I love Jesus. With everything in me. I can't WAIT to meet Him when He comes back to the earth.....and the sooner the better!!

2. I love seafood and pasta. It shows, too. I have a well-rounded figure!!

3. I love my family. All of them. Including the ones I've adopted. But I especially love my husband. :)

4. I love to cook. Nuff said!

5. I love to curl up on the couch next to my husband in the wintertime with a fire going in the fireplace. I'll read a book while he watches TV. :)

6. I love traveling. I love being in the car going someplace. :) Especially if my husband and kids are with me. :)

7. I love babies. I love picking them up and talking to them and cuddling with them and making them smile and laugh.

8. I love to sing. I can come up with a song for any situation. :)

9. I love to go fast. Bike fast, drive fast....I missed my calling as an Indy driver!! lol

10 Day YOU Challenge: 10 Secrets



10 Day YOU Challenge: 10 Secrets!! This sounds good, so I'm gonna give it a go!!

1. I used to make up imaginary stories in my head.....and then proceed to act them out!! All it took, though, was 1 person catching me (my brother) and that came to an abrupt end. He never let me live it down.

2. I used to be a compulsive liar....until I came to know the Lord. He changed that pretty quickly.

3. I love to sing and dance (at the same time)....but I'm not very good at either, so I do it behind closed doors!!

4. If I find a really good book, the housework doesn't get done. When I was reading the Left Behind series, the housework didn't get done for two solid weeks.

5. I hate to dust, wash windows, and iron clothes. I absolutely positively HATE to do any of those three things, so when I do them (I usually do them all on one day) I send EVERYONE away so I don't bite anybody's head off.

6. I used to read LOTS of romance novels, the more graphic, the better. But that was BEFORE I met my new (and very romantic) hubby. Now I have all the romance I need, and no longer even want to read the novels. lol

7. I have one show on TV that I love to watch: Extreme Makover: Home Edition. If I see that it's on, that's where the TV stays. If my hubby hogs the remote and won't keep it there, then I go into the bedroom to watch it....and lock the door!! lol

8. I love adrenalin rushes. :) I actually went skydiving when I was younger, and I'd LOVE to go cliff diving, and bungee jumping, and hang gliding. :) And one of these days I'd love to scale a sheer cliff wall. :)

9. I didn't get to go to my Prom when I was in high school, and I've always secretly hoped that one of these days I'll get to go. Like maybe a prom for people who didn't get to go when they were in high school.

10. The one person that I really and truly want to meet face to face who is famous: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. :) Betcha no one ever had me pegged as a girl who loves wrestling!! lol

My testimony

I used to have a HORRIBLE time controlling my temper. I used to be a terrible shouter. I used to shout ALL THE TIME. Daily. There were times when I would shout almost hourly. And I used to liberally lace my language with words that would make a sailor blush with shame. But I had three things happen to me that helped me get over my shouting and swearing days. I got pregnant. My birth mother came back into my life after not having seen her in 13 years, and I was told by the doctors that the seizures that I had been struggling with would eventually kill me, and that I should make my will and prepare for my death. At that point, I had twice ended up in the hospital on a ventilator because I had stopped breathing while I was seizing.

That led me to take a good hard look at my life and the kind of person that I was. My birth mother got me to go to church for the first time in a VERY long time (the whole "what happens after I'm dead" was something that I was thinking about a LOT, for some strange reason). I was also thinking about the kind of person my child was going to end up being. After some intense self-reflection, I came to the conclusion that I DID NOT want my child growing up to be like me. You know the saying: If you can't be a good example, be a horrible warning. Well, I was the horrible warning, and I knew that if I didn't want my child to grow up to be just like me, then I had to change. It was that simple. But it was also VERY hard. Thank the good Lord that he promises to help you through the hard times, that he would CARRY you through them. And boy did he ever. I hadn't even asked Jesus to come and be my Lord and Savior yet, but I did start praying and asking God for help with the difficult things. He sent someone into my life who gave me her bible. Funny thing is, the very first thing that I read was this:

Isaiah 46:4
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Powerful words for someone in my position!! When I opened that Bible, THAT was the place that "just happened" to fall open. Those were the first words on the page. And that started my ongoing pursuit of the things of God.

And He's been faithful, even when I wasn't as faithful as I could have been. Since then, He's been faithful to heal me. I no longer even have seizures, let alone life-threatening ones. That child that I got pregnant with is now a beautiful outgoing FAITHFUL 14 year old. And the changes in me are unbelievable. I don't swear or curse. I am cheerful 90% of the time, and joyful. So incredibly joyful. I no longer rely on the world for my peace of mind. I KNOW that God is sitting on His throne and that one day Jesus will return to the earth and collect all those people who follow Him faithfully and that ALL of His followers will go to heaven, and nothing bad will EVER happen to them again. Satan will be vanquished and he will no longer bother anyone EXCEPT the people that go to hell with him. But everyone who loves Jesus and follow His commands will go to heaven with Him and be with the One who loves us best. He loved us enough to DIE for us. I don't know about you, but when someone loves me THAT much, that's where I want to spend eternity.

And I SURE don't wanna go to the place where I'm under the rule of someone who HATES me!!! I think I'll go follow Jesus. How about you??

Bear with me....

Please bear with me? I have never actually blogged anything before, but I DO like to write, so I decided to give this a try.

I have a friend (Hi Whitney!) who practically dared me to do this (lol). She's giving away some jewelry (those of you who know me KNOW that jewelry is my weakness, along with chocolate) and she told everyone that if we wanted to get our names in four times, we had to mention her in our blog, so here I am, mentioning Whitney Cramer, of Sippy Cups and Pearls fame, in my blog. lol So, Whitney, please put my name into your drawing 4 times. I really liked that bracelet. hahaha.

Here's just a little bit about me. I am a stay at home mom (my dream job since I was really little - thank you, Lord, for being so kind to me). I have a 14 year old daughter, a 10 year old stepson, and a 2 year old daughter, so I have one child I'm teaching to drive, one that has wild magnificent dreams with little basis in reality, and one who has recently decided that "Why?" is her favorite question. My husband is a truck driver, and he is gone most of the time. We both intensely dislike his job since it keeps him away 6 days out of 8, so we are looking for something else for him. I love my family and love being the glue that holds us all together. I am an animal lover. I have a little Yorkie named Caleb that I found and rescued last November. I'm one of those people who consider the family dog to be part of the family. I would no sooner get rid of the dog than I would get rid of my child. lol Those I love, I love fiercely. I'm stubborn and tenacious, like a bulldog. I don't let go of anything I believe in.

I'm a mass of contradictions. I hate confrontations, yet I have a black belt in karate. I love serving my family and my church, but I'm fiercely independent. I am merciful, yet almost brutally blunt at times. I'm an open book (what you see is what you get), though most people know very little about my past. I'm a dreamer, but when something needs to get done, I can be extremely efficient about getting it done. My house is almost always clean, but my car is almost always a mess. lol

I love God with all of my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength. I cannot WAIT until Jesus returns and I get to go to heaven with Him. I love my quiet time with Him, and long for the day when my faith becomes reality and I can see Him face to face.

Oh! And I've been hearing my biological clock ticking again. lol I want another baby. BUT, it has to wait until my husband comes off the road. So we've been praying for that REALLY HARD. Will you pray too, please?? I'll love you forever if you do!! lol

Well, to borrow a phrase from Bugs Bunny...."That's all folks!!"