Florida or Bust!!

There had been some concern about my ability to pack successfully for this trip. And by successfully, I mean without going bankrupt and/or over the weight limit. I really don't understand the concern. I mean you SAW the picture of the bed and the list of what I took. Hello!!!

So here I am the Saturday morning of our departure. One checked bag. One carry-on. (And my purse...which is hiding behind the top suitcase. To be fair, it is a Mary Poppins purse.)
Weight to spare, people! Weight to spare!

Megan's husband drove us to the airport. Here I am with Ronda and Khi. He really wasn't too sure about this whole travel thing. Just in case you can't tell. And this, my dear friends, is the best my hair looked all week. If you watch Friends, you might be familiar with the string of episodes where they all went on vacation to the Bahamas (?) and Monica's hair got bigger and bigger throughout the week....yep. It's for real.

And....we have our first "Bekah" story.

Airport security. Gets me every time.

We were kind of a heavy laden bunch. Megan and I each checked a bag, but we all had carry-on bags as well...plus Khi's car seat (huge!)...plus Silas' entire travel system (huge!)...plus all of us. Ronda went through security first, with Khi. Then Megan went through with Silas. My panic attack and I were last to go through...but security agent lady #1 would not let me walk through until all our baggage was pushed through. And guess what refused to be pushed through the little machine? The travel system. So I was stuck...panicking more by the moment...until the last of our little trays finally got through.

Then security agent man #1 told me to hurry up. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, PEOPLE!! I was shaking by the time I got through, and if I'd had the time, I might have also thrown up. But there was no time.

Because it was time to get on the people mover and be moved.

He didn't like it any more than I did. I skipped the next one. (Skipped OUT on it. Not skipped ON it.)

This is me...so glad to be through security and in a seat.

So our flight was supposed to leave at 2 pm...get us to Atlanta for a 2 hour layover, and get us into Tampa a little after 7 pm. By the time we got to the airport, our flight out of Indianapolis was already delayed to 3:30. I was kind of glad. Gave us more time to breathe. Megan went up to the desk to gate-check the stroller and car seat and the nice ticket agent (who looked just like Taye Diggs! SWEET!) offered all of us a free switch to a direct flight into Tampa - if we were willing to wait until 5 to leave. Since none of us were thrilled about the idea of going to Atlanta anyway, we took it. (And I considered it yet another blessing from God, whose handprints were already all over this trip.) They assured us our checked bags would be transferred and all would be well.

And it seemed to be - until the new flight delayed until 6:30!!! Megan and I weren't sure we liked Mr. Diggs at that point.

That was the long way of saying we spent seven hours in the Indianapolis airport with a two year old, a two month old, and a flight scaredy-cat. (That would be me.)

The kids did SO well. Khi had hours of free entertainment. Went something like this:

PYANE!!!!! PYANE!!!!! (plane)

CHUCK!!! CHUCK!!!!! (truck)

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA PYANE!!!! (plane landing)

When that got boring, there was plenty of time to write (color) with Mom-Mom.

...And help me try (in vain) to get online. Great sadness.

THIS was nearly my undoing. My worst fear (next to crashing, of course). A plane de-icer. I think Ronda got nervous at that point. Not of the de-icing. Of dealing with Bekah WITNESSING the de-icing. A fair source of nervousness.

FINALLY they got us on the plane. I actually got to carry baby Silas on board. It was so fun. (I ignored all looks of "Noooooooooooooooooooooo there's a baby on this plane?" LOL!!!) Megan sat with Silas and some ooey-gooey love birds in the row in front of the rest of us. Ronda sat by the window, Khi sat in the middle, and little Miss "Lord help me" sat on the aisle. I think this look says it all - from both of us.

I spent most of the flight praying my way through some SERIOUS anxiety. Khi spent most of the flight playing.

I started enjoying the flight about 30 minutes out of Tampa. And upon landing, I got to hold some cute sweetness who became my buddy throughout the course of the week!

When we landed in Tampa, it was over 70. No plane de-icers there! Praise the Lord. We had to pick up our rental car and try to cram ALL our stuff in it. The very nice rental car guy helped us shove all our luggage in, and about halfway through, I heard him say "Y'all should have gotten a mini-van." Cracked me up. He was right though. Three adults and two car seats, plus a week's worth of luggage for five AND a stroller - in an Altima?? (I held my carry on suitcase in my lap for the entire drive from the airport to our cottage.)

We finally got in and settled about midnight. I'm a night owl for sure. But I was one pooped puppy. Bekah....out!

SSMT: Verse 6

Man - with a week of vacation thrown in there, I feel like I'm still learning verse five! For some reason, that last verse was a tough one for me to get all in order, but I think I finally did it. And now - a new SSMT verse.

I found this one while reading When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty - the new book I started reading last week. The author quoted it in one of the early chapters and the very moment my eyes fell on the words, I knew this was my new verse.

Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

Joshua 23:15

God has been doing a work in my heart this year. He's always working, but He's working extra right now. I have two or three paths going on at once here....and I'm not sure where any of them will lead. But I know that right now, more than ever, I need to cling to these words and know my God is good.

Here are the things I learned from this verse:

* This came from Joshua's farewell address to the leaders. In the verses leading up to this one, he shared with them important things they needed to know in taking over the job of leading the nation he led so well. No pressure. And in this verse, he sets up the words by reminding them (with no bitterness...just stating the fact) he's about to die. To me, that makes this promise all the more powerful. If I sat with someone who didn't have much time left on this earth...and he was sharing from his heart, I'd listen. Those words would be the most important.

* The word know means to perceive, discern, be familiar with, be aware of. I loved the definition be familiar with. When I think over this journey I've walked in the last year, I can say with absolute certainty that I've become familiar with my Abba. That sweet comfort...that familiarity...it truly is a knowledge that surpasses head information.

* The word soul means life, breath, passionate existence of an individual, appetite, desire, will, longing. It's the core of who I am. Not the physical existence of flesh and bone, but ME. Everything about me that makes me Bekah.

* The word good means pleasant, beautiful, excellent, lovely, delightful, cheerful. It's not just on the positive side of okay. It's deeper and more precious than that.

* The word promises means the Word of God - the account of His actions. Far better than the promises of people which are made and broken just as quickly and without any thought.

* The word failed means brought down low, to fall. It even went on to describe it as a terrible tragedy - whether on purpose or by accident.

So when I look at those definitions, I see that what Joshua wanted the leaders to know then...and what God longs for me to know now is this:

I've developed a relationship with God that has made me intimately familiar with Him and how He relates to me. Everything about the person I am - clear down to the deepest part of my personality...quirks and all - rests in that deep familiar knowledge of my Abba. And because of that...because of what I have seen in my own life and what I've read in the Bible and observed in the lives of others...I can say with certainty that every beautiful thing God ever promised...happened. Nothing fell apart. His plan has always prevailed. And even when things did not go as I heard they would - as in my relationship with Isaac - that does not mean He is incapable of redeeming them to be even greater for His glory.

Right now in my life, He's promised new starts...restoration...redemption. And He will bring it to pass.

So. About This Whole Florida Thing.

Tomorrow is a new SSMT verse day, so I thought I'd just sneak in today real fast and tell you how this whole Florida vacation came to be! It was definitely a God-ordained trip.

I'd never been to Florida in my life. Never. Not even barely across the state line. Not even close to the state line. A travesty indeed.

One that apparently I mentioned a lot.

Last December, while at the IWU Christmas party, I said goodbye to my dear friend Ronda, who was about to leave for...Florida. And as I said "I hope you have a great time in the state I've STILL never been to...." apparently she picked up on a smidge of bitterness.

And she said to me, "You know, I've been thinking about that. You busy on spring break?"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

A few weeks later, toward the end of January, she asked again if I'd want to take a week off during IWU's spring break. Jonathan (of blog fame) is Ronda's son, and he's in the IWU Chorale. Chorale toured the state of Florida during break, and since it was his last tour, she really wanted to see him. I asked for the week off (despite the fact it came RIGHT at the start of our uber-busy season at work) and once given the go-ahead, Ronda and I booked our flights!

And I booked it into the living room to make us some countdown paper chains!!

Lesson learned...Braeya thought the carefully organized (by color and date) strips of paper waiting to be chained were actually toys for her. It was a mess.

About 2 weeks after we booked our flights (maybe a little longer than that), Ronda came to see me and told me her daughter Megan wanted to join us on the trip. Megan also has 2 little boys - Khi and Silas. They'd be going too. She was worried I'd be upset about that, but I sure wasn't!

So...the Saturday before Valentine's Day, Ronda and I made a trek to Megan's house to do the final planning. And of course, I had to take presents!

Little tropical inspired gift bags....

And something for Khi too!! The puzzle was for him but he was more interested in the tropical scented anti-bacterial hand gel...which he thought was hair gel and applied it as such.

Then of course...the week of the trip, it was time to pack. (I did not take the clock. It was relocated to the bed because it had been ON the cedar chest where the out of season clothes were housed, so I had to move it.)

The list was as follows: 15 shirts, 8 pairs of shorts, 5 pairs of capris, 3 pairs of pants, 2 swimsuits, 2 skirts, 1 dress, and 1 jacket. And that, my friends, is the pared down list.

I have titled this piece, "Please Mom, don't go."

But go...I did. And I can't wait to show you the fun along the way!! We'll go to Florida together after tomorrow's break for SSMT!!!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday morning I got up and went to church:
Oh wait. That doesn't look like my normal church view, does it? That's because I WOKE UP IN FLORIDA!!!!! Y'all, it has been SO BLESSED HARD to keep this secret from you!! Yes, it's true! I went to Florida for the first time in my whole life. And I am so excited to tell you all about it. But what you see above was indeed the view from my pew, at which time I decided it should always be the view from the pew!!

* How to even pick the highlights of each day for this post? I'm sure I don't know. I will throw a few in here and then give you much better posts in days to come. Monday I went to my first ever low country boil. I've heard of these things. Never been to one. Pretty cool!!!!


* Tuesday I had a run-in with security. My second one in a week. (I flew to Florida, so you know there has to be an airport security story. There always is!!) This is too great a story to spoil by giving you half a detail here. You'll just have to come back to read the rest of it.

* Wednesday, the plan was to go to Disney, but I found out it was going to be the warmest day at the beach, so I asked if we could stay at the cottage instead. (The plan to go to Disney was solely for my benefit anyway, so it was okay if I made the call to stay home.) So.......I tried my hand at the hammock. Oh dear goodness. It did not go well. Chris, I will leave the hammock all to you. I'm not smart enough.
* I guess I never told you WHO I went with, did I? I went with the Smith clan! The official travelers were Ronda, Megan, Khi, and Silas (and me) but we also had Jonathan join us for a couple of days. Thursday was a very rainy and cold day so we went to eat at Crabby Bills Seafood restaurant.

* Friday was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, but ever so cold. But nothing keeps this girl off the beach!!

I am not too proud to lay out under a blanket! No sirree!! In all honesty, I probably SHOULD be too proud to lay out under a blanket. Stacey and Clinton will come right after me. But I just knew if I stayed inside, I'd regret that later!!!


* Have you ever wondered what I look like at 6 am on a Saturday? Here it is: Yep, that's me riding back to the airport for the flight home to Indiana. Sadness. But my good friend Kristin picked me up at the airport and took me to Sonic. That helped me have a reason to smile. I am not above admitting I'm an overgrown two year old who can be bribed with a burger and tots.
So that's been my week in the south! I really hope you'll come back and read more about it. I'll try to make it a fun read and not like "oh great she's STILL talking about that vacation."
Books I'm Reading: Does it still count as a book if I photocopied the appropriate pages out of Sparkling Gems from the Greek so I didn't have to lug the whole book with me on vacation? Hope so! I FINISHED Twice Toward Justice and also began a new book that my friend Jamie gave me - called When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty. It's about grieving through the loss of a relationship and accepting a fresh start on life.
Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: Oh man, there were a lot of those at the beach. This might not make sense without knowing some of the God-moments that led up to this, but yesterday morning, as I rode back to the airport, we drove right toward the sunrise. (I see precious few of those, as you might imagine.) It was very pivotal to me that a new day was dawning in my life, and that moment, packed in an Altima with four other people, symbolized it.
Update on Last Week's Goals: I did finish the book Twice Toward Justice and I did get SOME rest. Not every day...in fact, some days were so busy that I actually felt sick...but I did get some beautiful rest.
Goals for the Coming Week: I want to keep my heart open toward the lessons God is teaching me this Lenten season...and I want to hit the Florida scrapbook hard...before I forget the fun details that made the vacation so delightful.

30 Days of You and Me: Day Seventeen

Today's topic? An art piece that is my favorite.

I'm strange about art. I really don't have a lot of it in my house. I don't get into famous paintings or sculptures (real or replicas) or anything like that. It's not that I don't appreciate such things. I'm just not addicted to them.

My house is mostly decorated with things that have sentimental value to me. Pictures of people I love...little trinkets that remind me of an event in my life or someplace I visited. Probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone else and I'm okay with that. It's my house and I love it.

I've shared this on the blog before - last fall when I did Kelly's "Show us where you live" tours:

My favorite piece of artwork. It's a print of a drawing my friend Amber did when we were in high school. I'm in awe of her talent - and to think this was her high school talent...wow.

When the Hollands were over for Pancakes with the Princess late last month, they commented on it...and I was so proud to tell them about Amber. (So much more fun to talk about an artist I actually know!)

So that's my fave! What about you? What's your favorite piece of artwork? (Whether you own it or not...)

Kaegan's BIG Birthday

Someone has a BIG birthday today!! (Please read that in a singsong voice....)

Happy tenth birthday, Kaegan!

Kaegan, as I told you not too long ago, was a gift to me from my friend Christi. I got him in May of 2001, so he was just a few weeks old. He has been such a good cat...kept me company during the long months of that 2001 summer when I lived alone for the first time ever and was petrified of life in general.
After starting out as just the two of us...he adjusted to life with my roommate Angela, and her cat, Igor, and then he graciously learned to live with a sister named Braeya.

These days, he spends most of his time right here, on my bed. He's about as low maintenance as a cat could be. Doesn't get into playing a lot of games...doesn't really need (or like, most of the time) to be held...

But he does love to snuggle up at night...always has tons of kisses and nuzzles when I cry or when he knows I'm having a bad day...and he is just so forgiving....

That's my boy...

Happy birthday, sweet Kaegan! I hope you love your special day! I'm very glad you have been part of Bekahland for the last decade. You have made it a very sweet place to live. Love you, my big, big boy!

Shrimp Pasta Salad

Guess who gave me this recipe? Jonathan! I do believe it was a new moment in my cooking life when I walked through Meijer getting texts containing instructions on how to cook shrimp - from a male college student!

But that Jonathan is a good cook. He's the one who taught me to grill, too.

I first had this at Ronda's house when Jonathan and his brother took over the cooking one night and then they invited me to eat with them. Because my Dad doesn't like shrimp and crab, I've not eaten that much of it in my life, so I was a little nervous. But...I gave it a try and found I really liked it! Jonathan promised me it was super easy, so I tried it a few times and found it is, indeed, as easy as it is scrumptious!

It keeps fairly well for a few days, so it tastes as good as a leftover as it does the first time.

The Recipe

1 package ready to cook shrimp (peeled, deveined, etc.)
1 1/2- 2 cups of rotini pasta
1 jar of alfredo sauce
2 strips of imitation crab meat

Cook pasta in boiling water and drain. Cook shrimp in boiling water and remove to separate dish. Cut crab meat into small pieces. Combine pasta, shrimp, and crab meat in bowl and pour alfredo sauce over the combination. Stir well and serve.

This is a very fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants recipe, so the measurements are very much debatable. I bought the shrimp at Meijer and only found one size of a bag, so that's what I used. And if you've never bought this kind of crab meat before - you find it near the shrimp as well. (I had no idea where to find such things.) If you don't like rotini, you could use another shape of pasta. Linguine noodles would probably work well in this recipe if you wanted something longer and more elegant looking.
The crab meat comes wrapped up in a piece of plastic, so be sure you remove that first. I just used two of the strips and saved the other two for the next round of it. If you are a huge fan of crab meat, you could definitely use all of it at once. And if you hate it, you could leave it out!

The cut up crab meat....

The shrimp still has a tail (like you see on the right), so you just pull or cut that off and throw it away, so all you have is the actual shrimp part like you see there on the left.

I normally do all the prep work of the shrimp and crab while the pasta is boiling away....

This is what the shrimp looks like before it cooks. Kind of brownish.

You put it in some boiling water and it cooks QUICKLY!! Jonathan said 2-3 minutes and I thought he was surely mistaken, but he was not! He said when it begins to turn pink, it's done. And it turns pink about as quickly as a mood ring!

After I drain the big pot containing the shrimp, I put everything back in it so I have plenty of room to stir in the sauce.

Sauce!

Completed salad! (I used the tri-color pasta mostly for color. Other than the edges of the crab meat, this would be a very bland dish in terms of color if you don't bring in color with the pasta. Definitely not bland in taste!)

Sit down with a plate and enjoy!!

A Little Work Comedy

Sometimes my life just feels like a giant humiliating sitcom. Great for laughs. Too bad they're at my own expense.

But just in case you need a chuckle to get you through the day, I have a couple for you.

The first happened last week. I was just about to leave for lunch when the phone rang. (Isn't that how it always goes?) I answered, and the caller was the father of an incoming student. He had a couple of questions for me, but one of them really needed to be directed to another office. So after I answered what I knew, I prepared to transfer his call.

And here, my dear friends, is what came flying out of my mouth before I hit the transfer button:

Hold on just a secs.

(Say that out loud if you didn't get the full effect.)

A proud moment indeed.

And that reminds me of one of my favorites from a couple of years ago.

I was meeting with a prospective student and his whole family, and normally when I meet with entire families, we meet in the office conference room, because my office is just too small to handle more than 2 visitors at once. But that day the conference room was in use, so we crammed in my office.

It was one of the very first days of spring, and I was so excited for the warmer weather that I'd worn a little knee length sundress to work.

How to say this semi-tastefully...um...well, until the family came in, I'd been sitting (of course) with my legs hidden under my desk. As a result, I'd not noticed that I apparently had not done the most thorough leg shaving of my leg shaving career. This unfortunate discovery was made only when sitting with my back to the desk and my legs right out there in full view of the family packed into my office.

I was doing my very best to yank that dress down as far as I could...discreetly of course...as I explained the ins and outs of the aid process.

Right about the time I got to the section of my talk that centered around loans, here's what I heard the Dad blurt out: Great legs.

Excuse me????

He repeated "Great Lakes."

The loan company, yes!!! Too bad I didn't figure that out before all the color drained from my face!!

Don't you people wish you worked with me??

A Couple of Things I Love...

I really don't get into too many blogs that are all about promoting stuff. I'd rather read about people than read a bunch of ads. But by the same token, there are a few blogs whose writers I really trust when it comes to product/site referrals.

And I've had some different people ask me lately to tell them more about some sites I've used. So today I thought I'd pass on to you my three most favorite new finds.

1. Picaboo. As you know, I'm hard core about the scrapping. I've scrapped for over a decade and have been a rubber stamp scrapper for all those years. And then I learned about Picaboo. It is an online, digital scrapping company. You download their software (which is free) to your computer and then you can upload your pictures into the software. You can create albums of all different caliber (softcover with pages that are about the weight of a magazine cover) to really fancy thick cardboard pages (like for a wedding album). You can also make calendars on the site...it's where I made the David calendar.

I could talk about the merits of Picaboo for hours, so here are some bullet points of my favorite things about the site:

* I can still get the feel of scrapping (backgrounds, borders around the pictures) with the convenience of the digital route.
* I can scrap anywhere without carting a carload of stuff. Last fall I scrapped at Ronda's during a football game - completely on a whim. I had my computer in my bag and that's all I needed.
* I can put a bunch of tiny pictures on a page or devote one entire page to one picture. So versatile!
* I can journal a ton (even make a whole page of just journaling if I want) or not at all (if I want the picture to speak for itself). They have lots of fonts and colors for the journaling.
* If I need multiple copies of the same project, I can just order multiples without redoing all the work.
* It takes up much less space than my traditional albums.
* They run specials often, so I can wait for a deal and place the order when I have money.
* Each page takes about half the time of manual scrapping.

If you have been thinking about making the switch to digital scrapping - or if scrapping has always overwhelmed you, just go here to get started. You just might love it!!

2. Nations Photo Lab. I've mentioned this site a couple of times...it's my most recent find. Normally if I need prints of pictures, I just send them over to Meijer and pick them up when I'm out and about. But ordering enlargements always gets on my nerves because it's so expensive!

Then Rachel told me about this site. You can order regular prints - but also enlargements, canvas prints, and other fun stuff. In February they ran a special where the bigger enlargements were 50% off. And orders over $50 qualified for free shipping. I ordered twice and absolutely loved the quality of the work. My pictures were crisp, they were delivered quickly and they were not rolled up in a tube.

It works a lot like Picaboo. You download the free software, and then upload and order your pictures.

I'll probably continue to use Meijer for little prints I need quickly, but all my other picture orders will go through this site now. I've been very impressed!

3. Shindigz. I read about this site while reading The Mom Creative blog. She blogged about it because they were running a special where you could order a certain size banner for one penny plus shipping. I have an event coming up that I thought would be banner-worthy, so I took a stab at it.

I was THRILLED with the way the banner turned out. It's great quality vinyl material, and it looks very very classy. (Can't show you yet...it's a surprise for later.) They make banners of all sizes and I would say they're worth the price (ranging from $15.00 to $150.00 depending on size) for what you get.

The site sells all sorts of other party stuff too, but I can only speak for the banner.

So that's that! Some stuff I love!

Orange Hair Tragedies

Back when I did the 100 days of random facts, I had a request to tell more about the orange hair tragedy.

Here's how it happened.

A couple of weeks before my 10 year high school class reunion, I decided to dye my hair. My grays were beginning to show, and I didn't want to arrive looking old. I decided to do the color job a couple of weeks ahead of time so it wouldn't be so hello! the night of the reunion. (Ohhhhhh the irony.)

For several months leading up to this event, I'd been wearing a color called Molten Lava, but I decided to go for some Spiced Ginger instead, just to feel like a new woman. My friend Marie came over on a Saturday night and we hunkered down in the dining room with the box of hair color. She applied it with great care and we set the timer for 25 minutes. Twenty minutes in, she said, "I don't know, Bek...it's BRIGHT." I decided to go ahead and rinse it out five minutes early....
Trollopy orange.

I could NOT go out that way (clearly), so Marie got in her car and drove to Wal Mart for another box of color. I told her to get anything that would get rid of what you see above. She brought back a box that promised to make my hair a lovely shade of brown with a hint of blonde.

You be the judge:

Can we say Ronald McDonald Red???? I looked like his love child!

I was afraid to dye it a third time in one night. Better to go to my reunion as Little Miss McDonald than to go without hair, right?

I went to church the next day and WOW! I got some stares! (Actually, the men loved it and the women looked at me with great disdain.)

During church, one person even called me a stoplight! I cried the rest of the way through the service.

A few days later, I went to my hair lady for a fresh cut before the reunion, and she felt so bad for me, she mixed up a professional hair color and gave it to me to apply. (She would have done it herself but didn't have time in her schedule. So she put it in a bottle and told me to just bring the bottle back the next time.)

A lady from my church (who was also a hairstylist) put it on for me - for free! I went to the reunion looking normal...and ended up winning the "most changed since high school" award!

So you know...anytime you need someone to dye your hair for me...you just let me know! I'm happy to serve!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday, as you already saw...I hosted February's Pancakes with the Princess, featuring the Holland family. They were such gracious guests...and I loved having them! After they left, I crashed straight onto the couch for a three hour nap. I'd completely worn myself out with my weekend of rushing around. I was SO out of it that when Mom called in the middle of the nap, I couldn't even wake up enough to talk to her!

* Is it sad that the highlight of Monday was getting my ears candled? LOL! I am pathetic! I don't know whether or not you've ever had ear candling done but it's grossly fascinating. I have really bad ears and I can't ever have them rinsed or flushed because it makes me super dizzy. So candling is my only hope. I'm all set for a while now. And I can actually hear again! Who knew?

* Tuesday was the first day of the month, so I turned over a new calendar page...and lookie here!! Mr. March! That was the upside of going to work. The downside of going to work was the temperature when we arrived:
That's seventy nine degrees in case you can't read. INSIDE. And this was in Greg's office. He and I agreed it was hotter in my office. It scares my co-workers when we show up and it's this warm, because I always threaten to go home and get my swimsuit. (Fortunately this time I did have a heads-up from Judy, who comes to work an hour before I do...and I had time to alter the clothing plan for the day.)

* Wednesday I was so excited to come home and find my new picture order on my porch! After the lion picture turned out so great for Kari, a couple other people wanted to order their own prints, and I wanted to order one of each of the pictures I'd done. Nations Photo Lab did a fantastic job with them...so very pleased! This one bears personal significance for me and I can't wait to see it hanging on my wall!

I wish I had a better picture of this deliciousness on a plate, but I used my phone instead of my camera and that just didn't go well. Wednesday night, my mentor - Lara - and I went out to Payne's Frozen Custard, and this was my treat. Cinnamon roll with custard and caramel drizzle. It was so rich, I could only eat half, but it was completely amazing. Amazing also describes the time I had with Lara and the work God did in my heart. That's a whole other blog post.


* Thursday night was hide the grays night. It had been a little over two months and already I was starting to look like Paula Deen. I love Paula Deen but I don't aspire to match her hair color yet. (Her cooking skills, YES.) Anyway. I ended up a little darker this time - but I'm just so happy it's NOT GRAY.

Funny part was when I got in the chair and she explained to me that she was going to begin by doing all the roots and then she'd go back to pick up the rest. Her opening line was "You have a LOT of gray." I said, "I KNOW! Thanks for bringing it up!" We got a good laugh out of that.

(Wow...I must be either growing up or wearing out. I never post profile pictures!!! God bless the nose...a.k.a. Bekah learns to embrace her least favorite feature.)

* Friday was the official beginning of crazy busy season at work. Reports, reports, reports!! The FAFSA deadline is next week, so the phone started ringing extra and the paperwork is pouring in...life as we knew it has ended. But that's okay. Busy season has its merits.

My favorite part of Friday, though, was this picture Kari sent me...she bought one of my lion pictures and had it matted and framed. She picked it up Friday and texted me the final product. I think it looks beautiful!
She said in her email, So let's see, I now have a book you wrote, several craft projects you've made for me, and a piece of your photography art!! What will you do next? Put out a cd? ;) Ha ha ha!!!!!

* Saturday I got out of town for a little bit...what a beautiful thing after being snowed/iced in for so long! I visited my friend Kristin, and we went to Heaven on earth (Barnes and Noble). Life is good when it includes a visit to a bookstore. LOVE to breathe in some book air!

Books I'm Reading: Not a lot of time to read again this week - but I kept up with Sparkling Gems from the Greek for my devos. I also sneaked in a tiny bit of reading in Twice Toward Justice.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I'm not ready yet to spill the details of the moment because it was so dear to me that I can't even commit it to the blog, but Thursday at lunch, the Lord urged me to meet Him in prayer and in the very final moments of that prayer time, He unleashed one of the biggest blessings/revelations I've had in a long while. I just sat on my bedroom floor and cried with the abundance of it all. Definitely a treasured moment.

Update on Last Week's Goals: I hate to admit it out loud, but the whole process of taking the fancy pants orange water bottle to work and drinking water during the day did help me not only MEET my daily water goals but also exceed them. So I guess this becomes a habit now, huh?

Goals for the Coming Week: I want to finish one book and try to get some extra rest in evenings, if possible. I've been trying REALLY hard not to get sick the last couple of weeks, but I can tell I'm still in the danger zone. If I could slow down for five minutes, I have a feeling it would help.

Spring Fever!

Do you have it too?

Spring fever??

My snowmen decorations have been down for a while, the Valentine's stuff came down earlier this week, and the few glimpses of sunshine and warm-er-ish weather have me so ready to cash in the sweaters and boots (cute though they are) for capris and sundresses.

So...

this has me thinking ahead to the official start of spring...which in turn has me thinking of:

* Cadbury eggs. Of course I would have to start the list with food. I adore Cadbury eggs. My favorites are the original ones, but I like the newer ones too - with caramel and other stuff.

* Easter dress. Dress shopping has historically been dramatic for me because nothing ever fits right and I so often have trouble finding a fabric pattern I like, but from the glimpses I've seen this year, I think I might actually be in luck!

* Opening the front door. Kaegan and Braeya LOVE looking out the front door, so whenever the weather gets warm enough, I love to open it and let them look out. I also love all the extra light it lets in. I think all three of us are ready for those days to come back!

* Opening the windows! I actually am not a huge fan of open windows all over the house, but I have a couple that I like to open (again, mostly for Kaegan and Braeya) when the weather perks up, and I'm ready to see those curtains blowing in the breeze again!

* Flip flops. They're taunting me from the box in the closet. I'm not really a flip flop addict, but I would so dearly love the option.

* A coatless commute. To be able to walk out the door without stopping by the coat rack...what would that be like??

* Tulips and lilacs. The first signs on the property that spring really is here!!!! My sister said she has some spring flowers poking through at her house. Maybe I should go live there. Think she'll notice?

* Washing windows. I think it's pretty pathetic that I'm so ready to bring on some spring that I would even put a chore on this list. But yes, I would be willing to wash a window if it meant spring would be here.

I'm sure there's more...help me! What are you looking forward to this spring??

30 Days of You and Me: Day Sixteen

Today's topic is...a song that makes me cry (or nearly cry).

Okay so that would be every song.

This is both easy and difficult for me to write about. Easy because I love songs! Difficult because I write about them all the time and probably already shared with you the ones I love the most!

The one I'm choosing to share with you today is one that just came out last year by (of course) the Gaither Vocal Band. It's on their Greatly Blessed project. I first fell in love with this song because it has uh-mazing vocals toward the end. A little five part harmony with an "are you KIDDING me???" note by David.

But as the year went on, the words sank into my heart more than the notes, and the message of this song became so personal to me. I need Your grace to make it through...all I have is You...I'm at Your mercy.

Michael English has the solo on this song and I think knowing his story and the mercy and grace the Lord has showered on him in allowing him a second chance at life and ministry makes this song all the more powerful for me. Because of that, I chose a live version of the song to share, but if you want to hear that stunner note from the studio version, go here.




And what about you? Got a song that makes you cry? I'm always looking for a good cry! :)

Spring Game Night

If you've been hanging out here very long, you know that a couple of times each year, I get together with some friends from high school for game night. I can't even remember now how many years we've been doing this. Five, maybe?

If you know me very well, you're probably also saying "But Bekah, don't you hate games?" Yes, yes I do.

Sort of.

I'm just not very good at games, so I rarely (I do mean RARELY) win. I've become okay with that...and I just play to have fun. In fact, my successes are counted more in things like this:

I won a round of Scattergories. Not the whole game...but just one measly little roll-of-the-letter-dice section of it. But I made them take my picture because you just don't know when that sort of luck might roll around again!
My game buddies are blog anonymous, so I can't post pictures, but we did have a great evening. We started out with dinner...I made crock pot pizza and they all pitched in yummy treats on the side. Oh! And I made orange julius too. (Orange juliuses? Orange juli-i? Not sure how you're supposed to make that plural...)

We played word games all night, and you'd think I'd do really well with that, but I tend to freeze up and get certain words stuck in my head, leaving me unable to think of others. Maddening, really.
Actually, Phats won almost every round of everything. We started off with a game called Smart Mouth and he won both rounds we played. (Imagine THAT.) We moved from that to The Last Word. Phats won the first round and then Heather beat him on the second round. I believe that was when he suggested Scattergories.

We always play Dutch Blitz, but we didn't get to it this time, which means...

I still have my coupon for a five minute head start on a game. Yes. I'm that bad. So bad, in fact, that I will use this and still lose (significantly).


But I did have fun.

Pancakes with the Princess: February

Yes, I know it's March. But this is what happens when you don't have Pancakes with the Princess until the last of the month! I had so much fun with round two and can't wait to share it with you today!

You might remember that in January, I invited a couple from my church. For my second round of pancakes...I invited a family of six! I was a little nervous that they might go away hungry, but they did not!

For the healthy portion of our meal: grapes and oranges. And as you can see, my table did NOT work for this round. It only seats four, and the one downside of my favorite favorite table is that since it's tall, I can't add onto it with a spare table.
So...Mom and Dad to the rescue! They have a huge six foot (HEAVY!!!!) table that they brought over for me to use. I was so grateful, because plan B meant having the kids sit on the floor around my round coffee table.

ANYWAY - on to the guests! I invited the Holland family! Brian and Jaye are the youth pastors at Chapel Pike, and I've been intending to have them over forever. Literally forever.

You might remember Jaye from some of my crafting adventures. She's a fellow scrapper. And this is their daughter Jessica, who shares my love of all things photo. I'm hoping to see more of her next year at school! And their youngest, Joseph, who called lunch "amazingly good" - and ate a lot of it to back up that claim!

The other side of the table! Pastor Brian, who taught me to teach junior high Sunday School and has just been an all around great supporter of me, (Jaye again! She's everywhere!) and their son Wesley, who was in the first junior high Sunday School class I taught. I hear now he's learning to drive...and he promised me a warning when the actual license time rolls around...

And I didn't want to miss Anna, who was just a baby when I first met the family - and now is a lovely young lady! Of all the Hollands, I hear she is my fellow lover of coffee. Good job, Anna!!!

In addition to the health food, we had pancakes, Amish breakfast casserole, sausage patties, and a round of orange julius (with whipped cream).

OOH! Jaye told me, as she watched me pour pancake batter, that sometimes she puts her batter in one of those plastic picnic ketchup bottles, snips off a bigger tip, and makes perfectly shaped pancakes that way. I might have to try that!!

After lunch, we hung out in the living room and talked for a while - while they took turns soaking up heat from the fireplace. I really enjoy watching them interact with each other. I'm always fascinated by sibling activity since I did not grow up with my sisters, and never got to truly know what that was like!

Thanks, Hollands, for taking time to come over and eat with me. You were so much fun!!

SSMT: Verse 5

Whew! I feel like I just learned verse four! And now...time for a new SSMT verse! I actually just rediscovered this one during church on Sunday. Our pastor used some verses from James as part of his sermon text, and I noticed this one highlighted yellow on the page near the verses he read. Looks like I originally read them last November...right before a God-ordained pivotal turning point in my life. I remember how I felt then...and how I grasped desperately to these words because I needed to make myself believe there was hope for my future.

Reading the words now, I still don't have any idea how God plans to accomplish some of this in my life, but I have a very peaceful assurance He will.

As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James 5:11

I know in comparison to what many people have faced, and what many others are facing right now, my trials at any point in my life seem like nothing. But in the last year I felt a lot like Job.

Once, I remember asking about the location of the nearest ash heap, because I felt like sitting down on it! Since I couldn't find one, I paced around and quoted Job's words instead...like Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him, and When He has tested me I will come forth as gold.

When I did a word study on this verse from James, I learned that the two references to perseverance actually have slightly different meanings.

The first one means to bear up under miseries, adversities, or provocations with faith. The second means those with hope...refers to quality of character that does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

Perseverance, when you are in the middle of it, feels like just making it to the next minute. Sheer grit. But it's so much more than that! It is survival, for sure, but survival with faith. Survival with hope.

For me...the end of this verse has yet to be revealed in my life. I have no idea what the Lord is going to finally bring about in my world and in my life. He is being so faithful day by day. He IS indeed full of compassion and mercy. He is loving and brings me such delight and joy. And I know He is redeeming my life. I know He is fulfilling a work and a promise. How? I haven't yet discovered. What will it be? I have no clue.

But I believe He will bless my perseverance and my faith, and for that, I'm so thankful.