Hey W.O.W. Girls!

Hey Wow Siestas!

I wanted to share so many details about next Tuesday's class that for fun I decided to do a video for y'all. Call me crazy but I thought it would be silly for a change....

Here's the link: http://vimeo.com/9577156

Love you all!

Turning 15

Today I'm celebrating my oldest son's birthday. Brody is turning 15 years old today. I just can't believe it! He's grown into such an amazing young man and we are so very proud of him.

As a mom, I'm feeling a little melancholy today. The reality that Brody only has three and a half more years until he goes off to college and starts his own life is a very sobering thought. I feel such a sense of urgency to create a "to-do" list of all the things I'd like our family to experience before he graduates from high school.

There are trips I want to take him on, places I want to show him, people I want him to meet, and experiences I want him to have. More than anything I want him to continue his journey with God and develop a stronger more intimate faith life of his own.

Ever since Brody was a little boy, we've taught him about Jesus. He's had a faith which has been constructed from the faith of his parents. He knows God's Word and would debate someone to the final end if they claimed otherwise. But having a knowledge of God is totally different than having a relationship with Him. I know that Brody has a relationship with God and I'm praying that this year it will grow even stronger.

I'll be honest with you, I almost hesitated to type those words because as I reflect on my own personal journey I realize that my biggest spiritual growth spurts with God came during a seasons of great difficulty or major trails in my life. No parent wants their child to experience trials and difficulties!

I'm trusting God's sovereign plan for Brody's life. He knows what's best for Brody and what will draw him to the very heart of Jesus. As much as I love my son, it pales in comparison to the love his Heavenly Father has for him. I'm choosing to rest in that fact today and the many nail-biting days to come.


Happy Birthday Brody! Love, Mom

Feeling Invisible Lately?

Have you been feeling invisible lately?

Do you have days when you ask yourself, "Does anyone really notice all the work I do around here?" I sure do!

Each day I dedicate hours of my time making beds, washing clothes, running errands, preparing meals, scheduling appointments, returning phone calls, replying to emails but...

No one seems to notice.

No one says "thank you".

No one seems to really care.

I often wonder to myself what would really happen if I stopped doing all these things. How long would it take my family and others to notice? Would they begin to appreciate me then? Would they pitch in and help? Would they say thank you every once in a while?

Honestly, deep down inside I know that my family loves and appreciates me. And, there are many times that they tell me so. I can't allow my thoughts and attitude to be so self focused that I fall head first into a huge pity party while singing the "woe is me" chorus on my way down.

I need to remind myself that I'm not doing these things to win the approval or attention of others. I'm doing these things because it's what God has assigned for me each day. Honestly, I need to rejoice and thank Him for giving me the mental capacity and physical capability to accomplish what I perceive as mundane tasks instead of whining about it all the time.

This morning someone sent me a video that totally changed my perspective on God's assignment for my life.

My assignment as a wife.

My assignment as a mother.

My assignment as a friend.

My assignment as a woman in a world that seldom notices.

I'm praying that if God lead you to my blog today He will also prompt you to take a minute out of your hectic day and watch this video clip below. I'm trusting that He will change your perspective as you listen and watch a woman who believes she's invisible sometimes...just like you and me.

Click on the words below to watch the video...
The Invisible Woman

How do you feel now? I'd love to hear from you :)

Who Dat Celebration

I've never been so proud to be a Cajun girl from New Orleans in all my life!

Last night my family sat around our big t.v. screen surrounded by Chinese food, hamburgers, french fries, and Pepsi as we watched the nail biting first half of Super Bowl XLIV. We were all very excited but quite leery about the outcome of this year's game.

Our hearts were for the New Orleans Saints since my husband and I both grew up in the Big Easy. We had watched many games over the years with hopes of singing the "Who Dat" chant at the end of each game but often times our hearts were disappointed with another loss.

Game after game...

Season after season...

Year after year...

When the half time show started I realized that my stomach was hurting and it wasn't because of all the Chinese food I had devoured. It was because I was so tense and nervous about the score. I had to laugh at myself because I'm really not a big football fan. Most of the time I have no idea which teams are headed to the playoffs but this year I had a vested interest. This year I was a committed fan. This year it would be personal.

As the last 60 seconds counted down and the Saints were pronounced Super Bowl XLIV Champions my husband and two boys laughed hysterically at me as I video taped my t.v. screen during those glorious moments. I told them that this was most likely a once in a lifetime victory and I wanted to capture it on film.

My guess is that the mayor of Who Dat Nation has declared today an official holiday. As New Orleans fans celebrate in the streets of the French Quarter, I'd imagine that many of them will be throwing Mardi Gras beads, sipping on cafe au late, and eating fresh king cake while singing the "Who Dat" chant until their throats are sore.

Congratulations New Orleans! It's been a very long time coming and you've fought hard to win this victory and claim your prize.

Are you prepared?

Don't you just love weddings? I sure do.

Last year, a girlfriend of mine announced that her daughter was getting married.
Over the past 12 months, I've had the privilege of hearing all about the special wedding plans, checking out the registry list, going to the much anticipated bridal shower, and viewing the beautiful invitations.

It has been a couple of years since Keith and I have been invited to a wedding so last Friday night we eagerly slipped on our very best wedding attire and headed for the church.

As we entered the elaborate sanctuary, my eyes were immediately drawn to the illuminescent candelabras that lined the main isle leading up to the front altar. Crisp white linen runners boarded the side isles and beautiful potted trees with delicate flower filled vases cascaded gently over the front altar to create the most exquisite backdrop I had every seen.

As soft music played in the background, you could hear the quiet rumble of voices as people entered the church ,waving to friends, and anxiously awaiting for the grand procession to begin.

As the lights were dimmed and the music began to play, every head turned to welcome the grand procession of the bridesmaids, signally the soon to arrive bride. As the first bridesmaids appeared, I was taken back by what she was holding. In her hands was a beautiful decorative lantern which held a single ivory candle. The illumination of its flame blossomed all around her as she glided up red satin runner. The scene was so magnificent that it took my breath away.

My thoughts quickly shifted to the parable in Matthew 25 about the 10 virgins that were waiting for their bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish virgins took their lamps but forgot to bring oil. The wise virgins took their lamps and remembered to bring extra oil. The bridegroom took a long time so virgins became tired and fell asleep. At midnight, the bride arrived. The wise virgins had plenty of oil to light their lamps but the foolish virgins didn't. While they were away buying oil the bridegroom arrived so the five wise virgins got to go into the wedding banquet with him and the door was closed behind them. When the foolish virgins returned with their lamps and oil the door was shut. They asked to come inside but were refused.

As I reflect on this story, my heart breaks for the five foolish virgins. They were so eager to see the bridegroom and waited so long for his arrival. They remembered to bring their lamps but forgot the oil to keep the lamps burning. Although they had great intentions they just weren't properly prepared.

I believe many of us have great intentions. We eagerly await for something amazing to happen in our lives and often times have to wait longer than we originally anticipated. As time passes we become weary and often "fall asleep" to the circumstances around us. We loose sight of what we were waiting for in the first place and become distracted by so many other things. When that long anticipated moment finally arrives, we may realize that we simply aren't prepared like we thought we were.

I don't know about you but I don't want to be left out on what God has in store for me - in this life or in heaven. I want to be prepared. I don't want to just have good intentions. I don't want to miss out on my calling or an opportunity God has in store for me because I became weary and distracted during my time of waiting on Him.

Have you ever become weary and tired of waiting on God? Maybe you've been praying for something to happen in your life and it just feels like your prayer will never be answered. Maybe you think that moment will never come. Maybe you're starting to believe that God will never show up and rescue you from a tough situation.

Let me encourage you by saying that God answers every single one of your prayers. Sometimes
that answer is yes. Sometimes that answer is no. And, sometimes that answer is not yet.

May I suggest that while we wait on Him we make sure we're fully prepared. Let's remind ourselves that it's more than having great intentions and ask ourselves, "what else should I be doing while I wait on the Lord?". Most of all, lets not become weary or distracted by the world and "fall asleep" as the five foolish virgins did. We don't want to miss out when God shows up in the midst of your circumstances. We don't want the door of opportunity to be shut before us because we weren't prepared. We want to be ready.

So let me ask you... what should you begin doing today to be prepared?

I Love Technical Support

I'm writing today's post with a big smile on my face and I can't wait to explain why.


Last February I started getting serious about setting up my blog. I really wanted to have my own domain name so I decided to purchase one. I wanted to keep it super easy and super simple so I logged onto blogger.com and made my purchase directly through their site.


It was really inexpensive and the steps were so easy. I couldn't wait to type in my new domain name and have it go straight to my blog. The only problem was it never worked. For some reason unbeknownst to me a glitch happened when I was setting everything up. Go figure! Is it just me or do you suffer from unexpected computer glitches too?


I asked my blog design friend to help me but she couldn't figure out the problem either. After days of troubleshooting I finally gave up. I had come to the conclusion that I owned a domain name that I would never be able to use.


Every time I would log onto my blog I'd think about my unusable domain name and I'd get frustrated all over again. That was until today.


I received an email this afternoon from a friend who had a blog question. She sent the email to several friends and they began responding back and forth. As I read each email I began to long for my little domain name that I never was able to use. I decided to send out one final cry for help. Maybe one of my bloggy friends would have the answer.


Sure enough Rachel did. She emailed me back right away with a clever help link that would hopefully lead me on a short journey and solve all my domain problems. At first I was hesitant. I had failed in the trouble shooting area many times before and the thought of wasting more time on this quest for domain victory was feeling quite unappealing at the moment.

Then all of a sudden this overwhelming sense of "you can do this!" sprung up like the automatic water sprinklers in my flower garden. I didn't know where it came from but I liked the momentary thoughts of confidence and absolute assurance that swirled around in my head.

I stared at the link that Rachel sent me and whispered quietly "bring it on!".

One link lead to another then another and lo and behold I landed on the glorious sight of what I had been longing for. It was the number for technical support! I LOVE TECHNICAL SUPPORT!!!

I quickly grabbed my phone, punched in the toll free number and within fifteen minutes the man on the other end of the phone had fixed all my computer glitches and my wonderful domain was up and running. Just like that.

Thank you Rachel for taking the time to send me that link. Your small act of kindness made a huge impact on me. Although it may have seemed like nothing to you it was huge to me. I will forever be your fan.

I've learned a valuable lesson through this experience. I shouldn't underestimate the significance of small things.

Small acts of kindness.

Small words of encouragement.

Small glimmers of confidence and hope.

I think more times than not it's the small things in life that really make a difference. Just like Rachel took the time to help me today I want to make a conscience effort to take the time and respond to others when they need help. Even though it may feel like a small thing to me. Who knows? It could have a huge impact.

It's kind of like being technical support for each other. I just love technical support, don't you?

So Long 2009

Where did the time go? I can't believe 2009 is over and tomorrow begins a new year.

This past year has been filled with many highs and lows but if I had to choose one to describe the last twelve months I'd definitely say it has been a year of great moments sprinkled with many blessings.

Although our checking account is much smaller now and we no longer live in our beautiful dream house on the lake, our family has witnessed God's faithfulness in amazing ways.

Our children have thrived at their schools and had accident free sport seasons of football and basketball. We've all remained extremely healthy and survived the swine flu epidemic even without getting flu shots. Keith and I have grown closer together and our marriage is stronger than ever before. While my friends have lost family members in 2009, we have lost no one in our immediate or extended family. Yes, I'd say we definitely have a lot to be thankful for.

This morning I sat down and made my New Year's resolution list. It looks a lot different than last year's list which consisted of several specific goals I wanted to achieve. Typical things like eating healthier, taking daily vitamins, exercising more, a committed daily time with God, and consistent writing in my blog. I haven't been so good with the consistent writing though. My resolution list for 2010 looks like this:

1. Asking for God's will in every situation and not going to Him with my never ending wish list hoping He'd say yes to every request.

2. Thanking God in every situation whether it's good or bad. It's taken me some time but I've slowly learned that He does work out every circumstance for my good no matter what it looks like at first.

3. Bring glory and honor to God in everything that I do. This will be extremely challenging but I know that all things are possible through Him.

Sure, I still want to eat healthier, exercise, take my daily vitamins, and continue bogging but I know that if I seek Him first then all these practical things will taken care of too.

Now for some wonderful news that I received today. My dad has battled with cancer for the last three years. He was diagnosed with a form of lymphatic leukemia which basically means he develops cancer in his blood which attacks his lymph nodes. This past Summer he went through a radical round of chemo treatments. He returned last week for a thorough pet scan to see if the cancer returned. He called me today and told me that the results shows he's cancer free!

I have my P31, face book, and W.O.W. friends to thank. I sent out an email to them this morning and within 20 minutes I had almost 30 replies saying "I'm praying for your dad". Prayer is so powerful and we've certainly witnessed this first hand today.

Yes, 2010 is already starting off great. There is so much to look forward to and believe God for. I'd love to know what you're hoping for in 2010. Do you have any New Year's resolutions? What happened in 2009 that you're thankful for? How would you describe this past year in a few words?

Happy New Year sweet friends. You have been such a blessing to me and I am so very thankful for each one of you!