God's Got The Box

Last night we had classes for our kids department. This session I teach the 12 & 13 year olds with my friend, Brenda.

Last night we talked about God being our pilot. He knows all the controls, all the right paths, all the right angles, how to land, how to take off, how to keep things steady even when there's turbulence. He is in control of the "plane".

Brenda taught the lesson last night and one of the analogies that she used really got me thinking. She was explaining that when you put a puzzle together it's easier when you can see the cover of the box. The pictures is whole on the cover, not in pieces. Once you have the cover you can see where certain colors need to go, what the edges look like.

Just like life, things may be in a jumble, just pieces to a puzzle. But, God has the cover and see's the whole picture. He knows where every piece belongs, every color, every edge. He is in control.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

I am having a wonderful day today!

Yesterday was stinky. Things just weren't going right at work. I was having an emotional breakdown, seriously! lol! Okay, maybe not that serious, but it felt like I was about to have one. I even had a dream that I quit my job. That's what I get for working 10 hrs straight on paperwork. Ugh!

Today I woke up and it's a great great day! I am astonished by my sales on eBay. I have one neck tie that cost about $1.99 and now it's selling for $96 and the bidding isn't even done! Woo hoo! Every time I see this and then I see the same brand selling for around $20 on eBay, I know I have favor. God's favor.

I just wanted to share my happy day. I hope your all having one too, or will wake up tomorrow with one at your doorstep! =)

The World of eBay and Christmas Money

I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am a serious eBayer. I don't know what I would do if eBay was never invented. Whoever thought of this - "Thank you!". It's not like you'll be reading my blog anytime soon, but thank you anyway.

I have two eBay accounts, one for personal stuff and one for Men's clothing. I usually sell stuff periodically all year and I buy stuff once in a while, such as books, shoes...

I was stuck to my desk at home last night working away on eBay. I can seriously use the extra cash for the holidays and I know that I can get it on eBay.

There is something about watching your selling price go up and up... I usually get pretty good sales. I started selling on eBay just out of curiosity. It turned into a full blown business in a matter of months. My main sales were from Men's clothing. I taught myself all the specifics of a man's dress shirt. Who would've thought that men's clothing was so detailed! I learned all the major name brands that men like, textures of clothing, styles... Now when I need some extra cash I just throw on some items and I have it.

I used to have a website with hair accessories. I started making hair sticks when I was seventeen for ladies at my church. I had an article done on me for Somerset Studios, wedding edition. I figured I would get some great publicity, so I had a website built. It didn't quite go as planned. Who would have though websites were so expensive! Not just the building but the running of things. That's a whole other story, back to eBay. I opened an eBay store for my leftover hair accessories. Take a look here - GemStix.

I will post more later about GemStix...

Happy Thanksgiving

I love this time of the year! It's the beginning of the holiday season, a season when everything is rushed and peaceful all at the same time.

I am home stuffed with turkey, ham, stuffing, yams, biscuits... stuffed. I feel so comfy and for once my home is quite. My brother and sister-in-law are gone with her family for the night and my little brother is out with friends, and my sister is MIA. So, I cuddled up on the couch at watched Project Runway (good show by the way). Tomorrow will be a very busy day. I am teaching a morning bible study with my older brother and then coming home to our own family Thanksgiving dinner. No early morning shopping for me... I've convinced myself that I would rather pay full price than fight the crowds.

Now onto the the important stuff... being thankful. Often we forget to even remember to give thanks on this day or any other day for that matter. I woke up this morning thinking of all the things that have happened this year. Here are a couple that I am extra thankful for.

~My Sister-in-law Sonia. As of 11/25/06 she was officially a "Bing" =). She is one of my best friends, my sister, and my boxing bag. I can be pretty rough on her, but she is a Godsend. She puts up with me and encourages me. Gives me her ear and shoulder when needed. And she lets she plunk her in the head every now and than to get the frustration out. =) Thank God for her!

~My Dad. He's been through a lot and WOW! That's all I can say. Wow! God has been good and I am forever thankful for what He's done.

These are two major things that I am thankful for this year. It's a given that I am thankful for this life I have, for my entire family, siblings and mother (who is the greatest women alive).

To all my blogging buddies: You all have made my life richer! I have so much fun with you all! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

I do give thanks to my God, He is mentioned last because He is the one to who my thanks above are really for. He's given me everything and made everything happen. I trust him wholeheartedly more this year than any other time. He the source of all the good in this life!

Thank you God!

Thanksgiving Dinner

This is going to be a very busy week... or maybe I should say it's been very busy.

**

We had our Thanksgiving Dinner for our church family on Thursday. I did not get one scrap of turkey or ham or any other kind of food. Our church has grown so much that we can't fit in our multi-purpose room. I showed up late and got stuck with the kids. I say stuck because there were dozens of hungry kids from 2 to 11 in one room.

**

This actually brings me to another thought... My church is in the process of purchasing a massive facility. We would have thousand and thousands of grounds to use! I am beyond excited and once I can get some pictures up I will. This building is huge with tons of classrooms for the kids and a pre-school, a huge sanctuary and a chapel. It's beautiful and I can't wait to show you.

**

Okay, back to Thanksgiving dinner. I am trying to think of a good recipe that isn't traditional for Friday. On Thanksgiving day we spend it with my entire family. We come home and relax and then on Friday we wake up at the crack of dawn... ugh, and shop. (I might skip it this year) and then we prepare for our own immediate family Thanksgiving. The whole point of this is the leftovers. When you go to someone else's house, you don't have a ton of yummy leftovers. So my family started this tradition many years ago so that we would have our own leftovers.

If anyone has a good recipe for a side dish or dessert let me know... I may want to steal it!

Too busy to write

Hi all! I am still here... barely, but here.

I am so swamped with work and preparations at home that I have been neglecting my blog.

Today is my 3rd year job anniversary.... and I am celebrating by sitting with piles and piles of paperwork around me. WooHoo!

I will post about our early Church Family Thanksgiving dinner that we are having tonight. Yum! Turkey, ham, yams, cranberry sauce... oh joy!

ONE YEAR & ONE HUNDRED POST

It’s been one year and one hundred posts since I started this blogging journey.

On November 8, 2006 I wrote…
Jane Austen once said - Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.
I may have spoken too soon. I have written about misery and sometimes guilt. But that’s life, right?

I started this with no outside viewers. My family would read it occasionally and maybe some strangers who passed through. One thing you would probably never know, I am extremely private. When I got my first comment from an “almost stranger”, I felt like someone was reading my inner most thoughts, I was petrified! lol. But then it donned on me, I wrote it right there for everyone to see! So I just trekked on and here I am today. Not so private and yet, I don’t really care.

I rambled on about my life, death, family, my job, my God, my church, holidays, tumors, books, weddings, eBay, co-workers, scrap booking, my dislikes, my weirdness, vacations, birthdays, kids, books, Jane Austen, fires…

It has been a good year in blogging. It wasn’t without the downs of life, but that just means things can only get better.

My favorite part of someone else’s blog this year was from God Things, devotionals by Shirley Buxton:

Man. What creatures we are. Of what divine and soaring ways are we
capable; yet into what ugly and deep depravity have we sunk. Man. Made in
the image of God. Made a little lower than the angels. Man, God’s friend, an
evening walker in the garden, His companion. Man, cast out, dying, sinful
now and clothed by bloodshed. But…rooting around inside us, struggling
fiercely with our fallenness, is the shinning—the glorious, the rising, the
giftings, the goodness…the distinct image of God.

I truly love blogging and I look forward to spending the next year blogging about life.

It's Coming!

I can almost smell the turkey and stuffing!

Thanksgiving is almost here!
I am so excited. I love this time of the year. The season is beautiful and so full of family.

My siblings and I still make Christmas list. It doesn't matter that we range in age from 22 to 32. We still make out list and make sure everyone in the family has a copy.

At Thanksgiving our extended family picks name and buys each other gifts. This was is easier since our family is huge.

I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks. We are getting ready for our church Thanksgiving dinner, family Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas preperations...

I have so much to be Thankful for this year... I will go into detail later on.

Harvest Party

I am a little late in posting this, but I wanted to show some of the pictures from our church Harvest Party this past week.

We had food, games, and prizes for the best dressed family, best dressed adult, best-dressed kids, and the best carved pumpkin. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the best-dressed kid or family. But, I did get a ton of pictures of the cutest little kiddies dressed up. I was a pirate, no pictures of me since i was behind the camera the entire night. My mom made the Carebear outfit that my brother is wearing. Took her a couple of hrs. She blew us away!