it really has been a while...

hey guys!
i am so sorry i haven't blogged in a while, but things really have been beyond crazy. when i have more time, i will blog.

in the mean-time, if you remember, please keep my dad in your prayers. he is having another cancer surgery tomorrow on his neck. they will be removing cancer from the right side of his neck as well as his vocal chord. it has also spread to his lungs, but they aren't as concerned about that right now. but please keep him in your prayers.

loves!

is "shopping" for a man really that easy?

over the weekend, i had the opportunity to go and hang out at A & D's house and spend some time w/ the kids. as always, it was a lot of fun. i had been playing outside w/ them when i came inside to check my email. Bud follows me in and sits in the rocking chair next to the computer. he looks like he's in deep thought, so i just let him think. finally, he looks up at me and asks me "deedeed, do you want to have kids?"...the rest of the conversation went like this:

me: yes Bud, one day i do want to have kids

bud: well you know deedeed, you have to have a husband before you can have kids

me: yes i know that. but right now deedeed doesn't have a husband

bud: we'll just have to find you one then

me: how do you think we should go about doing that?

bud: well, you can find you one on the computer

me: really?

bud: yeah! or you can go to walmart.

me: walmart?

bud: yes, walmart.

me: um. ok. so you think i should go find me a husband at walmart...

bud: yup. how about the next time we come to spend the night, we can just head on up to walmart and look for you a husband.

there was some other dialogue but i can't remember it all. but isn't that just the cutest? if it was really that easy, that would be fabulous!

Valentine's Weekend

this is has been the funnest weekend. i'm usually opposed to Valentine's Day, but not this year. This year, I've decided to change my outlook. And please don't think i oppose valentine's day b/c i'm single and i have nobody to give me flowers or chocolates. that's not it at all. i just think it's silly devote one single holiday to loving those around you when you really should be doing it all year round.

anyway, friday night, my grandmother, aunt susan & uncle ronnie came into town from louisville, ga. they have been staying at amanda's, so i spent almost all of the weekend down at their house. we've just had the best time telling old embarrassing (and i do mean EMBARRASSING) stories about each other from the past, eating lots of good food, and just loving & fellowshipping with each other. this weekend has been about loving each other and spending quality time as a family since we don't get to see each other very often. {louisville is a little town outside of augusta, and almost all of my family (on both sides) is from there. it's a wonderful place of history and memories.} i've decided to post a few picturest that were taken last night.

this is my aunt susan helping amanda get dinner ready.david decided to give me a silly smile while he was grilling the burgers

steven was wrestling around w/ michael~that's uncle ronny waving at the camera~~and mamaw is waiting patiently at the table for dinner to be ready~

I apologize if my pictures and captions are all over the place.

i'm still trying to learn how to do this. the above picture is all the

kids jumping on the trampoline, and the one to my right is at

the end of the night and Riley was so worn out that he used my

hand as his pillow.

I've been tagged...

I hope i do this right, but Amanda has "tagged" me about posting a pic. so i am going to follow the directions and then tag someone else...although i don't know many people on here, I'm just going to guess, so bare with me.

the instructions are to go into the 4th folder of your pictures file; pick the 4th picture; explain the picture; then tag 4 more people. so here i go.

in my picture (from left to right) is Jim, our head golf professional at Old Overton. In the middle is his lovely wife Cathy. On the right is the wonderful Roger. He is a member at Old Overton. He and his lovely wife Debbie (not pictured) have a place in Tuscaloosa that they rent all year long just so they have a place to go for Alabama games (football & basketball). They so wonderfully open their home up to anyone who wants to come and hang out (within reason of course). they really are really sweet people!

so now I'm going to tag:

1) rachel z. c. 2) allison c. b. 3) kim s. m. 4) merideth q.

i don't know if all of you ladies read my blog, but just in case you do, you've been tagged!

have a wonderful Wednesday! what a lovely day, huh?

it's been too long...

it's been a while since i blogged, and i'm pretty sure i won't write a lot tonight. but i felt like i needed to write something since it's been so long.

i just want to say how thankful i am for all that God has blessed me with when i am most undeserving. have you ever just sat back and thought about the love God must feel for us? it overwhelms me sometimes b/c i look back over my life and wonder 'why'. i've made some stupid decisions over my lifetime, and i've done some very dumb things. i think i can honestly say that it is only by the grace of God that i am alive today. so many times i turned my back on the people that mattered most in my life...and yet...today...things are 150% different (in a good way). my life is sooo different, and i can't imagine ever going back to the way things used to be.

as some of you know, i've been attending church of the highlands. i think that if i hadn't gotten involved there when i did, who knows where i'd be today. i'm not saying that it's the church that has changed me. God definitely gets all the credit for that, but being a part of that church has been so awesome. the people are different, the atmostphere is different...everything is different. the first time i went, i was with my mom. we went b/c a friend of hers invited us to go. i won't lie...it scared me a little bit. the music was louder; the worship was different; everything was just different. but i was drawn to it, and i wanted to go back. i knew someone else that went there, so i started going with her (my wonderful friend tammy). she had been going there a lot longer than me, so she knew more people. we joined a small LIFE group together. it was such a great group of women from all walks of life.

i went to a women's weekend retreat that the church had. it was really good, and i was glad i went, but i felt like something was holding me back. i was into it, but not completely. at the end of the 12 wk "semester" of the LIFE group, they had a weekend retreat for all of the LIFE groups. i think they said 55 small groups were represented at that retreat (i think they said they have almost 700). anyway, i totally didn't want to go, or so i thought. there was some major spiritual warfare going on inside of me. my mom told me that obviously there was something that satan didn't want me to experience, so i needed to make it a point to be there. it started on a friday, i registered that thursday (the day before). that friday night was pretty good. i was definitely glad i went. now, i have never really been much of a cryer. but i felt a little tug at the heart strings that friday night, and i might have shed a tear or two b/c of the conviction i was feeling. the next morning (saturday) i got up to take riley outside and i kept hearing this beeping noise. i figured out it was my neighbor's fire alarm. she wasn't home, but the beeping was weird. so i went and looked at my alarm and the type of beeping it was was the alert for carbon monoxide. i went to talk to another neighbor, and of course ms. betty was already on top of that one (she's the old lady neighbor who knows everybody's business). so i went back to my place, got dressed, and prayed that God would protect my home and my babies b/c not even a carbon monoxide leak was going to keep me from going to this retreat.

can i just say that the tears flowed that day and i haven't been able to stop since, lol. i cry at commercials now! i was able to let go of so much anger, shame, bitterness, hurt, resentment, hatred, jealousy, selfishness, and anything else that was weighing me down. it is so refreshing now to know that i don't carry around any of those issues. it's amazing what happens when you lay everything before God's feet. and it's been an incredible ride ever since.

i'm not perfect by any means, and i'm definitely still a work in progress. but i'm so excited to see where my life is headed, b/c i'm absolutely excited about the direction it's taken already.
wow! that ended up being longer than i intended. i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it. Loves! :-)

the ''after christmas'' blog...

i finally had a little down time at work today, so i decided to take a few minutes and write a short blog.

december was a crazy busy month for me and our family. it seemed like there was always something going on, and we always had somewhere to be. i hope it doesn't sound bad when i say that i'm so glad january is here. things can finally slow down, and i can catch my breath. i hope everyone had a fabulous christmas holiday.

like my sister, i am so thakful that i got to see everyone i was able to see this holiday season...from family to friends we haven't seen in many many years.

i realize this is a short and boring blog, but i must get back to work for now. i'll write more later!

DVR is a wonderful thing...

I must start off by apologizing for not blogging in quite a long time. i have been scolded about it over the last 2 days, so i thought i'd post something short & sweet today.

i don't want to repeat amanda by retelling the circumstances (you can refer to her blog if you haven't heard anything yet), but please pray for my grandmother. both of them acually. my mamaw dye is not doing well at all. my mom rushed over to GA yesterday to help care for her in her last days. my uncle kenny, aunt debbie, aunt carol, & mamaw's nurse eliza have been taking care of her. please pray for our whole family as this is a rough time right now.

my mamaw bargainnier fell a few weeks back and broke her arm. but she's been doing well, and i am so thankful for that! i love my mamaws!!

on a happier note, i FINALLY got cable in my place. and can i just say that DVR is a wonderful thing. i got spoiled w/ Tivo living w/ christy. i've been w/o it since we moved and have missed many shows. but i am all caught up now. it's so nice too. the other night i got caught up cleaning my place and realized i was missing my shows. but then i remembered i had the dvr and had already programmed my shows in. so i kept on cleaning and then watched my shows later. it was so much better b/c i could fast forward through the commercials. i also get to watching tv in the mornings when i'm getting ready for work. i watch this show called 'third watch'. so when i go get in the shower, i just hit pause and finish watching when i get out! i realize that i'm probably behind the times on the dvr; and i'm sure most of you all have it. but if i could meet the person who invented dvr & tivo, i would kiss them! i got so tired of watching movies before cable that it couldn't have come at a better time. i'm so easy to please, i swear.

i must finish my christmas shopping tonight and i am not looking foward to it. every year i wait until the last minute, and every year i say i'll start earlier next year. i've yet to do that. i'm such a procrastinator.

oh well. i must get back to work now. duty calls, and life at the country club is anything but boring right now.

loves!