25 Years

I was a junior in high school working in the library. We had the tv on because history was being made. A school teacher was on the space shuttle for the first time. I can remember watching the launch and being in awe of what was happening. And then 73 seconds later seeing the devastation that the whole country saw. It was hard to believe. 7 crew members lost their lives that day:  Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

I can still hear the words of our president, Ronald Reagan, as he spoke to us that night.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'

It's hard to believe it's been 25 years! Where were you when it happened? What do you remember about that day?

Life is so Precious

I was reminded of this this weekend. Without going into alot of details and respecting this family, a little boy no longer has his daddy. It was unexpected and the reasons aren't there. This news hit me hard when I found out. And I wasn't completely sure that it was true until today. It was confirmed for me and I just hurt for this precious family.

It's moments like this when I stop and think just how precious life is. We aren't promised tomorrow and it should be our desire to live each day as if it were our last. While I'm confident that this family is grounded in their faith, I still have to question God and ask the why's that come with death, especially an unexpected one.

Taking the time to make each moment count is something that God has placed on my heart to be more diligent in. Taking in the smiles of the each child that I see each day, watching the many birds congregate on my back porch to eat from the bird feeders, telling my love ones just how much I love them and doing it more often are just a few of the little things I can do to help me appreciate this life and all that God has blessed me with.

Taking each day and using it as an opportunity to show others how God is working in my life should be the first and foremost reason that I get up each morning. It's my desire to show others Christ through all that I do. I sincerely hope that it's what others see in me!

Jonah

Let me say that I'm so excited about my new Bible study. Last night was the introductory session and boy was God speaking through Pricilla Shirer. She began by asking "Has your life been interuppted lately?" I had an answer to that real quick! She told us to not look at them as interuptions but to see them as times of divine intervention.

I can't wait to dig in with my homework and see what God has in store for me!

New Bible Study

Tonight starts a new Bible study at church. I'm excited and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me during the 7 week study. It's on Jonah. I can relate to him in so many ways and I know there are other ways I'll discover through the course of the study.

Sponsoring a Child (Part 2)

I didn't realize how hard it would be to choose a program. I've been looking over the websites and I'm just overwhelmed with the many children's faces I've seen today. Picking a country, gender, age, etc. is hard! One thing I liked about Childfund is that they will set up a visit for you and your sponsored child. How amazing would that be!

The research will continue and I'm praying that God finds the perfect child for me to sponsor!

Sponsoring a Child

This is something that has been on my heart for a while now. I've seen some of the ads on tv and I've read other bloggers that are doing this. The difficult part for me is choosing which program to use. I googled it and so many choices come up. WorldVision...Compassion...Childfund...UNICEF

I'll continue to research each one but wanted to ask if you sponsor a child, who do you use?

Thanks!

A Bust

Well our snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain was a bust! And believe me was I upset! The rain moved in sooner than they expected and we didn't get anything but rain. Some parts of town did get some icing but at my house there was nada! Nothing! Zilch! Zero!

Our weathermen were concerned about this and had predicted to be a major storm for us. And with being in the South, you prepare because we're just not use to this. So of course we go out and buy batteries, bread and drinks to get us through the possibility of not having power because it was going to be a big ice storm.

I was so mad when I woke Monday morning and there wasn't anything happening outside my window! I began second guessing myself with the decision to close at work. Our policy is that when the school system shuts down, we do too. That decision was made Saturday night which surprised me because in the past they've always waited until the last minute to make a decision. That may tell you how big the storm was predicted to be.

But needless to say, I felt better once the day went on because the entire state pretty much shut down for this storm. I will say that I'll do a better job of making these types of decisions! But I did enjoy the day off!

Oh the joys of living in the South!

Snow/Sleet/Freezing Rain/Ice

We're suppose to get some of all of that beginning Sunday afternoon into Monday morning. And I have to say I'm quite excited about it. We've been teased with snow once already this winter. It actually did snow on Christmas day but nothing stuck. It was nice to see it falling but I really wished we would have had some accumulation to really have a white Christmas.

It looks like this may be a more significant storm for us. I'd really like to see more snow but I think we're situated in a place where it'll be more ice than anything. Which totally stinks cause that makes travel hazardous and could cause power outages.

With us being in the South we don't see occurrences like this. Just the mere mention of snow, wintry mix, ice, etc. we all run out to the grocery store and buy up the milk, bread, soup, and candles they have in stock. It's hilarious to see! It's a good thing that I've got most of that list so hopefully we won't need to run out and beat the rush!

Hopefully we'll see some snow and I'll be able to take some pictures! I know I'll be glued to the Weather Channel all weekend!

A New Year

It's Monday and back to reality. The holidays are over and my next one is not for a while. However, I was glad to be back on a routine and having things back to normal.

I typically don't make resolutions mainly because their broken before the month is up. But one thing that I hope to do all year is a random act of kindness. Each day I want to look for ways to brighten someone else's day. There's even a website devoted to it. Check it out!

http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

I hope it's one thing that I hope to carry through all year!