1.  The last ten days of my life have left me very tired! 🙂 I even took a Sunday afternoon nap yesterday!  22 minutes of wonderfulness!

2.  The Body of Christ, no matter what church you are in, is such a sweet reprieve for my soul.  I love it when you meet believers and just are instantaneous friends and know that your relationship will be like Iron.

3.  I went to Gatlinburg this past weekend: praise Jesus I don’t live there.  Too many tourists in too small of a place!  But, the mountains are gorgeous.

4.  I spoke on 1 Corinthians 15, Colossians 1, and 1 Peter 2 in three sessions with the ladies of Morris Hill Baptist Church from Chattanooga, TN.

5.  I went hiking with a sweet friend.  Supposed to be a 2.6 mile hike.  However, it turned into a 3.8 hike witha 2.6 mile return on pavement straight up hill.  Fun.  🙂

6.  I love daylight savings time.  More time to run after work!  And that reminds me of summer and movies on the lawn at the NCMA and July 4 at the Kokabooth Amphitheatre in Cary and hiking and any other fun stuff I can relish!

7.  I am again learning trust, patience.  God knows I need daily reminders.

8.  This week: I am looking forward to: being in town!  And by town, I do include Durham!  Just not venturing outside of the Triangle this week.

9.  I’m thinking about money.  In a good way though.  I’m trying to save and not just use the money that I have graciously been given to just accumulate more “stuff”.  I think I’ll get two more items with some tax return money and then save the rest and also be able to bless others with some of it.  Our money is not for us.

Link Love

1.  Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I read most of a VERY LONG but AMAZING review by Kevin DeYoung of Rob Bell’s new book.  And yes, he has read it now…

2.  I actually believe this – and have been thinking much about this.  Thank you Tim!  Do everything through a lens of Scripture!

3.  Love this book recommendation by Brian Croft, a pastor in Louisville: own it today if you don’t already have it.

4.  I love this girl and her amazing testimony and family and life and blessings. 

5.  Do you like Pier 1?  Enter to win this giveaway!

6.  Thank you Durham – I think I’ll want to go here

7.  I would love to wake up in here every morning! 🙂  See number 9 above!

8.  Chef Marcus talks about food and lent

9.  You still have today to enter this giveaway for pretty jewelry from Kendie

10.  Great, hard to read, but needed post by Stephen Altrogge

Ok – my Mom gets “younger” and I have more things to write to her.  Here are her 63 year young things I love about my Mom:

1.  She makes a great “sue chef” – yes I know it is spelled wrong, but we always laugh bc neither one of us really ever remember how to spell it.

2.  She prays for me.  All the time.

3.  She likes to plan.

4.  She loves to play board/card games.

5.  She’s pretty good at Trivial Pursuit.

6.  She’s pretty.

7.  She doesn’t look her age (I hope I carry on both 6 and 7).

8.  She is faithful.

9.  She doesn’t like to be late anywhere she goes.

10.  She plays a mean game of Bejeweled 2 and owns all of the top scores on her own computer!

11.  She doesn’t snore.

12.  She loves to bless her children.

13.  She used to let me sit in front of her and she would brush my hair – wish I could go back to those days.

14.  She is my biggest fan – hands down.

15.  She loves Jesus.

16.  She is an adventurous eater.

17.  She’s pretty good at a crossword puzzle (gets that from her mother).

18.  She loves to share food with me at restaurants.

19.  She doesn’t care that her shoes don’t match her outfit – she’d rather be comfortable.

20.  She has gorgeous nails and I’m so glad she encouraged me long ago to stop biting mine.

21.  She has pretty handwriting even though she can’t write in a straight line!  That’s why she has me.

22.  She’s not technologically savvy – slightly frustrating at times – but I love her for it!

23.  She listens to me anytime I call.

24.  She helps Dad with the taxes.

25.  She is gracious to folks who come visit.

26.  She was a big help to my Granny before she died.  Story: early on in my Granny’s blindness, Mom would have Dad drop her off at the house (next door) and they would work the crossword together and she would help her pay bills and write/read letters to family members.

27.  She always thought of really fun counting games for the family reunion.

28.  She loves me no matter what weight I am.

29.  She is my editor.

30.  She likes the Gators.

31.  She’ll watch reruns of NCIS with me.

32.  She’s not loud in the morning!  I love Quiet morning people!

33.  She wants me to go on her dream trip with her in May: Alaskan cruise

34.  She buys John Grisham books, reads them in a day, then gives them to me!

35.  She’s a fast reader.  (I didn’t inherit that trait, unfortunately)

36.  She makes great smoked mullet dip.

37.  She always helped me with my homework, especially english and grammar.

38.  She loves kids.

39.  She is interested in my life.

40.  She is very artistic.

41.  She’ll do anything she can for me.

42.  She loves my brother and sister-in-law and the two grand-dogs.

43.  She is a gracious and giving person.

44.  She’s a fighter!

45.  She prepared the grocery lists for us when we were younger so A and I could go grocery shopping.

46.  She loves Publix as much as I do!

47.  She wants me to succeed in life.

48.  She prays for my future husband and hasn’t given up on the fact that God has one for me.

49.  She cries for me.

50.  She loves her extended family.

51.  She’s smart.

52.  She gets excited about little things.

53.  She is wise.

54.  Her taco soup is one of my Papa’s favorites.

55.  She makes a great Strawberry Pizza.

56.  She finally finished my baby blanket a few years ago.  Persistent!

57.  She is gracious to my friends when they come visit and wants to talk about them.

58.  She wants everyone to be happy around her.

59.  She makes other people a priority.

60.  She thinks I’m pretty.

61.  She puts up with me – even when I’m not pretty.

62.  She loved her Mom (who just died on March 3).

63.  She is still alive after 62 years, starting 63 today.  Story: My Mom has been sick as long as I can remember.  She should have died 28 years ago and if she had I would not be the woman I am today – because I would have lived 27 years without her.  I’m glad God has brought her this far, sustaining her, so I could have a mother this long into my life.  I can’t imagine living life without her.

Happy Birthday Mom – I love you.

I found an old hymn book this weekend while I was at home, and found this song.  I personally like the tune that the Sojourn guys have put to it much better than what is written.  And given my Granny’s passing this past week, this song has been very dear to me.

Enjoy.

Lyrics by Henry F. Lyte

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Here we go…

While most of you will be reading this, I’ll be at the funeral for my Granny.  It will be a good, family reunion time.  The gospel will be preached, thankfully.  Granny wouldn’t have wanted us to make a big deal about her – her life was never about her – always about her kids and grandkids. 

I did a tribute (see next post down) but here are some other thoughts.

Granny loved crossword puzzles and she was excellent at them.  I had sleepovers at her house.  Since her and Papa never slept in the same bed, I always got to sleep in the same queen size bed with my granny.  Those were special times for a little girl – sleeping away from home.  We always made popcorn strands to hang out their artificial Christmas tree every year.  She always had the big pear shaped bulbs on her tree.  I always gave her black licorice for Christmas – I knew she loved that.  I even gave her a bag of gourmet black licorice this past Christmas – and I don’t even know if she found time to eat it before having surgery last week. 

My Granny was always active, taking care of grandkids and great-grandkids, swimming with us many summers in the pool, she always wore a t-shirt, never a bathing suit.  She always had every meal on the table for my Papa.  3.  It may have just been rice and corned beef hash, but she always had it ready for him.  He didn’t have to wonder. 

In the last 8 years or so, she had become less active.  She was suffering with macular degeneration.  She was 98% blind the last time I saw her.  But, even though she couldn’t read my letters anymore, and she couldn’t do her crossword puzzles, and her chicken wasn’t quite done anymore when she cooked it, she can see past the shadows clearly now.  There is now no grayish-white film over her eyes.  So excited about new eyes for her. 

I’ve also learned we all grieve differently.  But for me, even though I have cried much this past week (2 funerals in one week, not fun), I know I grieve as one with hope.  That is my stability and my hope.

It was a little blessing for me to be in Florida.  I had just told my Mom that I was going to miss being down here for some strawberries.  Plant City is the strawberry capitol of the world.  So, now I have a flat of fresh picked strawberries to go back with me to NC.  Delicious.  I also have some Publix breakfast bread.  Its the little things in life.

This week I am heading to Gatlinburg on Thursday to speak at a women’s conference for a church from Chattanooga.  God will get glory…He will produce the words He wants me to speak.  I’m looking forward to proclaiming the Gospel to these ladies and myself.  And I get to spend time with two friends, Bekah and Tasya, and enjoy E TN, which I do love.

Here are some links:

1.  I look forward to reading this sermon by John Piper.

2.  I guest posted on a fashion blog.  Thank you for checking it out. 

3.  Love the preaching/writing of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones.  Catch this sketch here.

4.  For all you wives out there, check out this intimacy post on Passionate Homemaking.

Pictures: Lorraine is the name of my Granny.  This was a street near our houses – not named for her, but I remember as a little girl I thought it was.  And the gold trees in Lakeland are gorgeous this time of year.  I went over to Lake Hollingsworth to snap some photos.

This is probably going to be one of the “touchy-feely” hymns that I actually write about, but this song was sung yesterday at a funeral by my good friend Michelle, and her beauty and the words and my pastor’s wife’s talk on Monday night – all in all – this hymn needed to be shared today.

This picture is taken from my church’s hymnal from when I was growing up.  I have a copy of it that I took about 10 years ago when my church closed its doors.  I have many other old books from the church’s library, but I use this one most often.

Hymns of Grace is the title of this hymnbook – and this hymn talks about the grace that God provides to us by gracing us with His presence.  One of the young ladies I know asked me the other night “It is hard for me to have a relationship with someone who isn’t there, right beside me, how do I do that, how do you hear his voice.”  One of the ways I told her was through the Word.  That is why I love the Bible – it is the very words of God to me.

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Three thoughts:

1.  He tells me I am His own.  Paul knew this (Acts 27).  The Psalmists knew it.  Isaiah knew it.  I know it.  I struggle with it at times.  Faith is constantly built up in Him.  It is by grace that I am His.  I cherish it.  This is what has to sustain us in every hour of every day.  Life will not always be what we think it should be  –  but our anchor must be in the truth that our GOD – we are His.

2.  The joy we share as we tarry there.  Are your times with God joyful?  Are they even a reality?  We get so busy that we don’t even take time to be with the God who cherishes us. 

3.  Is so sweet, the birds hush their singing.  Creation does the will of its Maker.  How much more so me?  I need to not only believe on the Word of God – but also act in obedience to it.

You don’t have to go to a garden, but I pray that you would find time to spend in quiet with your Maker.

Well, keeping with tradition, we are at the beginning of another month – and this one will be exciting!

1.  Housesitting.  I love to housesit.  It is like a mini-vacation for me.  I love to have a place to myself, peace and quiet, good writing, thinking, vegging time.  I love to be a blessing to others.  I also love the place I’m housesitting: Durham.

2.  It is Spring (hopefully will stay that way), so you can expect more photogs – especially around different gardens, campuses, and water.

3.  Speaking at a women’s conference for this woman’s church.  We are having it in Gatlinburg.  I also get to see a great friend and her bfriend – which I’m very excited about.

5.  Hopefully launching a BIG project.

6.  Charlotte-bound.  Such a cool city.  Looking forward to conversation w a delightful friend, writing, photog, and food.

7.  Preparing for the Tarheel 10 miler.

8.  Pressing in to the Gospel – and loving the life He has afforded me!

Here we are – two months down in 2011.  This has been a fabulous month, a hard month, all in one.  I’m glad its over – I’m excited about the future.

1.  I need the Psalms.  Of course I need the rest of Scripture too, but the Psalms have been close to me this week.

2.  I get to housesit in Durham this week – very excited about spending consecutive days in Durham, in a quiet house with 2 kitties, and a huge kitchen – I feel like I must cook!

3.  Less than 3 months till Alaska – so excited.

4.  A friend passed away on Thursday.  Thankfully, it was quick – he didn’t suffer.  He taught me much about faithfulness, intercessory prayer, and submission to authority.

5.  Fave songs right now: Come Awak (Matt Maher), patiently awaiting Stuart Townend’s new CD, ZBB (need someone to come with me with W-S for a concert on April 6 – I’ve learned not to go to country concerts by myself), Who Are You When I’m Not Looking (Blake Shelton – who will also be in concert with Easton, any takers), Hello World (Lady A – saw this video over the wknd, good stuff), Little Miss (Sugarland), and Crazy Girl (Eli Young Band – though I like the song better than the video).

6.  So excited Colin Firth won Best Actor – he deserved it for his role in The King’s Speech – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!  Would so see it again!

Link Love

1.  I may put this on my kindle for the Alaska trip: and this too

2.  Love. Brian Regan.

3.  My friend and mentor Danny posted on our mutual friend’s passing.  Love Curtis’ legacy: 

4.  Can I eat a big bowl of these?  Need to pick up some fresh sugar snap peas!

5.  Rob Bell – this week – WOW.  Big news.  Wonder what all those people who love Nooma videos and Velvit Elvis think about him now.  Justin recvd many comments on this post…

6.  Maybe I’ll make these while in Durham – any Durham pancake lovers out there?

7.  Wish Victor Hugo knew Jesus – especially since Les Mis is such an incredible story of grace.

8.  This post made me laugh aloud.  I know people like this.  I don’t really want to be this person though.

9.  Love Andrew Peterson – this is a great song for parents. 

10.  Good thoughts on your attitude in conversations and life.