Life Changes......part 1

I am getting married!!! Can you believe it?? I get to spend the rest of my life with this AMAZING, kind and selfless guy!!!

I will start at the beginning, we became facebook  friends last year on September 24,2011. He facebook friended me a long time ago, and I never accepted his friend request...... I thought he was married! One day I saw him at church by himself,hmmmmmm. I went home and added him to my friends on facebook. a couple of days later he posted he was in Kentucky, I inboxed him and asked him " What part of Kentucky, my mom lives there." We started emailing back and forth for the next 3 weeks, and we went on our first date on October 16th. When we became facebook friends I realized we have 52 friends in common. We have both lived in Lynchburg a very long time and had never met! God's timing is perfect! Soo we had our first date, we met at church and went to lunch with friends. During church, he was texting the entire time, I thought " wow, no thanks!"  I later found out, he was taking notes..... :) after church we went to lunch with some friends and I don't think Mike and I said more than  half a dozen words to each other, but I was not nervous or uncomfortable. Later that evening he texted me and spent about 3 hours texting back and forth. Our friendship had officially started!

It has been a long time.....

Ok... i forgot the password to my blog..... but i have it now. It has been almost a year since i last blogged! How can that be???

God is faithful... that has been what i have been thinking about lately. Faithful when i am not, faithful when i am in doubt, faithful when i am fearful, He is faithful!!!!

Jamie has a heart for missions especially India.... i am so excited for him as he is looking forward to, planning, researching and going to India... but to be honest.. i am a little scared, apprehensive, and excited all at the same time. When he was about 12 years old he made a statement i will never forget " maybe God can use me to work with kids who are going through a tough time" you see at the time he said that it was the summer his whole world was rocked upside down. I remember praying, "God, keep his heart tender...." Now, at 23 he is planning on going to India to work with orphans you can read more about it here http://www.jamiebragg.com/

How can i show others His faithfulness in my life?


live laffing........

Approaching the Finish Line of 2010

It is hard to believe we are at the end of 2010...... it has been a good year, full of change. i am so thankful for the year i have had. i passed a couple of math classes(miracle in itself)........ met some amazing friends,lost my dear granny, moved out of the house i raised my boys in, ran in several races, joined a group of amazing runners http://www.runnersinaction.com/. moved into a new work space http://www.phfs.org/. trained for 5 months and ran a half marathon at the OuterBanks, it was one of the best weekends of my life, some of the people that mean the most to me shared my moment , i couldn't have been happier or more proud to have them with me.

As i am crossing the finish line of 2010 and looking to the start line of 2011, i am reminded of the blessings and the gifts God has given me. i want to remember to run my race.

"i run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free" Ps.119:32

......"let us run the race with perserverance the race marked out for us...."Heb.12:1

your race might be... a slow jog, a waddle, a sprint or a crawl........ finish it laffing!

Gifts

Today when i was driving to see Clients, i was thinking about Christmas and the gifts i would be purchasing for my loved ones and then i started thinking about how every day people give me gifts. These are some of the gifts i receive, i might not get them ALL EVERYDAY but throughout the day i do receive some........

• Words of kindness


• a smile


• a hug


• encouragement


• a pat on the back


• consideration


• a wink


• a listening ear


• time


• gratitude

As i think about gift giving i am going to work on things that don't cost me anything first.....i might just need to be more in tune with those around me, looking for those who might need a free gift!

just remember ........ keep laughing!

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Top 22 for Jamie's 22nd

Birthday

1. 
   
   
   He is Loyal



2. 
   
   
   He loves God



3. 
   
   
   He is a HUGE fan of all Michigan sports



4. 
   
   
   He qoutes movie lines all the time



5. 
   
   
   He once sang a solo as "Melvin"



6. 
   
   
   He can be a tad "dingy" $72 profit



7. 
   
   
   He is a hard worker, yet hates manuel labor



8. 
   
   
   His friends call him mom or dad because he parents everyone



9. 
   
   
   He likes nice clothes and a little OCD about them



10. 
    
    
    He panics at the thought of being far from his phone..



11. 
    
    
    He doesn't like chocolate



12. 
    
    
    He took spanish 2 years in a row and failed both years



13. 
    
    
    He eats, talks and walks in his sleep



14. 
    
    
    His favorite book is, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller



15. 
    
    
    He worked at Putt-Putt for 5 years



16. 
    
    
    He once threw up at the doctors office because he had to get a shot..... He was a freshmen in college



17. 
    
    
    He is a natural salesman.. he was a Real Estate agent at age 18



18. 
    
    
    He would love to travel all over America in an RV with his brother (they have actually priced RV's)



19. 
    
    
    He once dressed as the Easter Bunny and waved at people on the side of the road.. it was a payed gig!



20. 
    
    
    His brother calls him "the mayor" because he knows everyone and has never met a stranger



21. 
    
    
    He calls his mom everyday... somedays more than once..



22. 
    
    
    He is one of the sweetest guys... and i am very proud of him!!!!love you Jamie!

Change

well, it has been awhile since my last post, i have had a good summer... can you believe a new school year is right around the corner?? CRAZY!!

This summer was busy, i made a couple of trips to Kentucky, a trip to Michigan (spent time with a friend from middle school, her husband and 2 boys in the northern michigan). My Grandma "Granny" passed away this summer, she was a funny, sweet, and caring lady! she celebrated her 90th birthday on June 10th and she passed away on June 27th.

Granny was someone that made me laugh, i have many memories of her, one of my favorites is when Granny, my mom and i took a road trip to michigan a couple of years ago.... she was game for anything she was funny and she didn't even know she was funny. i loved to ask her questions about her life growing up and how she met my grandpa . One thing i loved about my Granny was she had a deep faith, i know she prayed for me. She also, ironed EVERYTHING!!!! her sheets, her P.J's, her jeans everything... She will be missed!!

Change......for the past 5 years i have worked at The Family Alliance, i love my job it is rewarding and challenging. On July 1st our agency merged with another great agency in our community The Presbyterian Home and Family Services (http://www.phfs.org/) we are moving onto the campus of PHFS on Tuesday!! what a huge task, it is good,exciting and a bit nerve wracking!!The campus is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Change...... Jamie and Andrew moved into a house with a couple of their friends, it is a great move and i know they will have a lot of good memories. Andrew is working for a Steel company and he has been traveling, he is gone monday through thursday... he has been learning alot!! i am so thankful for who my boys have become, they are kind, compassionate, funny, hardworking, and loving!! they make me very proud.

Change..... i have been running a lot lately! last saturday my long run was 9 miles! yeah right!! no, really!! i have learned that like life, running takes alot of dedication, patience and persistence. i am training to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in november. i am soo excited about this, i can't wait..... that is a big change in my life. i have never wanted to run 13.1 miles... now that is what i have my sight set on!!!

Change is inevitable it is all around us, sometimes change is good, hard or sad. The one thing that will never is change is God's love for us.

livelaffing!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Kathryn is an amazing Woman, she is God loving, kind, thoughtful, encouraging,hard working, intelligent, beautiful, she puts others first and she is my mom. She has taught me so much in my 42 years of life, but one thing she didn't teach me was how to drive a stick shift and how to make jello, she doesn't do either one of those very well, have you ever met someone who could not make jello? well, let me introduce you to my mom!!

a few years ago(almost 10) i bought a book for her to write her story about herself with one stipulation, when she was done i got it back! well, she did it, and it is a book i treasure, it is my mom's life story.

as i read my mom's life story there was a reoccurring theme that i read over and over, and that was God is faithful, and that has been so evident in my mom's life. She is the most encouraging person i have ever known, her faith is HUGE!! if i need someone to pray for me, the first person i call is my mom, i know she prays for me and my boys everyday.

one of the things my mom wrote in the book was, " I would like to leave a legacy that people would remember that i had a strong faith and that i treated others well, and that i was an encouragement to others and lived a life that was pleasing to the Lord, that i lived what i believed and i wasn't hypocritical or judgemental toward others." She is definitely leaving that legacy!! i have often told people my mom is my biggest cheerleader, i am so thankful for her!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!