Sunday

Out of Commission

FROM BOB - Miranda and I will be out of commission on our blogs all week. I'll be unhooking the computer in about 5 minutes due to some home improvements we have going on. We're needing to clear out the rooms to make way for new carpet, paint, etc. We'll put pics up and new blogs once we're back "online". Thanks!

Monday

A Saturday of Awesomeness!

We had a fantastic weekend! A weekend to get away on our "vacation" for the year...to forget about the house, or work, or anything else going on and just relax, enjoying our weekend together.

We went down to Cincinnati on Saturday to the Zoo, then booked a hotel to stay all night because Time Warner (the totally awesome company that it is!) sponsored for it's employees a day at Kings Island on Sunday.

We left early Saturday morning, around 8:15 and had a safe trip to the zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo is by far the most awesome place! It was hot, but it was fun! I think our favorites were the polar bears and the jungle area (which was made to look more like a jungle than a zoo). There were mist machines, which helped keep us cool (aside from Maleah wigging out around one of them). We really just had a great time. When we left there, we went to the hotel.

The Hotel...Maleah is definately a Speakman. Bob has always loved hotels, so much so that he wanted to work in one when he was younger (hehe). Maleah was having a blast running from one end of the room to the other, kissing the baby in the mirror, and trying her hardest to hurt herself by running off the end of the bed (that was exhausting). :) She got a bath and then it was off to dinner...

Ahhh....Cracker Barrel (and cheaper than food at the zoo!). You get hefty portions of delicious food with excellent service. Serve that up with a good baby and a fantastic thunderstorm to watch from the giant window and it's all the fixings for a perfect dinner! The gift shop presented us with Maleah falling in love with a Ty Diego doll (miniature), so of course we HAD to get it for her! It WAS a vacation, after all! From there we were going to go to Target...but Barnes & Noble got in the way!

The beauty of Barnes & Noble. We'd never been to one before...but the children's area was enough to make us want to go back. We saw book upon book that we wanted to buy for Maleah...but she only walked away with 3. Can't call it spoiled when it encourages reading! She had a blast in there too! From there we decided to go back to the hotel, where Maleah was in bed by 9 and slept until 7. I cannot express how proud we were of her. We kept the routine that we have at home (and she's ALWAYS been excellent about going right to bed). So when it was time, she knew it and she gave in.

Sunday to come...

Thursday

Today

Today I got to have lunch with a fantastic friend. I never take a lunch...and it was nice to take the time to spend just me and her.

I hope to do it again soon :)

Wednesday

A Proud Member of the BHCC

For those of you wondering what in the world the BHCC is...

It's the Big Honkin' Chickens Club, of which I am a proud member. :) Since I scare easily, but still continue to press on with my novel, Eyes of Elisha, I truly am a BHCC member :). Everyone needs to check out this book. I am halfway through and it has made it so difficult to put down at the end of the night! I'm now going to be getting every one of Brandilyn Collins novels...though I hate being scared, I LOVE scary books! :)

Check out her site:
http://brandilyncollins.com/bhcc.html

Note the awesome graphic to the right....It makes me smile!

Tuesday

Confession #78

I am a big chicken. An even bigger chicken than I realized!

I was sitting on the couch Saturday night, Bob wasn't home yet, it was after 9:00, and I was reading a book I got from Praises...a Christian fiction...suspense about a murder. And I am enthralled with this book. It got really detailed, and I felt like I was there with the woman who was frantically trying to run away...Suddenly I became very very aware of the fact that it's now dark outside and the curtains are open and the windows are open and I'm alone. I couldn't even look at the windows! I tried calling Bob on his cell 5 times and he wouldn't answer! I was getting more and more creeped out. I couldn't even get off the couch because I felt like any movement would draw something my way....Then the phone rang...As soon as it rang, I picked it up, assuming it was Bob. Nope. It was Brad from church. I felt so dumb! I took comfort of the fact I was on the phone with SOMEONE and hurried up and got off the couch and went into the dining room, where I could see anyone coming from outside, yet was still fairly well hidden. Thankfully, not long after the phone rang, Bob pulled up. He wasn't allowed to leave my side for a good 15 minutes...and now I am only allowed to read the book when he's home. It's a really GOOD book though. Eyes of Elisha by Brandilyn Collins. GOOD GOOD book!

What can I say? I've always been a little over-dramatic!

2008 Blog Results....

This made me giggle. This is the keyword search for my blog for 2008 so far. These are the things people search for....the peeing blog still cracks me up! What in the WORLD are people looking for with that??? :)

Keyword Visits Percent
peeing blog 99 15.07%
matt and chelsea 54 8.22%
worship verse 46 7.00%
made to worship 29 4.41%
pee worship 25 3.81%
matt chelsea 18 2.74%
worship verses 13 1.98%
made to worship verse 9 1.37%
keep your eyes on Jesus lyrics 8 1.22%
dippin strips 8 1.22%
Total 657 100.00%

Thursday

More Maleah Pics :)

Pouting because we told her "NO" to touching the AEP meter...


Just haning out...


Ready for a swim! :)

Be Still...

Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

"Be still, and know that I am God..."

Some of the most powerful words I have ever heard. All worries can wash away because He IS God.

Please sit back, and allow these words to penetrate your heart with all their meaning.

Nothing is sweeter than when the Lord speaks to your heart...

Tuesday

While We Were Still Sinners

I was reading a verse the other night that caught my attention in a way that it hadn't before. Maybe it's silly of me...because it's been there the whole time...but sometimes you read something, or hear it, so many times that you don't even realize what it means anymore....

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
-Romans 5:8 (NIV)

"While we were still sinners..."

How many people do we talk to about coming to church that say something such as "Yes, I really should start going again...", "If I get (insert bad habit, etc. here) taken care of, I'll start going to church again..." and on and on and on. Too many people in our world today think they need to be pefect walking through those church doors. I have to wonder why. Have we, as Christians, made them feel so unwelcome that they feel so judged walking into the church? If so, then we need to re-evaluate ourselves. We most certainly are not perfect. Not even a little bit. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. He doesn't expect us to be clean. He just expects us to come to Him. HE will make us perfect. HE will make us clean. We just have to trust Him...and believe...

Maleah

It's been awhile since I posted pics of Maleah...She's more beautiful than ever before...with TONS of personality! Here she is:





Monday

Me Thinking Aloud...in Writing...

I have decided I want to do everything I can to supress my negativity. I was a much happier person when I didn't see all the bad in the world around me. There's alot of bad. ALOT. Bob and I were talking the other day about how I was happier when I worked as a secretary because I was constantly dealing with clients, so I couldn't dwell in my bad mood because I had to put a smile on for them, and then by the end of the day I was actually in a good mood. I need to get back to that. I sit in my office and don't see many people, so it's easy to get lost in the quiet and think about things I don't want to think about. I've decided that I will not focus on the negative...that I will be positive...and in turn I SHOULD get back to being that positive person again.

My point in telling you this? Accountability. We all need it. You can be mine. Don't let me dwell on the negative either. Life's too short...and believe it or not...there are good things going on as well as the bad... :)

Our youth group is doing this study on Experiencing God....I missed the last week of it because Maleah was sick...but the study was on this same sort of topic. Too many times something bad happens to us...or something we don't expect...and we let it take over us, instead of seeing what God will bring out of it. The example used was the writer found out his daughter had cancer. They had everyone praying for her, and when they went back for additional testing it was gone. They could have asked "Why? Why God did you allow this to happen?" But they didn't. They had people pray and what happened as a result? The people they spoke with to pray talked about how they had a dry prayer life, and their praying for her revived something in their relationship with the Lord. So as a result of the early testing, many people's relationships were renewed.

I don't tell it so well, but it was an amazing story. It shows us that if we step back, follow God and allow Him to take control....good things will come out of bad situations.

Amen to that.