The Power of Prayer...

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." ~Matthew 7:7-8

I actually started typing this post on Saturday night. When I got to church on Sunday, that same Bible verse was part of the gospel reading. Our priest said his homily (sermon) all about prayer: it's many forms (spoken, silent, going to church, the act of helping others, etc.), and how it is essentially just time spent "hanging out with God" in one way or another. I am taking that as a sign that I am right on track...this is the post that I should be doing (focusing on the verbal aspect of prayer). So let me continue...

I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. I have seen it work wonders. And as the scripture says, I believe our prayers (whether big or small) will be answered in one way or another at some time or another. Now, sometimes our prayers may not be answered in the way we wanted them to be, but I have to trust in God's plan, because I have also seen how that plan (however different it may have been than mine) has worked wonders, too. There are things that we can't understand or explain...and there are things that are so unspeakably hard, that all we have left is prayer and faith in God. That being said, I've always figured that the more people you have praying for something, the better. So, I'd like to use this as kind of a prayer chain. If you have any specific prayer intentions you would like some help with (whether big or small), just add them as a comment, and we can all start praying.

As always, I'll get the ball rolling...

**A very dear friend of mine has a cousin whose son has been battling cancer for some time now. After getting to enjoy his Make a Wish trip together, the doctors told them that his cancer spread and is incurable. Please pray for this family during this unimaginable time.

**For all those who have gone before us: Francis Roth, Don and Irene Mason, Pam Huber, Bob and Beth Prickett, Jimmy Prickett, sweet Reagan, Teena Wood, Art Lantzy, and many others...

**

Fill Ins...

So, in honor of my fun new background, I wanted to have a fun new post. Now, I've seen some other blogs do "Friday Fill-Ins" posts before. But since it's not Friday, I won't use one of the "Friday Fill-Inn" pictures. And since I've never really found one that I wanted to take part in, I'll just kind of pick and choose some of my favorites and add some of my own. For those of you who don't know, all you do is copy the "fill-in" promts and post them in a comment using your answers to "fill in" the blanks.

Here we go:

1) _______ is/are the food that most reminds me of my spouse/significant other.

2) I've always wanted to ________.

3) I laugh every time I see ________.

4) When I think about my childhood, I often remember ________.

5) ________ was in my thoughts today.

6) My dad always said ________.

7) I could use a ________.

8) The smell of ________ makes me think of ________.

9) Friends don't let friends ________.

10) ________ never fails to make me smile.

So, here are mine...

1) Sandwiches are the food that most reminds me of my spouse. (Not only does he enjoy eating a good sandwich, but he is an awesome sandwich maker! He makes special sauces and just makes really unique and always delicious ones.)

2) I've always wanted to go on a cruise. (And I figure the best way to do it would be with a big group of families. You could have your own family time, group time, date time, whatever. One of these years, it'll happen...)

3) I laugh every time I see that Orbitz chewing gum commercial. (You know, the one where the 2 ladies are yelling at each other and calling each other names. And the one chick calls the other one a "lint licker". It's hillarious. If you don't believe me or don't know what I'm talking about, you can check out the link. You might not think it's funny, but it gets me every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjQZCq8CTvk&feature=related )
4) When I think about my childhood, I often remember playing outside. (During the summer, we would just play outside and stay there until it started getting dark. I don't ever remember being bothered by the heat. But these days kids (yes, my own as well) are just so sensitive to the heat.)

5) School was in my thoughts today. (As much as I don't want to think about it, and as much as I love spending every minute of every day with my own kids (did you sense the sarcasm?), school is getting closer and closer.)

6) My dad always said "When you're hot, you're hot...when you're not, you're not...and when you're snot, you're slippery." (OK, so maybe he didn't ALWAYS say it, but whenever he did, it always got a chuckle out of me. I know...it doesn't take much, does it?)

7) I could use a little bit of liposuction. (Nah, I'm just joking. But I have ordered an exercise DVD set, and will be starting it soon. I'm not telling you what it is, yet. But I'm hoping that just the very act of going from doing nothing to doing something will have a positive affect on all of my jiggles.)

8) The smell of chlorine makes me think of the time spent at the Fairway Oaks pool when I was too young to be self-conscious. (Ah, good times. Back when pools had actual deep ends and diving boards.)

9) Friends don't let friends have saggy boobs. (A good friend of mine had to have a bra intervention with another good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless)...her "girls" were much perkier after that.)

10) My kids never fail to make me smile. (Even though they sure know how to pull out all of the annoying stops, they are pretty sweet and funny...and generally good kids.)


Now, it's your turn. You don't have to elaborate like I did (I do tend to be a bit wordy), you can feel free to just simply fill in the blanks. By the way, what do you think of my new background? Is it "me"?

Baby Fever...

I'll start with a short little parody of Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher":

I've got it bad, got it bad, got it bad,
I got baby fever.
(guitar/drum break)
I've got it bad, SO bad,
I got baby fever!

So, there it is. I've had it for a while now (about a year), but it's been particularly strong in the last couple of months. I just can't get babies off of my mind. They seem to be everywhere I turn! Sometimes it will be cute babies at stores, church, or restaurants. Sometimes it will be pregnant women left and right (even friends and co-workers that I'm super excited for...and maybe a little bit jealous of). Now that both of my kids will be in school, I guess it's only natural. But still....as I said before, I've got it bad.

To make matters worse, the kids have a bit of baby fever, too. They've been playing with Hannah's dolls more frequently. Hannah keeps saying how she wishes she had a baby sister and Mason, of course, is wishing he had a baby brother. They've asked why I don't want more kids. I've tried to explain that I'd love to have another baby...that I always wanted to have more than 2 kids. But I just can't right now...that the medicine I have to take won't let me have another baby. You know how there memories are, though...they can't seem to remember, and they keep asking.

For those of you who don't already know, the medicine I'm taking is an oral chemotherapy drug. It is designed to target out any rapidly multiplying cells. This is great for destroying leukemia cells, but sadly, it would also have the same affect on a pregnancy. So, almost 4 years ago when I got diagnosed, Kevin and I accepted the fact that we would be a 2 child family for a while. (And we are SO incredibly blessed to have our 2 healthy kids.)

Anyhoo...the urge is there. As Yoda would say, "The force is strong with this one". Yes, there's always adoption. And I have always been very open to the idea of adoption. In fact, ever since seeing some 20/20 or 60 Minutes episode about Romanian orphanages where they were literally rolling in babies on bread trays...and babies that were old enough to sit up would just rock back and forth in their cribs, because they didn't have anyone to rock them, I've even half-joked about adopting a Romanian baby. Adoption, however, is expensive and not at all anything that we are in a position to do any time soon. Which brings us back to baby fever.

It's even playing a role in future career endeavors. I've been toying with the idea of going back to school and becoming a labor and delivery nurse. There's not really any other kind of nursing that I think I would like to do...maybe pediatric, but I still think labor and delivery would be my calling. But then I think, "Do I really want to be a nurse, or is it just that pesky baby fever talking"? I think it's too soon to tell.

But either way, I'm SO looking forward to working in the nursery at VBS in 2 weeks. That way, I can get my baby-fix. At least temporarily... :)

Childhood Toys...

So today, we went to see Toy Story 3. I loved the first 2, had heard nothing but great things about this one, and I was not disappointed. It had the same clever humor and sentimental sweetness the first 2 movies had and then some (yes, I cried...did you really need to ask?). But more importantly...it inspired my post today.

I know we all had favorite toys when we were kids, and I can't wait to hear about yours, but I'll get the sentimental ball rolling with some of mine.

Barbies
My favorite doll was a redhead from the Barbie and the Sensations set, but my favorite clothes (store-bought) were from the Barbie Jeans set...totally 80's chic! But I LOVED all of the homemade clothes that my mom and aunts made (being no stranger to sewing and sewing machines, I can't imagine how time consuming and intricate those little clothes must have been to make...but I really appreciated the variety and the amount of clothes it allowed me to have!) Does anyone remember the disappointment when you put the scissors down, let her hair out of the ponytail hold, and saw "the layers" that Barbie had? I just couldn't understand why it didn't work out to be the cute "bob" that I wanted it to be. I also remember that since we didn't have her Dream House, we had to take their heads off and make them stay seated in order to play with them in our doll houses. Sure, maybe it was a little morbid, but it worked for us!


She-Ra Dolls
Ah, She-Ra...the female counterpart to He-Man. I'm pretty sure I wasn't that into the cartoon or anything like that. I actually don't think that any of the dolls were mine, but Jaime (my sister) and I would use them in our doll houses. They were small enough that we didn't even have to take their heads off! We would be happily playing when all of a sudden, their would be an "earthquake" or a military invasion of GI Joes, courtesy of Brad and/or Josh (my brothers). Good times...

Pound Puppies
These were the cutest little puppies! We never had the big ones, but we had several of the little ones. They made great pets for the Cabbage Patch Kids. And even though the scale was way off, Barbie loved them, too. My favorite was the little dalmation-like one. "Dalmation-like", because it still had the same droopy face as all the others, but it was white with black spots. I think it was Jaime's, but it was still my fave.

Cabbage Patch Kids
Between my sister and me, I think we had 4 or 5 of these (including 2 preemies) I can't quite remember. I know we had a blond-haired one and one with brown hair...I could be making up memories of a red-headed one (my memory's not what it used to be). Though I loved the store-bought and home-made clothes, my favorites were our old baby clothes (some of which were home-made, too)! My very favorite was my Cabbage Patch Preemie. Her name is Stacy. Notice, I said "is". She is the one toy that I held onto and passed on to my kids. Periodically through High School and home visits during college, I would pull her out of the box she was stored in and make sure that she was still OK and give her a wardrobe change. She was one of the first dolls that Hannah had, and she is still taken good care of. I just couldn't let her go.


As I got older I started loving board games. At first it was games like: Life, Parcheesi (both of which I only really played at my BFF, Jenn's, house), and Girl Talk. But then it grew to games like Outburst, Scattergories, and Taboo (which are still some of my favorites). Well, I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. Now, it's your turn...what were some of your favorite childhood toys?

Spiritual Favorites...

This post was inspired by my high school youth director (shout-out to Cathy). She posted one of these verses (the first one I listed) on her facebook page today. I was first introduced to that scripture in the weekly Bible study that she would have, and it has been one of may favorites ever since. Anyway, I thought I would post some of my other favorite scriptures/songs today, so here we go:

Bible Verses/Passages

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 4:4-7

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. ~Philippians 4:13

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 1:3-6

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. ~Psalm 136:1

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 5:3-10

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ~Psalm 46:1

***As half of these are from Philippians, you may have guessed that it is my favorite book of the Bible. Even though Paul was in prison, he was just so thankful, joyous, and positive!


Songs
***Some of these are traditional hymns and some of these are the more modern "praise and worship" songs, but they are all worth a listen (or at least a Google for the lyrics).

: We Are Many Parts (goes with 1 Corinthians 12)
: On Eagle's Wings (goes with Isaiah 40:31)
: Lead Me Lord (goes with Matthew 5:1-12)
: As the Deer Pants for the Water (goes with Psalm 42:1)
: Your Love Endures: by Third Day
: Awesome God: by Michael W. Smith
: I Can Only Imagine: by Mercy Me
: Lord I Lift Your Name on High: by Sonicflood


I apologize to any of you who thought that this post was a little too "preachy"...that was not my intent. But for everyone else, I'd love it if you shared a few of your favorite verses/songs (or maybe even some thoughts about mine). I intentionally left off some from my lists (in what will probably prove to be a useless attempt at getting more comments), so please...share away!!

BTW...

Text speak is everywhere! It's gone beyond actual texting and has invaded facebook...and actual conversations. Does it make me old, that I just can't get on board with all of the text speak going on? Well, that's not completely true...there are a very select few that I will actually bring myself to use (and I will translate for anyone out there who does even less text speak than I do):
~BTW (by the way)
~OMG (oh my gosh)
~WTF (what the f***)...not anything I would ever actually say if it were unabbreviated, so I'm not sure why I'm OK with this...like it doesn't still mean the same thing, but whatever...
~IDK (I don't know)
~BFF (best friend forever)

One that I never use is LOL (laughing out loud). I don't know why I'm so against it. Maybe it's because its so overused, or maybe it's because it's misused, IDK. But rarely, will I actually laugh out loud at something I read. And I understand that it doesn't have to be used literally, but I still just can't bring my self to use it. Oh, well.

Here are some others that I know, but don't use (not for any particular reason...I just don't):
~ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing)
~LMAO (laughing my a** off)
~CUL8R (see you later)
~TTYL (talk to you later)
~ILY (I love you)
~2GTBT (too good to be true)
~B4 (before)

Kevin and I had a rather hilarious conversation with a couple of my cousins earlier this week at a family reunion about this very thing. We came up with a couple of new text phrases that we think might catch on.
~TAC (taking a crap)
~INS IJS (I'm not saying, I'm just saying)
~SOS (sh** out of service)

What do you think?! Feel free to start using these whenever you want...pretty soon the whole world will be TAC whether they're SOS or not. INS IJS. :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on texting. Are there any you use all the time, or any that you refuse to use? Any that you know about that I left off my very short list?

TTYL :)