Meaningless Dreams

Do you ever have meaningless dreams.  Boy, I do.  Some crazy nonsensical mumbo jumbo.  Yea every now and again.

Sunday morning I woke up thinking about the dream I had just had.


Picture this.

A ballpark

Full of people and noise and hot dogs and nachos and bats and balls and bases.
"Batter up!!"
It was me.
I was the batter at the plate.
The bat in my hands held high above my shoulders.

The ball coming at me.

FAST

I wasnt ready.

What if I missed it?

What if I hit it, but it just hops right out there only to be snagged up, and Im thrown out.

"HOLD ON, WAIT"

No waiting.

The ball is screaming towards me.

I wasnt ready.

So I let the ball go by me.

There was only one problem.

Behind me ---

there were people.  Lots of people.  If I didnt hit the ball, then someone was going to be harmed by that ball that was speeding towards them.

I needed to hit it.

But I wasnt ready.

So I just tensed every ounce of me up.  I squeezed my eyes shut.  I tightened my grip on the bat.  I knew someone behind me was about to get hurt because I let the ball get by me.

I woke up then.

Thinking I hated dumb meaningless dreams.  About sports no less...

I got up, got ready for church, and went on with my morning.

Then right there in the middle of Praise Band practice, while I was stepping back for Calley to practice a song she was going to lead, God seemed to say,

"What about that dream?"
-Yea, I hate meaningless silly dreams-

"Meaningless?  Or No?"
-Well what then Lord?  What in the world would this mean?-

And He laid it all out, right there.

"Youre up to the plate. You are prepared.  Go on hit the ball.  Dont worry about where it will land.  I'll take care of that.  If you let the pitch go by---
Someone will be HURT.
Youre at bat.
Youre prepared.
Theres a crowd.
Youre in the game.
The pitch is coming.

Dont let it get by you.
Swing the bat."

Theres this thing God has for us to do.  He has prepared us for it.  He has placed us where we need to be.  Whatever it is, is right there coming toward us.
What are we going to do.
Just stand there?
Think of all the ways it could go wrong?

No, give it your best shot.

Let God take care of the results.

I love when dreams have meaning.

The Wedding

May 16, 2015

That was the day that my first born son was married to sweet Paige.

We are so happy that they are finally married.

It was a large wedding party.  They all looked so nice.

Avery was part of the wedding party.  

 Casey was a bridesmaid.

My own sweetheart performed the ceremony.

Here is a candid shot of me and my sweet three.  I was pinning boutonnieres. 

 It was a very nice ceremony.  Even though the dark clouds threatened us throughout the day, when it came time for the ceremony it was nice and clear.  We were all very thankful for that.

Mark and Paige had several things they added to their day that I thought were very sweet.

Like---

Sending each other gifts before the ceremony.  This is Paige reading a letter he wrote to her to go along with her gift.  It was so sweet to watch her read the letter.  (A little makeup touch up was required.)

This is her reaction to her Tiffany blue gift!

This is Mark reading the letter Paige wrote him to go along with the gift that was delivered to him.

At the reception they toasted each other with Sprite - Paiges favorite!

This is our nephew Grayson who has made a very good buddy in Josh.  (I have no idea how he got dirty, but it had rained a lot earlier in the day, so there you go.)

Another thing about Grayson--- He is a dancing machine!  Seriously!

Avery was giving him a good run for his money however.  There was lots of dancing going on.

And - yea, I have no idea!  But I think its pretty funny.

THAT LITTLE BOY

A few weeks ago we did another Neighborhood Outreach Ministry.  It was a beautiful day.

That was WONDERFUL, as the last three times we have been out there it has been cold and wet.  This was a beautiful sunny day, even though the forecast had said for a solid week before that it would most definitely, without a doubt be raining that day.  WRONG.

So there we were.

We brought soccer things, nail polish,

Games,

Activity supplies

And of course drinks, snacks, and treat bags.


We had a fantastic time.

It was great seeing some of our church there loving on them.

It's so neat building relationships with these guys.

There is this one little guy who is a bit smitten with me.

When Todd had gone out to visit before, he asked Todd if I would be there this next time.  He didn't know my name yet.  (I think he does now) but he described me as "That lady who let him knock down all those cans" Like these...

Todd told him yes I would be there.  And yes I was.  He was too, and he found me as soon as he got there. He wanted me with him where ever he went.  (Which was somewhat difficult)

He likes it when I tell him what a good job he does.  "Great shot"  "Good throw"  You can see it all in his face.  He really enjoyed when I let him take a few pictures with my camera...  Yep, he took this one of me.  Who knows maybe one day he will be a professional photographer from this beginning...

When we had our bible lesson, he wanted to sit in my lap.  I let him.

He is precious.

He always asks me when we are coming back.  As in how many days...   This time he asked me, "How come you cant come every day?"

I cant wait to see that little boy again.

Wont be long now.  Not sure how many days though.

Quick Trip Down Memory Lane

Just remembering the time when my daughter loved the "Funny Face" Pancakes at IHOP.

She always ordered them there on vacations and such.

Until the one day, when she did order them, but they told her she was too old.

When she protested, they assured her that she had to be under 12 (or something like that) to order the Happy Face Pancakes.  She tried her best but when she understood that they would not take that order from her, she promptly said "Okay then, I will have a regular stack of pancakes.  Add a whipped cream smiley face with chocolate chips please."

Oh that girl...

MAKE IT COUNT

I am about to turn 50 years old in a few weeks.  (Feb.5)  I don't really know how I feel about that.  In one sense it doesn't bother me at all.  In just the same way as turning 30 or 40 did not bother me.  But in some ways I have a new realization that I am half a century old.  I have definitely lived over half my life.  Also the aches and pains and differences I see in the mirror are speaking more loudly than they did at 30 or 40.

50 years

50 years of what...

That is one thing that is screaming at me.  That's for sure.

I keep thinking about the next phase of my life.

What's left?  Whatever it is, I want it to count for something.

I want to make every day count.


The first 10 years of my life I rode on my first airplane, made friends, experienced an earthquake, and was a crossing guard.

In my teens, I got braces, moved from Georgia to Louisiana, played a little softball, joined a youth group, developed a relationship with Christ, and fell in love.

In my twenties I married that love (well okay I was 19 but I soon was 20), we joined a church we loved (love), bought a home, had 3 babies, and ran a day care.

In my thirties I tried to be the best mom I could be, raised teenagers, started working in the School system to bring needed income to our household and lost my dad.

I think this is the last hug we ever got.

In my forties I saw my children graduate from high school and college, watched my daughter get married in the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended, learned to play the guitar,  saw such pain and heartache at the loss of our grandson Carson, experienced the largest life roller coaster at Avery's 2 lb. 2 oz. early birth, received the huge blessing of becoming a Nonna, went on a mission trip to Peru, and was excited to witness the proposal of my handsome son Mark to his beautiful fiance Paige.

WOW

That's a lot!

It makes me think -  What in the world could my fifties hold?

More weddings, more grandbabies?...

Maybe, but what else?

Whatever it is, Lord, let me make every day count.