The Crud!

Well, I've been fighting "the crud" for 4 days now and I am exhausted. I'm glad the worst of it was over the weekend with Mark and Jessica here but today has been rough. Kirsten has it now and has been running a fever of 102 all day. I am on day 3 of a Z pack and still not feeling better. It doesn't help that all the cough suppressant/expectorant meds make me feel sea sick so I can't take them. The house is disgustingly messy and I'm behind on some design work for a client.

How's that for a good whine!

I'll post again when we all feel better!

Burdett's Tea Shop

Tracie discovered this fabulous place. We went there yesterday for my birthday. It was delightful! Thank you so much Tracie for this special treat. We had the Tea for Two which was just right! Everything tasted heavenly. I am really craving one of those raisen scones this morning! I can't wait to go again and I encourage you all to make the drive to try it!

A Woman's Heart - session 1

We had our second Bible study meeting last night. It was technically session 1 as last week was the introduction.

The video segment was centered on the word "covenant" and what that means to us and why God made covenants with man. Two of the first covenants God made with man were with Adam and with Abram. The covenant with Adam occured when He created Eve and instituted the covenant of marriage. The covenant with Abram occured when He promised Abram that his decendants would be more numerous than the stars.

Beth sites three major purposes of the first covenant:

1. The ultimate purpose: to reveal Christ and His Bride
2. The corporate purpose: to produce godly offspring
3. The intimate purpose: to no longer be alone

"God will confront us with our need to show us He is the only answer to that need."

Characteristics of the enemy of every Godly covenant:

1. His chief goal is to make us doubt God's word.
2. He is a liar.
3. He often appeals to man through the beautiful and inviting.
4. His certain end is destruction.

What can we learn about our relationship with God from Genesis 3?

1. Women were created with a unique power of influence.
2. Believers must learn to apply Matthew 10:16 ("I am sending you out like sheep amoung wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." In other words, having wisdom of the enemy and his ways but remaining Christ like.)
3. Shame is satan's stamp of approval. (If you are ashamed of something you have done, said or thought, that is a sure sign that it is sin)
4. God created man to walk with Him, not hide from Him.
5. God's provision always matches our need.

This was all pretty deep and I am still absorbing some of this information. Mostly, this gave me hope to know that God is there, His promises are real. And because of who He is, He cannot break His promises. His purpose for creating man is the same today as it was when Adam took his first breath. We are given this life to choose between God and ourselves. He wants our love and worship to be honest and pure. Of course He could have created us to be born loving Him but it means more to Him for us to choose to love Him.

I am anxious to see what this week's homework will reveal!

I'm It!

I've been tagged by Tracie. So, here goes!

4 jobs that I have had:
1. Golden Corral (I think everyone should work in the food industry at some point, so they know how to treat people in the food industry!)
2. One Price Clothing (retail also, for the same reason!)
3. Hermitage Kitchen and Bath (assistant kitchen designer)
4. Currently SAHM and freelance designer

4 movies I love:
1. The Sound of Music
2. My Fair Lady
3. O'Brother Where Art Thou
4. The Fisher King

4 places I have lived:
1. Lebanon, TN
2. Dugway, Utah
3. Madison, TN
4. currently and most of my life, Gallatin, Tn

4 TV shows:
I really have stopped watching TV but I do like the following:
1. CSI
2. Without a Trace
3. Numbers
4. Alias (but I'm behind a season)

4 Places I've been on Vacation:
1. Virginia - Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg
2. Did a school tour of NYC and DC
3. Gulf Shores, AL
4. Going to Disney in March!

4 Websites I visit daily:
1. Two Peas
2. Various blogs (I check about 10 daily)
3. The local news site
4. Then I just surf if I have the time

4 favorite foods:
1. Anything Italian
2. Chocolate
3. Bread
(I think I see the reason the area between my waist and knees is not very attractive!)
4. Drink of choice: Dr. Pepper

4 Places I'd rather be:
1. I really am happy and blessed to be home with my kids
2. But I would love to be on a nice, warm, white beach somewhere with a good book

4 Bloggers I'm tagging:
Well, this is pitiful but I don't know any other bloggers who haven't been tagged. So, if you read this and haven't been tagged, then You're it!

Bible study homework

I had a wonderful conversation with my friend Tracie today about our struggles as Christians and our relationship with the rest of the world. So as I sat down to do my "A Woman's Heart" homework, there were scriptures to support our conversation. These kinds of "coincidences" happen all the time if we keep ourselves open to them.

First of all, the key verse for the day:
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

This was just want I needed to hear after considering the daily onslaught of sinful thoughts, images, etc. we receive every day.

Beth goes on to talk about how our hearts are deceitful and the only guard we have is to give our hearts fully to God. She then leads into a study of Noah. She compared how Adam and Eve were in the midst of perfection (all the right circumstances) but made the wrong choice. Then there was Noah.
"He lived in a society where wickedness was rampant. Sin ruled. Perversion prevailed. Righteousness was as rare as a perfect gem. People followed every inclination of their evil hearts without restraint. The only absolute was absolute depravity. In the midst of all the wrong circumstances, Noah made right choices. How? Noah walked with God. Surrounded by a perverse generation, Noah knew that righteousness could not be attained and could not persist on the basis of a one-time commitment. Scripture does not even say that Noah religiously renewed his commitment every Sunday. He walked with God. He was in a constant state of habitual fellowship - day by day, hour by hour."

Then she concludes by saying:
" We are surrounded by every conceivable practice of sin and the continual mockery of God. We can be victorious but only if we walk with God. As we have seen, God was faithful to Noah, and the One who never changes will be faithful to us."

This is the answer to the questions Tracie and I were pondering. A relationship with God will protect us and strengthen us and give us what we need, when we need it.

A Woman's Heart - Intro

The women at my church started a new Bible study last night. We will be meeting every Tuesday night and I will, hopefully, give a recap here on Wednesdays.

Last night was the introduction to the Bible study, "A Woman's Heart - God's Dwelling Place." This is a Bible study by Beth Moore. We have done two other studies by her and have attended 3 of her conferences. I have to tell you, she is awsome! God has annointed her with a love and understanding of His Word that is hard to discribe! If you ever have the opportunity to hear her speak or participate in one of her Bible studies, then run, don't walk!

"A Woman's Heart" is a perfect example. We are going to be studying the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and how it's significance is relevant to us today. The first time I heard Beth speak, her message was based on Old Testament scripture and I was amazed at how she opened my eyes to the relevance to my life. It was on the journey of the Isrealites out of Egypt, through the wilderness and finally to the Promised Land. She compared this to the different seasons of our lives and our relationship with God. It was amazing! I can't wait to see how this one comes together.

At each Tuesday night meeting we watch a video of a message from Beth and then we have 5 days of homework in a workbook to complete on our own. As I mentioned, last night was the introduction. She gave us 10 goals that we want to strive for during this Bible study. They are:

1. To encounter God's perfection against the backdrop of our poverty. (meaning we are poor in spirit and the realization that we cannot save ourselves. She also said this should be an ongoing reflection of what we would be like without Jesus)
2. To arrive ultimately at the same destination (the Holy of Holies), even if we have traveled at different paces. (she made the point that each of us will work at a different pace, will crasp the information in different ways, etc. but our final destination will be the Holy of Holies or the ultimate place of intimacy with God)
3. To encounter and acknowledge the reliability of God's Word. (She said, "A lack of faith does not affect God's fact. But His fact deeply affects our faith." I have not been able to get this out of my head. It is so profound!)
4. To develope further an honest relationship with God.
5. To gaze at the details of the tabernacle and discover Christ. (I can't wait to see how this come together)
6. To develop a fresh appreciation for what it means to be called by name.
7. To substantially increase our knowledge of scripture through the great Teacher.
8. To develope a deeper relationship with God as Father.
9. To have our focus changed from ourselves to our Savior.
10. To become living proof that Jesus lives.

I am so excited about this Bible study! The other two I have done have been equally exciting but I have to admit that I did not committ to them totally. I am going to really be serious about this one. I don't know if each entry on Wednesdays will be this long, or if you want it to be! Please tell me if this is too much info or if you would like to see more. Thanks for reading!

Is it Spring?

It is the first of January and it is almost 70 degrees outside. I have been putting away the Christmas decorations, organizing and cleaning for the past two days. I thought to myself, "Is this spring cleaning?" I guess it is more fitting that this is the start of a new year and I am trying to get my act together. I wasn't ready to put away the Christmas stuff but now that I have, it feels good to have it put away. I've sort of reorganized my scrap area. Now I just have to actually do something! I have a pile of photos I need to organize first and 15 rolls of film to get developed! Another reason to go digital but buying a new camera and printer is not in the budget for right now. I probably won't get any scrappin' done until next week when Courtney goes back to school. She is so ready! I've actually enjoyed not having to get up and out the door early in the morning!
Before you think I'm on top of things here cleaning and stuff. I do have some motivation. Mark's family is coming over Friday night for his birthday so I have to clean for that. Mark made the comment once that he didn't mind people coming over because that got me to clean and declutter the house! I will say that I do feel better when the house is clean and everything is in it's place! In case you were wondering, I didn't get that house elf for Christmas so I'm having to do all this work myself!

A lazy week

Well, Christmas is over along with all of it's busyness. We had a great one and I'm hoping you did too. But now I need some motivation! We have done absolutely nothing this week. I've done some laundry and managed to keep the house from looking like a total disaster. Mark, Kirsten and Courtney all have some kind of cold. So I'm sitting here wondering what I should be doing! I could scrap but I'm still deciding how I'm going to proceed after reading "The Big Picture". I do have some ideas for mini albums but not ready to work on them. I could organize my scrap stuff, maybe! I could start putting the Christmas stuff away but I'm not ready to do that. I've filled in all the birthdays on the new calendar. I need to make some lists of things coming up in January but not feeling that either! Oh well, I guess I'll just be lazy!

Christmas Art

Tracie and Caroline came over the other day so that we could have a little Christmas celebration. Courtney and Caroline made these cute ornaments (with some glue gun help). They exchanged gifts and played together. I love that they love each other and love playing together. We really need to make the effort to get together more often. I also enjoyed talking with Tracie. That is another reason we need to get together more!

I just got home from my final shopping. I hope! I had to go to Wal-Mart and that was a zoo! I am going to try and get my shopping done before this point next year. I did real good getting prepared and getting in the Christmas spirit this year. But for some reason the whole gift buying thing was harder this year. Well, I have to get wrapping! Have a wonderful Christmas!

I've decide what I want for Christmas

I have figured out that a clean kitchen makes me happy. But it is impossibe to keep it that way! So I have decided that I need a house elf. If you aren't familiar with Harry Potter then this means nothing to you. House elfs are the creatures that do all the cleaning, cooking, laundry and general housekeeping for the wizard world. They are also at the total beck and call of their owners. All I want it for is to keep the kitchen clean. Some cooking may also be required but mainly its job will be keeping the kitchen clean. I guess they are cute in a weird way. This one is called Dobby. So if you know of any unemployed house elfs, let me know!

Roller Skates

This is a spin off of Tracie's blog, hope that's okay! She and Caroline went roller skating the other day. Her post sent me down memory lane! I loved to roller skate from the age of 8-9 until about 13 -14. Before the skates I rode my bike everywhere but I enjoyed the skates more. I saved up my money and bought my own pair of sneaker skates, very similiar to the picture here. Mine were all blue and I did have baby blue pom-poms (with bells) for a while. (Unbelivably I don't think I have a picture of them or me in them! What was my mother thinking?) They didn't hold up very well, if I remember correctly. I remember how my feet would tingle after skating on a rough surface like the sidewalk or road. The best surface I found is a tennis court. It feels like you are skating on velvet but it does slow down the speed some. We had a skating rink here and I would spend Sunday afternoons there with my friends. I went on Friday night once and it was scary! This being a small town (it was even smaller back then) the skating rink was about the only place to hang out. The rough crowd didn't show up on Sunday afternoons! So there I was! I never got enough. I never learned anything daring or spectacular. I loved the little cross over move you had to make to go around curves and I was thrilled when I learned to skate backwards. Thanks for the trip Tracie! And for reminding me that I need to share this with the two youngest. Jessica had skates when she was younger (I have pictures!) But didn't seem to embrace it like I did.
And in my opinion, ice skating is not quite the same! The last time I tried that I hurt for days from muscles I didn't even know I had! But roller skates rock!

My Favorite Christmas Decoration

This Navitity is my favorite Christmas decoration for many reasons. One it symbolizes the reason for the season and stands as a beautiful reminder of the joy and promise of this season. It is also a reminder to me of Christmas as a child. My mother has a navitity just like this only a bigger scale that she made when I was around 12, I think. She also made a minature set for my grandmother. This set she made for us the year Mark and I got married. It is a simple ceramic style with a mother of pearl finish. She poured the molds, sanded and initialed each piece and painted them. I always set it out on a bed of angel hair which is spun glass. I really need some more but I don't think they make it anymore. If I only put out one decoration at Christmas it would be this Nativity.

Tis the season!

For the past few years the holidays have stressed me out! I think one reason for that is because I waited until the last minute to do anything! This year I decided to get my act together! As of today, December 2 my decorations are up, my Christmas cards are addressed and signed and the Santa order for the girls has been placed. I hope to make a major dent in the rest of my shopping list this weekend. We had the decorations up this weekend actually. I feel like we have tons of time to actually enjoy the holiday! I hope to actually have time for some family time activities this year like making cookies. Here's wishing all a very Merry Christmas!

18 years!

I cannot believe my baby Jessica is eighteen! I don't even like saying it! Someone came up to me at church and said "How does it feel to be the parent of an adult?" I was so shocked I couldn't say anything! I will say that being legal to vote or drop out of school does not make you an adult!

How did she celebrate? (that seems to be the big question for some reason!) Well, she and her boyfriend went out to eat (Macaronni Grill) and to a movie (Harry Potter). We had a nice quiet celebration here at home with the family. Next weekend she'll be doing something with her friends. We're still working out the details on that one. She received mostly money as gifts. I had the goal of giving her a birthday scrapbook which I actually accomplished! It is a 12 x 12 album with all her birthdays from 1 - 16. I didn't have the "perfect" paper for #17 so that one will get done soon. She seemed to appreciate it. Mark and I each wrote her a letter which I put in a pocket in the back.

I still can't believe we have reached this point in her life. I guess it's time to "bust the bubble" she likes to say I keep her in! I have to admit I'm having a hard time with that one! Does this get easier with each child? Somehow I don't think so!

Sometimes you get lucky!

Well, I'm not doing so well on the photo a day thing. I know this little exercise was supposed to open my eyes to the details that need to be recorded but I guess I'm going to have to try again next month!

I did get these shots last week before it got cold and the storms blew all the leaves away. These were taken at my aunt's house and the girls had fun playing in the leaves. This was the first time for both of them! I don't know if Courtney would have jumped in the leaves before now if given the opportunity. As far as Kirsten is concerned, if Courtney can do it then she is going to try it!

I took these with my SLR in full auto mode. It was about 3:30 - 4:00 pm.

What is wrong with this picture?

Other than the fact that it is a weird angle and it's a photo of feet! LOL! It is the fact that it is November 9th and I am wearing capri pants and sandles! It was 78 degrees at 8:00 this morning! I am not complaining, this is my kind of weather. Mid 70's, no humidity, slight breeze. Absolutely perfect! I have had the windows up for 3 -4 days no. But it looks like today is the last day of this perfection for a while. Rain is coming and that usually means a cold front this time of year, so temps will drop. Oh well, hopefully I can enjoy this day to the fullest!

This is obscene!

As you can see Halloween was successful for the Webb girls! You can't really get a great idea about how much candy Courtney and Kirsten got but let me tell you it is unreal! The chocolate pile alone will fll a Wal-Mart sack to the top! There is 131 pieces of chocolate! That would take us a month to eat if each of us ate one piece a day! From the chocolate, clockwise, you have the misc. pile, which is cookies, cracker, etc. Then you have the sucker pile and then the fruity pile (Skittles, Sweet Tarts, etc.). What am I going to do with all this candy? It might still taste good by January but I don't even know where I'm going to put it. There must be an organization for children who don't get to go Trick or Treating that I can send this to. I guess Mark will be taking a pile to work. This is just crazy! But at least the chocolate pile is the biggest. I usually eat more than my share anyway but I don't think that is going to make much of a difference here.

I am going to try and take a picture a day for November and December (thanks Tracie for the inspiration!) and I think this is the one for November 1st. "The Day After" or something to that affect.

The day before

This photo was taken on Sunday, the day before Halloween. We have started a tradition of getting together with Mark's family the weekend before Halloween. It helps us avoid the craziness of trying to visit everyone on Halloween and it gives my nephew a chance to trick or treat with his cousins. (He's the invisible boy in the photo, BTW!) Actually I took this with my digital after we had taken a bunch with my SLR and he had had enough! I'll post a photo with him in it when I get my film developed.

Why I love blogs

Well, I was going to talk about our crazy weather (80 one day, 50 the next) but Tracie beat me to it! It is interesting how the weather effects our moods and production level. I haven't accomplished much today. Just some errands. I had to take Kirsten to the doctor, she has a touch of bronchitis. She doesn't act sick, just has a bad cough. So on to another random thought.

I spend way too much time reading various peoples blogs. And I will admit that I am a lurker most of the time (this applies to message boards also). So I asked myself,"Why are you sitting here wasting perfectly good time reading this?" Mark would say, "Because you're nosey!" That might be partly true but I think it is because it is a great way to get to know people. People who I would never meet face to face. People who live on the other side of the country but who have similiar experiences. Even the people I do know personally, a blog seems to give you a whole new view into their life and personality. I am a fairly introverted type of person and would never be able to ask the questions it would take to get some of the information shared on these blogs. I myself seem more at ease expressing my thoughts here rather than when I'm actually talking to someone. Some probably think blogs are keeping us from forming personal relationships but I think the opposite is true. I visit about 11 blogs regularly and I would feel comfortable talking to any of these women in person. If they read my blog, we could probably start a conversation like we were old friends.

I experience all ranges of emotions as I read these sometimes daily accounts. It's almost like a good novel, except about real people. A Veggie Tales quote popped into my head as I was thinking about this. Larry the cucumber says to Bob the tomato, "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob!" when asked his opinion about a show. Sometimes it's a little unnerving to see intimate glimpses of peoples lives but I think that adds to the specialness of this blog world. Thanks everyone for sharing your lives!

It's a good thing!

I have been taking my film to Target to be processed and have been very happy with the results. I always get 4 x 6 doubles with matte finish. After going to Gentry Farm last week, I took my film to Target and decided to order the photo cd along with my prints. This added about $3.00 but I thought I would see if it was worth it. I have to say it bridges the gap between film and digital. I put in the disk and it loaded the Kodak EasyShare software. Already I can see how much better this software is compared to what I have with my so called digital camera. I'm really excited to have this option. Maybe now it won't seem so difficult to order some enlargements. (I know it's not that difficult, I'm just lazy! LOL!) My next mission is to talk Mark into a good printer.

So this picture is from our day at Gentry Farm and was taken by my good friend Tracie. I will burn you copies of the other pics, Tracie! I didn't really get any awesome shots but it was a fun trip.