Beauty from Ashes

Hey Y'all,

Here are a few pictures from last Thursday night. My baby girl is now a cantaloupe! I had Blake and Erica over for dinner Thursday night to celebrate our new little princess to be. My sweet parents came over and so did my niece Brittany. My girls and Brittany are more like sisters than cousins. They grew up together and played together every single day of their lives. I love her like one of very own.


The Sweet Parents of Princess Cantaloupe!




Erica and Brittany smiling away!!!




My first Princess!


I am so grateful and so overjoyed this week. God has brought true beauty from ashes into my life and He just keeps on transforming things. During quiet times I am alone and slipping into thoughts that could be so damaging and despairing I have felt Him whisper good things over me. Scripture comes to my mind that just bathes this wounded soul over and over. I asked God to please help me to keep my mind on the things of Him all the time. Even in my sleep. I wake up often and to my surprise (oh my unbelief!!!) many times I am hearing a praise song going in my head. God is just so Good. I have had no bad dreams or any real public breakdowns. I am not a fan of those. I know, I know.... . pride. I am working on it. I have had such wonderful friends and tremendous prayer support. Just when I am starting to lose it. A card will come in the mail. A sweet email will pop up. Or the phone will ring. El-Roi is watching. He is the God who sees. I pray He is turning your ashes into beauty too.

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

Announcing..........

Our Little Princess is on her way! I better get busy!!!

Bless Y'all,
Cindy

Breaking...

Hey Y'all,

This is week nine of the new "Breaking Free" Bible study from Beth Moore at my church. To say that this has been hard is a huge understatement. This has been gyt-wrenching for me. But God is just so perfect in His timing. Perfect. While my life right now could be one giant ball of anger, rage, confusion, tears and revenge. I am breaking.....breaking these emotions and feelings down. I have these feelings in moments of time. But I am trying to keep my thought process on Jesus and Him setting this captive free. I am ripping down the wallpaper in my pit of all the lies and grime that Satan has papered there and allowing Jesus to put up beautifull walls of Truth. I am not there yet. I have a long way to go. But this captive is breaking. My heart is breaking. My life thus far is breaking. But with "The Ancient Of Days" I am breaking.....free.

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

Mango-Tango and Lame Brains

Hey Y'all,

This week is the "Week" that we find out if my grandbaby is a girl or a boy!! Right now he/she is a Mango according to "thebump.com" and it is doing the "Mango-Tango" according to it's mom! Erica says the baby is kicking like crazy and is especially fond of her bladder at one in the morning. I'll insert a secret "ha-ha-ha" right now. All you other mothers know that payback is sometimes very, very sweet. I am so excited that she is feeling the baby. That is a feeling like no other in the world. When Erica has her sonogram Thursday her little one will be almost a cantaloupe. It is growing at an amazing rate. Here are a couple of pictures from this past Sunday. A cute angle of her growing tummy!



Poor Erica, her ...ummm.... front areas are growing just as fast!



Now on to the "Lame Brain" section. I am so disgusted with our government I could just scream. My Pastor says we need to pray Psalm 109 over and for our country. I read it and I am praying it over our country. Prayer works...ladies it really does.

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

Finally Friday!!!!!

Hey Y'all,

It is finally Friday! And it is almost spring!!!! Spring is not my favorite season because it seems colder to me than any other time. But it is ushering in my fave...Summer. I really love summertime. Late nights sitting in the yard, lazy days by the pool, catching up on household chores, reading, gardening, canning vegetables...the whole time is just wonderful. It is never too hot for me. Never. This has been a very long week. The school kids are getting spring fever and are so tired of being cooped up in the classroom. They were just wild this whole week. Tomorrow is supposed to be very nice. Sunny and 75 degrees! Woo-Hoo!! I don't have any real plans this weekend. Working around the house. Working at the restaurant tonight and tomorrow night. Church on Sunday. The usual stuff. When it is sunny and warm it just makes work even nicer. Hope y'all have a great blessed week-end too!

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

It's a "Sweet 'Tater" now.

Hey Y'all

Here is a photo of my Erica in her 18th week. The baby is now a "sweet potato"! That happens to be one of my most favorite foods in the world too. I can't wait to just eat that little sweet tater up too!!


She is doing very well and is not as tired as she was in the beginning. We find out what the baby is on March 25th. I will be so excited to finally know so I can pick out stuff for the baby's room at my house. This is just so exciting to me. I am just overjoyed at the thoughts and plans there are to be made. God is just so good. Reflecting back through the last several months there has been so much heartache, trials and tears. God is so gracious and loving that He has made sure that I have lived through each day when there were a few when I didn't really even want to live. I am truly ashamed of that feeling. I have so much to be grateful for and there are just so many other women in the same boat as me. God has been faithful to provide all my needs and to allow plenty of grace and mercy whenever I needed. Back to Erica. I am taking her picture each week, even though she protests greatly, she will be thankful when she delivers this baby that someone took her picture. She is just as cute as she can be and is so excited. Both she and Blake talk about it all the time. I love how they put their heads together and whisper. So cute. I will have to look on thebump.com to see what little sweet tater is next week. I'll keep y'all posted.

Bless Y'all

Cindy

Gatherings

Hey Y'all,

Last night I had 2 of my closest friends over for dinner. Kelley and I have birthdays just two days apart so I cooked a little meal for the 3 of us and since Sandra's birthday is at the tail end of January we went out for hers a couple of weeks ago. the picture is from when we to lunch for Sandra's birthday at a great restaurant called, "Sweet Potatoes" in downtown Winston-Salem. Super-good!



The waiter wasn't too thrilled to take our picture but we made him anyway.
Sandra, me and Kelley...looking full and happy!



These friends are just a couple that are true and sweet and most of all Jesus-loving prayer warriors. We all have had a couple of hard years tucked under our belts and have prayed almost non-stop for each other for many years. I love these ladies and I pray that each of you have friends like these. I have a few others that I love dearly too. Tracy, Kim, Angie just to name a few. We are all different and have different gifts, talents and personalities but when the going gets tough I can count on any one of these girls to pray for me, cry with me, laugh at me and get into a little trouble with me anytime day or night. This, ladies, is another example of a new mercy that God gives us each day.

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

How Good is God?

Hey Y'all,

This has been a tough weekend at my house. Tough. I have been so sore this is the first time I could really sit down without crying to even type. I dropped a dollar last night at the restaurant and if it had not been some old man's change I would have left it on the floor. I needed his walker to help me get back up. Stupid kettlebell. My youngest daughter had a real crisis this weekend and called me early Saturday morning. She was really crying and upset. All she said was, "I need you mom." Enough said. Before she got home I went to this little box where I keep scripture cards. I often pull one out and stick it in the kitchen windowsill so I can read it periodically through the day. I went to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to please give me the words and wisdom to speak over this child of mine. How good is God? Very. Very, very. The card I plucked said, " Exodus 15: 2 The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation." The flip side of these scripture cards give you an application of the verse to help. It said, "Lord, order my steps today. Make me strong, not for the sake of possessing strength, but to make me sufficient for the crisis moments in my life and in the lives of others who reach out to me." How precious is that?!! So often I don't look to my heavenly Father for help in even the slightest of things. Life is hard, unfair and grueling. God is good and sufficient.

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

Update for "Spinning"

Hey Y'all,

I HATE kettlebell class. I can barely sit down and I will have to walk around the outside of my house to get downstairs to do laundry for days. I hope in heaven either everyone is fit or fat!

Bless Y'all

Cindy

Spinning.......

Hey Y'all,

Last night I went to my first "Spinning Class" at the gym. this is where you ride a stationary bike super fast and you climb occasional hills. I rarely sweat but last night I was dripping. It was a really great workout for only 30 minutes. Who knew in 30 minutes I could bike to Canada? If you are among my 3 followers you will know that I ...ahem...strongly dislike bikers on the road. I even told the instructor that I aim my SUV at them on the road. He did not laugh or even slightly grin. So I was all prepared to hate the class but I really liked it! I burned about 600 calories he said!! So guess what I am doing right now??? Eating peanut m & m's of course! Tonight I am trying a "Kettlebell" class. I hope I don't sling one onto my head and knock myself out or one of the ladies beside me!! I truly dislike exercise and have to force myself to do it. I have a few friends I meet there and I force my mother to come along. She made it through the spinning class and said she would do it again. She is such a good sport! I can't get her to try Zumba but she is goung to try the kettlebell with me tonight. Hopefully I will like it too so I will not hate the gym so much!

Bless Y'all,

Cindy

Weekend Recap

Hey Y'all,

This past weekend was my 45th birthday. I am now halfway to 90! Yippee!! I honestly don't want to live that long but if I remain healthy and get even more quirky I'll stick around , Good Lord willing. Below are some pictures of my Erica and her little...drumroll please........Avocado Baby! That is what he/she is the size of this week. Next week it will be an onion. She is looking so cute! We took a couple in my mom's "Doll Room". There are about 15 dolls that my mother has either bought or made placed all over that room. She is very crafty and has made dozens of dolls. All those eyes looking at you is a little creepy. Most of us don't like to spend a lot of time in there because one of them is always looking at you and makes you wig out a little. For my birthday my mother cooked a great meal from Ree Drummond's Book, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks." I love her blog and website. It is the coolest. Erica made a peach pie and my mom made a chocolate pie for my birthday. I am very fond of pie and really do not like birthday cake so I was thrilled. My sister and I were finally not the same age and she rubs it in hard. We are only 10 months apart. How is that for close! Megan gave me the sweetest card that really made me cry but I ducked my head so she couldn't see my tears. This has been a tough year and it looks like it is just going to get tougher. But God is good and gracious and He is my portion. I know He will get me through this fiery trial. I may come out with a few scars but that's okay. I am just focusing on one day at a time and one rocky place at a time. You know I just realized the rougher the mountain is the easier the climb. It might be more treacherous and have many slips and possible falls but it requires constant attention and definite help along the way. I can't climb a smooth mountain. There are no cracks or holes or anything to grab onto...like maybe the Hand of God??? So maybe I am looking at my problems and issues in the wrong light. The rougher it is right now then the more attention I need to pay to the climb and the next rock to grab. God is just good...you know? The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur. I worked all day at school Friday and then until 9:30 at the restaurant. I worked at home Saturday morning and from 1:00 to 9:30 at the restaurant that evening. Sunday was church and it was very good. The praise music was great and I couldn't help but cry. Then that evening my birthday dinner. Here are some pictures from my mom's house.




Here Erica and I are in my Mom's Doll Room. Isn't she so cute?!













Erica in her 16th week.












Erica really hates pictures but I told her she will thank me later. This is in my mom's "creepy" Doll Room. They kind of freak us all out a little.








The future parents of my sweet Avocado Baby!




Bless Y'all

Cindy