Cappucino Please, With Hazelnut

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."  -- Psalm 19:1

This morning I was able to see something I wouldn't normally see.  The sunrise.  My son has archery practice before school every morning, and I have somehow been able to weasel out of taking him until today. 

With my eyes only half open, I got up and slipped on a pair of shoes, found a bandana to cover my hair rollers, and grabbed my keys, wallet, and a jacket. 

Before we were even out of our neighborhood, my son tells me, "I have a note for you to sign.  Also, I need ten dollars."  I turned left out of our neighborhood instead of right toward the school, so I could stop at the ATM. 

"You're gonna be a little late," I told him.  Thinking about this now, I'm pretty sure we were right on time.  I mean on God's time, not ours.  He needed to show us something. 

As we drove toward the school, I began to notice the sunrise.  "How cute," were my thoughts at first.  However, the closer we drove to the school, the bigger the sunrise became.  The clouds were all pink and were offset by the sky which was a brilliant shade of blue that I'm pretty sure I'd never seen up there before. 

I pointed it out to my son.  "Look at the sunrise.  Does it always look like that?  Look at the blue."

Maybe he was still half asleep, or maybe my voice was half awake, but his response was, "Huh?  Wha-?  Where's the moon?" 

"Not 'the moon.'  I said, 'the blue.'  Look at the blue." 

"Oh, yeah."  He had apparently never even noticed the sunrise before on his way to archery practice.  Maybe it had never been like this before. 

I quoted the verse to him.  "'The heavens declare the glory of God,'" and told him, "That sky is what that verse is talking about.  It's God saying, 'Here I am.'"

I dropped him off at the gym and headed back to turn onto the main road.  I was a little saddened that now I would be driving in the opposite direction and would not be able to see the sunrise. 

I turned right at the stop sign, thinking the Lord was finished showing me Himself, and guess what was in the sky in front of me now.  The moon.  "Oh, there's the moon."  Too bad I couldn't tell my son I had found it.  It had a lovely halo around it that stood out in the midst of all the grey sky surrounding it. 

That got me thinking about how when we look back at things, sometimes we see a lot of grey, but then there's a light in the midst of all that grey that seems to be the focal point.  It made me wonder if others could still focus on the Light with all the grey I have in my past. 

Within seconds my eyes began to fill with tears.  That sunrise that I thought I had seen the last of had somehow spread all the way across the sky, and I could see the pink reflecting off the grey clouds in front of me.  My thoughts went to the words I had just told my son, "It's God saying, 'Here I am.'"

To me He was saying, "I was there, and I'm still here."

I've Been Craving Pancakes ... With Peanut Butter

Since the new year has begun, I have decided it is time to do a little review of those New Year's resolutions I made last year.  Out of the four I made, I think I did fairly well in keeping them.  Let's take a look. 

1. Read through the Chronological Bible.
2. Go to an awesome concert like Newsboys or TobyMac.
3. Not going to let anyone push me around.
4. I'm gonna blog.

I did go to an awesome concert!  I think that's my favorite fulfilled resolution.  We had season tickets to Magic Springs over the summer and of the few concerts I did attend, NEWSBOYS was one of them.  What an awesome concert.   It was Legen -- wait for it -- dary. 

As for not letting anyone push me around, I cut ties with certain people that were not of any benefit to me, my social life, or my spiritual life as well.  In other words, people who were not of good influence and only brought me down.  That does sound a bit cruel, but why should my life suffer because of those I've tried to help, but couldn't because the person never benefited or improved themselves from it and also took advantage, which led to them only being a burden to me and my family?  I'm trying not to be too specific, so as not to hurt anyone's feelings, but hey, I've cut ties, so no one to whom this is referring will be reading it anyway. 

I did not stay caught up on reading through the Chronological Bible.  I did get behind on that.  But it's a new year and I've started over, so I will do it this time around.  I'm trying to incorporate several strategies at the same time so I will be able to follow through on this one. 

And as for blogging?  I posted two blogs last year.  I think that counts. 

Three out of four is pretty good considering most people keep none of the resolutions they make. 

I actually did not make any resolutions this year.  I feel like I would benefit more from maybe setting some goals of improving things that I already do.  For instance, getting through MORE of the Chronological Bible than I did last year.  Spending MORE time playing with my kids.  That one shouldn't be too hard now that I am no longer in Nursing school.  I would also like to keep in better touch with my friends.  I have made a lot of friends going to school at UACCB and being in the musical "Beauty and the Beast" over the summer, and I've noticed that some people that I, at one time, spoke to on a daily basis are now just friends on facebook that I rarely see in real life.  And when I do see them, we only have the friendly, casual, "acquaintance" type conversations that merely discuss weather, family, and what classes we're taking this semester. And that's only if the conversation gets past the "Hello!  How are you?" point which rarely occurs.  And this with people I once shared deep, meaningful, "secrets you only tell your bff" conversations.  It really is in no way the fault of either person.  Things change.  Goals change.  People go their separate ways.  I keep thinking of the verse that says, "A man who has friends must show himself friendly..."  I think maybe I just need to be MORE friendly. 

So to recap, I would like to do the following things.  I'll add MORE that have not been mentioned as well. 

1.  Read MORE of the Bible.
2.  Spend MORE time playing with my kids than I already do.
3.  Talk MORE to old friends. 
4.  Sing MORE.
5.  Be MORE friendly.
6.  Take MORE adventures.
7.  Show MORE love to others. 
8.  Sing MORE.
9.  Help others MORE. 
10.  Give MORE. 
11.  Post MORE blogs. 
12.  Sing MORE.  
13.  Add MORE things to this list.

Is it me or does the word "MORE" seem to not make any sense now?  Anyway, you get the picture.  I want to do MORE.  And yes, I know I put "Sing MORE" three times.  That one I think is one that even if I do it MORE, it still won't be enough.  I can always, no matter how much I'm doing it, sing more. 

I am fairly satisfied with my decision to not make resolutions and to instead do MORE of the things I am already doing.  This seems like it will be beneficial to me.  I already have a plan for two MORE blogs, so that one should be taken care of pretty soon. 

Check back in the near future for my next post which will be a recap of 2012, and also another "List" type post of not my favorite things, but my most UNfavorite things. 

More Coffee, Please

Typically, when it comes to siblings, the younger will copy the older. In this case, I am the older and I am copying the younger. I'm sure the one I am copying will catch on if she hasn't already. And all the rest of you will just be out of the loop.

These are a few of my favorite things.

1. Swans
2. Tulips
3. The Simpsons
4. A Good Cup of Coffee
5. Making A's
6. Friends (the TV show and actual friends)
7. Phillip's laugh
8. Sarcasm
9. Singing
10. Purple
11. Hot tubs
12. Missionaries
13. The Number 13
14. Tea Parties
15. Brown Eyes
16. Wearing High Heels
17. Fixing Hair (others', not my own)
18. Breakfast
19. Babies
20. VW Beetles
21. Baking Desserts
22. Finding Mistletoe
23. Acting
24. Silas Quotes
25. Juliette Quotes
26. The Music Man
27. Siblings
28. Good Preaching
29. Playing Volleyball
30. The Beach
31. Memorizing
32. Nashville
33. Christian Schools
34. Reminiscing
35. Comic Books

I figured 35 (my age) was a good stopping point.

Eggs, Cheese, and Salsa: It's Delicious.

I have a blog. I may as well use it.

Well, it looks like it's been way too long. My last blog entry was in May of 2010. It is now February 2012 and my entire blog is in need of some ... updating. I mean I haven't been Mrs. Batesville since February of 2011 -- a whole year ago.

Someone mentioned I should work my New Year's resolutions into a blog post. I can do that. I mean how often do you make resolutions and by the time February comes around you've forgotten all about them? Well, frequently! About once a year maybe? ;) Surprisingly, that is actually not the case for me this time. I've so far kept three of the four resolutions that I posted on facebook for all to see. And also kept a few "unwritten" ones that I feel I can share at this time. But first, the original four.

1. Read through the Chronological Bible.
2. Go to an awesome concert like Newsboys or TobyMac.
3. Not going to let anyone push me around.
4. I'm gonna blog.

Until today I had not accomplished number 4, but that just changed (obviously). ;)

Explanations!

#1. My church is reading through the Bible together. The pastor is preaching about it. We're discussing it in small groups. The kids are doing it too in their classes. We are even handing out Chronological Bibles to anyone and everyone who wants one. And it's written in NLT which so far has been great for me and my reading comprehension problem. It's also simple enough for even Phillip and Stevie to understand. I instantly noticed certain benefits to an entire congregation reading in the exact same place in the Bible at the same time. It's amazing. I will defnitely accomplish this in 2012. And because I am also in The Amazing Collection with the Joy Of Living Bible study at West Baptist, I feel like I'm getting more Scripture this year than ever. I've not only kept up with the Chonological reading, but I've already read two books -- Micah and Nahum -- so far this year for Joy Of Living.

#2. I have been to two Casting Crowns concerts in my life and they were awesome. I have also been to two Selah concerts and they were awesome. I did not get to go to any concerts last year, so I was hoping to get to go to at least one this year. You may be asking why I picked Newsboys and TobyMac as my "examples". Well, let me explain. I listen to XM channel 63 The Message almost all the time. Well, not all the time. Mostly just while I'm driving. Anyway, I noticed something. I frequently will hear a song and just go, "Wow. This music is really good." That's before the lyrics even start. And I'll want to know who is singing it. I promise that about nine times out of ten, the song is by Newsboys. I've discovered that they are one of my favorite groups. As for TobyMac, well... He's just pretty awesome. I like most of his stuff. I also like Natalie Grant (heard her at my first Casting Crowns concert) and Francesca Battistelli. I like plenty others (like mikeschair) but those seem worth mentioning.

#3. You would think a grown woman the age of 35 would not have to tolerate bullying. But it happens. And I'm not putting up with it. My advice here is please grow up, people. ... Btw, I'm still weeding out the facebook friends list.

#4. Done! And it only took me what? 35 days? Not bad. Not bad at all.

And now for my "unspoken" resolutions on which I am doing pretty great. One of them has kind of changed from what it was originally, but I am still benefiting from it. I had decided that I would eat a really good breakfast every day -- eggs, yogurt, cereal, fruit, juice -- which was great (and perfect considering all my blog entry titles!). I got all my food groups in at breakfast and had my metabolism going pretty early in the morning which is a good thing. But it wasn't quite spilling into the rest of my day as I had hoped it would. So I just started doing low-carb and I've lost ten pounds. It's been great! I started that on my first day of classes this semester.

Which brings me to my next "unspoken" -- I'm going to make all A's this semester. I did it last semester and well, I really like it, so why not try that again. The problem here is that I'm taking Anatomy & Physiology I and Anatomy & Physiology I Lab this semester. Now I may have to forget about my "no grades under 95" rule, but I will make those A's. I must at least try. And guess what. If I try, I will.

My last "unspoken" is really an unspoken. I don't think I can elaborate on this one. I will say that it will take lots of prayer and discipline. That is all.

I really do enjoy writing. And I got a bit of a confidence boost last semester when I made an A in English Comp. II. (I really like bringing that up.)

Stay tuned for more blogs from Rachel Lee.

Egg-n-Bread

"This is it. Don't get scared now." That's one of my favorite quotes from the movie 'Home Alone'. It pretty much sums up my thoughts at the moment. I have something going on every single day from now until June 6th. Yard sale this weekend, Memorial Day, dentist appointments next week, last day of school, and then I'm leaving Thursday for the pageant. That's when the fun begins.

"Overwhelmed" would be an understatement. I've had some good days and some bad days. But the closer I get to the "big day", the less I see of the good ones. I've had days this week where every single thing was making me cry. And for no reason too. I have mentioned before that this must be the "darkest before the dawn" part, but I didn't realize the "dark" would get even worse than it had already been.

Let's see. Phillip knocked out a tooth. I almost broke my toe and was unable to walk without a limp for about a week. I got pink-eye. David got chicken pox -- a very bad case of it I might add. Stevie now has chicken pox after having been vaccinated for it. I've had migraines off and on. There have been too many things happening for the past few weeks. I'm ready for it all to be over.

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." -- Philippians 3:14

Pancakes!!!

I was jumping up and down this morning telling Alissa, "It's less than three weeks! Less than three weeks! Which is basically two weeks because I'm leaving on Thursday!" :D I am getting so very excited.

And don't I have a reason to be? I mean all this hard work is certainly going to pay off. I think it's worth it just to have a day where I get to dress up, look pretty and keep smiling. :D

I think I've been worrying a bit too much lately. And yes, I have a reason to worry, but I don't really need to do it. Everything is in the Lord's hands. And the outcome will be what it will be no matter what I 'do or do not' beforehand in preparation.

With that being said, It's less than three weeks!!! Less than three weeks!!! Basically two weeks because I'm going down there two days before the pageant!!! :D

Eggs of Insomnia

As I lay here unable to sleep, I ponder what it is that will happen to me in the next few weeks. My mind is racing. Only 22 days remain until this huge thing that I have been preparing for will actually take place. I love the anticipation. I love the thought of doing it. I even love the fear I feel inside me for even considering this in the first place. Most of all I love my Savior for giving me this opportunity.

I've been drawn to the story of Esther recently. I even read it to my Sunday School class which is composed of three 16 year old girls. They were mesmerized by it. But what had drawn me to it was the girl, Esther. Here she was, a plain Jewish girl, unmarried, an orphan. And yet God had huge plans for her. He asked her to go somewhere she had never been. She had to stay there for a year to complete certain customs before she was brought before the king. And when she was brought before the king, her amazing beauty pleased him and he put the crown upon her head and made her his queen.

God had given her this beauty so that she could be placed where He needed her to be. A wicked man named Haman had plotted to kill all the Jews. She needed to be in a position that would give her the opportunity to speak directly to the king to keep Haman's plot from coming about. And we all know her famous words "if I perish, I perish." She said this because the king had the power to kill anyone who came before him unannounced or without being invited. She knew she was possibly walking into her own coffin when she went before the king.

I may never know how much courage it actually took for Esther to walk into the king's court and wait for his approval or disapproval. I mean, I'm not going to be killed for doing this pageant. But I'm starting to feel the courage it takes to step out completely on faith to do something the Lord has asked of me.

My mind truly is racing. "Will I be able to answer all the questions?" "Will I be relaxed enough to handle the interviews?" "Or will I choke or freeze when I can't think of an answer?" Well... you know what? ... If I perish, I perish. The outcome of this event is not what matters. What matters is that I am doing it. And I am doing it for the right reason.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." -- Psalm 19:14

That verse has been stuck in my head since before I even started typing. It is the prayer I will be praying the very night of my big event.