Blog Hiatus!

Here's the deal. As soon as I click on the publish button, I am officially on a one week bloggy hiatus! No blogging and no reading blogs. From Friday to Friday. I thought about posting this tomorrow, but I really felt led to do this tonight because I wanted to wake up tomorrow with a clear mind and vision.

I'll be honest when I say that I'm fighting this tooth and nail, and my flesh is not liking this one bit. I've come to get great enjoyment out of the blog world and great enjoyment out of all of you, but there's no greater enjoyment that we can receive then being in the presence of the Lord.

I know this is something that I need to do! I need to "clean house" a bit and as clearly as he was standing right next to me, I really just heard the Lord say that is has to be without distractions. I need to focus on school, work, relationships, my health, finances, but MOST important, HIM!

Please be praying for me throughout the week that I will clearly hear from him, draw closer to him, and that he will reveal himself to me. As much as I'm fighting this, there's a part of me that is really excited about this time because it's when all the distractions go away that we gain new perspective, hope, wisdom, and vision.

I love you all and if you want to stay in contact with me throughout the week my e-mail is on the right-hand side of my page.



And in the words of the great Terminator "I'll be back"!

An athlete I am not and need some advice!

First of all, thank you so much for all of your sweet comments yesterday. I just love the bloggy world and love all of you :o)



Last night after work I went straight over to my sister’s tennis match. Sad to say that I have not been able to make it to any of her matches (which is sad because she will be graduating this year) because they are always on the days I have school at night and it just so happened that she had a match on a Wednesday and I took advantage of that and went to watch. They won the overall match. One thing you should know about my sister is she has AMAZING athletic abilities, which I clearly did not inherit, anyone else in that same boat? I played one year of soccer in high school and that was enough for me. My sister’s dad passed away when she was a baby and I know he’d be so proud of her and would be there at every single match of hers. She also plays volleyball and soccer. Her dad was extremely athletic as well, so I know that's where she gets it from. I’m so proud of her. I seriously wish I was the athletic type. With that said..



I can kick butt in Wii Tennis, haha, does that count for anything? Just humor me and tell me it does, haha!! Seriously, if I played in real life as well as I do the Wii, then I could be potential pro status. Nah, probably wouldn’t go that far, ha!

Then after that we went to go eat Pizza.


Yum Yum! We were craving it and there’s a GREAT pizza place here in town called Pauley’s Pizza with great pizza and amazing garlic knots (yeah, didn’t do too well for the breath, haha). But who would I be kissing, right? ha! Also, I just happened to find this picture but let it be known that I absolutely DO NOT like cheese-filled crust. Is anybody else in my corner on that one?

Okay, switching gears here. I need some advice. God has been dealing with me a VERY long time about the amount of time I spend on the computer in general and how much of my time it consumes, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, so I’m coming to you. I really want a change in this area of my life and just don’t want to lose perspective of what’s important. And I know there’s a way to do that without feeling disconnected from the world. So, for those of you who have gone through this to, what did you find helped you limit your time on the computer? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I think I’ve been thinking of this more so even lately after the untimely death of actress Natasha Richardson. My mom and I were sitting there yesterday thinking yesterday, a week ago, everything was right in the world of Natasha and her family, and in one split second all of that changed. And it just showed me once again how precious life is and I just don’t want to miss a second of it by filling my time up with unnecessary things.

Enjoy every second today!

Go to the foot of the cross!

It's been heavy in the bloggy world this week. Everyone going through so much and a sweet baby in the hospital. All this just reminds us that we need to be in prayer for those in need.

I went by two blogs yesterday that really resonated with me. Please go by to Whitney's blog and to Mrs. Newlywed's blog. After reading their latest posts you'll better under why I'm sharing with you what I'm about to share.

See, I was diagnosed with Turner Syndrome when I was born. My foot was swollen at birth and the amazing thing is my pediatrician at the time had just been to a conference on Turner Syndrome and knew exactly what the diagnosis was. That's not by chance if you ask me. So they did blood work and it confirmed I had Turner Syndrome. It is a chromosomal disorder in which all or part of one of the sex chromosomes is absent. (The average person has 46 chromosomes, two of which are the sex chromosomes. In females, the sex chromosomes are two X chromosomes. In Turner syndrome, one X chromosome is missing. By looking at me you'd never know I have this condition, and that's truly by the grace of God. There are so many symptoms I don't have that I should have and I far surpassed my doctors predictions in height. I'm perfectly normal. The only devastating part about this is I was told I will most likely not be able to have kids on my own. I do believe God is a miracle working God and I count my blessings, and I hold on to that.

I tell you all of this because I've been so amazed by the blog world because the more you get to know people and share, you find that you're not in your situation alone and that's why I was so blessed and humbled by reading those two blogs yesterday.

Let this encourage you today! There is no mountain too big that God can't move, no situation that he can't turn into something positive and great. I have no idea why I was borm with this condition because it only occurs in 1 out of every 2500 girls. The syndrome manifests itself in a number of ways. There are characteristic physical abnormalities, such as short stature, lymphoedema, broad chest, low hairline, low-set ears, and webbed neck. Girls with Turner Syndrome typically experience gonadal dysfunction (non-working ovaries) with subsequent amenorrhea (loss of menstrual cycle) and infertility (which is the only major condition I have). Concurrent health concerns are also frequently present, including congenital heart disease, hypothyroidism, sterility, diabetes, ophthalmological problems, otological concerns, and many other autoimmune diseases.Finally, a specific pattern of cognitive deficits is often observed, with particular difficulties in visuospatial, mathematic (I have NEVER been good at math, ha), and memory areas (and I do have problems in this area sometimes).

So a good majority of the above conditions I don't show. PRAISE GOD!! That's a testimony in itself. So all of this is to say, no matter what you're going through today...go to the foot of the cross and lay your burdens down!!

Please remember to keep sweet Baby Stellan in your prayers!!


I'll leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs!

AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS:

At the foot of the cross
Where grace and suffering meet
You have shown me your love
Through the judgement you received
And you've won my heart
Yes you've won my heart
Now I can

Chorus:

Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross

At the foot of the cross
Where I am made complete
You have given me life
Through the death you bore for me
And you've won my heart
Yes you've won my heart
Now I can

Chorus:

Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
Ilay every burden down
At the foot of the cross

Tuesday!

YAY, we made it past Monday!!!!! :O)



Most importantly, I didn't have a chance to get this up yesterday and many of you might already know, but please be keeping baby Stellan in your prayers, and if you don't know, please stop by MckMama's Blog to get updated. He is a miracle baby and is in the hospital with serious health issues. God worked a miracle once and he can do it again!!! Please just continue praying! Thank you!

I need you all to help me out here. I don't know if you've ever heard of Dave Ramsey, but I read his book called "Financial Peace" and he has an envelope system that I'm going to start trying out this week and I'm really excited about it. It helps you get on a budget. I wouldn't say I'm an over spender by any means and I'm actually pretty frugal, but I'm not on a budget and don't exactly know where all my money is going to and that's where the envelope system comes in. Go to Dave Ramsey's Website to learn more about this, if this is something you're interested in. Also, if there are other ways that have helped you stay on a budget, please share, would love to hear some other ideas!!!!

The sun is shining today in the good ole' sunshine state, YAY!!!!! :O)

It's a beautiful day!

Okay, so the weather outside this morning doesn't say it's a beautiful day... but every day can be like this...

(This was yesterday)




If you just allow it to be...

This post is just as much for me this morning, as it is for you. I woke up in a blah mood, and the weather didn’t help much. One of those days where you just have to make that choice as to which direction you’re going to allow your mood to head in.

It’s not just a beautiful day only when the sun is shining. And I’ve always noticed that after a good rain that everything seems soooo much greener. I just want to almost go outside and stand in the rain and rinse off every ounce of blah-ness (don’t think that’s even a word, ha) that I woke up with this morning and just saturate and focus on everything that's good, despite what my emotions tell me.

So today is going to be a wonderful day, rain or shine, and if you woke up feeling blah, let go of it!!

And not to mention, this weather isn't doing anything for my hair I just spent the morning flat ironing, go figure :o)

A day at the Art Festival!

Yesterday my friend, Samantha, and I went to the Winter Park Art Festival. It was such a beautiful day. It's the biggest art festival in the country. There were hundreds of people who signed up to be a vendor at this art festival and only 200 get selected. Very upscale, and one of those look but you can't buy type things, ha. The City of Winter Park itself is amazing. We were hoping we could find some cute reasonably priced jewelry, that wasn't going to happen. I do have a funny story to share though. We stopped at one of the vendors that was carrying some jewelry and I tried on a bracelet and without me realizing I never took it off and I just walked away. So there I am just walking and look down at my wrist, and what do I see?? Yes, the bracelet still on my wrist. I about freaked and started laughing. I couldn't believe I did that, LOL! So I walked back to the vendor, and the lady never knew I had walked away with it, and never knew I had come back and put the bracelet back. Which was kind of scary to think that anyone could have taken her stuff and she would never have known. Good thing I'm an honest person.

And the whole time we were worried that my car would get towed because we parked next to a towing sign but we took our chances because it was horrendous trying to get a parking spot and we just got lucky, and thank goodness my car was still there. If it wasn't, man wouldn't that have been a story to tell, haha!

Enjoy the pictures of our day and unfortunately Sam and I didn't get our picture together :o(

It was a GREAT time. Tons of shops and TONS of food!!! It was a wonderful day to be outside!!

The place was packed!


Of course the day wouldn't be complete with a funnel cook. I have an addiction, what can I say?


Umm, so yeah, very interesting piece of art. Who comes up with this kind of creativity??


This is a picture of a sumo wrestler with some grapes, thought it was too funny!!


Being goofy!!


And after a wonderful day of walking around and looking at the cool pieces of art and jewelry, it was time to go...


This was a clock that was for sale. I thought it was so cool!!!! :O)

So that was our day in a nutshell and then when I came home I plopped myself on the couch and helped myself to the movie...



It was AWESOME!! Thank you Sam for getting this for me. You're a true friend, haha :O)

Have a GREAT Sunday, everyone!!

Yummy for the tummy!

Tonight I made my favorite fish recipe. It is melt in your mouth good, and I think it would be close to a sin, if not a sin, to keep it from you. Here it is and if you give it a try, let me know how you like it!!!

Parmesan-Baked Salmon:



1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp 100% grated parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
4 salmon fillets (give or take..depending on how many people you have)
2 tsp lemon juice
10 ritz crackers crushed

preheat oven to 400

Mix mayo, cheese and pepper until well blended; set aside. Place salmon on foil lined shallow baking pan. Drizzle with lemon juice, top with cheese mixture. Spread evenly to cover salmon. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until Salmon flakes easily with fork. Just let me tell you, I would go with the second because it DEFINITELY took longer than 12 to 15 minutes. It can put a hungry girl in agony, ha! And like I said, portions of ingredients will vary depending on how many people you're serving.

And this is the end result! WARNING: mouth-watering will occur...



And ate it with this...



Squash and zucchini, mashed potatoes, and cottage cheese!!! SOOO yummy!!!!!! It did not disappoint! Hope you all enjoy!!!!

Okay, this blog is all about being real...

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


And finally Exhibit C:


This is my room right now! I don't know how your room looks and this might not seem messy to you, but for me, this is way out of character. As you can see, the chair I think collapsed in exhaust from all the clothes piled on it and fell on yet another pile of clothes that needs to be put away, ha!!! Oh, the discombobulation of it all!

I need serious help people.... I've been totally over taken by the "Twilight Madness". I've already zipped through the first two, now it's on to the last two which I'm going to get this weekend and my friend is going tonight to get the movie when it goes on sale at Wal-Mart at midnight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be able to get me a copy, that's if there's no rule that you can only get one or something. Ya'll, is there a place where I can get help for this??? :o)

P.S.
Geez people, you could have warned me that I'd need tissues when watching Fireproof. Watched it after dinner. What a precious movie!!

Thursday Smursday! :o)

Hey Everyone!

Happy Thursday! I really just needed a bloggy break yesterday. Don't you just ever need that every now and then???

Yesterday was pretty uneventful and pretty slow at work (thank God I have a job though), and then after work my mom and I went to a nearby town to pick up my bridesmaid dress for my BFF Monica's wedding!!! I'm so stoked. It fit really well, just going to have to have it hemmed and have the straps altered around the neck. I'm getting more and more excited about sharing in her special day with her. Then we ate at the best burger joint, seriously, ever. Never tasted such a juicy and wonderful hamburger, and loved every bit of it. Then we went to Marshalls and looked around for a little while. It was VERY nice spending one on one time with my mom.

I was sooooo sad to hear yesterday about the passing of actress Natasha Richardson in a freak skiing accident...



She exuberated such grace and I'll never be able to watch "Parent Trap" again without crying!! She was one of my favorite actresses. My heart goes out to her precious family left behind!! Just yet another reminder that life is tooo precious, and we're not guaranteed anything. So, count your blessings today!



And lastly, I'm soooo excited because this spring break I'll be North Carolina bound. I just booked my flight to go visit my friend Jill. We met years ago at (brace yourself) "Camp Wimauma". LOL! Yes, we often asked ourselves, Why Momma did you send me here?? LOL!!! That was the running joke with the camp name among us campers!!! It was a wonderful church camp down south in Florida, and we've been friends ever since and the start of a beautiful friendship. She has been in North Carolina for quite sometime, so thought it was long overdue to pay her a visit.

Please be praying for me, as I'm dealing with some emotions and stuff within, that I'm trying to process and worth though. Thank you, and in return will be praying for you :o)

Came across this yesterday. Just wanted to share. Something to ponder:
Without GOD, our week would be:
Sinday, Mournday, Tearsday, Wasteday,
Thirstday, Fightday & Shatterday.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

May the luck of the Irish be with you :)

Here's me in my St. Patty's Day get-up, and you can kind of see my St. Patty's Day necklace!!! haha!!!



I hope everyone has an awesome day!!!

Oh, and have to mention, went and bought this last night...

I've already read this, someone let me borrow it, but wanted to have my own copy.


And of course had to get started on the second.


Lord help me, there's no stopping me now. What did I get myself into???? :o) I went to Barnes & Nobles and the cashier just started laughing because he was like are you just getting started, and I said yes, and he said, oh, you'll be back, lol!!!! I have a feeling he's right!!

I'm "Free to be Real!"

As promised, here’s my weekend in pictures. The Extraordinary Women’s Conference was AMAZING. The whole theme of the conference was “Free to Be Real”. Every speaker and singer was phenomenal and had something different to bring. It really just challenged us to let go off the shackles that bind us and to let go of every burden that we walked into that building with and just allow ourselves to be free. It was hard not to leave that place changed! Enjoy the pictures!







Chonda Pierce was flat out hilarious. She had me crying, haha!




Michael O'Brien led amazing worship!


Natalie Grant! This is one anointed chick!




My friend Sarah and I. I'm so glad she came. She was really blessed by it!


Kathy Troccoli. She doesn't disappoint ya'll. She's amazing!!!




Candace Cameron Bure spoke (AKA D.J. Tanner from Full House. I loved her testimony and was so blessed by it! And she's sooo stinkin sweet.)




Kathy Troccoli's niece, Gina, and I. We actually became friends on Facebook and were able to meet up for the first time while at the conference. She was there to hear her aunt sing and speak. It was so cool to meet for the first time.


Kathy and I. Have I told you how much I love her?? Haha! :o)


Yep, this pretty much made my day complete! Haha! I still watch reruns of Full House, lol!


Sarah with Candace!


So overall, the conference was just flat out amazing!!!! I'm already ready for next year. I did awhole lot of driving back and forth to and from Tampa, so I was exhausted by the end, but not too exhausted to finish Twilight. I finished it in no time flat. I finished it in less than two days. Oh yeah, I was sucked in BIG time!!!! I sat by the pool and read and this is pretty much what I look like right now....



Except I'm a woman and don't have hairy armpits, haha!!!!! Boy did I get sunburned. Got sooo wrapped up in the book and time got away from me, but it was so worth it though, haha!!!

Happy Monday!

Help out a good cause!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far!

The Extraordinary Women's Conference was amazing and can't wait to share more about it with you tomorrow and along with some pictures.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share with you about something that's going on. Please stop by Adrienne's blog. She has an amazing and beautiful story and an even more beautiful son named Owen. Well, on March 12th she left a post sharing about a gold party she was going to be attending. So please look for that and read up. If anyone knows how to directly link to a particular post, please let me know. Anyhow, her friend is looking to adopt and Adrienne's son Owen is adopted as well, and Adrienne and her husband are looking to adopt a sibling for Owen. It's been a very hard and painful process for them, and again, read up on their blog and you'll be amazed by their story. You will be able to help both of these family in earning funds to allow for adoption by collecting any gold that you might have, and Adrienne explains it further on her blog. But it doesn't matter what condition it's in, if it's not being used, please send it. And you can contact me as to where to send it because Adrienne sent me her address. I have collected my pieces and hope you will too, to help these two families. Both families are being helped financially by this party. The party is being held this coming Thursday, so the pieces need to be in by then. So, again, please go by her blog and read up more on this! Thank you so much!

Also, I have officially stepped into the Twilight madness and I can't put the book down.... this isn't good, I need to get stuff done, haha!!!! But it's so wonderful!!!!!! Think I might need to lay by the pool and get some reading done today, stuff can wait, lol!!!! Can't miss out on this gorgeous Florida day!!! :o) Have a great Sunday!!!

Lady of Diligence!

I have to point out a few things that made yesterday so special for me. First off, won my first blog giveaway held by Shauna. And I received this...



It's a lavender bath set and I can't wait to use it and when I opened the package boy did it smell good, haha. Thank you sooo much Shauna. She just celebrated her
100th post and so she's been doing a giveaway every day this week, so today is her last day. Go over to her blog, you won't want to miss it!

Then I also received these sweet cards from Whitney and Kelsey . Please go by their blogs, they are two precious people with two GREAT blogs!!



Thank you so much Whitney and Kelsey for putting a smile on my face and making my day all the much sweeter!

As I said, every Friday I'm going to be sharing my questions and answers for the week out of my Lady in Waiting book. The chapter was on the Lady of Diligence. So here you have it for this week:

JEALOUS JENNY: Do you focus on the gifts others have been given, and therefore never give your own niche in ministry? Have you unwisely compared yourself to other women? (1 Cor. 4:7;12:7; Rom. 12:3)

There have been many, many times I have compared myself to other women, and in doing that, it's only left me feeling really bad in the end. It's okay to want to strive to aquire the attributes you see in other women that you admire, but when you start comparing so much that it leads to jealousy, you get absolutely nothing done for the kingdom and in the ministry. We are uniquely, fearfully, and wonderfully made. And the sooner we realize that, the better off we are.

PRIMA DONNA PAULA: Do you want to serve God on your terms? Do you want to write the script and have the leading role? (Jn 4:34; 7:16, 18; Mt. 23:5)

I kind of touched on this last week. There has most definitely been those times where my relationship with God was based on my terms and at my convenience and it's so easy when it's comfortable for us, to sit back and say okay God, I'll let you have it. But when we get too uncomfortable and we can't handle it, we take back the reigns and try to shift everything to our liking and to what makes us comfortable. We're talking about the creator of the heavens and earth, do you really think he needs our help in creating and directing our life story??? Something to ponder there.

FEARFUL FRANCES: Do you fear what others think? Are you afraid of becoming too involved and being labeled a fanatic? Do you hesistate to be a Lady of Diligence because you feel so inadequate? (Prov. 29:25; 2 Tim. 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:24)

Better question is, who at one time or another hasn't feared what someone else might think? I will say that I don't think I've ever been afraid to get too involved and being labeled a fanatic. But have I ever felt inadequate, most certainly, YES. There have been moments that I felt someone had something to give that I just couldn't offer, and that could be very true, but when you start to look at that not as a bad thing, but in such a way that you start to realize that everyone has something different to bring to the body of Christ and the ministry, and when we bring all those qualities together, we can rock the devil's world. It's a process to get to this point and we all want to be a Lady of Diligence, and the journey to getting there is well worth it.

DOUBTING DORIS: Faith is believing what God says about you. Do you long to become more involved in a number of ministries, but feel your faith with fizzle before you finish? Have you struggled with serving the Lord in the past, so you doubt yourself today? (Part of ministry is learning, so don't let yesterday's struggles prevent future successes.) (1 Jn. 4:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Tim. 6:12)

No, I just long to belong to ministries, period. We belonged to a church for a number of years and stopped attending back in 2005 and we were out of church for a little while and when we knew it was time to step back in again we church hopped for awhile and still struggling to find that church I'm really connected with. With my schedule, it's soooo hard to really get involved and I know that's no excuse but if it's really my hearts desire, God will make it happen and know this is only for a certain season. So I'm definitely still seeking that opportunity to really become involved with ministry, and know God will meet me right where I'm at. I know this doesn't really answer the question directly, but this is kind of where I'm at right now as far as ministry is concerned.

To get involved with any ministry demands a sacrifice. Have you allowed your self-centeredness to dominate your daily schedule? Why not go through your checkbook and see how many checks were written for things concerning others? (2 Sam. 24:24; Phil 2:3-4; Mt. 19:29)

Can I just say that this really hit home. I must admit, I’ve found myself guilty of fitting in my block of time the things that I want and leaving out God and the important things that really matter. It’s true when they say we make time for those things we really want to make time for. I really hope each day I get better and better at this. As far as the checkbook and area of finances go, this is what I hold onto most tightly. It’s soo easy to stress about finances and hold on to our checkbooks and not bless others with what we’ve been blessed with. Lord, please allow me to let go of this area and to give it completely over to you.



On a final note, tonight I am heading down to Tampa for a church conference called “Extraordinary Women”. Sounds awesome right? Tonight I’m going by myself and then tomorrow I have a friend coming with me. I typically wouldn’t go to these things alone, but for some reason I really feel I need to do this, and to do it alone. Please be praying, because I think the Lord might be up to something :o) There's an amazing line-up of people:

Julie Clinton


Candace Cameron-Bure (You've got to love DJ Tanner from Full House)


Natalie Grant (I'm so excited about her)


Michael O'Brien (Will be leading worship)


Stormie Omartian


Chonda Pierce (LOL is all I've got to say, haha)


Angela Thomas


Kathy Troccoli (I aboslutely LOVE her!!!!)


Rebecca Jo, you were the winner for the most creative name for my car. I LOVED "Flo" the Ford Focus. Please e-mail me at LaurenBella6@hotmail.com with your information so I can send you a little something :o)

And your comments yesterday just made my day. Thanks for all the encouragement and sweet prayers for my grandpa. Have a GREAT Friday everyone!!! :o)