Ch...Ch...Changes....

Hey there,

So this blog started out to be just about my faith. But slowly I have come to realize that I have more to say. Much more. Uh oh. Yes, I am a child of God but I am also a woman who likes to read, laugh, decorate, garage sale, beach it, fish, hang out on the fishing pier, find great recipes, talk about my grandbabies, and did I mention-decorate!?!! All those things make up who I am, along with my faith. Like threads in fabric they all are woven together to make me-me! And I'm pretty cool, actually. LOL...Hey! It's not just my opinion-God says in Psalm 17 that I am the apple of His eye...so there! So I am shifting this blog to be more about................
everything! Because who I am is made up of not only my faith but all the other things God created me to be. And all the things He encourages me to explore about myself. So.........If I feel like talking about something, I will. And if choose to explore something new to me...then I guess you can come along for the ride.

One of my loves is decorating. Oh my gosh I love it! I can take a room and change it in an afternoon to look completely different. And I have. My husband likes to tell the story of how he went to bed one night to the kitchen one color and woke up to it a completely different color. That's true! I decided to paint once he had gone to bed and finished during the night. And don't walk around in the dark either. I may have moved the furniture around too and you're likely to knock your knee on something. I have painted some rooms 6 or 7 times till I got it right. And I have changed the whole style of a room on a whim. Wait...that's not always good. But any way...I love to decorate and I am not afraid to make mistakes and change things up. Kind of like my life. But that's another story.....

I found an amazing site this week. http://knockoffdecor.com/ If you like to decorate you really need to check it out. Amazing tips on how to decorate your home and make it look like you bought all the great things from Pottery Barn etc. but really...you made it! Hence, the name. Knock off decor. (Just in case you didn't get it).

So I am going to begin to add tips that I have learned or found on decorating and "finds" that you might like. Like y'all know about Pinterest right? Ok, that too is another topic.

I might even add recipes to this blog. Like my amazing baked Spaghetti I just learned how to make. Or my sweet mother in laws Chicken and Dumplings. Or my shrimp and tortellini? Ok that ones a cheat. Nothing to it. And when I say I like to cook. I don't mean every day in the kitchen cooking dinner for the hubby. That's not me. Just ask him. lol. I mean I like to find interesting, fun, easy and delicious recipes to add to my kitchen cooking abilities. So if you have any feel free to share. I would like to find some great ones that are pescatarian. (Vegetarians that eat dairy, fish and seafood.) But I do like them to be quick and easy and tasty!

And of course, going along with the love of food is my quest (i.e. struggle) to loose weight and get healthy. I got sick with thyroid issues about 6 or 7 years ago. Yeah, yeah we've all heard the excuse (she has thyroid issues) but seriously for someone who was skinny, and I mean skinny all their life, sudden weight gain was a hard adjustment for me. When I say I love food, I still never had issues with it. I ate normal portions and normal foods. But I started to gain weight anyway. And so the fun began. So I am now on medication for hypothyroidism (under active). Little did I know that the reason I was so skinny all my life was probably due to undiagnosed hyperthyroidism (over active). Its pretty common for those that have it early in life to later in life get hypo-thyroid problems. Lucky me. I also have Vitamin B deficiency. I have to give myself shots for. Not fun! So loosing weight is a constant struggle. And so is maintaining it. For me it isn't just about aesthetics, its about health. And oh my gosh no excuses, but girls loose it now, because once you hit 45....its incredibly hard to loose. I can do all the right things and loose 1 pound to your 2. But I will get there this year. 20 lbs. Not because I'm obsessed with youth or looking good in a pair of jeans (although I do admit that is great incentive) but because I want to run on the beach and play and ride bikes with my grandbabies. Because I want my heart to be healthy so that the Lord willing, I can live to be the ripe old age of 100+ and watch my precious grandbabies grow up and accomplish great things in their lives. And live to this "ripe old age" with a healthy heart, body, mind and spirit!

And maybe I'll even post some movie and book reviews too. I just read "Heaven is for Real" - a good and easy read and we watched "The Help" and "Cowboys and Aliens". Very eclectic tastes I have! And ....I loved them both! Who knows? Maybe I'll become famous like the blogging girl in the movie..."Julia and..." aww geez what was her name???? Oh well. It could happen. But regardless, I will write.

In the past my blogs were few and far between. Since they were all about my faith they were hard for me to write. Not because I didn't have the material. I love the Lord with all my heart and have lots to say about Him, but I didn't want to write unless I felt I had something profound to say. And let's face it, I'm not profound every day. *Surprise* ..........I will continue to write about my faith but not every blog will reflect it. Oddly, the timing for this seems like it should be quite the opposite. I am hoping 2012 is a year for me to get even closer with the Lord. As I said before, I am spiritual but I am NOT religious. I don't live by rules and regulations of what I am allowed to do and what I am not. And I don't allow others that are Christian to tell me what I should believe or what I shouldn't. I live by the Holy Spirit. I believe the bible and try to live by it. But I am human with failings. And thank God that he forgives and allows for my failing with such wondrous Grace. That doesn't mean its a license to sin or hurt others as I please. To me it simply means although I will strive to live as Christ would, when I fail...and I will, I am not judged by Him. He catches me, brushes me off and with love, just lifts me up to try again. We may disagree on some bible teachings, Christian beliefs etc. But that doesn't mean we have to be on opposite sides of the fence. Maybe I just haven't come around to your way of thinking-yet. Or vice versa. Or maybe we can both just agree to disagree and live among one another with love and understanding and tolerance. Hmmmm, Now there's a thought huh? I live by my faith and what the Spirit convicts me of. I want to continue to learn, read and put the Word of God into action. I want to put my faith in action. Helping others, volunteering and mostly- living it, not talking about it. I want the fruit of the spirit to flow from me. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Wait, am I forgetting one.....hmmmmm, Oh yeah- LOVE!!!! The greatest of these is love. :) And not to be cliché but love really is a verb. It needs to be put into action.
There are so many changes I want to make in the new year. Of course I want to do the normal ones as I said. I want to loose the weight, get in shape, blog more often, be a better wife, mom, gramma and friend. I want to volunteer more. Go out to dinner more. Hang out with friends and family more. I think I want to develop a vegetarian/pescatarian lifestyle. I want to do a 5k. I want to foster more puppies. I want to take a cooking class. I want to make some new friends. I want to learn Italian. I want to live out loud. I want to laugh more. Live more. Love more. Do more. Just move more!!! I want to help others more.

But mostly- I want to be a positive force and change someone's life. Can you imagine that? Change someone's life????? That's not an easy task. But again.....imagine! It doesn't have to be huge. Small sacrifices on our part can change lives. I want to make that a goal in 2012. To in some positive way...change someone's life. WOW...

In case you really didn't take that in...change someone's life?????

Ch...Ch...Changes. I have never been afraid of changes. Quite the opposite. Staying the same, not growing. Now that scares me. But that doesn't always mean they are welcomed. 2011 brought so many changes. Beautiful Betheny died. I still can't say that out loud without a catch in my throat. My step dad and my dad died. But I had 4 new granddaughters born and was honored to be in the delivery room to see 3 of them come into this world. I watched my beautiful daughter Jess walk down the isle and become a wife. I fostered and found a home for Sissy, an ugly little rat terrier who had a terrible life. I grew more distant from the Lord than I ever had. I came back to Him. Or at least I am on my way back. I made some new friends. Lost some too. I found out I had a grandmother I never knew. But she knew me. What really profoundly touched my heart is to learn that she prayed for me every day, by name. I found a sister and 3 brothers I never knew. I fed the homeless. I fished. I laughed. I cried. I cried a lot more this year. I grieved. Like I never have before. Like I hope I don't have to again for a long time. I had friends visit from Ohio and had a blast. I saw some friends I hadn't seen in years. I went home to Ohio. I came back home to North Carolina. Oh, and I redecorated. :) Stay safe in the new year. And please come visit again. I will be here...writing.