Movie Munchies

I just got back from a wonderful night out with a friend of mine.  She also has four children. We have known each other for years.  We have shared play dates and prayer requests.  She is a joy to be around and my movie go-to friend!  We specialize in funny chick flicks, but have seen the occasional serious film.  Oh, I don't know...Is "All About Steve" serious?

We had a great night filled with refreshing MOMents.

I got her text 24 hours late asking me if I wanted to catch a late night movie, but it still worked out for tonight.  I was very excited.  The last thing my husband said to me before I left was, "You are not going to get all your food, right?"


"My food" means my movie munchies:


My Sweet Treat:

A Classic

Then, my salty chew:

Fill half way, add lots of butter, fill to the top, add more butter.

 Then, my drink...never Diet...

 And the straws to go with the drink:

It really does work.  Bite off both ends and enjoy!

I get these every time I go to the movies.  And I seriously eat the whole time.  It makes watching the movie more fun.

I think we forget sometimes that we are supposed to have fun.  We were made to laugh, we were created to smile.  Can't you imagine the smile in God's face as he created the sweet bunny, or the laughter as he thought up the camel?

He created friends to bring us joy.  Marriages to bring us fun.  Children to bring us laughter.

Yes, the Christian life can be hard.  The bible tells us it is like a race.  Races are not easy.  God never promised us easy.

But in His wonderful creation of life, he did create fun, laughter, and joy.

And I am pretty sure he helped the guy who created Twizzlers!

Enjoy a moment of joy and laughter this week!

Blessings,
Angie

Happy Anniversary To My Best Friend!

You're still the one who makes me laugh

The joy to me you bring

You're still the one who makes me smile

When out in song you sing

The father you have become 

To our blessings counting four

I realize over and over,

I really couldn't ask for more.

God has given me a Godly man

who I get to love each day

And I can't wait for the next forever

To see what comes our way!

From the fullness of His grace, 

we have all received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

And I hear her still....

I had her daughter over the other day.

Three days after the new year.  Six days after the death of her mama.  Five days before her mama's memorial service.

I had her daughter over and my friend, who is with Jesus now, still managed to teach me something.

This time I heard her voice not with the same usual confident, yet kind, voice.  This time it was a younger voice.  Her daughter's voice.  And in that voice, she taught me how to cut brownies.  

I was trying to cut warm chocolate brownies for a young girl's get together and the knife was not cutting, but smooshing the brownies with deep ridges that turned each brownie from a tasty morsel of a sweet square shaped treat to a jagged piece of chocolate dough.

The voice quietly came.
With confidence, yet humility.
With sweet humor and help.
Just like her mother...

"My mom always used a plastic knife when she cut brownies.  She said it cut better and I always asked her why she kept washing a plastic knife and she always kept it."

I looked at her.  A deep sadness in the depths of her eyes, so deep in the souls of her spirit that you could barely see it, yet also showing so clearly on the face of the child who loved...loves... her mama so.

I went to the drawer because in God's crazy yet ever present provision, I had just gotten take out with a knife the few days before.

So I grabbed the knife and proceeded to cut...to really cut, the brownies into beautiful sweet squares with crisp chewy edges.

I  laughed then because I can hear my friend still.  Teaching me like she did when she was here.  Teaching me to be a better mom, a better friend, and a better lover of Jesus.  I hear her still.

In the voice of her daughter as she taught me how to cut brownies.

What a moment!

   Angie

She died on Christmas.

I don't know the time exactly.

All that matters is that it was on Christmas.

Every Christmas from here after her daughter will think of that.

Instead of a day filled with hope and happiness,

It will be filled with sorrow and questions.

Do the questions get answered or does the grief just fade?

I have heard it never fully goes away.

So years from now as her daughter watches her children's eyes

 dance with delight at a stocking full of joy,

her thoughts will be on her mom and

 her last Christmas, her last day, her last hug with her mom.

Many years ago a baby was born to save the world,

Crying, cold, coming to bring us peace.

She knew this baby

And called Him her Savior,

She trusted him

all the way until the end,

And even then,

her husband says

"We have seen His blessings in all this.

From day one of the cancer until the very end.

We have seen the blessings in all this."

We have seen the blessings in all of this.

His blessings.

My questions fade, and my longing increases,

My longing to be where she is at this moment.

Seeing His face and knowing His grace

 more fully 

than I will ever know this side of the open door.

My friend has walked through 

the winter of pain and has found the place He has prepared for her.

He led her through this open door.

Her family will still know this pain.

Her husband missing her laugh,

Her son missing her smile,

and her daughter missing her mom when years from now, 

she holds her own sweet baby on Christmas day.

But she has found peace.

My Sometimes...His Always

I am back.  My perfectionist part of me cannot do this blog without each message having a meaning, without each entry having a picture, without each sentence peppered with insight and juicy words.

But that sometimes can't happen.

And that is the message for today.  Sometimes, you can't give your all.
 Sometimes the words have run out.

Sometimes your strength is gone.
Sometimes, your day is too full.
Sometimes, you are just tired.

And that is when your sometimes
 becomes
 God's
ALWAYS.

His strength is ALWAYS there.

His day is ALWAYS full of love.

His rest is ALWAYS there.

I thank God for his perfect love.

Thanks for God's NEVERENDING joy!

HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW

BLUE IS THE NEW BLACK!!

CHECK THIS TREASURE FOR $3.00!

Yep, You read it right... $3.00

It was from a garage sale a few weeks ago.

  And she had a sister:

I will take both for $5.00!

I couldn't believe it!  I have wanted to add some blue to my home and I love the shapes of these finds!  I especially loved how it added a little pow to my free table.  Those details will come put later in another post!

Doesn't it look pretty?

Of course, as always, God has a way of taking the ordinary and turning it into an extraordinary learning lesson for me....

You can see the pretty outside...
BUT,
When I was taking the picture for this, I happened to look inside:

AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

They are not real! 

I repeat they are not real. 

They are those creepy crawlers that you make with rubbery material and a creepy crawler oven:

  Yep, Actually another garage sale find.
That one was a little more money though.
I think I paid around $6 or $7 for it.

Looking inside the beautiful jar, and seeing the muck, I realized what is really inside of me.  I might look okay on the outside, doing all the "right things," but on the inside, there are my insecurities, my struggles, my creepy crawly mess ugliness...the ugliness of impatience, worry, or fear of not being everything to everyone.

The thing is, when I see this:

Closer view of the crawlers!

God sees this:

 

...The whole picture.

He knows my fears, my struggles, my sins...

Because He created me.

But even seeing the muck, He also sees my beauty within because He  is inside of me...

Living inside my heart...He knows because He died on the cross for that muck.

I can give Him my muck, and He makes me new.

And that, my sisters, is truly the find of eternity!

And He who sits on the throne said,

“Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5

 

 Thank you for letting me share a few of my wonderful treasures!

Enjoy the blessing of the MOMent,

   Angie

Courage for Another Day

I will try again tomorrow.

Today was long.

My gentle voice came too late.

My sighs came too fast.



I will try again tomorrow.

The courage of a mother

young or old

Giving of herself for love

Giving of herself for Him



Him who gave these children to her

Whether from birth

Or later

Whether hers together

Or alone




I will try again tomorrow

To finish the Lego game

To read the next chapter

in Anne of Green Gables

To have special time with every one of them.



For that is the true joy.

When the courage opens the door

To hope, faith, and love,

and one more round of Legos.




I will try again tomorrow.


"This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

May you have courage in your MOMents today!

Blessings,

Angie