A necklace....a gentle reminder of God's faithfulness

I looked up at her today as she was walking back and forth down the hall, preparing to leave the house to run a few errands.  As I glanced up I thought to myself, she looks so pretty. In a simple way, very pretty.  When she came into the room where I was attempting to organize her t-shirts for her, I caught a glimpse of it....the gold sweetheart necklace that glistened around her neck. It is so tiny and dainty, you would never guess that God used this little necklace to show Himself big.   I look at her wondering if she realizes that God loves her so much, that he cares about the small things in her life as well as the big, or the significance of that necklace that she wears almost everyday.

There is a story that goes along with this piece of jewelry.  Savannah received this necklace for being a part of the sweetheart program last January.  Each girl in the program was presented this necklace for their volunteer work with the American Heart Association.  Savannah loved it.  As the months went by she wore it quite often.  But as hurried and crazy as our lives are, she one day went to wear it and could not find it.  I pride myself on being organized, so I knew it had to be in our house somewhere.  We looked and looked and looked but could not find it.  We decided it must have been left at the cabin.  Upon returning to the cabin we searched high and low, but it was not to be found.  We prayed asking God to please help us find this necklace, because of its special meaning to her.  Months go by and still no necklace.  So one day while cleaning out an overnight bag of Savannah's, that I had cleaned out many times before,I tossed up a prayer asking God to show us where that necklace was.  A few seconds later, I ran my hands inside a pocket in the bag and felt a bobby pin. When I pull it out wrapped around the bobby pin was the necklace.  As I said before I had cleaned this bag out many times and I thought I had checked it really well...but I guess not.  Or maybe God knew when I would need my faith boosted.  I love Him.    Seeing that necklace around her neck today is a gentle reminder to me that he is faithful.  He hears our prayers even the small ones.

 That necklace will always serve as a reminder to me of God's faithfulness and that he cares about every detail of our lives...even a young girl's desire to find her small gold chain necklace.

It's A New Year...Welcome 2013

Today is actually January 2nd, 2013.  My clock says 6:13.  I have been awake for 3 hours.  When I first rolled over and checked out the time it was 3:08.  After rolling around in my bed for an hour and half, I decided to make good use of this sleepless early morning so I turned on my computer.  My mind is whirling with thoughts, plans, goals, dreams for this new year.  As I have said before, I love a New Year and all the new possibilities that it brings.  Fresh starts....I love them.  Resolutions....I'm making them. (That will be a whole other post!)

New Years day started off with me being very motivated! That cleaning out bug hit me hard   yesterday, so I decided to tackle the biggest project first....my closet!  I removed over 100 pieces of clothing and over 30 pairs of shoes.  I.FEEL.SO.MUCH.BETTER.  Why do I save certain things?  I will not miss any of it and I LOVE the "lighter feeling" that I now have.  This is just the beginning of the "purging mode" that I intend to continue on with in 2013.

I feel that the 2nd day of January is really the beginning of the year for me.  New Years Day finds me still in holiday frame of mind.  But the 2nd is reality, holidays are over and it is time to return to normal life. Time to start putting into action all my goals and resolutions...I'm excited and I'm motivated.  Maybe that is why I can't sleep, too many thoughts whirling around in my mind!:)

Cheers to a New Year.....Abundantly Blessed!

Lisa

Blogging Backward

Where do I start to catch up!  I lost complete control on my blogging during the last quarter of 2012!  Part of the reason is my work.  Starting on October 31, I began decorating for Christmas for all my clients.  For the next six weeks I was staring at garland, balls, trees, ribbon, mesh and everything else that is Christmas related everyday of the week.  I do love my work, but during the holidays it gets a little crazy.

Maybe I will blog backward...starting with today and ending up in October!:)   Today I am at the cabin soaking up some down time, which is very much needed, after the busy holidays!  I have not showered or gotten out of my pjs all day!  If you know me very well that never happens.  Part of the reason is God blessed us with a white Christmas, something else that never happens in Arkansas, except on rare occasions. So combine cabin with snow and family and you end up with a perfect day for staying in your pjs.  We have eaten too much, played in the snow, played lots of games and laid around all day!  I could use about a week of this...but all good things must come to an end so tomorrow we will head back home!:(

Part of the reason we are going back is my sweet daughter Natalie.  She and Ben could not come with us to the cabin because Ben has been so sick.  And I do mean sick...with the worst case of the flu.  He has been running a high fever for 7 days, has been to the doctor twice, and is now throwing up and very nauseated. It has been a very difficult Christmas for them.   We are praying he is better soon.  We took his presents over to him yesterday!  Hopefully, he will get to enjoy them soon! 

Our Christmas has been wonderful other than we really missed Ben getting to celebrate with us and we didn't get to go to my moms and celebrate with my family because of the weather.  The roads were very icy on Christmas day so we only made it to the cabin.  I have enjoyed every moment celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  It is hard to grasp God loving us so much that He sent His Son to die for us.  Thank you God for the gift of salvation and forgiveness.

Well I must get in the shower before going to bed!:)  So I will leave you with a few photos.

Matt and Jessica walking back up after sledding down the hill!

And another cute pic of the happy couple!

Sledding...Matt, Jessica and Savannah!

Our snow covered cabin!

Beautiful place!

Driveway perfect for sledding

Here they come!

Fun times

Love the snow!

Beautiful view!

My kiddos...love them

And again...picking up speed

We built a great snowman!

Savannah did his hair!:)

Snowman Builders!

Snowball time!

Mr. Snowman..you are really cute!

Snow Kisses!

Love her!

Abundantly blessed....Lisa

Ballgames, Birthdays, Bible Study, Weddings, Workouts and Work

Well, I know I have been a little behind in my blogging....but September started off with a bang and never let up!  I will try to recap this wonderful month...which I call wonderful because it is my birthday month!:)  What's not to love about a month that brings on a new season, new beginnings, and it just happens to be my birthday month! 

The beginning of the month began with a holiday!  Labor Day!  We spent the weekend attending the Razorback game and relaxing at the cabin with the family!  It just happened to be the only win so far for the Hogs, so we are clinging to that distant memory.  I won't bother with details of the other games .....I will just say that we are all so SAD and have lost all hope of the season that we were supposed to have.

The next weekend was my birthday celebration with my family!  I got an Erin Condren planner!  If you haven't seen her website and looked at all her wonderful goods that she has for sale...you are missing out!  I love this planner so much...not only does it function well...it is really CUTE!!  Savannah got me the cutest tray that makes me smile each time I walk in the door.  I am still working out...so I got lots of cute workout clothes.  Definitely motivates me to keep going when I have something cute to wear!:)  My lunch with all my girlfriends was a blast not to mention they all rock when it comes to b-day presents.  It felt like Christmas!

Bible Study started back up with Beth Moore's The Inheritance.  I love digging into God's word with Beth Moore.  She. is.such.a great. teacher.!  I could do an entire post on how her studies have impacted my life!

Savannah is a Heartball Sweetheart this year.  They select 50 sophomore girls to go through the program.  There are 3 from North Little Rock. Savannah, Laura Leigh Turner and Maddie Harrington.  It requires lots of volunteer hours at different hospitals and with the Heart Association.  She has met several new friends and is learning so much! 

Speaking of Savannah...I am so proud of her.  She has such a full plate this year with school, dance, Sweethearts, Mayor's Youth Council, and the play! She got student director over costume, hair and makeup for the upcoming play!  That is such a big honor.  So proud of her.  She will also be representing her class on homecoming court at NLRHS!  And on top of all that she is sweet as can be.  LOVE HER!

We also celebrated my sweet son-in-law's birthday too!  He turned 27!  Just typing that makes me feel old.  Love him too!

I have worked on several parties this month for clients and a decorated a few houses.  Love my work!  It is so fun to be in on celebrations and get to be a part of making someone else feel special.

Well hopefully I haven't forgotten anything.:)  Our lives are abundantly blessed.....Lisa

Lots of cheering going on this month!

1st homecoming..more pics to follow of 2nd homecoming!

Birthday celebration for Ben...he got a new grill!

Matt and Jessica watching Ben open presents!

Matt and Jessica

Sister Love

Paul and I

Ben and Natalie

Dirt Pudding was the birthday cake this year!  So good!

About to blow out candles!

His new grilling apron for his new grill!

Fall, Football and Friends

Well can you believe it is the last week of August?  I'm longing for some good ole fall days, when the wind blows cool breezes and the leaves make a golden orange carpet over the yard and sidewalks.  We have had some cooler temps recently that are just a tease for what is to come!

Well with the fall season comes football!!  I love me some high school football and college football as well!  We will be heading up to the "hill" this weekend to call those Hawgs!!  We are also planning a weekend at the cabin, which I am looking sooooo forward to!  On Saturday we will scoot on up to Fayetteville to watch the Razorbacks season opener.  Love spending time with our family doing all these fun things!

I love clothes!  So... seeing all the cute new Razorback clothing items has motivated me to purchase a few new tops to wear to the games!  Not that I really need any motivation to buy clothes:).   Since red is my favorite color how fortunate am I that Arkansas's colors are red and white!  Go Hogs!

Last week was a busy one with Savannah starting back to school.  We had a back to school breakfast with about 15 of her friends coming to our house Monday morning for some really good food!   We have such good friends and their moms are always willing to help make things fun for the girls!  I got a little crafty and made a really cute wreath for the front doors!  Kinda puts us all in the mood for back to school when we pull up in the driveway and see the front doors.

Friday night was Meet The Wildcats night.  Savannah's cheer squad was introduced and performed their routine on the field.  Love watching the girls perform.  They are so talented.

A few of the girls eating breakfast!

My sweet Savannah, Maddie and Laura Leigh!

The whole group!

Savannah standing by the NLR front door!

One last shot before they headed out for the first day!

Well must get on with this day.........

Abundantly blessed...Lisa

Memories Of The First Day of School

Well it is mid August, lacking two days.  We are gearing up around here for another school year.  I was thinking back to my school days and all the excitement that circulated around the beginning of a new year.  The big question for me was always...."What would I wear the first day"?   I know that is pretty lame, but not when you are in junior high or high school, or even grade school for that matter!:) My best friend, Julie, who became my best friend in 4th grade and was by my side all through the years was the person who I would discuss this matter with for hours on end.  Mainly because we liked to match or dress alike on our first day of school!  Believe it or not we did this until our junior or senior year and even then we made sure our outfits were similar!  I cannot help but smile when I recount all those memories of planning and redoing our hair 10 times because we wanted to look absolutely perfect that first day!  Every girl should have a friend like this...one to share all your secrets with knowing they are safe!  I love you Julie, if you read this, I am so thankful for all the years we laughed, cried, ate too much and were just plain old silly.  I love you like a sister dear friend.  This is one of our MANY pics we had taken together in high school.  I still get tickled just looking at this!  I thought my hair looked so good!!  Oh my....!!  (All of my old pics of our first days of school are at my mom's house.  Someday I will post one of those!)



And BTW, thanks to a mom that was super talented in the sewing department I usually had some pretty sweet outfits!:) 

What are your favorite memories of a new school year?

Abundantly blessed....Lisa

I've been everywhere man....I've been everywhere!

Wow...July has flown by and I've been doing some traveling!  I wanted to do a better job of blogging, but it has been busy around here.  I'll try to back up and recall the events of this month!  The second week of July was spent in Hot Springs attending the Miss Arkansas pageant!  One of our friends Miss Abby Turner was a contestant in the pageant and she represented her area very well.  Not only did she look beautiful, she was talented and smart as well.  She made the top 10, which is a great accomplishment!  Congrats Abby!  One of Natalie's sorority sisters Sloan Roberts won.  She too will be a great Miss Arkansas! Savannah enjoys going as much as I do.  Fun week watching all the beautiful and talented girls! 

The very next week we headed to Branson for a week of dancing!  It was Showbiz Nationals and Savannah's studio MKDS was competing!  I was so proud of each and everyone of these dancers...they were amazing.  They ended the week with 4 of their dances winning 4 1st places...I know crazy!!  Plus their musical theater number "Coffee In A Cardboard Cup" won the highest award, the Icon Award for best overall dance!  We also won the Sportsmanship Award! Excited to say the least!  We also did some serious shopping while in Branson.  My girls and I are really good at this "sport"!  :)

Sterling and Savannah....not use to seeing them with black wigs on!  Cuties!

Monsters...so funny to see them so serious!

Their trophies!!

Dancing Buddies...so proud of them!

Ms Karen and Savannah!  The best dance teacher ever!

The winners!!Yea!

Saturday, while in Branson, I got to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my cousins Teresa and Dina!  I had not seen Dina in 35 years and Teresa only  a few times in the last 30 years!  It was so fun to sit and reminisce about our years of growing up on Barren Hollow!  I enjoyed spending the day with them so much!  Hoping to do it again soon..not going to wait 35 more years!:)

When we got back from Branson we spent one day at home before taking off again!  We celebrated Paul and Jessica's birthday on Monday!  I love having everyone over for family celebrations.  I feel so blessed that our children live close! 

My sweet hubby's birthday!  This is his favorite chair in the whole house!

Matt and Jessica aka the birthday girl!

Ben and Natalie watching everyone opening their birthday gifts!

Paul and Ben showing off their new shoes they got for their birthdays!  Ben got his early...his birthday is not until September...but he needed this now!:)

Tuesday we packed up and left for a road trip with Savannah and her friend Eden.  Our first stop was Nashville, TN.  We started off going to the downtown area and seeing all the sites.  We had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.  It was my first time to eat there and the food was delicious!  The next day we spent the day shopping at the outlet mall next to The Grand Ole Opry!  It was one of the best malls ever.  We ate at The Aquarium.  Another wonderful meal...plus it was so cool to see all the fish and sharks floating around us!  That night we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  Rascal Flatts and Lauren Elaina were there just to mention a few!  I loved it!  I grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, but had never been.  I will definitely be going back!  That was such a fun time and wonderful memories for us!  The next day we left for Gatlinburg, TN and Asheville, NC.  We ate at some more wonderful restaurants and took in the downtown areas.  There was a festival going on in Asheville called the Bele Chere, pronounced (bell Cher).  We walked the entire downtown area and took it all in!  And boy was there a lot to take in!  Kinda reminded me of the 70's with all the hippies that attended the festival.   We had another great meal at Mellow Mushroom!  I think it was the best pizza I have ever eaten and trust me I've eaten a lot of pizza in my life.  If you ever get the chance to go to one you will not be disappointed! After Asheville, we headed to Franklin, TN.  The Harpeth Festival was the happening thing there this past weekend.  It was a bluegrass festival going on in the downtown square.  Lots of good food and arts and crafts. Again we had a wonderful meal at Pucketts on the square.  This place had a lot of character!  The weekends require a reservation and it stays sold out.  They have live entertainment Wednesday thru Saturday!  Such a neat place.  Sunday we headed back to Little Rock.  Home Sweet Home!

I love vacationing and I love coming home! ( Only the laundry is about to get the best of me!)  So much to do today that I must get off and get busy.  So thankful for this beautiful country that I live in!

The Olympics is going on now!  I am so impressed with these athletes dedication.  (Makes me want to compete...not really:)!)

Abundantly blessed...Lisa     (A few pics from the trip!)

The Smokey Mountains...breathtaking!

Rascal Flatts and Lauren Elaina

Gatlinburg, TN..such a beautiful town!

Grand Ole Opry...Savannah and Eden

Riding the ski lift in Gatlinburg!

Savannah and Eden at Leipers Fork...near Franklin TN!

Me, Paul, Savannah and Eden after the Grand Ole Opry!