Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Weekend Wrap-Up, Blog Linkage

Good Tuesday morning!

REMINDER! REMINDER! REMINDER!

A Simple Life is becoming a Tuesday/Friday blog beginning... NOW!

For some reason, Tuesday is never, ever as busy as Monday, and I think I will do a better job of regularly posting twice a week if I skip Monday altogether.

I should be able to get A Simple Life up and running on a regular basis...

With no excuses...

Or apologies.

Amen!

RANDOMNESS #1 - We went on our 17th Annual Mountain trip this past weekend with my side of the family, and as has become our tradition, we did a few things old and something new.


This was our "little cabin in the woods." It was called Turkey Hill Lodge... and we enjoyed every inch of it.


We did a little re-connecting. Roxie and Austin.




We had a lovely breakfast at Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg.


We went to Wonderworks for the FIRST TIME EVER! I'm going to talk a lot about Wonderworks on Friday.


We celebrated Zac's 16th birthday.


We caught up on some relaxing.


Bev hugged a bear.


We found some horses to pet on our journey.


Katie and Roxie cooked Sunday night dinner.


We celebrated Austin's 23rd birthday.


Can you believe 23 years ago, this guy weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces and was ONLY 21 inches long?

I cannot wrap my head around it.


We watched a Tim Hawkins' DVD as a family (16 to 71 years of age)... and we all enjoyed it.


We took a Grandmother/Grandkids photo.


I remembered to take a picture of Tommy and Bev just as we were pulling out to leave.


We stopped to pet the horses... again.


Aunt Bev photo bombed... again.

All in all, it was a very nice trip. It was warm and sunny. The last few years we have gone, we've had to keep an eye on the weather (ice and snow), so it was great to NOT worry about being able to come DOWN the mountain or go UP the mountain because of weather conditions.

Kind of like living in Alabama this Winter!

I'll share more pics and stories in the next two or three posts...

And I'll have a lot more pictures of Brad and Zac and Josh...

I noticed I was a little "Brad and Zac and Josh" poor in the picture department today!

RANDOMNESS #2 - As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a little article for our February Sunday School newsletter. Since the class has already received it, I can now share it on the blog.

JUST PICK A WORD… ANY WORD!

Several weeks ago, after some of my favorite blog writers announced they were going to “pick a word“ for 2014, I followed suit. I am not a fan of the New Year’s Resolution, but a word… Well, as a lover of words, that sounded very good to me.

I began making the list: SVELTE, ECLECTIC, GREGARIOUS, ANIMATED, FETCHING and ACQUIESCENT. Pretty good list, right?

A few weeks ago, Pastor Kevin preached an entire sermon about picking a word for 2014. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the sermon immensely because it meant Pastor Kevin and I were on the same page. However, he told us to not only pick a word, but “pick a verse or verses to go with the word.”

Believe it or not, SVELTE, ECLECTIC, GREGARIOUS, ANIMATED, FETCHING and ACQUIESCENT are not mentioned ANYWHERE in the Bible.

This new development left me in a bit of a quandary. I then became stressed, and in case you haven’t heard, STRESSED has been my word for the past two decades.

Determined to do the right thing and find the word God wanted me to use, I turned to a list Pastor Kevin gave us, and was immediately struck by the word STILL.

Years ago, in the midst of raising two little boys, a little girl and a Mikie, STILL sounded good, but it was not a reality. Looking back, I now know STILL is something you strive for every single day. It doesn’t just happen. In 2014, STILL can almost be impossible to find because the world puts so much value on having a busy life.

Being STILL is sometimes seen as a waste of precious time.

While there were no verses for my previous list of words, STILL has several really good verses, and I picked my favorite.

“Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him.” Psalm 37:7

Do not hate me because I have chosen the very best Biblical word for 2014.

Rumor has it GREGARIOUS is still up for grabs!

Blog Linkage - Go to Confessions of a Pioneer Woman under My Blog list and read today's post entitled, "Radioactive."

Letting kids have more "room to grow" is so hard.

I've often heard it said, "What would we have done without cell phones to help keep up with the kids?"

In fact, I've said it myself a few thousand times.

This little post just makes you want to ask the question ONE MORE TIME!

Have a fantastic week. I'll be back Friday with more mountain tales, pics and perhaps a new recipe if time allows.

Take care, and I'll talk to you the end of the week.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

4 comments:

  1. Yep, my parents raised four children without the perks of the cell/mobile phone. However, I do recall one occasion where my parents were at their wits end when my 'boyfriend' and I changed our Saturday day-date plans and went in another direction which took us away from G'dale for the entire day (with my parents thinking we would be home by 2 o'clock or so.) To this day I can still feel the 'heat' in my ears - tempered with true fear from parents who were about to call the State Troopers to look for us. All you 'over 40' crowd recall the days of calling the police, the Troopers, the Reserves, etc... when parents had no other option. Ouch. (Note: for all practical purposes, I raised my teen without a cell phone...she got her first phone the year she entered college).

    Signed: Old and I know it.

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  2. wait a minute "EB" - on Friday you promised to tell us about Austin's "Golden" gift (to celebrate the Golden birthday). Are you holding out on us til Friday? Man oh man I was all worked up over that one.

    Signed 'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' Fan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love it when I'm called "EB." And I'll feature Wonderworks AND Austin's Golden Birthday Party Friday. He really, really liked it!

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  3. Okay I'm glad to know I'm not the only one hanging on to know what was the golden gift. Thanks for a lovely post! Andrea

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