God's little rewards

Well you all know that I'm trying to lose a little weight. And a friend of mine, Kristine, has a private weight loss blog that I've been participating in. We have weekly challenges and then also daily challenges to earn extra points. It's so much fun!! Last week the challenge was no sweets! No easy task for this sugary, sweet girl, let me tell you!

The weekend before the no sweets week, I had been at a Beth Moore simulcast and she made mention of her famous Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake. (Around here, we leave off the Texas and just enjoy ourselves some good ol' chocolate sheet cake.) So I was thinking about that chocolate sheet cake, which just so happens to be one of my FAVORITE desserts and lo and behold, here comes Monday with birthday treats in the teacher's lounge workroom. And what do you suppose was sitting on the lounge table? Why, yes. It was a chocolate sheet cake. And it was just calling out my name. But I resisted temptation that day and the rest of the week and had no sweets.
And what a stressful week it was. I sure could've used some chocolate.

Now comes the good part. The rewards part. On Monday afternoon, my next door neighbor brought over a chocolate sheet cake! Oh it was so yummy. And so needed! Then the very next day, Nate's nurse brought over another chocolate sheet cake.

So I like to think that because I was so good and resisted all the sweet temptations last week, God wanted to reward me with a little bit of chocolate. Or a whole lot of chocolate! Whatever the case, God is good!!

happy belated-birthday, dad!

Dear Dad,

You deserve the happiest of birthdays!

I wish I could buy you the perfect present.
Like an all-expense paid golf vacation.

Or an exotic beach vacation.

Or a cool new phone.
But, alas, I am a teacher. And I married a teacher. And we have 4 kids.
So I guess you'll have to settle for a plate of homemade cookies.
And a blog post dedicated to you.

And maybe I'll surprise you with a little gift when we are able to celebrate your birthday properly.

I might even be able to arrange for you to have a caddy.
If you fund your own golf vacation.


I love you dad! Happy Birthday!!

Love, Marcie

good-bye sweet grandpa

Today I had the privilege to witness my grandpa's transition from life on earth to his eternal life in heaven. It was a beautiful and precious experience.
So very, very sorrowful for all the loved ones he left behind.
But beautiful to know that his body is fully healed. And he is now reunited with his parents and brothers and his first baby boy.

Over the past few days, as we sat by grandpa's side, we recalled many great stories about grandpa. It has been an emotionally draining week. But I wouldn't trade the opportunity to spend those last days together as a family.

I love you Grandpa. I will miss you deeply. Forever.

oh, how we love shoes!!

I must confess...I am a shoe girl.
I can't help it. My mom made me that way!
And I prefer quantity over quality. Because a girl truly can never have too many pairs of black shoes! Why doesn't my husband understand this concept??

I have passed the shoe-loving onto my girls and starting at a young age they like to buy shoes, play dress up in shoes and wear mommy's too-big shoes.
Back when Allison was in early elementary school, she wanted a pair of shoes from Wal Mart. No, she didn't NEED these shoes. But she wanted them and I didn't want to tell her no. But I knew Jeremy would give me a hard time about buying them. So I did what any smart mommy would do.
Teach her to lie.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The deal was, keep the shoes in the van and put them on before you go to school and then change before you go back home. Then after a little time has passed, you wear the shoes into the house and when the observant dad asks, "Where'd you get those shoes?" You can honestly say, "Oh, I've had them for awhile." Sounds easy enough, right? Ladies, are you taking notes?

Well this is how it actually went down:

Jeremy: where'd you get those shoes? (why, oh why, does he have to be SO observant?)
Allison: mommy bought them for me awhile back but she made me keep them in the van so you wouldn't know.

So, my dear child really is a better person than her mommy!


Delaney has also taken a liking to shoes.

Fortunately she is satisfied with wearing any old shoes she finds laying around the house.

For now!

the circle of life

There is only one thing we can be sure of in our lives and that is eventually we will all die. We don't know when. And usually we don't know how. But it WILL happen to all of us some day. (unless we live until the rapture, but that's another post)

I lost my grandpa (my dad's dad) when I was just 7 years old. It was sad, but I was very young and it didn't impact me like it would now. And it was sudden. At just 54 years old, he had a heart attack on the golf course and was gone that night.

Now I've spent the last year watching my other grandpa fail in health. It's so hard to watch someone you love change from the strong man they once were, to a totally dependent person. His body is now shutting down and we just wait with him until it is time to go home to the Lord. We try to keep him comfortable. We try to comfort each other. We know it will be a glorious day for him but such a solemn day for us.

Both of these men were great, Christian men. They were husbands, dads, grandpas, friends.
It's hard to understand why one grandpa is taken at what seemed to be before his time. And another grandpa was perhaps allowed to live way beyond his time. Yet, we must trust that they will go HOME at the perfect time. In God's time.