B-Hind: age 3 3/4

Catching up on some random pictures from the past few months, this is Bradley at age 3 3/4.

Darth Vader Obsessed

Blowing Bubbles... remember when you were a kid...?

Franklin Main Street Festival with Grandma & Papa

His first-ever play at the Nashville Children's Theatre:  "Click Clack Moo"

The Green Lantern mask McDonald's toy from the fateful Cheeseburger day

Watching a book on the computer at the library

Swinging in the back yard

3 Goggles Up!

Riding a horse and blowing kisses at the Franklin Main Street Fesitval

Blowing dandelions

Drawing a picture of his family

Trying on his hat different ways- this was my favorite

Hawaiian shaved ice at the Franklin Main Street Festival

Making a silly face

B-hind: age 3 1/2

In a few weeks Bradley will be four.  I started going through pictures on my iPhone last night and found so many that I've had intentions of doing something with but had neglected. There are too many to leave out, so this is the recap in pictures of 3 1/2 years old aka January through March in iPhone pictures.

He loves to try on mommy's shoes

One not so summery day, Bradley decided he was ready for the pool- swimmy diaper and everything!

Naptime... with mittens

Funny face in the bathtub

This is how he fell asleep in the car on our way home from Casey Michael's birthday party

Sitting in my "Amanda" Tell City rocking chair

Typical Bradley: chalk all over his face and holding a bug on his arm

Holding up his Darth Vader sucker he got from Grandma Ann

Mike the Knight outfit- a Valentine's present

The Amazing Spiderman

See how he fits into his toy bin?

Playing at Pinkerton Park

Confession Time: My Love for Fast Food, Part Two

Confession Time: My Love for Fast Food, Part 2:

So I took Bradley's to Mickey D's.  It was a long drive from the church to the McDonald's.  First I had the internal struggle.  Do I go?  If I do, will I actually get a salad?  But I never get to take him to McDonald's, and he really, really wants a Green Lantern toy that they're giving away in the Happy Meals.  No one will ever know.

That little white lie is what I told myself!

So I told Bradley where we were going for lunch.  No going back now!  I pulled into the parking lot, filled with guilty anticipation.  We walked into the place, and up to the counter.  It's now or never.  Do I or don't I?  Bradley's too little to rat me out, and it wasn't likely that I would see anyone I knew.  So quickly, hastily, I committed to my sin.  I ordered a cheeseburger.

I got B situated first and then I salivated unwrapping that intoxicating quasi-beef patty.  Suddenly I felt as though I could feel the people around me judging me.  It was like they knew I was about to cave.  But I couldn't help myself.  At that moment, I made the decision that if eating a cheeseburger was wrong, then I didn't want to be right!  I even reasoned with myself, of all the ways you could be cracking under pressure and eating meat, is this REALLY the time and place you want to do it?  Again, yes, I told myself that no one would ever find out.  I could haughtily stare down everyone else's beef the next time I was confronted with it, and they would never know my dirty little lie.

Let me tell you, imagined judging stares from McDonald's strangers or not, that cheeseburger was delicious and I inhaled it!  It complimented perfectly the sweetness of the ketchup with the saltiness of the fries.  And to wash it all down with a fountain drink was the icing on the Coke.  Each savory bite of the fried beef, tiny onions, and slightly stale bun was a piece of heaven.  Oh, how I have missed you my longtime friend, I thought, as I guiltily savored every morsel.

I moved our tray into the play area so I could finish my fries while B played on the playground.  It was apparent to me that he was not going to finish his hamburger.  That burger was staring at me, begging not to go to waste.  So what did I do?  Well of course I finished it for him!  I was like a drug addict going back for more crack.  The burger was before me and I simply could not resist.  Each bite was filled with both satisfaction and guilt.  Everything I've stood for these past several months was out the window right now, as I ate my not-really-meat, genetically modified corn, antibiotic-filled slab of fake meat and cheese on a bun.

Later, when the inevitable question came up as to what I had at McDonald's, I was like George Washington.  I could not tell a lie, and the confession came pouring out of me.  I was so ashamed, and disgusted with the antithesis of organic food that I had just willingly put into my body.  And yet I was so strangely satiated and satisfied as well.

Epilogue:  Since that dark day, I am back on the wagon, and but I suppose this is an addiction with which I'll always struggle.  At least they say knowing's half the battle.

Dad turns groovy 60

Today Dad turned 60.  Mom planned a surprise party for him, and has been trying all week (unsuccessfully) to get him out of the house so she could prepare for it.  Finally today, George came through and took dad golfing for his birthday.  Mom faked a dentist appointment so she could stay home, so dad started his day off with bacon and biscuits for breakfast.  Despite the fact that it was an unlucky Friday the 13th, the guys had great golfing weather, and as soon as they were finished and pulling up to the house, my uncle Russell, Aunt Vicky, and Aunt Peggy pulled up at the same time.  It couldn't have timed out more perfectly.  Dad was surprised to see his brother and sister, and we have had a night filled with laughter, telling stories, grilling hamburgers, and enjoying 3 different kinds of homemade ice cream (Vanilla, Butter Pecan, and Strawberry frozen yogurt).  Family friends Tim, Sandy, and Jackson were here too, so we pulled the kitchen table into the dining room, and had a nice intimate dinner party.

Jackson & Bradley playing together

Dad sampling all 3 kinds of ice cream

The birthday boy

A National Championship UK shirt is on its way

B loves his Uncle George

The whole gang

Brothers and Sister... & Laura in the background

Happy 60th, Dad.  We love you, and love celebrating you.

Confession Time: My Love for Fast Food, Part One

I've been accused of neglecting the blog, which I do not deny, so I figured I'd better get to writing, and that whatever I write had better be good to have kept you waiting for so long. So here's my story. Don't judge me. Or do, and leave funny comments.

Confession Time: My Love for Fast Food, Part One

I have been on this vegetarian kick now for almost a year. Like a lot of things in life right now, I've been waffling on the issue, trying to figure out where I really stand. The growth hormones added to our standard processed meat, along with the corn they feed the animals (genetically modifed corn, I might add) and the antibiotics to keep the cramped animal masses healthier, just make me sick to think about. Depending on the origin, even organic-labeled meat might not be safe, or what you are lead to believe it is.

So for almost a full year now, I have avoided eating any meat, except for Christmas Day, when I consumed the delicious grass fed, organic beef filet prepared by Laura, and a teensy amount of bacon that was in her quiche. The rest of the time, I have gone sans pepperoni on my pizza, eaten my fair share of veggie burritos, and avoided fast food restaurants like the plague. But oh, how I do love and miss my fast food places. You know which one. Don't make me say it out loud.

It's really hard to avoid the heavenly french fries. Sure, I could order them, but they admittedly put a damper on my meatless salads and cause me to long for a burger or some chicken nuggets to pair with them instead. So I'll eat a few of someone else's fries, and half-heartedly enjoy my salad. I also am robbed of my Coke experience at these places now, because who wants to eat a salad and drink a Coke? What a gross combination! So I sip my water, pondering how much better it is for me, while I daydream of my burger, fries and Coke from the days of yore. Hence the reason I have been avoiding eating at fast food places. They're just no fun anymore. I would wager that the only people that can truly sing the "I'm lovin' it" jingle, or really commit to the whole "food, folks, and and fun" culture are those who are consuming the ubiquitous fatty fried goodness these places have to offer. The rest of us are sore-sportedly munching on lettuce (because Lord help us, there are no other vegetarian options), and sipping our water while our friends go for their Coke refills and pump more ketchup for their fries. There is a small sector who I believe is grossed out enough by the unhealthiness of these places that they either refuse to go there, or they sit there judging all the rest of the over-eaters, while they eat the healthiest thing they can find on the menu. I hope to be there some day. (well, not the judging part- but the part that's not bitter about how good your french fries and Quarter Pounder are.) But I'm not there yet... and that's where I'll leave you for today.

To be continued...

On, on U of K

I am too excited to put too much thought into this post in getting ready for the biggest Kentucky game of my life. Yes, I remember the 92 Laetner shot, but I was only 12. I remember the 96 and 98 championships, but I was 15 and 17, respectively. Now I am an adult, UK is my alma mater, and I have much more of a vested interest in the outcome of this game. There are too many stats to quote- like that Anthony Davis won 5 of the 6 major awards given to college basketball players, that we are the winningest college basketball program of all time, that we are 37-2 this season, and went a perfect 16-0 in the SEC, and many more which show just how amazing this season has been.

We re-created the C-A-T-S shot on Saturday night after the Cats beat the Cards in what was one of the most awesome rivalry game ever- seriously, if you haven't read the story about the old men fist fighting in the dialysis clinic, click here to be entertained and amazed at how hardcore the Big Blue Nation is. The quotes are priceless.

(picture)

On Saturday, B was absentmindedly humming the UK fight song during the game. I'm not gonna lie: this was one of my prouder parenting moments! He also knows more of the words than most of the UK student population, I'd wager. (Thank you, UK Chorale, for teaching me the words to sing for the rest of my UK fandom years) Tonight I am hopeful Bradley will go to bed on time so I can watch the game in semi-peace, minus all of the stress I am bound to put on myself.

#8 is within our grasp. Let's Go Big Blue!!!

Catlanta Recap

I am still on a basketball high after my trip with Dad to Atlanta this past weekend to see Kentucky play in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games of the NCAA tournament!  Laura, George, and I surprised dad with tickets to go as an early 60th birthday present.  It was a great trip, and makes me wish I were headed to NOLA this weekend.  Here's the short-ish recap of it all.

The Good:

• Kentucky 102, Indiana 90
• Kentucky 82, Baylor 70
• The parking! Seriously! We bought parking passes online for both days, and the parking garage had walkways directly to the Georgia dome, and the concourse was about as close to our seats as you could get. We drove in and parked, and drove right out after the games both days with minimal game day traffic. I was flabbergasted. (Red parking deck, if you're ever in Atlanta... the Final Four is being held there next year, so I just may be back!)
• Our awesome hosts, family friends, Nathan & Ticia.  Their house is gorgeous, it was only about 20 minutes from downtown, and they made breakfast for us both mornings.  It was great getting to spend time with them.
• As much Cherry Coke as I could drink at the World of Coke taste testing area
• I kept punching dad in the arm, grinning and saying, "Can you believe we're really here?!"  See below for our happy, giddy faces

Can you believe we are at the Sweet 16??!!

The Bad:

• Monsoon rain on the way to the ATL, and heavy traffic on the way back
• Missing the first turn to the Georgia Dome because I was playing "Yeah!" on my iPhone... I had a hankering to hear the "peace up, A-town" and it got us into trouble. Like, an hour-long traffic jam to drive around the block, trouble.
• The "Beverly" drink at the World of Coke... we each tried it in the taste-testing area and watched the next person's face as they sipped it for the first time. When in Italy, don't order a Beverly!
• Within ten minutes of getting into the Georgia Dome, I found out there was no beer being sold (hey, after sitting still in traffic for an hour, you'd want a cold one, too!), I broke my thumb nail all the way down, and the veggie dog that I ordered and was so excited about, they did not have. (Top 5 Vegetarian-Friendly Venue, my Butt!). It was a bad ten minutes. But then I decided that these bad things happen in threes, and so I took that as an omen that we were going to win the game.
• At this point in the season, UK has a lot of enemies. Watching that Louisville- Florida game, I didn't want either team to win. Can't they just give us our national title by default? Okay, so someone had to win, so it might as well have been Louisville.
• Waiting 2 hours (standing) to eat lunch at Taco Mac before Sunday's game.  There were no tables to be had, and then they apparently had two pager #3s, so our name got bypassed.  That food tasted delicious by the time we sat down and scarfed down lunch just barely getting to the Georgia Dome in time for the game.  We also invited 2 other Kentucky fans to sit with us and eat since everyone was short on time and short on places to sit.  The father & son were nice, but we strangely never exchanged names, only stories during our hasty lunch.

NOT drinking a Beverly:  Nathan, Tim, & Dad

The Ugly:

• Baylor's uniforms: As if the highlighter-yellow wasn't bad enough, they went to 11 with their awful Camo uniforms lined in bright yellow
• TAB: Why did Coke ever make this drink? Nathan and I each sampled this one at the World of Coke, and to me, it tasted like flat Coke with more sugar. Not as bad as the Beverly, but seriously Coke, why would you make this?
• While waiting in the hour-long traffic around the Georgia Dome, I searched the internet and played us several "Georgia-inspired" songs. There are many. This helped to calm our nerves while sitting still for way too long. It helped the time to pass, but I'd have preferred not to have wasted this time in the first place. (Stupid me, looking for URsher!)
• My Zoolander Fail Facebook post:  Here's the picture- I thought it said "Magnum" but in reality, the sign said Mangum... DOH!

Spelling FAIL!

 A few other pictures from the weekend:

Posing in front of the Kentucky-Indiana final scoreboard

My favorite time out- complete with the Wildcat sporting a Unibrow

Trying a new Coke product

Dad gets his complimentary bottle of Coke

Anthony Davis, National Player of the Year, shooting a free throw

Cats playing D

The newest game craze: Fatheads

The Three Goggles

Senior Darius Miller holding the net

Father-Daughter bonding time

I guess our family just bleeds blue, and I'm so blessed to have enjoyed this great weekend with my dad and to have gotten to see the Cats play some great basketball and earn another trip to the Final Four.  Dad... you're my dad... and I love you, man!

Nightmare on Elmo Street

Ever wonder what kids dream about, or worse- what gives them nightmares?  What's so traumatic about being three, you might wonder, that it would rouse you from a dead sleep?  Well I'm glad you asked.

Two nights ago Bradley woke up crying in the middle of the night.  When I got to his room, in between the sobs, he exclaimed, "I don't like my little monster truck!  I want a big monster truck!"  Now mind now, it's not like he's in a "monster truck phase" or something.  He rarely plays with trucks, so this was totally out of the blue.  Good thing it was dark so B couldn't see me laughing silently at his predicament.

He settled down pretty quickly and fell back asleep.  The next morning I asked him if he remembered dreaming about monster trucks, and I asked him what upset him so much.  He told me that he dreamed he had taken a monster truck from a little girl, and that Grandma B took the truck away from him!  At this, I couldn't stifle my laughter.  Since Grandma is almost always the good guy, and I as the single parent, am always the bad guy, I relished this opportunity to laugh at Bradley being so upset with her.

So that, my friends, is what three year old nightmares are all about, and apparently Grandma B is the Freddy Krueger of Elmo Street.

Bradley's Bracket

I grew up in a household that was basketball crazy.  Every March, we would each fill out our NCAA tournament brackets and post them in the kitchen to compare our picks.  Laura & I used to fight over who got to highlight the winners after each round.

Now the bracket picks legacy has been passed on to Little B.  Mom sat him down and went round by round and asked him who he thought would win between each school mascot.  Check out this winning bracket:

Humorously, he has the Kentucky Wildcats playing the St. Bonaventure Bonnies playing in the national title game.  Let the traditions begin, and let's go Wildcats!

The Tree of Life

Spring has sprung in middle Tennessee.  We had such a mild winter that all of the flowers and trees are blooming, and Easter's still nearly a month away.

Mom & Dad have this beautiful tree in their backyard which we've identified as a Chinese Magnolia.  Every spring the tree blooms these gorgeous flowers, and less than a week later, the flowers fall, blanketing the yard in soft white petals resembling a spring snow leaving the branches bare until the leaves come in and take over.

The past several years I've made a point to take a picture with Bradley in front of the blooming tree, and so I thought it might be neat to see the passage of time in pictures:

2010

 Bradley age 21 months

 2011

 Bradley age 2 1/2

 2012

 Bradley age 3 1/2

And no, I haven't yet seen the Terrence Malek film for which I wittily named this post, but I'll get around to it eventually.

Saturday Shopping

I must have been crazy, but I decided to take B with me to the mall and to Walmart on Saturday... by myself... at naptime. My rationale was that I had a few things I needed, and because of our timetable, we had to forego the nap and go in the afternoon. I didn't want to sacrifice my time with B, plus, there's the advantage of spending control when you shop with a child- their attention span is only so long, so it cuts down the unnecessary browsing (and ultimately spending)! So off we went, while Mom & Dad cheered on the Murray State Racers to an OVC championship.

To my delight- he was an angel. He listened to me and stayed by my side, and even gave his imput on the items I was purchasing. We broke up the trips to the individual mall stores with a ride on the carousel, split a free pretzel from the mall kiosk, and I let him expend some energy running around the kids' play area. After the mall, we shared some snacks in the car, and then made our Wally World run, which
culminated with a ride on the merry go round there AND a turn playing the claw game. (To Anonymous, these pictures were taken on my iPhone.)

All in all, it was a productive and fun afternoon spent.

Rhyme Time

I haven't done any posts on what B is up to these days, so here's a quick rundown:

It really is true what they say about kids: everything is a phase.  If something B is doing is driving me crazy (getting out of bed in the middle of the night... wetting himself at nap time... obsessed with Tom & Jerry) give it a few weeks, and the phase has passed.  Unfortunately, it can work both ways, and suddenly my angel can be a crab for several moody weeks as well.

Most exciting these days is that B has recently figured out rhyming words.  He will offer up several pairs of words- like car and bar, and tree and bree (okay, they're not always real words, but we're getting there) and he lights up when he realizes he's made up a rhyming pair.  As a self-proclaimed grammarphile, it makes me beam with pride that he's so interested in the English language.

These days, the favorite tv shows are Mike the Knight, the Backyardigans, Team Umizoomi, and Word Girl.

The Buddah belly is still there and he weighs in around 38 pounds-  still short and stocky for his age.

I'm in denial about his hair.  I still maintain that it's strawberry blonde, but most of the time anyone who meets him for the first time will comment on his Red hair.

Bradley loves Star Wars and Superheros.  He can't get enough of watching both on tv and dressing up in his various costumes and sword fighting and/or light saber fighting.  Oh, and of course, he calls it his life saver.  And he always says, I'm "be-tending," and likes to play with "marvelworks" (marbles).  He is quite taken with Wonder Woman, and told me the other night that Wonder Woman was pretty, and that he wanted to touch her boobies!  He is 3 1/2.  Where does he come up with this stuff??

Tonight, the creme de la creme:  Mommy, you're beautiful. And he told me that I was prettier than Wonder Woman.  Considering what a fox he thinks Wonder Woman is, I'll take that compliment.

Buh-bye Anonymous

Due to some pretty hateful anonymous blog posts, readers are now required to sign in using a Google ID to post comments.  Since most of you reading don't post comments anyways, feel free to keep silently lurking.  And for those of you who take the effort to use a Google ID, I promise you won't regret it.  Google is taking over the world, and sooner or later you'd need a Google ID anyways.

And to the person or persons posting the controversial anonymous comments, just remember that there are always 2 sides to every story, and while I understand that you are entitled to your own opinions, it would be nice if you could confront me personally and own up to your opinions with a name attached to those comments.

Occupy Memorial

Saturday night was one for the books.  It was one of those spontaneous, hilarious nights that take me back to the good ole' days of the Diva Domain when funny Nashville going-out stories abounded.

I found out Saturday after Zumba class that former Sugar Shack roomie-turned-Nashvillian, Anne, was able to score us free tickets to the Vandy- Kentucky game Saturday night.  Well, to be more accurate, her husband Darren is the one who got the tickets, but he had an out of town bachelor party to attend... so sad... so that left me to go in his place!  I was literally dancing in the door when I found out.  We decided to meet up at her house and ride together, grab a quick bite to eat and a few beers, and then get to Memorial in plenty of time to see the game.  You see, unlike fairweather Vandy fans, we like to come early and stay late.

Anne and I are both the proud owners of the new IPhone 4S. We are also both inept at using said devices expertly to find places to eat near Memorial Gym. We knew we wanted to check out Corner Pub since it was being touted as The Place for Kentucky fans to hang before and during the game. After a long circle of Vanderbilt's campus, and finally employing Siri to help us navigate downtown, we found our destination. While it was impressive to see a bar full of blue, the potential for a seat and any kind of food was lacking. After checking out the small quarters, we decided we would be better off finding another spot to dine before the game. By this time, it was dark, and I was already starting to panic that we wouldn't have time to find a new location, eat, and get to the game on time.

Again, I utilized my iPhone to pull up nearby restaurants, and we settled for Chili's due to its free parking, and close proximity to campus. The place was packed, so after putting our name on the list, we pushed through all the people in the bar to try and get a few drinks while we waited, in hopes that someone would leave and we could take their table in the bar. No such luck. Every person in there it seemed, were doing the same thing we were- killing time before the big game, so nobody was going anywhere any time soon. I pushed up to an open corner of the bar to order drinks in between 2 nice-looking Kentucky fans. After a while, we discovered that a) they were Richie Farmer's cousins {Richie Farmer- a famous UK player from 1992, the team known as The Unforgettables}. They even pulled out their driver's licenses to prove their heritage. Yes, Mikey and Rudy weren't pulling our legs- Their last name was Farmer. And yes, I of course had to start the infamous slow Rudy chant, upon discovering Cousin #1's first name. and b) the second funny thing about these two guys is that they are literally farmers by trade in northern Tennessee. I once knew an attorney who's last name was lawyer and she didn't seem to get as big a kick out of that ironic cooincidence as you might think.

Anne and I had a good ole time at Chili's talking to the Vandy fans behind us, Richie Farmer's cousins at the bar, watching basketball on the big screens, witnessing a near bar-fight between rowdy fans behind us, scarfing down a shared appetizer, and generally getting super-pumped about seeing our beloved #1 ranked Wildcats in action.

About 45 minutes til gametime, we walked over to the gym with Richie Farmer's cousins, and a whole crowd of other people en mass for the game. Our seats were on the second level, towards the back and weren't as close as I would have liked, but hey, at least we were there! I giddily snapped pictures of Coach Cal and the team as they warmed up. There was far too much back and gold in that place for my taste, although we did befriend the Kentucky fans behind us, and would flash each other the "Three Goggles" whenever our team drained one. Anne and I both agreed it was too stressful a game. Watching live, you miss a lot of the details, and there's no benefit of having instant replay or analysis from the commentators when they aren't jabbering about unrelated topics.

It was a close game, but the Wildcats prevailed. It felt good to be able to cheer Kentucky on to a road game win, and after the game we made our way back to the Corner Pub and it was like being transported back to Lexington there was so much blue in that place! For these 2 UK grads it was a fantastic night out in Nashvegas.

The Weezers

"My best friend Heather from home," which is how many of have heard me to refer to her, was in town this weekend. Bradley and I drove over to west Nashville on Saturday and met Heather and her sister Angie, and poor Bradley was such a trooper as we hopped from place to place. We had lunch at Bluecoast Burrito, then went to Steinmart, Angie's house, Fabu, the Container store and a few other places in Green Hills mall, and finally to Maffiozas for dinner. He went with us from store to store and was an angel even though he wasn't really looking "with his eyes and not with his hands" like I asked him to, but he's 3, what do you expect?!

Right as we were leaving lunch, Angie let Bradley in on a little secret: Heather's childhood nickname: Weezer. Well B thought this was just
about the funniest thing ever, and so the next store we went to, he
hollared loudly for Weezer in every single aisle, much to the
amusement of the other Steinmart patrons. What goes around comes
around, they say, so Bradley connected the dots and determined that if Heather was "Weezer," then Angie must be the "Other Weezer." So
that's what he called them all weekend. Sunday morning, he woke up and wanted to know where "the Weezers" were!

The Weezers came over for a late Sunday lunch, and then since
Bradley's daycare was closed for professional development on Monday,
he and I got to spend the entire day playing with Weez. We picked up
Heather and drove to get hot tea from Starbucks, and then to the open
gym time at Pump It Up where Bradley proceeded to expend lots of
energy in a 2 hour period, and Heather and I got time to sit and catch
up. We even almost got dragged into a Brentwood Mom fight between
these two women whose kids were being bullied.

Side-stepping the mama drama, we convinved Bradley without too much
trouble that it was time to leave Pump It Up and go get some lunch.
Heather's and my "thing" growing up was chicken fingers, and knowing
she doesn't have an abundance of chicken finger places up her way, we
decided to go to McDougall's. I'll admit, I was really tempted to
cave and enjoy some fried buffalo tenders, but spotting the grilled
cheese on the menu, I went with that. Until I truly decide where I stand on the whole eating meat issue, I didn't want to cave now.

After lunch, we went home and I got Bradley down for his nap then
Heather and I had a little Grey's Anatomy/Private Practive mini
marathon. We colored, played Bat Cave and baseball with B once he got
up from his nap, and then enjoyed an early supper of breakfast-for-dinner, where I made Heather the most utterly boring omelet ever, (Seriously. Just Italian seasoning? No cheese? Who
does that?) followed by a semi-healthy dessert of chocolate fondue with fruit.

I dropped Heather off that night, and then met up for one last dinner
hurrah last night at Chuy's before she departed again for the land of
the yuppies and fiber-optic cable, where Angie and I had a laugh at
Heather's expense at the Blondie Cowboy Mouth event, and the story
about the man who had "the AIDS" helping her put air in her tire in
the ghetto. The visits are never long enough, but I love that we always pick up right where we left off. Until next time, Weezer!

Be Careful What You Pray For

New job + New iPhone = Blog shifting to the bottom of my priority pile.

But I've promised myself I wouldn't give it up because I love writing too much. So even if it's just me writing and reading, even if some of the silent lurkers don't want to, or can't figure out to post comments with a Google Account (There IS always the anonymous route, I'm just sayin... you can type your name, even), I still have life events I want to document, current events to comment on, and perspective to share. Today's post is a long time coming, and the moral of the story is this: Be Careful What You Pray For ... because it just might happen.

Backing up, I shared 2 prayer requests for 2011 with my Small Group/Sunday school class at church. 1) For Bradley & I to have a place of our own to live, and 2) For me to trust God with my finances and commit to tithing. Now here it is 2012, and while I don't yet have a place of my own to live, I do believe that God honors our prayers and He's not on my timeline, so even though the year has come and gone, doesn't mean that my prayers were in vain. My other request had to do with finances. As a single mom, it's tough to make ends meet. I won't play up the circumstances because I know there are many moms out there who have it worse than me. Still it's tough when almost all of my small income goes towards paying for daycare and gas to get to work. So it would be easy to hoard my money in the name of being financially responsible and promise Jesus that I will start my giving once I have a better job, or once I have X amount in savings, or once I have a house... but those events-to-come are never ending, and I know there will always be an unexpected emergency to pay for, or some fun opportunity out of the blue that costs more money that I had planned on spending. So I understand that the time to give back to God is now.

You hear over and over that if God gives you a little, and you are trustworthy with what He gives you, He'll give you more. I'd tithed to church in the past, and I support missionaries and other causes, but my 2011 resolution was to be consistant with tithing as a starting point, with the intent that it would become a habit and I would give more down the road.

So that's the backstory- I was praying for my finances in 2011, and asking God to help me trust Him. Well when God's people start praying, God gives you tests aka opportunities to strengthen your faith.

About halfway through 2011, some residual effects from my divorce left me suddenly, soley, legally responsible for over $10,000.00 in credit card debt. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth the day I found out about my new predicament, and yep, I absolutely blamed God. "Why am I being punished over and over?" were my cries to Jesus. "It isn't fair, this isn't my fault." So I did what believers do when faced with trials. I prayed. A lot. And I asked a lot of you to pray with me. After a few weeks, I came to the realization finally that the amount of money being asked of me was so great, that I had no choice but to pray. Anything smaller and I would have come up with a game plan, and figured out my payments with the credit card company, and set to paying off debt for the rest of my life. BUT (and God is funny like that) the amount might as well have been a million dollars as far as I was concerned. So I reached a point of peace where I left it in God's hands. I made some phone calls and I wrote some letters (God certainly has blessed me with the gift of writing, so again, the credit goes to Him) but one day I called and discovered that the debt had been erased. 100% gone.

Not to get all hyper-spiritual, but it was like my own real-life example of Jesus dying for my sins- forgiven in an instant with no way to repay Him- the grace and mercy of God at its finest. I was overjoyed. This was a real-life miracle. We all know what shape our economy is in, and credit card companies don't just wipe away thousands of dollars just because. But I prayed to trust God with my finances, and in that time of financial stress, I got my opportunity.

I share this story not to place blame on anyone, and not to glorify myself, in fact, I felt guilty for not praying more during those months, but I share this to show how Awesome God is. Modern day miracles do happen. I didn't hear God speak to me, but I did read lots of Bible verses about trusting God, and I sensed a peace wash over me when I realized this was just one of those things I was gonna have to trust Him with.

Be careful what you pray for, because God hears your prayers, and will honor those prayers in His time. It makes me wonder how many other prayers I might have flippantly offered to God, and then not followed through. Maybe a challenge or an opportunity presented itself but because I wasn't doing my part in spending time talking to God about, or making sure my heart was lined up with what God would want, I missed it. Anyways, this was one of the biggest events of 2011 for me, so I wanted to share it with you.

God hears our prayers, and He is Good All the Time.