Martha Stewart will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving

*I wish I could take credit for writing this, but I can't. I also can't give credit to the author who remains unknown to me even after a Google search. Feel free to give me the author's name if you know. *

Martha Stewart will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving. I'm telling you in advance, so don't act surprised. Since Ms. Stewart won't be coming, I've made a few small changes:

Our sidewalk will not be lined with homemade, paper bag luminaries. After a trial run, it was decided that no matter how cleverly done, rows of flaming lunch sacks do not have the desired welcoming effect.

Once inside, our guests will note that the entry hall is not decorated with the swags of Indian corn and fall foliage I had planned to make. Instead, I've gotten the kids involved in the decorating by having them track in colorful autumn leaves from the front yard. The mud was their idea.

The dining table will not be covered with expensive linens, fancy china, or crystal goblets. If possible, we will using dishes that match and everyone will get a fork. Since this IS Thanksgiving, we will refrain from using the plastic Peter Rabbit plate and the Santa napkins from last Christmas.

Our centerpiece will not be the tower of fresh fruit and flowers that I promised. Instead we will be displaying a hedgehog-like decoration handcrafted from the finest construction paper. The artist assures me it is a turkey.

We will be dining fashionably late. The children will entertain you while you wait. I'm sure they will be happy to share every choice comment I have made regarding Thanksgiving, pilgrims, and the turkey hotline. Please remember that most of these comments were made at 5:00 a.m. upon discovering that the turkey was still hard enough to cut diamonds. As accompaniment to the children's recital, I will play a recording of tribal drumming. If the children should mention that I don't own a recording of tribal drumming, or that tribal drumming sounds suspiciously like a frozen turkey in a clothes dryer, ignore them. They are lying.

We toyed with the idea of ringing a dainty silver bell to announce the start of our feast. In the end, we chose to keep our traditional method. We've also decided against a formal seating arrangement. When the smoke alarm sounds, please gather around the table and sit where you like. In the spirit of harmony, we will ask the children to sit at a separate table. In a separate room. Next door.

Now, I know you have all seen pictures of one person carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers. This will not be happening at our dinner. For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private ceremony. I stress "private" meaning: Do not, under any circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Do not send small, unsuspecting children to check on my progress. I have an electric knife. The turkey is unarmed. It stands to reason that I will eventually win. When I do, we will eat.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind my young diners that "passing the rolls" is not a football play. Nor is it a request to bean your brother in the head with warm tasty bread. Oh, and one reminder for the adults: For the duration of the meal, and especially while in the presence of young diners, we will refer to the giblet gravy by its lesser-known name: Cheese sauce. If a young diner questions you regarding the origins or type of Cheese Sauce, plead ignorance. Cheese Sauce stains.

Before I forget, there is one last change. Instead of offering a choice between 12 different scrumptious desserts, we will be serving the traditional pumpkin pie, garnished with whipped cream and small fingerprints. You will still have a choice; take it or leave it.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What if God Intended Marriage to Make us Holy?

So many people nowadays have this expectation that marriage is to make them happy. Hence the high divorce rate. LOL! But really that isn't funny, in fact it is very sad.

I've been reading a very insightful book on the subject called Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. He presents the question, What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy? A very good question indeed. And ironically how much happier we will be if we look at our marriage as a spiritual discipline...a chance to mature in our faith...a chance to die to self...a chance to model the relationship between Christ and the Church.

What an incredible opportunity to grow through a simple change in attitude.

I am thankful for the incredible husband that God has blessed me with and what wonderful opportunities He gives us each to grow as we offer our lives up to Him and live for His glory instead of our own gratification.

I'm "It"

Well, that's what we always said if we got tagged when we were growing up. :) Anyway, Delia at The Melody Within tagged me with this tag. And I would tell you that you'd better run before I tag you, but then you wouldn't stay and read my blog now would you? So, I'll be nice and just say that if you need something to fill your blog for the day, then consider yourself tagged, otherwise, you can take a deep breath and come out from your hiding place...I saw you anyway.

So, without further ado, here are eight random facts about me, I know you've been just dying to hear.

1. As a kid, I wished that I could live with the Walton's.

2. I don't like raw cheese. I like it melted, and I will even pick frozen mozzerella off the top of a pizza, but I just can't stomach the texture of raw cheese. Execeptions: cottage cheese and cheesecake.

3. I scream when I sneeze. At least this is what my family tells me. Now if I'm out in public, I sneeze this tiny little sneeze, but I think I pop every capillary in my nose as I try to hold it in.

4. I don't like peanut butter. People act as if this is a food that EVERYBODY likes, but I'm sorry, yuck. I do however like peanuts, Snicker's bars and peanut butter cookies. Go figure.

5. I studied dance (Ballet to be exact) for 10 years. I would've studied longer, but I discovered boys. I started thinking about getting married and having a baby and how that would ruin my dancing career, so why bother? I do still have my toe shoes, and you can still see blood stains inside the toes.

6. I have broken my collar bone four times. Not always the same one. Let's just say that I can never be a swimsuit model, not that I ever would have, but at least I have a good excuse. :)

7. I keep hidden stashes of chocolate all over my house. Hershey's Kisses with Almonds, mini Heath Bars, Junior Mints. We don't drink coffee, but there is a coffee canister on our counter right between the sugar canister and the tea canister. I had that canister filled with chocolate and undiscovered by my children for three years before I got caught.

8. I am scared to ride on my husband's Harley. I do sometimes, but that is when praying without ceasing really comes into play. Plus, I really figure one of us should stay alive to raise the children.

Where I'm From

I am from Dr. Seuss books read in bed at night and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and antiques from Saturday yard sales refinished in our basement.

I am from the century old house on 10th Street with seven layers of wallpaper and ornate wood trim. From a screened-in front porch with a porch swing, visiting neighbors and a cool summer breeze.

I am from a Linden tree I watched my father plant in the front yard, and peonies in the back yard that drooped when it rained. From a big vegetable garden, from honeysuckle picked on family bicycle rides through campus, so sweet.

I am from waking up at five on Christmas morning to open gifts, and lily white skin, from Lula Mae and Mary, from the Hartman's and the McGreavy's who changed their name to Rea when they got to this country lest they be found out.

I am from the melancholy and the artsy and Southern hospitality.

From "I love you" and "You're special".

I am from a father studying to be a priest ('til he met my mom), a Unitarian church, no church, a Methodist church, from Granddad who forbade his children from going to church and slipped atheist literature into his grandchildren's birthday cards.

I am from Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Scotland and Ireland, from hillbillies and Cherokee, from fried pork chops and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce.

From a great grandmother who taught Bonnie (of Bonnie & Clyde) how to shoot never dreaming how she'd use her skills, from a grandmother who ate a grasshopper in a banana on a dare, from a mother who was in drama club with Ryan O'Neal.

I am from photos in the bottom drawer of the cherry bookcase, and Mammo's sapphire in a pouch in Mimi’s purse, from vintage jewelry in an envelope taped under a dresser, from JFK half dollars tucked away in a metal lock box, from laughter and memories that I'll always treasure.


Use this template to write your own Where I'm From poem. Reminisce and enjoy!

Just an Observation

I have done a lot of reading about nutrition lately (actually some friends of mine are on the Hallelujah Diet and I've been reading the book). And so I'm finding out there are all these things that destroy the vitamins, nutrients, minerals, anti-oxidants and enzymes in food. Things like heating food, exposure to air, length of time before consumption, I don't know, you name it, just about anything you do except pick it fresh and eat it right then, destroys something. :)

So, I'm thinking about all of this and I have this thought ~ Why don't any of these things destroy the calories in food?!?!?! What is up with that?

Tell Everyone You Meet

I was reading the story of the leper in Mark 1:40-45. One thing that struck me was that the leper knew he was unclean. We also know that our hearts are unclean. He said to Jesus, " If you want to, you can cleanse me." We too could say this. And Jesus' response to us would be the same as his response to the leper, "I want to. Be clean."

At this point Jesus asks the leper to tell no one. He knew if he did, He would be so crowded with seekers, He couldn't move. Of course, the leper was so full of joy, he had to tell everyone he met what had happened. The same should be true of our testimony. We should be so overjoyed about what Christ has done for us, that we can't help but to tell everyone we meet.

Can you imagine what it would be like if all of Christ's followers did this?!? People would be waiting in line to get into overcrowded churches, storming Christian bookstores to get their hands on a Bible. In other words, people would be wanting to "touch Jesus" in any way they could, much like the crowds that surrounded Jesus after the leper shared his story.

Today, Jesus doesn't want us to keep what He has done for us to ourselves. In fact, before he left this world, He gave His disciples The Great Commission. One of the ways we can lead others to Christ is to be finding ways to share our testimony with everyone we meet (just as the leper did).

Our testimony should fill us with such joy that we can't help but to do this! If we don't feel this way, could it be that we have allowed our relationship with Christ to dry up? He wants to make us clean. Will we let Him? Will we tell everyone we meet of the wonderful things Christ has done for us?

Ponderings from the bathtub

I praise the Lord every night for my tub and nice warm water. I have many friends who tell me they would love to take a bath, but they don't have the time. So important is it to me, that I make the time. It is a time to transition from mommy to wife. It is a time to pray, to ponder, to reflect. Alone, in the quiet, I cleanse my body and my soul.

I was doing some soul searching last night in my tub. I was thinking about an entry Ann V. wrote in her blog about the harvest. She eloquently wrote about her husband trying to get the harvest done ahead of an approaching storm. Her words challenged me. Am I as diligent about the harvest of souls that my Father has left to me? Do I pursue it as though a storm was approaching?

I have to confess that as I lay there in the quiet luxury of my tub, I couldn't think of a single thing that I had done that day for the Harvest. I had behaved as if I have all the time in the world for such things. Lord, please forgive me. Please give me a sense of urgency, a continuous awareness of the eternal. Clear my heart of the many temporal things that keep it occupied.