My Cup of Joy

I have spent the past several years trying to find answers to questions about my living with chronic pain. I was diagnosed a year ago with what many call an " invisible illness". It is one that no one really sees, but I certainly can feel. At my worst, I hurt from the hairs on my head to the tips of my toes...all at the same time.

It can become a very consuming thing. In that I mean, when a person lives in chronic pain they can only think about that pain. It consumes their mind, their actions, their words, their lives. The people around you can't really see the pain so sometimes the thing that consumes you can really annoy them. This makes it hard to live with the person. I mean how much can one person hear about a pain that no one can see?

While I've spent the past year, learning more and more about my particular illness; I have also searched for what to do to make things better. See there is no known "cure".  I have learned in my time alone at home- in my pain to turn to my GOD. He has been my Comforter and  my Healer. I began by finding music that directed me back to God's word. I would intentionally look for words to repeat back to God so that I knew He was those things to me.

I had considered my relationship with Him a good one. I did all the right things...read, attended, listened, etc. I think that I finally realized though that I had to totally believe everything thing that I read and listened to. I had to follow through and let go so God could be those things to me.

My cup of joy overflows now. I make my gratitude list, I speak His promises back to Him, I sing His praises, I pray. Yes, I still live with a life of pain daily, but I'm discovering that in the midst of it all He is still the cup filler!

Monday is the day I post more gifts in my count to 1000.... #98-129

Exciting adoption news for a friend
Gift of friendship and likeminded parenting
A room rull of praying women
Spiritual leadership of missions director
Blessing of adoption for so many
Morning conversations with Philip
Morning devotions on the way to school
The ease of pain so work can be done
To see my baby smile
The kindness of appreciation for a job
A walk in the crisp air
Strength to get housework done
Someone looking at our house -for sale
A friend with whom I can be open
To see a friend's excitement in answered prayer
To voice of a little one learning to say your name
Warm days
A son's excitement over his sport
A day filled with girls
A family friendly movie
PW roast and mashed potatoes
Watching God at work in the lives of friends
The movie that makes me able to talk to teenagers
Boys faces after a boy birthday
Little girls faces after quality time with her Daddy
Your word that makes me think
Talks about money that aren't as painful-debt freedom!
New babies for friends who thought it impossible
A walk of praise
An answer to prayer
Friends seeing Your grace

My 1000 Gifts List

I have been reading for a while now a blog by a wonderful writer from Canada. Ann Voskamp writes on the http://www.holyexperience.com/. I must say her writing has drawn me to think about my relationship with Christ in a deeper way.  I will say that it has challenged me at times to think outside my little faith box. I have been blessed, changed and moved by these post. For a while now, Ann has shared her challenge to make a list of 1000 gifts that God has given her. I have read not from the beginning so have awed at the "little" things that she finds shear joy in. I tell you I'm stretched beyond myself may Mondays as I read these post. Recently Ann (see how I use her name like I know her, I've read so much & she opens her heart that you feel like you do know her) has published her book, 1000 Gifts.

 I had anticipated its arrival, and finally a week ago my package came. I was so excited to jump into finding joy through gratitude. I had been writing my list for a week before my book arrive. I just knew that I would read the book in one sitting. I must say that Ann's writings make me think so much that I've had to digest this...you know like you would a good meal. I can't just hurry through. I do not want to miss the message that God is giving me about my gratitude towards Him. Each Monday, I plan to update my list. I began my list making on January 14, 2011. I almost to 100 now so this first post will be long .So I begin my journey to gratitude...my 1000 Gifts.

1. God's word to me.
2. A wonderful family.

3. The smile of a friend's baby
4. A snow day with the family
5. A cup of morning coffee
6. A husband who is growing-spiritually
7. Conversations that make you laugh (on the way to school)
8. The shocking kiss from my 8 year old every morning before she gets out of the car
9. Afternoon piano practice
10. Weekends with my family
11. Slow Saturday mornings
12. Giggle of little girls
13. The growing faith of a Sister
14. A husband who makes the best pancakes
15. Quiet time to read a good book.
16. Sunday lunch with family
17. Quite Sunday afternoons
18. Teenagers who think about serving when I forget
19. Voices of cooperation on school projects
20. Worship music
21. A day at home with the kids
22. Unexpected lunch with family
23. Uncontrolled laughter of an 8 year old girl
24. The playing of piano by a child who loves it.
25. Worshipful music on XM radio
26. Songs that remind me to be grateful for my marriage
27. Kids who could go out with friends for dinner but invite them here instead
28. Time with family and Wii games
29.Kids  who pitch in to clean house for an unexpected showing
30. The unconditional love of a dog
31. Seeing a 13 week old baby move in utero & opening its mouth
32. Joy on a Mom's face as she sees her baby for the first time.
33. A warm blanket on a rainy day
34. A husband who know my needs before they are even spoken
35. Wool socks
36. Good health reports from Mom's Dr checkup
37. Books that help me see God's word a little more clearly.
38. Good report at the Dr.
39. New answers to medical questions
40. The arrival of my 1000 Gifts book
41. Soup in the freezer when cooking seems to be a challenge
42. Quiet time for a Mom's soul
43. Seeing a friend in unexpected places
44. Friends who partner with you in parenting
45. Warm cake
46. Loud laughter from family game night
47. A big hug to push away the negatives of a child's day
48. A gentle morning hug
49. Lunch with a friend
50. The smell of a green apple candle burning
51. A husband who normally carries the clothes basket for my weary arms.
52. Lunch at a place where they know what I like to eat
53.A teachers kind words about your child.
54. Ability to unexpectedly hug a sad friend
55. Energy to buy groceries
56. The sun shining
57. Beautiful sunset -pink, blue, yellow
58. Teenagers going to family movie night
59. Family movie night with friends, their kids and new friends
60. A large full moon to guide us home
61. Hugs from  little girls
62. The excitement of friends leaving to adopt their first child
63. A large group of families showing up at church for movie night- YAY FAMILY!
64. Smell of bacon and pancakes
65. Hubby and little ones (10 & 8) cooking together
66. Slower weekends
67. A little girls invitation to spend the night
68. Seeing a little sister's love for older one through drawing
69. The smile from the oldest when she is with friends
70. Shopping with a child who sees it as a gift.
71. Worship words that direct me to YOU
72.A time of cleaning closets to make room
73. Godly teens who keep you focused on "mission"
74. My husbands passionate direction for our family
75. Your words aptly spoken through Pastor
76. Kind words from a child who's home is broken and turned upside down
77. Weather warmer so kids play outside and laugh
78. 16 years of life in our oldest
79. The smell of balloons-birthday season begins
80. The sun peeking through the rain clouds
81. Reminders of a Dad who is loved and missed greatly
82.God's story unfolding like a map
83. The ability to speak grace and hope to a hurting friend
84. The missing smile returning to a 16 year old
85. Friends from all walks gather to celebrate
86. Sweet baby talk
87. Little hands that discover
88. A time of rest
89. Gentle sounds of rain
90. Smell of yeast rising dough
91. The reminder from a friend of prayer for my health
92. Family dinner with the Rambos
93. A fresh shower
94. Answered prayers for a friend
95. Alone time
96. A warm cup of coffee in hand
97. Sunshine after rain.

Birthday Season Is Here

It has officially begun... our birthday season. I've called it this for the past 8 years because beginning January 24 we celebrate 5 birthdays in the next six weeks. I seems like we get one birthday planned and it is time for the next. We have always made a big deal of birthdays around here. I feel like it is the only day that is truly yours to celebrate....except for the fact that 10 years ago (almost 11) I began to share my day with Trippe. (more on that to come).

Mary Katherine kicks us off with our birthday season. This is a BIG year for her. MK celebrated her Sweet Sixteenth Birthday yesterday. We asked her shortly after Christmas what she wanted to do for her big birthday. She really had no big plans. I was asked by a friend who owned a local restaurant what our plans were. When she found out they were not big then all plans changed. She offered us the use of her restaurant for a surprise party. The planning began. I let MK think she was going with friends to her favorite restaurant Ichiban then to see Soundwave perform. All along, a couple of her friends and I planned this party.

She was sneaky and tried figuring us out, but she didn't have all the details. Friends gathered at Romie's on her birthday. We had told her that we would go out to eat as a family (with Bud) for her big day. We arrived at Romies, Bud opened the door and her friends yelled SURPRISE! She smiled so big. I think she smile most of the night. We had her itunes playing, food was set and everyone visited with one another. Mary Katherine is so blessed to call many people friend. Philip told her that he was so proud that she was friends with so many.(That is just her kind-hearted spirit.) She truly sees the good in all people.

Among her friends were some of her youngest friends...Jessie Lee, Mary Lawson, Pinchy and Lilla. MK was excited to share her day with them also.

HOWELL SNOW

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OH SNOW!

Tupelo forecast for Sunday, January 9 was SNOW. We were predicted to have 3-8 inches of Snow. Philip was working in Amory. Trippe was playing with Jett. The girls and I were hanging out at the house. Trippe called about spending the night with Jett and we saw flurries as we went down to his house. We continued to watch out the window to see snow and more snow. The weather was continually forecast to be worse. We talked Philip into coming home an hour early. The roads were covered, but he made it home safely. (bragging about his wagon getting him here) We woke Monday to find 6 1/2 inches of snow.Schools were closed and work was canceled for Philip. We have not seen snow like this. We could not even see the bushes in our front flowerbed. Wynn and Philip went out front and played in the snow with Amos and the neighbors (Mr. Pat and Mrs. Amy).

We finally got the older girls to wake up. They slowly made their way outside to find us playing. The reactions were not as excited as we would have liked. We quickly decided this was Dad's and kids surprise days off so we would make the most of it.

We piled on every warm item we could find, loaded the car, called some friends then headed out to Ballard Park for some fun! We took MK to hang with friends at Kacie's where they had made a GIANT snowman. Her XC friends walked down the street to a hill where they slid in the snow.

The rest of us and a few more friends headed to Ballard Park. We slid down the hills, rolled giant snow balls, had snow ball fights, made snow angels, and laughed a whole lot!

We wrapped up our day of fun with a bowl of SNOW CREAM!

A fun fact about all of this snow was that it was a lot of white stuff for our area, but on that day 49 of the 50 states had snow. The only missing state was FL.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Our family enjoys Christmas traditions. We bake strawberry bread,spiced tea, hot chocolate, a candy making day with Merissa, drawing names among the siblings, tagging and decorating the biggest Leland Cypress tree that we can find, and listening to Christmas music. Several years ago we made Christmas Eve our family event. We spend the day delivering the last of the Strawberry Bread and making gumbo. We begin the end of our night with Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at the Orchard.

This year we woke up on Christmas morning to a White Christmas. I've never seen a white Christmas as far as I can remember, but we looked outside to find this.

We woke at 6 which was unusual for our children. Philip made sure that Santa had arrived and made Mom a pot of coffee. The kids lined up to find what Santa had left them this year. We found a den full of gifts...

Amos was alarmed that the den was covered in stuff and that the stockings were moved. He barked and curiously walked through our gift exchange for a while.

We enjoyed seeing all the gifts that Santa had left then exchanging gifts from one another.

After our gift exchange, we ate our traditional Christmas morning breakfast...Sausage Balls and Cinnamon Rolls! We bundled up and enjoyed our Christmas present from the Lord.

We threw snowballs, rolled a snowman, and enjoyed the beauty of the morning.

We stayed out as long as we could stand it. The snow was falling in big flakes and continued to pile up. One last job for the kids was...

GOTCHA! MERRY WHITE CHRISTMAS! Thank you Lord for showing us your GLORY!

FORMAL

On New Year's Eve, THS host  the FORMAL dance. Girls ask guys to the big event.... everyone dresses up, limo rides, dinners, breakfast. It is a night that just continues with FUN!

This year both of our older girls attended FORMAL. We They began our search for the perfect dress around October/November. They selected guys to ask out for the night. They made plans with friends for the night. 

Mary Katherine & Bud Goss







Sarah & Conner Chase

This also happened to fall into the time that our team the MSU Bulldogs were playing in the Gator Bowl. (the first bowl game in 6 years). Philip and I agreed that post  expenses for the dance we may have come out cheaper for 6 Gator Bowl tix and hotel expenses.

Mary Katherine & Bud joined friends at the McPherson's for dinner and pictures. They rode in a limo to the dance then their group divided for separate after parties. MK, Bud and friends gathered for breakfast and games at Ashlee's house.  MK and the girls ended up staying up until 7:30 in the morning. They had a great night!

Soccer Buddies!

Best Girl Friends

MK & Hannah

The Guys

Buddies since Kindergarden

The ride

Somehow, Philip and I got to host 7 of Sarah's friends and thier dates for a pre-party and breakfast. We really were honored to host Sarah and her friends. We must admit that we learned a lot that night. First of all, make sure you and the limo driver are on the same page. Secondly, make sure that the guys let the girls have a place to sit. Thirdly, know how to properly apply your body glitter and dress tape. Fourth, girls must spend an hour after the guys leave reliving the night so maybe they should spend the night here so you could go to sleep. Fifth, invite kids with GREAT PARENTS (like we did) so when learning the other 4 things they can make the learning more fun!

The lovely ladies

The crew

Notice the hand-made white chocolate garnish atop the cupcakes

Add caption

Dad's trying to get a new limo plan!



Post Party Stories



Plan B on the Limo Ride

 The night ended up being fun for both girls. It was so much fun that it took a whole day to recover!  I'm sure we will join in next year unless of course the Dogs are Bowling again...Dad says never again will he miss that!