That’s me today! And probably ever other day of my life!

I’ve neglected this blog for so long I wondered if coming back was an option… and then I thought — why not!

I’m calling a Do Over!

Isn’t that what this faith is all about — do overs.

Maybe it’s more a fresh start than a do over, but let’s not split hairs.  I’m going with Do Over because that’s the title of the post and goodness knows I don’t want to expend the energy to change it.

Life is fun, crazy, wild and just a big ADVENTURE.  God is moving me, shaking up my world. blessing me beyond measure and shifting me FAR from my comfort zone.  I find myself more behind the scenes than ever before and I love it.  For a girl who loves centerstage, it’s fun back here where I’m just planning, praying, preparing and producing.  It’s different, but it’s SO GOOD.

I want to tell you ALL more, but now is not the time — it’ll be here soon.  I’ll keep quiet or I will spill the beans… and tell you EVERYTHING!  And I can’t, not yet, but soon.

Recently, I was sharing these life changes with a friend and I realized  it wasn’t that I was disobeying God and following a my own life plan.   I was just working off a OLD set of plans.  I know the Lord has called me to speak, teach and write — but I’d laid that out the way I thought it should look.  I’d write books, speak to women’s groups and teach God’s Word to women.  I had the calling right (write, speak, teach), but I was  working off that OLD set of plans.  God had  laid the groundwork and charted up a NEW set of plans.

But I didn’t have time for anything NEW.  I’d just started getting the old plan down.  I was just getting  comfortable.

As I plodded along TRYING desperately to make HIS calling on my life fit the old plan, I felt like a size 8 foot in a size 5 pump.  MISERABLE.  And the more I tried to squeeze into that plan, the more miserable I made myself.

Finally, I took a deep breath in — stepped back and asked God where I was going wrong.

And it quickly became evident that I was hanging onto old plans.    I’d changed over the last many years, God had groomed me for this new plan.  He’d prepared my heart for this new plan.  But, I didn’t want to let go.  I’d invested time, energy, money and PRIDE in that old plan!  I was supposed to EXCEL at that old plan!    How could I just WALK AWAY, Lord?  You see, I like to be in control.  Shocking revelation, I know!

So here I am today — on this new path with the Lord.  I’ve set aside that old plan and we are doing a new thing.  It’s fun, exciting and I don’t know what’s around the next corner.  But I do know this — God is in control and He has this!

Be Kind, Rewind

It was plastered on most any video you rented.   No one wanted to have to REWIND the whole movie before watching it.  It took time — granted only a couple of minutes, but we are an impatient bunch.  Video store employees also didn’t want to have to rewind every movie — although they did have those snazzy rewind machines.

Rewinding was just a simple kindness — just a little something to help the next person.   But rewinding did something else — it made you pause and consider what you’d just watched.

That’s what I want to do today — just be kind and rewind before I speak.

I want to consider what the other person just said, instead of being so quick to speak up with some pithy comment, a sarcastic remark, or my opinion.   I will pause for just a moment or two and rewind their comments before I craft my own.    I can only imagine I’ll be more kind.   I want to consider what God is doing before I speak into a situation.  I want to remember that I don’t know everything (contrary to the way I act sometimes… okay, most times).

I want to extend great grace to those around me because much grace has been given to me.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Eph 4:32 ESV

Today, I’ll be kind and rewind — before I jump in a chatter, I’ll pause.  How about you?

For those of you who don’t know not only do I LOVE cruising, but I am so blessed that cruising is my work.  I work for Premier Christian Cruises – and oh my what a BLAST.  For years I made the statement “I really need to find a job where I can just go on vacation.”  This is the closest thing to a vacation job and I love what I do.

I want all of y’all to SAIL with me!!  And I truly wish I could take every single of one of you for free, but sadly while it’s a GREAT job I can’t quite afford do that.

I can tell you who will be sailing with us — Renee Swope with Proverbs 31, Robin Jones Gunn (she writes the Sister Chicks books), Jennifer Rothschild, and Selah.  Also we have FIVE Christian comedians — the Comedy Angels.  Y’all it’s going to be a BLAST!

But I want to let y’all in on a little secret.  If you book this month and use the code PROVERBS31 you can save $100 a cabin!  And right now, it’s only $10o down (per person) and eight payments of only $92 a month  (per person) for 8 months … so even less than I say it is in the video.  And you can book at the website Girls’ Getaway Cruise or by calling 1-800-889-5265.

Watch the video and there are a few more specifics just below:

Sailing from Port Canaveral on the Carnival Ecstasy to Nassau, Bahamas, and Half Moon Cay (private island — and I LURVVE a private island!)

Oct 3-7, 2013

And I want you with us!!!!

Are you coming along???

Five years ago I started this blog.  Who would have EVER thought I’d still be around five years later.  After all, I’m about half way into a kitchen remodel that I started about six years ago.  I don’t like to rush things.  Really, I don’t like to finish things.  I’m a HUGE starter.  Finishing?  Well, that’s another story.

But I’m still here.  Hanging around. Writing some.  Vlogging some.  Sharing thoughts and some laughs.

I’m so amazed at the people I’ve met through this community.  Some have become my best and dearest friends.  Others slip in and out of my virtual life, but they make me smile.  Some I see in face to face, but not often enough!

And I’m a bit shocked at the changes that have taken place in this virtual place over the last five years.  Twitter comes to mind.  Five years ago I could barely wrap my mind around a blog post much less a Tweet.   What was once a community of women bloggers has become a place filled with savvy business minded women who have used their blogs as launching pads for great businesses.  Kudos to them!  For me, this blog is just a place to share, ponder and laugh.   It took me a while to come to terms with NOT being the savvy business minded blogger, but I’ve come to terms with it.   I have a WONDERFUL job that I love (I work planning Christian cruises!  I know!  It’s pretty fantastic!) and in that job I’m savvy and business minded, but here I’m just a girl who loves Jesus and loves an adventure.

Along with all the changes here in the blogosphere and the virtual world, I’ve had some amazing changes over the last five years.

I’ve watched one daughter marry and I became a mother in law.  Which is easy when you have a great son-in-law who fixes all my tv connection stuff.

I’ve sent another daughter off to college and became an empty nester for the first time in 24 years — and we are LOVING it.  (Miss my baby girl, but we’re having a blast!)

I’ve  become a Gigi when my oldest had her first child.  And Ben is the new man in my life — and my man is just fine with it, in fact he’s crazy about this little guy, too.

An amazing God-given opportunity to write a blog for the Girls Getaway Cruise led to being on staff with Premier Christian Cruises.  – Isn’t God AMAZING!!

My book, God, Grace, and Girlfriends was published — and what an incredible  blessing and blast!!

I’ve traveled more than I ever thought possible!  And I’ve sailed on 14 cruises and loved every minute of it – although it’s some of the hardest work I’ve ever done.

It’s been an amazing five years.

God has grown me, pulled me and stretched me.  Some days I feel like a wonkity Stretch Armstrong doll.  But it’s been such a blessing — even the hard days.  The days filled with doubt, tears, and ‘why me’ wailings.  God has held me up.  His Word gives me strength to continue on this crazy, wild life in Christ.

Here’s to five years!!  Let’s do another five.

What about your last five years — where have you been?

I wish I had great wisdom.

I don’t.

I wish I could tell you this will NEVER happen again.

I can’t.

I wish I’d never heard  of Newton, Connecticut or Sandy Hook Elementary, but I have.

I also know about schools in Jonesboro, Paducah, Pearl and Columbine.

I wish they were just names of cities instead of identifiers to horrific school shootings.

Why did this happen?

I don’t have an answer.

I’ve heard all the ideas.   But not one idea will replace a dead child.

Not one reason, fills the aching and empty arms of  the parent of a dead child.

Not one agenda will comfort a Mom who is planning a funeral instead of a Christmas surprise.

There are no answers.  Only grief.  There is no reason,  only tears.  There is no understanding.  Ever.  There is only faith.

There is faith that God is good.

It’s this faith that gets me through.

It’s this faith that I pray over ever grieving parent and grandparent.

God be near.

I want to hear about your holiday season….

take a quick listen and then share with me

I do.

I did just today … and yesterday and again last week.

I’ve had some great stuff happening in my world.  Fun stuff.  And I want to tell you ALL about the stuff, but I can’t.  Don’t you just hate it when someone does that?  Yep, me too.  Along with ALL the fun stuff, there has been some hard stuff.  Difficult stuff.

Today, was a not so great day.  It’s been a hard day filled with hard decisions and conversations.  A day of discussions that I wish never had to happen — but God is in control.  He’s not taking a break.  He’s not letting me handle this one solo.  He’s in control and He has this.

I have to remind myself that He is in control of the good — and of the not so good.  He is Lord and He is sovereign.  He is well aware of what’s happening around me.  He rejoices with me and for me and His heart breaks even more than mine.

Jesus Christ holds me together — in the good and the not so good.  He holds all of us together.

Some days I just need a reminder –

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Col 1:17

Crazy, I know!  It’s part job, part relaxing and ALL manner of fun!

I worked our first cruise of the year (for those who don’t know, I work for PremierChristianCruises ) — the Music Boat and it was a BLAST!!  I had the most amazing group of friends and family on board.  Bitty Baby Ben and his mom & dad sailed along with me.  He was so wonderful!  And so entertaining.  I’m sad I didn’t get to spend more time with him and his parents, but work called and that’s why I cruise — it’s my job.

After finishing up Music Boat, I hopped aboard a plane and met my friend Melinda in Galveston and we board a Disney cruise for a week of rest and fun!  We managed to have both in great abundance.

Melinda is one of those friends I can just hang out with — no pressure.  Sometimes we laugh our heads off for hours and then other times we just sit together in silence.  We’re just comfortable that way. It would have only been better if Karen Barrows had been with us and completed our threesome!  Next time.

I’m back on dry ground, ready to roll into lots of NEW stuff in my life.  New work stuff, have a new book I’m writing and just finding a new excitement for this life in Christ.

Hope you are all doing wonderfully!  Let me hear from you.  What is up in your world!!  I’ve missed you ALL!

I’ve heard people tell me they have beach hair — but I thought that was code for “I don’t like to fix my hair.”  I was wrong.  My word, how I was wrong.
I was judging the hair of others on my experiences, not their reality.
I didn’t understand how difficult it is to manage the salt, sand and sea air when it comes to hair fixing.  I learned.

How often do I judge others based on my experiences and my reality? It’s been a sandy, salty wake up call.

I may want to THROW myself into every SINGLE one of these ministries — but I can’t give everything my all.  There’s just not enough ALL to go around.  Certainly, I’m called to meet the needs the Lord places before me — but I’m talking about ALL OUT investing my time, energy and self into a ministry.

It seems as if we jump from great cause to great cause — and hey, maybe the Lord is calling you to jump and if so…girl JUMP!!  But I wonder if there are times when we jump just to fit in.  I know I’ve done it.  I want to be in with the crowd. I want to hang out with the cool kids and be accepted.

But the Lord doesn’t always call me to that.  Sometimes He places me elsewhere — a place that doesn’t have a crowd; a place that isn’t well known; a calling that won’t be on anyone’s twitter feed or facebook status.

I’m talking about that today on this latest vlog.  I hope you’ll take a listen and a look — since I’m sporting a retro 1950s look (with a purpose….aw, but you have to watch to figure it all out)