New Start

I know it has been awhile since I last posted and since then a lot of things have changed in my life and it has been stressful. Here is an update and plans for my future blogging.

Last year in 2007 was a very tough year for me and my family and I am looking forward to a better year in 2008. Looking back through my difficult moments in 2007 I remember times of failures, dissappointments, and frustrations. I went through a time of being mad at God and not understanding why He was allowing certain things to happen in my life and not answering my prayers the way I wanted and thought they needed to be answered. I went through a time when I didn't have any control over certain things in my life. I went through a time of heartbreak and the tears sure did flow a lot. I went through a time of not seeing God working in my life and not knowing where He was leading and not sure I wanted to follow any more. I went through a time of being angry with God and feeling like He left me. Boy am I glad 2007 is over. However through all the tough times in 2007 I did learn and seen God's love for me. Now looking back I can see how God used those hard times to show me His love and how He protected my marriage and has made my family stronger. As I reflect back on last year I am learning from my mistakes and how to make 2008 a better year for our family. Through our circumstances the words that I felt God telling my heart is "restore and rebuild". Therefore 2008 will be a restoring and rebuilding year for me. I'm still allowing God to lead me "On The Journey To Victory!"

There are areas in my life that I am going to work on in 2008 and step it up a noch. Those areas are weight loss, parenting, and my career. I am going to use this blog to record my journey in these areas of my life in 2008. My plan is to post sometime during the weekend about my week in review, then to weigh in and record my weight loss or gain on Fridays (Fitness Fridays). I am planning to post more often than what I have been doing. I'm still learning how to balance my pleasure of blogging and my life responsiblilities. I believe I can use my enjoyment of blogging to obtain my goals that I want to accomplish.

So I am back to posting and using my blog again. So come and join me on this journey and I will keep you posted on what God is doing in my life.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Back to Blogging

Have you ever had a friend that you love the relationship and enjoy being around, but then life happens. For many reasons time passes and you notice that it has been while since you have talked to your friend or you have been together. I can think of several times this has happened to me.

I start thinking about my friend and realize it has been quite some time since I have talked to her. My desire is to call and she how she is doing and let her know what is going on in my life and find out what is going on in her life, but when I realized that so much time has past I feel a little guilty. Then I start wondering how she will respond since it's been awhile and then I wonder where I should start and what should I say. Well, how I feel about this blog right now.

I have been busy and haven't posted for awhile. I have been wanting to post, but since it's been awhile I have been sure how to start back up. I was hoping that when I came back to blogging I would have great news and to be able to tell you that I found a job, I love it & the people, it's going great, it is just what I wanted, and the pay is more than what I expected. I wanted to be able to share how God provided just the right job, at just the right time, and how God did something really BIG and wonderful in my life that only God can do. .... Well that hasn't happened, but I've been wanting to get back to posting and use my blog to express my feelings and my walk with the Lord. Therefore, I am going to share my difficult moments along with the good things. Right now it seems like I have been having a lot of difficult moments. I don't want this blog to be all negative and just telling about the hard stuff, but that is just where I am right now. If this is to negative for you then you can pray for me and ask the Lord to send me a special blessing that I can share :). In all honesty, even though I am going through a hard time in my life, I have been blessed with special moments along the way. I will just have to remember to share those too.

I'm still looking for a job. I had an interview a couple of weeks ago and thought it went well. I was real excited about the job. I felt like the interviewer described my dream job. When she was describing her ideal candidate I was sure she was describing me. Apparently God has other plans, because I didn't get that job. Therefore, my search continues.

Since the last time I posted school has started back and my baby is now in Kindergarten. So far the school year is going good. Jody, my 5 year old, is excited about school and learning new things. Bethany, my 10 year old 4th grader, is having a tougher year. She is maturing and growing up. I don't recall giving her permission to do that. :) LOL! We had coupons for a free meal at Chick-fil-a so we went there for dinner last night and Bethany was not real interested in the play ground anymore. As Jody enjoyed the tunnels and slides, Bethany chose to stand there to sing and come up with a dance routine. Then last night the school had a movie night and showed High School Musical. We have the DVD, have seen it a million times on TV, but still had to go to see it at school :) LOL! John refused to go see it so we planned to have a girls night out! The girls & I got to the school and Bethany went off in one direction with her friends, Jody went off in the other direction with her friends and I was left there wondering where were my friends? AFTER the movie I met some of my girls friend's mom who I could have enjoyed sitting with during the movie and talked liked everyone else in the room did. Good thing everyone had already seen the movie, because you would not have been able to follow it. The kids talked during the whole movie until the last song when most of the kids all stood and join in to sing the finale with Zac and Gabriela. That was the best! It sure did put a smile on my face and other parents too.

Do you like to go out for breakfast? We do, especially on Saturday mornings. Well because of my challenge of finding a job, that is not a wise choice for us today. Therefore, we have decided to cook our own "family style" brunch. John has made pancakes, I made an egg casserole, Bethany made drinks, and Jody set the table. I tell you that to say that I am now leaving and going to enjoy some family time. I hope you all are enjoying some family time this weekend too. I am going to try to be back more often. During my break I did learn there are people who are reading my blog that do not comment and who I didn't expect to be reading. (Shep, thanks for reading and feel free to comment and let me know you are there :) LOL)

Until Later,
~Betty~

2 Times to Learn It!

I am learning something about myself. It seems like it takes me 2 times to learn something. For the second time in 6 months our computer crashed and I lost my pictures and my files that I had saved on the computer. The pictures that I lost I will be able to get most of them back from friends and family who have duplicates. The biggest frustration is loosing my files. I had each month of my budget plan and all of John's and my different resumes and cover letters saved on the computer. Do you realize how much time I had invested in those things? I had different resumes and cover letters developed for different types of jobs we have been applying for. Writing and developing these does not come easy to me, therefore to think about starting over does not thrill me at all. The fact that this has happened to me before you would think that I would have known better and would have saved and backed up everything, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I didn't! I am so frustrated with myself. However, I can honestly say that I have learned this time. From this point on, I will save my things to a disk and/or jump drive.

I have missed everyone this week. I have not been able to blog or get on line since Sunday night. So now I will try to catch up with everyone. Also I wanted to thank you all for the wonderful comments from my last post. You all made me cry. Thank you for your prayers. I realized that I have some great blog friends, along with my REAL friends (who most of them I don't think read my blog).

Blogging helps me to relax and I enjoy it, but I now have to go to bed. I work early tomorrow and have a friend from Ohio coming in to visit. I hope everyone has a good day.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Time With John's Family

Having 5 extra overnight guest for a week and 2 others during the day CAN be a WONDERFUL experience! John's family were here visiting from out of state last week. It was good to see everyone and at the end of the week we all were still talking to each other and all in one piece. :) I had to work 3 days of the week, but John was off all week and got to entertain everyone. He did a great job!

We made some memories last week. One night we all were hanging out on our patio while the kids were playing in the yard. We had a total of 4 girls; my daughters, Bethany(9) & Jody(5), and my nieces Kayla (12) and Katie (10). As it started to get dark the kids started playing flash light tag & hide-and-seek. It wasn't long until the adults joined in and we all started playing in the dark. I can not remember the last time I played hide-and-seek. I used to love that game as a kid. I really should put down my guard and play like this more often. We divided into partners and changed partners at each turn/ round and took turns being "it." I'm not sure if the adults or kids had more fun. However, we did create a memory for the girls and the adults. This was a great way to start out our week with the family. Because of other plans and activities this was the only day we were able to do this, but it was such a great time!

The other big thing we did was we went to downtown Atlanta and visited the World of Coke Museum. Our family is a Pepsi fan, but we still agreed to visit :). It was interesting to learn and hear about the history of the coke product and see how it has changed through the years. The highlight of the tour was the taste test of the different types of cokes they serve in different countries. I am not one that is real daring and will try new "weird" foods, but I was open to try the different drinks. The cup was small, so a small taste can't hurt right? I started out tasted a couple apple flavored drinks from Asia and those weren't to bad. So it was all going good. Then came the drink from Italy!!!!! Cheri I thought of you and wondered if you really can get the Beverly drink in Italy? It was the worst thing I have ever tasted. I only took a small sip, but the taste was so intense that it filled my whole mouth. It was awful! After that I decided I would not try anything else and was done with the tour! I heard that they make the Beverly drink out of the peels of grapefruit. All I can say is I will never try that again. According to what I am hearing from others, many people feel the same way I do about the drink. I'm interested to hear from Cheri, who lives in Italy, if they really have this drink there and if you have tried it and your thoughts on the drink! Do tell!

Overall we had a good visit with the family and got to do some fun things. I hope everyone had a good week and I hope to get caught up on every one's blog this week. I also have other things to share about my job and my "real life" roller coaster ride, therefore my next post shouldn't be that far apart. I started a new system to blog and will see how long it last. I have found that I really enjoy writing (with pen & paper instead of just typing) my thoughts, but I really enjoy bloging and sharing my thoughts and feelings. Therefore, I bought a notebook and will write my thoughts, feelings, events, and etc. down then type them on my blog. I'm hoping this will help me to keep track of ideas/memories I want to remember too. We will see how it goes.

Until Later,
~Betty~

UNTIL LATER

I know I have not been posting for awhile and I'm not sure what I am going to do with my blog. Currently, I am dealing with some issues that are not "blogable" for me. Therefore, I'm really not sure what all to write about.

I'm praying about this blog and whether or not to continue or to refocus. If I don't post for awhile just know that I am still considering some different options. I still plan on being around, reading, and commenting on different blogs.

UNTIL LATER?
~Betty~

High Maintenance or Low Maintenance?

Our local Christian radio station has an awesome morning show that I love to listen to every morning. Kevin & Taylor in the Morning are AWESOME! This morning they were talking about whether you would say you were high maintenance compared to your girl friends or other women you come into contact with. They were encouraging people to call in, of course I did not call in. However, I called my husband and asked him "What would you say if somebody asked you if I was high or low maintenance?" At first he was quiet, then he said "Low maintenance, all I have to do is give you a Mt. Dew and tell you to go blog!" So there you have it blogging keeps me low maintenance!

Until Later,
~Betty~