UNCHARTED...

is the word most recently used to describe my life.

I have never been here before.

Even though here is where I wanted to be,

it is not how I thought it would be.

Not how I planned it to be.

I feel on most days I get up,

roll out the map of my life,

and ask where today?

I know there are many in the same boat with me.

Many who are in new waters, not sure of where they are going.

HH never planned on being the sole bread winner

and bearing the weight of that responsibility.

MCs never really plan on anything,

but it is safe to say MC 2 never planned on kindergarten.

Lots of I don't knows.

Lots of Lord you do.

So today I am feeling ...

Not abandoned.

Not misplaced.

Not afraid.

Not lost.

Anxious maybe?

You know the feeling.

When you visit somewhere new,

and you are trying to take it all in.

Trying to figure out what to do first.

Looking at the map to see where you want to go.

Except there is no map.

Which leaves me with two choices.

I can let what I see guide me or I can follow a guide.

The problem with following what I see is that

I don't know what I am looking at.

I misinterpret what I see.

I get disoriented.

The guide better be a good one.

Not a newbe.

Someone who has been here before

and knows the lay of the land.

Someone who can show me which way to go.

I don't want to follow just anyone.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.

Psalm 32:8 (NKJV)

Fortunately I don't have to.

Me and my no map having self have chosen to follow

the One Guide who has done this already.

The One Guide who sees what I cannot.

Who never misinterprets signs.

Who never gets disoriented.

Who always knows what He is looking at.

What about you?

Uncharted waters or plans laid out,

who or what will you let be your guide?

Not to say I haven't wandered off

from the direction the Guide called me to follow Him in,

because I have.

I have explored on my own and found myself in a mess.

However, this time I think I will stick pretty close to Him.

It is the wisest choice,

and as always,

I choose.

A POST FOR DUDE...

I have one brother-in-law on HH's side. His baby brother, affectionately known as Dude. I can't really recall why we call him "Dude", but considering he comes from a family of Raras, Tutus, Susus and MuMus, it doesn't really matter.

Dude has gotten older, moved out and has himself a real job now, so we don't see a lot of him. It delights the MCs when we do, and you can almost bet there is going to be some trash talking and take-downs going on.

Last weekend we were buying travel size items for our weekend apart when MC 1 saw a travel size bottle of Axe shampoo and begged to have it. Seems it must be the same thing or similar to what Dude wears because it smelled like him, and according to MC 1, Dude smells good.

We now have Axe shampoo, gold and blue bottles, and some Axe deodorant, which MC 2 demanded he wear to school today.

Ready for me to totally turn this around on us and make it about Jesus?

My boys don't see Dude a lot, but it seems when they do it makes an impression. A good smelling one that makes them want to be like him.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (NKJV).

If we are professors of faith in Christ Jesus, we are His aroma to this world. It should inundate everything and everywhere we go. The question is do we leave an aroma that people want to copy, or do we leave a foul stench that makes people want to reject anything we do or have to say? Just like Dude, we affect people we only see every so often. What aroma are we leaving behind? Now the next verse does go on to tell us that to those who reject Christ, we stink. Not much we can do about that one except pray for them. But to those who accept Christ, we are the smell of life!

So today, choose to be the sweet fragrance of life to those around you.

May be someone you see once, may be the people you live with.

Either way, you get to choose the aroma you leave behind.

Leave them asking,

What is that smell?

TRACTOR SLEEP OVER

Last week, not only did we have the first week of school,

but we also had Audie and Grandpa out everyday baling hay.

Of course MC 2 was in heaven.

MC 1 just likes to hop across the bales.

He did get to drive the tractor down the road with Grandpa supervising.

HH wanted to bond with MC 2 so he had to go for his only ace.

MC 2 did ask me the first night the tractor slept over,

Mama, can we keep it?

I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE.....

teared up at Meet the Teacher Night when talking about this one...

and listened to this one tell me how he was kinda worried about the above....

and held my composure until I walked out the door when I dropped these two off...

and cried like a baby on the way to the car, with sniffling moms behind me...

and nearly lost it again 3 days later when I went into Sam's and mentioned to the lady I hadn't been to Sam's by myself in 8+ years....

and thought my boys are abandoning me for higher education and girls...

and tried to figure out how I could get them to stay little forever...

and then remembered it was all part of the plan and that there are good things to come...

and decided to purchase 3 packs of Milky Way Mint bars to drown my sorrows in.

I may or may not have.

SATURDAY....

was my official introduction to the Women of Faith conferences. I have never felt higher. Then I realized it may have been due to our seats being this far from the ceiling....

and this far from the floor.

The speakers were wonderful. I am a big fan of Sheila Walsh so I really enjoyed hearing her. The dramas were outstanding. But my main reason for sitting for hours were these two ladies right here...

That's right peeps...it is Mary Mary, and oh how I love them. Even if there names aren't really Mary. Thank goodness I wasn't one of the ones who called "Hey Mary!" when I spotted them in the hall. Of course, I never got close enough to the ground to spot them, but I am pretty sure I would have given "Mary" a shout out, and that would have been embarrassing. I was so happy to hear their music and their stories. Real women with real kids who really pooped on her right before she went on stage.

I concluded that the main purpose of the conference was to get away with other gals, and get encouraged. I decided that the next one I attend will be a four day affair. 26 hours is just too fast.

Did I mention I had Starbucks coffee for the first time? From the hotel. The free pack. They can keep it. Also, I rode public transportation for the first time. I felt so citified! NYC here I come!

We had a great time and it was nice to get away. I recommend it for a girls weekend away. Take all four days! You will need it. To wrap this baby up, here I am with the MIL. She so loves her nickname. Kinda like how she loves to say I am her favorite daughter-in-law and then I remind her I am her only daughter-in-law.

Yep, she has jokes.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS....

Friday evening, my MIL and I headed to Dallas for Women of Faith. We knew we would be pressed for time if we got away when we expected to, and we did not. We made good time. By the grace of God found our hotel and got parked. That was the easy part. Seems at the exact moment we wanted to ride the elevators out of the garage, some one decided to test all the fire systems, which made the elevators non-functional. We located the stairs, said our prayers, and headed 5 flights down.

The door then opened up onto the street, which got us completely lost. Fortunately, there were some nice moving men who pointed us in the right direction. We entered the Plaza of the Americas, and got lost again. So again, some nice people pointed us up an escalator, where we found a most gracious young man who could tell these girls were out of their element and walked us to the hotel. We checked in with no problems and decided after all that walking we were hungry. TexMex was our craving, but not within walking distance. We asked the concierge about places to eat. He says "Sure there is a steak house called Dakota's and it is usually pretty good. Let me call."
Don't we feel special now.

It was all a set up.
We walked down to the restaurant and within about 30 seconds knew we were not in Kansas anymore. MIL said "See that woman is casual" to which I replied " Yes, but she isn't Wal-Mart casual". We opened the menu to find NO prices. Bad sign. B...A...D... sign. But we figured since HH and my FIL have splurged on a few meals in our presence we could do the same. Three hours later we finished our three course Restaurant Week Special. The only thing that made me feel more justified was that a portion of the proceeds went to charity. Or perhaps it was a portion of my meal because those servings were teeny tiny. We had a good time watching all the other people though and the food was good. We hiked it back to our hotel, met our rommie for the first time and then we crashed,ready for what Saturday held.

OFF TO WOF

I am off to Women of Faith this weekend with MIL and some church ladies.
Did anyone else immediately go to Dana Carvey?
I am pawning the MCs out.
HH is excited to have some alone time.
He has decided to switch out the exhaust on the motorcycle.
Seems doing it by himself sounded great in his head,
not so much in action.
So he has a friend coming over to help.
Have a great a weekend!