z is for zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

So...this is all I have to say! I am honestly just so excited to be on the letter Z. All the way through the alphabet...I'm so proud of myself! Basically...all of my blogging in 2008 has been dedicated to the alphabet...it's time to change it up a bit! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

No monumental thoughts here...just random. This song gets stuck in my head sometimes...for no reason at all...so I'd like to share it with you as well....

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay,

My, oh, my, what a wonderful day.

Plenty of sunshine headin' my way,

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder,

It's the truth, it's "actch'll"

Everything is "satisfactch'll."

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay,

Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay,

My, oh, my, what a wonderful day.

Plenty of sunshine headin' my way,

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!

Mister Bluebird's on my shoulder,

It's the truth, it's "actch'll"

Everything is "satisfactch'll."

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay,

Wonderful feeling, feeling this way!

y is for your turn to write my blog!

Here's the story...thanks to Rebecca and Sheila for their feedback on the madlib. This was a perfect time to give me a break...this has been a busy week.

Now...without further ado...Romeo & Juliet as seen through your eyes:

But slimy! What light through yonder lightbulb breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the jacuzzi!

Arise, fair sun, and slither the envious moon,

Who is already sick and funky with grief

That thou her priest art far more fair than she.

Be not her priest, since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do fart it. Cast it off.

It is my lady; O, it is my grasshopper!

O that she knew she were!

She smells, yet she says nothing. What of that?

Her tonsils discourses; I will answer it.

I am too itchy; `tis not to me she smells.

Two of the fairest stars in all the under the bed,

Having some business, do entreat her tonsils

To scratch in their circles till they return.

What if her tonsils were there, they in her head?

The apple pie of her cheek would shame those stars

As daylight doth a lamp; her tonsils in under the bed

Would through the airy toothpick stream so bright

That walruses would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her sunshine!

O that I were a glove upon that sunshine,

That I might touch that cheek!

x is for xplosion!

Sorry…it’s the best I can do…forget about the e!

Last night was not the best cooking night on my record. I stopped by Food Lion on the way home after work to get some of the specials before they went off for the week. That’s when I realized that I had absolutely no plans for dinner. We’re having the choir over to our house Saturday, so I feel that all my cooking brain cells for the week are already allotted for that event. (Not going to be a good eating week for Justin). Sorry honey!

Anyway, I picked up some “Voila” (I think…not sure what brand) frozen “all-in-a-bag-make-in-10 minutes” chicken stir fry dinner. Anything in 10 minutes sounds totally wonderful to me. (I am definitely the product of a fast-food generation, it’s sad). Got home, started that cooking in the wok and then decided to try this “Fast Food (there it is again!) Fried Rice” recipe that I had been wanting to try. So here’s what went down…I had the rice…I had the water…I had the egg…I even had the balsamic vinaigrette dressing (unbelievable) and the soy sauce. I didn’t have the bag of frozen veggies, but I thought, “Surely, not a necessity.” Put the water, egg, and rice in a microwaveable bowl for 5 minutes (covered – just like the recipe said). Fast forward to 13 seconds left on the microwave and “BOOM!” That’s right…huge Xplosion of rice in my microwave! Apparently the frozen veggies are a key ingredient! Who knew!?! That must be the answer…because I refuse to believe that “Fast Food Fried Rice” is not possible in my very own kitchen. I’m still going to try the FFFR recipe as soon as I buy some frozen veggies. Even though the rice blew up it still smelled good…Jazz got a few pieces of rice and she’s still living! Needless to say, we did not eat as much as I had planned (probably not a bad thing) and I actually give the “Voila Chicken Stir Fry Dinner” two thumbs up!

Sorry, there are no pictures…as soon as I scooped the rice out of the microwave I realized that I should have taken pictures to share with the blogging world. Maybe next time!?

w is for wedding announcement

So…that was a mean title…but that’s what you get when I’m on W and SO CLOSE TO THE END OF THE ALPHABET!! (Can you tell I’m excited??) I really don’t technically have a wedding announcement, but that is kind of what I’m going to blog about.

I ran across this excellent article in On Mission Magazine entitled The Bride of Christ: Preparing for His Return. I was intrigued because I have always loved the analogy of marriage and the relationship between Christ and His Church found so often in Scripture. This article was so well written and truly challenged me to be living more as if I am the expectant bride of Christ.

Honestly, if I could do my wedding day all over again, I would. It was such a special, fun day for Justin and I. The reception afterwards truly flew by, which I knew it would, so we purposefully planned for our wedding service to be memorable and God-centered. I was so thankful for how things came together – all of the details that I (and Justin!) spent 5 months planning and looking forward to. I’ve been to several weddings that were so short you would think that it was just a “formality” to get to the honeymoon and I knew that was not the message we wanted to send. My bridesmaids probably hated me for how long they had to stand there, singing and looking pretty, but I’m so thankful for the huge part everyone played in that important day for us. What a fun and worshipful time of committing ourselves to one another before God and our loved ones! As I stood there that day with Justin, I knew that all my hard work planning and all the prayers for a wonderful husband were totally worth every minute spent. God truly brought Justin and I together and I am so thankful for the perfect mate.

For the 5 months leading up to our wedding I was totally engaged (pun intended, I guess!) in planning, looking my best, and picking the best of everything to make our wedding day perfect. The wedding plans really took precedence over everything else. I even had the worst grades of my whole seminary career that semester! Nothing was more important to me than the upcoming wedding.

After reading this article, I am so convicted of the lack of priority I place on preparing for the wedding ceremony that will one day take place between Christ and His Church. When I accepted Christ as a young 10 year old girl, I was “engaged” to Christ who has gone to “prepare a place for me” for this special day to come. I don’t know when I will meet Him face to face, but certainly everything else in my life should take a back seat to preparing to be the beautiful, radiant, Christ-like bride I am called to be. Our eternal marriage to Christ is so much greater than even my wonderful marriage to my earthly husband.

How are you preparing for the day that Christ returns? Does everything revolve around preparing yourself for His coming? Will you be a bride who has lost sight of His promised return or a radiant, expectant bride?

Take some time to read the article…it will be well worth it…I can’t even do it justice!

v is for very important mission

I'm getting toward the end of my alphabet blogging days and I've decided that its more fun to let you (my readers) help me out! So...over the next few days we will be playing my version of BLOG MAD LIB! Yay!

Here are the rules:

1. Choose as few or as many words as you'd like to provide (but please leave some for others to do!...don't go crazy!...especially you teachers out there!!)

2. Help me complete the list by Thursday so you can read the completed mad lib!

3. I don't think I have to say this, but keep it clean!

4. If you don't know what a Mad Lib is (if you missed that in your childhood), then you can check it out here.

5. You don't have to keep the words in order, but I'll pick the first ones I get (or maybe the funniest!)

Here's what I need:

Adjective
Noun
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Noun
Verb
Noun
Verb ending in "s"
Body part (plural)
Adjective
Place
Verb
Shape (plural)
Noun
Noun
Animal (plural)
Noun

Have fun!

u is for upromise

When we lived in Roxboro, I worked at Eckerd (now Rite-Aid) for a little while. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I did learn a thing or two from that job. One of the things that I believe we have benefited from because of that job is our account at Upromise. When you work at a drugstore like that, you tend to block out the music or the product commercials you hear over the intercom. One commercial I heard again and again, however, was about Upromise and I would see the little Upromise stickers around the store, so I was curious. I mean, a company that promises to take a percentage of the money you spend and put it toward your child's education sounds pretty good! (Even if you don't have children!) So, I checked out their site over a year ago now and we have earned $36.00 towards "Baby Blakley's"* education.

*"Please note: "Baby Blakley" does not yet "exist"!!

I know $36.00 doesn't seem like much, but we haven't had to do anything to earn that money. And... we're atleast 18 years away from needing the money! (Just did the math...if we shopped this way for 18 more years, we would have $648.00) Not much...but, again...free money! Most of the money we earn is through online shopping (my favorite shopping method). Several of the online stores I frequent give a % through Upromise, some of them up to 8%! As I've learned more about different ways to save with Upromise, we've earned a lot more in the past months, so I hope we will be able to save a percentage of our child's money for college one day as the years go by.

Just wanted my blogging friends to have this info...do with it what you choose!

t is for total count!

Thanks for the fun feedback on the Quiz! As of midnight on Friday night...here are the results!

1. Sheets at the bottom of the bed tucked in or not tucked in?

(5) tucked (2) not tucked (1) mostly tucked

2. Waffle or Pancake?

(5) Waffle (3) Pancake

3. Do you eat or not eat the peach peel?

(7) Eat (1) "I don't eat peaches"

4. "Deal or No Deal" or "1 vs. 100"?

(6) Deal or No Deal (1) 1 vs. 100 (1) Either

5. Crunchy or chewy cookies?

(7) Chewy (1) Crunchy

6. Do you voice the "h" in humble or not?

(8) Yes!

7. Do you use a bathroom cup?

(1) Yes (6) No (1) "only at Grandma's"

8. Do you eat pizza crust?

(7) Yes (1) "If I'm in the mood"

As for me and Justin:

1. Obviously...Justin is 6'5"...he doesn't like the sheets tucked in. As for me, I didn't learn how to perfectly tuck in the sheets "hotel style" from my mom for nothing!

2. Justin's the waffle guy. I'm the pancake girl. But, as the book says anyway, Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti....now that makes sense!

3. Justin thinks I'm crazy for eating the peach peel. He doesn't "eat fuzz"!

4. Justin prefers Deal or No Deal. I like 1 vs. 100 But...I do agree with Sheila about Bob Saget!

5. I love chewy, gooey cookies. Justin loves the chrunchy ones! I'm amazed by this!

6. So...I agree with Rebecca, who doesn't say the H in humble?? I discovered that my husband didn't say the h in humble a while ago....that's right...just umble! He said that was always how he heard it growing up. And...it's hilarious...his family is from Winston-Salem and...sure enough, now that we live here I have heard so many people say "umble." Who knew?!

7. I also haven't used a bathroom cup since I was little and got excited about the Barbie cups...or something like that. My husband likes to treat himself to a nice drink of water from a bathroom cup each night after brushing his teeth. Me...I just cup some water in my hand! But lovingly I continually supply him with little cups for his pleasure!

8. Maybe it's how he stays so skinny (and I don't). Justin leaves the crust on his plate...so I just eat it!

s is for shocking story

If you didn't see this today, this news story blew me away. Especially where I work, I am reminded again and again that God is completely in control of our lives...from the time we are conceived. He amazingly knits each moment of our lives together, for His glory!

r is for random opinion

So...this show The Moment of Truth really saddens me. We've watched a part of an episode, I guess the first one that came out, and I was amazed at the new depths to which American TV producers have now stooped. We don't watch TV channels like MTV or others that are obviously corrupted and seem to have no moral judgment or draw the line anywhere, but I am amazed at the shows that have now even made their way to "main" channels.

If you don't know, this show is based on contestants who take lie detector tests. Each contestant is asked a series of questions and is judged based on the previous lie detector tests they have taken. The contestant, of course, is trying to win money in the process. The farther they go in telling the truth, no matter how hurtful or embarrasing or detrimental it is, the more money they win.

Of course I encourage telling the truth. Of course it is best to be honest. But we are all sinners, and therefore have sinful thoughts. Thoughts that could ultimately hurt even those we love if they are expressed in an unloving manner. How awful to have to choose between hurting those you love and making money! How amazing that people even put themselves in that situation! I hope that I always choose to uplift those around me, no matter what.

Everytime I see a commercial for the show it really saddens me. I've heard questions like,

"Do you think you are a better mother to your children than your mom was to you?"

"If your old boyfriend wanted to get back together, would you leave your husband?"

"Do you think you are the best looking of all your friends?"

Some are obviously worse than others, but all reveal just a portion of our sinful nature. As it says in Jeremiah,

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind,

to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Praise God for sending a Savior who has taken our place. If it were up to me, I could never be good enough to save myself. I know that my heart is deceitful, but most of the time I even choose to think that I am better than I am. Perhaps Fox actually thought the Moment of Truth would display the good in people. Unfortunately, we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Our thoughts, when exposed, totally prove this. So, a tv show that saddens me, also serves to remind me of how our lost world relies on those who know the Truth to share the redeeming, life-changing gift that God has provided for anyone who will accept His offer.

If you need a reminder of how lost we are and our need for a Savior, check out this article and clip on The Moment of Truth

q is for quiz

I would love some input on the following topics that Justin and I will forever "disagree" about. Let me know your thoughts! Comment by Friday and I'll tally them up and also let you know how Justin and I think!

1. Sheets at the bottom of the bed tucked in or not tucked in?
2. Waffle or Pancake?
3. Do you eat or not eat the peach peel?
4. "Deal or No Deal" or "1 vs. 100"?
5. Crunchy or chewy cookies?
6. Do you voice the "h" in humble or not?
7. Do you use a bathroom cup?
8. Do you eat pizza crust?

Don't worry! You can't "fail" on this quiz....unless you don't pick what I like! ;) And...no one is exempt!!

p is for perhaps the most ridiculous church sign ever....

We were in Concord today and were "blessed" to drive by a sign with this saying:


Then Justin introduced me to Church Sign Generator so I could actually make it for you!

o is for the office

If you don't know, Justin and I are HUGE fans of The Office! It used to be that on Thursday nights you could find us on the couch laughing hysterically at the characters we have grown to love. Then we would watch it again, since we had videotaped it, and laugh just as hard. For a while there, you seriously couldn't even have a good conversation with Justin if you hadn't watched The Office that week!

That all ended with the ridiculous writer's strike. We survived for a few weeks on our DVD's of the first 3 seasons, but even we got a little tired of watching them again and again. Finally, I checked tonight and The Office returns....drum roll please...on April 10th! Um...do I even have to say that I was hoping it would be on next week...not in April. But, oh well....as long as Jim and Pam stay together, I won't complain!!

And, if you can tell...at this point in the alphabet, you're gonna get whatever word starts with that letter that I happen to think of during the day!! Hang in there with me! I think the alphabet is helping me to post more, but sorry if my posts lack substance for now!

n is for new invention

We were watching TV tonight and got a little bit excited about the following product....

The Handy Switch!

Check it out! I mean....you can turn your house lights on from inside your car!! Who doesn't need that! It definitely would rank up there with The Clapper that we own...that I (misplaced) retired!!

m is for my favorite things!

...in no particular order...

• reese's cups
• a good, tear-jerking chick flick
• kisses from my wonderful husband ;)


• reminiscing over old photos


• hanging out with wonderful friends


• teaching children's choir


• quoting The Office


• having dinner already cooking in the crockpot when I get home


• a clean house


• laughing so hard I cry


• watching Justin get excited about something


• singing along with the radio...especially in the car


• a great new haircut


• a brand new CD


• a relaxing day of shopping


• good sweet tea


• road trips


• sleeping in


• reading blogs!

l is for love love love...

...Because I love love love my Justin and my Jazz. They make every day so interesting and fun. Do you know that I actually wanted to be married to a music minister when I was little?! How great is God that He truly knows the desires of our heart and He truly does give us exceedingly, abundantly above what we even expect! Now I get to spend my nights playing piano with him or singing with him at church, just like I hoped to do as a young girl (weird...I know). And because I have a degree in music I can actually understand (most of) his nerdy ramblings about what chords work where and how to count the tough contemporary rhythms he loves to sing! As I watch him lead choir rehearsal and lead in the worship service I fall more and more in love and more thankful for how God divinely wove our lives together. I could not ask for a better husband and best friend.

As for Jazz...I can't believe there was a day when Justin had to convince me that we needed to get a dog. I love her so much now! She's the fiesty dog that Justin hoped for, and she's finally calming down enough to sit on my lap and let me pet her. I can't even describe the hilarious ways she keeps us entertained!

Justin checking out his Valentine's Candy (I can never keep gifts a secret!)

love love love!

Too cute!!

k is for kryptonite!?!

So...I definitely don't have a blog about kryptonite...I wanted to write this, but couldn't think of a title that started with K! (I know...I cheated...this is the word Justin came up with for me...please don't inform the blog police)!

I wanted to share a little bit about how to customize your blog header because it's just so much fun! Personalization is always better :) I hardly know much about it, but Justin has taught me how to basically use Adobe Photoshop, and this is where I designed my current header. I found the graphic on the right at http://www.istockphoto.com/, which is a fun website to search if you are interested in design! ("Modern floral" is one of my favorites to search for). The photos do cost, but it is a minimal price. The file I made is saved as a jpg document and uploaded as a picture in the customized settings area. I made it proportional to the space, so it would fit. Really, any picture could be uploaded there, if you wanted, as long as it is proportional.

So, Justin just informed me that Photoshop is about a $400 program...we just have it through the church. Doubt many of you will be buying that in the near future (!).... we don't really know any other program to use. You can also google "free blog templates" if you haven't already for some different looks. I actually love "trying" to design things...when I have time...so just let me know if I can help in any way.

Here's the design I'm most proud of! If you're anywhere near the Elkin area, you're definitely invited!

j is for justin's talent

Look at the new artwork we have in our living room! Justin has been wanting to do something artistic on the walls for a while, and he finally decided what to do. This is one of his favorite verses (notice the inspiration for my blog) and we wanted to share it with everyone who walks through our door. I absolutely love this and I look forward to doing more things like this in our house(s) throughout the years. What a blessing to have such a talented husband!

I just put this picture in here so you can see Jazz looking out the window....so cute!! :)

P.S. Notice the new furniture! Yay!...more's on the way!

i is for irony

Justin is the (proud) owner of the following t-shirt:

It's usually hilarious to watch people's faces when he wears it, as they are figuring out. Tonight, however, without thinking about what we were wearing, we went to eat at the Japenese restaurant in town...ironic. Thankfully he had a jacket on!

h is for husband

I just can't help but blog about my wonderful husband! God blessed me beyond my imagination when He brought Justin into my life and I feel like I have been laughing with him ever since I met him. He never fails to amaze me in how talented he is and how much he desires to serve the Lord more fully. Here's to my loving husband....(who by the way was voted "the most romantic man" at EVBC tonight at the Valentine's Banquet! Way to go, honey!)

Honoring God is his desire

Unconditionally loves me

Serves without complaint

Brings out the best in me

Amazingly talented

Night owl :)

Dreams about candy!

g is for giants

...as in the New York Giants! Way to go to bring an exciting end to the Super Bowl! I personally didn't care who won the game tonight, mostly because I assumed the undefeated Patriots were a sure win. Whenever I don't have a favorite team playing, I'll usually pull for the underdog, so it was fun to see the Giants win tonight.

I don't know anything about the Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress, but I was encouraged to see him give glory to God for a victory that he knew was not due to himself, even after he caught 2 touchdown passes. In an event that seems to point to worldly accomplishments, from the singers to commericals to players, I'm thankful for the short moment that Burress pointed to a Savior who gives strength and goes beyond what we even expect or imagine.

From what I've read, Burress went into this game predicting that the Giants would win. What incredible confidence he had! What a reminder for us to confidently rely on our great God who can do exceedingly, abundantly above all we even ask of Him!