My dear sweet hubby, Ron, and I have been married for 20+ years. We began dating during my freshman year at Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville. He is my college sweetheart. We have ministered together in various ministries during our lives together. We pastored for 10 years in Florida. We moved to TN in 2000 to Co-Pastor with some friends of ours. The Lord has given me a fabulous provider whom I love more than any words I write could ever express. He is now the CEO at our denomination's publishing company, Randall House Publications. I am honored to support him.
Our oldest child is named Michael. He is now officially a teenager, although I don't think I'm old enough to have a teenager. He is a very sweet and considerate young man. He is my thinker and my reader. He absorbs every piece of new information that he comes across. He loves playing soccer, riding his bike, skateboarding, reading, watching the History Channel, the Military Channel, ESPN and any documentary on TV. I am privileged to be his Mother.
Lauren is our youngest child. She is just 15 months behind her brother in age. She is wise beyond her years. She has a sharp-witted tongue (which sometimes has to be tamed), a quick sense of humor and a heart for people and animals. She loves organizing anything and everything. She loves being with her friends, singing, talking on her cell phone and playing soccer. I am blessed to be her Mother.
Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.
- Kathleen Norris
Ok – I’m going to make a list of things around this house that I need to do. Some of them are things that need to be done before my MIL comes tomorrow. And some of them are just things that have been completely ignored for too long and aren’t going away on their own. I don’t know what I want you to do about it. I don’t know why I’m sharing this with you all. Maybe I want you all to come and help me. Maybe I just need someone else to know what all I have to do. Maybe I want someone to hold me accountable. Maybe I just want to waste even more time by taking the time to MAKE the list instead of actually doing something about it. I have no idea. But here it is:
Clean all 3 bathrooms
Dust all the surfaces in the house
Shampoo the loft carpet
Vacuum all the carpet
Sweep/mop the hard surface floors
Clean up the clutter behind me here in the study (most of which consists of loading it into my truck to take to Goodwill)
Clean out the files
File the huge pile of bills/receipts sitting here on the floor beside me
Straighten the loft
Change all the sheets
Find the floor in Michael’s room (translation - hang his clothes up)
Find out what is in all the boxes in the top of his closet
Unpack picture frames
Spray paint the picture frames black
Choose new pictures to display
Paint the walls that I know what color I want to use
Chose paint colors and paint the other walls
Put items on Craigslist that we want to get rid of
Wash/Clean out/Vacuum my truck
After painting the walls – decorate
Clean off and organize my desk
Organize the shelves in the study - which includes tossing a bunch of stuff I used for homeschooling
Straighten my closet
Store all my winter clothes
Hang up all my summer clothes
Decide what in the garage needs to go to Goodwill
GO TO GOODWILL
Well, that is the beginning! It is absolutely overwhelming. Therefore I am doing what I usually do when something overwhelms me - NOTHING!!! I am open to someone driving a big truck up to my front door and tossing it all in the back of said truck and letting them drive off with it all.
Seeing the kids reading their Bibles on their own
Hearing the ocean
Smelling a cake baking
Remembering our wedding day
Singing in the church choir
Shopping for my family
Feeling good
Reading in the tub
A quiet house
Watching a funny movie with the kids
Seeing my kids playing a game together
Ron's little finger dance
Hearing my kids being excited about church
Watching Ron play with Faith (our dog)
Hearing Ron snoring beside me after he has been gone on a long trip
Chatting with special friends
Feeling hot sand under my feet on a beach somewhere
Game night with Brian & Kim and kids
Spending one on one time with Kim
Double Dating With Brian and Kim
A clean house
Sitting on my front porch in my new rockers
Walking on a cool evening with my family
Things I Want To Do Before I Die
Take voice lessons
Lose 100 pounds
Take a yearly vacation with just my girl friends
Break completely free from the strongholds that have a grip on me
Find a hair style that I'm totally happy with
Become a great grandmother
Live on the beach
Drive a racecar on the race track
Learn to swim confidently
Go sky-diving
Learn to knit
Scrapbook our family's life
Build a house with an inground pool
Own my own laptop
Visit Alaska
See the REAL Eiffel Tower
Take a short term family missions trip
Own a black Jaguar X-Type car
Be a REAL wife/mom who cooks/cleans and everything
Have Lasix Surgery
Bungee Jump
