Wow...I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since I last posted! I guess life has been busy and I just haven't made the time to blog. I really need to make it more of a priority. I really enjoy reading other blogs...and it's not like there hasn't been stuff going on around here to blog about, I just need to sit down and do it!
So...let's see if I can catch up with the Lindley happenings......
In February, David and I spent Valentine's weekend at our favorite marriage conference, Weekend to Remember, by FamilyLife. We went to Hilton Head, SC and had a wonderful time focusing on our marriage and refocusing on each other. After that, we attended the annual Chick-fil-A operator's seminar in Washington, D.C. We were able to do some sight seeing; we went to George Washington's home and got to spend a few hours at the National Mall going to museums and visiting monuments.
In April, Audrey turned 7 and had a Pig party. She loves pigs! Emma turned the big 1-0 in May right at the end of the school year. She had another luau party with a bit of a monkey theme. The girls finished out the school year strong!! They all received some great awards at the end of the school year and Emma was invited to join the Jr. Beta Club! We are so proud of them. Audrey and Emma both took the CRCT this year and did great by exceeding all the standards.
David and I went on a cruise at the beginning of June with the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House group. We spent a day in Key West and also a day in Cozumel where we got the opportunity to swim with dolphins! It was incredible! We got to do a dorsal tow -- we held on to the dorsal fins of two dolphins and they pulled us through the water. They also did a foot push where each dolphin pushed us by our feet up and out of the water!! It was SO much fun. We also were lucky enough to get to spend some time with a manatee. It was a blast! The weekend after our cruise we went on our family vacation to Panama City Beach! Mom and Dad went with us and we stayed the week at Splash Resort. We celebrated both Father's Day and David's birthday at the beach! We had a great time even though we had a couple of injuries. Audrey was the first one to fall at the water park that is on sight. She slipped on a slide and bumped her head and ended up with a nice goose egg over her left eye. Not to be outdone, Amy developed yet another abscessed tooth the next day so we had to call the dentist and have a prescription called in....then, the next day, Amy fell at the water park and busted her top lip!! She ended up with a scrape on the cheek and a nice cut on the inside of her lip.
We started of July with the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th. This year, Emma decided to join David and I at the race! She did great! The Peachtree is a 10k which translates to 6.2 miles. We ran the first 4 miles and then had to walk the last 2 miles because Emma and David were beginning to show signs of heat exhaustion. We had a late start time (almost 9:00) and it was HOT out there! We still managed to finish in about an hour and 25 minutes.
Now we are just chilling out for the rest of the summer....Amy will turn 6 (where has the time gone??) in a little over a week. She is having yet another Dora birthday party. This will be her 5th Dora party. I told her yesterday she should be the president of the Dora fan club because she has to be Dora's biggest fan!! We are also getting ready to start our back to school supply shopping. Emma is about to enter the 5th grade, Audrey will be in 2nd and Amy will be a 1st grader. The girls really enjoy school so although they are sad their summer is coming to an end, they are looking forward to being back with their friends.
I plan to go to work with David a couple of days a week and I will also be doing Mom to Mom again. I really enjoyed it last year and look forward to it again this year.
I think that has me caught up!!! I'm hoping to set aside time each week to update...but I'm not making any promises. I know the school year will be busy with lots of homework and projects...but maybe I can find a window of opportunity every now and then to update.
Until next time......Angie
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
At a loss....
Well, it's hard to believe that January is almost over. Time is a precious thing. It always seems to go by way too fast. Recently (the 17th of this month) we celebrated the 10th anniversary of Robby's homegoing. Celebrate seems to be a strange word, but, in all honesty, it is something to celebrate. He has been with Jesus for 10 years now. I can honestly say that not one day in these last ten years has gone by without him coming to my mind. I think of him every day. There are things that make me sad, I do miss him. I wish that he would have been able to experience being an uncle. Emma was born just months after he died. However, I don't know that I would have wanted my girls to experience losing him....but I would have liked for them to have known him.
The past few weeks have been rough, emotionally speaking. There have been so many deaths. Right after the New year, one of David's old employee's passed away. Then, days later, the associate pastor of my church died. That same day, a friend of mine lost her boyfriend. And then, just this past Friday, one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known, Karen Means, died of brain cancer. She leaves behind her husband of 21 years, her 14 year old son, and her 10 year old daughter. I can't honestly say I know how these people feel...while I've suffered a great loss losing my brother, I know it's different to lose a parent, a child, or a spouse. I do know that they have a tough road ahead. My prayers are with them. I know that most of them know the Lord...and for that I am thankful. The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. I hope that these suffering families can find hope in these words. Each day that goes by is but another day closer to reuniting with our loved ones.
I'm attending the funeral of my sweet friend Karen today. My heart is broken, but I know that Karen is no longer suffering from the beast that invaded her body. She is greatly missed, but will not be forgotten. Please join me in praying for these precious families as they adjust to life without their loved ones presence.
The past few weeks have been rough, emotionally speaking. There have been so many deaths. Right after the New year, one of David's old employee's passed away. Then, days later, the associate pastor of my church died. That same day, a friend of mine lost her boyfriend. And then, just this past Friday, one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known, Karen Means, died of brain cancer. She leaves behind her husband of 21 years, her 14 year old son, and her 10 year old daughter. I can't honestly say I know how these people feel...while I've suffered a great loss losing my brother, I know it's different to lose a parent, a child, or a spouse. I do know that they have a tough road ahead. My prayers are with them. I know that most of them know the Lord...and for that I am thankful. The Bible says in Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. I hope that these suffering families can find hope in these words. Each day that goes by is but another day closer to reuniting with our loved ones.
I'm attending the funeral of my sweet friend Karen today. My heart is broken, but I know that Karen is no longer suffering from the beast that invaded her body. She is greatly missed, but will not be forgotten. Please join me in praying for these precious families as they adjust to life without their loved ones presence.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The Prodigal God...
I just heard of this book from a friend of mine, Amy Cathy (I also follow her blog -- "My Place in the Sun"). She mentioned that it was the first book she downloaded to her Kindle. I, too, got a Kindle for Christmas so I decided to see what the book was about. After reading the short description on Amazon, I decided I wanted to read it. So, I bought it with "one-click" and was able to start reading it about a minute later. :) I do love my Kindle!! (In case you have not heard of a Kindle, it's an e-book reader offered by Amazon. You can download somewhere around 1500 books on this little electronic device that is about the size of an average paperback, but is only about 1/4" thick. Most new releases are around $9.99 and there are thousands of books that are "public domain" that you can download for free.) Anyway, I only planned on beginning the book, but I just kept reading until I was done.
The book is based on a parable in the Bible from the book of Luke (Chapter 15) about the Prodigal Son. I've heard this parable many times and the times I've heard it, the emphasis has been on this prodigal son. However, this book brings to light not only the sins of the Prodigal Son, but also those of the elder brother. One of the features I really like about the Kindle is the ability to highlight passages within the books I read. The Kindle stores all those highlighted passages into a separate file called "my clippings." Throughout this book, I highlighted several passages that stood out to me. I wanted to share those with you.
"Religion operates on the principle of "I obey -- therefore I am accepted by God." The basic operating principle of the Gospel is "I am accepted by God through the work of Jesus Christ -- therefore I obey."
"As Richard Lovelace has written: "[People] who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons...Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger."
"As long as you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through goodness, you will never be sure you have been good enough for him. You simply aren't sure God loves and delights in you."
"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn't mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness."
"Martin Luther's old formula still sums things up nicely: "We are saved by faith alone (not our works), but not by faith that remains alone." Nothing we do can merit God's grace and favor, we can only believe that he has given it to us in Jesus Christ and receive it by faith. But if we truly believe and trust in the one who sacrificially served us, it changes us into people who sacrificially serve God and our neighbors. If we say "I believe in Jesus" but it doesn't affect the way we live, the answer is not that now we need to add hard work to our faith so much as that we haven't truly understood or believed in Jesus at all."
As you can see, I really liked this book! I liked that it brought to light that you can take "doing the right thing" to the extreme. Our service to God should come from the heart. Not because it's what we are "supposed to do."
I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father full of grace and mercy!!
The book is based on a parable in the Bible from the book of Luke (Chapter 15) about the Prodigal Son. I've heard this parable many times and the times I've heard it, the emphasis has been on this prodigal son. However, this book brings to light not only the sins of the Prodigal Son, but also those of the elder brother. One of the features I really like about the Kindle is the ability to highlight passages within the books I read. The Kindle stores all those highlighted passages into a separate file called "my clippings." Throughout this book, I highlighted several passages that stood out to me. I wanted to share those with you.
"Religion operates on the principle of "I obey -- therefore I am accepted by God." The basic operating principle of the Gospel is "I am accepted by God through the work of Jesus Christ -- therefore I obey."
"As Richard Lovelace has written: "[People] who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons...Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger."
"As long as you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through goodness, you will never be sure you have been good enough for him. You simply aren't sure God loves and delights in you."
"Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn't mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness."
"Martin Luther's old formula still sums things up nicely: "We are saved by faith alone (not our works), but not by faith that remains alone." Nothing we do can merit God's grace and favor, we can only believe that he has given it to us in Jesus Christ and receive it by faith. But if we truly believe and trust in the one who sacrificially served us, it changes us into people who sacrificially serve God and our neighbors. If we say "I believe in Jesus" but it doesn't affect the way we live, the answer is not that now we need to add hard work to our faith so much as that we haven't truly understood or believed in Jesus at all."
As you can see, I really liked this book! I liked that it brought to light that you can take "doing the right thing" to the extreme. Our service to God should come from the heart. Not because it's what we are "supposed to do."
I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father full of grace and mercy!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Where does the time go?? I can't believe Christmas is just under 3 weeks away!! Wow!
Thanksgiving was a wonderful day....we celebrated with my parents at our house. Mom spent the night with us on Wednesday and we spent the evening making some delicious desserts for after our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. We made chocolate truffles, cookies, peanut butter balls, chocolate eclair pie, and pumpkin pie. All three of the girls helped prepare our Thanksgiving feast...and a feast it was! We had turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, potato salad, deviled eggs, and cranberry relish. It was a very delicious meal.
Thursday evening, we went to visit David's mom and some of his family. We had more desserts and some of us girls made a fun gingerbread house. We played card games and just had a great time of fellowship. Then began the shopping expedition! Toys R Us opened at midnight! Last Christmas season, I went to Toys R Us and did the majority of my shopping...so this year, since I was going to be in the area (David's mom lives in Fayetteville, close to Toys R Us) I decided to go ahead and knock it out that night...then shop in my own area (Newnan) the next morning. My brother & sister-in-law joined me for the midnight madness. And, suffice it to say, madness doesn't even begin to describe how crazy it was!!! I'll just say what I thought would take me 2 hours at tops, ended up taking 6 hours. I stood in line for a miserable 5 hours. I did get some great deals, but I did not get ANY sleep. I left the toy store at 5 a.m. and drove home to pick up my Mom and Emma for some more shopping!! We hit several other stores (none were as crowded as Toys R Us was!) and were very successful. I think overal, in the 16 (yes, 16) hours I shopped I saved close to $400! Pretty impressive! I am thankfully almost finished with my shopping....all I have left is to get a few stocking stuffers and get something for David (who I am convinced is one of the hardest people to shop for) and my parents.
Saturday....after sleeping very late, we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. The girls had lots of fun pulling out their ornaments. My mom has bought them special ornaments every year and they each have a special box just for their ornaments. They really have fun putting them on the tree....and they did a great job! I only had to remind them a few times to spread the ornaments out! :) One of my favorite things about my Christmas tree (besides the fact that it is a pre-lit tree -- NO stringing lights for me!!!) is that it has a rotating tree stand. This is a feature that can be turned off and on. Last year, we didn't have it rotate, this year the kids decided they wanted it to rotate. Well...little Miss Molly (our dog) decided that she wasn't so sure about this rotating tree!! She spent the better part of the evening barking like crazy. It was quite entertaining....so much so that I had to capture it on video. She especially didn't like one particular ornament that kept dragging over the tree skirt. Brace yourself for the video...she is quite ferocious!
Now...weren't you frightened by that!!! :) We have a busy couple of days ahead, we are having David's employee Christmas party this Sunday, then we are taking his managers out for dinner on Tuesday evening. Next Saturday will be my birthday, then we have Emma's chorus recital on the 17th, followed by class parties on the 18th, then it's just one week till Christmas! What a wonderful time of year it is!
Thanksgiving was a wonderful day....we celebrated with my parents at our house. Mom spent the night with us on Wednesday and we spent the evening making some delicious desserts for after our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. We made chocolate truffles, cookies, peanut butter balls, chocolate eclair pie, and pumpkin pie. All three of the girls helped prepare our Thanksgiving feast...and a feast it was! We had turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, potato salad, deviled eggs, and cranberry relish. It was a very delicious meal.
Thursday evening, we went to visit David's mom and some of his family. We had more desserts and some of us girls made a fun gingerbread house. We played card games and just had a great time of fellowship. Then began the shopping expedition! Toys R Us opened at midnight! Last Christmas season, I went to Toys R Us and did the majority of my shopping...so this year, since I was going to be in the area (David's mom lives in Fayetteville, close to Toys R Us) I decided to go ahead and knock it out that night...then shop in my own area (Newnan) the next morning. My brother & sister-in-law joined me for the midnight madness. And, suffice it to say, madness doesn't even begin to describe how crazy it was!!! I'll just say what I thought would take me 2 hours at tops, ended up taking 6 hours. I stood in line for a miserable 5 hours. I did get some great deals, but I did not get ANY sleep. I left the toy store at 5 a.m. and drove home to pick up my Mom and Emma for some more shopping!! We hit several other stores (none were as crowded as Toys R Us was!) and were very successful. I think overal, in the 16 (yes, 16) hours I shopped I saved close to $400! Pretty impressive! I am thankfully almost finished with my shopping....all I have left is to get a few stocking stuffers and get something for David (who I am convinced is one of the hardest people to shop for) and my parents.
Saturday....after sleeping very late, we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. The girls had lots of fun pulling out their ornaments. My mom has bought them special ornaments every year and they each have a special box just for their ornaments. They really have fun putting them on the tree....and they did a great job! I only had to remind them a few times to spread the ornaments out! :) One of my favorite things about my Christmas tree (besides the fact that it is a pre-lit tree -- NO stringing lights for me!!!) is that it has a rotating tree stand. This is a feature that can be turned off and on. Last year, we didn't have it rotate, this year the kids decided they wanted it to rotate. Well...little Miss Molly (our dog) decided that she wasn't so sure about this rotating tree!! She spent the better part of the evening barking like crazy. It was quite entertaining....so much so that I had to capture it on video. She especially didn't like one particular ornament that kept dragging over the tree skirt. Brace yourself for the video...she is quite ferocious!
Now...weren't you frightened by that!!! :) We have a busy couple of days ahead, we are having David's employee Christmas party this Sunday, then we are taking his managers out for dinner on Tuesday evening. Next Saturday will be my birthday, then we have Emma's chorus recital on the 17th, followed by class parties on the 18th, then it's just one week till Christmas! What a wonderful time of year it is!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Trick or Treat!
Well...it was supposed to be a treat, but turned out to be a trick. For the treat, I was going to post pictures of the girls from Halloween but for some reason, I keep getting an error code. I guess Blogger wants me to have a trick!!! So, instead, I will just tell you what the girls were, and if we are friends on facebook, you can see the halloween pictures there.
The girls had a great time trick or treating, despite the cold and rain! My parents came over to see the girls and we had a great evening together. Emma dressed up as a Starbuck's Barista...our local Starbuck's even loaned her an apron to wear! She got a lot of compliments on her costume while we made our way through the neighborhood. When I returned the apron, I took a picture of Emma in costume to the manager and he posted it on his Community Board. Emma thought that was awesome! Audrey dressed up as Hannah Montana....she posed with our Wii guitar for some pictures and then wanted to carry the guitar trick-or-treating, however, a quick thinking Momma remembered that she had a Hannah Montana purse in the shape of a guitar, so she carried that instead and used it as her candy bag! Amy dressed as Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy is the character in a series of childrens books that Amy likes. There are also some puzzles and dolls that go along with the character. Fancy Nancy, as her name denotes, is very Fancy. She likes to use fancy big words and dresses quite lavishly. This was right up Amy's alley and she loves anything that involves glitter and being all dressed up. I curled her hair in sponge rollers and she wore a tiara. We covered her in glitter and she got to wear a feather boa....she was just too cute! She's even decided that she wants a Fancy Nancy birthday party next year! (This coming from a child that has had a Dora party for 4 years straight!!!)
We had a great Halloween weekend. I can't believe November is almost half-over! Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away! It's my favorite holiday and I can't wait for it to get here! This year, my mom and I are going to get up the next day for some Black Friday shopping together. We haven't done that in many years....it should be lots of fun!
The girls had a great time trick or treating, despite the cold and rain! My parents came over to see the girls and we had a great evening together. Emma dressed up as a Starbuck's Barista...our local Starbuck's even loaned her an apron to wear! She got a lot of compliments on her costume while we made our way through the neighborhood. When I returned the apron, I took a picture of Emma in costume to the manager and he posted it on his Community Board. Emma thought that was awesome! Audrey dressed up as Hannah Montana....she posed with our Wii guitar for some pictures and then wanted to carry the guitar trick-or-treating, however, a quick thinking Momma remembered that she had a Hannah Montana purse in the shape of a guitar, so she carried that instead and used it as her candy bag! Amy dressed as Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy is the character in a series of childrens books that Amy likes. There are also some puzzles and dolls that go along with the character. Fancy Nancy, as her name denotes, is very Fancy. She likes to use fancy big words and dresses quite lavishly. This was right up Amy's alley and she loves anything that involves glitter and being all dressed up. I curled her hair in sponge rollers and she wore a tiara. We covered her in glitter and she got to wear a feather boa....she was just too cute! She's even decided that she wants a Fancy Nancy birthday party next year! (This coming from a child that has had a Dora party for 4 years straight!!!)
We had a great Halloween weekend. I can't believe November is almost half-over! Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away! It's my favorite holiday and I can't wait for it to get here! This year, my mom and I are going to get up the next day for some Black Friday shopping together. We haven't done that in many years....it should be lots of fun!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sneak Peek of Family Portraits!
I posted this link on my facebook page, but in case you missed it, or just wanted to see it again, click the link below to see a few shots from our recent family portraits. I am so thankful for Heather sharing her talent with our family. I can't wait to use her services again! I'm hoping to do a spring session as well, and include my parents and David's Mom for some generational shots. Should be great! But, without further ado....check out our pictures!
http://heathercrawford.typepad.com/photography/2009/11/sneak-peek-for-the-lindley-family.html
http://heathercrawford.typepad.com/photography/2009/11/sneak-peek-for-the-lindley-family.html
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