Silver Skillet Rocks

Erinleigh, George, and I went to the Silver Skillet today for brunch... amazing!! I had a biscuit with egg and bacon, side of pancake, and coffee... yumm-o! Erinleigh and George have a habit of going and hopefully they will include me every time they go. I could do that again in a minute.

I guess this post is my restaurant review, although I don't think they really care too much about my opinion cause its, like, the most visited restaurant in Atlanta by the 'real' famous people. Want the history... check it out here. What I found most interesting is that parts of Remember the Titans were filmed there as well as Travis Tritt's Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares music video.

Since I have posted a Travis Tritt video already I figured you would want to see another one! Don't you just love the mullet!!!

Do you want my autograph??

Seriously, you may want it. Because I may be on a series called High Rise: The Series! Last night Erinleigh and I were asked to be extras on the set, which is being filmed at the Terminus in Buckhead, and we were there from 6pm to almost 3:30am... it was long but we kept ourselves entertained. So we shall see if I will make it into the series or if I have been cut. Not quite sure when the series will start (I think in March) and when it does (and if I am in it) I will totally update here :)

This may be my big break!

Is this me???

What do you think, does it look like me??


Apparently the answer is YES!! Because I have had 2 different friends see this picture and email it to me saying it looks like me. Crazy, huh? Actually, I think the picture looks good so I don't really mind ;)

Jerry just bought a new video camera so he can upload video to his blogs. You know I had to snatch the camera and use it myself...

I have played it over and over and laugh every time!!

It's A Great Day To Be Alive

I hurt. Like all over ache. Hurts to type (guess I am crazy for typing this then). But, I am at work and I am doing my best not to cry.

Yesterday was an amazing day. One that things went right, I felt great, I had an amazing time at Avra for Jonathan's birthday party. I love Greek food. I was on my game, chatting, having fun. Until about 11pm. I am so greatful for the time I felt great. It was wonderful.

At 11pm I put my head on the pillow and everything changed. I couldn't sleep, everything started to hurt. I was up until about 3:30pm. I was cold so I turned the heater up. I was hot and itchy so I turned the heater down. I watched the Dog Whisperer. I finally fell asleep and then the alarm went off. Snoozed three times. Finally got up, put a hat on, put some lipstick on (cause you have to feel pretty when you hurt, its a rule), grabbed myself some coffee, and headed out the door.

Side note, for coffee I prefer fat-free vanilla soy milk. For tea, I prefer Almond Milk. I just learned this yesterday. Just in case you wanted to know.

I jump into my car and head down Peachtree. I am having my normal converation with God as I drive. Today was about healing and comfort. I explained that I loved how I felt yesterday but today I don't feel good and I need Your healing and Your comfort. And guess what came on the radio...

Its a great day to be alive...

Today's Devotional

This was sooooo absolutely encouraging for me today that I have to put it here. Hope you find it the same.

What Does God Know about You? (Part 2)
by Rick Warren

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

God knows everything about your faults and failures, and your feelings and frustrations, and he also knows what your tomorrow holds.

God knows your future. We’re all interested in the future. It’s interesting to me the things people will use to try to figure out what’s going to happen next: astrology, horoscopes, reading tea leaves, consulting with people, bio-rhythms.

But they’re going to the wrong source because the only one who knows what’s going to happen next is God.

The Bible says, even before you were born, God knew all of your future (Psalm 139:16, Jeremiah 29:11). This means God sees your tomorrow, today. He already sees the things you’ll face.

The fact is, God is not limited by time. He’s able to be in the past, the present, and the future all at the same time. Think of it like this: if you were in the Goodyear Blimp looking down on the Rose Parade, you could see the beginning of the parade and the end of the parade all at the same time.

God, from his perspective, can see past, present, and future all at once. That should give us great confidence in God. It’s comforting to me that he knows everything that is going to happen in my life. He not only knows about the future, he’s there in the future. He not only walks with us day-by-day, he can also walk in our future.

God is already prepared for everything you’re going to face – tomorrow, next week, or next month. What the future holds may surprise us, but it doesn’t surprise God. Nothing ever catches him by surprise, or makes him say, “Oh, really?!”

Next month or next year you may be faced with a crisis, and you may ask, “What’s happening? Where is God?” God’s been there all along, preparing. He’s already in your future and he’s prepared for everything.

If I know that God knows all my tomorrows, today, then I should ask him for advice. He knows what’s going to happen: “Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own” (Jeremiah 33:3 MSG).

The things you don’t know, God can tell you about. He’s not going to lay out your whole life all at once, telling you everything that will happen in your life. If he did, you’d likely get very discouraged or prideful or both. Instead, he gives it to you a little bit at a time.

It’s like this, when you’re driving up a mountain on a curving road and you’re caught behind a slow car, you may think, “If I could just see around the curve, I’d go ahead and pass this guy.” If there were a helicopter above, the pilot could let you know if there was another car around the curve. From his perspective, he could help you out.

The same is true with God: from his perspective, he knows everything that’s going to happen, so you can ask him for advice.

Here’s what I’d suggest, when you get up in the morning, go over your schedule with the Lord. Pray, “Father, you’ve already seen this day that I’m about to experience. You know ahead of time every interruption I’m going to face, every cranky person in the office, every flat tire, every traffic jam, every missed plane, when I’m going to spill the coffee on my suit. You’ve already seen it all. Would you, right now, give me the strength to cope through this day, the strength that I need for today.”

Compassion Sunday 2009

Compassion Sunday 2009

Change lives through Compassion Sunday!As a sponsor, you offer hope to your sponsored child month after month. But millions of children are still hanging on for dear life. Please help more children in need by participating in Compassion Sunday on April 26! Just a few hours of your time can save precious lives.

By participating in Compassion Sunday, you’ll partner with thousands of others in churches across the country to help find sponsors for children living in poverty.

And Compassion provides everything you need for your event — free of charge! To get started, request a Planning Folder online.

After you receive your Planning Folder, order what you need by filling out the Materials Order Form inside or by completing it online. When we receive your completed Materials Order Form, we will send you a $10 gift coupon redeemable in Compassion's online store.

So, don't wait — order your Compassion Sunday 2009 Planning Folder today!

If you have any questions, please call (800) 336-7535.

Thank you for your faithfulness to God’s children!

Sincerely,
Greg Birgy
Greg Birgy
National Advocates Network Director

P.S. Compassion Sunday will be presented at churches around the world on April 26, but please feel free to set a date that works best for you and your church!

Random Thoughts Again

Here are a few random thoughts that I can leave you with today...

1. As I was driving in I was contemplating a news story I heard on CNN. The government is going to be giving away more money to someone or groups of someones or businesses (sorry it was in the background while I was curling my hair and at the time hair-curling seemed more important). They were talking thru the pros and cons about said bill. On my drive I was thinking about how the government is about to take some money that tax payers have to forfeit - no such thing as free money - to give to businesses that haven't been able to stay afloat financially on their own; give them more money. What do they think the results will be? It was making me a little angry and then this voice came into my head (yes I hear voices) that said... 'yeah, I know. How many people actually take care of all I give them, eeeeh?' It circled back 'round to what I am currently learning at Buckhead Church about being financially Balanced. Touché, I thought, touché.

2. I had a few really random, really weird dreams last night. Of which, I can only remember one. But the point is not the quantity but the quality of the dream. I dreamed about a person who is currently in my past, exactly where they need to stay, and have been there for quite a few years. In the dream I still had their style, actions, wording, mannerism, etc all pegged down. It was real to me. It makes me realize that I internalize more than I have ever really realized. Now what to do with this realization...

3. I had an amazing time with my small group at Flying Biscuit Monday night!!!! We will have to see each other still... and we are thinking about a rotating dinner night... cause I would sooooo miss them if I never got to see them again. They have been such an intimate part of my life over the past 3 years.

And there you have it... numbered, random thoughts.

Craziness...

My calendar looks like a tornado. Seriously there is colors everywhere, things to do, my next week is already mapped out completely for me. I am not used to this. Its not always that I am this busy and I am glad for that. I do love my down times, however sometimes its nice to have things to do. I am just nervous that I am over scheduled for this week and I don't want to drop anything. All of my down time will probably be spent napping, which is probably a good thing... keeping healthy is key to getting everything done.

This just means that my blogging suffers. I want to update but I just don't always have the energy or time to. Aahhh, craziness...

However, my mom did just send me some pictures from my childhood... and they made me smile this morning when I saw them...





Was I not just the cutiest little thing you ever saw?!??!?

So, to give you a recap of what I did this past week... Wednesday I had the most fun with my Oasis group wrap up. We went to Cafe Intermezzo for dinner and DESSERT!! We sat and chatted for hours. The food was great. The dessert was amazing, as always!

Thursday had plans to go to Erinleigh's house to watch Kath & Kim, The Office and 30 Rock. However, I got a call from her at 7pm that she was headed over to an audition and that I had to come. I had literally just gotten done with a walk, changed and ran out. The audtion was a Lola and it was fun. Not much to it really, just had to talk for a few minutes and have my picture taken. Once we were done we went to her house, at some rice and beans for dinner, and watched our shows!! We even watched Jeff Dunham on the Comedy network! Fun, fun night!!

Friday during the day I was uber lazy and loved every minute of it! At night, I went to Amy's house (from my small group) for her bachelorette party. We ate pizza, watched Sex & The City and talked! There was a lot of ladies that I hadn't met before, and a few I had, so it was fun talking to everyone.

Saturday during the day I did a lot of work at home... cleaning, laundry, etc. Then at night I went to Amy's Wedding Shower. Minus the drive, it was a lot of fun! The drive was just super long. It was with a lot of the same ladies that were at the bachelorette party so it was fun to see everyone again.

Sunday I worked (hard) in the morning and went to service at Buckhead Church. We are in the middle of a series called Balanced and if you haven't seen it yet, watch it now! Amazing!! Yesterday hit right home for me!! At night, Erinleigh had a birthday party for her brother on my roof. It was chilly (ended up downright cold) but fun! There ended up being, I would say, around 30 people up there! I stayed near the fireplace but was able to talk to a lot of fun people. I was so glad we had the party on my roof!

Tonight I have my last meeting with my current small group. It's bittersweet. I love my current group but I know its time for us to move on and be in new groups. However, it will be so weird and sad not to have them scheduled into my life every week! We are going to be meeting at Flying Biscuit, which I love and I know we will have a great time chatting so I am really looking forward to it.

Grandma's Secret Recipe... Chili!!

I love my family's cooking. You just can't beat it, not with a wooden spoon, not with anything. That being the case, I haven't found anyone who can top the goodness that is my grandma E's chili. I asked her for the recipe, but of course, that is top secret... aka, no recipe - she makes it up as she goes along. But she did give me the base of what she does.

And, me being me, I made my own recipe out of it. If I remember it all correctly it was (see, it runs in the family)....

1 lb ground chuck (next time I will use ground turkey - but do whatever you like best)
2 small onions, diced
1/2 package mushrooms, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1/2 left-over tomato (from a previous salad), diced
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can Bushes baked beans (Granda uses Bushes chili beans - I just grabbed the wrong can)
46 oz low sodium V8 juice
15 oz can whole kernel corn
1 small can diced black olives, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground black pepper

First, saute the ground chuck until most of the pink is gone. Then add the onions, mushroom, and green pepper. I added black pepper to this as well. Once the meat is cooked and the onions are tender, drain any fat -- VERY IMPORTANT, do not skip :)

Next, using a big stock pot mix the sauteed mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Let sit over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue over heat for at least 1 hour, however the longer the better. I have come to the conclusion that its best on the second day.

I'm sure this would also work in a crock pot. In fact, I may have to give that a shot here soon!

Two done... And I love them!!!

I have been told that these chairs were my great grandparents. So, now we know!

Yesterday tested my skills and spent a good portion of my day making the cushion covers and the results were worth it! I think they are beautiful. I made them with zippers, so for now I have the old cushions in them. However, at some point I will make new since, I believe, the old ones were original with the chair and the padding leaves much to be desired. Either way, they work well for now!!

Boys only want girlfriends who have great skills... sewing skills...

Making Seat Cushions!!

Fabric!!

I have a pair of outdoor chairs that I received from my parents who got them, I think, from my great-grand parents (please correct me if I am wrong). I absolutely love the chairs, I love the color, I love the look, just love them! However, the cushions on the other hand left a lot to be desired. So, I haven't used them. Now, I want to make new cushions for the chair so I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and found some fabric that I thought would go well.

Here is my before...

Gotta love my chair!!

Here is the fabric. Beautiful, isn't it!!

I am excited to pull out my sewing machine and give it a go. Hopefully soon I will have a great after picture!!

Inspiration-less

So, I need to be inspired to write I suppose. Because for the past few days I have been wanting to write something on here, but I haven't felt the urge. Instead, I have keep myself busy by watching a few movies:

- Mamma Mia - Musical... LOVE it! Something about a musical makes me happy!!

- Calamity Jane - another musical - amazing!!

- Mean Girls - teen angst at its best

- Bride Wars - went with about 20 ladies to see it. check out a blog about it here.

- The Devil Wears Prada - seen it 100 times, if not more, and love it every time

- Get Smart - how funny! watched it with my friend Zach and we both laughed a ton!!

- Niagara - Marilyn Monroe in a scary movie. I was shocked at how much a movie from 1953 held me in suspense. Amazing!

And here is what else I have been up to...

Last Monday Erinleigh, George, Miranda, and Joe came over for pizza. It was raining that night but we still went up to my roof to hang out. They hadn't been up there, Joe and Miranda are from NYC, and they loved the view! They said it reminds them of being in NYC... it made me smile!

Wednesday I had my Oasis group, which I have already blogged the recipe.

Thursday I found out that my director (and was my direct manager for a few months) had to quit suddenly. My good friend and co-worker Rachel put it best in her blog, so I am going to quote directly from her....

This is a tribute to Sean. He has been the best manager I've ever had. And i'm so sad he is leaving the organization I work for ... I will miss his vision, direction, and leadership. I'm praying for him, his wife, and daughter. They've had a lot of things happen to their family in the last 2 months so please lift them up if you can today. Sean taught me so much about being a leader, pushing for more, managing others, looking at the big picture, and keeping God and family before work. Sean grew me to be the employee I am today. I give him the credit for my success. He has made me a better person and I will miss him immensely at work. I was truly blessed to work for him...

To be honest, when I found out I cried. Not just one little tear, but I had to hold myself back from all out bawling. Bit my lip and everything. I am sad to not have him here anymore. It's not getting easier but I have come to the decision that whenever I think about him or his family I will stop and pray. So in that note, I will be right back...

Ok, back.

At night my girls and I did our SATC night again... finally! We hadn't gotten together in FOREVER but it was good to see them! We did a pot-luck style dinner (which is one of my favorites) and watched Mamma Mia and chatted away... we are good at that!

Then on Friday I was supposed to go out to Lola with a group of ladies from Oasis, however I wasn't feeling the greatest. In the morning I had a doctor appointment that I thought was just an x-ray but turns out it was an upper-GI. Not sure what that means but it wasn't as bad as the barrium enema but it did ware me out. I am still waiting for the results. After the appointment I went home and went back to bed, slept for a few hours. When I woke up I still wasn't feeling well so I cancelled my night out. Lynnette, one of my BFF's is having some personal trouble, so I invited her over to my place for movies and dinner. We had taco salad - very easy and very yummy - and watched Calamity Jane and Mean Girls.

Saturday I finally went for a walk!! I hopped on the treadmill and went 30 minutes!! Woo hoo!! Afterwards I went to Dr. Marc's office for a seminar on 'taking control of your health.' I was able to go with my friend Wendy and it was great to see her! It's been a little while since we have gotten together. After the doctors visit I went to Jamie's house for pre-movie festivities before heading to the theater to watch Bride Wars.

Sunday I was back at work, loving every minute of it! It's so great to love your job!! I haven't felt this way in so very long. Praise God!! After work, Zach and I headed to my house and watched Get Smart... what a hoot! Funny, funny, funny!

Yesterday was somewhat down for me, which was good cause I was exhausted again! I was supposed to have small group but everyone bailed on it so I ended up staying home, preparing for Oasis on Wednesday, and relaxing.

Tonight I have my first mentor group meeting!! I am super excited!! I can't wait to see how God leads my life in the next year. Last year was so exciting with so many ups and downs. I expect this year to be the same.

Yummy... I love my slow-cooker!!

Once again here is the food that I made for Oasis last night...

Slow-Cooker Stew with Beans, Sweet Potatoes and Corn

1-28oz can of unsalted whole tomatoes, including the juice
3 cups sweet potato chunks
2 cups cooked cannelini beans
2 cups lima beans (I used frozen, but thawed them first)
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 large onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Dump the tomatoes into slow-cooker and crush with your hands or the back of a wooden spoon. Mix in the remaining ingredients, cover, and slow-cook until everything is tender. I put everything together at about 9am and let it cook about 8 hours on low and then turned it down to warm until everyone was there. You can also cook it on high for about an hour. Your cooking time and heat settings may need to be adjusted for your slow-cooker or for your own preferences.



Carmalized Squash Pizza

1 can (11 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated thin pizza crust
few scoops Ragu pizza sauce
Italian Seasoning (anything you like... I used basil, herb de provence, orageno)
olive oil
toasted seseme seed
2 tbsp capers
bag of spinach
1 1/2 lb. winter squash, peeled and sliced very thin
1 large sweet onion sliced very thin
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. dried sage
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground coarse black pepper
1 tsp. mashed garlic

For the carmalized squash:
Preheat oven to 325F. Place sliced squash and onion in baking dish, and toss with rosemary, sage, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 3 tablespoons olive oil to coat. Cover with foil or tight-fitting lid. Bake about 1 hour, or until squash is tender and onions begin to caramelize. You can carmalize the squash up to 3 days in advance.

To asseble the pizza:

Preheat the oven to 400F. Roll out the pizza crust onto a sheet tray, cook until slightly browned (approx 8 minutes). Around the outside, brush on olive oil. Spread the pizza sauce onto the pizza, top with Italian seasonings, seseme seeds, and capers. Arrange spinach over top to cover (like you would with cheese if you were making a cheese pizza). Top with the carmalized squash. Cook until pizza crust is the color brown you wish (I cooked it for another 15 - 20 minutes).

While I'm on the theme...

I found the Christmas sermon that was done at Buckhead Church / North Point Church and wanted to share it with you cause its just so good!! Check it out here. Sermon title is 'Footnote.'

Enjoy!!

Ok, another one...

Maybe I just feel very inspired this AM, however, here is another devotional that I thought was soooooo good!

How to Be Thankful in Tough Times
by Rick Warren

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***
1. Don’t worry about anything. Worrying doesn’t change anything. It’s stewing without doing. There’s no such thing as born worriers; worry is a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it from your peers. You learned it from experience. That’s good news. The fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT).

2. Pray about everything. Use the time you’ve spent worrying for praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God interested in car payments? Yes. He’s interested in every detail of your life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

3. Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy. They’re never satisfied; it’s never good enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

4. Think about the right things. If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think. The way you think determines how you feel, and the way you feel determines how you act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you’re thinking about.

This involves a deliberate, conscious choice where you change the channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the positive and on God’s Word. Why? Because the root cause of stress is the way you choose to think.

When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give thanks, when we focus on the right things, the apostle Paul tells us the result is, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 NLT). What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.

The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude.

New Year Devotional

I am a few days behind on my online devotionals (hey, hey... I am right on schedule for my nightly devotionals so I don't feel too bad). This morning I read the devotional from 1/1/2009 and absolutely loved it. Must share...

A Resolution Worth Keeping
by Jon Walker

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

Today’s guest devotional is from Jon Walker.

How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? You remember that list you made with optimistic enthusiasm but unrealistic expectations.

One of my friends started making New Year’s resolutions like, “I won’t lose ten pounds this year,” and “I commit to watching the Super Bowl this year.”

I suspect Paul only had one resolution on his list: “This year I resolve to know nothing but Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Paul’s message is radically simple: Salvation is in Christ alone. What does this mean?

It’s not Christ plus your good behavior.

It’s not Christ plus the number of Bible verses you memorize.

It’s not Christ plus your tithe or the church you attend.

It’s not Christ plus wisdom from the latest Christian seminar.

It’s simply Christ plus nothing. Christ and Christ alone.

In the new year...

Just a quick update on what I have been doing lately.  Yesterday I spent NYE with Erinleigh, George and a few other of their friends.  We ate dinner, hung out, made s'mores and watched the ball drop.  I had so much fun and the food was so good!!

Today I have been watching football, yes football, with my friend Marcus' dog Lucy.  I have been watching her this week and have really been enjoying her company.  She is a really cute, nice dog and we have a lot of fun sitting on the couch together, playing in my apartment, and going for walks!

Hope you are having a great first day of the new year!  

Now back to the Rose Bowl.  Right now I hope you are rooting for USC.

Book Review: The Case for Christianity

I just finished reading The Case for Christianity by C. S. Lewis and if you haven't read it yet I say go do it now!!  It's a very short book (only 56 pages) and its a pretty easy read.  Lewis definitely thinks much deeper than I do and I love seeing a short view of his perspective on Christianity.  

There were a few passages that I felt I needed to share because they just lept off the page at me...

First speaking of free will:

Of course God knew that would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.  Perhaps we feel inclined to disagree with Him.  But there's a difficulty about disagreeing with God.  He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you couldn't be right and he wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source.  When you are arguing against Him you're arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all:  it's like cutting off the branch you're sitting on.  If God thinks the state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will - that is, for making a real world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings - then we may take it is worth paying.

And second, speaking of Jesus 'just' a great moral teacher:

I'm trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really silly thing that people often say about Him:  "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God."  That's the one thing we mustn't say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher.  He'd either be a lunatic - on level with the man who says he's a poached egg - or else he'd be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.  But don't let us come with any patronising nonsense about about His being a great human teacher.  he hasn't left that open to us.  He didn't intend to.

Wow.  Amazing.  Powerful.  At least to me.  Read it for yourself and let me know what you think...

Giving

What better way to start out the new year with a post not of my own.  Here is a true story of something that happened to my cousin's family.  I thought it was something worth repeating. 

Enjoy...

Hello Everyone,

There is a story that has blessed and changed Brandon and My life. It's so crazy that we really felt that we needed to share it with everyone to really show what small things really can do.

Saturday December 27, 2008 like normal, we planned on going to Resurrection Life Church in Grandville, MI. We started to debate if we should go because it was already 3 PM and Taylor had still not taken a nap and we usually leave the house around 5:30 PM to go to church. As many of you know, Tay is a huge sleeper and if he doesn't get a nap he is very grouchy. So we said okay, we will try and keep him up and go do some running around that we usually do after church. So we did all of our running around, made it to church still at 5:45 PM and went and had a seat in service. We learned about this new night of The Story and we both wanted to go look at the book you can purchase in the store about this new thing that they are doing. We both had thought it is a awesome idea and that we are going to start going Wednesday nights to hear that service. Once church was over and we were dismissed, we started to walk down the isle and a Tall Man pulled us aside and asked us if he could tell us this story.

At first we were like... "Okay." Thinking that this is a little weird someone we have never met just wants to tell us this story, but we listened.

This is the man's story...

One day he was laying in bed and God had spoke to him, telling to start saving $20 here and there when he had some extra cash, the man did as God told him and started saving his money. Once he would get $50 he would go bring it to the back and get a $50 bill and put it away. Once he got up to $200 God spoke to him again. God told him to bring that $200 he saved and to give it to his neighbor. He asked God how he could address this to his neighbors because he knew that wouldn't just take that money. God told him to say that he had been saving it for a watch but felt that they needed the money more than he needed this watch. The next day and Man and his Wife brought that $200 over to the neighbors and gave it to them and told them he had been saving it for this watch but felt they needed it more. The neighbors ended up telling this man that they were $200 short on their house payment that month. The Man felt awsome he said, it felt very good that God had shown him what to do and used him to help his neighbors make their house payment. Then the man looked at us and said I had been looking around the church service for someone in need and you two really grabbed my attention, he grabbed Brandons hand and put a 100 Bill in his hand and said this is for you. We both broke down crying in the chuch hall while he explained to us that we caught his attention and knew we needed help. Once he saw us crying he and his wife prayed with us and then asked us if something had just happened to us where we would of needed this money... We then explained to him that Brandon was just put off work with No Pay for 2 weeks. He smiled and said it's amazing how God works. We all introduced ourselves to eachother and they asked about the New Baby on the way and if it was our only. The Man gave Brandon his card and kept telling us, if we ever needed any help, to call him. When he handed Brandon his card it was a Business of a Tool and Tie Place, he smiled and said that he was blessed from God after he started giving with this company and are now very blessed with money but still save up their little cash to give to others in need. We all went our seperate ways after we Thanked them and hugged them.

We were still in such shock that this has happened to us. We have always seen those type of shows like the Ophrah Show where they "Give Big" and the Secret Millionaire and we would always say to eachother while watching then that if we had money to give that we would just to help others, but we never thought that it would happen to us. It was like the biggest blessing to us that it really opened our eyes, we always said we would give if we had the money but never thought to save that little extra cash for awhile and then give. It really touched both of us, we both could not stop thinking of this Man and what he did, it was just such a huge Shock and that it really really touched both of us sooooo deep. It's crazy to think about it, he could have picked anyone in that church that night and for some reason he was drawn to us and it's like God told him that we needed that money.

We wanted to share this with everyone, it really goes to show that even little things, bless and touch people so much. God will show you who is in need and will bless you back. Everyone needs some help sometimes and to have this done to us was huge. It made us want to start saving money right away to give to others to share that same experience with them who are in need. God does things for reasons and it has been stuck in my head that I need to write everyone that I know and tell then our story so that you could be a giver too and that God will show you who is in need and will bless you back for giving to others. I feel that he many have done this because we have said we wanted to do this but to have it done to us really pushed us that we are going to start giving and touch other peoples lives. December 27th and the Man... will never be forgotten, he has helped change our mind settings that evern the little things, makes a big difference.

Thank you for reading our story that has touched both of us, it has been in my head the last couple days and I really felt that we needed to share it with everyone because I think that God will bless anyone that is willing to help others. God does great things to people and blesses those to help others!

Emily and Brandon Brougham

12/29/08