Happy New Year!

August, a bittersweet time of year-- so sweet because, as an educator, it's the beginning of a brand new start-- new pencils, new gradebook, new shoes, and most importantly a new set of  students to love.
However, to taste the sweet, you have to face the bitter end of summer and all its time at home with family, all its freedoms, like morning runs and midday trips to town to shop at local storefronts.
Today is my first teacher day back.  I haven't touched my classroom since I painted it in June.  I am having trouble getting it through my head that the schoolyear is already starting again.  My things-to-do list is growing rapidly, but as always, I will get it done.  And this year, I will keep the procrastination to a minimum.
The good news is that right now, I have a fresh start, and I am believing this is going to be an amazing year.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come."
 2 Corinthians 5:17
So to all of you out there headed to school or sending your precious, God-given treasures off to expand their knowledge, Happy School Year!
I pray God gives you joy in abundance and GRACE to get through the tough days.

The Queen of Procrastination

All hail the Queen!

Don’t worry.  I have not become suddenly full of myself.  I am not so proud of this kingdom.  In fact, this kingdom needs to be conquered.

I am talking about this Kingdom of Procrastination that I have built.  Let’s take a tour. 

If you were to study the history of my kingdom, you’d find that it’s not a free nation.  It’s a place governed by fear and unrest, where the queen (me) allows herself to be manipulated by lies, what-ifs, and other distractions.  This is not a healthy state for a kingdom.

In the northern section of the kingdom, you find the Stress District, where no one is on time and Last Minute is the Sheriff.  He’s always tyrannically yelling things like, “We don’t have time!” and “Hurry!”  The Queen resents him.

In the center of this kingdom is The Forrest of Clutter, a wild and frightening forest that is overgrown with unattended paperwork and abandoned items of every sort.  Everyone in the kingdom is disgusted by this place that threatens the entire land.   It needs to be cleared.

Through this forest flows a river of wasted time and money which pools into the southernmost part of the kingdom, the Enchanted Paradise of Dreams.  The Queen knows this a wonderful place.  She loves planning trips there and occasionally getting to visit, but she is often so exhausted from traveling through the other lands that she can’t enjoy her time there.

What will the Queen do?  She MUST do something.

Do you live in a similar kingdom?  If you do, you know how suffocating it can be.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Little by little, I know I can make the changes I need to clean up this kingdom, to expand the Enchanted Paradise and to at least help the Sheriff become less abrasive.

This is daily battle.  I can do this! I am not really a queen, but a Princess, a daughter of The King of Kings.  I am more than a conqueror and I will conquer this kingdom with the help of my KING and His instruction book. 

Proverbs 31:27 “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

3 Reasons This Blog HAD to Happen (or What's up with that page title?)

1.  GRACE-

  Before you know anything else about me, you need to know one thing.  I am a believer.  I have been given the gift of God’s grace through salvation.  I am not going to beat anyone over the head with my Bible, but it is important that you know where I stand.  I am by no means perfect, but I know what I’ve experienced, and I think I should share it.  There is definitely room for more positive talk out in the world.  God has blessed me beyond measure with a healthy, happy life, a wonderful family, and the opportunity to watch some pretty crazy dreams come true.  So it’s my sincere hope that someone will find a little hope, a little encouragement, a little GRACE in my chatter.  From time to time, I’ll share a scripture, a song, a quote I find inspirational.   
Click here to listen to my version of “Amazing Grace”, a song that still gives me chills every time I hear it.

Inspiration dwells in quiet places.

2.  GUITARS-

If you clicked the link above, you heard my super-talented husband on GUITAR and me doing what I love most in the world to do- sing!  And if you aren’t sold on grace yet, throw this in your blender and see if it comes out a smoothie.  I am a shy, afraid-of-everything, super-nerd who is not comfortable in crowds.  My husband is an athletic, outgoing, outdoorsman who believes you can do ANYTHING you want to do—I don’t mean he’s one of those people who says he believes it—I mean he’ll flat-out get up and just do it while other people (like me) are still scratching their heads thinking about how it might not work.  He got his hands on a guitar when he was a teenager, had few lessons, and hasn’t stopped perfecting his skill since.  GUITARS are a HUGE part of our life and our living. 

When I first fell in love with him, he was playing and singing a song he co-wrote.  After a date, he wanted to play a song for me.  As his unique voice and skillful playing filled the kitchen, it filled up my heart.  I knew at that moment: He’s the ONE. 

Now years later, together, we write songs, record, perform, lead music—it’s what we do.   
To find our album Rocking P Genuine 
on i-Tunes, click  here. For CDBaby, click here.

Our first album

3.      RED DIRT-

I think our life is unique because even though we really enjoy performing often and in a lot of venues, home and family is VERY important to us.  We look forward to the moment we bump back down our RED DIRT drive.  We love being together at home, surrounded by our loved ones, eating a good healthy meal.   

There's Red Dirt at the End of Our Rainbow

We worked really hard for our piece of RED DIRT and we enjoy country living so much.  This land provides us with so much… from inspiration, to sweaty work, to food for the table, and a spacious place to enjoy life.  We love it out here.  It’s our gym and our playground; our refuge and our meeting place.  Out here we’ve learned that having something takes hard work, and that sometimes, it’s best to use what you’ve got instead of getting more.