4 weeks and counting...

4 weeks from today, our oldest, Heather, will head to East Asia for a 12-day missions trip. To say that she is excited is an understatement. She is counting down the days! We are extremely excited for her. We have been praying about this day...this trip...for a long time.

This will be her 4th missions trip...but her first one since we've moved to Charlotte.

She has been praying for quite some time for God's will on her life...wondering what He is calling her to do, future-wise. We are praying with her that during this trip, she will get a sense of His calling, if it is to do anything other than what she is doing now. She will be away from all the noise life offers...music, TV, her Zumba classes :), work, etc....just time with the Lord.

Her only concern...the food. She's already made sure to ask if she can pack her own snacks! I'll make sure she has plenty :)

Weekend in Wilson...

This past weekend I was able to go back to Wilson and visit with friends and my church family. I was asked to speak at their women's meeting on Sunday night...such an honor! I was excited to go back. It was a time to visit with friends and also a couple of ladies who are "grandma's" to me. My best friends invited me over Saturday evening for dinner and to hang out...since I had no where to go :) I also had lunch on Saturday with my Sr. pastor's wife, another sweet friend.

On Sunday morning, it was great walking in to church and seeing everyone. I was able to spend some time visiting with all the pastor's wives, who have meant the world to me over the years. One of them, Dana, was to have been in Romania on a missions trip. Sadly, their trip was cancelled at the last minute (while at the airport) due to the volcano. I hurt for them but I was extremely excited that I got to see her. She was my very first friend when we moved to Wilson in 1990. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I couldn't get pictures with them...not good.

Sunday afternoon, I was able to spend the entire afternoon with my sister, Karen, who lives close to Wilson. We had such a great time together (just wish our younger sister could have been with us).

It was a wonderful weekend! I laughed so much my sides hurt. God has given me such amazing friends, both in Wilson and in Charlotte. I am truly blessed!

My "Peeps"

"Grandma Kim, a/k/a Aunt Pimmy"

Aunt Pimmy with Aidan

With my sister, Karen.

(Note to self: have Karen take out peppermint before having picture taken :)

Christ the Lord is Risen today!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Burn Notice?

From Homelife - April 2010 issue:
"Cancer researchers have moved tanning beds to the top-risk category, as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas. If you tan regularly before age 30, you increase your chance of getting skin cancer by 75%. Spray tans are looking better by the ultraviolet minute".

Why am I an advocate against tanning beds? Because in April, 2001, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. I grew up in Virginia Beach...adored the hot sun and tanning beds.

In 1998, I made a pact with myself, after noticing leathery wrinkles and sun damage beginning to make their way to my face, that I would stay out of the sun. Little did I know 3 years later the diagnosis I would receive after noticing a mole on my right thigh that I had never seen before.

Since then, I have had two more spots that looked "suspicious" but were benign. The Dr. blames the tanning bed! This morning, I have my annual melanoma check...9 years cancer free!

The World Health International Agency for Reach on Cancer (IARC) recently announced that it has moved the use of tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category..."carcinogenic to humans". Previous studies have regularly found young people are 8 times more likely to get melanoma.

Needless to say, I am very passionate against the use of tanning beds. My girls have never used one and I hope they never do; they tell me they won't and I trust them.

I am also a user of sunscreen...for 11 years, I have had the whitest skin ever...just as "ghostly" in the summer! Just ask my children what my favorite word is....."reapply" :)

I have just finished reading an amazing book...What Happens When Women say Yes to God, by Lysa Terkeurst, President of Proverbs 31 ministries.
This book was absolutely wonderful to me and extremely convicting; love those type of books! It spoke to me that I need to have radical obedience, knowing and hearing God's will, if it weren't easy, it wouldn't be worth doing (I needed that reminder too!), and the most convicting chapter was Giving up what was never ours.
Oh, how my toes were hurting.

I John 3:18-19 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. I can't count the times that I've "said" I need to do something, but never put action to my words. Lysa reminded me that when we come to understand that we're giving up what was never ours to begin with, we're walking in radical obedience.

She shared the example of a couple, friend's of hers, who were saving money to build their dream home. During this time, their church began a building campaign. God began speaking to them about sacrificing the money they had been saving to give to this campaign...Joyfully, they placed their dreams in God's hands and invested their dream, their finances, for eternity.
Lysa shared about the time she was saving up for a "new outfit fund". She saved $100.00 and set a date with her fashion-savvy friends to go shopping. She was so excited. Just a few days before she was going shopping, a dear friend contacted her and asked her to pray for her family's financial situation. Lysa found out that they needed $100.00 to pay a bill. $100.00....isn't that how much she had just saved? I don't need to tell you what she did. She gave that money to her dear friend to meet a need.

All this to say...would I do that? Would I be willing to give up what I had saved for....money that isn't mine to begin with? I have to admit that my answer is more often "no" than "yes". I see myself as being "tight fisted". Holding on too tight, without freely giving. Being more concerned with making sure I have enough to meet all our needs....and our wants, I must admit.

Once again, God has reminded me to say Yes to Him....and more importantly to trust in Him. Again, giving up what was never mine in the first place.

Malachi 3:10....Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.