Love Sex God

Did I get your attention? Most of us conservative Southern Baptists are probably writhing in our seats right now, and believe me I was one of them. Last week our church started a new series in honor of the month of February. It's on love, sex and God and the book Song of Solomon. It was certainly interesting and an awesome sermon that everyone can relate to whether you're single, dating, or married. This past Sunday's sermon was on Courtship. When you break it down verse by verse Song of Solomon is poetic, like Shakespeare! This section talks about the love that two people have for each other, but by waiting for marriage before "consomating your love" (eek can you tell I'm turning red just talking about it), and letting love run it's proper pace, it falls in to God's plan.

Song of Solomon 2 (Contemporary English Version)

Love Makes Everything Beautiful

1I am merely a rose [a] from the land of Sharon, a lily from the valley.
2My darling, when compared with other young women, you are a lily among thorns.
3And you, my love, are an apple tree among trees of the forest.
Your shade brought me pleasure; your fruit was sweet.
4You led me to your banquet room and showered me with love.
5Refresh and strengthen me with raisins and apples. I am hungry for love!
6Put your left hand under my head and embrace me with your right arm.
7Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power
of deer and gazelles [b] never to awaken love before it is ready.
8I hear the voice of the one I love, as he comes leaping over mountains and hills
9like a deer or a gazelle. Now he stands outside our wall, looking through the window
10and speaking to me. My darling, I love you! Let's go away together.
11Winter is past, the rain has stopped;
12flowers cover the earth, it's time to sing. [c] The cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13Fig trees are bearing fruit, while blossoms on grapevines fill the air with perfume.
My darling, I love you! Let's go away together.
14You are my dove hiding among the rocks on the side of a cliff.
Let me see how lovely you are! Let me hear the sound of your melodious voice.
15Our vineyards are in blossom; we must catch the little foxes that destroy the vineyards. [d]
16My darling, I am yours, and you are mine, as you feed your sheep among the lilies.
17Pretend to be a young deer dancing on mountain slopes [e] until daylight comes
and shadows fade away.

* Love has a proper pace *

Another good point - fathers, date your daughters. So simple and yet it makes perfect sense. When a girl is growing up she looks to how her father treats his wife and his daughters respectively. That sets the example of what they want in a mate. It is so true. My father is a perfect example of this. He is so humble and sweet (although he has his stubborn moments), and has always been so strong in his faith. He showers my mother with love, affection and attention and for that I am thankful.

The band played a version of "To Make You Feel My Love" and it was just beautiful. I've never listened to it and applied it to the love that God has for us. Looking at it from that perspective is life changing.

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. The Winter Olympics are so interesting to watch. I'm kinda crushing on Apolo Ohno. And Lindsey Vonn is my hero.
2. My son is very loved at school. As we leave every afternoon, he has to say good bye and give his hugs and kisses to the director and assistant directors. They gobble it up too.
3. I have a new phone! It's a Samsung Jack smartphone. I spent all weekend figuring it out and am STILL figuring it out. It is so nice to have the world at your fingertips 24 hours a day. Just this morning, I was lying in bed and heard the rain falling outside. I decided to check the weather for the day - that was so cool!
4. There haven't been ANY good movies it seems at RedBox. I've been at least once a week and just nada. I finally landed on The Ugly Truth, and the ugly truth is that it sucks. We watched um... 15 minutes of it and totally lost interest. Oh Izzie, I do love you but just on Grey's Anatomy.
5. Our friends Pete and Leanne welcomed in a baby boy, Jake Olinger, on Friday, January 19th. Lawd - the baby weighs 8 lbs 15 oz! Good thing she had a C-section!
6. Thank goodness for the warm weather this weekend! I think God heard my prayers. We were able to get so much done in the yard. We put down pine straw in the beds in the front and back yard. It was just so nice to have sunshine and 65 degree weather.
7. My son now calls me Mama Cassidy. Kinda cute, but makes me feel old, like what his friends will call me when they're in high school and I'm a big ol fat lady that has snacks ready for them when they come home from school.
8. I am in DESPERATE need of new clothes for E. You should see the highwaters and redneck shirts that show his belly. Thank goodness consignment sales are just around the corner!
9. We SHOULD be putting the house on the market in two weeks! Pray for us!
10. Yesterdays' sermon was so cool! I'll be blogging more about that in the next couple of days. It's about sex. Ohhh I got your attention huh? :)

fuelPERKS?

If you live in an area where you have a Bi-Lo, you have an opportunity to save money, so we think. For every $50 you spend, you can save anywhere from 5 cents to 20 cents (the more you spend cumulatively) per gallon of gas for up to 20 gallons. This is a GREAT concept however my pop-in-law made a good point. You basically spend $50 to save 5 cents. In the grand scheme of things, you save $2. I guess every penny counts, which is why I do coupons, but this just seems a little nuts to me. So...I tried it for the first time today and decided I won't do this again. There are some things you do in life that make it worth it if it is convenient.

When I signed up for the new fuelperks card last time I was at Bi-Lo, they gave me a sheet that showed all the gas stations (which are only BP or Shell) in the Charlotte/Rock Hill area that were participating with the program. There are three in Rock Hill and none that are close to the house. As I drove by the Citgo station that I usually use, I noted that the cost was $2.41 a gallon. Once I got to a BP station that I thought was participating, I saw it was $2.47 a gallon. So if we all do our math correctly, that's still paying 2 cents more WITH my 5 cents off. I thought whatever - let's just give it a try to see if it works. You're supposed to be able to scan your Bonus Card when a prompt comes up asking you if you want to use your Bonus Card, but I never saw it. I just got frustrated (mostly because it was freezing and the pump kept beeping at me) so I got 10 gallons and went to work. Once I got home this afternoon, I looked at the list again and realized that the station I went to was in fact NOT participating in the fuelperks. DUHO! I felt dumb.

So in summary, if I happen to get up to 20 cents off and I'm close to a station that is participating, I'll give it a try again. But I'm definitely NOT going to go out of my way to save $2 in the long run. Great concept though Bi-Lo!

Ohhhhh la la

Ok - so this is just rumor BUT it's worth talking about ...

click here

If it's true ... YEA!

A Valentine's Party for Munchkins

Ethan's teachers, Miss Becky and Miss Lindsay, threw a Valentine's Party for the class on Friday and we had a great time. I've really come to cherish all of them during my weekly sign language classes, so it was nice to finally meet the parents of these sweet kids. Here are some of his friends:

Miss Becky and Miss Lindsey getting some EG love

E's best buddy, EJ and his dad
This little girl has to be the cutest thing alive - Lizzy

Reading time- as you can tell they're both not paying attention

Mila and her mom

Avery

Lizzy being cute, again

Hannah Kate, E's sweetheart

The entire class having cupcakes

My EG

EJ

Let It Snow

What a beautiful snow this was! So fluffy, like glittery dust. When it started coming down we were in Ethan's classroom at school for a Valentine's Day party. When it started to snow the kids were running to the windows and doing a happy dance. Once we got outside, Ethan was literally squealing and sticking his tongue out to taste it. Well, he was copying me. I got to thinking about it and the last snow he saw was last January in 2009 and he didn't seem too thrilled about it. I think he was just too cold to enjoy it. This year we were in Spartanburg for an impromptu weekend trip and were able to play in the snow on Saturday morning. We bundled him up with two layers PLUS his heavy winter jacket and he had a blast! He particularly liked scraping all the snow off of the plants and just about anything else he could get his hands on. He also got a kick out of watching the dogs scamper around the yard. I showed him how to make a snow angel and he tried to make one himself. I'm so glad we were able to get some great pictures. I feel a scrapbook page coming on!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Oh Glee my Glee - April is just way too far for you to come back into my life.
2. I am SO sick of the cold weather. Spring, when will you be here?
3. Valentine's Day was actually wonderful this year. I didn't set the bar high (go me!) and I got the box of chocolates I've been drooling over, AND a gift certificate for a massage and pedicure. I love you honey - you absolutely are the best.
4. I think there's something in the water and it's called pregnancy. And no, it's not me yet.
5. The pictures are starting to pile up and I don't have the time to scrapbook.
6. I really do not like Comporium Communications. They've just got a stronghold on Rock Hill and I don't like it. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, consider yourself blessed.
7. I need a new phone, but more than anything, Chris does too. He's been cell phone-less for a week. I'd go nuts.
8. I HATE it when you think you've scored a really good deal on something, then the following week it's on sale somewhere else with a better deal, PLUS a rebate offer. I should practice more patience instead of jumping the gun at the first deal I see.
9. Avatar 3D is so cool. I really, really liked it. Although every time I looked over at Chris, I thought I was sitting next to Stevie Wonder.
10. Screenwriters like to go and mess up a good thing by changing the ending to a movie that is based off of a novel.

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. I swear I have read Dear John before. When the trailer came out for the movie Dear John, I got to thinking, "I have this book, and I've read it ... I think". But I could not for the life of me remember any specific parts to it. Then I remembered that I started it and never finished it, I think. So now, I am RE-READING it and now that I've dove into it a good bit it's coming back to me. I feel like I've read it asleep because I just don't remember any parts until I get to them!
2. We got great reviews on the house but now we're just confused as to what step to make next. Is it really this hard to sell a house? Who is going to be our agent? Should we power wash the outside of the house now or later? Should we sell it for this or that and is that too much or too little?
3. Shopping for accessories makes me smile. Finding really cool pillows that look fantastic on your couch REALLY makes me smile.
4. Caulking wrecks havoc on your nails.
5. My hubby is so handy. A female co-worker of mine sees that as SO romantic. She said she would just keel over and die if her husband switched out a light fixture. I told her that all I wanted for Valentine's Day was a box of chocolates. That's romantic to me. To each their own.
6. My idea of a relaxing evening is getting under the covers with a cup of coffee and a good book. S
7. Speaking of reading a book, I'm almost finished with Dear John and am now SO ready to see the movie. I'll need a big box of tissue.
8. I really hate making decisions ... mainly because I'm just bad at it and I take forever.
9. It's amazing what can happen when you just give it all over to God.
10. This picture below just says a lot ...

Lil' Homie

Chris was just messing around this afternoon with Ethan and took these pictures. They make me laugh everytime! Just so you know, the chains are from the leftover links on the light fixtures that Chris cut down today. We taught him to say "Peace out" and that's what he's doing in the second picture. Then in the last picture he found one of my headbands and put it on. He was in such a good mood today we just had to capture these pictures!

Ka-chow!

Ethan loves Cars, the Pixar Disney movie. Ok - let me rephrase that. Ethan LOVES Cars. He wakes up talking about them and goes to bed talking about them. It's rather cute. Mater this, Mater that. Ka-chow this, ka-chow that. (He calls Lighting McQueen Ka-chow). I was shopping at Target two weeks ago and found these Lighting McQueen bedroom slippers on clearance for $3. I just had to get them. I brought them home and he flipped out. He LOVES his shoes! He wears them at every second he possibly can. If they happen to fall off he says "My shoe's broken" and we have to "fix it". He wants to wear them when he wakes up in the morning and he wants to wear them when he goes to bed at night. Here's how much he loves them:

Watching, what else, Cars!

Playing with his Ka-chow's on

Now if I could just get one of him sleeping with them on. It's the cutest thing in the world.

Glitter in the air

Did anyone catch this performance from Pink on the Grammy's last Sunday night? It was so amazing and insane at the same time. She did a circus style acrobatic "dance" all the while singing while being dipped in water. Amazing. Check it out!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Doing home improvements is so much fun, just not on the bank account.
2. I have completed The Time Travelers Wife and am now on to Dear John. I have jumped on the bandwagon of trendy books and loving it.
3. I'm due for a chick flick very very soon. Any suggestions?
4. Being "iced in" is a lot of fun, but will definitely leave you scratching at the walls to get out and breathe some fresh air.
5. It's SUPPOSED to snow this coming Saturday! I sure hope it's more than the 1" of ice we got! I'm itching to get E out for snow pictures!
6. My friends from back home in Sparkle City, Julie and Amber, and I have been talking about seeing the Broadway show Wicked for some time. I'm getting so excited for a girls night.
7. The Lost season premiere is tonight!!! I've got my popcorn and Cherry Coke and I'm ready to go!
8. Anyone else ready for the cold weather to go bye-bye and for spring to peek it's head?
9. I have so much fun listening to Ethan tell me about his day. Just last night at dinner he told me "Becky was sad". That's his teacher by the way. I asked him why and he said "Pffff (he made a spitting noise) - Chloe". Basically telling me that Chloe spit in Miss Becky's face and it made her sad. It was a nice conversation. Ha
10. I heart Marshall's HomeGoods!