Hot Summer Days!

Boy is it just me or are the days getting hotter and the nights aren't even cooling off any!  I do not like summers in Texas but I am thankful we do not have the humidity like some other states do.  I was in Fort Lauderdale a week or so ago for training, and it was so humid that each day when I walked out of my hotel room, my glasses fogged up!  My co-workers kept telling me I was late each day but it wasn't true, I just couldn't see when I got out of the room!  haha.

Anyway, July is just flying bye and I'm praying for a quick cool winter to come!  So we just bought a Wii!  Wow is all I can say!  We were at friends house Saturday night and they were playing it and it was so much fun, so we left there and went straight to Walmart to get one!  Yup it was midnight and I said to Danielle as we are getting out of the car, oh my this feels like the day after Thanksgiving!  We were like two kids in a candy store.  Of course we had to drop Don off at home (it was wayyyyyyy past his bedtime) but he also just had chemo on Friday so we totally understood.  We got the machine and also got Just Dance 2...I can say I am sore today!  We did it for a little bit then I went to bed, but Dani stayed up and played some more so today we did it for an hour!  I do not like to exercise but I can see where this is going to be fun and I don't even know that I am exercising!

Anyway...that's what's been happening in my neck of the woods.  Hope everyone is staying cool.

Happy Independence Day!

Wow I look back and see how much I do not use my blog.  I need to start writing here more.  I have learned in the last few months that as we grow in our Faith, our lives begin to change and sometimes things that we thought were right now become not so right.  I have learned that my strength comes from my Heavenly Father and not from anyone else and knowing that he is always there for me, means I don't have to rely on others to be there.  This past weekend our Pastor spoke about who holds the key to your happiness.  We learned this at LTS as well and I came home knowing something different, I am not responsible for the actions of my husband, daughter, mother, aunt or friends and even some of them I am not responsible to them but I am only responsible to my family but not for them!  That took so much weight off my shoulders and yesterday when Pastor spoke about that again, it hit home once more.  I have always been the caregiver of my family, I figured it was my gift from God to care for others, never questioned it, actually still don't but I am looking at it with different eyes now.  I am responsible to my husband as his wife and partner but I am not responsible to make sure he takes his meds or eats lunch, I am responsible to my daughter but I am not responsible to make sure she cleans her room or has clean clothes for work.  Realizing now all of the people that I felt responsible for in my life that I no longer have to is such a joyful feeling.

I love the fact that I am growing more "mature" in my walk with the Lord and am truly blessed because he placed me in a loving, caring church at the right time in my life.  Nate spoke over us yesterday and he reminded me that I need to write my list of people who I "belive" I am responsible for and start crossing them off.  So that's what I have done!  I hold the key to my own happiness and I am moving forward to that.

Wow, now that felt good to write this all down, even if no one reads it, I have it in my journal for another day when I go back and feel responsible for someone!  Hope you all have a Bless 4th of July!

Family Update

Well it's a new month so I guess I will update my blog.  I am going to try and do this monthly just in case anyone reads it!  lol...  We have had yet another exciting month of family happenings but am so Blessed by my family and friends and how they are just there surrounding us with their love.  I know what we are going through might be hard for others to accept but I know that my faith is so strong that I have turned it all over to God and am allowing him to work in my life.  The bible tells us to trust him.

 Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God who transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. 

 Pretty simple right?  Well in my case yes.  I do not believe that God gives us more than we can handle so each day we walk in Faith and lean on the mighty Father we know that he is in control.

So....having said that I can honestly say I am at Peace, not anxious about anything nor concerned or worried.  But I am getting tired of fighting the enemy and he's making me mad so that's good, he will never win!  Anyway, Don has to go back through chemo again.  Atleast this time it will only be once every 3 weeks so hopefully he will tolerate it as well as he did the others as we are going on vacation in May!  The first time for a real get away, not worry about anyone or anything vacation!  woo hoo so excited!  Booked our flights this week and now we are set to go!  Where do you ask?  North Carolina!  I am thrilled beyond thrilled to go see my Sister-in-law and nieces and all my little nieces and nephews and we are going to the beach for 3 days and just sit and chill by the water in the sand!  Can you tell I am so excited!  God is good, amen.

Work has been crazy and about to get crazier!  We are doing so much at one time that I have no idea what I am doing!  Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing!  haha..I guess all I have to say is I am grateful to have a job and my family and am free to express that each day!  So going to close now.  I wish all of you who read this a Blessed month and maybe I'll update again before the next month...

Dawn

Wow can't believe it's been so long since I posted!

Well it's been a while since I posted and so much has happened in my life since April 2010.  I was invited to a church in Denton by my friend and my life has changed so much since we started going there regularly.  It is called The Bridge Church, we don't officially have a home right now as we are waiting for God to show us where he wants our building to be so we meet at the UNT college every Sunday and it's amazing the group of people that help set up the building to make us feel at home!  Pastor Duane is awesome that's all I can say and everyone that I have met there has been truly amazing and just so loving.  This leads me into what has been happening in my life.....
In June 2010 Don was diagnosed with stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma cancer in his left lung, pretty large in size.  He went through radiation and chemo from July to Nov and we received a report back that he was healed, there were no signs of it anymore!  Praise God.  This all started because Don lost his voice almost a year ago and when we went to an ENT dr they did a CT scan which showed this mass.  So he's been through all of this and then 2 weeks ago he had another PETSCAN and it had some spots that lit up, so they did a biopsy Monday 2/28 and we got the results back today....All 4 lymph nodes they biopsied were Negative!  Praise God again, he is so awesome and we are blessed!  So that's what's been happening in my life....How about yours?  Drop me a line and let me know how you are doing, would love to hear from you all.

Layout Challenge

Well my friend Jeanie challenged us to do this weeks weely challenge and let me tell you it was a tough one. I worked on this layout for about an hour and a half finding the right papers to coordinate with it as there are several layers on it but in the end, I like how it turned out. I am going to have a second page, just need to find the right layout to coordinate with this one. Hope you enjoy it. Well I just create the first page also and really like it now alot. I love these challenges makes me think and use my stuff I have already..... Thanks 52 weekly challenge.

Fireworks & Friends

We spent the evening with my BFF's in denton watching fireworks. Boy was it ever so hot! Mom and auntie came with me and Jeanies family and Debbies family and Reeses the dog was even there, it was fun. I think I took about 300 pictures of the fireworks and probably about 10 came good! They had some new ones this year that were awesome! I'm thinking Jeanie's came much better since she found the button on her camera that said "fireworks" so we will see but here are a few of my favorites. Okay well blogger won't let me upload them now but I'll try later.

THE BIGGEST ZUCHINI EVER!

So I was checking the garden tonight to see what other surprises I could find......Well lo and behold out of the bottom of the garden appears this beautiful piece of veggie!

We laughed so hard. It is gigantic, not sure how it is going to taste but the others we had were wonderful. My aunt cooked them with tomato sauce and garlic and onion and yum yum.... I see our peppers are starting to grow and we have a bunch of green tomatoes which I sure hope turn red soon. Well that's all for the gardener, keep cool and be safe.