Feeling Quotatious

"In times of trouble the trusting child of God may say, 'First

He brought me here, it is by His will that I'm in this great

place. Next, He will keep me here in His love and give me 

grace in this trial to behave as His child. Then He will make 

the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for 

me to learn and working in the grace He means to bestow. 

And in His good time He can bring me out again. How and 

when--He knows.'" Andrew Murray

Untitled

The other day I found something I wrote a couple months ago:

Hopes so high

Starting to be fulfilled

Completely unbelievable

Oh, such a thrill!

Suddenly, dreams shattered

Hurt so deep

Doesn't make sense

What's the purpose in this?

All I can gather, 

All I can find

Is that the Lord has

A mysterious mind.

His ways are perfect, 

Though they don't make sense.

All I can do is cling 

To His hands.

He is drawing me 

Closer

He is doing a

Work!

I love Him, 

I trust Him, 

But not nearly 

Enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     It is a beautiful spring day and this morning I went for a walk. I was thinking and praying about some things. Even if the Lord never gives me what I truly desire more than anything ever in my life, I'm here to testify that I will still have Jesus! This I know to be true. Listen to this verse: 

"This is a faithful saying:

For if we died with Him,

We shall also live with Him.

If we endure,

We shall also reign with Him.

If we deny Him, 

He will also deny us.

If we are faithless, 

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself."

2 Timothy 2:11-13 

I absolutely love that! If we are faithless, He remains faithful!! The Message version puts it like this: "If we give up on him, he does not give up-for there's no way he can be false to himself." This is incredible to me. I'm going to be honest and say that sometimes I have wanted to give up on him. But thank the Lord that when that when I do that, He does not give up. It simply goes against His character. 

This verse has come across my radar a couple of times this week. "Just as you'll never understand the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman, So you'll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does." Ecclesiastes 11:5 God is at work! I don't always understand it, but I believe it.

And finally, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3 I'm trying to do that, and God is keeping me in perfect peace. 

It's My Blog-iversary!

     So, today I realized that it has been a year since I started writing my little blog! And what a year it has been! I'm glad I started documenting "my story" so to speak. I may not always have a lot to share, but it is nice to be able to go back and remember certain things that have happened. I pretty much have a great memory, but I'm finding here lately that some of the details are getting a little blurry, ha! Anyway, Happy Anniversary my little blog! :)

My First 5K!

     This weekend, I went home to walk my very first 5K with my dad!!! It was so much fun! The race was at my home church and the money raised is for missions. I was able to see and visit with several people I haven't seen in a long time. The race was in a nearby neighborhood and it was very hilly! Some of those hills were steep! And let me just say, I was scared that we would be the last ones to cross the finish line. Simply because my dad's back has been out for a couple of weeks and he has been in and out of the hospital for the past few months. And, when we walk together around the neighborhood at home, he doesn't walk very fast. Well, all those preconceived notions of my dad walking slow and barely making it were WRONG!!! I think his competitive side came out. He used to run marathons all the time. So, he knew what to expect. He was in the zone. He got ahead of me several times and had to motion me forward, ha! We stuck it out and finished strong! We crossed the finish line at 51:21 and he grabbed my hand and held it up. We got some refreshments and visited with everyone. I won a door prize! AND......I came in 3rd place in my age group and my dad came in 1st place in his age group! It was a very enjoyable day! I'm glad my dad asked me to walk this race with him. :)

  

Ready to get our walk on!

Champions! :)

29 And Fabulous!!!

     So, the other day I turned 29!!! I got to celebrate with my family and friends. My family cooked some delicious food and played a game of Farkle (of course)! Then, my friends and I met up one night to try out one of the new local restaurants. I had a lot of fun at both celebrations! And so far, 29 is fabulous! This past year has been like no other and I look forward to what God has planned for this one. I'm going to rock my last year in my 20s!

Yummy, delicious party food!

Farkle fun! It should be noted that my Dad's very first roll (he never plays games) scored 1500 points! 

Peace, Love, Friends, & Family! :)

God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. Psalm 18:30 NLT

This was the Bible verse of the day on my birthday. Just thought I would share because it really spoke to me and encouraged me. I often doubt God's promises because they seem impossible sometimes. But nothing is impossible with Him and His promises are true!!! Let's take Him at His word, do what He says, and leave the consequences up to Him! Be blessed!!!

Just Call Me Mother Goose

    I have a confession to make. Sometimes I catch myself at home singing along to "Wheels on the Bus" from a commercial. Like, really getting into it singing along! Then, I realize what I'm doing and I'm like "Candace, get control of yourself! Why are you singing children's songs? You don't even have kids!" But then I remember my job and the fifty-something children I work with. And while on the job, I often read nursery rhymes to my preschool children during speech therapy. It is useful for articulation, language, phonological awareness, etc. The kids love it and so do I! And here is another confession: Sometimes as I read the rhymes my brain tweaks them, Candace style. Crazy, right? Welcome to my world!

Case in point #1:  Inspired by Mary had a Little Lamb

Miss Candace has a little dog,

little dog,

little dog,

Miss Candace has a little dog

Her name is Effie Pooh!

And everywhere that Candace goes

Candace goes,

Candace goes,

Everywhere that Candace goes

Effie goes there too!

She followed her to school one day

School one day,

School one day,

She followed her to school one day 

Which was against the rules!

It made the children laugh and play

laugh and play,

laugh and play,

It made the children laugh and play

To see Effie at school!

Case in point #2: Inspired by There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

There was an old woman a young speech therapist who worked at a school

She had so many speech students she didn't know what to do!

She sang them some songs to teach them to talk

And praised them happily and told them to walk. (not run!) 

     Well, that's all I've got for today! Don't worry, I haven't shared my versions with the children. Yet.

A Little Bit Of Ombre In My Life!

     So, one day last week I got the wild idea to get highlights in my hair. I have never gotten my hair colored for various reasons but, I wanted to do something fun and different for a change! So, I was googling what I wanted to do. That's when I discovered ombre highlights! If you are like me, you have never heard of this. Basically, it is when the top of your hair is dark and gradually gets lighter towards the bottom. The word 'ombre' is actually french for 'shadow'. Who knew??? I really liked the look and decided to go for it! The best part about this is that it is lower maintenance because I won't have to worry about my roots showing...they already are ha! Here are the results:

Curls straight from the salon!

Straight!