Monday.....

Monday.....another fresh start & the beginning of another week.

Monday.....another chance to do things better than I did last week.

Monday....new blessings....new opportunities.....new possibilities.

Monday....another chance to let everyone know how much I love them.

Monday....work.

Monday....possibly good news coming my way.

Monday....I am blessed beyond all measure.

What do you think of on Monday Morning?

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day!

Mistakes made and learning from them and the silence that draws my heart.......

Making mistakes and trying so terribly hard to learn from those mistakes, whilst making changes deep within one's self is often a very long road to travel.

It is no secret amongst those who know me, that I have always had a bit of temper, and unfortunately not much trouble in speaking my mind, especially where it may be a subject, or situation, in which I might have had a personal experience with, or in which I have definite knowledge of. In times past, I never spoke up, or spoke against........anything.

I used to be something of a verbal mouse. Meaning.....I was a terrified most of my life to say ANYTHING about what I felt, thought, or knew. Because of the way I was raised, and the punishment that I would received as a child and a teenager, I learned VERY early, how to NOT say ANYTHING that went against anything anyone else ever said. I was trained (out of fear of punishment) how to be unbelievably compliant, and quiet. I spent years and years, never really sharing anything that "I" thought about, or anything "I" felt or knew, with anyone except my childhood best friend...Penny.

Years later, as a young mother, I met a wonderful, senior saint, Christian woman named Barbara H. Mrs. Barbara, who was an extremely verbal woman, full of God's word, and she was used by God to help me in many ways, far more than she will ever know. Yet, one of the things she helped me to learn was that it was OK for me to speak up, and speak against things at times, and that being angry was an acceptable thing......with in reason. She is one of two very important people in my life who has helped me....well.....kind of learn how to come out of my hidden shell. My sweet and loving hubby is the other, and he takes first place in being the primary person who had taught me and given me permission of sorts, to be free and to be able to speak my mind, and taught me NOT to be afraid to share what I think....out loud. To my Bob and Mrs. Barbara....I can only say "THANK YOU"!!!

Yet, being much older now (LOL), I am realizing that I do seem to, and have a tendency to, go from one extreme to another. This......is not......always a good thing....LOL.

I have for many years now, had no problem speaking my mind (when upset or angry)....BUT....only at certain times, and it usually comes pouring out of my mouth when I am most frustrated and becoming angry. Yet, even in those times, when something bursts out of my mouth like a great balloon having just popped, I will try and stop what I am saying, and try to walk away, especially if my anger or frustration is great. Yet, I NEVER....EVER, feel truly free, or do I fully ever share what is inside of me. My mouth has, and even most recently (I know...that's kind hard to believe...huh?...LOL), gotten me into a bit of a situation.

A conversation was taking place recently, and I was there, and was kind of pulled into the conversation by my frustration, and by another, who "will not" leave me and mine, out of things. I was most content to sit there, quietly, and keeping to my self, thinking things "only" within my own mind....which is the safest of place's that I know of to "think and speak" out loud....does that make any sense to anyone but me..??? Do you know what I mean.?

I was thinking to myself, and was not in agreement of someone else's view point on a spiritual matter. Their life is far different from mine, and life's happenings have taken each of us down different roads, and I understand this fully, and this makes for differences of opinion's, THUS, I knew to keep my big mouth shut.

But nooooo, I was brought into it, by another who constantly uses things from my life, to make her point.....I HATE THAT!!!! Just for the record!!!!! So frustrations and personal opinion's came bursting forth, I said only a tiny part of what I was actually thinking and feeling, and then I realized what I was doing, and so I shut my mouth, and turned away, and walked away. I was angry, hurt, frustrated......fill in the blanks as you wish. I went on to go do something else, and try to cool off. I once again realized that my mouth had done it again, and I am definitely better off NOT EVER really sharing completely what is with in me, except with only two or three people in my life.

So you see, I have gone from living a fearfully silent life, to a polar opposite place of verbal diarrhea when I get upset or frustrated. Neither place is a good one to be!!!!

So, as I have been going through some terribly hard, difficult, and hurtful things in my life over this past year, and I have seen and realized (once again!!!) that "I am" best off, "NOT" disclosing allot about me or what I think or feel with most people in my life, or even partial things of me or mine, and that I now, in my mid life years, I must...I have to.....I desperately need to......find a happy medium with my verbal communication skills (or the lack there of....which ever applies....LOL). Take your pick.

This past year, has pushed me and forced me to once again become withdrawn, emotionally and verbally more so than I have in many years past. For the most part, My precious Lord, Savior, & Friend Jesus Christ, is the ONLY one, besides my hubby, that I talk to about these hurts, feelings, etc. And now, after having popped of my mouth, and having said harsh and possibly hurtful things to another (which I did later go to my Lord and this sister in Christ, and ask for forgiveness and I most sincerely did apologize to her), I find myself once again "rethinking and re-evaluating" the best part about my past condition from my childhood and youth, a condition of silence, and "thinking and or speaking out loud" yet only deep with-in myself or now trusting....ONLY in my husband and my God!

After having made this mistake, "yet again", and my mouth bursting open wrongly, and of letting anger or frustration take me to the point of what we as Christians excuse as

"righteous indignation"
(from dictionary.com)
Righteous Indignation-
Main Entry: righteous indignation
Part of Speech: n
Definition: retribution, retributive justice; anger and contempt combined with a feeling that it is one's right to feel that way; anger without guilt
I find that I must, I want to, I need to, and I have to, find a good balance between the internal stifling of myself, and the silence that becomes....unhealthy, lonely, and wrong, and the opposite place of having a near total lack of verbal control when angry or upset.

This is where I am now.

This is one of ""many"" roads I am traveling down this year.

This is the Mistake I made most recently.

This is what I must change.

This is.........hard.!!!!!

When someone is gong through....pain, despair, loneliness, valley's, or just difficult time's in one's life, mistakes WILL be made. But the learning FROM those mistakes can lead us to a better place, and if we choose God's help, wisdom, love, leading, and learning from His Holy Word, we can grow, change, and become......better, more.......fill in the blanks.

I made a mistake, and I fear that this mistake was partially embedded in, and released from.....well.....hurt, pain, frustration...etc. Yet, I shall, learn from my mistake, re-train my brain and my emotions, and try to find a happy medium between total silence and verbal diarrhea.

Jesus Christ and God my heavenly father are the only one's who can help me to make these changes.!!!1



I still prefer NOT to share most of what's deep within the caverns of my heart and mind, mostly out of fear of rejection, hurt, or retribution should I not be aligned the same as, or should I not be in agreement with....others.



I shall still keep most and much of myself.......to myself and within myself.



Funny though, I have such a feeling of release and peace, when even cryptically or ambiguously written, when I do so, here in my blog.

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day!

Just pic's today....

Bob and I had gone on a rainy day picnic date on the parkway one Saturday. It was cold, raining, foggy, but wonderful.
Pretty, yet fog covered view of a red berry covered bush on the tippy top of the Parkway.
A lovely stonewall, and just beyond that wall is a mountain side with a sharp drop off. Yet nothing of the danger that lays just a foot or two beyond that fog covered edge of the wall is visible. Lovely, peaceful, and strong howling winds were all that could be seen and felt, and nothing of the unseen dangers that were close by would anyone have ever guessed. Kind of like many situations in life.

My two precious kids, just goofing off in the back of the car, as we took Bobby back to South Carolina, to his Marine base after Thanksgiving.

That's our Possum! She love's to take these kinds of pic's....with everyone, and of course my handsome hubby's just being his normal silly self.

I hope and pray your day is a Blessed one!

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day...

Getting back on track.....

Can be difficult at times. Thanksgiving, work, Bobby coming in and out of town a great deal lately (PRAISE THE LORD), my baby sister and her two daughters that came into town to stay with me for a few days (that was wonderful),a house that needs constant attention and cleaning, cooking, laundry and the like, camp meeting at church, errands, and all of our daily life little things of late, have just made for me being a very busy gal, on top of trying to get enough sleep & trying to take care of myself so that I do not get to worn down and sick. WHEW.......I've been busy, and a wee bit tired. So, out of all of this, I have just not had much free time for myself, much less to be able to come to my blog, sit down, turn on the music, relax and write, babble and share of that randomness of thought and feeling that flows and bounces around inside of me. Oh how I do miss it when I am not able to get here and just......empty myself. Never would I have thought, years ago when I started my blog (after having followed and learned much from Jewels...at Eyes of Wonder), that something like blogging (journal writing of an electronic sort) would or could be of such wondrous help to me. Never in my wildest thoughts or dreams, could I have ever imagined how helpful....how cleansing.....how peaceful....how relaxing....& even how thought provoking it would become to me and for me, to come to this electronic place, and combine, words, music, graphics, sights, sounds, and randomness from within myself, and how my precious Lord and Heavenly Father, would use all of this, to pull out of me.....many, many things. All of it being used to.....HELP ME...in one way or another. I have, to a larger degree, more so than anyone ever has known, "always" internalized, deep with-in myself, the truly important, deeply felt, or even the hurtful, or painful, or sorrow filled, or emptiness, and disappointment, and yes, even joys, and happy things in my life. This, I have now found since blogging, is not always such a good thing. Yet trusting others with my most private & personal thoughts and feelings often times has turned out to merely wind up being a hurtful or disappointing thing, or a point for others to make fun of, or joke about...at my expense. But the holding in of such thoughts and feelings, can also be equally as detrimental to one's self.Now that I am most accustomed to coming to this little computer enhanced, blogging place of mine, and writing, sharing, babbling, pouring out, and thinking "out loud" in a way, I find that I do so miss this blog of mine, when time & life does not allow me to be here. I do so miss the relaxing feeling, and the peace that follows, from having emptied myself one way or another, of.........well you fill in the blanks. I have also been terribly deprived, of the time I so enjoy being able to go to the blogs of others. Blogs where I have made such wonderful new friends, and I am able to learn and glean much from the lives, thoughts, and knowledge of other Christian women. I have missed you all so much. I feel as if, not having had the proper time allowances to visit with each of you....my blogging friends, that I have missed out of many wonderful new things in your lives, or new things I could have been learning from you. I feel as if I have drifted away from friends so precious. Silly, though this may sound to some, yet my feeling is an honest one. I also have some new and hopefully wonderful new changes coming to my daily life. I shall have to wait to see how my sweet Lord places everything together, but let me just say this.....my precious Lord has blessed me with having a job interview yesterday, with a Christian organization (which I shall mention later....but not just now). I have a few things yet to go through, experience, and to show others, of my abilities, before the final decision shall be made, but I am MOST hopeful, prayerful, and excited to see where God takes me with this. Being optimistic but not overly so,so as not to be too disappointed if it does not go in my favor. God's will is best, but I will remain prayerful and hopeful.I do so hope and pray, that all my friends, whether online or in my life here in town, all had a blessed Thanksgiving day. Mine was good, a few things seemed a bit weird to me in regards to the actions of others, or their attitudes and personalities that day, but life has been so busy and stressful for everyone these days. Me, myself, I was not feeling talkative....AT ALL. So I did what I have often done in the past, and yet am still learning even more these days how to do more of.....just watch, listen, try to keep my big mouth shut, do not respond to comments of others, especially if I have taken something to heart or to personally, and try to remain happy and just....enjoy, as life's blessing make themselves known.

I hope your life is on track, and all is well, happy, orderly, and good.

Have A Peachy Keen Day, and Be Blessed.

Love & Prayers As Always,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day....I Will!

Life and Thanksgiving.......

Happy Thanksgiving !

Life around our home of late, has far beyond busy.

Taking Bobby to and from, Bob and I working, campmeeting at church....which was WONDERFULL, REFRESHING, AND GOD TRULY BLESSED! Now we find ourselves here....just a few days from Thanksgiving Day, we are still working alot, I have family that has come to visit from out of town, and so much pre-holiday cooking to do, as well as taking care of my guests, keeping our home clean, and all of life's other regular chores to be done daily. Yet, I am happy with all the hustle and bustle of it all.

My sweet hubby is driving down to South Carolina tomorrow morning to go and pick our little redneck and bring him home for the weekend. Thanks be to God!!!! Another visit with our baby boy.......I just aint real sure I can handle all of this excitment of seeing my son again so soon.....LOL. How blessed are we???? Oh the answer to that is.....VERY!!!!

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I do not know if many out there remember the "30 Days of Giving Thanks" list that a lot of bloggers participated in last year or not? Mine has been left as a permanent fixture on my blog page, because those are things that I truly am always thankful for. But I am going to "RE"post it here again.

My question to you is this......

"What Are You Thankful For"?

Take some time to get alone with Christ, and our Heavenly Father, and just spend some time talking with HIM and making sure to Thank HIM for all of the Blessing in your life.

Take time during the next few days to tell your family, friends, and other loved one's, just how much you love them, and how Thankful you are for them being in your life.

Here is a copy of my list of the things I am Thankful for....

Giving Thanks For....
1. Jesus Christ and His Gift of Salvation and Eternal Life.
2. My loving husband.
3. My two wonderful kids.
4. My Life!
5. God is still in control!
6. The home God gave us.
7. Food on my table.
8. Beds to sleep in.
9. Clothing to wear.
10. Family I Love.

11. Friends I love & Adore.
12. My Church.

13. For Being-in-Love!
14. My Parents.
15. My sister Mara.
16. My sister Minah.

1 7. My sweet brother Jerry,

(who is now at Jesus side,and so deeply& dearly missed everyday!)
18. My Ma & Pop in law.

1 9. My brothers in law,Don, Danny, & Brian.
20. My sisters in law,Cindy, Jennifer, & Kathy.
21. All *24* of my Nieces & Nephews.(Brandon, Allison, Lindsey,Travis, Andrew, Aaron, Mary Katherine, Brittany, Zachery, Hunter, Hannah, Katlin, Lauren W., Morgan, Samantha, Nathan, Casey, Christin, Chloe', Lauren M, Philip, Jamal, Elizabeth, Kenneth) I love all of them so much, much more than I think they even know!!
22. My best friend Teresa.
23. God's Provisions for me & my family.
24. Being able to walk.
25. Being able to help others.
26. My personal relationship with God my Father and Jesus Christ my Savior.
27. God's provision for my medical treatments!!!!
28. 25 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart!
29. The fact that my husband and children are all saved and glory bound someday!
30. Thanksgiving Day.
A day in which once a year we are all reminded to stop and to be Thankful for all God has done and Given!!

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR ?

Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of you, my bloggy friends.

I will be back after shortly after Thanksgiving, and get back to my normal blogging.

Gosh I miss this. Words can not describe how free it makes me feel, when I am in here, writing, babbling my thoughts into written words, and sharing......anything and everything that's in my head and heart....both of which are far more full and overflowing at this moment, and there is much I wish, want, and need to write about and to share.

Yet, alas, this to must wait a wee bit longer till proper time allows for it.

Until then......
God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you my friends.
Do not think, that I take that word "friends" lightly. I consider all of you, just that, MY FRIENDS, and you are ALL a treasured blessing. I do so long for much more time to be able to come and visit with you on your blogs, but it must wait till the holiday is over.

Be Blessed, Be Happy, Be Thankful!

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Thanksgiving!

The search is over.......

I found Bev!

Or rather, she found me. But thanks for everyone's help!!!

She sent me an email and a comment here on my blog.

Here is PART, of the comment she left for me. I am not posting all of her comment because part of it had her email addy in it, and I am not sure if she meant for that to be public or not.? So....until I find out from Bev, I am respecting & protecting her privacy. Hope everyone understands.

But.....here is part of her comment I thought everyone who knew her and followed her blog might want to see....


From Bev....
"Here I am lol! =0 I had your blog in my google reader and just saw your post. I closed down my blog - it is only open to me but for some reason when you make it private it says by default "open to invited readers only" so a lot of people have assumed I was only letting certain people read it but that isn't so, only I can see it."


I shall miss her blog very much! Yet, I do understand the need at certain times in our lives to make some changes. What ever her reasons, I respect them. I will miss her blog, but I also respect her wishes.



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Well, on a different subject....

Sorry about me looking so.....horrible, but that's what being up since 4:50 am and then having to drive for hours and hours did to me...LOL.

My son Bobby is now gone, and I have taken him to his next Marine base.
He is stationed at the MCAS....Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort SC. Bob, Possum and & I, as well as all our family and church family, are thrilled that he is going to be so close to home....at least for the next 6 months or so. After that....who knows where the Marines will send him. Bobby was told, before he left California, that in 6 months after getting to the MCAS Beaufort, he will then most likely be sent to Afghanistan? I'm not worrying or fretting about that right now. I am just going to enjoy having my son a wee bit closer to home for a while.

With Bobby being stationed in SC, he can come home MUCH more often. Praise God!

Saturday was a very LONG day for me. My day started about 4:50 am, I took Bob to work, then came home and got me and Bobby ready for our drive to Beaufort.

We had a good trip, and lots of time to just talk with each other and enjoy the ride.

Things...as always on a military base as I am learning...lol...are not easy. Directions from one location to another are NEVER right...when given by the young men at any gate!!!! So getting lost on base, is becoming the norm for us...LOL.

We did eventually find all the buildings we were supposed to, and Bobby got checked in with everyone one he was supposed to. I eventually did have to leave, and head home.....I hate that part. I wanted to hide him away, and bring him back home for keeps, but the Marines really wouldn't like that very much. Oh well, I am just very thankful that my Lord worked it all out so that he is now much, much closer to home.


Just a few random pics from our day.

Bobby talkin to his buddy that was flying in from California. Bobby found out they were going to be roommates. He was happy about that because him and "Chevron" (that's the boys last name) are good friends.


Mr....Serious...LOL.


And one final one, just to let you see what kinda kid I have...LOL.
He once saw a bumper sticker that said..."I'll flick a booger on you", and every since then he will start laughing and pretend to put his finger to his nose, like he's gonna do just that.....Weird....but that's my Bobby. He knows just how much I hate that kinda thing...so of course he just love to pick on me. I luv that boy of mine!!! But he's just not quiet right in the head I think...LOL.


Then one last pic of what getting to be a nasty habit.
Bobby...walking away....oh how it hurts! I shall never get used to seeing him walk away, and not knowing when we can see him again.

Well I must go for now.

Have a good day, and always appreciate your loved ones.

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day!

I'm Looking for someone and need your help.....

The Christian Homekeeper blog.

Her name is Bev....that's all I know...I think it might be Beverly...but not sure 'bout that.

I have been following her blog on and off for quiet some time now, and I just love it.

She was a real help and a blessing in so many area's, and I shall miss her if I can not find her again.

I went to her link that I had on my blog.....and she has either gone private....or just gone away.

Does any one have any information on where her blog has gone?

How can we find her?

Will we be allowed to read her new blog?

I had even emailed her recently, yet I did not save that info, so I truly have no way of contacting Bev.

If anyone can help me....I truly would be most grateful!!!

Please just leave me a comment or use the email link on the top right hand of my blog to contact me.

Love & Prayers,

Ronda

Have A Peachy Keen Day.