A cheerful heart...

Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.'" On our 25th wedding anniversary our precious church family sent Bill and I to Disney World for some rest and relaxation. We were able to truly get away, recharge, and renew our "cheerful hearts" and return to work and minister and join God at work in Grand Prairie. We also joined the Disney Vacation Club and we have points at Saratoga Springs and at Animal Kingdom Lodge! We are going soon and this will be our first time to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge! We are taking Bill's sister, Becky, her husband Dave, and their two daughters Hope and Brooke! We are so excited!

The beautiful lobby of the lodge!

The Savannah is right outside your balcony with African animals roaming free nearby!

Now for where we will eat dinner the week we will be there!.....................................

One night we will have dinner in the Germany section of Epcot at the Biergarten restaurant!

Bill and I have eaten here twice before and it is amazing! The food and the entertainment is wonderful! The girls haven't eaten here yet so I am thinking they will love it!

The entire Germany area in Epcot is quite authentic! We've been to Germany for real to visit Bill's sister Karen and her husband and kids when they were stationed there.

The Rose & Crown Pub & Restaurant in the England section of Epcot is where we will eat another night! We have never eaten here before!

The Rose & Crown from the front!

The back in the day across the Epcot World Showcase lake where the evening fireworks, laser lights, and music is every night!

Ok, next, another night we want to take Dave and Beck and the girls to the Sci Fi Diner! It's so cute and just FUN! The food isn't as good as it was 5 years ago but their hamburgers are always good!

Us at the Sci Fi Diner back in 2009!

Next is a restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge called "Sanaa! I have read it is really good and you can see out to the Savannah through the windows as you dine! A giraffe may stroll by as you eat! How fun is that! Sanaa!

I am working hard and enjoying my students and co-workers as May races along and I am so cheerful as I dream about our not too far away time at WDW! I am excited to get to go again to recharge, refresh, have fun and enjoy family. I thank God for His blessings and I am going to be intentional to rekindle a merry heart and let it be a good medicine to me and my loved ones! Whatever you can do to take a break, relax,reward yourself for hard work, do it! Renew your cheerful heart and then return refreshed back to your job, tasks, your mission, your purpose or calling! Be energized and let God use you again to join Him at work where you are! Don't allow a crushed spirit to dry you up to the bone. Seek His touch and let Him empower you for His Glory! God is so good! Yes, life can sometimes be really hard, but God IS good and He will rescue you, renew you, recharge you, and restore your joy! Just ask Him, Psalms 4:3 says "...the Lord will hear when I call to Him!" Then in verse 11 "But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy." Take time to take refuge in God and let Him minister to you. Return to your life and routine and responsibilities anew!

Things I'm loving this Thursday are......
My two wonderful kids! They are both home under my roof all this week Brad lives at home while attending Tarrant County Community College, but with Melissa here this week for work with her job at Ernst & Young, it gets both my kids back in the nest for this week! I am loving it!

Melissa and I are both girly girls,just in case you didn't know that! She and her husband go to WDW Saturday and we go again soon! Can you tell we love Disney and all the various activities they offer! The best thing we did in the past decade was join the Disney Vacation Club!

It's always so fun to have my little girl home! We went and ate Fajitas together last night and just talked and laughed and had our own pre celebration of Cinco de Mayo!

I am loving this new song out, Blessings, by Laura Story! So true her words are in this beautiful song!

I am loving that my awesome husband got to play in the annual Texas Clergy/Layman Golf Tournament this year with our good friend and deacon Mr. Jeff Benge!

I am loving our Ralph Lauren Edgefield Plaid bedding, our new bedding that recently replaced our 28 year old previous Ralph Lauren bedding set! Lol! Yes, I take really good care of my bedding because Dixie was adamant about that! You don't sit on your bed spread, ever, in the house of Dixie, you fold it back or take it off if you want to sit or lay on the bed! Lol! So, if you do this it lasts forever!!! I found the floral comforter on E-bay and Bill let me order it this week! The plaid comforter isn't holding up so good, the ticking inside is starting to "clump" in a few spots and we don't even sit on it! Hmmm..... things aren't made as well as they used to be! Anyway, now have the queen size floral comforter too and got it really cheap thanks to e-bay. This pattern is now discontinued but I love it!!

My bedding!

My favorite morning flavor!!

I think I could literally eat here everyday! Just down the street from us, Don Pablos! Last night was Fajita special night! Just me and Melissa enjoying some yummy food together, heaven! Thank you Lord for little unexpected blessings!

What are you loving today?

What a wonderful royal event!

I love weddings! Melissa and I had more fun planning and then experiencing all the joys of her special day! All women were created by God to desire to be "captivating" and to be like a princess and find her prince who adores her totally and whom she adores exclusively! God made woman this way! The royal wedding event was such a nice and timely method of a needed mental escape, if only for a few hours of TV, but an escape from all the bad and heart wrenching news of tornadoes and of the poor economy as well as political turmoil in Washington.
Melissa, our princess, has been happily married for about a year and a half now! We just love and adore Jonathan and his family! Jonathan's mother, Diane, went to Baylor where Bill and I went as well!

I was so happy to have both my brothers and their families come and Bill's brother and sister's and most of their families! Our nieces, Hope and Brooke were the flower girls! Our nephew, Nathan was the ring bearer!

Melissa's dress was just perfect for her and just the one she wanted!

I loved Kate's dress!

My dress was purchased at Korona's in San Angelo, Texas and was a replica of the dress Adrian wore to marry Rocky Balboa in Rocky II. I loved it and I think it was very similar to Kate's dress!

We were so pleased with our photographers, Jenny and Eddie Martell! Melissa's dress was just so her!!

A few days before this royal wedding I was watching the Nate Berkus show and he was showing different ideas on how to have a tea party and watch the royal wedding. I hadn't been too terribly interested, with so much in the news about the devastation from the many tornadoes, the economy doing so poorly, and the political strife getting more and more outrageous and just shameful (Mr. Trump, please grow up, don't speak publicly, and just do you real estate business etc. privately and stay out of politics!!). However, when Berkus showed my same china that was "made in England" on a lovely tray all ready with tea and pastries for a fun watching party, I decided to do the same for Bill and I! Tea and blueberry muffins! We got up a little before 5 and had more fun watching! It brought back memories of getting up in the night to watch Charles and Diana's wedding years ago while I was a student at Baylor in my apartment on 4th Street in Waco!

In my opinion, our country's citizens truly could demonstrate more civility toward one another. Bill tells me that the British Parliament yells at one another and displays all sorts of drama but when they throw a wedding they demonstrate ultimate civility, courtesey, proper and modest behavior and manners. There were only 53 arrests out of probably 1 million in the crowds! I enjoyed watching the beautiful couple as they seemed to be truly happy and genuinely in love. His mother would have been so proud of him. I loved her dress! It is much like the dress I wore in our wedding!

The official wedding portrait.

The royal family.

They look so happy! I am so glad this prince found the perfect princess for him! I pray that they will be happy and grow old together and live "happily ever after"!

Pillow Talk!

Last night Bill made me laugh until I cried and my abs hurt! It makes me laugh thinking back over the last minutes of the evening! My husband is really very funny! His great sense of humor and frequent teasing is one of the many traits that first attracted me to him. I don't think all our church members really know how funny he can be! Well, here's how this hilarious evening started.
Remember back when Oprah did a show about "How old are your pillows?" She had an expert on describing in great grotesque details what bacteria, fungal spores and microscopic organisms along with dead skin, saliva, dried sweat, and more are in your pillow! Yes, disturbing to dwell on! Anyway, that show got my attention. I am a bit OCD anyway and I was raised by Dixie Ann Wimpee who took Microbiology in college and taught me all about germs and cleanliness in the home. I change out my pillow about every 4 years religiously. Experts recommend changing it every 1 or 2 years! Yes, look it up! Yikes. I need to do better.
Well, Mary Elizabeth Linthicum gave Bill and I two really nice, top quality, foam pillows made at San Angelo's own Western Mattress Company. What a wonderful thing to give a newly married couple! Bill is a stomach sleeper so he prefers a foam pillow. I prefer a down pillow or a synthetic down. Therefore, the foam pillows became Bill's one by one. Now we will be married 30 years next January. So...... those pillows were given to us, yes, almost 30 years ago! Yes, we still had them until yesterday! I know, I am groaning too, unbelievable as that is they didn't stink and still even looked good but really, there is a season for all things and I laid down the law yesterday to Bill. The pillows had to go. I stood my ground with Bill and insisted that his beloved foam pillow/s had to go and be replaced. We have recently done a lot of updating and cleaning out so this was on my list to do. He was not happy about this but he went with me to Dillard's and selected a new foam pillow to his liking (they only had one to choose from!). He slowly changed them out and sadly placed his old beloved foam pillow in the trash. (Mind you, I have tumbled it and them in the dryer for hours and heated it to oblivion,sprayed it with Lysol and Allergy Fe breeze etc) However, it was way past time to say goodbye to the beloved foam pillow and hello to the new. (We will do better and more frequent replacements in the future, I am determined!) Perhaps, he was actually boosting his immune system! Lol! Who knows! He's hardly ever sick! Lol!
Well, when we got in bed and turned out the lights, said good night, and Bill gets himself all comfy on his new pillow, I could see him since the TV was still on and I was watching a bit more news before nodding off, he didn't seem to settle. He was realizing this new foam pillow was just not right and not like the old one. When he tried to get situated he just couldn't get comfy and this new pillow was too high and actually made his back arch a little when he tried to settle down prone! Opps! Oh, no! I forced him to trash his old favorite pillow and now the new one wasn't working! I couldn't help but start laughing, he was making it so funny, as he'd demonstrate that it would work for sleeping on his side but definitely not for sleeping prone! Oh, no! We were both laughing harder and Bill said, well, this will be good, I'll just have to sleep on my side for 30 more years until I get another pillow! We were howling with laughter by now! I was trying to explain to him that I originally had picked out a foam "Memory Pillow" from Target for him but didn't want to get it without him being there. Then when we'd gone to Dillard's and he picked the one, I thought surely it would be fine! Lol! It was just so funny! Needless to say, I went to Target today after work and bought him the foam "Memory Pillow" and had him TEST it and it is perfect! Whew! I feel so much better now! I was able to let my guilt go for MAKING him toss his favorite OLD pillow and replace it! Oh, my, life with Bill is more and more fun everyday! On our 25th Anniversary, when we went to Disney and stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort for the 1st time we made a vow to "always have fun!" from this point forward, we would always be positive, optimistic, and laugh every chance we could! Bill gets to share so many stories on me and our kids from the pulpit so I get to blog my stories on him! He knows I'm blogging this but I don't always know when he is going to share an illustration from the pulpit that involves me! Anyway, we have some new pillows! How old are YOUR pillows?

This is such a classic and cute movie, "Pillow Talk" with Doris Day and Rock Hudson!

The old, now closed, Western Mattress in San Angelo, Texas, my quaint hometown!

These are the pillows I favor and ordered for myself from the Disney Resort Collection!

I remember when my mother, Dixie Ann, inherited her mother's belongings which included a feather bed. Mom took it to Western Mattress where they sanitized the feathers and made new feather pillows for my Mom! She was amazing at thinking of having things like this done. She never wasted anything! Seriously, just ask her kids or grand kids! They could tell you stories of Dixie Ann and her saving ways!

Mr.Binniker putting the final touches on a new Mattress at the old Western Mattress factory, now closed.

The location where the building still stands today, empty.

All my family is particular about our pillows and our favorite! Cuddly, comfy, always there when you need it! How old are your pillows?

Please pray for the winds to calm...

Pray for all of Texas regarding these devastating wildfires. I am a West Texas native and I am especially praying for my West Texas friends and family as they battle, watch, and wait during this windy, dry, fiery war. Both my brothers own ranch land in West Texas. One in Mertzon and the other in the Christoval area. They are fine so far but so many friends are keeping vigil and fighting fire. Nearer to where I live now, the DFW area, the sky is hazy here and asthma sufferers are feeling the effects of smoky air from the Possum Kingdom area West of Ft Worth where fires rage and the efforts there to fight and contain the blazes are challenging.

My heart goes out to my fellow Texans.

Livestock and wildlife suffer as well.

Pray and ask God to calm the winds, raise the humidity, and send rain for all of Texas.

I attended Travis Elementary in San Angelo, Texas for 1st and 2nd grade and there I learned this state song that stays in my heart to this day.

Texas our Texas, all hail the mighty state!

Texas our Texas! So wonderful so great!

Boldest and grandest, withstanding every test,

Our empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.

God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,

that you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long,

God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,

That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

Unexpected priviledges

I am still smiling! Yesterday Bill and I had the unexpected privilege of getting down on our knees with a precious older couple, a husband and wife, as he is facing a new cancer diagnosis. God could have used anyone, but we were so honored to have the privilege of leading them each, one at a time, in the sinner's prayer. The strong, proud, successful man truly plucked my heart strings and reminded me so much of my own dad years ago, facing a very serious diagnosis, wanted to visit with us and put in to words his desire to be sure, to "nail it down", and know that he knows for sure, that he can truly have the free gift of eternal life. After he verbalized some of his fears and struggles, I shared with him that my dad had gone to his pastor a year or so before he died with Cardiomyopathy and asked if he could "re-dedicate" his life, just "to be sure!" Well, this precious man said, yes, he wanted to do that. We all circled around him, on our knees, Bill, me and his wife. He had to sit on the couch due to some pain. Bill led him in that simple sinner's prayer where you simply acknowledge and verbalize that yes, you know you are a sinner and that you want to acknowledge and accept that Jesus paid the price for your sin's when He died on the cross and that you want to accept His free gift of eternal life. You want to then live for Him! It is and was that simple. Then I voiced a specific prayer asking for God's grace, mercy, and strength as they face the coming treatments, doctor visits, and more. We ask for healing and patience as well as perseverance and more. Then amen and it was so sweet,his wife then said, "wait, I want to do that too!" Well, yes, of course! Bill then led her in the same prayer! When we all lifted our heads again all eyes were moist and the presence of the Lord was in the room! God is so good! What a blessing, what an honor, what a privilege to get to be part of God at work right here in Grand Prairie, Texas. Please know, I am not sharing this in a bragging way. I truly am humbled and so thankful that I get to co-minister with my husband and best friend! I learned at Baylor to call these sweet times, Divine appointments or Serendipity! Yes, I am just so blessed again and again to get to be a part of these "Divine appointments!" When people ask me, "Isn't it hard being a pastor's wife?" I pause, and say, no, the blessings FAR outweigh the challenges! We get to do things all the time that make a difference for eternity! What a blessing is that?!

Chandelier in my closet!

Yes, my terrific husband has been up to it again! He is truly amazing! He hung this darling chandelier for me in our master closet Saturday! I just love it! My daughter, Melissa, had the idea and mentioned to me that she thought a chandelier would be so perfect in her master closet! Well, we HAD a not so lovely fluorescent light in there for 12 years that the builder put in. It had no cover or anything pretty at all. Just bulbs and the part that holds them in. So boring and just functional but no bling. Well, I think we now have a little bling! looked and looked until I found this one at Lowes and the minute I saw it I knew it was the one! Thanks, Melissa for the idea!