To Grandmother's House I Go

I'm sitting at the airport in Greenville waiting to board my flight to Atlanta where I'll meet up with my brother and fly to DC.  Growing up in the south, we didn't grow up with our grandparents just down the street or across town.  My dad's parents were in Easley, but when I was younger we lived in Virginia and Georgia so even they weren't really close.  Plus, they were much older and both of them passed away by the time I was 10.  I remember going to my mom's parents for five weeks when my brother and I were maybe 5 and 7 but I actually don't remember too much of that time there.  

As I've gotten older, I've called my grandparents more, tried to go see them more, but since I have a full time job in SC it's hard to get up to DC to see them and my mom more than a couple of times a year.  So, I'm SO glad to have this chance to go up, stay with them and my aunt and uncle and have nothing much on the agenda for the next few days.  It's not Thanksgiving, it's not Christmas, it's just a random weekend in September... that God carved out JUST for this.

My granddad isn't doing too well.  He's had scleroderma for a while now but we just found out recently that he also has cancer.  I hate cancer.  This is my first family member to have it, but I've had friends of friends and who have struggled with it, parents of friends who have fought and won and I hate it.  It tears life apart.  And it's just another reminder that we live in a fallen world that we aren't meant to be in forever.

So, since granddaddy is suffering and I'm leaving on my "big trip" in just two short weeks, I wanted to go and see him now.  I want to hug the 112 pounds of him that are left.  I want to sit at his feet and listen to stories.  I want to hear about how he came to know our Savior.  Because soon... sooner than I would like... I won't have that chance anymore.  And the last thing I want to do is to look back and regret that I didn't take the time or opportunity to go and see him.

Only God knows whether this will be the last time I see him or not.  My gut tells me it is.  Hospice brought a hospital bed to the house yesterday so things aren't looking too good.  But, he'll be with Jesus soon and there's nothing sweeter than that :)

Thru the Eyes of Texas

I know it's been a long time. And I'm so sorry! Life is catching up with me and I've hardly had a chance to breathe over the past few months. But while I'm still catching my breath, I want you to check out Arica's football blog. This girl not only loves college football, she LOVES the Texas Longhorns. But seriously, check it out and keep up with her. I don't think you'll regret it!

http://thrutheeyesoftexas.blogspot.com/

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

I’m ready for a good AMERICAN cheeseburger. Yes, that's right. I like meat. And I like to eat. And I like to eat meat. And I'm not ashamed.

While we were in Peru, the Peruvians (I just love saying that word) went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed in their beautiful country. We arrived on July 3 and the evening of July 4, we had the most amazingly private fireworks display I've ever seen. I mean, wow.

Anyway, they did their best to make us feel at home as we celebrated our country's birthday, which included cheeseburgers and hotdogs for dinner. The hamburgers were actually ok. Although most of our group did NOT like them. The hotdogs... well, I usually eat maybe one a year. And by eating this one I met my quota until probably 2013.

But I digress. This post is about Cheeseburgers in Paradise. I'll get to be in a bit of Paradise this weekend as I meet up with my Clemson girls (and their families) for a picnic at the lake up in Rock Hill. Woot woot! I love these girls (and their families) and we don't all have the chance to get together very often, but we'll do it this weekend!

And I'll be secretly celebrating even more because I'll be eating a large, juicy cheeseburger... and loving it :)

reading on the couch

i haven't done this in forever.  seriously.  i've been travelling or moving or something for the past forever so to spend the evening sitting on the couch reading a book is GLORIOUS!  i worked in the yard this afternoon (MY yard! ah!) and then came in intending to take a shower but got distracted by unpacking and getting more settled.  really, it wasn't a bad thing that i got distracted this time.

i finally took a shower and realized it was 8pm.  oops.  no dinner yet.  so, i did what any single girl home on a saturday night would do: i popped some popcorn, poured myself a tall glass of cold sweet tea and picked up my borrowed copy of "eclipse" (the third Twilight book).  

every once in a while though i would look up and just smile.  not at the silly story between Bella and Edward (whom i was just told played cedric diggory in HP 4, duh!  can't believe i didn't make that connection) but that i was sitting in MY house just chillin'.  it's so crazy that i bought a house.  but i love it.  

now if only i could win a million dollars so that i could decorate and landscape as i would like :)

pictures will come soon... i promise!!

1 Person

If you know me at all, you know that one of my desires in life is to get married. Another is to have children. I was never one to have a timeline of my life in regards to when I would get married and by what age I would have all of my kids. But never did it even cross my mind that I would be approaching my 30th birthday as a single woman.

But you know what? One thing I’ve learned over the past 30 years is that I have this hole inside of me that only one person can fill. Only one person can fill the void inside of me, only one person can fulfill the desires that I have and only one person can make me whole. And I found Him many years ago. Our relationship has changed and grown and deepened over the years and I’m thankful for each second of it.

As I was trying to figure out what the #1 thing would be on this silly countdown that I began a while back, I kept coming back to this one person. I aim for each part of my life to be centered around Him and while some days I’m more successful than others, I still hope that you can see in me that this one person is who I look to for everything.

Yesterday as I was moving things into my new house, the U-haul truck I had rented had a radio, but it was busted. Yay. I didn’t feel very safe calling my peeps on the phone while driving this monstrous 14 foot truck so I began to sing. Ha! I LOVE singing. But I don’t always hit the right notes. Luckily this one person doesn’t care. He’s pretty awesome like that. But I realized in singing praises to my Creator and Lord that He really does make me whole. Yesterday afternoon I was 100% content with life, with what I’m doing, with my amazing friends and family that I’m blessed to have around me… it was pure joy that can only come from God.

And then I got to work this morning. And I got an email from a friend/former interest that he was engaged. Now, I’ve been in 10 weddings and been to dozens more. I even had a dream a year about this friend proposing to his now fiancée. So I knew it was coming. But satan knew that moment that I let my defenses down that he could attack. And attack he did. Grrr… he REALLY aggravates me. I went from being on Cloud 9 to wanting to crawl into a hole in a matter of the time it took to check my email.

And no, it wasn’t because this guy didn’t choose me. He’s an awesome, godly man and his fiancée is so adorable and they’re going t be great together! It’s because yet again… I wasn’t the one getting engaged. I mean, seriously, when is this pity party going to end? I’m personally getting tired of it. As are my friends that are surely tired of hearing about it from me J
But because Jesus is so much bigger than the self-pity that satan wants me to feel, He healed me… again… and here it is, 5:00 and I’m whole again.

I love Him. I love Him. I love Him. How could I not?? Seriously, if you don’t know Him, you really should. He’s the love of my life and this is one love that I’m more than willing to share.

2 weeks...

...until I move into MY house!! eeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

Jump Over...

... to my photography blog (click on the Photographs by Sabrina logo to the right or on the picture below) and check out the contest!!!

3 Inspirations

Three things have inspired me to be a better person today*. They are as follows, in no particular order...

• My Charming Kids You HAVE to start reading this blog. This lady is amazing and I could spend all day reading her stuff and looking at her pictures.
• Jasmine Star This woman is about 6 months younger than me and I totally want to be like her when I grow up. She's a Rock Star. In every sense of the word.
• Picture of the Day I just love pictures (obviously...) and a couple of things have inspired me to try and do a picture of the day on my Photography Blog. But it will have to wait... at least until tomorrow :)

And until "tomorrow" comes, here are a few Picture of the Day sites:

• Kodak's site
• Hobart Daily - a photo a day from down under
• Photo District News - check out this particular picture. Wow.

*Disclaimer: many people I know inspire me on a daily basis and to list them all would take up the entire page. Therefore, this post is limited to those outside my circle of influence that have made this particular day inspirational.

4 Prayers

This past weekend I was at Bonclarken for our student's mission trip planning retreat, so I missed service in the morning at Grace Church Downtown, but was able to make it to community group that afternoon. Well, we were discussing the sermon, which was based on Ecclesiastes 3, and the sovereignty of God. And today He showed me just what that means.

This morning I realized that there are four pretty big things on my plate right now that I'm praying through. With two of them I've been seeking answers for a while. The other two have only just come in front of me in the past few days. Well, I was doing normal work stuff at my desk when I got up to go get something off the printer and then take it up to the accounting department. One of the guys I work with walked into the mail room where I was and said he had a random, off-the-wall question for me. Sure! I love random, off-the-wall questions! (Now, I should tell you that while I see this gentleman almost every day, we work in different departments and it has (sadly) been a while since I've had any kind of in-depth conversation with him.) Well, he then asks me if he could be praying for me about anything.

I just stared at him.
And then the tears came.

He said that God had just let him know that Sabrina needed prayers in discerning some things right now and to be reminded that she's loved and appreciated.

I just stared at him.
And all I could say was wow.
And the tears kept coming.

God is SO big. He is SO huge. He is SO good.

And even when I'm struggling and just trying to wade through the waters that I'm in, He's there and He's guiding me and He's looking out for me. And He even sends people to remind me of that.

And that's not all :) Around 4:30 or so, one of the ladies I work with stopped by my desk and just said, "I wanted you to know that I've been praying for you about things."

Not only did God blow me away once today... He did it twice.

We serve a pretty stinking awesome God. I dare you to tell me otherwise.

half-five...

...is what time I got up this morning. But after I woke up at 4am. Luckily for me, I'm in the Pacific time zone (in Arizona) so my body was telling me it was 7am and time to get up. I mean, I was awake at 4 and WIDE awake at 5:30. Kind of sad, but it was nice to have a leisurely morning before breakfast at 7:30. Now, if I could only get in bed early enough to wake up at that time and have a leisurely morning every day before work, I may actually enjoy getting up. But no, I stay up way too late doing.... well.... I don't always know. It's amazing how it seems to important at 9pm to watch this week's 2 hr Biggest Loser episode that's on my DVR. Because, you know, it's not like it won't be there tomorrow. I mean, that's just an example. I don't make silly choices like that. I always go to bed when I should so as to get a solid 8 hours of sleep.

Pshh. Right.