Friend Makin' Mondays: Today I....

Today I felt...renewed HOPE for the future.

Today I saw....many friends at church and MOST of my family for our Easter meal.


Today I ate...yummy salad with feta and walnuts AND gooey deep dish chocolate chip cookie with Ice cream.

Today I kissed...the love of my life.

Today I bought...steak for my husband who was home sick and missed the Easter meal.

Today I heard...a new favorite song - "Come Away With Me."

Today I lost...track of time reading so many fun blogs.

Today I decided...to change the way I view my life and my future.

Today I need...to organize my thoughts in reference to making some decisions for my future.

Today I wish...my best friend in Tulsa could have hung out with me in the beautiful sunshine!

Linked up with All The Weigh

***Won't you share ALL or SOME of your "Today I..." with me in the comments?? Would love to hear from you!!

What My Mama Taught Me {Happy Birthday, Mom!}

Today is my mother's birthday and my mom means so much and so many things to me. I have said it in many ways to her over the years in words, in cards, in FB wall posts, etc. so I thought I would share it a little differently today....

10 Things That My Mama Taught Me

#1 - When things are nuts, laughter is the best medicine......ALWAYS!

#2 - It's okay to cry....REALLY!

#3 - When you come to the end of your rope, keep holding on to Jesus for all you are worth

#4 - Integrity is vital - who you are when no one is watching

#5 - Education is SO important - Always keep learning!

#6 - Love Jesus with every fiber of your being - nothing else is MORE important than that

#7 - Listen with your heart, your eyes, your soul

#8 - Treat people with love & respect, the way you want to be treated

#9 - Age is just a number - You are only as old as you feel

#10 - Be someone that people can count on - "When I die, I want my daughters to be able to say about me, 'Mom was always the same.'"

I love you, Mom! You have taught me SO much and modeled what being a servant of Christ is. I often call you a "mothers-mother." In the dictionary, when the description of mom is listed, your character is THE LIST. I wish everyone could have/have had a mom like you!! I strive to be like that too as well as to teach other women to love as fiercely as you loved us.

Happy Birthday, Mumsie!

Linking up with Oh Amanda for:

Friend Makin Mondays: 100 Million Bucks

Kenlie @ All the Weigh is hosting a linky party, Friend Makin Monday, and each week you answer a question on your blog and then, well, LINK UP, and check out fellow bloggers answers. Feel free to join me!!

Friend Makin Monday Question of the Week:

What's the first thing you would do for yourself if you won 100 million dollars?

Note: this question is specifically for you...

what would you do for fun

after the family and the bills

and the obvious stuff was taken care of?

I would book round-the-world tickets for my husband & I to take off for a year or more and see the WHOLE WORLD or at least as many nations as possible.

I would invest LOADS of the money so that it would work for us while we were gone.

I would buy the BEST DSLR camera to capture the world in pictures.

I would buy my husband the Apple products of his choice to do all of the editing, programming, web designing to his heart's content.

I would invest in real estate after I bought us {and my parents} our own home.

Now it's YOUR turn!

Go to All the Weigh and link up OR just answer in the comments section below. I would LOVE to hear your 100 million dollar dreams!

How I Love Thee....Lime....Let me Count the Ways!!

So being "over 30", I started realizing that my metabolism doesn't bounce back like it used to and began making some cuts in my daily caloric intake. About a year ago, I had stopped drinking Coke and started drinking Coke Zero. I was SO proud of myself until recently I read that many of the artificial sugars can cause an increase in appetite! Oh great!

At the beginning of the 2011, I did a detox to start off the year and switched over to water during that time. In that week, I made a discovery, KEY LIME WATER.....thank you, Wal*Mart!
So I have ONLY been drinking water for the past month and it is really all about lime.

Lime - A small, lemon-shaped citrus fruit with a thin green skin and juicy, pale green pulp. The two main varieties are the Persian lime and the Key lime. Key limes are smaller, yellower in color, seedy, sourer, and grow on thorny trees. Read more @ Food.com

So this is my tribute to limes.....

#10 - You are a healthy cold remedy (mixed with honey).

#9 - You are my favorite color.

#8 - You make drinking a gallon of water a day a breeze!

#7 - You promote weight loss.

#6 - You are making my skin shine a little more each day.

#5 - When you are in dairy, like a Cherry Limeade Chiller from Sonic, you are Mmm...Mmm Good!

#4 - You are not harsh on my stomach like your other citrus friends.

#3 - You actually give me a small amount of protein.

#2 - You are a HUGE health benefit in so many ways!

#1 - You make my water taste awesome!

Thank you, Lime! You are my new favorite thing!

{Linked up with Oh Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday}

and

{Linked up with Amanda at Serenity Now}

Posts That Warm My Heart

Sharing with you some posts from my fellow bloggers out there who have touched, encouraged or made me smile this week as well as a couple of my own posts that are my favs of the week.

FROM ME

This week I shared on how saying goodbye is bittersweet and how blessed I am to be celebrating 5 years of marriage with my sweetheart.


THOSE WHO SHARE MY JOURNEY

I discovered Gypsy Mama this week. I connected with her story so amazingly as someone who married someone from another culture and living in 3 different countries/cultures. Her writing style will appeal to you even if her story isn't the same as yours.

Holley at Heart to Heart with Holley encourages my heart in my own journey as she has also struggled through the process of becoming a biological mommy. (She and I also have the same wedding anniversary! Cool!)

Gitzen Girl's story has challenged and inspired me as she is dealing with a chronic illness much worse than what I have experienced. It has changed her whole life, yet she walks in faith and in beauty in her walk with the Father.


INSPIRATIONAL CHALLENGES

Ray at Student of Jesus shares with us the lost art of front porch sitting. It is more than you think. Check it out!

I found an old post from Ann Voskamp at Holy Experience in my wandering this week that challenged my current relationship with my Father in prayer.

Glenn Packiam, a fellow ORU alum, shares about something that the Father has been consistently reminding me of this year: HIS LOVE.

JUST FOR FUN

Adding Zest to Your Nest shares some random fun for you to add to your marriage to spice things up. :)

Metropolitan Mama talks about sharing the beloved Anne of Green Gables with her oldest daughter....(I just LOVE ANNE -- really!!).
Are you a night owl or an early bird? Check out Jennifer's post at Conversion Diary to see the pros, the cons, and the "somewhere in betweenies."

The WOW Factor

Tim & Steph along with their two little girls have decided to sell almost all of their possessions and travel in an RV and GIVE EVERY DAY. You SO have to check this out...it challenges and amazes me!

I hope that you are having an amazing weekend and that one (or more) of the above posts will warm your heart as they have mine!

Linking up today with:

Check out her posts and browse through the other bloggers who linked up for the party for this weekend.

Posts That Warm My Heart

Joining up today with Serenity Now: A Mommy's Solution to Staying Sane for

and sharing some of my favorite posts for the week.

From ME

I didn't write a lot this week as I have been pondering and analyzing (more intensely than usual). You can check out that post here.

Inspirational

(In)Courage is a compilation blog from women of all walks of life. Bianca compared the processes of our lives to this plant that grows in the desert and takes 20 years to flower. It is a story you HAVE to check out!

Ray Hollenbach at Students of Jesus shared last week about the life of E. Stanley Jones. His post has inspired me to put E. Stanley's final book The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person on my "must read" list.

Jenny at Just a Minute is praying through the Psalms every Saturday. Love her perspective and the way that she applies the Word in a practical way.

Personal Journeys

Especially Heather shares her journey with cancer as well as life with a daughter with chronic health issues from the womb. Her post on honesty is what lead me to her site, but check out her full site for her story.

Claire at Fast Forward Girl opens up about her and her husband's difficult decision to leave the mission field in South Africa -- her openness and raw transparency in the face of such a hard choice is refreshing.

My new blogger "friend" Jen is challenges us in her blog, I Believe In Love, about what ONE thing in your life would you want to change that would transform the other parts of your life.

Hope that you enjoy!! Do you have a blog or some posts that you think I should check out? Please add it to your comments below! I would REALLY love to hear from you!