YEAST ROLLS and Family Time {Warm Hearted Wednesday}

Today I am linking up with my friends over at Ask God Today Ministries for Warm Hearted Wednesday... I hope you will stop by and meet our writing team... they are beautiful women of God!! 

Who doesn't love a BIG FAT YEAST ROLL????

 

 

 

Formerly posted as a LINK UP with The Loft @ Leah Adams blog.

Mike and I were on our way out to dinner a while back, when we invited the boys to go out with us.  

Photo via Google Images/O'Charley's Restaurant

Our schedules had gotten so varied and, in the past, we just didn't have the resources to do this often. 

So dinner out as a family was a treat!

As we squeezed The Boys in the back seat (Cameron-20, Matthew- 19, and Kyle-17) we were already talking about where to go...

 

O'Charley's it is!  As Matthew said,

"It's the yeast rolls, y'all!"

Off we go, conversation flowing, getting caught up on each other’s lives.  Cameron was in college, Matthew worked two jobs, and Kyle a senior in high school, you can imagine the random things that we talked about.  

These guys are so fun to be around. They are my favorite friends in the world. 

Dinner was good.  The company was great. We did, however, run into a problem with the check...you see, the server came and took Mike's debit card but didn't return...Mike gets up to go and look for her...comes back...didn't see her. 

Uh-oh...She seemed really nice and everything...

Just then the manager of the restaurant comes by to tell us that our card had been lost and they were looking frantically everywhere.  Our server, who seemed missing, was actually out back digging in the trash to try and find it!  

The manager apologized profusely and stated his embarrassment over the matter and tells us that our dinner was on the house.  Well, great, but what do we do? 

It was Friday night.  The place was busy.  Our server was pleasant and took great care of us during our meal and we had planned on giving a tip with our debit card.  We told the manager that we would wait a bit to see if it was found.  Meanwhile, we all looked in our wallets for any change, dollar bills, whatever we could find. 

There was no way we were going to leave knowing that our server would not get paid for serving our table.  Let’s face it. Servers live off of tips.

As we waited, we noticed that other servers and managers-maybe even the bartender!- were walking by looking...down, under tables, noticing little details...looking for our lost card.  One young server stopped by to state that all the other employees were looking too. 

Our server, well, she was still out in the trash looking...bless her heart.  She didn't want to face us and was quite upset.

Cameron, having been a server at a local restaurant, then told us how difficult guests can be...over the slightest thing...and the worst patrons?  The church crowd!  Sad.

If we claim to be Christ Followers and dare to leave a mark on our world, let it be His  fingerprints we leave behind.

photo Google Search./Images

We told the manager to let our server know we were not upset...after all...why should we be?  Why would we want to make her night -busy and chaotic that a restaurant can be on a Friday night-miserable or cause her the stress or insecurity that mean-spirited words can leave? Our only concern was did we have enough cash on us to leave her a good tip for all her trouble?

 

In the end, our card was found. The card had dropped beside another table, the other guests turned it in and our card was returned. We were able to grace the server with words of appreciation, money for her service. We left full, blessed and thankful. 

Love and Grace are the fingerprints of Christ.

Join the LINK UP TODAY!!! click on the Ask God Today icon and join the conversation!

 

Armor of God [Week 6]

The Armor of God Bible Study

Week 6 The Helmet of Salvation

Let’s talk Helmet Head today, shall we?

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will~Romans 12:2

There is no better way to say it…Our minds are the Battlefield of our lives.

It has been amazing to me how much I can know the Word of God, but if I do not saturate my mind with it, then I fall into mind field traps of negative thinking that is directly contradictory to what God says about me.

Here are a few of the mental replays that I battle 

every single day:

Am I really loved? Does anyone really love me?

I can’t do anything right.

I am a failure, fat, ugly, older than I want to be

Worthless.  Unequipped.  Uneducated.

Who cares anyway?

You too? 

None of the above thoughts reflect the Truth about what God says about us.  That is why we MUST keep our minds focused and refocused on the Word of God and His Truth about us. 

The battle rages over and in our minds.  The Enemy loves a good "Doubt God" game. 

Ephesians 6: 17 says we are to TAKE the Helmet of Salvation.  Meaning to receive, take hold of, to embrace, to give ear to…

 

What we allow into our hearts and minds will make or break us.  Be careful little eyes what you see, little ears what you hear…

When my boys were very young and I “made” them listen to Christian radio all the time and was protective of what they watched and listened to.  They didn’t understand why we had a set of rules that their friends did not.  I tried to explain how what we let into our minds matters because thoughts can get stuck there.  They simply did not understand.

Until one day, when in the car, one of the boys began to sing the jingle to a TV commercial.  I asked this boy of mine why he was singing that song.  His response: “I don’t know… it was just in my head.” 

ALERT:  Teaching moment!!!

I asked if he had planned to learn and memorize that song, why was that song in his mind and he could not explain.  

So I explained to him how what we listen to and allow into our minds could get stuck even if we do not want them to. 

When we are careful what we allow into our minds, when we saturate our minds with the Word of God and the thoughts of God about us, we are protected from the mind games of the Enemy.  It is a constant, daily, moment by moment embracing of Truth. 

Priscilla Shirer has created a list of statements that we can embrace, take up, receive and embrace.  You can find a list here.

So go ahead.. Be a Helmet Head today!

{It's the Yeast Rolls Y'all} A Link up with The Loft

I am joining friends over at The Loft today for a link up. 

Today's topic is "pot luck" so I am pulling from a previous post to share a Grace Moment. 





It's the Yeast Rolls Y'all!

Mike and I were on our way out to dinner a while back, when we invited the boys to go out with us.  

Our schedules had gotten so varied and, in the past, we just didn't have the resources to do this often. 

So dinner out as a family was a treat!

As we were squeezing The Boys in the back seat (Cameron-20, Matthew- 19, and Kyle-17) we were already talking about where to go... O'Charley's it is!  As Matthew said,

"It's the yeast rolls, y'all!"

 

Off we go, conversation flowing, getting caught up on each other’s lives.  Cameron was in college, Matthew worked two jobs, and Kyle a senior in high school, you can imagine the random things that we talked about.  

These guys are so fun to be around. They are my favorite friends in the world. 

Dinner was good.  The company was great. We did, however, run into a problem with the check...you see, the server came and took Mike's debit card but didn't return...Mike gets up to go and look for her...comes back...didn't see her.  Uh-oh...She seemed really nice and everything...

Just then the manager of the restaurant comes by to tell us that our card had been lost and they were looking frantically everywhere.  Our server, who seemed missing, was actually out back digging in the trash to try and find it!  The manager apologized profusely and stated his embarrassment over the matter and tells us that our dinner was on the house.  Well, great, but what do we do? 

It was Friday night.  The place was busy.  Our server was pleasant and took great care of us during our meal and we had planned on giving a tip with our debit card.  We told the manager that we would wait a bit to see if it was found.  Meanwhile, we all looked in our wallets for any change, dollar bills, whatever we could find.  There was no way we were going to leave knowing that our server would not get paid for serving our table.  Let’s face it. Servers live off of tips.

As we waited, we noticed that other servers and managers-maybe even the bartender!- were walking by looking...down, under tables, noticing little details...looking for our lost card.  One young server stopped by to state that all the other employees were looking too.  Our server, well, she was still out in the trash looking...bless her heart.  She didn't want to face us and was quite upset.

Cameron, having been a server at a local restaurant, then told us how difficult that guests can be...over the slightest thing...and the worst patrons?  The church crowd!  Sad.

If we claim to be Christ Followers and dare to leave a mark on our world, let it be His  fingerprints we leave behind.

We told the manager to let our server know we were not upset...after all...why should we be?  Why would we want to make her night -busy and chaotic that a restaurant can be on a Friday night-miserable or cause her the stress or insecurity that mean-spirited words can leave? Our only concern was did we have enough cash on us to leave her a good tip for all her trouble?

In the end, our card was found. The card had dropped beside another table, the other guests turned it in and our card was returned. We were able to grace the server with words of appreciation, money for her service. We left full, blessed and thankful. 

Love and Grace are the fingerprints of Christ.

 

{ A Wedding Story} Kyle and Olivia

A woman who has prepared herself for her Groom,

and a man who is deeply in love with his Bride... 

Kyle and Olivia Morris August 1, 2015

Photography via Tonya Johnson.  Please ask for permission to use these photos.  Thank you.

{Funny Stories} A Link Up with The LOFT

Today I am joining friends on a Blog Link UP called THE LOFT...  

I have shared this story before, but it is still funny to me how words can just come out of my mouth and sound so ridiculous!!!  My boys still tease me about this one!! 

Enjoy!

Going Postal

It happened. 

Right there in the basement one early spring day. 

It was everywhere. 

I have yet to see anything so horrific in my entire life and I am getting more life on me than I could see coming when I married Mike.

There I was in the middle of all of this splattering of trash-vomit, piles of refuse and debris.

The day had started so well.  It was a Saturday, I think, and while the weather was not warm, there were certain signs and scents of spring in the air.  I left my spot on the couch and drained the rest of my coffee to begin the weekend routine of cleaning house. 

The main living area of the house was in pretty good shape.  I have a husband who knows how to help out. Mike faithfully ran the vacuum, cleaned the bathrooms and cleaned the kitchen for me every Friday before I got home from the office in the late afternoon. 

My goal for this particular day was to clean the “Man Cave”.

“The Man Cave" (a.k.a. the Basement) was in need of some mom-cleaning. You know, the kind where things actually get moved and the showers get really good and scrubbed? That kind of clean.  The boys have been responsible for their own laundry and space for quite some time, but it was just time for Mom to and help out.

Please don’t get the wrong idea.  This is not a space where high definition monitors project high-quality technology over surround sound theater seating with a kitchenette and/or bar nearby.  There were no sports posters or trophies or other Pintrest Worthy ideas displayed this space.  

What I mean by Man Cave is that The Boys LIVED in the space.  Drums, sticks, guitars, amps, keyboards, sheet music, strings. Our boys are musicians and we have the BEST music in the neighborhood!

We have raised the most handsome, most intelligent, most considerate well-behaved young men on the planet.  They are absolutely perfect and have never done anything wrong. NEVER. Except for the day in question.

To help you, the reader, understand my perspective, our basement was once home to Mike’s parents.  When we moved to our neighborhood, we had a full basement put in so they could live with us and not be so far away. The basement includes a full kitchen and den, single car garage, two full baths, laundry room, master bedroom and an extra room for storage. When Mike’s brother Tim came over he stayed in the space.  Or Camille, our good friend from Cameroon Africa. And other guest that have stayed in our home over the years.

I know what you are thinking… It sounds like we put extra people in a storage area in our basement, but that’s not what I meant.  We use the space as a spare bedroom, not a storage room for extra people… please! I am not that bad!

I began to clean the kitchen. Sticky, overflowing, un-namable and crushed walked over items, left-over food and wrappers crumpled on the floor.  Forgotten cups, mugs, dishes lying around.  Ick was everywhere.  Then I began to clean the bathrooms. 

The more I cleaned the madder I got. I was so upset with how messy and dirty they had allowed the space to become... so I quit. 

I had already invested more of my precious day on this chore and I was furious! Madder by the minute- I did what any good mother of grown up sons would do... 

I posted a sign on the basement door that went something like this:

(no joke: I had to rewrite my sign three times to get the words just right and

to not use some words that preachers wives are not supposed to use…)

My oldest son, Cameron, was the first to come in and see the note. He promptly took the sign down and laughed and asked what was I thinking??? I told him I was very serious and he had better put the note back up and/or tell his brothers because I was serious!!

Matthew and Kyle came in right after and asked why I was 'freaking out'?? 

Oh, no they didn’t just ask me that!

"Because I am about to Go Postal on you!"

I had been thinking of that phrase the whole time I was cleaning and allowing my anger to flare... I had no idea what that really means.  So I said to them...

I am seriously about to Go POSTAL!!!

I am not sure what that even means…

but if it means getting

ALL UP IN YOUR ZIP CODE

then I am going there!!

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I couldn't help but to laugh. I laughed at myself and how funny my angry words sounded... after all, I am the Queen of Mom Jokes in this house!! And I have never been able to be really mad at these perfect sons of mine!!

I was suddenly no longer mad, but was laughing at myself as they LAUGED hysterically-AT ME!!

Mike and The Boyes_Photo by Tonya Johnson

Because I know you are wondering…

The Boys did, in fact, get the space very good and cleaned and Mike made an inspection before I got home that Wednesday and I didn’t have to get up in anybody’s zip code!

But they often tease me when I seem frustrated or aggravated for any reason... "Mom, are you about to go postal??” then they smile at me, hug my shoulders and I can't help but smile at how much they make my heart weep with joy.  

I love them so!

You can read more funny stories from other authors by visiting 
The Loft.  You will be blessed!