THANK YOU!!!

JOY FM Friendraiser update:

We did it, fellow listeners!  The Friendraiser ended two hours early on Friday and the goal was met 100%!!!
The goal starting last Monday morning was 1000 More than Music Mission Partners (people who donate $30 or more a month), and $360,000.

At just before 5 p.m. Friday, the grand total was 1,007 new MMMPs, and a total of $362,356!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving and helping to keep such a wonderful ministry going!
If you didn't get the chance to join in the Friendraiser fun, but still want to give, you can do that on the website!

I love listening to the JOY FM every single day!  From me personally:

November Gratitudes

While the first thing that tends to jump to people's minds at the word 'November' is likely Thanksgiving Day, I did my very best to not lose sight of my blessings from the first day of the month to the last.  I am blessed beyond measure.

• 11.30- Leftover 'Fish Legs' from our date at Joe's Crab Shack
• 11.29- Jake's home improvement accident involving a work knife and his arm could have been so serious. I'm thankful he didn't die. No, really. It could have gone that way and God kept it from being so.
• 11.28- Tallied up the hours scheduled for this week and it merits a low, "how awesome is this!" whistle
• 11.27- Excellent message at church from Pastor Godwin
• 11.26- Same as yesterday
• 11.25- No fights breaking out in our store
• 11.24- Happy Eat-Yourself-Into-A-Stupor Day! :)
• 11.23- Quick closing at work so that we could come home and get ready for Thanksgiving.
• 11.22- Grocery shopping by myself for some quiet down time
• 11.21- Several friends are expecting! I love new babies!
• 11.20- Choir practice and cute pass-along clothes from friends
• 11.19- A soft bed to sleep in
• 11.18- Sturdy shoes
• 11.17- Great day at work, wonderful last Bible study class, a good car to run all over town doing errands in, and books waiting for me at the library. :)
• 11.16- I GOT THE JOB!!! :D
• 11.15- A good rainy, snuggly kind of day to get my room cleaned up and then write letters and catch up on other work
• 11.14- Quiet time writing letters at the new library
• 11.13- Church and bringing Christina with me! :)
• 11.12- All day of a gorgeous wedding and wonderful people to photograph!
• 11.11- Getting an elephant made and delivered and getting to have a chocolate peanut butter milkshake afterwards
• 11.10- Getting to tour the wedding venue early to compose some shot ideas
• 11.9- My pastor
• 11.8- Morning: spending time at the new library while Emily was in daycare. Writing letters, finding books for myself and letting the older 3 kids browse. Also thankful for my right to vote. Evening: spending time visiting with my friend Adam Jones.
• 11.7- Quality time spent with Emily at the new library and grocery shopping
• 11.6- My mother in law coming to church with us before she had to head back to south GA
• 11.5- Morning: The new library is open! Evening: Going to see Joe M. Turner's magic show
• 11.4- An evening at the opera. So beautiful.
• 11.3- A (once again) stellar Bible study session
• 11.2- Dayquil
• 11.1- My awesome Aunt

Short Post After A Full Weekend

Took the kids and Frank to a pumpkin patch and fall festival yesterday and basically had a fun Saturday at home.  Today was church, then Gran made lunch, then Husband and I baked 4 cakes with home made icing for the cake walk at tomorrow's HUGE Fall Festival that our church is putting on at the local park.  Some 3,000 people will come through between 6 and 9 p.m.  I will decorate the cakes tomorrow after my chiropractor's appointment and take them to the church.  I have a few errands that I have to run.  I have photos to edit, letters to write, and stuff to sew.  Then we will all dress up and go to the festival from 6 til 7:30, at which point I will bring the cute gremlins home and head back up there by me onesy to help out at the face painting booth from 7:45-8:45.

Yes, there will be pictures.

In snail mail news, I got a letter from my Mother-in-law and a cute Halloween card from a Facebook friend.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Also, husband's job is trying something new and letting them drive back and forth to the job this week, so that means a longer week for both of us (when he's coming home I make more of an effort to see that house is clean and good supper to eat, etc. etc.) but at least he will be sleeping in his own bed.  It's a backhanded improvement, but whatever.  Over how things have been, I'll take it.

I hate to have no pictures in a post, so I'll end with this:

Oh, so THIS is why they want to stop Saturday delivery...!

In Which I Snatch 5 Minutes To Post For NaBloWriMo...

Today is:

And we went to:

And then we ate lunch at:

Around 3, we dropped the kids off at home with Grandmother, and went with the whole church (who had bought out a theatre) to see:

I am still using:

It was alternately hilarious and heartbreaking.  PLEASE go see it!!!  

I'm off now to print off some job apps for tomorrow, and to spend some time with my family before the kids go to bed.

Go see the movie!  Now!

See y'all back here again tomorrow...

Amen!

I LOVE this bluesy number from New World Son called "Sweet Holy Spirit".  Crank it up loud and let it get down into your soul!

Remembering Shelia

Photo from J93.3's Facebook Page

Today I want to share a video that J93.3's Jerry Williams made, to go with the tribute song for Shelia Richards.  Shelia went to be with the Lord earlier this week.

We love you, Shelia, and we will see you again someday.

How Is Your Ship Doing?

Yesterday was a needed and welcome time of refuge and peace in the midst of some difficult circumstances that I have been trying to process.  We've been visiting a church just down the road that I feel the Lord is calling us to become involved in, and this is helping me navigate these uncertain times in ways I can't even express.  The people have been kind, accepting, and generally offering any and every manner of help and direction to get us acclimated.

Attending this new church helps, but it doesn't take away ALL the troubled times.  There are yet some valleys that will need to be walked through, and difficult choices that will need to be made, and even the positive decisions and changes that are coming in this season of my life are a little scary, but I know they must happen in order for me to live up to the fullest potential that God has created me for.

You know by now how I'm in love with the sea.  Yet, for all that it is beautiful and peaceful sometimes, a storm can transform the ocean into a dangerous and deadly force.  Isn't life like that?  There are some parts of it that are full of sunshine, squishy sand and relaxation, but other times life throws us around like a ship about to wreck.  The painful times come, and we feel as though we are soaking wet, being heaved up and down on mile high waves- nearly to the point of drowning- and that our ship is coming apart in splinters.

But it isn't!  If your ship (your soul and your faith) is anchored in and with the Lord Jesus, guess what??  The anchor HOLDS!  It's not going anywhere, and even though you might have to ride out the rough times, all will not be lost!  The ship is safe!

Sunday morning, even as I sat in Worship service in a landlocked town that hasn't seen rain for at least a week, I felt like this one was picked out and sung especially for me.  It was a male solo in Sunday's service, but as I was looking around YouTube for the song, I found this wonderful version.  Enjoy, and be uplifted and encouraged!

J93.3 Update and Prayer Request

Here's an update on the Share-a-thon!  Remember my "Go Here Thursday" post from last week?  (click the link if you don't or haven't seen it!)

When the Share-a-thon ended at 7 PM on Friday, the station had added "over 865 brand new MMMP's and over $311,000 raised!" (via j93.3's Facebook page)  WOW!  God is awesome! :)  If you missed the Share-a-thon but still want to give and/or become an MMMP (More than Music Mission Partner), you can donate online any time.

While this is wonderful news, there was some news from the station this morning that is very sad.  Sheila from the morning show (Sheila and Jerry) has been fighting cancer for some time now, and has been admitted to hospice.  I love her spirit and her personality always got me up and going in the mornings when I was dragging.  (Love you too, Jerry, but you know what I mean!)  Sheila's husband, Jimmy, called in this morning with the news (praise God for giving him the strength for that call!  I know that was hard!) and I just cried.  You can hear it for yourself here at Jerry's blog.

Please pray for Sheila, her husband, her whole family, Jerry, her doctors, and all of her listeners as we wait for the Lord to show us His glory, no matter what that may be.  If He heals her, we will praise Him!  He is still the God of miracles!  If He calls her home to be with Him, we will praise Him, because she will not be suffering!  His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) and we must trust Him.

Sheila has already left a precious legacy and shown the light of Christ to so many people.  I hope she has more time with us, but we just have to wait and find out what the Lord is going to do.  Sheila, my family and I love you, and we are praying hard for God's hand to be on you and give you His mighty peace.

Sheila at Lagrange Kia, from the j93.3 website.

Good Morning!

Happy Monday!

I had a rough night emotionally last night.  However, somehow I was able to go to sleep before midnight for the first time in a long while, so I've had 7 hours of sleep and that helps.  After I got the kids off to school, I was sitting here thinking of what to post for Music Monday and to be honest, there were some rather mopey/emotional songs that I considered.  They mirror how I felt last night.  But then...

I thought about how badly I want to move forward from where I am.  If you don't like your circumstances, you don't HAVE to stay in them!  God has blessed me with so much, and if I dwell on what I don't have, I'm not only being ungrateful, I'm also not trusting Him and allowing Him to move and work in my life!  Duh, Jenny!  Get with it!  He is faithful and He has given me a new day to make the best of and who knows what awesome things will happen!  So instead of focusing on my heartaches of last night, I'm going to focus on Him and find out what He's going to do today!  It's a good morning!

Wherever you are today, I'm praying that He reminds you that His resources are not limited.  He is unshakeable, unchangeable and unstoppable!  Let Him give you a Good Morning and have a great day!

Please Help!

It's GO HERE THURSDAY!

PLEASE GO HERE and help us out! 

Tomorrow is the last day of J93.3's (WVFJ) fall Share-a-thon!  Please show your support for this radio ministry by calling 888-933-9330 or donating online.

"Wait," you may be saying, "I don't live in Atlanta!  Why should I partner with YOUR station??"  Well guess what!  You don't have to be an Atlanta resident to listen and enjoy the benefits of this wonderful ministry!  You can listen online on your computer or with your smartphone from anywhere!

Y'all, this listener supported radio station has, on some of my darker days, been the glue that holds me together.  Prayers on the air.  A prayer hotline with real people on the other end who listen and believe God with you to ask Him for miracles in whatever you may be dealing with in your life.  They do so many community outreach works that it's just incredible to see God move in a mighty way!  (If you are wondering, this is the station I heard the ad for the Love Worth Fighting For Conference on last year.)
(For my experiences at it, see this post and this post.)

And, oh yeah! The music!  They keep a steady stream of uplifting, positive music by great Christian artists going that just wraps around your soul and you are so encouraged and can't help but praise God's Holy name!!!  It's amazing!  I cannot say enough good things about this radio ministry.

As a not for profit, they need the financial support of listeners.  I have heard wonderful stories from people whose lives have been changed and blessed because of this station.  You can catch the latest happenings on their Facebook page and see what the Lord is doing!  PLEASE call them or go online and make a donation.

This morning I called to become an MMMP (More than Music Mission Partner) with $30 a month.  Yes, the economy is uncertain.  Yes, we work hard to make the ends meet and sometimes can't seem to even find the ends.  But God's resources are not limited and when He laid it on my heart to step out in faith and then I DID, I can't begin to tell you what kind of positive changes I see happening with my life - all over the place- just today!  We don't have much, but He has always provided and I am so happy to have given just $1 a day to help keep that music coming.  And you know what else?  When I called, it was part of a $5,000 challenge, meaning that someone was offering up a $5,000 IF and only IF enough listeners called in within an hour to make up the $5,000.  And you know what?  We did!  That challenge gave the station a total of $10,630!!!!  WOW!  We helped "match it, meet it and EXCEED it!"

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I have never championed a cause like this or asked you for one thin dime.  But this is SO important!  Just one $30 a month donation helps the station reach 200 listeners!  When was the last time your generosity impacted that many people??!  The station currently (as of 9 pm tonight) needs 980 more MMMPs to make their Share-a-thon goal.  I think they've had over 500 sign up so far, so it shouldn't take long to make it happen!

Please help by giving them a gift.  They have loads of volunteers at the phones, so it only takes a couple of minutes.  888-933-9330.  Thank you so so so much and God Bless!