What's New?

Sorry ya'll.  Been so busy now working, that I don't have time to blog here anymore.
Actually, that is all I do all day is blog, but for OTHER PEOPLE!
It's crazy.
I am kinda the ''social media'' expert at Network Handlers.
{cough cough}
Learning a lot.  But also, it exposes all that I don't know.
One of them, how to balance, work and home.
Still trying to figure that out and only working 3 days a week!

If you need some good SEO, new website, design, and software for non-profits...we are it!
I'll still be blogging at the Habitat site.
Blesssings!
Chrissy

I Won For Words Sake....at There are Two Kinds!

I am all sorts of everywhere lately.  One of them is not in blog world.

But, I do have time for the occasional contest.

Right now I am sitting outside by my parents pool in South Florida, on a little hubby birthday getaway,  laughing at the fact that I can whip out good one-liners, but not blog posts.  So, maybe I really should just be a Tweeter.  Or is that a Twit?

I don't even know, isn't that sad?

{But, with my new job, I have been quickly initiated into the world of social media to the max.}

Guess I need to get on it.

So, with that said, I won a little contest over at my buddy Brett's blog.  

he's over there------------> 

somewhere.  

It's called  "Aliens and Strangers." that is where a lot of great Theological discourse happens.......but he also has another blog of all kinds of fun, called

 "There Are Two Kinds."

You should check them both out.

He did a contest where he asked his readers to fill in the blanks on his latest "Two Kinds".

There are two kinds of coffee:

 _______ and _______.

Check his blog out and you'll see what a

 "word smith "  I really am ;)

No, I Didn't Know Who Warrick Dunn Was...

I admit it.  I have not kept up with sports stars since my brother played for MSU.  Even then it was limited.
If you remember, my football love ended in high school.
So when my job requested my presence somewhere and told me to keep a FSU, Tampa Bay Bucs, Atlanta Falcons football man a secret, I had NO PROBLEMS with that.  I couldn't even remember his name.
What is funny is I am still blogging. { I know you miss me}.  Only, it's for someone else. My new job.
At least, blogging is part of my job.
As a working- away- from -home- 3- days -a -week- mom.....it's hard to keep up here....I know I have been a big blog slacker here.  So sorry.
It is a lot of crazy with a husband, house, 3 kids, dog, cat, bills, chores and oh, ya, a job.


But, hey,the job is fun and things are great.  Really.  I actually am enjoying a change of pace and scenery.
So, this week I got to witness something really special and exciting.  
I'll give you some hints:

Check out the blog I do for Lakeland Habitat for Humanity.


It was such a great experience. I felt like it was an episode of Extreme Home Makeover. The house, the family,the emotions, the workers, the press, and the hubbabaloo surrounding the event was just.so.cool.
Read more about Warrick Dunn and all his foundation does. Great guy.
I'll remember his name now!!!!

The One Thing

"There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular  evil-- 
a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome."


Miss Bennett -Pride and Prejudice

Very interesting.  A tendency?  A natural defect?
Do all good people have the ''potential'' to do bad things?
 I believe so.  Just like Miss Bennett said.


Would we all, if given the right (or wrong) circumstances, 
disregard our selves, our ethics,
our convictions, our morals, and become or do
something that we never thought possible?


I am totally perplexed today for many reasons.  
It seems in just one day, I have been bombarded by tons of examples citing this very claim!


First, our Pastor says today, 
"Adam and Eve's choice to sin, lays upon all of us.......
we all would of made the same choice."
{So stop blaming ''them'' for something ''you'' would do too}

Then, in Sunday school we compared/contrast the life of Saul and David.

How baaaaaad Saul's heart was, 

and how goooooooood David's heart was.

{Oh how I long to have a heart like David}

And yet, David had the "bad boy bug" more than a few times himself.  He did some dastardly awful things!

But his heart, always after God, always repentant, always humbly seeking forgiveness. 

He had something extra that Saul didn't have.  Screwed up plenty,yes, but turned it around. 

 Saul, not so much.

We used Lemons and Oranges to compare/contrast the two Kings.

Saul, the lemon....obviously, and David, the orange.

What we did to  demonstrate the ''bad'' that David did, we discussed this little known fact:

~ a sweet orange starts out as a lemon!

So, they both started out as lemons....

But,  the ONLY way to make these orange juicy sweet things is to ''graft'' in the orange to the lemon root.

Grafted in.  hmmmmmmmm......who is grafted into my soul?????

Later, I laid watching missed episodes of my favorite show 
Off The Map today ( I am a little under the weather , sniff sniff). I was suddenly taken aback by the blatant crimes being committed in the finale!
 Yet, upon reflection, I understood them from a whole different perspective.  Weird.  
One Doctor falls in love with a "Cocaine''poor farmer with a poor farmer who's making a living the only way he know's how.........then another Doctor is looking for a 'black market heart" for his Doctor girlfriend who will die any day if she doesn't get a new heart.  They resort to desperate measures or turn a blind eye to get what they need in their despair.  From the outside it seems we would scoff and shake our head in disgust.  While, those on the inside, saw it as their only hope.  Would we be tempted to make those same decisions?

{Think back to Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroid in Trading Places for a minute.}


Just thinking this through in ONE DAY was pretty overwhelming.  DEEEEEEEP, as my hubby would say.


We all have this lemon/bitter/despairing/evil/thieving/lying/prideful/yucky, NATURE.  true no?


Talk about a lose/lose situation.  This nature of ours....it's scary.
In any of the mentioned scenarios above, I can see myself making some of the same bad choices.
My judgement factor has been punched in the nose with some heavy doses of finger pointing in my direction.
I don't know what I will do in grave circumstances.


But, the one thing I do know, is I have a Savior that has conquered sin.  
I know.....
The one thing that can keep this nature off my back is my obedience to Christ.
The one thing, that can keep me off the slippery slope into oblivion is my trust in Christ.
The one thing, that gives me hope to overcome temptation, is my love for Christ.
The one thing that has saved a wretch like me.....is Christ.


So, Miss Bennett, you are right, no education can overcome.
I would add, no theory, no job, no religion, no rule, no book, will help us overcome.


Only the ONE who has done this thing right and perfect...can help us overcome.  
Thank God we have an amazing grace.....
because for all the times I pride myself on being obedient to His voice, I just keep messing up!

Free Servant

I've been living with my new body art for a month or so now.
I have to say, it's been an interesting experience.
Let me preface by saying that I NEVER thought I would get one in an obvious place.  EVER.
For the past 5 years, my James Bond mantra has been, "Never Say Never".
Go figure.
{okay, there are things I totally know I would NEVER do,like breaking moral ethics....

I don't know who I'll be in 10 years....or tomorrow even.  I have surprised myself in so many ways with my changes that I don't even question why anymore.

So, back to my tattoos.

I didn't counsel with anyone,aside from my hubby,  or solicit advice from friends,
on my decision to get some ink.
That would of just left me confused.

But, I did show those who saw or heard that I did the deed.
I have had comments from
"But you're a Christian,"
to
"What were you thinking?"
to
"Those are the most beautiful, meaningful tattoos I've ever seen!"
to
"I want one that has meaning!"
to
"Why did you put them on your wrists?"
to
"Oh, hummn, okay"
to
#%%@&**((@!!!

So, as I search my soul for explanations that I really feel I DO NOT NEED TO Justify, I have come to the conclusion that..... it's alright. It's totally, all right!
I didn't ask before, I don't have to know what anyone thinks of them now.
Heck, they don't need to see them, or wear them, or appreciate them.
Only me.
So, I did say that I would share at least the meaning behind my permanent decision.(since you brought it up). :)

I really hesitate to write my thoughts out on this blog sometimes.
I have never been much of a journaler, diary enthusiast per say.
So, letting my fingers speak my brain language is really weird for me.
Vulnerable to a point...feels kind of icky.
just saying.
I waver on if I really mind being judged and having people I don't know, get to know me in this manner.
But, I started this blog, so, if you are reading it, then, it's because you like to read my craziness.

On my left arm is a beatiful bird cage.
It is representing more than a decade of being locked inside a prison.
A prison that wore no name other than that of religious bondage.
We all have lived in prisons at some point.
Mine just came in the form of a cruel warden hidden and disguised in a cloak for good.
Years of my youth was spent searching and longing for God.  Trying to be good enough for Him by obeying all the rules of my Roman Catholic upbringing.
It left me feeling empty. I wanted more.
So, being primed for the picking in my early 20's....religious zealots with happy faces and "the Word''  in their hearts was all I needed to fall right into the trap.
I was learning, learning, and learning all about GOD.
I was memorizing, practicing and spewing what THEY believed the scriptures said ABOUT GOD,

All the while controlling me and my life with a figurative gun to my head.
Leave and this will happen to you. {insert killed here}
Don't tithe and this will happen to you. {insert Poor here}
Don't believe big enough and this will happen to you. {insert an accident}
Do what we say and this will happen to you. {insert Abundance here}
Do believe in all the promises God wants to give and this will happen to you {insert happiness here}

So you see, I was not allowed to have a true and intimate relationship with the Lord.
I had to filter it ALL through the religion I was in.
A cage of indifference, judgement, pride and rules.
Knowing all about Him, without knowing Him at all.

On my right hand is a bird (sparrow) who was finally set free by God himself, and is flying towards a cross.
This bird is me flying as fast as I can towards Jesus.  The real Christ. The cross of Christ.  Where sin and repentance begin.
Not a filtered, sterile, figurative image of a savior who wants to give us all our selfish desires.
But a living, and real Savior who rescued me from myself but sacrificing himself.

There is so much more to the meaning, but that is the short of it.

I am no longer a caged prisoner of religion, but now I am freely bound to a savior.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Gal 5:1

Mrs. F part duex

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Sorry it took so long.  I am ......eh, em....a working woman now.
weird.

Mrs. F

I happen to play an important role in the Children's Ministry at church.

I am a character.  Not just any character....no, no......I play the incomparable MRS F!

Mrs. F-  Gloria Finkenhoffer.
AKA=  Gordo's mom

Here's a sample of this Sunday's lesson in Humility.  And yes, I got hit......by 2 flying planets!  I will try to post the ending later.

{don't you think my hair is doing a great job of allowing me to ignore my kid?}......hahahaaa

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