Surrounded by Mystery

It's only Fair...

2009-10-26T20:24:00.004-04:00

EEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was invited to join Lydia and Carroll this year at the NC State Fair! Whoo hoo!!!
On to the grub!
Now, wait... what's this? I just went to upload my photos and I notice that I only have pictures of the milk shakes?! I must have been too wrapped up in Fries and Funnel Cake! I guess for more documentation, you'll have to visit Lydia & Carroll's blogs.

"Partners in Cream"

NC State Chocolate Ice Cream Milkshake (yeah, baby!)

Carroll blinked...
Yes, (sigh) they're my new best friends!

No, Lydia, even Mr. Hotdog doesn't want your sugar-free milkshake... I don't know what she was thinking. Perhaps it was brain freeze... or maybe her mind was slowed by all the greasy foods we ingested... As a side note, I was very proud of Patience for winning 3 ribbons on her 4 entries! I'll let her post about that on her blog :o) That girl can do anything!

We lived it...

2009-07-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

I AM IN LOVE

Wedding Video & Song

2009-04-26T17:26:00.002-04:00

Find more videos like this on Friends of Franklin Springs Family Media

The song was written by the bride. It was incredibly exciting. I wish you could have been there!

Hearing Him

2008-09-21T11:35:00.003-04:00

~sigh~ Dark. Quiet. Snuggled and secure. Feeling very content. Oblivious to everything. Almost...

I was almost asleep when I realized I could hear something. Low and deep. It was the beat, beat, beating of my husband's heart. It was a wonderful sound.

And it made me wonder...

Have I ever been close enough to God to hear his heartbeat? That's what I wondered as I was lovingly wrapped in physical arms. And, also, what does God's heart beat for? And then, as I was quietly listening, I heard it. Beat, beat, beating...

And the answer... startlingly... was me! God's heart beats for me! It beats for all His people! God, Creator of the universe, created all people and He has a love for each one!

Zephania 3:17 says, "The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior Who saves! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in silent satisfaction and in His love He will be silent and make no mention of past sins, or even recall them; He will exult over you with singing."

And Deuteronomy 33:12,

The LORD's beloved rests securely on Him.

He shields him all day long,
and he rests on His shoulders.

Why else would God send His only Son to die a torturous death, if not for love? Maybe you'd say, "Joy, that doesn't make sense. A loving father wouldn't put his only son in harm's way, let alone let him die." Very true. But it was a joint decision. The Son went willingly because He knew it was the only way we all could be together again. We all have rejected God, but we all were Chosen. We all have hated and despised our brothers, but we all are Loved. We all have gone astray, but we all are called to be His followers.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

a little bit about mattresses, probably more than you cared to know

2008-05-03T12:36:00.010-04:00

My husband got tired of being left with a 6" ledge after I got in bed with all my support pillows. So, this week we invested in a king size mattress. Here's what I learned about mattresses:

An innerspring mattress will typically last 5-7 years and must be flipped/rotated every 3 months or so for maximum comfort. (Ours was 7 years old and my side, no matter how it was flipped, had a "dip" which made restful sleep near impossible.)
An air mattress, aka sleep number, is a good choice for support and comfort, does NOT need to be flipped, but you can expect to pay a little bit more. Also, it has to be plugged in, and that doesn't appeal to me very much.
A contour, or memory foam, mattress offers support with a variety of cushioning. They also do not have to be flipped and typically last, and are warranted for, 20 years. The cost is comparable to an innerspring.
Tempur-Pedic sells a variety of contour mattresses and you can expect to pay the same price anywhere you purchase it. They never go on sale.
Contour mattresses do NOT need a "box spring" or foundation, and a nice solid platform/plywood will work well. Foundations cost ~$400.
Latex foam mattresses are available again. These are long lasting (some have lasted 50 years) and do not need flipping. The ones that I found were available online for less than $5000.
There are two types of processing for the latex foam. One is better than the other, but I won't tell you which, you'll have to research that and decide for yourself.
Any good mattress company is going to have a "trial period". The longest I found was for 365 days for a foam bed. You should expect a refund or exchange if you are not satisfied within your allotted trial. Don't go with less than a 60 days trial, as it can take up to 30 days to adjust to a new mattress.

So, here's what we went with: Sealy's TrueForm Gracehill king with foundation. This is one of Sealy's memory foam mattresses and was on sale. It is one of the softer and cooler memory foams available at Mattress Firm, where we ended our search... by cooler, I mean temperature-wise (a very big plus for a very big pregnant lady. I'm also anticipating the night sweats I'll get after the baby is born). We purchased the low-profile foundation because it was much easier for me to get in and out of bed without having to jump. Mattress Firm offers a 90 day Comfort Guarantee. They will exchange, not refund. We were also pleased with our sales rep, Elisha. He spent about 2 hours answering our questions... but he still didn't give us an extra discount because of our name. He did throw in the memory foam pillows (I highly recommend them) and gave us a discount on the frame.

We went home with the pillows, and the bed was delivered the next day. My husband now has room to sleep and I don't wake him when I jump off the bed to visit the bathroom (several times a night). Oh yeah, and point number 9. Expect a foam mattress to stink, like paint, for a couple days, at least. But I asked my husband, "As long as it smells like this, can we go ahead and paint the bedroom?"