Catch-Up Session

April 15, 2009 by 6 Comments

Talk about a long overdue catch-up session. That’s what my friend Teri and I enjoyed yesterday when we went to Tulsa for a day of fun before my Fellowship of Christian Writers meeting later that evening. Because of the increased demand of the past few months, Teri and I hadn’t been able to spend any real time together since New Year’s Eve. Crazy, I know, but true. And yes, we had some serious catching up to do.

Now don’t get me wrong — we’ve kept in touch and supported each other through emails and occasional phone calls, but we were more than ready for face-time and lots of it. The perfect solution? A Tulsa trip. You know, all that talk-time in the car, not to mention the shopping and eating stops. By the way, yesterday we hit Cheddar’s for a delicious lunch and found our way to MaggieMoo’s for a yummy chocolate dessert before my meeting. You didn’t expect us to celebrate friendship without chocolate, did you? :)

After all, that’s what yesterday was about — celebrating friendship and catching up, not only on news but on time together. And Teri and I weren’t the only ones I know who recently felt the need to do that. My daughter Kelli blew into town for a few hours this past Saturday for a catch-up session of her own. Friends from her high school Bible study group who were going to be in town for the Easter holiday decided to plan their own little reunion. I love to see people being intentional about maintaining friendships because that’s what it takes — intentional effort and planning.

Anyone else in need of a catch-up session? Some real time spent with a best friend, a long-distance friend, or even a significant other? Perhaps a catch-up session is even in order with the best Friend we’ll ever have…with the Lover of our souls.

So come on….let’s be intentional. Let’s make some plans. Let’s celebrate friendship. And go ahead — use chocolate as necessary :)

“Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father…” Proverbs 27:10a

Filed Under: chocolate, fellowship, Friend, fun

Gifts – Unclaimed or Unwrapped?

September 24, 2008 by 5 Comments

Remember the Sweet Giveaway I had for Valentine’s Day? The one with Godiva chocolate as the prize? Well, my daughter Kelli won the gift card, but she just this week got around to using it. Crazy, huh?! How could anyone delay her delight and sit on a gift of chocolate like that for seven months?!

In Kelli’s defense, I must tell you that she doesn’t have a Godiva store in her community so she did have to wait for an opportunity to use the card. On the other hand, she actually missed some chances because she forgot to bring it with her when she traveled to cities flowing with milk, honey, and Godiva chocolates. It drove me crazy knowing there was unclaimed chocolate in our family :)

After several reminders from me over the months, Kelli finally remembered the gift card this week, and I was lucky enough to be on hand when it was used. Yes, you heard me right. I got to sink my teeth into a piece of one of my own giveaways :) A “chocolate souffle” truffle to be exact! Kelli and I met in T-town for a day of shopping before she began her new job, and you better believe Godiva was on our list of stops. If she had brought the card with her back in June when her sister joined us for a day on the town, Kristin could have enjoyed the gift, too. (Kristin, I would say Kelli owes you a chocolate!).

Just think — Kelli had a gift sitting around for seven long months that didn’t do anyone any good. I wonder how many of us have gifts we haven’t used yet? I’m not just talking about presents we’ve been given that we don’t really care for or haven’t been able to use for some reason. I’m talking about our talents and abilities and those special spiritual gifts that God tells us He has given to all believers. Scripture says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others…” (1 Peter 4:10a). Yes, we each have been given gifts.

I jotted down a quote some time ago (author unknown) that says, “Everyone is gifted — but some people never open their package.” Have we opened our packages? Are we using the gifts God has given? If not, let’s think about what’s holding us back and do our best to move beyond those hurdles. Remember, when we’re not using our gifts, we are shortchanging ourselves as well as others. Someone is missing out on a blessing. Someone’s delight is being delayed — or never experienced at all.

We don’t want to just sit on our gifts, do we? I say “let the unwrapping begin!”

“…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you…” 2 Timothy 1:6

**Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter by Oct. 1 to have a chance to win the prizes! Please continue to tell others about the sign-up and giveaway and help me build my newsletter list. Thanks!

*Flickr photo by shimelle, Creative Commons License

Filed Under: blessing, chocolate, family, Gift, giveaway

Side by Side

August 27, 2008 by 9 Comments

There we are, side by side, ready for another birthday adventure. Lucky for me, one of my best friends, Teri, has a birthday today, less than two weeks after mine, and we like to make sure we have big fun together at some point between the two. Yesterday was the day. We went to T-town for a day of shopping, gabbing, and indulging in chocolate. By the way, those activities are not listed in order of importance :)

We got silly before we ever left Teri’s house. I knew I would want a picture of us for the blog so we decided to try taking one on our own. Our daughters are experts at this — holding cameras at arm’s length and snapping shots of themselves with friends and family. I don’t know what made us think we could do it as well. The picture above represents at least 30 minutes of trying with two different cameras :) Chalk that up to the first nonsense of the day :)

Other highlights? Catching up on all our news and finding ourselves still talking as we pulled into Teri’s drive a little after 10 p.m., lunch at Mimi’s (home of the best muffins ever!), examining and discussing nearly every item at The Savory Chef, a couple of sweet shopping victories for each of us, and the icing on our birthday cake?? Dessert at Cheesecake Factory, of course. And yes, we got two different desserts. It was ridiculous :) I came out of there feeling like I had chocolate smeared all over my mouth :) Okay, I don’t want to totally mislead you — neither one of us could eat “the whole thing”. We gave up and walked away with take-home containers.

You know besides all these fun things, another thing that’s so great about celebrating our birthdays together is that we both turn the same age in the same month. Yep, we’re growing older side by side. And I’ve discovered having a friend to do this with sure makes it less painful. In fact, having Teri by my side has made a lot of things less painful over the years.

One of the first acts of friendship Teri extended to me was bringing a meal to us after Kelli was born. That was 25 years ago this month. And where would I have been if she had not led me by the hand into Hobby Lobby and helped me prepare for Kristin’s wedding? Those of you who know me well know that I’m craft challenged. Without Teri, I would never have had the courage to walk into a Hobby Lobby store. Now I’m hooked — who knew they had all that other great stuff! :)

Everyone needs a side-by-side friend like Teri. If you’re lucky like me, you’ll have more than one. If you don’t have this kind of friend, I encourage you to ask God to provide you with one. Be prepared to befriend someone you seem to hit it off with and then invest little by little in the friendship. Before you know it, 25 years will have gone by, and you’ll have a side-by-side friend — a friend for life. One of God’s greatest blessings.

“…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24b

Filed Under: blessing, chocolate, Friend, fun

Food, Glorious Food…Someday

August 6, 2008 by 9 Comments

After surviving a meager liquid diet and the unpleasant prep day for a screening colonoscopy, what’s a gal’s natural choice for a first meal on soft diet? For this gal, it was a chocolate shake.

Sure tasted good after Monday’s fare of 7UP, jello, and chicken broth. Sorry to say, though, my smile didn’t last long. The whole colonoscopy process did quite a number on my system, and I’m still having trouble eating today. I’m probably one of the few who has problems after this procedure, but if there’s a “rare” category, count on me to fall into it :)

I had planned on writing about “Food, Glorious Food” today — you know, because I would be starving and everything would taste so good, but my experience just hasn’t panned out that way. Food hasn’t gotten glorious for me yet this week, but I know it’s coming. Soon (I hope) my system will get back to normal, and I’ll want to eat everything in sight.

Thankfully, I’ll have that opportunity. Food is plentiful in the good ole USA, and Don and I are fortunate enough to be able to buy all the groceries we want. I can’t help but think of those who are hungry on a daily basis — not just because of a medical procedure that puts the brakes on the food train for awhile, but because of famine or lack of money to buy available food.

I haven’t enjoyed getting a headache from hunger or growing weak because of lack of nourishment, but I know it’s a temporary problem. What about those who see no end in sight, who never get enough to satisfy their empty stomachs? I’ve got to be honest. I can’t fathom what that must be like. I’ve never come close to experiencing ongoing hunger.

When we think of the hungry, we usually think of those in faraway places like Africa, but poor and hungry people can be found right here in our nation as well. Maybe neighbors in our own community. What are we to do? How are we to respond? Scripture tells us to “Rescue the weak and needy” (Psalm 82:4a NIV) and to “…continue to remember the poor…” (Galations 2:10 NIV).

How can we as individuals alleviate a need that is so vast? It can be something as simple as giving food to a local food pantry or as far-reaching as sponsoring a needy child through an organization like Compassion International. Maybe a contribution to a food crisis fund would help you feel like your gift was going where it was most needed. Compassion, in fact, has such a fund featured right now on its home page.

Compassion is just one organization that reaches out to the poor and hungry. What other avenues for helping them do you have personal knowledge about? Let’s share our ideas. Maybe someone will be helped. Maybe my cry of “Food, glorious food!” will ring out someday soon from someone who is truly hungry.

Filed Under: body, chocolate, help, international, neighbor

‘Fess Up Fun

June 29, 2008 by 6 Comments

The other day on the Boomer Babes Rock blog, Suzie Eller declared a ‘Fess Up Friday. She admitted that she is an annoying optimist and challenged us to do a little fessing up as well. I know this isn’t a Friday, but how about some fess up fun of our own right here?

Come on now, we’ve all got at least one thing we can fess up to. You know, maybe a bad habit or possibly a guilty pleasure. Maybe you drink straight out of the milk carton or don’t bother to get a bowl for your ice cream. Or could you be the one who leaves an empty roll of toilet paper or puts the water pitcher back in the fridge empty? Maybe you like to relax and celebrate the end of the day by indulging in something delicious while vegging out in front of the tv for awhile. Anybody drive while putting on make up or texting?

I’ll start us off by fessing up first. I have chocolate in my purse at all times :) Of course, I carry only the dark chocolate that docs have now declared healthy for us. Ghiradelli squares or Dove dark chocolates to be exact :) I can also be caught indulging in a few bites of low-fat ice cream at bedtime — okay, maybe at some point during the afternoon, too :) Hmmm… anyone notice a pattern to my confessions? Maybe a food theme? A love for sweets possibly? Maybe that’s why I have to watch my sugar intake now :)

Now if all this talk of confession is making you think about something more serious — something you need to talk to God about — just remember: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) The old adage is true. Confession is good for the soul.

But here on the blog, let’s keep it fun, okay? What are you willing to fess up to? Don’t be shy. Leave a comment. Let yourself go and tell your secrets. Let’s make each other smile!

*Flickr photo by Funkdooby

Filed Under: blogs, chocolate, fun, sin
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