2013

It has been awhile since I have posted anything but I thought I would blog about my 2013. 
It started out with Mike and I going downtown Montgomery for the first ever New Years Celebration.  It had been a long time since Mike and I had celebrated New Years outside of our home.

 I always cook the black eyed peas on New Years which is always yummy.
January and February went by smoothly with nothing notable to mention.  March came as a busy month.   I worked at the coliseum for the Rodeo and the Elton John concert.  Mike and I went to Biloxi for the dedication of Jefferson Davis Presidential Library. 

We went to a casino for my very first time.We both went in with $20.  I think between the two of us we won $20 and we lost it all.  I just knew I would have beginners luck.  Boy was I wrong. lol

Over spring break we went on a vacation to Washington DC. The first time any of us had been there.  We rented a hotel for the whole week.  Under our hotel was a town by its self.  It had everything you could ever want under there. It snowed and was cold while we were there.We saw many of the known sites.  You will have to forgive me for all the pictures.  While going to the different sites we traveled on a subway.  We learned our way around the town.  By the end of the week we were all worn out with many sites still to see.  That means that we will have to plan another trip just this time when it is a little warmer.

April went by in a hurry.  I'm am not sure where it all went.  I did get a new car because we knew that Matthew would need a way of going back and forth to college.  He chose Alabama to attend.  Roll Tide!
I looked and looked and decided to get a 2012 Nissan Altima.  It was a rental car for the Nissan Dealership but it was like a brand new car to me.. Matthew will now get my Hyundai Sonata.

 May was another fast month for me too. With the end of the school year I am always busy at work and Matthew graduated too. I am so proud of our youngest son.

In June and July we were getting things together for Matthew to take to college.  He even got the Oliver Scholarship that comes from my dad's side of the family.  It wasn't much but it meant a lot to me.

 August came along and we had to pack Matthew up and move him into his dorm room.  That was so hard to leave him up there.  Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done.

 

During the first part of the year Michael and his family moved out of our house to Selma, AL.  Just a few weeks later Melanie and her family moved in to our house while the waited for the closing on their house. (which fell through)  They stayed with us until September when they moved into their own place again.  Now Mike and I dealing with the empty nest.  Our house is so quiet and peaceful. I would much rather have the kids running and making noises.

October came with an addition to our family.  Kinsley Faith Jordan was born on Lily's birthday, October 25th.  She is such a precious baby.  We have all fell in love with her.  Don't we do that with all babies????

 November and December went by normally and this brings me to the end of my blog.  I hope I have not bored anyone.  It is just so hard to put a whole year in a few sentences.

New Car

We went to look into buying another car for our family today.  It is a hard job just to find out what payments will be.  We started out before lunch and finished up around 4:30 and I still have to go Monday afternoon to sign more papers.  The salesman told us we may be able to get a lower interest rate on Mon.  Anyway this is my tale of buying a new car.

I have known for months that we were going to need another car since Matthew is going away to college next fall.  I have been looking on line and on the actual lots for an SUV or a car.  I could not make up my mind what I wanted.  In March we rented a Nissan Altima to travel to Washington in.  I liked the car very much and it got great gas mileage.  I started leaning toward the Nissans after that trip.  One day last week I heard that our local Nissan dealership was running a special with 0 Down and low interest rates so I decided I wanted to check them out. 

Well they kept trying to sell me a brand new 2013 car and I knew I could not get the payments where I needed them to be.  I finally point blank asked them if they had any pre-owned cars even though I had mentioned that I several times that I would be interested in them.  Well he then looked at the pre-owned cars and came up with several and I liked one of them.  They said it would take about 5 minutes but ended up taking about 45 minutes.  I had already waited several hours earlier while they were trying to get me in a new car.  The salesman finally said he wanted e to sign some paper and come back on Monday and they may be able to get a cheaper interest rate.  The whole process took almost 5 hours.  I am worn out now.

I will still have to get a tag and do the insurance thing.  I know I will have to pay the car payment (which we have not had a car payment for about 4 years) and probably about $150 or more a month on the insurance.  I will have to add Matthew to our insurance too.  So on top of $380 payment and the $150 for insurance I will be paying out $530.  I hope we can handle this.

No Phone

Have you ever been without your cell phone after it has been your best friend for years?  I am facing that right now.  I am totally lost because my phone decided to die today.  I have lost an important part of my family.

It started this afternoon as I was leaving work.  I picked up my phone and it would not come on.  I thought it was because the battery died so I changed batteries.  All it will do is act like it was rebooting its self.  I tried all the way home to get it to boot up and it wouldn't.  I went to Verizon before I came home to no avail.  Verizon could not revive her.  I am just so sad over the loss of my phone. 

I have tried to come up with a solution so that I can just have a phone.  I travel 60 miles a day for work and feel safer having a way to contact someone if something goes wrong.  I also sell Avon and all my customers need to have a way to contact me to make the income.  Not to mention my family needs to be able to contact me.  What if something is wrong with my elderly mom, or my husband, or my children?

New Year!

Well, the new year has started and I am positive this year will be a good year.  I am relying on God to do great things with me.  My New Year's resolution is to get closer to God.  I have set goals for myself, one is to read my Bible daily.  I have a habit of putting it off and then never getting to it.  I do not want to put God off to another time any longer.  I am going to work at being a better person.  Of course I would love to lose weight and tone my body up but lets be practical.  That is a thing that will not happen.  No matter how hard I try I give up on the weight loss and gain the weight back.  If I can get right with God then things in my life will come into place as it should be.

This is short and sweet but felt I needed to post about my resolution.

I am a work in progress.
Angie

Redeemed

I am redeemed because Jesus paid the ultimate price for me.  He was tortured, beaten, ridiculed and nailed to a cross for my sins.  I often wonder what I would do if I was put into his position.  Could I withstand the pain that he went through?  During this season that we celebrate his birth I have been doing a lot of meditation about birth and death.

We all are born to die just like Jesus was.  The difference is he died for our sins so that when we, as Christians, die we will go to heaven to be with our Lord and Savior.  Jesus knew the time and place that he would be crucified.  I wonder what went through his mind or what I would be thinking if I knew the exact time I will die.  I would waste no time is spreading the gospel and trying to tell everyone about God.  Why do we hesitate with all kinds of excuses today?

In the last month there has been several people that I know that has gone to be with our father.  Our first reaction is to cry and be upset but we should rejoice that they have been called to heaven.  I am looking forward to dancing and singing as I walk through those pearly gates.

I hope everyone had  a very Merry Christmas and that we all remembered to tell Jesus Happy Birthday.


*In full disclosure I was provided with the products in this post to use and help me write about the story of Redeemed. They can be purchased at Dayspring. All opinions here are my own and in no way influenced by their contribution.

Frustrations and Random Things

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems you can't work fast enough?  Today has been one of those days for me.  The morning was a normal morning but about noon things changed.  I tried to get my deposit done so that I could leave when everyone else left but I think everyone in the school needed something done. I asked for help but no one had time to help me.  I also had a parent come in to enroll their child and numerous checkouts.  As it turned out I did not get to leave for over an hour after everyone else left.  I still had to stop at the bank to make the deposit too.  I am thankful that I have a 30 mile drive so that I could have a different frame of mind by the time I arrived home to my family. 

I am getting up in the morning very early to set up at a yard sale.  Why don't you come down to see me?  The hardest part is packing everything up but I like the rewards of making extra money.  I have a very busy day as I also have a Christmas Party to attend.  In the middle of all of this I want to listen to the Alabama vs Georgia football game.  I really want Alabama to win so I am rooting for them.  Roll Tide!

Another random thought is how close Christmas is.  I love Christmas time but hate the commercialism that goes along with it.  I dread all the money that is spent for toys and gifts that is not wanted, brakes, or pushed to the side in a few weeks.  Why can't it be a gift to represent a birthday gift for Jesus?  Most people do not even think about what Christmas is suppose to represent. We all need to read in the Bible about the birth of Jesus again to remind us how the traditions of Christmas was started.

OK, enough rambling for today.  Take care and God Bless
Angie

Thanksgiving

     Now is the time when everyone is giving special thanks for everything in their lives.  We are acknowledging to everyone these things. I personally tell God everyday that I thank him for this or that but during this season I will post for all to see what I am thankful for. One thing I really am thankful for is being able to gather together with my family for Thanksgiving.
     Yesterday there was 18 adults and children in my little house spending time together and eating good food.  We celebrated Thanksgiving early because on the actual day many of us would not be in town.  My sons, Michael and Matthew; my daughter, Melanie; my daughter-in-law, Amy; my mom and myself all took part in the fixing of our dinner.  My sister, Judy and her family came over which we do not see enough of.  This is what was left of our turkey.

 

     God gives us our families and we should show our love and appreciation for them.  We do not get the option of choosing who our families are, God gives us who he thinks is right for us.  The older I get the more I appreciate who I have as family members.  That doesn't mean that we always get along but I do love them.

 

 

 

 

     So never forget to give thanks to God for what we had, have, and will get.  We are nothing without God.

 

Angie