sevenchicks

shout out to mitchell

by social cick~the steps of a righteous man are truly lead by God!  last night we went out to eat with my family for a going away party for my little cousin-- although he is not so little anymore.  he has truly grown up to be a man a man of God!

we have probably always been the closest cousins.  i have watched him grow into something that i'm very proud of. although he has had his up and downs, he pulled through and is making something out of himself.

God has truly led his steps.  he has just signed with Lee University  on a baseball scholarship.  many times he didn't know where to go so he just sat still and waited for the voice of God ,and once again God showed him where to go. so to you mitchell-- i am so proud of you.  i will miss you a lot but remember that mr. social chick and i are just a phone call away.  hopefully we will be able to make a game in tennessee. i will be praying for you daily. i love you lots!

looking back.....ready to go forward

by singer chick~ It was Summer of '97 and I went on a mission's trip with my youth group.  I, being 20 at the time, was not technically youth..more like a chaperon...I guess.  It was an awesome trip.  We were able to minister through drama, singing and just hanging out with other youth. 

God did some amazing things in our group and in me, but one thing that stands out today is the fact that on that trip I got to know a certain young man.  This "Kid" was so funny...we laughed, we talked and I giggled....a lot.  And somewhere along the way a little flame of love for each other was kindled. 

Well, this was not a match that anyone but God would have put together.  Even now, ten years later, I am convinced that this was a match orchestrated by Him.  When all logic pointed us away from each other, God kept pulling us closer together.

After some time, this funny "kid" and I were married and this weekend we will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary.  As so many married couples do, we have grown up together; learning from our mistakes and trying not to make them again.  This thing called marriage is an awesome journey.  Sometimes awesomely good and sometimes awesomely bad, but well worth it.

There's more to say about this "kid".....he became a man.  A man of integrity.  A man who shows great wisdom.  A man who seeks God first.  A man who is a great daddy and loves our kids with his whole being.  A man who loves me and works hard everyday to show me that.

To Mr. Singer Chick (or should I say Guitar Man):  For all of these things and more I love you and appreciate you more than words can say.  If I could go back, even with our ups and downs and all arounds, I would marry you again without a moments hesitation.  Happy Anniversary!

sweet indulgence

by baby chick~ for the past couple of days i've had a strong craving for something sweet. i baked some cookies the other night for church...that didn't satisfy it...i tried an asortment of candies...still didn't satisfy me...and then i saw a commercial for the Cold Stone Creamery. birthday cake ice cream! with cake batter, and all of the other yummy stuff.

does that not sound delicous or what?! and then i went to the website to see if there were any new creations, since i haven't been there in years, my mouth started watering. i absolutly cannot wait until this weekend, of course i will have to beg my husband to take me all the way to panama city just for ice cream, or bribe him with watching one of his stupid guy movies just so i can indulge in this sweet sweet creation.

what is my weight?

by cubanchick~ i will start off by saying that if you don't like to hear someone who is not overweight to talk about their weight....please stop reading here. 

i know that i have lost, and thankfully maintained, about ten to fifteen pounds.  however, thanks to my boyfriend and terrible eating habits, i have found myself gaining inches and pounds.  well, first came the two or three pounds.  make your ugh sounds! i don't care!  to my five foot four inch cuban curvy body that is a difference in my shorts. 

anyway, so when i noticed those few pounds i began cutting out ice cream and jogging every single day and doing crunches in the morning and at night.  well, a week later-- i went to the scale.  i felt good. right until i saw that stupid number.....i gained weight!!!!!  ahhhhhh.  stubborn and tired of obsessing about my weight (i have been obsessing majorly for the past month), i told myself it was muscle.

i went to the beach for the weekend and tried to eat healthy but that did not workout at all.  now i am back to reality and i have jogged ever since i got back.  my point right now is, even though i am smaller than i used to be, i don't ever want to be there again.  looking at my pictures i looked o.k., but my cheeks were definitely bigger. 

i have felt pretty good about my appearance for the past year.  that is the first time ever.  and now i don't feel very thin.  i know it is perspective, but it is my perspective and i want it gone.  i really don't know my weight.  am i gaining muscle with the exercise and thus the number is rising, or am i reeping the horrible effects of the ice cream i ate in june?  this is my question that i am throwing out into the universe because i am tired of thinking of my "number weight".  i am truly a girl at heart.

i will end on a positive note...the one good thing about my work clothes is that dress pants and heels not only add to my height but make me feel much thinner verses the summer flip flops and shorts that give me the stumpier look.  so, i am in a very minute way looking forward to returning to my work clothes.

Atkins: Week 1

by photochick~ i've survived, once again, week 1 of the dreaded Atkins diet. as any of you who have tried it can attest, for everyone in the world except sassy chick (who has some sort of unnatural favor for this psycho diet), week 1 is literall **** on earth.

it seems that it bothers me, in particular, more than most. what's not covered by the extreme fatigue resulting from complete sugar detox, is fully miserable from the ensuing two-day nausea fest. (if only it didn't work so darn well, surely no one would ever go through this)

but, week one has drawn to a close and i have come out the survivor (which is not always the case in my little world). oddly, once all that crapola is out of your system, you actually feel soooo much better. like better than you did before you started said psycho diet. odd indeed. not to say that i ever grow to LIKE protein. i'm a starch and sugar gal at heart (as evidenced from the size of my hips these days), but i do feel soooooo much better with all of those yummy foods out of my system. apparently i'm a SUPER CARB addict. now that's a shock.

so in case you missed my public proclomation to starting the diet in response to sassy chick's bootlegging snickers blog, let me get you up to speed.

diet + me + 12 weeks = lighter me before we start trying for another baby = me not crying through 9, no 10 months, of pregnancy at the thought of all that weight to loose after the baby gets here.

and now my anniversary trip to vegas just happens to coincide exactly with the plan-- even more motivation to stick with it. (surely you can find a bathing suit and sundress in florida in october???)

so this is me last night at the local waffle pavilion eating eggs while i stared at hashbrowns and waffles all around . .  . "las vegas, las vegas, las vegas."

and i made it. whooo hoooo!

weight loss this week: 3.5 pounds

total loss: 3.5 pounds

have you ever..........

by plannerchick ~ so we have been remodeling and adding on to our house for what seems like forever (or 7 months). anyway we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, today they are starting the floors.

the conversations that my husband and i have had along the way have been, well quite funny to look back on. take this one we had  yesterday.

me - "where did they put the flooring while they are installing it?"

him - "in the living room."

me - "the new living room?"

him - "yes, we need to think of a name for that room, let's call it the den"

me - "no, i don't like that, let's just call it the living room."

him - "well then what will we call the old living room?"

me - "we could just call it the entry/"

him - "no, i don't like that, let's think about it"

me - "okay"

and  this is the condensed version. so seriously off all the things available to think about in the universe, we are going to spend time pondering what to call our new living room. have you ever!

a little slow on the uptake

by photochick~ it's just amazing how God provides for even the smallest of our needs and desires just in the nick of time.

late last week mr. photo chick and i started talking about the possibility of taking an anniversary trip to celebrate our 11th anniversary. besides the possibility of a night at the beach, we really hadn't discussed it before then. so i posted asking for trip ideas last friday. despite the fact that only one person left me a comment (thanks lisa!), i actually received several ideas by phone and e-mail. (so people do care, they just don't comment!)

somewhere along the line i got to thinking about taking a REAL trip. like the kind that requires more than a tank of gas and $50 bucks in your pocket. and voila' we were off. planner chick and i had the whole thing mapped out and i was feeling good about spending some money just on "us." something that rarely happens.

then 30 minutes later i was thinking . . . "hmmm, we should probably save that money for when we have another baby, or whatever tears up at the house." so i was second guessing the whole thing. which is not really like me and i wasn't really liking the feeling. you know, the knot in your gut when you're torn between two options.

so friday night i went to our bible study and right there sitting in front of me was a godly woman telling us how important it is to make time for our husbands and ourselves. how we have to keep our relationship alive while raising children. well, of course i already knew this in my mind and had said the same thing just hours before justifying our taking a "REAL" trip. but somehow hearing it from someone else was such a confirmation.

i'm thoroughly positive that some days God is looking down on me thinking, "what in the world took you so long?" i mean i knew it from the time i thought about the trip. and then i was all on board. then i was off again. so He gave it to me one more time in a different way just to make sure i heard.

good thing our God is not as impatient with us as we sometimes our with our children. (me anyway. maybe it's just me who gets a little impatient with the kiddo)

so to jump to the chase, the very next day we received an invite to join some really good friends on a trip. get this . . . the EXACT same weekend we were planning take a trip ourselves.

so i'm thinking, "O.k. God. I get it."

his banner over me is love

by social chick~i wanted to share with you what happened to me on wednesday night at church.  i guess i should start with my comfort zone or what i thought was my comfort zone.  i thought i had no problem with going up front and grabbing a flag and waving it until god told me to do it wednesday night.

my comfort zone was waving the flag on sunday morning but not on wednesday night.  then god spoke to me and told me to do just that.  in my mind i said no and god spoke to me and said why do you limit me to show my glory only on sundays.  slap in the face.  all of a sudden god spoke through someone else and said "how hungry are you for my presence".  ok god i hear you!!

so i went and grabbed a flag and began waving it in the corner and then god told me to walk back and forth while waving it.  this was also very hard but i did it out of obedience.   i don't know the reason for waving the flag but i'm believing that something broke.  i know that something broke within me.  i shouldn't put god into a box, only expecting him to pour out his spirit on sundays.  he can move at any time, even wednesday night when i am tired and exhausted.

since then i have done a little bit of studying on banners.  in bible times, a banner was a pole, staff or rod that had a metal ornament on it.  it was meant to glisten.  so jehovah nissi, the lord is my banner means that he glistens me in times of trouble.  it also reminded the people of god's purpose in the time of battle.

the banner that moses carried in his hand played a prominent role in the life of god's people.  it served as their rallying point.  it symbolized god's presence,his power and his favor with his people.

so can you imagine what waving the banner does in the spiritual realm?  it reminds me of my purpose for battle; it also allows me to call on god for something that i need something that i'm fighting against.  my favorite is that it represents his presence and his power in my life.  it is like waving it in satan's face and saying, "no matter what you think you've stolen from me and no matter what you think you've done to me, i'm going to win and take back everything because i have god's presence in my life".

sun burn woes

by singer chick~ And the worst mother of the day award goes to none other than.....singer chick.  My 3 year old who has never been sunburned, currently has a sunburn.  It's on his back and arms and he's miserable.  I feel horrible!

You may ask, "What's the big deal?"  Well, my kid is in pain, he had trouble sleeping last night and it's *my* fault.

I am so particular about lathering my kids down with sunscreen (50 spf) and yesterday was no exception.  We went to the beach....

*a little side note...a pregnant lady, a grandma and yours truly who has a little trouble with patience took two 1 year olds and a 3 year old to the beach.  Yes, it was interesting and yes, we're crazy!*

....so I lotioned the kiddos up good and have never had a problem in the past with them burning.  Carson is fine, but Brycen is not.  I guess we needed to reapply with him being in the water so much and I missed that with the lotion being waterproof and all...ugh! 

Anyway, I've had lots of sunburns in my life and I'm fine, but it's a whole different story when it's your baby.  I'll stop whining and rambling now and go put more aloe on his back (which he hates by the way). 

anniversary trip ideas please!!

by photochick~ mr. photo chick and I will celebrate our 11th anniversary in october. since we did the grand sum total of NOTHING for our 10th anniversary, i'm determined to schedule something by next week for this year. the problem is, i have NO ideas. we'd like to go somewhere for a couple of days. like leave friday morning and come back sunday afternoon. any ideas??? here's our criteria (which causes half the problems in finding a spot)

1. it can't be more than a few hours away or it's not worth the trip for such a short jaunt.

2. mr. photo chick doesn't like the beach. (urghhhh!)

3. mr photo chick doesn't like to LOOK at anything. he wants to be able to DO something.

4. new orleans is out . . . i just don't think i can go back there after watching the whole post katrina fiasco unfold on live t.v. while i was at home with a few week old baby. no matter how hard i try, all i see is men with uzi's walking down the streets i once loved to see.

so what DO we want? not sure exactly. i'd like to veg out for a while, but also do something cool. hmmmm . . . we're not hard to please are we????

please, please, please give me some suggestions!!!!