Potpourri Friday and a Contest

This post contains a contest so it will remain at the top of my blog until July 3. Scroll down for more recent posts.

I haven't done a Potpourri Friday in a while because my Friday's have just been so consumed lately. But today I feel like a chatty, newsy post - so let's see what happens.

This week has been one of just getting back to work, processing all that happened at the She Speaks conference, and looking ahead to the future. Good days - busy days.

It's no secret that I don't like my job. It's not really the job I don't like, well maybe it is, it's not very challenging to me. But what I really don't like is having to be there, having to plan my life around my work hours, giving the best of my day to something not of my choosing, when all the while my mind is whirling with the things I would rather be doing. Several years ago I began working at this university because it offers a tuition remission program. That means that as long as I work here my kids can attend for free. Even if they are married. Until they are 25. It really has been a gift from God as we could never afford to send our kids to a private Christian university. And what I started doing for one child, I am now obligated to do for the rest of them ;). So this fall my youngest daughter will start here. Which means that in 4 more years I will be free to either continue working here or find something I like better. Unfortunately, I will probably always have to be providing an income. Four years isn't that long and it has gotten me to thinking about the things I want to do after that.

Things like:

Take care of my grandbabies

Spend more time with my husband

Sew more

Read more

Write books

Garden more

Clean my house more

Work in Women's Ministries more

Travel more


I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future. So I am trying to make myself be content - yet look ahead. It helps me keep striving towards the goal when I strain my eyes to see what might be up ahead.

A couple of people mentioned, after seeing my photos of the She Speaks conference, that we were all wearing black and white. And although it certainly wasn't planned - a lot of us were all wearing black and white. Apparently it is a fashion trend. Apparently I lucked into it!

One funny thing that happened to me at the airport in Charlotte was I was getting hungry. And I had been a teensy bit disappointed at the conference to not have any good southern food. We don't get good southern food in the northwest you know. So at the airport I noticed a bar-b-que restaurant with a southern flair to it. So I ordered a bar-b-qued pork sandwich with fries. The first thing I noticed was they plopped a big scoop of cole slaw right on top of the sandwich. That struck me as a bit peculiar as we don't ever do that here. But I like coleslaw so when in Rome . . . When I sat down I picked up one of the large fries and bit into it. To my surprise it wasn't a fry at all. It was a deep fried pickle! After I got over the shock of dill pickle juice running down my chin, I actually enjoyed it. They just served it as a bit of an appetizer I guess. I also missed having my diet Dr. Pepper all weekend. We had the choice of water or sweet tea. Everyone always asked for sweet tea. I finally asked what sweet tea was. We only have tea or tea with sugar in it. I was a little embarrassed to discover that sweet tea is simply tea with sugar in it. Duh!

Our weather has finally warmed up. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to have a summer. But now it's nice and warm and just a little bit breezy - perfect for dinners on the patio. And coffee on the patio. And reading on the patio. I love my patio. It is a peaceful place in my life. I love nothing more than sitting at my patio table, my sweet dog Josey on my lap, a glass of ice-cold diet Dr. Pepper, reading a good book or magazine. That is like heaven to me.


And speaking of good books - I am going to have a contest! I have a copy of Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. In my opinion this is one of the best Christian fiction books ever written. I remember when I first read it - we were staying at a bed and breakfast in Bozeman, Montana with my brother and his wife. My sister-in-law went to the Christian bookstore and we eached purchased a copy of this book. We went back to our room and laid on the bed and we could not stop reading. We read all weekend long. Our husbands were thrilled.

Francine Rivers calls this book her statement of faith. It's the first Christian novel she wrote after writing many "bodice-ripping" books. It is a parable of the Book of Hosea from the Bible. It tells of the incredible and unfailing love God has for us his people. It will change you.



If you have not read this book - you really need to. You will love it. So here is what you need to do to win this copy.

1. Enter a comment telling me what one of your favorite books are.
Even if you don't want to enter, I would love to hear what one of your favorite books are.
2. Be sure to leave an email if you don't link back to a blog.
3. Post a little blurb on your blog telling others about the contest.

On July3 I will draw a winner using the random number generator thingy. Pretty simple.

Have a great weekend ya'll. I'm still speaking southern.