I'm tired. Travis and I have been trying to watch Hamlet for about 4 days now. The pattern is the same - we put the video in after Noelle is down for the night, curl up under blankets, and I fall asleep while he watches. Then I try and catch up during the day while I fold laundry or make my grocery list or play with Noelle. Ahhh, the life of a young mother.

We had Bible study this morning. I always come away with something to think about. Today we studied Abimelech - one of Gideon's sons who thought he needed to be king of Israel (Judges 9). Abimelech was so determined to rule, regardless of whether or not the Lord wanted him in that place, that he was destroyed everything and everyone in his path to try and get and keep what he wanted. Eventually, he is so consumed that he loses sight that he has destroyed himself in the process. There's so much more to the story than just that nugget, but that's all I can handle meditating about at the moment. I have been so focusing on something (a negative) that it has blinded me to the blessings I have around me that it is causing me to start to choose destruction instead of God's highest good for me. Heavy stuff to think about.

A bright spot to my day...she has started pulling up to standing this week - and she'll only be 6 months on Saturday!!

This may be short . . . I expect Noelle to wake up any minute, and I'm waiting for something on the printer.

I'm hooked on American Idol. I've never watched the series before - ever - really! My sister tapes it for me each week and then I get a video every couple weeks with 3-4 hours of it. Travis and I don't get any television channels so it's nice to watch it on tape. I can fastforward through commercials and that host guy being cheesy. (Hopefully I am not offending anyone that loves him - he's okay, but I'd rather fastforward to the singing!)

I think the reason I like it is because I enjoy singing and wonder how I would feel in their shoes performing before millions - nervous!!!! Plus, to be honest, I try and pick out what song I would sing for the different theme nights. (Lame, I know!) As part of my pretend AI career, I also am trying to pick a song for each theme week that is a Christian song but would fit in the category. I think that for the initial tryouts I would have sung "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me. I still haven't figured out "soul week" - I am sooooo white when I sing. Just envision Debbie Gibson - bubble gum pop music - and that's me. The country song is easy - Randy Travis recorded a song a while back called "Whisper My Name" that I have always loved. I think I read somewhere that the next week is "motown" - I'm not going to even go there . . . the white-ness will surely shine. My favorites right now on the show . . . Diana, George, John & La Toya. I need to watch a few more weeks before narrowing it down.

I haven't had much time for posting lately. However, I can always find time to take a picture. Thanks much for the comments on our family pic. We are enjoying it.

Easter approacheth. While part of me LOVES this time of celebration of the resurrection of our Savior (!), a small part of me dreads it. As I walk in Target, all you see are supplies for Easter baskets and candy and bunnies . . . cheapening this supreme act of sacrifice Jesus committed for us. Thankfully, Noelle is too young this year . . . I need more time to decide if we're going to get into the Easter basket thing with our kids. I grew up with them and don't think I'm terribly scarred from it. But is that what I want my kids looking forward to on Easter morning? Just thinking about this today...

In other news, it is about 60 degrees and SUNNY outside today. B - e - a - utiful. I'm off to lunch with my Mom, sister, 6-year-old neice (who I am keeping today as a rare occasion) and Noelle.

I had to put up a new picture of our family that my Dad took this weekend. He is an amateur photographer on the side when he isn't pastoring. He has his own website & business now, pretty cool: http://www.dasyas.com

ABC's of Me (idea stolen from another site):

A - Age: 33
B - Boyfriend/girlfriend: Neither. Married to Travis - woohoo - www.xanga.com/herdoftravis
C- Chore you hate: Bathroom & cleaning up after the puppies.
D - Dad's & occupations: My Dad has been a pastor for over 30 years.
E- Essential everyday item(s): Bible, glasses!, wedding rings, watch, caffiene (whether in the form of Diet Coke or coffee)
F - Favorite actor/actress: I soooo rarely go to a movie anymore. . . . but my favorie movies are the Star Wars ones and most Disney.
G - Gold or silver: Silver, wedding bands are platnium.
H - Hometown: Franklin, TN (a suburb of Nashville).
I - Instruments you play: Piano. Guitar (sort-of). Flute (less-than-sort-of). Piano is my favorite - I started out college as a piano major before switching to education.
J - Job: Full-time Mommy to Noelle & wife to Travis; part-time church administrator for Christ Fellowship, www.christfellowship.com.
K - Kids: 1 - Noelle Joyce, 5 months.
L- Living arrangements: We just bought our first home - a 2 bedroom brick home.
M- Mother's and occupations: My mom is a paralegal/secretary to a lawyer (coincidentally, one that I used to work for when I first got out of college).
N - Name and who are you named after: Stephanie Diane - The Stephanie is named after my Uncle Steve; Diane is my Mom's middle name and the one that she goes by. Interesting fact: My middle name is the same as my Mom's and my sister's.
O - Overnight hospital stays: 3 days for C-section & recovery.
P - Phobia: Claustrophic.
Q - Quote you like: "There is . . . another . . . Sky . . . walk . . . er." Yoda's dying words, "Return of the Jedi"
R- Ride you have: 1993 Honda Civic.
S- Shows/Soaps you like: We don't have any TV channels at our house so I'm hopelessly behind on shows. I do like American Idol - mainly just to hear everyone sing . . . when my sister tapes it for me, I usually fast-forward through the chatter.
T- Time you wake up: Anytime between 5 - 7 a.m. depending on Travis & Noelle
U - Unique habit:
V - Vegetable(s)/Fruit(s) you refuse to eat: Brussel sprouts - eeewww. Mushrooms - eeeewwww.
W - Worst habit: Not putting the toilet paper on the roller in the bathroom - I'd leave it on the counter forever.
X - X-rays you've had: Multiple ultrasounds - sort of an x-ray, but not really. X-ray on foot when I had a hairline fracture from falling off a curb.
Y - Yummy food you make: Chicken apple sausage pasta and a peanut butter trifle dessert.
Z - Zodiac Sign: Have no idea...

Picture of my hubby & our two huskies - we took them to the vet on Saturday . . . almost 4 months old and both weighing in a 30 lbs. a piece! They should end up somewhere around 60-70 lbs. Yikes!

My women's Bible study that is going through the book of Judges is on Deborah this week. (Judges 4-5). At our last meeting, our group talked through some of the characteristics that we believed Deborah would have had and as I'm looking back over the list tonight while I work on the next lesson, I'm wishing that I possessed more of these. I count her as an earthly Biblical role model that I can aspire to.

1. A wife
2. A mother
3. devoted follower of God
4. a confident leader
5. wise
6. expresses her thankfulness to God publicly (Jud. 5)
7. a good listener (which means she knew how to hold her tongue!)
8. compassionate (read Jud. 5:28-29 - she shows compassion for the mother of the man that Israel was fighting against, Sisera, in the loss of her son.)

And this is just the tip of the iceberg!! What an amazing woman.

I'm getting ready to head out the door for Bible study in an hour or so, and thought I would post a few pics today. Noelle is officially crawling (a.k.a. scooching) around now. The other pic is of her and her Daddy hanging out this past Saturday. She's also eye-ing his Sonic drink, too.

Funny fact about Sonic if anyone is familiar with it. My family LOVES Sonic. I mean, it's the only place we go to pick up a coke when we're out running around. Something about the huge cups and their little pieces of ice and we're hooked. Plus, you can get almost any kind of flavor added to your coke (I drink Diet! ) - vanilla, cherry, lemon, lime, strawberry, chocolate (eewww), etc, not to mention great food. Anyway, about 50 some years ago, my Uncle Bob is approached by a high school buddy in Shawnee, Oklahoma, who says, "I'm thinking of starting up this drive-in restaurant, maybe a couple of them. Wanna invest in it with me?" My Uncle doesn't think the drive-in has much potential and turns it down. Now, 2004, Sonic is making over $2 billion a year, and I could be drinking all the free Diet Coke with lime that I want if my Uncle had only chipped in a few dollars. Funny how things turn out . . .

I really had no intention of blogging about Sonic, but it is near and dear to my heart so...

Rainy, rainy, rainy day today! But I feel like I've been very productive. The cabinets are full of groceries, my paycheck is in the bank, and the baby & both puppies are napping.

God is good.

At the moment I'm working on some paperwork for a missions team from our church that is leaving in 3 days to go to the Czech Republic for a little over a week. One of the verses that they are going to be looking at while they are there is Joshua 1:6-9 (Eric, don't let me spoil the first day for you! )

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

A Bible study that I was in last fall went through the book of Joshua and we spent a while on this passage. I like how simple God puts it for Israel: if you obey His law & meditate on it ("speak it"), He will be with you wherever you go. At the heart of Israel's strength is what they chose to cling to - God's laws and His promises to them. And now in a Judges study I'm learning hoe quickly the Israelites fall apart as soon as they turn away from God's Word.

Could there be a parallel to my life in this?? Undoubtedly yes!