Come Away With Me

" Come away with me for awhile. The world, with its nonstop demands can be put on hold."


What demands are we giving the most attention to? Do we ever really "come away" and give our full attention to the things that matter most?

This is one of the hardest things for people to do. Brandon and I just got back from a family trip, this was the biggest effort that we had made in a while to totally disconnect with the rest of the world and just connect with family. And it was great.

Why is it the lessons that are most important are usually not learned till later in life? I was sharing with Brandon on the way home from the trip how much I miss my grandparents, and how I wish I could go back in time and go away with them and really cherish the time that I had with them. I remember when I was younger and not valuing my time with them. My heart yearns for that, but thankfully the Lord has blessed me with great in laws that help quench that thirst with his family. Hopefully with this lesson the Lord has laid on my heart I will cherish the time with my family and my new family through my marriage.

It is through this reflection that I realize we are blessed the most when we are with people and we get away with them. It's then that we share memories, stories, and our hearts. God calls us to come away with one another and most of all with HIM. If we do not get away with our heavenly father then we will never be blessed by his presence and we will never be able to truly break free from the "demands" of this life.

This was in my devotional for the day, and I thought it was inspiring.

Come away with ME for awhile. The world, with its  nonstop demands, can be put on hold. Most people put Me on hold, rationalizing that someday they will find time to focus on Me. But the longer people push Me into the background of their lives, the harder it is for them to find Me.
You live among people who glorify busyness; they have made time a tyrant that controls their lives. Even those who know Me as a Savior tend to march to the tempo of the world. They have bought into the illusion that more is always better: more meetings, more programs, more activity.
I have called you to follow Me on a solitary path, making time alone with Me your highest priority and deepest Joy. It is a pathway largely unappericated and often despised. However, you have chosen the better thing, which will never be taken away from you. Moreover, as you walk close to Me, I can bless others through you.
Song of Songs 2:13; Luke 10:42

Song of Solomon 2:16 My lover is mine, and I am his.

Song of Solomon 2:16
My lover is mine, and I am his.

 Valentines is tomorrow!!!! What better way for my Valentine to know how much I love and cherish him than to write a blog just for him right???

I have the BEST husband in the world. Not only that, I have a husband that I know God picked out just for me. My whole life I tried to picture what and who my husband would be. But I could of never imagined Brandon.  I am so lucky.

Brandon is: kind, funny, intelligent, hard working, honest, trustworthy, compassionate, Godly, affirming. I could go on and ON. I don't want to go overboard on the mushy stuff. But I also want the world to know how much I admire and love my husband.

We have been married 18 months, and we have grown so much in these 18 months. I cannot wait to have a family with Brandon and hear a little boy or girl call him daddy. I know that we are going to build a beautiful heritage for our family, just like our families have done for us.

SO HONEY! Happy Valentines, thank you putting up with me, cleaning my car, telling me that you love me everyday, making me feel special and being so darn handsome.

Listen to calliehands Playlist

Memamma

'Ive gone back and forth with what to blog about. Do I blog about the events that led up to her passing, do i blog about all the millions of things we have dealt with since her passing. There are so many things I could and want to say. But at her funeral one of the things the minster said was, you can always honor her memory by living her legacy out in your life.  So I figured what better way to live her memory out in my life but to blog about what part of her legacy I'm going to try my best to carry out.

Legacy # 1- Always have pride in the ones you love most, your family. 

If there is one thing that was my favorite thing about Memamma was her pride in our family. She loved all of us very much. She let all her nurses and her friends know. I knew she loved me very much, and she was always so proud of any accomplishment I would achieve. She would tell me how proud she was of me, and how beautiful I was, and always be interested in anything that I was doing. She would always remember to send us a card, or a sweet note about something we have done that she thought was special. Even if it was learning to cook your first meal. 

Legacy # 2 Always see the humor in life

No matter what Memamma always had a quick wit about her. She ALWAYS had a quick response to anything you said, and she was not easily fooled. She loved to make you smile, and she loved that she was not easily out witted. Even when her body was getting tired, she always had her wit, and it always kept you on your toes.

Legacy # 3 Be knowledgeable and passionate about the things you love to do

Memamma loved the news, she loved houses, she loved plants, she loved crosswords, she loved baking and cooking. And I was always amazed and how much she knew. She could tell you all about the cowboys and the players and different facts about them. I remember driving around Dallas and Memamma would talk and the different houses, and she could eye if it was real stone, faux stone and about when the house was built. She had a great memory. She loved birds. Whatever she was interested in, she was dedicated to it. 

Legacy # 4 Making Cat Birthday Cakes

I know this sounds silly. But my Memamma would always makes me a special birthday cake that looked like cat's face on the top. I loved it. One day I hope to make this same cake for my own daughter.

Legacy # 5 Travel with your Husband and Love with all your heart.

Before my Grandaddy passed, they were a member of a club called the "Double Nickel," They would travel all over the United States, but they would also travel over seas. They loved it. I loved seeing them travel, they always brought something back for us. They were two peas in a pod. But they loved each other very much. When my Grandaddy passed, she missed him so much. He took care of her, and her of him.

Legacy # 6 Perserverance

This legacy is one that has been in action in my life for a long time. I know it has been in action in my life, simply because she was one of the ones in my corner always pushing my to never give up when times get tough. Memamma was a fighter. She did things on her terms, and she never game up and always gave it her best. She never let discouragement get the best of her. She always pushed through it. Even in this hospital before she passed, she fought to open her eyes to see us one last time. 

This is the woman that helped mold me. This is the woman that helped mold my whole family. She was amazing, and she her legacy will continue to mold my life, and my children lives one day. Thank you for leaving such a great heritage.

New Journey

I am writing this blog today to share some important news about a journey Brandon and I will be starting. Brandon and I have been praying for a very long time about how God wanted our family to be formed. It took awhile but we really feel that the Lord has called us to adopt to start our family.

I would be lying if I said in some ways it has been a difficult decision to come to.We have been very diligent with our prayers, and have left our hearts open to receive a peace about what he wanted us to do. In addition to praying, we have talked to families that have adopted and went to a conference to get some information. It was at that conference that God really aligned our hearts, and we knew this is what our journey was.

We are really excited that God has chosen us to adopt to start our family. But I constantly battle to with all of the "unknowns" of this journey. We know it will be a difficult journey but we know that we will be immensely blessed through it as well. We are currently praying for God to show us where our baby is. We are also praying for God to give us wisdom on how to be wise with our finances as well. Adoption is expensive, but we know that He will provide.

We want to be as proactive as possible in getting information, and preparing for this endeavor in our life. But I, little miss planner, have found peace in knowing God has already taken care of all the details for us. We just have to step out in faith to see them all fall into place.

We have so much to be thankful for. We both have very supportive families and has raised us both to rely on the Lord, and to seek HIS plans only. We have also have several friends that are on this same journey, and are currently trying to adopt, or already have their child in their home. So we have been able to receive great support emotionally but also given lots of information.

So this is step one for us. We are sharing what has been laid on our hearts so heavily, and what we are anxiously waiting to see it unfold. We have been blessed with such great families and friends that are SO supportive and such strong brothers and sisters in Christ. So this is how you can help support us.

Please pray for us. Pray for our hearts that they will be open to where our baby is, and that we will not be fearful. We want to make sure this is all in God's timing and our hearts are open and seeking where our child is that GOD has chosen for us. WHEREVER our child may be. Pray for Wisdom for us. God has blessed our family with a great leader of our little family of two. So now we are praying for wisdom on how to best prepare and fund this financially.

Here are a few options that I will be posting on the blog to help fund our adoption:

1) I am selling Scentsy and all profit that I make from this is going into our savings account for Adoption.
2) I am also setting up an account where you can just donate as well.
3) Designing Shirts to sell and all profit from this will go into our savings account as well.


We will update along the way. These are a few scripture verses below that have really touched our heart.

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

Matthew 18:5

I'm Back!!!!!

DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED by the difficulty of keeping your focus on ME. I know that your heart's desire is to be aware of my presence continually. This is a lofty goal; you aim toward it but never fully achieve it in this life. Don't let feelings of failure weight you down. Instead, try to see your self as I see you. First of all, I am delighted by your deep desire to walk closely with me through your life. I am pleased each time you initiate communication with Me. In addition, I notice the progress you have made since you first resolved to live in my presence. When you realize that your mind has wandered away from Me, don't be alarmed or surprised. You live in a world that has been rigged to distract you. Each time you plow your way through the massive distractions to communicate with me, you achieve a victory. Rejoice in these triumphs, and they will increasingly light up your days.
Romans 8:33-34
Hebrews 4:14-16

It's been awhile my friends, but I finally feel like I have something to say. I'm having a really hard time being content right now. I'm also having trouble trusting and having faith in what God has planned for me.

Teaching is really hard people. You can ask my family, I come from a family full of educators. It took me a really long time to commit to a "career". I fought being a teacher for a really long time growing up. I never felt like I knew what my calling was. So in my journey to find what God was calling me to invest my life in, I moved to Tyler. I fell in love with Tyler and fell in love in Tyler too. But before I fell in love in Tyler, I finally started listening and looking for the doors God was opening in my life.

I have seen countless times in my life and in the life of people around me, how powerful mentors can be. It inspired me, it transformed my heart. I often think of the scripture verse, " We are called to Father the Fatherless." This verse is ringing true in many ways in my life currently. Some I am still praying about to be revealed, but I believe is being lived out in my life right now. But its really hard.

I am writing this not to have a pity party, not to feel sorry for myself, but to say I am recommitting myself to the purpose God put on my life. I work with kids that come from broken homes, have broken hearts. But also ones that scream all day long and throw dice at me and point their finger in my face and call me "EVIL", smack their lips at me. I work with kids that send me home every day feeling very exhausted and defeated. But I also work with kids! Not only do I get to work with kids, but I get to work with kids that desperately need someone to say they are worth something and they are a special child. Kids that inspire me to come to work and be the best teacher I can be for them, and ones that even love me when I'm not such a great teacher.

But I am realizing and asking myself........."What is really defeating me?" and "What am I missing because I am losing focus?" I can list of a 100 things that make me mad, and I want to change. But that's not what the problem is. It is myself. It is my fears. It is my insecurities. God has called me to be at this school and with these kids. So WHY do I not believe and move forward in this. HE will equip me and I am qualified already because it is through him that I am a quality person. I heard on the radio today " God does not call the qualified, he calls those of quality and qualifies them." This is where God has put me, and I have to have faith in that and I don't want to look back and miss out on the big picture. I can count on one hand, when I feel like I didn't miss the big picture in something, and lose focus because of the hardships that go along when God is working in your life. I want this time to count.

So I will say again, teaching is really hard. And, when I try to do it through my own strength, I fail miserably. So I am refocusing and recommitting my filter in my mind. There are so many things that make me lose sight, and I will lose sight a million times, but that is okay. Because God will use something to bring me back in. Such as the radio message today, a student reminding me to "look for the good things and an email with POWERFUL scripture. So I will rejoice in hearing God's message today and keep listening for more.

Trinkets

I love christian music. It always inspires me and encourages me, and also helps me to think of things in a different light. Through life we experience lots of different seasons; seasons we don't even know we will experience. Currently, my husband and I are in a big waiting season. There are lots of things we are in waiting about, but at the fore front is waiting for God to renew Brandon's health. He has been through alot, and has handled all of it with great courage and bravery, and I am constantly amazed and inspired by him and also how God is taking care of us. There are times when we feel very content, and are able to find peace that God is in control and he will continue to lead and guide us through this new journey of marriage, and health together. But sometimes, and I'm currently experiencing it this week, I am having trouble finding peace in that. But right when I feel like my peace is leaving, I pray a little harder and remember God's word and his promises that never leave, and he sends me a little trinket to fill a need.

Trinket # 1 he has sent me just this week, was a listening ear and it was such a huge encouragement. A friend of my mine came to me this week, and just told me how much Brandon and I had been on her heart and said she was praying for us, and it felt so good to just share in where we are in our journey right now.

Trinket # 2 I have this little boy in my class. When I found out he was in my class this summer I was mortified, and there are some days I am thinking "What in the world!" But most of the time, I am heartbroken for this little boy, and his mom. I am heartbroken that I think she is really is starting to try and be a good mom the best way she knows how, but nobody has ever shown her how to. Somehow God connected us, and has given us a good relationship and allowed for there to be moments of guidance. But this little boy, trusts me, and knows that I have his best intentions at heart and he doesn't trust people or that people can have his best interest at heart before their own, because most of his life his mom hasn't. And I just think, God thanks for that trinket to let me be that for this little boy, and let him see your love. Even though sometimes I don't respond the way that I should.

Trinket #3 Laughter. Brandon and I have great friends through our bible study and through our Sunday school class, and through others that have already been in our paths. We always have the best laughs with them, and it is good for the soul!!!

All this to say, God knows what you need and he will and is giving it to you!! Sometimes in small bits, and then sometimes the waiting is over and you get a full circle moment and see what God was doing all along. I am so thankful!!!