A Bloggy Lesson

My last post was written two weeks ago.

Though it was unintentional, I guess you could say that I was taking a sabbatical from my blog...a blog-atical, if you will.

I don't really know how it happened, but it did. In fact, there were quite a few things that happened during my absence that I could have blogged about. But, I didn't blog. And, it was in that not blogging that I realized something about myself.

I'm a creature of habit, but get me out of my routine and it's almost as if I never had the habit to begin with. This is true in so many areas of my life.

Eating. Exercising. Journaling. Reading. Calling friends. Spending time with the Lord. And now, blogging.

I've known that for a long time...but the aha came in understanding why.

I struggle to forgive myself for getting out of the routine. Instead of just saying, oh well...I missed it...I end up getting so frustrated with myself for getting off track. Then, before I know it, I look back and I'm not just off track, I'm on a whole new road. It can take me days, weeks, months to get back into the swing of things. It's not a good rut to get stuck in.

That may not make any sense. I mean, I'm out of practice in terms of putting my thoughts into writing. Of course, even if I was good at that, it took me years to figure out what the problem was in the first place. So, it would make complete sense that it doesn't make sense. :)

Hopefully, now that I've had this little realization, I can get to working on it. After all, the first step to fixing a problem is identifying it.

So, it's identified. I'm forgiving myself. I'm moving on. However, I must say...though I really missed blogging these past few weeks, I'm grateful because it taught me a lesson that I've been needing to learn for a long time.

Birthday Blessings

Thank goodness we celebrate birthday weeks in my family! Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble when Tuesday came and went without nary a post about my baby sister's big day.

September 8, 1988...Kara was born and my world was changed. Truth be told, I don't have much recollection of times before she was around, but considering how much the addition of the 5th member of the family has added to the other 4 of us...I have no doubt my world was changed.

But...before I get into all the goodness of Kara...can I just say that I can't believe that she's 21. That means I'm about to be 25. Excuse me?? 25?? There must be a problem.

Anyway...back to the goodness of Kara.

As a child, she was by far the cutest of all of us. Pretty blond hair that curled just right at the ends. Always the social butterfly. Everybody loved...and loves...Kara. She's just plain fun.

We're quite different, and that used to bother me to no end. Now, I think I was bothered mainly because I longed for some of those traits.

She's laid back. Seriously, I have NEVER seen her stressed. Sure, that's because she usually doesn't think about things until they are long supposed to have happened, but even then, she doesn't get worked up about it.

She's never afraid to ask. This used to bother me...okay, sometimes it still does...but pretty much, I wish I did it more. If you tell me to do something, I pretty much do it. Likewise, I take past decisions to determine what an outcome would be. For instance, if my parents have never let me have never let me go on a trip by myself, I probably wouldn't ask if I could study abroad. Kara doesn't seem to be phased by past decisions. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it. Truth be told, she gets it often...but as I've gotten older, I've realized that may not be so much because she's the baby...maybe it's just because she asked.

She's HILARIOUS. Her sense of humor is quite different than mine. Much more dry. She even pretends that she doesn't enjoy it when I call to give her the joke of the day...but she is definitely a laugh a minute. Everything she says and does is pretty much comical. What makes it even funnier is that half the time, she has no clue why everybody is laughing.

She's knows what she's good at. This is something that I'm just now starting to get. Find out what you love...what you're good at...and do it. Kara has known forever that she likes to write. She doesn't like math or science, so she didn't bother much with those subjects. She loves writing...and reading for that matter. Pretty sure she won the Accelerated Reader trophy every year ! :) Anyway...back to writing. She's great at it, and in less than 2 years will have her journalism degree and will probably be traveling all over writing things that everybody wants to read. I love that.




Confidential to NB: Happy Birthday, sister. I have no doubt that you've enjoyed your birthday week! I love you so much! I only have two people in this world that I can say are my sisters...I'm super thankful that one of them is you.

It's That Time of Year

So...I totally stole this from my friend, Becky...but, it's so good that it deserves the re-post.



I'm so excited that I'm back in the state of Alabama for football season. Living in Atlanta was great, but there were WAY too many Auburn and Georgia fans for my taste. ROLL TIDE!!

A Berry Happy Day

Look at those smiles. I mean....that's probably the biggest smile I've seen on my face in I don't know how long. Not because life has been bad...but because this particular night this picture was taken was filled with an extraordinary amount of goodness.

I went over to visit with Natalie on Saturday night and it was this particular night that my bestest friend in the entire world told me something and showed me something that I've wanted to hear and see for quite some time.

Wanna see? She showed me something that looked very similar to this...







That, my friends, is a little 7 week old, healthy and thriving little baby. My best friend and her sweet husband are going to be PARENTS!! It's way too early in the process to know if it's a little boy or a little girl...and right now they're leaning towards not finding out (which, by the way, I LOVE)...so for the time being, this little one is being called Berry. Why Berry? Because little Baby Orr's first picture looks just like a little berry. Berry. I'm absolutely in love.

I was so excited that I could hardly sleep Saturday night. I'm thinking all things baby!

I started praying for this little one a REALLY long time ago, and actually got into some trouble for praying they would have a little one early in marriage. Actually, when Natalie found out about my secretive prayer, she was quick to inform me that if she had had a baby soon I would have to move to Birmingham to help take care of it.

Well, I decided to move...and here comes baby.

Now, I'm not so naive to think that my moving is what made this happen...buy I'm thrilled beyond belief to be able to be a mere 15 minute drive away from my best friend as she begins this next phase of life...mommyhood!!!!

As we sat this weekend and reveled in the happiness of the moment, we couldn't help but to look back. Two years ago, we were living in different cities...neither of us had met Mr. Right (side note, I still haven't...you didn't miss a post). Well, now she's married to a man that exceeds her wildest dreams and soon they will be welcoming new life into this world. God is so good!



Natalie and Scott...

Words don't even begin to describe the happiness that is in my heart. Happiness for each of you individually, for the two of you as a couple, for your families, for little Berry...and for me. :) Y'all are going to be the best parents ever!