We saw the American Idols:)

Sunday afternoon, my family and I headed to uptown Charlotte hoping for a glimpse of the American Idol contestants. Well, we got more than a glimpse. Check it out.


We heard the idols would arrive between 12-2. We waited. And waited. They finally showed up about 3:00:)

Blake and me

Sweet Hayley Grace

Me and my gorgeous hubby:)

Here he is: The American Idol himself, David Cook. "Hey David Cook, I voted for you! I LOVED your version of 'Hello'!" (said me...)

Here is #2, David Archiletta signing autographs for Dylan and Hayley Grace. "He's so cute Mommy!" (said Hayley Grace ... not Dylan)

Brooke White signing the poster that Blake made.

Kristy Lee Cook signing Blake's poster.

And here comes everyone's favorite "dreadhead", Jason! (at least that's what the girls beside us were calling him!) He was sweet as he could be.

Super nice guy, Chikezie, takes time to pose for a photo with the kids. "Mommy, Chikezie's sweat got on me!" (another good Hayley Grace quote!)

Carly, and her tatoo, took some time to sign the kids' stuff.

One of my favorite idols, Michael Johns, poses with us here.

Close up of David Archiletta.

Signing Dylan's hat.

David Cook signing Blake's poster.

David Cook talking to us. Yes, the American Idol actually talked to us:) And shook our hands. "I'm never washing my hand again." (Guess Who ...NO NOT ME!... Hayley Grace:)

I don't think the kids will EVER forget this! They were so excited and just couldn't believe that they were meeting these people who they had watched on TV all season.

After meeting them, we went home. Later that evening, Blake, Jeff and I returned for the concert. It was a birthday present for Blake. What a show! Great talent, lots of excitement, and good clean fun! There were people from age 3 to 93 there! All the performers were good, but Michael Johns, Carly, and David Cook were GREAT! And yes, David Cook did open with "Hello"...his version of the Lionel Richie 80's song...it was so gooooood! I tried not to embarrass my 15 yr old son too much with my singing and yelling...but I just couldn't help it! I was almost as giddy as the screaming tweens around us, but I tried to contain myself...for my son and husband's sake of course!

In case you are interested, here's a clip from the finale of the Charlotte show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-XA3Ey7Lso&feature=user

Fun fun fun! I'll be back to post soon about the rest of my weekend. The concert was only icing on the cake. The entire weekend was absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to share the rest of it too!

Much Love,

Melissa

My 1st Baby is 15!

I wrote a few weeks ago, how I couldn't believe my baby (youngest in our family-Hayley Grace) was turning 7. Well, I'm filled with even more disbelief that my 1st baby, Blake, is 15.

Blake turned 15 on Sunday. I remember well, the day he was born. I was 26 years old. Young and naive, I thought I knew all there was to know about life. Boy have I learned a lot since then!

Blake is my quiet and very grown up child. He is abnormally well disciplined and very structured. I don't think we've ever had to tell him to do his homework or to go to bed. He has a schedule and he sticks to it. For the most part, he follows the rules set before him. He's pleasant to be around and doesn't ask for much. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? Well, I agree. I ask God daily what I did to deserve a child like Blake. I'd like to be like him when I grow up! For his

For his birthday, he wanted to go to Joseph Beth Bookstore and just hang out and look around at all the books. After that we met the rest of our family for supper at Blake's favorite restaurant, Wolfgang Puck.
















Here he is with his Mamaw and Papaw. (Mamaw is my mother.)

















And with Lacey and Gramps. (Jeff's parents)

Blake, Colton, Dylan, Hayley Grace, Hunter, and Hayden

And here is the birthday boy with his Mom and Dad.

We had such a great time. And the fun doesn't stop here. Blake gets his learner's permit this week! He went from driving his little "cozy coupe" to driving his Dad's Accord in the blink of an eye. Happy Birthday B-Man!

One more change in our family that I'd like to share is with the family dog. Princess is her name. She's our sweet, cute, fluffy poodle. Pictured here:

Princess got herself into a little trouble this week. Her fur was matted and knotted. She looked like she had dreadlocks. I took her to the groomer so they could help her return to her stylish well groomed self. This is the result:

My poor sweet cute fluffy dog now looks like a stick! Her tail even has no fur! They had to totally shave her and cut all her hair off. That's how bad her hair was knotted.

Well, friends, I will be gone with no computer until Monday. I am going to the beach with some high school girlfriends Thurs-Sun and then on Sunday night Jeff, Blake and I are going to the American Idol Concert. I'll be back blogging again on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone. Consider this my Fun Friday Post:)

Love,

Melissa

Fun Friday:) on Sunday!

Ok, a few days late. Let's just say I'm fashionably late, ok? It was another busy weekend here and I'm just now able to post anything. We went to the lake Friday afternoon, where we were joined by a nude dude and Sunday was Blake's 15th birthday! Anyway, here is my Fun Friday post.

Well, it was a Fun Friday 2 days ago. But before I tell you about the nude guy on lake (who happens to be in my family), I want to share Hayley Grace's birthday from last Saturday.

Last Saturday, she turned 7. It was her special day and it went something like this:

Hayley Grace got breakfast in bed. Her choice cuisine...

doughnuts w/ a Strawberries and Cream Frappicino from Starbucks, and a cup of watermelon...mmmmm!

Blow out those 7 candles big girl!

1st Present...a Hannah Montana Bedspread and room decorations! Yippee! "Just what I always wanted!"

Later in the day a few freinds and family came over. Here is Hayley Grace and her Great Grandmother.

The birthday girl gets hugs from her Goddaddy, Kenny and her Godbrother, Colton:)

The cuisine for supper: White rice w/ butter. (well, it's what she wanted!)

Entertainment for the night provided by Denise, the guitar hero for Hannah Montana's band. (aka, Hayley Grace's Godmother)

She had a great birthday. Here she is with her best friend, Sydney.

Also with her Hannah Montana cake. (Hunter, her Godbrother and Hayden, her 13 yr old brother pictured with her)

It was such a fun day. HG cried herself to sleep because she didn't want the day to end. My baby is 7. Sniff sniff. She'll also be having a "girl's day", which is what she opted to do instead of a big party, where she and Sydney will go to Libby Loo and get made up like rock stars and then go to dinner. So grown up:)

And now for the nude guy story. It happened on Friday, which really does make this a Fun Friday post. Our family joined Lacey, my husband's mom, on her boat for an evening of tubing and skiing. I wish I had pictures to show, but I don't. It was so fun watching my crazy boys, Jeff included, show off behind the boat. Which brings me to the nude guy.

Dylan is my 11 yr old son. Sweet as they come. Dylan and his older brother, Hayden like to ride on the tube together and the entire time they are on they try to push each other off. Hayden typically wins this dual. During one of these tubing events, Hayden did push Dylan off, only Dylan did not let go. His entire body was hanging off of the tube, but he did not let go. However, while holding on for dear life, even though his body was able to hang in there, his swimsuit was not. It totally came off and WE COULD NOT FIND IT. HE WAS TOTALLY NAKED! Except for his life jacket of course. You never saw such a white hiney! Hilarious! When his brother saw what happened he yelled, "Ah man Gross!" And he let go. Finally Dylan won! So, that's the story of the nude guy:)

As I close, I am reflecting on another one of my children's lives. Blake turned 15 today! He gets his learner's permit tomorrow. Today was his day and in usual Taylor fashion, he planned the entire day. I'll write about that next Friday, but until then let me just say, "Happy Birthday B-Man! I love you and I'm so proud of you!"

To anyone reading this, let me just wish you a happy day and great week ahead. Rejoice, celebrate, and make the most of your time. Blessings to you!

Love,

Melissa

****sorry for the way the pictures and the words do crazy things when I post them. I cannot get them to line up. The way I create the post and the way it actually publishes seems to change and I'm tired of working on it!

How's Your Marriage? How Are You?

My question today stems from a devotion I wrote a few weeks back. I revealed portions of my past which still affect my marriage today. I continued with a part 2 dealing with my struggle with intimacy. I continued even further by blogging about more recent trials in my marriage. This opened up great discussion, comments, and questions flowing out of the hearts of women who could relate. I ended my blog post by saying that my marriage is in a really good place now. To that, questions and comments posed to me went something like this: "How did it get there?" "What if your husband won't go to counseling?" "I don't love my husband anymore, what do I do?" "My husband doesn't make me feel good, he doesn't even notice me, what do I do?" "I'm exhausted from trying to be happy." "What if your husband is not a Christian?" "That's great for you, but what about me?"

My honest answer to all of these is the same........"I don't know."

Now doesn't that make you feel better? But it's the truth. I wish I had answers. I can only share my story. I try to not give advice or counseling, because I'm not a trained professional. And I'm not in your shoes. All I can do, it just tell you about what I know. It sounds so simple, and I know it's not. It's very hard. But what I know is that Jesus sees, cares, loves, and never abandons.

One thing that helped me greatly, besides counseling and professional help, was my prayer life. I know it sounds simple. And I know you've probably heard this before. But I'm going to say it anyway.

For years, I spent my time praying for God to change Jeff. I think I blamed Jeff for me not feeling good about myself. I thought, if he would only pay more attention to me, if he would just be more romantic, I wish he understood me, he loves his work more than me, I wish he would read the Bible with me or pray with me, and I could go on. Finally, I realized that one of the biggest barriers in my marriage was me. Not only was I a nag and a pathetic complainer (a little self righteous as well), but I was also in God's way. God could not begin to work on Jeff with me in the way.

I bought Stormie O'Martian's book, Power of a Praying Wife. I was absolutely floored when the first thing she suggested I pray for was myself. I bought the book to change Jeff through my prayers, not to change me. That really opened my eyes. I learned that I needed to step out of the way. In fact, maybe God didn't want to change my husband, maybe He really wanted to change me! Who knows, but I decided to focus on what God could and would do through me. Instead of trying to figure out how God's Word applied to everyone else (especially Jeff), I focused on how it applied to me. Voila! Welcome change. And a good one.

I still overstep my boundaries, but not as much as I used to. I realized that I was only bringing my husband down. I began praying for Jeff, but I stayed out of the way. There was no miraculous quick improvement, but when I look back to when I first made the decision to think more of my place in my marriage and this world and began to work on me...when I compare who I am today and where my marriage is today vs. where it was then...well, Wow! Night and Day.

I am a wife. But even before that, I am a child of God. I belong to Jesus Christ. I pray my marriage lasts forever, but I have no guarantee of that. I have the guarantee that my relationship with Jesus will. That's the relationship I need to work on first. Amazingly, when that one is right, the rest falls in place. It doesn't mean that all is well, but it means I am well.

Instead of asking the question, "How is my marriage?" First ask, "How am I?"

And I thank you Jeff, for allowing me to write about us, our personal struggles and triumphs, even when it's no fun to look back at the yucky. I'm so thankful we've moved on to yummy:) You are a wonderful husband. Thanks for loving me. I love you too:)

I'm praying for marriages today. Blessings!

Love,

Melissa

When Words Are Not Enough

Today I find myself feeling inadequate.

If you've seen the front page of the Proverbs 31 Ministries website, http://proverbs31.gospelcom.net/ , then you know of the loss of our dear friend, Anne Belk. I attended her funeral yesterday. I thought I'd cry, but I didn't. I just remained in thoughtful contemplation for the rest of the day. My mind raced from gratitude for a life well lived to questions about why this wonderful woman was taken from this earth way too soon. She has teenage children who need their mom. She has a husband who will now be sleeping alone. Friends will greatly miss her. Proverbs 31 Ministries will feel a void in our family. Yet, yesterday we celebrated. She loved life and was grateful for each day, even the bad ones. Faith and trust like this is not something that can be taught. I saw it though. And from watching her life, I learned a few things. From watching her death I learned a few things too.

When things like this happen, I automatically go into a thought process of what would my family do without me? What would I do if they went home to be with Lord now? Are we ready? Have I told them how much I love them and that they mean the absolute world to me? Do they know how proud I am to be their mom, wife, and friend? Have I taken the time to spend precious moments? Or am I wasting time? So much is on my mind.

I am grateful to have known Anne Belk. I saw Jesus in her. She made me smile. The empty chair at our board meetings will be a reminder of the heart she had for God and others. She lived her life with passion.

I am also grateful for my life. I pray others will see Jesus in me. I pray I can make people smile. I want to live my life with passion.

Eloquent words do not seem to flow from my fingers today. I'm just kind of in a relaxed state of peaceful thoughts. And that's what I hope I brought to you today. Words are just not enough to say what's in my mind and heart today.

Make your days count. You are a gift to this world. Hold the Hand of God and take off! Time is precious and it flies by.

"I have come so they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus in John 10:10b

Let's live ours to the full, just like Anne did.

Anne, I love you and you are missed. I look forward to seeing you again. And when I do, I know we'll be smiling.

Much Love,


Melissa

No Need to Pretend

First off, Hayley Grace had a great 7th birthday! I'll post pictures at a later time.

And now. On my mind today...pretending. I observed my sweet grown up 7 year old this weekend. She was pretending to be a rock star. She wore the sunglasses, tossed her hair around, strutted and sang her favorite Mylie Cyrus/Hannah Montana tunes. She was NOT Hayley Grace. Understand that. For that moment in time, she was Hannah Montana. She was pretending. And why not? Being a rich and famous rock star seems much more fun than being "just Hayley Grace"! (Her words not mine.)

Watching this innocent playtime, brought my thoughts to a more serious subject. Pretending. Not as a young child, but a full grown woman. Do you ever pretend? Maybe you don't call it pretending, but don't you find yourself putting on a front or a pleasant everything is okay face occasionally? I do. I admit it. I pretend sometimes. Why? Because I don't think I'm good enough the way I am.

When I get quiet with the Lord, I know that I am good enough. His Word tells me so. But the world doesn't tell me so. I get criticized. I receive comments that bring me down. I hear a friend talk about me. Or my husband points something out that is hurtful. My kids misbehave in public. I'm on medication for anxiety and depression. I don't want anyone to know these things. Pretending is necessary, right? BIG FAT WRONG!

My Princess...Be Real With Me,

You are precious and beautiful to Me. You never need to
pretend to be something other than who I made you to be. I don't want you to try to impress Me by pretending that all is perfect in your life, My love. I want you to find great freedom in being real with Me. The
more real you become, the better you will relate to others. No more
pretending, My princess. I love you just the way you are, and I want you to be real with Me in all you do and say. I gave My life for you so you could live free to be yourself. Don't let anyone steal your joy by turning you into something fake. Be true to yourself and be true to Me, because I love the real you.

Love,
Your True King

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom." 2 Cornithians 3:17 (NIV)

(Sheri Rose Shepherd, "His Princess...")


Now, if we can be ourselves before the Creator of all things, the mighty and powerful God of this universe, then surely we can be ourselves before the other people around us. What I've found out about putting up a front is that it's exhausting. Just like Hayley Grace eventually tires of being Hannah Montana and goes back to being just "plain Hayley Grace", we will grow tired of trying to be someone we are not. Just plain me is actually ok.

I know I will never please everyone and I will mess up...a lot, but that's life. I try to learn from it. I'd like it if my life were a little neater and prettier, but it is what it is. I'm good with that.

No need to pretend. Are you with me?

Lots of Love,

Melissa

Fun Friday:)

Is it Friday already???? Well, yes it is, so welcome to Fun Friday. On Fridays I'll be posting identical entries on my blogs. These entries will not be too serious, but hopefully be a little lighter and bring a smile to your face.

As I try to think of something fun to write about, I'll just write some random thoughts.
Oh yea, and before I do that, let me say a whoppin' THANK YOU to you who wrote 10 Great Things about yourself from earlier this week (on http://www.beautifulp31.blogspot.com/). I prayed and thanked God for you and each of your fine qualities. You are truly beautiful people! God Bless You!

And, thanks for the comments that came in yesterday in response to my devo, My Thoughts vs. God's Word. Who knew that I would need those Truths so desperately today! (Well, God did) I came under a little criticsm today and I needed those Truths. I'm sad so many women can relate to all I've shared, but I have to admit that it is comforting to know I'm not alone.

A few people asked where they could find my magazine article on my experience with anxiety and depression. It will be featured in the November, 2008 issue of the P31 Woman. I guess I wasn't too clear about that.

Some exciting news that I wasn't going to announce, but I guess I will. I'm starting ANOTHER blog. Yes, as if I don't have enough of them already. The Lord has impressed my heart to reach out to teen girls. The recent writing responses confirmed what I thought God wanted me to do for some time. I'll get more into the story behind it all over the next few weeks. But on August 25th, I'll launch a new blog, "Beautiful Girl", specifically for teen girls. Details to follow:)

Ok, I know of more fun. Speaking of a "Beautiful Girl", tomorrow is Hayley Grace's birthday. Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!!! My sweet daughter turns 7 and I can't believe it. I opened today with the words, "Is it Friday already?" now I feel like saying, "Is she 7 already?" Where did those years go? She's growing up to be such a strong, dramatic :), sweet, kind, and beautiful girl. Thank you Lord for giving us Hayley Grace. We were finished having kids, but You weren't. What an amazing blessing! So, tomorrow little Miss Birthday Girl calls all the shots. She'll begin her day with breakfast in bed. She requested doughnuts. She'll end it with a family party where buttered rice, mashed potatoes, and Hannah Montana cake will be served. Do we have our carbs covered do ya think? Whatever goes on in between will be her choice. It's her special day.

My love genuinely goes out to anyone who is reading this message. I pray you will find the fun in today and celebrate wonderful, beautiful, you!

Have a fun Friday! (Saturday and Sunday too!)

Blessings,

Melissa