Life Lessons ...

Some thoughts to ponder!

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have,or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, 'I love you', mean it.
5. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling..
11. Don't judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
15. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze
16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
21. Spend some time alone.

(sent to my husband from a friend by e-mail)

Turkey Dinner

My husband and I have been blessed in many ways over the years with people giving to us. God always knows exactly the time and He has directed folks to meet our needs in all kinds of ways. Well, about a month ago, a distant relative of my husbands showed up on my doorstep and told me she was grocery shopping and she felt led to buy us a turkey. I thanked her and thought to myself, "I don't know how to cook a turkey!" I put that thing in the freezer and left it there. The only freezer we have is the fridge top one and the turkey was taking up about 1/6 of the room in it! I'd see stuff on sale at the grocery store and want to stock up, but I didn't have room in my freezer! So, this week I thawed that thing, called my mom and found out how to cook it. I had opted to not make dressing, but my husband said he had watched his gramma lots of times, so he tried his hand at making it. By suppertime we had a nice, juicy turkey, delicious dressing, sweet potatoes, veggies, yummy gravy and even cranberries! My husband and I 'high fived' each other and commented that you COULD teach old dogs new tricks!

BUT ... now I know why turkeys are cooked for family get togethers! There was certainly enough turkey for an army!! Now, gotta figure out what to do with all the leftovers!

Before He Speaks ...

To all my friends who are pastor's wives, worship leader's wives, evangelist's wives ... anyone who has been used as "the illustration"! These ladies have hit the nail on the head!

ps. After seeing the acting abilities of Shari and Tammy on Sunday, I think they could do a great job acting this out!

DEPARTURES has arrived!

Here's a sample from my hubby's brand new album, DEPARTURES. This album is the result of something God put on my husband's heart about three years ago. The journey to get to the final product has been bumpy, but the end result is more incredible than we even imagined! What a joy to work with such gifted musicians and artists and watch as God created this beautiful tapestry.

To launch this new album, we also created a new website. Stop by for a visit at:
http://www.andrewmartinmusic.com/. Listen to clips from the rest of the album by clicking on "In-flight Entertainment". It will be available to order from our online store or from iTunes by the end of the month.

Last September God placed the desire in Andrew's heart to write a song about reaching out to those around us. Andrew worked on that song for two days straight and couldn't come up with something. The kids were busy with fashion shows all weekend and had no idea he was trying to write a song. Early Monday morning when I woke up, MacKenzie (then 13) was already awake. When I asked her why she simply answered, "God woke me up with a song, so I got up and wrote it down." She had written two verses, a chorus and even a bridge. The lyrics were exactly what Andrew had been trying to create all weekend!! Here's a sample of the final cut ...



The journey has been long, like we've been in a holding pattern. DEPARTURES is such a fitting name because it does feel like we're about to take off!