Here comes the bride......

OOOO summertime gets people in the mood for love! Guess that's why there are always so many June brides huh? Anyway, there is another bride among us.....

My good friend Stephanie is getting married tomorrow night. That's right. Married. Hitched. Wed. Taking vows. Becoming the ball and chain. (hee hee) However you say it...sniff sniff~~ our little girl is getting married and moving away! BWAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

That's right, not only will Steph take on a new surname but she will also take on a new address. In Tenne-freakin-see!!!! Can you believe that? Sigh....all I can say is Keith better be good to her. He doesn't want this Pooler crowd to come barn stormin' up there with torches and pitchforks to claim her back! LOL! Just joking, he is a great guy and we wish them all the best. I couldn't be happier for her.

HAPPY WEDDING DAY STEPH!!!!!!

Good news!

First of all, I want to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and emails. I just talked to my Mom and she is feeling much better! Said she slept most of yesterday, but she did not go to church last night. She is waiting on her doctor to call with an appointment to go in and discuss test resluts. Please continue to remember her in your prayers.

She was up and working on her ironing when I called. You have never seen anybody iron like she can! MERCY! Such crisp clothes....such nice creases! My sister and I certainly did not inherit that gene from her. We are all about the whole throw-it-in-the-dryer-turn-it-on-high thing to get wrinkles out. And we never, ever buy 100% cotton if we can help it!!!!!LOL!

Prayer needed......

LAST UPDATE FOR TONIGHT....10:45pm
I heard back from my Mom around dinner time, and she seems to be feeling better. She said if she continued to feel as good as she did when we talked, she planned to try to go to Church tonight. Thank you all for your prayers! Please remember us as we wait for test results.
UPDATE!12:45pm
My Mom had an allergic reaction to the dye used....she broke out in a rash and started coughing. If the reaction gets any worse she is to go to the ER.

ORIGINAL POST
Please pray for my Mom. She has been experiencing terrible headaches and sensitivity to light for some time now. The first round of tests show an "abnormality" in her brain. She will have a "wet" CAT scan tomorrow. She cannot have an MRI due to the fact that she has a pacemaker. Please, please remember her in your prayers. Her test tomorrow is at 11:00. She is very worried and so are we.

I know that I usually post happy and lighthearted stuff but I wanted to get this out and have as many people pray for her as possible. Thank you in advance for lifting her up.

More pool pics from another pool night!

These pictures were taken late last week while Jamie was still on the boat. See, we have pool time when it is just us girls too! :)
There is a great pic of Brenda, she looks very va va va voom but I can't post that until she gives the ok. It might be too risque......and this blog is rated G!!!!

Marissa will sure miss Satin when she moves to Tennessee, and we will miss Steph too! TREMENDOUSLY!!!!! However, she is adding to her family and is making a change for the better. We always want what is best for our friends, even if it hurts in the process don't we?

Cool in the pool!

Goodness it was a great weekend! We have spent so much time in the pool at Debbie's house that I think we are permanently pruned! Every night we have eaten together and then cooled off with a dip in the pool. We swim until nearly 11:00 on nights like this and it is so wonderful!!!! The weather has been nice, there have not been many bugs at all and the water has been JUST WONDERFUL!!!! I am so blessed to have a good friend like Debbie who puts up with us! It makes the summer so much nicer!

The girls have been so silly.....lots of jumping and diving and some serious splashing. I managed to grab a couple of pictures of them before they remembered that they do not like having their picture taken!!!!! Such sweet girls, and the best of pals!

Home again home again jiggity jog....

We are back from our trip to Baton Rouge! It was a lovely time, although way, way, way too short! I flew in on Friday to pick up Marissa, who had been staying with her beloved Aunt Debbie for the past 2 weeks. Usually she stays 3 weeks during the summer, but she cut her trip short this time to be back for Miss Amanda's wedding this week. :) More posts on that after the big event....I promise!

SO I flew in to Baton Rouge and my sister picked me up at the airport. We don't get to see each other very often, and this weekend worked out well because her daughters had gone to stay at the beach in Gulf Shores and her husband was on night shift, so we got to spend time "just us girls". It was nice! I don't know when we have gotten to do that last! We went shopping Friday night, and went to eat at Jason's Deli where I happily munched a big plate of ditch weeds with all the good toppings. (I love that place)We shopped more after dinner, and then headed home. Saturday we got up, scarfed down a banana and hit the mall. I scored a great pair of summer shoes for me, and we finally found Marissa shoes for the wedding. Her foot is very narrow at the heel and hard to fit, so this was not an easy challenge!!!! However, we triumphed and celebrated with lunch at this little place that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of! It was something-junior. The pizza was truly excellent and we shopped on......finding goodies for my nieces and a couple of scrapbook treasures for me. We decided to eat dinner at Mike Anderson's Seafood, which is a New Orleans tradition. My sister and I happily crabbed some crawfish.......

Those shrimp were the biggest I have ever seen!!!!!

After dinner we decided to be wickedly bad and headed over to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro and sinned.....in a big, bad way!!!!!

All too soon, our time came to an end adn Marissa headed back home at 5:30 SUnday morning. We flew ina dn went out to see Jamie on the boat. He had not seen his baby girl in 3 weeks!!!!! Marissa and I came home, and fell into bed. After a nap we went to Debbie's house for dinner and a swim. Brenda and Joe, Debbie, Jenn, Marissa and I played and splashed until after 10:00 last night! WHEW!
Tonight we are heading to the wedding rehearsal, and then dinner at a very special place....check back tomorrow for details!!!!

It's Not What People Call You That Matters....

Ok, God has laid it on my heart to share this with you all. So here I go.:)

A few weeks ago, a good friend and man of God shared a communion meditation at Church that really spoke to me. I know that God had him speak this just so I could hear it, although I suspect strongly that many others needed to hear these words themselves and I hope that they heard them...not just heard them, but breathed them in, and really listed. Let them sink into their hearts. Because all of you were not at my church that Sunday, (which I wish you had been....you would have loved it!!!!) let me share with you roughly what was said and what God has shown me since then.

The heart of his message was "It is not what they call you that matters, it is what you answer to". I pondered this, and felt my heart quicken as God spoke to me and said "YES! This is what you need to hear! This man is being obedient to me and speaking what I inspired and stirred in his heart to say. Now listen to my servant speak!" Humbled, I listened...and what I heard is this.

Many people call us many names, and we answer to them all. Some are good, such as Mother, wife, friend, sister, teacher, confidant, etc. Unfortunately, there are all too often other names that we are called.....unlovable, fat, ugly, stupid, no good, unworthy, "just like your father", dumb, unable, a failure, a waste, dirty, inept, a sinner, hell bound, a thief, liar, adulterer, a whore, a druggie, good for nothing....the list goes on and on.

As a child, some of the people nearest to me were called these names, and although I do not remember many of those actual words coming from anyone's mouth directly to me (well, ok some of them, I admit it) the enemy told me those things every day, and some of it I heard and absorbed every moment. I never believed I was good enough, smart enough, thin enough, pretty enough, righteous enough, religeous enough, walking straight enough, becoming enough or that I would ever amount to anything because of all of the bad things I had done in my past.

This past fall I had the awesome opportunity to attend a Tres Dias weekend. I was released from all of my fears and failures and self doubt and shame by my God. However, I still heard the words daily in the back of my mind. It was a constant battle to keep my head up and look people in the eye and say "I am worthy of God's love" but I forged on.

The communion meditation that I am speaking of spoke directly to me and pierced my heart like a sharp arrow....melting all of the self doubt and letting the self loathing pour out.....it spoke to me so much that the thoughts are painted on my wall in my scrapbook room. Now I share them with you.....

It is not what people call you that matters,
It is what you answer to.
I am REDEEMED......FREE......
....BLESSED......LOVED....SAVED BY GRACE....
I AM A CHILD OF THE ONE TRUE GOD.
I refuse to answer to anything else.
No longer will worldly labels hold me down.

I pray that each of you will hear that and receive it for yourself. Freedom is available...you just have to ask for it and BELIEVE. God's word tell us in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.


We are NEW CREATURES my brothers and sisters. The labels we answer to should reflect that!!!! Be careful what you answer to!!!!!

Where have I been????

Oh my goodness I have been sick! I have had the worst case of bronchitis I think that has ever existed on this planet. All I could do for over 10 days was cough, cough, cough and sleep! I still don't have a voice but I am feeling much, much better! Thanks for all your prayers!!!! I have the best pals in the world...I have been offered food, drives to the dr, to have my medicines picked up (ALL 6 OF THEM!!!!)gatorade...whatever I needed. My friends are all jewels...unfortunately I could not take them up on any of their offers, I just had to SLEEP!!!! Sigh....Codeine is a wonderful thing..... :)

I will post something more interesting soon....

I am so proud of ME!!!!

WOW! Go me! I finally figured out how to put the pictures inside the body of a post! WOOP WOOP! ~does a little dance~ Seems some of you might have shared that info with me long before this.....but did you? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You just let my poor little photos dance around in midair way above their supporting facts. Sigh....just when you think you can trust your blog stalkers.......

Fourth of July Weekend

OH WOW we had a blast!
The weekend started with us going to the All Stars Baseball game Thursday night at Grayson Stadium. It was perfect. Good game, wonderful weather, great boiled peanuts!!! The fireworks after the game were breathtaking!



Friday Jamie had to go back to work on the boat, so we went to the dock and had a 4th of July picnic with him and some of our friends and watched more fireworks...this time over River Street.



Add to that some quality beach time at Gram and Papa's house.....


And it all adds up to a wonderful 4th of July!!!!!! Hope yours was great as well!

Birthday girl part 2

As you can see, we had a great time! For detailed info, see below! :)

I think I am in love....

....with a six foot mouse named Chuck. Oh my gosh, Marissa's party last night was DA BOMB! We have never had a party or get together or anything in the history of social events de la Peterson that went this smoothly! No stress, no mess, everything was handled...from setup to cleanup, food, drink, entertainment.....it was all so great! Several kids said it was the best party they had ever been to and I am happy to report that the BIRTHDAY PRINCESS has a fabulous time as well!!!!! So what made it so great? Well, I am glad you asked.....

First of all, when you get there, the little person at the door who stamps your hand and brands you to your child for all getting in and out purposes asks when you come in...."Are you here for so and so's party?" Well, Marissa's answer to that was "I AM the party!!!!!!!!" which totally cracked me up. We headed to our table, (I didn't even have to wait up front for our guests to arrive, the aforementioned door person stamper guru does that for you) and everything was all set up. Marissa had a birthday paper crown thing that she really liked, and a little lunchbox tin that held 100 tickets just for her waiting at her seat, and the table was all set and had balloons with her name written on them and the big 11 plastered across them. She was thrilled! Our party hostess quickly appeared, discussed what type of food and drinks we wanted, offered to fill our cups, brought salad plates, and then....the moment all the kids had waited for......she appeared, in a big ray of golden shimmery light.....with magical music playing...riding on a unicorn with a rainbow mane.....with the hallowed tokens in little plastic Chuck E cups. Well, in about 1.2 seconds, all of the children were out of sight, little cups clutched in hand. (OK, there was really no rainbow maned unicorn and no ray of sunlight and no magical music, but to the kids...she was a miracle!!!!) So the kids played, the adults chatted, we all ate, and then the kids played some more. Jamie had baked Marissa one of his famous Bulldog cakes for her party, so once that was served the kids hit sugar overload and raced off to play some more games. The adults just sat around talking about how easy this was and how happy the kids were! A few minutes later, we gathered the kids for presents, the birthday show for Chuck E, and a few pictures. By the way, one of the best parts of the Chuck E show was when April got up and danced and did her famous "backing up the bus" thing that had all the kids in hysterical laughter. The party hostess showed up with handfulls of tickets that she tossed into the air like confetti, and the kids scrambled for them in a frenzy. Tickets were cashed in and redeemed for prizes, goody bags were given out, and everyone finally left about 9:00. It was wonderful!

So...tricks for having the party at the Chucksters place....

Book a weeknight. It was not crowded AT ALL. You get extra tokens for each kid and unlimited time at the table.
Book online. You get MORE extra tokens for each kid.
Register online for the Chuck E newsletter, you get free birthday tokens for your kid.
Visit the website and print out coupons to get great deals on extra food for the grown ups.
Ask for Yvette to be your party hostess, SHE ROCKED!!!!

Seriously, it was the most relaxing and enjoyable birthday party that we have had. The birthday girl was quite happy! I will post pictures when I find my camera..... :)

Eleven years ago today....

Eleven years ago today we welcomed the most beautiful baby girl into our lives. Marissa Lynn was born at 3:09 AM at Balboa Medical Center in San Diego CA, on July 2, 1997.

It is so hard to believe my baby is almost a teenager now. We are off to Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party tonight. WISH US LUCK!!!!! :)