Merry Christmas

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Hope you have a great Christmas and a fantastic new year. I am looking forward to a great year myself with lots of new adventures and endless possibilities. I can't wait to see where this journey I am on takes me to next. Thought I would just post some pictures of my tree for you all to see.I have been playing with my camera and trying some different stuff. Not perfected yet but it was definitely fun trying. Hope you enjoy.I am doing the Breaking Free Bible study by Beth Moore. Wow, talk about powerful stuff. That is one very gifted lady for the Lord. She does an awesome job with her Bible studies. I am learning a lot about family baggage and generational sins that get passed down from our parents and grandparents. It is tough to break that cycle but it only takes one generation to change the direction of the family line. Question is do we (I) have what it takes to break free from the bondage we find ourselves in.Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you have a safe and happy New Year also. I am anxious for the new year to begin. Looking forward to seeing where God takes me on this adventure I have been on.

Another funeral

Wow! I had another friend lose her battle to cancer this week. She was a good friend of the family. Two funerals, two weekends in a row is a bit much. Pray for the Hannah's family. They have lost three members of the family in four years to cancer. That is a lot for anyone to endure.

Fortunately, Hannah had come to know the Lord before she past away. She was a great lady. She will be dearly missed by many, especially my mother. She was her dearest friend.

Life is good in my world, Christmas is almost here. I love the decorating but have never enjoyed the pressure that comes with Christmas. This year has been different. I have not worried about it like in the past. Maybe, it is because my relationship to Christ has grown and I am learning to trust in Him for all my needs. He never lets me down.

God has laid it on my heart to write a letter to my children affirming them and addressing areas of my parenting where I feel I failed them. Tough to do, but I have a feeling the blessing they get from it will far outweigh the pain of reliving those tough times. Besides, God has proven to me that areas I fail in are areas that He stands in the gap and fills in for us.

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope and pray that you have a safe and blessed New Year.

Loss of a friend.

Last week my friend Bonnye lost her fight with cancer. We buried her on Sat. She lived almost exactly 2 months after her diagnosis. The Lexington cemetary was covered with a blanket of snow. It was beautiful. She lived just long enough to see her youngest son get married. I feel for her husband Eddie. He will be lost without her. She was a such a sweetheart that it doesn't seem fair that God would choose to take her. Especially, when there are such mean and cold hearted people still wandering around this earth. But it is not for me to question God. I believe he takes us at the point in our life when we can be the most effective for him. She was an awesome lady and I feel privileged to have known her. At least now I know she is out of pain and resting in the arms of Jesus. You can't get any better than that.

My life is going good. Things are beginning to happen that are steering me in the direction I feel I need to go to fulfill my calling in life. I don't really have time to elaborate now. But lots of good things are happening.

I plan to go visit my son in Colorado the day after Christmas. Michael will finally get to meet him. My son has rented a cabin there and we are joining him with some of his girlfriends family and a couple of his friends. Should be an interested few days. Hope all is well in your world. I will write more later. Gotta go for now. Love you all. Marty

Hello everyone, I am doing well these days, hope you are too. My sciatic nerve is finally getting better. What a relief that is. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a pain free day. I entered some of my pix in a competition at the Scott county photo club and took one first place and two third place ribbons. I was very happy with that. I entered 7 pix and 3 won. Not bad odds. I will post a couple of the pix for you to see.

My friend Bonnye is hanging in there. She had her second round of chemo today and I have not heard how that went. Keep her in your prayers. She was very weak after her first treatment, which I am sure is normal.

I am getting things ready for the lexington unique gift fair. Come and do some shopping if you can. It is Nov. 27th from 10-6pm at the Thoroughbred center on Paris Pike in Lexington, Ky., of course. It should be interesting with all the different vendors we have coming. I am looking forward to it.

The reflections in the building was titled "Distorted Pane" and took first place in the architecture category and the barn with the cows entitled "Pasturized" took third place in the architecture category also. The purple flowers entitled "Purple Power" took third place in the manipulated category.

Think I will end this and take a hot bath and head to bed early. Hope you all have a great end of the week, talk more later. You know you could leave an occasional comment so I know someone is reading this thing. LOL. Later.

My friend Bonnye has been given 3 - 4 months to live. Not good. But she does seem to be improving so who knows maybe she will be yet another one of God's miracles.

My sciatic nerve on the other hand is not improving yet. My neck and SI joint no longer hurt but now my thigh muscle and glut are stretched so tight they feel as if they are about to snap. It is excruciatingly painful to bend over and pick something up or get in and out of a car. Thank heavens I am no longer at toyota. I probably would not be able to do that job right now.

I am supposed to be hanging some of my pictures in a coffee shop in Nicholasville hopefully soon. We are also doing a display at the library here in Georgetown for the month of november. As well as, set up a booth on Nov. 27th at the unique gift fair at the thoroughbred center in lex. Looking forward to doing that also.

I am exhausted. Going to bed. Goodnight all.

The camera workshop in Hocking Hills was awesome. We got some great fall shots and had a blast. I would love to go there again when it isn't quite so crowded. We did manage to go to a rather secluded lake to get some great shots.

The gluten free diet is going well. Actually better then I expected. I still struggle to find something to eat here at the house that doesn't require cooking. I like quick things for lunch and for now have been eating a lot of scrambled eggs or refried beans on a taco shell.

My friend Bonnye does not seem to be improving much. She did not get to come home as anticipated. I hope to go see her in the next couple of days and pray with her. Michael wants to pray over her for healing. I don't think anyone has done that for her and we definitely need to.

My Sunday school class is going to natural bridge this sunday for lunch and some hiking. I am looking forward to it. I am not supposed to be exercising so I will take the skylift up and try to limit my hiking. So, not fun. I love hiking especially in the fall and with winter coming it makes hard to just stay indoors. I hate to miss a good photo opportunity.

I need to finish this and make me some gluten free bread so I can have something to eat for the next few days. Hope all is well in your world.

Fun with photography

It has been a busy week. I am now on a gluten free diet per orders of my new chiropractor. Not a fun or easy diet to maintain. This is not to lose weight, although I am, it is to eliminate the swelling in my muscles so that I can get some relief from the pain I was continually experiencing. The pain is getting better in my neck but I have had a rough couple of days this week with my sciatic nerve.

Going gluten free is a much healthier lifestyle but requires a lot of work if you don't like the frozen breads they sale. I, personally, do not like them. They are very dry. So I am now baking my own bread with multiple flour mixtures that I have found in two different cookbooks. It is an interesting journey.

Besides a major diet change, I will be leaving tomorrow afternoon for a photography weekend in Hocking Hills, Ohio. I am looking forward to it. Not sure, just yet what all that entails but we are sure to have a good time and get some good photographs while we are out. We get to spend 8 hours with a professional photographer which will be a great learning experience.

It is late and I am exhausted. I will write more when I get back. Good night everyone.