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Showing posts from 2017

Reflecting

Good Last Saturday morning of the year!      I cannot believe how fast time has went, and after almost an hour of looking back at the past year, I can't believe how much stuff was packed into it. And I guess my biggest thing is looking back at my post from a year ago; I cannot imagine the changes that happened- Good and bad. In January, we hosted Donna Beegle, she is probably one of my favorite motivational speakers for low-income families. She lived it, and overcame it. She was a product of generational poverty. When you work in my field, you learn there is generational poverty, and situational poverty. Generational is a lot harder to overcome, but Dr. Beegle is living proof and inspiration that it can be done. In February, I did my Family and Community Development Recertification. We spent most of the days studying goal- setting. I came home with the tools to set SMART goals ( talked about more in this blog post: Got Goals? it is a good time of year to review thi...

Merry CHRISTmas!

Not going to lie, when I realized it was snowing, I was downright giddy! I have even stated I would compromise, as it is such a busy travel weekend-- I am happy with a little on the grass, and some flakes in the sky. It seems like a lot of our friends are celebrating Christmas today, including us, as far as with the rest of our family. I kinda love when Christmas is on the weekends, I love spending time with my family, but when it coincides with being in church, worshiping Him, it just feels very right. (By the way, we are having our Christmas Eve service at 6 tomorrow night, some of you with kids, I know this makes it easier for some-please join us!) We are also coming to the close of our year, and I have been reflecting-- it has been a busy year, but I believe the good outweighed the bad this year in our house. I am hurting for my friends who can't say the same. I want to set all of that aside for just a few minutes and really focus on Christmas. Almost 2000 years ago, in a...

Perspective

Today is one of those mornings that I am having too many thoughts to get  clearly down on paper, or a screen as it is. Once again, it is Christmas time and I have friends going through major turmoil. I have been there, done that, and right at this moment, am thanking the Lord that for the most part, things are calm at the Browning house this year. I have been on a journey this week, and it has spurred some new studying, not only looking inward, but to really have a better understanding of how I feel about our journey here on earth, predestination, and my part in what others believe as well. This is truly something I need to think about a lot, and study, before I really decide what to put down in words. In the last 48 hours though, I have had more than one friend make comments that made me think of a blog post I wrote last year. I think the best thing for me to do is share that post again. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS FROM DECEMBER 10, 2016 . (Link is below). I wrote this because...

Content

I was truly hoping to wake up this morning to a blanket of white on the ground. Didn't happened but it is all good. It will happen. I know I have friends who absolutely don't want any snow, of course, normally I think to myself; hey, if you dislike it that much, move south.....but now the South has snow. We make plans, God laughs. So, milestones were met this week on my big project at work, and I am so very excited. One of the sub-projects was to put in two sets of radios at our buildings in Greenup. One running from our building to our newer building next door, and one running from our building to the outreach office uptown. Andrew put all of the hardware and cabling in place for me (he has learned to work with Cat 6 cable, and got to buy new toys to test and create cables, so he has had a learning experience too). Mike worked with the software side and yesterday morning at 11:15, they were all working! Now get this. You pay for bandwidth speed. Normal, household internet ...

Regrouping

I have to say, this has been a very roller coaster"ish" week. Thankfully, there have been lots more ups than downs. I am going to share something only a handful of people know and those of you who follow me on facebook are going to be a little shocked that I haven't shared it there. 4 years ago last May, I was in Springfield. I had went to a gym on the edge of town and on my way back to my hotel, I stopped at a Starbucks. Two cars ahead of me in line was a Chrysler Sebring hardtop convertible. I had never seen one before, but fell in love. After some research, I found out that the Sebring was being replaced by the Chrysler 200, but there was still a hardtop convertible. I wanted one. I started looking for a different car a year ago. I had decided to replace my van with a Ford Edge. I wasn't excited, but I needed a vehicle, and here was one. Then I started realizing that for the same money, I could get a Chrysler 200 Convertible. I have been searching for one since m...

Attitude of Gratitude

Good morning everyone! Happy Thanksgiving week! For me, it is supposed to be Happy Vacation week as well. I have officially decided that will start tomorrow. Mainly because I wanted to be caught up at work before Thanksgiving and I am probably around 5-6 hours from it. So, that is where my afternoon plans lie. This morning, I will help a friend celebrate the life of her dad. It has hung in the back of my mind that 37 years ago, this coming week, I lost my own dad. 37 years ago Monday. It seems like forever. There used to be times you would think, "It seems like yesterday, but it seems like forever", too much has happened, no way for it to feel like yesterday again. I know there were times in the years just after my dad died that I so wanted to make that be the reason for any failures or shortcomings. I have one customer who calls me on a yearly basis; he is 5 years older than me and blames his entire situation on the fact that his dad died when he was 9. It is hard ...

Thoughts and Prayers

Last Saturday morning, I pretty well thought I knew what today's blog was about. I was wrong. After the events of last Sunday morning in Texas, I still hadn't changed my mind. I did shutter at the fact that the little Texas town being described was so much like Newton, or Greenup, or Hidalgo, where I attend church every Sunday. I remember back to the day our church was burned to the ground. I was in 6th grade. The person who did it was mentally ill. He spent the rest of his life institutionalized for the crime, but for mental illness as well. And oddly enough, nobody thought of outlawing matches. I understand nobody was hurt in the fire. I also know that the doors blew off the church with such force, they were across the street at the neighbors house. Had anyone been around, or that house closer, someone could have very easily been hurt.  I just feel like there should be more emphasis placed on the mental health issue, and we need to take care of people. Desperate pe...

Falling Down

So, last Saturday morning, not even an hour after finishing my blog post, my whole day changed. I was getting ready for a great day away with friends and was hurrying to get ready. It had turned a bit cooler and I wanted a sweater that was stored downstairs. I started be-bopping down the stairs like I normally do and my foot came out from under me. I fell for what felt like forever; and the more I think about it, the more I realized, I was sitting where my feet were, so I really didn't fall down the stairs. I hit my head in the process though and the gash I had was deep. There was no way around the fact that my plans just changed. I was crushed. This didn't get lost on me though, I knew there was a lesson in it, there were many lessons in it.  Of course, as soon as I told what happened, I was met with several comments, those that know me the best wanted to know if it would slow me down, or maybe knock some sense into me. Well, as far as going down the stairs, I will have to ...

Regrets

This has probably been on my mind more this summer than any other topic. I absolutely try to live a life without regret and then something slapped me in the face so strongly that I still fight tears every time I think about it. I didn't take enough pictures of my life, more specifically, I didn't take enough pictures of my friends, and us, living our lives. When we first moved to Newton, I immediately started going to the PTO and Band-Aides meetings at the elementary school. I met Glenna. She was president that year and was so excited I was there. There were several people at that first meeting as they were planning the spring carnival, I was really impressed that there were so many there. I had always been active in PTO at Olney and we struggled to have bodies, and minds, to get everything done. I thought, wow, this was great. It didn't last. In fact, the next year, we had one meeting that consisted of us being accidently locked out of the building; Steve had been refereei...

Living an "All In" Life

Isaiah 46:4  Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know my very favorite Christian artist is Matthew West. I have been listening to his new album and of course, it is wonderful. I find it so funny that I went most of the summer thinking I should get back to the blog and not really thinking of what I could say, and now that I am back, the flood gates have opened. There is so much I want to say! This is going to be one of those posts about a song though, or about the message in the song because this one is good, really good. I have not heard the story behind this one but we all know with Matthew West, there is definitely a story. I also find it funny that I decided last Saturday that it was time for me to get back to really living for Christ. I think I had been on the wrong side of "the edge"...

Computers, Complications, and Comebacks

Apparently today is the day.....I'm back to the blog. I have to apologize, I just realized that I didn't even explain my exit on here, so if you were following the blog and not my facebook page, sorry. I was starting to feel like my blog was work, and even more than that, a drudgery; I didn't want to feel that way about something I was doing for the glory of the Lord, so I stepped back. Looking back over the last 6 months, I see now that God wanted me to step away before I said some things I would regret. I have spent several times in the last 6 months somewhat at odds with God. There have been so many things happen that I have just wanted to ask Him why  And deep down, I know the answer. Just because you know the answer doesn't mean you have to like it. So, I am back, I have a feeling you will see my regular Saturday morning posts for at least a while. I have lots built up to talk about and I believe I have worked through my issues so I can hopefully use the events of ...

Easter Services Songs

Because He Lives

This has been one of those weeks where I have met myself coming. Today is my decompress day, and though I had a million things on my list to get done today, I have taken the rare opportunity to mark some things for later and go on. And I can....The Bible tells me so: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28. When I am sitting in my quiet time and being diverted from my real purpose of being there by all this stuff I have to do, I truly hear Him whisper, "What you do for Me today is more important than any of that stuff", and similar to what I tell my own Sunday School student, "I would rather you be a happy, rested, Christian, with a house that isn't perfect, than a grumpy Christian who is tired, but has a clean house." Some things are being put by the wayside.... It has been a crazy week and one of those marked up to "I can't believe I get to do this job". Tuesday, I and a cohort took th...

Preparing for a Giant

As I continue on my trek through the Bible, I came to David and Goliath this week. As always, when I read through the Bible, God points out different things to me. I find it funny that I can read a regular book over and over and I read the same story. The Bible is very different though, and I feel God points out things to us as we need them in our lives. We have all heard the story of David and Goliath. Little, humble boy; big. egotistical giant. 5 stones and a slingshot. But going to quickly point out some things God impressed on me. The whole story is in 1 Samuel 17, if you want a refresher. I am just going to point out a few verses. We all know that David's three older brothers were actually the ones who had went to war against the Philistines. David was sent by his dad to take food to those men. When David got there, he found that there had basically been a 40-day standoff. Goliath would come up and say, send someone down to me, whoever wins, the others will be their serv...

Five Good Things

This has been a week. I am so very grateful it is in the books, but hectic really doesn't do the reality justice. We have had things going on at work, atypical to normal problems, but things that need dealt with. Things that have to happen in order for us to keep growing as an agency. Tuesday, I had my hands on a total of 31 computers in one day, I think that was a new record. 2 of them took me down. 1 of those two, I have no clue as to why. I have some studying in my future, to say the least. This is week number 2 of the musical I am playing flute for at Robinson, and it was the week of the High School musical here in Newton. As I was looking at a list musicals done at the high school, I realized I think I have only missed 4 or 5 of the forty some-odd number listed. 4 of them I went to because my sister was in them. 4 of them, because I was in ( really 3, but I worked on the 4th, just wasn't on the stage) and 4 of them because Robert was in. I love that legacy.....Roots and...

Lessons from Joshua

This week I read the book of Joshua. I am going to tell you Joshua has always been one of my favorite people from the Bible and I have really enjoyed visiting him this week. I have felt like Joshua must have felt a few times in my life. I have even used his situation in reference. I have always been one of those "Just do it" people when I feel like what we are doing is right. Needless to say, especially at work, I have been told to slow down, we need to look at this a little closer first. I am referring to the time that Moses sent 12 spies to scout out the land. This actually happened in Numbers 13 if you want to do a little refresher reading.  The 12 spies came back and reported the land was everything you could ever dream of.....BUT, 10 of the spies said the people who lived there were also big and scary and we can't fight them. Joshua and Caleb tried to convince them otherwise but was not able to. Joshua knew God was on their side, he knew God would see them through ...