One Month

I’m so excited! Thursday, Matthew and I, and I think my sister and my roommate, are all going to the Point of Grace Christmas concert!! WOOHOO!! Hannah and I went 2 years ago and it was incredible! I can’t wait!

Matthew and I celebrated our one month anniversary on Sunday. We had so much fun! We went to church together. (This man is SO amazing, he’s been going to the “Empty Chair” class with me, for support. It’s for people who have lost loved ones and are dealing with the emotions around the holidays. My whole family has been going because my Mamaw died in October.) Then we went to the mall for lunch and a movie. We walked around a little bit before the movie. After the movie we went to my friend’s church for their Christmas play. It was soo good! Very funny.

I feel so blessed. Matthew is so much more than I ever dreamed of. It's hard for me to come up with words to express how I feel about him. I love him. He is so good to me. He treats me like a princess. He does everything in his power to make sure I'm happy. I try to do the same for him. I have never had someone love me like he does. It literally makes me speechless.

I love him.

So Happy.

So tonight I'm going to Clarksville to help Matthew decorate his apartment for CHRISTmas. I may also meet one of his best friends and his wife. Not sure yet. I can't wait! I get to leave work at 1630. (Oh yeah. I'm using military time, since Matthew uses it. That way I don't get confused. Because I do. LOL!)

I'm so excited about this relationship. Matthew treats me so well. He always makes sure I'm ok. He gets along well with my family and friends... Which is SO important to me. I'm talking, my parents have gotten him 2 CHRISTmas presents! They have NEVER even thought about buying gifts for my boyfriends. They really like him. My heart is overjoyed.

Gotta go back to work. I'll update more later.

News

I keep wanting to update my blog, but every time I think about it, I’m at work, and I can’t really do it. Well, I’m at work now. On hold. With United Airlines. AGAIN! LOL! So I decided to start writing my blog. I may not post it yet, but I’m at least going to email it to myself so I will have it.

I’m pretty sure that not many people read my blog. But I know that some of my REAL friends do! Hehe. I mean, let’s face it. If you’re not subscribed to my blog, then you’re not my real friend…..Right?

JUST KIDDING!

So for those of you who actually do read my non-blog, let me just tell you some of what’s been going on in the life of me.

First of all, I’m having a small Christmas party on Saturday. WOOHOO! I’m so excited. We invited a few people from church, a few from Hannah’s work, one of my friends at work and her friend, and then a few random friends that aren’t church or work friends. LOL. Of course, some of the other people I wanted to invite, like my BEST friends, are ions away, so they can’t come. (Yes Jen, I know I’m writing humongously long sentences.)

Anyways. It’s going to be a potluck type thing. We’re going to be playing “Dirty Santa”, but I asked everyone to bring a nice gift. I don’t want anyone to end up with a crap gift. I’ve been there. Not so much fun! I have little gift bags for everyone to take home. There’s not much in them, just a few little things. I have a “Yule Log” dvd that we’re going to play some during the party. It has a fireplace and you can hear the crackling sounds. It will also play Christmas music at the same time. I’m excited. I bought some awesome cookie cutters to use. One set is from Williams Sonoma and they are shaped like ornaments. The other set is called “ABC Cookies” (For “Already Been Chewed”) hehe. They look like gingerbread men, but one has no head, one has a missing arm, and the other has a missing leg. SOOOO cute! I’m really excited.

Let’s see, what else…..

OH! We put our Christmas lights up last night! ‘We’ being my roomie Amanda and I. We had SO much fun!! I mean, we were so hyper. It was hilarious. We have icicle lights hanging on our awning over the door, colored lights around the sliding door to Amanda’s room, snowflake lights in our ‘garden’ on the patio, lights shaped like Santa next to the snowflake lights, and more lights on the bricks around the ‘garden’. It’s so pretty!! We also put up my 3 ft tall tree and decorated it. We officially have FOUR Christmas trees. One in the living room that is 6 ½ feet, one in the kitchen that is 6 ½ feet, the 3 ft tree in the kitchen on the hutch, and a 6 inch tall tree in the bathroom. If I had one for every room, I would do it! I was going to put the 3 ft tree in my room, but I don’t really have a good place for it. Oh well. I love Christmas!

Other news….Hmm….

OH! Just the BEST part!

I have a boyfriend now. This is the first boyfriend I’ve had in over 3 years. Crazy. He’s the sweetest guy. He pays attention to details, what I say, etc. His name is Matthew. He’s 34 years old. He’s in the Army. He joined the Marines when he was 18, and was in for 8 ½ years. Then he transferred to the Army and has been in for 8 years. He has a 10 year old daughter named Callie. I haven’t met her yet, but I’ve seen her picture and talked to her on the phone. She’s a cutie patootie. He also claims his ex wife’s two older daughters, Kristin (16) and Carey (14). According to him, they think I’m really pretty.

We met online. (I know. Big surprise, right!) We started talking online on Nov 9th. On Nov 11th we talked on the phone for the first time. We talked for hours. On Nov 14th, we had our first date. It was a group date with my roommate Amanda, her boyfriend (and my cousin) Eric, and my sister Hannah. It was fun. I felt more comfortable with them being there, since it was the first time I was meeting him. We all had fun. We went to Olive Garden for dinner. Matthew had everyone cracking up. He’s so funny. Then we went to see the new Bond movie, “Quantum of Solace”. He didn’t really want to see it, but he knew I did, so we saw that. (GREAT movie, by the way!!)

Our next date was just the two of us. On Nov 19th, he was supposed to meet me at my house at 5:30pm, to give me time to get home from work and change clothes. Well, at 5pm he sent me a text message asking what I was doing. Long story short, he got to Nashville at 4:30pm (an HOUR early) and went to a florist. When he walked in my house he had a purple rose, with purple baby’s breath, purple tissue paper, and a purple ribbon. WOW! I was blown away. He also had 3 Billy Gilman cds for me, because he knew I wanted them.

He's gone to church with me once. He's going to church with me this weekend, and next weekend. He believes all the same things I do. There's so much I could say about him, but it would take too long. And like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm at work.

Neglect

I'm officially the worst at keeping up with my blog. So sad. I can't write much now, since I'm at work. But for those of you who actually read this, I wanted to say HI! I'll update later. Love you all!!

Soles4Souls

What's in store....

Well, history has been made. The first black president has been elected. Unfortunately he happens to disagree with many things in the Bible. As well as things this country were founded upon. He has the potential to completely destroy this country. What is going to happen to this beloved country? The place my heart belongs to. Will it survive the wrath of Barack Obama? I pray the Lord will spare us.

I pray for wisdom. For the truth to be seen. Prayer warriers, join together!

YOUR vote counts!

NEITHER CANDIDATE'S NAME IS MENTIONED IN THIS POSTING (except for a Gallup poll and Gallup shows Obama ahead overall).  ASK GOD IF HE WANTS YOU TO VOTE PRO-LIFE TODAY.  HEAR BOTH SIDES OF THIS ISSUE BELOW (they are my words and not some forwarded, hateful partisan jargon) and remember that Laura Smith is just a lover of life and not a stump-speecher (or a Republican).  PRAY THE ENDING PRAYER WITH ME IF YOU FEEL YOU CAN (and forward this email to all you know).  IF YOU CAN'T PRAY THE PRAYER, PLEASE, NO REBUKING EMAILS, OKAY?  IMAGINE MY VOICE AND SMILE BELOW.  AT LEAST READ THIS ENTIRELY ANYWAY AND THEN, DELETE IT AT WILL. 

 

 

QUESTION:

 

If all the aborted babies could come back to life and vote in this election, who do you think they would vote for? 

How many babies have been aborted and how many votes would that be?  Just since Roe v. Wade in 1973, there have been an estimated 38,325,000 abortions.  They would definitely determine the winner of the 2008 election.  Let's be the voice for the unborn, ok?  If you cannot decide who to vote for, go to the voting booth anyway and as you are standing there, think of someone you know who has had an abortion.  Then, be the voice for that unborn baby.   If you love babies period, be their voice!  Biblically, the pro-abortion movement is tied to the worship of two idols, Chemosh and Molech, the gods of child sacrifice (go read 2 Kings 23:10, Lev. 18:21 or one of the other two dozen times these spirits are mentioned in the Bible).  

 

1.  "But if Republicans were for the war in Iraq and 4,000 American soldiers have been killed there, how is a vote for the Republican candidate voting for life? (whether for President, senate, local, national, whatever).

 

4,000 of our soldiers have been killed in Iraq, but 4,000 babies are aborted DAILY in America.  Soliders that died were of age and signed up for the military knowing they risked their lives.  No baby ever signed up to give its life.

 

2.  "But not just soldiers died in the Iraqi war.  Thousands of innocent Iraqi children died too."

 

I recently found a poem I wrote called "I'm Sorry Iraqi Child," during the Persian Gulf war in the 90's.  I HATE the death of innocent of children or the thought that their parents might die and leave them orphaned.  But from God's perspective in Scripture, he often destroys entire countries who have persecuted His people.   Babylon in Scripture is modern day Baghdad, Iraq. Listen to what God says about Baghdad:

 

Jeremiah 51:11 & 55. 

"Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple. The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound."  

 

3. " But that's the Old Testament.  Jesus is for peace." 

 

I agree.  Also, "peace" is a fruit of God's Holy Spirit.  When Armageddon is fought in the end days, however, countless lives will be lost.  So is God against Armageddon, which he will win? Also, if we truly believe in the Trinity, then we believe that Jesus was "around" when His Father fought every war in the Old Testament.  Jesus once said:

 

Matthew 10:34

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

 

Matt. 24:6

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass."

 

4. "I am disillusioned with the government and probably won't even vote.  My vote doesn't count anyway."

 

 

I am disillusioned too.  Government is broken!  Republicans and Dems alike!  But, I get the Gallup poll into my inbox every day and it tells us that among church goers who attend weekly or twice monthly, McCain will win the vote 2 to 1 (65% to 28%).  Among non-church goers and non-Christians, Obama wins 2 to 1.  So what does that tell you?  IF YOU ARE A church-going Christian your vote will make the difference!  In the 2000, it came down to  532 votes in one state.  532!!!!!  If you divide that by the 100something voting stations in that state, that's only 4-5 votes PER VOTING STATION!  Imagine what might happen if you do NOT go to your local voting station!  Don't be one of the 4 or 5 that leave America with a candidate who does not support protecting the unborn.

 

 

 

PRAYER (pray this aloud if you can agree with it): "Father, may YOUR choice for President wind up in the White House despite if it is our candidate of choice or not.  We know you say in Prov. 6:16-20, "There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,  a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."  You also say in Deut. 21:9, "So, you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD." You spoke in the Bible of a people who sacrificed their children to idols and how it was the downfall of nations:  Psalm 106:38: "They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood," so the land of America is obviously desecrated due to our choices on this issue.  If we will end abortion Lord, the land will be restored and it will effect our economy, foreign affairs, health care (because you are Jehovah Rapha and so healing will be more easy to attain by even your children).  None of these issues will be solved by either candidate if they do not help end abortion. We also see that even though God LOVED King David enough to promise him that his lineage would sit on the throne forever (and Jesus is called "the Son of David"), He would not allow him to build the temple because he had "shed too much blood," proving that even if we are Your children but shed innocent blood, we can be forgiven, but the sin will continue to bear bad fruit in our lives somewhere down the road.  You said through Jeremiah, "...do not shed innocent blood in this place" (v. 22:3).  So Father, forgive America for the 38,200,000 abortions that have occurred here since Roe v. Wade in 1973.  Oh please, Father have mercy on us!  Help us to turn with our votes today and choose-life so that you might bless us again with a better economy, less global warming, better health care because we'll need less of it when you heal us, and improved foreign policies since peace will be upon us as you smile upon America. So Father, we pray for life to win-out today, whichever candidate you affirm when you look into his heart.  We pray that voters would have their eyes opened and hearts grieved and moved on this issue of abortion.  We pray all this in the name of the only One who matters: Jesus.  Amen."

  

God bless you and God bless America.

 

~laura