My name is Courtney...and I'm an addict

(all reply) "Hi Courtney"

This week, I'll be trying to purge some of those addictions as I seek out God in many different ways, as Father, King, Lover and Shepherd.  All of those relationships have with them different modes of communication.  British Historical Dramas really bring those into clearer perspective.  We (as Americans) don't know what it's like to have a King as a close friend or father or lover...it's different, I like it.

All that to say (it has nothing to do with the next part of this post) that God has really been pushing back on me...I can feel the coals being stoked and the temperature rising...the refining fire is coming. I don't fear it as much as I used too...I know it now, know that the burn isn't constant and the cooling sting of the water bath after brings healing. But refining is ever so humbling.

So the question at hand is "What do I love"?  Is it God, the being, the author and perfector of my Faith, Love itself? or is it the evidence of Him that I love?  I'm not talking signs and wonders stuff here, I'm talking the evidence of  God...His hand persay...Do I love Him in spite of His hand or because of it?  Is what happens when God steps in just icing on the cake or is it what I long for?

Thought I was SO beyond this point, but apparently not.  It forces me to get to know God...again, better, more...

Is it hot in here. or is it just me?

Broken toe

yes...I broke my toe.
Well, not really, I kicked a table (a round one at that, so that all are able to be safe)  and it hurt like the dickens...and I'm cranky, and feel not good and...and....waaaaaaaa
[Not to mention, my kids have decided to play hide and seek and that means Millie in her squealy voice running around yelling "Apple Peaches, Pumpkin Pie, Found you!  or I'm in the closet or Hi-Yah.  It's funny...but noisy and I'm yelling, don't touch the walls!]
David, the saint that he is, cleaned up the kitchen, as he always does, and is walking around in Long Johns trying to think of ways to help while mumbling comments.  I need a retreat...
Can you have a hospital stay, like the maternity kind, for a broken toe...or at least a semi-broken toe?
Sigh...

Whole

Sorry folks...blogging...not a priority, up until now.  I haven't forgotten about you two out there ( Thanks Gina and Mom!)
No regrets though...right, moving forward.  Picking up my Pen again.

So much is ready to come bursting out...but I've been told to keep quiet, it's okay...I can do it! Not for much longer though...so be just a bit more patient.

In the meantime, the word for 2011...Whole.  The spirit just gave it to me, and promised to continually reveal as I prod along...different than any other year, in the process of choosing my word, out of a goal or plan of bettering myself...a lot more exciting!
Already I feel that Whole is meant to encourage me in all areas...I guess Holistic. Not just bettering in all areas, but abiding in all as well...loving myself and those around me and within me.  Also offering my whole self...that's a scary one and I'm not going to talk about it anymore and pretend it's not there.

Blessings to you this entry to a new year...an exciting one at that...you can smell it in the air, feel it in the earth.  Almost a constant rumbling that something is about to burst forth...my soul just lept.

Amelia...

4 years ago ...at this moment, friends were trickling into Greenville Memorial Hospital, waiting to see if the Reichley 5 had been blessed with a little girl.  We were (not that people took our word for it, Georgi-Beth stripped her all the way down just to be sure. After all, she looked just like Eli!)
Our life...my life...changed forever that day.

Millie's was a journey of surprise.  We didn't find out what we were having...didn't paint a nursery, didn't have a shower before hand...didn't decide on names until the last minute.  And on a COLD December night (after David parked at the farthest spot from the hospital and ran in saying "It's freezing out here" as my mom helped me hobble in) our fighting princess made her way into our world. (Not to mention on the day of her favorite Aunt TiTi!  It was and will always be the best birthday present ever)

Millie, is an anomaly to me.  She is 185% girl.  Babies, pink, dresses...all the ubber girlie stuff.  But she could be the toughest kid I've ever met.  Mentally and physically.  Seriously, the girl re-defines Strong Willed!  But as my mom pointed out, she's been a fighter all her life.  At birth she refused to gain weight, forcing me to feed on demand for the first few weeks of her life...taking her to the doctor to be weighed every other day.  Once out of that chaos...a new one in sued...one that changed my opinions of myself.
At 6 weeks old Mille had RSV.  I have known other families to go through this and knew it was a long and  tough sickness to fight.
But after another Angel (Leslie Helms) told us to take her to the ER on the night of the Super Bowl and teams of nurses blowing out her veins as she laid there on a table not fussing at all....and after she was admitted to the PICU and a specialist told us we had to wait outside...and after he told us we had a very sick baby, and they will do what they can...then.  Only then did I feel helpless.  All emotion left me, it still does when I think about it.  I could do nothing...Couldn't hold her, feed her, cry for her, even pray for her.  I just....sat.
She fought...hard and strong.  Pulling through the grueling treatments and tests.  After a week, she was released, but had to fight another long 4 months of recovery.

That was the first half of Millie's first year.

She turns 4 today.  She is alive, very tall for her age, allergic to nothing (which is shocking after severe RSV) and a fighter.

Passionate and Loyal...traits that are incredibly evident in her life.  She loves as passionately as she fights and when she chooses you...you can't break that covenant.  As with all my children, I see the Lord's favor on her in ways that could truly change the world.

She changed mine...forever.
I love you moomsie.

Get it....

I know I've posted about this before,but buy yourself and early Christmas present and get the new Gungor CD: Beautiful Things.  I CANNOT tell you how much this has ministered to me...each day a new song hits me right where I'm at....of course track 2 and 7 start my day EVERY morning.  It's hard to dance whilest driving, but I manage.  Always do!
Here are a few lyrics, from the title track...means something new to me every morning.

All this pain

I wonder if I’ll even find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

It only gets better...the cover artwork is enough for me...I want to paint it as a mural in my house, seriously...La'Walker, you up for it?

Curious as to anyone else's thoughts on this album?

Yogurt Mountain

After being introduced to this eupohoria of foodie heaven, by my phoenix...Audrina....in Tuscaloosa, one of my other fave people has informed that G'vegas now has not one...but TWO Yogurt Mountains....Can it be so???  There is a God and He does love me! (not that I didn't think that before...you get it)
http://www.yogurtmountain.com/locations.html

Integrity...

It's a shame that there are 30somethings walking around without it...

Speechless, sick to my stomach and disappointed...

Stop looking in the mirror, realise you aren't the only person in the world, and show...I don't know...

INTEGRITY!

(Going to get in trouble for this one...but it's time someone makes a stir.)

I'm done.