24 Things to Remember and 
       One to Never Forget

1. Your presence is a present to the world.

2. You're unique and one of a kind.

3. Your life can be what you want it to be.

4. Take the days just one at a time.

5. Count your blessings, not your troubles.

6. You'll make it through whatever comes along.

7. Within you are so many answers.

8. Understand, have courage, be strong.

9. Don't put limits on yourself.

10. So many dreams are waiting to be realized.

11. Decisions are too important to leave to chance.

12. Reach for your peak, your goal, and your prize.

13. Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.

14. The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.

15. Don't take things too seriously.

16. Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

17. Remember that a little love goes a long way.

18. Remember that a lot . . . goes forever.

19. Remember that friendship is a wise investment.

20. Life's treasures are people . . . together.

21. Realize that it's never too late.

22. Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

23. Have health and hope and happiness.

24. Take the time to wish upon a star.

 

 And.....DON'T EVER FORGET, NOT FOR
ONE MINUTE, HOW SPECIAL YOU ARE! 

 

 

Forrest Gump Goes to Heaven

The day finally arrived.   Forrest Gump dies and goes to
Heaven. He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. 
However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the
gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, "Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to
see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you,
though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been
administering an entrance examination for everyone. The
test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into
Heaven."

Forrest responds, "It sure is good to be here, St.
Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam;
I sure hope that the test ain't too hard.  Life was a big enough
test as it was."

St. Peter continued, "Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only
three questions.  
First: What two days of the week begin with the letter
T?
Second: How many seconds are there in a year?
Third: What is God's first name?"

Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day
and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says,
"Now that you have had a chance to think the questions
over, tell me your answers"

Forrest replied, "Well, the first one -- which two days in the week
begins with the letter "T"? Shucks, that one is easy. That would be
Today and Tomorrow. "The Saint' s eyes opened wide and he
exclaimed, "Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a
point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that
answer. How about the next one?" asked St. Peter.

"How many seconds in a year?  Now that one is harder,"
replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only
answer can be twelve."

Astounded, St. Peter said, "Twelve? Twelve?  Forrest,
how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?"

Forrest replied, "Shucks, there's got to be twelve:
January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd... "

"Hold it," interrupts St. Peter. "I see where you are going with this, and I
see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind....but I will
have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and
final question. Can you tell me God's first name"?

"Sure," Forrest replied, "it's Andy."

"Andy?" exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St. Peter. Ok, I can
understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions,
but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first
name of God?" 
 
"Shucks, that was the easiest one of all," Forrest replied.  "I learnt it from
the song, 
  "ANDY WALKS WITH ME,  
   ANDY TALKS WITH ME,  
   ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN."

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: "Run
Forrest, run."




Give me a sense of humor, Lord.
Give me the ability to understand a clean joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And to pass it on to other folks.

***************************************************************

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty good.
The girls are out of school today for President's Day, so I'm not
sure what we are going to do. Hope ya'll enjoy your Monday!
Take care and God bless!

Love & Hugs,
Tonya

A Valentine Prayer
 

I said a Valentine prayer for you

and asked the Lord above

to fill your heart and bless your soul

With the precious gift of love.

I asked Him for sincere love

The kind that's meant to stay

Just like the generous love

You give to those you touch each day.

I prayed for love from family

And from every cherished friend

Then I asked the Lord to give you

His love that knows no end.

Well, just thought I would get on here and tell ya'll about Winter Extreme. To start with, I wasn't feeling well when we left Sunday morning. I got up feeling a little sick to my stomach, but then started hurting between my side and lower back on the right side. I mean I was in tears from hurting so bad, but I got on the church van when it was time to leave and just did the best I could. We left right after Sunday School, so by then I had been hurting for about three hours. The trip to Gatlinburg wasn't too much fun to start off with, but finally all the ibuprofen that I took kicked in and I started feeling a little better. By that evening, the pain was gone, but I was incredibly sore on my right side. (Hubby thinks I might have had a kidney stone and passed it.) Glad I was feeling better because that evening at the conference center was AWESOME!
Here's a recap of our three days at Winter Extreme:
Sunday Evening:
Pete Hixson was the emcee for Winter Extreme. Pete has the most fabulous personality and does a great job as emcee. He really gets into the things going on and gets the kids pumped up. The band, Unhindered, was the praise and worship band and opened up the festivities. They are a really good band. I heard them for the first time last year when we went to Winter Extreme. Sanctus Real performed after Unhindered and they also did a good job. Dave Edwards was the speaker for the evening. If you haven't heard him speak before, you are missing out. After he spoke, we got to see TobyMac. What a performance that was! I'm not sure there are words to even do justice to his performance. We got in line early just to be able to be up front for his performance and that's exactly where we were. Part of our kids were on the very front row in front of the stage and the rest of us were on the second row......how GREAT is that! We had a blast that evening and were pumped up for the next day.
Monday:
We got up bright and early and went to eat breakfast at a wonderful pancake house. After getting our bellies full, we got in line at the conference center. Unhindered opened the day up with some praise and worship music, then Britt Nicole performed (didn't really care for her music). The morning speaker was Ergun Caner. Let me tell you...he puts things very bluntly when he speaks, but you get so much out of what he says. He is Turkish and an immigrant. He is the oldest son of an Islamic leader. He was raised as a Muslim, but Ergun became a Christian in the early 80s. He was disowned by his family for doing so, but he has stood up for his beliefs as Christian. He is the President of Liberty Theological Seminary at Liberty Unversity in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been in many debates and written 14 books on defending the Christian faith and Global Apologetics. Some people get offended by what he says, but let me tell you, I didn't find anything he said offensive. He just speaks his mind and maybe steps on some people's feet doing so. He puts humor into what he is saying and keeps your attention. He was great! After he spoke, the band, Skillet, performed. Now, I personally didn't care too much for them. They perform more hard rock Christian music, which just isn't my type of music. That was the close of the morning session, but we stuck around to go to what they called a break-away session. Ergun Caner was speaking again and he did another great job of presenting his message to everyone. After that, we went back to the hotel (the kids all went to the indoor pool and the adults rested...well, except for a few of them that went with the kids to the pool). We eventually got ready, ate at McDonald's and went back to the conference center. That night, Unhindered opened the festivities back up, then Chris Tomlin performed. Tony Nolan was the speaker that evening and he did a fabulous job. I really enjoy hearing him speak. After he spoke, Newsong came out and performed. I just love them! They were still on stage when it was getting close to midnight, so we got to bring in the New Year with Newsong. What a way to bring in the New Year......celebrating with a huge group of Christians! It was......hmmmmmmmm.......GREAT, TERRIFIC, WONDERFUL, AWESOME!!!!!!! We finally fell into bed about 2:00 am......boy, were we tired!
Tuesday:
Well, there was a morning session, but we decided to skip it. Mostly because there was some bad weather being predicted for that area and we didn't want to get caught up in it. We had to travel back down the mountain and we didn't want to get caught in any ice and/or snow; that would have been awful. We ate breakfast at Shoney's and then loaded the van up. We made a few stops along the way, but made it safely back to our church around 3:30 or maybe a little later. Everyone was glad to be back, but sad in a way because all the fun was over. Hugs were given and good-byes were said. All that was left to say was......we had the time of our life!

Four or five of our youth made decisions while we were at Winter Extreme; close to 300 decisions were made overall by youth while we were there. God was definitely in that conference center! Many lives were changed; many hearts were touched. What a most awesome experience we all had! 

Well, I used the word "awesome" several times there, but that's the only word I could find to describe those three days. This made the third year I've gone and it just gets better and better each time. It's so great to see that huge group of kids and adults worshipping together from all over the United States. It just gives you chills when they give everyone a chance to step forward and make that life changing decision and there are hundreds that step out and go for a little time of counciling. It's a wonderful time for youth groups to grow closer together.

I was glad to get back just for the fact that I missed my hubby and Abby. I missed being with both of them to bring in the New Year. As a matter of fact, I cried a little when the countdown ended and everyone was celebrating the New Year. (Thank goodness, my BFF, Kelly, was right there with me cause she gave me the biggest ole hug just at the right time!) I got to talk to both of them, but it was 20 minutes into the New Year when I finally had service on my stupid cell phone. Hubby never admitted it, but I think he missed me about as much as I missed him. Anyways, it was good to be back home.....back to my own bed, my own house, with just my family. Yep, sometimes I'm too much of a home body! lol

Well, if you read all of this, then I feel honored. I pray that each of you will have a wonderful weekend. Take care and God bless!

Love & Hugs,
Tonya

TWENTY THINGS TO REMEMBER
==========================

1. Faith is the ability to not panic.

2. If you worry, you didn't pray.
    If you prayed, don't worry.

3. As a child of God, prayer is kinda like calling
    home every day.

4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be
    bent out of shape.

5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still.
    God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.

6. Do the math.  Count your blessings.

7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.

9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

10. Laugh every day - it's like inner jogging.

11. The most important things in your home are the people.

12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
      (Preach it!)

13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
      Come on in.

14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.

15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.

16. We do not remember days but moments. Life moves too fast so
      enjoy your precious moments.

17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it; otherwise
      it's just hearsay.

18. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again.
     Just be sure to flush when you are done.

19. Surviving and living your life successfully requires
      courage. The goals and dreams you're seeking require courage
      and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle, it only makes progress
      when it sticks out its neck.

20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
     Your character is what you really are, while your reputation
     is merely what others think you are.  No matter the storm,
     when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.
     Leave gentle fingerprints on the soul of another for the
     angels to read. I don't want to get to the end of my life
     and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have
     lived the width of it as well.