Southern Living Yankee

I have to show you all sorts of fun stuff today--a miscellaneous collection of things, a hodgepodge, a jumble, a mishmash, a real omnium-gatherum! For example, Tom pesters me about getting a puppy all the time. So if you scroll down towards the bottom of this page you'll see I'm starting to crack--The Daily Puppy. Aww, isn't it cute? Check back tomorrow and you'll see a different pup. Now put your mouse in the right hand column under "Lijit Search." Click on the "Visitors Map" bar to see the spots around the world that have hit my blog. The next bar down, "Recent Readers" names the locations of people who have read this blog. Sometimes I see Australia, Thailand, Philippines . . . blows my mind! Oh, and in the top right corner is a poll for you to vote! Please exercise your American right! :) Your feedback and comments would really help me out! The poll closes on my birthday, cough cough, hint hint. To enter the funny zone click here: ...

So tonite I'm going through my "Favorites" tab. It's about 2 miles long because when I'm wandering around the internet and find something I want to remember I just make it a "favorite." That doesn't mean I'm really fond of it, it just means I can't remember much of anything! So far I've thrown out "vomiting in cats," "overactive bladder," "foot-type test," flight itineraries, shopping carts, and a lot of grief! Now to tackle "belly fat," "7 foods every woman must eat," all sorts of organizing tips (Hey--here's a tip: Don't collect organizing tips!); and then real estate listings, all sorts of secrets, job interview questions, "8 Ways to Leave a Mess for your Heirs," and Life Expectancy Calculator (120 for me, just as I suspected). It's a freezing fog night here in Southwestern Ohio. This is what I do. Except earlier tonight I found a big hairy butt sticking out ...

On my writing day last week I did two pretty significant things. 1) I put together a new table of contents for my book. Let me know if you'd like me to email it to you. Just click on the comment box below and give me your name and email address. All comments go to my email before they are posted, so I'll make sure your email address doesn't appear publicly, and of course, I won't send you any fwds! 2) I SET UP A BLOG FOR WIDOWS! I'm not ready for it to really be seen yet, but I'd like to get your reaction. Please visit it at http://widowschristianplace.blogspot.com/ and let me know what you think! WRITING UPDATE: Tomorrow is my writing day. I'm not sure what I'll tackle yet, but I am sure I need prayer! Thanks for checking in on me.

I love New Year Resolutions! I get all wide-eyed and happy as I dream them up and anticipate the clean, orderly, fit and perfect life that awaits my fresh start. Really! I'm nuts about them! Picture a grinning baby in her crib, fat and toothless, happily cooing as a musical mobile of rainbow ponies spins overhead. I'm the same way, except my mobile has bright shiny resolutions on it. Oh, and I'm not toothless, not yet. It's Day 5 of the New Year and I've only started one so far. But I found a blog that had some good thoughts about resolutions, well stated, too. I think the title says it all: Resolving to Fail in 2010 . (blog.christianitytoday.com/.../2010/01/resolving_to_fail_in_2010) Now there's something I can achieve! But all kidding aside, the wonderful thing is this, as the author says, "So go ahead and make some resolves for 2010. But allow the inevitable failures to press you even further to Christ and to the boundless mercy of God, who has already a...

If only the events of this year could be packaged and tossed out so easily. Some of you know details of how sin manifested itself in our family this year. For those who don't, there's no need to speculate, just know that if God prompted you to pray for us it was because we dearly needed it. I'd never come face to face with such betrayal, selfishness and sheer degeneracy before. I truly thought the human race, as a whole, was simply misguided, hassled, bewildered, lost; not bent on hell. I lost my innocence this year. I grew up. I looked evil in the eye. But I experienced grace, too, because of this year. Where sin abounds, grace is abundantly available. It manifests itself in a husband holding his wife when her heart is breaking, the wife remaining confident in her husband's godly intentions and good judgment when he's second-guessing himself. Grace works conviction into the heart; it releases forgiveness, seventy times seven. Grace allows one to listen to God and r...

Are you still looking for a Christmas present for your spouse? Well, here's something better than a diamond or a set of gold clubs: "A Weekend to Remember." Tom and I went last weekend, and it was fabulous! We laughed . . . we cried . . . we even went on a date! (Nutcracker Ballet at the historic Ohio Theatre in Columbus--beautiful! The guy knows how to take my breath away!) We recommend it so highly we signed up to be group coordinators so we could give discounts to everyone we know. Go to our website at Family Life to read more about the conference and find a location and date that works for you. Then, whenever and however (by mail, phone, or online) you register for the conference, be sure to enter our group name Hardy Party for your very significant savings! Questions? Just email me. WRITING UPDATE: Total failure! I missed my writing day last week and my days off this week are the 24th and 25th so it's highly unlikely I'll get to write. The good news is tha...

Visit this website to see what God is up to in leading a friend of mine to donate her kidney. Surgery is tomorrow, so please uphold Christine and Toby in prayer, also their families. They are looking forward to Christmas in a very special way this year! There's a lot more I could say about all the amazing things God is doing around here--my heart is full, but so is my day! And I know you are the same way. I'm just glad you popped in to see what I was up to. I'll post more next week. Until then, thanks for checking in on me. Grace and peace to you.