Word Web Vocabulary

"You don't understand my art!"

These words are uttered from his mouth on a daily basis.

He longs for praise.

He strives to stand out.

And he works so freakin hard for it.

He thinks he has every right to be famous.

These pictures aren't easy to come by.

Countless hours are spent enchanted with technology.
Many a lonely night, I sit in bed...watching Friends.
...as he creates
 stares into this object.
You may know it as your cell phone,
 to him, this is his canvas.

He doesnt understand how I continue to gain followers,

with the simplicity of my "cute kid" photos,
while he works so hard,
to create amazingness,
and has so few follwers..
( I keep trying to tell him, it's thanks to all of YOU)
I know AMAZINGNESS isn't a word by dictionary standards,
but is there any other word to describe "art" of this kind?!
(wink, wink) I mean really!!


His complaint to me, even though I constantly congratulate him
 fully support him and smile as he shows me his "pieces"...
is that "Nobody understands his art."
So, I ask of you...
to open your mind,
broaden your horizons...
and dig deep inside...
to make sense of
his art.


 Make Him Famous!!!
Who is he, you might ask...
this secret underground artist you speak of???
Why, he is my hubby of course.
Go follow him on Instagram with the button 
at the bottom of this post...
or simply search for superflysmith on your instagram!
And, please...oh PLEASE comment on these pictures,
show him some comment love...
He is going to be asking!


Disclaimer: Please ignore the obvious sarcasm in the tone of this post.
I promise you, I really do think his photos are pretty fabulous!

Firsthand, I know nothing of the sacrifice it takes to let go 

letting go of a husband, a father, a sister, a family...

for the sake of others.

I know nothing of what it means to spend months away 

only hoping and praying

you would one day see your your kids again, 

your husband again, your wife again, your parents again.

I know of patriotism, I know of freedom, I know of love for my country,

but firsthand, I know nothing of sacrifice.

Whether it's sacrifice of a beautiful life 

you so deeply loved and depended on,

or whether it's sacrifice of time,

time lost from that person who means the most to you,

while you were busy giving of your life for me, for us~

I want to say thank you,

to all of you, those who gave your lives

those who gave your husbands, your sons, your daddys,
your mothers, your sisters

those of you who gave up memories

who gave up laughter

who offered up tears

for me, for our country

for our freedom

and the freedom of others

I want to say thank you.

I don't know if I could do it.

I don't know if I could let go of my husband,

or let my kids give up their daddy

for your freedom,

but You have given up so much for mine.

It must take a special grace from God

to do such a task, to even be willing to do such a task.

And I honor all our vets,

all our active duty military
(and anyone else serving our nation for the protection of mankind)

and all the families of those who have sacrificed

the time and lives of their loved ones.

You can know this about me,

I understand that Memorial Day is NOT about sales,

not about barbecues, days off work...

It's about You, 

and I speak for myself, and my husband & my family

we will ALWAYS remember your sacrifice.

Pictured above are four of my mom's brothers.

(She comes from a family of 14 kids)

three of them have passed away.

Thankfully, they lived past their service time,

and went on to have families, kids, grand kids,

but have now made their home in heaven.

This is for my mom, her brothers and sisters, 

my grandparents who are no longer living,

and who had to give up their sons for a time...

 my cousins and aunts who love them., and miss them.

(Danny is still with us.)

I am SO thankful & we Honor all our vets, 

but especially our family members who served us and our country.

This post was a last minute idea, so I didnt have time to gather up military photos 

from my dad's side of the family or my hubby's side.. 

But pictured here are my uncle Bernie (Korean),

My Papa (who just recently passed-WWII) and my Father In Law(Vietnam), 

with Jeff and the kids...

Just moments ago, when I put this together, tears start streaming down my face...

unexpectedly

suddenly I missed my Papa very much..

So many more members of extended family,

close friends, church friends, children of friends, etc...

that have served or are currently serving our great nation...

Thank You to all, who choose freedom for me, 

for my kids, for us...

at times over your own lives.

Thank You to all who serve, who have served...

and who watched & allowed your family member fight for freedom.

My gratitude is more than I can say...

I don't know if I could do it...

Happy Memorial Day & Memories to all...

I leave you with this Kick Butt song,

one of my absolute FAVES of all time..

Thank YOU, Toby Keith!!!

ALSO, The Funny Thing Of It Is was featured HERE this week!
So, if you haven't yet, go check it out!!!

 So today I decided to link up with Jenna at The Life Of The Wife .
An easy peasy post on all the last things I...well...whateva!

One of those days where i dug what was very possibly the oldest thing out of my closet.

 An extremely 'I am so completely OVER my wardrobe so can someone please hand me

$500 so I can shop? day.' The shoes are new though. My mommy bought 'em for me=)

The last thing that made me laugh out loud, was of course, Leila. 

Seriously!?? She's mine? What is this face? I love it!

I may or may not be obsessed with Zooey Deschenel. Ironically, I just watched this for the 

first time last week. I love her, but I think I only like the movie.

Not to say I wouldn't watch it again, I would...but well, because of her =)

I went to a bridal shower on Sunday and won me a little prize.

Good thing too, because I was completely out of any kind of lotion so I was 

feeling a little crusty. And I sorta have a crush on cute nail polish.

So, I was ecstatic to win that as well.

I got this recipe off of pinterest! Bahahahahaha! Oh man, I would love to pretend

that I am an dedicated pinterest pinner and recipe finder, but let's not start lying now.

I hesitate to actually use the word "cook" when I show this pic.

But, I've been pretty open up to this point, so I guess it's not time to start hiding anything.
I don't do cooking. I end up crying when I try.

Recipe: tortilla chips, cheese, salsa (NOT homemade) and ground beef ;) Genius, right?

Yep, I'm a bachelor/bachelorette junkie. And I even got my hubby addicted.

Ok, he probably could go without, but it's our one show we watch together,

and I'm sure all the cute girls don't bother him... so every Monday night, (or Tuesday if I don't get around to it Monday after kids are in bed) this is where I will be.

I've been thinking on the Love of God a lot lately. It's so vital.

In fact, it's the basis for the entirety of God's plan for man. God loves us, we love him,

we love others. And if we don't love others...well, its pretty clear here...

Thanks to Jenna for the fun Link Up. It's my first time & I had fun =)

Show of hands,

(and I want you to leave a comment if you actually raised your hand

KNOW what I am talking about...

who here HATES being a doormat?

Being a ladder for someone else to climb up as they 

weasel their way to their version of success?

Some peoples version of success is this weird messed up way trying
to make people feel beneath them, believe it or not.
I never really got that. Because for me, I feel better about me,
when I make people feel happy...

But some people actually enjoy making them feel silly, look stupid, embarrassed,
feel unloved...

Ever feel that way?

Are you thinking of someone right now who has made you feel that way?

Whether it's a verbally or physically abusive relationship,

a friend that takes advantage of your kindness,

a guy trying to take advantage of your body,

a boss that has to prove to himself and his staff that HE is in fact the boss

by making you look or feel like an idiot~

by under appreciating you or over analyzing you...

Whatever, the case 

BEING USED by someone else isn't the making for 

a fabulous day... or life for that matter.

When it comes down to it, it hurts. It hurts alot.

And its beyond frustrating!!!

And we have all been there. I know I have.

I gotta say, I think I am way too nice a pretty nice person.

When talking to people or deciding if I should or shouldn't do certain things,

I'm always thinking 'what would make THEM feel good or help THEM?'

I don't like to cause a lot of ruckus. It really isn't in my nature.

I can be sarcastic in a fun way, but I am definitely not feisty.

And so then, throughout life, I tend to feel like the doormat.

Not really because I am afraid to say no,

just because I put myself out there more often than not.
It's sort of a cross between being ultra willing to "do"...
and people just forgetting to say thank you, maybe???
I dont know..

I have absolutely NO problem with being there for people,
in fact I love it...

but sometimes it's a recipe for my own hurt feelings.

Because when people are using you for their own selfishness benefit

in some way, rather than appreciating you, it can wear on you...
Most times, I don't even think people realize they are doing it,
but indeed,

 there are also people who are downright willingly abusive in a sense.

But I am killing two birds with one stone in this post, because

lately, I find being USED as sort of a thrill.
In fact, I find it to be the most satisfying feeling, like ever!!
 because when you put yourself out thereto be used by God,
there is NOTHING on earth like it. I mean it!
In reality, every day I wake up and I say "God, I give this day to you, help me to accomplish
what needs to get done, be who you want me to be, touch who you want me to touch,
love people, say what you want me to say...and please for the love of YOU,
USE me in all the quirky, naive, fun, sarcastic, creative ways
that you placed in me. Because it's all YOU, Lord.

Everything that he is using in ME, is actually HIM!
Which I LOVE! It's not ME at all!
But it is. It is me telling him, Lord anything that is in me that
is not of you, lets get rid of it...but EVERYTHING in me that IS from you,
USE IT!! USE ME!!
And it amazes me lately how much he does.
It really is the greatest high you can get,
and the greatest honor to be USED by God!!
For so long, I felt like all those people in the Bible, that said,
"But Lord, I'm just me, I can't talk, I'm too short, I'm too young, I'm getting too old..."
blah blah blah...
and he says, "No, I placed things inside of you and I need YOU to touch lives.
It's by MY power and strength, not yours!!"
So then I just finally gave in, and said, "Ok God, have at it! Use ME!"

Imagine all that is inside of you,
have you let yourself be USED by God to touch lives?
Try it, you will be amazed how much he needs You to be willing!
And suddenly all those times you felt hurt or taken advantage of by others
simply falls away in the light of being Used by the Creator of the Universe.

2 Timothy 2:21-
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, 
sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work.

Ok, and now that I have your attention,
I thought I would try and be artistic and take a pic of me "holding" the USED title.

and obviously, it had to turn out with my enormous shadow 22 sizes bigger than me.

Trying to be cool just doesn't work for me.

Obviously not one of my talents =)

Dear The Cranberries. I seriously want to cry.  I am completely starstruck when I see you in concert. Your music brings back so many memories. Memories from my teen years.  Happy Memories. It was a simpler time.