I think I was born to be pampered! Haha!

I know that reality is that we all have to work for a living...well maybe not everybody, but the people I hang out with all have to work for a living. I know that we shouldn't be lazy and that we should pull our own weight. I completely understand and agree with all of this. However, every once in a while, a woman should be treated to day of pampering!!!!!!!! Why? Because man o'man does it make a WORLD of difference! My friend Mindy, who lives in Atlanta, called last week and with desperation in her voice said, "I need a night away!" Now, for you men who read this blog, what she was really saying was "I need to be pampered!" So, being the understanding friend that I am, I said, "Do you still have that coupon for the Three-13 Salon and Spa?" And the next day, I was off to Atlanta. When I got to Georgia, we spent that night with her family at their home in Canton. I had a great time seeing her husband, Jason, and their three precious kids, Abigail, Olivia, and Josiah. We ate yummy Italian food, brownies, and watched Celebrity Apprentice. And all of that was a lot of fun.....However, the next morning Mindy and I (in our most comfortable attire) loaded up the car and hit the road....and that is when the fun really started! Our first stop was the Three-13 Salon and Spa. This is a great spa in Marietta, GA where Mindy and I had gone to get facials for her 32nd birthday two years back. So we were back for a second round of facials.For those of you who are thinking that this has to be the most miserable hour of your life....you are SO wrong. It is awesome! When the facials were over they did a make up touch up on us and we were off for lunch. We decided to stop by Chick-fil-A for lunch. There were three major reasons for this decision. 1. We had more coupons...haha. 2. It is Atlanta...there is a Chick-fil-A on every corner. 3. We had big plans for dinner and didn't want to eat too much or spend too much money. After a fun chat over lunch,we set out for our next destination. We drove down to Buckhead and pulled into a Valet lot. A distracted looking character took our keys and nervously we headed into Sugarcoat for "the sweetest mani/pedi in Atlanta." Haha! Actually we opted to skip the mani and just take in the pedi. Now this was a really cool place. As you can see, you don't have the big spa chairs, but you sit on this big bench with pillows all over it. It took a minute to get used to, but once you did it was very comfortable. We had a blast! The two girls who did our pedis were hilarious and very talkative. We talked about the latest fashions and who wore what to the latest awards show and just had a good, girly time. And then the day turned exciting. We went out to get our car and there was a new valet guy there. I gave him my ticket and he went inside. Then he came out...looking a little shaken...and asked what kind of car I was driving. I told him that I had a Honda and he went back inside. A few minutes later he came back out looking very frazzled and asked if I could come and look at his board and spot my keys. Now I am beginning to look a little shaken. I went in and my keys weren't there. He didn't have the keys to my car on his board. Now....do you see how much this previous pampering was helping...I didn't cry or break down and didn't plead with him for information or to call the police...I just stood there and looked at him...
TO BE CONTINUED!

For Such A Time As This

The college class just finished a study of Esther. Most of you know that the most popular verse in Esther is when Mordecai says that Esther may have been placed in the kings palace "for such a time as this." There are so many times in life, when things happen and I think "God, why are you letting me go through this?". More times than in my own life, I look at the lives of other people I care about and ask that question. More and more I am being reminded that God sometimes allows things in our lives, so that in the future He can place us in places "for such a time as this." Where do you find yourself today? Are you in the middle of something that you don't understand? Maybe it will help someone else in the future. Look around. Is there someone hurting or questioning that could be helped, answered, spurred, or encouraged by your experience. Act now...maybe you are there for this precise reason! God, even though it hurts, thank You for putting me here...for such a time as this.

I always hated Art and Architectural History!

At Clemson, one of my least favorite classes was Art and Architectural History. This was a required class that took lots of study time and still brought down my GPA. But this morning, I think I have finally figured out a piece of the puzzle. Do you remember "The Scream", an expressionist painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch? Ever wonder why he painted it? What must have twisted the mind and feelings of the poor guy who is depicted in the painting? I am pretty sure that this is a painting of a guy named Mikey as he is walking out of a staff meeting where someone said, "Let Mikey do it, he'll do anything." Haha!
Love,
Mikey...I mean Angela

Micah Bradford Griffin

This has been one of the hardest weekends I remember. Thursday morning, my oldest friend, Mindy Griffin, gave birth to a beautiful 7 pound, 11 ounce little baby boy named Micah. Sometime between 6 and 7 pm Thursday night, he passed away. Friday through Sunday I was blessed with being able to be with Mindy and her husband, Jason, and their other three children. My heart breaks for them and for Micah's grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was amazing to see the strength of Mindy and Jason. I know that they are hurting, but they are drawing strength from Christ. I was reminded again this weekend (and especially today) of how much comfort, encouragement, and strength we draw from our Christian family. I can't imagine going through the difficult times in life without the love of my church family.

Today at the funeral, Heather sang a beautiful song by Watermark called Glory Baby. Some of the lyrics are "I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies and what they must sound like, but I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home and it’s all you’ll ever know." While extremely sad, this is a very encouraging song. I was encouraged to think about little Micah in the arms of Jesus, never knowing pain or hurt, but only heaven. It also made me long for heaven, . . . again. Every time this world gets hard, isn't it great to think about our future? Things may get better here, but we are promised a perfect eternity if we trust in the blood of Christ and ask him to save us. I hope that you can rest in this hope when tragedy hits. If you can't, please call and let me help you find hope!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 6th Anniversary Carlotta and Matteo!
What in the world did we do before you joined this family Carla? We love you!

Scout's Big Surgery

Yesterday Scout finally had her surgery to remove the tumor from the tip of her nose. She did awesome! They were in the OR for a little over an hour. When we were called back to the recovery room she was awake and very cuddly! Her nose looks incredible. We are so glad that God allowed this day to go so well! She is quite the trooper. She never cried and actually played all day. Yay Scout!

Skating on Ice...Ho, Ho, Ho or No, No, No

Last night the college kids headed down to Fountain Inn for a night of Ice Skating and carriage rides. I was so excited. I had visions of us all in hats, mittins, scarves, and coats skating around being jolly. Well, that didn't happen! Haha! The "ice" was actually greasy plastic. Now that is some hard stuff to skate on. We were aloud to be on the "ice" for 55 minutes. Three times around the rink and I was out! Haha...and I wasn't the first one to take my skates off! So after we all got the plastic shavings off of our tank tops (because it was a balmy 70 degrees outside), we took a carriage ride. Now that was a lot of fun. The students saved a front row seat for me....right behind the horse...how sweet! Seriously, I had no idea how pretty the houses on Main Street in Fountain Inn are decorated for Christmas. Its worth a drive down 385 just to see the houses. Afterwards we headed to Mauldin to see the best decorated house in Greenville county. This place gives Hollywild a run for its money...and its free. All in all we had a really good time, which I think is a reminder to us all that its not what you do, but who you do it with!