Deanna Doss Shrodes

I took today off most of today in preparation for "the big day" tomorrow. (The funeral and the Christmas Tea) I had crammed yesterday to take off some time today and I was so glad I did. I read Tom Rees's ezine today and it was on margins in life and how we need them. It made me glad I had made this choice to take some time off today. There were so many things on my mind for the tea, but I needed a moment to breathe. The truth is, no matter how ready I am I never feel ready enough. I always feel like I need to be re-detailing the details. Honing the message up til the last minute.

Larry let me sleep in and got Savanna up and ready for school. I did some things around the house, and caught up on doing some things for myself. Larry found a few moments to take a look at my car and evidently it was a simple wire that needed to be cleaned. It's running again and I feel like I have my life back. When Dustin got home we needed to take him down to work at the church for a …

Larry got a new black suit today that is absolutely mind-blowingly sexy. Just had to start off this blog by letting the world know this. He never ceases to make me laugh. Ever since a funeral a few weeks ago, he can't find his black suit jacket that he always wears most. The pants and shirt are in the closet but the jacket is not. He checked my car, his car, the closet at work. No jacket. I think we should try harder to find it but he said, "Nah, I'll just go get a new suit." He has another funeral Friday so he has to have a solid black suit. It reminds me of when Savanna was a toddler and she would misplace her shoes and if he was the one taking care of her at the time he would just go down to Walmart and buy her a cheap pair of shoes rather than try and find the other ones. Men! Ya gotta love 'em. Well let me tell you, I especially DO love him in this new black suit. How in God's name I'm going to control myself in public with THIS? Keep me in prayer e…

Finally our house is completely decorated for Christmas! And I love it! 
Maybe we will even win Northampton Yard of the Month again, who knows!!! Well, I say "finally" decorated~ and actually we are early - before December 1. But...it feels like "finally" because I was racing against time to get it done in time for Larry's birthday.

Actually he ended up helping! I didn't want it to be that way - that he was helping me around the house on his birthday however the fact that the Mustang has been out of commission has really set me back big time on getting anything done. Larry needs to fix it however he simply hasn't had the time. He thinks it's just the battery or something simple, it's just finding the time. I forgot what it was like to not have my own car. I was not able to fix the huge dinner I wanted to for his b'day because we were shuffling the van back and forth to all our work/appointments. So we had pizza. But he was happy.

We had m…

Isa sent me some great pictures. I wish I could post all 47 of them but I'll stop at just a few. Gosh, we had so much fun!

Larry and I taking time for a little slow dance on the cruise. Mmmmmm...does this man look yummy or what?! He's like the jelly on a biscuit! Woo hoo!!!

SOMEBODY GET ME A PARIS TEA! Thank you. Okay, I'm sitting here with a cup of Paris tea (my favorite) trying my best to calm myself down.

I have Christmas tree woes. Family dissension woes. Housework woes. What is it about this day? What is it? What is it? I don't want to be a complainer. Truly I don't. There are bigger things going on in the world other than a Christmas tree malfunction. People out there are dealing with big family problems, sickness and disease. There's the war in Iraq. There are starving children in Africa. I know my problems are small potatoes. But honestly, right now I'm irritated and I just need to calm down. So indulge me for a minute and for those that don't want to, just read somebody else's blog.

As usual the guys brought the Christmas tree in the day after Thanksgiving and set it up and just left it there for me to do my thing. Jordan checked five strands of lights to make sure they worked. And so then the work really began. 

…

Our house is decorated for Christmas now for the most part but the boys have to put the lights outside tomorrow. Each year I tell myself I'm going to add another tree and time always gets away from me but this year we did it.

Today we got another tree and I decided to decorate it in a sugared fruit theme. (Here is a photo... I think it's a work in progress, I'll be adding some things as we go along.)

As I was mulling over what to do the thought hit me about sugared fruit, not only because I think it's beautiful but because it reminded me of the fruit of the spirit. I have long said that if you don't possess the fruits of the spirit, nobody really cares if you have the gifts of the spirit. That is one of my pet peeves...fruitless Christians in the church. Just sort of hanging around, dead on the vine. Jesus said in John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last."

We are destined to be fruit…

'Life is a paradise for those who love many things with a passion." Leo Buscaglia

Since I love many things with a passion I guess I am a paradise dweller. Things I love right now with a passion...

1) Decorating our house for Christmas. The fun begins today!
2) Shopping! (Also going to do some of that today for Christmas. Can you believe Pastor T waited in line at a store since 3 a.m. this morning? He better never accuse me of being a shopaholic is all I gotta say!)
4) Spending time with my sweetheart...another thing I'm going to do today. We are going Christmas shopping and to lunch, and then we will decorate the house together, at least a little bit. How did I get so blessed to have a man who does all this with me? (Oh yeah, I forgot, I trained him.) :-)
5) Writing.
6) Sitting on my swing on my brick paver patio in the back yard. At sunset is the best, when I'm not on my bike I like to be on the swing.
7) Finding something new in God's Word - seeing it a …

So here we are on this fine Thanksgiving day that our family enjoyed with our children's pastors - Trinity & Misty Mackley and their children, Nate and Celeena. You will notice my kids are not in the pictures. My boys were in their jammies most of the day lounging around. Being that I am a Mom that chooses my battles carefully and does not major in the minors........ it's really no big deal to me that the boys chose to lay around in their pj's on what is supposed to be one of the most relaxing days of the year anyway. We're just home all day relaxing and doing a bit of everything here and there. Truthfully I might have stayed in my jammies had I thought twice about it! (Sometimes I actually am in my pj's when the staff is here...appropriate ones of course!) Honestly now that I think about it I'm pretty much living in a swimsuit or jammies at home. What a life!
Larry and I stayed up very late last night together and then we slept in...me longer than him. I…

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas morning (and vacation if we are in a rented condo, etc.) I make butterscotch sweet rolls and my family is craaaazy about them. Jordan just walked in the door moments ago from spending the night at a friends house and said, "Mom...you have to start making two pans of these rolls instead of just one...there aren't enough!" I could probably make several pans and they would still say they aren't enough. It's the sort of thing you could just keep eating and eating. Try these...I promise, you'll like them.



BUTTERSCOTCH SWEET ROLLS
1 box or bag of frozen dinner rolls. (You can use the kind that is in frozen dough form, or the ones I prefer are Sister Schuberts frozen yeast rolls. When using Sister Schuberts they are already pre-baked and you just take them out of the freezer and they quickly warm up. Using Sister Schuberts I make the rolls the morning of.  If you use the ones that are in frozen dough form you have to prepare the recip…

Beware of "the cares of this world . . ." ( Mark 4:19 ). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by "the cares of this world." Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, "O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself." Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, "I must explain myself," or, "I must get people to understand." Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves. - Oswald Chambers; My Utmost for His Highest

I don't know why I worry about things so much when the God of the universe is on my side as long as I remain righteous. Or should I rephrase that - why should I worry when I'm on HIS side? Scripture…

1) We have been married 20 years on June 27, 2007.

2) We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon.

3) We're still living a honeymoon.

4) We are very adventurous.

5) Our favorite places in life: our home, our church, our bed, our jacuzzi, or anywhere on a date night together!

6) Life is always interrupting our conversations, darn it.

7) We are both just as committed to ministry as the other.

8) We both love Greek food most.

9) We love movies.

10) We aren't afraid of being empty nesters someday. We are looking forward to our house being clothing optional inside 100% of the time instead of just the time the kids are in school. :-)

I think I've hit my limit tonight. After coming home from 1/2 day at the office today I started cleaning/cooking. So far I have the pies done and the sweet potato casserole, and I have the table set. I also have some of the cleaning done but not near enough. However, I think I'm quitting for tonight and I'll get up and start working in the morning although Larry and I are sleeping in. I should still have about 2 hours to clean after getting up and around before company comes. Or should I say after "family" comes. T and Misty and the kids are coming. Yeah! I wish all the staff could come but all the rest are with their biological families. :-)

Larry rented us a movie to see tonight, Take the Lead. I'm getting ready to warm up a scone for myself and some tea and sit down here with him to watch it. The boys went to Steven's tonight so we just have SR. She's been helping me with pies, giving Geena a bath, and cleaning her room.

I got this questionnaire f…

Larry and I went on a date tonight! It was spontaneous at the last minute but so wonderful. His board meeting got postponed because a few people couldn't make it. So that left the night open for us. He came home and decided to take me to Circles and then we went to Sam's to pick up a computer chair that he spent some b'day money on. We had such a nice time. I didn't know it but Circles has a dining room for people with kids, and one for people without. WOW. What a fantastic idea. We were without the kids so we were wildly excited to go in the room without. What a wonderful adult evening. We focused on each other and sharing thoughts uninterrupted. Now we're home but he's putting his chair together. 

Today Dustin and Jordan had a little Thanksgiving feast with their lunch table. We got them chicken and mashed potatoes for their contribution. Larry took it to them at school at lunch time. They said all the other kids were jealous of their incredible potluck the…

Actual note from Savanna Rose last night to the Tooth Fairy:

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Thank you for all my money. And I would like to tell you that the last tooth I pulled, my brother Jordan took it and I haven't seen it since. You can even ask my mom. Oh, and I would like to keep my beautiful tooth so I can show people.
Love,
Savanna Rose Shrodes

Underneath the note was a picture she had drawn of herself and the tooth fairy.

Interestingly enough, the "tooth fairy" looks quite a bit like me. :-)

The Tooth Fairy left her four quarters, and the beautiful tooth.

I saw this on someone’s blog today with their answers and though I never met the person I was very intrigued by what they had to say. So, here I go with my own answers…….maybe somebody out there in cyber space who has never met me will read and go…”hmmmmm….this Deanna chick has some depth to her and maybe if I’m ever in Tampa I’ll look her up and have a latte with her…”



What has God truly called me to do?
write and pastor

What is my calling?
writing, pastoring, coaching/mentoring

Is there a call on my life?
absolutely

What are my 5 greatest wishes?
to write
to grow old with my husband
to see my children serve God all their lives and walk in their destiny
to mentor women
to be myself always

What are 5 short term goals?
write more articles
lose 10 more pounds
wake up ½ hour earlier each day
finish recording my CD
get through the holidays without stress this time

What are 5 long term goals?
get a book proposal accepted
save more for a rainy day (don’t plan to retire)
go on a cruise with L…

I happen to have kids that absolutely thrive on speaking out about their beliefs. (Where did they get this from?)

What I find interesting is that many times adults start conversations and are not willing to continue the conversations when young people actually know what they are talking about or can hold their own in a conversation. I have always believed in raising my children to be salt and light to the world around them. They aren’t perfect kids by any means, (no one’s children are though we would like to think so!) but I’m very proud of how they stand for what they believe in.

Jordan (10th grade - pictured here with one of his favorite pastimes - skateboarding) has a teacher who continually tries to talk to him about the Big Bang theory and how he truly believes it is reality. Jordan enjoys coming up with something creative to share with this teacher each day.

“Hey Mr. Mount…”

“Yes Jordan…” (with a weary sound in his voice…)

“You’ll never guess what happened today!”

“What’s that…

Really great day in God's house today...just an all around positive time. God is good. Attendance slightly down with the holiday weekend, but only slightly, and the important thing is - His presence was there. Had the vision meeting at our house tonight and it was a good time of re-counting God's many blessings of the past year and strides made. I have just been seeking the Lord as to different steps He now wants me to take as we get to the end of the year and look forward to the future.

Reading in God's Word in Proverbs 12 today and so many things from it really spoke to me. Everywhere I turn, things are speaking to me about my core values.

I found a quote/poem today that says:

I am only one,But still I am one I cannot do everything,But still I can do something.  And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. - Edward Everett Hale
I am resolute more than ever about the fact that at the very core of my values is commitment. Fai…

I'm sitting here getting ready to eat a truffle. Someone gave it to me for pastor appreciation and I saved it for a rainy day. It's not raining outside but in my spirit it has been. So, today's the day for the truffle.

Some reasons I'm happy...

1) I connected with Larry today... which always makes life sweeter.
2) Church was good tonight. I went in feeling low but by the last song of worship, stepping forward in faith turned on the switch of my feelings and I began to sense God's presence in a powerful way - which always makes all the difference in my situation.
3) I had some practical help a after the service which made things 100% easier.
4) My hardest work days this week are behind me. We have a funeral tomorrow and I have a few loose ends to tie up but after that I'm headed to Women of Faith.
5) The kids were good tonight and Jordan made me laugh so hard on the way home I almost told Larry to stop the car and pull over. He was so incredibly funny tell…

So this is one of the craziest days of my life.

This morning it's 7:30 am and I'm driving to the church for morning worship. I'm headed there in my car (pictured above) and as I'm going 70 miles an hour down 75, a bobcat darts in front of my car. Yep, it looked just like the picture above. Pretty crazy, huh? I missed hitting him by just inches, maybe less. How crazy. He just darts across the road like he has nothing better to do at 7:30 on a Sunday morning.
So then I'm staring at the hood periodically on the rest of the drive (which I normally don't do...I usually look down the road quite a ways but due to the bobcat incident, I'm a little distracted) and I notice my hood is popped up on the car. Never would have noticed this had the cat not crossed my path. It was rattling but then again I always have the radio up, this morning being no exception. Thankfully at 7:30 there aren't a lot of cars on 75 on a Sunday. So I pull over the try to shut the hood…

...often go awry. This picture pretty much sums up the way I feel right now.

So much for my day off.

I have heard people say things like, "everything if Father-filtered." And..."nothing happens that doesn't go past God's desk first for His stamp of approval..."

I have to wonder. Does every phone call go through His filter? I really have to question that sometimes.

Even sometimes when emergencies happen, I have to wonder, "why today?" Didn't God know this in advance? And if He did, why did He allow it TODAY? Of all days. Oh well, the good thing is, there are more Fridays on the calendar to come, although next week will not be one of those for me. I'll be away with the ladies at  Women of Faith. (Which is not a break for me.)

Today when I calmed down a bit, I flopped down on my bed and picked up a book that has been on my nightstand, Come Away My Beloved, by Frances J. Roberts. It's a devotional classic that has been around for 30 ye…

This will be my view tomorrow...on my day off. I am going to have A WHOLE DAY OFF. It's going to be so wonderful. I'm guarding it with my life! I'm going to enjoy it immensely. This is the view from my back patio. This is what I see when I sit in my jacuzzi. Right now the weather is cooling down, and it's the perfect time to sit on my swing, and read the Bible, or just think in silence. Oh, the bliss.

I'm in good company because Jesus loves to do things like this too. He always guarded His boundaries. We read about it in Matthew 13:36...Jesus left the crowd and He went into the house. The crowd was still there, but He wasn't. He came apart and found a quiet place to rest. There are times even now when life gets too noisy, and I just come apart to find a quiet place to rest. As much as I enjoy people and entertaining and parties, I enjoy solitude to a great degree. Again, I'm in good company. Jesus loves it too.

In Matthew 14:22, Jesus made the disciples g…

Time to crash now but not without counting a few blessings:

1) It's good to be back in Florida...home in my own bed...with my husband! 

2) I'm on track with WW -- and I dropped 1.4 more pounds today at weight in!

3) Reading through Galatians this week, good stuff!

4) I almost have all my initiatives done for the week, which...coming back from a weekend away, is extremely ahead of the game.

5) The weather is beautiful.

6) God is giving me wisdom and peace with every situation in my life.

7) God's grace is sufficient for each day, for every moment, every situation.

8) I stand up for myself more and more all the time - with greater results.

9) I'm learning what it means to be content as Paul said - yet always pressing forward to the prize. I am learning balance.

10) I am committed more than ever to use my time wisely...making the most of every opportunity, minimizing fatal distractions, and maximizing God's power in my life.

I love you Jesus...good night!

I haven't been THIS excited about a Friday coming for a long time.
Today was my first day back in the office. I worked yesterday, in fact a full day - but from home. Which is always easier because I do the first few hours of computer work in my jammies. I get so much done it's RIDICULOUS. Absolutely insane. The reason is, no one can interrupt me. That's how my "work from home" Tuesdays started. By me getting to Thursday and having so much unfinished because of constant interruptions. Distractions. Things that many times did not need my attention but because of my accessibility in the office, I was doomed. So I decided to take my accessibility away one day a week, and WHAMMO, the work began to magically get done.
Well anyway, today was my first day back in. It was fine just super busy with catching up from missing Monday. I have not been home for a day off, and actually been able to take the day off in a while. So I'm REALLY looking forward to it. Really loo…