Deanna Doss Shrodes

Oh what a night. It's 1:55 am and I'm just getting home and to bed. Cathy and I had the most memorable night ever.
We left my house at 4:30 pm for Wauchula which should have only taken us and hour and 45 minutes. Well, four hours later we arrived. I'm not kidding. Seriously.
We got Mapquest directions. NEVER AGAIN!
We followed them exactly but one important part was left out. We ended up near Kissimmee. (Stop laughing!) We drove for almost 4 hours straight aside from getting gas THREE (count 'em three) times. I am not kidding. I just prayed that my honorarium (if I actually arrived and got one) would cover the cost of my gas! (It did.)
So there Cathy and I sat after driving through some serious country, in front of a DUDE RANCH. Yes, a dude ranch. I called Larry and said, "honey, we are not in the right place. Please look this up on the internet and tell me where we are. He googled it and said, "ooohhhh babe, you are really far away..." I freaked. Service wa…

We kept Savanna home from school today. Checking her a few times in the middle of the night we could see she still had a fever. Larry and I both stayed here with her today and worked from home while taking care of her and then Lar took her to the doctors as soon as we could get her an appointment. She has a virus and just has to keep Motrin and fluids going for a few days and she'll be fine. I am relieved that she doesn't have strep throat as that has been going around. (At left is a pic of her when she's well, typing on the computer after school one day.)
I got a ton of initiatives done today as I always do when I work from home. I would say probably 2/3 of my written work for this week, as I really pounded away at it this morning. It's kind of a relief to start the week this way as I have to start working on messages for my Africa preaching trip and I'm way behind and would you believe the trip is just a little over a month away? I know, I know, I can hardly belie…

If you've been praying for me these past few months...thank you again. You'll never know how much it means. Slowly, the darkness has been dissipating. Today was a major stride forward. What an awesome day we had at church!
Right up front in the beginning portion of the service, four people accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord! Worship was off the chain! God is up to a lot of stuff right now -- good stuff -- and we are taking some major steps forward.
I'm starting to look forward to waking up in the mornings again. Some of you know this is really a significant change for me in these past few months. I just ask you to continue to keep us in your prayers. Everything isn't solved yet, but we're on our way.
This is also a really busy week for me and I covet your prayers just for that. Monday night I'm preaching in Wachula. It'll be a real late night by the time I get home. (I'm coming back home the same night.) Tuesday in addition to my regular work I'm teachi…

glumbert - Laughing AbWorkoutClick above and prepare to laugh your head off...

Hey friends, I have a few extra days in advance to tell you this time, that Larry and I are getting ready to co-host America's Prayer meeting once again. This time it will be this coming Tuesday night at midnight (or early Wednesday morning should I say -- we start at midnight and to to 3 am on Wednesday morning, EST.)
Usually Larry guest hosts by himself. But a few weeks ago he invited me to co-host with him, with the blessing of the general manager at the station. Well...the next day after we did the show, the GM called Larry and said, "I just need to let you know the feedback we got at the station was incredible!" He said they got many phone calls and emails just raving over the fact that a husband-wife team co-hosted!! People just loved it. (Just another illustration for me to use in my teachings that partnership ministry is "where it's at!") So yesterday the GM called Larry to let him know they needed a guest host again and he said, "Brother, I lov…

Well folks, some great relief for our food spending has come to Tampa Bay, and I for one am thrilled! I want to tell you about it if you don't already know, and encourage those of you who live in other places to google and see if there's a store near you. ALDI'S has just come to Tampa this week!!!
We used to have ALDI's when we lived in Ohio and I loved it. I am definitely an ALDI fan. Yesterday was the grand opening at the store in Tampa we went after work last night and did an incredible amount of shopping for at least half of what we would have paid anywhere else and I am not kidding.
Now before any of you say, "I can't do all my shopping there..." Well, neither can I, but I do get a great majority of things there and just fill in the gaps with a few things at another store.
Some of you who have never heard of it may be saying, "what is ALDI'S?" It's an incredibly low-priced grocery store. I'm getting ready to use actual statistical …

Hardly had time to Twitter...

or blog today...

Just slammed with work. We are trying out a new printer and this means TONS of free printing opportunities so therefore we are going a little bonkers with creating right now and I've been doing that as well as a lot of other wrap ups today.

It has been an insanely busy day but it was a GOOD DAY and for that I'm ever grateful.

Don't ever, ever, ever underestimate the joy of a GOOD DAY!

Tomorrow's fun Friday so I'll be back with more blogging tomorrow. Looking forward to a day off with the Teeb. We need it.
Last but not least as I sign off tonight let me say that I sense the hand of God in some things that are happening right now. I'm sensing some very good things. Not at the breakthrough stage yet but let me tell you we are so on the verge, I can TASTE IT!
Recently a new girl who has been a real blessing to me, Melinda, gave me this photo. It's a real photo of a cloud formation that looks like the "hands of God&qu…

And on the heels of this post where I talked about meals we wonder why we don't make more often, I'd like to talk now about the things you WISH you could eat every day but know you can't, at least unless you want to be as wide as your dining room table or fall over from a heart attack!

Here's my Top 10 list of things I can sparingly eat but would eat all the time if no health or weight consequences were involved:

1) Hamburgers with gravy
2) Pork chops with gravy - especially my mother in law's, they're AMAZING.
3) Biscuits with gravy
4) Are you seeing a theme here? I'll try to get beyond the gravy stuff, and let's just suffice it to say ANYTHING with GRAVY...
5) Donuts - especially Dunkin Donuts yeast donut with chocolate frosting...mmmm
6) Coke Slurpees
7) Anything dripping with cheese - all varieties of cheese
8) Any kind of pie but fav's are: cherry, banana cream, blueberry
9) Potato chips with dip
10) Cheesecake and Chocolate - that one's a tie.

There a…

We had a wonderful morning today! It started out with us meeting Greg & Kerry Todd for breakfast at First Watch. (They are pictured here with their children, Adryana and Arjay, and they have another child on the way!) The thing I love most in ministry is spending time with people, just bonding in relationship. As anybody who reads my blog for more than five minutes knows, I have a ton of administrative and written work to do, but getting out and being with people is what I do love most.
This morning we met them and shared a delicious meal and talked about all kinds of things, with the high point being Greg's coaching Larry. Greg is a physical therapist who owns and operates his own clinic, Renewal Rehabilitation, where he works with professional atheletes and just regular people as well, doing physical therapy and rehabiliation. And in addition, he is a serious runner who participates in many races throughout the year. I mean, sometimes he runs 18 miles or more a day. Pretty am…

It's been an extremely busy day today, knocking out a lot of work. I mean piles of it. And at the end of that all I have to say is that I'm continuing to persevere.
"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." ~ Newt GingrichOf course the Bible says it best, much better than a Gingrich quote...
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:2-4 (The Message)
I am still working through trials. A few months have gone by now and some have asked if my trial has lifted...and the answer is no. But I'm a much better person for it. Remembering that just like Ezekiel, God's goal above all is to make us more like Him...to ma…

This is THE funniest thing I have seen in a long time! I was ROFL when Larry showed me this. You are going to absolutely love it, no matter who you are voting for. I get so sick of it when celebrities (whether Republican or Democrat or Independent) try to act like they are some kind of authority (more so than any of the rest of us) on what should happen with our country! **sigh** Barbra Streisand (who this video is about) said she would move out of the country if George Bush got re-elected. What I want to know is, why is she still here? Several people I know personally would have even helped her pack the moving truck.

Yep, I'm posting twice today. :-) And it's the weekend to boot!
I am missing several of my ministry friends right now like crazy. It's been a lonely day for me because of that. I'm with my family and I've been cleaning and cooking. I haven't been "alone" all day yet I long for sisters in ministry. I'm getting ready to go to a dinner party in just a few minutes, and I'm sure it will be pleasant. But I do long to be across the table with a cup of coffee from Tara, Melissa, and some other of you friends who are reading this, and just talk until we can't talk anymore about things we can't talk to anyone else about. It's just been one of those kinda days, ya know? And I've been making church related calls all day long while I've done work around the house and I'm just sick of the phone although all my conversations have been pleasant enough and just checking on things and people here and there. If you are in ministry, you kno…

Do you ever sit down to dinner with your family and while eating, say something like, "why don't we have this particular meal more often?" That has happened to me quite a bit and I thought I'd ask my blog readers if it happens to you too.

I’m talking about things you eat at home, not going out to eat. And I’m talking about things your whole family likes. It’s totally understandable why you don’t make something all the time or more often if your family doesn’t like it. Here’s some things we eat on occasion and usually while we are eating and everyone’s raving about it, I’m thinking, “why don’t I fix this more often?”

1) Turkey and dressing - every Thanksgiving I say, “why don’t I make this more?” No, not the entire sha-bang – that would kind of minimize Thanksgiving if we had the whole meal during the year at another time but I am talking just cooking a turkey. I never cook a turkey except on Thanksgiving. And I always wonder, “why?” because we all love turkey.

2) Ham – …

"I don't want to do this...but I have to..." How many times have you heard a friend say that and groan? How many times have you said it?

Many times I talk through things here on my blog to work it out within myself. Yeah, it's cheaper than counseling. (GRIN) With that said, I'm not making statements with this post, I'm asking questions. Because I really don't know. I've been giving some thought to something...just how free can a person be? One time I was complaining about something and a friend said to me, "Deanna Shrodes! What are you complaining about? You don't HAVE to do anything! All you HAVE to do is live, die, and pay taxes!" That sounds nice but I don't believe it to be true. I've always said -- you can be as free as you want to be. Do you know how many sermons I've preached where I've said that??! *sigh* But I have to confess there are times I wonder whether I should go back and make a retraction on that and t…

It's time for a change, my friends!
Stat counter reveals a ton of things to a blogger, and one of those things is how people find you in the first place. After noticing on my stat counter that a ton of regular readers who read my blog every day "google" or use other search engines with my name each and every time to find it, I thought it was a bit ridiculous for you to have to do that. It's clear why you can't remember the address... (http://www.lifetimeintimateportraitds.blogspot.com/ -- what was I thinking when I did that?!) So, I decided to simplify for your sakes and anyone else who wants to very easily find me. Yes, it's time we become more user friendly around here.
You won't have to google me anymore to find my main blog.
From now on the address of this blog is simply: http://www.deannashrodes.com/.
You can still find it here at this old address for a few days but thereafter it will automatically be re-directed to the new address. Right now my other bl…

Wherever we go, whatever we do,we're gonna go through it together.
We may not go far, but sure as a star, wherever we are, it's together.
Wherever I go I know he goes.Wherever I go I know she goes.
No fits, no fights, no feuds and no egos, amigos, together!
Through thick and through thin, all out or all in
And whether it's win, place or show.
With you for me and me for you, we'll muddle through whatever we do.
Together, wherever we go.
Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim

The lyrics above are from the song "Together Wherever We Go". It's from the musical Gypsy, and I sang it in high school way back in the day. :-) Good times.

One thing that has always been really important to me in my closest friendships is loyalty. Those who are my covenant friends can tell you I'm fiercely loyal to the core. Recently several situations have occurred that have tested the strength of those relationships and I'm happy to say they've come out strong with flying colors! Not …

I opened this up last night before going to sleep and absolutely cracked up! Larry says, "what's going on?" I said, "Tara just compared me to Madea. I can't wait to open up this article and see what she says!" She wrote all about it today on TRW.

She was absolutely 100% correct. I've got the high heels and earrings off and could care less how much the mascara runs. For my covenant friends, I stand ready to throw down at a moment's notice. As one of my favorite songs says...

Keep smiling, keep shining
knowing you can always count on me...for sure...
that's what friends are for...
Through good times, and bad times...
I'll be on your side forever more...
ohhhh that's what friends are for...

Who are the people who take the "Gallup poll"?

When you see that Fox News or CNN has taken a poll, who are those people?

ME! MY FAMILY! Yes, we are among them.

Seriously, a few months ago we got a call asking us to be a Gallup poll family. That means that they call us to ask us various things and we are part of the statistics on their polls.

We're busy and I don't need another thing to do or another phone call to take but Larry thought it was pretty cool and said, "hey, that's a great opportunity, let's do it!" So we did.

This past week on "Fun Friday" I got the kids off to school and went back to sleep for a few hours and the phone rang and Larry passed it to me. With his sleep mask still on, he passed it over to me mumbling something about..."here, it's a poll about the election..."

Disclaimer here: Keep reading, I'm not going to talk about who I am or am not voting for. (I never talk here on the blog about that -- only a…

Had a real good day in the house today. I expected it after my Holy Ghost throwdown prayer meeting I had (just me and Him) yesterday. I chronicled it yesterday in one of my psalms to God in my other (new) blog yesterday. I came with expectation. He met it. He's good that way.
This was our second week of "The Blessed Life" Wow, wow, wow is all I can say. Amazing. Totally amazing. I can't say enough about this series. If you are a pastor reading this, trust me on this one, YOU NEED TO DO THIS. ASAP. If you want more info on this, contact me. I can't say enough about it -- it will revitalize your church as you know it!
Had some great visitors today, among them the Southeastern student, Melinda, who I met at Unstoppable. She is an absolutely incredible singer -- and was at Unstoppable as part of the worship team. She expressed interest in being part of our church and I thought it might not actually work as far as being involved with living in Lakeland, but then she in…

Cassandra over at Tripping Around the Sun tagged me to do this meme. Haven't done one in a while...here we go:

First: post a picture of you and your kids.


Here are two photos - I don't have a picture of me with all three, just one of me with the boys, and then one with Savanna. Guess we need to take one of us all together now that you mention it... geez, what kind of mother am I? (lol)

Second: Answer the questions.

1. How many children do you have? Three ~ Dustin, Jordan and Savanna

2. What are their ages? Dustin - 18, Jordan - 17, Savanna - 11

3. What time of day do you start your day? 6:00 A.M.

4. What do you eat for breakfast? Depends what day it is and if I'm on point with WW or not! If I'm not on point it could be a PB & J but if I am on point usually a 1/2 bagel, or my special WW egg sandwich.

5. Do they watch TV? Yes, more than I would like but it's not one of the main things I make a huge deal over. I am much more of an easy going Mom than most.

6. What are thei…

As if I needed a new one! I know what some of you are thinking, "Deanna Shrodes, you need another blog like you need a hole in the head!"

Alright, stop the chastisement. Remember, "there is therefore now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus..." (lol)

Seriously, why am I starting yet another blog? Well, first let me say I am not sure I'll post in it every single day. Keep in mind, none of my other blogs are everyday ones. But here's the reason behind it:

My first blog had a psalm like quality, in that it was the personal cry of my heart day to day. Good or bad, it was first person to the extreme, between God and me, but available for public viewing. Over time as I switched to blogger and started this blog you are reading now, my daily blog evolved to focus on ministry, work, family happenings, social issues and many other things. It lost the intimacy factor that I missed so much, yet I didn't want to do away with my new style of blogging either…

Many of you who read this blog know that I also co-write another blog with my friend, Pastor Tara Sloan, called Equal Time. That particular blog is dedicated exclusively to issues of biblical equality. We do not post there everyday, but if we have something to say on the subject, that's generally where it goes (though we sometimes can't help posting something on this topic on our personal blogs, as it's so much a part of our DNA.)

Some of you might not know the blog exists, and we've just updated the look of the blog and posted some new things so I thought I'd give it a shout out. Also pass the word along to those friends you have who care about this issue and might want to read as well as come on over and comment about it. Find the blog here.

Hey friends! I said "Covenant" in the first couple sentences! Hope you were listening, but actually I slid the word in there four times. :-)

Just wanted you to know I was really thinking of you who are my regular readers and friends.

Larry and I got home at approximately 5 am. I was wide awake when we were done the show at 3 am because I had so much strong coffee during the show. lol Seriously. We were starving when we got done and did something we haven't done in a long time...years, in fact...we went out to an all night place for breakfast. Fun! We used to do that all the time before the kids were born, and we've done it once or twice since they've been born, but it brings back great memories of when we used to burn the midnight oil working at the church office and sometimes we'd look up and realize, "hey, it's 3 am" and we'd go somewhere for breakfast. That was in the first two years of our marriage before Dustin was born and we were youth …

This is kind of last minute but I wanted to tell all of you who are my personal friends (not just lurkers, but hey, you lurkers can watch too...be my guest) that Larry and I are going to co-host America's Prayer Meeting tonight on CTN. Due to today's amazing technology, all of you have the ability to tune in, no matter where you are, and watch a few minutes and see our smiling faces if you want to. (Although I'm sure you won't stay up the entire show - it's three hours long, Lord help us!) The show is not only nationwide, it's worldwide. Larry hosts at times when Bro. Dortch (Richard - the regular host) is out. Tonight he had to make a trip to the Phillipines, so they called and asked Larry to fill in and he wants me to host with him. So if you want to tune in to see the hottest pastor in all of America host a prayer meeting along with his adoring wife, tune in! How to? In Tampa it's on Direct TV, usually channel 3 or 22...it's also on SkyAngel (worldwi…

And here is yet another re-cap of the Unstoppable Conference weekend from LaDonna Jones, who pastors in North Port, FL with her husband, Keith.
People keep writing about it and as long as they do, I'll keep posting their testimonies and insights.
I agree with LaDonna, the weekend was just what God ordered!
Mmm...yup. Still missing everyone.