Deanna Doss Shrodes

Happy Sunday!! Today is a great day for several reasons, two of which are... First, that I'm posting this morning at Lost Daughters, a place I love to be. It's the place where adoption blogging started for me. I am part of the amazing sisterhood there and blessed to be the spiritual columnist as well. To read today's post, go here. Second, it's an amazing day because it's our Celebration Church beach day, picnic and water baptism at sunset, at Ft. Desoto. It's a day where we gather under a huge pavilion and grill out, and everybody brings tons of picnic foods -- sides and desserts. We eat and swim all day. It's so fun! I take one of my noodles out in the water and float and talk to friends out there most of the day. (And wear plenty of sunscreen!) When sunset is about to happen, we gather together at the water's edge and baptize people. It's the best day ever. I'm saying a prayer for everyone who reads here today. Just so you know. ...

Yesterday was an overwhelming day. I didn't blog. Yeah, I know...that makes two days in a week. People might actually think the apocalypse is coming since I haven't blogged two days this week. It's a sign of the times, friends. Get your cans or pork and beans ready, and prepare to flee to the mountains.  Seriously, I'm blogging today at Lost Daughters, writing at my spiritual column on the site, so check me out there today . I'm talking about why adoptees don't let go of the past. The answer may be a little different than you expect. For those who are adoptees or are those who care about them, it's important information to know. One more day til' Christmas Eve!!  Help us, all Lord! Something tells me the world shouldn't be this stressed out on Your birthday. Oh for an opportunity to just get quiet and focus on You!

I tried to ease back into life in Tampa on Saturday, after the cruise. Well, there was no easing in today.  It was a busy day but an excellent one.  Hearts were healed and lives were changed. I preached today at Celebration. The message was entitled, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" God did awesome things around the altars. There were people who were so touched, particularly one young lady. Wowwwweeee, God reallllly got ahold of her! I just wept   -- even an hour after service I was still wiping the tears before heading to Christmas show rehearsals. She was so overcome by the power of God, our young adult leaders, Mike and Sunshine, had to physically help her out as she was leaving the service. It was a day of miracles in more ways than one. Still I can think back and savor my memories of a week spent in such tranquil peace.

What a great weekend. I'm sad that it's ending but so excited to be starting another fabulous week!! Our Thanksgiving was just phenomenal. We have so much to be grateful for. I was just overwhelmed by the love of friends and family. We actually shared 3 Thanksgiving meals together. I seriously have probably gained at least 10 pounds. Not happy about that, but so grateful for all the love and laughter that was shared around dinner and dessert tables this past week. Our house and the church are both fully decorated for Christmas. It gives me a warm and happy feeling inside just to be in both atmospheres. LOVE it! The topper of the weekend was a visit from very old friends. Well, they're not old. But we've been friends a loooooooooong time. They've known me even longer than my husband has. Nancy Tallagsen Coradi grew up just a few streets over from me, when we were kids. We went to school together and sang in the choir. We've got lots of memories together. ...

I've been away a few weekends in a row at conferences, so this weekend I've been catching up on a lot of  house and yard work. So much that my leg muscles ache with each move! I might just take some ibuprofen to get through all my responsibilities today... The best part of my weekend so far was connecting with my support system at Lost Daughters .  The writers group there provides something for me that I've never had before and I'm so grateful.  I don't post blogs there all the time, yet. Just a few. I have a lot of them sitting in draft that I'm just not ready to publish. A few times I've even set them to publish and then moved them back to draft.  When dealing with issues that aren't ready for public consumption, I'm able to process them privately with the writer's group.  I've gone to counseling before but I must say, this is better because I'm actually talking to people who share the same experience. It's the missing ingredi...

It's bedtime. I'm wildly excited. I left for the church this morning at 7:30 AM and I just got home a short while ago. I've been there all day, working. Never went home til' after our leadership meeting tonight, pictured above. It was a great day at church. Fabulous worship service! Power packed! And, we had a surprise visit from the Grimm's, a family in our church in Maryland where we formerly pastored. Choir practice was all afternoon and I stayed in the office to work until leadership meeting this evening. This is all after being away all weekend, at the Pen-FL women's conference. I'm truly ready for sleep tonight. And really, really glad to be snuggling with my man. I love being home. That's all, my friends...that's it for my little weekend wrap up. :)  

Here's what's in my heart, in no particular order. Get ready for random. I'm "good and tired" tonight. Not just tired, but a good-tired. I'm so glad to be sitting here, with Max. He's the jelly on my biscuit, the gravy on my mashed potatoes, the marshmallow on my snowball. Speaking of marshmallows...I've been on a "sweet fast" for almost a month. I'd pretty much kill to have a brownie right now. With walnuts. Oh my.    After the Experience Conference, coming home and unpacking, cooking for choir lunch and then going through the Sunday schedule: Up at the crack of dawn Head for church at 7:30 AM Lead rehearsal Teach my Life Group Morning Worship Choir Luncheon Choir Rehearsal Rehearsal was over at 3:00 and I stayed at the church all day today and worked until about 6:30 PM, by myself. It had to be done. I have some more to do tonight before sleep comes again. I'm headed to California this Thursday, so ...

Today I'm blogging over at Lost Daughters .  This is my third time of blogging there as a regular contributor, and I'm loving it. If you missed my previous posts there you can find them here and here . Even more than writing there, I love being a part of the Lost Daughters community.  God is doing something big in my heart regarding reaching out to adoptees and I know it will eventually be used to help a lot of people, especially right here where I live in Tampa. I have so many dreams in my heart, and plans to get there. I just need more years to accomplish it all. I struggle at times with believing it can all be achieved in one lifetime. Thank God I know how to JUGGLE. (You knew I'd say something about JUGGLE, right? Of course.  If you haven't already gotten your copy, go here or here . And, remember, I'm giving away a coaching package next Saturday. Why not try to win?)    We're having something unique at Celebration Church today. Breakfast at chu...

Right now we're waiting on hurricane Isaac to get to Tampa. Reports keep conflicting one another and I'm not sure whether he's going to arrive tonight or tomorrow. Either way, I'm not worried. I've been through this before, and I have trust in the Lord. Even if the worst would happen, I still have trust in the Lord. We have enough food to make it through the storm, and we've got the sandbags laid out, and we're prepared to be shut in for a while. Ultimately even with all that ~ I trust.  I've been through so many storms in life. Bad storms. I've been through way worse emotional storms than tropical ones. I am thinking compared to everything else I've weathered, Isaac should be a piece of cake. And, we do appreciate your prayers. By the way, JUGGLE is at #11 today in it's category on Amazon! This weekend it's fluctuated between 8 to 14. Thanks to my friends who are spreading the word and keeping it up there. I am still pinch...

The e-book release is almost here. And, Happy Sunday!  I'm exhausted and it's just starting!  I'm not complaining, simply describing my state of body and mind.  I have been going non-stop getting things ready for the release of the e-book on Tuesday. Are you ready???  All you have to do is click a button and start reading. Me on the other hand...well, I've got a lot more than that to do right now. Maybe you're wondering, "what more can she possibly have to do?" And if so, you've probably never written a book. :) My day today will be filled with rehearsals and services and loving on church folks and first time guests and all that good stuff...and then I'll come home to work on the book release again. I'm also posting on Lost Daughters again today. Have you figured out yet that I love this?  Much love,  

A friend of mine has been making a lot of these cards lately, for fun. I tried my hand at it last night and made a few. This one is one of my favorites. Enjoy it and feel free to use it. Some of my pw friends are finding it quite amusing. I'm calling this a weekend mini potpourri as opposed to my standard weekend potpourri because sharing beyond this little cartoon probably isn't best at the moment. I  have something special and fit for public consumption to share tomorrow, so be watching. Much love,

I'm on vacation. Glory. Halleluiah. And. Thank. You. Jesus. !!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so ready for some down time. So ready. I think some other people were probably ready for me to go on vacation too. I am just edgy and need to breathe. Been there? This week I think my kids have said, "Calm down, Mom" about fifty times.  Sometimes, a mom's just gotta put herself in time out!  I often use Sunday night posts to update my readers who care to read about what's happening in my world.  This week Larry, Savanna and I are on vacation. The boys couldn't get time off from work to come, so it's just us three. The boys will hold down the fort at home and take care of Max and Maddie. We aren't traveling far this time. I'm too tired, quite honestly! We're just enjoying rest and relaxation in Florida. We had a terrific day at church today! Celebration has been having a wonderful summer and today was no exception, with the hospitality room absolutely packe...

I'm on creative overload! I love it, but I'm just sayin'....................... Just thought I'd share tonight on my blog for any readers who are interested about my weekend. Friday I worked most of the entire day on writing projects. It's my day off and that's the time, when I am not spending time with my family, that I really hone in on writing projects. Right now I'm getting a book proposal completed to submit by Wednesday. I have been putting my heart and soul into this, countless hours...15 minutes here and there that I have to spare on regular days and then large chunks of time on my days off. Fingers crossed and prayers circled. Please, believe with me. This particular project will touch countless lives. I am believing for a breakthrough, that just the right publisher will respond. Maybe this will be the one. If not, don't ever think for a second that I'm giving up. I've ripped the words defeat and quit out of my dictionary! S...

So the weekend is coming to a close...my sunset bike ride is over and I'm ready to take a bath and get in my jammies and snuggle with the man. Now that's the life! Aside from church ministry and coaching, I've been spending large amounts of time putting the finishing touches on my upcoming e-book (to be released on Kindle), and a book proposal that's getting ready to go out. We had a great service at church today -- the worship team/frontline/choir was absolutely rockin' the place. For a moment there I thought we were gonna be raptured! I just couldn't be more proud of our amazing team. Larry and Dustin are prepping to take a huge chartered busload full of our Celebration Church teens to camp tomorrow.   Our youth group has absolutely exploded. This is what our youth are traveling to and from camp in this year: God has been so good to us! I can hardly wait for them to get back. If we thought we were gonna be raptured this week in service what in t...

People tend to hate this Sunday of the year because they lose an hour of sleep and are so tired at church. (Especially the worship team who come really early.) Not this year! Today was an amazing day at Celebration. We did something new called, "GET YOUR HOUR OF SLEEP BACK" SUNDAY. We started service at 11:30 AM instead of 10:30 AM. And... Our amazing team served pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage to everyone, along with coffee, tea, milk and juice. During service!  They loved it!  I am so thankful for the faithfulness of God and His people. Our team worked together to make this day an amazing hit! Speaking of amazing, tomorrow morning my husband is taking me... on a cruise to Key West and the Bahamas!  Yes, we are going on another cruise. I have a husband who is now possessed , addicted very fond of cruises. Ever since the church sent us on our first one last April for Pastor Appreciation, he has been hooked on this form of relaxation. Hey, I'm not complain...

Thursday was Dustin's birthday...after work we went to dinner as a family and I had made him a MRSA cake as he requested... Then on Friday it was our day off.  I love my Fridays!  I live for them, mostly to rest.  Most of the day I stayed in my PJ's I was so exhausted.  Larry and Max stayed there with me for the most part...that's always fun.  We watched movies in bed. Max lays between Larry and I and has to have one of us petting him constantly.  We don't mind. Friday night Larry and the kids went to the Celebration Church softball game where Larry and Jordan played.  The team won. :)   After that they came home and I had rolled out of bed and gotten showered and dressed and the five of us went to a late night showing of "In Time."  The boys' friend Stephen went too.  Stephen has been like a family member for the past ten years and has practically lived here at times. On Saturday morning I went and got my first pedi sinc...