Let’s Connect!

Camellias & Copper

A Southern Girl's Blog About Life

Sharing

by Filed Under: Faith 1 Comment

As a blogger who shares about my faith, I know that there are times when you just feel the Spirit’s leading, you sit down and before you know it, you’ve written a post that is far beyond yourself.

My sweet friend Whitney over at Southern Hope contacted me earlier this week, with something heavy on her heart.  And a leading from the Lord that she couldn’t contain.  She’s written an incredible heart- and soul-felt post that will tug at your heart.

She and her husband left the Mormon church last year.  And she’s sharing all of what she’s discovered in her post this morning.  If you know the Savior of the World, you will fall more in love with Him.  If you don’t know Him….in entreat you to introduce yourself…  Whitney’s overwhelming joy and love will show you how easy it is to know Him.  Here’s her post: A Belief in the Savior of the World…  Please take a moment to read it and offer her your love and support.

 

Monday Mornin’…You Gave Me No Warnin’

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Faith, Life, Work 5 Comments

Today was one of those days where a warning might have been really helpful.  Just at any point.  Any kind of warning.  Maybe, something, that in bright lights said >WARNING! DANGER Ahead!<

Well, maybe not danger, so to speak, but just warning that things weren’t going to go as “normal”.

I started off my morning reading a hymn in my SRT app.  I rolled back over in bed to close my eyes for 10 more minutes {dang, you SuperBowl for keeping me up late last night!}.

Somehow we all got out of the house on time and to school and work on time.

But then it was like I entered the danger zone.

It’s just busy.  Everything at work is busy right now.  That word is sometimes overused, but for today, it was right on track with what went down.

My workload today was higher than normal.  I got some news that threw me into a little turmoil for a bit {nothing bad about me or anyone else – just sent me for a loop}.  The tire on my car was flat but Andrew was so busy at his hotel that he couldn’t meet me at the tire place to get it fixed so I’m on a donut.  A meeting ran late so while I waited to go in for my part, I was so hungry my stomach was eating itself.  I was tired…like really tired.  I wanted a coke so badly, but this dang wellness scorecard challenge prevents me from drinking one {no, I’m not bitter about it..}.

Then, just as I was accomplishing one task and feeling like I was coming out of my funk…the skies went dark, the wind was hurling and it started to rain.

About that time I also got a text.  My sweet friend who is working on my new logo texted…and basically said that my website crashed as she tried to upload it.

It was one of those things that I was just kind of like, ok.  Now what?  So I sent out a few texts and let the people who know what to do, do what they do.  And I just kept going…knowing my site was going to be down for a few hours.

But I had to turn to Jesus.

Bethel worship is my new thing.  Some of you have probably loved their music for years, but I’ve just recently discovered them.  I closed my door and I turned it up.  I needed to drown the thoughts crowding my mind.  The thoughts and feelings of defeat and that I was being beat-down.

And this song came on and it spoke VOLUMES to my heart and soul.

God I Look To You:
God I look to You, I won’t be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like You do
God I look to You, You’re where my help comes from
Give me wisdom; You know just what to do
Chorus:
I will love You Lord my strength
I will love You Lord my shield
I will love You Lord my rock forever
All my days I will love You God
Bridge:
Hallelujah our God reigns
Hallelujah our God reigns
Hallelujah our God reigns forever all my days
Hallelujah

 

I said a prayer to not be overwhelmed, because, if I am truthful with you, I was.  Totally and completely.  I texted two friends and asked for their prayers.  Everything just seemed like too much.  My wild imagination was probably running a little too wild at that point.  And things were seeming a lot worse than they really were…

So while the clouds had rolled in, literally and figuratively, the wind swirled outside my window…I praised the Lord.

Then, as always…the clouds gave way and the sun came out.  Literally and figuratively.  This afternoon as I rose the blinds in a window of our work area, while it was still dark…the sun came back out.  And the young guy who works near that window sent me a text with the sunglasses emoji to let me know that the glare had returned to his computer screen. ;)

Hallelujah our God reigns.  Forever!

 

My new logo is close to being ready for going live…thanks again to everyone who “voted” last week when I gave you all the four options.  I’m terribly excited about it and a few other things this friend is working on for Camellias and Copper.

 

Now to share with you a picture I captured last night…when I was blogging about my disappointment in the Super Bowl halftime show…and R was supposed to be in the bed…Andrew was sitting next to me on our bed, holding my hand.  R came and sat between us, saw his daddy’s hand on mine, and stuck his right next to it.

I almost melted into a pile of melted mush.Holding hands

The hands that hold me…the ones I see and the ones I don’t see, are many.

Love to you all this really cold Monday night.

Posting From My Heart : All My Love, All My Life

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Faith, Life Leave a Comment

My girlfriend Sheri sent this video out to a few girls in our office last week and I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit since then.

This young couple about to get married has an incredible opportunity to be made over to see what they might look like at ages 50, 70 and 90.

Can you imagine?

Young, vibrant, excited individuals ready to be married.

Seeing themselves how they might look at these ages, after so many years of marriage.  To ponder on the things they might have experienced together in all of those years.  The trials, the joys…the ups the downs.  The for betters and for worses.  For richer and for poorer.  In sickness and in health.  To love and to cherish from this day forward…

The joys that overcame them in the thinking of what could have happened in all the years from when they said “I do” to when they were sitting there, side by side in their 90’s.  What an incredible gift!

To think about how madly in love you are with your boyfriend/girlfriend at the time when you get engaged and then get married and how you’re so vested in each other….

To get there, that same place when you’re 90 takes undying love and commitment.  A will to hold on to each other and not let go.  To never look at the grass on the other side and for one second think it’s greener in that pasture than where you currently stand.

To know that the green grass, the REALLY green grass gets love and attention by its caretaker…  If you don’t “water” and tend to your own marriage, it, like the brown field dies and withers away…

Valentine’s Day is just a month away, and while I love a good excuse to be silly and do fun things for my loves {Andrew and our kids}, it’s not the only day that I/you should make special for the one that you love.

The couples that are still together at 50, 70 and 90 don’t become ordinary.  They don’t become strangers under the same roof.  They pour into each other.  They remember what it was like when they first fell in love.  They spend time together talking, listening, laughing and loving.  They forgive even when they don’t feel like it.  They don’t give up when times get hard.

I’m reminded of course of 1 Corinthians 13:

“If I speak…but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Who wants to be that or hear that, anyway? “Love is patient, kind, not boastful or proud.  It is not self-seeking{!!!!}, it is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs.  It does not delight in evil…Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”

Love isn’t just a feeling.  It’s so much bigger than that. Love is all of the things listed above: kind, patient, protecting, trusting, hoping, persevering…  You are love to your spouse, your kids, your friends and strangers when you are these things.

Of course we will stumble, we will fall and we will fail along the way.  I will lose my temper and act like a maniac at times when I don’t get my way.  But if the majority of the day, weeks, months and years, that I can be these things like patient, trusting and persevering and kind, I win, we win, you win.

Your spouse and your kids will know that they are loved and cherished always.
All My Love, All My Life

And Lord willing, I’ll get to see what Andrew will look like when he’s 90.  Those eyebrows…

Year In Review : 2015 : And Camellia’s Most Read Posts

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Faith, Life 2 Comments

Reflecting back on 2015 has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me.  We’ve had some highs, lows and everything in between.  From a trip to the Bahamas, to the loss of our beloved Lily and a fetus all in the same week, to fun family gatherings and a quick trip to NYC for Christmas!  We’ve covered the gamut of emotions!

I thought it would be fun, a little reminiscent, to check out our most read posts from 2015!

First, a huge “THANK YOU!!”to everyone who has read, liked and/or shared any or all of these posts.  For 2015, I wrote a total of 161 posts!!  I’m going to rank the top 10 based on the number of views…and get ready for this top one.  {Links are in the titles if you want to read/reread these posts!}

  1.  The Sursy.  This one was just short of “viral” on the world wide web!!  Andrew called it a “southern phenomenon!” – over 133k views!!!!!!!  Holey cow, it took off and still continues to blow everything out of the water!  Is it the word?!  Is it in the giving?  I have no idea, but you all LOVED this post and shared it like it was on fire!
  2. SC Flood.  ‘Nuff said, right?  Gosh it was devastating and we’re all still trying to rebuild.  The minor repairs we had to make are still being done: our upstairs a/c is getting installed this week and the downstairs 1/2 bath is almost finished!  I’ll blog about that once it’s done because I can’t wait for you all to see it!  Talk about an upgrade from even this →slightly upgraded powder room from 2013.
  3. Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  Written just a little over two months ago, it was my opportunity to share with you all where we were/are with the grieving and what’s next.  And to share with so many of you, sisters, who have been down this road that at times seems so lonely and sad.  A reminder, we are never alone.  And dear friends, SO MANY of you have trod the path, we can all love on and encourage one another when this trial appears!  For us personally, May is just five months away and we continue to hope and pray that another little one is in the big plan for us.
  4. A Clay Paw.  Lily’s Oncologist and the hospital where she was receiving care for her cancer made this beautiful gift for us and we gave it a special place in our home.
  5. Getting Real and Personal.  This one is funny to me…not sure if it’s because I truly put myself out there – I mean who cares anyway?!  or if it’s the fact that my hair is truly awful in the last photo!  Bless.  I need a hairstylist, makeup artist, stylist….
  6. Thoughts From A Momma.  This one brings up a range of emotions because it was written right after we told the world we were expecting baby #3…and now to know what happened later that week is a bit emotional.  But then to reread some of the sweet things I shared with y’all about moments of being a mom – moments between our kids, with us and them…it’s all just beautiful.
  7. Celebrating Baby Brynn.  A little DIY meets pink and gold glitter…meets our sweet friend Dana is having a baby {and now Brynn is 8 months old!!}!  What a fun morning it was to celebrate the coming of this beautiful little girl!
  8. Christmas in NYC.  Oh, what a wonderful trip!!!!  And there were SO.MANY.PICTURES to share with y’all that the first post bit the dust {not really}, it was so overwhelmed, that I split it into two posts:  NYC 1.  NYC 2.  This was one of the funnest short trips Andrew and I have taken – we had an incredible time doing only a few things, but things that we really wanted to do: ice skating in Central Park, seeing Andrea Bocelli in concert…
  9. Mixed Emotions.  The roller coaster that April was between Reynolds’ 2nd birthday and Lily’s diagnosis and treatment.  Happy and sad all in one beautiful post!
  10. Renewing Love & Faith In Marriage.  A guest post I wrote for a blogger friend, about what it was like to be divorced, and to find love again.  To know that though I came with baggage, my husband finds me beautiful and lovely.  He loves me like Jesus.2015: Looking Back

What a year!  Really, it has been an incredible year and we’ve learned a lot and grown so much.  We’ve loved {and cried} more than we ever dreamed we would.  We laughed A LOT.  There was a lot of play.  A lot of work.  A lot of joy.

I pray as you reflect back on your 2015 that you can see the really good, the little bit of sad and the things that kept you “slammed up against Jesus.”  AND, I hope that your 2016 is filled with love, joy and lots of laughs!

 

Thank you again for all of your sweet messages, notes of encouragement and unconditional love!

Coming Down From The Mountain: Day 2 of Abundance

by Filed Under: Faith, Life Leave a Comment

I hope these posts have been a little bit of a blessing to you…and you’ve gotten a glimpse of what you could hear/witness if you were able to go to one of these Abundance conferences.  Of course if you can’t go, there are SO many resources available:  She Reads Truth App (that I’ve gushed about so many times), Proverbs 31 Ministries, LifeWay Resources and so on.

Yesterday’s post was focused on the speakers we heard Friday night.

Today’s post is on the speakers we heard Saturday morning.

Our facilitator was Lisa Harper – who, by the way, is hilarious!  She was our first speaker Saturday morning after we had another “couch conversation” with the SRT gals.

Ms. Harper spoke from Mark 13, focusing in on the times when this was written and our current times.  She referenced the recent shooting in California and spoke that these are what Jesus calls the  “birth pains”.

  • Jesus isn’t coming back right now.
  • We have the pains of nation rising against nation, etc. but they’re just pains…
  • Regardless of the pains…we have the hope of GLORY.
  • Jesus has won the victory over war, hatred, sin and death!!

 

Our last speaker was Lysa Terkeurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries.  She focused in on 1 Samuel 25:

  • David was overlooked by everyone; but he was hand picked by God {YOU may be overlooked by everyone but YOU are hand picked by God…He is your creator}
  • God sends us back into the field of every day life to develop the character to match our calling
    • David was annointed as the next King…but then he was sent back into the fields
  • With regards to Abigail…she humbled herself before David; her humility {our humility} is a position of incredible strength
  • We must exchange whispers with God {in the early morning, when our alarm first goes off} before we can give shouts to the world
  • Watch where you pay attention; Never take your eyes off the Master; the Master knows things you don’t know {an analogy she gave in talking about scuba diving lessons}

One of the coolest things available to take advantage of while we were there was this Prayer Wall.  You just filled out a card and posted it on the wall.  When we were dismissed Saturday afternoon, each person got a card and you were asked to pray over that person/situation/whatever for the next 30 days.   I’m praying for total strangers…and trusting that the Lord is at work.Abundance

How can I pray for you? Prayer is both a blessing and a gift and there is power in it. It would be an honor to pray for you…

Coming Down From The Mountain: Day 1 of Abundance

by Filed Under: Faith, Life Leave a Comment

Well it was a whirlwind of a weekend for us {the whole family really}, especially Dana and Me.

Florida and back in 24 hours.  I know some of you have done that, but man, that’s a lot of riding and driving in a short span of time!

Ah, but it was SO worth it.

Friday morning we did our normal routine, I dropped my babies off at school and then instead of going to work, I went to Publix.  Sometimes I like to think I’m a good wife.  I bought milk so Andrew wouldn’t have to.  That’s it.  One gallon of milk.  And then I went home and did my nails.  Ha!

I had already packed all my bags and everything was in the car.  For the next hour or so it was quiet time, prep time for me and my heart/mind.

At 9 I left our home and drove to Starbucks to pick up “coffee” for Dana and me so that we could hit the road with something hot and yummy in our hands.

By 9:40ish we were on the interstate, excited and expectant for what we were going to be taking part in later that day.

Thankful for safe travels and sweet conversation, we were at our lovely hotel by a little before 3.

We had a little time to rest and refresh before our evening began.

The schedule was like this:

5:30 – doors opened

7 – event began

9:30 – dismiss for the night

9:45 – lights out….ha.  That wasn’t really in the schedule, but we were asleep by shortly after 10!

We ate a REALLY early dinner and then walked over to the Ocean Center Arena, where the wind whipped our curls back to straight and just about took us off Mary Poppins-style.

But the lights…the Christmas lights were just beautiful!20151204_174409 20151204_17443420151204_174454 Tree

 

20151204_215041

We got a pic with Raechel from SRT!

I was super stoked to hear from the girls that started She Reads Truth.  Two sweet, southern belles who love Jesus and want the rest of us girls {well, themselves included} to be in the Word every day and are trying their best to help us all.

I was even more excited that Christy Nockels was leading our worship time.  Her voice.  This is one of my most favorite songs: Waiting Here For You←  She has incredible talent and just about explodes for Him on stage.

Our first speaker was Kelly Minter.  She focused on John 5.  And for those who might try to go to one of these conferences {I HIGHLY recommend…click here for more info!} I won’t give away too much but she posed a few questions:

  • Do you WANT to be healed?  Or do you like the problem/issue/thing that you can use as your identity?
  • Do you enjoy your sin?
  • Do you want to follow Jesus and get well on HIS terms?
  • What is your pool?  What is the one thing that you think can make you well/give you what you need/be the end-all, be-all?
  • How many times do I say that there is no one around to help me?  There will always be someone better/faster/stronger/prettier/smarter/more creative/more talented…
  • Jesus is the answer outside all other answers

So good.

Next was Jefferson Bethke.  And this guy talked faster than DJ and Dana combined.  And for those of y’all who know these sweet friends…that’s really fast.  Holey moley.  They should have told us to drink some caffeine before he got up to speak, just so we could keep up.  The energy level at 8-whatever it was that night was major.  I perked up in my chair so that I could keep up with him.

  • Genesis 2:15 – What does God want?  Intimacy → Into Me You See
  • Do I put myself into a position that without God I would not survive?
  • Psalm 40 – God doesn’t want my stuff.  He wants ME
  • Do you want to sit at the table and break bread?
  • Do you want Jesus in your life so that you can have MORE of Him or so that He’ll give you what you want and then He’ll go away?

There were so many challenges put forth from the stage to us attending.  But the two things I felt like I took away that first session were: 1. How many times do I say that there is no one there to help me when Jesus is standing right there?  and 2. Do I put myself into a position that I am utterly and totally dependent upon God?

 

If you have any questions for me, or want to know more about any of this, please leave a comment or send me a message {links at the top of the page!}.

Stay tuned for Day 2…coming tomorrow!20151204_175749

Abundance

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Faith, Life Leave a Comment

One evening this Summer I went out to check the mail and found a lovely little packaged envelope, from LifeWay, amidst all the credit card offers and fake keys that might just be the winner! of a new car!

Curious about what this “Abundance” envelope was all about, I quickly opened it.20151203_201822

There were several cards…with wonderful reminders:

In Him Little is Much.

In Him Less is More.

In Him Hardship is Blessing.

In Him Wrong is Made Right.

 

…You Have Brought Us Out to a Place of Abundance – Psalm 66:12

 

His Love Multiplies.

His Mercy is Boundless.

His Grace is Gratuitous.

His Forgiveness is Excessive.

His Kindness is Generous.

His Faithfulness Overflows.

In Him, Our Lives Can Be Abundant.

 

His is the More For Which We Long.

There’s Plenty In  Him.

He is More Than Enough.20151203_201852

I took a picture of one with the conference info and sent it to a few friends with, “I’m going.  Who’s in?”

Without a doubt I knew I was going.  It wasn’t a question of if I was going, but more of, who was going with me?

This year has been hard in so many ways.  Yes, the Lord has been faithful.  He has been loving and He has been so incredibly kind.

But I need an event.  It’s been several years since I’ve been to an event….  To go on top of the mountain and worship, uninterrupted.  To be with the Holy of Holies.  And what better time of year to do that than at Christmas.

So, tomorrow morning…I am picking up my wild and crazy, sweet Jesus-loving friend Dana and off to Florida we will go!  For one full day.

One night and one morning of hearing some amazing speakers.  Of being with a bunch of crazy women {moms gone wild!} who love Jesus madly.  I can’t wait.  It’s going to be awesome.

Tonight I’m packing my little bag and getting ready for the trek to the top of the mountain!

Pray for mine and Dana’s hubs…they’re single dads for ONE whole night!

I hope you have an amazing weekend!  I can’t wait to come back and tell y’all all about it!

 

For more info and future dates of the Abundance Conference, click here.

Archives

My Pages

Links

There are links on my site that are affiliate links, meaning I may be compensated if you choose to purchase an item via clicking on the link I have provided. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.