"It's Like Cotton Candy"

I had come upon a blogging block and I had no clue as to what I should blog about next. And alas, inspiration came to me in the form of a text message that my sister Joycelin sent me. The text message was actually a picture message of the Arizona sky. Not just any sky, this was a sky flavored with just enough pink to tinge the clouds a tasty cotton candy color. Joycelin captioned the photo "It's Like Cotton Candy". Cotton Candy we all know is a substance of airy threaded sugar and it just doesn't have much substance, also it is not known as a nourishing food source. Joycelin's picture message title clearly described to me how some Christians live their lives today. Sadly a lot of Christians are living a Cotton Candy Christianity, they take the nourishment out of the word of God, color it and fill it with sugary content and sweet things that they wish to consume. Let's not be a Cotton Candy Christian! Let us not lack faith and substance in our decisions and study, and let us live by the entire word of God. Let us feed upon it daily so that we may grow strong from its full nourishment, let us not melt away like spun sugar when our Faith is tested! I was originally going to write about the origin of cotton candy and fun facts but the above words seemed more important today. This week a friend died suddenly. Death makes you think just how fragile life is, we truly are as a shadow in this world. We never know when our Lord will call us home, it may be tonight, or in a week, or maybe even in one year. My point is that you must make sure you have Faith in the Lord and that your substance is in Him because all else in life is delicate and will fade away.

PS: I love you Joycelin thank you for having such a sweet spirit God will use you in so many ways.

Car Lines, No Ummm Truck Lines, Oh that's it Pickup Lines!

I have been married to the most amazing man for 1 year 7 months 1 week and 6 days as of today. I couldn't calculate minutes so I left those out, it was taking to long and by the time I figured it out I would have had to recalculate the whole weeks, days , minutes thing again. Anyways back to my point. I have known this man through happiness, trials, disappointments and just plain silly times. He is a funny, kind, loving, honest, true to oneself, Christ honoring man and I love him entirely and wholeheartedly for all of his attributes. Oh and did I mention handsome! Ok ok, I know he has a little less hair than most and when I turn out the light at night he pretty much always glows in the dark, but he has enthralling blue eyes that can capture your mind with a glance, an ever inviting smile and amazing hind quarters to boot!! Sorry about that last one mom Byerly but I couldn't leave out one of my favorite features. I guess what I am telling you all is that I have it made. I am one of few blessed woman that is loved by such a gift from God. I would never want to abandon that love. So it struck me kinda funny today when I received two pickup lines during my grocery shopping trip at good old Walmart today. The first character and lesser disturbing of the two strolled up to me with a 2 year old strapped in his cart (probably one of his many many many children) and said to me "I would sure like to know what kind of gum you are chewing because your lips make it look delicious". I then proceeded to tell him it was Orbitz new Peach flavored gum and sped off with insane shopping cart velocity. After the first encounter I considered possibly never chewing gum again. Then came character number two who approached me in the ice cream aisle. Come on people the ice cream aisle,is no aisle safe or sacred!!! This man was a Walmart employee and his exact wording was " Hello my name is John and I watch you the whole time you are here and I know every time you come to shop and I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen". Can anyone say STALKER!! This man almost provoked me to abandon my cart and run, but before I could run, speak or wipe the dumb look off my face he ran away from me first. So the lesson today my readers, is that my husband is a charming man and he never used pickup lines such as the above. And for this reason my friends and loved ones, he has won my heart. So for you men who may be reading this lets go over some lines that should not be used for impressing that lovely ( preferrably unmarried) lady that has caught your eye:

1: I am a raindrop and I am falling for you. ( My Answer: Please evaporate fast!!)

2: Your lips make that gum look delicious. ( My Answer: It's the glow from my Wedding Ring)

3: I work here at the only Walmart for miles and I stalk you when you visit.
( My Answer: Do you think my husband would like Rocky Road or Vanilla Ice Cream maybe I should go get him to pick one out?)

4: You must be a broom because you have swept me off my feet!
(My Answer: Where is the dust pan and more importantly where is the trash can?)

5: I am sorry I thought your name tag was Braille. (My Answer: Oh I am sorry did you need those fingers?)

6: You don't need car keys to drive me crazy. (My Answer: No but they do come in handy when running over people.)



Ladies keep sharp don't freeze like I did and remember your comebacks or ....... Just get a gun.

Tempting Taffy

My dad brought home a bag of saltwater taffy today and not shortly after the bag of ooey , sticky , wax paper swaddled dollops of goodness reached my hands I realized that I had eaten all of the blue raspberry ones. My mother and I just finished watching a doctors show on television talking about how America's children where getting too much sugar in their diets when my dad walked in with a bag of sugary delights, we then just laughed at the irony and tore open the bag to commence the nibbling. I got to thinking about the name of the candy and after looking it up I noticed there where many stories about the origin. I read them all but I don't think anyone really knows where it originated from exactly. I do know however that there is absolutely no coastal salt water in the taffy itself and that it originated in Atlantic City,New Jersey around the late 19Th century. It was commonly sold on boardwalks near Atlantic City and Island Ocean City so perhaps that is were the whole saltwater thing came from. For me it seems as if so many interesting things came from New Jersey and Pennsylvania and my fascination with these areas only grows more and more since my husband and his family are from that area. I only hope one day I can explore it myself , oh the things I would blog. I must now leave you with that final word, because I have to go finish off the green taffy and then the orange and then the ......... hmmmm I am just glad I ran this morning!

"Family Bonding"

My family right now , as I type these very words are traveling cross country from PA to AZ with a few planned stops in between. The planned stops never seem to be the problem it is the unplanned ones that are never welcome and almost always a hassel. The Byerly's started the big trip yesterday. Big trips are a part of life for them. They are always moving and always traveling wherever the construction business takes them, so no big deal right? WRONG! Road trips seem to be a tad more difficult when you are driving your 40 ft. house down the highway. My mother in law jokes about how their life is basically a version of the Robin Williams movie RV. As far as I know they have not encountered racoons in the rv or had any sewage problems and my Father in law better not be hanging from the wipers on the windshield while driving down the road. My Father in law, God bless his soul did not make it out of the departing driveway without the rv generator cutting out, this delayed them before they even started the trip. My family also has some sort of Ohio curse on them, every time they travel through Ohio they breakdown, hence the blowout that occured today and tore through the RV floor. Ohio, what did the Byerly's ever do to you? Please let us know and we will apologize, because the only offense we can think of is that we may have let our dogs out one to many times to fertilize your Ohio soil, and if that is the case we are very very sorry please drop the curse! If you are reading this please please just say a prayer for the Byerly's they need God's hand on them and the RV. I love road trips so to feel at one with my family and their newest venture I think I will watch the movie RV.