Alison's Blessed Life

Pity Party

2008-10-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

Ok. I know we all know about them. And sometimes, we just have them. As soon as we left church on Sunday I told Doug, "I feel a pity party coming on." I just couldn't shake it. It lasted all day! I would get busy doing something else and forget about it. But as soon as I wasn't busy... It all came back. Sometimes I hate being an emotional woman but I guess God designed us that way for a reason.

So I guess you want to know what my pity party was about.

As you know we have been trying to have a baby for over 2 years now. I've been going to a fertility doctor for over a year and still nothing. I've been on Clomid for 3 months. I go back to the doctor tomorrow to find out what's next. The devil really knows how to beat me up about this. Not only do I feel like EVERYONE around me is pregnant, but I feel so alone! I guess that is God calling me to lean on Him. As I have shared before, I have been through a very tramatic experience as a teen when I was almost killed in a car wreck. God spared me and taught me so much during my trials and 4 months of pain. I KNOW that He is also going to bless me with a child one day and I will see what God is teaching me through this time of pain as well. It's just so hard when you are in the midst of it! Doug did confess on Sunday that he was hurting too and it was affecting him as well. That made me feel not too much like a crazy woman. Just keep praying for us. It is very hard and we feel very alone!

I am much better today as I rest on the verse. "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lamentations 3:24.

Yes God!

2008-09-21T20:00:00.005-05:00

Our bible study right now is the book "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" by Lysa TerKeurst. It is an awesome book and it's actually going along with my life right now. Isn't that just how God works? It's amazing! Let me tell you about it...

Last Friday God presented an opportunity to me at work to go ahead and quit to do Mary Kay full time. It wasn't exactly what I had "planned" but that's not always God's plan, right? I knew that Doug was going to say we couldn't do it. As soon as he got home from work on Friday I told him everything. The only thing Doug said was, "Can you do it (MK)?" He has seen how hard I work and how passionate I am about my business. I said, "Yes!" (not really knowing). He said, "Then do it." I'm going to be stepping out on faith with God's help alone. I'm so excited yet so scared! "Yes Lord I want Your courage to do what I feel You are calling me to do." The perfect quote from our bible study. I didn't tell the owner my decision until this past Friday so I could have a week to get confirmation from God of our decision. Confirmation came over and over. First from this bible study. Last week was actually the second week of the study but I had missed the first. I have to admit, I hadn't read any of it before I went on Sunday. But the whole chapter DeeDee taught on was about saying "yes" to God even when it seems difficult. "Whatever God says do, do it!" Over the week I had other confirmations from God that if I just trust Him we can do it together. I'M READY AND I'M SO EXCITED! I've made it this far with God's help working full time. I can't imagine what I can do full time with God's help! I'll be able to attend Bible Studies, Director meetings and the possibility to make much more money. There are endless possibilities with God's help and this wonderful Mary Kay business. I completely trust God to provide everything we need. Please continue to pray for Doug and I as we go through this transition. We've never been on a budget but we're about to start. Should be interesting but I know we can do it. I'm working out a 3 week notice until I go to Dallas. I can't wait for God to lead me on this journey to more divine appointments and teach me more about himself. Yes God!

Divine Appointments

2008-09-17T11:04:00.006-05:00

In our Bible Study on Sunday night DeeDee started talking about Divine Appointments that God has for us. Well, I know some of you (including some of my family) thinks this Mary Kay thing I am doing is silly. But I have had so many Divine Appointments through this business. God uses me in this business to go into women's homes and minister to them. Sometimes it's just an older lady who just needs to talk, or a selfconscious lady who needs confidence. My goal in this business is to bless other women. And God has shown me so much that if that is my focus, he will return my efforts ten-fold. It's amazing! Let me tell you about my favorite Divine Appointment...

It was a Tuesday night, I had gone through my neighborhood directory to find women who would help me with my goal of 30 faces that month. I called a lady that I didn't know and she agreed to have a facial and invite some friends. I was SO excited! My cousin had just signed up under me and had not started doing facials yet. She called me Thursday afternoon and was so excited that it was her friend that was having facials with me. So she was going to come to watch and learn. When I got to her house that Thursday night we started talking. I had actually gone to school and church with her and her family before they moved when we were in 4th grade. Her husband graduated with my brother too. Her sister came in, then my cousin with another friend. Everyone was talking and having a great time. They decided to go across the street and invite her neighbor. When I have parties I like to be laid back and let the ladies have fun. They were all talking. Turns out 3 of them have special needs children. They had been looking for someone to give them advice on special pre-school programs. My cousin's friend has an older special needs child and was able to minister to them on exactly what they needed! It was AMAZING! It was even the neighbor's birthday. Between talking we did facials and had a great time. My cousin and her friend asked me if I would give my testimony about my car wreck. They were so sweet! After everyone was done, my cousin's friend pulled me to the side. I had been standing the whole time and she knew my feet were hurting. She asked me if she could rub my feet. She works in a nursing home as the activity coordinator and rubs their hands and feet every day. So, if you know me... I never pass up a foot rub (especially when they are hurting). She sat there at my feet rubbing them and ministering to me about my fertility issues, foot problems, etc. She prayed over my feet! It was AMAZING! That night I sold $40, spent 3 hours there, and gave my cousin all those women as her customers. Some may say my business didn't go well that night. But I say I got the biggest blessing of all... A Divine Appointment. Those women would have never gotten together if it weren't for a Mary Kay party. Every person there got a blessing that night. It was a miracle! I love to see God working in my business to bring such wonderful women in my life! I know this is exactly what God wants me to be doing and it is a WONDERFUL feeling!!!

It's been a while...

2008-09-17T11:04:00.004-05:00

Ok, so it's been a while since I've been on here but I'm going to try to start back. There are so many things going on that I want to share. God is doing SO much in my life!

First I'll follow up on the previous blog, "Waiting On God's Timing." Well... we are still waiting. We tried on our own for a while then I felt God telling me I was ready for the next step. I started taking Clomid the last week of August. So now, we are still waiting. I know without a doubt that God is in control and He will give me the desires of my heart. I still have complete faith that He is going to give us a baby... in His time. Please keep praying! If we don't get pregnant on Clomid by mid-Oct. they want to do Artificial Incimination. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. God will lead!

In the meantime, God has me in the most wonderful career path I could imagine. Mary Kay is a Christian company and has some of the most remarkable, inspiring women I could ever meet. I just won my first car and picked it up in August. Watch out for me in my charcoal Pontiac Vibe! It's awesome! Then on September 1st I became an Independent Sales Director! That means I am in the top 3% of the company. It was a huge goal but me and my team did it! God is planning some exciting things in the near future. I will try to keep you up to date!

Waiting On God's Timing...

2008-01-04T07:53:00.000-06:00

Well, I haven't written in a while but I have somethings on my heart that I need to get off. When we share our burdens, it makes them less heavy. Please share this burden with me.

Doug and I have been trying to get pregnant since shortly after we got married. We weren't in a hurry but thought we would start trying. Doug just turned 38 this year and he wants to have kids before he gets too much older. So my OB/GYN sent us to a fertility specialist in June. I was nervous so I didn't call and make an appointment until August. Doug was tested and was fine. I had a very painful endometreosis surgery in October. They found more than expected and ended up taking out my appendix because of it. Then he gave us 4 months to try on our own before more help. So... we are two months in and nothing...

I have complete faith that God will give us the desires of our heart. It's just very hard waiting... Then what do we do? Do we let the fertility doctors do treatments, medicine, etc? I don't think I can handle twins but I guess God knows what we can handle.

Sometimes I feel like I've been through enough. I almost died in a car wreck 8 years ago. I will have problems with my feet from that wreck for the rest of my life. Isn't that enough? Why do I have to go through this too? I know that is just the devil trying to plant a seed of bitterness in my heart. I just see these people go through life with nothing bad happen to them and wonder why me? You know? I remember something Beth Moore said in a bible study I did a few months ago. I'm not sure exactly how she said it but it basically said if you don't struggle then you are missing God's full blessings. I'm standing on that. I know that I am so blessed in MANY other ways as I wrote about last month but it's so hard when you want something so bad but you must wait on God's timing... Please pray for us as we struggle. I know it will be worth it!!! God is Good All the Time (no matter what)!!!

Vegas Baby!

2007-11-13T15:14:00.000-06:00

Well, last week Doug's company sent him to Vegas for a conference. I was lucky enough to get to tag along. While Doug was in classes, I got to sit by the pool and lazy river and well... be lazy. It was nice since I was recuperating from surgery.

At night, we got to go around and see all the hotels/casinos. And let me tell you... Vegas isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Granted, there is lots of bad things around you that is easily accessible but otherwise it is a very clean, classy place. Beautiful array of lights and extravagant architecture. If you just stay away from the bad stuff, there is so much to enjoy. And that's what we did. We went to a jousting show called Tournament of Kings and ate with our fingers (which is what they did back then. Ha). We looked around at all the major hotels/casinos. We really had a good time just exploring. They had aquariums, lions dens, fountain shows, the Statue of Liberty and even the Eiffel Tower you could ride up in to the top. It was amazing. We even had a tv in our bathroom of the hotel room. Crazy!

Yes, it was all very beautiful but VERY expensive. Just a hamburger... no fries or drink... $10. A bottle of Pepsi (no coke) was $3-$4. We spent way too much money even though we didn't gamble. Let me rephrase that... I gambled $7 at the slots. Ha. Not too fun for me! So we probably won't ever go back unless it's a company trip but I'm very glad we got to go one time. Next time we will definitely try to go see the Grand Canyon. It's not near as big or impressive from the plane. Ha.

Blessings!

2007-10-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we all get so stressed and focused on things in the future or problems around us. I just want to take a moment to list all the things that God has blessed me with right now. If something happened to me today and I went to be with the Lord, my life would have been a great one!

Alison's Blessings:
My Savior dying for my sins!
My Loving and Awesome Husband
My More-Than-Wonderful family
My precious niece and nephews and the time I get to spend with them.
My Supportive Church Family (oh what a great one)
My Encouraging Friends
My dream job - graphic designer
The Opportunity to Bless other women in my Mary Kay job.
My time with God every morning!
My Christian Upbringing
Lessons I have learned and treasured over the years (and continue to learn)
My Car Wreck - Because it taught me so much about myself and about God's love!
The Joy that God has given me in my heart.
My positive attitude & the hope in my heart!
My house and all the blessings and love inside.
My sweet animals!
The new friends that I meet every day!
Prayer! The prayers I pray for others and those that are lifted up for me!
God's Grace, Mercy & Forgiveness!
DeeDee's Bible Study that teaches me so much about God and myself.
Christian friends and coworkers that hold me accountable.
Free time to spend with my husband or my family.
Restful sleep every night so I can enjoy my day.
God wakes me and allows me to walk every morning on my tainted feet.
The money we have in the bank to pay our bills and put food on the table.
Keeping us safe everyday as we drive.
For email and computers for us to keep in touch with people we would not normally talk to.
Also, for email being able to send out prayer requests all over the world if needed!
The closeness of my family!
My Faith!!!!

That's all I can think of right now. I know my blessings are endless and continue every day. God is so good... all the time!

Camping with the In-Laws

2007-10-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

Sounds like a possible nightmare doesn't it? Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought. We are so blessed with a wonderful family regardless of the minor organization flaws. Ha. Let me explain...

We're camping on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Tennesse River in Tuscumbia, Alabama. It's in Aunt Diane's back yard which is the size of a football field. There are about 25-30 adults/kids. We have 2 travel trailers, a pop-up trailer and 2 tents. Doug and I of course are in a tent. It's a massive tent though. Would sleep about 10 people I imagine if we didn't have so much stuff. We are normally over-prepared. We have 2 air mattresses since my dog has be fit in the bed with us. (She's spoiled!) We have lots of clothes and covers for the cold (thank goodness).

So we get down there Friday night (around 8:00) and set up the tent. Everyone else is already there and has been there for a couple days. We sit around the fire and talk with everyone until bedtime. We're very tired since we worked all day. It's quite cold but we do have a sleeping bag. We get ready to go to bed. I turn my sound machine on to hopefully drown out all the crazy noises so I can sleep. No such luck. We are 1/4 mile from railroad tracks with a train passing every 15 minutes. Overlooking the Tennessee River on which barges move throughout the night tooting their horn. About a mile away from a steam plant with alarms and such. I sleep a little then wake up thinking I'm going to be frozen. It's cold but we're bundled up under the covers. The only thing cold is my face. My dog however does wake up shivering so we finally got her under the covers. As the sun comes up, so do the roosters down the street and geese flying above. We were actually the first ones up. Ugh. Guess I didn't need much sleep?

So everyone starts asking about breakfast. Ha. They finally start preparing it about 9:00. Mind you... we will be having a birthday party for our niece and nephew at 11:00. We all finally sit down to eat breakfast at 10:00. My sister-in-law asks me to go with her to pick up the cakes for the party at 10:15. She asks her sister to decorate while we are gone. (Party scheduled to start in 45 min.) We get back from picking up the cake at 11:00. Decorating is almost done and looks great. Cowboy theme. Andi Layne is turning 3 and her brother Wesley is turning 1. All guests start arriving but the majority come over from camping. We sit around for a while. Lunch is finally ready at 12:15. (Party started at 11:00) We ate, then played games which was so much fun! Bobbing for apples, sack race, wheelbarrow race, etc. They even got the adults to play. After that we go over to open presents. Slowly but surely all the presents for both kids were opened. Then time for cake. The candles have melted in the sun. It's actually gotten hot so ice cream would be good with the cake. Oh, we left that at grandma's house. Oh well! 4 hours later the party is over. Have we lost anyone in the shuffle? Ha. By the way, the Alabama game is on so all the men (including Pop Pop) missed the party!

So we go back to camping and trying to relax. The rest of the night is uneventful except the fun hayride. I love acting like a kid too. We are so tired from not sleeping the night before, we go to bed a little earlier than everyone else. Did I mention that they forgot to tell me which door to the house was unlocked for us to use the bathroom? Ugh. I finally found it before I peed in my pants in the middle of the night. Ha. So that night besides the fun stuff listed above from trying to sleep the night before... there are now mosquitoes in the tent with us. The only thing exposed is our face but they magange to find it. After turning on the lantern 3 times and searching the tent for them. We seem to have killed them all and finally got to go to sleep (as much as possible anyway).

We get to take family pictures and that was nice. I don't have them yet though. I'll share when we get them. Doug's sister has a very nice camera and took them all for us. We were very ready to go home on Sunday. Even though we had a lot of fun and good family bonding... it was on the verge of too much. :) This was the first of many annual camping trips in Tuscumbia. This will now be a tradition. Can't wait! Gotta love the In-Laws! :)

Stress!

2007-09-12T12:19:00.001-05:00

Well, I had my first migraine this morning. On the way to work, I started seeing "stars" in the left eye. I didn't think much about it since everyone had their headlights on. However, it went on for about an hour. Reading the computer screen became very difficult. I didn't know what it was and started freaking out. I had trauma to my brain from my wreck 7 years ago and that was the first thing that came to mind. So I called the doctor. The nurse said it was probably a migraine but to come in and see the doctor anyway. The "stars" went away and turned into a severe headache. I went down the street to my doctor. He gave me a shot and a prescription. He said it would start to work in 30 min. to an hour. Unfortunately, that meant I had to come back to work. So now it's gone away but I wonder why it happened.....

Some people say it can be caused by sinus trouble. My sinuses have been acting up a little. Or it could be caused by stress. Stressed? I'm not stressed. My friend reminded me that I am working 2 jobs (JDA and Mary Kay), in charge of the family finances (very difficult), and we are trying to have a baby (going to the fertility doc tomorrow). I guess I had forgotten about all of this somewhere during my headache. Yes, I guess subconsciously I am pretty stressed. I put on a good front though. We cooked dinner and watched a movie last night. I just started a new Bible study too. And we're going to the beach this weekend. I'm sure hoping the beach trip eases my stress a little. Just pray for me and all that is going on in my life. :)

Wedding Pictures

2007-09-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

Check out the wedding pictures I posted on my old blog (to the right). I just got the cd of all of my pictures from the photographer. I love looking through them remembering the happiest day of my life! I hope you can tell how happy that I truly am in all my pictures. Everything about the day was absolutely perfect! I wouldn't change anything (except maybe the air conditioner going out during pictures). I prayed about it and God made my day perfect! :) Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do. God bless!

Marriage and Babies

2007-09-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

Ok. I don't know how good I'm going to be at this but I'm going to try. I don't even know who will read it but here it goes....

I've been married for about 14 months now. It's so much fun. It's like living and spending lots of time with your very best friend. It's difficult at times but for the most part, it is wonderful. Right after we got married, I read The Power of a Praying Wife. I HIGHLY recommend that book for anyone who is married or getting married. It taught me to pick my battles and pray about things when I get mad and frustrated. This has saved a lot of fighting. Due to this... we hardly ever fight. Most of the time, it's just not worth it. We are enjoying life right now. We watch lots of movies, travel, experiment cooking and just spend quality time together. We have, however, been trying to get pregnant for about a year now. Most of you know that Doug is going to turn 38 at the end of this month. We're ready for kids. I know it is all in God's control and I have faith that he will give me the desires of my heart. Since nothing has happened yet, I have an appointment with the fertility doctor next week. I'm very nervous. Just pray for me and us. It is very hard to understand how so many people get pregnant accidentally. It's amazing how many people have gone through this that you didn't know about. Our bible study at church has shown me that I'm not that different and there is hope. Seems like no matter what happens in this situation, there is someone to talk to who has been through it. God provides and is ALWAYS in control! I will let you know how it goes!