Graduation day...

Today is graduation day for the Class of 2014. This is such an exciting time - the end of one chapter, the beginning of another.  There will be new challenges to face, new opportunities, and new friends to be made.  For me... today is the day my sweet niece graduates!  It is hard to believe she is 18 and will be moving on to start a new chapter in her life.  From the moment I received the phone call that my sister was in labor... I could not wait to meet this sweet baby.  I sat in the hallway at the hospital patiently waiting.  The moment she was born...she stole my heart! 

When she was in kindergarten, I would pick her up and we would have "our time" for an hour before the boys got out of school.  There were many trips to get ice cream, to the park or we would just go home and be silly! There have been many cookies made and Easter eggs dyed - all while making me laugh.  It is truly the little things I enjoy with her! I have watched her grow into the most loving, kind-hearted, compassionate and caring young lady.  Her sweet smile lights up a room, and steals my heart over and over again.  I could not be more proud of her!!! She is truly one of a kind & I could not imagine what my life would have been like without her in it!  I am so very excited to see what the next chapter of her life holds!  

Congratulations Class of 2014!

Plans...

How many times in life do we simply hold on to things when we should have let them go?  Maybe it's a relationship, a friendship or anger.  How many times do we let our need to be right get in the way of being happy?  Or... how many times do we let our need to be right get in the way of forgiving another, because we are trying to prove a point? Being angry, holding a grudge.. these things use emotional and physical energy - and honestly, I believe they are a waste of our time.  Is it not easier simply to leave the past in the past, and let go of what you cannot change? Maybe things did not work out the way you wanted them to because God has a bigger and better plan for your life.  Maybe... while you are praying for one thing, God is answering you and you are not listening.

In Jeremiah 29:11 He tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Isn't it time that we all start trusting in His plan, and not our own?  As I look back over my life, I am so very thankful that He had bigger and better plans for me than I had for myself.

Happy Sunday y'all!