Texas, Totes and Terrific Truths

Well, thanks to my initial week in Facebook, my blog has suffered a bit. However, now that friends are set up, accounts and profiles are working and the features have become clear, I am finding myself able to just "check" on Facebook and resume my normal schedule. As you can tell from my title, I have a hodgepodge of topics to discuss, so here we go . . .

Texas! Ryan, Carter and I leave for San Antonio, Texas tomorrow. I cannot exaggerate the amount of people that say, "Why are you going to Texas? Do you have family there?" Apparently Texas is not a location destination in people's minds. I have always thought Texas sounded fun. I know it isn't Hawaii, but San Antonio has a quaint little river walk, the Alamo, and lots of kid friendly places to visit--SeaWorld, zoos, and children's museums. Ryan and I just wanted to take Carter somewhere and spend some time together as a family. Unfortunately, they are getting a rogue April heat wave. It will be in the 70's until we arrive, and the day our plane touches down, we begin about a five day pattern of temperatures soaring into the 90's. You can pray for our safety and endurance as we battle the Texan sun.

I finished my first tote bag without patterns or placemats. Perhaps in celebration of Texas, I picked out some red, western bandana fabric, and matched it with black lining and black ribbon straps. I put some interfacing in all the panels. Inside the bag, I sewed pockets with the same red bandana fabric. It was cute, but I made it way too big. I gave it to my Partner who just finished up chapter 10 in Partners. She was sweet and said she can always use an extra big tote bag for traveling.

The terrific truths I am currently discovering are from the book Pleasing People, by Lou Priolo. I am only a chapter into the book, but I am flabbergasted. Have you ever felt a book was written specifically for YOU? This is the case with this book. I am horrified at what I am learning about my pride and sin in light of choosing to be a people pleaser rather than a God pleaser. Not liking controversy and aiming to put people at ease always seemed innocent enough, but I am finding it is a way of attempting to exalt myself in others' opinions instead of worrying about glorifying God. He calls it a problem with loving approval. I am enjoying this read so much, I hope to post on each chapter as I further read the book. Priolo stresses that he will be using scripture, not psychology, in this book.

If you need to order some summer reads soon, I highly recommend getting this book.

Alright, I am off to go pack and finalize everything for our Texas trip. I'll post some pictures and blog all about San Antonio when we return! Goodbye, y'all.