Landon is MY MAN

Well...last night was a success! (Uh, this picture was taken AFTER all the people filling the chairs left, I promise - the room was full when Landon was speaking!) Landon did a great job. He was a little anxious before going up there, but once he got up there to speak, I can't believe how relaxed and at ease he seemed. He talked about the scripture, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself" (that is my paraphrase). He talked about how most people (99 out of 100) have resigned themselves to living the Christian life never really knowing the joy of actually knowing the Father. Maybe he'll write more about it later, because I think it's really good stuff. I thought it was a great mix of grace and truth, which is a specialty for him :) I think because his spiritual gift is mercy, he's able to speak truth in a way most people cannot - in a compassionate, non-judgmental way where people are accepting of the truth and not defensive or put off by it. So, he spoke last night, he speaks next Monday night, next Wednesday night, and then he speaks at his home church for Easter Sunday. I also have him signed up to do a devotion one Tuesday in May at my work! His calendar is getting full! It's weird how many doors are opening for him to do stuff, but just not full time....paying full time job...doors. I think he is a great speaker, but I also think he is great at talking with people, like in a counseling role. It will be very interesting to see what the Father does with him. I LOVE THIS MAN! Oh yeah, and I made him stand at the front of the Magnolia room to take his picture after everyone left.

We are going tonight to the Cobb Energy Centre for the Johnson Ferry Baptist Easter presentation with Charles Billingsley - we are meeting our friends to eat at Moe's beforehand (my co-worker/friend Malissa (remember...flat belly diet)...and her fiance Winfield). Do not worry...I will have pictures!

Update on my sickness/weight situations: I have a headache tonight but I think it's because I haven't eaten a whole lot - had a situation on the scale this morning so I'm taking it easy today. I have 10 more pills to take in my antibiotic....I started with 28, so this is encouraging. My last one should be next Tuesday morning. If antibiotics make me feel sick then why am I weighing so much - Steph or Krista, please help me with this question.

BiBi4PM

I am so excited about Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The words above stand for Bibi for Prime Minister! When we went to Israel in 2007, I LOVED it over there and was excited to hear they have re-elected Netanyahu. I was listening to Sean Hannity yesterday for a few minutes, and I got so riled up over this. I said a lot about it to Landon, but he told me what I could and could not post on the blog...so suffice it to say, that I am very thrilled that Netanyahu has been elected there. He is a take care of business kind of man, and I appreciate that. I pray that the US will continue to support Israel, and if we don't, well, that's pretty much it for us, in my opinion. So...since I'm not thrilled (this is a nice way of saying how I really feel, Landon) about Obama, for many reasons, but especially his latest stance on not even saying "War on Terror" or using the words "terror" or "terrorist", I have decided that Prime Minister Netanyahu is my personal president for the next few years. I know this does not make any sense, but I'll be pretending I am a citizen of Israel (are they citizens over there?) and that Netanyahu is who I voted for!!! Yeah! Take care of Iran, Iraq, and the crazy terrorists - let them know who's boss!!! Go Netanyahu!!!!

Here's a great article about him:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562879456&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A picture of my new favorite PM:

Oh yes, and lest we forget Idol last night - rivaling important wordwide news, of course. I think my favorite could have been Kris - he did a GREAT job! I think Washing Machine (i.e. Megan) is out of here. I actually thought Scott did fantastic on his song. Danny Gokey was great, as always. I thought it was especially touching when he sang the part about, "Never knowing what could have been...." since he lost his wife and it's true that in his life, he'll never know what could have been with her. Sigh. Um, I thought Adam was crazy talented, and I think he may win the whole competition, although I did feel a few weirdness vibes from him last night (anytime he rubs up and down his own body, I get the creeps). Lil was not great, and unfortunately, I thought Matt didn't do a very good job (but I really like him!!), and I thought Anoop - uh, sorry no, I just think he looks like a doctor. Allison - good job, but I wished it had been more jammin out - I was a little disappointed, but thought she chose a great song for her voice. Alright...that's it for now - my prediction for bottom three - Matt, Lil?, Megan...I could be wrong about this...

Landon preaches tonight at church....so pray!!!!

Running from a Dog

Okay, so I'm sure you're thinking, "Is Bethany about to say she and Landon got a dog?" NO. The answer is no. I am about to tell you a story about what happened to me last night.
So...I decided to go running last night. I leave the house and run probably about a mile and turn onto another street. Landon warned me about running on this street - said he didn't think it was a good idea for me to go alone on it. But, I'm thinking, no problem, there are lots of houses, if someone tries to get me, I can run into a yard. I did not anticipate a dog. I had just turned the corner onto this new street and had to pass (on the left) a kind of run down property. Okay, no problem - I just run a little faster past this. Well, I have my Ipod on, so I'm listening to like Josh Groban or something when I see a dog - a pretty big dog. Looks like a Rottweiler to me (though I am no expert) and looks like it's still a puppy but might weigh about 50 pounds. It is bounding up this yard toward me. I start screaming - I do not really realize I am screaming until I put the Ipod on pause. So, a man comes out from behind his home, and yells to me, "Don't worry, he won't bite you." So, I pause for a moment to let the man call the dog and get him back in the yard. Well, the dog won't go and is only interested in me. So, I decide to start running again. To make a long story short, the dog follows me all the way down this road - probably a mile. The last thing the owner of the dog yelled was, "This is the dumbest dog I've ever seen." So, the dog and I, my new friend, that I am still sort of afraid of, are running together now. I kept sort of looking behind me to the left to see if he was still there - he was. Twice he was all in the road and cars had to stop and I was trying to yell at the cars, "He isn't even my dog! This isn't my dog!" So...finally at the end of that street when I'm about to cross onto another road, he got interested in some skateboard people and went over to them and I was able to slip away. I tried many tactics to get him to go away - I tried ignoring him, then I tried yelling, "Go home!" in a gruff voice to him, and then one time when I thought a St. Bernard (very large dog) was going to jump over the fence of his yard, I had to talk nice to the dog and say, "It's okay, stop barking, stop barking, you're okay." There is no point to this story except that it's much funnier when I tell it my ownself, with my own voice. It was scary though, and I will no longer be taking that route when running by myself.

In other news, I've been having bad dreams. I do not know why this is, but on Saturday night, I had to wake Landon up, and he got up and went downstairs to make sure no one was down there because I was feeling freaked out and getting my clothes on, etc. in case something was about to go down. So, last night when I wore a jogging suit to bed, Landon made fun of me (in a funny way) saying that I was afraid someone was going to come upstairs and I thought I was going to have to start running away. Whatever - no one came in the house. I think the bad dreams are from me seeing this movie, Knowing, last Saturday night.

American Idol TONIGHT!

Featuring Landon Frymire...

Wow, I am proud of my husband!!!! I'm not saying that to pretend like we have some perfect life and never have problems or issues - in fact, we were just having a slight issue on the phone talking about using our GM card points and buying new cars and stuff like that...we are far from perfect. But, I can say this with certainty. There has NEVER been a time in our marriage when I have loved Landon like I love him now or a time when I love him more than I love him now. I love everything about him, and want to accept him as a whole package - strengths and weaknesses. I'm so thankful - even with some of the really bad stuff we've had to go through (I mean really bad) that we are where we are now. There's NO WHERE else I want to be than with Landon.

The Father has been opening some neat doors for Landon lately - some that look like they will come to fruition, some that already have. One opportunity is coming this Wednesday night - Landon will be the speaker in our Renew service at church. I scanned in the bulletin from yesterday so you could see. I'm so thankful for these opportunities...and excited, too, about when God might open a full time opportunity for Landon in ministry. I'm thankful for FBCW, a place to be real and authentic where people's lives are serious business being changed. Look at Landon's name below!!!!

Virtual Makeover

I found the funniest thing yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you. My co-worker/friend/carpooler here at work sells Mary Kay. Every couple of months she places an order. She sends out catalogs to everyone who wants one (and sometimes I accidentally throw mine away) so that you can see all the new products and decide what you want to buy. So...about a week before she places the order, I usually get a Mary Kay email inviting you to check out the website to see new stuff. Well, I decided to check it out yesterday and found the funniest thing EVER. You can make a virtual makeover of yourself. So...I uploaded a picture, but it wasn't really like what they recommend to get the best results from the makeover. They recommend you pull your hair back and take a picture outside on a cloudy day. I showed this site to Landon and how you can put makeup and hair on your own picture, and he thought it was really funny. So, I made us go outside (since it was cloudy yesterday) and take my picture, with my hair pulled back, just like they recommend. I wanted to show you what I did to myself - ha! It cracks me up. The makeup part is very realistic...but they need to work on the hair - it's crazy. And remember, you can do this to YOURSELF TOO! So...here it is...and yes, warning...this does include one picture of me with no makeup on (I need you to be able to see the original, so I have to be authentic!)...get ready...this will crack you up...

Plain B (before any makeup)

Crazy Wild B

Fairly Normal B (but still crazy hair...that's why I said they need to work on their hair)

Moment of Silence

I am mourning the loss of my slippers today. Last night when we were heading to bed, I slipped my feet into my slippers when I got up off the couch and started to walk to the stairs. Something just didn't feel right - I mean, it felt REALLY wrong. And then, I took off my slipper and saw it.

The bottom of the slipper is broken - the rubber part at the bottom has peeled back, and it's pretty much over for them. I tried to hang in with it and keep walking around, but to no avail. It felt too weird on my foot. People have given me other slippers, but these are my favorites and the only pair I want to wear. These slippers meant a lot to me. Before Hurricane Katrina, I had a pair almost identical to these slippers. Then, two weeks after the hurricane, the slippers are one of the very first things I replaced (that, and my body pillow after crying in Wal-Mart because they didn't have body pillows there...even though I probably wasn't really crying over not being able to find the pillow). ANYWAY, I bought them from Parisian or Dillards in Pensacola, and one of the very next weekends was when we went to stay with Pastor Johnny. I have such great memories of that weekend and remember wearing the slippers at his house all weekend (I mean, not if we went out though). Since they were one of the first comforts of home I re-purchased after the hurricane, they have been with me about 3.5 years now, and I am not pleased to see them go. I am hoping to check out the mall this weekend to see if I can find the exact same pair.

You served me well, leopard slippers. You have been with me through good times and hard times. I will let you go now; rest in peace. I will look for a replacement very soon.

Randomness

Okay, I just need to know once and for all - does gaining muscle really make you gain weight? I have been running a lot more lately, and I am not appreciating the numbers I am seeing. I know I have discussed this before, and some of you are like, please gag me, but I just need to share about this. If gaining more muscle is going to make me weigh more, I may not be in for it, and I definitely don't like it. This is all I have to say about that.

Next, NO HEADACHES TODAY!!! Yay! I started my antibiotics last night, which I am NOT pleased about. I really hate antibiotics for two reasons - which I don't think would be appropriate to state on the blog. One has to do with relational situations, and the other I cannot even hint about. Anyway, we'll just see how it goes...now that I've started it, goodness knows I need to just see it through.

It really gets on my nerves when restaurants don't put their nutrition information on their websites. I ate at the Rising Roll for lunch today, and I just needed to know the nutritional info for my tuna sandwich...but no...they do not post the info. Nor could I find it on the daily plate, the other website where I usually can find nutritional values.

So...church tonight and then AMERICAN IDOL!!! (hopefully the people I like will not act crazy!) I thought that bacon cheeseburger roll up thing was pretty good last night - it was a little bland, but all in all, a fun recipe to try. I might make it again, maybe.



One more very important thing, I got some flip flops for Christmas and just wore them for the first time last night when I had to run to Publix (in my nightgown with a sweatshirt jacket over it - hope Stacy and Clinton don't come after me - but it was not like a Granny nightgown...just a black cottony dress) to pick up some prescriptions (one of them was free at Publix...yay Publix!). I love those flip flops - they are the kind that you can buy at Hallmark and they have velcro on them - Anyway, they are SUPER CUTE! But, I have to do something about my feet before I really start wearing them. I also have another velcro top for them that is Gators! Oooh...soon I have to tell you about our vacation we're going on in May to St. Augustine - it reminded me of how we're going to spend one day in the Swamp and one day at an alligator farm - saying gators made me think about it...