Carrie's Corner

Camping.  For some of you, that word sounds like a retreat, vacation, adventure and fun.  For others of you, that word invokes fear or laughs of cynicism followed by, "My idea of camping is the Holiday Inn!"  For me, I'm somewhere in between. During our first year of marriage, David thought he needed to introduce me to the wonderful world of camping!  Oh joy! I didn't grow up going camping, but I had taken lots of road trips with family and we rarely stayed in motels.  Most of the time, my parents would drive through the night and when they would get too tired, they would pull  into a rest area or by the side of the road to catch a few hours of sleep.  It wasn't "camping", but it was similar in some respects.  One time in particular, we were driving through Yellowstone National Park.  My dad found an area to park the car.  He got his sleeping bag out of the trunk, laid it on the ground and went to sleep, right next to the car.  ...

I don't know about you, but I can't help but smile when I see this picture.  Yes, this is my baby boy when he was about six weeks old.  From the very beginning of his life, his infectious smile and contagious laughter have incited even the most serious of people to let down their guard long enough to elicit a chuckle.  He's a young teenager now, but he still has the ability to unravel the most serious of intentions and get everyone around him, at the very least, smiling. Oh what joy!  Have you ever known anyone in your life that brings such joy to you?  Isn't it delightful to just sit in their presence and bask in the glow of their joy?  It's different than being with someone humorous or someone who can crack a good joke.  It's also different than just being around someone who seems to be "happy" most of the time.  A joyful person soothes your soul. Though all of my children are treasures to me in their own different ways, this last little o...

This is something I have been pondering for a bit.  I confess that I don't believe I'm doing a very good job of fulfilling my ministry.  I've let too many things get in the way.  Here are some of my issues: 1).  What other people think of me 2).  I'm not qualified 3).  The opportunity hasn't presented itself 4).  The timing is all wrong 5).  I'm so busy, busy, busy..... 6).  My family has needs I could list other things, but you get the idea.  Do you resonate with any of those "reasons"?  I thought so. Usually when I realize I'm struggling with something, I find I'm not alone.  Let's get honest here:  These are just excuses.  Yeah--you heard me-- EXCUSES !  When I exchange the word   reason   for  excuse , then I start to sound a bit whiny and my justification starts melting away. Look at what  2 Timothy 4:2-5 says:  "Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or n...

I hung up the phone.  My mind raced with what to do next.  I needed to find David and he was coaching little league football at a park.  We had only been married a couple of months and we weren't expecting this dreaded news quite yet.  This time it sounded serious.  Of course it had sounded serious before.  I hopped in the car and headed to the park a few miles away from our apartment.  I found David and told him the news.  My mom had told me I needed to get home as soon as possible.  My dad had taken a turn for the worse and might not make it through the weekend.  David agreed I needed to go.  He still had to work on Friday, but he said I should go ahead and he would come Friday evening. Fortunately, we only lived about an hour away from my parents' home.  That hour gave me time to think and to pray.  My dad had been fighting cancer for six years and it had been a tumultuous journey.  I was only in high school...

I was thrilled to have new carpet when I moved into my home several years ago.  My previous home had ugly, charcoal-gray, commercial grade carpet, but with more kids coming along and messing it up, my husband and I decided to wait to replace it until they were older.  We never did replace that carpet.  We found ourselves fixing up that house as best as we could to sell it while my husband's company transferred us to Houston.  When we found the house we wanted to buy, I was excited for the bright new floors that would come with the bright new house.  I was excited about it all being new! New appliances, new floors, new walls with no nail holes, new counter-tops, new everything!  Oh my!  I had never lived in a brand-new house and I had grandiose ideas of how to keep it all "perfectly" clean! Enter children.  And children's friends. And pets. And a husband.  Six months after moving into our new house with all of its newness, I found myself dis...

I'm not a computer person.  I know how to turn one on, turn it off, post a few things on social media and Hey!  I even have a blog!  But if my computer crashes, gives me an error message, or comes up with some other new venture to explore, I'm usually asking my kids or hubby for their help.  Oh, I've journeyed into trying to fix some issues myself, and I've even occasionally been successful, but I always know I've gone too far when the message pops up, "would you like to restore to default settings"? Duh.  Of course I would.  Oh--but wait--will that get rid of that other program I just installed?  What about my latest downloads?  What about my favorite screen saver?  Did I remember to save that paper I was just working on?  Will I be able to find my websites?  I had them saved in my favorites.....oh crumb!  What do I do?  DO I STILL HAVE ALL MY PICTURES????? Here is the definition I found in the dictionary:   ...

Today is an interesting day.  One year ago today, David went in to have surgery to repair a hernia.  Though the surgery was not a huge deal, his blood pressure was discovered to be at an unsafe level.  The surgery was actually supposed to happen in December, but because of the blood pressure issue, the surgery was delayed until it could be lowered to a safe level.  The news was unexpected for us both.  Outside of some minor injuries and illnesses, David has not been one to have health issues.  We both scratched our heads, wondering what could have brought on this sudden rise in his pressure.  Though his level was brought down to a safe level for surgery, it was still higher than what it needed to be.  This caused some concern for us as he headed into surgery that morning, one year ago. All went well with the procedure and we returned home, loaded with pain medication, ice and whatever other essentials he would need while recovering.  A ...