Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's that time again for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Joyce always comes up with some thought-provoking questions and I hope that you enjoy reading my responses as much as I enjoy coming up with them. She really gives me something to think about each week.

Do you wear your heart on your sleeve or keep your emotions tucked in tight?

I am very much an internal thinker and feeler. The majority of the time I prefer to work things out in my mind and heart. The kids can always tell if something is wrong with me if I am deep cleaning something or drinking a glass of wine. Those are my external indicators.

How did you meet your closest friend?

My best friends are my husband, my mom, my grown kids. They are the ones I like to spend my time with. But my definition of "closest friend" would be the one person I would tell anything to and share anything with, no matter how bad it is. I don't have very many of those kinds of friends. In fact, most I would have classified as a "closest friend" have betrayed me in some way so we are no longer friends at all. If I were to pick one person whom I would share my innermost ugly with, it would be my friend Jodi. We are like twin sisters separated at birth. Strangely we met because of my blog. At the time I was living in Oklahoma and she lived in West Virginia and she followed my blog. Somewhere along the way she e-mailed me and we became fast online friends. Then we moved to Missouri and then they moved to Missouri just two hours away from us! We met in person about a year later when her and one of her sons were driving through our town (they had to drive through our little town to visit family!). After that we continued to be online accountability partners with our devotional time, exercise, and duties as wives and mothers. We are both homeschooling moms so met at my parents' lake house for some "lake school" and fun one summer. Then we took a real plunge and went on vacation together, just us two moms and five of our kids (we left behind our husbands and four oldest children). We went to Florida and realized that we are even more kindred spirits than we ever knew. I would tell Jodi anything, and have, and I believe she trusts me in the same way. We don't see each other very often, maybe once a year, but our friendship is as strong as anything I know.

Pink lemonade, grilled salmon, cotton candy, pink grapefruit, a strawberry milkshake, or raspberry sorbet ... of the pink foods listed, which one is your favorite? Least favorite? Which one have you most recently consumed?

Raspberry sorbet would probably be my favorite. Least favorite would be a strawberry milkshake. Most recently? Probably grilled salmon, or at least baked salmon.

When were you last 'tickled pink' over something? Explain.

This past weekend Rick reached into his suitcase and pulled out something he had bought me. I knew immediately what it was because I had given him all of the information for it so that he could buy it for me for Christmas this year. I really wanted a new North Face coat and found one drastically reduced. I really was expecting him to go ahead and order it and save it for me for Christmas. But he gave it to me now, for Valentine's Day! He said he wanted me to go ahead and have it because it was supposed to get so cold this week. I was so excited ... giddy even! I absolutely love it and love him more for taking such good care of me.

Are you a fan of television talk shows? Daytime, nighttime, or both? What's your favorite?

I really do not like talk shows and don't watch any. If I had to watch one I would probably watch Live! With Kelly and Michael (because I did used to watch Regis and Kelly, and even Kathie Lee, off and on years ago) or The Ellen DeGeneres Show (because I think Ellen is hilarious and very giving!).

When was the last time you wanted to ask a question but felt too foolish to do so?

I don't know that this has ever happened to me. I am not shy at all, nor do I get embarrassed, and if I want to know some information I have no problem asking the questions to get it.

My favorite time of the day right now is when I am doing my Bible study. 

I feel like God is really speaking to me through Beth Moore's Breaking Free Bible study. When a friend of mine confided that she was really struggling with some things, I offered to do a Beth Moore study with her at my home, just the two of us. She has never done a Beth Moore study and I have done several of them. Beth just has a way of really speaking to the heart of women. My attitude was that I was doing this study "for my friend", to help her. What I have quickly realized, after just one week, is that God just might have used my friend to get me into this study for me! I have been touched so deeply in just a few homework lessons, and oh-so-convicted about some things. It's just good stuff, and I look forward to sitting down with my coffee and Bible each morning to work through the lessons.

Insert your own random thought here.

In the past I have had two occasions where precancerous cells have popped up in my cervix. Thankfully I have been able to resolve the issue both times with a colposcopy. I recently had my yearly exam and was a little nervous to get back my results. I usually am. But I am thrilled to report that my results were all clear. I am now about 3 years free of precancerous cells. Hopefully they are gone for good!