Tribute Tuesday

Wayne, started Tribute Tuesday as a way to give a special hooray to people that have made an impact on us. Check out more tributes at his blog.

This week my tribute will be none other than.....ME! I'm so vain, I probably think this blog is about me..I'm so vain!

I'm not really vain. I don't think highly of myself at all. I just want you to get to know me better.

I, Stephanie was the 7th of 8 children. I grew up in the 60's and 70's which was a fun time being a kid. Parents didn't have to worry that their kids were going to be taken by some nut. We kids just went off and played in and around the neighborhood. We had tons of kids around and played from morning til night...outside. No video games, or computers or cable t.v. to get in the way. Every summer was spent at the swimming pool. Every winter, the only time we came in was to get dry mittens.

School was ok. I did well in grade school, but didn't care to much when it came to high school. Boyfriends were the important thing then, but when they didn't come around in junior and senior year, then it was just my 2 girlfriends and The Bay City Rollers. We were going to marry them.

18 was the legal drinking age back then, so when I turned 18, my friends and I were always out. Disco was the big thing in the 70's so we discoed away every Friday and Saturday night.

I was pretty stupid back then, (this is a tribute?) so to get out of the house and to not feel guilty having sex, I got married. That was pretty dumb, of course it didn't work out, so we got divorced.

I met someone else, loved him, got married.

I had no self esteem, drank like a fish, did more stupid things with my life, lots of stupid things, and after 8 years of marriage, got divorced.

Finally, in the mid 90's after being stuck in a dumb relationship, I was lying in bed, so fed up with my life, that I called out to God and asked Him to take all my crap away. I was not following the Lord at all then, so I don't know what made me call out to Him. Anyway, after I said that to Him, I instantly felt a giant weight lifted off my shoulders. I cried and cried and felt a new life was starting.

I still did stupid stuff with my life, but this time I had the Holy Spirit nudging me. He led me to the right people, and I started learning about living the life of Christ.

I started following Jesus in my late 30's so learning to get rid of the past was hard. Little by little I could see God making me a new person. He still is making me new. My ways of thinking have changed. Thank God. I have self esteem, I go to Him first (most of the time) when it comes to making decisions. I have that nudge of the Holy Spirit when I want to do something, but know it may not be the right thing to do. I am learning to listen to that nudge, which keeps me out of a lot of trouble and grief.

I've always been kind and nice, but it just is a better kind, and nice, since I have Jesus in my life.
That's because it's Christ living in me that is shining through. Do I fail? Yes, but God is right there when I call, to pick me up and get me to where He wants me to be.

Growing up, I never wanted children. God started changing my heart a few years before I met Perry. I was dating a guy, and the thoughts of having kids would come up in my mind, but also the thoughts of "I don't want kids with him". I didn't know then that God was preparing my heart for Perry and for children, because when I met Perry, and he said he wanted children, I knew that having kids with him was the thing God wanted.

Even sometimes now, I ask God why He made me a mother. My girls are pretty easy to care for, yet I still go crazy with them. God reminds me that He needs these girls, and He gave them to me to raise for His kingdom. Oh yeah, it's not about me, it's about Him.

This isn't much of a tribute. Tributes are supposed to be about the good things of someone. I have lots of failures listed here. I guess I just wanted to show you that I'm human, I fail, I have had a big failure of a past, but because I surrendered my life to Christ, my past is gone and forgotten by Him, and I have new mercies each morning.


My list of good things: kind, helpful, nice, put up with a lot of crap, forgiving, thrifty, trustworthy, faithful. Is that enough? Sounds like I'd make a good puppy. I make for a good friend, but I don't call on the phone enough to chat. So you would have to call me. I will not judge you for things you do, but if it's wrong I will lovingly let you know. I'm a good person, but that alone will not get me to heaven. Accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior and following God's Word and obeying Him, will.

So here's to me! Clink glasses, no alcohol, I gave that up about 16 years ago. You want drunken Steph stories? They're not pretty.


I just got a little teary reading this. I thank God for hanging on to me and choosing me to be with Him for eternity. Without Him, I am nothing. Maybe the tribute should be to Him.


I was going to put a picture of me in here, but my computer is telling me I have no business going where I want to go to get this picture. Whatever! It was a good picture, showing how skinny I want to be again. Ha! Maybe that's God's way of telling me that the picture would be a lie. :o)



My computer (satan) is acting up and won't let me publish this. grrr

Tribute Tuesday

Wayne started Tribute Tuesday a few weeks ago. More and more people are joining in to make a special shout out to someone who they feel is pretty special. Pop in to his blog and check them out.
One year ago yesterday, we had to put our cat, Whitt to sleep, forever. I'll come right out and say that he was murdered. He was a victim of the cat/dog food recall, that poisoned many animals. I posted about him last night, since that was the anniversary of his death, so you can read my tribute to him below this one.

Tribute Tuesday

My second Tribute Tuesday. Wayne from across the pond started this, and it is a nice way to say nice things about somebody. He has Mr. Linky set up to read other tributes. Join in. My tribute today will be to my husband, Perry.

Perry is several hours away, working out of state. and called me yesterday to say he left work because he was sick. (flu-y) You know that when you are sick, you only want to be in your own bed. But, he suffered all day in a hotel. So I will start my tribute by saying that he is a hard and dedicated worker.

Perry travels a lot for his job. I'm sure it's not fun being away from his family for a week or more at a time. He likes his job, just not the being away, but does it, so I can stay at home and take care of the house and kids. He is thankful that he still has a job, and that he can provide for our family.

Perry is a loving husband and father. He is a hugging and kissing kind of guy. He is very affectionate toward me and his daughters. I love that he calls me sweetheart. He is always telling me that I am beautiful, and I have a great butt. (love is blind) I don't believe I have a great butt, but I believe that he thinks so. He always tells the girls that they are beautiful and pretty and is always ready to give a compliment. He always tells us he loves us. When disciplining the girls he makes sure to tell them it's because he loves them so much, and won't just let them get away with something.

Perry is very outgoing and will talk to just about anybody. He is very smart and can hold a conversation about any subject. He retains knowledge easily. Something I wish I could do. But, since he's not perfect, I will say that even though he is book smart, he lacks in the common sense department. He's not missing common sense, just lacking. But since I have more common sense than him and he is smarter than me, we make a good balance. He's always one to say, "let's have a party" and he makes it happen right away. Like, that day, or he gives me a few day notice. That drives me crazy, (read: I fight about it) running around trying to get a party together, but they always turn out fun, and it never would have happened if not for him.

Perry has accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, and strives to be more like Him. He's the first to lead us in prayer, and makes sure all our requests are taken, and prayed for. He has the gift of evangelism and uses that gift especially when traveling. Many a seed has been planted from him. He even asked God if he could have me as his wife, when he first saw me at work. God said yes, faster than I did.

Perry is handy around the house. He can fix just about anything, if he wants to. Sometimes he'd rather pay somebody to fix something than take his time away from us. He is an electrician, (but that's not his job) so that's cool that we don't have to pay for that service. He loves planting flowers and puttering in the dirt. The downside to Perry, is that he is a perfectionist. I say downside, because I am not a perfectionist. It can drive me nuts when he takes the time to do something just right, where I am an "it's good enough" person. So all his handiness and playing with electricity and putting the flowers in just the right spot, and moving this and changing that, Ahhhhh, can get to me, but in the end, I can see that he did what was right.

Perry loves his computer and is a self taught geek. If anything is said to come between us, it's his computer. Or Fox News, or History Channel.. He's a geek, and he admits it.

Perry loves his mother. They are close. Not only in age, (19 years) but as a mother and son. Hence the fact that he's taking her to see Celtic Women on Valentines Day. (see NMM post from 2 weeks ago) He talks to her on the phone often, and makes sure to tell her he loves her at the end of the conversation. It's "love ya ma". I get, Love you, she gets love ya. I guess there's a difference in terms of endearment.

Perry's pride and joy are his children. He is so good with Phoebe and Abigail. He's a patient teacher. It's endearing to watch him play dolls or color with them. He pitches baseballs and is ready and willing to teach them to fish and hunt, if they want to. He gets upset if he can't say goodnight to them over the phone if he's away. That doesn't happen much, but it has.

Of course Perry has his faults, we all do, but I'm glad God convinced me that he was the one to be my husband. After almost 10 years together, we still have our fights, but we take our vows seriously and nothing will break us apart. Which reminds me of another good thing about him. He is so quick to apologize and make things right. (unlike me) He's quick to forgive and move on. (unlike me) He's a pretty decent guy. Drives me batty at times, but I get through it.

I love him and miss him. He can come home anytime now. (few more days on the road)

Tribute Tuesday

Mr. Wayne started this Tribute Tuesday. I think it explains itself. Write a tribute to anyone you want, then go to Mr. Waynes blog and link up with Mr. Linky to see others tributes.


My 1st tribute will be to:

My Dad My dad left this earth 17 years ago at the age of 69. Too young, I know.

He was the father to 8 children, and we all grew up to be pretty decent people.

Trying to raise a large family on one income was tough for him, and we didn't have the best of things or a lot of things, but he made sure we had good food on the table. And he was our chef, when he wasn't working. A great cook at that. I still make food that he taught me how to make and it still tastes the same.

He was a calm man. He wasn't one to yell or get angry very much. He was quiet, and was a well liked man in the neighborhood.

He loved to garden and had beautiful flowers and a great vegetable garden.

He made holidays special for us, and for our friends too. He loved to make people happy with his talent of cooking.

He took such good care of us, and sacrificed himself because of it. He didn't have a lot or even need a lot.

He enjoyed being with his family, even though he didn't do much talking. He would just sit and observe and once in awhile we would hear a chuckle come out of him.

I'm sure there is tons more to say, but I may save that for another tribute.

He is a loved dad, and I miss him very much.