Lord Make Me An Instrument

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith ;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Identity Crisis!

Ok, so I am just going to be really honest here because it really has been eating away at me. About 2 weeks ago, Scotty and I went into Barnes and Nobles. I actually love going into that store. A lot of times, Scotty has to go to the music section and listen to a bunch of different tunes, so I find myself wondering around, familiarizing/educating myself on the latest books, magazines, journals, etc. There has been a number of times I will go in the store sit myself down in the floor of one of the aisles and pull out books on designing. I really enjoying looking at books that show you how to create something beautiful. Ok, so, 2 weeks ago when I went into Barnes and Nobles I all of the sudden had a major identity crisis. I found myself wanting to get a book, but didn't know what to buy. Not only that, I went to the magazine section and couldn't even decide what kind of magazine I wanted. Then, I stood in starbucks line and was so overwhelmed by the choices, I couldn't even decide what I wanted to drink. I found myself asking, " well, what if the book isn't good and I just wasted $20...or what if this new drink isn't good and I just wasted $5 on it..." I got so frustrated with myself. Sure, I  know what I enjoy reading/drinking but when I want to try something new, I don't want to waste the money to try it? Am I making any sense? So, Scotty and I get in the car and I said, "Barnes and Nobles makes me have an identity crisis..." He was like, "uh, what?" Then, the tears started coming...I mean, seriously, where did that come from? (ok, so I was being a total girl at the moment : ) I was like, I am just so frustrated because I don't even know what I like to read right now...I mean I do, but I don't. (You are probably reading this and are like poor girl...she really is confused). But, here is the thing...I am NOT confused! This is what has hit me...the same thing happens when I want to try new make-up...it's like you stand at the make-up counter and you look at the price and think, hmmmmm... so the commercial says it does all this amazing stuff, but does it really? So, you take the leap of faith and buy the it and you get home and you were right in the first place...it doesn't work like the make-up you have used for the past 10 years. And you can't take it back because you already put it on your face. Here is my conclusion to all this. It is the most incredible thing in the world that we live in a country that you are given amples to choose from...I mean seriously...there is no place like America! But, it can be quite overwhelming at the same time. I am actually a very quick decision maker at most things...I like to go, get it done and it is taken care of. However, I have noticed myself getting so bent out of shape over these silly things that mount up to nothing, but at the same time can cost! I find myself always going back to the same things I have always enjoyed reading, the same ol' drink at Starbucks, the same type of magazine, and the same mascara I have always used. I am all about trying new things...I think trying new things makes life so much more fun and exciting. I am all for it! But, in the smaller things that really don't make a difference, just stick to what you know : )

Happy Birthday, Annie Kate!

As you can see, we have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in the summer...especially August! Today is my sister-in-law, Annie Kate's, birthday. She and Corby live in LA, so we are, of course, celebrating with her in spirit! Wishing you the very best, AK for your 29th year! You are beautiful and we love you!!!

This past week...

Well, cheers to another week! I find myself every morning while driving to work, thanking the Lord for a new day, allowing me to be a part of it even though it may not go the way I always want it to, I consider it a great priveledge to be alive. Life is a gift.
Anyway, I am finally starting to feel normal again. That pneumonia stuff is for the birds, that is all I have to say. Although, Friday, I started coughing my lungs out again and it has been going on all weekend. I am calling the dr. in the morning to see if this is something I just have to walk out, or if she can once again give me some medicine. I am all for medicine if it helps. I am a true believer in healing without a doubt and have witnessed many people healed in my young age ; ), but if some medicine can help the process, I am all for it!
Amen!
The Blue Moon Musical Revue show ended this past week. Everyone did a great job. Kudos to my husband who is an absolute creative genius. He is amazing and I am ALWAYS amazed at the things he creates and the ideas he comes up with. He was born to do what he is doing and I owe God and some special people here in town a lifetime of thank you's for the opportunity he has given my husband. Scotty is probably the most driven person I have ever met. His brain is constantly creating (even in his sleep)- he doesn't stop moving. Oh the stories I have! But, the "behind the scenes" work it takes to do what he does....good gosh, he has more talent in his pinky than I could ever imagine in a lifetime. What comes out on stage that brings a smile to people's faces, is nothing but hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work. I am extremely proud to be married to him!
We had an incredible blessing at The Inn last week. A church out of Mocksville, NC came for the entire week and painted the whole Inn as their mission's trip. Is that not an unbelievable blessing? These people were some of the most incredible examples of servants I have ever met. The Inn is looking the best it has ever looked thanks to so many people who have prayed for years and years and who have so graciously given to help us get The Inn where it needs to be. You know, it really is so amazing how faithful the Lord is. I have experienced first hand the Lord's faithfulness. One of these days maybe I will write about what the Lord has taught and shown me these past 7 yrs. being back home and working full-time for ministry. I feel it is so much, but at the same time, it would be good to share because in many ways I know that I am a living example of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We all are! So, why don't we all share ? : )
As many of you know, Sam Crabtree was in a bad car wreck right behind the theatre. I was gallovanting to the theatre to pick Scotty up for lunch and just pulled in when the ambulance arrived. I could barely tell if it was Sam's car, but I called Scotty right away and asked if Sam had left. I told Scotty that I was pretty sure it was Sam in the wreck and he needed to come out right away.  Scotty was cleaning the laundry room and ran out on the stage to see if Sam was still there and came running out of the theatre. Sure enough, it was Sam. That is never something you want to see. I don't care if you know the person or not, it is never good. My cousin who was born on the same day as me was killed in a car wreck when we were 13 yrs. old. I grieved so hard after her death that I did not celebrate my birthday on my birthday until after college. Isn't that crazy? About 5 yrs. ago my mom was in a horrible car accident. We were eating lunch at The Inn and I saw my dad running out to his car. Me, not knowing anything except that my mom was in a wreck, got in my car and started driving. It happened on the interstate right down the road. I remember seeing my mom's car and just wanting to throw-up when I saw her car, but all I wanted to know is that she was alive. Of course, she was! But, I had a similar fear when I saw Sam's car. Everett was there and came running up to tell us he was alive. I know in those situations you have to remain calm and be strong, so I think all my fear went to my knees. My knees started trembling...then Sam's mom arrived on the scene and I know you can't imagine what a mother feels when they see their child in that situation and she could do nothing but start weeping. Anyway, Scotty and I took her to the Franklin hospital and on our way found out that Sam was being flown to Asheville, but he was going to be ok! Sam, you scared the living daylights out of us all, but we are glad you are ok! Sam is still in the hospital (Scotty is over in Asheville as we speak)...I think he is going stir crazy because he text Scotty at 6am to see if he could come over today. Bless him. He still has a high fever, so they are taking it a day at a time. Please continue keeping him in your prayers-
Thursday night at the theater Steven C. Chapman performed an unbelievable concert. He used to be one of favorites in college and it was just so great to see him peform! I prayed for his family quite a bit when they tragically lost their little girl. It was such a testimony to hear him speak about it and he really did just perform a "raw" concert. By that I mean, it was mainly he and his guitar and him sharing about his love for the Lord and what his whole experience in him losing his daughter. I left there that evening feeling so touched and so blessed- To the other extreme Tim Hawkins the Christian comedian performed last night and it was so great to hear people literally laughing non-stop. I was working the merchandise table, so I didn't get to hear all of him, but the little bit I did...I was laughing so hard I was crying! So fun that we have this outlet in our little town!
Today we celebrated Scotty's grandmother's 80th birthday. Lots of food, fun and family. Someone had made these delicious chicken salad sandwiches (you know the little triangular sandwiches) I ate 10 of them. Yep. I am not even exaggerating or lying...they were so incredibly light and delicious, I couldn't contain myself. hmmmmmmmmm.
So, this is an incredibly lengthy blog, but just a recap. Here's to a new week! Wishing each of you all the blessings the Lord can give you during the week (sounds like a Christmas card) Just remember He is faithful and like my dear friend Melissa Lee once shared with me, "Nikki, the Lord hears the prayers you laugh at." Meaning, do you ever pray those prayers that seem so far out there that you laugh at them while you are praying for them because they just seem so impossible, but you thought you would ask anyway? Well folks, He hears them, so pray away!!!

Grocery shopping

So, today I took my 94 yr old grandfather for our "weekly" grocery shopping and had an interesting encounter while filling his cart up with his essentials. I kept passing this man in the aisles and he kept looking at me...not so much in a creepy way, but an interesting enough look where I was like, why does he keep looking at me? You know that feeling. So, I am putting things in my grandfather's cart and the man comes up to me and says, "May I ask you a question?" "Sure," I said with a smile on my face. He proceeded, "Is your name Michelle?" "No", I said, "my name is not Michelle." (I wasn't about to tell him my name). He snapped his finger and said, "Oh man. My mistake. You know you have an identical twin here in town." "I  do?"  "Yes!" he said. "I took my kid to school the other day and met a lady named Michelle who looks exactly like you." "Oh," I said. Then he said, "But, SHE WAS A LOT THINNER THAN YOU." "What??????????????????????????????????????????????"
Did you really just say that????????????????????  I mean, seriously, I am a complete stranger and even worse, I am a woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just to let you all know I did laugh and I turned to my grandfather and asked him if he would buy me a dozen doughnuts! Ha!

Happy Birthday, Corby and Chan!

Happy Birthday to my baby brothers who are the big 33 today! Wow, we are getting old! Love you, Corby and Chan! So proud of you both! Celebrating with you in spirit!

Happy Birthday, Angel Girl!

Today is my niece, Gracianna's, birthday! She is the big 5 years old. I was talking to her on the phone the other day and said, "Gracianna, are you so excited about turning 5?" Her response, "Not really. My mommy said I have to get rid of my sippy cup when I am 5 and I am just not ready for that." Oh, she makes me laugh! I call her my "angel girl" cause that is what she is. My sister and her husband adopted Gracianna from Guatemala when she was 7 months old and she has been and is the biggest blessing! She is a true little, precious angel and I love the kid to death! Wish I could be with her to celebrate the big day, but I will be visiting them in a couple of weeks. Happy Birthday, Gracianna!

Aaahhhhh Summer!

I love summer! This is going to sound so cheesy, but I just had one of those "revert back to childhood" moments when I was walking my dog outside of our apartment. It had just rained, the sky was pink and the flowers (the vast majority that are planted around our complex) were smelling luscious tonight. It reminded me of those moments when my sister, brothers and I would be playing on the big front lawn at The Inn growing up. It's funny how just a simple smell can take you back 20 years. I think that is one of the reasons why I love being back home again and love living where I grew up. Sure we have changed, sure our town is growing, but there is still a sense of  "community" that only we can understand.  I love the fact that you can walk in the grocery store and someone comes up to you and asks how you are after hearing you haven't been feeling well. I love the fact that at most events that take place in our community, we still open with prayer. I love driving down the main strip and seeing that the stadium lights are on at 10 pm at the baseball field because there is a church softball tournament taking place. I love the fact that people defend this area because it is where their blood line begin. I love the fact that the Lord called my family here 30 years ago and that the ministry He called us to hasn't changed much. I love that "family" is the heartbeat of the ministry. I love the fact that we still begin every meal with a song and a blessing, that we begin each day with devotions and that every night you can still hear the laughter of children as they roll down the big hill, just as I did. I miss those days, but at the same time, they are still here and as real as ever. My prayer is that our children will be able to experience the same joy, the same "small town" memories as both Scotty and I have. How lucky we were and how lucky we are to grow up in such a special place!

Bless the Lord!

(Psalms 103:1-4) Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

No patience sometimes

If you hang out with me long enough you will come to find out that there are areas in my life that I consider to have some patience, but standing in line and waiting on people to make up their minds is not one of them. Scotty and I just ran to Subway to grab a quick sandwich because he has to be at the theatre and when we walked in, we had beat the church crowd, which is a miracle on a Sunday here in Franklin. I walked in and was like, "How nice that we can just breeze through the line...there is only one person standing in front of us." Oh no...this lady was beyond ridiculous. Evidentally, her husband and son were in the restroom, which I would have to calculate just their time in the restroom was about 10 minutes because that is how long it took this lady to order 3 sandwiches. The kind lady behind the counter would ask, "What would you like," and the slow poke would just stand there and say, "well, um....hmmm, maybe I'll have some turkey. Oh, I don't know what kind of cheese I want today....hmmm, maybe some American." Mind you, for that one sandwich I calculated for those two simple decisions it took about 4 minutes. And then, she added, "my next sandwich, um, maybe I will just get a spicy italian...." "Would you like it toasted?"  "um,hmmmmm not sure, I guess so." Ok, so by this point I was about to just order her sandwiches for her. Can't stand it when people are so inconsiderate of those around them that the whole world revolves around what kind of sandwich they want and they take forever to decide! I mean, how do people get anything done?  And then, her husband and son walk out and her husband tells the lady behind the counter what he wants on his spicy italian sandwich and it took him another 10 minutes to tell what he wanted on his one sandwich! Guess they were meant for each other because their decision making was about the same speed. Then, the coke machine was low and the poor girl behind the counter was carrying the huge container of the carbonated drinks to replace the others and the husband is standing in front of the coke machine and no lie, he would click one of the drinks and take a sip and shake his head. Then he did this like 5 times. If he would have turned around and noticed the girl was trying to change out the drinks, it would have saved yet another 10 minutes of  this wasteful moment. I don't know why I don't take a chill pill in these moments. It is a definite area I need to work on in my life because it solves no problems for me, it just gets me in an absolute tizz. Scotty is so good in trying to help me out because when I get like this, it just eats away at me. So, I guess the moral of the story is, people, please have little bit of an idea of what you want when you are going to stand in a line when other people are around. It is ok not to know exactly what you want, but try to make a quick decisions, and for myself, get a grip and don't let the little things drive you nuts. Geeze!

Just to say...

This is just to say that SCOTTY CORBIN I think you are the most amazing man ever! I love you with all my heart and I am so proud of you! I hope your face is so red right now while you are reading this!We are so not mushy gushy : )

Yeah Mom!

So my precious mother sang in Mrs. Patti's Talent Show tonight and I am so proud of her. For the past several years, Mrs. Patti has put on this enormous talent show featuring all local talent to help raise money for missions. Every year, Mrs. Patti has asked the two of us to sing a duet together, which has been great fun and actually very special. Most of you all know my mom has been my biggest cheerleader through the years(and never once a "stage" mother in the process- I can honestly vouch for that :) so when we get an opportunity to sing together, we just have loads of fun. It has actually been an answer to prayer that (a) my mother and I have had opportunties to perform together and (b) we live in a town where we are given the opportunties to be able to perform (that is another whole story in itself that I will share one of these days).  Because I have been sick this week, I  had to back out and left mom singing solo...which, was probably the best thing! She sang "Broadway Baby" like only she can and was just fabulous! So proud of you, Mom!

p.s. I did try to take a picture with my camera phone to post, but it came out in a big blog. Oh well-

My sweet niece...

On vacation in June, my niece,Gracianna, and I sang songs out the wazoo. I don't know if any of you ever had those moments growing up when you would get out on the beach and because the waves are so loud and the wind is blowing so hard, you felt as though you could belt a song as loud as your lungs would allow without anyone hearing. I used to do that. I know that is hard to believe, but when I was like in middle school, um, and maybe high school and ok, a time or two in college, (haha!) I would get out in the ocean and make believe I was in a musical or something ridiculous and would sing songs at the top of my lungs! That is if my twin brothers weren't around trying to drown me. Come to think of it, I did get some rather odd looks from people.  Anyway, I got so cracked up at Gracianna this year because every evening our family would take a long walk on the beach and the two of us, along with my mom, (my dad actually joined in with some harmony. I was like...wow, dad!) sang our hearts out. Gracianna would start out so quiet and then after about the third Christmas song, she would be belting at the top of her lungs. It so reminded me of myself- One of the songs I taught her was "On Top of Ol' Smokey." I myself, don't think I remembered all the words to the song, so I kind of made it up. One day she will remind me that I completely had it all wrong, I am sure. But, we were in the car one day and I got her singing it on video- enjoy!

I live vicariously through HGTV

So, I pretty much keep HGTV on all the time. Well, at least in the past week while I have been on the couch, I have watched it non-stop. I love the House Hunter/House Hunter International shows. I love to see the options people have and try to figure out which house they will actually buy. Scotty says this show makes him feel depressed, but for some reason I love to watch it! I love to live vicariously through the people who have a budget of a million or more and they are buying a house in the Caribbean Islands....what really cracks me up though are the ladies who are like, "well, the shower isn't what I was hoping for." I'm like, oh please, you have a trillion dollars and can buy you a new shower for cryin out loud!" It  actually does make my stomach turn. I also love to watch the design shows...to watch these designers completely transform a room into something glorious is quite entertaining. I did secretly enter our names online for an HGTV drawing to win a vacation home in Arizona a couple of weeks ago. You could enter as many times as you would like up to a certain date to win. So I did, twice. Then started thinking..."Nikki, seriously, what makes you actually think you could keep up with a house in Arizona? Just the cost of the flights to get there would break you." So, I stopped entering. But it was a nice thought for the moment : ) I would rather win a house in the Carribeans.
To completely change the subject I go back to the doctor in the morning for a test to see if I may have pleurisy. I am feeling better, but I feel like my chest has needles constantly poking me. They took chest x-rays and they came back just fine, thankfully, but something is still not right. I really really really want to feel better! I haven't been able to rehearse for the Blue Moon show in a week and I am just praying I can do it, but I really don't know. We will have to make a decision by tomorrow. Thankfully, the Heroes programs have ended for the summer at The Inn, so I am not missing too much. We do have a group coming in for the week, next week, so I am hoping by then I will be able to be a part. I hate missing out on things, but obviously my body is telling me different. Scotty and I go non-stop (well, who doesn't anymore) but I have been to the doctor more this year than I have in my life and it is just time for that to stop! But, perhaps I just need to make some adjustments in my routine . We get home a lot of nights around 11pm or so and during the summer, I get to the Inn early in the mornings, so it makes for long days and short nights. I wouldn't have it any other way, but my sleeping patterns are not good, so I have got to figure out something where I am able to get some more sleep. Oh well, I have made up for it this past week and just obviously have to start making changes, even if they are small ones. This is such a random blog and shallow-

Blue Moon Musical Review Show

I would like to encourage you all to please get your tickets to see the Blue Moon Musical Revue Show August 9-10 and August 16-17. It is a very fun, high energetic show, which features music from the 50's and 60's. Scotty, as always, has put a lot of work into this show and you will be nothing but entertained! Check out this site for more information www.greatmountainmusic.com

Here we go...

Okay, so I never thought I would actually blog, but here I am! I have been on the couch for the past week with walking pneumonia and have had way too much time to think about life in general and thought, "hmmmmm...my husband and I do live a busy life and I find it quite interesting, so why not share?" He however is nervous, but we all know about his blog, so it's my turn! In all honesty, who knows how much I will blog or how often but, for our family and friends who live far away, maybe it will at least let them know what is going on in our lives. So, I am still trying to figure this all out and I am using my computer at home which has no pictures I can download, so until I am back on my laptop at work, this will have to do. Have fun reading...I know I will!