Thursday Thirteen #14-Charmed, I'm Sure

Some of you said that you would like to hear the stories behind my charm bracelet. (Just scroll down to last Friday's post to see the bracelet). My arm didn't have to be twisted too hard for this one. I LOVE my charm bracelet! This will be the last post for a few days since we are moving tomorrow and Saturday. I think I might just go into blogging-withdrawals by next week if we can't get our computer set up quickly in our new place! In order to not bore you completely I will just choose my favorite charm stories (in no particular order!!) for this week's TT13...

1. Sand Castle - PandaPop and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon in 1992. When I first saw this charm I thought it was Cinderella's castle from the Magic Kindgom. Little did I know until further inspection that it was JUST a sand castle! LOL!

2. Deer - One of my favorite books is Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. It is an allegory of our walk with God. LOVE IT! This deer is represented in the story by the main character. From this book came my life verse from the Bible..."The Lord God is my strength and He will make my feet like hind's feet and make me walk upon my high places." Habbakuk 3:19

3. Rose - Though I am at a different place in my life now, (THANK GOD!) there were many years that I really would beat myself up over just being me. Not appreciating who God created me to be. I would go through phases of allowing Satan's lies to permeate my perception of who I was and be distracted from the beautiful woman God created. One particular day about ten years ago I had been crying, AGAIN, over some stupid lie I was believing from the enemy and PandaPop came home with a rose that had obviously had all the petals stripped off of it. Pretty ugly. He grabbed my chin, looked me straight in the eyes and said, with a vengence almost, "This is what Satan says you are!" Then he softened his look, pulled out a beautiful crimson red rose from behind his back and said, "THIS is what GOD says your are." Yeah, I was crying too. I have an amazing man.

4. Tea Pot - My best friend and I got really into scrapbooking in 1998-ish and found the cutest paper that we wanted to use in a scrapbook.....so, we bought the paper, planned a grown-up girl tea party with darling decorations, girly foods, give-away baskets full of themed goodies, and tea-cups! We had such a BLAST doing this and it all started with a piece of scrapbook paper! ; )

5. Antique Cash Register - Long before PandaGirl came along, PP and I would love to go shopping and strolling through antique malls, little shops and flea markets. This was a great time for us to just hang out, dream about our future family and pick up some knick knacks along the way.

6. Bench - Again, before PG came along, we had watched the movie, Notting Hill. If you have seen this movie then you will understand the sweet meaning behind the bench. There was a bench in a garden, park area with the inscription: "This bench is for June from her husband who sat beside her." Awe. The day after we watched this PandaPop surprised me after work with a sweet card and the bench charm because of that scene in the movie. I know, he is a romantic!

7. Pine Cone - In 1999 we went on a church ski-trip to Angel Fire, New Mexico. It didn't snow the entire time we were there and everyday they had to man-make snow just to ski. The night before we left, while we were sleeping, it snowed the ENTIRE night!! Tons of beautiful snow covered the ground. Our best friends and their four year old son were traveling with us in a Nissan Pathfinder which found itself in the ditch due to the huge amount of snow on the road. There were angels behind us in the form of college students from Kansas in a Tahoe like vehicle. They immediately hooked us up to their SUV, pulled us out and were gone in a flash! I just love the mountains and pine trees and wanted this to remember our trip.

8. Camera - Given to me by my best friend because of my love of taking pictures and scrapbooking. Say CHEESE!

9. Rocking Chair - Over the eight years that PP and I struggled with infertility and longing to have a family of our own, MANY agonizing tears were shed by me. One day he again surprised me with sweet words of encouragement and this rocking chair charm for my "some day" to rock our very own baby. Gulp.

10. Tea Cup - PandaGirl's Chinese name means "tea". I adore going to tea rooms. It is one of my most favorite things to do. Very girly. Every year on PG's birthday I take her to a tea room and she gets to pick out a new tea cup for her collection.

11. Wrench - Two years ago I was walking down the aisle at Home Depot when I spotted another blonde mommy pushing a little Chinese girl in a stroller. We met, found out that both our hubby's were Children's Pastors, we had both just moved from the same city, we were a couple of years apart in age and our daughters were three months apart! From there the rest is history. So began a friendship that will last eternally. That is the epitome of a Divine Appointment if I ever saw one!

12. Chinese Takeout Box - Well this one is just absolutely ADORABLE since my daughter is Chinese and has eaten with chopsticks since she was two years old....I have the pictures to prove it!

13. Swan - For anyone who follows this blog, you know that our precious Monday Playgroup is called The White Swans because of the "famous" The White Swan hotel in Guangzhou, China where there is a red couch for these little Chinese babies to have their pictures taken together. Every American adopting from China HAS to go through this city because it is where the adoption swearing in ceremony is finalized at the American Consulate. No matter what journey we all took in China, we all end up in Guangzhou before leaving for home.

I had fun reminiscing these great memories. Thanks for indulging me!