God really cares. He answers my prayers.

I never used to journal. Sure, I would take notes in sunday school and church and I would underline Bible verses that really spoke to me. But I never really journaled. I started my journaling when I got married. I knew there were just too many things that I would want to remember down the road. So from day 1 of Mrs. Thomas Stuart Winkler, I started my first page in my soft, brown leather journal. I wrote all my prayer requests down. I wrote down praises and I would write just how thankful I was for my Christian husband. As time passed, I would find a piece of paper here and there and in random places of prayer requests I had written down from college. As I would read each one, I praised the Lord because I realized that He answered them IN HIS TIME. Not all of them had been answered 'yes.' And I praise Him for that too! But He did answer all my prayers. I am so glad that I have journals so I can go back and say, "Praise You Lord! For You are God!" No, not all things have been answered since I started my journaling, but I know that He is working. Praise You Lord for being Lord of my life!!!

On that note, I do want to praise Him for caring about the little things. I am such a fairy tale girl. I really do think that life can be perfect and that it can be the way we always dreamed it would be when we were little. Here are some of the little things in life that I have always wanted that I now have. (These are not the eternal desires of my heart.)

1. A Christian Husband who loves me so much. AND who comes home from a hard day at work wanting nothing but to be in his living room with me! A husband who makes me laugh harder than anyone has ever made me laugh.
2. A door that is all windows. I know that sounds crazy, but that is something I really cared about.
3. Boat rides. There is probably nothing that I love more than boat rides at the lake. I love going up to the lake house (which is pretty much a cabin) and ending the day with a relaxing boat ride. Ahhhh....never in my life did I dream that I would be able to do that more often than not.
4. My cozy corner of my couch with my lamp. My most favortie time of day is before the sun comes up and I get to cuddle up with a cup of coffee and do my Bible study. I am so thankful to have a home.
5. My cute, adorable job. I love designing. LOVE interior design. There is nothing more satisfying than coming home from a hard day at work knowing that I did my best and had tons of fun doing it. BUT, there is one blessing that God surprised me with that I never expected. My favorite scene from a movie is when Meg Ryan is working at her adorable SHOP AROUND THE CORNER. I have always loved the small old building on the cute little strip. And that is exactly where I start my work day and end my work day....our cute little design building downtown in Historic Opelika.
6. My lunch break. I wounldn't appreciate this if I didn't communte for 2 years prior to my job now.

I could go on, and I am sure I will in further blogs. But these are the things that make me stop and say, "Thank you God for caring about the little things."

A Hot Start to a Hot Summer

Summer...it is finally feeling like an Alabama summer. The Winklers LOVE summertime! For many reasons. We love those lazy lake weekends where we can just float in good ole' Lake Martin. The water already feels like bath water! We are definitely in for a very hot summer. We had tons of fun yesterday floating in the water and our sunset boat ride with the family. Then we enjoyed a wonderful plate of cholesterol at our favorite restaurant Oskars. Fried pickles and corn nuggets...who needs an entree? We woke up early this morning so we could enjoy the cool breeze right before we packed up to go home. We stopped at Walnut Hill to grab our traditional lake breakfast of homemade biscuits and now our tummys really hurt from all the traditional Alabama food. We made it just in time for church. Then this afternoon, I decided to plant my herb garden. Stuart was so nice to bring me my favorite herbs! I already used some rosemary to bake chicken! I knew I had to go ahead and cook with something because I am excellent at killing any plant. There is no green thumb in me at all! And I decided to start blogging again. All thanks to Sarah Beth (who is my only follower and probably the only one who will read this...unless I ask my mom to.) What a perfect Sunday!