Wow it's been a while!

WHAT A PAST COUPLE OF MONTHS! I know it has been forever but I just wanted to quickly update and say how blessed we are! I am currently driving free as a Sales Director with MK! It is such a continuous journey of personal growth, ministry, and blessings- but I can tell you that I am so incredibly blessed beyond words with what this company has done for me and my family!


Duane is still working with Southern Champion Tray downtown in the truck shop as a Grade A Diesel Mechanic. He also does some tree work/landscaping/car repair/construction/etc. on the side! He is definitely a man of many trades. Trixie and Daisy (our two criminal daughters) are still kickin' and more of a mess than ever before! :) It is a constant challenge to keep these curious dogs in the backyard but we love them anyway:) Our families are both doing well along with my precious baby nephew Wil Franklin....even though he isn't much of a baby anymore. He will celebrate birthday number 3 in November. CRAZY!


We have been doing a lot of traveling here lately to Vegas, Rhode Island, Gulf Shores, Mississippi, Nashville, etc. but it has absolutely been a blast! My plan is to more frequently been updating my blog so that I can record our life experiences for our family to be able to look back on-- and also in hopes to somehow be a blessing to others! So-- hopefully talk to you soon! Have a wonderful day!!



The "criminals" and their Daddy!


My Wil Franklin


Picking up my $1000 bonus check for debuting as a Sales Director on January 1!


My love :)

What A Whirlwind

Well I'm officially one month away from DRIVING FREE in my 2011 Chevy Malibu! How exciting is that?? Mary Kay is an absolutely amazing company with a solid value system that is shown daily through corporate, sales force, and customers. I have been extremely blessed, and I have learned SO much about myself in this process. I definitely know how to look like I have it all together, but little did I know how scared, insignificant, and insecure I felt on the inside. Not that this matters to anyone else but myself and bettering me as a person-- but living so blindly is spiritually unhealthy and it destroys any path to success. Maybe educating myself about who I really am will assist someone else in their journey as well.

In the past two months, I have realized that I have seen people disappoint my family so harshly and so frequently, that deep down on the inside I never thought I would be successful. I always knew the Lord had blessed me with talent and ability. I knew that the Lord was faithful and he wanted to use me in a mighty way- but time after time I've seen myself or the people in my family have high hopes of success or opportunity that NEVER came to fruition. Always, the Lord uses us and always we've seen glorious blessings. We have absolutely never gone without an abundance of the things we need- and mostly what we wanted. But I have literally equated ministry and following the Lord with total sacrifice- especially financially. Now, don't get me wrong- I completely understand that ministry and living a faithful Christian life requires sacrifice. The Lord plainly tells us to "Daily, take up our crosses" and NEVER would I suspect for my journey to be a bed of roses by any means. But never in a million years did I think I would not only have the opportunity to be successful-- but live financially free in the process!

The Lord calls us to life in abundance! Serve the Lord with gladness and be enslaved by NOTHING-- that includes debt. (John 10:10, 1 Cor. 6:12) Satan has so long entangled me in a fear of failure and in lies of unsuccess and self-pity. I have been able to talk the talk, but never for one second did I actually believe that anything I said about living abundantly or financially free would become a reality for me. Did I actually consider myself a faith-filled person before? There was no faith! There have been moments these last two months where my head has been so cluttered with warring within myself about my future and my ability to be successful- when literally I have felt so defeated that all I wanted to do was RUN as far away from any and all committments, opportunities, or responsibities where other people, even my family, could potentially see me fail. It was at those emotionally exhausting moments of dispair that a clarity and peace which passes ALL understanding was revealed to me through a voice that says, "I AM who I say I AM! Trust. In. ME!" So simple. But so life-changing.

WHO AM I-- to doubt that the Lord did not purposely orchestrate my position and my growing influence to share MY story and how He is blessing my family? (Esther 4:14)
WHO AM I-- to say in the face of the God of the Universe, "I can't do this. It's not possible!" (Phillipians 4:13)
WHO AM I-- to choose fear over power when the Lord plainly states that the spirit of fear did not originate from Him? (2 Timothy 1:7)
WHO AM I-- to selfishly place my faith in myself and MY talents and abilities- over the one who gave His life for me and placed His resurrection power on MY life? (Romans 8:11)

WHO AM I?

By no means do I have it all figured out. But I feel like the Lord is changing me and daily renewing my ability to see His bigger purpose. He is providing for my family faithfully in a way I never imagined-- and all it took was for me to first, find my faith, and second, put my faith into action. Do I still face days where I feel like I can't go on? Absolutely! Do I get discouraged when I make mistakes? You better believe it. But THANK THE LORD, He tells us that all it takes to move mountains, is the faith of a mustard seed. (Matthew 17:20)

SO-- because of the Lord's abundant blessings and His faithfulness in allowing me to make a difference in the lives of other women....If He WILLS....next month I will be Driving Free and on my way to Directorship!

Here is my new anthem...

I am a part of the fellowship of excellence. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I have stayed up, stored up, paid up and prayed up. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, colorless dreams, small vision, cheap living and dwarfed goals. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, labor by power and lift by prayer.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of fear, negotiate at the table of the enemy or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
FROM THIS DAY FORWORD- my banner will be clear-- when you see me ……you will see a woman of excellence!


I'm so thankful for the way the Lord is blessing me and my family. I firmly believe that any and all of my abundant life is a gift from the Lord because of His grace and faithfulness.
And having said that, Lord willing, in 5 short weeks....I'll be seeing you on the road! :)

Professional Bridesmaid!

Well let me just start by saying....PHEW.
Alright good deep breath. I am EXHAUSTED. But it's a good tired. I have had probably the busiest summer of my life (and it's not over)-- but I've also got to spend more time at home with my family than I have in the last 3 years combined. So needless to say, the ole Mazda 3 got a workout! I knew it was going to be crazy when I was informed of four wedding dates of four of the most amazing people in my life...all within 4 weeks of each other! NUTS! So about April 24 started my summer of driving home every.single.weekend through June 20 (my one year anniversary) supporting four awesome girls-- Madison Robertson, my twin cousin:), Mallori Mapp, my bestie from home, Ashley Gadd, one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet from Chatt-town, and Emily Flowers, my brotha from anotha motha. We had showers and parties that included lots of gifts and lingerie and pots and pans and pottery-- but overall, I got to spend a lot of amazing time with some AMAZING girls (and boys!).

Well we started off having several showers. This was fun for me, because I opened up a little bit of my creative side when it came to gift-giving and "shower-throwing." My first weekend of showers were full of lingerie showers (I ended up having a lingerie shower for every single wedding in one weekend). So I decided to test my baking skills. I ended up making lingerie shaped cakes for two of the showers. Here's the one I sent for Ashley and Bart:

It was a ton of fun and I actually really surprised myself. I am NOT a cook-- so it was neat to play around with it. Well next we had home showers and church showers. I decided to test out some old rusty painting skills from back in the day. Ashley had loved a painting my best friend Mallori had done for me when I got married, so I decided to paint her a version of it:

Anyway....on May 15th, the weddings started-- Madison was first! She was an absolute STUNNING bride and everything turned out perfectly. It was a relatively cool day, we got done putting finishing touches on the reception area early so no one was rushed, and the ceremony was one of the sweetest I've seen. Not to mention, we BROKE IT DOWN at the reception. OOH love me some Cupid Shuffle and Cha-Cha Slide! :) I am so proud for both of them-- Jeremy you better take care of her! I know she LOVES being Mrs. Abbott! :) Here's a phone pic pre-makeup (for me!):

The next weekend was May 22 and I had two weddings on the same night. Ashley Gadd in Chattanooga and Mallori Mapp in Pontotoc. There was no way I would make them both, so it was a bittersweet day that I was having to miss out on Ashley and Bart. But their pictures are absolutely AMAZING and knowing the two of them....it was an extremely sweet sweet day. But I did get to make it to Mal's wedding. And let me just say it was gorgeous. Everything turned out perfectly, the Lord held off the rain, dried the ground, and made for a sweet night under the trees of her backyard. Mallori was gorgeous, Evan was handsome and the bridal party was super fun. The most eventful item that took place happened after the fact. At about midnight, Mal calls me and tells me she's left her purse in Pontotoc and it has all her information like credit cards, license, etc. in it that she needs for honeymoon. She and Evan were in Memphis at the Peabody. SOO-- me and Emily get in the car and drive up there to take it to her. When we get there-- the roads are blocked for a concert downtown and the cops aren't letting anyone in or out. SO we had no other choice but to just turn around and come back home. So after driving all the way there and back and getting in bed around 5:30AM....it was not successful! Needless to say it made a great story. Here's a snapshot from the wedding taken by her extremely talented and super sweet photographer, Alicia Hartfield and Moments Photography:

So the next weekend was Memorial Day and I actually stayed at home. Thank goodness. I can't actually remember what I did because I think I was a zombie-- but I do know I rested. Then following that was, last but definitely not least, the wedding of my cousin Caleb East and his beautiful bride Emily Flowers. Emily is a long time friend and has felt like family for a long long time. So this was definitely one of the sweetest days in our family. The rehearsal dinner was just amazing because I got to visit with several childhood friends that I knew through Caleb and Jordan-- some I hadn't seen in years. We had a BLAST talking and laughing about old times. Very fun and very laid back. Then of course wedding day was an ultimate celebration of what the Lord had brought together AND (almost) equally important...THE Mississippi State Bulldogs! MAROON! WHITE! :) The couple marched out to "Hail State" and we sent them on their way with a sea of cowbells clanging behind them. It. was. awesome. Here's a pic of me and my little barbie:

So that rounded up my weddings, but I still had one more trip. On June 19 I had my 5 year high school class reunion. It was so much fun getting to see everybody and visit like old times. We had a pretty good turn out and it was so interesting to see how everyone had changed. Here's a picture of our senior class officers (Madison, me, Miranda McLaughlin, Emily Robbins, and Mallori):

And my summer post could never be complete without pics of me and my little nugget! Wil Franklin was so much fun all summer and I cannot get over how much he's grown! I love him so so much and his WhitWhit is so proud of him! Here's a picture at Emily's wedding:

And my favorite picture of all summer....my cool dude lounging and watching his golf movie (you know how I do WhitWhit, just chillaxin wit my passey!):

Overall its been an amazing summer thus far with a lot of amazing memories. And I do want to say thank you so much to all these awesome girls for letting me share in these special times with them. You are the best friends I could ever imagine and I would not trade any of this for the world!

There is still a lot going on with work and family. I'm moving into management with Mary Kay so it takes up a lot of my time. School is a nightmare. And Duane and I just celebrated our ONE YEAR! (a longer post on how much I love my hubby later....I'm pretty sure yall get the picture!). It's crazy that it's been a year but it has honestly been the absolute best year of my life. Hands down. Well that about gets me caught up. More about hubby and work soon! Night night!

Job? Nah....I think I'll pass!

That's right! You heard it correctly! I am now officially a Mary Kay Independent Senior Beauty Consultant! :) I made the decision to join Mary Kay in December and I've been hitting the gas pedal ever since! My sweet Pink Cadillac driving friend, Crystal McDaniel is the one who showed me the vision of Mary Kay several months ago. When Summer Richardson, my other sweet friend from the gym decided to go ahead and sign up-- I knew that I should do it too.

Mary Kay has changed my life. I now know that I can use my talents and abilities that the Lord has blessed me with to be successful and have a career. But that has never been my number one priority-- it's been being a wife and a mother. Through Mary Kay, I can become a driving-free, six-figure earning, stay at home mom. Wow. What an opportunity-- that I couldn't pass up! And let me just say that I am BY FAR, the best boss I've ever had! I'm having fun, I'm making moo-lah, and I'm on my way to directorship, driving free-- all on my own timeline. I'm changing women's lives and I'm showing them how to follow their dreams but keep their priorities in order (faith first, family second, work third-- thank you Mary Kay Ash!). It's my dream job and I'm so thankful for everything the Lord has blessed me with in the past few months.

I would love to share with you how you can be a part of this amazing opportunity or even just give you a free pampering session and customized makeover! It's well worth your time. Check out my website: www.marykay.com/wblomberg or shoot me an email wblomberg@marykay.com-- you'll get a free gift just for meeting with me :)

Find your way to beautiful!

1 Peter 2:18

These past 5 months have absolutely been the hardest few months that my family has ever been through. Satan is definitely a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So many life changes have occurred, friendships lost, tears cried...

WHAT? This was part of God's plan? Are you kidding me? Do you hate us God? Are you still THERE? Did you FORGET ME?

These are all thoughts that consistently have burrowed their way deep into my heart and mind. They cloud my vision-- they make my life seem unbearable at times. They make me angry. They make me bitter. They make me hate. They bring dark things in my heart to the surface...that I never even knew existed inside of me. I have been so down and so depressed at times that all I want to do is just lay in the bed and cry-- and desperately ache for my family. It seems like it was just ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER, to the point where I just wanted to give up-- throw in the towel on church, on people, on working hard for anything or anybody-- and build my cocoon around me and my husband and family here in Chattanooga, TN-- far away from anyone that could hurt us (or so I thought). My God, my God, why have you forsaken us? What could possibly come out of this that is GOOD, or GLORIFYING to You?

O ye, of little faith...

Through all the pain...through all the tears... through all the heartache....God is STILL good. It has taken me five long months to be able to say that I can LIFT my EYES to the HILLS-- because my help is coming! Come let us WORSHIP the KING! I type with tears as I know that even though people can hurt us-- and even though friendships will disintegrate-- even though things don't work out the way we want them to-- NO, in ALL these things, we are MORE (not just kinda), MORE than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). For I am CONVINCED that neither death, nor life (or pain or hurt), neither angels or demons, neither the PRESENT nor the future, nor any powers (including church or people), neither height nor depth, nor anything (or anybody) else in ALL creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (MY) Lord! (Romans 8:38-39)

I don't know why in the heck things happen the way they do. I don't know how the Lord will be glorified-- or how people will see His power through all of this? But there are a few things I do know and will proclaim through faith: I am chosen as a child of the King, holy and blameless, adopted by Him through His blood and stamped with a mark of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:4-6). I know that I did not receive a spirit of slavery (to anyone or anything) leading to fear, but the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which I AM ALLOWED TO CRY, ABBA! FATHER! (Romans 8:15) I know that from NOW ON, I will strive to be like Job and lift my praise to the God of Heaven that has brought me out of despair and into an eternity of victory! The past is the past and I know that there is a plan and a calling for ALL of us-- disagreements occur, hearts are hardened, feelings are hurt, and things are broken. But thankfully for ALL OF US, there is One they call the Healer (Isaiah 53:5, 2 Chronicles 7:14).

Satan tries to constantly remind me of the past. But I urge you, Christian, to join with me, and just remind him of his future.

Long time, no blog..

Well, it's been awhile. I'm officially a deliquent blogger, as I expected I would end up being. But, a lot has been going on in our house...more important things to take up my time:)

For the past few weeks I have really been enjoying being a house wife! I'm almost completely finished remodeling my kitchen. We have a new floor, new walls, new cabinets, new decor....it's beautiful! I'm still putting on the finishing touches--painting some canvasses and buying some things to go here and there...but for the most part, it's looking like a real kitchen! I've also had time to go through most of our wedding gifts...exchange what we had doubles of and put things where they belong. Slowly but surely, we're building a real grown up house! So that's been reallyyyyy fun!

Well, through the holidays I've decided to help make this transition from having a full time job to not having a job by working part time at The Buckle in the mall. It's a great place to have a great discount :) So, not staying at home full time now but at least we have a little of extra income. But this past weekend I've been at home in Pontotoc with my family for a friend's wedding. Brittany Treadaway is now Mrs. Charlie Malone and it couldn't of been a prettier or sweeter wedding! We had a great time celebrating what a beautiful thing the Lord had brought together! Our bridesmaids dresses were gorgeous, the cake was delicious, the bride was a barbie doll, the spirit was sweet....it was a perfect day. Needless to say, I always love an excuse to come home and enjoy spending time with my family. Amber and Matt also came down with baby Wil Franklin and we just played and played all weekend. He's growing so big and tall and walking like a BIG boy. Not ok with that. He also has his big ONE year old birthday party coming up on November 26-- Thanksgiving day...which is very close to uncle D's birthday on November 23....

Speaking of Duane's birthday.......he's already received his birthday, Christmas, Valentine's day, and anniversary present for the next two years.... haha. Joking!...kinda. This past Friday on my way to Pontotoc, (he wasn't able to come with me because of basketball practice) he called and informed that he was looking at a motorcycle- for fun. Yeah RIGHT. He is now the proud owner of a Honda so-and-so 1800 CC Silver motorcycle. WOW....guess it's true that when the cat's away, the mouse will play. NEVER leaving him alone again! :) I am very excited for him...can't wait to get back home and ride it with him. And needless to say, my dad is just beside himself!

Well, sitting here with my mom listening to her rock out to some 70s music on the TV and hearing about the memories certain songs bring back to her..haha! I'm going to spend one more night here and travel back in the morning. Missing my baby boy....I cried when I left him on Friday, so I can't wait to get back and see him tomorrow--- but I have so enjoyed the time with my family.

I can't wait to post several pictures of the wedding, the kitchen, and my weekend here with the fam...oh AND the new toy:) Those are coming soon......hope everyone is doing well...love you all....and be looking to my next post on wishing you all a merry CHRISTmas! :) I may rant a bit....oh well, my blog! :)

Sweet dreams...

HOUSE WIFE:)

Well, life is good.....it's official....I quit my job.

My heart wasn't there...my heart is at home with my husband. I'm going to finish my house...probably work a part time job somewhere...and focus on finishing school. Life is good. More details and pictures of my last week here at the house to come. I'm TOO busy being a housewife to be on this blog!! haha...Updates soon.

Love, Whit