#59 - Happy 9th Birthday Holly!

Today is Holly's 9th Birthday!!! We've been celebrating all weekend, but today is the official day!

Where has our baby gone?

Early this morning we were awoken by severe storms and tornadoes all around, but thankfully most of it went around us! We did get some heavy rains and winds.

Then later in the morning we stopped by the library in the northern part of the county before co-op to see if they had a bigger selection than our local one. Turns out it doesn't :-/

But they had this really cool ship in the kids section!

Then Nina and the kiddos treated us to lunch for Holly's special day.

Smile girls :D

Tonight Nana, Amber, & Bella came by to bring Holly's present.

Bella has been a "Holly's Girl" this weekend! She wanted to sit in her lap last night at church and then she kept reaching for her afterwards in the parking lot. Then tonight she wanted Holly again. Holly loved every second of it.

She got another small surprise gift from us.

And some more cake - this time cupcakes :P

Psalm 145:7
"They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness."

#58 - Annie Armstrong and a Water Bottle

Today was my last Sunday to teach Children's Church :( I've had a blast this month and I couldn't have done it without Anna and Holly's help. My sister came with us this morning and was a huge help too :D

We painted water bottles to be used for banks so the kids can collect change for our "Change for Souls" offerings. We taught about missions today and who Annie Armstrong was and how she supported missions here in the United States.

This colorful bank belonged to my little cookie buddy :) He again didn't disappoint with the comments! As I was teaching about Annie I told about how when she lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she looked out and saw the immigrants and thought about the opportunities to share Christ with them. His hand went straight into the air - "Hey, you know what......my Daddy is taking me to Pennsylvania to a dirt track racing show!"

I'm gonna miss teaching all of the kiddos, we've had a fun time with them this month!

After going to Mexico for lunch - yum, yum, we came home and took a much needed nap!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

#57 - Day Two of Festivities

Today was Holly day! We began today by watching a really cute movie - Gnomeo & Juliet!

They were blinded by the sunlight :)

Then we had a little lunch at Chick-fil-A.

Then all the girls headed to Lexington to get some shopping done!

After some Justice for Girls, Disney Store, & Build-a-Bear we were set to go!

Then another stop by a different Justice :)

We stopped by Shoe Carnival and the girls went on a Safari! They were laughing so hard and yes they were actually riding this zebra Jeep!

We finished off our night with a little icedream from, of course, Chick-fil-A!

Psalm 139:14
"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."

#56 - Day One of Birthday Festivities

Holly's birthday is on Monday and instead of having a party she has chosen to just do a simple cake/ice cream at home and have Sissy over for a sleepover. Then we're gonna do something special tomorrow!

When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, any kind of cake, guess what she said?

"I want you to make my cake mommy with your homemade icing."

Awww, so sweet.

But before you think I'm a great cake baker please let me present Exhibit A:

Haha! (at least it tasted good:)

She wanted to decorate it so I gave her the thingy and said - go to town baby girl!

The HbH stands for Happy Birthday Holly :)

Can't believe she is 9 years old. When I was looking for candles I found 7 and thought to myself, I just need 1 more. Then Holly found this one and said - here is a number 9!!! I said, but you're just 8 :(

The birthday girl with her bestest friends!

It only took her three tries to blow out all of those candles.

Sissy got her the awesome bike and one of the Liv girls and we went ahead and gave her one of her presents tonight - another Liv girl. Tomorrow she gets to pick out a few more.

We are blessed with a beautiful, spunky, witty, & hilarious princess and we love her so much!

"Don't follow what's with you, follow What is in you!" ~ Holly

#55 - Spring Love

We've had a rainy day and I saw some buttercup sprouts peeking through the ground today!!! Spring is getting closer!

After school the girls and I met Nina and the kiddos up at the library and then I went to sign Holly up for softball again. It's hard to believe this will be her fifth year playing city league. Even harder to believe that she'll be 9 years old on Monday. Wow!

I have cooked many different things in our almost 15 years of marriage, but I had never tried beef stroganof. We had a sampling of my aunts last week and Brian and I both have had a hankerin' for it. So I printed off a Paula Deen recipe today and attempted it tonight. It was pretty tasty, although not included in our list of healthy meals:)

I saw a link on someone's blog last night for the 5 Languages of Love Quiz and thought I'd try it. It seemed to be right on with the way I am! My top one was Physical Touch! I'm definitely a hugger :o) Brian's was Acts of Service (hence the beef stroganof tonight :)

Here is the assessment - try it out!

#54 - Five Years and a Watch

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this or not, but Holly has always been obsessed with getting Brian a watch for any special occasion that comes up. Father's Day, Birthday, Christmas, it doesn't matter she always wants to get him one. Last year for Father's Day we had batteries replaced in one of his watches he already had and so far it has satisfied her.

Well, next month will be his five year anniversary with the company he works with and he was able to pick out a gift. Guess what he picked:

Yep, a watch. I'm pretty sure it made Holly happy. :)

He also got a 5 year gold pin. I have to add in here that I am so grateful for his job. After working at his former employer for 11 years and then coming to his new job it has truly been a blessing to our family in so many ways. God's Providence is just amazing!

Psalm 62:8
"Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us."

#53 - Remembering Texas....

After talking about our Texas trip to see Gigge last year it got me to thinking that I had cell phone pics that I never posted. Since we've done nothing real special today - school, laundry, supper - I thought I'd just share some of our Texas pics!

At some point after we got into Texas we stopped at a DQ to eat and I was amazed at how they decorate Texas style!

They even had a special Texas menu :)

A rare event happened while we were down there - it snowed! My nieces were even featured on a news broadcast while playing in a friend's yard!

The hospital where he was at for many weeks.

My beautiful niece and sister!

My other beautiful niece and girlies!

And yes, Texas skies are beautiful!!!

I am just amazed at how last year at this time he was fighting for his life and now he is doing so well! We were blessed to see him at Christmas and I'm hoping to get to see him and his precious family again for my niece's wedding in AR next month! God is so good all the time and I praise Him for what has taken place in Gigge's life!!! So very blessed!

Psalm 72:18
"Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds."

#52 - Day of Anniversaries

Today has been a good day :) The girls and I had a great time at co-op and afterwards we headed to Lexington with Brian. He had to get a couple of tools for work. The funny thing is that we went on a date almost exactly a year ago and did the same thing. Difference this time is we had the girls with us and instead of Red Lobster we ate at Chick-fil-A! :D

We went to "Sear!"

The temps have been nice this past week and tonight we also got some rain. I just love black and white rain pictures (even in a little traffic).

After a quick browse through Best Buy, some Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches, and a grocery run to Wally World we headed home. When I was holding our screen door open while Brian carried the groceries in :) my cross hanging on the door made this HUGE shadow on our carport wall. Pretty neat!

The girls were impressed with the giant wrench!

Hehe!

♥

I think our family has an addiction to sweet tea!

I am proud to say that it has been a year since we've stopped drinking soft drinks. Other than a Pepsi we drank at a Pizza Hut (didn't want to drink the tap water) while we were in Panama and a few orange drinks there and maybe a Sprite one other time - we've exclusively drank water and tea (I can control the sugar) :P Sometimes my Mountain Dew cravings almost make me give in - but NO - I refuse!!!! Haha!

Also, yesterday was the one year anniversary that my brother, Gigge (Garland) went into the hospital and almost lost his life. I praise God that He healed him and is doing so well!!! I took a few pictures of him when we were down there last year and would love to do a post on the difference from then and now and how we serve an Awesome God - I'll have to ask my sis-in-law about posting that :o) (Love you, Becky!) I just realized exactly a year ago at this exact time my dad, the girls, and I were getting on the interstate headed south to see him!

Psalm 100:5
"For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."

#51 - Rejoicing through Tears!

We've had a busy busy day! This was my third week in Children's Church and my fave little cookie guy didn't disappoint today with his funny comments. We had just finished our snack and out of the blue he randomly says, "Mrs. Jennifer, my mom won't let me have a parrot!" "What?!" So he repeats it - "Yeah, my mom says she won't buy me a parrot and I really want one!" Then later he proceeds to show me how God had made him special because his thumb can pop in and out of socket. In fact he just says to me as he's passing by, "Look God made me special!" and then pop pop in out the thumb goes. Too funny!

Donna's funeral this afternoon was unlike any funeral I've ever been to. It was a worship service at it's best! Her pastor did an excellent job sharing the Gospel message and sharing wonderful stories about her loving on people in Jesus' Name! We were definitely rejoicing through our tears today!

She also LOVED the color red and as a way to honor her today almost everyone wore something that was red.

2 Timothy 4:7-8
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

#50 - J.O.Y.

Today has been an exhausting day and I'm just gonna re-post an older devotion that I had posted a while back. Please pray for my best friend's family - the visitation was tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. There were so many people to come through and share with the family the legacy that Donna has left. She was a precious woman loved by so many.
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The girls and I recently had a brief review of what the acronym J.O.Y. stands for:
J stands for Jesus
O for Others
Y for You.
This should be our standard on how we live.

Jesus should always come first in everything that we think about and what we do. When we put Him first everything else will always fall into place. We should always think of others before ourselves and treat them like we would want to be treated. Self should be last. When this order is reversed it puts everything backwards and our lives show it. There are many examples in God's Word that demonstrates this order. God is a God of order.

First example would be the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17.
One through four pertain to God:
1- You shall have no other gods before me.
2- You shall not make unto yourself any graven image.
3- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4- Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Five through nine pertain to others:
5- Honor your father and your mother.
6- You shall not murder.
7- You shall not commit adultery.
8- You shall not steal.
9- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Number ten is all about yourself:
10- You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Another example would be the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23:
These fruits can only truly come from the Holy Spirit living inside of you after you have been saved.

Love, Joy, Peace all three have to do with God and we can only get these three from Him.
The next three Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, all have to do with how we treat others.
The last three is Faithfulness, Gentleness, & Self-Control and those apply to us!

#49 - Treasures

I've been going through pictures and scanning ones that Nina gave me for a picture video for Donna's visitation. While going through some of our old pics I came across a few that I thought I'd share today.

This one of Holly was taken around September 2007 when she was 5 years old. Not the best centered picture, but it totally captures her personality! She is so stinking cute in this pic, I could just kiss her face off!

I found this one of Anna with a serious face that I've always loved! Her eyes one just get to me. If I just had one day to go back when they were this size. So precious.

This one was in Nina's pictures. That is her oldest Logan sitting in her father-in-law's lap and Brian is entertaining him! Then it hit me that this picture is 14 years old! Yikes!

We must make each day count because they sure do pass so very quickly!

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I just finished "My Mother's Hope" by Francine Rivers and this quote was in the last section and it just spoke so much to my heart:
"Sometimes fear has to be set aside so we can share the past hurts that have shaped our lives, so we can dwell in freedom with one another."