Saturday, April 30, 2011

#120 - The Bees and Madison's Baptism

Holly and the Bees had their first game of the season this afternoon! They didn't win, but that is perfectly okay:) She hit it really good twice and made a few really good plays at first base! So proud of her!

We painted her fingernails to match her uniform!


This year she is one of the veteran returning players and she is playing first base :) We stopped by to get her these sunglasses before the game. Cool cat!



Batter-up!





Nana, Bella, & Amber came to watch her game too!


One down and many to go! Fun stuff!



After the game the girls and I headed over to Lexington for Madison's baptism. Mikey had sent me a message last week telling me that she had gotten saved! Such wonderful news!





So excited for her in her new life in Christ!


I pray Lord that you bless her and keep her heart guarded. Help her to always seek Your face for counsel in all things. Give her a hunger to know You more and to crave Your Word daily! Thank you for Madison, Father, and for her trust in Jesus!


Sweet cousins! Lauren had already gone to her class before I could get all four of them together.


But here she is!


And here is Miss Kathryn Reese!

Such a wonderful day and we are looking forward to resting tomorrow, both spiritually and physically!


Hebrews 11:6
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Friday, April 29, 2011

#119 - Keeping it Real *UPDATED*

UPDATED**After writing this last night, I woke up this morning with conviction on my heart. No matter how bad or crazy my week went last week I still feel extremely blessed. Especially when I see footage of the aftermath of those tornadoes and storms from Alabama and other states. My life and house could be in much more chaos than what it is right now and for that I am very grateful!**

For what it's worth - this week has been a doozy! I feel like I'm still playing catch-up. With all of the rain you'd think I'd have everything caught up with being inside 24 hours a day for almost a week straight, but wrong!

I hardly ever vent on here about the crazy times in our lives, but after reading a post written by my niece's new sister-in-law (that I was able to meet during the wedding in Arkansas :), it has given me a new perspective on what to maybe share a little more. The girls and I have been re-organizing their room. We do this about twice a year and when it's time for a good cleaning/purging event it is a big ordeal. This usually falls around the time we switch out their summer/winter clothes. This is what we've tried to tackle this week. Fun times.

I've never been a neat freak, but with my laundry piling up higher as the days go by and with my carpet getting a new layer of dirt, it is about to drive me crazy! I was the baby of five kids so Mama never really made me clean a whole lot and I use that for the excuse that I don't like to clean now. :) I struggle with making the girls clean up after themselves and I must keep reminding them to get their chores done. They are responsible for emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen, folding laundry (not all of it - I'm not that bad :), and putting laundry into the dryer from the washer. We've also hit a few milestones this week that I would rather not share on the blog, but I'll just say it's been a very busy/crazy/exciting week!

Our girlies are pretty good girls and I appreciate their sweet willing spirits and attitudes that they have most of the time. But they both still have their moments, trust me. Little sin natures must be dealt with early on by parents! Children aren't born knowing how to do right, it must be taught. Holly needs a tuning occasionally, but once an issue has been "addressed" she seems to be okay until the next incident arises. For example, today I caught her rolling her eyes at me when I asked her to change her shirt. Um....no I don't think so! I nipped it in the bud the instant she did it. She had her warning and now if I see her doing it again I'll "address" it with some more intensive punishment (read: swat on the behind)!

(Anna took this picture today of our Iris' while I was working:)


I had high hopes of cleaning tomorrow and getting the girls room finished up, but Holly's softball coach informed us that her first game which is a make-up game from last Saturday is tomorrow and Brian is working day shift so he'll miss her first game :( It's probably a good thing my camera card is empty! Also, my niece, Madison will be getting baptized tomorrow night - Yay! We're excited to go and be a part of that celebration too!
So I guess our clean house will have to wait until say, after the girls leave home.......which if it's up to their Daddy and me, won't be until they are 35 & 37!

Ephesians 4:15
"but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—"

Thursday, April 28, 2011

#118 - Red Flowers and Robin Eggs

I found a little surprise in my wreath that I hang off the front of our house:


But someone ^ wasn't too happy about me being anywhere near her precious possessions! She won't stop squawking at us anytime we go outside.

On our way to the grocery store this afternoon I drove past this field of the prettiest red flowers. Someone just commented on my picture I posted on FB and said that it was a type of clover that they plant to replenish the soil. The college in our town owns a lot of greenspace around our city and this is a field where they grow crops. It was lovely regardless of what kind of flower it is....of course this is coming from someone who thinks a dandelion is pretty and not so pesty :)

Psalm 103:15
"As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes."

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

#117 - Anna's 3rd Spiritual Birthday

Today is Anna's 3rd spiritual birthday! Here is a picture of her after she accepted Christ at our dining room table. It was one of the happiest days of my life :)


Brian was able to baptize her on Mother's Day. What a blessed Mother's Day that was!





We are so proud of our 3 year old! May God continue to guide her life and that she will always look to Him for guidance and wisdom.


In other news, it has been raining cats and dogs here! We were blessed to not have gotten very much severe weather. Our prayers are with those that were hit hard with the tornadoes this week. And God be with the families that lost loved ones.



I'll end on a light note.......Tonight before church we ran to Save-a-Lot to get some drinks for the mission's class and this "new" cereal caught our eye. "Freaky Fruits!" Haha!

This is one of Anna's favorite verses:

Psalm 90:17
"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands."

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

#116 - He Stands at the Door

Today has been another rainy day and Holly's 2nd softball game has been cancelled. I am just thinking those May flowers should be very pretty! We are blessed to not be in the flood zone and I just pray for all of those that have been so affected by all of these storms.

I wanted to share Holly's picture that she drew this weekend. It is self explanatory:

I LOVE it! It explains so much with a few simple pen marks. I also love that Jesus is front and center of her heart :) By the way, she said that the door could only be opened from the inside..............

Revelation 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

Monday, April 25, 2011

#115 - Canaan's Happy Land!

The girls and I went to Canaan's birthday party tonight at Bounce-a-Roo's! They had a blast and were worn out by the time we got home :)

Here is the birthday boy - he is such a cutie!



Carson was SO excited when he saw Anna! She is his buddy :)





And this blue eyed beauty was so precious and looked like she had grown so much since the last time we saw her.



Fun times!

Precious family!

I told Stacey - this was as close as we were gonna get of all 5 of them in one shot! They are such a sweet family and we are so blessed to call them our friends!

I have to end this post with one of my favorite pics of the night :) Isn't this sweet?!

Deuteronomy 4:29
"But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Sunday, April 24, 2011

#114 - Happy Resurrection Day!

Matthew 28:5-6
"And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

This was during tonight's Easter drama at our church. The drama was based on the 7 sins that God dispises and it was truly an eye opening performance!


Hope you had a great Easter weekend and celebrated a risen Savior today! Sunday has come and He is risen!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

#113 - Family Dinner at the Olive Garden

This afternoon we headed over to the Olive Garden to eat. With our busy week of testing and revival it felt like we hadn't had time with just the four of us. We enjoyed our time together. Looking forward to tomorrow - Resurrection Day!!!


I had to add a pic of my food :) I had the Chicken and Shrimp Carbanara (all low-fat of course :D)

Hope you have a wonderful Easter and remember it's all about Jesus and what He did so that we may live!

Romans 14:11
"For it is written:
“ As I live, says the LORD,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”

Friday, April 22, 2011

#112 - It's Friday, but Sunday's a Comin'

This video says it all:


Praise His Holy Name!

I pray that you celebrate this weekend for what it is truly about. Not bunny rabbits or eggs, but that our Savior died because He loved us and wanted to do the Father's will and make a relationship between us and a Holy God possible. Us. Sinful, unworthy us. Amazing.





Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day
(Oh Glorious Day - Casting Crowns)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

#111 - Happy Girls!

These are the faces of some happy girlies:

We finished with our testing this morning! Yay!

Afterwards Sissy came over to play for a couple of hours and then we headed to our last revival service. Tomorrow night our church is having a Good Friday service that we are always so excited about! It is always such a blessing and truly helps us to get our minds and hearts set on Jesus and what this weekend really all about. His precious gift of salvation through His pain and suffering. Amazing.

Isaiah 53:5
"But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed."

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

#110 - What a Week!

I mentioned that the girls were testing this week, but I haven't elaborated on why they are doing so. The homeschool co-op that we are a part of offers to administer a Stanford achievement test every year. Since this is the first year we've been a part of this co-op, we felt like it was a good time to have the girls tested. Not because I want to compare their education with what the government says that they shouuld be learning. But because I want them to be familiar with taking tests and to be prepared for their future tests - i.e. ACT, SAT, etc. We also want to make sure that they are getting the basics down and learning on a level that is appropriate for their age compared to other children in the nation. The results of these tests will be only available to our family. So far they are excited about how they've done. We'll see when the results come back in June! :)

With homeschooling we have learned many new things and met some wonderful people to help us along the way. Even though this is our third year I feel very inadequate about certain things. Is the way I teach getting through? Are we using the right materials?

Even with all of my doubts of how I'm doing as their teacher/mom I am still fully on the homeschool bandwagon! Am I now an advocate of a home education? You bet! We have several different reasons for homeschooling and we believe that our girls are our blessings from God. They are gifts from God for us to care for, nurture, protect, and yes, even educate! They are not wardens of the state and we have the God-given right to make sure they are brought up in the Truth of the Lord. For us that means to teach them academics at our home. But I feel like it means more than just academics. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says that we are to teach our children God's commands from when they arise out of the bed until they lay down at night. It breaks my heart when I hear our county school bus go by our house at 6:30 A.M. every morning. Knowing little sleepy heads are nodding! That fact along would be enough to bring our girls home (even though neither ever rode a bus once to school!) But then these precious ones are at school, counting bus time, over 8 hours a day. That means that for 1/3 of a child's day they are in the hands and care of others. Now mind you, I do believe that most of these other people - the teachers, aides, & bus drivers - do care about these children. But the fact of the matter is that they aren't their parents. That means that the other 1/3 of the day is typically spent sleeping and the other 1/3 is packed with supper, homework, baths, and very little time for families to just be families. It breaks my heart, because I know that this is not how God ordained families to orchestrate.

There are so many ways that I could expand on this, but we've got one more day of testing and honestly I am exhausted tonight! Our revival is going wonderfully and there is also one more night of services. A very busy, but a very blessed week!

I didn't snap a picture today - hopefully tomorrow I'll get back with my pics of the day. So I thought I'd look at what I took last year around this time and I found this little baby:

Meet Mo-Hawk Strawberry Shortcake! Her hair had all fallen out after it dry rotted and apparently last year I felt the need to photograph this wonder. :D

Have a great Thursday!


Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

#109 - Revival and Testing!

This week has been very busy, but also very wonderful! Our revival at our church began on Sunday and will go through Thursday with our Good Friday service rounding out the week. A young man came forward last night and was saved! While his mother and father were being baptized about a month ago his brother was getting saved at a youth revival and now his salavation has made their family complete! It has been such a great revival so far! I can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds.


Also this week the girls have been taking tests with our co-op group. This is an optional standardized test just to see how we're doing and is not required by the state. This is our third year homeschooling and it'll be nice to see how we're fairing!


By Saturday we're gonna be dragging our behinds! But I wouldn't miss out on the blessings for anything!


I didn't get a picture today, but this one is of Bella from Sunday :) She is too cute! I was trying to teach her tonight how to fold her hands and pray. She was almost getting it!


Have a great Wednesday!



1 Chronicles 16:34
"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever."

Monday, April 18, 2011

#108 - 8 Years Without Her

Today is the 8th anniversary of the day my Mama passed. It is very hard to believe that it has been that long. I just wanted to share some pictures. One day I'll write about the morning that she passed - it was on a Good Friday.

Here she is with her sisters. She is the one on the bottom left.


She was very tall with long skinny legs!

The family before I arrived.


One with me :)


I think this was around 1990.


A few years later.


Mama loved the perfume Red Door. Every now and then if I'm out at a store and a lady walks by with it on I almost have to stop before I can keep walking.

I kept Mama's last bottle. Every year on this day I usually get it out.

Her last Christmas with us we all went together and got her a grandmother's ring. It has birthstones for all of the grandkids and there have been several grandkids and great-grandkids that need to be added!

That band beside her g-mother's ring was my original wedding band. But after we bought it I decided I just wanted a simple band. So Mama bought it from me and kept it for years and a few days before she passed away she gave it back to me. These are two special things that I was able to keep.


This was the girls' favorite place to be!


Can you tell?!


This is Mama and two of her sisters. It was taken at Holly's first birthday party.


Mama was able to give Holly her first haircut! This was a special day. She was a precious woman and a very good Mama and I miss her every single day.
Psalm 23
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever."
Related Posts with Thumbnails