Picture a Day

February 20: One of my family's best-good friends had a baby on the 18th, whom I saw, but my husband didn't see till his lunch break on the 19th, and I took my kids to see him on the 20th! This was what we were up to in the waiting room while the baby was getting a hearing test :)....

February 21: On Saturday was my lil' brother's welcome home party! Home from where you say?... he was in the hospital for almost 4 months! More party photos HERE. My info HERE.

February 22: Just a photo of what I do to my daily devotional books!! :) This one is 'A Jewelry Box of Joy' by Gail Mays and it has been REALLY good so far!

February 23: This is a drawing both my daughter and I contributed to ;)... she insisted on me taking a photo of it!

February 24: The ATTACK of the girl scout COOKIEEEEEESS!!! Ahhh!!! I think I have eaten a whole package already!!! SAMOAS!!!! MMMM!!!!

February 25: MMMM! Again... this was a recreation of something God helped me make a couple Fridays ago. I planned on Baked Zitti but I didn't have the ground turkey or the ricotta cheese, so I just started cooking away with whatever sounded good to make it into a casserole...

I cooked about 5 frozen chicken breasts, half of white onion, a whole green bell pepper (I think it tasted better the first time with red), sliced mushrooms, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and some sour cream! I boiled some rigatoni, stuck it all in a casserole dish and melted mozzarella and shredded parmesan cheese on top... yummo!

February 26: TODAY! I am planning a little getaway for my 8th Anniversary next week!! Praise the Lord for His provision and His guidance... I am soo sooo excited!!!

Welcome Home Matthew!

My brother's (surprise) welcome home party was on Saturday and he had a great time!

This card my sister's friend made for him, I had to take a picture, I think she always makes her cards! I think she even said she was on a card spree on her blog recently :)
I LOVE you little brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so blessed to bless him and be with all the people that love him so much!!!
And even more blessed to see how good he is doing! He even cut his own cake! Yes, Matthew with a knife - I know scary :)!!
I caught this photo! That's my three siblings! My oldest next to Matthew, the "middle" child up on the chair, then it's me, then my little bro!
I love my family!!!

Still I will follow

This week has been a struggle for me. I can tell the battle is on in my thoughts struggling with mean people, judging them and not forgiving them. I'm also struggling with jealousy... other mommies having more friends, more outings, more compassionate people willing to help them, them actually having babysitters!.....

.... but really it's all tactics of the enemy, and it's been working! I HATE THAT IT'S BEEN WORKING!!! I don't want Satan to use me to hurt God! And I know recently I have hurt Him, forgive me Lord.

Even if the mean people You have strategically placed in my life are deciding to be used to hurt You by hurting me - I want to determine not to hurt You by hurting them right back, or by hating on them, or by not forgiving them. Lord please give me Your love to love them and Your power to forgive them.

Help me to live a content life through the hurt, through the anger, through the discontentment! Help me not to complain. Please just continue to guide me to sit at Your feet, to cast my cares on You because You care for me. Give me the discernment to see that these "worries of the world" are just distractions from the growth You are trying to plant in me. I know the enemy wants to squash my commitment, he want to steal my heart from You, he wants to kill me and destroy me and I WILL NOT let him win!!!

I have determined to follow You Jesus, no turning back! I submit to my cross and repent of my worldly reactions Lord. Even if the mean people still decide to be mean to me I'm not turning back, I will still follow You, I still want to be changed and constantly renewed by You even if now one else cares. I love You Jesus, I love You! Have Your way in me!

Picture a Day

February 13: I helped my kids make valentine cards for their daddy :)

February 14: My hubby and I were blessed to go to a valentine dinner that my church hosted. We played this fun game where we had to answer questions about our spouse on a paper, then our spouse had to answer the same questions aloud to see if we were correct, and since everyone's was read out loud there was a lot of fun to be had! Me and Joshie know each other pretty well :)... oh and we also played bingo with m&m's, we didn't win, let me just say there were too many numbers and not enough m&m's, lol!

February 15: God gave me a couple more rainbows this week! I LOVE um so much! There was one in the sky on Friday and another there on Sunday when we were getting in the car to go to church!

February 16: Yummy - gummy hearts! My mother-in-law was sweet enough to find me a valentine treat that wasn't chocolate :) They really were yummy... and yes - sometimes I tend to like gummies more than chocolate!

February 17: My son is so cute! I just LOVE it when he lines things up! SO ADORABLE to walk in his bedroom in the morning and find this winding line of cars from his window to all the way underneath his bed :) "These a a few of my favorite things!"

February 18: OH SO SOOOO BLESSED! One of my family's bestest friends had his first baby yesterday! And I was so blessed to be able to be there for him and his wifie! I completely adore her and was so blessed that she didn't mind me helping her with her new little one! I CANNOT wait to see them again!!!!

February 19: And today I went out with my Bible study ladies to celebrate a 50th birthday of a dear friend! It was fun, we went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (where I really enjoyed the Carne Asada Pizza), then we went to a movie.... nice to get out with my gals!!

A little touch of Heaven

Oh my goodness - this week I was SO encouraged at ladies Bible study!

Not only because I have been blessed to be doing Inductive Bible Study (which I totally love) but because I met a little piece of heaven! A diamond in the rough!

This women is like none I have ever meet before! You see my Pastor and his wife were out at a restaurant and she was their waitress. She was singing a song as she served them and it got their attention! After asked she told them what she was singing, and just as Mary thought, she was not just singing, she was WORSHIPING for all to see! When they prayed for their food she even took their hands and prayed with them! Pastor Eddie said she was totally on fire for the Lord! Mary invited her to our ladies Bible study wanting her to rub-off on us... and that she did!!!!

God sat me right next to her, and I am SO glad for that divine appointment! I had no clue who she was but just with our first conversation I felt like I had known her forever! She was talking about how she LOVED the Strong's Concordance and how to her it's just like a Bible (it's still His word after all). (This is why she uses the actual book instead of just looking it up online.) God takes her to random pages and really teaches her some awesome in depth things about His word!

While the study was going on she would share here and there (even though no one knew her) and it was beautiful!!! She was so bold, so knowledgeable and so funny :o) She would talk about things like just telling the people you love that you love them when things are tense. And she was even so real to go out - have a smoke - and come back to confess to us all that she doesn't always do that!!! OH- I LOVED her! She was so funny she mentioned the plank in her own eye as a telephone pole!!!! (Now that's a great illustration! Could you imagine the wires hanging off and zapping everyone? LOLOL!) I could tell she was totally guided by the Holy Spirit and I could even tell she was living that poured-out life I talked about a month ago! I felt like I was sitting next to an angel! She said she couldn't get enough of the word, and that is the one thing I see that made her who she is! The Word was living in her and flowing through her.

I wish you all could meet her too! But I pray even more that I would fall in love with God's word that He would do the same and more to me!

Lord, I want to ABIDE in Your Word. I want to learn to be like the fruit of a beautifully growing tree that only has to stay attached and hang on! I want to attach myself to You and nothing else, for whatever I attach myself to is what I will grow into, and I want to grow into YOU Jesus! Help me to be in a steady flow of Your word, of conversations with You, of fellowship, and worship to Your name! Help me to really get into the meat of the word, I no longer want to feel like I am rotting on the milk from being on it too long. Guard my heart Jesus from the things like entangle me, the things I CHOSE to defile myself with. Purify my heart, examine me and show me where to be obedient, then give me the strength in Your Spirit that can power me through it! I love You Lord! Thank You for showing me a little touch of heaven!

Friday for Happy Mama

Okay! Back in August and October Happy Mama sent me some awards, and I am finally now blogging for her. Thank you Happy Mama for loving my blog and encouraging me to smile!!!

Now... that last award comes with some questions...

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? Yes, but only one, and I LOVE her to pieces!!! :o) Here is a picture of her in middle school I think, but we've known each other since 2nd or 3rd grade.2. What do you value most about your friends? I love that they are real with me, if they were not we probably wouldn't get along the way we do :o)

3. Are your friends your sounding boards? One friend is mostly, my best friend = my hubby.

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? hmmm... I'm not very active now-a-days but I would probably have to say CAMPING! :o) That's always been some of the best fellowship I can remember!
That first picture is from 2006 when my daughter was about 18 months old.

And those last two were from 2007 when JJ was 2 1/2 and B.Boy was 15 months or so!

Now I have to pass this onto 5 friends :o)...

Natalie

Alicia

Jenn

April

Mary

All of whom I know in real life! I am so blessed to actually have a handful of blogging friends now :o)!!

Picture a Day

February 6: Friday my sweet husband got home from work early, hung out with me a bit while the kids were still napping, then he went to the grocery store for me - something I am pretty sure he doesn't like to do, but it always blesses me when he does... this time he came home with a gift for me because he "has been so blessed by me lately" yaay!... well I'm blessed by you too hunny!!!

February 7: My hubby blessed me again on Saturday by letting me sleep in until he had to leave for the food bank. When he came back he made me lunch and let the kids outside to play, where they blessed me too - they brought me many pretty little flowers I didn't even know we had!!!

February 8: Sunday - I was in the nursery class at church. It ended up being only my own kids, but I was blessed to do a fun little craft with them. We made signs to remind us to pray.
... and my son made his nose green, so I wanted to take a picture and got this lucky shot of his pouty face :o)

February 9: Another treat my husband brought home for me. I ate one and was saving the other, where my son found it and scarfed down half of it laying on the couch so I wouldn't see him! I took the half he didn't eat and gave it to my daughter and said "there's your snack" LOL!

February 10: Yes, more flowers! It was a beautiful day outside on Tuesday, so I went out with the kids and took pictures of all the flowers I could find. My neighbors have a BEAUTIFUL cherry tree, my favorite!!!

February 11: I have been trying to take pictures of the birds in my backyard for a while now, with no avail. But yesterday God sent me dozens of little birdies!!! They we are flittering around in the trees, it was so sweet!
I was even MORE blessed yesterday when it rained, and even thundered!!!! I think pictures of lightning are AMAZING, but thunder really gets my adrenaline going!

God decided to send me a phone call to get me off the couch. When I answered it no one was there, and as I was walking myself back to my computer I looked out the window to see THIS beautiful sight!!!! I love RAINBOWS!!! Thank you Lord.

February 12: My kids a so smart... they got a tinker toy set for Christmas and love it! They like to use pieces of other things to make their own masterpieces. This is my daughter's lamp! She even set it there right next to the lamp and said "look mommy!" with a big smile :o).

PRAISE the LORD!!!

My brother went home from the hospital today!  He was there about one week short of 4 months!  God has done amazing things with that boy's life and I only pray that he would someday come to REALLY understand that and do amazing works for the Lord in return!!!  If you didn't read this post... you should - it really shows me that God is NOT done with him!  He could have died in that blessed women's arms (now I'm tearing up) but GOD HAD OTHER PLANS!!!

If you do not know why he was there, that post is HERE.  If you read the update from the post back in November you know that he had a Trachea and a "G-tube" (or feeding-tube) put in and that he had his jaw wired shut.  You also know that he can see, and that he was communicating better, but let me tell you want you do NOT know......

He is talking!!!

He is walking!!!!

He can write, he has been playing video games, board games, climbing stairs, I think my sister even mentioned running one day!!!

He has his jaw unwired, his Trachea out and his G-tube out!!!  So he is eating too!!!

A lot of these things came step by step and he had some struggles along the way with cold viruses, infections in his eyes, struggles with temperament and "hospital-itous" but in 4 months he has come such a loNG LONG WAY!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

The Build-a-Bunny!!!

She needs stitches!!! :o)

She has a voice box in her arm that is now trying to come out. I wonder if we take her back if they would stitch her up again :o(. That voice box in my daughter's favorite part, it my recorded voice saying "Jesus loves you baby girl".

It's been almost a year since JJ picked her floppy bunny out.
She couldn't wait to fill her with stuffing...
... but that's just what we had to do... wait - in line... she was such a good girl, so patient.
This is Sally-bunny after she was just born :o)

And here she is after her mommy got her all dressed :o)

Did I mention her mommy rode a pony at the mall after just after giving birth?! Isn't that amazing! LOL - there I go, being strange again.
No really... This was such a sweet time for JJ and I. We went out alone without the rest of the family and we really needed it! This was about two months after her little sister was born and we were not getting along so well. She was going through a phase of not wanting to kiss me, hug me or sit next to me - this was all SO SOOO hard on my end also... so I decided we needed to go on a date!!! :o) I am still so glad we did.

The Empty Tomb!

I designed a new blog background for my friend Natalie :o) If you would like to see what it looks like live, click HERE. At first I was going to use a very distressed design with a crown of thorns, but it ended up too bold and "Spiderman" looking - lol - that's why I love you Nat!!!

I am so happy with The Empty Tomb as the next runner up!

Have a blessed day ladies!!!

My Walk Monday

I just watched this movie at my old church....
... and one truth in it just hit me soo soooo hard!!!

When the husband in the movie is going through his 40 day challenge to treat his wife right and he gets to day 23 he is warned about Parasites in a marriage! It was said that a parasite is ANYTHING that you allow to latch onto you or your spouse that sucks the life out of your marriage!

A parasite is usually in the form of an addiction, they promise to please, but they grow and grow like a decease and consume more and more of your thoughts, your time, and your money, they steal away your loyalty and your heart from those you love.

They said a marriage rarely survives if parasites are present, and as an act of love they MUST be destroyed or they will destroy you and your marriage.

Dude! This is sooo true!!! But not only for the relationship with your spouse, the same can be true of your relationship with the Lord!!!! I am reminded of one of my all time FAVORITE verses in the Bible that tell us to "lay aside EVERY encumbrance and the sin which so easily ENTANGLES us, and let us ran with endurance the race that is set before us!" Hebrews 12:1

PEOPLE! We need to hold all things lightly, not tightly!

Let go of the things that entangle you, that catch you, capture you, trap you, snare you, or bog you down! Let go of the things that break other peoples hearts, that hurt God's heart! Let go and determine to endure in your marriage, to endure in this race that GOD has set before us!

Determine to ALWAYS walk and talk with Jesus.