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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

just my boys.

because i love them.


because they remind me of my adam.


because they make me laugh.


because they don't notice if i'm wearing make up or not


because i would rather spend time with them than almost anyone else.


because they make me happy.


because they make being a mom so incredibly fulfilling.

church family - you gotta get you one of these!

if you don't have a church family....
well.
you gotta get one!
i'm serious.

today i got to spend the day with my church family.
and i loved it.
and i love them.








end of story.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Spring Mini-Sessions

There is nothing that makes me smile more than looking at my family pictures.
Honestly.
That is why I thought I would let all my friends know about the Spring Mini Sessions I am offering!
Whether it's a family portrait that you need, or if you just want some of the kids...this is the perfect opportunity!
I bring my own vintage props to my selected location, and you just show up with your beautiful smiles!
Come on, what are you waiting for? Email me now!


You can check out my website, or find me on facebook!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Intentional Living: Week One

i started teaching a ladies sunday school class this week.
i thought that i would do a re-cap for those of you who live too far away to come!
i am breaking the class into 6 weeks...
being an intentional:
                            woman
                            friend
                            wife
                            mother
                            pray-er
                            witness

i first wanted to establish a few things before we even got started.

1. Who we are and whose we are
   *Psalms 139:17, Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 40:5
     amazing to think that God has more thoughts about little-old-me than i can even count!
and they are GOOD thoughts! that can change your attitude for the day, that's for sure!

2. Our responsibility
  *James 1:14-15.
    we are definitely surrounded by people today who have come up with an excuse for every sin we could ever commit. it usually comes from a bad childhood, a bad relationship with our father, a bad circumstance that happened in our life, and a plethora of other things. while i am not minimizing difficulties, i am acknowledging the fact that according to James 1, we are tempted and drawn away of our own lust! we are responsible for our own sin. own up to it..don't use it as an excuse to sin!

3. Where our power comes from
   *Psalms 19:7-9
  you know that this is where my passion is. God's Word is sufficient!
 according to this passage, God's Word does the following:
*converts the soul
*makes the simple wise
*rejoices your heart
*enlightens your eyes
what we typically do is this.
step 1. make our standards.
step 2. find verses that fit with our standards.
step 3. live accordingly.

instead we should to this.
step 1. search God's Word to find out what our standards should look like
step 2. make our standards
step 3. live accordingly.

HUGE difference!!

i told the story about how riley is having a really hard time falling asleep at night.
i decided to find something that could help me with that in the Bible.
did you know that king ahasueras had insomnia?
he had someone come in and read to him at night.
i decided to try it with ry. i read a couple chapters of a book after i tucked him at night.
it has made a huge difference!

today aj was doing testing for the end of the school year, and one of the vocab words he needed to identify was dismayed. he quoted out loud one of his memory verses that says to not be discouraged or dismayed.
discouraged was one of the choices for the meaning!

God's word is real. and it is relevant for every situation in life!

um. that was my introduction! ha!! a little long winded??

i brought up the story of lot's wife.
she was living near a wicked city. one where the people did not love, or live for God. she was raising her kids there. when God decided to destroy sodom, he took lot, his wife and their 2 daughters away so they would be safe.
what did lot's wife do? she looked back.
i don't think that it was necessarily rebellious and defiant.
it doesn't say she pulled away and ran back.
she just looked back.
as if she was thinking...aww..i hate to give that up.
and what happened? she turned into a pillar of salt!!
it seems as if she was just unintentional. not really thinking that she had to take a stand with anything.
and that's the danger.


if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything


3 ways to help in choosing to be an intentional woman:

1. prepare your heart
*I chronicles 22:19, 2 chronicles 19:3
what rules in your heart will influence your actions and behavior.

please don't follow your heart! 
according to jeremiah 17:9, your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!!

prepare your heart by filling it with truth from God's Word.
prepare it by choosing NOT to fill it with gossip, negativity, and garbage.
that will equal an unprepared heart!

2. choose your friends
*Proverbs 20:18
the counsel we are getting from friends is determining how we act!
don't think you are able to do it alone..choose a friend that will keep you accountable!
according to Hebrews, we are commanded to exhort each other every single day so that we won't be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin!
tell a close girl friend you want to stop talking bad about other people. so the next time you start to in front of her, she will stop you!

3. get up and be doing!
*I chronicles 22:16b
the main point i wanted to bring out here is this.

how many steps are you from turning away from God?

i gave the story about when one of my sons was about 3 years old.
i don't remember all the details, but i remember that i told him not to touch the piano.
he didn't.
BUT...he stood as close to it as he possibly could!
so i looked him in the eyes and said.thank you for obeying. but i need you to know, that
if someone comes by and bumps you, and you accidentally fall into the piano, you will still get disciplined.
he RAN to the other side of the room!
he wanted to make sure that it would take a LOT of steps for him to get into trouble.

that is where we should be.
i want to be so close to God that it would take weeks and months of NOT doing the things that i am already doing:
church attendance,
reading my Bible every day
praying every day
serving every day

to fall away from God.
don't you?

my challenge was this.

choose ONE thing that you are going to start doing this week to be an intentional woman.

i hope you can find encouragement in this, and join me each week as i try to do a better job of being intentional in every area of my life!


Monday, May 16, 2011

canoe race

i love the fact that my boys have the ability to make anything fun.
they saw signs around town for the annual canoe race, and decided to have their own.

in bowls.

in the guest room.

ya.

so they got all their stuffed animals, and had their own version of a canoe race

the competition was fierce.


luckily, they didn't let their nerves get the best of them.
these were the favorites.
(bean and tonk. we have misplaced the infamous tank and it is a real problem.
seriously.
we are looking everywhere for him, and are even praying that God will help us find him!)


the boys had such a fun time, and they were giggling like crazy
i wish i could have recorded the sound to put on here.
it was seriously hysterical.





they had such a great time, that it may become an annual event here too!
i love watching them play together.
makes this mommy very happy!

update on bryce

if you remember, i posted a prayer request for a close friend of our family named bryce.
he was in a major car accident.
a guy hit him going 60 miles an hour through a stop sign.
his car flipped 3 1/2 times.


he is in a hospital in florida.
this past wednesday my parents and i flew to orlando to see him for 3 days.
it was so great to see him, but difficult to see him in such pain.

he looked good, but has broken bones - everywhere!
ankle, ribs, pelvis, sternum, and lower back.

he has pneumonia, fluid around his lungs, and had to have a tracheotomy.
there are probably more things, but i don't even know everything.

it was an emotional time seeing him and him and then having to leave. but i am so glad i went.
adam held down the fort with the boys while i was gone, and i came home to a clean house, clean laundry, and ice cream in the freezer!! ha..the important things.

would you please continue to pray for complete healing? i know i have a lot of strong pray-ers in the people that read my blog, and i believe that coming together to pray can and will make a huge difference!
thank you!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

i lift my hands

God definitely gave riley a gift of singing! he really could've sung all by himself, but he was a little nervous, so i said i would sing the chorus with him...

(make sure you go to the bottom of the page and pause the music before playing the video!)




Sunday, May 08, 2011

famtastic

adam was so sweet today in making sure that i didn't have to do anything...it being mothers day and all...including making the bed this morning. (i really do have to have the bed made every day)
he ordered out for lunch, and then volunteered to try and get a few family pictures together.

i have a cordless remote for the camera, and it works where it gives you 2 seconds to prepare.
ya.
kind of fast, don't you think?
here was our first try


pretty good, huh?

we managed to figure it out. and even got a couple of good ones.


a few of me and my love



and a couple of me and my crazy, wonderful little boys


did i say little boys? i meant one little boy, and one big boy!



i had to check to see how the camera was set up before everyone was outside...
i kind of feel like a 12-year-old even posting it, but...

there i am.

then the boys thought it would be fun to both get on adam at the same time...

you can see it worked out well..



i love seeing them laugh together..
and i love laughing too



it was a happy mother's day!

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

one lucky auntie

i love being an auntie.
absolutely love it.

i just so happen to be the very lucky auntie of EIGHT nephews
and SIX nieces!

i love walking around with my camera whenever i am with them.

(i was so disappointed for many reasons, that we weren't able to make our annual trip to florida this year! we have done it for several years in a row. but...putting 3,000.00 into a transmission kind of made the plane tickets an impossibility! i was so looking forward to taking pictures of 2 of my nieces and one of my nephews! - sorry sarah :(  )

when melanie comes to visit, i loved holding and playing with cal as much as possible!
and he is so darn cute!






oh callen!
another little light of my life!
your auntie loves you so much!

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

aj's birthday celebration part 2

finally updating the rest of aj's birthday!
aj invited a few of his friends, and of course aiyah, uncle chad, cal, nanny and grampops to the celebration!






i guess only the middle three got the memo about the silly faces!



they had a great time playing pool, foosball and basketball!




coffee and a blackberry...guess who??




and due to the fact that my back is killing me, and sitting makes it worse -
i will end here without trying to think of anything else creative to say.

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