fun in the laundromat

i love my family

i am so thankful that my sister was here this weekend...she is not here enough.

but anyways.
i was so excited that she said she would take pictures of our family!
i thought of every single pose i could imagine, and we went work!

here we are in all our glory...

mel made the super cute banner too!

it was so weird to not be behind the camera!
i could not even wait to get home and start editing!
i am so thankful to be able to have these pictures of my family...i know i am incredibly blessed!

thanks mel :)

ps. any comments are always welcomed.
you know.
right below where it says comment.
go ahead.
do it.

photography love.

every single time i do a shoot...

or even take pictures of my kids,

i can not WAIT to get home and upload them to see what i've got!

it's honestly like i'm more excited than my clients sometimes!!

here are just a little bit of what i have been up to..

i have got some gor.geous clients!

a little crazy

that's what i am

crazy
about
these boys.

yep.
totally crazy.

i can't even hardly imagine how our lives were without them!

how much less we must have laughed.
how much more money we had...haha
and how boring our lives must have been.
we love these boys like CRAZY!

how can i not be thankful

today...
my back is really bad.
it was hard to get out of bed.

but ya know what?
i can not and will not complain.
ya know why?
first of all..
i was convicted in a message yesterday about the verse in philippians that says to do everything
yes. everything.
without complaining.
ouch.

and second of all.
God has blessed me so much, that something as small as walking slowly and with a limp should never affect my outlook on life!

yesterday, these 2 little (i should probably stop calling them little now, huh?) boys learned about the importance of prayer in sunday school.
i am always challenged by my boys faith.
they started their own lists of things they are praying for. i loved looking at it, and thought you might too.
maybe you should start one of these!

it's no secret that my boys could play with legos forever and a day and be perfectly content.
they work so hard on their little creations, i thought i would show you some of their handiwork!

oh, they are growing up so fast.
i was just talking about the word of life super bowl that is coming up in a few weeks, and could  not believe that my AJ will be old enough to go next year!! are you kidding me right now? where does the time go?
they are the lights of my life, and i am so incredibly blessed beyond words that God has given me the opportunity to raise these boys to honor Him.


so my back hurts.
so what.
with everything God has done for me...how can i NOT be thankful?
what are you thankful for today?

a different-kind-of-biggest-loser-CHALLENGE!

i find it very intriguing to see the amount of time, effort, and sometimes money people put into losing weight and staying healthy.


i mean...it's not like i, myself, don't put time into staying healthy as well.
i do.
(some months more than others!)
but, i guess that the reason that i find is most intriguing is because of the following verse:


"For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things." I Timothy 4:8
Interestingly, giving all your goods to the poor actually profits nothing. (I Corinthians 13:3)
as does foolish questions and controversies, and arguments about the law.


*side note: it  has always blown my mind with the amount of  time and energy people put into spouting about being King James only, or the necessity of expository preaching! 
for the love of peter!!
is it me? or is this a bunch of foolish controversy?


ok. moving on.


what IS profitable is this...
and we are told to affirm constantly, or insist on, or stress:


to be careful to maintain (or, devote yourselves to) good works.
does this surprise you?


in a way...it surprises me!


to think about maintaining good works sounds..
almost...
legalistic.
which is what i do not want to be anywhere near!!


but interesting, right?
now, what would i have to be doing to devote myself to good works, in a non-legalistic way?


well..working so hard on my relationship with my Father, that i am just dying to please him.
just dying.
you know, the way a 5-year-old wants to make his daddy proud of him
the way a 16-year-old wants to do everything possible to show her boyfriend she likes him
not because they have to...
but because they just want to so badly!
and it's not so other people will look and applaud.
it's wanting to work hard because of the relationship that is there.


so that is where i want to be, and where i am going to challenge you to be.


this is a full fledged challenge, people!!


and i am totally serious about it. 
serious, because i want to surround myself with people who are striving for the same things i am.
serious because of this verse i found that i love that says "Be diligent with these matters; give yourselves wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." 

so serious that i am offering a prize at the end of the month to the winner!!

yep!

you read me right!

a real. live. prize.

i mean, it's not a trip or anything...but it is a gift certificate to CBD.

which you can, in turn, use to help yourself continue to maintain good works!!

yay!

ok. so here's how it works.

we are starting the competition on next tuesday. (november 8th)

we are starting on a tuesday, because i love the idea of starting something new and hard 

not on a monday!

and it will go until thursday, december 8th.

this will work sort of the same way the actual biggest loser show works.

there are challenges during the week.

there will be a "weigh in" at the end of each week, 

and there will then be a final "weigh in" at the end of the month, determining the winner!

(weigh in will be decided by points earned)

here are the basics:

1. Bible reading

2. Prayer time

3. Scripture memory

4. Church/small group attendance

5. Ministry 

this is open to any person of any age in any location.

i will have a more detailed chart of how it works for everyone as soon as i have a list of who will be joining the challenge.

so - either leave a comment with your email, or email me personally at ajnrileysmommy @ hotmail dot com.

oh. and one more thing

i will be like jillian michaels all up in your face pushing you..

except instead of screaming 

DO ONE MORE PUSH UP!!!

i will be screaming

READ ONE MORE CHAPTER!!

ha!

so. 

instead of counting my calories this month?

i am going to count how many people i have on my prayer list...while eating apple pie.

i mean.

it is fall, after all.

who's in?!?!

let's do this!!

I Timothy 4:15-16 "Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."