chasing w/ daddy and papa; playin' golf; shovelin' dirt....lovin' this weather!!

will you marry me??

My sweet cousin, Jamie, proposed to his precious girlfriend, Natalie Saturday! We are all very excited to welcome her to the family! I have posted the pictures of Jamie actually proposing. He took her to Falls Park. The pictures are a little blurry...Joey had to hide in the bushes to take them!!

SERIOUSLY how cute are they??!!! I get goose bumps when I look at these! I am so happy for them! I love you, bubba!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

isaiah 25:3-4

" Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat...."
Isaiah 25:3-4

I do not have a lot of time to post, so I thought I would share a verse from my quiet time this morning. I do not remember ever reading this verse. If I have, it did not jump out at me the way it did today.

How comforting!

cleaning up & cleaning out

We ordered a bunk bed set for JP yesterday. Or, as he calls it, "bumping beds!" Through a friend, we found a GREAT website for beds/bunk beds. They are really cheap! JP will have a twin over full with a ladder. The ladder is what he is most excited about. Soon, I am sure I will be posting about a broken arm!

In preparation for the bed's arrival, we went into the ABYSS yesterday to clean out and sort through JP's toys. It is really ridiculous how much he has! Our goal was to thin out enough to throw his oldest, (not in great shape), toy box away and keep the newer one. JP did much better with this than I thought. He was quite the little helper. We had three separate piles. 1) TRASH 2) Baby Preston and 3) Goodwill.

JP was not as concerned about getting the toys in the right pile. He picked up an old wallet that Scott had given him and found a wrinkled dollar bill. He was VERY EXCITED about discovering the wallet. He took the dollar out, threw it in the trash pile and ran off into another room. Scott quickly grabbed the dollar and began yelling, "WE DO NOT THROW MONEY IN THE TRASH!!"


Hmmm.

" ...But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'

'In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit.' says the Lord Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land,' says the Lord Almighty." Malachi 3:8-12

Everything we have belongs to God. We are only the stewards. Lord, please remind me of this the next time I come close to throwing YOUR money in the trash!

random catch up

My sweet boy in his hat like daddy's!

Baby Preston's mobile..

Diaper station/dresser.

Already racking up on little baby clothes!

Baby Preston!!

Me and my sis!! She's going to be such a great mommy!

Me and my other "sis", Jodi!! Love and miss her!

My quiet time did not speak to me this morning and the Bible verse that went along with it did not even make sense. I hate it when that happens. If you are honest, you know exactly what I am talking about. Had I closed the Bible at that point, I would still be frustrated. Thankfully, the Spirit prompted me to continue reading...

" Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

I have read this passage many times, but this morning it was so beautiful to me. I wanted to share. Maybe someone needed to hear this verse this morning.

Maybe it is me.

are you kidding me????????

I saw on the news this morning that the girl who left her baby in the BiLo Center toilet turned herself in. I also heard that she cannot be charged with attempted murder right now because there is not enough evidence that she wanted her baby dead!!!!!! SERIOUSLY?! SHE LEFT HER BABY IN A TOILET AND NEVER RETURNED!!!!

I am all about forgiveness and second chances. I am not trying to judge this woman. I do not know her life circumstances. I am, however, VERY FAMILIAR with Daniel's Law. This law makes it possible for you to take a newborn baby to a police station, church, fire department, etc and leave them with NO QUESTIONS ASKED! In my opinion THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR WHAT SHE DID!!!!!!!!!!!

This blog will not become a platform for my rantings on things I see in the news, but as an adoptive mother, and a human being, I HAD to comment on this!!! I am disgusted...

I am so mad at Charter. I will not devote an entire post to the drama that has accompanied our decision to sign on with them. I will say that after "signing" up for a package, that was not in fact a package, we have set aside time in our day on SIX different occasions to be home for the technician to come and install our DVR. Here we sit, three weeks later, with no DVR!

I will leave it at that.

I am ashamed to admit that the past three or four times I have spoken with a representative, I have NOT been nice. Do not get me wrong, I have not embarrassed myself or anything, but no one will accuse me of pointing them to Christ either.

Charter called me again today to confirm an appointment for tomorrow that I never even made. On the way home from Walmart tonight, I called them to cancel. Boy was I ready to talk with them!! I was on fire! I had practiced what I was going to say. It was going to be good. I was in the car alone, so I did not have to sensor what I was going to say due to a set of four year old ears that are usually in tow! I dialed the number. It rang, and rang, and rang. "Hello, thank you for calling Charter. How can I help you."

I hung up.

I continued driving. Puzzled. What in the world did I just do? I dropped my groceries off at home and picked up JP from my parent's house. Once home, I put the groceries up, washed dishes, put up laundry, undressed and dressed JP for bed. I put him down on the couch to watch a little bit of a movie. I sat down in the recliner and picked up the Bible to read a little while I had some time to myself. When I opened up God's precious Word, I immediately knew what, or should I say Who, prompted me to hang up the phone.

These are the words that JUMPED off the page at me, " Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:1-2

I cannot help but wonder how many times I have failed this test.

Thank you, Lord, for guiding me and saving me once again from myself!

sunday morning or civil war??

I hate Sunday mornings. Before you judge me, allow me to explain...

I love my church. I love going to church. I love serving at church. I love worshipping and singing at church. What I HATE is the drama that takes place at home before stepping foot outside! Surely you know what I am talking about. For example, JP literally pops out of bed like a live-spring during the week. Sunday morning rolls around and he fights me tooth and nail with everything I ask him to do. Scott and I have jobs that require us to be AT work by 7:30 am, but we cannot get to church by 8:30 to save our lives. Even growing up, I remember Sunday mornings being so crazy. Everyone rushed around, fussed, inhaled breakfast, dressed, pouted during the commute and then painted our plastic smiles on our faces so that we appeared as if we wanted to be there.

This morning I had to close my eyes all the way to New Spring, because by the time we made it to the car, I had a splitting headache. This is when I knew the service was going to be good. Why? Because Satan does everything he can to get us NOT to go to church. He wants our families to become so frustrated that we give up and stay home.

I am so thankful we did not stay home. I have to remind myself to power through the Sunday morning drama, because God is ALWAYS waiting on the other side with what is often times the most amazing worship experience!

In your face, Satan!!!!!

from the archives friday

This is one of my FAVORITE all time pictures of my little man! This was taken at the lake on uncle Dave and aunt Kathi's boat. I think it was the summer right before he turned two. What a cutie!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Tonight is our "Family Fun Night." We will be renting a Red box movie and eating dinner in front of the t.v. Other than that, we do not have anything planned. Hopefully it will feel like a long, lazy weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

Ignore the picture. It has absolutely nothing to do with this post. My husband reads my blog every day and he informed me tonight that he has missed seeing pictures of JP. I have not taken any pictures of JP lately, so I thought I would at least post a picture for him to look at while the rest of you are reading the remainder of the post! You're welcome, honey!

I take JP to Connie's every morning before going to work. Right before we get to her road, I turn down the radio and we pray together. He really looks forward to this. If I forget, he WILL remind me! Sometimes we take turns talking to God and other times we literally pray together. It is such a special time.

Yesterday afternoon, JP was in one of his little moods and I told him that he needed to change his attitude. It never happens immediately, so most of the time I end up yelling at him and sticking him in time out. This time I decided to handle the situation differently. I picked him up, sat him on my lap and asked him to tell me why he was upset. He didn't want to talk. I said, "Why don't we pray together and ask God to help us both have better attitudes." His response was what has inspired this post. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, don't be silly! We can't pray now, we pray on the way to Mrs. Connie's house."

Ouch!

"Be joyful always, pray continually..." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17

The Holy Spirit is so creative with how and when He speaks to me. I love Him for that. Yesterday, JP was His vessel. He used him to remind me that God wants to be in constant conversation with me. With all of His children.

And not just on the way to Mrs. Connie's!

habakkuk 3:17-19

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on to the heights."

I will praise Him:

-when my son is testing me.
-when I spill tea all over my clothes on the way to work.
-when my husband is sick.
-when my job seems unbearable.
-when charter doesn't bring my DVR!
-when I face loss.
-when someone makes me mad.

I am not called to praise God JUST when things are good.