This is the first full week of school for our county.  It has been a seasonably cool week which tosses my mind into fall.  Fall is my favoriteseason.  The smells, apples, pumpkins,casseroles, the brisk air, the beautiful sunrises, the yummy food, wearing jeans, sweatshirts and gym shoes, fires in the fireplace, which will be new to our family (our first season with a fireplace, yippee).  Having a warm cup of coffee in my hand most of the day with yummy varieties of creamers to choose from.  Ah..but it is still summer.  This is a sweet tease of what is to come.  Come on already fall, I am ready for you. 

On Monday I had the privilege to sit with9 or so moms and pray for our children, their schools, and our families.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever sat and heard other moms pray for your child?  Have you ever prayed for another child and another mom.  This is an incredible honor.  I want to pass on an organization that does just this.  Moms in Touch is a wonderful way to get with other moms from your child’s school and drench the school, the staff and the kids in prayer!  You meet for an hour once a week and get encouraged, inspired, refreshed and renewed as you praise and pray to Jesus.  Check them out! 

I pray for my girls to be different.  To be the kids that others see, wondering what is different about them, giving them the opportunity to share Jesus.  Now, I know that Natalie cannot share Jesus but through our family,  we can.  How we  respond to things that arise at school, how we respond to the ones that help her daily, how we respond to the staff and other children, how we respond to the life that has been given to us.  I pray that my girls shine bright for Christ and are set apart.  I pray that they are uncommon, in how they act, treat others, obey and respond.  I pray for protection over the school, the staff, the kids, the bus drivers, the janitorial staff.  I pray for a fruitful school year.  That not only educational growth happens, but spiritual growth happens. 

Drench your families in prayer, communicate your heart with Jesus.  He wants to talk to you!

My girlfriend Carol and I had the privilege to attend Living Proof Live with Beth Moore last weekend in Lexington.  To say we had fun is an understatement!!  We had a total blast.  First we got to get away for some girl time, second we got to stay in a nice hotel and we each got our own bed..with fluffy pillows and third, I prayed that God would speak to my heart and soul over the weekend.  I have been dealing with some internal struggles and let me just say that God delivered HUGE through Ms. Beth. 

The title of the event was “Jeremiah, author of Lamentations, Eat Pray, Love, One women’s search for everything across Egypt, Israel and exile.”

This was both of our first times to a Living Proof event, so we weren’t sure what to expect.  It blew my mind.  We had great seats, row F, from the floor up, which were not bad at all (it was open seating).  We were at eye level with whoever was on the stage. The worship that Travis Cottrell and the praise team did was incredible.   With voices shouting praises, hands raised in honor and hearts crying out to Jesus we belted it out.  In the moment, total connection.  There were 11,000 women from 29 states, that’s alot of women!  Here are two of them:

Beth M. brought a powerful teaching from Jeremiah.  She picked out scriptures that helped us remember Eat, Pray, Love.  She spoke alot about brokenness, desserts, idols and pretence.  God wants to meet us in our brokenness so that we can heal and be a witness for him.  God wants to come to the desserts in our lives and plow up the land.  A dessert is anyplace that we don’t allow God access.  Idols will cause us tons of trouble.  This statement was huge, ” we become what we follow, we will be like the idols we follow”  so what are you becoming?  God wants us to stop pretending.  How we worship, live, serve and love.  Stop pretending!   Be real, be free and be who Christ called you to be.   Big time stuff.  Deep pondering things.  It was what I needed for where I am right now.  Praise Jesus!  If you can ever get to a Living Proof Live event GO!  They are incredible and powerful.

Well, I am gonna leave you with some pictures.  Carol and I did have an awesome thing happen.  After the Friday evening session we sat in our seats allowing the crowd to clear out of the stadium.  While sitting there I glanced down at the stage and saw Travis Cottrell chatting with 10 or so women.  I told Carol to get her bags we were heading down there.  We got to meet him! Such a sweet guy who puts his whole heart into what he does.  He signed out program and we got a quick photo!  Isn’t that the coolest!!  What a way to end the summer for me.  Have a great weekend!

Whew, it has been a busy yet very fun summer.  We decided the last week of June that we were going to put in a pool.  I didn’t realize what an undertaking this would be.  It was well worth it, we have had a blast swimming all summer.  Natalie has had some water therapy sessions and the warm water helps her muscles. 

Phoebe and I went to Happy Hills Church Camp with our church.   I have to admit, I was a little nervous,  about the bugs.  But, we had fun and Phoebe learned so much.  It was only one night but she told me she can’t wait till she can stay many many nights. 

The best was the “water slide”  This thing is incredible.  They had a guy come in with a backhoe and trench this thing out.  The kids and adults had a blast!

Ms. Tonya

Camp was so much fun and tons of memories were made.  This will be something Phoebe does every summer.  Oh, by the way, we didn’t see that many bugs…hahah.

We spent tons of times with friends, having fun, eating yummy food and snacks.  Isn’t that what summer is all about!

Phoebe and Megan

Karla and Hannah

Phoebe and Emma

My girls w/ the Coop kids

last yippee before school starts!!

 So as you can see we did alot of swimming and visiting which was terrific.  School started today for our county which brings mixed feelings.  Natalie is in 5th grade, which is hard to believe, and Phoebe is in 1st.  My home is empty and quiet.  This will be a huge change for me but I am ready for routine and for fall.  I hope to help out at school and dive into bible study in a few weeks!  It does sadden me a bit.  Where has the time gone?  For those out there with little ones at home still, cherish you time.  It flies by! 

First day of school 2010-2011

Have you ever met or know of someone who just has a joy about them?   They enjoy life, enjoy others,  making  you want to be around them hoping that some of whatever they have rubs off on ya.  I have a few people I could name, how about you?

I have found that in my crazy life, I don’t do much celebrating.  I just make sure the lists are done and checked off.  Then I collapse into bed exhausted.  I get up the next day and do the “lists” all over again.  Not fun and no way to live.  That is what life and it’s curve balls has done to me.  I am not complaining or looking for empathy, just being honest.  Life is tough and sometimes how we thought things were going to go..well they don’t.    So I have decided that while I am pursuing simplicity, I want to celebrate life.  I want to celebrate those I love, celebrate who I am in Jesus and just have some simple fun.  Life is too short and too stinking busy.  So let’s share what we can celebrate and how.  Who do you want to celebrate?  What do you want to celebrate?  Who would you like to celebrate and how are you going to celebrate?  Let’s be fun, simple and enjoy life.  Let’s catch us some joy and laughter!  Here are some ideas I have come up with.  Now we  know we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, births of babies, graduations, weddings and baptisms so let’s think outside of the box! 

**when our kids figure out potty training…hallelujah!

** the graduation from kindergarten to first grade..that is a big one..all day school. 

** the first day of school and the last day of school.  (fix a special breakfast or dinner)

** promotions at work

** driver’s license

** passing quizzes and tests

** teachers/mentors

** neighbors

** our first date anniversary with our spouse..(hopefully you can remember)

** weight loss

** achieving a goal

** reunions

** memorizing scriptures

** your child learning to ride a two wheeler

** your child learning how to swing themselves

Okay so share some you have thought of.  What do you do to celebrate?  We can make a cake, go for ice cream, make a celebration banner,go to a  favorite restaurant, have a picnic, go to a specialty cupcake store, have a special plate that is used that night for dinner or dessert, make a homemade card, take a picture, start a celebration journal that you leave sitting out so others can see what your family celebrates.  

It will be fun learning how we all celebrate life and our families/friends.  I know that I need to have my memory jolted and I am sure we will come away with tons of  ideas and ways to not just do our “lists” but to live and do it with a burst of pizazz!

Howdy out there!  How are ya’ll??  Things here in Ky have been so humid and hot.  We have some good days in the mid 80′s and we go to the pool.  Than in the blink of an eye we are in the mid 90′s and it is way to hot to go outside.  It is that humidity that takes your breath away when you walk out.  So we are finding things to do that are indoors.  We have been to the library several times, the mall, and one day we ventured out to Jungle Jim’s.  If you haven’t  been to Jungle Jim’s, you have to check them out.  It is an extremely large international market.  Tons of strange and interesting food.  It was very educational to say the least.  Totally fun, take a look at the pics.

animated critters

Firetruck above their large hot sauce selection

As you can see, it’s a jungle at Jungle Jim’s.  I would recommend going if you can, we had fun and will go back (we have been before).  They have things there that I had never heard of or cooked before, plus it takes up the whole day going through that store, GIGANTIC!

Phoebe attended VBS and had so much fun.  The theme is Saddle Ridge Ranch.  The theme bible verse was:

 James 1:5

Now if any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing and it will be given to him.  

Union Baptist did a great job of making the kids feel like they were really on a ranch.  The music was a blast and the snacks were fun.  The bible verses were amazing and just seeing those kids fall in love with Jesus is enough to send any mama leaping and dancing!  They learned who they are in Christ, if God really cares about them, what God’s plan is for them, how they can be like Jesus and what do they do when VBS is over.   I just love VBS.  I wish I could send my kids to one a month.  It seems that all our local churches decided to do theirs in June.  Here are some pics:

The last day UBC had a cookout for the families and had a petting zoo come.  Total fun!  It was really hot but the kids loved seeing all the animals.  It sealed the week! 

I am getting ready to start a new bible study called “Becoming a Women of Simplicity” by Cynthia Heald.  I have found that I need to be in a bible study especially during the summer for the accountability.  This one looks good.  I am a type A, multitasking, overachiever who needs some simplicity in my life.  This fall will be a new season for me.  Both my girls are in school all day.  I have had so many people ask me “so what are you going to do”?  Like I do nothing all day now..  So it got me thinking, no actually panicking.  I am not one to sit still.  I am a doer and need to have a list if you will.  I have always had a full plate, always.  I started praying asking God what he wanted me to do.  I really thought I was to pick up hours working for Weight Watchers, nope.  I thought of starting another blog that deals with fitness and nutrition, nope.  I even tossed around becoming a weight loss coach, nope!  Okay, so what am I to do with 8 hours a day?  I really truly feel God is telling me to sit.  Be still.  Allow HIM to fill my days if need be.  Sure I will keep my home, doing all the things that goes with that, grocery, menu preps, laundry, cleaning etc. and I will continue to work out taking care of myself,  but the only commitment I have is bible study which I will NOT give up.  I am really looking forward to it.  Nervous, absolutely!  This is new to me.  But, I am excited to see how Jesus will fill my days.  I want to be obedient to what I feel he is speaking to my heart so when I saw this study I knew HE placed it before me to prepare me.  WOW, isn’t Christ a blast!  I can’t wait to start it tomorrow and I will keep you posted on it.  Are you in a study this summer, either alone or with a group?  What do you feel God is doing in your life right now at this moment?  What is he teaching you? 

Have a blessed week!

Hey out there, long time no blogging!  Things here have been utterly crazy!  We had end of school activities and than summer is upon us. 

track and field day

Phoebe was the first base gal..

 My dad was in town for a visit and it poured rain on Saturday so we had Mario Kart Wii battles.   It was hysterical watching my dad trying to get the hang of the control. 

He finally figured it out and the battle was on!  They had a blast and it was a good way to spend a rainy day.  The visit was terrific…great food, great conversation and the girls getting to spend time with Papaw W. and Gramma W.  They headed out on Sunday to go back to Georgia and we headed to Louisville.  My mother in law turned “65″ this weekend and she had a birthday party.  We had beautiful weather and tons of food.  What’s a party with no food??  We had BBQ, buffalo chicken dip, salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, fruit, slaw and to finish it off…CAKE.  Now this was not just a cake, it was carrot cake and I mean it was good!  Rich, creamy, and the edges were dredged in toasted almonds.  Check it out..

 Do you see where Phoebe is sitting..yep that’s my girl.  She doesn’t miss a thing.  Nana cut her that huge yellow balloon for her piece! 

 The kids played in the sprinkler and we sat under the shade tree.

Natalie enjoyed being outside.  The warm weather is so good for her.  I just wish we could get rid of these dang ear infections.  It seems like we get rid of one and within weeks she gets another.  UGH!

So we are in the midst of summer.  I love it.  No schedules, relaxing, eating dinner late, sitting outside, visiting with family and friends, summer fare food, flip flops, pools, sunscreen, tank tops, fresh fruit…the list goes on and on.  What have you been up to or what do you have planned?  Do you have any goals that you are working on this summer or do things get placed on the back burner for these 3 months? 

Have a blessed week!

Hi friends,

It has been a while since my last post. Things here have been so busy. School is winding down for the year and we are gearing up for summer!  There are tons of end of school activities.  Plans to  be made for summer.

What summer plans do you have?  We haven’t planned an official vacation but we are looking at some places. Where are you going this summer?  Natalie will be attending a summer day camp twice a week and Phoebe is going to VBS and church camp! She is really excited about church camp. It is only one night (for kindergarten and first graders) but the cool thing is, it is the camp I went to when I was a kid. I have heard it has changed and been updated. When I went we slept in modified barns, having to drape a sheet over the rafters to keep the bugs out. We did have running water for showers and toilets but we saw spiders the size of kittens…of course I haven’t told Phoebe about any of this or she would totally back out. Not a bug liking girl.

I really just want to relax this summer. I don’t want to have my days so planned out that there is no wiggle room. I want to be able to sleep in, rest, spend time with family and friends, enjoy our evenings grilling and just relax. Is that even possible? How do you plan on relaxing this summer?

I love to read. There is a group of gals that’s reading Growing Grateful Kids by Susie Larson.  It is really good and Susie has such a passion for Christ. We are reading 2 chapters a week and hopefully going to be able to meet throughout the summer to chat about what we are reading and learning. I have 6 more books in line to read (not all this summer) but I just placed a book on hold at our local library and can’t wait to get it this upcoming week. It is by the season 5 winner of The Biggest Loser, Ali Vincent. She wrote, Believe it, Be it. I enjoy Biggest Loser and have watched it since season 3.  I will let you know how the book is and be sure to watch the season finale of Biggest Loser Tuesday at 8pm.

Have a great weekend, throw out some tips on having a relaxing, fun summer!  What do you do to make summer memorable?

I had such a great Mother’s day weekend.  It started with getting to meet a loser.  Yep, I got to meet a contestant from the hit TV show The Biggest Loser.  Abby Rike was a contestant on season 8, when she started Biggest Loser she weighed in at 247 pounds.  She was voted off on week 7 (I think) and went home to loose a total of 100 pounds.  She has lost more since and is happy and healthy.  My home church invited  her to share her amazing story.  Abby is funny, sweet and inspirational.  She talked about her journey and how God has paved the way for her to be who she is called to be, because she is obedient.  Through her tragedy arose victory!   I took away some key statements, 1.  Don’t be defined by the scale…let the number be your starting point on your journey to health, it’s all about being healthy not the numbers.  2.  Choice embowers you to be what you want to be if you choose to choose wisely.  3.  Are you existing or living and if you are just existing what changes do you need to make so you are living?   She was a delight to meet! 

Tricia with Abby Rike

This morning I was surprised with breakfast in bed!  Yum, it was delicious and so very nice.  We attended church and heard a great sermon on beauty.   Gals, it is all about the beauty on the inside!  The most beautiful thing to God is Jesus.  God is more concerned about the condition of our heart, not what we are wearing or our hair style.  We have let society dictate what is beautiful and majority of the time their beautiful is photoshopped and touched up!  Let’s stand up and stand firm on God’s truth regarding beauty.  We are gorgeous to Christ!  He delights in us just as we are.  Now, I do believe we should treat our bodies as the temple they are, taking care of them but let’s claim our beauty in Christ!  

 We came home from church and dug in the dirt planting flowers and plants.  I think alot of families around here do this on Mother’s Day weekend.  It is the official, it’s okay to plant flowers, the weather is good now in KY. 

I pray that you have a wonderful mothers day!  I pray that you claim your beauty in Christ and pass this truth onto the girls in your circle! 

Here are my delights and my beauties!  I love them with my entire being. 

 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!  GOD BLESS

Hey friends, it has been a whirlwind weekend.  My sister, Faith, and her family came in town.  It was so fun having them here and being able to spend some time with Emma my niece.  Emma is 2.5 yrs. old.  That is such a fun age, so curious and eager to learn.  It also helps that she is an absolute ham.  She makes up her own songs.  Hysterical!  We had a nice visit.  We don’t get to see Faith, John and Emma much, they live in Florida, so we cherish the time we get with them! 

I have some sad news to report.  A larger bird has eaten the beautiful eggs that I blogged about in my last post.  I was so upset when I pulled the curtains back to check on them and saw an empty nest.  Elliott went down to see if they had fallen onto the ground, but they hadn’t.  So the only thing we can conclude is that a bigger predator ate them.  The mama bird was extremely confused.  She would fly to the nest and fly away.  My heart broke for her. 

With summer staring us right in the eyes, I want to make some “good” changes with my eating.  I am reading “The Eat-Clean Diet” by Tosca Reno. Here is the link on the back of the book.  It is really insightful and makes total sense.  What changes do you need to make to fuel your body like it should be?  I have to drink more water.  Okay, so here is a debate.  I love iced tea.  I even drink decaf.  The only caffeine I consume is in my morning coffee.  So, is the iced tea considered water?  I mean it is basically flavored water. 

Here are a few pictures of this past weekend!  I hope wherever you are, you are experiencing abundant blessings from Jesus!  He is our hope, love and security!  I praise him for what he has done for me. 

Phoebe and Emma

Phoebe, Natalie, Emma

Natalie

Hi friends,  isn’t God’s creation beautiful.  This time of year amazes me.  All the color and growth.  I hope wherever you live you are enjoying spring. 

Well, babies are coming to our home.  It is so exciting!  Oh, what to do to prepare.  Cleaning and nesting.  Anticipating the arrival.  What will they look like, what will we name them?  Will they be up all night or will they get on a good routine?  Will one be a early riser, will one be the babbler, will one…oh, you probably are thinking I am having babies, oh no not me, this one is having the babies,

Mama bird

She built her nest outside our bonus room.  It is so cool how it is a perfect circle.  She must have worked so hard.  We can pull the curtains back and be nose to beak with her.  She usually flies away quickly but doesn’t go far, keeping an eye on her babies.  Here are her babies first photo’s.

This was yesterday

This was today..four eggs!

Someone told us that she would lay four eggs and then she would tend to sit on them  most of the time, not leaving the nest.  Well, we now have four.  So I guess we will see more of Mama.  It will be fun seeing the little birds hatch and teaching  the girls about God’s wonderful creation and the amazing miracles of birth!   So now the big question is what to name them?  I am sure we will come up with something fun! 

We will keep you posted on the “hatching.”  I just can’t wait to see them, no feathers and all.  I have never seen baby birds.  It’s kinda ironic…new home, new dreams, new birth happening literally right outside our window.  I like to believe it is God smiling down on us, saying that things are joyful, things are delightful, things are fresh and we are going to have many new dreams and memories “birthed” out of our new home.  Yep, that’s God!!   He is a blast, I adore and praise HIM!!