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!!

Bet you are confused?  Growing what with soap?  Ourselves in God’s word!!    This is such a great idea!  With summer right around the corner, I know many of us are trying to decide what bible study to do, and how we’re going to get our quiet time in with kids home and very open schedules.  This idea is gonna help you. 

I like to start my day by getting cleaned up and closer to God with a little SOAP.  The SOAP I’m talking about is more than just a surface clean, though…  it is a way to get into God’s word and grab my nugget every single time I read.

So, what is this SOAP?  Well, I’m glad you asked…

It is a simple way to read through the Lord’s word, pray and reflect on just what He might be telling you in that passage.

All you need for your study/ journaling time is a Bible, notebook, pen and about 20 minutes, depending on the length of your passage.

Here’s what I do:

Pray, asking God to guide me through His Word and clear my mind of distractions.

Read the passage and find the one thing I believe God is telling me that morning. Then I journal about it using the acrostic SOAP as a guide.

S: Scripture-Write the ONE scripture that I feel God is using to speak to me in today’s reading

O: Observation-What might He be telling me with that scripture?

A: Application-How can I apply it to my life?

P: Prayer-What is my prayer to ask God in helping me to make that application?

Isn’t that a terrific idea.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.   This was not my idea.  I got it from this blog, check it out!   The gal was thrilled that I wanted to share it with you.

Hi, it’s been a while.  We have been in the process of a move.  Boy, that is alot and I mean alot of work.  We have moved before but not like this one.  Maybe because we are older and have a little one running around and Natalie’s sched. is hectic. Nope, it’s because we are older..hahaha.   The new house is such a blessing.  Caring for Natalie is much, much easier.  She has a roll in shower, there are no thresholds in any of the doors to bump he over, (those are the things at the bottom of the doors that you step over) the elevator has been awesome, she laughs when we get in and her therapy room will be terrific once we get what she wants and needs in it.  It is starting to feel like home.  We felt like we were on vacation the first week or so. 

The great thing is that now we can focus on our family.  Things are in the past, we are in our new accessible home and we can begin a whole new book.  The old book is finished, complete.  I love that feeling!  We can set new goals and dreams moving  forward!   It has been quite a journey with many mistakes and many, many blessings!  God has been faithful and mighty!  We have fond memories but there is just something about moving on. 

Speaking of being finished, the morning bible study that I go to is finishing up our study this week.  We have been on an incredible journey through “Experiencing God.”  If you have never done this study I would strongly encourage you to.  It is life changing.  You will learn how much God loves you and desires a relationship with you.  You will learn how to know when God is speaking to you, how to believe HIM and adjust your life to him so that you will experience all he has for you.  It’s all about not having a religion but a relationship!!  

I have to say that I am really sad.  I will miss my small group gals.  We  had some wonderful, deep conversations and have had tremendous growth in our group.  We have witnessed answered prayer and have seen the hands of God at work within us.  I will be eagerly be anticipating our reuniting in the fall!  This brings me to another topic.  What to study over the summer?  Summertime is always hard.  The kids are home, time is scarce and the days begin to run together.  All the activities keep you hopping.  But, that is one thing that I learned through Experiencing God, you have to stay in God’s word, staying connected and growing.  Just because it is summer doesn’t mean that we place God on the back burner.  We don’t put our time with Jesus on hold.  What if he did that to us?  What if he sent us an email telling us that he had some bigger fish to fry and he would be back with us in a month or so???  WHOA..that makes me think about how I treat my relationship with Christ.  What do I allow to become more important than HIM?  Sleep, t.v. shows, phone calls, housework, friends, kids activities, emails, facebook, twitter or searching the web.  This summer I want to make sure I am in the word, studying and growing.  So, if you have participated in a great summertime bible study, please share.  I would love some suggestions.  If you did, was it by yourself or did you do it as a group?  If it was with a group, how did you handle the kids?  Did you meet in the morning, afternoon, or the evening when dads are available?   Thanks in advance and I look forward to seeing what you all have done to stay connected to God!  Praying we all experience Jesus daily! 

P.S.  I hope to post some photo’s this week  from Easter and the new home!

I hope the weather is as nice where you are than what it has been here.  Spring has arrived..PTL!!  I love hearing the birds in the early morning.  The beauty of God’s creation is breathtaking! 

I wanted to share with you a wonderful learning opportunity.  Proverbs 31 Ministries offers “She Speaks.”  This is a writers, speakers, and women’s ministry conference.  I read about it last year and began praying about going.  Well, now I really desire to go.  Let me explain why. 

Ever since Natalie’s injury I have had a few consistent people tell me that I need to speak.  Not because I am eloquent with words or have amazing bible knowledge but because they see something in me.  Well, I wasn’t sure what they saw  until recently.  They saw a hope in Jesus even when life handed me devastation and terrible heartache.  When my daughter suffered and life as my family knew it radically changed,  I  praised Jesus!!  I turned to Christ and his word to lead and guide me.  Choices…we all have them, it is what we do with them that matters.  I choose to praise God! 

God has done incredible things in my life the past 3-4 months.  He is so faithful and I adore HIM.  I have come to know truths that are so incredible I am still in awe over it.  I am learning to be BOLD IN Christ a whole new way.  I am learning to realize who I am IN Christ. 

I recently spoke at our morning bible study.  The topic was “adjusting your life to God.”  When I accepted, within days, I decided that I was going to back out. I am not equipped to prepare a lesson.   I prayed and talked with friends about it.  I spoke to our women’s ministry leader and she said that she was glad to hear that I was so nervous and felt ill-equipped.  That means that it will all be Christ!  That spoke volumes to me…I was going about this the wrong way, my way.  So I set out on my journey.  I came up with one outline after another.  I felt God telling my soul that they were good, but not the one.  Until…I had a huge personal breakthrough.  One that is too deep to go into here on the blog but can I just say that it was BIG, HUGE and provided tons of growth in the Lord.  So God gave me the words for the lesson, I walked up on that platform, and spoke truth and hopefully shined for Jesus.  I made it through with minimal tears, which was a God thing because our families story was woven throughout the entire lesson.  

So now this conference has been placed before me again.  I want to go to learn how to be prepared, how to form outlines for speaking,  how to come up with topics that move individuals into a deeper relationship with Jesus and the do’s and don’ts.   Lysa Terkeurst is giving away a scholarship for the conference.  If you don’t follow her blog, link up to it.  She is fun, witty and loves Jesus.  Her newest book was such a  fun read and very real.

Here is a link to the She Speaks Conference.  It is July 31-Aug. 1 2010.   Check it out, maybe you will want to go.  I am praying that if I am meant to go, God will make a way.   He is faithful!! 

Have a great weekend and many spring blessings!!