I love my Mom

Today was a day I said thanks to my mom for what she did 27 years ago to this day.  She gave birth to me.  Which for her probably paled in comparison to what was in store for her in the years to come.  

My mom loves Christmas decorations!  She LOVES walking in and seeing the Christmas tree set up.  In an effort to tell my mom thanks today I decided to help her with this task.  Which to many people might not be too big of a deal.  However, for me...  I think I would prefer to spend the day trying to physically chew my own toe nails off.  

Ty spent the day with us and helped off and on as well.  Until we got to the decorating part.  Then Mom suggested he and Daddy go check the horses.  Dad being the trooper he is took Ty out of the house so we could get to work.  I'll have pics tomorrow of the finished product.  

It actually wasn't as miserable of an experience as I thought it would be.  We ended our day today going out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Yum...  I even invited a friend and her family along too.  All and all it's been a good day.  Other than the fact that in my mind now that I'm 27 I might as well call myself 30.  

Oh well!  I'm one blessed 27 year old, that's for sure.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Carbohydrate heaven

The day of carbohydrates went well around here!  

Food was eaten...

Football games were watched...

Friends and family were enjoyed...

Ainsley Grace was wearing a CUTE outfit made by her mama.

I hope your day of giving thanks was full of just that...

THANKSGIVING!  

Made it

Quick update here.

My niece, Ainsley Grace is...

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

Seriously, she's amazingly cute.  She came right to me last night.  

My dad...  

Has no facial hair!  Freaked me out a bit.  I walk into the house and I said, "Uh, what happened?" He just laughed and I proceeded to ask why no one told me he'd shaved?  Seriously was a little disturbing for me.  I've never seen his top lip before.  For the anniversary last week they went to an Eagle's concert.  Which is a group they went to a concert and saw before they were even married.  Daddy said he was clean shavin' then so he thought he'd go back to that for the day.  Romantic remembrance for them but a little disturbing for his 26 year old daughter.  He is growing it back out so it's got stubble.  

Of course round 1 of mexican food was great last night.  I think I'm going to have some for breakfast today!  :)  

Lone Start State here I come!

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be heading to the great state of Texas to celebrate some Thanksgiving.  To spend some time with my family.  To babysit my niece all next week and I'm sure my nephew will hang out with us too.  

In the spirit of thanksgiving and in light of going to our local crisis center today...  I sit here tonight just marveling at how blessed I am.  I whine and I fuss and I gripe with the best of them.  However, I really am blessed beyond reason.  I have a job that I love.  God's provided a network of people here in Tennessee to help take care of me.  I have a wonderful family in Texas.  I can hear my mom's voice right now ringing in my ears, "We're just glad to have you home anytime you can come.  Just book a ticket and we'll be there to pick you up."  And she means it.  They will drop anything to come get me and will do anything to provide a way for me to get home.  

There are so many in this world who have nothing.  Why did I get to be a lucky one with blessings in abundance?  I don't know...  But I truly am.  

Can't help but think of that good ole song...  Count your many blessings, name them one by one!  

If you're in or near Texas I'll be there from Tuesday until Friday, Dec 5.  Give me a ring.  Or swing by Mom and Dad's place for a visit.  

Here's my story!

Love it!

30 years today!

Thirty years ago to this day my life began.  Well, not exactly because I'm only 26.  However, thirty years ago to this day my parents celebrated exchanging wedding vows!  :)  I have a picture of my mom as a bride but haven't had time to put it online yet.  I'll try to get to that this afternoon.  She's beautiful!  

Anyways...  On this day I say thanks to my Mom and Daddy.  It wasn't until I got into college that I truly began to understand the blessings I had as a child.  The biggest part about my parents that I took for granted was that they were still married.  Most people I met had experienced divorce and by God's grace I didn't have to go through that.  I say thank for the way you raised us because as I grow I'm learning more and more that you did the absolute best you knew how to do.  What more could a kid ask for.  It wasn't always perfect but it was all that you could give.  Thank you for teaching us and training us the ways you did.  Thank you for fussing and fighting in front of us but never too much.  I can honestly say there has never been a time in my life where I didn't have full confidence that my mom totally believed in the man that my dad is and his abilities as a husband and a dad.  I can honestly say I've never doubted that my dad loved and adored my mom above all other women on this earth.  Granted they didn't like each other every moment of everyday but I always knew that the love was rooted deep within them.  Thanks for never giving up on each other.  The lessons you've taught go far deeper than you'll ever know.  

I love you both beyond words!  

Happy Anniversary! 

love always,

sis

It's Monday again! :)

Here's another favorite new song to start your Monday off on a good note!

Three basic needs we all have in our lives...

ACCEPTANCE

SECURITY

SIGNIFICANCE

Satan has so distorted our view as to where we are to find those things. Satan has convinced us that these things are found in temporal things such as people, positions, professions, performances and lots of other things that start with a P. Sorry for the slight Southern Baptist moment...

Here's the truth of the matter.

You are COMPLETELY accepted in Christ!

You are God's child...

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name..."  John 1:12

You are COMPLETELY secure in Christ!

You are free forever from condemnations...

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."  Romans 8:1-2

You are COMPLETELY significant in Christ!

You are the salt and light of the earth...

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.  You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden..."  Matthew 5:13-14

The tough part comes by trying to renew your mind to live by these truths from God's word and not the lies we have been programmed believe.  I have full confidence though based on Romans 12:1-2 that God desires for us to be reprogrammed thus He can and will provide the ability for our minds to be renewed!  

May you find truth today from His word...

Good morning

Here's a great way to start your day.  

Too much reading from yesterday for you to go through so there's some things you don't have to read.  

Follow that one up with this one!

Hope you have a great day today!

Two post in one day! Spirit, soul, body pt. 2

Yes, be amazed!

Let's go back to m y post several days ago about this whole spirit, soul and body thing.  There are 5 mine foundations to look at within the spirit (the part of you that relates to God).  

Salvation

Assurance 

Security

Acceptance

Total Commitment (Surrender)

With each of those let's look into God's word to see what He has to say on those topics.  

FOUNDATION  STONE #1

Salvation:  

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."  John 5:24

Do you know you are a child of the King?  Have you become aware that your sin separates you from God?  Have you willfully submitted your life to God?  Have you believed in the fact that God sent His son Jesus to die for you?  

If you taken those steps then let's realize what you can firmly say without doubt "whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."  

You have eternal life...  

You will not be condemned...

You have crossed over from death to life!

That's some good stuff.  Our eternal life has just been handed to us.  Meaning after this breath of a life we live on earth is done...  You can know for sure where you'll be going!  You will no longer be condemned or blamed before the Lord. Jesus has taken on your sins.  You are no longer dead but have truly now come to life.  

FOUNDATION  STONE #2

Assurance:

"I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand"

John 10:28

No matter how you feel.  No matter how unworthy you feel.  No matter how much you do or don't do.  NOTHING is going to snatch you out of the hands of your Father!  Which means nothing is going to change where you spend eternity.  Nothing is going to separate you from the God who has sent His Son to die for us and our sins.  Rest assured that though nothing is certain or constant in life.  Assurance in Christ can be and is completely available according to God's word!  So when you can find nothing else in life to be confident in, just return to this verse.  

FOUNDATION  STONE #3

Security:

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day."  John 6:37  -39

 There seems to be a little bit of a scarlet thread running through these foundations to me.  This one again leans upon something that is constant and unchanging.  We can be completely secure in our position in Christ.  Once we become one of His we will never be driven away from Him.  We will not be lost along the way but one day we WILL be raised up and taken into eternity!  These are facts not possibilities!  

FOUNDATION  STONE #4

Acceptance:

"To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved."

Ephesians 1:6

Is it not pretty safe to say that acceptance is a must for all of us?  We strive to be accepted by all those around us whether you want to admit it or not.  At our core (which God designed) we all are desperately looking to be accepted.  In being accepted we feel we have purpose, we are loved, we are OK because there is someone who accepts us just as we are.  Is that not a huge desire at your center?  Well, it is mine.  Praise be to God though because whether we see or feel that acceptance on a day to day basis...  Feeling or no feeling YOU ARE ACCEPTED IN CHRIST!

That is truth.  That is a foundation to build your life on!

FOUNDATION  STONE #5

Total Commitment (Surrender)

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:1-2

This is where the rubber meets the road.  Did God provide the other 4 foundational stones so that we could collect them all and put them in a pretty box so we have some cute decorations to look at?  I'm pretty sure no he did not!  I'm pretty sure He's given those other foundations to help us willingly walk into this last foundational stone.   What's great is that without fully accepting and experiencing the other 4 you will never accept or experience this 5th one.  And vise versa...  Without this one you will never fully appreciate the other 4.  

To offer our lives back into the hands of God and fully trust He will do what He wants and needs to through it is the beauty of God.  Reaching the point of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice is a tough point to reach, from an earthly perspective.  But your mind will never fully be transformed into the likeness of Christ until you reach that point of fully worshipping Christ with all that you are.  

The trick to this intense picture can be found in Galatians 2:20..

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me."  

Wait a second!  Foundation stone #1 said we've crossed from death to life?  Yes...  We (our old man) has been put to death and the life we've now taken up is the life of Christ!  

Ok.  that's probably way more than anyone wants to read in a day.  Unless you really like this stuff like I do!  Way to go if you made it this far!  

Guess what?!

No, I'm not getting married.

But I do have a great story from a friend of mine.  Last weekend as I said I got to go to the Lady Vols basketball game.  After supper my friend was trying to get her cash from her pocket and she gets a panic look on her face.  She tells me that she can't find her wedding ring.  She got married this past September.  Her heart broke to think that she's lost the ring she just got.  

On the ride home I told her she was just going to have to tell her husband she lost it.  I suggested she right a note and put it on the coffee table since she would probably be sobbing when she's trying to explain it.  That way she could just point to the note when he can't understand her and know what the problem is.  We went on to discuss how she would get to see some great compassion from her husband because his heart would rejoice that she wasn't hurt but that it was just something that was lost.  

I saw her husband last night and church and ask how she was.  He said she'd been pretty tore up all week.  She had even ask him multiple times was he mad at her.  Of course he said no.  Apparently she got frustrated at him thinking he should be mad at her for losing the ring.  He told me it wasn't a big deal.  He was just glad she was ok.  I said well you know what she needs for Christmas now.  He said exactly!

Through an unexplainable occurrence of events my friend now has her ring back!!!  Apparently she dropped it in the parking lot where we parked.  She called a friend her works at UT and somehow that friend got the ring back.  God is amazing!!  My friend said there was no way this was any sort of normal thing but it was amazing.  What's great is that she got to see the compassion of Jesus through her husband!  It's a beautiful thing.  Not only that but she also got her ring back.  Now every time she notices her ring she'll think of what God did using that ring...  God is so cool!  Just wanted to share that today.

New skills

Please watch this video before reading any further!!

I'm going to a conference this weekend so I decided to make today my day off.  First and foremost wonderfulness about that...  Pajamas!  Yes, staying in my PJ's until I'm ready to get out of them.  Just in case you're curious it's 11:45am and I'm still in them.  I also decided to do some cooking today.  A dear friend of mine would refer to this day as being a domesticated day!  I haven't had one of these in awhile.  

I've made some chicken enchiladas and put in the freezer using some leftover things from the fridge then I moved on to making some whole wheat pizza crust.  I plugged in the wheat grinder and it made no attempt to work.  Oh no!  It's not actually mine but a friend of mine.  Not good.  I put it back in the cabinet and ask the Lord to remedy that situation for me.  Those machines aren't cheap.  I go to get something out of the fridge.  Oh snap...  Light's not on.  

DUH!  I blew a fuse.  Problem solved.  Walked outside and flipped the breaker.

Back to pizza crust.  

I could only find one little sheet of parchment paper and in case you don't know what that is, it's AMAZING, never cook on a cookie sheet without it!

I found a roll of wax paper and used that instead.  Now that the pizza crust have cooled I've realized an important lesson.  Wax paper and parchment paper are not the same thing.  I repeat, they ARE NOT the same thing.  Should have googled it first but I figured it would be ok.  It's not too bad of a substitute if you spray the wax paper good with a non stick spray.  Otherwise, stick city here you come!  Now I've got to figure out how to peel off the pizza dough...

Oh back to the video.  In my pizza crust making experience being here by myself I decide to see if I can throw a pizza crust.  It looks cool when they do it and how hard is it.  Turns out it's actually not all that hard to do!  I only dropped it a few times but then got the hang of it.  What a picture...  Me in PJ's tossing pizza dough in the kitchen.  I wish the ceilings were taller because I wanted to see how high I could throw it.  Greatly debated going outside to throw it really high.  I knew the dogs would eat that dough if I walked outside with it so I stayed inside.  

I'm not professional like the guy on the video but it's not too hard.  Give it a try next time you make some pizza crust!

Seriously!?

Who has the cutest nephew and niece in the whole world?  

Yep, that would be me!!  Seriously, my brother and sis in law make some cute babies!  Funny story from my grandpa.  He and my grandma keep Ainsley everyday.  According to him baby gates will be useless for her.  He suggest just nailing up sheets up plywood.  Hopefully she won't tear those off the walls.  Apparently she's a pretty fiesty little one.  My mom compares her to me but I assure her that is not my fault because I have not had enough interaction with her yet.  I will get to babysit her the week after thanksgiving.  That I'm way excited about!  After that week some of her personality might be my fault.  I'm sure we're going to get along great.  How cute are they!?!  Ty and I will have fun going to get a "nack" at Quick Check.  He too is too cute for his own good.

Jesus and basketball

So, what if following after the Lord was more like playing basketball?  For those of you who have no athletic background this post might not make sense at all.  However, if there is something that you've invested much time in in order to improve to a certain level be it sports or not, you should understand.  

Since my Sunday afternoon basketball experience I've been thinking back to my own athletic years growing up.  I was trained.  I was drilled.  I was challenged.  I improved.  If I was not constantly improving, there was no one to blame but me.  I was responsible for my own playing ability.  I knew what to do when I got the ball.  Either go towards the goal and automatically be looking for someone to pass the ball towards.  Your eyes were always scanning for who was open or an open spot to get to the goal.  You dribble in such a way to keep the ball away from the defender.  Then of course as the defender the point was to get the ball or simply keep them away from their goal. 

Everyday in practice we worked on ways to get the ball to the goal and ways to keep the other team from getting to their goal.  We had game plans.  We practiced our tactics on each other.  We corrected and redid it when we did it wrong.  Everyday you practiced the basics.  Free throws, layups, jump shots, and of course running.  Those were things that you would do in every game played so those were drilled into us daily.  If you struggled with one more than the other you would practice that even more.  

Back to Jesus.  Why don't we drill ourselves with God's word?  What are our everyday practices that we do to prepare for the daily battle we face?  If there is a particular area you struggle in do you do more in that area?  Do you have people willing to tell you when you're wrong and to repent?  Do you have people who will practice this thing called faith with you?  What don't our churches look more like basketball teams?  

When those girls were on that court on Sunday that was all that mattered at that moment?  People were watching them but they weren't concerned with that.  There were kids that went home that day I'm sure to practice like one of their favorite Lady Vol players.  What if our church looked like that?  When we're in worship that's all that matters, entering into God's presence.  People watch us but that doesn't matter.  What if people walked away from being near us and wanted to mimic what they say in us...  The Jesus they saw in us?  

I think there's something to the way sports work.  There's something to sharing a common goal.  They want to win.  They will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.  Why can't our churches see the common goal?  To run the race...  Living out the things of the Lord...  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control?  

Just my random thoughts on Jesus and basketball.  

Lady Vols

I had a first today in my 4 years of being a resident of the state of Tennessee!

Yep, I went to my first Lady Vols basketball game.  A friend at church had some extra tickets so I decided to go with her.  It was a fun afternoon getting out.  A little strange experience because it's been several years since I have been to a sporting event.  They won by lots of points so it wasn't an overwhelmingly thrilling game.  I did not realize they were the national champs for the past 2 years.  

I though of something funny earlier that I intended to write about but as I sit here now, I have absolutely no recollection of what it was.  It was really funny at the time.  I do remember that.  Oh well, perhaps I'll remember it tomorrow.  

Spirit, Soul, and Body. pt. 1

Today, you get to hear about what I've been doing the greater portion of the day.  I've been studying.  It's my absolute favorite thing under the sun to!  Ok, wait.  Not really, that was a complete and total falsehood.  I've never been much for studying which is why school and I were never very close friends.  However, today has not been completely miserable.  Why?  It's simple.  I made the choice to study today.  Not only that but I chose the topic.  :)  

Last spring I went to a conference at Grace Fellowship International.  I'm pretty sure I promised to explain last fall what it was all about and I'm pretty sure I never got around to it.  Better late than never though I suppose.  They have a conference, workshop and school you can attend.  Each of them lasting several days in length.  Last spring I attended the conference and workshop.  Next week I'll be attending the school part.  Part of me is excited and part of me is screaming nooo!!  Not a classroom!  It's only 3 days so I don't think I'll die in that short of time.  Once that's done they have some more correspondence things I can get into if I so choose.  

Here's the quick run through of what I've been checking out today.  Of course this will all be in my own interpretation of their information.  Feel free to check out their site and order their books if you so choose to have a further deeper understand 

Your whole being is made up for a spirit, soul and body according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  As the trinity is wholly separate yet wholly connected as are those three components.  The trinity being the reality that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Only seems fitting that since we are made in His image we too would have 3 parts to our being.  

These three parts are beautifully and intricately connected.  Meaning that they have great impacts on each other.  The SPIRIT is dealing with things such as our intuition, our conscience, our communion with God.  These are all parts that relate to God thus become our spiritual hub.  The SOUL houses the mind, the will, the emotions.  Making it our psychological center and relates more to how we relate to others.  The BODY is simply that our physiological body that relates to our environment.  

The beautiful trinity connection exemplifies that if it all begins in the SPIRIT, when that part is not properly taken care of then the SOUL and BODY will immediate follow suit as to their own well being.  Within the SPIRIT you will find the building blocks to our lives.  Those things which we are constantly seeking to find through everything and everyone in this world.  Those things we will spend an eternity looking for and I believe once we walk into eternity if you are a child of the King, God is going to show us we searched so hard we missed it.  The Truth was simply sitting before us...  Yet, we overlooked it.  

I'll go into more of those things we're searching for tomorrow.  

Lucy, I apologize

Lucy I give you my word that for the next 7 days I am going to make sure there is something of at least partial interest for you to read from my blog!  Perhaps I just don't have as many exciting things to post about as you do.  Either way I'm going to find something or  at least make something up for you!  :)  

Today you get to hear about my bug updates.  

Since the arrival of the bug to Benton it's gotten much needed attention.  Mike Brock has helped me lots!  We've had to take the gas tank off because it wouldn't start and turns out that the hose under the gas tank had rotted out, not good.  On more than one occasion the gas line going back to the engine from the front has come unconnected, once again making it impossible to start it!  Mike's arm could reach to fix that where mine couldn't.  He finally got smart 2 weeks ago and told me to put some claps on that hose so it wouldn't do that again.  Sure enough it worked!  

I have learned how to take the carb apart.  Here's where it gets amazingly technical.  There's a thingy inside the carb that gets stuck.  You have to take the whole carb off to flick it a few times and get it unstuck.  I've done that twice now by myself.  A friend heard of my new car skills so I got my own little set of tools I keep in the car.  Even though there's really only two tools you need to work on it.  I'd tell you what those two things are but I have no clue what they're called.  I just know what they look like in the tool set.  Oh and you must also have the stick.  The stick is that exactly.  A stick we found on the ground that holds the hood up while you play car doctor!  

I had a tune up done last week on it and it died on the way home.  ugh...  It was the carb thingy.  That time around I figured out that if you don't put the carb back together in the right sequence it doesn't work right.  Imagine that.  

I'm still hoping to get blinkers working soon.  It's getting too cold to roll the windows down to use my arms as turn signals.  Not to mention the fact most people just think I'm waving at them!  I've also noticed a few small wholes in the pans since it's gotten cold.  The air seems to travel straight through the hole causing a slight draft in the bug.  

The bug has yet to be given a name yet other than the bug.  Got any ideas?