A Life of Gratitude

Bryan's father got laid off about 2 years ago. It took a while but a little over a month ago, he was hired for a new job. He was extensively trained and then laid off again after only working a hand-full of weeks. Of course, the entire family has been praying hard over this situation and Dylan was no exception. Last night, during his bedtime prayers, Dylan asked God to "please give Pawpaw a new job." Guess what? Pawpaw got a job today and he starts on Monday! Praise God! When Bryan and I told Dylan that God had answered his prayer, his face lit up with joy! To say that he was excited is a definite understatement. Dylan told us that when he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he is going to do is make a thank you card for Jesus. He said "I am going to write a card and tell Jesus thank you for hearing my prayer and giving my Pawpaw a new job. I am gonna save it until I'm really, really old and give it to Him when I go to Heaven!"  How cute is that?

For the past couple of years, we have been using The Jesus Storybook Bible for our family devotions. We have a read a story each night, discussed it, and prayed together. It has worked very well but now that Dylan is getting a little older, we have been looking for something more appropriate for preschool aged children. After looking for quite a while, I finally found a terrific blog with great ideas for family devotions. The blog is called "2 Teaching Mommies." They offer tons of free printables and activities for almost any topic or theme and they have a lot of  fun devotions for preschool kids. We've decided to pick one Bible verse per week, do the devotion they've written for the verse one night and read Bible stories that go along with the verse the other nights during the week. Dylan enjoys working each night with the tracing guides and puzzle printables that go along with the verse. We've been doing our new family devotions for a couple of

As I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook this evening, I saw the picture above and nearly busted out in tears. Even as I look at it now, my heart is broken for those sweet children. I can tell by the tombstone that their father was only 3 years older than me. Wow, that man was courageous enough to leave the loves of his life to fight for our freedoms. He didn't make it home and I don't ever want to take that for granted. Today I am thankful for the countless men and women that have fought for our freedoms. That  little boy and girl will not grow up knowing their earthly father, but my children will because of that man's sacrifice. What a great blessing.  This is the land of the free because of the brave. Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the freedoms that Americans enjoy. Please help us to remember the sacrifice that so many have made. Please wrap Your arms around the families that have lost loved ones and comfort those who are currently waiting o

You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu My precious family and I had a wonderful evening together. After the boys woke up from their naps we went to Feeney's Frozen Yogurt for a special treat. Dylan couldn't get enough of the triple chocolate and Evan was a big fan of the orange sherbert. On the way home we were all singing, "Jesus Freak" at the top of our lungs (well, not Evan, he was taking a cat nap.) It was so cute to hear Dylan singing, "I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak, there ain't no disguising the truth!" After the song went off Dylan told me that he is definitely a Jesus Freak! I love it, cause' I am too! Once we got home we spent the rest evening tickling each other, blowing raspberries on one another's bellies and playing Hide and Seek. Evan was especially amazed by Hide and Seek!  I love these little "Jesus Freaks!" We had so

Everyone likes a good "Cinderella" story, right? There are probably several of those types of stories in the Bible but one of my favorites belongs to Rahab. She was "vocationally challenged" to say the least. She actively spent each day as a prostitute so it was no surprise when 2 strange men arrived at her doorstep, but these men would change everything for Rahab. More than likely, Rahab would have known all about the Israelite army encamped right outside the walls of Jericho and according to scripture, she knew all about the the God of the Israelites and the miraculous things He had done. So, when the Israelite spies came to her house, Rahab told them that she knew God would give them her homeland. Its obvious that she believed what she had heard about God. I can't even imagine what would have happened to her if she had  been caught with them in her house so its pretty impressive that she decided to hide them on the roof when soldiers of the city guard came l

"What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" Romans 4:3 I've been doing Beth Moore's Bible Study, "Believing God" for the past 5 weeks. It's an outstanding study that I would definitely recommend to others. We have recently been studying some of the great Biblical characters such as Noah, Moses, and Abraham. These were all men who lived faith-filled lives and the way they lived was proof of their faith. I think my favorite of these stories is the story of Abraham and Sarah. Can you imagine being told that you would become a parent at the age of 100? Most of us would probably look right at God and laugh. In fact, I think Sarah did laugh when she heard the news but not Abraham. No, Abraham believed. Regardless of how ridiculous it seemed or how impossible it was physically. Abraham believed that he and his 90 year old wife would conceive and give birth to a child. Guess what? God came through, just

We just ordered a large family photo to hang in our living room. While Bryan and I were picking the photo out yesterday, Dylan went into the kitchen and drew his own portrait for our living room wall. It is absolutely adorable! We decided to hang this portrait until our new portrait arrives. Dylan is so proud! (and so am I!) Dylan's Masterpiece Here are some of the photos we recently had made. Robin Sink did a fabulous job! We had a hard time picking out our favorites. Today I am thankful for our family photos. These boys are growing up so fast, I want to document as many special moments as I can. These photos show how precious they are at this time in our lives. I am also grateful for the family portrait we have hanging in the living room right now. Dylan's art work is priceless. I love that he took it upon himself to create a masterpiece for the living room! I will definitely be saving this portrait for years to come.

"Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous?  Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the  Lord  your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 Today as I listened to the audio portion of "Believing God," the Bible Study I am currently doing, I heard Beth Moore discussing the significance of Joshua 1:9. The overall idea behind this verse is that God will never fail us so there is no need for discouragement or fear. The Hebrew word for fail is "rapah". This word means "to be slack or weak, the basic idea of relaxing the hand." So, in a sense, this verse is saying that God will never relax His grip on us. He will never let us go. He's got this! In response to God's unfailing grip, our responsibility, according to the verse, is to be strong and courageous. The word strong is "chazaq" in Hebrew and it means "to be bound fast, attached, or to make firm." God will never let us go but we play a big part in this. We

I have to admit...I'm getting a little tired of painting. We have been painting for days and we still aren't done. I've been in a lot of pain because all this painting is really hard on my back. I will be so glad when are finished. So, its probably no surprise that I am grateful for the volunteers we have had help us. Jordan and Shanna have been such a big help to us. They came over two days this week to paint the living room, hallway, and master bedroom. Without their help, it would have take us so much longer. Today I am thankful for good friends that are willing to take time out of their lives to be such a blessing to us! Thank you Jordan and Shanna! We love you both! Bryan, Jordan and Shanna working so hard.   Oh, and I can't forget to mention how helpful Dylan has been this week as well.  He is such a big helper!

Believe it or not, we recently decided to engage in a DIY project that involves painting our living room, kitchen, hallway, master bedroom, walk-in closet and guest bathroom (walls and moulding). The best part...we're doing it all this week. As you can probably imagine, we've got a huge mess! We finished the kitchen today and I am really pleased with it. Its a new color and looks so fresh and clean. Before we began painting today, I recalled the verses we recently studied... " Love  the Lord our God with all your heart  and with all your soul and with all your strength.   These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.   Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.   Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates " Deuteronomy 6:5-9 So, I thought that it would b

"You'll be his first kiss, his first love, his first friend. You are his Mommy and he is your whole world. He is your little boy." That quote brings joy to my heart and tears to my eyes! How true?? These little boys are my world. I have been given the honor of being their first love, first kiss and first friend. Tonight, I had another great honor. I was Dylan's first date. We got dressed up and went out for Chick-fil-a's "Mother-Son Date Night." It was so much fun! When we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a hostess and taken to our reserved table that was very nicely decorated (it even had cloth napkins!) We ordered our drinks and then our food and while we waited we talked about what it means to be a ''knight," which was the theme of the dinner decorations. Chick-fil-a even had conversation starters and ideas for mothers to use when discussing "knight-hood" with their sons. Once our food arrived, we ate and talke

Our sweet baby Evan has been experiencing a whole lot of "firsts" lately. In the past two weeks he has started crawling, he experienced eating ice cream for the first time, he started sitting up all by himself, he played with instruments for the first time, he began pulling up to the standing position in his crib, and he played in the grass for the first time. This little guy is all over the place and he is doing so much, way too fast! Playing with the grass...he loved the way it felt in his fingers. Playing the drum...look at that face. Stood up all by himself. He is so proud of himself. He crawled all the way over here by himself and then sat up all by himself. He is only 6 months old. He needs to slow down!! Eating chocolate ice cream...yum. It is so exciting to watch him grow and experience all of these things for the first time. When I watched Evan play with the grass for the first time, I found myself noticing how amazing grass is! When h

There has been quite the uproar over Amendment One in North Carolina. For my readers who live out of state and/or out of country,  Amendment One was a  Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State. I have been very open about my decision to vote FOR the amendment and I have had some pretty rude comments made about me and my decision. Although those comments aren't easy to hear or read, I am not at all ashamed of my vote. I believe that God created marriage and that He defines it as man and woman. I do not dislike those who are involved in same sex relationships and I do not want any one's rights to be taken or to hurt any American family but, I couldn't knowingly vote against the Biblical standard for marriage when my faith is based on the Bible. I have no hard feelings toward those who choose to live different lifestyles because who am I to judge? I also hav