A Life of Gratitude

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June. -- L. M. Montgomery Today was the last day of June and it was over 100 degrees! We stayed indoors all morning by going bowling and eating lunch with friends at Chick-fil-a, taking afternoon naps, and then having ice cream with my parents. Once evening came and the temperature dropped a little, we finally ventured outdoors to play in the sprinkler. The boys had a lot of fun and so did I! I really enjoy spending time with my little family. Today I am thankful for the sweet days of summer. Summer days are full of laughter and joy.  You just can't have this kind of fun in the middle of winter!  

I am coming to the end of a 10 week Bible Study by Beth Moore called Believing God . Along the way, Beth has encouraged participants to look for "Godstops" each day. A Godstop is any means by which God goes out of His way to reveal Himself to you. When God makes Himself observable, we need to stop to take notice and savor the moment. When we learn to recognize and appreciate His interventions, we are more likely to receive them. Over the past 2 weeks, as a part of this study, I have been creating a timeline of my life and marking specific ways in which God has intervened in my life. This has been a pretty interesting activity because once the timeline starts to take form, its easy to see God's involvement. Today, during my quiet time, I worked on mapping out years 13-18 of my life.  When I was 13, I was headed down a pretty dark and dreary path. I had observed a very abusive relationship between my parents for many of my childhood years and my parents had divorced w

I heard Matt Hammitt's song, "Bring You Praise" this afternoon in the car. I've heard it several times before but I've never really noticed the third verse. It says,  "Before I was born, You numbered my days The story is yours, I'm just a page With every word I want to proclaim Let my life proclaim Let it bring You praise, bring You praise." As I listened to that verse, I was overwhelmed. The story of life is God's and I am only one page of His story. Its easy to get hung up on "me, me, me" in this life but if we remember that we are only one page of God's story, it might just put things in perspective. I only have one life, one "page," and I want every word of it to proclaim God's love and goodness. I want my one and only "page" in God's book to scream that I love Him, that He is the most important thing, and that no matter what, I will praise Him. Today I am thankful that the s

"There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and a son"  - unknown Evan has changed so much in the past few days. He has suddenly started giving open mouth kisses, doing the "backwards wave" while saying bye-bye-bye-bye, walking while holding on with one hand to the couch, trying to mimic words that he hears, and he has 2 teeth popping through! He has also become very aware of his Mommy. When I come into the room, he comes directly to me. When I leave a room, he follows me. When he sees me, his little face lights up. And of course, that sweet look on his face just melts my heart!  If I've never felt loved before, I do now! Evan makes sure of that! I love ribbons and lace and one day I hope to have a little girl to dress up and paint toe nails with but for now,  I am grateful that God has entrusted these two boys to me. I'm honestly not very good at playing with transformers, bui

  OneCry is a movement of believers who are urgently crying out to God to revive the church and transform the culture.   OneCry participants are choosing to believe that extraordinary things will happen as we turn from sin and seek God together!   I've been receiving a text message each day from OneCry as a part of the Text-Prayer Challenge. Everyday at noon, OneCry participants receive prayer directives and cry out to God together. The text message I received today said, "A lack of gratefulness is the first step toward cultural demise (Romans 1: 21) Reverse the trend today by thanking God specifically for ten things." So, I figured since this is right up my alley, I might as well share my 10 specific things. I encourage you to think of ten specific things you are thankful for also.  Here it goes... 1-My salvation 2-My ever-growing, ever-changing, life-altering relationship with Christ 3-My husband, Bryan 4-My sons, Dylan and Evan 5-The freedoms we e

Do you ever wonder if you're aimlessly running toward a moving target? I feel that way sometimes. Today was one of those days. For no particular reason, I started wondering if I was even running on the right course. I found myself asking God to reconfirm the path I'm on, to once again remind me that even though things aren't happening on my timeline, He has me right where he wants me. And of course, He did.... I read a story today about William Carey, he was cobbler by trade in the 1700's and was eventually called to India to spread the Gospel. This calling was not easy on his family. In the first few years of his journey, disease claimed the life of one of his sons which led to his wife losing her mind and eventually her life. She left Carey with 2 children to raise. Alone and grieving, he pushed on because he felt God's call on his life. He tried preaching in India but it just wasn't for him. He eventually figured out that his true calling was behind a pr

Dylan has been singing a lot of Chris Tomlin songs since we saw him in concert recently. His favorite song right now is "Our God." The chorus to the song says " Our God is greater, our God is stronger,  God You are higher than any other. O ur God is Healer, awesome in power... Our God, Our God." It is amazing to hear that 4 year old little voice singing those lyrics! He does motions too. With the word greater, he stretches hims arms wide. With the word stronger, he shows his muscles. And with the word higher, he points to the sky. It is absolutely adorable! My favorite part of the song says "And if our God is for us, who can ever stop us? And if our God is with us, what can stand against?" What an inspiring thought! I may have mentioned this in a past post, but lately it seems that God keeps trying to teach me that He is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do! I've noticed it with Dylan's new favorite song but then also again t

When I checked the mail today, I found the most valuable piece of clothing I've ever purchased. Its a shirt that I ordered a few days ago from www.shirt4life.org. Each time someone buys one of these adorable shirts, an infant child's life is saved.  "1 child dies every minute from HIV/AIDS. Every 15 seconds a child is orphaned because of of AIDS. 1,100 children are newly infected with HIV/AIDS daily. 400,000 children are newly infected each year. 2.3 million children are currently living with AIDS in Africa." ~ www.Shirt4Life.org  The shirt I purchased from Shirt4Life helps provide funding that ensures babies will be tested for HIV and given any medications necessary to help them live a normal, healthy life. The monetary donations also fund health care workers that give continued care for children and their mothers.  So, I got a cute shirt and I helped save a life! I'd say that's pretty good!  Today I am thankful for Shirt4Life and other

I'm sure a lot of people probably don't realize the impact a father's presence has on a child. Here are a few statistics from the US Health Department that clearly prove the important role a father plays. *63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes *90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes  *85% of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes  *80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes *71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes *75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes *70% of youths in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes  *85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes  Its pretty clear that children need their fathers. Without dads, children's lives are often negatively impacted. God created families with a mother and a father so, I guess that is why the absence of a Daddy

Last night, after a nice day by the beach and pool, we went to dinner at a really neat place in Williamsburg called Food for Thought . Not only were the food and service outstanding, but they also had "table talk" cards at each table, which are conversation starters or ask/tell games. Some examples of the cards include: If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you move and why? What is your dream job? Share a time when you felt nearest to God. Would you rather see a movie, a parade, or a magic show? Tootsie Rolls have been around for more than 100 years. The candymaker named them after his daughter, Tootsie. If you were a candymaker, what type of candy would you invent and who would you name it after? My favorite "table talk" idea was  - Go around the table and tell each person why you are grateful they are a part of your family. Dylan started by saying the he is glad Evan is in our family because he is so cute and precious. He said he&#

We've been having a wonderful time on our vacation. This is one of the best trips we've taken. There are so many fun things to do in Williamsburg and most of them aren't very expensive. Since it was raining yesterday, we spend the day at Magiquest. Dylan had his own magic wand and completed a pretty complicated scavenger hunt. Once he found all the items, he was able to fight the dragon! He really enjoyed himself and did really well at the scavenger hunt. Today we went on a Pirate Cruise. All of the kids were able to help raise the sails, steer the ship, and fire a cannon. Plus, the staff were dressed like pirates and spoke like pirates too. Dylan really liked it! Once we arrived back on land, we spent the afternoon at the Yorktown River Beach. I absolutely love this type of beach because the waves are small, the breeze is wonderful, there is no under current, and the bathroom is only about 20 feet away. Its really perfect for a family with small children. It was Evan'

We left home bright and early Sunday morning and drove to Scotland, VA where we boarded a ferry. We took the ferry across the James River and entered Williamsburg, VA. A few minutes later we drove through the entrance of Busch Gardens! We had an absolute blast riding roller coasters, kiddie rides, the sky lift, and Dylan's favorite - the train (really a glorified trolley.) Later that night, we saw Chris Tomlin in concert (which was incredible, by the way)! So far our vacation has been super busy but we are enjoying every minute! Me and my sweeties on the ferry. Today I am thankful for the great deals we've come across so far on our trip. Can you believe that the ferry that took our family and our jeep across the James River was free? FREE! I'm not joking. That is a rare word these days!  We also discovered a fabulous deal with our Busch Gardens tickets. We decided to visit Busch Gardens because we wanted to see Chris Tomlin in concert, so we bought the theme park

Sometimes I wonder if God thinks I am stubborn. Well, I guess I should say, "I must be stubborn because it seems like God thinks so." Occasionally I come across a Bible verse or topic that seems to pop up every where I go. It makes me think that God is really trying to get His point across and its just taking me a while to fully "get it." I've had this experience this week with a verse I have never even noticed before. Exodus 14:14 says, "The Lord will fight for you. Just stay calm." A few days ago, Bryan asked me to read his daily devotional before I went to an appointment that was a pretty important part of my worker's comp case. As I read the devotional, I saw Exodus 14:14. That verse comforted me as I left for the appointment and it kept entering my mind as waited and participated in the appointment. Without going into a lot of boring details...the Lord did fight for me in this appointment. He fought in some pretty awesome ways! When I lef

Our First Kiss The best day of my life My handsome hubby! My favorite of our wedding photos Yes, we had doves! I loved them!!! They were a surprise to everyone but me and my mom! Our First Dance Our Wedding Cake My dad was the photographer so he  came to our hotel to get a shot of Bryan carrying me across the threshold. Not many people have this photo in their album! "If you could see what I see, t hen you'd understand  why I fall down on my knees a nd I pray my love w ill be worthy of t he One who gave His life s o our love could be.  Y ou were created to be t he perfect one for me. I f you could see w hat I see.  If beauty is all i n the eye o f the beholder then I  am beholding...t rue beauty." ~If you could see what I see by Geoff Moore Eight years ago today, I listened to the song lyrics above as I looked into Bryan's eyes during our wedding ceremony.Those words were special on the day of

Bryan and Dylan went outside tonight, once it got somewhat dark, to catch Lightning bugs. Dylan had a terrific time! He ran inside with his little bug jar and showed me all 7 of the lightning bugs that he caught. He took them in his room and turned off the light to see if they would light up. When they didn't flash very much, he  told me that they didn't like to light up unless they were flying. He was so excited about those little bugs! He is already planning to look for more tomorrow night. Have you ever wondered why God created Lightning bugs? After seeing Dylan's excitement about them tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if God created them just for His children to enjoy.  I've seen Lightning bugs a thousand times but it wasn't until today that I stopped and really considered how amazing they are. Not only do these beetles light up to attract a mate, which is ridiculously amazing by itself, but they have special flash patterns. So that a flash pat

I had a wonderful time at the Beautiful Life conference this weekend in Greensboro. I enjoyed spending time with friends, singing praises to our Father, and hearing Angela Thomas teach from the Bible. She did an outstanding job. My favorite story that she told was about a 5K. It is nearly impossible for me to retell the story with even half of the enthusiasm and spunk that Angela had but its a story worth retelling, so I'll try. Angela's 8 and 10 year old sons decided they really wanted to run a 5K with their friends that lived in their neighborhood. Angela admitted that she knew very little about 5Ks and quickly agreed to their request when they asked for permission to run. So, with excitement, they practiced a little by running around the block. The day of the big race came and the boys stood at the starting line with all of their neighborhood friends. Angela cheered for her boys from the sidelines. When the starting gun fired, her boys took off with a lot of energy. Ang