A Really, really neat verse

"If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." ~Romans 14:8

If we are indeed children of God then we BELONG to Him...have you ever really just sat back and let the reality of the just sink in?

Today, was kinda a hard day for me. I didn't get to sleep till 4am yesterday (it was the coffee's fault!) and I had a long day at work, plus, emotionally I was being stretched...you know what though? As soon as I read that verse it was as though the spotlight that had been on myself all day long was just instantly re-directed to were it needed to be: My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I BELONG TO HIM! WOW!

Just thought I would leave you with that :)
Blessings to you all!

I'm done!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there :)
So, I played around and am now satisfied (for the moment :-p) with my new layout for the blog :)
AmericanMum inspired me to change it up a bit. If you want to check out the blogs she has designed...they are amazing and very professional: HERE, HERE, and HERE. She has very reasonable prices and is truly amazing at what she does SO check her out :)

So it is currently 12:53am and I AM NOT TIRED!!!! Reason why? I had HOMEMADE, OUT OF THIS WORLD, iced coffee tonight :) hehehehehe...yeah, am I regretting it yet? I will tomorrow :-p

So today was an interesting day. WORK WAS CRAZY! I have gained quite the reputation (all good) at the YMCA and people have started asking me to do things (I think it is b/c they know I have a hard time saying no :-p) anyway, so today I was asked to be a test dummy for the pool. SO I got to go out and pretend to drown then the 2 lifeguards "rescued" me and towed me to shore. Brom, the older one, is AMAZING! He survived WW2 and is a champion swimmer. I didn't mind him so much BUT the other guard was around my age, cute, and I had to stay completely relaxed while he grasped me under the arms and towed me to shore. I don't think I have ever been that close to a guy in my life! :-p It turned out ok though...the kids (they had to do it for day camp) loved it I guess!

So yes, what has the Lord been teaching you lately? He has been teaching me to really think about how I come across to people and whether or not I am mirroring HIM in everything I do...

I will leave ya'll with that.
Blessings :)

Slowly but surely...

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
I am starting to renovate my blog so if it looks a little strange/messed up it is only me experimenting :-)
Blessings!

85's Unite!

Hehe!
Hey all you fellow bloggers!
So I am officially a member of the 85er's and my club and I (me and Beesh) are "Just Hangin'" (club motto) and very B.L.A.L :) No that is not going to make any sense to anyone but if you have questions just email :) It is a club only for girls :) LOL :)
So yes, as you might of guessed, I just got off the phone with Elisha who is one of my best friends in the entire world. She and I go waaaayyyyy back (we have a picture together 12 years ago) and we have stuck together through thick and thin. Anyway, so we had a great talk tonight. We both needed it. Girls~ You know how sometimes you just need to vent and ONLY vent to a hormonal, emotional female (in my case at least) as yourself? :-p It was so neat to just share what we had been going through and to be able to laugh together. God has blessed me so much!



HAH! I got a new photo editing system and I thought I would test it out :) Anyway, these are random shots of me and Elisha one night a few months ago. And then here is one of all 3 of us: Me, Elisha, and one of my other best friends of all time Valerie:



So anyway, now that I got that our of my system :)

Sunday school went really well today! We had 3 new kids and we got to present a very clear gospel message! It was so neat :)

SO today was just a normal, relaxing day. I think it is a good thing it was just because things have gotten so incredibly crazy lately and will continue to be tomorrow! Just to clue you in: I have to be at the place I babysit 3 boys (8,6, and 3) at 7:45am and then I will get out of there at around 10:40am, then off to the "Y" to clean for 2 hours and then do the front desk till 3, then G and G Kelley are taking us 4 kids out for dinner at the Olive Garden and to watch "Prince Caspien". So yes, it will be a full day :) But a good one!

I have a prayer request for ya'll...Elisha and Valerie's cousin and his wife live in Alaska and today she was taken unconscious to the er. It turns out that she has kidney and liver failure (due to dehydration) and Chromes disease. With fluids, the kidney and liver failure should get better and they are treating the Chromes disease. Please pray as tomorrow she is going to have a part of her intestine removed and is still in the ICU.

So I am off to bed...just wanted to leave you with this thought:
Have to taken time today to sit down and Praise the Lord...not ask Him stuff, not whine, JUST PRAISE HIM? He has done so much for us...will you count your blessings with me?
Blessings to you all :)

Hmmm...

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So today I cleaned and watched the front desk and then cleaned some more. Then, I came home! So anyway, it has been an incredibly tiring day! Heh, I fell asleep on the trampoline.
Anyway, so tomorrow is a big day! Ann and Ben (some mennonite friends of ours) are getting MARRIED :) Me and Abby and Jen are going to be serving at the reception so we are going to have a very interesting day :) I have the task of doing all 3 of us girls hair so that will be fun but definately a challenge :) HAVE YOU SEEN HOW LONG JEN'S HAIR IS???? And she wants me to STRAIGHTEN IT!!!! ANyway, it will be fun and I will definately post pictures (it is me, no worries!).
So we are serving at the reception...IN WHITE SHIRTS! Me, in a white shirt...I am PRAYING that I don't spill anything just b/c it is me (heh, no comment) and I just bought a new white shirt today specifically for the wedding.
Anyway, so I am off to bed! But I will definately have a lot to post about tomorrow :)
Blessings to you all!

Delight

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So I was reading in the Bible today and I was reading on Psalms about how the Lord delights in His children and that just kinda blew my mind! I mean, the God of the universe DELIGHTS in me! Katy...wow! It was so cool and such a reminder what an AWESOME and loving Heavenly Father His children serve! God is so good :)
So, these past few days we went to a couples house in our church. IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN! I uploaded a ton of pics on my flickr account (which is my slideshow if you scroll down the page) and then decided to photoshop and post some more on here. I realized that I am addicted to taking pictures. In 2 days time...I took over 300 pictures! (Whenever I closed my eyes I heard the click of the camera shutter HOW SAD IS THAT!!!!!!!)
Anyway, So the 1st night we went camping. ROUGH camping. As in: tarp, one blanket a piece, duffels for pillows, built our own bathroom, basically just the essentials (plus my camera). Anyway, It was so much fun and yeah...so then we went back to their house and VEGGED!!!!! And we got to throw knives hehehehe (sinister laugh!)
So here are some pics:

















ANd yes I did take all but 2 of those and photoshopped them all! I would go through and explain them but it is late and I am WIPED OUT!
I start a new job tomorrow! Now I will be cleaning and doing front desk at the Y so I am super excited!
Blessings to you all :)

30 hour famine

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So, this has been an amazing weekend. It has been so incredibly spiritual challenging weekend but WOW it has been AWESOME!
So, on friday we had the VBS and we actually had more kids come then would ever thought would. I helped Danielle teach and we had 11 kids ages 7-11, it was really neat! Anyway, so I had to go to work :( But, while I was gone at the end of the day a little boy in our class got saved! Honestly, out of all the kids, me and Danielle would have never ever picked him out as the one person that whole day to get saved just because he has been coming to sunday school for years and was always really hard to control...like I said, we thought there was no way! Just went to show us that God's ways are higher then our ways :) So, that was really cool. Then, me and Danielle decided to start a Sunday school class because the kids wanted desperately to come back to church and up until now we only had 2 sunday school classes: the little, little ones and then the adults. So today we had our 1st class and it went really well. Danielle and her family are currently raising support to go over to Congo to serve as missionaries and they are really not sure when they are going to leave so, in the meanwhile, Danielle will be training me so that when she does leave I will be able to take over the class. So I am very excited about that! :)
So, onto the famine, we combined VBS and the 30 hour famine. For those that are wondering last years famine was an amazing experiance BUT this years what absolutely amazing! It really became more of a time fasting and praying for a missionary family in Congo (were Art and Danielle want to go) who have been going through some extreme spiritual warfare. Me and Elisha were looking at pictures and we were both struck with the fact that we really didn't have a lot of us doing different things because 90% of the time we spent together (dead serious) was spent in prayer, the Word, and devotions. It was the most amazing experiance I think that any of us have had in a long time!
God was there...on Saturday we went on a prayer walk in a town nearby and we went to the village park and there were a ton of people there so everyone except me and Beesh and Valerie went and passed out tracks and us 3 just really felt led to just pray for the missionary family again and to pray for the kids and to pray for eachother...it was really neat. Years ago we had gotten a picture on those same swings so we redid it and here was the result:



Then on our walk us kids got a decent family picture! Notice the street sign :p



Tonight we teens (there were 7 of us that participated in the famine) got to lead the entire evening service at church. It was amazing! God has just worked in such a powerful way this weekend :) It is so neat how in our weakness HE is made strong! Surprisedly none of us were really hungry. At the end (last hour) Valerie and I got sick...but, it was so worth it! Going hungry physically while being stuffed spiritually...nothing compares!
Anyway, I made a collage of pictures just b/c I am too lazy to upload and explain them one-by-one! :p



So ever do one of those just total random things and then are so happy you did it? After we got home from church it started pouring rain so, we all (except dad) went out and played in the rain. Great famiy bonding bonding time :) Video below :) (hope you like it olivia!)

Anyway, that was an extremely looonnnggg post!
Blessings to you all :)

VBS

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So, today was good...we had a VBS for our church and it went really well. We are having a youth group kinda conference thing...it started out as the 30 hour famine through world vision and then evolved into something more. THe focus right now is Christ and missions and I think that God is going to do something great this weekend. Prayer would be appreciated though! Anyway, I am off to bed...need to get rested up for tomorrow! I will post pics hopefully soon and sorry about the sketchy updates. I am still wanting to update as much as possible it has just been CRAZY!!! Anyway, Blessings to you all and Good night :)

I AM 18 YEARS OLD!!!!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there :)
I AM 18 YEARS OLD! And I have so much to tell you all! :) But, it will have to wait till tomorrow because I am exhausted! Blessings to you all :) Good Night!

WWWAT

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!




So this is a photo thing that American Mum started and I thought that it was just really neat! So here are my pictures for July :) The theme is summer days:





Those are my 1st attempts :) Anyway, I will be telling about my day later on! :)
Blessings!

MY LAST DAY AS A 17 YEAR OLD!!!!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there :)
So yes, it is my LAST day as a 17 year old. Tomorrow...I am old :( lol :p
Today, I babysat...alot...and inbetween that I helped clean for the party tonight!
The party was amazing :)
I got a ton of gifts :)
Mountain Dew...it is amazing and I have my OWN bottle! Hehehe :p
Abby just sat and watched me open cards. I got 2 gift cards and I am so excited! Then ,one of my favorite gifts, I got a willow tree figurine! I LOVE them but I don't want to just collect them, I want every single one to have a special meaning. So anyway, Ann got me the free spirit one. She said it reminded her of me right away hence the picture :)






So, I had so many people come...God has blessed me with so many people who love me. I really kindof felt overwhelmed just by the love that was poured on me tonight!



We ate outside and then we took a group picture.
Then I took one with my Grandpa Kelley...I love my Grandpa :)

Then came the cake(s), icecream of course!




So yes there is my last evening as a 17 year old and it is not over yet! I have 4 girls over for a sleepover :)

I am just reminded of God's faithfulness...I thought I was alone but tonight, I realized that I am not...Friends and family...are God's greatest gift (besides Jesus obviously and salvation).
So question for ya'll: Have you taken time to spend with your family/friends lately?
Blessings to you all!

My last Monday as a 17 year old!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!

“As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him. And there was a woman there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ‘Who touched Me?’ Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.’ The woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed. Then He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace’” (LUK 8:43-47).

"This woman had a great need and had the faith to come to Jesus for its resolution. The woman’s healing was a demonstration of Jesus’ power and His deity, and the woman recognized this. In turn, Jesus recognized her saving faith and gifted her with total healing—both in body and soul. Like the man blind from birth who came to Jesus for healing and found both healing and redemption (JOH 9:2-25) this woman found all that her heart desired in Jesus.

~What can we learn from her?

1. Jesus honors our faith, however small.

2. Jesus is approachable in every circumstance.

3. Jesus has compassion on the needy who come to Him in faith.

Jesus sometimes allows circumstances to enter our lives that reduce us to desperation so that we will reach out for Him."

I really thought that was really neat. What made me think about this you may ask? I was watching a Nicole C. Mullen music video and just thought I would share it with ya'll:




So yeah, my day was pretty uneventful...well no, I can't say that! Um, today was actually a really full day! I got to sleep in :) Me and Mom went shopping for my party tomorrow night...and we went on our b-day date :)
We are having a Vacation Bible School this Friday for church and tonight me and Mom and Dad and Danny went and passed out flyers. It was such a cool experiance and some people were really interested in ,not just the VBS, but church too. So, if you think of it, please be in prayer about that...

So, I just got off the phone with an amazing friend :) I HAD A GIRL TALK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER!!!! It was such an encouragement just to share with her and yeah...I am very happy :)

So, I am off to bed. I have to babysit tomorrow so I need lots of sleep :)
So thinking and praying for you all...
Blessings and Good Night :)

My last Sunday as a 17 year old

Hey all you bloggers out there!



I tried to capture my utter misery...well, ok, so I am not that misrable :p No, I have been sick and I thought that I was over it but then I decided to go on a night swim at Jamie's party...and now I am sick again! I couldn't even sit through church
:( I slept for like 6 hours this afternoon but I am still feeling shaky (fever, throat, blah, blah, blah) so I thought that I would post early and then get some more sleep!


So, this evening we had some visiters at church. From HOLLAND! They were 4 college guys who had never been to America so they decided to go on a tour. Anyway, they are Christians and they were very nice guys...Grandpa Kelley bought Pizza and icecream. It was so much fun :) I went with Grandpa to get the pizzas and that was nice to get some one-on-one time with him. I love my Grandpa :) We talked about trusting the Lord...it was refreshing!

This morning I woke up early and decided to go over to the "upper room" in the Church to spend some time with the Lord. Lately has been hard for me just because I have...been lonely. Alot of my friends are busy and so, as a result, my life has started to largely revolve around email, blogging, etc to keep in contact with alot of my friends. Anyway! I have really been struggling with loneliness as I said before and this morning I decided that I needed to not be on the computor as much. Um, I decided that there was other stuff that I could do (spend time with the Lord, spend time with family, etc...) so I have decided to try to be online at night mostly...anyway, so this morning after I had been praying and stuff I "just happened" to read a day-by-day devotional Grandma and Grandpa Kelley had gotten me for my 16th birthday. I thought I would share it with you all:

"The Price of the Vision"
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord..." ~Isiah 6:1

"Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place. Your priorities must be God FIRST, God SECOND, and God THIRD, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will the be, 'In all the world there is no one but You, dear God.' Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision."

I found that incredibly "ironic" especially because of the stuff that I had been going through lately. God is so good and I truly want Him 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Lately it hasn't been that way...but no more.

Is that the desire of your hearts? To have HIM be everything to you? It is wierd. Total trust and surrender to Christ isn't a one time thing. It is sometimes a daily struggle to give our wants and desires to Him. The neat thing is that while we just see the here and now, He sees past, present, and future...anyway, I don't know if any of that made any sense!

I am off to bed. Blessings to you all :)

My last Saturday as a 17 year old!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So, today I was up at 6:30 am. You know how you can have those really weird dreams where an alarm clock starts going off and then you realize it is actually yours and you have to get up? It is strange! Anyway :)
So, today I worked from 8am to 4pm. It was long but really good. I actually love my job :) I am really blessed!

So, I got home from work and then was off to Jamie's graduation party. I found some pics from her 17th b-day party. That was like 2 years ago...I was like 15. Hah! Abby and Jen look so little :p Well actually, we all look like babies! hehe...oh I love old pics :p

So, I really don't have that much to say tonight...
Verse for tonight:
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Blessings to you all!

Hah, 2nd post in like 20 minutes...kinda sad :p

Came across this article from this site and just thought I would share it with you...

"I’m at a pivotal place in my life and find myself often thinking about the future. I know that’s a good thing…most of the time, but it can also be a distraction from what the Lord is trying to work into my hard heart now. I catch myself daydreaming, wondering, asking what God’s will is for me—meaning, what exciting plan He’s got for me in the future—instead of focusing on what He wants me doing now. Because now is simply never exciting. Such foolishness! Getting ahead of the Lord, trying to guess His gifts before they’re finished, wrapped and presented, trying to make decisions that haven’t even come up in my life yet! “What should I do if…” “What should I say if…” “I just can’t handle it if…” I should be seeking what the Lord wants me doing now—today. His will isn’t some mystical feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s not a voice whispering in the back of my mind. It’s not revealed through visions and premonitions. He doesn’t lead through impulses, or even through the well-plotted schemes of people. He leads through my obedience to His known will—as laid out in His word.

“Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

As I’ve been studying His word, seeking His will, and looking back at my own life, I’ve been convicted, encouraged and comforted with His ways. If I focus on obeying Him today, I’ll find I’ve been preparing perfectly for tomorrow!

He’s always got it under control and He’ll lead me across every bridge—as I come to it.

I gaze at the future and try to decide
A question that’s not yet been posed.
Between here and there stands a powerful door
That may be left open—or closed.

The light I have now leaves my choices too dim.
I worry, I fret—and I pray.
The question unanswered is unanswered still,
But it begs not my answer today.

I focus on Jesus. The future grows pale.
He points me to look at my past.
I know there’s a question that waits undefined—
But I won’t seek an answer ‘til asked."

That just really ministered to me...and challenged me. Where is our focus?

Last Friday as a 17 year old!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there :)
SO yeah, um, what has been going on the past 2 days? Hmmm...pictures will give you a hint!





What girls day is complete without beautiful hair? Well, Brooke got beautiful hair, mine just got thrown back :p Anyway, yes, I did do Brooke's hair and personally I thinks she looked absolutely gorgeous :) And that was w/o the hairstyle!


We picked a whole quart of blackberries in like 10 minutes
and then ate them with sugar and milk.
Lots of time on and under the trampoline :) Good times, good times... :)



Then is was work...today, Me and Abby and Danielle went to some yard sales and out to lunch. That was really fun! Then I went to work and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Kelley's to spend time with them and the kids. And now, I am home writing this...yup, that is my last 2 days in a nutshell.

So anyway, just thought that I would share this very interesting quiz with ya'll as a part of my verse for the day thing...

An Interesting Quiz:

1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she is pregnant with the 15th. They're living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2. The Father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their 4 children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds out she's pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

3. A white man raped a 13 year old black girl and she's now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She's not married. Her fiance is not the father of the baby, and her fiance is upset. Would you recommend abortion?

In the 1st case, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the greatest evangelists in the 19th century.
In the 2nd case, you would have killed Beethoven.
In the 3rd case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer.
If you said yes to the 4th case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!
God is the author of life, and He has given every single indidvidual supreme value. Each life-whether inside or outside the womb-should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be.
When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the frueit of the womb is his reward."
~Psalm 127:3

Isn't that good? MOm has been encouraging me to share that with ya'll for awhile!
Anyway, I am off to bed...I have to work all day tomorrow. So, I am off to have be devotions and then to bed.
Blessings to you all!

My last Thursday as a 17 year old!

Exhaustion, fever, need to go to bed...I am sorry I have been so out of it the past few days...I feel just really sick. STUPID BIKE RIDE! :p
Anyway, I have a lot to tell ya'll with some pics but it will have to wait till tomorrow...blessings to you all :)

"I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for Thou alone O Lord makest me dwell in safety."
~Psalm 4:8

7 Days 'til my 18th B-day!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
SO, you know how I went on that crazy bike ride yesterday? Well, I woke up today and still felt absolutely horribllllle. Even after a good nights sleep and medicine. SO I got up but was in such a major fog that I couldn't even function (not that I really can to early in the morning anyway!) Anyway, so I went back to bed (logical step huh?) And I slept for 4 hours. Mom came in and caught me napping with the cat.



That is what I looked like for a huge chunk of the day :p I did feel much better however after waking up and I have sworn to never go on a bike ride like yesterday (90 degrees, 85% humidity) again! :)

So, anyway, the kids got to go riding horses today, mom and dad are on a romantic overnight retreat so us kids have the run of the house! I invited my "cousin" Brooke over tonight and we watched a movie and she is helping me write this post (hence the better then normal quality :p).


Me and Brooke like 2 minutes ago :) Anyway, we are off to bed soon and I am sure are in for a heart-to-heart girl talk :)

Verse for today:

" 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD."

New every morning...so if you have had a bad day (which I really hope you haven't!) just remember that tomorrow is a new beginning.
I am off to put a very tired/wound-up girly to bed!
Blessings to you all!

8 Days 'til my 18th B-day!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So, today was like 90 degrees out with like 85% humidity. And me, being the smart talented girl that I am, decided to bike to one of my friends house. We had a great visit BUT by the time I had biked back I wasn't feeling so great and I had the beginnings of a pounding headache. Guess who didn't put on sunblock? Hehe, well, at least it turns into tan! Anyway, I am high on medicine right now (for the headache) so this post is probably not going to make much sense at all :)




Verse for today?
"The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmenment showeth His handiwork."

I am off to bed...sorry this was so boring. Have a good night!

9 Days 'til my 18th B-day!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
Well, I did something today just completely at the last possible random moment...look at exhibit A:



I DID IT! I got my cartilage pierced and no I am not going into rebellion, I am not trying to "make a statement", I am NOT trying to offend anybody! I just really thought that it would be a fun thing to do and I did it for ME. So anyway, I have decided this is the extent of piercings I am ever going to get in my lifetime. I was going to get double ones done in my ear lobe but my ear is too small! So Mom (with miminal begging I was surprised) allowed me to get this done. It didn't hurt at all! (Well, there was a little pinch but other then that!).

So anyway, that was the highlight of my day, well, I also got to go on a father-daughter date too so that was nice (I got icecream what more could a girl want? :))

SO, I have really been pondering forgiveness and 2nd chances. We as a family tonight had a big, lengthy, in-depth discussion about some family friends of ours and just circumstances and it really opened my eyes alot. See, I have this really bad habit...I have been hurt a lot in my lifetime ,and I don't know when, but, I have this really bad habit of building walls around my heart. If I get close to someone and then sense that things are getting bad I normally just back away with the whole mindset of "I had better get out now before I get hurt again." That is so wrong! Yes, I have been hurt and yes it is hard sometimes for me to trust now BUT I realized tonight that I need to go into relationships with the mindset of not what people can do for me but how I can minister to them...heh, yeah. Anyhow, I guess that is what I am mulling over right now. Please pray for me. I so want to just honor and glorify Jesus with my whole heart, soul, everything.

I am off to bed. Sleep well everyone!

10 Days 'til my 18th B-day!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there!
So yeah...heh, last night I was in such a mental fog and it DIDN'T get better today! It was actually kinda neat. I got sick this morning. So, I took some medicine but I still wasn't feeling better so I "skipped" Sunday school and wow! I had the most amazing time just me and the Lord. I took my Bible and prayer journal and my cup of tea and just went out and sat on the porch and spent a good 40 minutes just basking in the Word and the presence of the Lord. There is just something about just sitting before the Lord, with no distractions and wow, yeah, it was really neat. I am glad I was sick! :p The verse for today that the Lord just really used in my life is a very familiar one:

"11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
~Jeremiah 29:11-13

Isn't it so comforting to think that the God of the universe takes a personal interest in each and every one of our futures? Just thought that was cool...

So, after church, I went upstairs and just crashed. I had taken medicine earlier and wow! It KNOCKED ME OUT! When I awoke, I was in such a mental fog it wasn't even funny. We had a campfire after church and us kids went to the store to get food. I was so out of it Danny offered to buy me Mountain Dew to get me alive and functioning...didn't work. Anyway, this is what I have looked like most of today:


Do you see the glaze over my eyes? That is AFTER the mountain dew. HAH!

Anyway, last night we did go to the fireworks and wow were they amazing!



That is my favorite pic. They were so beautiful! (and loud :p)
Tonight at church me and Jen and Brooke sang a Barlowgirl song in church. It was really neat. I am so excited to have them living up here again and just for the oppurtunity to minister to her and be the big sis she doesn't have and with 3 younger brothers, I think it will be good :)

Anyhow, I am off to...watch a movie (I think) and wash my feet (been going barefoot EVERYWHERE including tonight when we sang. Oh the joys of a little country church) and then to bed. So goodnight all :)

11 days til my 18th b-day!

Fireworks, sleep depravation, beesh and valerie...need sleep. I DIDN'T BREAK MY RECORD!!!!! :p

12 Days 'til my 18th B-day!

Hey all you fellow bloggers out there :)
Happy 4th of July! We are going to fireworks tomorrow night (family tradition) so I don't really feel like I have had my "4th" yet (cause we all know w/o fireworks one can't celebrate hehe :p).
Today was a very good day! I got to spend the whole day one-on-one with a one year old! Now, to some of you that would sound like a nightmare come true BUT for me, I felt like I was in Heaven. I love kids and Jesse is so adorable and just has a sweet spirit. So yeah, it was a good day.
We went on this stroller ride (well, he rode, I pushed) and just as we were getting back to the house he started to fall asleep sitting up! Now, he had slept for at least 2 hours during his morning nap but it was around 5:30, so I guess that he felt as though he needed an evening nap. Well, I took him out of the stroller and went and rocked him then, since I was falling asleep, I took him and we went and laid on the couch and took a nap together!
I think that one of the most sweetest and amazing things in the world is when a baby is sleeping on your chest and in their sleep reaches up and wraps their arm around your neck...there is just something about a baby looking up and smiling/laughing at you when you come into a room OR getting up and toddling after you when you leave. There is just something about a baby whimpering and reaching up to be held when you set them down. There is just something about babies! Hehe, sorry, can you tell I love kids and want some of my own? :p
Anyway, here are some neat pics. from today...just thought I would share them with ya'll:








Verse of the day:

"1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
~Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus did gave it ALL for us...what a humbling thought...what an AWESOME GOD WE SERVE!!!
Blessings to you all! ;)