Reason to Rejoice

So, yes, I turned 30!!! I have ALWAYS loved my birthday! Not just my birthday, I love birthdays in general. I love giving gifts to my friends and I love celebrating birthdays! I just think that everyone should get excited about being born! :) Me at almost 2! Yesterday I feel like I hit a milestone. Thirty! 30. It's a lot of years. BUT...what I thought so much about was what I have accomplished and what God has done in and through my life. "I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:14  This passage of Scripture means so much to me...even more as I reflect on it this year. God has protected me my ENTIRE life. As a little girl He covered me and loved me even when I did not even really know who He was. As a teenager when I made some of the worst mistakes of my life, He still loved me even though I broke His heart. In my twenties, He blessed me beyond what I could EVER imagine wi...

God has done amazing things in my life recently but I still struggle in the area of security. I know that I recently posted about this but let me be a little more specific here for a minute. I have a tendency to dwell on things a little too much. I think about things, well, TO DEATH!!!!! I will just think about every possible scenario until I literally make myself sick inside and then the end result is that I am basically scum on the bottom of my shoe. It always ends up like that....confused? Well, let me TRY to explain. I have already mentioned in previous posts that I have always wanted to be sweet but I just have had a hard time mastering that skill (or gift, whatever). I just have (or don't have) a way with words. Email is a horrible medium of communication but it is what is often used in my world because I am just on the go so much but let's just be honest, I am just as bad with words in person. I say things sometimes that I don't mean and things come across the wr...

I know it has been a little while since I have posted and this one won't be a "spiritual" one but one about what has been going on with us! I don't have pictures on this computer but I will try to upload tonight now that I have Christmas all done at my house and can do things like that! :) Rachel's birthday has come and gone and she is such a big SASSY girl!!! She tells me all of the time that she is four and she is not a baby anymore. Kind of makes me sad but I am glad that she is independent...sometimes she is just a little TOO independent! :/ Her birthday party was a BLAST! It was at the Little Gym and they have the best birthday parties. You literally bring a cake, kids, and show up!!! They provide all the rest!!! The kids loved it, Rachel loved it and I was glad because I had a busy weekend!!! That Friday evening, I headed out to Fort Worth - Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary - to be exact for a laadies' retreat!!! I know what you are thinking.....

Where does your security lie? Hmm...good question, eh? My girls both had to have things to sleep with as small children...Lauren still does. Rachel used to take her "lovie" and twist it around her index finger and that is how she would put herself to sleep. I guess it made her feel safe. We all want to feel safe...whatever that means to us personally. I have come up with four basic categories that most people find their security in: 1. things 2. others 3. self 4. God THINGS Some people put their trust in their material things. The more "stuff" they have the better they feel...but do they really? I used to think that. When I was young, I didn't have much. It was a treat for us to go out to eat. I remember just wanting to get a pair of Keds tennis shoes. That was always what I wanted for my birthday and I was SO excited when I got them. I felt like a million dollars all because I had a $20 pair of shoes! When I got married to a successful young man and c...

I think we all as Christians have those "mountain top experiences" when we feel like nothing can stop us from living out our dreams or pressing on with what God would have for us. My fear is that sometimes this can be brought on by meer emotions. My husband and I have had this conversation before...about how emotional revivals and youth camps are. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE revivals and I think that youth camps are awesome but I just think that sometimes the emotional "highs" that come from them are so easily deflated. When we are so protected between the boundaries of the camp or so driven by the daily messages of the evangelists it is easy to get pumped about what God is doing but what happens when we get back to reality? Many times we go back to the life we were living prior to those events. Perhaps they weren't bad lives but mediocre at best. One of the things I have been focusing on lately is doing the will of God. I want to know and do the true will o...

Hey Sweet Girl, Just minutes after birth When I had you in my belly, I knew life with you would be so fun because you NEVER stopped moving! I will never forget the first time I felt you move - it was magical! I always worried that something was wrong with you because I could not understand why God would bless me with such a wonderful gift. Meeting Mommy for the first time  I didn't think it was possible to love you any more than I did when you were born but my love for you grows everyday. You are beautiful inside and out and it has been such a delight to see you grow into yourself and for your little personality to develop. You are so tenderhearted. You cry easily and get your feelings hurt in a second - one of those gifts that your mommy gave you! You are SUPER smart like your daddy. Proud Daddy  From the time you were just a little girl in my arms, I would rock and sing to you. Our song became "I Love You, A Bushel and A Peck." I LOVE that you now sing that WIT...

I told you I would probably have another "Rachel story..." Four years ago today I walked into the doctor's office for my 36 week appointment only to be told that I would most likely be having a baby THAT day - to head to labor and delivery! I had been on home bed rest for about 3 weeks and that day, I was told that I had "failed home bed rest." Isn't that nice? Anyway, my mother in law was with me because Brice was in Pittsburg, PA. After I got settled into my room and got the blood pressure cuff on, the doctor came in and said, "Best case scenario your blood pressure will be monitored for a few hours and then you will go home. That's not likely. You will likely AT LEAST stay overnight." She went to get her hair done and then came back and said I would be in the hospital until I had the baby - which I was thinking was going to be 4 weeks away! I started freaking out just a little. I called Brice who was calmly panicking thinking he n...