Goodie Bags

Basketball practice today after school was a rough one. We couldn't do a drill right, or anything for that matter. We couldn't pass, catch, or shoot. It is so frustrating to watch when you know that you are so much better than that. We went for 40 extra minutes today because of it.

 I couldn't wait to get Nathan from day care and just see his little face smiling at me. I knew it would make me forget the horrible practice we had just had.

Doesn't that face smiling so brightly make you smile? It makes me forget about EVERYTHING and just have joy in my heart!

Much to my surprise, when I got home, Gammy and PawPaw had come by for a visit. Nathan LOVES them so much! He was happy to have some time with them. While Nathan was playing with them, I looked around the house, and the laundry was done, the house was clean,  fresh sheets on my bed, and dinner was on the oven! Matthew was off today and did all that by himself! I am so thankful for him and I love him SOOO much. He is the perfect guy for me. I love you Matthew!

He is my best friend!!

Dinner was awesome. We had homemade shrimp alfredo. Matthew is an awesome cook. Nathan loved having his daddy home tonight. It is so hard when Matthew is on the night shift, so it was great to have a night at home with him. We had a lot of fun playing.

I love this little guy!

 We took so many pictures tonight.

He was starting to get really sleepy, so we laid him down for a nap. When he woke up, he ate dinner and then helped me put together the goodie bags for his day care party on Friday.

Sugar was trying to help too. ( I think she may have been more interested in the rice krispy treats we were putting in the bags)

Nathan was more interested in them too!

Looking at Mommy!

Looking at Daddy!

We had such a great night. Matthew gave Nathan his bath. He loves his bath time so much, he cries when it is time to get out. He would stay in there forever. We have to force him out because the water starts to get cold.

Sad to get out.

Happy now because he has his Daddy!

Ready for bed. Good Night Mommy!

I feel so blessed to have the family that I have. I often wonder what I did to deserve all this, but I am quickly reminded that I do not deserve any of this. It is by God's grace that I recieve everything I have! We serve an awesome God.

Thank you God for not giving me what I deserve!

1st Tooth

Today Nathan is 9 months old!! I can't believe he has been outside of my stomach now for longer than he was inside. Who can have a baby or see a baby born and not believe in God? Having a child has been the most rewarding thing in my life. Nathan has a sign in his room that says "all God's grace in one sweet little face". This is so true!! I have never seen God's grace so up close and personal until he gave me a son. Thank you Lord!

Nathan has been "teething" for a while now . He has been constantly chewing on EVERYTHING, drooling like crazy going through 3 or 4 bibs a day (right Tiffany :) ), and the dreaded diaper findings that go along with it. On Wednesday, while I was at basketball practice, I got a message from Nathan's day care teacher, Tiffany, that his bottom tooth FINALLY broke through!!! YAY NATHAN!!! I was so excited, I could hardly wait to get home so I could see it, and take LOTS of pictures.

When I got out of practice, I hurried as fast as I could to see his tooth. I am not sure what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting a full grown tooth to be popped up where all could see it. Much to my surprise, as soon as I opened his mouth, I could see NOTHING. I was so disappointed. I had to look twice, but I finally saw the cut in his gum where his tooth had gone back down. I just wanted to cry, and so did Nathan, because it has been so painful to him. I took a few pictures that night of his cut! You can't see his tooth, much less the cut in his gum,  but here is one of him from that night.

The next morning, when I woke him to get him all ready for the day, I saw it for the first time!!! It was so small, but I could see a little white thing coming out. I could also feel it. I was so excited!! It has not gone back down since the first night. He won't let me take a picture of it clearly, but here are few that I took tonight. If you look really close, you may see it. If you can't see it, trust me, its there!!

Maybe one day he will let me take a good picture of his newest addition to his smile!

But for now, he will hide his tooth!

Our little guy is growing up so fast. When he was first born, everyone told us to enjoy it, because it goes so quickly. They were right. It does go by so fast! We are loving every minute that we get to spend with this guy.

"We always thank God for you, mentioning you in our prayers." 1 Thessalonians 1:2

The Waiting Game

Has there ever been a time in your life when the end of something seemed so far away? I can remember in high school, it seemed like I would never become a senior and graduate. Then it came, and was gone so fast. The same thing happened in college. I thought I would never be finished with school, now that it is over, I think back to myself saying, "where did the time go?" That's how it is with everything we go through. While we are in it, there seems to be no end in sight. Once we finish, or come through it, we fell stupid for worrying or thinking it would never end.


The waiting game is probably one of the hardest games we play. Why? What makes it so hard? I have asked a few people their thoughts on this and some of the answers I received were:

"because we live in a world that wants "it my way" and RIGHT NOW"

"because we don't know how to wait. we live in a "microwave" world.....instant gratification."
I totally agree with these two. We want answers, and we want them NOW! I think our society is partly to blame for this. We live in a "now" world. The other part, I believe is Satan. He knows how to twist our thoughts and make us question God.

Really? We question God??

Yes, unfortunately we do, ALL the time. The bible tells us in Romans that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord, and we know that HE is going to do what's best for us. We also know that we need to fully trust him. But why don't we?

Maybe we are focusing on the wrong things. Instead of worrying about why we can't wait, lets focus on why we should! Some of the promises the bible tells us about waiting on the Lord are :

"But they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles. They shall walk and not faint. " Isaiah 40:31


"since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait on him " Isaiah 64:4

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you: he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait on him" Isaiah 30:18

"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Psalm 27:14

"I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God." Psalm 38:15

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

"I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him."
 Isaiah 8:17

There are several more, but those were my favorite. They all have the promise that if we wait patiently for the Lord, good things will happen!

I read an article the other day on how parents sometimes get discouraged because their kids become angry with them and do not understand the reasoning behind some of the things their parents do. The parents know what is best for their child in the long run and will protect them in whatever way they can. Even if it means not letting them go somewhere, or have something they really want. Parents know what is best for their children and can see the big picture. Their kids cannot see the big picture, and cannot see the consequences that could happen.

The same is true with our God. He knows what is best for us, his children. We cannot understand why he chooses not to give us things, why he chooses to take things away from us, why he chooses to give other people whatever they want. But he can see the big picture, that we can't. He is not going to give us something, no matter how badly we want it, if it is not the right timing. I know this is SOOOO hard to understand. We don't understand, we can't. We CAN however trust that he knows best. We CAN have faith in him. We CAN hope in him.

Psalm 130 says:

" Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand? But with you,

there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope,

my soul waits for Lord more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities."

Two times the words "more that watchmen wait for the morning" are stated in this chapter. Coincidence? I think not! The watchman's job was to sit and wait for the morning. That's all they did. We are supposed to wait on the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning! That is a lot of waiting!

My dear friend Annette sums it up like this:
"Waiting on God can be a struggle but we have to remember that He strengthens and sends blessings our way. This could be a time in our lives that God is refining us. It will let us reevaluate our lives, see answers to prayers, and see what God is trying to teach us I have to remember that God has a plan for each of us. So often we want things right now we have to learn that our God is on time God like the song says. He is never late or wrong with his decisions. While we wait we must use this time wisely to see what God has for us."

If you are in a time of waiting right now, do not lose heart! Trust that God knows what is best for you. Even if you don't understand it. Because guess what, you can't see the big picture that God can. While you are waiting, try to focus on the blessings that he has given you and tell him how much you COMPLETELY trust him, and that your soul WILL wait on him.

Thank you Jesus for protecting us from our own desires. I praise you for being able to see the big picture, that I cannot see.

Meet the Mustangs

Tonight we had "Meet the Mustangs" at our school. It is a night where the entire community comes out, has dinner together, and we introduce all the coaches and players of every high school sport.

Matthew was working tonight, so I it was just Nathan and I at the pep rally. He wasn't loney though, there were a lot of pretty girls that got their hands on him. Here are some pictures:

Jeff always like to hold him and walk him around as well.

He loved meeting the mustang too!

Aunt Stacy loved playing with him also. She always gets him to laugh! I didn't get a picture of her holding him tonight. Mainly because she was holding him, or feeding him, while I ate, or while I was up introducing our athletes. Thanks Aunt Stacy! Nathan LOVES you!!! 

We also have some exciting news to post.....our house is getting closer to being completed!!! Today they finished the brick/stone and the shingles. Here are few pictures of the house:

I can't wait to move into our new house and watch my two favorite boys play together. They just love being together!  And I love watching them!

I am so blessed to have these two in my life!!

Legacy

"Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. " Proverbs 31:28-30

Do you ever wonder what legacy you are going to leave? When you pass away, what will people say about you? In today's world, it is so easy to get caught up in materialistic things. We get upset with ourselves if we aren't a certain size, have a certain hair color, have the latest gadgets. I don't think that we necessarily mean to get stuck on these things, it is just all around us. This has become very important to me over the last few months. I think mostly because I now have a son. I want him to know that his mom feared the Lord. I want to show him how to live. I also want to be the best wife that I can be to my husband. Everytime something happens in our lives, we have a choice. WE make it what we want. What are you making out of your situations? I want to try to be a blessing to everyone I come in contact with. How can I help them, instead of, how can they help me? I want to choose to show them the love that the Lord has for them. Sometimes, we are the only Jesus they see. How are we portraying him to them. The scripture says "her children rise up and call her blessed, her hunsband praises her" That is the legacy I want to leave! So how do we do this? Well, I am still trying to figure this all out, and I am working on it everyday, but I do know that I cannot accomplish any of this if I do not love the Lord, and put him first in everything that I do. If he is first, then everytime a situation arises, HE will be on mind, and I can be a blessing through the situation. It is that simple! So why is it so hard to do?? We get so easily distracted by the tangible things of this world, and Satan knows it. My prayer tonight is that I totally fix my eyes on Jesus through every situation in my life. If he is first, then I can show my son, my husband, and everyone else that I come in contact with, that Jesus is number one, and I can be blessing to those people. The love I have for my son is so incredible that I cannot even put it into words. And just think, we are God's children. He loves us that much. So what legacy do I want to leave? I want to be the Proverbs 31 woman!

As I am writing about this and thinking about it, I can't help but think of the song by John Waller. The Blessing. Here is a link to it:

http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"

I choose to be a blessing for life!!!

Let me know your thoughts on this, or any ideas you have on how to leave a Proverbs 31 legacy!

I had to include a picture of my family tonight. This is who I want to leave a legacy for:

Love

This past weekend was all about love!

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 says:

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prohetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

What a great passage. It really brings love to life, and emphasizes how important it is. I am so glad that I have made a commitment to the one I love. When things get hard, and they always do, I can cling to the promise found in these verses.

This weekend, Matthew's brother made the marriage commitment. Danny and Kelly were married October 17, 2009. It was a great ceremony and reception. I am so thankful for my new sister-in-law. She is a beautiful person inside and out. Danny is very lucky to have found her. Their story is very interesting. I will give you the shortened version. Danny is from east Texas and Kelly is from Connecticut. They both were vacationing in Cancun, Mexico with friends when they met. They hit it off right from the start. Neither knew if a long (and I do mean long) distance relationship would work out, but they decided just to stay in touch and see if anything came of it. Before we knew it, Danny was flying up to Connecticut to see Kelly and meet her family. Then later, she flew down to Texas to see Danny and meet his family. This went on for a while, then Kelly decided to move to Texas!!! There was a lot of stuff in between, but basically, they fell in love, and are now Mr. and Mrs. Danny Skinner!!! We celebrated their love for each other this weekend. Here are few pictures from the weekend.

The beautiful bride

My two sister-in-laws

Me and Nathan

Matthew Dancing

Some new friends

Last dance by bride and groom

If you don't know, I am a HUGE Texas longhorn fan. This past weekend was also the red river rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. The hotel that the wedding was at, where we were staying, had been rented out by the OU alumni association. This is no exaggeration, but there were 800 + OU fans staying at our hotel. We were the only people in orange. These OU fans were being so crazy, and trying to trash talk to us the entire weekend. Matthew politely reminded them that we were in Texas. =) You can imagine how this was going over with us Texas fans. We left for rehearsal dinner that night, and as we were walking back to the hotel, we noticed that the hotel had put up an OU flag outside. Matthew politely reminded us that we were in Texas and the rest is history. Here are a few pictures from that.

Taking the flag down!

We were so proud that Texas beat OU!!! We sang the Texas fight song throughout the hotel that night as the OU fans were crying. Hook em Horns!!

As you can see, this weekend was full of love. Love for a team, and love for each other. I am so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. When we are going through those tough times, remember: Love never fails, and GOD IS LOVE!!!!

Reach

I love this picture because Nathan is reaching for his daddy. Not because he needs anything in particular, not because he is hurting, but because he loves him.

Last Night when I took this picture I couldn't help but think about how much it demonstrates how we should be reaching for our heavenly father. The more I thought about it, the more I asked myself, "when do I reach for my heavenly father?" Do I only reach when I need something? Don't get me wrong, it is definitely not wrong to reach for him when we need something, but do I ever reach for him, just because I love him? It is so easy to reach for him when we are struggling. But once he carries us through the storm, do we continue to reach for him, or do we wait until the next storm comes along?

I decided to look up how many time the word reach was in the bible, and to my surprise, it is in there 157 times!!! WOW! I was impressed. The more I searched, the more I realized that most of the verses involving the word reach were used in the way that Jesus is reaching for us, ALWAYS! All we have to do is lift up our hands and reach to him, he is waiting. In all times of our lives, whether we are happy, sad, disappointed, excited, etc., we need to reach to him, because he is waiting for us to. Some of my favorite were:


"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters."
Psalm 18:16


"Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth." Jeremiah 1:9


"Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy." Matthew 8:3


"God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:27


"Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?"
1 Corinthians 14:36


This next verse was probably my favorite, and it was written three different times in the bible!! Must be pretty important!!



"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies." Psalm 36:5


"For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
Psalm 57:10


"For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."
Psalm 108:4


I couldn't help but think of the third day song: Your Love Oh Lord
http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=6db377023983b564bb9a&sp=0


This concept is an easy one, but one that we seem to forget when times are going good for us. My prayer today is that I reach for him in all areas of my life. In hard times, I will reach for him to give me strength, comfort, encouragement, and so much more. In good times, I will reach for him to thank him for all that he has done and praise his name. I will reach for him so that I stay completed focused on him. Thank you Lord for all you do, and all the times you reach for me.

Magic Surprise

What a great day it has been! Very stressful/busy day at work, but when things got hard, I remembered to let my light shine and my day was so much easier and more peaceful. I am just amazed at how our God works.

Tonight, while Matthew was at work, Nathan and I had a visitor! We love having company to play with us. Our friend Taylor came over to spend the evening with us. I had to fix one of my all time favorite dishes! (Thanks Aunt Laura!!) Magic surprise is what she calls it. Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 to 2 lbs hamburger meat
1 can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
12-14 crackers (crushed) or 1 cup of bread crumbs
1 onion, chopped
1 egg
Mashed Potatoes
grated cheddar cheese
ketchup

Mix first six ingredients and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, drain the grease.
Cover the top of the meatloaf with ketchup and put back in oven for about 15 minutes
Remove from oven again and cover with mashed potatoes
Top with grated cheese, put in oven until cheese melts

While I was busy cooking, Taylor helped out with Nathan, and he loved it!


He had to have his own bowl of mashed potatoes before I topped the meatloaf with them. Here is a picture of the finished product! (It wass so good)



Once we were ready to eat, Matthew came home for his dinner break. Nathan LOVES his daddy!





After dinner, Nathan played with his Tay Tay, while I made some yummy halloween cookies!









It was a great evening!

I wanted to share one more thing tonight, I got this email today from my mom and thought it was awesome. Here it goes:

THE LORD'S BASEBALL GAME

Freddy and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game The Lord's team was playing Satan's team.

The Lord's team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate named 'Love.'

Love swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because 'Love never fails.'

The next batter was named Faith, who also got a single because Faithworks with Love.

The next batter up was named Godly Wisdom. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch.


Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass: Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked because he never swings at what Satan throws.


The bases were now loaded. The Lord then turned to Freddy and told him He was now going to bring in His star player. Up to the plate stepped Grace. Freddy said, 'He sure doesn't look like much!'

Satan's whole team relaxed when they saw Grace
Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen! But Satan was not worried; his center fielder let very few get by.



He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing on the ground;

the roaring crowds went wild as the ball continued over the fence . . for a home run!

The Lord's team won!

The Lord then asked Freddy if he knew why Love, Faith and Godly Wisdom could get on base but couldn't win the game. Freddy answered that he didn't know why.

The Lord explained, 'If your love, faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, Faith and Wisdom will get you on base but only My Grace can get you Home.

'For by Grace are you saved, it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.' Ephesians 2:8-9

Psalm 84:11, 'For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.'

How lucky are we to have the grace of God???!!!???

Let It Shine

Well, here goes......After many requests that have been coming at me for a while now, I decided to start a blog of my own. I have been very hesitant to start this due to several reasons. One, I am not a good writer and two, who cares what I have to say. =) I am not sure exactly what I will write about or how often I will update this, but for now I am just going to write what is on my mind. Let me know your thoughts!

The Lord has been working in my life so much lately. He has been making his presence known to me through scripture, songs, and people throughout the day. Isn't our God awesome! In particular, one verse is really standing out to me.

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16.

Am I really letting my shine before men? At all times throughout the day? It is extrememly difficult sometimes to do this. For example, being swamped at work, feeling so overwhelmed that you barely have time breathe, then something or someone comes up and needs you to do something else. How brightly does my light shine to that person? I laugh at the thought of my fake smile nodding and politely saying "sure!" There are many instances throughout the day that I could go through where I need to be letting my light shine more brightly. What about when you just have the case of the "I don't want to's?" Or what about when you have had a fight with someone you care about, or when someone says something ugly about you. The list goes on and on. The truth is, no matter what our situation, or what is in front of us, we need to be shining our light so that people may see.

I love the song The lost get found by Britt Nicole. Her song talks about this very thing. One line that plays over and over in my head throughout the day is:

"Don't let your lights go down, Don't let the fire burn out, because somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe. Why don't you rise up now? Don't be afraid to stand out. That's how the lost get found!"


WOW! This is so true. I am working everyday on letting my light shine, so that somebody who needs to see it, will. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I'm going to let it shine!

Here is a link to a video on this song:
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=905958690165d5c117c0&sp=1