Facing Opposition and Struggle

When living for the Lord in this "ungodly" world, we often face opposition and tremendous struggle in our lives. And, now since we've been homeschooling, I would have to say this has been our biggest obstacle to overcome yet! Mainly because the world sees homeschooling as not "normal," so there is absolutely a dyer lack of encouragement to go around for us that do it.
But, I also believe that Satan is working overtime trying to turn our attention from our children and turn them back into this ugly world for him to get ahold of! So, he's using everything and everybody for ammo against us!

Britt and I pray daily for our children and since they were born we've always asked God to help us raise them in a way that is pleasing to Him and also to let them become God serving Christians, not of this world, who are focused entirely on His call, whatever that may be!

As we struggle in this discouraging world, I find great comfort in His Word daily. It gives me peace, clarity, and comfort in knowing, how we're trying to raise our children, is all in line with His will for our lives. I found this verse tonight while reading His Word and it brought me great comfort. Thought I would share it with you.

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!

The Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know what to say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. The Lord has spoken to me, I have listened! I do not rebel or turn away. I give my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pull out my beard. I do not hide from shame, for they mock me and spit in my face.

Because the Lord helps me, I will not be dismayed. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know I will triumph. He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to oppose me now? Where are my enemies? Let them appear! See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive for me; You will soon lie down in great torment!
Isaiah 50:4-11

What do you do on a "not so fun" day???

That's right! Silly String!!!

Sooo much fun!

Yes, I played too:)

Maggie wasn't so sure about all this....

Nate webbed us all, Spiderman Grrrr.....

Kinda a dreary day, so we made the best of it!

Strive to be Different!

The kids and I made these cute sock animals today, thought I'd share:) One is a catapillar and the other is a bug.... Love ya'll!

This is the day that the Lord has made;

I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalm 118:24

I don't think anyone could've asked for a more beautiful day than today! Isn't God amazing?!

Today was such a wonderful family day, I feel so blessed! Even though I felt a little under the weather, we still managed to do a little work and also enjoy a little bit of play! Thought I'd share some of the moments I captured today. Love ya'll!

A beautiful walk through the woods

Walking right with daddy

Just like a little boy...climbing a tree

Resting on an old log. We later turned the log over and

searched for bugs and crawly things:)

Lovely day for riding 4 wheelers through nature

This was one of our interesting bug finds. We thought it was dead so I decided I would pick it up...Not a good thing:O

Daddy showing Nate how to be a man and chop some lighter

Our little man is getting so big

Hard work means prosperity; only fools idle away their time.
Proverbs 12:11

Beautiful, Beautiful weather outside today..... Hope everyone has some good family time this weekend! Slow down and enjoy eachother:) Love ya'll!

Strive to be Different!

She is Worth More than Precious Rubies

Our prayer for our daughter is that we will raise her in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and teach her to care for her household the way God intended.

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life.


She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plans the day's work for her servant girls. She goes out to inspect the field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard.

I know.....It'll make you cringe looking at it... But, she had sooo much fun!:)

She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.


She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads. She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth.


She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future.


When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.


Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her. There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!



Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.

Proverbs 31

Brokenness

Brokenness... Have you ever been truly broken?

Have you ever been at that point in your life where all you knew to do was to fall on your knees and cry out to God in complete and utter desperation?!! At a point where you weeped before the Lord and pleaded for His grace because you couldn't put one more foot in front of the other! Have you ever been truly broken before Him?

We had the chance to discuss brokenness in Sunday school this week and one of the questions that was asked was, "What is something that holds you back from experiencing brokenness before the Lord?" Answers could range from all sorts of things...alcohol, drugs, friends, relationships, etc.... but one answer that someone gave caught my attention. They said that "trying to keep up their economic standard that they had set for themselves kept them from experiencing brokenness." I thought, "Wow, never thought of that as being something to keep you from brokenness, but how true it is!"

Alot of times we like to stay too busy, working our fingers to the bone to keep up our standard of living and ignore what God wants us to do.. "I'll just pretend I don't hear Him so that I don't have to give up my way of living or so I don't have to give up the plans I've made for my life." Sound familiar? It's much easier that way, isn't it?

But, God desires for all of us to come to a point of brokenness. That's exactly where He wants us to be! So, that He can finally use us the way He intended to! On our knees, crying out to Him, in utter desperation..... broken before Him.

Paul says, "I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ, and become one with Him." Philippians 3:8

He's saying, everything else is garbage, junk, useless, compared to having a true relationship with Christ! So, all this other stuff we put ahead of Him, our work, our money, our plans for our own lives will soon fade away. None of it will matter, none of it!

So, my question to you is, "Have you ever been broken? Have you ever truly experienced brokenness before the Lord?" My prayer is that if you have, that you will continue to have those times of brokenness because that's where God needs you to be.

But, if you haven't, what's holding you back from experiencing brokenness?

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!

Happy Valentine's Day

Since Valentine's Day is today I wanted to tell my Valentine that I love him dearly.

I remember our first Valentine's day like it was yesterday.

We had just started dating and it was still a little awkward and "new."

We were really shy around eachother and giggled alot:)

Fun, Fun memories!

Here we are 15 years later and you still look at me the same

way you did back then (which makes me smile),

we still laugh and giggle (alot),

and our love has only grown deeper through all the years!

I love you so much and even though we may "look" a little older.....

our love still feels like it did back then.... all giggly and new:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Day!

Daddy and Maggie going back up the hill

My other Fabulous Sis-in-law, Lacy and her punkin, Dawson

Lacy and her boys

Shawn and Madison

Britt and Mags, she Loved it!

Unlce Shawn and Dylan

Katie and Mckenzie Walker, cuties:)

My heart:)

Pam and Nancy, sweet friends

ole Eric, sooo funny

Pretty Abby

Maggie and Britt's mom (Nette)

Manning (youth minister at Providence)

My adorable Red Head (Nate)

Our little Snow Angel

Go Nate!!!

Me and Mags, I love her....:)

me

What a FUN day!

This morning we woke up to 5-6 inches of SNOW! Not the norm is South MS so we were so excited. The first thing on our agenda.....SLEDDING!:)

We had plans to meet up at the church with some friends and sled down the big hill, it was such a blast! Even for us old folks:) Young and old, we all took our turn sledding on our homemade sleds (cardboard boxes) until we were all worn out! Then we all came back and warmed up by the fire and had homemade soup.

Beautiful, beautiful day and sooo much fun! Thank you God for some old fashioned fun today with great friends and family!

Gettin Ready for Snow in South MS!

We are so excited to be getting snow tonight and tommorow!

We already have our plans ready....

Got the kids' clothes laid out and ready to go

and we plan to tackle that BIG ole hill

right next to the church tommorow on homemade sleds!

Hope to have lots of pics for ya'll tommorow!

Hope everyone has a FUN family day planned

and enjoys all the beautiful SNOW!:)

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!

A cozy day in front of the fire, playing a money counting game. Even Whiskars enjoyed learning!

Uh, notice Nate's still in his pajamas and it was after lunch! We have a lot of pajama days!:)

Race for Missions

This past Saturday our church hosted a 5k race to raise money for Missions! Each year they have all sorts of fund raisers to benefit two of our church families that have been called to missions and also to raise money for their annual mission trip to Nicaragua. This was our first year to do a race and it was a huge success!

I was a little bummed not to be a part of the actual race for several reasons but to my surprise I got a huge blessing right in my front of me! The race went right passed my house so I got to watch everyone as they ran or "walked" by!:)

At first it was a little comical watching some of them go by, they were being silly, waving and just having a good time as they worked their way to the first check point, but then.... as I kept watching I noticed something really special about this race. It wasn't the just the "fittest of the fittest" out there. The normal, if you will, that you would usually see running these races.

These people were special. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched people running this race. I thought to myself, "Jamie, you have the best seat in the house to be able to see this!" But, then it dawned on me quickly, "No, God has the best seat in the house, watching these people run this race, because this race is for Him!" That's what they were doing, running the race for Him! Young and old, Big and Small, Crippled and Worn..... pressing on for Him! How awesome is that?! No one gave up, no one threw the towel in and quit....they kept pressing on!

I learned alot that morning as I watched this race unfold in front of my eyes. I learned that we should "Never give up!" and I learned that when you're running the race for God, everyday life, He will see you through! It doesn't matter what it is, how hard or difficult it is...if you're running for Him, He will see you through! I can't imagine how happy He had to have been watching that race on Saturday. To see all these people come together with their hearts and minds focused completely on Him. I imagine He had tears in His eyes too.:)

Precious, Precious life teaching moments. Thank you God!:)

A Virtuous Woman

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Proverbs 31:10-31, where it talks about being a wife of "noble character," or being a "virtuous woman." Like many, I used to read these verses and think to myself, "yeah right. What woman in their right mind could be and do all of these things?!" Same thought you've had, I'm sure:) A little intimidating, isn't it?:)

But, what I realized after much studying and searching for what he might be trying to say is, this is what a woman should "strive" to be or for better words, should be "inspired" to be. Of course no woman could even begin to do all the things mentioned in this chapter, but what is clear, is that she is a hard worker. She is her husbands' helper, she goes above and beyond to make sure her home is cared for, her family is carefully attended to, and above all else, she has a deep reverence for God and nothing else comes before these things.

You know it never says that a woman shouldn't work. I don't find that anywhere in the Bible. Believe me, I've tried to find it:) But, the Bible is very clear that a woman's role is to make sure her home, her husband and her children are cared for above anything else, nothing should come before that. And, her relationship with the Lord is where she'll find her real beauty.

You know, I'm just learning what it is God wants me to be as a mother and a wife..... There are things that I "get" and then there are things that I just really don't want to hear! But God's Word is clear and we can't ignore His Word.

My prayer is for God to give me the strength and courage to be the woman, the wife, and the mother He has called me to be. And, also, my prayer is for you who are struggling with what your role is as a mother, as a wife, and as a woman of God....that you would look at His Word, passionately pray and ask Him to reveal His Truth to you.

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!:)

Geaux SAINTS!!

We are so excited down here in the South tonight! The Saints won the Superbowl! Whoo Hoo!

Bug Day

Just wanted to share our recent field trip with the homeschool group to the Insectarium in New Orleans! Lots and lots of BUGS!


And also some cute playdate pics of my nephew and Nate. I'm so blessed to have a fabulous sis-in-law who homeschools as well. So, quite often during the week we call eachother to share how our day is going, to get advice, or to say, "please come get one of them, they're driving me crazy!"

And yes, you could even eat some bugs too!

Nice, Right?! We had a family in our group who tried these too!

One of the dad's with us tried some of the wormy salsa! I know, ewww!!

Never knew there were soo many different types of Beetles?! Guess I'd never really wanted to know, maybe...

Nate cracks me up! He was having NO part in touching anything!:)

They had a beautiful Butterfly exhibit that we all really enjoyed

Me and the Kiddos

My fab sis-in-law and the kiddos

I found these two cowboys shootin bad guys in the back of daddy's truck,

They were some mean lookin Cowboys......