Giddy-Up!

Thank you Grandaddy

Up...Up...and Away...

Today we celebrated Britt's grandmothers' 85th Birthday and after the party the kids had so much fun letting the balloons go up in the air, I thought, this would be a great opportunity to teach our kids about spreading God's message to the world! So, we went home and printed up little notes and put inside our own balloons, that tell people about Jesus with our email address attached so they could, hopefully, let us know how far they traveled once they were found. Just a little, fun idea that the kids loved and will hopefully plant the seed in their lives and in the one's who find them! Fun Stuff!:)

Happy Sunday!

Happy 4th Birthday

Maggie May!

The sunlight in my day...

Her number one request was to have a Strawberry Shortcake Birthday...
and a strawberry shortcake card....lol.

Oh, and she had to have her cousin Kambry spend the night....:)

What a bunch?!

Notice the little fella sitting off to the side....my cutie patootie nephew was having none of this photo session!:)

"One" more and you can go play!!:)

Time for the candles...

Her best buddy and brother, Nate. He wasn't too happy with the photo session either... I interrupted a good game of football for this one....:)

How adorable are these two?!!

Maggie and her cousin, Dawson.

We finally let her dig into her gifts! Notice the card? Sooo funny... she told me that's all she wanted from me was a strawberry shortcake card! Ha! Good thing I read between the lines on that one...

Aunt Marella, aka Jamie, made these adorable barrettes for her! Maggie is not a bow girl, so these are perfect!
All with her favorite things on them! Notice "the Beiber!" I know... :)

Funny story about the pinata's... They just happened to be on sale, oh, did I mention I cannot stand pinata's??? Anyway, so since they were on sale, yes, that's right, we bought TWO!

This one calls for the awesome hot pink bat and helmet
Aunt Lacy bought for her!

Her favorite part of the day...

Her cousin spending the night and coming to play with "just" her....

Sooo blessed with a beautiful, little girl....

Thank you Lord... Thank you....

Cotton Pickin' Day

We are so blessed to be ministering at a church that is surrounded by beautiful farmland and in which many of those farmers attend our church. So, today we decided to stop and let the kids experience pickin cotton on our way to evening church. Can you imagine pickin it one by one- by hand?? Those days are pretty much just a memory, but for our grandparents that worked those fields, it's a memory that they will never forget....

The closer I walk with the Lord, the more He reveals His truth to me...
Just pondering the cost of truly being a disciple of God, I am led to this scripture:

"When all was ready, he sent his servant around to notify the guests that it was time for them to come. But they all began making excuses"....(haven't we all done that?)
God answers his servant by saying, "For none of those I invited first will get even the smallest taste of what I had prepared for them." (Wow, you mean there's more to what God has for us in our walk with Him???"

The Lord goes on to say, "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, more that your own life." (your job, your money, your hobbies, your own family!) "Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple." (Why? Because you're not willing to sacrifice your own selfish desires, the things you love) "And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me." (In other words, be totally submitted to Him.)

And then for those of us who still don't get it....
He then says, "So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me."

(Luke 14:16-33)

I've often pondered this question and heard other's ask the same question...

"Well, does that mean we have to sell everything we own and change our whole way of life in order to really follow God???"

I think God's answer is quite clear here... If He asks you to, then, yes, you should

Sometimes God has to ask us to get rid of anything that might come in the way of us being totally submitted to Him.

Whether it might be a job that keeps your mind totally focused on it rather than on Him and what He wants for your life

or a hobby that takes up all your free time when you should be spending that time with the Lord,

or a friendship that doesn't have a firm foundation with Christ and hinders you from building a better relationship with Him,

or it could be the number one stumbling block for most so called Christians today...

Money and Status, although highly desirable by the world today,

it has to be the biggest pitfall for all Christians.

We think we have to have it all and it's going to satisfy all our needs.....

Biggest lie satan uses to trap us all.

God says we have to be willing to give up all those things in order to be His disciple.

I fight those same demons everyday in my own life.

The world can be so powerful against us and lure us in when we least expect it!

Our goal as a disciple of Christ is to follow Him.

Not the world, not all the beautiful and exciting things it has to offer.... but Him.

Are you willing to carry your own cross?

Are you tired of making excuses and living for yourself and your own selfish desires?

God says we have to be willing to sacrifice it all.....

I challenge you to really search your own heart.

Are you willing?

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!