Our Family Vacation

It has been a while since I have blogged. Our family was out of town last week for our annual vacation to Orange Beach, AL. We returned on Monday afternoon and it has taken me until now to catch up on house work, laundry, reading all the mail, running errands like buying groceries, etc. Not to mention it took a while to upload all the pics and then find time to sit down and write this entry.

This is basically a post of pictures....a lot of pictures....and, I am embarrassed to say that I probably have 100 more shots that I didn't add. What can I say, when it comes to my children and my family, every moment is photo worthy.

Here is the pool area outside our condo. Reagan LOVED this slide and the lazy river that went around the entire pool area. Actually we all loved that lazy river, even Gracen did really well in it.

Lazy River

Reagan

My younger sister Lindsay and her daughter, Hayden....she was exhausted from all the fun in the sun.
Reagan, my niece Ariel, Gracen, and my mom

Gracen and me on our first morning to the pool. I was really "white"...I had not had time to roast yet.

Gene and Gracen

My Dad
First night out...Shrimp Basket...Gene, my nephew Dean, and my Dad

Gene and me

Miss Gracen

My mom, Reagan, and Ariel

Go carts...Reagan and Ariel

After the ride....does Reagan look a little scared?

My parents with Gracen...watching the go carts
Arcade

Early morning...Dean, Ariel, and Reagan
My niece, Hayden

Hayden with her Daddy, Brian
Gracen and Dean

The babies in their pajamas...with Brian

Family shots at LuLu's restuarant Ariel and Reagan
Dean and GracenMom and Dad

My older sister Lori and her husband Scott (Ariel and Dean's mom and dad)

Brian, Lindsay, and Brian

Gracen in the sand

A new family favorite...a restaurant called The HangOut

Sand area at The HangOut
A few beach shots...we didn't see any oil





We had an absolute blast! If I could live at the beach, minus the hurricanes, I would. I can hardly wait to go back next year.

Thanks Mom and Dad for everything you do for us. You guys always sacrifice so we can enjoy. I love you.

Home Improvements in Progress

I wanted to share a few quick pictures of what we have been doing around here. I wish I had taken before and after pictures, but of course I didn't. Many of you have been to our house so you know what it looked like before.

Here are a few shots of our den. We pulled all the carpet out and replaced it with hardwood. Gene painted our mantel and mounted our TV above it. We love it. The den looks so much larger with the hardwood and with the entertainment center gone. The candles on each side of the TV are from my bedroom. They aren't staying. I put them there to get an idea of what I might like on each side and forgot to remove them before the picture. We are leaning toward some tall pottery type vases on each side to add some color. We will see. Our next goal in the den is to hopefully build some white book shelves on each side of the mantel and have a custom mantel built into those shelves. We want it to be one flush wall unit, rather than looking like we stuck shelves on the side of a mantel. We have talked to Benny Burton, a talented builder from our church, to do the job. Gene also needs to add some shoe molding at the base of the mantel until a new unit is built.

We also need to update our throw pillows. I just have not had the time to go shopping for some of the finishing touches, like the pillows, accent rugs, and whatever we will put on each side of the TV.

Here is a shot looking into our foyer. We need an accent rug in front of the front door and we are updating the foyer table from my Dad's furniture line for Christmas. That new piece will really dress up the foyer. We are also updating the foyer light fixture and the den ceiling fan/light.... probably for our anniversary gift in Sept. We found a set we really like at Home Depot. Hopefully, they will still be there in Sept. I didn't take a picture of our dining room floor because it is full of junk that still has not found a home.

Here is Gene's little corner. He sits here every morning drinking his coffee and reading the Word. His chair needs a more colorful pillow as well.

This is a picture of the wall in our den. It is a terrible picture because of all the sun streaming in the windows, but I wanted to show the wall because this is the next project. Nicole Evans is coming to the house after we get back from the beach to look at all of our colors and then make some custom window treatments for all of the den windows, maybe the kitchen windows too. She does fabulous work and really should have been an interior designer. We are waiting on her before we buy the additional accent pieces and accessories. We may let her help with that as well. You can also see a very empty corner to the right of the windows. This is where our entertainment center used to be. We are looking for a comfy chair with some kind of cool print for this area. Nicole may can help us with that too. Then of course, we will need a little table over there, and hey, I may have a new quiet time spot.

Here is our bedroom. We love the way the floors turned out in here. We want a large area rug in here and a leather storage bench/seat at the foot of the bed. We would also love new bedroom furniture, but that's not going to happen....just saying.

I have a nice little reading spot in our bedroom I really enjoy it too.
Well, that is it for now. We will be doing a little bit each month, so I will keep you posted on the changes.

I am going to pack, then hair appointment at 1:00, home for more packing, swimming lessons for Reagan at 4:00, dinner at Gene's parent's house at 6:00, and then back home to finish packing. I am so ready to head to the beach. I can taste the seafood now. I should have lots of great pictures when I return.

Until next week...

Catching Up

Well, so much for popping in last week at some point to say "Hi". We were really busy with VBS every morning and, we had very hectic afternoons due to some construction work that was going on in our house. More about all that in a moment.

First, let me start with last Saturday, June 5th. We all headed down to Georgiana, AL for a family reunion in honor of my Granny's 90th birthday. Here is a picture of her. Isn't she pretty? I think she has aged very well.

Here are a few shots from our day. Unfortunately, more than half of the family couldn't be there for different reasons, but we all still had a really good time. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting and watching my girls interact with everyone. The food was really good too.

Here are some of the great grandchildren putting on a play for Granny, telling her that she is the best grandmother in the world. The play was really cute.

Here are some of the adults watching the play.

Gracen wanted to join the cast of characters and cousin Carson Anne scooped her right up.
Riley Grace, my mom, and Gracen.

Riley Grace and Gracen....love those freckles!

Uncle Royce and Aunt Vivian....I know you love this picture Vivian.

Uncle Royce with his granddaughters... Riley Grace and Carson Anne
Aunt Sherry...my Dad and Granny (his mom) in the background

My cousin Daphne...always so pretty. (mom to Carson Anne, Ethan, and James)

Sitting around the table...my dad and his brother Craig...and the back of Aunt Sherry's head

Aunt Vicky, Daphne, Uncle Craig

Granny blowing out her birthday candlesReagan, James, and Ethan (Daphne's boys) playing with a turtle.

I didn't get too many great pictures, but we really had a great time.

Vacation Bible School started Monday morning. We had to leave the house every day about 8:20. Really this should not be difficult, but for some reason it is extremely difficult. Of course, both girls woke up every night that week starting Sunday night. Ridiculous! On 2 different nights Reagan woke me up 3 times about 2 hours apart. On the 2 nights that Reagan slept, Gracen woke up....and Gracen NEVER wakes up. It's like they planned it out. On Friday night, when VBS was over, they both slept all night long. What is up with that? I could have really used the rest during VBS, but a great night of sleep after VBS was very nice.

Gene and I taught about 16 fifth graders and loved it. The kids were fantastic and the material was really good. Reagan loved her class and learned a lot. We are all still singing the songs that we had to learn for the week. VBS is really tiring, but I can honestly say that I love the community feeling. I love seeing the church family every single day and coming together to pull off something really fun. I love the church, the body of Christ, and hope Reagan and Gracen fall in love with the church as well.

On Monday construction work started at my house. We had all the carpet ripped out and hardwood floors put down. There was nothing like being greeted by 3 burly men early Monday morning after very little sleep, thanks to two little girls who would not sleep, while you are running around like crazy trying to get out the door for VBS. Loved that and equally loved that they were there almost every morning that week! The construction work was suppose to be done the week before VBS. Of course it wasn't. The job was suppose to be complete in 2 days. Of course it wasn't. So every single afternoon, tired as I was, I had to find somewhere to take my children. They were in the men's way and my entire house was in my kitchen or outside on my back patio or front porch. When the job was done, I felt like we were moving into a new house because there was so much to put back in order. It was exhausting, but oh so worth it.

We love the floors. Our carpet was 11 years old and nasty and the dust....oh, there was so much dust in our house, and I know most of it was coming out of that carpet. We feel like it was an investment in our health. We have been talking about doing this for a year, maybe longer, but I am so thankful that we waited until we had to the cash to do it. It felt good to write that check, rather than worrying about making the payments for the next 12 months or so.

Our house is now a work in progress because when you touch one thing it makes everything else look old. I have a list that we are going to work on, doing a little each month as we can pay for it, but I know that we will love it when it is all complete.

Tomorrow, I will post some pictures of the floors and share some of my wish list.

Then we are headed to the beach for 5 nights! Gene and I are so ready to get away and I can taste the seafood right now! Vacation means that I won't blog again, after tomorrow, for another week. If I have any faithful readers, I am sorry about that, but my computer is not coming to the beach.

Until next time...

Deep Thoughts- 2 Peter

Well, this will probably be my last post for a little over a week. We are having Vacation Bible School every day next week starting Monday, June 7th. Gene and I are teaching 5th graders, Reagan will be going to her age appropriate class, and Gracen will be staying with Gene's mother. Our VBS is from 9:00 to 12:00 every day and Reagan also has swimming lessons a few afternoons. By the time we get home, it will be time for me to get a little housework done and start supper, not to mention prepare the following day's VBS lesson, so I am not going to try to work in computer time too. I may try to pop on the computer at some point and at least post a weekend wrap- up because on Saturday we are having a family reunion in Georgiana, AL in honor of my Granny's birthday. We are leaving around 10:00 tomorrow morning and I am really looking forward to seeing all the family. Unfortunately, Gene is now unable to attend because the church scheduled a visitation blitz for VBS at the same time. Oh well! I will be riding with my parents now, and that means more fellowship time with them.


I wanted to share one more thought from the sermons I have been listening to on 2 Peter by Francis Chan. I have mentioned all the character traits that should be evident in a believer's life according to 2 Peter 1:5-8. To save time, I won't type the entire verse, but the character traits listed were faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Remember, according to verse 9, the degree that these qualities is increasing in my life will show by my fruitfulness and effectiveness in my Christian walk. Makes sense.


Verse 9-11, however, were really eye-opening to me. They say, "For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if your practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom our our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

So if you lack these good qualities you are in sin and basically you are so nearsighted you are blind. Isn't all sin due to nearsightedness? You make a bad choice because you can only see what is right in front of you, the immediate pleasure the sin will bring for the next few minutes. You can't (or refuse to) see the consequences of your choices...consequences that will come months or even years down the road. So you go ahead and you choose the sin, forgetting that you were washed clean....not just from the penalty of sin, but from the sin itself.

2 Peter 2:20-22 talks about "returning to sin or living in sin"..."For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last stage has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herslef, returns to wallow in the mire."

I guess this has really gotten to me because for years we have worked with teenagers and college students and they are at the age where they fall into sinful patterns and then question their salvation. They come to me or Gene for some kind of reassurance that they are truly saved and we can't give them that. Only God knows the heart. Don't we all know someone who we thought was saved and then they just walk away from God and the church I would like to look at people and think they are saved, but according to 2 Peter 1:5-8, and many other places in scripture, if you are truly a believer then you will have "fruit" in your life. You will be displaying the character traits listed, not that it was an exhaustive list. You will also be unable to live in known sin. God through the Holy Spirit will convict His children. It will be a conviction that will lead to repentance, meaning you turn away from the sin and return to Him.

These verses in 2 Peter 1:9 and 2 Peter 2:20-22 are referring to people who hear the gospel and "get it" for a little while. They start coming to church, they attend faithfully, they serve, maybe they even serve on a church staff....but then for whatever reason, they fall back into a pattern of sin. They stop going to church and stop acknowledging God. The Bible says that they are in worse shape than before they heard about Jesus. They are not saved, even if they lived like it for years. If you can live in sin, then you never truly "got it". You can play church for years, but that doesn't mean that you are saved. Christ coming to live within, CHANGES you from the inside out. There will not be a question.

I love 1 Peter 1:11 that says..."In this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the heavenly kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..." My pursuit of these character qualities matters. I have never really thought about the reception that I might receive when I enter heaven. I want it to be a "rich entrance". What about you?

If you are out there reading this and you are wondering if you are saved, then a great book of the Bible to read is 1 John. There are many verses in that book that tell believers exactly what our lives should look like. Read it over and over again. Read it every day for a week or for a month and start to compare your life to what you are reading.

Let the Word change you. I know I want it to change me.

Until next time...

Modeling

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise."

As I have studied 2 Peter over the last couple of weeks and have really considered all the character traits that should be evident in my life according to 2 Peter 1:5-8, I have had to think about what I am modeling for my girls each and every day. They learn so much from me. I am with them all day long and I teach them so much more than how to pick up toys, how to make a bed, how to brush their teeth, how to use their manners, etc. I am modeling Christ every single moment of every single day. My kids are watching my life...how I respond to people and situations, how I handle stress and difficulties, how I talk to their Daddy, how I love or don't love people, how I spend our money, how I love my God by my faithfulness to be in His house, read His Word, and pray to Him. It is so easy to think, "Well, Reagan is learning about God at church," or "I did a devotion with her this morning, so we did the God thing."

Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says that the most important instruction that I can give them is all throughout the day. How convicting is that thought! I teach them as I talk to them. I teach them when I sit in my house, possibly by what I am watching on TV or the words they hear during a phone conversation. I teach them as I walk by the way, when I lie down, and when I rise back up. All of those phrases are straight from the verses out of Deuteronomy 6 and, I think that just about covers my entire day. I am never "at rest", but always modeling what a Christian look like.

I think as Christian moms, we have to constantly ask ourselves, "What am I modeling to my children?" I hope it's not gossip, anger, worry, drinking, over eating, over spending, unfaithfulness in church attendance, telling little white lies, or fighting with our spouse. Instead strive to model Christ. As you grow in your relationship with Him, your character will develop and your kids we see and learn what moral excellence or virtue looks like.

I know that I have such a long way to go. I am convicted every day as I lose my temper with Reagan or I use a sarcastic tone with Gene or I verbalize every worry in my head for Reagan to hear. I am thankful for the conviction that comes, and I am thankful that I can learn from my mistakes and hopefully do better the next day. I am thankful that I serve a God full of grace and mercy who meets me when I bow my head in humble submission to Him and once again tell Him "I'm sorry". He raises my chin and tells me He still loves me and that He will never leave me or forsake me.

I desperately want to raise two arrows to shoot out into this dark world who will point others to Christ by their words, actions, and hearts. I want their lives to bring glory to God and that begins with what they are learning at home.

Humbling thought!

A Trip to the Park and the Library

I like to take Reagan to the library every other Tuesday. I want her to love books and love to read. Books are really expensive though. Hardback books run around $16.00 per book and the paperback books don't always hold up for very long. Reagan owns a lot of books, but to truly have a good variety I like going to the library. She can check out 7 books and keep them for 2 weeks, which is why we go every other Tuesday. That is a pretty good deal.

To sweeten the deal for Reagan, there is a park right next to the library, so we play for about an hour and then head inside to cool off and look for books. I thought I would share a few pictures with you from our last visit.

Reagan loves to climb the rock wall.

She comes through this little window and jumps out, and then starts all over again.

Gracen just hangs out at the base of the wall.

Here she is walking across the balance beam.

Here is Reagan helping Gracen walk around. She is really good with Gracen, and I am thankful for that. When I was pregnant, I was worried that Reagan would be really jealous and have a hard time welcoming Gracen to the family because, let's face it, she was used to all our attention. But, that has not been the case at all.

There were a few ducks that came out of the river that is close to the park, and Gracen was very curious about them. She followed them all over the place, which surprised me. I thought she would be afraid of them, not really knowing what they are. Of course, this is the same child who grabs every bug that crawls by her when we are outside on the back patio.

She let this duck get really close to her. The delay on my camera didn't allow me to take the next picture of the duck walking right up to her. At that point, I picked Gracen up because I thought the duck might peck her...or whatever ducks do when they are checking something out.

Gracen loves to go up and down stairs. Exhausting!

I only took two pictures inside the library because they were other families in there with us and they looked at me like I was crazy every time I snapped a picture. I guess my flash was disturbing them.

We always have a good time when we go the park and the library. It was a great day!

Until next time...

2 Peter 1:5-8 cont.

I really loved the discussion from Francis Chan's sermon on the character issues listed in verses 5-8. There was just so much to think about with each one, and I thought I would share some of the thoughts with you. Warning though before you get started, this is a long post.

2 Peter 1:5-8

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

So, all the character qualities that should be increasing in our lives begin with faith. It is the first one listed because first and foremost I have to have faith in God by accepting the Son, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior, and then I have to believe that all of these character traits can be mine and can be increasing in my life because I have a new nature, a new master, the Holy Spirit.

To my faith, I should strive to add virtue. This is moral excellence or purity in my actions, in my thoughts, in my words, and in my decisions. It is that idea that people should be able to look at my life and know that I am a Christian. My belief in God effects the words that come out of my mouth, the movies I watch, the music I listen to, the places I go, what I do with my free time, how I spend my money, etc. It touches everything. My relationship with God isn't just limited to Sundays and Wednesdays. Unfortunately, many people go to church on Sunday only and they don't really think about God again until the next Sunday. That is not what God intended for our lives. We should be completely in love with Him and it should change everything about us.

To my virtue, I should strive to add knowledge. Am I really making every effort and working hard to understand the Word of God? Do I study it? Do I dig and study truths about God so I can know Him better? I can spend a lot of time on a lot of things, things that aren't necessarily bad, but if they leave no time for my relationship with God, then they become bad things. If I have time to get on Facebook, watch TV, write this blog, or read a magazine, then I have time to study God's Word. Many people say they have no time to read the Bible, but usually that is not the case. It is a heart issue and one that we have to ask God to change. Francis Chan said if you have been a Christian for years you should be able to quote scripture...maybe a verse for each week, a verse for each month, or at the very least a verse for each year that you have been saved, but yet most Christians can only quote John 3:16. I want to do a better job of knowing the Bible, the book that I say I base my life on. I want it to be more than just head knowledge though. I have to truly internalize what I learn and let it change me from the inside out.

To my knowledge, I should strive to add self-control. This is the idea of mastering natural desires rather than letting any desire master me. Francis Chan gave all these examples of natural desires that God has given us like our desire for sleep, our desire for food, our desire for relationships, our desire for sex (within marriage), our desire for material items, etc. These desires are good and natural if we stay in control of them. For example, food is a great thing. I need it to live and to have energy throughout my day, but if I start going to food for comfort or out of boredom, then I start to lose my control of that particular desire. Before I realize my weight is escalating and food because something in my life that it was never meant to be. You get the idea. I should make every effort to monitor all the natural desires in my life and make sure that I am in submission to my Heavenly Father. I don't know about you, but I don't always connect how much I eat or how much I sleep to my relationship with God. Do you?

To my self-control, I should strive to add steadfastness. I loved the discussion on steadfastness. It is the idea of developing patience and endurance in my life, and I can tell you I definitely need to work on that area. When trials come my way, I don't always respond how I should. With Gracen's last medical emergency, I was thinking, "Why me? Why can't Gracen just be healthy? Why did this happen on Easter Sunday of all days?" I certainly wasn't praising God for the trial, which is what God tells me to do in His Word.

James 1:2-4 says, "Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces STEADFASTNESS. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

I am not told to count it all joy for the trial itself, but rather for what it produces in my life. Each trial produces an additional measure of steadfastness in my life. I love Francis Chan's explanation. He said that developing steadfastness is like holding up a heavy weight and you have to struggle to hold it up, hold it up, hold it up.... You want to cry out to God to remove the weight because it is difficult and you just want to relax, but you don't learn anything when you are relaxing or when life is easy. You learn when you are under some kind of pressure. He asked, "Have you ever prayed for God to bring some trials in your life so you can become stronger in your walk with Him?" "Have you ever told God, you know, I fall apart with every trial that comes my way, so keep them coming until I learn to hold fast to You?" My answers to those two questions were No and No. I have never prayed anything even remotely similar to that. So according to Francis Chan, I care more about my comfort than my character. Ouch!

Hardship frustrates me as if something is going wrong, but I am told in the Bible to expect hardship because it really develops my character. God allows the hardships because He cares more about my holiness than my happiness.

To my steadfastness, I should strive to add godliness. This is the idea of becoming more and more like God. My deep reverence and respect for God should affect everything that I do. This is very similar to virtue so I won't go through all that again.

To my godliness, I should strive to add brotherly affection and love. These two kind of go hand in hand. Brotherly affection is the love I feel toward the family of God. All Christians are my brothers and sisters in Christ. Do I truly love and have tender feelings for all the members of my church family or any other Christian that I come into contact with? Do I care about what is going on in their lives? Do I learn from them? Do I have fellowship with as many different people at church that I can or do I have cliques? Is my church characterized by true friendliness? Am I friendly or am I moody? Do I truly love all people...all kinds of people, all races, all ethnic backgrounds, etc. Scripture says that if I am truly saved, I cannot hate mankind. It also says that I will love despite how people treat me. Jesus is our model and he loved despite being spit on, whipped, and hung on a cross. Can I forgive and continue to love no matter what the offense? That is a hard truth to live out, but that is what I signed up when I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

2 Peter 1:8 was even more convicting because it says that these qualities should be increasing in my life. If they are NOT increasing then I will be unfruitful and ineffective in my Christian walk. Even worse than that verse 9 says that if I lack these qualities I am not saved! That will have to be another blog entry because this one is already too long, but I pray that you read through 2 Peter chapter 1 and really think about the words. They have really spoken to me and the kind of life that I am living and what I am modeling for my daughters.


With each passing year that I am a Christian...
Am I more virtuous?
Am I more knowledgeable of God and His Word?
Am I more self-controlled?
Am I more steadfast?
Am I more godly?
Do I truly love people and have a brotherly affection for the family of God?

I hope so. I am praying that God puts His finger on the areas that He needs to and that He will start to do a work in me. I want to make every effort toward these things.

Sorry this one was so long.

Until next time...