Thanks Tina!

Thank you Tina. I am so humbled to be the nominated for my first blog award....and by such a wonderful friend! Check out Tina's Blog and her Esty shop! (Tina, love that teddy bear.)






Now to the award instructions:


1. The winner can put the logo on his/ her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

So, here are my picks....

Denita
Judy
Mrs. G

Everyone else I want to nominate has already been so by the wonderful ladies in blogland.

Wednesday's Word ~ Belief

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."



Have you ever really gave thought to what you believe in I mean.... deep soul searching thought. I have on several occasions...... here is just a partial list of things I really, truly, from the heart and soul believe in....

I believe.....

* that Eric loves me and only looks out for the best interest of me, us and our family.
* that keeping the pantry and freezers stocked up helps save us hundreds each year.
* that I can keep the clothing budget down by buying at yard sales, thrift shops, clearance racks, and especially accepting hand-me-downs when offered!
* that it takes real communication in marriage to make it all work!
* that Ripely (our dog) has one of the most annoying barks ever....
* we have a loving family and we all look out for each other.
* that chocolate was put on Earth just for women!
* that our children are growing in faith and walking closer to God as they grow.
* that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the only Way into eternal life with God.

See, we can believe in a great deal of things, from the bark of a dog..... to the profound gift that is Jesus!


But what really makes us believe what we believe? Well, just going by my partial list of beliefs I know that I personally believe in those things because to me they have been proven over and over again....

* that Eric loves me and only looks out for the best interest of me, us and our family. See for this one its real simple.... Eric has proven over and over that he loves me.... that even when I don't agree with him, he is honestly looking out for the best interest of me personally, for us as a couple, and for our family.... does he do what I think should be done each and every time..... no. But he also has a different perspective than I and I have come to learn to trust, to believe that he will always do what he thinks is best for us.

* that keeping the pantry and freezers stocked up helps save us hundreds each year. Okay, this one is pretty easy too...... I have been keeping my pantry and freezers stocked for several years now..... and I can honestly say that I can save money by doing this. I can remember a time when I did not keep stock, and I also remember going way over budget with the groceries each and every month.... costing us precious resources. Now-a-days, with a well organized, well stocked pantry and freezer I am able to shop more frugally because I no longer have to worry about what I have at home or not....... I can now wait for sales and purchase things in larger quantities and still stay within budget.

* that I can keep the clothing budget down by buying at yard sales, thrift shops, clearance racks, and especially accepting hand-me-downs when offered! I have proved this for me as well..... I can tell you that honestly I just don't buy many things at full retail. I could never justify with myself paying full price for an item for the kids when I knew they would be outgrowing it or wearing it to play in the dirt/mud on a regular basis.... so I found long ago my love for yard sales, thrift shops and clearance racks..... and of course I don't think I have ever refused any hand-me-downs.... not even for myself.... and if we cannot use the items then I simply pass them on or send them to a charity.


* that it takes real communication in marriage to make it all work! Now this statement you see all the time (in some form or other) but before I really believed in it I had to see it work personally.... every marriage has a few rough times and ours was no exception..... but a few short years ago I really got a wake up call when, in the middle of a counseling session with Eric I said something and the counselor asked if I had ever told Eric what I had just said..... uhmm, not really..... it seems that I had was not as good at communicating with my beloved as I thought..... our marriage is much better these days in the communication area....

* that Ripely (our dog) has one of the most annoying barks ever...I love him dearly, but just listen to him for one day and you would agree....


* we have a loving family and we all look out for each other. This statement has been put to the test over and over.... and has always been true.


* that chocolate was put on Earth just for women! There some days in the lives of women that nothing but chocolate will do....

* that our children are growing in faith and walking closer to God as they grow. As the years are going by, we have been able to watch our children grow in faith. To watch them eagerly seek out God and to do service for Him is a great blessing on us as parents.

and...
* that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the only Way into eternal life with God. To say you believe in this statement is easy.... the hard part is proving it to yourself and often to those around you as well..... it is not until you really put your absolute trust in Jesus that you can really make this statement true to yourself.... it is not until you search Him out, abide in His Word, and seek Him to rest in, and relinquish yourself completely to His Will that you will know you truly have proved this to yourself. Its a struggle for us as people to do this... our very nature wars with us to keep control of some part of ourselves.... we find that even those men that walked with Jesus, those men that were chosen to be His apostles warred within themselves to fully give themselves into His service. But, just as it was with them, it is with us today.... a decision can be made. I have made that choice to put myself, my whole self ..... into His Will for my life. And in that choice comes the belief that Jesus is the only Son of God and that He is the ONLY Way into eternal life with God.

Proud Mommy Post... Update

Travis' sermon is now on our congregation's website. Here. Just click the red button that says listen to sermons.... and look for Travis' name.

Thanks for all the comments ladies!

For Michelle.....

Just for you Michelle....


Zucchini Brownies....

1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until brownies spring back when gently touched. Frost as desired or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

What pie am I? .....a MeMe

find your inner PIE @ quizmeme.com

So what kind of pie are you???

I thought it was funny because I said to myself before I took the quiz.... I think I'd be an apple pie!

and what's ya know....... according to the quiz..... I am!!!

Warning..........Proud. Mommy. Post.

Okay, so Travis has been doing an internship this summer with 3 other highschool age guys with the minister of our congregation this summer..... and tonight he (along with one of the other guys) gave his sermon. Can we say.... mommy was very, very proud of her oldest tonight. He spoke on God's love and how we can without a doubt know that we are loved! It will surely be on the Lomax website very, very soon under the Audio Sermons link. Look for it!

He had plenty of supporters that attended tonight as well, all of the sets of Grandparents were represented and his great-grandmother was there too! Denita came with her children and we had a nice little section of the pews filled with eager ears!

I'm so very proud of you Travis. You have worked so very hard this summer and I and your dad can see that you have grown in your walk with God. We pray that you will continue such a close walk in faith.

Let's See...

....... I have finished putting up the cabbage....
Look at that cabbage!
..... and that was only part of it!

Then I put up corn.... and a few okra..... and put some cucumber slices in vinegar and dill.... the kids will eat them up like candy like that!!!

Then Mia made some wonderful and delicious Zucchini Brownies for the Video Scavenger Hunt for the Youth at Church.... as well as some really good chocolate chip cookes...

Yes, zuchinni and chocolate do go together soooooo goooooooood!!!



Then we went out to the church buildings and had a great time with the Video Scavenger Hunt.... it was so much fun...... the kids were divided up into groups and they each had a driver assigned to them and the driver was also the picture taker.... then the fun began.... the groups each had a list of things and people that they had to get pictures with ...... fun, fun, fun!!!

Everyone had a really great time!

Be back soon to post more on the house!

Wednesday's Word ~ Resources

2 Corinthians 9:10 (NLT) For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

Is this not a wonderful verse about the promises of God! God will provide all that we ever need. God will send up what it is we need to "increase your resources" ...... it is different for each of us. For some, it may mean a difficult journey through the valley of great decision ..... for others it may mean the victory over a lifetime struggle. But, whatever the case is God is there providing all that we need so that we may then see when He has been able to "produce a great harvest" in us. That harvest will clearly call out to His great glory!

Whew!

Wow, have I had one more busy day! Eric, Travis and Mia picked corn, squash, cabbage, okra, and a few beans and we ended up with cucumber and more zucchini from Eric's dad's garden as well.... so I was up this morning processing veggies for storage. That made for a busy morning.

We also had the joy of company tonight for dinner! Our good friends David and Heather (and the kiddos too) came and I had prepared many veggies from the garden and some bacon wrapped chicken breasts!I also made some Zucchini Brownies for dessert..... Dinner was a big hit! We really enjoy their company!

Well, I'm off to bed.... I still have some squash to take care of tomorrow and need to get a load or two of laundry done as well.....

Happy Birthday Jed!!

Today was Jed's 2nd birthday! We did not do a big all out party this year.... wanting to keep it low key... so we invited just some family and had cake and ice cream and watched as Jed opened his presents.



Jed has against my better judgment become a huge fan of Spongebob... ICK.... anyway... when I saw the Spongebob birthday stuff on clearance for $1..... I gave in and bought it..... of course he loved it!


Travis helped him with his big piece of cake and ice cream.....


Time for some presents!


Birthday boy with daddy.... gotta love those cheesy grins!!!

Here is the finished (almost) Library....

This is our Library..... we have waited a very long time to have all of our books out of boxes..... we had so many that we ended up going back and getting more bookshelves and putting them up instead of a desk for me (my computer is now in the dining area) and we really love how the bookshelves turned out.... they almost look like built-ins....

The fireplace is great.... at the far corner of the room.... its a wood burning fireplace too.... whoohooo! those are panels of fabric I got from ebay.... I was so excited to find some vintage cloth that went so well with the vintage couch and chair I got from the kids grandparents. I will soon be having those panels (they are just clipped up there for now) turned into lined curtains and there will be a total of 4 not just the 3 I have up there now..... a good fall/winter project.

The doorway is to our Master Bedroom.... we are on one end of the house and the kids' rooms are on the other with the living area in the center of the home. Remember the $1 yardsale mirror? That's it on the wall next to our door..... it matches the room so well!

We have yet to get the books in any kind of order... we simply put them up on the shelves for now.... Eric has a computer program that will list them and help us keep track of them.... so that is a project for the long winter nights.

So, that's our library..... we are so happy to have a good room for our books. I was looking at the beginning of doing a whole different color scheme in there..... but when the couch and chair was brought home I found that I really wanted to use the vintage fabric in the furniture and not cover it with a slipcover.... so I decided the colors for the room would change. I like it!

My color..... a MeMe

BLUE

You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

Good morning all.... just wanted to share a few quick words this morning.... we had a great weekend... We got a call from the bank on Friday, they needed us to come and finally sign papers....yippee! Its official.... we now have a mortgage! HaHaHa.... never saw anyone so happy about that, huh? Well, we were beginning to get worried because of how the market was getting....... we had had 2 differnet mortgage companies to turn us down..... in the end the bank that was holding our construction loan gave us the mortgage....... so we are so very glad to have that settled!!!!! Yeah!!!!

Eric's sister and her fiance spent the night with us on Friday (they live in East TN going to school) ... they wanted to spend some time with the kids... they brought pizza and we played games and talked and laughed lots! It was a good time.(and yes, they slept in seperate rooms....)

Saturday I got up and made a nice big breakfast with Chocolate Gravy & Biscuits, bacon, and eggs.... I also made some milk gravy for my son that prefers it with his biscuits.... then we just had a nice quiet day.....

Sunday was going well ..... good services, Eric surprised me with lunch out and then .....
when we got home and were all changing out of our dress clothes I hear one of the kids say .... "NO, Jed!!!" I quickly finished changing and went to see what the problem was....
Jed had gotten a hold of some bathroom cleaner.... and was cleaning the TV set.... he had drenched it until the cleaner was dripping from the bottom.... alas, the TV died.

So, we now have a new TV. It just so happens that we had been looking at one to purchase in the next few months.... this just sped our purchase up. Ughhh.

I will be back to post some more later..... its supposed to be near 100 F today so we may not get out and do very much today.... I plan on getting the little bit of laundry out and hung but no other outside work is planned today...... it gonna be HOT!!!

Plan on coming back later for pics of one of the rooms in the house!!!!

Look Tina, Me Too!

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

Co 1:27-29(NLT) Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

Wow, what a picture, and we see it over and over again in the Word of God...... He chooses again and again to use people whom the world thinks is very insignificant. He often tells them to do something that the world finds foolish and would scoff at...... think about Noah. He built this huge "boat" ..... and spoke to the people about a flood..... for a hundred years. Or how about Gideon, the least of his family.... and then the Lord tells him to cut the number of men in the army by many thousands. Why do all these things? Look again at the verses..... God tells us why ..... so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God chooses to do things in this manner so that He will be given all the Glory... so that the world will see time and time again that He is the one in charge of all things and that He can stand against all odds and triumph no matter how bad the circumstances look. All we have to do is trust in Him.

God promises to see you through. He does not promise an easy life.... He does not promise a victory without any fighting.... but He does promise we will never have to face anything alone. He will be there when we are in the valley, facing the fire, feeling lost, heartbroken or any other situation we may find ourselves in.... He will ALWAYS be there ready with arms open wide to protect, comfort, ease our troubled mind, and provide a rest for us when we just reach out for Him. How wonderful God truly is!

Tuesdays Thoughts....

How wonderful it is to see the progress these last few weeks are making on the house. Nearly every box is now unpacked.... just a few odds and ends now to attend to on that note. And I am feeling more settled than I have in a very long time. We are working on a schedule and routine for all of us... our family seems to work out better that way. And I am now starting to really work towards decorating the house more. Its been so long since I have really put any heart and soul into making the place we live in feel like a retreat for my family. I miss that and hope to have that feeling back more and more in the next little bit. I know I have been promising photos to all my friends out in blog land and if you can just be patient with me for just a bit longer I promise to have a pic of each room of the house and more of the outside in the next few days!

Well, I am off to do a bit more.....

Monday Musings....

So, another busy day here.... the kids are helping out with chores, I taught my class and had mother over for dinner (we had spaghetti with ground turkey).


Anyway, I came across a quote and wanted to share it.....

The world judges you by your actions, not your intentions.

I don't remember who said it but it has kinda stuck with me.....

Christians know about this little saying all too well, for our actions speak volumes to those in the world. All good intentions put aside, it is our actions..... especially our day to day actions that those lost in sin will target. We can want to mean well all day long, but when we let fly our tempers, we find ourselves caught up in the latest gossip, or even a unsympathetic comment during our day ..... it is those actions that will cause others to judge.

Our lives are made up of moment by moment choices and its those seemingly minute choices that will shout out on our behalf.

James 2:22 (NLT) You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.

Okay, so I have had 2 friends fuss cause I have not posted in a bit....

Well, I guess I could say I have been very busy (and I have) but the main reason for not posting so very much was that my 17 inch monitor had died a couple of months ago and so I picked up a smaller 15 inch thinking it would not be that much different..... I WAS SSSOOOOO WRONG!!! I could not stand to be on the computer for more than just a few minutes at a time... or I ended up with a massive headache. I had said something about it to Eric a few days ago....... so he went out and got me a surprise .... a brand new 19inch flat screen monitor with built in speakers.... whooohooo. So I can see and not have a headache. I should be back more often now.


Let's see, since the 4th I have done the following....

Had a big family get together on the 4th

Sent Travis off to another Camp.... Horizons ..... it is at Freed-Hardeman University.( He had a great time by the way....)

We had a big Independence Day Celebration with our congregation on the 6th...

We started homeschooling.

Putting up veggies from the garden.


I made so much zucchini bread that I was dreaming about it...probably will be doing that again soon too!

Read 3 books in as many days.

I was in charge of a kid's event (Water Fun Day) for our kids 5th grade and under yesterday...

Today we had services, then this afternoon a meeting for Web Design for our youth involved with Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes and then had a Sunday Night Social after services tonight..... a busy day!!!

Tomorrow I have a class at the Senior Center and homeschooling and then a quick trip to the church to check on a few things. I will post again sometime during all that. Promise!

July 4th.....

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


May we never forget the sacrifices others have made for us.

Tuesdays IOW ~ God Knows!

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out -plans to take care of you . . .”
Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)


Jer 29:11-13 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.


This was the theme for our Youth Rally this year.... not only in these verses does God really tell us not to worry that he has everything already planned out for us, His children.... but he also (in verse 13) reassures us that we can seek Him out and we can find Him when we seek him with all of our hearts!

Our youngest will often wake from a nap and start searching for me if he does not see me right away.... seeking me out earnestly with all he has....and the JOY he shows upon finding me ...... that is how it is with us.... we will find God when we search for Him earnestly... He is there waiting to hear us call to Him. And the JOY of finding Him waiting just for us when we need Him! He lets us know that all is going according to His plan. He is always thinking of us and what is best for us! He is in control!





Thanks to Susan at Forever His for hosting this weeks IOW.