Blessed Joy-Filled New Year

My New Years Resolution?......

To give EVERY ounce of love in my heart AWAY! Especially to those who for me...are hardest to love....

Galatians 5:5-6 (The Message) I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

John 13:35 (The Message) "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

I pray that God will grant you...fulfilment in your New Years resolution(s)

Mark 11: 22-25(the Message) Jesus was matter-of-fact: "Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, 'Go jump in the lake'—no shuffling or shilly-shallying—and it's as good as done. That's why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you'll get God's everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it's not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins."

THIS JUST IN.....

Our very first photo Christmas card AND letter WOW!.. came to us from....(drum roll please) Our precious friends Linda and Ed Phillips (Danny & Lindsey (AMAZING youth minister friends from Boerne Texas parents/parents in law) YAAY!! for the beginning of catching up :) I can't wait to see who is next...Just to let you know...I will NOT be posting play by play as they come in....ha ha ha ha!

May you relish in being redeemed :) I love reading the definition for redeemed:

re·deem (rĭ-dēm') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. re·deemed, re·deem·ing, re·deems

1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.
2. To pay off (a promissory note, for example).
3. To turn in (coupons, for example) and receive something in exchange.
4. To fulfill (a pledge, for example).
5. To convert into cash: redeem stocks.
6. To set free; rescue or ransom.
   
7. To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences. See Synonyms at save¹.
8. To make up for: The low price of the clothes dryer redeems its lack of special features.
9. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of: You botched the last job but can redeem yourself on this one.

WOW!

love you guys oodles!

well it's that time.....

YAAY!!!! I love receiving Christmas cards/letters!!! I am always excited to see who's will be the first card we get! !!So far...we haven't gotten any yet.... Of course...we haven't sent one! Every year we say okay let's do this Christmas card/letter thing... then inevitably something comes up where all of us can't be at the same place the same time for the photo!!!

Plus every year I like to keep them up on the front door till like February or March...Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! My family thinks I am crazy!!! But I just love seeing all the faces...all the time. Some are loved ones far off, but even the ones that we go to church together with....still don't always see each other plus the fact of busy busy busy schedules :(

Okay so anywhoo..I am anticipating with jolly merriment for them to start arriving!!! Sooo, who's will it be? Uhh, just in case you share the same enthusiasm...don't hold your breath for ours!!! I mean I really really hope we will do one..but...let's be honest folks!!! NO ONE has received one from us...like...EVER! There is no excuse though for not doing a letter...including the fact that Joel is a pretty creative writer! (we're losers)

Oh, those of you that receive the letters from The Boone's(Grant/Amy) or the Miller's(Brian/Leslie).. Aren't they THE MOST Zany ones you have ever read???

Well, toodles for now. I pray powerful Blessings on your week!

Quick Quile Quips:

Joel doing great! Loves loves loves being discipled by Christ, being my heart throb husband, faithful father, the privilege of preaching.

John doing great at his job, and eating healthy!

Laura doing great academically (WHOO HOO!) she is very thrilled since this is her senior year, so she will finish strong!

Emily in last year of elementary and doing great! except she is sick and had 102.6 fever thru out the night :(

& Me... well.. Like I would EVER post deep personal things!!! Seriously... I feel very blessed and desire more and more the dwelling of the Lord in my life! Some days more desperate than others.... Anywhoo. Sooo thankful for the close friends God has blessed me with to walk with me on this zany journey called life!

I love my Bible study group they are NUT-TTTY! by the way girls, I have a horrible scratch(actually 2) over my right eye from hitting my face on my straw last night! ha ha ha ha
I truly look forward to Tuesday nights!!!

Whoo Hoo!.....pretty sure I found it...

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I found it sort of....

I had to piece some recipes together, but I think it's gonna work that is....If I actually follow the DIRECTIONS!!!!

So here's the creamy vanilla fudge recipe:
2 1/2 c. sugar 1/2 c. butter 5oz. can evaporated milk 2c. marshmallow creme 8oz Nestle's Alpine White candy bar( couldn't find it, so used white choc morsels had to measure/weigh on a food scale and all that malarky) 3/4 c. chopped pecans (I omitted) and 1tsp vanilla

Line 9 inch square or 9x13 inch pan with foil making sure foil extends over sides of pan; butter foil In large saucepan, combine sugar, butter milk. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 min. over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Cool to room temperature. refrigerate until firm.

Remove fudge from pan by lifting foil; remove foil from fudge, Store in fridge.

OKAY so here's what went wrong tonight...First off going to Walmart 2 days before Thanksgiving is nerve racking...starting fudge at 9pm isn't any smarter THEN when you just look at the ingredients and start adding them ALL into the pot without following instructions IS INSANE!!!.UGGGHHH!! MAN!!!! I only had what I needed to make one batch so I SURE couldn't start over!

Anywhooo needless to say there is a distinct reason they only want you to mix first three ingredients...bring to boil...remove from heat....THEN add remaning ingredients!!! Probably wouldn't have to try to get it firm in the FREEZER!!! It is 10:43 AND it's still not firm!!!!

But I do have to say the chewy caramel praline turned out EXACT!!!! I just took a soft caramel candy recipe added chopped walnuts(softer than pecans) and presto!

That recipe is as follows:
1c. butter 1 pound light brown sugar(used dark...light was completely sold out along with MANY other ingredients zillions of people were roaming aimlessly and pretty much hopelessly looking for!) I felt so sheepish when I got to go through the 20 items or less line while others were pushing mountain high buggy's around) OKAY....continuing with ingredients... 1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk 1 c. light corn syrup pinch of salt and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Now I DID follow these instructions WAY better...even though... I added the vanilla in w/everything when I was SUPPOSE to add in after comes to a boil, then remove from heat...ADD vanilla. But it still turned out! YAAAY!!!

The final product?...not sure!!! I'm afraid to go check...I fear it will confirm I wasted good stuff! YES!!! There is a lesson for me AS USUAL!!!! BE DILIGENT!!! I will try to remake this when I get home from Houston!

Thanks Amy for your comment :) Are you allowed to have that kind of stuff? I'll bring ya some if you can.

I pray all of you have a Blessed Thanksgiving allowing the Savior to use you mightily!

HELP!!!! I can't find this recipe..Anyone out there have it or know where to find it?

Vanilla Caramel Praline
Two layers of creamy vanilla fudge with a chewy caramel pecan center.

Revelation Song by Kari Jobe Worship Leader @ Gateway

You know when you see something... and you think..."OH...I WANT THAT" When I listen to this song (which is EVERYDAY!!!)and hear the part when she says "filled with wonder, Awestruck wonder at the mention of Your name" ...I WANT THAT! I want to be filled with wonder, AWESTRUCK wonder at the mention of His name! Sure...some days I am...BUT... I want it EVERYDAY! Anywhoooo.. I hope you are as blessed by her voice, and the words of this song as I am.

I love you and hope you have a blessed day celebrating life and living today for HIM with AWESTRUCK WONDER


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FObjd5wrgZ8

CUTE...CUTE...CUTE :)

William_Tell_Overture_song_for_moms.wmv 8769K Download

Inventions....

I have to say... I am absolutely grateful and intrigued by whom ever invented the treadmill! Can I just say WOW!!! Ya know...I used to be impressed with the microwave...thinking it "helped" you conquer more things...you know giving you extra time to do more "quality things" now I believe it just promotes laziness and poor quality of time & food for your family! (believe me I have been guilty...lets say...a time or two)I have vowed a while back to only use it to heat up leftovers and such...and not for preparing a meal for our family...

Anyways... back to the treadmill. This morning I (this is a journal right?) woke up to my alarm of 5:15 so I could run 2 miles, shower, read the Bible, pray, get Emily up, eat, get ready for work, drop Emily off, go to work..work... pick up Emily...

Well, I decided to not get up resetting the alarm for 6:15 convincing myself I would run after I get Emily. Well...I TRIED to go back to sleep...refusing to get up! It was awful! I finally started to doze off when that crazy alarm went back off!!! UGGGHH!

I didn't shower, (no need...I didn't run)but did do all the other things. PLUS...I forgot to take meat out of the freezer :( UGGGHHH! AGAIN!!! Anyways so I was craving baked sweet potatoes. Emily and I ran to Tom Thumb. We ended up having grilled chicken (pre grilled,diced & packaged but..w/out preservatives( probably still not good for us...but...I did sautee it in Vinny's olive oil dip YUMMY!) salad (5 lettuce's pre-bagged)w/homemade buttermilk ranch(the packet but, w/regular milk) and yummy baked sweet potatoes. (other than the sweet potatoes, I probably should of just went ahead and microwaved a meal!)

I decided to redeem myself and make homemade pumpkin muffins.(nothing packaged) Okay...not enough oil, so we walked down to the Valentine's and borrowed some. Got in some catch up time with our lives. Lauren came back with us to hang out with Emily for a while.

I finished making the batter and realized OH CRUD!!! I hadn't ran yet!!! UUGGGHHH! AGAIN! Well, I poured up the batter in the muffin tins. Ran 2 miles...kind of slow...22min HEY! at least I'm trying! anyways...hurried and put muffins in for 15 min get back on treadmill and ran one more mile. Finished making all the other muffins walked Lauren home, and listened to Emily read while posting on my blog. WHEW!!! Soooo ya see without the great invention of the treadmill I could never have done all these things! I am going to get in the shower and go to bed!

So..forget you microwave(until I want popcorn) the treadmill has just surpassed you!
Goodnight and I pray you have a a strong ending to your week! If not...don't give up!

Lamentations 3:22-24 tells us...Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

May we be encouraged by His sweet promises :)

p.s. Ill be cleaning up the hurricane mess in my kitchen in the morning! UGGGHH...yet AGAIN! that reminds me....the dishwasher...now that's another SWEET invention!

journel entry 5,001 (just kidding)

Well, this is the end of day 3 of Emily being at camp :( I miss her!!! Ya know...kids are soooo funny! I teach 4th and 5th on Wed. nights at church. They were asking me where Emily was, and I told them at camp. In Cali, when John and Laura went they called it "Outdoor Education" They loved it!

So.. our class (all girls)talked about camp how much fun it is and the coolest thing about camp.. etc... I asked jokingly in one of those pitiful voices with a sad face... "Do you guys think she will remember me"? THEY WERE SOOO PRECIOUS!! They seriously were like reassuring me that she would! Anna's all..."Of course she will..She can't forget you!" With that DUH! look on her face.
I love them to stinkin pieces! I wish I could keep them FOREVER!

I have a dear dear dear friend Annie Lapoint (http://annielapoint.com/) (She is a PHENOMENAL artist...and I blogged about her precious sister Jodi a while back) anyways...she told me that I was soooo cute that she wished she could shrink me and carry me around in her purse forever, then take me out whenever she wanted..she made gestures with her hands like if you had a Barbie doll all dancing around (I'll show you in person sometime)

She used to also say she and her family could live with us on an island forever...ANYWAYS...from that point on, I too use that saying for people I wish I could shrink and keep with me forever! I kind of shortened it to "GET IN MY PURSE!" ha ha ha Plus our family adopted the island thingy and keep adding people to join us!

Emily wants to invite a couple of those snuggly little ol' ladies at Walmart :) However...they look at us very perplexed when we say "Get in the purse!" :)

Soooo...anyways Emily comes home TOMORROW!!! I know she has had a blast!!! I am excited to hear all about it! Plus also Laura will be leaving for camp this Sunday. She has a school retreat. She also is very excited and can't wait! She and a couple of her friends are going shopping tomorrow to buy some fun things for their cabin groups! I am sooo excited that they are excited! I will miss her too!

Okay, well...gotta go! I hope you all have a FROLICKING FRIDAY :)

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (my prayer for you)
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

p.s. Get in the purse....and see ya on the island!

Yippee for my wonderful hubby fixing my Blog! Now I can post!! :)

Well, another school year has started. Bitter sweet really.... I love my kiddos home, yet I also love them being filled with knowledge.

Laura is a BIG senior this year :0 Wow! So crazy to think about! They had a Boo Hoo breakfast for all senior moms and kindergarten moms at her school the first day. Yes...there was some
boo hooing! Some were tears of sadness while others were tears of joy! It was a lovely breakfast and I was blessed to be invited. The real tears came when one of Laura's friends mom shared her story of her picture perfect world flipping COMPLETELY upside down. The wisdom in her knowing God is carrying her and the kiddos through this absolute nightmare was ripping my heart to pieces as she inspired me.

Emily is a BIG 5th grader! She has three teachers this year. (not including the music, art, &P.E. teachers) I had a boo hoo spell at her school as well. Oh, not for the usual emotional tears of your little one growing up...nope! I broke down and bawled like a baby cause I didn't get the two AMAZING moms in our class this year! ( I only cried with Joel, Ems did not see me)

Pam and Dawn were the two that stepped up and took me in from day one of our first days here in Trophy Club, and have been a blessing every since! We had a wonderful room mom team! Pam assured me that we would still team up and bless our teachers. (our kiddos all were divided up into three classes) So we will still be together....just not together :(

Our girls are very enthusiastic about this school year and have expressed their joy many times already. They love their teachers and their classmates :) I pray all of you out there are experiencing the same blessing!

Laura was blessed this past weekend with the gift of a NEW car (new to her) It is a cute zippy little red Pontiac Sunfire. Totally fits her zippy personality :) Emily goes to outdoor Ed next week :0 Oh, my!!! That will be a little unnerving for me! BUT...I know God will be Faithful with peace for my heart...as always!

Well...tootles for now!
May you feel God's powerful presence!

Lord, may a desire and passion for holiness that comes from a pure heart be reflected in all that our children do. In Your Sons holy name I pray. Amen
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

WOW!

I CAN"T EVEN BELIEVE IT MYSELF! I watched the Masters (golf..in case you don't know) this afternoon with my husband :) He says he loves me more and more everyday! Anywhoo...This guy Zach Johnson (pictured below) won. They have his personal info listed below. Well, all but what He publicly professed on camera today.(I'm sure it was not the first time he has or will be the last time he does proclaim)

THE MOST amazing thing about watching the Masters for me today(my first time) was to hear Zach Johnson profess Jesus his Savior is who he owed everything to! It was so remarkable to hear those words not even just once but I think 2 or 3 times! That was such a blessing to my soul and made an ALREADY SPECIAL DAY EVEN MORE SPECIAL!

I hope we all had a Spiritual awakening to the POWERFUL blessing of our SAVIOR'S RESURRECTION! Especially to have the desire to so truly BELIEVE in THE MIRACLE that we will live as CHANGED people! That it will make a difference in the way we live in ALL areas of our lives! May we be filled with the compelling urge to tell everyone of the unstoppable, uncontainable, unconditional and unshakable love of God, that He would send His only Son to save us from our sins.

Thanks babe for delivering an amazing message today. The greatest thing I love about you, is that you allow God to work in you, cause you believe that if He isn't working in you He can't work through you! I know that's why you deliver powerful sermons!

God is so amazing and faithful! I love journeying back to God, with you! You are a blessed gift! Thanks for asking me to watch the Masters with you. It was a precious gift :)

Zach Johnson Height: 5-11 Weight: 160 Birthdate: February 24, 1976 Birthplace: Iowa City, IA College: Drake University (1998, Business Management/Marketing) Turned Pro: 1998

HEBREWS 1:3

The Son is the radiance of God's glory
and the exact representation of His being,
sustaining all things by His powerful word.
After He had provided purification for sins,
He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven.

Yada (ya-dah) is the Hebrew word for knowing God intimately

Let's Rock The Gates Of Hell!

Recently I found these notes that I had taken in my Bible. They are from a class, or conference or sermon no doubt.

When we learn to pray in the Word of God according to His Spirit we become THE most powerful person on earth! Even when the weakest Christian falls on their knees all of hell trembles...You know why? Cause the enemy CAN NOT come up against a praying Christian who is in God's Word! We're in an ATOMIC Spiritual bond

Let me tell you...age has NOTHING to do with it! Little Parker, Rainey,Jesse w/ the Smyers, Emily, Carla, Laura, Nathan...Anyone of these and others...ANYBODY! In 2Chronicles 7:14 it says: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Everything that is available to the God Head is made available to the person who prays!
I also believe that it is difficult to sin while your in prayer..So if you are struggling get on your knees....I don't care how stinkin long it takes! If we need to be on our knees for hours and they go numb...SO BE IT!

LISTEN PEOPLE! The enemy knows the power of prayer greater than we do! We need to be in the business of rattling those gates! How you ask....PRAYER! How do we keep a desire to pray??? Pray Romans 12:11 for yourself! It says:

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
In a word study zeal means: enthusiastic devotion and fervor means intense heat.
So...putting them together it would read like this

Never be lacking in enthusiastic devotion but keep your intense heat serving the Lord. We need to strive to make time for prayer! I know most of us would never out loud say..Prayer isn't important...But we do ALOT in the way we live our lives! EVERYTIME we get up to do "our ministry" ( whether it's a paid ministry, our family, our job...)When we head into whatever is we do/are doing and we don't anoint it in prayer...we have boldly said prayers for this is not important..I can do it on my own! We have just pleased the enemy!

Oh, LORD may we desire to run to Your table and feast upon Your Word, that we would allow it to truly nourish us with Your AWESOME POWER! Lord help us to want You to infiltrate us that we purposely pray in the power of the Father,Son and Holy Spirit, that we realize that in doing so we help choose the course of human history! Lord remind us that when we pray we are acknowledging Your presence. Oh Mighty King may we make a conscience effort to be on our knees physically so that we will not only be humble and reverent as we approach Your throne, but that it will show the enemy in our posture the reverence we have in You as true Lord and Savior and by doing so May we physically and Spiritually rock the gates of hell and make the enemy tremble!

LORD hear my prayer

LORD I pray we will be blessed to see through Your eyes, and love through Your heart!
I come before you with a humble heart LORD crying out to you for my dear friends as well, as myself. Lord reveal to us where we need to be healed, delivered, changed, matured, or made whole.

I fear we have allowed the enemy more territory and have not armed ourselves as you have cautioned us. Forgive us Father and I beg you to deliver us from the enemy's grip. I pray LORD that we would allow you to carry and lead us through the struggles we are experiencing.

I lift up the distress of finances, troubled marriages, friendships, selfworth, people feeling disconnected, broken hearts, struggles with forgiving... LORD you know there are others.

Please hear this scripture I pray over Your children that are hurting

Psalm25:1,2
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

A question and scripture from...Table Talk, by Karol Ladd

What words would you use to describe God to someone who had never read the Bible before?

Jeremiah 32:18-20 (New International Version)
18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, 19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. 20 You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours.

see also: Psalm 135:1-7 Psalm 23 Psalm 84:11 Psalm 61.62.63