~Happy Valentine's Day~

No big plans around here

except to wait for Darren to get home

Wednesday so we can celebrate

HIS birthday!

Maybe we will even make pink

pancakes :) We will do a little

V-Day dinner as a fam while he is here too :)

Over the weekend my sweet mom surprised

me with a little shopping trip for some new

make-up! Yippee! MAC just came

out with some delicious new colors

last week and the fun pink makes

me sooooo excited for spring!

I am really trying to cut back on the coffee

but these cute cups keep calling my name!

I love festive things.....

Love heart day~

Here is my fun loot!

(Candy lips and jelly beans not included!)

MAC make-up

Violet color eyeshadows

Pink Swoon Powder blush

Woo Me Lip Glass

I also got some much needed foundation.

This was so fun because I really am

a Maybeline, Cover Girl woman...

I miss making Valentines cards so much

that I am having a little party with

my 8th grade Bible Class at school.

Love these vintage cards~

These are super cute bookmarks

I found on Pinterest.

They are just paint cards with heart shaped hole punches~

Cute, Cute!

My Valentine for last 23 years~

Can't wait for him to get home~

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!

I LOVE THIS MONTH FOR A FEW REASONS:

*it means the long month of january is over

*it's my hot husband's birthday

*my awesome dad's birthday

*my best friend's birthday

*it's heart day, which means fun crafts

*it's leap year

*it's sadie hawkins (duh ; )

*it mean spring break is next month

*winter is almost over

here

speaking of crafts, i want to make one of these

a friend made me a christmas one and i "need" a heart one now :)

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this quote~ 



ABIDE (trust, love, faith and more)

In 2011 I will:
ABIDE:
 to remain stable and fixed in a state! 
I like the sound of that.
To press in,
To draw near,
To stay close,
To ABIDE! 
That is my word for 2011
and in 2011 I will.... 

*Look for the Holy in the ordinary moments of my day!

*Work on being present!

*I will view each day as an adventure, planned by God, my Guide.

*Instead of staring into the day, with my check list of things to get done, I will be attentive to HIM and all the HE has prepared for me!

*I will trust that He is with my each moment whether I sense His presence or not.

*Be more thankful and trusting! Life lived close to Him is never dull!

*ABIDE..no matter how long and hard the road is, the safest place is right next to HIM! ABIDING!

*Store up relationships, not treasures.

For 2011 I will

*Live like I serve a God that makes the ordinary life extraordinary and live like I serve a God that is capable and waiting to pour that out upon me!

Paul, in his letter to the Romans talked about becoming a “living sacrifice.” The translation of Romans 12:1 from The Message says it nicely:

Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.


This is our family verse for 2011! As a family, we are thanking God for what He has brought us through in 2010 and looking ahead for what He has for us in 2011~

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
Thornton Wilder

Thankful!

■A thankful heart is not only

the greatest virtue, but the parent

of all the other virtues. ~Cicero

A fun night of baking with the family!

My heart is so full and every year I'm

more overwhelmed by the beauty and graciousness

of our FATHER! He pours blessings on His children..

more than we can imagine and I stand in AWE of all He has

given this little family!

 I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

A Thanksgiving Psalm

Reading this as a family before we eat our yummy dinner!

PSALM 100

On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,

sing yourselves into his presence.

 Know this: God is God, and God, God.

He made us; we didn't make him.

We're his people, his well-tended sheep.

 Enter with the passord: "Thank you!"

Make yourselves at home, talking praise.

Thank him. Worship him.

 For God is sheer beauty,

all-generous in love,

loyal always and ever.



Awesome!



Prayer~

81 degrees at 9:30am!!! Am I really in the NW!? I've already been to the store to buy a slip-n-slide, popsicles and some squirt guns for the hot day! I'm excited! I love sweat! Well, I love to be hot..not just sweat in general..but that hot summer day feeling! Love, love it! Yes, I can't believe I live in OR! I was made for hotness! ha! We had a great 4th of July camping and just living a weekend of thankfulness after Tim's accident last Thursday! We literally prayed, gave thanks together about a dozen times! ("Thank-you, Jesus" just seems so inadequate!) But camping was relaxing and much needed! We swam, rode bikes, hiked, read and did nothing. Perfect!~

Making 4th of July shirts!

My cute, (very serious) husband :)

Hours of Biking some sweet trails!

MT. HOOD

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

My heart has been so focused on PRAYER lately! It always should be, right? But it's not! I have had some crazy, Jesus loving, women come into my life and literally, all they want to do is pray! They want to meet at the church and pray, they want to meet at the high school and pray, they want to meet for coffee and then go on a prayer walk and pray for the community! AWESOME...I know! At first I was a bit overwhelmed...I'm not sure why. I think it had to do with "time" and my selfishnesss with MY TIME! It's my summer...I love no schedule...(I feel ridiculous even admitting that) but once I spent a few days with these friends...I was on FIRE!! I came home and could not stop talking about our prayer time together, God was giving me scripture to pray and we began seeing prayer answered like crazy!! I sound like the concept of prayer is new to me...but it's just a new freshness and annointing that HE has given me recently and I just had to share!! Really, prayer and the Word.....THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!!

 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:7-8


So, all that to say.........I would love to pray for you! How can I pray for you? You can email me or comment and just know...I will be praying!! BLESSINGS!

Still Celebrating~

"Imagine the hope and sense of anticipation the followers of Christ had the morning after Easter! This celebration isn't over friends."   Pete Wilson (I read this on his facebook this morning.)

What a beautiful weekend. My heart is stil so full and GRATEFUL!! It was amazing in ways that I'm not sure I would've noticed if I hadn't taken the time to step back and really reflect on all the God has done in my family. Not just the incredible sacrifice He made for me on the cross..but the healing and the moving of His mighty hand is indescribable! My life, schedules and just plain craziness can cloud my vision on many occassions but this weekend I was determined to stay focused on the whole reason for Easter (in spite of it being the busiest time of the year for any church)  Darren preached 3 times this weekend, we had a huge kids event at churched, helicopter rides and all, but the coolest and most awesome-est (my word :) miracle that took place this weekend is that I got to worship with my parents. They have not had the chance to hear Darren preach or sit with me in service for awhile.  Without going into a long drawn out story of the last 2 years about church dynamics, church drama and pain that comes along with all that...I will say, this weekend was a testimony to HIS faithfulness and HIS healing....we are still walking that healing road but HE is the comforter that holds us through every painful step! HE IS BEAUTIFUL and is faithful to take us through the refiners fire and to bring us out HEALED on the other side...easy? no! Worth it? YES!!

Also, when Darren got up to head to church (at dawn :) The kids and I headed to a sunrise service to hear my dad preach! So glad we did! So blessed to have my kids jump right out of bed, excited to go hear Papa preach. They fed them breakfast afterward...(a little bribery) But I kind of think they would've happily done it anyways!

A Little Plaid and Line Dancing

Darren and I joined our kids at Sadie Hawkins this weekend. They didn't seem to care about us tagging along (chapperoning) on their little  night. We served up some pulled pork, baked beans, cole slaw and cornbread (said with a southern accent) They did a fun talent show and some rip roaring line dancing! Yehaw! It was easy to find something to wear, since it seems the plaid and flannel styles have returned.

Darren got me a gift certificate for a massage for Vday..
even though we decided to only exchange cards.
I should've known that he would get me a little something anyways...and a MASSAGE..hmmm,
now that's my love language, right there! I gave him a men's health magazine (exciting) but I do have a little beach getaway planned for this next weekend, which also happens to be his bday!

Yesterday, I woke up with this song on my mind. It's an older worship song (old meaning 2000) and we don't sing it much at church anymore. What better song to focus on Valentines Day! 
He is the LOVER of my soul!

Jesus, Lover of my soul,

Jesus, I will never let you go

You’ve taken me from the miry clay

You've set my feet upon the Rock, and now i know

I love you, I need you,

Though my world may fall, I’ll never let you go

My Saviour, my closest friend,

I will worship you until the very end

I often read INCOURAGE and I wanted to share a little bit about Angie's post today. Please go and read the entire post, if you have a chance.
Here is a paragraph from the end that really spoke to me:

I couldn't see Him in my mind, but I felt a great peace as I imagined my hands, clutching at fabric all around me so I could run to where He was. I saw myself, falling before Him as my dirty gown settled all around me.

Dirty from the dancing in joy.

Dirty from years of walking across a wet graveyard.
Dirty from loving deeply, richly, completely.
Dirty from the fears, the dreams, the sorrow, the confusion.
Dirty from the memories, the regrets, the mistakes, the injustice of this world.
stained by this life I have walked while my Savior whispered, "One day I will wipe your tears, my sweet bride..."

(angie smith)

In Need of Red!

Happy Valentines Weekend!

We love a reason to celebrate around here! I have the kids little red heart boxes filled with goodies,  waiting to give  to them this weekend. Since V-Day is on a Sunday this year, we probably won't do what we did last year. But we will be breaking out the heart candies, maybe pink pancakes before we head to church, maybe. Tonight we have basketball games, Court of Hearts, and a birthday party. Tomorrow, Darren and I are serving at the kid's high school Sadie Hawkins! Yahoo! Now I just need some cowgirl boots and daisy duke shorts! (kidding about the shorts, but aren't these cute?)

I'm really wishing I had some cool red leggings to wear to school today for our Valentines Party. Wouldn't the kids think that was great!? I am going to wear these and my groovy red lipstick! Ha!

Have a great weekend and if you have a Valentine or not....share the love with someone!

Keep your eyes open,

hold tight to your convictions,

give it all you've got,

 be resolute, and

love without stopping.

1 Cor. 16:14

What's Your Valentine Holder?

What a fun month..a month of pink, red, candy hearts with cute sayings and best of all, the little Valentine cards that kids exchange at school...and I can't forget the chocolate! What kind of Valentine holders did you make when you were a kid? We always made the shoebox holders, covered in foil and then decorated with cute cut out hearts and cupids and arrows...valentines that are probably considered vintage now..ha!

My class made these fun bags last week and now they are decorating our window until our party on Friday. Don't ya just love window clings?

We'll also be decorating our room with these this week! Presh!

This is my favorite..I'm sure I had this one when I was 7!!

Velvet Cupcake Balls?

Over Christmas, my sister-in-law and I attempted to make a red velvet cake  that turned into cupcakes, that turned into balls, which then took on the name, "Santa Balls" It was a complete disaster. I really shouldn't even include sweet Liz in the disaster because she was just an innocent bystander to my huge flop! We did eat a few of the red velvet balls but eventually dumped them in hopes of trying again next year. So, here we are at Valentines Day and yes, I have the itch to try again. I love all things red in February. I would love to redecorate my entire house for V Day! My classroom is really sporting some cool hearts and everything pink, red and white! The window clings are the best. Back to the Cupcakes...I hope to achieve something close to this picture that I found over at sugadeaux cupcakes Now I'm looking for an easy Red Velvet Cake recipe!? Help!