Happy 6th Birthday Avery!!!

Our sweet pea, 2nd princess, Avery is 6! Wow, I can't believe my sweet girl is in Kindergarten and growing super fast. She's such a blessing to our family with her sweet spirit, angel eyes, and loving heart.
For her birthday from us, Avery chose to have her ears pierced like big sister, Addie. She did AWESOME! No tears. I took some before, during, and after pictures.
So here is to our second daughter, Avery Rian, happy birthday sweet girl...
We Love You Tons!

My Crazy Week

Wow!!! As I sit typing this blog, it's already Tuesday evening and tomorrow is hump day! This week has thrown me all off with traveling and the girls being out of school. This past weekend, I took a trip to Dallas area to see my family. It was wonderful and some much needed time with them. I hadn't seen my sister since our family trip this summer to Florida! Way tooo long so it was so nice to catch up and see my niece and nephew.
Anyway, we traveled home on Monday and that was weird because it really felt like Sunday. Today the girls and I hung around the house and I did like 5 loads of laundry and then some errands. So, tomorrow on Wednesday, I'll be cleaning the house and re-packing the bags as we are flying out to the Panhandle for the weekend. Avery decided she wanted her ears pierced for her 6th birthday so we will go the mall and celebrate this big event Wednesday evening. Then Thursday, the girls head to school for a couple of hours, we pick them up before lunch, and then we are off to the airport! Ryan is speaking for a youth function all weekend and the church said they would fly my entire family so we are all taking advantage of the offer. The bonus is that we are staying with Ryan's parents and get to make it a little family time with Ryan's side of the family. I am looking forward to the trip. The girls have never flown and the weather is suppose to be super chilly. I'll get bring a jacket! Yippee and trick or treating will be nice and cold. Yea, can't wait. But for now, I gotta go fold some more laundry. ;)

The Other Joys that fill my Heart....

Buster Brown (9-1-07..died at 15 years of age)

Obi-Wan

Hobbes

Taffy


The animal lover in me just can't get enough of these creatures that fill my house with 3 wild, crazy girls! I just love how God gave us animals to take care of and love. Here's to my other joys....

Monday's message

Psalm 28:7
"The Lord is my strength and my shield,
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks
to Him in Song.

This verse has been helping me over the past weeks as we our in this "transition" time in God's calling. Its funny how, even though its Ryan's career/job, it affects me greatly because we are one.
I have found much comfort in this verse. My heart does trust in Him not just my head and knowledge but my heart. He knows me and my future and because I TRUST that, I know I am helped wherever this new journey leads.

Red River Rivalry

Because he's a football lover,
Because OU is his favorite college football team,
Because its played in Texas (5 hours away),
Because he has always wanted to go,
Because it would be an awesome date,
Because it's located right in the middle of the State Fair with amazing junk food......

I would love to get Ryan tickets to the Red River Rivalry showdown at the Cotton Bowl next year! This is a promise that someday we shall be among the sea of orange and maroon yelling for OU!

In Honor of My New Friend...

I am sharing a Pumpkin Dump Cake that I'll be making this weekend for small group. The recipe came from a new friend who shares a lot of similar loves in life!

In honor of my new friend, Stephanie, who loves Dr Pepper and has a heart for her large Labrador dog and also served along side her husband in student ministry for over 15 years, thank you for sharing this yummy Fall dessert!

Pumpkin Dump Cake

1 lg can of pumpkin pie mix (make sure its the mix)
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter
pecans (optional)

In a 9 x 13 pan put the pumpkin on the bottom and sprinkle the yellow cake mix on top! Melt a stick of butter on top and add pecans if desired.
Cook at 350 for 45 minutes.

Serve with Ice Cream!
Enjoy

Looking Inside Forgotten God

My husband picked up Francis Chan's new book Forgotten God. It looks like another quick read and I can't wait to hunker down and begin the book!
I was looking through the book at some quotes, chapter titles and did a little reading here and there. I read the following and almost quit breathing! I was amazed. Here is what it said...

"How many times have you heard someone say, "I just wish I knew God's will for my life"? I know I've longed for this before. But now I see it as a misguided way of thinking and talking. There are very few people in the Scriptures who received their life plan from God in advance (or even their five-year plan, for that matter!) Consider Abraham, who was told to pack up his family and all his possessions and start walking. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know if he would ever be back. He didn't know any of the details we consider vital (destination, how long the venture will take, what the costs/rewards would be, whether he'd receive a 401k, or health insurance.) God said to go and he went, and that's pretty much all he knew.
I think a lot of us need to forget about God's will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit's leading today, in the moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today's decisions."

WOW! I was totally blown away reading that small paragraph as I was looking inside Chan's new book! How true this is for our life right now as we feel God really stirring something and speaking to us. It was good for me to read this because I think for my personality, I need and have to have it all planned out and know exactly what's next. Francis Chan' goes on to say that dwelling on the future often excuses us from the faithful and sacrificial living today. He says that when we constantly talk or question our future, or stay even a safe zone , that we can let it take the place of letting the Spirit affect or immediate actions in radical ways.

I think this is exactly what has been going on with me and Ryan and this "stir".
I don't think it was coincidence for me to come across that today. Especially after Ryan and I had a wonderful conversation last night followed with prayer.
I am excited now to jump right in this book and learn more about the Holy Spirit.
Thank You Francis Chan!

These are a few of my favorite Fall things....

A pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks
Pumpkin candles
fuzzy socks in the morning
pumpkins on the porch
long sleeve t-shirts
pumpkin pancakes/pumpkin bread
Color changes
Crisp, cool mornings (we get very few down in South Texas)
a new Season

Fall is so fun! I look forward to it every year and really never appreciated it until I moved to South Texas 7 years ago. We only get Fall for 2-3 days and then the weather always seems to spike back up to the upper 80s! So today, I celebrate me and my fuzzy socks this morning as the temps were in the low 50s! Yea!! :)

Have You Heard????

The news of Francis Chan's latest book is out. Yippee! I loved his book Crazy Love and can't wait to read his new one.
It's called The Forgotten God. Its all about the Holy Spirit.


I love reading in my spare time and I love Francis Chan. He challenges you, stretches you to have a transformational love for God and to live that out. Wow, Crazy Love was awesome so I can't wait to digest his wisdom on the Holy Spirit.

My Computer Nights

There are so many things I should be doing about right now! However, I love this time of night when the kids are in bed (have been since 8) and I read my daily blogs, check facebook, and well just play around on the computer. At this point in my life, I could get rid of cable and only keep the internet because I would rather stay connected to by cyber-friends and read about the happenings in each of their lives.

I have found great encouragement with these blogs I follow, most of them being pastor wives. Its fun to see there leadership skills, encouraged by their thoughts or ideas, and their love for the Lord. So, Its about this time every night, that my eyes are drying out due to tiredness yet I feel so energized by my fellow cyber-friend bloggers. Thank you all, you know you much fun the connection and encouragement of motherhood, ministry, and life can be. Keep blogging!