Never Forget

I'm Proud to be an American

and I will never forget . . .

The Twin Tower Falling

The plane hitting the Pentagon

or the plane that crashed into the Pennsylvania field!

May God Bless America!

Walk for Life

Myself and 3 friends will be participating in the 

Walk for Life this Saturday, September 10th. 

            Walk for Life benefits Real Options for Women, a Christ-centered ministry reaching out to women facing unplanned pregnancies.  Real Options for Women is unique from other clinics in that every single client is presented the gospel.

Real Options for Women offers the following services free of charge:

• Pregnancy tests
• Crisis intervention counseling
• Medical pregnancy confirmation
• Ultrasound imaging
• Spiritual counseling 
• Ongoing counseling for life issues 
• 180 Degrees education program in schools and churches
• ROC – Real Options on Campus 
• STD screening and treatment 
• Abortion recovery support groups

I am taking donations and pledges for the walk. 

If you would like to donate, you can contact me or go to: 

•   www.friendsofro.com
•   click on “Donate”
• as you are going through the process just enter my name as the person you are sponsoring

           If you would like additional information about Real Options for Women please visit www.friendsofro.com.

Thanks

How He Loves

How He Loves
By: John Mark McMillan

This song is amazing! I love the words and how honest and true they are. It is one of those song that when I hear it I can not help but to sing along and it causes me to stop thinking about what's going on around me or what's bothering me and just worship! If you have not heard it or seen the video of John Mark McMillan's testimony take to time to stop and watch it now!

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.


And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all


Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…


He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

North Carolina or Bust

Let me start out by saying sorry,  most of the pictures are blurry because they were taken on my phone . . . yep, we went on a long over due family vacation and NO ONE brought a real camera! :(

We hit the road Sunday afternoon at about 2pm for North Carolina!

We arrived at Grandma Julia's house at 2pm on Monday (exactly 24hrs later)

Monday night mom, Anna and I went over to my Aunt Lynnie's shop. She does permanent makeup (you can check her out on Facebook). Mom had her eyeliner done years ago and needed a touch up, Anna chickened out and I got my eyeliner tattooed on! In the picture below my eye is still pretty swollen and sore.

Tuesday night Grandma Julia had a family get together were we got to see some of our family we had not seen in YEARS!! Aunt Deborah fell in Love with Levi.

Nathan found a candy shop with the World's Largest Gummy Bear so he had to get a picture with it! 

It was 5lbs! :)

Thursday we drove another to 2hrs to Carolina Beach! It was Levi's first time and he LOVED it!

 Levi and Uncle Chris with his sand castle!

Friday night we had another family get together but this time it was with my mom's side of the family.

Saturday we started for home! This is just 1 of the many things we did to keep Levi entertained for the trip :)

We stopped in Gatlinburg, TN Saturday afternoon. 

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium and a Mirror Maze that night!

Sunday morning we got up and went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum - Very Cool!

This was made of over 6,600 feet of Gum Wrappers and took 18 years to make!

After grabbing some lunch we jumped in the car for the LONG ride home.

We had a Great trip but I am also very happy to be home!

I Did It!

 

I have officially gone two weeks without make up!
During that time I focused on inner beauty and that we are all God's beautiful creation. :) 

I am VERY proud of the girls the did this with me!

*Ephesians 2:10 - "We are His masterpiece..."

*Psalm 139:14 - "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

*1 Samuel 16:7 - "... For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

*Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

*1 Peter 3:3-4 - "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
 

*1 Timothy 4:8 - "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next."

*Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

No Make-up Challenge

Okay, so this past week I gave all the teen girls at my church this No Make-up Challenge!

I presented the challenge to them by writing this letter:

"I want to start out by saying you are Beautiful. Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
            I also want to be completely honest with you, I forget that about myself MOST of the time. Almost every time I stand in front of the mirror I am thinking about everything I want to change about myself. It is a daily battle for me. I have been blessed with an awesome husband and wonderful friends that encourage me and tell me I'm beautiful but most of the time it goes in one ear and out the other.
            The reason I am telling you this is because I KNOW I am not the only one that feels like this. I also want you to know that just because you get older you don’t suddenly figure everything out.
            There are things that I use as a cover up that keep me from listening to God when He says that "We are His masterpiece..." in Ephesians 2:10 and one of those things that I use as a cover up is make-up. So I have decided to give it up. I am going to start out by not wearing make-up for the next 2 weeks.

During the time I would be using to put on my make-up I am going to be studying/ memorizing the following 7 verses:

*Ephesians 2:10 - "We are His masterpiece..."

*Psalm 139:14 - "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

*1 Samuel 16:7 - "... For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

*Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

*1 Peter 3:3-4 - "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

*1 Timothy 4:8 - "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next."

*Ecclesiastes 3:11 - "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

So I am asking you to take the NO Make-Up Challenge with me. Now I know most of you don't do the whole make-up thing, so I want you to stop and think of what you use as a cover up. It may be fixing your hair, it could be the choice of clothing, it could be anything ... most of us have something we use as a cover up so think about what it is & Give it Up for the next 2 weeks and use that time to put God 1st!

So who is with me?

P.S. I don’t think there is anything wrong with make-up or fixing your hair but if we put it before God and we don't believe everything that is written in His word, that is when I think we need to re-evaluate our priorities and that is what I'm talking about!"

Remember: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

So I want to challenge you to do the same! Are you with me?

What time is it . . . .

and that is all that needs to be said! :)