One Thousand Gifts and my daughters

"That which tears open our souls, those holes that splatter our sight, may actually become the thin, open places to see through the mess of this place to the heart-aching beauty beyond. To Him. To the God whom we endlessly crave."

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

I'm so excited to listen to this book on audible with my two oldest girls. I've listened to  just a few chapters but, WOW, what a blessing Ann's beautifully poetic and heart stirring words are already to me. Love being able to share this with Karis and Kimmi. Love that God provides Godly women, like Ann, to guide me towards a deeper walk with Jesus and also to help me guide my older girls too!!

If these two of  mine can grasp this at their young age that pain is used by God to help us see Him!! That pain, tragedy, disappointment and sadness is part of God's plan to fill up our "soul holes"!! ------Well, that would be a beautiful foundation for these two young women of mine. It really would be everything. Pain is not something I will ever seek, but I'm praying that I and my daughters can receive all the gifts that He has for us and be grateful for it all!!

Here's my pretty girlies!!

 

It's been a good Wednesday!!

So thankful today that Jesus  used some questions in their spelling workbooks to convict the hearts of two of my little people!! 

I've enjoyed the BJU curriculum this year. It has been nice to sit with them as they watch the classes stream in. It's the first year I've used a school curriculum where everything is DONE and ready to use!! It has been wonderful, and it's really the best year we have had in a long time. 

Here they are before we started school. They were enjoying combining and playing with their beanie babies. 

These questions triggered some real internal questions in these two. 

What have you done for Jesus?

Where will you spend eternity?

Who has paid for your sins?

Here's another question!!

Do I feel blessed to be their momma? 

Yes!!! I do indeed!!

I was praying for and seeking Joy this morning. I had, earlier in the morning, signed up to receive emails from Kay Warren (saddleback church) that will be sent me. It's a series on JOY!! I  was surprised at how quickly I was received the first day's devotional. I sat here with my earphones in while they were watching a class. She gave a definition of 

Joy:

"The settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of  my life. The quiet confidence that everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation."

I love both these blessings today!! 

That God would use a simple spelling worktext to bring up these eternal life changing questions in the hearts of my children is a pretty good object lesson for me that I can relax and trust my savior that He wants the best for me and my family. JOY!! JOY!! JOY!!

Kay Warren's site is there particularly for pastors wives, but the first video speaks to all. It's also very short... I would have enjoyed more for sure. 

http://kaywarren.com/pastors-wives/

Oh, my plan was to post a food blog today, so here is dinner.

7 red potatoes halved 

1 purple onion chopped

2 packages smoked beef sausage cut into pieces 

Half jar of mild banana peppers 

Olive oil

Butter

Salt and pepper

Basically, you layer it in the crockpot. I coated the potatoes with oil , salt and pepper and then added the onion. I cooked the sausage in butter and added to the crockpot. I poured some of the vinegar from the peppers into the empty pan to get all the goodness from the bottom. Then I added this to the crockpot .....then half a jar of the peppers on top. It's been cooking on low all day. 

It's been a good Wednesday, y'all!!

Green Smoothies and a totally fattening dinner

So, for dinner, I made this amazing adaptation of a chicken spinach Alfredo roll up dish. I adapted because I had spaghetti noodles, and lots of them,

 and everything else needed except for lasagna noodles. 

This is the uncooked pan of the deliciousness that I texted to my college kids just to make them hungry around lunch time. It was really mean, I know. 

Also, here is the green smoothie I consumed

Twice

Today, but I'm doing it totally different now than in the past. Up until today, I've been using an expensive protein powder to add to my awesome smoothies. It just occurred to me that if I added a little more protein and some dates, I'd have a better and less expensive smoothie. 

Here's my recipe:

1/2 Cup Greek yogurt (unflavored)

1/2 Cup Spinach

1 of either a banana or apple

3 dates

1 TBS chia seeds

Ice and about a half cup of water. 

I just blend it in the bullet and Voila!!

The dates make it sweet and delicious....

I like this post because it seems Jekyll and Hyde like.

Extremly healthy eating until dinner, and then I work on improving my mental health with some comfort!!

It makes the family happy too.

Bon Appetit friends!!

Happy Fall!!

Have a Happy and very blessed fall friends!! This is a great picture for the first day of Fall and a great verse for all parents for sure!!

I'm so glad that God, my parent, gives me grace because there have been days when I have not just felt like giving up, but I actually did give up. Really, there have been whole seasons where I have felt like giving up. 

I'm so thankful for it all, though, because my salvation came in the midst of the trials. I would love to write more about the Grace that God has given me, and the painful road traveled to get to rest and peace with the Lord. My plan is to find  some moments here and there to write about the blessings and the pain along the journey, but mostly I would like to share the message that Grace, rest and peace abound in the one and only savior, Jesus. 

Oh, I sent this image to my three oldest children today who happen to be college students. They have all been putting in laborious hours daily!! I am so proud of these three......

Karis

Cason

And Kimmi

I love them so much, and am so blessed to be their mommy!! We also have six younger presh babies and a very lovely grand daughter!!

Here are some of us just for an updated picture since its been quite awhile since I considered doing any blogging. 

Pretty intense, but we were on our way to see the youngest college girl this day!!

God Bless friends!!

Babies and Zinnias

Summer Memories from Georgia

I'm so excited to see these two girls grow up together. Martha needed Audrey to help her know the need for and the goodness of sharing. Audrey needs Martha because Martha is the only person in Audrey's world who will ever expect HER to share.

 Sweet Audrey

 Oh my goodness!

Audrey's beautiful Mommy!! I'm so proud of my precious daughter and her lovely mothering skills. There is nothing like the pride a mother feels when she see her own child become a godly parent herself. 

 Pretty Martha always has something to say!

Is this a good smile mommy? I really just want to help you be successful in this photoshoot!

 Look sleepy I say. 

 My favorite of Martha---hahhaha!! Get these insect ridden things off me!!!

 Smile big and we can be done: )

My New Home!!

It's been quite a while since I've posted. We moved into our new house mid-October. This is a blessing I wasn't expecting. 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

God is very good and faithful and trustworthy. Resting in Him is the answer to everything in our lives.

OK!! Here's my new home!

 We've updated the outside so far only by changing out all the windows. We were going to immediately paint the brick to give her a little face-lift, but after the windows went in we decided to wait because it was much better. We're still deciding: ) The windows have not been changed yet in this picture.

 My pretty yard pictures!!! We have great hills for rolling down!!

 Kimmi and Max on our bench and Turkey Creek.

 Mot, Kimmi, Max(I love how he sits), Cole  and Karis and my beautiful grand baby girl Audrey!!
Karis and Audrey have their own apartment built onto the back of the detached garage with full kitchen, bath, living area and bedroom. It was a lawyers office way back in 1964!! I keep thinking about how God was thinking about and planning for my family the year after Richard was born. Well, I mean wayyy before that, but you know what I mean.  This was a definite added blessing although being raised with so many siblings, Karis loves company and she and Audrey hang inside with the rest of the gang most of the time.

 Kamryn being her usual spunky self.

Visiting with friend Kristen: )

 The love of my life and our sweet first grand child Audrey Elizabeth

Cole and Max---the bros: )

 Be careful Max--- Lookout for gators

 My kitchen before: )
When we found this house, I fell in love with the size, the character of an old house, the acre, the privacy, the tidal creek, the basement!!! What? A basement in charleston?? I wanted it no matter what. My only request was to paint everything that was brown and to take out carpet to reveal the wood floors. My talented husband obliged plus some. We do still have our 1960's bathroom tile!! Pink, lavender and bright blue. I' will post about these one day. They definitely deserve their own post: )

I also just realized Cason is no where to be found on this post. I'll have to post again soon just to brag about his awesome first semester both academically and swim wise!! He rocked those classes, and he is already sooooo close to breaking two College of Charleston records. Go Cason and Go Cougars. Ok, I guess I don't need to post a bragger blog about Cason now: )