I've failed :(

Okay, I know, I know, I've failed my readers! I haven't blogged in soooo long! Life has just been a bit chaotic and blogging was honestly the last thing on my mind. Any"who", for Valentine's day I wanted to have family portraits taken so my wish was granted and and off we went to portrait innovations for photos:

Josiah was not cooperating with the photographer, so we finally said "don't smile"...and of course he then smiled! At least his noncooperation worked well for a "tough guy" image on the motorcycle!

After prayer that evening we were discussing what to do for dinner. Every place we thought of would more than likely require a long wait, and we weren't in a long wait mood. Then somehow the conversation turned to how good Sis. Garrett is on the organ at church and with organizing music....suddenly, we thought of Organ Stop Pizza!!!! (go figure!)

So, we ended up at Organ Stop Pizza and were so happy about it! The kids hadn't been there in a long time, Josiah didn't even remember it, and it wasn't very busy so it was just so enjoyable! There was a older couple (at least in their 80's) who got up at one point and started dancing together over in the corner, which was just the cutest thing ever! They were so in love and it was refreshing to see!

Needless to say, the kids loved every moment of the music and they were entertained more than at a playland! We will definitely be doing that again!

Mama's day in Texas

Life has been so busy! In a good way though :)

For mother's day weekend I had requested that I go see my mama. I haven't spent a mothers day with her since moving to Arizona (6 years)! So we decided to make it a surprise trip and didn't tell her we were coming. We actually drove into Amarillo, TX where she was spending her day shopping. I communicated with my dad via text to find out what store they were at when we got into town. Then, it was perfect, she was inside the store when we got there, so we stood outside next to the front door of the store. When she came out, I stepped towards the door and said "excuse me ma'am...", I didn't even get to finish my sentence, she was in shock!!!! It was great :) It was a great weekend, lots of fun, but we're glad to be back home. It's funny, I always look forward to traveling but am so happy when I'm back home in my own "castle".

Here are some pics from the weekend-

                               Rachel and I singing a special song at church service Sunday:

                     Rachel, Josiah, and their cousin Jaxon hangin' out at Papa and Nana's house:

                                                                         All smiles :)

 

Living for God is fun!

Whew! I can't believe that April is almost over! We have had so much fun the last few weeks with Easter outreach and now are totally "stoked" (Robert's words) about what God is going to do in the near future!

Ok, for those of you who are not familiar with outreach, it is fun. Work yes, but definitely fun and worth all of the effort. This year, we were part of a very united outreach team and were so thankful for the spirit of God being present at every moment of the way. The team met at church every night for a week and a half to do outreach and prayer before was powerful! This year bus routes were combined to make sure that each route had a shared effort put forth to get the message out.

Now, let's just say that friendly competition is fun, very fun. My husband and I are not super competitive by nature but we do like to be "friendly" in our competitiveness that exists. So, the Saturday night before Easter, we delivered a "epic" (thank you bro. and sis. Lipkin(s), lol) friendly prank. So, originally a few of the "red" people were planning on flooding the "blue" teams (smurfs!) buses with red balloons on Saturday night, well, it was leaked somehow and the blue team "people" were not too happy about it. We thought it was pretty harmless (unless allergic to latex) but decided since the plan was ruined, oh well. We went to dinner and over dinner one of us made the comment that we could instead "prank" ourselves and blame it on the blue team for a little while, just to get them all fired up! LOL, EPIC! So, that's exactly what we did. You'll see some photos of the process. We were all exhausted but it was so much fun. The looks on the blue team captains faces when the buses were pulled around on Sunday was priceless! They immediately began to say "we didn't know! so sorry!" hahaha, by the end of the day it had been hilarious to watch them questioning each other, trying to find out "who" did it. When they were told that we had done it to ourselves, that was even funnier! Even our team captains house was "tulled" (instead of toilet paper, much easier to clean up) with blue tulle. Who said living for God can't be fun?!

Enjoy the pics below of just a few of the wonderful moments we experienced:

 

 

 The significance of this photo is because while at Wal-Mart buying our "prank" items, the cash got jammed in the machine...I've never had that happen before and we were laughing about it because it was just so typical!

I think we have a witness FOR Jehovah on our hands folks....

Okay, so lately Rachel has really been serious about the fact that living for God is necessary. She is constantly asking the question "why?", which we promote in our house. I don't want my children living for God just because we said so, but instead I want to help foster a understanding in their hearts. So, with that being said, Rachel's been at it lately evangelizing her family, friends, and yes...strangers. She has recently pointed out to a few family and friends things that are found in Deuteronomy 22:5, Leviticus 19:28, 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Corinthians 11:15, and Psalm 101:3...let's just say, that doesn't always go over very well :) To be honest, I've had a hard time with the negative feedback I've received about it, but at the same time I don't understand why we would teach our children such truths and then tell them to keep it to themselves...doesn't make sense. Of course, there is not a ounce of wisdom when it comes to the way they present it usually, which means a lot of "explaining" to do, but at the same time I wish that I had the boldness to proclaim the gospel like a little child!

 

Anyhow, last night just made me laugh and cry so hard that I have to share. So, as you may know, yesterday was Ash Wednesday. I didn't think of this when we I took the kids to McDonalds to play in the playland until there were a few people with the ashen cross marked on their foreheads from attending mass. Well, Rachel noticed nearly right away and began questioning a boy (probably 8 yrs old) about his beliefs. Next thing you know she walked with him over to where his mother was sitting and the conversation began...it went like this:

Rachel: "There is not 2 gods!"

Boys mother: "Oh really?"

Rachel: "No!" "there is only one God and His name is Jesus!"

Boys mother: "Oh, yes of course!" "My son was talking about Mother Mary honey."

Rachel: "Yeah, well, Mary was Jesus's mama, she is not God." "Mary got the Holy Ghost, spoke in tongues and everything, then she died."

Boys mother: astonished look...."Oh, okay."

Rachel: "I just want you to tell him" (pointing at the boy) "that there is one God, because he thinks there's 2 or 3!"

Rachel: turns to the boy..."see? There is only one God".

Boy: "Ok".

 

Of course, when this conversation came to a close, I looked at my husband who was about to explode laughing and he said "what do we do?". Thinking back to my own childhood and the times I did some of the same "witnessing", I said "nothing"..."let's go though because I am about to laugh and cry at the same time".

 

It is amazing to see such a light come on in a child's mind when they begin to grasp a little of what is being taught to them. It sure makes me feel overwhelmed with awe at how God can work through the innocence of a child to spread such a important message. Remember: Psalm 8:2 & Matthew 5:14.

Goodbye grandmother...

Saying goodbye is never easy, but it is the cycle of life. Last week I said goodbye to my grandmother and felt so much pain looking at my granddaddy struggle with the loss of his wife. They were married for 62 years!

My grandmother was someone who always had a gift to give, literally. I remember growing up that we would always look forward to her gifts. Usually crayons, coloring books, and oh yes...chewing gum :) She worked for the Internal Revenue Service and for me that put a more personal perspective on taxes during my adult years ;)

While in California last week for her viewing and funeral service, it was awesome to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that I hadn't seen in many years. It was wonderful to see them and do what grandmother liked us to do best...Take Pictures!!!! She was always adamant about capturing moments when we were all together, and now I'm so glad she was!

Here are some photos from our time together:

All of us grandkids in birth order...yes! I'm the third, which means that I am NOT the oldest :)

                                         My mama and her siblings with their daddy:

                                                  
                                                    Rachel holding Jaxon at the viewing:

    Josiah and his great aunt Christine listening to a story at granddaddy's house after the funeral:

                                           
                                          The great grandkids:

                                 My granddaddy with my brother Shiloh, wife Jessica and Jaxon:

                              
            Granddaddy glad to finally meet Jaxon, but wished Grandma would have met him too :(

                                            Grandma's favorite color was light blue:

Busy!

Okay, I know that I have a ton to blog about, but first I have to share something very recent with you all. I have been attempting to talk Robert into painting our cabinets white...well, I was not having very good outcomes with the discussion. I just hated the old oak cabinets in our kitchen and knew that it was not feasible to re-do them any other way than painting them (and besides, I've always wanted a white kitchen). So, when Sis. Morey asked if we would host group fellowship at our home this past Saturday, I leaped with joy. This is because I just knew that now Robert would want to fix up the kitchen! So needless to say, here was my kitchen Friday (rotated and saved but for some reason it will not work on upload):

You can imagine how panicked I was feeling...I had to take everything out of the cabinets and drawers and so you can imagine what the living areas looked like! Well this was Saturday morning, it took 6 hours to complete the job, that's including the prep time:

 

I kept worrying and Robert kept saying "don't worry, it will get done". I promise you that when Pastor Garrett walked through our front door for group fellowship, Robert was very glad that he had completed the project, heehee. Hmmm....how many other projects do I need done... ;)

 

The kitchen is not completely done, we are still going to finish the island and add crown moulding, but for now I am happy with my sparkling white kitchen!

 

God bless America!

Wishing everyone a happy and safe 4th of July!