A Quick Verse

I have had this particular verse on my mind all week, and in typical God fashion, He had our Mama Siesta mention it at the beginning of my Bible study yesterday. Here it is....

Deut. 30:11

"This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform." (NLT)

Whatever it is that God has called you to...wife, mother, teacher, student, friend, manager...you can do it. He has given you all you need.

We're off for a busy weekend!

See you Sunday evening!

And yes, the timestamp is correct...we are running out the door as I type this!!

This Is Somewhat Random

Hi. I feel like I've been absent from class for a week!

Things around here are busy and I haven't had as much "free time" (ha, ha, ha) to post OR check on my siestas. I MISS YOU!

There are quite a few things that have happened recently that I want to share, but they deserve a good post, and right now...I'm not sure I can concentrate long enough to do them justice.

The girls and I are working hard to get all our schoolwork done so we can have a "fun" day on Friday. We'll probably do a Fall Party of our own and finish up their costumes. Chloe has decided to go as a "wacky, tacky confused girl", (?) and Emma...Emma wants to be a black cat. Not too hard...I've just got to find her some cat ears. :)


Yesterday in our Latin lesson, we were talking about the difference in visible verbs(run, walk, talk) and invisible verbs. (Like, hope, faith...love.) We had a pretty good discussion about feeling versus seeing, how love could be a visible verb and how important it is to SHOW love to others.

This morning, our family devotion was on: Choosing to show love when you really don't feel like it. (It was very timely as one of us at the table needed to be shown grace AND love this morning after a seriously sassy mouth and attitude. Note to self...don't make breakfast for that daughter..let her do it herself from now on!)
****Edited to add: That particular daughter likes to do it herself! I tried to do something nice and have her oatmeal waiting on her. THAT was NOT what she wanted at all!*****

After I got Chad out the door and the girls upstairs for morning chores before school, I sat down at my desk to check e-mail and just generally check in with the blogworld. When I flipped my calender to today's quote it was this:

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller

I think some of the most beautiful things in the world are: Love, Hope, Grace, Faith, Peace. None of which I see with my eyes, but boy I feel them.

Isn't it beautiful how God weaves things together?

Have a great Wednesday!!!

Saturday Morning 5K at Flowery Branch

We spent a couple of hours outside in the cold this morning watching Chad and Chloe run in the Boo Run 5K up in Flowery Branch.

While this was Chad's second year to run in this race, it was Chloe's first race...EVER.

Here's the man crossing the finish line last year....

From Happy Fall!

Chad told Chloe the goal was to finish.

Chloe told Chad the goal was to beat his time from last year.

She did great and they DID beat his time from last year. (and Chloe finished 3rd in her age group!)

I can't figure out how to add the song I wanted to play with this! I've got to figure that out...anyway...the song is by a group called "This Hope" and the song is "Running the Race"....Chad runs to that song almost everyday...



Emma hasn't felt great today, but she wasn't about to miss her big sister's running debut. I think she was glad to get home, put on her jammies and watch football. I'll enjoy snuggling with her until it's time to make dinner. :)


I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

This word was getting on my nerves

Awesome.

Lately, this word has been on my last nerve. I'm sick of hearing it, I'm sick of saying it! Why is this bugging me so much. It didn't help that as part of our names of God study I was assigned to share my thoughts on it for the month of September. Um...needless to say, I struggled.

When I finally sat down to really think about this word, my initial thought was this is a word I use often. It’s a great adjective! It’s used in casual conversation almost daily in this house. This is a word that for the most part, evokes excitement.

Looking at the word awesome in print, I see a smaller word.

Awe.

Awe does not generate the same jump up and down get excited feeling that awesome does. Awe, to me is a quiet word. Awe is a quiet or almost wordless worship. When I stand, sit or kneel in awe of my God, I’m reminded just how incredible He is. It’s in the quiet that I’m most aware of the magnitude or go with me here, “awesomeness” of my God.

The word awesome has been used so much that for me, it has lost its effect on my heart. As a dear sister said at the conference I was at back in May, it’s time to stop flippantly throwing around this word and reclaim it for God Almighty! He IS awesome!

Exodus 15:11 says “Who among the gods is like you O Lord? Who is like you? Majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders!”

His handiwork is awesome.

His love is awesome.

His sacrifice for me was and is awesome.

Psalm 47:2 “How awesome is the Lord Most High!”

Psalm 45:4 “In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds.”

Psalm 65:5 “You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior.”

Over and over again the Psalms declare how awesome the works and deeds of our Savior’s hands are, and boy they are!! BUT…

God IS awesome.

Stand alone awesome.

May we come to a place where we seek His presence more than we seek the awesome work of His hands.

Family Stuff

My girls had their first ever camping experience last weekend. I did not participate because, well...I just don't enjoy sleeping on the ground, in the cold. Chad knows this about me and planned a daddy/daughter weekend. My dad joined them on Saturday for their adventure at Fall Creek Falls.







When I first looked at the photo above, I couldn't help but think of the verse that talks about training a child in the way they should go and the verses about God being our front and rear guards. My dad led the way over the swinging bridge and Chad brought up the rear, the girls were in the middle, protected the entire time. I asked the girls if they were scared. They said no because they just kept following Daddy Mack and they knew that Daddy was behind them and nothing would happen to them. No fear at all.



Snack time









Chad left me with my mom. We accomplished some Christmas shopping while the others were playing in the woods. We also enjoyed lunch at Aubelo's, I do love that place.
After lunch we visited a new to me store called World Market. Um...can I just say that in my mind I spent about $1000 on organizational stuff...jars, canisters, baskets... and then I saw these glasses with bees on them. I just about had a fit. They were so pretty. (It's almost time to replace dishes and glassware around here and I'm in love with these honeybee glasses.)

So after leaving World Market, we headed to a little place I HAVE to go to when we are in town. (If you are from Chattanooga, it's on East Brainerd Road and is called Genevieve Bond.) I could spend some serious money in there. They have everything from kitchen goodies to baby blankets. It is beautiful and a one of a kind place. I FINALLY found a bottle to hold my olive oil(70 percent off!!) and mom bought some really cool measuring spoons. They have started putting out some Christmas items and I will be heading back there in a few weeks to see what they've added. This is one of those stores that NEVER disappoints.

Making smores on the back porch before the campout.



Being silly with the man.


Seriously, thanks to those of you who e-mailed me last week while I was sick. I feel so much better this week and think that whatever I had has FINALLY decided to leave me alone. Your prayers were felt and I'm so thankful for you.

I've missed checking in with your blogs and hope to get back into blogville soon. I did see Fran's video blog and LOVED it! My girls got a glimpse of it and asked if we could do one for my blog. Who knows...we may just attempt one too. :)

Have a wonderful Monday afternoon!!!

So...What Have You Done this Week?

I feel like I have been absent from blogville for a week. This house has had a sick mommy and we are just now recovering. Our kitchen counter looked like the CVS for a few days! I don't even remember Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Fortunately, whatever this is seems to be getting better and we are getting back on our normal household schedule.

Monday night we had quite a treat. Chad and I decided to surprise the girls with a mystery dinner guest. We told them Monday morning that we had dinner plans and that they needed to be dressed and ready to leave the house at 5:30. Understand..we don't do anything on Monday evenings, and with me not feeling great, they were completely shocked. All day long they tried to figure this mystery date out.



Chad's youngest cousin E. was in town for a conference so we met her for dinner. Emma was her flower girl last year and we haven't seen her since the wedding. It was great to visit with her. The girls were very surprised and talked our ears off the entire way home. They LOVED seeing her again and are making plans. It seems that Emma wants to go cook veggies with E. the next time we are in Chattanooga.



Tuesday night was belt night at karate class. Emma received her green belt and Daddy and Chloe got their green stripe. After belt ceremony, the girls suited up for some sparring. Do you know how hard it is to watch your girls dressed to fight? It's hard I tell you!!



We have had a great week despite being sick. I have been clinging to verses like crazy...I think at one point I prayed "Oh God...be the lifter of my head and lift me off of this bed, my family needs to eat!" He didn't do it. He had my man in that kitchen handling things. I realized just how blessed I am to have a husband who is willing to step in and do a load of laundry, cook a meal and even attempt to do our daughter's hair on top of his work schedule. (Which has been crazy lately thank you Jesus!)

Enough rambling for one night. I'm off to drink some hot tea and maybe have one of the brownies the man made last night.

Our Saturday

From now until Christmas our weekends are packed. Family visits, holidays, birthdays you name it, the weekends,they.are.packed. I'm not too crazy about that, but it's just the season we are in.

This morning all of my people had Karate Tests. This is only the second time that all three have tested on the same day. It just about does my nerves in when they do this and today was no exception. (Of course the cold medicine I'm on could have had something to do with it.) Since they were testing this morning, guess what we did last night? Oh yes, we crammed for the test. Not really, they just went over all their punches, kicks, forms...and then my dainty little girls did this.


(excuse my extremely southern accent please)


Just so you know, they get all of this from the daddy. I do not like to sweat, at.all. And the thought of putting my fist or my foot through a piece of wood makes me physically sick. (Although I will say that they dared me to try and break a board a few months ago and I did. Go mom)

I've used all of my unmedicated brain cells to attempt to form a word picture, as you can tell....it wasn't very successful! So I'm just going to share some pictures. (That's what the grandparents want to see anyway!)

Water Bottle - Check
Sparring Gear - Check
Smile - Check


Emma working hard

Sisters

Chloe coming toward me to do a jumping kick.

My man board break 1 of 4.

Board break. I think this was the last one.


You can sort of see Chloe at the front of the room taking something from the young man in the red jacket. She received high test score again. Her sister was so proud of her.


All three did an outstanding job. All three passed and move on to the next level. And I can breath easy for three months. Then we do this again!

A Sweet Repeat

Because I'm fighting the cold/allergy/sinus JUNK my girls have had all week, I thought I would post a post from my "early days" of blogging.


FOR THIS HOUR originally posted March 2007

For several months I've been using a devotional book called "Come Away My Beloved" by Frances J. Roberts. It's cover describes it as intimate, and it is. Every morning I'm challenged and often times the verse is so applicable to my current situation, that I find my jaw on the ground! It's written so well and you really feel as if God is sitting across the table from you speaking these words. A very good read every Christian should have.

That being said, this morning I was getting the coffee going, letting the dog out, making breakfast and just talking to God about the day. I had a few extra minutes so I grabbed this book and settled in for an extra dose. The verse was Isaiah 58:11 "The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." That in and of it's self was powerful, but then I went on to read the devotional portion: "Behold, My hand is upon you to bless you and to accomplish all My good purpose. For THIS HOUR I have prepared your heart, and in My kindness I will not let you fail." I'm just going to admit to you, I have NO IDEA what I'm supposed to be doing here!! I know the deep desires of my heart, my dreams and the ideas of what I would like to be doing musically, but my human eyes don't see them opening and I am frustrated. I feel like God hasn't closed the door of ministry to me, in fact I feel more strongly than ever that is what He has called me to. So I'm waiting and praying and as frustrated as I get,this time with my Jesus is precious and we are working on some serious stuff. He's showing me once again that the adversities, the suffering we experience as Christians are stepping stones to future blessings.(2Cor. 4:17-18) You know, I look at the past 3 months and have to laugh. Chad and I have been through so much in our 12 1/2 years of marriage. The loss of 2 babies, his diagnosis of Crohns Disease, job loss/career change just doesn't seem that bad!!

I love that FOR THIS HOUR part of today's devotion. I've said it to myself all day. For this hour, His grace is sufficient for me, I can do all things with Jesus help. I can be at rest with my life right now as it is, as long as I know a little more of Jesus today than yesterday. For THIS HOUR: I can homeschool these crazy hormonal girls; For THIS HOUR: I can clean up the dog vomit with a good attitude (ick!); For THIS HOUR: I can and will pray for that person that continually causes pain to someone I deeply love and care for; For THIS HOUR: I will wait patiently on my Lord to show me which way to go.
Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass." For this hour: I will trust God.

How Do You Smell?

Earlier this summer we made a weekend trip to Chattanooga. It was hot, boy was it hot. As we pulled into town, we decided to go see Chad's mom and her husband first. After two hours in the car, we were all ready to stretch our legs. Our toy poodle Paddington needed to run and since they live on several acres, it was the perfect way to start our family visit.

We pulled up and got out of the car. Almost immediately one of the girls said "Gag a maggot mom, what is that smell?" I gave her the "mom look" that pretty much said, hush your mouth and don't say anything else.

As Chad's mom came out she told us that earlier in the morning, a skunk had wandered down very close to the house. The dogs spooked it and he "hid" up against the house. I guess the dogs wouldn't leave the poor little skunk alone, so he decided to leave them a gift. (Oh yes he did, and from the way it smelled...he didn't have any stink left in him.)

My first thought was, thank goodness it was outside and the little stink bomb didn't get into the house!! I'm so glad I didn't say that out loud! My mother in law then told us that their entire house smelled like skunk all morning, but that the smell was better now.

We headed into the house for the comfort of air conditioning and to escape the skunk smell only to find, it was worse in the house. That one daughter of mine, the one that had already been pretty vocal, looked at me with huge eyes. She started to say something, but I quickly gave her the look again. She hushed and put her hand over her nose and mouth. And yes, I talked to her about that once we got back into the car.

I felt so bad for them! It had been almost 8 hours since the "spraying incident" and the odor was still very strong. Bless her heart she had tried everything...opening windows, candles, air freshener you name it, she tried it. As hard as she worked, you can't just air that smell out over a couple of hours. It takes time as much as anything. After the initial aggravation of the entire incident wore off...she was having a good laugh. I still felt bad for her!

We had a nice visit and got in the car to head to my parents. Once we got there, my mom hugged us and said...did you hit a skunk on the way here? We cracked up and told them the story. Here's the thing...

We had spent about an hour or so with Chad's mom. And yes, the aroma was startling to begin with, but the longer we were there the less shocking it became. We didn't realize that just being in that environment would change OUR aroma.

We immediately changed clothes and tossed our skunk scented clothing into the washing machine. We washed our hands and realized that we would have to wash our hair too.

Until Saturday, the Skunk Incident of 08 had slipped my mind. This Chinese Proverb was on my calendar Saturday:

"Flowers leave their fragrance on the hand that bestows them."

I thought about my recent actions, my words, my attitude. I had been pretty "skunky" last week. As a result there were several days that I know my children's behavior was a direct reflection of MY actions. They were irritable because I was irritable.

I did not bestow sweet smelling flowers very often last week.

My "stink" rubbed off on them.

God's word tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."

Whew...that hit home big time. We, believers in Jesus Christ ARE the aroma of God in this world.

And you know what God REALLY impressed on my heart?

The world....

starts at home.

"How am I smelling God?" It's a question I'm starting to ask more often. I don't want my girls to grow up around "stink" and think that it is normal or part of life. I want them to smell God in our home and on me.

Friday Night Adventure to Young Harris College

For the grandparents, I'm posting about our Friday night adventure. Probably going to have a few photos and very little depth! I'm still trying to wake up. :)

First...LEAH! As we were driving up to Young Harris, I grabbed my phone to text you, I left my planner with my Siesta numbers at home....BUT I prayed for you as we passed signs for B'ville! ;)

Our adventure started with a trip to the gas station to top off Chad's car! PRAISE THE LORD there was gas at the station close to our house!!! That was the first praise.

We began the 90 mile trip to Young Harris College to enjoy the "Black Holes" show at the Planetarium. We weren't exactly sure how long it would take, so we gave ourselves plenty of time.

We stopped for dinner in Helen, GA. Dinner wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It had been SEVERAL years since we had been in this little German village tucked into the North GA mountains. We forgot how much it reminded us of Gatlinburg, TN...the part we never go to. You know the place....packed with cheap t-shirt and airbrush shops. My personal favorite was the shop that advertised a "temporary airbrush tattoo". I guess that is a good thing to offer seeing as it was Oktoberfest! I'm sure there will be some that will make a tattoo selection under the influence! I'm just saying, not judging, that there will probably be more than one person who will pick out something in that state that they normally would not want permanently marked on their body. Judging from the number of people hanging out at that store, it was a popular thing.

So after dinner, we HAD to go into the Hansel and Gretal candy shop. The girls walked out with chocolate covered marshmallows. YUM.




No trip to the mountains is complete without a picture with a bear.



It wasn't too long until it was time to jump back in the car and head on to Young Harris. What a beautiful drive it was. The mountains, the sky, it was all so beautiful.

Once we got on campus and parked, we entered the science building and waited with a lobby full of people for the doors to open. I wish I had taken a picture of the mural in the lobby of this building. It was absolutely beautiful. At first glance, it appears to be brightly colored tropical plants...BUT look a little longer and you see all sorts of hidden objects...satellites, R2D2 from Star Wars, the girls had a blast seeing how many different "hidden" things they could find.

Once in the planetarium we settled in for about a 45 minute show on "Black Holes".
(a peak inside the planetarium and an example of the info they scrolled overhead while we waited.)


While the "Black Holes" show was great the host, I'm guessing a professor at the school, was INCREDIBLE. He was SO excited to show us so many different things and honestly, he could have talked to us for an hour and my girls would have been just as happy. When he started showing us constellations and naming them, Chloe and Emma about jumped out of their seats...we had studied these names in Latin last year and they were SEEING those constellations on the ceiling. Science came off the page for them last night and they were in love.

The professor introduced and explained a little about the show and mentioned that it was narrated by Liam Neeson. Chloe leaned over and said "Who's that?" Once I told her he was the voice of Aslan in the Narnia movies she about had tears of joy. That was all it took to send her excitement over the edge.


After we were done in the planetarium, we headed down the road about a mile to the school's observatory. We parked and walked up the path, in the dark by the way, to a little domed building tucked on a hill. We walked in and the professor was there and let the girls look at Jupiter. Emma went first. As she came down the ladder I took her outside and she pointed up to Jupiter, and said "I SAW JUPITER UP CLOSE!!! MOM IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!! IT LOOKED A RAINBOW OF COLORS!" I used all caps to let you know that even though she was whispering, her excitement was definitely in all caps!

Chloe's comment was "Awesome!" Chad's comment(s) were a little more detailed. He was in heaven. He kept describing in great detail for me what it looked like. He was on a high the entire way home. (Because there were several behind behind us and it was a very small space, I stepped outside with the girls after they were done so others could get in out of the cool air. I'll check it out next time.)

The best part of this entire adventure was other than gas money and dinner, it was free. The college does this for FREE. It was incredible and we are already talking about going back for the holiday show. In fact, it is what I asked to do for my B'day in December.

I Love Friday

I LOVE Friday. Always have. Friday mornings around here usually come with an atmosphere of excitement. Today was no exception.

It's a cool fall morning. Not a cloud in the sky and we are very excited about that. Tonight we head up to an observatory for our Friday family night activity.

The girls can hardly wait, in fact they are upstairs right now picking up their rooms and then they are voluntarily taking a nap. "So they'll be rested for the show."

We have an uneventful Saturday and normal Sunday routine. I'm pretty excited to worship at the piano on Sunday morning. We have a special guest at church Sunday and I'm a little nervous about that, but I have my "nerve" verse on my pink 3x5 card and it will travel to the piano with me.

I'm working on a post to share what God has been saying to our family this week. He has blown my mind. From last Sunday on, he has woven a theme into our family devotion, Sunday school lessons...you get the idea. Everywhere we turn we get the same message.

Okay, I've stalled long enough. It's time to get up and go clean the bathrooms. They are always the last on my Friday cleaning list. Once that is done...I'm done with my housecleaning for the weekend!!

Happy Friday. :)

Check this Siesta Out

I was so blessed to worship beside Cheryl (Profbaugh) in San Antonio. She has such a heart and passion for our Savior.

Recently she and a friend went to see "Fireproof". This movie made quite an impact on her. Cheryl has bought the book referenced in the movie and is posting a challenge a day. Today is the second day and let me tell you....I like what I'm reading.

So I challenge you to go check the Prof out here and invest a little into your marriage.

If you've seen the movie tell me what you think!! Chad and I have date night planned to see this. (Well, we do as soon as our sitter recovers from having her wisdom teeth out!)