Spiritual Sundays

Happy weekend Everyone! It's my favorite time to blog and to visit others :) I pray you will join us in Spiritual Sundays and visit others who have posted as well! Thank you Charlotte and Ginger for all you do for Spiritual Sundays



Enjoy this new song by Chris Tomlin..... Will you let your Faith Arise??

Friday Funnies ♥ Bieber Fever

Happy Friday everyone! Can you even believe we are approaching the last week of June already???? Man, I wish Summer would slowwwww downnnnn :)

Anyhooo .... You might have heard about Bieber Fever. Justin Bieber is just the cutest thing! He has fans of all ages and this little guy has got to be one of the cutest fans I have ever seen! Enjoy this clip ~ We have gotten such a kick out of it!





Happy Weekend my Dear Friends! Love to you ALL!

Thankful for.....

I am so thankful it is SUMMER TIME


We have been enjoying "Summer" since the kids were out of school, but Now....It's Official :)

Swimming with my family and friends, sitting out on the back porch in the evenings and talking with the kids, listening to the outdoor symphony of the frogs, crickets, and cicadas. Seeing the Beautiful Moon and the Stars twinkling and catching one fall every now and then!


Fireworks! My Husband and Son are sooo funny! They LOVE to shoot off fireworks together, and trust me, it does NOT have to be July 4th. I love to watch my honey, it is like he turns into a young boy, with such a smile on his face as he shoots off the LOUD and Booming Fireworks! Soo cute :)





Grilling out! Making yummy dinners on the grill whether it is chicken to add to a salad, or some burgers, and even better, how about a steak or some fajitas! Just love grilling and having dinner outside together!


I am so thankful it is SUMMER TIME


What are you thankful for so far this Summer??

Cleaning, De-cluttering, and Organizing ~ OH MY!

Goodness gracious, mercy me! I don't know where the days go anymore.....I know it's not like me not to blog but I have been doing some organizing and de-cluttering and by the time I finally sit down in the evening or early morning LOL I am plum tuckered out! I do LOVE being able to stay up soo late and sleeping in. We are such night owls and very rarely do we get in bed before 2:30 or 3 am. CRAZY I KNOW!

Anyway, My husband and I have been working on our bedroom and our Master Closet. It has been quite the task but OH MY how I love the end result! Getting rid of clutter, taking clothes to others who could wear them, and just bringing order into our rooms gives such a peaceful feeling! It is so sad how much "stuff" we let accumulate, but, we have both committed to the Lord and to each other that we are going to do this one room at a time :)

Here are some tips from Peter Walsh of TLC'S Clean Sweep to help keep the clutter from piling up in your home:

Tackle messes one room at a time.
When you buy something new, practice the "in-out rule:" For every one new item, get rid of an old one.
Create intimacy in the master bedroom. Remember that improvements in one room can spread to the rest of the house.
Make cleaning up fun for your kids.
Create a vision for the room you're cleaning.
Teach your kids how to sort.
Use a hanger system to determine which clothes you wear most.
Ask yourself if you really need something. If you hesitate, you don't.


There is also an E-book out from a fellow blogger....Sarah Mae's "31 Days to Clean, Having a Martha House, The Mary Way" It's 4.99 and worth every penny! It's not JUST about cleaning our homes, but our hearts as well!!




Today I will be taking a little break and going to go swim with our neighbor and her daughter..... It will be such a nice treat!



What about you guys, How is your week going? Do you need to do any De-cluttering?

Spiritual Sundays ~ Fathers Day

What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,

He called it ... Dad

~~Author Unknown.~~


As we all celebrate our Fathers this weekend, I am missing my Daddy. I have peace knowing that he is with our Heavenly Father, celebrating the Ultimate FATHERS day!! I am so thankful for all the years the Lord blessed me with my dad. As we prepared to say good-bye, The Lord blessed me with the gift of learning of my Daddy's Eternal home. In HIS Final hours and truly one of his final conversations, I learned of my Dads Salvation. So many of you all had prayed for this very moment. Just one of the MANY gifts from the Heart of my Heavenly Father ♥

I pray that those who may not have a good relationship with their earthly Father will come to know their Heavenly Father. For it is HIM and only HIM who loves you unconditionally. thinks of you continually and longs to show you what the true love of a Father is.

Please join us @ Spiritual Sundays and I pray you all have a blessed Fathers Day weekend

Friday Funnies ♥

Our Host for Friday Funnies, Kim is taking a much needed break for the Summer. She has, however, given us permission to go ahead and post a Family Friendly Funny if we want to!

On Thursday night I colored Jenna's hair (OMG, the child has SOOO MUCH HAIR) Her BFF and soon-to-be college roomate came over and we had a fun Girls night. While I was coloring her hair, we watched a movie, had us some popcorn, and just laughed and laughed!

Afterwards, the girls had gone upstairs and all I could hear was giggling. (Even @ 18, the sound of your childs laughter is such a precious sound isn't it!??!!) Then I heard them coming downstairs and THIS IS WHAT I SAW......



Love IT! Thanks for such a Fun Night Girls :) For all laughter and just letting your momma be a part of it all!! XOXO

Word-Filled Wednesday ♥

When besieged,
I'm calm as a baby.
When all hell breaks loose,
I'm collected and cool.

I'm asking God for one thing,
only one thing:
To live with him in his house
my whole life long.
I'll contemplate his beauty;
I'll study at his feet.

That's the only quiet, secure place
in a noisy world,
The perfect getaway,
far from the buzz of traffic.
Psalms 27:3-5 MSG

There are So many distractions, wouldn't you agree??? .... The Word tells us the ONLY quiet, secure place and the perfect getaway is with the LORD. I LOVE sitting outside on my porch swing, listening to the birds singing in the morning, or the outdoor symphony of the frogs, cicadas, and crickets in the evening. Watching the deer walk through as they graze on the corn we have put out for them. I just Love swinging, reading the Word and being in Gods Presence. Truly a Perfect Getaway! As Summer makes it arrival and many plan their vacations, isn't it awesome to KNOW that we NEVER have to go somewhere to find God....He is ALWAYS with us. He refreshes us, renews us, and fills us with HIS Peace.

Truly, the Perfect Getaway is with Our Father! HE awaits your arrival.....



Today I am Linking here

Tuesday's Here!!

I am soooo excited that Tuesday is here! Last week, My sweet granddaughter Rylee said she wanted to see NONI ♥ Sooo, even though Papa is away and is sooo sad he is missing her, she will be coming this afternoon and spending the night! We are all beside ourselves EXCITED!! She always keeps us in stitches...The last time she came over and spent the night she told us that our cats according to Rylee were "Britney Spears cats" LOLOL Ok, how does she even know about Britney Spears?? We are constantly doing something to "Fweak her out" and then she says "I dont wanna talk about it!!" Oh that little girl! She is a mess! We are going to gobble her up and spoil her rotten!

This weekend while we were doing our electric fence, the Lord dropped an idea in my head. About a month 1/2 ago, we got some new neighbors! I have shared how awesome they are and how she has put in sooo many flower beds and is teaching me how to do the same. Anyway, we all have lots of trees on our lots, but again, we all have such rock issues, some of the trees just don't make it. So my neighbor had a tree knocked down and my DH was there watching it come down and said "Hey, just push that over to our yard and we can use it for Firewood next winter." Soooo, it was a HUGE TREE and it has been in our backyard ever since. I felt the Lord say, "get that tree cut up for Brian for Fathers Day." I told my daughter about it and she immediately said, "I will see if anyone can switch hours for me at work because I want to help." So as soon as my honey walked out the door, I started making phone calls looking for some Chain saws. Long story short ~ Our neighbor and very close friend, Dusty, came down with chain saw in hand and went to town. We were able to get the tree completely cut up and in the perfect size for our fireplace. We stacked it and our yard looks sooo much better! I KNOW Brian will sooo appreciate not having to do the work, cutting it up, stacking it, especially with the heat the way it has been here! Praise the Lord for awesome neighbors!!!
I can tell him we all worked on His gift together :)

I have been reading some really AWESOME books lately..So if you are looking for a Great Summer Read, visit my Book Review blog here

What are you all doing on this Beautiful Tuesday

Monday's Musings

Oh my gosh Ya'll....I feel OLD! Literally, every muscle in my body HURTS!! Why???? What did I do? Well. Let's see.....

Friday, Mom came over and took the kids and I to one of the CUTEST places EVER! It's called the Pecan Porch. It's an old country house/cottage they made into a resaurant. Beautiful plants are everywhere, they even have an old squeaky screen door. Such character and charm. I will have to take pics next time we go.

Saturday my honey & I subbed in our neighbors card group. They play "Pitch". I have never played before and thought we were going to play "Spades" :) Ha. Not spades but similar, I guess. We had a great time, lots of laughter and met some really sweet people. I used to play bunco with a group once a month but haven't done that in forever so it was nice to be a "sub" and learn a new game!

Sunday.... yep. this is the day in which my body decided it was about 100 years old! LOL We decided to put in an electrical fence in our yard. Because our yard has ROCKS just about everywhere and digging to far down is just about impossible, having a split rail fence or any other kind for that matter is financially just about insane! Not to mention, we really don't want to put a fence up. But if we did, we would have to dynamite or jackhammer for days so we say NOOOO. Anyway, for the electric fence you have to bury the line and because we don't want the dogs to go in the front yard and mess up all our new landscaping we had to not only do one full circle around the back yard we had to make a U shape so that the electric line won't go along the back door and shock the dogs. So that meant being on your hands and knees burying a wire ON AN ACRE LOT!!!
OH EM GEEE..... CAN YOU SAY SORE MUSCLES, ACHING BACK, TENDER HANDS AND FINGERS... :)

ok, I will quit wining now :)

I was so thankful the Lord brought us a bit of rain in the wee hours because it sure made working with the dirt so much easier!
Now we just have to do the final connect and then we can begin training the dogs. That will have to wait a bit because my Honey is going out of town this week. Would you all mind saying a prayer for traveling mercies for him and his trip :) Thank you so much!

We are also trying to get in with a specific neurologist for Jantzen. The one our DR. referred us to didn't have the best of reviews so we did some research on our own and also have a friend who has seen this Dr. that we hope to get in with. So anyway, pray the Lord will open the doors for us :) I will not be making any appointments this week since Brian will be gone, but hopefully next week. Jantzen has been feeling much better in the past few days. He doesn't feel so weak anymore and the dizzy spells seem to be lessening :) Thank you all so much for your prayers!!

So tell me, How was your weekend?

How close are you?

I've heard it said that we can "JUDGE" how close our relationship is to God by how QUICKLY we listen to HIS voice....and respond/obey to what HE says to do ~

Do we respond immediately?
Or do we get "around to what HE said to do"
or worse...
Do we listen to HIM and then ignore HIS Voice all together?

Where are you?

I would venture to say we all have those seasons where we fail miserably. We may claim we can't hear or that HE seems so far away. If we are honest, we would know the truth....our Father NEVER leaves us. It is us who strays.

Of course we have times of great Passion, totally On Fire for Christ when we are so close we wouldn't dream of not obeying right away.....

May we be quick to remember to stay close, on fire, seeking HIM ~ ALL OF HIM.

Romans 12:1-3 The Message tells us....
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
(Emphasis mine)


Hanging onto every Word and waiting anxiously for the next.....




Linking with Spiritual Sundays

Word-Filled Wednesday

When life seems out of control and in chaos.... Jesus says:

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Phil 4:6-7


When Fear tries to rule you and keep you from doing what we are called to do.... Jesus says:


Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you; not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John14:27

When we feel weak and defeated....Jesus says:

The Lord gives His People Strength. The Lord blesses them with Peace.

When our thoughts take us into some "stinkin thinkin" ...... Jesus says:


You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you.



Thank you Lord that no matter what we are facing today....YOU care and long to fill us with YOUR Peace. True Peace.

For more Word Filled Wednesday go here

An update on Jantzen:

We met with our family doctor and he has ordered some tests for Jantzen. We are hoping to take those sometime before weeks end as well as have an appointment with a neurologist by early next week. I am waiting on phone calls to let me know when they will be.

Thank you all so much for your prayers! Truly, we feel them, each and every one!

Prayers Needed

Would you all please say a prayer for my Son Jantzen? Saturday afternoon he stood up and wrapped his arms around me to hug me. I said to him...."Oh my goodness Jantzen, you are sooo heavy" and then I kind of pushed him away from me. Immediately he fell straight backwards and went down on the floor! As I bent down to get him, I realized he was having a seizure! He also was a bit confused and saying things that didn't make sense. To say this scared us to death is a HUGE understatement!

After a bit, he was alert and able to get up. Although, He continued to do things that were just "off" Like, saying my hands were on fire (to the touch) which they were NOT!! We rushed him to the ER and they did quite a few tests as well as a Ct scan. Everything came back NORMAL! Which is GREAT NEWS except that, we need to figure out Why this happened! The ER doctor explained to us that even with all the tests he did coming back normal that we need to get Jantz to a neurologist and do more tests! He explained that he could have epilepsy.

So today I will be taking him to see our family doctor and then he will refer us to a neurologist! I am praying the LORD direct our steps and we are connected with a wonderful Neurologist and that they can determine what is going on. There is a possibility that it might be dehydration that caused it, but this is a determination that we came up with on our own. The ER doc never even considered that so we might be way off base.

How can you pray?
That we be referred to an amazing neurologist
That we find the truth of why this happened.
No more seizures!!
This isn't anything more serious!!


Thank you all sooo much!! I will keep you all posted and for so many of you who saw my FACEBOOK STATUS and have already been praying I can't even begin to thank you enough! Having your love and support as well as prayers is such a GIFT FROM THE LORD!!

BLESS YOU ALL!!

Spiritual Sundays ~ Laughter is good ♥

WOW! Can you believe it is already JUNE?!?!?! Time is sure flying by! Anywhooo, I saw these pictures@ my friend Anne's blog and thought they were soo cute and would be great for a laughter-filled Spiritual Sunday Post!! They sure made me laugh and brought me a smile :) Hope you all will enjoy them too!



You gotta wonder though..... Is the Lord laughing as well!?? :)








All Google Images

For more Spiritual Sundays go here

Thankful for the turnout!

I shared with you all about my daughters friend Hance who was killed a couple of weeks ago here. A 56 year old woman was drunk and traveling down a highway on the wrong side and sadly Hance was thrown from the truck and died. My daughter, Jenna asked her boss about doing a fundraiser in honor of Hance and giving a donation to MADD. The day the fundraiser was scheduled was the day Oklahoma was hit by some serious tornadoes and killed many and injured even more. Unfortunately, they closed down the business when the severe weather came so that everyone could be safe at home. After the tornadoes in Joplin, it was just too close and everyone was being extremely cautious! Understandibly so.

Both Jenna and I were heartbroken! Some money had been raised but not near what either of us had hoped for. But then...GOD MOVED IN THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE.....

Jenna's boss and owner of Cherry Berry offered to reschedule :) THANK YOU JESUS!! It was an AWESOME turnout and sometime this weekend Hance's Mom will be presented with a check for almost $700 to give to MADD in Hance's honor. This week, Hance's family drove to Utah to get all of his stuff, meet many of his new friends he had made this past year, and just enjoy the beauty of Gods creation the way in which Hance would have. Even though they were not able to be @ the fundraiser, the were able to thank people over Facebook and be a part that way! I truly cannot even begin to grasp how difficult this trip has been for them but What I do know is that the Henrie Family love the Lord and it is HIS STRENGTH in which they are clinging to. One day at a time.

I am so thankful for all of those who came out to support the Henrie's. Who came to take a stand against those who choose to drink and drive. For those who don't know what to do at times like this for those who are hurting or grieving but in some small way this gave so many an opportunity to "do something" tangible.

Thank you Lord for allowing this to be such a huge success and for moving in the hearts of YOUR people!

having some yummy yogurt


enjoying it outside


Friends, Family, and countless others came to Love and Support the Henrie's !!


so much Love for Hance! ♥


I know Hance would thank you Jen....you make me so proud sweetheart!


What are you thankful for today?