Tuesdays top 10 ~ Why I L♥VE Blogging

1) Everyday I am blessed to share in the lives of many Wonderful people ~ who love the LORD & their families!

2) I am able to encourage those who are facing a trial or difficult situation & Pray for those who need Gods touch and to also in turn, receive your prayers at a moments notice I know you are all there lifting up whatever request I may have!

3) I meet new people all the time! :)

4) I am encouraged by others & inspired in so many ways too!

5) giveaways are always fun to enter and even better when I win!

6) I learn Wisdom from sooo many and gain amazing insight into so many situations!

7) I have met so many people and developed relationships that without this blog I never would have met this side of Heaven!

8) This blog has really brought out a creative side to me and challenged me in ways that I never would have imagined

9) Because on days like Yesterday when Blogger was DOWN in our region and I couldn't post ( I was sooo upset along with all the others in this particular region) OR Comment I realized how much I love sharing my Faith, my Family and hearing from all of YOU ~ my Friends!

10) YES I L♥VE blogging so much! Thank each one of you for allowing me to privilege of knowing you, sharing our Faith together, and spurring one another on in Christ One day at a Time!

Spiritual Sundays ~ Listening to HIS voice

Thank you Charlotte and Ginger for hosting SS! Go here if you want to be blessed or would like to join in :)

Earlier this week I shared about how the Lord had me awake for about 3 nights in a row really sharing some things in regards to our family and specifically our kids. Finally, after the 3rd day I woke up the kids that morning and asked them to grab their Bibles and meet me downstairs. The Lord had given me specific Scriptures and how they applied to each child and where they are right now spiritually.

As we gathered together I first prayed and asked the Lord to allow His words to go forth and for me to interpret HIS message exactly as HE desired. I shared with the kids something I had remembered from years ago. When our kids were very little, we had a friend whose teenage son was killed in a car accident. In his grief, the Father shared with us "I taught my son so many things about the way of the world, but I never shared the Spiritual ways." In their sons death they looked to the Lord and grew ever so close to Him instead of being mad or resentful. This has ALWAYS stayed with me! Anyway, as I began to share the Scripture & message for both of them I could see on their faces that their spirits were in agreement with what the Lord was sharing in me. I asked both of them if this was in fact true, and they both agreed it was.

For my daughter it was 1 cor 10:23
You say, “I am allowed to do anything" but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.

I shared with her how the Lord showed me a buffet table and that, as she is entering this new season of her life (turning 18 and making adult decisions, college, etc) that truly the path for her future is wide open! She can literally do anything but that just as you walk into a buffet, everything is available to eat, but not all of it is good for you. BUT what the Lord really was saying was this.....While she is allowed to do anything, it isn't all beneficial. What HE really is asking from her is for her to DISCERN "what" is beneficial. HE shared that the Holy Spirit really wanted to take her to a new level and to really exercise that discerning spirit.

She said she immediately knew this was right on and confirmed some things she had been hearing as well! Thank you Lord!

I know the Lord longs to share specifics with us and HE will even wake us up in the middle of the night to speak to us. Sometimes it is the quiet of just reading the Word or in Prayer. He chooses many different ways to speak, but the important thing is that we listen!

Are you listening? Are you sharing those things HE is speaking to you? Are you being obedient to what HE is asking? I have been guilty at times or even too tired some nights when HE wakes me up and I will roll over and go back to sleep! I HATE it when I do this! I am soooo thankful for HIS grace and forgiveness! For HIS mercy that in my rebellion HE waits and when I repent HE shares HIS heart and plans at another time! Thank you Father!


I pray everyone has a blessed weekend!

It's Friday ~ time to laugh :)

I have posted this once before but it has been sooo long ago ~ but no matter! It is always fun to watch :)




Go join Kim over @ Homesteaders Heart here


A good laugh is sunshine in a house.

Thankful Thursday

Iris @ Grace Alone is hosting Thankful Thursday today :) Join in and share your thankful hearts, won't ya :)

This week I am Thankful for so very much


Thankful the Lord has not let me sleep much the past 3 nights because HE shared some things that pertained to our family and my kids. I shared what I thought HE was saying this morning with both of my kids and they both agreed they had been hearing the same thing! Isn't that awesome when HE confirms things to us :) Thank you Lord!

Thankful that I have lost 4 inches in my stomach and went down 2 sizes in my shorts thanks to Jillian Michaels 30day Shred! I am on Day 23 :) WOOHOO! Thank you Lord!

Thankful that today was my last day of Physical Therapy. I will miss those girls @ Therapy sooooo much! They are just the Best! Thank you Lord!

Thankful that I got my Zumba cd's in the mail today! I have looked everywhere for Zumba videos to try and couldn't find them anywhere! I finally gave in and ordered them! I am going to do this along with the 30day Shred! I CANNOT WAIT TO TRY THEM OUT!! Thank you Lord!

Thankful that the kids and I get to go swim with my BFF from years ago Angel :) from All The Mus today, and we get to take my Grandbaby with us!! ♥ Thank you Lord!

Have a Blessed Day! What are you Thankful for?

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fun in the Tub!

Get your Kicks on Route 66

When I was a little girl my great grand-parents home was a MAGICAL Wonderful place to visit! They were the most kind loving people and even until they were well into their 70's they still went dancing every Friday night in Waco Missouri. Their names were Mama Fay and Floyd and I loved them dearly. They had a game room that had a pool table, pinball machine, and a Pop Bottle machine! I can remember all the wonderful varieties of Pop that we could choose from so when we found out that their was a restaurant near us that carried Old Time Pop in their original bottles ~ WE.HAD.TO.GO!

We loaded up the kids and headed to Arcadia Ok which is only 1 1/2 hours away from us and found the drive on Route 66 to be quite charming! Some businesses have gone out of business and stand deserted while others are still doing well and restoring their original look. But when you drive up to POPS their is absolutely NO MISTAKING it! The soda bottle complete with a straw stands 66ft. tall and at night it is lit up for all the world to see! The parking lot was jammed full of people and the license plates were from all over! Texas, Iowa, Missouri and the Bikers ....OH MY! There were tons of them!

Pops is so unique and we enjoyed seeing all the different varieties and for me it was so neat to have memories of my Mama Fay and Floyds house flood my mind and my pallet as I was able to drink a "Nu Grape" Grape Soda ♥ This pop along with many others were always stocked full in my Papa Floyds pop machine.

Here are a few pics from our Family Day and the trip we shared down Route 66 to POPS

Me and my sweet girl! ♥


Took this pic for you Kim :)




Love Potion #69! LOL


Doesn't this look sooo yummy! They were out of this in their massive refrigerator :(


This was the view from our table during lunch! This stand is unlike any you will find! All the bottles are glued down thank goodness :) No fear of them toppling off onto your head :)


These are the 6 pack boxes that people come in hoards and filled up with their choices of bottled pop @ $2 a bottle! and YES we did bring home a 6 pack of our own!








Original Dr. Pepper when they still used cane sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup!



Please hop over here to my book Blog for the latest review! Texas Roads by Cathy Bryant. YOU.WILL.LOVE.IT!


Hope you all enjoyed seeing just a few of the pops they offered! Have a blessed Tuesday my friends!

Memorial Day Thanks

So Thankful for all those who have served for our Freedom. So thankful to them and their families for all they have sacrificed for us!


- Kelly Strong
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

Spiritual Sundays- walking with HIM

Spiritual Sundays is hosted by Charlotte and Ginger! You will be blessed to visit, join in, or just say hello so go here and see what a wonderful place SS truly is!

If you have been reading my blog lately you know I joined a group of fun and very encouraging girls to do Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. We are just beginning our 3rd week and I have been very faithful to work out each day only having rested one day out of two full weeks. To be honest taking the day of rest was wonderful but when i came back to work out the next day OH MY ~ it.was.awful. :)

There is a point in our video when Jillian is yelling, er I mean encouraging us that if we have been doing this workout for a week or more that we should be experiencing more endurance and strength. EVERY SINGLE TIME I hear her say this I immediately think about our spiritual walk. Only it differs somewhat than her example.

When I was a baby in Christ I loved being in the Word, being around those who loved the LORD, being in prayer. I was disciplined just like now, how I am working out. Don't get me wrong I didn't do these things because I had to, I did them because I LOVED the LORD and desired to "just be with HIM" learning more of who HE was. It is very true though ~ I do feel stronger but it didn't come after just a week of doing these things. I went through rough seasons, dry seasons, and at times would even question if I really knew anything at all but when the LORD showed me or allowed me to minister and HIS Word would just come up in me or HIS ways would flow out of me, THAT is when I see those things that are firmly planted in me and are bearing the fruit they have been growing all of these years.

HE is truly my Chief Cornerstone~ my Foundation and I am sooo thankful that I have been blessed by HIS grace and remained on HIS path. That HE keeps me so close and Strengthens me day by day, year after year. Just when you think you might have gone astray, HE will gather you in HIS arms and lead you right back to HIM...back safely in the shelter of the MOST HIGH GOD


I just felt like someone needed to be encouraged in their walk this week and that is why this continued to come up in my Spirit! Please know the LORD loves you and is ALWAYS WITH YOU! Even in those times you think HE is so far away....HE is there! Keep growing IN HIM!

TGIF

Ok this has continued to make me laugh since Tuesday and when it happened I KNEW immediately I had to share it this week for my Friday Funny! Please join Kim here for Friday Funnies.

Tuesday my husband and I were out celebrating our anniversary and we went into Williams Sonoma. I wore "My Husband Rocks" tshirt.

(This model shows off my shirt best :) Go here if you want to order one :)


Anyway, we were walking around and the sales associate says to me "Look at you, that shirt is so awesome!" I smiled and said "Thank you. He does! (rock!)" She looked at my husband and said "Awww ~ you rock huh????"

Brian looked her square in the eye and very calmly says "I'm not her husband."

OH MY GOSH! I whipped around so fast and said "BRIAN COLEMAN ~ you are sooo lying!" Everyone in the room was cracking up!!! So I went with it and said "See why he rocks??!!"

I love my husband ~ my very very ornery husband! ;) I told you he makes me laugh everyday!



I HAD to share my good news today! I received a picture text on Thursday morning :)



Can you Believe it ????? I am going to be a NONI ♥ again :) We are very excited! Rylee is going to have a baby brother or sister some time early next year :) Praying for this sweet baby already!!!!

Have a blessed and beautiful Memorial Day weekend friends! Love on your family today ~ thank a Veteran or someone who is serving for OUR FREEDOM!

WOW What a Week! Thankful Thursday

This has been a fast and furious week filled with celebrations of all kinds!

Monday Jantzen was honored with Top Student in Honors English, PE and then he was given the All Time #1 Student in Honors Science. This award was a bit different because Jantzen is a Student-Aide in this class. His teacher and all of the Science teachers expressed that Jantzen went above and beyond each and every day and they were all in agreement that they have NEVER had an Aide who was as good as he was. His teacher told "one funny story" on him. She explained that each night on Facebook Jantzen would check in with her asking what they would be doing in the morning so he could be prepared. He was also named "Barista Boy" because he made each teacher their coffee and also started a coffee fund and had my husband take them coffee from the local coffee shop we purchase our coffee beans from because, well, Jantzen just couldn't handle drinking Folgers! LOL yep ~ that's my boy! He has been drinking coffee since he was 2! My mother-in-law started him on it by pouring coffee, cream and sugar into his sippee cup :)

Jantzen receiving his first award





On Tuesday Brian and I celebrated our 20 year anniversary ♥

First off ~ He worked out with me!!! YAY~and it was level 2! What a man I have!
Then we went to lunch and walked around and shopped a bit. We went and hung out at Barnes & Noble for a bit and then we went to dinner. Had a precious waiter who was working his last night because he was quitting to move to a small town to begin taking care of his grandma who will begin dialysis. He was such an awesome waiter and told us "I have been spending the last few years taking care of people everyday and now it is time I take care of my grandma." How sweet is that! We will be praying for you Jeremy and your grandma!

He we are after our wonderful day together


Wednesday both Brian and I worked at Jantzens Spring Fling! Can you say HOT!! It was sooo hot and there were sooo many kids and we were in the sun all day! I worked the inflatable boxing ring LOL and Brian worked one of the big inflatable slides.
We had so much fun doing this and spending the day with all these kids :0)

Here is the rock climbing wall


in the distance Jantz is riding the twister ride


Jantzen and his best buddies Drew and Landon waiting on the concert they had in the afternoon


Here are the boys having a duel with their inflatable swords? or whatever these were called LOL


Jantz trying to hang on to the mechanical bull


I am sooo very proud of my Son. Every one of his teachers and his Principal came up to Brian and I and shared how very wonderful Jantzen was and that they were going to miss him so much. One teacher told me she wished she could flunk him so that he wouldn't have to leave. LOL Here we have centers so all the kids in this school are 6th graders hence they attend the 6th grd center next year 7th grade center and so on until 9th grade which then turns into the MID HIGH. Jantzen truly has a servants heart and hearing all these teachers and his principal share just makes this momma and dad so proud and thankful for the LORD working in and through our young man!

Thursday we will celebrate our first day of Summer Vacation. YEP ~ we are sleeping in and doing a whole lot of nothin! :) I will be going to my last rehab for a while! :)

Thank you Lord for such a wonderful week thus far!