Leave a Comment and Help ~

Meet Collette. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. In the video below you can learn more about Colette and her Journey! You will be so inspired by her Miracle as well!

We have an opportunity to help others who might receive this same Makeover Blessing! Go to any or better yet ALL of these links and leave a comment! Each comment made will bring $1.00 towards this cause!

Spiritual Sundays

Katillac Shack

Country Wings in phoenix blog

Guideposts FB page

Pink Saturday

That is $5 towards the next makeover! Thank you ALL for helping! It is sooo awesome to bless others isn't it!! :)

Have a beautiful weekend ~ love to you ALL! & remember .....God is STILL in the MIRACLE business TODAY! Praise HIM!

Thank you Spiritual Sundays for being such a wonderful blog, Shining for Jesus, and blessing the lives of all who visit! Thank you for helping promote this CAUSE!

As The Deer Pants for the Water ~ Simple Pleasures

As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God

Every Evening, families of Deer graze through our back yard. I never take these beautiful animals for granted! Almost always I catch myself humming or singing the infamous Hymn..... for HE truly is my Hearts Desire. He is my Strength and my Shield.




It brings me such pleasure to see them each and every night! When I get too close, they alert one another and run like this picture shows. I know though, they will be back the next day They come back faithfully day after day, because they know they will be fed ~ as much as they can eat! Isn't that just how we should be ~ Coming to our Father....hungry and trusting to be fed to overflowing!


Share you simple pleasure here

Counting it All Joy

I just L♥VE to spread JOY, don't you? If you would like to join in and pass along some JOY of your own, go visit Angel. I know she will be filled with JOY if you do!

This week Joy is in my heart because ~

The temperature has dropped considerably! I was able to go out and swing with Rylee for a good long while! This brought both of us JOY

With School starting last week, we are finally getting into a routine and that always brings me JOY

Last night we went to Jantzen's Open House @ his school. I met all of his teachers and am so happy because they all seem to be just wonderful! He is thrilled with each one and that fills me with JOY

Very soon we will learn if we will be having a new Grand ~daughter or a Grand ~ Son ♥ THIS brings me exceeding JOY


My husband, My daughter and I are all reading or listening to the exact same book! That is too much fun and brings me JOY I L♥VE to talk about the book I am reading for sure! :)

When God speaks to me it typically will be in everything I am doing ~ sermons I hear, books I read, emails I receive! Does this happen to you? It brings me such JOY that the LORD cares that much for me to make sure I get all HE has for me!


Here is how I found my Son and Dog Maggie last night on my bed :) Tooo cute ~ and such JOY


I pray you all have a JOY filled week! I cherish each and every time you all come to visit! You all bless me sooo and fill my heart with JOY

Words ~ Do yours bring life or death?

Week 4 of Toxic ______ is WORDS


Words kill, words give life;
they're either poison or fruit—you choose Proverbs 15:4


You know the saying ~ "Sticks and stones may break my bones but Words will never hurt me" What a bunch of baloney!! Yet, this is what we tell our kids??

We all know Words can hurt us and some can remain with us for Years!! We also know a kind word can change our whole day. If we receive a written word in a positive or uplifting way, we hold on to it & look back on it when we need some encouragement
don't we?


We must guard our hearts against Toxic Words We all know we cannot control what others say BUT We can control what we hear! If we align the words spoken with Gods Word we will know not to allow lies to penetrate our heart.

Ephesians 4:29 tells us:

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

Listen to this about our Words! Proverbs 15:4

Kind words heal and help;
cutting words wound and maim

I don't know about you ~ I don't want to speak words that wound OR maim! Verbal abuse takes sooo much time & work (counseling) to heal from! They can ruin our self esteem or crush our spirit for sure.


Here is an excerpt from Max Lucado's "A Love worth Giving"


Before you speak, ask: Will what I’m about to say help others become stronger?

You have the ability, with your words, to make a person stronger. Your words are to their soul what a vitamin is to their body. If you had food and saw someone starving, would you not share it? If you had water and saw someone dying of thirst, would you not give it? Of course you would. Then won’t you do the same for their hearts?
Your words are food and water!

Do not withhold encouragement from the discouraged.

Do not keep affirmation from the beaten down!

Speak words that make people stronger. Believe in them as God has believed in you."



As we go about our day, We all must remember ~

We are NOT who others say we are

WE ARE WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE!

Words are very powerful! After all...... God didn't wave his hand and create the planets, the oceans, our world, etc.

HE SPOKE it all into being


Oh Lord, I pray my words speak Life today and always!

Weekend Wrap up

Our weekend kind of started on Thursday. We spent the evening surprising one of our friends on her big 5-0 birthday! Her husband invited quite a few to a local restaruant and I was soo happy to see such a big turn out! Some friends even came from Ohio! The biggest highlight though, was that their Son came! She wasn't expecting to see him until September. So when she saw him and screamed ~ running into his arms, I think the whole room was in tears! It was quite emotional!! Happy Birthday Connie!

We decided to go to church on Saturday night so we could have a day at home. A true day of rest on Sunday. I will be sharing on the message tomorrow! Toxic words! It was a goodin :) After church we had dinner with Angel and her family! We just about closed the place down LOL

Angel and I had a really good time :) We talked, laughed and talked some more!




Our husbands did too!! They are two peas in a pod and we are so blessed to be married to them!


How about you? What did you do this weekend? I pray it was a blessed one and that you have a blessed week to come!


Thought for the day ~
The tongue has the power of life and death Prov 18:21 Are your words speaking Life?

Sunday Spiritual ~ Perseverance

My Son, Jantzen is ....how do I say this? Persistant. No, He is...... VERY Persistant! I have shared with you what a sweet and tender heart he has. Yes, I am his momma, but I can honestly say he is such a good kid. He has a HUGE heart and truly a Servants Heart as well! This week we started school and on the VERY first day he wasn't even seated in my car before he started telling me that he HAD to get a schedule change. This was NOT THE NORM for Jantzen AT ALL! We have learned over the years that having a difficult teacher gives us opportunities to grow, to pray for that person/teacher, or just listen to the Lord as to what the assignment might be and why HE placed this person/teacher in their (my kids) life. So of course, I reminded my son of this, yet he was adamant and started to explain why.

There were 2 classes in which he wanted to change ~ Math and Honors English. He shared that he wanted to be moved up to honors math and that he just KNEW that's what was he was suppose to do. He said "I will not be challenged in that class and think I need to move up." Honestly, I had to agree with him on this one. But for the other class ~ honors English, it was simply a personality issue. Upon receiving his schedule I was "concerned" when I saw he had this teacher because she really does have quite the reputation! But again, I knew our thoughts on this. I also know we ALWAYS pray and ask the Lord for the kids teachers way before school begins and We trust the Lord completely in the ones they receive.

I told my son I would call the counselor the next morning to see about Math. In the meantime, My son CONTINUALLY brought up changing both classes! Seriously ~ IT WAS BECOMING ANNOYING ;0) He would wake up and talk about it, after school he began again! Persistance!

Finally, I was on the phone with the counselor explaining why we wanted to move Jantzen Up in math and learned the steps I needed to take to see if it was a possibility. Before we hung up I asked her about changing his English class as well. She told me the other teacher (the one he wanted) classes were completely full and that it was not an option at all! Yep, sounds like a closed door to me~ Surely, He was suppose to be with this English teacher.
I asked.
I did what I could.
RIGHT??

I explained to Jantzen that he was most likely going to be moved to honors math and that he needed to be prepared to work really hard and that he would CERTAINLY be CHALLENGED! Once again, he started in on me about changing Honors English as well. PERSISTANCE!!

I finally told Jantzen I had done everything I could possibly do. It was out of my hands. I suggested he pray about it and also said "You know what! If you want this so badly, maybe you should go talk to the counselor and show her how important this is to you!"

Well ....He did just that. PERSISTANCE

When I picked him Friday after school he was walking to my car.... BEAMING!! He handed me a piece of paper telling me not only did he get Honors Math AND the new Honors English teacher that he wanted BUT...... she ALSO changed the hours around to where he has the classes with his best friend!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! God is sooo good!

PERSEVERANCE!!!


As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered James 5:11

I am so thankful the lessons my son learned in all of this! His Perseverance brought about HUGE Blessings!

Happy Weekend my friends ♥

Friday Funnies ~ Bad Hair Day ??

What are you looking at???


Light socket??


hmmm


Oh my gosh~ this is sooo embarassing ;)


Visit Kim for more Friday Funnies

Simple Pleasures ~ Naptime

My friend Dayle hosts Simple Pleasures and here is what she has to say about it:
I've lived long enough to realize that the simple pleasures of life are the most important ones, but it's easy to let them slip by, unnoticed, during the busyness of an ordinary day.

That's why I created the Simple Pleasures series, to remind me to stop, to look, to listen, to slow down and pay closer attention to the simple things in life. And whenever I do, I'm never disappointed. It might be the sound of a baby's laugh, the gentle splash of a summer rain against the window, or flowers in a jar on the kitchen windowsill.

You're invited to share your simple pleasures with us here, every Thursday. Below are the guidelines for participating. I really hope you'll join us.


This week my simple pleasure is Naps!!


This.....Is what I felt like & my whole family looked like yesterday! LOLOLOL We are night owls in the summer and well, try as we may, getting back into the school routine and making everyone go to bed early just doesn't happen! So getting everyone up and out the door so early had us all soooo sleepy!

I love to take a quick nap...just give me 15-20 min. and I'm good to go. My husband LOVES taking Sunday naps!! Even my daughter LOVES when Rylee is here and it's nap time! She begs to go lay down with her so she can take a nap with her ♥
Isn't that sooo sweet!!

What about you? Do you like to take naps?

Thanks for sharing in my Simple Pleasure this week!

JOY Unspeakable

Do you know my friend Angel? If you don't, you should go meet her! I know you will love her like I do! She hosts this awesome meme and I don't know about you but I think it's awesome to have a friend who looks for the Joy in every situation! I hope you will join in and help spread the JOY

I am filled with JOY

because yesterday we woke up to Lightning, Thunder and Rain! Oh ya, and MUCH cooler temps! We seriously needed the rain! Rylee and I went outside and just sat on the porch listening to the storm! It was sooo peaceful! I loved watching her face when it would thunder and how she snuggled up to me for protection! Sweet JOY indeed

It was the last day of summer as well yesterday ~ well, as far as school goes....So since it was raining outside Jenna decided to build a tent :) Rylee thought it was sooo much fun and boy did it bring back the memories of when the kids were little


Joy filled faces don't you think?? :)

My son is just the sweetest young man! He is full of L♥VE and has given me sooo many hugs these past few days because he says "I will be at school and won't be able to give you as many hugs!" Joy to the brim I say!

My kids are starting school and while this does NOT bring me JOY LOL ~ I am choosing to be joyful knowing the Lord has wonderful things in store for this new school year!

What about you ~ What brings you JOY today?

Thoughts on Tuesday

What a great weekend we had! We were able to celebrate one of our dearest friends 40th birthday with her and a large group of people at a fabulous Mexican restaraunt on Saturday evening.



Sunday @ Church we learned more on the "Toxic______ Series" This week was "Toxic Relationships" I am loving this Series! I just love getting in the car and hearing my kids and their thoughts! They are really connecting to the Word and this series. It is just sooo awesome! I am amazed at how Boundaries play such a HUGE role in sooo many areas of life. Having grown up with NO BOUNDARIES I am praising God that I learned them (even if it was in my late 30's!!) and taught them to my children....It is NEVER too late with God! Never ever!! He will always meet you RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE and begin teaching you, no matter what!




One line that spoke volumes to me in regards to boundaries and relationships was this:

"Jesus had 12 Disciples ....not 200!" Wow! I am a people pleaser ~ I want everyone happy but it just is impossible to please all the people all the time! As a believer it is our goal to be like Christ right!? Well, we must understand and recognize that Jesus did everything and I mean EVERYTHING in Love, even when HE set boundaries.

Toxic Relationships need to be recognized & discerned. Praying and Listening to the Lord is Vital. Only through HIM will you know if He can make the relationship work or if it is one that needs to be cut off.

Seeking the Lord for all of our relationships is so important. HE truly cares about each and every one of them. Those relationships in which we are just a light for HIM, planting seeds ~ maybe a co-worker, or the grocery clerk that we see each week....Ask HIM what it is that HE wants you to share or say during those encounters

For those Best Friend relationships are we lifting them up and being a godly influence? Or do we let our guard down and gossip? Are we controlling or manipulative? We always need to shine the Light within ourselves and not just point the finger elsewhere. So many times we call ourselves Christian yet we act just like the world does. Our relationships must reflect Christ. In prayer circles, in girls nights out, everywhere!

In our marriages are we edifying our spouse or berating them to others? In Proverbs 12 v. 3 this is what it says about wives:

A wife of noble character is her husband's crown,
but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. ~ The Message versions says "A disgraceful wife is like cancer to his bones"

Yikes! I don't want to be like decaying anything or cancer either! AH YI YI!
I know in my relationship with my husband it is always important to ask questions: Like....
"What can I do better?" I have to be willing to hear the answer LOL and then work on it too! :)

Happy Tuesday everyone! Looking forward to sharing some JOY with Angel tomorrow :)