Spiritual Sundays

Each and Every Sunday you will find either Charlotte or Ginger hosting Spiritual Sundays. They are two precious and godly women who share this blog to encourage and share the Lord with all who come to visit. They are mighty prayer warriors as are all who participate each week. If you need prayer please let me know or visit here and know that your prayer need will be shared and many will go into the Throne Room asking Lord to meet your need!

Years ago, my Husband and I were going through a rough patch in our marriage, so we began seeing a Life Coach. We were on year 13 of our marriage. We learned soooo many valuable lessons during that time. It was truly amazing all the Lord allowed us to see and to learn. Going through the pain brought about a depth of love, it was a whole new level, and unless we had gone through this, we never would have imagined it to be possible! Some of the Important things we learned and continue to learn even today was:
The difference of personalities and how to understand one another based on that personality. Knowing what/how each personality works is amazing to me! This not only helps spouses, but having this knowledge allowed us to better parent our kids too. It goes all the way to the workplace too! This information is invaluable for sure!

We also implemented Family Meetings each and every week. We come together with our calendars and share what is going on during that week. We also offer up any prayer needs or things during the week that the kids or one of us need prayer for and this goes into our calendars. Knowing we have one another covered brings such peace. Our kids know Mom and Dad are praying during a test, or if my husband has a issue at work and knows we are all covering him in prayer brings such comfort.

Another of my favorite things we learned was the importance of date night. Both my husband and I come from broken homes. When we married each other almost 21 years ago it was a 2nd marriage for both of us. We were DETERMINED not to go through another Divorce and I am here to tell you. IT.WON'T.HAPPEN!

I would have to say that no matter what..... the bottom line is ... We are a team. We have each others backs. B,ut more than all that we have God leading us and HE is the Captain of our Family Team. He shows my children the Strength that their parents have. The Love and Respect that we have for one another. They also see that we aren't perfect but that we have a Heavenly Father who offers Grace and Mercy and lovingly disciplines those HE loves!

I am so thankful that even though we went through such a difficult time, God was Faithful to bring this godly woman into our lives to coach us in HIS Ways. To surround us with other couples who had gone through tough times as well. God changed their lives, their marriages, and their families.

Whether you are married or not, if you are going through a rough time God wants to help you. To love you and meet you right where you are. HE longs to brings Light into the Darkness of your hearts, minds, and circumstances! If only you will let HIM!
Will you? HE AWAITS!

TGIF ♥

My friend KIM is one of the sweetest and funniest people you can meet here in blogland! She hosts Friday Funnies each and every week and I LOVE to join in and share some laughter! This week I am sharing a couple of videos from Christmas a couple of years ago. We played a game called QUELF. It is HILARIOUSLY FUNNY! You act out what the card instructs you to do and then your teammates guess what you are. Sometimes there is a time limit on what your doing so even though you feel like a complete idiot it doesn't matter....you just keep on doing what your doin!! It is a guaranteed night of laughter as you will quickly hear all of us CRACKING UP!



On this first video I cannot even remember what my stepdad was doing but even he couldn't stop laughing! This one is my favorite


This one is obviously him being a ballerina :)


Happy Friday Everyone.....remember ~ A day without laughter is a day wasted! ♥ U ALL

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Young Man ♥

14 YEARS AGO I had THE sweetest Baby Boy EVER! His nickname when he was little was "Happy Happy Happy" because he was always smiling and just so darn happy! He's had other nick-names too ~ "Barista Boy" by all of the teachers at his school because he made them all coffee every single morning and knew JUST how they like it too! I could go on and on about this boy the Lord has blessed us with but hey....I know I know....I'm his momma ♥

OH how he loves the Lord!!! I've always told him that he has a heart like King David. Jantzen's baptism (sorry it's so blurry!)



He is an UH MA ZING Brother



He always knows how to make us laugh....even in the most difficult moments in life. This was driving to Florida when we had just received the news my Daddy had lung cancer and we had just lost my mother-in-law days prior. (yep, that's bubblegum)


He LOVES CANADA! Where this love comes from ...only the Lord knows!


He is an AWESOME Uncle! ♥



















He is an Incredible Chef and a Very Successful Entrepreneur! He started his own company a few years ago making "dog biscuits and mutballs" and has earned enough along the way to purchase some very nice things! A Mac Computer for starters....WOW Jantz! We are soo proud of you!









He is the Favorite (and only) Grandson ;)

























Yes, we are blessed that God has allowed us to parent this kind, funny and oh so generous young man that we call "Our Son"



Happy Birthday Jantzen.....You fill our hearts with Joy and Laughter, you inspire us to be better people and are an amazing example of loving and serving others above yourself! Phil 2! We are so very proud of you and all you have done and cannot wait to see even more of what God has in store for you! Jer 29:11. Your Daddy and I Love You soooo Much XOXO

Happy Valentines Day ♥

Happy Monday & Happy Valentines Day Everyone! I tell ya, after 2 weeks of having my kids home because of snow days It is so quiet in my house, I'm not sure what to do....LOL

Only in Oklahoma can you go from -20 degrees to almost 60!!! It is going to be so warm this week and we are all so thankful and so happy to have this snow melting away!

This Thursday will be my sweet boys birthday! I seriously can't believe my Baby is turning 14!! Man, I am getting old ;) We celebrated early as a family because we won't all be able to be together later this week. He wanted to go to one of his favorite restaurants called Tokyo Garden. It.is.yummy! Here are some pics of our celebration!

The Owner of the restaurant offered to take a group pic! I LOVE this one!


Don't know who is being silly here....Krista or Rylee?? LOL


The birthday boy! His favorite gift....CASH! hahaha


Krista and Casey ♥


They may be Cousins but they are most definitely the Best of Friends as well


My Sweet Ry


My handsome grandson Bentley ♥


Don't you just Love his expressions LOLOLOL


My MOM aka ~ Nanny and Papa lovin on Bentley



How was your weekend? Hope it was blessed and Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Spiritual Sundays

Happy Almost Valentines Day ♥ everyone! My honey treated me to a nice dinner and window shopping early Friday evening. After being snowed in over these last 2 weeks, it was soooo nice to be out and about! Time spent alone with my husband is always a treat!! I am so blessed with the Love of my family but I know there is no greater love than the Love of Jesus, the Love of my Father reaches to the heavens and His Faithfulness...it never fails us. Here is a video sharing HIS Love for you and me! I pray it blesses you all!



Thank you Charlotte and Ginger for sharing Spiritual Sundays with us each and every week! If you want to read additional posts or join in yourself go here I love you all and am so blessed to be a part of this amazing group of bloggers who Love the Lord, Love HIS Word, and share it with all of those who take time to visit our blogs! Thank you each and everyone for being a Light for Jesus!

Friday Funnies ~ What do you pass around?

It's one of my Favorite days!! I say that because I get to share a funny with you and then also read others funnies and Laugh! Who doesn't like laughing! Please share the laughter and visit Kim with your own Friday Funny!




Happy Friday my friends!! Love you all

Thursday's Thoughts, Thanks & Winter pics

Well, we did it? Oklahoma beat yet another all time record for the most snowfall since 1923. After receiving 24 inches in our backyard last week, we were hit with another 9 inches starting around 12 am Wednesday and lasting until 1 pm. yesterday. They had just cleared all the streets and were ready to give the go ahead for back to school when this storm came in. So we have yet to return to school and as of today are still out. I am not sure if they will be able to get the roads in shape enough for them to return on Friday but I do know they are working around the clock. We aren't just dealing with the snow now, we are experiencing record low temperatures as well. So they have to figure that into the equation for those kids who walk and who wait at a bus stop! It has been 7 BELOW ZERO and that is NOT with the windchill! CAN YOU SAY BRRRRRRRR!!

I had to get out and see my Shoulder Dr. and was the only patient they had LOL. Before all the snow (LAST WEEK) I had gone into my regular session of Physical Therapy and had been experiencing some pretty severe pain. My awesome therapist was concerned and after conferring with her boss they took me off of strength training and just did some light stretching. He also gave me some exercises to do at home which I was thankful for because with the winter storm last week, they were closed, and I wasn't going anywhere. So a couple of weeks has gone by and my pain is still intense. I was able to make an appt. for Wednesday and just prayed that he wouldn't cancel and that I could get there to find out what was going on. After seeing him he has taken me off of all physical therapy and said that I have got some severe inflammation going on and really need to do nothing for 3 weeks and then we will see where we are from there. BUMMER!

My sweet husband made sure he filled up the bird feeder and spread out some deer corn. It didn't take long for the birds to come and they went for the deer corn too !! I had purchased Deer chops (which is basically chopped up deer corn) to actually use for the corn bags we are making and decided that it wasn't the best thing, so we used it to feed instead. Never did we think the birds would like it soo much :) Here are a few of the shots my husband got on Wednesday afternoon after the snow had stopped and the sun came out













I am so thankful to live "out of town" where we can see Gods beautiful creatures like we do! So thankful to have had this time with my family and even though everyone is ready to get back to their "normal routines" it has been such a gift to have had these past two weeks of snow days. Memories that will no doubt be remembered for years and years to come!

"Joyful" Wordless Wednesday

She loves our Redneck teeth ~ LOL Bubba eat your heart out!!


Got Snow??


Today I am linking up with Angel & 5 Minutes for MOMS

DO YOU COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS?

We just finished yet another Phenomenal Series @ Church titled "I Quit"
Week One was "Quit making excuses"
Week Two: Quit "Complaining"
Week Three was "Quit living in Fear" and
this week we just ended with "Quit Comparing"

The top 4 things that most people compare to others is:

Possessions
Appearance
Performance
Circumstances

I will be honest this weeks message was by far the one I related with the most! I have experienced on far to many occasions comparing myself to others. I have compared myself to other women but the worst that I experienced this spirit of comparison was in ministry and the comparing of spiritual gifts. I often felt "Wow, she knows so much more than me" or "Her prayers are so powerful"

Do you know that God HATES when we "Compare Ourselves to Others??" Here are a few reasons why.....

2 Corinthians 10:12 says
We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

Comparison is the DEATH of Contentment, It robs us of our meaning and steals our JOY! I especially like this one....It steals who God wants me to be and NOT who I wish I was!

Comparison makes us prideful.

Luke 18:11-12 in the Message says:
He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: "Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.'

Comparing makes us Resentful

See here is 1 Samuel v.6-9 how King Saul of comparing himself to David and resenting how the people were praising David more than him!
As they returned home, after David had killed the Philistine, the women poured out of all the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. In playful frolic the women sang,
Saul kills by the thousand,
David by the ten thousand!
This made Saul angry—very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, "They credit David with 'ten thousands' and me with only 'thousands.' Before you know it they'll be giving him the kingdom!" From that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David.

Another reason God hates us comparing is when we resent Gods goodness in others lives and tend to forget the blessings in our own lives!

Here is the Good News.....
We CAN Overcome this spirit of Comparison!! HOW?

KNOW what you have and the gifts God has given you like it says in Phillipians 4:11-13

I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.

Know WHO YOU ARE!

Ephesians 2:10 says
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do


Dear Lord, May We all need know who we are and not who we think we need to be!!

What about you? Do you compare yourself to others??

Happy Birthday and More Snow??

For soo many people here in Oklahoma, yesterday was the first time out of their house since last Monday evening. There is no milk, no bread, no bacon, and no eggs on the grocery shelves! YIKES! The weather is so bad, not just in Oklahoma, but it's not allowing the deliveries to be made and bring us these much needed items! GUESS WHAT!!! They are forecasting another winter storm that could possibly bring another 10 inches of snow. Holy Smokes!

no eggs!


no milk!



Our kids are out of school yet again today because the snow plows and salt trucks weren't able to get every single neighborhood cleared, therefore, the buses could not safely make it to pick up those kids who ride the bus to school. We are all wondering if they will attend school at all this week with the impending snow on the way! We shall see.....But even though there is still tons of snow hanging around it didn't stop us from celebrating my Beautiful Mothers Birthday!! NO WAY!! Normally we have everyone at our house and cook out but My Mom is one of those who hadn't gotten out so we went to her! I made her favorite chocolate cake and we went and spent the afternoon with her!

Happy Birthday Mom.....I love you soo much XOXO




Isn't she Lovely!


Ready. Set.


Blow.


They are soooo silly ;) We didn't have any birthday candles ....so we improvised!! :)


Happy Monday...How was your weekend?