JOY

This has just been a Joyfilled week I must say!! Let me share why I am filled with JOY ~

Because No matter where I go I am NEVER alone ~ God is ALWAYS by my side! JOY Unspeakable

Even though my husband had to go out of town unexpectedly for the whole week I was able to spend some Sweet Quality time with him and even have a lunch date @ a new restaurant before he left town :) ♥ Pure JOY

My sweet boy Jantzen held my face in his hands and said "Mom, do you know how much I love and appreciate you?" Oh my! Sweet Sweet JOY!

Rylee is quite the talker! Yesterday she was sitting in her high chair coloring while I was cleaning up the kitchen & out of the blue she says" I love you Noni"....sniff sniff....She said it without me saying it first!!! Melted my heart completely!! Precious JOY I tell ya Just PRECIOUS

Last night was my daughter's VERY LAST open house EVER @ her school. We were walking through the halls and my Sweet Jenna grabs my hand to hold it!!! I am sooo blessed! I had other Moms stop me and say, "why is your daughter walking around with you? Mine wouldn't come because they don't want to be seen with me?" Isn't that sooo sad! Here my daughter ASKED me to go and not only came with me but she's holding my hand while walking around :):) EXTREME JOY!!

Thursday we get to go out to dinner with my Mom and Stepdad! Yay!! It is always tooo much fun when we are all able to go out for the evening! Papa (my stepdad, but Papa to the kids) doesn't always get to join us so when he does ~ it is such a treat!!!

We have a Holiday weekend coming up and well, those always bring me JOY! How about you? What has brought you JOY this week???

Share it here with Angel and help spread the JOY

It's A.......

Wow you guys! What a wonderful evening we had!! Krista and Kc were so excited and well, Krista had been patient long enough ;) She was ready to get this show on the road!! LOL They had quite the turn out to see what this baby was going to be!


Here are the infamous cupcakes.....just waiting to be bitten into so that we would finally know ~ were they filled with Pink or Blue on the inside???? Angel did an AWESOME Job! They were absolutely DELICIOUS!!



The Plan was to let Rylee bite into the cupcake but she decided she didn't want to soooo...Momma was happy to oblige! :) She only bit enough to see and then she said ~ "It's ...... BLUE "



It's A Boy!!! You know, honestly we just want a Healthy Happy Baby but I am sooo happy they are having a boy! Now we will have a little Prince to go with our Princess ♥



Here is most of everyone who we made the shirts for.... just a few are missing. Only a few people were sporting PINK


I had to share how we made Rylee's shirt "special" with a Princess iron on! Isn't it darling!!



Here is my Precious Family! It just humbles me everyday How Very Good God has been to me! I am soo very Blessed Just before my Mom snapped the photo Rylee yells "Fuzzy Pickles" We were all cracking up! :)


We will be holding this Precious Baby Boy in our arms come early next year! Until then, the Lord is working away knitting our Precious one into all HE wants him to be. I cannot wait to see what God has in store!

Thank you all for sharing in my JOY!

I'm Sooo Excited & I just can't Hide IT ;)

Tonight THIS ♥ is what we will be doing???




My friend and Yours ~ Angel suggested a Gender Reveal Party!! I had never heard of one before, have you?? Early this morning Krista and Kc will be having their Ultrasound done and the tech with write down what the baby is then seal it in an envelope and hand it to Angel.
Krista and Kc along with about 30-40 others will find out tonight as we bite into one of Angels Famous Cupcakes. Inside, the filling will be either pink or blue


Also, Everyone has been asked to cast their vote as to what they think the Baby will be, by wearing Pink or Blue shirts....So Brian and I made everyone (our family and Kristas mom and their family) shirts. We looked and looked for Blue tshirts but finding 14 of them in all the right sizes was IMPOSSIBLE! SOOOO ~ I thought AHA...I could TYE DYE them !! So we did. Then my Brother created the "team baby boy" LOGO. Then my Dh did all the names :) It was truly a team effort! Dont' they look AWESOME!!



Our names are based on what Rylee calls us!



LOOK who else got in on the action!!! Look at Maggies Feet and Mouth!! OMG We couldn't even get on to her! We were cracking up laughing!! What a MESS she is and THAT FACE.... Gotta Love Her!!




Hope everyone has a blessed Monday! Be sure to Come back tomorrow so I can let you all know what this baby is!!!!

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