Announcement!

I am not sure what to title this. Some have suggested, "Look what I tinkled on!" but I suppose that sounds a bit crude, doesn't it? We found out on New Years Eve that we are once again expecting. After four miscarriages in 2009, we are both excited and scared. This has definitely challenged me to place my trust and faith in God! Many of you already know, but I thought I'd post it for my readers who have yet to "hear" our news!

By the way, on New Years Eve of 2006, we found out we were expecting our little Keagan. So this baby and little Keagie will have close birth dates! This baby is due September 9, 2010. Keagan was born September 12, 2007.

A weekend of fellowship

This Christmas season has been absolutely wonderful. These days are especially cherished because my husband is off of work. Some friends of ours made the drive down from Georgia, and we have been so blessed to be able to spend some time with them.

The fellowship with other Christ followers has been bountiful, and I really wish every day could be as such. But, work cannot be avoided forever, and friends cannot be kidnapped and taken home with us (although, I am tempted....).

We were very blessed to be able to visit our favorite church EVER (ODBC). It's so refreshing to hear the Word of God boldly preached- without apology or sugar coating. Brother Jerry's sermons are always filled with correction and conviction that always touch me deep within. He lovingly guides the congregation- the people in his care. You can tell he is passionate about God. I am under no delusion- I know he's not perfect (as he would say, he's a yellow-bellied, good-for-nothing sinner even on his best day), but I do know he is very much an anointed man of God.

He encourages men to be leaders of their homes and women to be their husband's supporters and encouragers. He reminds us that we should not be living defeated lives for the battle has already been won (and Jesus is the Victor!). He's not the sort of preacher to skim the top, but he's very detailed- digging into the meat of the Word.

The man who leads the music portion of the Worship is equally as amazing. Tory is the lead vocalist of the Christian ministry band, Broken Vessels. (Sample their music @ brokenvessels.com). I have only seen a few people lead worship with such passion for Christ- and Tory is one of them.

And last, but certainly not least, are the people. Loving, compassionate, godly folk who aren't out to "act religious" and put on a show. It is always a joy to fellowship with them, and I miss them greatly when we are gone.

It was just a cherry on top to have our friends from Georgia, Trent and Chrissy, visit ODBC with us the last Sunday. We had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning discussing spiritual things after we had dinner at Outback, and it was hard to pull ourselves away and get that rest we needed.

I cannot explain how awesome it is to have such wonderful God-loving friends. We stayed up sharing stories of God's work in our lives and in the lives of others- stories of miracles, convictions, and experiences. It was truly an encouraging evening that I didn't want to end.

Sunday afternoon, we all went to our friends' home for lunch (Trent and Chrissy, and our family of five). John and Ashley are a sweet couple that we have been friends with for several years now. John and my husband, Brandon, worked together at Chili's Bar and Grill years ago (when I was pregnant with our first little one!). Several years ago, we moved back to Louisiana (from Indiana) and ran into a newly wed John at Cracker Barrel. His wife and I became fast friends. John is now a youth pastor.

So, our weekend was fully saturated with fellowship with wonderful friends (our family in Christ!) and left me very encouraged and uplifted (as well as convicted and corrected!).

I felt like this was God's Christmas gift to us! For the last few weeks, God has poured out His blessings on our family, and my arms and lap are overflowing with His goodness!

If you are interested in listening to some of Jerry's sermons, you can download them going to these links: (These are older sermons from 2005-2006 I found online, btw.)

http://wpbcword.org/sermons/20060310pm1.rm
http://wpbcword.org/sermons/20060309pm2.rm
http://wpbcword.org/sermons/revival2005/11mar05chaddick.rm

The Joy of Christmas!

How are you doing? We're doing pretty good around these parts. I absolutely love the Christmas season. It's a joy to focus on the birth of Christ, since, so often, we focus more on His death (which sent us free from sin!). It's so much fun to get into the spirit of giving. Our Lord is so generous, and this time of year, even non-Christians seem to get in the Spirit.

Even though our society as plastered Santa all over the place, the Spirit of Christ still spreads. The Reason for the Season begins to touch the lives of people who normally don't think about God.

I am so thankful that my loved ones are able to get time off around this special holiday so we can get together and lavish each other with love. It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of life, but this season provides a time for us to gather in the kitchen, laugh, play, and build memories together.

I have so much fun picking out gifts for friends and family this year. When we make or purchase gifts for others, we consider their wants and needs. So often, in the day to day, we do not give such consideration to others.

My prayer is that this beautiful spirit of generosity, compassion, thoughtfulness, and love would not just be confined to Christmas, but would run all year long. We should celebrate Christ daily. These Christian qualities (the Fruit of the Spirit) should be pouring from our lives every day.

Here's a photo of the kids and I before our church's Christmas program (which Merikalyn sang in!). Excuse the messy floor!



I hope you all have a Christ-filled Christmas!

The snow, The 80's, oh yeah.

I definitely have some thing on my mind (and heart) to write about, but I simply don't have the time, so.. for now, photos from last week!

It snowed last week, and WOOOOO did the kids enjoy that! They played until their fingers were frozen!


Big sister let Keagie borrow her pink cap. :)



Our friend Miranda had an 80's themed birthday party. I would have done the big hair, but I didn't want to have to brush that out at the end of the night! (Notice my hubby's double polo popped collars!)



I am NOT a fan of skinny jeans, but I found these pair deeeeply discounted, so I purchased them for my costume. Btw, what is with boys wearing skinny jeans? I think that's a ridiculous style! When I was in highschool, the guys wore baggier clothes so they'd look bigger and more macho. I don't like this string bean style guys are doing.


I have misplaced our ornaments, but... at least we made PLENTY of our own this year! Here's one of my favorite salt dough ornaments that I decorated.

Pantsformed. ;)

Pantsformed=transformed. ;) Get it? Har har? No?
Remember that skirt I was telling you all about- the one I was having made from a pair of jeans? Here's the result:



I absolutely LOVE how it turned out, but it was quite pricey since I had a tailor do it. (I'm not talented enough to do this myself!) My mom, being the sweetheart she is, paid for it as an early Christmas gift to me. It's very comfortable and a great length. Cute, right? It's a shame I don't have a "before" photo!

And, speaking of cute, I managed to catch a photo of all three of my children smiling and looking at the camera. (RARE!) We've been enjoying weather in the 40's here. It's been nice to open the windows and allow the cool air to filter in!


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We really loved spending time with family and filling up on good food!

What are you willing to sacrifice?

While browsing the library last week I came across a book titled The Guidance Manual for the Christian Home School. The book's focus is preparing your children for college and career with a biblical perspective. I really enjoyed it as the writers seemed to be as conservative as I am. It's one of those books every Christian homeschool should have, even if your children are practically "babies" like mine.

It's the sort of book you'll go to through the years of your homeschool. The authors (David and Laurie Callihan) discuss all sorts of subjects like:

-Inspiring your children to love learning
-Developing a godly character and instilling good morals
-Guiding toward a Christian worldview
-Encouraging natural abilities and recognizing spiritual gifts
-Planning for long-range goals and preparing children for roles as husbands, wives, and parents (teaching them how to cook, clean, manage money, etc)
-Home educating special needs children
-Preparing for college, ministry, military, career or other callings.

I most definitely recommend this book, but I didn't come here to write a review for it. Rather, I wanted to share with you a wonderful, thought-provoking question from their book:

What are we willing to sacrifice to see that our children are raised in a loving, godly home where they know the value of hard work, caring relationships, and loving commitment?

I find parents today are struggling with two points- selfishness and busyness- that keep them from truly focusing on their children and providing the godly environment and faithful homeschool they so long for.

I spent a lot of time contemplating this question last night. Am I willing to sacrifice for the good of our children? Am I willing to set aside my own selfish motives and desires? Am I willing to cleanse my home of things that distract from our mission? Am I willing to practice self-control and be a good manager of our time?

If we step back and look at our lives we will realize that there will be sacrifice made somewhere, somehow. Will we sacrifice our morals, our calling, and our family to pursue things that are temporary or trivial?

I love to look at the lives of so many of my homeschooling friends who have made wonderful sacrifices for the sake of their families. I know many women who have given up successful careers to be keepers of their home. Many would call this a waste of their talent, but God sees the truth. He knows that time spent discipling, training, nourishing, and loving our children is never wasteful. Maybe our sacrifice doesn't seem as noble. Maybe our sacrifice should simply be to shut off the computer, turn off the television, and really focus on our children. Maybe our sacrifice is to let go of our busy nature. I think, at times, we confuse busyness and being active with being truly productive. Maybe our sacrifice is to let go of our lazy nature.

I know of several families who have made the commitment to not allow any "filth" into their home. Some of these people have chosen to have a tv-free home, while others restrict television time and filter what their children are allowed to watch.

There's a verse that really convicts me every time I read it.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (NASB- Philippians 4:8)

I feel that this should be the feel and spirit of our home, and in order for it to be the spirit of our home, it must be the spirit of the parents. If this is to be the spirit of our home, then we must follow the instruction of the bible and lay aside sinful things and anything that would weigh us down and hold us back from living a faithful and godly life (Hebrews 12:1-2). If we aren't living godly lives, then we cannot have a godly homeschool and we cannot successfully teach our children to live godly lives.

Are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to lay aside those weights and sins? Sometimes some of the things that hinder us aren't necessarily sinful, but they become sinful because they distract us from our mission and keep us from whole-heartedly doing God's will.

I know, for myself, it is a struggle to keep focused, and every day I have to ask for God's forgiveness and pray for help in training and raising our children. There are many days when I go to bed and feel that we were not productive, realizing that it was my fault and understanding, with much shame, that I fell short of my calling.

Whether you homeschool or not, as Christians, there are sacrifices to be made. Society encourages and applauds things God hates and we must understand that, if we choose to protect our children and live biblically directed lives, we will be seen as radically religious. We may be told that we are too strict or overbearing. You see, society seems to believe that sheltering children and living self-controlled, pure lives is a ridiculous and foreign concept. (Why do you think the Duggar family's show gets so much attention? People are stunned to see a family living a godly lifestyle and shunning worldly practices!)

Anyway, so I've rambled quite a bit (whenever I ponder something overnight, my brain usually goes in all sorts of directions), but hopefully I've made some sense.

I know I have to be reminded of the goals and ultimate reason for why we do what we do (or why we need to do what must be done). My children are worth it. We're not just talking about their education here- we're talking about their salvation.

So, take the time to ask yourself that question:

What are YOU willing to sacrifice to see that our children are raised in a loving, godly home where they know the value of hard work, caring relationships, and loving commitment?

Altering Jeans into a nifty skirt.

I've lost some weight over the last few months, and, as a result, I am left with several pairs of jeans that sag and bag.. giving that "poopy pants" effect I'm not really fond of. One particular pair of jeans were fairly expensive (considering I purchase most of my jeans for $15 or less, a $50 pair of jeans seems quite an indulgence), and I had lost the receipt and tags, but had yet to wear them. I needed to have them hemmed, since they were three inches too long (yeah-yeah, I'm short), but when I put them on to mark where I wanted them hemmed, I realized they really didn't fit well at all anymore. I hated to let go of such a beautiful pair of jeans (from GAP), and I knew they would look strange if I tried to have them altered to fit (I mean, I really needed to go one or two sizes down all over), so I thought..... why not turn these beautiful jeans into a skirt?

Now, I'm not a fantastic seamstress, so I thought I'd better leave it up to the tailor to do. She's finished, but I haven't picked them up yet. I'm eager to see how they'll turn out.

I'm thinking about doing this with the remainder of my ill-fitting jeans. The thing about jeans is they need to fit "perfectly" in all areas. A denim skirt just needs to fit the waist and rear (and can be slightly "loose"- which is how I like them). Skirts are much better for someone who bloats often or who loses and gains 5-10 lbs on and off throughout the year.

I'm going to take a pair of my husbands old ill-fitting jeans along with me, for the seamstress to use as a filler in the back (because jeans do leave a gap). Otherwise, she can only make me a knee-length skirt (because she has to use the material at the bottom to fill in the gap between the legs in the back).

Just a thought for all you gals who love denim skirts but can't seem to find any! You can buy a couple pairs of jeans at Goodwill that fit in the waist and either transform them yourself, or take them to someone who can.

I took mine to the same place that shortens my brother's jeans (okay, we're a short family). Most alteration places will do something like this for you- for a price, of course!

Little Moments

Homeschooling starts at birth. Homeschooling doesn't just happen when we sit down and specifically, intentionally teach our children. In fact, I would dare to say that the majority of homeschooling happens in those little moments.....

....when we read to our children.
....when they help us mix, wisk, and scoop in the kitchen.
....when we take them grocery shopping with us.
....as they help us fold the clothes.
....as they help us "clean" the house.
....as we have little conversations here and there....

And these are the moments that are most precious! What's even more precious is when we see our little ones teaching the "even-littler" ones. :)