We are Back

The top is Mo,me,and Kay in front of Jackson square in New Orleans and then bottom two are Mo and Kay on her grad night and me and Kay in New Orleans trying on sunglasses.

We arrived home safely late Sunday night and spent the majority of memorial day just chillin with the kiddos. It is funny when you go away for that length of time(which I don't often do) you come home and everything looks different. I was actually excited to get back to doing the dishes. I missed our kiddos so so so much. I knew they were in great hands it's just I saw so many things that I would've loved to have shared with them and the whole trip would have been that much richer if they were there. I am not saying that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the break from them it's just that they are all at such fun ages right now and so traveling and seeing new things wouldn't be as hard as it used to be, but that was not for this trip. The time with the Giant was so great and we really got to have alot of time with our niece, Kaylanne who graduated last Friday night.

Some highlights from the trip were

Niece graduating

Nashelles' Restaurant

9 abandoned cars in a matter of a few minutes

House filled with antiques for 100,000

6 turned over dead armadillos

The town of Stonewall

shopping at Dirt Cheap

Meeting new people named Doo and :)

The soon to be famous swimming pool in Stonewall

New Orleans

and lots of late night chats

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and our kiddos while we were gone. I missed you all and look forward to catching up with everyone. It seems like it's been a long time since seeing all your friendly faces.

Mississippi

We leave tomorrow for Mississippi to see our niece graduate from high school. I don't know how much access I will have to a computer so I probably won't be bloggin for a bit but upon my return I promise a few pics from the trip and also the highlights.
We are leaving the chillins here so could everyone please be praying for them as 7 days is a very long time for those that are under 10 years of age(well it is also a long time for those that are 32 years of age but that's another prayer request.) I know that they are in very good hands and I know that the time with my hubby is going to be fabulous but I just want to cover all the basis here at the homefront and it helps me to know that people are praying , so thank you in advance.
See ya when we get back.

A truth that is self evident

"The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us. " Oswald Chambers
I read this quote today and it really struck me to the core because I believe and have seen this to be so true. The people who have influenced me the most in this life (in a positive way) are the ones who are just living thier lives the best way they know how but purely and simply. They are the people who are not striving to be or to do but they are confident in thier uniqueness and they teach with thier actions rather than thier words.
This isn't a new concept, "Actions speak louder than words" is something we have all heard before, but I guess the way that Oswald said it this time made me stop and take note. This is not something hard or at least it shouldn't be. We should be able to just live life like the signs of nature that never change thier purpose. The stars and the lilies are pefectly simple and unaffected and that is something I want to be perfectly simple and unaffected by lifes circumstances. I want to know deep within, my lifes purpose, so concretely that life is not a series of stressful striving attempts to know who I am, but rather a life so simple, at peace, and unaffected by the elements around me that I continue to remain who I am whether or not the world around me likes it or not.

John Alvin Ford Munnerlyn

OH HAPPY DAY!!

My treasure friend Allie gave birth to baby FIVE today and I am so thankful that even though I couldn't be with her Jesus was. Thank you to everyone who prayed for baby and mom and please continue to pray for healing for momma and health for that baby boy who has no name yet but when he does I will be sure to announce that as well. What a precious, precious thing life is.

Semester coming to a close

I can hardly begin to explain the joy I feel knowing that I am almost done with this semester of school. I love school but this semester was unusually difficult for me, not because the classes were hard, they weren't, but because the timing of these classes got sandwiched in between a very, very busy season of life for me. There was also a little issue with one of my instructors that has been very hard to navigate through without getting bitter or discouraged about school in general, but today I took my final online exam with that instructor's course and I WILL NEVER take another course from her again in the future. I am so glad that I am finished with that chapter of my life. The words of my freind Mindy ran through my head all week, "Finish Well!!" she said it in passing but those words have encouraged me so much in the last few weeks that I thought I would just give a shout out to her and tell her, Thank you! Also, I just wanted to thank my best friend for helping me so much and for just being the incredible Giant of a person that he is. WHOO HOO!!

Season change, People change(come on sing along)

Today while driving back from dropping my girls off at school I was just completely in awe of how faithfully around this time of year the green begins to appear. The leaves on the trees start bursting forth like a brand new thing is beginning. The sprinklers that were out on the lawns and the people chatting with their neighbors made me truly grateful once again for the seasons. It is amazing how this season, Spring, brings about a sense of new life. People begin to clean house like they haven't cleaned in many months and you see next to the garbage cans the things that they no longer want or need. Yard sale signs begin to appear because of this.Everything begins to take on a shine. Where life was dull and drab from the winter it begins to look bright and happy again. I am so glad that despite my temperament, that in many ways likes things to stay the same, God continues to make the seasons change. He is beyond good to faithfully make the seasons change and today on this beautiful Friday morning I am just completely aware of why I love Him so much.

Walking into a Dark room

The other night I forgot something after youth group was over and it was in the big , dark, room up at our church. I knew walking into this room that is was dark and that it was also filled with many a chair, but that didn't stop me from barging on in looking for what I had left behind. About way halfway into the mangled mess of chairs I realized that I should probably go back and turn the lights on or I might be there for another few hours searching and wounding myself.
What struck me about this quick little scene played out in my life is that I didn't just turn the lights on in the first place. I don't know about everybody else but I so often know what I should do but often don't choose accordingly. I know I shouldn't eat after a 6p for good health but I do it anyway, I know I should excercise also for good health reasons but I don't, I know shouldn't stay up so stinking late when I have to get up early with kiddos but I do anyways, and so on and so forth, etc. etc. ......
Why don't I do what I know I should before I stumble and get hurt? Am I alone in this plight of stupidity or are there others of you out there who do the same thing and if so please share so that I don't feel alone. Oh yeah, and I am not calling you stupid if you do share this trait that would only be me :)

African American or can it just be American??

The current Essay I am working on is challenging the writings of W.E. DuBois essay on Our Spiritual Survival. This was the man who had a big part in forming the NAACP and this essay is a very beautiful piece of literature with much of it that I agree with. My challenge comes in with wondering can you be truly African and American at the same time. I don't know many Italians or Irish that go around saying I am Italian American or Irish American. The only race of people who I think this kind of thinking makes sense with are the Native Americans because they were truly the Native Americans. I am all for representing and teaching others of our original heritage and therefore keeping it alive, but I like so many others who have greatgrandparents who immagrated from another country don't go around saying that I am Italian American.
SO my question to the bloggers out there( brave enough to jump in this ring) is do you think you can be African American or shouldn't you just be American and know that with that title comes the knowledge that we are all from different original soils, cultures, and histories??

Emma Faith's blog

Just thought I would drop a note here and say that Emma and I created a new place for her to blog since we forgot all the info from her last blogspot. She wanted to make a new one anyways so off to the side is her link or you can find her at emmafaith.blogspot.com

For anyone who is wondering what a almost 9 year old girl might be thinking :)

Random Blog thoughts

Today was a great day. My moms group was awesome and it is simply because the people who come are awesome momma's who I am deeply grateful that I get to know better each week. Then I got to spend the afternoon with a wonderful friend and she brought her furry friend for a playdate with my new furry friend and it was really cute.Then tonight we had breakfast for dinner, yum(one of my all time favs) At my english class we read over the essay "A Modest Proposal" written like a million years ago and basically by a crazy guy who wanted to eat babies(not really but kinda) Then I went to the store to pick up a six pack of beer and got carded. That was fabulous because I know there will come a day when that doesn't happen anymore. Finally, I am here with some time to blog and that makes me happy. Not much to say that is really important just wanted to chime in with something new.

Oh yeah and one more final random thought, there is a player on the Bo Sox team this year named Coco Crisp :)

Fenway Park

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Boy oh boy would I love to go see a game there this season. Seems like everybody in my family has got to go BUT me, no fair!! Maybe someday that dream will come true. In the meantime I think I am going to order a new hat just for fun and just to get my dad going :)

BAXTER

Meet Baxter

We have a new member to our family.

At the Pound this weekend

Love at first sight!!!

We brought him home yesterday.
He is a Jack Russell Terrier Mix(Mutt)
and we love him already.

Wow, that went by fast

My break is over and it's back to hitting the books for me. Boo-hoo!! I can't believe I actually inflicted this upon myself. Ya know, when you cause something to happen yourself you really can't complain to much about it ...which I am not complaining that I get to go back to school I am just saying that my break went by way too fast. I don't think I will be taking summer school although.... I have to say that the idea of getting done a little bit sooner is really tempting now that the end is so clearly in sight(at least at TMCC)

Oh yeah, I also finished reading the Velvet Elvis book over my break and I give it a5 *****+ rating. A must read for all human beings who are faith seekers. Truly if you regret reading it afterward you can come hunt me down and .....force me to eat seafood(which I hate and may barf on you afterward but still I will eat it if you don't learn something interesting from this book).

Velvet Elvis

So... you might be wondering what I am doing with my spring break(other than of course the obvious-1man,4kids,1house, 1cat, 2goldfish)
I am reading a book that I have been wanting to read for some time called, Velvet Elvis written by Rob Bell. It is a book about questions and answers in faith. All faiths. It is a very quotable book to me and I found myself right away picking up a pad of paper and a pen when reading it. This to me is a sign of a really great book. I thought I would share some quotes so far and I would love to hear what you think about them or if you have had similar thoughts.
"Central to the Christian experience is the art of questioning God."
"It is possible ... to make the bible say whatever WE want it to , isn't it?"
"Doctrine is a wonderful servant and a horrible master."
"OUR words aren't absolutes, Only God is absolute"
"if you do see yourself carrying God to places, it can be exhausting. God is really heavy."
So what I really like about this guy is that he doesn't pretend to have all the answers just some thoughts of his own about faith in general and he encourages you to challenge even the thoughts that he has written in this book. So if you are one who is seeking and one who has a lot of questions for the Big Man upstairs this would be a great book that will challenge your thinking or affirm some thoughts you always had. Either way, it's a great read.

Spring Break

My kids spring break began this week and we got off to a very interesting start. Really it was like we were awakened to a war zone is a better way to put it. The week got better as we reigned them back in to the way we do things around here and as of last night I am officially on my own spring break. I have never longed for a break so much in my life!! Whoo hoo.

The Bible

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

I love this manual for life that we have been given. Sometimes when I open it up to read I know that it is not just alive but it really does know the thoughts and attitudes of my heart. So often I will read exactly what needed to change in my heart for that day. It isn't always what I wanted to hear but it is always what I need to hear. How does a book do this? It's just a book right? :)
If I were to try and explain to someone who hasn't had this experience with the bible yet I would tell them, It's like going to see a psychic or counselor everyday or having someone read your journal and then tell you exactly what you needed to hear from all the emotions that were laid barren in your journal. Something like that. I guess there probably isn't a real way to know what it is like until you are there. Kinda like parenting or being in love. Those are things that even though you could explain them it really doesn't hit home til you are there.
I remember that when I was little we always had bibles around and we never read them(or least I didn't ) but they were there on the self like any other book would be. Little did I know that if I only read with a new perspective and a resceptive heart that book would change my life.
There is a reason this book has been around for so long and is the hottest seller. I am very thankful that in this country I am not put in jail for reading it , instead I can have as many copies laying around my house as I want and read it all day long if I want. I am thankful for that and for the way this book is changing my life.
If I were to rate it .....well.....it's off the charts but a 5***** for sure!!!

New favorite Quote

" JOY means the perfect fulfilment of that for which I was created and regenerated, not the successful doing of a thing. " Oswald Chambers

To me this means that when you are living the life God created YOU to live , therein lies true joy. Not in doing things but in realizing that you are a special , uniquely, gifted, talented person that no one else will ever be like or has ever been like. It is amazing when you stop comparing and start realizing that just being you is all that is required to succeed.

My Husband

My husband is a GENIUS in every sense of the word

GENIUS- an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc.

That's all!!

New Identity

Over the past few months I have really been hearing Jesus telling me to remember and never forget that my identity is in Him. To press in and get to know Him better and deeper. He gave me this very cool word picture about the ocean and how if you stay in the shallow end for too long even though you will feel the sand beneath your feet and the coolness of the water you won't see what the oceans deep really has to behold. I believe there are creatures out there that we still haven't even seen. I started to think of the shallow waters of the ocean and how when you stand there long enough you start to see the muck and sea weed and all the impurities that are in the water but if you go deeper the water gets clear and more beautiful. This is what life with Jesus is like . You put your foot in the water and you are cooled, the scenery is breath-taking at first but if you stay there you miss out on what lies beneath. It takes courage I think to go deep sea diving and I think it takes courage to press in to get to know this God that is so massive, so beyond little old me. The funny thing is that this is a interesting picture to give to me because I don't really even care that much for water stuff. I have never been snorkeling or deep sea diving(nor do I plan to) heck, I can't even swim!! All the same I got what He was trying to say to me.
What amazes me still and probably is something that always will amaze me is that after all these years of knowing Jesus there is still so much more to know, feel, learn from Him. My whole life I have been brought up in some sorta church and so I have been hearing about Jesus for 32 years and I know that even in another 32 years there will still be things about Him that will fascinate me. I am so thankful for His presence in my daily life. I am so thankful that from a very young age He has personally drawn upon my heartstrings in ways that only He can. I can't even put into words His love. Truly He is amazing and His love for me baffles me.
So digging deeper, what does that look like for me. I am reading, worshiping, listening, learning from ALL His people, taking time for Him, laying down things and picking some old things back up again and in a sense I feel like I am deep sea diving. Don't know what that feels like and this time going deeper feels different. It's good , it's refreshing, it's a new identity.
"My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God , My Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood
His mercy reigns
Unending Love, Amazing Grace."