Welcome 2008!!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have an incredible New Year's Day! Resolutions coming soon...what will yours be?!? :)

Blog Title...

I realize that I haven't fully explained my blog title and since I've had this blog for a couple months now, I suppose it's time to do that. A couple of years ago, a dear friend really highlighted in my life the passage of scripture that's posted at the bottom of my blog page..."We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5) I don't really remember what the circumstances were in my life at the moment that my friend chose to share this passage with me...chances are I was in the middle of an emotional breakdown. I don't experience these breakdowns too often, but when I do, boy can they be tricky! There are several truths that the Lord has revealed over the past couple of years that have stemmed from this scripture. In return, I've become pretty passionate about sharing this passage with anyone who I believe can benefit from writing it on the tablets of their heart. (everyone!) Truth number one is that we are ALL emotional beings. God created emotions, so surely He's created a way for us to live with those emotions in a healthy way. There are good emotions and bad emotions, nonetheless, they are all real. Truth number two is that feelings are not always facts. Example: Somedays I feel like I'm not very valuable. Something we all feel from time to time. This is a feeling, but is it a fact? Absolutely not! This is where 2 Corinthians 10:5 comes in and the part where I get so excited! We are in a constant battle...a battle with the world and a battle with self. There are so many days that we live in defeat of these battles and not as victors. How can we be victorious? By doing what 2 Cor. 10:5 tells us to do. We must make a conscience effort to think about and filter through the things we allow to go through our minds. ("take captive every thought") We then must take those thoughts or feelings...for example the thought that we aren't of value...recognize that they are NOT truth, and then search out in the Word what truth is. ("make the thought obedient to Christ"). So in this example, truth would be "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made". (Psalm 139:14) That's how we unveil Truth in our lives...I love it! So...know that emotions are not bad and feelings are not bad. Just make sure they don't stem from lies but from His Truth!

Christmas 2007

What a wonderful Christmas season...I'm sad that it came and went so quickly! My family had an incredible time this year. If we had of known that Christmas was so fun with a little baby around, we would've done that a long time ago. (not really sure how, but we would've made it happen!) :) The fun began on Sunday, the day before Christmas Eve, with having Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. This is personally my favorite because when we all get together, there are over 40 of us in one house. (and that's immediate family) It's insane. I love it! Then on Christmas Eve, we had Christmas with my Dad's side of the family at my Papa's. This is also always a very special time but much more quiet than Christmas with Mom's side. Then of course on Christmas day, Mom, Dad, and I got up fairly early and exchanged gifts with one another. Christmas night, my sister Carrie, brother-in-law Kevin, and Baby Luke came over for dinner and more presents! WOW! That's a lot of "gettin' together", huh? :) I'm so richly blessed to have been placed in a family that not only celebrates the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birth, but that also celebrates the love of Christ year round by extending it to one another. Doesn't get much better than that. :) Here are a few pics. Enjoy!

Married Grandchildren...one day me and my hot husbands face will grace this picture! :)

Grandkids...not enough room for all of us! One year, I have a feeling someone's going to wind up in the ER from this picture. It's no easy task!

My Family - that baby wore us out! :)

What a wonderful holiday season! For those of you who are wondering what "Santa" brought me this year, I'll share a few things with you...Weight Watchers scales, a pair of Nike's and a pair of Sketcher's that I've been wanting, the Rascal Flatts CD, new Beth Moore Bible study, Bethany Dillon CD, Weight Watchers cookbook, new p.j.'s, new workout clothes, and much much more. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well! :)

Coming soon...

Christmas post with lots of fun pictures. What a wonderful Christmas season I had...can't wait to share it with you. Until then, check out this sweet baby! (Luke, of course. Not me!) :) By this point in the game, he was a tired little fella.

To wrap or not to wrap...

Definitely WRAP!! Below is a picture of a few of my beautifully wrapped/bagged Christmas presents that I spent well over FIVE hours on last night. CRAZY! Before my sister got married and we still lived under the same roof, she always got the job of wrapping Christmas presents every year. It just wasn't something I loved doing and to be honest it still isn't one of my most favorite things in the world. As I was entering about my 3rd hour of wrapping last night, I just starting thinking to myself..."self, why do we wrap Christmas presents anyway?" I had several friends growing up that would wake up Christmas morning to the surprise of seeing their Christmas presents all at once because their parents didn't wrap theirs. As much as I dislike wrapping presents, I don't think I would enjoy not getting to 1). Admire a beautifully wrapped package 2). Shake the daylights out of it and try to guess what it is before opening it 3). Ripping into the package throwing paper everywhere, struggling to get the tape off the box, and then finally 4). Revealing a gift that was probably MUCH better than what I had guessed it to be. I did a little research online to find out what other people's reasoning behind wrapping gifts is and this is what I found out.

• To conceal what it is
• To present the present in a pleasing way
• To enhance anticipation
• To spread the festive atmosphere, whether it is Christmas, a birthday, wedding, etc.
• For traditions sake

So, there ya have it. Wether it's because our mother's mother's mother wrapped Christmas presents or because we love to see someone so excited about opening a gift, there is a reason behind picking out pretty paper and bows to cover a cardboard box. Wrap...it's worth it! :)

No discipline seems pleasant...

I love my job at the doctors office. I love that I get to see and interact with new people everyday. I love that I get to offer hope to those that are sick. One of my patients today was a sweet/not-so-sweet 5 yr. old little boy. You could most certainly tell from his appearance and from his smell that he's not very well taken care of at home. This automatically drew me to him. (not the smell, but the helplessness of the child) The doctor wanted to do some breathing tests on him and also some allergy testing. This little boy's mom was a mom that was not in charge of him. Kind of one of those situations where you wonder which is the parent...the Mom or the child?? So I go into the testing with my game face on. Taking no slack from the little boy and being very direct in my instructions to him. Of course, my nature was to play with the little boy and to joke around with him. But I knew this was no time for that. He did an incredible job for me...even the doctor was impressed with how well he did. One of my favorite verses came to mind through this experience today. Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." I truly don't think the Lord just loves to discipline us. But sometimes, stern direction is necessary for good results. I always get a little nervous when the Lord reminds me of this passage. My mind immediately travels down the road of "oh man...is it about to be a season of pruning for me?" Wether it is not, I love that we serve a God who loves us enough to want to see a harvest of righteousness and peace in our lives.

It's the most wonderful/busy time of the year!

Wow! What a wonderful time of the year! And what a BUSY time of the year! Sorry it's been a week or so since I really posted, but I have been just that...BUSY! Work Christmas party, Christmas dinner with friends, Christmas dinner with MORE friends, Christmas shopping, Christmas traffic, helping Mom get the house decorated for Christmas (which by the way looks beautiful!), wrapping Christmas presents, baking Christmas goodies for friends...I know there's more, I just can't think of it all at the moment. :) I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! It truly is my most favorite time of the year...and not because of all these fun things listed above, even though they are all great. But because of a love that I'll never be able to fully understand...the love of sweet Savior who was born to be my rescue.
I went to church with my friend Karla a few Sunday's ago and the sweet lady who taught our Sunday school class helped me look at Christmas in a whole new light. Each year we hear the phrase, "Jesus is the reason for the season!" Very true statement. His birth is the reason we celebrate. But have we ever thought about the fact that we, too, are the reason for the season. If it weren't for us and our imperfections, there'd be no reason for a Savior to come and be our rescue. But because we are imperfect and desprately needed a Savior, He lovingly came. It was because of you and me that there was a need for Him. We, too, are the reason for the season. That little reminder should make us a million times more grateful as we celebrate Christmas.
On a much less important side note: Yes, I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping! The most exciting Christmas present that I've purchased so far this year is a John Wayne coffee mug for my Dad. I'm not so much excited about the gift itself, I mean come on, it's a John Wayne coffee mug. But I am excited because I know my Dad will LOVE it! I'll post a picture of him drinking out of it on Christmas morning...I know he will drink out of it on Christmas morning because he will love it so much. :) Most wanted item on my Christmas list: it's a tie between new weights and the new Beth Moore Bible study, "The Psalms of Ascent". (I really want the new Rascall Flatts CD too!) Favorite Christmas memory so far this year: Watching Baby Luke get SO excited over all the shiny lights on the Christmas trees. Merry "almost" Christmas everybody! As the time draws nearer and things are sure to get even more crazy busy, remember the reason(s) for the season! And of course I couldn't NOT show you all this precious picture of Luke in one of his MANY Christmas outfits! Don't you just want to squeeze him?!? :)

Whoohooo!

I'm a little excited at the moment because this evening I jogged a whole mile without stopping for the first time ever. BIG DEAL for me! I can cross this goal off my list because it has officially been reached. Now on to the next... :) Hope you've all had a great weekend and that your week starts out well tomorrow! Will post more soon.

2nd Annual Sisterhood Recipe Gathering

I have the best friends! The Lord has graciously blessed me my whole life with amazing friends. There's a special group of 5 girls, 6 including myself that I have known my entire life. (With the exception of Courtney. However, we have known Courtney since Middle School and it feels like we've known her our whole lives.) We call ourselves the Sisterhood. We named ourselves the Sisterhood in about 5th grade...and yes, cheesy as it may be, we still call ourselves that! Last year we started the tradition of having a recipe exchange at Christmas time. Today was our 2nd one and it was a BLAST! Thanks again Kacee for letting use your beautiful new home this year. You were a great host. We had many laughs as always and TONS of yummy food. Check out some fun pictures below of our special day together.

So thankful for you girls!!