There is SO much I want to post about. Teaching controversy, Carys lost another tooth, Sawyer's ball practice is this week, my birthday was last week, Sawyer's birthday is next week, college, church, and on and on and on and on!
But it is time to pick up Carys from school so,
Ta Ta for now!
Have a good weekend!!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Please Give Me a Present for My Birthday!!!!
Tomorrow, February 23, 2010 will be my 27th Birthday!!!
WoW I'm Old!!
If you can, I am asking that you meet me tomorrow night at the IHOP location in Tuscaloosa at 5:30 pm to celebrate. They will give you a free "stack" of pancakes and will thankfully accept a donation to a local charity.
I chose the T-town location because guess who their earnings will support?!?
CAMP SMILE A MILE!!!!!
www.campsam.org
Please come out and celebrate with us! This is NOT about my birthday as much as it is to help this wonderful organization and the wonderful families it will support this year and years to come! And there will be a CampSAM alumnae there!!! Carys Jo Cottingham :)
You can email me (cham4him@gmail.com) or message me for more info or to let me know you are coming!
P.S. if you cannot make it to T-town, all IHOP locations are doing this just for different charities I believe the one in Pelham is benifiting Children's Hospital of Alabama:)
WoW I'm Old!!
If you can, I am asking that you meet me tomorrow night at the IHOP location in Tuscaloosa at 5:30 pm to celebrate. They will give you a free "stack" of pancakes and will thankfully accept a donation to a local charity.
I chose the T-town location because guess who their earnings will support?!?
CAMP SMILE A MILE!!!!!
www.campsam.org
Please come out and celebrate with us! This is NOT about my birthday as much as it is to help this wonderful organization and the wonderful families it will support this year and years to come! And there will be a CampSAM alumnae there!!! Carys Jo Cottingham :)
You can email me (cham4him@gmail.com) or message me for more info or to let me know you are coming!
P.S. if you cannot make it to T-town, all IHOP locations are doing this just for different charities I believe the one in Pelham is benifiting Children's Hospital of Alabama:)
Ever Feel Weak??
Be strong in the Lord and never give up hope!
As I was praying over what to write, I was pressed to keep this very simple because it can apply to SO MANY different situations.
To be strong in the Lord is a broad topic. It could mean that you take a stand for your beliefs when others are not. It could mean that you use your gifts and talents in a might way in service to Him. Or, it could mean that you stand firm in your belief that God is in control!
I have faced so many situations in which the Holy Spirit had to remind me that God has all of this in His hands and worry is a)selfish and b)pointless!! I was reminded of that again today. I am blessed by God that He gave me a)His Son to make a way b)His Word to "train" me to be strong, and c) His Holy Spirit to guide me and remind me of the former!
As long as I live my life in pursuit of Christ, there will be an adversary trying to devour me and the things I hold dear {my family, friends, church, ministry} see 1 Peter 5:8. So, I must be "strong and not afraid" as Deut says. So that brought about two questions in my mind.
1) How do I become and stay "strong?"
Well, I think this one is easy enough. Stay close to God! Read His word, Talk to Him in Prayer, and Practice doing what His word says. This is the "basic training" we have all heard about. I know it seems redundant because I know I have heard them all my life. However, no one other than myself can follow through with these except ME!!
2) How do I recognize when the adversary is after me?
Let's think in reverse here. What does God want for me? To follow his commandments, to live in pursuit of Christ, to love others, show mercy, have joy, have peace - patience - kindness - goodness - and self-control. To be prepared for "battle" by putting on the whole armor of His Word. So then, ANYTHING that threatens my ability to do or have any of the above can be interpreted as the adversary's attack on my life. Sometimes is people, who allow themselves to get in the way of you doing these things. Sometimes is circumstances or many other things that make you do things like - not show a lot of love, not have much patience, or even lack self-control! But we have to learn to identify these things as actions of the adversary and not just things the "happen" to us. AND we have to remember that there is not reason for us to be afraid of what these influences might have on our lives. If we are actively seeking to follow Christ, then we have nothing to fear because HE will make us STRONG!!
As I was praying over what to write, I was pressed to keep this very simple because it can apply to SO MANY different situations.
To be strong in the Lord is a broad topic. It could mean that you take a stand for your beliefs when others are not. It could mean that you use your gifts and talents in a might way in service to Him. Or, it could mean that you stand firm in your belief that God is in control!
I have faced so many situations in which the Holy Spirit had to remind me that God has all of this in His hands and worry is a)selfish and b)pointless!! I was reminded of that again today. I am blessed by God that He gave me a)His Son to make a way b)His Word to "train" me to be strong, and c) His Holy Spirit to guide me and remind me of the former!
As long as I live my life in pursuit of Christ, there will be an adversary trying to devour me and the things I hold dear {my family, friends, church, ministry} see 1 Peter 5:8. So, I must be "strong and not afraid" as Deut says. So that brought about two questions in my mind.
1) How do I become and stay "strong?"
Well, I think this one is easy enough. Stay close to God! Read His word, Talk to Him in Prayer, and Practice doing what His word says. This is the "basic training" we have all heard about. I know it seems redundant because I know I have heard them all my life. However, no one other than myself can follow through with these except ME!!
2) How do I recognize when the adversary is after me?
Let's think in reverse here. What does God want for me? To follow his commandments, to live in pursuit of Christ, to love others, show mercy, have joy, have peace - patience - kindness - goodness - and self-control. To be prepared for "battle" by putting on the whole armor of His Word. So then, ANYTHING that threatens my ability to do or have any of the above can be interpreted as the adversary's attack on my life. Sometimes is people, who allow themselves to get in the way of you doing these things. Sometimes is circumstances or many other things that make you do things like - not show a lot of love, not have much patience, or even lack self-control! But we have to learn to identify these things as actions of the adversary and not just things the "happen" to us. AND we have to remember that there is not reason for us to be afraid of what these influences might have on our lives. If we are actively seeking to follow Christ, then we have nothing to fear because HE will make us STRONG!!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Overwhelmed...:D
I found this picture when I Googled "overwhelmed"...
I must admit that I have been feeling this way lately! Work - is busy, Home - is busy, and School (as in UA) is busy. But, I am mostly blessed.
It is such a strange feeling, really. The human part of me is worn-slap out. To deny that would be crazy and dishonest. Plus, it seems that I become anemic once-per-month (if you catch my drift) causing plain ole fatigue to set in. I am guessing this is a feeling that most of us have. If not, you need to leave me a comment and tell me your secret!!
But then, there's my spirit. That part of me is full of determination and drive. It keep pushing me to do better, be better. And that is what keeps me going.
Here is an example of this morning.... Carys and Sawyer slept in the living room last night so they were pretty easy to wake up. I had to shower, wash/dry my hair which takes even more time. Then I had to pack snacks, get the kids dressed (thankfully their clothes were already laid out). I had to take the dog out, feed the dog, and then put him in the pen. Then once I got all of this done, we were late - like 20 minutes. I still had not checked on the baby chicks, so I dropped the kids off and checked on them. Some were dead, it got to cold! Then I realize I don't have my phone. So, I swung back by the house and grabbed my phone. At this point, I look around the house and think, Oh My! It looks much messier when there is not movement in there and you can see all the STUFF! Then my mind goes to "oh I can clean this weekend." WRONG! I have class at UA this weekend Friday and Saturday! So, I attempted to be down in the dumps.
But again, the spirit within me just would not let me! I kept thinking about how blessed I am. Beyond compare! Yesterday before church Carys (yes, all 50 lbs of her) fell asleep in my lap. I loved it! Even though it was killing my arm after about 5 minutes. I loved it. How blessed am I to have her, an in perfect health! I suppose it was because I got the news of the not-so-perfect news of our friends Carly and Hannah Grace yesterday. So, I held her. It was a great moment. So I thought of that.
I thought of how smart and absolutely hilarious Sawyer is. The other day we were driving and Sawyer said we were going the wrong way to Tuscaloosa (cause we were headed to Alabaster:) Justin asked him how did he know we were going the wrong way. He replied, "Daddy I just use my bone and think about it." He immediately started laughing and corrected himself and said he ment he used his brain to think! Also, I was giving him an IQ test the other day. On the verbal part he was identifying pictures of objects. I flipped to a picture of a cactus and he (very confidently) answered, "Its a cashew!" with a huge smile! Absolutely hilarious!
Then I thought of the "getaway" Justin and I had last weekend! It was the most perfect trip anyone could ask for! God blessed us with time together in one of our favorite places on earth, the most PERFECT weather we could ask for {the mountains are breathtaking with snow}, and just an overall good time. We had not been away alone since the kids were born. We were blessed with family who {for the most part:} took care of the kids with no reservations (love ya mom!)
All of this coupled with the undeniable Love of my Heavenly Father is enough to keep me going! So, in the words of Paul...I will press on to finish the race set before me:)
God Bless you all! If you have any stress relief tips feel free to comment about them:)
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I must admit that I have been feeling this way lately! Work - is busy, Home - is busy, and School (as in UA) is busy. But, I am mostly blessed.It is such a strange feeling, really. The human part of me is worn-slap out. To deny that would be crazy and dishonest. Plus, it seems that I become anemic once-per-month (if you catch my drift) causing plain ole fatigue to set in. I am guessing this is a feeling that most of us have. If not, you need to leave me a comment and tell me your secret!!
But then, there's my spirit. That part of me is full of determination and drive. It keep pushing me to do better, be better. And that is what keeps me going.
Here is an example of this morning.... Carys and Sawyer slept in the living room last night so they were pretty easy to wake up. I had to shower, wash/dry my hair which takes even more time. Then I had to pack snacks, get the kids dressed (thankfully their clothes were already laid out). I had to take the dog out, feed the dog, and then put him in the pen. Then once I got all of this done, we were late - like 20 minutes. I still had not checked on the baby chicks, so I dropped the kids off and checked on them. Some were dead, it got to cold! Then I realize I don't have my phone. So, I swung back by the house and grabbed my phone. At this point, I look around the house and think, Oh My! It looks much messier when there is not movement in there and you can see all the STUFF! Then my mind goes to "oh I can clean this weekend." WRONG! I have class at UA this weekend Friday and Saturday! So, I attempted to be down in the dumps.
But again, the spirit within me just would not let me! I kept thinking about how blessed I am. Beyond compare! Yesterday before church Carys (yes, all 50 lbs of her) fell asleep in my lap. I loved it! Even though it was killing my arm after about 5 minutes. I loved it. How blessed am I to have her, an in perfect health! I suppose it was because I got the news of the not-so-perfect news of our friends Carly and Hannah Grace yesterday. So, I held her. It was a great moment. So I thought of that.
I thought of how smart and absolutely hilarious Sawyer is. The other day we were driving and Sawyer said we were going the wrong way to Tuscaloosa (cause we were headed to Alabaster:) Justin asked him how did he know we were going the wrong way. He replied, "Daddy I just use my bone and think about it." He immediately started laughing and corrected himself and said he ment he used his brain to think! Also, I was giving him an IQ test the other day. On the verbal part he was identifying pictures of objects. I flipped to a picture of a cactus and he (very confidently) answered, "Its a cashew!" with a huge smile! Absolutely hilarious!
Then I thought of the "getaway" Justin and I had last weekend! It was the most perfect trip anyone could ask for! God blessed us with time together in one of our favorite places on earth, the most PERFECT weather we could ask for {the mountains are breathtaking with snow}, and just an overall good time. We had not been away alone since the kids were born. We were blessed with family who {for the most part:} took care of the kids with no reservations (love ya mom!)
All of this coupled with the undeniable Love of my Heavenly Father is enough to keep me going! So, in the words of Paul...I will press on to finish the race set before me:)
God Bless you all! If you have any stress relief tips feel free to comment about them:)
Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Gatlinburg Trip
I will do a more detailed post later. Justin and I were in TN from Thursday night to Sunday and it was a spectacular trip. The SNOW was awesome and so was the food!
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