Morgan

I just saw this again and it does my heart good!!

Pressing On

I am up late once again after going non stop today (praise the Lord for some energy) but I am in pain still from having my wisdom teeth out along with that oh so fun bone graft. Anyway, I am doing Kelly Minter's new study on Ruth and I just love her (Kelly) and Ruth!! I am doing a personal study of my own of the book of Ruth on the side and I found this quote that I loved from Matthew Henry:

It well becomes us to have our hearts humbled under humbling providences. It is not affliction itself, but affliction rightly borne, that does us good.

Today has been one of those days where I just want to throw in the towel and quit on some things. I had to get on my face in my bedroom and just get gut level honest with the Lord about all that was in my heart. Then, I came to a place of praise and found the sustaining grace to humble myself and keep pressing forward. His presence truly is transforming.

I am reminded of these inspired words and encouraged in my own trials and affliction to persevere:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (New International Version)
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

In a world where you and I will never reach the bar of expectations set by ourself or others we are loved with a measureless love when we indeed can not measure up ourselves.

Pelham Police Officer Murdered- Officer Philip Davis

My dad is a police officer and I have a lot of friends that are in the same line of work and I am so grateful for them putting their lives on the line daily for our safety. My heart breaks for the family of the fallen officer Philip Davis. Please pray for his wife and two small children. It angers me that his children will grow up without their dad because of some punk with a gun and no regard for life.
HERE is a link about Officer Davis from ABC 33/40 and HERE from Al.com.

I need your advice

OK...I do not have a lot of confidence in myself when it comes to branching out and doing things that are different around the house. So, I wanted your advice. I have posted pics of the borders around my kitchen and the diamonds that I did over the pantry door. Do you think I should do this around the border of my kitchen? One pic looks like a different color because the pic wasn't upclose but I painted it a biege color. I am not going to finish anything until I feel better with the wisdom teeth. For now I feel like a mini zorro is in my mouth cutting it!

Hodge Podge of Pictures

Her thanks "gibbing" feast!!


at the hunting club. Please take note of the granite counter tops in the trailer. We don't even have those in our house.

Iguana Grill--yummy

I am not sure what these next two are about but she had me dying laughing as she was dancing!

Rod is such a good daddy to Morgan. Hands down she is a momma's girl but she loves her daddy just the same. I am so glad that she has a dad who cares about her. My biological father has not been in my life since I was 4 or so. I really hope he knows Jesus but I don't care about knowing him. I just can't understand why a parent would want nothing to do with their children. I know that God has used it for my good so I will take it! Rod can drive me nuts about her car seat not being tight enough and etc but I am just thankful for his loving care of her. I have also noticed lately that she is really starting to crack him up!

me and my sweet baby! Thanksgiving or "thanksgibbing" as Morgan says at Rods moms sisters house.

Leah, Morgan and me. Leah and Kate are Rods brothers daughters. They ADORE morgan. The word adore doesn't even do justice.

Mimi and her girls! She loves these kids like they are her own. Morgan, Leah, MiMi, and Kate bug

cake balls that I made from the recipe that Mrs. Jill made on Jumpin in! They were so good. I made a whole different batch for Morgan to take to school today but she is at her Mimi's.

My nieces/nephew took most of the pics on thanksgiving I just gave them my camera. They do pretty good!

Oh wow it's an oompa loompa painting at my sisters new house. I am so happy for her!

my meal for the day! happy hour at Dairy Queen! I took a few bites and was so nauseated. So much for that!

Morgan and Santa.

I repainted my kitchen.

Christmas Tour

our charlie brown tree. Morgan loves to bring big sticks into the house. I can't wait for the real tree that is going in our living room!!!
















So I am not into lavish decor, I would honestly rather buy a new outfit or pair of shoes. Anyway, here are some pics of what Morgan and I have done so far for Christmas. She has loved it! I just love watching her take it all in! I still need to put the lights up on the outside of the house and put Morgans blow up Christmas tree in the yard.
Can I just say: OH HOW I LOVE JESUS! My heart yearns within me.

The stockings are a bit cheesy but I did the whole spend money on stockings thing and Morgan ripped them off the fire place 2 years in a row!
I had to include "jinger bells" on the door. I love how she says jinger instead of jingle.
The child keeps me cracking up. She told me this weekend that and I quote: "Stinker-bella is not happy." I call her stinker bell sometimes because I think it is so cute! =)

As soon as I have healed up from getting my wisdom teeth out and a bone graft done I will finish the rest! YAY

Prayers for the Gray Family

CLICK HERE for an article about my previous post. I did find out that Kristy is paralyzed from the waist down and that she did not know about the loss of her child yet. Breaks my heart.


HERE IS another article on the accident.

It's Just Not Fair

Please I beg you to pray for the family above. Brian, Kristy, and Helen Gray. Kristy had a car accident and Helen went to be with Jesus. Kristy broke her back according to what I heard. I went to school with Kristy and worked with her after high school. She loves Jesus but y'all please ask God to help her to stand firm in her faith through this devestating time. I am just sick for them.

Christianity is Not the Big List of Don'ts

2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Christianity is not a big list of don’ts. I have had a few conversations with people lately that I wanted to share. First, I had a niece ask me why my child can’t watch “Wizards of Waverly Place”, or Harry Potter, and other things. I explained to her that Morgan has a few things that she can’t watch but she also has a lot of things that she can watch. My niece was telling me in the car about a friend that she has that was not allowed to have facebook and a list of other things because her family are “big Christians”. Well, that is up to her parents but I don’t want Morgan to see a big list of everything that she can’t do. When you try to just take everything away from a child in the name of “Christianity” it really sets your child (or anyone for that matter) up to run as far as they can from any legalism or “religion”. Don’t get me wrong there are things that we just plain need to stay away from. Things that we need to flee. But good grief let us be known for our love of Christ and others and not just for a big list of what we can’t do. Good Grief!! Let’s not just portray ourselves as some communist religion. Christ died that we might live in freedom through the power of the Holy Spirit, not in bondage to sin. Do we use our freedom in Christ as a license to sin? NO! Romans 6:1-2 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
God is not boring. We may be bored stiff with our religion but we can’t be bored with God, the Lord of Glory. Romans 12:21 says “21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” There is a lot of evil in this world yet we can also use the internet and other things for good, instead of just writing everything off as evil. There are some clear don’ts in the word of God but they are always for our protection. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says that 12"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. Also, when people say things that they watch do not affect them, they are the exception, I want to tell them to argue with God then: “Luke 11:34
34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.”
Garbage in garbage out. The Lord Jesus is the best thing that has EVER happened to me. I can not get over Him. I was in my car today just having a time of worship in the Word of God and I just told Him that I was not sure why in the world He had not given up on me. I deserve NOTHING from Him, yet He is so lavish with His love. I have sinned so greatly against Him. Why in the world would He contend with me, I do not know. He has disciplined me out of His great love as well. Listen, I desperately want a heart that beats of Deut 6:5-9. I want to love the LORD with all of my heart.
'For in him we live and move and have our being.' Acts 17:28 a
We have got to get it through our thick skulls that He is Life. He is where real living is.
Deut. 30:20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
There is nothing in all of life that compares to knowing Him. There is no greater moment in my life than when I am spending time with Jesus and knowing Him through His word. Just like Adam and Eve we tend to consider what a relationship with the Lord will cost us. What will we have to give up? We focus on the one tree He says no to instead of all of the yeses that we have in Christ. There is no greater feeling to me than when I am just caught up in praise to Him. Even obedience, maybe sometimes a LONG obedience is freeing.
Here is a question that I can give a resounding answer to:
Romans 6:20-23
20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Seriously, though stop with me and ask yourself what stinking benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?
I just shake my head and groan and some of the stupid “make Jenny happy” decisions that I have made, those decisions are the things that have cost me big time. They were damaging, shameful, and cost me a whole lot of pain. Following Christ may be costly but it is worth the cost. Leaving God for my own path is the biggest cost to my soul in all of life.
Today, I literally got all emotional over the fact that I have had a certain bible for 4 years this December and that it is time for me to get a new one. I almost bawled in Lifeway, but the girl working there was not ready for me to start crying. You have no idea what the Word of God has done for me or what all I have been through with the Lord in the last 4 years with that bible. It is so dear to me. I can hardly stand the thoughts of getting a new one but I know there will be completely new journeys with the next. Listen though I would be so far in a ditch without Jesus and His word and my church that it is not even funny. I praise Him for the blast that I get to have with Him and the way I get to know Him. Who are we that He is mindful of us? But He is. Crazy Love.

Bill @ Hardee's

This would be a picture of Rod with the number 53 on the table...
There is a funny story to this is why I am posting. It may have been one of those things that is just funny to you at the time but I am going to set the stage for you.
Rod, his brother, my niece, Morgan, and myself head "to town" yesterday to eat and make a trip to Wal-Mart. Rod hunts in one of the poorest counties in the United States. He has been hunting there for 20 something years. When I tell you it is in the sticks...I mean IT IS IN THE STICKS. Morgan gets so excited to go to "the hunting club Chevron". The shopper in her is just excited to have a place to shop even if it is the Chevron.
So, we decide on Hardee's for dinner. There was an elderly couple there and us, that is all. Bill is taking our order. He was so loud you would think he had to speak over the masses to get our order. At one point in the conversation I asked him if the cinnamon biscuit wholes with icing were good...because there was a big sign in my face and he says: "I don't know, I guess you will have to come back tomorrow morning and try them because we are not serving them." OKAY....
So, we place our orders and wait and wait and wait. Hey life is about waiting so I am OK with that. I. KID. YOU. NOT. Bill walks around the restaurant saying "number 53" and looking for us. I am like Oh number 53 that's us...the. only. ones. in. the. restaurant. that. do. not. have. their. food. US NUMBER FIFTY THREE. I seriously almost spit out my drink I thought it was so funny. What cracked me up even more is when he gave us the number and when he popped the question of "will you be dining with us this evening." Why yes. Yes we will be dining at Hardee's. I wish I had a picture of Bill. HE. WAS. HILARIOUS.

A few stories.

I am thinking that I am going to have to swap over to a .com or something. I am getting so much spam in my comments. It is about to drive me nuts!
I get my wisdom teeth out Monday. To say I am not looking forward to it would be an understatement.
I have been a SLACKER when it comes to my blog and it sure isn't for lack of things to say. =)

Tonight I was giving Morgan a bath and I said something to her and she replied by saying, "Mom, I am saying whatever in my heart."
I couldn't help but laugh since she is telling me that it is what she is saying "in her heart." Out of the heart the mouth speaks for sure! We can always look at our words and see what kind of condition our heart is in. I find myself constantly praying for a purified heart and one that is undivided.

Then, Morgan stayed with her MiMi and Pop this weekend and missed church. She was scrolling through my camera and about freaked out at the pictures of my friend Donna getting "babatized." a.k.a. baptized.
her: Mom why did she get babatized?
me: because she became a Christian and was letting everyone know that she was not ashamed of Christ and that she was going to follow Jesus. She was going to live for Jesus and not for herself.
her: Mom, I don't want you and dad to get babatized. How will you come back to life?
me: Morgan, we already got baptized.
her: mommy no! how did you come back to life????

She doesn't understand but I loved what she was saying because it really is symbolic of us dying to self and our sinfulness and following Christ. Death to our flesh and Life in the Spirit. She is sort of scared of all of it right now. I had to call Rod to get him to simplify it for her. I have a hard time trying to articulate things on a four year old level...very hard time.

Then, I was at the oral surgeon today and was chatting with the nurse and she told me that her little girl heard the preacher ask for prayers for "the bereaved families" and one day her girl asked her who in the world was the Bereaved family and why did they pray for this family all of the time that she has never met. I about died laughing!!!