Christmas time already??!!!

I feel like we just posted Halloween pictures and now we are decorating for Christmas.

Thanksgiving was great, a blur; but great! We traveled up to Blue Ridge to spend time with Bryan's parents. They rent a cabin for Thanksgiving...something they have done the past couple of years. It is a good get away.

Then we headed over to Alpharetta/Milton to see my dad and Trudy. Then two days later we headed up to mom's in Jasper and spent time with her, Cliff and the grandma's.

So needless to say, the month flew by and we are prepping for Christmas. And in between all that some dear friends, life-long, had their 35th wedding anniversary....so we celebrated with them. Congratulations to Cathy and Terry Higgins!!! We love you guys!

Eli loves playing in the back of Aunt Caralyn's truck....

Bath time with Nana. In the sink of course...so fun!

Daddy and Eli...enjoying a walk in the mountains.

Let's not forget, mommy turned 30 in November as well....wow! Seems like yesterday I was wondering what it would be like to be in college.

We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving with family and friends as much as we did. As I am still trying to find time to read and sit still, I am still learning what it means to be Mary in a Martha world...especially during this time of year.

Eli's Halloween...

This year he got to participate a little more than the year before. :) Although dressed up and loving every minute of it, we let him stay up late and hand out the candy. We decide not to go "trick-or-treating" because I did not want all the candy.

Every time Elijah would look in the mirror he would bark and get so excited.

TOP 10... Agreed!

The other day I was surfing around on the web and reading about other Girls Ministries and came across a blog that just made me "giggle". I would say that I would have to agree with the entry and wanted to share with you....this pretty much sums up why I love what I do.

This is the top 10 reasons to love girls ministry.

10. Girls come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities. Like snowflakes or fingerprints, no two girls are exactly the same. And they are loved by God as uniquely as they have been created.


9. Wherever you find girls, you'll find purses and cute shoes!


8. Girls dream. They want to be athletes, musicians, artists, and creative thinkers. They are chemists and doctors and balerinas and Marines and writers and shoppers and apologists. The world is wide open to them. Their optimism is contagious. 

7. Girls have brains! Girls are smart, thoughtful and contemplative. And they will challenge you—often when you least expect it.
6. Girls have heart! Girls are full of feelings and emotions and can be expressive and demonstrative. They are passionate, caring, confused, apathetic, enthusiastic, angry, sad, happy, perplexed, perplexing, vexed and vexing, discouraged and full of hope. To know them is to see the full range of human emotion—sometimes in a matter of a few minutes!


5. Girls giggle. At everything and nothing. They are a reminder not to take myself so seriously. 


4. Girls talk. And talk…and talk…and talk…and talk….


3. Girls are immature. While this can be extremely frustrating at times, it can also be a gift. Watching girls transform from a gangly sixth grader to a confident college student is amazing. And to know that you had a just a small part in that change is a reward beyond any dollar amount.

2. Girls love. They love each other. They love you. They love God. And to get to watch them love is a gift.


1. Girls can change the world. And their neighborhood, their school, and your church. The potential in each of them is immeasurable.

"Living Room Intimacy"

...At least that is what it is referred to in the book I am reading.

Luke 10:38-42

I am studying the hearts of both Mary and Martha right now and what it means to have a Mary heart in a Martha world. So often I have the intentions to sit down and have intimacy with Jesus and then I will think of the things I did not do or need to do only to jump up and do them at that moment because they just HAD to be done! A lot of times we are opening our homes but not our heart only to find that we are missing the opportunity to know Jesus. I feel I more often fall on the side of Martha...do, do, do...there is so much to do!

From the book; 'Having a Mary Heart in A Martha World'
by Joanna Weaver

"We get caught up in the same performance trap, feeling as though we must prove our love for God by doing great things for him. So we rush past the intimacy of the Living Room to get busy for him in the Kitchen-implementing great ministries and wonderful projects, all in an effort to spread the good news. We do all our works in his name. We call him "Lord, Lord." But in the end, will he know us? Will we know him?"

" The world clamors, "Do more! Be all that you can be!" But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God."


Why is it we find it so hard to put God first in our day? We get so busy with the things we NEED to do but in reality the NEED is God. Joanna gives such a great analogy in this book that I think will make sense to so many of us...

"When we put work before worship, we put the cart before the horse. The cart is important; so is the horse. But the horse must come first, or we end up pulling the cart ourselves. Frustrated and weary, we can nearly break under the pressure of service, for there is always something that needs to be done.
When we first spend time in his presence-when we take time to hear his voice-God provides the horsepower we need to pull the heaviest load. He saddles up Grace and invites us to take a ride."

Matthew 11:28-29 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."`

"Jesus invites us to come and rest, to spend time with him in this incredible Living Room Intimacy. Intimacy that allows us to be honest in our complaints, bold in our approach, and lavish in our love. Intimacy that allows us to hear our Father's voice and discern our Father's will. Intimacy that so fills us with his love and his nature that it spills out to our dry, thirsty world in Kitchen Service. In the Living Room. That's where it all begins. Down at His feet."

Today I will sit at the feet of our Savior prepared for intimacy. Opening my heart to truly know Him. I know that in my days are not in order until I have met with my Father. Let's all put the 'horse before the cart' today and allow Jesus to guide us.






...Chapter 2 tomorrow

The good, bad and the rain....

As we all know it has been raining an incredible amount. For us there has been some fun moments then not so fun moments...

Just this past week before it got really bad, I thought I would let Eli play in the rain. (This is the fun moment) Why not, all kids should get a chance to do that - right? He LOVED it. He would run out, laugh, run back...this continued for 10 minutes or more. He thought it was the greatest thing. When I finally brought him inside, soaking wet...he wanted to go back out for more. I love the innocence and freedom of a child. Little things are so fun and the highlight of the day and in the midst of it all, nothing else matters.






Here comes the not so fun part...by the weekend we noticed water in our basement, lots of it. So we quickly started finding buckets, shop vacs, towels and anything we could to stop the water. Bryan and I had a little "rigged" system going that seemed to help us keep up with the water a little bit, but by Sunday afternoon it was too much. It had been a long weekend...pulling all-nighters, running up and down to the basement to make sure it was not overflowing our "system". Some friends came over to help us and came up with an even more clever idea to by us more time in between pumping gallons upon gallons of water out of the basement. There were two rooms in the basement that flooded, our back storage room and one of the bedrooms. Thankfully, nothing got ruined just a few minor damages and repairs. At least out of all of this we found were the leaks are so we know what needs to be fixed and our thankful it was not worse.

Mallory Smith

I just received a text message from a student in our ministry. Her name is Mallory Smith. Mallory just turned 21 this past week and for the past couple of years she has been in and out of the hospital. Today she got admitted again. Mallory has gone through many many surgeries and two liver transplants. She is a fighter. Please keep her in your prayers as she again goes into the trusting hands of the doctors. She has an incredible story. If you want to read about her check out her website at http://www.teammal.org/djournal.asp

We love you Mallory and are praying for you!

This is Mallory with Eli the last time she was in the hospital. :) So sweet!

RAIN

This morning has been a bit wild. I get the honor of keeping my niece twice a week and the kids were all over this morning. Right now they are down for a little nap and I am soaking in the sound of the rain falling outside and the stillness in the house.

There is something about rain that I have begun to enjoy... it makes me slow down, it's a chance for new growth, and there is something about the smell of rain; it's fresh....to top it all off I am enjoying a cup of coffee to go with it.

There are times in life when rain comes and it's a chance for a new start and a fresh beginning. We should learn to embrace the rain storms and use it as a chance to slow down in life, at least this is true for me.

so cuddly

I just wanted to post this picture. Eli had just had a bath and loved running around in his robe. Too cute!

Update on Elijah

Well, we have been home a couple weeks recuperating...the doctors did not really have an answer for us except that Elijah mush have had some soft of allergic reaction but to what we don't know. He just finished up his meds/steroids and we are praying it does not come back. IF it does, then we go back to a specialist and try and figure out what is going on.

After returning home from the hospital, the following Thursday he was up all night throwing up. He must have had some sort of stomach bug. He is doing much better now. We have had a long two weeks.

I have attached some pictures of him from the hospital below.

Trusting Him

Well tomorrow is Bryan's 3oth birthday...but unfortunately we get to spend it at Scottish Rite. Eli broke out in a rash in the last two weeks that got progressively worse. Within the past two days he had welts all over his body and his hands, feet and face (eyes) started to swell. The pediatrician was unable to figure out what was going on and quite concerned with his swelling and bruising so we got admitted to the ER around 4pm today. Eli is FINALLY resting but who knows for how long. Bryan is asleep on the bed-couch or lack there of. :) Needless to say, we are staying the night and waiting for his blood results to know what is next.

I never understood what a parent felt watching their child in the hospital till now...speechless.

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. We know God is in control and taking care of our baby boy.

Beach trip

We went to the beach, St George Island, this summer with my family...here are some pictures of our fun. (you can tell I am trying to catch up with my blogging...lol)

WALKING

Elijah starting walking about two weeks ago...he is so funny! He is proud of himself for sure. The first week we had a few bumps and bruises where he would fall into the coffee table, but he seems to be getting faster and faster each day.

Now that the walking is down and he is 13 months, it seems he learns something new everyday. His new words are 'dog or og', 'car', 'light or ight' and 'woof more like uuf'.

Below are some more pictures from his birthday party we had at the house...

This cake my best friend, Rebecca, made. She is so talented!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH!

Elijah turns 1 today!!! Crazy how fast it goes by. It seems all at once he is blowing kisses, saying "bye-bye" and "uh-oh", and drinking out of straws. He has even taken a few steps today...he is SO CLOSE to walking.

Today we took his great-grandma to the airport. On our way we went to IHOP with her. Eli got to eat eggs and a pancake for his birthday. After coming home and lots of playing around the house, Nana & Papa Barton came over to celebrate with him. We ate dinner and CAKE (that Aunt Rebecca made) which ended up all over him...that was the most fun part! Then after his birthday bath he got to open his present from Nana & Papa. It was a super fun truck, wagon and push toy all in one. :) Maybe this will keep him from pushing my furniture all over the house. HA!

too curious for his own good

Elijah is so inquisitive. He watches EVERYTHING and absorbs as much as he can. This week he learned how to drink out of a straw. He got a juice box at Chick Fil A and loved it!!!

It's amazing how fast they grow and figure things out. Yesterday I was picking up his room and knew he was pulling things out of the drawers but figured I would get to that after and there was no sense in me picking up every blanket and putting it back because he would just pull it out again. :) So I went about my business...when I turned around to check on him he had figured out how to pull the bottom drawer out, stand on it and was working on the next so that he could climb his dresser. REALLY??? Isn't he too young for that.

Drew & Stacy Holley

Well this weekend Bryan and I had the honor of being part of Drew Holley and Stacy Kavorous' wedding. Drew and Stacy came to us almost 3 years ago and joined our college Bible study back when we lived in our apartment. Shortly after that, Drew moved in with us and lived with us for just over a year.

Over the years we have become very close to them and have come to love them dearly. They are now getting married this weekend and we get to be part of it with them. We have enjoyed watching them grow together as a couple and together in Christ. We are excited to see how God will continue to use them.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We love you guys!

so big so fast

Well just in the past few weeks both Eli and his cousin Carolyn are growing so fast. Carolyn is now walking. She is 5 weeks younger than Elijah.

I know Eli is not far behind her...he is trying so hard.

The other day Elijah was playing with some toys...it seems the only toys he wants now are BOY toys. He loves trucks and blocks. I try to give him his other baby toys but he is not so interested. It's funny too, when he is playing with the cars and trucks he seems to understand that they make a "vroom" sound...for him it's more like a spitting brrmmm. It is really neat to watch him develop so much and do so many neat things.

I still have yet to learn the whole video uploading but Eli also sings along with his teddy bear. I will need to get that posted, it is too cute!

Mr and Mrs Michael Grayson Barton

Over Memorial weekend we went to Navarre Beach for Michael and Karah's wedding...CONGRATULATIONS you two!!! We are so happy for you! We love you guys!!

The wedding was beautiful. It was on the beach in the early evening, there was a cool breeze and a gorgeous background. We had a wonderful time.

Bryan also had the honor of doing the ceremony. He did such a wonderful job. It was so beautiful watching Bryan marry Michael and Karah. What a precious moment for all of them.

It was also Eli's first time to the beach, he was not too sure what to think of the sand...but he had fun!

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

This was my first Mother's Day as a M-O-M. It was so wonderful. My best friend Rebecca asked if she could come and "babysit" Eli the other night, so I let her...Bryan and I went out. Well her baby-sitting was really a surprise gift making party for me. Eli made me my first mommy's day present. I just LOVED it...and cried.

Also for Mother's day, Bryan and I closed on our first house!! Yes, we are moving. We are very excited. We kept praying for something that would still provide a place to still do ministry in our home and that could hold all our students. God provided!!!

The house is wonderful! There is plenty of room for us to grow into it and still have room for our ministry. We will be sending out an email with our new address.

Up, Up and Away

Eli turned 10 months old on May 7th. Boy is he everywhere. He is now climbing the stairs as fast as he can. He keeps me busy as he moves from couch to couch and then up the stairs.

It is hard to believe how fast he is growing. His personality is really developing and he is always so happy.