Getting into Shape

Alright, this is not something you see everyday; actually I don't think I have ever seen this: a 4-year old girl in a skirt doing stomach crunches! Gary and I bought a weight machine a couple months ago; it is kept in our garage. I was working out last night, and Brooke wanted to join me. I had to laugh when she laid on the floor and started doing the stomach crunches. The first thing she said was, "Put it on one (weight)." Then she told me to count to 30. I started counting each one. After we reached 8, she said, "Ok, let's just do 10!"

In Christ Alone by Travis Cottrell

When I was at the conference in San Diego, I first heard this song. Since that time, it has been a refreshing and powerful reminder. Listen to the words of the song. If it does not make you want to just jump up and praise God, then you might need to check your heartbeat!

I know I always enjoy when someone shares a blessing or song with me, and so now I share this one with you. "In Christ Alone"

P.S. Godtube is a Christian version of Youtube :)

A toothless smile

Several months ago, Andrew got kicked in the mouth (I did post a picture and comment on that event). Since that time, he has had one loose tooth in the top front of his mouth. To make matters uglier, it was crooked. I often would tease him that I was just going to pull it out. In fact, I told him "if it was not out by St. Patrick's Day, I was going to pull it out." We tried, but it did not want to come yet. Well, it is much later than St. Patrick's Day, and I am happy to say, we finally got rid of that tooth!!!! He woke up this morning with blood on his pillow. When he came downstairs for breakfast, Wesley told him that his tooth had "stuff on it." It wasn't food, either. I cleaned the blood off of his tooth, and then told him, as usual, that I was going to pull it out. Except this time, I did, and it came! Andrew tells me that this tooth is worth at least $5.00. We will see what the tooth fairy does about that :)

I have to spend a little time just bragging on my husband and praising my God!

Alright, I just came back from a fast-paced yet powerful weekend! Three of my "sisters" and I drove down to San Diego, where we met up with 8 other women from our church and attended a conference with Bible teacher Beth Moore.

I have to summarize because I feel as though I could rattle on and on for awhile. The following things happened outside of the conference:
1. My friend, Jolene, left her purse and all cash at home.
2. I got car sick and threw up twice on the ride down to San Diego.
3. A normal three hour trip took us 6 1/2 hours. The last 45 minutes were right near the arena; we took that long to go 5 miles and get parked and into the arena.
4. We were 1/2 hr. late on Friday night and did not get dinner.
5. When we checked into our hotel, we found we had to pay $30.00 for parking.
6. The room was fine, but there was a "concert" going on across the street, and even though we were on the 10th floor, we heard the music loud and clear until 3:00 am.
7. I did not sleep all night.
8. In the morning, the valet lost the keys to our car, so we had to wait an hour for them to find them. (We did force them to feed us a delicious breakfast in the meantime).
9. Since it took so long to find the keys, we were 1/2 hr. late on Saturday morning.
10. I had only brought a sweater, and the temperature in San Diego was 90 degrees today.

Ok, by this time, you are probably thinking: "Did you have a good weekend??? It does not sound like it so far." I must admit, I kept thinking "Satan really wants to knock us out and make us frustrated. After each catastrophic event, we all 4 held hands and just prayed and asked God to use us, teach us, and help us to maintain our testimony!!!! He did just that.

I was able to be in an arena on San Diego State University, where 9,000 women gathered to praise and worship God and learn about Him. What an honor and a blessing. It made me think how awesome heaven will be when many more than that are gathered to worship Him. It was incredible. There were many different types of people, different denominations, and different walks of life, but there was one thing that you could not deny: God was there, and he really liked when all 9,000 of us worshiped and praised Him together.

Let me share a few thought that were a blessing to me from Beth's speaking:
1. God does not want mediocrity from anyone.
2. God knows what I am capable of and does not mind pushing to get me there.
3. We need to free ourselves from trying to do God's job.
4. Anxiety is always rooted in a feeling and need for control.
5. You might be bored with religious things, but you can never be bored with God.
6. You should never look back and wish that you had been more enthusiastic about God.

It is good to be reminded that we serve an amazing, all-powerful God who knows us and wants to be known of us. Beth Moore put up a video recap on her web-site: http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/.

I almost forgot to brag on my husband. Suffice it to say, he is an amazing "babysitter." When I got home, the house was all picked up, the living room was vacuumed, the bathroom was cleaned, and the laundry was done. He even made the kids dinner (Happy Meals :) ). I should go away more often. J/K It is nice to be home. Maybe, I will get some sleep tonight.

Precious Moments with Brooke

Brooke learned to write MOM several weeks ago, so she is always writing me notes with her name and mine on it. This past week, she learned to write DADDY. Now, all her pages (including her page at church on Sunday) are named with all three of our names. She wanted me to show Gramma, so here it is! Another precious moment I just shared with Brooke: I was reading my Bible study material when Brooke crawled onto the bed with me. "You will have to be quiet, Brooke. Mom is reading her Bible study." She replied with an OK and then proceeded to go downstairs and get her Bible. She crawled up on bed and opened her Bible. As with most things, it did not last too long; her Bible was flung aside and she went to look for something more interesting to do. However, I was thankful for the quiet moment I could spend "reading" my Bible with Brooke.

P.S. The other figures on her paper are hearts (obviously :) ) because she loves us so much!