Continue to be amazed by my Father's love.........

Good afternoon friends!! I have been thinking all morning about this blog and what I was going to write, actually writing it out in my head, and now.....can't remember any of it, lol!! So I will just start where my thoughts start!!

Saturday night we went to a small group "Two or More Gathering". We have never been and it's led by a beautiful woman, Margie Doolittle, that we have known for a few year. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and had spent more time with Margie when we lived with her, and really learned from her. Her heart from the Lord and hearing Him and ministering to others.....it really blows me away. A lot of things I see that mean so much to her, really mean so much to me, so it's awesome that God has allowed our paths to cross again!! God sure does know what He is doing.

Okay, off my bunny trail and onto the story, lol!! We did a little swimming and eating and fellowshiping, then down to business. Worship, scriptures and words from the Lord. Can I just say that I was tremendously blessed. I have been needing some refreshing and have been getting tid bits here and there, but I was really blessed this night. I felt the Lord's prescense in a way that I have missed, made some new friendships that I'm excited about, and look forward to the next meeting. When they have someone new come, they like to pray over them and see if the Lord gives them a word. I (almost always, yeah pretty much always!) cry when someone gives me a word, b/c I know that it's God speaking something special to me! I was good when Margie gave me a word and when Julie prayed over me with homeschooling, but when Becky spoke the word the Lord gave her to me, I just cried. The word had to do with the Lord being pleased with me and how good of a mom I am and how well Jarrod and I flowed together with our parenting, etc! Okay, can you see why the tears are there, still!! (and now my memory is coming back to me abour earlier and my head writing, lol) Jarrod had a great word given over him too and we both left feeling an edifying of the body and just completely refreshed!! My boys felt so at peace there that they fell asleep!!

As we were driving home I was sharing with Jarrod about crying, and something dawned on me that I've never admitted to him. I don't feel like a "good mom". I'm sure we all have these feelings at some point or another, but this is something that constantly weighs on me. See, I didn't have the most consistent example of being a mom as a child, so I really don't know how to be. (I'm not knocking my mom, as I learned in a healing class, she did the best she could with what she knew, physically and spiritually.) I have this "fear" that if my children don't act perfect or misbehave or aren't quietly sitting, listening to every word spoken that it will be a reflection on me and that I don't know how to parent. I forget that they are CHILDREN, and 6, 4, and 3 years old at that. I realized that I am entirely too hard on myself as a mom and wife, and too hard on them and letting them be children. WOW, what a relief to get that out! I know that I'm a good mom, but all too often, I forget! Now that I've admitted it, God can start the healing, woohoo!!

Now that is out, I can move onto other things.....my need for perfection! I have in my head that this is how my day should look: kids get up around 8:30, play nicely without any arguements, have a nice lunch quietly at the table talking about a few fun things, take a nice 2 hour nap (being layed down without needing anything else or calling my name 1000 times before falling asleep), then waking up, playing nicely together, maybe watch a little tv, without arguing when I turn it off, while mommy prepares a 3 course dinner for our family and we have a nice sit down dinner with pleasant conversation, followed by bath time, book time, prayers and worship, then bed, without any reluctancy. CRAZY, huh? I've this all in my head for a while, so I feel like quite a failure when this doesn't happen, lol!! Which it NEVER happens for those of you wondering!!

So again, now that it is out I can work on it! No, my house is not perfect, nowhere near perfect actually. As I look around I see numerous toys laying around that I wonder if they were even played with or just chunked out here by Jonah! Yesterday morning I woke up to a chair fort, all my dinning room chairs covered with numerous blankets, and guess who can fold blankets, that would be me and Jarrod, no children!! I 'm learning to "get over" the disarray of my house, b/c you know what? Every day my family works on a 10 minute tidy together, getting the house back in order!! It's a beautiful thing to see teamwork! I'm having to learn that it's okay if they only play with a toy a minute and then move onto other things, it will get cleaned up! I do try to teach them to put it up once they are done playing with it, but that usually doesn't happen, even I'm not always that way!!

So God has exposed some new things in my life that I need to work on, and I'm excited about learning to walk in His ways. You know where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and I'm looking forward to learning how to walk in that!! Looking forward to what God has in store as He is transitioning us in our lives right now!!

Noah and Hannah have just woken up, so I am off to spend a little time with them reading!! Oh, started this awesome homeschool book this morning, that the beautiful Lori Simms let me borrow. If I wasn't completely convinced of homeschooling, I am now!! I had a hard time putting the book down, but household chores had called my name!! I will be diving into it a little later this evening!! Hope you all have a blessed afternoon!! I'm leaving you with a picture of Jarrod and I when we went hiking a couple of weeks ago! I love this man with all my heart and am so excited about what all God has in store for us!!

There is freedom.......

Good morning! I am sitting here this beautiful morning with a completely quiet house! My children spent the night with a friend and it was a nice little break for me (it's been a while!)! I've missed them and didn't quite know what to do with myself this morning.....A little quiet time with the Lord, but what is that once you've had 3 children to entertain each morning and no complete alone time!! I turned on a little worship music and did some housework and made a couple of phone calls. After that I figured it was time to sit and rest in Christ!!

I'm sitting here listening to "Just like You" by Jason Upton, in fact, just started it over!! It talks about the Freedom of the Lord. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. If you are tired and thirsty, there is freedom. Wow, we have freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is, and that is here in my home!! The Spirit resides in me, in my home, in my family. So there is freedom! I decided to just lie on my back and bask in His greatness. As I layed there and just entered in, my cat (that annoys me often!) comes over and starts rubbing up against me, almost laying on my head, just looking for some affection. Oh my goodness how God loves to speak to me visually, I'm such a visual person! I realized that I am her master and she wants love and affection to me and when I layed on the floor, I made myself open for her to come and sit with me and for me to love on her! That is God to us all the time. He is always ready and open and available for us to come and sit on Him and rest on Him and get all the affection that we need. All we have to do is be ready and willing to take that step to sit at His feet! He never forces us, but we know that He is always there, ready for us! And while my cat drives me crazy and does things that I really wish she wouldn't do, I love her and open my arms to her to love on her! We are the same way, falling and making some pretty big mistakes, but God's arms are always open! Thank you Jesus!!

I am walking through this book....."Becoming the Woman I want to be" by Donna Partow, and it's a 90-day journey to renewing the spirit, soul and body. I started this book last year, lol, only getting through day 2!! So I picked it back up and am now on day 12! I'm not consistent everyday with it, but pick it up as I feel God is leading! Each day that is a few parts to it, and one is a Guided Prayer that I felt like it would be appropriate to share! Here goes:
Dear Lord, I thank you that you are a forgiving God. Sometimes I picture you up in heaven recounting my sins or rolling your eyes when I make the same mistakes over and over again. But, Lord, you Word says taht when I confess a sin you remove it as far as the east is from the west. You choose not to hold my sin against me. I thank you that you are not an exasperated parent. You don't roll your eyes at me the way I do when I'm exasperated with my children or other people in life. I thank you that you abound in love-you have plenty to give and your supply can never run dry. I know sometimes I wear my loved ones out reciting my lithany of woes. God, help me to become more positive in my communication with others. Knowing that you never weary of hearing my prayers and listening to my cries for help gives me a wonderful outlet. I don't have to lay my burdens down at the feet of my family and friends; I can lay them all down at your feet. Lord, help me to remember to call on you, rather than calling on people, in my times of trouble. I know you will always answer me. And the answer you give will be just the right answer: filled with wisdom, love and compassion. Thank you Lord, Amen.
Wow, talk about a prayer that I truely needed!! I made couple of mistakes this last month, that have been repeat mistakes. I have been beating myself up over how to make it up to God. Yes, I realize this sounds stupid, but I have been trying to think of how to make it up!! God is a FORGIVING God and he forgives my sins when I confess them........thank you Lord!!!

Now I'm off to have a little more worship before picking up my blessings!! I feel more refreshed after a break and pray that I will be like a new mommy today completely sowing the things into my children that are of God's kingdom!! Listening to this song from "Onething" and want to leave you with this........I have a purpose, I have a destiny, You made me for your glory, You made me for you Glory!! No one else can love you like I love you, Lord, cause I was made unique in Your heart, I was made to bring you Joy!!


Bless you today...as me and the children always pray, use us for Your glory today!! Let God use you for His glory today!!!

Saddened Heart..........

Good evening my friends!! Hope you all have had a great day today!! It's been quite a day!! Started off early with a trip to the gym!! Great, but intense workout!! Trying to like spin a little more, but it sure does kick my booty, lol!! I figured the more I do it, maybe the more I will like it!! We'll get there!! Went early enough that I got home around 9am, to start off my day with the family!! Finished the evening off with a great birthday party and some fun times with friends!! Had a great time talking about the Lord and some new doors being opened!

After arriving home from the gym,  Jarrod got ready to leave to make a run to the dump. He walked out to get something, then very seriously walked inside and said I need you to come outside with me. He told the kids to stay inside, not to come outside at all. I had no clue what I was walking out to. We live in a townhouse, so we have a lot of "close" neighbors! As I walk away from our front door, I see about 5 cop cars about 100 feet from our house and an ambulance. Now lately b/c of a few things here and there (i.e.kitchen fire, someone falling, and allergic reaction), this hasn't been unusual. Jarrod told me that there was a body found in a driveway up the road. My heart just sank.

I called a neighbor to get more info, and we kind of made guesses at what could have happened. All that we knew is that there was a good bit of blood and the police said that it didn't look like an accident. I didn't know the young man, but had seen him a few times pulling in or out of his driveway. This was a young man, around 22 years old who was found dead. He has been known for going to clubs and bringing home random guys, so we guessed maybe that turned violent. After waiting for the coroner/GBI/whoever else needed to come, they covered everything and began working. I think the final conclusion was that he had been drinking and doing drugs (possibly on some drugs for medical reasons also), and he walked outside and went down the hill falling into the neighbors car and falling on the concrete, and not making it. Not sure all the details exactly, but I think this is about it. The police tried to get everything cleaned up before his mom arrived b/c that could be so horrifying. His body lay there for a while, and while it wasn't viewable really from my house, I did see them cover the body. My heart is just breaking for this family and I can't get this out of my head. As I type this, I am tearing up as a mom. As I was helping my children clean up toys today, I looked at all of them, and I thought "man, about 20 years ago, his mom was doing the same thing with him". How could she have know the paths he would have taken and the choices that he would make? So hard, all I can do is pray. Every time that I would get my bible out to read, I couldn't, all I can think about is the mom..... Also, found out that she has another son, 15 years old, who not too long ago moved in with his dad. He got busted at the end of the year for having drugs at school.....So heartbreaking.

My prayers sincerely go out to this family and that God will open their eyes and just grab ahold of them. I have to admit, that I started praying over my children even more as the day went on today. I never want to see any of my children go through the things that this mom is having to deal with. I claim them for God's kingdom and I will fight with all my might to make sure of that. I know that I have to let them go and make decisions, but by that point, they will know nothing but the sweetness of God's love and mercy.

I was thinking about how many people grow up going to church and when they get older they turn away from it. This is because parents are only taking them through the motions, they aren't teaching them to walk in relationship with God. Many adults don't know how to walk in a relationship with God. I had a pretty crappy childhood, but God is good! I learned at a young age to cling onto God, b/c He was the only stability that I had in life, and I knew no matter what, His love was unconditional. So my prayer is that by mine and Jarrod's example that our children will know what it means to walk in relationship with God! When you are in relationship with Him and not just going through the motions, you can't just walk away from Him, b/c it's a loving commitment that you won't want to survive without!!

So I ask that each of you pray for this family.....it's such a heavy burden right now. I really can't get the image of the little I saw out of my head. God knows what this family needs and I pray that the young man knew the Lord. It breaks my heart to think of the possibility of such a young life going to the pits of hell. But this is a reality that we all need to face.....if someone doesn't know the Lord, that is where they will go. I don't know where he is standing now, but I do pray that he is standing in the Lord's presence. I pray a revelation over the younger brother that he will just turn his life around and start chasing God with his entire being. I pray for the neighbor who's driveway he was found in.....that she will have peace as this is a tramatic thing to walk out and see. I pray for any and all involved. Can you tell I am so bothered by this? And so close the our home......a place of peace and where the spirit of the Lord resides.

It makes me kind of feel bad that I haven't gotten out and gotten to know any of my neighbors. Why haven't I witnessed to this young man, why haven't I shown him the love of Christ? Lord, help me step out of my comfort zone and do these things. We all get so complacent in our lives and wrapped up in our "stuff" that we forget to get out and let our light shine. Father, awaken us to take this world for Your kingdom..... I'm tired of being in a place of complaceny, and I sure don't want my children to walk in this....Help me Lord!

Okay, now that it's all out, maybe I can go get some rest and have some peace. I was okay this morning, but after going to the parties and coming back home to the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, my heart starting stirring. How can we go back to the normal, something completely abnormal happened today. This mom's life will never be normal again. This is something that could have been avoided had this young man of known the truth.....man, sorry, I can't quit! Okay, I pray that you all will hug your loved ones tonight and let them know how much you love them and let them know of the truth....God's love for them!! Blessings to you all!!

God willing.......

Good morning!! I am sitting in my room with a sleeping Jonah while my other two children are playing!! Jonah had quite a bit of a meltdown a bit ago, getting quite ugly to me, so I realized that he needed to rest!! Of course I realized this after he sat in timeout and after he got a spanking.....I know, mean mommy, lol!! I just came over and sat him in my lap and started praying over him! It was a rather sweet moment! I pulled out my notebook of scriptures and began speaking them quietly over him, while running my finger along his face!! He slowly drifted off to dreamland until Noah and Hannah busted in the room announcing their fly trap! I wasn't too amused and asked them to leave while I got Jonah to sleep!! This just makes them want to come in here more and more!! Finally accomplished sleeping and now a little time to ponder things!! Of course I still here voices right outside the door where they want to be constantly near mommy!! This is a sweet thing, but sometimes annoying!! I set a boundary about 5 feet from my door and asked them to play nicely for a few minutes while mommy has some God time!! So far, so good!!

So I am thinking about my grandaddy, MJ Mullins!! Some may know him and if you do you are a better person for it!! I love Grandaddy! An awesome man of God! He rises early, spends time in the word and with God, and goes about his day! When Memaw was alive he would get up each morning and after his time with God, he would cook her breakfast, even though he was eating Corn Flakes!! Now that's an awesome husband!! The example he has lived sometimes brings me to tears b/c of his love and devotion to others! I miss him a lot and don't call nearly as much as I should! I know one day he will be in heaven with memaw and dancing around with Jesus, oh what a sweet thought! One thing particularly that always sticks out is something that he says. He always says "God willing". Example: If you say, alright grandaddy I'll see you tomorrow, he says "God willing". Never really understood this until reading James 4:13-15 "Some of you say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.' But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, 'If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.". Wow, we aren't promised tomorrow! I'm trying to remember to use God willing with things I say. I make plans quite a bit, with 3 children you kind of have to plan things!! But I know that we will do them if God is willing to let us!! This bit of wisdom is something that I always heard starting at a very young age and didn't realize the lesson behind it!! Even in grandaddy's words, he is speaking scripture, withouth shoving it down someone's throat......such love and example there!! I love my grandaddy!!

On another note, a scripture that really stuck out to me when praying it over Jonah was Phil 2:3-4 "When you do things, do not let selfishness or pride be your guide. Instead be humble and give more honor to others than yourselves. Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others." Oh Lord, forgive me. I often times tell my children this, but completely forget this as a child. A couple of weeks ago, I got interrupted while getting ready for Hannah's dance recital! My elderly neighbors' phone went out and they came to ask for help! I'm usually ready to help, but I had 30 minutes to leave and was a little irritated. But I love them and couldn't not go to help them. I messaged Jarrod and told him to remind me that this world is not about me. I have to do this often, in fact it's something that has been in a spirit for a few months now......IT'S NOT ABOUT ME. I did help my neighbors and felt better for putting myself out of the way, lol!! It's so easy to get irritated b/c our lives get some kind of interruption!! Sometimes I think God puts those there to slow us down, take our minds off ourselves and just rest in Him. Thank you Lord for your mercy and kindness and gentleness at doing this!!

Okay, well I guess I should get going! Noah and Hannah are waiting for me to come "help" cleanup so we can go swimming with some friends!! We will let Jonah off the hook this time so he can rest, lol!! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day!! Remember, whatever you do today, find a way to bring God glory!!

Wandering thoughts........

Good afternoon!! It is a beautiful afternoon, I'm sure it's hot, but I have yet to venture outside!! Hannah and Jonah are quietly sleeping, and Noah is laying quietly in his bed. He says he can't sleep, but if he lays there long enough I just bet he might fall asleep!! I am sitting here in my new favorite spot, beside the back window! We got a bird feeder a couple of weeks ago, and while it might not be a big deal to most, it has been fun for us!! We all love to watch the birds come and eat, some fight over the good, but most just take their turns! I told Jarrod we are the new happening place in our neighborhood.....at least for the birds!! Birds are pretty amazing creations!! They haven't a care in the world!! Just fly here and there and their needs are provided!! I think we, as Christians, can learn a lesson from them!! They always have food, although they don't know where it will come from......God provides!! The beauty that they are, some with such bright colors! They don't do anything to "fix" up, they are just beautiful the way God created them!! Us women could learn quite a bit from that!! And to hear them chirp and sing......so beautiful!! It just relaxes me!! I have my heart set on our next home which will include property for multiple reasons!! I'm looking forward to being able to be close in nature, I feel so close to God when I'm in nature, and for right now having these birds somewhat close to me brings that feeling to me!! I just feel a sense of peace!!

Speaking of peace, that was our devotional for this morning! I'll be quite honest, I have NO IDEA of how to homeschool or how this whole experience is going to go, but we are going to do it, and I'm quite excited!! I've decided that it will be best for us to "ease" into this, not do it all at once!! So we started off this morning with a couple of songs.....Trust in the Lord and Rejoice in the Lord!! I love to hear the children sing, especially songs to God!! Then we read about peace and talked about it....how we should have that in our house!! There have been so many times that we have done devotionals, with seemingly no "listening ears" on, only to have them remind me of that particular thing a few days later!! So they are listening even when they are fidgiting!! God is reminding me of this!! I sat down with Hannah first and we worked on her letter writing!! Still have a bit to go, but one day at a time! Jonah and I worked on letter recognition....again a ways to go, but we're going to do this!! Noah and I did a spelling test and read some of his chapter book from the library!! He didn't really know what he was getting into when he checked it out, so it's a bit overwhelming with all the words for him!! So we are taking turns reading the pages!! I'm so proud of him and his yearning to learn!! It is hard hearing the others in the background playing, but we will find our balance!! God wouldn't have called me to this if He wasn't going to walk through it with me!! Thank you Lord!!

Had a great visit with my friend Kelley and her little blessing, Laney!! Kelley was so awesome to bring her Rainbow vacuum cleaner over (I'm out of bags, lol!!), and even vacuumed for me(that wasn't my plan for her to do it!). My floors haven't been vacuumed in 3 weeks.....I know, I know, gross!! But now they are all nice and clean and it smells so good!! I baked while they were here, so we had some chocolate, chocolate chip muffins, and I just finished our surprise muffins filled with apples!! I have been in such a baking mood lately, and it's all healthy, yeah! God had such a great surprise for me today!! I needed to run to the store to pick up some laundry detergent, yes 5 of us in a house = a lot of laundry (especially when you have little ones that feel the need to change a few times a day)!! Kelley had some detergent that she couldn't use and brought it to me!! To some this may seem like nothing, but was a huge blessing to me!! It was just a small reminder that God supplies our needs always!! We may never know how this need may be met, but I've learned to quit trying to figure it out and just trust that God will take care of things!! Oh, the childlike faith that my children have!! They will never hear mommy say that we have nothing to eat, they may not like it, but we will always have food to eat.....and they know it!! Us adults could learn so much from that faith!!

I started to go back through some of my notes from past teachings, some of them from 2007!! I've always loved to take notes, mostly because if I write it down, I will remember better! I almost never go back over them, but just wanted to today!! So I wanted to share a few random points that I came about!! These are scriptures, so some things to go along with scriptures!! Like I said they are random, but some completely jumped off the page at me....so here goes:

-We need to know God and not the situation. We must understand His heart instead of understanding the situation.

-We need to see ourselves as Caleb and Joshua. They didn't see themselves, they saw God. The reason they saw things differently is b/c of the time they spent with God.

- We are to speak the word of God over our family, community and world. Alot of times we just speak what we think.

- We may not see the fruits right away, but we need to plant the seeds. (so true of our children and sowing into them)

- We are not here to feel good, but to conquer.

- We have been working on the "doing", rather than the "being".

These are just a few things that jumped out at me!! I felt the need to share some scriptures that God put on my heart to pray over my children and our family! I like to pray them outloud as I feel it stirs something in the atmosphere in our home!! The angels can hear when I speak outloud, therefore, going to work on our behalf. So here they are: Eph 5:1-2, Eph 5:10-11, Eph 5:15-16, Eph 6:1-3, Eph 6:10, Phil 1:9, Phil 1:20-21, Phil 2:3-4, Phil 2:14-15, Prov 28:14.......These are just the few that I have right now! There are so many WONDERFUL scriptures to pray over your family, in fact, a whole book full!! God has me writing these in a journal and I love to pray them over the children while they are sleeping!!

Thanks for letting me be long winded and getting all this out!! My goal in this blog is to be real in my life and walk with Christ and my family!! I in no way have all the answers and don't do the right things all the time. Someone once told me that they enjoy me being real and it's encouraging to them, so that's my desire that I can somehow inspire other moms and to encourage!! After all, we are called to love one another and edify and that's one thing that is so strong on my heart!! One more thing, lol!! I have been asking God for a long time to help me with my patience with my children. I know, me not be patient, hahaha!! Today has been a great day, even amongst the chaos of my house, after I spent a long time organizing toys on saturday, lol!! I have not yelled at my children at all today, woohoo!! This isn't always they case, I'm just learning, that there is no reason to get all angry at them and yell. I sure never liked being yelled at as a child, I don't know as an adult!! So I feel this is a big accomplishment!! Does it mean I'll never yell or get angry at them again.....probably not, but we are getting closer to being the person that God created me to be!! Thank you Lord!! Blessings to you all today!!

Needing some direction......

Realized this morning how much I need to sit down and really listen to the Lord!! He is doing some things in our lives and we aren't real clear on the direction that we need to take!! To the world, neither of the decisions is a "bad" one, but we want to be obedient to what God wants us to do!! I've always been one to try to see only the good in people/things, but lately I think my spiritual eyes are being open to some different things. This is both exciting that I am seeing more deeply, but also sad as some of the things that I am seeing is quite disappointing. Lord, help me to hear your heart clearly and lead the Thorpe's to where you want us to be!! Above all, use us to bring glory to your name!!

We eased back into church today after being gone for a couple of weeks! Hannah and Jonah didn't want to go to class, so I had them sit with me. I was very surprised with how well they sat there quietly, I think sometimes I underestimate what they can do!! They never cease to amaze me!! Had so much fun dancing with them during worship, God is so amazing and so we LOVE to dance before Him!! Noah has turned into such a big boy.....going straight to class without any help or arguements about going!! Sometimes when you wonder how you are doing with things, God sends along some sweet reminders!! Today I had this guy from church come over to talk with me! He is not someone that knows me or Jarrod real well outside of seeing us at church. He told me that he has watched Jarrod and I a couple of times and the way that we handle our children and he wanted to commend us on that. He said he can tell that we are doing things right at home b/c of how well behaved our children are. If you know me, you'll know how much this touched my heart!! So many times I question if I am doing things right, and I often times do fail and lose my cool!! But thank the Lord, He is not finished with me yet!! So I can say that I felt very excited at that moment that God chose to remind me of what we are doing with our children is showing!!

Okay, can you tell I have a lot on my mind? I'll probably be blogging a lot, but most of all to get it out and maybe inspire some of you reading this!! One last thought, we never always get things right. We will constantly grow from the things in our life, and it usually deepens our faith, as long as we let it!! Blessings to you all today on this beautiful Sunday!!

This is a picture of my sweet blessings on Easter Sunday!!

Here we go.....

I have been wanting to blog for a while!! I put things so much better in writing than I do in actual talking, lol!! And I figured I would finally move a little more into the modernized way of things!!

So here we are almost 8 years into our marriage!! Jarrod has truly been an undeserved gift from above!! I love him more than I can truly express!! God knew what He was doing in putting us together, and it's a known fact that the enemy doesn't like us together!! Together we are joined as one, and we are quite powerful b/c the Lord joined us together!! We scare the enemy and as long as the Lord is the foundation in our life, there is nothing to worry about!!

Noah just finished kindergarten, yes kindgergarten!! It seems like he was just my little man, and now he is getting so big!! He is the bright young man that I always knew he would be!! We also just finished baseball up!! Quite an interesting experience, but we survived!! My life is full of so much love and joy with Noah in it!! I see quite a bit of myself in him.....being the big responsible brother (although I was the sister!), but I also see so much of Jarrod in Noah!! I think he might be the mini Jarrod!! I love Noah's love for creating the full armor of God!! He is constantly telling me what all the pieces mean and trying to find things around the house to make them!! Love his heart for the Lord!!

Hannah just finished Pre-K3, and finished the year strong!! She also just had her dance recital which was so sweet!! A few battles with dance, but she did great!! I LOVE to watch her dance before the Lord! She is often dancing around the house and making up her own worship dances....beautiful!! She was created to worship!! Her compassion is such a sweet things, although at times I have to admit, I wish she would toughen up!! We are going through some growing stages right now with our attitudes and emotions!! I just keep praying the word over her and I believe that she will be what God created her to be!!

Jonah just finished Pre-K2!! He isn't currently involved in any activities, but he himself is an activity in itself!! His name means Joy, and boy is that fitting for him!! You will never have a moment where he isn't flipping off something.....think we might do gymnastics soon for him!! We bought a small trampoline in hopes that the jumping on couches and beds (no this was never allowed in our home, but with Jonah it's a constant, lol!), but he still likes to jump on everything!! We call him our jumping bean!! His favorite thing to do is make up songs!! Often they are worship songs, but sometimes about just life in general!! I love to hear his worship songs!! He is slowly letting go of being my baby....wanting daddy a little more and mommy a little less. This has been kind of hard for me, b/c he is the baby and I want to hold onto that for as long as I can!!

Many thing have changed this last year and I won't go into detail....it's too long of a story!! I closed my business of 3 years. :( It was one of the hardest things I have had to do, but I know that God has some awesome things for me in store!! I also will be homeschooling my children this year!! This is something that I said I would NEVER do!! Never say never!! I'm excited, nervous, anxious, ready.....so many emotions!! I know that God will do some very powerful things with this! Just trusting Him to help me every step of the way!! It's time for my focus to move more on my children!!

Well, I guess that's plenty for my first post! Thanks for hanging in there to read it all!! I can be a bit long winded, guess I need to make sure to blog often to keep from this, lol!! Hope you all are blessed!!