Great words by Charles Stanley

There will be times when life has a stagnant feel to it. We can even become depressed in our thoughts as we wonder what God is doing.Just as there are seasons of immense growth, there are times when we feel as though we are standing still spiritually. Seasons like these can be restful, especially when we make up our minds to allow God to do His perfect work in our lives. Even when you feel as though nothing major is happening, God is at work.We need times of spiritual rest in order to be refreshed by God's Spirit. Take advantage of the quiet seasons of life by committing yourself to prayer, keeping up with your spiritual journal, and studying God's Word.The secret to the deeper life is not found in activity but more often in restfulness, where we concentrate on the goodness and richness of the Lord and where we are taught by Him how to live each day according to His will.It is only in times of quietness that you are able to hear God's most intimate words. Have you learned to listen for His voice? Can you rest right where you are even as the world continues its fitful turning around you?Seasons of quietness teach us how to find healing solitude in times of great activity. This is why Jesus told the disciples to abide in Him. When we abide, we rest, and when we rest, we experience great peace.

Home from a nice weekend, home to a mess...

We had a great weekend. Very relaxing. Tommy and I sat out by the fire until midnight just talking and taking everything in. It was so nice. We got packed up this morning and headed home. The ride home was beautiful. I thank God for the wonderful time we had together.

One thing about going camping is you have a lot to clean up when you get home. I always have a lot of laundry because EVERYTHING has to be washed because of the smoke smell. I expected to have that. However, today there is a lot of cleaning to do. We had our stairs sanded and refinished while we were gone. My downstairs is a one huge dust ball. It is horrible. I got the third load of laundry going with about 5 more to go and I am having to clean like crazy. I hope the upstairs is not too bad. We closed all the rooms off but it is probably still dusty. We can't go upstairs because the stairs are still wet.UGGGHH!!! They said maybe by tonight around 9pm. We will see. Otherwise we will be staying with my parents. Tommy has gone deer hunting. The boys and I went to my parents to visit and I ate some of their left over lunch. YUMMY!!!! Now I am just taking a break from the cleaning. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Fun Family Times!!!!

Today has been so nice. Bleeze did not sleep well last night. He seemed to be a little nervous. We are near a train track and every time the train would go by he would sit straight up in the bed. It was so funny. We chilled out here at the campground this morning. Then we headed into Asheville. We had lunch at Chilli's and then we went to Maple Nut Gap Farms. AMAZING place. We went through a corn maze, pumpkin patch, had Apple Cider Ice drinks, the boys got to pet farm animals. They loved it! Eli caught a chicken. LOL!

We came back here to the campground tonight. I made a awesome beef stew in the crock pot. It cooked all day. We had that for dinner and it was awesome. Tommy took a nap, Bleeze made a leaf pile, Eli fed the ducks and played with other kiddos. Tommy just went to the store to get some firewood. I got Bleeze a bath, Eli is watching icarly LOL! I am about to go get the boys in bed so that I can spend some quiet time with my honey by the fire. I am so thankful for my awesome family and the time we've had together. God Rocks!!!

we are in paradise

We made it to our final destination. We are up in the Asheville, NC area. It is so pretty and the leaves are gorgeous. Today we got here and got set up. Drove into downtown Asheville and looked around and came back to make dinner. We had some yummy hotdogs (if hotdogs can be yummy) and just hung out. A time to connect with our creator. We sang songs, fed ducks, went for a walk, made smores it has been nice. Now, thanks to modern technology the boys (all three of them) are watching Star Wars Clone Wars. We could not miss that. I had to make sure the campground has cable. LOL! Coming up next is the premiere of BEN 10. Thank God for WIFI! LOL! I am going to try to read some more of THE SHACK. It has been hard because the boys have wanted attention the entire time and I am easily distracted today. Maybe tomorrow that will happen. So for now, I am going to run. I am going to post some pics. The first one is the view of right when you walk out the camper door. AWESOME!!!

Weekend YAHOO!!!!

The past few days have been great! We've been busy as always. I really enjoyed Bible study last night. It was amazing. I am going to skip all the little details of the past few days. In about 20 minutes we are headed out for some much needed family time. The camper is packed and we are headed out. To be honest, we are not even sure where we are going. We may head towards the mountains or we may head towards the beach. All we know is we need some family time and time with God. The boys are excited to go. Tommy and need to be around nature and we are ready. I have my copy of THE SHACK and I am going to read it this weekend and just chillax! So I hope everyone has an awesome weekend. Love to you all! Oh! We will have the cells and the laptop but we may end up somewhere with no signal Again...love to you all!

prayer request

This is a family that my Dad used to pastor. Please remember them in your prayers. He is not even one year old yet! Thanks...
PLEASE pray for Landin he has been diagnoised with LCH Langerhans Cell > Histiocytosis. It is a disease of the white blood cells, called histiocytes > they play an important roll in the immune system. Landins histiocytes are > gathering in groups and attaching themselves to other parts of the body. We > are going to see an Oconologist and Hemotologist tomorrow, to see about the > extent of his condition. I know God can heal him, he has showed himself to > us on several occasions and this one is no different.

my boys....

I have been so busy lately. I have been a horrible friend to my local friends and my internet friends. I promise to catch up with everyone soon. I love you all. It just seems like I am in a whirlwind lately. I have been swamped with homeschool, work, family, and just life in general. I always try to manage some type of schedule and organization. Thank God or I would be in an even larger mess. Today has been good. It is pouring rain and yucky out. We are breaking from homeschool right now for lunch and fun time. Normally the boys go outside but today they are playing. They have some of my pots and pans from the kitchen pretending to cook. It is so funny to listen to them. I thought I would take a minute and reflect on each of them. They are my life!

Bleeze
Bleeze is so funny now. Lately, when he wants something and you do not let him have it he thinks he can bribe you. He will say something like... "I will give you five kisses". So this morning I told him he could not get the deluxe playdoh set back out today and he said "wait, I will be right back" He came back with a quarter. He said, "Here now I gave you some money can I play with the playdoh?" I told him that maybe later he said to me, "What about for fifty dollars?" LOL!!!!!Where did he get this from?!?!?!?!?! I thought I would die.

Yesteday we went to the Dollar Tree. Bleeze wanted a baby doll and baby bottle with the disappearing milk. So I let him get it. I know some of you can't believe I let a boy play with a doll but Eli played with dolls and he is fine. They will make great Daddy's some day. Well he named this baby Lou. We had to take Lou to the movies with us last night, he made a crib for Lou out of a basket. He is so funny. I have pretended to fill the bottle with real milk from our fridge about 100 times.

He also informed this morning as he sat down in front of my computer that he needed to check his myspace and read a blog. LOL!!!!!

Eli
Oh what to say about Eli today. He is getting so big. He is into clothes and fixing his hair right now. When you ask him what he wants to do he wants to go to the mall to purchase Hollister, Aeropostle, and American Eagle Clothes. He has been alternating his hair from being spiked to a faux hawk. He is starting to really dig girls too. UGGHHH!!! He talks about them all the time. It is scary. If he is like this at almost 10 what will he be like at 13!!! YIKES! He has the cell phone my mom and dad gave him and he calls the neighbor girl on it! I always here what they talk about nothing big...usually TV shows or soccer. But nevertheless, I feek like puberty has started. UGGHHH! Oh he is really big into cologne, deodorant and body wash too. LOL!!!!!!

He has become a comedian lately too. He keeps us laughing all the time. Despite his occasional episodes of being an "all knowing pre-teen"( as he calls himself) and moodiness. He is an awesome boy. He is hilarious.

He has become a great soccer player this season. He has always been good but this year something has happened to him. He is really into it. He is taking his goalie training really serious.

Tennis has been good for him. He is making lots of new friends and it helping him focus.

Homeschooling is going well this year and he seems to be doing much better with reading and literature. He hates to read. (gets it from his Dad)

So that's what is up with my boys. They are just awesome and I am so thankful to have them! God has blessed me so much. I can't thank him enough!!!! I think I will go feed them now!!!