SSMT verse 3

Greetings!! Just thought I would check in and give my 3rd verse for the SSMT (since it's almost time for number 4!). I hope you are doing well and had a splendid week. :)

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)

I absolutely love these verses! I always try to quote this scripture in my mind and can't seem to remember it word for word. Not any more! :) These powerful words are a reminder to me of the warfare going on around us and how we can not face it with our own strength. Sometimes, life in general seems just too big to handle on our own, and it is. Somethings, we can't see, and we have to trust God; knowing that he knows the "big picture". He sees things differently than we do, and the closer we get to Him, the more we see like Him. The more battles we can fight, the more strongholds we can demolish.

As I qoute this scripture over and over, I am going to be encouraged about taking every thought captive, and making it obedient to Christ!! For the last few weeks, the devil has been trying to distract me with a fearful thought. Fear is not of the Lord. I know, if I allow fear to consume my thoughts, I am putting that above God. This is something that I will always have to work on. The devil has always tried to distract me by fear, but I am acknowledging that as a weakness and will surrender it daily. I refuse to let the devil win and every time he tries to bring a fearful thought into my mind, I will take captive that thought and make it obedient to Christ!

Okay friends, I am heading to bed. I hope these words have been encouraging. See you soon!

SSMT, EC feeds herself and a family picture

Happy Monday!

Let me start out with my second scripture verse of the month for the Siesta Scripture Memory Team. My new verse is......

"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." Psalm 9:10 NIV

What a promise! It's so comforting to know that the Lord has never forsaken those who seek Him. I pray that my family and I will do our part and never grow weary of seeking Him.

Over the last few weeks, Jeremy and I have been letting Ella Claire "practice" feeding herself with a spoon. She has mastered, hold spoon, insert food in mouth. But, the hard part is actually getting food onto her spoon. :) This is going to take a bit more practice.

"Practicing" with oatmeal and strawberries

concentrating so hard

score!

oops! the wrong end of the spoon in the oatmeal....

...makes for a very messy breakfast

Ready to try again...

Good thing I am always close by to wipe down and control the mess. :)

A few months ago, I mentioned, how I wanted to start taking family pictures on Sundays when we are all dressed up. Well, we did this a few times but have really slacked off. We didn't even get a family picture on the Sunday before Christmas. So, I really wanted to get one this Sunday. I like doing it outside because the lighting is perfect, but because of the cold weather, we weren't able to get one. So, after church last night, even though we had all changed into more casual clothes for the Sunday night service (except for J, he wore the same thing); I begged Jeremy, (and Ella Claire, she just didn't understand) to please cooperate long enough for a quick family picture. 

It was just the three of us at home, so we compromised and I asked Jeremy to stand in front of the camera so I could center the picture and make sure we wouldn't all be a fuzzy blur (I'm still very green with my new camera).  

Being such a good sport!

It took a little longer than he anticipated and he was quickly getting bored! 

So then he got a little silly.....

and then, he just couldn't take any more so, he closed those beautiful blue eyes.

And, I knew, if I wanted a picture, it was now or never.  Ella Claire is half asleep and I still am not 100% satisfied with the lighting. So, next week we will try again! We did have fun though!  :)

I am working on a tutorial for making a blog header, so if you are interested, check back in the next few days. I'm hoping to have it posted tomorrow or the next day. :) Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

not what we expected

Happy New Year!

It's late and it's been a loooooong day, so I'm hoping this post makes sense. But I have a few things I want to jot down...so here we go!

Our new years eve and new years day didn't go as we expected it to. This year Jeremy and I didn't have any New Year's Eve plans. We decided since Ella Claire is so young we would just stay home and ring in the new year from our living room..... with a little sparkling grape juice! :) At the last minute we were invited to dinner at a friends house were we could bring Ella Claire and we thought that sounded much better than staying at home! But, as the day progressed, so did body aches and a sore throat for me. :( About an hour and a half before we were supposed to arrive for dinner, I called to cancel because I thought I was coming down with the flu. (and not that this matters, b/c I wouldn't want to expose anyone to the flu, but my friend is pregnant. and the flu and pregnancy might just be the worst thing ever!) My aunt, who we spent Christmas with, called my mom earlier in the day and informed us she has the flu. :( How horrible!!! Apparently it's going around, so y'all watch out! Anyway, Jeremy put Ella Claire to bed and we also went to bed early (missing the new year!) and I still woke up feeling yucky. I did get the best sleep though. I slept for about 12 or 13 hours and thats over twice as much sleep as I normally get! Anyway, J and I also had to cancel lunch plans with another friend from out of town. This friend happens to be pregnant also. Lots of babies coming in 2011! So, needless to say our new year was not starting off too great!  but it gets even better....

I won't tell you what time I woke up, it was ridiculously and embarrassingly late. My sister and Andrew were on there way to his hometown to spend the day with his family. Steph texted me and was asking how I felt and was telling me about how their NYE was. In the middle of our conversation she stopped texting me. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am just like my mom and I worry and can sometimes think the worst. The thought did cross my mind that something was wrong, but I pushed that negative thought right out of there. I drug my sickly self out of bed and went to the kitchen to see what Jeremy and Ella Claire were up to. Kim called and we chatted for a few minutes on the phone. As soon as we hung up she called back and said that Steph and Andrew had been in a car accident. MY HEART STOPPED! By the grace of God and only by the grace of God were they okay! They both were sent in separate ambulances to the nearest hospital and kept for several hours for x-rays and test. Both checked out with no broken bones, only scrapes and bruises. Andrew's Mazda is totaled though. They hydroplaned and flipped several times (not sideways but longways) and landed in a steep ditch.  The Lord is sooooooo good! 2011 has just began and He is already showing His goodness and grace. It could have been bad...it could have been so bad! Here are a few pictures of the car and the site were the accident happened.

I really can not thank the Lord enough for watching over my sister and Andrew! I KNOW that his angels were guarding and protecting them.

Okay, I'm changing the subject here, but I mentioned in my last post that I am doing the Beth Moore, siesta scripture memory challenge.  Amy and Skyla, I'm so glad y'all are doing it too! I decided to post my new verse here as well as in my notebook and on her blog. Just another way to keep me accountable. :) And who knows who might stumble across this blog on the day I post a verse and really need it! God does cool things like that ya know! So my first verse is :

"I have hidden your word in my hear that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

Easy one right? But, honestly I didn't know the reference and I wanted to start this Bible verse memory challenge with a verse that will remind me of how important God's word is. Hiding His word in my heart will keep me from sinning against Him! :) love it!

Well, that's all I have for now! By the way, I don't think I have the flu. As this crazy day has gone on, I thankfully have not gotten any worse. So, I'm praying it's just a little bug that got me feeling bad for a while and I'll be back 100% soon. Goodnight friends!