Happy Halloween!

No, we don't really "celebrate" Halloween...but who doesn't love a reason to eat candy and watch cute little kids have some fun? This year I decided that it would probably be the only year I would get to pick what Brooklynn wore for Halloween. So, I had a little fun with it considering my life could possibly turn into all-things-princessy in the next year or two. I wanted something I could do for CHEAP because my frugal side (normally it's my husband's...) kicks in when it comes to clothes for Brooklynn. I wasn't going to pay an arm and a leg for a costume that a.) she wouldn't fit in given one more month and b.) she would destroy with her mouth. So, I opted for something cute but something I could put together using mostly things I already had.

I have to admit, the Frappuccino was not an original thought. It was a Pinterest inspiration but everything on Pinterest had babies in actual cups. Come on, that's just NOT practical given Brooklynn cannot walk. So, I altered it and just used a Starbucks stencil that I drew up and copied onto a piece of sticky green felt. I think placed that on top of a piece of white felt and stuck that onto the brown felt. Slapped some velcro on the sides and called it a day. Oh, and the headband was just some flowers glued onto a piece of elastic.

Happy Halloween, ya'll!

And then she was over it...

Also, Happy Birthday to my Mom-in-Love! We love you here in SC!! Can't wait to see you soon!!

Good Father

Last week we started Good Father. Hux says it will be his favorite series he has ever preached and after last week I think I may have to jump on that bandwagon. If you missed it, I'm sorry but this post may not do it justice!

My husband preached that God isn't out to make our lives miserable. He isn't a kill-joy. He came to give us life to the FULL. God is FOR YOU! He sets boundaries for us to protect us. He wants to keep you from harmful things and keep harmful things from you.

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16-17

Is God your LORD GOD? or just a god to you? 

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Everywhere in Genesis 2 & 3, God is referred to as "Lord God" but when Satan refers to Him, he refers to Him just as "God". God wants to be your LORD God!

Never put a question mark where God puts a period. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree...period! Satan will always try to question what God has commanded...."Did God really say not to eat from the tree???"

We overstep boundaries when we QUESTION God's COMMANDS!

God knows WHAT you need and WHEN you need it! God doesn't hold out on you!

When you ask, "how far can I get until I cross the line?" You are asking, "how far can I get to sin?"

It's easier to obey God when you understand everything He does is because He loves you.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

    the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

    from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11

You are good, and what you do is good... Psalm 119:68

     

Our Weekend

This weekend was super relaxing. Well, more relaxing than weekends past. Friday we spent the day going to thrift stores looking for suitcases for our Jamaica mission trip and Friday night we headed to Blue Ridge for the football game. Brooklynn really enjoyed the game!

Saturday we chilled at the house until my sister and her husband came over and we met my brother for lunch. Afterwards we hit up Target and headed to my parents house where we tailgated in the living room and watched all the "good" football games ;)

Since it's our first Fall with Brooklynn, I had every intention of getting the cute pumpkin patch picture of her sitting with the pumpkins and a cute bow on her head but people are getting greedy these days. Sunday we got to the patch and it was $5 a person to LOOK at the pumpkins. Then you had to buy a pumpkin after that. We passed and settled for a family picture with the goats ;)

#SweetDreams

I know this is late but I wanted to post last weeks Alive message a). Because it was so good and b). We start a new series tonight that I will post tomorrow.

Burdens. Everyone has em and no one likes em. But God gives clear direction into how we can maneuver through them.

We always try to carry everything on our own but its not intended that way. When we try and carry everything ourselves we end up hurting ourselves and others.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Rest is not found in a place or a thing but in a person!!

Jesus doesn't say, "Come to me all who have it together and I will give you rest!" Jesus wants all those who are broken, jacked up, and exhausted. Your "Rest Area" is Jesus!

Jesus took the crushing weight that was going to send  us to hell and put it on His back. The weight of your sin is never too heavy for Jesus.

The biggest reason for unrest? SIN

The church should be a place where burdens should be lifted and the weary find rest!

No matter how many burdens you have, you can't overload Jesus.

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from God. Psalm 62:1

Our Weekend

Our weekends normally start Thursday night since Michael doesn't have to work on Fridays. This Thursday night, we headed to Black Mtn, NC just to get away for the night. Believe it or not, we haven't gotten away (just the two of us...aside from a quick work conference) since our honeymoon. Yes, you read that right. I also have not gone longer than 3-hours a hair appointment without seeing my little girl. Call me crazy but we figured it was time. It was so fun. We packed a lot into 24 hours. We ate excellent (I mean excellent) Mexican food at Ole Guacamole and grabbed ice cream at Kilwins then woke up and did an impromptu 2-mile hike (in non-hiking attire, by the way), ate lunch at a cute cafe, grabbed coffee at Dripolator and headed home. 

This is our "don't let them see what you really look like after hiking 2 miles face."

       

We came home Friday evening and ate dinner with my brother and parents at Yardhouse (all 5 of us ate for $33 off their happy hour menu ;) Saturday was busy. We had a Fatz fundraiser breakfast for our mission trip over spring break! Thank you to those of you who helped us raise nearly $900! Saturday afternoon we had an outreach event and Saturday night we watched some football. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

#SweetDreams

Last night was different. A good different. Now, don't get me wrong, I love hearing my husband preach every week but another thing I love is hearing my family preach. My bro-in-law spoke last night and challenged everyone big time. And it couldn't have come at a better time. Here was the bottom line from last night as a follow up to last week: We let others label us incorrectly because we haven't labeled God correctly. After all, we are made in His image.

If we distort God's image, we distort our image. 

The "bad things" that we do in life are not our issue. The drinking, the bullying, the cussing...it's what's on the inside that is the issue. We drink because we have a heart issue. We bully people because we have a heart issue, we cuss because we have a heart issue.

People who pick on other people don't do it because they hate them. They do it because they hate themselves.

We hear "God is good" but we see differently. We can never understand how good God is until we understand how bad we are.

God isn't intimidated by your questions, fears, doubts, or struggles. He's not that small. When you're honest, it opens the door for healing.

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of theLord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:1-11

Ezekiel's eyes were closed because of his doubt that God would not come through. He acted in faith despite his fear. God is the ONLY one who can raise us from death to LIFE!

September Favorites

Every once in awhile I will come across little treasures that I love that I want to share with the world. Here are some things during the month of September that I have loved and that I continue to re-purchase.

Elf Studio Flawless Finish Foundation I don't normally wear foundation. To be honest, I really only break out the foundation when fall comes around and then I really only wear it maybe three times a week when I actually wear makeup. This is my go-to foundation because it's $6 at Target, it covers what it needs to cover, and since I have seriously dry skin, this doesn't accentuate the dryness.

Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara A cult favorite. I have a couple of mascaras that I will rotate through and this is one of them. I only need one coat and my lashes are good to go.

Gap.com

Baseball Tee's - I live in my baseball tee's. My favorite's are from Cotton On and Old Navy but you can really find them anywhere. You can dress them up with cute flats and a chunky necklace or wear them on Saturday with a baseball hat and flip flops. My style = versatile and comfortable.

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion My skin has been ridiculously dry the past month around my nose and NOTHING would help. I had a travel size version of this lotion in my bag from the summer time and whipped it out and it has helped more than anything I've used. It's a little heavy and a little greasy feeling but I only use it at nighttime and can really tell a difference when I use it.

GoJane Statement Necklaces This summer for my birthday I treated myself to some of these statement necklaces from gojane because they were having a great deal on them. They are super inexpensive and great quality. Honestly, I wear them a lot to keep Brooklynn entertained. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

The Hunt I discovered this app earlier this month and I gotta say, It's pretty neat. There have been many times when I have come across something on Pinterest and there's no link to the original source. With this, you can screen shot anything you find on the internet, upload it, and other people can tell you where to find it. Whether it be a cute pair of boots or a fun piece of wall art! 

Happy October!

8 Months

Diaper Size: She should be in 3's but we are still trying to use up the 2's that we bought. Still 3's at night.

Clothing size: 6-9M, 9M

Eye Color: Blue

Favorite Toy: the remote control :-/

Sleeping Habits: She's been taking two 2 hr naps as of recently. Unless I'm not home during the day. She really just goes to bed whenever we get home. Sometimes that 8 and sometimes that's 10 and then she'll sleep until around 8-9AM. Those parenting books and "get your baby on a strict sleep routine and schedule" parents would pass out at our schedule. Haha!

Words: Mama...actually it's just "mamamamama" <still the same as last month!>

Best Moments: She has started clapping which is so funny! 

Hard Moments: I don't want to "jinx" anything but I think we've hit a turning point where I have to think really hard of what the hard moments are. Probably just trying to get ready on Sunday mornings while she wants to play. I've started getting up super early to get ready before she wakes up!

Fun Info: Like I mentioned above, Brooklynn is getting easier. I know that sounds terrible. She's not as fussy as she used to be, unless she's sleepy. She goes to bed a whole lot easier than she used to, though still loves to fight me on nap time occasionally. She's eating more food and less mommy, TMI probably. Actually we've transitioned to just nursing in the morning when she wakes up and at night before bed. She will turn and look if you say her name and she's starting the beginning stages of crawling. She'll rock back and forth and scoot backwards but not forward movements yet! She still loves jewelry, actually just loves to eat your jewelry, and she loves to pinch your face (which hurts...a lot.) She's grown' up!

#SweetDreams

I don't know about you, but I'm a fan of the original. The original Coke, the first Step Up movie, and the original artist of a song. Last night we were challenged to love the original US. God didn't create us to be a copy of someone else but an original. YOU BE YOU!

Be imitators of God! Eph. 5:1 GOD MADE YOU TO REFLECT HIM!

When you try to be someone else, you wind up defeated. (1Samuel 17:37-40)

GOD ISN'T WORRIED ABOUT YOUR POPULARITY BUT ABOUT YOUR FAITHFULNESS!

THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN LABEL YOU IS THE ONE WHO CREATED YOU! God designed you so he can label you.

You ARE NOT ugly...you're HIS HANDIWORK
You ARE NOT chained...you're SET FREE
You ARE NOT worthless...you're WORTHY
You ARE NOT defeated...you're VICTORIOUS
You ARE NOT unloved...you're LOVED
You ARE NOT unwanted...you're WANTED

YOU ARE WHO GOD SAYS YOU ARE! You were made on purpose for a purpose.

You are a masterpiece physically temporarily but a masterpiece spiritually for eternity!

God's most amazing creation is to make dead people alive!

If a dollar bill does not lose its value because it has been stepped on and crumbled, neither will you lose value if you've been beaten down and stepped on.

YOU'RE WORTH THE PRICE JESUS PAID FOR YOU ON THE CROSS!