The Voice of Truth...

I've been on a sort of Quest the past few months. I've been searching for something, digging deep in my soul to find out what's there. It feels like I've been on autopilot for a while and finally have become aware of it. I want to be present, living my life fully, enjoying the simple everyday joys. The voice of truth, have you heard of this song, Casting Crowns? It's playing right now on the radio and has some powerful lyrics -

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy, you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

"The waves are calling out my name & the laugh at me" - It's taken some quiet time, some long talks with God to realize that the waves are me! How many times do I remind myself of my failures, shortcomings? Far more often than not, I'm the one who sees my flaws & points them out. My family doesn't do that, my friends certainly don't. Why are we so much harder on ourselves than others?

I challenge you to listen to the voice of truth today. "Do not be afraid" Live your life fully.

Falling for You

I've been longing for fall, cooler weather & pretty fall leaves (temps here are still in the low 90's). Something else I've been waiting for is this class. Check out SpecsandWings.blogspot.com for details. I love that name! I'm fairly new to art journaling, so I'm always looking for new techniques to try & journal prompts to keep me going. This class promises both. And the best part??? It's only $20! I'm going to sign up now, why don't you join me?

Life is Good

Hmmmm...guess I kinda forgot I had a blog. If it were a plant or goldfish it surely would have died - 5 years is a long time to neglect something.

Actually life just got very, very busy.

We built a house - actually my husband & his dad did most of the work, I painted & we hired out what they couldn't do themselves. It's a wonderful home. We've been here almost 3 years now & I couldn't love it more!

We also had another baby, he's 4 now & sooo good for me. His catchphrase? "Mama, you know what? I love you, again." melts my heart every time.

Life is good now. We're settled in, the girls are enjoying school; Hailey's busy with cheerleading & band; Kaitlyn loves ballet & tap; Brian's got the yard looking good and most days I get to hang out with Carson.

Just wanted to post Hailey's school pitcure. What happened to my baby girl? She looks so grown up. Like the way the picture turned out - very cool. Taken, of course, by Kent @ Picture This (check out his link on the right).

Also adding her favorite recipe:

Hailey’s Peanut Butter Pie

½ cup Peanut Butter
½ cup Milk
1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese
1 cup Powdered Sugar (sifted)
1 cup Whipped Topping
1 Graham Cracker or Chocolate Cookie Crust

Combine peanut butter, milk and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl on low speed. Add powdered sugar and whipped topping and mix until smooth. Pour into graham cracker crust and freeze. Before serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup or top with chocolate shavings. Store in the freezer.

You Run, Girl!

I just wanted to record this little story before it gets lost among life’s other everyday stories. Hailey & Grandma Shirley had a fight the other night – a water fight. It started out that evening when Grandma started to leave (we’d been outside playing with the girls). Hailey had a bucket that she’d been using to carry water to the sandbox. She splashed some on Grandma and I started to get on to her but something made me stop and instead I grabbed her & told Grandma “Get her!” For the next hour they ran around the yard throwing buckets of water at each other. When I finally made her come in at dark she was so excited and said they were both "soaked to the bone" and they were. She said it was the “funnest thing ever!” She went on and on all evening about how much fun they had. She thought it was pretty funny that she told Grandma “you run, girl!” Finally, in Hailey’s words “Mom, that’s the only way you should ever fight.” I agree.

Shhhh. . . . .

Don’t tell Hailey, but today mom & I worked on dress-up clothes for her birthday. We almost completed 3 dresses and got started on 2 more. I think she’s going to love it! She still likes to dress up and pretend so for her birthday party, we’re going to invite all the girls in her class to come to the studio and dress up, play & have cake – maybe like a tea party? Not sure how we’re going to do the party yet - still working out the details. Going online today to order a few party favors – princess cups, etc. Hailey & dad working at the farm today on the new house. Posted a few pictures from this summer of Hailey & her friend playing "dress-up".

Great way to end the summer

Friday night Brian & Hailey “camped out” in a tent in the middle of the living room. They watched movies, ate junk food and stayed up way too late. The girls had so much fun playing in the tent that I’ve left it up. Saturday we watched the Ringwood Fair, where we indulged in Snow Cones from Uncle Rex & Aunt Robin and Sunday was the perfect day of rest. Just hanging out with the family, watching the girls playing in the water and the cardboard box/tent. Top that off with pizza for supper and you have the perfect day. Monday was non-stop. Hailey rode her bike in the parade & won 1st place in her age group - $5 – not bad! She also did the bike races and foot races and won another $1. The rest of the day she spent playing & swimming with her friend Morgan. Then a wiener roast at the farm with S'mores & home-made ice cream. YUM!

This has been the best summer! Both girls love the water. Kaitlyn likes playing in a bucket of water – literally. She can sit down in and usually tries to take off her bathing suit & diaper and run around in her birthday suit. And Hailey has really taken to the water. When she swims, most of her time is spent under the water – hard to believe that just a year ago she was too afraid to put her head under for a second. We had to bribe her last summer with mini Milky Ways!

Makes me kind of sad to see summer come to an end.

beautiful morning

Kaitlyn & I walked Hailey to school today. She ran part of the way, she was so excited! She's growing up so fast. Posting a few pictures from the first day of school. If you look closely, Kaitlyn is in the background of one picture.