How are you at WAITING?!?!

I really feel like there are alot of us in a season right now where we ALL could use what I learned last night! So my prayer is that God will allow it to be typed out in such a powerful way, so that it will hit you as hard as it hit me last night! God is so good and so sovereign!

I have been studying Esther through Beth Moore's study...so this "little devotion" is directly from her video last night! We were learning about Esther and why she "waited" to present her request to the King...The King had asked multiple times to present her request...and her response was that they come together TOMORROW...and she would make her request known...

WAITING...who of us is ever willing to WAIT! UGH... it makes me nervous even typing it! Our culture is definitely teaching us to be impatient...all of the latest and greatest technology says to us "take the wait out" We even get frustrated even when it takes our computer 2 minutes to boot up! We are all about INSTANT GRATIFICATION!!

I think that we would all agree that we are all in a season where we want things to happen now...someone needs a job NOW , a house to sell NOW, a baby to hurry and get here NOW, that insurance would be approved NOW, (for Ray and I) that God would tell us NOW where he wants us to move, and where Brenly will go to school (not that she doesn't start for 6 more months, but I want to KNOW NOW!!), for our marriages to get better and stronger NOW, that our jobs would be secure NOW, that we will have money to pay our bills NOW, that we would have extra time to spend with the ones we love the most NOW, that our savings account would automatically grow NOW...

I don't get it...in Isiah 40:31
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I will be completely honest when I say that the LAST thing I feel when I am WAITING for some"thing" is renewed strength...

WHY? Because we wait on the "thing" and not the LORD!!!

Our strength will continue to be LOST when we wait on the "thing" or the "event"...but when we WAIT on the Lord...WOW, how different we would view our waiting!

Habakkuk 2:3
"For the revelation awaits an appointed time, it speaks to the end and will prove false. Though it linger, WAIT for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." God gave habakkuk the same answer that he would give us, "Be patient! I will work out MY plan in perfect timing"

If we cannot wait on the Lord, we will not complete OUR destiny!

We must understand that "in the meantime" is GOD-TIME! NEVER in our wait is God INACTIVE!!

I just thought that this was so powerful! As I was driving in this morning I was thinking about our life in particular...and how we prayed for Ray to get his "dreamjob" for 6 years...count them people... S-I-X...1,2,3,4,5,6! We just knew that after he got this job that life would be perfect, he would be happy, we would be making a little bit more money, we could get our of memphis...it would just be perfect...Well, if you have talked to me at all since Ray got this job, you will fully understand that our life is everything BUT PERFECT...if nothing else, it has become 75% more complicated! I drive all over God's creation, spending the little extra that He IS making on gas, we have moved out of Memphis to the BOONDOCKS and although we love it...we are still "in the Boondocks", schools are terrible, I miss being able to hop in the car and go visit friends or family, etc...you get the picture! Don't get me wrong, we are EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that God answered our prayers! It has been a wonderful experience, but far from perfect and peaceful! I think for so many of those 6 years, we WAITED on the event (Ray getting the job) as well as the OUR IDEA about how it all would turn out! Instead, we should have had our eyes fixed on HIM, WAITING ON THE LORD...never allowing our minds to wonder and imagine how great life would be (we were sadly mistaken...b/c we had allowed ourselves to think that the EVENT would solve all of our problems)...but focusing on the GREATNESS of our GOD and how HE can renew our strength! Our wait or our idea of perfect will never be that until we learn to WAIT ON THE LORD...

I wish that I could solve all of the world's problems, but that isn't my job! I will just pray that all of us will WAIT on the LORD!!! I think it will cause our period of waiting to less stressful and anxious!!

and we have to remember the longer the wait on the Lord, the more our strength is renewed and the greater our reward!!

As I drove in this morning...I intentionally turned down my radio...to pray through what I wanted to write here, praying for individuals who are struggling through "waiting", praying for myself that I will learn to "wait on the Lord" (obviously still need to pray about that :) so finally right before I got off the interstate, I decided that i needed to turn up the radio and worship alittle and will you believe that the song that was playing was...

Lincoln Brewster - Everlasting God
From the album Let The Praises Ring - Best Of Lincoln Brewster
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
Wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
Wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
Our God You reign forever
Our Hope our strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
The everlasting God

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

I sat in my car, with tears rolling down my face...the fact that I intentionally turned down my radio to meet with the Lord, to wait before Him...and to "reward" me with such affirmation as the song Everlasting God...I mean the END of the song is what my prayer is for my life at this moment!
God is sooooo good and faithful...if ONLY we would allow Him to show up and make Himself KNOWN!

A slumber party with Baylee...

This past weekend we got to keep Baylee for Friday nigt and Saturday while her mommy and daddy went to a marriage conference! My girls we SO excited to have her come and spend the night...Baylee however wasn't so sure about the idea! God bless her sweet heart- she is so much like her aunT (that is me) its not funny!! Growing up, I was SUCH a momma's girl and a homebody! I can honestly say that I was much older before I started spending the night away from home (and enjoying it!) Chad and Ronni brought Baylee to my work Friday afternoon and then we headed to get Bren and Avery from Neicy's house! She was great on the ride home...and it wasn't really until after dinner that she had a come apart! We were all playing together, having a greand ole' time, and she just LOST it! Sobbing, the kind that you can't catch your breath...Another little tidbit about my niece is that she is "addicted" to mice (we aren't sure where this has come from, but she loves them...in fact my sister in law just posted this about her mouse obsession) so when she started crying we had to make sure that we had ALL of her mice (and even the one's that she found at our house...I promise the child was carrying around AT LEAST 6 mice at one time!!) and she would be okay for 30-45 mins. and then she would start thinking about her momma and daddy and lose it all over again! Around 8:00, I decided that she was EXHAUSTED and put her to bed! She slept great and woke up on Sat. and she was FINE! Never shed a tear! We had SOOO much fun with Baylee Boop Boops and so glad that she got to come spend the night! I had to take pictures and even add a video so that you know she WAS happy to be with us! (Notice the MICE in the picture above :) Thank you Uncle Chad and Aunt Ronni for letting us have her for Friday and Saturday! We can't wait for you to ask us again!

Sorry about the quality of the video, the lighting was horrible but her laugh was so darn cute that I had to hurry and get the camera...and who needs a quality video when you can hear that laugh!!!

First haircut, ear infection...

all in the same 24 hour period!
We were SO ready to get the girls haircut...they were starting to look a little ratty, maybe even a little homeless! So I called Nonna (my cousin Jenni) and begged and even pleaded that she would let us come in! She allowed us to come in Tuesday night and even stayed late so that she could take care of both of them!! Thanks so much Nonna, they look absolutely precious and I can't believe that my baby is old enough to need a haircut :(
This is the before shot

This is after...to precious!


However you must keep in mind that Avery was not feeling good at all..even had a slight fever..so she wasn't overjoyed about this haircut experience at all, but she did great...sat in my lap and let Nonna work her magic...







Aren't they both just precious! and doesn't Brenly look so grown up with short hair! I love it!

Nonna decided that since she had to get the shop closed up, that Brenly needed to sweep...and she thoroughly enjoyed it! And she did a pretty good job! If only I could get her to use the vacuum like that:)




This however is what she was REALLY thinking about the whole experience...


and with good reason...we woke up Wednesday and she had a pretty high fever. We took her into the doctor and he said that she had a pretty bad ear infection...so now we are on antibiotics, tylenol and motrin and lots of snuggling! Hopefully she will be back to normal very soon! We miss her when she is sick!

Happy "Balentime's" Day!

That would be Valentine's for all of you that don't have children! Saturday morning we all woke up (Brenly and Maci and I woke up first!) and Brenly had decided that because Maci was our guest that she got to pick the order in which we did things for the day! (Brenly was just so glad to have a visitor out in the country she was willing to do just about anything to keep her happy...she loves living in the country, but she certainly misses having friends who will come and visit :) Maci decided that we were going to make a "balentime" craft first! I get all the supplies together so that we could start on our first craft of the day (I had several planned:)


We made heart flowers and the girls got to write what they loved about the person they were giving them too! They were so cute...however after the first flower--they were done with that creative project...Now they were hungry! So I quickly clean up our mess so that I can get to the kitchen and make "balentime" pancakes...I made Heart Pancakes as well as "i <3 u " pancakes and they were pretty darn cute, if I might say so myself! They loved them and gobbled them up!




then all the girls decided that they needed to get there picture taken before we started the next craft...candy necklaces!!










we then ended up the day with "balentime's" dinner...at Sonic! Ray had to work so I loaded all of the girls in the car and headed to dinner!

and it just so happened that everybody wanted Ice cream for dessert..and who can resist little girls!
We had a great day and hope that all of you had a great "balentime's day as well!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Oh my! However it was more like elephants and tigers and ponies...that just didn't sound as good! This weekend was CRAZY, but we had a lot of fun (I'm not sure that I have caught up on my lack of sleep, but who needs sleep, right?) Friday night we (the girls and I) were suppose to meet up with Misty and her children and go to the circus at the Agricenter...Friday morning Misty let me know that she was REAL sick and would not be making it to work much less to the circus...but that her mom was thinking about taking her two up there! So instead we met Nana, Maci and CJ at the circus and we had the best time...Avery was ready to go half way through, but we made it to the end! Maci was going to spend the night with us to give Misty a little break, at least from one of them :) We didn't leave Cordova until 10:20 which means that we didn't get home until 11:30ish. The girls were exhausted, but didn't actually get to bed until 12:00ish! What a night!

A Game Warden for a husband...

often involves very different and unique stories that make up what he does! I had mentioned here and here that being the wife (or in Brenly's case-a child) of a game warden is a very interesting role! Yesterday, for instance, Ray walks in the house carrying a plastic bag...only to unveil THIS...

YES...it is the HEAD OF AN ALLIGATOR!!
Ray had gotten a call from a lady who said that her dog had brought this 'alligator head' up in her yard and she didn't know what to do with it! Ray goes to check on the situation and ends up bringing this 'creature' home with him! I ask him what he was going to do with it...and his response..."I'm gonna keep it!" My response. "FOR REAL? and do what with it?" I'm gonna let it dry out in the garage...and just save it!
So here goes another 'creature' (or part of a creature) that has taken up permanent residence in our garage...We gonna be like a museum soon, perhaps I should start charging admission!!

It was a small celebration...

but it was still lots of fun! Yesterday Avery turned 2! I took off work to spend the day with girls and am so glad that I did! It's days like yesterday that allow me to make memories that will last forever...I woke up and made Happy birthday blueberry muffins and waited for Avery to wake up...I mean, this is my child who wakes up with the chickens...and it was 9:00 before she opened her eyes...I mean she was taking advantage of the opportunity to be able to sleep (we are usually out the door by 6:25am) We ate blueberry muffins and chocolate milk (her favorite) and then Brenly woke up and we got to give her a little present


(the big present is the fact that they are sharing their birthday party at Pump It Up next month!)Then we went outside and played...It was windy, but it was warm...I was determined to get fresh air...we came inside, ate lunch and laid the birthday girl down for a nap! While she was sleeping, Brenly and I decided that we were going to make Avery's birthday cake...Brenly had already suggested that we make a blueberry cake (not for the taste, but because her favorite color is BLUE! In Brenly's world everything is blue...if it is good, it has to be blue!) So I suggested that instead of a blueberry cake, why didn't we make blue icing with blue food coloring...she was amazed by my crafty-ness! (Doesn't take much to impressed that girl of mine!)

WE then proceeded to make homemade chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese (that is really the only thing that Avery LOVES to eat...don't get me wrong she will eat ANYTHING...we call her our own personal vacuum...if you don't want it...give it to Avery!)
So we ate a yummy dinner and then we got to eat our BLUE cake!






We had a fun day, just us as a little family, celebrating one of God's greatest gifts...Avery Ray!!