VBS 2012

We had our Vacation Bible School this year May 27th through 31st.  Our theme this year was "Adventures on Promise Island."  Where kids (and adults) discover God's lifesaving love! 

 I was the teacher for the 1st and 2nd graders!  We had a fun (and big) class.

 *God's Promise Day 1-"I Am With You." God is with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel 3:1, 4-28* God's Promise Day 2- "I Care About You." Jesus cares for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

 Loved the music this year.  Our theme song was Carmen's Sunday School Rock.  "I love Jesus (I love Jesus), Yes I Do (Yes I Do), I love Jesus (I love Jesus), How about YOU (How about YOU?)

 *God's Promise Day 3-"I Give You What You Need."  Jesus helps a man brought by four friends.

  Mark 2:1-12*God's Promise Day 4-"I Will Save You."   Jesus dies to save us.

John 19:16-18, 29, 30; 20:24-31*God's Promise Day 5-"I Will Answer You." 

　God answers the prayers of Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:22-34

We had a great time sharing God's love this year at VBS!  A special thanks to Lisa Brewer who did a great job as the director and thank you to all of my helpers in my class!  Can't wait for next year!

~"Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14~

John 11:1-3, 17-44

Beach Bound

On Saturday, we headed to John and Lori's for a cookout and family get-together.  Next week, Deanna, Olivia and Bella will go and join their Daddy, Ron, to live at the Outer Banks, NC.  We are going to miss them so much, but know this is going to be a great experience for them.  We were so glad to get to spend some time with them before they left.

Addi, Olivia and myself getting ready to do a little 4-wheeling!

 John and Lori

 Josh and Olivia going for a ride!

 And Josh and Bella taking the 4-wheeler for a spin.

 Jaiden, Tom and Vickie stopping for a picture.

 Deanna and her mom, Vickie

 John, Lori and Addi's sweet doggie, Bessie.

 Brother, Sister and Mother

 Me and my sweet cousin, Deanna!

 Sweet Bella

 Me and Bella

 The Beach Bound girls!

Family Pictures

Thank you John and Lori for opening your home to us!  We had a blast as usual.  Ron, Deanna, Olivia and Bella, we love you guys so much and going to miss you dearly!  We hope to come up soon and see you guys.  We know that God has got great plans for your sweet family!

~"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11~

Fight Like a Girl

A little update on my Grandma:  She took a break from chemo for the past few months because she had responded well to the chemo and the doctor thought she should give her body a little break.  She had a scan about a month ago and the cancer is still there.  So he wants her to start her treatments again.  He also changed her chemo drug.  She now gets a treatment once a week.

 And here she is, last week, getting her treatment.  She has been getting them over the past month now, and has been doing great.  Even though she is losing her hair, again, she is being a trooper and staying strong!!  Love that smile, and love HER! 

                                                              What Cancer Cannot Do  

Author: Unknown

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the Spirit.

And a pink ribbon, in honor of a dear friend who just started her breast cancer battle!

Two strong women, who I admire for their brave fight!  Stay strong, keep the faith, and know that He will never leave you or forsake you!  "Fight Like a Girl!"  Love you both!

I found this great ecard and thought I would share:

"You're  facing a Giant-mean, ugly and unfair.

It looks impossible-but looks are deceiving.

God is on your side.

And He doesn't just stand by and cheer you on- 

He rushes into the battle to fight for you.

Others are fighting for you too-

-In confidence and hope-

With many prayers

~"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save." Zephaniah 3:17 NIV~

Juicing

Sunday, after my Mom's birthday, we spent a very relaxing evening together.  We got take out Panera and it was delish.  After we ate, I watched a movie that she had been telling me about called, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead."  It's a great documentary on one man's journey to get healthy through juicing.  So, we got pretty inspired and the next day, we both went and bought:

 a juicer,

 a lot of fresh veggies (yes, that's a 25lb bag of carrots, haha)

and "Vwa-lah!"  Fresh Juice!  I know it doesn't look to good in this picture, but it is really not bad!  And you are getting a ton of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  I'm not the biggest fan of veggies, so this is a great way to get them and hide the taste with some other tasty fruits.  It's pretty fun too, but also a little messy.  We are not juice fasting like the guy in the movie, but we are going to try and drink one or two a day...at least a few a week!  My mom and I had a great time together working on our new project!  Happy Juicing!

~"And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.'"  Genesis 1:29~

Outside Please

This sweet girl went outside to potty and I got the mail...

 and she did NOT want to come back inside.  I kept calling and calling her and she just looked at me..

 and did this!  Haha it was too funny!  She was just enjoying this nice, warm weather!

 And I don't think she wanted me taking her picture either...haha!

 So after much coaxing, I got her here, but she still wouldn't come inside.  She was cracking me up...too funny!

So I finally just had to pick her up, and we ended up here...on the back porch and out of sight, since some of us were still in our pj's.  :)

~"Be still and know that I am God."  Psalm 46:10~

C&C Class Camp-Out

Friday night, we had our College and Career Class Camp-Out!

 We had the camp out on our land.  Here is everything after we got it all set up. We actually had to get a fire pit instead of just using the traditional wood setup for the bonfire.  If you look behind the chairs, you can see black areas where my dad lit some fireant hills and the fire literally took off.  We didn't want to be responsible for starting a forest fire in Inman, so we bought a cute little fire pit.  I think we will continue to get a lot of use out of it, so it was a good investment. 

 The Cater Family-(Brody even got to join the festivities for a little while)

 April, Kristen, Me and Tanna

 Tanna and her boyfriend Eric!  We were so glad to finally meet Eric and have him join us for the fun.

 Me and my Hubby

 Yay...my great husband got the fire a cooking!  Now we are ready for some hotdogs!

 I thought it would be fun to play glow in the dark frisbee and volleyball.  What I didn't know is that you have to expose the items to a good light source (preferably the sun, I think) for them to light up.  Oops!  So Andrew, DW and Eric saved the day.  This did actually work!  Thanks guys!

 The Men:  Eric, Steven, Josh, Brandon, DW, and Andrew

 A few of the ladies:  Me, Kristen, April and Tanna

 And all of the ladies:  Me, Kristen, Paula, Brooklyn, Anna, April, Tanna and Rebecca. 

And all of this wouldn't have been possible without these guys!  Thank you Dad, Judy and Papa.  They helped us cut the grass, set up the tent, chairs, and volleyball net, and also get rid of the fireants!  We had a great time at the camp out.  We had hotdogs and chips for supper, smores and snacks for dessert and had a great devotion around the fire.  After we had the lesson and hung out a while, the girls came back to our house to sleep and the guys stayed out on the land.  Thank you C&C for coming and for being such a great group!  We love you guys!

~"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:2 NIV~

Mother's Day 2012

Josh and I were both working this Mother's Day, but this is what I awoke to...

And it was oh so sweet.  I wasn't even expecting anything, but this was a nice surprise.  The inside of the card read:  "Dear Mommy, Me and Daddy love you so much!  Thank you for being the best Mommy in the world!  Thank you for the walks, the belly rubs, and all the extra treat-treats at bedtime!  I couldn't have asked for a better Mommy!  We Love you!  Happy Mother's Day!  Chloe and Daddy  xoxo

It made me cry!  And the flowers were beautiful.  They really looked great in my blender :) (I couldn't find a vase, so that had to do..haha)  And to top it off, I got another sweet gift from my niece (and god-daughter) Gracie!  It was 2 awesome t-shirts, a sweet card, and some of my favorite trail mix!  Thank you Josh, Chloe and Gracie for making me feel so special!  And to My Mother, thank you for your support, selflessness and sacrifice for me over the past 28, almost 29 years!  You are amazing, and I honor you today and always!  I hope to one day (soon) be the mother to my children that you have been to Shane and me!  I love you!

And to all the other special women in my life:  Judy, my Step-mother, Patti, my Mother in law, Grandma Margie and Nanny Tuck, Thank you for the women you are and the impact you have on my life.  I love you all very much and so blessed to have you in my life!  Happy Mother's Day to You All!!

~"You have done so much for me, O Lord, No wonder I am glad!...How refreshed I am by your blessings!  Psalm 92:4,10 TLB"~

Women Of Joy 2012

Thursday evening, after mine and Josh's little beach getaway, we headed back home.  But Josh dropped me off halfway, and I took off with the girls back down to Myrtle Beach for the...

 Women of Joy Conference 2012:  3 days, 2 nights, 1 purpose!

 We had a blast!  This is my third year going with the ladies from TBC and I look forward to it every year!  This year (and last year), we rented a house in Ocean Lakes.  The conference was held at the MB Convention Center.  And here are the ladies posing with the famous OL star, back row:  me, April, Laura and Joy.  front row:  Tracy and Crystal

 The line up this year, and every year, was great!  We heard from speakers:  Carol Kent, Thelma Wells, and the funny Anita Renfroe.  We missed out on Sherri Rose Shepard who spoke Sat. morning, because we all slept in a few extra hours.

 For the music this year, they had Mandisa and Brandon Heath.  They were both very good.  We had a concert Saturday night and got our praise on!

 And yes we did get our picture with Mr. Charles Billingsly!  He was our worship leader for the whole weekend, and boy can he sing.  This is my favorite part of the whole weekend, the praise and worship.  To be around so many sisters in Christ all worshiping our one God is a-maz-ing!  I always miss the praise and worship so much when we leave.

 After the Saturday morning sessions, we headed to the house and went straight to the beach, where we laid out for most of the afternoon (minus our little lunch break at the snack bar).  We also laid out most of the day on Friday too.

The shirts this year were pretty cute, so we all had to get one!  The theme this year was Abundant Grace!

We had great food, fun and fellowship this year at WOJ!  Can't wait till next year!  The verse on the back of our cute shirts is:

~"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."  Colossians 4:6~