My Family

COME ON IN, GRAB A CUP OF COFFEE & SHARE A RANDOM MOMENT WITH ME

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

a day at the beach ----- our vacation day 2

on the second day of our vacation, we rented a car and headed to the gulf. we visited a state park called honeymoon island. it was a great beach. it had beautiful white sand and very shallow waters for a long way out into the ocean. the water was so clear, you could see everything all around you, just the way i like it!!

jacob was not so sure he liked it at first. he was very apprehensive.







do you think they look alike at all?



















    he decided that digging in the sand with his shovel was ok though.



everyone else headed to the water to see what they could catch with their net.

can you see all the fish in the water that nobody could catch at all?

they are just too fast!!!

they all decided to dig in the sand with it and find shells.



olivia and amanda are inspecting their finds.


aaron and josiah decided to head into deeper water and dig up shells there.
what could this be that josiah dug up?




hanging out in the shallow water was enjoyable too!






jacob kept his safe distance on the sand. but he had so much fun! 



























then we decided it was time for jacob to fall in love with the water too.






Posted by Picasa


it took a little bit of time, but he eventually realized that the water was pretty fun!









he realized that there was sand in the water too!





everyone had a blast!

then we took our sun-kissed bodies to dinner at the whispering canyon cafe in the wilderness lodge.
there was not much whispering going on there though!

Posted by Picasa








    rachel and angie, my best friend since 7th grade. she lives in Florida and joined us for our whole vacation.
 ****what an experience for her!!****


it was a beautiful day!

Monday, September 28, 2009

growing up monday----------our vacation day 1

One So Blessed
today, i am joining joanne @ blessed... with a "growing up monday" post. she has a great idea of bringing the message that God is speaking to all of us together, uniting our hearts, and growing up together. Please be sure to stop by and read her post and link up with the others who are joining in to unite us all while we grow up together.

she writes, "wouldn't it be fun to be able to check in with other sisters around the world and see what we are learning in each of our churches on sunday mornings or in our weekly Bible studies? we are the body of Christ. we gather on Sundays in our church homes to learn and grow from His word. each week there is something our pastor shares or teaches from the Bible that speaks (sometimes shouts) right to my heart."

i think this is a great idea. we can reflect on what God is revealing to us, write it up in a post and share it with each other. maybe it will help us get the bigger picture of what God is desiring to say to His body. we can grow up together as one body. we are to grow up in the knowledge and understanding of Christ. we can do that together.

this week, i have learned that Jesus and family are the most precious gifts that God has given to us. we spent the week in florida, at disney world. though it was hot, we had a great time together. i am so thankful that God has blessed me so much with such a wonderful family and the provision to take vacations together. He is such a good God! my heart is overwhelming with gratitude for all that He is and all that He has blessed me with.

we returned home on saturday evening, went to church on sunday morning to hear our pastor speak a message on "the Gospel according to moses." he emphasized the hunger of God desiring to live amongst His people. when God created man, He walked and talked with adam and eve, sharing Life with them. but, when they sinned, the shared existence of God and man had to be put on hold. but, God's burning desire to be a part of His children's lives continued. during the time period of moses, God made a way for Him to be in the midst of their lives through the temple. His presence remained in the temple, in the middle of the campsite of the israelites. the temple tabernacled His presence. it foreshadowed the place where the shared existence of Life with the presence of God would continue in the new convenant. now, our hearts tabernacle His presence and once again God is living in and amongst His people, sharing Life with them.

looking back at my week of vacation and recognizing that spending the week with my family as we all tabernacled the presence of God everywhere that we went, sharing Life with Him, i realize that i have even more to be grateful for that i can even express with words. He vacationed with us.

He was with us on the bus traveling from the airport to disney! He shared our excitement as we were almost there!



He walked with us on the red carpet to mickey's resort.



and, He immediately headed off to hollywood studios to enjoy the tower of terror and the rockin' roller coaster with us, while jacob took a short nap.


Posted by Picasa


our first day of vacation was full of excitement and fun! all of us together, sharing Life with God, couldn't have been better!

What about you?

What is it you are studying? What lessons did God want you to learn this week, and what did you take away from your pastor's lesson or church family today that you can apply to your lives now?

Let's share with one another what we are learning and how we are growing up in Christ. Be your hometown church representative and fill us all in!

Monday, September 14, 2009

growing up monday



today, i am joining joanne @ blessed... with a "growing up monday" post. she has a great idea of bringing the message that God is speaking to all of us together, uniting our hearts, and growing up together. Please be sure to stop by and read her post and link up with the others who are joining in to unite us all while we grow up together.

she writes, "wouldn't it be fun to be able to check in with other sisters around the world and see what we are learning in each of our churches on sunday mornings or in our weekly Bible studies? we are the body of Christ. we gather on Sundays in our church homes to learn and grow from His word. each week there is something our pastor shares or teaches from the Bible that speaks (sometimes shouts) right to my heart."

i think this is a great idea. we can reflect on what God is revealing to us, write it up in a post and share it with each other. maybe it will help us get the bigger picture of what God is desiring to say to His body. we can grow up together as one body. we are to grow up in the knowledge and understanding of Christ. we can do that together.

we are going through the book of joshua on sunday mornings. we have been looking for the types and shadows of Jesus and the new covenant within it. joshua, himself, is a type of jesus. he takes God's chosen people into the land of promise. he was the man that God chose to lead them into all the fullness of His promised blessings. he represents Jesus because it is Jesus who has lead us into God's promised blessings of salvation.

when the isralites were in slavery, they continued their covenant with God through circumcision and observed the passover. but, after they left Egypt and crossed over the red sea into the wilderness, they ceased to observe the covenant rituals of circumcision or the passover. they were told by God to begin to live by the law of moses instead. they wandered in the wilderness for forty years trying to obey the law and failing. God provided for His people miraculously over and over again. He gave them manna from heaven to eat and drinking water poured forth from impossible places. but, when it came time to enter into the promised land they found it impossible to believe that God would really do what He promised and deliver the land over to them. why? because the law does not produce faith.

the people in moses' generation were unable to enter into the land that God had promised because they could not believe God. moses, representing the law, took the israelites up to the jordan river that separated them from the promised land. but, joshua, representing faith, lead them into the promised land. God opened the waters of the jordan river and they crossed over on dry ground. joshua 4:19-5:12 continues the story as they camped on the shores on the other side of the jordan river. they were now in the promised land.

to celebrate the great power and faithfulness of their God, the children of Israel followed joshua when he instructed them to return back into a covenant relationship with God by circumcising all of the men. while the israelites were in the wilderness, they ceased to depend upon the covenant relationship with God indicated by circumcision, and lived by the law. so, none of the men that were alive at this point, had ever been circumcised. God instructed Joshua to stand up and be His covenant people again and cut covenant with Him by circumcision. after every man was circumcised, they remained camped at the shores of jordan until they were all healed.

then, the Lord told joshua to name the place that they were camped at, gilgal, which means "to roll away the shame or the reproach." God had brought His people forth and delivered them into the land that He had promised them in miraculous fashion. people everywhere had heard of what God had done for His people and they were very afraid of the israelites. God had rolled away the shame and the reproach of slavery from them and set them up to be the rulers of this great promised land. that night they celebrated the passover. the next day they began to partake of the fruit of the land that God had delivered into their hands. there was no more miraculous provision for food or water. manna ceased to fall from heaven because provision was provided from within the land of promise.

i asked God for the significance in this portion of the story of the Israelites. i knew there was some truth within this part of the story that meant something to us today. what was the nugget of revelation that would help me to see more clearly what Jesus has done for me in the new covenant. i felt the Lord speak clearly in my spirit that the place of gilgal is where Jesus has brought us to. He has taken away our shame and guilt before God when we, by faith, walked across the pathway that God provided for us in Jesus. He took us out of the bondage of sin and helplessness and into righteousness, the place of promise. and, from that time forward, we are not to look for manna from heaven any longer, we are to begin to live off the produce of the promised land. we are not supposed to be looking for an outward manifestation of His provision, but know that the provision that He has promised us will come only from the land of promise. that land is my spirit united with the Holy Spirit. the promised land is in me! the provision for my life, in every way, is found within the promised land and it will come forth as i dwell there and share communion with the faithful, covenant God of promise. God's promise of provision and blessings will not come down from heaven but will now come forth from within me.

What about you?

What is it you are studying? What lessons did God want you to learn this week, and what did you take away from your pastor's lesson or church family today that you can apply to your lives now?

Let's share with one another what we are learning and how we are growing up in Christ. Be your hometown church representative and fill us all in!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

let the parades begin

yesterday was olivia's first marching parade of the season. she is in color guard and does flag routines. we love watching her do something that she really likes to do. it was fun sitting on the sidelines, watching her walk down the street in perfect synchronized fashion with the rest of her squad along with her junior high band. she did great! she has many more weeks's of parades ahead of her coming up. i hope she has a blast!