Add another silver for the USA!

Before Christmas, the first graders at Courtney's school had a reading Olympics. They had to be able to read a certain list of words for each medal. Courtney got all three medals in that round.

Now they are doing a math Olympics. Courtney came home with her silver today. She had to count orally to 150. Write numbers to 150. And count by 2's and 5's to 100. Now we're working on her gold. It will be the same as above except to 200 and there are some addition and subtraction problems she has to do.

No sweat!

Finally got some scrappin' done!

The girls and I went over to Tracie's on Monday. Courtney was out of school and it has been forever since she has been able to play with Caroline.

I actually got my act together and took some pages to work on. Here are the results! Nothing spectacular but 2 two-page layouts is major for me. I would have liked some major uninterrupted time to keep the creative juices flowing but I'm glad I got to do what I did!

These pages are more vibrant IRL. I need to play with that photo software!

Our Weekend

Mark, Jessica and I spent Thursday night, Friday and Saturday in Chattanooga looking at two schools there. It didn't help us make any decisions but it was fun spending the weekend together.

The first school we visited was Tennessee Temple University. This is a school to watch. It's not right for Jessica at this point because they don't have her major but in a few years it's going to be fabulous. First of all it's a Christian school which makes the environment very inviting. Their president is full of passion and dedication and I have no doubt he will accomplish all he is planning on. I do wish we were a few more years down the road so that it would be a serious option for Jessica. She got to stay in the dorms and experience "dorm life". She said it was more like church camp than what she pictured college being like. I would love for her to go to a Christian school but she wants to major in Biology and go into forensics. That field is getting pretty competative and she needs to go to the best school for that field. We just have to pray that she attaches herself to Christian friends and makes the right decisions.

Then we visited UT Chattanooga. I like it a lot better than UT Knoxville. It is smaller. Most of the buildings are newer. There was just a different attitude all around there in comparison to Knoxville. The dorm choices were better than at Knoxville and the campus is more compact. It would be very easy to walk to where ever you needed to go. Jessica seemed to like it too.

So, we are still undecided. I'm sure if and when we get letters of acceptance that we will have some decisions made for us.

I would love for her to experience to college life but I am certainly not ready for her to leave home and for me to not know what she is doing at all times. But we all have to grow up some time!

Valentine's Day

Yesterday was a good day for Courtney and Kirsten. They both got lots of goodies at school. After school, we visited Grandma and Aunt Judy and the girls got more candy! Hope everyone had a great day!

A Woman's Heart - week 3

In this week's video, Beth talked about the characteristics of the people of Israel, their leader, Moses and the God of Israel. First of all the people of Israel weren't much different than we are today. They were sinners. They were stiff-necked which was a term used to describe a beast who refused to wear it's owners yoke. They were stubborn and selfish in not being willing to follow God's commands. Fortunately they were able to see their sin and repent. They mourned for what they had done. Before coming before the the Lord to worship they striped off all their ornaments (their worldly possessions or anything that comes between us and God) and came before Him on their knees to worship Him.
Next we see Moses. Two things struck me as important about Moses. It seems his number 1 prioraty was having an intimate relationship with God. Next, he prayed fruvently for the people of Israel.
Finally, the God of Israel. First of all, He hears and He acts upon and is affected by what He hears. Our prayers are important and very powerful. The people of Israel were spared because of the prayers of Moses. He gives rest. But rest accompanies our submission to God's authority. God sets us apart by His presence. We do not belong to the world and if God lives in us, the world will know we are different, special. He knows each of us by name. He moves beyond natural limits on our behalf. He is protective. He was all of these things to Moses and the people of Israel and most significantly, He is all these things to us, today. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
There is great comfort in knowing our God is the same God of the people of Israel. His word proves His power, love, comfort and promises are for forever.

An Update

Well, it seems we are all over whatever it was that hit us. Kirsten ended up having both ears infected so she has been on an antibotic. It hasn't agreed with her very well. Diarrea and now a yeast infection. So we've changed antibotics. We'll see how it goes. She has worn me down because she is so miserable. The rest of us seem to be better, so that's good.
I'll post tomorrow on this week's Beth Moore video.

The Crud!

Well, I've been fighting "the crud" for 4 days now and I am exhausted. I'm glad the worst of it was over the weekend with Mark and Jessica here but today has been rough. Kirsten has it now and has been running a fever of 102 all day. I am on day 3 of a Z pack and still not feeling better. It doesn't help that all the cough suppressant/expectorant meds make me feel sea sick so I can't take them. The house is disgustingly messy and I'm behind on some design work for a client.

How's that for a good whine!

I'll post again when we all feel better!

Burdett's Tea Shop

Tracie discovered this fabulous place. We went there yesterday for my birthday. It was delightful! Thank you so much Tracie for this special treat. We had the Tea for Two which was just right! Everything tasted heavenly. I am really craving one of those raisen scones this morning! I can't wait to go again and I encourage you all to make the drive to try it!

A Woman's Heart - session 1

We had our second Bible study meeting last night. It was technically session 1 as last week was the introduction.

The video segment was centered on the word "covenant" and what that means to us and why God made covenants with man. Two of the first covenants God made with man were with Adam and with Abram. The covenant with Adam occured when He created Eve and instituted the covenant of marriage. The covenant with Abram occured when He promised Abram that his decendants would be more numerous than the stars.

Beth sites three major purposes of the first covenant:

1. The ultimate purpose: to reveal Christ and His Bride
2. The corporate purpose: to produce godly offspring
3. The intimate purpose: to no longer be alone

"God will confront us with our need to show us He is the only answer to that need."

Characteristics of the enemy of every Godly covenant:

1. His chief goal is to make us doubt God's word.
2. He is a liar.
3. He often appeals to man through the beautiful and inviting.
4. His certain end is destruction.

What can we learn about our relationship with God from Genesis 3?

1. Women were created with a unique power of influence.
2. Believers must learn to apply Matthew 10:16 ("I am sending you out like sheep amoung wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." In other words, having wisdom of the enemy and his ways but remaining Christ like.)
3. Shame is satan's stamp of approval. (If you are ashamed of something you have done, said or thought, that is a sure sign that it is sin)
4. God created man to walk with Him, not hide from Him.
5. God's provision always matches our need.

This was all pretty deep and I am still absorbing some of this information. Mostly, this gave me hope to know that God is there, His promises are real. And because of who He is, He cannot break His promises. His purpose for creating man is the same today as it was when Adam took his first breath. We are given this life to choose between God and ourselves. He wants our love and worship to be honest and pure. Of course He could have created us to be born loving Him but it means more to Him for us to choose to love Him.

I am anxious to see what this week's homework will reveal!

I'm It!

I've been tagged by Tracie. So, here goes!

4 jobs that I have had:
1. Golden Corral (I think everyone should work in the food industry at some point, so they know how to treat people in the food industry!)
2. One Price Clothing (retail also, for the same reason!)
3. Hermitage Kitchen and Bath (assistant kitchen designer)
4. Currently SAHM and freelance designer

4 movies I love:
1. The Sound of Music
2. My Fair Lady
3. O'Brother Where Art Thou
4. The Fisher King

4 places I have lived:
1. Lebanon, TN
2. Dugway, Utah
3. Madison, TN
4. currently and most of my life, Gallatin, Tn

4 TV shows:
I really have stopped watching TV but I do like the following:
1. CSI
2. Without a Trace
3. Numbers
4. Alias (but I'm behind a season)

4 Places I've been on Vacation:
1. Virginia - Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg
2. Did a school tour of NYC and DC
3. Gulf Shores, AL
4. Going to Disney in March!

4 Websites I visit daily:
1. Two Peas
2. Various blogs (I check about 10 daily)
3. The local news site
4. Then I just surf if I have the time

4 favorite foods:
1. Anything Italian
2. Chocolate
3. Bread
(I think I see the reason the area between my waist and knees is not very attractive!)
4. Drink of choice: Dr. Pepper

4 Places I'd rather be:
1. I really am happy and blessed to be home with my kids
2. But I would love to be on a nice, warm, white beach somewhere with a good book

4 Bloggers I'm tagging:
Well, this is pitiful but I don't know any other bloggers who haven't been tagged. So, if you read this and haven't been tagged, then You're it!

Bible study homework

I had a wonderful conversation with my friend Tracie today about our struggles as Christians and our relationship with the rest of the world. So as I sat down to do my "A Woman's Heart" homework, there were scriptures to support our conversation. These kinds of "coincidences" happen all the time if we keep ourselves open to them.

First of all, the key verse for the day:
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

This was just want I needed to hear after considering the daily onslaught of sinful thoughts, images, etc. we receive every day.

Beth goes on to talk about how our hearts are deceitful and the only guard we have is to give our hearts fully to God. She then leads into a study of Noah. She compared how Adam and Eve were in the midst of perfection (all the right circumstances) but made the wrong choice. Then there was Noah.
"He lived in a society where wickedness was rampant. Sin ruled. Perversion prevailed. Righteousness was as rare as a perfect gem. People followed every inclination of their evil hearts without restraint. The only absolute was absolute depravity. In the midst of all the wrong circumstances, Noah made right choices. How? Noah walked with God. Surrounded by a perverse generation, Noah knew that righteousness could not be attained and could not persist on the basis of a one-time commitment. Scripture does not even say that Noah religiously renewed his commitment every Sunday. He walked with God. He was in a constant state of habitual fellowship - day by day, hour by hour."

Then she concludes by saying:
" We are surrounded by every conceivable practice of sin and the continual mockery of God. We can be victorious but only if we walk with God. As we have seen, God was faithful to Noah, and the One who never changes will be faithful to us."

This is the answer to the questions Tracie and I were pondering. A relationship with God will protect us and strengthen us and give us what we need, when we need it.

A Woman's Heart - Intro

The women at my church started a new Bible study last night. We will be meeting every Tuesday night and I will, hopefully, give a recap here on Wednesdays.

Last night was the introduction to the Bible study, "A Woman's Heart - God's Dwelling Place." This is a Bible study by Beth Moore. We have done two other studies by her and have attended 3 of her conferences. I have to tell you, she is awsome! God has annointed her with a love and understanding of His Word that is hard to discribe! If you ever have the opportunity to hear her speak or participate in one of her Bible studies, then run, don't walk!

"A Woman's Heart" is a perfect example. We are going to be studying the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and how it's significance is relevant to us today. The first time I heard Beth speak, her message was based on Old Testament scripture and I was amazed at how she opened my eyes to the relevance to my life. It was on the journey of the Isrealites out of Egypt, through the wilderness and finally to the Promised Land. She compared this to the different seasons of our lives and our relationship with God. It was amazing! I can't wait to see how this one comes together.

At each Tuesday night meeting we watch a video of a message from Beth and then we have 5 days of homework in a workbook to complete on our own. As I mentioned, last night was the introduction. She gave us 10 goals that we want to strive for during this Bible study. They are:

1. To encounter God's perfection against the backdrop of our poverty. (meaning we are poor in spirit and the realization that we cannot save ourselves. She also said this should be an ongoing reflection of what we would be like without Jesus)
2. To arrive ultimately at the same destination (the Holy of Holies), even if we have traveled at different paces. (she made the point that each of us will work at a different pace, will crasp the information in different ways, etc. but our final destination will be the Holy of Holies or the ultimate place of intimacy with God)
3. To encounter and acknowledge the reliability of God's Word. (She said, "A lack of faith does not affect God's fact. But His fact deeply affects our faith." I have not been able to get this out of my head. It is so profound!)
4. To develope further an honest relationship with God.
5. To gaze at the details of the tabernacle and discover Christ. (I can't wait to see how this come together)
6. To develop a fresh appreciation for what it means to be called by name.
7. To substantially increase our knowledge of scripture through the great Teacher.
8. To develope a deeper relationship with God as Father.
9. To have our focus changed from ourselves to our Savior.
10. To become living proof that Jesus lives.

I am so excited about this Bible study! The other two I have done have been equally exciting but I have to admit that I did not committ to them totally. I am going to really be serious about this one. I don't know if each entry on Wednesdays will be this long, or if you want it to be! Please tell me if this is too much info or if you would like to see more. Thanks for reading!

Is it Spring?

It is the first of January and it is almost 70 degrees outside. I have been putting away the Christmas decorations, organizing and cleaning for the past two days. I thought to myself, "Is this spring cleaning?" I guess it is more fitting that this is the start of a new year and I am trying to get my act together. I wasn't ready to put away the Christmas stuff but now that I have, it feels good to have it put away. I've sort of reorganized my scrap area. Now I just have to actually do something! I have a pile of photos I need to organize first and 15 rolls of film to get developed! Another reason to go digital but buying a new camera and printer is not in the budget for right now. I probably won't get any scrappin' done until next week when Courtney goes back to school. She is so ready! I've actually enjoyed not having to get up and out the door early in the morning!
Before you think I'm on top of things here cleaning and stuff. I do have some motivation. Mark's family is coming over Friday night for his birthday so I have to clean for that. Mark made the comment once that he didn't mind people coming over because that got me to clean and declutter the house! I will say that I do feel better when the house is clean and everything is in it's place! In case you were wondering, I didn't get that house elf for Christmas so I'm having to do all this work myself!

A lazy week

Well, Christmas is over along with all of it's busyness. We had a great one and I'm hoping you did too. But now I need some motivation! We have done absolutely nothing this week. I've done some laundry and managed to keep the house from looking like a total disaster. Mark, Kirsten and Courtney all have some kind of cold. So I'm sitting here wondering what I should be doing! I could scrap but I'm still deciding how I'm going to proceed after reading "The Big Picture". I do have some ideas for mini albums but not ready to work on them. I could organize my scrap stuff, maybe! I could start putting the Christmas stuff away but I'm not ready to do that. I've filled in all the birthdays on the new calendar. I need to make some lists of things coming up in January but not feeling that either! Oh well, I guess I'll just be lazy!

Christmas Art

Tracie and Caroline came over the other day so that we could have a little Christmas celebration. Courtney and Caroline made these cute ornaments (with some glue gun help). They exchanged gifts and played together. I love that they love each other and love playing together. We really need to make the effort to get together more often. I also enjoyed talking with Tracie. That is another reason we need to get together more!

I just got home from my final shopping. I hope! I had to go to Wal-Mart and that was a zoo! I am going to try and get my shopping done before this point next year. I did real good getting prepared and getting in the Christmas spirit this year. But for some reason the whole gift buying thing was harder this year. Well, I have to get wrapping! Have a wonderful Christmas!

I've decide what I want for Christmas

I have figured out that a clean kitchen makes me happy. But it is impossibe to keep it that way! So I have decided that I need a house elf. If you aren't familiar with Harry Potter then this means nothing to you. House elfs are the creatures that do all the cleaning, cooking, laundry and general housekeeping for the wizard world. They are also at the total beck and call of their owners. All I want it for is to keep the kitchen clean. Some cooking may also be required but mainly its job will be keeping the kitchen clean. I guess they are cute in a weird way. This one is called Dobby. So if you know of any unemployed house elfs, let me know!

Roller Skates

This is a spin off of Tracie's blog, hope that's okay! She and Caroline went roller skating the other day. Her post sent me down memory lane! I loved to roller skate from the age of 8-9 until about 13 -14. Before the skates I rode my bike everywhere but I enjoyed the skates more. I saved up my money and bought my own pair of sneaker skates, very similiar to the picture here. Mine were all blue and I did have baby blue pom-poms (with bells) for a while. (Unbelivably I don't think I have a picture of them or me in them! What was my mother thinking?) They didn't hold up very well, if I remember correctly. I remember how my feet would tingle after skating on a rough surface like the sidewalk or road. The best surface I found is a tennis court. It feels like you are skating on velvet but it does slow down the speed some. We had a skating rink here and I would spend Sunday afternoons there with my friends. I went on Friday night once and it was scary! This being a small town (it was even smaller back then) the skating rink was about the only place to hang out. The rough crowd didn't show up on Sunday afternoons! So there I was! I never got enough. I never learned anything daring or spectacular. I loved the little cross over move you had to make to go around curves and I was thrilled when I learned to skate backwards. Thanks for the trip Tracie! And for reminding me that I need to share this with the two youngest. Jessica had skates when she was younger (I have pictures!) But didn't seem to embrace it like I did.
And in my opinion, ice skating is not quite the same! The last time I tried that I hurt for days from muscles I didn't even know I had! But roller skates rock!

My Favorite Christmas Decoration

This Navitity is my favorite Christmas decoration for many reasons. One it symbolizes the reason for the season and stands as a beautiful reminder of the joy and promise of this season. It is also a reminder to me of Christmas as a child. My mother has a navitity just like this only a bigger scale that she made when I was around 12, I think. She also made a minature set for my grandmother. This set she made for us the year Mark and I got married. It is a simple ceramic style with a mother of pearl finish. She poured the molds, sanded and initialed each piece and painted them. I always set it out on a bed of angel hair which is spun glass. I really need some more but I don't think they make it anymore. If I only put out one decoration at Christmas it would be this Nativity.

Tis the season!

For the past few years the holidays have stressed me out! I think one reason for that is because I waited until the last minute to do anything! This year I decided to get my act together! As of today, December 2 my decorations are up, my Christmas cards are addressed and signed and the Santa order for the girls has been placed. I hope to make a major dent in the rest of my shopping list this weekend. We had the decorations up this weekend actually. I feel like we have tons of time to actually enjoy the holiday! I hope to actually have time for some family time activities this year like making cookies. Here's wishing all a very Merry Christmas!

18 years!

I cannot believe my baby Jessica is eighteen! I don't even like saying it! Someone came up to me at church and said "How does it feel to be the parent of an adult?" I was so shocked I couldn't say anything! I will say that being legal to vote or drop out of school does not make you an adult!

How did she celebrate? (that seems to be the big question for some reason!) Well, she and her boyfriend went out to eat (Macaronni Grill) and to a movie (Harry Potter). We had a nice quiet celebration here at home with the family. Next weekend she'll be doing something with her friends. We're still working out the details on that one. She received mostly money as gifts. I had the goal of giving her a birthday scrapbook which I actually accomplished! It is a 12 x 12 album with all her birthdays from 1 - 16. I didn't have the "perfect" paper for #17 so that one will get done soon. She seemed to appreciate it. Mark and I each wrote her a letter which I put in a pocket in the back.

I still can't believe we have reached this point in her life. I guess it's time to "bust the bubble" she likes to say I keep her in! I have to admit I'm having a hard time with that one! Does this get easier with each child? Somehow I don't think so!