Dear God....

Thank you for the songs that you gave us about you.

Emma prayed this tonight before bed, so sweet.

Experiencing God

Our sunday school class has been doing the bible study, Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby. I just wanted to share with you something I read this morning, with Jon and Kate's marriage in the spotlight and the constant attack on marriage I thought this excerpt was very encouraging.

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 "In the future, when your son asks you, 'What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?' tell him...'The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness' ".

God has given His commands so you can prosper and live life to its fullest measure. Let me give you an example. Suppose the Lord says, "Let me tell you where a beautiful, wonderful expression of love is, I will provide you with a spouse. Your relationship with this person will bring out the best in you. It will give you an opportunity to experience some of the deepest and most meaningful expressions of human love. That individual will release some wonderful things in you, affirm some things in you, and strengthen you when you lose heart. That person will love you, believe in you, and trust you. From that relationship I will give you children who will sit on your knee and say, 'Daddy, I love you.' "

But God also says, "Do not commit adultery" (Matt. 5:27). Is that command to limit or restrict you? No! It is to protect and free you to experience love at its human best. What happens if you break the command and commit adultery? The love relationship is ruptured between husband and wife. Trust is gone. Hurt sets in. Guilt and bitterness creep in. Even the children begin to respond differently. Scars severely limit the future dimensions of love you could have experienced together.
God's commands are designed to guide you to life's best. You will not obey Him, however, if you do not believe Him and trust Him. You will not believe Him if you do not love Him. You cannot love Him unless you know Him. But if you really come to know God as He reveals Himself to you , you will love Him. If you love Him, you believe and trust HIm. If you believe and trust Him, you will obey Him.
God is love. Because of His love, His will for you is always best. He is all knowing, so His directions are always right. He has given His commands so you can prosper and live life to its fullest measure. If you love Him, you will obey Him!

Family Portraits

Back in May, we had a surprise portrait session for Peg and John in Auburn with all their grandkids!

Family

Went to Philadelphia, Mississippi this past weekend to visit my family...we all had alot of old fashion southern fun!

Emma loves playing with her Uncle James, who's a big kid himself!

Went to Philadelphia, Mississippi this past weekend to visit my family...we all had alot of old fashion southern fun!

Lili with my mom and grandmother, we call her mawmaw :)

Lili playing in the same wash bucket my mom and her sisters and brother would play in when they were little.

Headed down to the clothes line........nothing like sheets dried in the sun!

Lili is always very curious.

When we got there, Mawmaw had quite a spread of delicoius food straight from her and Pawpaw's garden! We ate FRESH corn, snap beans (green beans), peas, butter beans, okra, and tomatoes.........they had been picked that day! It doesn't get any better than that!

Father's Day Weekend

These two little cuties met up at the Botanical Gardens for a morning full of summer-y fun!

Thankfully, the gardens have plenty of misters and sprinklers to help keep the kids cool in this 90 degree weather.

Enjoying a little shower.....

Mike's such a great dad to the girls! Happy Father's Day!

This was taken a couple of weeks ago, when our Daddy Rocks t-shirts came in, they were our gift to dad!

Little Miss Sunshine

This just makes me smile.....

Our Home...Pre-renovation!!!

So, here it is, our "before" picture! I am looking forward to keeping you all posted on our progress, it will be a long trek.......we've got alot of road to cover. Mike and I are really excited about the potential this home has to offer. It is currently a duplex, but our tenants should be moving out in November. Until then, we plan on renovating the empty side. Right now, we are working on getting estimates for roofing and HVAC ( the home has no central heat/air). We plan on extending the home on both sides to allow for a more spacious kitchen/dining area, laundry/mudroom, pantry, a great room, an office, 1/2 bath, and master bed/bath. These will be downstairs. Upstairs we will have 4 bedrooms and 1 full bath. One of these bedrooms will be a playroom for the girls! Yay, their toys will finally have their own place!

We've definitely got our work cut out for us (our home was built in 1925!). This home still has all of the original beadboard on walls and ceilings, fireplaces in the great room and master bedroom, the home was originally built without bathrooms ( used outhouses), so the bathrooms that were added are extremely small (these will be the future laundry and pantry areas). I'll keep you updated with pictures of our progress. I'll try to get "before" pictures of the interior posted soon!

A New Do...

Saturday, my mom and I took Emma to get a hair cut! Yes, she got 8 inches taken off!