Stuff.....

Praying for my friends today. Don't like to see them hurting. :( Seems like once they get through the fire of one huge crisis, another one was waiting just as huge :( I know God is in control!

Same story, same feelings just a different day
You're going through it and it makes you wanna hide away
In the shadows, in the shadows

Listen to me I know life is gonna pull you down.
It's just a season, just believe it
Won't you hear me out?
Don't you let go, don't you let go.

Wait I know you got a broken heart
Love will meet you where you are
Yeah, you're never too far
From a miracle
Wait and call upon the only name
that's strong enough to heal your pain
You're never too late for a miracle

Hope's coming like a fire and its' burning bright
Here you thought that you were stranded in your darkest night
Here comes a light now, here comes a light now.

Yeah

Just wait I know you got a broken heart
Love will meet you where you are
Yeah, you're never too far
From a miracle
Wait and call upon the only name
that's strong enough to heal your pain
You're never too late for a miracle

It's something beautiful
Something you can't explain
Open your eyes
'cause it can move your soul
It could change your life.

Wait I know you got a broken heart
Love will meet you where you are
Yeah, you're never too far
From a miracle

Wait I know you got a broken heart
Love will meet you where you are
Yeah, you're never too far
From a miracle
Wait and call upon the only name
that's strong enough to heal your pain
You're never too late for a miracle

Jason Castro

Happy New Year!

Well today is the first day of 2011! Hard to believe that is for sure. Got lots of new things to look forward to this year, I am sure.

I have a senior in high school that will be graduating, that will be the BIG one! It was just yesterday that Jordan was playing with Thomas the Tank Engine, and now he is taking computers apart, where does the time go? He has turned out to be a fine young man! I am blessed!

Speaking of being blessed, we were blessed with a Mustard Crusted Prime Rib today!! Major YUM! Brought to us by our friends the Zacharys.




I hope everyone has a very blessed year this year. I am not going to put any new years resolutions up this year because I seem to break them faster than I can type them :P But I am praying that its a great year! And I am looking forward to whatever God has in store for us!

Blessings!
Lisa

One year ago today....

We were at the beginning of our Ice Storm which has now gone down in history! It's one of those things that the kids will tell their kids. Even though the ice last year caused lots and lots of destruction, it was also quite beautiful. Ironic I know. I listed last year all the things we had learned, but I think we also learned to be thankful. How many times do we forget to be thankful for what we have and what we enjoy each and every day. Sometimes its not until its taken away do we realize those things, so I am going to try and be more thankful for every day.

Had a good week, this past week. Baked Snickerdoodles! Lots of them! If you have a "Family Cookbook" it will be listed under "kid favorites" under Jordan's name, its one of his favorites.

Got to scrapbook with my best friend one day! Its been a while since we have both had a chance to do that. Its kinda got me fired up to finish some of the albums I have started. I pray I can get some of that done this year.

We are awaiting a big snow this week! It's just 3-5 inches, but when you live in KY thats a BIG snow! And we bring out the sleds for that! Its kinda nice to see it breaks up the gloomy January days with something falling from the sky :)

Until next time!
Blessings

"He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love."
Psalm 33: 5

Not so happy thought......

Well this week is a not so happy thought, i guess it depends on how you look at it though. My good friend Jean died yesterday :( She is not in pain anymore and she doesn't have to deal with all this life has anymore and she is a much better place now because she knows the Lord but I am having a hard time imagining my life with her not in it.

Her and her husband Don are such fun people to be around! How many people do you know would tackle learning how to operate a computer in their 70s? They had their RV in which they took four trips in just last year. They knew people everywhere, from MI to FL. They really knew how to live life and they really loved living it.

She taught me how to can,(Mel is now a crazy gardener) tried to teach me how to knit....LOL didn't pick up that to good. She loved to cook and was a fabulous cook and used to have us out to eat at their house all the time, the food would melt in your mouth! She loved my family and was always so glad for us, she loved it when Ashley would do her sign language songs.

Jean I know you love where you are there in Heaven.....so this is not goodbye but "see ya later".

This song pretty much sums up the way that i feel.



I await for the day when:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Blessings
Lisa

A new day and a new year!

Yeah, kinda forgot about the blog for like half a year or so. Life has a way sometimes of packing me off :) and sometimes I do return. So I am going to start afresh! So you got any goals this year? Here is my list.

1. Read more! I am not a big reader, I am more of a hands on person. Love creating, making things, but I want to try and read more this year. My Church is doing a read through the Bible this year (something I have never done), and its going to be done chronologically. So I am very excited about that!

2. I want to do Project Life this year! Hopefully I can get it ordered and it will be a neat way to keep with all the things my family will be doing this year.

3.Be more healthy and exercise! This is something I really need to do!

4. Scrapbook more! I really have not had the mind to do much of it this past year, so I hope I can accomplish some of that this year.

5. I want to look for those "God Moments" everyday!

6. I want to be in God's will and do what He wants me to do. In other words just TRUST HIM! He has the plan not me.

7. And of course BLOG MORE!

Well I know its a rather small list, but that's probably enough to get me started. Last year was kinda of a hard year, I had to make some hard decisions, walk away from some things. But it also had it share of blessings and new friendships! I am very happy about that! There are lots of things I still don't understand but I know that God is in control and I just need to trust his plans for me and my family.

Here is a email I got today. It really spoke to me.

by Max Lucado

Some missed him.

Some miss him still.

We expect God to speak through peace, but sometimes he speaks through pain.

We think God talks through the church, but he also talks through the lost.

We look for the answer among the Protestants, but he’s been known to speak through the Catholics.

We listen for him among the Catholics but find him among the Quakers.

We think we hear him in the sunrise, but he is also heard in the darkness.

We listen for him in triumph, but he speaks even more distinctly through tragedy.

We must let God define himself.

When we do, when we let God define himself, a whole new world opens before us. How, you ask? Let me explain with a story.

Once there was a man whose life was one of misery. The days were cloudy, and the nights were long. Henry didn’t want to be unhappy, but he was. With the passing of the years, his life had changed. His children were grown. The neighborhood was different. The city seemed harsher.

He was unhappy. He decided to ask his minister what was wrong.

“Am I unhappy for some sin I have committed?”

“Yes,” the wise pastor replied. “You have sinned.”

“And what might that sin be?”

“Ignorance,” came the reply. “The sin of ignorance. One of your neighbors is the Messiah in disguise, and you have not seen him.”

The old man left the office stunned. “The Messiah is one of my neighbors?” He began to think who it might be.

Tom the butcher? No, he’s too lazy. Mary, my cousin down the street? No, too much pride. Aaron the paperboy? No, too indulgent. The man was confounded. Every person he knew had defects. But one was the Messiah. He began to look for Him.

He began to notice things he hadn’t seen. The grocer often carried sacks to the cars of older ladies. Maybe he is the Messiah. The officer at the corner always had a smile for the kids. Could it be? And the young couple who’d moved next door. How kind they are to their cat. Maybe one of them …

With time he saw things in people he’d never seen. And with time his outlook began to change. The bounce returned to his step. His eyes took on a friendly sparkle. When others spoke he listened. After all, he might be listening to the Messiah. When anyone asked for help, he responded; after all this might be the Messiah needing assistance.

The change of attitude was so significant that someone asked him why he was so happy. “I don’t know,” he answered. “All I know is that things changed when I started looking for God.”

Now, that’s curious. The old man saw Jesus because he didn’t know what he looked like. The people in Jesus’ day missed him because they thought they did.

How are things looking in your neighborhood?

From A Gentle Thunder
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1987) Max Lucado

I wish you a great new year!! I am looking forward to whatever God has in store for us! We can trust Him!

I leave you with a song by Kris Allen!



Blessings,
Lisa

It's hot!

Well today is the 9th straight day of 90+ temps,and the heat index has been 100-105 (can anyone say heat wave) and my poor 30+ year old air conditioner had just about had it:( It's been about 85 degrees in the house, that makes for some grumpy folks! We have called everyone in the phone book to come and give us a estimate for a new one but we the heat the way it is they are all booked up. So we are not moving to much and literally trying to stay cool.

This is causing us to plan on more home renovations, like insulating the attic and buying new ceiling fans and putting in a attic ladder all good things i guess.

I will have to post about what we have been up to so far this summer. Poor hubs on his last vacation was glad to get back to work i think, we really worked hard on his vacation. We remodeled my scrapbook room,(very needed because of the ice storm my room was flooded) we put in new kitchen counters. And then we cleaned out the attic to have a massive rummage sale last Saturday to which the proceeds go to buy a new stove....YAY! So it looks like we are going to have productive year:)

Another good note we started our summer bible study, we are doing "Walking by faith, Lessons I learned in the dark" by Jennifer Rothschild its been a great study so far and you realize that the day to day stuff we deal with is really small in the grand scheme of things. If you would like to check out her website its here.

Well thought i would exit with this video I found on youtube. I love Tenth Avenue North and I love this song because it speaks so much of our relationship with Christ, we are His Beloved.



Blessings
Lisa

Still

This is one of my favorite songs, we sing it at our church quite often. I found this video of it on youtube about a year or so ago, I thought it was great! Check it out!

NSD

Well today was National Scrapbooking Day and I didn't scrapbook one thing. I did get to make a couple things....I made this cover for my wishblade!


In my old age I am being to like to sew. Who knew I had it in me :) I made this without a pattern and without very much sewing experience.It was quite a feat I thought, me being the "by the book person that I am. I also made a drawstring bag to match to put my cords and things that go with the wishblade in, got a neat tutorial from here.




The name of her blog is "Happy Things", I thought that was neat since mine is "Happy Thoughts" :)

Also been working on graduation items this week for our homeschool co-op, making diploma's for 8th grade and Kindergarten and then I made these





for our highschool graduates. Took me about 6 hours to make these, I think I need to scrapbook a little bit more often, I am out of practice :( I also the older I get don't like deadlines!

Going to miss our graduates this year especially Junior, he is really a neat kid and has a neat family we love them very much! Hopefully he will come back and visit us. Now all I need to do is finish three slideshows. I do one for each of the grads with pictures from their childhood and then one for our homeschool co-op of all the events and things we have had all year long.

Well pray that I get all that done this week and I won't get to stressed out with it all.

I leave you with song. Its by a former American Idol alumni Ace Young, not really a "christian song" but you be the judge.

I've put my life in your hands. You won't drop me, you'll never let me down.
Psalms 31:5 (The Message)

Blessings all!
Lisa

Long Time No Blog :(

Wow! Can't believe its been a whole month that has gone by. Time really does fly by! Lets see what has transpired in the past month?

Well, my baby girl turned 13, we now officially have two teenagers in the house! (Is this good or bad?..... I'll get back to you on that.)



We went to Mammoth Cave on Friday, went to visit the New Cave Entrance Tour, I can say I survived the 300 + steps descending downward :) But Ashley who is terrified of heights did not care to much for it, esp when people in front of her were yelling "don't look down, don't look down". Where is my duct tape when I need it! But we all made it out in one piece, one was a little shaky but she made it out too.

The weather is finally warming up here today! It's going to be 80+ today! Yeah! I hate winter with the passion, I need sun to live life fully :) So we are in full swing to plant the garden, we have been hunting down all the plants, tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, the cucumbers were a little hard to find this time, dont know why, but we finally grabbed the last three plants they had at Rural King so we are on our way.

To celebrate spring and summer, here is a recipe for ya, just had one of these a little bit ago, they are super delicious!

Strawberry - Banana Smoothie
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup orange-pinapple juice
1 banana
11 ice cubes
2 teaspoon of sugar

Blend it all up in a blender and there you have it! Enjoy!

Blessings all!
Lisa

I'll see if I can add some pictures of the festivities when I get back later.

The Weekend........

Wow! These weeks do go by fast! Not to much to tell really. Jordan made it through another Biology dissection this week.....can anybody say YUCK!





And we made it through another round of storms, this seems to be a weekly and even daily here in Kentucky anymore. Happy to report though that we had no damage this time. Yay!

Oh and Mandisa's Album came out....have you checked it out yet? Well you must, its a good one! Check it out right here.

And Ashley's has taken some great pictures!! Here is one she made for my friend Lori.






I thought she did a fab job!!!

Blessings,
Lisa

Boundaries.....

Had to set some boundaries yesterday, this does not come easy for me. I like to live in a happy little world where everything is pretty, nice, and peaceful but the reality is that we don't really live in that world. And we probably wont live in that kind of world on earth. So until we get to heaven we have to set some boundaries for our own sanity and health.

I deal with a person who is Narcissistic, or has NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). If you would like to read more about Narcissism here is a good link to get your started. This is probably one of the most difficult things in my entire life that I have faced. But what I have learned though this is, I am not alone. There are many many people who have to deal with even live with someone with NPD everday. And a lot of them are with their mothers as well. Some not to the extent as mine but still difficult just the same.

There are several good things about dealing with a difficult person.

1. You learn you dont want to be anything like them. And it will make you a better mother, wife, teacher, etc. and you will break the cycle of abuse it will end with you.

2. You can help others who are dealing with the same type things.

3. You depend on the Lord more because you learn He is really the only one who can change anything anyway.

So on my day of setting boundaries I was watching American Idol and saw Kris Allen singing one of "Our Songs". No its not me and mel's song but it me and the Lord's song, He gave me this a few years ago after another difficult day I was having, it brought tears to my eyes once again but its a great song! And the Lord is so sweet!

I found it on youtube so check it out!

Blessings all,
Lisa

Major YUM!

We had this for dinner tonight! It's Chicken Parmigiana. And you will not believe this but my family loved it! I am still in shock. (Can you say picky eaters) Ashley even said she wanted this to be her birthday dinner! So if you want this lovely recipe, you will have to hop over to kevinandamanda's blog and grab it, it will going into my recipe collection for sure. While you are there check out her other recipes and her scrapbooks and her fonts, just LOVE her blog, such GREAT stuff!

Oh and another happy thing........SPRING! Check out this picture Ashley took!


I have to admit that I am not a winter person at all, so I am so glad that spring is getting close and the flowers are blooming and the time has changed back so now we have a extra hour of sun now.

My friend Lori called and wished me a Happy Anniversary for tomorrow, I had completely forgot :( does that mean we have been married for a very long time or not? Let's see it will be 22 years. I had to get my calculator out for that one :) What can I say.....God has blessed my socks off :)

Have a great week everyone!
Blessings
Lisa

Favorite Song....

This is my favorite song right now it's called "There will be a day" by Jeremy Camp. Check it out!

March 1st!

Yay! I have to say I am sooooooo glad it is March! That means spring is just a few weeks away. I have to admit I am not much of a winter girl, not even with the help of Vitamin D :( But I love spring and summer! I will get to emerge out of my cocoon and see what green grass and leaves look like again :)

Thought I would post some more pictures of the Ice storm for my cousin in MN. Yip that would be you Trish. Enjoy.


Ok enough talk about the ice storm, I am ready to move on!!

On a happy note, guess who got their permit this week??
I have to say that it is a bit different to be putting Jordan behind the wheel, it was just yesterday that he learned to walk! Where did the time go? Oh well, got a appointment on Wednesday to get those lovely highlights added to my hair to hide the gray I am sure I will have before he learns to drive. Say a prayer for us, we might need it :)

Do you think his dad looks worried?? LOL!

Blessings all!
Lisa

What a ICE STORM!

Well we have had quite the week or make that two weeks! A ice storm was scheduled to hit January 27th 2009 and that it did. It did away with power for 100% of our town and most of our county for that matter. This is one that will go down in the history books for sure! We learned really quick that we were not prepared for this type of storm, although I'm not really sure you could be prepared. But we will definitely try our best next time. What have we learned?

1. Generator - One of the most important things you can have, it can save your house that is if you have sump pumps in the basement, which we did.

2. Food - When stocking up on food for such a storm, do not buy things that you have to cook, there will be no cooking!

3. Insurance - Know what your insurance covers and what it doesn't, ask lots and lots of questions. Make sure you have all the endorsements you need. After the storm is not a good time to find out that you don't have a endorsement and that it only costs $35 a year for the endorsement you needed!

4. Gas- Don't forget gas for the generator, no stores will be open for a while.

5. Water- Stock up on water, there will be none! And you will be amazed at how much you use water everyday.

We are never to old to learn and this has definitely been a learning experience!

Be Blessed all!
Lisa

My Scripture to memorize is.......

Zephaniah 3:17

"The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. "

I am convinced that we can not have enough scripture on hand, after all that is our sword, how else can we fight. Right?

This one is one of my favorites.

Be Blessed!
Lisa

DMHO

We had Denver and the Mile High Orchestra in church service today! Just how cool is that! Have you heard DHMO? They were a finalist on the TV show "The Next Great American Band". They sang a great song, " He knows your name" I am guessing its going to be on their new record because I can't find it anywhere (you know that drives me up a wall) because I love my music! So until I find "that" song, check their myspace page out, they have some cool ones on there too.

DMHO Myspace

Later,
Lisa

RENEW in 2009

I found this Scripture Challenge on Beth Moore's blog the other day and think this is such a great idea! She shows you a great way to do Scripture memory. I so need God's Word in my mind at all times! After all the battle is in the mind....right? So I will be making us some of these cards for our Bible Study, hopefully they will want to join me as well.

Remember Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

TTFN
Blessings
Lisa

Check it out!

Check out these neat pendants i got! Bought them off of Etsy. Have you been there yet? They sell handmade goods of all kinds. Neat place! Anyway I got these from a seller there, their shop is here. They have some really nice scrabble tile pendants.

Blessings all,
Lisa

My family

Looks just like us.....don't you think?

Get your own Family Sticker Maker.