Preschool pictures - at school

(for some reason I cannot get the words to line up with the pictures the way I would like them to. So I'm sorry they are off a bit!)

Avery's ready to go!

Yes, that does spell Luke

Luke writing his name...

Givin' Daddy and good-bye hug!

Luke hangin' up his bag.

Avery came home with red marker all over herself! Ms. Amy, her teacher said... "she likes to draw on herself. And she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!" Yup, that's our Avery!

Preschool pictures - take 1

It's so hard to believe that this will be Luke's last year of preschool before he starts "big school" next year! And even harder to believe that Avery's old enough to go to preschool at all! But both are true and today was the first day for them! They were both so excited and both did so well! And I didn't even cry (not this morning anyway)!


I'll be good and only put a few pictures up here. I took a BUNCH, but I'll spare you all of them!

Having a healthy breakfast!

Welcome Fall

Tonight is the official start of fall for me. My kids start pre-school on Monday, so I guess technically summers over then, but for me it’s tonight.

Tonight my ladies Bible Study group starts back up and I’m SO EXCITED!!! We usually take a break in the summer due to ladies traveling and that sort of thing, so when we kick things off again I know it’s time to put summer aside and look forward to a fall Bible study!

To start things off this fall we’re going outside our normal routine (it’s good to switch it up every now and then!) and we’re not doing a Beth Moore study. And the reason for that is that Beth Moore doesn’t have anything new out yet – she’s working on one – and we’ve done all the ones she has out. Some of the studies this group has even done twice! So tonight – a new adventure begins and we start a study by Priscilla Shirer titled "On In A Million". She was one of the speakers at the Deeper Still conference I attended the end of July and she was awesome! This will be the first of her studies I’ve done so I’m looking forward to something new. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me for the next couple of weeks.

I’m sad to see summer go, but today I’m saying “Welcome fall, and hello Priscilla Shirer!”

Half Full

Today is a day to look at the glass half full! After yesterday’s post I thought I would post some of the good things, and blessings around me and in my own life!

- One of the girls in my Bible study had her first baby yesterday morning! A healthy 9lb 7oz baby girl! See pictures here

- Avery is talking up a storm and she’s constantly doing something to make me laugh, and she's just so cute! (which is good, cause otherwise she might not make it to 2 years old!)



- One of the ladies in my Bible study got married 2 weeks ago!

- A girlfriend got a job after not having one for a long time!

- I start a new Bible study series tomorrow!!!!

- A friend thought she had cancer, but when they went back for the biopsy there was
nothing there!

- My dear friend is keeping my kids for me for a couple of hours tomorrow… just cause she loves me. I have a host of really great friends!

- A widowed friend is getting remarried in November!

- I had a wonderful summer playing with my kids. I have great kids!



- Remember the friend from yesterday whose child has the allergies and they needed to pull up their carpet? They were given enough money to replace their floors. You can read more about that here.

- The new sermon series at church is gonna be AWESOME!

- I have the best husband ever!



- Pre-school starts on Monday!

I’m sure there are a million more but I need to go cause Avery is eating chocolate covered pretzels and getting the chocolate everywhere!! ** sigh**

Change your perspective

I know I’ve blogged about this before, but do you ever find yourself bogged down in the day to day stuff? Like the small stuff seems to get bigger and bigger each day and no matter what you do you cannot seem to see a way past it?

The laundry piles up, there’s cleaning – ALWAYS to do, work stinks, co-workers are unkind, the kids who won’t listen, the dogs who wants to go out and as soon as you sit down to drink some coffee the dog wants to come right in again, there’s not enough money for grocery’s, you never get any time to alone just to think and on and on.

I tend to get wrapped up in my own daily life I forget others are dealing with life too, and sometimes it’s SO BIG, I don’t know how they are doing it.

This morning I’d like to share some things that are happening to people. These situations have helped to give me some perspective. I’m not going to use names - in the interest of privacy. Some of these are people I know and love very much other’s are friends of friends that I don’t know as well, but either way – they are hurting and it makes my heart heavy for them…

When you things seem bad just think you could be…

- 40 years old, recently divorced, with kids and have been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. No job, no insurance and you’re family lives several hours away from you.

- the wife of a man who’s been out of work for a long, long time – have lost your job recently and now wonder how you’ll pay the mortgage on your home.


- a cancer survivor but at a recent doc visit they found some nodules on your thyroid and after more studies there’s no cancer, but you still have to have surgery.

- someone who lives every day with chronic back pain and some days it’s so bad you have a hard time getting out of bed.


- the mother of a child with severe allergies and the doctor tells you the best thing you can do for your child is to pull up all the carpet in your home and put down some other type of flooring! But already we’re living on only one income with no way to get extra money to do that…

- in your mid to late 50’s, divorced and working for a company that used to be profitable but is now having financial difficulties (and you worry daily if you will have a job tomorrow) and your income not only provides for you, but for your brother who has severe health issues and his wife and a grown daughter who is fighting cancer.

- the mother who’s been trying and trying to get pregnant. You’ve even gone to the doc and done all that’s medically and financially possible – still no baby. Then one day you find out you are pregnant all on your own! But bad news comes from the doctor’s office that the baby won’t live to full term due to genetic defects and even if by some chance she does, she won’t survive the birth and if by some chance she does she won’t live long after birth. But most likely the baby will die in-utero and you’ll have to give birth to a still born.

You see why that’s changed my outlook?!?! I mean come on, my struggles are nothing compared to what these folks are going through! God has been so good to me! Life changes, things change, circumstances change – but God stays the same and He will continue to take care of me – and all those listed above – just like He’s always done. So today I choose to look at my life and my circumstances as blessings. My glass is not just half full – it’s half full of the Lord!

Look around you today – what can you find that’s half full? In my world today some friends are having their first baby – a girl! I’m so excited for them and the blessings God is pouring out on them! I will celebrate with them today!! I cannot wait to get my hands on that baby girl!

This post isn’t supposed to make you feel sad or down, please use it as a way to see the good in your own life! Please pray for those listed above, I think praying for others changes the way we see things. It takes the focus off of self and puts it onto others and personally, when I look away from myself – my problems don’t seem so big!

And another one...

I did my second batch of jelly today! It’s really not so hard to make once you get going.

Of course I haven’t tried any of it yet!

For Today

Do you ever feel like one day runs into the next? All of yesterday’s worries, problems, and struggles are still right there when you get up the next morning?

Didn’t you hear me yesterday Lord? Oh, you did? You said to leave it with you, didn’t you?

Didn’t I try and leave that with the Lord yesterday? Why am I carrying it again – ALREADY this morning? Guess I didn’t do a good job leaving it yesterday, and not off to a great start with leaving it today!?!?!

I feel like that some days too. Ok, yeah I feel like that most days. Then it seems that yesterday’s troubles are compounded by today’s new issues. What in the world??? Why do we do that? Why do I do that? I know the Lord cares, and He wants to help me, so why don’t I just let it be in His hands? Lack of faith I think it my problem. I want to give it to Him, but then I think ‘well I better carry it and worry over it a bit more, cause what if God doesn’t deal with it right now’ (like I want Him too) or what if in the end I don’t like how He handles it (ok, honestly I cannot remember a time – looking back - that the Lord didn’t do the absolute BEST thing for me!)?? Not good reasons are they? Nope, they aren’t!

I took this lack of faith and feelings of not knowing what else to do to the Lord this morning and boy oh boy wait until you see what He showed me – JUST LIKE HE ALWAYS DOES! Check out these two verses, they are really cool!

Isaiah 30:18:
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him. (Emphasis mine)

Did you read that? The Bible says that the Lord LONGS – he LONGS to! I love that! And I was encouraged by it… and as if that wasn’t enough I came upon this as I read in Jeremiah…

Jeremiah 10: 23 & 24a:
“I know, oh Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice…”

Well there you have it Holly, in plain English. Simple enough isn’t it? The Lord is in control, it’s not even my life to direct, it’s His and He longs to be gracious to me!! Mercies (as Leslie would say), that’s amazing!!!

What am I to do with that kind of early morning blessing? (I do so love early morning blessings!)

Rest in it, enjoy it, feel the love of the Lord and share it with you!!!

Remember today while you’re doing your daily life “stuff” that God is there, He’s in control and he longs to be gracious to you!

I never thought…

“I never thought I’d see the day when you canned!”

I had to agree with David but as surprising as it was – I did actually make 9 jars of blackberry jelly! Yes I did, and I’m quite proud of myself!

Never mind the 15 phone calls to my mom:

“Help, what is this thing?”

“Help! I don’t think I’ll have enough berries!”

”Help!!!! How does this go together?”

“I NEED MY MOMMY!! Which part of the mashed up berries do I use???”

And so on.

I did make one whole batch – and actually ended up with some left over blackberries and it was fun! I enjoyed it! It’s a lot like cooking – which I don’t like, but since the only REALLY precise measurement was the 7 cups of sugar it needed, I did OK!

If I get really good at this canning thing (I’m going to try some strawberry jelly, spaghetti sauce and some diced tomatoes as well) no one will be getting any more store bought Christmas gifts - only canned goods from now on! Hope everyone likes jelly!

Avery’s Antics

The Littlest Little Winslow is into all kinds of things these days! But her newest and most favorite thing is to dress up! The funny thing is if she wants to put it on, it doesn’t matter what it is! If it’s too small, she’ll squeeze in, if it’s too big, she’ll deal with it! If it’s Luke’s clothing that’s too small for him - that’s the best! Here she is in an outfit that Nanny helped her put on when they were up for a visit a few weeks ago! She’s so cute!





























And here is Avery showing us her silly side! She’s just too cute, ain’t she??

Beyond, Beyond

I had a wonderful experience at the Deeper Still Conference a couple of weekends ago! I haven’t blogged too much about it because it was a LOT of information to take in and it has taken me a while to process it all and really make it real in my heart and mind. Of course there are still times when I hear or see something and think “oh yea, ____ (Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer or Beth Moore) said at the conference…” I think that might go on for a while!

One of the thing I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and praying about and processing is the information that Priscilla Shirer shared in her hour and a half “talk” on 2 verses. Yup, she spent an hour and a half on 2 verses! She was amazing (they all were) and here is some of what I learned.

If you’ve spend any time in the Word, or on history of those who wrote the Word, then you’re familiar with Paul. I love the Books that Paul has written and I think it's so wonderful that he was not a Jew, but a convert and so his heart was for the Gentiles (which would be me!). But I never felt like I had much in common with Paul. He was so well spoken, so unafraid, so godly, so learned, so much “bigger than life” that I felt like I couldn’t find a personal connection with him. You know what I mean? Look at Peter, Jesus’ disciple – now Peter I had an instant connection with. He was known for acting out his emotions, speaking without thinking and doing (over and over again) what he knew he should not do! Oh yeah, that I understand! Instant feelings of kinship with Peter! But Paul has always been a different story. I even tried to do (a couple of times actually) a Beth Moore Bible study on Paul. I’ve never been able to get through it. Paul “got” things right away and from the time of his conversion he did what God asked him to. Now, I know he wasn’t perfect, but he was an amazing apostle and I felt like we just didn’t have much in common. Let me show you what Paul wrote that changed that for me – just a bit.

Ephesians 3:20 & 21: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen.

At first glance these verses (although awesome) don’t seem any different than any of the other things that Paul wrote… but if you look at and really dig into the word immeasurably you would find that in the original language this word was more than one word. The word immeasurably is what English teachers call a super superlative. In the original language this word, this one word means –”exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond.” So when Paul used the word immeasurably he used it because he had a hard time picking one word to convey his thought! He had to use more than one word – he couldn’t find the right word. There – that’s it! That’s what made me feel like I knew Paul a bit better! The fact that he couldn’t find the right word – so he used more than one word (in the original language) put me a bit more at ease because that’s the kind of thing I do all the time. I don’t have the exact right word, so I end up using more than one to get my point across. So did Paul in this verse. He was overwhlemed by God's ability that he has to use several words to make his point.

But less the point be lost (because I talk too much) – read those verses again and see what Paul is saying…

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably (exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond) MORE than we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generation for ever and ever! Amen”

After that super superlative Paul uses the word MORE! God can do all those things and MORE than we ask or imagine. WOW! I mean really, cause I can imagine a LOT?!?! When I really think about that and the wording and what it means, it is so amazing to me that I’ve spent nearly 2 weeks thinking about it.

Then when I think about what I’ve asked God for in my life, and what I’ve seen him do for me, and for those around me…

My niece born very premature

And Reagan now

...I get a small glimpse of what this verse means. I realize that God has done above and beyond – even beyond, beyond (“you with me ladies?!?!”) in my life in the past and he can and will do it again! All I need to do is ask. And when He does, the praise will be His forever and ever!!

What can God do beyond, beyond for you?

Ladies

Women are much different from men.

I know that was an obvious statement, but it’s the best way I can think to start this post.

Women need each other. We need a lot of things, but we need each other. We need each other to talk to - cause men don’t have enough words to share in a day. We need each other to vent to – cause men have solutions when sometimes we just need a listening ear. We need each other to hang out with – cause who are we gonna laugh with about the funny things our kids and our men do?!

(Please don’t get me wrong here, I LOVE my man! God has blessed me with the best husband EVER!!! But here I'm just talking about the ladies in my life!)

Now, we like each other cause its fun hangin’ out together! We like to hang out during the day when our men are at work, we like to go out at night together for dinner and a movie when our men are at home with the kids, we like to share recipes, delight in pictures of our loved ones, and share the most effective (painful or not) way to remove all unwanted hair off our bodies! But I’m gonna tell you what I discovered this weekend (this in one thing - of about a trillion - that I learned at Deeper Still!) and it has nothing to do with unwanted body hair!

I need ladies of all ages and in all seasons of life. I need women I know are praying for me. I need women to support me in the down times and the up times of my life. I need women who are wiser than me to minister to me, and I need younger women whom I can minister to and encourage. I need women who know the Bible and want to know it better; I need women who are hunger for more of Jesus. I need women who are living a Godly life so I have an example. I need women who are gonna get down on their knees when there’s an urgent prayer request, who will stand in the gap for me when I cannot pray myself and then who will stand with hands lifted high when God answers those prayers and praise is in order!

I have those kinds of women in my life but I only see them once a week. We don’t often go to dinner (although we love to eat together!), we don’t often “do lunch”, we don’t talk on the phone everyday (some of them I’ve never talked to on the phone), we don’t even see each other at church every week anymore. But we share our lives that we may not share with any one else. We share prayer request and praises. We share our fears, struggles, joys, pains and gladness. I can go a month or two (although I hate to go that long!) without seeing or talking to them and know they still love me, are thinking of me, and praying for me and I'm doing the same for them!

These women are mothers, grandmothers, married, engaged, single, divorced, with kids, without kids, some are in their 50’s all the way down to in their 20’s, some work, some stay home.

These women are my support!

They are my spiritual encouragement, my mentors and my friends!

I love them!

I'm blessed by them!

I'm thankful for them!

These women are my Bible study ladies and I would be lost without them!