Birthday Weekend & NO title necessary!

Do you ever just want to get away and be “YOU”?  I did that over the weekend!  I was able to just be the “SISTER”!  We had a super fun weekend!  Don’t get me wrong...I LOVE being a Wife, a Mom, and a MiMi but sometimes getting to just be me is super neat and very refreshing!

The best part of the weekend is that we got to celebrate the first birthday of my niece Karmyn Ann!  It seems like only yesterday that she was born and we were traveling 4 1/2 hrs. to meet her for the first time!  Happy Birthday sweet one!

We stayed with my sister Kayda’s Grandparents in Law {Jake & Esther}.  I’m pretty sure I’ve never met more hospitable people in my life!  They always open their home to us and treat us just like family!  It makes you feel as if you’ve know them all your life!  They are definitely blessed with the gift of Hospitality!  Thanks so much Jake & Esther for always making us feel SO welcome!  So many times I don’t feel like I can do enough to have guests over!  Esther made a bowl of cereal feel like we were eating at the most expensive restaurant in the world!  It wasn’t the food that made it so special, it was the fellowship, the devotion Jake & Esther shared, and their love of others that makes you want to keep coming back every weekend!

We did a little shopping...{Thanks Dad}!  We ate a FEW meals!  And simply hung out and caught up on everything!  Sunday we went to church with Joe & Kayda!  The speaker of the morning was a Missionary!  Now I have to admit I kind of most definitely had an attitude when I realized we were going to be listening (for an hour) to a missionary!  Sorry, just being honest!  Please don’t send me ugly comments...I LOVE the work missionaries do (far more than I do) and I pray for them but I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to them on this particular Sunday!  Don’t tell me you’ve never felt that way!  I’m sure my mood stems from the fact that they are out there doing God’s work while I sit at home and selfishly enjoy doing “life”!  That’s usually when God gets a hold of me and says... “Listen up Girly, I have a different plan for you today so LOSE the attitude!”

These missionaries are headed to China!  They’ve been in the training phases of it for the last 14 months!  They have 3 small children and are headed there for several years.  Bless them!

I just have to share with you one example he gave us that really tugged at me.

When a person witnesses a car wreck and is asked to testify, the jury doesn’t want to know our expertise knowledge on car wrecks in general!  They just want to know what we have just observed in that particular wreck!  It’s the same as being a Christian...We don’t’ have to be an EXPERT or a Seminary graduate to share about Jesus, we just need to share what we’ve experienced in our own life!  What He’s done for us!

Now isn’t that something!  I tend to think that I’m not smart enough & I don’t know enough so I’ll just let the experts do the work!  *Discipleship means becoming more Christ like!  I guess you could say I’m a work in progress!  SO it IS my job to share!  I don’t have to be a Preacher, Missionary, Evangelist, etc... NO TITLE NECESSARY to share what the Bible teaches!  I’m called to be a “missionary” in my own back yard so I better get to work!

James 1:22-25

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

I guess it’s time to get out of my selfish comfort zone and get to work as a “missionary” right where I’m at!  I’m not supposed to wait to be sent somewhere to share what I’ve experienced in my own life!  I AM a Missionary!  All I have to do is open my mouth and share what I know and what I’ve experienced myself!  How about you?  Are you doing mission work right where you are?  If not, you and I both need to “LOSE” the attitude!

A little overwhelmed!

I was beginning to think I was drowning in my clutter!  I had to swim from the door to get to my office chair!  It had finally sucked me in and I had to do something about it!  I REALLY DO like organization {remember I'm the oldest of 6}! Sometimes I just get so busy that I get lost in it all and then it gets way too overwhelming to tackle! When I finally got it all cleaned up I sat down in my new clean space, smiled, looked around once again then opened Pinterest and found a pin from Funky Junk, then it all made sense to me!  I really kind of wish I would have taken a "before" picture.  Yeah right...like I would have posted it on here! HA!!  Seriously, go read her post and you'll want to go clean your "area" too! {Luckily I had cleaned mine before I ever saw her post}. Funny how you feel SO refreshed after cleaning and organizing!  DUH, why don't I keep it that way?
The holidays are creeping up on us very fast...don't you want a fresh clean organized space for that hectic time of year!  NOW, go clean so you can get creative and report back!

If you've been to my house and wondered what was behind the closed door, now you know!

Note:  {please don't hate me for the following truth}
5 Saturdays before Thanksgiving
10 Saturdays before Christmas!
If that isn't a reality check...I don't know what is!

3~3~3

It's hard to believe this little guy is THREE!!!

Where has the time gone?  I thought he would be the baby forever!

Happy Birthday Sweet Mac!!  Hope your day is extra special!

Love you so much...MiMi & Poppy

Table for the little ones...

Well, I've OFFICIALLY completed the table and chairs!  I'm super happy with how it turned out.  It's been a long journey and I'm ready to move on to the next project.  Hopefully it won't take me a year to complete!

Here are a couple of the little darlins' enjoying it for the first time...