2015 in review

15 for 2015

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

1.  We prayed so much this year, for mission trips, babies, marriages, weather, sickness, loss, and each other.

2.  Addie started Pre-K, it was a little rocky at first but she loves it now and she has awesome teachers.

3.  Owen tried two new sports football and baseball.  He id still unsure about them both.  But is loving basketball.

4.  We made new friends and were grateful for the friends who have hung with us through the years.

5. Matthew built playsets and trailers and welded machinery and worked.

6.  Owen flew for the first time to Montana with my mom and dad and our good friends Donna and Terry.  He loved it and had a blast.

7.  Word for 2015: Adventure and adventure we did.  Our first time to Pigeon Forge and Dollywood. We hiked and camped at Stone Mountain, NC.  

8.  Music was made every day.  Owen learned to play the upright bass and continues to jam on the mandolin.  Addie rocks the ukulele and belts out Adele all the time.  

9.  Jessica, Chris, and I played a lot of trivia crack and Matthew and I discovered snapchat.

10.  Of course there were concerts!  Winter jam was awesome with For King and Country and Skillet.  Balsam Range like 4 times this year, always good, even in the rain.  Flatt Lonesome dedicated a song to Owen from stage.  Heather and Shannon Slaughter.  Marty Raybon and Shenandoah.  Merlefest was a blast!

11.  Matthew and I celebrated 6 years of marriage, with a weekend near Cherokee.   Love him so much!

12.  It rained a lot and we saw lots of rainbows.  Addie loves playing in the puddles and Owen loves to get muddy, boys.  

13.  We made time for family and friends and each other. 

14. Cousins are our best friends.  

15.  Addie fell in love with apple butter and Christmas decorations.  Owen loves cooking!

 

 

We are truly thankful for all the blessings of 2015, all the answered prayers, all the memories, and all the adventures.  God is good!

 

And here's to 2016 and all that it holds.

Christmas Cards 2015

Card with envelope

Thankful Thursday 2015 {week 4}

76.  family - each and every one of them
77.  students clapping at the end of The Giver movie
78.  surviving the grocery store
79.  Owen's vension bbq
80.  my church family
81. online shopping
82. "Thanksgiving means I need to be thankful and give toys away." Addie
83.  weddings
84.  God's healing powers
85.  the reminder of "Do not be afraid."
86.  thankful students
87.  a clean house - a special thankful for my mom, owen, and matthew for their help

88.  Jackson got to come home!
89.  coffee and dessert
90.  churches who worship together
91.  prayer
92.  watching the Macy's parade with my kids
93.  tickle giggles
94.  my friend Melanie 
95.  sunflowers
96.  scripture that speaks
97.  the love of former students
98.  knowing Jesus came to earth
99.   my camera - my new one i got this year
100.  another blessed year with so much to be thankful for

Thankful Thursday 2015 {week 3}

51.  My children's teachers.  Teachers have such an influence on the life of a child and we are blessed to have had great ones!
52.  We saw a shooting star last night.  :)
53.  Jackson
54.  new music albums - I like albums that I can listen to from beginning to end and over and over.
new ones I have on repeat - Eric Church Mr. Misunderstood, Chris Stapleton Traveller
55. mom friends
56. kids reading - discussing books
57.  my mentor - Pat Dalton - i miss her so much but i know she would be so proud of me
58.  Christmas is coming!!  i hear the music, i see the lights....:)
59.  Community Theater
60.  family pictures
61.  when things work out
62.  a surprise day with my friend Kendal (actually saw her twice this week)
63.  text messages
64.  my high school football team playing in the second round of state playoffs at HOME
65.  Kid President
66.  Timehop.....yes I love it and check it everyday...Owen does too
67.  checks and balances in the US government
68.  that I can see colors....i can't imagine a world in grey, black, and white
69.  "Humans (pronounced who-mans) are people and they all have good in them."  Addie Combs 
70.  181 Shoeboxes!!!!!!!!!!!
71.  sunshine
72.  the ability to read
73.  clean laundry
74.  apples
75.  a two day week next week

Thankful Thursday 2015 {week 2}

26.  old country music
27.  busy weekends
28.  addie's prayers
29.  medical care
30.  The Peanuts Movie!  you must go see it....it's amazing
31.  students finding the book we are reading interesting
32. memorial services to honor our veterans
33. our veterans
34.  my granaw :)
35. a day with cousins and friends
36.  surprises
37.  creamer - french vanilla
38.  bookshelves
39.  sunny days
40.  laughter
41.  forgiveness
42.  coffee
43.  scarves
44.  porches
45.  Fair Trade Friday Club one of the highlights of my month
46.  dishwashers
47. sweet baby pictures texted to me
48.  quiet
49.  this song
50.  a day off

Thankful Thursday 2015 {week 1}

1.  my husband - love him more everyday
2.  owen - watching him grow and mature -bittersweet
3.  addie - sassy sweetness
4.  mom - what would i do without her
5.  daddy - no one holds a place in the heart like a little girl's daddy
6.  pumpkins
7.  new opportunities in teaching this year - language arts and social studies
8. pausing to say thank you Lord for unanswered prayers
9. sunday school converstaions
10. car washes
11. new friendships
12. christmas plans :)
13. music!
14. owen reading bedtime stories to addie
15. listening to addie pray
16. healing powers
17. my students - love them
18. basketball season
19. second chances
20. Daniel 3: 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”  They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
21. fridays
22. conversations with former students
23. family time in pigeon forge
24. the power of prayer
25. fingernail polish and finger nail polish remover ;)

what are you thankful for this week?

all i could do was pray

God doesn't take days off
He never calls in sick
He never needs a sub
As Autumn is upon us and the rain comes and the cold creeps in
I look back at my summer and all it held

I prayed 
I prayed
and then I prayed
because I knew God was listening (He doesn't get summers off)

I prayed for my sister who went on a mission trip to Africa close to the border of Congo in Uganda
and her safety was at risk and armed guards were with her
and all I could do was pray

I prayed as my nephew entered the world early and with health concerns
I prayed as he went to the children's hospital and his parents sat waiting for answers with sleepless nights
and all I could do was pray

I prayed for my son who went to overnight camps and Montana with his grandparents
and I couldn't see him and talk to him whenever I wanted and I didn't know if he was behaving or driving people crazy
and all I could do was pray

I prayed for my community as it was faced with tragedy
an armed man who burned a house and vehicles and shot at neighbors and law enforcement
and God stood with the people and saw fit to save them through this living hell
and all I could do was pray

You see God doesn't take the day off, 
He doesn't not check voicemail, or never respond to email.
He heard my prayers 

and He hears yours too.



How often do you feel helpless in a situation and think "there is nothing I can do"?
You can always pray.  

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 1 Timothy 2:1

thursday poetry

Six humans trapped by happenstance
In bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood
Or so the story’s told.

Their dying fire in need of logs
The first man held his back
For of the faces round the fire
He noticed one was black.

The next man looking ‘cross the way
Saw one not of his church
And couldn’t bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes.
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy shiftless poor.

The black man’s face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.

Their logs held tight in death’s still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn’t die from the cold without
They died from the cold within

By:  James Patrick Kinney

It's not the gay flag or the confederate flag that is going to bring us down

It's not the guns or lack of guns

It's not the liberals or the conservatives

It is our selfish nature

It is our inability to love each other without regard to our differences

It is comparison

jealousy

pride

sin

if you need a cause

oh summer......as a teacher during summer I get to do a lot of things i normally don't have time or energy for

- reading
- cleaning
- sitting 
- gardening
- breathing
- serving
- reading
- taking pictures
- keeping up with the news
- reading

and here lately there have been lots of news and lots of reading

and i have came to one conclusion that maybe we just don't know or we get so caught up in our beliefs and our lives that we forget that we are a witness of Jesus, an ambassador of the Lord

s0
if you need a cause 
if you need something to scream from the mountain top about
to share all over facebook about
to call your best friend about
to teach your children about

i have some for you

• people without clean water.......

1. 783 million people
2. 85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet. 783 million people do not have access to clean water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. 6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases.

this is worth talking about, screaming about, thanking jesus every time you turn on the water, take a shower, flush the commode

• hungry people......

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 805 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world, or one in nine, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2012-2014.

• people who have never heard of Jesus

You Should Know (English) Video by MUP.ORG from Mustang International on Vimeo.

• people who are poor

At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day

• people who aren't educated

70 million children

• people who are enslaved

1. The United Nations estimates that roughly 27 to 30 million individuals are currently caught in the slave trade industry. The Global SlaveryIndex 2013 states that 10 nations account for 76 per cent of the world's enslaved. India has the most slaves of any country, at 14 million (over 1% of the population).

• people in America who claim to be Christian

83% !!!!

• orphans in America

1. There are over 120,000 orphans in America, while another 400,000 children live without permanent families (HHS; AFCARS). It is common for children in foster care to age out, leaving them with little financial or emotional support.

• hungry children in America

      1 in 5 children in the U.S. faces hunger

and what does the bible say over and over and over

Matthew 25:35-40 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

love.......

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you…”

love.....

Leviticus 19:18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

love.......

1 John 4:19-20 We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

so you see as Christians we are called to love, not condemn 

if you need a cause....get one that glorifies the name of Jesus, that loves on people, that loves on your neighbors and your fellow Christians, that spreads the Kingdom of God.

  

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 

 2 Corinthians 5"20

holding on to the todays

i looked though the 400+  photos of the last few months
these months that have barely allowed time for breathing and bathroom breaks
and you know what i found

adventure
smiles
memories
sunrises and sunsets
baseball games
family
critters
curiousness
and cuddles

this beautiful life we live
captured in time

and i breathed a sigh of relief that we made it through
another school year - on to 4th grade!
storms both outside and inside
baseball season
3 year old stubbornness
awards ceremonies and family gatherings 
speaking at church

and i wouldn't change a thing
good thing to because
we don't get to go back and redo
we don't live in yesterdays 

we live in today

and pray for our tomorrows

*glad to be back to blogging....took a few months off...and i have missed it so*