Bootcamp Retreat

Last Fall, the Lord dropped a dream into Tanna’s heart about leading her bootcamp overnight in a retreat style fashion. She mentioned it to a few of us and we committed to pray with her for whatever the Lord was stirring up. By October, she had invited and reserved and planned the whole thing. She asked us if we would join her in fasting for 3 days monthly until the retreat. We had a little group text thread and every month the Lord spoke amazing things to us and by the time the retreat finally got here we were so excited and expectant to see the Lord move.

The 24 hours was packed full of truth and fun and exercise and painting and talking and yoga and face masks and sharing and praying and crying and worshiping.  It was a whirwind, but so so fun!!

Boot Camp bright and early on Saturday morning.

Our hike up to Inspiration Point

For the craft, she gave us some requirements.  They were to take a turning point in our life and paint about it using your hand for some part of the painting. The previous night we talked about seasons and analyzing which season we were in; summer being enjoyable and fun and living in the light, fall being a season of change or transition, spring represented growth and new beginnings, and winter being dark and cold and lonely.  The Lord reminded me that during my winter season He used the cardinal to encourage me. I learned that the cardinal is one of the only birds that does not migrate in the winter. It stays when there is little food and it’s cold and it’s tough to live and when the conditions are less than desirable. He spoke clearly to me that He would always be and has always been my cardinal. When things get tough He stays. I still hold on to that truth almost 10 years later and now I have a painting to hang in my house to remind me and also my kids of His faithful nature.

Tanna and I first spoke together about 8 years ago and I love how the Lord continues to use our testimonies to help others!  I never could have imagined all the things we would go through both good and bad when we first met in 7th grade in the Inglewood youth group.  The Lord has given me the most faithful and encouraging friend in Tanna and I am so blessed!

2011

2019

2019 Word

This year’s word has been a little bit more vague than years past. I really didn’t hear anything until about 5 days out from January 1st and what I heard didn’t really make sense; the word was enlarge. I knew I was going to be fasting from January 1-3 in preparation for a women’s retreat I was attending, so I decided to hold off on posting anything about my word until after that so I could make sure I heard correctly. Over those three days I saw the word ‘enlarge’ in my daily readings every day. What an obscure word to read in different books 3 days in a row...if that’s not clear I don’t know what is?!?  So, I had my word, but still very unclear on what to do with it. Last year my word was very tangible and measurable, but not this word. So, again, I decided to go on to the retreat with that word tucked in my heart in hopes that I could get further clarity.

To my surprise many of the women at the retreat also do a word for the year so I was asked multiple times what my word was. During some down time I looked it up in the dictionary and jotted down the different meanings to get my brain working. My initial thoughts were so scattered: enlarge our ministry; enlarge my sphere of influence; enlarge my faith. As I told my friend Audra of my word she said she immediately heard that the Lord wants to enlarge in me. So, although I am not as clear on this word as I would like to be, it’s going to be exciting to see all the different directions the Lord could go with this word.

NYE 2018

We spent New Year’s Eve the same as we have for 7 years...at the fireworks store.  Every year the crowd is different. We’ve had just our family and a few of Richard’s friends helping out, we’ve had us plus the youth group there before, we’ve had our family and Richard’s parents and a few of Baylee and/or Koby’s friends who wanted to make some extra money, but this year was by far the quiestest.  The business was great and steady from about noon until midnight, but by the time 12 o’clock came around it was just me and Richard and Troy and Teague. Richard’s parents, Baylee and Koby were all in and out throughout the day helping, but by midnight it was only the 4 of us left. We rung in 2019 with some sparkling grape juice, a few games and then we called it a night! We are looking forward to a wonderful new year filled with many new adventures! 

Our new shirts from my sister! We got a lot of compliments on them throughout the night!