Perfect Day

There are very few days I have logged in my head as "perfect days", but yesterday will go down as one of them. I was anxious to get out of town and spend some time with Richard after a tough week, and once I got there, I was able to relax and have a blast. The kids wanted to ride 4 wheelers so we did that for awhile and then went over to his parents house where the kids were going to stay for dinner. Richard has such sweet parents and it was nice to see them again. Richard and I then left and picked up his friend James and his wife AK to go to the store to get food to grill. As we cooked and ate, we enjoyed watching Baylor beat Rice and, of course, kept up with the score of the Tech game. Before it got too dark, we headed out for a 4 wheeler ride. I was thinking we were going around the block and in the field where we normally ride with the kids, but I was wrong. The guys headed down the road to the lake to ride the trails out there. It was so much fun. On the ride out there, the sun set was brilliant pinks and purples, I wished I had brought my camera, but soon was thankful I didn't when they decided to turn our ridin' trails trip into a muddin' trip. We returned home filthy, but loved every minute of it! After we got back, the guys had to go pick up their inflatables so AK and I tagged along to help. (Richard and James own Bouncin' Around Inflatables if you are looking to rent inflatables in the area) The night ended late and I was exhausted, but I didn't care. The whole day felt like therapy for my soul!


Richard getting the 4 wheeler ready to go!



Koby about to ride

Sweet Baylee

The men at the grill

James ready to go

Richard and I on the 4 wheeler...he always has to make a silly face :) And looking at this picture now, I am thinking I really should have pulled my hair back!

A test

After recently giving my testimony at the Ladies Night and being 3 weeks into my Bible Study, Biblical Womanhood, I have really started to see how God created woman and our roles and even my role individually. Being a woman is hard and our culture has definitely skewed the image of what a great woman is. If I truly desire to be a Godly woman, a Proverbs 31 woman, then there are certain things that are required of me, and dying to my selfish desires is one of them. Seems easy in theory, "Sure, God, Your will not mine" but then when it's time to put that into practice it doesn't seem so easy and I feel the same old selfish thoughts wanting to take the place of what I've worked so hard to change within myself.

It seems like whenever God wants to teach you something there is always a test, I don't know why that is surprising to me, since that is how school works, but nevertheless I am always shocked when I am tested, and I'm not sure it's always God doing the testing. I think sometimes it's satan seeing how committed you really are towards being more Christlike. This week was a hard one and gave me several opportunities to see my progress towards being a better woman, teacher, friend, mother, etc...and I hope that I passed!

Adventure #15

Several months ago, Tanna and I were hanging out and started talking about her upcoming Women's Conference. She was telling me about how she wanted the theme to be about women being healthy in all areas of their lives. She was talking about how there are 4 faces of a Godly woman...

The Beloved face: having Christ at the center and seeing yourself as He sees you
The Princess face: being patient and a prayer warrior and that sometimes we are called to just pray and trust God
The Friend face: how to be a good friend and surround yourself with good friends
The Lover face: how to be a woman of intimacy, on many different levels

She mentioned that my testimony would fit well with the Princess face and without hesitation I said "sure!" As the weekend grew closer and closer, I kept wondering why I said yes!! Speaking in front of groups of people is not really like me at all! But, a few years ago I remember reading in a book that my greatest misery just might be my greatest ministry, and I'm so humbled that I was able to share what God did in my life and to show that He does, and still is, making beauty from ashes. It was a great night of fellowship and worship and I'm so glad I could be apart of it.




All 4 of us who spoke on the 4 faces of a Godly woman.

Adventure #14

Over the summer I had been craving a good, deep Bible study. I got together with several different girlfriends over the summer and our conversations always seemed to turn spiritual and what God was doing in our lives and I realized that I wanted to do some sort of women's study group. As the summer ended, I had this feeling that I needed to contact one of my girlfriends down in the Austin area concerning finding a Bible study. I figured she would know if there was anything in the area that I was looking for, and sure enough she did!! I checked out the website she suggested and there was a women's Bible study on Biblical Womanhood on Thursdays at 6am..the one morning I do not have the boys! It was too perfect and too easy, which made me excited because obviously God has something great to teach me through this.

This morning was our first meeting and I left there even more excited then I already was!! The speaker started off the conversation by talking about what we can expect from this study. She mentioned the word "adventure" several times and since that is my "2011 one word" it resonated loudly with me and I felt God reaffirm that I am supposed to be in this study!! I am anxious to learn what it means to be a Godly woman and what that looks like in our culture these days and how exactly a Godly woman relates to and with a Godly man. I am definitely looking forward to the next 7 months in this study!!

No Training Wheels!!

Troy now knows how to ride his bike with no training wheels!! He is growing up soooo fast!! Sometimes, I wish I could freeze time, but I also really enjoy watching him learn new things. Hard to believe he will be 5 next month!!